Jobs, Music, Games, and other Longwinded Miscellany

Time to dust off the blog for my quarterly update, looks like…

How many of you went to college and got a job, only to discover that you really didn’t much care for your chosen profession?  I’ve been working as a Process Engineer ever since I got out of school roughly 10 years ago.  I’ve spent most of that time in manufacturing, but I moved over to wild world of consulting about 3-1/2 years ago.  I’ve never really disliked my work – it’s usually challenging, the hours are good, the pay is pretty good – but my heart’s never really been in it.  But to be honest, if I could have a “do over”, I don’t know what I’d go back to study or choose to do in the working world.  I guess that’s all a fancy way of saying that I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up.

A few months ago, I decided to try something a little different within the same consulting firm – I moved over to our Project Controls group where I primarily handle Scheduling, Cost Analysis, and Project Management.  So far, so good – I think I like it better than splitting my time between doing calculations all day and visiting plant sites full of borderline dangerous conditions.  It’s still far from my “dream job” (whatever that is), but the work keeps me busy, I generally like the people in the new group, and I can’t complain too much about the pay or hours.

I went to the local indie music store and picked up three great albums this week.  First up was “The Essential Eels” by The Eels.  If you’re not familiar with the Eels, this is a great place to start.  I loved their albums “Electro-Shock Blues” (“Last Stop: This Town” is probably one of my favorite songs of all time) and “Blinking Lights and Other Stories” – I picked up this “greatest hits” album to fill in the blanks.  Great listen from beginning to end. 

I also got the new Drive-By Truckers record, “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark” which is also excellent.  It’s become cliché to call the Truckers “this generation’s Lynyrd Skynyrd”, but it’s also a pretty good assessment.  One of their primary songwriters, Jason Isbell, left the group prior to making the album, but I feel like Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley stepped up their game.  Great stuff if you’re into Skynyrd, Crazy Horse-era Neil Young, Steve Earle, or alternative country music.

The surprise of the week for me was the new record by former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, “Angel Down”.  I had no idea what to expect and picked it up on a whim.  I remember buying the first Skid Row album in the late ‘80s and thinking it was alright, but when I picked up “Slave to the Grind” a few years later, it absolutely melted my face.  “Angel Down” is kinda like that – it’s probably the heaviest thing Bach has ever been involved with, and “Slave to the Grind” and “Subhuman Race” were both scorchers.  If you worried that ol’ Baz got soft after his guest appearances on the Gilmore Girls, well it’s safe to say he’s got his balls back.  Check it out if only to hear the three duets with Axl Rose, who evidentially took a break from recording “Chinese Democracy”.

On the games front, I picked up Burnout Paradise and I’ve been enjoying it a whole lot more than I thought I would.  This was the first game in months to pull me away from my addiction to Rock Band.  Although I’ve always enjoyed the Burnout series going back to number 2, I’ve only been able to have a passing interest in them.  As you’re probably aware, the open structure takes some getting used to, but it’s the multiplayer aspect that makes this thing a winner.  The multiplayer setup where the city acts as the lobby makes dropping in and out of friend’s games a breeze.  And between the racing and multiplayer challenges, this game is essentially an 8-player version of Crackdown with cars. 

The most surprising thing, though, thus far is that I’ve played two nights with the fine folks in ClaNarchy and have yet to receive one mugshot of an ass or penis.  And contrary to what I told them, I changed my gamertag to “WakeOfPoseidon” just to fuck with them.

For you folks in The Lone Rangers, don’t forget about our Rock Band Rockathon Clan night this Sunday.

I also can’t wait to get rid of this damn sinus infection.