As you may or may not already know, Gwen drove us up to the visit the Gaffneys (and Emma) at their place in the Adirondacks on Saturday for a three-day stress-free getaway. We had a great time, did a couple little mini-hikes, and got to be spoiled silly by Nick’s wonderful, amazing super-awesome parents. We got in a little later than expected, but still in time to have a big dinner with Nick, Emma, Maria (Nick’s sister), Dick and Susan (Nick’s parents), and Carol, a friend of the family. Dinner was great, then we stayed up talking …

Met a new PCP today, and was quite impressed. He asked a lot of questions, and did a lot that showed he was really listening. He took a lot of time to go over my stress test and lab test results with me, and made sure I understood what it all meant, and warned me about a couple numbers that I needed to pay attention to, and what I could to change them. No more gargling Drano for me, is all I’m saying about that.

Curiously and fortunately, I came down with my first severe case of allergies …

(thornography is on vacation until the 26th)

Here are some things I’ve been enjoying lately:

iTunes 7 - This iteration of the already great jukebox-cum-marketplace was the biggest yet, from the beautiful but subtle redesign, to the incredibly awesome new iPod syncing interface. I only have a nano, but I still love that I can access the video store from my jukebox, and even browse for games…that I can’t play. The “Cover Flow” feature is fun and good-looking. I stopped being an Apple fan boy about the time I started having to support them for a …

Keith Olbermann gets his outrage and disgust on in a scathing assault on the Bush and his administration and how they’ve warped 9/11 to their own ends. This commentary had the barely controlled and intensely frustrated rage that I carry with me every day that Darth Dubya remains in office. Take the jump and watch it for yourself (you’ll have to set aside about 10 minutes, but it’s worth it, and you’ll probably wish he’d gone on for longer).

Things I have (snarkily) learned working in a large organization:

1. When management exists only to give management a reason to exist, we can call this ‘managerialism.’
2. While management may be a legitimate profession (and I’m not convinced it is), managerialism is a fungoidal growth on the corporate body that dresses incompetent boobery in a veneer of suits, high-powered jingoism and institutionalized cliques.
3. Promotion can be an excellent way to foist inept employees on another department. This is the swampy pool out of which managerialism arises, and it’s a great short-term solution but it can come back …

Ok, this was on BoingBoing a few weeks ago, but I only just now got around to warching it. I remain, five minutes after watching the entire thing, slack-jawed in amazement and wonder. Whatever they’re putting in the water in Germany, I really, really hope they don’t ever stop…embedded video after the jump (slightly nsfw after 1:45).