NP: New Wave channel (Digital Cable)

Okay, the part where I said I was actually enjoying getting back in touch with walking and taking the train? That honeymoon ended Thursday night, mostly because I expected to have my car back by then. Which subsequently didn't happen, and still hasn't happened, and meant bumming rides to gigs two nights in a row, which wasn't a huge deal, but still was a bit of a drag. Not to mention a run-on sentence.

The latest is that the paint job still isn't done, and the new ETA is Monday. This is becoming more and more emblematic of the carrot-and-stick tack my life has taken in general. Get your hopes up that something will happen soon, only to have real tangible results pushed back time and time again. Joy.

Struck a deal with Patrick on Thursday night that he'd stop calling me "loveable" in his e-mails if I'd stop just calling his gigs "fun" in mine. That project is now called Blue Line Transit, and continues to be, dare I say it, fun. Young-ish crowd, kinda rambunctious, and as a result, my mid-set rendition of "Hey Ya" killed.

Last night's debut from The Honor Thieves also went really well, considering the crappy weather and the fact that we all were a little tentative about promoting it because we weren't sure if we'd be any good until Wednesday's rehearsal. And in the course of that promotion, I sorta caused some Diver problems when I was the first to inform our bass player that we're doing a gig without him tomorrow night. No irreparable damage, but still made for an interesting Friday morning. Back to last night, though, and the fact that a good friend of mine, who's also a drummer, actually saw me play live for what I think was the first time. He gigs a lot, so it's not like he was snubbing me, but it's still amusing. And I found out that my snare drum is actually on one track from Filter's Title of Record.

Elsewhere, lots and lots of histrionics in the media over Bush's intelligence panel, which is potentially hilarious turn of phrase on any number of levels. I swear, I think Josh Marshall is going to have a brain aneurysm over this. And while he certainly makes good points, it seems the prevailing notion is that the commission hasn't been given the right mandate to investigate whether or not the administration influenced the intel. At the same time, a New York Times editorial states that "he has given the panel the authority to examine why the prewar estimates of Iraq's weapons stockpiles differ from what has been found." Couldn't that be because the White House (Cheney, I'm looking at you) affected the estimates? Obviously, there are many signs that this may not be the case, but I'm not altogether willing to dismiss the panel out of hand. Yet. Probably later.

Still not sure if Kerry actually has real momentum or just a long bounce. The latest conventional wisdom is that Clark and Edwards are splitting the South, and giving Kerry a greater lead than if one of them dropped out. Which, of course, I'm dubious of because any media story advocating someone dropping out of the race continues to have the ulterior motive of the media wanting to move on to a new story. In a related note, Howard Dean's statement that he'd quit the race if he lost Wisconsin, in light of later backpedaling, sounds a bit like a petulant five-year old who threatens to hold his breath until he gets his way, doesn't it?