Wow, a lot has happened since my last post from back in July when I got a speeding ticket on the way to Corning. About two weeks ago I finally finished my thesis proposal and gave my proposal presentation. It seemed like everything that could have possibly prevented me from finishing the thing during the last few weeks of summer happened – a large bedbug infestation in my apartment building, professors not responding to emails for weeks, fracturing a toe on a hiking trip, classes starting, organizing fall rowing, getting a new girlfriend, etc. I’m not sure if anyone actually reads the thesis proposal, and I’m still not really sure what the point of writing it was, but I spent a lot of time stressing about it.
Author Archives: Dan
End of the month speeding ticket
Today I broke the 1st commandment of speeding – never speed at the end of the month. Today on my way to Corning I got slapped with my 1st ever speeding ticket for going 87mph in a 65mph zone. I was definitely speeding, although I’m pretty sure I was going 80-85mph. I will unfortunately plead guilty and pay whatever large fine I get dished out, but not without first looking for loopholes and cooking up a conspiracy theory. The cop already knew from running my license plates that I was driving a rental car from out of state. This means it’s a pretty safe bet that I won’t return to New York to contest the ticket. So if he exaggerates my speed (20mph over), I get a much more expensive ticket which I am likely to pay. I didn’t want to question him and get myself in more trouble. Anyway, since I have an IL license hopefully the ticket won’t find it’s way onto my permanent record.
Smashing Pumpkins are back
with the release of “Zeitgeist” yesterday:
I downloaded it yesterday morning and have listened to a few times times cranked up nice a loud on my now finally working stereo. I recently fixed the subwoofer, which broke 3 years ago when I shipped it to Boston. Less angry than songs on some of their previous albums (i.e. Zero, Bullet with Butterfly Wings), but not as annoyingly happy as that album from Zwan, probably because they return of mostly minor chord progressions. My favorite track is #6, “Starz”. Jimmy Chaimberlin once again has big role in creating the sound of the band. Overall it’s a really good album, and they did a good job of re-capturing the sound that made them successful while at the same time moving into new territory. Altnough they may never be able to top some of their previous albums (Siamese Dream, Pisces Iscariot, or Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness), it’s nice to have them back.