I learned something this weekend

I think that this is going to be a long entry, so buckle up buttercup.

Thursday night I went home to Amesbury to pick up some mail and do about 35 pounds of laundry. One of the things that was delivered to me from BMG was a three-disc live CD box set of Led Zeppelin called "How the West Was Won". I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it, so I decided to listen to it on the way to work on Friday.

The verdict? Not that good. It feels like I've heard these songs over and over and over again. I'm bored with Zeppelin. And do I really need a 21-minute drum solo? I mean come on, that is just ego and self indulgence at its worst. What I may do is burn a few songs that I do like and then send it back.

But here's the thing, as I was listening to the disc, I just was getting more and more bored. It's not often when you can actually feel yourself grow out of something. Though I still like Led Zeppelin's studio stuff, it's much more tight, their live stuff is just meandering and sloppy.

I think I'm glad that I never saw them in concert. After 27 minutes of Dazed and Confused, I would've been out the door.

Speaking of art and stuff, I just finished reading "Junky" by William S. Burroughs. Pretty good book though I'm sure when it first came out it must've really blown some minds. You can tell it's dated because he actually had to explain what the words "cool" and "pot" meant when a few younger beatnik's swung by the Burroughs' pad. It's nice to see the entomology (spell?) of a word.

So Lisa is leaving work and Monica is not too happy about it. And to be honest, Monica has a point. Lisa was brought over from what I was doing after two months to her current job of ordering direct mail lists and things like that. (There is a ton more shit that she does, but that's essentially it). It's a pretty important job and she gave Moni five days notice. Lisa was unsure of what to do, but she just said, "Fuck it" and gave less than a week.

I can tell the Moni was a bit pissed because she called me into her office and asked me about Lisa and whether she was happy here and basically wondering whether she was the reason why Lisa left. She sort of is, but I never told her that. Moni's not a bad boss, but she is very hands on and if you fuck up, you're going to hear about it. I think Lisa used to screw up, not a lot, but enough that Monica didn't trust her. That started her out the door.

Normally I don't get involved with work melodrama basically because I don't give a shit and I don't want to deal with this sort of thing, but I can see how some people do get into the gossip game. It was sort of like being in a club when Moni asked me into her office to give her the scoop, and she told me a few things, namely that she feels that Lisa is too immature and that she's tired of hearing her whispering to Diane. Monica felt that Lisa was "talking about her", which I squelched.

The Patriots are on right now on Monday Night Football. This team is too fucking good, they are a machine. Just picking apart the Chiefs. Whether they're down third and ten or first and ten, the Pats just know how to get it done. Corey Dillon just scored ... that's seven points for my fantasy football team.

So what had I learned this weekend? Hmmmm ... aside from office gossip and that I dislike live Zep? I learned that I have awesome friends and family. Saturday night, Aly and my parents threw us an engagement party. All of my family were there like Nina, Uncle Guy, Kyle, Megan, Uncle Bud, Karen, Paige and Aunt Grace. Not to mention Rye and Kristen, Bill and Ellie, Brownie and Cindy, Skaus and Sara, and Jay and Vanessa. Aly's family and friends were there too: her brother came up from Atlanta (the next day he had to drive to East Rutherford, NJ to cover the Falcons/Giants game) as well as Lauren and Bob, Anthony and Heather, Grandma Connie, Sara and Chris, Stacy and Anthony, Chrissie and Mike and Danna and Rick came up from New York.

But the gifts we received, it was like a shower. Everyone was beyond generous. Our entire registry list has essentially been cleaned out and we got anther $200. Between my birthday party and now this, man, I'm just lucky. I shake my head some time as to how lucky I am. And it's just not the gifts, it's the time that people give up on a Saturday night to hang around with me and Aly. I guess you sort of expect family and friends to do that, but when they actually do it, you just feel it.

Forgot to tell you about last Wednsesday, Aly and I along with mom and dad, Bill and Ellie and Sara and Chris all went to Keri and Byrnie's house for dinner. I may have said this before, but it bears repeating, Byrnie and Keri have an awesome house in Stoneham. It's a lot like Jim and Sara's, it's not too small but it's not monsterous. It's a very cozy place ... I would love to have a place like that some time.

In any event, we did the same thing we normally do with those guys, we made fun of each other and shot the shit. Byrnie made a pork roast, with potatoes and corn. Very good food. Just thinking about it ... damn, I'm starving.