The Special People Club

19) Viva Las Vegas : Elvis Presley One of my top five Elvis songs, this song is great for driving and getting ready early in the morning when you sleep through your alarm. And it reminds me of a great weekend I spent with Tom back in our golden years in the west. 20) Elvis Presley Blues: Gillian Welch I’m still going to get that folklore degree in Elvis. And this song explains why. 33) Kid About It: Elvis Costello & The Attractions One summer evening in 1982, I was watching the David Letterman show. Elvis Costello was one of the guests, and he sang “Man out of Time” and “Kid About It” and my permanent love affair with his music was born. This is still my favorite EC song from my favorite album.

Flaming Lips Intersting, complex, and totally rockin' band, with the good sense to select an equally excellent name.

13) Angie Baby: Helen Reddy This creepy song has fascinated me from childhood. The crazy girl is locked in her room and lures young men in with her dancing, then traps them in her radio. Much better than the one where there’s an adulterous double murder in Georgia .

1) Groove Is In the Heart: Deee-Lite This is your standard ass-thumping groove song to get things moving. When I lived in Seattle , my friends and I used to have dinner every Sunday night. We’d even invite strangers if we wanted to get to know them better. And when dinner was through, we’d put this song on and boogie something fierce while we washed the dishes.

It's here. Term 2. I am on my way out the door in about 10 minutes to meet my teammates Justin and Simon for a beer and quick review of our course prep for this week. Tomorrow at 8 we start with Project Management. I have my first test on Wednesday and we build a fake warehouse in a simulation exercise on Thursday. Don't you wish you were me? I just keep telling myself...riches and power, riches and power. Retirement income. Cool holidays with my friends and family. Financial security and a cool apartment. A dachshund to push down kiddie slides onto unsuspecting passers-by, and a dog walker to help me out when I'm at work. Tom and Georgie to keep house and cook for me. Five years from now, this will all be a memory and I'll be reaping benefits. But today I'd rather watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart .

Somewhere to the west of me, there lives a smiley guy. He is probably about 50 (though with English aging that could mean he's actually 35,) and he and his wife go walking past my house regularly, probably on the way to the local pub or the one-stop for milk or something. And every single time he passes my window, he looks in to see what I'm doing. I'm not much of a drape puller. I'm never doing anything that neighbours shouldn't see, at least not in the living room. And I like the sunshine and the air, so I like the whole open-window, open-curtains thing. But smiley guy is going to change my policy. Seriously, on a Sunday that guy will look in at least six times in the course of the afternoon. And if he catches my eye he doesn't look away, he doesn't wave, he just continues to stare in my window. That ain't right. Go away, smiley guy.

Babyshambles Pete Doherty is bad on his own, but add this dumb name to a band and he needs to be destroyed. How do you think a name like that up? I am so not cool.

34) Just Like Betty Page: The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy “You have me, as far as I can see, roped and trussed just like dear Betty Page…” Either it’s kinky or sweet. But it’s definitely a Quirky Love Song.

23) Walk This Way: Run-DMC Ben once asked me to name my favorite song of all time. And while there are many artists and albums I prefer, if I’m honest this is actually it. There’s never a time I don’t want to hear it, I always sing along, and it makes me happy. I’m keen on both this and the original, but this one is my preferred version.

One month from today, I will be in my hometown in Iowa. I'm really looking forward to the trip. There is multi-faceted truth to the phrase, "Iowa is a great place to be FROM." Not pretending for a second that I enjoyed my childhood (or more specifically my teenage years,) in the midwestern heartland, but now that I am safely far away I miss it now and again. It's not just my family that I miss, it's the whole slow-paced, small town ethos. Here are just a few of the things I intend to do when I am in Iowa. Go for a run to the gravel pit each morning Ride bikes with KC in Lanesboro Eat Mexican food at Sabor Latino 2 Go to Walmart and buy toiletries. (I know this is evil, but I LOVE Walmart in Decorah. It's full of rednecks and Hasidim. How often do you get to see those folks mingle? Plus you can't buy Ban roll-on here) Buy corn from the back of a truck at the Kum and Go Sit on my folks' deck and read Yes Man and The Undercover Economist Beat my Mom ...

I totally believe that Rush Limbaugh would need Viagra for physiological reasons. But I just can't imagine the scenario where he'd actually have a reason to take it. Eeewww.

There is a new girl at work. She looks exactly like one of the pictures from "If They Mated." Her forehead is at least as big as the rest of her face, her eyes are wide-set and squinty, and her mouth is crooked. She seems like a nice kid, and I feel terrible that when I sit in meetings with her I can't concentrate because I'm trying to make sense of her facial proportions. She's not long-waisted, though, so she's not a total freak.

Today I am missing my friend Larry Aldrich. I have three of his woodcuts on the wall. They're from an alphabet block series he did about ten years ago. I have "T is for Trike," "E is for Effigy," and "D is for Dog." (Which should actually be titled "D is for terrifying-Dog-with-sharp-growly-teeth," but never mind.) I always arrange them to spell TED for some reason. Next time I hang them I think I'll mix them up and spell DTE. Larry and his partner, Will, live in West Seattle. He has dachshunds. He has tatoos about eating chicken soup with rice. He is a plant guru, and can make any plant I've been trying to kill grow like you wouldn't believe. Larry has the most memorable laugh I've ever heard. I never get to see him any more, what since I live 7000 miles away now. This is not good. Here are my two favourite Larry jokes: 1) Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon? Great food, no atmosphere. 2) So a horse walks into a...

Okay, not ALL Canadians are creepy. In fact, most of them I quite like. But there are some weirdos wandering the Great White North, and they keep finding my site. First they were looking for the "hot granny legs." Now today, someone from Quebec is googling "torture chamber unsuitable for wheelchairs." Mind you, they did find my site from that search. But I just reported it. I didn't think it up.

There are like a hundred of them in my back garden. They're on the brick garden wall, the slab outside my door, the living room window, even on the little angel that sits on one of the wall supports. It's like I'm farming them. I wonder...are garden snails actually tasty or do they need to be cultivated in some formal manner? How does one cook a snail? Is it like a lobster that goes screaming into the water? Do you steam them like mussels? There's gotta be a use for the little rat bastards.

After stumbling upon the Top 10 Irish Artists at Ten the other night, I added VH1 classic to my favourites on my quick scan. I've taken to stopping regularly for shows like "The 80's at Eight" and "The Nineties at Nine." It's a sick and horrid fascination, really. I can't get enough of the shoulder pads and the big hair, not to mention that groovy synth keyboard and drum machine. It's actually been a bit of an insight into my aging soul. Tonight alone, I have come to the following realisations: 1) It's in the title....we dance like Wham!. We don't want to, but we do. Mind you, they weren't always the "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" boppers...just saw the "Young Guns" video, and they did a bit of thrashing in that one. But they're still not cool. Dancing like Wham! is not something we want to do. Better than spinning like Deadhead chicks, but still. Time to learn some new steps. 2) The Pet Shop Boys sucked....

This Saturday started off like any other. Got up, made coffee, sat and stared. Turned on the tv for Saturday Kitchen. Suddenly I heard a gusher outside. Thinking it was raining, I looked out the window wondering how something this powerful could just blow out of nowhere...I'd known it was overcast but it didn't look stormy. But it wasn't raining. Through the fog of morning, I remembered the last tenant, Amy, saying that one of the oddities of English plumbing involved water flowing into the garden from a pipe in the back wall near the roof. And I remembered Amy saying this was bad, but didn't remember the cause or what to do. Sure enough, it was like there was a hose on full blast pouring from the attic. Panic. Kat thought it was the hot water tank being too full, so we tried to drain the hot water. We did, but the water kept flowing. So she called her dad, and he explained that there is a tank in the loft that has a ball-apparatus (like a toilet tank) to keep the w...

Canadians are still looking for some granny love, and now I've pissed off a bunch of Cypriots who are looking for information on their country. And people google "flight attendant" a lot.

One week from tomorrow I am back to school. I hate to admit that I'm looking forward to it, even though it's going to be shedloads of work. Here are the scintillating subjects I'll be discussing in the coming months: Project Management Macroeconomics Supply Chain and Logistics Strategic Management People Management Managing Information Technologies Financial Management You'll also get an earful of my learning team dynamics, of which I'm sure there will be many. One of my new teammates hugs me and showers me with kisses when he's drunk. Considering I sometimes flinch when my closest friends touch me, you can imagine how well this goes over. Oh, the fun we will have!

No, CPman, this is not an invitation to an all you can eat Crab Feast with a few delicious buttergarlicbiscuits on the side. This is what I resemble after a day in the English sun. It was our filming day for my Harry Potter movie today. The day started out with some threatening clouds and some wind, so we figured we were safe. None of us put on the sunscreen we normally would, what with the heavy cloud cover and all. The sky eventually cleared, but I guess we were pretty wrapped up in our scenes because we never noticed. So now my right arm is excessively burned, to the point that bending it is painful. My left arm is less so, but still a bit red. I have a red v on my chest and will have to make all my shirts match it for a few weeks. Anything too low cut will look silly now. Have you noticed that sunburned skin shows the wrinkles more? I need to moisturize tonight. I hope that these unsightly wrinkles go away and that I have not somehow entered the English aging time warp. I don...