I'm sitting at work waiting for some data to process so you get to listen to me ramble. I'm trying to finish off a project from the CMIR that has been sitting unattended since i left. It's a paper that's mostly written, Vasilis and i agreed a while ago that it just needed a few more tweaks to the data analysis for it to be submittable. Hopefully the current reconstructions will address that need and let me get it out of my hair. On the subject of long-neglected papers, i'm meeting with my grad school advisor Sarah next week to discuss submitting a paper i wrote way back in 2001. It was the last project for my Ph.D. (the last chapter in my thesis), and i wrote it up to submit to a journal just before i left for Boston. Unfortunately it has sat unconsidered until recently, when the work of Sarah's group came back to that topic (magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging of brain tumor response to fractionated radiotherapy). So hopefully in a month or so i'll have two old papers sent out.

I do a lot of dumping on Fatboy Slim, the Chemical Brothers, and the rest of the neon glowstick brigade, but every now and then some mellow, jazzy electronica is just what i need to relax. Fridge's "Drum Machines and Glockenspiels" from the 2001 album Happiness is playing on my iTunes now, and i can't begin to describe how it has calmed me in the last four and a half minutes. Fridge may straddle the border between indie, experimental, post punk, and electronica, but this song in particular has got me thinking more James Hardway than Mogwai. Lately i've picked up quite a few nifty electronica tidbits, including Aphex Twin, Photek, Mocean Worker, Four Tet, Boards of Canada, Squarepusher, and Wax Doctor. Gotsta give props to Rob for informing me exactly which genre of beeps i'm actually into.

Veronica set off for Iowa this morning, her grandmother in tow, to see her mom's Ph.D. graduation from Iowa State. So i've got a weekend to myself ... well, me and the dog. I'm hoping to set up the tux rental for the wedding and get the layout of the invitations set. And get in some time with Hitman: Contracts.

As Naomi correctly pointed out, last night's episode of Extreme Makeovers did indeed focus on a woman who underwent a psychologic transformation by [ABC resident dickhead] Dr. Phil. I still think however that the show itself needs to deal with psychology directly. And how about that second woman who got a makeover, the one with the broken front teeth? Call me horrible, but ... EGAD!