Continuing with my "depressingly disinterested" phase, i've discovered This Mortal Coil recently. Perhaps flaunting Patton Oswalt's rant on KFC, i listened to their virtuoso 1984 album It'll End in Tears without eating a Famous/Failure Bowl. If that doesn't make sense, go listen to track 2 on Oswalt's hilarious Werewolves And Lollipops.

these thoughts i must not think of
dreams i can't make sense of
i need you to tell me its ok

I completed a month-long search for the KCA-SC100 Sirius adapter for my relatively new Alpine IDA-x001 car stereo. I ordered the item from several online retailers, and despite the "in stock" emblazoned across their product web pages, i got a number of "wait, you know that's backordered right?" emails shortly thereafter. After several such frustrating encounters, i tried ordering it through Amazon (who in turn passed it on to "Car Toys"), and to my amazement just two days later i got the shipping confirmation. The subsequent weekend i drove over to Circuit City in San Mateo to buy the requisite Sirius tuner and have the complete package installed. After a brisk mile walk to the Starbucks and a few hours spent playing with my Macbook and listening to my iPod, i returned to CC to retrieve my car. I wasn't able to activate Sirius all day because of some computer issues at the satellite conglomerate's headquarters, but by 5pm i was listening to Howard Stern directly through my stereo. And without that clumsy unit screwed into the side of the center panel of my car. How did i survive for two years with that behemoth?

Although that last sentence accurately describes my satisfaction with my new toy, the tongue-in-cheek complaint does make me wonder whether all this technological evolution is providing diminishing returns. I didn't really *gain* anything, persay ... just a sleeker way of accessing entertainment that i already had. Is that progress?

I've been listening to the "History of Howard Stern" on my new unit as the gang is on holiday. It's a briliantly constructed collection of interviews and old shows tracing Howard from childhood through his beginnings in radio and on to his professional career. He's been through Washington DC, Detroit, and WNBC in New York so far.

V and i had a lovely weekend last week. We began on Friday night by attending my friend Craig's holiday party at his house in Palo Alto. He and his wife Nicole are fantastic hosts, and their son Aidan and his boundless energy kept everyone entertained. I am really lucky to have moved through three large academic research groups (MRSC @ UCSF, CMIR @ MGH, and MIPS @ Stanford) and have made such great friends in each. On Saturday morning i took care of the aforementioned car improvements, then got some laundry done at home before V and i met up with Frank and Jennifer for dinner and a movie. Actually movie and a dinner ... we caught Dan in Real Life to bide the time before our 9pm reservation at the exquisite Palo Alto Greek restaurant Evvia. Simply put, i hated Dan in Real Life. Hated hated hated. Was physically offended by it. Mentally too. If i grew up in Dan's family, i would've killed myself. But as much as that flick bothered me, dinner was wonderful. Frank, Jennifer, and i all had the whole sea bass roasted with olives and potatoes. The brussel sprout with bacon appetizer was also fantabulous. Joy. On Sunday i drove over to Oakland to meet with Fred, Sandip, and co. and watch the world champion Indianapolis Colts take on the bad boy Oakland Raiders. Fred grew up in indiana and is a vocal Colts fan, but the rest of us warned him that the "black hole" might not take kindly to his friendly rivalry. And ten minutes into the game, a Raiders fan and a Colts fan got into it not six rows in front of us. The Colts guy took exception to something the Oakland faithful had said, and responded by pouring his beer on his head. For that he got punched in the face, and then the cops descended. That incident kept Fred in line. The lowly Raiders played very well, and took a 14-13 lead with 8 minutes left. Manning and the Colts then mounted a long scoring drive and with a two-point conversion led 21-14, which ended up as the final score. I left right after the final score as i had to get home to prepare for Veronica's Christmas party in SF. That entailed hors d'oeuvres, drinks, and dinner at Jack Falstaff, followed by a jaunt with some of V's coworkers to Harry Denton's Starlight Room off Union Square for a nightcap. As usual the price to pay for such an eventful weekend was a yawn-filled Monday, but as always it was worth it.

I'm looking forward to a relatively uneventful holiday. I'm taking my parents to the airport tomorrow as they head off to see my sister, brother-in-law, and iittle nephew in Texas. We're having friends over for Christmas eve and/or morning, then visiting my aunt in Burlingame for Christmas dinner. I'll get some work in later in the week, but will enjoy a lot of downtime too. Work has been going great ... got two new students coming early next year (a chemist and a physicist), and i'm trying to hire a third (a biologist ... that covers all the fundamental sciences, right?). My grant should arrive early next year, and we're making progress on two large industrial-sponsored research projects that would further expand my research program. It's amazing to think that a year ago i had no major grants and was thinking of moving to Duke. A year later and i have two NIH grants and am suddenly a "senior faculty" in my division. Now how in the hell did that happen?

a lot of f@$#ing hard work, that's how ...

Last week i got a call from my colleague Amato, who told me he'd appointed me to play Santa at the Radiation Biology Christmas party. No sweat, i thought. The moans of "don't make him do that" from the postdocs should've warned me. The day before the party i got an email from the party organizer informing me of the location of the Santa suit and the party schedule. Suit? What? I soon found out i was expected to wear the whole suit, including boots, padding for my belly, and wig and beard. And then to moderate the white elephant gift exchange and bear the ribbing of my radiobiology colleagues. It was a good time. And produced a bunch of ridiculous pictures like this one.

We drove over to Oakland last night to catch Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the lovely Grand Lake Theater with Sonic Living founder Gabe and co. I wasn't especially juiced to see the latest Tim Burton/Johnny Depp effort, but was happy to revisit my old haunts. The movie wound up greatly surpassing my expectations, and was an interesting juxtaposition of the whimsy of the musical format and the gore and brutality of the story. Gabe mentioned that Burton and longtime musical partner Danny Elfman had recently split, apparently because Danny accused Tim of making the same movie over and over again. Something i'd recently harped on. I'd have loved to hear Danny tell Tim, "Hey Tim! Why don't you make a movie about a loveable oddball who wins over his so-called normal peers? And i've got a great idea for the lead! Johnny Depp!" After the flick, we had a few drinks at the Alley, which was a real trip as the last time i was there was for my old friend Bill Sass's birthday, circa 1999. I love that Lake Merritt area. Old denizen, good friend, and current Vietnam resident Michael is coming back to the states for a couple of weeks in February, perhaps i'll be hanging in Oakland again soon.

My season tickets to the 49ers only got me to three games this year due to my busy schedule. And they got clowned in each of those games. It was fun nonetheless, and i hope to see more next year. Football is an interesting sport to watch live. A much different environment than a baseball game, where (at least in the bay area) people are pretty mellow. Football games are a chance for rabid home fans to berate anyone in support of the away team. And vice versa. It's cool to see people take things so seriously. The Raiders near-win was almost a religious experience. In the third quarter, Peyton Manning threw a ~30 yard pass to #86 (Ben Utecht, according to their roster), who was then levelled by one of the Raiders safeties. Utecht got to his feet but motioned to the sideline that he needed to come out. He spent a few minutes on the Colts bench before apparently deciding he needed to get treatment in the locker room. His trip there took him around the endzone that we were sitting above. As he walked by, one of our section-mates stood up and lit into him. Something along the lines of, "That's right! You can't handle it! You're a pussy-ass bitch, 86! Go in the locker room and grow some balls!" This went on for a good two minutes at Utecht hobbled off for treatment. That's the kind of vehemence i'm talking about.

My top ten albums of 2007. Based purely on what new music i found myself listening to, not any grandiose estimation of worth.

1. The Arcade Fire, Neon Bible: V and i were arguing over this album the other day. She says they're one-trick ponies. I say this is the most diverse and engaging album i've heard since Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People. Those Canadians.
2. Editors, An End Has A Start: I totally expected this to be their sophomore slump. Looks like they passed that curse off on Bloc Party. A hooky yet profound record.
3. Daft Punk, Alive 2007: 2007 was apparently the year i embraced my inner raver.
4. Patton Oswalt, Werewolves And Lollipops: I listen to more and more comedy these days, and Patton has had me rolling since September.
5. The Horrors, Strange House: I can't make any sweeping proclamations about the originality or significance of this album. It's just fun to listen to.
6. LCD Soundsystem, Sound Of Silver: I think i didn't really appreciate James Murphy's krautrock roots until LCD's second record. "Someone Great" is a candidate for song of the year, along with the Arcade Fire's "No Cars Go".
7. Band Of Horses, Cease To Begin: Another band i didn't pay much attention to until their sophomore effort. Add "Is There a Ghost" to my song of the year list.
8. Battles, Mirrored: And "Atlas" too. What a freakin' amazing collection of sounds spun into a mesmerizing groove. Veronica says the song creeps her out. "it's my happening and it freaks me out!", i say.
9. Life Without Buildings, Live At The Annandale Hotel: A fascinating epitaph to an innovative band that came and went all too fast.
10. Simian Mobile Disco, Attack Decay Sustain Release: More raving. This album was my favorite of the dance onslaught of bands like Justice and Digitalism.

My biggest musical query of the year: Happy Mondays, Uncle Dysfunktional. Was anyone really waiting for this?

i could sleep, i could sleep
when i lived alone
is there a ghost in my house?

As for my favorite shows of the year, i'd have to rank them ...

1. Daft Punk at the Greek Theater, Berkeley, July 27
2. The Arcade Fire at the Greek Theater, Berkeley, June 1
3. Daft Punk at the LA Sports Arena, Los Angeles, July 21
4. LCD Soundsystem at Mezzanine, San Francisco, April 30
5. Jarvis Cocker at the Fillmore, San Francisco, April 28

Crappiest show: Placebo at the Fillmore. A band that had always exceeded my expectations suddenly looked like they were going through the motions.

My gaming experience of the year was definitely Bioshock for the 360, despite the fairly crappy final boss. It was a fully-realized undersea world, done in an authentic art deco theme. I can't imagine how they would construct the story for a sequel, but i'd love to revisit Rapture. I'm hoping to get a few new games for Christmas, as i've been in a video lull for a while. Other than rocking out to Guitar Hero 3. I tried Metallica's "One" on hard, and my fingers melted and the crowd booed when we came to the "Darkness! Imprisoning me! All that i see! Absolute horror!" part. And i can't even get past the intro to Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast" on the hard difficulty.

I watched Chelsea's recent 1-nil loss to Premiership frontrunners Arsenal with a sense of resignation. Although Chelsea could've equalized on the break (and should've ... damn Shaun Wright-Phillips), Arsenal looked solid at the back and were a crimson tide surging forward on the counterattack. I'm not totally down on the Blues ... after José departed, Avram Grant/zombie Israeli has got the team playing more fluidly and with more attacking verve than in recent memory. But the squad just isn't well constructed ... Ballack and Shevchenko don't really add anything, and our defensive purchases have been decidedly subpar (Alex is ok, but Tal Ben Haim ... my god). With both Didier Drogba and John Terry suffering through injury-plagued seasons, we don't match up with Arsenal or Manchester United. We'll probably finish in the top four again, but the title is out of the question and i doubt we'll get past the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Currently the rumor that won't die is the signing of all-world midfielder Ronaldinho in the January transfer window. I'm fairly sure it won't happen, but even if it does i can't see Ronnie making a huge splash in England at this stage of his career. The grim reality of the Roman Abramovich "marketing over football" era.