Unconnected Thoughts

ESpalt here with a trio of ramblings.

Career Counseling---In the past few weeks, I’ve found myself in an unusual position. I’ve had two people asking me for career advice. One was “junior” staff where I work, and the other was someone just starting the searching process and looking for input on consulting firms. I feel completely unqualified to offer career advice since I have absolutely no idea what I want to do right now. That’s a bit of an overstatement. I know I am ready to get out of consulting (I can’t wait to be free of my bill rate!). And I think I want to try the public sector for a while, but I can’t decide if I want to stick with “hard science” or move more into the public health arena.

MLB Awards---Bob Melvin of the Arizona Diamondbacks won National League Manager of the Year. Here was my reaction to Andy: “I don’t care what anyone says-he still sucks.” This reaction seems pretty unreasonably given he took his small market team to the NLCS, but I have some basis for it (sort of). Bob Melvin was the manager of the Seattle Mariners when we first moved to Seattle, and he seemed so incredibly complacent, which was reflected onto the team. But is this fair? He took over a team of aging players past their prime, some of whom had to stop taking steroids (Bret Boone). And he only had the job for 2 years. So it is probably completely unreasonable, but I can’t help thinking that Bob somehow found himself in the perfect situation in Arizona, that he lucked into a great team and is surrounded by the right people.

Impressions---A couple of weeks ago, we went to see The Hold Steady and Art Brut play an early, alcohol free yet kickass show at the University of Washington. The thing I was most struck by is how surprised I was by the appearances of the lead singers. Listening to this music for the last year or more, I had (unconsciously) developed definite impressions of how these bands would look, but when I saw them, I was completely wrong. The lead singer of Art Brut (who sings in a British accent, Liz!) was pretty sloppy, had stringy dark hair, and a small gut. And then, the lead singer of The Hold Steady looked like an accountant. I was expecting someone with more presence, with a big gut, and maybe a worn leather jacket, someone, well, who looked a lot more like our Portland friend, Hal. It was shocking. This has happened to me before. I always expect Britt Daniel of Spoon to be attractive, but he really just looks like a young Gary Busey. I think this adds to the appeal of seeing a band for the first time for me. I get to find out just how wrong I am about the image of a band.