furiousBlog

I guess the title of this entry really says it all. Look for a new style soonish. It'll probably be similar to my photo biz blog in layout.

UPDATE 11/17: I don't have any time to build my own right now, so I switched to one of the built-in themes.

Cyndi and I went to see two concerts the week of October 28th.

The first, on October 30th, was Say Hi (recently, and regrettably in my opinion, shortened from Say Hi To Your Mom) at the Black Cat Backstage. I've been to the Black Cat's main stage many times before, but never to the Backstage. It's a great place to see a show, evoking the one true DC nightclub--the OLD 930 club, of course--even more than the Rock and Roll Hotel.

Say Hi was co-headlining with The Velvet Teen with the The A-sides as the opening act. The A-sides sounded pretty good at first (I even commented on how good the sound system sounded), but got pretty tiresome quickly. The Velvet Teen rocked out pretty hard and had one of the most impressive drummers, er... percussionists, I've ever seen. This guy was out of control good.

Say Hi was, of course, awesome. This was the second time we've seen them, and the second time they were co-headliners. I really wish they'd come play a show as the only headliner so they could have a little more time to play. As it was, they had about an hour. They played several songs off the new album, which sounded great, and a bunch of older stuff. Again, they denied me by not playing "Yeah, I'm in Love With an Android," or anything off of Disco Sadness, but overall a very fun show.

If you don't know Say Hi, I suggest you check them out. They're the epitome of quirky pop. As an extra, the main guy vaguely reminds one of a bearded John Lovitz (in a good way!).

Note: It's been the busiest month ever, with a ton of cool or big stuff happening. I've gotten way behind in posting, so I'm going to try to crank out a couple entries in a rapid-fire manner. We'll see if I actually get beyond this one...

After working for Newsletter Holdings for just over 10 years, I'm moving on to a new job.

My new company is Need to Know News where I'll working as a Linux systems admin in their DC office. I'm pretty excited as I've been wanting to focus more on the Linux side of things for a while now (I do both Linux admin stuff and web development at my current job). The new office is a block from the White House, which is pretty cool. I've never worked in the city before, so that should be cool. To the surprise of most people I've told, it should actually cut my commute significantly. I'll be able to slug directly in to 14th street (office is on 15th) or to the Pentagon which is about 6 minutes from the stop a block from my office. The company and people seem pretty cool and they're doing some interesting cutting-edge type stuff. So, it looks like it'll be a challenge and fun.

On the other hand, it's pretty hard to be leaving NLH. It's been a great place to work and I've got a lot of great friends there, who I'll really miss being around on a daily basis.

Here's the email my boss Franco sent around announcing my departure. It's got me all choked up (seriously).

All,

After a long tenure as Chief Contrarian & Microsoft Covert Operative in the IT Department, Ben Rasmussen has decided it is time for him to graze on greener pastures.

Ben has been with Newsletter Holdings for over 10 years, spending time in Prescom, KCI Fulfillment and finally landing the dreamy position in IT that made him the legend that he is. I think it is safe to say that he will leave a vacuum of knowledge and character at NLH. Saddest of all will be the members of the Newsletter Holdings Conversational Pugilism Club. They lose not only a co-worker, but also their star arguer on every topic imaginable.

Ben's last day will be next Wednesday. Until then you may stop by to wish him well and, if you're lucky, you may just hear his rarely uttered "I disagree!" one last time.

-Franco

... sniff