Every day this past week, the air conditioners have made the building icebox cold in the mornings and the afternoons, regardless of the temperature outside. I wore flannel to work today, it's that freakin' cold.

This of course made me think of Laurie Anderson's song "Big Science", from the album of the same name: Coo coo....It's cold outside... I finally remembered to bring the CD in today and have been listening to it while I work. I can do this on Fridays because half the company is gone and I have (relatively) long interruption-free stretches of time at my desk.

I first heard the album early in 2001, when a friend burned a copy and mailed it to me. That summer I lost that friend in an awful, painful parting of the ways. That fall, Hermetic committed suicide. The following day was September 11th. That winter, the crafts business my wife and I started earlier that year failed in the economic downturn following the terrorist attacks, leaving us crushed under a mountain of debt and a stack of boxes full of beautiful things no one wanted. My parents' business also went under and they were forced to file for bankruptcy. Shortly after that our family dog drowned.

Listening to the CD today, I realized with surprise that this is the first time since the spring of 2001 that I've been able to listen to Big Science all the way through without feeling unbearably sad. Which is good. Because dude, Big Science kicks ass.