Let’s start this bad boy off with a bang.

First off, let me say that despite the fact that I’m now working for Microsoft, I (and in fact most people I work with) haven’t drank the DRM Kool-Aid. I would go so far as to say that most of us are actively anti-DRM, and would support alternatives to the rather horrible practice of reaming your system with rootkits or odious anti-upgrade initatives. Sadly, it seems that Apple is now part of the DRM Manson Family as well. It’s not that I object to the concept of DRM, just the implementations that most companies have decided are the ‘best option.

I cognitively realized yesterday that Nine Inch Nails Broken is 15 years old. That threw me for a rather severe loop, because that’s old enough to be considered “Classic Rock.” How’s that, you ask? Well, when I was in high school, Led Zepplin was being played as classic rock on a couple of bay area radio stations, and the average age for those tracks (at the time) was 15 years. Even despite the fact that I don’t expect to see “Happiness in Slavery” flanking Creedence Clearwater Revival in any classic rock playlists, I’m still vaguely disturbed by this concept.

Amazon’s workforce here in Seattle is also relocating, it seems. They’re moving their workspace from the Silicon North of Redmond/Bellevue back across the 5 to South Lake Union, also known as Paul Allens Development Wonderland. All cracks at Allen’s real estate deals aside, I can safely say that I’m pretty happy that he’s invested so much money into the community, if for no other reason that SLU is Queen Anne’s back yard. What’s more, I guess this means the South Lake Union Streetcar is going to be seeing a lot more ridership than I’d originally anticipated. Which is pretty cool, just because it’s a street car.