Friday’s Zombie Mob was a rousing success! I went down to Justin Herman and road for a bit with Critical Mass then met up with the zombie horde. I tried to stop them with my bicycle, but I was overpowered by the terrifyingly ugly Rubin zombie.

I had hoped that my bicycle helmet would protect me from their ferocious appetite for my cortex; however, as you can see from the photo they got past it’s defenses. My zombie alter-ego didn’t want to leave his bicycle but he had seemly lost all coordination and could only fall over the handlebars and walk it along.

The highlight of the day would have to be when one of the zombie horde sat down at the dianetics booth, stress meter in hand, screaming “Brains! Brains!” And in the background other zombies screaming “brainwash!” Oh and there was the one sorta freaked out teenager with the balloons that I shambled after yelling “Baaalloooooooon!”

After running home and washing the blood off, I went to the Amon Tobin concert, which was amazing. As I texted to my friend after the show:

Pure relentless funky evil has been driven into my skull and has infected me with an alien virus.

That pretty much sums up the absolutely incredible show.

p.s. CNET blogged about the zombie mob

The NACHRI conference starts today, which means day one of wearing a tie. I don’t wear ties very often, so had to consult the intertubes to remind myself how to tie a tie. Actually I could probably count all the times I’ve worn a tie on one hand… 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11, maybe 12. See all on one hand—as long as you count on your fingers in binary.

Our division is part of the tour that is going through today, and I’m helping out with the presentation. Tomorrrow, I’m helping staff the UCSF booth at the conference, so day two of wearing a tie. I’ll also be scouting out the presentation to see if there is any thing I can learn from the other presenters.

Then Fri is my big presentation, so I’m saving my best shirt and tie for that day. At least, I think I know what I’ll be wearing. It all might change once I see what others are wearing. This men’s business fashion thing has always been a bit alien to me.

When I was a surly young punk, I actually refused on principal to learn how to tie a tie. After a while, it had gone on so long that it was just funny—at least to me—so I kept it up. For those few times I needed to wear one, I’d have someone else tie it and not watch how it was done.

I finally broke down and found out how by looking online only a few years ago — I managed to go 30 years without knowing. At least, my first self-tied tie was worn for a good cause (more info here).