I just finished Project Review at work. I was kind of nervous about it, because Project Review has a reputation for being intimidating and awful, but it wasn’t really too bad. I was doing a project closeout, which is a pretty low-risk thing, since I don’t think the directors have ever not let someone close out a project.

“I’d like to close out this project and stop spending your money now, okay?”

“NO! Take more! Buy yourself a nice foot massager if you have any extra.”

That didn’t happen. But it went pretty well. My direct boss is sick today and had to call in, but the acoustics in the room were really horrible (I think they have all the hamsters that are running in ten thousand hamster wheels to provide air conditioning for the building housed directly over that meeting room) so she couldn’t really contribute much. But my colleagues and I handled it all right, I think. I had to make up some crap to answer one question, and I don’t think the dude who asked it was altogether satisfied with my answer, but I’m not altogether satisfied with his FACE so I guess we’re even.

(Note to any coworkers who might be reading: just kidding about the rude face thing.)

You know what’s really handy in iTunes? The “Highest Rated” automatically-generated playlist. I have so much crap in iTunes that I don’t really enjoy – I admit it, I don’t actually like Soul Coughing very much, or at least not enough to listen to them as often as I do when it’s set purely at random. Sorry, Jamal. Anyway, sometimes when I have some free time I’ll sift through my library and apply ratings to songs without actually listening to them, just remembering that I like them. Then, later, it’s a fun treat to have them come up in my Highest Rated playlist.

For example, here’s my most recently played 10:

* “She’s an Angel,” They Might Be Giants
* “Save Me,” Aimee Mann
* “Suffragette City,” David Bowie
* “7”, Prince
* “Barrio,” Orishas
* “Hungry Like the Wolf,” Duran Duran
* “Unskinny Bop,” Poison
* “Belong,” REM
* “I Want Your (Hands On Me),” Sinead O’Connor
* “Trompe Le Monde,” the Pixies

See? These songs have nothing in common except the fact that I like them. That’s more fun than grouping by artist, album, or genre, I think. You get more surprises without stupid crappy surprises.

Updated to add:  an awesomely rad thing just happened.  Still on random order within My Top Rated playlist, I heard Neil Young’s “Winterlong,” followed immediately by the Pixies’ cover thereof.  Both versions are so great, which is why they’re in that playlist to begin with.