What's an Opus and I'm a Geek

My management team was in town this week for some "off site meetings". Basically, that means the meetings bring people from numerous sites to a single site for a series of discussions. In this case "off site" was "on site" for me. But, I digress.

Shortly after lunch, today, my current Ober Manager (manager's boss) stopped by my desk to see how things have been going, how my tools are working for me, etc. Basically just an attempt to see how my morale is, how satisfied I am with my job/work and the applications I utilize on a daily basis to get things done. The company buzzword (right now) for this is "wellness check". I hate company buzzwords. I try not to use them. Someone else used a stupid buzzword, later in the day: "actionable feedback". I think that just means "this is feedback I can use to improve myself". But, we can't just say that, now can we? Nope. Not in today's world of corporate doublespeak. But, again, I've digressed.

Anyway, when the Ober Manager sat down, I was listening to my iPod as I worked my way through a series of queries to support a report I've been trying to stabilize for several months. As is the custom, he inquired about my iPod:

"What are you listening to?"
"Oh, I've just got it on shuffle, right now."
"Huh?"
"Shuffle, it's just randomly playing songs."
"Oh, I don't have one of those things, so I don't know the lingo."

It's not that hard, I guess, but, hey, he's not a geek, technodick or whatever you want to say. I suppose one could say he's not young and hip, but I don't think that's fair, either. I simply think he doesn't grok the gadgets that make geeks excited. That's fine with me.

It was the next part of the conversation that kinda wrinkled my shirt:

"So what song is it playing, right now?"
"The Neptune Opus of Holst's 'The Planets'."
"The Planets? What the hell? What are you listening to?"
"It's a symphony, classical music, 'The Planets'."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."

I know I'm a geek, I freely acknowledge it. I have the tshirt. I've acknowledged that. I love being me and I've taken a long time coming to grips with who I am. But, man, don't bash on me because I like classical music, too. Everyone should be familiar with many of the great symphonies, orchestras, operas, etc. of the world. This is a dying artform, stifled more and more, everyday, by digitally fabricated noise.

May the best musician win. Seriously.

SQL> Select '*.mp3' From tbl_Symphonies Where Composer = 'Tchaikovsky';