Tax Holiday

A quick reminder, for our dear local readers, there is a sales tax holiday this weekend in North Carolina. That's right! You can spend your hard earned dollars without the governor taking the state's usual cut. Items on the tax exempt list include clothing, footwear, and school supplies of $100 or less (per,) sports equipment of $50 or less (per,) computers of $3,500 or less, and computer supplies of $250 or less (per item.)

The relative price of computers (of the non Mac variety) is very low right now. Top of the line PC desktops and laptops can be had for under $650. Take advantage? It is certainly worth thinking about, especially if you know you are going to be in the market for a computer any time soon. The tax holiday runs from midnight Friday until midnight Sunday.

Say what?

Lamar County and Lauderdale County, Mississippi banned text messaging and online social network communication (MySpace, Facebook, etc.) between teachers and students.

An appropriate precaution? Or an over the top violation of free speech?

What say you, dear readers?

Read more here and here.

Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis

Or the Northern and Southern lights, respectively.



Scientists have long puzzled about the phenomena of the auroras over the Earth's poles. The tremendous displays of light have been a source of mystery, wonder, speculation and myth since they were first observed.

Scientists using five satellites from NASA's THEMIS program (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) were recently able to say more about the source of these brilliant lights than was ever known previously. It has been known for some time that the auroras were caused by storms of charged particles. However, science had debated the source of these storms, local electrical disruptions in Earth's magnetic field or distant disturbances in the "magnetotail," the region of the Earth's magnetic field that points away from the sun.

A new study to be published next month in Science says: the storms of charged particles form when Earth's magnetic field lines collapse on each other, showering the upper atmosphere with captured radiation from the sun where it sparks the auroras.

Beautiful.

These storms get their energy from the outflow of gases from the sun known as the solar wind. As it reaches Earth, the planet's magnetic field deflects the gases, although some is trapped and shunted toward the poles. When the charged molecules hit the oxygen and nitrogen in Earth's upper atmosphere, energy is released as captivating blue, green and red wavy displays of brilliance.

Dancing Days Were Here Again

Just finished a rather spectacular weekend with superfriends Ben & Ali, aka The GrinGoat. Highlights abounded, but I'm lacking writing energy at this exact moment so I may just throw down some kind of outline-ish dealio. Let's see...

The Invention of Games: After this spring's hit "Cat in a Boat" swept the nation, we figured that we shouldn't deprive America of any more of our gaming brain spawn. So first, Ben invented the awesome "Catch a Bubble in the Hot Tub" game, something that sounds stupendously dumb but is monstrously entertaining. If you want a copy of the rules, please send a SASE to Ben's new apartment.

We also expanded our game marketing base beyond the "while sitting in a car" and "while sitting in a hot tub" platforms to include a new exciting area, "while sitting in front of a computer." Perhaps we should name our company Wile E. Sitting. Perhaps not. Anyhoo, the new computer game we've designed is called "Marathon Simulator." So far the only concrete feature we're prepared to release the public is that you will tap the A button for each step. This game will also be featured as part of a "historical gaming series," meaning that you will get to play the game in different formats. For example, one version will utilize the Doom engine and be a first-person runner; another version will be a 2-D side scroller - maybe you will pick up a power bar you see on the ground?; perhaps the final version will be a text adventure:

*************************************************************************************
"You see a long road in front of you and are surrounded by people in small shorts. What do you want to do?"
?> Take a stride.

"You move up three feet. You see a long road in front of you and are surrounded by people in small shorts. What do you want to do?"
?> Take a stride.

"You move up three feet. You see a long road in front of you and are surrounded by people in small shorts. What do you want to do?"
?> Take the subway.
*************************************************************************************

So clearly, we were up to our very best idea-having this weekend.

In a more straight-forward sorta account, on Friday I picked up the dynamic duo at the airport. We hit up Oregano's for lunch, the first of far too many delicious meals on the weekend. Came back to the apartment and said hey to the pups, then successfully hung out poolside despite our New England friends' collective paleness. Beck surprised us by coming home early, and we cruised down to Old Scottsdale to eat at Los Olivos - SUPER YUMMY, por supuesto. Turns out that Ali used to frequent the O.S. in the days of her wayward youth, so we hit up a seriously good little establishment called "The Sugar Bowl." After getting heckled re: the correct pronunciation of "Sundae" and Ben's ordering of a single scoop of ice cream, we enjoyed stupidly delicious treats. Photographic evidence of Gringoat's Phoenician presence:

For the record: the "from the tabletop" camera angle, in a pink booth with fluorescent lighting, always makes for the best shot.

So we stuffed ourselves silly and headed home. Beck had to work on Saturday - BOOOOOO - so GG and I spent the morning chilling, eating honey nut cheerios, watching all kinds of Youtube video crack AND, most importantly, checking in on what the kids watch these days. Yep, Saturday morning with sweet cereal and cartoons. We saw a remake of Tom & Jerry, some Strawberry Shortcake, a very bad indeed George of the Jungle and an off the charts terrible live action show about a girl named Cake and her friend Miracle who was getting to the age where she is starting to smell when she sweats. Yeah... so after quite enough of that, we lounged poolside for a bit and then headed to Chompie's for lunch. The weather took a bizarro turn that day - cloud cover all morning - so we headed to play some frisbee at the local park. At 2 in the afternoon! In Phoenix! In July! WHAAAA??? Nuts, and a lot of fun - my ankle is slowly getting there, and despite not having thrown a disc since the beach in SC, Ben and Ali were on their game.

Beck and I took a brief detour to go fruitlessly house-hunting that afternoon - lots of places in the partially remodeled state, don't get me started - and came back to grab our pals and head out for Italian. We collectively offended the entire restaurant, and their dirty looks were so loud that they overpowered the lounge singer covering 50 ways to leave you lover. Outstanding! Good food, though, and after a stop by The Coffee Bean (TM), we came home to kick it in the hot-tub and invent a bubble game. Somewhere in there, Ben and Beck learned about the Velvet Underground.

We attacked our Sunday with the appropriate level of lassitude - cooked a big waffle and eggs and fruit salad breakfast, then combined our four brains into one large brain to take on the NYT crossword. If you were wondering - and I know you are - "skirr" means "go rapidly" and "spoor" is animal evidence used for tracking. Those killed us; otherwise, we smacked the puzzle around quite a bit. Somewhere in there we got coordinated enough to head out for a Jamba-Juice knock-off and then went to see the new Batman movie (along with the rest of America). Review pending, but we all enjoyed it, even if we're not quite ready to hand out any posthumous Oscars.

Headed over to central-ish Phoenix for New Mexico-style Mexican dinner at a joint called Richardson's, featuring some of the best roasted garlic / cheese / salsa platters you will ever experience. Great food, and we had plenty to take home for lunch the next day. Hung out there quite a while and got home just in time to collapse; took Ali and Ben back to the aeropuerto on Monday, and our quick, excellent weekend came to a close.

So yes, great times, and we definitely owe them a New England visit soon. Thanks so much, Ben and Ali! And Ben, we are not a shoe depository. That is all.

Resign

tidak nyangka kata ini akan keluar juga.
setelah sekian lama berkompromi dengan sang skripsi.
akhirnya saya harus memilih
dan perjalanan selama 6 bulan disini akhirnya.

"selesaikan dulu kuliah kamu baru kerja yang benar". ini kata bapak

"yah, mau diapain lagi? pikirin skala prioritas lah yang mana mau di fokuskan". ini kata alfie

"hah? kok bisa? bukannya sudah mapan disana?". ini kata sebagian besar teman-teman.

yah, mau diapain lagi. saya resign. tidak ada lagi rengga. at this time, just me.

image hosted by NadavDov

A Delicious Bargain

Why isn't she smiling? Maybe she hasn't had breakfast yet?

The editorial desk of Clarion has long held that if there were any one meal that we recommended being a "regular" for it was breakfast. Now that is not a regular in the sense of eating breakfast daily, though surely we recommend that as an element of good health. No rather, we mean in the restaurant/bar sense of the word "regular." It is a milieu where being a "regular" implies being a familiar, weekly, if not almost daily customer of a given establishment. There is a relationship, they know you and you know them. Jack Nicholson was wonderfully portrayed an extremely difficult restaurant regular in "As Good as Gets." Many other regulars are more along the lines of Norm in the TV sitcom "Cheers."

The Clarion hasn't had a place where we have both had the desire and the budget to be a regular in a long time. And while we are not a regular yet at this place, we do have a delicious breakfast bargain to recommend that once again has the Clarion thinking about the joys of being a breakfast regular.

The place that brought this to mind is Durham's Parker & Otis. The Clarion will confess that there are numerous personal proclivities that draw us to Pando, as the employees call it. Firstly, it is walking distance from our offices. Second there are free coffee refills. Thirdly is the basic but delicious breakfast that has us thinking about breakfast regulars. The Clarion has always strongly favored the simple and hearty at breakfast. We don't want to think or work too hard, but we do want something to fire up the boiler room and get the body moving. We have long believed in breakfast as an essential metabolism regulator and energy provider.

At Parker and Otis they have found our number, and we theirs with a simple but delicious bargain, the #3. What is the #3 you ask? Two eggs any style, three crispy strips of bacon and a cheddar biscuit. Doesn't sound like much? Ahhh, but it simply kicks ass for $4.99. The eggs are from Latta Family Farm in Hillsborough, NC. The chef clarifies the butter before nailing them just right to order; some at the Clarion favor sunny-side up. The bacon is thickly sliced and applewood smoked. The biscuit is just the right texture and density to match the rich bacon and fresh eggs. The coffee is good, but the clincher is the fresh fruit garnish. Most diners kick you down a piece of stale kale, fast food never heard of a garnish, in faux classy places its a single orange slice. At Parker and Otis, where they care about what you eat, in recent weeks it has been a succulent fresh strawberry and a wedge of juicy pineapple. The coup de grace and the perfect palate cleanser.

A photo essay by train

These photos were taken from the Amtrak train, The Carolinian, December 2007.

Careful on the internet

Associated Press photo


Be careful what you post on the internet. The warning has been in the air for years now, but the relevance of the maxim continues to grow. No longer is it just job and school applicants who must be careful what prospective employers and admissions officers are seeing on their Myspace profiles or Facebook walls. There is a growing array of criminal investigation and prosecution that is using the information willingly provided on these sites to catch criminals. And now, we read, using these sites and the pictures on them to influence judges and juries sentencing of criminals.

The Clarion read only today about a twenty year old, Providence, Rhode Island drunk driver who had seriously injured a fellow youth in a drunk driving crash. Less than two weeks later, while the victim was still in the hospital, there were pictures of him partying it up posted on somebody's Facebook. The pictures (see above) showed him laughing and drinking at a Halloween party while wearing an orange prison jumpsuit costume.

Prosecutors were alerted to the existence of the pictures, and changed their sentencing recommendation from probation to two years in prison. The judge agreed, and called the pictures depraved when ordering the man to do two years in prison.

US Air where your safety comes first

US Air where your safety comes first, or at least second, after costs and profit margins; that's how the Clarion reads remarks this week by US Air pilots about the carrier's shocking and potentially unsafe practices.

Eight pilots have filed complaints against the airline for allowing their aircraft to fly dangerous low on fuel in attempt to cut costs. Less fuel when a plane departs is less weight and therefore better fuel mileage. Pilots said in a full page ad in USA Today that US Air was ordering them to depart with less safety margin fuel than they felt necessary. FAA regulations require all domestic flights have at least forty-five extra hour worth of fuel than it would take to get their destination. (In 1990 an Avianca Airlines plane ran out of fuel after a lengthy holding pattern over Kennedy Airport and crashed into Long Island, killing seventy-three.)

Pilots who have been requesting more fuel than the company policy deems necessary have been ordered to attend punitive training sessions to explain why. The carrier denies the pilots claims, and says the extra training sessions are an opportunity for the pilots to explain their requests for additional fuel. The company further says that its policy is for planes to have an extra hour's worth of fuel per flight.

Note that all of this is occurring in the context of a labor dispute between the company and the pilots.

Jet fuel recently surpassed labor as airlines' biggest cost.

Disparate Topics

1: Another year, another loss for the NL. Snap.

Quick comment on something that probably went entirely unseen, or at least entirely uncommented upon: in the bottom of the 11th. Ian Kinsler hit a single and tried to steal second, but was thrown out. Kinda. He looked safe anyways, but the replay showed that Tejada did not even tag him - pulled the ol' "slap tag" routine and got the call. Now, this being America and the land of honesty and fair play and equal opportunity and aren't sports grand and don't they teach us all kinds of good-heareted lessons and everything else, Tejada immediately went to the umpire and explained, "No sir, I in fact missed the tag, and Mr. Kinsler should be declared safe." So they let Kinsler stay at second, and he scored two batters later when J.D. Drew singled up the middle. So the game ended in the 11th.

Oddly, though, all of the papers say it went until the 15th this morning. Maybe I mis-saw something.

So Tejada clearly knows he missed that tag, but he got away with it, and no one blinked an eye. That's clearly within the realm of "gamesmanship," but why? Looks like Tejada just used deceit to gain a competitive advantage. So while it falls under gamesmanship, it also falls under "win at all costs." Which *demands* the question: is anyone thinking of the children?

2: So beck and I, lacking inspiration and high brow prejudices, have watched a few episodes of Last Comic Standing. And there's this duo called "God's Pottery." Here's a clip that gives pretty much the whole shtick:

So it's pretty much open season mocking of the entire "Chirstian Acoustic Youth Group" movement. Which is interesting on the one hand because it's a group mocking Christianity on primetime network television - these guys are hardly pulling David Cross atheistic critiques of religion here, but still, not exactly family-friendly to a significant percentage of the country's population. But the other hand is that it's just a very limited shtick - these guys pull it off well, but it's one joke over and over. And over, but that is what's truly surreal about it - on this purported reality show, they keep up the act the entire time! Ridiculous, and made for some bizarre situations, like when they were in a "Yo Mama" joke telling contest and just kept complimenting their opponent's mother. Not to mention that they theoretically acted in this manner off-camera, too, just in normal living situations with the other contestants. Nice - they almost get points for me for some quality theater of the absurd stuff, but fall just a hair short because it's just frankly not quite absurd enough. Anyways, they were eliminated last week essentially because their one joke finally ran out of steam, and I'm pretty happy, because should I choose to waste more time with this show, I'd prefer it not to be at the hands of a one-off act.

(Train of thought to be continued in a moment - but in the meantime, speaking of "theater of the absurd," looking into the music of The Fortress of Solitude led me to an avant-garde group from the 70s-present called The Residents. They're famous - you may recognize them from their iconic eyeball masks - and I recognize that I am way off the cool path here - but check out this video. And be warned: WEIRD. Divinely so. I think I'm in love).

Getting back to the "acoustic comics" theme - thanks to an afternoon spent in Rochester with Meghan and Greg and an iPod hooked up to a TV, you can't think of "acoustic comedy duo" and no give props to these guys. In fact, I've probably posted this before, but here it is again:

"Be more constructive with your feedback." Indeed. Those dudes are much funnier / more talented / more musical, etc., than God's Pottery imho. And more versatile (if by "versatile" you mean, "can play funny acoustic guitar songs from other genres").

So compare and contrast with this guy, a seventeen year old acoustic guitar / musical comedian from Boston. Big props: witty lyrics, wordplay, and definite presence. Un-props: if you watch a bunch of his videos, you'll start to see a pattern of immature mugging and a consistent reliance on the same kind of jokes. And some pretty poor-taste jokes.

Oh, and if weren't for all the lewd references and disgusting, sophomoric imagery, I would totally dedicate this to Zil because the topic here is, loosely, high school math. Consider the preceding sentence a warning on two fronts (nerdy and illicit content). Btw, if you're looking for the "made soda come out of my nose line," it's the one that starts off "squaring numbers are (sic) just like women..."

In completely unrelated news: t-minus two until Ben and Ali!!! HUZZAH.

Belmar, NJ

Belmar is back. Not that it was ever really gone as a legendary Jersey shore party destination, but this week town officials acknowledged the silliness of some of their P.C. inspired recent laws and repealed them.

These included laws that made it illegal to flip someone the bird in public or to have a keg on the beach. Wait, what, when was it ever illegal to have a keg on the beach in Belmar?

AOL travel news quotes Mayor Ken Pringle, "I'm not sure anyone even knew that making obscene gestures was illegal. Right after we send out our tax bills, I tend to see a few."

Belmar realized it is tough to be the Daytona Beach of the north when your laws are more restrictive then other local shore towns. Make more restrictive laws and the revelers just go somewhere else. Duh.

Fortress of Music-tude!

You want music dork? I give you music dork: I've yet to review Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem, but I have compiled a soundtrack that accounts for every popular music reference in the book. So if you want some bonus flavor to your poolside reading, track these puppies down and give 'em a record-player whirl while you take in the tale of Dylan & Mingus. Warning: the soundtrack as-is is a solid 12 hours long.

1969	Jackson 5	I Want You Back
1967	The Beatles	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
1970	The Beatles	Let It Be
1974	Rufus & Chaka Khan	Tell Me Something Good
1972	Bill Withers	Use Me
1971	Delaney & Bonnie & Friends	Never Ending Song Of Love
1967	Miriam Makeba	Pata Pata
1972	Carly Simon	You're So Vain
1967	Young Holt Trio	Wack Wack
1968	Rahsaan Roland Kirk	The Inflated Tear
1975	Esther Phillips	Black-Eyed Blues
1973	The Main Ingredient	You Can Call Me Rover
1975	Shirley & Company	Shame, Shame, Shame
1975	Pete Wingfield	Eighteen With A Bullet
1976	Johnnie Taylor	Disco Lady
1976	The Miracles	Love Machine, Pt. 1
1966	Ray Charles	Let's Go Get Stoned
1976	Rose Royce	Car Wash
1972	The Spinners	I'll Be Around
1976	Wild Cherry	Play That Funky Music
1976	Steve Miller Band	Fly Like an Eagle
1975	Gary Wright	Dream Weaver
1975	C.W. McCall	Convoy
1975	Maxine Nightingale	Right Back Where We Started From
1976	Starland Vocal Band	Afternoon Delight
1977	Marvin Gaye	Got To Give It Up (Part 1)
1974	Babe Ruth	The Mexican
1973	Fatback Band	Fatbackin'
1974	Alvin Cash & The Registers	Stone Thing (Part 1)
1976	La Pregunta	Shangri La
1974	MFSB	Love Is The Message
1964	Eric Dolphy	Gazzellioni
1956	Sonny Rollins	You Don't Know What Love Is
1969	The Beatles	Oh! Darling
1978	Con Funk Shun	Ffun
1977	Earth Wind & Fire	Serpentine Fire
1971	Three Dog Night	Old Fashioned Love Song
1966	Nina Simone	Nobody's Fault But Mine
1954	Modern Jazz Quartet	One Bass Hit
1976	Rhythm Heritage	Theme From S.W.A.T.
1971	Dennis Coffey	Scorpio
1978	Bootsy Collins	Bootzilla
1974	Ohio Players	Fire
1973	Sly & the Family Stone	Que Sera Sera
1973	Frank Zappa	Montana
1978	Devo	(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
1959	Tom Lehrer	Poisoning Pigeons in the Park
1978	Steve Martin	King Tut
1973	Cheech & Chong	Basketball Jones (Featuring Tyrone Shoelaces)
1969	Led Zeppelin	Good Times Bad Times
1967	Jimi Hendrix	Fire
1967	The Doors	Love Me Two Times
1980	Parlet	Help From My Friends
1978	Cheap Trick	Surrender
1978	The Clash	Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad
1974	Shuggie Otis	Inspiration Information
1973	Donny Hathaway	Come Little Children
1979	Talking Heads	Cities
1979	The Clash	I'm So Bored with the U.S.A.
1978	Foxy	Get Off
1975	The Spinners	They Just Can't Stop It (The Games People Play)
1979	The Fatback Band	Kim Tim III (Personality Jock)
1976	Ramones	Let´s Dance
1977	Richard Hell & The Voidoids	Blank Generation
1978	Tom Robinson Band	2-4-6-8 Motorway
1973	Brian Eno	Cindy Tells Me
1974	Ray Stevens	The Streak
1974	Carl Douglas	Kung Fu Fighting
1979	The Sugar Hill Gang	Rapper's Delight
1977	Fleetwood Mac	The Chain
1979	Stevie Wonder	Same Old Story
1967	Aretha Franklin	Respect
1977	The Sex Pistols	Submission
1977	The Heartbreakers	Born to Lose
1978	Prince	Soft And Wet
1973	The Who	The Real Me
1973	New York Dolls	Personality Crisis
1972	Mott The Hoople	All The Young Dudes
1972	Lou Reed	Walk on the Wild Side
1980	Talking Heads	Crosseyed and Painless
1977	Bunny Sigler	Let Me Party With You (Party-Party-Party)
1973	O.V. Wright	I Don't Know Why
1967	James Carr	The Dark End of the Street
1966	Four Tops	Reach Out I'll Be There
1962	The Miracles	You've Really Got A Hold On Me
1971	The Temptations	Just My Imagination
1964	The Supremes	Baby Love
1959	The Drifters	There Goes My Baby
1960	James Brown	Bewildered
1958	Jackie Wilson	Lonely Teardrops
1964	Solomon Burke	Everybody Needs Somebody to Love
1966	James Brown	It's A Man's Man's Man's World
1961	The Five Royales	Dedicated To the One I Love
1965	Sam Cooke	Jesus Gave Me Water
1972	The O'Jays	Love Train
1973	Marvin Gaye	What's Going On
1970	Curtis Mayfield	Move On Up
1972	Al Green	Love And Happiness
1975	The Stylistics	Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)
1970	The Delfonics	Didn't I Blow Your Mind
1975	Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes	Wake Up Everybody (Part 1)
1976	The Manhattans	Kiss & Say Goodbye
1969	The Spinners	Where is That Girl
1984	Meat Puppets	Lake Of Fire
1999	Ron Sexsmith	Tears Behind The Shades
1975	Brian Eno	Sky Saw
1972	Bill Withers	Lonely Town, Lonely Street
1965	Sam Cooke	A Change Is Gonna Come
1970	Curtis Mayfield	We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue
1969	Johnny Adams	Reconsider Me
1998	Lucinda Williams	Can't Let Go
1954	Johnny Ace	Pledging My Love
2001	Gillian Welch	Elvis Presley Blues
1960	Little Jimmy Scott	Everybody's Somebody's Fool
1949	Little Esther	Double Crossing Blues
1999	Dump	The Words Get Stuck In My Throat
1988	The Go-Betweens	Streets Of Your Town
2002	The Blind Boys of Alabama	People Get Ready
1967	The Beach Boys	Heroes and Villains
1977	Television	Marquee Moon
1973	Ann Peebles	I Can't Stand The Rain
1967	Bar Kays	Soul Finger
1975	Hot Chocolate	You Sexy Thing
1969	Syl Johnson	Is It Because I'm Black?
1975	War	Why Can't We Be Friends?
1975	Kool & The Gang	Summer Madness
1983	The Gap Band	Outstanding
1974	Barry White	You're The First, The Last, My Everything
1956	Johnny Ray	Just Walkin' In The Rain
1964	Bob Dylan	Chimes Of Freedom
1970	Eddie Holman	Hey There Lonely Girl
1979	Smokey Robinson & The Miracles	Cruisin'
1979	Prince	I Wanna Be Your Lover
1970	Van Morrison	Crazy Love
1972	Albert King	Don't Burn Down The Bridge
1964	The Supremes	Come See About Me
1965	Elvis Presley	Hi-Heel Sneakers
1993	Sheryl Crow	Strong Enough
1982	The dB's	Amplifier
1992	R.E.M.	Drive
1999	Beck	Nicotine & Gravy
1988	N.W.A.	Straight Outta Compton
1953	The Prisonaires	Just Walkin' In The Rain
1982	Central Line	Walking Into Sunshine
1968	Van Morrison	Astral Weeks
1968	The Grateful Dead (live)	Saint Stephen (Live)
1980	Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark	Enola Gay
1972	David Bowie	Soul Love
1981	Rick James	Super Freak
1973	The Who	I'm One
1980	The Residents	Amber
1977	Wire	Mannequin
1978	Devo	Mongoloid
1974	Genesis	The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
1988	The Psychedelic Furs	All That Money Wants
1979	Ian Dury And The Blockheads	Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3
1966	Otis Redding	Try A Little Tenderness
1973	Gladys Knight And The Pips	Midnight Train To Georgia
1964	Maxine Brown	Oh No, Not My Baby
1966	Howard Tate	Ain't Nobody Home
1986	Run-D.M.C.	Walk This Way
1967	The Velvet Underground	I'm Waiting for the Man
1975	Bob Dylan	Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood)
1966	The Godz	Lay in the Sun
1966	Lee Dorsey	Working In The Coal Mine
1972	Arlo Guthrie	The City of New Orleans
1962	Bob Dylan	Baby, Let Me Follow You Down
1960	John Coltrane	Giant Steps
1968	Tommy James & The Shondells	Crimson & Clover
1975	Teddy Pendergrass	Bad Luck
1969	The Shaggs	Philosophy Of The World
1963	Charles Mingus	Solo Dancer
1960	Bobby "Blue" Bland	I Pity The Fool
1956	Little Willie John	Fever
1984	The Go-Betweens	Bachelor Kisses
1980	Kurtis Blow	The Breaks
1982	The Sugarhill Gang	8th Wonder
1971	Curtis Mayfield	Stare and Stare
1971	Curtis Mayfield	Stone Junkie
1981	Laurie Anderson	O Superman
1975	Patti Smith	Redondo Beach
1980	Talking Heads	Once in a Lifetime
1975	Brian Eno	Golden Hours

Decision Branch

Result: Beer and Baseball?
Decision: Skip Ultimate this afternoon :(
Result: Feels better, thanks.
Decision: Ice foot for an hour upon arriving home.
Result: Ouch.
Decision: Walk 3 miles with a rolled ankle.
Result: Make it about half a mile before stopping. Still 3 miles from home. Ouch.
Decision: Try to run on rolled ankle.
Result: Run into by a biker (again); roll ankle on uneven pavement.
Decision: Continue running down slanted sidewalk to ~3.5 mile mark.
Result: Encounter crappy road construction and tilted terrain.
Decision: Keep running on Hayden.
Result: Meet fork at 2 mile mark where I could stay on street or turn off onto Green Belt.
Decision: Run on surface streets to avoid flooded Green Belt.
Result: Now running long on Fri/Sun, after a monstrous storm on Thursday night, instead of planned Thur/Sat long and Fri/Sun short.
Decision: Run with Beck Thursday morning and cut things off at 3 miles instead of planned 7.
Result: Doing this running program.
Decision: Attend Brett's wedding eleven years later and see the ultra-slim groom v. unslim friends, get inspired.
Result: Befriend Brett.
Decision: Take Philosophy of Mind at Rice with Brett.
Result: Good times.
Decision: Regrettably attend Rice University with my dreams crushed.
Result: Failure to get drafted out of high school by Chicago Cubs.
Decision: Attempt to study, be "well-rounded," etc., in high school instead of devoting 100% of my time to my baseball career.
Result: Take this to heart.
Initial Event: Someone tells me at some point that "being well rounded" is important.

So the ultimate outcome of an attempt to be well-rounded is an ankle that is... well rounded.

(On the plus side: with 20 miles over the last four days, and oh yeah, we're gonna go ahead and count that 3 miles walked on one foot, that's 27 for the week and 107 for the past four weeks, soundly meeting my "somewhere between 100-150 miles" goal. I think the revised goal is for 25-30 per week for the next four weeks, so 100-120 overall - but that may get off to a slow start, pending on how tender this continues to be. Ah, well. Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday).