music recommendations

For those of you who may have been wondering why there's no music on the last few posts, the answer is really quite simple--I'm bored with my iTunes library. 186 songs on my commute playlist, and I'm skipping all but a handful of them. Even the podcasts are boring.

I went looking for new music on iTunes today, going through the bot's recommendations for me, but it didn't yield much. So I figured I'd ask the audience--got any music you love? Wanna share some recommendations? I'm all ears. (Or eyes, I guess...)

Weigh-in, some bike drivel, & FMF, 6/8/07

Yyyyyeah...I'm beginning to think I need to see a doctor, or get some blood tests or something. 201.2, despite a sub-1800 calorie average* and regular exercise. Judging from my *cough* volatile moods, I think it might be Bloat Week, but still. Ridiculous.

*I know this isn't terribly low, but I haven't had any trouble losing weight at this level in the past. I wasn't, like, losing 3 lbs/week or anything, but I sure as hell wasn't gaining.

I brought my bike into the shop yesterday, because the last time I was in (to fix that chain rub thing I mentioned briefly a few posts ago) I had a brake cable that needed replacing. We also talked a little bit about the weight-distribution issues I was having on the bike (too much weight on my hands). Bike Shop Guy (BSG) suggested a refit, because we hadn't done one since they changed the handlebar (and I changed the pedals, and the saddle, and my shoes...) and things were probably off. (I don't really have anything more to add to this, but I think I needed one more parenthetical notation in this paragraph.) (God.)

So I dropped it off for the cabling yesterday at lunch, and went back for the fit after work. Everything went great, BSG adjusted my seat height and my cleat position, and would have moved my seat back if the rails had been longer. He suggested a seatpost with a 20mm offset, since my current saddle is pushed back as far as it will go. This was a relief to me, since I was a little afraid that this new fit would indicate that I needed a shorter reach. If that were the case, then buying the Orca was a mistake. But no...it actually needs to be longer, which is what I was hoping for. Whew! (Except I was kind of hoping that it would need to be longer in the forward direction...a new stem is cheaper than a new seatpost.) Then we talked components and saddles a little bit...he agreed with my component choices for the Orca (Ultegra 10-spd, compact double crank), suggested a saddle. It was nice...I felt very competent, which is a feeling I don't usually get in the bike shop.

Then I paid, left, loaded my bike, and forgot my front wheel in the parking lot. Sigh. So much for competence. :) I didn't even notice it was missing until 45 minutes later, when I went to put my bike together and test out the new fit--whoops, where's my wheel?!

After nearly throwing up at the thought that I may have run over it on my way out of the parking lot(though I think I would have noticed), I frantically searched for my receipt with the bike shop's phone # on it. Then I noticed my phone had new voicemail. Sure enough, BSG had seen the wheel fall as I drove away, I didn't run it over, and it was safely tucked away at the shop. I called back to thank him, and I'm picking it up today.

Just once, I wish the universe would let me get through an entire day without dorking out in some fashion. Hell, maybe it's just God's way of keeping me from getting too cocky. :)

Anyway, music. I actually have some this week! (UPDATE: links removed.)

As I've mentioned before, I have huge playlists. This is because I bore easily, and anything less than a 50 song rotation gives me too much repetition from day to day. Thus, my normal playlist size is anywhere from 100-300 songs. Even with this many songs in the shuffle, I can tell when it's time to switch 'em up when I start skipping 5 songs for every one I play. My commute playlist (232 songs) is nearing that point now, but there are a few songs that still get played every time they come up. This week's selections are a sampling of those.

Stay Gold, Ponyboy - The Get Up Kids While I do like this one in the car, the workout playlist is where it really shines. The tempo change part is great for keeping the cadence up.

If I Were Brave - Shawn Colvin

Good Man - Josh Ritter I think this one may be on the list because it's so recent for me...I finally got around to watching the House season finale on Wednesday, and downloaded this song immediately afterward. We'll see if it has any kind of staying power.

What Sarah Said - Death Cab for Cutie I finally got sick of I Will Follow You Into the Dark, but I still indulge my morbid romanticism every time this one comes on. Maybe because it makes me think of my mom.

Just A Sign - Allen Wayne Damron Still my favorite song of all time, probably proving that my tastes aren't terribly well refined. :)

Right click, save as, and enjoy your weekend!

Weigh-in & FMF - Mixed bag

I'm feeling really melancholy today...not sure why, I guess I was just due for a day that doesn't seem worth the trouble of getting out of bed. And then I gained 0.4 lbs this morning, which did not improve the mood. 199.2 is not the number I was hoping for. Hardly the end of the world, but still...$10 less in the component fund, man. Bummer.

Music's all over the place today...all pretty recent acquisitions, but that's really the only thing they have in common.

UPDATE: Links/files removed.

If I Were Brave - Four Bitchin' Babes

New Slang - The Shins (live, w/Iron & Wine)

I was going to post some Bl@ke Lew1s too, but my uploader didn't like that file for some reason. Oh well...if he gets voted off next week, I'll try again. After I'm done sobbing into my couch cushions, that is.

Aaanyway...right click, save as, enjoy your weekend. :)

Weigh-in & FMF - bible-thumpin' edition

198.8 today. I lost a quarter-pounder! Well, without the bun. And probably the cheese and condiments. But I lost something, at least!

I'm not sure if it's heartening or disheartening that I lost 0.2 lbs on a 2100-calorie daily average. On the positive side, that tells me that I don't have to take my calories down very far right now to see results (though I do know that will change as I get smaller). Conversely, it highlights how much I've been overeating for the last few months. If I can lose weight at 2000 calories, how many was I putting away when I was gaining?

Anyway, SparkPeople is still working pretty well for me, though yesterday was the first time I stayed within my target range since I started. I had to fight with the Inner Fat Girl to do it, too...right around 6:30, IFG was all, "I want chips, bitch" and I was all, "If you eat the chips, you can't have that pudding later, and you're gonna want the pudding." Then she was like, "If you didn't want to eat the chips, why did you buy them?"

I conceded that this was a good question, sighed loudly, then I (we?) ate some chips. But later, I had strawberries instead of pudding, and came in barely under 1950 for the day (1929, to be exact). So yeah, progress may be slow over here, but at least it's going in the right direction now.

And speaking of progress, those of you who look at the sidebar will notice that I've changed my start date yet again. This is because I've got a challenge in the works, which I'll be posting about later. Also, I'm tired of having the fact that I'd kept off less than a pound since August just staring me in the face over there. :) It's time for a new beginning.

Today's music has a bible theme, in that either the artist or the title of each song contains a biblical name. Nothing too churchy (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Doubting Thomas - Nickel Creek

In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel (a saint AND an angel, all in one name!)

The Marvelous Toy - Peter, Paul, and Mary (three-fer! I'm on a roll here, people!)

Uncle John's Band - Grateful Dead

Jesus Walks - Kanye West

And what inspired this theme, you ask? Yesterday, these two songs came up on my work playlist one after the other:

Samson - Regina Spektor

Hey There Delilah - Plain White Ts

Right-click, save-as, peace be with you.

FMF Rerun, Original date 2/23/07

Welp, tomorrow's the big day. My bag is packed, I'm ready to go, etc. I'm starting to get kind of nervous, though, so if I write much more about that I might throw up or something. So here, have some music!

First, the stuff from 2/23:

Walk Humbly, Son - Eddie From Ohio

Affliction - AFI

And now the new, from Wicked (which I loved, by the way):

Popular
Defying Gravity

Right click, save as, enjoy your weekend!

FMF Rerun: Original date 2/16/07

nothing really new to report since yesterday, except it's music day. It's also weigh-in day, but that part's pretty unspectacular...197 even, which is up 0.2 lbs. Meh.

This week's music was originally posted in the Valentine edition of Free Music Friday, so it's all about luuuuurve. Well, except for the two bonus songs--they're about white trash and an old lady, respectively. Mmm...romantic. :O)

UPDATE: Links/files removed.

I Don't Love You Much Do I - Guy Clark

Can't Help Falling in Love - Lick the Tins

Friday I'm in Love - The Cure

Love Love Love - Mountain Goats

Love Like Winter - AFI

Bonus:

Trailer Trash - Pickin' On Series*

Veronica - Elvis Costello

*This song comes from the same CD as the bluegrass version of Float On I posted a few weeks back. They've changed the description on iTunes, and now the artist lists as Pickin' On Series. This is how I discovered that there are 36 of these bluegrass tribute CDs on iTunes, for all kinds of artists--classic rock, metal, top 40, country...you name your genre, there's probably a bluegrass tribute to somebody. Jimmy Buffet seems to be the runaway favorite of the bunch, judging by the "Top Songs" section for the series. Go figure. :)

Anyway, right click, save as, and I'll see you Monday.

Weigh-in and FMF Rerun, Original air date: 2/2/07

I was a little worried about the weigh-in this week, since the scale numbers had been pretty terrible up till yesterday. However, the pre-century over-hydrating I've been doing over the past week must finally be doing the job, because I was down nearly 1 lb. from two weeks ago. 196.8 this morning, for a loss of .8 since my last weigh in. Woo! Now I just need to lose about 27 more in the next 3 weeks to make my MS150 challenge goal. :)

As for the music, this week's selections are the same ones I posted on February 2nd. I'm not sure what happened to Jan 26...was I sick that week? I don't remember.

UPDATE: Links/files removed.

Catch the Wind - Donovan

Kathy's Song - Simon & Garfunkel

Lakes of Pontchartrain - Be Good Tanyas

So Close to My Heart - Dar Williams

Blue Light of the Flame - Dar Williams

And as a bonus...if you thought Death Cab couldn't get more morbidly romantic than I Will Follow You Into the Dark, take a listen to the lyrics on this one:

What Sarah Said - Death Cab For Cutie

Uplifting, eh? :P It is pretty, though. Right-click, save-as, have a safe and happy weekend.

FMF Rerun, Original air date: 1/19/07

In which we revisit AFI, Death Cab for Cutie, and Eddie From Ohio. Also, a bonus song thrown in, just for the hell of it. :)

Oh, and a completely unrelated story...I woke up early and in a good mood today, so I decided to get crazy and blow out my hair and put some makeup on. I got to work, and the very first guy who saw me did a double-take and said, "Did you get new glasses?"

"Nah, just wearing makeup."

"Ooooh...I knew there was something different."

Hee. It's like when I had lost 40 lbs. and people kept asking if I got a haircut.

(And yes...I do look kinda hot today, thanks for asking.)

UPDATE: Links/files removed.

Prelude 12/21 - AFI

Endlessly, She Said - AFI

Someday You Will Be Loved - Death Cab for Cutie

I Will Follow You Into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie

This is Me - Eddie From Ohio

Independence, Indiana - Eddie From Ohio

And for the bonus song, we have a little Modest Mouse. Well, not really Modest Mouse, because although they seem like a band I should like, I just...don't. However, I was searching for that Float On song the other day, and came across a bluegrass version on a Modest Mouse tribute album. The whole concept struck me as sort of hilarious, since I think of a tribute album as something done after a legendary band breaks up/retires/dies in a horrific plane crash. I wouldn't classify MM as legendary, and they just released a new album four days ago. Not to mention...bluegrass? Seriously?

So of course I had to download it, and you know what? I actually kind of dig it. So here you go...

Float On - "Various Artists", from The Bluegrass Tribute to Modest Mouse: Something You've Never Heard Before

That's for sure. Right-click, save-as, and have a fantabulous weekend!

FMF Update - Dammit, Microsoft!

It has been called to my attention that my music files have been a garbled mess for the past, oh...month or so? I suspect it's been since I decided to use the Windows command line FTP for my uploads. I don't know my ASCII from a hole in the ground, so I just relied on the client to pick the right transfer mode. Apparently, I asked too much. That, or there was some other factor entirely that made all my mp3s sound like the Chipmunks after a 3-day bender.

At any rate, many thanks to Eleanor for pointing out the problem, since I haven't done a test download in quite a while (obviously). This week's files have been re-uploaded, and they should now sound like actual music. If anyone continues to have problems with their downloads, please let me know.

Because chances are good that the songs I posted in January/February were all fubar'ed also, the next few Fridays will be reruns of the songs I thought I was posting.

FMF - recent acquisitions

I'm not weighing in today...I think I'm officially going to switch my weigh-in schedule to every 2 weeks. The ups and downs are too frustrating otherwise. And with the MS150 pledge challenge, I think I've paid for that same pound about 10 times over. :) At the rate I'm going, my total $1/lb donation will hit $50 by next month and I'll still be in the 190s. Well, at least it's for charity! And I did make 100 miles this week, so there's another $10. Woo!)

Anyway, this week's music is all stuff I've picked up at iTunes this week. Speaking of adding up a $1 at a time...

UPDATE: Links/files removed.

A Comet Appears - The Shins

New Slang - The Shins

See The World - Gomez

Here It Goes Again - Ok Go

You're So Damn Hot - Ok Go

And a bonus song in honor of my new truck, which has been sitting on a lot for two weeks in tree pollen season, and is absolutely filthy:

Ridin' - Chamillionaire

Right-click, save-as, try to catch me ridin' dirty. ;)

FMF - Unmotivational

No weigh-in today. My body is doing some hormonal things this week, and I swear my boobs weigh 8 lbs--each. So I think I'll just wait till next week.

As for this week's music...I wasn't feeling terribly imaginative, so this is another one of those first-5 weeks. What follows is the first 5 songs that played on my commute this morning. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Links removed.

Walk Humbly, Son - Eddie From Ohio

Affliction - AFI

It Ain't Me, Babe - Joaquin Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon

If I Could - Storyhill

Make Me Want To Stay - Tommy Sands

Right-click, save as, walk humbly.

Weigh-in & FMF - Valentine's Day edition

Another loss this week, believe it or not--196.2! Though, 0.2 lbs. is hardly anything to write home about. :)

For our special Valentine's FMF, all this week's selections have the word "Love" in the title.

UPDATE: Links/files removed.

Can't Help Falling in Love - Lick the Tins I bought the Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack for this song, because I couldn't find this version anywhere else. In other words, this song cost me 12 bucks, so I'm trying to make as much out of it as possible. If it keeps me from watching the credits of the movie one more time, though, it's money well spent. Of course, that doesn't mean I won't keep watching the actual movie every time it comes on cable. "You look good wearing my future." Ahhh. Good stuff.

Love Like Winter - AFI

I Don't Love You Much Do I - Guy Clark

And I'm not sure which one of these fits better into my love-themed free music Friday:

Love Love Love - The Mountain Goats 3 times!

Friday I'm in Love - The Cure Love AND Friday...it's like it was made for this post.

Right-click, save-as, love one another.

FMF - It's all folks

So, this weeks selections were prompted by watching a really bad episode of Criminal Minds*, whose only redeeming feature was a pretty good song by Dar Williams. So, here you go--have some folk (or folk-ish) songs.

UPDATE: Links/files removed.

Catch the Wind - Donovan

Kathy's Song - Simon & Garfunkel

Lakes of Pontchartrain - Be Good Tanyas

So Close to My Heart - Dar Williams

And, the song that saved Criminal Minds from immediate deletion:

Blue Light of the Flame - Dar Williams

Right-click, save-as, have a great weekend!

*And unfortunately, this is also the only episode I have ever watched. I put it on the DVR because it seemed like a show that I should like, but this episode was a major disappointment. I didn't delete the DVR timer, though...I'm hoping the irritating characters (Elle, mostly, but the Mandy Patinkin guy seems like Horatio Lite) and super-predictable plot were just a fluke. That Super Bowl episode had better be good, is what I'm saying.

FMF & Weigh-in combo platter

Morning...I don't think I'll have time for 2 posts today, so you get them both at once. Lucky!

First, the weigh-in, which was 196.2. That puts me down 0.6, which is not great, but also not the end of the world. It also makes the MS Society 60 cents richer, so bonus!

Now, the music. This week's music comes from the three most recent additions to my CD collection.

UPDATE: Links/files removed.

First, from AFI's Decemberunderground:

Prelude 12/21

Endlessly, She Said

Then, Plans by Death Cab for Cutie:

Someday You Will Be Loved

I Will Follow You Into the Dark So romantic, if a little morbid. Appeals to my secret inner goth girl, I guess. :)

And finally, This Is Me from Eddie From Ohio:

This Is Me

Independence, Indiana

All highly recommended. Also, I'm not sure how I managed to never hear of Eddie from Ohio till now. Given my other musical tastes, you'd think they'd have come up on my iTunes radar before last week.

Anyway, right-click, save-as, stay warm and drive safely. :)

FMF - first 5

I had zero theme ideas this week, so I chose the first five songs that came up on a random shuffle of my main playlist. I guess we can say that it's in honor of the first FMF of 2007, or something.

UPDATE: Links/files removed.

The Philosopher's Song - Bill Staines

American Tune - Simon & Garfunkel

The Tower Song - Townes Van Zandt

Fidelity - Regina Spektor

Anthem, Pt. 2 - Blink-182

Seems to be a little folk-heavy, but that's the way it goes some days. Right-click, save-as, enjoy your weekend!

FMF - ...And Now

As promised, today's music is "new" holiday music--that is, all songs were recorded after 1980.

O Holy Night - Martina McBride My favorite version of this song ever. Usually, it's done too classical for me, or that one high note gets screechy. This one manages to avoid both those things.

Christmas Carol - Skip Ewing Just enough sap.

Fairytale of New York - Pogues This was my favorite Christmas song last year. Not that it was made last year...that's just when it struck my fancy.

A Great Big Sled - The Killers I got this one from iTunes this year because it did some kind of charity donation thing. It's not bad.

I Won't Be Home for Christmas - Blink-182 Sort of the anti-carol.

Rudy - Be Good Tanyas

Christmas Canon - Trans-Siberian Orchestra

And, lest you think I've forgotten...

Kyle's Mom is a Bitch - Eric Cartman No, not really a holiday song. But considering that the plot that prompted the song involved Kyle's mom canceling the Christmas party (or something like that. I usually skip the Christmas episodes, because I just don't "get" Mr. Hankey), I'm throwing it in with the rest. Plus, it's a GREAT workout song, which sort of makes it relevant to this site as well. So there. :)

So, there they are--my Christmas gifts to you. Right-click, save-as, and safe and happy holidays to you and yours!

MMM - Christmas carols, part I - Then...

Sorry I didn't get these out on Friday. I had a holiday party, and any variation to my Friday routine tends to distract me from the FMF post until it's too late.

Since Christmas is just around the corner, I thought I'd post some of my favorite Christmas songs. Since I like to keep the list to 5-6 at a time, this theme's a two-parter. Some now, some Friday.

When it comes to carols, I like the classics. If you ask me, nothing much good happened in the holiday music world after 1960...with a few notable exceptions--Martina McBride's O Holy Night rendition, for instance, or that American classic, Kyle's Mom is a Bitch. Though I suppose that's not technically a holiday song. And Christmas Carol by Skip Ewing, which beats the hell out of that bathetic song about the Christmas shoes for sheer tear-jerky goodness.

You'll have to wait until Friday's post for those, however. Today's selections are all at least 10 years older than I am.

Open for links.

UPDATE: Links/files removed.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Frank Sinatra (1957)

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Ella Fitzgerald (1960) I don't normally like this song, but I can't get enough of this version.

Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt (1953) Like Fitzgerald's Rudolph, this is the only version of this song worth putting on repeat.

Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley (1957) My mom had this album, and it was one of our tree-trimming music staples when I was a kid.

(Everybody's Waitin' for the)Man with the Bag - Kay Starr (1950)

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring - Charles Hammer Though this version was on a CD from 2002, it was composed WAY before I was born. :)

And finally...

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas - Gayla Peevey (1953) Did you know that this song was recorded to solicit donations for the Oklahoma City Zoo, so they could get a hippo? Me neither. When I googled to find out who sings it (I've had the mp3 forever, but the "artist" field was blank...I was thinking it sounded like Shirley Temple), this page told me all about it. It was like that time I googled "Dogpatch" to make sure there wasn't a real Dogpatch, only to find out that there was. Google...it lights up my life.

Anyhoo, right-click, save-as, and enjoy your Monday!

FMF - Either two weeks late or a wee bit early, depending on how you look at it

Sorry for the lack of music around here lately--I've been away from my computer on Fridays for various reasons. I keep thinking that I'll just post later, but then I forget, and now here we are.

As promised in the long-long-ago, this week's selections are some single-song downloads I've picked up recently.

UPDATE: Links removed.

Us - Regina Spektor

Lesson Learned - Ray LaMontagne

We Belong - Pat Benatar

Try a Little Tenderness - Otis Redding

Someday - Flipsyde

Something in Red - Lorrie Morgan

Right-click, save as, wish me luck on my weigh-in tomorrow. (I'll need it.)

FMF - Stuff I've bought lately

I've been buying a lot of music lately, either because I heard a song I liked on XM radio in Rob's car (I really need to get mine set up...have to get my own car back first, though) or because I remembered a song that I haven't heard in a 1000 years. The selections for this week are from CDs that I downloaded, either on the recommendation of the almighty iTunes, or because I heard a song I liked on XM. Next week will be the single-song downloads.

First is the CD I mentioned in passing in last week's FMF--Hello Love, the latest from The Be Good Tanyas. I love them. I didn't know they had released anything new, though, until iTunes was kind enough to tell me about it. I downloaded the whole CD, but these are my favorites:

Ootishenia

Song for R.

Next, Regina Spektor, Begin to Hope. There's this station on XM called 20 on 20, where they take listener requests and play the top 20 continuously. Because the listeners are different at different times of day, the countdowns are a little bit different each time (though SexyBack is always there...Justin Timberlake is universal, I guess). Fidelity (linked below) made the top 20 when I was in the car this weekend. I downloaded the CD, and haven't heard it on XM since. I guess the universe aligned, or something.

Fidelity*

Samson* This is my favorite...

On the Radio*

Right-click, save-as, and have a great weekend!

*There's a possibility these links are mixed up. When I moved them to my upload folder and changed the names, I dragged instead of releasing and they all got the same name. To save time in listening to them again, I just named them based on the order I thought they were in. So, if the names are wrong, apologies. :)

FMF - Countin' the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike...

As I was driving to work yesterday, my ipod served up three songs in a row with place names in the titles--The Devil Went Down to Georgia, Anchorage, and Stillwater (all linked below). That was all the inspiration I needed for this week's theme.

OPEN WIDE for music...

The Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band

Anchorage - Michelle Shocked

Stillwater - Chris & Johnny

Lakes of Pontchartrain - Be Good Tanyas (I just downloaded their new album the other day...expect more from them in future FMFs)

Raining in Baltimore - Counting Crows

And a bonus song, which sort of brings all the others together...

America - Simon & Garfunkel

Right-click, save-as, have a great weekend!

FMF - Brr!

It was 45 degrees outside when I got on my bike at 7:45 this morning. It's 52 now. The high is 66. For Houston, this is a mite chilly.

I was prepared for it, though...I stopped at REI on the way home last night for some full-finger gloves and a body-blinkie (with the clock change, I might be riding at dusk--best to be as visible as possible), and I made sure my knickers and long-sleeve jersey were clean when I got home. I was a little chilly at first, but felt warm enough by the time I got to work.

I've got an appointment with my personal trainer at noon today...this is the first time I've even attempted to ride to the gym. I'm a little apprehensive, because the gym is not in a great neighborhood. It's not the projects or anything, just one of those areas where things are a little rundown. The thing that makes me nervous is that there's a notice on the gym door in big bold letters to "LOCK YOUR DOORS AND DO NOT LEAVE VALUABLES IN YOUR VEHICLE"(Emphasis theirs, not mine). Cycling to the gym, my vehicle is my valuable. I've got a lock, but I know that my bike will still be in the back of my mind for the entire session. Still, I kind of like the idea of getting cardio out of the way before I even get to the gym. :)

Anyway, enough about that. OPEN WIDE for this week's music.

UPDATE: Links expired.

Believe - Savatage

What I Deserve - Kelly Willis This is the song that made me a true-blue Amazon customer. I heard her sing the song live on some radio show (World Cafe, maybe?), and by the time I got around to looking for the CD, I remembered her name as Kelly Morris. When I typed this into Amazon's search function, it didn't find anything, but asked me if I meant Kelly Willis. Why yes, I did! Thank you, Amazon-bot!

Add It Up - Violent Femmes

The Warrior - Scandal Mmmm...80s.

Make Me Want to Stay - Tommy Sands

So, there ye be. Right-click, save-as, have a fabulous weekend!

don't say I never gave you nothin', part II

I know I said this would be here yesterday, but I'm a flake. For anyone who has been reading this site for more than 20 seconds, this should come as no surprise.

See if you can guess the (slightly belated) theme...

UPDATE: Links expired.

It's Alright - Big Head Todd & the Monsters

The Wind - Cat Stevens

God Shuffled His Feet - Crash Test Dummies

Punk Rock Girl - Dead Milkmen

Monsters & Angels - Voice of the Beehive

And in case the theme wasn't completely obvious...

Monster Mash - Bobby "Boris" Pickett

Right-click, save-as, and until we meet again...mwaah-ha-ha-haaaaaa!

FMF - Fall songs

This morning when I got up, the temperature was 51 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. I rode my bike to work, wearing my new long-sleeve jersey (red) for the first time. I should have worn gloves, too, but even without them it was a great ride. The traffic was light (well, lighter), I didn't get caught at any lights for more than 2-3 minutes, and my average speed was 15.7 mph. Cool, clear weather, oh how I've missed you!

UPDATE: Links expired.

I Can't Help Falling in Love - Elvis

Fall Is Here - Sally Rogers

I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You - Marc Cohn

Something interesting about that last one...I originally heard it on the Prince & Me soundtrack, bought the CD, the usual progression of such things. Well, I started my workday with a Tom Waits song a couple days ago, and I happened to look at the "More from [Artist]" section that iTunes 7 puts on the bottom of the screen when you highlight a song in your library. I was surprised to find that his top downloaded song is "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You." Hmm. Could it be...?

So I clicked on the link, and found that it is the same song, and it's from his 1973 debut album. Since I absolutely love Waits' scratchy, 10,000-cigarettes voice, I downloaded his original.

I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You - Tom Waits

I was a little disappointed, honestly. His voice 30 years ago was...I don't know. Not quite broken in. Not as worn-sounding. Um, young, I guess. It's not bad, by any means, just different. I do prefer the more folksy, singer-songwriter style of his earlier music to most of his later stuff, but I like his voice so much better after it had some miles and years on it.

Hold On - Tom Waits

Georgia Lee - Tom Waits

So yeah, I started out trying to do a "fall" theme, ended up blathering off on a Tom Waits tangent. So it goes, some days. Right-click, save-as, and have a great weekend!

FMF - Potpourri

Morning! Welcome! Here--have some songs!

UPDATE: Links expired.

Anthem, Part 2 - Blink-182

Doin' the Pigeon - Bert

Click Click Boom - Saliva

If I Could - Storyhill

Kiss Off - Violent Femmes

Right-click, save-as, talk amongst yourselves.

FMF - Stick it Edit

As promised, all songs today are from one of the greatest gymnastics movies of all time--Stick It.

UPDATE: Links expired.

We Run This - Missy Elliot

Abra Cadabra - Talib Kweli

Beware of the Boys - Panjabi MC

Come Baby Come - K7

And this one, which was in the movie but not on the soundtrack:

Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued - Fall Out Boy

All these make excellent workout songs, but my favorites are Come Baby Come and the Fall Out Boy song. Also, Blink-182's Anthem Pt. 2, which is on the soundtrack but absolutely refused to upload for me today. Maybe I can get it to work next week.

Right-click, save-as, control your tricks.

FMF - Workout songs

About 6 months ago, I started to get sick of the same types of songs every time I worked out. You know...strong beat, fast pace, high-energy. So I started using one playlist for everything, and that worked pretty well. Now that I have the new iPod and I've started walking on my lunch hour again these past couple weeks, I've sort of flipped the other direction. To that end, I've been weeding my workout playlist, keeping only the songs that will help me stay motivated. OPEN WIDE for a handful of those.

UPDATE: Links expired.

Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall I mentioned this one last week, but posted a different track instead. I always think of Kat McPhee on her knees on American Idol when I hear the song, though. It doesn't ruin it for me, exactly, but I can't seem to break the association.

Luv Me Luv Me - Shaggy Speaking of associations, I used to work with a guy a few years ago. We were in the same training class for 8 weeks, had both moved to TX from other states (he was from New Jersey), and sort of bonded over that. One of the nicest guys I've known. Anyway, he liked to tell stories about his life back in Jersey, and one day we were sitting in the office cafeteria and he was telling us about how he was this great dancer, and he would go to clubs and have women hanging all over him. Now, I was skeptical--he was this little guy, maybe 5'6", mostly bald, glasses, a closet full of polo shirts...your classic IT geek, basically. I smiled politely and thought, "whatever, dude. And I suppose you have a hot girlfriend, too. She lives in Canada and we wouldn't know her, right?"

A few months later, we had one of those company field days, where each department puts together a team and they compete for trophies and bragging rights. When our group was between events, that Shaggy song "It Wasn't Me" came on and Jersey Geek started to dance. Oh. My. God. The stories were true. When this guy started to move, he was...god, I can't even describe it. Hot. I've never seen such a transformation in my life. If he hadn't been married with 4 kids, I might have made a move right there.

So anyway, Shaggy always makes me think of my friend Steve. I haven't talked to him in years...I changed jobs and we lost touch. I doubt he still works at the old company, since there's been a merger and some restructuring since then. But I bet he can still dance. Rawr.

Run Runaway - Slade I don't have any stories about this one. It's got a really strong beat, though, and makes it easy to keep a brisk pace.

Keep Hope Alive - The Crystal Method This song makes me think of Bring It On, or at least cheerleaders.

Whip It - Devo Another good walking song.

So, there you are. Right-click, save-as, and I'll see you Monday.

FMF - Grab bag, again

I think I've abandoned my intention to get through my artists alphabetically. Frankly, I'm surprised I made it halfway through the alphabet before tossing the theme. :)

Today's songs are mostly off the top of my head. Three of the five were downloaded in the last week, so have been on my playlist repeatedly for the last 24-72 hours.

Click OPEN WIDE for links.

UPDATE: Links expired.

Under the Weather - KT Tunstall Black Horse & the Cherry Tree is a pretty decent workout song, and I almost posted it instead. But I totally love her voice in this one.

Anchorage - Michelle Shocked This is another one of those songs I forgot about for years, then was reminded of while looking for something else. This isn't the version I liked way back when, but it's close. I can't put my finger on what's different...maybe the one I heard then was a live version or something.

Meet Virginia - Train This is the only Train song I like. I had a free opportunity to see them in concert a couple months ago, and since it was general seating and we got there early, I ended up in 4th row center. The lead singer may be the skinniest man I've ever seen in my life. Also, he seems like kind of a tool. Very prone to prancing, looks like he spent hours getting his hair mussed just so.

Broken Things - Lucy Kaplansky This song makes me think about God, though I'm not sure that was her intention.

Mexican Boyfriend - Shivaree I have the same reaction to this song as I do to that Il Stragniero song I posted last week...actually, I strongly suspect I got them from the same place (I wish I could remember where so I could give proper credit). Every time it comes up in the rotation, I wonder why I don't have it on more of my playlists.

So that's it for this week. Right-click, save-as, enjoy your weekend. Me, I've got an oil change/car wash and 70 miles of biking on the schedule. Fun, fun stuff. :)

FMF - Ps are boring, fuck the letters

So, since I had no Os last week, I posted a grab bag of artists. This week, I have Ps, but none that I have a burning desire to post. So I resorted to the "party-shuffle and post the first 5" method of song choice. Enjoy.

UPDATE: Links expired.

Take a Chance On Me - ABBA

Change - Tracy Chapman

Il Stragniero - Francois I have little idea where I got this song...download from someone's blog, probably. But every time it comes up, I pause what I'm doing and mutter..."mmm, what is this?"

Take On Me - a-ha

Cecilia - Simon & Garfunkel

Right-click, save-as, have a great weekend. :)

Her name's Lucy. She's green.

I just ordered one of these. My mini (though still working fine)is out of warranty, and my warranty-replaced* Shuffle died about a month ago. I've been considering the Nano to replace them both, but have held off because I couldn't decide between black and white. Really, I wasn't crazy about either version.

When I got the announcement email from the Apple store about the new generation Nano, it was like they had been reading my mind. Small like a Nano, looks/feels like a mini? They may as well have named it the iPod Joy. :) Really, how could I resist?

Hopefully, she'll be here sometime next week.

*after an unfortunate gym bag/water bottle-drowning incident--our other two Shuffles are still going strong.

FMF--For real this time.

After promising music all week long and never quite getting around to posting it, here it is. Finally.

OPEN WIDE for links.

UPDATE: Links expired.

No Woman, No Cry - Bob Marley

Two notes about this song: 1) I found this as a Windows media file in an unused folder on an old hard drive that did not originally belong to me. When it came up in iTunes, it came up as "Track 01". Some lyrics googling gave me the title/artist info, and I entered it in iTunes after it was in my library. So, for all I know, it may not actually be Bob Marley. But it's his song, so... 2) The mp3 quality is not very good, and it was like that when I got it. However, I have not been able to find this version on iTunes to get myself a better copy, and I like this version. At least, the first 5 minutes of it. After that, it sort of loses me.

The Philosopher's Song - Bill Gaines

Monsters & Angels - Voice of the Beehive

This was my favorite song during my senior year of high school, but I only ever heard it on the radio. I never got around to buying the CD, then I forgot about it for 14 years. A few months ago, I saw some movie that had a Voice of the Beehive song on the soundtrack, and remembered to go out and look for this song again. 99 cents on iTunes, and it was mine. :) Now it's yours.

America - Simon & Garfunkel

And We Danced - The Hooters

Okay...that's my offering for this week. Right-click, save-as, have a great weekend!

FMF - the Ns

I still wasn't able to get any Ls to make up for last week*, since my CD burner has chosen this week to burn its last. Instead, you get the Ns...and I even had to cheat on those a little.

Brave - Nichole Nordeman

Seven Shades of Blue - Beth Nielsen Chapman (cheat alert! cheat alert!)

Right-click, save as, enjoy your weekend. I'll be spending mine on my knees, laying tile. Expect before & after pictures sometime next week.

*I know no one cares about the stupid letters but me, but I'm obsessive like that.

FMF - M&Ms

Yes, it's L week. However, I have been having some issues with my mp3 conversions today, and all the L artists' songs I had were protected. Since I can't convert them, you get Ms. And a precious few, at that.

Man, this day is just rife with petty frustrations. JEEZ. ;)

OPEN WIDE for what paltry selection I have for you this week.

This Shirt - Mary Chapin Carpenter

Love Love Love - Mountain Goats

Right-click, save, everybody's working for the weekend.

FMF - If I made music, this would be my day to post it

J artists today. It's funny...I thought the Js were going to be a pretty big list, what with all the James and Johns and so on. Looking at my library, though, there wasn't a huge number. Enough for one post, but that was about it. Maybe most of my J stuff is on the other computer, or something.

Huh. Anyway, here's what I've got for you this week. :)

UPDATE: Links expired.

I Want You Back - Jackson 5

Love You More - James William Hindle

Me & Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin

Silver Thunderbird - Jo Dee Messina

Mail Myself to You - John McCutcheon

Hurt - Johnny Cash

Right-click, save as, happy weekend!

FMF - a-b-c-d-EFG

Morning! Going through my music library, I found myself a little short on E artists for this week. Looking further down the list, I came up short on Fs as well. So this week, I've combined E, F, and G...heavy on the Gs.

OPEN WIDE for links...

UPDATE: Links expired/removed.

Can't Help Falling in Love - Elvis Presley

December 63 - Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

Boys Will Be Boys - Gear Daddies

Keep Your Hands to Yourself - Georgia Satellites

The Anthem - Good Charlotte (My son loves this song...it's damn catchy, but makes me feel old. :))

Ripple - Grateful Dead

Luxurious - Gwen Stefani

So, there we are...three-three-three letters at once! This is actually good, because it will make me feel better when I have 3 weeks' worth of S. :) Right-click, save as, and have an enormously freakin' great weekend!

FMF - D-list

Happy Friday! I have a busy day ahead, since we're getting on the vacation plane at 7:00 tonight and I haven't packed a thing yet. I'm leaving work at noon, so hopefully I'll have enough time to put everything in order.

This week's music is from the D-list--in more ways than one. The artists start with the letter D, in keeping with my current theme. Also, due to unknown technical problems, some of the songs I intended to post would not upload. So I had to find replacements, which ended up being whichever songs would upload for me without cratering mid-transfer.

OPEN WIDE for links...

UPDATE: Links expired/removed.

Whip It - Devo

Bodies - Drowning Pool*

Fire Sign - David Berkeley*

Walk of Life - Dire Straits*

And, because we're going to be rollin' down interstate 94 in just a few short hours...

Dream Vacation - Gear Daddies (hey, "Daddies" starts with a D!)

Right-click, save-as, and have a delightful weekend!

*These are the last-minute replacements. The ones I really wanted were Punk Rock Girl (Dead Milkmen), Come On Eileen (Dexy's Midnight Runners), and Anything, Anything (Dramarama). If you like these fill-ins better, thank the kosharis.

FMF - Oh, say can you C

It's that time again. Sorry I missed last week...I didn't have my music library with me in Boston, and it was late when I got home. I suppose I could have posted Saturday, but...well, whatever. You get last week's music today!

In keeping with my ongoing theme, this week's music is from C artists.

UPDATE: Links expired.

The Wind - Cat Stevens

The Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band (a pretty decent workout song)

What Would You Do? - City High

This last one is breaking the theme a bit...or maybe just stretching it. The other day, amazon recommended some This American Life CDs to me...not sure why, since I'm not a big NPR listener/buyer. Anyway, the descriptions grabbed me, so I ordered a couple. I just finished the second set in the car today, and it was definitely the better of the two. There were a couple stories that were sort of eh, but there were a few that had me laughing out loud. This is one of them:

Squirrel Cop (WARNING: This is a 15 MB file, so may take some time to download.)

The CD it comes from is called Crimebusters & Crossed Wires: Stories from This American Life, which is how I wedged this in under my C theme. :) I highly recommend it, along with This American Life: Lies, Sissies, and Fiascoes, though I didn't like that one as much.

So, that's it. Right-click, save-as (especially for that last one), and have a great weekend!

FMF - I like it when she goes buh-buh-buh-buh...Bs

Morning! I am in a Friday sort of mood this morning, since I picked up the new car and it is just what I ordered. I had some trouble parking it, since it's so big comparied to my C0rolla, but it's been great otherwise. We're also going to a basesball game tonight, which I haven't done since last season. And, of course, it's Friday and I'll be out all next week, so this is my last day of 'real' work until next Monday. So, I'm feeling generous.

Continuing the theme from last week, this week's selections are all from artists that start with the letter B.

UPDATE: Links expired/files removed.

The Old Apartment - Barenaked Ladies

Lakes of Pontchartrain - Be Good Tanyas

Girls - Beastie Boys

One Safe Place - Beth Lodge-Rigal

Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers

Canadian Rose - Blues Traveler

And finally, one that I should have posted last week, but forgot. It may just be my favorite song in the entire world, though, so it feels like I should include it somewhere in this series. I guess I could have waited for the Ds, but what the hell:

Just a Sign - Allen Wayne Damron

Right-click, save as, be excellent to each other. Have a, um, bodacious weekend!

FMF - all about the As

Oops...almost forgot to post this week! Which is odd, because I decided just the other day that I would do a theme series, and the songs I wanted to post today fit in with it perfectly.

So, presented for your amusement...

UPDATE: Links expired.

...songs from artists whose names begin with the letter A.

Dancing Queen - ABBA

Take a Chance on Me - ABBA

Take on Me - a-ha

Nice Time - Alana Davis

Black Velvet - Alannah Myles

Hmm...I wonder what next week's theme will be? :) Right-click, save-as, hope your weekend is absolutely aces.

FMF - 80s, baby!

After searching in vain for a download of Nena's 99 Red Balloons (shut up), I finally had to break down and buy--gasp!--an actual CD. Or, as it turns out, a 3-CD 80s set.. There are a lot of songs on it that I didn't even recognize, but there were some where I was all, "hey, it's THAT song!"

So, here are some of those, in all their cheesy 80s glory. (I've listed them by lyrics rather than by name. Open wide, and see if you can guess the songs without/before downloading...)

UPDATE: Links expired.

I got it, I got it!
I got your number on the wall!
I got it, I got it!
For a good time, for a good time call.... (Okay, that one's too easy)

We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks

See chameleon, lying there in the sun

Put on a little makeup makeup
Make sure they get your good side good side

And, of course, you knew I wouldn't forget this one...

I think of you...and let it go

Ah, good times. Right-click, save-as for the answer key. Hope your weekend is, like, totally bitchin. ;)

FMF

I couldn't think of a good theme this week, so I thought I'd post some songs from one of my favorite genres...affectionately known around our house as "that long-haired hippie crap." :)

OPEN WIDE for music... Links expired.

The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel

Hold On - Tom Waits

If I Could - Storyhill

Just a Sign - Allen Wayne Damron

Make Me Want To Stay - Tommy Sands

And, in honor of Bike to Work Week and my club ride starting tomorrow, this week's bonus song:

Bicycle Race - Queen

Right-click, save-as, enjoy your weekend.

FMF - I'm not dead! I think I'll go for a walk!

Morning! It's another beautiful day here, 70s and sunny. I'm kind of wishing I had packed more clothes this week, because it would have been another great bike commute day. It's okay...I got to sleep in instead. :)

Since it would almost be a crime not to take advantage of the weather while it lasts, I packed my workout clothes to walk on the track at lunch. In that spirit, the theme for this week's music is walking.

Links below removed.

I Walk the Line - Johnny Cash

Keep A-Walkin' - Beth Lodge-Rigal

Walk of Life - Dire Straits

Jesus Walks - Kanye West

And a bonus Mother's Day song:

Before I Knew Your Name - Joel Lindsey This is my son's bedtime song. I've sung it to him nearly every night for 7 years. In the 4 years before I bought this CD, it was mostly American Pie (iTunes link, not mp3)and assorted songs from Cabaret. :)

Right-click, save as, have a great weekend!

FMF comes early

I figure that since I was a day late last week, I'll make up for it by being a day early this week. :) As promised, this week's theme is love songs. OPEN WIDE for music...

UPDATE: Links expired/files removed.

In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel I somehow missed Say Anything when it was in theaters in 1989, even though I was the prime target for it--15 years old, brainy, dateless. I saw it for the first time in college, I think, and an embarrassing number of viewings later, that serenade scene still gets me. I'm sure I'd find it terribly corny if it happened to me for real, but I totally would have married Lloyd Dobler. Hell, in some respects, I guess I did. My husband's definitely got some of his good qualities.

Con te partiro - Andrea Bocelli I'm not usually a huge fan of this type of music, but there's just something about this song. I don't even know what he's saying, but it sounds beautiful. :)

Love You More - James William Hindle This one is more my style, as anyone who has seen my playlists can attest. I'm a fool for that acoustic/folksy stuff.

Sweet Bride - Kate Rusby Love that accent.

And that's it for this week. Right-click, save-as, until we meet again.....

FMF - and in the chair is yooooooooouuuuu....

Howdy! Yes, I made it home yesterday without dying. Not only that, but I shaved 6 minutes off my morning time, even though I walked the bike on the sidewalk for a block AND had to stop and tighten the bolt on my seat after that (It tried to buck me off when I got back on after the sidewalk thing. I must not have tightened it enough when I put the Liberator back on). Next commute is Tuesday.

I was torn on this week's FMF theme...it was either going to be love-ish songs (one of them isn't really a love song, but is love-related), or more workout songs I've been digging lately. I had mostly decided on love songs, but then I forgot to convert one of them. So you get more workout songs, and I'll have love songs next week. OPEN WIDE for music...

UPDATE: Links expired/files removed.

Ordinary Day - Great Big Sea

Up Up Up - Rose Falcon

Luxurious - Gwen Stefani

And, as a bonus, the song that I can't sing all the way through without messing up, even though I've been trying for an entire damn week:

The House At The Top of The Tree - They Might Be Giants

Right-click, save as, enjoy. See you Monday!

FMF - Better late?

Um...so that "early evening" is more like "tomorrow afternoon". Sorry about that.

This week's selections come from my workout playlist, but don't really have anything else in common. OPEN WIDE for music...

UPDATE: Links expired/files removed.

Don't Fear the Reaper - Caesars I don't have the Blue Oyster Cult original, got this one was on the Six Feet Under soundtrack. It's a pretty decent workout song, though it could use more cowbell.

Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order Extended dance mix. It's cooler for me on non-cycling workouts, because some parts only come through one ear or the other and I only wear one earpiece on the bike. But even one-eared, it's good for keeping a steady cadence for 6 minutes.

Return to Innocence - Enigma Gregorian chanting, anyone?

Right-click, save as, and I'll try to be more prompt next week. :)

the new workout schedule, AI, and FMF

Friday at last!

I'm happy to report that I did indeed work out this morning, a 5:30 cycling class. I had forgotten how good that instructor is...and how much of a difference that makes. I had more fun this morning than I have in the last 3 classes I've been to, and worked just as hard.

I'm not as happy to report that it was the ONLY early morning workout I did this week. I'm still going to call this first 1/2-week a success, though, as I did walk over lunch every day this week, and busted my ass in cycling classes Wednesday night and this morning. Here's hoping that next week is even better.

Now, to go completely off-topic...let's talk Idol. I know this has been discussed to death everywhere by now, but what in hell happened at the elimination show this week? In what universe do more people prefer Bucky & Ace to Paris and Mandisa? (Elliot doesn't surprise me much. While he's one of the better singers this year, he's the most forgettable dude ever. Every week, I don't remember he's even on the show until his performance comes up, then I'm all, "Hey, it's that guy!") I mean, sure, Mandisa hasn't had the best couple weeks, but off the show? Before Bucky?! I call shenanigans.

If anyone but Ace, Bucky, or Kellie gets eliminated next week, I am so done with this show. Leave it to the 14-year-olds and their auto-dialers. Just let me know when Chris's CD hits iTunes, k?

And speaking of iTunes, I have been a crazy downloadin' fool lately. This week's Free Music Friday selections are all songs I have downloaded this week:

UPDATE: Links expired/files removed.

Texas Women - Hank Williams, Jr. It's totally cheesy, but I secretly (or I guess, not so secretly) love it.

Bodies - Drowning Pool This song comes up in the spinning classes quite a bit, and I always forget about it by the time I get in front of a computer. I did manage to retain it until Thursday morning this week, so into my library it goes. I'd also like to find that one techno-ish song that sounds kind of like an industrial fan and it just keeps going faster and faster? It's perfect for interval workouts, but since it has no lyrics, I can't google it. I'll have to ask an instructor one of these days.

Praise You In This Storm - Casting Crowns In light of recent events, this song really hits home for me.

I Walk the Line - Live Only because I couldn't find a place to download the Chris D@ughtry version, which I thought was better, even if it was Live's arrangement. Johnny Cash leaves them both in the dust.

Something Beautiful - Great Big Sea Back when I was still listening to the local hippie radio station, I heard these guys on the Celtic music show. I bought one of their CDs back then, but then lost it in one of my many moves. The other day I was reminded of them (wish I could remember why...), so I went out looking for their music. Ended up downloading three songs, but this was my favorite of the bunch.

So, that's it. My musical choices may be all over the place and sometimes sort of crappy, but at least there's something for everyone. :) Right-click and save, please, and I'll see you Monday!

the LAST post-op appointment, and FMF

I went to the doctor this morning, and found out my hcg had dropped way faster than my doctor had anticipated--from 800+ to 111 in a single week! So we just did a urine test today (we've been doing blood work every week--I hate needles), and it no longer registers me as pregnant. I never thought I'd consider that a good thing again, but today I totally did. After all, the sooner my body thinks I'm not pregnant, the sooner we can start trying to conceive again.

My dr. doesn't need to see me again for a couple months, to keep an eye on my cycles. I do blood work next week and I need to schedule a MMR immunization with my other doctor (my immunity to rubella has worn off, which could pose a danger to the baby if I'm exposed during a future pregnancy), but that should be the end of it. Back to the drawing board.

My doctor's currently talking about prescribing metf0rmin for a little while, and possibly cl0mid if it doesn't look like I'm ovulating. I may start taking the metf0rmin now, since I do have some left from the last time it was prescribed (over a year ago?), and I suspect I am a bit insulin-resistant anyway. Even if it doesn't help us conceive, it may help me lose weight. I'm just little Miss Brightside over here. :)

On the not-so-bright side, I have started actively bleeding again since I quit taking the devil pill. I was hoping that wouldn't happen, but kind of expecting it, so it's not as disheartening as the last 3 weeks have been. Light at the end of the tunnel, and all that. I've also finally been cleared to use tampons, which makes it easier to cope. It's kind of a bummer since we've got plans tomorrow night for our anniversary weekend, but I'll take bleeding over depression and bloating any day.

So...on to this week's music. In honor of our 2nd anniversary, they're songs we used in our wedding.

UPDATE: Links expired/removed.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Recessional - I felt kind of weird about it, since all the other ceremony songs were classical guitar instrumentals, but it actually turned out really nice.

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day

Parent's dance - My dad and I haven't had the traditional father/daughter relationship...I love him dearly, but there were some rough patches after Mom died, and I moved out for a few years. So I had trouble choosing a song for this dance..."Butterfly Kisses" and "Daddy's Girl"-type songs didn't seem to cut it. This one seemed to suit us more, and had the advantage of being very short...my dad likes to dance about as much as I do. :)

And this one wasn't in the wedding, but I'm putting it out here as a dedication to Rob. Happy anniversary, baby.

Something That We Do - Clint Black

So, that's it. Right-click, save-as, and have a most excellent weekend.

Post-op, and FMF

The D&C went fine, no complications. There's going to be some bleeding, but there's been no pain so far. I'm not even groggy.

The worst part of the whole thing was the waiting...I got dropped off for the last ultrasound at 9:30 (looked about the same--picture below), was done by 10:15, and spent the next 2 hours in various waiting/pre-op rooms. I don't remember a thing between the pre-op room and recovery. In fact, since the pre-op and recovery suites look nearly identical, I woke up in recovery thinking "I wonder if there's still time to pee before we go in." I *heart* that anesthesiologist.

So, it's over, moving on to the better and brighter. Like music:

UPDATE: Links expired/removed.

What Else Can I Do - Karla Anderson

The Littlest Birds - The Be Good Tanyas (For the longest time, I thought they were singing "The Little-Ass Birds"...I still sing it that way)

The Dance - Garth Brooks

Right-click, save-as, enjoy. For those who care to see the ultrasound picture, it's in the extended entry.

I felt kind of silly asking for a printout, but I felt like I would regret it if I didn't. I'm not sure what I'll do with it...it's not like I'm going to work up a scrapbook page or anything. It'll probably just go in my box of keepsakes, rub corners with my old letters and Noah's art projects. A memento of our baby that wasn't meant to be:

The sac is the round-ish black spot in the upper left. This is pretty much what it looked like on Monday, also--same size, same basic shape. I had hoped that it would have collapsed more by today, just so I could know without a doubt that I was doing the right thing. We did check it from several angles, and it was still utterly empty. It was time to let go.

Mad Music Monday, elephant news

I've been saving this one for a couple weeks, hoping that I'd have no reason to post it. Right-click, save as.

UPDATE: Link expired/removed.

Glory Baby - Watermark

Elephant news in the "open wide" section.

My hcg levels have plateaued at just over 38,000, the sac has gone from a perfect oval to flat on one side. It's not as far gone as our doctor was expecting to see, but the writing is on the wall--the elephant has left the building. We've tentatively scheduled a D&C for Friday. I wouldn't expect to see any posting here before then.

Thank you to everyone who commented with their good wishes and prayers these last few weeks. Even though things didn't work out the way we'd hoped, it was nice to know that you all cared.

See you in a week.

Free Music Friday

Just one song today, but it's kind of been this week's theme song. I heard it on a trailer before a movie on Monday, downloaded, and I've had it on repeat ever since.

UPDATE: Link expired/removed.

All Will Be Well - The Gabe Dixon Band

Right-click, save-as...it will be gone by next Friday. :)

Free Music Friday

Happy Friday!

I don’t have much to report today, other than I’m SO glad this week is nearly over. Not that it was a bad week, necessarily…things were pretty ordinary, actually. I’m just ready for a weekend, you know?

Plus, I may be trying out a new bike club tomorrow, so I’m anxious about riding with a different group. According to the guy, they’re a little faster than I’m used to—-15-17 mph. However, they ride in a different, flatter area than my Sunday group, so maybe I’ll be able to go faster. And they do have different groups, regroup points, etc. Of course, I may chicken out and ride by myself again, too. Still, I’m looking forward to some bike time, as the walking during the week is starting to get a little stale. The weather’s supposed to be great all weekend—highs in the 60s, sunny & clear. This is the one time of year that I really enjoy TX.

As for the rest of the weekend, I want to get the laundry and housekeeping crap out of the way Saturday afternoon, so that maybe Noah and I can take the Woodlands trails to the park Sunday afternoon between church and the Superbowl (Go Steelers!). I’d also like to maybe catch a movie or some shopping, but I don’t think I’m going to fit everything in.

Rob bought me a new HR monitor this week, so I’m also looking forward to breaking it in. It’s really not all that different from my existing monitor, but I lost the stupid watch for my other one, and the transmitter has been flaky besides (It may need a new battery—I think it’s close to two years old). I’ve really been trying to concentrate on keeping my workout intensity below 70% of max, but I’ve never been very good at perceived exertion assessment. It’ll be nice to see my actual HR again. This particular monitor puts my range at 103-141 using the age formula, and doesn’t give me an option to tweak it like the other watch did. I don’t mind, though, because that range is solidly within pregnancy recommendations. If I could choose my own, I’d be tempted to set it too high. Of course, I can always set my high-end percentage higher if 141 doesn’t seem hard enough.

Anyway, let’s get to what you all scrolled down for, eh? This week’s songs come from my over 150-song commute playlist, chosen because I’ve heard them every day for weeks and haven’t gotten sick of them yet. I can’t think of a way to fit that into a catchy theme/title, so let’s just list ‘em:

UPDATE: Links expired/removed.

Each Coming Night – Iron & Wine This also would have worked for the TV songs group two weeks ago, too…I first heard it on an episode of Without a Trace.

I Want You Back – Jackson 5 This song makes me cardance every single time I hear it.

It Ain’t Me Babe – Joaquin Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon I loved Walk the Line. Loved it. Of course, I’m a big fan of Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon, so there wasn’t much chance I wasn’t going to. When I went to download this song, I listened to the Cash/Carter original too, but didn’t like it nearly as well. Now, if there had been a Cash/Witherspoon version…:)

As always, right-click and save, and have a most excellent weekend!

More about the meeting, and Free Music Friday

My first day after my fresh new start has been going pretty well. The meeting was okay...it was about storyboarding, which was at least a new topic for me. The leader weighed me in, and I think she was confused when I told her that I had gained a bunch of weight since the last meeting I was in, and asked if I could just start all over. She gave me this look like I had grown another head (well, I suppose that would account for my 10+ lb gain, too. The human head weighs 8 lbs, after all). I don't think she fully understood that I was now above my start weight from before, because she was considerably more open to a do-over once she looked at my chart. :P

Anyway, I have also decided the recipe that leader puts up in the meeting is always going to be our next day's dinner (unless it looks really nasty). This way, I'm guaranteed to have a low-cal dinner on the first day of the new week. I can pick up any ingredients we don't have in the fridge already on the way home from the meeting, and everything will be ready to go.

In last night's meeting, the recipe was slow-cooker beef & potato soup, which I threw together this morning and should be done at around 4:00-4:30 this afternoon. I hope it's good, because I'm always on the lookout for slow-cooker recipes, and this soup is only 3 pts per cup.

I have made it my teeny little goal this week to have flexpoints left over at the end of the week. I entered my entire food plan for today into my points tracker, and it comes out to 31.5 points. This is a little high, but my 3 activity points bring it back down to 28.5, which is completely within my acceptable range. So, if everything goes according to plan, life will be good.

And on that note, it's Free Music Friday, which I have been very lax about these last few months. Not that it was ever truly a regular feature, but lately it's been particularly scanty.

So, for your listening pleasure...music I've discovered while watching TV. I actually pick up quite a bit of my music library like this. Once I even emailed customer service at some company to find out what song was playing on their commercial, because the lyrics weren't coming up in google. So, while most of these songs have been around forever, I wouldn't have known they existed without the miracle of TV:

UPDATE, 1/26: The files (and associated links) have expired.

Catch the Wind - Donovan Heard on a Cold Case episode a while back (the one with the twin girls) and had to find and download it. Though, with my fondness for what Rob (not unkindly) refers to as "long-haired hippie crap" music, you'd think I'd have heard this before.

Breathe Me - Sia Featured on the only Six Feet Under episode I've ever seen, which happened to be the series finale. It seemed like a great show, and I mean to go back and netflix the DVDs.

Jesus Walks - Kanye West Okay, this one's really cheating...I heard it on a Jarhead trailer. But it was on TV! :)

And, as a special bonus, one I didn't get from TV:

Change - Tracy Chapman I just downloaded this album (Where You Live) from iTunes today, and am really enjoying it so far.

So, there you are. Please right-click and save, and get 'em while they're hot...they'll be gone next week.

Free Music Fri--uh, Thursday

It occurred to me yesterday, as I was pulling some mp3s from someone's site, that I haven't posted any music in a while. Mostly it's laziness...the songs I've been enamored with lately are all iTunes downloads, and thus protected. Those take more work to post, because they have to be converted to mp3, which involves (for me, anyway, She Who Doesn't Want To Buy Conversion Software) burning to CD and then importing back into iTunes, THEN uploading. With all the rest of the stuff going on in my life right now, none of the songs really seemed worthy of that whole process.

But now that I've asked YOU to support my Tour de Pink (thanks Jessi!), I figure I should give something back. So a collection of my current favorites (your mileage may vary):

Chihuahua - DJ Bobo This song is one that my favorite spinning instructor used in her class. It's the first and only time I've ever heard of this guy, and I didn't like anything else on the CD. This one always makes me smile, though.

Get Back - Ludacris I like to pretend that I'm a badass when this song comes on. To get an idea of how well I pull it off, try to picture a geeky 31-year-old white girl, on a bike or elliptical machine, making her gangsta face and mouthing "get back motherfucker you don't know me like that". Yeah...not so much. :)

Love Love Love - The Mountain Goats Gotta love a song that goes from the Bible to Nirvana in less than 3 minutes.

Pump It - Black Eyed Peas I'm not a huge Black Eyed Peas fan...some songs I like, but I usually burn out on them quickly. This one's been in the rotation for a couple months, though, and it's still one of my favorite bike songs. I think that's some kind of BEP record.

The Rock Show - Blink 182 See above commentary, substitute "Blink 182" for "Black Eyed Peas".

This Shirt - Mary Chapin Carpenter From a Barnes & Noble bonus CD that came with her other one...whatever the name of it was. I got tired of the main CD after a few weeks, but I still like this song.

Tomorrow is a Long Time - Nickel Creek From their latest CD, Why Should the Fire Die, which is pretty good overall. Not as good as Nickel Creek, but it didn't disappoint me like This Side. This is my favorite song on the CD (I love Sara's voice), but Stumptown is a good workout tune.

And finally in the spirit of breast cancer awareness, here's one about healthy breasts (well, kind of):

Italian Leather Sofa - Cake

As always, right-click and save as, go easy on my bandwidth. Also, get 'em while they're here...they'll be gone before the weekend. Files are gone.

workout playlist

Someone emailed me a couple days ago asking if I would share my workout playlist. Since I put the song list in an excel spreadsheet to email it to them, I figured I'd make the same file available on the site as well.

My workout playlist (Excel format--should open in most versions)

As of this writing, that's an accurate list, but I update it constantly when songs get stale or new songs catch my fancy. Probably 90% of the songs are available on iTunes, but there are at least a few that I picked up from blogs, old CDs, etc. that are not out there.

I use this playlist for all my workouts, starting with the song I want to hear most that day, and shuffling from there. Lately, I've been starting with Chihuahua* or The Rock Show*, but Pump It* is a favorite also.

Because I'll listen to anything once, the genres are all across the board. The only two things they really have in common are that they're all upbeat enough to keep up a good walking/biking/Precoring speed, and that I like them. Feel free to mock some of my more freaky musical tastes, if you like. :)

*iTunes links, not mp3s.

(Oh, and if anyone knows where I can get Slade's Run Runaway or Van Morrison's Precious Time without buying a whole CD or registering with some sketchy mp3 site, let me know. I've been looking for those songs for a while now.)

I haven't posted a full playlist of songs in a while, so I thought I'd throw my current running playlist out here. I actually have two 2-mile run playlists that I alternate, but this is my favorite of the two.

UPDATE: MP3 links are gone.

Listed in alpha order, since I do the shuffle-play thing:

American Girl - Tom Petty
Anything, Anything - Dramarama
Goodbye to You - Scandal
Just Like Heaven - The Cure
Lakes of Pontchartrain - Be Good Tanyas
Never Been Unloved - Michael W. Smith
Punk Rock Girl - Dead Milkmen
Push It - Salt-n-Pepa
She Bop - Cyndi Lauper
Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson
Stillwater - Chris & Johnny/Storyhill (I'm not sure which version this is...it's the same guys either way)
The Fox - Nickel Creek
Wild Wild Life - Talking Heads

I'm linking only the ones I haven't posted in a while (or ever). A lot of these are repeats, most can be picked up at iTunes for a dollar.

Please right-click and save-as, etc. I'll be deleting them Wednesday, so get 'em while they're here! The MP3s have been removed.

C-to-5k Week 5 playlist #2

It's another running day around here, so it's time for another playlist! The 2nd workout for week 5 of Couch-to-5k (C25k) is 5 minute walk/8 min run/5 min walk/8 min run/cooldown.

I really like this breakdown, not because I think I'm going to enjoy running for 8 minutes at a stretch, but because I have a lot of workout songs that are 3-5 minutes long. :) So many, in fact, that I've made two playlists for this workout. I can't decide which one to post, so I'm doing both.

The MP3 files are not there yet...over half of them were itunes downloads, so I'm converting them first. The song titles will be linked later today. As always, right-click and save as to download.

UPDATE: I've just realized that these files are too big for me to post them all at once (unless I host them somewhere other than this site, which I'm looking into), so I'm going to do one playlist at a time. Since I don't want to blow any more of my lunch hour on this, I'm going to wait until after work to do the actual uploading. If you want, I'll take votes in the comments on which songs you'd like to be first. :)

UPDATE, part deux: The comments have spoken! Well, okay...ONE comment. The 2nd playlist now has MP3 links, at least until noon tomorrow. Be kind, do not stream. (Doesn't really have the oomph of "Be kind, rewind", does it? Right-click and save anyway, please.) Playlist #2 links are gone...sorry. Playlist #1 music files will be up later today.

Final UPDATE: Playlist #1 is now linked, get 'em while they're hot. Links have now expired.

C25k Week 5 #2, playlist 1:

Pictures of You - The Cure (4:50, warm-up walk)
Bring Me To Life - Evanescence (3:57, run)
Heaven - DJ Sammy & Yanou (3:55, run)
Wear Sunscreen - Baz Luhrmann (5:11, walk)
Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) - US3 (4:39, run)
Anything, Anything - Dramarama (3:20, run)
December '63 - Four Seasons (3:28, cool-down)

C25k Week 5 #2, playlist 2:

I'm Alive - Jackson Browne (5:01, warm-up walk)
American Girl - Tom Petty (3:34, run)
Push It (Remix) - Salt-n-Pepa (4:32, run)
Loving Hands - Christine Kane (4:45, walk)
The Happy Song - Delirious? (4:29, run)
Little Girls - Oingo Boingo (3:45, run)
Each Coming Night - Iron & Wine (3:27, cooldown)

If you add up the times, you can see that playlist #1 is sort of a slacker playlist...all the run intervals have times slightly shorter than the full 8 minutes, and the walk intervals are slightly longer. Playlist #2 is the guilt playlist--all the run intervals are longer than 8 minutes, to punish myself for padding the walks in the first playlist. :) (Okay, not really...it just sort of worked out that way.)

I'm torn on which one to use for the workout today...this will be my first time trying 8-minute run intervals, so part of me wants to use the easy playlist. On the other hand, the songs in the second playlist are more of my favorites, so I think I'd enjoy that one more. It doesn't really matter much either way, since whichever one I don't use today will be used next Wednesday.

Which do YOU think I should do?