Running on iPod

Lately, a buddy of mine got me into running. By trade, I'm not a runner. I'm a cycler, but man is it catchy. Am I good at it? No not really. My range is usually between 3.1-5.5 miles at around 6.0 miles an hour. There aren't exactly land speed records being broken, but considering a year ago anything over a mile was an accomplishment. It's funny how muscles work. Last July I rode 77 miles from Albany to Herkimer (an upward 77 miles) but I couldn't run a mile.

Last week, a few friends and I have decided to run in the "Timothy Moshier Memorial 5k Run" this May. In order to train for this I made a playlist on my iPod. It's really not training since I can consistently run 5k, but I guess it's more for not embarrassing myself. Here's the playlist...


1) Bastian's Happy Flight/Giorgio Moroder*
2) In My Life/The Beatles**
3) Wake Up/Arcade Fire
4) Back on the Chain Gang/The Pretenders
5) Hold on Tight/Electric Light Orchestra
6) When You Were Young/The Killers
7) Roll Me Away/Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
8) Holding Out for a Hero/Bonnie Tyler
9) Danger Zone/Kenny Loggins
10) C'mon C'mon/The Von Bondies
11) Out in the Streets/Bruce Springsteen
12) How Far We've Come/Matchbox 20
13) Keep the Car Running/Arcade Fire
14) Don't Stop Me Now/Queen
15) Stone in Love/Journey
16) Miami 2017/Billy Joel
17) Heat of the Moment/Asia
18) Runaway/Bon Jovi


*Ok, so what. It's from The Never Ending Story... it's a good warm-up song.
** Not exactly a running song, but it's a quick two and a half and it's one of the greatest songs ever.

If anyone has any suggestions let me know. I'm always looking at adding new music.

Buffalo's Marble Gardens

It's been a hectic week. All you blog readers out there know that I just came back from Tampa last Monday evening. Unfortunately a week later I found myself in Buffalo for two and a half days on business. Calm down, all you naysayers out there who think I'm saying Buffalo is a hole. It's not, but may I recommend something? When you enter into the city of Buffalo the first thing you are greeted with should NOT be a sprawling cemetery. I'm a huge fan of cemeteries. It's a great place to reflect on your local history and family origins, but for the traveler (like myself) it doesn't really seethe welcomeness. It's like the city is screaming, "Come for the wings but stay for your eternal vacation!" I have never seen a city with so many cemeteries. It's like they're around every corner, and not tiny ones either. Massive bone zones. Acre after acre of them. No wonder people in Buffalo are depressed! The city is dwindling, the Bills may move to another country and they're surrounded in death! People have always wondered, "What happened to all those people that lived in Buffalo? Where did they go?" Well, we finally know. They went about six feet below your feet.

Another thing about Buffalo: it's like Syracuse but bigger. Buffalo has a lot of little neat hole in the wall type places that you'd miss if you blinked. Those are the places that give the town a ton of character. Great people, great food, great atmosphere, but they need to give it a good spring cleaning. Man is it dingy. Maybe I caught it at a poor time of year. Seeing a northeastern city in the end of March is like seeing a pretty gal puking into a toilet after a night of binge drinking. It started out great, but throughout the night you could see her start to go downhill. You know in a day or two, after she sobers up she'll like amazing again. Hope springs eternal... especially with some cover-up and a sandblaster.

Some Airport Doodles

I'm very sorry. In my previous post I left you with a cliffhanger of showing you some sketches I did in the Tampa International Airport. I even went as far as stating I'd show you tomorrow. Please accept my apology, but it's been a long week. Work, work, work it's all I seem to be doing right now. I just got in from Buffalo this afternoon after spending two and a half days there helping to launce our newest sister channel, YNN Buffalo. If you live in the area please check it out. It's rough but they'll get it down soon enough. But thats a different story for a different time, now is time for some quick doodles I did of unsuspecting victims, er.. subjects in the airport.
OK- so when I said they were unsuspecting, that was mostly true. This guy let on that he knew he was being drawn. He looked at me, got up and walked away, but would pace around me from a safe distance a good few minutes after that. The jerk never let me finish him... so it's his own fault he kinda looks like Ed Asner.

Some dude that looked like Phil Jackson was reading a book. He kept getting bothered by his overweight wife.

Another older man that was reading. Soooo many people read in the airport. It has more readers than any library could ever imagine.

This couple were coming back from Mexico. The female was tired and fidgety... she didn't really look like a long-nosed troll.

.........................................................................

Short and sweet tonight... Once everything starts slowing down to normal speed again, I'll be able to post were more regularity. Sounds like my blogging life needs fiber.

Tampa in Photos

So yesterday I posted about some random thoughts about Tampa and Florida in general. Today we get to look at some pics I took while we were down there. I doubt anyone would be too excited to look at a picture of me at Steinbrenner field so I kindly left those type of images off. And...heeeeerre weee... go.

The Bank of America Plaza in the foreground with a Tampa skyscraper I do not know the name of in the background.

This was about a block of from where we were staying. Just a neat little mural on the side of what would have been an average building. It's all about the little things.

In my previous post I described a building with a seven foot lizard crawling up the side. Just so you didn't think I was full of who-ee, here is that building.

This was down the street from where we stayed. It started out as a very foggy morning but it burned off real quick.

Go for launch! The Discovery Shuttle takes to the skies. It really was quite remarkable watching the flight into outer space.

George M. Steinbrenner Field from the right field foul pole.

Friday night, Vince and I decided to eat here. Stumps, sounds like a place you'd go and pick up a woman without any legs. Great food though, even if their restroom signs were misleading and their waitresses had sideburns.

This dude was down at Channelside making artwork from spray paint. When you really think you've seen it all, a man with 20 cans a paint and a ponytail brings you back down to Earth.

Caution: No Manatees are in this area. It must have been a marketing ploy.

Walking down Channelside, I thought this would make a great shot, everything was on the same vertical plane. Symmetrists unite!

Downtown Tampa from the south

A rather large bird cleaning itself within the Florida aquarium. It certainly had no fear of humans, and neither did it's friend who tried to crap on us from above.

This was a decent aquarium, but not the best. They were definately lacking in many areas. Every species of turtle they had on display I had owned as a pet at one time or another. What does that make more pathetic? Me or the Florida Aquarium?

And just for kicks, me acting like a fully-grown eight-year-old outside the Florida Aquarium sign.

Tune in tomorrow! Sketches from the Tampa Airport.

Ten Random Thoughts About Tampa

It's been a day since I've returned from the burning core of the sun, er.. I mean Florida, and my experience has been pretty much eaten and digested now. Before I completely forget my time there now would be a good time to reflect on some thoughts I had about the place.

1. The amount of smokers is staggering. Everywhere you looked was a smoker. The state of New York has pretty made the stick-puffer extinct due to all the tax hikes on a pack of cigs. Not so in Florida. It was an average of 86 degrees there during my visit and I couldn’t believe the amount of people outside smoking in the heat. Like they weren’t hot enough? Maybe it's their only way to repell all the amazing food down there.


2. How anyone gets a sliver of work done in Tampa is beyond me. Everyday something wonderful is going on. This weekend alone was the SEC Basketball Tournament, St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Ybor City, the Discovery Shuttle launch, Spring Training, and pretty much gorgeous weather everyday of the week. Alcoholism must be rampant down there.


3. Homeless people abound everywhere! Are they all native homeless people or do they flock from the north in the late fall? If I was a homeless dude from Buffalo, I’d try and hop a boxcar to Florida from November to April. There was one homeless guy that was sleeping in the alcove of an abandoned building on Friday night. That same person was in the same location and sleeping position the next night. Maybe homeless people are more like birds than we think? Migration and nesting? Hmmmm... somebody get Darwin's corpse on the phone.
   
4. God is big in Tampa. Real big. It seemed like on almost every corner someone was offering me salvation. Oh, and I’d love to to ask God if he knew the fella outside the St. Pete Times Forum who claims that God doesn’t like sports. I’m sure God would’ve been quite smitten with the SEC Championship. In fact, I can prove he’s a Mississippi State fan. They didn’t have a prayer, and through some divine intervention, they pulled it out.


5. The sun hurts. The right side of my face is peeling and my right ear is falling apart. It looks like the scene from “The Fly” where appendages start to melt from off Jeff Goldblum's body. My friend wasn’t as lucky as I was though. His skin was already a natural shade of red, but mix that with the potent Florida sun and he’s now a weird shade of purple. One person described him as “filet mignon before it hits the grill.” Yum.


6. Pinstripes make people appear taller and thinner. Strolling through the mall’s food court on Monday I almost walked clear into Ian Kennedy, a New York Yankees pitcher. He’s a bit shorter than the 6’0” that the Yankees have him listed as, but he appeared to be the full 195 lbs. The kid was jacked and about 5’10”. The television normally adds ten pounds, but clearly that is not the case with pitchers. On a side note, when you see an athlete don’t point at them and say their entire name. It’s embarrassing for all parties involved. Atleast he was nice enough to say “Hey hows it going?” instead of the “You act as retarded as you look,” that I fully deserved.


7. Driving in Tampa is an experience. In New York you know what you’re getting: fast paced with a good amount of road raged peppered in for some added flavor. In Tampa though it’s quite different. People will stop their cars in a lane and chat to someone else in another lane. For the most part the driver’s are tortoise paced and riding well below the height requirement. And according to state law, directional signs are optional as the telepathy signal was introduced in 2002.


8. Orange juice? What orange juice? I thought going to Florida meant you’d see orange juice stands and brands plastered everywhere. I walked all around downtown Tampa on Monday morning and saw nothing more than Tropicana Orange Juice (no pulp). If I wanted pulp, and I did, I wouldn’t have been able to find it. Florida should be the best place on Earth to find pulped juice. I was wrong. Cigars? All over. Authentic Cuban cuisine? Absolutely! Enormous flying birds? You betcha. Anything other than Tropicana Orange Juice? Better try that other orange producing state.


9. Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood is so much funnier in Florida. In New York it’s good too, but the sexual undertones are way more provocative in someone else’s state. In your own home when Fred says to Mr. McFeely, “It’s so hot,” or “it fits so loosely,” it’s just a little weird. When you’re in your friend’s home with other people it becomes extraordinarily funny. On a side note there was no reason for us to be watching this show. None, whatsoever.


10. Artwork is everywhere. On buildings, on benches and even on the road. It really gives the city of Tampa a bit more of a unique feel to it. Sure, every city has a 20 story tall building, but how many can claim to have a seven story lizard painted to the façade? Probably not many.

More to come... I'll post a few photos, along with some sketches I did in the Tampa Airport. All in all it was a great trip. Got to see some friends I rarely get to see and got to enjoy some weather that wouldn't normally be in my city for another three months.

Odds and Ends: Lenten Bicycle Ride

We've hit the eleventh day of Lent already! Well, not already. It's been a slow painful process, much like the death of Braveheart. I figured giving up Elton John music would be tough but I really feel like I'm having withdrawal from an illegal substance. Yesterday "Daniel" came on the radio and my reaction was a content sigh. I timed it out to ten seconds on my wristwatch and then changed the radio channel. From the opening notes I think all that made into the allotted time was "Daniel was trav..." I'm pathetic I know, it's a well known fact. What's even more pathetic is I've been having people at work ask how I'm holding up, like I just buried a loved one or something. Easter Sunday is going to be magnificent, and not for the religious meaning or the glazed ham. Elton will be cranked up, Nicholas and I will be rocking out and my wife, Megan will be huddled in the corner eating a large bowl of macaroni and cheese. She'll probably hiss at anyone that gets too close to her meal like a lioness munching on the brains of a wildebeest.

And in other news, Spring has kinda-sorta sprung here in Upstate New York. We're in our second day of above average temperatures in the fifties. It should stay in the 50s and upper 40s for most if not all of the week. To kick things off I brought the bicycle down from the garage ceiling hooks and went out for a spin. It didn't last though, like a fool drunk on the weather, I forgot to take my asthma medication before I left. Seven miles later I found myself back in the driveway gasping for air. Way to kick off the season!

Jumping the Shark

Earlier this week I was running at the gym watching the numerous televisions that were splayed out in front of me. There is usually a wide array of channels to choose from: NBC, CNN, ESPN, VH1 and MSNBC just to name the a few. I generally choose to plop myself in front of the news channels. Being in the news business, I'm always looking for new ways to go about designing elements for my own projects. MSNBC has a nice graphics package so that is one channel I choose to watch a lot of. It's also one channel I can't stand listening to because of Keith Olbermann and his flaming torches of Republican hatred. This is why the gym is so valuable, all the TVs are on mute.

This leads me to the clip that I posted above. The Rachel Maddow Show this past Monday had one of the worst guest duos on in recent history. In her "GOP in Exile" segment semi-regular Arianna Huffington was joined on set by "comedian," Hal Sparks. Yes, that Hal Sparks. MSNBC couldn't get anyone else? Was Carrot Top busy pumping iron and getting plastic surgery or something? The worst part about having the former "Talk Soup" host on was that I think he was trying to take himself seriously. It also doesn't help matters when he chooses to look like Lestat (Cruises' character) from "Interview With the Vampire."

Hopefully this isn't a trend. Countdown w/Keith Olbermann had Paul F. Tompkins on earlier in the evening as a guest commentator. Shocker, another wanna be political commentator that thinks they're funny. It's like Best Week Ever on the wrong channel! People need to understand that just because you have a camera in front of you it doesn't make you qualified to rant about politics. It just doesn't. Maybe Tompkins and Sparks stayed at a Holiday Inn the evening before.

If Rachel Maddow and her producers believe in giving her young show credibility they should learn to stay away from said goofball wanna be political commentators like Hal Sparks. They need to surround themselves more with the likes of Ray J and Kim Kardashian (no reason to get fired up, this is merely a joke... or is it?)