So long BRRRRRR. Hello brrrrrr.

Upon waking up this morning, I was pretty stoked to see that the deep-freeze that we've had for about the past week, it's pushed on outta here!!!!!

Finished my 24-hour shift last night at 9 p.m. -- went pretty much straight to sleep as soon as I walked in the front door of my house. Temperature: mid -30's.

This morning: -12° (-24 C) ... that's not that bad.

I've wanted to run over the past week... but a whole 'nother part of me said driving over to the university in those temps just for a 15-20 minute run at the gym -- not worth it. It would have been worth it but the extreme cold won.

Not today. When I walked into the garage, I think my Bronco was smiling at me because it's not as freakin' freezing as it has been. -20° and lower: it takes a moment or twelve to start and warm up even with the engine block heater workin' its magic. Not this morning. My truck was ready to go without much of a problem at all. Pretty sweet!

Monday Morning Run: 16 minutes 57 seconds

(+5)

I've had a playlist with today's run time in my mp3 player and ready to go for about a week now, ever since the day after my last run. I seriously can't remember when that was. Too long ago. Had there not been such an extreme length of time between runs, today's 16:57 would have been fairly easy. Unfortunately this morning, over the last 8 minutes or so, all I wanted to do was quit. I wanted the current song to end and then please, next song, get here fast! Just a sucky time... but I finished without quitting. Sittin' at home now, cleaned up and feelin' great!

Running tunes from
the album of the day...31 sec

Phil Vassar

American Child

2002









American Child
Forgettin's So Long
Time's Wastin'
I'm Already Gone
Athens Grease
Baby, You're Right
Ultimate Love
Stand Still
Someone You Love
Houston
I Thought I Never Would Forget
I'll Be The One

Hailing from Virginia, here's another piano player in the public eye. Unlike Bruce Hornsby (from Williamsburg,) Phil Vassar (from Lynchburg) went to Nashville to get his career off the ground.

This is his second studio album and it made him a star. Okay, he might not be in the realm of ultra-stardom like Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith, but when you can get singles on the country music chart, hey, that ain't bad. Vassar had a part in writing every song here. When it comes to commercially released country music in Nashville, that's kind of rare thing. So many performers, so few true artists. But Phil Vassar is a true artist and perhaps that's why he hasn't joined the best-selling ranks. Despite that (or because of that!) there are some good songs here with plenty of well-written lyrics; not a whole lot of cheesy schmaltz that often dominates commercial country albums in the 21st Century so far.

Unfortunately this isn't the re-release which has two extra tracks including a cover of the Huey Lewis "classic" Workin' For A Livin'. I wish I didn't find out that existed because now I'm kind of disappointed. Oh well... I'll get over it in a few seconds. Still, this is definitely a pretty good listen.

	dload 256kbps
Phil Vassar - American Child (2002)