Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The Issue is Snow, Failure, and Material

click for bigger - FAIRBANKS APRIL 30, 2008 MORNING SNOWFALLAhhhh, Springtime in Alaska -- overcast with freezing temperatures and more snow comin' down. Springtime?!? Yup, last day of April and roughly halfway to Summer and in blows this storm to give the land a fresh covering of the white stuff. Most of it had melted away over the past week or so, and this will also melt away rather quickly, but for now it makes this part of central Alaska a Winter Wonderland once again. Anything's possible here... this could happen anytime at all throughout May even. It made work a little interesting this morning, that's for sure. It's amazing how all through Winter, people know how to safely drive on snow -- so few weather-related accidents. So the question is -- why can't they also drive safely on snow this far into Spring? Before my shift ended at 9 a.m. this morning, I worked two accidents that were likely caused by PEOPLE DRIVING TOO FAST ON THE SNOW. There were two week stretches in Winter when the number of snow-related accidents that I was on scene for was zero -- no EMT, no ambulance needed, cops took care of it and that was it. Just doesn't make sense that I had two calls this morning to tend to the wounded... or at least make sure those involved had on scene medical care just in case... plus a safe ride to the hospital to be checked out for further injuries. Well, then again, if everyone drove carefully AS THEY SHOULD, I'd be out of a job. Not really but I'd surely not be needed as much as I am now. Thanks, Henry Ford!

I'm so tired now after working the Overnight Shift and then going for a run almost immediately afterwards. I thought about running outdoors in the snow but when I checked the trail after work I found it to be too soft even with these cold temperatures. When it's not freezing, the trail's mushy... when it is freezing, it's still too mushy right now. Mushy, mushy, mushy. Oh well. So I got back in my truck and headed to the University, to run indoors once again. Oi. If only I decided to be a road runner... but my stubborn unwillingness to change keeps me off the roads. This I don't really mind, though because after all, I'm not really a "runner." I don't dress like a runner, I don't have a runner's mentality. I'm a hiker and a mountain climber who runs to help stay healthy. Being a hiker and a mountain climber, I've chosen to run on a trail and I'm gonna try to keep it that way until the day I run the London Marathon... if I ever do.

Anyway -- I'm not sure if I'm tired enough for sleep or if I'm good to stay awake today. Working the Overnight sometimes gets me all confused on when to Catch My Zzzzz's and when to Be Up.

Whatever. All's I know is I failed for the month of April to pass my Total Running Time for March. Idiot. Stoopid idiot. Well... at least I ran and at least I accomplished the miles that I did in the name of better health. I'm gonna have to keep that in mind.

The North Face trail running shoe -- good for use in the Appalachian Mountains ... but seriously, they are rather small compared to the Rocky Mountains ... Sierra Nevada are sweet, too.  Would definitely use 'em in the Alps, that's for sure.  One thing's for sure -- Jerry Garcia or Bob Weir or Phil Lesh or Blaise Compaoré probably never went running in Colombia, Paraguay, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, Pyongyang, 평양 직할시 조선민주주의인민공화국 平壤直轄市 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國, Türkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Кыргызстан, Киргизия, Uzbekistan, O'zbekiston, Ўзбекистон Республикаси, Tajikistan, Тоҷикистон.  Probably the same with Brent Mydland.  At least that's my gut feeling.  I could be wrong.  I mean, there were a lot of drugs at Grateful Dead shows and the good Lord above, He knows I did my share!almost outside today but with the temperatures hovering around
freezing, the trail's too mushy for running... so still indoors.
Wednesday Morning Run: 19 minutes 45 seconds+5 sec
XXXXXXXX++++++· 00 sec ·++++++XXXXXXXX
Run Time April:3 hours 51 minutes<-failed to pass March SMILEY THUMBS DOWN
March:3 hours57 minutes
February:3 hours11 minutes

I was quite tired when I hit the track about an hour ago. Running after working a 12-hour shift usually goes okay. Running after working the 12-hour Overnight Shift, well, this time it wasn't that easy. Maybe I've also been tired from all this running that I've been doing in the past week. Compared to the rest of the month, my frequency has been severely increased and perhaps that's taken a bit of a toll on me. I made it around the track as many times as I needed to in order to reach my 19:45 goal... I made it semi-just fine.... but thought about quitting quite a bit. What made it worse is that I've pretty much written off eclipsing my March Total Time. Kinda close. If I wasn't in sub-par condition I could easily go do 7 minutes later and beat March... but I dunno. So what's happened is for April -- I failed. Not happy with that. Not at all.

PHONOGRAPH

Running tunes came
from the album of the day...
Material Issue - Destination Universe [CD cover] (1992)Material Issue

Destination Universe

1992

What Girls Want
When I Get This Way (Over You)
Next Big Thing
Who Needs Love
Destination You
Everything
Ballad Of A Lonely Man
Girl From Out Of This World
So Easy To Love Somebody
Don't You Think I Know
The Loneliest Heart
Whole Lotta You
If Ever You Should Fall

Twas a time long ago, in this galaxy, not that far, far away, when I listened, for awhile, to the once great radio station known as KJQ in Salt Lake City. They were "Utah's Modern Rock Leader" at the time, playing everything from Adam & The Ants to Zwan. Okay, well Billy Corgan's band Zwan wasn't around yet... The Smashing Pumpkins were barely on the national scene... but anything "alternative" from A to Y, that was what KJQ played... no stoopid automated corporately chosen playlists -- real music, real DJ's, real care for spinning the songs that the listeners wanted to hear... definitely one of the best stations of it's kind in America. And Material Issue was one of the countless bands and artists they were playing at the time. It was on that station when I first heard them and what is perhaps/probably their most popular song -- Valerie Loves Me. Good stuff... all like 3 minutes of it. And that was the entire extent of Material Issue that I ever heard until a few days ago when I pressed play on this album, their second effort from 1992.

I'm not so sure I dig this that much. It's not bad, I suppose; a whole bunch of the songs worked just fine and dandy for my running playlist but otherwise I'm not that that impressed. It's almost something I could see myself blaring on the stereo with the windows wide open while cruising down the Garden State Parkway on the way to the Jersey Shore for a couple days of surfing, beer drinking, and relaxing with friends. Yeah... it's got that fun feel to it: a bit of Cheap Trick, a bit of The Replacements... but the image of the summertime roadtrip works a LOT better with the cassette in mind, the one that's kept in the tape case covered with surfing and Grateful Dead stickers. Ahhh... Jersey. Okay, this really has nothing at all to do with the music anymore so it's time to say -- done. Good tunes. Nothing to spend a ton of time writing specifically about but there are some pretty good songs on here.

320 kbps mp3 download MUSIC NOTE find a dload @ Infinite Foolishness 320 kbps mp3 download MUSIC NOTE
(sorry, the link is dead)

From Chicago, Illinois...
Material Issue -- "Valerie Loves Me"
from their debut album in 1991

3 comments:

GUYK said...

Let me see..breakup on the river will be at 1346 hours on the 15th of May. Put a buck on it for me and I'll split the winnings with you.

Nazz Nomad said...

Material Issue were a great Power Pop band. It ended very sadly for the lead singer Jim Ellison, who killed himself in 1996.

Zoooma said...

Yeah, offed himself with the exhaust from.... a moped! A moped?! All because his girlfriend dumped him... and maybe also because of a record deal being yanked from him and his band... but come on, a moped?!?!

one says one number and the other another
but they were set at the same time. Hmmm...

i love you amy uzarski.  always!
 
Calvin and Hobbes in the snow -- animated