Feels Like (Was) The First Time (In A Week)
Well, well, well, what to bitch and complain about today? With these running posts I always feel like having something up here on top. I've already finished my run, already typed about it and typed about the music I listened to when I ran, now I can add something up here. But what? Hmmm, maybe something about the Dow Jones being DOWN again? It was in positive numbers a few minutes ago, but it's down almost 10 points below where it opened for the day. Sad thing is, even if it ends UP like 2 or 300 points, it'll still be down for the week. Ain't that swell? Why's this not important to people like, oh, the President?!!? Millions upon millions of hardworking Americans have money in a 401(k) and/or otherwise invested in Wall Street for their retirement or maybe to send a child to college. All of that is slowly going bye bye. It's all getting eaten away. Unbelievable. Does the President even care?!?! Apparently not. The market's got a little less than four more hours to go on the day so we'll see what happens. Again, even if it closes up 500 points, that doesn't mean we're gonna be okay, not yet. One good day does not make a recovery; we'd still be a LONG way away from where we SHOULD be. Since the President won the election and since he was inaugurated, Wall Street's gone straight to hell. There's just NO confidence in what he and his administration is doing to fix the economy. NO positive outlook for the future. Just great, I say sarcastically. But for whatever reason, and now I'm just going in circles, it doesn't seem like he even cares.
In other news: exercise is good. And why do we like to be nostalgic?
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| Friday Morning Run: 24 minutes 10 seconds | -1 min 29 |
Days Since My Last Run: (nearly) 7
.
10:00 am - 64° - bright and sunny
It's partially unbelievable to me that it's been nearly 7 whole days since my last run. Yet again -- that's not good. To be fair -- there's been rain. There's been a pinched nerve in my back that sidelined me for three days. And then there was an allergies issue that caused me to delay this run by a day. Crap crap crap. But finally I was able to get out there.
Not a good run but what matters is I got it done. Since it had been a week, I retooled my Run Time, cutting back quite a bit. I'll have to build back up again, hopefully not in 10 or 12 second increments, hopefully by half minutes.
Less than half way through, I had thoughts of quitting, My nose was runny as hell and that absolutely annoyed the crap out of me. How I made it to the end cue on my mp3 player, I do not know. Physically I feel fine now, felt fine when running, and I don't suspect there'll be any problem with my back or anything else. I suppose my nose is physically part of me but I was talkin' about my muscles and tendons and such. Nose-wise I've seen better days. Allergy medication had me half knocked on my ass while I ran and now it's almost making me fall asleep. Maybe I should be happier that I ran for the first time in March, and that somehow I succeeded, but eh.
X ·Feb :: +10 sec· X
|
 Friday's Running Playlist included most of this album... | |
 | Foreigner self-titled debut 1977 (2002 re-issue) |
| Feels Like The First Time Cold As Ice Starrider Headknocker The Damage Is Done Long, Long Way From Home Woman Oh Woman At War With The World Fool For You Anyway I Need You Feels Like The First Time (demo version) Woman Oh Woman (demo version) At War With The World (demo version) Take Me To Your Leader (demo version) | |
Anyway, there was a time when I owned the Foreigner 4 LP but other than that, all I knew of these guys was what got radio play. They had several hits through the years including two from this debut album: Feels Like The First Time and Cold As Ice. I've got a feeling that people who don't really even know Foreigner, they've heard those songs. One other on here -- Long, Long Way From Home -- charted but not in the Top 10 like the other two singles. I hadn't realized I'd heard that one in the past but it's indeed familiar to me. Must've been on WNEW, as well.
This whole album I don't necessarily love but those three songs are good ones. Often an album I use for running is something I'm easily able to "discard" and never listen to again, but I think I might dig this again someday. Old Foreigner's not bad.
filed under...
: music,
# running,
^ Foreigner,
Political Bullcrap
28 comments:
Obama hates you. There, I said it. : )
No, no, no, I wouldn't go that far. At most he just doesn't care about me. But then again, that's not really true. Well, he cares about getting as many tax dollars from me as possible. Might not directly be raising my taxes since I'm not above $250,000 but what about the Cap And Trade Tax? Everyone who used some sort of fuel will have to pay slightly more and that increase is straight from Obama/Congress is going right into Washington's pocket.
He wants to give so much to the less able, the less fortunate, the lazy. Take and give. Take and give. Gotta take from someone and that includes you and me. I'm not going to stand for it. Take from me to protect me and America, but NOT to make sure someone has free healthcare or free anything else for that matter.
Oi. But the stock market went up today. Hoorayyyyyyyyy!!! Oh, still down 400 points (6.something % for the week)??? Oh. I guess that's still not good, huh? Nope.
We're so screwed.
This is crazy! Forget the bleating of Rush Limbaugh; the problem is not with the quite reasonable and, if anything, underfunded stimulus package, which in any case will be debated long and hard in Congress. The problem is with what is not being debated: the far more expensive Wall Street bailout that is being pushed through - as in the case of the latest AIG rescue - in secret, hurried deal-making primarily by the unelected secretary of the treasury and the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Six months ago, we taxpayers began bailing out AIG with more than US$140 billion, and then it went and lost $61.7 billion in the fourth quarter, more than any other company in history had ever lost in one quarter. So Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke huddled late into the night last weekend and decided to reward AIG for its startling failure with thirty billion more of our dollars. Plus, they sweetened the deal by letting AIG off the hook for interest it had been obligated to pay on the money we previously gave the company.
AIG doesn’t have to pay the 10 per cent interest due on the preferred stock the US government got for the earlier bailout funds because that interest will now be paid out only at AIG’s discretion, which means never. The preferred stock, which got watered down, carried a cumulative interest, meaning we taxpayers would have recaptured some money if the company ever got going again, but that interest obligation was waived in the new deal.
We’ve already given AIG a total of $170 billion - an amount that dwarfs the $75 billion allocated to helping those millions of homeowners facing foreclosures. And more will be thrown down the AIG rat hole because President Barack Obama is blindly following the misguided advice of his top economic advisers, who insist that AIG is too big to fail.
“AIG provides insurance protection to more than 100,000 entities, including small businesses, municipalities, 401(k) plans and Fortune 500 companies who together employ over 100 million Americans,” the joint Treasury Department and Fed statement declared while insisting that for that reason, plus the “systemic risk AIG continues to pose and the fragility of markets today, the potential cost to the economy and the taxpayer of government inaction would be extremely high.”
What about the cost of inaction by Treasury and the Fed before this meltdown? If AIG were so important to the American economy, shouldn’t government regulators have been looking more closely at its activities? They couldn’t then, and even now they don’t understand what AIG has been up to, because the company was allowed to operate in an essentially unregulated global economy in which multinational corporations have their way.
As the Treasury/Fed statement concedes: “AIG operates in over 130 countries with over 400 regulators and the company and its regulated and unregulated subsidiaries are subject to very different resolution frameworks across their broad and diverse operations without an overarching resolution mechanism.”
Oh, really? And you’re discovering that only now, when you’re making us bail AIG out? It wasn’t that long ago that a couple of hustlers operating out of an AIG office in London were going wild making money off selling insurance on credit default swaps that no one could understand, but the company execs loved those huge profit margins. To challenge their maneuvering, as some in Congress attempted, was said by their defenders, including Geithner, to put them at an unfair disadvantage in the world market. Ignorance was bliss… until the bubble burst.
This was all belatedly conceded by Bernanke in his Senate testimony on Tuesday: “AIG exploited a huge gap in the regulatory system. There was no oversight of the Financial Products division. This was a hedge fund, basically, that was attached to a large and stable insurance company, made huge numbers of irresponsible bets - took huge losses. There was no regulatory oversight because there was a gap in the system.”
AIG used to be in the conventional insurance business, covering identifiable risks it knew something about, until it took advantage of deregulation and a lack of government surveillance to come up with contrived new financial products. Even Maurice Greenberg, the man who built AIG from the ground up over a span of 40 years before he was forced out amid corruption charges in 2005, admits that he didn’t understand the newfangled financial gimmicks that the company was peddling.
This week, claiming he too was swindled, Greenberg sued in federal court, charging the AIG execs who forced him out with “gross, wanton or willful fraud or other morally culpable conduct,” over the credit default swap portfolio that was part of his settlement.
US taxpayers now have ownership of almost 80 per cent of AIG, but with the company’s once solid traditional insurance business now suffering a steep loss of consumer confidence, it’s not likely that even the formerly healthy parts of the company will be worth much. What we have here is all pain and no gain for the taxpayers roped into this debacle, which is proving to be the story of the entire banking bailout.
(Note: The above article was posted at Information Clearing House.)
Deadman, in my previous (March 8, 2009 12:58 AM) post, I errored - I referred to you as "pinhead" - I meant to say "fuckface". Please forgive me.
Ya know what's interesting, you and Deadman would actually agree on some things as was made clear but glossed over a week ago this post... but the difference between you and him -- he's not here calling you out looking to fight. You are.
If you created a Google I.D. with email address included in your profile, maybe he'd invite you to his blog so you can hash it out (or agree on things) there. Fighting can be tiring but I think he has fun with it to a degree. Then again, I'm not sure he'd want the aggravation. His blog is private partially because he's sick and tired of people calling him an asshole... or a "fuckface" because he's a Deadhead with a differing point of view than most.
It's one thing to argue and have that turn into a fight but it's a whole 'nother thing when you're actually the aggressor intentionally egging someone on trying to get them to fight with you. Again -- he's not doing that. You are.
Zooma - I get your point. I detected that deadman and I may have similar beliefs concerning illegals taking jobs (for instance), but his posted response was that I sound like all other anonymous pieces of shit he has dealt with on the internet - not exactly an exchange of ideas/hashing it out.
"the difference between you and him -- he's not here calling you out looking to fight. You are." - not exactly - he prefers name calling and baiting. In a blog exchange, nobody is REALLY going to fight (and, by the way, he invited me to "bring it" a couple of times as well).
This time (March 8, 2009 12:58 AM), you are correct - I attacked unprovoked (in this thred) and in no way retaliatory.
At least I am intelligent enough not to write "errored".
Nice rant. Xanax much?
(verb) errored - Simple past tense and past participle of error.
I've never used Xanax. I am years removed from any recreational drug use except for a beer or two. (I googled it - it doesn't seem to be much of a good recreational drug.)
I suppose it would be polite to say something like, "It's good to hear from you.".
The VERB is TO ERR.
ERRED is the past tense.
Christ Almighty.
Do we really need to waste time and space on this? There are sources which validate BOTH error and err as verbs, and errored and erred past tenses. (It doesn't have to be a "MY source is BIGGER than your source contest.")
"Christ Almighty" - I know better than to open THAT can of worms!!
Deadman - c'mon, be bigger than that...if we exchange ideas, I might learn something from a different point of view - it's happened before (in fact, several times...). I'm not fuckin' with you - completely on he level. If you're not interested, fine. I tried, and I never meant any harm.
(Too much "like a little girl"?)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/error
No, I'm sorry, it's a noun. Not a verb.
And I like "wasting time" on grammar especially when it involves correcting the fairly recent trend of turning nouns into verbs when a perfectly good verb already exists. Wopuld you like TO DIALOGUE some more about this subject?
Do you see how awkward that sounds?
Deadman - c'mon, be bigger than that...if we exchange ideas, I might learn something from a different point of view - it's happened before (in fact, several times...). I'm not fuckin' with you - completely on he level. If you're not interested, fine. I tried, and I never meant any harm.
I'll take it under advisement.
It's a pity that the opposite faction must resort to saying things like "You make me sick" and then whinge about being called retarded, as Brainfreeze did down below. It really cuts both ways. But the Left seems to have a hard time understanding that the conservatives among us have a valid point of view that is not the same, and not evidence of a lack of intelligence. Frankly, I find the whole attitude elitist and repugnant.
And conservatives understanding that the Left (or not quite Left) have a valid point of view not the same (and not being evidence of being leftytarded)?
But see, I'm not completely Right either. I'm just goddamned tired of Deadheads calling me out because I don't support Obama or some other facet of their perception of wehat a "true" Dedahead is.
Sorry, it's a retarded position. And no, I don't agree with retarded Conservatives either. The point is, Deadheads should stop whinging as Brainfreeze and that asshole up there did and just listen to the music and accept that this is Zoooma's blog to espouse whatever political position he wants.
There are always gonna be Deadheads who will take the position that anything under the sun that leans anywhere remotely to the Right of center, that's bad; that person MUST be mentally imbalanced or some shit like that. "Conservative thinking is evil and dangerous for the progress of America. Anyone with a conservative thought is an idiot and surely not a true Deadhead, and they must be told that, and it's okay to put them down." That could be a paragraph in their handbook. These people want to put a conservative thinker in their place and they are often (but not always) the same type of left leaning person who will automatically say things like:
A) Bush lied [despite the fact that there's no evidence of that]
B) Bush didn't keep us safe since 9/11 [despite the fact that we were not attacked here again on U.S. soil
C) Bush has an IQ less than dirt [despite the fact that that truly is an idiotic statement]
D) "rich" people should have higher taxes and that extra money should be given to the poor
E) other misc assorted nuggets of wisdom.
(I don't wish to nor will I argue any of those here, it's just an example of the way many left leaning people think.)
Deadhead or not, you'd hope one would be open-minded. They often say they are but then they (some of them) get their "news" from places like the Huffington Post and the Daily Kos and Keith Olbermann's the only trustworthy person on any cable news channel.
Open-minded definitely isn't automatically calling someone a Bush lover idiot if they don't like Obama. But some do that.
There are many on BOTH sides who are close-minded in their thinking even when they claim they're not. But the other night I caught NPR senior political correspondent Juan Williams talking on TV and I was able to rewind the program to capture what he said because what he said was quite interesting to hear from someone of his stature, and it was quite telling:
"I've come to understand that when I say something that doesn't hold to the orthodoxy of the far left, they are far more vicious and personal in their attacks against me, ad hominem in their attacks against me than anything on the right, historically. I always thought, 'Ya know what, it's the far right that's close-minded.' No, let me tell ya, I've discovered the far left is extremely harsh, harsh and punishing, when you don't say exactly what they want you to say and stick to their orthodox."
What?
No opinions regarding Foreigner??
I have my own strongly held political opinions, almost all to the opposite of Zooma's, but I keep my political opinions separate from my musical ones, especially on specifically musical threads such as this one!
I have detested this group as well as others (Styx, REO, Toto, Kansas) ever since I was a trainee Deadhead back in the 1970s, as I thought that they represented the epitome of bland, corporate, meaningless 'FM-friendly' calculated contrived 'product' but on Zoooma's recommendation, I will give this another listen...who knows, I might even change my mind!
Of course, I am such a downloading addict that I have even DL'd stuff by such estemed artistes as Yoko Ono and Milli Vanilli, so this isn't really that much of a stretch.
A small request, could you please post any JGB show where he does "Lazy Bones" or "Rockin' Chair?"
I am a huge Hoagy Carmichael fan andfeel that his music is as timeless as anything!
BTW, Hoagy was a staunch conservative Republican, but that was also separate from his music, as it should be!
Thanks for all the great stuff... I'd post comments more often if my PC didn't suck so bad!
Peace...
Heya Dreadbagel, so many bands like Foreigner work just fine for me when I run. I might have an addiction similar to yours with downloading and oddly, as much as I love the Dead, I just can't run to 'em so I'll listen to whatever.
The 3 singles on this album might be FM-friendly but I don't think they're that bad. Mostly, listening to them gave me a bit of a nice nostalgic feeling but the rest of the album is nothin' great.
As far as your Hoagy Carmichael/Jerry Garcia request -- I'm looking now to see what I can do for ya. Happy to help out! I can't promise anytime soon but I'm workin' on it!
Thanks for your comment!
I've never tried to define what a "true deadhead" is. I haven't ever thought about that.
I don't connect liking Grateful Dead music with politcial beliefs, either - of course I haven't been reading/posting to this blog very long, so you've read a lot more than I.
Obviously, it is Zooma's blog and he does espouse his political positions...I thought he was doing that to invite discussion. He has asked for comments.
I never liked Foreigner. I bought that LP when it came out, but got rid of it soon after.
Whenever I've mentioned getting comments I've always referred to getting a word or two of Thanks for the Dead (and related) downloads... especially when something gets downloaded 50 or a hundred times and there's only like 5 or 6 comments.
Discussion about anything else is a 1,000,000,000 miles away from my mind. Sometimes I type away about something because I'm worried and/or pissed off and I'd rather not keep it bottled up. I've already got slightly elevated blood pressure as it is... I don't wanna go making it worse. Comments are fine but it's not what I'm looking for. This blog, at times, ain't just music, it's an outlet.
Zooma - thank you. A great explanation - I misunderstood (wrong again).
I'll stop the comments unless I DL something.
Free advice - try not to get too upset by the economy, Wall Street, Obama, etc. because there really isn't much we can do about it...just try to make the best of it.
I've been called worse by better, Anonymous...
"I'll take it under advisement." - you can take you Christmas pudding and shove it up your ass!
I tried to keep an open mind. My mistake. There isn't ANYTHING *I* might learn here, at least not from any exchange of ideas with you. I can do mean-spirited if I want, and I have no interest in selfish, narrow-minded, prejudiced prick, so what's left? GOP - Greedy Old Prick bullshit?
Live and GET WELL.
I can do mean-spirited if I want, and I have no interest in selfish, narrow-minded, prejudiced prick, so what's left?
You also forgot either the "s" on the end of "prick", or an "a" between "in" and "selfish". Either choice would be a suitable correction for that sentence.
You've made a few typos as well - has it really devolved to that level?
"selfish, narrow-minded, prejudiced prick" - no "s" needed. It's a description of a mindset. (Your "game face" in this thread.)
If you wish to say there's no "s" needed, Deadman pointed out (which you must've missed) -- you'd need an "a" between "in" and "selfish".
"Errored" is hardly a typo. It's an ignorant misuse of the English language.
has it really devolved to that level?
We are Devo, man. It's time to put on your big boy pants and stop crying already.
Please don't knock Devo, they are one of the true greats, I am not kidding.
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