Videos VIII

Videos VII

Videos VI

Videos V

Videos IV

Videos III

Videos II

Videos I

Road trip music

I listen to a variety of music. I love these two songs. They are very different from each other. One is country and the other is rap. Every time I hear them, it will remind me of my trip to Wisconsin. I listened to the radio for mostly the entire trip. I heard this two songs a lot during my 14 hour drive to and from Wisconsin.

The first song is "Bleed Red" by Ronnie Dunn:



The second song is "Love The Way You Lie" featuring Rihanna:

Weekend update

I was happy to get my car back Friday. What I wasn't too happy about was the price tag. But I shouldn't complain. This is the first time in five years that I had major work done on it. I did notice something Sunday while driving to my Mom's for Easter. I've had a nice Pilot Dr. Grip pen in my car for about two years. I really like those pens because they write in extreme cold weather. I keep it in the center console with my CDs and Sharpie markers. I noticed it was missing Sunday. The people at the car place stole my pen! That didn't make me very happy. I also had a Bic pen mixed in with the Sharpie's, but they didn't take the 99 cent pen. They took my nice pen. After leaving my Mom's, I stopped at the store to buy a new one. It cost me $6.00. Next time I get my car serviced, I'm taking my nice pen out of the car.

My husband and I went to the Toledo Museum of Art Saturday afternoon. We went to see Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks in the Canaday Gallery. Stunning photography. It was nice to see so many of his famous prints up close and learn the stories behind them. Beautiful exhibition.

We had tickets to see Wicked that night at the Stranahan Theatre. The performance was wonderful. I enjoyed seeing it again. What I didn't enjoy was how hot it was inside. Mainly during the second act, I was using my playbill as a fan. The other thing that made me mad was the two high school girls sitting behind us. They talked throughout the entire show. That isn't even the worst part. They also sang along to most of the songs. I really wanted to turn around and tell them to shut up. My husband didn't pay almost $70 a ticket for us to hear high school girls sing songs terribly.

What You Waiting For?

I forgot how much I love this song and video by Gwen Stefani.

Valentine's Day early

My husband and I had our Valentine's Day dinner Wednesday evening. We decided to celebrate it early because my husband works on Sunday.

Before going into the restaurant, my husband pulls out two envelopes from under his visor. I said that I thought we were exchanging cards on Sunday. He said I can, but he wanted to give me his Valentine card during dinner.

He handed me the envelopes after ordering dinner. I started with the huge envelope. It was my Valentine's Day card. He wrote a nice note inside the card that made me smile. I then opened the smaller envelope. I couldn't believe what I saw inside. He bought two tickets to see Wicked at the Stranahan Theatre in Toledo, Ohio in April.

I was surprised. I mentioned to him back in December that I wanted to see it again. We saw it together during our 2008 trip to New York City and both liked it. When I asked him about it then, he said that he didn't want to see it again. That disappointed me because I thought he liked it. On the Toledo radio stations, they have been playing commercials for it. I was sad that I wouldn't be hearing "Defying Gravity" live again. My husband feared that I would buy tickets to go see it anyway. I didn't because I didn't want to go by myself. My husband is a sly one. Way to fool me!

Since he got the wonderful tickets to see Wicked, I have to pick up a nice gift for him. Usually we don't buy gifts for Valentine's Day. But I need to repay him for such a wonderful gift. Can't wait to see Wicked on April 3! Yay!

All things Patton

I think the first time I watched the movie Patton (1970) was sometime in my 20s. I knew about the movie when I was younger, but never watched it. Back then I wasn't interested in war movies. It was and still is a great movie. George C. Scott was fabulous as General George S. Patton and truly deserved the Oscar for Best Actor. Scott won and refused it.

This is really the best World War II movie I have ever seen. The movie really pulls the viewer in right in the beginning with the opening speech by George C. Scott. Then the viewer is introduced to the theme music by Jerry Goldsmith and it is really wonderful. It is so wonderful that I have Patton's theme on my iPod.

My favorite line of the movie has to be when the U.S. intercepts a German radio message saying that Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's 10th Panzer will be hitting them at El Guettar. In the scene Patton is overlooking the battle: "Rommel... you magnificent bastard, I read your book!"

Patton (1970) trailer



Patton theme by Jerry Goldsmith



My favorite line of Patton at end of video

Weekend update

This past weekend was so nice. The weather was wonderful. I ran a 5K Saturday morning and it was in the lower 60s. It was a very good day to run. Last year the weather was cold and a raining. I started the run limping. I'm still getting used to my orthotics. A couple of minutes into the run, the limping went away. When I crossed the first mile I was surprised at the time. It was faster then my opening mile in last week's 5K. Personally, I thought I was going much more slower then that.

Mile two is always my downfall. This time I developed stomach cramps. They were really bad. A couple of times I thought about stopping and walking. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. So I kept going along, slowly. Besides the stomach cramps, my back started to hurt. It was a wonderful combination. What really helped me turn things around is when I two runners in front of me started to walk. My goal was to catch them.

I did catch one runner and passed him. The other one was just out of reach. With a half mile or less to go, the guy that I passed, passed me back. I was staying with him until we hit an incline. I tried to stay with him, but he did get about 10 to 15 feet in front of me. The gap didn't get any bigger, which made me happy. I finished in 35:42:58. It wasn't my slowest time ever, but it also wasn't my fastest either. After the race I was happy. I was unsure how my heel would feel in the orthotics. I know that they really helped. Except for the limping at the beginning of the race, my heel felt good the rest of the way. Once I did cross the finish line, I did limp a little. But it wasn't as bad as last week.

Besides actually running, I did watch some cross country and track & field on TV. ESPN and CBC had the Penn Relays, The Drake Relays and the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. I was disappointed in the Relays coverage. What they did show was good, but I wanted to see more of the college runners and individual events. The Penn Relays showed USA vs The World which was cool. It was nice to see USA Track and Field redeem itself in the relays after the horrible Beijing Olympics, but I was hoping for more. They did show some footage of the Tennessee women's team winning the distance medley. It would have been nice to see the entire relay.

At the Drake Relays, they showed the men's mile. That was nice, but what about the women's mile? In the 100 meter hurdles race Lolo Jones, she hit the second-to-last hurdle in the Beijing Olympics and finished fourth, was in the field. Throughout the entire race the camera was focused on her. She hit a hurdle, pulled up and didn't finish. Tiffany Ofili of Michigan won the race. I felt bad for Tiffany, they didn't interview her or really care that she won the race. Even though her time is the third fastest in the world this season. The announcers were focused on Lolo and how bad her injury was. I hope Lolo gets better but give the winner some love.

The IAAF World Cross Country championship was held at Amman, Jordan in March. It was nice seeing that on TV, even though happened almost a month ago. In the men's and women's races the Kenyon and Ethiopian runners were strong. A Kenyon won the women's race and an Ethiopian won the men's race. During the race, you could hear the music being played there. It was mostly Top 40 music. I heard Shania Twain and The Proclaimers. At one point the announcers even said "Shania Twain is being played over the loud speakers." I find that strange because that music was picked to play over the loud speakers at a World Cross Country Championships.

Pure Country

I watched the movie Pure Country this morning. At the end of the movie, George Strait's character Dusty sings I Cross My Heart. That was the first song my husband and I danced to as man and wife. Every time I hear the song, it takes me back to September 15, 2001.

The Stroke

A couple of days ago at work, I started singing this song out of the blue. Now it is stuck in my head. When I hear it, all I can think of is the movie Billy Madison.

Songs typically not heard over the loudspeakers

Songs that played back to back on my iPod last night while photographing a boys basketball game at a Christian school:

Asshole by Denis Leary
Closer by Nine Inch Nails

After listening and signing along with both songs, I thought it was funny that songs with a ton of swears and that would never be heard at a Christian school played right after one another. What would have made it perfect is if A Special Christmas Box or aka Dick in a Box by Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg would have played after Nine Inch Nails.

shuffle

I've mentioned before that I received an iPod for Christmas. For the last two weeks at work, the iPod has been my close companion. Before I sit down at my desk for the morning, I put my earphones in and turn on the power. Listening to different music for five hours makes the mornings go quickly. It is so much better then the random CDs I used to bring in.

Besides listening to it at the office, I've been listening to my iPod during photo assignments at sporting events. I can't believe what a difference it makes. With my music, I don't really pay attention to the crowd anyone. I miss all of the yelling and complaining from the stands. And that alone is pretty nice.

Now that I've had this great gift for a couple of weeks, I noticed how quickly the battery dies. Monday night I charged it after my game. At work this morning, the battery died. As I type it sits in its dock recharging. The other thing I noticed is the lack of shuffle. For the past two days after a couple of hours the same songs I heard already were playing again, and in the same order. I have over 100 songs uploaded and I don't think I heard 30 of them yet. I saw on the directions that songs can be reshuffled. Maybe I will try that later tonight at my game.

Besides those two minor things, I love my iPod shuffle. I don't think that I will go back to bringing CDs into work ever again.

Just wondering

I recently downloaded songs from one of my favorite movies, Rocky IV, onto my iPod. When I hear the songs play is it sad that I can picture the music montages in my head?