Completely Conspicuous Episode 35: Follow the Bouncing Ball

A bit of a sports-themed episode of CC for ya this week, so check it out here (right click and "save as").



The show notes, if you will:



Topics:
- The decline of ESPN
- The arrival of David Beckham
- The Pinhead of the Week


Music:
- The New Bomb Turks - Radiobeat
- Screeching Weasel - What We Hate
- The Riverbeat Gamblers - Ice Water
- The Lords of Altamont - Live Fast


Promos:
- The Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon. Find out more here.
- New England Podcasting. Find out more here.


Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes, Yahoo Podcasts and Podcast Pickle podcast directories. Subscribe and write a review!


The song from The New Bomb Turks is on the album Switchblade Tongues, Butterknife Brains on Gearhead Records; find out more here. The song from Screeching Weasel is on their album Weasel Mania on Fat Wreck Chords; find out more here. Both songs are provided by the Podsafe Music Network.


The song from The Riverboat Gamblers is on their album Something to Crow About on Gearhead Records; find out more here. The Lords of Altamont song is on their album Lords Have Mercy on Gearhead Records; find out more here. Both songs were provided by IODA Promonet.



"Ice Water" (mp3)
from "Something to Crow About"
by Riverboat Gamblers
(Gearhead Records)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
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Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at GroupieTunes
More On This Album





"Live Fast" (mp3)
from "Lords Have Mercy"
by Lords Of Altamont
(Gearhead Records)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at GroupieTunes
More On This Album





The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at http://jbreitling.blogspot.com/. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of Mark Campbell; find out more at http://www.icompositions.com/artists/Boris_the_Bull.


Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Don't You Evah

Hey, it's mid-August! Soon I'll be whining about how cold it is out...

I got my first 20-mile run in on Saturday morning. I got up earlier and was out the door by 6:30, but the temps were in the 50s at that point. I ended up buying a new bladder system for my Camelbak Friday night; I just didn't have enough water with me when I was bringing a 20-ounce bottle. This thing holds 70 ounces. The only problem in the past has been cleaning them; after a while the tubes get pretty skanky. I bought a cleaning system, so hopefully I can keep this thing bacteria-free. It was a good run. I had only one blip, when I took a spill on the sidewalk in Beverly Farms. Just plain tripped on part of the sidewalk that was sticking up and before I could react was on the ground. Skinned my knee, but that's about it. I also landed right on my iPod, which normally would have been the end of it, but thankfully I had it in a protective plastic case that absorbed all the impact. The case is banged up but intact and the Nano's fine.

We went to Portsmouth to meet my mom and my brother and his family for lunch at an Italian restaurant. Of course, Saturdays in the summer are usually pretty slow on 95, so we ended up jumping on Route 1 in Seabrook and making our way slowly to Portsmouth that way. The not-so-scenic route. We got to the restaurant about a half hour later than we planned, had lunch and then hung out at Prescott Park for a few hours. Sunday was much lazier; I slept in a little and then took a nap later in the afternoon before we went up again to my mom's for dinner. Got home around 9.

Kibbles and bits:

• Ding dong, the Rove is quitting. Well, at least Dubya's still got Cheney for all his evil needs. Apparently, MC Rove wants to spend more time working on his rap skillz.
• Merv Griffin died over the weekend at 82. Most of you young punks under 30 are probably saying, "Who?" but Merv was a showbiz giant for many decades. He had a daytime talk show that was kinder and gentler than the late night shows, but he made his fortune creating game shows like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. Rick Moranis used to do a killer Merv impression on the classic SCTV show.

Funky Dollar Bill

The dude who lives behind us put a fire pit in his backyard this summer and he likes to pick the hottest nights of the summer to burn crap for hours on end. Which means all our windows are open and the stank of it all gets all over everything. So I'm sitting here by the window on the opposite side of the house, inhaling some lovely brush fire smoke. Mmm. Smells like victory. Or burning crap.

Anyhoo, summer's flying by as it always does. I'm looking forward to another vacation in a couple of weeks, except this time we're not going anywhere far away. We'll do some day trips, but for the most part we'll stay local. I've always enjoyed waking up in my own bed but not having to go to work. Of course, right after that week, Deb goes back to work, so the summer will indeed be over.

Marathon training is going well. I was supposed to do an 8-mile tempo run yesterday but I had work stuff from 11 to 2:30, so I ended up running 6 on the treadmill. But I've been good about doing the speedwork and long runs; this Saturday, I'm doing 20 for the first time.

Haven't talked about the diet in a while. I've gotten back into a few bad habits, like drinking soda and eating candy, but I'm still eating salads for lunch most days. I've been weighing in at anywhere from 157-163, depending on the day. I suspect as the runs get longer, my weight will drop a bit. I've been getting some help from the vending machines in our building, which are either out of Coke or eating my dollar bills. I've had $3 eaten in the last week, which I'm taking as a sign to just quit drinking friggin' soda already. I have been drinking a lot of water because it's been so damn hot, so that's a positive.

Hot off the teletype:

• The Yankees are doing their best to make things interesting in the AL East by finally playing some good ball. They narrowed the Red Sox lead, which at one point was 11 or 12 games, to five with a second straight win over the Jays. The Jays finally took one from NY, pounding them 15-4 tonight, but they haven't played well against the Yanks this year. They're still within reach of the wild card, but there are about six or seven teams ahead of them, so I'm not getting my hopes up.
• That jackass B. Bonds finally broke Hank Aaron's record last night with his 756th homer. As much as it dismays me, I'm rooting for A-Rod to break his record in six or seven years. And I can't stand A-Rod.
• Do you have persistent headaches and nosebleeds? Maybe you've got a pencil stuck in your brain, like this woman in Germany. Damn.
• Much has been made of Senor Beckham's arrival in the MLS, but the dude still hasn't played a game. If I was somebody who bought tickets to the LA Galaxy because of Becks, I'd be considering getting a refund. I also wonder how good he'll actually be if he ever gets in a game. Just sayin', is all.

Dirty Haired Halo

Hola. Just got back from NJ after a long weekend. I wasn't able to post before or while we were there. Here's a quick wrap-up of the week:

• Tuesday, I ran in the Yankee Homecoming 10-miler up in Newburyport. It was a perfect night for the race, with low humidity and temps in the 70s. I struggled with a stomach issue; basically felt like something was slowing me down the whole race. At the 8.5-mile mark, I got a cramp in my gut that I had to contend with the rest of the way; couldn't shake it, but I was able to keep going, even if I wasn't able to kick it into high gear at the end. Still, I finished in 1:21, which is my best time on that course (not my PR for a 10-mile race; that was 1:20 back in '01 at the Larry Robinson World Without Cancer race in Andover). Above is a shot of me not too far from the finish.
• On Thursday, I ran the Beverly Homecoming 5K. I like this race. Great course, plus I know a ton of the people running. They had fun runs for the kids, so we had both girls run. I've only done it once before, in '03, and I had my 5K PR with a 21:33. This year, it was a hot and muggy night and again my stomach didn't feel quite right. I huffed and puffed my way through it and finished in 21:35. Not too shabby.
• We left for Joisey on Friday morning and spent the evening down at the lake near Matt and Tricia's house. The kids had a blast in the water and we had fun hanging out until suddenly, a storm moved in. A few lightning flashes were enough to get everyone to flee the lake and we went home and put the kids to bed.
• Saturday morning, I went out early for a 13-mile run in the state park nearby. It was cloudy and 68 when I left, but it was about 88% humidity, so it wasn't long before I was soaked in sweat. I saw a lot of wildlife on the run; bunnies, pheasants and a deer. I'm just glad I didn't run into any bears, which are common around there. I felt good on the run and was glad to have it done early. Then it was time to get ready for Matt's son Danny's 6th birthday party extravaganza, which was a sports-themed event: baseball, soccer, basketball, football. Mini fields, diamonds, etc., were set up and groups of kids played each game for a few minutes before a whistle blew and they moved on to the next. The beers went down easy for the grown-ups and it was a good time as always.

Aiight, time to have some dinner.

Completely Conspicuous Episode 34: Let the Music Do the Talking

It's a new record: four days between podcasts! I just realized tonight that if I didn't do a show tonight, I wouldn't have time to before we left for Joisey for the weekend on Friday morning, so here's the latest episode of tha CC. Downloadimafy it here (right click and "save as").

Given the time constraints, this is an all-music show. Enjoy:

Music:
- They Might Be Giants - Take Out the Trash
- Stars - The Night Starts Here
- You Say Party! We Say Die! - Like I Give a Care
- Lene Lovich - Lucky Number
- Centro-Matic - Calling Thermatico
- The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Who?

Promos:
- The Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon. Find out more here.

- New England Podcasting. Find out more here.

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes, Yahoo Podcasts and Podcast Pickle podcast directories. Subscribe and write a review!

The song from They Might Be Giants is on the album The Else on TMB Productions; find out more here. The song from Stars is on their album In Our Bedroom After the War on Arts and Crafts; find out more here. The song from You Say Party! We Say Die! is on their album Lose All Time on Paper Bag Records; find out more here. The Lene Lovich song is on her greatest hits album Lucky Number (The Best of) on Oval Music; find out more here.

The Centro-Matic song is from the album Fort Recovery on Misra Records; find out more here. The song from The Brian Jonestown Massacre is on the compilation Tepid Peppermint Wonderland: A Retrospective on Rubric Records; find out more here.

All the songs were provided by IODA Promonet.

"Take Out The Trash" (mp3)
from "The Else"
by They Might Be Giants
(TMB Productions)
More On This Album



"The Night Starts Here" (mp3)
from "In Our Bedroom After the War"
by Stars
(Arts & Crafts)
More On This Album



"Like I Give A Care" (mp3)
from "Lose All Time"
by You Say Party! We Say Die!
(Paper Bag Records)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album



"Lucky Number" (mp3)
from "Lucky Number (The Best Of)"
by Lene Lovich
(Oval Music)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at GroupieTunes
More On This Album



"Calling Thermatico" (mp3)
from "Fort Recovery"
by Centro-matic
(Misra)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at GroupieTunes
Buy at Insound
More On This Album



"Who?" (mp3)
from "Tepid Peppermint Wonderland: A Retrospective"
by The Brian Jonestown Massacre
(Rubric Records)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at GroupieTunes
Buy at Insound
More On This Album



The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Check out his excellente music blog, won't you?

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.