¡Los Platos Están Cayendo!: June 2012

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Which End of the Leash Am I On?

Greetings,

This morning, like every morning, I walked my dog. I have a 4 year old Doberman (Nina) and she loves her walks. She makes unworldly sounds of joy, sound a big ferocious Doberman should not be making, when I grab the leash and she knows it is time to head out the front door. Despite her size and power, she is an excellent walking buddy and stays beside me (my wife trained her well) but she does like to be ever so slightly ahead of me and takes every inch of the little amount of slack that I give her. She does not pull hard, only a small amount, attempting to get me to move a little faster. Other than the occasional suicidal rabbit that scurries across our path, our walks are uneventful, peaceful and enjoyable.

I mentioned that Nina likes to be ever so slightly ahead of me. I think she likes to think that she is in charge of the path we will take. The problem is that she is a dog and has no idea where we are going. This presents a problem when we come to a fork in the path (sidewalk). She does a pretty good job of guessing the correct path but this is more likely due to the path being familiar to her (like a trail horse walking the same trail every day). She (Nina) likes routines whereas I like to take a different path from time to time. When we come to a choice, she either guesses correctly or she guesses wrongly. When she guesses correctly, I imagine she thinks that she made the choice of where we will go next. Ultimately of course she goes where I want to go and a quick yank on the leash sets her straight if she guessed wrong and after changing direction she quickly inches out in front of me as she “leads” me in the rest of our walk. On a recently morning, I began to see Nina’s habits during our walks as having a parallel to my life. In a brief moment of clarity during that morning I had an epiphany.

You see, I like to think that I am in control of my life. If you liken my life’s path to our walking path and if I assume that I am either the human or the dog as I am walking down life’s path then (up until recently) I would have said that I am the human. I am in control. I control the leash and I can decide which direction to go when there is a choice of direction. This morning I realized that I might just be the dog; ever thinking that I am in control, that I am leading the walk. When I have a choice between going this way or that in my life, it may be that I only seem to have control. The times that I chose correctly were the times that I just happened to guess correctly (or that the part was familiar enough to me that the choice was obvious). When I choose / guess incorrectly, inevitably there is some force there to yank on my leash and get me going in the right direction.

I have had some recent changes in my life path and I see a few more possible forks in the road ahead and this path does not look familiar right now. I am momentarily confused (like Nina when she guesses wrong) but I have a feeling that I will be OK soon enough, inching as far ahead as my leash will let me go. Some of this new path will look familiar (I hope). I am also hopeful (confident maybe?) that whoever it is that has their hand on the leash knows what they are doing. I have been very fortunate that my past wrong choices on my life path have not caused me (or my loved ones) too much discomfort so I probably need not worry too much. For now I think that I am just going to enjoy the walk and not think about the upcoming forks in the road.

Jon

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Random Photos–2012-06-23

It is time once again to clear out the cell phone’s micro SD card and try to remember why I took these pictures.

My manager recently took a trick to Europe with his family. I think he visited 3 different countries. He bought this “mug” for me (it is only 2” tall at most). I display it in my cubicle at work now partially to impress him and partially because I just like it. I found out last week that I will have a new manager starting in a week or so. I have not decided whether the mug will stay in its current position past then.

On the days that I go into the office to work I like to get out of the cubicle at lunchtime. Sometimes I go up the 6th floor arcade and play Donkey Kong. Other days I walk across the street (a 6 lane main road) and sit near the man made pond there. There are apartments, a hotel and tons of shops and restaurants as well so it is fun to people watch as well. The above is my view from a bench that was mercifully in the shade on the warm day that I took this picture.

It is pretty warm in Texas this time of year so imagine my surprise when these company logo ice scrapers were a new arrival in the company store located just down the escalators from my cubicle. I suppose they might sell since most of the folks that come to this store are people who have travelled here for meetings. Still though, it is summer pretty much everywhere in the northern hemisphere and I would not give this product the shelf space just yet.

I recently accomplished my goal of running 5k I look quite the mess when I get back to the house but I feel great, albeit a little warm. Here is a picture after one of my runs. For some reason neither the wife and kids are in a mood for a hug after I come back into the house after my morning runs.

I am not a big fan of Windows and one thing I really don’t like is all of the patches. At home I can at least postpone them but at work they are forced upon you by the IT department. Inevitably when I am trying to get out of the office on time it will be time for a pile of updates. As with all things Microsoft, the information on the screen does not tell you much (being on update 8 or 16 does not mean you are 1/2 way done). Fortunately it does not happen that often.

Well, the card is empty now and ready for more pics. Thanks for reading my blog.

Jon

The Listening Project–Supplemental Blog 3

In retrospect I should have just kept walking. It was Saturday morning about a week ago and Nina (the Doberman) and I were on our morning walk and we happened past a garage sell (or what would soon be a garage sell as they were still brining things out from the house to set out on the driveway). Even from the sidewalk I could see 2 huge piles of CDs along with a sign indicating they were only asking $0.50 each. I knew I was in trouble. I should have kept walking like a recovering drunk should walk past a bar. What is listed below is what I ended up with and is only this short as I did not have any more cash on me.

#	Artist	Album	Date Listened	Again?
1063	Bread	Anthology Of Bread	6/17/2012	Yes
1064	3 Doors Down	Away From The Sun	6/17/2012	Yes
1065	AC/DC	Ballbreaker	6/17/2012	Yes
1066	Dire Straits	Brothers In Arms	6/18/2012	Yes
1067	Rush	Chronicles Disc 1	6/18/2012	Yes
1068	Rush	Chronicles Disc 2	6/18/2012	Yes
1069	Prince & The New Power Generation	Diamonds And Pearls	6/18/2012	Yes
1070	Soundgarden	Down On The Upside	6/19/2012	Yes
1071	Ozzy Osbourne	The Essential Ozzy Osbourne Disc 1	6/19/2012	Yes
1072	Ozzy Osbourne	The Essential Ozzy Osbourne Disc 2	6/19/2012	Yes
1073	REO Speedwagon	The Essential REO Speedwagon Disk 1	6/20/2012	Yes
1074	REO Speedwagon	The Essential REO Speedwagon Disk 2	6/19/2012	Yes
1075	Chicago	Greatest Hits 1982-1989	6/20/2012	Yes
1076	Bon Jovi	Keep The Faith	6/21/2012	Yes
1077	Depeche Mode	Music for the Masses	6/21/2012	Yes
1078	Stone Temple Pilots	Nº4	6/21/2012	Yes
1079	Ozzy Osbourne	The Ozzman Cometh	6/21/2012	Yes
1080	Depeche Mode	People Are People	6/22/2012	Yes
1081	Metallica	Ride The Lightning	6/22/2012	Yes
1082	Peter Gabriel	Secret World Live Disc 1	6/22/2012	Yes
1083	Peter Gabriel	Secret World Live Disc 2	6/22/2012	Yes
1084	Ace Of Base	The Sign	6/22/2012	Yes
1085	Nickelback	Silver Side Up	6/22/2012	Yes
1086	Skid Row	Skid Row	6/23/2012	Yes
1087	Stone Temple Pilots	Thank You	6/23/2012	Yes
1088	Stevie Nicks	Trouble In Shangri-La	6/23/2012	Yes
1089	Depeche Mode	Ultra	6/23/2012	Yes
1090	Alanis Morissette	Under Rug Swept	6/23/2012	Yes
1091	Air Supply	The Vanishing Race	6/24/2012	Yes
1092	Def Leppard	Vault - Def Leppard Greatest Hits 1980-1995	6/24/2012	Yes
1093	Genesis	We Can't Dance	6/24/2012	Yes
1094	The KLF	The White Room	6/24/2012	Yes
1095	Tom Petty	Wildflowers	6/24/2012	Yes

Bread “Anthology of Bread”: I took a chance on this one as I cannot for the life of me name one song by this group. The CD cover was a picture of the band in their heyday and they had some cool hair so I took a chance. I can see myself listening to this one often.
Dire Straits “Brothers In Arms”: I bought this only for the 2 hit songs that I remember from my MTV days. The other songs don’t quite fit the same mold but it was an enjoyable listen. I imagine my future listening of this CD will be limited to the hits.
Rush “Chronicles Disc 1 & 2”: Wow, all this for 50 cents! Awesome, awesome, awesome. I cannot say that I eve heard more than one or two of these songs but I definitely discovered this band way too late in my life.
Soundgarden “Down On The Upside”: Riding Nirvana’s coattails only lasts so long I guess. This is the release after their best selling album (Superunknown) and it doesn’t quite pack the punch but it still is OK.
Ozzy Osbourne “The Essential Ozzy Osbourne Disc 1 &2” & “The Ozzman Cometh”: If I had know that “The Ozzman Cometh” was another best of CD then I likely would not have bought it (even at the 50 cent price point) since it contains mostly songs from the 2 disc other collection I picked up at the same time. I really have only heard Ozzy’s later stuff (late 80s, 90’s) so hearing the earlier stuff was fun. This is a great CD to run to as imagining Ozzy chasing you is a good motivator to keep running.
REO Speedwagon “The Essential REO Speedwagon Disk 1 & 2”: Another jackpot. I know most the stuff on disc 2 (their mellower, power ballad years) but I very much enjoyed disc 1. You can really tell that they changed their sound to get some hit singles once they discovered that power ballads sell.
Depeche Mode “Music for the Masses” & “People Are People” & “Ultra”: I really expanded my Depeche Mode library here. The music is so simple at times but so powerful and emotional as well. This is another band that I discovered to late in life.
Metallica “Ride The Lightning”: This is the first Metallica CD that I have ever owned. It is probably a good start.
Ace Of Base “The Sign”: Don’t judge me. We had this CD when my 10 yr old daughter was a baby and you could pop it in any time and she would start moving around (and stop crying sometimes) so this CD brings me happy memories.
Air Supply “The Vanishing Race”: This is from the mid 90’s but the duo’s voices are still awesome.
Def Leppard “Vault - Def Leppard Greatest Hits 1980-1995”: All the hits and a few others thrown in to get enough tracks so that you do not feel like you are getting ripped off.
The KLF “The White Room”: This one was still sealed and I am not sure what that means. I seem to recall a hit song by this band with special guest singer Tammy Wynette so I took a chance. This is not great and it reminded me of a more subdued C+C Music Factory.
Tom Petty “Wildflowers”: I recognize several songs on this disc (more than just the hits) so I am thinking I must have borrowed it from the Kokomo library at one time or another. Good stuff.

I am pushing 1,100 CDs now and this is probably my best find so far based on quality of CD and price paid.

Jon

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Concerning Black Licorice and Mr. Pibb

As I write this blog my wife is making me a Father’s Day lunch. We (she) settled on homemade meatball subs and we just returned from a trip to Target to buy all the ingredients that we were missing at the house (which is just about everything on the ingredients list). She asked me last night what I wanted for my Father’s Day dinner and was narrowing it down to meatballs of some sort. I swayed her from Swedish meatballs to meatball subs. I originally tried to talk her out of making anything special and that led to another discussion. Before I get to that topic though I want to provide a little background and tie in the title of this blog post.

When I was in my teens I would get upset whenever someone (usually my mother) would want to share any drink that I had. This sharing mostly occurred while driving somewhere in the car. I have this habit of measuring how much more enjoyment that I have left based on the amount of liquid left in the cup. I know at any given time them about how much more enjoyment I have left. When someone decides they want a drink then the equation is upset in that pleasure is leaving one side of the equation but pleasure it not going to the other side (my side) of the equation. I discovered that the amount of drink I had to share varied based solely on the flavor of the drink. After much research I found out that Mr. Pibb was the optimum drink since my mom really did not like the flavor and she would only ask for a drink if she was truly thirsty. Thus Mr. Pibb became my official drink and I ordered it whenever there was a chance that I might have to share.

My “love” of black licorice has a similar background only it occurred after I had kids. Any candy in the house is fair game (I learned this rule the hard way several times) but certain types of candy seemed to last longer than others. Through trial and error I discovered that candy like Good-n-Plenty of just plain licorice was the best candy to have to maximize the amount that I ate of the overall portion.

With either of these things I think I am not really getting maximum enjoyment. I prefer several soft drinks to Mr. Pibb and licorice is not even in the top 100 of my favorite candies but I still consider them when I am given a choice in either of these categories On a side note, Mr. Pibb and Good-n-Plenty together is just awful.

So, as you might have guessed, when I was thinking about my potential Father’s Day dinner, I was thinking of something that I like that no one else particularly cares for and thus would allow me to have more. This is the discussion that I mentioned in paragraph 1 of this post. The problem with meatballs is that everyone likes them. I joked that since she loves meatballs very much that perhaps Father’s Day was simply the excuse for making them. The initial look on her face indicated that I might be more right than she would care to admit. This look was followed up with another “look” that I need not define further to you husbands out there. I mentioned that she is making meatballs as I type this up so you already know how the story ends. I ended up giving up on thinking of another meal that only I like as she likes almost anything anyway. Try as I might I could not find any main dinner dish that had licorice as a main ingredient. I have resolved myself to the fact that I will have to fight for the meatballs and any leftovers that might be there at the end of the meal. Maybe being Father’s Day the wife and kids might show some pity on me.

Jon

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Couch 2 5k–Week 9

This was it, the last week in the training program. Even though I did not follow the training program exactly after week 5, I still had the end goal in mind; namely to run 5k.

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3
17 minutes	22 minutes 40 seconds	25 minutes 10 seconds

Day 1 of this week did not begin well. I have my excuses.

Week 8 entailed the sister-in-law and mother-in-law staying with us for the entire week. Consequently, the wife and I had an excuse not to eat well (or in my case keep up my water intake). I did OK during week 8 but I really felt it Monday morning.
The son decided he would like to start running with me. He made it all of 1/4 mile before he had to start walking. He kept going on the path and I caught him right as I was completing lap 3 (2.1 miles). Seeing him at that line was excuse enough to stop.
I began to have the most serious doubts about being able to run a 5k. Why punish myself on this day if I was never going to make it anyway?

Day 2 was much better and even though the son decided to run with me again, I was feeling much better health-wise with a few good days of better food behind me. I stopped after 4 laps (2.8 miles) and began to think for the first time since Day 1 of Week 1 that I might, just might be able to make it 5k on Day 3.

Day 3 almost did not happen as the radar showed a lot of rain heading our way and a peak outside showed lightning strikes nearby. I put on my running shoes and got Nina’s leash thinking that if it was too bad I would just walk a lap with the Doberman and be done. After 1/2 lap (where my jogging start line is located) I decided to go for it. The first 3 laps were fine and it was only about 1/2 way through the 4th lap that I began to start the conversation to compromise on how far I would run. It does not help that the last 1/2 of the lap starts the steepest uphill portion of the lap. As I could see the corner where I would turn and start my 5th lap I thought to myself “If I could ask myself during any of those times I was running in the previous 8 weeks if I should quite or not, how would I answer?” From that thought process I mustered up the strength to continue on and finish the last 3+ minutes until the 5k mark. It helped slightly that the initial portion of the lap is downhill. Long story short, I made it. I ran a 5k right on time and according to schedule. 25 minutes is not an impressing time really but my goal was not time related.

The only question now is, “Now what?” I have not thought of where to go from here. Do I want to run an actual 5k race? Do I even want to continue running at all? I have not decided yet. I will probably run Monday morning but I am not sure how long (distance or duration). I can tell you one thing though, I have no desire to run a 10k.

Jon

The Listening Project–Supplemental Blog 2

The son and I wanted to get out of the house and go do something and we ended up at Mardel’s. I (of course) went straight to the clearance rack in the music section and scored some decent CDs at 75% / 90% off. I bought one simply because it looked like a rap album and the son is getting into that style of music. At only $1 you can afford to take a few chances. Here is what I bought.

#	Artist	Album	Date Listened	Again?
1058	Sanctus Real	The Face Of Love	6/9/2012	Yes
1059	Jars of Clay	The Long Fall Back To Earth	6/10/2012	Yes
1060	Becoming The Archetype	The Physics Of Fire	6/10/2012	Yes
1061	Mars ILL	ProPain	6/10/2012	Yes
1062	Various Artists	Welcome 2 Holy-Wood	6/10/2012	Yes

Sanctus Real “The Face of Love”: I have really wanted to get some music by this band. I only have their “Lead Me” single that I bought so I could practice and perform it for church. I never thought I would find any of their stuff on a clearance rack. I have listened to this new CD about a dozen times already. Awesome
Jars of Clay “The Long Fall Back To Earth”: If I had not of read the front of the CD I would have swore I was listening to The Afters. I think Jars of Clay is a band that I have really tried to like after they released their 2nd CD (I loved their first CD). This one I really like. It was released in 2009 so maybe this is their new sound. Here’s hoping!
Becoming The Archetype “The Physics Of Fire”: This group has a lot of growling for vocals (not my favorite) but the guitar and (especially) drums are awesome. I sat in awe of how anyone could play either instrument that fast.
Mars ILL “ProPain”: I think I was thinking of another band when I picked this one up. I thought I was getting a dance / techno CD but alas this is more rap / r&b. Still good but not what I was hoping for with this $1.
Various Artists “Welcome 2 Holy-Wood”: This is the rap CD I mentioned earlier in this blog. This was really for my son but it is not bad. I put YES in the right column since I will likely be forced to listen to this again whether or not I really want to.

So there you have it. All in all I showed restraint in that I only purchased 5 CDs, Once again though I can say that I have listened to all of my CDs.

Jon

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Routines and Excuses

As I start to write this blog the wife is driving the mother-in-law and sister-in-law to the airport. They were guests in our home for the past week and we were glad to have them. But with house guests comes interruptions to our routines.

I suppose we could have been mean and forced our guests to follow our routines but that would mean (or as they would probably describe it, cruel). We could have continued our routines and allowed them to continue in their chaos (note, chaos would here be narrowly defined as anything not in our routine). Any way we (those with the routine) looked at it and there was not a great solution that would make all happy (and by all, I mean our chaotic house guests).

Let me talk a bit about what our routines are here. A simple list would include the following…

5:30 AM - Wake up (adults and dogs) and begin the process of making coffee
6:15 AM - Walk, run dogs
7:00 AM - Breakfast and 2nd cup of coffee
7:30 AM - Get on with the day (I drive into the office to be able to be there by 8)

We have an evening routine as well and it revolves around the time we attempt to have dinner completed and the kids settling down for the night / getting into bed. All this was thrown out the window (for the most part the past week) though the wife and I (and the dogs) kept to our morning routine (the dogs are quite insistent about their routines). Other routines would be the amount of time we eat at home versus eating out and the quality of food that we eat. Here is where the “Excuses” part of the blog title comes in to play.

The wife and I (and the kids of course) were given a built in excuse not to follow our routines. To the kids it was a no brainer choice and the moved to chaos with no issues. To the wife and I, we used this week as an excuse to eat poorly (and too much). Now that our guests are gone, it is time to get back into our routines.

Historically this has been hard. I can look back at times like this when it all went to pot and progress I had made toward any goals (weight, exercise, etc) came to a screeching halt (and reversed). It is so hard for me to keep on the straight and narrow if there is a curve in the road. I have to go cold turkey on things like desert and soda or else weeks like this really lull me back into the old routine. Fortunately I have my wife (whip in hand) to get me back on the path.

Looking forward to getting back into our old routines now that our guests are gone (until of course my mother comes to visit in a month and we start over again).

Jon

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Couch 2 5k–Week 8

I discovered an error this week that I have been making. Fortunately it is an error in my favor. First though here is what I ran this week…

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3
20 minutes	21 minutes	22 minutes

As you can see, I was able to add 1 minute per day as was my plan. I was thinking as I was running on Day 2 (Wednesday) that I do not really want to be a runner. In fact for most of my running days over the past 2 weeks there are about 10 minutes when I think this. They are usually from around the 8 minute mark until about 3 minutes to go. For the rest of the week, I am happy with running and my progress thus far. Obviously I pushed through those 10 minute sessions and did not quit. I am happy to report that I did not feel that way on Day 3 (Friday) of this week. Maybe I might just turn into a runner after all.

Now as for my error.

Above is a picture of my running route for the past 2 weeks. This is the edition we currently live in and I have only ran it the past 2 weeks. Previous to that I headed out (to Hudson Crossing) and ran along the bike path. There is a lot more foot traffic (and paw traffic) so it is a little distracting since I have Nina (my Doberman) with me when I am running. She does pretty well, it is the other dogs that typically do not. Due to this issue I decided to keep my running along the path you see above. Well there was one more thing, sprinklers. The bike path has some very big sprinklers that water the grass along the way. These things must shoot 30 feet and they really cause Nina to freak out. Running is hard enough without having to drag a 70 lbs. dog who has her paws dug in to avoid the sprinklers. Anyway, I changed my running route.

I think I have mentioned before that the entire Couch 2 5k plan is based on a 10 minute mile (6 mph) when jogging. When the plan says run 1/2 mile it always added “or 5 minutes”. Since there was no way to gauge how far I was running, I stuck with measuring my running by the amount of time that I ran. I kept in the back of my mind that I was running 6 mph and did the math accordingly. When I ran for 17 minutes then I assumed that I ran 1.7 miles. To back that math up, I can run the above pictured path in about 6 minutes (slightly less than 6 minutes actually). When we first moved into the neighborhood I think we drove around it once and it measured 0.6 miles. This made sense in my head as if I was running 0.6 miles in 6 minutes then I was running a 10 minute mile (just like the Couch 2 5k plan assumes). There is only one problem, the above route is actually 0.7 miles (according to Google maps).

All this time I thought I was failing the Couch 2 5k pace based on timing when if I had just based it on distance I would have realized that I was really on pace. The goal is to run a 5k by the end of week 9. At the rate I am going I will be running 25 minutes on Day 3 (Friday) of next week. If I run the above route in 5:40 (what I ran it in on Friday of this week) then I am running at a pace that will see me finish a 5k in 25 minutes and 8 seconds. So, I am right on pace. Ever since I discovered this yesterday afternoon I have been on a sort of runner’s high. I will actually hit the 5k mark right on time.

Just to be sure, I drove 3 laps around the neighborhood and can confirm that it is just over 0.7 miles (the odometer hit 2.1 about 50 feet before I completed my last lap). This correction has made me thing I might be a runner after all.

Jon

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Couch 2 5k–Week 7

Since I have failed day 3 for weeks 5 and 6 and since week 7 (and 8 and 9) are just solid running, I had to improvise. Since week 9 (the last week) of the training has you running for 30 minutes I still need to keep that as an end goal. With that in mind I decided just to try to run 1 more minute each day until I get to 30 minutes. I only made it 16 minutes last week so I used that as my starting point. This will push the training out to 11 weeks but so be it. I cannot let my failures thus far stop me from continuing on. With that in mind, here is what I ran this week…

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3
Jogged 17 1/2 minutes	Jogged 18 minutes	Jogged 19 minutes

Monday was pretty easy (hence the extra 30 seconds). Actually every day was easier than I thought it would be. Oh, I still entertained thoughts of stopping early at around the 14 minute mark each day but I pressed on instead.

I made myself a long mp3 file of mostly hard rock / heavy metal. Ministry, The Offspring, Nirvana and Klank kept me going. As a marker for how long I had ran, I found a wav file with the numbers 1 through 20 in Spanish and put the appropriate number at each minute interval. So, every minute I get an update of how far I have gone and how far I have yet to go (using some quick mental math). I am still encouraged and in 4 weeks I should be at my goal. I have not picked out the 5k race that I am going to run yet.

Jon

Friday, June 1, 2012

The Listening Project–Supplemental Blog 1

Almost 2 months has gone by since I have bought any new music but I did make a small purchase (see list below) during a 20% sale at my favorite Half Priced Books store. At only 80 cents each, I think I made a good purchase. You can reference this blog entry for details about The Listening Project.

#	Artist	Album	Date	Again?
1047	Kelly Clarkson	Breakaway	5/27/2012	Yes
1048	Daughtry	Daughtry	5/27/2012	Yes
1049	Brian Healy	Devils, Angels & Saints	5/27/2012	Yes
1050	Green Day	Dookie	5/27/2012	Yes
1051	Depeche Mode	Exciter	5/27/2012	Yes
1052	Robert Plant	Manic Nirvana	5/28/2012	Yes
1053	Michael McDonald	Motown	5/28/2012	Yes
1054	Various Artists	O Brother, Where Art Thou?	5/29/2012	Yes
1055	Fleetwood Mac	Say You Will	5/29/2012	Yes
1056	Bruce Hornsby	Spirit Trial Disc 1	5/29/2012	Yes
1057	Bruce Hornsby	Spirit Trial Disc 2	5/29/2012	Yes

Here are my thoughts on a few of these CDs…

Kelly Clarkson “Breakaway”: I was disappointed in this one. While Kelly’s voice is great, most of the songs are not. Even the lyrics get repetitive song after song (I think not being able to breathe is mentioned in 3 or 4 of the songs). I will probably listen to it again though.
Daughtry “Daughtry”:Continuing on the American Idol theme here. This one is pretty good. I remember being disappointed when the lead singer was voted off way to early in season 5.
Brian Healy “Devils, Angels & Saints”: This completes my collection of Dead Artist Syndrome CDs (I think). For all practical purposes, Brian IS Dead Artist Syndrome. I am not sure why he released this one under his own name. The initials of the band and the title of the CD are both DAS though. Maybe he was having trouble with his label. I heard a lot of Michael Roe (The 77s) in the back ground vocals on this one.
Green Day “Dookie”: A few questionable lyrics here but a good CD nonetheless.
Depeche Mode “Exciter”: Newer stuff by this band that I discovered way too late.
Michael McDonald “Motown”: What is not to love of this disc of Michael singing old Motown songs?
Various Artists “O Brother Where Are Thou?”: The jewel of my purchase this week. I have listened to “I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow” a ton of times this week,

I have done pretty well in not buying any new music but the kids and I were killing time while the wife as at work and one thing led to another and we ended up at the Half Priced Book store.

.Jon