Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the
imagination, and life to everything. ~ Plato

I recently bought a new laptop and have been transferring all my music to it. However, it's a frustrating and tedious process since my old laptop was a slow Mac and there is no easy, one-step way to go about this. But the process though is really making me think about all of my music. It makes me think that music is like clothes and sometimes there are things that you should just get rid of because you don't wear them any longer. Why do I have All Mighty Senators on my i-Tunes when I skip a song each time it comes up? Sure, they are a rocking funk band and seeing them live in the mountains of Virgina blew my lid, but why are these tunes that I never feel connected with anymore taking up space on my hard drive? OK, after listening to that youtube clip, I might keep a few songs.

Another habit of mine is downloading all those free i-Tunes songs that they give cards for at Starbucks. It's a great promotion, of course, but I think I only like about 2 percent of what I end up with. And yet the other 98 percent of songs pile up like garbage on my system. Yes, Ceu is a really interesting, global artist, but I'm comfortable enough to admit what's not really my bag. Or another habit is downloading an entire CD because I like one song. Then it turns out the other songs are vastly different and yet again, there they sit, rotting.

I need to come up with some better categorization too. There are some rock or pop songs that I love listening to while running but yet if they come up in shuffle on my drive to work, I can't hit "forward" fast enough. I also wish i-Tunes would add a double genre feature. The songs by the band Drive-By Truckers (my favorite of all time) are perfect example of why we need the ability to assign two genres to one song. They are country and they are rock. Simply put, they are both.

This post doesn't have anything directly to do with working out, but you can see where I'm going with my thoughts. Maybe one day I'll transfer all my music, categorize all my songs aptly, and then make the mot outstanding workout mix of all time. We'll see. I have yet to see two people agree on one mix CD with equal enthusiasm for each song.

Back from vacation

We returned home from Denver on Monday evening to an energetic, very excited puppy! It's great to know the legends of dog loyalty appear that maybe they could be true. There was no exercising for me on Tuesday as I settled into unpacking and organizing and grocery shopping. On Wednesday night, I actually made it to the gym after work for a run on the treadmill. I thought I might see some of my peeps there but perhaps with the chill in the air, they were too weak to leave home. Who knows? I ran three miles in 36 minutes and had to stop twice (yes, twice) to tie my respective shoelaces. I think I need that gizmo that toddlers have to keep their laces tied tight all day. And I need a new pair of running shoes on top of that. I realize I bought mine when I did the half marathon more than two years ago. Yep, time to bite the bullet and see how much I can talk myself into enjoying the thought of spending $100 on a pair of running shoes. Maybe I'll be like the Africans or some of the other great ancient runners and forget the shoes altogether ...

On Thursday night I forced myself to my first Bikram yoga class in a long time. Like, maybe two months ago, that's how long of a time it has been. But dammit, I paid more than $200 for this stupid package of classes and I'll be ashamed if I let the classes run out on my lazy, unmotivated ass. Seriously, I was so annoyed with driving to Plymouth that I was already contemplating writing a post called "The love affair goes sour." However, I perked up when I saw that class was being led by my favorite instructor. Some of them are like drill sergeants who make you feel like a lazy slob for not attempting each pose 100 percent. I knew I was not ready for a class of that style yet. So I slogged through the sweat-soaked 90 minutes with a passable determination. Now that I'm not going out of town on the weekends, perhaps I'll be able to pick up more classes. Cheers.