Month: December 2019

There are about nine hours left in my 2019.

It’s ending on a good note. Katherine is as awesome as ever. I still have the best damn job I could imagine, and a group of co-workers I actually like to hang out with. And I’m about 25 pounds lighter than I was last year. All good.

The world decided to give me a gift today: perfect bike weather. Sunny and warm, but not hot. And a second gift: almost no traffic. I had my highest ever average speed for a longer ride. Another good note.

I don’t care for the whole New Year’s resolutions thing. It’s a high pressure recipe for discouragement. Instead, I’m going to try and keep doing what I try doing all year: adjust and improve as I go. I don’t expect to get it all right, and that’s fine. Whether you’re making a resolution tomorrow or not, I hope you give yourself permission to fail and learn.

2020 is here. I hope it’s great for you.

Now: 50 recent songs, mostly picked by my phone, including the best song of the ride.

Feral Cat Tribe – Tenement
My Three Sons – Elvis Costello And The Imposters

Tu m’as encore crevé un cheval – Arlt
This was in the last 50 songs as well. Why? Because Apple uses a crappy music randomizer. Thousands of songs on my phone, and this one comes up again right away.

Part III – Crumb
I Wish You Would – The Yardbirds
Vaporize – Broken Bells
Who Cares? (take 4) – Cannonball Adderley With Bill Evans
Longer Boats – Cat Stevens
Coney Island Baby – Tom Waits
Schn in rosa und rot (Pretty in Pink – Psychedelic Furs) – Le anin
Dio – Tenacious D
Easy Read – Trashcan Sinatras
Baby Plays Around – Elvis Costello
Jump Boys – The Undertones
Cross-Eyed Tammy – The Dickies

Fool – Cat Power
Crazy People – Luna
Until Death – Scout Niblett
A New Wave – Sleater-Kinney
Take It Easy, Greasy – Snooky Pryor
Porno Music – Freaks and Geeks
Straight Edge – Minor Threat
Most Precarious – Blues Traveler
She Wolf – Shakira
Get In On It – Antoine Diligent
Think It Over – Buddy Holly

Hot – The Regrettes
Haunted – Broken Down Golf Cart
Tu Mirada y Mi Voz – Susana Baca
Motherless Children – Eric Clapton
Big House – Young Fresh Fellows
Sky Phenomenon – Jens Lekman
I Feel Speed – Love And Rockets
Muddy Waters – LP
White Babies – Liz Phair
I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues – Elton John
I’m a Wicked One – The Hives
Neighborhood #1 Tunnels – Arcade Fire
Dereclict – Beck
Key Largo – Arbes
Loosy Lucy – The Steeples
Everyone Can See – yungatita
The Girl I Knew Somewhere – The Monkees
Daylight Til Dawn – All Night Radio
Stars on Your Nose – Indoorsy

Tal Uno – Barrie

And here’s today’s ride.

50ish recent songs, mostly picked by my phone.

Just Like Heaven – The Cure

Changes – No Vacation
Falling – Howard
Big Rock Candy Mountain – The Beat Farmers
Nowhere Man – Low
The Haunted Mansion: Grim Grinning Ghosts – Disney
It’s Alright, Follow – Tarek Musa
Good Day (Extended Edit) – The Kinks
Paper Planes – I’m From Barcelona
Paper Thin Walls – Modest Mouse

She’s Leaving Home – The Beatles
Over the Rainbow (live) – Rufus Wainwright
Tumbledown – The Jesus and Mary Chain
Empty puppet – Mary Bell
Hold Your Head Up – Argent

Sympathy for the Soul of the Beast – Celebrity Murder Party
Happy Together – Mel Torme
Summer Wind – Frank Sinatra
Red Right Hand – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Worse Things Happen At Sea – Toy Dolls
Critic Intro – They Might Be Giants
Pop All The Stars – Emmett Kai
King Kong – Tom Waits
Blow Me Down – Harry Nilsson
Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 26) – The Beatles

Prince Charming – Adam Ant

Gypsy – hana vu
1 2 3 4 – Feist
Maiwaige – The Princess Bride
This Time Tomorrow – The Kinks
Gypsy Town – Wet Illustrated
Don’t Stop Now – Crowded House
Birth of the Cool – Miles Davis
Infatuation – The Rapture
Fatal Attraction (And It’s So Strange) – The Ultraviolets
Wrong About Bobby – Eels
Money – Pink Floyd
One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) – Billie Holiday
Paul’s Pal – Sonny Rollins Quartet
Fade – Goth Dad
LNT – Stevan
My Funny Valentine – The Miles Davis Quintet
Highness – Envy And Other Sins
Telegram Sam – Bauhaus
Song For Dan Treacy – MGMT
Schoolhouse Rocky – Bob Dorough & Others

Also: Really good ride today. 30 miles and a better-than-normal average pace. All it needed to be perfect was for me to remember my water bottle.

50ish recent songs, mostly picked by my phone. About half of them were from today’s ride, where I decided to get a pinch flat AND whack my hand into a utility box.

Oh, and I didn’t tighten the bolts on my new cleats enough, so one came loose. NEAT.

Big Time – Peter Gabriel
The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room) – Flight of the Conchords
I Heard It Through the Grapevine – Marvin Gaye

Cartrouble, Pts. 1 & 2 [Original Album Version] – Adam and The Ants
No Rain – Blind Melon

Hot Hot Hot!!! – The Cure
One Way Or Another – Blondie
Everybody’s a Star (Starmaker) (mono mix) – The Kinks
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight – The Postal Service
Yew – BUHU
Hard To Handle – The Black Crowes
Bedlam – Elvis Costello And The Imposters
Train In Vain – The Clash
Birthday – The Beatles
Pretty In Pink – The Psychedelic Furs
Chicago (acoustic version) – Sufjan Stevens
Three Car Jam – Minutemen

The Loved One – INXS
Miracle Cure – The Who
13 A Sky Blue Rhapsody – ccc – ill chemist
Boys Don’t Cry – Grant Lee Phillips
All You Ever Think About Is Sex [12″ Club Version] – Sparks
It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) – R.E.M.
Breakfast – Evolution Control Committee
A Sight For Sore Eyes – Tom Waits

New Moon on Monday – Duran Duran
Scarecrow – Beck
Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey – My Brightest Diamond
Livin’ on a Prayer (Bon Jovi cover) (BL Rewind 2) – The Boat People
Nusrath Fateh Ali Khan – Piya Re Piya Re (Remix)
When I’m Sixty-Four – The Beatles
Alina’s Place – Fredrik

Falling – Howard
Where Do I Begin – The Chemical Brothers
Little Miss S. – Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
The Mighty Hercules – Johnny Nash
Lucky #9 (video version) – The Moldy Peaches
Poses – Kiki Pau
Graceland – Paul Simon
Abracadabra – Steve Miller Band
Hammering In My Head – Garbage
Same Changes – Sam Phillips
Tomorrow Wendy – Andy Prieboy
Transatlanticism – Death Cab For Cutie
The Tracks Of My Tears – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

Today’s ride. I actually had a short second ride, but it was slow and silly.