tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32000139056269496192024-02-19T11:05:57.048-06:00HillcrestBlogThoughts and dispatches from Little Rock's greatest neighborhood.LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.comBlogger123125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-11714400850107893372012-07-02T11:25:00.000-05:002012-07-02T12:47:01.757-05:00This is just cool - 100 guitar licksI'll come at you with something better this evening, as I know I've not posted in a while, but this is just plain cool and deserves its own post:<br />
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<br />LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-56280452508182131632012-06-20T18:00:00.000-05:002012-06-20T18:00:00.211-05:00Wednesday update...Sorry I have not been able to post for several days...<br />
<br />
...well, I <b><i>could </i></b>have posted, but I just have not :) And today's post is not going to be very long. Just a couple of quick observations.<br />
<br />
First, tomorrow is the summer solstice, which is cool in that we're halfway through the meteorological year, with the length of daily sunlight starting to shorten as opposed to expand. For a true-blue fan of the fall and winter, this is excellent news, even though we've still got to go through the freakingest hottest part of the summer before we get there. Ugh. <br />
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Going to see <i>Prometheus </i>on Friday! Expectations tempered a little bit with some scattered reviews of the film, but I'm not going to let that psyche me out, as going to the movies is like eating pizza: even when pizza is bad, its still pizza :)<br />
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Sold our 13-year old second car on Monday and couldn't be happier to be back to a one-car family, which we were from the summer of 2008 to the winter of 2009 (when the first kiddo came along). I'll likely post more on this topic in later days. <br />
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OK, well that's all for now. I'll get something more substantive up tomorrow.LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-70638647052735966782012-06-15T07:30:00.000-05:002012-06-15T07:30:00.467-05:00More Tiny House stuffAll kinds of stuff regarding Tiny Houses on YouTube. Here's a sampling:<br />
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<br />LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-11157550121422382652012-06-14T19:00:00.000-05:002012-06-14T19:00:04.912-05:00Tiny housesI saw this video on Yahoo's main page today and had to watch it, even though its kinda a puff piece on a wholesome family "making it work" and all that, because the Tiny House Phenomenon (no not <a href="http://youtu.be/kOG3IlkA-uI">this tiny house</a> :)) is actually a <i>thing </i>and I've been interested in it for the last couple of years:<br />
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Indeed, there's something very romantic about the idea of just shedding all of but the most essentially material goods and living a simpler existence. But enough Thoreau/Emerson/Trancendentalist jibber jabber. Consider the economic, environmental, and health-oriented bonuses a person or family would accrue if you could, like the family in the video, live such a life.<br />
<br />
Sure, you'd have to throw down for open land and, say, $15,000 for the structure (not including labor costs, if any, I'd assume) -- the family in the video says the house cost them $13,000. Not to mention if you opted to go with solar panels. And you'd probably have to spend some money on some tiny house-designed furniture and that sort of thing.<br />
<br />
But on the flip side, aside from any payments for the land and structure...no more mortgage payments. Drastically low utility bills (especially if you opted for solar panels). Drastically low homeowner's insurance. Huge savings for simply not buying things for which you have room in your Tiny House (clothing, various household items, toys if you have kids, books, big TV's, shit you currently have stacked in closets that you never use). <br />
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Just as a hypothetical, if the HillcrestBlogger Family opted to live in a Tiny House, what type of living expense-savings could we see? Those monthly expenses we current have that are specifically fixed to our house are as follows:<br />
<br />
Mortgage, $1,080<br />
Entergy, $88<br />
Centerpoint Energy, $85 (12 month average)<br />
Internet, $25<br />
Water/Sewer/Trash, $70<br />
Terminix, $25<br />
Housecleaner, $90<br />
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(if by chance you are a regular blog-follower, you'll note that we recently cut out pay-for TV and I wouldn't anticipate we'd be resubscribing in the Tiny House!)<br />
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So, I guess it would be fair to approximate our monthly house-oriented expenses at <u>$1,463</u>. Over twelve months that's <u>$17,556</u>. And in a Tiny House of , let's say, 200 square feet, which is around 1/7th the size of our current house? I guess the best I can do is estimate:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://hes.lbl.gov/consumer/">This website</a> lets you plug in certain variables for a home's yearly energy cost. The minimum square footage for the calculator is 250 square feet and scaled window size by 1/7. Otherwise, I just kinda guessed. In any event, it said a yearly energy cost, with some upgrades, would be approximately $677.00. Internet would remain the same, as would, presumably (if we remained in the city limits) water/sewer/trash (total $95). I'm not sure whether we'd use Terminix on that size of and type of a house. My guess is that we would not. And, of course, the housecleaner would be out :)<br />
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So, minus a mortgage, we'd be looking at an estimate of <u>$1,817</u> per year, a savings of <u>$4,596</u>.<br />
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But how you do you estimate the mortgage? Or is it really even a "mortgage?" I guess you'd say it was the cost of the land plus whatever it cost to build the Tiny House. I have no idea what type of land/lot would be available within the city's limits -- importantly, where we'd want to live -- but it would very likely be expensive. And within the city limits might not be a doable thing. But according to Zillow, there are several lots in cities around Little Rock on multiple-acre lots with attractive features (such as lake access) for around $40,000. So to be on the generous side and because this is just a hypothetical, let's use that number.<br />
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Using the $40,000 for the land-cost and upping the building cost to $20,000 to be on the liberal side, we'd be looking at $60,000 for the "mortgage". My guesstimate of a five-year note at 2.8% yields a monthly expense of $1,072.00 (with taxes and all that type of thing). So for the first five years, the cost of the "mortgage" on the Tiny House would be almost identical to what our mortgage is now. But after five years...no more payment, "mortgage" or otherwise. The land and the Tiny House would be ours. And at that point, the financial savings would really start to compound. Curious to see how much? Let's extrapolate:<br />
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<u>Current Yearly Expenses</u> <u>Tiny House Expense</u>s<br />
Year One $17,556 $14,582 (-$2,974)<br />
Year Two $17,556 $14,582 (-$5,948)<br />
Year Three $17,556 $14,582 (-$8,922)<br />
Year Four $17,556 $14,582 (-$11,896)<br />
Year Five $17,556 $14,582 (-$14,870)<br />
Year Six $17,556 $1,817 (-$30,609)<br />
Year Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten $70,224 $7,268 (-$93,565)<br />
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Those numbers are quite astonishing. For the first five years we'd be accruing a modest $3,000 per year in housing-related savings as we'd be paying off a $60,000 note at approximately the same rate as our current mortgage. And over the course of five years, that modest savings does equate to almost $15,000. But man, once that note is paid off...the yearly savings jumps to almost $16,000 per year, plus, you own your Tiny House and the land upon which it sits outright. And over the the course of a decade, we'd be looking at savings approaching $95,000. Again, with ZERO debt and a place to call all our own. <br />
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I had planned to comment also on what I would think would be the environmental impact bonus with a Tiny House, as well as how much healthier you'd surely have to be after living there, but this post has gone on pretty long already, so I'll maybe comment on those at a later date. But I think they're relatively self-evident -- lots of outdoor time, probably some quality gardening and a vegetable plot and all that. Low carbon footprint, etc. <br />
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In any event...Tiny Houses. A <u><b>very </b></u>interesting thing to think about and consider...LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-4389788287487895282012-06-11T18:30:00.000-05:002012-06-11T18:30:00.248-05:00Life without cable TV, update #1Or, more accurately, life without satellite TeeVee, which I canceled exactly two weeks ago today. Here are the expenditures during that time period for our TeeVee programming:<br />
<br />
** Five $1.99 episodes of Community on iTunes<br />
** 1/2 of a Netflix subscription (approx $9.00)<br />
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Everything else we watched we watched over the airwaves (network TeeVee, local news), already paid for (episodes of Mad Men and the Killing on iTunes), borrowed an HBO Go password (Game of Thrones, Girls), or streamed for free online (South Park, Community, Euro 2012 games). <br />
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Getting off of pay-for-it TeeVee is among the best decisions we've made in a long time.LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-29980795594938382652012-06-11T12:00:00.000-05:002012-06-11T12:00:02.028-05:00Speed mile, belt loop, and KrugmanI heartily apologize for the three or four of you out there who actually read this little blog of mine for not posting in a week. No good explanation, really, just kinda slipped my mind. That being said, with a week having passed without a post, I have several things I'd like to write about or at least mention :)<br />
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First, I finished Paul Krugman's book <i>End This Depression Now!</i>, which is not a necessarily a book about psychology, although considering that it was actually about the economy, psychology obviously plays a not-to-small part. Highly informative and written in a manner so even a macroeconomic neophyte such as myself could understand. Sufficient to say, when it comes to the economy, we're doing it wrong.<br />
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Oh, and did you know that the European Football Championship started last Friday. Oh my, how I love large international soccer tournaments :) Obviously, the soccer itself is fantastic but it also reminds me of the HillcrestBlogger Honeymoon/World Cup trip to Germany in 2006 (with a side trip to Prague). It took a total of about .3 hours after the start of the tournament to make the executive decision that the entire HillcrestBlogger family will be going to the European Championship in 2016, to be held in France. Already I'm envisioning a 3-week sojourn, starting in London, then Chunnelling to Paris, then up to Copenhagen, before spending several days traveling around the French countryside before finishing the trip in Northern Italy. But don't hold me to that itinerary, since it is bound to be tweaked over the next four years ;)<br />
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As for my week's worth of fitness, I signed up for the Firecracker Fast 5K, ran a mile "sprint" in 10:09, and gained (or lost?) another belt loop! I also started Gretchen Reynolds' book <i>The First 20 Minutes</i>, which I heard about on Terri Gross's show on NPR and is really an eye opener. Apparently, I need to incorporate some high intensity interval training, which I have since started to do, in order to really get this body de-flabbed. In any event, I will recommend that book to anyone who wants to separate the wheat from the chaff regarding what they need to do to become fit. <br />
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Last, I am also going to sell one of our cars (the 13-year old one) this week. The HillcrestBlog family is going back to being a one-car affair, which we did to great effect prior to our first child. It is the responsible choice from a environmental, economic, and life-style standpoint. I'm <i>very </i>excited about it. I'll be using a combination of public transportation, biking, and walking to get to and from work, which is only about 2.5 miles from my house. And, with our kids' daycare within very easy walking distance, this is an arrangement we are approaching as a permanent change. I'm sure I'll be posting about this in much more detail later so I'll not get into the weeds on it today.LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-79872437271903765102012-06-05T17:30:00.000-05:002012-06-05T17:30:01.674-05:00Running backward?No, that header is not meant to be a pithy metaphor. It is to be taken literally, as in, the guy in this video clip advocates running backward as part of a fitness program. I'll let him explain:<br />
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I think I might try this tomorrow to see how I like it. I think I'll do it on the track at Scott Field, though, so I don't trip over a dog or bush or buckling sidewalk ;)LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-53147231883755672642012-06-04T17:30:00.000-05:002012-06-04T17:30:00.743-05:00Another weekend, another raceAs I warned last week, I was going to be competing in the Cheetah Chase 5K last Saturday, which I did, unexpectedly setting a new HillcrestBlogger 5K record time! OK, OK, true...it was only the second 5K I've ever done, but the course was far hillier and (in my opinion) more challenging. On the flip side, it was probably 15 degrees cooler than the Riverfest 5K and the sky was completely overcast, both factors of which helped immensely. Anyway, my time: 37:49:19, shaving 25 seconds off my previous best. Relatedly, I also paced six seconds better per mile :) So, hooray for me! My next race won't be until the Firecracker 5K on Independence Day, so you'll be spared from any running posts for a while, dear and loyal reader.<br />
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Tonight, I'm going to open a new frontier on my quest to make this 39-year old lumpy bag of bones a little bit healthier. I read about the slow-cadence, muscle-failure-desired weight training program first in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Drop-Dead-Healthy-Humble-Perfection/dp/141659907X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338836918&sr=1-1">AJ Jacob's newest book</a> (very funny, BTW) and subsequently <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Power-10-Once-A-Week-Revolution-Harperresource/dp/006000889X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338836884&sr=8-1">bought the book outlining the workout on Amazon</a> for one cent (plus $4.95, shipping of course). Given the time constraints of being a twice-over parent nowadays, the one- or two-times per week workout of less than thirty minutes sure sounds too good to be true. And maybe it is snake oil, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a whirl. After all, if it passes the Lesley Stahl smell-test, its gotta be legit, right? ;)<br />
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I'll post tomorrow how the first workout tonight goes. LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-73724344384489671722012-05-31T17:30:00.000-05:002012-05-31T17:30:03.025-05:00Today's Big Rain Event!!!<br />Well, that was a big 'ol dud wasn't it? I love it when our local forecasters get so breathless about upcoming "events" and then it turns out to be a whole bucketfull of nothing. Happens all the time during the winter. <br />
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I'll save everyone a lot of time, energy, worry, and amusement by giving you now the Official 2012 HillcrestBlog Summer Forecast! Here it is:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>It is going to be butt-hot from now until late September and then just plain hot until mid-October. If it rains on you or your house at any point in time, count yourself lucky. </b></blockquote>
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That's really all the information you need to know, dear reader.LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-23404821903102425192012-05-29T20:30:00.000-05:002012-05-29T20:30:00.933-05:00Hillcrest home values a solid bet...at least that is my takeaway after reading the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/opinion/sunday/now-coveted-a-walkable-convenient-place.html?ref=opinion">following opinion column from last Friday's New York Times</a>. Indeed, one of the many reasons I love this neighborhood so is the fact that just about any amenity needed for modern survival is within a relatively easy walking (and certainly, biking) distance. I simply cannot imagine life living out in some suburb or bedroom community where there is not a very easily reachable small business district in our neighborhood's interior, not to mention the vast number of businesses within a one- to two-mile radius of my front door. Now, reading that these types of homes and neighborhoods are what are now in demand only solidifies my love of this place. <br />
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Anyway, for your reading pleasure, the column in full, after the jump...<br />
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<h1 class="articleHeadline" itemprop="headline">
<nyt_headline type=" " version="1.0">Now Coveted: A Walkable, Convenient Place</nyt_headline></h1>
<nyt_byline>
<span itemprop="creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><h6 class="byline" itemprop="name">
By
CHRISTOPHER B. LEINBERGER</h6>
</span>
</nyt_byline>
<h6 class="dateline">
Published: May 25, 2012 </h6>
<div class="articleBody">
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<nyt_text>
<nyt_correction_top>
</nyt_correction_top>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
WALKING isn’t just good for you. It has become an indicator of your
socioeconomic status. </div>
<div class="articleBody">
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Until the 1990s, exclusive suburban homes that were accessible only by
car cost more, per square foot, than other kinds of American housing.
Now, however, these suburbs have become overbuilt, and housing values
have fallen. Today, the most valuable real estate lies in walkable urban
locations. Many of these now pricey places were slums just 30 years
ago. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Mariela Alfonzo and I just released <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2012/05/25-walkable-places-leinberger">a
Brookings Institution study</a> that measures values of commercial and
residential real estate in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area,
which includes the surrounding suburbs in Virginia and Maryland. Our
research shows that real estate values increase as neighborhoods became
more walkable, where everyday needs, including working, can be met by
walking, transit or biking. There is a five-step “ladder” of
walkability, from least to most walkable. On average, each step up the
walkability ladder adds $9 per square foot to annual office rents, $7
per square foot to retail rents, more than $300 per month to apartment
rents and nearly $82 per square foot to home values. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
As a neighborhood moves up each step of the five-step walkability
ladder, the average household income of those who live there increases
some $10,000. People who live in more walkable places tend to earn more,
but they also tend to pay a higher percentage of their income for
housing. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Although we have not studied all urban areas to the same degree, these
findings appear to apply to much of the rest of the country. In
metropolitan Seattle in 1996, the suburban Redmond area, home to
Microsoft, had the same price per square foot as Capitol Hill, a
walkable area adjacent to downtown, based on data from <a href="http://www.zillow.com/">Zillow</a>. Today, Capitol Hill is valued
nearly 50 percent above Redmond. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
In Columbus, Ohio, the highest housing values recorded by Zillow in 1996
were in the suburb of Worthington, where prices were 135 percent higher
than in the struggling neighborhood of Short North, adjacent to the
city’s center. Today, Short North housing values are 30 percent higher
than those of Worthington, and downtown Columbus has the highest housing
values in that metropolitan area. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
In the Denver area, Highlands Ranch, an upscale, master-planned
community 20 miles south of downtown, had housing in 1996 that cost on
average 21 percent more than housing in Highlands, a troubled
neighborhood adjacent to downtown Denver. Today, Highlands has a 67
percent price premium over Highlands Ranch. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
People are clearly willing to pay more for homes that allow them to walk
rather than drive. Biking is part of the picture, too. Biking and
walking are part of a “complete streets” strategy that public rights of
way should be for all of society — not just cars. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
The rise in bike-sharing systems in Minneapolis, metropolitan
Washington, and soon New York City makes it possible to imagine a future
in which a third of a city’s population gets around primarily by
bicycle. The popular Web site <a href="http://www.walkscore.com/">Walk
Score</a> has just added <a href="http://www.walkscore.com/bike">Bike
Score</a> to let people know which neighborhoods are most bikable.
</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Demand for walkable urban space extends beyond city centers to suburbs;
in metropolitan Washington, more than half of the walkable places are in
the suburbs, like Reston Town Center, 22 miles from downtown
Washington; Ballston, in Arlington County; and Silver Spring, in
suburban Maryland. Residents can easily get to grocery stores, cafes,
libraries and work by rail transit, biking and walking. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Why is there an urbanization of the suburbs? Some baby boomers want to
sell their large suburban houses and move to a walkable urban place but
stay close to friends and family. Young families want the advantages of
walkable urban life but also high-quality suburban schools. This trend
is about both the revitalization of center cities and the urbanization
of the suburbs. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
To address the affordability challenge, a sensible strategy would
include changes like zoning that allows homes with units in the back or
over the garage. But the long-term solution is encouraging the building
of more walkable places, which will reduce the price premiums by
creating more supply. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
(Disclosure: I am the president of Locus, a coalition of real estate
developers and investors, and a project of Smart Growth America, which
supports walkable neighborhoods and transit-oriented development.)
</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Different infrastructure needs to be built, including rail transit and
paths for walking and biking. Some research has shown that walkable
urban infrastructure is substantially cheaper on a usable square foot
basis than spread-out drivable suburban infrastructure; the
infrastructure is used much more extensively in a small area, resulting
in much lower costs per usable square foot. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
It’s important that developers and their investors learn how to build
places that integrate many different uses within walking distance.
Building walkable urban places is more complex and riskier than
following decades-long patterns of suburban construction. But the market
gets what it wants, and the market signals are flashing pretty
brightly: build more walkable, and bikable, places. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<nyt_author_id>
<div class="authorIdentification">
A <a href="http://chrisleinberger.com/">professor</a> at the George
Washington University School of Business and a senior fellow at the
Brookings Institution.<br />
</div>
</nyt_author_id><nyt_correction_bottom> <div class="articleCorrection">
</div>
</nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom>
</nyt_update_bottom>
</div>
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<div class="articleMeta">
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<div class="element1">
<h6 class="metaFootnote">
A version of this op-ed appeared in print on
May 27, 2012, on page <span itemprop="printSection">SR</span><span itemprop="printPage">6</span> of the <span itemprop="printEdition">New
York edition</span> with the headline: Now Coveted: A Walkable,
Convenient Place.</h6>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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</nyt_text></div>LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-42325875454112016282012-05-29T18:00:00.000-05:002012-05-29T18:00:01.961-05:0038:15That's my time from last Saturday's Rock N Stroll 5K :) Sufficient to say, I did indeed finish, and at the quickest pace and farthest distance I have so far run. I beat my stated goal of finishing under 39 minutes. Plus I got a T-shirt, so it was great all around, aside from the humidity, which was a bit on the overdone side.<br />
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In case you were wondering, here was my playlist :)<br />
<br />
Getchoo by Weezer<br />
Seether by Veruca Salt<br />
Dashboard by Modest Mouse<br />
One Engine by The Decemberists<br />
Simple Song by The Shins<br />
Self Esteem by Offspring<br />
So What'cha Want by The Beastie Boys<br />
Soul Meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie<br />
Verse Chorus Verse by Nirvana<br />
Malibu by Hole<br />
Greater Omaha by The Desaparecidos<br />
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Again, heavy on the 1990's alt-rock ;)<br />
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Next up, the <a href="http://www.littlerockzoo.com/chase">Cheetah Chase 5K</a> this coming Saturday.<br />
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A <u><b>much</b></u><b> </b>more challenging course through the hills of our beloved Hillcrest neighborhood. Here's the route, which notably does not show the aforementioned hills:<br />
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I will be looking to merely finish, not set any speed record on this one, as my test-run of 2.5 miles of the course yesterday left me totally worn out. On the plus side, the weather this Saturday morning should be much better than it has been lately, so that will help out my fitness and stamina immensely.<br />
<br />LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-12871414162910751952012-05-25T06:30:00.000-05:002012-05-25T06:30:01.328-05:00Pics of my old office circa 2008I was searching through some old computer files looking for a copy of my soccer league's logo for the new administration (I was President for one two-year terms several years ago) when I came across some pics I apparently took with an old phone camera. Among them were some pics of my old office on the sixth floor of the Tower Building, when I worked for the Attorney General's Office. I forgot how much I loved that office, with its large windows and couch, not to mention how I decked it out with some personal touches :) So I'm going to post three of them here for purely personal reasons. Since this office, I've inhabited four other offices (within the same agency, mind you) and my current one is really great. But this one here still remains my all-time favorite.<br />
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<br />LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-37949237795958612712012-05-24T18:00:00.000-05:002012-05-24T18:00:03.049-05:00Life without cable TV, Day 4 AKA Get rid of your cable: A case in supportWell, the blog post title might be a little misleading, as we actually have not had cable TeeVee (specifically, Comcast) since 2008. Instead, the HillcrestBlog family recently ended a four-year run of being tethered to satellite TeeVee (two years with Dish Network and then the last two years with Direct TV). Now, we find ourselves on Day 4 of being off the subscription TeeVee grid, so-to-speak. Instead, we have chosen to get our TeeVee over the airwaves, just like in the Olden Days before cable entered the picture in the early 1980's, which, along with the cost of $5.99 HD antennae, is free. We plan on supplementing this with TV shows we buy and download from iTunes, movies and shows we stream from Netflix through our Roku player, and shows we stream directly from other internet sources. Our intent with this plan is twofold: 1) to save money on entertainment costs, and, to a lesser degree 2) to free ourselves as much as possible from the corporate media, advertising, and marketing that seems to hit you nonstop through conventional TeeVee viewing.<br />
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I have not yet really put pen to paper regarding any (if any) monetary savings, so I'm going to use this blog post to do just that. Also, I'll hopefully show you, dear reader, how this is not only monetarily advantageous, but also very "doable" in the sense that one really doesn't need cable or satellite TeeVee to still watch whatever shows you want to watch.<br />
<br />
First things first, though. You may ask if, after four days, I miss my satellite TeeVee. Have I suffered any separation anxiety? The answer is an emphatic <u><b>no</b></u>. I have not missed it, not one bit.<br />
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OK, so, let's tackle dollars and cents first. Here's what the following providers cost, from initial start up through two years of service. I'll use each service's lowest, basic cable package, with no extras except for HBO (I mean, you gotta watch Game of Thrones somehow, right?), along with one DVR receiver. Also, I will opt to <u>not</u> pay for HD service.<br />
<br />
<u>Direct TV</u> - The current deal shows the first year's monthly cost at $52.00 per month. However, in month thirteen it jacks up to $67.00 per month. Therefore, over the course of two years, the subscription alone cost $1,428.00. Taxes are relatively negligible at $2.40 per month (according to my last Direct TV statement), but that is still $57.60 over the course of twenty-four months. So, let's say that the twenty-four month life of a Direct TV contract is $1,485.00.<br />
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<u>Dish Network</u> - This current deal, with similar parameters to the one I entered for Direct TV, comes to $44.89 for the first twelve months and then $49.89 after that, for a twenty-four month total (including taxes) of $1,137.36. <br />
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<u>Comcast</u> - The basic Comcast deal starts at $61.93 per month for the first 12 months. However, after twelve months, that rates jacks up a whole $29.00 to around $90.00 per month. So if you get Comcast service, you're looking at a 24-month nut of around $1,820.00. Comcast really is a terrible, terrible company.<br />
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Now, for the HillcrestBlog Household setup. I'll do my best to keep this as simple as possible, with explanations for what each service provides as well as respective costs. <br />
<br />
One note: It obviously does costs $$ for a laptop computer, which is a linchpin of this arrangement, but I am not including that costs on the bottom line since we already have a couple of laptops already and would have them regardless. Same with our TeeVee set and wireless internet. However, I am including the cost of a Roku player, even though I got mine as a gift this last Christmas, since it would not necessarily be a product an average house hold would have.<br />
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OK, so here we go:<br />
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1. One HD antennae from Best Buy, <u>$5.99</u>. This allows one to watch all network shows in HD, free of charge. So, consider shows on NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, and Fox, all available. There also several other odd channels available for free over the airwaves, such as several religious channels, CoolTV (music videos), direct network news feeds, a channel that shows old movies and TeeVee shows, and some weather satellite and Doppler feeds. <br />
<br />
2. One Netflix subscription that includes one-DVD-at-a-time and unlimited streaming of Netflix's Watch Instantly, <u>$17.34</u> per month. Netflix pretty much has seasons of every show worth watching available on DVD once they are released to the public, so as far as DVD's go, if you can turn them around quickly, the sky's the limit as to what shows you are able to watch. Much more importantly, the Watch Instantly feature, when coupled with a <a href="http://www.roku.com/">Roku box</a>, allows you to set up an Instant Queue and stream hundreds of shows (and movies) directly to your TV through a box that picks up a wi-fi signal and transmits it to your TeeVee through an HDMI input. As an example, currently on my Instant Queue are any number of the following current shows (that update with new episodes when they become available): Weeds, United States of Tara, Dr. Who, Raising Hope, Law and Order, Workaholics, etc. Also, tons of older shows, of which the <u>entire catalog</u> is available, instantly. Just as an example, I can watch any episode of Cheers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, X-Files, Angel, Torchwood, Mad Men, Walking Dead, the Killing, Eureka, or Fraiser, with the click of a remote. Not to mention thousands of other movies, TeeVee shows, documentaries, AND KID PROGRAMMING -- over 250 episodes of Sesame Street for example. TONS of children's programs. Blues Clues. Electric Company. Dora. Curious George. Yo Gabba Gabba. If you have two children and get tired of watching the same stuff you've saved for months on the DVR, Roku is the answer to your prayers. I could go on and on. It really is amazing. Basic Roku player, one-time cost of <u>$59.99</u>.<br />
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3. Downloading seasons of specific shows through iTunes. This is probably the costliest option, but one that is unavoidable if you don't want to wait for certain shows to become available through Netflix's Watch Instantly. I'll use Mad Men as an example. Currently, the first several seasons are available on Netflix but we really want to watch the new season now, so we have opted to go ahead and purchase and download the season through our iTunes account, even though if we were patient we could eventually watch it for free. That being said, when it comes to certain shows, the HB Household is NOT a patient one, and we will undoubtedly download certain shows when the new season is out. These are mostly shows that we watch on AMC (Mad Men, the Killing, Walking Dead), FX (Sunny in Philly, Sons of Anarchy, Justified, Breaking Bad), BBC (Dr. Who), and Showtime (Dexter, Weeds). Each season of a show is around $23.00 each if you buy the cheaper SD version. Let's be generous and say that we'll download twenty of these seasons over the course of two years. That would come to around <u>$460.00</u>.<br />
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4. OK, so I'm cheating a bit with this one. I intend on watching HBO shows and sports by using a family member's online password. To wit: I've paid this family member a small fee to allow me to borrow his HBO Go ESPN3.com passwords, which allow me to stream all HBO shows (GoT, True Blood, Girls) and movies and whatever is available on ESPN3 (football and soccer, for instance) through my computer onto my TeeVee. Cost, let's say <u>$10.00</u>.<br />
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And that's it. There are other services I might one day decide to use, such as Hulu Plus or Amazon Prime, but I don't think I will for the time being. A such, I think it is safe to calculate my TeeVee costs to <u>$952.14</u> over the course of two years (or, if I decided to be patient and not buy iTunes shows immediately and wait for them to release to Netflix, <u>$492.14</u>). That's $533 less than Direct TV, $185 less than Dish, and $868 less than Comcast. <br />
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But what am I losing in the bargain? Well, the big one is the use of DVR for network shows. The second are daily news shows such as I'd watch on MSNBC or CNN. Third, maybe some ESPN sports programming? Really, though, that's about it. And none of those things is worth the cost. As for what I'd gain? Well, HD programming for network shows for starters. Freedom from many commercials (they'd still be on the networks). Freedom from a two-year contractual obligation. And, of course, anywhere from $8.00 to $36.00 per month. Or more. <br />
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I'm sure I'll have more thoughts about this as this development gets some time behind it. When I do, I'll post them. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy not having to pay Direct Freaking TV any more money, ever :)<br />
<br />LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-25212285651139750852012-05-24T07:30:00.000-05:002012-05-24T09:54:01.148-05:00Hillcrest political demographicsTwo days ago, we Arkansans went to the polls to vote in our respective Democratic/Republican primaries, as well as the general judicial elections. I say this to preface the excerpt below, from the <a href="http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/05/23/wednesday-night-line-is-open">Arkansas Times blog</a>. I offer it without comment, as HillcrestBlog does not engage in overt politicizing. I simply want to repost it to demonstrate who our neighbors in this fantastic neighborhood are to those readers who do not live here:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The free state of Hillcrest again provided a warm liberal echo chamber
against the increasingly cold world in much of the rest of Arkansas. A
91 percent vote for Obama at PH Presbyterian, 937-94 from two precincts
that vote there. But we were outdone percentagewise by several,
including Greater Archview Baptist, which went for Obama 353-6, or a 98
percent vote. </i></blockquote>LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-28590307733345425322012-05-23T17:30:00.000-05:002012-05-23T17:30:01.183-05:00Last 5K training updateWith the Riverfest Rock N Stroll 5K for which I've been training (and blogging about) coming up this Saturday, consider this the last post where I write about my preparatory training. This, because today's 3.07 mile trek on the Big Dam Bridge across the Arkansas River (and along the northern river bank) was the last full-on run I'll do before Saturday morning*. I ran this distance in 39 minutes, 7 seconds, at an average pace of 12:44/mile, which I think is a personal best, if the Run Keeper app is to be believed :) Also, depending on what app you believe, I burned somewhere between 489 and 609 calories. <br />
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At this point, I think it is safe to say that I am ready for Saturday morning. I believe that I can complete my primary goal of JUST FINISHING ;) so I'm going to set a secondary goal of finishing at or under 39 minutes. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">* I do intend to run a steady mile on Friday morning, just to keep the muscles and joints loose, but I'm not going to push it and instead concentrate on getting this big back of old bones recovered in time for Saturday.</span>LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-64156543411343657242012-05-22T12:00:00.000-05:002012-05-22T12:00:07.828-05:00The Wilco showI just wanted to post the poster for the show we saw last weekend. Its pretty sharp :)<br />
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<br />LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-41463502032557007652012-05-22T07:30:00.000-05:002012-05-22T10:46:17.089-05:00Rememberances of a big, action-packed weekendThe weekend of which I speak, of course, is the most recently completed one. It was alternately or concurrently huge fun, very fast, exhausting, exhilarating, a little bit frustrating, eye-opening, and delicious. As a point of reference, all of the following occurred:<br />
<br />
1. My wife ran the Dino Dash 5K early Saturday morning and I completed a 2.5 mile run late Saturday morning. We also walked approximately three miles in downtown Memphis;<br />
2. We left our kids with an overnight sitter to spend an evening with Just Us for the first time since Lorelei was born in December of 2009;<br />
3. Cleaned the house and did five loads of laundry;<br />
4. The kids played in the kiddie pool;<br />
5. My wife and I drove to and from Memphis within a twenty-two hour time span, during which time we spent a night at the Peabody, saw <a href="http://wilcoworld.net/#%21/tour_date_type/19-may-2012-mud-island-amphitheatre-memphis-tn/">Wilco at Mud Island</a>, had ribs and catfish and several drinks on Beale Street;<br />
6. My daughter pooped on the bathroom floor;<br />
7. I played a soccer game on Sunday afternoon and scored a goal in a 4-1 victory;<br />
8. Went to the Farmer's Market; and<br />
9. Dinner with the in-laws Sunday night.<br />
<br />
And, really, there were some other little highlights that I'm probably forgetting. My point being, it was a full enough weekend to last fill up a month's worth of weekends. At least it seemed like it at the time.<br />
<br />
Currently, I'm mentally preparing myself for the Big Race this Saturday morning. I'm still very sore from my long run on Saturday and my soccer game on Sunday. I had hoped to get in a 2.8 mile run today, but I don't think my muscles are going to allow it. Instead, I'm going to knock it out tomorrow morning and then hopefully recover in time to do a short and sweet 1 mile run on Friday morning, just to keep my muscles and joints loose. I think that will get me close enough to be able to complete the 3.1 miles I need to knock out Saturday morning, with all the energy and people and excitement of the race artificially propping me up that last .3 miles :)LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-70212710232909753832012-05-19T12:00:00.000-05:002012-05-19T12:00:04.355-05:00The importance of sleepI hope I'm taking a nap when this infographic eventually posts :) As the father of two small children, I can vouch for the absolute necessity of quality sleep. Oh, and quantity too!<br />
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<br /><a href="http://frugaldad.com/sleep/"><img src="http://fdcdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/120222DreamOn.jpg" alt="sleep" width="500" border="0" /></a>
<p>Source: <a href="http://frugaldad.com">http://frugaldad.com</a></p>
<p>LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-8904050828128229402012-05-18T22:31:00.000-05:002012-05-18T22:31:11.660-05:00Friday night updateIt is amazing what I now consider "late". The kiddos have been down for hours and my wife has been asleep since 9:30 as she prepares to run tomorrow morning's Dino Dash 5K, but I'm still up, enjoying a glass or two of red wine before I hit the hay. And, really, 10:30 is late for me nowadays with all the up-at-6:30 and being a father and all that jazz. In The Oldendays (trademarked phrase), 10:30 was nothing. Now, its the witching hour. Funny how times have changed. <br />
<br />
But the big news tonight is not that I'm still up at this Ungodly Hour, but that tomorrow night I most CERTAINLY will be, as the wifey and I are headed to Memphis to see Wilco perform on Mud Island, sans kiddos. They will be in the comfort and companionship of an overnight sitter that we have hired (one of my daughter's daycare teachers to be exact). Which means, for the FIRST time since mid-December 2009, my wife and I will be able to spend a night ALONE without waking up a dozen times to tend to the needs of our offspring (with a room at the Peabody, no less). I think I'll be alternately terrified and liberated by this development. I'll let you four or five readers of this blog know how it goes on Monday. In the meantime, Kerry Wood of my all-time favorite Chicago Cubs retired today. If injuries hadn't derailed his career in the late 1990's and 2000's, who know how good he could have been. Here's the highlight to end all Kerry Wood highlights:<br />
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<br />LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-51758280247290424322012-05-17T09:00:00.000-05:002012-05-17T11:30:56.226-05:00Thursday morning 5K trainingI know my posts have been very -- if not almost exclusively -- running-centric lately and that can get a little tedious. But the obvious reason is that my Big Goal of 2012 (so far) is so close on the horizon: the Riverfest Rock N' Stroll on May 26, which is only nine days out. I *promise* to resume to more substantive blogging after I complete that race :)<br />
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Meanwhile, I did go for a run just now and while it was not nearly as strong as my Tuesday morning performance, it still improved on my Sunday numbers. Specifically, I ran 29 minutes straight, bookended by a 5-minute warmup and cooldown. This means that I covered 2.71 miles in 39 minutes at an overall rate of 14:22/mile. For some reason my app did not break down my walk rate and run rate like it did on Tuesday. I think I know why -- my route today included running back over previously run areas -- like when I ran down parts of Kavanaugh and then tracked back. My Tuesday run, which did break out my separate rates, was more of a "circle", at least until I got to Lookout, which I ran down and back. Perhaps the GPS on my app got confused. In any event, my next run I'm going to try and avoid covering the same ground to try and get a more accurate view of my walking-versus-running rates per mile.<br />
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Looking forward, I'm going to try a simple distance run on Saturday morning. I'm thinking 2.5 miles. After that, I think I'll get a much clearer picture of *exactly* where I am, training-wise. If I can finish that run with minimal catch-my-breath breaks, I'll feel pretty confident that I'll be able to tack on .64 more miles by the following Saturday, especially if I feel like afterwards like I've still got some gas in the tank. On Tuesday I think I'll stretch it out to 2.75 or 2.8 miles with a final prep run on Thursday of something short like 1.5 miles, which will give my body a break and some rest prior to Saturday morning's race. LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-45858464185663605262012-05-15T18:30:00.000-05:002012-05-15T18:30:00.042-05:00Tuesday night music - Alice in Chains"We Die Young" is one of the songs that circulates on my running playlist. Its got a great <u><i><b>crunch!</b></i></u> and wailing chorus. <br />
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But of course you cannot mention Alice in Chains without the band's high point and (probably) best-known song, "Man in a Box", which I learned was actually about the evils of veal. Who knew?<br />
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<br />LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-47047020776370817522012-05-15T12:01:00.000-05:002012-05-15T13:45:22.361-05:00Best run so far of 2012...Took an extended lunch break today to knock out Week 8, Day 1 run, which consisted of a 5-minute walk, 28-minute run, and a 5-minute cool down. And, I'm very excited to say, it was the best run so far of my 2012 5K training :) I'm not sure what contributed to it (perhaps its just that I'm becoming a better/more accomplished runner, perhaps??), but I did do a couple of things to make it a bit more varied today. Specifically, I programmed a different playlist (see below) as my former one had started to become stale and predictable after several sessions having used it. <br />
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Second, I took a vastly different course, running instead through upper Hillcrest's hills and then down the length of Lookout Drive (until it terminated its easterly direction and went downhill north -- that's where I turned around :)). This route included a pretty substantial uphill grade on the northern boundary of Mount St. Mary's school on Hillcrest Avenue and then some rolling hills down Lookout. The inclusion of the hills was purposeful as I want to start making my routes more challenging and more muscle-burning. <br />
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Now for the encouraging part: despite the increased difficulty in grade and length, I actually bested my average per mile time (which includes the ten minutes of walking) from 14:37 to 13:25 per mile! And even more encouraging, I checked my GPS app at the end of my 28-minute stretch and was clocking a blistering (for me) running pace of 12:53 minutes per mile! All in all, I covered 2.84 miles in 38 minutes. That's just .3 miles from a complete 5K.<br />
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So, yeah, I feel pretty damn good about myself today. I was beginning to have doubts if I was going to be able to get to the point where I could actually complete a 5K from start to finish without walking, and while I've still got some work to do over the next 13 days (which should give me at least 4 more sessions), my hope has been restored.<br />
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As for my playlist, I went with some more varied artists (and songs I have not listened to in a while) to "surprise" me when they turned up as the next song on my run.<br />
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Lightning Crashes by Live (warm-up)<br />
Who Made Who by AC/DC<br />
Immigrant Song (Live) by Led Zeppelin<br />
Ice Cold Ice by Husker Du<br />
Mountain Song by Jane's Addiction<br />
You've Got Another Thing Comin' by Judas Priest<br />
In the Middle by Jimmy Eat World<br />
Lick It Up by KISS<br />
Don't Stop Believin' by Journey<br />
Volunteers by Jefferson Airplane (cool-down)LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-53580048771185700072012-05-14T20:00:00.000-05:002012-05-14T20:00:03.357-05:00Monday night music - Sonic YouthSonic Youth was my very first foray into "alternative" music (the term actually meant something in 1989). The band's album <i>Goo </i>is still a personal favorite. <br />
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But of course, their magnum opus was <i>Daydream Nation</i>, which I didn't discover until about a year later. <br />
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<br />LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-22584954990271630992012-05-14T17:30:00.000-05:002012-05-14T17:30:00.126-05:00Running update for MondayWell, yesterday I completed a 27-minute stretch of constant running (OK, I did stop for two or three ten-second breaks to catch my breath). I ran in the neighborhood and even opted to tackle the gradual big hill on Hillcrest Avenue. My pace is not great but my goal for the Riverfest 5K is to finish, at whatever time. Tonight I'm going to up it to 28 minutes. I think I'm still on track to be able to complete the race on May 26.LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200013905626949619.post-78924472825811323422012-05-12T13:42:00.000-05:002012-05-12T13:42:00.493-05:00American's billion dollar baby scamKeeping with the theme of Saturday afternoon infographics that I've found on the internets, here's another one close to HillcrestBlogger's heart. I'm pleased to say that our family has not succumbed to many of the ill-advised aspects of this type of expensive Babynomics, but its always there, lurking behind every purchase :)<br />
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<a href="http://frugaldad.com/babies/"><img alt="Babies Infographic" border="0" src="http://frugaldad.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/120317BillionDollarBabies.jpg" width="500" /></a>
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Source: <a href="http://frugaldad.com/">frugaldad.com</a>LRHillcresterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16147521565585248085noreply@blogger.com0