Songs to freeze your ass off to

So, I'm such a genius. I decide with the the mercury barely above freezing, that it would be a good evening to take a walk to the store.

Yes, it's true, I'm not the brightest bulb in the box. That and I'm a helpless, hopeless nicotine addict.

But for most of the winter, I've also been an extremely lazy nicotine addict who drives a few blocks to go to the store and run other miscellaneous errands.

So for some reason, with the temperature somewhere in the mid 30s, I opt to save some fuel, wear and tear on my weary old vehicle and get a little exercise while on the way to pick up a carcinogen to rot my lip and eat away my gums.

Fucking misguided pinhead that I am.

Well, at least the walk, while listening to my iPod, gave me inspiration for a blog post.

I decided that in tribute to my other favorite Fishwrap blog, I would start a periodic feature here. Over at Friday Fishwrap, MJ regularly features what she calls "TGImp3F" or Thank God It's mp3 Friday. She does hers on Fridays (in case you couldn't put that together for yourself) and she posts several music files around some theme. She does a much better job of that than I can or will, but I like the idea. So I'm stealing it. Or part of it.

I love the shuffle feature on my iPod. I like the constant surprise about the next song that comes up. So, I thought I'd share a little insight into me and my mp3 player, by sharing a little 5-song party shuffle of what the next five song in my life will be.

So, without further adieu, here's a taste of a tribute to MJ, except it's Wednesday. If you have a favorite music service, feel free to track down the nutty assortment and load up your mp3 player with these if you like. At the very least, we'll have 5 songs in common.

So, here's the very first Digital Fishwrap shuffle in tribute to MJ and western Oregon's stereotypical winter weather phenomenon -- rain.

Songs about Rain -- Gary Allan
Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35 -- Bob Dylan
So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) -- R.E.M.
Stormy Weather -- Etta James
Rhythm of the Pourin' Rain -- Vince Gill featuring Bekka Bramlett

Trees fall and dreams rise

OK, I realize that leaves of many trees fall to the ground in autumn, but now the trees themselves are tumbling to the ground all over Salem and the Willamette Valley. Sometimes they take out power and other utility lines on the way down. But don't take my word for it, read the Statesman Journal article for yourself. Prolonged, heavy rains and brisk winds are toppling trees like they were Tinker toys.

Last night I was telling my friend Brat about two trees that had fallen over not too far from my building in my apartment complex. But as I headed out to my car this morning to head to work I was confronted by the sight of another tree that had fallen overnight, about 15-20 feet from where my car was parked. Fortunately the tree fell between two buildings, although it had to have scraped one of the buildings on its tumble to the soggy turf. However, if it had fallen the other direction it probably would have taken out several cars in the parking lot in the row behind where I park. Some of the upper branches may even have reached across the travel lane and into the row of cars where my assigned space is located.

Fortunately, the sun came out for a bit this afternoon, but not for long enough to do much to dry things out. Rivers are still running high, some streets are flooded. Even the hardcore webbed-foot valley natives are beginning to comment on how much rain we've been getting. The forecast for the next few days: Rain and wind to continue which means more trees will likely fall victim to the stormy weather. When is spring supposed to arrive?

***

How would you spend $156 million dollars? That's the amount of Wednesday's Powerball lottery drawing. The drawing has been growing rather large for several weeks, but I have kept forgetting to buy a ticket. But I remedied that today.

I plunked down $5 on a dream, a fantasy. Yea, I may never win, but $5 can buy lots of dreams on which I can travel further than I would have on the 2.5 gallons of gas I could have got with the same half a sawbuck.

***

I'm just a week and a couple of days from my final planned date to give up the nicotine completely, including the gum. I'm in the one-piece-every-4-to-8-hours phase now, but unfortunately I'm still struggling to make it past the 4-hour mark. I was hoping to be up to 8 hours by Thursday, but 6 may be more likely. Sometime the 4 hours passes relatively painlessly, although the cravings are still there. Other times, the cravings hit me like a freight train at about the 2-hour mark.

The good thing is that I've resisted the rather strong urges at times to cheat with a cigarette here and there. I have not bought a pack in more than a week. But I'm thinking now that I may have to alter my timeline slightly. I'm still chewing the stronger 4 mg gum, which I think is still putting too much nicotine into my system when I do chew it. So I may switch to the 2 mg gum when this box runs out and potentially extend my program 1 week at least, to make up for my 1 week of flagrantly violating my program. But maybe what I need is to take some time off to alter my daily routines.

One thing is certain, I need to get past the cravings soon so I can start cutting back on the munching of popcorn, chips, candy and other snacks I've been doing rather than chew extra pieces of gum or, worse, running to the store for a can of snuff or a pack of smokes. I've put on at least 5 pounds, maybe more. And I was already suffering from the middle-age spread before this ordeal began. But the extra weight is growing uncomfortable.

However, first things first. I want to beat this nicotine addiction once and for all. Then I'll work on the other aspects necessary to be an irresistible chick magnet! Oh, that reminds me of other things I can add to my list of what to do with my Powerball winnings. Hire a personal trainer and a dietician.

Weather
Rain
Winter storms
Willamette Valley
Powerball
Lottery
Quitting nicotine

Writer's apathy

I sat down last night to write a post, but got no more than a couple of sentences into it and walked away from the computer. I came up with another idea for a post today. Both were a couple of good rants. But I find I just don't have it in me to rant.

It's not writer's block. More like writer's lethargy or apathy. I just don't have the energy. Just don't care. Don't care about much of anything.

Maybe it's the relentless rain. One of the recent weather reports said we've had something like nearly 30 days straight with rain, some of it heavy. The days are dark and gloomy. The sun breaks have been few and far between.

I can certainly understand why a man this week climbed onto a bridge here in Salem and threatened to jump. It's the second time a man has threatened to do that on the same bridge since I moved here. The first guy snarled traffic for the better part of a day with his threatened suicide, which happened about a week after I moved to town. The irony this week is the threatened suicide attempt came barely hours after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Oregon's assisted suicide law. Maybe the guy needed a push. Or a pill. Or a plane ticket to Mazatlan.

I wouldn't want to say I'm suicidal. That would be an overstatement, a radical over dramatization. Besides, who has the energy for something like that?

Ever been so tired, so worn out that it's too much effort to take a nap? To go to bed at night? That's the feeling.

Yea, maybe it's the rain. Or maybe it's something else. Not that it matters. It's not as if I have the power to change either factor at the moment. Fortunately, some clearer dryer weather is in the forecast in the days ahead. The long-range forecast for the other situation is not so bright. No sunshine on that horizon anytime soon.

Maybe I'll tell you about it later, when I have a little more energy.

Blogging
Weather
Rain
Salem, Ore.

Tropical morning

I admit, I have been somewhat obsessed with comparing my current home in Salem to my former home in Southern California. In particular, I get in a rut making references to the weather, bemoaning the cold and wet fall and winter weather here in the Pacific Northwest.

For the record, this morning it is warmer in Salem than it is in Palm Springs ( 54 degrees at 7 a.m. in Salem compared to 47 in Palm Springs). Of course we got almost 2 inches of rain here yesterday, and the temperature is expected to be 74 in Palm Springs today.

BUT, for right now, it is WARMER here than in the land reputed for its winter warmth. I will try to remember that as the rains continue and rivers in the region threaten to overflow their banks today.

Weather

Who'll stop the rain?

It has been raining heavily and dreary here for days. Oregon's famous "liquid sunshine." I am tempted to continue my blogging strike until the weather improves, but I'm not sure I can hold out until April or May.

But the darks skies and rain are sapping the energy. Some people here proudly state they love the rain. I can't relate to that. I can't imagine liking rain for days on end and dark skies.

It may sound contradictory for a self-professed night owl, who often finds my mind the most active in the hours after sunset, but I NEED the nourishing, healing warm and illumination of the sun.

Blogging
Strike
Weather
Rain

Rain, rain, go the fuck away

It rained again Monday in the Coachella Valley. Not just rain, but a full-on torrential downpour. It's fucking ridiculous. In and area that is lucky if it gets nine inches of rain a year, we got nine-tenths of and inch just Monday. We've had more than an inch of rain since about 2 p.m. Sunday.

Crazy.

There are rivers of brown water flowing everywhere, the streets themselves looked like rivers. I had a lunch appointment today during the heart of the deluge. We got .61 of rain between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. today.

Enough already. Bring on the sun.

But what's the forecast? Rain or a chance of rain through Wednesday. I hope the fucking wildflowers are happy, because desert dwellers are starting to get a bit cranky.

Weather
Palm Springs

Finally Friday

It's Friday, and that should be a good thing. But it feels more like a Monday. It's raining again. And all things considered, I'd rather crawl back into bed and just wait for the day to be over.

Because it's raining, the roof has started leaking again. But I did report the leak to the apartment manager. She said the roofer won't be able to come out until next week. But it's in their hands now.

No, it hasn't been a good week. Fortunately there's only one more work day of it left, but unfortunately even that feels like a bit much.

Weather

The rain has stopped

The rain has finally stopped, but water is still flowing in torrents in the flood channels, and many roads are still impassable in the Coachella Valley.

We saw blue skies today, for the first time in days. And the winds kicked up, blowing palm fronds and other debris off of the palm trees. There were scattered power outages and the roads were a mess between the litter from the palm trees and main roads clogged by drivers who couldn't take other main roads due to flooding. What a mess.

But, just seeing blue skies and rainbows again made the day bright indeed.

Who said it never rains in Southern California?

It's still frickin' raining here. And foolish people still keep trying to drive through high water and across closed roads. Luckily, no one has died here in the Coachella Valley.

But we aren't getting quite as much rain as they are on the west side of the mountains, where there have been mud and rock slides washing away houses, and some people with them.

I have that Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood song (© Copyright 1972 by Landers-Roberts Music) going through my head. They may have meant something else when they wrote it, but boy they sure were right on the money.

"Seems it never rains in Southern California
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California
But, girl, don't they warn ya
It pours, man, it pours"

Perhaps it's appropriate the former Palm Springs Mayor, the late Sonny Bono, and Cher recorded a version of the song. Although Bono probably wouldn't be too thrilled that it was raining during the annual run of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, which he founded.

We've had almost 2 inches of rain here in Palm Springs in the last 48 hours. And washes, which are like big natural ditches here in the desert, are now raging, flowing rivers where only days ago their was nothing but sand.

The air is so thick with water it looks like fog, even when it's not raining, but it's more like mist.

Well, at least it's a little warmer. And the forecast indicates we may get a reprieve by Wednesday or Thursday.

In the meantime, let's follow the link and sing along.

Raining again

It's raining. Again.

I'm tired of the rain.