Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Ten For Tuesday Episode 9 Is Available

Episode 9 of Ten For Tuesday is now up at http://www.tenfortuesday.podomatic.com/ where you can stream, download or get it on Itunes. Better yet, listen to it here and leave a comment so that I know what you think. This week's artists are:

Agnostic Front - Gotta Go
Sick Of It All - Step Down
Street Dogs - Into The Valley
Goldfinger - Here In Your Bedroom
All - Breakin' Up
No Use For A Name - Growing Down
CIV - Can't Wait One Minute More
New York Dolls - Cause I Sez So
The Righs - I Hope I Never See You Again
The Rifles - The Great Escape



Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Episode 5 of the notmovingpictures podcast is now available. Just go to www.notmovingpictures.podomatic.com to download, stream, etc or just listen to it here. This episode was just me solo talking about being a veteran on Memorial Day, learning to become the person you want to be and asking lots of age old questions about why things are the way they are. My nephew Justin even gets a mention here so that's gotta make it a good podcast, right? Right?



Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Ten For Tuesday Episode 8 Up Now


As usual Blogger has been acting up and I just noticed that two of my posts were saved as drafts instead of being published. Now Blogger is freezing on me as I try to work. Perhaps I'll give Wordpress a look and see what they have to offer. At any rate, Episode eight of the Ten For Tuesday podcast is up at http://www.tenfortuesday.podomatic.com/. This weeks songs and artists are:

The Clash - Rudie Can't Fail
The English Beat - Ranking Full Stop
The Police - So Lonely
The Specials - Free Nelson Mandela
The Icicle Works - Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream)
Tommy Tutone - Teen Angel Eyes
The Plimsouls - Everywhere At Once
Split Enz - I Got You
Fischer Z - So Long
The Nails - 88 Lines About 44 Women

I've already got the next three episodes planned out so check back soon and hear some more great music.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Finally The Year Is Here For Me

When 2012 started I informed several people that are close to me that this would be the year. What I meant by that was that this would be the year in which I would finally start working on the projects that I had been oh so impatiently waiting to begin, some for years. Thus far that has proven to be a correct statement. Thanks to a Christmas gift to myself from myself of a portable digital recorder I have been able to start not only one but two podcasts. One dedicated to music and another to talking about music, with a few other things thrown in. Just last week another piece of the puzzle was added as I was able to purchase a HD camcorder (a Sony Bloggie) thanks to my tax return. With it I can now start to bring some of my video ideas to life and I plan on starting my first project this month if all goes well.

One of my ideas is to make a documentary that will involve me hiking the Inca Trail in Peru, providing I can find the funds that is. I also need to get in some semblance of good shape in order to undertake a journey like this. I've been a coach potato for far too long. To start I need to write an outline of the direction I intend it to take, a timeline for exercising, as well as deciding what equipment, etc that would be needed to make it happen. The idea for this has been brought on because in the past year I've begun to think a lot about how I'm on the downside of life. I need to start doing the things I want to do while I can enjoy them, before I start getting much older. I mean, I'm forty-seven years old and if I wait much longer I may find that it will be too difficult physically for me and I won't get any real enjoyment out of it. Besides, who knows what the future holds, none of us are promised anything in life.

As I said, I am not exactly in great shape right now so clearly I will have to start preparing early for an excursion such as this. Even though I have lost some weight lately I could always stand to lose some more. Towards that end, as I was thinking about how much time it would take to be ready, a co-worker brought to my attention an event called the Warrior Dash which is held all over the United States and will be done in Oklahoma on June 1st. The Warrior Dash is a race over a 3.11 mile course filled with twelve obstacles. The obstacles basically consist of ways to get you wet, dirty and then muddy as you climb, jump and low crawl over and under them. Unfortunately I have something else I have to do on that day and to be brutally honest three weeks is not enough time for someone in my sad condition to prepare, even at the novice level. If only I had learned of it a few weeks earlier then I know that I would have been ready to do it.

However since I now have the knowledge of the event there is always next year. Preparing for the Warrior Dash would also be a good way to prepare for hiking the Inca Trail or vice versa, depending on finding potential funding or sponsors for the documentary. As a matter of fact, both events could be included in the same project or filmed separately. My options are very open right now. Whatever happens I now have goals that will become more defined in the coming weeks and months, all which will combine in achieving an end result of accomplishing dreams that I thought I'd never be able to do. My video projects can combine with blogging and podcasting and have an added benefit of being the impetus for helping me to get in better shape. The biggest benefit of all however may be having my son learn from my actions that he can accomplish his dreams so long as he tries with all his heart. More than money or material things that's the best gift I could ever give him.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Next Time Just Kick Me And I'll Take The Clue

Saturday I did something that I haven't done in quite a few years, I washed my truck. If you want to get technical about it I washed my wife's car as well. Now don't take that the wrong way, it's not as if either vehicle has been neglected and were filthy eyesores. I have taken them to the car wash and done it there, although not very frequently. I'm referring to actually washing them by hand in our driveway which turned out to take more time than I initially thought it would. My wife's car was done fairly easily as it is a small four cylinder car (Dodge Caliber) however my big pickup (GMC extended cab) proved to be more difficult.

At one point I had a step ladder out so that I could reach every place on it. If felt good to be out in the sun sweating, doing something somewhat physical, I just wish my son had come outside so that I could have soaked him down, purely accidentally of course. Once I finished I came inside for some well deserved lunch before playing a few rounds of Super Mario Brothers with my son and then followed that with a quick shower. Saying my goodbyes I dashed off to work where I thankfully had been given six hours of overtime. Hey, we need the money, even more so since we are trying to take a trip to the beach. The closest one is in Galveston, Tx which is a mere nine hour drive from Tulsa. Hopefully gas prices won't go up too much.

Work consisted of QCing medical records (kind of a quality check if you will) and while doing so I started noticing that my hands were starting to cramp. As I sat in front of the computer I also started noticing that my shoulders were aching a bit too. Still, for some unknown reason I took nothing for the pain and instead chose to tough it out. I can't really explain why. Later I had to get some cover sheets and bent over to retrieve them and as I stood up while counting them I banged my head on one of the shelves. Not too hard but still enough that I immediately started feeling the effects of it.
At this point I gave in and took some ibuprofen. Apparently it takes getting hit in the head for me to decide that there's no sense in making things more difficult than they need to be.

I'm not sure if it was stubbornness or machismo or what but it took that many hints for me to get it. Maybe it's just part of being a man. We know that we can do something that will make us feel better and still we resist, insisting that we can "tough it out." Regardless, work was productive and the money will be well used and just in time. I just wish after returning home that my son hadn't backhanded me in the testicles while I was trying to brush his teeth. It was the capper on a tiring, achy, painful day, a capper that I could have done without.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Podcasts, Oh How You Have Been Ignored

Episode 7 of the Ten For Tuesday podcast is up and ready for consumption. Go to http://www.tenfortuesday.podomatic.com/ and stream, download or sign up via Itunes if you are so inclined. Admittedly as of late I've done a rather piss-poor job of updating when the shows are ready and what artists are featured but no more of that I say. From this point forward I promise to make regular updates in a timely manner. This weeks music:

Rocket From The Crypt - Hippy Dippy Do
The Wolfmen - Jackie Says
Local H - Copacetic
The Pixies - Here Comes Your Man
Los Furios - Run Devil Run
Black Flag - TV Party
Miki Gonzalez - Lola
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Even The Losers
Lysa Flores - Novia
The Breeders - Cannonball

The previous few shows have had X, The Blasters, Los Lobos, The Smithereens, Rank and File, The Belmont Playboys, Rush, Accept, Megadeth, The Evidence, Adler, Anthrax and many more.

 By the way, episode 4 of notmovingpictures became available last week as well. Go to http://www.notmovingpictures.podomatic.com/ and do like I said above. Don and Tommy hold court as they discuss Alloy's last gig, immigration trying to screw up one last time with Don's wife and some preacher guy burning the Koran in an effort to "make" Muslims understand how his opinion matters more than anybody elses. There is also the treat of their story of going to see The Scorpions on Friday May 13th, 1984 in Tulsa which ended with one person not coming back with the others. Drugs are bad, okay, at least when you're seventeen years old and you bite off more than you can chew.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.