Chasing rabbits

The other day, my wife and I took our dog, Peanut, for a walk. Peanut's very poorly named. She's part Aussie Shepherd and weighs in at about 65 pounds. We were told she was not going to be this big, but I digress.

As is our custom, we went to the park next to the local elementary school. When we got to the appointed spot on the trail - Peanut reminds us if we go past it - we let her off the leash, since nobody else was around. (Don't alert the authorities, I don't want to get a ticket.) At one edge of the park is a grove of trees, standing single-file next to the fence line about 30 yards long. Peanut blasted off full speed towards those trees with a definite purpose. (This is opposed to her usual random wandering.) As we saw her approach a tree in the middle of the line in full gallop, we noticed a rabbit dart out from the far end of the trees and run off. Peanut never saw it.

For me (my wife think's I'm nuts or have undiagnosed OCD), this incident provided an in-the-flesh example of a few commonly missed steps in planning.

1. Good planning has to start with determining the desired outcome. But, it's not enough to just know what you want the outcome to be. You have to know how you'll recognize the outcome. Peanut got exactly what her plan called for: flushing the creature responsible for that scent out of the trees. But she never knew it. She didn't recognize the outcome when it happened.
2. It's more than just the recognition, though. It's also about building confidence in the plan. Making the effort to determine the desired outcome and figuring out how you'll know it when you see it, instills an expectation of success. When this plan works, I will know it, because this will be the outcome. This is where we differ from dogs. Dogs commit to the plan. We humans fret and worry about the plan. Sometimes this keeps us from fully committing. We think, "Really? That's the plan? I'm just going to run full blast into the trees and a rabbit's going to pop out? I don't know. I guess I'll try it." Then we tie our shoes, straighten our socks, stretch, and finally jog over half-heartedly.
3. Figure out what the following step will be before starting the current step. You don't necessarily have to think 20 moves ahead like a Chess Grand Master. Things normally change in that time, so that's often unproductive. But you should know what to do after this step. Paying attention to the following step can help define the current step. For Peanut, the thought process could have been: "My next step, after zooming off at the trees, will be to chase the rabbit. That means I have to know which way to go after running to the trees. Hmm, instead of just zooming all-out directly into the trees, I'm going to look up when I'm halfway there. If the rabbit pops out, I'll be able to change direction and catch it."

These steps can help in building any plan, whether that's saving for the family trip to Disney World, remodeling the bathroom, losing weight, or dropping 10 strokes off your golf score.

(No animals were hurt in the production of this blog post. Had Peanut actually caught the rabbit, she wouldn't have known what to do with it. My wife would have cried. I would have fainted. We all would have been grossed out.)

Drowning Man

Long time no blog. Sometimes life intervenes. There's a long list of songs this time, but a normal set of featured tunes, so there shouldn't be too much more of my words to wade through than usual.

Featured tunes: "Drowning Man" by U2, "Eleanor Rigby" by The Beatles, and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears.

Drowning Man - "Hold on, hold on tightly / Rise up, rise up / With wings like eagles / You run, you run, you run and not grow weary." This is one of my very favorite songs and has been ever since I bought U2's "War" in 1983. It's haunting, powerful, and encouraging. I know I'm not alone holding it in such high esteem - my great friend, college roommate, and brother-in-law, Kurt, had the lyrics hanging up in his room in college. (Not sure if I was supposed to notice or know that.) I always felt the song's power. I thought it was about a man being pulled up by a woman's love - somehow not noticing that it says "His love will last forever." One of the first times I went to our family's current church (they had gone to other churches without me before; I wasn't interested) - I instantly took a liking to a brief song that went "God will raise you up on eagles' wings...". I knew it echoed "Drowning Man" and decided to do a little research. Reading Isaiah 40:31 for the first time hit me like a ton of bricks - "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary." All the times I'd sung along, I'd been reciting the Old Testament! What a revelation. Many Christians, often including myself, decry the current state of moral decay in the world. I think we overlook many things that bear witness to us, by failing to listen. I'm sure I'll recount others in the future in this blogspace - I really try to pay attention. The ones I notice will, no doubt, be heavily outweighed by those I don't. I'm a constant work in progress - but I'm God's handiwork, and that makes me good. Just like you.

Eleanor Rigby - "Look at all the lonely people." A couple of posts back (Broken, Beat & Scarred), I promised a list of the saddest songs on my iPod:
6. (Tie) Mothers of the Disappeared, Running to Stand Still, and One Tree Hill, all from U2's "Joshua Tree"
5. Don't Get So Down On Yourself - Chris Isaak
4. I Hung My Head - Johnny Cash (written by and orginally performed by Sting)
3. Everybody Hurts - R.E.M.
2. Bulletproof Weeks - Matt Nathanson
1. Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles

Everybody Wants to Rule the World - "I can't stand this indecision / Married with a lack of vision / Everybody wants to rule the world." I can't hear this song without thinking about college - the song was huge as I started my sophomore year. I surely don't want to rule the world. I have enough to keep up with just being a normal guy. The album (for those of you too young to remember, that's the big black vinyl thing we had before CDs) "Songs From the Big Chair", which produced this song and several other hits, was monumental. It achieved far more success than anything Tears for Fears had done previously or anything they would do in the future. There were quite a few bands that had that happen in the same timeframe - INXS with "Kick" (although they had several really good releases), "Once Upon a Time" by Simple Minds, Def Leppard's "Pyromania", even Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet" and REO Speedwagon's "Hi Infidelity".

• Drag Me Down - Tonic
• Draggin' the Line - Tommy James & The Shondells
• Drain You - Nirvana
• Dream of Mirrors - Iron Maiden
• Dreaming With a Broken Heart - John Mayer
• Dreamline - Rush
• Dreams - Fleetwood Mac
• Dreams Be Dreams - Jack Johnson
• Drifter - Iron Maiden
• Drifting Away - Fastball
• Drink the Water - Jack Johnson
• Drive - The Cars
• Drive - Incubus : "Sometimes, I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear / And I can't help but ask myself how much I'll let the fear take the wheel and steer. / It's driven me before, and it seems to have a vague, haunting mass appeal."
  
• Drive - R.E.M.
• Drive My Car - The Beatles
• Drive On - Johnny Cash
• Driven - Rush
• Driven to Tears - The Police
• Driver 8 - R.E.M. : "And the train conductor says, 'Take a break Driver 8. Driver 8, take a break. We've been on this shift too long.'"
  
• Drown - Smashing Pumpkins
• Drown In My Own Tears - The Smithereens
• Drowning Man - U2
• Dry - Kutless
• Duck and Run - 3 Doors Down
• The Duellists - Iron Maiden
• Dumb - Nirvana
• Dumb Love - Stone Temple Pilots
• E-Bow The Letter - R.E.M.
• Earth to Bella, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 - Incubus
• Easy - Fuel
• Easy Skanking - Bob Marley
• Eater - Fastball
• Echo - Incubus
• Echo - Vertical Horizon
• The Economy of Mercy - Switchfoot
• Edge of My Seat - Switchfoot

Back-to-back from Switchfoot

• Eight Days a Week - The Beatles
• El Scorcho - Weezer
• Eleanor - Jet
  
• Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles
• Election Day - Lyle Lovett
• Electric Barberella - Duran Duran
• Electrolite - R.E.M.
• Elevation - U2
• Elvis Presley and America - U2

U2 B2B (back-to-back)

• Emily - Fastball
• Emotion Detector - Rush
• Emotional - Fastball
• Empty Spaces - Fuel
• The End - The Beatles
• The End of the Line - Metallica
• End Over End - Foo Fighters
• Endgame - R.E.M.
• Endless Supply - The Pernice Brothers
• Enemy - Jack Johnson
• The Enemy Within, Pt. 1 of "Fear" - Rush
• Enough Space - Foo Fighters : Possibly the greatest SCREAM song ever. Dave Grohl just lets loose - I couldn't talk for days after the concert scream-along.
  
• Enter Sandman - Metallica : Best heavy metal song ever?
  
• Entre Nous - Rush : "Just between us, I think it's time for us to recognize the differences we sometimes fear to show / Just between us, I think it's time for us to realize, the spaces in between leave room for you and I to grow."
  
• Epilogue (Resolution) - Triumph
• Epiphany - Staind
• Erase/Replace - Foo Fighters
• Erosion - Switchfoot
• Eve of Destruction - The Turtles
• Even Better Than the Real Thing - U2
• Even the Losers - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
• Everlong - Foo Fighters
• Every Breath You Take - The Police
• Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police

Double-shot of The Police

• Every Time I Think of You - The Babys
• Everybody Hurts - R.E.M.
• Everybody Knows a Little Bit of Something - King's X
• Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears
• Everybody Wants You - Billy Squier
• Everybody Wins - Celia Whitler
• Everyday Glory - Rush
• Everything's Not Lost - Coldplay
• Everything You Want - Vertical Horizon
• Everything Zen - Bush : "I don't believe that Elvis is dead"
  
• Everytime I See Your Face - Live
• The Evil That Men Do - Iron Maiden
• Exhausted - Foo Fighters
• Exhuming McCarthy - R.E.M.
• Exit - U2
• Exodus - Bob Marley : "Open your eyes and look within / Are you satisfied with the life you're living?"
  
• Expecting - The White Stripes
• Exploder - Audioslave
• Eyes Wide Open - Goo Goo Dolls
• Eyes Without a Face - Billy Idol

Summary:
Whew! Finished the D's and got through all the E's
Listened to 90 songs, skipped 7 (all live versions)
5 Dream, 6 Drive, Echo Echo, 2 Eleanors (Jet imitating The Beatles again), 5 Ends, 2 Enemy, 13 Every, 2 Eyes

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Now playing: U2 - Drowning Man
via FoxyTunes

Don't Tread On Me

Happy Memorial Day!
Featured songs in this post include: "Dig" by Incubus, "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" by Chicago, and "Don't Tread On Me" by Metallica.

Don't Tread On Me - This is an appropriate song to feature on Memorial Day. Aside from being the unofficial start of Summer, today is a day to remember all of those who have put themselves in harm's way, even sacrificed their lives, for our freedom. It's a debt we can never repay. War is a horrible thing to be avoided; but, warriors should be revered, honored, and glorified. It takes remarkable courage to lay your life down in service of others. So, while you enjoy your barbecue today, say a prayer and give thanks for the brave men and women in the service, and those who came before them.

These are the best songs on my iPod related to servicemen and women - it's dominated by Iron Maiden. Over the course of the band's career, they have continually returned to this theme. I've left more of their songs off the list than I've included, actually.
10) These Colours Don't Run - Iron Maiden
9) Don't Tread On Me - Metallica
8) Battle Cry - Triumph ("I think the loneliest man in the world is a soldier.")
7) Citizen Soldier - 3 Doors Down
6) Aces High - Iron Maiden (The Battle of Britain)
5) Paschendale - Iron Maiden (The horrors of WWI trench warfare)
4) The Trooper - Iron Maiden (The story of one infantryman participating in the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War)
3) The Longest Day - Iron Maiden (DDay)
2) One - Metallica (About a man completely destroyed, but not killed, by a landmine)
1) Hammerhead - The Offspring (Homage to a Marine)


Dig - As promised in my last entry, I have to feature this song. I love how the song describes a growing couple - keeping each other in check, knowing that they'll always be there for each other. I've quoted it to my wife a few times. She continues to think I'm an idiot who should come up with his own words. Which isn't entirely unjustified.
"When weakness turns my ego up
I know you'll count on the me from yesterday.
If I turn into another,
Dig me up from under what is covering the better part of me.
Sing this song.
Remind me that we'll always have each other
When everything else is gone."

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? - This is my favorite Chicago song. It's an entreaty to slow down and enjoy the good things, instead of getting caught in modern life. And this was written before the PC and cell phones chained many of us to our work. Other songs in this post have a similar theme, such as "DOA" by Foo Fighters and "Different World" by, you guessed it, Iron Maiden. In the bridge, there is a spoken part that makes the song's point quite clear: "People runnin' everywhere/Don't know the way to go/Don't know where I am/Can't see past the next step/Don't have to think past the last mile/Have no time to look around/Just run around, run around and think why."

• Die Like This - Fuel
• Die With Your Boots On - Iron Maiden : "If you're gonna die, die with your boots on." Discusses Nostradamus and predestination.
  
• Difference (In the Garden of St. Anne's-On-the-Hill) - King's X
• Different Strings - Rush : "Different eyes see different things/Different hearts beat on different strings/But there are times, for you and me, when all such things agree."
  
• Different World - Iron Maiden : "I would like you to know/When you see the simple things/To appreciate this life/It's not too late to learn."
• Dig - Incubus
• Dig a Pony - The Beatles
• Digital Man - Rush : More conflict about technological progress.
  
• Diminished - R.E.M. : Creepy song about a guy who killed someone - is he guilty or insane?
  
• Dirty Second Hands - Switchfoot
• Disappear - Army of Anyone
• Disappear - INXS
• Disappear - R.E.M. : "I looked for you everywhere/Tell me why you're here/I came to disappear."
• Disarm - Smashing Pumpkins
• Disconnected - Goo Goo Dolls
• Diseased - Seether
• Disenchanted Lullaby - Foo Fighters
• The Distance - Live : "Oh, are we locked into these bodies?/Let's hold out for something sweeter/Spread your wings and fly."
• Distant Early Warning - Rush : "The world weighs on my shoulders, but what am I to do?/You sometimes drive me crazy, but I worry about you."
  
• Disturbance at the Heron House - R.E.M. : One of my favorite R.E.M. tunes. I've listened to it hundreds of times and still have absolutely no idea what it's about.
  
• Dizzy Miss Lizzy - The Beatles
• Do It Again - Queens of the Stone Age
• Do the Evolution - Pearl Jam
• Do This Anymore - Nickelback
• Do You Know - Tonic
• Do You Remember - Jack Johnson
• Do You Right - 311
• DOA - Foo Fighters : Life is fleeting, so make the most of it. "Take a good hard look for the very last time/The very last one in a very long line/Only took a second to say goodbye."
• Doctor Robert - The Beatles
• Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? - Chicago
  
• Dog Years - Rush : OK, you get the picture that I'm a huge Rush fan. I can't get on board with lyrics that are this laughably bad, though - even if the music is good. "In a dog's life/A year is more like seven/And all too soon a canine/Will be chasing cars in doggie heaven"
• Doll - Foo Fighters
• The Dolphin's Cry - Live
• Don't - Elvis Presley
• Don't Be Cruel - Elvis Presley

Two in a row from the King.

• Don't Be There - Switchfoot
• Don't Believe - Chalk FarM
• Don't Believe It (It's Easier Said Than Done) - King's X : King's X is a criminally underappreciated band.
  
• Don't Break Me Down - The Donnas (yes, The Donnas)
• Don't Come Around Here No More - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
• Don't Do Me Like That - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Super back-to-back Petty songs.

• Don't Fade - Toad the Wet Sprocket
• Don't Get Around Much Anymore - Harry Connick, Jr.
• Don't Give Up - Peter Gabriel : I can listen to this song again and again and again.
  
• Don't Give Up On Me - Fastball : "I need a little leeway and an angel to watch over me."
  
• (Don't Go Back To) Rockville - R.E.M. : "At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend I don't care that you're not here with me."
• Don't Know Why - Norah Jones
• Don't Let Me Down - The Beatles
• Don't Make Me Dream About You - Chris Isaak
• Don't Mean Much - Chalk FarM
• Don't Panic - Coldplay : "We live in a beatiful world, yeah we do, yeah we do!"
  
• Don't Stand So Close to Me - The Police
• Don't Stay Home - 311
• Don't Stop - Fleetwood Mac : "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow/Don't stop, it'll soon be here/It'll be better than before/Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone"
  
• Don't Stop Dancing - Creed
• Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
• Don't Take Your Guns to Town - Johnny Cash : More like a short story than a song - a very sad short story.
  
• Don't Tell Me You Love Me - Night Ranger
• Don't Touch My Hat - Lyle Lovett : Lyle Lovett is hilarious. "If it's her you want/I don't care about that/You can have my girl/But don't touch my hat."
  
• Don't Tread On Me - Metallica
• Don't Worry 'bout Me - Frank Sinatra
• Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds : One of my favorite 80's songs. I can't hear it without picturing "The Breakfast Club."
  
• Double Agent - Rush : "My angels and my demons at war/Which one will lose/Depends on what I choose/Or maybe which voice I ignore." The "Double Agent" is our internal struggle between wrong and right.
  
• Down - Fuel
• Down - Kutless
• Down - Stone Temple Pilots
• Down - 311

Ranking the 4 songs called Down:
1) 311, 2) Kutless, 3) Stone Temple Pilots, 4) Fuel

• Down Inside of You - Fuel
• Down Poison - 3 Doors Down
• Down There By the Train - Johnny Cash
• The Down Town - Days of the New
• Downtown - Petula Clark
  

Summary:
Listened to 72 songs, skipped 2 (Live version of "Dirty Second Hands" and live acoustic version of "Don't Give Up On Me")
6 Do, but 29 Don't - That seems about right - we're told much more often what NOT to do than what TO do.
3 Disappear, 9 Downs (including 4 simply titled "Down")

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Now playing: Metallica - Don't Tread on Me
via FoxyTunes