Over the hills, they came from the valley

[christopher575]

My iPod's pretty old. I'll keep using it until it dies because it can hold our entire library, and I mostly prefer to listen to the whole thing on shuffle, skipping whenever something comes on that I'm not in the mood for. There are a few corrupt tracks here and there, and when the iPod lands on one of those, it stops. It doesn't freeze, it just sits there. Hitting play or skipping to the next track doesn't work, but shuffling again does. This happened today as I set out on my walk, and when I shuffled, it landed on a track from Faith No More's debut album, We Care a Lot, an album I hadn't heard in nearly 20 years. Until recently, I wasn't sure I'd ever hear it again.

We Care a Lot was originally only released on cassette and vinyl, and I had the cassette. It was one of just a few that I played a lot during shower time at my parents' house, and since there were only those few, I heard this album many times over. It only occurred to me a couple of months ago before their concert in Seattle to see if it had ever been released as mp3 in subsequent years, and it turned out it had! Amazon started selling it about a year before I checked. Anyway, I hadn't actually listened to it since buying it, so I did that today. The nostalgia was wonderful.



The sky was pretty as I set out, but I could tell by looking that it'll be pretty hot later. Thankfully I walk early enough that it's never an issue, and I don't have anywhere I have to go later.



I have a new talent. Somehow I keep choosing to walk in neighborhoods on their specific garbage day.





5.33 miles in 1:51, 11,471 steps, 511ft gain

I've been thinking about modifying my default loop by heading back into the gulch at the community garden, then exiting at Goat Trail Loop Road, but I worried that it would be shorter if I did that, which would impact my weekly mileage total. I finally plotted it out on the map and realized it wouldn't be any shorter, and did it today. It was really nice! I got to avoid a lot of the roads that I hate because they force me to cross again and again because there's only shoulder on one side and that side keeps changing. And it was more time in the woods. Since the entry and exit points are at the same level on the same side, there aren't any slippery climbs, either. I'll consider today's route my new one when I'm over there.

I've previously noted that I could tell parts of that area in the gulch were set up for mountain biking, and today I saw my first biker. I've always worried about having one of them run into me on a trail, but I saw him in plenty of time and was able to step off to the side. Nowhere in that area has scary dropoffs or anything, so I'm not particularly worried. The idea of running into a biker on the Eastern trails is what worries me.

At point A on the map, there were signs saying some construction would happen today and tomorrow, and I figured I was in the clear because I got there half an hour before the time it was supposed to start. However, there were flaggers setting up at point B. That's why I tried to go West and work my way around, but there was an endless stream of cars coming up from a ferry. After about five minutes, I finally gave up and turned back. I ended up having to walk by this big smelly thing:



No need to see and smell that thing again tomorrow, I'll just go somewhere else.

Comments

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

I love the shuffle feature. I have a 'classic' iPod because it can hold 160Gb of tunes and that is our entire music library. It's frustrating the 'touch' iPods don't come with that much storage.

[christopher575.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a library! I just checked and ours is 50Gb. I only use my iPod for music since I also carry my phone, and I really don't want to spend $300+ on something just to play music. I guess there will always be people selling used ones, but it might be time to try another brand when this one dies.