top 3

You know how sometimes you just start thinking about random things. You do that don't you? It's not just me? Right? So tonight I was listening to an old tape copy of Randy Travis' Storm's of Life, which I think it's neat to note was Rainey's back before we got together, after 22 years of togetherness there's not much left that once belonged to only one of us. So anyway, I got to thinking that while there are a couple not so great songs on the tape for the most part this was a great country album. I don't know if it was Randy's first but it was definitely his break out album. It's got Digging Up Bones, On the Other Hand, 1982, Reasons I Cheat and of course Storms of Life, all of which are great songs. So this put me to thinking of my favorite albums, not counting greatest hits and so here is the culmination of my pick of the 3 greatest country albums (please note I reserve the right to change my mind in the future).

Top 3 county albums- Willie Nelson's On the Road Again, Randy Travis' The Storms of Life and George Strait's Pure Country soundtrack.

There's a lot of artists that I have a number of their cd's- Tim Mcgraw, Kenny Chesney, Garth Brooks, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, Gary Allan, Dierks Bentley, Billy Currington but I couldn't think of one particular cd I could just think of songs. One glaring omission here is of course Cash's Folsom Prison Blues but as much as I love that album there are a lot of not so great songs on there and number of great songs is what I used as my criteria in this case.

Biggest Loser

Okay so I know I carry it fairly well and don't look all that big, but I am (according to a number of sources) grossly obese, was once even referred to by a medical facilitator as morbidly obese. I've battled weight since high school, or more to the point I've occasionally battled weight and occasionally rolled over and played dead, which may keep you from getting mauled by a bear but does nothing to keep you from looking quite ursine. Twice in my adult life I've gotten down to what doctors would consider a healthy weight. During basic training I lost down to actually 10 pounds below my goal weight and looked somewhat sickly (as my wife and mother put it), but it wasn't long till I left the safe eating habits of basic that I started packing the weight back on. The second time was about 7 to 9 years ago (I can't remember exactly) following the Atkins diet and I did really good for awhile but when I got the weight off I got careless and thought I could eat whatever and it wasn't long before, you guessed it, the weight was back. I joke about going on the biggest loser but the 55 pounds I needed to loose was no where near the 100's of pounds the average biggest loser contestant needs to shed and besides I don't know how these people go off and leave their jobs & their families for weeks. I couldn't do it. Well, I could leave my job for weeks if it weren't for the financial ruin it would cause, but not my wife and babies (I say babies but my oldest will in all probability be getting his driving permit this week). I've tried other diet and exercise plans to little or no success so I've decided to go back to what I know works- I'm going back to basic training. Just kidding. I'm way to old for that. I'm going back on Atkins, actually I've already started, two weeks in and I've lost 10 pounds. What I've figured out about myself is that I've got a terrible sugar addiction and I'm using Atkins to try and break it. I'm going to try and follow the progression outlined by the diet- you start by severely limiting carb intake (getting the majority of these carbs in the form of salad vegetables) and then you slowly build back up eating good healthy fruits and vegetables. I believe I can loose the weight again, what scares me is going back to my old, Coke-a-cola and chocolate pie behavior once I get there. It's hard to get rid of sugar from you diet it's in so many things we eat, but I'm trying.
'Hello my names Chad and I'm a sugar-aholic, it's been two weeks since I've knowingly eaten sugar.'

Best song ev-er. (Well one of them any way.)

So this morning I'm washing up breakfast dishes and staring out the window into my back yard and I think I need some John Denver. Now it's not often that a thought like that crosses your mind and even less often when you have the means to satisfy that desire. So I pop in the greatest hits cd and listen to some classics like Country Roads and Annie's Song and even demonstrated to the one year old how to dance a jig to Thank God I'm a Country Boy but then I called the children to silence and told them to listen to one of the greatest songs ever recorded- Sunshine on My Shoulders. This song evokes emotion in me and I believe that's a hallmark of greatest in any art. I imagine John sitting somewhere far away from the sun as he pens this wistful, melancholy ode to sunshine and the way it 'almost all the time gets me high'.

WWW Wednesday

Librarian Who posted a W3dnesday blog today and it reminded me that I'd not done one in about a month myself. So here goes.
What did I read last? I finished Flood Tide by Clive Cussler, okay story a pretty good beach read and that's where I started reading, even having the tide come in on me and washing the book out of my hands one time. Safe, predictable, you know exactly what's going to happen it's just fun finding out the how. Next I read American Gods by Neil Gaiman, a modern classic. Great read. Then I tried reading Brida by Paulo Coelho, some of Coelho's books I really like (The Alchemist or the Fifth Mountain for instance) and others I really don't like, after about a chapter I was pretty sure this was one I wouldn't like, so I set it aside.
What am I reading now? Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, so far the story is very intriguing. My only qualm with the book to this point is that while it is set in the late 19th century (I believe) the characters all sound very much 21st century to me.
What will I read next? I'm leaning toward The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas, it's been on my shelf for awhile and I've been contemplating it and then in Angel's Game the author made a reference to it and so it will probably be next.