What I can tell you about is yet another outstanding mix CD. With all the other drama around the upcoming trip, I had forgotten about making the traditional mix CD for the drive. Luckily, The Girl reminded me last Tuesday so I had plenty of time to gather some songs and burn a CD.

I never really know how the CD will turn out, or how well it will be received by the other occupants of the car until we listen to it at least twice. I think this one turned out quite well, so I’ll share it with the world (or both of you who read this).

Pulp – Common People
(I’m not always a fan of videos, but I really like this one)

Trent Reznor – Immigrant Song
(From “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”)

Florrie – She Always Gets What She Wants
(Found her thanks to the cool blog at Hello Giggles)

Imelda May – Mayhem
(First heard at Tyler’s Taproom in Apex a few weeks ago. Used the Soundhound app to find the song.)

Neon Trees – Everybody Talks
(A new single from Neon Trees)

The Submarines – Your Silent Face
(Cool band, pretty good cover of a great New Order song)

Young the Giant – My Body
(Gotta thank Pandora for this one)

Jason Walker – Down

A Fine Frenzy – Almost Lover

My Chemical Romance – Welcome To The Black Parade

Christina Perri – jar of hearts
(the last four were requests from the family, so I don’t have anything to add)

Dum Dum Girls – Wrong Feels Right
(I linked to MySpace – I’m not sure I’ve ever done that before)

OK Go – This Too Shall Pass
(Rube Goldberg – nothing else to say)

Matt & Kim – Cameras
(Saw them last year. Lots of fun.)

Girls – Vomit
(How can you go wrong with a song named “Vomit?”

The Thermals – I Don’t Believe You
(All their songs are awesome, so it was hard to pick just one. I failed because this song was on an earlier road trip CD.)

Inspiral Carpets – This Is How It Feels
(A classic, for what it’s worth.)

The Vaccines – If You Wanna
(Another band found by Pandora – thanks again.)

Dom – Living In America
(Not to be confused with Kids in America.)

Men At Work – Be Good Johnny
(How can I refuse this oldie?)

The Dollyrots – Love You Most
(Another band that looks like a lot of fun to see live. When are they coming to my town?)

And if you are fortunate enough to be using Spotify for some of your music listening pleasure, feel free to subscribe to the entire playlist so you can enjoy it For. Ev. Er.

Oh, you may still be wondering why it’s called “The Pig CD.” Well, the CD-R is used was pig-colored pink. After I labeled the CD with the marker, I put a couple of dots for eyes on the disc. It instantly looked like a pig. So, there you go.

Some of the Educause sessions are available online for anyone to view. I would recommend giving some of these a try, especially danah boyd’s talk on Privay in an Era of Social Media.

Since I went to Philadelphia last week, I’m unable to attend two other conferences going on this week. Ending today is the Higher Education Web Professionals conference in Austin, TX. I’ve been trying to follow along via Twitter (#heweb11) but there’s so much content that I’m only catching a small bit of what is going on there.

And, starting tomorrow is the NASPA Student Affairs Technology conference in Newport, RI. I’ll try to follow this one via Twitter as well (#naspatech) but I’m sure I’ll miss quite a bit.

But even if I can’t get to the conference in person, and I miss most of the backchannel discussion, it’s still worth trying to follow along. I’m sure that I’ll find a few interesting comments along the way and likely engage in a conversation with someone new.

This ride always challenges me. Today was probably the fourth time that I’ve completed the climb all the way to the summit. The last time I attempted the ride was about three years ago and we were forced to turn back at Newfound Gap due to very poor weather conditions. It took me 2 hours and 37 minutes of riding time to reach the top today (there were stops along the way to rest and to wait for construction traffic, so in real time it was about 3 hours). This is just a bit slower than my fastest pace of 2:15. That was on my first completion of the climb when I was much younger and the climbing wasn’t so difficult. But still, I made it to the top today and I can’t really complain about that.

Unlike yesterday, there wasn’t a serious threat of rain today – although on the mountain climbs, weather can change quickly. When I started at the Sugarlands, the temperature was nearing 70 degrees but with fairly dense fog. This made the humidity near 100%. While this entire climb is tough, the first five miles seem to be the hardest. By the time I finished the first five miles, I already knew that I wasn’t going to finish this climb anywhere near the 2:15 personal best and that I feared that I may not finish at all.

At around the 8-mile mark, I could feel the temperature starting to drop significantly. Since I’ve done this climb a few times, I had prepared for this. By the time I reached Newfound Gap at around 13 miles, thick clouds had rolled in and the temperature was dropping even further. I stopped at Newfound Gap eat a bit and put on my vest for a bit more warmth.

The first couple of miles past Newfound Gap aren’t too bad, but then the grade kicks up again and the speed drops. By the time I reached the short downhill section at 17.5 miles, I was feeling fairly tired. A downhill at this point is worse than if the climb just continued at a steady pace because when the climb kicks back up again, it feels much worse than before. But with just two miles to go, there’s no turning back at this point. But those last two miles hurt more than the 18 that I’d already finished.

Finally at the top, I can relax for a bit and enjoy the scenery. In this case, the scenery is just the thick clouds that have been rolling through ever since I left Newfound Gap. Still, I’m at the top and I’m going to enjoy it while I can. Before I leave, I put on the arm warmers and swap the usual gloves for the full-fingered pair that I’ve carried to the top in my jersey pocket. Going downhill is fast on these mountain roads and the wind chill is probably about 40 degrees at this elevation.

The downhill really doesn’t begin until I’ve finished the short climb just two miles from the summit. Once I finish this, then it really is all downhill for the next 17.5 miles. The first half of this descent is filled with lots of turns. This makes it a lot of fun and it also means that I’m going faster than the cars on the road since the bicycle can take the sharp corners faster than the cars can. This is one of the rare occasions where I actually have to slow down because the cars on the road are going too slow. Once I get to the bottom half of the descent, the speeds are just as fast but there aren’t as many curves so most of the cars are exceeding the 35 mph speed limit.

I finally return to the Sugarlands Visitor’s Center after just over four hours. A little over three of these hours were spent on the bike. A few rest stops for food and a couple of stops for road construction took most of the other hour. I’m tired and hungry, but also quite satisfied that I’ve once again completed the climb to the highest point in Tennessee. I’m not sure how many more times I’ll be able to do this. I only get to Tennessee every couple of years and my climbing legs aren’t getting any younger. Hopefully, I’ll get another opportunity, but if not I know that my last was a success.

As a side note – the only bad part of this ride is that I had to drive through Pigeon Forge to get to the start. I’m pretty sure Pigeon Forge is the tackiest place on Earth. I don’t think they advertise this on the welcome signs, but I’m not so sure they would deny it either. Just take a look at one of the many dinner theatre attractions in town.

Finally, here’s the entire photo slideshow from today’s ride. Enjoy.

This trip was just planned a couple of weeks ago and all looked well until the weather forecast changed to rain just a couple of days ago. When I arrived in Knoxville yesterday afternoon, the forecast for today called for a 60% chance of rain. And when there’s rain in East Tennessee, the mountains get it. But I was determined to get this ride in since I only get the chance to ride here once every few years. I woke up at 6:00 this morning and while it wasn’t raining at the house, the radar showed heavy rain in the Townsend, TN area – right where my ride would be starting.

One of the great things about the Cades Cove loop is that it is closed to auto traffic until 10:00 am on Wednesdays and Saturdays during the summer months. This gives cyclists and hikers a great opportunity to experience the loop without cars for a few hours every week. This also put some time constraints on my ride. I needed to get to Townsend and get started by 9:00 at the latest in order to reach Cades Cove by 10:00. So, despite the rain on the radar I left for the mountains.

There were only a few spots of light rain for most of the 45 minute drive to the start of the ride. Then, just as I pulled into the parking lot at the “Y” the rain started. It wasn’t a downpour, but just a steady rain. Still, I was determined to get this ride in today. So I started the ride in a nice rain, but the weather gods must have recognized by commitment to this ride and stopped the rain after I had been on the road for just a few minutes. By the time I reached Cades Cove, the sun was out and the clouds were starting to disperse.

The ride is only 25 miles, but the first 7 are all uphill to get to Cades Cove. Then there’s the 11 mile look around the cove itself with many short, but very steep hills. Finally, a nice descent of 7 miles back to the start. Of course, the descent is usually a lot of fun but today’s wet road conditions made it a bit more treacherous than usual. Still, it’s always fun to have a nice long descent like that.

Tomorrow’s weather looks much more promising than today’s. If all goes well, I’ll be attempting the climb up to Clingman’s Dome. That’s a bit more challenging, but always worth the effort. Until then, enjoy some pictures from today’s ride.

I started reading the Harry Potter books when Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released. Until then I had mostly avoided all of the hype around the series. But then this book was released and I started with the first book and read straight through book five. After that, I was hooked. So, of course, I’ve now seen all the films as well. And while I realize that the films are based on the books, I haven’t been disappointed with a film until part two of The Deathly Hallows.

Before I saw the film, I only had one requirement. The scene where Molly Weasley kills Bellatrix Lestrange must be in the film. It plays such a critical role in the book and in the entire series. It leads us into the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort. It is the mother protecting the child in much the same way that Harry’s mom protected him as a baby. The importance of this scene is nicely summarized in this quote analysis.

Then I saw the film. The scene was included, but something just wasn’t right about it. Something just wasn’t right about the whole final battle. While I wasn’t overly thrilled with some of the earlier action – the break in at Gringotts seems to be rushed through just so we can get to Hogwarts, for example – the movie really falls apart after Harry “rises from the dead.”

Harry leads Voldemort through some silly chase inside the castle while Hermione and Ron try to kill Nagini. What? Where was Neville? Wasn’t he supposed to kill the snake? He eventually does kill Nagini, not because Harry told him that it was important, but because the snake was about to kill Hermione and Ron. There’s no indication that Neville knew anything about the importance of killing the snake. This is a critical difference and really is important to wrapping up the journey of Neville’s character.

Then, there’s my critical scene – the death of Bellatrix. Like I said, the scene was there, but it felt like an afterthought. It was just inserted in the middle of the other battles (Harry vs. Voldemort and Hermione/Ron vs. Nagini) all going on at the same time. There wasn’t any flow. There’s no sense that this was a critical point in the battle to defeat Voldemort. Nothing. None of the emotion you feel when your read Molly’s words, “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!” Just emptiness.

There are many more issues with this final movie that are taken up by others, including this great summary of it’s problems, concluding that this is the worst Potter movie of them all. Go ahead and read it. It’s okay with me if you decide that this film just didn’t live up to what it could have been.

Now if only these fraud police would go after Sarah Palin…

Day 1: Bastards of Young – The Replacements
Day 2: Friday I’m In Love – The Cure
Day 3: C Is For Cookie – Cookie Monster
Day 4: Strange Fruit – Billie Holiday
Day 5: Pictures of You – The Cure
Day 6: Gun Shy – 10,000 Maniacs
Day 7: Cameras – Matt & Kim
Day 8: Oscillate Wildly – The Smiths
Day 9: She’s Lost Control – Joy Division
Day 10: MLK – U2
Day 11: All I Have to Do Is Dream – R.E.M.
Day 12: Panama – Van Halen
Day 13: Poker Face – Lady Gaga
Day 14: Not Ready To Make Nice – Dixie Chicks
Day 15: Beer For Breakfast – The Replacements
Day 16: The Anthem – Good Charlotte
Day 17: Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Deep Blue Something
Day 18: Crossed Wires – Superchunk
Day 19: Androgynous – The Replacements
Day 20: Lights Out – Screaming Females
Day 21: Laid – James
Day 22: Country Death Song – Violent Femmes
Day 23: Time Warp – Rocky Horror Picture Show
Day 24: Imagine – John Lennon
Day 25: 640 Days – Rockefire Red
Day 26: Where Is My Mind? – Pixies
Day 27: YYZ – Rush
Day 28: Little Girls – Oingo Boingo
Day 29: The Battle of New Orleans – Johnny Horton
Day 30: Does This Mean You’re Moving On? – The Airborne Toxic Event

My Favorite Song at This Time Last Year
Does This Mean You’re Moving On? – The Airborne Toxic Event

This concludes the 30 Day Song Challenge. Thank you for your time and attention.

A Song From My Childhood
The Battle of New Orleans – Johnny Horton