Play It Again. . . And Again. . . And Again

I spend a lot of time with headphones embedded in my ears. Lately, it’s an iPod thing, of course, but music’s been big in my life for years. Somewhat regularly I develop an obsession with a particular song and will listen to it over and over for a period of days or weeks before it fades away and I move on to something else.

Doesn’t have to be a new song and it rarely is. Most often, it’s just something that pops into my head. What’s always interesting to me is the why behind the obsession of the moment. Might be a conversation I have with someone. Might be a mood I’m in. Might be something that’s pissed me off and I’ve turned to the music for stress relief. Might be a “Wow, I haven’t heard that in a while” moment on the radio.

A few weeks ago, if you can imagine, it was “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” by AC/DC. I’m nearly embarrassed to admit that that one was prompted by a mention in a Phoenix magazine of a trendy baby store that had an infant shirt with “For Those About to Nap, We Salute You.” As the father of a three-month old girl, and as a husband to a closet heavy-metal head, I was intrigued.

Lately, it’s been David Gray’s “Babylon.” Not sure why but it popped up on my iPod one night on the lonely drive home from class in the middle of the cornfields and some of the lyrics just grabbed on and haven’t let go yet. Here’s a sample of the first verse and the chorus.

Friday night, I’m going nowhere,all the lights are changing green to red.
Turning over TV stations, situations running through my head.
Looking over time, you know it’s clear that I’ve been blind, I’ve been a fool.
To open up my heart to all that jealousy, that bitterness, that ridicule.

(Chorus)
If you want it, come and get it, for crying out loud.
The love that I was giving you, was never in doubt.
Let go of your heart, let go of your head and feel it now
Let go of your heart, let go of your head and feel it now.

If you have a chance, pick up “White Ladder,” his breakthrough album from the late 90s that was put out with a big push from Dave Matthews’ label. It’s a great album and his music has a haunting, emotional quality that always gets to me. He also holds an interesting spot for me in my musical memory in that I heard him play “Sail Away” on David Letterman’s show when the album first came out. I’d never heard of him, had never heard the song and on that first listen thought “I have to get that album.”

Any music fan will agree that that’s an enjoyable moment. When a first listen is so satisfying that you know you’re going to enjoy the entire album. For me, it happens rarely but it’s usually powerful and I’m almost always pleased. In the last five to 10 years, it’s happened for me with David Gray, John Mayer and Dido. All exceptional artists, in my opinion, who’ve followed up big debuts with solid work since.

I have to admit that it’s always enjoyable when one of these obsessions grabs on and doesn’t let go for a while. Like an addict reaching for another hit, along with the caveat of “I’ll just do it one more time and then I’ll stop,” I’m always in a battle with myself to cut it off before I get sick of the song. Usually I succeed and I’m able to come back to the song and still enjoy it later. Usually. David Gray’s gotta hold of me now. I wonder who’s going to be next. . .

You Can Go Back Again. . . And Nothing’s Changed

Recently started work, again, on my master's degree in communication at Northern Illinois University. I say again because I was in the graduate journalism department back in 1992 until the master's in journalism program was eliminated midway through my coursework. Completed all my coursework and then made the decision at the time to leave and take a job before finishing my thesis.

Looking back, now 11 years of professional experience later, it was the right decision. The work experience that I gained in that first job led to my current job and I've never really looked back with regret.

However, the last several years I've been itching to get back to school and pick up where I left off. I've wanted to earn the degree for a number of reasons. The knowledge, to be sure, along with the professional credential. But mostly, I just miss being a student.

Long story short, I'm now in the graduate communication program and even received 12 credits that I earned back in the 1990s. It's a good program with a strong mix of professors specializing in a variety of areas within the field.

I'm taking mass communication research, which is not the easiest way to re-introduce your brain to graduate coursework after it's been dormant for about 12 years. But, a month in, I'm finally starting to feel like a student again. The brain is firing and my ability to find research is picking up.

However, what has struck me the most about my return has been the physical changes to the campus that have not occurred since I left. Oh sure, NIU has built a bunch of new buildings and expanded in a number of areas. But, my first visit to Founders Library was like a literal step back in time. The smells. The carpet. The microforms room. The squeaking escalators. Nothing had changed.

And, my nostalgia tour continued last week when I ventured over to the Rockford College library, where I'd earned my undergraduate degree, to do some reading in a quiet spot away from the madness at home. Again, the same smells, the same carpet. I'm apparently stuck in some kind of academic time warp where nothing ever changes.

I noted this observation to a co-worker the other day and remarked that my current revisiting of the past would rarely take place in other industries. At the hospital where I work, we change, remodel and revise floors, units and departments almost by the hour it seems. In fact, the only constant in some industries, health care especially, is change.

Despite all this, I'm enjoying the Academic Nostalgia Tour 2006. Something about the slower pace of academia is soothing in my otherwise insanely-busy world.

L.A. Story

The Santa Monica Beach, looking west across the Pacific.

September 20, 2006

In Los Angeles for a 48-hour visit to shoot two commercials. Kind of a crazy couple of days. Flew out at 8 a.m. Wednesday, necessitating a 5 a.m. bus to O'Hare and a 3:30 a.m. wake up. Hit the wall Wednesday night about 10 local time.

Started our 12-hour shoot day at 6:30 this morning and returned to the hotel at 7. Not much to write home about, really, as I'm here for one day of work sandwiched between two rather long travel days.

We're staying in Santa Monica at a hotel on Ocean Ave., which only requires a short walk across a pedestrian walkway crossing the Pacific Coast Highway to reach the beach.

Did squeeze in a quick walk on the beach and it was as gorgeous as I remember it from the last time I was here in 2003. Enjoy the photo above.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

On the descent into Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport,

with Chase Field in the background,

September 6, 2006.

Our little air travel rookie, enjoying some in-flight entertainment

Toy Story 2 style.

Headed to Phoenix today, with the whole family in tow, for a three-day conference. I'm a pretty savvy traveler, with several dozen flights under by belt. This trip, however, was the first for my wife and I with our two little children. Quite the different story traveling with the family as opposed to flying solo, so to speak.

Preparing for the trip was quite the adventure. I believe the run-up to the first Persian Gulf war probably had less logistical issues. Flow charts. Diagrams. Schematics. Supply lists. Cost analysis. And that was just to get to the airport.

On a good traffic day, we're about 70 minutes from O'Hare. Today was probably middle of the road as far as traffic was concerned. Took about 80 minutes to actually arrive at the terminal. Did a drive by just to figure out the drop off and then swung back around to drop off Jen and the baby, while Alex and I headed to long term parking.

Made it there fine. Saw only a couple of cars with the "boot" on them; a device the Chicago police use to immobilize your car when you've had too many parking tickets. It's only my second time using long-term parking to think about what might be stowed in some of the trunks in those cars.

Took the train to the terminal and hooked up with Jen for our trip through security. Have to give some props to America West; our check-in was very smooth and the staff was very accomodating considering the amount of stuff we were transporting. Curious to see how long the America West name hangs on though. Following their takeover of U.S. Airways, I think the conventional wisdom is that the latter name will survive and the former may fade away.

Made it through security just fine, thank you TSA, despite the small line that began to form as we were shoving everything through X-ray and attempting to corral Alex who had his own ideas about metal detection. Overall, though, the process went well and we entered the terminal with plenty of time to make it on board.

Couldn't have asked for a better flight. Got Alex's car seat hooked into the seat just fine; he was very excited to see the other planes and made it through takeoff just fine. He watched most of Toy Story 2 and then had some lunch, followed by an attempt at Shrek 2, before sleep took over and he dozed the last 30 minutes of the flight.

Kristen was incredible as well. Was perky for a while, had a bottle, slept for a while and was not a problem at all. Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix is modern and clean, though the walk to baggage seemed longer than some races we've run.

Alex and I left J & K at the baggage claim and we headed off to claim our rental car. PHX has obviously built a new rental car facility since our last visit. It's like a small mall with a centralized facility and numerous rental car companies all under one large roof. Shuttle ride was about 5 minutes or so and the lines were short.

They were out of full size cars, so we're driving a mini-van for the same price. Not bad, considering the amount of gear we're traveling with on this trip. Have to continue to sing the praises of Enterprise for car rentals. I've been renting from them for several years now and the Web site is excellent, prices are great and I've always had good customer service. Today was no exception and I'd highly recommend them on your next journey.

Alex and I grabbed the van, headed back to the airport and snagged the rest of the family with only one missed turn, which was quickly rectified thanks to a good guess on my part.

Somewhere the travel gods were smiling at us today. . .

A Little Perspective Please

Am I the only one who thinks the media has lost their ability to put things into perspective?

I’m speaking, in particular, about bad news stories.

A plane crashes in Kentucky and the media overwhelms the airwaves and Internet with more information than we need and we all are transformed into amateur pilots. How could this have happened? What was the pilot thinking? Did you know I’ve actually flown on one of those types of planes before? Did you hear there were newlyweds on the plane? Is air travel safe? Should I be afraid to fly out of a small airport?

We gather around the water cooler, exhaust ourselves for a few days with opinion and blather and then the story fades into the ether; to be forgotten until a year from now when the NTSB issues its report on the accident. But, what we fail to do, what the media fails to do, is frame the crash within its proper context.

Air travel, statistically speaking, is one of the safest ways to travel. You DO have a much greater chance of being killed on your way to work, the supermarket, or the airport for that matter, than you do of ever checking out in a plane crash. Morbid, but true.

The instantaneous flow of information these days, most would agree, is a good thing in many respects. TV, radio, the Internet. They all allow us to connect and receive information in ways that would never have been imagined even 10 years ago.

But, please. The next time you read one of those stories, dig a little deeper and see if the media is really framing it properly. I think we’d all be amazed at what we’d find.