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Last August I was hit by a car (or boat depending on who you ask) while I was riding my bike. Well it turns out, I am not the only person who thinks those who do not have their turn signals on should not turn. I say that because last Thursday it happened again. This time the story replaces the car/boat with a cement truck.

This post is dedicated to Tracey Sparling. I would also ask everybody to look for cyclist before turning right.

This post is part of the Run For Fun … or Health series.

There are many reason why a person would need or want to begin running. It could be for sport, health, or shear boredom. Whatever the case might be, you may find it easier if you set a goal to not only stay motivated but also bring more personally competition into the mix.

Your goal could be simple. Perhaps you would like to get rid of the extra 75,000 pounds you have been carrying around. Feeling better and having more energy are always options. Time to relax and not think about the ups and downs of life might be one of your goals - relaxation and meditation cannot be bad for anybody. In the movie American Beauty, the main character starts running. After being asked what his motivation is he states:

I want to look good naked.

Simple and to the point. He set a goal and he stuck to it because he needed to impress himself or others.

Whatever your motivation is, sit down (ok you can stand) and decide why you are running/exercising and what you would like to get out of it. With this information you will be able to see the proper results when they come.

Last week, I had a great running milestone. I past that introductory phase where ones lungs, heart, and organs hurt while exercising and entered into the phase where my muscles hurt. Why is this exciting, something still hurts doesn’t it? Well yes, but it means I have strengthened the core of my body to the point that it is no longer the weakest. This is a landmark where I could start increasing the distance I run. Hurrah all around.

Well hurrah until yesterday. I went out for my usual run; I have no desire to increase my miles for now. My knees were killing me. The pain was coming from the inside of my knees, but I cannot pin point why it is starting now. No event would have triggered this. Ugg. My only thoughts are that my legs are strengthening themselves disproportionately throughout. This could be the weights I life three days a week or the terrain. I think I will try I different location for a few days and see how I feel.

If any of you live/work in or near Vancouver, WA, you may have noticed the crazy people who live there. I too have noticed these people. While I am at work, I have witnessed at least three car crashes in the last year - just on this one corner too. Also there are many people who walk down the street yelling at trees or having arguments with their other personalities or the other people they are with. (It should be noted not all persons from Vancouver are crazy. Hell I live there and no doctor has to me I am crazy - just my ex-gfs - ha I kid. Moving on.)

As you might image this is quite distracting; even if it is hilarious to listen to. A few weeks back, I had had enough and purchased some earphones to listen to music while working. This has made work much more productive and relaxing. It has also made me realize online radio stations are crap. Let me explain…

I have been using Yahoo! Music to get my music addiction at work. Go ahead and listen to Dustin’s Yahoo! Music Station. This service is mostly what I want in a radio station. I can rank my artists, songs, albums, genres, etc to build a customized play list based on my music likeness. Let me tell you, those Yahoo! servers are probably working overtime on me too since my preferences include country, oldies, grunge rock, new rock (indie, emo, etc), and classical just to name a few. I now have a very nice station customized for me with Yahoo!, but it is not enough. With this system, I have to either pay an nominal monthly fee or listen to ads.

Well dammit, I don’t want to do either. I want to listen to a station for free and not listen to ads. I am willing to look at ads, but I don’t want the Navy asking me to join anymore. I am not going to join the Navy. If I was going into the service, I would choose the Air Force so piss off. I am also not going to buy any songs from you. If I have a service from you, why can’t I just listen to it from wherever in the world I am instead of buying songs from you too. So, in summary, I want a free online radio station which I can customize to my listening needs which does not make me listen to ads.

Now, I realize these stations need to pay their bills including paying the artists each time the songs are played. There is also the threat of having these royalty prices going up potentially putting many of these services out of business. Well I ask these services to adapt and find a business model which will allow them to become free. I will even say please.

Now that my rant is over, I am on a search. I am now in desire of finding the best service out there which comes closest to these needs. There are tons of online radio stations including (off the top of my head) Last.fm, Pandora, Deezer, Yahoo! Music, AOL, and Live365.

Remember, although I have 50 Gb of music on my home computer, this library is not going to cut it since these services have all songs ever available with any Internet connection.

I also ask all of you out there what service you use or don’t use or how else you get your music. I am curious what creative alternatives I may have.

(Dustin was listening to The Shins while writing this post)

I just got a postcard from REI saying my bike needs a tune-up. I am not sure if all bike shops give out free tune-ups after some set time period on new bikes, but REI does as part of the warranty. Does anybody know if this is standard?

I am wondering if they will fix my bike given the condition it is in. I should go in and tell them I think the wheels are out of alignment.