Two recent articles covered my current hometown, both worth a read.

Though I despise the source for its news-in-comic-format, USA Today ran a piece called Close to Home: Boulder, Colo., stays healthy. The article points out some general, positive economic indicators, including the median home price of $506,000 and less steep declines in home sales than the rest of the country.

The second ran in the NY Times last Sunday entitled, Twenty-Five Square Miles Surrounded by Reality. It was a good, honest profile of Boulder for better or worse with the green living, athletic rock climbing children, and - oh yeah - that median home price again.

This post is long overdue. If you're fan of This American Life, or if you're a scientist or science groupie, check out RadioLab a great program from WNYC. I've been listening to them on my iPod while running and it's been terrific. My favorite episodes are the ones on Deception, Mortality, and Wagner's Ring Cycle.

So, I thought I would ring in 2008 by joining 600 other Boulderites and jump into the 39 degree reservoir. The Polar Bear Plunge was sponsored by the Alzheimers Association of Colorado. Enjoy this clip from YouTube, which proves that with a Mac and 45 minutes, anyone can make an embarrassing video of themselves with no clothes on.

When the clip starts you'll see a fit guy in a pair of black tight shorts. I'm the guy with beard standing in front of him. If you try hard, you can follow me into the water, swan dive, and dash out with my arms swinging. The hardest part of the plunge was the 40 minute wait in line...that and the last three minutes where you stand around in your shorts with your feet in the snow.

Hope y'all get a kick out of it.

Happy new year!

Merry Christmas from Boulder, CO. We had a great day and it snowed 8 inches or so. We're two for two on white Christmases here. Here's a photo of Olga, Kirby and me. Yes, he's wearing a red sweater (made of 100% virgin acrylic). Yes, we're those people now. Hope to see y'all soon.

It took me 20 mins to figure out whether or not we could have a fire in our fireplace this morning. Sometimes the air is so dry or whatever and you're not allowed to have a fire. Well, here's a link to the Dept. of Public Health and the Environment's site in case you're looking for the same thing.

I learned this week that Jimmy Heath passed away. Jimmy and I were part of the sixth class of Mickey Leland Hunger Fellows in 1999/2000.

Jimmy was a photographer and community activist in the Over-the-Rhine section of Cincinnati, OH. Beyond what he did for his profession, he was a good listener, a kind soul, and a good friend. I haven't talked to Jimmy in years, but was saddened to hear we'd lost a talented photographer and someone who made this world more passionate.

Here are some links to Jimmy's Web Site with information about donating to support Jimmy's work and Jimmy Heath's obituary.

Rest in peace, Jimmy. Hope the views are great from up there.

I got out for a few hikes with Kirby and have added some new pics to the hiking galleries. You'll notice I put another album from our backpacking trip this summer there, too.

Every once in a while my path collides with a song whose lyrics seem destined to reach me. You ever get that feeling?

This week the song is "King Without a Crown" by Matisyahu. If you can find a brother who's more down and is also an Orthodox Jew, let me know. This guy is it.

Check out this live performance.

The piece of the song that grabs me is:

What's this feeling?
My love will rip a hole in the ceiling
Givin' myself to you from the essence of my being

Had a great run today. Mapped it with Map My Run. Check it out, if you haven't yet. It lets you draw on a Google map with vectors to plot your runs. It also has a ton of other features, like a training log, etc.

Here's the loop I ran.

I swear the Philadelphia Channel Six Action News theme song is a brilliant piece of work - see lyrics - up there with the best of American folk. I'm determined to learn the song on the banjo.

From Wikipedia: "The station has used the same theme since 1972, " Move Closer to Your World" by Al Ham. The composition has become as much a part of the Philadelphia consciousness as the Rocky theme and has helped WPVI stay number one in the Delaware Valley for 30 years. The station tried to switch to a fuller, thunderous and authoritative version of the song by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1997, but switched back to the old version after five days of viewer complaints."