Wow. I am having a hard time trying to think of something to write in my blog. Its been this way since the last time I wrote and tonight isn't much better. But I will not let the month of August go by with writing only four blog entries for this month. I will type out something -- even if it makes absolutely no sense, just so that I can have five entries for this month. Five per month is usually pretty good for me. I think the most I've written in one month was about nine or ten, that was back in October of last year when my favorite Major League Baseball team, the Detroit Tigers, were in the midst of a pennant race. There are some people that write blogs every single day. How do they do it?! I always run out of things to say, and sometimes when I think I have a decent idea for a blog, I end up trashing it shortly thereafter. Either I'm too critical of my ideas or don't them enough of a chance to flourish.
And you will notice that my blogs are usually never short. I consider three paragraphs to be short for me. I've seen blogs where people write a short paragraph, basically explaining how they feel and how their day has gone. I'm usually not that way, unless something tramatic has happened in my life and I prefer to keep it short. In fact, I probably won't even write if I feel that way. Thankfully that hasn't happened too much since I started this blog over a year ago (the other one was at WordPress). Overall, I have received a few nice comments from people since I started this blog. Some people just happened to come upon it and said I wrote real well. Others I've known for some time and really enjoyed what I had to say. See, at least I'm using my writing degree in some way.
One thing I have not yet discussed in my blog and something that I probably should explain is why I decided to pursue writing as a degree in college. It all dates back to high school, when I took an English course my sophmore year. We had to do an extensive amount of writing in that class - which I believe consisted of us writing journals. Mrs. Mattson was our teacher; and even though she made us write a lot (and I mean, a lot! Her tests were nicknamed "arm-burners" by the students), she became an influential person for me. She's the one that motivated me by giving me compliments on my writing and made me feel like I could do something even by jotting some ideas on a piece of paper. And although I never won that scholarship for my writing skills in high school and despite the fact that I was mostly an outsider then, she made me feel important. In college, I knew it was either going to be computers or something to do with English that I would focus my degree on. When I knew the computer route wasn't going to work, I decided to just focus on my liberal arts classes until I really figured out what I wanted to do. Teaching entered my mind, but I found out my GPA was much too low for me to take any teaching classes (for those non-believers out there, yes, I did struggle with certain classes early on in my college career). I even considered a possible career in business but ultimately nixed that. Then I focused my attention on writing and possibly journalism. And thus the start of my post-college career with writing. Journalism is no longer an option for me, seeing that I refused to join the college newspaper and have very little interest in hounding people for quotes.
People still ask me what I plan to do with my degree, even though I am settled in with a good paying job. Those dreams of being a best-selling novelist are still in the back of my head. Although I haven't done a lick of serious writing in about two years, I am still serious about those dreams. But I will never be a best-selling novelist if I don't actually start work on it. I have tossed around some ideas in my head and there is one idea I have generally focused on for a premise of my novel. Last winter I kept telling my mom, who is really pushing me into writing a book, that I was going to start writing last winter. Well, I never even typed a single word! But this winter I have promised to focus on my writing career. These are my goals: #1 - to develop a complete outline of the story I plan to write and develop chapters based on the outline; #2 - to write at least ten chapters by the end of the winter of 2007-08. Those are two modest goals for myself; goals that I think are easily achievable if I focus on the task at hand and stay motivated on what I want to complete. Motivation is what kills me most of the time, or the lack thereof, really. Well, I am looking to change that once the cold weather moves in.
Hmm, for someone having great difficulties in thinking up ideas for my blog, I think I did pretty well tonight. At first I was writing some pretty random stuff, but then I focused on a topic that really got me motivated to write about. Too bad I am about to end it right here, too. It just goes to show you that sometimes you really need to dig deep down inside yourself to come up with something. But it's down there. Once you reach it, it flourishes into something much grander than what you expected. And then you reach a point where you can't stop! I hope that's one thing that occurs once I start writing my novel. Stay tuned on the progress of my book in the months and years ahead!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Drought
It's amazing how dry it is outside. These are conditions typically seen in the spring time, not during the middle of summer. We have not seen a significant rainfall since early July. To be exact, the last significant rainfall we picked up was during the hailstorm. And you can tell we haven't had much rain, because the grass is brown. It crunches when you walk on it. In the shady areas, it's still fairly green, but even that is starting to brown up as well. At least it will get people from having to mow their lawns much the rest of the season. To be honest, I think any amount of rain we receive between now and the first snowfall will not save the grass until next season. It's just too dry and we are quickly coming upon the end of summer.
The lack of rainfall is having a negative effect on recreation. Even prior to this drought, the lakes and streams around here were low. As of this spring, Lake Superior was eight inches above a previous record low water level reached years before. It is expected we will reach and surpass that mark this fall. Boats are having a hard time manuevering in and out of harbors. Communities are trying to apply for grants that will help them dredge their harbors; otherwise they will have to close. Money is tight in the state of Michigan and communities just can't afford to dredge harbors with the money coming out of their own pockets. Docks are having to be placed further out in the water in order for boats to safely moor. People that once had beautiful lakefront property are now beginning to see more and more land as the water retreats out further in the lakes. The big question is, when will the drought end?
Even though we've had very little rain, the weather this summer has been absolutely beautiful. We've had many days in the 80's and 90's and sunshine for most. Even on those cloudy days, the temperatures have been warm. But during those cloudy days, it hasn't rained. Rather unusual for this time of year. Typically when a cold front pushes through, we get thunderstorms to drop decent rains. But every front that has moved through, it's been dry. The only noticable difference in the weather has been cooler temps and drier humidites. But it has provided no rain and no relief from the drought. Most of the Upper Peninsula is classified as being in an "extreme drought." Wild fires continue to pop up in much of the region; although thankfully, the majority of them have remained fairly small. The biggest fire in the Upper Peninsula in the last 30 years has been the Sleeper Lake Fire in Luce County that has burned over 18,000 acres. It is now about 60% contained, but with the low humidies and strong Northerly wind of the past few days, it could quickly start up again. The thing we need the most right now is a nice, steady rain that lasts for a couple of days. At least it would provide for a nice, soaking rain.
There doesn't appear to be much relief in sight. Tuesday and Wednesday of next week are looking like days that could provide for some promising rains, although like much of the summer, they'll probably only bring scattered showers and produce a little over a few drops. What we need is a rainy period of weather this fall to help saturate things. Or, as much as I hate to say it, a cold and snowy winter that provides for significant ice cover over Lake Superior and lots of snow for the Northern Great Lakes. Ice cover would help prevent water from evaporating out of Lake Superior during the winter months. Then, all of the melting ice and snow would end up in area lakes and streams, bringing water levels back to where they should be. Let's hope for a change in weather patterns soon, otherwise it could be a destructive fall season around here (more fires).
The lack of rainfall is having a negative effect on recreation. Even prior to this drought, the lakes and streams around here were low. As of this spring, Lake Superior was eight inches above a previous record low water level reached years before. It is expected we will reach and surpass that mark this fall. Boats are having a hard time manuevering in and out of harbors. Communities are trying to apply for grants that will help them dredge their harbors; otherwise they will have to close. Money is tight in the state of Michigan and communities just can't afford to dredge harbors with the money coming out of their own pockets. Docks are having to be placed further out in the water in order for boats to safely moor. People that once had beautiful lakefront property are now beginning to see more and more land as the water retreats out further in the lakes. The big question is, when will the drought end?
Even though we've had very little rain, the weather this summer has been absolutely beautiful. We've had many days in the 80's and 90's and sunshine for most. Even on those cloudy days, the temperatures have been warm. But during those cloudy days, it hasn't rained. Rather unusual for this time of year. Typically when a cold front pushes through, we get thunderstorms to drop decent rains. But every front that has moved through, it's been dry. The only noticable difference in the weather has been cooler temps and drier humidites. But it has provided no rain and no relief from the drought. Most of the Upper Peninsula is classified as being in an "extreme drought." Wild fires continue to pop up in much of the region; although thankfully, the majority of them have remained fairly small. The biggest fire in the Upper Peninsula in the last 30 years has been the Sleeper Lake Fire in Luce County that has burned over 18,000 acres. It is now about 60% contained, but with the low humidies and strong Northerly wind of the past few days, it could quickly start up again. The thing we need the most right now is a nice, steady rain that lasts for a couple of days. At least it would provide for a nice, soaking rain.
There doesn't appear to be much relief in sight. Tuesday and Wednesday of next week are looking like days that could provide for some promising rains, although like much of the summer, they'll probably only bring scattered showers and produce a little over a few drops. What we need is a rainy period of weather this fall to help saturate things. Or, as much as I hate to say it, a cold and snowy winter that provides for significant ice cover over Lake Superior and lots of snow for the Northern Great Lakes. Ice cover would help prevent water from evaporating out of Lake Superior during the winter months. Then, all of the melting ice and snow would end up in area lakes and streams, bringing water levels back to where they should be. Let's hope for a change in weather patterns soon, otherwise it could be a destructive fall season around here (more fires).
Thursday, August 09, 2007
School Buses
So today's blog topic is going to be unconventional and something not typically written about. But I can honestly admit that school buses have always been somewhat interesting to me. Don't get me why, but there's something about this motorized vehicle that I find cool. I remember riding the school bus when I was a kid for many, many years. It wasn't until I was a freshman in high school where I finally began to ditch riding the bus. And now that I am well beyond my school bus riding years, there's still something about them that I find fascinating.
My first experience riding a school bus was back when I was in kindergarten. I vaguely remember getting on the bus for the first time and it seeming so overwhelming. We were only in class for half the day as kindergarteners, so we boarded the bus quite early in the morning and left a lot earlier than the rest of the kids. The first bus I rode on was a Blue Bird 1984. It even had a special handicapped entrance for anyone that was wheelchair bound, although nobody on the bus needed it. It seemed like a shorter bus than typical, but it was perfect for the amount of kids that rode it for our class. We drove all around the school district picking up kids and then dropping them off for the day.
Once I graduated from the kindergarten level, I attended school for the full day once I started first grade. I began to ride the 1983 Blue Bird bus (and before I get too far ahead, Blue Bird is an actual school bus manufacturer -- quite possibly THE premiere school bus builder). Any student that was assigned a bus to ride on usually referred to the number printed on the bus. We rode on bus "83," which was also the year the bus was manufactured. It was probably by far the coolest bus of any that the school district owned because it had a radio! No other bus was equiped with a radio, so to and from school, we were able to listen to one of the local radio stations everyday and listen to our favorite songs. I remember the kids that rode the other buses being jealous just because our bus had a radio. This bus also had the coolest deceleration and acceleration sound whenever the transmission lowered or raised gears. There was just something about this bus that made it cool, and it was rather sad when it became retired.
After 10-11 years, a new school bus is purchased by the school district, replacing the "oldest" one that is actively being used. It is then downgraded to being a spare. Beginning in the fall of 1994, we started riding on the newest bus, bus "94." There was something unique about this one in that it had an emergency door in the middle of the bus on the driver's side. You could actually sit by the emergency door, and the seat in this spot would actually fold up in case the door needed to be accessed. However, our school district basically strapped the seat in an upward position so that no one could ever sit in this unique seat. Talk about a bunch of party poopers. But one thing that was sorely missing on this bus is a radio. We no longer had a radio to listen to and it was definitely missed. It just wasn't the same kind of riding experience without it. Yes, it was a nice, shiny new bus, but it never compared to bus "83."
A year or two later, the school district made some changes and started realigning the bus routes. We were assigned a new driver and the route changed a little bit. We no longer had the nicest, newest, cleanest bus anymore, but were relegated to the oldest and the noisiest bus - and no, it wasn't the radio that made it loud (it didn't even have a radio)! We now rode on bus "4." I honestly had no clue what year the bus was built since it had a weird numbering unlike the rest of buses the school district had (this was a bus used by one of the schools that eventually consolidated into another). But I have reason to believe it was the oldest the school owned. This bus had a standard transmission drive and the loudest windows you could imagine. Whenever the bus started accelerating above 35 mph, the windows started rattling. And this was on a pefectly smooth roadway, too! Many times if you wanted to talk to someone, you had to shout at them. I guess this bus wasn't "terrible" and it got us to and from school on many occasion (but I do remember one time where the bus actually broke down about 30 feet from my house). Eventually the school district retired this bus and we were designated bus "90" from that point on. But shortly thereafter, I stopped riding the school bus for good and instead drove to and from school. After all, that was the "cool" thing to do.
I can honestly list all of the buses that my school owned when I attended school. They were buses 4, 6, 77, 79, 81, 83, 84, 87, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 97, 99, and 00. A lot of those are still in service, in fact, consindering the cuts to higher education in the state of Michigan in the past five to seven years. It was common for my school to buy new buses after a bus was used for over 10 years. But these days, they no longer can afford to buy brand new buses at that rate of frequency. They've even gone the route of buying used buses instead of buying brand new. My how things have changed. But the scary thing is that I actually keep track of this stuff. I hope I didn't bore you too much regarding my school bus memories. :-P
My first experience riding a school bus was back when I was in kindergarten. I vaguely remember getting on the bus for the first time and it seeming so overwhelming. We were only in class for half the day as kindergarteners, so we boarded the bus quite early in the morning and left a lot earlier than the rest of the kids. The first bus I rode on was a Blue Bird 1984. It even had a special handicapped entrance for anyone that was wheelchair bound, although nobody on the bus needed it. It seemed like a shorter bus than typical, but it was perfect for the amount of kids that rode it for our class. We drove all around the school district picking up kids and then dropping them off for the day.
Once I graduated from the kindergarten level, I attended school for the full day once I started first grade. I began to ride the 1983 Blue Bird bus (and before I get too far ahead, Blue Bird is an actual school bus manufacturer -- quite possibly THE premiere school bus builder). Any student that was assigned a bus to ride on usually referred to the number printed on the bus. We rode on bus "83," which was also the year the bus was manufactured. It was probably by far the coolest bus of any that the school district owned because it had a radio! No other bus was equiped with a radio, so to and from school, we were able to listen to one of the local radio stations everyday and listen to our favorite songs. I remember the kids that rode the other buses being jealous just because our bus had a radio. This bus also had the coolest deceleration and acceleration sound whenever the transmission lowered or raised gears. There was just something about this bus that made it cool, and it was rather sad when it became retired.
After 10-11 years, a new school bus is purchased by the school district, replacing the "oldest" one that is actively being used. It is then downgraded to being a spare. Beginning in the fall of 1994, we started riding on the newest bus, bus "94." There was something unique about this one in that it had an emergency door in the middle of the bus on the driver's side. You could actually sit by the emergency door, and the seat in this spot would actually fold up in case the door needed to be accessed. However, our school district basically strapped the seat in an upward position so that no one could ever sit in this unique seat. Talk about a bunch of party poopers. But one thing that was sorely missing on this bus is a radio. We no longer had a radio to listen to and it was definitely missed. It just wasn't the same kind of riding experience without it. Yes, it was a nice, shiny new bus, but it never compared to bus "83."
A year or two later, the school district made some changes and started realigning the bus routes. We were assigned a new driver and the route changed a little bit. We no longer had the nicest, newest, cleanest bus anymore, but were relegated to the oldest and the noisiest bus - and no, it wasn't the radio that made it loud (it didn't even have a radio)! We now rode on bus "4." I honestly had no clue what year the bus was built since it had a weird numbering unlike the rest of buses the school district had (this was a bus used by one of the schools that eventually consolidated into another). But I have reason to believe it was the oldest the school owned. This bus had a standard transmission drive and the loudest windows you could imagine. Whenever the bus started accelerating above 35 mph, the windows started rattling. And this was on a pefectly smooth roadway, too! Many times if you wanted to talk to someone, you had to shout at them. I guess this bus wasn't "terrible" and it got us to and from school on many occasion (but I do remember one time where the bus actually broke down about 30 feet from my house). Eventually the school district retired this bus and we were designated bus "90" from that point on. But shortly thereafter, I stopped riding the school bus for good and instead drove to and from school. After all, that was the "cool" thing to do.
I can honestly list all of the buses that my school owned when I attended school. They were buses 4, 6, 77, 79, 81, 83, 84, 87, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 97, 99, and 00. A lot of those are still in service, in fact, consindering the cuts to higher education in the state of Michigan in the past five to seven years. It was common for my school to buy new buses after a bus was used for over 10 years. But these days, they no longer can afford to buy brand new buses at that rate of frequency. They've even gone the route of buying used buses instead of buying brand new. My how things have changed. But the scary thing is that I actually keep track of this stuff. I hope I didn't bore you too much regarding my school bus memories. :-P
Friday, August 03, 2007
Minneapolis Bridge Collapse
I've been contemplating writing about this topic since the tragedy occured a few days ago. I wasn't sure if it was a topic I should tackle since normally I don't write about current events. But for a couple of reasons, I decided to write about it. Number one is that I don't live that far from Minneapolis. Number two is that I am partly a road-geek, meaning I enjoy most things that relate to roads. And number three, a major bridge collapsing in the United States is unthinkable and it's something that NEVER should have happened.
Recalling a family vacation about ten years ago, my parents, sister, and myself traveled to Minneapolis to see the Detroit Tigers play the Twins in the Metrodome. We also visited the Mall of America and stayed at a beautiful hotel in the Twin Cities (I can't remember whether it was in St. Paul or Minneapolis). We also visited the state capital in St. Paul and even took pictures of the structure. But believe it or not, I remember crossing the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis. I don't remember too many specific details about crossing the structure, but I do remember looking down upon the Mississippi River and seeing how wide the river was. I also recall seeing the 10th Avenue Arch bridge (the one that presently stands next to the rubble of the I-35W bridge). I was amazed at how wide this bridge was and it seemed to be quite lengthy, too. We were riding in our pick-up truck and I remember Tracy Chapman's "Give me One Reason" playing on the radio. In fact, that had to have been in 1997. Ten years later, that bridge collapses.
It's inconceivable to me how a bridge like this can fall down in a matter of seconds just because of a structural failure. If you've seen the video, it doesn't take long at all before much of the bridge is in the Mississippi River. This bridge was a major artery within the Twin Cities and without it, a major traffic headache exists. I still cannot understand why more wasn't done to prevent something like this from happening. A major bridge like this in a large U.S. city just suddenly collapses in a matter of moments. As early as 1990, this bridge was deemed as "structurally deficient," a term that's been used over and over again in the news since the bridge collapsed. Inspections of the bridge found there to be "fatigue cracks" in the trusses and structural steel of the bridge. But the Minnesota Department of Transportation never deemed the structure as being unsafe and continued to provide "preventive maintenance" of the structure. That's exactly what was occuring when the bridge collapsed; resurfacing of the bridge deck. In fact, they didn't plan on replacing the structure until at least 2020.
It will be interesting to see what the National Transportation and Safety Board finds as they investigate the cause of this incredible and tragic bridge collapse. It appears that one of the bridge's trusses gave way causing the entire structure to collapse. And what's bad about this bridge design is that when one section gives way, the entire structure collapses. The bridge was supported by two piers, both situated on the banks of the Mississippi River. That's a long section of bridge that's unsupported, which is where the truss system ties into all of this. It's supposed to withstand without having much support from piers. But either one of the fatigue cracks grew between August 1 and the last time the bridge was inspected or sections of the bridge were badly corroded and caused the failure. Some are saying the extreme weather conditions that occur in Minnesota could be to blame (the extreme heat in the summer to the extreme cold in winter) as well as the ongoing construction on the bridge at the time of the collapse. Whatever the case, this story will be one that many will not forget for a long time. And hopefully our country's crumbling infrastructure will begin to get much needed repairs in the wake of this tragedy. It's too bad something like this had to happen before our elected officials got the wake-up call.
Recalling a family vacation about ten years ago, my parents, sister, and myself traveled to Minneapolis to see the Detroit Tigers play the Twins in the Metrodome. We also visited the Mall of America and stayed at a beautiful hotel in the Twin Cities (I can't remember whether it was in St. Paul or Minneapolis). We also visited the state capital in St. Paul and even took pictures of the structure. But believe it or not, I remember crossing the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis. I don't remember too many specific details about crossing the structure, but I do remember looking down upon the Mississippi River and seeing how wide the river was. I also recall seeing the 10th Avenue Arch bridge (the one that presently stands next to the rubble of the I-35W bridge). I was amazed at how wide this bridge was and it seemed to be quite lengthy, too. We were riding in our pick-up truck and I remember Tracy Chapman's "Give me One Reason" playing on the radio. In fact, that had to have been in 1997. Ten years later, that bridge collapses.
It's inconceivable to me how a bridge like this can fall down in a matter of seconds just because of a structural failure. If you've seen the video, it doesn't take long at all before much of the bridge is in the Mississippi River. This bridge was a major artery within the Twin Cities and without it, a major traffic headache exists. I still cannot understand why more wasn't done to prevent something like this from happening. A major bridge like this in a large U.S. city just suddenly collapses in a matter of moments. As early as 1990, this bridge was deemed as "structurally deficient," a term that's been used over and over again in the news since the bridge collapsed. Inspections of the bridge found there to be "fatigue cracks" in the trusses and structural steel of the bridge. But the Minnesota Department of Transportation never deemed the structure as being unsafe and continued to provide "preventive maintenance" of the structure. That's exactly what was occuring when the bridge collapsed; resurfacing of the bridge deck. In fact, they didn't plan on replacing the structure until at least 2020.
It will be interesting to see what the National Transportation and Safety Board finds as they investigate the cause of this incredible and tragic bridge collapse. It appears that one of the bridge's trusses gave way causing the entire structure to collapse. And what's bad about this bridge design is that when one section gives way, the entire structure collapses. The bridge was supported by two piers, both situated on the banks of the Mississippi River. That's a long section of bridge that's unsupported, which is where the truss system ties into all of this. It's supposed to withstand without having much support from piers. But either one of the fatigue cracks grew between August 1 and the last time the bridge was inspected or sections of the bridge were badly corroded and caused the failure. Some are saying the extreme weather conditions that occur in Minnesota could be to blame (the extreme heat in the summer to the extreme cold in winter) as well as the ongoing construction on the bridge at the time of the collapse. Whatever the case, this story will be one that many will not forget for a long time. And hopefully our country's crumbling infrastructure will begin to get much needed repairs in the wake of this tragedy. It's too bad something like this had to happen before our elected officials got the wake-up call.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Songs I Dig - 2
Last month I debuted a new feature here on my blog, featuring songs that I enjoy listening to very much. You may be thinking "that wasn't long ago," and you'd be right. However, I have found five more songs in which to write about, making this part two of "The Songs I Dig." Most of the songs I'll feature here are adult contemporary/modern rock songs. So if you are a fan of this type of music, then I'm sure you've heard some of the songs I am about to write about and just may enjoy them as much as I.
"Dig" by Incubus - I was thinking about saving the best for last, but decided not to. Right now, of all the recent songs on the air, this one is the most enjoyable for me. I thoroughly enjoy the melody of this song, and it's not often you hear a song titled, "Dig." That right there is a reason to check it out. But seriously, though, this song has a compelling message and if you've seen the official video by Incubus, that message hits home. Incubus is proving that they are not a one-album wonder with their latest hit song.
"Undeniable" by Mat Kearney - You probably remember Mat from his first hit song, "Nothing Left to Lose." He's back with a newly released song, one that is really catchy and particulary unique. To the common folk that might listen to this song for the first time, it may sound like Mat is rapping most of the lyrics except for the chorus. But he doesn't refer it as rapping. I read an article that said he refers to call it "speaking the lyrics." Whatever the case, the song has lyrics you can understand and the chorus is particularly easy to sing along to.
"All at Once" by The Fray - This group has enjoyed remarkable success with its debut album, and their latest song "All at Once" is sure to be another hit. Their first two releases, "Over my Head (Cable Car)," and "How to Save a Life" were huge hits, while their third song, "Look after You" did marginally well. "All at Once" looks to join their first two songs as it's pleasant to listen to and holds a special message within the lyrics ("...sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same"). Be sure to listen to it when it comes on the radio again.
"If You're Gonna Leave" by Emerson Hart - I'll be honest, up until I heard this song on the radio, I never even heard of Emerson Hart before. But for those familiar with the band "Tonic," Emerson originally formed that band. He released a solo album this year and "If You're Gonna Leave" has received a decent amount of airplay around here. Personally I think it has a slight country sound to it, whether it was intended to sound that way or not. All in all, I really like listening to this song and I think you will to (if you haven't yet heard it).
"Do You Know? (The Ping Pong Song)" by Enrique Iglesias - Alright, so you may think I'm a little crazy for including this one on my "Songs I Dig" blog, but since it's been on the radio, I've really enjoyed listening to it. It's certainly not a typical song you'd heard from Enrique. I would consider myself a fan of his music, especially some of his earlier songs such as "Bailamos" and "Hero." "Do You Know?" is a different song for Enrique yet it's quite enjoyable. And even though it's been on the air for much of the summer, I still find myself enjoying it.
That does it for this month's "Songs I Dig" blog. Hopefully in September, I'll be able to come up with five more songs that I find enjoyable and can write about. I hope you enjoy these songs just as much as I.
"Dig" by Incubus - I was thinking about saving the best for last, but decided not to. Right now, of all the recent songs on the air, this one is the most enjoyable for me. I thoroughly enjoy the melody of this song, and it's not often you hear a song titled, "Dig." That right there is a reason to check it out. But seriously, though, this song has a compelling message and if you've seen the official video by Incubus, that message hits home. Incubus is proving that they are not a one-album wonder with their latest hit song.
"Undeniable" by Mat Kearney - You probably remember Mat from his first hit song, "Nothing Left to Lose." He's back with a newly released song, one that is really catchy and particulary unique. To the common folk that might listen to this song for the first time, it may sound like Mat is rapping most of the lyrics except for the chorus. But he doesn't refer it as rapping. I read an article that said he refers to call it "speaking the lyrics." Whatever the case, the song has lyrics you can understand and the chorus is particularly easy to sing along to.
"All at Once" by The Fray - This group has enjoyed remarkable success with its debut album, and their latest song "All at Once" is sure to be another hit. Their first two releases, "Over my Head (Cable Car)," and "How to Save a Life" were huge hits, while their third song, "Look after You" did marginally well. "All at Once" looks to join their first two songs as it's pleasant to listen to and holds a special message within the lyrics ("...sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same"). Be sure to listen to it when it comes on the radio again.
"If You're Gonna Leave" by Emerson Hart - I'll be honest, up until I heard this song on the radio, I never even heard of Emerson Hart before. But for those familiar with the band "Tonic," Emerson originally formed that band. He released a solo album this year and "If You're Gonna Leave" has received a decent amount of airplay around here. Personally I think it has a slight country sound to it, whether it was intended to sound that way or not. All in all, I really like listening to this song and I think you will to (if you haven't yet heard it).
"Do You Know? (The Ping Pong Song)" by Enrique Iglesias - Alright, so you may think I'm a little crazy for including this one on my "Songs I Dig" blog, but since it's been on the radio, I've really enjoyed listening to it. It's certainly not a typical song you'd heard from Enrique. I would consider myself a fan of his music, especially some of his earlier songs such as "Bailamos" and "Hero." "Do You Know?" is a different song for Enrique yet it's quite enjoyable. And even though it's been on the air for much of the summer, I still find myself enjoying it.
That does it for this month's "Songs I Dig" blog. Hopefully in September, I'll be able to come up with five more songs that I find enjoyable and can write about. I hope you enjoy these songs just as much as I.
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