As part of my effort to “de-clutter” my life (and combat current economic forces), I’ve decided to get rid of many of the compact discs we’ve collected over the past 25+ years.

For full albums, I’m looking at this service I read about in Newsweek. Before I contact them, I thought it would be wise to have Cheapo’s give me a quote to see if they are a better deal. I’ll update this post with the results.

UPDATE: Cheapo’s offered me about the same as the iPod place (~$1/CD), so I just decided to take that offer.

As for CD singles, my wife and I have been collecting these from around the world for many years. Some are worth next to nothing, while others may be diamonds in the rough. I used to list on eBay to sell things like this, as that usually provides the best chance to see what an item is really worth. The problem is that it’s a major hassle to take photos and create multiple listings (to say nothing of the costs involved).

So I’m trying something new - today I created a database-backed page on this site that lists the artist, title, catalog number, number of tracks and a brief description of the item. If you see something you like, shoot me an email and I’ll give you more information about it.

It will take me several days to get all of the singles entered, so check back often…

As I do for every election, here are the people and issues on my ballot this year (as far as I can tell), along with links to various web sites. I don’t make public endorsements on this site - I just encourage everyone to get informed before election day, then get out there on November 4th and fill out your ballot as an intelligent, knowledgeable voter.

President/Vice-President

• Barr/Root, Libertarian
• Baldwin/Castle, Constitution
• Calero/Kennedy, Socialist Workers
• McCain/Palin, Republican
• McKinney/Clement, Green
• Nader/Gonzalez, Independent
• Obama/Biden, Democrat

U.S. Senator

• Charles Aldrich, Libertarian
• Dean Barkley, Independence
• Norm Coleman, Republican - Incumbent
• Al Franken, Democrat
• James Niemackl, Constitution

U.S. Representative - District 2

• John Kline, Republican - Incumbent
• Steve Sarvi, Democrat

State Representative - District 38A

• Diane Anderson, Republican
• Sandra Masin, Democrat - Incumbent

County Commissioner - District 3

• Thomas Egan - Incumbent
• Scott Holm

Soil and Water Supervisor Supervisor District 2

• Marian Brown - Incumbent
• Victoria Dvorak
• Scott Norstad

Soil and Water Supervisor Supervisor District 4

• Chris Nielsen - Incumbent
• Peter Thomas Schaffer

Soil and Water Supervisor Supervisor District 5

• Michael Carr
• Joe Meyers - Incumbent

Minnesota Supreme Court - Seat 3

• Paul H. Anderson - Incumbent
• Tim Tingelstad

Minnesota Supreme Court - Seat 4

• Lorie Skjerven Gildea - Incumbent
• Deborah Hedlund

Judge - Minnesota Court of Appeals - Seat 16

• Dan Griffith
• Terri J. Stoneburner - Incumbent

Judge - District Court - Seat 32

• Joseph Carter - Incumbent
• Nathaniel J. Reitz

Eagan City Council - 2 seats

• Cyndee Fields - Incumbent
• Meg Tilley - Incumbent

Eagan City Council - 1 seat (to fill vacancy)

• Buzz Anderson
• Gary Hansen

State Constitutional Amendment

• Shall the Minnesota constitution be amended to dedicate funding to protect our drinking water sources; to protect, enhance, and restore our wetlands, prairies, forests, and fish, game, and wildlife habitat; to preserve our arts and cultural heritage; to support our parks and trails; and to protect, enhance, and restore our lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater by increasing the sales and use tax rate beginning July 1, 2009, by three-eighths of one percent on taxable sales until the year 2034?
• Vote Yes Supporters - Vote Yes Minnesota
• Vote No Supporters - No Sales Tax Increase

City of Eagan Carriage Hills Referendum

• Shall the City of Eagan be authorized to issue and sell its general obligation bonds in a principal amount not to exceed $10,250,000 for the purpose of acquiring approximately 120 acres of land formerly known as the Carriage Hills Golf Course for public facilities, recreation, and open space uses?
• Questions and Answers (City of Eagan)

NOTE: Uncontested races not listed.

There is something sort of sad about going to a concert by yourself, but such are the economic times we live in. Last night I went down to the State Theater in Minneapolis to see one of my favorites, former Talking Heads front man David Byrne. I had read all about the tour on his great web site, so I mostly knew what was coming. Some thoughts:

• The sound was uncharacteristically bad for the State - the first song sounded like we were in a tin can and it was hard to understand what he was saying in between songs.
• Nice mix of songs on the set list (I’ll watch for someone to post it) - mostly new songs from the latest Byrne-Eno CD along with Talking Heads classics like Take Me to the River, Once in a Lifetime, Heaven and I Zimbra. Not much in the way of David Byrne solo songs, though (were there any?).
• Nice size musical ensemble on stage (Byrne, three back-up singers, two percussionists, bass and keyboards). While I would rather see Chris, Tina and Jerry up there, this group played well together. LOVED the dueling drums at the beginning of Burning Down the House.
• The three dancers were a nice addition to the show - fun to watch, yet not too distracting from the songs. One of the three seemed really happy to be up there and her enthusiasm filled the theater.
• I’m don’t know much about contemporary dance, but my first thought was “wow, this is very New York art scene.” After a few more songs, though, I started thinking that a lot of these moves could have been in Napoleon Dynamite.
• My only complaint about the dancers was having them out for songs that already had dance moves associated with them from Stop Making Sense. Same as it ever was…
• The group seemed honestly happy about the audience response at the end of each set. I think that helped get us one more song tacked on at the end of the second encore (the haunting Everything That Happens).
• The crowd was decidedly older than average. I realized on the way out that the first Talking Heads album is now 31 years old, so teenagers then are almost fifty now. Damn.

All in all, a very entertaining evening. Come back soon, Mr. Byrne!

Aside from Boston, here are a few races I think would be fun to try sometime:

• Hong Kong Marathon (February)
• London Marathon (April)
• Everest Marathon (May 29)
• Vancouver Marathon (May)
• Madison Marathon (May)
• Portland Marathon (October)
• Reykjavik Marathon (October)
• New York City Marathon (November)
• Honolulu Marathon (December)

OK, the Everest one might not be fun, so to speak, but wow…

My trend of getting faster as I get older continues. I set a new half-marathon PR in June and today I broke my marathon PR by almost 30 minutes - 4:13.19.

The weather at the 27th Annual Twin Cities Marathon wasn’t ideal - heavy rain, wind and temps in the 50s. I actually didn’t mind it that much at first, but as the rain got heavier, it caused bleeding in spots that I’ve never bled from before. Pretty embarrassing when you are wearing a white shirt…

The rest of me feels pretty good after an afternoon of rest. Thanks to everyone who came out to cheer me on in the rain: Alan Page (and his tuba), Mark Nistler, Colleen and the kids (in four different spots), Jean Kane and the Pozarskis and my parents (who brought beef jerky from Greg’s Meats that pulled me through the last two miles).

Thanks also to my training partner Gina, who helped keep me on track over the summer. I guess running almost 400 miles before a marathon really does lead to faster times…

Next up is the Monster Half on Saturday, October 25 in Minneapolis, followed by the 2009 Walt Disney World Marathon on January 11 in Orlando. I’m also thinking about the Madison Marathon (5/24/09) and using my automatic entry into the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon (6/20/09) in Duluth.