Music To Motivate

Working in my shop, or on a job-site, or just trying to summon the enthusiasm for cleaning my house, music fires me up. So the following is my list of favorite songs for elevating me to a level that allows for production far exceeding what I'm typically capable of.

Warren Zevon:  Excitable Boy.
There's so much energy in this song and I just love the juxtaposition of the dark subject matter with the jaunty arrangement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBQRjoKSNQw

LCD Soundsystem: All My Friends.
This song is all about bouncing and jumping up and down. To a fly on my shop wall watching me dance, the dividing line between pathetic and inspiring is ever so thin. I can scarcely remember any of the lyrics, but at the end of this song I'm almost always smiling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqzP8E3nllc

My Morning Jacket: Okonokos
Trying to decide upon a single MMJ song is truly impossible. The live album, Okonokos, which was released after they toured in supposrt of the album; Z, is loaded with some of the best live recordings I've ever heard. Disc one is probably the most heavily played record hidden within my I-Pod.
Here are the three that rile me up the most.
Lay Low:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpvH1RldX44
One Big Holiday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZfjPZoT5
Gideon: This is the letterman version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4HvIwhDRsM

Wilco: Handshake Drugs.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3jsvy_w-i-l-c-o-handshake-drugs-austin_music

Pearl Jam: Fuckin Up.
Just because.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyFkgzftxyI&feature=related

Knud Reimers, Tumlaren

Flygburen 

This is Flygburen. Flygburen is a Tumlaren. A 27', double ended sloop. The Tumlaren design was created by Knud Reimers in the 1930's.

In 1985 my father, Richard and I got a wild hair about building a sailboat. I'd previously never done such a thing, however my father had built several boats through the years.

Filled with zeal and unrealistic optimism, we set forth on what we believed would be a two year process. But life does occasionally offer up obstacles that delay even the best of plans. The combination of building outside in the Pacific Northwest, one plodding worker and one easily distracted by girls and promising ski reports conspired to stretch the project to a little over seven years.

Flygburen was launched in August of 1993 in Everett, WA. She currently lives in Bellingham, WA where I sail her around twenty days a year.

The Tumlaren design is a delight to sail. Fast, close winded and remarkably seaworthy for such a narrow, light displacement boat. Flygburen is sailed primarily singlehanded and is perfect for such sailing. The beauty of small boats and one sailor is the proximity of lines, controls...

Morning Ski Tour

Ian Fair and Sir William skinning up Capright above the town of Twisp. Sir William doesn't actually have skins applied to his stubby little thug legs. Good dog snow for a little guy. Good powder for the rest of us.

Capright is about four miles via the crow, east/northeast of Twisp. In the spring it's relatively smooth slopes are crazy with wildflowers before summers heat bakes it to brown.

This is my favorite sort of ski tour. No need for beacons, snowmachines, big packs or long drives.