RUNNING AND FREECYCLING

I don't watch much TV so what little I watch I remember well.  One commercial that I remember well is that of Ryan Hall for AT&T cellular network, shown during the recent London Olympics.  Originally I thought it was a commercial for Audible.com, to show that Mr. Hall can go for a long run and have many audiobooks to keep him company, right?  Whatever.

For my run today I decided to give my Bose portable CD player a try.  It was late in the day so even if I wanted to I wouldn't do a long run.  My long run these days are at most 15K anyway, no match for Mr. Hall's cross-country journey.  I just went for a run along the waterfront near Cesar's Bay, along the Belt Parkway.

I sweat a lot and rarely carry earphones because I don't like to get them wet.  I don't need music to keep me motivated either.  But the idea of "reading" books while running is attractive.  I already do that with walking and dish-washing, or even floor-sweeping.  I used to have to use a portable DVD player to listen to audiobooks and the device is cumbersome to carry around.  The battery dies pretty quickly, too.  Thanks to Freecycling, I got myself a portable CD player, Bose brand.  Someone was moving to another state and saw my request.  It just happened that she came across this barely-used CD player.  I met her shortly later and gave her a "Thank-You" sonobe.

Size really matters as far as the CD player is concerned.  It fits smugly in my winter coat's chest pocket, even in my trousers front pocket.  It runs on AA batteries and they go a long way.  Green that I am, I am actually using rechargeable AA batteries, which cost a lot up front but can be reused over and over.  Alas, running and listening to audiobook on the Bose didn't work out.  Even though it clearly says "anti-skip" on the player's cover, it did skip during my run.  It skipped so much before reaching 2 km I decided to run without listening to the book.  I do a lot of walking for Charity Miles, usually a mile a day, so that's when I can make use of the Bose.

My new electronic toy - a Bose portable CD player.  Thanks to its compact size, I was able to sail through "Sharpe's Siege", by Bernard Cornwell, in a short time.  I started listening to "The Keepsake" today, while on the run.  I prefer historical fiction, the older the better, to learn how people deal with the lack of technology.

"Thank You" in various languages, even sign language.