Marvin and Me

So today: Marvin Gaye’s birthday. And mine. The theme this year: 52-Card Pickup.

Got up late because of prolonged April Fool’s Day cycling activities. Began the day with conscious effort to deal gracefully with the fact my day got shortchanged a full 4-point-something percent through the loss of this morning’s spring-ahead hour. Kate and Thom and I had breakfast and opened presents, then Thom and I hit the road for Eugene, where classes start tomorrow after spring break.

The only driving worry was weather, but after seeing the first showers of the latest storm to sweep into the Bay Area, we didn’t have to drive in the rain until we got into the northern Sacramento Valley and along the drive up into the mountains north of Redding. But things cleared up after Mount Shasta, and the weather was dry across the higher passes into Oregon; for the first time on a trip up to Oregon, I carried snow chains today; I figured it was insurance against having to use them. We had some showers on I-5 through Oregon. Along the way,we listened to Thom’s entire iPod library of Marvin Gaye songs:”Let’s Get It On” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” The pictures? They could be titled, “Hey, I got a new camera.”

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8 Replies to “Marvin and Me”

  1. Let’s Get It On: Best make out song of all time.
    Grapevine: One of the best songs of all time.
    Happy Birthday, Dan!!!

  2. Happy birthday to you AND Marvin! And I hope the bike riding was fabulous (although I still don’t quite understand the details of it; that page didn’t explain it terrifically).

  3. Hey, Everyone:
    Thanks for the birthday greetings. Hard to believe I’m out of my teens.
    MK: A Casio EX-Z850.
    Marie:
    Grapevine — agreed. As far as make-out music, I wasn’t suave enough to think about any of that. My preferred soundtrack would have been “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” Probably explains my wild popularity with the southern suburban belles of my youthful acquaintance.
    DA: you’re right,
    that page didn’t really say much about what’s behind
    it. Here’s more: First, a short piece I wrote last year,
    and a link to the Randonneuring USA website, which has
    everything you want to know and probably much more
    about this subculture:
    http://infospigot.typepad.com/infospigot_the_chronicles/2005/03/view_from_the_b.html
    http://www.rusa.org

  4. We need to toast that birthday, friend. Maybe we’ll get a warm sunny spring day, one that doesn’t include a bike ride of several hundred miles, and you and Kate can come up here and we’ll cook up some good food and open a few of the better bottles.

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