Tattoos and Champagne: Another 5 Second Post: What I'm Digging On (Presently)

1. Podcasts.

Yup! I'm a talk radio listener. Most of my travel time (car/train/shuttle/walking) is spent on the following: The Nerdist, WTF with Marc Maron, RadioLab, Stuff You Should Know, Stuff Mom Never Told You, the Dinner Party Download, the Pop Culture Happy Hour, How to Do Everything - and of course, NPR staples Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! and This American Life.

BHE and I even had a chance to meet one of our podcast heroes, Mr. Ira Glass. (Apparently, he's originally from Baltimore and came down for a fundraising/speaking gig.)

2. Music.

I don't know about you, but I'm winning Grammy's in my car. In my head anyway. The following are the artists whose work I'm currently butchering while on I95 or 83S...

Adele. (LURVE her! And finally got to see her perform in DC. Good show! Made a bunch of new friends, too.)

April Smith and the Great Picture Show.

Fitz and the Tantrums.

And, of course, The Outdoors.

3. Summer Weddings/Travel

We've had 2 weddings and at least one drive South so far with another 3 weddings upcoming. There are also a few more trips to Chicago, Pittsburgh, and a few locations yet to be determined.

Now, I won't sugar coat - driving is a pain in the ass. There's only so much of interstate you can admire while your crawling along in traffic while trying to get your dog to just SIT DOWN QUIETLY ALREADY. If you have any upcoming travels I suggest grabbing a copy of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter for the drive. It's surprisingly entertaining if you like your drama on the Neil Gaiman side of things.

Still, the destination is almost always worth it. BHE gets to pal around with some of his buddies from back in the Cub Scout days, which is always worth the mileage.

At the most recent wedding, these two came back to the hotel with 3 cases of alcohol for us to take home. Craziness...

Summer travel also includes trips to ball games. And while televised baseball is often neck and neck with C-SPAN in terms of entertainment value, nothing encompasses the season like a day at the ball park.

I still can't stand the Phillies, though.

On one last note, if you're in the B'more area and are looking for a quick thrill this fall, might I recommend the Run for Your Lives 5K in October? It's basically an obstacle course where you dodge "actual" zombies. I haven't made up my mind about it just yet (I may just volunteer instead), but who wouldn't want to take part in an event where the FAQs include questions like:

WILL THE ZOMBIES BE CHASING ME SLOWLY OR QUICKLY? ARE THEY THE WALKING DEAD, OR THE RUNNING DEAD?

If we told you every detail, this wouldn't be fun at all. Our best advice: be prepared to run, duck, dive, and dodge.

I HAVE TRAINED MY DOG/CAT/BIRD/YOUNG CHILD TO DEFEND ME IN CASE OF A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, CAN THEY RACE WITH ME?

No. Only registered participants meeting the age requirements will be allowed to navigate the course. Please do not bring any pets to race or to party; they will be eaten by zombies.

WHAT WILL I WALK AWAY WITH?