When we asked readers to let us track their training progress for the Flying Pig Marathon, there was but a wee caveat. They also had to keep a weekly blog about it.

To our surprise (and elation), about 30 people wrote in saying they were willing to blog about their experiences on the road to 26.2 miles. One of my favorites was a guy who said he was training "to try to make my ex jealous."

Seems like as good a reason as any, right?

In the end we picked Matt Berlage, of Hyde Park, Amy Storer, of Newport, and Florence resident Joey Zeinner.

Their reactions when I called were funny.

Joey was immediately excited and ready to start blogging. (Then again, he's already in great shape and could probably run 26 miles today if he had to.)

Amy's reaction was more surprise. She was kind of like, "Are you sure you want me?"

But Matt's was my favorite reaction. I think he never suspected when he wrote in that we would call him, so when I did he had that terrified sound like "Oh no, I'm actually going to have to train to run a marathon." I gave him a night to sleep on it, to see if he really want to do it. But the next day he didn't avoid my calls or anything. In fact, he said having CiN follow his training and blogging about it would force him to finally do it.

So with that, Amy, Joey and Matt will be blogging twice a week about everything running related, and maybe even a few things that aren't. Who knows.

See their first blog ever!

A friend recently recommended Pandora.com, and now I'm obsessed.

It's a streaming radio station that you personalize by inputting some of your favorite songs or artists. Then, it plays back music that features some of the same qualities as the music you chose. I've been listening for a few hours, and so far it's been wrong only once.

If you click the song, you can "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down" it, buy the album from Amazon or iTunes, and (my favorite part) find out why it picked that song for you.

Pandora is almost bizarrely specific about the reasons for recommending the music it does. This ain't Amazon, where if you ask why it thinks you should listen to Bowie, it replies "because you gave that Madonna album five stars." The song I'm listening to right now ("Cherish the Day (Antillas Remix)" by Plummet) was chosen because it features "light rock influences, tremendous bass, beats made for dancing, a smooth female vocal and romantic lyrics." One song was recommended because I seem to enjoy songs with a "busy acoustic hihat," another because it was in 12/8 time. Seriously.

You can also create multiple stations, in case you're a picky eater and don't like your genres touching each other. Plus, it's free!

So far, the only drawback I've encountered is that it doesn't seem to recognize Pale 3. Then again, who does?

From the "Too Much of a Good Thing" file:
Deerfield "Light" house pulls the plug: "Just two days after his computerized Christmas light display gained national media attention, Carson Williams had to shut it down last night because of traffic problems."

So maybe online is the best place to see it. Kyblogger is one of the many places with a copy.

If you drove past Ziegler Park in Over-the-Rhine this past Saturday you likely did a double take. The park was filled with beat-up filing cabinets, old desks, cubicles and a gaggle of freezing 10-year-old kids dressed in dowdy business attire.

What the hell was going on?

Lightborne Studios, located in OTR, was filming a music video for the Death Cab For Cutie song "Summer Skin," which is featured on the band's amazing new CD.

"Summer Skin" is a metaphor for lost childhood and director Kyle Shoup wanted to create an outdoor office full of children going through the motions of their dead-end 9-to-5 jobs. "I wanted them to seem as if they had given up on childhood and resigned to a life of corporate servitude," says Shoup, a Lightborne designer/animator and a guitarist in the band The Defrost Star.

The children were filmed meeting in a "boardroom" at the bottom of an empty swimming pool and in the grassy "office." Another scene was filmed with the kids meeting at a water cooler positioned next to swings and slides.

It was a surreal scene and fun to watch.

The video will appear on an upcoming Death Cab For Cutie DVD or will be available for iTunes download.

Its always exciting (to me anyway) when the peregrine falcons pay a visit to the landing outside our office.
This one looks young.