Day 6
In your opinion, what is one of the most useful mechanical/electrical inventions of the last 150 years?

This one should get some interesting answers, given the many areas of human existence machines of all kinds have improved. I’m going to go with the ” in the home” category, and say that the most valuable invention is the automatic clothes washer.

Can you imagine the alternative? (And on the division-of-household-tasks list, doing laundry isn’t even my job.)

Day 5
Tell a few things about yourself that very few people know.

[Of course, please omit felonies.]

1. Not really about me per se, but my father wrote a song called “Loser’s Lounge.” In 1970, Ringo Starr recorded it. Forty-one years later, Daddy still gets royalty checks from the publisher.
2. I almost majored in English ed. instead of music ed.
3. In 2006, I wrote a book under a pseudonym.

All right: True Confession time. Let’s hear it!

OK, this one’s going to be crazy.

Day 4
Name 3 things that annoy you beyond all description.

[But you still have to describe them. :P]

My question is: Which three to pick? There are **so many**. Some days, I think, “I haven’t a thing in the world to complain about; I’m blessed with a great family, wonderful friends, a good job. I shouldn’t squawk.” Then this week happened, and all bets are off. So…

I am annoyed by:

1. Motorcyclists who feel it’s their mission to drive past my house on a summer day and wait until they’re in front of my door to blast their gee-I’m-a-rebel-cuz-I-like-Seger-and-Springsteen after-market exhaust pipes, so it sounds like there’s a jackhammer in my living room. Honestly, I think violent, homicidal thoughts. OK, Do-Rag-Under-the-Pickelhaube. How about I wait outside on the tree lawn with a six-foot pipe, about 3 inches in diameter. You come back around, and I’ll just aim for your spokes. (And that’s one of my least violent thoughts.) *kABLaM*
2. People who let their children run around screaming like yard apes at a theater or restaurant (or, ahem, my concerts) without any supervision or control. They (the parents) either think it’s cute, or they’re completely oblivious to — or thoughtlessly inconsiderate of — everything and everyone around them. BOOT to the head.
3. Nutjob drivers who dart in and out of traffic, cutting people off while trying to pass everyone during an accident back-up, only to expect to be let in at the front of the line when they run out of real estate. *bANg*

You know why I limited it to three, right? I could list these bad boys all night and into tomorrow and beyond.

All right, fiends. Let fly. We’re allowed to snark this one time.

OK, this will take a little digging on your part. Fun, ja? Research first thing in the morning?

Day 3
List five interesting facts about the year you were born.

I know BoomR, Suzanne and I share the same birth year, so I’ll try not to take all the cool ones.

In 1959…

1. Bonanza premiered on NBC. It was the first weekly television series broadcast completely in color.
2. The average cost of a new home was $12, 400.
3. Ben Hur won Best Picture at the Oscars.
4. On 3 February, the music died.
5. Dwight D. Eisenhower was president — the last US president to be born in the 19th century (1890). His vice president was Richard Nixon.

Interesting, I know.  Who says you don’t learn anything by reading  the Fink? OK, let’s get crackalackin’. Click here and have at it.

Day 2
Describe your first car.

In 1976, my dad cosigned for a $500 bank loan to close the deal on a lime green 1971 Ford Pinto for me. A really nice one would have looked like this:

Of course, mine looked nothing like the picture. Lots more wear and tear, and since it was Ohio: rust. Then there was its tendency to blow up on rear impact. Ford ran the numbers and decided it would be cheaper to pay out damages in lawsuits than to fix the problem, but the notorious “Pinto memo” is shrouded in controversy and widely misunderstood (even though Time bought it).

One of the funniest memories of my Pinto was having to drive my boss (president of the company) home in it one summer afternoon. The reaction from a man who had driven only Cadillacs and Continentals for 30 years was quite entertaining. Still, the little piece of junk never died on me, and I drove it all over creation without a single thought of a breakdown — long before there were cell phones to call out for help. It was a different time, you know?

So, tell me about your first car.