Survey says…

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[in best Sally Field voice] You like me…you really like me.

:P Kidding. Well, actually, I hope you like me…but we won’t get into that again.

I enjoyed looking at the survey results. Of the twelve responses I got over the last 24 hours, here’s how it shakes out:

clicky

For a long time, Schmenglish was the leading category. Amazing…gotta do me a Schmenglish post right quick here. And I also noticed that fewer liked the history lectures. Hehe. OK, I hear ya.

Regarding suggested categories to add at RtB, you said “Musical Inspirations,” “Things I’ll Never Understand,” and “Tech Help for Lamers.” HAA (Guess who suggested the last one??) Great ideas, and you will see those in the future. Needed me some fresh ingredients to work with around here.

I’m also considering a guest blogger to come in every once’t in awhile. Any takers to author a post now and then? If not, no problem; I’ll just do what I do in choir. If you don’t volunteer to sing this passage, I’ll just call on you to do it.

I love me.

There was also a suggestion to include more pictures. I will do that this day — although I doubt the respondent meant “Show us more photos of the grandkids!” But hey, he/she probably knew that wouldn’t matter. If you see a grammie with a camera, just git out the way.

Speakina…Jake’s Grandma Jane (Hannah’s mom) sent me a fabulous photo in email last night. Jake got caught in the act of playing Big Boy in his uncle’s boots. Priceless…

And in other news…the Thriller gave Rousseau his monthly humility training yesterday:

Hates the wash and rinse cycle

but loves the complimentary towel-dry

And I am off to give a piano lesson and get some choir tour stuff done today. No, really. I’m working today. Right now. Bye. I’m going.

Finkus outus.

FYI in case you’re interested

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Several things to report today:

— I have taken the plunge and requested a name change at Facebook. Too many people have told me they are searching for me, but can’t find me. Oh all RIGHT! I’ve put in the request and it should happen tomorrow.

But I like the name Rat Fink. <<whiny, pouty, mopey face>>

— The Orlando Magic have been officially defeated. Heh heh. I feel a microscopic smugness. Grin at that, Dwight Howard. (I know, I’m just a sore loser, gettin’ me some righteous schadenfreude.)

— The Thriller has decided to go for his Clinical Counseling degree. How cool is that? He starts at seminary in the fall, if all goes well.

— School starts in 71 days. My final curriculum course for this masters degree starts in 79 days. Full scale rehearsals for the fall musical start in 85 days. Not that I’m counting.

— Yesterday’s survey responses are quite revealing! Nine in so far. If you haven’t taken it yet, then by all means scroll down and do it.

Off to the showers. Have a dandy MundaneDay.

FO

Someone once told me

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“If you don’t really want to know, or if you’ll get upset by what you hear, then don’t ask.”

This is precisely why I do not distribute surveys to my students, or even ask their opinion about my repertoire selections (although I will do that on a rare occasion — extremely rare). Thing is, surveys give people license to snark anonymously. I don’t care if I don’t know who it is; I guess I have issues with deliberately opening myself up for full metal jacket responses. In other words, I’m a delicate flower. *sNiFfLe*

But hey, I was in a geeky mood this morning and decided to mess around with some stuff at Google Docs. So I did a quick and dirty embedded survey. Three whole questions.

Please feel free to fill it out, and I will post the data in a couple of days. I covet your responses, so come on: gi’ it a go.

:P

Happy Sum-day, fiends. I look forward to the tally.
FO

Phil Spectacle

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Phil Spector's mug shotYou have to wonder why they do it; why otherwise successful people would throw it all away by committing felonies. I do not get it. I mean, desperadoes and career criminals, yes. People who have lost everything and exhausted their last straw, yes. I can see that path. But it doesn’t figure with Phil Spector — the “Wall of Sound” boy wonder who became a millionaire at 21 years old.

For those who don’t know what the”Wall of Sound” technique sounds like, just listen to any Spector-produced record, especially from the 60s (“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” by the Righteous Brothers, “Da Doo Ron Ron” by the Crystals, “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes, and “River Deep, Mountain High” by Ike & Tina Turner).

Truthfully, I never much liked the WoS. And I *hated* it in “The Long & Winding Road” (and reportedly, so did Paul McCartney), which Spector produced.

What I didn’t know was how many hit songs the guy wrote. I had no idea he was behind “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “Chapel of Love” and “To Know Him is to Love Him.” And while his résumé as a producer is impressive by any standard, his bio reveals some huge problems — stuff people should have seen coming.

Possibly the most bizarre thing about Phil was his choice of hair apparatus. Hilarious. Courtesy Getty Images, I put together a little montage:

And from bizarre to disturbing…this photo was taken in 1975, with Spector’s bodyguard, a former federal marshal. I didn’t notice the haircut stolen from a standard poodle as much as I did the pointing of a gun at a camera:

Pictures from his trial often revealed him as looking heavily sedated. Maybe he was under the influence when the murder happened at his house that night, who knows. If he gets the full 15 years for killing Lana Clarkson, he will be 84 when he gets out. What a waste. As is customary, his lawyers are appealing the 2nd degree murder charge and the sentence. Still, while all that goes on, he sits in jail.

So much talent, so much money…and now look. Have you ever said anything similar to, “Man, if I had that much money and such a perfect life, I would never be so stupid as to get myself into that kind of trouble” ?? I have. I mean, I know money can’t buy you happiness. But it can sure as heck buy you a lot of things that can make you happy, ya know? Actually, I’ve never had money, so I don’t know — and the folks in the cheaper seats can clap their hands in agreement. The rest of you can just rattle your jewelry.

:-)

FO

RtB guts & other news

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Sometimes I am amazed by how it all works, you know? Today, I installed a new version of the WordPress software I use to write my blog posts. The changelog for the update was gi-normous;  many cool features were added.

In an effort to be completely transparent, Rockin’ the Bourgeoisie will lift up her skirt today and show her knees. Or guts, as the case may be.  I’ve used Blogger software before, and once I had a LiveJournal site, but I don’t have any experience with the other blogging packages offered by TypePad, Moveable Type or others. WordPress does it for me, mostly because it’s soooper easy. Here’s a screen shot of today’s post in progress:

As you can see, the user interface is clean and simple. Me likey. As geeky as I like to think I am sometimes, it’s clear by the screen shot that *anyone* — even those who don’t own cell phones — can navigate blog software. :-)

I love downloading groovy things. Just a couple of days ago, I installed a feature on my Storm called “Picture Dial.”  For the numbers you call/text the most, touch the picture and you’re connected. How cool is that?

Right. In other news…

MAAAAAAAAAAD MENNNNNNNNN

starts on 16 August, just in time for Stoney’s birthday. What a gift! And RtB superfriend Bando is laid up right now, after some minor surgery…I trust that this news will make her jump out the bed and do the watusi. I don’t remember being this excited for a season premiere since the days of Dallas and Knots Landing. Color me tres excite.

Oh, yeah.