All posts by Dona

19. Happy Pi Day to You

Song Blog, ,

Yesterday afternoon my daughter informed me that today was Pi Day and she could earn five bonus points if she brought a pie to geometry class.

Sure enough – it’s Pi Day alright. The Internet told me so. And several musicians have written songs about it. Although it really is only Pi Day in the US because we put the month before the day when we write our dates. (Do any other countries do that? Canada perhaps?)

My favorite pie song is the Don McLean one though. I first heard American Pie the year it was recorded, in 1971. I’m sure of that. The day after I heard it I was standing outside my junior high school – it was 9th grade. I was fifteen. I was trying to describe the song to my best friend, Cindy. She was either not paying attention, or didn’t care. I recall being frustrated, but not as frustrated as I was weeks later when she described the most fabulous song she’d ever heard. It was the same song. That happened a lot with Cindy.

I still like American Pie, but so does everyone else. It was my son’s favorite song for years.

And then there’s this.

Amazon’s Statistics

Musings, ,

Sometimes Amazon recommends something that actually makes sense and is helpful. Sometimes I shake my head. For instance, the other day one of my teens was looking at an acne zapper device on Amazon. Today when I went to Amazon’s home page, I was greated with some statistics.

And 6% are really stupid

So the vast majority of people who view the Zeno Acne Clearing Device purchase it. 2% purchase the replacement cartridge instead (let’s hope they already own the device) and 6% purchase an electric razor. Do you think they are going to shave those pimples right off their face?

18. Tchaikovsky makes me nervous

Song Blog,

My mom had a black enamel jewelry box painted with Chinese-type decorations. Pagodas and such. She rarely wore jewelry from it (mostly inexpensive costume jewelry). When she did, it meant she was going out. The jewelry box played the most recognizable tune from Swan Lake.

As a small child – probably up until I could babysit my brother – I’d panic when I heard that tune. It meant babysitter. Why I didn’t like a babysitter is a mystery – I remember having fun with a few of them – but I hated it when my mom would go out. To this day that bit of Swan Lake makes me anxious.

That and the smell of Avon’s Topaz Cologne.