Random Observation

Why are "smoke breaks" a thing? An alcoholic isn't allowed a "beer break" at work.

I guess my point is, I need a beer break.

#1 songs - 1961

Let's look at the hit songs of 1961:

Wonderland By Night	Bert Kaempfert And His Orchestra
Will You Love Me Tomorrow	The Shirelles
Calcutta	Lawrence Welk And His Orchestra
Pony Time	Chubby Checker
Surrender	Elvis Presley With The Jordanaires
Blue Moon	The Marcels
Runaway	Del Shannon
Mother-In-Law	Ernie K-Doe
Travelin' Man	Ricky Nelson
Running Scared	Roy Orbison
Moody River	Pat Boone
Quarter To Three	U.S. Bonds
Tossin' And Turnin'	Bobby Lewis
Wooden Heart	Joe Dowell
Michael	The Highwaymen
Take Good Care Of My Baby	Bobby Vee
Hit The Road Jack	Ray Charles and his Orchestra
Runaround Sue	Dion
Big Bad John	Jimmy Dean
Please Mr. Postman	The Marvelettes
The Lion Sleeps Tonight	The Tokens

It turns out that 1961 was a pretty dull year in music. There were two instrumentals in "Wonderland by Night" and "Calcutta." There were a few dance numbers like Chubby Checker's
Pony Time" and U.S. Bonds' "Quarter to Three." There's no terrible songs, but there aren't any that are really great either. But, we have to pick a winner and a loser, so let's go.

Happy birthday Drew!

Pat heard you like the Gophers, so he made you a birthday cake.

Pat is crazy.

Happy Birthday Oaktown!

Crazy pat baked you a cake for the special occasion. It seems to fit you well!

Pat is crazy.

Oakland's Vinyl Vault - After the Gold Rush

Important news update: the vault now contains over 200 albums! To commemorate this great achievement, let's go to our old friend, Neil Young, and After the Gold Rush.

Release date: August 31, 1970
Singles: Only Love Can Break Your Heart, When You Dance I Can Really Love, Oh Lonesome Me

A Quick Update

Here's a quick update:

•  A long time ago, I created a twitter account for Pat Is Crazy, and then promptly forgot about it. The other day I looked at it, and I was surprised to find that I was "following" over 800 different accounts. These appeared to be completely random, and included many foreign language accounts, as well as a smattering of "verified" accounts. How did this happen? What was the purpose? I know basically nothing about twitter, so I don't know what effects "following" an account has, other than that you receive that accounts' tweets. Has the account been spouting spam? There doesn't appear to be any evidence of that. Anyway, I deleted the account.

• It feels wonderful to be back home and not have to deal with traveling every week. One of my last trips back from Orange County was especially soul crushing. I booked an 8:15 PM flight from Orange County to Oakland. Around 2 PM, I get a text from Southwest saying that the flight had been delayed an hour. Anybody who travels with any frequency knows that while delays are common, they usually do not post them 6 hours before the flight is scheduled to leave, so this was an ominous sign. So I get to the airport around 8 PM, and when I go up to the counter to check my bag, the lady there sees that I'm going to Oakland, and informs me that there is a problem with that flight, and that she has to switch me to a later flight, which is scheduled to leave at 9:50 PM. Instead of an actual boarding pass for this flight, I get a boarding pass-sized piece of paper that tells me to see the agent at the gate for my boarding pass. Meanwhile, my bag is labeled to be put on the 9:50 flight. As I'm going through security, I get two more texts, the first of which says that my flight is now delayed until 10:15, and the second of which says that my flight is now un-delayed to 9:10 PM. When I get to the counter at the gate, the agent explains to me that my original flight's plane tracking software is not working properly, but that it is in the air and will be landing soon, so she will switch me back to that flight. I now ask, "My bag will make it on the plane too?" She answered, "Yes." Now skip ahead to me standing at baggage claim in Oakland. My bag does not show up with my flight. Now fortunately, the flight that my bag took to Oakland landed only about 10 minutes after my own flight, so it ended up not being a big deal. It had been a long day, but I was almost home. I just needed to take the shuttle to the parking lot, and then drive home. I get on the shuttle, and it drives to the parking lot. At the first stop, it opens its doors and a couple people get off. The doors close. We don't move. The doors open and close again. Still not moving. Apparently, these shuttle buses are designed so that you cannot drive with the doors open, which is a great safety feature. Unfortunately, the sensor for telling when the doors had closed was not functioning properly, and now the shuttle was stuck at stop number 1. My car was by stop number 5. Oh, and there was traffic on the way home, at 11 PM.

#1 songs - 1960

Hello again dear reader(s)! I am finally free from the hell that was going down to Orange County nearly every week for a trial, so I should be able to post more regularly now. Anyway, let's get back into it with the biggest hits of 1960.

First, here are the contenders:

Why	Frankie Avalon
El Paso	Marty Robbins
Running Bear	Johnny Preston
Teen Angel	Mark Dinning
The Theme From A Summer Place	Percy Faith And His Orchestra
Stuck On You	Elvis Presley With The Jordanaires
Cathy's Clown	The Everly Brothers
Everybody's Somebody's Fool	Connie Francis
Alley-Oop	Hollywood Argyles
I'm Sorry	Brenda Lee
Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini	Brian Hyland
It's Now Or Never	Elvis Presley With The Jordanaires
The Twist	Chubby Checker
My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own	Connie Francis
Mr. Custer	Larry Verne
Save The Last Dance For Me	The Drifters
I Want To Be Wanted	Brenda Lee
Georgia On My Mind	Ray Charles
Stay	Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs
Are You Lonesome To-night?	Elvis Presley With The Jordanaires

1960 was an interesting year in music. There are songs from quite a few different genres: country, rock 'n' roll, rhythm and blues, and even the novelty song, "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini." It was not a good year for native americans (not that there have been many since the white man came...), as both "Running Bear" and "Mr. Custer" are kind of racist. The biggest hit of the year was the instrumental, "Theme from a Summer Place," which spent an incredible 9 weeks at number 1, which is still the record for an instrumental.