Bob even made me cry once, but I don’t think it was on purpose.

Read more about Bob Spano and his many accomplishments here. He is currently the Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and just this March he was named the new Director of the Aspen Music Festival and School. There are many clips of him on YouTube, but I especially liked the one below, where he talks about Mozart, Freemasonry, and numerology.

Anyway, I had 53 hours at work last week, including hours on Saturday and Sunday, so that’s why I’m exhausted. I guess you could say I’m over it.

- I once saw David Copperfield live. It was corny but entertaining.

- I am obsessed with 30s-40s-50s swing music. This is probably a big reason why I have played so many hours of Fallout 3 – I can’t stop listening to Three-Dog on Galaxy News Radio.

- I am also obsessed with Cleveland-style polka music, which I grew up dancing to at every prom and wedding, and watching on “Polka Varieties” on Sunday mornings. I am a FABULOUS polka-er.

- I used to be addicted to perms. Even though now I am a confirmed pixie cut addict (aka the lesbian soccer mom look), I still sometimes think longingly of having a perfect spiral perm a la Jennifer Grey in “Dirty Dancing.”

- Speaking of the lesbian soccer mom look, I love Jamie Lee Curtis and I feel embarrassed for her whenever one of those Activia commercials comes on. I don’t know why; I suppose she’s just paying the bills. And also, I don’t know if it really helps your digestive system, but I tried the yogurt and didn’t like it – too runny.

- I’m starting to think that “Howards End” is my favorite movie, ever. Maybe I should buy the new Criterion Collection DVD, so I can watch it whenever I want.

- My favorite movie, by far, used to be “Army of Darkness,” and I used to watch it EVERY NIGHT, on VHS. Yes, I had a thing for Bruce Campbell, what can I say?

(Please note, the following trailer for Howards End gives away pretty much the whole movie.)

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m going to start in earnest now. Maybe tomorrow. In the mean time, I leave you with this. Kisses!

This time: Internet radio services. Our contenders are Sirius Internet Radio and Pandora One.

I am a Sirius subscriber, and have been for several years. I used to use a portable device in my old car, and then when I got my xB, I upgraded to the integrated Sirius tuner. I like Sirius a lot – though I originally subscribed so I could keep listening to Howard Stern, as time goes on, I listen to him less and less and instead find myself listening to the music and the NPR stations. The only drawbacks to regular Sirius satellite radio service are the fact that you lose the signal when you go under bridges, tunnels, etc.; and the fact that it keeps getting more and more expensive every year. Case in point: the Internet streaming service. It used to be included with subscription plans for the satellite service, but now if I want to listen to Sirius on my computer, I have to add it to my subscription, for $2.99 a month.

Now, I might have seriously considered doing that and not looking back, but I already sprung for a Pandora One subscription for $36 annually. Pandora does have a free service, which I recommend very strongly if you’re looking for a way to listen to high-quality music online for free. Pandora One offers some enhancements and actually I’m on my second year of it, and I do like it quite a bit. Still, I went ahead and used a free seven-day trial of the Sirius Internet Radio service, in order to contrast and compare. Was I making the right choice with Pandora, or should I switch to Sirius?

After trying out the Sirius service and analyzing both products, I came up with this little list of pros and cons:

So, in case you can’t tell from my table, I’ve decided after listening to both, that I’m happy with Pandora One, and I won’t be adding Internet radio to my Sirius subscription. In fact, as far as Sirius goes, I do love it but…dang, it is getting SO expensive. Next Spring, when my subscription comes up for renewal again, I may just bite the bullet and cancel. I’m starting to think I can manage to live without it. But Pandora, well, I love it. Totally worth $36 a year.

And that’s this vs. that!