October 18, 2005

In the mailbox today.

After today's Religion and the Constitution class, I checked my mailbox and found two unusual items:

In the mailbox.

The first is a bar of chocolate, from Vienna, a gift "from a secret admirer." The second is a CD. Ah, yes, I've been expecting this for a long time. It comes with a note:
Prof. Althouse:

Here is the finished Cougar record...

Thank you for letting us include your lecture samples. The cadence of your speech perfectly complemented the music....

Unbeknowst to me, a Federal Jurisdiction lecture of mine was recorded by my student Trent Johnson a few years back and samples of it used in his musical work. I was actually a little afraid to listen to it. But it turns out it's really just a tiny bit of my speech on one track -- called "Your Excellency." And, no, I don't think that's what my students usually call me when I'm not around.

18 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

TCD: I'm pretty sure I know who it's from!

Contributors said...

Chocolate?? Hmm...??? I heard it was pie that won the House of Alt over.

Or, does it win you a restraining order? I forget.

Meade said...

"I'm pretty sure I know who it's from!"

My guess is it's from your talented erstwhile husband who periodically sends you fancy chocolates from Europe in honor of your being the excellent mother of his two oldest agents.

Mark Daniels said...

That is so cool: a student sampling your lecture in a song!

Since I never had a secret admirer, I think that I'd be spooked by the chocolate.

Ann Althouse said...

Well, but the chocolate is from Vienna and Nina just got back from Vienna! Plus, I recognize her handwriting!

reader_iam said...

I LOVE it--sampled lectures in music! How, well, excellent!

So, what DO you think your students usually call you when you're not around?

Meade said...

Nina was my second guess.

Mark Daniels said...

Then Nina's a not-so-secret admirer. That's cool.

Mark

Ann Althouse said...

Mark: She's just the sort of person who is amused by pretending to be a secret admirer. Do you think she put the cracked acorn shell in my house?

vbspurs said...

Demels!! As Viennese an institution as any, short of the Hotel Sacher's Sachertorte.

That had Nina written all over it. Very thoughtful.

I have no idea what Cougar refers to on that CD -- John Mellencamp, doubtlessly.

Man. I thought I should be ashamed of my Ricky Martin CD.

P.S.: A Finnish friend of mine went to Vienna recently too, and somehow secreted a whole Sachertorte, balancing it on his knees, on the plane back to Finland.

It has dairy content, so that was illegal...but oh so yummy.

Cheers,
Victoria

vbspurs said...

Do you think she put the cracked acorn shell in my house?

No, Ann. We confess. It was your readers who put the half-eaten acorn shell in your house.

We delegated Ron to do a Watergate on you, and this time, it worked.

Sorry. But it was a slow Blog day.

Cheers,
Victoria

Ann Althouse said...

Victoria: Cougar is the name of the band. It's not John Mellencamp. But I'll confess to having seen Mellencamp in concert once. He was kind of cool in the mid80s, I think, before he got all FarmAid-serious.

vbspurs said...

Victoria: Cougar is the name of the band. It's not John Mellencamp.

Hmm. Googleisnotmyfriend.

I got no hits back to see what kind of music it was about, having gotten only JCM references.

But I'll confess to having seen Mellencamp in concert once. He was kind of cool in the mid80s, I think, before he got all FarmAid-serious.

Err, okay!

What the hay -- it's not like my taste in music is anything to preen at. It's ABYSMAL.

Fancy, I loved WHAM! as a kid.

Cheers,
Victoria

Ann Althouse said...

This band is new. The recording hasn't been released yet.

Mark Daniels said...

Ann:
I like the idea of Nina leaving the cracked acorn in your house. Scan your memory. Perhaps you'll find a whole string of unexplained little things that have happened to you, all of which can be attributed to Nina. That actually could be sort of fun.

Some write blogs, others perpetrate harmless pranks and "anonymous" acts of kindness.

Mark

nina said...

Ah yes, Victoria, Demel is known to those in the know.

As for the acorn -- listen, keep imagining that I am the Demel type, not the acorn-in-someone's-house type.

Now, if after my next trip across the ocean Ann finds a jar of caviar --- fine, I may be the culprit. But acorns?? Jeez...

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Victoria:
Wake me up before you go-go. I wanna' be your mother figure.

vbspurs said...

Ann wrote:

This band is new. The recording hasn't been released yet.

Ahh, the perks of being a blogger.

No wonder Instapundit is always talking about a book he's reading. He gets them for free! ;)

Nina wrote::

Ah yes, Victoria, Demel is known to those in the know.

There is one in Zürich which "those in the know" say is better than Demels.

I'm wracking my brain for the name. Something "Sch" I think.

I could Google, but I'm lazy.

As for the acorn -- listen, keep imagining that I am the Demel type, not the acorn-in-someone's-house type.

Yes, that's how I picture you.

Foreign. Mysterious. Slightly dangerous. But worth it.

Run Lola Run without the Raggedy-Ann hair.

Now, if after my next trip across the ocean Ann finds a jar of caviar --- fine, I may be the culprit. But acorns?? Jeez...

Hey. Don't knock the acorns.

We're still talking about them a fortnight hence.

Ruth Anne said:

Wake me up before you go-go. I wanna' be your mother figure.

What's sad (apart from everyone taking years to figure out George Michael was really gay) is that I have his CD:

George Michael's Greatest Hits

And of course, Duran Duran's.

Cheers,
Victoria