Someone remind me I'll be happier if I do some work today instead of just obsessively checking my gmail and staring at my phone willing it to ring already.

(I'm entered in a writing contest where "finalists will be notified by phone or email on our about April 20." If I final in the Georgian/Regency/Victorian category, I get read by an editor at NAL/Signet. If I final in the special Legend category for the best hero, I get read by someone at St. Martin's.)

We could will your phone to ring in shifts, Susan, to give you a little more work time.

I like brenda's idea.

Get some work done, Susan, the phone always rings when you're busy, anyhow.

Will try to work after I finish eating lunch. Thanks for the ring~ma!

PSA for other arachnophobes: don't look at the cover of the brand-new issue of National Geographic that just hit the stands. (I'm assuming looking inside would be bad too, but didn't pick up the magazine with the giant crawling tarantula!! up to find out.

So the tooth discussion finally prompted me to make a dentist appointment, which I've been meaning to do since we moved, but just never got around to.

cover of the brand-new issue of National Geographic

I saw that and thought of you, Jilli. Fortunately my own phobia has shrunk to the point where I just blink in surprise when I see pictures anymore. Live versions still freak me the hell out.

I saw that and thought of you, Jilli. Fortunately my own phobia has shrunk to the point where I just blink in surprise when I see pictures anymore.

Well, you know. I'm a wuss about this. Of course, it didn't help that the image on the cover is very similar to part of my recurring nightmare about the dratted things.

I'm a big fan of dental picks. Somehow they are much more user-friendly than plain ol' floss, probably cause it can be wielded with one hand. I have a few in the car and used to deploy them while stuck in traffic on the way to work. I figured it wouldn't look quite as bad to my fellow commuters as, say, picking my nose.

Dealing with noisy people technique I read about: Stand there obviously listening in, and when they notice you, yap about how you wanna know what happened next. If they say it's a private conversation, you can say "Not when you're talking that loudly, it's not private at all. Nope." Warning: May work better with cell phone users on the bus than on your office mates, who you will probably have to put up with afterwards.

Dear Kara: I have to go off for a rock and roll pee now.

So the tooth discussion finally prompted me to make a dentist appointment, which I've been meaning to do since we moved, but just never got around to.

I just did the same thing! Tomorrow at 11, ugh.