Oh, question for people who order from Amazon: I got emails saying my order has shipped, but on the website, they don't think I have any recent orders. Is that normal?

Jesse, that happened to me with the latest Harry Potter book. Even after the book had been delivered to me, Amazon's web site *still* said I didn't have any recent orders.

Good calculator fun is handing someone your old HP when they ask to borrow a calculator. Then sit back and watch the confusion.

Jesse, that happened to me with the latest Harry Potter book. Even after the book had been delivered to me, Amazon's web site *still* said I didn't have any recent orders.

Word, thanks.

Dell thinks I have no orders with them. Which makes me over $700 worth of panicky. If I go in by order number, it's there, but if I just log into my account ... zip.

You're a cold, cruel man, Gud.

Also I discovered most people think "Reverse Polish Notation" is a term I just made up.

I am a walking (or sitting) stereotype and have a Dilbert cartoon taped up at my desk.

Panel one: "At long last out product is complete! It ships tomorrow."

Panel two: "That's terrific. I only have a few additional features to add, and the marketing department will be happy."

Panel three: "I believe that our customers want hardware, not software."
Wally: "It's times like this I wish I were a psychopath."

It's times like this I wish I were a psychopath.

You could be a psychopath. You just have to commit yourself. Dedication.

Me, I have to wonder why and how my mother sat on the juiciest piece of family gossip EVER (and for my family, that's pretty juicy) for two weeks, waiting for it to come up. My sister sat on it for about 15 seconds, and was calling me at 4 am in the morning about it. Which is much more rational behaviour.

Unrelatedly, other than that I was up at 4am anyway, working, I can report that I've pointedly been trying to write better work e-mails and leave better work voicemails. I wonder if it pays off. I'm trying to be meatier and more concise, as well as put more info in the subject lines.

I need that cartoon.

someone just asked me if the client wanted an n-dash or m-dash. It was all I could do to not run for the hills.

I left behind a Dilbert cartoon in my cube when my job moved to Chicago without me. I heard later that it was removed within a day.

The funniest part about the avian flu hysteria is that right now, it is just a lot of birds with the sniffles. That's a lot of money to spend on sneezy chickens and scare tactics. Also, I am pretty sure that all types of influenza pass through birds or pigs or both before getting into humans, so calling this particular strain "bird flu" is like calling it an "ATM Machine" or a "PIN Number".