Few things make me laugh as hard and as consistently as Chris Parnell rapping. Love him.

Heh. I love it when people go all vigilante to enforce common sense rules of etiquette. Around here, far too many people just let people cut in line. I guess people are too afraid that the rude people are armed.

Czech bread appeared to have turned out well. So I learned something from my trials last year, I guess. I am now consuming, and sharing with select co-workers, an apple gallette I made using Trader Joe's frozen pie pastry and a number of heirloom apple varieties (Snow, Baldwin and Moyer's Prize). I put the apples in bare, put just a teaspon or so of spiced apple cider on them, some cinnamon, some brown sugar and a pat of butter. I wish I'd done just a little more, like add some lemon juice, more brown sugar and some nutmeg and allspice but I was in a rush because of the Czech bread-making.

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Today's installment of a special place in hell is for the people who go to the post office with out taping their boxes

I disagree, and not just because I had to go to the post office with a partially untaped box the other day after I ran out of tape. I think the special hell should be for my (hopefully soon to be former) dentist's office, except for the x-ry guy. He was cool, but the rest of them all suck.

Kat, what was the name of your dentist again?

I've finally tracked down my discomfort with the whole Narnia series. I read the entire series as a kid, and it never sat well. At least part of it is the whole worship of Aslan thing. I guess I was a closet agnostic even then (if agnostic is the word I want for being uncomfortable with the idea of worshipping a being as opposed to respecting a being).

I don't tape boxes till I reach hte post office because I'm always afraid they're going to want to see inside.

I often pack at the Post Office, because Priority Mail supplies are free. But I don't do it in line, I go up to the guy with the cart, get my supplies, and do my packing on one of the tables designated for that purpose.

Good lord, shrift.

I actually felt bad for the clerk, because I knew they were really busy. And I had a good book to read! At one point, I went out and did some shopping, since a restaurant shared the same parking lot and I needed gift certificates. I wasn't thrilled to wait three hours, but since I'm not an idiot, I knew it almost always takes longer than what they estimate.

But you know what? If you're going to complain, it's only common courtesy to wait until the clerk finishes a transaction. And if you're expecting me to be nice to you after you've rudely interrupted me, and when you've been bleating loudly on your cell phone the last hour? You deserve the polite verbal shiv.

Actually, what Connie said was in the back of my mind, since I was sending something to a foreign country, and I wasn't sure if they would need to check it against the customs form, which I tried to fill out ahead of time, except then the counter guy told me that the customs form they had out on display was the wrong customs form, and I had to use the smaller one that they only had behind the counter, so then I had to step aside to finish.

That was a really annoying trip, now that I think about it.

I often pack at the Post Office, because Priority Mail supplies are free. But I don't do it in line, I go up to the guy with the cart, get my supplies, and do my packing on one of the tables designated for that purpose.

Exactly. You don't get to stand at the window while you pack, jackholes!!

exactly, what all of you are discribing is perfectly wonderful post office behavior.

FYI for those of you who mail alot: you can get priority boxes and labels and such mailed to you for free from the usps.com website. I try to keep a personal stash at work.