Thanks Beej. I've been mainlining the AZO cranberry pills as I HATE cranberry juice.

Also I'm finding that Nutty Bars help.

I've got the AZO yeast stuff, but haven't got the cran pills. Should give them a try.

Also I'm finding that Nutty Bars help.

They're good for what ails you.

(Did I spell that right? Looks so wrong.)

They're good for what ails you.

My dad says that all the time. Along with, "It'll put hair on your chest."

My 'no hug' stance is a smile a stiff arm and a firm hand in the chest. "Thank you for your greeting."

This works. And is better than my suggestion, which would be to quote Wednesday Addams from the movie Addams Family Values: "We don't hug. We're contagious".

Or in Jilli's case, a well-placed parasol.

Weirdly enough, I'm finding that my cranberry pill ingestion is improving my heartburn. Which isn't why I started taking them every day, of course. My stomach gave me a lot of grief. It's funny the levels of discomfort you can learn to accept as "normal" and not notice till they are gone.

So I'll whine: Please make the realtor call/write me back! Pretty please?!?! I have got to get out of temp housing. I realize that as a renter I am not as lucrative as a buyer, but still. Want. House.

Raq, all of the renting~ma that I have been hogging is now released to you. I hope your realtor calls you back soon.

I come from a community (peaceniks) who make some pretty broad ranging assumptions about personal space. And while I'm Steph when it comes to hugging people I know and like, I've had to learn some hardcore deflective tactics.

Even in the lawyer's office, after I gave a new hire a dressing down for inappropriate behavior, she came at me with the 'let's hug it out' thing. I was struck how successful she must be in manipulating people into giving up their space after she 'misbehaves'. The hair stood up on the back of my neck...literally.

And while I felt good about offering a life lesson in how much that isn't going to work all the time in her young life. I was amazed by how long it took to get my point across. She stood there, arms thrown wide for a full 3 minutes. And then looked completely confused that it hadn't worked.

Ok. So Joe has this saying, "When life hands you lemons, lob them effers at life's head."

He went to Comcast today to do some apptitude test. Grammar, spelling, basic ethics. Totally aced it.

He takes the test to the person, she grades it and says, "According to these results, it appears that you wouldn't be a good fit in a high pressure call-center. Thanks. Have a good day."

Needless to say, Joe was pissed. So, he lobbed a lemon. He said, "I used to work for AIG Sunamerica in variable annuities. It's 6 weeks of training just to get the basics down. I often took over 100 calls a day, dealing with customer questions about variable annuities - which are very complex - and their retirement accounts - so they're already stressed out. I got consistently high marks for our QA department. Your test is wrong and this is why Comcast has a poor reputation for customer service." He turned on his heel and walked out.

He came home feeling pretty bad and defeated.

Fast forward 4 hours.

Same woman he lobbed the lemon at called and said, "Uh...it was your availability that threw off the test. Are you more flexible?" Joe said, "Yes."

He has an interview with them on Wednesday.

I told him he should have cold-cocked her and got a Vice Presidency.