I've had the day off. It started out badly. I was rushing to do an errand so I could relax for the rest of the day, but I got on the right bus going in the wrong direction. I took it as a sign to start the day over again, got off by my local supermarket, went home, showered, and went back out again and had a better result to the rest of the day. Now, yoga and then back home to cook up a storm.

I know it's not for sale, but I still believe that Matt needs this doll. Just because.

I know it's not for sale, but I still believe that Matt needs this doll. Just because.

I was gonna post that (and I thought of Matt too). Complete with garden gnome!

Those dolls are fantastic!

One of them (two of them?) is a set of conjoined twins commissioned by the Tyra Banks show. That's sort of awesome and, huh?, at the same time.

I told her I'd have to hang up otherwise, and she somehow made it past.

I love this and plan to use it.

My neighbor's daughter did this for a while, so unless the person is downright rude, I am always trying to be nice. Sometimes it's interesting. My peeve comes when I give an answer and it is not satisfactory. Or they will not let me say no to something that I do not wish to answer. My brain goes: "hey! You called Me!" and I look for ways to end the call. I know they have options on their scripts. And I know that some people are very cruel to them. But leave me my freedom of choice while I help you build your brand, k? My information is still (mostly - at least in my head) mine to decide what to do with.

The one time I got frustrated was after the fourth call from a market research company asking for medical information on Iris for a government immunization survey. We do immunize, but they wanted particularly specific intel, and I told them that I had no way to verify they were doing this for the CDC, or even who they were - they couldn't believe I was questioning the source of the survey.

Once, when I was in college, I was woken up on a Saturday morning (at like 10am) by a phone market researcher who wanted to know my thoughts on Tootsie Rolls. There was considerable, "Really? That's like your job? Do they pay you in candy?" on my part, but I did take the survey.

I don't get survey calls any more, because I have only a cell, except for that one push-polling call a year or two ago, done by the guy who'd lost his party primar to an upstart on account of he presumed he was a shoo-in and didn't campaign. I told his people that they were a pile of steaming idiots and not to call me again.

Whoa, okay, here's one way to get startled out of a cranky funk: find out your baby brother is engaged!

find out your baby brother is engaged!

Yay!

I just found out my baby brother is getting divorced - for the second time...

Yay, shrift! Does your brother's intended meet with your approval?

Ouch, tommyrot. And how did I never know you had a baby brother? I knew about your sister and her partner and your sonephews, but never the baby brother.

This year has a high Holy Shit Quotient.