Customers who bought this item also bought bacon mints, bacon gumballs and bacon-flavored toothpicks!

That's what happens when you're a freak.

omg - I am drowning in work papers. Everything I pick up generates liek three questions and more paper and no answers. grrr.

Policy-wise I really don't know what that means.

I don't think that means anything re: policy. Palin's appeal is all about her image.

Anyone heard of Hoverboy? [link] He was "The only hero protecting you from science!"

Hoverboy's one superpower was his ability to hover above the ground. He wore a bucket over his head and fought communism.

From the NYT: A Month Free? Rents Are Falling Fast

IN this painful economic climate of layoffs and shrinking investments, there is a sliver of positive news: it’s a good time to be a renter in New York City. Prices are falling, primarily in Manhattan, and concessions like a month of free rent are widespread.

Although it is notoriously difficult to quantify the state of the rental market, rents fell in almost every sector of the Manhattan market last year, according to the Real Estate Group, a New York brokerage. The steepest drop was in one-bedrooms, down 5.7 percent in buildings with doormen and 6.53 percent in buildings without. The only category that rose: rents for two-bedroom apartments in doorman buildings, up just a bit, by 0.61 percent. But these numbers, like most available data, represent asking rents rather than the final price. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some people are negotiating rents as much as 20 percent lower than the original prices asked by landlords. These figures also leave out incentives, like a month of free rent or a landlord’s paying the broker fee, which can add up to real savings.

Fritz Frigan, executive director of sales and leasing at Halstead Property estimates that when these incentives are considered, rents are actually down some 10 percent to 15 percent since the market peak in mid-2007.

Most of the actual rent numbers in that article are comical, though.

Although, a friend of mine got offered 3 months free in Jersey City over the weekend, apparently.

Speaking of money, I just got an e-mail from our HR department announcing that everyone will be getting a 6% profit-sharing contribution from the company. Considering that, a few years back when the market was in much better shape but we had a not-so-good year, they only gave us 3%, I'm rather pleased by this.

That's great, Kathy. A coworker just forwarded me an email that Macy's is cutting 7K jobs. Ugh.

We have had several layoffs here in the past year, and our department's position is still iffy from month to month, so that 401(k) deposit is only a partial happy-making event. I'd be happier with a more definite "We will not lay anyone off this year" announcement, but that ain't gonna happen.

Nice to hear some good news around here, Kathy!