You can get Utz in the paper bags at the city markets here! (um...evidently you could also get a gun until recently at the utz stand in Lexington Market.)

If Keane says so-and-so owes you money, contact so-and-so directly. You can probably get it back yourself. It can be a bit of a hassle, but you don't have to pay anyone a fee, either. I found out from one of those companies that HUD owed me almost $2000 from a house I sold in 1997. I contacted HUD, and once I proved I was me and it had been mine, they sent me the money. No middleman needed.

What day is National Writing Day?

Chinese is poetic in ways that are totally unWestern -- that you can make what amounts to visual (nonfunny) puns with characters is so very cool.

I love the way Chinese writing works. (I still struggle with listening comprehension, though I think it's improved a little with Wallybee's parents here, and I'm setting aside time to practise again; but the writing is all kinds of cool.) Incidentally, the Chinese for America means "Beautiful country"; for England, "Brave Country". France gets "Counry of law".

Meanwhile, the Yangtze river translates literally as "long river" (in Mandarin it's actually Chángjiāng). Beijing means "northern capital". Chinese makes utterly prosaic terms sound good too.

Problem is Keane didn't say who owed them money, and we know it doesn't involve the California state lost property people, because I checked there.

Like I said, seems like a scam, but Keane also seems like a legit company.

I think they're legit, but sleazy. The letters I (and all of my siblings) got were about unclaimed inheritance $$. Which may exist, but not in NEARLY the amounts they were claiming, and the reason I haven't gotten it is because that money is putting my cousins through college, which is what my dad and aunt (the executors) agreed it would be used for.

Problem is Keane didn't say who owed them money

Figures. What's their pay structure? If they charge a flat fee without proof of how much stands to be recovered, or want payment up front, forget it. If they charge a percentage of funds recovered and don't expect payment until you get the money, it might be worth looking into.

I want to be Sarah Vowell.

Sarah Vowell is my secret soulmate. She is a twin (so am I). She is a liberal raised in a conservative small town (so am I). Her father is a gun loving collector (so is mine). She loves history and has a dark sense of humor (so do I).

Aside from the pithily written books, an intolerance for grain and a spot on NPR, she is me!!

I just went and got my free flu shot.

Ow.

I'm reading Sarah Vowell for the first time! Assassination Vacation, and I want to pick up the Wordy whatever book that's now out in paperback.