I need to motivate and apply for some jobs. But all I want to do it sit around and knit. I did run some errands and cleaned a bit in the house. ugh.

Tommy - I'm sure the Nyquil prompted an ID check. When Kelly and I were both sick over the summer, we sent CJ to the store to get cough meds and they refused to sell it to him since he is under 18.

Maybe being surrounded by tourists all the time makes people a little punchy, eh?

Whoo boy, does it.

People at the end of the alphabet are more impulsive buyers than those at the front

People waiting in line for days for the latest must-have product are probably a bunch of Zimmermans, Youngs, and, yes, Wilkinses, according to a truly bizarre new study. It's apparently all the fault of elementary school teachers overusing alphabetical order.

This is one of those studies that seems way too ridiculous to be true, but let's at least consider the facts. Researchers tracked consumer patterns in a variety of situations. They consistently found that people whose last names came later in the alphabet tended to buy items far more quickly than those earlier in the alphabet, and the effect got stronger and stronger the later a person's name appeared in the alphabet.

Intriguingly, for married women, the name that mattered was their maiden name, suggesting that the underlying cause for this is created earlier in life. The researchers speculate that the use of alphabetical order during people's childhoods creates a sense in later alphabet kids that, if they want to be first in line for something, they're going to have to make it happen themselves. That explains the later tendency for impulsive consumption, according to the researchers:

The idea holds that children develop time-dependent responses based on the treatment they receive. In an effort to account for these inequities, children late in the alphabet will move quickly when last name isn't a factor; they will 'buy early.' Likewise, those with last names early in the alphabet will be so accustomed to being first that that individual opportunities to make a purchase won't matter very much; they will 'buy late.'"

Tommy - I'm sure the Nyquil prompted an ID check. When Kelly and I were both sick over the summer, we sent CJ to the store to get cough meds and they refused to sell it to him since he is under 18.

Huh. Maybe she changed her mind when she got up close to me and saw I'm nowhere near 18....

Basically if there's any bacteria on your hand and you touch your eye? Pinkeye. So Jesse, 'fess up--did you forget to wash your hands?

I wash my hands all the time! But probably not enough during the time I spent with infected children. Ah well.

If Prince came to my door, I do not think I would be physically capable of making any requests. And then I would initiate contact with my stupid ex for the first time in many years to say, "In your FACE." Because he is the biggest Prince fan I know.

And then I would initiate contact with my stupid ex for the first time in many years to say, "In your FACE." Because he is the biggest Prince fan I know.

Ha! I would be exactly this petty.

It would definitely be the second-best part of having Prince drop by.

Yeah. But he was wrong about the whole "Two thousand zero zero party's over oops out of time" thing.

Technically, "Two thousand zero zero" would be the year 200,000. So there's still time to be out of time.

So Jesse, 'fess up--did you forget to wash your hands?

I've just been reading about how hard it was to get doctors to wash their hands. (All hospital staff really, but doctors are the worst offenders.) Apparently the most effective measure was taking a handprint in a petrie dish from one of the leading doctors and letting the bacteria develop, then using it as the screen saver on all the computers.

Sure, but will we even remember how to party like it's 1999 by then?

Best to stay on top of these things.