2005-07-19 - 7:25 p.m.

random thoughts...

Across my email just came one of the strangest messages I've ever received...

"Hello. We did not kill anyone. Bye for now."

It was on a yahoo group and actually was somewhat in context of an ongoing thread... which only makes it weirder.

I've run across several really weirdo fans recently. Yes. Weirder than me. The one above � actually on a list not relating to my band � who says she used to be friends with this famous person and now would like to get in touch with him again. So she wrote to a mailing list of his fans to see if anyone knew of a way to reach him. Okay, fine, people pointed her to his management company and to his brother's website (his brother is in a band also but is not quite as famous and is a bit more accessible). Fine. Sane so far.

So then she writes to the list again saying I haven't heard anything yet but I'm beginning to think maybe he isn't writing back because he DOES remember me, and the last time I saw him a bunch of us got really wasted and did some disgusting shameful things and maybe he doesn't want to remember.

Hmmmm. Way to make an old now-famous friend want to greet you again. Not only do you remind him of a bad time in his life, but please, please, tell all his fans.

The other fan suddenly burst out on one of the mailing lists with this long explanation of why she hasn't posted for so long (to be quite honest, no one was wondering) and it included information about how she started stalking a band member and how the band then proceeded to put out an entire album consisting of veiled messages to and about her specifically. The entire message of the album was to tell her to go away, and to warn the rest of the music industry about her. I am not exaggerating. In fact, I'm toning down. Her message was about how she's so much better now, and isn't stalking the guy any more, and isn't dangerous to him, and has to make him understand that. No no no honey. A sign that you're not a stalker anymore is that you leave the guy ALONE. Continuing to chase him to convince him you're not a stalker is most likely counter productive.

Along that line of "hey, I might be bad, but I'm not the worst," comes this bit of quasi-info from an MSNBC article:

"While most Americans carry between five and 10 credit cards, some people carry up to 50 -- which could wreak havoc on your credit score."

Can that be true?? Fifty?? Okay, not to nit-pick, but you can't possibly CARRY fifty. I have about 30 cards for various frequent-flier, frequent-guest and frequent-travel-type plans. No way do I CARRY them all. If I did I'd have to pay fees for overweight luggage. But backing off the semantics... do people really have fifty credit cards? Even counting store credit cards? Wow. I feel better.

Funny credit card story. A week or so ago I noticed that my husband got an envelope in the mail that seemed to have a credit card in it. You know, one of those envelopes that is relatively unmarked and plain, sitting there trying to be inconspicuous, but that obviously has a hard flat, credit-card-shaped and credit-card sized thing in it. I kept forgetting to tell him he should check the mail because it looked like he had a credit card in there, but hey, it was right there on the counter where the current mail lives. He knows that.

So the other night, we were in the kitchen, just coincidentally standing on either side of the counter, talking, and he said, "You know, Capital One, with all their Vikings and pillagers and 'What's In Your Wallet,' they need to pay attention, because my card is expiring at the end of this month and they haven't sent me a new one yet." I looked down at the pile of mail and just happened to be able to put my hands RIGHT on that envelope, which did happen to have "Capital One" on it. I picked it up, handed it to him and said, "Are you sure?"

He mumbled something about the postmark being July 1 and they sure were cutting it close. Man that was funny. I couldn't have planned that. I'm aware you had to be there, but it was funny.

In other news...

I ordered some ink cartridges from a place online. One that they sent me was the wrong type. No huge deal. I wrote them to say, hey you sent me the wrong one, I'd like to exchange it for the right one. Should I just send this one back to you with a note or what? I get an email back from them yesterday saying, "We apologize for the inconvenience, you've been credited for the wrong one and charged for the right one, and the pickup and delivery will take place tomorrow." Oh, really. It will? Did you expect me to be waiting at my kitchen door, toner in hand, to make the switch? Is it me or shouldn't there be some additional instructions there? There was no return label in the package, so do I seal it back up and address it myself? Do I leave it at the door? I don't even know if it's UPS or the postal service or who, who is supposed to make this exchange. Information, please. I wrote back yesterday morning and asked if I should just leave it at the door or what, and they answered me THIS morning, saying someone would get back to me within 24 hours. Well, guess the pickup part of that pickup and delivery won't actually be taking place today. It's only a $12 ink cartridge; maybe they just don't care that much.

And oh yeah one other thing... when you find out that I'm going to be included in a 1:00 meeting, and you KNOW that I thought I was NOT included, could you please tell me when you find out, rather than coming over to my desk at 1:05 and saying, "are you coming?" Yeesh.

my mood -

the mood of the whole world wide bleepin' web -