Business Letters - How to Write a Thank You Letter

In a competitive market, every little edge you can give yourself is important. One of the least used techniques is the thank-you letter, and yet it is one of the most powerful.

Think about it for a moment. Your business receives a lovely letter from a customer thanking you and your team for wonderful service. How do you feel? What do you do with the letter?

Chances are, if you are like most managers, the letter makes you feel great, you get energised and feel happy. You may go and share the letter with your admin staff members or read it out to your team. Sometimes you put the letters into a folder to show prospective customers, pin them up on the staff noticeboard or even use them as a testimonial... all from a simple letter that someone took the time to write.

Now consider, how many people have seen the name of the person writing the letter? How many employees now feel positively towards the letter writer? What is the chance that the person who wrote the letter will get much warmer service from your team the next time they visit? When they do, will the letter writer feel even better about your business?

Now imagine you were the letter writer. Writing a thank you letter has three great benefits - it makes you, as a writer, feel fantastic. It makes the person receiving it feel great and it has positive flow-on effects for your business and your team in your business.

Psychologists have studied this virtuous circle, and have found that the positives keep increasing provided nothing enters into the loop to stop it.

Are you convinced that saying thank you is a good thing for your business? If you want to start a Thank You campaign, where do you start?

Thank you letters can be sent to suppliers who give great service, loyal customers, team members who go above and beyond the call of duty, candidates who applied for vacancies with your team - there is always someone who has done something nice for your business, or touched your business in a positive way.

So what are the three main rules for how to write a thank you letter?

Keep it:

Fresh - Write it within 48 hours of the event

Specific - Include details of why specifically what the person did that was brilliant. We have all had the "You've done well" sort of notes and they are not as motivating as notes that say "I truly appreciate that you took the time to learn more about our company and to spend time with us in an interview. I know interviews can be nerve racking, yet you presented confidently and warmly. I particularly liked your response to xyz question - it was well thought out."

Sincere - If you don't mean it - don't say it. Be honest and sincere in your thanks.

A few other tips:


Always proof your letter before you send it. Typos or spelling errors can detract from your message.
There is also some debate about handwritten vs typed letters. If you are writing to a specific person, then handwritten is a nice touch. Typed letters are better for businesses (or if your handwriting resembled hieroglyphics).
Remember to match the medium to the message. By that, I mean a tasteful card is perfect for individuals, but for businesses, then corporate printed post-cards or letterhead works well.
Email your thanks as a last resort. For some reason, email thanks don't seem to generate the same emotional response within people, so the more traditional ink and paper versions will give you the best results.
Yes, I know in our busy lives that writing thank you cards may seem hard to do. The trick is to keep a stack of cards close to hand, and make 15 minutes in your diary once a week to write some thank you cards. Do this, and you will be amazed at the difference those 15 minutes will make to your business.

Ingrid Cliff is a Brisbane copywriter and the Chief Word Wizard of Heart Harmony - her writing services studio that helps put your business into words. Visit her website for a free copy of " Copywriting Secrets: Seven Secrets of Compelling Copy and Powerful Words".

Guide to Using Promotional Rush Items For Business

The time element is usually the biggest problem in promoting a brand to customers. There may have been instances in your business where you needed to advertise at an event for example, and you were pressed with time. There is an easy way to solve this problem. Create promotional rush products for your business marketing and you can surely make your brand popular in any upcoming event that you will have.

Using rush items for business marketing comes with a lot of advantages. Most important of all, these products can easily be produced. Only for a couple of days, you will definitely have a promotional product that has your business name or logo imprinted on it. Aside from that, these items come in the widest range of options. This will give you enough elbow room in picking the item that you think would be best to represent your brand.

In choosing to promote your business with personalized rush items, it is important that you place a stylish imprint of your business name or logo. The printing spaces available on these items vary from limited to expansive. Regardless of the spaces available, however, you should place a design that will grab the attention of your customers. Here are more tips on choosing rush products for business advertising:

1. Choose quality - worrying on your advertising work for an upcoming event does not mean that you should compromise the durability of your promotional product. With customized rush items, you should pick those which are made of quality materials. This will bring you years of promotion and countless advertisements.

2. Minimize the costs - rush items generally come in cheap. Despite this affordability, you should still try ways that will lessen the costs that your business has to pay. Buying these items in bulk is a good way to cut the costs.

3. No hassle - Marketing a brand and making it popular to clients is hard in itself. As such, you should find the supplier of these promotional rush items that can make you advertise your brand without additional troubles. Make sure that the supplier can have your promotional products delivered on time, and with more perks, if possible.

Beth Loggins is a promotional items expert on rush promotional products & top promotional products. Read articles by Beth Loggins on how you can market your products.

Unique Business Card Ideas

There are so many ways the business card can be turned into a unique piece of art. It still remains a puzzle why most of us tend to stick with the regular plain versions. In as much as the card is set out to be unique this does not mean it should confuse the client with all the creative genius behind it.

To begin with, there is the character and cartoon based cards. These are excellent for event planners and for those dealing with children's items from clothes, toys and even restaurants. For this category, the more colorful the card is then the better for the business. The second type of creative business card is the pouched card. This is better for the corporate types and the fact that it comes with its own casing makes it all the better.

The third type of unique business card that can be used for all the above ventures is the clear card. The lettering on this card can be done in any color so long as the base paper is either clear or transparent. A combination of opaque and transparent or translucent sections can also be used on the card. This has a very dramatic visual effect and almost guarantees that the client will pay your company a visit if only to look around and know what you are all about. Being the main function of the card this would be a great place to begin.

When it comes to housing the card, this could be done in several ways and one of the most interesting is using a fortune cookie. This is better suited for businesses in the creative sector be it an art or media based company.

A creative or unique card should still pass on the message on the business as effectively as possible. The shape of the card should fit into any wallet easily and not pop out every time the person needs to take out some cash.

Looking for affordable business cards? Look no further. PrintOx offers business card printing for insane prices - 1,000 for $50, 2,500 for $95, and 5,000 for $125. All orders receive Free shipping! PrintOx offers free perks including 16pt cardstock, free full color printing (front and back), and free UV Coating. That's hard to beat. Check out the site today through one of the links above.

George Carlin - A huge loss to comedy and Humankind in general

As most of you know, George Carlin died a couple of weeks ago. I never really thought I'd live to see the day, despite the fact that he was 71 and I'm only 29. That may sound strange but it just seemed like he could live forever, seriously! I mean it was like nothing could stop him. No matter how fucked up humanity was, he was there to observe it. No matter how corrupt the government got, he was there to point it out, and no matter how dismal it all seemed, in the end he could make us laugh about it.

As an aspiring comic I definitely tried to take a page from the Book of Carlin. He was an inspiration to me because even though it seemed like he was pissed off all the time, he could make me laugh right in the middle of it. I've always kinda done the same thing with friends, family and coworkers although not anywhere near the same level as George. I was told by several of them that even when I seem so pissed off and even when it’s for a legitimate reason, I can always work a joke or two into my rantings and ravings. I can drone on about something for an hour and throw in shots that get laughs despite the fact that I am neither trying nor going for a laugh directly.

I can't really recall the first time I saw or even heard of George Carlin. I remember his stint on Shining Time Station as Mr. Conductor. A role he either took over for or from Ringo Starr (I'm not entirely sure), but, despite his comedy style being completely unsuitable for children, he did a great job -- or so I thought anyway. I also remember his short-lived show on FOX, The George Carlin Show, where he played a disgruntled cabbie who pretty much shared the grim world view of Carlin himself. In true FOX fashion they cancelled the show, probably because they were pressured by some dark and shadowy figures in the government to "Shut that guy up." Carlin did tear 'The man' a new asshole every now and again, something which I will miss greatly. He also had two hilarious roles in the Kevin Smith movies Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back where he played a Cardinal and a Drifter respectively. Of course the most important role he ever played, in my opinion, was Rufus from the Bill and Ted movies. He played their time traveling guide from the future, but without the annoying little remote control that guy from Quantum Leap had. Just Carlin, a phone booth and some blind faith in two stoners from San Dimas to travel through time and save the world with their music, despite the fact they couldn't play a note... now that's good watching!

But most definitely it's his stand-up comedy that I will miss the most. I have seen several of his HBO specials and have one of them on my iPod for easy access listening. I intend to get more.

I was very shocked and saddened by his death. I will always regret that I never got to see him perform live, that I never got to meet him and shake his hand, but most of all that I never got to thank him personally for all that he had taught me, about both comedy and about people. He will be missed by everyone who likes to think for themselves and anyone who ever got so frustrated with the world that they just needed to laugh about it. We will miss you George Carlin, thank you for everything you taught us.

Of Fun and Grief

Me, this is my version of fun: A dinner party, about 10 people. Four friends beside myself. The five of us having each brought a person no one else knows. The five outsiders turning out to know people in common with us, turning out to be so cool we all want to stay up all night talking. A huge dining room table in a candlelit room. Hand-painted dishes, filled with each person's favorite foods, their family recipes: salads with mysterious ingredients and tastes, bite-size appetizers that are salty and sweet, soft and spicy, dips, wines, burgers and basmati rice, treats for our mouths, flavored words. Everyone telling stories about their travels. Composing stories by each person writing a sentence and a half, folding the paper over so the last few words are showing, passing it along to the next person who continues the story. Reading them out loud. Merging our thoughts into wild scenarios. Everyone with a belly ache the next morning from flexing muscles they didn't know they had when they were laughing the night before, so much, so hard, so real. Everyone wondering when we can all get together again.
Being alone can also be fun for me. A friend of mine once told me that I was missing out by not liking to be alone. After years of not being able to be alone, of thinking it's weird and antisocial, I now long for it. I still want to be alone sometimes even though I have a spouse, but I enjoy it immensely and find that it helps my relationship with my husband, because it gives me time to think, grieve if I need to, and to miss him. This type of quiet fun, for me, is not a rush - it is a calm, peaceful afternoon propped up on tons of soft pillows and reading a great book or watching a totally engrossing movie, analyzing and observing life.

The past year has been a sad one for me. My brother, sister and I lost our mother to cancer. My father lost his spouse of 42 years. My niece lost her grandmother. My aunt lost her sister. My cousins lost their aunt. My mother's friends lost a friend. But, Carolyn, my mother, lost everything and every one, including her life.

So, combine loss plus laughing, guilt plus fun. This has often been a terribly confusing and overwhelming equation for me to stomach, let alone manage in life without going crazy. How do I cope when the closest person in the world to me died and sliced our MeWe in half with a gigantic knife of fate, turning our Us into a Me, our We into an I. When, initially, there was no one to replace or complete the MeWe I felt with my mother, I felt like a soldier with a missing limb. I had and still have "phantom limb," or "phantom Mom," reaching for her, thinking she is still next to me in the movies, next to me in an art gallery, on the opposite receiver during a phone call. But she is not there, she is not waiting to teach me about the next sculpture, she is not ever going to answer the phone again. No one will ever again tell me to sit up straight. No one will see me through the eyes in the back of their head. And because I do not yet have my own children, I feel as though I am floating, disconnected to the earth because the body that gave birth to me is now returned to the earth.

In the time that has passed, I realized that I have choices. I thought for months that I could be self-destructive, because those self-destroying acts were something I wouldn't want to tell her about, and if I didn't need to talk to her, then it didn't matter that she was gone. But when the grief does not overcome me, although sometimes it does, I can move on and enjoy my life and my interests without feeling guilty. We were voodoo dolls, my mother and I, feeling for each other in pain and happiness. She always made me feel like I was getting her life right the second time, by doing what she did not have enough courage to accomplish. I just have to find someone else talk to now - my dear father, my dear friends, and my caring husband. And maybe I can teach them, by channeling to them what mother taught me, about learning, about art, about life. My solutions.

I read quite a bit. My mother taught me how to read, encouraged it my whole life and was herself reading even a few hours before her death. I need to believe that Amazon.com fills orders in Heaven so I can discuss all these books with her when I see her again. And I exercise as much as I can. Walking on the beach or vigorously on a treadmill is empowering. I write! I take classes. I cook. I visit with my family, trying to memorize our history, most details of which died with my mother. I breathe. I cry. I dream. And I hope that she was proud of me.

When my mother found out just how ill she was, she was sad more than scared or angry. She merely said to me, "I'm going to miss out on all the fun." What better reason to have more fun now. Have it for the both of us.

About Contemporary Bathroom Vanities

Contemporary bathroom vanities are not as decorative and ornate as the traditional models, but they still add a lot of character and elegance to the bathroom. Most contemporary bathroom vanities are made of ceramic with wood cabinets. They are designed with function in mind so that your bathroom looks appealing and will get a lot of use. There are many styles of bathroom vanities that you can choose from. When looking though your options, you should take several things into consideration that will help you to find the right one.
Most contemporary bathroom vanities are already installed in a new house, but if you want to replace your sink with a new one, it is not a difficult process. One thing you should keep in mind is the size of the space that the sink takes up so that you can find a similar bathroom vanity to fill it in. it is probably in your best interest to have a professional help you plan it out and install it in the bathroom. By ensuring that your contemporary bathroom vanities are working to their full potential, you will be happy with them and will be able to enjoy them for years to come. Enjoy everything that contemporary bathroom vanities have to offer.

TOUR

Hey, all we do is tour anymore. In a few years when we stop playing so many shows we'll start writing more interesting things on this blog, and then publish it as a book. Until then, if you want to hear something interesting, just come up to one of us at a show and ask for David.

April 6 - Detroit @ The Magic Stick
April 8 - Minneapolis @ The Triple Rock
April 9 - Winnepeg @ The Royal Albert Arms WITH UK SUBS
April 10 - Regina @ The Distrikt
April 11 - Calgary @ Royal Canadian Legion
April 12 - Edmonton @ The Pawn Shop
April 14 - Vancouver @ The Biltmore
April 15 - Seattle @ Neumos
April 19 - Coachella Festival
April 20-29 US cross country discovery drive (applicants welcome)

Slightly behind = more motivation

"Encouraging people to see themselves as behind others, albeit only slightly, should increase motivation."

That's from the conclusion of an academic paper that I read about in the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ reported:

According to their [Jonah Berger and Devin Pope] findings, men's college basketball teams increase their chances of winning by 5.5% to 7.7% if they are behind by a single point at halftime. In fact, if a team goes to the locker room after 20 minutes down by one point, they actually have a 51.3% chance of winning the game.

I think most people recognize what they reported. If you are a little bit behind your competition, you work pretty hard to do better. It is encouraging to be just a little bit behind.

Top 7 reasons why I joined IT ...

1) I hated sleep.


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2) I had enjoyed my life enough.


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3) I couldn't live without tension.


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4) I wanted to pay for my sins.


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5) I believed in the Bhagwad Geeta principle : Do work,Don't care about results.


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6) Everything in life has a reason; I wanted to prove it wrong.


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7) I wanted to take revenge on myself .


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WhatEVER, Australia.

Are you all retarded? I was the best PM eva! I did so much awesome stuff for this country, like pretty much single-handedly keeping the economy strong with Workchoices and keeping dirty foreigners out and stuff. Not to mention the power walking! Eleven years of power walking! 4015 days! With just one hour of strutting my hot prime ministerial body around every one of those days -- that's 240,900 minutes of blood, sweat, tears and green tracksuits that I gave to you people! And what do I get for it? Kicked out in favour of some pinko journalist because she danced ONCE! And it's not even that she's a chardonnay sipping, tree-hugging, watermelon former ABC employee -- she's also a ginga! A blood nuts, fanta pants red-head. Gross. You also voted for a smug, dweeby little geek, which... ugh. WE had a monopoly on smug. Like Alexander Downer wasn't good enough for you people? Tony Abbott's condescending laugh? And NO ONE smirks like Peter Costello smirks. Although, nice going, Peter, you spaz. You whinge like a little baby for the leadership and NOW I give it to you and you don't want it? It's so obvious he only wanted to be leader because I was, and now I'm not, he doesn't want it. Real mature, Peter, you der-brain.You've also got another commie ginger pubes and her barren womb kitchen and a washed-up rock star.Yeah, good work, voters. Clap, clap for the handicaps. Anyway, now I've pretty much chosen to retire (for real, I pretty much GAVE it to Maxine), I can go and do better things than be the PM. I mean, I didn't even really want to be the leader anymore, anyway. And I think it's time I lived out my true calling: to become a professional cricketer. I'm not even 70 yet, and I'm in better shape than Shane Warne (and, as Janette will tell you, I'm pretty good at sending HOT SMSes -- like: 'hai janette, i wld ttly like 2 c yr brassiere' and 'u hav a good buttoxx'). I still wield a pretty mean kanga cricket bat and shaved down tennis ball, and I have my own gold and green tracksuits. Although, another job I would like is to be the next Australian Idol judge, because oh my GOD, that decision was the real let down of election weekend. Matt was sooo cool, and oh, those blue eyes... swoon! Although, not winning DOES mean we have something in common! And neither of us are going to let that get in our way. I'm not going to become some hack Young Diva just 'cause I lost ONE election. I'm going to be a Shannon Noll. I'm going to be an Anthony Callea (minus the gay). Not so much a Jessica Mauboy, 'cause she was black and stuff. And Kevin is going to be a Casey Donovan or a Kate DeAraugo. Not even -- you wouldn't even make Idol, Kevin. you're Scott Cain. You're Scandal'us. You're Random.And Bob Brown is Joel Turner -- a stupid novelty, but he didn't even make it to the real show. The Democrats are the Beatbox Alliance. Anyway, Australia, I guess I'll catch you later, seeing as you don't want to be friends with me anymore, or whatever. Just don't come running back to ME when this whole country becomes a communist hell-hole where like, everyone has to share food and play hacky-sack and wear those Che Guevara t-shirts.Peace out.J. Ho.

Introducing: Charles A. Floyd, II the originator of this revolutionary method

FAPWINNER.COM,





A. Who I amI am a son, brother cousin, nephew, husband, and father. Ihave a house, 2 cars, a mortgage-no different than mostpeople. I have traded currencies, stocks, options,commodities and futures for over 20 years.B. My Past.In the past all of my trading was done manually. Hours onend, sitting sitting in front of a computer, or callingtrade tickets in to the broker. Getting up early in the morning, and after 3 hours, my body and mind felt like it had worked a full 8 hours or more. I needed a break. I wanted to have the computer do all of my tradng for me, but how? The idea of computerized trading is nothing new. The New York stock exchange has been doing it for years, it called programmed trading. When ever the Dow reached a certain high or low, the computer would kick in and either buy or sell. I wanted that. These program trading plans are called Expert Advisors. That was what I needed. An expert advisor. I had plenty of money, now I needed a life. Money with no life is just like being dead-because you can' t enjoy what is around you. I wanted to spend what reamininglife I had with my family. It was time.C.My DiscoveryIn my search, I tried numberous Eas. They were garbage.They worked for a while and then quit, or they were really scams, or they were to cumbersome to use, or they required me to learn some complex mumbo-jumbo.Then I found it. The Forex Auto pilot EA. Originally when I heard about it, it was a bunch od Eas that were sold together that did not work very well. I used them anyway. Anything to keep from sitting in front of a screen. I still found myself over riding the EA . Then, I heard that there was a new forex auto pilot EA (our update right after the launch of forexautopilot note from: Marcus B. Leary) that replaced ALL of the others. I was unimpressed but since it was a free upgrade, I got it.IT WORKED VERY WELL and still does with a 94% win quote.But something was missing. It had no plan, no direction.It left too many questions unanswered. Then it hit me.Could I adapt a trading plan that had worked well forstocks for this EA?Any good trading plan must have 3 components. One: money management-you must trade within your means, and have some in reserve. TWO: Trade management-You must have a planned entry and exit point. Three: you MUST know when to increase or decrease your trading size.So I began to use the same trading plan that had workedwell for me in stocks to trade the forex market but tweakedit just a bit. WOW! Things really began to heat up. But now there was a new problem. The EA was finding the trend, but not Riding the trend. The EA did well at opening positions, but I would often have to sit and wait for the trade to go my way. I knew that there had to be a way of getting in at the right time-not before the trend is moving, and not after the trend has died.My researchI began to study the EA. Learn everything I could about it. What made it work? Why did it take this trade now, and not later? The first key was understanding the FAP secret settings. By adjusting the settings, I found a way to have the EA not just find the trend, but RIDE the trend. But I was still confused on where to get out of the trade. After doing some exhaustive research, optimization and back breaking back testing, and reading bar charts of the euro, I found the perfect combinations. In back testing it worked perfectly.I had found the secret to making FAP work perfectlygenerating usd 1.000.000 within 2 years!By this time, I found several websites that had mixedreviews about FAP (forexautopilot) : It did not work for everyone , the customer service was totally overladen, ittraded without a stop.... If I had not personallyexperienced FAP and had notbeen working with it all of that time, I would havebelievedwhat I heard. I decided to prove that FAP did indeed work.I started the FAPUG Group on April 19, 2008 to offer help and hope to FAP users. I also approached the Creator of FAP Mr. Marcus Leary to get his blessing for my group.He was impressed with my work, research and customerservice skills. He gave me his ring, and crowned me thefirst ever MASTER FAP Trader. Now that small group hasgrown to over 800 members, we boast of an international following, and have garnered the respect of the forex worldSomething was still missing. We needed a home-a gatedcommunity if you will, that would be able to offer thelatest news, live quotes, technical and emotional support,a incubator for new ideas, but mostly a safe place-freefrom forex scams and scammers. FAP-WINNER was born.FAP-WINNER.COM is a gated community built for FAP Traders,BY FAP traders.At FAP-WINNER, com , the FAP trader has everything theyneed to trade FAP successfully, and it is the home to theFAP COMPREHENSIVE Trading System. The 3 components that virtually assure trading success-The optimized FAP EA, The world famous FAPTS Trading plan, and the wildly popular hedging EA. Using these 3 tools in combination, we can show you how to earn over $1 million dollars in about two years no even better.. we TAKE YOU BY THE HAND.FAPWINNER.COM,

Most Exciting Blog Entry Ever!

Ha, ha. Made you look. But being the day after a holiday stretch, I decided it was time to pay a little attention to Ms. HP. Break was good. I stayed here in town. I am allergic to the very notion of traveling for Thanksgiving--too much traffic and commotion. So I exercised my right to stay put. I spent Turkey Day with friends, at an "orphans" Thanksgiving Dinner complete with a ton of food and even more booze. On Friday, several of us decided it would be wise to start drinking at 3:00 pm, and thus Saturday was spent recovering from that. As much of my crew is younger and thus, more resilient than I, I spent Saturday night watching them reprise Friday while I nursed a ginger ale and moaned about my rapidly advancing age. I was simply exhausted. So much so that when a very odd boy starting talking to me, I lacked the energy to get up and move. You know those people you meet when out and you can't decide if they're weird in a funny and alluring way, or weird in a scary or at the very least annoying way? That's basically what this dude is. I was personally somewhat delighted to be chatting with him, but I know for a fact that my friends don't like him. But since I am no longer in the 8th grade, I should make decisions about people based on my own intuition and experience, rather than what my friends think, right? Moreover, my friends have rather large, exuberant personalities, and I find that people with those sorts of dispositions sometimes misjudge those of us who are less extroverted or well socialized. But then again, I have a tendency to give strangers too much credit for being cool, and find out the hard way that they're not worth getting into it with. But then again, it's not as if I'm perfect either. But I did give the potential weirdo my email address and am now trying to figure out what to do with him. On the way to the ATM to find cash for a cab home from the Hill I spotted my Republican bartender ex-paramour and had a delightfully mature exchange with him that did not result in tears, regret, or any other form of emotional trauma on my part. Hooray for distance. Apparently, he scored an office job advancing all sorts of issues I disagree with. But regardless of politics, I'm proud of him. It's nice when you see good things happen to somebody who was once a prominent fixture in your life, if only for a little while. Sunday was all about the productivity for HP because I realized it was the last day of break, and I felt compelled to feel like I did something besides eat and drink. I mosied down to Dupont Circle where, after visiting four stores, did not find any suitable winter boots. From there I bought books: The Washington Story by Adam Langer (follow up to his novel Crossing California) and Lunar Park by Brett Easton Ellis. I was so excited about both that I had a hard time choosing which one to dive into first. I picked the later. Easton Ellis has been one of my favorite authors since I read the Rules of Attraction and heavily identified with its themes of lost youth wasting time and getting wasted at a rural elite liberal arts college. In Lunar Park, Easton places the persona he adopted/was bequeathed with during the 80's and 90's as a cultural zeitgeist/pop culture bad boy in the center of the narrative. It's Easton Ellis writing about Easton Ellis. That's as far as I've gotten but I read fast so I'll be able to provide an update in a few days. Finally, I saw the movie Fur: An Imaginative Portrait of Diane Arbus. And since I wasted two hours of my life watching it, you don't have to. All hail HP. Aside from my fascination with Arbus, I must admit that a large part of my motivation for seeing this film was to drool over Robert Downey Jr, my movie star boyfriend. Alas, his entire body is covered with hair throughout most of the film, making him resemble a Yeti, totally diminishing his beauty and thus ruining my experience of the movie. I also had a hard time buying Nicole Kidman as Diane Arbus. Where Kidman is ethereal and a bit wispy, Arbus was said to have been more earthy and dark. As much as I understand the studio's apparent motivation to hire a well known actress to carry the film, I couldn't help but wish they had been a bit gustier in their casting. Who else, I don't know. But somebody. And finally tonight I am getting a haircut. The folks at Andre C were nice enough to book my last minute. As I have a somewhat love-hate with that place (great cuts, horrid service) I'm sure I will have an adventure to report about that tomorrow.

Take the broccoli. Leave my dignity.

Why, Hamster, why? I am but one poor soul, trying to make my way in the world. I do what every decent citizen is supposed to do. I call my grandmother on her birthday. I recycle whenever there is a recycling bin on my side of the room. For a living, I run a modest blog, where every morning I get up and try to give a little back to the world.

So why do you have to be such a soul-crushing asshole? It's just broccoli, Hamster, I'm not really sure why you are all "Broccoli?! Wow, I never expected broccoli!" Everyone knows hamsters love broccoli. You are not fooling anyone. So my only guess as to why you are making that face is that you are actively trying to destroy me. Well fuck you, Hamster. Because I've got the broccoli now. Or something. Shut up.

Please just go.

Fun with math !

New York Times columnist David Brooks used phony numbers yesterday to raise questions about the proposed stimulus package. "A study by the Congressional Budget Office found that less than half of the money for infrastructure and discretionary programs would be spent by Oct. 1, 2010," he wrote.Trouble is, Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post learned that the study Brooks cites

Random Funny Things My Kids Say

We were at Nordstrom's buying shoes for all three girls when Angus jumps up and begins to run round and round the entire shoe section in large circles.
"What are you doing?" Oldest asks.
Angus comes back and sits next to her.
"I'm spreading my stinkiness all around," she says.
"That way the stinky doesn't stay in only one spot and no one will know it was me! Ooops! Gotta run again!"Oldest shakes her head. "She's crazy!
You should stop her before she gets us kicked out," she says to me."No, don't stop her!" Youngest says. "Otherwise she'll be stinky next to us."Youngest is always right.