Blogger keyword of the day: foeppswy. Sounds like a Yiddish curse: may all our foes get leprosy.

Today's blogger keyword: exjqo.

... minumemtim qere oeremnuis?...

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Overheard at work: lady in charge of merchandising on the phone with a supplier.

"Hey, crazy lady! Why is your price for this package so high? Eighteen-ninety-five? Whachyou putting in them, gold?!"

Firstly, the blogger keyword of the day, given to me on Richard Madeley's blog: phpup.

Well, it'll vary, of course, but to my knowledge the arterial pH of a dog should hover around 7.4, provided it's not panting. (The dog, not the pH.)

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There are times when I just Don't Get It.

Browsing amazon.com, I click on a book with the ponderous title Changes in Cardiovascular Risk Factors During a Two-year Intervention Programme among 13-to 15-Year Old Children and Adolescents (The North Karelia Youth Project) (Paperback). Authored by Erkki Vartialnen, published 1983 by the Research Institute of Public Health. Nothing odd so far.

Don't ask me why a Chicago resident equally far removed from Karelia, cardiology and social work would want to own this publication. It's for my novel. Everything I want to read but can't justify buying is for my novel. At least that's what I'll be telling the IRS when I write it off my taxes.

Anyway, I scroll down to the section called "Tags customers associate with similar products," and... well, how about I just show you, okay? Here is the full list of tags Amazon customers associate with products similar to this book.

(Just a reminder, the title is "Changes in Cardiovascular Risk Factors During a Two-year Intervention Programme among 13-to 15-Year Old Children and Adolescents (The North Karelia Youth Project).")

Tags:

vampire romance (230)
spirituality (184)
vampire (169)
travel (152)
romance (147)
circus (140)
memoir (136)
digital photography (130)
afghanistan (127)
xmen (2)

o_0

I think I'll start a new regular section: fortune-telling on Blogger visual keywords. You know, the ones that the system makes you untwist and copy to prove you have a soul.

My last comment brought me this word: aeaqenxm.

A - E - A - Q - E - N - X - M

Not sure what to make of this... a pair of Aces with a Queen kicker?

Ok, perhaps this isn't going to be a regular section after all.

In other news, I'm now working two jobs. Can someone explain to me why one either has *no* job offers or too many to take on? For a week, I sat on my ass waiting for my editors to get back to me with some news of either my recent submissions or a new project. After a while, it started to seem like their radio silence was a way of taking the French leave from my services, so I trolled craigslist for more gigs and applied for a part-time position as an editor and proofreader at the creative department of a business travel agency. An hour after I sent in the resume, their HR called me and conducted a brief interview. My next call was from the head of the creative team, who told me to sit tight for now, because they've got someone else to shoot down first. Finally, they called back another hour later to tell me I'm hired.

Wh00t, thought I, weeding the rattiest of my 'business casual' shirts from my wardrobe.

When I got there on Friday - they insisted I start immediately, - I was introduced to a team of four copyrighters with lean and hungry looks, all brandishing unfinished spreadsheets, unproofed copies of brochures, and unrevised drafts of program guidelines for business cruises around Puerto Rico. Even the accounting lady peeked out of her receipt-wallpapered cubicle, and the glint in her eyes promised paper cuts. Lots and lots of paper cuts.

In short, it became abundantly clear that they needed a serf, not a temp. At what they're paying, I wouldn't necessarily mind, but yesterday my editors got back to me with apologies, five articles in need of minor but urgent corrections, and an offer to work on another book.

Goodbye, sleep.