Citibank = Spammers
How annoying is this? I was just out in the knitting shop helping a customer, when this young guy and chick walk in. They’re wearing matching Citibank lanyards so I figure they’ve come over from a meeting or something.

Me: What can I help you with?
Guy: We’re just going around to all the businesses in the area let you know about our great low interest rates–
Me: I’m sorry, what?
Guy: We got a great new low interest rate going.
Me: *blank stare* For what, loans?
Guy: Yes.
Me: You’re in here… during the work day… offering me a loan?
Guy: We’re just going to everyone on this street–
Me: I’m sorry; we’re working in a knitting shop. We’re not interested in loans.
Guy: But–
Me: And I personally make it a policy not to respond to unsolicited commercial… SPAM.
Chick: What part of America are you from? *smarmy grin*
Me: Uh, Indiana.
Chick: Do they have a lot of marketing over there?
Me: I wouldn’t know. I’ve been here for five years.
Guy: When is the business owner available?
Me: He’s upstairs right now. SERVING CUSTOMERS.
Guy: We’ll come back later.
Me: You can try your luck, but I doubt it’ll work…

Spam. People spam. How is this different from cold calling? It’s even more confrontational since it’s IN MY FACE. (And of course, there’s no National “Do Not Pester Me in Person” Registry.) It’s annoying enough to get off the bus at Town Hall and have to run the gauntlet of chuggers and beggars; I don’t need marketroids following me into the workplace. And what’s up with asking where I come from? It’s like she was suggesting that only Americans would find their tactics objectionable. WHATEVER. I should send in a complaint.

DIY Peeps. *shudder*

The cover art for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been revealed! I have to say, the US cover is about ten times better than the British one. The latter looks like a freakin’ Pratchett book.I suppose the only real spoiler is that Harry is wearing Slytherin’s amulet, right? I like the close-up of it on the adult cover. Very nice. But what’s up with Ron and Hermione breaking into Gringott’s with him? And Ron‘s wielding Gryffindor’s sword??

For those that taped The Chaser tonight, the best shot of us came right after the “Qantas choir” bit. The camera pulls back across the audience and – if you look towards the top, about six rows behind the “Brian Burke associates” – you can see a very familiar mustache. And I’m the one in pink sitting beside it.

I’ll see if the Snook can get a screenshot later.

I read this article on password hacking, and now I’m setting proper (different!) passwords on all my sites. Which I should’ve done a long time ago. But I’m lazy.

Reason #412 Why We Haven’t Reproduced:
The Snook and I have been laboring under the delusion that our washing machine was broken all week. We called the nice folks at Direct Appliance Service to come take a look at it. The guy fiddled with the knob and know it works perfectly. There wasn’t anything wrong with it; we probably just overloaded it. Thankfully, the nice man didn’t even charge us the call-out fee. (Hence my public recommendation.) Now you may laugh at us.

Later: No, wait! It really is broken. The damn thing stopped working again.

“Once a jolly knitter sat beside a billabong…” Mary-Helen has given us a new patriotic song for the ages. And she’s not even Australian!

The Snook and I joined Amy tonight for the taping of the first episode of The Chaser’s War on Everything‘s new season. After spending more than an hour penned in by Security, waiting for the boys to finish rehearsal, we were ready for some laughs. The set looked great (including Fiona’s Trojan horse) and the Easter eggs the guys threw to the crowd were much appreciated. The show was extra long since they had a lot of material from over the summer, so I imagine it’ll get trimmed down a fair bit. My favorite bit were the nudists. Yes, they really did get naked in the studio. Be sure to watch tomorrow night at 9pm! (Or download it if you’re not local…)

Minus: The coffee shop was out of Diet Coke this morning.

Plus: Albert and Mrs Morris went to see Scoop on the weekend, and apparently Mrs M kept saying through the whole movie how much I looked like Scarlett Johansson. W00t!

Note to Americans: Daylight Savings has finally ended here in Sydney – *sob!* – so the time difference has changed. We’re now ten hours behind Indiana time (plus one day), and seven hours behind LA time (again, plus one day).