Posting early b/c I’ll be gone all day—client meetings across the bay, a lunch meeting, taking a pal to the airport in the afternoon, and then doing my dayjob work at night when I finally have a chance to be in the office.

Seriously hectic week. This weekend I can’t wait to closet myself in and write!

Got my prize from Katrina. Thanks, Katrina!

And my Good Karma prizes went out on Thursday. Not without drama. I took them all to my local USPS, where the lady got snippy with me because I had a couple strips of scotch tape on the packages.

Now. If the rule is no scotch tape, then the rule is no scotch tape. I don’t care about that. But I’ve been mailing packages with scotch tape for literally years (before Good Karma Tuesday, I used to be a serious swap addict for scrapbooking stuff) and nobody has ever once mentioned it. This woman says it’s always been the rule in the entire history of the USPS, and I need to go home and re-package everything. Or… I could buy their super-expensive tape on the wall behind me, and redo everything right there. So, fine. I do not have the time to waste to go home and redo it all. (And later, at Walmart, I saw the same tape for literally 1/3 the price. Prolly because 3-year-olds make it in a sweatshop somewhere, but still. I bet the USPS tape is made in the same toddler sweatshop.)

I think it’s my local post office. Before I moved across town, I never had a problem. Now, at this branch, if I include anything inside a card–or even put a slightly puffy sticker on a card, for example–they charge me twice the stampage. Maybe they’re the only branch who really plays by the rules. Or maybe they hate me. Hard to say.

Either way, they did their job (ie drove me crazy) and the packages are out there. If you’re a recent winner, keep your eye on your mailbox. (And don’t forget to leave a long comment thread complimenting the lovely, lovely tape on the package. *g) Even the one I sent to Egypt will allegedly arrive within 6 business days, so yay. =)

YOUR TURN: Tell me about a time a simple trip to the post office (or errand of your choice) spiraled into hair-pulling aggravation. I can’t be alone in this. Share!

P.S. If you’re a recent winner and never mailed me your address, what are you waiting for?? =)

What is it with Real Life and The Day Job? Once in a while, they rear their ugly heads and balloon into such proportions as there’s no time left for blogging or writing or critiquing or reading or going through all my email? (Hence the post title: Aargh.)

Goals for today:
1) Client work (gotta pay the mortgage)
2) Respond to urgent emails (gotta unbury my inbox)
3) Post Office (gotta mail all those Good Karma prizes!)
4) Grocery store (gotta eat, since I’m in town for a few weeks)
5) If possible, crit (L & D, this means you! *g)
6) If yet more time exists, make blog rounds

Goals for tomorrow:
1) Client work (it’s relentless!)
2) Off-site client meeting (hour’s drive each way–yuck)
3) Further attack overflowing Inbox
4) Help my friend’s daughter with her Spanish for an exam
5) Make a blog post, do blog rounds as much as possible
6) If the gods smile upon me: more CP critting

Goals for Saturday:
1) Watch from safety of kitchen while friend’s daughter mows my lawn
2) Set up laptop in front of story board and finally make time to work on revision
3) (Possibly) meet other pals at Borders or similar for yet more writing fun
4) Ignore client work! Mua ha haaaaaaaaaa *choke* (well, unless there’s an emergency)

YOUR TURN: Ever had Real Life or school/dayjob interfere with the good stuff (Email/blog/writing)? How do you deal/compensate/reshuffle? Please spill all tips, tricks, and horror stories!

So, as you may or may not know, my pal Lacey‘s birthday was this month and she celebrated all month long, going out two or three times a week. I was like, wow, I’m totally going to do that when it gets close to my birthday! (Moron alert: it is close to my birthday. *bangs head on desk*) I then completely forgot all about it, as is my style.

So then a couple days ago in the mail, I get this giant box from my bff Carrie F, who lives 1000 miles north of here. You may remember her as the pal who came to visit me about a month ago who had to beta-read for her breakfast. When I saw the package, my first thought was, “What on Earth?” because I was thinking, usually the person owning the house has to send forgotten stuff to the person who left the house (not that Carrie’s forgetful, but my family is. My mom had to mail home my niece’s shoes once, etc) and I was generally flabbergasted.

Determined to be flabbergasted no more, I opened the box and what do you know–birthday presents! For me! So then I was like, WTF. It’s not my birthday. (Moron alert: Yes, it is. Next week. *bangs head on desk*) And it wasn’t until I glanced at a calendar (which the Mavens can tell you I’ve no skill in deciphering) that I put two and two together and got Oct 2 is right around the corner.

So. It’s not only too late for me to do a month of pre-partying, it’s also almost too late to plan anything for the weekend of my birthday, which is in a few days, or my birthday itself, which is a week from tomorrow. I was thinking about doing nothing at all, but then a friend of mine fish-slapped me into submission, so I guess I’ll get into revelry/debauchery/shenanigans of some kind or another.

Possibly even involving me getting out of the house.

YOUR TURN: When’s YOUR birthday? Are you excited about them? How (if at all) do you celebrate them? What was the craziest thing you ever did in honor of your birthday, or the birthday of a friend/family member? What was the funniest? The most boring? The wildest? Spill all! I need do/don’t ideas!

P.S. I’m over at the Manuscript Mavens today, yammering about the Golden Heart contest and the RITA contest.

So, if you’ve chatted with me in the blogosphere for any length of time, you know I have a soft spot for analogies. Analogies make me swoon.

Evidence from my recent blatherings:
* Pitching is like The Princess Bride analogy
* Websites are like Houses analogy
* Agents are like Pawn Shops analogy

So, imagine my expression last night during an instant messaging chat with my youngest brother (currently an engineering student at Respected University) when this little gem sprang forth:

[23:21] YB: My math TA made the greatest analogy today
[23:21] YB: we were talking about limits where x goes to infinity
[23:21] YB: and so we had a polynomial over a polynomial
[23:22] YB: he wanted to show us that it depended on the degree of the polynomial and not the actual polynomial, so he made an analogy (you have to imagine an Indian accent with this)
[23:23] YB: he said that if it is degree 3, divided by degree 2 (or anything where it is larger on top) then it is just infinity
[23:24] YB: he said that if you compare two dissimilar stuffs (yes, he said stuffs), then it is like comparing an elephant to an ant, where if you subtract the weight of the ant from the elephant, then you still get an elephant
[23:25] ER: that’s awesome stuffs
[23:25] YB: its not done
[23:25] ER: oh boy
[23:26] YB: if the degree is the same then you need to look at the numbers in front, because if you compare to similar stuffs, then you are comparing an elephant to elephant, and if you subtract an elephant from another elephant you end up with something smaller, like a cow.

Wow.

YOUR TURN: Go ahead, make me swoon. Dish me up the craziest analogy you can think of, about any topic you want. Be creative! If you add a blog comment to another blog comment, you get something bigger than a blog comment. Like a cow.