Last week, I was chatting with the phlebotomist while I was donating blood. In the course of the conversation, he told me, “You know, one of the first thing we teach new people around here is that if you make a mistake, don’t say “Oops!” or “Uh oh!”

I keep my resume on my personal web site all the time as part of my online profile, even when I’m not looking for a job. As a result, I get quite a few calls from recruiters. Over the years, I’ve discovered that most of them follow a funny pattern:

My cell phone rings. I see that it’s a number I don’t recognize, often from a different area code. The beginning of the call almost invariably goes like this:
Me (using my sonorous, who-the-hell-is-calling voice): ‘Stan Taylor’
Caller: Hi, Stan Taylor? How are you today?
Me (suspicious): Fine, thank you.
Caller: Is this a good time to talk?
Me: I don’t know. What do you want to talk about?
Caller (sounding surprised by my answer): My name is Joe Blow, and I found your resume… I have a position that I think you’re qualified for…

I’m not sure why they always ask how I’m doing before they say anything else. I guess it must be that ‘make a personal connection’ thing. Likewise, I don’t understand why they ask me if it’s a good time to talk before they introduce themselves. I guess if they introduced themselves first and then asked, it would be easier for me just to hang up.

I remembered these photos or Norman, so I thought I should get in on the game…

“Let Are Kids Walk!”
From the accompanying article:

FORT WORTH — Students who had been planning to walk across the stage at graduation ceremonies this weekend were instead walking a picket line Thursday morning.
The Trimble Tech High School seniors marched in front of Fort Worth Independent School District headquarters to protest Wednesday’s decision by trustees to bar students who failed the TAKS test from commencement exercises.

This is an AP story, but if it’s not a hoax, I’m not going to sleep well: 11-year-old boy kills a 1050-pound wild hog with a pistol.
UPDATE: Looks like I can sleep well after all. StinkyJournalism analyzes the photos and concludes that the pig wasn’t really as large as claimed. Quelle surprise!

From this list of party suggestions for Cinco de Mayo:

Put a “border guard” at your front door to give guests the feeling of going through customs.

Last week I ran across this collection of awesome dog-themed CafePress products. I ordered a T-shirt with this one:

I really want one of these:

Today I read this headline and was confused. Here’s the history, I think:

1. AT&T spins off AT&T Wireless
2. AT&T Wireless is bought by Cingular, who gets rid of the AT&T Wireless name
3. Cingular is bought by BellSouth
4. Meanwhile, AT&T is bought by SBC (Southwestern Bell) which promptly renames itself AT&T
5. AT&T (formerly SBC) buys BellSouth, thereby acquiring Cingular
6. AT&T gets rid of the Cingular brand name, renaming its wireless service AT&T Wireless.

My head hurts