If you haven't read Piro's rant yet go see his announcement first. Yes, somehow we have talked each other into the venture of online retailing. We've been called crazy but it can't be anymore crazy than the guy running his own specialty candy apple store. Does anyone eat candy apples other than at Halloween or at the circus? Does anyone over the age of six eat them? We saw that guy on the Food Network and thought if he could do it so could we. In fact millions of people sell online. It isn't rocket science. I am, however, gaining a healthy dose of respect for everyone who does it. We are really excited about expanding the product line. T-shirts are great but after a while they are kind of a little like getting underwear for Christmas. They become just a good practical and serviceable item. I want cuter, more fun, and girls stuff. I have been, dare I say it, nagging Piro for years to get some items made and now we'll finally be able to do it. Our first ventures were procuring lanyards ourselves and new character buttons which are currently available at conventions. It boosted our confidence - bur how can you go wrong with a Boo button?

If you are jonesin for the Clocked, Quickkill, Angel, I Am Cute, Ph34r the Cute Ones (mens and ladies), Megatokyo logo, Joo Dead foo, the Miho blank, the bumper stickers or the mug - they are all being discontinued and are only available while supplies last. It sounds like someone going out of business but it is actually a going into business announcement. New and better is on the way.

Frankly, I'm just thrilled to be done with classes. I had a economics/psychology class this semester where they are taking the mean grade and making that a B so more people can pass. I have a horrible feeling that I'm going to wake up on the wrong side of the mean on this one. I'm gonna fail this friggin course. "Fail" in grad school is C-plus. Still, I'll be screwed. I've taken hard courses. This one was HARD. I figure I had to have done better than the students doing crosswords or sleeping in class but I'm not positive. I'm in a very negative place right now. Okay, I'm going to forget about it for now and quit obsessing.

Reason #11 to be a librarian - really funky junk mail. I am a grad student of library and information science and I am a member of the American Library Association and on their mailing list. I received a full color 4 page brochure for a set of books entitled "Cheese: Chemistry, Physics & Microbiology". It includes wonderful phrases such as "scientific aspects of cheese'" and "principles of cheese science". Chemistry and microbiology I understand but the PHYSICS of cheese? What is that about? Do you calculate the rate of speed of a falling body of cheese? Maybe it was a hunk of cheese that hit Newton on the head. Who reads this stuff? I love it I love it I love it! This is the real deal too - it is published by Elsevier Academic Press. My apologies to any and all cheese makers. I love cheese. All cheeses including, but not limited to, bacterial surface-ripened cheeses, surface mould-ripened cheeses, acid-heat coagulated cheeses, and pasteurized processed cheese. Mmmm, delicious. This is the best junk mail I have ever received.

Speaking of junk mail, I'm kind a ticked at a charity I donated to recently. It is a well established food reclamation charity program that saves food from manufactures and restaurants and donates it to food banks. They sold my name, well they sold my address to a mailing list and got my name wrong. Hmmm, they think I'm "L. Wooden" and suddenly I get tons of junk mail from hundreds of charities. If Paul Newman sends me one more envelope there will be hell to pay. I can't believe I donate to their organization and they get my name wrong AND they sell it. Frankly, I think they are making money selling my address - they don't need my cash, Jaded attitude I know but now I have dozens of other charities from which to choose.

This segues beautifully into my rant on the Ann Arbor and possibly the entire southeastern Michigan postal service. Several years ago when we moved to our current location I started to receive mail for a L.. Woods at 1234 Elm St. while my former address had been 1234 Erwalk. Supposed the similarity in first few characters of the last names and address messed up the sorting of mail. I was getting this guys court appearance notifications, failure to appear in court notices (which are postcards btw), his medical information (I don't think he was? is? a well person) and other vitally important mail. Ok, mistakes happen. I take the mail and write in black marker not at this address over the forwarding labels and take the box to the post office and explain everything. A week latter I receive the whole lot back with my message written all over them. Then I took them the Postmaster himself. It was mostly solved but I still get an occasional letter meant for him. Just recently they post office for our address sends out a postcard asking for customers patience because mail can be late due to high volume and CAREFUL sorting takes time. I would have a lot more empathy if we didn't get letters for neighbors or find letter dropped in front of our door by neighbors at least twice a week. We happen to have the very last box so I think when the mail person has stuff left over at the end she just leaves it with us to deliver. But they are done yet, The Postmaster sends a letter essentially telling everyone where every mailboxes is located in the area so we won't come to the post office branch. And last but not least, having lived here two and a half years the post office has started putting yellow 'no forwarding' address labels on our mail (did I mention we aren't moving)and some of it is getting returned. Just things like bills - never the junk mail which always makes it through. The postal service is one of the most antiquated and obsolete systems out there.