Daily Dose of Lit

DailyLit.com will email you books. They’ll send you the entire text – daily in chunks that take about 5 min to read. You can read the bible (Gensis will take 56 emails), or the Count of Monte Cristo (581 emails!) or a hundred others. I’m going to start with "Room with a View, A" by E.M. Forster (in 89 parts).

The Tao Te Ching only takes 14 emails! The would be an uplifting thing to have in your inbox on a Monday morning!

Pet food recall list continues to grow

Here is an updated list of the pet foods that have been recalled so far. This list is from the FDA and is current as of 4-20-07. Though this has dropped out of the news of late, more foods are still being added. Most are gone from the stores, but you should check to be sure you don't have any of these at home. The file is a long sortable Excel file.

Sometimes Y

The most awesome t-shirts ever!

Where was this when I had to attend 6 departmental seminars a week?

Here are printable cards so others can play along also. Make sure to hide inside a paper from a field-appropriate journal.

Maybe I should be glad I didn’t have this – if I was playing bingo I would have never had time to write up the weekly menu & grocery list.

Agent is typing

The following is a transcript of the customer service chat session I just had with turbo tax. This took about 30 min to complete and I'm guessing he had 3 other simultaneous sessions going on. I realize this guy has little actual power, is most likely in south Asia or the like meaning it's 10:30pm and do appreciate his courtesy but I'd really like to have that half hour of my life back. Taryn, is this what you deal with everyday?

01_Ramil : Thank you for contacting TurboTax support, my name is RamiL. How may I help you?
Dave Herman: I'm wondering about the change in fees for state taxes.
Dave Herman: when i started my return, it stated that multiple states could be filed for $29.95
Dave Herman: now it says it's $30.95/state.
01_Ramil : I do understand the inconvenience that you have experienced, however I will be glad to assist you today. As I understand your concern, the state charge for filing has changed and you want to be guided on which price you will be charged, is that correct?
Dave Herman: yes, when i started, it said that i could file up to 3 state returns for $29.95 (total) now it says it's $30.95 per state.
01_Ramil : Your reference number for this contact is 71283281, in case our chat session get disconnected. Before we proceed, is it okay if I call you by your first name?
Dave Herman: sure
01_Ramil : Okay.
01_Ramil : Let me check on this.
01_Ramil : I will need to be idle for the next two minutes for me to research on this topic, will that be okay?
Dave Herman: sure
01_Ramil : Thank you.
01_Ramil : Thank you for waiting.
Dave Herman: no problem
01_Ramil : Dave, I would like to confirm that there has been a price increase for the month of April, from $29.95 to $30.95.
01_Ramil : That was for the state filing in the Free edition.
Dave Herman: my concern is that the fee now states that it's $30.95 for each state, rather than the one fee for up to three states.
01_Ramil : Let us proceed with that second concern of yours.
01_Ramil : We have maintained in our site that the cost for state filing is for every state you file.
01_Ramil : You may be referring to the statement that you may file up to three state returns. That means for one personal federal return, you may file three states, but does not necessarily mean that the charge is for the three states together.
Dave Herman: that was not how it read when i started my filing. the whole reason i chose to use turbo tax was that there was a reasonable single fee
Dave Herman: i believe it said something to the effect of "file up to three state returns" and the cost was listed...no mention of per state
01_Ramil : The statement must have confused you then, but we are here to make things clear to you. I apologize for the inconvenience.
01_Ramil : Also, before you proceed with state filing, you will have a screen that says the state you are filing will cost you a charge.
Dave Herman: yes, that's what tipped me off to the change.
01_Ramil : I believe I have tried to make things clear to you about state charges.
Dave Herman: yes, it's clear, the problem is it wasn't clear when i began filing.
01_Ramil : Thank you for bringing that up. I would like to inform you that our website is constantly undergoing screen changes to provide the best information and convenience. Thank you for bringing that up.
Dave Herman: thanks for you help
01_Ramil : You are very welcome! Is there anything else that I can help you with?
Dave Herman: no, that's it.
01_Ramil : Have I been able to assist you with your inquiry?
Dave Herman: well, you explained the policy and it seems there's not much more we can do.
01_Ramil : I understand.
01_Ramil : Thank you for allowing me to assist you today! I am going to send you a 10-question e-mail survey about the assistance that I have provided you. Please respond with feedback on so that I may continue to provide great assistance to everyone.

Thanks again and have a blessed day!
Dave Herman: you too.

A WMD hunt for the adults will follow

I honestly had to check if this was a real news story or a spoof...it's real. The organizers do claim "the event is supposed to be humorous and organizers want kids to have fun." I thought it was odd that bunny was wearing an ear piece and flak jacket.

On a lighter note this is awesome! I particularly like #7 and 17. Note the age of most of the contestants is over 30 and only 1 entry by people under 20.

Happy Easter and Passover!

Mmmm...meat cake....

Is this the greatest culinary idea ever since the whole stuffed camel and turducken? Karl and Lisa, I'm guessing you'll want to weigh in on this one.

Grad School: It seemed better than getting a real job

I just noticed that Jorge Cham the author of PhD comic will be speaking and doing a signing at the U of A on April 25. Unfortunately the time and place are still TBA but if you can go, I suggest you attend. If you haven't read the comic and you've ever been in grad school you're missing out.

Easter Season

Resurrection is in the air! How to tell the real Savior from the Antichrist in four easy steps. You DO NOT want to pick the wrong team.

Pet food recall widened

I'm sure most of you have heard about the recall, but just a friendly public service announcement that it has now been widened to include Nestle Purina as well as some dry cat food. Here's a link with new info.