Our most recent candidate for new executive editor fell through. So work's not going to get any easier any time soon. Garg. Any editors in the Atlanta area looking for a new position? You would get to work with THE Badsnake. Who needs a good salary when you have an incentive like that?

No one sent any advice on Basset Hounds. I'm still thinking about it. I'll be at the PetSmart in Roswell on Saturday to look over some dogs if I can get myself out of the house.

Who's reading me from Marietta College?

So there's a guy who's supposed to be selling the Atlanta Constitution at the MARTA station that I go to every weekday morning. But he's not. He's more like a hyped up, in your face, Christian, WalMart greeter. He never even looks at the stack of newspapers piled up on the sidewalk. But he has to say, "HOW ARE YOU THIS MORNING?! GOOD! GOD BLESS YOU!!! HAVE A BLESSED DAY!" This guy is like the ACT UP version of blessers.

The only way to sneak around him is behind his back in a crowd. But folks arrive at the train station in dribs and drabs, so usually you're stuck with the massive greeting. He'll even wave his hand in front of your face to make sure you make eye contact with him and accept his hearty blessings. Not right in your face, but when he sees you approaching from six to eight feet away. I cannot get on the train without having this guy ask God to bless me.

It just irritates me. I know he's trying to be nice and everything, but I'm not a Christian. I'm agnostic. I can tolerate people blessing me every once in awhile. It's a frequent thing down here. But this guy is aggressively blessing everyone who has to walk by him. And I've never seen him sell a single damn newspaper. Part of me wants to complain about him to the circulation dept. of the newspaper. But what kind of karma would that produce, eh?

For one thing, I think it sort of diminishes the effect of the blessing to do it to the extent that it irritates people. Second, I really don't believe that someone saying "God bless you" or "Have a blessed day" really makes any stinking difference in the outcome of anything.

Hell, I don't even believe that prayer does anything. I think it's just a way to make the praying person feel better about whatever they're praying about and sometimes makes them feel like they can spread some of their burden on to God so that it doesn't weigh so heavily. It's a placebo. Okay, it's cheaper than a therapist, but I wouldn't really expect results.

Now might be a good time to point out that my beliefs to not hinder me from respecting other people's beliefs. You believe what you want to; it's your prerogative.

But stop blessing me every morning, dammit! It feels like a daily verbal equivalent of somebody waving a big plate of scrambled eggs in the face of someone who doesn't like eggs. Mind your own business and sell the stupid newspapers.

At least the people with the Watchtowers speak quietly and don't hand you anything you don't want to take.

Moving on - 12:11 p.m. , 2007-08-14

Where the hell have I been? - 12:10 p.m. , 2007-02-19

Holy shit! - 2:24 p.m. , 2006-01-11

Stuffing recipe - 6:17 p.m. , 2005-12-13

Good Life Update - 10:22 a.m. , 2005-11-11