Hello, is Mr. SaLL-mon there...?

For those of you who have tried to call us around 5 or 6pm and haven't ever caught us home it may just be that we think that you are telemarketers. BellSouth "which has joined up with the new AT&T "(I'm sick of hearing that phrase...) sold our phone number (before we had even used it) to the various "non-non-profit" organizations and any other company offering a free Mercedes because "after all Mr. Salmon you entered your name in this contest..." (Oh, really?) Anyway, I don't have any complaints about the phone service and I don't really mind BellT&T but the telemarketers are a bit much. However, recently I have found a new counter attack. I answer the phone at those times when Anya is bawling! I usually ask the telemarketer "Can you hear that?" If they say "No", I move Anya closer to the phone and give them an earful, then I say (completely honestly too) "I'm a little busy and I can't hear you... You'll have to call back!" Don't worry. I know they will call me back. I know the people that design the software these companies use... The marketing research is all tucked away in a little variable in some code that a software engineer wrote, which probably will tell them to call me back in exactly 3 months... I could set my watch by it! Anyway, Anya's perfect timing with her crying spell made me feel better about that one. So, with all the benefits of having a little baby around I found one more! (And now I can't wait to receive a call from that credit card company again...)

The hero of the day:

Yes. Technically "heroine"... I know.