Sometimes I think that Walmarts were specially designed to be stolen from. It’s like the company owners were thinking, “You know, we’re evil heartless robber barons; let’s at least make it simple for people who can’t afford something we have to acquire it on a non-cash basis.”

Anyway, Friday on the way home from work I went to the Walmart to buy some groceries, which I did purchase. I also stole a Hannah Montana “Life’s What You Make It” DVD, because I was curious what the Hannah Montana craze is about.

Friday night, I watched the DVD, but am now more deeply mystified by the Hannah Montana craze than I was before.

I put the DVD back in the case, then put that on my back porch, as an experiment. In the morning, it was gone. I don’t consider that theft; I consider it a gift anonymously given and anonymously received. Although I do think that maybe I should have put a note in the case apologizing for the poor quality of the entertainment therein contained.

I may try putting other things out there. Like, would my new friend (and why shouldn’t I think of the person who took the DVD as a friend?) like season 1 of Battlestar Galactica? That might be a considerate thing to do, considering how lame my first gift was.

Talking to Richard
I spent some time Saturday reading the comments people have posted to my blog. It made me think that I should try to help Richard with whatever is wrong. But the thing is, about two days out of every three I feel like breathing is more trouble than its worth, but if anyone asked me what was wrong, I’d say, “Nothing; I’m just focusing on my job.” I’ve said this before a few times, and nobody’s ever followed up.

But Richard seems to like talking to people more than I do, so I think I’ll at least say, “Hey, you doing better today?” when I see him tomorrow morning. And if he wants to say, “Yeah, I’m fine,” then we’re done with it. If he wants to tell me more, I’ll try to listen. But I have no advice to give to anyone, so I hope he doesn’t expect a solution from me.

Going to South By SouthWest to Get My Bloggie Award
I got email today (the first email I’ve ever gotten at my blog address) from the guy who manages the Bloggie nominations, asking if I’m coming to the awards ceremony. This is funny for several reasons.

1. Out of the five finalists, the only possible blog that will get fewer votes than mine is Trevor’s blog, because I simply cannot imagine someone looking at that thing and not immediately getting a strong taste of saccharine in your mouth. This is in fact my one goal: to get more votes than Trevor. Do they tell you how many votes you got and what place you took? I hope so.

2. I feel alone when I’m at home, but I feel about thirty times more alone in a conference center (I usually go to one or two trade shows each year). And while it’s never happened to me before, I suspect I would feel ten million times more alone if I were at an awards ceremony where I were a finalist with no chance of winning the prize. I feel sick thinking about it right now.

I guess that’s only two reasons, not several, but it’s enough.