Holy crap.

I wasn't expecting the new D-Land layout here on the add entry page. I'm happy with it. I was tired of the old one; of course, I didn't know that until now. Sometimes you don't miss something until it's gone, sometimes you don't know you hated something until it's gone.

OK, so my point today ... I decided last night that today I would take all the "courtesy calls" that came today. First off, I don't know why they call them courtesy calls. A courtesy for whom? Not for those of us answering the phone, especially when they come right at dinnertime. And how is it a courtesy for the person (or computer) making the call, who nine times out of 10 (I would guess) gets hung up on?

So, while I'll normally lie to an average of four people a day who ask for me by name and say that I'm not in, I arbitrarily decided that today I would be in. Working at night and being home during the day, I have gotten used to telling people who can' pronounce my last name that I just stepped out.

And I got no calls.

Until 8 p.m., when I was trying to go out the door to a movie. But since I vowed I'd take the calls today, I spoke with the Sierra Club. Which made it even worse, because I like the Sierra Club. I mean, I am a little annoyed that I just sent them some money a few months ago, and now they're calling for more. But they have reason to; mainly that guy in the White House. So I listened to Sierra Club Guy talk to me about Dubya and the New Administration and how the environment is in dire straits, which it is. He wanted me to sign up for a monthly subscription thing, which I can't do on my salary with my loans, so I settled on a $40 gift.

It doesn't bother me to give $40 to the Sierra Club. I support what they believe in, the main area now being the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge in which Dubya wants to drill for oil. But there's only enough oil up there to last a few months, so is that worth tainting an otherwise pristine wilderness? Hardly. Let Dubya drill up more of Tex-ass.

So I thought about how I spend my money. I'll think nothing of donating to environmental causes (every now and then) or to certain other charitable organizations. And I had no problem putting down $75 for a pair of sneakers yesterday when I easily could have searched for something I like that was cheaper. But I figured $75 wasn' that bad for something I'll potentially wear six days a week. I'd balk more at paying $75 for a shirt I'd wear less often, but there's really no reason to. But that's the way I think.

I'd also hardly blink when buying $75 worth of CDs. That's been a problem for me and my continuously growing collection. I just can't help myself. But I've found a way to slow down: I have given up listening to the radio. I have three different bands on my car radio -- two FM, one AM. On the AM one I keep it set to WFAN, New York's all-sports talk station. One FM is set to NPR and the other to a New Jersey station that is mostly talk; when it's not, it's oldies so I have no urge to buy anything I hear. It's working so far; I even went into the CD store yesterday to pick up an album my mom asked for and had no urge to even browse.

Maybe I'm coming down with something.