I hate being a source of amusement to my trés cool techno-geek brother…he never lets me live it down.

(He still loves to tell the story of how I tried to "burn him up" in his bassinet when I was five. And he was a newborn baby. I thought he was cold! I moved a little space heater rightnext to his bassinet. And it started to smoke. Oops.)

But I did it again on Saturday morning.

See, if I have any computer problems, I call him. He's brilliant when it comes to anything electronic and I take full advantage of it.

So I turn on my computer. Er, I try to turn it on. My year-old iMax (damn. Why do I always do that?), I mean iMac. Nothing happens. Nothing.

I try and try and try. Nothing. Not even a whir. Panicked, oh panicked! I call him.

He says, "Is it plugged in?"

"Yes of course it's plugged in."

"How about the power strip? Is it turned on?"

"Yes of course–oh. Oops." I turn on the powerstrip that somehow got turned off overnight ('cause it was working before I went to bed, yanno) and the printers and computer whirr to life.

He actually managed not to snicker before I hung up the phone.

Sigh. I love my brother.

I've been shopping for new ringtones for my phone.

When people call me, I currently hear:

The Pink Panther Theme ~ home/kids

Brave Sir Robin (from Monty Python & the Holy Grail) ~ my Music Man (heh. I usually then answer the phone, "Hello Sir Robin!")

James Bond Theme song ~ my agent (you know–she's my "secret agent")

Brown Eyed Girl ~ my girlfriends

The Time Warp ~ everyone else

So, I'm shopping for something new.

I found the theme song from Veronica Mars, which I've since set as my default ringtone, but it's too short. It's just the "we used to be friends/a long time ago" part, over and over. (I wanted the part where it says, "Come on little sugar, bring it on, bring it on yeah…")

I really wanted the Buffy theme song too, but I can't find it at a legitimate ringtone place, and the Sex and the City theme too (for my girlfriends, of course). I also wanted Little Miss Can't Be Wrong by the Spin Doctors, but can't find that either. Sigh.

I heard about someone who had "God Save the Queen" for their mother's ringtone. *snort* Love it.

So, what do you have? Where do you get your ringtones that is legit?? Have you head of any good ones?

The Andrew Morton book about Tom Cruise came out yesterday. While the author doesn't really address the gay rumors (according to reviews), it does apparently talk a lot about Scientology.

Check out this video, with Tom explaining how the Scientologists are "the authorities on getting people off drugs, we are the authorities on the mind, we are the authorities on improving conditions…"

I can't wait to read the book, even though it creeps me out. You? 

(PS Had to post this classic photo…what on earth is he doing there? Do we really want to know? This was in Rolling Stone some years back.)

Was out with a few friends last night, and invariably the conversation turned to the primaries going on–particularly since we're in Michigan, which is being blackballed by the DNC. For now. I'm hoping things will change by the time the national convention happens.

Anyway, the topic turned to the Democratic candidates, and then onto Hillary Clinton, and then Barack Obama. One of my friends said, "Yeah, well, he turns his back to the US flag! And won't say the Pledge of Allegiance."

I looked at her and said, "Where did you hear that?" (I mean, seriously, if that were true…wouldn't it be being blared from every media outlet you can think of?)

She looked surprised for a moment, and then said, a bit sheepishly, "It came in on an email a friend forwarded to me."

Uh. Doh!

The same kind of email that promises $50 from Applebee's if you send it on? The same kind of email that promises Bill Gates will pay you money for every person you forward the email to?

Helll-oooo! 

I absolutely didn't believe it, but the first thing I did when I got home was check Snopes.com for the truth behind the rumors. If you're interested, here's the link.

Good grief. When will people get a clue?

I've taken to replying to anyone who sends me this kind of stuff–with a Reply-All (because they usually don't blind copy people), so it goes to everyone–with a link to Snopes.com and the polite suggestion that they check these things out in the future before sending them on. 

What's the most outlandish email claim/promise you've received?

 Need I say more?