Ever have a day like this?

Isn't he a doll? And typically male. Getting himself in trouble, and odds are, the one who pulls him out will be female.

One of the best commercials ever: for Sea World, San Diego: "Want a job? Put on a pink dress. Now stand on one leg." (Switch to pink flamingos in the pink-flamingo habitat.) "Sorry. That position is taken."

Among the worst commercials ever: anything with the creepy, freaky Burger King guy. You know, he wears that stupid giant head and never talks and just raises the ick factor about 900 %. Makes my skin crawl -- and believe me, when you're trying to entice people to eat at your restaurant, skin-crawling is not good.

I read a discussion over All About Romance re whether knowing an author (or personal information about her) makes it hard to read/enjoy their books. I was shocked by the people who said yes. Yikes! Meeting someone has never changed the way I felt about books. Okay, there was this one New York Times best-seller whom a friend of mine adored, and when she got a chance to meet her at a writers' conference, Ms. NYTbitch coolly said, "I don't like to be disturbed by readers. It's just so rude." I never could have liked the woman's books after that, but the thing is, I didn't like them before that. She didn't make the Times list off the piddlin' two sales she made to me, 'cuz that's all it took for me to figure out we weren't a match.

What happens for me way more often is that I read a book by someone I don't like personally and damned if it's not a good book. I read a number of authors whom I wouldn't want to be seated next to for more than two minutes, because that's probably the longest time I could be civil. Or I adore the author but her books just don't grab me. Or someone adores me but doesn't like my books. (I can tell. Even if they don't bluntly say so.)

I just find it really odd that knowing an author has three kids and five dogs and goes to church every Sunday and likes Mexican food could have any effect on your enjoyment of her book. I'm the opposite; I like knowing how writers think and what their everyday lives are. Maybe it's because I'm a writer, too, and it's good to see other people going through the things I do.

Or maybe it's just because I'm nosey.