2004-05-25 - 9:40 a.m. My library run last night yielded no fiction, but there was an interesting exchange. One of the desk clerks, a middle-aged Indian woman, is always very nice to me (the others are antisocial civil servants...I'm allowed to say that because I used to be one). Last night she noticed I was checking out Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Bhagavad Gita, and said, "Oh...have you read this?" "Yup--not this translation, though." (Which isn't true, but I have a complicated opinion about this translation that I didn't want to get into until I knew what her angle was.) "Wait. I have another translation you might like. Just a moment." And she scooted back to her office (mind you, there were people on line behind me) and came back with...ack!... the Hare Krishna version, translated by the ever-creepy Srila Prabhupada. The one with the garish cover that they hand out at airports. "Oh, thanks!" I said, genuinely touched but a little squicked out. "And you can keep it, you don't have to give it back!" "Awesome. Thanks." My voice mail service just keeps getting better and better. AT&T now has a system (free!) where they e-mail you an MP3 of each voice mail as it comes in. So you can get your home voice mail at work, immediately. Ridiculous use of technology? Sure! But how cool. thoughts? (2 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact