One of them noticed the painting on the wall. Ah, a culture lesson. I mentioned that it was painted by the same guy who created the Statue of Democracy in Tiananmen Square. Totally puzzled blank stare from all of them. You do know about Tiananmen Square, don't you? Three heads shook sideways. So much for a culture lesson. I have to provide a history lesson as well. I gave a brief condensed history of the student revolt in China. More blank stares. Then I did the math. They're all 19-20 years old. The massacre was in 1989, when they were all pre-schoolers. Sigh... OK, the painting was done by a professor of art at Beijing University, now in political exile. Leave it at that.

Lady calls me from google (they're only a couple of blocks away). Wants to know if I'd be willing to participate in a useability study for a new product of interest to small businesses such as mine. I'd love to, I told her, but alas I don't have the time. She wouldn't talk about the hush-hush project which leads me to believe it's the top-secret marriage of keyhole satellite fly-by images with maps and shopping that they've been working on. It's about as secret as Bill Clinton's sex life.

While I couldn't help her out, I did take the opportunity to voice my displeasure at not being able to correct my local Yellow Pages data on their website, which is of much more interest to small businesses like mine than a new top-secret project which would probably use the same out-dated information. She assured me she would relay the message to somebody.

Five minutes later, another call from google. Wow, that was quick! Nope, just an employee there looking for a jaw harp (juice harp, jew harp, whatever). Can't win with those things. If I've got 'em, I sell one every six months. If I don't have 'em, I get asked once a month. I stopped carrying 'em. At a dollar a pop (50 cents profit) and having a substantial Hebrew population scowling at me it's not worth the trouble.