The local newspaper continues to call every few days regarding my lapsed subscription and I ignore their calls 98 out of 100 times. But today, after nine long days in an overheated, buggy media center, combined with several days of 4:30 a.m. wake-up calls and 18-hour days dealing with incompetent, lazy media, I was in the proper frame of mind to answer their call.

"Hello?"

"Yes, how are you today, my dear?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

"Great. I see you used to subscribe to the Courier News. Was that a weekend subscription or every day?"

"It was daily."

"Any why did you stop, was it a vacation issue, or had you reached the end of a promotion?"

"No, it was a quality of the paper issue."

"Oh. Hmm. We've heard that a few times. Well, would you be interested in getting the paper again, either weekly or perhaps on the weekend?"

"Given how many of my friends lost their jobs last week, I'm going to have to say no."

"Ohhhhh. Oh. Um. Well, ok. Thank you."

Had I thought about it, I would have again mentioned my disgust for their ongoing practice of selling photographs of people's tragedy and hardship.

Fortunately, I'm sure they'll call again next week so I will have another opportunity.