Don’s Drafts
Don Groves
Sometimes I feel like Andy Rooney. I get a lot of interesting junk.
Today for example a company sent me a fax for a dog horoscope for $1.99 a week that I can publish in the Ledger. It wasn’t what I expected but it did give me a chuckle.
I have nothing against dogs but horoscopes are a whole other story. A horoscope specifically for dogs, well, that’s a bit out there.
Take some of the horoscopes, Leo, for example. “On a visit to the countryside, he or she might pick up a scent and start acting like a trailblazer.”
Who would have thought a dog would pick up a scent in the countryside? The horoscope could have just as accurately have told me my dog will spend the morning sleeping on the bed it shouldn’t be on and the afternoon barking out the window for no apparent reason.
I get a lot of ink pens in the mail with The Albany Ledger information on them. “They’re great for gifts to your customers.” Maybe the pen would be — if most of them weren’t so poorly made I’m too embarrassed to be caught using one myself that I hide them in a desk drawer in the back room.
From time to time I’ll receive an unsolicited book in the mail sent by an author or publishing company asking me to review it. I don’t do a lot of book reviews, mainly because I rarely have time to read the books I’ve bought because I wanted to read them. At best I’ll skim over the unsolicited book but most just sit on my desk for a few days before I file them away on the bookshelves.
I think the economy has helped cut down the amount of interesting junk I get. At one time not only did I get interesting junk regularly I also sometimes got good junk like the time I got a MoonPie sampler. That was back when I was working at a daily and it really made me popular in the newsroom.
Good junk like food samples has become rare nowadays, although I will say I’ve been fortunate enough to receive several home baked goodies from friends around town. Those treats are always appreciated.
Gone too are the days when record labels sent music CDs in hopes of a positive review. Over the years I was able to build up quite an eclectic collection ranging from country and indie rock to jazz and classical.
I don’t remember when I last received some good junk but I do still get interesting junk fairly regularly. Of course I get even more junk mail, which isn’t to be confused with interesting junk, but writing about that would require another column and another nod to Andy Rooney.
Editor Don Groves can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
