Free Advice

Thinking about the best pieces of advice I've ever gotten.

The first is to never do the same favor for someone the first two times they ask. After the second time, it will not be seen as a favor, but simply be taken for granted that you'll do it. It's no big deal, he likes doing it,... If you say no once, however, you can agree to do it every single time thereafter and the person will always be polite in asking.

The second was my grandfather's favorite, something he always attributed to Damon Runyon. If a guy wants to bet you ten dollars that he can put twenty nickels in your nose, don't take the bet or else you'll end up ten dollars poorer with a nose full of nickels.

My two cents: to anyone looking to increase the traffic on their blog, don't use spell check. I made a joke a while back that Bush's plan to escalate the war was to make up with the French and send some guy named Serge to Iraq. A few weeks later, I drew a distinction between misogyny (hatred of women) and massogyny (intense dislike of backrubs). Ever since, I've been getting several hits a day from people looking up "serge iraq" and "massogyny definition" on Google. Spell things right and you are in competition with everyone else, but spell them wrong and your site will appeal to misspellers around the globe.

So, what's the best piece of advice you've ever gotten?