Congratulations MAD! you were my Random.org pick for my book! Contact me at tellmel@melissafrancis.net with mailing information and who you would like the book signed to!

Yesterday on a whim, I did a little twitter experiment. (Would that be a twitterment?)

I announced a Twitter only contest. If you leave a comment on yesterday’s blog, you’d be entered for a chance to win an ARC of BITE ME!

I did this for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted to test the power of twitter. Would my blog traffic increase? Would I get some new twitter-followers? Would I get some new commenters on my blog or gain new blog readers?

My blog traffic exploded. It was a slow morning, when I posted the tweet, I only had 64 hits to my blog. 15 minutes later, I had 124. That’s a pretty big increase! I gained new followers and new commenters and we’ll see if I gained some new blog readers. Not sure about that one yet.

Twitter is a pretty amazing social network. My contest was ‘Re-Tweeted’ and spread across the Twitterverse. Never deny the power of a tweet…

Thanks to everyone who stopped by. I hope you’ll continue to come back and play. There’s always something going on here in Melville. (Like Whoville, only better.)

Now onto today’s random thought about my daddy.

Last night was the first real severe weather of the season (usually by now, we’ve had two or three ugly storms come through, but this has been an unusual winter/spring here in Arkansas) Anyway, we were watching TV and good old Ed Buckner interrupts (which I’ll admit pisses me off. I know it shouldn’t but dammit, I’m in the middle of a really interesting show and you’re interrupting to tell me the storm has just crossed into Arkansas? I’m 250 miles away, dude. /rant) But Ed does say something that interested me. The storm was about an hour away from Mt. Ida.

Mt Ida is a tiny little community about 15 minutes from my parents place on Lake Ouachita (it’s pronounced Wash-i-tah not Oh-u-a-cheetah). My daddy pretty much stays up at the lake in the spring and summer. So I called to warn him b/c there really is no telling if he’s paying attention or not.

I forgot it was poker night, so he wasn’t up at the lake. This is a good thing.

Anyway, when I call, he answers the phone and I hear all the old man ruckus in the background. (Have you ever heard old man ruckus? It’s a hoot) There’s something about my daddy that cracks me up every time. (Besides the fact that every one of our phone calls is almost exactly the same no matter the topic. Seriously. We can discuss tornados, fishing, cancer, politics or watching the grass grow and they are all the same.) That’s not what cracks me up the most.

Nope.

My daddy can’t say ‘I.’ As in “I love you.” “I thank you.” “I smell what you’re stepping in.” “I know what you did last summer.”

Nope.

He says ‘we.’

Me: Daddy there’s a tornader headed to Mt. Ida, but I hear the Grumpy Men Brigade in the background, so you’re not at the lake are ya?

Daddy: Naw. It’s poker night. But we thanky (prounounced thankee) for callin’.

Me: No prob. Just didn’t want you to be swept off your feet and unprepared.

Daddy: Naw but we appreciatey. (this is appreciate you, btw)

Me: Have fun. Love ya, Daddy.

Daddy: Weloveytoo. (all one word. the quicker the better)

This conversation cracks me up. EVERY TIME. I have made it my goal in life to get an ‘I’ out of him just once. The man is 73 years old and so far, I’m failing at my mission.

But it will happen. You’ll see.

We thanky for readin’ today. Come back soon, ya hear?