Corinne met Margo Dydek today at the grocery store.

Margo's a big star around here. Really, like a freakin' huge star. ;-)

Apparently she wasn't very friendly. Corinne tried to tell her about me, and that she'd completely dwarf me (even though I'm 6' 9"), but Margo didn't seem particularly interested in talking to her.

It's very rare that someone will get on my nerves with the ubiquitous, "How tall are you? Did you play basketball? I've got an uncle/brother/cousin/husband/father who's _________ but he'd look short next to you." I'm used to it, and I generally like people and understand that they don't meet giants every day. Still, to be a woman at 7' 2" -- she's taller than most NBA players! -- has to produce at least 10x that much "conversation." Plus, English is not her first language, and on top of that she really is a star around here, but she's not so well paid that she can afford to isolate herself from her annoying, I mean adoring, public... no wonder she seemed a little aloof.

I did once meet a woman who was taller than me. I was still in High School, and was only 6' 7" at the time. She was 6' 8", and came into a grocery store with her two brothers, both of whom dwarfed anyone else I've ever met. (There was no WNBA back then, though.)

Last week I asked for a little help with a negotation Macrobyte was having with a client, regarding hourly rates for consulting/contract programmers.

Thanks to suggestions that came in by email, instant message, Brian Andresen's link to a DICE.com rates survey and my own willingness to keep negotiating in spite of a lot of pressure to give in... the whole issue was resolved quite satisfactorily, yesterday.