How BPPV Vertigo Brought Eight Firefighters to My Bedroom
June 8, 2026
Oh Say Can You See the Irony?
It’s time for Diane’s Top Ironic Moments of Summer 2026!
1. Thanks to AI bots and template-driven automation agents, I receive all sorts of bizzarro emails via the Contacts form on my website. In June, I received a bloated email mess in my inbox that drolled on for five paragraphs about the concise clarity the non-human sender thinks(?) my second book, Heal Forward, That book is three years old, by the way.
To appreciate the irony of the message, see if you can read this sentence from the email out loud without taking a breath:
2. Nearly forty years have passed since I used a manual camera to take photos for my photojournalism class in college. iPhone cameras can shoot impressive pics, but I’ve reached the point where I want full-control ability to change shutter speeds, f-stops and all that. So, last month I cleared time on my schedule to purchase and LEARN how to truly appreciate and embrace the capabilities of my new Canon EOS R10 digital camera. The learning curve will be lengthy but I’m having a blast.
Since the 934-page online instruction manual Canon referred me to via QR code was underwhelming, I purchased a much more user-friendly user guide. The book is titled Canon EOS R10 User Guide: Master Stunning Photos and Videos with Simple Step-by-Step Instructions.
One day while reading in the sweltering Colorado sun I set the book down to take a swig of ice water and realized what a lousy-quality photo of the camera this manual has on its cover . . .
3. Time warp with me back to the late 1990s, when my ex-husband and I were eyeball-deep in an effort to keep the info technology services company he had founded, IITC, afloat. For eight grueling months, the federal government didn’t pay any contractor invoices due to a botched software conversion, yet all the government contractors like us still had to make payroll for our employees doing work for the government. IITC’s business line of credit at the bank was maxed out and we were having conversations with attorneys about the possibility of filing personal and corporate bankruptcy.
Amid all the stress, I received a brochure in the mail from a former Denver-based company called Rentokil Tropical Plants. I remember picking up the brochure, noticing beautiful photos of indoor plants available for lease or sale on the cover, then glancing at the company name.
Rentokil Tropical Plants. I read it as “Rent to Kill” Tropical Plants and burst out laughing, the first time I had laughed in months.
Thanks to an expensive financing alternative and a team of dedicated employees, IITC survived, then doubled in size twice before it was sold in 2004. We had a Cinderella ending, but I never recovered from the number of wicked stepmothers we had to overcome.
Some normal people look for the good and the beautiful, but I seek irony in the life stories I tell. Why? I’ve stopped emulating and started analyzing. When I discover irony I either giggle, shake my head and roll my eyes, or weep.
I’ll leave you with a couple trivia bits about my birthday.
Tragic irony:
On the day I was born (September 1, 1965), the U.S. Marine Corps announced it was cutting its standard recruit boot camp training down from twelve weeks to eight weeks to accelerate troop readiness and accommodate the rapid surge of combat troops being deployed to the Vietnam War in Southeast Asia.
Adorable irony:
According to the Billboard Hot 100, the top pop song in the U.S. on the day I was born was I Got You Babe by Sonny & Cher. A week later, Help! by the Beatles took over the top spot.
Here’s to life without filters,
