My old boss and his wife were the same way (having fun with spam callers). His and your quick wit did not rub off on me, but I enjoy hearing the tales!

Data mining is, indeed, alive and well -- but it's also irritating and insidious. Sometimes (actually: it's fairly often), I think I'd like to go back to the old "crank style" phones that existed in one of every five homes and the post offices. I'm close, but not quite that old.