The husband's laptop just bought

The husband's laptop just bought the farm.
Sigh.
It just crapped out. He's taken it apart and was unable to find the
problem. He just announced that either the chip has crapped out or the
entire hard drive has done the same. He doesn't know. The thing won't
boot up at all, hence there's no way to check. Fortunately, thanks to
office networking, everything was saved to the desktop and no
information was lost at all. While he has his desktop (Gandalf), he had
the laptop for giving presentations and for checking message boards
while he was playing his games. This, in case you didn't know about the
husband's problem with his clients paying him (grrrr), is yet another
computer that he kept because people chose not to pay him. This one was
actually from the web development company that fired him via email,
then refused to cough up his final paycheck. We paid for it by means
other than slapping down the Visa, but essentially, it's no skin off
our collective nose that it crapped out. But that doesn't mean much
when you're married to a techie. While the laptop's not really a
necessity, it, however, is a given that he's not going to see it this
way and that he'll start whining...soon.
When he begged and pleaded for permission to spend loads of currency on
Gandalf, I demanded one concession in return: that he wasn't to bitch
about speed, memory or anything of the sort for two whole years. My
grace period ends in January. I was relishing the thought of enjoying
the remaining few months of enforced silence. Now, everything's
different. He won't bitch about Gandalf until January, but he will
bitch about the loss of the laptop starting now. We'll see how this
shakes out.

Posted by: Kathy at 02:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Weddings are always busy, exhausting

Weddings are always busy, exhausting things, of course, but during our
stay with the in-laws we did manage to spend some time with them.
One of the activities the husband wanted to do with his father was to
go and see this car at one of the local dealerships.

To explain, the husband's business
revolves around car dealerships. The husband, to put it simply, is an
IT strategy guy: he looks at the big picture and finds the most
cost-effective solution to a specific task that his clients need to
accomplish. To put it succinctly: he gets the best bang for his
clients'---car dealerships---buck. There are only a few companies that
provide software for dealerships, and it's outdated, outmoded crap that
falls a hairsbreadth short of extortion when it comes to the price. The
husband is the dealer's advocate when they go to upgrade. In fact, the
reason the husband is currently starting his own software company right
now is because these massive corporations just aren't offering what he
sees is needed for the industry. Hence we're living in entrepreneurial
hell right now, but if this thing succeeds...well, I'm not going to
speculate, but it could be big not only for us, but potentially could
be revolutionary for the entire car selling industry.(Anyone with some
spare cash lying around who wants to invest can email me...the address
is over on the left hand side. Really. No amount is too small.) While
it's not a lot of fun right now, there still is fun to be found in the
midst of all the entrepreneurial nightmares, and we had fun going to
look at this car.
A couple of weeks ago, a contact introduced the husband to a
representative of GT40 North America, because he thought there were
opportunities for both parties in the matter. I'm not going to go into
the details here, but one of the outflows of this meeting is that we
found out one of GT40's was being showcased in a dealership right up
the road from the in-law's house. Being the car geeks that they are,
the husband and the father-in-law wanted to go and see it. Wow, was it
ever impressive!
Next year, Ford is releasing a new GT and
is selling it for about $150K. Or so they say. However, according to
the sales manager at the dealership we visited on Saturday, a few have
actually made it to dealerships in L.A. and Vegas and have been sold
for much, much more than the retail price. Ford's only making 1100 of
them, so when they hit the market, they're actually going for about
$500K in auctions. What's different about the GT40 is that this company
bought the plans and all of the licensing from Ford and they're the
only ones authorized to make this vehicle. In essence the difference
between the two is that one is custom-made for you, the driver, with a
big ass Roush engine that is capable of sustaining speeds upwards of
120mph for hours on end, and the other is made on an assembly line by
union workers who probably don't give a damn. Now, I'm not a big one
for looking at cars that I will never have the skills to drive, but it
was fun checking this car out. The engine is rear-mounted, they had the
hatch popped, and it was a testament to the beauty that could be found
in simplicity. Simple lines, beautifully large exhaust tubes, shiny
chrome---all of that stuff you don't see anymore when you pop the hood
on your car was present and accounted for. Even better, there aren't
any computer chips in this car: it's something you could tinker with
yourself, if that's your thing. You'd have to ask the husband about the
specs for it, I was zoning out by that point in time, but it's low to
the ground and it will go fast. And it's built for your body type, too.
According to the sales guy, if you decide to purchase one of these bad
boys, the company will fly you out to Indianapolis to custom-fit it for
you, as if you were purchasing a suit. What's interesting to me is
that, if this is your sort of thing, this is actually a bargain. It
will cost you much, much less to purchase this model than if you bought
one of the new Ford versions.
To sum up, I will quote Ferris. "If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."

Posted by: Kathy at 02:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hey, Mr. H.! Send me

Hey, Mr. H.!
Send me your new email address, dude. I'm having email withdrawals.
I might actually have to---GASP!---call you tonight if I don't hear anything from you today!

Posted by: Kathy at 02:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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...that since The Llamabutchers site

...that since The Llamabutchers site seems to be down today, if they went into hiding because of this.

Hmmmmm.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:58 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here's my contribution to fact

Here's my contribution to fact checking other bloggers:

Robert, in his post about the math on global warming being incorrect, used this analogy:

Remember that old Bloom County cartoon where Oliver has
devised a Grand Unification Theory of the Universe that accounts for
everything except flightless waterfowl, causing Opus to disappear
before our eyes? Eventually Oliver notices that he forgot to carry the
seven, causing a jangled Opus to reappear.

Robbo, my dear, you're wrong! Oliver didn't forget to carry the seven. He forgot to carry the TWO. And here's my proof!


(click for supah-size!)

The Cake Eater Chronicles: We're Possessed With An Overabundance of Useless Knowledge! (TM)

Posted by: Kathy at 01:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I've been quiet about all

I've been quiet about all this Operation Clark County nonsense
because other people have expressed my concerns better than I could
have. However, the hullabaloo was raised before the letters---from
non-celebrity Brits---were actually printed. It was the idea of the
project that got most people going. I wanted to see what these
international dissenters were actually going to say for themselves.So,
knowing they were going to excerpt them today, I hopped on over to the The Guardian's website to see what they had to say.

Nothing really new, as it turns out.

A few tasty tidbits:

{...}"Please, change the world by changing the man in the
White House."
{...}"I have loved America ever since, and it is because of this love,
that I write to you today. Because I'm saddened to what is happening to
America's image abroad and the hatred I see all around me."
{...}"The unity so prominent in the days after 9/11 is now shattered, a
wealth of sympathy squandered as our governments continue to lie and
justify the wholly unjust crimes we have committed. World anger is
rising."
{...} "I started working back in the UK in 2000. With the distance that
comes from separation, I would return to the US and feel the difference
in attitudes following the calamitous events of the destruction of the
World Trade Centre in New York. It was not 9/11 that changed the
American outlook however. I believe that it was the response to 9/11 by
its leadership that has caused this bleakness to manifest itself in the
American consciousness. The war on terrorism and the climate of fear
generated from the Office of Homeland Security were used to subvert
American awareness and enabled the Bush-led Republican government to
pursue the war in Iraq without opposition from within. This is why I am
writing to you to ask for your help in turning the tide. I truly
believe that we all cannot afford another four years of Mr Bush being
in power. I have never done anything like this before and I, myself,
might resent the intrusion in receiving a letter like this. Forgive me,
then, please. My motivation is not driven by anyone else or by a
pressure group, I am simply someone who misses the America that I knew
and loved."
{...} I am writing to you in the hope that it may encourage you to use
your vote in the forthcoming presidential election. But, why would I do
this? The answer is simple, because yes, although it is a very strange
thing to do, it will help me clear my own conscience with respect to
the war in Iraq. You see I am one of those who, when the protests were
made in London, thought about it and did not take part. I was fairly
sure at the time that the war was a bad idea, but I also believed that
Iraq probably did have weapons of mass destruction, and although it was
not an immediate threat it probably could become one at short notice.
What I believe now is very different. I am now prepared to stand up and
be counted. I hope that you will feel the same. {...}

So, in essence, this is a popularity contest. These letters have the
same tone of the advice I received when I was a very unpopular sixth
grader: if you do this, we'll like you again.

Never mind that it doesn't appear that The Guardian,
if it was truly a source of independent thought it claims to be, might
have published letters that endorsed Bush, just to present a different
point of view. They didn't, yet that's not really important. What is important about these letter writers and The Guardian itself is that they are stuck in a 9/10---a September 10, 2000---mindset.
Remember those halycon days that led up to the 2000 Presidential
Election? When Bill Clinton was still in charge. Where Al Gore was in
lead and was seemingly unstoppable? Where George W. Bush didn't want to
have a thing to do with nation building? Remember when we didn't have a
deficit, but rather a surplus? Ah, those were the good old days to the
Europeans. Yet life has changed for Americans in the past four years,
and the Europeans are forgetting about this, or rather are coopting
this change into the views they held back then. The thing that
Americans are most concerned about, what is shaping most American
opinions of this election--- 9/11---has very little to do with
European-held opinions about this election a other than that it
provides Bush dissenters with the line: we squandered the goodwill of the world.
So, what's the point of all of this? This isn't about choosing a leader
who, Europeans feel, will make the world safer. This isn't a referendum
on the global War on Terror or the War in Iraq. This isn't about Kerry
being a viable alternative to Bush. For them, this election is about
taking America back to a time when America was liked.

This is about taking America back to the year 2000. Not unlike some disaffected Americans, the Europeans want a do-over.

Which means dumping George W. Bush.

They don't like the guy in office. It's really quite simple. They never liked the guy in office; they think he stole
the election from Al Gore. They think he's uneducated because he
occasionally mangles the language. They think he's unreasonable in that
he puts America's interests first, and the UN's second. They think he's
unenlightened because he doesn't brownnose like Chirac does. They think
he's the antithesis of Clinton, who was well loved and highly admired
by those Euro elites. Life was good for Europe under Clinton---where
his sexual activities were looked upon favorably---why wouldn't they
look upon those days in the '90's through rose colored glasses? They
seem to think that if we go back to the policies of the Clinton
Administration, well, none of the bad stuff, like what happened on
9/11, would ever happen again. If they could make the claim that 9/11
happened because Bush was in office, they would. After all, everything
that happened in the Bush administration before 9/11 wasn't exactly the
height of popular European thinking, was it? Anyone remember the Kyoto
fallout of that summer, and how Bush paid the price for the Senate's
rejection of that treaty? What about Bush's dumping of the ABT treaty
so we could have that magnificent Missile Defense System? Boy, that was
popular, wasn't it? Remember the throngs of globalizations protestors
at the G-8 summit in Genoa who burned Bush in effigy? The truth of the
matter is that nobody in Europe liked us before 9/11. And they most
assuredly don't like us now. Yet, the crux of their arguments is that
if John Kerry were elected president, America would be liked
abroad and that's all that really matters, isn't it? Because, as their
logic tracks, if America was liked no one would want to attack her,
would they?
What Europeans fail to realize is that this is not a goddamn popularity
contest. It's an election that will, to put it quite bluntly, decide
whether we will bow to the terrorists or if we will keep on fighting
them. I can qualify and say that I'm not really all that fond of
President Bush's policies. I think he's spending too much money and
that he panders to social conservatives too much. I am more a
libertarian than a Republican. But if I qualify, I must also add that I
truly believe that he's the guy I have to vote for, not only because I
agree wholeheartedly with his stance on global terrorism, because the
Democrats just don't get it.
They don't get that some of us think socialism is a bad, and failed,
idea. Yet they push on with their notions of class warfare, because
they'll benefit from the fallout. They don't understand that you're
responsible for your own level of success in life and that there is no
such thing as a government safety net. They do not comprehend that
America is more about following a dream than being stuck in one union
job all of your life. They do not get that terrorists do not play by
UN-approved rules. They think law enforcement is the best way to rid
ourselves of this problem. But mostly, I believe it comes down to the
fact that the Democrats just don't understand that America, in all of
her flawed essence, is not about following the safe path. America is
about taking the bold, brave path that might lead to doom, or might
lead to glory---one simply never knows. America is about taking the
Evil Kneival jump over forty junked cars. America is the breath held in
suspension, wondering and waiting and having no freakin' clue about the
outcome. America is not
about playing it safe. But most importantly, America is not about doing
what everyone else thinks is the right thing, particularly when history
tells us it would be disastrous to take any other path than the one we
are following, no matter how unpopular it might make us.
Europeans don't get this. Everything they have are things that
conservative Americans loathe. They have universal health care. We have
health insurance. They have what, seems to me at least, is universal,
unlimited welfare when they don't have a job. We have sixteen weeks of
unemployment and then the benefits run out. They have pensions. We have
retirement plans. They have six weeks off a year. We're lucky if we get
two weeks after a year's probationary employment. They have a
thirty-some-hour-a-week workweek. We work at least, if not more, than
forty-hours a week. They are pampered by their governments from cradle
to grave. We are not. Their tax rates take a goodly amount of a
person's income to pay for all this goodness. We balk if our effective
tax rates shoot higher than thirty percent---for all of our taxes.
They've taken the responsibility for taking care of oneself away from
the individual and placed that burden on the state. The only reason I
can think of for doing this is because they don't have faith in their
individual citizen's abilities to care of themselves and to plan for
their futures. They're not able enough. Europeans believe their
governments are the answer; their futures are dependent upon the state
being just that, so they'd best support and put their faith in their
governments. Which, of course, boils over into support for
international organizations, like the UN, because there is order and
support to be found there. Or so they think. America, however, was
founded on the precept that the state was not something to be trusted.
Faith will only be given when it is shown. We are two fundamentally
different creatures. This is why I think America, particularly
Conservative America, baffles them. We want to take care of ourselves
because, as we see it, government only mucks up the works; they want
their governments to take care of them. So, they rationalize, if we
encourage Americans to ditch the man in charge, America will be more
like them and life will be comfortable
again. Wrong.
Because of 9/11. The sleeping tiger that is America was rudely waked.
Following our great tradition of self-reliance, we see the War on
Terror as a situation that can be solved. It's an opportunity that can
be exploited for the good of all. We're looking for the root causes.
We're trying to solve the problems that breed hijackers who take the
lives of innocent civilians. We're not hiding, because that's what
we've done in the past and obviously it didn't work. But Europeans
don't buy this for one simple reason: that it's George W. Bush who's
doing the work. If it was Bill Clinton it would be a different story,
wouldn't it? Europeans seem to think that if there was an
administration in place in Washington that they could trust;
that held similar values to its own, all would be right. And they make
all of these statements while simultaneously, obliviously, and very,
very wrongly, placing the blame for 9/11 on the shoulders of Democracy.
If you would just stop pissing people off, you'd be liked again.
Well, like the average sixth grader, America has two options: they can
throw aside their principles and be popular, or they can stick with who
they are and what they know to be right and be unpopular, yet better
off in the long run.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This is positively shameful. {...}What

This is positively shameful.

{...}What injured or ill veterans are finding when they
return from overseas is a complex set of government processes for
reviewing whether they will receive financial help. They have to
navigate two of the largest U.S. government bureaucracies in the VA and
the Pentagon (news - web sites), and multiple medical review boards
assess the extent of their injuries.
Even with the current backlog and the prospect of staffing cuts, VA
officials are trying to increase the department's visibility, reaching
out to new veterans to make sure they are aware of the services they
can receive and urging them to apply.
Principi said he recently sent letters to 178,000 veterans explaining
the available benefits. He said the department is doing its best to
keep wait times down by giving recent veterans higher priority, aiming
for benefit claims that are filled within 100 days. Currently, the VA
takes about 160 days per claim, and 60,000 to 70,000 new claims come in
each month.{...}

Oh, yea. Letters making soldiers aware of what they need to do to file
for benefits. That's what's needed to sort this out. Let the veterans
know what they need to do...after all, the burden's on them.
That's crap.
A hundred days is still too long to decide a claim. Come on and get
real. Even thirty days is too long to decide a claim. If someone's been
wounded in combat it's not exactly like they're trying to take
advantage of the system, like a civilian who claims they're disabled,
then moves a refridgerator and gets caught on videotape. If someone's
in a wheelchair because they've been paralyzed, well, it doesn't take a
rocket scientist to figure out that they're going to be disabled for
life, does it? Here's what I suggest: pay the vets their full benefits
whilst the claim process is taking place. If it turns out that they
deserve less than what they're receiving, fine, so be it. But don't
jerk them around in the meantime. They deserve better. Like a system
that's not a nightmare to navigate. The government has futzed around
too damn long on this one. They've had chance after chance to
straighten out the VA and they never manage to get it done. What is it
going to take? And when are they going to realize that drastic actions
need to be taken to ensure that vets are taken care of? It's about time
they sorted it out. Our vets deserve better.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Gives new meaning to the

Gives new meaning to the colloquialism, "talking through your ass," doesn't it?

Oy. It's as if they'll let anyone start up a blog. Sheesh. Where's quality control when you need them?

Posted by: Kathy at 01:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Blaque Jacques had some for

Blaque Jacques had some for the people of Vietnam. In return, Phoenix has some for him.

A small sampling:

I'm not sure how the English language could lead to an
"ecological" disaster. I have never seen a tree fall down because of
someone speaking in public. I've never seen ground waters become
contaminated because someone said something. I've never seen wetlands
drained or forests cleared or mountains crumble because someone spoke
in English. However, I could see how the French whining and braying
about their increasingly marginalized importance in the world sphere
could add to greenhouse gas emissions. I've always held the theory that
the French military was as useful as a fart in the wind. That would get
us to methane emissions as well.

I would highly recommend not pissing her off. The life you save could be your own.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:34 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I don't feel like blogging

I don't feel like blogging today, so, you know what? I'm not going to!
Every now and again it's good to be the boss of, er, myself! Anyway,
here are some goodies to tide you over until I get my ass back in gear.
--- Go here and laugh your ass off. (Mr. H. aka "Ikea Boy" should get a particular kick out of this site.)

--- For some fun Blaque Jacques action, go over to Fausta's.

--- For more hot French action, go over to Douglas' and see evidence of how Sarkozy is positioning himself as the Anti-Chirac.

That should tide you over.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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As promised, the long awaited

As promised, the long awaited Third Annual Blogger Boobiethon
is up and running!
If you like boobies go fork over some moolah to keep all those boobies
you love dearly healthy! Honestly, it's better than giving your money
to Andrew Sullivan or public radio. If you give to Andrew, well, you'll
get an extra dishy email once a week. And if you give to public radio,
well, you'll maybe get a mug---and only if you donate over $200.
Whoop-de-freakin'-doo. By giving to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer
Foundation via the Boobiethon, you're not only supporting a fabulous
organization, you get to see lots of boobies. And it's TAX DEDUCTIBLE!
Can you say that about your other pr0n habits? I think not. And, yes, a
tastefully rendered photograph of my very own set of boobies is posted
somewhere on the site. See if you can figure which boobs are mine. Who
knows, maybe I'll give you a medal if you guess right.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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...but the husband and I

...but the husband and I are going to Phoenix next week.

We fly in on Wednesday. The 13th.

Given Steve-o's trip
to St. Louis (which we haven't been told is completely coincidental, by
the way)I'm wondering if the bar hasn't been raised and now I'll have
to go and cover the damn thing.
Ugh.
We're going to Phoenix because the husband's best friend is finally
getting married and the husband has been tapped for the role of Best
Man. Wednesday night is the bachelor party. Which means my evening is
free while they roam around the titty bars of the greater Phoenix
metropolitan area. So far, my options for that evening include sitting
around with the in-laws, with whom we'll be staying, or I can
drive up to Tempe, wi-fi laptop in tow, and see what is going on.
Hmmmmm.
I dunno. I suppose I could always forgo the inlaws and all the debate
nonsense and go and get the bride drunk. I like Brad's choice and I
can't wait to see her. She's awesome and we hit it right off when we
were first introduced. In fact, in the past two years, we've talked
more than the husband and Brad have. (Theirs is one of those Zen
friendships: they don't have to chat with one another daily. Christ,
years can (and have) gone by with very little communication. They'll be
best friends until they cack. Whenever they get together, it's as if
absolutely no time has passed. Very, very wierd.) But where she and
Brad live is hell and gone from the inlaw's house. Tempe is closer to
the inlaw's house. In fact, it's only three suburbs away, which
translates into a half hour drive, but still...is it ultimately worth
the bother? I don't know. Very few people read this damn thing. I
suppose if I choose to do this, I could link whore the hell out of it,
but still...I'm not a native. I don't know where the media types will
be hanging out. I can make some educated guesses, but will I be right?
Or will I wind up driving all over Tempe like a tourist that night, on
a fruitless search for action? Ultimately, is it worth it? Discuss
amongst yourselves.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:18 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You can stop checking the

You can stop checking the wire services to see if a Phoenix-bound plane
crashed. We are very much alive. Tired---very, very
tired---but alive.
First off, I want to apologize for even mentioning the possibility of
liveblogging the debate. I should have known better. So, I'm sorry if I
raised anyone's hopes, but it's not like I haven't warned you people
before about my lack of reliability. This is
The Cake Eater Chronicles: where our promises don't mean a damn! (TM).
It's really not my fault you people never listen! Sheesh. One would
assume that you all knew that the only thing I reliably produce around here is crap. It's really not my fault that you're all delusional.

Anyway, it's been gogogogogofreakin'go!
since Tuesday. Everything that needed to be done before we left got
done, and when the husband shook me awake at 4:15 a.m. CDT yesterday
morning, I thought that life was pretty damn cruel, as I'd had about
four hours of sleep. But we managed to get over to the airport and into
the check-in line for our flight, only to be halted when the nice lady
at the counter said, "Mr. Nelson, you're on the Do Not Fly list. We're
going to have to check this out. So, I'm going to ask you to stay with me while we get your name off the list."
Wooooh. Scary stuff when they tell you can't go anywhere, but as it
turns out it was no big deal. There, apparently, is a Michael Nelson on
the list, but it's not my Michael Nelson: they ruled him out
using his birthdate and middle name. But it took them about fifteen
minutes to take care of the problem and now I have to make sure he
takes care of it before we fly back to Minneapolis on Monday. The
ticketing lady said they have about four people every flight who have
the same name as someone on the list. When we were walking away, the
very unperturbed husband commented, "So, this is what Teddy Kennedy was
bitching about? What a puss!"
The rest of the flight was uneventful and we arrived at the inlaws
house at around eleven. The thing that's screwing me up right now is
the time change. You see, Arizona doesn't do the whole Daylight Savings
Time thing, so we're two hours behind our time zone...so when the
husband returned from the bachelor party and finally went to bed at
four a.m. local time, it was actually six a.m. at home. I, of course,
was awake when he got home, so I think I've got an hour on him, as far
as sleep is concerned. All told, I've slept a total of nine or ten
hours in the past forty-eight. I'm living on caffeine and cigarettes
right about now. And I don't know that it's going to get any better.
The husband, not surprisingly, is doing better than I am. Travel
always, always, always wipes me out. I'm not really at peak performance
until about two days into a trip. By tomorrow I should be fine. It's
just getting to tomorrow that's going to be a bit of a problem. I hate
to tell everyone this, but I didn't even watch the debate last night.
Even though I WAS HERE! I have absolutely no idea what was said, who
said it and who got the most points for being obnoxious. I have no
clue. I haven't checked any blogs. I read the newspaper---an actual
dead tree edition!---but it didn't tell me anything new. So,
essentially, I have no clue about any of it. Instead of driving to
Tempe, we had to drive to pick up the husband's tuxedo for the wedding.
Then we went over to the bride and groom's house and chatted before the
boys took off for the bachelor party. Then I went over to the groom's
sister's house with another old friend and we sat around, drank wine
and had a girls' night. And it was fun! So, on the whole, I think I had
a more fulfilling life experience than if I'd fought the traffic in
Tempe, found a place to park and then tried to figure out what was
going on where. If I'd had a few more hours to figure everything out, I
probably would have come up with something, but I didn't. We got here
at eleven. We had lunch at noon. We slept for a few hours and then by
the time we had to leave, the debate was about ready to begin. I didn't
have time to moblize my efforts. Ah, well. Such is life.
So, here's post #1 from sunny and hot Arizona. How many more of these
you'll get, I don't know. I can't imagine that, with the minimal brain
activity I've got going on right now, I'm not really impressing anyone
with my witty writing. Pffft.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:16 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 828 words, total size 4 kb.

Fausta's got more on the

Fausta's got more on the French hostage situation. As does a new-to-me blog, The Last of the Famous International Playboys,
whom Fausta links but who also deserves a brand spankin' new link here
because what he has to say is really quite phenomenal, given the
circumstances. {insert Marlene Dietrich accent here}
Interesting. Very, very interesting.

What's with the "redux" you ask? Well, not only because it's the appropriate usage of the word, because it's French, of course. I'm excessively worldly that way. No?

Posted by: Kathy at 01:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 93 words, total size 1 kb.

The next two weeks cannot

The next two weeks cannot possibly go fast enough for me.

A small sampling of the headlines from my Yahoo homepage:

Bush, Kerry Visit Critical Iowa
Americans Going to Canada for Flu Shots
Legal Battle for Presidency Underway
Help of Allies Among Three Key Themes
Bush Defends Himself Against Kerry's Charges
Bush Defends Himself Against Kerry's Charges
Bush Rejects Kerry on Terror War, Economy
Reuters Poll: Bush and Kerry Still in Dead Heat
Political Yard Sign Wars Rage as Election Nears
Bush Rejects Kerry on Terror War, Economy
Kids Pick Kerry to Be the Next President

IDON'TCARE.IDON'TCARE.IDON'TCARE.IDON'TCARE.IDON'TFUCKINGCARE!
I figured out who I was voting for in March. If you haven't decided
yet, FIGURE IT THE FUCK OUT, TELL IT TO A POLLSTER WHEN THEY CALL YOUR
HOUSE, SO WE CAN GET THIS DAMN THING OVER AND DONE WITH!
I have just so had it with the way elections are run nowadays. It's a sickening display of vacuous waste that we could all do without.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yet again they gave the

Yet again they gave the Nobel Prize for Literature to
someone with whom I'm not familiar.
Who is this chick?
And is she really all that great? Or, is it like I suspect, did she win
because she holds the "correct" political views and her work reflects
that? Christ. Give it to Updike already. He should meet the qualifications:

{...} who "shall have conferred the greatest benefit on
mankind" and "who shall have produced in the field of literature the
most outstanding work in an ideal direction."

I suppose it all depends upon what your definition of "ideal direction" is, doesn't it?

Posted by: Kathy at 01:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A friend of mine from

A friend of mine from Des Moines, who, for some unknown reason, labors under the delusion that I'm a Democrat, sent me this link the
other day.
I'll be enjoying the apocalypse, thank you ever so bloody much. In
fact, I'll enjoy it so much I'll light up a smoky treat and pour myself
a Sapphire and tonic (lime on the bottom)and I'll toast all the chicken
littles out there from whom I have taken so much.* Should be a good
time, no? *bonus points if you can name the movie and actor

Posted by: Kathy at 01:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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As much as it

As much as it slays me to admit it, yes, even a llama in a waistcoat is better Than MacFayden.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:59 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Fausta has some new information

Fausta has some new information from France 2 as to the two French journalists who were taken in August in Iraq.

Very, very odd.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:58 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Sully's out pimping for cash

Sully's out pimping for cash again.

Notice how Sully would like Trey Parker and Matt Stone to advertise their movie on his site...as a way of showing his admiration for their work.

How very generous of you, Andrew. I know if I made a movie, I'd want to reward your loyal fan following by paying you money to advertise my movie on your site! Wow! I'd be so thrilled
to have you be a part of my endeavor that I'd pay for a crappy web ad
that wouldn't have any significant effect on actually putting butts in
the movie theater seats! But never mind about that! You, in
your mercenary way, want to be a part of the joy that is my movie! It's
just so sweet of you, Andrew! I don't quite know how I'd ever contain
my joy at the thought of buying a web ad on your site! It just makes me
feel all warm and fuzzy that I feel some actual wooziness coming on!
{insert collapse to office floor here}

Posted by: Kathy at 12:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 184 words, total size 1 kb.