Just to let my devoted Cake Eater Readers know...

...it's the husband's 35th birthday today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEETHEART!

Posted by: Kathy at 08:35 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 24 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Thanks. Can I have my midlife crisis now? (Damn, already used that one.)

Posted by: MRN aka "The Husband" at July 29, 2005 08:56 AM (QKvIa)

2 You mean you already had your midlife crisis. Let's be clear about these things, m'dear

Posted by: Kathy at July 29, 2005 08:58 AM (QKvIa)

3 Happy birthday Kathy's husband. You can use my midlife crisis if you want, the missus won't let me have it.

Posted by: phin at July 29, 2005 09:00 AM (Xvpen)

4 Happy birthday to The Husband!

Posted by: Fausta at July 29, 2005 09:44 AM (Hf7u/)

5 Happy Birthday, Kathy's Hubby!

Posted by: Ith at July 29, 2005 12:25 PM (WbPn3)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

This announcement will annoy some people, but hey, I feel the need to brag!

I'm leaving town for the day. WooT! Exciting stuff, no? I haven't been out of the Cities since, well, last October. This is heady stuff for moi. I can't wait.

Anyway, the Cake Eater Sister and her family are out at a lake a couple of hours west of here and the husband and I are going to visit for the day. Hence, you're all SOL as far as blogging entertainment is concerned. I know, you're bereft and all that jazz. Well, all I can really tell you is that you'll live. Maybe not happily, but you'll live nonetheless.

Things should be back to normal on Thursday. Have a great day!

Posted by: Kathy at 12:00 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 129 words, total size 1 kb.

...without whom I would have never scored so high. (Although, I think it was the Pong questions that really helped me score the big points!)

This is proof that I know just enough about computers to be dangerous.

{Hat Tip: Robbo, who really is a nerd}

UPDATE: From MRN aka "The Husband"

Posted by: Kathy at 02:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 65 words, total size 1 kb.

A bit of a thirty-five year fast-forward for some of your favorite bloggers.

I particularly like the one about Robbo. Heh. And, in case you were wondering, Sadie's going to dethrone Ann Coulter. {Insert sorts of glee here} Someone needs to show that leggy bitch who's boss and Sadie's just the girl to do it.

Posted by: Kathy at 02:27 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 71 words, total size 1 kb.

1 I absolutely LOVED Robbo's blurb. Heh heh. Can I quote you on the rest of that?

Posted by: sadie at July 26, 2005 03:36 PM (7SNDe)

2 Of course

Posted by: Kathy at July 26, 2005 03:50 PM (QKvIa)

3 Awesome. Thanks, Kath;-)

Posted by: sadie at July 26, 2005 05:25 PM (xV63t)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

The husband's birthday is on Friday and his sister just stopped by to drop off his present. The kids accompanied her, and since wrapping paper and bows were involved, they insisted the husband open his present up early.

He received an autographed book: Fence Line by Curtis Bauer

Curt is one of the husband's friends from high school. Apparently, they played football together and bonded on their high school's trip to Germany. What's more is that we believe that the "Michael Nelson" listed in the author's acknowledgements is, indeed, the husband. (There are a lot of Michael Nelsons in the world, so it could be someone else, but we don't think it is.)

Pretty cool, eh?

So, if you like poetry and would like to give an Iowa boy a leg up, go and buy his book. Christopher Buckley liked his stuff, so if you need legitimate literary props before you spend money on such a thing, you're covered.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:21 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 163 words, total size 1 kb.

I'm repeating this just for the sake of repeating it. Because Sheryl Crow's "performance" at the Tour de France on Sunday made me want to smack her upside the head. So, I'm being nasty just for the sake of being nasty. {Insert slapping of hand here. Oooh, that hurt. Rolls eyes.}

Some twelve years ago, I was introduced to one of the husband's fraternity brothers. We'll call him R. At the time, R. was dating a lovely girl who we shall call J. J. and I hit it off instaneously. R. married J. about a month after we got married and we and have been good friends ever since. R. is a cycling fanatic and he's translated that love into a great career working for a world renowned cycling company. Recently, he was transferred from the U.S. to Switzerland. I don't know precisely what his job entails for the company anymore, but I do know that for some of the Tour he got to work support crew, helping to take care of their bikes. I'm assuming this was a dream come true for him, considering that in his spare time he used to assemble bikes from free spare parts. (He actually made an all titanium bike. You could pick it up with one finger! He loves titanium so much that his wedding ring is made out of titanium.) Anyway, R. and J. were in Paris over the weekend, and had some great seats in the bleachers and backstage access to the riders. They also got to ride in the parade with the support crew, just behind their riders. Anyway, to get on to the perhaps not-so-juicy Sheryl Crow gossip, I quote from J.'s email:

{...}After he spoke at the Podium his girlfriend Sheryl Crow's song was played on the loud speakers. It was SO TACKY. Everyone groaned, of course. She wanted some attention too !

His ex-wife and their nanny were the women you saw on the TV next to ol
Sheryl. The rumors all over that day were that Sheryl was flown to Switzerland to a fertility clinic to be artificially inseminated with some of Lance's healthy sperm. Not sure if it true- you back in the States would know more about that tabloid gossip than me ! Anyway, Sheryl wants to get married and Lance is going to take it easy{...}

Heheheheh. I can almost buy it, can't you? Tee hee.

My bad. I know. I'm a horrible person, but I couldn't quite resist.

Posted by: Kathy at 10:43 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 426 words, total size 2 kb.

If you like comedians who don't take prisoners, might I suggest you tune into Mind of Mencia on Comedy Central on Wednesday nights? (That linky there is NSFW, ya dig? Unless you've got headphones. Because it's profane. It's good but it made me, who swears like a sailor, blush. That should tell you something.)

Check it out if you get the chance.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:09 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 70 words, total size 1 kb.

Is it one of those viral marketing sort of things, or what? Not that I have a coin to phrase, but rather that I like one that I read about in today's Financial Times. {Ed. If you're wondering why I'm suddenly citing FT articles, well, we recently got a subscription to the paper at the Cake Eater Pad. It's a good deal, too. Six days a week at $100/yr. My fellow Twin Cities residents who are frustrated with the Strib might want to look into this option.} The phrase in question: neo-Croms.

{...}Mr Flatters, chief executive of Future Foundation, the research group, thinks a tendency to take a po-faced attitude to the indulgences of others is on the increase. He has even turned this into a trend: the rise of the neo-Croms - short for neo-Cromwellians, in a nod to the censorious 17th century English statesman.

Neo-Croms support curtailing the consumption of alcohol, smoking, rich foods and some technology on health grounds and patronage of SUVs, budget airlines and mass tourism on environmental ones. To their critics, however, they seem keenest on regulating other people.

Mr Flatters said: "There is a culture out there in favour of restricting other people's pleasures. If you're a smoker but don't drink, then you are quite happy to see regulation on drinking. This is an assault on pleasure and many businesses are likely to see more regulation."

Evidence for the prosecution include calls by neo-Croms for tighter regulation of advertising for fast food and children's brands in European markets; smoking bans in New York, the Irish Republic, Sweden, Norway and Italy; and protests against SUV sales.

The most jaw-dropping claim made by the Future Foundation is that in a poll of 1,000 UK adults, 30 per cent agreed that pregnant women should receive a police caution for smoking in public.{...}

The rest of the article ponders the wisdom of actually gearing marketing towards these neo-Croms. It seems this might just be a fad, instead of a trend. Hence, the backlash could be huge against companies who gear marketing campaigns toward these people.

Which is hopeful, no?

In any case, spread the phrase around. It deserves wider recognition and is much classier than "smoking Nazis."

Posted by: Kathy at 10:36 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 384 words, total size 2 kb.

You knew it had to happen, right?

"Left Behind: Eternal Forces" is a real-time strategy game set in New York during the End of Days, which will allow gamers to choose between the angelic Tribulation Forces and the demonic Global Community Peacekeepers in a multiplayer online mode. The game is set to ship before Easter.

Left Behind CEO Troy Lyndon said the books have a diverse loyal reader base of more than 10 million parents, single adults, teens and kids. He said the company, which was founded in October 2001, will invest more money and resources into its first game than any Christian game has ever seen. Lyndon also said his games will be sold at Wal-Mart, which accounts for about 25% of all game sales.

"If only 10% of the readership buys our game, it will be a top hit, selling more than 1 million units," Lyndon said.

Pidgeon said that while a game success on the level of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" movie might be possible down the road with a big franchise like "Left Behind," films are still much more accessible to the Christian demographic than video games.{...}

The husband, Mr. MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) himself has confidently predicted that everyone is going to want to be an evil Global Community Peacekeeper, no matter how much they love the Lord.

{Hat Tip: Steeeeeve-o.}

Posted by: Kathy at 09:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 242 words, total size 2 kb.

I present for your perusal an interesting article from this weekend's Financial Times about the hows and whys of the Sicilian mafia's ability to live on in this day and age.

The author grew up in Sicily, but moved to London to start a law practice and has since become a novelist. The anecdotes she shares are startling, if for no other reason than that they show the Sicilian populace's willing participation in the system of "clientelism" that brings the mafia its power. Even if the participation is that of the unthinking variety:

{...}”Mafiosita” lurks within me, and it came out powerfully last summer. I was at our family estate in Sicily. My grandchild cut his hand; while I was holding him in my arms, blood flowed copiously. I rushed to the telephone and called a friend: “Whom do you know at A&E?”, I asked. Had I been in London, I would have gone straight to the local hospital.

I thought long and hard on that episode, and was shamed. Distrustful of the ability of the local health service to deliver services without an “introduction”, I had resorted to the “known ways”: personal contact. My friend is just a friend, but for people less privileged than I, the Mafia is always ready - at a price - to be the “best of all friends”, and it has friends in all places. Sciascia was right: there is “something of the Mafia” in each of us. My father would have been ashamed of me.{...}

Go read the whole thing. It's fascinating.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:59 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 267 words, total size 2 kb.

...wherein a good fifty people who came to the Cake Eater Chronicles on a daily basis to read said crap have gone on vacation for what seems is the entire month of July.

The little traitors.

What is it with you people, eh? I put out perfectly good content, day in and day out, to amuse/educate/enlighten y'all and you people desert me, like rats from a barge loaded with bat guano, the minute the weather turns nice. Oh, sure. I provide a great escape from your troubles in the winter, but when summer comes around, well, it's a Wham, Bam, I'm Off To the Beach, Ma'am situation.

Pfft.

Get with the program and start pumping my sitemeter back up or I'll export all the labor of this here operation to India. Then I'll sic Lou Dobbs on you. He'll start plugging "The Exporting of the Cake Eater Chronicles" on his newshour. He'll interview me and in reply, when he starts cutting into me for my behavior, I'll say, "Hey, Lou, what do you want me to do? I'm apparently too expensive for my readers. I've got to cut costs somewhere, and labor is my biggest cost. A typing monkey in Bangalore is much cheaper than I am and is bound to attract more American readers, given that their particular tastes run to Asian Lesbian pr0n." Lou will be saddened by the news, but, surprisingly, he will finally get a grip, take things in context and he will understand. In response, he will turn on you my not-so-devoted Cake Eater readers, and it'll be ugly.

So, save yourself the trouble of being flogged day in and day out by Lou Dobbs, my-soon-to-be-devoted-again Cake Eater readers, and get with the program, ya dig?

You honestly don't want to have to wash that hairshirt every day, do you?

Posted by: Kathy at 12:43 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 309 words, total size 2 kb.

So, have you seen this beast yet?

It appears some fishermen caught this 1,100 pound bugger off of Martha's Vineyard for a shark catching contest or something like that. Apparently, they didn't win the prize because they were six minutes late getting back into port. Which is a bloody shame if you ask me, but anyway...over at Galley Slaves, where I found this, one astute, yet anonymous, commenter left what I consider to be the Best. Comment. Ever.

I can't believe they are parading Ted Kennedy around like that...

{Insert copious snorts of glee here}

Posted by: Kathy at 01:02 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 101 words, total size 1 kb.

With a heartwarming tale from his days on a lawn crew, Chad reminds us that, "Stoned, paranoid, and stupid is no way to go through a day at work."

Posted by: Kathy at 12:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 33 words, total size 1 kb.

Not because they're affecting me other than making me pay through the nose for produce. No sirreee. We could not have picked a better time to go car-less. No, what I am referring to is the new and somewhat unusual habit of everyone and their brother of driving mopeds around town.

This is annoying.

Now, I don't mind the new little Vespas. These are actually cute and they don't make noise. But these Vespas have, it seems, started a trend wherein people are pulling long unused, twenty-year-old Honda mopeds out of their garages and are firing them up for transportation purposes.

It sounds like people are driving chainsaws up and down my street.

Now, I can understand why, with gas at $2.20 a gallon, it would be nice to have an alternative---and cheap---form of transportation with which to accomplish your daily running around. Particularly when the weather is agreeing with the desire to rattle around on a moped. But seriously, folks. If the thing is put-put-put-putting along, you might want to get the engine checked, ya dig? You might also want to---and this is just a suggestion, mind you, so don't shoot the messenger---get the engine checked if said moped is emitting loads of black smoke. You're burning whatever small amount of oil it takes to keep one of those things running and it STINKS.

Also, it might behoove you to learn how to drive the stupid things. Just because you have a small moped and can whiz around with ease, does NOT mean you get to jump a curb and drive along the sidewalk when traffic is heavy. This also means if you're going to turn right on a red, well, don't mow down the people in the crosswalks, thinking we can get out of your way more easily than you can get out of ours. PEDESTRIANS HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY. Learn this or I will not be held accountable for my actions, ya dig?

Ok, I feel better now.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:54 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 344 words, total size 2 kb.

I might be a wee bit precipitous in this and I might earn myself a big spanking from my Maximum Leader for the trouble expended, but, it looks as if The Naked Villains FINALLY have completed their site redesign. Looks sweet, kids. Lovin' the gargoyle. (That is a gargoyle, isn't it? We all need more gargoyles in our lives. And particularly in the blogosphere, too. They're a necessary evil to protect us from moonbats.) I sense the fine and accomplished hand of Sadie in all of this.

But, really and truly, what's really important in all of this is that...

AHEM

...THEY FINALLY HAVE COMMENTS!

Let me speak for the entire blogosphere when I say, "Thank 'Effin God." For there was no more frustrating of a blog than the "old" Naked Villainy. All that debate and no bloody way to get in on the action other than to email.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:49 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 163 words, total size 1 kb.

Well, not my family, because guns scare the crap out of me, but Chrissy's family would dig this article, big time.

{Super Sekrit Note to Chrissy: Note that one of the camps is near Vegas. Take your mom. She could get her blackjack and shooting grooves on at the same time!}

Posted by: Kathy at 02:52 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 61 words, total size 1 kb.

Hurricane Dennis may not have wreaked as much havoc as the media was hoping for, but it did wreak some havoc nonetheless.

Go and help if you can.

If you've never lived through a flood, well, I can only say that you should be thanking your lucky stars. It doesn't matter if you live in a flood plain or not---the water can, and sometimes, will find you.

And it's a hell of a thing to try and get cleaned up. And that's only if you can clean it up in the first place. Sometimes homes are condemed and people find themselves without a place to live through no fault of their own.

I lived through the 500 year flood in Iowa in 1993: I've seen this sort of damage first hand and it's not the water that's so much the problem---even though it's not really a joy---because the water will, eventually, recede; it's the muck and mire that the water brings with it that doesn't go away and ruins everything you own. Imagine cleaning out a foot or more of mud and river debris from your home. Not to mention all the creepy critters who like living in mud, no matter where it's located. Yeech.

If you can, help Mary Anne and her husband out. They sure could use it. And if you're a blogger, get the word out or suffer Sadie's wrath.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:25 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 251 words, total size 2 kb.

Like Robbo, I must admit this is pretty cool.

ROME, Italy (AP) -- Decorated cups and fine silver platters were once again polished and on display Monday as archaeologists unveiled an ancient Roman dining set that lay hidden for two millennia in the volcanic ash of Pompeii.

In 2000, archaeologists found a wicker basket containing the silverware in the ruins of a thermal bath near the remains of the Roman city, said Pietro Giovanni Guzzo, head of Pompeii's archaeological office.

The basket was filled with the volcanic ash that buried the city when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79. When experts X-rayed it, they saw the objects preserved in the ash, which killed thousands of people but kept the town almost intact, providing precious information on domestic life in the ancient world.{...}

Sweet.

To one up Robbo, here's the Latin version of Pliny The Younger's description of the eruption. Scroll down to entries 16 and 20 and you'll get the whole story in the mother tongue.

(And, no, I can't read it either.)

Posted by: Kathy at 11:02 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 197 words, total size 1 kb.

Not a big shocker, really. Cate Blanchett and I could pass for sisters.

Really.

Posted by: Kathy at 10:43 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 24 words, total size 1 kb.

The Kid has been anxiously awaiting the new Harry Potter book.

So, she'll get a kick out of this, being the hawk that she is.

Posted by: Kathy at 09:50 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 33 words, total size 1 kb.