Random Pensees has finally answered my questions for The Interview Game.

And they're very well done and completely worth the wait. Go and read.

Posted by: Kathy at 10:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 32 words, total size 1 kb.

Ahhhhh, we've arrived at the Blog Child.

Yep. You read that right. Phoenix is my blog child. Late last summer, after lurking for months on end, she finally fessed up to her love of the Cake Eater Chronicles and told me something that still shocks and amazes me even today: she read my blog before she read Drudge. Woooooh. Thus began an email correspondence, which, after a while became quite screedy. This resulted in me telling her to start a blog.

Which she did. She also volunteered to be interviewed. Hence, I am now going to ask her five questions. She can find all of the stuff she needs to post with her answers right here.

And away we go.

1. You, Phoenix, are a midwestern girl. Born and bred in the heartland. Explain for the folks on the coasts (and around the world) what it's like to live here. Detail the pros and cons for them.

2. Your work has something to do with Agribusiness, which some people consider to be a dirty word. Give me an example of one common misconception you run up against in regard to the field you work in. Lavish us with the details of what you would say to these people if you didn't have to worry about being rude.

3. You enjoy baking. What has been your most spectacular success in this field, and conversely, what didn't work out so well?

4. You're an anonymous blogger. Why did you choose to blog anonymously? Do you feel it gives you more leeway to write certain things than if you attached your name to your work? Do you ever feel the compulsion to fib to your readers, knowing full well that they'd have no idea if you were telling the truth or not?

5. How did Prince Charming propose?

I will update when Phoenix answers.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 329 words, total size 2 kb.

So the next victim interviewee up to bat is Random Pensees, a fellow resident of the moo knew domain and an all-around good guy. He also has the distinct honor of being my very first commenter when I moved over to moo knew. It was a very wonderful welcome that he posted and one that made me feel as if I had made the right move, the scariness of movable type notwithstanding.

Not like that's going to make me go easy on him, though.

Since RP is an exceedingly busy guy, I've told him he has some leeway on when he can post his answers on his own blog. I will update when he posts them, so keep checking back. He will need to include the rules in his post, so he can have the ultimate fulfillment that is payback by grilling a few of his own victims.

1. You're a corporate litigator. The lawyers I used to work with would occasionally become tired of cleaning up other people's messes---and would whine about it. If you could, what would you say to a particularly idiotic client if you didn't have to fear the loss of their billable hours?

2. You live and work in the NYC metropolitan area. For those of us who have never been, explain the pros and cons of living and working in that city.

3. If you could become a cat burglar, and were able to access (albeit illegally) any musuem in the world, knowing that a. what you're choosing to steal is for your personal pleasure and b. you wouldn't be caught, what piece of art would you choose to steal and why?

4. You're an anonymous blogger. Why did you choose to blog anonymously? Do you feel it gives you more leeway to write certain things than if you attached your name to your work? Do you ever feel the compulsion to fib to your readers, knowing full well that they'd have no idea if you were telling the truth or not?

5. Name your all-time favorite book. Why do you love it so?

Posted by: Kathy at 11:28 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 364 words, total size 2 kb.

Ah, Good ol' Rob.

If you don't know Rob---and God only knows why you wouldn't be familiar with Rob, because he's marvelous and you're a slacker if you're not reading him daily---he runs his blog from the vast wilderness that is Orlando, Florida, where he visits places like Gatorland. He then calls up Manolo Blahnik and tells him which gators are primed and ready to be worn on my feet. He's a pal that way. Anyway, so you all can become a wee bit more familiar with my buddy Rob, I'm going to ask him five questions and he will reply.

I'll link to his answers when he has them ready to go. He will need to include the rules to the Interview Game in his post, which he can cut and paste from my original post, so he can grill a few of his own commentors.

Are we all ready? Okedokey. And away we go.

1. Who would you want to be: John Wayne or Kurt Russell pretending to be John Wayne? Why?

2. Who would win in a mud wrestling match: Lizzie Bennet or Emma Woodhouse? Why?

3. Explain how one can title their blog "Pious Agnostic," and yet still post about going to church.

4. You're a gamer. Try and explain for the non-gaming junkies of the world what games you like to play and why you like to play them. What do you get out of this activity? And does your habit drive your wife and family nuts? Or have they drank the kool-aid, too?

5. What is the symbol for Fool's Gold? (He promised to brush up on his chemistry. I'm just seeing if he actually did.)

UPDATE: Rob has answered! Go and read!

Posted by: Kathy at 10:09 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 305 words, total size 2 kb.

So, as related in this post, I now get to subject a few bloggers to a Richard Nixon-style grilling interview a few of my very own commenters/bloggers.

This will be fun.

The victims interviewees are:

• Rob the Pious Agnostic
• Random Pensees
• Phoenix of Villains Vanquished

and last but not least...

• houseguest extraordinaire, Rich, who is Seldom Sober

The schedule is as follows. Rob will be grilled on Friday. RP needs some time to get this done, so his questions will be posted on Saturday and we will hope he finds the time to get them done over the weekend, and if not, he can post whenever he gets over his jetlag. Phoenix is slated for Monday, and Rich's weekend hangover should have dissipated by Tuesday morning so he should be capable of answering questions by then.

In the meantime, I will be formulating questions in the basement using my junior chemistry set. You can find me there if you really need me.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 168 words, total size 1 kb.

Hide Comments | Add Comment

...Getting to know all about you.
Getting to like you,
Getting to hope you like me.

Getting to know you,
Putting it my way,
But nicely,
You are precisely,
My cup of tea.

Ooops. Er. Was having a Deborah Kerr moment there and I got stuck in it.

Anyhoo, it's somewhat relevant. Margi, the uber babe, has some questions she needs to ask me, to fulfill her obligations to the Interview Game. I suppose I should get around to answering them. But first, this is a meme, so it gets passed along. Here are the rules:

• Leave me a comment saying “interview me”. The first five commenters will be the participants.


• I will respond by asking you five questions.


• You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.


• You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.


• When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. (Write your own questions or borrow some.)

If you're interested to know all about me, read on after the jump. more...

Posted by: Kathy at 01:59 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 1670 words, total size 10 kb.

Yeah. Another meme. From You know who.

Ten Things I've Done But You Probably Haven't

1. Snuck into a Branford Marsalis concert. (Something I will never do again. I won't even pay money to see the guy because he's a Grade A Asshole.)

2. Straddled the Prime Meridien---one foot in the eastern hemisphere, one in the western---while I was visiting the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.

3. Was "Shake n' Baked" three times by the fine, upstanding brothers of FarmHouse Fraternity, Iowa State University, Iowa Chapter.

4. Was lucky enough to have Joe Fiennes flag down a bartender for me at a pub in Notting Hill.

5. Hobbled around Alcatraz and San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square, Chinatown and Pier 39---and various points in between---with a sprained ankle.

6. Have dined at The French Laundry.

7. Served coffee to Bill Brown (he was one of my regular customers. I nicknamed him "Boom Boom" and he loved it.), Mick Sterling, Bobby McFerrin, and Chaka Khan, among many, many others.

8. Have done interesting things on the porch of this building back when it was called Old Botany and was condemned and scheduled to be torn down.

9. Have gone cow tipping.

10. Had a flat tire at 10:30 at night in the middle of nowhere, Iowa, was picked up by a semi-driver who took me to a phone. Then, when I was unable to find a tow truck driver in this dinky little town, a guy who'd been hanging out at the local Casey's drove me back to my car and helped me put the spare on...and I lived and was unharmed, not raped, etc. I wouldn't recommend it, but there are decent men in the world.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:40 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 290 words, total size 2 kb.

So, another meme. You, of course, know where I got it from. Fortunately, Robbo's going on vacation this next week so you'll be spared from my lack of self-control.

Anyway...

The First Five Movie/TV Quotes that come into your head (must be from different movies/shows).

1. "When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept. For there were no more worlds left to conquer. Benefits of a classical education." ---Hans in Die Hard (You can hear Rickman saying this in your head, can't you? I know you can. God, he's good.)

2. "The Donger need food." ---Long Duk Dong, Sixteen Candles

3. "So, if you guys know so much about chicks and stuff, why are you, like, sitting around at the Gas n' Sip on a Saturday night?"
{insert dramatic pause here}
"Choice, man!"----Lloyd Dobler, et.al. Say Anything

4. "I say! Am I to strut around naked like a beggar child in Calcutta? Fetch me some clean linen to throw on before I call child services!" ---Stewie Griffin, Family Guy

5. "You know how to whistle, don't you Steve? You just put your lips together and...blow" --Slim in To Have and Have Not

Posted by: Kathy at 05:32 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 200 words, total size 1 kb.

Sadie tagged me.

Apparently I'm pretty good with these meme thingys. I must deliver wit on tap now, eh? Oh, the PRESSURE to be a wise ass! God, it's positively crushing me. I don't know how I'll ever survive!

Anyway...

Random Ten

Miles Davis, Sketches of Spain

Yo-Yo Ma, Bach's Unaccompanied Cello Concertos

Ten Thousand Maniacs, In My Tribe

Concrete Blonde, Live in Brazil (Would be better if I didn't have to listen to Johnette Napolitano whine about how much she hates President Bush, but still, very very decent and a must have for any Concrete Blonde fan.)

Jack Johnson, Brushfire Fairytales

Guns n' Roses, Appetite for Destruction (We don't need no stinkin' Use Your Illusion bullshit here at the Cake Eater Pad. Ever since Axl's balls dropped, their music has been shit. Although, I have a feeling the husband would disagree.)

U2, The Joshua Tree. Best. U2. Album. Ever. (And that's sayin' something.)

Billy Joel, The Stranger. (I've had this album on vinyl. I've owned it on tape. I've owned it on CD. And now it's digitized. And yes, I do know every word on Scene from an Italian Restaurant.)

Joan Osborne, Righteous Love.

David Gray, White Ladder. (I just really love this guy.)

1. What is the total amount of music files on your computer?
6.15 GB. And, yes, I meant to put Gigs there. (Only 441.2 MB, Sadie? C'mon and play with the big dogs.)

2. The last CD you bought is:

The last CD I bought? Or the last CD I, er, appropriated?

Well, we'lll throw both out there for the heck of it. I want the RIAA breathing down my neck so I can coutersue and, eventually, hang their collective ass on my trophy wall.

Anyhoo...
Bought: Jamiroquai, Synkronized
Appropriated: U2, How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

3. What is the song you last listened to before this message?

Erm. I almost hate to admit this, but the husband dowloaded a bunch of Monty Python bits and bobs, and well, it's Every Sperm is Sacred from The Meaning of Life.

We have the Lumberjack song, too. And the Philosopher's Drinking song, as well.

4. Five songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.

Dave Matthews Band, Say Goodbye. There was a time when I could identify with it. Now it just makes me wistful.

Bobby Darin, I'm Beginning To See The Light. Bobby was cool before Kevin Spacey made him cool.

Sarah McLachlan, Possession. Passion bottled.

Simon and Garfunkel, Kathy's Song. First, I'm fond of this song because no one ever writes songs for the Kathys of the world. Second, it really is a quietly beautiful piece of music.

U2, Where The Streets Have No Name. This song is pure rock and roll perfection. I could write a treatise about it.

5. Who are you gonna pass this stick to (five persons and why)?

Well, first and foremost, would be Robbo, because he's forever getting me into meme-trouble. And anyway, I'm sure he's just dying to be invited to participate. His case of the plague notwithstanding.

Next up is Fausta because I wanna see into her CD cabinet.

The blogchild will also have to participate. Because I'm her mommy and I said so.

Adrianne is up next. I want to see if there are any Bollywood soundtracks within her selections.

Finally, we have Margi. Because every opportunity we can give her to have the last word on any subject is well worth the time and effort it took to arrange it.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 592 words, total size 4 kb.

Our benevolent Munuvian dictator asks:

When they make MuNu: The Movie, who will play you? And feel free to make nominations for the other Munus.

Hmmm.

I have no idea who would play me. And I'm not making any suggestions, either, lest it come back and bite me on the behind.

Rocket Jones has suggested Cindy Williams and Penny Marshall for our beloved Llamas.

Personally, I think Lenny and Squiggy would better suit Steve and Rob. The symmetry is just too perfect and overwhelming to ignore.

As far as any other suggestions I might have, well...Tom Amandes would work perfectly for Random Pensees. I'm getting a Carrie-Anne Moss-in-a-catsuit vibe for Sadie.Harrison Ford, of course, for Dr. Rusty. Because you know he's all about fighting the powers that be! And, of course, Dennis Quaid for John L. Because Texans should play Texans.

UPDATE: Oh, dear. The boys appear to be undecided about who should play me. Robbo apparently wants Helen Hunt. Steve thinks otherwise. Of course, this is only if I'm reading all that "ontological crisis of the space-time continuum" business correctly. And we know that I might not be: I'm stupid like that.

Hmmmm.

Super sekrit message to Robbo: Helen Hunt???? I can't tell if this is payback or a compliment.

UPDATE DEUX: Sadie, very kindly, says I "{...}have a Kristen Davis thing going on." WOOHOO!

She also has an interesting suggestion for the Llamas. (Snort)

John L. over at Texas Best Grok, working upon my suggestion that Texans should play Texans has a poll up as to just which Texan should play him. He likes the Texan suggestion, but dislikes my choice of Dennis Quaid. Go on over and tell him who you want.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:21 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 289 words, total size 2 kb.

With the sound of really sucky music.

Yet another meme. Someone came up with a list of fifty songs they hated. I'm supposed to bold the ones I like. Discussion will also follow.

If interested read on after the jump.

(Of course, I caught this, like yet another bad, treatment resistant, case of the crabs, from a furry llama who's skipping the inauguration tomorrow. ) more...

Posted by: Kathy at 10:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1162 words, total size 7 kb.

None at all. My kindergarten teacher, Miss Goddard, would be very disappointed in me as she was always teaching me to strive to control my hyperactive five-year-old self. But at least this meme is from a different source this time around.

Because I'm all about the variety.

If interested, read on after the jump. more...

Posted by: Kathy at 12:49 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1620 words, total size 9 kb.

Yet Another Meme. From the only place I ever seem to get these things.

1. Go To Mapquest.com.

2. Click on Directions.

3. Enter your current address and the address of your childhood home (or at least the town if you don't remember the exact address).

4. Put the time and distance in a post like this.

5. Repost the instructions to the meme in your own blog.

Here's how long it will take to get to Howard Buffett's house*.

Total Est. Time: 5 hours, 45 minutes
Total Est. Distance: 377.76 miles

I would say that's about right. Particularly the driving time. Although you can get it down to about five hours if you don't stop too much and traffic is flowing nicely on I-35 and I-80.

I do have to say, however, that the directions that Mapquest produced for driving within Omaha are, perhaps, the worst example of how badly they've flubbed it that I've ever seen. They've screwed me up---along with many other people---in the past, but man, oh, man! This one takes the cake! In Omaha, you don't go to the north side of Dodge Street to get to the neighborhoods on the south side of Dodge Street, which is where the old homestead resides and how Mapquest routed me in. Why don't you do this? you ask. Because Dodge street is the only street in Omaha that has the capacity to go East/West where you can make decent time and provides access to all the major north/south sidestreets---anything other road is a crapshoot. As a result Dodge has the most traffic. They built the freeways goofily in town, expecting development to go north/south. Being contrary, of course, development went west, hence, there are no freeways where you need them. Dodge Street has five lanes and the traffic flows quite quickly. It would be like crossing 35W here in the Cities. You'd have to gun it to make it across, and even then it's dicey.

And as the husband loves to whine about whenever we're there, you can never, never, NEVER turn left in Omaha. Well, that's not exactly true. There are plenty of places where you can turn left. But, where he is correct in that statement is that you can never turn left off Dodge Street onto a side street unless there happens to be a turn lane, which the city planners didn't provide many of in what appears was an attempt to make things interesting. There is no turn lane onto our old block. Hence Mapquest's faulty directions to turn north to be able to go south. Oy. Just take Farnam---or any other freakin' street for that matter---and you wouldn't have this problem. Considering the old homestead is right next to Farnam Street, you think Mapquest would have picked that one up.

*The old homestead just sold again this past summer. To Howard Buffett, who is Warren's son. And yes, I mean the Warren Buffett. I used to walk past his house every day going back and forth to school. The husband asks for a moment of silence every time we pass it nowadays. Howard currently lives on a farm in Illinois most of the time, rejecting his father's capitalist ways. Amazingly enough, though, he still manages to live rather nicely on those lovely Berkshire-Hathaway "A" stock dividends. According to the Cake Eater Father, who still keeps up with the dish on our old block, he bought the place so his family---and various other relatives---wouldn't have to stay in a hotel when they visited dear old Dad, who lives five blocks away.

{Point of Origin: The Impenetrable One}

Posted by: Kathy at 01:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 606 words, total size 4 kb.

In the never ending quest to feed my need for these sorts of things, Robbo has delivered the meat once again.

The rules are as follows: These are authors whose work grace my library shelves. I deleted the stuff I don't have and added my own, which are highlighted in bold.

1 Diana Gabaldon
2. Michael Ondaatje
3. Tom Clancy
4. Jane Austen
5. Arturo Perez-Reverte
6. JRR Tolkien (which, I am ashamed to say, is the husband's. I'm ashamed it's on our shelves along with a number of other Tolkein books. I've never read it. And I never will. And, yes, it's a looong story, which I will skip over.)
7. Iain Pears
8. D.H. Lawrence
9. Neal Stephenson
10. Miguel Cervantes

And, just for fun, I'll start a new meme: ten authors you are ashamed you own the work of, but really can't help yourself. These are the books you buy when you're in a bad mood and need some cheering up. These are the books you buy when you're stuck in a podunk airport during a snowstorm and it's either this or the National Enquirer for reading material.

Sure, it's all well and good to tell the world of the lofty works of literature you have on your shelves. It makes you look good. But the real question is, will you cop to the guilty pleasures or the reading material you bought in desperation? Hmmmm. We shall see.

Here's mine. For the record: we have two bookcases and one has a set of double doors on it. These are the authors who reside here, hidden from the rest of the world.

1. Maeve Binchy
2. Nora Roberts (Actually have quite a lot of her stuff. Have contributed quite a bit to her gross national product. Which is something like $60M. Sigh.)
3. Luanne Rice
4. Dan Brown
5. Victoria "I Dig Writing About Impoverished Victorian Virgins" Holt
6. Daniel Silva
7. Vince Flynn (Actually, I'm quite fond of this guy's work, and he's a local boy, but it's not great literature)
8. Robert Ludlum
9. John Le Carre (While the prose is brilliant, well, they're still spy novels)
10. Sidney Sheldon

Purge yourselves, children. Come clean.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:17 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 373 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Maeve Binchy, eh? You are one brave woman to admit that one;-)

Posted by: Sadie at January 07, 2005 04:31 AM (6Mg2O)

2 Yep. Courage is my middle name

Posted by: Kathy at January 07, 2005 09:56 AM (E0v6D)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

...when it comes to this sort of thing. Sigh. You know who's responsible for feeding my addiction to these sorts of things: the blog which shall not be named because I feel like a very weak person for always succumbing and I'll be damned if I'm going to give them any credit.

Read on after the jump if you're interested. more...

Posted by: Kathy at 11:23 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 692 words, total size 4 kb.