New Google Photo Meme

Google these things in image search and choose 1 image from the first page of results:

1. The age you will be on your next birthday.

42- this is a polyhedron called a "great rhombidodecahedron" with 42 faces

2. A place you'd like to visit.

Australia

3. Your favorite place.

The beach.

4. Your favorite object.

GPS

5. Your favorite food.

Watermelon

6. Your favorite animal.

Chimpanzee

7. Your favorite color.

Blue.

8. The city in which you were born.

Heidelberg

9. The town in which you live.

Austin

10. The name of your pet.

Spanky

11. Your nickname/screen name.

K-Squared (one of my many nicknames/sn's)

12. Your first job.

Restaurant hostess

13. Your current job.

Webmistress (Yes, I always do it in heels by a roaring fire.)

14. Your dream job.

Event planner

Oh and about those speakers...

Um. Yeah.

Turns out I had turned down my iTunes volume and my cheapy-deapy speakers are just fine.

DUH.

TGIF

George Clooney and Sarah Larson broke up? Awww man. That breaks my heart. *g*

I've finally blown my computer's speakers. Time to get some really good ones. Mwahaha! It only took me a few months of blasting iTunes to wear these silly things out!

Ahhh! Sleep!

This week I've had trouble sleeping. Well, not getting to sleep, but waking at 4am and not being able to go back to sleep. Last night, I went to bed early at 9 and didn't wake up until my alarm went off at 6:15. YAY!!!

Yahoo Mail ate something very important that was coming to me yesterday. *shakes fist at Yahoo* Sometimes that thing is slower than Christmas.

Former press secretary Scott McClellan is a backstabber. Whatever you think of Bush, McClellan is just a jerk with zero integrity. He is so out to make a jillion bucks with his book, after spending years defending the President behind the podium, working for him since his days here in Austin as governor. Former press secretary and McClellan predecessor Ari Fleischer was on Good Morning America this morning and gave the best interview. He so eloquently spoke about being heartbroken that this guy had done a 180, and described him as a disgruntled former White House employee. Watch the interview at ABC News.

Happy Wednesday

It feels like Tuesday!

I bought some jezebel red lipstick yesterday. It's pretty cool and all, but I don't usually wear a lot of makeup and you have to balance red with quite a bit of eye shadow, liner, etc. So this morning when I dropped Lauren off at the bus stop, I'm guessing her friends were thinking that I was off to a day job at a casino. Or 5th Street.

Here is a shot of one of our deer from this morning. So cute!

Tapas

So if ever you're out on Memorial Day and Malaga is closed... go to Saba two doors down. Saba has tapas just as good, and also regular entrees, if you are so inclined. My favorite appetizer there was the Pork Tostones- pork on a sauteed plantain slice with black beans, and of course, a terrific sauce.

Ten on Tuesday

10 Favorite Time Wasters

1. Guitar Hero
2. Dawdling through Target
3. HGTV
4. Shopping iTunes
5. Hot tub
6. Solitaire
7. Re-organizing a drawer or closet
8. YouTube
9. Organizing and tagging digital photos
10. Chatting on the telephone

Whoa

Ladies, remember looking this glowy and gorgeous when we were pregnant?



Yeah, me too. (lol)

ETA- I cropped out the eye candy on the right. That has thrown Laura for a loop, so she can't identify the woman- it's Angelina Jolie, with twins.

Memorial Day

And Happy Anniversary to Jeff and me! 18 years today. We're going to the tapas bar (not nearly as misleading to write as it is to say) Malaga on 4th tonight. I love that place.

Last night was Alf's annual game party. Huge blowout event. We always find awesome new games to add to our collection! This year's favorites were Ubongo- basically Tetris as a board game, Poison- a surprisingly fun and easy card game for all ages, and Cash 'n Guns- a bluffing game with actual foam guns which is hilarious especially when people have had a few beverages.

Speaking of games, the new Guitar Hero World Tour coming in Fall '08 will be like Rock Band, with drum, bass and mic. The Rock Band drum drives me nuts with its tap-tapping that drowns out the drum sounds. They say the Guitar Hero drum controller will deal with that and some other "realism" issues. Check out the info and a video here.

And did everyone see the Mars Lander landed pretty much perfectly?! How cool is that? The pics are nothing short of amazing. Very crisp and clear.

Saturday 9

The High School Meme

1. Who were your best friends?
Cathy Jory and Kimberly Holbert.

2. Did you play any sports?
I played basketball and volleyball in junior high, but not high school. I was the Sports Reporter for the school newspaper my sophomore year. My senior year, I was on the Senior Girls team for the Powder Puff Football game. (<--Ahhh... football players in cheerleader skirts. Good times.) So basically, no.

3. What kind of car did you drive?
My mom's old, white Datsun B210.

4. It’s Friday night. Where were you?
Football game, party or a date.

5. Were you a party animal?
I went to a lot of parties, but I wasn't typically a wild child while I was there.

6. Were you considered a flirt?
Yes.

7. Were you in the band, orchestra or choir?
I was a choir geek in junior high, but not high school. In high school I was in journalism and creative writing.

8. Were you a nerd?
I suppose I had nerdy tendencies, but I wasn't the general "nerd" type. Well, okay, maybe.

9. Were you ever suspended or expelled?
Nope.

JB and Sandy

I was doing a Target run this morning and on the radio, Sandy played a tape of his wife Trish during the AI results. After David Cook's name is announced, she starts screaming and screaming and chanting "David Cook! David Cook! David Cook!" I was dying laughing in the car, because it may as well have been a tape of me at the same moment.

Then they were joking around about doing a contest for Schlitterbahn tickets where you had to do an impression of Trish. I would have called, because I can honestly do it squeal for squeal.

Trish called in and ended up talking about how embarrassed she was about something I'd missed- something to do with drinking I think. Sandy pointed out that there is a fine line between 'embarrassing' and 'funny.' LOL

Didge was talking about a lady who explained to him that he shouldn't be afraid of snakes. She talked to him about holding a python over your shoulders. One of the DJs said, "You'd be surprised how heavy they are." Didge said "That's what she said."

No one caught it, including him. TOO funny!

Your American Idol...

The kiddos were telling me today that on the DVR'd American Idol from last night, since the show went over, it ended like this:

"The winner of American Idol 2008...... is...... David...."

Ahahaha! That is hilarious.

Good Morning!

Random thoughts today. We have begun the season of evening school events, and last night was a Junior Honor Society shin-dig (my term, not theirs) before rushing home to catch the last half of Idol.

1) David Cook's Guitar Hero "tribute to Risky Business" commercial last night: We are dedicated Guitar Hero players in this house, and I did not notice David was playing a guitar controller in the commercial until after the Guitar Hero logo appeared at the end. ROFL. No, I wasn't trying to see his undies the whole 30 seconds.

2) Greece: Pedro showed me his pictures from when he and his wife went to Greece. (My travel photos rarely look like postcards. Somehow, most of his do.) I didn't realize there is graffiti on the Acropolis. The Acropolis! That is just shameful. Gorgeous country though! I would love to go there.

3) Dear Mr. Bush: For the thousandth time, it's not NUKE-U-LAR. Fermi is turning in his grave.

4) 64-year-old Senator Chris Dodd: ...has a three-year-old daughter? Wow. That is freaky.

5) Season Finale of "House": Finally saw it on the DVR. Amber's death scene was almost as sad as Denny's death on Grey's Anatomy a while back. Bust out the tissues.

WOOOOOOO!!!!!111!!11!!!!

David Cook wins!!!!!!!!!!

YES! YES! YES!!!!!!

American Idol Final

Y'all know I do not text. I do IM, and I know it's "the same" but all those phone keystrokes are such a waste of my time. Plus I want to hear your lovely voices.

Last night I texted my ass off. If David Cook doesn't win tonight, it isn't because I was a slacker. And now I can text "VOTE" (or "VMTE" or "UOTE") to 5701 in my sleep, thankyouverymuch!

Go C!!!!!!! I'm already waiting for the Cook tour.

Here is David singing "Still Haven't Found What I'm Lookin' For." Watch him fondle the mic stand. You know you want to.

Non-meme Post Du Jour

I can write my own original text... really.

So the new non-profit website has been launched. WOO!!! It was an graphic-intensive project, so my Paint Shop skills have been sharpened over the last month. Other than ads, my own websites are not heavy on graphics, because I am a minimal bandwidth kind of girl.

JB and Sandy talked about Chelsea Lately this morning on the radio. I listened mostly to hear what they thought about Laura's and my show idea. lol. JB loves the show and Sandy hates it. Well he hates Chelsea Handler. I'm sure he would feel that we are much cooler.

American Idol Finals tonight, people!!! VOTE VOTE VOTE.

Friends up for Saxon Pub on a Monday when Bob Schneider is playing, let's stop talking about it and do it!

Ten on Tuesday

10 Movies You’re Excited to See

1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2. Burn After Reading
3. Mamma Mia!
4. Wall-E
5. Get Smart
6. Tropic Thunder
7. The Happening
8. The Road
9. The Strangers
10.Revolutionary Road

Saturday 9

This is a new meme for me. It's a "silly meme every Saturday" which seems superfun!

1. What is the first thing you notice about a person (that you are attracted to) when you meet them?
Hair. Preferably dark and wavy.

2. What has been your worst illness or injury?
Cancer.

3. Have you ever had a secret crush and then told the person? If yes, how did it go?
Yes. In college. It went horribly. Never do it! LOL.

4. What was the last drink that you ordered at a pub or a bar?
Margarita.

5. What car have you owned that was your favorite?
Hyundai Santa Fe

6. What is your favorite holiday?
Cinco de Mayo. Of course it's Christmas.

7. Have you ever had sex with someone that in retrospect was (and stayed) a stranger?
Heck no.

8. Who is your favorite female singer?
Amy Lee

9. How often do you read the newspaper?
Online- most days. Never in paper form.

Iron Man and the Sisterhood

We saw Iron Man yesterday- the first time for me and second for the rest of the fam. It was really good! Robert Downey Jr. is perfect for the role. It's one of those movies where the guy is one every guy wants to be and every girl want to be with. Well, let me rephrase about the girls- he's attractive and driven and successful, and if you could handle the womanizing and promiscuity you'd want to be with him.

Also watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which of course we've seen before. I always need an entire box of tissues to make it through that one. Very good though. Looking forward to the next one!

42

Last night we hosted game night. The guys beat the girls two out of three rounds of 42. The boys pulled a "Clinton" and started rationalizing that if certain facts of their choosing were omitted or restructured, they had actually won three of three rounds. Ahahahaaaaa! No.

I'm not great at bidding. I haven't played 42 in years, so trying to remember how much to bid was hard until we'd played quite a few games. Plus, the idea that you win based on how closely you came to what you thought you were capable of, rather than how well you played, seems weird.

The libation of the night was Llano Estacado Blush- super yummy.

Building Fences

I've just spent an hour preparing two unique sets of documentation to present to our neighbors about replacing our fence. I have pictures and emails and drawings from the two companies who gave us quotes, our recommendations, etc. Even the final numbers for each family.

What. I'm organized, not anal.

More farm subsidies?

By the time the farmers and oil companies get through with us, we'll all be broke:

Veto-proof farm spending bill passes Senate

...The measure continues $25 billion in direct payments, mainly to grain growers despite record prices; contains $3 billion in first-ever research and marketing money for California produce growers; and creates a new "permanent disaster" program that will subsidize wheat growers who plant marginal prairie land now set aside for wildlife and watershed protection.

Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, who has based his campaign on a promise to end special-interest politics in Washington, issued a statement praising the farm bill, which is laden with special-interest subsidies...

LOL

I was a poetry and song writer back in high school. Here are some of my kick-ass song lyrics, circa 1984:

...Urethane love
Plastic emotion
Your mind sets you free
From your heart's undevotion...

(My sincerest apologies to Mr. "You-can-call-me-unperfect," who may or may not have been the target of some jokes from me a few years back.)

An excerpt from another song:

...It's almost like I know
You hung a sign on my window
"In case of emergency, break glass...."

I'm only glad you can't hear the lame music that goes along with these.

David!!!

David Coooooook!!!!! WOOOO!!!!!!!

He didn't win yet. I'm just preparing my girly squealing voice. And my texting fingers. Next week I'll be going head-to-head with the teenage David A fans, who text like pros. Gotta be ready. The kiddo is for David C, so she'll probably log 50 times more votes than I towards the cause.

Band, AI

And so, the adventure of high school marching band has begun with Spring Band Camp. This one time... at band camp...

The kids are totally psyched. DD has her marching baritone and music. Now if she can just build up those arm muscles to hold up her instrument for a couple of hours at a time, she'll be great. lol. She's one of the strongest bases on her cheer team. You'd think that would translate, but marching is holding a light thing for a long time, where cheer is holding a heavy thing for a short time. Kind of like short-distance vs. long-distance runners. Eh. I make this stuff up, but it sounds logical.

American Idol. I cracked up with David A's "...my boo..." Not to mention that he looked like he was going to blank on the lyrics at any moment. He's still a great singer, and I'm sure this week has been extra-stressful for him. David C rocked as usual. And Syesha cannot stay away from songs that leave her looking generic. She only chose one of three though, so she's not totally to blame.

Hey, weren't we supposed to see the hometown visits? I saw the YouTube vids of David C in Kansas City (here's one). Maybe that's tonight?

Benini Sculpture Ranch

There was an article in the Statesman about the Benini Sculpture Ranch this weekend. Coolio! You simply must see the ranch. It is a truly unique space in the Texas Hill Country.

Speaking of Benini, a couple of people have asked to see our Benini sculpture. Here it is...



"Ours"

Speaking of the Internet Archive

If you are a fan of local bands, take a look at their extensive Live Music Archive, a library of free audio downloads of live performances. Very cool.

WinAmp will play FLAC files, as will some other software. You can also rip FLAC files to CD with Roxio Easy Media Creator or dBpowerAMP, among other programs. If you have trouble, just Google "flac files".

Thank God for Backups

Crisis averted. The Foundation needed to put up some event photos that we took down from the website several weeks ago. I'm really good about keeping backups and archives of all that stuff, but somehow I didn't have these photos anywhere. I even tried the Internet Archive, but they don't have a backup that recent.

Just as I was about to make that dreaded call to say I had no idea where those important pics went, I checked my own computer data backups. I found the old html file from January and it turns out the event icon was linked to a photo site, not photos we had on our server.

WHEW. So yeah. Back up your computer data.

Happy Mothers' Day

Happy Moms Day to all my mommy friends!!!!

We had to have fast food for our meal out today, so I chose McDonalds. We haven't been there in ages. It was good, I have to tell you.

Remember when the kids were little and we were all at MickeyD's twice a week to play on the playscape? Remember the crazy guy who looked like he was building a bomb in the booth next to us and we didn't leave because we just needed that 30 minutes to chat about something other than diapers? Remember some of us more "safety-minded" moms requested the special toy for kids under 3 while others pointed and laughed? Ahahaha. Remember how my kid didn't know what a lollipop was?

Okay, now I digress.

So I suppose if I really rationalize it, McDonalds was a good lunch choice for Mothers Day.

We also saw the very appropriate Baby Mama. It was fairly good. Steve Martin was great.

Saturday Six

1. How many days a week, on average, do you eat breakfast?
Six.

2. If you eat a breakfast that involves actual cooking, what are most likely to prepare for yourself?
Soft-boiled eggs on toast.

3. If you eat a breakfast that requires no cooking, what are you most likely to choose for yourself?
Cereal... usually honey-nut Cheerios.

4. Take the quiz: What Kind of Cereal Are You?
You are Cheerios (ahahaha)
Like other Cheerios eaters, you want to be a responsible adult.
But you can't help but still be a kid at heart!
You try to make good decisions. You're a clean cut, conscientious person.
You're the type of person who would never skip breakfast.
Part of you thinks that breakfast is too important to miss...
But a bigger part of you knows it's too fun to miss!

5. When you eat pancakes, how many do you typically place in a stack?
Two.

6. How do you like your pancakes: with butter/margarine or without, and what flavor of syrup?
Butter and light maple syrup.

Crutches

This is the second time DD has sprained her foot during a dance class. Last time she got the ugly blue Velcro shoe and Motrin. This time she's got a full boot, crutches and Vicodin. Poor dear.

I took her to school this morning, and so far she hasn't called to come home early. She has obtained an elusive Elevator Key for school use during her recovery. Oooooh. Ahhhhh. And everyone wants to carry your books when you're out of commission, because you get to leave class a few minutes early. So far crutches are cool. I'm thinking not for long though.

Sorority Girls from Hell

This thing cracks me up.

American Idol

I am ticked at all three judges this week for the way they treated Jason on performance night. He sang the same as he has the entire season, except for forgetting the words in a spot. They liked him before, but suddenly they tossed him out with the trash after "I Shot the Sheriff." Same Jason as week 1. Whatever.

He was never going to win. His singing voice is not the greatest of the bunch. But he has a lot of fans and his own style.

Syesha has a beautiful voice (when she's not pitchy), but could she be any more bland? She's the most generic singer I've ever seen. She is exactly what I think Simon should call a "hotel lounge singer." Not that there's anything wrong with that.

We voted our fingers off this week at our house. Just wait until finals. The Davids!

Since they started singing multiple songs, it seems that they always choose to do a studio version for iTunes of the song I don't want. Grr.

I wonder if David Cook could tour with Daughtry? That would be uber-kewl.

Retirement planning

This morning, here on the blog, we're going to talk about retirement planning. Laura and I were chatting over lunch, wondering how much money you were supposed to have at retirement. (We usually talk about lighter subjects, but hey, we're maturing.) Recommended numbers always assume a certain lifestyle, which makes them very unlikely to fit your situation. Here is a simple formula I found yesterday on MSN, that works for any situation.

For every $1000 per month you need/want to have during retirement, you need $200,000 at retirement time, invested at a reliable 5-6%. You can customize that formula to your own needs, whether you plan to lounge around every day in a small village in South America or cruise the world 24/7/365.

Please consult your own financial consultant about your own fiduciary decisions. Kathy doesn't even have an accounting degree, for heaven's sake. She also does not make any recommendation or endorsement as to any investment, advisor or other service or product, although she can recommend a great margarita in south Austin. This blog post does not constitute advice and you should not rely on any material therein to make (or refrain from making) any decision or take (or refrain from taking) any action. I'm Kathy and I endorsed this message.

The Bachelor

I'm watching sometimes this season. This show is a total train wreck for so many reasons, and yet I still manage to catch it most weeks. He's going to choose Shayne. Gag me. Oh well, at least he's choosing someone. *cough*

Tonight on the gag reel, when the girl kept saying "I'm as sweet as sugar," but we at home and the producer in the shot thought she was saying "I'm a Swedish hooker," I nearly fell off the sofa laughing. I had to leave the room to catch my breath. ROFL.

I'm a Swedish hooker! I'm a Swedish hooker! Ahahaa!

Cool Mom?

So Scott asks me... "Are you a cool mom like your mom was, or are you strict?" (He also tells me I have a sordid past and he won't give up all his stories about me if my daughter is around. I have no idea what he's talking about...)

I am one of the cool moms. BUT. I have a pretty good kid, so it's easy. I wouldn't give her as much freedom as I do if she weren't trustworthy. Believe me, I know from personal experience that even the "good kids" get in trouble now and then. I've got my eye on things. I don't let her and her friends run around willy-nilly or anything.

The kids are at our house a lot. Mostly because there aren't any annoying siblings here. So that's not necessarily an accurate indicator of my maternal coolness. But who knows. It could be the beer.

Just kidding!

Gardening Gone Wild

Here they are- some of my baby flowers:



That's verbena and blue daze. There's also a yellow lantana in that bed. Very bright. Now, considering my luck with plants- no one breathe, lest they all perish.

Facebook search

Could Facebook search be any suckier? It reports partial results (1-3 of 100, then 11-20 of 100, etc.) or massive duplicates from page to page. I'm surprised I've identified anyone.

Oh, and why do I have to have a university email address to be a member of the alumni network? Why would I still have a university email? Weird.

ETA-- so I looked up the help question for the college networks, and it says you must get an alumni email address from your college to verify you are an alumnus. So I did that at the A&M Former Students Association website (I just typed "S&M". hmm.) and now I have a cool Aggie email address. It's really just a forwarder, which is great. BTW, Jason Castro is on the front page of the website.

Old friends!

I can't tell you how many people I've located and talked to or emailed in the last two days from high school and college. It is freaking amazing. I used two tools- Facebook and a kind of scary site called Veromi. Scary because it knows all about everyone and their little friends, too. Go Veromi yourself and see what I mean.

And Donna called today! Haven't talked to her in ages. She had a personal conversation with Jon Bon Jovi in Kansas City last week. (Um, WOW.) It was so funny she called because I just got a new book called Hollywood Girls Club, by Maggie Marr, and every night when I read it, I think Donna would love this!

And I finally located my old friend Scott, for whom I've searched for years. YEARS, people. Took a shot and contacted a random person with his name on Facebook, and it was him. Hallelujah!

Housing Market

Our friends just sold their house at full asking price in about 4 days. 7 prospective buyers came through.

Also, the tax appraisal we got yesterday went up significantly from last year. (Yikes.) Austin seems to still be chugging along as far as the housing market goes.

American Idol

Paula's strangeness is beyond words. Yesterday she had stated on Entertainment Tonight that she commented on Jason's second song before he sang it because she had just mistakenly written Jason's name next to her comments for David C's 1st performance. We know that is complete crap because she had moved on to David C's comments before Randy stopped her and said they were only commenting on the first song. She also said to Jason, "I thought you sang twice!"

Today the story is that she was reading from notes she wrote at rehearsal, where the contestants sang both songs together. She can't even get her story straight. And was she so out of it that she wasn't watching the show as it aired? And she shouldn't be writing her comments at rehearsal so she can read them on air. That's not fair to the contestants, who might kick it up a notch (or forget the lyrics) for the actual show. Maybe she shouldn't attend the rehearsal.

I liked Brooke a lot, but I think song choice and nerves did her in. David A finally sang a more upbeat song this week, and actually smiled during the song for the first time in weeks. He still looks like he's in some sort of trance when he sings lately. I'm sure it's hard for him, but I'd hope he could enjoy his time on stage.

Waiting for the Davids in the final.