Malcolm Gladwell has an interesting piece on the market crash.
Also, I’m not sure if any of you are watching the Michael J. Fox show on TLC, but it is really, really good.
Reader Interactions
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
American History and Black History can not be separated.
Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?
I did not have this on my fuck 2024 bingo card.
How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.
Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.
Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.
The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.
Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.
The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris
Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.
I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.
I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.
When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.
Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.
Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.
The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.
We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.
It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.
Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.
If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.
I really should read my own blog.
You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.
Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.
Republicans do not pay their debts.
Crashman06
I bought an engagement ring today. It looks incredible; way better than I thought it would when I put the deposit down. But now I’m starting to feel extremely nervous. The reality is sinking in. I have to sit on this thing (figuratively, of course) for another month and a half. I’m not sure I can handle the pressure.
Johnny B. Guud
I recommend Gladwell’s latest book, Outliers.
The chapters on why Asians are superior in mathematics, and how ethnicity determines a pilot’s susceptibility to plane crashes are interesting reads…
Hammy
@Crashman06: Please don’t do something gimmicky like putting it inside her milkshake cup. That kind of thing really is not cute.
DougJ
I bought an engagement ring today. It looks incredible; way better than I thought it would when I put the deposit down. But now I’m starting to feel extremely nervous. The reality is sinking in. I have to sit on this thing (figuratively, of course) for another month and a half. I’m not sure I can handle the pressure.
Wow. That’s exciting. Who’s the lucky girl?
BethanyAnne
@Johnny B. Guud: 2nd the rec, Outliers was awesome. :-)
BethanyAnne
My OMG moment of the day: Jimmy Carter is leaving the Southern Baptist Church over it’s treatment of women. Dayam!
Crashman06
@Hammy: Oh God no. No gimmicks like that planned here. Although I don’t have an exact plan yet…
@DougJ: My beautiful girlfriend of three and a half years. We met in grad school.
Hammy
Rachel Maddow is now debunking all the lies that Pat Buchanon spouted during his appearance on her show last week about Judge Sotomayor. That’s not enough. She needs to stop booking him on her show. She loses credibility if she has to do fact-check clean-up 3 days after his appearances.
freelancer
@Hammy,
At least she did it. The “Built by white folks” walkback was particularly scathing. “I don’t mind White Folk, I’m White Folk. Yay White Folk!”
LOLZ at redshirt crazy commonality.
geg6
BethanyAnne: Just another reason to still be proud to have voted for Carter. He really is something else. Always standing up for what he thinks is right and almost always on the right side of history, even if it takes the rest of us decades to catch up.
Bad Horse's Filly
@Crashman06: Well, since I’m suppose to be writing and instead have brushed all the cats, downloaded new music on my IPOD and am now reading B-J, give us all the details. Please. Also, speaking from the female perspective, simple and heartfelt is the best proposal (not that you asked for any advice, mind you).
And nervous is good. I have a new philosophy that life is a dare and all the best moments are when we take that dare.
geg6
Bad Horse’s Filly: Hey! You stole my philosophy! ;-)
DougJ
I have a new philosophy that life is a dare and all the best moments are when we take that dare.
I think life’s a party and the best moments are when we’ve had too much punch.
But either way, good luck Crashman!
Bad Horse's Filly
@geg6: Well we all hang out here, so I suppose group mind was bound to happen!
Crashman06
@Bad Horse’s Filly: We are going to Montreal for a mini-vacation over labor day. I think I’m going to do it then; something simple and memorable in a different city.
It was a little nerve-racking walking down the noontime streets of Boston with a few thousand bucks in cash my pocket on the way to the jewelers, but the ring just looks so good. It’s chilling in a safe deposit box for now, because I know I’d lose it or she’d find it if I brought it home.
Thanks for the good wishes DougJ. I like that philosophy!
Bad Horse's Filly
@Crashman06: I take back the simple and heartfelt. I think you should bring her on over to B-J and have all of us ask her to marry you.
Kind of like meeting your really obnoxious relatives, if she sticks with you after that, you know it’s true love.
edit: oh, all right, your idea sounds good, too. ;-)
geg6
Oh, and John? I saw that Michael J. Fox special a few months ago on one of the networks (ABC?). And I agree that it was quite good. Not often that someone explores philosophy in the popular media. Good on him.
DougJ
We are going to Montreal for a mini-vacation over labor day. I think I’m going to do it then; something simple and memorable in a different city.
Take her to Tocque. One of the best restaurants in North America. It’s expensive but a better deal than what you’d pay for the same in New York.
Crashman06
@Bad Horse’s Filly: That’s not a bad idea. Perhaps it would help explain to her my obsessive habit of checking this blog constantly all evening.
Laura W
@Crashman06: I think the key thing here is carrot cake. If not upon the engagement, for sure as the wedding cake.
I’ve been craving it for about 4 hours tonight, and IF I ever got married, carrot cake would be The Cake. It is always my Birthday Cake, so it’s only right that it would be The Wedding Cake.
That’s pretty much the extent of my advice on this subject, but I like the “Dare to Dare” mantra from the other ladies. I once operated under that directive a whole lot more than I do now, and as I recall, I was far more happy, free, courageous and empowered.
mmmmmmmm……
Violet
@Crashman06:
Congrats! That’s exciting! Just be sincere and honest and it’ll be the best proposal ever, because it’s you and her.
In other news, I rescued a little doggie on Sunday. We saw a little terrier type dog in the middle of an intersection. He was clearly not a “street dog”, as he had no clue to look for cars. Plus he was wearing a collar and a tag. We stopped and waited for him to moved out of the intersection and waved at another car so they wouldn’t hit him. Then we pulled over and went over to him to see if we could figure out where he belonged.
He came right over to us and was super friendly. His tag just had his name and a phone number, so we called the number but only got voicemail. There were people home at he house we were standing in front of, so we knocked on the door. They didn’t recognize the dog for sure, but thought it could belong to the across the street neighbors, as they have two little dogs. The nice lady said she’d watch him and call the number and also check with the neighbors, so we decided to leave him with her, since we didn’t live close by.
So we felt like we’d probably saved him from getting injured or killed. He was so obviously someone’s sweet dog, and he’d just managed to get out and didn’t have a clue how to navigate the street without his person. I hope the nice woman was able to track down his people.
Bad Horse's Filly
Okay, giving up on writing. If Laura W. shows up, tell her I went to jump. To this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lad9PVjKwOE Because that’s how I roll.
p.s. Are we ever going to get our HTML for dummies back?
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
@Crashman06: That sucker burns a hole in your pocket. If you have it in a safe deposit box, then it won’t be so bad. I had mine in the apartment, then at work, then back in the apartment…
Are you driving or flying to Montreal?
Bad Horse's Filly
@Laura W: Oh, there you are…OMG, had the best carrot cake evah! at a little Italian restaurant a few blocks from my house. Family owned, great food (and I’m Italian, so I’m picky), but the cake about did me in it was so good.
@Crashman06: Yes, we wouldn’t want her to think you were cheating on her with us or anything.
The Other Steve
The over confidence is probably correct.
But I have to say this… watching the mortgage market from the inside I was amazed at the number of people who after the fact said “But house values weren’t supposed to decline.”
They believed it as Gospel.
They thought they rules had changed. ????
Crashman06
Thanks DougJ. Menu looks really good. I’ll have to make a reservation.
And thanks for all the well wishes. I’ll keep you all updated as things change and I get more panicky and nervous.
Bad Horse's Filly
@Violet: And Karma will smile on you. Dog angels will watch over you.
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
@Crashman06
Forget Montreal. Take her out for nice dinner and a nice moonlit walk in a place you both like. When she is looking up at the stars, take the ring out, get down on one knee and as her this question:
What is hard to fathom but wonderful to be with?
Your future depends on her answer.
Laura W
@Bad Horse’s Filly: Here I am!
Your song was uber hot, but uber slow. Can you really jump to that and not break your neck? I couldn’t.
I posted this to you long ago, but I don’t know if you ever saw it. Would be cooler if we had our embed buttons back, but we don’t. Great jumping/walking song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X3Cl-WS5Fg
Pretty little girl running up and down the street
with those Jumps on…
Crashman06
@Gordon, The Big Express Engine: Driving. There’s a guy in my office who drives up there a few times a year and he says it’s pretty easy, so I’m hoping he’s right.
Laura W
@Gordon, The Big Express Engine:
SNORT.
You win.
Bad Horse's Filly
@Laura W: Oh, I like that song, hadn’t heard it before.
Question for the group – anyone have a cat who has had kidney stones or kidney issues (chronic vs. kidney failure due to old age issues)?
I have a cat showing symptoms…we have a vet appointment, but I’m distrustful of vets and like to go armed with as much info as possible. So any experiences would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Mister Papercut
I wish I had known about the Michael J. Fox special. Instead, I absentmindedly left the TV on Rachel Maddow and was treated to the latest birther freakshow at Mike Castle’s town hall. Naturally, much headdesking ensued.
Aunt Moe
John
I did see that Michael Fox show and it was a delight. Stumbled on it while channel surfing.
Tattoosydney
@Laura W:
“I think the key thing here is carrot cake. If not upon the engagement, for sure as the wedding cake.
I’ve been craving it for about 4 hours tonight, and IF I ever got married, carrot cake would be The Cake. It is always my Birthday Cake, so it’s only right that it would be The Wedding Cake.”
Really? For me, wedding cake has to be the classic – fruit cake, marzipan, royal icing… when we started planning our reception, that was the very first (and easiest) decision…
http://thelittleweddingcakeshop.com.au/gallery/index.html
Yay for cake!
Brachiator
I had been pondering some of the posts of arguingwithsignposts, and a couple of things came to mind.
In the Harry Potter novels, one of the most fearsome creatures are the Dementors, dark wraiths “who can suck the happiness and soul out of a person, make them feel like they will never be happy again, feed on peoples’ happy emotions, and force them to recall the most horrible memories they have had in their lives.” (Wikipedia reference)
JK Rowling has noted that the creatures were inspired by times she felt depressed. And in the novels, the heroes find a kind of victory against them.
And also, I have been thinking about Peter Gabriel’s Mercy Street, inspired by the life of the poet Anne Sexton, and one of the most profoundly sympathetic explorations of the anguish of mental illness that I have ever come across.
she pictures the broken glass, she pictures the steam
she pictures a soul
with no leak at the seam
And the song is also about a poet trying to use her art to save herself…
there in the midst of it so alive and alone
words support like bone
A performance at this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX7zIypE2FE
Dreaming of Mercy Street
freelancer
Watching “Live” Coverage from CBS July 20, ’69. on the History channel. Awesome stuff.
It’s a nice break from the UFO, Nostradamus, Science of the Bible, Bigfoot horseshit. Fucking History Channel.
JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN's Official Stalker
@Bad Horse’s Filly:
Not chronic (I hope), but Eddie had kidney stones three years ago. First I knew was when he wouldn’t come out from under the bed. I took him to the vet, and it took them a few days to figure out what it was. Poor kid nearly died before that (for the second of either two or three times, depending upon whether the lymphoma would have spread). He’s on the special food now, to keep it from happening again.
If you go to the vet knowing to check for that, it isn’t hard to get rid of kidney stones. Really uncomfortable for the cat, mind you, because it includes catheterization, but not hard.
Laura W
@Bad Horse’s Filly: Oh gosh, I’m half in bed but would like to encourage you to not be so distrustful of vets! They are normally Very Good People, in my experience. Especially where you live, in terms of holistic options and acupuncture practitioners and the like.
I sit here feeling guilty since I know my 18 y/o Willie should probably be on SubQ fluids at home now for impending kidney failure. KRK has experience with this. Maybe she’ll chime in. A vet warned me months ago that it might soon be time for me to start giving Willie fluids at home on a semi-regular basis just to keep his kidneys functional.
Kidney disease is serious, and irreversible, if I understand it. And you don’t know it’s operative until a large percentage of the function is lost (in the elders). I lost a very young orange boy to it very suddenly at 3 yrs, and surely it will kill Willie, if some other organ failure doesn’t get him first.
Shorter me: Trust your vet. Google is your friend. I learn SO MUCH about anything pet-related on the intertubes. You are as voracious as I am, I know. Just start googling symptoms and phrases and questions. You’ll find your way. I always have.
Laura W
@Tattoosydney:
That’s because YOU’RE GAY!
arguingwithsignposts
UPDATE: very long day, but i’m still here. watching a lot of west wing season 1 and just hanging in there. supposed to see a counselor tomorrow.
Pastrygirll
As to Montreal, I moved from Burlington Vt recently and the choice of Montreal is a great one, however driving there for a mini vacation not so much. Depending on where you are driving from I know that from central Virginia it is at least 12 hours, in real time, to Vermont alone. Toque is a great suggestion as is Au Pied de Cochon in old town Montreal, it is out of this world, a great experience.
Crashman06
Hang in there arguing. That’s a good step for tomorrow. People here will be thinking about you
Bootlegger
I walked across San Francisco to the boat dock with my ring and I couldn’t stop looking over my shoulder. I too proposed in a city we had traveled together to. The KISS principle works well for romance IMHO.
Also: Madow’s fact checking of Pat was excellent, it gave her a chance to roast Pat without seeming frivolous (“fact-checking”). I’d like to see her bait more Wingnut Mouths into spewing factual errors she can “correct” later on.
freelancer
Good for you arguing,
I’m currently rewatching S4. And yeah during the bush years, I kept thinking, this is liberal fantasy, we’ll never have a pres like that. Strike that. Bartlet’s got nothing on Obama in terms of ability to inspire. And the republicans are crazier and more villainous IRL too.
Also, “HOLY FUCKING SHIT! MAN WALKS ON FUCKING MOON!”
http://www.members.shaw.ca/rlongpre01/moon_tiny.jpg
The transcript is the best thing I’ve ever read:
TRANQUILITY: I’m on the bottom rung of the ladder. just one more step and I’m…(Long Pause)
HOUSTON: Tranquility?
TRANQUILITY: Holy (pause) living (long pause) fuck. (Long pause) Fuck!
HOUSTON: Tranquility, do you copy?
TRANQUILITY: Are you fucking believing this? Over.
HOUSTON: We read you. Over.
TRANQUILITY: I abso-fucking-lutely am standing on the surface of the fucking moon. I am talking to you from the goddamned fucking moon. Jesus H. Christ in a chicken basket.
HOUSTON: Holy Shit.
TRANQUILITY: Holy mother of fuck. The fucking moon. Over.
Tattoosydney
@Laura W:
“That’s because YOU’RE GAY!”
Yep. Mmmmmm. Marzipan. Icing. Yum.
ETA: Subverting the dominant hertero-patriarchal paradigm by serving classic wedding cake at a big gay wedding is the (if you will forgive me) icing on the cake.
MikeJ
I foresee TSA ruining the surprise. Better keister the ring.
Roger Moore
@Laura W:
No. The key is not to have a wreck. All other concerns are secondary.
J. Michael Neal
I never actually proposed. After dating for five years, we were driving up to her parents’ for Thanksgiving dinner. The conversation was something like:
Her; “Do you think we should get married?”
Me: “Probably. Yeah.”
I might have the roles reversed
Edit: So, we don’t get dropped into moderation for changing the handle any longer? Have at it, boys!
Mr Furious
@Hammy: Agreed. This is akin to the page A32 correction for a front page story…she is more than sharp enough to nail him in the moment. She can either do that, or leave him off the show.
Bad Horse's Filly
@Laura W: Vet distrust comes from two bad diagnosis from same vet. Then I found Buddy Ebsen (seriously, could be his brother, just as old, not as dead) who was a great vet. But I’ve moved recently, so I’m going to a new vet. Don’t feel guilty, I pretty sure you know what’s best for your cat and are acting accordingly – it’s an intuitive thing, which is sometimes hard, because it goes against what we think we should do.
And you remind me that I had carrot cake at my wedding – it was wonderful.
@JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN’s Official Stalker: Thanks, this is helpful, I’m pretty sure this what I’m looking at, so it helps to know it can be taken care of, makes me a bit less nervous about the visit. How is our 3-legged friend doing (Eddie is the one with three legs, right, or am I remembering incorrectly?)
Mr Furious
@Mister Papercut: I just checked the listings and it’s on again tomorrow night at 9:00 and again at midnight.
2th&nayle
@BethanyAnne: Thanks for the link BA. I’ve always held Jimmy Carter in very high esteem and this article just reaffirms my opinion. One of the most demoralizing moments of my life was back in November of 1980. I stood in line for 2 hours waiting to vote for him, and when I got back to the car the radio said he had already conceded to Reagan. I remember just sitting there with my head on the steering wheel, thinking, “Oh boy, we are fucked now!” Let the stupidity begin!
Bad Horse's Filly
@Laura W: If you’re still up, just had the coolest experience with the cat. I started him on homeopathics tonight, 4 tabs every hour. I set the buzzer to remind me. He wasn’t thrilled to have the pills shoved in his mouth, but the fourth time, he came to me as soon as the buzzer went off and took the pills pretty easily. I have to assume they are making him feel better – his eyes look much better now.
freelancer
At the very least, he’s hydrated.
J. Michael Neal
@Bad Horse’s Filly:
Yeah, that’s Eddie. If we’re talking about a medical problem, it’s always Eddie. None of the others has ever been to the vet for anything but shots.
He’s doing pretty well. He doesn’t balance properly, and still falls over from time to time. There are a few places he used to jump up to that he doesn’t go to any more. He still hasn’t really figured out how to come to a stop on a hardwood floor without using his chin to brake himself, but that doesn’t stop him from running to the food bowl.
Other than all that, it’s going fine. He’s the same purring boy he always was. Has plenty of energy, at least by cat standards. He’s gaining weight, as he and Dirk finally became too annoying about pestering me for food, so the bowl always has some in it.*
The only psychological downside is that he’s now very skittish about letting me pick him up, which he was never very good about. I can’t really say that his fear that I’m going to put him in the box, and take him to the people who perform cruel medical experiments on him is irrational, mind you. It has happened to him a lot. August is the month everyone goes to get shot, and I’m not looking forward to getting him into the box.
Bad Horse's Filly
@freelancer: And he just ran through the house chasing his imaginary friends. A good sign indeed. He’s a rescue, but pretty certain he’s a blue Birman – and I’ll be damned, just looked up the breed on the innertubes and they are prone to chronic kidney stones.
J. Michael Neal
@Bad Horse’s Filly:
Yeah, that was one of the big problems with dealing with the lymphoma in Eddie. He had this big sore on his leg for months, that wouldn’t heal, but there was no evidence that he was in any pain. The doctor said that most cats are almost happy when you amputate, because the cause is so awful that there just as glad to have the pain gone. As far as Eddie is concerned, we amputated for NO REASON, just to be mean to him.
That he still seems to like me is kind of amazing, actually.
Bad Horse's Filly
@J. Michael Neal: Sounds like he’s doing great. And that is good to hear. You know, with all he’s been through this year, you should ask the vet if it would be okay for him to skip this year’s vaccination. If he’s been fully vaccinated up to this point, skipping a year probably wouldn’t hurt, especially if all the other animals have their shots.
I’m much less stressed about the vet now that my big guy is running around the house. He could give Tunch a run for his money – they describe Birman’s as big boned – that’s putting it mildly, I can barely pick him up and he’s not overweight, just BIG.
Bad Horse's Filly
@J. Michael Neal: Animals are hightly intuitive and when we do things out of love, they really do get it. Even that awful last moment, they will look you in the eyes with pure love, letting you know it’s okay (though, really it’s not, for us, I mean).
So despite being skittish, I’m sure he knows what you did, you did because you love him.
J. Michael Neal
I’m probably going to take him in for the shots anyways. It’s something I really like to keep on top of, particularly in case I ever have to move. And, one thing that the last year would have convinced me of if I didn’t believe it already, is that Eddie is one tough little son of a queen. It’s not something you’d guess just watching him most of the time, but it’s clearly true. I vacillate between thinking that, with all the mileage, he’s probably not going to be a very long lived cat, and thinking that he’s just too stubborn (and dumb) to die.
freelancer
“And he just ran through the house chasing his imaginary friends.”
Yeah my parents’ dogs are having their own little quirks, I’m finding out. The older, deteriorating lab beagle mix, she wakes up at 5:30AM, starts barking til she gets taken outside. So I did that, must have been an amusing sight for anyone driving by this morning.
So I get off the phone with my mom about an hour ago, and I ask her, is that normal? Oh, yeah she says, everyday 530 or 6 am like clockwork.
Okay then, is it normal for her to bark incessantly for the two following hours after you bring her back in?
No, she never does that.
Lucky me.
J. Michael Neal
@Bad Horse’s Filly: Heh. I have at least one that is absolutely convinced that I hate her. She’s the one that I found when she was far too young to be out on her own, and she fixated on me. To say that she is obsessed with me doesn’t do justice to just how creepy her behavior would be if you anthropomorphised it. I am the center of her universe, but that mostly demonstrates that the universe can be a really uncaring bastard, and stick you with a grossly inadequate center.
asiangrrlMN
@Brachiator: The dementors are so freaking cute. The first time I saw them in the movies, I laughed. My friend had to hush me up, but I just wanted to pinch their little cheeks.
What, didn’t everyone?
@arguingwithsignposts: I am really glad you set up an appointment with a counselor for tomorrow. Let us know how it goes.
burnspbesq
@Laura W:
We need to get you out here. In addition to being the Spiritual Center of the Wingnut Universe, Orange County lays claim to being the home of the World’s Best Carrot Cake. French’s Bakery in Costa Mesa. To. Die. For.
burnspbesq
@arguingwithsignposts:
Excellent news. Just take it slow and easy. One thing at a time.
Jen R
@arguingwithsignposts: I’m very glad to hear you took that step. I hope that your appointment goes well tomorrow.
iluvsummr
@Brachiator: I’ve always been moved by Gabriel’s Mercy Street; didn’t know it was inspired by Anne Sexton’s poetry.
Royston Vasey
Hello,
Long time reader, very little poster.
Just to let you know my cat, Mandy, passed away on Monday afternoon. She was 14.
:-(
RV
PS click my name to see a photo of her taken 6/6/09
bago
David Shuster is a subtle snarky bitch. I love it.
Anne Laurie
When we got married (for our 15th anniversary, almost 16 years ago now) one of the most difficult jobs for a couple of straight gnerds was finding a wedding cake that wasn’t absolutely horrible. I actually went to a couple of ‘wedding expos’, where there would be multiple vendors (I can’t call them bakeries) offering the most insanely decorated pastry-shaped concoctions involving colored lights, mini-fountains, and entire plastic bridal parties (including options for flowergirls, ringbearers, and mothers-of). And every single sample tasted like… a Twinkie. A sticky, damp, corn-syrup-&-oil dough finished with the kind of over-sweetened ‘icing’ that coats your tongue with chemicals. Yet every 20-something (and her mother) was crying (literally, in many cases), “Ooo, it’s so wonderful, just like I always imagined! ! !” I still shudder at the memory.
We finally found a cake-maker who did an excellent job, even by the standards of those among our guests who are professional pastry-makers: Konditor Meister Fine European Pastry. Almond cake with buttercream icing, for us, with enough beautfully-done floral decorations to look Seriously Celebratory without tipping over into Parody Pastry.
(Crashman06, if you don’t already have your wedding cake planned, I would recommend these people, even if you’re as nervous as my Spousal Unit about travelling to the wilds of Braintree.)
Tattoosydney
@asiangrrlMN:
“The dementors are so freaking cute.”
We so would never fight over the same man….
Tattoosydney
@Royston Vasey:
Heavens – Mandy was really an amazing looking cat. My sympathies.
Tattoosydney
@Anne Laurie:
“When we got married (for our 15th anniversary, almost 16 years ago now) one of the most difficult jobs for a couple of straight gnerds was finding a wedding cake that wasn’t absolutely horrible.”
Yep – We spent hours on the interwebs searching for the right person to make the cake (cake is important, dammit!).
After plowing through literally a hundred websites, full of purple cakes with pink spots, and seven layer monstrosities, and many many cakes with sea shell motifs ( http://austent.custom.sitesuite.net/wp-content/sailing_mosaic.jpg – what the hell is that about?), we stumbled upon the one we chose because I realised that hers was the very first website that actually mentioned:
1. the ingredients that were going into the cake; and
2. how the cake tasted.
I had thought that those two things were pretty important in cake – even a wedding cake – but for the vast majority of people that doesn’t seem to be the case. Surface is all.
Wile E. Quixote
In a hypothetical 2012 general election contest between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, his alien symbiont hairpiece and President Obama, the vote would be tied at 45 percent each, according to a new Rasmussen phone survey. Of the remaining 10 percent of the hypothetical 2012 vote Rasmussem reports that eight hypothetical percent of the vote would go to the hypothetical ticket consisting of Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber while the remaining two percent of the hypothetical vote would go to the hypothetical ticket consisting of a pair of anatomically correct Ronald Reagan Realdolls.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/rasmussen-poll-obama-and-romney-would-be-tied-in-2012-matchup.php
OK, I was making up all of that stuff about where the other 10 percent of the vote was going, but not the stuff about Romney’s hair being an alien symbiont. That shit is totally true! Without the hairpiece Romney looks like one of those Star Trek aliens that has a butt crack going down the middle of its head. Really.
In short: This is good news for John McCain.*
*I’ve always wanted to use that in a BJ post.
Anne Laurie
Bad Horse’s Filly: As you obviously know, kidney problems / kidney failure tops the list of Bad Things to which cats are prone. The “good” part is that small-animal vets therefore have tons of experience dealing with these problems. I will add that performing subcutaneous hydration (SubQ) on your cat, at home, is not nearly as intimidating as I feared — and I’m deeply needle-phobic.
Royston Vasey, I’m so sorry to hear about your cat — she was a beautiful lady, and obviously well-loved.
Royston Vasey
@Tattoosydney:
She was quite something. She had been on insulin injections for quite some time, but went downhill rapidly over the past week or so.
I am thankful I managed to reel off some good shots of her just before she started getting really bad.
RV
Indylib
@Tattoosydney: I also had a time finding a wedding cake maker who actually cared about the taste. I ended up with a local woman (town of 8000, 140 miles from the nearest “city”) who made me an incredible lemon cake that did not taste like chemicals, frosted with lemon buttercream and decorated with candied pansies and violas. She baked out of her home kitchen and charged me all of $250 for a cake that fed 120.
Robertdsc-iphone
The bankers in the article John mentioned are so ugh. Burn Wall Street to the goddamed ground.
Mnemosyne
@Laura W:
Don’t fear the SubQ fluids. We were able to keep our cat Boris going for 4 months after he got poisoned by fucking Chinese cat food. If you put it right between the shoulderblades where they tell you (have the vet and/or vet tech show you) the cat barely feels it. The only problem is when they get restless and try to run off halfway through and you have a little firehose of fluid shooting out on your carpet.
It helps to have a second person secure the cat while you put in the needle, but it’s not essential.
Anne Laurie
Wile E., my friend, I have bad news for you: That thing on Willard’s head is absolutely natural. It’s what’s inside his skull that’s the alien symbiont!
And this survey adds to the proofs that Rasmussen polls are to be regarded very suspiciously, before being discarded in a properly-marked biohazard container. Romney is premier among those political candidates who, the longer they’re campaigning, the more people despise them. He may well end up as the 2012 Rethug candidate — because he’s desperate for the spotlight, and has enough of his own money to run a vanity campaign, and there’s not much in the way of competition right now. But even if Obama is caught on-camera performing a sexual act upon the corpse of Kim Jong Il, and the unemployment rate tops 25%, Willard “Mitt” Romney will not win the Oval Office, with or without Sarah Palin on the ticket. If it is announced by the newspods that Willard has “won” the election, you may confidently assume that the Rethuglican Rump has committed a balls-out no-holds-barred THEFT (again), and that it’s time for emigration or the classical Roman solution.
Royston Vasey
@Mnemosyne:
Not certain if it is the same, but I put in an insulin needle twice a day for seemed like an eternity, into my cat. I always put it at the back of the neck between the shoulderblades, and not once did I ever have a problem with her.
SHe didn’t even notice the needle!
RV
Mnemosyne
When we got married, G’s one requirement was that our cake be from Porto’s. So famous that they were name-checked in an episode of “Six Feet Under.”
Mnemosyne
@Royston Vasey:
It’s similar, but a scarier needle since the fluid needs to feed in fairly rapidly. Still, it never seemed to bother him much unless we dilly-dallied too long and he got bored.
We lost two cats in two years, so I feel your pain. Judging by the picture, she was a beautiful girl.
Royston Vasey
@Mnemosyne:
She was that, Mnemosyne.
I shed a tear when I was at the vets (and afterwards too).
I have nothing but fond memories of her. For the past five years, we have been out in a rural area. She loved that. Always catching mice and other other rodents. She even caught a baby rabbit once and brought it into the house to show me.
Ah memories.
RV
bago
@Anne Laurie: Actually, teabagging Kim’s corpse would be seen as a triumph in the Halo community.
BethanyAnne
She was a really pretty kitteh, RV.
My Siamese just began to have kidney problems. She’s about to be 15, and it’s the first health problem she’s had. I had to give her 2 weeks of medicine, and she’s gotten tons better. The vet warned me that we might have to go to SubQ. Looks like it’s ok for the moment.
OriGuy
@Anne Laurie:
I favor the traditional Czech solution.
R-Jud
Our wedding cake: raspberry-chocolate cheesecake for 150, straight up. It’s a dessert, not a decoration. Four guests who’ve gone on to get married since then have cribbed the idea.
RedKitten
Nice!
We didn’t bother with cake, as there were only two of us, but our restaurant meal that night had three desserts. I don’t remember the details, as I was utterly shitfaced by that point (8 courses + 8 glasses of wine = drunken bride), but I do remember that they were really, really good.
Original Lee
Crashman06: Add one more voice to the KISS principle when proposing. Unless you know your girlfriend is into making a spectacle of herself, private and sweet is the way to go. Somehow the pop culture has this meme of proposal story as The Most Awesome Event Evah, which I think puts a lot more pressure on the proposer than necessary. As long as the two of you remember it as special, that is the important thing. But then, my husband never actually proposed per se. We were sitting in the couch watching TV, and I made a comment about the lameness of the plot of the Friends episode we were watching, to which he replied that he totally agreed and therefore we ought to get married. So YMMV.
Our wedding cake: Lemon pound cake with buttercream icing. Not heavy on the decoration, either, just enough to be celebratory. The wedding ceremony was on our friend’s boat, and we gave half of the cake to the owner of the pier in exchange for the docking fee.
Bad Horse's Filly
@Royston Vasey: Beautiful kitty. So sorry for your loss.
@Anne Laurie: At this point I’m hoping SubQ doesn’t become necessary – mostly it is looking like kidney stones – see what the vet says this week.
Thanks for everyone’s help.
Royston Vasey
@BethanyAnne:
Hang in there! Then can be quite the little fighters!
RV
asiangrrlMN
@Royston Vasey: Mandy is a beautiful girl. My deepest sympathies on your loss. Fly painlessly to the other side, Mandy.
@Tattoosydney: Honey, sweetie, fake hubby of mine, not cute in THAT way. In that way, it’s all Snape, all the time.
Leeds man
I recommend more careful reading habits to Gladwell. It’s fucking Suvla Bay, not Sulva. As anyone who heard this would know.
Royston Vasey
@Bad Horse’s Filly:
@asiangrrlMN:
I thank you both for taking the time and effort to acknowledge my loss. Your thoughts are much appreciated.
RV