--- Ahhhh, Friday. And, damn,

--- Ahhhh, Friday. And, damn, is it cold out this morning. I almost needed to
turn on the furnace. According to the atomic clock/internal/external
thermometer it’s currently fifty degrees outside and sixty-seven
inside. Brrrrrr. I wasn’t ready for it to be this cold this
soon. I know, it’s not that cold outside, but it would be nice to run
the furnace for about fifteen minutes or so to take the chill off the
Cake Eater Apartment and I can’t do that until the husband changes
the furnace filter. It hasn’t been done since the furnace was
installed last winter, and undoubtedly it’s dirty and would just
scatter more dust around the already dustier-than-the-Sahara Cake Eater
Apartment. This is the husband’s one honey-do item for the weekend.
Yes, there will be nagging involved. But it’s all right. He’s authorized the nagging. Remind me to change out the filter on Saturday, will you? Darn tootin’ I will.

It’s not every day you’re authorized to flip the nag switch.

--- Found this site in
a roundabout sort of way last night and I’m posting the linkie to
make my sister spew her hazelnut mocha all over her monitor. Now, I’m
all for capitalism, but if you have enough money to buy this and you do purchase it you have officially fallen into the “more money than sense” category. Just in case you were wondering.

$47,000 for an effing playhouse? And even better: some assembly is required?
For that much money, the thing better be delivered on a gold-plated
truck and assembled by the classiest, white glove wearing, no butt
crack showing Teamsters they can muster. If I’m doing the math
correctly, the square footage of the entire playhouse is 306.25
feet, which, when you break it down, gives you a cost of $153.47 per
square foot. For a playhouse. I know of real houses that have a better
cost per square foot than this. I’m trying not to get too outraged
over this. After all, if you can afford it, who am I to say you
shouldn’t buy it to keep your little ones occupied? Granted, the only
little ones who can afford this sort of thing are owned by parents like
Madonna, but that’s beside the point. Having the coin is not the
issue, nor is the spending of it if this is what you really want for
your kids. But to spend as much coin on a playhouse for your kids as
you would on say, a Mercedes, seems an egregious waste to me. Buy the
Benz: you’ll get more use out of it. Don’t spend your hard earned
money on a playhouse your kids won’t use in five years because it
just means that you’re stupid. But if you still feel the need to
throw money away after this little rebuke, you can always resort to the
old standby: send it to me. I’ll spend it wisely, and hey, if
you’re really lucky, I’ll take fifty out and will buy you a single
malt to say thanks. If you’re really cool about there being no
strings attached, maybe I’ll tell you about my Cuban cigar
connection. Now, are your kids going to do that for you if you buy them
that playhouse? I didn’t think so.
--- I’m sure I’m going to piss a few people off with this next bit,
but could we please get over Isabel already?
Ah, the joys of living in fly-over land. Yes, we too get excited about
big honkin’ hurricanes. We’re fascinated by them because while most
of us have lived through a few tornadoes, this is the kind of storm
we’ve never seen. What’s a storm surge? Oh, that’s interesting…you mean they sandbag there, too? Wow. Cool.
But after you get over the enormity of the storm on radar, you pretty
much realize that all a hurricane really is, is what we’d call a
gully washer---just wrought large.
We, too, have dealt with flooding on a large scale. Just ask Indiana.
They endured some of the worst flooding in years earlier this summer,
but they didn’t get a cool graphic on CNN or FOX, or hours of
incessant coverage devoted to airing all of the---gasp!---standing
water. But we had straight line winds! Horizontal rain!
Ok, says she with a mild shrug. Ask the people in K.C. how life was
earlier in the spring when they endured straight-line winds---some of
which were actually tornadoes---that came out of nowhere: they didn’t
have days to board up their windows. Or time to sandbag to prevent the
inevitable flooding that occurred in their basements.
As best as I can figure, there are two things that make the hurricane
the bigger media show. First, hurricanes hit seaboards. Well, yeah,
that’s obvious, but one on the Eastern seaboard is just too juicy not
to hype the hell out of. After all, that’s where all the reporters
are! They won’t bitch and moan about being too far away from home:
it’s an easy job for them. Second, they have days to work everyone up
into a fine, sea-foamy, lather about a hurricane. Tornadoes are just
too random in their appearance: they show up out of nowhere: how is a news producer supposed to cope with that sort of timetable, huh?
But, jealousy aside, it really doesn’t matter if it’s a hurricane
or a flood in the Midwest, we still get the same lame-ass coverage in
either case. Midwestern reporting: Look
at this rock! See the water line and see the new level of the water
surrounding its base! The water is receding! The flood is over! Now,
we’ll switch back over to Jim in the studio, with a report as to how
rats are suddenly making an appearance in downtown…Jim? East Coast reporting: Look
at the sea foam! My God! I’ve never seen anything like it! It looks
like Mr. Bubble has come out of hiding with a vengeance! Oh, My God! I
almost ran over a 2X4---with a nail sticking out of it! This small and
formerly picturesque coastal village is coming apart at the seams!

Not to discount the damage or the lives that were lost, but could we please get over it already?

Although, I don’t think I’d mind watching Geraldo fly a kite in a hurricane. That would be well worth my time, I believe.

--- Get a cool t-shirt, beat back that ugly beast called the RIAA!

--- Ahoy, Mateys! It’s September 19th and that would mean it’s Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Arrrrgh Scrunch half o’ ye’re face up and growl a few times
and ye’ve got it. --- I was searching around for a Chuckle of the Day
and came up empty for stories of silly Germans. I figure there’s
enough humor on here today that it should keep you satisfied until
Monday, when we will learn the truth about Cake Eater City workers and
if they’re really looking for overtime. Have a good weekend kids.

Posted by Kathy at September 1, 2003 01:57 PM | TrackBack