August 28, 2004

Olympic Cheddar

1. What's the cleverest word play you've read or made up?
I'm drawing a blank on this one. Does anyone else have a good answer for this?

2. What's the most outrageous cover story you've ever tried to make up?
I'm a fairly do it by the rules kind of girl, so I never really needed to make up any elaborate cover stories growing up. The most outrageous thing that happened to me growing up which involved a cover story was when I had been hanging out with a friend of mine (a guy) and my mom said she didn't like him and didn't want me hanging out with him any more. He wasn't too excited about that development, so he had one of our mutual friends pick me up on a Friday night to take me out. The friend arrived and told me I wasn't going out with him, but he was taking me to an undisclosed location (no, Dick Cheney wasn't there). He took me to another person's house, and it turned out that "the guy" was there.

3. Did it work?
Uh, no. Some of the mutual friends involved in planning this "heist" tipped off my mom once I'd been picked up, so she knew the score. She was none too happy upon my return home, but wasn't upset with me, because she knew I didn't plan it.

4. Favorite line from a song? (Eighteen double oh and a table dance).
"I'm calling time and temperature just for some company" (from Big Brown Eyes by the Old 97's)

5. What has been your favorite Olympic moment?
I haven't seen too much of the Olympics this year. I've seen some of the diving and some of the gymnastics, but that's about it.

6. What sport shouldn't be in the Olympics?
Ping pong. If I can play it, it has no business being an olympic sport.

7. What sport should be in the Olympics?
Tax evasion....hell, I don't know.

8. What's wrong with the Olympics?
Too much politics and infighting.

All right, blogging break is over. Time to continue the move.

Posted by Kitty at 02:03 PM | Comments (2)

August 26, 2004

Light Reading

Regular readers of kittysays know that the book club I belong to (the one comprised entirely of women) has made some, um, interesting book selections in the past. We read Steve Martin's novellas, assorted pieces of trash, and even a romance novel, for God's sake. It's been brutal.

To the rescue came M's boyfriend. M is a founding member of book club, and is a smart chickadee. She's not an avid reader, but for that, she can be forgiven. She enjoys reading enough, I just don't think she'd done a great deal of pleasure reading prior to the inception of our book club -- nothing wrong with that.

She mentioned to her boyfriend, a life-long avid reader, that we were trying to select a book for our next club meeting. I had suggested The Devil Wears Prada -- light, brief and not overly taxing. I figured it was a shoo-in (no pun intended).

M's boyfriend says, "Oh, no, no, no. You need something post-modern." Um, problem. Anything post-modern likely involves thought, which isn't usually happening in our club. "You could get something post-modern, but approachable." Approachability is good, but subject matter the ladies will bother to read is even better. "I'll find some books for you that would lend themselves to good discussions." Clearly he misses the point. It's not like we actually discuss any of these books we pointlessly assign ourselves.

He dutifully researched post-modern books on google, and came up with the following suggestions:

End Zone, by Don DeLillo. He describes it as a "football/fear of nuclear holocaust novel". For my regular readers, you know I don't even understand the rules of football. I'd have to pass on this one.

Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. Amazon.com says of this book: "Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore." Although I've always wanted to read it, this might not be the pick for the nail-polish wearing, bikini-wax discussing all female book club. Just a guess.

If On A Winter's Night A Traveler, by Italo Calvino. Amazon describes it as an "experimental text" (I can see some book club members already rolling their eyes), and M's boyfriend says, "some who read it hate it because of a lack of a "story". Great pick! Next victim.........

Ultimately, we did use one of M's boyfriend's suggestions. Our next book club pick? White Noise, by Don DeLillo. An update on how we did attempting to both read and discuss this book will surely follow.

Posted by Kitty at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)

August 22, 2004

Weekend Events

This week and weekend have wrapped up nicely. Friday night we went to dinner with my boss and her husband, and had a great meal. Saturday my mom caught her flight home and Archi and I went to the Young Leadership Council's Role Model Awards Gala downtown. It was a black tie event, which isn't the type of thing we do too often. Archi got decked out in his dress blues, and I donned a black slinky dress he bought me when he was in Iraq.

The dinner was a lot of fun (fun which was greatly enhanced by the pre-dinner open bar) and the food wasn't bad for a seated dinner for about 500. I got to catch up with the Dean of my alma mater, and a local appellate judge had an engaging conversation with my breasts (granted, they were at his eye level). We studiously avoided the silent auction, knowing that we need to save all of our extra cash for the closing on our house. We should be closing this week, if all goes well.

Posted by Kitty at 03:52 PM | Comments (2)

August 19, 2004

Cheddar X

1. Who or what was the last thing you were really looking forward to that ended up not being at all what you'd expected or hoped for?
This is going to sound stupid, but I was really looking forward to reading The Iliad for my book club, but I can't get past page 100. Achilles is going to have to continue raging on his own.

2. Who have you lost respect for recently? Why?
Another attorney at my firm is satan's spawn, I've decided. A couple of years ago, I was scheduled to fly to South Carolina on a business trip. The day I was slated to leave, a plane crashed in New York. As everyone reading my blog is aware of my love of flying, it should come as no surprise that I freaked out and decided not to go. My boss totally understood, and I participate in the conference by phone, as did several other people.

Apparently, word got around the office and this lawyer, who hates my guts for absolutely no reason, decided to take advantage of my weakness. She saw on our department's calendar that I was scheduled to go to Washington, D.C. for an ABA meeting. She wrote me an email saying, "I saw you're going to D.C. soon. Did you get good airfare?" When I got this, I knew she was just rubbing it in my face that she knew about my fear of flying, despite the fact that Archi-Sapper insisted I was simply reading too much into the email.

I found out yesterday that not only was she trying to get my goat, she later bragged about her snide email to our co-workers, all of whom now think she is not only deranged, but incredibly mean for doing that to me. I agree.

3. What or who disappointed you lately?
See #2.

4. How have you disappointed someone close to you?
By not flying to Atlanta recently.

5. What chore would you most like your significant other to do or finish?
Getting the bills paid on time. I know it isn't always easy, but it really stresses me out when the bills are late.

6. What is your biggest self-inflicted danger to your health?
I eat lots of candy, particularly the kind that is sticky and tends to pull my teeth out (I recently pulled out a crown, but successfully put it back in myself!)

Posted by Kitty at 02:39 PM | Comments (1)

August 17, 2004

Book Quiz

Thanks to Rain Man for pointing me to this quiz:

You're To Kill a Mockingbird!

by Harper Lee

Perceived as a revolutionary and groundbreaking person, you have
changed the minds of many people. While questioning the authority around you, you've
also taken a significant amount of flack. But you've had the admirable guts to
persevere. There's a weird guy in the neighborhood using dubious means to protect you,
but you're pretty sure it's worth it in the end. In the end, it remains unclear to you
whether finches and mockingbirds get along in real life.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Posted by Kitty at 08:47 AM | Comments (4)

August 13, 2004

More Conferencing

Well folks, the tables have turned. I'm typing this from a hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas while Archi-Sapper attends a conference. Other than the fact that Archi didn't get the wakeup call he requested, and thus was running late this morning, things are going well. I managed to get the high speed internet access up and running without too much trouble, and wandered downstairs for Krispy Kreme doughnuts and orange juice already. This should leave me plenty of time to get some work done this morning before I head to Backyard Burger (my favorite!) for some lunch and then hop on a conference call at 2:00.

Maybe I need another doughnut....

Posted by Kitty at 08:36 AM | Comments (0)

August 11, 2004

Cheddar X

Would you rather:

Sing country songs buck naked to the PTA or come across your "art" photos on a porn site?
Ummmmmm, the latter.

Have a biker gang for neighbors or five chatty Chihuahuas within barking distance?
Oh definitely the biker gang. They wouldn't be at home making noise as much as the chihuahuas.

Be addicted to sniffing modeling glue or be addicted to huffing butane from Bic lighters?
Modeling glue. At least my addiction would be the result of something creative.

Lick a 9 volt battery or lick the bottom of your foot?
The bottom of my foot. I'm pretty clean.

Ketchup soup or mustard soup?
Mustard soup. Mustard rules.

Live in a great house in a place you don't like or a bad house in a place you love?
A great house, hands down. Once I'm inside, I don't really care about what's going on in the street.

Spend a weekend at a spa or spend a weekend camping?
You can't be serious.....

And finally, just a couple of questions this week to maintain the continuity.
1. What would you host a cable tv program about?
A mix of things -- music, movies, theater, politics, shoes.

2. What or who do you lust for?
Besides shoes?

3. You've got a spare $5,000, what do you do with it?
Pay off credit cards.

4. How often do you see your family?
I see Archi-Sapper every day and the extended fam a couple of times a year.

Posted by Kitty at 03:16 PM | Comments (1)

August 09, 2004

And we're back

We have returned from the ABA's Annual Meeting in Atlanta. Before I get comments referring to my time in "Hotlanta", I should note that the most remarkable thing about the trip was the incredibly cool weather. It was in the 80's most of the time, sunny and dry. Just like Louisiana.

The best thing about the ABA convention is the people. I always leave the conferences so energized and ready to return to my practice. It's so easy to get into a rut at work and it is truly refreshing to see so many smart, funny, capable people who do exactly what you do every day. Archi-Sapper marveled at how many nice lawyers he met while sitting at the hotel's sports bar. He actually returned from the weekend with a potential business contact. I left with no direct business contacts, but with some great friends and a renewed energy for my practice. Good enough for me.

Posted by Kitty at 08:36 PM | Comments (1)

August 05, 2004

Big Thanks

Big thanks to Big Daddy who managed to get to the bottom of our pesky computer problem. It seems that the little card inside the computer which holds our memory had become unhinged. How this happened is a mystery to me, since we never move the computer. Perhaps the dog cracked the lid of the case and moved things around. Oddly, the computer still won't let me log into my desktop, but lets Archi-Sapper log into his just fine. Only I would have sexist computer problems.

Tomorrow we're off to Atlanta for the ABA Annual Meeting. If I survive the flights there and back, it should be fun.

Posted by Kitty at 08:38 AM | Comments (3)

August 02, 2004

It's Dead, Jim

Desktop #2 is d-e-a-d. We bought a Dell desktop about two years ago, and it died right after the warranty expired (fried motherboard -- I'm told that's not a good result for a computer). We purchased a replacement Dell desktop in January, when Archi-Sapper was home for R&R. It has recently crashed, as well.

One day I turned it on and it was very, very slow to boot up. Definitely not a good sign. Once it booted up, it wouldn't give me access to files on the hard drive, it wouldn't run Internet Explorer, wouldn't run McAfee and basically wouldn't do anything. Yesterday we put in the boot disc with no success -- it won't run that, either. Archi-Sapper thinks something screwy has happened with the memory, but we're not really sure. The only thing we know is that it is broken, broken, broken.

This is obviously seriously frustrating. I hate throwing good money after bad into compouters that don't work for very long. I'm sure I inadvertantly downloaded some sort of virus, but that also frustrates me since we were running McAfee on the machine and actually ran the program every day. *sigh*

Posted by Kitty at 09:00 AM | Comments (7)