Random Name and Title Generator

I found another fun way to waste time on the internet--Click here for a random name generator

My title is--
Lesser Countess Junior Grade of The Left Side of Beer For Breakfast, Sister Kat R. Stuhr

Post a comment if you get a good one.

What a great kid

Poor Amy is stressed out because she's going to get two Bs her first term at college and only start off with a 3.3 average, even though she's taking a Biology class that is not recommended for first year students and is a weed-out class, Chemistry, Pre-Calculus (another weed out class) and Comparative Politics. That girl has some high standards.

She's called me twice in the last two weeks just to tell me about something funny that she heard. That just makes my day. Once was something funny her Biology teacher said about fermentation. He said he has a friend who won't drink wine because he does not want to drink the byproduct of microbes that die in their own excrement. Not sounding too yummy now. The other thing she called to tell me about was a funny sketch on the Daily Show after the election about the f-ed up exit polling. Bee, one of the Daily Show correspondents, goes around asking people all sorts of random questions. One of the best is when she encounters a lady coming out of a salon and she asks her what she had done in there. The woman replied that she had a haircut and Bee points to the woman's head and asks, "Does the carpet (wink, wink) match the drapes?"

Go here-- The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and click on the "Exit Polls" link. Its way funny.

Its nice to be friends with your kid if you can do it while still being a parent.

"Check me out. No, seriously, check me out."

Those famous words from Strongbad have taken on new meaning lately. I've gotten used to being visually raped by the guys. Even the last few years where it seems to have moved into a new level--different generations, races, nationalities, hemispheres, etc all doing the obvious "check me out." But, for God's sake, I draw the line at chicks doing it. Today, the fat, female (not even cute, not that it would make a difference) security guard did it twice in the span of 5 minutes. I thought I was being paranoid so I asked DB and he confirmed it. And, if anyone can spot someone checking out a chick, its the master of that skill, DB.

As I related the story to skare, we commented on the number of times people have thought we were lesb****. OK, so we like to dress casually, don't accessorize a lot and aren't big into the lots of makeup thing. I think that when she's in south Beach next week I'm going to go down and meet her for brunch. We can work the lesb*** angle and probably get better service at the restaurant. I'll bring Claire and we can play "Claire has two mommies".

Hear Strongbad utter those famous words here. Be sure to listen to the end-- Homestarrunner Intro .

Edited the post to add the *** because I found that someone had found the blog by searcing on that term. I've got no problem with it, but don't want my blog to be misrepresented among the search engines.

Teachable Moments

They say that effective parenting comes down to teachable moments--identifying moments when your child is asking to learn something and making the time to teach them.

This morning, as I was getting ready for work, I was singing The Cure song "Just Like Heaven" and Claire said, "What are you singing, 'Show me, show me, show me'?" I replied, "Yes, its one of my favorite songs by a GREAT band called The Cure."

So, I capitalized on the teachable moment, we went to the computer and I put the song on. We danced around and sang. Not sure how appropriate the lyrics are for a 7-year-old but at least there's no bad words and she's not going to get the references anyway.

"Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick
The one that makes me scream she said
The one that makes me laugh she said
And threw her arms around my neck
Show me how you do it
And I promise you I promise that
I’ll run away with you
I’ll run away with you"

*And to my NSWStateofMind friend, my deepest apologies for showing you those lyrics and adding to your torment. Naaah, not really, you deserve your torment. ;)

Election Results

Just today at lunch, I was telling DB that I'd like to see a map with election results down to the county level. All the maps show states in red for Bush and blue for Kerry but they don't graphically display just how close the election was. So, I found this...

Click here for election results map

Blue means 100% Democrat, purple is 50/50 and red is 100% Republican. There is a lot of purple.

Thank God its almost over...

The presidential election it is. Let's hope its finalized this week and not dragged out through the courts. This line from the Indigo Girls keeps going through my head, "While the politicians shadowbox the power ring, in an endless split decision never solve anything."

Here's a good perspective on the election from the UK--The Daily Telegraph--It's not just the economy stupid

I'm the Gator Jinx

My apologies to the entire Gator nation for my role in our loss to Georgia this weekend. My self-imposed exile from the game that I invoked in 1984 apparently extends to the entire stadium grounds, not just inside the stadium. As I said before, the Gators went 1-7 before my exile and have gone 14-4 since then. Obviously, the recent success against Georgia is due primarily, if not entirely, to my self-imposed exile (OK, so Spurrier may have had something to do with it but Zook went 2-0 against them before this year.)

I went to the stadium this year to tailgate with some friends. I had MANY people who know about my exile ask me, with a hint of panic in their voice, "But you're not going INTO the game, are you?!?". I said, "No, just hanging around to tailgate and watch the game at Richie's RV." I stayed on the stadium grounds until halftime. When I left, the Gators were down 21-7. We watched the rest of the game at Matt's house and they rallied back to a 24-21 deficit in the beginning of the 4th quarter before losing 31-24. I guess I stayed at the stadium too long for the Gators to overcome my bad karma.

But, I'd do it again because it was a blast. It was like old times hanging out with Deb (Wench!!) and Matt. I got Deb to come with us despite the fact that she's been battling a severe cold for two weeks, works as a teacher of autistic 4-6 year olds so she's got a physically, emotionally and mentally challenging job, and she wanted to use the weekend to rest up. And I didn't even have to pull out the old college taunt of "Oh, Bluto, I have a little cold and can't go party with my best buds." Richie's RV was a blast, the lobster, steak and Voodoo punch were worth the 10 hours in the car. And the GSMB get together at Smitty's RV was fun, too. I climbed to the top of Smitty's RV to get an aerial photo of part of RV city. That was fun.

The photos tell the story....
Kat's Trip to the World's Largest Cocktail Party

As we were going to the stadium, we crossed the St. John's river on the water taxi that was filled with fans from both schools. I had an interesting conversation with my daughter who is a freshman at the University of Florida--
Me-- "Amy, did you know that the St. John's River flows north."
Amy-- "No, mom, I didn't know that."
Me--"Its the only river in the northern hemisphere that does that."
Amy--"Oh really, mom, that's interesting."
Me--"Do you know why the St. John's River flows north?"
Amy--"No, mom, why?
Me, with an increased volume--"Because Georgia SUCKS."

As the Georgia fans around me gave me dirty looks, my college roommate Deb, who used to console me through my tears when we lost the game every year while we were in school said, "Kat, please try to not get us beaten up before we even get to the stadium."

Before the game outside the stadium, as we walked between the various parties we were going to, my 7-year-old daughter, Claire, asked me when we could start yelling at some Georgia fans. I said, "Now's as good a time as any" so she kept chanting "1 in 13, 1 in 13" (their record against us over the last 14 years), as we walked around the grounds. Its important to start them young with the family traditions.

So, the old Gator rallying cry of "Wait 'till Next Year" has been changed to "Wait 'till Next Coach!"




GOOOOOOOOOOO Gators!!