The good news is that the laundry is done. The bad news is that the Jeep threw a rod and the engine is blown. Estimated repair cost: $4000 (yes, that's three zeros you see there.)


Interesting. I always wondered what the end of my rope would feel like and here we are.

My Jeep has a history running like a champ - until it doesn't. Oddly, I seem to sense when things are about to go south a few days in advance. Last summer I told Bax that I wanted to get the Jeep into the mechanic for no other reason than unspecified dread. He scoffed and three days later the radiator blew up.

Last week the Jeep developed a new rattle that only showed up when accelerating. Everything handled just fine and there was no loss of power but I made a note to get it into the garage. The rattle has gotten gradually louder and today everything died while I was heading down an on-ramp toward home. Coincidentally, earlier in the morning I made an appointment at the garage for a tune-up tomorrow. So AAA towed us to the service station and there the Jeep sits until tomorrow.

I'm trying not to think about this too much, since I have absolutely no idea what's wrong. I've had radiators, starters and transmissions go on my vehicles but this is new - and as far as I know, none of those things.

I hope everything is resolved easily (I figure cheap is pretty much out the window). I'm supposed to go back to Kansas next month and was hoping to drive.

I do believe we may have finally and firmly entered the era in which people with big giant brains are considered sex symbols worth panting after. Or, at least that's what I'm choosing to believe. (Applications to seduce my brain will be accepted in written form only.)





Also, I'm great and need to write a post about my adventures very soon.

Bax is in Washington marching around Mt. Rainier. Can't go because 1) I have two catering jobs and assorted other things booked during this time and 2) I'm a little leery of how my lungs were going to handle hiking with a full pack at altitude. I probably could have gutted it out, but that's pretty much a fast track to No Fun Town for everybody.

In the meantime, I'm sleeping in the middle of the bed, eating popsicles for dinner and attempting to make some sort of sense out of the pile of catering equipment in the attic. I nearly bought a couple bus tubs (those gray plastic tub things you see in every restaurant) before the wedding last weekend but didn't. While I was stowing stuff post wedding I found 5 of them neatly stacked together behind some chafing dishes. So clearly it's time to get things sorted. I was up there today and am now liberally frosted with dust. Lovely.

In addition to the Great Attic Sorting, I have many other good things to do.
1. Sunday, I shall help the_ogre celebrate his birthday at Raging Waters, San Jose. WooHoo!
2. Monday I'll be San Francisco catching (aka: stealing ideas at) the beginning of SF Restaurant Week. Cool Boss has gotten me a pass to the tasting tent.
3. Saturday I have a catering job providing concessions for this guy.
4. Sunday, or possibly Monday, I'm going to take a little road trip of my own and visit Hearst Castle. I've never been and have always wanted to see it.
5. On the 22nd I'm going to Tahoe where a friend of mine and I have a hot date with Bob Dylan (along with whoever else bought tickets that night.)

Summer of Kady!
/old Seinfeld reference

Finally, an answer to the age old question: Would a leopard enjoy a catnip mouse?

I catered a wedding for 80+ in Incline Village on Saturday. It went perfectly fine, even the two days of prep leading up to it. I attribute this two factors: 1) Over the last couple of years I've been acquiring catering equipment which is designed for hauling stuff back and forth. Makes life much easier. 2) The kitchen I rent got two new pieces of equipment: a 5-rack convection oven and a 12-quart stand mixer. Those two items meant that I could do stuff like mix and bake 90 short cakes in 1.5 hours instead of 3. Awesome!

So on the day after, I'm tired and footsore from being in motion from 7:00 am to midnight, but otherwise everything is fine. I told Bax over breakfast that I would like to plan for one wedding of this size/cost a month. If I could pull that off, I would be in good shape.

A bit of aggravation: I had to rent a U-Haul to get all my stuff to Tahoe and back. Total charges came to just over $300 (stupid weekend mileage). I planned for that and included it in my quote, but if truck rental becomes a reoccurring monthly charge, it might be worth it for me to buy a mini van-ish vehicle with a hitch. The payment would be about the same and I could slap my business name and logo all over it.

Fred Phelps and minions decided to picket ComicCon.

To quote ComicsAlliance.com: "Simply stated: The eclectic assembly of nerdom's finest stood and delivered."

Bax speculated that Fred is being deliberately invited to events to spark a counter-protest. I've met Fred, he picketed K-State regularly and kevynjacobs was on his hate fax list for a while in the mid-90s. Fred has no, none, zilch sense of irony, humor or absurdity. His tunnel vision and leaps of logic are breathtaking to behold. What I suspect is happening is that he's been around so long that he's finally entered the realm of absurdity. (I'm 36 and I've been listening to Fred wail since I was 19.) Coupled with the fact that a whole younger generation is much more gay tolerant and just not feeling the outrage and hellfire when it comes to gay rights and the whole thing has now become performance art. Except only one side is having fun with it.

Happy birthday to baxil, who begins his 33rd trip around the sun today!

I'm very glad you were born and I owe you a present. XOXO

It's hoooooooot. Hot enough that I finally relocated my laptop back to my desk, which is in the room with the window a/c. I walked to the grocery store earlier today and it was ok as long as there was either a breeze or I was in the shade. Direct sunshine - not so much.

As soon as I got home I stripped off my sundress and am now sitting in the cool, drinking ice water and wearing very little. This is the other sign of summer: there is not much laundry.

• 01:21 Password has been changed, hacking is now stopped (hopefully). I'm KDG and I approve of this message. #
• 02:09 @lysana yeah, so not me. Also, balsamic vin can live at room temp with no ill effects. #
• 02:10 @kshandra Wasn't me, I swear! It was hackers. Ninja hackers. With...grappling hooks. Yeah. #