I present Googlism, which I found over at Ali's - and yes, now you know my name...

...my personal favorites are "kate is my homeslice" and "kate is available for instant download"

kate is great
kate is pregnant
kate is uitsmijter van hoge raad'
kate is 40 album
kate is on fire
kate is 21 and ready to conquer the world
kate is interested
kate is still 22
kate is my idol
kate is my boss
kate is our winner
kate is in the babybedroom
kate is award winner
kate is ready for reign
kate is scary
kate is alive
kate is the big brother winner
kate is a musical for real musical lovers
kate is not a bitch
kate is the oppressively heavy
kate is awarded a position with the cathedral
kate is a lightlike being of art with dark flaming eyes and strong
kate is 40 pages
kate is a uk web woman
kate is the best
kate is looking to pass the ball while azzi is guarding her
kate is interested in the area of usability engineering
kate is lovely
kate is the proverbial ''one woman rock band ''
kate is continuing to work steadily on a new album
kate is a very normal
kate is what's called a transsexual person
kate is sending me the official results to post
kate is controlled by other characters' actions towards her
kate is a massive madonna fan
kate is big brother favourite for first time
kate is responsible for the management and oversight of state
kate is a founding partner of gregory consulting limited
kate is serving as the executive producer on this film so her work has started early
kate is like christmas when i was a kid
kate is ready for reign spotlight hits granddaughter of lucy
kate is a multi document editor
kate is anything but calm as she patiently waits for an opportunity to make her presence known
kate is having fun with the girls
kate is instantly the reader's fast friend
kate is my daughter
kate is presented as a complete one
kate is now my favourite after spanky left
kate is also an active member of the national speakers association
kate is a market researcher
kate is torn between keeping the baby with the man she loves and pursuing her life
kate is venetian blonde
kate is the only psychologist in the us who is both helping to create and fix relationships in this way
kate is a lovely girl
kate is welcomed and introduced by none other than the french tennis star yannick noah
kate is interviewed in a recording studio where she is working on her third album
kate is finally born
kate is a scorpio
kate is connected
kate is told she is not an adequate instructional leader
kate is a spy
kate is delightful
kate is to leave first as her contract expires at the end of this year
kate is called to the diary room
kate is almost a natural psychic when it comes to fashion
kate is separating from her husband jim threapleton after less than three years of marriage
kate is available for instant download
kate is not your average super model
kate is the rock of the division
kate is actively involved in other organisations
kate is nevertheless considered beautiful by many
kate is a minor voice in a city full of both the social elite and the not so elite
kate is in negotiations
kate is currently working at ge medical systems
kate is an experienced concert soloist
kate is my nominee for the hall of friendship
kate is the product of a wealthy home and her mother despairs of ever seeing her settled down like a good daughter
kate is a disaster waiting to happen
kate is europe's favourite
kate is awarded a position with the cathedral
kate is venetian blonde
kate is on fire
kate is uitsmijter van
kate is a uk web woman
kate is uitsmijter van hoge raad'
kate is lovely
kate is sending me the official results to post
kate is award wrinner
kate is getting on with being pregnant
kate is not happy with how the gq staff changed her photos
kate is latest wtc casualty by
kate is looking to pass the ball while azzi is guarding her
kate is one of the celebs who dine at maggie jones's restaurant
kate is so much happier and livelier than ashley
kate is on location
kate is a founding partner of gregory consulting limited
kate is responsible for the management and oversight of state
kate is almost one month old
kate is the finest artist i have found on the web
kate is instantly the reader’s fast friend
kate is a graduate of the art institute of philadelphia; degreed in commercial and graphic arts as well as photography
kate is continuing to work steadily on a new album
kate is my daughter
kate is in her third season competing for the big red and her third season as an open division rider
kate is dank
kate is a multi document editor
kate is an experienced concert soloist
kate is torn between keeping the baby with the man she loves and pursuing her life
kate is the only psychologist in the us who is both helping to create and fix relationships in this way
kate is ready for reign spotlight hits granddaughter of lucy
kate is featured on the front cover of february's mojo magazine
kate is a model
kate is almost a natural psychic when it comes to fashion
kate is getting ready to go to the party for farmer's bounty
kate is licensed by the alabama board of social work examiners as a licensed certified social worker
kate is actively involved in other organisations
kate is 16 years old with severe mental retardation and paraplegia due to spina bifida
kate is joining up with hamilton
kate is delightful
kate is having mixed feelings about seeing sam again
kate is one of the most underrated actors working today
kate is 15 years old and lives in a rural area called inez in victoria county
kate is the rock of the division
kate is not someone hillary should have as a friend?
kate is going in search of a very elusive fish
kate is currently the assistant dean of admissions at cornell college
kate is currently working at ge medical systems
kate is a small child compared to vim
kate is another great msu competitor to watch
kate is the product of a wealthy home and her mother despairs of ever seeing her settled down like a good daughter
kate is a uk web woman
kate is so cool
kate is lovely
kate is one
kate is sending me the official results to post
kate is award grinner
kate is ready for reign
kate is alive
kate is the best
kate is another great msu competitor to watch
kate is the product of a wealthy home and her mother despairs of ever seeing her settled down like a good daughter
kate is back and marvelous
kate is growing up
kate is a little sharp and a little shiny
kate is bad archives
kate is athens bound
kate is forming
kate is uitsmijter van hoge raad'
kate is told the secret of the hedge maze
kate is fugly
kate is a man
kate is an individual who created five trusts
kate is my love lyrics
kate is great lyrics
kate is hot?
kate is so fucking cute
kate is perfect for company parties
kate is angry
kate is hungry
kate is the pride of the kennedy
kate is not tamed need a paper dot com
kate is right
kate is the more aggressive twin
kate is my love
kate is pissed
kate is great the shrew is tamed on broadway by faye benjamin asst
kate is not just for weddings
kate is not tamed
kate is all manufactured in rural america with great attention to detail
kate is moving west

**i confess, i deleted the duplicates and the ones that were just too raunchy for my niece to see**

Today I took J&M on a hike with some friends from work. We went up to Rocky Mountain National Park, parked at the Bear Lake trailhead, and hiked up to Loch Lake. The scenery was incredible - I haven't been out on a nice day like that in a long time. The temperature at that altitude was about 80 degrees (while everyone down in Boulder was suffering through 100+ - ha! Suckers!). We didn't see much in the way of wildlife, but there was an extraordinarly ballsy chipmunk that kept approaching while we sat on the rocks at the Loch and had our lunch snack. I know you're not supposed to feed them, but how can you resist when they walk up, climb onto your shoe, and then stand up and beg?

The hike was about 7 miles roundtrip, and we were beat by the time we got back to the cars. However, there was lunch still to be had - one of the guys in our group had boiled brats in Guiness the night before, and then brought his grill so we could brown them up for lunch. They were delicious! Especially with the two mini-kegs of Heineken!

Weekends used to be about hanging out, visiting with friends, relaxing at home - what happened to that? It seems like every Saturday, all I do is run errands. I leave the house in the morning with what seems like a small list, and I end up coming home 7 hours later, tired, needing to cook dinner and still do laundry! WTF?

Today is a perfect example. All of the errands I can usually knock out during the week have been relegated to Saturday. This because I've had to use all my free time on weekdays to sit around on my ass at the drivers license office and Social Security, trying to get my name changed. How can it be that two separate and unrelated government offices (one state, one federal) had simultaneous "computers down" and were unable to process my paperwork? How is it that said computer outage occured on the DAY I TOOK OFF WORK TO RUN THESE PARTICULAR ERRANDS?

I am whipped - just returned from a very long day. I spent the day at Elitch Gardens with a bunch of co-workers. We do about two "offsites" a year, and today was all about eating and playing. We started the day at Dixons Downtown Grill for breakfast, then headed over to Elitch Gardens. We were broken up into groups of four, and you stayed with that small group at the amusement park. It was blisteringly hot (about 104 degrees), so of course we hit all the water rides first. My favorite ride was "Half Pipe", but my favorite thing that I did at Elitch was that I got to fly! They have a ride called XLR8R, where they strap you into a body harness, hook a cable to your back, and then hoist you what seems like 10 stories into the air. Then, you pull the cable and FLY! It was absolutely amazing, after the first few feet where you just free-fall - then the cable catches you and you swing through the air. I had my arms out like a bird's wings, soaring over the park. Awesome. Definitely worth the extra $15 you pay to do it.

After Elitch, we dragged our wet, exhausted selves down to Cherry Creek, for a chi-chi lunch (for which we were all SO underdressed) at Fourth Story, the restaurant on the top floor of the Tattered Cover bookstore building. Lunch was great, lots of good food and wine, but truthfully, I was too exhausted to enjoy myself.

There was the long drive back to the office, and then I headed home, threw on my bathing suit, and walked up to the Elks Lodge, where Friday afternoon is our neighborhood swimming party. J was there, watching the twins because M was sick, so I sat in the kiddie pool and played with Matthew and Jordan while their mom & dad relaxed and chatted w/ friends. We had dinner there (hot dogs and fruit salad, with Cheetos!), then headed home and almost immediately passed out on the couch for an hour. Long enough day, ya think?

I'm playing with Blogger's new photo tool - that's a pic of me and my friend Tara, taken at a work event last week. You've gotta love a place that sends you bowling and out for Japanese food on a Friday!

Despite having the wedding and all the attendant fanfare behind me, I don't feel like things have really slowed down that much. I still seem to be busy with something at least four nights a week, even though I've taken a break from the rescue squad and I'm not doing any classes or volunteer work this season. Life just takes over - tonight I have to attend a meeting about the status of our land as being in the "flood plain", which is code for requires very expensive flood insurance, and whether or not it can be re-designated. Friday night is swimming/bbq/cocktails at the Elks Lodge, which is a real neighborhoody thing to do. Saturday I have a massage (hallelujah!), and then a cocktail party, and then the kids are spending the night before we get up REALLY early to head up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a day hike - about 7 miles roundtrip, with lunch along the way. They're both good sports and so gung ho about trying new things - I hope they can keep that spirit their whole lives.

BTW, the song listed at right ("At Last") is not actually how I feel - I'm fully aware that there will be lonely days - I just love the song.

It's only in these hottest days of summer that I'm grateful to work in an office building all day - especially an office filled with very expensive, very sensitive electronic equipment, such that the indoor temperature must remain low at all times. It's about 95 degrees outside right now, I know this because I just had to walk out of the building and across the street to the parking lot of our neighboring building, because the landlord threw a BBQ for the tenants of the three buildings in our little area. It's HOT out there. To combat the heat, I like to work as late as possible, killing two birds with one stone - rack up some of that OT, and stay indoors until the sun is a bit lower in the sky, and my car has found some shade next to the east side of the building. However, last night it didn't cool off all that much until close to 10pm, so tonight calls for drastic measures - I've begged the boy to take me to a movie. I want to see "Mr. & Mrs. Smith", because there are worse things than watching Brad Pitt for two hours just to escape the heat.

In support of teaching Flying Spaghetti Monsterism as a form of Intelligent Design, I give you an open letter to the Kansas School Board, found at Fussy.

As some of you may know, last Friday was my wedding day. Getting married, getting presents, being surrounded by family and friends tends to make you feel pretty much like the center of the universe. One of the more self-indulgent things I did last week was to go to the hippest nail spa (don't call it a salon, they'll correct you) in Boulder for a manicure and pedicure the day before my wedding. That day, of course, was last Thursday, July the 7th. Seeing as I was living in my little wedding week bubble, I hadn't turned on the tv or listened to the radio at all. However, when I arrived at the nail spa, the wall where they normally project movies or old reruns of "Seinfeld" was instead showing CNN and pictures of London having been attacked. I can't begin to express my feelings of outrage and sadness at this newest attack. I have such fond memories of my time spent in London, what a gloriously peaceful and pleasant city it is. I hope that at her heart, London will remain that way, despite what has been brought to her streets and to her people. My heart goes out to every person touched by what happened that day.

Via Len - this was too good not to snatch and post here as well:

From the Declaration of Arbroath, written by the Scots in 1320:

for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under [terrorism’s] rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.

Hey, I got married yesterday. It was awesome. I was so calm all along, through all the planning and set up and everything - and five minutes before I was to walk down the aisle -- PANIC ATTACK. Heart pounding, short of breath, butterflies in my stomach, all of it. Trying hard not to cry, I just held his hand while we stood at the altar. I think we set a record for shortest ceremony, but I don't care. It was beautiful, and almost every person in the world that I care about was there.

More later.

...5 days to go...

I was supposed to be out of town this weekend at a race in IA, but I couldn't get a flight out of Denver last Thursday (another post on that adventure later)....anyway, it worked out for the best because I've spent the weekend organizing my house & basement - something that was desperately needed but for which I never carve out any time. The houseguests begin to descend on Tuesday, and my cleaning person is coming tomorrow, so I'm happy to have had time to get this done.

I think everything is in order for the wedding. I can't think of what I'm missing, but it seems like everything is taken care of. I even called the hotel where A's family will be staying and made a request for special rooms that face away from the road.

Have to run, my neighbors are hosting a "Napoleon Dynamite" 4th of July party today. Must go find my Vote for Pedro t-shirt.