Cake News

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

#505: rainbow on acid.

when i shared what my bm dresses looked like, way back when, someone commented that they looked like rainbow on acid. i think it was meant as an insult. but i liked that description a lot. did i already share this with you? i don't remember.

anyways. i'm having commitment issues right now about the garland thing. who's not surprised? (i'm totally waving my arms around. you just can't see.)

ceremony space:

i was set on these. natural, frilly, muted, calm, soft, cheap, time consuming.

but i just saw these. funky, sparkly, colorful (in a rainbow on acid kind of way), wild, not-as-cheap, DIY-not-required.

and now i'm on the fence. frilly or funky, frilly or funky. or bare? grrr.

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a real (im) conversation.

me: so do you trust my vision for the decorations for our wedding? do you want to be included in the decision? or do you just want me to share.

him: just share. i trust you like i trust your banging outfits.

me: i'm thinking of hanging these off the chandeliers. during our ceremony. and your immediate reaction is __________....

him: holy crap that's cool. do you make these? or buy them? these look cool. can you put the branches into different shapes?

me: REALLY? that's so cool. i would have to buy them. i thought you were going to say i'm crazy or something.

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i never realized we say 'cool' so much. hm.

Penny Anti Protest: Update

Here.

#504: twitter update.

eh. i would twitter for real, especially because i think i signed up for it. but i don't know how and at this point, i can't be bothered.

i'm browsing the nets this morning to figure out this centerpiece thing and for additional inspiration. and thank GAW for online shopping. because i can't seem to find any time during the week to do anything craftlicious. like even go to the craft store. am i effed?

anyways, today, i'll be looking through the sale pages of ikea, michael's, joann's, jamali garden (which i found through frolic!), and z gallerie. any other suggestions?

p.s. i have nothing against candles (in fact, i love them) but i will not be using any. i think it has something to do with the hassle of lighting them. sure, it won't be me who does it...but i don't want someone else to have to do it either.

also, a LOT, if not most, of the DIY centerpieces out there somewhere seem to be for outdoorsy weddings. or wedding receptions with lots of sunlight. our venue has zero sunlight. like none. so. i guess best of luck to me.

p.p.s. it was so cold this morning that my eyeballs steamed up my sunglasses. no joke.

CBO on Fiscal Policy Lags

From CBO, here is the time path of estimated outlays on government purchases under the proposed stimulus bill:

2009: 29.0
2010: 115.8
2011: 105.5
2012: 53.6
2013: 26.5
2014: 13.0
2015: 6.9
2016: 3.0
2017: 1.6
2018: 0.9
2019:0.4

Total: $356.0 billion

So only 8 percent of this spending occurs in budget year 2009, and only 41 percent occurs in first two years. Note that spending on transfer payments and tax relief occurs much faster than this: click through to the above link for details.

Shiller on Animal Spirits

Yale's Bob Shiller argues that confidence is the key to getting the economy back on track.

I think a lot of economists would agree with that. The question is what it would take to make people more confident. Bob thinks that confidence would rise if the government borrowed more and spent more. Other economists think that confidence would rise if the government committed itself to, say, lower taxes on capital income. The sad truth is that we economists don't know very much about what drives the animal spirits of economic participants. Until we figure it out, it is best to be suspicious of any policy whose benefits are supposed to work through the amorphous channel of "confidence."