You Asked, Dana Answers

Dana has answered your questions.

Boobies, kids, and some guy with the initials H. D.

Click it!

Who's your favorite muppet?

Not that I have a particularly strong opinion on Muppets or anything, but I suppose it would be Kermit. He's pretty optimistic and compassionate, and the only female Muppet has the hots for him, so even if I can't see the sexual appeal, there's got to be SOMETHING happening under all that green felt, right?

Peeps: chicks or bunnies?

Ew, GAWD, Peeps, YUCK! Neither. Gelatin, sugar, and coloring. Gross! Now, give me a nice, smooth, milk chocolate bar with almonds, or some chocolate-dipped cherries, or (best of all) some Godiva truffles, and I'm a happy girl!

What's your poison, little lady? (If you weren't pregnant right now, of course.)

To be honest, I never was much of a drinker. The only times I ever got so drunk I passed out was on cheap pink champagne (16th birthday party) and some milky, kahlua-y stuff I drank from the bottle (backseat of a boyfriend's friend's car in college). The tastiest drinks are the wussy ones, I think - wine coolers and strawberry daiquiris. But I haven't had any alcohol since I was 18, believe it or not. It just isn't something I miss.

What's your favorite brand of power tool?

This might surprise you, but I actually LOVE power tools. For awhile, I did some woodcrafting (decorative stuff, not furniture). I have a scroll saw, a belt sander, a Dremel, a hand-saw, and tons of other stuff. You really can't go wrong with Craftsman. (insert Tim Allen-esque grunts here)

What the most expensive thing, if anything, your kids have destroyed so far?

My sanity. That's worth something, right?

Why aren't you worried some sicko might harm/take your beautiful children if you expose them on the Internet? I can't understand all of you who do this (lileks, nancynall) not worrying about pedophiles.

Well, cuz, see, you can't GET to my children through the Internet. You can see their pictures, and if you were determined you could find my address and phone number, but a) we live on a farm in the middle of eastern Washington (aka nowhere) and my guess is if someone were inclined to steal children they'd take some that were closer, b) my children are NEVER unattended, anywhere, ever, and c) firepower. Lots and lots of firepower. I'm generally a mild-mannered, affable, laid-back kinda chick, except where my children are concerned. Nobody - NOBODY - fucks with my children.

Who has the redheads on their side of the family, you or your husband?

That would be me. My mother's family is Irish, hence the green eyes and auburn/red hair, plus that pale, pasty white skin. I assume this question got asked because of pictures of my Kayla. Ever since the day she was born, people have commented on her red hair. In truth, it's not really red, but strawberry blonde. I've heard from my mother-in-law that someone, way back in my husband's family, had reddish hair, but I've seen no proof of that.

Does your baby's daddy know about your infatuation with Harvey of Bad Money?

Where Harvey is concerned, my husband is on a "need to know" basis. That is, hubby doesn't need to know. Besides, everyone knows that Harvey is a happily married man - why else would he write so many love notes to his wife - unless ... maybe he's WAAAAAAAYYYY back in the dog house? Hey, Harvey, she didn't find that picture, did she? Er.. um... never mind. Moving on!

If you could read only one blog for the rest of your life, whose would it be, and why?

Gawd! Everybody hates answering this kind of question, because you're inevitably going to hurt feelings, and lose links and readers and... and... aw, what the hell. I know everyone expects me to say Bad Money, and frankly Harv runs a very close second. But if I could only read ONE blog, ever, it would have to be Late Final. In my humble opinion, Ed is the most underrated blogger in the 'sphere. He has interesting, thought-provoking political analysis, as well as lots of posts on lots of subjects that interest me - everything from who's on death row, to what the NY Times "Correction of the Day" is, to captured Nazis - stuff you don't read just EVERYWHERE else (though he manages to comment on the "big news" stories, too). He gets very few comments or trackbacks (even from me, sadly), but he's got the most solid content-to-bullshit ratio of any blog I've ever read. I don't link him as much as I should, but I probably "click through" his posts more than any other blogger.

How did you first find "The Cheese Stands Alone"?

I didn't find him; he found me, probably through the whole Bloggers With Boobies thing, though I've forgotten for sure.

Did you ever visit Trey in the hospital after strangling him during the Howard Dean Rampage of 2003?

"Rampage" is such an ugly word.... I didn't go on a "rampage"... I merely... provided some sensitivity training. Anyway, yes, I visited both Trey and Harvey during their recovery. Helped that they were in the same room, but guys, next time... put out a "Do Not Disturb" sign if you're gonna be exploring your inner lesbians, k?

Athletically speaking, could you beat Heather of Angel Weave at anything? If so, what? If not, why haven't you tried? Are you willing to put money on that?

Athletically? Well, maybe if we stretch the definition of that term a little bit (it's been over ten years since I last played basketball). *Moseying over to Heather's to scope out any possible weaknesses.* Hey, lookie there! She got married the day before I did! And she'll share an anniversary with my niece when she gets married this year! Hey, that's cool! Wait... I'm supposed to be kicking her ass. Hmmm... shit. She's a bodybuilder. Things are not lookin' good here... ooh! Score! She "can't drink soda because of the carbonation." There it is! I could KICK HER ASS in a soda-drinking contest. Damn straight! That's athletic, right? No? Hm.... well, after reading through Heather's entire "100 things about me" list, I have to say I think she would kick my ass. The only advantage I can see is that I have about 5 inches on her, so like her mom, I could put things on very high shelves, out of her reach. I don't think that qualifies as athletic, though. Damn.

You recently had your 6-month blogiversary when you claimed that you "found your voice". How did you do that? Any tips for us younger bloggers?

My husband has been blogging for four and a half years, so it's hard for me to take myself seriously, after only six months, giving blogging advice. Still, the question is here, so what the hell? I guess it would be more accurate for me to say I rediscovered my initial purpose with the blog. See, like many others, I started blogging because I had something to say, and I was starting to get accused of "trolling" in others' blogs. I don't like (nor condone) trolling, but still wanted to get my point across. Hence, Note-It Posts was born (actually, I wanted "Some Assembly Required" as the name, but that was already taken at Blogger; Note-It Posts was a stroke of pure luck). It didn't take long before I started obsessively checking my statistics and comparing them to other blogs I knew. I started to put too much emphasis on the numbers, and not enough on the content. That's why I participated in Frank's Permalink contest. I can't really say I regret participating, though. Even though I lost in the first round, that contest introduced Harv and I to one another, as well as to many other very good blogs. But the contest was the start of a "pandering" phase I went through; writing more to attract an audience, than for myself. I still wrote things I thought were interesting, but they weren't necessarily what I wanted to get across.

My only real advice to new bloggers is keep it real. Post frequently, link copiously (where appropriate), and comment often on others' blogs, when you have something meaningful to say. If your content is interesting, you'll get noticed. If your writing is good, people will come back.

How many states do you think Dean will carry in the 2004 election should he win the Democratic Primary?

Did you just use "Dean" and "win" in the same sentence? I'll strangle you dead!!! Rawwwrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Which Democratic candidate do you like the most of all and why?

That's like asking do you prefer a root canal or an enema. Neither one is really high on my list of "fun things to do." So I guess this is more a "lesser of all evils" kind of thing. I could most live with a Lieberman presidency, because he's least likely to back down from the war on terrorism, and he's not as inclined to tax-and-spend, not being of the socialist persuasion like most of the rest of the Democratic persuasion. Sadly, he'll almost certainly not get the nomination. Wait, come to think of it, that's not so sad, since everyone expects Bush to trounce Dean. Yay, Dean! Nominate Dean! Dean is the man! Dean for 2004!

Could you expand upon the Howard Dean = Sybil theme?

I've probably already beaten that horse about as much as is useful. On further reflection, though, there are some similarities between the behavior of Dean and my three-year-old. Both throw public temper tantrums when they don't get their way, both will completely reverse themselves during the course of a conversation for no apparent reason, and both have a lot of anger and frustration to get through. Luckily, my son's can be blamed on normal developmental factors, and he will likely grow out of it. I do not expect the same of Dean.

If you had to leave the United States forever, what country would you move to?

I don't wanna go, and YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!!! Man, that's a tough question. I guess it would have to be Australia. I know some people there already, and it's less socialist than many other places (*cough*California*cough*Canada*cough*France*cough*) I would consider moving to.

How did you get so gosh-darn cute?

Now, isn't that just the sweetest question, ever? *blushing* If I'm cute (or even gosh-darn cute, which is, of course, much better), I had nothing to do with it. I am not a "girly" girl - I pretty much only wear dresses when I'm pregnant and my belly hates waistlines, I never wear makeup or perfume, I think lace and frill are the devil - so I've never really considered myself cute. But hey, it's a compliment, so I'll take it! Thanks. :)

Are you truly America's #1 pinup girl, or were you just in the right place at the right time?

Heh. Good question. The whole "pin-up girl" thing was Harvey's doing. During a very long outage at the hands of my old ISP (may they rest in hell), Harvey emailed me out of concern, asking if I was ok. I said that I was, and would be back in action as soon as my ISP took their collective thumbs out of their collective asses and restored my service. The site got restored, and Harvey happily reported he could see "entries, gif's, and a picture of America's #1 pin-up girl." I threatened to quote him on that, and hence, the tagline for the site was (re-)born. So in that sense, I guess you could say "right place, right time." As for whether I'm really a pin-up girl or not... well, Google doesn't lie!

Regarding the bikini area - shave, trim, sculpt, or jungle?

I'm more of a one-piece kinda girl. Bikinis are for chicks with no stretch marks. Nah, seriously. Shaving is for masochists, sculpting is for porn stars, and jungles are for Frenchwomen. Keep it trim, keep it clean.

What are your thoughts on Victoria's Secrets Silhouette line of garments?

I looked and looked, and couldn't find anything by Victoria's Secret called "Silhouette." Generally speaking, however, I'm opposed to undergarments. They are sometimes a necessary evil, like shaving your legs or weeding your garden, but they're not a favorite of mine. "Let the boobies roam free!"

There's lots about boobies on your site but no actual boobies to be found. What's up with that?

Nonsense! There are two pair right on the home page! Three, if you count mine (which aren't really visible, under two shirts). If you wanted to see my boobies, you should've been reading me in October. ;)

Your blog seems to have taken off since the Bloggers With Boobies founding. Any regrets that you've become somewhat synonymous with that meme?

I'm not really sure you could say it's "taken off" since then. I've gotten some more regular readers since then, but it's not like I've started challenging Instapundit for his blog-throne or anything. Anyway, no, I don't regret it. BWB was - and is - a statement of female empowerment, an assertion of female identity and will, and an expression of solidarity with other like-boobied bloggers. I don't mind its being know that I possess boobs, and if that gets people in to read my (honestly, mostly political) commentary, then all the better. If they were just looking for tits, they won't really stick around. I'm more disturbed by all the people I get who are Googling "beastiality."

Posted by Jennifer at January 5, 2004 07:23 AM

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