The World According To Kate » ramblings

I don’t know why I can’t get any work done around here

Kate Czlapinski — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 14:25:24 +0000

Kevin and I recently started the long overdue project of refurnishing and general tidying up of our home office. We both spend a ton of time in here (i’m in my office right now) since he’s a student and I work from home more often than not, and it’s really kind of ridiculous that it was in such a costant state of disarry, home to just about everything that we didn’t know what else to do with. I think we all have those spaces in our homes, but if you’re lucky, it’s not a room that you spend such a vast portion of your life in!

It’s still a work in progress, but it’s a heck of a lot better than it once was. It’s nice to have a more comfortable space to work in, but I don’t think anyone’s happier with the recent changes than the cats. Nemo especially has always been lap cat and I’ve often reffered to him as my home co-worker. Part of the project included buying new desks that now allow both he and Spaz more room to roll around and park themselves in front of my monitor to better help me in all my daily tasks.

Really, I don’t know why I don’t get more work done around here – especially with all this help I’ve been getting lately!

Photos From My Balcony After The October Snow Storm

Kate Czlapinski — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:14:00 +0000

Granted, the flowers normally would have been taken down over a month ago, but they were looking so great, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. It’s funny, throughout the Summer, all of the plants on my deck were looking pretty horrible. Then, Hurricane Irene ripped through a couple of months ago, and suddenly they all came back to life and were better than ever. I even had peppers and tomatoes! I hardly had any all Summer yet I picked a couple of great ones Saturday morning just before the storm hit us. I have a feeling they’re not coming back from this though…

Welcome Back, February!

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 12:17:17 +0000

Oh, hello February, welcome back! I almost didn’t see you there – you came in so quietly. I see you’ve brought with you my normal month-long head cold. Thank you! How thoughtful, what a positively delightful birthday gift!

You know, February, nobody is a bigger fan of yours than I am. I like to celebrate with you from the 1st through the 28th. Once every four years, we even get an extra day of celebration. How cool is that? No other month has that awesome feature. I even love Valentine’s Day, and always have – even when I was perennially single! What’s not to love? It’s Katesmas Eve! It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Oh Dear February, as much as I do adore you, perhaps we can rethink this whole head cold thing next year. I mean it’s a lovely gift and all, but it kind of cramps my style… I mean, we celebrate pretty hard, and I would prefer to not have to do it through a cough suppressant induced haze and a sea of phlegm. As wonderful as it all is, it makes it a bit difficult for me to really enjoy all the awesome food and adult beverages I plan to consume. And should one really be mixing cold meds with copious amounts of alcohol? Silly question, of course they should if it’s their birthday (month…)!

So I was just thinking, maybe next year, the head cold can be like a going away gift that you present to me on the 29th (yay, a leap year!). I mean, I don’t really need to be Kate at a Ten for March. March sucks. It’s crazy busy at work, and while it claims to be “in like a lion and out like a lamb”, it is normally far too leonine for me even at months end! Really, I think I would rather be a little groggy for it…

Anyway, welcome back February! You’ve been missed – even with your stupid head cold!

Happy (Belated) New Year!

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:29:20 +0000

Soo… haven’t checked in in a little while. How’s everyone holding up? Has everyone awaken from their eggnog induced comas?

As usual, the holidays totally kicked my ass this year. Besides the normal last minute shopping, crazy deadlines at work and random social engagements…

There were cookies, lots and lots of cookies… just like every year. This is an example of small tray that my mom and I put together. I believe we baked 15 different types of cookies this year. Out of control, I know, but if you’ve been reading I’m sure you’ve come to expect that from us.

And of course, there was lots and lots of alcohol consumed. Sometimes you need a drink or 6 when spending that much time with your loved ones.

Like most people, I felt crazy busy most of December, just trying to get things done, and then Christmas and New Year’s finally arrive and it’s great, but it goes by far too fast. And when it’s all over, I feel a little sad, but mostly relieved and just kind of happy to get back to the normal grind. Does that make me Scrooge-ish? Probably. And I think I’m OK with that.

Happy New Year, Kids! Now get back to work!

Happy 5th Anniversary To Us!

Kate Czlapinski — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 21:45:43 +0000

Today, Kevin and I are celebrating our 5th Anniversary together! To celebrate, tonight we will be heading to Toshi , where we had our second date (and where we now go every anniversary), and if we have room, we may even hit up J Fosters for some ice cream afterwards. I also took a few days off from work so we could spend some time together and do some fun stuff. As always, I’m sure there will be lots of eating and drinking involved (it’s kind of what we do), so I’ll be sure to let you know all about it!

Happy Anniversary, Hon!

Thanks Tom!!!

Kate Czlapinski — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:11:39 +0000

So you probably didn’t notice, but on Sunday night my blog was down for awhile. Turns out my mom’s blog had a little problem and while trying to fix it, I may have sort of screwed up my own. Twice. The first time I was able to bring it back to all it’s original glory. The second time… well, not so much. And I flipped out.

It really wasn’t a good time to be having technical issues. It was a Sunday night, it was late, it was even the day before my busiest day of the year at work (meaning you know you should start early and definitely plan on staying late). Not cool.

Before I caused any further damage, I decided I needed to enlisted the help of a far more knowledgeable friend – our awesome and uber-geeky friend Tom, who knows how to handle these sort of problems like the back of his hand (although who really studies the backs of their hands??? Tom probably does).

I sent him an e-mail entitle ‘Help!!!!” - yes, with a very grammatically incorrect FOUR exclamation marks and he responded within just a couple of minutes telling me to first drink some wine and calm the hell down and to then let him take a look, and that is what I did. When someone tells me to drink wine, I listen!

Now I realize that my e-mail probably conveyed a certain ridiculous level of urgency, but I really didn’t expect him to be able to help me so soon. I thought maybe one night this week he’d come over and we’d feed him lots of beer or whiskey or something alcoholic and we’d work on it, but he jumped right on it – which was awesome and totally unexpected. He confirmed that he could easily have it fixed for me as I had just made a backup earlier that evening (go me!). And with a few more e-mails back and forth and him having to wait for some assistance from support, my blog was back up and running and back to it’s normal awesomeness by the time I woke up bright and early the next morning.

I really can’t thank him enough for all his help – and trust me, I thanked him so many times that he actually mocked me for it, so I’m hoping to take him and Heather and of course Kevin out to dinner tomorrow night just as a token of my appreciation.

Thanks Again, Tom!!!

Farewell Captain!

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:07:44 +0000

So I really don’t do goodbyes so well… this may be the understatement of the year. I like to think that I do many things well – saying goodbye is just not one of them. When my boss announced that she was leaving the company a couple of weeks ago, I was not exactly a happy camper. While some may be happy to see their boss leave, this was definitely not the case for me. There may have been a few tears… okay lots of tears. I’m a huge crybaby – what do you want?

Kristin (aka Captain Oblivious) was an awesome boss – Bryan and I even presented her with the “Official Seal of Awesomeness” on her last day – which up until now, only he and I had earned. It’s quite the prestigious honor. Over the past couple of years, she had become more than just an awesome boss – she’s become an awesome friend – and saying goodbye to a friend is never an easy task.

Last night we celebrated her new job with a happy hour at Vito’s by the Water , which it turns out is owned by the same people that own all the Vito’s in the area – one, coming soon right near my house here in New Britain in the old Hardware City Tavern location – very exciting. Anyway, I’m not here to discuss food today, I’m here to write about something more important – a friend.

There was, as expected, a pretty huge turnout last night ( which I’m sure had NOTHING to do with the fact that she invited out every single person she spoke with over the past week :p) and I’m fairly certain they weren’t there for the free pizza. Everyone who meets Kristin loves her, and while we may have lost a great boss we still have an awesome friend.

Captain, we wish you the best of luck (not that you need it)!

Happy 25th Birthday, Dan!

Kate Czlapinski — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:17:00 +0000

Just wanted to take a moment to say happy birthday to my brother Dan, who turns 25 years old today, which is just completely mind boggling and absolutely ridiculous, because if he’s 25 years old, well that must make me (let’s see… carry the one…) … 112? I don’t know I was never so good with the whole math thing. Either way, we’re clearly all getting very old. I mean, that’s a whole quarter of a century – my little brother is a quarter of a century old today. That’s a pretty big deal. Hey, he can rent a car now.

Kevin warned me back when I turned 25 that it was all down hill from there – and that after you hit 25 you had nothing left to look forward to but old age and becoming decrepit. That’s not true at all, Dan! Don’t listen to the haters – I would say I’ve had all my BEST years since turning 25.

Anyway, I know he had some sort of raucous festivities in my parents’ newly finished basement last night – hopefully he had a total blast and everything is still in tact

Happy Birthday, Cuban B !!! (That’s his nickname – its a reference to the movie Half Baked – yeah, I don’t really get it either, but then again I’m like 112 :p)

Back at it…

Kate Czlapinski — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:04:00 +0000

So I’m back, posting again… What, you say? Two posts in two days? Well, that’s just ludicrous! Yes, that is just how I roll.

So maybe I took a little time off for the holidays… and most of the Fall. What do you want to make of it? Anyway, I am trying to get back into the swing of things (part of a veritable plethora of New Year’s resolutions, which I may or may not have even gotten a start on)- probably not posting every single day like I was there for awhile, but I’d really like to post at least a couple of times a week.

It’s not that I don’t have anything to write about it, because I totally do. More often than not, it just doesn’t happen lately. When I get a blog idea, I’ll frequently jot it down on a piece of paper or create a note on Evernote , but often, by the time I actually feel the motivation to write about something it’s sort of old news and not really worth it anymore. Right now I actually have a piece of paper sitting next to me with 8 blog post ideas, several of which will probably get crossed out because they simply are no longer relevant.

I also was previously held back by some desktop issues I was having. Back in September, the power supply on my desktop fried on me. My awesome friend Tom who is my go to IT guy told me not to buy a new one, because he had multiples just sitting around his house. Tom, however, is not one to rush with these things (or anything, really) and I really wasn’t in a rush anyway, because I do also have a laptop that I can use. However, I really don’t like blogging on my laptop. It’s good for just about everything else, but I can just never really get comfortable blogging on it (don’t ask me why), so not having my desktop for so long made it extra difficult to become motivated to post here. I know – excuses, excuses…

Anyway, the desktop is fixed. Tom gave me a new power supply on New Year’s and Kevin installed it for me a couple of days later… and my life is now soooo much better because of it. No, really, you have no idea.

So now, I really don’t have that as an excuse anymore and I imagine you will be seeing much more of me around. Don’t say I didn’t warn you – all 6 of you who read my blog! You’ll be hearing from me!

Back and Better Than… Average!

Kate Czlapinski — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:19:03 +0000

My vacation has officially ended… and man did my first day back at work kick my butt! I am beat, so I’m not going to go into too much detail at this point about the vacation (from work and blogging), but I did want to direct your attention to My Recent Photos from our trips to Baltimore, Boston, and a random day spent in New Haven… I haven’t really organized them or edited them yet. To be honest, I’ve hardly looked at them yet, but there they are. It took me forever just to get them uploaded. From what I did see, I think there were a few good ones and lots of crap. I’m coming to terms with the fact that aquariums are just a horrible place to try to take pictures – weird lighting, moving subjects, everything’s behind glass – it’s like the perfect storm for photographic catastrophe!

Anyway, I just wanted to check in, because a few regular readers (hi mom and dad) have been harassing me about not updating in awhile and I know they would want to see all the pictures I took while I wasn’t sitting in front of my computer in my cramped sweltering office.

Rams Head Tavern

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 11:14:21 +0000

Kevin and I are heading down to Baltimore today for the weekend and, in typical fashion, we really have no definite plans other than where we will be eating and drinking, which is fine by me, because I’m pretty sure that’s the most important part of the trip.

Tonight we will be meeting up with his friends Jake and Elizabeth and heading to the Rams Head Tavern. Kevin is very excited about their 100 Bottle Beer List and their World Beer Club, where if you

Drink all one hundred of the world famous beers listed on the Passport, and you graduate!

Upon completion, you will be awarded:

Rams Head Tavern World Beer Club Mug

Rams Head Tavern World Beer Club T-Shirt

Name & Completion # Engraved on our “Great Minds” plaque

a symbol of your education and appreciation of fine beers from around the world

Kevin is, of course, very excited… however, I don’t think we’ll have the time or money necessary to imbibe all 100 beers on this trip. The t-shirt would have to read something along the lines of I drank 100 beers at Rams Head Tavern and all I got was this lousy t-shirt… and alcohol poisoning. Good times! Probably not how I want to spend my trip.

Anyway, I’ve got lots of stuff to take care of before I take off. Posting will probably be light or nonexistant this weekend, but I’ll sure to post about everything (probably mostly food) when we get back!

Less Than One Week!!!

Kate Czlapinski — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:48:07 +0000

So it’s official! As I mentioned awhile back, I’ll be on vacation all next week and I could not be more excited. When I requested the week off , I wasn’t really sure exactly what I would be doing with my week, but I did have a few ideas. I’ve been throwing the ideas at Kevin for the past month or so, and as is so often the case, he was fairly unresponsive. But I think we’ve finally got it all figured out. We’ve even booked a hotel room!

The plan is… three day weekend in Baltimore, MD (Saturday through Monday), a few days at home (maybe catch a Yankee game on day), and then another three day weekend in Portland, ME (Friday through Sunday).

Now we just have to figure out what we’ll be doing on our little vacations… Has anyone been to Baltimore or Portland recently? Any suggestions on places to go and fun things to do?

Thoughts On David Ortiz’s Steroid Use

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 03:28:21 +0000

I wasn’t going to comment on the recent news concerning David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez testing positive on a performance enhancing drug test back in 2003, but I thought as a proud Yankees fan, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it. The thing is… well, it’s complicated. My feelings about it are a bit complex and I didn’t want to just hastily bang something out and then realize that I left out important ideas.

As a life time Yankees fan living in Connecticut, I’ve always been very familiar with the Yankees/Red Sox Rivalry and all the trash talk that goes along with it. I’ve learned to dish it out and take it with the best of them. In the past decade (has it really been that long?), there have been some ups and downs – mostly ups for them and downs for us. The tables had turned and we were humbled. As I’ve grown and matured as a fan, I’ve learned that a classy fan is a quiet fan. This is why I was so hesitant to make any comments at all about the subject.

Am I shocked? Of course not. It was 2003 – right around the time he went from your average player to a baseball superstar. And it was just before they really started cracking down and testing for the use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball. There’s a lot of pressure on these guys to be great. I get it… I want to be great at my job, too. And if so many people were doing it, and it sounds like they all were, how could they not? They had to keep up with the competition, right? I get it.

This should quiet some of the smack talk I’ve had to endure the past few years… I’ve grown tired of always hearing about A-Rod (who hasn’t heard him referred to as A-Roid?), Giambi and Pettitt and everyone else using steroids and getting called cheaters. It was only a matter of time before news broke of a Red Sox player testing positive for steroid use. I hear Big Papi is a really good guy, and you almost feel bad, but he was so outspoken about being against them!

This is what Ortiz said in Fort Myers, Fla., last Feb. 16: “I know that if I test positive for using any kind of substance, I know that I’m going to disrespect my family, the game, the fans, and everybody, and I don’t want to be facing that situation. So what would I do? I won’t use it . . . you test everybody three, four times a year and that’s about it. You do what you got to do. Yeah, whatever they say. Ban them for a whole year.’’

It got headlines. Ortiz says one-year ban for players who test positive. It played well to the masses.

Again, I’m not really going to say anything bad about the Sox… On Facebook the last couple of days, I’ve seen lots of Yankees fans running their mouths. That’s just not my style. A healthy dose of schadenfreude feels good once in awhile, but lord knows we have our own pile of dirty laundry. Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones and Yankee Stadium is one unbelievably fragile glass mansion.

Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe really summed up my own ideas best is his article, Suffering From Roid Rage:

The timing and the numbers are particularly damning for Big Papi. He was ordinary before 2003. Then he cheated. Then he was great. Now there is testing and he is less than ordinary. You don’t need Jose Canseco to connect the dots.

As for Manny, what is left to say? When he got caught this year, Sox fans wanted to believe he started cheating after he left Boston. Now his entire career is flushed down the toilet. Along with Ortiz.

It’s horrible.

No more innocence.

No more fairy tales.

The 2004 Red Sox really were Idiots. Just like the Yankees and everybody else.

Our cheaters were better than their cheaters.

Yahoo.

The Red Sox have really been no different from the Yankees all these years. Welcome to the club, RSN, we’re all rooting for overpaid, overgrown children. They’re jerks and they shouldn’t be worshipped as heroes, but they’re our jerks.

People Watching

Kate Czlapinski — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:29:39 +0000

As I’ve mentioned before, Kevin and I have been trying to hit up the gym more frequently these days. The other night as we were getting in from the gym and I was doing all my post-gym stretching, Kevin said what I really thought was the strangest thing. He said he feels bad, because he always finds himself watching people at the gym and then stops when he realizes “oh crap, I wouldn’t want people staring at me while I’m working out.” My response, of course, was that “I’m always watching people at the gym and I don’t feel bad at all, because I assume that they’re watching me too at some point.”

That’s normal, right? I mean, I think I might be on the extreme side of things where I honestly can’t mind my own business and am watching people and eavesdropping all the time! And when I think about it, Kevin is most likely on the exact opposite end of the spectrum, as it seems to fit with a lot of his other personality traits that he just wouldn’t care about what other people were doing.

I honestly am just always watching people - I can’t help myself! Malls, ball games (it’s especially bad here, because I find it nearly impossible to pay attention to the game), work, the beach and, of course, the gym. How could I not?

So anyway, do you engage in people watching or am I really that bizarre?

Back From The Beach!

Kate Czlapinski — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:37:10 +0000

I’m baaaack! Well, I’ve actually been back since last night… but, seriously, who feels like writing anything after a day at the beach and then a long car ride home? I certainly don’t!

Great times were had in Rhode Island this weekend… Sunday was a perfect day for the beach and it was just really nice to get a chance to spend some time with Andrea, because I really don’t see her too much these days. Although maybe we’ll try to get together once more this Summer… maybe?

I would love to elaborate a little more about my trip, but I’m hoping that my dear friend Andrea posts her pictures to Facebook in a somewhat timely manner, so I can steal them and post them here along with my own. Andrea, if you’re reading this (and you better be! Tell your husband to stop playing World of Warcraft!), that’s a hint!

At the Beach, Beachez!

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:03:00 +0000

I know, that title is terrible… but it made me happy – and that’s what this blog is all about – my MASSIVE ego. When Facebook just isn’t enough for you, it’s time to start a blog.

Anyway, I am heading off to visit my BFF in the great state of RI – the tiniest of all the great states! And we will be going to the beach! It is now late July and I have not yet been to the beach (probably has something to do with Mother Nature and her menopausal state this season). What is the point of living in New England if you’re not going to hit up the beach once in awhile? One of the many not so great reasons people give for why living in CT is a good thing is proximity to beaches (along with the always present ” it’s only 2 hours from New York City AND Boston- oh my!”)

I will also be seeing her new house (which I have not yet seen and she’s been there for quite a while now – I am the worst BFF ever)! And we will also probably be going to dinner and consuming some alcoholic beverages – which I will probably blog and or tweet about at a later, yet to be determined, date.

Anyway, I have to run a few errands before heading off on my grand adventure. I just wanted to check in and remind everyone to have a safe and happy weekend! Later Beachez! (Yeah, I totally just violated you again with that)

Getting In Touch With My Rage

Kate Czlapinski — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:57:41 +0000

Overall, I’d have to say I’m a pretty mellow person. I just don’t tend to let things get to me the way that many people do. However, as I am getting older, I seem to be getting more and more in touch with my anger, which is probably a good thing, as when I was a kid, I would NEVER get angry and I would just let things eat away at me from the inside, and then I would inevitably just end up crying over stupid little things. These days, I do get angry, and fairly often at that!

I have found that I have what I think might be an abnormally low tolerance for incompetence and inefficiency, and sadly, I seem to encounter so much of it every day! I’m honestly not sure how some people have manged to remain alive as long as they have, without having someone around to remind them to keep breathing. How have they managed to remain alive without someone choking them in a fit of rage? I just don’t understand…

While I don’t go as far as to choke anyone (as much as I would sometimes like to), I do try to get the anger out instead of letting it fester. Normally, I find someone to vent to and I turn into George Constanza, my voice going up an octive and waiving my hands wildly as I speak.

Are you in touch with your rage? What really gets you going?

If you’ve lived under a rock your whole life and didn’t get the George Costanza reference, see below:

The Jerk Store Called, They’re Running Out of You!

Vacation

Kate Czlapinski — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:41:44 +0000

It seems that Mother Nature has finally gotten her act together and is sending us some Summer weather here in New England and it couldn’t come soon enough. All that rain and the chilly temperatures were really beginning to get me down!

Anyway, the other day I was thinking about the gorgeous weather and I realized, I didn’t have any vacations or even time off planned for the Summer. I took a look at my calendar at work and I saw a full week still free in August! A full week! I was originally just planning on maybe taking a long weekend sometime at the end of Summer when Kevin is finished with classes, but then I saw that beautiful empty week on the calendar and I just had to claim it for myself. I now have August 10th through August 14th off. I deserve it. I haven’t had a full week off from work since January of 2007 when Kevin and I went to Hawaii. That is just way too long.

Now I need to figure out what I’ll do with my time off. It looks like the Yankees are playing a day game that Wednesday, so that’s definitely on the list (it was on our list of things to do this Summer anyway). Maybe a long weekend… or two, even? Where shall we go? Oh, the possibilities are endless! I’ve been doing some research on Portland, ME. I’ve also been looking into Baltimore, MD, because we have some friends down there that we’ve been meaning to visit.

Oh, I know it’s still about a month and half away, but I just can’t wait! I’m so excited

Do you all have any suggestions for my week off? I’d love to hear them!

100th Consecutive Day of Blogging!

Kate Czlapinski — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:55:10 +0000

Well folks, this is it. I’ve really done it now; I have finally reached the end of the long dark tunnel. This is my 100th consecutive day of posting here. They perhaps have not all been the most quality posts, but damnit, they’ve been posts – and I’m proud of that.

There’s just no better feeling than attaining a goal. When I first started, I don’t think I really ever planned to blog EVERY SINGLE DAY, but eventually it just sort of happened and I definitely wanted to keep it up, but I wasn’t sure how long I could. It takes a lot of effort and I just don’t always have it in me. I mean, I work - sometimes I work A LOT, and I am tired at the end of the day. I also have family and friends who take up a good deal of my time, and let’s not even talk about the wine habit. :p

So anyway, what now? That’s a very good question. I guess now I take a break. Not a real break, but maybe I’ll take weekends off or something. Or maybe, instead of the random crap I sometimes inundate you with, I’ll actually take some time to provide you with something of a little more quality.

So what do you, all six of my regular readers (Hi Mom!), want to see more of or less of? Feel free to shoot me an e-mail if you have any suggestions. Too much about the cats? Not enough cats? (My kind of people) Too much food? I know non-local readers probably don’t dig all the restaurant reviews, but they’re here to stay. I like doing them, I feel like it’s just a really good writing exercise for me and… oh yeah, I’m the boss around here. I may or may not follow all or any of your suggestions, but I wouldn’t mind hearing them.

Anyway, now time to celebrate… where’s my party hat?

Mom’s New Blog

Kate Czlapinski — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:23:29 +0000

Have I mentioned before that I’m up for Daughter of The Year? Have I also mentioned that I’m a total glutton for punishment? No? I am.

So this should be fun… I’ve set up a little blog for my mom over at http://LindasNovelIdeas.com. We were talking about my blog and she was saying that she should get a blog and she could maybe write reviews of the books she’s reading and other stuff. And I said OMG! YOU TOTALLY SHOULD! I CAN HOOK YOU UP!!! And now she has a blog. I registered the domain and did the basic set up of it over the weekend and I’m going over my parents’ house tonight to show her the ropes and make any changes that she may want.

This should be interesting- she’s a noob (even though she does work in IT – not that that necessarily means ANYTHING) and I don’t think she really reads any blogs besides my own. It will be fun, though… more fun geek work for me and I always like teaching people stuff. Good times

Obviously she hasn’t written anything in it yet and I’m not sure when she’s going to or exactly what she plans on writing about (other than she thought she might talk a little about the books she’s reading – mom’s a big reader), but once she gets started you should check her out, because I’m sure she’ll have lots of good stuff to share. Mom’s a smart lady – she taught me everything I know

Yankees / Red Sox Rivalry

Kate Czlapinski — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:29:43 +0000

If you haven’t caught on by now from reading this blog, I’m a pretty big Yankees fan. I’ve been routing for them since I was a little kid and my parents would take me and my younger brother to at least one game almost every season. Living in Connecticut can make being a baseball fan quite interesting, because we’re geographically right in the middle of baseball’s greatest rivalry – the Yankees and the Red Sox. It’s kind of special… and can make the long baseball season fun and at times excruciating.

Let me explain for those of you who have not been following… The Yankees and Red Sox are in the middle of their third series of the season, and while the two teams should be fairly well matched ( they ARE tied for first in their division at the moment), the Yankees have yet to have beaten the Red Sox once this season. It’s a bit painful and, to be honest. a little bit embarrassing. We lost last night 0-7. I actually stopped watching in the 5th inning – I just couldn’t torture myself any longer.

I wasn’t looking to kill the Sox in this series – I just wanted one win. That’s all I’m asking for – one win and I’ll be happy. Red Sox fans have been a little smug the past 5 years and if they keep sweeping us every time we meet, it’s certainly not going to help matters. Tonight’s game 2 of the 3 game series… will this be the big night? C’mon boys, do it for your fans in Connecticut!

80 Days!!!

Kate Czlapinski — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:33:07 +0000

So I have a very busy evening ahead of me (cookie baking and dinner with my friend Jenn) and probably won’t have time to write a real post, but I did want to call it to everyone’s attention that this marks my 80th consecutive day of posting. Woohoo!

I don’t think anyone is more shocked than I am that I’ve made it this far. I won’t say they’ve all been the most quality posts (the random videos or funny pictures didn’t exactly take a ton of time or effort from me), but they’ve been posts nonetheless…. Can I make it 100 days? Who knows?

Who’s The Boss?

Kate Czlapinski — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 01:24:10 +0000

Who’s the boss in your family? This question was asked in 16 countries.

In 11 of 16 countries surveyed, Dad took the prize as head of the household. Only five countries picked Mom. Overall, the pro-Mom nations have less income disparity between men and women. Across borders, more men than women think Dad’s in charge, and more women than men think Mom is—which just goes to show that the biggest factor in who wears the pants may be whom you ask.

The results are actually pretty interesting and worth a read if you haven’t got anoything better to do with your time. And you’re here, so that answers that question

As I was looking through the results, though, it got me thinking… I don’t think we had a boss in my family, growing up. At least, I don’t remember there being a clear boss. I have fond memories of my parents playing the “go ask your mother/father” game that would involve me running back and forth across the house six times and being told to go ask the other “boss” for permission to go outside and play. The answer in the end was often that in the time spent playing that fun game, it had gotten far too dark to go outside an play. I think they were messing with me… or maybe they really were just that bad at making decisions – which could explain a lot about me.

In my little family with Kevin and the cats, one thing is very clear – Spaz is the boss. She’s not a very nice boss either. She is a BITCH! She’s always yelling at us for all sorts of very logical reasons… like our making it rain outside or the fact that we sometimes like to use the bathroom without her supervision or we came home late without calling her first and OH MY GOD WHERE HAVE WE BEEN??? HER DISH IS ALMOST HALF EMPTY!!! I think our midyear reviews are coming up – I’m worried.

Who’s the boss in your family?

Porch Drinking Season Has Arrived!

Kate Czlapinski — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:06:54 +0000

After I returned home from washing and waxing my car at my parents’ house yesterday, Kevin and I made a trip out to the liquor store to stock up on beer and then to Lowe’s to spend half a fortune on soil, flowers, peppers, tomatoes and herbs. We then spent some time digging around in dirt and planting everything out on our balcony. It was every bit as exciting as it sounds.

What really is exciting, though, is that we will now be able to entertain and be social outside now that everything has been cleaned up and the flowers and vegetables and the whatnot have all been planted. The balcony is one of my favorite parts of our current apartment. We have lots of space to plant things, a place to sit outside and read, a place to entertain guests, and the cats enjoy hanging out there with us as well:)

I took a few pictures this morning and have posted them below. More can be seen on my Recent Photos page (as soon as I upload them!). Take special note of the garden box on a cart that is now holding our two tomato plants… Kevin and his dad built that! Pretty neat, huh?

Also, because it is now officially porch drinking season, I wanted to direct your attention to a great article I came across on Apartment Therapy, detailing some guidelines for Porch Drinking Etiquette. If you have a porch, balcony or deck, and you like to hang out there in the Summer months and drink, then you should consider adhering to some or all of these rules.

A few of my personal favorites from the list include:

- Everybody’s welcome on the porch. There’s a time and a place for exclusivity: middle school. On the porch, your influence extends only as far as your generosity.

- Greet your neighbors as they come in and out of their front doors, which are, after all directly adjacent to your drinking area. Not to do so will create a weirdness force-field for all future interactions.

- Clean up after yourself, but don’t scrub too hard. A porch should never feel too clean to spill a beer on.

Apartment Therapy: Porch Drinking Etiquette

As Good As… Gently Used!

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 30 May 2009 20:14:06 +0000

Today I washed and waxed my car. This is an event, and quite blog-worthy, because this task hasn’t been performed in much longer than I really care to admit. Once upon a time, it used to get done much more frequently, but since I moved out of my parents’ house a couple of years ago and no longer have a driveway to work in it’s become kind of a chore. Stella (that’s my car) was a dirty girl!

Since it was such a gorgeous day and I didn’t have anything that I absolutely had to get done… and because my car was really becoming something of an eyesore, I decided that today was the day to do it! I got up bright and early, (as I often do) and well, then I did nothing for several hours… and then, then I drove off to my parents house and went to work!

When the weather’s as nice as it’s been today (76 degrees and sunny right now), it’s actually really a joy to just be outside and do anything – even if it is hard work. And this was hard work – and disguting – lots of dirt, bird poop, pollen, and dead bugs (YUCK!) , but now she’s beautiful!

After a couple of hours of hard work, my six year old car looks no older than five!