Mexican Genius

While we were at the promotion, the guys we were working with told us that C.O.Jones opened up around the corner from us. Ok, let me just set the stage here: one of the best mexican restaurants in the state, great margarittas, great prices. We used to drive down to New Haven to go there with Craig and Angela and even drove down there after they had moved to Cali!

When you have a restaurant like this around the corner from you, you just don't waste ANY time and so we went after the show. We had the most amazing bean dip with toasted pitas and of course plenty of margarittas. I love margarittas!

For the rest of my time at this condo, I am going to eat there as much as possible. Did I mention that it is really just TWO BLOCKS AWAY! This presents the wonderful opportunity of walking there since the weather is getting to be perfect and of course walking home (which is, of course, the real benificial part) - 'another margaritta, please'

On a funny note, the town of West Hartford wouldn't let them call it COJones because of the male body part reference. So instead, there is a sign on the front that says 'Mexican Restaurant'. How retarded!?! But the owners are hoping that after the town sees that nothing crazy goes on there they'll get their name up there.

Comedic Genius

Ok, What an amazing show. I can not believe I got tickets to see Seinfeld. Not only that; I got to see him for free!! At one point someone from the crowd yelled something stupid and he was like "well, I was going to say something funnier. That's why you paid to come in here and I'm getting paid". This is great and it is probably part of his act he does a lot because another person yelled out "I heard that last year." and he rebutted "And you came back, huh? Must have been a good show. You know I saw you're face here last year too and you don't see me complaining. And I could.

I could care less if he repeated lots of his stuff. It is great the way it is so why change perfection? He had so many funny bits. Kevin and I tried to rehash as many as possible in the car ride home. I'm trying to think if I should tell you some, but there are just so many that I don't think I can even try. I guess I'll tell you my favorite bit: babies. he was talking about how their sole purpose in life is to replace us and he said (from the baby's perspective). "yeah, you laugh at my baby antics now, but we'll see who's wearin the diapers and the end of all this".

Chance Meetings

Tommorow, Kevin and I are going to do a Dunkin Donuts promotion at the Oakdale and guess who will be performing? Guess who we get to go see FOR FREE after the promotion?

JERRY SEINFELD

I think an Allieism is required here because that is just "the best ever". I'll make sure to write about it after.

And to top that off, Angela is coming from San Fran to Philidelphia from Sunday night till Wednsday morning and Amy, Allie and I are going there Monday night to Tuesday to spend some time with her. It will be an interesting road trip (although short in comparison to many of the road trips of my past) and I have never really explored Phili. Don't get me wrong, I don't I think you can explore a city in only one day but hopefully we get a feel for the flavor. It was so spur of the moment and that is one of the coolest parts.

The Last Drop...Not!

I have a list of things I want to do before the end of the year that I keep on the side of the refrigerator, which are usually pretty random and they take a little planning. I have had 'visit the statue of liberty' on there for about two years and we were thinking we would go (all the way to the top) in November 2001, but of course it closed on 9/11 and stayed closed ever since.

I also want to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and get some ice cream on the Brooklyn side because I saw a Travel Channel special on the ice cream shop and I am always up for great ice cream. The Travel Channel is great and usually it is Vegas 24 hours a day (Big Trouble for Kara).

The other day Kevin told me I wouldn't be able to go to the Hammer and Nail brewery, which is also on my list since I LOVE their brown ale and I think brewery tours are fun. He told me they closed. Now this bit of information was so upsetting and to see him cross it off the list not because we had gone but because we would never go was just the worst.

And then, I decided to see when they closed and if I could sneak in for some closeout sale. I'll stock up and keep all the beer in my closet. No room for clothes, got the beer here! And guess what, they are not closed, JUST MOVING! Yeah, this is such wonderful news. I don't know how long they plan on taking to move to their new location, but they are getting put back on the list. This time it will only get crossed off after I go.

Fishbowl Head

So I noticed recently that I have been needing my afternoon coffee every work day around 2:30 (the approximate time of this entry oddly enough) and it was starting to get to me. I have thus far been able to avoid all those habitual vices, although it would be nice if I could have gotten addicted to running or going to the gym. Why are those the hard addictions?

Anyway this week I put forth the challenge to not have any coffee during any week day for one week. It is only Tuesday and it feels as if this week has lasted an eternity. I can't be certain how many times I have thought it was Thursday, but the number is definitely in the double-digits.

This has not been an easy battle and the office heat has some issues and is at a cozy 80 degrees at the moment, which certainly does not help. It is hard to keep my head from trying to crash onto my desk for a little shut eye. I went for a walk yesterday and got some orange juice, but it just wasn't the same. On top of that I think I have already drank a full gallon of ice water today. Maybe I'll allow myself a little diet coke. Would that be cheating?

Switch-a-roo

Sorry Kurt, I exchanged the christmas gift you gave me. I just couldn't get in the habit of using the GPS and I have become so adapt at driving while holding a map at the steering wheel. I think I'll get more long term use out of the portable, compact mp3 player . Given that my birthday just recently passed, i was able to play it off as a birthday gift.

The GPS unit was pretty cool because if you have a pda with speaking capabilities it will speak directions to you. Mine doesn't have that feature, even though it is a super cool palm with lots of other fun features (I'm not bitter or anything..) You have to get in the habit of using it and plan ahead by downloading the proper maps and then actually look at it (this, oddly enough, was the hardest part for me) and I bought a car adapter to save my palm's batteries but I think it was only saving the batteries of the gps unit and was still sucking the battery life out of my pda like crazy.

Paint-a-thon

Kevin and I logged in over 7 hours each in a mad dash to paint our apartment a more neutral (less exciting) color for our landlord. (Thanks for your help Allie and Steph).

Actually, it is wierd because the place looks so similar to when we moved in since there is nothing on the walls, the old blinds are back up and the color is closer to the original. It is a little better of a color, though, I think the original one really drained the life out of the room. It is funny to think we have almost come full circle - moved in, spent endless hours decorating the place and getting it "just right" (does that ever happen?) and then taking it all down to only move out. It's an odd thing moving out and all. That last look of the place is always something interesting. But it'll be a short while before I get my last look here.

Survive and Advance

Uconn men won 58:53. Let the madness begin!

Fix a Flat

I don't know why I always look at tires, but I usually notice when they are going flat. I notice on rental cars, friends cars, random cars... (you get the picture). Anyway, I saw that my rear tire had lost quite a bit of air about two weeks ago and went to fill it up. Since then, I have been to the gas station numerous times to fill up including Wednsday morning and afternoon. Yesterday it was so flat that my hubcap was sitting on the ground. Time to do something.

I guess I was procrastinating because I thought I would have to replace the entire tire and I didn't want to spend the money. I figured I could keep up with a slow leak, only it just kept getting faster. Luckily Kevin clued me in to the fact that I could just plug it. So I ended up sitting at Pep Boys for an hour waiting in line to get my tire plugged, which only took 15 minutes.

It is funny, too, because they wrote on the sales slip "missing hubcap". Thanks for the enlightenment, but why didn't they also write "needs new bumper", and equally obvious observation.

Silent in the Morning

Talk about a sureal walk from my parking lot to work this morning. The weather is immaculate, a perfect spring morning. There were about 30 protestors standing quietly along the intersection with an abundance of signs and I was thinking about the raised orange terror alert and our unanimated President's speech yesterday. Then this guy walked by me with a box of girl scout cookies...

Take a Hike

It was a beautiful weekend here with temps reaching into the upper 50's today. I went for a little cross-country skiing adventure yesterday, skiing a total of 30 kilometers, or 18 miles. My mom clued me in on an easy way to switch over kilometers to miles, so I thought I'd share:

30 kilometers * 6 = 18.0 miles

This morning I did a little hike over in East Hampton, which advertises good views and a couple of waterfalls. I missed the view and the waterfalls. I intentionally missed the view because there was a pack of people over there and I was enjoying the serenity of being alone. I can't explain why I missed the waterfalls; I think I didn't reach the end. The hike was moderately strenuous because of all the slippery snow. I didn't want to wear my hiking boots, either, so when I was done, my sneakers and socks were absolutely soaking. It was great to get outside, though, and for most of the hike I just had a t-shirt on top.

Want Fries With That?

Allie and I went out to eat at Bamboleo, in Glastonbury. I ate a light diner beforehand and we were just going to get a couple of drinks and some appetizers. When I opened up the menu, I felt like a little kid. On several occasions when I little and my parents would take me to a nice restaurant, I would insist on going to McDonalds first. I'd walk into the restaurant with my happy meal and be quite content.

These days, I have a fear of trying new and odd foods at restaurants because if I don't like it I just wasted money. Also, I wasn't in the mood for meat, so that severly limited my options. I ended up getting a salad, a raw lobster delacey and tried some of Allie's raw tuna platter. They were all actually quite tastey but I wouldn't race to eat there again. The portions were so small.

Anyhow, I can't go get McDonalds anymore, I gave up fast food as a new years resolution in 2000. (Subway doesn't count)

Google on Up

I heard a funny commentary a while ago on NPR. It was about this guy who just started dating a girl, he 'googled' her and ended up finding out she used to live in Chicago. During a conversation she said she didn't like the cold and he reported "how did you live in Chicago?" (a piece of info she had not told him herself). The cat was out of the bag, but as it turns out she had googled him too.

Then yesterday I read an article about it at CNN.com and I decided to google me. It is odd to think that some of this stuff will be in cyberspace indefinatley. Everyone will know I am not a quick runner and my fasted documented 5K time is 36:43, I came in 100th, which is actually in the top 43 percentile. I am not ashamed.

Other than that, it is mostly academic - a couple of awards and a silly second place in this college stockpicking game that didn't end up as interesting as I had hoped for. There is one displaying a french address for the Christine Ratte Fauvel. That one's not me, but it is kind of fun that it showed up. My website came up. Last time I did this, no website, so it is good to see those googlebots are working overtime. All in all, I had 9 results.

Style Me!

One time I got a haircut and it was so short that I was devastated. I wore a baseball cap to school for an entire week and wouldn't even show anyone. Haircuts were always tramatic for me because my hair was so unhealthy all the stylists wanted to cut cut cut and I wanted long long long. I guess it was a circular problem: they cut too much - I waited too long.

Well the lady I go to now is getting the boot. She didn't cut it too short but she definatly didn't cut it even along the front, even after I pointed it out and she touched it up! I came home and did a little trimming myself. I have also been less than pleased with the styling products she suggests and you would think she would know better since she has the same curly, crazy hair! I think she is actually just product happy and uses 10 different things to have good hair. Please, I want only one product and I need it to make my hair perfect without effort. Not low maintenance, no maintenance.

Alright Allie, I know what you are going to say - "John Paul! I must go back to John Paul." And you are right, my next appointment is with him. If only he can highlight my hair as good as the lady I just nixed (that was her saving grace).

Strech Your Mind and Body

I took an Intro to Yoga class in college. It was a lot of breathing, actually it was like those lamaze class they have on sitcoms when someone is pregnant. I actually got up in the middle and left because the teacher and I just couldn't connect. So when Evelyn asked me to go with her for a trial class in West Hartford a couple of years ago, I was interested, but hesitant. In that one class, I fell in love with Barbara and her style of teaching.

I have been out of the practice for awhile now, but Evelyn treated me to a couple classes for my birthday (idn't cee sweet?) and I went tonight to Barabara's new place. It was awesome. The juxtaposition of being tired from working out and alive with energy from within captivates me.

Thanks Evey!

Mercury's Rising

Josephine and I treated ourselves to a mid-afternoon walk around town and a little frozen yogurt too because it is a bbbeeauuutifffuuulll cool spring day. Last I checked the temp was 48 degrees. Bring it on!

Memory Keepsakes

Kevin and I got a 'how to' scrapbooking class yesterday. It was part of a christmas gift from his mom probably because we have tons of pictures left over from all sorts of adventures and haven't done anything with them. We did our own scrapbook when we went to Europe, (or I should say are still doing our Europe scrapbook). The most interesting thing we learned was about using photo safe products. I hope the pictures in our Europe book don't turn yellow or decay or anything.

On another note, the lady huskies ended their 70 game winning streak when they were beaten by Villanova for the big east championship. I only caught the last 34 seconds, which were really intense. I haven't followed them too much but I think my dad was there. Hopefully this will jostle them and they will be on point to sweep the NCAA. It is great to see more competitive teams and some challenge, though.

No Knife - Use Teeth

I got into work today and my package had come from Moosejaw (weird company name, I know but they definitely beat the competition in price by a long shot). Inside was my brand new Denali Jacket from The North Face. It fits perfectly and has zippered air vents to keep me cool. I got it in black/black. I didn't want to spend an additional $35 to get it in any other color. Actually there weren't many other colors left in my size since winter is on the way out (or supposed to be anyway).

I am not quite sure why the warning sticker on the outside of the package makes me chuckle but I guess they have to do it, right? If I busted through the packaging with a knife and cut through the jacket that would be a tragedy and I might try to get another free of charge. I opted to save my teeth and just ripped with my hands.

Do you see what I see?

I got new glasses yesterday at Lenscrafters. They look different than my old ones and it'll take a little getting used to, but I wanted something different. My old glasses were pretty beat up, though and I needed something.

I remember when I got my first pair of glasses. I think I was in the fifth grade and we got some cheezy pair (aka cheap) from the coast guard acadamy eye shop. I could not believe that everyone with good vision could see all that I could now with my glasses. My vision was pretty bad from the start, something like 20:100. For people with 20:20, that means what you can see at 100 feet I couldn't see till it was 20 feet away. That's a huge difference in my eyes (I couldn't resist).

I spend so long putting the glasses on and taking them off, in total disbelief that the world around me looked so crisp. The trees were the biggest thing for me. I could see individual branches from the car. The most unbelievable part was that someone actually came up with a way to test people's eyesight and create individualized glasses.

Here's a picture of my Modo glasses.

Waterbed

March 4th, the only date that is also a command

A couple months ago, water started leaking down into our bathroom. There was a new guy living above us and we imagined that he was going a little heywire with the shower and there had to be a huge puddle on the floor. I went up there and was surprised when it was dry as could be. Luckily the people who purchased the unit opened up the bathroom ceiling and fixed the pipe that was old and rotting.

Last night, when I was getting ready for bed I looked right above my bed and there was the beginning of the same, a water damage stain. Ok, this is not only right above my bed, but right above my head. I know where this is going. All I can imagine is trying to sleep and suddenly the ceiling opens up and whoosh now I have a waterbed.

The building is over 35 years old and it is not unreasonable that some of the piping needs to be replaced but can we avoid my bed... please?

I scream for ice cream!

We celebrated Kevin and mine's birthdays this weekend with my family. That means fun with the fam, games, good food, gifts and ice cream cake. What would a birthday be without ice cream cake? I remember when I was a kid we would get the large Carvel cake and there wouldn't be any left. It was my mom, dad and three kids - so that means cake at lease five times a year. Yum!

The best part - the sugary gel they write stuff with, which I always save for last. I like to make them write really long things like "happy retirement and birthday" (we did this one in December for my dad). I'd have them just cover it like a sheet, but that might be a little overboard. Kevin likes the crunchies.

When I worked at IBM, we used to have ice cream cake all the time - birthdays, promotions, goodbyes, snow days, remodeling, good press, etc. I was the first one there and even a couple of times got two pieces. (Christa, go ahead call me a moocher.) That was the best part of the job. I was there for five months and we must have had cake 12 times. That's a lot of cake!

"Get well, get well soon, we hope you to get well" Seinfeld episode with cake for every occasion.

Brrrrr...

The predicted temperature for tonight is 1 degree! Ouch