February 25, 2008 at 11:08 am
- Something…. happened to us this past week. I don’t know how it happened or what brought it on, but some switch in our brains flipped. Let’s just say that there are lists, file folders, Moleskines, and a whole lot of streamlining going on. With our lives getting increasingly more complicated and busy, and with things starting to pile up and fall through the cracks at home, it was time to finally get organized. And boy does it feel good.
- In order to make room for a filing cabinet in our desk area, I had to make some adjustments to our computer setup. With space at a premium, it was time to finally deal with some cord and cable management issues that have been bugging me. With the help of some Industrial Strength Velcro, it’s all under control. All cables are velcroed to the back wall and underside of the desk, including my router, power bricks, and powerstrips. Seriously, I think I could hang from the ceiling with this stuff.
- We’ve discovered what it’s like to live with a mobile child. The Lovely Tess started scooting all over the place on her butt, so emergency babyproofing is under way. This little girl is trouble. Poor George is worried already.
- We’ve finally had the conversation with our upstairs neighbors about buying a snowblower for next winter, and it’s a go. Thank God. We’re too old for shoveling. I can’t frgging wait. We got hit with another winter storm last week, which is hopefully the last one of the year. It’s Mother Nature saying “Hey, just so you know who’s still in charge, don’t think that the 60 degree day last week means that winter is over.” It happens every year.
- As you can tell from my Last.fm, I’ve been listening to Vampire Weekend a lot lately. I can’t remember the last time I listened to an album this much, but with all of the hype they’ve been getting of late, it’s hard to avoid them. It’s become the official soundtrack of dancing around the house with the Lovely Tess.
- We now have a giant bread paddle hanging in our kitchen. I just hope that it doesn’t fall down and kill some one.
- Is it just me or does Spring Training start earlier and earlier every year? I never remember it starting just a couple of weeks after the Super Bowl. Not that I’m complaining.
Tags: 2008, topten
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February 19, 2008 at 11:00 am
- Well, we no longer have an exploding furnace in our basement, which is nice. The large chunk of change we had to shell out to make that happen isn’t so nice. Plumbers make some good cash, huh?
- In the process of leaving our side door open for the plumber last week, I discovered the weatherstripping on the door was pretty much completely worthless. The note that I taped to the inside of the door was literally blowing in the breeze from the drafts that were coming in. Not good. I fixed that with some new weatherstripping and a new storm door bottom so now we should be sealed tight. Oh, and nothing is more frustrating then getting the stripping installed all nice and snug to the door and then after a half hour of work screwing it in realize that the door no longer closes. Twice. The first time the door wouldn’t close all the way. The second time the deadbolt wouldn’t close. I’m obviously an idiot.
- Our old 27 inch tv has a new home somewhere in Brooklyn. The struggle to get it out of the house was nothing compared to what it would have been trying to get it down into the basement to sit and rot for years. I hope it enjoys its new home.
- Speaking of our rotting basement, we spent yesterday morning cleaning it up. The only word I can use to descibe it was “shameful”. The amount of baby crap and boxes that had accumulated had gotten out of control, and the place needed a serious vacuuming. I filled an entire vacuum bag with the amount of dirt and dust and cobwebs that were there. It was long overdue and we managed to get rid of/recycle/donate lots of stuff.
- Here’s a little known fact about me: I have never drank a cup of coffee in my entire life. Until yesterday. I don’t know where the aversion of coffee came from, but it’s just something that I never started drinking. Maybe it was because I didn’t want the caffeine (despite the availability of decaf) or maybe I didn’t want to become one of those people who couldn’t get going in the morning with a cup. Or maybe I didn’t want to be one of those people who would hold up a dinner table while I drank my coffee (nothing was more excruciating growing up than having to wait at a restaurant for my parents to finish their coffee after dinner). It’s not that I didn’t like the smell or flavor it it, both of which I really like (I’ve had sips of it and like coffee flavored things). I just never started and I figured, hey, why start now? Well, that all changed after recently seeing some one on tv use a Bialetti Moka Express. Something about it just struck a chord with me. I loved the design and the simplicity of it and the coffee that came out of it looked really rich and good. I wanted one. I didn’t know if I would actually enjoy the coffee, but I liked the idea of it. We finally picked one up yesterday along with some Illy coffee and brewed up our first pot. It was tasty. I don’t see myself drinking it every day, but as a social thing or as a treat I’m up for it.
- The best baby toys ever: a wooden spoon and Tupperware.
- We deep fried things twice this weekend. Once we we made burgers and fries on Saturday night and then again on Sunday when we made falafel. But as the Lovely Suse says “I don’t really consider falafel deep fried.” Sure, that works. It’s nice to know that our falafel mix freezes well also.
- Another new show from the fine folks at BBC America: Last Restaurant Standing. Those Brits just do such a fantastic job with food reality shows. I’ll expect Fox to do a terrible version of it sometime in the near future.
Tags: 2008, topten
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February 11, 2008 at 12:07 pm
- Well, we finally pulled the trigger on got us a big ol’ HD TV. After searching high and low for the 32 inch model that I wanted, I got the idea to measure our cabinet one more time. Turns out that we could actually just barely fit in a 37 inch one instead. Score! We picked up a Tivo HD to go along with it, and after getting the hookup from Verizon, we were in business. Simply put, we were stunned. The picture quality is just amazing. So much so that we’ll just sit there and watch anything as long as it’s in HD. Even commercials. The level of detail is incredible (with the Food Network being the most impressive). TV just got a whole lot better. Does anyone want a 27 inch Sony TV? Seriously, it still works great, but we just don’t have any place to put it. All you need to do is come over and pick it up.
- As we speak, our old, exploding furnace is being yanked from our basement. For some reason, our kitchen had its own furnace, which is just stupid. It will be added on as a second zone to our other furnace, and hopefully, our house will no longer suffer from earth-shaking explosions at 5AM.
- Esquire has a fantastic article called The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches which highlights the greatest sandwiches in the land. It’s really a great read and has some tasty photos and recipes. My favorite is the White Trash Monte Cristo which consists of a PB&J dipped in pancake batter and then deep fried. Holy crap.
- Over the course of last week, the Lovely Tess got two teeth, started almost standing up on her own, is scooting around the house on her butt, is wearing pretty barrette’s in her increasingly growing hair, and got upgrades to her carseat and stroller. They’re not kidding when they say that kids grow up fast. By the end of next week, I expect her to be asking for her own cell phone and going on dates.
- We have categorized Tess’s poops into different levels. The worst is a level 5 poop which requires a full bath to recover from. We had multiple level 5’s to deal with last week. Not fun.
- I’ve been wresting with my dryer vent for the past two days. So far, the dryer vent is winning.
- Yesterday was the strangest weather I’ve ever seen. At various times during the day it was perfectly sunny, cloudy, wind-whipped rain, sleet, snow, thunder, and finally bone-chilling cold and howling winds. Weather is stupid.
- The Chocolate-covered hazelnuts from Tom and Sally’s Handmade Chocolates are perhaps the most addictive candy I’ve ever had.
Tags: 2008, topten
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February 4, 2008 at 10:53 am
- Needless to say, I’m not a happy camper this morning. The thought of the Pats losing was never really ever considered, so I was a little speechless after the game. The entire New England population is a little depressed today. Tess is obviously especially sad.
- On the bright side, Tess got two teeth last week. We were beginning to think that we’d need to get her little baby dentures. I was thinking about getting her a nice platinum grill.
- I’d like to thank the fine folks over at TurboTax. It was an especially simple tax year for us, so within about 20 minutes of receiving my W2 in the mail, our taxes were done and filed, and we’ll get our refund next week.
- I bought an entire box of Odwalla Superfood bars last week. They’re sort of scary looking because they’re bright green, but they’re tasty and good for you. I’m also guessing that I’m going to get sick of them after two days, so i might have these around for a little while. Maybe I shouldn’t have bought a whole box of them, huh?
- Pretty much everyone we know is pregnant right now. I think five friends of ours have babys on the way and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of a couple more by the end of the year. Apparently, it’s the cool thing to do right now. Just look at all the Hollywood types who are having kids.
- We’re hoping to use some of our tax refund to buy a new TV for the living room. My 10 year old Sony 27″ CRT is still working ok, but it’s quickly becoming apparent that the picture quality is crap. Of course that would require buying a new Tivo as well. Of course that all now hangs on whether or not we have to buy a new furnace since there are apparently explosions happening in our old one. Ugh.
- We had our first nice dinner out in a while with a visit to Ten Tables. The name says it all, as the place is tiny. We sat at the “Chef’s Table”, which was essentially a bar right in front of the tiny kitchen, and it was pretty fantastic watching them cook for everyone. The two guys cooking were both amazingly quiet and efficient and calm, churning out one plate after the next. You quickly realize how much of prefessional cooking is in the prep work, as the actual work done during service is basically heating things that has been prepped earlier along with cooking proteins and assembling plates. The food was great, the service perfect, and it was just our sort of tiny neighborhood place.
- Barbara’s Bakery Chocolate Chip Snackimals are pretty fantastic. They might be for kids, but I’ll be eating them until Tess is old enough to eat cookies.
Tags: 2008, topten
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