kate – Page 73 – Life in the Cheese Drawer

who's got two thumbs and is still rockin' an iphone 4s?

September 9, 2015 kate Comments 0 Comment

yep. this girl.
Attach0 apple had its big event this afternoon, announcing what amounts to a laptop you have to assemble yourself and a $99 stylus. of course they also announced the new iphone – the 6s. four years later, and i’ve still got a 4s in my hand.
i’ve replaced the screen twice and the gps is spotty at best, but it still works, holds a charge, works as a phone, and plays music. i haven’t updated the ios in about two years, and i still use the facebook app version that allows you to use facebook messages in-app.
sometimes i think it might be good to replace my 4s – it is four years old at this point and my contract with AT&T has been long up. i could even upgrade to a 5s and get the phone free. but…
this thing is basically indestructible. it fits in my pocket. as in, none of it pops out. (this is important when you’re a woman buying pants, whom designers have decided need no pocket space.) everything i use it for works more than sufficiently. and most importantly? diagonal single thumb usage is optimal on this size screen. i can hold my phone in one hand, pinkie holding the bottom, right corner nestled at the base of the thumb, and the top of my thumb will reach to the opposite top left of the screen. no, i don’t have small hands. i’m tall and relatively large boned. my fingers are about as long as nate’s.

also this key point: i keep thinking that by upgrading i’m going to have something completely new and shiny. i have to remind myself that no i won’t; i will have another iphone using the same apps for the same purposes. the only reason i should upgrade now versus after my 4s dies is to get a reliable gps. i really only use one app regularly with the gps – runkeeper. unfortunately, i have to pull out the 3Gs for my runs or map them on the website after my run. who knew how we lived before smartphones? pre-2007 was so antiquated.
on the other hand, i often consider going back to a dumb phone and living the real prehistoric life of printed out maps and waiting until i got to my laptop to check email *gasp*. at least i’m not going back to a landline. (although…) (no.)
but that day has not come. and until the day apple releases a new phone at the 3.5″ screen size (that day? squee!); my 4s finally craps out or doesn’t hold a charge; or apple sends a stealth explosion update, forcing all its luddite users to upgrade, i’ll keep my 4s in my insufficient women’s pants pocket and easily browse one-handed.

at the fair

September 7, 2015 kate Comments 0 Comment

the people were overwhelming the second day i was at the fair. a person comes to expect a lot of people at a state fair, but this far exceeded what i had thought. it was warm enough that my cherry on a spoon ice cream treat was dripping too fast for my mouth to keep up with it, and trying to get around the throngs and SUV strollers (why? WHY??) while maneuvering my ice cream at the same time was harrowing.
in the past, i had gone to the fair the second time with jane on a thursday evening. while the people were still there, it was manageable. this time was not. the food building alone was enough to drive a person batty. i could see the cheese curd place in the distance; it was mere steps away. but the people between us and the cheese curds were too much to handle. then the lines were winding, long, and sweaty. once you paid, though, the cheese curds were done pronto, and soon the fried, cheesey goodness made its way into my belly.
once we made our way out toward the outskirts of the fair, down by the eco and pet buildings, the crowd was more manageable. we stopped to watch a lumberjack show at the northwoods tent, and cheered and booed with the rest of the crowd.
on our way out, charlie picked up some martha’s cookies. there is always a line for the cookies, and while he was in line, i went to get my ice cream. jane stayed under a tree. we stood on the boulevard under the shade while charlie slowly made his way to the counter. cookies in hand, we hightailed it out of there.
i’m not saying don’t go to the fair. i’m saying don’t go on the weekend. next year, we’ll go on our regular thursday evening.

hot-cold-hot-cold

September 6, 2015 kate Comments 0 Comment

Olivier Schrauwen - http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/sunday-review/enduring-summers-deep-freeze.html — Olivier Schrauwen – http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/sunday-review/enduring-summers-deep-freeze.html

dear retailers:
why do you insist on keeping your thermostat set at 65º during the hottest days of summer? i am in my shorts and tank top because it’s a sweltering sauna outside, but once i enter the door of your fine establishment, i am blasted with arctic air that raises goosebumps on my arms and brings visions of january to mind.
i keep the temperature in my house anywhere from 74-78º on humid days like these, and i am comfortable sitting around in my summer clothes. i can only imagine that store thermostats are set at less than 70º for some obscene reason during weather like this.
not only does it make me extremely uncomfortable in stores, restaurants, coffeehouses, etc. and makes me want to leave as quickly as possible, but i’d imagine that the energy needed to maintain this less-than-ideal temperature has got to be insane. is it a status thing? (spoiler alert from the link: yes, it is a status thing.) do you want to get your customers out of your place as quickly as possible? is hot cocoa hard to move during 90º, 80%-humidity days and you are trying your best to get it off the shelves? i’m baffled.
i’ve gotten to the point that i’ve started bringing a sweater into stores with me. there i am, 90º outside, and i’m throwing a sweater over my tank top because your store is so freezing cold. if i’m standing in line with a sweater on and jumping in place to warm up, i think you should take that as a sign.
one thing is for sure: you make it such a relief to be outdoors in the heat that you’re doing mother nature a service by forcing customers to enjoy the heat and humidity. sure, my glasses fog up every time i step outside, but it’s a small price to pay for not freezing like a popsicle.
so, retailers, give your customers a break, and not of the crashing icicle variety. pop up that thermostat a couple degrees. you’ll help the environment, your bottom line, and my frozen bottom, all at the same time.

#pumpkinquota

September 2, 2015 kate Comments 0 Comment

september is such a temperamental month for me, emotionally. on the one hand, i really like summer, especially the beginning of it. on the other hand, i really like autumn. september starts off summery and ends a little autumny. but it’s so hard to say goodbye to summertime, especially when i know that the cold, harsh winter is just around the corner. (i don’t mind the snow; i don’t mind the ice. it’s the cold!)
this first week of september is just soupy and awful. high 80s all week and humidity through the roof. then next week it gets a little cooler. the weird thing is that i see all these advertisements for autumny things, like pumpkin coffees and foods and all things associated with fall, and the leaves are starting to change, but goodness gracious where has the summer gone. it takes so long to get through winter only to have summer whirlwind its way through the season. and i LOVE autumn. may and october are my favorite months. i am feeling just a teensy bit excited for fall, but when the warmth is what i’ve got, it just seems too soon. but like they say, you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone, right? (oh, joni mitchell…)
so, all this to say, it’s #pumpkinquota season. bring it on. i guess.

i want to give it justice

August 31, 2015 kate Comments 0 Comment

i’d like to spend some time to write about the state fair, but for now i just want to get some pics up. a writeup to follow (i hope).

it's that time of year again!

August 26, 2015 kate Comments 0 Comment

no, not christmas. there are at LEAST 4 months until THAT rolls around!
state fair time!!!
nate and i are going on friday when it’s supposed to be cold and rainy. i’m hoping it will deter the crowds and let us have run of the grounds. old standbys as far as food is concerned. i’m definitely stopping at the blue barn again – that was a great addition! i’d like to get a cannoli this year in addition to the normal stuff (especially that deep-fried milky way, mm mmm).
so, prepare yourself for pics come friday evening or saturday!

what is offensive about me?

August 25, 2015 kate Comments 2 comments

my best friend in junior high has defriended me on facebook.
twice.
to which i ask, what is so offensive about my facebook posts (and therefore, i guess, me)? am i too liberal? to libertarian? too weird? too many tattoos? too obsessed with grammar? i don’t have kids and therefore you can’t relate? my cats aren’t cute enough? you didn’t really like me that much in jr. high? i exercise too much? you don’t care about my running? my food is too good looking? i read too many literary books that make you feel inferior? i like too many hick things and make you feel far superior? i spend too much time with my siblings? i’m too much of a nerd? i live in too small of a town? i eat too many minidonuts? you’re jealous of my christmas tree? i’m not religious enough? i’m too crafty? i’m not crafty enough? i hate scrapbooking? (THAT’S GOT TO BE IT.)
in all seriousness, i haven’t talked to the girl in 22 years, so it’s not like it’s a big loss, but it’d be interesting to know why she defriended me and is still friends with all the other people we knew in jr. high (who also left the same time i did).
ah well.

FOODBLOG canning season

August 23, 2015 kate Comments 0 Comment

OMG WOW this weekend was a whirlwind of cooking. it’s harvest time, so i was canning up a storm, and at the same time i made a cheesecake for a birthday tomorrow at work, ice cream, and fancy ribs and potato salad for supper tonight.
BUT CANNING.
a couple weeks ago i put up a batch of pickles and a batch of tomato sauce. this weekend, i canned another batch of each as well as some pickled green beans and salsa. oh, and blanched some green beans for freezing. i was a canning fool all weekend. i’m glad it’s over. i enjoy doing it, but it’s a lot of work.

book review: "go set a watchman"

August 19, 2015 kate Comments 0 Comment

“go set a watchman” isn’t a page-turner in the traditional sense. i didn’t feel an overwhelming sense of emotion like i have with some of my favorite books. it isn’t a modern book, and it isn’t a book about the past written in a modern time. it’s a snapshot of time that makes you sit back when finished and say “huh.”
the writing is beautiful; it’s a meandering drawl of a book, like a well-educated southern gentleman taking his time wandering around his words, crafting his sentences so as to lull a person into trusting him, scattering in a selection words you don’t hear in everyday conversation, just to keep you on your toes.
**** below COULD be construed as spoilers, but a lot of it has been in the press anyway***
the haters can complain all they want. “to kill a mockingbird” set a precedent, although this book IS the precedent. because of TKAM, readers have held up atticus finch as an advocate for equal rights. the pedestal was wrongly signed; atticus is an advocate for justice. and here’s the problem with putting atticus finch on a pedestal: he is on the pedestal because scout has put him there, and we read “to kill a mockingbird” from her perspective. this book merely makes that a little bit clearer to the reader. if that makes us a little uncomfortable, then i think ms. montgomery has done her job. (and she did it well.)