Work Force

Joining the workforce has been an awesome adventure. I'm loving it - even when I'm clock watching I still grin because, well, this place is great. Wherever my career (or, gulp, the economy) takes me, I know I'm very lucky to have the position I currently hold. It's amazing to learn and grow here - a non-profit, I feel, lends itself to a fairly progressive environment. Especially in Boston.

But for women starting out, or maybe decades deep in their career - for women who haven't had the support and encouragement of their employer and company, maybe luck and chance won't have to be their only means of a happy, fulfilling career.

Here's to the Lilly Ledbetter Act - a long time in coming.

kilt, kareer, kar

I bet you didn't know this past weekend was the 250th birthday of Scottish poet Robert Burns. Man is that guy old!

MacBoyfriend and I celebrated by attending a Burns Supper event in romantic Leominster (honeymoon capital of western Mass!). We supped on haggis, tatties, and neeps while watching fat old men (though definitely not as old as Burns, and probably fatter) dance in short skirts. The bagpipe bands were beautiful, and made me want to pick up the harp again. Alas, my Craigslist searches are fruitless.

Additionally, MacBoyfriend started a new job Monday! Welcome to Part Two of Kate's Working Life: Two Incomes! With the economy in the tubes, I feel like we're getting away with something here. I can afford to open up a 403b now, and vacation plans seem a teensy bit more in reach. However, a painful budgeting session (re: MacBoyfriend manipulates calculator while Kate plays this) has shown I should probably cut down on buying lunch during work days. Boo.

This weekend my mom may fly out so we can drive the ol' Pacifica (that's Pacificar to the dude at my local Firestone) back to Buffalo. I'll try living life sans-car for a while and see how that goes.

Office Alert: We have rats in our office building. There have been at least four sightings in our kitchen. And I've heard them in the ceiling. Isn't working life GRAND?

Fourty Four

I watched the inauguration with my office over lunch.

We cooed over the girls (Sasha's cool digital camera!), debated Michelle's dress (I loved it), and giggled at Aretha Franklin's hat (hellz yeah). And we all gave a hearty goodbye to George W. Bush as he boarded his helicopter. I hope he enjoys his retirement as much as I will.

As Obama delivered his address, the room quieted in reverence. His speech was weighty and powerful - and I was especially struck by his inclusion of "non-believers" grouped in with Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Hindus.

Unless we're talking anthropology, or engaging in friendly informed conference, I'm wary of the value of invoking belief systems (this spoken by someone who decries their lapsed Catholicism at ever turn). But God in government? I wish we could separate the two - and I know we can't right now. This is a major turn for the way a leader of our nation derives political strength. It's truly inclusive, and another indication of what we can hope for in the next four years.

Now, if we can just get Neo-Druidism the recognition it deserves.

The First Family Puts Family First

To say I'm excited doesn't quite cover it. Tuesday will be an amazing celebration.

A Couple of Kids in Love

diamond cutters

Newsflash: It's officially cold here in Boston.
Tonight, a low of 1 degree F. Perhaps I got that punctuation wrong: A low of 1 degree?! Eff!!!

The coldest I have ever felt was while camping in Canada, in some forest outside of Vancouver - the name of which I have blocked out. The occasion was fun - a trip out west in mid-March to see Mr. Boyfriend's sister at Western Washington U. in Bellingham, WA. The camping outing...not so much.

We were told to pack light for our cross-country jaunt, so we did. We were thus unprepared for the freezing temperatures we faced overnight in that unnamed forest, let's call it Wannafreezyournutsoff Woods. Boyfriend and I shared two sleeping bags zipped together on the frozen ground. The air was so cold that when a sliver of skin would become exposed at, say, my neck or earlobe, I would have to pep talk myself into reaching my hand out of my huddled cocoon to cover up.

At the first sign of dawn's light we scrambled out of the tent, rammed our feet into our shoes, and jumped into the rental car to blast the heat on high. We then drove back to civilization to find the one thing that would make us feel human again - Tim Horton's. I have never been so happy to see that bastion of crullers and coffee shining in the morning light.

If my memory serves me right, we drove back down through Vancouver and spent the day wandering the city. It was gorgeous, with the hint of something sinister behind the shine of the hustle and bustle. I found it both clean and gritty; we walked and drove down streets that could welcome you in and shrug you off within the same block. Then again, it might have been that every time the sun went behind the clouds or the breeze shifted slightly, I'd shiver and start with a shock at the remembrance of the night before.

Forget New York. It's time to move to Hawaii.

What I wouldn't give for a conviviality waiver

Gala season is almost upon us...
Looking Forward to Your Check

why I need to move to NYC in my lifetime

Improv Everywhere is performance art in the blogging age: technology plus a bit of urban creativity equals excellent YouTube viewing.

http://improveverywhere.com/

Ironic that I'm jonesing for New York when Mr. Boyfriend was supposed to be there today. (If he'd made it, I'd be jonesing for him right now. Awwww...)

Maybe we can both make a trip over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Yes, yes, I see farther down the page there's a Boston Society of Spontaneity too and I could find something here...but there's something distinctly non-spontaneous about a city that shuts down at 2am each Saturday.

Though I'm also considering a trip home again - I'd love to get my mom's drawings and paintings archived and set up a laptop with her so she can do some scanning and editing of her work, and get it online. Oh! Jetblue sales - what a coincidence...

Eight was great but Nine is fine...

Alas, tomorrow is back to reality.
Last week was a snowy three and a half days and rather...festive. And I've managed to log a ridiculous amount of indiscriminate TV watching, with movies including: Hackers (forgive me. I was hungover), Don't Mess With the Zohan (spotty - saved only by a buttocks driven hacky sack move), Mrs. Brown (Billy Connolly!), Austin Powers II (stupid Heather Graham), The Da Vinci Code (every lapsed Catholic's fave), and - for a double dose of Mr. Hanks, You've Got Mail. Not to mention any number of MythBusters, Ace of Cakes, and (appropriately) Biggest Loser clips.

Aside from this impressive array of mind numbing TV consumption - I feel 08 was a productive year. I did get that Bachelor's degree and all, and write that thesis thing. I reached my first palindrome age in 11 years. I celebrated my third annivesary with the Boyfriend...and we moved in together. We entered the Real World without applying to MTV and moved across the Charles, and learned what it is to maintain a functioning fireplace. We now curse young'uns who make us wait in line at Bagel Rising as "Those damn BU kids." On the cultural front I surprised myself with a job choice contrary to my literary leanings...and am really happy about it. I polished my accordion skills, pretended to read Anna Karenina, and got the makings of a book club in the works.

For 09 I'm going to make an effort to get a regular volunteering gig going - I had an idea to interview potential adopting families for animal shelters, and I need to get moving on that.

And I would also like to say that Mr. Boyfriend is an amazing cook - he even follows recipes and makes new things for us to try. Even though I do love a good box of Annie's - kitchen sink style.