Another reason to love that man...
So, we were watching the special features on disc 2 of the Rent DVD and a little more than half-way through the documentary, which is so wonderful - all the special features are very well done... And David turned to me and said that he really wanted to see the movie again, since it had been a long time (the last time we saw it was in a theater the Sunday after it came out - it was taken out of theaters way too fast for my tastes) and he hadn't seen it a ton of times like I had. I just laughed and told him I can't WAIT to see it again and it can EASILY be arranged for him to watch it any time he'd like to watch it.

I had to record this moment not only because it was so sweet, but also so that a month from now when David's saying "Rent AGAIN?!?!?!?" (sort of how Tom runs from Eurotrip now) I can point to this and say, "Remember when you really wanted to see it again?" Of course, he'll then point out that he meant once or twice, not 5 or more times a week, but hey, at least we know he's interested in my favorite musical after seeing it 4 times with me already. :-)

I'll say it again - if you haven't seen the movie Rent yet, go rent it! ;-)

Labels: life, movies, shows

Posted by Kat @ 10:39 PM | 2 meows

Rent DVD!!!


I'm sure most of you who know me are surprised that I didn't write about the Rent DVD release on Tuesday (or even on Monday), but with the Olympics, the lack of enough Tivo space (since we didn't upgrade this Tivo - why bother when the HDTV DVR Direct TV system we want should be released fairly soon?), two shows (Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays on Wednesday and Aerosmith & Lenny Kravitz concert on Frida), I actually didn't have time to watch anything on the Rent DVD set (see Amazon.com's Rent DVD page for more details) till this weekend. Yes, I'm okay. I don't need to be rushed to the hospital or anything, but now that things are calming down some I am SOOO happy to finally have Rent on DVD! The commentary was great, even though it was only Chris Columbus, Adam Pascal, and Anthony Rapp. If you had to pick only two stars to be in the commentary, those playing Roger and Mark were the ones to pick. Chris explained that the one line with the bum on the street ("Who the f* do you...") was changed due to the MPAA and that one seemed to bother him the most. Amazing that they can get away with so much, but they couldn't say the f word a few times and keep the PG-13 rating. Since Chris, and many others, felt it was important that teenagers be able to see this movie, he cut it.

Chris tried to explain why he took out April's suicide, though I still don't think that was necessary or understand the decision. Not that it made a huge impact on the film one way or another, but I guess that's the thing... lol

I can't wait to watch all the other extras. I'll finally get to see the Goodbye Love and Halloween scenes that were cut! Halloween is one of my favorite songs, so I'm glad that they shot it and included it on the DVD.

The Aerosmith & Lenny Kravitz concert was great. I was surprised to see that Steven Tyler had cut his hair. It's still not short, but it's shoulder length now. Initially, it was a bit of a shock, but once that wore off, I realized that I like his hair even more now! The highlights are perfect and the length works very well for him!

I'm still on Saturday's Olympics and with a show tonight, I don't see getting caught up till tomorrow or Tuesday, but hey, they last longer for me, right?

Tom will be very happy to find out that David set up our PS2 today. We even played a couple games with our new Logitech wireless controllers. Tom, you totally need these! We asked the guy in the one shop we visited which ones he'd recommend and he said "The ones I have" and handed me one of the Logitech controllers. As soon as I saw the Logitech name on it, I smiled and thought that clearly there was no arguing with that. I've been happy with every Logitech product I've owned. I didn't realize they made wireless game controllers, but it totally makes sense.

I also got Kingdom Hearts because of Holz's recommendation. Heck, for someone as into Disney as I'd been, it made a lot of sense. Plus, the new game is coming out soon, so if I like it, when I finish this one I can get Kingdom Hearts II. :-) Still not sure if I'll get the Peach or Mario game when it comes out for the NDS, but Tom should be happy that he's managed to get me interested in games again, which hasn't happened since my sister had her Gameboy years ago (and even then I just played the games she had, pretty much). I like the Frogger game for the NDS and I'm still having fun with Nintendogs. :-)

Well, time to get ready to leave for Bombay Dreams tonight at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Labels: concert, games, movies, Olympics, shows

Posted by Kat @ 5:12 PM | 0 meows

So sleepy...
700 Sundays, which we saw in LA last night was great. But very very LONG - especially when you were already tired and didn't have time to eat dinner before the show. I don't think I had ever seen a non-musical show that was 3 hours long. Heck, even most musicals are shorter than 700 Sundays. I wish I had known to expect that.

Surprisingly, we ran into relatives of David's (Karl & Nadine) at the show. This just teaches me even more that David knows people everywhere. He's like the east coast version of James. :-)

Very behind in the Olympics now, though probably still ahead of James. When we talked a couple nights ago he still hadn't seen the end of Friday's competitions. Oh well, tonight I'll watch Tuesday night's stuff and get through some of yesterday and the Olympics will just last longer for me. I knew this time would come and acutally expected it a little earlier. The upstairs Tivo dying and ice dancing helped me to catch up.

So very sleepy....

Labels: life, Olympics, shows

Posted by Kat @ 9:13 AM | 0 meows

Dude (& Dudette) Weekend 2006
David and I spent this past weekend in Las Vegas, as we normally do for President's Day weekend (except for last year when we'd just moved and had the wedding planning and house stuff keeping us busy). However, this weekend wasn't the normal weekend in Las Vegas for us.

First, it wasn't Valentine's Day weekend as it was the last few times we went to Las Vegas on President's Day weekend.

More importantly, this year our friend Tom (and his wife Meli) organized Dude Weekend 2006. I went to hang out with Melissa, since I really miss her and I figured she'd be alone on the weekend otherwise. As it turns out, Kate was there, too, so it was three women and 6 guys. Mostly Penn Stater's.

It was really cool to meet some of Tom's friends we hadn't met yet (especially Ken, who's also very into hockey, even though it's the Rangers, and who shares my love of the Yankees) and spend some more time with their friends we had already met. It was also cool to hang out with Meli's friend Tricia for the little bit she was there (she was at a bike race most of the weekend supporting a friend).

The weekend was so much fun! We played some poker (Texas Hold-em, which seems to be one of the only things out there lately - I feel so much more with the in crowd in that one now, I'd watched it, but never played Texas Hold-em before). We bowled (which most of us hadn't done in years). I won one of the three rounds we bowled and was never the worst, so I saw that as an amazing feat in a group that was 4 guys, Meli, and me. :-) Poor Melissa was clearly having wrist issues - especially at the end and her scores dropped down as a result. I hope she's feeling okay now, she seemed fine yesterday. We also played Hoopla (by the makers of Cranium), which was a ton of fun. I love the games they make! The guys played Playstation 2 & our Nintendogs (Earl & Beavis) got together. They got along really well and I was able to give Beavis an accessory they hadn't found yet on one of their walks, which was cool. I figured there would be nothing I'd have found that they hadn't, since they've had their Nintendogs & NDS longer than I have, but that wasn't the case. :-)

I'm behind on the Olympics now, of course, but fortunately most of the sports on this past weekend were either sports I don't really care about (other than the results) like cross country skiing & ice dancing and things that I love in the early - mid games (like hockey and curling), so I'm already done with everything that happened before today. This is good, since I've got a nail appointment tomorrow, 700 Sundays on Wednesday, a chiropractor's appointment on Thursday, and a concert on Friday. I won't get to see any Olympics (or anything else, for that matter) on Wednesday or Friday, so it's going to be a while before I can see the news still. Fortunately, David keeps me up on anything major happening.

For those of you at Dude Weekend 2006, it was great to hang out with you. Thanks for letting me join you, even though I'm not a dude. Of course, when I mentioned this to Tom earlier today, he asked who I was kidding and pointed out that I'm a dude with breasts. With my love of sports, poker & other card games (I learned to count playing Blackjack and learned other card games from my dad growing up), etc., I guess I see his point on that one and I'm honored to be included. :-) I also want to thank you all (especially Holtz, who clearly had to bite his tongue yesterday when he read some news online) for not giving away anything about the Olympics to me. I think it's good that none of us are as into the Winter Olympics as we are the Summer Olympics. It would have been much more difficult to wait...

Thank you Tom & Melissa for all the work that went into this weekend. David and I had a great time and I know everyone else did, too! We hope to see you again soon and we're glad you haven't moved too far away yet! Stay close in Vegas. We'll definitely be out there for Frozen Fury 2006 and will surely see you before then.

Of course, no post during the Olympics would be complete without this...

GO USA!

Labels: baseball, hockey, Las Vegas, life, NHL, Olympics, party, Penn State, Yankees

Posted by Kat @ 9:53 PM | 0 meows

Nohari Window
Thanks to Becki, I can now add the opposite of the Johari Window. Please take the time to complete my Nohari Window if you know me. I've found this so interesting! Thanks, Becki!

If you don't know me, you can still go to Nohari Window to create your own and see what it's all about. I've had a lot of fun with this today.

Thank you Amber, Melissa, and Becki!

I'm actually going to go to bed after this in spite of the Olympics. My migraine I've had has not been going away and lack of sleep could definitely be a factor. I need to start feeling better so that I can fully enjoy our trip to Las Vegas this weekend to visit Tom & Melissa and hang out with everyone else who is visiting for Tom's "Dude Weekend."

GO USA!!!

Labels: life, Olympics, websites

Posted by Kat @ 10:16 PM | 0 meows

Johari Window
Melissa sent this to me today (apparently, she got it from Amber's blog, which I haven't read yet). I thought it was so cool that I had to do it myself.

Please check out My Johari Window and fill it out for me if you have the time. (Clearly this only really applies to those who actually know me.)

Though if you just go to Johari Window's main page, you can get your own Johari Window. Have fun with it. I am so far and I've only had one person reply to mine so far.

This is a really cool thing where friends and family can pick 5 words that best describe you and you can see a breakdown of what everyone thinks, what most people think, what only you think, etc. So much fun!

I hope you're all enjoying the Olympics. I'm already behind and we haven't even gotten into the main conflicts (shows in LA, concerts, trip to Vegas this weekend), so the Olympics are going to last a long time for me... Thank goodness there's no hockey or it would be even more difficult to stay on top of things.

GO USA!

Labels: life, Olympics, websites

Posted by Kat @ 11:17 AM | 0 meows

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Labels: holiday

Posted by Kat @ 9:20 AM | 0 meows

TV shows when Olympics are on...
With all the Olympics I'm recording and watching at night, it's difficult to watch our normal shows (Ellen, 24, Gilmore Girls, etc.) at the same time. I think I liked it better when all of those stopped. At least at this point it's easier, since I can fast forward through some of the rounds of curling, etc.

When you add Valentine's Day and our trip to Vegas into the mix, it means the Olympics will probably last a week or so longer for me than they do for the rest of the country.

I managed to get back to live by tonight, but will be behind before I even get to bed, since I didn't stay up to watch the end of the pairs skating. Of course, my favorite pair and the US pairs have no shot at a medal, so it just doesn't mean as much to me somehow...

Labels: hockey, Olympics, TV

Posted by Kat @ 10:50 PM | 0 meows

LA Kings & Olympics
To our surprise, the LA Kings actually won their last two games before the Olympic break. We were worried after the second period against the Dallas Stars yesterday, but man did our team come back with a vengence (and energy we hadn't seen in months) in the third! They scored 3 goals in less than 2 1/2 minutes from the start of the third period. It was absolutely amazing! I hope that this lift before the Olympic break can allow them to go into the break pumped and come back even more excited about the potential our team has this year. I want us to do well in the playoffs this year and I think we can do it - we just need to play with the energy we showed in the last period all the time and we're set!



As far as the Olympics news go, I was very sad to hear that Michelle Kwan had to drop out of the Olympics this year, but I'm happy that she did the right thing and that she dropped out early enough for Emily Hughes to have time to really practice and get used to the rink in Torino and do well for the US Team! I know it was hard for Michelle Kwan to back out (and it was hard to watch her do so), but it was clear that she wasn't 100% and in that case she had no chance for gold, the only Olympic medal she doesn't have. I think she did the right thing and I'm really impressed by her not even taking the NBC position, since it would take the spotlight away from the skaters in the competition. What a classy move! I have to admit that I'm a bit bummed about that decision. I would have loved to have heard her commenting. However, she's right. A lot of media attention would stay focused on her. Also, I'm sure it would be even more heartbreaking to watch her fellow Olympians compete if she had to comment on it and be bright and happy all the time.

I still would love to see her in 2010 and you never know what will happen. Apparently, Michelle Kwan originally calculated her Olympic hopes to include the 2010 Olympics, so perhaps we will see her skate again for Olympic gold. Until then, I wish her well and congratulate her on all her success!

I was happy to see the US women's hockey team achieve their second shutout of the Olympics. They're now 2-0 and apparently have an amazing record against every world team out there other than the Canadians. It seems pretty clear that it will be the US and Canada in the women's gold medal match, but it's early and you never really know what will happen. I wish the US the best of luck, since it's the one hockey team I can cheer for without worrying about players I know and love competing against them on the other teams. That's the only problem with the NHL players being allowed to play. Some of my favorite players are playing for Russia (like Alexander Frolov) and other teams, which makes it a bit more difficult to cheer for the US exclusively.

I hope you're all enjoying the Olympic coverage! It's a good thing there's something to keep me busy now that hockey is on a break until the end of the month!

I'm also really looking forward to our trip to Vegas this weekend! It'll be great to see our friends and have fun hanging out with them!

Labels: hockey, ice skating, Kings, NHL, Olympics

Posted by Kat @ 10:35 PM | 0 meows

2006 Winter Olympics


And the games have started! After the last opening ceremonies (2004 in Greece), my expectations for opening ceremonies were a lot lower than normal this year. Fortunately, Turin, Italy did an amazing job with the opening ceremonies. I searched hundreds of pictures online and couldn't find a picture of my favorite part (a shot of the skier made up of a lot of acrobats), but I did find many other great pictures.

It was good to see Susan Sarandon as one of the women carrying in the Olympic flag. The little girl singing the Italian national anthem was cute, too, though after the little girl with the amazing voice in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, it's hard to be impressed with any other children in an opening ceremony.

Team USA women are doing a good job so far (I'm typing this at 10:30 AM and I'm only a little behind live). Team USA is dominating the Swiss team - they even got a short-handed goal. We're winning 2-0! Very cool! I hope they continue to do well! GO Team USA! (Side note after the game - we won 6-0. Great start for women's hockey!

Here are some pics of the Opening ceremonies from last night:









I hope Michelle Kwan ends up being okay to compete. She wasn't feeling well earlier today and I'd really like to see her be able to get the gold. Emily Hughes has plenty of time to compete in the Olympics in other years...

GO USA!!!

Labels: ice skating, Olympics

Posted by Kat @ 10:31 AM | 0 meows

Winter Olympics start tonight!
Yes! The Winter Olympics start tonight and I'm very excited! Every year, NBC seems to show more and more of the Olympics. I love that they're showing every single hockey game live. It's amazing to me. Sure, I won't see them live due to the time difference, work, etc., but I will be able to watch every game! The Olympics are going to take me about 3 weeks to watch with everything I'm setting to record on Tivo. Thank goodness for the extra Tivo upstairs. Even recording two things at once isn't always enough for me when the Olympics come around - especially since this year shows like Gilmore Girls, 24, etc. are airing new episodes up against the Olympics and we're going to Las Vegas for President's Day weekend again.

I'm very excited about the Olympics starting, though I always wonder how I'll manage to avoid all news of the Olympics long enough to watch everything in order without any of it being spoiled. I definitely need to stop listening to Jef & Jer in the morning online and just stick to my windows media player.

Enjoy the Olympics everyone! GO USA!!!

Labels: hockey, holiday, Olympics, TV

Posted by Kat @ 11:19 AM | 0 meows

GO STEELERS!

GO STEELERS!!! Super Bowl XL champs!!

Since my immediate family is based in Pittsburgh and even my Mom (normally an Eagles fan) has the Steelers as her second team, I cared about the game this year as much as the commercials. Very rare for me. Last year, we went to a play the day of the Superbowl and came home to watch the commercials on Tivo, fast forwarding through the game.

This year, we started the game about a half hour late (we went to a movie before that - by the way, I highly recommend Match Point) and caught up to real time during the halftime show (which didn't interest either of us).

What a game. I'm really happy for Lisa, Dad, Mom, and everyone else I know who has loved the Steelers for years. Lisa has been a fan for years (not since she was born as she tells it now, but since late high school or the beginning of college, which is still quite a while) and the last time the Steelers had won a Superbowl was before she was born. I'm sure they're all partying heavily tonight. Good for them!

Glad that Lisa's favorite player managed to have the longest touchdown run from scrimmage of Super Bowl history. Very cool!

David and I both wore Steelers shirts today, though I admitted that I'm not a huge fan (we all know how much I hate band wagon fans, but I thought wearing shirts in support of a team was okay as long as I was honest about it).

In other news, David and I FINALLY figured out exactly who we're using to re-do our master bathroom! We've been looking almost since we moved in, though we pushed off the search when it got close to the wedding, since the wedding and David's company's new office building were taking up all of our time.

The current projects being worked on are the built-in bookcase/re-done fireplace in the family room, the master bathroom, the window in the master closet, and California Closets re-doing our master closet. Very exciting to be getting a lot done now. We've picked out just about everything for our built-in bookcases and they're already being made. We'll sign with the contractor for our master bath by the end of the week (just waiting for the updated quote).

All this and the Olympics start in less than a week - yippee!

Labels: life, movies, Olympics, Steelers

Posted by Kat @ 8:09 PM | 0 meows

New theatre, movie, etc. review blog
Since a friend of the family (and a few other people over the years) suggested that I become a critic, which seems like something that you don't just decide to do and then *poof* you're a critic, I gave it some thought. Many people ask for my advice about theatre & movies and I tell people what I think they should really see often. I sent emails to almost everyone about Late Nite Catechism, for example. So, I thought perhaps a blog would be the way to go. Anyone interested should check out my new blog, Kat Views. You can even subscribe to it if you want to be updated every time I review a new musical, play, movie, or event.

Other than that, I'm just waiting for the Superbowl. For the first time in ages, I care as much about the game as I do the commercials. Thank goodness for Tivo and the ability to pause live TV, or else when would we take a break to go to the bathroom? Since the STEELERS are going to the Superbowl, I care now.

GO STEELERS!!!

GO STEELERS!!!

Labels: life, shows, Steelers

Posted by Kat @ 11:35 AM | 0 meows