New Summer's Resolutions

Shame on me.

It's been almost five months since my last post and that is inexcusable. Thoroughly.

I think I've been having such trouble since I haven't decided on a specific topic for this blog yet, I just write what I want, when I want -- my mantra for most things in my life.

But I do miss writing and would never wish to deprive anyone of my rants, catharsis or generally unwarranted opinions on life and events.

While blogging more often is certainly a priority, there are several other 'summer resolutions' I'd like to make.

I mean who says you can only make resolutions for the New Year? Hell, I say we all make resolutions each season! They'll probably be equally as unsuccessful as New Year's resolutions, but I'm all about the old college try.

I've come up with a few 'New Summer's Resolutions' (Ha. Get it?) already that are pretty realistic and manageable, but as always I'm also open to suggestions.

1.) Blog more. Duh.

2.) Save money. I know -- we're all suffering in this economy. But I believe in baby steps and I think there are a few things I can do to start saving. Like stop spending so much. I've recently been taking a certain amount of money from each paycheck, putting it in a savings account, and giving the card to that account to someone else so I can't access it. Extreme? Maybe. But you can't spend what you literally can't spend, right?

3.) Make healthy choices. I guess both mentally and physically, but mostly physically. More exercise and less cheese fries, ya know?

4.) Declutter my life. Again, both mentally and physically, but mostly physically. It's been two years since I came home from college and still haven't sorted through everything yet. Sad, I know. Tons of stuff needs to be thrown away, given away, or sold. Maybe I should have a garage sale? Then I could kill two birds with one stone -- make some money and declutter. Genius!

5.) Live life. Trust me I'm not trying to get deep and sappy here -- you know me better than that -- but summer is a great time to be spontaneous, hang out with friends/family and just have fun. So I'm gonna do just that.

How about you? Any summer resolution ideas?

Learn to blog!

So friends, I will be hosting a blogging event at Jervis Public Library, located on North Washington Street in Rome, on Jan. 23 at 6:30 p.m.!

We will have two of our RO bloggers there as well. I will talk a little bit about why you should create a blog and how to maintain it, keeping fresh content coming frequently. Kind of ironic considering I've been terrible about it myself, but hopefully this will motivate me to be better at it.

We will discuss the benefits of creating a blog for businesses, organizations and individuals.

I encourage anyone in the area who'd like to learn about blogging to attend!

And yes, we'll have food.

If you have any questions e-mail me at: kzigrino@journalregister.com.

Hope to see you there!

Winter winds

I have had the pleasure of living in Central New York for my entire life. I've always appreciated that we get to experience the four seasons in all their glory. The colors of fall, the snow in winter, the blooming flowers in spring and the sunshine of the summer.

But without a doubt I will find a way to complain about the autumn winds, winter blizzards, spring rain and summer humidity.

And I don't think I'm alone in this.

When it's summer I always wish it was December so I could spend time picking out Christmas gifts and making snow angels -- completely disregarding how much I hate driving in the snow and despise even having to go outside in below zero temperatures.

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X marks the spot

I know, it's been over 3 months since my last post. I solemnly swear to write when I remember at least once a week from now on.

But back to the topic of this post, my newest obsession: The X Factor.

It's pretty much a way cooler and more diverse version of American Idol. One of the finer things we've copied from the U.K. thanks to Simon Cowell.

For those of you who haven't been watching...start. There are some super talented people on this show, with the YouTube hits to prove it.

Here's a little run-down on how it works. They've sort of combined The Voice with American Idol. There are four judges on the panel: music mogul L.A. Reid, same old Simon Cowell, pointless '80s singer/dancer Paula Abdul, and former leading lady of the Pussycat Dolls, Nicole Scherzinger.

Each judge was assigned a category of performers. Simon has the 'Girls', L.A. has the 'Boys', Paula has the 'Groups', and Nicole has the 'Over 30's.' Each group consisted of 8 contestants, which were narrowed to 4, and now 3. Last night was the first performance where America was given the opportunity to vote for their favorite.

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My Vacation Checklist

I haven't been on a real vacation in a while. So I've decided that when I go on my upcoming vacation to Florida in August, I'm going to make a checklist of things I want to do so I don't A.) regret not taking advantage of my experience or B.) get bored.

Keep in mind I only have a solid 5 days to work with and it's a family vacation, so most of these activities are pretty PG.

But here it goes in no particular order:

- Eat at a local food joint, not a chain.
- Sit on the beach and play in the ocean
- Make a friend
- Drive around aimlessly for 30 minutes, just to enjoy the scenery in a new place (Obviously with a GPS so I don't accidentally end up in Alabama)
- On that same token, I'd like to walk around in a downtown area just visiting little shops and taking in the sights for a few hours
- Watch a sunset on the beach
- Go to a local museum
- Take a tour
- Visit a local historic landmark

That's what I have so far and I know they all seem kind of lame and generic, so help me out!

What do you usually do on vacation?

Dissecting divorce rates

I just recently came across an article from the Wall Street Journal called 'The Divorce Generation', which at first I thought was going to be depressing and disheartening, but of course I went ahead and read it anyways.

Ironically, it was quite the opposite. The woman who wrote it was describing how those in her generation, Generation X, are known for having lived through their parents divorce. Apparently divorce rates are "now at their lowest level since 1970." Encouraging, right?

Well I, like many of you, can figure out why this is most likely true. For one, people are getting married later in life, which means they're both giving themselves the opportunity to establish a career and life of their own, and allowing enough time to get to know or seek out a compatible life partner.

Many people can't wait to get married and start a family right out of high school or college, but I say, 'What's the rush?'

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Reaction to Casey Anthony trial

Having just celebrated how great our country is on July 4 with fireworks ablaze and flags flown high, I find it ironic that today I'm as disappointed in it as I was proud yesterday.

Casey Anthony was today found not guilty of murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, who she failed to report missing for 31 days, by a jury of her peers.

I'm not going to throw around accusations although I personally believe there is something very off with this entire case. If her daughter had drowned, as she and the defense claim, why not call the police? If it was truly an accident, there should have been no reason for them to try and cover it up, right?

I'm most disappointed in the state of Florida, not because they didn't convict Casey Anthony, since the realistic part of me understands that there wasn't enough evidence to avoid 'reasonable doubt', but because they didn't uncover the truth.

What happened to Caylee Anthony? Where's her justice?

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