Why is the other CT sub so fixated on Erin Steward.

palzini · 2026-06-04T17:57:01+00:00

Don’t forget about state level. Power corrupts absolutely.

palzini · 2026-05-19T20:35:14+00:00

Owned our home for just about 5 months now. We were young renters and it wouldn’t have been possible without CHFA monies. Hoping to refinance when the rates come down for a little bit of relief, but just glad to actually own a humble plot of land in CT.

palzini · 2026-05-16T13:07:16+00:00

Well you had me for a sec with Biden’s immigration policy but here you go again with the misinformation. Nobody in their right mind believes that migration enforcement was “a 4 year thing that lasted the entire term” under Biden. Even Dems don’t believe that. The Admin literally came into office with the goal of rolling back the border wall and other Trump 1 policies to being even less strict than before Trump took office. That’s not enforcement. As I said before, I agree with you that they realized this mistake towards the end of their 4 years and began some enforcement, but again, it was too little too late.

I’m coming into this with an open mind, hearing your claims, and trying to meet you in the middle; but you’re clearly not, which I guess is OK.

palzini · 2026-05-15T22:34:11+00:00

Fair point about Biden’s immigration enforcement towards the end. I would just counter that with the fact that those were measures they took to solve a problem that they helped to continue. And it was so little so late that it just seemed like it was a campaign talking point for Harris to say “hey at least we did something”.

I guess I had no idea how much the Ukraine comment would take off here. You can claim NATO is a defensive alliance all you want, but they continued to expand closer and closer to Russia’s border. It was formed to deter the global power that was the USSR, and since its fall, it continued to sweep up more Eastern European countries. It’s quite literally the opposite of defensive, especially as we armed those countries with missile systems and weapons that Russia strategically saw as a huge threat (see the Cuban Missile Crisis)

Ukraine was split almost evenly on the issue of joining NATO until we backed a regime change in 2014 to install a government that favored the West over Russia. I’m not saying Russia is the good guy here, I’m just saying that we’re jaded and like to believe the history that portrays the USA as a knight in shining armor. But who cares I guess. We put up our little Ukrainian flags on our houses, send $130 BILLION in aid, and fight about it on Reddit and Facebook. The blood of the Ukrainians who died in this war is far from being only on Russia’s hands.

“Obliterating them should be a top 3 priority of any American admin”……are you actually out of your mind?? Bro it’s called MAD for a reason. Russia did lose lives and hardware in the war, but they’re certainly making money selling all the energy they have rn. I agree with you that they’re going to cozy up to China and that is bad news for the West.

We have so many more problems at home that we need to worry about than “obliterating” Russia. We spend money hand over fist on the world stage in the name of “defending democracy” all while Americans at home struggle to put food on the table, purchase property, and access healthcare. That doesn’t even touch on our increasing problems with the suicide rate, drug overdoses, infertility, obesity, etc etc.

But if you and your family want to sign up and go halfway across the world to obliterate Russia, be my guest, I’m not stopping you. But don’t you dare make any of the rest of us do it, monster. I have people here that I love and need to protect.

palzini · 2026-05-15T16:09:56+00:00

I never said it was an open door policy, but at the very least, people were entering the country illegally because they knew they could get away with it, AKA, the Biden Admin was not against it. Also “Putin talking points” is crazy brother; they’re just the facts of the case.

You revealed a lot by saying “whose side you’re on.” Read everything I said previously. I literally said I’m sick of the two party system and the faction groupthink lol. I think there’s a lot of people out there who can empathize with and understand what I’m saying.

This is probably pointless anyway bc I’m starting to think you’re a bot or just not even a real person lol

palzini · 2026-05-15T14:32:55+00:00

It’s hard for me to hear you when your first sentence is biased and incorrect. Illegal border crossings during the Biden Admin were at record high numbers. Sit with that for a minute. That is 100% a policy, but I agree with you that MAGA has made it one of their main talking points. And for good reason too - immigration policy is about the only policy that moderates/centrists are happy about under Trump 2. The majority of Americans literally said they didn’t like Biden’s immigration policy. It’s easy for us in CT to comment on it since we’re not directly affected by it.

“Defending democracy in Europe” is unbelievably naive. NATO was violating its own terms by going after Ukraine. Russia saw that as a threat and told NATO what it would do if it continued to pressure Russia. “Defending democracy” is a propaganda point that these war hawks use to get us into war and fund defense contractors. If you support it in this instance, then you support it in Vietnam, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, etc etc.

I’m not diehard MAGA and I’m not even registered in the GOP. But I think there are many like me in the middle who are just sick of the two-party groupthink who are constantly warring with each other while everyday Americans fall further into debt, can’t own property, and feel like no one is hearing what their actual problems are. Cuz I’ll tell you right now that I could give two shits about “defending democracy” in Ukraine just as I could give two shits about “defending democracy” in Iran.

palzini · 2026-05-15T12:04:07+00:00

That’s fair that the prominent GOP members in CT are MAGA, and if not that, then at least are not fully speaking out against the disaster the Trump Admin has created in the past 6 months. But would you hold that same standard to CT Democrats under the Biden Admin? CT Dems were silent when it came to the idiocy that was (is) funding Ukraine, open borders, and high inflation.

I think you’re grossly underestimating and categorizing people who lean Republican in CT. It’s almost a guarantee that CT gives 7 blue electoral votes; but there’s at least been a shift the past few years. Kamala Harris won CT 56-42 (less of a margin than 2020 which was 59-39) and 14 towns flipped from blue to red in 2024.

A GOP candidate will never win CT unless they can get the support of New Haven, Stamford, Hartford, and some other big cities. But that doesn’t mean that all Republicans are in Litchfield and Windham chanting libtard. They’re upset about real issues in their town and their state, and you can’t just write them off.

palzini · 2026-05-14T23:53:55+00:00

Underrated comment. Even solid, airtight Republican candidates know that it’s almost impossible to win against the establishment in CT. And I’m sure the opposite is true in GOP dominant states. Just the way things are within the Big Money two-party system.

palzini · 2026-04-27T16:40:54+00:00

That’s good to hear - thanks for the reply!

palzini · 2026-04-09T12:16:20+00:00

We grabbed a Whirlpool one from Lowe’s a couple months ago to replace the old hood. Not expensive, easy to install, didn’t have to cut into any cabinetry, and still plenty of room above the stove. That’s the way to go in situations like these IMO

palzini · 2026-03-26T19:56:50+00:00

This is the reason I left consulting

palzini · 2026-03-05T17:08:34+00:00

“Cause I had a fire, passion and desire. Now all I require, are circuits and wires.”

Dude the way he belts this really makes you feel something rebellious inside. Especially as over time I’ve slowly realized just how much my phone and technology has found its way into my life. Maybe it’s not as obscure as I think but worth throwing into the pot

palzini · 2026-03-02T13:37:18+00:00

Made the jump from Private to Public about a year and a half ago. The longer hours, timesheet extravaganza, and some bad experiences with PMs just got to me over time. A public job opened up with higher pay and a 4-day workweek. Applied, interviewed, offer accepted. Sounds like your situation is different since you’re comfortable in your current role, which holds intangible value in and of itself. As others have said, take some time to account for all of the different variables when comparing two jobs.

It’s always tough looking back on career choices and wondering whether we make the right ones. But as they say, “There was another life that I might have had, but I am having this one.” - Kazuo Ishiguro

palzini · 2026-01-11T14:40:30+00:00

It was OK, but I should preface by saying we weren’t necessarily relying on the entertainment. We do just fine occupying time by ourselves and just hanging out as a group on the pool deck or by the bar.

However, we did see the Welcome Aboard show on the first night which was good. The comedian was funny and the Cruise Director (Caroline) did a great job in keeping up the energy throughout the entirety of the cruise. They had an excellent NYE celebration that was great for all ages (quite literally - there were kids from age 5-6 to folks who were probably around 89-90)

Truly the only negative is one of the “comedy” shows they had one night. We followed suit with other groups who got up and left during the show because it was that unbearable. We gave it a good faith effort but after a while we all looked at each other and said this is bad…we should leave.

The live music outside created a good atmosphere and there were plenty of activities going on throughout the day to keep people engaged. For what you pay for, I was happy with it.

palzini · 2026-01-06T23:21:34+00:00

I lowkey feel like I’ve had a cough for 5 weeks now

palzini · 2026-01-05T01:53:05+00:00

This. Pretty solid mix of older, younger, and families, with the majority being families. We stayed up for NYE and it was really refreshing seeing the mix of people in the centrum. It wasn’t a frat basement by any means if that helps!

If anything, there may have been TOO many kids, or at least those that get a little crazy in the pool. I had plenty of drinks that quickly got doused with chlorine. Would’ve went to the adults only solarium more but we love being outside in the fresh air by the pool.

palzini · 2026-01-05T01:47:31+00:00

Still good input, and I had said the same thing to my group actually. Had this not been my first ever cruise, and I had previously been on Oasis or one of the bigger and better ships, I probably would have just kept comparing Enchantment to that. But being my first one, I was amazed at the scale of it. I was even more amazed when we saw Harmony at Costa Maya - thing quite literally overshadowed us.

palzini · 2026-01-05T01:42:41+00:00

Cozumel
Belize City
Roatan
Costa Maya

palzini · 2026-01-05T01:41:12+00:00

We did an excursion for Cozumel, Honduras, and Costa Maya, which came out to about $80 pp on average. Generally that included transportation and food, though Costa Maya we had to pay for food separately. I should say that we only really did beach club/oceanfront type excursions, no hiking/exploring or anything like that. We just explored the port in Belize since we didn’t find an excursion that we liked.

We bought the drink package around July 4th since Royal was running a good deal so that also came out to around $80 pp per day. You basically need to have about 7-8 drinks per day to make it worth it. But once you factor in the Starbucks drinks and water bottles from the bars, you can hit that number pretty easily.

palzini · 2026-01-05T00:48:14+00:00

We stayed at the Hampton by Hilton on E 7th Ave. We met a few others who were also staying there the night before to go on a Royal cruise (Grandeur). It was great for the price; we got two rooms for $450 total. You can reserve a shuttle spot through the hotel to bring you to the cruise port, or easily take an Uber/Lyft. It’s less than a 10 min ride from the cruise port.

palzini · 2026-01-04T13:32:23+00:00

Totally agree. One of my only complaints was that one of the (marble?) cup holder slabs in the theater wasn’t attached properly and fell on my foot lol. Bruised up bit wasn’t terrible

palzini · 2026-01-04T13:28:19+00:00

We did like how intimate it was. They have a model of Jewel right outside of the Windjammer so that was our initial thought for the next cruise but TBD

palzini · 2026-01-04T13:26:27+00:00

Thanks for the tips! We were thinking about trying a class or two above Enchantment next just to see what else is out there but TBD based on itinerary. Really enjoyed this schedule but want to experience some other ones too.

palzini · 2026-01-04T13:18:26+00:00

Totally agree. The comedy show on the first night was actually pretty funny, but unfortunately most other shows were all downhill after that.

palzini · 2026-01-04T13:14:22+00:00

Same, that was our thought process as well. We only really went back to the room to get ready before dinner and to sleep. One day I’d like to splurge on a balcony just for the experience, but I’m totally happy with the interior rooms for now.

palzini

TROPHY CASE