More Musings

I love it when you're rushing out the door in the morning and don't have time to think about what you're wearing, so you just put together a new combination of clothes and it turns out to be an amazing outfit and you keep using that outfit combo for many months afterwards. 

Musings

• At the gym the other day, I saw a couple walking around, doing every weight machine together.  Overkill, don't you think?
• While we're on the topic of the gym, I always dread the onslaught of people that Jan 1 brings.  Last year at the Bally's in Philly, most of them were gone by March or so.  I just hope it doesn't mean all my exercise classes will be insanely full.  
• A lot of students here at Columbia (both undergrad and grad) don't have Microsoft Office on their computer.  So when I'm trying to work with them and e-mail files back and forth, they come in these weird file formats from OpenOffice or whatever.  Really?  You can't pay the extra couple hundred dollars to get Microsoft Office, which is basically a prerequisite for any type of educational/business environment?  

That's a picture of the Columbia gym.  The track goes around in a loop on the upper level, over looking the court below, and each of the 3 floors you see has cardio equipment and weights.

Done!

I just submitted my last fellowship application! 5 for 5.  NSF, EPA, SMART, NDSEG, and Hertz.  It was a lot of work.  It reminded me of two similar periods before in my life:  when I was trying to take classes, do my senior thesis, and apply for jobs during my senior year fall at Princeton; and last fall, when I was trying to work full-time at my consulting job and apply for graduate schools and study for the GRE at the same time.  It's tough, but somehow I manage it.  

End-of-Year Lists

I'm a sucker for all of these end-of-year lists that are coming out right around now.  "Top 10 Worst Cars of 2010"  "Top 10 Best Inventions of 2010"  "Top 10 Worst Ideas of 2010"  I love these simple neat little lists. They usually say a lot about what happened this year, and even more, it reminds me of stuff that happened all the way back in January or February that I've forgotten about by now. I like them even more when they're in magazines, because then you get lots of colorful graphics and charts and pictures.  : )

Somehow my professor managed to make waste management funny...

So in my Industrial Ecology class today, we were talking about sustainable waste management.  Trash.  Pretty boring.  So I don't know if you've heard of RecycleBank, but it's a start-up that basically rewards people with gift cards, etc. based on how much they recycle.  My professor started it with 2 other guys, but then he backed out to finish his PhD.  Now the company is hugely successful, in 300 cities, and he loudly regretted in class his decision to choose the PhD over the start-up.  : /     Anyway, the main point of the story is that they did a case study in Philadelphia when the start-up was just beginning.  As part of this, they literally went through the garbage of everyone in the neighborhood, picking through it and categorizing it.  And my professor showed us a picture that characterizes perfectly why America has a waste problem:  it was a picture of a skillet, with 3 burned grilled cheeses on it, that had been thrown out. When the owner burned the grilled cheese, instead of just scraping it off and cleaning it, he just threw the whole darn thing out in the trash.  !!!  hilarious. Silly silly America : p


P.S. I really want to see "Waiting for Superman", the new documentary about the public school system in America.  Anyone want to join me?

Reading and Writing

So whenever I find myself taking notes/making an outline of a scientific paper, reference article or book chapter, I always think to myself that life would be so much easier if the author just published his notes directly.  Seriously, the worst part of writing is taking your notes and putting them in paragraph form, and the worst part of reading is taking the paragraphs and boiling them down to the important bullet points.  So we really should just skip that whole middle step of pretty-looking paragraphs and just exchange the bullet-point outlines, from author to reader. 

How do I end up with so many dirty glass cups?

Seriously! I only have 3 meals a day.  The washing machine must take the mismatched socks and magically transform them into dirty glasses!

Family Feud moment

So I stopped at a grocery store that was new to me, a Stop & Shop on Route 206, on my way back to NYC a couple days ago.  I had a big list of things to get, and I had gone around the store and still hadn't found like 5 or 6 things.  So I find this guy who works there and I start asking him where things are. "Where's chopped garlic?"  "Um, try Aisle 5."  "Where is alfredo sauce?"   "Um, I think that's Aisle 5 too."  "What about oyster sauce?" "Yup, that's Aisle 5 too."    And this went on for like 2 or 3 more items, until we both started laughing and I went off to Aisle 5.  That was my Family Feud "turkey" moment.  In case you haven't seen the video, here it is:

Family Feud "Turkey" clip

Life Lesson

Never go to the grocery store on the Sunday night after Thanksgiving.  They're out of EVERYTHING.

High School Reunion!

Just got back from my 5-year high school reunion at a local bar.  I initially wasn't going to go because my two best friends bailed on me, and it's kind of daunting walking into a group of people you know, but really don't know, all alone.  Anyway, I walked in and immediately found people and everyone was just saying hi and hugging each other and asking about what people have been doing.  It was just a lot of fun seeing people after 5 years.  It feels good to make those connections fresh again that have started to slip away.  There weren't too many surprises in terms of people and their life plans; people who wanted to be a doctor are now in med school, etc.  All in all, a very good night and I'm glad I decided to go!

Inventions

My grandmother (born in the 1930s): The two greatest inventions of my lifetime have been the ballpoint pen and the turning signals on cars. 


hehe. I never would have guessed those. 

Fall 2010 Trends

So I got a new purse from Delia's in the mail today.  So I figured it would be a good time to write about the fall 2010 fashion trends I've chosen to embrace:
1)  Cross-body purses.  I started seeing these about a year ago, but they're really in full force right now.  They're definitely more casual, but soo much more comfortable and versatile, since they free up your hands and arms whenever you're walking around and sightseeing or whatever.  This is the one I got from Delia's (right).
2)  Ankle-height boots.  I'm not sure if there's a more technical name for these, but part of the reason I decided to get them is because they're much more casual and easier to slip on than the knee-high boots I have.  Knee-high boots make me seem really formal and preppy, and sometimes that's a little too much if I'm just going to class or something.  These boots I got from Payless, and they're really comfy.  They're kind of "edgy" too, which I liked.  
3) Striped shirts.  This is a really basic trend, but I think the difference is that skinny stripes and off-the-shoulder are distinctly 2010.  So I got this shirt from Delia's (left) and this shirt from Old Navy (right):

 4) Utility/military/cargo jackets.  I'm not sure what the exact name is for it, but I got mine from a GAP outlet in Atlantic City over the summer.  I just wanted a lightweight, fall jacket to throw on that would be comfortable, but also make me look more put-together than a fleece or puffy coat. (picture below).  That picture is not the exact one I have, but it's pretty close. 

Trends that I've ruled out for now:
1) Leather jackets.  I tried one on at a store recently and I almost started laughing at how funny I looked.  Maybe I just have to find the right one, but I'm guessing this is something that will never fit me and my personality.
2) Leggings.  I'll keep wearing actual pants, thank you very much.  Not everyone in NYC needs to know the exact size and shape of my lower half. 

New Things!

So I'm going to keep a running list of new things I'm trying:
1)  I ate a house salad
2) I ate shrimp scampi with linguine
3) I watched Dancing with the Stars today with Raechel
4) I went iceskating outside in NYC

Upcoming:
1)  Watching the first Twilight movie that I borrowed from Rae (still refuse to read the books, but who can resist a good love story?)
2) Perhaps a new haircut

A miracle!

Oh my goodness! A miracle just happened.  This weekend, I was faced with a take-home midterm, an oral presentation worth half my grade I hadn't even started researching, a ton of data analysis for lab, and group project work to do for a meeting tomorrow.  This weekend was busy, so I only started to tackle this today around 4 pm.  And I am just now finishing my take-home midterm.  I was all set to go to bed, wake up around 6 am to start researching my presentation, skip class, skip lunch, just to work on the presentation.  And then I had no idea how I was going to do my group project stuff before 6 pm tomorrow.

But, oh my goodness, I just got an email saying that my class tomorrow night where I was supposed to present is canceled!  Like, I can't even begin to say what this means.  I was already feeling pretty dejected and hopeless because of this weekend, but maybe this means I have at least a little bit of good karma in this world.  I'm so relieved.

Convenience and Laziness

Is it bad that if I go to a website for an event and it doesn't have a quicklink to add it to my Google calendar, I am much less likely to add it to my schedule, and thus attend it?  hehe

Rubbers

So we're studying rubber (like the polymers) in my statistical mechanics class, but the professor has a British accent (he's like a Liam Neeson twin), so everytime he says "rubbers" with his accent, it makes me think of what that means in the British language, and I have to stop myself from giggling in the middle of class.

Moving

So two of my good female friends are moving to DC in the near future.  In short, this makes me sad.  Like, all I want to do is whine about why life is unfair.  Conversations with girl friends keep me sane and put my life in perspective.  I just want to collect everyone who means anything to me and build a big house and we can all live together and never have to move across the country.  That would be my utopia. 

Updates

Apologies for the lack of posting.  It's gotten pretty hectic recently, with classes, TAing, fellowship applications, starting research, traveling to New Haven and Hopewell, going to the gym, and doing stuff for the Engineering Graduate Student Council.  It would inspire me to write more if people actually commented at all ; )  Anyway, my roommate is away for the week at a conference in Austin.  And, don't get me wrong, my roommate is pretty amazing, I barely even know she's there--she's quiet, neat, studious, and kind.  But there's just so much more freedom when I have the place to myself.  I can listen to videos on the Internet without shutting my bedroom door, I can leave my shoes in the front hallway, the shower head is always adjusted to my height, I don't have to wash my dishes right away.  It's just nicer. 
I've also been busy with lots of Princeton stuff.  There's more people to hang out with now that I'm in NYC, so we've been going to happy hours, restaurants and pregaming parties.  I even hosted one, which was a lot of work but a lot of fun.  And then there's all the university stuff, like Homecoming and the Yale vs. Princeton game coming up.  It makes fall a very busy season : )  Too bad Columbia's homecoming was on the same day as Princeton's. 

NYC Living

So today the Columbia library (Butler Library) had a wine & cheese reception for PhD students.  It wasn't as lame as it sounds.  They had candy corn, wine, cheese, crackers, cookies, and brownies. And it was great to meet other non-engineering students.  After that, there was a happy hour at Covo Lounge (135th St) for Women in Science at Columbia (WiSC). I took the 1 subway up to the 137th st stop, and then walked a block and then walked down a ton of stairs, because there's basically a huge cliff on the western side of Manhattan.  Anyway, Covo had great brick oven pizza and we had tons of tickets for free drinks so it was a good time.  Some guys even came out to support WiSC (aka get free pizza and drinks).  But I'm still learning the ropes of the subway system -- a couple weeks ago, I was taking the 2 uptown, and since there's been a ton of construction, the 2 and 3 have been making 1 local stops.  So I figured the 2 would stop at 116th St - Columbia University.  Not so.  The 2 line has a 116th St stop -- but at Malcolm X Blvd.  Let me tell you, a white girl should never be on a Malcolm X Blvd after dark, no matter what city it is.  So while I was waiting for a taxi, which apparently are very rare in Harlem, this guy comes up to me and tries to tell me that it's not a bad walk back to 122nd and Amsterdam.  Yeah, right, buddy.  He even offers to be my 'escort'.  Haha, um, no thanks.  I get in a taxi and and get dropped off at my door -- that $10 was definitely worth it to not have to walk through Harlem alone late at night.  Anyway, that was my first subway mistake, and today at 137th St., I walked down the stairs, swiped my MetroCard, and then realized that I was on the uptown platform -- and I wanted to go downtown -- and there was no way to get between the two without paying again.  Uggh!!  So I took the uptown train to 168th, where there was a free transfer.  Not too bad, but annoying. 

Parenthood

So this is the second season of Parenthood, an hour-long drama on NBC revolving around a large extended family.  Sounds pretty basic, right?  I would agree.  I never sit down and watch it and expect to cry, like I do with Grey's Anatomy, or to laugh out loud, like I do with Modern Family.  Watching Parenthood makes me feel....hopeful.  Which is kind of weird reaction for a tv show to cause.  Perhaps because the setting and characters and dialogue in Parenthood are so normal, that when I see the characters struggling with certain things (Autism, single parenthood, unemployment), and dealing with them (realistically, not in a wrap-everything-up-in-1-hour time frame) and still being happy, friendly, productive people, it gives me confidence and hope for human relationships.  Don't get me wrong, this isn't a show where everyone mopes about Autism or unemployment, or whatever.  The way these issues are integrated so seamlessly into a extraordinarily normal  family is amazing.  I would dare to say that with so many characters and relationships, every viewer can find a little bit of themselves in at least one of them.  I know I can.  I can definitely admit that most of the shows I watch I enjoy because I look at them for ways to improve my relationships or to solve relationship problems.  Grey's Anatomy, Parenthood, and Everwood (R.I.P) are some great relationship shows. 

One relationship I particularly love to learn from is the one between Julia and Joel.  From the NBC website:

Julia (Erika Christensen, "Traffic") is a successful corporate attorney trying to juggle work and motherhood, alongside her loving but increasingly restless stay-at-home husband, Joel (Sam Jaeger, "Eli Stone").

Joel

Julia

It's the first show I've seen that looks at the often ugly power dynamics when a highly successful, type A woman works while her more relaxed, easy-going husband stays home.  At first you want to believe that it's perfect, to disprove the notion that men aren't made to be stay-at-home dads.  But that would be too pretty for this show.  Instead, Parenthood uncovers all of the awkward situations that most people would never bring up in conversation, but that they experience very frequently--like how Julia is paranoid and jealous because Joel is around other stay-at-home moms all day, who flirt with him and find him attractive simply because he's a stay-at-home dad.  Julia is in a no-win situation, because if she doesn't say anything, who knows how much temptation Joel can take before he gives in? Some would simply say "Julia should have confidence in Joel and their marriage. Isn't that the whole meaning of marriage".  However, this is quickly dispelled as too idealistic for Parenthood.  Despite all of Julia's best intentions, Joel feels increasingly marginalized, ignored and powerless because of his stay-at-home role.  Even though Julia isn't causing these feelings purposefully, Joel pins them on her, and welcomes the attention of the other stay-at-home moms as a way to flaunt his freedom and decision-making power that he feels he has lost in other arenas.  Eventually another mom kisses Joel (but Julia and Joel manage to clear that hurdle).

The interesting conundrum I see in this situation is that it seems unavoidable.  No matter what Julia says or does, Joel will inherently feel disenchanted and unsatisfied in his role as stay-at-home dad, and will eventually find other outlets that will provide him with the satisfaction that he needs.  Unfortunately, because Joel mistakenly pins his unhappiness on Julia (even though it's actually a result of a mismatch between his personality and needs and the current situation he finds himself in) he doesn't see Julia as someone who can provide that satisfaction because he thinks she took it away. This Julia-Joel relationship on Parenthood has made me think, a lot, about how, or if, a stay-at-home Dad situation could ever be successful.

Chinese Food

So I cooked chicken and broccoli (a Chinese dish) for dinner tonight.  And my roommate (from Hong Kong) came in and was like "What did you make? That smells really good".  Cooking WIN. 

Parking in NYC

So I would really like a car in New York.  I can't find anything I want in grocery stores around here and I feel trapped.  So I've been looking into my options.  There's a parking garage on my street that costs like $350 per month, which is insane.  There's free street parking on my street, and you only have to move your car from 11 am to 12:30 pm Monday and Friday for street cleaning.  That's not too bad.  And then that same garage on my street has a ton of Zipcars.  I have a love-hate relationship with Zipcars.  At first, they seem like an awesome idea but they're really only good for short trips.  They don't allow you to drive it from point A to point B and leave it at point B.  So if I wanted to use it to drive to New Haven, I would be paying the daily rate of $66 for however many days I was there.  But, I looked it up and there are a ton of Zipcars in New Haven.  So I could conceivably take the train to New Haven and then just use Zipcars for any places and fun things we wanted to do there.  And then I could also use a Zipcar in NYC to get to places I'm dying to go to, like this shopping mall called Gateway Center that has a Best Buy, Target, Home Depot, Bed Bath and Beyond, and a BJs.  All of of those names sound heavenly to me, after being stuck in Manhattan for the past month with only little dinky independent stores with crappy selection and high prices.  I am not ashamed to admit that I would choose a chain store any day, with it's spacious aisles, good selection, quality goods, low prices, and pleasant atmosphere.  Perhaps I should just move to a NYC suburb and commute in? Hah, we'll see : )

Question of the day

Since all bread is square/rectangular, why do they make the pre-packaged sliced turkey/ham/chicken etc. in round slices? 

Chlorine

So I've been going to the Columbia gym about once a day since I got here.  The gym is actually entirely underground, underneath the main quad.  And the path that I walk must go right on top of the pool, because it always smells of chlorine.  And I've been realizing that the smell of chlorine is a very happy one for me -- it's linked very strongly with memories of endless summer days by the pool, where the hardest choice was whether to play Marco Polo or do to handstands in the shallow end.  I just thought it was funny how such a mundane, industrial smell can instantaneously put me in a good mood.  Are there smells that do that for you? 

Boston - Friday night and Saturday

So for Labor Day weekend, Daniel and I went up to Boston to celebrate our 4-year anniversary (on September 8).  We both took buses from our respective cities, and met up at the Boston bus station around 11:30 pm on Friday night.  I really enjoyed my bus ride -- it was on Megabus, leaving from Penn Station.  They just told us to meet on a random street corner, but when you get there, they have this whole efficient operation in place.  Buses are leaving literally every 5 or 10 minutes -- to Baltimore, Boston, Philly, DC, you name it -- so they have 2 or 3 guys directing incoming buses, having people form lines for each destination, and then announcing boarding.  I was very impressed -- all those steps only took like 10 minutes, from the bus stopping to the bus leaving again. 

I took Megabus from NYC to Boston

The lobby of the Ames Hotel

Guestroom in the Ames Hotel

Inside the Paramount

Typical food at Paramount for brunch

I had fun riding up to Boston since I managed to get the front seat on the 2nd floor of the bus.  So I had this huge, expansive window in front of me and I had a great view of all the stuff we were driving by.  I got a good glimpse at the new Yankee stadium on the way out of NYC!  On the way up there, we ran into Hurricane Earl on the outskirts of Boston, but it really wasn't much, just a rainstorm.  So Daniel and I met up at the bus station and caught a taxi to our hotel, the Ames Hotel, right in the middle of Boston. We were right next to 2 subway stations, and across the street from the Old State House, one of the key landmarks on the Freedom Trail.  Since we were tired from our trips, we went to bed like right away.   The next morning, we asked our hotel concierge for a good place to have brunch.  We tells us it's the Paramount, in the Beacon Hill section of Boston.  It was about a 15 minute walk over there, but really lovely, since we walked through Boston Commons and the quaint residential sections of Beacon Hill.  But, the Paramount was SO good that everyone in Boston knows it's good, so there was like a 1 hour wait.  We waited it out, though, partly because we'd already waited awhile, partly because we were hungry and the food looked good, and partly because we had just gotten to Boston and had no idea of another place to eat.  The Paramount is a made-to-order place, so you grab a tray, tell 'em what you want, you see it being made, and then you pick it up and pay for it.  I got some delicious chocolate chip pancakes and then ate some fruit from Daniel's fruit bowl : ) 

The red brick line -- the Freedom Trail!

Granary burying ground

Mosaic at the site of the first public school

With our stomachs full, we set off to conquer the Freedom Trail.  The Freedom Trail is a collection of historic buildings in Boston -- churches, graveyards, houses, statues, monuments, etc.  But they're not marked or labeled, so they make some money by selling you booklets that guide you along the path (which is marked on the street by a brick red line!), or by going on guided tours.  I bought a booklet in the visitor's center, and we set off.  The weather was absolutely perfect, so we took our time strolling through Boston Commons. One interesting stop was Granary burying ground, where Sam Adams, John Hancock, etc. are buried. The gravestones were mostly from 1660-1800ish, and alot of them were in bad shape and illegible, as you would think after 300 years. But there a couple that were crystal clear, and it was amazing.  People have started leaving pennies on the famous guys' headstones, for good luck I guess. We wandered to some other churches and graveyards, and then went to the site of the first public school.  There was a beautiful old building in the Federal style, marble with columns, but it's been turned into a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.  Still, there was a pretty mosaic on the sidewalk outside commemorating the public school. 

Me in front of the Old State House and Boston Massacre Site

Next was the Old State House, which is the only building on the Freedom Trail with its own museum and gift shop and stuff.  They had a little tour about the site of the Boston Massacre, which was right outside, and it was basically a narrative of what happened that night, and how it was used by the rebels as propaganda for their cause.  The museum inside was pretty interesting, a basic overview of revolutionary Boston and a room of artifacts.  Daniel found the cane that Senator Preston Brooks (from South Carolina) used to beat another Senator with, from the debates about slavery before the Civil War.

After the Old State House, we wandered to Faneuil Hall.  It was pretty touristy, with street performers, souvenir vendors, and chain stores.  The actual historic building has a food marketplace on the first level, and the historic meeting room on the second level, which is actually still used for a lot of civic events.  We ended up eating at a pub there, because we had to quickly catch the subway to go to a Boston Red Sox game!

Us in front of Faneuil Hall

We took the T to Fenway Park, and our seats ended up being great!  They were like in the first level on the 1st base line.  Definitely the closest seats I've ever had at a game, and the view was amazing.  We got some typical stadium food, like beer and icecream.  Unfortunately, the Red Sox lost to the Chicago White Sox : (

The view from our seats

More to come on Sunday and Monday's activities tomorrow....

Columbia University!

So this past weekend was pretty brutal in terms of packing and moving out of my Philadelphia apartment.  It was really hot out and it's just so much harder packing when you have furniture and kitchen stuff.  It's not fun like moving into a dorm is, when all you have to do is bring clothes and school supplies.  And to make it even worse, the elevators in my building randomly stopped working both days we were moving out -- and since I'm on the 6th floor, it was impossible to move heavy stuff without them.  So we eventually got everything together -- in 1 rented UHaul truck and our minivan.  On Monday we drove from NJ to NYC; it wasn't too bad, but we had to wait awhile on the George Washington Bridge because of traffic.  We got here around 9, and I went to the housing office to get my keys -- they herded you back into a conference room in groups of 10, and gave you a stack of papers you had to sign.  They had a PowerPoint presentation of a photo of each form, telling you where you had to sign.  I was impressed, it made it very efficient.  But of course I got stuck with international students and people with wives and children, all of which require special forms and stuff.

So my apartment building is basically a brownstone.  It's pretty small, only 6 floors, with 4 apartments on each floor.  We had to hire 2 moving guys to move my coach and bed and stuff, because the elevator is the tiniest one I've ever seen -- the opening is actually only 20 inches wide.  My apartment is pretty nice, it has new hardwood floors, and the living room is at least double the size of the one in my Philly apartment. My bedroom is a tad bigger as well, so I can fit my desk in it, which is nice. The only tough things are sharing the common space in the bathroom and kitchen -- I'm not used to only having half a medicine cabinet, and half the fridge, and half the kitchen cabinets.

Our apartment is ungodly hot, since we're on the top floor and it's like 97 degrees out.  The first day we met a girl in the hardware store on my corner, and she looked familiar, but I didn't say anything.  She had an extra air conditioner that she was offering to us for cheap. And when my parents went to go pick it up, it turns out I knew her from Princeton! Small world.  Anyway, because in NYC if you install the air conditioner wrong, it could fall many stories down, they require you to get a professional person to install it.  So I had no idea who to contact, so for the first couple of days I was sitting here in the heat with an AC unit literally sitting right in front of me, but no way to use it.  Eventually I found some people and they installed it yesterday, and it's made my life so much better.  When it's that hot, it's almost impossible to even think straight, I would basically just sit in my room and not be able to move, because the heat would make me feel so tired and sluggish.

Anyway, that's a little bit about the move out of Philly and my apartment.  More to come on orientation : )

New Haven and Packing

Yale

So my last day of work was last Friday.  No one ever stays until 5:30 pm on their last day, so I managed to leave around 3:00.  It was kind of awkward saying goodbye to people.  Actually, it was most awkward saying goodbye to the other associates -- it was somewhere along the lines of "peace out, catch you in NYC sometime".  My managers were really nice, asking me about my PhD plans, thanking me for the work I did, saying they were sure I would do well in my endeavors, and offering help and advice if I needed it in the future.  I managed to fit all my cubicle paraphernalia into one tote bag.  I felt naked leaving behind my ID badge.  So I  got back to my apartment and left right away for New Haven so I could see Daniel!   Traffic was worse than normal, since I was actually traveling when other normal people are out on the road, rather than like at 11 pm on a Sunday night, haha.  So I got there and hung out at Yale's student bar, chatting with Daniel while he checked IDs at the door.  And I actually ran into a couple people I knew -- a former colleague from ZS who's starting his PhD at Yale, and secondly, a fellow Princetonian who I spent my freshman summer in Cleveland with, as part of the Summer on the Cuyahoga program.  The Harvard-Yale-Princeton network is very closely intertwined : ) 

Settlers of Cataan -  Cities & Knights

On Saturday we played a good game of Ultimate at a field in New Haven.  Nice big field, no big mud puddles or dead grass.  And a little water fountain on the side of the field  : )  After lunch at UNO's, we played two games of Settler Cities & Knights.  I hadn't explained the rules in awhile, so there were some nitpicky details I had to look up.  But it was fun, a 3-person board is a good way to explain the new version.  We had dinner at Geronimo's, a southwestern tequila bar grill place.  I was afraid of sneaky spiciness, so I just got a burger.

On Sunday, it was rainy and dreary and cold and one of those days where you just want to curl up in front of a fireplace with a book and blanket.  Except it was in the middle of August.   So, anyway, we went to Blockbuster, but it turns out it was closing so they were selling DVDs instead of renting them.   And they were also selling like the cardboard covers from the DVD boxes, for thousands of movies.  We spent like a half hour looking through all of them, trying to find good ones.  We ended up getting 30 of them -- about 10" x 6".  Daniel's gonna make his into coasters, and I think mine just might be little posters on the wall.  So for the movie, we got a blu-ray version of The Hurt Locker, since Daniel can play those movies on his computer and hook it up to his laptop.  And then we went grocery shopping for ingredients to make super-duper homemade lasagna, where 'super-duper' means a million ingredients from scratch.  So we got a lot of random things like bayleaves, fresh basil, carrots, italian sausage, etc.  And then we made the lasagne (both of us had never made lasagne before, so it was crazy fun), and cooked it while watching the Hurt Locker.  A pretty perfect lazy Sunday, no?  Oh, and we had some wine and cheese before cooking : ) And the best part?  Since I didn't have to get back to Philly for work, I was able to stay Sunday night and leave Monday morning.  It's AMAZING how much difference an extra 12 hours can make.  It made our Sunday so much more relaxing and we were able to slow down and have fun and appreciate our dinner and movie.

Boston!

And all this past week, I've been packing up my apartment.  On Monday I had my last hip-hop class at my gym : (  I think I'll sign up for a class at Columbia's gym. Hopefully it's just as good and at the same difficulty level.  On Wednesday, I played softball for ZS, since they always need people (and girls).  We actually won!  It was a great game, since our opponents were the same skill level as us, so we were tied most of the game.  I played 2nd base and fielded a lot of ground hits and got some outs at 1st base : )  And yesterday was some more pick-up frisbee at a field in the ghetto of West Philly.  The field was pretty small and we had 7 on 7, so I got pretty frustrated, since we could barely cut to the disc since people were cluttering up the space.  Plus someone was smoking weed right near the field, and that disgusting smell annoyed me too.  Haha, anyway, just more packing this weekend, and the big move day is Monday!  And then a week of orientation and then a trip to Boston with Daniel for Labor Day (but really for our 4-year anniversary!)

Atlantic City! -- Part 1

Raechel driving!

AC skyline as we drive in on the expressway

Our hotel, the Atlantic City Hilton

So two weekends ago, Raechel, Lindsay and I went to Atlantic City to celebrate Lindsay's 24th birthday, from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon.  Raechel drove us, and we left at the crack of dawn on Saturday (well...9 am, but still).  It was a pretty fun ride, with a stop at Wawa to grab some of their grapes, cheese and crackers snacks.  We got to our hotel, the Hilton, right around lunchtime.  It was a really nice hotel, the typical ultra-fancy and ultra-luxurious lobby that all the casinos have.  Our room was pretty spacious, especially the bathroom, which is a big plus when you have 3 girls getting ready at the same time : )  So right away we hit the beach -- it wasn't too hot that weekend, only like 78 or so, so it wasn't the perfect beach day, but it was still relaxing and everything.  I managed not to get sunburned, woohoo! I always use the spray sunscreen, and I finally learned that I actually have to rub it in and around so that it reaches all the spots, or else I get random sunburned patches on my stomach, like what happened in Punta Cana.  We had lunch at one of the beachside bars at our hotel.  The frozen drinks were awesome, but the food was underwhelming -- we ordered hamburgers and sandwiches and stuff, but they came as boxed lunches, so they weren't fresh : (   After we got our fill of the beach, we packed up and walked along the boardwalk for awhile to check it out.  Since our hotel was all the way at the southern tip, we didn't get too far before having to turn back to get ready for dinner, but we explored the Tropicana a bit, and got some rock candy, ice cream, and chocolates.  Mmmm.

The beachside bar where we ate lunch on Saturday

The Atlantic City beach outside the Hilton!

Walking along the boardwalk

The restaurant we ate at Saturday night

The delicious birthday dessert

So we got back to the hotel around 5, thinking we had enough time to get ready before our dinner reservations at 6:30.  But with 3 girls getting ready with only 1 shower, 1 hairdryer (circa 1985), and 2 mirrors, there was no way that was happening. We all had brought like 3 different dresses, 3 different pairs of shoes, and tons of makeup and stuff so it was a dilemma trying to pick out the perfect outfit.  So we get all dressed up, because we went to the bars and clubs right after dinner.  However, we didn't realize the restaurant was sooo far down the boardwalk, like on the far northern tip, so I walked like 1.5 miles (each way!) in 3 inch heels on the boardwalk. By the end of the night I thought my feet were going to be permanently stuck in that position.  So we had dinner at this place called Megan's Good Grub & Pub, which was actually somewhat fancy, except Raechel and I didn't really like any of the entrees, so we both got burgers.  We were eating at the tables outside, and at one point this homeless man came up to our table and was being very aggressive and confrontational. So we called over one of the waiters, and he handled the homeless guy for us : )  It was also pretty chilly that night, so we were all kind of freezing during dinner.  This place had the tiniest french fries I have ever seen, they were so small it was hard to pick them up with your fingers.  At the end of dinner, Raechel "surprised" Lindsay with a birthday dessert -- a warm brownie with vanilla icecream.  Sooo good. 

Sweethearts

You know when there's a marriage announcement or something about a couple, and they say "they were high school sweethearts" or "college sweethearts"?  Why can't other couples be "sweethearts"?  I guess these high-school and college couples are somehow cuter and more aww-worthy just because they met earlier?  What exactly is it about meeting in high school or college that makes us more in love with these types of couples?  That's my thought of the day.

iPods

So one of my pet peeves is people who can't walk a couple blocks or drive 10 minutes or anything without having their iPod buds in their ears.   Like, is real life honestly that boring that you can't stand to just listen to the sounds around you?  It seems so pointless to me to spend time to get out your iPod, put the buds in, pick a song, and stuff, when you're just going to work or school or something.  Just give it a rest and sit there and actually interact with the world around you.  Would it kill you if you didn't have music blasting in your ears for your 20 minute commute or whatever?  The reason this annoys me is because when I'm walking in downtown Philly to work, there's always kiosks or flower stands or something that impede the flow of pedestrians on the sidewalk.  So we kind of have to scrunch together, have the fast people past the slow ones and stuff.  But when I'm trying to pass the people with their iPods on, they (obviously) can't hear you coming up from behind them, so when you're just walking besides them, kind of close b/c you're trying to avoid the kiosk or whatever, they give you this weird look, like "where in the world did you come from?".  And sometimes I just want to be like "I was here all along, maybe you would have noticed if you didn't have some weird need to block out all the normal sounds around you."  So yes, people, take the iPod out of your ears and enjoy the sounds of everyday life, interact with your surroundings and be aware of stuff going on.

Taco Night!

So on Friday night, Noah hosted taco night at his place.  It was a really simple idea, and it turned out to be really, really fun.  The idea originally spawned because he makes great homemade guacamole, and he wanted people to actually enjoy it with a meal rather than randomly during a midnight snack.  So there were like 7 of us in his parents' kitchen (Noah, MaryBeth, me, Erin, Sarah, Jeff and Ian), and we all brought ingredients, and for half hour or so we were chopping onions, cooking meat, making guac, baking cakes, and blending daquiris.

It just felt awesome all contributing and participating, and in the end, we made a delicious meal that we all enjoyed together (pictures to come....).  Cooking really is a great way to bond, one of those rare activities where you can actually have a conversation while doing something (unlike watching TV, movies or playing sports or something).  Anyway, Taco Night was definitely a success, and I can't wait to do something like it again!

Oops

So I was trying to make this blog private, so it made me list the e-mail addresses of people I wanted to "allow", so I just listed people who had told me they read it or had commented, in case they wanted to keep reading it.  Little did I know that they would actually send out e-mails to all of you.  I'm sorry for clogging your inboxes! 

Bug!

On Saturday I found the first bug in my apartment.  And this wasn't some sissy little ladybug or ant or anything like that.  This was an insect almost too big to be called an insect.  Like, 2 inches, pushing 3 inches.  I FREAKED out.  I grabbed a sneaker, but even that got me a little too close for comfort when I tried to kill it.  I was debating putting on my highest pair of high heels to put a little more distance between me and the bug.   But my attempt was ultimately unsuccessful.  It ran away into one of my closets, and my state of blissful ignorance is gone.  Having a bug here and knowing about it is worse than having one and not knowing about it.  Uggh, gross.

Going Private

So I think this blog is being read by people other than my friends, so I'm gonna make it private.  If you're anyone I've talked to, like, in the past 10 years, then I have no problem giving you access, so make yourself known and give me the email address you want me to "allow".  Thanks!

Frisbee, Bang and Roommates

So on Wednesday I went home to Jersey for one of the last frisbee games of the summer.  Other than the unusually high humidity, it was the usual hour and a half of awesome fun.   Then we played Bang for awhile, which was kind of interesting since we had 7 people so there was some actual strategy going on.  But then I screwed up as Renegade by targeting the Sheriff instead of the Outlaws --- oops, my bad.  And then yesterday I played frisbee with some randos here, like in a field in the ghetto of West Philly (it's weird when you're driving through West Philly and you hear the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song...you almost expect Will Smith to pop out of nowhere).   And this was a really casual game of frisbee, just like 3 on 3, half the people couldn't even throw a disc and had never played before. And this one guy is wearing cleats -- which is completely unnecessary, since the grass isn't wet and it's not competitive whatsoever.  And this is one of those guys that can't control his feet -- you know how some people walk with a purpose, mindfully putting their feet down in a controlled manner, whereas some people just flop and flail all over the place?  Well this guy was the latter.  And of course he's guarding me and I do a couple fake-outs to lose him, but since he can't control his feet, he stomps on my right foot HARD, with his cleat.  And I'm out for the night.  I can barely walk since whenever I try to contract my toes, it's excruciating pain.  And then I have to drive back to my apartment, which is hard trying to press the gas pedal with a bum foot.  So I'm like crying my eyes out but of course I have to stop crying because the freaking parking valet guys are always all up in my business and they'd give me 20 questions if they saw me crying.  So I put ice on it for the rest of the night, trying to avoid going to the hospital, and I wake up this morning and it's almost all better, miraculously.  It's still a little painful to walk correctly, but I'm gonna try going to the gym today and we'll see how that goes.

In other news, my roommate from Columbia finally responded to my email! Yay!   Turns out she's already been in the apartment for a year.  Kinda weird, I feel like I'm encroaching in on her territory a bit.  But she says it's a "very nice apartment", which is awesome.  We have to figure out furniture for the common areas, etc.

New Foods

So this past weekend I had a relaxing, normal weekend in New Haven. On Sunday, Daniel and I were eating at Red Lobster.  And, as we all know, I am somewhat of a picky eater, and thus Daniel discovered that I had never really had crab before, and wanted me to try it.  So he gives me a hefty piece of crab, and I chew it, and my reaction is kind of neutral. It's ok, it's a pleasant taste, but I just don't get why people go crazy for it, consider it a delicacy, and pay lots of money for it.  I say to Daniel "Eh, I don't know, it's not that different from chicken".  And Daniel says that yeah, it's not some far-out, super-exotic-tasting meat that will blow your mind, but sometimes variety is the only thing that matters.  And I didn't realize that at the time, but it's so true.

Why do people eat different types of foods?  Surely they could simply find the one they liked the best and eat that for every single meal (which I have been guilty of many times....).  But sometimes, even if you love chicken in all its forms, you just don't want chicken anymore.  So even if you have to eat something that's not your #1 favorite food, that's ok, and that's what makes life exciting - to go out to a restaurant and give something a shot and not know what exactly you're going to experience when it hits your tastebuds.  That discovery and curiosity and risk-taking is something new to me, and I definitely want to try more of it.  I have a feeling there might be more crab in my future, and less chicken : )

Dancing

Am I the only female who never took a single dance class as a child?  Sometimes I feel like I am.  Just a thought.

Thoughts on Inception

Here are my thoughts on Inception:

• It was too long, and the script could have been tighter. I found myself getting distracted and bored in the middle.
• Marion Cotillard was excellent as his wife, and Leonardo DiCaprio was good as well.  I don't think Ellen Page was the right fit for the part. DiCaprio could have done with an older, wiser female by his side.  That said, the scriptwriters made Ellen behave like the stereotypical dumb female - sitting in the corner and asking obvious questions while the men are out fighting. 
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt: it was interesting to see him in an action movie, after his role in 500 Days of Summer.  I think he pulled it off.  Although I felt bad for him to get stuck with the boring elevator hotel scenes while the rest of the crew was off killing people in Siberia.
• Which brings me to...the Sibera-like post-apocalypse scene that lasted like the entire second half of the movie.  Was there really any need to have it in that dramatic of a setting? I don't think so.  It was kind of distracting.  I would love if it anyone could tell me if there was any real reason why it needed to be in a location like that. 
• I kind of wish they had shown the guy dissolving his empire conglomerate at the end.

Philadelphia Orchestra + Planet Earth

Last night I went to the Mann Center, which is a huge amphitheater in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia.  So I get in my car and start driving along these windy roads in the park, with no buildings around and no place to pull off until you get out of the park.  So Google Maps says it takes 20 minutes, so after about 15 minutes I still haven't come to the turn I was supposed to make.  But I tell myself to stop being paranoid, and that it's probably just around the corner.  So I keep driving, but after 25 minutes I'm like "Ok, maybe I should pull out the GPS on the iPhone to see where I am..."  And I'm MILES away from my destination, like on the OPPOSITE side of the Schukyll River, across a major bridge, etc.  And these are park roads with a median in the middle and no shoulders, so I have to drive another 10 minutes before I can turn around.  That's the worst  feeling in the world -- knowing that you're driving in the absolutely wrong direction, but you have no way of  turning around.

Anyway, I finally get there, and I paid about $40 to have an actual seat in the amphitheater (as compared to a lawn "seat").  And the program was AMAZING.  They had about 4 to 5-minute clips from Planet Earth that the Philadelphia Orchestra played to.  The composer/conductor of the original Planet Earth score was conducting the orchestra, so it was fantastic.  There were about 6 songs, and intermission, and another 6 songs.  In between each song, this guy would tell incredible stories about the clip we were about to see, and also about how they were able to capture these rare moments on film.  He had a British accent, which made it so much better : )   

Anyway, there was one clip with elephants migrating across the Kalahari Desert to reach water in Botswana, and they were the "happiest elephants ever" when they arrived there - it was so cute, they were trumpeting their trunks and splashing in the water and playing with each other.  Another segment involved the snow leopard in the mountains of Pakistan.  This animal is so elusive that BBC had sent one cameraman to look for it, and that guy lived in the Pakistani mountains for 3 months, and started hallucinating, thinking rocks were moving.  So they replaced him with another cameraman, who stayed in those mountains for another 4 months, and he started hallucinating again, but one time those "moving" rocks were actually a snow leopard! 

The last segment I liked was showing cranes migrating from central Asia to India, and to do this, they have to pass over Mount Everest.  Yes, that's right, OVER Mount Everest.  Not around it or to the side of it, but on top of it.  And with the lack of oxygen up there, you can see that each flap of their wings is a monumental effort. 

All in all, I am so glad that I went.  Despite getting lost, it was an extremely talented orchestra with some incredible film shots, topped off with the original composer/conductor of the Planet Earth score!