Sweetest Day

So I was at the grocery store today in the greeting card aisle and I saw a section for Sweetest Day, on October 15.  Never heard of it? Neither had I. Upon looking at the cards, it seems like greeting card companies have concocted this holiday, which is essentially Valentine's Day in the fall.  Crazy!

Climate Week NYC

New exciting environmental thing to tell you all about! Came across the website for Climate Week NYC--a whole array of lectures, panels, film screenings, etc. about climate change and what NYC's role is.  Looks exciting.  Will have to make sure to clear my schedule so I can attend some. 

Things You Should Not Do in A Cubicle Office Setting

• Use a mouse on a hard surface without a mousepad--most loud and annoying sound ever
• Slurp tea (or anything, for that matter)
• Chomp on nuts so loud so that people across the room can hear you
• Play with a remote-controlled airplane that makes an ear-splitting noise
• Whistle
• Play music without headphones

And what have the other grad students in my office done in the past 2 days? All of the above.  aaaarrggh

Climate Reality Project

So I've been ignoring this blog for awhile, but I think I'm back now.  I'm going to start off by posting something I find interesting, which is called the Climate Reality Project.  It's a new intiative run by Al Gore, and it's a multimedia event happening in September, in which people from around the world will speak about how their climate is changing and how it's impacting their daily lives.  It's an effort to shed light on real things happening right here and right now as a result of climate change, to show incontrovertible proof to those people who say climate change isn't real.  The program is still being developed, but I've signed up for the e-mail updates, and am looking forward to the events in the NYC location.

Conversations

So I had lunch today with other Princetonians in Columbia grad school.  And the quirkiness of our conversations just had to be shared. Today at lunch we discussed, among other things:

• A play in NYC that it's a 6-story former hotel.  It's interactive, and you traverse all 6 stories along with the actors as the play progresses.
• A restaurant in France where you're completely in the dark, and the waiters are blindfolded, and you have to feel around and use your other senses while you eat.  You can also order a "surprise" dish if you want.
• Some research at Columbia where they're trying to get people to be able to move objects just using their brain.

Such interesting topics!

Computers

Two things you should not be doing if you're using a computer in an open office environment:

• Using a mouse without a mousepad
• Using a laptop without a mouse (using the clickpad)

Both of these are noisy and extremely annoying when trying to concentrate.  You're in your 20s, people, learn some professional decorum. 

Commuting

So my normal route home from Long Island is to take 295 to 278 W to 87 N, where I get off at exit 4, which is Yankees Stadium.  So, now that baseball season has started, and I get home around 6:30 pm, and the Yankees game starts at 7:05 pm, I knew I needed another route to get back to the UWS.  So yesterday in the car I use Google maps and my GPS and fiddle around and find another route.  I follow it out, and it seems fine, but whaddya know, the exit I get off on from the highway happens to be the exit for the Mets' Citi Field!  Just can't win when you live in NYC.  Luckily there was no game-related traffic, but I'm not sure if it will stay that way for long.  Although I'm guessing the Yankees are more popular than the Mets, so maybe I'll stick to the Mets' route.

Interesting study

People who go to church are fatter

So this study discovered that religious, church-going people are more likely to be obese and have cardiovascular disease.  It's interesting to think about why--the article says that maybe religious people marry earlier, and that common knowledge is that many people gain weight after they marry.  Or, they suggest, the time people devote to religious activities takes the place of physical activity.  Overall, an interesting thought-provoking article.

Pharmacy

So I've had a bad sinus infection and today I went to the Columbia health clinic (and got the same bitchy doctor as last time), and got a prescription for antibiotics.  But instead of going to the Duane Reade, I went to the little Hartley Pharmacy on the corner of 120th and Amsterdam.  And the pharmacist there was really nice and we were complaining together about having difficulty swallowing large pills.  Anyway, I just like supporting the little shops.

Walkie Talkies

So in my lab, the facility is so big and we have to be doing simultaneous things in different locations so we use walkie talkies.  And this has actually made the whole research thing a lot of fun.  And I got to thinking, why are walkie-talkies so fun? If we compare them to cell phones, they're very similar.  They're mobile, small, 2-way, etc etc.  The only thing I can think of is that walkie talkies are associated with "cool" people -- FBI agents, secret agents, Secret Service, security of all sorts.  When you use one, you feel kind of important and unique and like your work is special enough to deserve walkie-talkies. 

Late-night productivity

So last night I got less than 7 hours of sleep, which would normally make me really cranky, lethargic, and unproductive.  But, lo and behold, I've been relatively normal today, and (look at the timestamp) I'm actually productively reading scientific articles and filling out forms for EGSC social events all the way until midnight without feeling tired.  Maybe this will backfire, but I think I'm going to try getting less sleep (6.5 hrs) and see what happens. 

Updates from the gym

• So here's something I don't get.  In the winter, it's cold outside, yet it's the EXACT same temperature INSIDE the gym.  Yet all the girls wear workout pants during the winter, not shorts.  So you're choosing to be uncomfortably hot while working out, just because the outside temperature happens to be different?  
• So with being away on weekends and going to group exercise classes instead, I hadn't been on the treadmills since last week.  So I went this morning, and lo and behold, the New Year's resolution people have already quit! The gym is so much less busy and I can actually move around and have any machine I want.  At the Bally's in Philly I went to, the New Year's resolution people didn't quit until mid-March or so. 

Valentine's Day problem

The problem with living near Harlem is that when you go to Duane Reade to get a Valentine's Day card, all of the cards either refer to the Gospel or have pictures of black people all over them.  Guess I need to go downtown....lol

Too many good things!

I literally have 3 parties I could go to this Saturday night, and 4 parties I could go to on Sunday for the Superbowl.  Why does everything fun all happen at the same time??

Good Feelings

Here are little things that make me happy:

• Dreading make dinner and then realizing that I have restaurant leftovers waiting for me in the fridge.
• Finishing a bottle of shampoo/soap/etc. that you realized you didn't like the first time you tried it, but felt obligated to finish anyway.  This just happened to me with my shampoo, and I'm so happy I can finally go back to one I like.  : )

Rock Climbing

Rock climbing gym at the Manhattan Plaza Health Club

So I'm going rock climbing tomorrow with some of my labmates at an indoor gym near Times Square (at 3 pm on a workday...I guess academia sometimes has it's perks).  I haven't been rock climbing since high school.  Princeton had a wall and it was free on some nights, but it was always on weekend nights when I had lots of fun things to do at Quad, so I never went.  Anyway, in high school I wasn't that bad, in fact it was pretty fun (as long as I was on the "easy" wall, lol).  I remember that it takes a lot more upper body strength than lower body strength, so hopefully I haven't lost that since high school.  Anyway, I have no idea how it's going to go, hopefully I don't completely wipe out in front of my labmates, but either way I'm glad to be trying something (kind of) new!

Traveling

So I've been thinking about places I need to go to visit old friends, and it's quite a long list:

• San Francisco, CA
• Los Angeles, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Madison, WI
• Chicago, IL
• Atlanta, GA
• Little Rock, AR
• Washington, D.C.
• Boston, MA

So, in 2011, I will either be taking an awesome road trip, or a couple of flights.  Either way, it should be tons of fun : )