I know I just posted a rant about tonight's dinner, but to calm down, how about a happiness list?
1. Went on a shopping spree at Trader Joe's. The soy chorizo is gone again, but we did pick up some fun stuff like a mushroom truffle flatbread and truffle cheese and more yummy Japanese fried rice.
2. The weather was gorgeous (in the low 80s). I've been on a limited activity regimen the past few days for an unfortunate medical condition, so we couldn't bike downtown. But we took the subway down to Chelsea and then strolled across town on 13th Street. It was a beautiful walk down some tree-lined streets, past lots of restaurants, and it was such wonderful, sunny weather.
3. Finally took my mom out to dinner to celebrate her (belated) birthday and Mother's Day. It's nice spending time with family for happy occasions.
4. Good Lebanese food - kafta kebab, chicken kebab, sumac fries, toum, kebbe kras. Reminds me that I need to pick up some sumac from Fairway.
5. Watched even more Marvel movies. More Thor in the afternoon and then X-Men First Class at night (to refresh for the new one!).
6. Frozen Free Fall is so much fun! (Better than Maleficent Free Fall.)
7. Reliving our old European adventures from this day in history and actually making progress on our food blogging (but sadly not our trip blogging).
8. The Rangers won in OT! (WOOHOO!)
Monday, May 26, 2014
Ten Dollar Mistake
Let me give you a scenario.
You're at a restaurant. It's one of those places that gives you a complimentary bread basket. (So you're not in Europe.) The bread, lucky for you, isn't some sort of plain roll, but maybe some focaccia or a garlic bread. It comes with some herbs on the side in olive oil or some herb butter. The server comes over later and sees that your bread basket is empty. The server asks if you would like another bread basket. You loved the bread so you say, "Of course!" The server says they'll be back with some more bread soon. More bread arrives shortly thereafter.
In this scenario, would you expect to pay for the second bread basket?
No, of course not. I can only think of 3 scenarios when you would: (1) if the menu stated that more bread was extra, (2) if the bread basket is on the menu as an appetizer or a side, or (3) if the server mentioned that, FYI, there will be a cost for another bread basket. If the server offers more bread and doesn't say there's a charge, why would you think there would be one?
Replace "complimentary bread basket" with plate of za'atar-dusted baked pita and the olive oil or butter with labne, and that's exactly what happened at dinner tonight.
We got the bill and saw a $10 charge for pita bread that we had no idea wasn't free. If we knew, we would never have agreed to the extra za'atar pita. We always eat too much bread, leaving not enough room for the entree. So if we knew there was a charge, we probably wouldn't have gotten more, and we definitely wouldn't have gotten two more.
We asked the server why we were never told we would be charged for the extra za'atar pita. Nowhere on the menu did it say there was a charge for more, there was no za'atar pita appetizer on the menu, and she had never once told us we would have to pay for extra plates of pita. Her response? That was why she asked us if we wanted plain or za'atar pita.
Well, yes, you did ask us that. But how are we supposed to infer from that question, which appeared to be a clarification since we had just finished a plate of regular pita (see, we had more than enough bread), that this meant that the za'atar one was an extra charge? So we mentioned again, that she had not said there would be a charge. Her answer? "Well, I asked you if you wanted plain or za'atar. I can't tell you there's a charge."
Excuse me? You can't tell us there's a charge? Why not?
I was completely dumbfounded. I get that some people get all up in arms about hearing prices for specials and think it's uncouth for a server to talk about exact prices. (I'm not one of those people, but I've heard that argument enough times.) But this is different. If someone orders a special and you haven't given the price, they know they're paying for it, just not the exact amount. If we are offered bread, which was given to us without charge the first time, how could we be expected to know that we'd have to pay for more? Saying you "can't" tell us there's a charge makes it sound like you knew you were duping us and knew that we weren't aware of the charge. Sounds shady!
It's unfortunate because we had a really good experience at dinner otherwise. The entrees took forever to come (which seems to be a frequent issue there), but that was okay since we were relaxing and talking (and had eaten so much darn pita). The food was very good, even if some portions were on the smaller side. It was a great experience until we got the bill and that ridiculous response. A bit of a turn-off, really.
The owner tried to make it better by offering us some free dessert. That was nice of him, but we were so full from dinner (and all that pita that we had to pay for). We just wanted our $10 credited back to us.
When we were in Greece, it took us some time to realize that they charged for bread, but that's how they do things in Greece. You pay for bread, you pay for water. Different cultures, different social norms. But in Manhattan, I've never been somewhere where bread wasn't free, and if you offer us more, it should be free too. If there's a cost, say so. Let us make that choice.
Do you think we're totally off base here or do you think our annoyance is reasonable?
You're at a restaurant. It's one of those places that gives you a complimentary bread basket. (So you're not in Europe.) The bread, lucky for you, isn't some sort of plain roll, but maybe some focaccia or a garlic bread. It comes with some herbs on the side in olive oil or some herb butter. The server comes over later and sees that your bread basket is empty. The server asks if you would like another bread basket. You loved the bread so you say, "Of course!" The server says they'll be back with some more bread soon. More bread arrives shortly thereafter.
In this scenario, would you expect to pay for the second bread basket?
No, of course not. I can only think of 3 scenarios when you would: (1) if the menu stated that more bread was extra, (2) if the bread basket is on the menu as an appetizer or a side, or (3) if the server mentioned that, FYI, there will be a cost for another bread basket. If the server offers more bread and doesn't say there's a charge, why would you think there would be one?
Replace "complimentary bread basket" with plate of za'atar-dusted baked pita and the olive oil or butter with labne, and that's exactly what happened at dinner tonight.
We got the bill and saw a $10 charge for pita bread that we had no idea wasn't free. If we knew, we would never have agreed to the extra za'atar pita. We always eat too much bread, leaving not enough room for the entree. So if we knew there was a charge, we probably wouldn't have gotten more, and we definitely wouldn't have gotten two more.
We asked the server why we were never told we would be charged for the extra za'atar pita. Nowhere on the menu did it say there was a charge for more, there was no za'atar pita appetizer on the menu, and she had never once told us we would have to pay for extra plates of pita. Her response? That was why she asked us if we wanted plain or za'atar pita.
Well, yes, you did ask us that. But how are we supposed to infer from that question, which appeared to be a clarification since we had just finished a plate of regular pita (see, we had more than enough bread), that this meant that the za'atar one was an extra charge? So we mentioned again, that she had not said there would be a charge. Her answer? "Well, I asked you if you wanted plain or za'atar. I can't tell you there's a charge."
Excuse me? You can't tell us there's a charge? Why not?
I was completely dumbfounded. I get that some people get all up in arms about hearing prices for specials and think it's uncouth for a server to talk about exact prices. (I'm not one of those people, but I've heard that argument enough times.) But this is different. If someone orders a special and you haven't given the price, they know they're paying for it, just not the exact amount. If we are offered bread, which was given to us without charge the first time, how could we be expected to know that we'd have to pay for more? Saying you "can't" tell us there's a charge makes it sound like you knew you were duping us and knew that we weren't aware of the charge. Sounds shady!
It's unfortunate because we had a really good experience at dinner otherwise. The entrees took forever to come (which seems to be a frequent issue there), but that was okay since we were relaxing and talking (and had eaten so much darn pita). The food was very good, even if some portions were on the smaller side. It was a great experience until we got the bill and that ridiculous response. A bit of a turn-off, really.
The owner tried to make it better by offering us some free dessert. That was nice of him, but we were so full from dinner (and all that pita that we had to pay for). We just wanted our $10 credited back to us.
When we were in Greece, it took us some time to realize that they charged for bread, but that's how they do things in Greece. You pay for bread, you pay for water. Different cultures, different social norms. But in Manhattan, I've never been somewhere where bread wasn't free, and if you offer us more, it should be free too. If there's a cost, say so. Let us make that choice.
Do you think we're totally off base here or do you think our annoyance is reasonable?
Friday, May 16, 2014
Phone Sounds
I really don't understand why TV shows insist on having cell phone sounds on when that's not how most of these characters would operate in real life.
Sure, I get that there are some instances where you would want the phone to ring when you're in a public place or at work. Like on cop shows where you're interviewing someone and you want them to know you're taking a call and receiving a piece of information. Fine, that makes sense. Or if you're at home. That makes sense too. But in a restaurant? In an office meeting? Yes, in real life, people do forget to turn their phone sounds off sometimes, but our social norms are for phones to be on vibrate or silent.
In one of the episodes of Elementary that we watched tonight (episode 2.21, "The Man With the Twisted Lip"), Joan is at a restaurant and attempts to surreptitiously take a photo of men that are conducting suspicious activities at the restaurant. She finishes her conversation, turns her phone camera towards them, and then, click! You hear the click of the phone camera taking the picture. Why, why, why would you do that? If she's trying to be secretive, then she would never have the sound on. If it were on before that while she was at the restaurant (which I doubt, since she seems like the type to follow phone etiquette), then surely she would check it before taking a secret photo, right? I could not suspend disbelief at that moment. I think I even remarked aloud about how dumb it was.
Sure enough, by the end of the episode (I know the episode aired 3 weeks ago so I shouldn't need to, but I'll SPOILER ALERT anyway), Joan gets kidnapped. She looks at a photo of herself in an envelope, and the guy who assaults her remarks that she took a photo of him so he has one of her. Well, maybe she shouldn't have been so obvious so he could hear her taking the picture. I'm sure there must have been some other way to get this plot point to happen without the camera sound.
It's not a huge deal, but these things just bug me. So many people these days have smartphones, so it isn't hard to write the technology (and what characters would do with it) correctly. It doesn't take much more effort. In this week's episode of Awkward (which I'm still watching even if the quality and the laughs have dropped dramatically since its creator left at the end of last season), Tamara's phone vibrated when she got her text messages at a sorority party. Viewers can figure out what's going on without phone sounds.
It's not just this show though. You see these weird technology quirks everywhere on TV. Like when Castle tried to pretend you needed a passcode to dial 911 on an iPhone. That one still annoys me, since the hunt for a passcode took up a significant part of the episode. That's an even worse technology foul than the camera sound too. Is it that hard to be realistic?
Sure, I get that there are some instances where you would want the phone to ring when you're in a public place or at work. Like on cop shows where you're interviewing someone and you want them to know you're taking a call and receiving a piece of information. Fine, that makes sense. Or if you're at home. That makes sense too. But in a restaurant? In an office meeting? Yes, in real life, people do forget to turn their phone sounds off sometimes, but our social norms are for phones to be on vibrate or silent.
In one of the episodes of Elementary that we watched tonight (episode 2.21, "The Man With the Twisted Lip"), Joan is at a restaurant and attempts to surreptitiously take a photo of men that are conducting suspicious activities at the restaurant. She finishes her conversation, turns her phone camera towards them, and then, click! You hear the click of the phone camera taking the picture. Why, why, why would you do that? If she's trying to be secretive, then she would never have the sound on. If it were on before that while she was at the restaurant (which I doubt, since she seems like the type to follow phone etiquette), then surely she would check it before taking a secret photo, right? I could not suspend disbelief at that moment. I think I even remarked aloud about how dumb it was.
Sure enough, by the end of the episode (I know the episode aired 3 weeks ago so I shouldn't need to, but I'll SPOILER ALERT anyway), Joan gets kidnapped. She looks at a photo of herself in an envelope, and the guy who assaults her remarks that she took a photo of him so he has one of her. Well, maybe she shouldn't have been so obvious so he could hear her taking the picture. I'm sure there must have been some other way to get this plot point to happen without the camera sound.
It's not a huge deal, but these things just bug me. So many people these days have smartphones, so it isn't hard to write the technology (and what characters would do with it) correctly. It doesn't take much more effort. In this week's episode of Awkward (which I'm still watching even if the quality and the laughs have dropped dramatically since its creator left at the end of last season), Tamara's phone vibrated when she got her text messages at a sorority party. Viewers can figure out what's going on without phone sounds.
It's not just this show though. You see these weird technology quirks everywhere on TV. Like when Castle tried to pretend you needed a passcode to dial 911 on an iPhone. That one still annoys me, since the hunt for a passcode took up a significant part of the episode. That's an even worse technology foul than the camera sound too. Is it that hard to be realistic?
Happiness List - 05.15.2014
I haven't done one of these in a while, but I have always found these really valuable for keeping spirits high and appreciating all the good things in life, no matter how small. Not a lot happened today, but here's today's list.
1. I fried eggs for the first time. This might not sound like much of an accomplishment, but until a year or so ago, I really just bought eggs in cartons, like egg beaters or egg whites. They were more convenient and I only made omelettes anyway. I've been experimenting this calendar year with more than omelettes and scrambles, and have really started to appreciate the runny yolk of poached and fried eggs.
2. I moved the sorting boxes in the living room from the exercise mats to the general clutter area. We still have a ton of clutter and I didn't get rid of or go through much, but psychologically, opening up the space makes me feel so much better. Now I can finally get back to yoga and exercise, which I desperately need.
3. Diner breakfast for dinner. Fried eggs, corned beef hash, and home fries. Not exactly the home fries that are my favorite type, but good breakfast potatoes nonetheless.
4. Haribo twin cherries.
5. Caught up a little more on Elementary by watching 2 episodes, although the DVR felt our progress was not good enough and didn't record tonight's finale. At least the DVR is now only 97% full as a result, so tomorrow's recordings should be fine.
6. I transcribed something really fascinating about how wellness programs intersect with law and taxes. It's something I've never thought about before, and I haven't felt that interested in a legal topic in a while. It was good for my brain to exercise that segment.
7. Slices of pepper jack cheese from Target for a snack.
8. The first episode of Riot made me laugh. Steve Carell is so funny.
9. Jeopardy's Battle of the Decades is in its final round and it was incredibly entertaining tonight. You have the person who won the most money, the person who won the most games, and the person with the highest single game winnings. It's the perfect trio to vie for the title. I feel a little bad for Roger, but watching the other 2 peer pressure him into a true daily double was very entertaining for those of us with nothing at stake. Thank you to whoever came up with the idea for this tournament.
10. 3 years ago today, we were on our day trip in Geneva, Switzerland. We may not be on vacation now, but I'm getting to relive some great memories. I miss those carefree days.
I told you not much happened. But it's all about the little things.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Reboot
I feel like every few months (or years), I try to start blogging here again. I try to "reboot" and get back into writing and "find my voice" and other stuff like that. I've never felt like I was able to find my voice here the way I did on my old personal blog, and what I wrote and the way I wrote it never really satisfied me. It just didn't feel meaningful and sometimes didn't feel like me. I think that's why I've taken so many breaks.
This morning, I was reading Timehop and looking at my check-ins from three years ago in Geneva, Switzerland, which reminded me that I wanted to blog about the sights and other memories of our trip. I vaguely remembered writing something about it, but couldn't remember if that was something I wanted to do and had started, or something I actually had followed through on. I came here to read, and then just kept reading.
I always said I never found my voice here, but I think part of that was because it wasn't the same voice as my old blog. But I started that one nearly ten years ago. I wrote about anything and everything. I wrote about random things I would see on QVC when studying. I kept track of my bar studying progress. I ranted about customer service and other vexing issues. There was no Twitter ten years ago. Everything went on the blog.
What I found when I came here this morning was a lot of stories. The voice wasn't exactly the same as before. It was more of a reflective, storytelling voice, than a spur-of-the-moment, stream of consciousness voice.
But, just because something is different, does that make it wrong or inauthentic? Couldn't it be that my voice just evolved into this? Could that have happened without me noticing since most of my mini-rants and raves just ended up on Twitter in the intervening years? Who's to say that this wouldn't be the voice that my old blog would have evolved into since a lot of the other content would have naturally filtered itself out to Twitter?
In fact, in the year after I joined Twitter, I barely even touched my old blog. When I went back to it, it felt unfamiliar to write passages that were longer than 140 characters and I felt a little bit lost. The blog had my history to inform the current passages, but how do I know that this wouldn't be the way I would write there now?
I read my old blog and I feel like I'm reading the thoughts of a different person. But I am. The person I was five years ago isn't the same person I am now. Why should my writing be exactly the same? That blog felt a little more "personal" for lack of a better word, but isn't that in part because I wrote more? Because I shared more of my life? Because I built that history?
I haven't been back here in over a year and part of it is because I don't know what to do with this anymore. I should just write about anything and everything, but I haven't and I kind of regret that because I have all these gaps. What should I even write about? I feel a bit lost as far as how to just start sharing out of the blue. But then again, who cares if I'm telling old stories about travels or reliving old memories or ranting about annoying people or saying goodbye to TV shows? That's all part of my life, isn't it?
The only way I'm going to find my "voice" here, even if it's this new storytelling voice, is to keep writing. So this is perhaps less of a "reboot" and more of an acknowledgment of an evolution. Time to move on. Just keep going. One step in front of the other. One post at a time.
This morning, I was reading Timehop and looking at my check-ins from three years ago in Geneva, Switzerland, which reminded me that I wanted to blog about the sights and other memories of our trip. I vaguely remembered writing something about it, but couldn't remember if that was something I wanted to do and had started, or something I actually had followed through on. I came here to read, and then just kept reading.
I always said I never found my voice here, but I think part of that was because it wasn't the same voice as my old blog. But I started that one nearly ten years ago. I wrote about anything and everything. I wrote about random things I would see on QVC when studying. I kept track of my bar studying progress. I ranted about customer service and other vexing issues. There was no Twitter ten years ago. Everything went on the blog.
What I found when I came here this morning was a lot of stories. The voice wasn't exactly the same as before. It was more of a reflective, storytelling voice, than a spur-of-the-moment, stream of consciousness voice.
But, just because something is different, does that make it wrong or inauthentic? Couldn't it be that my voice just evolved into this? Could that have happened without me noticing since most of my mini-rants and raves just ended up on Twitter in the intervening years? Who's to say that this wouldn't be the voice that my old blog would have evolved into since a lot of the other content would have naturally filtered itself out to Twitter?
In fact, in the year after I joined Twitter, I barely even touched my old blog. When I went back to it, it felt unfamiliar to write passages that were longer than 140 characters and I felt a little bit lost. The blog had my history to inform the current passages, but how do I know that this wouldn't be the way I would write there now?
I read my old blog and I feel like I'm reading the thoughts of a different person. But I am. The person I was five years ago isn't the same person I am now. Why should my writing be exactly the same? That blog felt a little more "personal" for lack of a better word, but isn't that in part because I wrote more? Because I shared more of my life? Because I built that history?
I haven't been back here in over a year and part of it is because I don't know what to do with this anymore. I should just write about anything and everything, but I haven't and I kind of regret that because I have all these gaps. What should I even write about? I feel a bit lost as far as how to just start sharing out of the blue. But then again, who cares if I'm telling old stories about travels or reliving old memories or ranting about annoying people or saying goodbye to TV shows? That's all part of my life, isn't it?
The only way I'm going to find my "voice" here, even if it's this new storytelling voice, is to keep writing. So this is perhaps less of a "reboot" and more of an acknowledgment of an evolution. Time to move on. Just keep going. One step in front of the other. One post at a time.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Hiatus
I miss blogging about life.
But I feel like I've never really found my voice here the way I did on my old blog. I know the only way to get it back is to just write, but it's hard to get started. Also, I launched my old blog in the days before Twitter, so I wrote about everything. Short posts about ridiculous things that today would be tweets. Recaps of life. Long rants. It was a lot easier to find my voice when my blog was every thought running through my head, no matter how silly.
But I do miss this. I do want to start writing again. I miss being creative, having my stories out there and having more to my daily digital history than tweets and Foursquare check-ins. All I can do is try.
But I feel like I've never really found my voice here the way I did on my old blog. I know the only way to get it back is to just write, but it's hard to get started. Also, I launched my old blog in the days before Twitter, so I wrote about everything. Short posts about ridiculous things that today would be tweets. Recaps of life. Long rants. It was a lot easier to find my voice when my blog was every thought running through my head, no matter how silly.
But I do miss this. I do want to start writing again. I miss being creative, having my stories out there and having more to my daily digital history than tweets and Foursquare check-ins. All I can do is try.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Day of the Fly
Today started like any other weather-challenged day. There was a thick layer of clouds covering the city when I woke up, making it difficult to see the buildings across the street, and when the clouds slowly faded, they gave way to torrential downpours. The rest of the day saw more clouds, wind, rain, humidity and other "fun" weather.
I ended up going for lunch at Potbelly, since I chose to leave for lunch at the exact moment Mother Nature decided it should rain. I didn't bring an umbrella since it wasn't raining when I left for the elevator, but the hard raindrops began pelting me in the head almost immediately. Potbelly is in the Rockefeller Center Concourse, and when I go by the concourse, it means I only have to walk 1.5 blocks outside and can walk the rest underground. Even taking the concourse, my already curly hair (which seems to get curlier the older I get and which I did not bother straightening today since it was raining) got even bigger.
On the way back from Potbelly, I chatted with my mom about last night's (completely awesome) episode of Scandal, filling her in on everything she missed in the first season. I hung up because our elevators have terrible reception, and called her back as I unpacked my lunch at my desk. We continued to chat about Scandal but I couldn't tell you exactly what because what happened next wiped those memories from my brain.
While we were talking, I heard a buzzing noise pass my ear. I was annoyed, thinking a fly had followed me into the office and now I had to battle it and try to get it to leave before I ate my lunch. I didn't see anything flying around though, and a buzz that loud could only come from a decently large fly. I heard the buzz a few different times but each time couldn't see anything flying around. I have decent peripheral vision though and I suddenly saw something black drop out of my hair.
Out. Of. My. Hair.
I barely had time to consider the fact that the large black object had fallen out of my hair, because I realized that said large black object was sitting on my upper arm. I grabbed one of the napkins off my desk and tried to swat it off my arm.
Didn't move.
If you don't already know, I cannot handle insects. Bit of a phobia here. Everything after that was a bit of a blur. I remember screaming on the phone when it dropped out of my hair and onto my arm. I remember swatting at it with a napkin like a crazy lady before I finally knocked it off my arm.
But I couldn't find it anywhere. I didn't see it fly off but it was nowhere to be seen.
My office neighbor came by to see if it was a rodent because I guess she heard me scream through the wall. I could deal with a mouse. I cannot deal with a big fly.
Not wanting to eat lunch near a fly that clearly loved to torment me, I escaped to our office cafeteria and finished off a (very) late lunch while watching NY1. I returned to my office, looked all over the floor, but still couldn't see the fly. Every so often throughout the afternoon I would hear a buzz, turn around, shake out my hair, look into the air, but I didn't see anything. I started to get more comfortable and thought that maybe it had finally flown off. I still couldn't believe that while I was on the phone with my mom it was buzzing and flying around in my hair. I guess that's the problem with thick and curly hair. I figured that, as panicked as I had been and how traumatic it had been, one day this would be something I could laugh about. A bug taking up residence in my hair and flying around inside it?! My hair's not that big!
Once my guard was down, I started to hear loud buzzing again and saw something black fall onto my desk. I think it must have been watching me from the ceiling because it tumbled from quite high. I started to panic again but this time grabbed the Pledge multi-surface cleaner spray bottle from inside my desk drawer and started spraying in the general direction of the fly. I kept spraying, it kept buzzing, I kept spraying, it kept sputtering, and then it finally stopped.
I was thinking maybe it was not your normal large fly because it didn't seem to fly as much as others. When it fell to the desk, it kind of flew around between things on my desk but didn't go very far (lucky for me). I thought maybe it was sick, felt a little bad, then remembered they spread disease and it was on my arm, and then thought maybe it was having babies (I know nothing about insects in this department and I've been scarred for life by Charlotte's Web (and yes I know this is not a spider)) and there would be little flies all over my office.
A was very kind and came over after work to clean up the fly for me. After the spray bottle incident, I kept looking over to see if it was still there. I guess I thought it would just start flying again because I was that afraid of it. Once the fly was gone, it was time to clean my stapler, my mirror, my poor page-a-day gallery calendar of islands pictures, all of which got a little bit drowned in my fight the fly campaign.
What an afternoon.
I ended up going for lunch at Potbelly, since I chose to leave for lunch at the exact moment Mother Nature decided it should rain. I didn't bring an umbrella since it wasn't raining when I left for the elevator, but the hard raindrops began pelting me in the head almost immediately. Potbelly is in the Rockefeller Center Concourse, and when I go by the concourse, it means I only have to walk 1.5 blocks outside and can walk the rest underground. Even taking the concourse, my already curly hair (which seems to get curlier the older I get and which I did not bother straightening today since it was raining) got even bigger.
On the way back from Potbelly, I chatted with my mom about last night's (completely awesome) episode of Scandal, filling her in on everything she missed in the first season. I hung up because our elevators have terrible reception, and called her back as I unpacked my lunch at my desk. We continued to chat about Scandal but I couldn't tell you exactly what because what happened next wiped those memories from my brain.
While we were talking, I heard a buzzing noise pass my ear. I was annoyed, thinking a fly had followed me into the office and now I had to battle it and try to get it to leave before I ate my lunch. I didn't see anything flying around though, and a buzz that loud could only come from a decently large fly. I heard the buzz a few different times but each time couldn't see anything flying around. I have decent peripheral vision though and I suddenly saw something black drop out of my hair.
Out. Of. My. Hair.
I barely had time to consider the fact that the large black object had fallen out of my hair, because I realized that said large black object was sitting on my upper arm. I grabbed one of the napkins off my desk and tried to swat it off my arm.
Didn't move.
If you don't already know, I cannot handle insects. Bit of a phobia here. Everything after that was a bit of a blur. I remember screaming on the phone when it dropped out of my hair and onto my arm. I remember swatting at it with a napkin like a crazy lady before I finally knocked it off my arm.
But I couldn't find it anywhere. I didn't see it fly off but it was nowhere to be seen.
My office neighbor came by to see if it was a rodent because I guess she heard me scream through the wall. I could deal with a mouse. I cannot deal with a big fly.
Not wanting to eat lunch near a fly that clearly loved to torment me, I escaped to our office cafeteria and finished off a (very) late lunch while watching NY1. I returned to my office, looked all over the floor, but still couldn't see the fly. Every so often throughout the afternoon I would hear a buzz, turn around, shake out my hair, look into the air, but I didn't see anything. I started to get more comfortable and thought that maybe it had finally flown off. I still couldn't believe that while I was on the phone with my mom it was buzzing and flying around in my hair. I guess that's the problem with thick and curly hair. I figured that, as panicked as I had been and how traumatic it had been, one day this would be something I could laugh about. A bug taking up residence in my hair and flying around inside it?! My hair's not that big!
Once my guard was down, I started to hear loud buzzing again and saw something black fall onto my desk. I think it must have been watching me from the ceiling because it tumbled from quite high. I started to panic again but this time grabbed the Pledge multi-surface cleaner spray bottle from inside my desk drawer and started spraying in the general direction of the fly. I kept spraying, it kept buzzing, I kept spraying, it kept sputtering, and then it finally stopped.
I was thinking maybe it was not your normal large fly because it didn't seem to fly as much as others. When it fell to the desk, it kind of flew around between things on my desk but didn't go very far (lucky for me). I thought maybe it was sick, felt a little bad, then remembered they spread disease and it was on my arm, and then thought maybe it was having babies (I know nothing about insects in this department and I've been scarred for life by Charlotte's Web (and yes I know this is not a spider)) and there would be little flies all over my office.
A was very kind and came over after work to clean up the fly for me. After the spray bottle incident, I kept looking over to see if it was still there. I guess I thought it would just start flying again because I was that afraid of it. Once the fly was gone, it was time to clean my stapler, my mirror, my poor page-a-day gallery calendar of islands pictures, all of which got a little bit drowned in my fight the fly campaign.
What an afternoon.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Poor Little Cub
Today was not a good day in the panda world.
If you hadn't guessed by our blog name, A and I are panda fans. While we have always had a soft spot for the furry black and white animals, our "addiction" really began with Tai Shan (aka Butterstick), the panda cub at the National Zoo in DC that we visited back in 2006. He was adorable, playful and just clicked with us (and so many others). After visiting the zoo, we plunged headfirst into a world of panda lovers - meeting new people, participating in forums, watching the panda cams all day, staying up to date on worldwide panda news, making return zoo trips. We loved it. Eventually as time passed we became less involved as there just wasn't enough time in the day, but it didn't mean we loved pandas any less.
Since Tai Shan, there hasn't been another cub at the National Zoo. (Unlike San Diego, which has seen so many cubs thanks to the amazing Bai Yun and Gao Gao match.) Tai Shan is now an adult and living in China, but his parents, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, are still at the National Zoo. We had heard rumors that they could be sent back to China soon if there were no cub, which made us sad, as they were our first "panda family."
Then last week, there was great news. There was finally a new cub at the zoo! We were so thrilled and began thinking about when we would go to DC. We planned on the spring so that we would be there at the time cubs are cutest. (When they're about 6 months old, they do the cutest waddling around. It's absolutely adorable.) There's a cub in San Diego this year too, born in July, but it's a little easier for us to get to DC.
I was watching soccer this morning and reading Twitter when I saw a tweet with breaking news that the cub had died. It said it was news reported by the AP but I was still thinking it had to be some sort of sick joke, that someone had played a prank on the news sources. How could a cub at the zoo die?! Of course I had heard before of cubs who didn't make it but I never imagined that it could happen to "our" pandas. I kept searching like crazy since everything referred back to the AP. Then I saw a tweet from the National Zoo's official account and my heart sank. I felt the tears coming for a cub that I had barely even seen, except for a few photos on Facebook, and didn't know at all. I ran in to tell A the heartbreaking news - that the tiny cub that we couldn't wait to get to know and love was gone.
The more I read, the sadder the news got. The panda lovers from the group that we had been part of were commiserating over the news. I guess earlier in the morning people trying to catch a glimpse of the cub on the panda cam had seen Mei Xiang, the momma bear, in distress, and then the panda cams were abruptly disconnected. After they reconnected the cameras, she was clearly still distressed, looking for her lost baby who would never return. I won't go to the panda cam to watch that, and I don't want to imagine how that is. I know some people object to us placing such human emotions on animals, when we don't know all the details of how they think and feel, but I definitely believe that a mother animal knows when its child is in trouble and feels loss and anxiety when it's missing. I feel so awful for Mei. I can't even imagine what it's like for the zookeepers. This is their life - taking care of the animals and helping to keep watch over the new cub. It has to be devastating.
I don't know what's going to happen with the pandas in DC now or if we'll see Mei or Tian again (or if they'll be sent back to China). I don't know if they'll ever know what happened with the cub (since they said they saw no signs of trauma or infection). There are so few pandas in the world right now and every cub loss is incredibly sad. Poor little cub. Sorry that we'll never get to know you.
If you hadn't guessed by our blog name, A and I are panda fans. While we have always had a soft spot for the furry black and white animals, our "addiction" really began with Tai Shan (aka Butterstick), the panda cub at the National Zoo in DC that we visited back in 2006. He was adorable, playful and just clicked with us (and so many others). After visiting the zoo, we plunged headfirst into a world of panda lovers - meeting new people, participating in forums, watching the panda cams all day, staying up to date on worldwide panda news, making return zoo trips. We loved it. Eventually as time passed we became less involved as there just wasn't enough time in the day, but it didn't mean we loved pandas any less.
Since Tai Shan, there hasn't been another cub at the National Zoo. (Unlike San Diego, which has seen so many cubs thanks to the amazing Bai Yun and Gao Gao match.) Tai Shan is now an adult and living in China, but his parents, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, are still at the National Zoo. We had heard rumors that they could be sent back to China soon if there were no cub, which made us sad, as they were our first "panda family."
Then last week, there was great news. There was finally a new cub at the zoo! We were so thrilled and began thinking about when we would go to DC. We planned on the spring so that we would be there at the time cubs are cutest. (When they're about 6 months old, they do the cutest waddling around. It's absolutely adorable.) There's a cub in San Diego this year too, born in July, but it's a little easier for us to get to DC.
I was watching soccer this morning and reading Twitter when I saw a tweet with breaking news that the cub had died. It said it was news reported by the AP but I was still thinking it had to be some sort of sick joke, that someone had played a prank on the news sources. How could a cub at the zoo die?! Of course I had heard before of cubs who didn't make it but I never imagined that it could happen to "our" pandas. I kept searching like crazy since everything referred back to the AP. Then I saw a tweet from the National Zoo's official account and my heart sank. I felt the tears coming for a cub that I had barely even seen, except for a few photos on Facebook, and didn't know at all. I ran in to tell A the heartbreaking news - that the tiny cub that we couldn't wait to get to know and love was gone.
The more I read, the sadder the news got. The panda lovers from the group that we had been part of were commiserating over the news. I guess earlier in the morning people trying to catch a glimpse of the cub on the panda cam had seen Mei Xiang, the momma bear, in distress, and then the panda cams were abruptly disconnected. After they reconnected the cameras, she was clearly still distressed, looking for her lost baby who would never return. I won't go to the panda cam to watch that, and I don't want to imagine how that is. I know some people object to us placing such human emotions on animals, when we don't know all the details of how they think and feel, but I definitely believe that a mother animal knows when its child is in trouble and feels loss and anxiety when it's missing. I feel so awful for Mei. I can't even imagine what it's like for the zookeepers. This is their life - taking care of the animals and helping to keep watch over the new cub. It has to be devastating.
I don't know what's going to happen with the pandas in DC now or if we'll see Mei or Tian again (or if they'll be sent back to China). I don't know if they'll ever know what happened with the cub (since they said they saw no signs of trauma or infection). There are so few pandas in the world right now and every cub loss is incredibly sad. Poor little cub. Sorry that we'll never get to know you.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Happiness List - 08.02.2012
Every month I try to reboot the process to overhaul my life for the better. August didn't start out that well, with a late night at work, lots of time entries that I started way too late, and just sheer exhaustion. I really need a mental health day. And to appreciate the little things that make me happy. Today's list:
1. Seeing former coworkers at a goodbye party. Reminded me of what I think of as the "golden age" of my time at the firm. It was before the economy crashed, when things were good, before the dismal reality of the industry set in to my mind. It was the largest our group had ever been but there was lots of work, and everyone clicked both on professional and personal levels. Seeing everyone reminded me of how much time has passed and how people have moved on and how things used to be, but it was also nice to have that memory.
2. I went on an unsubscribe binge after claiming my Outlook email address this morning. I'm trying to separate the emails I get by priority and by mailbox to try to keep life in order. To do this, I ended up unsubscribing from a number of different email lists that I don't even know why I was still on. For example, a political party in a state far away from here that I don't live in and have never even visited. I don't need to be on the list. I deleted the emails constantly. Why didn't I just unsubscribe? In some other cases, I didn't mind the emails but there was no way for me to change the address on file so I just unsubscribed. Felt good to preemptively mentally declutter my inbox.
3. Followed the women's gymnastics all-around on twitter and news site liveblogs to find out that Gabby Douglas won. Yay! Wish I could have watched it live but I was at work and NBC online viewing isn't so great.
4. Outlook.com. I abandoned some of my hotmail addresses a long time ago (usually after I didn't log in for awhile, lost all my saved emails, and got frustrated). I had multiple since in the days before gmail I would always hit my quota size. The new Outlook looks great. It's clean. Gmail has gotten a little cluttered, especially with my gigantic multiple thousand email *inbox* and the integration of plus and other features.
5. Bar snacks. Rice balls, fried calamari, fries, meatballs at the party and a chicken sandwich slider at home.
6. Third day in a row I took my vitamins! I can't remember the last time that happened. Months ago, for sure.
TGIF!
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Olympics
It's been an... interesting (and kind of rough) time here. Over the past week and a half, I probably could have used a happiness list but writing one didn't even make it on my radar. I'm not sure I could have done it if I tried. Sometimes you need to let yourself feel the emotions you feel without forcing yourself to be happy. Happiness lists are good when you're having an annoying or frustrating day and need to appreciate the little things in life. But when there are big things that aren't good, sometimes you just need to let it out, feel what you feel, cry if you need to cry, and just take it one day at a time.
But I'm not going to talk about that. Instead, the Olympics opening ceremony was today and I'm going to talk about that.
I love the opening ceremony of the Olympics (generally). It's full of hope. Everyone still has an opportunity to win and take home a medal for their country. Everyone is together, in the same place, watching the same ceremony, soaking in the same spirit of the Olympics. A spirit of togetherness, of sports transcending the everyday barriers that exist between nations, a tournament that unites the world. As a geography nerd, it's probably no surprise that the Parade of Nations is one of my favorite parts. I love watching all the countries parade around.
Since I like lists, here's what I liked about the opening ceremony:
1. The video with James Bond, the Queen and the royal corgis. I think this is my favorite segment of the entire ceremony. It mixed pop culture, British culture and royalty, and adorable corgis. It had humor and lightness. And who wouldn't smile seeing those little dogs waddle around?
2. Parade of Nations. I love looking at the outfits but there were too many business suits.
3. The Hey Jude singalong.
4. Mr. Bean! That was funny.
5. The Frankie and June segment (mostly). I liked the look back at pop culture of the 20th and 21st centuries. The music, the TV, the film, the dancing. That was all good, but the segment was a little long.
6. The fact that they paid tribute to their national public health care system. I didn't love the actual segment but I like the idea of it.
7. The attention to literature (although that prompted a terrible Matt Lauer comment that Harry Potter made reading cool (or fun or whatever he said)) and JK Rowling reading to us.
8. The corgis! There were 2 of them, so they get 2 slots.
And stuff I didn't like:
1. The NBC commentators. People on Twitter had it right. It's like watching the Thanksgiving Day parade. It's fine if you're giving useful information, but there was so much useless chatter (and bad jokes) when we would have rather just watched (and listened to) what they were showing on screen.
2. The NBC commentators pretending the Queen was really jumping from the helicopter. Do you think we're that dumb?
3. The opening video to the ceremony. I don't know if it was supposed to be a bird's eye view or a bug's eye view or what, but it was kind of frantic and it gave me motion sickness. I kept closing my eyes as it jerked back and forth like a bad ride. Not a good start.
4. The Industrial Revolution segment was depressing. I realize it's a walk through history but it was just so bleak. It reminded me that work sucks. Industry destroying the previous pastoral way of life made people miserable. Whenever they did the top view of the stadium it just looked like a wasteland. A reminder that we destroyed the earth.
5. NBC gave Mitt Romney camera time during the Parade of Nations that was equivalent to the world leaders from other countries. He is not our leader. He is a candidate to be our leader, but he is not our leader. I didn't think that was appropriate.
6. NBC allegedly chose not to show the memorial, and then complained that there was no moment of silence for other tragedies. If you're taking that stance, you should show whatever moment of silence there was instead of ignoring it for an interview that you could have played on any other day and was completely irrelevant to the opening ceremony.
7. NBC ignored most of the countries around the U.S., showing just seconds of them to keep going back to the U.S. athletes (coughUruguaycough). Why not split the screen? Or just show the US for awhile and then show the other countries? It's not like we're watching live.
8. We're not watching it live.
9. The outfits didn't have that much variety this year. Business suits and warm-up suits. A smaller percentage of countries who went for something not in those 2 categories. I appreciated those. Still not a fan of the U.S. team looking like Team France in berets.
10. Poor David Beckham. I realize he got to play a part in the torch thing but otherwise the video makes it seem like he's not even allowed in the stadium. Stuck outside on the boat. Poor guy. Does all this work to help London get the Olympics, doesn't get on the soccer team, and stuck outside on the boat.
11. The NBC commentary. I know it's the common theme here but it was just that terrible. We yelled shut up at the TV so many times.
I guess there were more annoying things than good things but I still like the Olympics and opening ceremonies. And there were corgis, which makes everything better. I just wish I could watch a clip of that segment again because it was so, so awesome.
But I'm not going to talk about that. Instead, the Olympics opening ceremony was today and I'm going to talk about that.
I love the opening ceremony of the Olympics (generally). It's full of hope. Everyone still has an opportunity to win and take home a medal for their country. Everyone is together, in the same place, watching the same ceremony, soaking in the same spirit of the Olympics. A spirit of togetherness, of sports transcending the everyday barriers that exist between nations, a tournament that unites the world. As a geography nerd, it's probably no surprise that the Parade of Nations is one of my favorite parts. I love watching all the countries parade around.
Since I like lists, here's what I liked about the opening ceremony:
1. The video with James Bond, the Queen and the royal corgis. I think this is my favorite segment of the entire ceremony. It mixed pop culture, British culture and royalty, and adorable corgis. It had humor and lightness. And who wouldn't smile seeing those little dogs waddle around?
2. Parade of Nations. I love looking at the outfits but there were too many business suits.
3. The Hey Jude singalong.
4. Mr. Bean! That was funny.
5. The Frankie and June segment (mostly). I liked the look back at pop culture of the 20th and 21st centuries. The music, the TV, the film, the dancing. That was all good, but the segment was a little long.
6. The fact that they paid tribute to their national public health care system. I didn't love the actual segment but I like the idea of it.
7. The attention to literature (although that prompted a terrible Matt Lauer comment that Harry Potter made reading cool (or fun or whatever he said)) and JK Rowling reading to us.
8. The corgis! There were 2 of them, so they get 2 slots.
And stuff I didn't like:
1. The NBC commentators. People on Twitter had it right. It's like watching the Thanksgiving Day parade. It's fine if you're giving useful information, but there was so much useless chatter (and bad jokes) when we would have rather just watched (and listened to) what they were showing on screen.
2. The NBC commentators pretending the Queen was really jumping from the helicopter. Do you think we're that dumb?
3. The opening video to the ceremony. I don't know if it was supposed to be a bird's eye view or a bug's eye view or what, but it was kind of frantic and it gave me motion sickness. I kept closing my eyes as it jerked back and forth like a bad ride. Not a good start.
4. The Industrial Revolution segment was depressing. I realize it's a walk through history but it was just so bleak. It reminded me that work sucks. Industry destroying the previous pastoral way of life made people miserable. Whenever they did the top view of the stadium it just looked like a wasteland. A reminder that we destroyed the earth.
5. NBC gave Mitt Romney camera time during the Parade of Nations that was equivalent to the world leaders from other countries. He is not our leader. He is a candidate to be our leader, but he is not our leader. I didn't think that was appropriate.
6. NBC allegedly chose not to show the memorial, and then complained that there was no moment of silence for other tragedies. If you're taking that stance, you should show whatever moment of silence there was instead of ignoring it for an interview that you could have played on any other day and was completely irrelevant to the opening ceremony.
7. NBC ignored most of the countries around the U.S., showing just seconds of them to keep going back to the U.S. athletes (coughUruguaycough). Why not split the screen? Or just show the US for awhile and then show the other countries? It's not like we're watching live.
8. We're not watching it live.
9. The outfits didn't have that much variety this year. Business suits and warm-up suits. A smaller percentage of countries who went for something not in those 2 categories. I appreciated those. Still not a fan of the U.S. team looking like Team France in berets.
10. Poor David Beckham. I realize he got to play a part in the torch thing but otherwise the video makes it seem like he's not even allowed in the stadium. Stuck outside on the boat. Poor guy. Does all this work to help London get the Olympics, doesn't get on the soccer team, and stuck outside on the boat.
11. The NBC commentary. I know it's the common theme here but it was just that terrible. We yelled shut up at the TV so many times.
I guess there were more annoying things than good things but I still like the Olympics and opening ceremonies. And there were corgis, which makes everything better. I just wish I could watch a clip of that segment again because it was so, so awesome.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
July 8
One year ago today, our backs hurt from old Poang chairs, I had Korean fried chicken for lunch with summer associates at work, and I was annoyed by Google+ trying to take over every part of our internet lives. (Today, backs still hurt, even though now on sofa, we had Korean fried chicken last week, and I'm still annoyed by Google+.)
Two years ago today, I had a Japanese food crawl lunch and then a midsummer reception after work (for work), while A went with his coworkers for a BBQ feast in Brooklyn. (We had BBQ last night.)
Three years ago today, I had a summer associate lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant (seems to be a popular day for summer lunches?), sushi for dinner while working late, and somehow had enough energy to exercise at home after leaving work at 11 pm. (Need wedding energy and motivation again.)
Four years ago today, we worked a lot, our air conditioning was broken, and we were in the middle of planning a birthday party for my dad. (Thank goodness we have A/C today.)
Five years ago today, we got engaged. :)
No matter what happens, July 8 will always be a special day.
Two years ago today, I had a Japanese food crawl lunch and then a midsummer reception after work (for work), while A went with his coworkers for a BBQ feast in Brooklyn. (We had BBQ last night.)
Three years ago today, I had a summer associate lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant (seems to be a popular day for summer lunches?), sushi for dinner while working late, and somehow had enough energy to exercise at home after leaving work at 11 pm. (Need wedding energy and motivation again.)
Four years ago today, we worked a lot, our air conditioning was broken, and we were in the middle of planning a birthday party for my dad. (Thank goodness we have A/C today.)
Five years ago today, we got engaged. :)
No matter what happens, July 8 will always be a special day.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Happiness List 07.05.12
Been awhile since I did one of these but the need to appreciate the little things in life that make us happy doesn't ever end.
1. Celeste zesty 4 cheese frozen pizza.
2. A new episode of Awkward.
3. The Cabo episode of Trip Flip, with the surprise visit from the sea lion on a fishing trip, proving that even extensively planned travel days can be full of amazing surprises.
4. The reasonable prices at Earl of Sandwich.
5. Not being a contestant on Love in the Wild where they had to pick up and carry tarantulas.
6. A mini marathon of the early episodes of New Girl. I stopped watching early in the season because it wasn't clicking but started to love it at the end. Watching the early eps again but knowing the characters better from the later episodes makes the early eps seem better now.
7. Finally got to watch Teen Wolf. One of the best summer shows. When did MTV get good TV (between this and Awkward)? Of course there's no more music, but I'll take good TV.
8. My knee didn't hurt the way it did yesterday when it felt like it would snap.
1. Celeste zesty 4 cheese frozen pizza.
2. A new episode of Awkward.
3. The Cabo episode of Trip Flip, with the surprise visit from the sea lion on a fishing trip, proving that even extensively planned travel days can be full of amazing surprises.
4. The reasonable prices at Earl of Sandwich.
5. Not being a contestant on Love in the Wild where they had to pick up and carry tarantulas.
6. A mini marathon of the early episodes of New Girl. I stopped watching early in the season because it wasn't clicking but started to love it at the end. Watching the early eps again but knowing the characters better from the later episodes makes the early eps seem better now.
7. Finally got to watch Teen Wolf. One of the best summer shows. When did MTV get good TV (between this and Awkward)? Of course there's no more music, but I'll take good TV.
8. My knee didn't hurt the way it did yesterday when it felt like it would snap.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Foursquare Update
Dear Foursquare,
I like most of the new features of the web upgrade and the new iPhone app but, in the event you find this post, here are a few things that need improvement.
1. Bring back the old trending places list! One of my favorite things about the old Foursquare was that I could see where everyone was. The hundreds of people checked into a show or a sporting event or the airport on a Sunday. It was a good way to see what was going on around town that we might want to check out. The new "trending" option on explore is not the same and doesn't bring up most of the popular places. Maybe this is your way of stopping the [insert holiday]-apocalypse places but there has to be another way of doing that.
2. The grouping of checkins needs improvement. I understand the motivation - trying not to clutter people's news feed if someone is, for example, on vacation and checking in at a lot of different places. The problem is that, with the groupings, it groups together too much. Two checkins 20 hours apart probably shouldn't get grouped together. Maybe there is a way to group together checkins that are consecutive on the feed and not broken up by someone else's checkin? That seems to make more sense. As the days have gone on since the update, it seems like more and more is grouped together.
3. Specials. Not really any good way to see what specials are nearby and people do go to places because they have a special. (I have.)
4. Mayorships on the app feed. I don't know if someone is a mayor at the place unless I click into that particular checkin for more details.
That's all I've got for now. I'm not one of the people who cares about the nearby v. worldwide filter, the fact that it's harder to find the scoreboard, or the change in the check-in button. But I do think those things need some work.
Hope that helps!
I like most of the new features of the web upgrade and the new iPhone app but, in the event you find this post, here are a few things that need improvement.
1. Bring back the old trending places list! One of my favorite things about the old Foursquare was that I could see where everyone was. The hundreds of people checked into a show or a sporting event or the airport on a Sunday. It was a good way to see what was going on around town that we might want to check out. The new "trending" option on explore is not the same and doesn't bring up most of the popular places. Maybe this is your way of stopping the [insert holiday]-apocalypse places but there has to be another way of doing that.
2. The grouping of checkins needs improvement. I understand the motivation - trying not to clutter people's news feed if someone is, for example, on vacation and checking in at a lot of different places. The problem is that, with the groupings, it groups together too much. Two checkins 20 hours apart probably shouldn't get grouped together. Maybe there is a way to group together checkins that are consecutive on the feed and not broken up by someone else's checkin? That seems to make more sense. As the days have gone on since the update, it seems like more and more is grouped together.
3. Specials. Not really any good way to see what specials are nearby and people do go to places because they have a special. (I have.)
4. Mayorships on the app feed. I don't know if someone is a mayor at the place unless I click into that particular checkin for more details.
That's all I've got for now. I'm not one of the people who cares about the nearby v. worldwide filter, the fact that it's harder to find the scoreboard, or the change in the check-in button. But I do think those things need some work.
Hope that helps!
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Recovering
It's been a long week. We returned from vacation a little over 10 days ago, but it feels like we've been back for much, much longer.
I got sick shortly after we got back (this happens every time). I had started feeling congested the day before we flew back to New York and the flight, of course, didn't help at all. Although I did my best to fight it, taking decongestants and gently forcing myself into an earlier morning routine and trying to feel normal, I wasn't strong enough to beat it on my own. By Wednesday night, I was at the doctor's office with a deep chest cough and sinus pressure that was so bad that I thought my face was going to explode. I worked from home on Thursday due to my sinus infection, hoping the antibiotics would work quickly. But recovery progressed very slowly and I still wasn't feeling 100% after the medicine was done. On top of all that, last weekend was my 10th college reunion, which I agonized for awhile over cancelling but ultimately did (and now it remains to be seen whether we will see a penny of what we paid refunded).
Work has been insane. I started working on a deal last Wednesday which really kicked into gear last Friday... because it needed to close by this morning. A deal is doable in one week but on a lean team, it's not easy. It explains why I was up until 3 or 4 in the morning this week, wrecking my sleep schedule and officially losing all the benefits Europe had left on my internal clock. It probably didn't help that our client and everyone we worked with were in California, pushing the schedule later and more toward my natural timing.
After all of that, I was really looking forward to today. End of the week, deal closing, over a week after I started antibiotics so hopefully I would be feeling better, etc. It was a long day but at work, it wasn't so bad. The deal closed. Another emergency project took up the afternoon but ultimately was resolved to everyone's satisfaction. I was exhausted and kept passing out, but decided to feel better by napping through the end of Team USA's crappy performance (despite the win) against Antigua and Barbuda in the World Cup qualifier. I was able to see A for both lunch (kofta!) and dinner (salad box full of healthy vegetables from Maoz). Finally, the week was ending. Finally, I could try to relax and get some sleep. Finally, things were looking up.
But Azure had other plans.
Azure is our car (yes, I named my car when I got her). About a month ago, we accidentally left the light on in the car and it killed our battery. We had to get a jump, drove the car for awhile (at least 20 minutes, which everyone told us was all the battery needed to get back to normal), and everything was fine. The battery didn't seem to go completely back to normal, giving us little fits every so often, but we really didn't think it would be dead when we got to the garage today.
Nope. Car wouldn't start. Had to call our garage's person again for the jump (which costs $30 each time but we're in a garage and don't have another option) and then we were ready to go. A released the parking brake and - boom - I felt my body drop straight toward the ground. Not a good feeling. Not a pretty flat tire either. Not low. Completely flat.
Off to the gas station and the free air pump (thank you Hess!).
Eventually we were on our way and then we hit traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike (shocker!). It was for construction where they were narrowing all the lanes to one lane. But the "construction" was less than the equivalent of one city block and the one lane traffic went for miles. Seeing all that empty space was frustrating.
Also frustrating was that, with one thing after another piling itself on, the week just refused to end!
Almost two hours after leaving our apartment, we finally reached our destination. It is finally the weekend (although I'm now sleeping 2 hours after I planned). It is finally time to recover from a really long week.
I got sick shortly after we got back (this happens every time). I had started feeling congested the day before we flew back to New York and the flight, of course, didn't help at all. Although I did my best to fight it, taking decongestants and gently forcing myself into an earlier morning routine and trying to feel normal, I wasn't strong enough to beat it on my own. By Wednesday night, I was at the doctor's office with a deep chest cough and sinus pressure that was so bad that I thought my face was going to explode. I worked from home on Thursday due to my sinus infection, hoping the antibiotics would work quickly. But recovery progressed very slowly and I still wasn't feeling 100% after the medicine was done. On top of all that, last weekend was my 10th college reunion, which I agonized for awhile over cancelling but ultimately did (and now it remains to be seen whether we will see a penny of what we paid refunded).
Work has been insane. I started working on a deal last Wednesday which really kicked into gear last Friday... because it needed to close by this morning. A deal is doable in one week but on a lean team, it's not easy. It explains why I was up until 3 or 4 in the morning this week, wrecking my sleep schedule and officially losing all the benefits Europe had left on my internal clock. It probably didn't help that our client and everyone we worked with were in California, pushing the schedule later and more toward my natural timing.
After all of that, I was really looking forward to today. End of the week, deal closing, over a week after I started antibiotics so hopefully I would be feeling better, etc. It was a long day but at work, it wasn't so bad. The deal closed. Another emergency project took up the afternoon but ultimately was resolved to everyone's satisfaction. I was exhausted and kept passing out, but decided to feel better by napping through the end of Team USA's crappy performance (despite the win) against Antigua and Barbuda in the World Cup qualifier. I was able to see A for both lunch (kofta!) and dinner (salad box full of healthy vegetables from Maoz). Finally, the week was ending. Finally, I could try to relax and get some sleep. Finally, things were looking up.
But Azure had other plans.
Azure is our car (yes, I named my car when I got her). About a month ago, we accidentally left the light on in the car and it killed our battery. We had to get a jump, drove the car for awhile (at least 20 minutes, which everyone told us was all the battery needed to get back to normal), and everything was fine. The battery didn't seem to go completely back to normal, giving us little fits every so often, but we really didn't think it would be dead when we got to the garage today.
Nope. Car wouldn't start. Had to call our garage's person again for the jump (which costs $30 each time but we're in a garage and don't have another option) and then we were ready to go. A released the parking brake and - boom - I felt my body drop straight toward the ground. Not a good feeling. Not a pretty flat tire either. Not low. Completely flat.
Off to the gas station and the free air pump (thank you Hess!).
Eventually we were on our way and then we hit traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike (shocker!). It was for construction where they were narrowing all the lanes to one lane. But the "construction" was less than the equivalent of one city block and the one lane traffic went for miles. Seeing all that empty space was frustrating.
Also frustrating was that, with one thing after another piling itself on, the week just refused to end!
Almost two hours after leaving our apartment, we finally reached our destination. It is finally the weekend (although I'm now sleeping 2 hours after I planned). It is finally time to recover from a really long week.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Frosting
Do you use bath scents that smell like baked goods?
Our current body wash is this bath gel I got free from Sephora as part of my birthday gift one year which smells like vanilla cupcakes. I don't usually go for super-sweet scents so the first time I opened it, it was overwhelming and powerful (and not in a good way but kind of like that overly sweet frosting on Magnolia cupcakes). I couldn't imagine using it on my skin because all I could think of was cupcake frosting. Why would I rub cupcake frosting on my skin if I were trying to get clean? I think I actually cringed the first time I had to use it. I don't know that I could use it as a bubble bath (its other use) without feeling like I was stepping into a vat of frosting.
Over time it's gotten to be less of a powerful response but it still smells really sweet and I don't really like using it. Also, the scent fades a lot once you're out of the shower so you don't walk around smelling the inside of a cupcake shop.
Is this just a matter of personal preference and I'm never going to like this body wash? If you like these scents (but didn't in the past), how did your tastes change? I only ask because I'm not sure if there is another one of these in the closet and I would really prefer not to waste it...
Our current body wash is this bath gel I got free from Sephora as part of my birthday gift one year which smells like vanilla cupcakes. I don't usually go for super-sweet scents so the first time I opened it, it was overwhelming and powerful (and not in a good way but kind of like that overly sweet frosting on Magnolia cupcakes). I couldn't imagine using it on my skin because all I could think of was cupcake frosting. Why would I rub cupcake frosting on my skin if I were trying to get clean? I think I actually cringed the first time I had to use it. I don't know that I could use it as a bubble bath (its other use) without feeling like I was stepping into a vat of frosting.
Over time it's gotten to be less of a powerful response but it still smells really sweet and I don't really like using it. Also, the scent fades a lot once you're out of the shower so you don't walk around smelling the inside of a cupcake shop.
Is this just a matter of personal preference and I'm never going to like this body wash? If you like these scents (but didn't in the past), how did your tastes change? I only ask because I'm not sure if there is another one of these in the closet and I would really prefer not to waste it...
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Goodbye to The Finder
The Finder is gone. No one watched it and that's a real shame.
If you've never heard of it, it's about a guy (Walter) who finds things. That sounds simple, like a detective, but it's not. It's an overwhelming compulsion to find things where he can't rest until he does. And he's good at it. All season, they alluded to the fact that bad things happen when Walter can't find something. In the season (series) finale, they showed it.
I only got around to watching the finale this week, but with how they left things, I'm really sad it's over.
The Finder started during Bones last season as a backdoor pilot. I hated that episode. I was convinced I was going to hate The Finder as its own show since I hated that episode of Bones (I actually think I fell asleep, it was so terrible), and maybe I wasn't alone since it definitely didn't have the audience that Bones does.
But I tried it out, since I like to give new shows a chance, and I liked it. It was lighthearted. It had spirit. It had humor. It had potential. It was about finding things (or people) but it was also a show about characters. All along I felt like the people who said it belonged on USA had a point. Characters welcome? This show is all about characters. The quirky main character with his odd system of finding things. His best friend/sidekick with a sad backstory who will always be there. The girlfriend/marshal who really grew on me. The "problem child" who is placed with them but comes to find a place in the "family" threatened by her other "family." It started off a little rocky, trying to find its chemistry and its place, but by the middle of the season, there were some truly enjoyable episodes which led up to a final few that were really great.
Which makes me really sad that it's gone. The show was different. It was a procedural but it wasn't about solving crimes. And now that we finally know more about who these people are, what they care about, and what they are willing to sacrifice for each other, we will never know if they find their way back to each other. (Spoiler alert, even though it's been over for a few weeks now!) We'll never know how Walter gets out of jail (although I'm sure he will). We'll never know how he solves the problem of the painting he's been looking for for 4 years, and what will happen to him if he doesn't (now that we've seen just how "talented" he is). We'll never know if Willa made it into the sunset to escape her family. We'll never know how the characters made it through the tough times and back into each other's lives to find things and help people along the way.
It's sad when shows end on a high note, with so much promise for the future, and you know they will never get it. Very sad.
If you've never heard of it, it's about a guy (Walter) who finds things. That sounds simple, like a detective, but it's not. It's an overwhelming compulsion to find things where he can't rest until he does. And he's good at it. All season, they alluded to the fact that bad things happen when Walter can't find something. In the season (series) finale, they showed it.
I only got around to watching the finale this week, but with how they left things, I'm really sad it's over.
The Finder started during Bones last season as a backdoor pilot. I hated that episode. I was convinced I was going to hate The Finder as its own show since I hated that episode of Bones (I actually think I fell asleep, it was so terrible), and maybe I wasn't alone since it definitely didn't have the audience that Bones does.
But I tried it out, since I like to give new shows a chance, and I liked it. It was lighthearted. It had spirit. It had humor. It had potential. It was about finding things (or people) but it was also a show about characters. All along I felt like the people who said it belonged on USA had a point. Characters welcome? This show is all about characters. The quirky main character with his odd system of finding things. His best friend/sidekick with a sad backstory who will always be there. The girlfriend/marshal who really grew on me. The "problem child" who is placed with them but comes to find a place in the "family" threatened by her other "family." It started off a little rocky, trying to find its chemistry and its place, but by the middle of the season, there were some truly enjoyable episodes which led up to a final few that were really great.
Which makes me really sad that it's gone. The show was different. It was a procedural but it wasn't about solving crimes. And now that we finally know more about who these people are, what they care about, and what they are willing to sacrifice for each other, we will never know if they find their way back to each other. (Spoiler alert, even though it's been over for a few weeks now!) We'll never know how Walter gets out of jail (although I'm sure he will). We'll never know how he solves the problem of the painting he's been looking for for 4 years, and what will happen to him if he doesn't (now that we've seen just how "talented" he is). We'll never know if Willa made it into the sunset to escape her family. We'll never know how the characters made it through the tough times and back into each other's lives to find things and help people along the way.
It's sad when shows end on a high note, with so much promise for the future, and you know they will never get it. Very sad.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
We're Back!
Been awhile since the last post, but things should go back to "normal" soon. We're back from Barcelona!
It was amazing being gone for 10 days (I love tacking weekends on to the trip!) which really let us get to know Barcelona at a more relaxed pace and let us feel more like locals traveling (although there's only so much of that feeling you can get in a foreign place). Although we had planned for a number of possible day trips, we really only took one (to Girona), instead deciding to enjoy Barcelona itself. And with all of that time, there are still things we wanted to see that we never got around to doing. Next time!
Recaps to come!
It was amazing being gone for 10 days (I love tacking weekends on to the trip!) which really let us get to know Barcelona at a more relaxed pace and let us feel more like locals traveling (although there's only so much of that feeling you can get in a foreign place). Although we had planned for a number of possible day trips, we really only took one (to Girona), instead deciding to enjoy Barcelona itself. And with all of that time, there are still things we wanted to see that we never got around to doing. Next time!
Recaps to come!
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Fall 2012 TV Schedule
Haven't posted in awhile. It's been so hectic here with work, getting ready for our trip and just everyday life. This week has been exciting because of the announcements of the fall TV schedule at the upfronts. I look forward to this every year so I can see what the offerings are (and figure out what the problem time slots will be...). So, one last break before I get to packing, to set the DVR and look at the fall schedule!
Monday
8 pm - Bones (FOX - on demand) and maybe Partners (CBS) but I can't remember what it's about
9 pm - Gossip Girl (CW), Mob Doctor (Fox)
10 pm - TROUBLE - Castle (ABC), Hawaii Five-0 (CBS), Revolution (NBC) ... I guess Castle will end up being on demand
Tuesday
8 pm - Maybe Ben & Kate (Fox)?
9 pm - TROUBLE - Happy Endings & Apt 23 (ABC), New Girl (Fox), maybe Go On and/or New Normal (Fox), maybe Emily Owens, MD (CW)
10 pm - Vegas (CBS) since I gave up on Parenthood last year and Private Practice this week
Wednesday
8 pm - TROUBLE - Suburgatory (ABC), Survivor (CBS), Arrow (CW)
9 pm - Modern Family (ABC)
10 pm - Nashville (ABC), Chicago Fire (NBC)
Thursday
8 pm - Last Resort (ABC), Vampire Diaries (CW)
9 pm - TROUBLE - Person of Interest (CBS), Glee (Fox), Beauty and the Beast (CW), Grey's Anatomy (ABC - on demand)
10 pm - Scandal (ABC), Elementary (CBS)
Friday
8 pm - Community (NBC)
9 pm - TROUBLE - Grimm (NBC), Fringe (Fox), Nikita (CW)
10 pm - Blue Bloods (CBS)
Sunday
8 pm - Once Upon a Time (ABC), Amazing Race (CBS)
9 pm - Revenge (ABC), Good Wife (CBS)
10 pm - 666 Park Avenue (ABC), Mentalist (CBS)
Why does every day other than Sunday have a trouble spot? Bah. And this is just with what I know so far about the shows, and I haven't seen trailers for most of them. Problem is that a lot of the trouble spots contain (1) shows I already watch and like and (2) the pilots I knew about and was really looking forward to. I don't want the new shows to suck to make scheduling easier! I guess we'll figure it out. Midseason should be another mess but that's a long way off.
Now to finish setting the DVR so I can pack...
Monday
8 pm - Bones (FOX - on demand) and maybe Partners (CBS) but I can't remember what it's about
9 pm - Gossip Girl (CW), Mob Doctor (Fox)
10 pm - TROUBLE - Castle (ABC), Hawaii Five-0 (CBS), Revolution (NBC) ... I guess Castle will end up being on demand
Tuesday
8 pm - Maybe Ben & Kate (Fox)?
9 pm - TROUBLE - Happy Endings & Apt 23 (ABC), New Girl (Fox), maybe Go On and/or New Normal (Fox), maybe Emily Owens, MD (CW)
10 pm - Vegas (CBS) since I gave up on Parenthood last year and Private Practice this week
Wednesday
8 pm - TROUBLE - Suburgatory (ABC), Survivor (CBS), Arrow (CW)
9 pm - Modern Family (ABC)
10 pm - Nashville (ABC), Chicago Fire (NBC)
Thursday
8 pm - Last Resort (ABC), Vampire Diaries (CW)
9 pm - TROUBLE - Person of Interest (CBS), Glee (Fox), Beauty and the Beast (CW), Grey's Anatomy (ABC - on demand)
10 pm - Scandal (ABC), Elementary (CBS)
Friday
8 pm - Community (NBC)
9 pm - TROUBLE - Grimm (NBC), Fringe (Fox), Nikita (CW)
10 pm - Blue Bloods (CBS)
Sunday
8 pm - Once Upon a Time (ABC), Amazing Race (CBS)
9 pm - Revenge (ABC), Good Wife (CBS)
10 pm - 666 Park Avenue (ABC), Mentalist (CBS)
Why does every day other than Sunday have a trouble spot? Bah. And this is just with what I know so far about the shows, and I haven't seen trailers for most of them. Problem is that a lot of the trouble spots contain (1) shows I already watch and like and (2) the pilots I knew about and was really looking forward to. I don't want the new shows to suck to make scheduling easier! I guess we'll figure it out. Midseason should be another mess but that's a long way off.
Now to finish setting the DVR so I can pack...
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Goodbye to Best Friends Forever
Best Friends Forever, you never had a chance.
I had no idea what you were about or that you even existed, but saw a free preview on Hulu before the TV premiere and checked it out. Best comedy I've ever seen? No. But I have sometimes found that comedy ensembles take time to hit their stride (glad I gave Community that chance) and to connect with the audience. And, considering BFF was better than some other comedies out there that are succeeding (laugh track comedies and 2 Broke Girls, I'm looking at you), I hoped NBC would give it a chance.
Oh well.
If you never tuned in, BFF was (is?) about 2 best friends (with a truly believable friendship, as I think they are also real life friends?), one who recently split from her husband and another in a serious relationship. The recently split one moves in with her best friend and her boyfriend, and they find a way to make it work in their crazy NYC lives.
I guess we'll never get to see more than a handful of episodes but it's getting burned off sometime at the end of May/beginning of June, so it's still possible to catch it. But it's tough to commit to a show when you know it has no future. I think this one had potential so it's kind of sad to see it go.
So, goodbye Best Friends Forever. I'll tune in to the burn-off so I can see how the season would have gone. Thanks for providing me with some laughs and a portrayal of a good friendship.
I had no idea what you were about or that you even existed, but saw a free preview on Hulu before the TV premiere and checked it out. Best comedy I've ever seen? No. But I have sometimes found that comedy ensembles take time to hit their stride (glad I gave Community that chance) and to connect with the audience. And, considering BFF was better than some other comedies out there that are succeeding (laugh track comedies and 2 Broke Girls, I'm looking at you), I hoped NBC would give it a chance.
Oh well.
If you never tuned in, BFF was (is?) about 2 best friends (with a truly believable friendship, as I think they are also real life friends?), one who recently split from her husband and another in a serious relationship. The recently split one moves in with her best friend and her boyfriend, and they find a way to make it work in their crazy NYC lives.
I guess we'll never get to see more than a handful of episodes but it's getting burned off sometime at the end of May/beginning of June, so it's still possible to catch it. But it's tough to commit to a show when you know it has no future. I think this one had potential so it's kind of sad to see it go.
So, goodbye Best Friends Forever. I'll tune in to the burn-off so I can see how the season would have gone. Thanks for providing me with some laughs and a portrayal of a good friendship.
Goodbye to The Secret Circle
(FYI: If you haven't seen the full season of The Secret Circle, there are spoilers in this post!)
On Thursday night, I stayed up late, glued to the finales of The Vampire Diaries (one of my favorite shows) and The Secret Circle (not as great as TVD but entertaining nonetheless). I knew The Secret Circle was a bubble show, but out of all the cancellations in the past few days, this is probably the one I was least expecting. I had resigned myself to Nikita getting cancelled (but happily, it was renewed), as well as two other CW shows I had given up on over the course of the season - Ringer (which was cancelled) and Hart of Dixie (which I was surprised had been renewed but I guess I hadn't paid much attention to the rumors and ratings lately). I guess if you were to give me a choice between Nikita and The Secret Circle, I would probably choose Nikita (despite being 4 or so episodes behind right now), so I can see where the CW was coming from.
The Secret Circle had a lot of promise, especially for the CW's usual audience. I like shows that center around high school and magic so, even though I haven't read the book(s?), I knew I was going to watch this. I also thought, since it came from the same team as TVD, that it would have the same awesomeness that TVD does. I still think it could have, but it just didn't match up to TVD.
For example, pacing of the story. TVD moves really, really quickly. Things that would be season finales on other shows happen in the middle of the season and not even during sweeps. You never know who is going to die (or be brought back to life) or face some other supernatural circumstance. The Secret Circle was slow. Maybe part of that was due to them being new to witchcraft and maybe they thought it would be a good idea to show their journey. But after watching TVD, the Secret Circle just seemed to crawl. Once they bound their circle, they didn't do much magic at all. I wanted to watch people do magic! Talking about magic and spells isn't anything like seeing them done. In the finale, they unbound the circle, got their individual powers back, and it was fantastic. I feel like if this had happened at midseason, maybe things would have been different.
From the finale, it looks like the direction they were going to head in was filled with a lot of dark magic and people discovering what they could do individually with their powers. I think that would have been really interesting and just wish that had happened earlier. We could have skipped over the whole drug dealing and creepy guy with girlfriend in a coma part and maybe we would have gotten here sooner. I'm sad that we won't be able to see the directions the characters are going in, since, other than the hilarious foaming jellyfish that turned into a crystal skull, the finale was actually pretty good and had potential.
I guess we'll find out on Thursday what the CW is going to pair with the Vampire Diaries next season. Maybe Cult so that Alaric stays close to his Mystic Falls pals?
On Thursday night, I stayed up late, glued to the finales of The Vampire Diaries (one of my favorite shows) and The Secret Circle (not as great as TVD but entertaining nonetheless). I knew The Secret Circle was a bubble show, but out of all the cancellations in the past few days, this is probably the one I was least expecting. I had resigned myself to Nikita getting cancelled (but happily, it was renewed), as well as two other CW shows I had given up on over the course of the season - Ringer (which was cancelled) and Hart of Dixie (which I was surprised had been renewed but I guess I hadn't paid much attention to the rumors and ratings lately). I guess if you were to give me a choice between Nikita and The Secret Circle, I would probably choose Nikita (despite being 4 or so episodes behind right now), so I can see where the CW was coming from.
The Secret Circle had a lot of promise, especially for the CW's usual audience. I like shows that center around high school and magic so, even though I haven't read the book(s?), I knew I was going to watch this. I also thought, since it came from the same team as TVD, that it would have the same awesomeness that TVD does. I still think it could have, but it just didn't match up to TVD.
For example, pacing of the story. TVD moves really, really quickly. Things that would be season finales on other shows happen in the middle of the season and not even during sweeps. You never know who is going to die (or be brought back to life) or face some other supernatural circumstance. The Secret Circle was slow. Maybe part of that was due to them being new to witchcraft and maybe they thought it would be a good idea to show their journey. But after watching TVD, the Secret Circle just seemed to crawl. Once they bound their circle, they didn't do much magic at all. I wanted to watch people do magic! Talking about magic and spells isn't anything like seeing them done. In the finale, they unbound the circle, got their individual powers back, and it was fantastic. I feel like if this had happened at midseason, maybe things would have been different.
From the finale, it looks like the direction they were going to head in was filled with a lot of dark magic and people discovering what they could do individually with their powers. I think that would have been really interesting and just wish that had happened earlier. We could have skipped over the whole drug dealing and creepy guy with girlfriend in a coma part and maybe we would have gotten here sooner. I'm sad that we won't be able to see the directions the characters are going in, since, other than the hilarious foaming jellyfish that turned into a crystal skull, the finale was actually pretty good and had potential.
I guess we'll find out on Thursday what the CW is going to pair with the Vampire Diaries next season. Maybe Cult so that Alaric stays close to his Mystic Falls pals?
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