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.
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