Commuter Diaries

Things I always forget when I come home

2010-11-26T18:33:00.003-05:00

1.) How much energy it takes to heat a house vs my small apartment. My parents keep the house around 65 in the winter. I hate cold so i put it up to like 68. but yet it's still FREEZING b/c it takes so damn long to heat a house. Sleeping requires like 3 down blankets

2.) Chinese people don't have butter or lemons in the house... my dad wanted me to make dinner tonight. He bought chicken, artichokes, asparagus, and mushrooms. I was... struggling hard w/o butter, lemons, rosemary/thyme/spices, and cooking wine... I ended up cooking with soybean oil (no, we don't have corn or olive oil) and deglazed with rum. Yes, for some reason my parents have rum in the house but no random bottles of wine already open. Artichokes and asparagus are not as fun w/o some lemon :(

3.) Going out requires establishing a DD. Designated driver... such a foreign concept for someone who's so used to drinking around public transportation.

4.) Stairs. What? stairs? in a house? I almost fell on my ass this morning b/c i'm not used to walking down stairs after just waking up. Odd.

5.) Jersey is still so special in my heart.

Best waffle chip ever

2010-09-28T21:27:00.000-04:00

At palm TriBeCa. I love this place

-- Post From My iPhone

Newest candle!

2010-09-23T21:51:00.000-04:00

From DL&Co

-- Post From My iPhone

9 years since

2010-09-10T20:20:00.000-04:00

I've always loved my view of lower Manhattan from Jersey City, but this one is definitely... Poignant.

-- Post From My iPhone

Jersey City Fridays

2010-09-10T20:17:00.000-04:00

Seems like no matter where in jersey I am, we like our Fridays... Whether at TGI Fridays in Bridgewater or at Grove St at a Friday night block party (below).

-- Post From My iPhone

Home

2010-04-19T20:14:00.001-04:00

Going home is always awkward and weird. It takes me back to a land where I have to watch my language, have to walk softly (my mom thinks you should never be able to hear a lady's footsteps), and can't drink beer... lest I'm an alcoholic. But this weekend's trip home was really the cherry on top.

My mom called me a week or so ago reminding me to "come home to help celebrate your dad's birthday!" B/c it's my mom and she's really good at guilting me into things, I say of course and plan to go home accordingly. But then during the work week, I realize... something's amiss... my dad's real birthday is actually in May... and I'm actually going to see him again before his birthday... how odd.

I get home and Saturday morning as I'm barely up and crawling, my mom goes -- Amy! why don't you have make-up on!! Sooo I go back upstairs and put make up on. I come back down -- Amy! what are you wearing?? Go change! Sooo I go back upstairs and change . I come back down -- Amy! what's wrong with your hair! go fix it!

I should have known.

Later as we're waiting for family friends to come over. My mom's constantly correcting my posture. telling me to go fix my make up again.

I should have known.

I should have known that the family friends that we were waiting for really were there to bring along a boy. a boy who they thought would be suitable... for me. Clearly my parents don't know me very well... this boy did his undergrad in China and is now doing is MBA. He barely spoke chopped up English... yet really eager to talk to me... and he substituted difficult words in English with words in Chinese... like econometrics, supply and demand, and marginal revenue... in Chinese. (1) i hate talking about economics. (2) I have the vocabulary of a 7 year old in chinese. I have no idea what sunk cost in Chinese is...

Oy. I love my parents. but that was just awkward.

O how I miss thee

2010-03-20T20:10:00.001-04:00

It's been a while since I posted... But it's also been a while since I've been on NJ Transit. But Im on it today!

Right now Im heading back to Jersey City from Bridgewater on the train. Across the aisle are two complete Jersey princesses complete with massive sunglasses and studded everything. As they're walking on, I notice the two of them completely making fun of the people on the other side of the train. Sad.

As they sit down, they realize one of them doesn't have their ticket and can't get home. They try to talk to the conductor. Apparently they're 16 years old, snuck out of the house last night to party somewhere else. Don't have a credit card. Don't have cash to buy another ticket. Cant call home because they werent supposed to go out. And being incredibly rude to the conductor.

1.) how old do you have to be to learn to flirt and not curse at the person who need a favor from?

2.) how old do you have to be to learn to always have an extra $20 on you?

Are these you learn as you grow up? Or are these things you inherently know?

-- Post From My iPhone

I miss CUDM

2010-01-30T13:16:00.001-05:00

This years line dance contains parts of Slumdog, Jersey Shore, and Michael Jackson

-- Post From My iPhone

Things that don't work in China

2009-12-29T09:31:00.001-05:00

We all know the Chinese government is notorious for blocking things on the Internet... here's a short list of things that I had grown to be indispensable in the States that I now don't have access to:

Google News: Business
Google News: anything actually
Blogspot
Twitter
Facebook
Google Documents
Hulu
Youtube (goes in and out)
and a lot of random blogs that I normally follow -- they come up in my reader, but not the whole thing... just the title of articles

Now I understand why my cousins and other people my age in China all use MSN. When I tell them that I don't have an MSN, they're all kinda puzzled -- "Isn't MSN International? How do you not have one?" B/c all of the Google items that I regularly use don't exist here! SO SAD

Chinese pharmacies

2009-12-27T23:34:00.001-05:00

So this morning, my mom went to the pharmacy here in China. There, they have a Chinese medicinal doctor. You can go up to her to have her look at your issues. She puts three fingers on your wrist as if she's taking your pulse, but for some reason, she can also feel your entire bodily functions. She then can tell you all of your bodily issues -- oddly accurate for my moms reading. Then according to that reading, she gives you a recipe for medicine that you then take to the pharmacy. But this pharmacy consists of a bunch of drawers, each with its own herb name written on it. The pharmacist then measures out little doses of medicine like a recipe and bundles it for you. You then take it home and stew the herbs in a giant ceramic bowl over an open flame for hours -- i think like 10 hours? In the end you take the water from the stew, bottle it into daily drinking amounts and then drnk it every day :) Pictures to come when I"m back in the states :)

Jinzhou

2009-12-27T05:43:00.001-05:00

Jinzhou is a tiny little town, but I love it.

In these past few days, my cousin's g/f, Qianqian, (who's practically part of the family already) took me around to show me the town. We went bag shopping and I got a nice little black bag that's a tote, yet folds into a cross body bag -- only 45 RMB, but ngl, it's kinda really crappily made. I don't expect it to last more than half a year. But whatever it's less than $7. I also got a pair of little Asian earrings: a black rabbit face, and a smaller rabbit face to make a pair. We then went to an arcade to play. It's interesting to note that even though the arcade games are in China, a lot of the normal arcade games, House of the Dead, Suzuki racing, etc are still in English. Therefore they're still hard to understand for a lot of the kids here... it's funny that they dont' understand the concept of a hostage situation and that you're supposed to SAVE the hostages :) I think the best part of the day for me was going to get our nails done. Manicure, nail polish, and the cute little snowflake designs on my fingers -- only 15 RMB a person (~$2 a person!)

However, the entire afternoon was still a little awkward for me. The Chinese have very strict social practices: since I'm younger than my cousin and since I'm a visitor to the area, I cannot spend a single penny -- not even on taxi fare. I find it incredibly frustrating b/c throughout the day, with lunch, my cousin's girlfriend spent about 250RMB, which to her is a lot of money (like spending $250 to us), yet to me, it's not even $40, which I would happily spend in her stead since it all means so little to me. Yet in the Chinese tradition, they have to "save face" and be able to spend the money on me to show that they can take care of me, etc.

It's kinda really frustrating. Qianqian explained to me that if you first take someone out for dinner is $100, then you have to return with taking them out and spend $120, and then the return has to be more thatn $120, etc etc. Such a frustrating process -- so much easier to just go dutch. Maybe this is where my belief of gender equality of the girl paying for her half comes from.

P.S. I think my English sucks now. I'm literally thinking of everything first in Chinese and then translating into English as I type. Sorry if my grammar sucks, but I kinda like that I can stilli think in Chinese -- even if it means that my English sucks while I'm here... not like I'm going to run into anyone >.<

Bye Dalian

2009-12-23T12:39:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting at a Starbucks waiting for my train to JinZhou. My parents
are back at the apartment getting the luggage while I'm waiting for my
laptop to restart.

The Starbucks here is surprisingly Westernized. I can order my grande
vanilla americano in English. They have muffins!! And a Westernized
bathroom, normal liquid soap, and no smoking. It's a nice little haven
of the Westernization I've become so accustomed to in the US.

Anyhow, today is my last day in Dalian. It's always hard leaving.
Having practically been raised by my grandparents until I was 5 and
then having them live with us until I was 11, my grandparents are very
close and dear to me. It's always tough leaving them, in the hospital,
in a city where they have no relatives. Unlike in the US, the elderly
is generally taken care of by their kids. Sadly both of my
grandparents kids are in the US.

But with all of today's sadness, it also comes with the happiness to
see my other grandparents in JinZhou. :-)

Food is life

2009-12-23T11:49:00.000-05:00

Chinas a giant culinary adventure for me every time I visit. Known for
it's oddities, China sure has had it's lovely surprises.

First, before I tell my stories, I have to tell you how a lot of
restaurants operate. Unlike in the US, in most nice restaurants, you
get put at a table and then go look at what you want to order. Yes,
there are menus that you can use, but since the names of dishes are
fairly useless, they encourage you to see what you're getting. Let's
face it. Chicken in garlic could be a million things. So they have an
area of the restaurant dedicated to their prized dishes, already made,
wrapped in plastic for you to see the finished dishes. For seafood,
you get to see the live fish, scallops, shrimp, etc so you know that
you're getting the freshest seafood possible. It's pretty awesome.
Pics to come.

Dog meat. There's a restaurant that specializes in dog meat across the
street from the apartment. I tried to brave it and go inside but just
couldn't bring myself to do it. I went home that day and told my dad
that I wanted to try it but not to let me know what it was when in my
first bites. I know, I know. It's dog meat. But when in Rome, do as
the Romans do, right? I figured I had to give it a try.

The next day my dad ordered lunch for my grandma and me. I sat at the
table while my dad ordered and in came a tofu and meat hot pot. I
figured it was a beef of sorts and dug in. After like three bites, my
dad told me it was dog! Honestly, it really does taste like beef...
but had the texture of fatty brisket. I'm... glad I've given it a try,
but don't see myself taking a liking to it. 8RMB

Dalian is by the ocean, so these few days ive eaten quite a bit of
seafood.

Conk. I love conk. I've never known how many different kinds of conk
there are. Different sizes, different shapes. Delish. Eaten steamed,
stir fried, or in a soup.

Fish heads. So fish heads are a bit of a delicacy. You can actually go
to restaurants and order fish heads. One of my grandmas favorite
restaurants does two for 58 RMB. They're about a foot long and 6
inches tall. The meat is like fresh steamed fish, but so tender and
filled with fatty fish oils it's quite delish.

Turtle. Eaten usually in stew form, the Chinese eat turtle because of
it's medicinal purpose. It's usually made for the elderly after
surgeries. And wow. They sell it fresh in the middle of the super
market in tanks. When you order and pick one out, they prepare it
fresh for you. Scroll down to the next paragraph if you're weak in the
stomach. So when you order it, they fish it out of the tank, take a
pair of pliers and yank the head off. They then drain the body of as
much blood possible. Then they put it in a shallow pail and pour
boiling water over it to stop the bleeding. They then peel the outer
mucus layer off the turtle and let it soak for 5 min in hot water.
Afterwards, they return to cut open the shell to remove the lungs,
heart, intestines, etc. They leave in the eggs, liver, and a couple
other major organs, cover it back up, wrap it up in Saran wrap and
give it to te customer. It's totally mind blowing how quickly and
efficiently the workers are able to go thru all of this.

My new favorite food: raw sea urchin. Take a sea urchin, cut out the
bottom, clean out the crap, and eat! Add wasabi and soy sauce at your
liking. Quite delicious and definitely one of my favorites. It's soft
and slurpy like the consistency of a good raw oyster and tastes like
seafoody with more flavor than oyster... like raw clams. Yum. Two for
60 RMB

Lamb and cumin. Lamb and cumin is a common flavor mix, especially in
the Middle East. But I kinda really like the Asian version of it: stir
fried in peppers and green onion. Yum! And lamb dumplings!! Omg amazing.

Dumplings! (ok thats a staple of northeast Chinese cuisine) in all
different flavors: pork, shrimp, eggs & chives, lamb, yum. Ranges I'm
various prices but average in a regular restaurant about 36 RMB for 50

Dalian days

2009-12-22T14:21:00.000-05:00

So I had thought I had more time to blog. Sadly not. So here goes the
recounting of details.

Shopping in china can be one of the most fun or most annoying
experiences ever. Labor is extremely cheap and there is never a lack
of stores, products etc. So labor bring cheap means that almost every
store, restaurant, hospital is ridiculously over staffed. I walk into
a bakery that's maybe the 200 sq ft. All six employees look up to
welcome me: "huan ying guang lin!!" it's quite startling. As I look
through each of the little items, all of which look amazing, there's a
person literally following me up and down each tiny little aisle
offering to get me anything I want. It's way too much.

I went into the Carrefour and saw that they have cucumber potato chips
and seaweed pringles. Yay! And of course my favorite: lulu. Almond milk.

Next time I'm coming back here, I'm definitely bringing a Swiffer.
It's sooo dusty everywhere. Even inside. Literally, every morning
there is a new coat of dust on the floor. You HAVE to wear flip flops
inside the house or your socks or feet will be black in a heartbeat.

Of course showering and washing clothing here suuuucks. Your showering
options are either to brave the house shower or spend 30rmb for a bath
house. Showering in the apartment entails first turning on the water
heater. Few private families have their water heater running 24/7. It
simply uses too much energy. The water pressure isn't great, but I do
prefer to shower in the 4 sqft-ish stall at home because of the
privacy. The other option is the bath house. A large room where prices
start with a 30 rmb public shower room. You can also get people to
exfoliate you, massage you, or give you a foot massage. But of course,
this is all while you're naked in front of other people. Creepy.

The other day, my parents, my aunt, uncle, and I went shopping for
decorations for my grandfather's 80th bday. We saw lots of red paper
art. Stuff well put on the wall :-) yay for making it to 80.

Day 1 in Dalian

2009-12-19T06:42:00.000-05:00

Just some observations, notes, etc:

-- I brought my work computer with me to China for easy e-mail deleting. It's also got a 5 hour battery life, so I don't mind being able to use it on the plane to watch movies and stuff... but the main reason for having it is for INTERNET! Unfortunately, my apartment in Dalian is only wired for dial-up. So I can't use it there. Although I hear that Starbucks in China also have free wifi, I have yet to stumble across one... I'll have to do some more searching tomorrow for one. Instead, I've found a bar called Brooklyn.

-- Yes, Brooklyn Bar. Apparently the guy that owns the place used to live in Brooklyn and came back to states and opened this bar for ex-pats. Their menu is full of the normal bar items (vodka, gin, tequila, whiskey, etc) instead of the rice liquor that's in every other Chinese bar. Of course there's a huge stock of beers -- Coors, Budweiser, Corona, Stella, it's nice. I'm currently have a local brew: Dalian Dry Beer. I'd say it's a slightly hopsy-er Bud. The food menu is burgers, steak, chicken fingers, and supposedly the best NYC thin crust pizza in China. I'm sitting here enjoying a great American styled burger... I'm thoroughly surprised how authentically American this food tastes. They even have NYC style cheesecake! Something I'd NEVER expect to find in China... Cost? 50RMB ($7) for the burger and 20RMB ($3) for the beer. And as cheap as this place is by American standards, it's still catered to ex-pats who have the money to spend 20 RMB a beer.

-- For breakfast, I had one of my favorite breakfast foods ever. Or at least, it definitely used to be: you tiao, also know as guo zi. It's pretty much a fluffy fried bread... and you dip it in either soy milk, or dou fu nao. Dou fu nao is a tofu based product... but imagine the silkiest tofu you've ever had in the states and make it MORE silky... and now cook it in a savory beef base with some gluten in it to thicken the soup. It's really quite amazing and definitely on my list of comfort foods. My aunt & uncle (here from Cary, NC), my dad and I split dou fu nao for 3 and 6 you tiao's. Cost? ~4RMB (59 cents) per person

-- For lunch, my dad and I went to one of the giant shopping centers and just got something that we're craving. My dad's a good northeaster and got a giant bowl of Asian noodles for 5RMB (73 cents). I found a giant loose ... well let's call it a scallion pancake for 2 RMB (~30 cents) and two goose livers for another 2 RMB. Yes, goose livers. I LOVE liver and it's EVERYWHERE in China. Other foods we could have choosen from were dumplings, wontons, soups, whole baby chickens, chicken feet, goose necks, pig feet, and ... well let's just say almost every other body part of a pig, chicken, duck or goose.

-- I totally should have savored that last americano I got at the Newark Airport. All the coffee I've had here comes pre-sugared and pre-creamed. It tastes oddly watered down (maybe b/c of all the cream.. I've forgotten what that tastes like) and oddly burnt, like coffee that's been sitting on a hot plate for too long.

-- Everywhere kinda smells like stale smoke. Ew.

-- I went to the hospital to visit my grandma and grandpa. They're hospital is written basically as four 0 three. Yes, the zero is an 0. it's not 4-0-3, it's not four zero three, it's four 0 three which looks totally ridiculous in Chinese. They're in much better shape than I ever would have expected. Thank goodness. I miss them a lot. <3
But in the hospital, one of the nurses asked my grandma if I was her daughter... aka they thought I was my 52 yo aunt. Really? Do I look 52 year old?!

-- I'm completely shocked by the trendiness that is Dalian. My dad explained that while Dalian is rather small (population 3 million in city proper, and probably on the top 30 list of populous cities), it's still very modern. I expect to see people in China in puffy coats, odd looking hats, and clothing that says stuff that doesn't make sense in colors that totally clash. Instead, I see plenty a handful of people who are wearing the whole knee-high boots, tights, long sweater, short pea-coat, head band, long necklaces look. Or uggs, or a LOT of realllly cute handbags! Like I'm completely surprised by the selection of handbags here? I'm totally going to have to buy one before I head back. Shopping is a... complicated issue for me. They simply don't make female clothing in my size. In fact, I remember being 13 years old: 5'8" and about 130 pounds and I was already an extra large. Put is this way -- my 5'5" and 130 pound mother is a large in this country. So clearly i'm not shopping for clothing, but a good bag, I could do.

-- As I'm looking around for shopping opportunities, I saw this one shopping center: Gucci, Fendi, Louis, Armani, Dior, Tod's, etc etc... and for some reason, a Zara? and a Sephora? Ok, find I could maaaybe see the Sephora there since they do carry the "high end" perfumes. It's funny -- walking around in there, I recognize brands b/c I know what their colors and logos and signature colors are, but EVERYTHING is in Chinese... it's a bit of a mind-fuck. But seriously? Zara? Prices were... competitive by American standards: $50 jeans, $40 sweaters, etc. but DEFINITELY not on the same level as all of the other stores in the shopping center. But then again, that's Zara's business strategy -- always be set up by higher end stores.

-- I got into a cab, gave my oddly accented Chinese version of directions to the Brooklyn bar and the cabbie thought I was Korean. I guess I actually do look Korean if it's not just people in the US who think I am, but also native Chinese people!

-- I dread going to the bathroom here. Every time I open a bottle of water, I always have to think and plan again. Why? B/c I DREAD using old-fashion Chinese bathrooms. What is that? It's literally a hole in the ground that flushes. The stalls are maaaybe 2 ft tall. No privacy. And it SMELLS. Thank goodness the airport, my apartment, my grandparent's hospital room, and this bar that I'm at have Western toilets.

Ok more later. Let's face it, I plan to be online at least every other day :)

Flight to Dalian

2009-12-19T06:09:00.001-05:00

Needless to say my trip to China has been quite interesting... and I've only been on Chinese soil for just over 24 hours. I think the biggest adjustment by far has been that I don't have constant Internet access. I'm almost to the point of wanting to cave in and pay the $20/MB for data network usage in China. Apparently the iPhone 3GS just got released here in China -- the first iPhone product available. Anyhow, to substitute, I've been keeping little tweets in my moleskin that I'll just try to transcribe to keep this... some what less wordy :)

The flight
My flight was scheduled for Thursday, December 17th at 12:15pm. I get to the airport quickly -- check-in, security, etc goes very quickly. Boarding even, is great. But after sitting in the airplane and not moving for about an hour, at 1:30pm, they notify us that there's a power issue on the plane, they need is to get off the plane so they can completely shut it down and re-boot it. Our plan gets rescheduled for 3:30pm. Great. I don't mind the wait so much as I'm starting to get nervous about my connecting flight from Beijing to Dalian. BUT for the delay, I get a free drink. Awesome.

The plane ride itself is great. Although I'm sitting in the middle of the middle seats, the lady to the left and right of me both have friends in other parts of the plane so they're rarely in their seats, letting me spill over and prop my feet up. I spend a LOT of time watching the movies and TV shows they have on the Continental flight: Arrested Development, Family Guy, 30 Rock, Seinfeld, Mad Men, Man vs. Food, Madagascar, Up... I pretty much watched a LOT of TV... so I didn't sleep... I also didn't sleep the night before... but this will be good b/c then the 13 hr time change won't be so bad.

We land in Beijing fairly close to schedule: around 5:45pm, Beijing time. My connecting flight is scheduled for 7:50pm. I'm *really* nervous. I run through customs, VERY quickly, and I'm so happy about that... but then I get to baggage claim. It takes me an HOUR to get my one bag. I'm beginning to regret checking it in. By the time I get it, it's already 7pm. I then go to figure out where my connecting flight is. All international flights go into Beijing's Terminal 3. It was built in late 2007 and early 2008 to accommodate for the Beijing Olympics. I have to transfer to Terminal 2. For some reason, instead of having a special area for inter-terminal transportation, they have that shuttle mixed amongst the buses that go through all of Beijing. Lovely. Then, I find out that Terminal 2 is also an 8 minute drive away, literally 8 minutes. I timed it. I get to Terminal 2, find my airline. By the time I get there, it's 7:30pm and they tell me I've officially missed my flight. Screw. I then go to their ticket counter (which is different from the check-in counter). I argue with them that it's not my fault that I missed my flight and they agree that if I can get documentation from Continental indicating that I was in fact on the late flight, then they can move to me a later charge free of charge. And documentation <> boarding pass. And since Continental is international, they're office is in Terminal 3. The next flight is at 10:10pm. I go back to Terminal 3, ask where the Continental office is. I find the office. It's closed b/c they close at 8pm. I go back to the help desk, they give me a phone number. They say to go to Air China, their Chinese partner in the Alliance, and they'll help me figure it out. I go to the Air China help desk and they say that the person on the phone directed me to the wrong person. I call the Continental phone number again, it's busy for the next 10 min. I get thru and they're like. Oh well we can't do anything about it so you'll just have to buy another ticket and figure this out when our office is open. Screw. So I go back to Terminal 2, and just buy the 10:10pm flight. Whatever, I lost my original ticket for now, but hopefully when i'm in Beijing leaving, I can convince Continental to reimburse me for my original flight. Thank goodness I know Chinese -- otherwise this whole thing would have been a MESS. Or at least more of a mess than it already was.

I get on my 10:10pm flight to Dalian, arrive around 11:15. Get to my apartment by midnight and finally get to sleep. By the time I've fallen asleep, it'd literally been 70 hours since I got a solid sleep in. Best sleep ever.

But here's the thing I'm completely thrown off by: my LAST MINUTE flight from Beijing to Dalian only cost about 600 RMB... i.e. $88. SO CHEAP! I later asked my dad what my original flight cost. If you book in advance, it's about a 50% discount -- like in the US. They originally bought my ticket for 300 RMB... i.e. $44! Shit for that price in the US, I can barely take a BUS to DC or Boston! OR it's about 2 1/2 round trips from my house in Bridgewater to NYC! Airfare in China is SO CHEAP!

The funniest part? Getting hit on by a random Egyptian. In my trip back to Terminal 3, there was a guy trying to ask the shuttle driving in broken English if the shuttle was going to Terminal 3. The shuttle driver just gave him a blank look. So the Egyptian turned around and asked "English anyone?" I responded and said that this was indeed the shuttle going to Terminal 3. I think the guy got really excited and sat down next to me and asked me all about where I was from, what I made, if I had a boyfriend, how much I made, etc. He then proceeded to tell me that he was going to NYC in two months and wanted me to contact him. He gave me his business card and asked for my phone number and email... MANY times. So awk... yet hilarious.

Santa-con

2009-12-12T13:38:00.001-05:00

It's amazing you can live in a city for so long and still discover new traditions. Today? Santa-con

-- Post From My iPhone

Thanksgiving gigs

2009-11-30T08:53:00.001-05:00

Co-worker is in a band. At the National Underground the Saturday after tgivs

-- Post From My iPhone

Black Friday

2009-11-27T02:37:00.001-05:00

Let's face it. I'm such a materialistic consumer. Sometimes. And Black Friday is definitely one of those sometimes. Midnight madness at the Flemington outlets: $300 = Cole haan heels, 3 flats, J Crew sweater, a J Crew silk blouse and two bangles.

-- Post From My iPhone

Thanksgiving!!

2009-11-26T15:50:00.001-05:00

Asian occasion thanksgiving complete with a duran??

-- Post From My iPhone

Commuting stress

2009-11-25T15:27:00.001-05:00

There's probably not many things I find more frustrating than a guy who turns out to be a total dud.

I'm heading home early from work to go home for thanksgiving. Yay! I walk to the exchange place path station. It's absolutely packed with commuters all hoping to get home a little earlier. The doors to the Path train open and I find myself smushed against an impossible good looking guy -- about 6'3", blonde, blue eyed, chiseled jaw, perfect teeth. In his right hang he holds an interesting oil on canvas painting. He smiles at me as I glance up. I feel my cheeks flush and retreat back to my book. I look down and see him pull out his iPod. Downward Spiral by NIN. My kind of guy!

We stay pressed against each other for 15 blissfully nervewecking minutes. We get out at Newark Penn. We run to the Raritan Valley platform -- a train leaves in 4 min. I get to the ticket machine before he does and I wait behind the lady finishing up her transaction. He stands not behind me but to my left. He curses repeatedly. He then asks if I'm getting on the train leaving in 3 min. I tell him if he's in a rush feel free to go first -- even if I take this train, my parents might not be there to pick me up at Somerville.

He doesn't say thank you and proceeds to enter his information. He curses. The machine doesn't like his dollar bill he curses more. He then yells at the closest conductor, "hey! Can you hold your fucking train!!?"

The conductor snaps his head in the direction of the guy. Says very smartly, "who are you to think I'm going to hold a train for YOU."

Said cute guy stands open mouthed at the retort. Finally gets his ticket and sprints to the closest car door.

I buy my ticket and get on the same train. It's apparently a bit delayed. As I'm walking through the train to find a seat, I hear cute boy continuing to curse aloud about everything. I leave the car for the next.

It's a shame when cute guys turn out to be major assholes.

-- Post From My iPhone

Tom Selleck?

2009-11-20T09:06:00.001-05:00

Hot co-worker decided to mix it up. Hey-- it's casual Friday

-- Post From My iPhone

Train station signs

2009-11-06T07:33:00.001-05:00

Somerville train station. Since when was platform a dashed word?

-- Post From My iPhone

Times square and osu?

2009-10-31T13:44:00.000-04:00

In times square. Saw a lovely surprise

-- Post From My iPhone

Wynton Marsalis

2009-10-31T02:22:00.001-04:00

Jazz At Lincoln Center with the guy. I once met Wynton at a high school jazz band festival. Have been in love ever since.

-- Post From My iPhone

My first piece of artwork

2009-10-28T21:25:00.001-04:00

From a special someone :-)

-- Post From My iPhone

Blow dart gun

2009-10-27T09:00:00.001-04:00

This past weekend, I had my lovelies come out to play!! One of them was pretty good with the blow dart gun

-- Post From My iPhone

Homecoming

2009-10-17T12:10:00.000-04:00

Alumni tent

-- Post From My iPhone

Firepit

2009-10-11T21:36:00.001-04:00

They lit the firepit on the sundeck tonight!! Apparently it's going to be lit every Saturday and Sunday night this month. Another reason to come to the housewarming!

-- Post From My iPhone

Bookcase

2009-10-10T10:18:00.001-04:00

Sloane leaning bookcases from crate and barrel. Finally put together and utilized.

-- Post From My iPhone

National book fair in DC

2009-09-26T13:46:00.001-04:00

I love Arthur Read

-- Post From My iPhone

Office pranks

2009-09-25T09:48:00.000-04:00

The hot analyst has the same shuffle as I do. I finally dug it out of my boxes. Loaded it with girly music. Made the swap. Well see if he notices...

-- Post From My iPhone

When friends dress alike

2009-09-19T19:13:00.000-04:00

They look ridiculous

-- Post From My iPhone

Halloween costumes

2009-09-17T18:31:00.002-04:00

I don't blog so much anymore... b/c since my move, the commute's now only about 20 min each way! (YAY!)

But this one's too good not to share.

On the shuttle on my way home one day:

Girl 1: Halloween's coming up -- what were you last year for it?
Girl 2: I was Cher
Girl 1: huh?
Girl 2: you know -- Cher. I was a sexy Cher... well I guess she's not always sexy, but I was able to get a friend be Sonny too
Girl 1: Who's Sonny? is he... a butt?
Girl 2: You don't know who Sonny is?! What's wrong with you!! You know -- Sonny and Cher!!
Girl 1: OH! CHER!! I thought you were a CHAIR! I was like how can you be a sexy chair??

Race for the Cure!

2009-09-13T09:04:00.001-04:00

AXO Alumnae!! & Phil. Ha

-- Post From My iPhone

New plates

2009-09-11T13:16:00.001-04:00

I love these. Correlle is amaaaaazing

-- Post From My iPhone

The View

2009-09-05T21:48:00.001-04:00

Finally an official Jersey City resident.
The view from the terrace on my floor. Manhattan skyline

-- Post From My iPhone

Omaha

2009-09-01T11:58:00.000-04:00

In Omaha for Sunday - Thursday

-- Post From My iPhone

Moving

2009-08-29T12:42:00.001-04:00

I think this ones pretty self explanatory

-- Post From My iPhone

Cash for... Crunch

2009-08-25T08:20:00.001-04:00

Obama launched what was supposed to be a 3 month program of $1 billions called Cash for Clunkers. The program encouraged those with older vehicles that got less than 30 mpg to trade them in for a $4500 credit towards a new vehicle that was more fuel efficient.

Great in theory, not so great in planning. $1 billion for 3 months. If we assume that none of the $1 billion went towards administrative costs (however unlikely), and if we assume our consumers are savvy and are only buying replacementt vehicles that qualify for the full $4500, that means the money would only be able to fund the first 222,222 trade-ins.

If we assume that this incentive encourages car buying back to the good times, we can see that for instance in 2005, 17 million vehicles were purchased. Ok let's assume a generous half were used vehicles. That's still 8.5 million new vehicles purchased. That (straight) averages to ~710k/ month. Which means that even for one month, Obama set aside money for 1/3rd of vehicle purchases. And he thought this would eventually last for 3 months?? Of course I'm also assuming that most new vehicle purchases are also replacement vehicles.

The reason this program is on my mind today: my family had an old 1995 Nissan Quest. It was old, the a/c no longer worked, I actually first learned to drive in that car. It very clearly qualified for the Cash for Clunkers program. My dad was thinking about trading it in for a Lexus IS or a BMW X3 (which surprisingly was fuel efficient forthright program, another shock and peeve of mine in the program. If you're going to incent people to buy "fuel efficient" vehicles, at least raise the mpg bar to like 35 or 40 mpg.) In the end, my dad decided not to trade the van in. It was old, but was still functioning beautifully. It was great for moving things around. It drove fine in cold and rain. My dad figured it was smarter to keep the van for another 2 years instead of making car payments on a new car. Fine.

Cash for Clunkers ended yesterday (two months early). This morning, my dad fot rear-ended in the Somerville Circle. The driver behind him wasn't paying attention and drove into the back. My dad's fine, no aches and pains. But the van didn't fair as well. The entire back hatch door has been pushed into the car. The side door is jammed. It's now literally a clunker. And by clunker, I really mean a junker.

I guess we had made the wrong assumption that we'd be able to keep the van around for another 2 years.

-- Post From My iPhone

In case of a fire

2009-08-23T13:04:00.001-04:00

Shopping for fire extinguishers. Next to it is a out-of-window ladder to get you down two flights of stairs. What do you think? Jumping from the 17th floor vs my 19th floor apartment...

-- Post From My iPhone

Locked out

2009-08-22T13:44:00.000-04:00

I managed to lock myself out of my car with the keys still in the ignition. Stupidest thing I've ever done

-- Post From My iPhone

Sheer stupidity

2009-07-18T11:31:00.000-04:00

I know Americans are stupid. But sometimes their sheet stupidity befuddles me.

I'm taking the train into NYC today to watch the new Harry Potter movie in IMAX. So Im transfering trains from the Raritan Valley train to the Northeast Corridor at Newark Penn station.

We arrive at Newark at 11:20. Everyone rushes to Track 1 where the NEC train normally is. The next train comes at 11:33. However, on the A/D board, there's also one leaving from Track A at 11:19. So I watch everyone leave Track 1 to go to Track A to catch a train that's already left. People go over to Track A and are like. Where's the train?

Seriously you guys? Did you not notice the time of departure RIGHT NEXT TO THE TRACK?! Did you not look over at Track A and not see a train?!

And after standing on Track A for 5 min, everyone just came back to Track 1.

-- Post From My iPhone

Done and done

2009-07-14T18:50:00.000-04:00

Done.

I got an email with the amount needed for closing at around 4pm. I went to the bank, got my certified check, was at the lawyers office by 5pm. Went through the paper work, signed my deed, got through the whole process by 6:10pm.

So it's official. I'm a homeowner.

Sadly it feels slight anticlimatic since I don't get to move in immediately. I don't even get keys yet because the tennants have them. *sigh*

Yay, but still waiting for Sept 1 to move in!!

-- Post From My iPhone

Closing stress

2009-07-13T22:11:00.001-04:00

At the auction, there was a 2% discount for those who could close within 15 business days. 15 business days after the auction was conveniently a Sunday and so that turned into the Friday before that weekend. And up -- you guessed it. That was this past Friday.

All of my paper work and forms were in order when I get an email Thursday that started to make me nervous. So because the building is a major renovation project, it is FHA eligible. Basically FHA loans are through the government and therefore you can close with only 3.5% down. Apparently it also means that I have to move in within 30 days of closing. Since I'm buying the place with a standing lease that ends on August 31st, I wouldn't be able to move in until more than 30 days after I close.

While they pushed the date back, my loan officer, the loan company, title company and lawyer all worked to get me an exception after I wrote a formal letter indicating that I'd be moving in immediately after the tenants vacate.

I scheduled my walk through this morning to ensure that all of the appliances, doors, and structures were in shape. The tenants seem really sweet and indicated that with their 7 week old baby, they had bought a house in Edison, NJ. Lol we basically switched places :-)

Afterwards, I sent an email to the loan company, title company, and lawyers that I would be ready to close. While I'm slated for 4pm on Tuesday, I still haven't received a confirmation or a final figure that I need to bring for closing. Wtf. I'm really peeved because I would have like to have had the certified check situation in order by the time I get to the office tomorrow morning.

And to add to everything on top of that, work has been crazy. With end of quarter reports and compensation numbers to gather, I also have a new analyst to train. Today was also the Columbia Club Young Alumni Committee meeting tonight so I'm currently on the train heading home -- aiming to get home at 11:10pm. And cherry on top? Our old managing director has decided to have a breakfast catch-up session... At 7:30am. What does that mean for me? I'm going to take the 6:20am train to get to the office at 7:40am. Which means I'll be getting up at 5:45am and out the door by 6:05am. I get to be home for 7 hours. Ew. I really can't wait to move into my new place!!

-- Post From My iPhone

One of those days

2009-07-09T22:52:00.001-04:00

Everyone has them -- good travel days and bad travel days. I think today was one of those days that was just bad.

I went into the city after work to go to a young alumni meeting in midtown. I took the PATH from Exchange Place to WTC. I got out at WTC and walked towards the 456 stop at city hall. On my way there, I must have spaced out and almost walked into a speeding black car. Oops.

I get into the subway station to take the express train to Grand Central. After standing foolishly in the train waiting for it to leave, 2 local trains come and leave. Then they announce that due to the previous train using it's emergency brake, the express train will not be running. Therefore everyone from the express train sprints across the platform to hop on the next local train. The local train is so packed I end up wedged between a fat woman in front of me -- glaring at me. And a sketchy looking guy who keeps using his suitcase to bump against my ass. Lovely.

Now after my meeting, I'm tired and a little cranky because the only things I've eaten in the past 10 hrs are pretzels, some bar nuts and an ice cream cone. (at least I wasn't fasting, I guess). Anyhow. I'm sitting down as the train fills. A teenage couple sit to my left. A bunch of jersey girls sit in front of me. A group of obnoxious skater boys and their "gurls" sit behind me. I get confused by the abundance of the abundance of younger people. I look around the train car, and get utterly overwhelmed to realize that everyone is super young. Why? Apparently there was a MSG concert. I have no idea. I just feel old so I pull out headphones fir my iPhone and my trusty Harry Potter book in preparation of the movie release.

-- Post From My iPhone

Naps messing with your commuting?

2009-07-06T23:25:00.003-04:00

So this story isn't quite my story -- it's my father's. Therefore it's fair for me to share :)

So my dad works in Linden, NJ. It's about a 40 min drive w/o traffic, but in rush hour it's about an hour's drive. So to go green-er, my dad carpools with a co-worker. The co-worker lives a bit further than we do, so every morning at 7am, he drives over to our house. Sometimes he just picks up my dad; other times he leaves his car at our house and my dad drives. Since they work in a normal corporate place, they leave around 4pm and get home by 5pm -- which is pretty early. It's nice b/c then my dad has plenty of time to mow the lawn, get dinner cooked and eaten before finishing up work in the late night hours.

Anyhow---------------

My dad picks up his phone later and sees that there's a missed call from his co-worker. He listens to the message and it goes something like this:

"Hi, I'm so sorry -- I must have over slept my alarm clock. It's 7:30 and I just woke up. I won't be able to carpool with you tonight but I will make it up to you sometime. Let's still carpool tomorrow, I'll drive. I'm just so sorry I don't know how I overslept my alarm."

Later, my dad gets a phone call and it's from the co-worker. The co-worker goes:
"Omg, I'm so sorry about that message. I took a nap after I got home and totally didn't realize that it was 7:30 PM!!! I saw light outside and saw that my clock said 7:30 and assumed that it was 7:30AM instead of PM! I'm so embarrassed -- we should still carpool tomorrow."

Fancy cabbies

2009-07-01T23:55:00.000-04:00

So I'm taking a cab to Penn station after a fabulous dinner in NYC in celebration of a number of birthdays.

I get in the cab. The driver complains about having been in the car all day. He then asks where I work. I tell him that I work at a discount brokerage as an analyst. He then goes on to talk about how I work in finance and that all the people in finance are Asian. He goes on to say that only Asian people are smart enough to do finance. He tells me that he came from India 22 yrs ago and the first thing he did was buy an apartment in Brooklyn. Apparently according to him, all white people (except Jews) are stupid because they don't spend money on living but they spend too much money on food, drinks, and sex. And how when he did his PhD at Columbia, everyone was Asian.

I'm sitting here thinking: 1.) what kind of money are white people spending on sex that Asian people aren't spending? Condoms? Birth control? I mean, China and India *do* have a huge population issue... 2.) I probably shouldn't tell him that I just spent $100 on dinner or that I regularly spend money on alcohol, right? And 3.) if you have a PhD from Columbia, what the hell are you doing driving a cab all day?

Anyways. There are definitely a bunch of weird ones out there.

-- Post From My iPhone

Costs

2009-06-30T19:36:00.000-04:00

As the closing day gets closer, it's finally hitting me that I'm buying a condo. At least it's hitting me financially.

Today I signed my preliminary contract with the mortgage company. While I got an amazing 5.00% interest on my 30-yr fixed loan, it's a huge step to just figure out the down payment and closing costs.

On the day of the auction, I had to bring $15k in a cashiers check. On July 7th I have to drop off the rest of 10% as earnest money. That alone is a solid chunk of money. 10% of my condo costs.

When I had done my original planning back in February, I had thought that I'd only need to save enough for a down payment. Clearly I was wrong. The remainder of my costs just to close total another $15k.

Loan costs:
$3270 for loan origination costs and application costs

Title costs:
$1309 for title insurance
$300 for recording fees
$350 for survey costs
$395 for commitment fee (I honestly have no idea what this is)

Attorney costs (and I'm getting these at a discout because one company offered to do all of it for those who bought at the auction -- normal attorney costs are $800 - $1000)
$300 for settlement fees
$45 for copy/fax fees
$50 courier fees
$30 e-doc fee
$250 for recording fee

Advance payments (it's fairly standard to pay your condo fees, property taxes, and others a couple months in advance)
$2073 for 3 months advanced condo fees (discounted from 6 months)
$820 for prepaid daily mortgage interest for 22 days
$1,485 for 6 months for advance property taxes
$4,678 For advance insurance payments

*deep inhale*

The most annoying part is that as a landlord, I don't quite break even between rent and mortgage... Close but not quite.

-- Post From My iPhone

Sold!!

2009-06-29T19:36:00.001-04:00

So I signed a contract. I got a condo unit at the Beacon. Rialto 1902. Top floor. 820 sq. ft. With views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. And a walk-in closet -- that has a window. My walk-in closet has a window.

I close on July 10th. I'm buying the unit from the developer with a standing lease that expires on August 31st. So between July 10th and August 31st, I get to be a landlord! And then I'll probably move in over Labor Day weekend. The housewarming will be a day BBQ the second Sunday that's not a Jewish high holiday :-) yes, I have that many Jewish friends.

Yay!! After all of the fun, I will officially have my own place in time for... Fall and winter :-)

-- Post From My iPhone

Upcoming auction

2009-06-23T20:54:00.000-04:00

So this Saturday, the Beacon is auctioning off it's remaining units.

What does this mean? It means after trying to sell it's 300 units in it's first two buildings for 3 years, they still have about 45 units that they haven't sold yet. And Now they're going to try to sell these units at auction. One bedrooms start at $150k, two bedrooms start at $250k. Not a bad deal since one bedrooms used to start at $330k. And when I was viewing them at the beginning of my search, I was looking and considering private resales at $280k. Now it comes down to how much everyone else is willing to pay.

How the auction works: they'll start with all of the 2 bedrooms. They will start the bidding at $250k. Whoever wins gets to pick which unit they want to buy. Then you start bidding again. Winner #2 gets to pick out of the left over units. When the 2 bedrooms are all gone, or when the developer decides to stop the 2 bedroom auction, they will start the 1 bedrooms. Again the developer has a choice to end the 1 bedroom auction whenever they decide. However, they have promised to sell at least 12 units regardless of price. Which means if the bids are too low, the developer can stop at 12 units. But according to the auctioner, most of their more recent auctions have sold all of the units.

Interestingly, the auctioner also said that the auction prices fluctuate a lot too. Like, the sold prices would roller coaster up and down. This didn't make much sense to me... If the winner of the first round gets the nicest unit, wouldn't you go up to your limit on the first bid? Like there are some amazing units with complete views of manhattan and the statue of liberty while others look into other buildings. I would assume that the units with views would go first for the most and the ones at the end went for the least... I guess this is because people are irrational and maybe in the middle, there'll be a guy who goes "omg I'm not going to get a unit." and then ups the bid? I don't know.

Anyhow for preparation for this auction, I've had to make a number of visits to the complex to see all the units, prioritize them, and decide what would be a reasonable price. It's actually been quite frustrating because most units wouldn't be available to see every weekend because there would be tenants. And the building is only open for two hours each Saturday and Sunday... But it's all coming together!!

-- Post From My iPhone

Jersey house parties

2009-06-20T00:38:00.001-04:00

There's something special about a jersey house party. It's not your normal house party. There's almost always a couple of kegs. There are always siblings of different ages. And there is always beer pong.

Thursday night, I went to my first jersey house party in many many years at my friend, DM's house.

Jersey house parties have an inordinate amount of beer. Unlike most other house parties, there may be only one handle of vodka, but many kegs of beer. Yet there are so many jersey girls and guys that dispute three tapped kegs, there is always a line. Always.

Jersey families all seem inordinately large to me. It may be just bc I'm an only child, but every other house party I've been to had included at least a family of 2 or 3. There ate 4 Gallaghers, 3 Levines, and certainly 3 McCarrons this time around. Having lots of siblings inevitably means a guest list of a wide range of ages. In this case, the eldest sister was friends with a 30 year old. The youngest was friends were still I'm high school. Funnily, the 30 year old was the gym teacher of some of the youngest kids. Awk.

Finally the people who hang out a jersey house parties are inevitably the type that really enjoy beer pong, probably are in polo t's, have ironic facial hair, and probably have a tribal tattoo, or two. It's a very interesting crowd, to say the least.

Thursdays experience was very much one of the most awkward. Keg stands, lots of pong, and ironic facial hair were all things that I haven't seen for ages. I forgot how to deal it. Fun.

-- Post From My iPhone

Jersey City

2009-06-09T20:53:00.001-04:00

So as I'm doing the condo searching, I'm thinking about the whole "I'm from Jersey" thing. Moreover, I'd also be from jersey city!!

Since my parents more to jersey the summer of 2001, I've always said that I was from Virginia. In college, I'd say that my parents live in jersey but I'm from Virginia. But after working and living post-college in jersey, it's finally time for me to admit that I'm from Jersey. But why is this something that I have to admit? It should just be... "I'm from New Jersey." or "Yeah I'm moving to Jersey City."

At some point almost everyone inevitably leaves the city. In fact, my company's marketing vendor has a chart that shows different client segments. My managing director was no where to be found: over 30, with kids, makes a solid chunk of exec salary. I guess the assumption that when you get older, or start a family, or make a solid chunk of change, you leave the city. (clearly there are exceptions but apparently not a solid % of Americans to make it on a list of 64 client segments.)

So the 'burbs... We've for Westchester, Long Island, Connecticut and Jersey. All four have nice places: Scarsdale, Rye, Bronxville, & Larchmont in Westchester; Hewitt Bay Park and Mill Neck in Long Island; Greenwich and Stamford in Connecticut. And Jersey? Jersey has a number of neighborhoods that are up there as well: Bedminster, Saddle River, Deal, shoot -- Hunterdon County was ranked the richest county in the country recently. And it's not that jersey is the only place that has poor areas...

So I'm thinking, it must be the stereotypes. The stereotypes of the loud jersey shore, the homeless people in newark, the "Oil Heats Best" along the turnpike. But why must these stereotypes ruin it for everyone from there?

It really does make me sad. And even sadder that I know people who actively choose to live in non-jersey just because they don't want to live in jersey even tho it would make more sense to live in jersey. Jersey taxes are cheaper. There are just as many commuter trains. And there are so many benefits of actually living here. Were a huge produce state with the most eggplant and pepper produced of any state. There's plenty of fruit, berry, and vege picking everywhere. There are gardens every other town.

And the best part about Jersey and specifically Jersey City and Hoboken are the views. The amazing views along the Hudson River.

Walking around Jersey City, I sat on a park bench at the very end of a park looking at the New York financial district...

So yeah. I guess New Jersey isn't so bad and neither is Jersey City. It'll just take a while to get used to it.

-- Post From My iPhone

Pigeons in Penn station

2009-06-07T13:38:00.001-04:00

So Im at Newark Penn Station. I get a bagel with lox because I was craving one for brunch. While I'm waiting for the train, a bunch of pigeons start creeping towards me. Getting closer and closer. I start freaking out. I mean let's face it birds freak me out to begin with but pigeons are the worst!

And as they get close, I start shooing them away with my foot. At this point, this college aged girl in a college t-shirt with LV luggage and giant Dior glasses turns to me mid bb convo: "it's ok. They're just birds. They're just eating the crumbs on the ground." At that point, I'm like:
1.) why the hell are you talking to me?
2.) who are you that you think it's ok to think I'm crazy or something
3.) pigeons are just plain gross.

I look at her and I'm like "uh, pigeons are just gross." and start walking away. As I walk away, I hear her say in her bb, "omg, people in Newark are crazy.

I kinda laugh; I kinda want to turn around and throw a punch. Clearly I'm not from Newark because I'm taking a train out of it. I'm also not even scrubbily dressed! I'm in like a nice top and cardigan and pearls! Almost everything I'm wearing is from j crew. How dare she group me in with the crazy homeless and drunks of Newark!! Lol.

-------------------------

Speaking of drunks in Newark, I'm now actually on the train. There's a sketchy looking puerto rican (or at least I assume puerto rican from the flag tattoo). He's shamelessly hitting in this girl. This girls a total guid in a black shirt dress that barely covers her ass, giant 4 inch heels with so much gold bling that I'm surprised that she can still walk. Oh yeah, she's also hairspraying her hair on the train. Best lines between them:
Girl: are you drunk or something?
Guy: well sorta -- I don't got work til Wednesday!
Girl: well shit, where's the bathroom? I gotta go.
She then gets up and leaves.
The guy turns to me, leans across the aisle: well shit, she was fiiine. So fine.
He gets up and walks back following her into another car.

-- Post From My iPhone

Tour de Somerville

2009-05-25T13:54:00.000-04:00

My parents have lived in new jersey for 8 yrs now. I usually try not to associate with many of the jersey stereotypes. But every now and then, there's something about jersey that I love and participate in. Memorial day weekends I love spending home.

Saturday was the annual Szabo sut out: a Hungarian BBQ complete with pig fat over an open fire to make greasy sandwiches. But of course that's only 1 of the 10 courses consumed over 24 hours:
1.) 12pm - lunch with pig fat
2.) 1pm - salad courses
3.) 2pm - desserts
4.) 4pm - appetizers
5.) 5pm - crabs
6.) 7pm - dinner
7.) 8pm - desserts
8.) 10pm - burgers
9.) 12am - midnight snack
10.) 10am - breakfast

It's an annual tradition for the family and friends of the szabos. And always zoo much fun!

The second tradition of this weekend is the tour de Somerville. It's the oldest bike tour in the united states. The oldest at 66 years!! With only a 1.25 mi flat track, each group does multiple loops around and are all racing super close.

This is my first time here and I love it. I'd love to one at perhaps get a bike and do it one day? Haha well we'll see :-)

-- Post From My iPhone

Short Sales

2009-05-22T15:53:00.001-04:00

To short something is generally to say that you think it will decrease (or has) decreased in value. I feel like the most common way that I've heard it is when a hedge fund decided they want to short a company and makes money when the company's stock decreases.

In real estate, a short sale is the stage between sale and foreclosure. For instance Mr. Smith buys a condo and takes out a loan of $1mm from Chase. Howeve, aftet paying off $100k, if he knows he can't make those payments, he'll have to sell his apartment. But in today'd market, there's no guarantee that you'll sell. And say Mr. Smith's already a couple months behind on his mortgage payments and Chase is pushing him towards foreclosure. Mr. Smith can opt to try to short his condo. This way, he'll try to sell his place at 70 cents to the dollar and sell his place for $700k. He'll then present this to Chase. Chase can either accept the new buyer at $700k, wait for a better offer, or they have a chance of no one buying, in which case they'll never see the rest of the $900k that Mr. Smith still owes.

At the Beacon, I've seen at least two units on short sale. I've put a bid in for a 1 bdrm unit. Short sales take a while to get accepted since it has to go through a bank. The realtor has told me to expect a 1 - 1 1/2 month waiting period. It's been about 2 weeks. So I guess I have about another month to wait?

The Beacon

2009-05-06T14:50:00.000-04:00

So why do I like the Beacon so much?

Back in the 1930s the mayor of Jersey City had helped FDR get re-elected. Therefore FDR gave the area a number of kickbacks including funds to build an art deco 10 building complex for a hospital. The Jersey City Medical Center later became one of the most well known pre-natal hospitals in the nation. But because the complex was so big, the hospital didn't have the funds to keep it functional. They later moved to another part of Jersey City and left the gorgeous buildings in the 60s. Over the years, the buildings sat there untouched. Now, Metrovest has come in to renovate the buildings. With plans to remake the 10 buildings each into their own interior styles. The first two buildings, the Rialto and Capitol, are filled with studios, 1bdrms, and 2bdrms. The third building is under construction for 3000 and 6000 sq ft lofts. Future plans include a shopping center, restaurants, a gourmet grocery store, and a town center.

Right now, the finished buildings, Rialto and Capitol, have a Humber of amenities that have drawn me in :-)
-- free shuttle to the Groce St and Exchange Place PATH stations, which will essentially free transportation to work for me
-- doorman and valet parking for the parents
-- a ballroom with monthly "galas", which means to me an opportunity to be a part of the condo committee and continue to plan events
-- a movie theater, billiards room, poker room
-- a gym with studio classes for yoga, pilates, cardio, and spinning
-- a spa with free messages, hot tubs, sauna, and swimming pool
-- a deli that delivers to your door (can we say CU Snacks?)
-- and a sun deck with giant barbeque spaces complete with a fire pit. Soon to be the location of my apartment warming party ;-)

All of this is included in the common charges that also include heating, A/C, gas, and wifi. Yes, wifi is included. The best part? Maintenance charges per month total only $550/mo, which would have been my taxes payment per month. And taxes on Jersey City? Under $200/month.

Continual searching leads somewhere

2009-05-05T19:47:00.001-04:00

So I'm clearly really bad at updating this thing. After my weekend in
Hoboken, I spent some time wandering around the area looking for for
sale signs. I gathered about 30 of them. All great leads at nice
looking apartment townhouses on the south and westernly areas by the
2nd st light rail station. However as I started making phone calls,
there were few that are in my price range. Many were two bedrooms.
Many were just plain out of my price range. Even more so, the taxes in
Hoboken were ridiculous. For a $300k place, taxes alone were $600/mo.
This incease was actually in this past 2008Q4. Apparently the city
council, in the booming years, had made a number of promises to
teachers, police, fire departments, and labor workers. They were able
to collect enough during the good times. However with the economic
fall, they were forced to raise property tax by 47%. And we all know
that taxes never go down. They only go up. No wonder why there were so
many apartments for sale. So I started looking elsewhere.

Sometimes when I'm running late to work, I end up just driving to
work. Along I-78, there's a set of buildings up on a hill that are
just gorgeous. And on them is a giant banner indicating that the
complex was in construction and selling units. On a whim, I went to
visit this city on the hill: the Beacon.

I went and fell in love. Just absolutely fell in love.

On Brokers

2009-04-17T09:00:00.002-04:00

If you're buying a house -- do you really need a broker? What are the pros and cons to having one?

So I'm planning on going thru my apartment-buying process without a broker. Why? Well -- because it may save me money. (haha, I'm being so Asian right now.) But seriously. When you buy property, you don't actually pay your broker out of your own money. Then how does the broker get paid? Out of the commission of the place you're buying.

So what is a broker/agent? Really these two terms are interchangeable. In the simplest world, brokers/agents help you get rid of or get a property. Selling agents help you do marketing, prepare materials and listing, negotiate deals, and basically everything necessary to sell your property. Buying brokers help you find properties, get historical papers, notify you of legal issues, and basically help you buy (or rent) a place.

For simplicities sake, I'll refer to selling agents/brokers as agents and buying agents/brokers as brokers.

So why is it easier to drive a bargain without a broker?

Say a seller puts their property on the market. If the owner is selling through an agent, they usually agree upon a range that the property can sell for and certain percentage (anywhere between 3-10%, even 15% for some agencies) of the selling price will go towards the commission pool. For example, say there's a house that is valued at $950K. The seller is optimistic and works out with his agent that they will place the property on the market for $1M. They also agree that the actual price that they sell for is flexible since the market sucks that much and the seller really needs to unload the property. Say the seller and the agent have also agreed upon 10% for commission, provided all services are completed satisfactorily. This means that the commission bucket could be around $100K.

Then, say a buyer then comes along with a broker and wants to purchase a property, the buying broker and the agent usually split the commission. So in our example, the agent would get $50K and the broker would get $50K.

However, if that buyer didn't have a broker, and bought that property for $1M, the agent would get the full $100K because he doesn't have to share it! That $100K is twice the amount that he was previously expecting from the sale of this property!

So, if the buyer without the broker decides that he wants to drive a solid bargain, he can ask the agent to talk to the seller for a bargain. The agent now is much more willing to ask the seller to lower the price of the house to $900K because even selling at $900K, the agent is getting $90K in commission (instead of $50K when he sells it to a buyer with a broker). Furthermore, when there are competing offers, the agent will also usually favor the offer from the buyer without the broker. The agent can then persuade the seller that the buyer without the broker is better b/c of the agreement on selling date, how fast they can move through the process, or other fine print in the contract.

It may be a little, but it also may be a lot. Once, my family purchased a place for almost 15% cheaper... my dad swears it's b/c they didn't have broker.

My reasons for when you should go into the market without a broker:
-when you're buying a previously owned property
-when you've got time before you have to buy
-when you're willing to let a couple nice places go by (b/c the agent wouldn't accept your ridiculous offer)

Reasons you *should* have a broker:
-if it's the first time you're going through the process, or have seen the process
-if you're scared of legal work - there's paperwork involved. if you're paranoid, it may be helpful to have the broker there for professional help. However if you're buying in the state of New Jersey, you're required to have lawyers on both ends to look over your papers -- so you may be ok without a broker to look at it for you. Legal assistance in exchange property deeds is different state to state
-when you're too busy to do the research yourself and want someone else to take you around to view places

Giddiness

2009-04-12T12:05:00.010-04:00

Yesterday had horrible weather. ew. like legit -- worst day to be running around a town by walking around.

BUT we did get to see two great apartments. I think the strategy right now is -- don't get a broker, see as many places as possible, hope that they don't get sold as the summer months set in, have the owner freak out that it's not sold yet, make a super low ball offer, buy the place after knocking down a few grand off the listing price. Thank god I have my parents to help me along in this process -- I realized that over the past 15 yrs, my parents have bought about 7 properties. holy cow!

We saw two properties yesterday -- both in the same area. I think I'll plan to post about each of the apartments that I go to view but I'll have to create nick names for them to keep track of them all.

Apartment #1 -- The Frat House There are currently two guys living there. Both seem rather fratty with the paddles and composite pictures.

Frat house is a little out of my price range -- a two bdrm with an open kitchen to the living room. The two bedrooms are maybe about 130 sq ft and a good square shape. The kitchen is about 12 ft long, which gives me decent counter space. And there's a dish washer -- but I don't like how openly connected to the rest of the place it is... Call me Asian, but I just don't want my living room smelling of stir fry when I cook -- especially b/c there's no window in the area. But it also has the opening to the fire exit which is pretty cool too :)

Fire escape terrace is actually like 10 ft long -- at least. They guys who currently live there have a grill out there which is pretty cool. The other pic I've uploaded is if I'm standing in the doorway of one bedroom, my limited view of the living room and kitchen. Beyond it is the second bedroom and bath. To my right is the coat closet and front door. I honestly don't think I'd have reason to personally need a two bedroom. If I did, I'd want to sublet it to a friend to live with me ;) or else -- maybe keep it as a giant closet? haha. Lord knows I'll need it for all my crap.

Apartment #2 -- STL (St. Louis) This apartment has odd archways for every doorway -- hence archs -- hence my memories of the the Gateway Arch in the great 314 -- STL -- Ole' St Louis.

STL is a one bedroom apartment right in my price range with a pretty interesting layout. Since all the places I'm looking at are in brownstones, they're all fairly 1 room by 4 rooms... long and narrow. This one's certainly no exception. The front door takes you into the kitchen. From the front door, on your left there's about 15 ft of counter, kitchen sink, and stove. In front of you, is more kitchen -- the fridge and room for a small kitchen table. All of which quite frankly, makes me feel like it's a fairly large kitchen. There's plenty of cabinet space for all of random things I've collected over the years -- mainly glass ware. In the picture, you can see the kitchen and the edge of the fridge.

To the right of the front door through an archway is the living room of about 130 sq ft. It's a pretty decent size -- with a ceiling fan in the middle of it -- kinda antiquated, kinda cute, but actually pretty practical for hot summers. Beyond the living room through another archway is the den/study room/dressing room. In the picture to the left, you can see the edge of the fridge (again), the living room, and the arch into the den/study/dressing room. Anyhow, the odd room is a 90 sq ft. room with giant double sized closets. Totally a great dressing room/place to stick that black futon from college, or even that other futon from sophomore year! To the right, the picture is taken from the odd room looking into the bedroom. I kinda really like the wooden accordian doors into the bedroom. In the bedroom, there's a wall of exposed brick and a window onto the street. My biggest issue with the bedroom is that it's incredibly narrow. And therefore means that my queen size bed probably won't leave any walking space between the bed and the wall -- I guess I'll just have to put it into a corner -- even if it does throw off the symmetry of the room.

Worst two parts of the apartment, one more pressing than the other. 1.) where's the bathroom? What if it's the middle of the night and I have to go pee? Oh right. It's allllll the way by the kichen. If I'm showering, I'd have to run through the dressing room, through the living room, and through the kitchen... I guess there have been worse things. 2.) It's actually quite bad... the floor kinda sinks by the stove. You can see my dad in the picture above looking at the floor. Apparently there are issues with the building and the foudation. If this becomes somewhere I seriously consider, I'd have to make serious complaints and get serious discounts because of the floor. It'd be horrible if the floor just continued to collapse.

Anyhow, that was day 1, with full summaries of the apartments I looked at! Eeps!

Day 1

2009-04-11T12:06:00.001-04:00

I'm sitting the backseat of my car as my parents and I drive into
Hoboken. And I am soo nervous.

This will be my parents first time going. And I really want to make
sure it makes a good impression. I think my dad has this impression
that Hoboken is an unnecessarily yuppy feel to it. He thinks I should
buy a place in jersey city since I already work there -- and it's
cheaper (and soo much more sketchy). My dads much more practical than
I am. But honestly if I'm buying a place, I'm clearly planning to live
there for a while. And if I'm living there for a while, I'm going to
want to live somewhere I really like... With other people my age and
with similar interests. I'm totally willing to sacrifice space or a
couple more thousand for a place in Hoboken than jersey city. Plus I
feel like in the future, I'd feel more comfortable keeping a place in
Hoboken as a rental property than a place in jersey city. It's just
more vibrant. And honestly, I shamelessly like being a yuppy. Or
becoming a yuppy (since jersey isn't really "urban").

New Beginnings

2009-04-09T22:34:00.002-04:00

So after I got used to my commute -- sleeping on the way to work and doing work on the way home, I haven't updated this for a while. I'm sorry. I think a lot of it was hitting a wall when I didn't have anything to write about (or time)

But now I have a new beginning of my life... the beginning of my apartment search.

Yes, I'm starting my apartment search. By August, I will have been working for a full year and have been living at home to save money. By August, I should have enough saved up to make a down payment on a small apartment.

As of right now, I'm loving the thought of Hoboken. Soooo Saturday's my official first day on the search. I get tomorrow off of work for Good Friday (yay!) and so I'm spending the day setting up viewings of apartments in Hoboken for Saturday! I'm so excited and nervous all at the same time!

Streams

2009-03-25T08:16:00.001-04:00

Of consciousness.

-- the marketing girls watch Dancing with the Stars. They refer to
Shawn Johnson as "that tiny little girl... Wasn't she a gymnast or
something?" WTF did they not watch the olympics?! At all?!

-- one of my consulting friends, JBA, is in Louisiana for a project.
She's an orthodox Jew and overheard someone say "I love Passover
because then I can eat my ham and cheese and matzo. Really? Come to
think of it, when I was in Virginia, I had definitely been to Bar and
Bat Mitzvahs were we were served pork. And on Hells Kitchen, they
hosted a Bar Mitzvah were they served cheeseburgers.

-- today on my way to the train station, I was stuck behind a slow car
going 5 under the speed limit. But we got to an intersection, I moved
to the extra intersection lane thinking I'd pass him. But then he
started going thru the intersection right before the light turned
green so he beat me. Only to drive slowly again. Wtf.

-- I need to move. I want to move to Hoboken. I need to move while the
weather's still warm so that I can still make city trips easily.

-- on my morning train ride, I pass this place that has D-A-D written
on it in like. 8ft tall font. I wonder what it stands for.

-- I'm meeting my little sis for dinner tonight. She just got back
from camping in Jordan. I think she's crazy for having gone. But
clearly she was fine :-). She got me a keffiyeh (sp?) I'm excited.

-- last friday I got a report to understand that was put together by
one of our other business units. It made no sense. My boss, director,
and I got on a conference call with the person who put it together.
There was a lot of laughing on our part -- a lot of laughing, muting
and screaming, and a lot of wtf looks of bewilderment. Lessons
learned: (1) you can't add and subtract percentages and (2) you can't
average averages.

-- I need new music. I'm really bored of the music on my iPhone and
iPod.

-- I can't find my digital camera. Has anyone seen it?

-- I can't imagine living in a 3 room house. Three rooms as in living
room, kitchen, and bedroom. I feel like houses that small should just
he made into apartments or townhouses.

-- I hate when people sit next to you when there are clearly other
empty seats.

-- mmmk nap time

Smallest world

2009-03-19T20:07:00.001-04:00

So I know I say it a lot. But NJ is legit small!!

My summer after freshman year college, I interned at ETHICON, a
Johnson and Johnson company. Also interning there was a guy, JG who
was the other dorky engineering kid from UPenn. And let's face it.
Most of J&J's interns are from state schools and intern in marketing
or something.

Anyhow just the other day, I was thinking of all of the UPenn kids I
knew and I was like oh I wonder where that one from Ethicon is these
days.

Lo and behold as I'm getting dinner in my way home at Newark Penn
station, I run into him. Wtf.

Apparently he's working for a consulting company also in Jersey City.
His office is right outside of the Exhange Place station, the same one
I get out of every day. I wonder how many times we had walked past
each other without noticing each other. Haha.

My own MMIAF

2009-03-17T17:30:00.002-04:00

MMIAF is one of my favorite blogs. Here's my own version:

my mom: Hey Amy! I got some iceberg!
me: what? you got ice?
my mom: no! some iceberg!!!
me: uhhh....
my mom: hey dad! what's it called again?
my dad: Asbergers? Ass burger?
me: I'm so confused
my mom: FINE!

Stomps over to the fridge, opens it, and pull out some asparagus.

I love the people I work with

2009-03-17T17:18:00.004-04:00

So I got really excited about the new iPhone OS 3.0 Release -- YAY! and I was following it on live blogging today... My co-worker, WL, pinged me, i copied and paste-d to him what I was reading at the moment...

WL [2:19 PM]:
what's up?
Me [2:21 PM]:
"So, copy/paste in iPhone 3.0." Applause. Applause for a feature that every other device in the world has. Odd.
WL [2:22 PM]:
i can imagine all the people yelling "OMG!!!! OMG!!!!"
WL [2:22 PM]:
or... silently yelling "YES.... YES" in their cubes... across corporate america

Apparently I was being very excited and "YESSS!!!!"-ed every few moments about the new updates

I'm such a horrible person

2009-03-17T16:44:00.003-04:00

one of the marketing directors RAN over here squeaking to tell another marketing manager who also squeaked... pretty soon, my entire area was full of girls squeaking and getting excited for the director... what happened? the Director joked -- oh i'm getting married to myself. HA. sad.

She got into Columbia Journalism School. Congrats. That's a pretty big deal -- but really? you should have seen the girls here.

They went on to talk about MBA's.

"omg, did you know that it takes 4 years to get your MBA if you go part time?!"

One girl in the department was doing an MBA in Marketing at Seton Hall -- "Omg it's so expensive! It's like $700/credit!". "Wow I would *not* be able to afford that." "Wow, I would have the energy to be able to sit through more class!"

Really? You guys get here at 9am and leave at 6 on the dot.

"Oh really? $700 is soo expensive!! Isn't Rutgers like $600/credit?" "Isn't NYU like $900/credit? That's SO expensive..."

Yeah ok. try $1500/credit.

This is what I listen to all day at work...

My Backyard

2009-03-02T11:20:00.001-05:00

I love my backyard... well, it's really my backyard and the parts beyond it.

So my actual backyard is fairly small. Which is great because that means I don't have that much lawn mowing to do in the summer months. But beyond my backyard lined with 20 ft pine trees, there's a giant ditch. This giant ditch has provided tons of entertainment for me and my friends.

You see, it's really a drainage ditch for the area. It's about 70'x40'. That's about the size of a swimming pool... to help you understand how big it is. Along the sides, there's a steep downward slope into the middle of it. The slopes are about maybe 30 degrees and about 12 ft down. And these features of it make it perfect for a number of reasons.

-- Whenever it rains excessively, as it quite often does in the summer months, the ditch fills with water. This essentially means that at the end of these large rainstorms, I have a personal pond in my backyard. Ew. Gross. I know. But for some reason in high school, my friends and I thought that it was a good idea go to swim in it. and by swim, it really turned into mudslinging. and really, it was a lot of fun.

-- In my early college years when I was home for the summer, on the dry-er days my friends and I craved somewhere to drink. The slope was great for nights because we'd put out a blanket, lie down, and look at the stars... while drinking. But then of course, this had to be ruined by a neighbor who thought that the citronella candle that we had lit was going to start a giant fire that would eat up his house. damn stupid neighbors.

-- For my 21st birthday, I had a rather nontraditional 21st birthday... I didn't go out to a bar. Let's face it. Going to college in NYC meant plenty of bar-hopping for me already. Instead I got a slip and slide (and some tarp to make it longer). I placed it downward on the slope and had my own water slide. However, it was wet and kinda messy towards the end. But nonetheless, quite fun :)

-- Now, on this day of a giant snow storm, I sit in my bed as I work-from-home. I look out my window to watch little kids sledding down the slope. It's quite cute. If I weren't so afraid of snow, I'd probably go join them. Each with their sleds, they fly down the slope -- forwards, backwards, standing... in one's and in two's.

It's days like this that I really love that slope in my backyard :)

Reasons why I laughed this morning

2009-02-24T09:30:00.002-05:00

1. Marvin_bot on twitter sent a funny message: Not that anyone cares what I say, but the Restaurant is on the other end of the universe.

2. I saw a car who couldn't back out of it's driveway (it kept going too far right or too far left and would have to try again)

3. My pool's driveway has a LOT of potholes. As I'm driving in, I see one old lady almost fall over her drivers seat b/c of a giant pothole.

4. Only swimmers have this logic: My throat's scratchy this morning and I don't have my voice... I'll go swimming, maybe that'll help. Which did... until I got outside forgetting to blow dry my hair.

5. Little icicles in my hair as I walked from my car to the train station

6. I get into the locker room after my swim. I go into a changing room to put on clothing. Before I go in, the locker room's filled with HS girls after morning practice. When I come out, the locker room's filled with old ladies getting ready for aqua-cise. Both are as rowdy and obnoxious as the other.

7. HS girls who are wearing heels to school. Really? really?!

8. the guy on the train who was drinking a beer -- at 8am!!!

9. the guy on the Path who would hold onto the pole with his left hand, then his right, then his left, then his right, trying to figure out which felt more normal... apparently neither did, he just moved to another part of the train.

10. office politics. lol YES!

Funny Friday

2009-02-13T15:44:00.001-05:00

I don' t know why, but I am excessively giddy today. I think it comes from having a great start of a day.

But anyhow. I drove to work today. As I near my office, I get stopped at a stoplight. I look outside to see the wind blowing around like none other. I see a guy walking this tiny Pomeranian. This thing is legit no bigger than a bowling ball. The little thing trots over to a fire hydrant. Lifts its left hind leg but as soon as he does so, gets hit by the wind and loses its balance. The dog almost falls over, but catches itself. Confused, the dog trots over to a lamp post, lifts its left hind leg, and again, gets pushed by the wind. It still hasn't peed yet. I find this hilarious so I'm cracking up hysterically in the car. Best part about it, the owner of the dog seems me cracking up, points at his dog -- You laughing at my dog? I'm nod yes. He also cracks up with laughters.

Woohoo parties?

2009-01-30T07:45:00.001-05:00

I'm a facebook stalker, through and through. Although now that I don't
have facebook at work and mydad hogs the home computer, I don't really
go on as much. I mean. As nice as 3G is, it's still not as great as
the real deal.

So I'm on facebook and I love looking at people's photos. And
sometimes they make me really sad, even the ones of people partying.
They make me wonder if I have as much fun with my friends.

I like to have fun. I do. I like going out. I like meeting people. I
also like the simple things, like cooking, baking, and playing video
games. I know I have "fun" on the weekends. But am I getting all out
of life that I can?

I always see facebook pics of people having parties, going to chic
restaurants/clubs, traveling to exotic locations. And I understand
that the utils gained from these activities are different with
different people.

But really, am I enjoying life for the highest utils of enjoyment
possile? Am I having as much fun as other people?am I taking advantage
of everything I've got? Or are my facebook photos not capturing all of
my fun times -- slash not as exciting for me because I was there?

Pet peeves when dining out

2009-01-26T19:43:00.001-05:00

A list if things I hate based off of things that have happened in the
past year or so

-when after you clear a night and time that works for everyone and
make reservations, someone bails for an illegitimate reason (I had
homework/to clean/etc)

-when someone asks to bring someone who clearly was not invited (the
hated ex, the awk friend)

-when that extra person causes you to have to change reservations

-when that person that you changed reservations for then bails without
apologizing or telling anyone they can no longer make it

-when you purposely tell people to come 15min and yet still you're the
first person there. Slash your friends still comes 15 min late

-when the restaurant is so dark you can't read the menu

-when the portions are so small you feel like you should have gotten
two entrees

-when the place has an open grill and when you leave you realize you
smell like grill

-when you clearly state dietary restrictions that are completely ignored

-when they never refill your glass of water

-when the coat check loses your scarf/hat/gloves etc

-when you bribe the coat check lady to take your coat yet they still
manage to lose your stuff

-when the place is so crowded and warm inside the windows are foggy

-when the waiter/waitress spills on you

-when the bathroom has a person manning it. Really? I hate when
people's job is listening to you pee

-when the bathroom is too small for the size of the place

-when the bathroom floor is perpetually wet

-when the waitir shamelessly hits on you (really this only annoys me
when he's 80 years old and wants to tell me the stuff he used to do
when he was young) slash cute. But annoying

-when you get to the bill and no one has cash

-when you finally collect cash for everyone and you're still short a
solid amount

-and when you know who should be putting in more money but that
person's like I put in more than enough

-when people forget to add in enough tax and tip for their food

-when people are stingy tippers. Really 18% is standard for standard
service nowadays

-when I'm really excited to see the people I'm dining with but am
really out of it that I can't be myself... :-/

Oh how I miss NYC

2009-01-25T13:52:00.000-05:00

I'm in New York today. The guys and I are getting an early dinner at
Megu for restaurant week and I needed to get out of the house like
whoah. Today's Chinese New Year's Eve. So you can only imagine how my
parents are spending it: making dumplings with the TV up on as loud as
it goes as they watch the Chinese channel's celebration if it all.

So my first stop was the J Crew sample sale, which was a disaster as I
remembered that I can't shop when things are disorganized.

But on my way to the subway station, I was greeted by the absurdity
that is NYC. By now I'm sure most of us have heard of the Macys free
cosmetic giveaways. As I neared the 34th st. macys, I passed this
ridiculous line from 7th ave to 6th ave, down 6th ave for a block and
then back up to 8th ave of people in line for the free stuff. And the
best part: of the thousands of people in line, 95% of them were Asian.
Haha.

I don't know if it's the fact that we love free stuff or if it's
because este lauder (sp?) and clinique are like the two most popular
brands for the Asians...

Sleep deprived

2009-01-14T21:05:00.001-05:00

You know you're having a bad week/day when you're falling asleep on
your train ride home at 9pm. Today's the earliest I've left the office
in a while: 7:45pm, which really isn't that horrible if I don't factor
I'm the fact that it means I don't get home until 9:30. And that I
never wanted to do one of those jobs that kept me in the office.

And honestly it'd be better if I weren't trapped in one of those
cycles. I go to bed late on Sunday around 2am. Causing me to be
lethargic and incapable of functioning Monday. So I drink lots of
caffeinated drinks causing me to be jittery and not sleep. So the
Monday night I fall asleep at 2am again. Unfunctional Tuesday. Sleep
late Tuesday night. Disfunctional Wednesday. At least today I'm not
bringing work home so I'll hopefully fall asleep by 10 and get my 8
hours in? LOL

Is it Friday yet?

Link of the Day

2009-01-12T13:29:00.002-05:00

I'm a huge Gossip Girl fan. Like I'm considering buying Season 1 on DVD even tho I've already bought them on iTunes...

If you appreciate GG as much as I do, maybe you'll appreciate this as much as I do.

"Put my phallus in your chalice or is that to callous for you?"

Irregular Regular

2009-01-12T09:51:00.001-05:00

Ok before I start anything else, I hate the new google logo. It's all multi-colored and I'm definitely not used to it.

But anyhow. Monday was going to be the test to see if I fit in the category of a "regular". I went into Starbucks, the lady recognized me -- but she had ordered a REGULAR London Fog, and not a non-fat London Fog... But it was close -- and I was happy...

Ugh so bad that I'm about to spend so much money at Starbucks this year!

My addiction to caffeine

2009-01-08T10:53:00.003-05:00

ML sent me this earlier last month and it made me laugh b/c it's practically the story of my life.

I, too, didn't understand the appeal of coffee as a kid. But my dad has a cup every morning so naturally, I wanted to like it.

Coffee candy: I think I first started liking coffee after having a bag full of coffee flavored Asian candies. This was around when I was 11.

Drip coffee: By the time I moved to New Jersey at the age of 15, I started really liking coffee -- lots of sugar, lots of milk. Mainly because after school, I'd hang out at the YMCA before swim practice. There, they always had pots of coffee brewing. I grew to like and also found that it helped me speed through practice. I also lived next to the Quick & Fresh, a little bodega deli place on my walk to the bus stop. They had one of those fake cappuccino and hot chocolate machines, which I later realized had no caffeine in it. Also around this time, I discovered amazing bagels. Sure, Virginia had bagels. My parents liked them. But there's nothing better than a bagel from the NY/NJ area. Our place in NJ is right next to one of the best bagel bakeries in the area. I really liked blueberry and chocolate chip bagels at this time.

Espresso: Towards the end of junior year high school, I discovered espresso. My parents, being very Asian, were very cheap and only had a coffee pot at home. And NEVER went out to Starbucks for espresso drinks. But one day, we got coupons for a free espresso drink at the local Barnes and Nobles that had just opened. And so, being Asian, we went and only got the espresso drinks. I got an espresso; my dad got a latte; my mom got a cappuccino. I remember being so confused as to why my drink was so small. I didn't really enjoy it, and was mad b/c my parents' drinks were better.

Coffee with cream and sugar: By senior year high school, I started doing morning practice, b/c I could finally drive myself there. And every day, after morning practice, my girls and I would drive over to get bagels and coffee. Coffee with cream and sugar. Egg bagel with vegetable cream cheese. It was especially funny b/c the bagel shop we went to was owned by Indian people and every time we went there, we had the same conversation:
me: "Egg bagel with vegetable cream cheese please"
cashier: "Vegetabel cream cheese? Do we have vegetabel cream cheese?"
guy in the back: "yes, we have vegetabel cream cheese"
cashier: "ok, here is your Egg bagel with vegetabel cream cheese"
Yes, I did mean to write vegetabel. you have to think of it in a thick Indian accent.

Medium Chai Latte with a shot of espresso: At one point, I was visiting colleges. I went to Washington University in St. Louis. That night, some of the kids there and me went to Panera (St. Louis Bread Company) and I saw a Chai Latte. Curious, I got it. Amazing. Later that weekend, at the St. Louis airport, I wanted another... but with more caffeine. So I got a Chai Latte with espresso. I remember LOVING it. That was a momentous day for me.

Grande non-fat latte: Freshman year college, I lived within walking distance to a Starbucks -- I mean seriously, I was in New York City. Everyone lives in walking distance to a Starbucks. I discovered the difference between the various espresso based drinks. I started tossing back LOTS of latte's. They were good.

Grande triple chai latte: Sophomore year college, I started working at an events planning place. They treated us to coffee almost every time I was there (there were only like 5 people in the office). I remembered that amazing Chai latte from the St. Louis airport.

Coffee black, no sugar: Junior year, I moved an avenue and a few blocks away from the Starbucks, but I passed a street cart on my way to classes. I fell in LOVE with street vendor coffee. Just a $1 and with barely a line.

Green Tea: For the holidays Junior Year, NEG got me an espresso maker. Bane of my existence. I started drinking WAY too much espresso for my own good -- espresso with a splash of milk and Splenda. I remember that winter going to China for winter break. After leaving the day after my last final, I needed like 5 espresso shots to function. Unfortunately, China was NOT a good place to go. The coffee was weak. The latte's at Starbucks were hella expensive for China and they only had soy milk. REALLY thick soy milk. I was not happy. Eventually I got rid of my caffeine headaches by drinking lots of green tea. It was still caffeine, but at least I wasn't jittery.

Macchiato: For Spring Break that year, I went to visit GEB in Seattle. Oh no. She would order macchiato's. Amazing. Espresso with just the right amount of milk product. I switched from my latte's.

Espresso w/ Baily's: Back on campus, I started making lots of espresso again. And of course, I never had milk in my room, so I'd use Baily's as creamer. I realized how bad that was one when day I showed up for my 9am class kinda really tipsy.

Lipton tea with honey and lemon: Senior year, I tried to wean myself off of coffee and espresso. I started drinking lots of Lipton tea with lemon and honey.

Nothing?: This past summer, I did well. almost no coffee for an entire summer.

Chai Latte's, teas: And then I started working. There's a coffee machine with LOTS of flavors. And LOTS of tea bags. I started making my own Chai Latte's. Starting getting really jittery. But now, I've almost completely switched to caffeinated tea's. Matte tea in the morning, earl grey after lunch, rooibos before bedtime (uncaffeinated).

London Fog: It was working out well until ML told me about the London Fog. Earl Grey tea with steamed milk -- made by Starbux. They recently even added it onto their drinks list. And then for X-mas, my parents got me a Starbux Gold card. 10% off almost everything. I started getting off the Path a stop early so that I could walk past the Starbucks and get my drink.

I'm blogging about this today, b/c for the first time ever, I walked in, the lady behind the counter nodded at me and got my order all ready... I didn't even have to ask:
Grande non-fat London fog with a harvest bagel.

Half life story

2009-01-03T12:19:00.001-05:00

I may have to send this one to overheard new york. I'm at the museum
of natural history. In the dinosaur room, I hear two sketchy looking
people standing in the corner. One of them is trying to explain the
concept of "half life":

It's like this. If you do drugs and say the half life of like coke is
10 days. That means after 10 days, half of the coke is cleared out of
your system. And then after another 10 days, another half is out. So
like technically after 20 days, 3/4 of the coke is out of your system.
You should wikidpedia it.

Omnivore's 100

2009-01-02T12:53:00.005-05:00

So I've made my 2009 list of To Do's.

one of my favorite's on the list is the Omnivore 100. While I'd like to say that my goal is to have tried all of them by the end of 2009, let's be realistic. There are certain things I just won't eat. i.e. roadkill. So here's the list. What on the list have you tried?

Bold -- Yes, I've had it!

Italics -- I'll probably never eat this

1. Venison

2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros

4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile

6. Black pudding -- EWWW

7. Cheese fondue

8. Carp

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush

11. Calamrai

12. Pho

13. PB&J sandwich

14. Aloo gobi -- YUM

15. Hot dog from a street cart

16. Epoisses -- sounds delish!

17. Black truffle

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes -- thank you VA Wine Festival

19. Steamed pork buns -- yum. Grandma Lin's are amaazing

20. Pistachio ice cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes

22. Fresh wild berries -- oh those days in kindergarten...

23. Foie gras -- YUM

24. Rice and beans

25. Brawn

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper -- I don't do spicy

27. Dulce de leche

28. Oysters -- YUM

29. Baklava

30. Bagna cauda

31. Wasabi peas

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl -- YUM Panera

33. Salted lassi

34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float

36. Cognac with a fat cigar -- had cognac, had fat cigar, but never together

37. Clotted cream tea -- Thank you Plaza

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O -- really? what college kid hasn't?

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail -- I kinda want to Italicize this one...

41. Curried goat

42. Whole insects -- ants count... right?

43. Phaal -- yeah don't do spicy

44. Goat's milk

45. Malt whiskey from a bottle worth $120 or more

46. Fugu -- no thanks. I want to live.

47. Chicken tikka masala -- YUM

48. Eel -- on sushi is amazing

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut -- used to go to school by the factory. YUM

50. Sea Urchin -- oddly delish

51. Prickly pear

52. Umebosji - I had no idea what these were called in English until now

53. Abalone

54. Paneer

55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal -- oddly enough have never had one of these...

56. Spaetzle -- looks good!

57. Dirty gin martini

58. Beer above 8% ABV

59. Poutine -- Thank you Heights!

60. Carob chips -- not sure what this would be...

61. S'mores

62. Sweetbreads

63. Kaolin -- no idea what this even is... wiki doesn't give an entry?

64. Currywurst

65. Durian -- they always have these at the Asian market but my mom says they smell bad so she won't let me buy one :(

66. Frogs' legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake -- all YUM

68. Haggis

69. Fried plantain -- YUM!

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette -- yes, but not the way that's shown in the pic...

71. Gazpacho

72. Caviar and blini -- I've had caviar, I've had blini's but never together

73. Louche absinthe -- So want to try!

74. Gjetost or brrnost

75. Roadkill

76. Baiju or shao jiu -- ughhhh bad memories

77. Hostess Fruit Pie -- they always have these in vending machines. I guess I'll have to get one sometime

78. Snail

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini

81. Tom yum

82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky

84. Tasting menu at a three Michelin star restaurant -- would LOVE to do this

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare

87. Goulash

88. Flowers

89. Horse

90. Criollo chocolate -- oddly very asian

91. Spam

92. Soft shell crab

93. Rose harissa

94. Catfish

95. Mole poblano

96. Bagel and lox

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake

100 total items

64 tried items

6 items I refuse to try

30 items to try eventually!

Attack of the birds

2009-01-01T23:34:00.001-05:00

So earlier today I sat on the train platform at Newark Penn Station.
It's an roofed open area so you're never rained on but there are
constantly birds flying in and out of the space.

Today I was eating a sandwich waiting for the train. But as I'm eating
it I look around and the birds start landing at the end of the
platform. I take a bite, look up and more birds have landed. I take
another bite and the birds are creeping closer. I take another bite.
There are now at least 20 birds around me and I'm completely freaked
out to the point that I want to put the sandwich back in the plastic
box that it came in. Thankfully as soon as I openned it, it made a
loud pop and scared the birds off. I quickly openned the box and
finished the sandwich, in fear of more birds showing up.

In other news I have a new beer bomb. Orange vodka shot in red bull.
Yum.

Noises

2008-12-31T09:57:00.001-05:00

There are all kinds of noises. But I think the best are the kinds that people make when they don't realize it.

I was at the gym the other day, and the guy next to me kept shouting words. I can only imagine that they were like "one more", or "a little further"... but alas, they weren't in English. He had headphones on too... and I don't think he realized how loud it was. but every time he did it, someone around us would laugh. It was pretty funny.

This morning on the train into work, this guy sitting a couple seats behind me was mumbling to himself... the same things over and over. But again, not in English...

As I was walking towards my building, I saw a guy on a bike pedaling into his apartment building and almost collided with a pedestrian. Luckily, the pedestrian looked up and stopped walking right as the cyclist zoomed past. Why did the pedestrian look up? B/c the cyclist made a high pitched ERRRRRR sound, much like what Ross thinks raptors may have sounded like. It was quite funny. I burst out laughing hysterically on the street. I'm sure someone else thought I was crazy for cracking up on the snowy streets.

Jersey Mall

2008-12-30T19:05:00.001-05:00

So the other night I went to the mall and had two interesting moments.

1. I ran into my h.s. husband -- in 12th grade, they made us have fake marriages to so we could learn how to plan a wedding -- i know wtf right? and I was married to this guy who was totally a slacker/badass. Yet I totally had a crush on him ha. Sorta. we never really talked. I just planned my own wedding ha. So yeah. I saw him at the mall... or at least I thought I did. and laughed as I remembered that ridiculous moment of my life.

2. I hate how slow jersey malls are. like painfully slow... slash I think a lot of that is attributed to the workers. People who work in jersey malls are usually high school kids who are doing it so they can pay for their riced cars. where as people who work in stores in NYC are legit trying to hold down a job to pay for real bills. It makes quite a difference. I promise. Then again, I'm also a super antsy person.

What's my thing?

2008-12-28T01:16:00.000-05:00

Sorry this is going to be a super LJ entry.

I once heard a quote that's basically stupid people talk about other
people. Average people talk about events. Smart people talk about
theories and concepts.

But to be able to talk about theories and concepts, i feel like you
must have extensive knowledge about something. You must be passionate
about something.

I have a friend that's all about food. Writing about it, making it,
even pursuing a career in it.

I have a friend who's all about medicine. Has wanted to be a doctor
since he was a kid and is now doing it.

I have a friend who's also really into her domestic living with the
cleaning, knitting but mainly cooking her family italian dishes. As
well as being the coolest female nerdy engineer I know.

I have a friend who's all about Jewish studies and is now abroad
spreading the knowledge.

I have a friend who's finally in France after majoring in it and
wanting to go her entire life.

I have a friend who's incredibly intelligent and really politically
liberally savvy. Loves to debate about politics and the struggles of
the lower class and ethnic groups that he majored in ethnic studies.

I have a friend who's majoring I marine biology and can tell you
everything there is to know about any fish ever.

I have a boss who's knitted dozens and dozens of things including
earrings.

I have a friend who's absolutely passionate about helping people and
is a pursuing higher degree at TC.

I have so many friends who are absolutely passionate about something.
I would go to any of them for a variety of topics.

But sometimes I get really nervous bc I don't know what my passion is.
I like a lot of things to be familiar with them but I feel like I
don't know anything to the point that people would ask me for an
opinion on something. And honestly, i love knowing what's going on in
my friends lives and talking about people and relationships. Does this
make me a silly boring stupid person? I'm not passionate about
anything. I feel like sometimes I don't stand for anything? Maybe this
is why I'm boring? How do I find what I'm actually interested? Ugh. I
hate being awake at night. I start thinking about stuff.

Poorly worded/dyslexia

2008-12-27T12:51:00.000-05:00

The sign on the far left makes me super freaked out. "we'd love to
ride in your glovebox."

It's for an insurance company but. Every time I see that sign I think
it says "we'd love to ride your lovebox." which is quite a bit more
pornographic.

Nj deer?

2008-12-25T09:51:00.000-05:00

My parents decided today would be a good day to take my cousin into
NYC. And so, we're driving. There are barely any cars out on the road.
Yet of course there has to be one p.a. Jersey driver who cuts us off.
Seriously there's no one else around us.

We're taking the same road that I take to get to work and there's been
this deer carcas for weeeks. It died before the snow storm. After the
snow, it was just two hooves sticking out of the snow. Now after
everythings melted it looks like a wet dog. Ha

Oh NJ

2008-12-24T11:52:00.001-05:00

So it's the day before X-mas eve. Many of my high school friends are in town and so I organize a get together. There's a Friday's in the middle of the town, and we decided to go there (even though Houlihan's had karaoke night).

Friday's was PACKED. I've never seen so many people in the place before -- and so many people from h.s. It was truly amazing. But the best part of it was how CHEAP the drinks are. I opened a tab b/c I only had a $20 in my wallet and figured I'd drink more than that... NOPE. I ended up putting a couple other drinks on it as well and only had a $18.50 tab. what was on it?
1. Cointreau on the rocks (thanks CME)
2. Jack & Coke
3. Bud Light
4. Bass
5. Yuengling
6. Blue Moon
7. Bass

Yes, that's 7 drinks for $18.50. All the beers were pints. so yes. that's $2.64/drink. I felt generous and left a $6.50 tip to make it an even $25.

Sometimes I don't feel so bad about living in Jersey -- but last call was at 1:20am... that was too early :-/ haha I guess it *was* a Tuesday night afterall

Economics for S&G

2008-12-23T20:39:00.000-05:00

So here's an economics dilemma for you. With some feelings involved as
well.

My "aunt" got me a purse for X-mas. The price tag that's on it says
$495.00. I'm not a huge fan of the bag so I go to the store to return
it. Only to find that the bag is now on sale for $249.99.

We call her to ask for the receipt so I can return it for the price
that she bought it for. Turns out, she didn't buy it at the store.
Rather she bought it online and paid about $320 s&h included.

So here are the proposed solutions:
1.) I spend $20 to ship it back to her and ask her to ship it back to
the place she got it from. Have her refund it, and mail me a check for
the cost of the bag.
2.) My mom was willing to buy the bag off of me for $250.
3.) I pick out another bag and use the $250 of the bag as store credit.
4.) I keep the bag and never use it.

Rationalizations:
1.) probably the most economically sound for me. However I'm losing
$20 in shipping, my aunt loses $60 (assume each mailing is $20) in
shipping. Just to get me $320. And I probably hurt my aunts feelings.

2.) here's the caveat. My mom also doesn't like the bag that much. So
she'd probably only use it twice. In this scenario, I would lose $70.
My mom wouldn't really be gaining anything either.

3.) I lose $70 in the worth of the bag. But I could also potentially
get something I legit like.

4.) I'm stuck with something I don't want that's worth quite a bit of
money.

What do I do?

I picked option 3. I found a bag that I relatively liked. Slash it was
my favorite thing in the store: a dark green handbag for $334.99. So I
shelled out another $90 for something I'll use and my aunt will feel
like she actually gave me something for x-mad. Slash when I tell her
this story, I'll leave out the price difference.

Now I'm following my mom around Short Hills mall. Did you know they
openned a Madewell here? I was so excited.

disapopintment of the day

2008-12-23T12:23:00.001-05:00

someone decided to not put games on my work computer -- that includes minesweeper :-/

anyone know of a good website version of minesweeper? don't make me build my own....

Why I drink

2008-12-22T13:45:00.002-05:00

Thanks to AMR for this one :)
Why I drink...

Honestly, I don't think it's so much that I drink b/c I have a high IQ. I think it's more I drink b/c otherwise I'm too awkward to socialize... therefore I drink and somehow manage to be a little dumber and socialize better...

Thanks to EMS for the comment highlights below:
"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools." --Ernest Hemingway

"A lot of people with high IQ's think too much, and are often socially awkward. I think many have found that drinking helps to silence that inner critic - or at least make it not give a damn."

Vicky's dieting plan?

2008-12-19T15:45:00.001-05:00

So It's snowing like cats and dogs out here. So... I'm working from home. And when I'm home all day I watch all the fun TV that I've recorded... which sadly, when you don't have cable means just lots of Friends, Will & Grace, Family Guy, and Arthur (haha). But something I did find ... mildly entertaining was the Victoria's Secret fashion show... but who approved the commercial for the ring that's put on your stomach so you eat less during that time slot?? it's just calling for people with poor self esteem to want this surgery... watching skinny girls prance around in almost nothing... seeing a way to lose weight... yeah... either brilliant or horrible marketing there. ha

Special Lemonade

2008-12-18T09:39:00.001-05:00

I know I haven't updated for a while -- mainly b/c i've been driving to work instead of taking the train. It got cold and I'd rather be in the car for 50 min than on the train for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. esp when gas is so cheap -- and i don't feel TOO badly b/c my car gets like 30 mpg during my way to and from work.

Anyhow. This morning, i stopped by the only 24/7 dinner in Jersey City... slash the financial area of Jersey City. It's called the Pink Flamingo. It's great for a quick meal. I've grabbed lunch there and was in and out in 20 min.... slash i spent more time inhaling my food than i did waiting for it to arrive. So this morning, I stopped by to get breakfast (I had to leave the house early to catch the train . haha)

As i'm waiting, a construction worker comes in. He's obviously the designated breakfast guy -- he orders a 5 breakfasts and 3 coffees... and then goes -- and 2 special lemonades. I"m thinking -- hm... it's early for lemonade, but wtvr. I won't judge. The waitress (slash owner?) takes two cups, puts ice in it. puts fountain lemonade... then reaches around the drink machine for the rum and pours probably like 5 oz of rum into each cup. and fills the rest with lemonade.

I'm sitting there trying not to burst out laughing in hysterics. wtf. 9am is WAY too early to be drinking lemonade and rum... I HOPE i never get to fed up with my job that I need to start off my day with "special lemonade"

But it might not be bad for an after work special.... (when i'm not driving home)

-------
in other news, my dad and I were playing Wii tennis last night and in his excitement, he smacked my hand. slash my left pinky is bruised. good excuse to not get work done?

Link of the Day

2008-12-04T12:02:00.003-05:00

Justin Timberlake recently did a cameo on SNL (not as the main host) but still. And part of his time on it was appearing as one of Beyonce's back up dancers. Cool. And then Beyonce performed... which made me so uncomfortable... she wasn't wearing pants and she's gyrating against... things.

But still. So for this past while, I've had that Beyonce song stuck in my head, which prompted ML to look for cool things about it. This is one of those things she found:

Apparently, some guy learned the entire Beyonce dance just from watching it a lot and appeared on this talk show. The talk show had him dancing in front of a green screen to the music... and here's how he fared.

I'm truly amazed.

Link of the Day

2008-12-03T10:12:00.002-05:00

Thanks to WL for this one...

Vanity Fair's version of Bailout Application...

Black CrazyDay

2008-11-28T09:29:00.002-05:00

I'm from New Jersey. There I admitted it. It's actually taken me this long to admit it because I don't want to be stereotyped as a Jersey girl. I don't wear hoop earrings, I don't wear obscene amounts of mascara, I don't hang out at the Jersey Shore, and I like to think that I'm not trashy... But that said, there are definitely parts of me that have picked up very Jersey things during the 7 1/2 years that I've lived here.

The biggest of these, is my love for Black Friday. Jersey is a ridiculous consumer driven state. There are malls every 20 miles (or across the road from each other). High school kids spend weekends wandering around malls. People know your town because of the mall that's in it. and Black Friday is insane.

This is honestly the first year since I could legally drive that I've not participated in the Black Friday madness. I remember my senior year of high school, my friend DE and I couldn't sleep at night after 2 hours... so we got up at 4am to join the madness. And madness it was. There were probably more cars out at 4am on Black Friday than there normally are on a normal rush hour weekday. And I got an amazing rush about it. I loved the hustle and bustle of it all. That year, I stood in line at the Office Max to get a digital camera and printer. I then proceeded that day to go to work -- I had worked at dELiA*s at the time. We had a 50% off everything in the store sale. Aeropostale, next door was having the same sale. and there were people everywhere -- but I functioned really well -- even after only 2 hours of sleep. I think I only got about 8 hours of sleep that entire weekend -- from Wednesday to Monday. I get excited about the hustle and bustle.

Last year, DE and I were at it again. Except we went to the Circuit City to try for one of the coveted lap tops. We pulled into the Circuit City around 3:30am, thinking that was plenty early for the 5am opening. Boy were we wrong. By 3:30am, the line had wrapped all the way across the front of the store, down the side, and around the entire back of the store as well. DE thought I was crazy to still want a laptop and stayed in the warm car. I bought my giant panda sleeping bag and sat in line. When the store opened, people swarmed the entrance so quickly and badly that the manager of the Circuit City ended up having to call the police. That's when I took a hint and left.

This year is the first year since that I'm not outside in the cold right now. I looked at the door busters last night and decided that there wasn't anything out there that I actually wanted. Maybe the deals just aren't as good, maybe I just have everything I need. But last night, after leaving the B residence's Thanksgiving dinner, I swung by Circuit City -- to see who was there. I was thoroughly surprised that at 11pm, there were about 40 people in line already. The main parking lot in front was nearly full. There were 5 tents up with people bundled up and waiting. and waiting. This is madness.

After leaving RBM's post Thanksgiving gathering and playing of Quelf, I drove past the Circuit City again. at 1:45am, there were so many people at the CIrcuit City that the line wrapped around half the store already (this is no small store either!).

Maybe I just get more and more excited about the day, but I really think that Black Friday in Jersey is getting crazier and crazier. I love it.

But this year, I decided to get a full night's sleep so that I could "work from home" today and then make my first ever personal Thanksgiving turkey :)

Good luck to all those shopping today!

Dressed to Impress?

2008-11-25T10:26:00.002-05:00

So when I wake up in time, I like to go to the gym before work... this usually entails waking up around 6am to catch the 6:23 or 6:37am train to get to the gym between 7:30-8:00am. Which is great. I get like 20 min of cardio and then some weights in so that I rolled into the office a bit passed 9am. It's great. I feel accomplished by 10am after my morning bagel. and I'm ready for my day.

But the weirdest part of it all, is my commute in. Let's face it. If I'm leaving my house at 6:15am to go to the train to go to the gym, I'm not going to get dressed in work clothes. I'll throw it into a bag and change after the gym. So this morning, I left wearing my AXO sweatpants, my birkenstocks, and a zip up sweater. I cannot tell you how many odd looks I got. The only people travel city bound at that hour are people who are going to work. The only people who get OFF of the train at Exchange Place are going to work. All around me, people were in suits, dress pants, heels, all glitzed up. And here I am, in sweats and birks...

Of course right as I was about to round the corner to my gym, I ran into BK. BK went to my HS and Columbia with me -- we were never that close, but it was always great running into a familiar face... and I found myself blurting out -- "I'm going to gym, not the office in this!" haha.

F- it. I don't care anymore. It's raining and I like being scrubby

Empty Tank

2008-11-21T11:51:00.003-05:00

So I drive a relatively old car. it's a 1998 Integra. ok so it's not THAT old, but 10 years is still a lot and a lot can go wrong with a car.

Besides, the weird humming when I hit around 45 mph and the always-on hand brake light, my biggest complaint about my car is that my gas light no longer works. I found this out the hard way in high school. One morning, while running late to get to school, I couldn't start my car. Like couldn't for the life of me get the engine to turn. I had no idea why -- I popped the hood, checked the engine oil and then decided that's all I knew how to do (it obviously wasn't a flat tire or a radiator issue... the other two things I know how to do in a car...) and so I went to bother my mom. Thank goodness she hadn't left the house yet. Now, my mom isn't particularly good with cars. She's your typical asian woman driver. But she does have a lot of common sense. She poked her head into the car and laid it out simply for me, "You're out of gas." Sure enough, after driving my mom's car to the gas station and putting into my car, it started working again. The wonders of gasoline.

Anyhow. The other day, I was running late to work and so I decided to drive to work since it's faster. I got right to the end of I-78 where I hit traffic. At this point, there wasn't anywhere I could get off and so I just sat there... and then I looked down and saw that my gas tank was practically empty. Like, almost completely empty. I got super nervous... There weren't any exits around, I was already late for work, and my odometer already read higher than it normally does on a tank (in retrospect, probably b/c I was driving on the Interstate instead of small roads). Eventually I got to Jersey City and drove to the only gas station I knew...

I got there and put 9.871 gallons of gas in my 10 gallon tank.

Link of the day

2008-11-21T11:49:00.003-05:00

I've never been a good cook, but this computer is obviously a worse cook than I am... it gives you a random recipe every time you reload the page... here's what I got:

Sprouts Salsa

Serves 1

You will need:

20ml orange juice
10g sprouts

Instructions:

rinse the sprouts
add one tablespoon of the sprouts
grill the orange juice
serve piping hot

I think i'll have a hard time grilling the orange juice...

Fail

2008-11-21T11:09:00.003-05:00

my own version of a fail... Thanks to WL, I kinda watch this site religiously...

stocks going up? really? nope.

Link of the Day

2008-11-19T11:40:00.002-05:00

This seemed appropriate for the blog title -- thanks SHS :)

QWOP Update

2008-11-19T10:34:00.002-05:00

So I have some super gamer friends, and so when I uploaded the QWOP link, i wasn't surprised when people were telling me how many meters they were accomplishing... AMR and her associate S were playing, EC was playing, CEP was playing, SHS was playing... it was great... and then there's a special friend of mine, RBM, who I've always been a little jealous of b/c she's got great hand-eye coordination, the ability to hold a conversation with anyone, and is super smart -- in both the math & sci sense as well as the amazing writer sense... (and I always hated how good at HORSE she was in HS gym class). Nonetheless, she's one of my best friends for a number of reasons, and last night's reason just made the top of the list:

A little after midnight -- i get a text: "Are you still awake?", I"m like yeah barely, but yes... she calls me to tell you -- I finished the game -- i got to 100 meters.

I proceed to crack up for a solid minute laughing. Of course I should have known. If there was anyone who'd have the determination to finish the game, it'd be RBM. You're amazing and I love you -- congrats on being the first person I know who actually finished it!! <3