Blah Blah Blahg...

Experiencing History

2009-01-31T06:48:00.000-08:00

Washington DC is a quick 4+ hour drive away from 'lil Endicott NY, so the night the nation elected the first African-American president I decided I had to go. This was something not that long ago I was quite certain I would never see happen in my lifetime, but thanks to a superstar candidate and a "perfect storm" of national circumstances... it happened. And thankfully I've got a good friend in DC willing to provide the floor of his very nice condo and an air mattress for a few days, so on Jan 18th I headed down, with a stop in NYC to pick up my big sister who wanted to come along too.

I could go on for a while detailing all I experienced at the Inauguration, but one thing (among several) that struck me was the crowd. We headed out at 7:30am on January 20th to get a spot by a screen on the Mall and ended up midway between the Capital and the Washington Monument. Friends that left around the same time we did were all the way back by the monument so we got a decent spot considering. (I found out later I was close to a NY Met player who showed up without a ticket and stood in the crowd.) Once we settled in our spot, I looked around and was blown away by all the people. The largest crowd I've ever been in up to that point that I was able to quantify was at the Lousiana Superdome, which holds close to 100,000 people, which seemed HUGE to me. And here I was standing in 20 superdomes worth of people. To look forward, back, and around and to see nothing but shoulder to shoulder people for a mile is something else. And with all these people, there was this incredible vibe... a vibe of hope and optimism. It was like nothing I have ever experienced or will probably ever experience again. And to experience it with SO MANY people was just so frickin' cool. Looking around seeing everyone waving their little American flags with joy, seeing broad smiles and eyes filled will tears from the emotion of the moment. It was like the biggest rock concert on earth and more. And something I can recount with pictures and stories to my kids and grandkids, and say, 'I was there'.

This president has inherited a mound of considerably difficult tasks and I don't think anyone there forgot that, but it was incredibly to have a moment where people were able to celebrate history and the hope of a better tomorrow.

Campaigning for Change

2008-10-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

This is the most important election of my lifetime, and essentially the lifetime of anyone alive. And because this is so important, I feel that it's my responsibility to do what I can to help determine the result I want. I don't want to wake up on November 5th disappointed with the result and feel like I could have done something and didn't. The states that are currently the most crucial are the "battleground" states: the states that will make or break the election for either candidate. While I will be placing my vote in NY for Obama, NY is a state that is pretty much in the bag. Campaigning here is a bit pointless. But Scranton PA is a quick drive to the south, so I looked up the campaign center there and decided one Saturday a couple of weeks ago to make the trip.

I had to run a 5K in the morning and I had plans in the evening but I was determinined to go to Scranton for at least a few hours in between to do whatever needed to be done since the registration deadline in PA was that Monday. Turns out one thing they really need help with there is "canvassing". I didn't really know what that would entail until I got there. Here's the agenda of my day...

9am Run a 5K

10:15am Head to Scranton

11:30am Arrive at Scranton campaign center

The place was PACKED. It was quite exciting to see.

11:45 am Begin Training Session

The training session was very interesting. First, the group in my session (~30 people) was from all over, only 2 people from PA. (Overall, I'd say 200 volunteers showed up all day. Also interesting to note I only saw 2 other black people.) Most people came from NY. Second, the training itself was quite informative as far as learning a few things I didn't know about Obama's background and a few additional disturbing flaws in McCain's policy plans. I'm pretty well-educated on both candidates but this training was pretty thorough. Aside from talking about the candidates, we learned exactly what canvassing involved. Basically you are given a neighborhood, names, and you knock on doors. If someone is strongly in support of Obama or McCain, you don't say much (other than to make sure the Obama people are registered and definitely voting), but if they are undecided or only leaning toward either candidate, you break out the listed strategies. These strategies were basically to be positive about Obama, talk about how his policies are relevant to my situation, and discuss how his policies are relevant to their situation. The only discussion of McCain was to be in terms of 1. he's more of the same failed Bush policies and if you haven't been happy the last 8 years, you need to vote for real change... McCain has voted with Bush 90% of the time, so he's no maverick, 2. McCain claims to put America first but picking a VP candidate like Palin who wasn't his first choice but a choice based on pressure from republicans is not putting America first, and 3. McCain is out of touch and has countless houses and cars, while Obama was raised by a single mother, put himself through college with scholarships and loans, and JUST finished paying off his and Michelle's loans 3 years ago. We had plenty to work with.

12:45pm Find a canvassing partner

After we finished the training session, we were supposed to find a partner, get our paperwork and location, and head out. I found a group of 3 people from Albany who needed a forth. They were very cool people who had all done canvassing in NY before but like me wanted to make a difference in a battleground state. They were also very useful as far as explaining some strategies they would use.

Interesting note: Once we hopped in the minivan, we passed the McCain campaign center. The lights were off and not a sole was there.

1:30 Arrive in Wilkes-Barre neighborhood and start knocking on doors

The neighborhood we got was pretty swank: huge houses with manicured lawns and bushes cut in shapes and all that type of crap. So I knew it might be a tad hard to talk to some of these poeple about tax cuts when they might actually be ABOVE that income line. But anyway, the way it works is you have a partner but your partner works one side of the street and you work the other so I was pretty much by myself. I was a bit nervous but my Albany friends made it seem pretty easy. So I spoke to the first person. As it turns out, the woman on my list wasn't there but her husband was. She's a registered democrat but he's a registered republican. I sat on that man's porch and we spoke for a good 20 minutes. While he was sure his wife was voting for Obama, he was undecided but hates Bush. We talked about everything from his uncertainty that Obama's campaign plans will end up being empty promises to his fear of what a possible assassination would do to the country to his decreased faith in McCain after his question VP choice. The man was very educated (he and his wife are doctors) and I really enjoyed talking with him, even though he wasn't even on my list and talking to him didn't help me fill out the response form I was supposed to fill out, other than writing down his wife wasn't home and she might vote for Obama. It was still a great way to start off.

The next house I went to was an older woman who was very pro-Obama. She talked about how she cried for a year after her grandchild died in Iraq. She talked about how she hosts debate parties at her place. She talked about how she thought Palin was an idiot (though I couldn't really joined her as we were specifically told not to talk on that, despite enormous amount of material). She talked about how she couldn't wait to vote and even named her voting place. The next house was a woman who was a registered democrat but was going to vote for McCain because she liked Palin. Mind you this woman doesn't even like McCain, but she likes that Palin is a relatable and she thinks McCain will listen to her. I asked her what issues were important to her and she said, "I'm not big on issues." Oy. So I went another route and mentioned how the VP doesn't have much power at the end of the day and if you don't like McCain, that's who you'll be getting if you vote for Palin. That actually seemed to sink in with her, so I'm hoping she might change her mind.

I won't go into every person I spoke to but I spoke to every type. I also now know what Jehovah Witnesses feel like. I had houses where there were 5 cars in front, 3 TVs on, and I still got no response. I had 1 or 2 people who were flat out mean to me or a bit short. I had people who claimed they were voting for Obama but I think it was just in order for me to leave them alone. I had McCain supporters who would work in references to black friends just to show me them not voting for Obama had nothing to do with race. I got it all. But the best conversations were with undecided voters and feeling like I may have swayed them.

5pm Done canvassing

So we hopped back in the minivan and began to share our experiences on the way back to the campaign center. A lot of stories were exchanged but the most interesting story was about how some people can hear all the reasons about why Obama is the better candidate and you can knock down every reason why they say they won't vote for him but at the end of the day, they still say there is "just something about him" that won't let them vote for him. And that thing is that he's black. These people aren't overt racists; just people who aren't ready to vote for a black man. And this topic was brought up by my co-canvassers, all white, but they still noted having to combat that subtle racism.

5:45 - 6pm Tally the responses and head home

When we got back, my partner and I had to fill out a form noting people who were not home and who people were voting for (Certain, leaning, or undecided). After that I said goodbye to my friends for the day. My Albany crew was actually staying overnight so they could go back out the next day.

I have to say the campaign center was incredibly efficient and organized. In the past few weeks, Obama has been gaining a lead in Pennsylvania according to polls and seeing how they are campaigning there, it's clear why. Since Gore had a double-digit lead in polls 8 years ago and still lost, I hope people don't get too comfortable and think anything is certain. I plan to go back and canvass again. I was hoping to help by doing something other than knocking on doors, but honestly, it wasn't bad at all and ended up being a great experience.

While I'm on the topic of politics, I have also learned that the best way to watch debates is in a group. The first debate I watched with a few friends (and mostly strangers) at a bar in Ithaca. There were 30 people crammed around one TV in the back of the bar, shouting at the TV and drinking whenever words like "maverick" were said repeatedly. It was so fun to watch and have the instant reactions of an entire room, expecially in a place like Ithaca where the store next to the bar had an "Obama is Gorges" t-shirt in the window. Since that experience was so cool, I decided to watch the VP debate with a group too. This time I went to the Obama campaign center in Owego. This time instead of drinking games, I arrived to Palin Bingo. As funny as that is, it's even funnier that we were actually able to fill the whole bingo card with what she actually said that matched the card. Again, it was cool to shout out comments at the TV, and laugh at her silliness with a group. Too bad the debates are over because debate parties are awesome.

A bump in the road...

2008-08-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

There are certain things that are particularly worrisome for a woman, one of these things being the discovery of a lump in her breast. This worry can be magnified when there is a known family history of such lumps leading to a sad result. So as the daughter of a wonderful woman who died at an unfortunately young age from breast cancer, when I recently discovered a lump it's not surprising that I was a bit concerned.

It was a rather random discovery, not even intentional. Even with my family history, as a (till very recently) 20-something, it's not something I had been particularly nervous about in the near term as I'm very young. I mean, aside from the yearly checkup or self-exam after catching a report on TV, I didn't think of it much. So it came as a shock when I extended my arms upward in a stretch after my evening working and unconsciously reached toward my rib sensing something there. Sure enough, on my left side was a rather large, hard ball. My immediate thought was, 'oh sh*t, how did that get there?' It was nothing I had even noticed before and now from nowhere I was feeling a huge quarter-sized lump.

So mentally, I was concerned but not panicked. One... I'm a very positive person, and two... there's no need to be nervous about something I hadn't had examined yet. At the same time, I wasn't exactly sipping a margarita with my feet kicked up. Several things started going through my mind. As an educated person, I know the statistics, both positive and negative. I've had several friends in the last couple of years discover lumps and it be nothing; I've also known those rare cases of young women who weren't as lucky. I also started thinking about how ironic I'd make a discovery now when in the last couple of months I had become so healthy. I'm probably in the best shape of my adult life. I workout nearly every day, I run up to 3 miles each week and have started competing in 5Ks, and I eat a very healthy and balanced diet. I am noticeably more lean and toned, and even have an impressive 6-pack going. So it's odd that at the healthiest point of my life I would be having my most significant health concern.

Anyway, I made this discovery during the evening so I couldn't set a doctor's appointment until the morning. So the next morning I walked up to the doctor's office to set an appointment. As I'm at the front desk, I'm setting the appointment and I get to the obvious question from the nurse, "what's the purpose of your appointment?" It was odd but I kinda whispered, 'I found a lump'. Then she gave me this sad look of worry and tried to bump up my appointment. So the appointment got set, and even though we tried for a quicker date, the best that could be done was a week later.

So a week goes by and I finally get to see my doctor. My attitude was pretty upbeat during the wait, but I still had the lump and it still hadn't been defined. But overall, I have good instincts, intuition and attitude, and none of it was telling me to be overly concerned. And the little bit of concern that did creep in was saying that if the prognosis wasn't what I was anticipating, I would be able to deal. I was thinking about that as I walked into the exam room at the doctor's. She did the exam. Since it was a large lump (and I'm no Pamela Lee Anderson), it only took her a quick second to find it, at which time she says, "oh yeah, it's there." That, by the way, did not help my concern about how big it was. What did help is she immediately started talking about how it wasn't necessarily cancerous, but could be a cycle-related cyst, especially since it appeared so suddenly. She also told me to avoid feeling it as it may irritate it. So we finished up and she made an appointment for the next step: the mammogram.

I had to wait another week for the mammogram which was at another location. This was an interesting experience as I'm so young and everyone in that waiting room... wasn't. Most would qualify easily as my grandmother, even great-grandmother. After filling out my paperwork, I was given a certificate for a free pearl necklace, and I am eligible for additional pearls each year I get an exam. I thought that was pretty cool. Anyway, I was called and headed into the mammogram room. I have heard such horror stories, I was a bit concern about the pain. But honestly, it wasn't that bad. After taking full-on kicks and punches in martial arts, getting my breast extremely squashed wasn't horrible, especially knowing it was only for my benefit. And this lump was in a very hard to catch spot, so the poor technician did nothing but apologize as she tugged and pushed on my back. After all that, we only got one half decent shot as it was laying on my rib. Once she got that shot, she said, "Given your family history, we're probably going to need to take that out." 'Okay,' I thought. Since we did only get the one clear shot, she ran down to the ultrasound room to see if I could get that too. Ultrasounds allow for a far better view. Fortunately, someone showed up late to their ultrasound so they made room for me. Other than the cold gel and still walking around exposed to the world, the ultrasound was kinda cool. It was at this point I could really see it and my concerned significantly dropped. It looked like a really simple ball. Having seen shots of cancerous tumors, this looked far from it, but I'm no doctor. But 20 minutes later I walked into the oncologist's office and she told me the same and even matched my opinion. It was a "simple cyst". Basically, it's big round fatty ball showing now signs of cancer. That I could handle, and what remaining small amount of concern I had evaporated. But given my history and it's size she suggesting I get it drained a bit by another doctor.

So another week later at a different location, I arrived at the appointment for having the lump drained. I had been avoiding searching for it like I was told by my primary physician, but since I hadn't done so in a while, I decided to do a self exam. To my surprise, no lump. That's right, the huge quarter-size ball was apparently gone. But I'm no doctor. So I walked in to the room with a nurse and we quickly realize she lives in my apartment complex, and she sees me doing my run regularly. Funny. She also asked if it was cool if some interns observed my exam. I said it was fine. Then she handed me a robe the size of a mu mu, apologized for it's ridiculous size, and left only to return a few minutes later with the doc and 2 interns. I told him I was pretty sure it was gone. He proceeded to check. So here I was, totally exposed from the belt up, getting my chest felt up by a male doc I had known all of 3 minutes while 2 interns and my nurse neighbor looked on. (By the way, it made it a bit weird when I did see her at the complex the next day.) What was funnier was the doc and I are just talking and joking about various unrelated topics during this exam. For whatever reason, I was on a roll and had the interns cracking up. Apparently, breast exams bring out the comedian in me. Anyway, he finished up, came to my same conclusion, I paid for the appointment, set up an appointment for a following mammogram checkup in a few months, and I left.

So that's it. No lump for now. The whole experience was quite informative. It was probably the first time in my life when I truly thought about my mortality, and it put some things in perspective. So I guess the lesson is live life to the fullest, don't sweat the stupid stuff, and ladies and guys don't forget your regular self-exams.

Old.

2008-07-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

On July 3rd 2008 I hit a milestone. I am now 30. Old. I have left my 20s and, what feels like, my youth. When the clock went past midnight, I actually felt it. This realization came over me that I had left one part of my life and entered a new and very significant one. It's probably the first birthday that really meant something to me. Anyway, it was great to spend the day with family (close and extended), and for friends (those close and ones I hadn't spoken to in a while) to remember the day and care enough to wish me happiness on my day. Really meant a lot to me. I have to say, I'm happy 30 has arrived at a time when I'm in increasingly excellent shape and have greatly improved my level of fitness, so I can hopefully have many more birthdays to come. I guess the next big one is 40... so I've got ten years to mentally prepare for that one.

Hypermiling: thank you, geeks...

2008-06-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

Yet another reason to appreciate geeks of the world. Hypermiling. As the gas prices go up, so does the growing community of hypermilers. Geeks of the world came up with a long list of things to do to extend the miles per gallon on your car. In general, if you can afford to "drive like an old man" and ignore the swearing you may get from other car drivers, you will save a lot of money. It's not that hard really. Doing things like taking your time, using neutral down hills, turning off your car a stop lights, driving behind semis, using cruise control, not riding your breaks, and the list goes... I have a co-worker who was able to stretch an additional 150 miles out of his tank. An old college friend told me this weekend he's been on the same tank since early April. And I used just a few of the strategies on a trip to NYC recently; based on my car indicator, I should have not been able to make it to the city but I did some hypermiling and made it not only to the city but back to NJ to buy some cheaper gas. :-) I wish people would have been talking about this years ago.

Some quick hits (so I don't have to do other small blog posts)...

I met the Stuff White People Like guy at the awards show. It went something like... 'Hey, I'm #31, snowboarding.' Him:"Oh my God! That was you?!" It was a pretty funny moment. He understandably thought he'd never meet someone from a random pic he took off the internet. Anyway, he offered to credit me in the pic but I told him no thanks. I prefer the anonymity, and the fact my friends think it's cool is fame enough. And I'll be sure to buy his book out July 1st.
The Man has finally caught up with me. I'm starting jury duty in two weeks. I've never had to do it before. I postponed in April because I had a vacation planned. I called this morning to try to postpone again since I was worried if I got picked, I'd end up stuck for three weeks and I've got too many wedding/tournament/vacation plans in July. The woman on the phone was like, "You really don't want to postpone again. You're only signed up for 2 days. This is the one you want to accept. Trust me." So that's cool with me. :-) Two days and I'm set for a good 5 years. I'm actually kinda excited. I'm hoping to catch some Judge Judy-type drama.
I'm on day 16 of my new fitness/eating plan. I've gone running every day, whether it's a few miles or a few minutes, and yesterday I started on this new crazy workout plan. I might be ready to sign up for American Gladiator in 90 days. Haha! We'll see...

Celeb Mingling...

2008-06-04T06:36:00.000-07:00

So, for the past 6 years or so, I've been fortunate enough to do some seatfilling. Basically, I go to awards shows and fill seats for people who go off to the bathroom, get up to present, or maybe just didn't show up. I've gotten to do things like sit between Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. Coolest thing is I sit in these $1000 front-row seats for the low cost of *nothing*. Not a bad gig, especially when the only work is sitting on my ass.

Anyway, I've got another one of those gigs tonight for this award show appearing next week on Bravo. So when I went to check out online who would be at the awards, I came across an interesting name: Christian Lander. He's up for an award. This is the creator of the blog I am randomly pictured in. Not only is the blog at 30 million hits now, he's coming out with a Stuff White People Like book. The guy is huge now. I am hoping I meet him so I can say, "Hey, it's me... #31, snowboarding!" I think it'd be cool. It's just funny I'm not excited about any real celebrity encounter; I want to meet the blog guy. Haha!

http://www.bravotv.com/alist/2008/about/index.php

Day 1...

2008-05-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

I went running today, something I hadn't done in a while. Thing is, I pretty much hate running but I went and did it. I couldn't find my mp3 player so I had to run the way I hate most, in relative silence, and plus there was some crazy 99.99999 percent humidity. Sucked... during it. But I needed to. I've mentioned before that this year if something was really bothering me, I would force myself to work out to improve my mood. Today was one of those days. So I ran a few miles to get my endorphins (aka happy hormones) up quickly. Endorphins are my friends. I went as far as I could go after my body gave me a holler to remind me there's but so far it was going to go eventhough my mind was pushing at a different level. So I not only got the natural benefits but also a nice sense of accomplishment for going farther, running past the point my body was indicating I should. After I stopped, my bad knees were a little sore and I had to sit because my legs were wobbly and I was out of breath, but other than that I felt great. Once you get past the initial annoyances, it's such a beneficial act on many levels.

Anyway, during my endorphin high, I started thinking about goals, how I achieve them, and what new goal I wanted to set in terms of working out now that the weather is nice. So, I decided I'm going to go running every day for the next 100 days (shorter distances every 7th day for a "break" day). I'm also going to change my weekday morning habit. I usual use my mornings to lounge, but I'm going to make that my time for trips to the gym/track. I usually do that all in the evening but the effects are most beneficial in the morning so I'll give it a try.

I'm generally good when I spell out goals and timeframes, and especially after I've written them down. I'd be a pretty big loser if I posted this and didn't follow through. I guess we'll see come beginning of September...

Keeping In Touch...

2008-05-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'm a relatively busy person, and my schedule can make it hard for me to keep in contact with my friends as much as I'd like to. But just recently, it hit me that my way of staying abreast of the going-ons of many friends and acquaintances had changed... thanks to Facebook (and MySpace, somewhat). It's kinda sad, but outlets I once praised for allowing me to connect with friends I hadn't seen in years at the same time allows me to feel I know about the more significant events in their lives without ever picking up the phone.

A few months ago I hung out with a friend and his girlfriend on a Saturday, and they seemed quite happy. By Monday I saw a profile update popup on my facebook home page that said they were "no longer in a relationship." So after giving it some time I spoke to my friend who says, "I guess you heard," and I respond, 'well, sorta'. That's the thing; I don't need to "hear" anything. Just be on a networking site. And this is a case where I actually chat and see this friend regularly. I haven't seen one of my good friend in months but I'm able to track the growth of her baby through posted pictures. Another friend I have seen maybe once in last 2 years, but no worries... a quick read of her profile and I know she broke up with her longtime boyfriend, is tired of men, switched her orientation to bi, cut her hair and now loves the show "The L-Word" and Ellen DeGeneres. And an old school friend who was a quiet, nerdy, glasses-wearing bookworm? Well, she's now a contact-wearing stylish fun girl who is no doubt out throwing back drinks (usually shots) come the weekend. I've got friends/acquantainces that are everywhere from Dubai to Namibia to Honduras right now... and it's not like I'm opening any profiles, these are just what I know from status updates. These are just a handful of examples, but any divorce, marriage, child birth, job change, mood change, pet purchase, travel plans, lunch plans and on and on and on... I can learn about in 2 seconds off a website without even a word spoken to someone. Seems a bit impersonal...

I don't know. It's just interesting that as technology moves us forward, the benefit of progress can sometimes mean a sacrifice in good ol' human interaction.

I Want to Believe...

2008-05-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

It's the official trailer release day for my X-Files movie! I basically saw this 2 months ago when the pre-trailer was released at a convention (thank you, youtube). That was awesome, since the leaked video from Paley has all the fan reaction, and they went CRAZY (screaming, awing, etc.). It's been so long since these characters have been on film or screen, so for a true fan to get that first glimpse undescribably cool. I was even more hyped up about the movie after viewing it.

Anyway... http://www.xfiles.com/

It's mostly the same thing from the convention with a few changes, including a shot of Xzibit and the new end shot of Scully and Mulder.

Just over 2 months till release day! July 25!

"Make my way back home when I learn to fly..."

2008-05-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

So I got to fly... sorta. As a part of my "do sh*t I always wanted to do so I'm doing it in my last year of my 20s" list, I went indoor skydiving / windtunnel flying. Long story short, it is both fun and harder than you would think. The instructor my group had was great, but took a very hands-off approach, which meant a lot of flopping around at times. You can't even feel him holding you so it really wouldn't have hurt if he guiding us a bit more in the beginning like the other instructors I observed, but anyway, still a blast to do. I highly recommend it. Everyone should have a "flying" sensation at least once in their lives and this is one of the safest ways to do it. (Because jumping out of an airplane at 10,000 feet ain't for everyone!) I'm a bit of a rollercoaster wimp and even I loved it. Admittedly, reviews from the group were mixed but I think the key is to get an instructor who will give you a comfortable level of support until you know what you're doing.

I recommend to anyone interested (in the northeast) to check out the facility in the Meadowlands that will be complete in the next year. Otherwise, the closest location to NY is in New Hampshire.

I flew for about 3 total minutes (1 minute flights) but here is a brief clip...

The Front of the Bus... err... Plane

2008-04-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

I recently made a trip to lovely California. I flew out of Syracuse with a connection in Chicago. For some BS reason that was never really explained (and was later changed to "weather-related" so people wouldn't bitch), my flight was delayed. I arrived in Chicago and I had missed my connection. As I walked around the terminal, something told me to not talk to the counter people by my gate but to walk to the adjacent terminal. So I did and came across this woman who wasn't even at a counter but I asked her to help me. She rolled over to the nearest computer and went looking for the next flight. So she looked and found a flight... with one seat. For whatever reason, the woman says, "let me see if I can get you into first class." So she does some typing and BAM, prints out a 1st class ticket. So I say a few thank yous and happily walk away with my ticket.

When it comes time to board for my flight, there are 36 people on standby due to a separate flight cancellation. And here I am with my golden ticket, so to speak. The first boarding group is announced and I commence my first class experience. I stood up and strolled pass the poor standbies. I make my way to the plane entrance and I take a left (toward the light) to 1st class instead of a right to economy. Now I travel a lot. I splurge on some things but plane travel is definitely one area where I'm fine with being cheap. Therefore, I'm more than content with sitting in economy. BUT it's still GREAT being a chosen one and strutting over to the "good seats".

I've sat in first class before on shorter flights (also by being bumped because of flight delays) but this experience in particular made me think of the class difference and therefore inspired me to do this post. There's a uniqueness about the class separation of first/economy class. It isn't like being in the front/back of the bus where people got separate seats and paid the same rates. People in 1st class are paying nicely for those seats. But this is one case where the differences are just so "in-your-face". I mean, if you stay in a hotel suite, the people in the crammed smokey room aren't looking through and adjacent window at all you're getting. I've been in skyboxes at sporting events and concerts but the people in the cheapseats at those things are separate enough from all the skybox goodness and can't really see all that's going on. But on most planes, you can see/hear the great service in the front section as you get jack squat in economy.

First of all, you sit down and they tell people in economy "for safety reasons, please don't use the first class bathroom". Yeah, sure, "safety". Economy people aren't even good enough for the first class TOILET. And while economy people are still cramming into their seats and fighting for overhead space, I'm up in first class already on my third drink. While economy is told to pay $5 for wine and beer (and your ass better have exact change), unlimited and *complimentary* wine is already flowing in first class. Oh, and in real glasses and not paper cups. Having imbibed a little, and getting comfy after takeoff, I get a warm towel to clean my hands before I partake of my hot food. As I'm finishing off my soup and cutting into my lemon chicken with a real knife on a real plate over a real table cloth, I can hear the announcement for economy that food is not included but snack boxes are available (and your ass better have exact change!) I finish my chicken and fruit, and then I get a warm cookie and milk to wash it down. The flight attendant asks if I need anything every other minute, and I've eatten and drank all I can fit in me, so I lean back and sleep for a bit in my huge, comfy chair until we landed.

Again, this is not a post about me not knowing about first class (or things like it), because I've experienced it before, but I was struck this time by the drastic differences in treatment just inches away and was inspired to post on it.

When we finally land and as I get up, I hear the woman in front of me say, "I paid $1700". What makes this all even better, I didn't pay anything (not even economy price). I flew on my frequent flyer miles. :D Haha!

And it gets better...

2008-03-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

So my last blog post was about how my picture was featured in this blog about stuff white people like. My picture is in #31 Snowboarding. At the time I was informed, this site had 5 million hits. Shortly after, other people mentioned to me seeing this picture and wondered if I knew.

So today another friend informed me the site is at about 12 million hits and got an AP article written about it. Weird to know millions of people have been looking at my snowboard pic online. If I had known, I would have made it a better pic! Haha!

You never know...

2008-02-28T08:11:00.000-08:00

I got an email from a Cornell friend now attending grad school at Johns Hopkins. She was perusing a blog on recycling a friend had linked her to when she linked to another site she randomly came across and happened to notice a familiar face...

Stuff White People Like

The poster probably did a google search on black people and snowboarding, and came across my pic, but I have no idea. I imagine it's rare to find pictures of black people doing anything snow-related. Anyway, this is just another reminder that one should always be careful of what pictures you post online because you never know where they could end up.

WiFiBi-nghamton...

2008-02-26T07:39:00.000-08:00

Philly has been doing this for years, but more cities are catching on, including Bing.

http://www.wbng.com/news/local/15745362.html

This makes me want to go down to the Lost Dog Cafe on Water St. and sip on some hot tea while working on my laptop enjoying some WiFi. Nifty.

CU at the NCAA Tourney?

2008-02-24T07:55:00.000-08:00

There are a few things that I've doubted I'd ever see in my lifetime, of them are: 1. a black person or female having a chance at winning the presidency of the USA and 2. seeing Cornell playing in the men's basketball NCAA tournament. Who woulda thunk both would be a real possibility in the same year, and the latter is one weekend away from being determined! While the former clearly has greater historical significance, as a longtime/long-suffering CU sports fan, a b-ball team in the tourney has its own special significance to me. The Cornell team is an amazing 10-0 in the Ivy League and could clinch a tourney spot sometime next weekend with 4 games left. While things seem destined at this point, looking back on the last 20 years since Cornell won the Ivy title, it's pretty clear why I would have been so doubtful this day would be so close to coming.

Years before I set foot on the Cornell campus or even knew I ever would, the team made the tournament in 1988; the first and ONLY time the team had or has made it. Immediately after, Ivy league hoops was dominated by Princeton and Penn. Either team has won at least a share of the Ivy title every year since. And while watching this domination as a student and after graduation, it almost seemed certain this was how it would always be. I mean, if a reasonably talented basketball player had the chance of going to an Ivy league school, chances were Penn or Princeton would snap them up first or second, leaving Cornell with the rest. "The rest" doesn't win titles. Penn had even beaten Cornell *18* times in a row up until this year, to further salt our non-Ivy title winning wounds. With no legacy of title wins to point to during recruiting, one would assume things would just continue this way, wouldn't they?

But this year there was a shift, and the signs were seen last season. Cornell got its strongest freshmen class in years in `06. One of the players, Ryan Wittman, is the son of NBA coach Randy Wittman. Young Wittman broke the Cornell record of single season 3-pointers his freshman year with 93! The team also got Louis Dale, a strong point guard player. These players are now only sophomores and another group of strong freshmen were added this season. Add to the equation only having one senior and a solid junior group and you have a young team with great potential for the '07-08 season. ESPN saw this potential by ranking CU 59th in the pre-season. Honestly, I thought that was a bit much, but after years of never finishing 1st and usually finishing near the bottom, I was hesitant to get my hopes up.

When the season started, the team definitely seemed better than in the past but still not good enough to deserve ranking 59th. But it was clear the offense was nothing like I have seen before from a CU team. It was effortless at times as the team scored 70+ with regularity. But the defense struggled and still does. The team suffered some surprisingly close games and unexpected losses that made me nervous for Ivy League play. Then came the Duke game. Duke was ranked #2 in the nation at the time. Everyone rightfully expected a blowout... everyone except the Cornell team. They came out shooting and gave the Duke team fits! While the final score was a 14 point differential, Cornell held it close until the last minute. It was at this point I realized that this may be the team ESPN was seeing and maybe this could be THE year. Though it was a loss, that game was a turning point in the season. The CU team has gone 12-0 since.... and are *so close* to the Ivy title.

The team and school is getting increased national attention now. There was even a NY Times feature on the team and they made last Monday's Sports section cover. A Times writer rode with the team and had an ongoing blog of the roadtrip. Cornell even got a top 25 vote in the last AP poll. It's an exciting time as a CU sports fan. I suffered through many crappy seasons and crappy losses in a half empty arena. (Possibly) seeing a Cornell team play in the NCAA tournament to a packed house on national TV is going to be sweet, eventhough it's pretty certain to be a blowout. I'm excited to even see Cornell in early brackets. But there are still games to be played and anything can happen, but even the real possibility of what can come feels amazing.

Oh, and not to be forgotten, the women's basketball team is also 1st in the Ivy League. The women's team has *never* won the Ivy title. Nothing would be sweeter than for the men and women to both do what I once thought was impossible for either the same year. Here's hoping...

Home is where the heart is...

2008-01-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

This past week I was in this amazing mood. I didn't hit the lotto or have the week off from doing the significant amount of work I needed to get done or anything like that. I was in a great mood because I reached this epiphany of sorts. A pretty big one actually.

Anyone who has known me for more than a year is aware that there is one thing I am constantly focused on: moving. When I first came to area to work, I made a quick group of friends my age and still had college friends not far away finishing their education. After about 3 years, all of those people moved. Since then (around 2002), I have pretty much sworn I would be moving somewhere other than where I am now, anywhere just outside a big city, like NYC or Boston. I had been focused on it. I even got my boss to agree to allowing me to work from our NYC office if that's where I wanted to work, even though no one I work with regularly is in that office. About a year ago, I was even looking at apartments. Moving has always been a definite, it was just a question of when. Along the way, things like getting my black belt, job commitments, or other things would delay my urgency to move, but all along it has stayed strong in my mind. Until about a week ago. I've come to the realization I don't *need* to move. It's not that I won't ever move should an opportunity arise or circumstance change, but I'm not going to make it a focus otherwise. As long as I'm happy with me, I can be happy anywhere.

I was telling this to a good friend and he asked if I just woke up after all this time and "BAM!" this hit me. It wasn't like that. Basically, there have been a few events in the last year that all came together and it made me examine my life and why I wanted and didn't want certain things. It also ties into me being more goal-oriented again this year. Long story short, I realized that I was looking at moving as some kind of quick fix, almost like NYC or any bigger city was this magical utopia where I'd find this great social and career happiness. Truth is, that can be found anywhere if you're open to it, for me anyway. I've found that I'm adaptable to environments and social groups, and I'm happy with the majority of things in my life. As long as that's the case, I don't *need* to be anywhere. I can be wherever things lead me and not focus on a particular location to lead to those things. So all this got me thinking about how happy I was, hence the good mood. :D

So, I've decided that by end of 2009, I'm going to be in the position to buy a house. I need to do some things first to make that happen, but once I do, I'm buying a house (hopefully a condo). Whether that house will be bought here or 2 years from now it'll need to be somewhere else, I'm going to make sure that either way, whatever location, I'm ready for it.

Black woman on a snowboard...

2008-01-22T19:20:00.001-08:00

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, I set several goals at the beginning of this year, and high on my list was finally going skiing or snowboarding. This past weekend I achieved that goal! I was THE black woman on a snowboard at Sno Mountain in PA this weekend. Really... the only one. I did see like 8 black people total maybe, out of the (easily) 1000+ at the place but they were on skiis. I had absolutely no experience and I braved the snowboard... which meant having to go flying down a slope with both my feet attached to a board. I was nothing but excited about it before, and after doing it, it was even more fun than I had imagined.

Thankfully there were lessons offered at this place so I got to learn all the basics. I think the lesson was the most tiring part. I was sweating hard after an hour of it. But I got to get the hang of the thing and learn all the terms. After an hour lesson I was feeling pretty good. I was ready to go!

They should have spent more time during the lesson explaining how not to bust one's ass coming off the lift. 'Cause I busted it bad every damn time. Whoever decided to stick a HUGE dip right as you get off a moving seat obviously did so without beginners in mind. I think it's especial awkward for a snowboarder. Anyway, after getting off the lift the first time I set up to go down the hill. After strapping in and getting up, I set off down the slope. I was flying! I didn't do any carving (making a "S" as I went) because I didn't want to break the flow. When I got near the bottom I did the proper stop and didn't fall! It was one of the most fun things I've ever done in my life, and I did it without falling first time down the slope. I screamed like I won a million dollars, and people looked at me like I was crazy. Unfortunately that wasn't the time I got on camera.

I continued to go back up and bust my behind coming off the lift, but I did realize I would fair better if I sat on the left side of the lift rather than the right (though I still fell but not as quickly). I was very proud of the fact that I was only falling when trying to avoid people falling in front of me. We were taught how to turn and whatnot, but when you see someone go down in front of you, the immediate thought is not 'turn ever so gently' but your mind instead goes 'STOP!!!' So that's what I'd do.... and I'd fall. But falling is actually fun on a snowboard. The adjacent photo is right after a "stop!!" moment. You can see a girl in light blue lying down on the left behind the people who I was trying not to hit. BUT before I stopped, my snowboarding partner got the good part of my trip down the slope all on video, but I don't have it yet. Though I am definitely going to post it and send it to *everyone* I know :). I don't care it was only the bunny slope, I was a pro and I'm proud of it!

Anyway, I was cold and exhausted after not too long and went inside and got drinks, which I have to say is a great part of the ski resort experience. Having an alcoholic drink while watching everyone ski and having a live singer/acoustic guitar player was awesome. The whole experience was awesome. I definitely plan to go again and next time I might give skiing a shot, but I have a feeling snowboarding is more my thing.

Soooo, next up, indoor-skydiving...

Stand Alone... a good thing

2008-01-17T20:23:00.000-08:00

Some more details are out on The X-Files movie coming out this summer. (yay!) It's going to be a stand-alone storyline. (yay! again) Those were always my favorite X-Files episodes. I enjoyed the alien mythology theme that persisted and required that you keep up with every episode too, but it was a stand-alone episode that convinced me 2+ years into the series it was worth going back and watching from the beginning. While I think this might annoy some hard-core X-Files folks, I'm happy with it. Plus after so many years since the series, it's just not logical to try and pick up where they left off, nor would that help bring new people to the film.

Another thing I loved about The X-Files was the relationship between Mulder and Scully. I loved it when they really explored and developed that in episodes. Give me that in a standalone ep, and I'm good. So I was so happy to read this latest article on the movie and see the creator say things like, "For me, The X-Files has always been a romance. They had an intellectual romance that's very rare and restrained compared to so many relationships on TV. I think that's what appealed most to the fans." SO TRUE. I get my stand-alone story AND the romance. I'm good. Seeing the new stills from it is exciting too. Can't wait for the release.

In other Sci-Fi movie news, the teaser trailer for the next Star Trek movie will be at the beginning of the movie Cloverfield released tomorrow (Friday). I have no interest in seeing Cloverfield, but I do want to see that teaser. I guess I can wait till it's released to the internet a few days after. But I do wonder if some people will see this movie just for that teaser.

I say "Wiiiiiii!!!!!!" 'cause it's fun...

2008-01-11T14:17:00.001-08:00

I recently made an excellent purchasing decision by getting a Wii. My main objective was to bring it to work, and re-establish office game breaks (like we once had for foosball, Streetfighter, etc.), which had evaporated as our company got smaller in size. Not only are game breaks back and better than ever, but I'm having a blast on games like Guitar Hero on my Wii. I recommend anyone thinking about getting a Wii to get one.

Aside from it's game power, the Wii has a lot of researchers using it to play around with cool things like Virtual Reality head tracking. This allows flat interfaces to move as you do in relation to your perspective and appear 3D. If you haven't already seen it, check out the video below. (I forwarded it to a friend who then told me that just the day before someone at his job had sent it to his whole company, so it's making the rounds.)

This guy is one of a bunch of people doing similar things, and with a quick search of YouTube you can uncover several other videos just like it. The concepts behind it are pretty basic but the results are very cool. I can't wait for Wii to develop some 3D games using these concepts (with technology they already have available).

So about finding this Wii... good times. No really. I enjoyed the process. I made the genius decision of wanting a Wii in December, the worse possible time to get one. EVERYTHING was sold out. Even online. Getting one became a case of luck/timing or getting to a place like Circuit City at 2am on a Sunday morning to wait in line. Thankfully, I'm a lucky person with good timing. :-) I walked into Target at 2pm the day after Christmas and they had just gotten a shipment. There was a stack right at the counter. I was so shocked I even asked, 'Are you selling those?' Even though it was just after Christmas, those suckers were gone in an hour. So I got my Wii. A manager at my job later asked if I saw one again that I pick one up for him. I haven't seen it at any store since.

So once I had my Wii, I needed games and an extra controller. I went back to all the stores in the area and controllers were sold out because now all the kids that got a Wii for Christmas were out buying up the accessories. The next day I did get an extra controller, the last one at Kmart. But now I wanted a Guitar Hero. This was harder than getting a Wii. Stores get them, if they get any at all, 12 at a time and in random shipments. So you essentially have to luck out and check on the right day and the right time. Fortunately, I'm a lucky person with good timing. :-) I walked into Circuit City after work and saw someone walking around with a Guitar Hero. I didn't get my hopes up because at all the stores there were plenty of Guitar Hero games for every gaming system BUT the Wii. But as I got closer I saw it was the unique Wii guitar with a slot for the controller. So I then literally made a modified sprint to the game section and saw the last 2 sitting there. I grabbed one and the other went shortly after. As I purchased it, the checkout person said his girlfriend also has a Wii and had been waiting for the game to come in, so she had him on lookout for whenever he was working. She had apparently just been at the store buying one since he called her up to get it.

Now if I had just gotten a Wii in maybe April, this would not have been an issue. But I have to say it was fun and rewarding looking and finding it during a high demand time. I know people still looking for a Wii and/or Guitar Hero for Wii. Someone I worked with actually paid a store to hold a Wii for him, and I still got mine before him and without any additional cost. And I didn't even have to try that hard. :-)

New Year!: "Get right, or get left"...

2008-01-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

It's 2008! Seems like yesterday I was throwing back champagne and greeting in 2007, and now it's all over. Aside from achieving my martial arts goals, I don't feel I achieved much of anything last year and feel like I am at about the same point I was this time last January. But I'm going to work on that this year.

I don't make resolutions, but I'm always about setting goals... life goals. There's this writing making the email rounds by TD Jakes called "Let It Go". I let stupid mess bother me way too much, so the message in that of letting crap go is definitely one for me in the new year. This year I'm going get back to traveling more. I'm usually hopping in my car every other weekend to go places, and last year that fell off. Not this year. I'm going to see new places and make sure I see all the friends and family that don't live near me. I'm even going to reduce my overall martial arts participation to do so. Life is short; gotta see the loved ones regularly. Whenever I get moody, I'm going to go running. I don't particularly care for it, heck, I hate it but after I always feel great. And cardio is important, so I feel better AND extend my life. :-) Speaking of extending my life, I'm turning 30 this year. I'm realizing there's too much stuff I haven't done yet, so I'm going to make sure I go skiing/snowboarding, (indoor) skydiving, and maybe fit in going on a cruise, to name a few. As far as work, I'm going to get my stress levels in check and bring out all the parts I love about my job and where I work as much as possible.

I'm looking forward to a happy, productive new year.

Useless Body Parts...

2007-12-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

If a body part is useless, why have it? Or has the value just diminished over time and evolution? I had a conversation the other day with a group of friends about wisdom teeth and how changes in the human diet over time have made them pointless, to the point where a small percentage of people no longer grow out wisdom teeth. Then there are those other body parts that get cut out like they're nothing. Nowadays, when an appendix or tonsils get chopped out, the patient is home the same day. A couple of weeks ago, I got into another conversation with a friend on these body parts on the list of questionable value. Here are a few that I looked up info on.

Male nipples?

I hadn't really thought about this one until a few months ago when I saw it joked about on a show I can't remember. But really, if nipples are for nurturing children and providing milk to a child, why would men have them. And when you look at other animals like a dog, only the female is born with nipples. So I googled...

http://www.healthbolt.net/2007/07/20/nipples-and-more/

"The reason men have nipples is because our lactiferous ducts develop before testosterone enters the fetal picture. (Yes, we all start as females.) In fact, male mammary tissue can be stimulated to lactate. In Aka culture of Africa - reportedly home of the best fathers on earth - the dads frequently suckle their babies while mom goes off to hunt.

Nipples are not the only thing men and women have in common. Men also possess a “leftover” uterus. It hangs off the prostate gland. We have a lot of useless body parts leftover from previous adventures in evolution. Wisdom teeth, the coccyx, the appendix, and in fact, body hair are all unnecessary remnants of our evolutionary past. Who knows what we’ll look like a few million years from now! (I predict text message thumbs.)"

Interesting, right? So onto the appendix...

Appendix?

Everyone knows at least one person who's now without an appendix. And these people seem to live long happy lives, so why do we have them in the first place. So I googled...

http://www.worldhealth.net/p/the-appendix-does-have-a-use-re-booting-the-gut-.html

"The US scientists found that the appendix acted as a "good safe house" for bacteria essential for healthy digestion, in effect re-booting the digestive system after the host has contracted diseases such as amoebic dysentery or cholera, which kill off helpful germs and purge the gut.

This function has been made obsolete by modern, industrialized society; populations are now so dense that people pick up essential bacteria from each other, allowing gut organisms to regrow without help from the appendix, the researchers said."

And here's one I hadn't even thought about until I had this useless body parts conversation...

Philtrum?

I doubt most people are even aware of its proper name but it's the indentation between the upper lip and nose. I know the name in English and Korean only because of its significance in martial arts; it's used to help determine the height of certain blocks and chops. But anyway, why the dip there? So I googled...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philtrum

"The philtrum (Greek philtron, from philein, "to love; to kiss"), also known as the infranasal depression, is the vertical groove in the upper lip, formed where the nasomedial and maxillary processes meet during embryonic development.

The philtrum allows humans to express a much larger range of lip motions than would otherwise be possible, which enhances vocal and non-verbal communication.

The ancient Greeks used to believe that the philtrum was one of the most erogenous spots on the human body, hence the etymology."

I would have thought the phithrum, out of all the body parts I've mentioned, would have the least value but it's apparently rather significant. Who knew?

And the writer's comment from the first link is something I wonder too... what will we look like as we evolve farther and are nipple-less men just around the corner? Hmm....

Here We Go... Again.

2007-12-09T12:50:00.000-08:00

There are 3 words at my martial arts school that can cause either extreme relief or fear when heard. The emotion depends on whether you've been through it yet or not. Those words are "Il Gup Evaluation". This is the 5-6 hour hell to qualify for black belt testing. The actual black belt test is nothing in comparison to this evaluation. The evaluation test is 3 years worth of terminology and material repeated multiple times that is already enough to drop you but also includes a killer endurance section that'll have you doing a billion kicks, laps, push-ups, etc., that make your body tremble from sheer exhaustion and put you on the verge of passing out (which I nearly did twice). And this is all without a single bathroom or water break. I had to mentally and physically prepare for months, not missing a single day of training in the last month leading up to it. The evaluation was possibly the hardest thing I've done in my life and, unlike many other people, I was fortunate enough to pass the first time. I still remember my sheer joy upon hearing I passed, not just because it meant I was closer to my goal of black belt, but more importantly in that moment, I would never have to go through that hell again!

What I didn't think about at the time is I am also training in sword, which has a different belt progression. So you probably know where I'm going with this... On Saturday after sword class my instructor said the dreaded words, "We're thinking the Il Gup Evaluation will be in January. And it will difficult, as it should be." My stomach dropped and I couldn't control yelling out, 'January?!?!' I'm in the first sword training class ever at my school so we never really know when things will be put on us, since were the first group to do everything. But this was the biggest shock of all. We knew this test was coming but thought we'd get more time, more notice, more anything. My other Il Gup Evaluation, I had the date on my calendar for months, not less than a month. I can't believe I'm going to go through this again, but as we always say at my school... "this is what we do", crazy as it all may be.

So, here I go yet again, this time with the goal of getting my official Samurai status, which I guess is kinda cool. :-) Hopefully, I don't pass out...

Frickin' Freezin'...

2007-12-06T19:40:00.000-08:00

After 4 days of snowing, the snow is taking a break... so that it can be ridiculously cold! It's nearly zero degrees out. It's wrong that you can hurt from standing outside for 5 seconds, but this temp does it. Anyway, after hiding inside all day (working from home), I ventured outside. I opened my car door and heard it crack *loudly* like it was falling off. The engine started but I could almost hear it saying, "are you crazy, woman?" as it labored a second longer than normal. I never really warm-up my car, but today my engine said "hell no" so it was required. Then I notice my front windshield had a nice coat of ice on it. As I'm waiting for it to defrost, I see there is also an equally thick layer on the *inside* of the windshield. So I start trying to wipe some of it from the inside 'cause it's barely defrosting. I try to roll down my window and of course that's frozen shut. After about 10 minutes of getting my car in the mood for travel, it's finally good, so I head off. I get a block away and watch multiple police cars pulling someone over and I think maybe I should have taken my car's hesitance as a sign and stayed home as I might be passing a developing shout-out of some sort. Anyway I kept moving and I don't know what became of the police thing.

Anyhoo... I love the winter, but I can do without the extremes. As I sat in the cold waiting for my car I started thinking, I need to plan yearly trips to the Caribbean during the coldest, snowiest part of winter.

I'm not looking forward to facing the cold again tomorrow... but it's the office holiday party so I'll happily brave the cold for good, free food and drinks. :-)

Giving Thanks...

2007-11-25T08:08:00.000-08:00

So another great Thanksgiving has come and gone. I saw the family, ate the food, whooped people in pool, and had a good time in general. This year after my father said the food blessing, some rules were read. I had actually seen these a few days before. They're hilarious.

10 RULES FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER AT MY HOUSE.

1. Don’t get in line asking questions about the food. “Who made the potato salad? Is it egg in there? Are the greens fresh? Is the meat in the greens turkey or pork? Who made the macaroni and cheese? What kind of pie is that? Who made it?" Ask one more question and I will punch you in your mouth, knocking out all your fronts so you won’t be able to eat anything.

2. If you can’t walk or are missing any limbs, sit your ass down until someone makes your plate for you. Dinner time is not the time for you to be independent. Nibble on them damn pecans and walnuts to hold you over until someone makes you a plate.

3. If you have kids under the age of twelve, I will escort their little asses to the basement and bring their food down to them. They are not gonna tear my d*mn house up this year. Tell them that they are not allowed upstairs until it’s time for Uncle Butchie to start telling family stories about their mommas and papas. If they come upstairs for any reason except for that they are bleeding to death, I will break a foot off in their asses!

4. There is going to be one prayer for Thanksgiving dinner! JUST ONE! We do not care that you are thankful that your 13 year old daughter gave birth to a healthy baby or your nephew just got out of jail. Save that talk for somebody who gives a damn. The time limit for the prayer is one minute. If you are still talking after that one minute is up, you will feel something hard come across your lips and they will be swollen for approximately 20 minutes.

5. Finish everything on your plate before you go up for seconds! If you don’t, you will be cursed out and asked to stay your greedy ass home next year!

6. BRING YOUR OWN TUPPERWARE!! Don’t let me catch you fixing yourself a plate in my good Tupperware knowing damn well that I will never see it again! Furthermore, if you didn’t bring anything over, don’t let me catch you making a plate period or it will be a misunderstanding.

7. What you came with is what you should leave with!! Do not leave my house with anything that doesn’t belong to you. EVERYBODY WILL BE SUBJECTED TO A BODY SEARCH COMING AND GOING OUT OF MY DOMAIN!!!

8. Do not leave your kids so you can go hopping from house to house. This is not a DAYCARE CENTER! There will be a kid-parent roll call every ten minutes. Any parent that is not present at the time of roll call, your child will be put outside until you come and get him or her. After 24 hours, I will call DHS on your ignorant ass!!

9. BOOK YOUR HOTEL ROOM BEFORE YOU COME INTO TOWN!! There will be no sleeping over at my house! You are to come and eat dinner and take your ass home or to your hotel room. EVERYBODY GETS KICKED THE HELL OUT AT 11:00 pm. You will get a 15 minute warning bell ring.

10. Last but not least! ONE PLATE PER PERSON!! This is not a soup kitchen. I am not trying to feed your family until Christmas dinner! You will be supervised when you fix your plate. Anything over the appropriate amount will be charged to you before you leave. There will be a cash register at the door. Thanks to Cousin Alfred and his greedy ass family, we now have a credit card machine! So VISA and MASTERCARD are now being accepted. NO FOOD STAMPS OR ACCESS CARDS.

These are so funny because they are so true. I'm guilty of doing number 1 every year, and I did bring my own tupperware. :)

Kah-Rah-Tay...

2007-11-08T14:28:00.000-08:00

I headed over to Pittsburgh this past weekend for a tournament. Good times. I consider a tournament trip personally successful when 1. regardless of the hardware I walk away with, I feel I did well, and 2. I get to enjoy time hanging out with people from my school. Both occured this past weekend.

To quickly summarize the competition and where I placed... I got 1st in breaking and 2nd in sparring. I am particularly happy with getting 1st in breaking considering the division was the largest and most competitive I've ever competed in. I remember last year the 16 year-old division was huge. Well, the 17-37 women's blackbelt division picked up all those 16-year-olds. My only regret in breaking is I didn't use more wood, but I was nervous after the last tournament. And the breaks I did proved to be plenty. I was the only one who did all my breaks cleanly on the first try and I heard a judge say "wow" when I set up my 2-board headbutt break. (Seeing a woman do that looks more impressive than it is and gets high points.) Grandmaster Byrne even came over after and complemented my breaks, which is pretty cool... I got 2nd in sparring. I was feeling pretty good too after I dominated my first match. I hopped out to a 4-0 lead and only eased up as not to beat her 5-0 (they stop you at 5). My first match tends to set the tone; if I feel good then, I'm pretty golden for my other matches. The woman I had to spar for 1st I've been sparring since orange belt. She's got a few inches on me in height, which makes it hard but I had a strategy: don't let her extend her legs and go in for punches. Well, this all fell apart because when I went in, she'd hook me to the back of the head. As far as I've ever seen, hits to the back of the head aren't points, but the judge's saw differently. She did it twice and it completely threw me. A schoolmate on the sidelines even sarcastically yelled out, "watch out for those hook kicks to the back of the head..." also not getting why points were awarded. But anyway, end of the day, I felt good about how I sparred and I'll get her next time.

There was also a demo at the tournament. Coolest part was seeing some of the best sword people in the world perform. I recorded some of the cutting but the coolest part was the advanced masters form. They used these light blades that whistled in the air... some of the coolest stuff I've ever seen. Blew me away. Here's a little bit I got from the bamboo cutting... (when I get it to load)

There was also this little yellow belt sparring. She didn't look taller than 2 feet, and looked no older than 3 and she had on these big glasses. It was the most adorable thing. It took the judges 20 minutes to let her spar though; I think they were making up rules as to ensure she not get killed. It ended up beign the cutest match ever, with a crowd around just going "awww".

So after the tournament, we headed to Ruby Tuesdays and took over a backroom with over 20 people. Then some of us headed to the hotel bar which had a live band and packed dance floor. Then after that events included getting kicked out of the lobby, playing Uno in the stairwell, watching an oldman accidentally stumble on the fire alarm while playing Uno, watching half the hotel evacuate, telling them to go back into their room which the hotel didn't bother to do, continuing the Uno game with some random dude who came out during the fire alarm and didn't get the rules, ending the Uno game after hotel guests complained we were loud, and the next day somehow convincing them to give us a substantial room discount even though several noise complaints were listed as our room. It was a crazy night.

Anyway, the tourney and the overall trip were great. Good times.

Tragic...

2007-11-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

http://news14.com/content/local_news/589231/town-mourns-teens-killed-in-car-wreck/Default.aspx

The Jeffrey Alston Sr. interviewed in this article is my first cousin's son. As the article explains, Jeff's 16-year-old son was tragically killed along with 2 teenage friends in a car accident. Since their such a long distance away I don't get to visit with my (extremely large) family in North Carolina as much as I probably should, but of the times I've visited, Jeff is one of the relatives I've seen the most (especially when he still lived at his mom's and we stayed there on visits). I was even at his house on my last trip. He's a great guy, and I'm truly sad this happened.

Aside from the obvious sadness of any tragedy such as this, it inspires deep thought on other things. One thing is appreciation of the family and friends you have while they're here, because tomorrow is not promised. Having lost a parent at a relatively young age, I already had reality hit me over the head with that point, but other events continue to make that point. Putting off visits and words till next year assumes you know what's ahead and you don't.

Also, I'm wondering why the legal age to drink is 21 (which I think is actually a bit too high) but kids are driving without adult supervision at 16. A wrecklessly-driven vehicle has the power to do damage to everyone in the car AND those around them. And the tragic incident rate of young teenage drivers is really high. Maybe if there were more restrictions at a federal level more lives would be saved.

The Big A...

2007-10-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

Not Adara... Acquisition! It's an interesting email to wake-up to. Anyway, things will soon be changing... (And that's about all I am allowed to say.)

Who Lied To Ne-Yo?

2007-10-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting at work when a friend dropped me an IM, something like "Ne-Yo is coming to Pok." (PoK is short for Poughkeepsie, NY.) My next question was why in the hell is Ne-Yo coming to PoK?? Does he not know about Pok? I'm all for an act I enjoy coming to a town I can access but PoK is a bit ridiculous. This man is a combined 5 times platinum with his first two albums. The other spots for this (short) tour (before he goes on a much larger tour with R. Kelly and Keyshia Coles) are places like LA, Orlando, and Chicago. PoK just looks really out of place on that list.

Anyway, even though I am questioning Ne-Yo's wisdom on this one, I sure as heck wasn't going to miss out. His song "Stay With Me" has been my ringtone for 2 years and I played his first album on repeat all the way through many times (and there aren't many albums I can say that abotu). His writing and album production ability is one of the best in R&B and I'm a fan. So I got a couple of tickets on Ticketmaster. I was excited to get row F seats but at the same time wondered how I could get row F tickets when the concert had been on sale for a good month. According to the venue map, the seating on the floor went as far back as ZZ, so getting F tickets 2 weeks before the concert was a bad sign. Then I started thinking, no way will Ne-Yo's people let him perform to an empty venue. But I get the tickets anyway and pray. I also checked ticketmaster everyday, noting that about 1/3 of the venue had been sold up to the day before.

So concert day comes, and I head out to Pok, with a quick stop in Monticello to meet up with my lil sis. On the way, we hear a couple of radio ads for the concert. My friend who told me about the concert mentioned a lack of radio ads (and the concert was sponsored by a radio station!) I started thinking maybe more people will buy tickets at the door now. I'm also hoping that we don't arrive to a cancelled concert. But we get there and people are being let in... slowly. There is a line up the block for people getting in: Not buying tickets and not because there were that many people, but because they had people being checked at one door. Of course when we get to the front, it's finally split off into more lines. We get in and this place is a glorified gymnasium. The seating isn't preset auditorium rows but plastic school chairs set in rows. And remember my row F? To apparently give the perception of more space being filled, they put a huge ass VIP section in front with tables. (That was totally not in the venue pic at ticketmaster.) Even with all that, the place was still half-empty and the vibe was quite "ghetto". This is also around when we find out it's Ne-Yo's birthday! He came to Pok on his BIRTHDAY. And again, we wondered, why the heck was Ne-Yo up in Pok?? And on his birthday of all days??

Since this is Pok, you know we can't have any good opening acts... oh no! It's got to be local cheesy showtime at the Apollo-like talent. The first opening act totally fit with the theme thus far. She was... how do I put this kindly... not the type I would view as a potentially successful artist... in every way possible. Her voice was lacking (to put it nicely), she couldn't dance, her outfit was 4 sizes too small, I could go on.... the only good thing about her performance was she kept it short and it was so bad it provided humor. People were literally bent over laughing at points. Highlights were the random throwing of sparkles in the air, for effect I guess, and when she acted like some big special guest artist was coming out to join her but it was just some random guy named Ziggy. The poor woman got a deafening silence when she asked if we were enjoying the show, then loud applause when she said she was done! My sister's friend Je asked if we thought her performance was a joke someone was playing. It was that horrible. The next act wasn't great either, but at least she could really sing. At this point, we were ready for Ne-Yo.

The showtime was 8pm and after some sad opening acts, Ne-Yo made his way out after 9:30pm. It was an awesome show. He did all his popular songs, a few new songs, and sounded great. He spoke in between songs, providing history on why he wrote certain songs, making jokes, or just having fun interacting with the audience. He's very charismatic, which kept things fun and made it seem like the show flew by. He had a great DJ too that kept the crowd pumped with recent hits before and during a break in the show (and I would have prefered the DJ over the "opening acts".) Ne-Yo also had him play some songs he wrote for other artist like Beyonce's Irreplaceable (aka "to the left") and Rihanna's song about not wanting to be a murderer. The man is just overall talented. And at no point did he dwell on or even point out the turnout. He was nothing but professional and appreciative of the crowd that was there. I'd definitely like to check him out at a better venue but was glad he showed up and we were able to get better seats than we would at a more popular spot.

I don't know who lied to you about Pok, Ne-Yo, but thanks for showing up!

Me and my sis right before Ne-Yo came on

Ne-yo performing a fave of mine (and my ringtone) "Stay with Me"

Random Political Stuff

2007-10-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

1.

I could talk for hours on stupid things Bush has done, but for now I'll just discuss his most recent stupidity. It is very rare that Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate come together on an issue, but child healthcare is one. I'm not saying it's anywhere close to 100% (or even 75%) of republicans but a significant percent. This bill was going to expand health insurance for the children of the working poor. Millions of children would benefit. Sounds great right? I mean, sure it would cost 5 billion more but we're spending 200 billion on a war; a war that kills people while this would be saving lives, the lives of our future! So of course it easily passed in both the House and Senate. Seems like a no brainer.

So what does Bush do when it reaches his desk? He vetoes it! A big "F you" to the children of America. Just great. Bush has only vetoed a handful of things, and when he does he throws a big news conference with cameras flashing. What does he do for this? He signs the veto behind the closed doors of the oval office with no hoopla at all, and instead right after starts talking about how we need to worry about Iran to distract from it. When a veto is so bad that you need to hide, maybe there isn't a compelling enough reason to overrule two major governing bodies.

Congress does however have the ability to overrule vetoes if they can get a 2/3rds vote. The Senate had that majority for overruling, but it was a lot closer in the House. The House vote was today with 273 to 156 in favor of overriding the veto... short of the 289 needed.

But I'm glad those billions are still going to the war and not to poor kids who will get turned away at hospitals...

2.

On a similar note, Dubya is at a whopping 24% this week in his approval rating. A new low (for now)! I, along with many others, are keeping an eye on the countdown to the end of his term. The end of this seems so far away...

459 days, 09 hours, 37 mins, 42 secs and counting

3.

In funny political news, it turns out Dick Cheney and Barack Obama are related. They are eighth cousins! How funny is that?! And who took the time to even figure that out?? I like what the spokesman for Mr Obama said: "Every family has a black sheep." Haha! Barack should should show up to the next cookout at the Cheney's. Good times.

The Truth Is Out There... AGAIN!

2007-10-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

Finally, after far too many years, I'm getting my sequel!

X-Cellent: Scully and Mulder Finally Reunited!

The truth isn't out there, it's right here: X-Files leading man David Duchovny recently hooked up with Gillian Anderson and their former series' creator, Chris Carter, to discuss a second movie follow-up, SCI FI Wire reports. (Go ahead and plotz. I'll wait.) "It was more emotional than I would have thought it was [going to be]," he said of the confab. "If you spend that much time with people and go through that much, there's a lot of residual feeling."

X-2 is tentatively scheduled to shoot in December, with Carter directing from a script that he penned with X-phile Frank Spotnitz. "I want us to go out and do what the show always did best, which is really smart, scary, ultimately ambiguous stuff," Duchovny said. "There's been a lot of shows and movies that kind of tread the same area, or tried to, and I think we always did it best. And I hope we can go out and do it best again."

http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-News-Blog/Todays-News/Xcellent-Sculler-Mulder/800024872

Can. Not. Wait.

Good and Bad Times...

2007-10-14T19:21:00.000-07:00

The Good...

This weekend was Homecoming at Cornell University. This particular year had some special meaning because there was a big push amongst the Band alumni to have members of the 90's classes come back. Plus the trombone section every three years tries to get all the trombone alums to come back. Being that I'm Class of '99 and a trombone player, it was definitely a good homecoming for me to be at.

So Friday night a bunch of us meet at the Glenwood Pines and have the best burgers on earth. After the Pines, we go to a trombone party with alums and undergrads. I have fun... maybe a little too much fun but it's all good since the party and my hotel are within walking distance. I walk back to my hotel with some friends at about 4am. I wake up early to drop off some tailgating stuff with the Band Alumni Envents Coordinator. I meet up with some college friends I see regularly since we've kept in touch, and some people I haven't seen since sophomore year. So for the actual homecoming game, which CU probably should have lost, is instead won in exciting fashion. We go from there to a scrimmage hockey game which is fun but the day is feeling quite long at this point. Then there's another party for all band folks, which is again quite fun, but this time I keep my fun in check. Then around 4 am we head down to a place called ShortStop for some subs and pizza sandwiches, then we head back to the hotel. I wake up 10am or so and meet up with friends at the Mahogany Grill where we enjoy the most excellent brunch. We all exchange goodbye hugs and I head back home where I enjoy a long nap then prepare myself some lasagna!

And that was my weekend. Tiring but fun. It was great to see old and current friends, and reminisce on the good times.

The Bad...

My sister is down in North Carolina with my dad right now visiting family. Because of the trip, they dropped off the cats, Naila and Fiila, at the kennel. Naila was technically not around when I grew up living at my parent's house but I always felt close to her. No matter how long I'd be away from my dad's she'd always come up to me and want to hop on me or sleep in my bed. Plus she's sweet and the smartest cat I've ever seen. She's able to understand you and if you say not to do something, she understands you better than most dogs. Well, at least she used to. Naila is now quite old in cat years and has grown senile in recent years. Plus she's had some other health issues. Tonight the kennel called and Naila has had a stroke. They don't expect her to make it through the night. It's sad, but at the same time, it's good that she go before her health deteriorates farther and it's fortunate the stroke occured in an environment where those around were aware of what was happening. My sister having to deal with that sight would have been traumatizing, at the very least. So I'm going to miss "my baby" Naila. She's the best cat I've ever been around.

(cat that resembles Naila)

Good but not Great...

2007-10-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend I participated in my martial arts school's yearly tournament. I participate in tournaments all over so it's nice to have one literally in my backyard (the JHS right behind my complex is the tournament location). I've become accustomed to doing very well at tournaments, so when I only do decent, I get frustrated. To put this in perspective, I competed against several people who didn't (and sometimes don't ever) even place so me complaining about only *tying* for first may seem like I don't appreciate what I actually did accomplish, but being right there and not doing the best can be annoying. So anyway, here's how my events broke down...

Sword

This was the largest division I competed in all weekend and I was the only female. Going in, our school has never gotten first in the adult sword division. The other school's are usually the judges and their technique is visually different from ours so we get judged very roughly. In fact, it's our (bitter) joke that since we are lucky to even place, "who's getting our one spot this year?" It's so bad that if another school brings just 2 competitors and most of us compete, we usually just get third. But this time I knew I could pull first. I am now doing the hardest form before blackbelt and I've been working hard to get it as smooth as possible, even going on line to copy "the best" at it.

So I was feeling very confident but nervous about the one tricky part, placing my scabber (the thing the sword goes into) back into my belt/hakama pants after the dive roll where I need to remove it. When I go, everything in my form is very strong and I get to that part and for the first time ever it got stuck and didn't slide right in. After a second or two, I got it in but it wasn't smooth. Thing about the form I did is I have yet to see another school even do that form with the scabber at all because of situations like that and it getting in the way, so I think I got extra points for even using it. Anyway, the scores come up and I actually tied for first. The judges pick a random form and the two tied must do it. I had to go first which sucks because the competitor sees how you did it and can adjust to do it better. Traditionally you should go at the same time so it's more fair but space was tight. So for the tie breaker, 1 judge chose me, another my competitor, and after a few seconds of thinking the last judge also picked my competitor. Can't get any closer than that. I really wanted first, not just for myself but mostly for my school and instructor. I'm set on getting it in November at the next tournament in Pittsburgh. Anyway, after the tournament, several people came up to me (including my competitor) and said they thought my form was incredible and they thought I had one first place outright. But such is life...

Team Sparring

To briefly explain, team sparring is teams of 3, two minute matches, and the highest total score is the team that wins. My team was me and two of the best female sparrers in my school against a very strong team from the Boston school. I had my match last, and when it got to me we were tied. The woman I had to go against was my only out of school loss all year since I got my blackbelt. She is 5'10, has long legs and is a third degree. Very intimidating. So we spar and I have the lead with a few seconds left, so I'm just biding my time. I hear time called, I dropped my hands, and she kicked me. The judges counted it. I should have known better. You should never let up until you hear the judges tell you to. Anyway, we end tied. This means another tiebreaker. We knew they'd pick their oldest sparrer who is very tough and we picked ours who handles her best. It was a good, close match but they barely got the sudden death point and won. But such is life...

Forms

Traditionally forms should be split by belt degree: 1st degrees separated from 2nds and 3rds. That is unless the divisions will be too small. There were only 2 third degrees so they got put with the 1st degrees. This is tough because at my level I'm not even supposed to learn the forms they are taught and they just look far more impressive (as they should). So I did the highest form I can do at my level and I did it the best I've ever done it. I was very happy and I got great complements from the judges after... but how do I beat third degree forms? Unless they completely screwed up, it just doesn't work that way. So I beat all the 1st degree belts in the division, but I still only got third. I am still very happy with how tight my form was and that I placed as well as possible given the situation.

Sparring

So remember that 5'10 chick from earlier? Figures I would get her first. Now, for the past 2 years I have essentially dominated in sparring. I have a long list of 1st place awards. And I have 2 grandchampionships after less than a year as blackbelt when some of the best competitors I know have NONE after years as a blackbelt. So I'm just not used to losing. But again, this same woman was my one out-of-school loss this year. And I have a harder time with taller people because it pretty much eliminates my best techniques. Anyway, I spar her pretty well but we again tie. So we go to sudden death. I tried a technique I rarely use to try and get in tight for a quick punch, but she stuck her long leg out and caught me while I was mid air setting up for the punch. I didn't protect as well as I should have and that's a fundamental rule of sparring. So not only am I pissed I messed up, I'm pissed I let someone beat me again. It's probably the maddest I've ever been after a match. So while still steaming, I had to face two other people. I beat them 5-0 and 3-1 to earn third place. On the positive side, someone from my school (who was also my teammate in team sparring) in my division won and went on to win her first grandchampion trophy. She's great and so deserved it. That was the highlight of the weekend for me.

Breaking

Not many women like to do breaking. So I was actually the only person in my division. So instead of taking the automatic first place, I asked to be stepped up to a different division just for breaking. I'm about the competition and not the hardware, so winning without competing is silly. When I competed, I did the breaks I usually do (and I am generally very successful at) but not all of the wood broke. Breaking is weird in that it's not always just how well you do; you are also reliant on the quality of the wood and the holders (people and cinderblock stands) of the wood. I could point to those things somewhat as factors, but I'm not going to make excuses. It basically came down to me not getting in the right mind frame to properly do the breaks and not being as precise about setting things up as I usually am. I could have and should have done better, but I honestly was still thinking about how sparring went down and wasn't properly focused. But such is life...

It was still a great weekend. I had fun, and I think, overall, I represented my school well.

(The video is me sparring in the 5-0 match. Sorry that it's kinda boring. I'm usually much more spirited.)

Stranger than Fiction...

2007-10-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

So I was sent the first link below the other day. Apparently my name is being used in a story, and not just any old story... some online "romance" novel!

http://www.romancejunkiesreviews.com/artman/publish/suspense/Diamond.shtml
http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/diamond.htm

"FBI agent Adara Alston pledged that she'd find her sister's killer and seek justice—if not for anyone, but her little niece. So, when the possibility of an assignment with Luscious Lingerie, her sister's former employer and a potential suspect, comes about she's more than willing to accept the case. She is to go undercover as a lingerie model."

How the heck does this happen? I don't think I know the author or that she knows me. It must be a coincidence, right? But my name is by no means common so it's freaky.

"Blake Roxbury is her partner and chief. The first moment Adara walked in his office, he knew there would be trouble on his hands with her. Not only was she gorgeous, but also talented at her job and talented at taking his mind off his job. He thought she was perfect to go undercover and truly the only one he trusted with this case.

When a mysterious note comes about threatening Adara’s life, Blake feels he has to protect her and it is a protection she feels she does not need. Will Adara and Blake be able to keep their focus on the case? Or will their passionate kisses and her sexy new wardrobe hinder them from avenging her sister’s death and finding the murderer?"

Just by the description alone a few friends have pointed out some faults, from the overall premise to how can Blake be a partner AND chief. If you watch any TV FBI show you know it doesn't work that way. Speaking of Blake, I doubt there is a "Blake Roxbury" out there... then again, a few days ago I wouldn't have believed I'd see my name in a story about a lingerie model/FBI agent so.... I guess anything is possible. Some are still speculating on Blake though.

So yeah, random... I guess my name could have appeared in a worse context, so I guess I should be happy.

( runs off to secretly model lingerie ;-) )

Here We Go...

2007-10-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

After repeated suggestions from a friend, I'm going to give this a try. More posts later.