Why am I reading People.com when I have so much work left to do? Who knows.
Anyway this story made me laugh. John Mayer denies Googling himself every day. Why? I don't do it everyday, but I do it quite often. It is a favorite activity of mine. I, also, enjoy the semi-pornographic highly airbrushed pictures of a beauty queen that shares my name.
Is that really a bad thing to check on oneself often?
Monday, March 24, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Why I hate the Fed
When I am stressed, I am prone to rant and rave a lot. More so than usual. For example, Evil Twin #2, S, B, and I had dinner the other night and I went off on yuppie soccer moms who believe immunizing their children leads to autism. "I hope all their children die whooping cough," I said.
My rant of the day is on the Federal Reserve. I, as it soon will become apparent, did terribly in MacroEconomics. In my naivite, I believed the Fed was an independent organization. I believed that they looked at the economy as a whole and not simply on the stock market as their only indicies.
I understand that they have no choice to act the way they have as of late. Because of the stranglehold Wall Street has on them, they have no choice to lower interest rates and pump so much money into the system. But I am still bitter.
It is like that stupid cricket and ant fable. The diligent ants have to take care of this retarded dancing cricket, because he was too stupid to store any food. In a way you wish, the ants just let it die in the snow.
I am a freakin' ant. I have saved whatever I could. I never go into debt, I cannot handle. I have always had a savings account, investing in our rapidly devaluating dollar. And truly the only thing I get for it is to be punished for being responsible.
Joe Lewis bitches about the Bear Stearns/JP Morgan deal. Boohoo, you lost over a billion dollars, but you have been dancing your ass off all this time while others have been diligent. You encouraged your dumbass company to take on high risk debt even when everyone knew what would happen. I wished there was a true run on it. Your absolute ruin may teach others a lesson.
But back to the big picture, Fed, you suck. You want to control inflation, but you keep on lowering interest rates. You want Americans to save more money, but you lower interest rates. You are Wall Street's bitch. Every time traders start any modest selloff or an investment bank, that is not insured, crashes , you freakout, bend over, and give in to whatever they want.
Fine. I am going to closeout my Orange account buy a TV that works, then I am going to buy those Chie Mihara peep toe pumps I have been coveting. Then whatever is leftover is going into Indian gaming and beer. I want to be a cricket too.
My rant of the day is on the Federal Reserve. I, as it soon will become apparent, did terribly in MacroEconomics. In my naivite, I believed the Fed was an independent organization. I believed that they looked at the economy as a whole and not simply on the stock market as their only indicies.
I understand that they have no choice to act the way they have as of late. Because of the stranglehold Wall Street has on them, they have no choice to lower interest rates and pump so much money into the system. But I am still bitter.
It is like that stupid cricket and ant fable. The diligent ants have to take care of this retarded dancing cricket, because he was too stupid to store any food. In a way you wish, the ants just let it die in the snow.
I am a freakin' ant. I have saved whatever I could. I never go into debt, I cannot handle. I have always had a savings account, investing in our rapidly devaluating dollar. And truly the only thing I get for it is to be punished for being responsible.
Joe Lewis bitches about the Bear Stearns/JP Morgan deal. Boohoo, you lost over a billion dollars, but you have been dancing your ass off all this time while others have been diligent. You encouraged your dumbass company to take on high risk debt even when everyone knew what would happen. I wished there was a true run on it. Your absolute ruin may teach others a lesson.
But back to the big picture, Fed, you suck. You want to control inflation, but you keep on lowering interest rates. You want Americans to save more money, but you lower interest rates. You are Wall Street's bitch. Every time traders start any modest selloff or an investment bank, that is not insured, crashes , you freakout, bend over, and give in to whatever they want.
Fine. I am going to closeout my Orange account buy a TV that works, then I am going to buy those Chie Mihara peep toe pumps I have been coveting. Then whatever is leftover is going into Indian gaming and beer. I want to be a cricket too.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Wall of shame
When I was in high school, the seniors had a bulletin board in the mailroom. From January to May it was transformed to the Great Wall of Shame. Students would tack up their rejection letters from colleges. Special props were given to personalized rejections, extra harsh rejections, and rejections from schools considered "beneath us."
If only I had a board for the job search thing. Oh wait. I can just make my own, here.
Dear Evil Twin #1,
Thank you for the follow up. I have received one letter from your
advisor, who is very positive. Unfortunately, my lab has lately become
oversubscribed, and I am not able to offer you a postdoctoral position. I
was forced to choose among several highly qualified individuals, and please
know that this does not reflect a poor assessment of your application.
I wish you the best of luck with your studies.
Regards,
Professor that is only 4 years older than me
If only I had a board for the job search thing. Oh wait. I can just make my own, here.
Dear Evil Twin #1,
Thank you for the follow up. I have received one letter from your
advisor, who is very positive. Unfortunately, my lab has lately become
oversubscribed, and I am not able to offer you a postdoctoral position. I
was forced to choose among several highly qualified individuals, and please
know that this does not reflect a poor assessment of your application.
I wish you the best of luck with your studies.
Regards,
Professor that is only 4 years older than me
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Taking the Plunge (or not)
My apartment is pre-war and one of the reasons I fell in love with it is because it still has all of its original architectural details. Except in the bathroom. There is a mish mash of "subway tiles" (some original and some not) and some pretty hideous linoleum on the floor.
I am fairly certain that I am going to do with most the bathroom -- subway tiles on the walls almost up to the ceiling, and marble hex tiles with a dark gray marble border for the floor. A console sink (because the space is too narrow for anything else, and I am not a fan of the pedestal sink), sticking with but reglazing my existing tub (I would love to get rid of it and put in one of those fancy showers, but I have to be practical and think about resale), and a light shade of blue (almost aqua) for the ceiling to break up all that white. The picture on the left gives you the general idea. I think ET#1 will be happy to know that I am scheduled to have all of this work done in April. I should have a spiffy new bathroom by May!
I am fairly certain that I am going to do with most the bathroom -- subway tiles on the walls almost up to the ceiling, and marble hex tiles with a dark gray marble border for the floor. A console sink (because the space is too narrow for anything else, and I am not a fan of the pedestal sink), sticking with but reglazing my existing tub (I would love to get rid of it and put in one of those fancy showers, but I have to be practical and think about resale), and a light shade of blue (almost aqua) for the ceiling to break up all that white. The picture on the left gives you the general idea. I think ET#1 will be happy to know that I am scheduled to have all of this work done in April. I should have a spiffy new bathroom by May!I am still trying to figure out what shelves and shower containers I'm going to use. I have a propensity to collect an insane amount of toiletries -- shampoo, conditioner, leave in conditioner, face scrub, body scrubs and all variations of moisturizers and bath gels. It's a disease and I have to stop. In my head, my new bathroom will be a sparkling oasis. However, realizing this dream will involve me hiring a cleaning lady and squeezing as much storage space into said bathroom as possible.
As ET#1 likes to point out, my toilet is not so cooperative. And I am pretty sure that I am wasting hundreds of gallons of water a week because of the constant drip of my faucet and my tempermental toilet where the water runs constantly. On to the most imporant part of my bathroom redo. I am torn between two toilets:
(i) a Toto toilet (because I fell in love with this brand of toilets while traveling in Japan and they are supposed to be the best -- yes, it is possible to fall in love with a toilet) with "Double Cyclone flushing technology"
or
(ii) an American Standard Champion toilet (because of their slogan "declaring a plunger free world" and the video on their website where they flush 15 golfballs without any problems). 
If "capacity" wasn't an issue, then I would probably get the Kohler Archer toilet because I think it is pretty. 
But, for once, I will go for function over form and go with either the Toto or the Champion, both of which claim to have the "largest trapways available on the market". In the battle of the toilets, which do you prefer -- Japan or USA?
But, for once, I will go for function over form and go with either the Toto or the Champion, both of which claim to have the "largest trapways available on the market". In the battle of the toilets, which do you prefer -- Japan or USA? Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Kitchen Conundrum
I was lucky enough to buy my apartment in "el barrio" about 15 months ago. The only reason I was able to buy it is because it is located in "el barrio" and because it needed some major renovations. I've been "redesigning" my kitchen and bathroom since I first saw the place and have decided that it is time for me to actually start renovating, instead of just accumulating design magazines and making frequent visits to home depot and other home improvement stores.
The kitchen is something that I daydream about all the time. That's my "dream kitchen" on the right (although I'm planning on using marble for the counters). Case in point, I am at work and daydreaming about it. Maybe some day I will have a Viking or Wolf range. For now, I am going to hold on to the 1950s enamel stove that came with my apartment. It's got a warming oven and is just too cool for school. The only downside is that whenever I have to bake anything I have to ask the BF if he will light the oven for me. It's scary, but I'm going to keep my retro-stove and maybe one day I'll be able to light it myself. I've decided to "go green" and replace the same nasty linoleum patterned floor that is in the kitchen with cork. Cork is cushy so if I drop things, they won't break. And it's easier on both the environment (it's a renewable resource!) and on your joints (it's cushy!). 
My kitchen, like most New York City kitchens, is not so big. It's a very narrow galley kitchen and to make things even more complicated, one side of the kitchen is too shallow to have standard depth base cabinets. This has made "redesigning" my kitchen
more complicated than I expected. This limits the placement of my base cabinets to one side of the kitchen and shifting the refrigerator to the opposite wall if I want to have a dishwasher (YES!!) and even a single drawer. As Evil had pointed out to me a while back, there aren't that many counter depth refrigerators out there. I have 3 viable somewhat affordable options: (i) a 10 cubic foot LG refrigerator that is 24"x24"x68" (shown on the left), (ii) a 13 cubic foot European refrigerator that is 24" x 24" x 78" (shown on the right), (iii) a 17.3 cubic foot Fisher and Paykel refrigerator that is 27" x 31" x 67" (shown at the very bottom of this post). The LG seems a little too small; the Fagor is a little too tall, and the Fisher and Paykel is a little too wide and would stick out by 3 inches. I am leaning towards the Fagor, but then I'd have to use a step stool to get to items on the top shelf. Should I just go for one of the other models? I can't decide...
Am not dead....yet
Have not posted in a while because I am freaking out about the slew of life decisions that need to get made. Will resume posting when I calm down.
Monday, March 03, 2008
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