I don't think I really made a New Year resolution before last year. Like, a real, tangible one I could hold myself accountable for. My previous "resolutions" were things like to be nicer... but I think I've made some major gains in the past 1, 2, 5, 10 years. I see a difference, at least. I am a lot less angry than I was, I am still working on keeping "mean" in the realm of sassiness.
Last year, I privately resolved to avoid bottled water. Kind of for environmental reasons, kind of just because it seemed like a good idea. Now, the environmental angle has some flaws because choosing a soda or bottled juice instead is still problematic, but in 2008 I drank predominantly water from the tap/Brita, coffee and diet coke. Don't make me give up the Diet Coke...
This year the best resolution I can come up with is to run the Madison Crazylegs at the end of April. It's a 5 mile fun-run type thing, starting at the capitol and going all around the isthmus. Now, my limited readership probably knows, I am not a runner. This fall was probably my most concerted effort at becoming one... and I was sidelined by insane shin splints. So, I am back with a ease-in-to-it plan and some good (expensive-ish) insoles.
So, I won't go so far as to vlog it. But for the first time, I am making my New Year's resolutions public. So enjoy it and I'll let you know how it goes.
In other news, I found myself at a bit of a loss in writing New Years cards (they are like xmas cards but 50% off and for people with finals.... also everyone is forced to abide by the Roman calendar...) In the past, well, as long as I have been writing them, I have wished people a better next year than this year. Because each year was so disastrous and depressing. 2008 has been pretty amazing, though. And since none of my recipients have 401ks worth noting... I guess my wish for us all is to have a 2009 on par with 2008. I hope 2009 is filed with excitement and community and inclusion and hard work and big fun.
I got this CD from MoveOn.org in 2004, which includes the song "This Will Be Our Year" by Ok Go. I just realized I am a little bit fearful of resting on laurels and thinking that "our year" just happened. It didn't. 2009 will surely be a challenge, still. But 2008 really did convice me that we're up to it.
Ok, enough slop. Now enjoy the song (please ignore the Finding Nemo graphics)-- and HAPPY NEW YEAR!:
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Dear Cake Batter Ice Cream,
I didn't know it was possible to love a non-chocolate flavor of ice cream this much. You've opened my eyes and made me a more accepting, worldly person.
Your friend 'til the end,
Sarah
ps. I have been home alone since Saturday night with very little interaction with other people... except for store clerks. It's been weirdly nice, but also has me cracked up. Writing love letters to ice cream flavors, for example.
Your friend 'til the end,
Sarah
ps. I have been home alone since Saturday night with very little interaction with other people... except for store clerks. It's been weirdly nice, but also has me cracked up. Writing love letters to ice cream flavors, for example.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Faith
I went to the Dominican Republic for 8 days and then I came back and had Christmas and now I am housebound because of an ice storm. It's me and my 93 yr old grandma here. It took most of lunch on Christmas Eve to get my dad to understand that this was actually her 94th Christmas. Not even me saying, "ok, I'm 27, but let's count my Christmases-- 1981, 1982, 1983... see, 28!" convinced him. I come by my fear of math honestly, I guess.
On the way home from the DR I arrived at SDQ intending to go standby at 8:50 (my original flight left at 4:30pm.) The man at the counter squeezed me on to the 9:20 flight and told me to run. And then said it again for emphasis. I looked shifty and sweaty going through Dominican immigration/customs. I got to Miami at about 10:30am Miami-time (the DR is an hour later than that.) The SDQ man told me I would have to stand by in Miami for 2:55. By the time I cleared customs and immigration it was almost noon and I was sweaty and shaking. I think because of no food, so I have some chicken nuggets at Burger King, with lots of BBQ sauce for energy. Then I got myself on the standby list for the 11:55 flight which hadn't left. That flight was pushed back over and over until it finally left at 3, with me on it. The 2:55, a 4pm and my original flight at 7:30 had all been canceled.
I arrived in O'Hare to a fresh kind of hell. But one I wasn't really involved in... I was just there long enough to wait for the parking shuttle. People were tired and crazed and were running up to car rental shuttle vans desperately asking if they had cars available. I shared my parking shuttle with a guy who had spent all day trying to get to Phoenix. Eventually they told him he wasn't going the 23rd and he wasn't going the 24th... so he was on his way home to open a bottle of wine and make a new plan for Christmas.
Anyway, the point of all this is such:
1. Lots of bad travel things happened to people over the holidays (like the guy who fell 40 feet off the overpass in his car??), but this is a good story.
2. Standby travel is amazing. I haven't ever really done it before, but I am a convert for sure.
3. Maybe we all do a lot of bitching, but this all worked out very well for me. I was very lucky-- if I hadn't made that early flight in SDQ, I would have spent Christmas in Miami.
4. I am stuck in the house because of an ice storm... why was it again I didn't want to spend Christmas in Miami?
5. Happy belated-Solstice, Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Boxing Day, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year.
On the way home from the DR I arrived at SDQ intending to go standby at 8:50 (my original flight left at 4:30pm.) The man at the counter squeezed me on to the 9:20 flight and told me to run. And then said it again for emphasis. I looked shifty and sweaty going through Dominican immigration/customs. I got to Miami at about 10:30am Miami-time (the DR is an hour later than that.) The SDQ man told me I would have to stand by in Miami for 2:55. By the time I cleared customs and immigration it was almost noon and I was sweaty and shaking. I think because of no food, so I have some chicken nuggets at Burger King, with lots of BBQ sauce for energy. Then I got myself on the standby list for the 11:55 flight which hadn't left. That flight was pushed back over and over until it finally left at 3, with me on it. The 2:55, a 4pm and my original flight at 7:30 had all been canceled.
I arrived in O'Hare to a fresh kind of hell. But one I wasn't really involved in... I was just there long enough to wait for the parking shuttle. People were tired and crazed and were running up to car rental shuttle vans desperately asking if they had cars available. I shared my parking shuttle with a guy who had spent all day trying to get to Phoenix. Eventually they told him he wasn't going the 23rd and he wasn't going the 24th... so he was on his way home to open a bottle of wine and make a new plan for Christmas.
Anyway, the point of all this is such:
1. Lots of bad travel things happened to people over the holidays (like the guy who fell 40 feet off the overpass in his car??), but this is a good story.
2. Standby travel is amazing. I haven't ever really done it before, but I am a convert for sure.
3. Maybe we all do a lot of bitching, but this all worked out very well for me. I was very lucky-- if I hadn't made that early flight in SDQ, I would have spent Christmas in Miami.
4. I am stuck in the house because of an ice storm... why was it again I didn't want to spend Christmas in Miami?
5. Happy belated-Solstice, Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Boxing Day, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Good Idea/Bad Idea
Welcome to the latest installment of Good Idea/Bad Idea. Let's get started:
GOOD IDEA:
Being done with finals and leaving for the Dominican Republic. Yes, thank you, I thought it was a good idea, too.
BAD IDEA:
Bettern Peanut Butter. See it here. The consistency is weird and sticky and it is too sweet. And tastes only vaguely like peanuts. Yes, it is a good diet food... because it's gross and you won't eat it but will feel guilty about buying more real peanut butter as long as you have it. We finally overcame this by deciding the best thing to do would be to mix the fake-o peanut butter with real peanut butter. I'll review that later on.
GOOD IDEA:
Getting beautiful regular manis (and less regular pedis.) I just love looking at them and not gnawing on them because they are painted. Friend Danielle provided a good idea that you buy the color you want, have them paint you with that and then you can do touch-ups on your own at home. An even better idea is what I did, use the nail polish she bought for this purpose.
Look how beautiful I look!
BAD IDEA:
"Body Pump" class and "Body Attack" class back to back over two days. Ouch.
Another BAD IDEA:
Letting me out of the house? At Target the other day I bought a 5-piece luggage set. Long story short is that an extra 4 pieces were like $10 more than just the suitcase I came for. So consumerism won, I was super American and bought it, whatever. At check out, the checker says she has to check through the "pieces" trying to make it sound like it was to be sure they were all there, but more importantly probably making sure I wasn't stealing anything in the 5 pieces. So she starts going through the suitcases, which are nested inside one another, and I say:
"If this were Law and Order, I'd be stealing a baby out of the store in those."
Yeah, um, it seems she was not the L & O fan I am. What a weird thing to say to a stranger, Sarah. Jeesus.
GOOD IDEA and BAD IDEA:
Bar Bingo. Or "drinking like you're still in college."
Bad idea for the way I feel (probably contributing to the pump/attack full body pain.) Good idea because I came in 3rd... I mean, if you're going to play, you might as well win, right?
Ok, time to get back to a little packing, a little paper-writing and a little getting ready for the trivia playoffs tonight. My next dispatch may be from the DR... or you, my adoring public (of three?), will have to wait with bated breath until after x-mas.
Happy Holidays but mostly Happy Chanukah.
GOOD IDEA:
Being done with finals and leaving for the Dominican Republic. Yes, thank you, I thought it was a good idea, too.
BAD IDEA:
Bettern Peanut Butter. See it here. The consistency is weird and sticky and it is too sweet. And tastes only vaguely like peanuts. Yes, it is a good diet food... because it's gross and you won't eat it but will feel guilty about buying more real peanut butter as long as you have it. We finally overcame this by deciding the best thing to do would be to mix the fake-o peanut butter with real peanut butter. I'll review that later on.
GOOD IDEA:
Getting beautiful regular manis (and less regular pedis.) I just love looking at them and not gnawing on them because they are painted. Friend Danielle provided a good idea that you buy the color you want, have them paint you with that and then you can do touch-ups on your own at home. An even better idea is what I did, use the nail polish she bought for this purpose.
Look how beautiful I look!
BAD IDEA:
"Body Pump" class and "Body Attack" class back to back over two days. Ouch.
Another BAD IDEA:
Letting me out of the house? At Target the other day I bought a 5-piece luggage set. Long story short is that an extra 4 pieces were like $10 more than just the suitcase I came for. So consumerism won, I was super American and bought it, whatever. At check out, the checker says she has to check through the "pieces" trying to make it sound like it was to be sure they were all there, but more importantly probably making sure I wasn't stealing anything in the 5 pieces. So she starts going through the suitcases, which are nested inside one another, and I say:
"If this were Law and Order, I'd be stealing a baby out of the store in those."
Yeah, um, it seems she was not the L & O fan I am. What a weird thing to say to a stranger, Sarah. Jeesus.
GOOD IDEA and BAD IDEA:
Bar Bingo. Or "drinking like you're still in college."
Bad idea for the way I feel (probably contributing to the pump/attack full body pain.) Good idea because I came in 3rd... I mean, if you're going to play, you might as well win, right?
Ok, time to get back to a little packing, a little paper-writing and a little getting ready for the trivia playoffs tonight. My next dispatch may be from the DR... or you, my adoring public (of three?), will have to wait with bated breath until after x-mas.
Happy Holidays but mostly Happy Chanukah.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
I am so mad!
And hoping complaining about it will allow me to refocus on what I should be doing-- learning Remedies and Business Organizations for the two exams I have tomorrow and Thursday!
But. I just got this phone call and it made me cry with frustration and stress. It was a collections agency, telling me a private college loan was more than 60 days overdue. It started out ok, I explained that I had gotten a letter about this, called the servicer and subsequently sent in a verification that I am still a full-time student, so the loan should be back deferred.
But this is where she gets crazy. She says the loan is owned by "First Modelhead." I say "MODEL head?" She says yes. We go around like this a few times, including my SPELLING "model" and her confirming, before I remember my former fluency in Masshole. Turns out she is saying "Marblehead."
She starts telling me that this loan, no wait, NO loan can be in deference. And this one especially can't be, because it's been more than four years. I tell her, actually, it's been over nine years since I took it out... and 5.5 since I graduated from college. And now 2.5 since I've been back in school and not paying it. So why call me and tell me about it for the first time TONIGHT? She tells me I had forebearance... and I ask how that would happen if I never applied for it. And she tells me I "must have." This is the beginning of the end... so I ask whether she works for the lender or a collections agency, she becomes incredibly condescending and tells me twice "I work for the people who gave you the money to go to school." Now I am really mad. I tell her I am not going to give my credit card number to someone who calls me, telling me about a debt I have never heard of without some kind of verification.
Then she tells me I have to pay her $126 before 7:30pm (two hours from when she called.) I literally said, "or what?!?" She tells me some bullshit about "breach of contract" which I know not to be true and a lot of mumbo jumbo words.
I hung up for the call and cried, so pissed. And slightly suspected it was competitive classmate trying to throw me off my game for the exam tomorrow.
I think at one level pissed plainly because I have two exams in the next 36 hours and am just stressed. But I think also pissed at how much things like this affect me and how helpless I feel, even though I know it's ridiculous and even though this is supposed to be part of the career I am entering. I am supposed to fight for little guys but I can barely stick up for myself? It makes me mad how much power some bitch like she has, when I actually know what these words mean and know she's being tricky, but it still scares me. Kind of like when I got pulled over right before Thanksgiving and the cop told me I could "sign here promising you'll pay the ticket" or be taken into the station. Intimidated the shit out of me even though I know that can't possibly be the law.
And lastly, I think frustrated because I have all these stupid private student loans that I can barely keep track of. And none of them are for that much individually, like I think this one is $4 or $5k... I just really so wished I had the money to pay it off so that mean woman would never call me again.
But.
It'll be okay, I talked to the servicer, I think that woman is crazy and lying and it'll be able to go back into deferrment. Hopefully not being too damaging to my credit before that happens... meanwhile, the other thing worse than receiving vague and condescending threats... is reading about Business Organizations.
But. I just got this phone call and it made me cry with frustration and stress. It was a collections agency, telling me a private college loan was more than 60 days overdue. It started out ok, I explained that I had gotten a letter about this, called the servicer and subsequently sent in a verification that I am still a full-time student, so the loan should be back deferred.
But this is where she gets crazy. She says the loan is owned by "First Modelhead." I say "MODEL head?" She says yes. We go around like this a few times, including my SPELLING "model" and her confirming, before I remember my former fluency in Masshole. Turns out she is saying "Marblehead."
She starts telling me that this loan, no wait, NO loan can be in deference. And this one especially can't be, because it's been more than four years. I tell her, actually, it's been over nine years since I took it out... and 5.5 since I graduated from college. And now 2.5 since I've been back in school and not paying it. So why call me and tell me about it for the first time TONIGHT? She tells me I had forebearance... and I ask how that would happen if I never applied for it. And she tells me I "must have." This is the beginning of the end... so I ask whether she works for the lender or a collections agency, she becomes incredibly condescending and tells me twice "I work for the people who gave you the money to go to school." Now I am really mad. I tell her I am not going to give my credit card number to someone who calls me, telling me about a debt I have never heard of without some kind of verification.
Then she tells me I have to pay her $126 before 7:30pm (two hours from when she called.) I literally said, "or what?!?" She tells me some bullshit about "breach of contract" which I know not to be true and a lot of mumbo jumbo words.
I hung up for the call and cried, so pissed. And slightly suspected it was competitive classmate trying to throw me off my game for the exam tomorrow.
I think at one level pissed plainly because I have two exams in the next 36 hours and am just stressed. But I think also pissed at how much things like this affect me and how helpless I feel, even though I know it's ridiculous and even though this is supposed to be part of the career I am entering. I am supposed to fight for little guys but I can barely stick up for myself? It makes me mad how much power some bitch like she has, when I actually know what these words mean and know she's being tricky, but it still scares me. Kind of like when I got pulled over right before Thanksgiving and the cop told me I could "sign here promising you'll pay the ticket" or be taken into the station. Intimidated the shit out of me even though I know that can't possibly be the law.
And lastly, I think frustrated because I have all these stupid private student loans that I can barely keep track of. And none of them are for that much individually, like I think this one is $4 or $5k... I just really so wished I had the money to pay it off so that mean woman would never call me again.
But.
It'll be okay, I talked to the servicer, I think that woman is crazy and lying and it'll be able to go back into deferrment. Hopefully not being too damaging to my credit before that happens... meanwhile, the other thing worse than receiving vague and condescending threats... is reading about Business Organizations.
I am sure why...
This strikes me as so funny. You know how in English, some people (not me or probably you, but some people) write things like "got 2 go" and "4ever yours?"
Well, I just noticed on facebook a spanish-speaking friend offering another "salu2."
You know, "Saludos."
Well, I just noticed on facebook a spanish-speaking friend offering another "salu2."
You know, "Saludos."
Thursday, December 04, 2008
I've Always Wanted a Hobby...
A week or two ago I went into Starbucks. Now, I wanted a medium, skim, sugar-free vanilla latte, but I am hip to their lingo (aka trained like a Pavlovian dog) so I asked for a "grande skinny latte." I move to the end up of the counter and wait, eventually the barista puts a drink up on the end and says, "grande standard." I didn't take it, no one else took it and they called it again, "grande standard" then kind of giggled and said "grande skinny vanilla latte."
Now I never really thought I was going to Starbucks for the respect... but this seemed to cross some line. Like you extort $4.50 out of me for a coffee and then you say I am just like every other ugg and leggings-wearing bimbo to walk through these doors (except, notably, with neither uggs nor leggings)?? I don't think so.
So I engaged in what I plan to become my hobby-- complaining to corporations. I spent longer than probably necessary on Starbucks.com telling them how on one hand their success to due to them serving the exact same thing all over the world... on the other hand they have had this whole campaign of expressing yourself through your coffee. Either hand means it's bad business to alienate your customers and make them feel like losers. Or try to, since in reality it didn't really work. But on starbucks.com, I was very offended. And it resulted in two free drink coupons in the mail. A little righteous indignation and 6 minutes of work for a $10 value? This is like having a job or something!
So my new plan is to complain to lots of corporate HQs, in the hopes of being similarly compensated. The one kind of rule I created is that I can't make up what happened, but I dial up the actual outrage I felt in the situation. So, for example, Chipotle will soon be hearing how offended I was that they told me the guacamole was extra-- I am just unsure whether to explain it was because they didn't recognize me as a "regular" or because I felt like they were calling me "poor."
I'll let you know how it goes.
Now I never really thought I was going to Starbucks for the respect... but this seemed to cross some line. Like you extort $4.50 out of me for a coffee and then you say I am just like every other ugg and leggings-wearing bimbo to walk through these doors (except, notably, with neither uggs nor leggings)?? I don't think so.
So I engaged in what I plan to become my hobby-- complaining to corporations. I spent longer than probably necessary on Starbucks.com telling them how on one hand their success to due to them serving the exact same thing all over the world... on the other hand they have had this whole campaign of expressing yourself through your coffee. Either hand means it's bad business to alienate your customers and make them feel like losers. Or try to, since in reality it didn't really work. But on starbucks.com, I was very offended. And it resulted in two free drink coupons in the mail. A little righteous indignation and 6 minutes of work for a $10 value? This is like having a job or something!
So my new plan is to complain to lots of corporate HQs, in the hopes of being similarly compensated. The one kind of rule I created is that I can't make up what happened, but I dial up the actual outrage I felt in the situation. So, for example, Chipotle will soon be hearing how offended I was that they told me the guacamole was extra-- I am just unsure whether to explain it was because they didn't recognize me as a "regular" or because I felt like they were calling me "poor."
I'll let you know how it goes.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Time for a Little Evolution
Why does this shoe exist?
It doesn't even make any sense.
Just so we're clear, this is a rubber flat made to look like suede, lined with some kind of synthetic fur and finished off with a promise ring? And here I was thinking Crocs couldn't get stupider.*
*Full disclosure, I do kind of want these. I have held off, not only because they are crocs and not only because they are not apparently sold in the winter and not because $30 for plastic shoes just seems wrong... but they actually make my feet look pregnant. Not like pregnant person feet, but like my feet are going to have their own feet babies.
And while we're on the topic, I also want these. I was looking for less expensive alternatives when I stumbled across God's mistake, the promise ring furcrocs. I guess I can lay the groundwork for xmas.
Oh, also, I am going to New York tomorrow. When is a better time for a little mid-week getaway than finals?
Disappointed
In Obama. Because of this. I am.
I thought he and Michelle were different, she's cooler for not wanting that kind of stuff and he's cooler for not wasting money in a recession. I don't know, I guess I think it's poor judgment to spend $30k on a ring.
I thought he and Michelle were different, she's cooler for not wanting that kind of stuff and he's cooler for not wasting money in a recession. I don't know, I guess I think it's poor judgment to spend $30k on a ring.
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