What better way to brighten up a gross rainy cold day than with an Opening Day Yankee win?!?
This is the exact time of year that I get inklings of resentment towards "The Other Smag" for not letting us get cable at home (read: access to all baseball games) - even though she's absolutely correct predicting we would just plop ourselves down in front of our tv and never leave. (Heck, I already sometimes do that with just network tv. Do you know what's ON network tv? Nothing!) Does this give me just cause for spending money on MLB.tv this year then? I spent all yesterday afternoon listening to the CBS radio coverage of the game while doing work.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
THE SMAGS TAKE SAN DIEGO!!!
Yes, we two smags are gonna be in San Diego the second week of May 'on business!' And we will take that Gaslamp District by STORM. Please send me some food recommendations so I can fully plan all my meals for that trip. Yay also for flying business class. It will be my first time flying anything but coach! holla back, youngin'!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Happy Pi Day!
Yes, it took 3.14159... to get me out of accidental blog-retirement. I wish I'd had the foresight to make those pie crusts like I was tempted to (just cuz I felt like it), because then I'd be making a fresh pie tonight without having the hassle of making the crust - which as Alex can attest to is usually the part that takes me the longest. For Thanksgiving, I made two crusts and then promptly refrigerated them and went to bed. Don't have the work ethic and time management to do both parts in one day. (I will say that while I love the below image, I'd like to think that my pinch-crimping is much prettier than in this pic. First image is not my pie, second image IS my pie.)
Isn't it kind of a smag-tastic thing to want to do something like bake randomly? I feel like smags like to do random creative things like this... or perhaps it's not random on Pi Day.
** EDIT** I made my Key Lime Pi Pie last night. Here it is! If I'd just bought a ready-made graham cracker crust, we could have eaten this right after Law & Order, but as it was, I sat there for an hour and a half slowly stabbing at graham crackers with a wooden spoon until I gave up and used my hands. Didn't finish this puppy until 11:56pm - just in time for the end of pi day! And I'm glad I didn't wake up the other smag with the loud noises from making the whipped cream.
Isn't it kind of a smag-tastic thing to want to do something like bake randomly? I feel like smags like to do random creative things like this... or perhaps it's not random on Pi Day.
** EDIT** I made my Key Lime Pi Pie last night. Here it is! If I'd just bought a ready-made graham cracker crust, we could have eaten this right after Law & Order, but as it was, I sat there for an hour and a half slowly stabbing at graham crackers with a wooden spoon until I gave up and used my hands. Didn't finish this puppy until 11:56pm - just in time for the end of pi day! And I'm glad I didn't wake up the other smag with the loud noises from making the whipped cream.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
How long can 2 smags go without internet in their apartment?
... Over 3 years! That's how long!
So after moving into our new apartment from the one down the street, VznDSL was frustratingly unable to move our service from one to the other. I collectively wasted over 15 hours of my life on hold or talking to someone from VznDSL (this is a conservative estimate). In a silly act of defiance, Alex and I decided that we didn't need it anyways - living for the time being, off my Blackberry. I'm still pretty impressed that we've gone this long without cable or internet.
But everything changes next week. We've decided to get REAL internet service --- no more trying to steal wifi from neighbors, no more heading to Starbucks in emergencies, no more begging friends of friends in our neighborhood to use their computers (cuz really, that was awkward, even if James' friends are the nicest people in the world!). We will be able to take work from HOME! This is good -- because a true smag is connected in at least 3 different ways (my guess is (1) iPhone/BB; (2) High speed internet; (3) 2nd iPhone/BB...). With the addition of #2, Alex and I will be connected in the proper smag way. Well, I have an iPod touch instead of #3, but with wifi, I'll be able to dl apps to my heart's content! Congrats to US for finally getting internet!
So after moving into our new apartment from the one down the street, VznDSL was frustratingly unable to move our service from one to the other. I collectively wasted over 15 hours of my life on hold or talking to someone from VznDSL (this is a conservative estimate). In a silly act of defiance, Alex and I decided that we didn't need it anyways - living for the time being, off my Blackberry. I'm still pretty impressed that we've gone this long without cable or internet.
But everything changes next week. We've decided to get REAL internet service --- no more trying to steal wifi from neighbors, no more heading to Starbucks in emergencies, no more begging friends of friends in our neighborhood to use their computers (cuz really, that was awkward, even if James' friends are the nicest people in the world!). We will be able to take work from HOME! This is good -- because a true smag is connected in at least 3 different ways (my guess is (1) iPhone/BB; (2) High speed internet; (3) 2nd iPhone/BB...). With the addition of #2, Alex and I will be connected in the proper smag way. Well, I have an iPod touch instead of #3, but with wifi, I'll be able to dl apps to my heart's content! Congrats to US for finally getting internet!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
All smags are interchangeable... right?
Since our last post, Alex has now started in a position at my organization. (I'll take the credit for tempting her with the perks and working environment of a place like this - and convincing her to overcome guilt of leaving her job relatively soon after starting to go somewhere she deserves, etc etc...) Despite my 4 month headstart at this place, and the fact that we look NOTHING alike, act nothing alike and have totally separate positions that rarely interface - we joked about having people confuse us since we're the two smags. And all smags are interchangeable,... right?
We'd actually made it almost a full month before it happened. Today in a staff meeting, for which I am responsible - meaning, I take the minutes, and set up the dial-in number for our remote access employees to call in to the meeting - the Director's assistant asked (in front of everyone) Alex if she had set up the dial-in. It took me a full 5 seconds to understand what was going on. I saw Alex's face get really confused, and then leaned forward and said... "Wait. You mean me, right? (semi-awkward pause) Yes, I've set up the call but I don't think anyone has joined yet."
And then everyone in the room that understood that she had just mixed up the two asian girls tried not to make eye contact. Hahaha. It was bound to happen SOMEtime...
We'd actually made it almost a full month before it happened. Today in a staff meeting, for which I am responsible - meaning, I take the minutes, and set up the dial-in number for our remote access employees to call in to the meeting - the Director's assistant asked (in front of everyone) Alex if she had set up the dial-in. It took me a full 5 seconds to understand what was going on. I saw Alex's face get really confused, and then leaned forward and said... "Wait. You mean me, right? (semi-awkward pause) Yes, I've set up the call but I don't think anyone has joined yet."
And then everyone in the room that understood that she had just mixed up the two asian girls tried not to make eye contact. Hahaha. It was bound to happen SOMEtime...
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Afraid of the iPod effect...
Since the advent of the iPod, I have dubbed the following phenomenon "The iPod Effect." It has two parts:
1. The inability to listen to any song in its entirety. - I once sat for a 40min car ride and did not ONCE hear a song for longer than 30 seconds each. It's a musical adhd, of sorts. The days of listening to cds straight through are completely gone. The aforementioned car ride was torturous... there had to be at least ONE song on that big iPod that he liked, right? But that's apparently not the point.
2. The total wasting of time that could be otherwise engaged. - Particularly with the creation of fun, time-sucking apps for the iPod/iPhone, time spent on trains/in lines/after dinner/walking on the street/before bed... have all been taken up by playing things like Angry Birds, Sally's Spa and Cut the Rope. The books I used to read on the train are now collecting dust; there is no urgency to find The Metro paper to take up the commuting time; no reflection on the day's tasks or zen meditation... heck! I wouldn't need to have any sort of human contact if there wasn't at least one person who loses their balance on the train.
I recently received my FIRST EVER iPod (actually, it was my first ever Apple Product! Yeah I know.) for my birthday (thanks to the best friends ever!) and I was terrified that with my obsessive nature, I would immediately become all the things I resented (see above lists). With the caveat that I've beaten all the free versions of Collapse, Angry Birds, ColorFill, etc... I am happy to claim that I think I've avoided at least SOME of the iPod Effect.
Earlier this week I ran out to purchase a book that I'd been waiting for. The iPod went completely untouched for 2 whole commutes as I tore through the book. This book was a large hardcover book - not easy to tote around, and yet I still made it around with little inconvenience. I'll admit I was depressed at the end of the book (I have to wait HOW LONG for the next one to come out?!?), but I was happy that I wasn't sure where my iPod was. In times of better options, the mini-gaming console didn't control me. I CAN use the commute to do other things, but I realized that it either has to be as effortless as playing Scramble 30 times, or something that I would give up a meal for. Here's my conclusion: I think that if I can find another suitably exciting medium, I don't have to rely on my fun-yet-stupid apps to fill my time. Maybe I can escape the iPod Effect relatively unscathed.
1. The inability to listen to any song in its entirety. - I once sat for a 40min car ride and did not ONCE hear a song for longer than 30 seconds each. It's a musical adhd, of sorts. The days of listening to cds straight through are completely gone. The aforementioned car ride was torturous... there had to be at least ONE song on that big iPod that he liked, right? But that's apparently not the point.
2. The total wasting of time that could be otherwise engaged. - Particularly with the creation of fun, time-sucking apps for the iPod/iPhone, time spent on trains/in lines/after dinner/walking on the street/before bed... have all been taken up by playing things like Angry Birds, Sally's Spa and Cut the Rope. The books I used to read on the train are now collecting dust; there is no urgency to find The Metro paper to take up the commuting time; no reflection on the day's tasks or zen meditation... heck! I wouldn't need to have any sort of human contact if there wasn't at least one person who loses their balance on the train.
I recently received my FIRST EVER iPod (actually, it was my first ever Apple Product! Yeah I know.) for my birthday (thanks to the best friends ever!) and I was terrified that with my obsessive nature, I would immediately become all the things I resented (see above lists). With the caveat that I've beaten all the free versions of Collapse, Angry Birds, ColorFill, etc... I am happy to claim that I think I've avoided at least SOME of the iPod Effect.
Earlier this week I ran out to purchase a book that I'd been waiting for. The iPod went completely untouched for 2 whole commutes as I tore through the book. This book was a large hardcover book - not easy to tote around, and yet I still made it around with little inconvenience. I'll admit I was depressed at the end of the book (I have to wait HOW LONG for the next one to come out?!?), but I was happy that I wasn't sure where my iPod was. In times of better options, the mini-gaming console didn't control me. I CAN use the commute to do other things, but I realized that it either has to be as effortless as playing Scramble 30 times, or something that I would give up a meal for. Here's my conclusion: I think that if I can find another suitably exciting medium, I don't have to rely on my fun-yet-stupid apps to fill my time. Maybe I can escape the iPod Effect relatively unscathed.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Good smag / bad smag
Joe's Pub is a really great venue for shows--intimate but not cramped, great acoustics, nice stage layout--except for when it's really crowded and you end up having to stand crammed in and interspersed among other people's tables, or pressed up against the bar, as perpetually rushed and ragged looking waitresses bustle back and forth every few seconds. Like anywhere else in New York, it's the people that can transform this place into a living nightmare.
Last night, this bitchy smag standing next to my friend Joyce and I shouted, "Excuuuuuse me!" to Joyce and shot her a look that seemed to say, "Are you so stupid that you can't see how you are obviously, clearly in my way...move, now!" This girl then proceeded to position herself right in front of Joyce, at the exact angle so as to completely block my friend's view of the stage. Since she was a smag, it wasn't as bad as some of those super-tall guys who tend to frequent indie shows, whose height always clears out the 3-foot space directly behind them, but still... We both said "What the hell??" well within the girl's earshot.
Part of me thought, "hey, we're all smags here, can't we just get along?" but my baser instincts were more along the lines of, "this smag is going down" (not that I'd ever actually do or say anything, of course). The girl didn't budge an inch during the entire set, and her smaggy, 'me first' sense of entitlement put a small damper on the fun, until a little later that evening, when I got a $10 gin & tonic on the house for "being so polite". I only take this to mean that I didn't harass the bartender by treating her like she was deaf or had the mental capacity of a goldfish, or wave my arms around like an air traffic controller trying to flag her down, or stage whisper/hiss, "Why is this bartender ignoring me?" like the hefty white chick to my left. Instead, I patiently waited my turn, let the bartender attend to everyone else's drink needs first, then in the classic friendly-yet-demure smaggy way, calmly asked, "May I get a gin & tonic, please?" with an even smile, while looking her straight in the eye. And just like that, voila--having good manners has finally paid off! If nothing else, at least I can hope that I managed to balance out the bad smagginess in the room that night with some good smag karma.
Last night, this bitchy smag standing next to my friend Joyce and I shouted, "Excuuuuuse me!" to Joyce and shot her a look that seemed to say, "Are you so stupid that you can't see how you are obviously, clearly in my way...move, now!" This girl then proceeded to position herself right in front of Joyce, at the exact angle so as to completely block my friend's view of the stage. Since she was a smag, it wasn't as bad as some of those super-tall guys who tend to frequent indie shows, whose height always clears out the 3-foot space directly behind them, but still... We both said "What the hell??" well within the girl's earshot.
Part of me thought, "hey, we're all smags here, can't we just get along?" but my baser instincts were more along the lines of, "this smag is going down" (not that I'd ever actually do or say anything, of course). The girl didn't budge an inch during the entire set, and her smaggy, 'me first' sense of entitlement put a small damper on the fun, until a little later that evening, when I got a $10 gin & tonic on the house for "being so polite". I only take this to mean that I didn't harass the bartender by treating her like she was deaf or had the mental capacity of a goldfish, or wave my arms around like an air traffic controller trying to flag her down, or stage whisper/hiss, "Why is this bartender ignoring me?" like the hefty white chick to my left. Instead, I patiently waited my turn, let the bartender attend to everyone else's drink needs first, then in the classic friendly-yet-demure smaggy way, calmly asked, "May I get a gin & tonic, please?" with an even smile, while looking her straight in the eye. And just like that, voila--having good manners has finally paid off! If nothing else, at least I can hope that I managed to balance out the bad smagginess in the room that night with some good smag karma.
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