Life After Connecticut College

Actually, I have no idea if lethal chemical weapons can die, but there has certainly been a movement to rid ourselves of these unconventional tools of death. Unconventional or not (aka conventional), I have finally decided to write my masters thesis on the use of chemical weapons in combat. More specifically, I have to decide whether or not the current chemical weapons convention needs to be re-written for the use of non-lethal chemical weapons in combat. Our domestic law enforcement has been a fan of non-lethal weapons for decades, and as that technology progresses they continue to use it more frequently. The military, however, has less of interest in putting their weapons on stun because the concepts of due process or innocent until proven guilty are not quite on the radar (sorry for the pun). Not that people in the military neccessarily want to kill, but the rules of war are different. As civilization continues to progress, death during war has become a less acceptable outcome. The battlefield is also changing. There is not the same clear line between enemy and civilian because battles have moved into urban areas. Thus, the development of non-lethal weapons by the law enforcement community has become more appealing to the military. However, it is questionable whether or not the chemical weapons convention needs to be renovated to accommodate non-lethal chemical weapons because they are developed in the law enforcement capacity. I hope that was somewhat interesting, because it sounds awesome to me.

Posted by Sam Garner at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When you hear Hartford CT you probably think exactly what I do. Is there anything to do there? In a word…no.

But instead of one word I’ll use many…
ST. Patrick’s Day saw me returning from a weekend in Philly with the Bro. Obviously I had a good time in Philly. But Monday came, I was at work all day, working, and when I got out it was time for a few green drinks.

Which means Pratt Street downtown, Hartford USA. So I threw on some green stuff and hit up The Russell. The Russell is a bar/resultant/ballroom joint, but tonight it was the Irish country side. The band was blasting the latest Irish hits in the ballroom that has several floor-to-ceiling windows that rise over 40 feet to a balcony level which is accessed by dual wrapping staircases and from the ceiling hangs four brilliant chandeliers. It’s only one of the many gems of Pratt Street.

And for ST. P-DAY all the Irish folks come out of the woodwork. It seemed like every guy at the bar ordering had an Irish accent. Everybody wanted a Guinness, even those cats, who by looking at them, you could tell don’t really want one. I kept it USA and had Sam Adams. Experiencing the live Irish jigs and River Dance Team I just couldn’t help but be sweep away by their delightfully rich music and taken back to the prairie where I left my lassie.

So Hartford has more to offer then you might think, like a chance to connect with your Irish past. If you want to know the real deal in Hartford, CT check out. www.realartways.org and, for detailed knowledge of happenings: The Weekend Update, a blog, search for it.

Posted by Ross Jordan at 09:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mama mia! Sorry I haven't posted in so long, but I was on Spring Break last week and had nary an opportunity to access my computer (in case of future incidences in which I don't post for a week or more, all readers are advised to listen to Welcome to Florida CDs on repeat and read my old blog entries in order to avoid potentially dangerous withdrawals). I was out of the office for over a week for the first time since I've been working here, and accordingly I scheduled as much friend visitation time as possible (I haven't had to actually schedule visitation time since I did six months in the Kingston General Penitentiary for calling Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding a bumbaclot).

Things kicked off the Thursday before last when I headed down to New York to attend a gathering for alumni of my high school, Lawrence Academy (Spartan shout-out). Interestingly, event host Tim Armstrong '93 is an alum and trustee of both of Lawrence and Conn, so he and I had plenty to talk about! Since he's a VP at Google, the event took place at Google's NYC HQ (FYI, there isn't an actual search "engine" anywhere in the office; turns out they just use a bunch of servers, not the 80-foot-tall mountain of piston-pumping, smoke-spewing, churning, turning, undulating metal that I had expected). Simply put, it was a great event, except that now I've been lassoed into being an alumni volunteer for Lawrence, which means that during the free time I have outside of work not raising money or planning events for Conn, I'll be raising money and planning events for Lawrence. Fun! I don't really mind, but if someone at Lawrence asks me to start blogging for their website I'll probably have to draw the line there....

....After the party, I headed across town to meet up with Kim Carron '03 and Lauren Kellersman '03, with whom I've been working on their upcoming 5th Reunion. We met at a pretty cool Mexican place called Vamos! for dinner and then went over to a bar called Rodeo for a couple beers (we hadn't intended to give the evening a Tex-Mex theme, but that's just the way it worked out. Que Suerte!). At Rodeo, I was delighted to see that they serve cans of Tecate, which is a really cheap Mexican beer; I was significantly less delighted, however, to learn that they cost $6 apiece (for those of you unfamiliar with this particular potable, paying $6 for a Tecate is like leasing a dented Huffy for $200 a month).

The next morning, I had a meeting with Dan Cayer '04, whom I hadn't known as a student but with whom it turns out I have many friends in common. Fortunately, Dan is a really interesting guy and had a lot to talk about, because the food at the restaurant we went to was so good that if I had been meeting with a boring person I probably would have just said "Oh my God, this French toast is DELICIOUS!" over and over until the check came. After that meeting, I was officially on SPRING BREAK!!! WOOO!!! CANCUN!!! Oh sorry, sometimes I can't control my inner frat guy (I wonder if frat guys have inner mature, level-headed guys).

The following day, I had a lovely brunch with Alyssa Tartaglione '07 at Max Brennar's, a restaurant that manages to smother every inch of their cuisine in chocolate (it's similar to the concept I had for a restaurant called Queso Volcano, where everything would be covered in molten nacho cheese). One of the things that I like about hanging out with Alyssa is that she's very pretty, so I get a lot of eye contact cred from other dudes on the street who assume we're dating, but since we're not dating I can talk to her about all of the other attractive women around us without ending up in the doghouse! Oh yeah, and I guess I also like hanging out with her because she's a kind and intelligent person and I highly value our friendship, blah, blah, blah....

I spent the next four days in Boston chilling with various non-Conn people and eating several burritos (awesome). Despite being in a famously Irish city, my St. Patrick's Day was pretty mellow, mostly due to the fact that the people I was staying with are so cheap that the only way we were going out was if I funded the entire expedition; needless to say, we stayed in and split a case of canned beer. I used Thursday as my one opportunity to veg out on the couch in New London and get caught up on my rest and chores. The amount of laundry that I did was matched only by the number of episodes of The Office that I watched. Very productive!

On Friday I cruised down to Philadelphia to visit fellow blog hog and jazz band alumnus Sam Garner '07, who showed me all around the city, where he currently is pursuing a Master's at UPenn (I had never heard of the school, but I guess it's part of some club of colleges that really like ivy or something. Hey, if it's not NESCAC then I don't really care!). I hadn't been there before, so I definitely wanted to hit up at least a few essential tourist activities. Since I had less than 24 hours to work with, however, I had to prioritize. After Sam gave me a tour of the UPenn campus, we headed to Old City, home to things like Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and the Hooters where Ben Franklin met his first mistress (legend has it that their first kiss was as sweet and spicy as a chicken wing). Unfortunately, Independence Hall closes at 5:00, and the Liberty Bell Visitation Center was under renovation, so the City of Brotherly Love's history went unviewed by these eyes. Disappointed but still determined, we checked out the recently-completed Comcast Tower, now the tallest building in the skyline. Despite its height, it doesn't have an observation deck, and only employees are allowed on the elevators; the lobby was nice, though! By that time it was dinner o'clock, so we headed over to a pub called Fado, where I decided to order a cheesesteak. Upon its arrival, however, Sam informed me that real Phillyphiles (my pun, not his) dress their shaved beef in Velveeta-style cheese sauce, not the melted shredded cheese that adorned the sandwich before me. With yet another Philadelphia staple slipping just barely out of my grasp, I resigned myself to just drinking a bunch of Yuenglings and hanging out with Sam's UPenn's friends. That was Philly enough for me!

The next morning I got back in the car and headed down to DC for Welcome to Florida's first show in our nation's capitol. I got there early to squeeze in a lunch with Alex Fiorillo '03, whom I met up with at a bookshop/cafe/bar/restaurant called Kramerbooks. The food was good, but our waiter looked like he was having a tough shift, so like the humanitarian I am, I brightened his day by adding a dollar to his tip despite his less than sparkling service. Does my generosity know no bounds? The show itself was a lot of fun, and Alex was nice enough to show up and bring a bunch of people along! Also in attendance were Wilson Stiner '08 and Libby Levine '07, so there was a decent Conn representation in the crowd. Afterwards, pretty much everybody who came to see us got together for a little afterparty, and by the time I got to bed it was almost 5:00am! This wouldn't have been a problem, except that I was looking at about 7 hours of driving back to New London the next day (a significant portion of which was driving through New Jersey, so it felt more like 15 hours). I made it back safe and sound, however, and all told is was a great Spring Break! I had so much fun, in fact, that I am now officially out of money. If anyone out there has any bread crusts or banana peels that they're not going to eat, please send them my way because my next pay check doesn't come for about 3 more weeks.

Blog at ya later!

Posted by Chris Reilly at 09:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I love St. Patrick's Day. My passion for it started sometime during my childhood because I went to Catholic school with Irish-American kids. They would all bring Irish treats to school and the teachers always had activities for us. Since then, I have always tried to celebrate the holiday, even if in a small way. I even got my tattoo on St. Patrick's Day when I was 18 (my tattoo is now 5 years old). Since high school, the St. Patrick's Day festivities have gotten better. However, this year it was "go big or go home". I mean, I now live in Boston, the mecca of Irish immigrants. There was no way I was going to just go to a bar and drink green beer. Instead, to celebrate, we went down to Southie on Sunday to watch the parade, make some new friends, and get sloppy.

The festivities started a bit later than planned since we'd been out drinking the night before. Still, we pulled through and were happily sipping our screwdrivers and eating blueberry pancakes by 11:30am. After brunch, we watched some of the parade outside and then headed for a house party located on the main route of the parade. The party was mostly uneventful but I met some interesting people and even had a showdown on flexibility with an Olympic contestant (he's a wrestler and marched in the parade). Most importantly, I won. Booyah! Also, we had a very fun T ride home while riding on the red line. Our car broke out into spontaneous clapping, dancing, and yelling "woo woo woo". I really appreciated this occurrence since comradely events such as this one rarely happen in cities. It made me really happy to be living in Boston. All in all, it was a great day. I'm already planning next year's celebration since it has to top this year's. I'm thinking a trip to Dublin for their take on the St. Patrick's Day parade. We'll see...

I hope you all celebrated this wonderful holiday by either wearing green, enjoying Irish cuisine, or partaking in some festivities. After all, everyone is Irish on March 17th.

Sláinte!

Posted by Marissa Velarde at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Finally, the first issue with my written work has hit newsstands. I’m totally thrilled that NY Yankee Derek Jeter is the cover boy—excuse me, cover healthy man—for my first written work. I won’t go as far as to tell you every page my writing is on. I will, however, tell you about some of the highlights of writing for “Ask Men’s Health” (closer to the front of the magazine), which is the interns’ main project. Our editor gives us each a couple questions and we are responsible for providing a fun, surprising, actionable answer—all in the witty masculine tone of MH writing. Also, I wrote some tips on how guys can pick up chicks. I never thought I’d be advising hundreds of thousands of men on their love life.

My hardest question for April was: “Is it bad to drink 3-4-5 diet cokes a day?” This question was interesting for me, mostly because I drink TONS of diet soda. Maybe not 4 a day, but at least one can, if not two. I had to interview tons of experts regarding countless studies that link diet coke to everything from weight gain to teeth enamel loss. Since the word count is short—maybe 150 words—I have to pick the most interesting angle, with the help of my editor. There was one study I found that talked about how soda gives you “fake” heartburn. Basically as you swallow soda, in some people the carbonation makes your throat think that it is experiencing heart burn, so it sends signals to your brain, which actually induces heartburn symptoms. Ergo, soda can give you fake heartburn. This is the kind of random stuff I learn working here. Fake heartburn is rare, however, so it didn’t make the cut for something that is surprising and actionable for most Men’s Health readers. This was just one of the angles I had to research only to later have it nixed. There are theories that diet sodas can make you gain weight because it makes you crave real sugar. There’s also a theory that diet soda drinkers think they can overeat because they’re saving drink calories. These theories haven’t been proven yet. The angle that made the cut is about teeth enamel loss. You might want to pick up a copy so you can help yourself prevent diet soda teeth erosion!

My Conn College undergrad experience, both actually lived and what I heard from friends, truly became practical for the sidebars I wrote for the piece, “Dorm Room Confidential.” The first sidebar was simply a compilation of statistics regarding college sex. Did you know 1 in 5 girls regret sex they had on spring break? Don’t look at me, I vacationed with my parents every spring break, so no Cancun misadventures for this Camel alum. The next sidebar, “College Kink, recaptured,” is a guide to recapturing the cliché college sexual scenarios in the real world. I had to talk to “sexpert” Ian Kerner for this piece. I spoke with other sexperts before him, all of whom were HYSTERICAL. Let me tell you, female sexperts are incredibly comfortable talking candidly about men. My favorite line was from one California sexpert. She said, “I love the kind of things clichés do to the perception of sex. For example, the fact that people think the average penis is 7 inches long. Who do you think started that rumor? Yup, men definitely did. I mean how is the average that big? Have a coffee, people!” I also put together “College Sex Real-World Campuses” to help healthy men find campus-like settings in the real world where people are more comfortable and, theoretically, women will be more willing to sleep with guys. I never thought my college education would take me to a place where I clue guys in on how to exploit girls.

My other big sidebar is in the clinical trial feature article, and my actual name appears at the end of it! It’s the only example of my name showing up in a sidebar, so I was quite thrilled to see “Sophie Fitzgerald” even if it was in size 5 font. Clearly, I’m leaving my mark on the world, as I help one healthy man at a time.

Posted by Sophie Fitzgerald at 03:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So last Thursday was my cousins birthday. She lives about 10 blocks from me but I never get to see her cause when she's not at school, I'm at work. Anyways so she went out with a bunch of her friends Thursday night and I was supposed to join them when I got off of work but I got done around 2am and was beat so I just called her and told her we'd do something the next day.

I ended up taking her out to Pure on Friday and let me just say I was ready to spend over 100 bucks on her because she's very special and I figured what the hell, I've been working really hard, I can spend some $$$ for an amazing dinner on someone I love as a birthday present.

Anyways it was POURING that night and I hadn't made reservations so I kept calling the restaurant and making sure they'd call me as soon as they figured out a way to seat us at a nice table. People tend to camp out when its raining, so I didnt get a call back until 10 15ish. The kitchen closes at 11 and we got there around 10 40pm. The chef wasn't happy but because I went back there bouncing and giving everyone kisses they didn't complain too much.

Those of you who know me know that I eat pretty much all organic, and don't drink even on special occasions. I just don't like harming my body in general and feeling like crap the next day. Well that night knowing that all the wine we serve is organic and is very expensive but delicious and because we were celebrating her birthday I decided to drink a little. Well I ended up having 2 glasses and was completely wasted.

The two of us had 2 amuse bouches 3 appetizers 3 entree s and 5 deserts... We didnt order all that food, I ordered part of it and they just gave us extra food because I work there. Here s the best part of the night though.. the floor manager for the night came over and asked me if I'd used up my free dinner yet. I had no idea we got a free dinner so I said no and decided to use it that night. Had I not done that, even with my employee discount, I woulda had to pay something around 200 bucks for dinner.

Dinner was amazing. My cousin couldnt believe it was all vegan and raw. She ended up leaving around 1 am to hang out with her friends and I decided to stay at the restaurant until I stopped spinning. I had a ridiculous time even after she left. At one point I remember playing an 80s mix while doing 'step exercises' with the ladies pretending we were making an exercise video.. I left around 4am, with the manager who insisted on walking me home and making sure I was okay even though I was completely sober by that point. But the sweetheart that he is, he wanted to make sure no one snatched me on my way home cause I walk home every night instead of taking the subway.

Oh and about 45 minutes after my cousin left, she texted me thanking me for a wonderful evening and an amazing dinner and about 5 minutes after that text she sent me another one saying she got the runs... It takes a while to get used to raw foods :)

Posted by Deniz Dinler at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well this was certainly a weekend to remember! I had a Welcome to Florida show on Saturday night in New York, so on Friday, Mitch, Nate Staub '05, and I headed down a day early to hang out with various peeps whom we hadn't see in a while. Since Nate was staying with Winslow Porter '05, we decided to drive straight from New London to the Brooklyn bowling alley at which Winslow was hanging out. We got the cross streets for the alley from 'Slow, plugged them into the GPS, and saddled up. 95 was a little bit of a mess because of the heavy rain, but we only saw one minor accident on the whole trip, so most of the drivers out there were taking it slow and driving safe, which was good. That having been said, it was a little irritating to spend 3.5 hours to go about 130 miles, but at least that gave us plenty of time to gab about hair products and The O.C. (uhh, never mind)....

....Having GPS definitely takes the edge off of long trips, especially if there's a lot of traffic and inclement weather that can distract you from navigating. Upon arriving at what the GPS considered the destination, however, we couldn't for the life of us find the bowling alley, let alone anything but abandoned business and darkened warehouses anywhere nearby. We circled the block a few times to try to get a clue as to where the place might be, but found nothing and decided just to park exactly where the GPS said it was. We got out of the car, started looking around on foot, and sure enough after a minute or two, Nate heard the crash of bowling pins and waved us across the street towards him. A few more crashes each brought us closer and closer to the source of the sound, and eventually we found the completely unmarked entrance to the place, which was packed to the gills with hipsters. In typical New York fashion, we bumped into multiple Camels, starting with John Menk '06 (sp.) and some Conn grad named Elliot and ending with Dan Griffith '06, who showed up just as we were leaving. After the alley, Mitch and I headed across the river to go to a party at the home of Alexis Meisels '07, while Nate hung back to chill with Winslow. At the party, we also got to hang out with Melissa Skolnick '07 and Aaron Davis '07, who are now roomies with Becca Woll '07. It was actually pretty fun time, but since I had been up until 3am the night before from Thursday's WTF show, worked a whole day, driven over three hours in the rain, and searched for a secret hipster hangout, I was just a little bit tired by the time the party was over. Fortunately, Melissa and Aaron had an extra bed and couch back at their place, so Mitch and I were able to get some solid rest (I fell asleep within approximately 4 milliseconds of lying down).

The next morning, we all went out to brunch, trekking through a torrential downpour to some place that Melissa swore was incredible. Upon arriving, however, we discovered that it was incredibly closed, so we went next door to a Polish restaurant which, according to the sign on the front door, wasn't supposed to open for another hour. We were waited on without question, however, and we each enjoyed (kind of) various combinations of eggs, potato pancakes, vegetables, and something that resembled soggy bacon bits in soup of congealed fat (Mitch thought it looked like a bacon smoothie). Just for future reference, the Polish translation for "vegetarian omelet" is "omlety vegetarianski," and the translation for "Western omelet" is "omlety Western" (keep that in mind next time you're eating breakfast in Łódź). After grubbing up, we returned to Melissa's place through another batch of unrelenting rain and, upon arrival, saw that the restaurant on the first floor of her building served a scrumptious, non-Polish brunch. Oh well.

While drying off inside, we killed time by watching Curb Your Enthusiasm and awaiting the arrival of Lilli Millhiser '07, who showed up with a new haircut (it looks good). We chilled for a while, but eventually Mitch and I decided to ship out to Manhattan to meet up with fellow blogganeer Nate Borgelt '07 and then head over to the venue and set up for the show. Though we had played at this place before, there was a new soundguy this time whose attention to detail was not only refreshing and helpful but bordered on performance art (at one point he placed a microphone in the middle of the room and made various clicking and cooing sounds while we all stood by silently). It was worth the extra effort, however, because the show sounded great, and we even got several compliments on how well-balanced all of the instruments and voices were (our highly extravagant, painstakingly rehearsed dance rendition of CSNY's "Our House" is pretty breathtaking (and also pretty Fosse)).

After the gig, we all went out to a bar called The Pinch (there was a mercifully limited amount of actually pinching) for a little after-party-piece (a few of the Conn attendees: the aforementioned Nates Staub and Borgelt, Kat Varnum '05, Jenny Madden '07, Jon Tortora '07, Lauren Kellersman '03, the list goes on), at which Nate B. definitely had a very good time (a sample of his drunkenness: he kept "losing" his jacket, which basically just involved him putting it on a chair by me and Mitch, then going to hang out with people on the other side of the bar, panicking and saying "Oh my god, where is my jacket?", being told it was over by us, coming and getting it, moving it back to the other side of the bar, hanging out on my and Mitch's side, panicking and saying "Oh my god, where is my jacket?", being told it was back on the other side, etc., etc.). Anyhoo, eventually Nate, his girlfriend Robyn, and Mitch headed out to go back to Nate's apartment, and while Robyn was up ahead flagging down a cab, Nate started to yell out obscenities uncontrollably (feel free to fill in whichever obscenities you want; he used them all). Unfortunately, a passing duo of policeman thought that he was swearing at them! One cop grabbed Nate and slammed him against a nearby wall while a significantly more sober Mitch tried to reason with the other officer. Nate, however, started to yell out "I know people!" and "My brother is in the FBI!", thus exacerbating the already tense situation. After some sweet-talking, Mitch finally managed to squeeze between Nate and the irate cop, wrap his arms around Nate, get a hand in front of his mouth, and promise the cops that he and Robyn would get Nate straight home and directly to bed, to which the angry cop responded "Alright, get him out of my sight, but your friend was about 3 seconds away from getting sprayed!"

Yesterday was pretty laid back compared to that. Mitch and I hit up Chipotle for lunch (total burrito count for the weekend: a delicious 2 for each of us), browsed a few of the guitar shops on 48th Street, and then rolled back to New London, where I was able to catch up on the episode of Lost that I had missed on Thursday because of the first WTF show. Incredibly, this episode was just as hot as the rest of the new season has been; this train keeps on rolling!

I'll be back in New York on Thursday and Friday for work, so hopefully things will be a little more mellow this time around. Then next week I'm on SPRING BREAK! I'm planning on heading up to Boston on Tuesday to sit in with my friends' regular gig at a bar called The Good Life, kicking around New London for a few days, then heading down to DC for another WTF show and maybe a little Easter egg hunting on the National Mall.

See y'all later!

Posted by Chris Reilly at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Happy Friday everybody! Man, it is a beautiful day here in New London; I can't wait for it to be springtime at Conn!

This should be a pretty bumpin' weekend for ol' Baby White Tiger (that's my rap handle in case you didn't know). Things got off to a bit of rocky start yesterday when I woke up suffering from gastrointestinal symptoms that are a little too graphic for the blog, so I'll just refer to them as "nausea" (a little discretion goes a long way, I find)....

....Despite my rumblin' tummy and dizzy dome, I made it in to work on time like a trooper. It became clear after my fourth trip to the bathroom in 30 minutes, however, that this might be an opportune moment to use my first-ever Official Connecticut College Staff Member Sick Day (which come individually packaged in a protective vacuum-sealed mylar sheath to ensure their longevity). I was hesitant to take the day off not only because I didn't want to get behind in work but also because my roommate and fellow homeopathic therapy enthusiast Mitch "Tell Me Where It" Herz has never taken a sick day in his 1.5-year career at the College (keep in mind that he's from the Midwest, where no one believes in illness). Upon reflection later in the day, it was definitely clear that heading home and resting was definitely the right decision (and by "reflection" I mean seeing my ghastly white countenance in my bathroom mirror).

I very much needed that extra rest for the Welcome to Florida show up in Boston last night. To be sure, there were a few moments on stage where I felt that Wes might need to take an extended guitar cadenza to cover for me while I snuck over to the rest facilities, but I ended up making it through the show without incident (much love to Tums for making it all possible). The show actually went pretty well, and of course there were several Camels in the crowd, including the lovely and talented Jaime "California Love" Pepper '07 and equally lovely and talented Dalin "Maine Squeeze" Chan '07 (they're both very proud of their home states, which is weird because neither is from New Hampshire). Last night was also the premiere of our new t-shirts, which will be available at our future shows and in Target stores starting this summer. All of you New Yorkers out there should come see us tomorrow night at the Knitting Factory!

Okay, now that the shameless plugs (great name for a hair restoration company) are out of the way, I should wish everybody a happy SPRING BREAK!!! Bee-yaw! I won't be getting the full two weeks that the students do, but we do get out at 4:00 everyday while the students are gone, and I'm told that the general vibe around the office is pretty laid back (probably because we'll be bringing in a fresh keg for the office to share on a daily basis). I've polled a few students, and none that I've talked to plan on going to Cancun; don't these kids have any sense of tradition? Like any responsible college senior, I went to Las Vegas for 10 days and 13 nights last spring break, and from what I remember it was a lot of fun! Actually, there was a lot more to do out there than I had expected; we spent one day, for example, trying our collective hand at an emerging extreme sport called Sandball, which is pretty much just a combination of volleyball, golf, and dying of thirst in the middle of the desert (there was more of an emphasis on the "extreme" than on the "sport" if you ask me).

Tonight I'm thinking about just taking it easy because I didn't get to bed until 3:00 last night, but since notorious partyist Nate "Better Nate Than Never" Staub '05 is in town, something tells that may not be an option. Hopefully I'll at least have a chance to catch up on last night's episode of Lost before things get too rowdy.

Live update: I'm writing this post on either side of my lunch break (I'm currently on the latter half), and during that hour I went over to the dry cleaner to pick up a couple things and to get fitted for an alteration on one of my suits. I bought this particular suit about two years ago and never bothered to get it tailored because it almost fit perfectly right off the rack, however I've recently received a few comments that the jacket was a little boxy on me and could stand to be taken in. Anyway, I get there and the seamstress (who I swear to God was a gypsy) asks me to put the jacket on so she can check it out. As soon as I'm in it, she grimaces and says, "Are you sure you really want me to take this in?" (add in a gypsy accent in your mind's ear), to which I replied, "Uhh, yeah, I think so" (also add in a lack of confidence in my voice). Perplexed, I looked at the guy behind me in line to see what his reaction was, but he just pursed his lips and shook his head. In other words, a woman to whom I was trying to give business and some guy who I just wanted to back me up pretty much called me fat to my face. Regardless, I decided to have her make the adjustments and will be picking up my slightly slimmer suit coat on Tuesday; I will also be hitting the gym everyday between now and then so that my apparently portly gut doesn't bust a button.

Well, that about does it for this post. Have a great weekend y'all!

Posted by Chris Reilly at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Saturday, March 1st was my birthday. If you did not wish me a happy birthday, you are forgiven. But you have to buy me ice cream. Anyway, I am now 23 years old. Crazy. To celebrate my newfound "maturity", I had a weekend full of self-indulgence and fun. It all began Friday night with dinner at Teatro, which I had never been to but loved. I highly recommend it. It's located in the theater district and the interior is very cool and modern with a theatrical feel. The food was also amazing - I had scallops that melted in my mouth. It was perfect. After dinner, we went to Gypsy Bar because I had heard they serve up some great martinis. That night just so happened to be some sort of launch party for Ashley Simpson's new album. You could pay extra money to sit in the VIP room with her and her boyfriend and posse. I don't think anyone chose to do this. Instead everyone watched her through the glass barrier and took pictures of her. It was pretty funny to see the VIP room so empty. Poor Ashely. Other than that, Gypsy was a lot of fun. The drinks were good and the dancing was even better. Post-Gypsy, we pigged out some more by heading to Chinatown for some yummy food. I can't remember what I ate but I know that it was heavenly.

On Saturday, I dragged myself out of bed to Our House for brunch and to continue the celebration. I started the day off with a blood mary because it is the only way to start drinking again while having a massive hangover. It wasn't the best blood mary but it did the trick. The rest of the day consisted of trying to keep my buzz going while getting stuff for a little birthday bash I was throwing. Don't worry, I wasn't drinking alone. Anyway, I had some people over for pre-gaming and then we headed over to The Kells in Allston. Yet again, I had never been to The Kells and had mixed reviews about it but I had an incredible time. Not a good time or a fun time. No, it was INCREDIBLE. I'm sure this had a bit to do with the night's drinks. Nonetheless, The Kells is a great place to go dancing because they have an entire floor dedicated to the activity.

So that was my birthday weekend. Apparently, I don't have anything else to write about other than my weekends. In an attempt to write about something else, I will now go off on random things.

1. I had a dentist appointment last week. It was the first in almost 4 years. I know, I know - I'm terrible. The dentist was very upset with me and now I have to go in for two more cleanings in the span of one month. Luckily, they're giving me an anesthetic for the pain they will be inducing.

2. My cousin from Ecuador, who is studying in Georgetown for the semester, was on Spring Break this week. He decided to drive up to Boston with some friends to visit. I had no idea he was coming so I was shocked to find out he was in my city. I also hadn't seen him since I was 15 so it was a very big deal. I was only able to hang out with him for one night but it was good to see him.

3. Spring is coming! It's been getting warmer and I can feel it in the air. But seeing as this is New England, I wouldn't be surprised if we had some more snow before April. Also, Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday. So don't forget to set your clocks one hour ahead. Hooray for more daylight!

That's all folks!

Posted by Marissa Velarde at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In my money crazy days, a friend of mine told me to look into Turkish restaurants since I'm fluent in both English and Turkish that they might want to hire me.

Anyways, this was around the same time I was running and bussing tables at Pure and for those of you who don't remember how small I am.. Im about 5'2'' and weight around 100-110 pounds. So a small woman but I'm quite strong.

So I go to my interview and the Turkish dude interviewing me goes..
'So... you want to work here?'
'Yes sir I do'
'Your previous restaurant experience is this place?' pointing at Pure on my resume, knowing nothing about it
'Yes'
'So you buss huh?'
'Yes I do'
'Well we don't hire female runners or bussers because they aren't as strong as the men and our plates are very heavy. The trash we take out at the end of the night is also very heavy, its not a job for a woman. But I'll train you as a server'

Let me just say that not all Turkish men are like this but some are idiots. I carried a 47 pound bag on my back in Alaska for a month, bussed upto 7 plates at a fast pace restaurant, I could probably do more push ups than this asshole and he's telling me that I cant carry a single plate with a big piece of dead animal on it?

Anyways, I never went back to train. I already have problems with male authority figures, having a new boss who is Turkish and has a penis probably wouldn't have been the best thing for me.

Posted by Deniz Dinler at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wow, its been a long time. I was too busy trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to do that I guess I've been on another dimension these past couple of months. Here's a quick update..

I was working at a vegan, raw, organic juice bar (Pure Juice and Take-Away) and was slowly moving into the restaurant (Pure Food and Wine). I started working a couple of shifts as a runner/busser every week and loved it cause lets be honest, no matter how ridiculous some of our customers may be, on a good day in the juicebar we made about 25 bucks in tips, on a slow night in the restaurant its more like 80. So once I started working at the restaurant I, for some reason I went money crazy, started freaking out, and decided I needed 8 jobs. Don't ask why. So I ended up spending every day on craigs list e mailing all sorts of restaurants and green companies my resume and picture, going to interviews and basically losing my mind. I was so focused on money that I started losing money or my deposits wouldn't go through. It was bizzarre. I stopped eating, not on purpose but because I simply didn't have the time and kinda forgot about it. I was quite unhappy basically.

Finally.. after a million interviews and a couple of jobs I realized I wasn't living a healthy life style so I quit everything and decided only to work at Pure. Now I work on the line as a pastry chef and let me say, it is one of the best jobs I've ever had. I'm also interning for an organic, green beauty product company and I LOVE IT!

Sorry I haven't written in ages but now that my life is in more of an order I am slowly going back to having time for myself.

By the way, pastry hours go from 3pm till 1am or whenever you get done. They are usually 10 hr shifts and to be honest with you I never thought about this before I had this job but some info for every one.. when you go to a restaurant, and they tell you 'the kitchen is closing in 10 minutes. Please order now if you'd like any food...' its true, the kitchen does close but the pastry doesnt. Until every single table orders desert or gets the check the pastry person has to wait.

The other night the kitchen closed at 11, and all the line cooks were out of the kitchen by 11 30. However, I, the little pastry woman, was stuck there until 1 30 am because a table of 4 decided they wanted to order desert past 12 30am. Luckily everyone who got off at 11 was still by the bar waiting for me to get off so we could all go out but basically know that the pastry staff doesnt get out until you pay.

Posted by Deniz Dinler at 09:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)