Glögg: holiday fun for all

It's my second Christmas in my apartment, which means it's my second Christmas with my roommates, which means it's my second Christmas with Glögg. A lot of Glögg. I pronounce that pretty much like it's spelled, "gluog."

For those of you lacking any Swedish influence in your lives, Glögg is a hot, mulled wine sort of beverage, consumed in special mini-tea cup looking Glögg glasses. I'm not sure if there's a traditional time of day to drink the stuff, because it's been a round-the-clock affair in our place. I must say, Glögg first thing in the morning works wonders on a hangover.

I found the recipe below, so others might also partake in the fun. They're not kidding about the inexpensive wine bit -- my roomie made her last batch with Carlo Rossi (the kind you buy in the four liter bottles). She also puts raisins and almonds in her Glögg, which provides a nice little snack with your hot booze.

Ingredients
• 1 bottle of red wine (inexpensive)
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup (50 ml - 100 ml) vodka (optional)
• 5 - 20 whole cloves
• 1 large teaspoonful cardamom seeds
• 2 - 4 pieces (sticks) cinnamon
• 1 - 2 pieces ginger
• Peel from half a lemon
• 1/2 - 1 cup (125 - 250 ml) sugar
• 1 large teaspoonful vanilla sugar

Preparation
1. Crush the cinnamon and cardamom. Peel the lemon. Put all the spices and peel into a glass jar with the vodka.
2. Cover. Leave overnight. Strain the vodka, discard the spices.
3. Mix the spiced vodka with the wine and sugar.
4. Heat all the ingredients in a large saucepan until steaming hot. Do not boil! Stir and taste.
5. If not sweet enough, add more sugar. If too sweet, add more wine.

Chef's tip
The Glögg will be even spicier and will have a fuller taste if you bottle it and leave it for a week.

Dreams of summer

It's my understanding that the weather all up and down the West Coast is pretty miserable today. In San Francisco, it is extremely cold and extremely wet. We had a nasty lightning and thunder storm this morning that was not kind to my aching, hungover brain. It's all contributing to my missing summer more than usual. Normally I don't get this way until February, but I'm already hankering for carefree, sunny days like this one:







Doesn't that look idyllic?

Thanks to Hip E. for the photos.

Top ten signs your relationship is going nowhere

As one of those questionable girls who tends to hop from boyfriend to boyfriend, I've had my share of long-term relationships... and just as many break-ups. The older I get, the more the break-ups tend to be a conversation about compatibility, rather than some fiery disagreement or fateful event. Thinking back over these experiences, I've recently developed a trusty cheat sheet to help myself, and others, more quickly identify a relationship that won't work in the long run, regardless of how much you really, really want it to. Here it is:

1. You don't easily get along with or feel comfortable with each other's friends.

2. You don't get easily along with or feel comfortable with each other's families.

3. One of you ________________ so much that the other one is uneasy and worried about it.

Fill in the blank with any of the possibilities from this list:

drinks
smokes
lies
cheats
gambles
cleans
watches porn
obsesses about sex
shops/spends
plays video games
works
parties
takes pills
is absent
whines/complains
is jealous

4. You have no plans together past next weekend.

5. Your partner always takes the best pillow, the most dessert, or the last of the wine. Similarly, only one of you gives back-scratches, massages, or birthday gifts.

6. You've stopped going out on dates together.

7. You haven't had sex more than a month.

8. In their conversations with you, your friends and family inadvertently describe the relationship in ways that you find upsetting. For instance, "You guys are just such good buddies," or "It's funny how you're always begging her to spend time with you."

9. One of the things you are most attracted to in your partner is his or her "potential."

10. Couples' counseling has been discussed more than once and you're not yet married.

If any one of these signs seems familiar, I'd say it's a red flag regardless of how good other aspects of the relationship might be.

"Love is an act of endless forgiveness,
a tender look that becomes a habit."
-- Peter Ustinov

Back in action

My first semester of b-school ended Last Wednesday and I have been in a drunken haze ever since. I'll start operations and finance in the second week of January, but until then there will be drinking, carousing, napping, shopping, novel-reading, movie-watching, cookie-baking, and yes... blogging. In short, I will have a life (albeit temporarily). Let the games begin!

Thank god... I really need some new chinos

Stacy passed on this release that she received from PETA today. She writes, "It's true! There's also an article on MSN Money. I guess we can resume our catalog subscriptions and start visiting the store again, but I still have a bad taste in my mouth."

Here's what PETA has to say:

Victory: J. Crew Promises "No More Fur!"

Thanks to each and every one of you who signed the petition, handed out leaflets, called the CEO to tell him how horrified you were that the company was selling fur, and otherwise helped the cause. After just 11 short weeks, this pressure has paid off. On November 30, J.Crew confirmed that it will no longer sell fur—no fur garments, no fur trim, no fur anything. Joining the ranks of top fashion retailers H&M, Forever 21, and others that have adopted fur-free policies, J.Crew is sending a powerful message to the clothing industry that subjecting rabbits, coyotes, foxes, and other animals to horrible lives and torturous deaths will not be tolerated.

In light of this exciting agreement, please dispose of any J.Crew campaign materials that you have, and please stop contacting the company.

Thanks again for all that you did to play an important part in this step forward in the fight against cruelty to animals! Please forward this good news to a friend.

Sincerely,
Ian Blessing
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
IanB@peta.org
PETA.org

J.Crew caving under the pressure?

After hearing the bad news about J.Crew this week, my friend Jenny took it upon herself to do a little additional research. Never one to give up easily, she made an interesting discovery :

"Okay, so the J.Crew news was festering in my mind and this morning I decided to quickly Google for some extra info. Like I need to add another project to my list of to-dos.

So first, I found news articles discussing J.Crew's use of fur for the first time this year. Any article mentioning that the fur was sourced from China was written by PETA. All other sources only said J.Crew was using fur and was under fire from anti-fur groups. No mention of China.

Then I started wondering how PETA would know that it's coming from China, but I couldn't find anything about that without going to the PETA website which I didn't really want to do from work.

Thennnn I thought I'd go to the J.Crew website, thinking maybe they'd address these issues somewhere on the site, which leads me to the interesting part of this whole story: I don't see ANY fur on the site at all!!!! China or no China, I wonder if the anti-fur pressure made them scrap the whole line?"

She's right! J.Crew has taken all of their items with fur down from their main online catalog. You can only access the web pages for those products through the search function, where you can search by item number or key word. I searched for "fur" and they all popped up.

It's exciting that they reacted to the anti-fur pressure in some way, but I'm not sure if it's enough for us to go back to buying J.Crew stuff, yet. Thoughts?

For all you Lionel fans

It was mentioned that a few of us had "All Night Long" stuck in our heads (obviously due to my late-night, three-hour accounting exam tonight), and the next thing I know Tony emails out this little graphic creation:



Not sure why it's so funny, but it sure is. Maybe you have to have lived abroad in a tea-swilling country to fully appreciate it. Nice work, Tony.

Special recipe for the holiday

I'm headed to hip little SF Thanksgiving party this year and was assigned to bring the cranberry sauce. Bringing a couple of cans of Ocean Spray seems decidedly unhip (there is nothing sophisticated about can-shaped gelatinous blobs -- they're just too reminiscent of dog food). Thankfully, this recipe came highly recommended by a friend from work. I'm going to make it this afternoon, so it's ready in advance. I think it sounds delish!

SPICED CRANBERRY AND ZINFANDEL SAUCE
(You can prepare this sauce up to two days ahead, then refrigerate)

Ingredients:
2 cups of zinfandel or other fruity dry red wine
3/4 cup sugar
5 (2-inch) orange rind strips
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
6 whole cloves
4 slices peeled fresh ginger (thin slices because a little ginger goes a long way)
2 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks
1 package (12-ounce) fresh cranberries

1. Combine the first seven ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium, then cook 15 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken and sugar dissolves (it doesn't get very thick like gravy, just a little thicker than watery), stirring occasionally. Strain the mixture through a sieve (I use a fine mesh colander) and discard the solids. Return mixture to pan.

2. Add cranberries to pan; cook over high heat 10 minutes or until the berries pop. Reduce heat to low, then simmer 30 minutes or until mixture is slightly thick. Pour into a bowl to let cool.

Yield: 10 servings (serving size is 1/4 cup)

Gasp!

The first photos of Spederline have been released! And he looks sort of cute and happy, though it kind of seems like she's trying to strangle him.

Stop shopping at J.Crew

This week's theme is "saying goodbye to things that I love."

It doesn't matter how cute the sweaters are, or that the chinos fit just right. We must stop shopping at J.Crew, because they've started sourcing fur from China for their fall line. Fur from dogs and cats. Now, I'm no vegetarian, but they don't have any laws regulating the fur industry in China, and I think that what this means is that they are pretty much skinning a puppies alive, sewing them to a hank of cashmere, and selling it to wear with your "winter suiting" for a mere $395.

Just say no! We can't let J.Crew turn us into Cruella Devil. We don't need to wear puppy fur -- we can all be perfectly okay with a nice knit scarf.




A puppy was bludgeoned to death so this woman could have "coyote fur" boob accents on her puffer jacket. She doesn't look so cute when you think about a bloody puppy with broken legs, does she? She looks evil and cruel. Frankly, the jacket isn't that cute anyway.

You can email J.Crew at contactus@jcrew.com to tell them just how disgusted you are with the company's new Chinese fur policy. You can also watch an extremely disturbing movie about the whole affair here.

“I offered him a free cell phone and he pulled out an AK-47”

Check out this freaky story about an armed gunman opening fire and taking hostages in the Tacoma Mall. He shot six people for apparently no reason. He was just generally "angry."

Going to the Tacoma Mall used to be a big treat in college, but really any kind of escape from campus life was a treat. I must admit that as far as malls are concerned, the Tacoma Mall was pretty dumpy. It's cruel take out your hostilities on a dumpy little mall where the biggest attraction is a JC Penney.

Thanks to Clare for the heads up about the story.

Do you work out? Take this survey!

I need people to fill out a survey for my marketing class. It gathers data about that new "CardioPod" product we're working on. If you exercise regularly (especially if you're a runner) and own an iPod we'd love to have your feedback. We'd love to have you take the survey even if you aren't these things. Any data helps.

The survey takes about ten minutes to get through. If you know others who fit the description and you think they might be willing to help out, please pass this link on. You can enter http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=131001491291 into your browser if you have a hard time with the link below.

Click here to take the survey.

Holiday gifts that give back

At a recent panel presentation at Haas, I heard an alumni speak about a non-profit that several Haas graduates started after completing their MBAs. Their organization, World of Good, markets and distributes fair trade gifts and accessories, while promoting consumer awareness of the ethics behind purchases.

On December 3, from noon to 8pm, World of Good is opening their Berkeley warehouse for holiday shopping, hors d'ouvres, and cocktails. Half of all proceeds earned will go to support social and economic projects in artisan communities around the world -- and I must say that they carry a lot of really beautiful gifts. They've got excellent potential presents for girlfriends, sisters, and moms.

Some of the pretty things that caught my eye include:



The Faux-Sure Handbag, made at a co-op in South India that supports and HIV clinic, day-care services, health education, and primary education for the local community.




The Beads of Change necklace, made by fair trade artisans working on the outskirts of Delhi, India.




These purses enable women from traditionally marginalized classes in Gujarat, India to learn and use embroidery skills to improve their quality of living.




The workshop that creates these Amazon Harvest necklaces provides jobs and services to at-risk Colombian youth.

The open house will be held at 1380 10th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710. If you can't make it to the warehouse, you can order these items, and a ton of others, at WorldofGood.com.

Now you know what everyone on my list is getting for the holidays this year.

Sex and the City trivia

There's a running debate in my apartment over why Carrie calls him "Big" instead of just using his name (yeah, yeah -- we found out his name is John in the last episode -- okay). Has anyone out there watched enough Sex and the City to know where the nickname comes from? Is it because he's well endowed?

Confusion surrounding "networking"

Tonight, on one of my few class-free evenings, I'm off to a "networking event." Not sure what to expect. It's been dubbed a "firm night" and there are going to be a bunch of companies represented, so I was picturing booths and suits, until I found out that there will be wine, beer, and appetizers and we're supposed to dress business casual. Now I'm thinking... cocktails and mingling?

Networking, in general, is a source of extreme confusion for me. Everyone is constantly talking about networking, but I don't really understand what networking is. People talk about it like it's a pursuit... like studying or playing the stock market. I've got to make sure I'm networking. Am I missing something? You're just supposed to talk to people, right? Introduce yourself and make chit chat? And the difference between networking and socializing is that when you're networking, you're ultimately out to get something and you don't really want to make friends with the person you're hanging out with? That doesn't seem very cool. But, of course, it is possible to network with people you really like, so I'm kind of at a loss as to the difference between networking and just hanging out.

What stresses me out the most is the feeling that there is some larger objective I'm supposed to be achieving while I'm making this networking small talk. I can never figure out what the objective is, or if I'm networking correctly. Sometimes, I get wrapped up in that to the point that I can't come up with small-talky things to say. And then I have another glass of wine and we all know what that leads to.

Deep thoughts, by Franklin Covey

My day planner lists a little quotation at the top of each day. They're supposed to be motivational, but sometimes I question the judgement of the person at the day-planner factory in charge of quotation selection.

I give you today's offering:

"Choose your rut carefully;
You'll be in it for the next ten miles."
--Road sign in upstate New York

Taken either literally or metaphorically, it's just depressing.

And here is Thursday's:

"The future is much like the present, only longer."
--Don Quisenberry

Greeeeat. Thanks for that, Don.

Funniest thing to happen in business school, yet

Tonight, during lecture, our marketing professor asked for examples of an "experience good." "Experience good" is an incredibly technical term for any product that you can't judge the quality of until you've experienced it first-hand.

Here are the examples that were offered by the people he called on:

1) restaurant dining

2) feminine hygeine products

He stopped asking us for examples after that.

Our postal worker is taking liberties

I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure that our postal delivery person is "borrowing" certain editions of our Us Weekly subscription and reading them before delivery. I'm building my case with the following evidence:

1) As the title would imply, we get a new issue every week, but they never come on the same day. We've received the magazine as early as Thursday of the previous week, and as late as Thursday of the issue week. There's no rhyme or reason to it.

2) Our copies always fall apart really easily, as if they're worn from someone flipping through them several times.

3) The weeks when the magazine shows up late are always the weeks with a juicy cover story. For instance, the initial report of the Simpson/Lachey split was late, but the following two issues covering the tedious details of whether or not she really hates Europe and his ESPN job were early.

To further my point, this week's issue:



is completely MIA.

Come on... Brit walking out on K-Fed?! Jessica's not wearing her ring, again? Coats at any price??!! It's riveting subject matter. I want to read it so much that I'm extremely annoyed it hasn't made it's way through our mail slot, yet. If you were the postal worker making your rounds and found this issue in your mailbag, wouldn't you consider holding onto it for a day or two? I know I would.

Welcoming my new arrival

Yes, it is pink -- and yes, those are diamonds (okay, rhinestones). It also takes pictures and short video clips. I should have Internet access, too, but I haven't sorted any of that out yet. Eventually, the camera function will come in handy for blogging. Maybe I'll actually start posting again.

Long story short, Sprint had a pink phone with sparkles so I saw no reason to switch providers.

Where have I been?

Jeff is forcing me to watch the movie Young Guns right now. I've never seen it before. Well, he's not really forcing me... the actors are fairly attractive, it's not like it's torture.

Anyhoo, we were sitting here watching the movie when one of the guys starts spouting the starting lyrics to Regulators, by Warren G:

"We regulate any stealing of his property
and we damn good, too.
But you can't be any geek off the street.
Gotta be handy with the steel
if you know what I mean -- earn your keep.
Regulators! Mount up!"

I can't believe I didn't know the words to one of my favorite songs were from a movie. I've been living in a closet.

Confirmed

From the Haas MBA Student Handbook:

"Minimum Grade-Point Average (GPA)
All MBA students are expected to maintain a minimum grade-point average of 3.0 for continued participation in the program and graduation. Students whose grade-point average falls below the minimum will be placed on academic probation by the Graduate Division. Students who do not bring their grade average up to the minimum are subject to dismissal."

Ugh. It only makes sense, but I have never struggled so hard for Bs.

I am not on academic probation! Yay!

I received my first report card of grad school yesterday. I'm very happy to announce that I have not flunked out, yet. In fact, I'm not even on academic probation.

Before you roll your eyes, you should know that the word on the street is that academic probation at Haas is anything under a 3.0. The only thing I've been able to confirm is that you can't graduate with a GPA under 3.0, even if you've taken all the required courses.

Me, a Forensic Neuropsychologist?

I recently received this email from a man I have never heard of:

Dear Rebecca,

If you recall, you responded to a Craig's list ad for an assistant to a Forensic Neuropsychologist back in late Jan this year. In 3 days I had over 250 applications for the job, and your letter was in the top ten applicants, given your education, training and experience. My first choice and subsequent assistant suffered a terrible accident yesterday, and there is little hope that she will be returning to work.

I very much need an assistant immediately, who has good interpersonal skills, is psychologically minded and can do billing with any number of insurance companies and some report editing, as I now have a typing dictation service that hammers out the ruff draft. Only the formatting, scanning of tables and graphs, and some editing done in house. My practice is basically broken down into two parts: I see about 20 patients per week in individual or couple's psychotherapy and, as one of some 223 Board Certified Forensic Psychologist in the USA, I do a fair amount of assessment regarding the neurocognitive abilities of HIV+ individuals, pilots, traumatic brain injury etc.

I need someone to start immediately. The hours are somewhat flexible..."

This can't be right

My marketing text book also says that one out of every eight households in America is now an "alternative" or "non-traditional" household. The writers say that "alternative" or "non-traditional" households include the following groupings:

single people living alone
single adults living together
same sex couples
same sex parents
couples without children
single parents
empty nests

I don't see how it can only be one in eight. I can only think of a couple people I know who don't live in an alternative household, if you go with this definition. It also seems like about half of the people I know grew up in an alternative household. Is it possible that almost everyone I interact with is "alternative" in relation to the nation's average?

I haven't posted about it...

...because I can't figure it out. Nonetheless, the matter has been plaguing me. I'm having problems concentrating on anything else.

How is Katie Holmes pregnant?! And why? They can't possibly be sleeping together. There is no question in my mind that her relationship with Tom Cruise is only a publicity stunt. Is it possible that she was desperate for just such an arrangement back in April, because she was already knocked up? The Bible would have us believe that virgin births used to happen all over the place. Maybe they're coming back into vogue?





I'm so confused.

Interesting tidbit

From my marketing textbook:

"If the world were a village of 1,000 people, it would consist of 520 women and 480 men, 330 children, and 60 people over age 65, 10 college graduates, and 335 illiterate adults. The village would contain 52 North Americans, 55 Russians, 84 Latin Americans, 95 East and West Europeans, 124 Africans, and 584 Asians. Communication would be difficult, because 165 people would speak Mandarin, 86 English, 83 Hindi/Urdu, 64 Spanish, 58 Russian, and 37 Arabic, and the rest would speak one of over 200 other languages. There would be 329 Christians, 178 Moslems, 132 Hindus, 62 Buddhists, 3 Jews, 167 nonreligious people, 45 atheists, and 86 others."

That soap is not for you

When we were little, my mom always used to keep fancy soaps in the bathroom. The soaps were usually shaped like seashells or hearts, and everyone in the house knew that they were only for guests to use. We weren't supposed to use the fancy soaps, because once you washed your hands with an ornately molded little starfish, or whatever, it just looked like a misshapen lump.

Didn't everyone's mom have fancy soaps that were only for guests?

I remember thinking that this rule my mom had was incredibly dumb. I thought we should be able to use the soaps, too, and I promised myself that when I had my own house someday, I would buy fancy shaped soaps and use them whenever I wanted. Throughout my young twenties, I stood by this promise. I've bought soaps shaped like hippos, bananas, pigs, and flowers. I've gone through many a decorative soap in my time.

The thing is, decorative soap isn't all that functional. A lot of it doesn't lather up easily. Some of it leaves a slimy residue on your hands, or is just difficult to rinse off. I've come to terms with the fact that decorative soap is meant to be decorative. Period.

It was with this understanding that I purchased a fancy little soap shaped like a frog before my parents visited in August. The little frog soap has just been sitting in his soap dish, lookin' cute, ever since. Until yesterday, that is. A person without guest status, who will remain unnamed, felt that he should wash his hands and face with the fancy soap, and now my frog has been transformed into an unrecognizable blob.

I am not happy about this.

When did I turn into my mother?! And who doesn't know that you're not supposed to wash your face with the fancy soap!?!

CardioPod

My marketing group continues to dig up new product possibilities for our class project. We've considered tape worm diets, convertible high heels, round towels (potentially marketed as "The Rowel"), and more.

Currently in the lead is an iPod peripheral device. The product would securely strap your iPod to your arm and use a sensor to measure your heart rate. The device would connect to the iPod via the USB and control the play list. Software loaded onto the iPod would translate your heart rate data into song choices. Mainly people would use this thing when they're working out. Fast songs would come on when you were running hard and your heart rate was up, slower songs if you were cooling down or stretching. The iPod would also display your heart rate, maybe keep track of the time, and possibly calculate approximate calories burned, etc., so you could keep tabs on your workout.

Now we need a name...

Clare's post about last weekend

Clare wrote about our trip to Portland on the Bucky Blog. You should read it, as I haven't fully recovered from my blogger's block. Grad school is just sucking the creativity right outta me.

What is it?

Have you seen the TV commercials for it? They don't so much say what "it" is, but they lead you to this website. I can't find anything on the website that explains what "it" is either. There's a countdown to when they're going to release it, though.

What the hell?

New project #2

I've recently started two new classes (marketing and accounting) and could use help brainstorming concepts for the group projects.

Project 2: We have to develop an entirely new product and design a marketing plan for it. The product has to be something that is not yet available, but within the realm of possibility. We've come up with a lot of ideas, but they're either totally nuts or we wind up discovering that the product already exists. Is anyone out there trying to start a business or dreaming up concepts for new inventions?

New project #1

I've recently started two new classes (marketing and accounting) and could use help brainstorming concepts for the group projects.

Project 1: We have to choose a publicly held company to analyze for accounting. The company should be relatively simple and easy to understand. For instance, it'd be easier to sort out the data for a smaller company that is doing all of its business in one type of industry. There are no other restrictions. Any suggestions? Don't say Google, Jet Blue, or Apple. I think everyone at Haas is already suffering from "Apple-fatigue." I need something creative... maybe a little wacky.

Wholesome fun from Linda

Linda sent me a link to the weirdest site I've seen in the last few months. It seems to be real and based in Portland. Who makes up the market for these things? There can't be that many Amish swimmers around.

Count me out

For the next few Bond movies, that is. The last time I checked in, they were considering Ewan McGregor as a candidate for the next James Bond. How did they wind up with this guy?



He looks like he should be one of the maniacal villains. Quite a step down from Pierce, methinks. And he's certainly no Ewan McGregor. In addition to being extremely attractive, I thought that Ewan McGregor would add a nice Scottish element -- you know, lending a Connery vibe to the whole production.

That said, I find this photo confusing and slightly distressing.

Revenge of the cell phone

I had a chat yesterday with Annie about a recent cell phone drama (long story short: delete the phone numbers stored in your old cell phone before giving it away). During the convo, I mentioned to her that my cell phone is getting so old that I'm a little embarrassed about it. It still works fine, but does not make me look hip or tech savvy. No, I'm not really either of those things, but it would be kinda nice if my cell phone made me seem like I was.

I told Annie that even though my phone has gone out of style, it still seems wasteful to cough up the money for a new one when the truth is that I would never use any of the fancy new features that come on the phones, anyway. I talk on the phone. That's it. I don't even have text messaging and that is fine with me.

I obviously hurt my phone's feelings by telling Annie these things. As soon as I hung up, it started beeping in no regular pattern, flashed a bunch of lights and coding on its little screen, and promptly deleted all of the phone numbers stored in my phone book. It seems fine now. I can't really call anyone though, because I don't have anyone's number. There is a fair amount of distrust left between us. I suspect it might just be waiting for me to start re-entering phone numbers so it can delete them all again, or worse.

Perhaps this development has provided the motivation I need to go out and get a new phone? I really like the looks of the new, pink Razr, recently featured in Us Weekly.



I suppose I could get any old phone and snap on a pink face plate. All I really want is one of those Bluetooth set-ups so I can have that little, wire-free ear piece. My mom and Jeff are trying to peer pressure me into dumping Sprint and signing on with Verizon, so we could talk free.

What do you guys think? Does anyone absolutely love their phone or provider?

Blogger's block

Something is wrong. I've been trying to blog for the last week and I just can't do it. Nothing. I'm drawing a blank over and over.

What is the cure for blogger's block?

Here's what I'm going to be for Halloween, y'all:

I'm going to have the scariest costume ever! I'm trying to convince Jeff to dress as K-Fed, but he's having none of it. I even told him that it would give him a valid reason to chain smoke all night, but he remains unswayed.

Okay people...

I realize that I have been neglecting RBlog, and it pains me. Unfortunately, I'm suffering from a temporary work/school/life imbalance. Basically it's all school and work, which means no life. That translates to no blog.

You see, this week is my first set of finals. We had one 15-page paper due last Wednesday, followed by an 8-page paper due on Monday (which I had to present... I tend to freak out about public speaking and this was a power point presentation to sixty of my peers). Tonight my group had to do another presentation. I have one final exam Friday night (as in the day after tomorrow) after work, which I am not at all prepared for. Then my second final is Saturday afternoon from 1-4pm. Entirely new classes (marketing and accounting) start on Monday, and though we have not started we've already got reading assigned. Did I mention that I'm also working full time?

Bear with me. I promise to post some interesting things on Sunday. RBlog will be dynamic and entertaining once again. I just have to make it through these tests. It would be tragic if I flunked out of Haas in my first quarter. Not to mention horribly humiliating.

Nordstrom... more like Boredstrom

So, uh ... I'm Jeff. I'm guest bloggering because Rebecca is too busy worrying about business school to type. Or something like that. What's new? Well, I somehow got coerced into going clothes shopping with RB for the first time in our three-year-plus relationship. I guess I've had a pretty good run with it, but my luck ran out when she wouldn't buy my assertion that our trip to Nicaragua was my birthday present to her. Granted, I didn't pay for her trip to Nicaragua or anything, but I figured that maybe my presence alone on a trip to Nicaragua would be enough to be considered a good birthday present. I mean, who wants to go to Nicaragua? Sounds reasonable, right? Not a friggin' chance. But, she made it easy on me by telling me about a pair of jeans she really wanted, and all I had to do was accompany her to Nordstrom and pay for them. It sounded like a really easy way to get out of having to think of a "special" present to buy. I'm such a damn romantic.

I was kind of dreading the trip (I really don't like people, crowds, malls, elevators, waiting, salespersons, clothes, public transportation, or mindless consumerism -- pretty much everything I thought a trip to Nordstrom would involve), but it actually ended up not being so bad. It’s amazing how many cute girls there were wandering around there in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday.

Straight from the womb

I know that some of you have been reading The Bucky Blog regularly. There's a little more going on at that blog than on RBlog these days, mainly because Bucky's developments are much more exciting than recent events in my stress-filled life.

Whether you're interested in the business of pregnancy or not, you should check out these images Clare sent from her latest ultrasound. They kind of rocked my world. It was shocking to me to be able to see that she has an entire little person living inside her body. In concept, I knew this was happening, but seeing it is entirely different. Biology is so weird.

Stupid Emmys

I just started thinking about the Emmys again and the fact that Arrested Development and/or Jeremy Piven didn't win. It's got me all worked up. Arrested Development should have won something just on principle. Can anyone honestly say that Everybody Loves Raymond is better television than Arrested Development?! I've never even watched Arrested Development, but there is no question in my mind that it is at least three billion times better than Everybody Loves Raymond. And I think I'm falling madly in love with Jeremy Piven. I'll leave it at that.

I think I've had too much coffee.

Geminis hate routine

I finally discovered a San Francisco radio station that doesn't make me gag: the new Max 95.7. They say it's new, but I'm not up enough on these things to know whether or not that's just a marketing ploy.

The gimmick behind this station is that they just play "whatever they want." I'm not sure where the tendency for radio stations to play music from only one genre or era came from, but I've always thought that it pretty much sucks. It's terrible primarily because it results in frequent song repetition, so no matter how much you like the type of music the station plays you wind up getting sick of the songs pretty quickly. Plus, who really likes only one type of music?

This new station claims to play pretty much any kind of music depending on their whims. I haven't listened enough yet to be able to speak to the truth of that claim, but I can say that the variety is refreshing when compared to the usual radio station routine. For instance, on my way to work this morning they played Sweet Emotion (Aerosmith, 1975), followed by Legs (ZZ Top, 1983), followed by Rich Girl (Gwen Stephani with Eve, 2004). Now, I'm not saying any of those songs are on my personal top ten list, but I did enjoy them all and was thrilled with the crazy spontaneity that the mix lended to my morning commute.

Why buy a Nano?

I haven't seen or heard much discussion of iPod's new Nano, yet. Personally, I have to wonder why anyone would need one of these things. It looks like it would break easily if you sat on it or dropped it, it only plays 1,000 songs, and doesn't everyone in the known world already own some kind of iPod?

Normally, I wouldn't take the time to comment on something I find so silly, but the Jo-tel hasn't done it yet and someone's gotta pick up the slack.

Pity Emmy

Everybody Loves Raymond is NOT funny. The show is totally grating and annoying. I can't believe that they gave them best comedy series just because the series ended! That's really the only explanation, since ending Everybody Loves Raymond was obviously the best thing that could have happened to prime-time television.

Pray for Baby Spears-Federline

Many of you have written in to ask, and the answer is yes -- I did read that Britney had the baby.

From the Associated Press:
"Spears, who married Federline in September last year, had been previously reported as saying she planned to have the baby by Caesarean section to avoid the pain of a natural birth."

I think that comments on this issue from my smart and funny friends sum it all up for me.

The first email I received on the subject read, "What the *$&#%??! She had previously said that having a child is the next closest thing to knowing God, but she's wimping out of labor? Give me a break! You take drugs to get a c-section (sometimes you're even knocked out), and you would get drugs for labor. Would she rather have the scar than a stretched out cooter that will naturally tighten back up?!"

It was closely followed by a comment from another friend:
"A scheduled c-section to avoid the unpleasantries of childbirth?!  That's a great way to start out parenthood: "Dear Baby, I know you have your 'schedule' and 'needs' or whatever, but I'd rather not be conscious. It hurts!  Plus if I schedule it a little early I don't gain those last few pounds.  Love, Mom."

Yep, that pretty much says it all.

Another thought...

Watching the Enron film made me realize that my inherent distrust of the news media has become extreme. Maybe too extreme. An unfortunate result of my distrust (and disgust?) is that whenever there's a massive, ongoing story -- like the Enron scandal, the Lewinsky scandal, the tsunami, or Katrina -- I tend to totally tune out, almost like I have blinders on. It's bad news for me (no pun intended) because I wind up being out of the loop on everything but the most basic details of events that have major impacts on our culture.

I just can't get around my low tolerance for the manner in which the coverage is presented. Each headline story is seemingly the biggest deal EVER. It's so transparently commercial. I really hate TV news. Local TV news is by far the worst.

Movie Review: The Smartest Guys in the Room

Haas was giving a free screening of The Smartest Guys in the Room tonight, so I went to go check it out. I'm shocked at how much I enjoyed this film, and also how educational it was for a really entertaining movie. I'd totally recommend it to anyone -- especially if you have ties to Portland or California (the everyday lives of people living in both places were impacted heavily by what went down at Enron). Put it on your Netflix list.

For those of you who haven't heard about The Smartest Guys in the Room before, it's a documentary that investigates how the Enron scandal came to be. It goes through the circumstances and events that led up to Enron's filing for bankruptcy, as well as those that followed, but more importantly the film is a character study of the major players involved. The movie asks and answers the question, "How can a business scandal this extreme occur today?"

One thing I appreciated about this movie is that it's not overtly political (though it does cover politics and political consequences of the scandal). You also don't come away with the feeling that the film makers are condemning all big business. They treat Enron as a unique occurrence that should be learned from. I think a lot of us have become accustomed to Michael Moore-style documentaries, where the viewer comes out feeling like she's just drowned Moore's biases and personal agenda. Moore seems so gimmicky and over the top a lot of the time. Though I often respect his stance, I feel he's prone to total overkill.

Test Results

I recently had my first test of grad school handed back. I got an A- and it was a microeconomics midterm. I could have done a better job studying and I also made a few dumb mistakes that I shouldn't have, but I'm perfectly happy with an A-. If I can get low As with spotty preparation and mistakes, this back-to-school thing could be manageable. They might have gone easy on us the first time, though.

I never thought I'd say this, but thank god I took calculus over the summer. We're already using derivatives (and they don't do much math review of any kind) all over the place in econ, as well as several of the functions my calculus instructor insisted that we learn. I know you're wondering if "e" has reappeared, and I'm sad to say the answer is no. There is no "e" in econ, yet.

I never should have questioned the relevance of calculus.

Take that, Turd!

This guy's moving picture blog is way better than Turd Ferguson's.

Sick, sick, sick

I have a bad, bad cold. It's the kind of cold where you can't breathe and you have to blow your nose so much that the skin around it starts peeling. I'm also sweating while I have goosebumps. There are a kazillion crumpled tissues distributed in a little trail that tracks my progress through the day. The path goes from bed, to the couch, back to bed, with a slight detour through the bathroom.

There are many crappy things about being sick, but for me these are the most crappy:

1) When you get in bed to go to sleep all the congestion in your nose plugs up one nostril or the other, but not both, so your breathing is completely unbalanced. It makes me feel horrible. I used to think that was just a weird quirk of mine, until I took a yoga class that involved measured breathing through one nostril or another to achieve inner peace. Or something like that. Okay, honestly, I can't remember what we were trying to achieve because I was just focused on not laughing, but I still think that having only one nostril totally blocked up is enough to seriously mess a person up. Or at least enough to make it impossible to fall asleep.

2) Single people totally get the shaft when it comes to being sick. I think some people might get married or shack up only because they want someone to take care of them when they're sick. It's even in the vows -- "in sickness and in health..." If you're single, and don't live with your mother, you pretty much have to take yourself to Walgreen's to buy tissue and Nyquil, you have to make your own tea, get your own blanket, there's no one to listen sympathetically when you complain for hours on end, and there's no one to offer to make you soup.*

I think there should be a service where you could pay someone to do these things. It would even out the playing field a little and make things more equitable for the sick singles out there.

*That's a little bit of a lie, Matty K. did offer to come make me soup. But I really wouldn't want him to see me in this state. I couldn't be more disgusting and irritable. Plus, when a roommate or friend offers to do these things for you, you feel like you should be smiley and nice, even if you think you're about to die. It's really not the same as a mom or partner who is stuck with you regardless of your whiny disgustingness.

72 hours

Everywhere I turn there is media urging me to prepare for disaster. They say we're supposed to be able to survive on our own for 72 hours after a major catastrophe. After watching all the coverage of Katrina, and knowing that San Francisco is due for "the big one" any minute now, I think I'm going to start putting together a backpack like they say you should.

I notice that nowhere in the literature does it say you should have a shotgun in order to defend your person and property from gangs of looters. As a single woman, my biggest fear about a disaster hitting is being able to defend myself (if need be) in the chaos that would follow. The unique geography of San Francisco means we could be stuck here for quite awhile. There's no easy way out if the bridges go down.

I've been watching too much news.

I miss my Entourage

Today is one of my first Sundays in awhile without a heavy dose of Entourage. I think I'm experiencing withdrawal. One of my coworkers pointed out that the majority of the characters on the show are self-centered jerks, but I love them anyway. My favorite shows are the ones with plotlines centered on Ari and the agency. I like to fantasize about becoming a big Hollywood agent someday... Wheeling and dealing, worrying about my clients' coverage in US Weekly, throwing my daughter a star-studded bat mitzvah. Ah, that would be the life!

I guess I'll just have to suffer until HBO comes up with some new episodes. Unfortunately, they have very strange seasons scheduled, and I can't figure out exactly when that will be. Maybe other Entourage fans know?

In other football news...

I've almost convinced Jeff to rename his fantasy football team "The Candy Unicorn Fairies." Good name, huh?

RAAAAAAAAI-ders! RAAAAAAAAI-ders!

The Raiders are losing right now. I'm surprised that I actually care, but I do. It's sad, and it just seems unfair -- the Raider Nation would appreciate the win so much more than those Patriot fans who are just used to winning everything. They keep showing the the New Englanders in the stands and they all look like boring white guys with guts, drinking beer and wearing red, white, and blue. I don't think there's even one person in a skeleton-monster-with-horns-and-fangs costume among them. What kind of team spirit is that?

RIP White Kitty

Last night, on his way to pick me up at the BART station, Jeff ran over a cat. He said that there was nothing he could have done to avoid hitting the cat. He didn't even see it before the car hit it, because it ran directly under the front tire as he passed by -- its path wasn't more than a half a foot in front of the wheel of car. It must have been spooked by something. Jeff said he was going about forty miles an hour. He had to look in the rear window to see what he had hit and the car behind him hit the cat, as well. The cat was white.

We're both pretty upset about the accident. It's good I wasn't in the car, because I would have cried. Jeff is hoping that it was a wild cat (it ran out of Golden Gate Park) and not someone's pet that will be missed.

I want to take a moment to express some wishes for the cat. White Kitty, we're sorry that you got run over. We hope your death was swift and painless. With any luck, your time on this world was decent and you're now in a place where you will never again know cold, hunger, an unclean cat box, or fleas.

Please take a moment to salute the passing of White Kitty.

Sketchy

I received the following in an email this afternoon:

To: ucb_police_news@listlink
From: ucpolice@uclink4.berkeley.edu
Subject: U.C. Police Crime Alert - Strong-Arm Robbery

Strong-Arm Robbery
2nd Floor, Haas School of Business

On September 7, 2005 at approximately 3:30PM, University Police responded to the Tang Center regarding an injured student. They met with the victim at the Urgent Care Center. The victim (a UC student) told officers that he was involved in a confrontation at about 8:30AM while exiting the 2nd floor men’s room at Haas School of Business. An unknown suspect punched the victim once in the left eye and once in the left ear. The suspect took personal property belonging to the victim and fled the location, exiting the west side of the building.

A suspect has been identified; UCPD is currently investigating this incident.

If you have any information about this crime, please contact:

University of California Police Department
Criminal Investigation Bureau
(510) 642-0472 / 8AM to 5PM
(510) 642-6760 / All other times
As with any emergency situation, if you see suspicious activity, call 911.


I was just right there (well, not actually in the men's room) for class last night at six. Berkeley is really big on disseminating this type of information. I know that they do it to help find the suspects and so students be aware, but it also has a way of making you feel like you're constantly about to be jumped when you're on campus at night.

Tip to "enhance balance"

Last week, at a career center workshop for school, they gave us a handout called "Techniques to Enhance Balance between Family, Life, Friends, Work, and now School." Supposedly the tips were all submitted by former students, attending the MBA program and also working full time.

The handout offers about six pages of suggestions. They vary in their usefulness, but I thought this one was interesting:

"5. Understand Your Frustration. Most frustration is actually self-directed frustration that is transferred to others in order to achieve self-preservation. If you're feeling frustrated a lot of the time, don't assume you've met a rash of incompetent people on the phone, at work, among clients, and in social settings. Find out why you're really frustrated with yourself."

I think it's probably true. Since I read the handout, each time I've been aggravated by someone or a situation, I've definitely been able to pinpoint something else that was really bugging me. I'm not sure what good it does to know that (or how it enhances my balance), but taking the time to analyze it objectively usually provides a nice little cooling-down period.

I suppose self-awareness is never a bad thing.

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I wasn't going to read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In fact, I was so determined that I would not spend the time it would take to read the 500 plus pages, that I got online and found a plot synopsis the day after the book was released. I thought that knowing how this episode of Harry Potter's adventures ends would cure me of the need to read.

It didn't work. First off, my roommate bought a copy, so the book has been easily accessible in the apartment for months. Secondly, I'm supposed to be studying for a Tuesday night microeconomics midterm. Predictably, I started reading the book in earnest yesterday and just finished up.

With Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling has pretty much completely stopped writing books for kids. This story includes swearing, a lot of making out, plot lines about a knocked-up girl who dies in childbirth, boozing, the walking dead, and a lot of death in general, or discussion of death. The conversations the characters have about death were enough to freak me out a little. One of the character's comments about death being the great unknown, and the fact that it is the unknown aspect of it that causes people to fear death got to me. It's impossible to read this book without devoting some time to seriously thinking about what death means. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince does still include a few of the whimsical elements that initially made Harry Potter so popular (magical candy and what have you), but the vast majority of the focus is on more mature matters like who will hook up with who and bloody fights.

Though J.K. Rowling's writing was never weak, it seems like it is improving as she progresses through the series. It's true Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince does not have a satisfying conclusion. It feels rushed -- too many threads are left untied and some developments are hard to believe (perhaps this is intentional?) -- but overall the writing is better. For instance, in this book readers are more often given descriptions of characters behavior and expressions, than directly told their thoughts and feelings. And if J.K. Rowling is still writing her own books (working in book publishing makes me suspicious of such things) she is a total master of the page-turner. The Harry Potter books have consistently been extremely difficult to put down. Those who haven't read any of the books can ridicule the Harry Potter phenomenon as much as they like, but once you start reading one (especially the most recent volumes) you will keep reading.

Note: I am not arguing that Harry Potter books are life-changing literature, just good reading.

I wish I had a digital camera

Ross and Clare's purchase now has me lusting after a digital camera of my own. I know, I know -- they're not that expensive. For some reason I have a block when it comes to getting off my rear and buying any kind of electronic equipment. It took me eons to get a cell phone. I never know which brand is best, or how much I should be paying. I always just want to buy the cutest thing, and that doesn't really seem like good decision making when it comes to technology. If they made a pink digital camera, I probably would have had one two years ago. Part of my problem is that electronic gadgets never seem totally essential to me. I feel like there's always a touch of frivolity in making such purchases. But, I'm running into more and more situations where it would be handy to have a digital camera. The great blogging that a digital camera would enable is enough of a reason to get one.

I also wish I wouldn't have spent four thousand dollars this afternoon at J Crew. I didn't mean to. They tricked me into it with their demonically cute sweaters. If I had a digital camera, I could show you how cute they are.

Domestically disabled

How does one fold the bedsheets with elastic around the edges? They don't lie flat. There aren't corners to match up. My elastic-rimmed bedsheets always just wind up in a wrinkled heap next to the flat foldable ones and the pillow cases. Can anyone fill me in on the proper technique? Perhaps there's trick to storing them neatly without folding?

Speaking of The Superficial...

Has anyone else noticed that The Superficial isn't very funny lately? I'm not sure if they switched writers, or what, but it doesn't have the same zing. The normally sassy jokes are now a little tired. It can be pitiful when blogs written with the sole purpose of being funny just aren't. It seems like that happens to dudes a lot.

I will give them this -- The Superficial does kick ass when it comes to being first to report the best dirt (even if half of their reports are blatant lies). The upcoming issue of Us Weekly has a four page spread on Jennifer Anniston and Vince Vaughn being seen snuggling and kissing at a blues club in Chicago. The Superficial reported the story first, at least a week ago.

The Daily Dish coverts to a blog?

San Francisco residents have long known that they can fill their celebrity gossip needs at The Daily Dish, an online column of the Chronicle. I've been a reader for about a year.

I just logged on today, only to realize that they've switched up their format. SFGate is treating the Dish as a blog now. You can even comment on each of their postings. Readers don't seem to have figured out the comment funtion of the page though, as there aren't any comments yet.

Now the Dish is almost like The Superficial, sans jokes about poo and whacking off.

Word verification for comments

For some reason, I started getting spam in the comment fields on my blogs this afternoon. I'm not sure if something triggered it, or if it was random. All of the sudden a bunch of bogus comments with links to commercial sites began popping up in quick succession (all but one has been deleted).

To combat this crappiness, I've started using the Blogger.com word verification feature for comments. When you leave a comment, you'll have to type in characters as they appear on the screen in order to confirm that you're an actual human. It's annoying, but spam is more annoying.

Bumpwatch 2005

After weeks of diligent harassment on my part, Clare and Ross finally bought a digital camera. Clare sent me the first picture I've seen of her in about three months. I've stared at it for at least fifteen minutes now, and I can't get over it. I wasn't expecting her to look pregnant, yet. She definitely looks all glowy, healthy, happy, and maternal. Pregnancy happens so fast.

Jeans are out, botox is in

Another update on the designer jeans project: My group got word back from our professor that we will in fact be allowed to interview company representatives as a part of the research for the project. As a result, we decided to ditch the jeans concept and find a small business to focus
on -- a small business where one of us has connections and could easily get the scoop. After considering several options, our final choice was a dermatologist's office. Along with all the actual medical treatments, they offer cosmetic botox injections. We're going to analyze pricing strategies for the bo. I'm pretty excited about it. It's way more interesting than the concepts I've heard from the other groups, and I feel like it has a small amount of personal relevance.

RB is back

Apologies for the lack of posts lately! Full-time work and part-time school have been taking their toll. Plus, this week my parents came to visit San Francisco -- for the first time in three years. They flew out this afternoon and I'm taking the day off, so maybe between my nap and my pedicure I'll have time to get in some blogging.

I love the cleaning ladies

I just sneaked out to get a look at the bathroom (which they are finished with) and discovered that they folded the end of our toilet paper roll into a little rosette! I am disproportionately delighted by such things.

They're here

It is noon on Saturday and I've been cooped up in my bedroom for an hour and a half. Jeff is out cold in the bed. He was awake from 4 am to 9 am, surfing the internet, playing computer games, and trying to get a solidly-asleep-me to talk to him. For the past three hours, however, he's been out cold with the help of one of those funny eye covers that they give you on airplanes and a pair ear plugs. Normally I would be poking him, jumping on the bed, and trying to get him to entertain me on this sunny afternoon, but for now we can't leave the bedroom, so I figure asleep is a good way for him to be.

We can't leave the bedroom because they're here -- the cleaning ladies are here. They're cleaning like I have never seen anyone clean before: attacking all surfaces, nooks, and crannies at an astounding pace. I'd never thought to scrub the moldings at the top of our walls before, though they are shockingly dirty. They cleaned out our fridge and freezer and asked me if I wanted them to organize and wash the insides of all of our cupboards. I can hear them scrubbing the grout in the bathroom now, and one of them said something about washing the windows in the living room. Who knew that money could buy this kind of heaven?

The path to retaining the services of cleaners was a long, emotional road. I'll admit there was initially a lot of guilt on my part. I felt like I should be able to clean up after myself (though there has been no time in my life when I have successfully been able to do that). Paying someone to clean up after me somehow felt like taking advantage -- transforming me into The Man. Then I realized I'm getting an MBA and I am The Man, so I should get over it.

I also realized that it's not taking advantage, it's a fair exchange -- money for a valued service. Their services aren't cheap. The cleaning ladies are compensated well for their time. Thankfully, my roommates and I have an ideal situation, since we can split the cost three ways. It's a good deal for us, women who tend to be so busy that we never do anything more than superficial cleaning.

I also feel like I've been pretty responsible in my choice of cleaners. I didn't go through a commercial cleaning service, such as those listed in the phone book, because I know that though you're paying a lot the workers only get minimum wage. The woman I hired has a legal work permit (she's Brazilian) and has been doing this for years. She's not underage and she's very professional. Her fees aren't the cheapest out there, and by doing the math I know that she can make a decent living doing this. I feel like the compensation is fair to her, which was important to me.

And another thing...

Who came up with the name "fantasy" football? It sounds so silly. The word "fantasy" connotes either porn, or something involving winged horses and magical gnomes. I can't believe that the larger football community has adopted something that sounds so decidedly not-tough.

Fantasy football is dumb

For those of you who might be blessed enough to not have encountered the fantasy football phenomenon, let me try to explain it. A bunch of football fanatics get together in a league. Each person gets to draft his or her own team and then all the teams compete for the duration of the real-life football season. As far as I can figure out, scoring systems vary depending on how your league has set things up, but most are based on the real-life performance of players in the real-life games that they play for their real-life teams. Most games are set up through websites that do all the scoring automatically once you've registered the players that are on each team.

It appears to me that the primary purpose of fantasy football is to provide subject matter for shit-talking between dudes. It's also customary to wager a fair amount of money on the success of your team, so maybe a secondary purpose could be to win a little money? The dudes I know, one dude in particular, has only lost money on fantasy football, so I'm not sure I can legitimately list that as a perk of the game.

I can't help but view fantasy football in the same way I see those fantasy-based, interactive video games where techie geeks spend entire weekends battling for magical armor. Why spend so much time on pretend armor, or pretend football, when there's an entire world going on out here that's real! You could be playing a real game of football with all of your friends in the park. Then you could go get real beers and talk to each other about real current events. There are real hikes to go on, real classes to take, real books to read...

You may even have a real girlfriend sitting next to you and your laptop, who would love for you to pay some real attention to her.

Update on the jeans project

After finally reading the actual assignment handout for the pricing project, I realized that my group would not only have to be able to access information about the wholesale price of whichever brand of designer jeans we might choose, but also information regarding the actual cost of their production for the company. Obviously, none of the designer denim labels are willing to discuss this sort of thing. They don't want it to get out that you're paying $185 for a pair of jeans it costs them $10 to make.

To complicate matters, the assignment handout includes this paragraph:

"In part, this project is a test of your resourcefulness and skill inobtaining information. To keep the problem manageable, you must, however,limit your data search to materials contained in the U.C. Berkeley library system or which are freely available via the Internet."

That sentence might imply that contacting a company directly and interviewing them is off limits, which makes the project a whole hell of a lot more difficult. If it's true, we would be better off focusing on a product made by a large public company -- one that has been the focus of many articles and reports (like the new hybrid SUV by Toyota?). We're currently trying to confirm the exact limits on our research techniques.

The funny part is, that the guys in our group are still totally dedicated to the designer jeans concept. I have never seen straight men so enthusiastic about jeans that cost over $100. Their enthusiasm blossomed right after Jenny (the other female group member) explained to them that the placement of the pockets on 7 jeans is supposed to have an ass-lifting effect, making women's butts appear tighter.

Confession

I ordered a subscription to Us Weekly for our apartment. We are now so up on the details of Jude Law's nanny sex and what toys Angelina bought Zahara that it is embarrassing. A new magazine comes every weekend and they're basically crack in print. I think that the year's worth of Us Weekly might be an even better use of seventy bucks than the paper shredder. I am 100% serious, people.

We just had a lengthy conversation in the kitchen, over cookies and milk, about what Britney and K-Fed's options are once they run out of money. Perhaps K-Fed's career as a rap star will take off? More likely Madonna will take them in.

That conversation was followed with conjecture about what it is that Nicole Richie does when she's not having her photo taken to be printed in Us Weekly. Does her existence serve any other purpose?

Last, but not least, it was argued that Brad and Angelina likely paid Jude Law to sleep with his frumpy nanny, simply in order to get the tabloids off their backs for a little while.

No one is engaging me in this sort of back and forth about the Wall Street Journal articles I've been reading.

You guys know your jeans

Thanks for all the brand suggestions. We decided we wanted to focus on 7 jeans (they've been around for more than five years now and their prices have had some time to fluctuate as the brand popularity grows), but the professor says we have to be able to find out the wholesale price that 7 sells the jeans to retailers for, as opposed to the price you or I might pay. After being flat out denied by the saleslady I called at the 7 showroom today ("I'm sorry, I can't divulge that information even if you are a student."), we're brainstorming ways we might be able to access this info.

Ideas? Anyone know people in retail who would be willing to help some starving MBA students?

Name your brand

Tonight's theme at RBlog is reader participation.

One of my group projects for micro econ is going to be about designer jeans. The project focuses specificially on pricing.

Anyhoo, I need to come up with a good list of brand-name designer jeans. I'm not really interested in general clothing designers that might also offer jeans, but more on companies that have built their business around jeans. Think over $100 per pair. I'll get you started:

7 jeans
Citizens of Humanity
Joe's Jeans
Paige Premium Denim...

What others are there?

Beat around the hedge?

Posting my random questions has been working so well for me that I think I'm going to stick with it for awhile.

Tonight in class, I learned what hedging is (like when airlines buy hedges on jet fuel costs).

Here's my question: Does this use of the word "hedge" have anything to do with the "hedge funds" that are the topic of so many a Wall Street Journal article? What is a hedge fund?

Please note, I have entered "hedge fund" in Google and tried to come up with an explanation on my own. I didn't have much luck. I need an explanation in very basic terms.

Poll time

Okay, RBlog readers -- I need your opinions. What color of shoes is best to wear with a navy blue suit? If it impacts your answer at all, the suit in question has pin-stripes.

If your answer to this question is not black or brown, then the second part of the question is this: Is it ever acceptable to wear black or brown shoes with a navy suit?

Shread head

It occurred to me that some of you might be wondering why I'm so excited about the new shredder, or perhaps you're wondering how it is that a single girl in her twenties has had personal relationships with more than one paper shredder?

I get tons of junk mail. TONS. The majority of it is pre-approved credit card applications (most of which are already filled out with my identification information and only require a signature), but there are also all sorts of magazine subscription forms, catalogs, letters from charities wanting donations, and other such crap.

Most of it I just recycle, but anything with personal info on it -- including all of the pre-approved forms, I shred. Sometimes the forms are for pre-approved loans, not credit cards. They just come in the form of blank checks. I hate those most of all. How tough would it be for someone to pull one of those out of the recycling bin, write it to him or herself, and cash it? Not hard.

For awhile I tried calling the companies to get them to stop sending the blank checks. With as much talk as there is about identity theft lately, it seems like an obvious liability. But calling didn't work; they keep coming.

In the last two weeks I was able to fill up an entire grocery sack with junk mail to be shredded.

e again!

If you've read, heard, or watched any news in the last 16 hours, you probably know that Google has decided to sell off 14.2 million shares of stock, which will be worth about $4 billion.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the exact number of shares they plan to sell is 14,159,265. The digits in that number are the same digits that follow the decimal point in the value of pi. It seems the corporate culture down at Google must be a little quirky, and have a heavy math geek influence. During the company's IPO, they stated in the official paperwork that they wanted to raise $2,718,281,828. Those digits are the digits in the value for the magical number e (e is equal to around 2.718281828), from calculus.

It was exciting to find another instance of my old friend e, albeit not a naturally occuring one.

Another question

Does anyone know how Google makes money? What services or products do they provide that they charge for?

The best $65 I've spent all month

Today, while I was dealing with stack of junk mail, I permanently jammed my paper shredder. I broke it -- it was an extremely sad event. The shredder and I had been together for several years now. It wasn't powerful or fancy, but we had history. My little shredder was originally a Valentine's gift from Jeff and had a lot of sentimental value.

I consoled myself by immediately running down to the neighborhood Radio Shack and buying the most deluxe shredder I could get my hands on. It worked! I haven't gotten such a charge out of shredding since the first days I had my little blue Valentine's shredder.



My new Royal Crosscut Paper Shredder can shred up to ten sheets of paper simultaneously, and it shreds credit cards! Ooooh. No job is too tough for the power of the Crosscut. It reduces eveything I feed it into confetti-like bits, instead of the standard strips. It also has wheels and makes a loud motor noise (an intimidating purr, if you will) while it's working.

Shredding is magical again.

Can anyone explain this?

Last night in class, my OB* professor said, "The problem with oil companies is that they're often making too much money." He then went on to describe the different measures they have to take to "hide" money with somewhat creative accounting.

I don't understand how a company could make too much money. Can anyone out there provide an explanation?

*If you're wondering what OB is, it's an abbreviation for Organizational Behavior. We're currently studying motivation and things along the lines of how you get people to do what you want them to.

The work website

I take back what I said about being impressed with my work website getting over 2000 hits in a month. I just realized that 2000 really isn't that many for a corporate website that's been up for at least five years. Oh well.

I need some help

I need some help peer pressuring Clare into buying a digital camera.

These days, pretty much everyone has a digital camera. I'll admit that don't, but I would if I wasn't pouring all my money into tuition. And I definitely would if I was preggers, lived on the East Coast, and at least half the people who loved me lived on the West Coast.

We need some graphics on The Bucky Blog. You're only pregnant with your firstborn once, you know?

Found the perfect swimming hole

There's a campsite up north that I've been going to for the past few summers. It's in the middle of nowhere -- part of the Plumas National Forest. Some of you have gone with me and know what a special place it is.

Last weekend, we made another trip to celebrate Kay's birthday. She has a really old, possibly unreliable guide to swimming holes in California that has a spot listed within walking distance from this campground. We tried to follow several different interpretations of the directions, but we never have been able to find it.

Until last weekend.

This swimming hole is amazing! It's got everything: crystal clear water in deep green pools, a little waterfall, logs propped across the river to sunbathe on, and big boulders to dive off. We tried to take pictures, but for reasons unknown they all came out fuzzy (see below). Perhaps it's an enchanted swimming hole?

That puts things in perspective

I finally figured out how to access the hit statistics for the website I maintain at work. I found out that in the last month, over 2,000 people have visited that site. I had previously thought the number was around four, maybe five, people. This development tempts me to forget about RBlog and start reworking the material on the work site to be super snazzy. I had no idea there were so many people looking at it!

Posting from Jeff

Since I've been feeling a little frazzled with the first few weeks of classes, Jeff has offered to help find content for RBlog. Today he sent this:

"NAS PAYS TWO MILLION DOLLARS FOR A BEAT
Rap star Nas reportedly has paid a staggering $2 million for a mystery new beat created by hip hop producers the Neptunes.

A number of artists were reported to be in competition for the beat, including Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs.

It's so groundbreaking, rap veteran Busta Rhymes is convinced it will make hip-hip history.

He says, 'Those drums man. Those drums are fire! If Nas is gonna rap to this beat, it's going to be over. This will be the biggest hit in the history of hip hop.'"

I'm not sure where Jeff found this tidbit. The format looks like it came from The Daily Dish on SFGate.com, but I've got no confirmation on that.

For NW pooches and their people

Val Mallinson, author of The Dog Lover's Companion to the Pacific Northwest, just sent me a note about two events she's got coming up for dog people in the Seattle area:

"My last two big book signings of the summer are coming up next week, so tell all your friends with dogs not to miss out!

I'll share adventures from The Dog Lover's Companion to the Pacific Northwest, host audience Q&A, and give away a $25 gift certificate to a doggie boutique at each event. These are FREE events."

Here's the scoop on the signings:

Third Place Books
Tuesday, August 23, 2005, 7 p.m.
Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park
In The Den
17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, WA 98155
206-366-3333; www.thirdplacebooks.com

Elliott Bay Books
Saturday, August 27, 2005, 3 p.m.
Elliott Bay Books, Pioneer Square
101 S. Main St., Seattle, WA, 98104
206-624-6600; www.elliottbaybook.com

Val's book is great and it's becoming very popular. Here's some of the press it's been receiving lately:

"…will make you want to pack the kibble and hit the road."
"…the descriptions will leave you drooling for all the great places to go and things to do…"
"The author and her dachshunds clearly covered every inch of territory and asked the right questions of the right people."
-- The Oregonian

"If dogs could read, they'd be reading this guide to find the Four-Paw parks"
"John Steinbeck could have used this guide for the Northwest leg of his 'Travels with Charlie.'"
-- East Oregonian

"…largely urbanized guide to enjoying life with four-legged friends. Well researched, nicely organized; includes a helpful rating system."
-- Seattle Times

Fired over a blog

I’ve noticed a lot of media coverage lately about people who have been fired because of stuff they posted on personal blogs. My mom has even taken to calling me to warn me about the dangers of blogging, though her fears are mainly focused on the opportunities blogging may present for stalkers and rapists.

People Magazine (shut up -- my roommate buys it) recently ran an article about terminations prompted by blogging. The rag reported that these three bloggers have all lost their jobs over their blogs:

Diary of a dYsFuNcTioNaL Flight Attendant
plaxoed!
Jolie in NYC

The plaxoed! guy was fired from Google, which is particularly shocking considering the fact that Google owns Blogger.com. However, if you do a Google search you can also find cases of employees getting fired for blog content at Microsoft and Friendster. It’s kind of crazy how common it is.

I have limited the amount that I discuss my job and company on this blog, though I do think my job would make for a lot of interesting blog material. I suspect that the only way blogging will get me in to trouble is by keeping me up nights, making me hit that snooze alarm one too many times in the mornings.

Class is fine

Many of you have been asking how my first week of classes has gone. I’ve been a little slow on the correspondence this week, but it’s been fine. A little boring, even. Classes are less intimidating than I thought they’d be. Things have started at a slow and easy-to-understand pace. That may change soon, but for the time it’s nice to not feel completely overwhelmed.

The coolest thing is that going to business school is like buying a whole pack of instant friends (perhaps similar to Greek life as an undergrad?). Everyone is so gregarious by nature that it’s almost overwhelming -- especially when you’re joking around with someone over a beer and then you realize that they’re a Vice President at Wells Fargo. It's intimidating! Then again, I tend to forget just how many of my non-MBA friends have also built up super impressive careers while still young (you know who you
are -- there are a lot of you).

The last straw

When I saw this photo, I was embarrassed for Britney. I understand that the discomfort of pregnancy can lead you to make some odd choices, but I can't come up with any possible reason to wear this bathing suit (not to mention wearing it while extremely pregnant).




However, this photo has also made me embarrassed to admit that I ever liked Britney. And I did like Britney. She used to be so young, so peppy, so unstoppable... It's all been downhill since that Federline came on the scene. This is it, though. For me, this bikini is the last straw. She has crossed a line. There will be no revisiting the shiny, magnetic success of her late teens. There is no hope left for Britney Spears.

You're dead to me, Britney.

Linda speaks

My friends were in a scary car crash over the weekend. Visit the Jo-tel for a picture of the wreckage. It's terrifying to think that they were in that thing!

Here's Linda's exclusive story, in coverage you won't find on the Jo-tel*:

"Shark, Matt, Patsy and I got in a very serious car accident on the way up to Shasta. Around 11:30 on Thursday night we were driving in a rented PT Cruiser about an hour south of Redding. A roll of rubber something-or-others appeared in the road and there wasn't time to swerve to avoid it. When we went over it, it blew out the front left tire so we went up on our two right tires, then slammed back down on our two left tires, then the car fishtailed severely going about 75 mph, then we flipped left and rolled through the median oleander 2-3 times and ended up upside down about a foot away from the oncoming southbound fast lane traffic full of semis and sh*t. When we finally stopped rolling/flipping/whatever and stopped, it was dead quiet for a second and then Patsy yelled 'GET OUT!' and we all scrambled to undo our seatbelts above our heads and crawl out of the broken windows and run b/c we thought the car was going to explode. Very dramatic. The paramedics came and strapped us to those boards with collars and took us to the ER to get us all x-rayed up and stuff. Then at almost 3:00 in the morning (Patsy and I with no shoes b/c they flew off in the crash) we stumbled to the Days Inn and slept for a few hours until Reid came down from Redding the next morning and picked us up. We drove to the tow company, looked at the F*CKED UP CAR, got our stuff out of the car, and went to Shasta and had a totally totally fun time for the rest of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The car accident worked well on the lake: You're floating, you want a beer, you yell out, 'somebody throw me a beer.' If they don't respond, you yell back, Will Ferrell/belligerent/Harry Carey style, 'I was in a SERIOUS CAR ACCIDENT!' Same thing when calling a bed, last hamburger, etc.

We all walked away with only bruises and cuts and some neckaches. Very very lucky. Also very lucky we were all stone cold sober because the car looked like a party on wheels with several broken booze bottles (for Shasta). The whole scene stunk like burning rubber and metal and dirt and pavement.

Wear your seatbelts! They save lives!"

*Yes, I'm trying to bump up my Google rating.

Was it all a lie?

I couldn't help but notice that in my class tonight (my first class at Haas) there were three students taking notes on iBooks. Was it all a lie? Could I have stuck with my Mac?

I do know that there are at least two key course websites that I can't access correctly without a PC, so I'm not going to start feeling betrayed, yet. The Macs in class were just enough to raise my suspicions.

RB notices surge in hits

The number of visits to RBlog doubled in July. I wonder why? Ignoring popular request, I didn't write about boobs. I didn't tell anyone new about the site. Is it possible that the travails of calculus class were more interesting than I think?

Also, if you enter "RBlog" for a Google search these day, this site turns up on page five of the results. A vast improvement from the the last time I tried. Unfortunately, a search for "Rebecca Browning blog" has less than desirable results. Many of the pages that pop up are actually referencing me (for better or worse), but this one doesn't appear. The Jo-tel does, though, on page one. Way to show me up, Jo-tel.

Branded

During the orientation, each time a member of the faculty, staff, or the dean would talk about the Berkeley MBA, they would refer to it as the "Haas brand." For instance, in the speech promoting the career center and career counseling resources, instead of saying that the director's experience coaching Fortune 500 executives really adds to the value of the education at Haas, as I might phrase things, it was said that his experience "is helping to build the Haas brand." When the dean talked about Berkeley's overall reputation, he commented that the "Berkeley brand" is synonomous with being number one, thus he finds it unnacceptable that Haas is only sixth in the nation this year among business schools.

It left me feeling a little bit like a Nabisco cookie.

I am the product and the consumer all in one.

Engineers are taking over the world

Orientation is over. I just survived 41 straight hours of continually having the following conversation, or one of a few variant versions.

Me: "Hi there! I'm Rebecca."

Classmate: "Hi, Rebecca. I'm __________. It's nice to meet you."

[handshake]

Me: "It's good to meet you, too. Are you nights or weekends?

Classmate: "I'm nights. Tuesday/Thursday."

Me: "Oh. [shoulder shrug and smile] I'm Monday/Wednesday. Too bad. So, what do you do?

Classmate: "I'm a ________________________*."

[*Plug in your choice of title from the list below (they're a real, representative sampling):

Software Design Engineer
Database Operations Delivery Manager
Assistant Professor of Naval Science
Technical Marketing Engineer
Consulate General of Spain
Hardware Design Engineer
Senior Financial Analyst
Advance Micro Devices Design Engineer II
Toxicologist
Technical Marketing Engineer
Chief of Pediatric Heart Surgery and Surgical Director
Engineering Manager
Engineering Program Manager and CDMA System Architect
Applications Engineer
Vice President of Engineering
Senior Manager, Software Engineering

Me: "Really? Well, I certainly have met a lot of engineers this weekend... [polite, forced laughter]"

YEEEEEEEEEEEHAW!!

This message just came in an email from my calculus instructor:

"Your final grade is 'B' and you may drop any concern about it now. Congratulations!

I am very confident in your abilities to be successful in your future studies, including those that are related to math.  Good luck to you, and feel free to contact me if there is any help in math neded."

So, I guess that means the plastic surgery I was thinking of getting with the student loan money is off.

Anybody want to go get a drink?

RB launches a new blog

I've been putting together a new blog over the past few days. The Bucky Blog is a gift to Clare and Ross -- to celebrate their first pregancy. I wanted them to have a place where friends and family around the world could check in and find out how things are going with Bucky. I'm now pressuring Clare to get a digital camara, so we can watch her expanding belly and other baby preparations. Hopefully, that will happen soon.

You can visit The Bucky Blog at http://www.thebuckyblog.blogspot.com. Please keep the comments relatively clean, though. Grandparents-to-be might be visiting the site.

It's over

I had my calculus final last night and I'm feeling pretty good about it. There was only one question that I absolutely couldn't solve (damn that implicit differentiation!). I may have solved others incorrectly, though. I figure any extra credit I earned on the problems we did in class last week can make up for those points that I lost.

I was the last person to finish the test. Since it was just the two of us, my instructor starting asking me a bunch of questions about when I start at Haas and what my classes will be. When I told him that my first class is Monday night, he smiled at me and said, "So you don't really have the option to fail here, do you?" He also told me that I'll have to figure out implicit differentiation for microeconomics, my first course.

On my way out of the room, he patted me on the backpack and said, "Don't worry. You'll start on Monday."

Posting from a PC

For the first time ever, I am posting to RBlog from the Inspiron. The keyboard is so compact it's almost difficult to type. I guess I'll get used to it. Also, RBlog doesn't look as nice on a PC. The fonts and things don't come out as fancy. Actually, they come out super ugly and kinda hard to read. Maybe I should change them. How many of you have been reading RBlog from a PC all this time? Did you ever find yourself hating the fonts?

Also, the connection seems much slower than on my Mac. That shouldn't be true, right? It's the same wireless service.

I need to stop hitting this weird other mouse button. Ack!

Sometimes I don't think I deal with change very well.

Yes, I am a sixth grader

How funny are these directions that came with a picture-hanging hook that I ordered from Pottery Barn?!

"For safety and ease of mounting, installation is recommended using two people.

Mounting Instructions:
1. Hold mounting plate at desired location. With a pencil, mark on the wall inside of each screw hole. These marks will be used to determine the location of your mounting hardware.

2. Stud mounting is always best, so try to position over a stud if possible. Use a stud finder to locate a stud in desired location..."

Yes, these instructions actually made me giggle. Yes, it has been a long day.

Career counseling

I need to figure out a job I could get where I would be doing similar work to what I do now, with similarly cool, creative people, but that pays much better and is a little higher profile. I'm open to suggestions. Anyone?

Anyone?

Please, no painfully predictable jokes in the comments box.

A math lesson from Clare

Clare recently wrote me this as a part of a larger discussion about when she'll stop barfing:

"Here's a little math for you -- pregnancy is really forty weeks, not nine months, so when you divide forty by three you get 13.33 weeks a trimester. If you divide nine months by three it's three months a trimester. But, technically a month is 4.28 weeks. Multiply that by nine and it only equals 38.57 weeks. Really a pregnancy is longer than people think . . .and I'm not really even sure what week I'm in."

I wonder if there's a calculus function with a derivative that predicts the baby's gestation and weight. They seem to be able to figure out everything else with calculus. Maybe the pregnancy function could involve the magical, natural number e.

Too much TV

Following the Willie Nelson interview, I started watching a documentary on Snoop Dogg's life. I wasn't aware that he goes by Snoop because his mom called him "Snoopy." When he was a baby she nick-named him after the Snoopy -- you know, the cartoon dog in Peanuts?

That doesn't seem very hard. Not that I doubt that Snoop is hard. Of course Snizzle is hizzle.

I love Willie Nelson

I just watched a rerun of a 60 Minutes interview with Willie Nelson, and I can't get over how cool he is. His life is fascinating. They talked a lot about his early history (man he looked clean in his twenties!) and his commitment to Farm Aid. He once had a hog farm in Tennessee that burned down. He also spent at least five minutes of the interview discussing how much he enjoys marijuana. He said he needs it to relax and manage stress. I think I'm gonna read his autobiography.

I've seem Willie perform a couple of times. Each time I've gone to see him, he just sings, and sings, and sings. It's amazing. I actually don't like going to see live music all that much because you wind up standing there forever, the performers always start hours later than the show is supposed to start, they usually don't sound as good as they do in recordings, and they never seem to play for very long. And they do that stupid we're-done-but-really-we're-going-to-come-back-out-after-you-clap-for-us-to-show-us-how-much-you-love-us thing. I hate that. Have you ever noticed that they come back out even if the crowd doesn't clap that much? Anyway, none of that applies to Willie. At both of the shows I went to, he outlasted me. They were three hour plus performances.

Bucky the fetus

I forgot to mention that because they're not going to find out the sex of the baby until it's born, Clare has dubbed the baby "Bucky" for the time being. She says we're not allowed to call it Bucky after it's born, though. Yeah, good luck with that! I think the kid is branded.

Knocked up!

Before you go and get your knickers in a twist, I'm not talking about me. I'd like to announce that my dear friend Clare is going to have a baby. It's her first pregnancy and the baby is due in January.

Clare being pregnant is pretty trippy for me, as she's one of my closest friends -- a sister, really. I'm expecting the pregnancy to be a recurring topic on RBlog, so I want you to know a little bit more about Clare, for background.

Clare and I met each other in our first year of college. She was a bit of an odd duck, coming from the Mid-West to a school full of West Coast kids. As a result of her Mid-western upbringing, Clare has a sense of propriety about her that made her stand out to me. For instance, she was (and is) an excellent conversationalist, in a way that I think is underappreciated (and almost non-existent in college freshmen). I admired her in school because she had such an easy time talking to people, especially guys -- she'd ask them tons of questions about themselves and would always remember every detail they told her. Then later, she'd follow up and ask them how each specific thing was going. It makes you feel really special when someone remembers the details about your life. Everyone loved her for that. It also made her a fabulous person to go to parties with. Of course, it didn't hurt that the parties we went to were at frats, and Clare is super hot in an athletic way: trim, big ta-tas, and would regularly hold her own in co-ed soccer and racquet ball matches. She literally had a fan club at Sigma Chi.

Here's a photo from a rained-out backpacking trip we took to the Olympic Peninsula just before our graduation:




Clare and I were supposed to hike in and set up camp. Ross (the now dad-to-be) and another guy were going to hike in and meet us. It was raining so hard, that by the time they got there everything was soaked, including the inside of the tent (because we spilled a beer or three in it). The ladies wanted to tough it out, but Ross was having none of it -- he drove us to a motel. We camped there instead.

These days, Clare works for a book publisher. She's married to the above mentioned Ross. They got married in St. Louis (Clare's hometown) a couple of years ago. I got to be in the wedding, which involved an astonishingly good-looking wedding party, if I do say so myself.




Since the wedding, I have seen less and less of Clare and I blame Ross for that.* Clare and Ross recently bought a house in Washington DC, which is a little far away for my taste. Something about Ross being a consultant in intelligence means they have to live where the intelligence agencies are... or something like that. Every time try to clear up the details, he just says he can't discuss it. The house thing seems like it would be good for the kid, though. It will have its own room and everything.

*Hi Ross!