No sympathy for BART employees

BART workers and BART management are in contract negotiations again. If things don't shape up before next Wednesday, workers have threatened to strike.

For those readers not based in the Bay Area, BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is the local commuter train that carries me to and from my place of employment each day. BART workers and managment seem to renegotiate their contracts frequently. It has to happen at least once every two years. Negotiations usually produce the threat of a strike. There has been at least one strike, maybe two, in the time I've been living in San Francisco (five years).

I don't want to make anyone feel unappreciated, but I'm a little frustrated by all this. The disagreement this time is over salary increases only. I just read an article reporting that the baseline salary for pretty much any position within the BART system is higher than my salary. Not that my situation is a great comparison for anything, but I think I have a pretty good job -- it required a college education and specialized training. My salary is on the low side when compared with my peers, but it's decent. Now I find out I could be making more sitting in a booth all day, checking the lost and found for missing keys, and telling people (in an extremely disapproving, unhelpful, and unfriendly manner) that they demagnatized their ticket with their cell phone? And that the workers who are doing this job, already earning more than me, think they deserve even more money?

It currently costs me a little less than $6 to get to and from work each day on BART. That's about $120 per month, just to take public transportation to and from work.* Plus, that rate is already scheduled to go up about a dollar before the end of this Fall. I do not want to pay even more money, especially if it's going to boost the salaries of people who have never been anything but surly with me.

*An earth-friendly decision that I should be supported in.

Another reader poll

Is it acceptable for a white girl, with no Indian background other than a strong admiration of the culture and the clothes, to wear a sari to a formal event? Write in and let me know what you think.

Reader poll

I need you to help me win an extremely silly argument.

Based on your basic career knowledge, how would you rank these two titles in order of seniority? Please also let me know if you think they are the same level of seniority. In other words, which of these two positions is the most senior?

Associate Editor
Editor

If you're not sure about the whole editorial thing, feel free to rank any other type of titles, like Publicist and Associate Publicist, or Manager and Associate Manager.

Bonus points for any publishing professionals who respond.

Product review: Coca-cola Zero

I'm not sure if this is a new product from the Coke people, or if it's just new to me. I keep winding up with it when I'm looking for a Diet Coke. The cans are both silver with red lettering.

Pop consumption is a very personal choice. Some of us can't get enough and don't mind any ill effects of all the sugar, some drink only sugar free pop, and some people don't drink it at all. I refuse to drink a beverage that has the same amount of calories as half a donut -- I'd rather just eat the donut. I indulge pretty regularly, but only in the sugar free sodas. Diet Coke is my top choice.

Coke Zero doesn't have any sugar or calories, and it tastes exactly the same as regular old Coca-cola. I'm sure this is good news for those Coke drinkers who want a calorie-free option that doesn't taste "diet." Me? I truly prefer the way Diet Coke tastes. So even though Coke Zero meets my sugar-free requirement, it doesn't taste as good to me as Diet Coke.

I'm also wondering if the Coke people ever get confused with all of their different recipes. Neither Diet Coke or Coke Zero taste the same as Coke Light (only available outside the States), but essentially they're all the same thing.

What is Katie Holmes thinking?!

She seems like a nice enough girl. Maybe sort of naive? No amount of fame or publicity is worth converting to Scientology, or marrying someone who is obviously crazy, not to mention twenty years older than you. I just watched Tom Cruise's interview with Matt Lauer and I'm a little freaked out. Also, I read that the producers of the Batman movie are casting all the same actors for the next movie (can you call it a sequel even if there has already been five of them?) EXCEPT Katie Holmes, because they're upset about all of her embarrassing media coverage. They feel it's been drawing attention away from their attempts to promote the film. So if the whole relationship is a publicity stunt to advance their careers, it doesn't seem to be working in her favor.

Fun in the sun: More pictures from Nica

This is the beach in San Juan del Sur, a surf town on the southwest coast of Nicaragua. Jeff and a spent about three nights there, and one of those days we didn't do anything but lounge on the beach. In this shot of the main beach, you can see all the restaurants lined up. They all had normal entrances on the street, but were also open to the beach so you could wander up in your swimsuit and get lunch or a beer.




Fishing boats all park in the bay when they aren't out to sea. By nightfall there were easily over one hundred different boats floating around out there.




Here's the other side of the bay. We spent a lot of time that day playing in the surf. Jeff was body surfing, which I had never watched anyone do before. The sun bleached all the color out of my toenail polish within hours. When we got to the beach it was bubblegum pink, but by evening it was gray.




Jeff playing in the sand, pre-tan. I bet he makes me take this photo down.




I think this photo might be the only proof that I was actually on this trip. Lookin' hot -- literally -- and sweaty. Ew. Nice sunburnt nose, too.




Here's the sunset that night. Each evening before dinner, Jeff and I would buy two Coke Lights (what they have instead of Diet Coke outside the U.S.) and a bottle of Flor de Caña and head down to the beach for cocktail hour. It became cocktail hours. Those sunsets lasted a long time.

More adventures in calculus

We didn't get our quizzes back on Saturday, so I don't know how I did, yet. I'm not all that anxious to see the results, because I don't think I did very well. At least I'm not alone. I got to talking with some of the other students and it doesn't sound like anyone was all that confident about his or her performance.

There seems to be a sense of camaraderie building in the class now. We all discovered that one guy who sits in the back is taking calculus "just for fun." We were incredulous, then repulsed. Everyone was polite, but I feel like he's been ostracized by the larger group. The rest of us are bonding over our shared disgust for being cooped up in math class every weekend and the need to just get through it.

Plus, we're all increasingly amused with the instructor. With each class he lets his hair down a little more. He's pretty funny. We were moved into a new classroom with a chalkboard and he had a tough time working with the chalk. It wouldn't write on the board unless he pushed really hard and so it kept breaking. At one point he said to all of us, "You cannot imagine what torture it is to write with this. I have to expend so much energy! I am not as fresh as I was when I came here." Then he became thoughtful, "I do not what you to think that I am always unhappy. I am very happy person. But, when I smell that kind of marker I get high.* When I smell this chalk I sneeze." He sighed and added, "This is what I get paid for."

He also made a few jokes when we started applying calculus to economics questions. "Isn't it funny that a guy from a communist country is teaching you capitalist economics?" he asked us.

*a reference to dry erase markers

For the Facebook

Today I sent in this headshot for the Haas Facebook. I've never been asked to provide a headshot before, and as a result I didn't have one on hand. I stood in the hallway and Nadia snapped this on her digital camera. It's kinda cheesy... okay maybe a lot cheesy, but I'm hoping it might seem as if it was an intentional photo and not just something thrown together at the last minute. Nadia actually provided me with two options. Everyone I asked liked the other one better because it looked more "natural," but I think it made my neck look fat. Plus, this is for the Facebook. Who wants natural? Too bad I didn't have time to run out and get a Glamourshot done.

I really like the Facebook concept. The Facebook provides a headshot of everyone in the program, along with a listing of basic information like current title, company, undergrad school, bra size, etc. I like to think of it as a tool to facilitate stalking.

The rainy season

Jeff and I made our trip to Nicaragua right at the start of their rainy season. That sounds bad, but I suspect it made things a little more pleasant. During the rain storms were the only times that it wasn't overwhelmingly hot and humid. Plus, we quickly became able to predict when it was going to rain. The weather always followed the same pattern: If the day was sunny and beautiful, we could usually see far off clouds. As the clouds got closer, the humidity would build. Just as you thought you were going to melt into a puddle of goo, the skies would open up and dump rain. There were no gentle showers or drizzle -- just downpour. I've heard of tropical places that always have rain at the same time of day for the same amount of time. Nicaragua wasn't like that. It was different each time.

Towards the end of our trip, we had a couple of extremely heavy storms and they caused flooding in much of the country. I took these pictures from the back seat of a cab heading to Granada. As we drove past, I could see huge streams of water running through houses. Entire communities of people were out standing by the side of the highway, watching the flood rush through their homes and waiting for it to subside. I asked our driver if the flooding was normal, and he told us it happened every June. He seemed unconcerned.










That night, I watched cable in our hotel. The Nicaraguan TV news reported a few deaths relating to the flooding. I couldn't understand exactly what they were saying about the young men who were killed, but they showed the bodies. It looked like they had been dragged at least a couple of miles by the water. After watching the Nicaraguan news, I switched the channel to a local news program coming out of New York. Their lead story covered flooding that was happening in a Brooklyn neighborhood, apparently simultaneously. Several homes had suffered damage from basement flooding. Must have been a slow news day in New York.

Maybe I do write about Trader Joe's Indian food too much...

If you Google "Rebecca Browning," you will not get a link to this page (at least, you won't get it in the first thirty pages of results -- I gave up after that). You're given other links that may have to do with me, but not one for this blog. If you Google "RBlog," this site is listed around page four of the results. However, if you enter the phrase "Trader Joe's Tandoori Naan" you get RBlog on page two, which is the closest I've come so far to the top of any Google results list.

Another photo of Jeff's trip to Nicaragua

I like to call this one "The Gringo." Jeff posed for me because I was teasing him about the American flag embroidered on the back of his golf hat. We were also watching all the surf dudes on the beach that afternoon and feeling very white and touristy. The surf dudes go to Nica only to surf. They do not sight-see, take siestas, or read cultural and historical information, thus they are all extremely tan and only talk to the other surfers.

In reality, Jeff didn't get sick at all during the trip. It was yours truly who suffered through all the poop-related travel problems.

I know you love reading about calculus

Calculus class tonight was not all bad. For starters, a new guy showed up that I hadn't seen before. He's very easy on the eyes and I don't think he's gay (unlike the other cute boy in class). Don't get the wrong idea -- it's not that I'm looking or anything. It's just that like any red-blooded, heterosexual, American woman, I tend to notice these things.

In addition, we started going over concepts that sort of make sense to me. We've moved on to describing and drawing graphs, which is good. I can see the graph, draw the curves, and there's not much abstract stuff to get confused about. It's all right there in front of me.

The best part of class was when our instructor (Russian, salt-and-pepper hair, wearing khakis and New Balance) became flustered, exclaiming, "We need to continue, but I am getting tired! When I get tired I lose the end of my sentences. Maybe it's too hot in here? Maybe I am just too emotional?" I think the dry-erase marker fumes may have been getting to him.

For any of you calculus fans who might still be following along, today we covered describing graphs of functions, the First and Second Derivative Rule, and curve sketching. We also had our first quiz. I'm not expecting fabulous results, but you'll find out on Saturday how I did.

Late night run-in with a naked guy

Now there's a headline!

I was just walking home from BART, post calculus, and had an unexpected run in with a naked guy. I was talking to my mom on my cell phone and he was getting out of a pick-up. Someone was dropping him off. I'm ashamed to admit that I was so wrapped up in the phone call that I would not have even noticed him had he not grabbed my attention by repeatedly apologizing for his nudity.

He was completely naked, with the exception of dress shoes and socks. It looked like he was grabbing a backpack or something out of the passenger seat and saying goodbye to the driver. He was well-groomed, clean, and had a pleasing backside.

Since I was on the phone with her, I mentioned to my mom what was happening. She was alarmed and began urging me to quickly get away from the naked man, lest he attack me. I assured her that he was not at all threatening and that these things aren't entirely uncommon in San Francisco. He was probably just getting a ride home from his naked yoga class or something.

There's a point!

I just read in my calculus book that rational functions, functions expressed as the quotient of two polynomials, are used in environmental studies as cost-benefit models! "The cost of removing a pollutant from the atmosphere is estimated as a function of the percentage of the pollutant removed. The higher the percentage removed, the greater the 'benefit' to the people who breathe that air."

I've found new hope that I'll be able to do something with my calculus skills once I'm done with this class. Cost-benefit models should be handy in B-school, right?

I should be studying for Calculus

But instead I'm blogging Nica photos. All of the sudden, I remember what it's like to be back in school. You always feel guilty, because there is always something you should be preparing for, getting ahead on, or studying. Phooie.

I just wanted to throw this shot up quickly and then I'll start studying. I swear it.



We were kicking back in a surf shack in Playa Maderas when I took this. I know that this is Jeff's quit-taking-pictures-you're-bugging-me face, but look at him! He's just so darn cute. Plus, I had no one else to take pictures of.

Wal-borne, brought to you by the makers of Walpons

Those of you who have not yet tried Airborne effervescent tablets are behind the times. Basically, they're fizzy tablets full of vitamins and Chinese herbs that you mix with water and drink if you think you might be coming down with a cold. You can also take them if you're going to be in any situation where you would likely contract a cold -- like taking a red-eye flight, going on a three day bender, or starting a job as a first grade teacher. The tablets are supposed to keep you from getting sick and I am a firm believer in their powers. I noticed that Airborne will also help you recover faster if you start taking it after you've already come down with the cold. Airborne works. Word on the street is that Airborne tablets are also the fastest selling product in consumer history.

It gets better! Now you can buy a generic knock-off of Airborne. Today while I was wandering through Walgreens, I picked up some Wal-borne. It comes in identical packaging and looks very similar to Airborne. It tastes better that Airborne while it's in your mouth, but it has a stronger, yuckier aftertaste. It's also two dollars cheaper. The products list all the same ingredients, so I assume that Wal-borne will keep me from getting sick equally well.

Who is the mastermind behind the Walgreens generic products?

Cerditos guapos

Pigs were everywhere in Nicaragua. They roam free and serve as garbage disposals and street cleaners. They eat anything (for this reason we were told not to eat pork while we were down there). While dirty and a little disgusting, they are also totally entertaining -- especially the mommas with the piglets. The big mommas give a deep grunt every couple minutes while poking around for food and it's the little pigs' job to keep up. We watched a little pig who wasn't paying attention become frantic when he lost his momma. Without looking up from what she was eating, she grunted a few times and he came running.




This pig belongs to Faber's family. I asked why she had to be tied up and he told me that she is a new pig and doesn't know where she belongs yet. She would wander off, or wind up in his parents' bedroom. They had her tied to her trough, but once she learns where she's fed and where she belongs she will run wild with the other pigs.

New trip-planning site

Jenica just got a fabulous job writing for RealTravel.com. It's a start-up based down in Los Altos. Looks like a combo of travel bulletin boards and blog-like pages. She says the people who work there are great. It's only a summer gig for now, but she's hoping it will go longer.

The first set of photos from Nicaragua

This is a the view from the dining room at the Finca Magdalena, overlooking a garden. The Finca is a coffee cooperative on Isle Ometepe, where about thirty families work together to grow and process coffee. They also harvest their own honey. In the distance, you can see Volcán Concepción, the taller of the two volcanoes on the island. Isle Ometepe is in Lake Cocibolca, the largest of Nicaragua's great lakes, which you can also see off to the right.




I had never seen a coffee plant before, with the exception of the potted one I bought for my desk at work. It died after about a month and never had berries like these. The berries turn red in November and that's when they're harvested. My Spanish wasn't good enough to pinpoint exactly what happens after that, but eventually they get spread out on these huge concrete platforms to dry in the sun. They had special little coffee bean rakes with which to turn and scoop them.




We went for a hike on the finca land. That morning there had been heavy rain (it caused flooding in many parts of the country) and the path was muddy and slick. Jeff quickly hiked ahead. He thinks I'm too slow whenever balance or jumping over rocks is required. I'll admit it, I am slow. However, Faber, our guide, was quite a gentleman and held my hand through almost all of the hike. Normally this attention would have made me blush, but he saved me from landing on my ass at least ten times.




On our hike, we visited a bunch of pre-Columbian petroglyphs. All were on the sides or tops of boulders. The petrogylphs incorporated a lot of different designs, including many spirals and some recognizable animals. My favorite one looked exactly like the Darwin fish (the counterpart to the Jesus fish) that people stick on the back of their cars. It was an outline of a fish with stick legs.




Here, Faber is explaining to Jeff that the legs on the fish are supposed to be flippers, not legs. You'd be surprised how difficult it is to get the concept of "flippers" across without a common language. I'm not sure I buy it, though. I think the pre-Columbian inhabitants of Ometepe could have carved pretty accurate flippers if they had wanted to. These were definitely legs. Perhaps the people of Ometepe were some of the first proponents of the threory of evolution?




The last stop on our hike around the finca was to see some Howler Monkeys hanging out in a big mango tree. You can't really tell from the picture, but the Momma monkey (on the left) has a little baby riding on her back. The male monkey is peeing all over the place and looking grouchy. You may also be able to make out his monkey junk laying on the branch beneath him. Quite impressive for a little monkey!

No fun at all

Calculus makes no sense to me so far, mostly because I don't seem to have the attention span necessary to digest it. On Saturday we went over differentiability and continuity, the derivative of a composite function, higher derivatives, notations for derivatives, derivative as the rate of change, and the mechanical and economical meaning of the derivative. We have our first quiz on Wednesday. Thankfully, we're allowed to use notes.

I still can't get over the fact that there are two entirely separate systems of notation that are used interchangably. It's like having to learn two math languages to be able to do this stuff. I am not a calculus fan. I never thought I'd say it, but I miss statistics.

Lesbian or German Lady?

This is also amusing.

Extremely funny

Kay sent me the link to this clip. I almost fell out of my chair laughing. Enjoy!

Calculus: Useful tool or cruel torture?

Last night I experienced my first calculus class. I'll be attending two four-hour classes a week until the beginning of August. They're held one night a week after work and on Saturday mornings -- every Saturday morning for the rest of the summer. It's a two-month crash course offered by Berkeley's Extension program. I'm forced to wonder who at Berkeley thought that a Saturday-morning, summer calculus course would be a good idea. I'm sure they were cackling away as they scheduled that one.

I've always been impressed with Berkeley Extension instructors in the past. The guy teaching this course seems good, too. He's Russian and he has a very entertaining accent. He's extremely animated and says things like, "I am not a Russian spy who makes a big mess in your heads," and, "Smart people always ask 'Why is this?' It is natural to ask 'Why is this?'" He seems to be very interested in us as individuals and whether or not we're actually following him. I can tell that my effusive nodding will keep him at bay for a very limited amount of time.

The biggest thing that I learned in the first class, is that I have definitely never taken any calculus before. I'm still surprised by that. I guess it should be expected since I was an English major, but I really thought I had squeezed some in somewhere. Nope!

Though everything was brand new, I was able to follow along for the most part. My biggest problem was the lack of context for any of it. Like, "Great, that's how I find a derivative -- now why would I ever want to know what the derivative of something was?" We didn't really get into that and I need that sort of thing. I'm a big-picture kind of girl. Checking out a variety of calculus books at the library has allowed me to piece together some of the basics:

1) Calculus is the mathematics of motion and change. It's used to do things like predict the orbits of satellites. Engineers use calculus. With calculus you can answer questions like, "What is the strongest rectangular beam we can cut from a cylindrical log?"

2) In calculus operations are carried out on functions, similar to the way that algebra uses symbols.

3) Calculus was developed independently by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in 1675 and Isaac Newton in 1676, thus there are two completely different systems of notation for calculus and both are still used.

4) I need to learn calculus for business school because it deals with making predictions or calculating rates, including population growth and similar things, based on curves.

For those of you who might be inclined to follow along and pace independent study with my course, last night we reviewed the forms of the equation for a line, slope of a curve at a point, definition of limits, limits theorems, limits of polynomial and rational function, infinity and limits, definition of derivative, derivative as a constant and power functions, derivative as a limit, and finally the derivative of the sum of two functions. We're using a book called Calculus and its Applications, 10th edition, but I think you could probably follow along with most any calculus book.

Mixed reports on the Wookiees

After Revenge of the Sith was released, I heard from many of you who felt that the Wookiee footage was disappointing. Entertainment Weekly even reported that in order to get the film down to a reasonable length, Lucas had cut almost all the scenes shot on the Wookiee world. This morning Matt K. sent a note that has once again sparked my interest in seeing the movie (nope, I still haven't seen it).

He wrote, "I went to see Star Wars, but after reading your blog thought that the Wookiees would be fairly played down. I was wrong. They were awesome. There was even one part where they're swinging through the air Tarzan-style to attack these huge battlecruisers, hair blown back by the wind."

I guess the truth of the matter is that you can never have enough Wookiee footage. Those big furballs are always going to leave me wanting more.

I'm going to be a Golden Bear

Haas accepted me. I came home from the trip to find a bunch of blue and gold balloons tied to my bedroom door. While I was away, my supersweet roommates intercepted a message from one of the current first-year students calling on behalf of the admissions office. With four days to process this development, I have finally settled into the idea that I somehow pulled it off and I really will be starting classes this August. I paid the deposit yesterday. Now I just have to make it through Analytic Geometry and Calculus (prerequisite course) and figure out what all the cool kids will be wearing at the orientation retreat.

I wonder if there even are "cool kids" at business school.

I'm back!

I actually returned from Nicaragua last weekend, but the dramatic events of the week have kept me from updating the RBlog. The trip was not entirely what I expected, but fabulous. I learned many things about our neighbors in Central America, Jeff, and myself. For instance, Nicaraguan newspapers and television news programs will show close-ups of dead people, even if the bodies are pretty gory. It was a little startling at first. Also, Jeff is nearly fluent in Spanish. He'll deny that, but he's good enough to have a somewhat detailed conversation about politics with a hot woman. That takes a little savvy. And, though I like to think of myself as rugged, I am not. As much as I hate to admit it, I need air-conditioning and breakfast to be truly happy on a vacation.

I should have some photos to post early next week. I'll postpone any further discussions of our adventures until then.