Friday Finds

If you've been looking for a reason to buy into the Stripey Straw fad, the holidays present a great opportunity to add some fun to your drinks.
A digital calendar just doesn't have the panache that a desk calendar has. I've been searching for the perfect one for 2012 and I think this one is it.
I first loved Esquivel for their men's shoes, but they have stolen my heart once more with their women's shoes. These are so playful and feminine.

"Consequential Strangers"

I started reading this book about the people around us who we often take for granted. Author, Karen Fingerman, refers to these people as "consequential strangers." Lately, I've been seeking those around me--eager to find out their story. In the past week, I have met someone who works in marketing for Expedia, an art dealer, an undergrad/ex-Israeli solder, a journalist, and a finance guru. I would not have known the interesting stories that surround me on a daily basis unless I had taken the time to stop, observe, and ask their story.

This past weekend, I offered to go to the Top of the Rock with a tourist I had met at a bar the night before. It was his second time to New York, and knowing he had planned to go alone, I offered to join him. We spent a good two hours overlooking all of Manhattan and talking about everything from philosophy to hipsters. As it turned out, we had a lot in common. I walked away not knowing if we would ever see eachother again, but smiling. I seized a moment and turned a consequential stranger into a consequential friend. Four days later, he already owes me a drink the next time I'm in London.

I encourage you to notice those that surround you. They are a part of your daily routine, whether they are taking the same train with you every morning, packaging your meat in the deli, or delivering your mail. Sometimes they are the guy visiting your local bar, or the girl reading your favorite book on the subway.

Saying "I Do" & Doing It

The other night I was out with friends and by the end of the night we had made friends with those around us. After chatting for a bit about how we all found ourselves to be in New York it came out that this particular guy was married. My friend and I glanced at his hand, and looked confused to find no ring.

Turns out, this man had been with the same woman for the past 8 years. When we asked why he didn't have a ring on he explained how a ring wasn't as significant in the U.K. as it is in America. Then began the debate over whether it's important to wear a wedding ring in order to let others know. Doesn't a wedding ring set the rules of engagement?

Then he said something that made me think. He said, "Why does it matter? All that matters is that I have eyes for one woman."

What does a wedding ring mean to you? I've been exploring what I thought it meant to me and what it actually means to me. I think asking this question reveals a lot about you, what you think of the person you're with, and your relationship.

Re-Thinking the Newspaper

Hello Little Printer, available 2012 from BERG on Vimeo.

The Done Manifesto

I found this infographic on FastCompany.com:

1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3. There is no editing stage.
4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
7. Once you're done you can throw it away.
8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done.
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
13. Done is the engine of more.

15 Songs to have on your Michael Jackson playlist

These are other options to “Thriller” and “Beat it” that you should most definitely have in your Michael Jackson collection. If nothing else, maybe you will enjoy this annotated playlist suggestion…

1. “ "Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”

- This music video is so ridiculous and this song is so “blast from the past” you cannot help but bust a groove or two.

2. “ "Rock With You”

- Who doesn’t enjoy M.Jackson whispering “gurrl” and saying he wants to rock with you…

3. “ "Billie Jean”

- One word that sounds like two: Moonwalk. Plus, killer bass line.

4. “ "Bad”

- He wears all leather in this music video, singing about stopping the violence and how he is baaaaad. Basically, its hot.

5. “ "Smooth Criminal”

- If for no other reason, listen to this to redeem the embarrassment of Alien Ant Farm’s version. Also, he says “dad gone it” or “doggone it”!

6. “ "The Way You Make Me Feel”

- This song will stay in your head all day, and it will make you feel light on your toes.

7. “ "Man in the Mirror”

- Snapping, talking about change…its all really catchy.

8. “ "Dirty Diana”

- This song is sex, with a lowercase “s”.

9. “ "You Rock My World”

- This song is Sex, with an uppercase “S”. Plus, Michael does it better than J.Timbo.

10. “Dangerous”

- MTV awards performance – ‘nuff said.

11. “Leave Me Alone”

- So many “oo-oo”s and “eee-ee”s.

12. “In the closet”

- Just watch the music video…

13. “Will You Be There”

- Inspire your soul. Plus, only MJ can grab his crouch and sing a hymn.

14. “They Don’t Care About Us”

- It’s true..they don’t care about us…and now there is a song about it – peeeerrfect. MJ wears jeans in this video- weird. Awesome drumline

15. “Scream”

- Michael has had enough and instead of “oo-oo”ing and “eee-eee”ing he wants to scream. Basically the only song he has with a curse word, quick go find it!

Water shortage

I love meat. I am a vegetarians worst nightmare by far. In a perfect world, I would frequent Houston's for a filet mignon or french dip sandwich. Or at least in a world where I do not attend college and live off pasta.

However, I am going to rethink my dietary choices after reading a recent article in The Economist.

Us Americans and the Europeans do everything but help the apparently growing water "crisis". It takes about 15,000 liters of water to produce A KILO of beef. Americans and Europeans require 5,000 liters/day. Put this in comparison to Africa and Asia's 2,000 litres/day..although I'm not positive that is entirely their choice.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of CA issued a state of emergency over the water shortage.

I found it funny in a twisted, not very funny at all way. A state of emergency for what? A state of emergency because we might not get the abundance of meat that our democratic free country demands? A state of emergency because we might not get to take that long shower or bath? WHAT exactly is the STATE of our EMERGENCY?

I would say the real emergency is that there are countries with the majority of their population malnourished..not from not having enough meat but from not having any bread. That there still exists homes without running water, people without the luxury of thoughtlessly wasting it.

TO ME, that is a STATE of emergency. An emergency to exist.

Survival Journal 2, Volume two, issue two

Things started to look up last night as cleaning products were introduced to the Queen and what was thought to be used to clean the filth she consistently produces. Nein.

Purely selfish reasons. She believes in false hope only to shatter, crunch, and stomp all over them. The bathroom was flooded once more by her lack of understanding of the invention of the towel. Never has cloth and paper products been more of a necessity in my life until now.

But quick! Stop thinking about having to put on your rain boots to take on the swamp to use the bathroom...the cake is burning. Her cake. The Queen's cake. Time is not a concept anymore and if it's not death by candle it will most certainly be death by food. BURNING FOOD THAT IS CHOCOLATE CAKE NOT BROWNIES. Silly little queen.

The next day...

I ever so carefully but swiftly clamored down the 2 inch wide "ladder" of my bunk bed as my senses stirred panicked at the sounds of dishes clinging, pots clashing. The Queen is home and Cinderella has been asleep.

The door is torn open, quickly holding on by the hinges as not to be ripped off the frame so unexpectedly. And there it was....not just a plate of brownies..but a plate of chocolate cake that the Queen mistook as convertible brownies. Her cake on my plate. My property defiled by her forgetfulness.

She can have her cake and eat it too just not on my plate.

Survival Journal, Volume two

It has been two weeks. Escape was found on 40th street for approximately 5 days, leaving pilgrims behind in savaged quarters.

I returned to worsened living conditions. Its dark and I am forced to live by candles. Hair has crawled out of the drain and now sits perched on the tiles of the shower. Dirty socks stake camp at the base of the toilet. A white towel serves as a rug, taking fingerprints of the dirt that collects.

The Queen of Siberia has draped our furniture in wax. Green wax. Now it is hard to recognize the brown of the desert from the seemingly green of the jungle.

The flicker of flame reminds us that fire is only a candlestick away but we can already feel the warmth of its destruction. When her eyes shut, our soul finds peace but now even the absence of her iris’ cause risk. Our sanity is at stake.

Survival Journal, Volume one

February 25, 2009
11:23pm

It's been two weeks, living conditions are rough. Mice with bones so little they can fit in the tiniest crack beneath our bedroom door. On the other side of that bedroom door live bed bugs. The scariest vermin known to sleepers...everywhere. Bites along my leg, I don't know when or how...just who.

It's so hot these days, grains of sand seeping up through the carpet while the dial on the heater is broken...it won't turn off high. The queen is the happiest she has been, since the big move to what is now...Saudia Arabia.

While there is a drought in the living room and sleeping quarters, the bathroom remains flooded at least three times a day. Toilet paper is constantly running low, forcing us to use paper towels that clog the new york sewer system. Water is going to have to be rationed soon..as well as toilet paper. Too many showers, yet I havent showered in weeks.

We ran out of mozzarella today. Asparagus in its rawest form. Thankfully, we have enough half-eaten apples to last us a while.

Space is low, books now take up residence in our bath tub, as well as using the Oxford Annotated Bible as both toilet paper and for cockroach squashing. Black seeps from its edges as it kills one more of the creepy crawlers that is the cockroach colony.

Mold is growing back. We thought we conquered it months ago. The paint is cracking and it is back with vengeance. Time spent in a closed shoebox bathroom is also being rationed due to toxic chemicals growing on the ceiling above us.

A week ago we ran out of room for the little food we have. Boxes of pasta and loaves of bread fall from the shelf...not that we could have eaten it anyways because the heat destroys all that is edible.

Victory though will prevail. It has to.

Bailout

It's early. Here is something to get the juices flowing.

The porn industry has asked for a bailout. I'm going to ask for a bailout at this rate. Apparently, people are depressed and not having sex and therefore the porn industry is to the rescue but...is broke. Obviously, if you are broke...no one is spending money on what you have to offer. Or you are producing much more than is being appreciated. If no one is buying what you are making...no one wants it or they are sick of seeing Paris Hilton. Find a new career, porn is out.

If you are really depressed, so depressed you don't feel like having sex and you seek to fix that problem by watching porn rather than...doing it with an actual person then that is what is really depressing. Don't go virtual, that's weird...not to mention insulting on several levels.

If America bails out the porn industry, I am next in line. Not to mention we are all going to hell if it does happen.

A.

Affairs

Affairs.

I just got done reading a novel about affairs that go on within a small French town. The hard-core female in me enjoyed every minute of it. Reading about the fire in their blood as they kissed in the white hallway while her husband lay dying in the bedroom. There is something romantic about fiery passion, isn’t there?

I asked myself after finishing it why so many of us enjoy scandals and affairs compared to the happily ever after of a loyal marriage. Could this be what is contributing to the demise how we view the institution of marriage? We’ve glamorized affairs. We are the united states of broken homes and broken hearts.

I was playing Apples to Apples with friends the other night. Marriage cards were played with irony to “loyal” and so on. Apparently the idea of marriage or marriage vows representing what they are supposed to be is comical. I don’t blame them. I can list a number of friends who have had their home wrecked by dad sleeping with the foxy lady in the office.

So it is scary when I see my peers getting married so young. Are they falling in the deep pit that is failed marriages?

When people are constantly changing, how do you evolve your trust with that change?

C.S. Lewis puts it quite beautifully. How many affairs have revolved around the word “happiness”. How someone deserves to be happy, has the right to be happy, wants to be happy. Ignore the fact that your happiness might be someone else’s sorrow. C.S. Lewis points out no where do we have the RIGHT to be happy. We simply have the right to pursue it. Unfortunately, we all have different means to an end. The love that ends in an affair is selfish and therefore was never love to begin with.

Or how about when someone apologizes for their disloyalty? Sydney and I were talking and how can you be sorry for something you are doing? “I’m sorry for cheating on you (but I’m going to stay with her and not you).” When you are sorry, you are attempting to correct something. Anything less is an insult.

Don’t get me started on “being in love”. You fall in love, yes, but that does not mean you stay there. My father is a wise man. I trust his word because my parents marriage has defied the divorce statistics. They are happily married…have been for over 20 years. He says you can fall into anything but you have to work to stay there. It is not easy. Love is not easy, so why would falling in love and staying there be any easier? It is not the falling that is hard, it’s the being. You can fall in love, but can you be in love? Can you love in a constant present tense?

If I could see anything in 2009 change it would be relationships. I want to see marriages work. I want to see people working harder, not giving up. I want to see lasting love, the kind that grows old, not the kind that goes for younger girls. I want to see families growing stronger not torn apart. I want to know that the fiery passion in the hallway is between a husband and wife while the kids are asleep. That a woman’s husband is late coming home not because he was making out in the back of the car with his secretary but because he was getting flowers for his wife.

Etiquette

My dad is probably right. My generation needs to learn etiquette. Any takers?

Notes from being back home

Notes from being back home:

1) There is such thing as too much Ed Hardy. Seriously, settle down Scottsdale.
2) We may live in the West, but it is no longer Wild. Dress accordingly.
3) How many friendships end with "don't tell anyone"? When I walked by two girls sitting at a table and heard one say to the other, "don't tell anyone, okay?" I knew by the tone of her voice what she said was monumental and that the friend receiving the news was not going to be able to contain this secret. Oh, girls...
4) Benjamin Button was right. Home doesn't change, you do.
5) Dogs sleep a lot.
6) Why does Krispy Kreme put original glazed donuts in the case when everyone asks for a warm one?

Panic of 1907

I was reading an article the other day called "The Panic of 1907" describing the financial fiasco that included a U.S. Stock Market crash, bank failure internationally, and a $15 billion loss (in today's dollar). At the time J.P Morgan was our Warren Buffet of today. However, when J.P. Morgan heard the news of the economic system collapse, he did not panic but held strong. Which would make sense because you could imagine how you would feel if you knew Ben Bernanke was nervous.

At this point, the Fed did not exist. A hard fact to grasp today.

Morgan appointed George Baker of First National Bank and James Stillman of National City Bank to decide which trust companies should be allowed to fail and which could survive with a cash infusion. This is similar to today but unfortunately I think we are decided bank failure on which name failing would be the biggest shock. For example, Bear Stearns could not fail because it was such a HUGE name in the business...

Regardless of the economy, New York City as a city had to be saved. This caused Morgan to gather 50 trust company presidents and asked them to come up with $25 million. Morgan required each to take place in the $25 million loan.

This panic of 1907 made people determine that a country's financial welfare could no longer be left in private hands while today we are facing a similar conclusion based on which side of the fence you stand on.

Morgan did not do this for his personal gain, he lost $21 million. This kind of patriotism for the nation's well-being is what we need today. Someone who sees beyond their personal loss and sees a nation's loss. Who is willing to lose $21 million in order to save 21 million jobs? Although what drives a lot of our economy today is based off of self-interest and greed, today we need some selflessness.

We need to be paying attention to which leaders are fighting for the American people and which are using the American people as a disguise for personal gain.


Source: www.courier-journal.com

Iraq War vs. Domestic goods

If the government used the tax money that came from Suffolk Country alone for things other than the Iraq war, these are the goods that could have been provided domestically:

Health care for 122,148 people for a whole year

Homes with renewable electricity for one year for 1,240,078 people.

Public Safety officers for one year for 12,783 people.

10,087 Music and art teachers for one year

108,087 scholarships for University students for one year

3,765 affordable housing units

231,459 children with Health Care for one year

2,671 Elementary teachers for one year .....

This is just for one County. Imagine what the numbers would be with many more.

- A.

source: www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home

Rules of the Kitchen

I have not updated much but I would like to leave this with you until I do have time to update...

Never stick your finger in frosting, if it is not yours. Always ask the baker.


- A.

Oven-baked Chicken Breasts with Tomato-Basil Butter

One boneless skinless chicken breast per person
2 teaspoons garlic-pepper blend
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tablespoon copped fresh or 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
3 tablespoons tomato paste

1. Put Pam on the bottom of a baking dish
2. Sprinkle chicken with garlic-pepper blend
3. Put chicken in pan, cut a slice of butter and put one on each chicken breast
4. Put in oven on Med-Medium high for about 40 minutes
5. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix remaining ingredients. Serve chicken topped with butter mixture

On the side:
- Boil water, boil broccoli until tender.


Enjoy!

- A.

Rigatoni with Tomatoes and Fresh Herbs

1 pound rigatoni pasta
1/3 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 (28 oz.) can chopped tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped basil
1 teaspoon chopped oregano
salt and pepper, to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Side dish:
Asparagus
Mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta according to package.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in large skillet.

Add garlic and cook over medium heat for 2 mins.

Add tomatoes and herbs and cook on medium for 6 min.

Add salt and pepper, along with a 1/2 cup of the pasta water

Drain pasta and add to skillet

Stir well and cook for 3 minutes

Serve with Parmesan cheese

Meanwhile...
Cook asparagus until crunchy...

Sprinkle mozzarella over and put in microwave for several seconds.



Enjoy!

Notes from a lecture

For my Intro. to Economics class we had a guest "marxist" lecturer come in..I regretfully missed his name so I will refer to him as "he".

"He" started the lecture stating that capitalism is naturally and fundamentally a global economic system and has always been international. This is in reference to globalization. The great explorations in the 15th,16th, and 17th centuries extended the reach of European countries. Thus, creating a more integrated Europe.

Things came to a crashing halt in 1914, in what was destructive first half of the 20th century. Things such as the World War I, World War II, and the Great Depression happened. Productive capacity was destroyed as well as international trade.

There has been this sudden popularity in this big monster called "globalization" and discussion and panic at what it is doing. We ask, "where did it come from?" and "how do we stop it?"

But in all actuality globalization is not a recent invention. Today, it is just now catching up to what it was when it first began.

Again, he was "marxist" but he wasn't as scary as America plays them out to be. He actually looked a lot like a Karl Marx/Albert Einstein...


-A.