Archive for December, 2008
December 29, 2008 at 2:53 pm · Filed under news, politics
So I’ve noticed that a lot of people I know are just in love with Maureen Dowd. And I’ll admit, for a while I was a Maureen Dowd fan-girl but I was seriously disappointed with her after her extremely vicious attacks on Hillary. There is one blog that actually has a few very poignant examples of this that I like. (And I know, I have been an avid Hillary supporter so perhaps I took it more personally than I would have if it had been someone else). But what I noticed when I was reading her work is that her writing is just seething with venom for anyone she doesn’t particularly care for. I mean sure I’ve gotten a kick out of her depictions of W and Palin but I do think they are caricatured to a degree. I mean I feel that W and Palin leave themselves far more open to her attacks than any other figures out there. The part that I find amazing is that there are so many MD fan-girls but I rarely hear anyone speak of Gail Collins. Now I have recently discovered Collins while I have been on vacation and I have to say that I love her work. Personally, I think of her as wittier, funnier and less bitchy than Dowd, why wouldn’t I prefer her column? Or say Paul Krugman, his pieces are typically more thoughtful and substantive than hers. I mean sure MD is still interesting to read but I don’t quite get the hype that surrounds her. I just think there are other political writers that are far more put together and some are still somewhat biased but not so far out there that you no longer have a sense of what the truth is anymore.
December 26, 2008 at 9:41 am · Filed under economy, news, personal finance, politics
It seems to me that this economy is nothing but a product of sheer greed. What has always baffled me are the pay scales for people in different industries. I mean, in the banks people make millions of dollars in bonuses for what exactly? I would like to know why those executives make approx 100x what the lowest paid employee makes. Perhaps I believe too much in equality but I really think that’s a huge problem. When you have no clue what your actions effects are on the general populous and you no longer know how “normal” people live.
Not to mention our law-makers. It’s not just Wall St that let things go haywire, it’s our politicians too. Who quite frankly are totally out of touch with reality. I mean I’d really like to know who thinks that a salary of $169K+ is the salary of any average American (if you don’t believe me here are the links for actual figures for the House and Senate). I believe statistically speaking the average household income in America is approximately $50K, so why is it that our law-makers who are supposed to “be in touch with the pain and reality of regular Americans” make 3x as much as the average American? Not to mention, I don’t know about y’all but I am still a small fry so I only get 2 weeks of vacation but you know congress took 5 weeks just this summer when the housing market was crashing and the auto industry was in distress. Not to mention the fact that they will have government health care benefits for the rest of their lives for themselves and their families if they have served in office for 5 years. I ask you, how many corporate employers would do that? In fact, does the government even do that for any other employees? I know for a fact that isn’t true for teachers, so why are our policy makers so different? What exactly gives them all these rights and benefits when I’m not seeing a return on our hard-earned tax dollars. Sure, I’m upset with the banks. No, I don’t believe that their executives should be making the kind of money that they have been for the past I don’t even know how long, but at least that is their own private wealth that they can choose to dole out howsoever they see fit. (At least that was the case until the bailout and I believe there are no bonuses this year so at least there is *some* change in that field). Congress, on the other hand, is benefiting from *our* tax dollars. I mean the general public is expected to be able to balance our own budgets and live within our means but what about you? What right did Congress have to give themselves these raises? (They give themselves a raise every year, how generous right?) Have they truly made enough progress for us to think they are so above the rest of us? Quite frankly the way things are going, I’d say most of them deserve to lose their jobs *and* their benefits as is what would happen in the private sector if they did such a piss poor job as they’ve been doing for the last 8 years.
Granted I also believe that Wall St became too greedy and too loose with their money and with the government supporting their every move it’s hard to want to pull back. I mean why be smart when you could be getting an incredible bonus. You’ll have the money and will probably be gone by the time the whole thing goes bust, right? So who needs to be responsible. And Paul Krugman wrote a great piece on The Madoff Economy where he talks about what happened with the salaries. I think he makes some great points. I just wonder why no one ever considered him for a position in the White House considering he did just win the Nobel Prize and he has been writing insightful pieces for the NY Times for years now. Perhaps he wasn’t interested but I’m sure there would have been rumors if he had ever been considered and I find it quite distressing that he wasn’t. In fact I find a lot of the appointments to be less-than stellar. I mean it’s just a new set of characters from Wall St isn’t it? Instead of Hank Paulson we have Tim Geithner who headed up the NY Fed. Great let’s put more people who were involved in this giant mess into positions of power. Not to mention Larry Summers, why that man should be allowed anywhere after his Harvard fiasco is beyond me. And I mean let’s face it he’s the one that went along with Alan Greenspan back in the Clinton days and clearly that was not a good choice. But oh, I forgot we’re not allowed to criticize our new fabulous President-Elect because he is, of course, Prince Charming and will save us all. (And yes I am *still* licking my wounds that Hillary is only Secretary of State and not our first female President, not just because she’s a woman but because I still think she is the better candidate even if I have resigned myself to being satisfied with the lesser of two mediocre candidates.)
December 19, 2008 at 10:29 am · Filed under dating
It seems to me that wherever I look I see some new article or book or discussion about how young people don’t date anymore. And according to this Op-Ed piece by Charles Blow called The Demise of Dating, it appears that he believes that perhaps we don’t know how to date. Typically I would argue that there are people that know how to date but as a twenty-something with a fair number of single friends, I’d say if you aren’t already in a very serious relationship I’m not sure that the rest of the population in our age group knows how to date.
Seriously, it’s a little disheartening. And I’ve had my fair share of hookups but I think I’m a little “over it” as they say. Quite a few of my friends and I have been having a very similar discussion about dating because, well it seems to be increasingly confusing. At least from my experience, what I’ve found is that no one is really willing to take the time to get to know another person. I mean I constantly ask, why do I have to take you home if I’m interested in you? Because really, if I were interested, I would ask for your number and call you the next day. I wouldn’t take you home with me that same night. To me, taking you home the same night I meet you signifies a very, very shallow, superficial level of interest, one that does not involve exchanging phone numbers or a call back… ever.
I know so many people who have started their relationships by “hooking up” but I don’t really understand it. I can understand it as a one-off, something unexpected that just happened to turn out well but not as a rule of thumb. I mean if you really like someone what ever happened to asking them out on a date? Actually trying to get to know the person, see if you really like them. It’s just interesting that the “hook up” culture has become so ingrained in society that we don’t even remember what it’s like to date for real. And it seems more and more people are noticing that.
December 18, 2008 at 7:27 am · Filed under chicago, health
Can actually be found at Jamba Juice, who knew? Certainly not me. At least not until I walked in to my local store this morning (and I love these women, they are just so fabulous – if you are in Chicago you should check out the store at Wells & Madison, they are super friendly and sweet). So my favourite Jamba staff member greeted me with her usual warm smile and today she had something new for me to try. (She is one of the best saleswomen I have ever met). She charmingly asked if I’d like to try out the steel-cut oatmeal topped with bluberries, blackberries and brown sugar. Normally, I don’t try out all the new stuff they promote because I already have enough stuff on their menu that I like. But today I just couldn’t resist her big smile and tray of new stuff that actually looked really tasty.
Now I tend to be a firm believer that not all things that look good taste good but this time I was pleasantly surprised that not only does this look delicious but the taste matches. Now my favourite staff member did recommend the apple-cinnamon but I’m a bigger fan of blueberries and blackberries, which is what they were handing out anyway so that’s what I ended up getting. But I am super excited to report that I have found *real* steel-cut oatmeal that you don’t have to make at home by yourself! (I don’t wake up early enough to make myself breakfast. More power to ya if you do.)
December 14, 2008 at 11:17 am · Filed under politics, religion
In my personal opinion the “War on Terror” in the United States was possibly one of the stupidest things I had ever heard of. And now to hear things like that coming out of India. To hear about how the Mumbai bombings were India’s 9/11. Well, frankly, they were not. The circumstances were entirely different and certainly the impetus behind it were not even close to being the same. Surely there are radicals everywhere but a War on Terror and “trying to keep the country safe” by essentially creating hysteria within the people is dumb. I know that may be a bit much to take for some people but let’s face it how much has this “War on Terror” really done for us? We (the US) are successfully in the middle of two miserably failing wars and on the brink of starting something up with Pakistan that I have no doubt will be equally as ineffective if we try that route. These wars have caused the rest of the world to lose almost all their respect for us, if it weren’t for the fact that world has simply become too globally intertwined I do believe most of it would have turned it’s back on the mighty US a long time ago. In the modern world that is not possible so they simply whisper behind our backs about what fools we are.
This brings me to India. Now why on earth would anyone want to follow such a failing model? I recently read a beautiful article by Arundhati Roy on her thoughts about the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. It is truly a well thought out and eloquent piece on the complications of naming the Mumbai bombings “India’s 9/11″. And if anyone needs some historical background on the complexities of India it also illuminates many of the reasons why it can never be “India’s 9/11″. It saddens me to think that such a great democracy is leaning towards becoming a police state.
And I find it atrocious that we only seem to be able to blame Muslims for acts of terror. Wake up, world, there are terrorists of every nationality, religion, race, ethnicity, you name it there is probably one out there. The scale may be different in what they have been able to accomplish but they are out there. I do not think any people should be persecuted simply because of their beliefs. Perhaps we should try to understand the context, understand why they are so angry and try to fix the problem diplomatically instead of by creating more war, more terror, more hurt, more pain and more anger. Perhaps creating a little understanding might be a better way than to keep on increasing radical beliefs.
December 8, 2008 at 7:42 pm · Filed under economy, news, politics
Because that’s certainly what it feels like at least from *all* the socialized losses that we seem to be picking up these days. What I want to know is where are the benefits for the majority of Americans? Surely there has to be something more in it for the average person to be picking up over a trillion dollars worth of bad business. At the rate that we are handing out money to corporations I really do hope that someone is going to be held accountable because I find it absolutely unacceptable that there are many executives that have truly made a giant mess of things and yet are still being paid in the millions.
Perhaps I just don’t understand capitalism but I was always under the impression that should you run your business poorly, it will go under and you will “lose your shirt”, but clearly we no longer believe in that. As it is being proven by the fact that we are now bailing out the automakers along with Wall St. Who else are we going to take on as charity cases? I’m just waiting for the next shoe to drop. For all these years we have criticized and absolutely down-played the need for any socialist tendencies, yet now, now we are essentially taking from the poor and giving handouts to the rich who have managed to mismanage their money. (Sure, I know I’m exaggerating a bit but if you really do take an overly simplistic view that is exactly what is going on.)
So I hope that the new administration does not forget that this is not a socialist country. And until the base standard of living can come up to some sort of reasonable standard, such as universal health care and an appropriate minimum wage and appropriate taxes on the wealthy to compensate for such things, I would hope that the government can control themselves as to just how sorry they feel for those poor, poor corporations that have managed to go astray.
December 6, 2008 at 11:17 am · Filed under fitness, health
So here’s the thing, I’ve been reading this book Skinny Bitch, which by the way is awesome, that has some really horrifying passages about slaughterhouses and dairy farms that are pretty darn disturbing. So the first day after I read it, I was a little put off the whole meat and dairy thing. Now, I find this interesting because well I read The Jungle and that had absolutely no effect on my eating habits or desires. So I don’t know when I gained such a conscience or perhaps the passages were just different from the ones included in this book, I read that over 10 years ago (for school) so I’m a little fuzzy on it. It might also have to do with the fact that I’m reading this book by choice and I was reading The Jungle because it was on the reading list in high school.
I’ll put a disclaimer on this here and now, I may not be a vegetarian/vegan permanently, I truly do enjoy my animal products, I just find it fascinating what one book can do to your life which is why I am writing about it here.
The thing that I find most interesting is that it has been a few days since I have read those horrifying passages and I can generally forget things I don’t want to know relatively easily (at least when it comes to food that I like and don’t particularly want to give up). But for some reason I am finding that when I go out or am in the office cafeteria I will actually opt to get something vegetarian and if possible vegan before I choose anything with meat or dairy. It’s almost as if the women who wrote this book got into my head and changed my psyche a bit. I choose to eat differently. And I keep telling myself that I miss meat but honestly, I don’t really mind not having it. It’s only been a week that I’ve been doing it but um, I’m also the girl that used to say she likes to “eat her steak still mooing”. I mean one of my good friends and I talk about how we like to cook our steaks “black and blue” which basically just means it’s very rare. So I just find it fascinating that just by reading one book I have made a huge change in my diet. It just jolted me into the realities of the industry and my opposition to eating meat and dairy really has more to do with the way that industry works than my taste preferences.
Also, what I have found in the past week is that you can find tons of really tasty vegetarian/vegan food out there! You don’t necessarily need meat or dairy to make yourself a fabulous meal. All it takes is a little creative thinking. And quite frankly half the vegetarian/vegan food is better for you anyway.
The only thing I will say is that my experiment with a soy latte was horrifyingly disappointing. I really didn’t think it would taste all that different but I don’t put any sweetener in my lattes and I swear the soy milk made it sickeningly sweet. I couldn’t even finish it. That was really sad because while I don’t drink lattes often, I do like them on occasion.
I’m curious to see what this difference will make in how I feel when I go to the gym. I injured myself last week so I took a week off but I’m back as of today I think it should be interesting. And I mean the book is called Skinny Bitch so I’m curious as to how much changing your diet so drastically will change the rest of your body image etc. I suppose simply making healthier changes should make it easier. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
December 2, 2008 at 9:24 pm · Filed under health, news
seems to be a tall order. At least if you read the book Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. I never truly intended on reading this book, I had read a review in the New York Times and aside from the catchy title I didn’t really have much interest in it. But recently I’ve been a little more into health and being more proactive about getting healthy and well I ended up with a 3 hour delay on my flight back to Chicago after Thanksgiving. So what’s a girl to do other than go pick up the first relatively interesting book she finds at the airport bookstore.
I inteded this to be an amusing, interesting read. Considering I had already read the Times review on it I had a vague idea what the book was supposed to be about and I had no intention of changing my eating habits to become a vegan. Little did I know that they took excerpts from a book slaughterhouses when I first cracked that book open. The most interesting part of the whole thing was that this little book does not look like it can change your life. Quite frankly, it looks like a fabulous piece of fluff to put on your bookshelf for shock value – much like this book Queer that I own which just has fabulous pictures and some historical content but mostly fabulous pictures.
Yet I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I read it on the plane and then the train and in the cab and even in bed once I got home. I haven’t gotten through the entire book yet but I am about 3/4 of the way through and I think it is great. I also had no intention of becoming vegan yet I can’t seem to look at meat the same way. Those passages about the slaughterhouse just changed something in my psyche. I can’t say that this will be a lasting change just yet since it has only been 2 days of relatively vegetarian eating (I am stubbornly trying to hold on to my carnivorous roots, it’s not working out so well for me – I rebelled when all my friends became vegetarian and I have a hard time eating my words).
It’s amazing how without even intending to make a huge change in my life, I have done so anyway. And I actually feel really good about it. Partially because, well if even a fraction of what they said was true about the slaughterhouses I can’t eat meat in good conscience. I was happy being blissfully unaware but now that I know I do think it may just be time to make that change in my life. I don’t know how I feel about being vegan because well, I haven’t cooked in about a year and it is hard to find easily available vegan food. I will try to be as vegan as possible but I don’t know that I can go the whole 9 yards that the girls tell ya to go.
And I would truly recommend this book to anyone. I mean you don’t have to believe what these women believe to find this to be an interesting read. If nothing else it makes you well informed. I may not stay vegetarian or vegan for long but the information that I have gathered here has certainly changed me and will stay with me for the rest of my life. I think that just changing your mindset and your outlook on life can be helpful and these women just put it so well in the book. I think one of my favourite passages was one about carbs when they start ranting about how only idiots don’t eat carbs. Having been an athlete, I have known about the virtue of carbs for years – trust me crew coaches don’t let you get away with not eating carbs.
The other thing I really love about the book is that it gives you a place to put all that energy most women spend about obsessing about being skinny. It gives you so many things to think about that are truly interesting and ways to change your life that are not difficult. Most of all it uses common sense that people can relate to easily. I mean what’s better than a book that tells you, come on idiot just use your brain, think about what you’re doing and you’ll be fine. It’s pretty awesome, at least I certainly think so.
December 2, 2008 at 1:56 pm · Filed under politics
So the bombings in Bombay have really bothered me. Part of it is that it is a hot topic for the fam and part of it is that I was there just 2 years ago right around this time. I could have easily been one of the people gallivanting around the Taj. And that is really upsetting and disturbing.
And on a slightly different note I’ve had several people take offense to Obama’s hard line stance on Pakistan but really at some point I think we need to look at what Pakistan has been doing for years. They harbor and train terrorists and quite frankly India bears the brunt of a significant chunk of these attacks. It’s amazing that India has chosen not to crush Pakistan quite yet. Everyone knows that just by sheer might it is quite possible and if India were the US it would’ve happened decades ago. But I think that’s part of what makes India so great that they haven’t opted to crush them. In fact there are more Muslims that live in India than in Pakistan and you know what they aren’t persecuting them in the same way the west does. After all is said and done India is the only true democracy where minorities are treated as equally and fairly as possible. Certainly there are discrepancies between the majority and the minorities and there will always be a few extremists everywhere but all in all I think India is handling the whole thing quite well.
Also I would like the US for once in its history to just stay out of it. This is not your problem, this is not your dispute just keep to yourself. I mean it isn’t enough that they gave the terrorists their weapons and training way back when they wanted their puppets in office in Pakistan, all this “help” is really unnecessary. At any rate it is truly tragic for anything of this type to happen and I wish someone would take the time to analyze why there are so many young people filled with so much hate that they would go on these terrorist missions. I think it is an important question that all world leaders need to think about and in particular those in Islamic countries (considering that’s where many of these people cone from). It just doesn’t make sense to me. And to destroy buildings with so much history.
One concluding thought, why would these people target Colaba? It is essentially a tourist destination and yes in India you obviously can’t find anywhere without lots of native Indians but seriously why would they target the largest tourist section of the city? What do you think was the message in there?
