My favorite place

My grandmother, who works for the economic sector at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin (on the German side--she's not American) sent me this New York Times article about Berlin, which I think is a) well-written and b) an interesting take on travel writing--as in the style used being in the "you" voice and third-person, rather than the "I" voice. It's a cool lens to look at the city through.

Berlin really is my favorite city. This article gives just a few reasons why.

A safe return

I have returned from my one week of vacation this summer. Chicago was fantastic. The rest of the Midwest was probably nice, but I got a sinus infection so I didn't appreciate it nearly as much.

The best thing: Chicago, in general. Although I was disappointed with the eating situation there. I expected to find wonderful restaurants on every corner (like you do in Berlin, or even Tucson). Instead, all we could find in Downtown were McDonalds, Subway, Jimmy John's and Chipotle. Am I missing something? Where's all the world class cuisine promised me?

The worst thing: Being sick and sitting in a car for three days. Or rather, just being sick in general. I hate you, sinuses.

Some photos to follow soon.

Social Media Sites Abound

Part of the research I do at work is in researching new social media--that's anything in the realm of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and last.fm.

One thing my research has shown in the last week is that there are so many new social media sites popping up that I will never be able to catalog them all.

I think it's fascinating there are so many reasons people decide to build social networking sites. Some of those reasons are actually pretty dumb, but others are really neat.

Some sites I found this week that I think are cool:

LearnHub
It's all about exchanging knowledge. Anyone can form a "community" about something and use it to create lessons, tests and trivia to help other people learn more about that topic. You can be a student and a teacher at once, offer tutoring sessions and even make money by teaching a course. Sure, if you haven't got all the time in the world, this may seem like more time-wasting idiocy. But when is learning something new ever a bad thing? I dig it.

Chictopia
As stupid as it sounds, the fashion-lover in me shouted for joy when I found this site. It's a social network for fashion lovers--the motto is "ordinary people can be super models, too". The great part is that it's for guys and girls, and you can learn what's most flattering for your shape while you're on there. You put in your personal and size information (everything from pant size to bra size if you're a lady), write a few things about your style philosophy, and start posting photos of yourself in various outfits, or your favorite accessories, in your ChicBlog. If you look super-stylish, your photo gets picked to go into the gallery and others can vote on how chic you look, and comment about what they love most. While the pursuit is, at its heart, shallow in every way, I think it has useful (and fun!) applications.

mEgo
This thing creates an Avatar for you that you can post on your blog, Web site, social networks, etc., with all of your information in one place. The review on Mashable said it was a two-hour commitment to make an avatar, which could be a bad thing if you're a busy bee. Another downside the review cited was that the widget felt a lot like MySpace--which I characterize as trashy and difficult to navigate. I tried the widget (you can see mine on the right sidebar, under the blog archive) and didn't think it was that bad. There is the possibility of making a trashy, flashy, overpowering-looking avatar, but hopefully you won't do that. It also didn't take me two long to create the avatar--maybe half hour tops, but then I am a 20-something Web whiz, right?

Glassdoor
This network is nifty for anyone job searching. When you create a profile you can look at information about different companies--everything from ratings of the management to salaries in the position you're looking at. This is particularly interesting since so many companies have that "you may not discuss your salary with anyone" policy that usually accompanies unequal and unethical salary assignment.

These are just specks in the spectrum of social media I've discovered lately, but I think they're worthwhile. None moreso than Facebook or studiVZ, though. :-)

Nutrition Homepage...Found!

So I keep track of my food life online, at Fitday. I do this not so I can scrutinize everything I've eaten as extra fat grams, but rather to see if I'm getting enough vitamins, calcium, protein, etc.

One of the pains about the site is that you have to manually put in food that isn't already in the site's tiny, junk-f00d riddled database.

Sometimes I just don't have the nutrition information with me. And I hate that.

But I just discovered Nutritiondata.com, the official Web site for those little labels on food packaging. Genius, huh?

Not only does the site have nutrition information for practically everything, but it has a conversion tool so cooking with a German recipe doesn't turn into a ridiculous math problem.

Yay, right? Yay!

Bicycling Indecency

I read something vaguely ridiculous yesterday.

So there's this naked bike ride taking place in Tucson.

It's really not a big deal--they happen all over the world, and the point is to show how vulnerable bicyclists are as they ride alongside Hummers and monster trucks (although that's mostly on U.S. streets).

The ridiculous part is that people can't really do it all the way in Tucson unless they want the potential of being slapped with a misdemeanor or class 6 felony for public indecency.

Basically, you can't show anything between your waist and thighs, and women can't show their nipples OR any part of the areola. (It's not fair that men get fewer restrictions, for one thing). Sounds like common-sense decency from an American point of view, but the more I think about it, the whole law bit just seems so stupid.

I mean, if you're really staring at a bunch of naked people on bicycles, you deserve to be grossed out, right?

Oh, America the prudish, you've struck again!

Call for Cafes

I'm not a big coffee drinker.

I definitely don't drink it every day, although I used to during my first two years of college. And then I realized all the double shots were making me porky.

I only drink coffee or espresso drinks as part of my social routine these days.

My favorite cafe in Tucson has long been Espresso Art.

It has this comfortable European atmosphere, good espresso drinks, smoothies and pastries, and ample seating. I even played my harp recital there in March. It's a bit expensive, but I just love the place.

My friend Jamie is an espresso connoisseur. She also digs Espresso Art, but now she's got a new favorite at Cafe Luce, the evil competitor cafe on campus that I abstained from trying for a whole year.

So we went there together, and it's not bad. Jamie claims the cappuccino's cheaper, but I can't tell since I rarely just get a cappuccino. She also says it's consistently the best cappuccino in Tucson. I guess she would know.

*On a side note, I just found a really cool blog about Arizona coffee shops. Lots of neat photos of coffee art. Worth checking out.*

I'm curious. If you're reading this, what's your favorite coffee shop or cafe, regardless of your location?

A Perfect Ending

I went to see Sex and the City with some friends last night. It was a nice birthday gift from Steffi.

With any movie based on a TV series, there's a danger of it sucking. And since I am a fan of the six-season-long Sex and the City TV show, I was prepared to be disappointed.

Luckily, I was over-prepared.



The movie was delightful. I thought it was the perfect ending for the TV show and didn't have any oddly unexplainable gaps after a three year hiatus. The characters were all the same, their attitudes and personalities hadn't changed, and I was in SATC heaven.

I had heard of bad reviews of the movie, but I didn't want to read them and have them ruin my experience. I personally give the movie five stars. I even cried four times (half from happiness). What could be better!

This is a real blog

A few years ago I got a hateful comment on my blog (in a comment about one long-ago post about skinny jeans, someone told me I needed to get a life--I suspect this one someone wearing skinny jeans at the time). [In a youthful indiscretion I deleted the comment, which I now would not do--I'm all for free expression and rollicking discussion.]

That's step one towards becoming a real blogger/having a real blog.

Step two is getting a media call/e-mail/something about one of your blog posts.

This happened today, when a journalist from the Arizona Daily Star asked me to talk about hypermiling, which I wrote a post about in May.

After three years, this has become a real blog. Yay!

Combatting Poor Body Image

One thing that has happened (in some places) over the past few years is a campaign for women in the U.S. to accept themselves as they are.

One article does this by giving quotes from men who are love women of different body times, from the plump to the pencil-legged and beyond.

Other articles, like those in some women's magazines, try to give fashion tips for women of differing body types. The problem with these is that the models are usually just that--models ascribed to the rungs of "normal modely type" and "plus-size modely type" and therefore not realistic at all. I guess they work as mere guidelines.


Marie Claire does, however, have a Virtual Model program on its Web site that allows you to find "the best fashion for your figure", and the models are fairly realistic looking--you can expand or decrease the size of the model to look more accurately like your figure. The clothing they've chosen to include are really frumpy, though. Your three choices are Land's End (eh), Sears (EW!), Levi Strauss Signature and Speedo.


I heard a really fantastic program on NPR last year about women around the world (and men and whole countries) trying to combat body image (and modern health) woes--something I strongly feel started in the U.S. with our bulemic, plasticized, whitened-teeth alternate reality.

While running small campaigns to make women feel better about themselves is a step in the right direction, I have a feeling it's not going to do much to make most women feel better about themselves. I mean, just stepping into any high-class mall makes you feel like purging your last meal (and skipping the next), and looking at our celebrity role models--especially those lauded for being curvy in all their size four glory--doesn't do any body good.

I think this is just one of those problems we're stuck with. Forever.

What do you think?

Sushi makes the world go 'round

Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I LOVE sushi.

I'm a vegetarian, sure, but that doesn't mean I don't dig the veggie-only varieties.

My favorites? Cucumber rolls, veggie rolls and avocado rolls. Sort of spans the entire spectrum, but they're just so good.

So I recently tried Sushi Cho--twice. Once with my editor, once with my boyfriend. Both times were pleasant experiences.

The fare is cheaper than at most of the sushi restaurants we've tried in Tucson. The cucumber and avocado rolls are pretty small, but they're cheap enough to make up for it.

The veggie rolls are more expensive--and you discover why once they land on your table. They are MASSIVE--bigger than the palm of my hand. I found it impossible to eat them with chopsticks--I swallowed my pride and just used my hands. My editor approved. Those things were huge.

I also tried the avocado and cucumber rolls. More of the same, right? Actually, it was just right. If I were only mildly hungry and wanted sushi, just getting one avocado and cucumber roll would do it for me. Dee-lish.

The other stuff is good, too, from what I hear. My boyfriend tried the crunchy roll--cucumber and tempura shrimp wrapped in seaweed and rice, doused with tempura crumbs. He seemed satisfied. I haven't heard complaints about anything else.

Edamame? Good. Tempura veggie appetizer? Good. Teriyaki chicken? Heard it was all right. Vegetable yakisoba? Heard it was pretty good--although differently flavored than the yakisoba at Sushi Ten.

The service is also decent--my water was constantly refilled the second time I went (although the first time the waitress was careless and never came back to see if I had enough water, and I finished my first glass within five minutes and practically died of thirst during the rest of the meal).

A note for strict vegetarians: don't eat the soup. It's got fish stock in it.

But as far as Sushi Cho goes, I highly recommend it.

Cheaper tuition at elite schools?

So Harvard and a few other schools are making it easier for poor people to get in. And by poor, they mean anyone whose family makes less than $60,000 a year.

Good, right?

According to an article I read, these schools are getting rid of student loans, capping the Expected Family Contribution and giving away grants.

Does that mean everyone will have an easier chance of getting in? No.

It just means that the poor people who know someone who know someone who works at Harvard will be able to afford going there once they get in. Cutting costs doesn't change the admissions process. Even if you have a 4.0 GPA, stellar GRE scores and a fantastic 12-page CV, you probably won't be able to reap the benefits of these "cheaper" programs unless you've got contacts.

That sort of spoils it for everyone who got their hopes up, doesn't it?