My B-day

Cal sent my flowers, which smell divine and look amazing. Best part is, they come with a vase so I don't have to worry about using my little one :-). They make me smile every time I walk into the room. From my sister, I got silver hoop earings. And my parents got me a couple of clothing items for work.

At work they give out boxes of pop corn for B-days! There are 6 flavors including white chocolate peanut butter and caramel chocolate drizzle. Needless to say - very dangerous so it's important to share.

I returned to NJ for a night at mom made me my favorite dinner of pecan chicken (that's right - I ate chicken!), rice, and greenery. The desert was a masterful chocolate bunt cake I forgot to take a picture of. Oh - and when I took a train back to ny, it was double decker! I felt like I was in the Netherlands!

Olymic Torch, I Saw It!

I forgot to mention I saw that torch with the little Chinese mafia men around it! First it drove by me, Cal, and his parents as we walked to the DLR - on a bus. Then it went across the Thames from Canary Wharf to erm, that dock at the 02 where the Clipper clips away from. I know you can't really see it but I swear, that's it! With the 5 boats around it.

Cody's Duck

My poddle has a thing for quaking duck stuffed animals. We've given him buffalo, polar bears, and a beaver, but he only falls in love with the ducks. My mom says it's the quack. When he paws at Ducky, it goes "quack quack quack quack quack" - sometimes when I call home, I can hear it in the background; the thing really doesn't shut up. Below are two images of Cody with his most recently deceased (notice the torn out bill), and then his current yellow duck. (color, we have found, is not an issue).

April Images

I've taken a bunch of pics this month on my phone, but failed to upload. Here are some highlights.

This art is dog scratches on paper. It's apparently famous and worth $$$$, residing in a lawyer's entryway.
My clothing supply in NJ is limited because most of my closet is in fidi with me, but I did pull out some toe socks when i was last home for my birthday.
These doors in the west village are the 2nd love of my life. they're huge, I'm guessing 12' tall, perhaps you can see the "mini" door (like cathedrals have) on the third panel to the left.
Me, eating a cupcake on the west side highway as runners jog past. I swear God put them there to make me feel guilty. I finished the entire cupcake, at least it was vegan.
Police ponies in east china town fenced in area.
Amazing poster store on Chambers st with tons of origional old movie& theatre posters for a cool $500 and up. Worthy note - the gallerina isn't a bitch!
One of those floraly trees (cherry tree?) in Tribeca. I love walking under them. My favorite spot is along Cole's Sports Center at Mercer and Bleeker.

Tans & Cosmo

NY Times Magazine had 1 double sided glossy ad in the middle of its pages; each side has close up image of a model with very natural makeup, brunette, a little bit of a tan, and soft pink lipstick pouting at me. In white bold white letters side 1 reads: SEXY MEANS SHOWING YOUR TRUE COLORS, and side two reads: SEXY MEANS BUSINESS, with a fun fact below: LAST YEAR, COSMO READERS SPENT OVER $3 BILLION ON BEAUTY PRODUCTS WIHTOUT BLUSHING. HOW SEXY IS THAT?

Excuse me?

Sexy = business
buying beauty products = sexy
So...
business = buying beauty products?

(if you know which type of fallacy this is, please let me know because I forget)

Needless to say, the ad is shit. Why is purchasing lots of beauty products make women sexy? Certainly Cosmo magazine is projecting a certain type of sexy that can't be done without lots of makeup. Interesting target market, I find that most of the magazine recycles the same sex tips and has 1 articles burried in the back pages that's 1/2 worth readings always entitled "I was a sex slave" or "I have an arranged marriage" with a "As told to ___ by ___" under the title.

While on my beauty rant, another problem - tanning! Why are people obsessed with looking tan? At work, Marie pointed out that women have been wanting to be pale for centuries. Pale is beautiful. People of darker skin tones in Africa and India spent millions (billions?) of dollars on skin lightening products, and white people spend TONS of $ on skin darkening at tanning salons? This is weird. Why can't we all just be happy with what we have naturally.

I think of India Arie's song Brown Skin, and how in love she is with her color. And then I think "Why is she so confident, but I look at myself in the mirror and feel pressured to pull out the bronzer brush?" It makes me feel even more self conscious about my self consciousness. Now I just need to throw out my NARS Sunkissed powder.

And about these people who say a tan looks healthier and those tanorexics. A normal BMI and fit muscles look fit and healthy. A super tan does not make you look skinnier. It means skin cancer and in my humble personal opinion, you're really vain and have way too much time. But that's not to say I've not attempted to lie down in the sun during the summer, it just never really works out for me.

So actually, perhaps this is all just the backlash of a chronically pale woman attempting to deal with her issues.

Kelis' Excel Diagram

Cal just sent this to me. I loved this song (Milkshake by Kelis), back in erm... 2003. God, that was so long ago.

Reputation Management

I got a call last night from this guy who found me on Monster. His father committed a crime 15 years ago, and now when his name is googled, court documents regarding the event pop up first in the organic results. Not good for business (especially when slimy competitors actually tell customers to google his name). Plus, the guy that phoned me has the same name as his dad - and it's a distinctive name that not many people have.

At about the same time, Avi received a call from some real estate tycoon. The man started crying, saying he'd lost his fiancee and business was ruined, all because of archived articles from Fox 5 News, NY1, and other prominent news sources that pop up when googled. In short, he needs help getting this shit off the 1st page.

So look out - reputation management is coming! What an excellent opportunity for me to grow my seo skills. I've begun my research. ya!

Bryant Park

Yesterday for lunch, it was so beautiful out that I walked to Bryant Park with my lunch (veggie panini & salad with tomato & guac). It was like a NJ mall the day after Thanksgiving! Totally packed, and I ended up sharing a table with a nice woman from Riverdale who worked at Reader's Digest selling ad space. We had a great time learning about each other's jobs & tamales.