Only in New York City

(-)
I was running in Central Park last week with some friends, when we passed by this guy walking in his work clothes, aviator sunglasses, and an arm cast... with a Louis Vuitton pattern on it!

(+)
Today I was walking home from the subway on Broadway, when a flatbed truck passed by me. It was carrying a taxi, lights, a film crew, and a rain-making machine. Cool, huh? They were filming in motion right in my neighborhood! I wonder who was in the taxi!!!! I wish I could have gotten a look! It was probably one of my celebrity best friends.

I GOT PAID!!!!!

My first paycheck. This makes me feel happy!!! :D

Happy like this:

Who needs power tools?

I've been in my new apartment on the upper west side for 3.5 weeks. I JUST put up my curtains 2 days ago. When I didn't have my furniture yet, I would move around my makeshift bed back and forth in the morning to avoid the strong morning sun (which is actually a good problem to have in NYC!). After I got my furniture, I fashioned a temporary curtain with a bedspread by jamming the corners of the bedspread in the window cracks.

So I was determined to put up my new curtains, which were painstaking in themselves to purchase. First of all, the window is long and no standard rod will cover it. Also, it takes 3 curtain panels to cover. But the real problem was the rod, which I had to construct from 2 separate decorative rods. Keep in mind that I don't have any power tools or a screwdriver. All I have are a hammer and a pair of small pliers. And these are the tools that I used to install my rod and curtains. I devised a plan.

1. hammer in a nail to introduce a hole
2. screw in a medium length wood screw (w/ pointy end) to widen the hole
3. screw in actual bracket

Phew! This took me about an hour and a half to do. Oh but how satisfying. :) I put them up all by myself!!

Update (little by little)

Nadder and others of the Michigan group came to San Francisco for the Orthopedic Research Society conference at the end of February/beginning of March. Apparently, after the engineers leave (research is the first 3 days), 30,000 docs come into town to receive their CME credits. I hear that some docs get to the conference, punch in, and then go sightseeing. Reassuring, huh? You think that your specialists are keeping up with the times, but not necessarily! I guess, if I were them, I might actually attend only half the time. After all, what really happens in a year? Not much!

Anyway, after the conference was over, Nadder and I got to hang out in my neck of the woods, finally!

Monterey Bay Aquarium

And then we went on this lawyer retreat with my lawyer sibling and her lawyer friend. We also attended a crazy lawyer dinner where we ordered a ridiculous amount of alcohol because we could... and to compete with the other lawyer tables.
We also went for a hike/snowshoe in the Sequoia grove. We did some tree hugging we sure did. Jeanne heart trees.

Update (little by little)

Here is another photo from the Late Show. Me and the sis in the "green" room! Obviously, it's light blue. It's also known as the snack room, i.e. where all all the employees (including Paul , the orchestra, etc.) go to get drinks and cookies.

As you know from the youtube clip, I got a new job! I actually did the Late Show (see how I say "did the Late Show"? I can also say things like "The Late Show booked me") right after I accepted, and took advantage of the free ticket that The Late Show got me to look for apartments. This is my first surly experience with the "real NY."

The owner of the apartment building is a big pain in the neck. First of all, they are so over-the-top meticulous (you must make at least 40x your rent, your guarantor must make 80x your rent), and I spent over $100 just APPLYING for the apartment. They also don't care that you make enough now to pay for rent, you have to have made that much in the past to not need a guarantor. What is the difference really? And they really don't care how much you have in the bank, they want you to have made 40x rent last year and this upcoming year. THEN, you can only move in on a weekday, 9 am-12 pm, or 1-5 pm. Come ON! Also, when I got into my apt, the refrigerator wasn't working, and it took them 1 week to get me a new one. So THEY aren't held to the same standards as their tenants are? One more thing: 70% of the floor must be covered with carpet or rug. You must also move in within 15 days after your start date. Seriously.

Anywaaaaay...

At the beginning of March, I also spent a lot of time with my cousin and his family. Here we are skiing at Heavenly. We were also lucky enough to have his family around, 3 generations!, to celebrate my dad's birthday.

Can you believe???

Sundance '08

Where Film Takes Place

... and where a lot of snow play takes place. Or at least that's how we festival.



We saw the movies Kicking It (documentary about the Homeless World Cup) and Incendiary (Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor). I LOVED Kicking It, and you'll get to see it because it got picked up by ESPN! There are some heart-of-gold people in that movie, and it has a sense of humor. It's about a World Cup for the homeless and impoverished. Through soccer, they gain self-confidence and a sense of solidarity with their fellow human beings. Many have gotten their lives on track ("kicking the habit") because of it. We also met one of the coaches before the movie! He seemed somewhat surly at first probably because we beat him by narrow margins to the waitlist line, but he warmed to us later.

Incendiary the movie was okay, but the acting was amazing. Unfortunately, uncharacteristic of how things usually go the large Eccles Theater, none of the actors were there! Ewan McGregor did however send a video clip of himself talking about the movie.

Here are some more celeb pics. :)

Quentin Tarantino

Scott Wolf

Dennis Quaid

Bill Rancic

Snow Bunny Returns

The frequency of my skiing was greatly reduced when I decided to live in the great non-mountains of Michigan. I went twice to the Boyne Mountain area, and it was all right. I've also been to the holes and mini-hills like Alpine Valley, not to be confused with Alpine Meadows, Lake Tahoe. Anyhow, it became sort of a once-a-year ski event, and I even stopped bringing my skis to MI. But now being back on the west coast, I've already made multiple day trips to Lake Tahoe and visited the great resorts of Utah. Utah! (That's what it looks like on the license plate.) See if you can tell where's where.

A

B

C

D

Answers:
A. Sugar Bowl, Lake Tahoe, CA
B. Alpine Meadows, Lake Tahoe, CA
C. Deer Valley, Park City, UT
D. Snowbird, Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT

Note the new goggles in D. 50% off! Also, B occurred right after the big wave surf contest Mavericks. D is substantially more snowy than A-C, and can be declared thus far, the best day of skiing of my life.

Arm-shots show even less when your head is enlarged by a helmet. :P

New Year's 2008 in Costa Rica

This year was like all the others.

We surfed all day, inevitably became exhausted, took a nice long nap, and then got up in time to celebrate New Year's... for about an hour. We just made it in time to get to a club 15 minutes before midnight, and then left soon after the clock tolled twelve. Whaddyagonnadooo? In past years, it's been skiing all day, and then managing to stay awake just barely past twelve. Party animals, I know.

So on this day, New Year's Eve, it happened that I was surfing with a crocodile in the waters at Jaco beach. I was happily surfing along, when I noticed that some of my fellow surfers had gone ashore, and that there was a small crowd forming at the water's edge. I went to shore, only to have someone ask me if I had seen the crocodile. What??? Thanks, guys, for letting me know that there was a croc in the water. Thanks for not waving me to shore. Jeeeeeez.

After enjoying the warm waters of the Costa Rican Pacific beaches, Pete and I went to the volcano and rainforest. And oh my, does it RAIN in this rainforest! It basically rained the entire time, but it just ranged from drizzle to torrential rains. Loud scary torrential rains. However, the rainforest made for an amazing landscape for zip lines! On some of these lines, we went straight through clouds, and all you could see around you was white. Simply amazing.



We also went to the hot springs. This was my first time at a hot spring, and it was so much fun!! I was told that not all hot springs are like the ones in Costa Rica. In Costa Rica (La Fortuna), they have water slides!

PURA VIDA!!

Birthday revisited

Was sifting through pictures and found this one of my birthday. Aren't these friends the best?



I miss our volleyball games and all the smack-talking and bickering. :)

California girl

I've moved back!

Actually, I really have no (semi-)permanent home for the moment. About a third of my stuff is still in NYC (car included), about a third is in Ann Arbor (fabulous bed included), and the rest is with me in CA. I am literally all over the country.

At the moment, I'm enjoying being fed by my parents again and am going through all of my middle school to college clothing to make some room for an updated and perhaps more chic wardrobe? (one tends to hope) Quite a few items are going to the Salvation Army. Some memorable items such as a white sweatshirt that I puffy-painted a bumblebee on (probably grade school - middle school level) are staying in my closet. I can't bear to part with that gem. My lovely senior prom dress, which I contend is STILL lovely, is also staying, along with the matching wrap that I will probably never wear again. But the memories!! I also tossed a table centerpiece that I had nabbed from prom. Wow, I had that for 10 years! About time I let that go. I am also contemplating taking down the pictures of hot celebs that I put up on my wall during high school and my 1994 poster of the USA Olympic Women's basketball team with autographs (who am I kidding, that's staying up).

It's odd to think that I've been away for 5+ years. It doesn't sound that long, and before I came back, it certainly didn't seem that long! But now I realize that I'm going to be experiencing a very sunny December for the first time in 5 years. The beautiful weather is weirding me out a bit. It has snowed in both MI and NY, and I have to admit that I really love the first snow and wish I were there to experience it. But oh boy will I love not having to lug around a huge coat with me wherever I go!

Deeeeeeetroit!

Ooooh, Detroit slipped! No matter how data was misused, Detroit is still ranked one of the most dangerous cities. #2 isn't much better than #1.

Experts say 'most dangerous city' rankings twist numbers

Group ranked U.S. cities based on FBI crime statistics. Their analysis says Detroit is most dangerous, followed by St. Louis. Experts, including FBI, say the report misuses statistics, gets misleading results. Critics say report works against understanding of crime, hurts low-ranked cities.

Ranked Most Dangerous
1. Detroit, Michigan
2. St. Louis, Missouri
3. Flint, Michigan
4. Oakland, California
5. Camden, New Jersey
6. Birmingham, Alabama
7. North Charleston, South Carolina
8. Memphis, Tennessee
9. Richmond, California
10. Cleveland, Ohio

Ranked Safest
1. Mission Viejo, California
2. Clarkstown, New York
3. Brick Township, New Jersey
4. Amherst, New York
5. Sugar Land, Texas
6. Colonie, New York
7. Thousand Oaks, California
8. Newton, Massachusetts
9. Toms River Township, N.J.
10. Lake Forest, California

DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- In another blow to the Motor City's tarnished image, Detroit pushed past St. Louis to become the nation's most dangerous city, according to a private research group's controversial analysis, released Sunday, of annual FBI crime statistics.

The study drew harsh criticism even before it came out. The American Society of Criminology launched a pre-emptive strike Friday, issuing a statement attacking it as "an irresponsible misuse" of crime data.

The 14th annual "City Crime Rankings: Crime in Metropolitan America" was published by CQ Press, a unit of Congressional Quarterly Inc. It is based on the FBI's September 24 crime statistics report.

The report looked at 378 cities with at least 75,000 people and their per-capita rates for homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and auto theft. Each crime category was considered separately and weighted based on its seriousness, CQ Press said.

Last year's crime leader, St. Louis, Missouri, fell to No. 2. Another Michigan city, Flint, ranked third, followed by Oakland, California; Camden, New Jersey; Birmingham, Alabama; North Charleston, South Carolina; Memphis, Tennessee; Richmond, California; and Cleveland, Ohio.

The study ranked Mission Viejo, California, as the safest U.S. city, followed by Clarkstown, New York; Brick Township, New Jersey; Amherst, New York; and Sugar Land, Texas.

CQ Press spokesman Ben Krasney said details of the weighting system were proprietary. It was compiled by Kathleen O'Leary Morgan and Scott Morgan, whose Morgan Quitno Press published it until its acquisition by CQ Press.

The study assigns a crime score to each city, with zero representing the national average. Detroit got a score of 407, with St. Louis close behind at 406. The score for Mission Viejo, in affluent Orange County, was minus 82.

Detroit was pegged the nation's murder capital in the 1980s and has lost nearly 1 million people since 1950, according to the Census Bureau. Downtown sports stadiums and corporate headquarters -- along with the redevelopment of the riverfront of this city of 919,000 -- have slowed but not reversed the decline. Officials have said crime reports don't help.

Detroit police officials released a statement Sunday night disputing the report, saying it fails to put crime information into proper context.

"Every year this organization sends out a press release with big, bold lettering that labels a certain city as Most Dangerous, USA," Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings said in the release.

"It really makes you wonder if the organization is truly concerned with evaluating crime or increasing their profit," said Bully-Cummings, who noted the complete report is available only by purchase. "With crime experts across the country routinely denouncing the findings, I believe the answer is clear."

The mayor of 30th-ranked Rochester, New York -- an ex-police chief himself -- said the study's authors should consider the harm that the report causes.

"What I take exception to is the use of these statistics and the damage they inflict on a number of these cities," said Mayor Robert Duffy, chairman of the Criminal and Social Justice Committee for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The rankings "do groundless harm to many communities," said Michael Tonry, president of the American Society of Criminology.

"They also work against a key goal of our society, which is a better understanding of crime-related issues by both scientists and the public," Tonry said.

Critics also complain that numbers don't tell the whole story because of differences among cities.

"You're not comparing apples and oranges; you're comparing watermelons and grapes," said Rob Casey, who heads the FBI section that puts out the Uniform Crime Report that provides the data for the Quitno report.

The FBI posted a statement on its Web site criticizing such use of its statistics.

"These rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables that mold crime in a particular town, city, county, state, or region," the FBI said. "Consequently, they lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents."

Doug Goldenberg-Hart, acquisitions editor at CQ Press, said that the rankings are imperfect, but that the numbers are straightforward. Cities at the top of the list would not be there unless they ranked poorly in all six crime categories, he said.

"The idea that people oppose it, it's kind of blaming the messenger," Goldenberg-Hart said. "It's not coming to terms with the idea that crime is a persistent problem in our society."

The report "helps concerned Americans learn how their communities fare in the fight against crime," CQ Press said in a statement. "The first step in making our cities and states safer is to understand the true magnitude of their crime problems. This will only be achieved through straightforward data that all of us can use and understand."

The study excluded Chicago, Minneapolis, and other Illinois and Minnesota cities because of incomplete data.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Yum Yum Yum Pinkberry

Only in the L.A. area and New York. Sooo good...
Thanks, Weilyn, for introducing me to joy in frozen form!

Lucky Charm

On Halloween, Tim (the lucky charm from Ann Arbor) won lottery tickets to Wicked! This was attempt #4 for me, and while I'm not the one who won, I still got to see it! This was a fun musical as we are all familiar with the story of the Wizard of Oz. However, this story is told from the witches' perspective, beginning before Dorothy's arrival to Oz and ending after the meeeellllting of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Hooray for $26.25 second row lottery tickets!



And thanks to the IEEE UFFC for holding this year's conference in New York City, so that I could see all my former labmates!!

Old woman

6. Dye hair hot pink in various shades. What is it with old women and hot pink?

Can't wait to be an old woman

Why?

Because I have seen the following things in daily life, and it has been okay because this person was old. Hence, when I am old, I can do all the following crazy things and nobody will think anything of it.

1. Can wear crazy hot pink blush.
2. Can wear pants with giant hole in crotch (underwear present of course).
3. Can be an old Italian lady out for a nice buffet lunch by oneself and ask next young person in line to fill entire plate full of selected foods after selected foods.
4. Okay, this one isn't crazy, but I'm really looking forward to it. Walking around during the daytime with fellow old ladies in knee-length skirts and sensible shoes. (Observed in Italy and Spain.)
5. Can wear crazy clothes from my young days. See crazy tango lady in fishnet stockings.

Will add to list as things come up.

Autographs and New Scanner

and this is always fun, looking at all the places you've been:



I did this on tripadvisor.com. I've posted my first review for the benefit of fellow travelers. Oh how I appreciate everybody else's reviews! How else was I supposed to find out that for this one hotel, the toilet was physically located inside the shower?

Columbus Day Weekend

Thank goodness! I needed a long weekend and a break from work! :P

Being alone this weekend was pretty fun. Of the few people I know, everybody was either out of town or busy. So I ventured around the city by myself. And... I can have a lot of fun by myself!!

Saturday I went to see if I could see a premiere movie at the New York Film Festival. It was a Coen brothers movie called No Country for Old Men. However, as a centerpiece film, it was a sold out showing and there were no cancellations. Ooooh, was I mad. As a Sundance Film Festival veteran, I arrived at the theater 3 hours ahead of showtime, and the people at the box office told me wait at the "first Hugo Boss window" at 8 pm. The theater is located at The Shops in Columbus Circle, so there were also lots of stores there. Anyway, there was no line to be found, so I went to get some dinner and then got back at 7:30 pm. There was nobody there. Dooo di doo. I was prepared. I had magazines. Well, 8 pm arrives, and still, I don't see anybody near me, but a few windows down, I see a line start to form. Wha? Oooh... the guy at the box office meant the window "straight in front of us." Hmph. Anyway, the first 2 people in line got tickets. That could have been me!

But no problem. I don't regret not getting in b/c those tickets cost $30-$35!! Instead, on Sunday, I went to enter into the lottery for tickets to Hairspray. And guess what? I won!! I NEVER win anything!! Hooray!!! Front row tickets for $25. I got the up close and personal view. I saw spit flying, and I saw up people's skirts. :P It was a REALLY REALLY fun show. And afterwards... I got a bunch of autographs, including Lance Bass (short surprisingly, maybe 5'5"-5'6") and Ashley Parker Angel!! I actually *MET* Ashley Parker Angel!! And HE initiated the greeting! And I didn't see him ask for anybody else's name!! I like to think we had a connection. :P His eyes twinkled. :D

And today I participated as a member of the live studio audience at the Tonight Show with George Clooney as the guest. And then there was Kid Rock as the musical guest, and he was pretty underwhelming. Watch tonight. You'll see what I mean. The guy is NOT charming or charismatic nor in the itty bitty least bit witty. Not like George Cloooooney. :) Hahaha. It was pretty fun to see them tape.

Augh, now back to the old grind.

Catch-up

Hey everybody (my handful of readers - that's one hand)!

Wow, it's been a really long time since I've written in my blog! See... I knew I wouldn't be able to keep an account on Facebook. However, I may change my mind as I am no longer in Ann Arbor. Boohoo! Notice the new location of Mayz on the sidebar.

Well, after I defended and officially turned in the final version of my dissertation, oh yeah, I officially turned my dissertation at the beginning of September. Hooray! Am Doctor! Nobody really cares... :P Anyway, after tying up loose ends and turning in my dissertation, I met up with Audrey in Miami for our trip to South America! First time for the both of us! We spent 16 days abroad, running ourselves ragged with traveling in Peru and Argentina, but it was a great time and you can read more about it here. Audrey is always so good with recounting trip details, especially since she has all the pictures. Why does she have all the pictures? Because my camera got stolen. *sigh* *double sigh*

Anyway, after I got back, I had to quickly pack my stuff up to head to NYC! I was both excited and very sad, both emotions that accompany every transition I guess. I got back on Friday, and had to quickly get some souvenirs together to give to my advisors as thank you gifts. I got to their offices in time, gave them their gifts, and I have to say it was pretty weird to be saying an official goodbye. I spent Saturday procrastinating a little, went through my mail, etc., and started packing. I made another trip to lab to gather my things, and that's when the tears starting coming. I spent 4 years sitting at that desk! I remembered all the work that I did in that corner, all the times that I yelled over to my labmate Kevin and mentor Oliver, and I couldn't believe that it was all over.

It was SO hard to say goodbye to all my friends in Ann Arbor because they have shared such an important time in my life. I remember my friend Bev saying that her mom thought that grad school was the happiest time in her life. When I got to U of M, I couldn't understand it, but now I can. I have to say that it has been the happiest time in my life. College was great, but I didn't have the freedom that I did in grad school. It's a semi-job in that you get paid, but on the other hand, you are able to dictate how you spend your time, your pace, and direction. I got to travel a lot, something that was impossible in college b/c I was taking classes. This was also the first time that I felt that I had control. Now this is both a good and bad thing, as I have often been jealous of those in law/business/med school for being told what you need to do and know. It's all mapped out! I have also been pretty happy to not study for tests or do homework. Everything has a tradeoff. I have met some pretty amazing people in grad school. I hold a lot of respect for the vast majority of them :P. I loved it how well we were able to relate to each other, in both our personal and academic lives. The field of biomedical engineering encompasses a lot of different kinds of engineers, and despite how different our research was, everybody showed interest in what each other was doing. Genuinely. We would spend our spare time talking about it -- this does not count as shop-talk or nerdy. Okay, maybe a little nerdy. It has been such a FANTASTIC experience.

So I left Ann Arbor in tears, thinking about the great friends that I have and the good times we've had together. I had a good 10 hour car ride to think about it! Pete got a one-way ticket to help me pack and drive with me to NYC. Actually he drove the whole way. The car was pretty cramped. Stuffed to capacity, and well, I was pretty impressed that we could fit all that in. Then a few days later, I was all settled in my new little sublet. I only have 2 months to find a job; otherwise, back to California I go!

My first day living in the big city consisted of (1) man driving truck hollering at me, and then stopping to get out of truck to talk to me, ick, I was able to keep walking without having to talk to him (2) 30 something man taking my hand in the subway and looking me up and down! Eeeewww! And that's exactly what I said out loud. Disgusting!! I was caught without my antibacterial soap. I washed my hands the first chance that I got. Nasty nasty man.

Then yesterday, I went for a run in Central Park. For my birthday, Nadder got me a Nike+ chip, so I tried it out. Very very cool. Haha... I only set my goal for 2 miles as I haven't been working out, but a female on my iPod talks to me and encourages me, and tells me how much distance I have left. 400 m left, 200 m left. Congratulations, you have met your goal. Why THANK you!!! Anyway, I discovered how difficult it is to run on the streets in Midtown. Basically impossible with so many people walking around. All I was doing was trying to get to the park to run. And, btw, I thought that it would be pretty pleasant to run in the park, but every now and then I got whiffs of horse poop. Nice. It's okay though, I know that there are more trails there, perhaps less horse presence, but I just didn't want to get lost in Cenral Park my first time.

Today, I'm going to see if I can get into a premiere at the New York Film Festival. It's a movie by the Coen brothers so I hope that 3 hours til showtime is enough to claim some standby tickets. I mean, ticket. I gotta get me some friends. :P Wish me luck!

Basil Update

Grown up right nice. See their younger selves here.




(Note difference in scale between the two plants by the railing behind them.)