Celebrating European Colonialism

It's Columbus Day, and I've worked it so that I am totally free - no selling admission to hungry tourists or organizing mismatched shoes at the Gap - just me, the TV, and hopefully a run and some shoe shopping. Oh and if I work up the enthusiasm, I may also clean the apartment, which has gotten filthy. When you have a job that's exhausting, and I assume most people do, it's easy to come home, plop yourself down on the couch, and spend the night watching House reruns followed by the Daily Show and Colbert Report. Then clothes and dirt and mail and dishes pile up around you and one day you just scream, "I CAN'T LIVE IN THIS FILTH!" and clean it all up. Perhaps today will be that day. 

But tonight is a must-watch TV night, as the Phils are battling the Dodgers in the 4th game of the NLCS postseason, which they lead 2 games to 1. But it's in LA, and they got killed last night in LA (and throughout the regular season) so it's really imperative that they get their act together and win this. 2 games to 1 is dangerous. 3 games to 1 is pretty much a guarantee.

 Baseball has always been a sport that I understood, but i've recently become a really big Phillies fan. I can name the majority of players on the team (pitchers may or may not be included in that) and have seen enough games and know enough about the players to be able to hold my own in a discussion with boys. For instance, I know we can't count on Ryan Howard in this postseason, and we've really got to look to Victorino, Burrell, and Utley for the big hits. Or, we could just put Brett Myers in as a designated hitter. 

See... didn't you just forget you were reading a girl's blog? Probably not. But I'm proud of myself and fan enough to make a shout-out and say GO PHILS tonight! BEAT LA!!!!

Oh, the Things One Sees

On Sunday morning we went out to grab some Dunkin' Donuts breakfast, and instead of bringing it home we decided to sit in Washington Square and eat it. As we were approaching the fountain to find a bench and settle down, I saw a dirty man standing by the water and taking off his socks and shoes. 

Before I knew it, his pants were rolled up and he was slogging around in the fountain water, picking up all kinds of change and shoving it into his battered pockets. 

Was I surprised? Not really. It was a bum taking change out of a fountain. I commend him for his resourcefulness. I was, however, amused when a little girl walking through the park with her dad ran straight up the fountain and started leaning over and having a conversation with the homeless guy. Well, it was less of a conversation than the little girl asking "What are you doing in there?" and the bum answering in some incoherent rambling that included the words "rain" and "quarters". Probably also some cursing. The girl was leaning over so far to listen to her new friend that I thought she was going to fall in. I also wondered what the hell her father was thinking in not pulling her away. But he looked a little homeless himself. 

Anyway... for your viewing pleasure (sorry the quality is so bad, I took it from my phone): 

In other news, I have to proclaim my new-found love for NPR podcasts. Yesterday I downloaded Saturday's "Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me" to my shuffle, and it made me laugh out loud as I was walking down the streets of Center City. Now I'm off to listen to some of the songs off Dar Williams' new CD, Promised Land. 

Ciao!

Working Stiff in Philadelphia

My new life of part-time jobs has begun! And I haven't gotten a paycheck yet to see how little i'm making, which probably explains why i'm so jolly right now. 

My first impression is that my time isn't as open as I'd like it to be - and it's really confusing to keep track of everything that i'm doing all at once! Also... the Gap operates on military time so it takes math to figure out my schedule. Oh, math is also involved in working at cash registers (which, by the way, is totally as fun as I had imagined it to be when I was 8 years old). Blech. Math. And a lot of it. 

But I am finding it pleasurable to walk to work, especially since it means I get to see the city at odd times (like 9 on a Saturday morning) and busy times like rush hour. And it isn't so bad dealing with tourists. Most of them are, aside from being pretty dumb, really well-meaning and some are even interesting to talk to like a guy today who was from the Netherlands but attending med school at UPenn. It's also very encouraging to find that the city you live in is an exciting place for so many people. They love the Liberty Bell! They want extra gift shop bags to take home as souvenirs! They are extra-enthusiastic about looking at the foundations of Ben Franklin's house... and OF COURSE they've already seen his grave. Philly is a hot destination, and why shouldn't it be? It's a hotbed of historic wonders, plus we've been ranked the ugliest city in the nation 2 years in a row! 

Plus... the discount I get at the Gap is phenomenal. 

And in terms of stress, I have so much less of it right now. No long drives where i'm gritting my teeth trying not to yell obscenities at other drivers. No crazy deadlines to meet. No horribly unreasonable client requests (except maybe the woman today who asked for an audio tour for her 2-year-old because... "her brother and sister have one and she's going to want one too, just like the iPod"). 

It ain't half bad so far. But I still gotta give it time. 

So You Wanna Quit Your Job

I did it. And I finally feel comfortable enough to talk about it. I gave my two-weeks notice at my job last Monday, which means today is my last day. I've been postponing talking about it because I'm a weirdo and think that somehow I'll jinx myself by making my resignation public. I also didn't want to mention my new jobs lest I also risk jinxing them. How silly. But here it is... in all its public glory.

Alas, my glamorous life as a direct mail copywriter is no longer, and I'm embarking on a new life of part-time jobs and a badly paying editorial internship. But all my new jobs are in Center City, so I won't have a 40-minute commute to deal with! I'm extremely excited about that, and here are some more things I'm excited about:

• Exploring a new field I think I'll like (Journalism, despite that I've heard it's dying and the pay is despicable)
• Working in retail... it's a weird thing to be excited about but I liked answering phones in a Dr.'s office so who knows?
• Working with people my age
• Being able to WALK to work
• Having the flexibility to do some stuff on the side... classes? volunteer? anything's possible!

And... now what I'm a little scared about:

• Strange working hours that include evenings and weekends
• A drastic cut in my income/benefits
• Leaving the people I got to know at my job
• Having to learn 3 jobs at once... all of which I know nothing about

It's all very new and confusing, but I have to say i'm more happy about it than anything. I'm young. I deserve to do some exploring (and even some living paycheck-to-paycheck). I deserve to work in the city I live in, and not spend almost 2 hours each day in a stressful commute.

Most of all - I trust myself and I trust my decisions. And if it doesn't work out... there's always grad school.

So true...

Saving gas, and saving the country from hicks, one step at a time.

Also, I read this morning in People mag that one of Todd Palin's favorite foods is Spam... with Peanut butter on it. I'm thrilled this is what we've come to, really thrilled.

12th and Market - The Gallery

Last night, after gorging myself at the Phillies roller coaster-like loss to the Marlins (SERIOUSLY, guys, getting everyone's hopes up and then leaving men on base is worse than blueballs! Or so I've heard...) I was driving home and heard some disturbing news on the radio.

Foxwoods Casino is in talks to relocate to The Gallery at Market East!

Oh, what horrible news this is. Casinos in general are just bad news - drunk gamblers stumbling around at all hours of the night, increased traffic, people driven into debt by excessive betting and then taking it out on the community - all around there's not much good that can come of it. Sure it might provide some jobs and increase tourism, but there are more sanitary ways to create jobs and are gamblers really the types of tourists we want in the Philly? I think it's safe to say we don't want to become another Atlantic City.

But then to take all the negatives about casinos, and plop them right down in the MIDDLE of a city that's already having trouble with people beating others with hammers on the subway... well that's just adding insult to injury.

To be fair, I don't actually know if casinos elevate crime. And I've gambled myself and find it fun (craps, anyone?) so I don't think all gamblers are lowlifes. But when I think about the sorry state of the Gallery and Market Street as it is today, I don't see converting it into a casino as a step up by any stretch of the imagination. I mean you've got Chestnut, with its restaurants, cafes, and delis, then Walnut with its theatre and quality shopping... and then there's Market Street with its trash, abandoned buildings, graffiti-ridden bus stops and public transportation nightmares... it deserves a better revitalization plan than a flashy slot-machine haven.

Is that really what we want people to see when they step off the train for the first time? Or when they venture from City Hall to Old City to partake in the historical treasures of Philadelphia? I think not.

The Great High-Fructose Corn Syrup Debate

Maybe it's a good thing that the Corn Refiner's Association (basically a lobbying group for said industry) has created a commercial promoting High-Fructose Corn Syrup. Maybe it means they're scared of losing sales because people are becoming more health conscious! We can only hope... If you haven't yet seen the commercial, which definitely freaked me out when I saw it for the first time the other day, check it out here.

It bothered me at first, but that was just because I had a generally negative attitude toward HFSC. My senior year I did a project on childhood obesity, and our research led us to conclude that the advent of HFCS contributed to the rise in obesity that is rampant today. It provided a cheap way to domestically produce sweetener that made food more appealing, jacked up calorie content, and gave things a longer shelf-life so people were more apt to buy in bulk since they weren't worried about things going bad (also the food was less expensive).

Now these reasons have nothing really to do with the actual chemical makeup of HFSC, just the economic and eating-habit-changing implications of the sweetener. This commercial, and its Internet counterpart sweetsurprise.com, focus more on promoting HFSC because it is "natural", has no more calories than table sugar, and is completely "safe" by FDA standards.

I won't argue that they're claim isn't true, mainly because I'm not in the mood to do that much research. But I will say that I think they're missing the point. You can give HFSC as many positive labels as you want, but the really issue is that people are eating TOO MUCH of it. And maybe that's because of commercials like this and people who rationalize that "natural" =" good for you" without actually thinking about it.

Everyday we get conflicting messages about food consumption - fad diets that fade and are replaced with completely different diets, government regulated guidelines that may or may not be influenced by lobbyists (like the CRA), certain trigger words that make us feel good (or bad) about what we're eating (such as trans-fat, lo-fat, fat-free, and all that other stuff most of us don't really understand) - and this commercial just adds to the confusion.

So I'm going to conclude that a) the commercial is unsettling and should be taken with a grain of salt and b) "all things in moderation" is a pretty good mantra to go by. So sure, reach for the HFSC (it's in pretty much everything you eat, anyway), but then maybe for a later snack you'll grab an apple or some carrot sticks. How's that for a compromise?