Around the Horn

1.  Laying in bed for most of Saturday not sleeping, but watching episodes of NBC’s Lipstick Jungle on my computer. Probably a subconscious yearning for New York City and high heels.
2.   Roommates that are easily irked.  We have spent a lot of time together, and I think a break is in order.

3.  Although my clothes are fine, my friend Jess claims that hers “are tattered”, thus dragging me to brave Black Friday even after the Woodbury Commons fiasco last year.  Helping the economy and helping her survive were her reasons.
4.  I looked in the mirror the other day.  The bags under my eyes should say enough.

5.  With negative degree windchill, Ithaca is telling us to go home (yet you still see girls out in miniskirts…please, why?)

Safe travels to all, happy feasting, and give thanks.

from:  Eric Lin
to:  Jennifer Lin , Robert Lin
date: Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 7:52 AM
subject: Warning: Overused Text Messages

Dear Jen and Rob:
Jen, you used 324 text messages last month and were charged $22.40 plus tax (100 messages for $2.99, $0.10 per message if over 100).  Please cut/control the text messages to less than 100 per month.  Actually, a phone call is “free” since we have over 700 rollover minutes.  What’s the point of text messaging anyway?

Rob, you used 68 text messages last month.  No problem, well controlled.

Dad

Is it just me, or has text-messaging become the main mode of communication?  I have never been a huge fan, as I think that a five minute conversation is much more effective and efficient than a string of 20 text messages.  It never occurred to me how much more I was “texting” until I got that underhanded email from my dad a few weeks ago.  And to be fair, I receive far more messages than I send (I usually call a person once they text).

This is now a pet peeve of mine, and I couldn’t help but notice this last night.  My entire house and I were out at Rulloff’s for drinks, and out of the 9 ladies sitting around the table, 5 were GLUED to their phones, ears perking everytime the message tone went off. Every 30 seconds.  I earnestly made an effort to get the girls off their phones, but to no avail.  Oh, I’m sorry, am I wasting your time, holding you here? Am I that boring to chat with? Can you hold your attention (and eye contact) during a conversation for more than five minutes without feeling the urge to check your phone?  Not only is it rude, but there is less and less facetime and more opportunity for embarrassing nights out.  Yes, I’m referring to the drunken middle of the night “where r u” text, the “come over” proposition that almost never pans out to be a shining moment the morning after.  Sometimes I just want to take away phones during the night, and I hate being the friend that calls a roommate “twiddly thumbs,” but it really does bother me that dinner and coffee dates are never the same.

Of course, I’ve been a culprit of suggestive texting, but now I realize that BBM-ing and texting are just other ways to avoid human interaction (just thinking back to AIM’s heyday), and I’m cutting back.  My housemates know now to call me, and November has been a respectable month to date; while I’ve received 76 so far, I’ve only sent out 8.  Baby steps, but the last thing I want is another “haha way to go, Jen” email from my brother Robert.

Sometimes I hate Daylight Savings.

It’s safe to say that 90% of the student population would dread to wake up at 7:45am on a Sunday morning, especially after a raucous Saturday night.  However, since it was my semesterly staff retreat for CIVR (tourguiding), I didn’t have a choice.  With CTB Coffee in tow, I schlepped to the Cornell Orchards with the other 65 tourguides.  A professor and graduate student from the Department of Horticulture met us with friendly smiles and hot cider.  We got to tour the storage facilities of the Cornell Orchards, which included cooler units, oxygen-tight units, sorting machines, and a cider press.  The Orchards store was stocked with all different types of apples as well as local foods and goods.  We also sampled paw-paws, a local fruit with a mellow taste and an avocado-like consistency (not so good), and a “hearty fruit”, which resembles bite-sized poppable kiwifruit.

Cornell continues to promote sustainability and local foods, and every apple grown, if it’s not used for research, is sold as is or pressed into cider.  Aside from the generic types of apples (Macintosh and Fuji), the orchards also have “heirloom” types, apple varieties grown a few hundred years ago in Europe.  Cornell’s Geneva Extension has also developed their fair share of apple types, many of which are sold in supermarkets today:  the Cortland, Empire, Macoun, Jonagold (my favorite, and apparently the most popular type of apple sold in Europe).  The Cornell Orchards are just on the cusp of the campus boundary near the Vet School, but you can still get Cornell apples on campus: grab some cider, or buy an apple from the apple vending machine in the Plant Science building!

I think all of us will remember where we were when we found out that Obama had won the election.  For me, that was at a Collegetown bar where the Class of 2009 Council held their Election Night Party.  Collegetown filled with ecstatic and emotional Cornellians, cheering while cars honked through the streets.  We could hear chants of “yes we can” and “O-BA-MA” well into the night.
I’m not a big politics person by any means, but I am glad that America is embracing change.  This is HUGE, and I am optimistic.  It was a success for the Democratic party, gaining the majority in the Senate and the House, but Prop 8 in California–the ban on gay marriage, come on California!  In a state that is so progressive and accepting, I’m a little disappointed that Prop 8 passed.

Insomnia Cookies is a dessert haven, pumping out oozy gooey cookies and brownies to satisfy the Collegetown late night crowd.  One of their marketing ploys is posting a trivia question daily, and if you answer correctly, you get a free cookie (market price $1).  The question on Friday concerned Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and the infamous shower scene.  What did they use as a substitute for blood?

Don’t ask why, but I happened to be Wikipedia surfing the week before, and hit the Alfred Hitchcock page.  I’ve always been meaning to see more of his movies, now that I’m no longer 7 years old and having nightmares from a particular scene from The Birds.  After reading the Psycho page, I knew that they used chocolate syrup as a substitute for blood (black and white film).  I gobbled up my gooey chocolate chip cookie, and went home happy and ready for an insane Halloween to follow.