Around the Horn

Anyone else glad we didn’t have hair like this?
Last semester, I decided to shell out $5 to pose in a cap and gown, partially because it was the only time I would have an official picture taken in college, and four years without a school picture left me wondering how much I had changed, even though I still think I look 15. One thing’s for sure, the success rate of a “good” yearbook photo is still grim. Does anyone ever have a “perfect” yearbook picture?

I winced when I saw the proofs–some things never change. The collared shirt I chose to wear made me look like a untoned blob and the lighting only reminded me how quickly suntans disappear upon arriving in Ithaca. Looking on the bright side, no school picture could be worse than my sixth grade picture. Little Jen complete with large black metal frame glasses and a crocheted sweater in all the wrong colors. Too bad no one could see the jeans I wore: bell bottoms with heart-shaped leopard-print velour patches. Limited Too wasn’t messing around, and I am guilty to buying into their every trend. At least I didn’t have braces.

I wish I were in DC right now for the inauguration, but I’m at work in Day Hall with the next best thing: the MSNBC live stream. I am excited to see that things are finally looking up and am optimistic for the next few months. I’m also a little obsessed with Michelle Obama, the epitome of a power woman, but I digress.

I’ve been getting a lot of flak for being a Democrat and entering the finance world. Some think that Obama will take money from the rich and giving to the poor. To be honest, I voted for Obama because I think that he will bring something new to the American political landscape. I voted for America, and while that may mean that I’ll be living a little more frugally, so be it. Either way, I’m an alumna in debt and Wall Street compensation is not really going anywhere within the next year or so, not unless the economy starts turning around and the bailout plan actually starts working itself out. In the mean time, I think America is aching for change, and I’m going to embrace this historic event–and wait to see what Michelle is wearing tonight.

Six weeks into school, all of us are deserving a little break.  While many of my friends went home yesterday in time for Yom Kippur, I am still in town, as I have a midterm tomorrow in Opera.  Then it’s off to Williams College to visit my friend Sarah, followed up with a day-or-two visit to Boston.  Cheers to you, Columbus.

Has anyone seen the recent Columbus Day Old Navy commercial?  The only reason I bring it up is because I’m slightly disturbed by the fact that the first line in the commercial is “forget when Columbus sailed to America…!!” and then plugs their 1492 items of clothing up for sale.  I hope that’s not the lesson we’re teaching young America.  Materialism plagues us all, but I don’t think marketing Columbus Day as the pre-Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas day to shop wasn’t what the fellow had in mind.

Patagonia Kid’s (yea, yea) Down Vest. The women’s style is too curvy for me. I can say with confidence that this is one of my favorite pieces in my wardrobe. Not the cute tops and heels, not the sweater sets and designer jeans. What this vest lacks in style it makes up for with its intense down insulation. It also makes me feel like Marty McFly wearing it, but any mention of Back to the Future makes my entire house groan. I still think that the Back to the Future trilogy is awesome, but my house has vetoed a Back to the Future screening EVERY time that I’ve suggested. Long live the flux capacitor.

Anyway, the vest is perfect to top over a sweatshirt, long shirt, or even a t-shirt (then you can really channel Michael J. Fox). It’s not as bulky as some winter jackets, and offers wicked wind protection. As the days (hopefully) get warmer and warmer, this vest is the perfect transition piece to the light spring jacket, and more fashionable means of insulation.

Got this in the mail the other day…

My favorite magazine, hands down, is Vanity Fair. Maybe not the most reliable source on world news, but this is definitely much better than the National Enquirer or Star. To give it credit, Vanity Fair does have some interesting articles that cover a wide spectrum of topics. One issue last year highlighted the lightning-speed development of Dubai, and now this month, we get a sneak-peek into the life of Julia Roberts. There are political commentaries, funny cartoons, interviews, and great candid photos of the social elite. The magazine always seems to get the “hottest” interviews with celebrities (remember when people thought Suri Cruise was an alien…?), and this L.A. girl needs to stay connected with her hometown in some way, because hanging in Ithaca just won’t cut it.

Some may find that flipping to page 138 to finally see the letter from the editor may be ridiculous, but I LOVE print ads. Yea, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford haute couture, and right now, the last thing I’m thinking about is Louis and Prada, but I really do enjoy looking at the style and artistic merit with some of the ads. And, you know about some advertising campaigns that are always hyped up? (The Disneyworld ads with David Beckham as Prince Phillip, Scarlet as Cinderella, etc.?) Those always pop up in Vanity Fair, so you’ll always have a copy to yourself instead of trying to steal a billboard. Not that I would encourage that.

However, the best thing that I look forward to when receiving my subscription? My roommate Cathleen is the most baller chick and gave me a subscription for Christmas, leaving out one minor detail. I can only imagine the looks/thoughts of the postmasters when they deliver the magazine to a Jennifer “Bada**” Lin. Classy, eh?

Why do I do this to myself? Every year, I tell myself never again, it’s not worth it. Yet year after year, I still end up sacrificing post-Thanksgiving sleep to the America tradition known as Black Friday.

Destination: Woodbury Commons, one of the largest outlet malls in the nation about 17 miles north of the NJ/NY border
The Plan: Thanksgiving dinner with my friend Jessica at her Jersey home, quick tryptophan-induced nap, leave at 10:30 p.m., arrive by midnight, do damage with plastic, peace out
The Payout: Retail therapy, empty wallet, bed by 4 a.m. a strong possibility

Too bad half the population of the Tri-State area had the exact same itinerary. Once Jess and I were around 15 miles from our destination, our car stopped moving, as did thousands of other traffic-jammed families. The remaining 15-minute drive stretched out 2.5 hours. TWO AND A HALF HOURS. It was like the apocalypse was upon us and all rules went out the window: impatient drivers cut in line, only to form another jammed up lane. Security personnel stared in disbelief, horns were honking all over the place. People were getting out of cars to WALK to Woodbury. Hey, at this point, using your own two legs was faster.

We parked at 2:30 am. What lay ahead: three hours of waiting outside, sorting through piles of unfolded clothing, grabbing and claiming your merchandise. Retail therapy working in full force. We finished at around 5:30, feeling satiated but ready to leave. However, leaving Woodbury was just like arriving, with pileups all along the parking lot. Jess and I decided to sleep like hobos in my car and wait for lighter traffic.

Three hours later, still jammed. Radio stations were warning, “whatever you do, don’t drive to Woodbury, you cannot move.” When we finally started going above 5 mph, my heart jumped a little. We got home at 10:30 a.m., a complete revolution around the face of the clock.

Consumer Whorism at its finest.

It’s not that I find doing laundry unnecessary, but when push comes to shove, laundry often takes a backseat to studying for those blasted prelims. It’s a little less pressing than taking a shower (which sometimes seems like a chore to me…but I stress that I do have very good hygiene). After two years of college laundry, I have adopted various measures to help decrease the number of trips to the laundromat:

1. Buying enough undergarments and socks to last a long time. And by long time, I mean over 3 weeks. You can never have enough pairs of underwear and/or socks. However, washing 3 weeks worth of socks can prove to be chaotic when it’s time to match up the pairs. Laundromat washers and dryers are also notorious for eating socks, as I always come home with less socks than I started with. I technically have enough resources to last one month, but have yet to tap into these desperation-reserves.

2. Wearing pants more than once. I used to wear a pair of jeans once and then toss them into the hamper. Unless you have mid-calf salt stains or a super accident on the way to class, there is no reason why jeans and other pants cannot be worn more than once. The same applies for sweatshirts. Be sure to check for potential stains and suspicious odors before rewearing.

3. Taking advantage of the Teagle laundry service. Teagle Hall, home to our athletic offices and gyms, provides laundry bags/nets for my team, where you just hook on any dirty clothes, toss in a hamper, and wait for clean clothes the following day. This takes care of most of my athletic/workout clothes, which is usually 70% of my washing loads.

4. Accumulating free t-shirts. Free t-shirts = more clothing to work out in = more clothes to go through before resorting to a wash. Be warned that there is an appropriate time and place to wear certain shirts, which is why my “Class of 2009″ Cornell t-shirt has not seen any face time beyond Orientation Week. Two years ago.

5. Tide-to-Go pen. For the stain klutz.

Call me foul, but I’m just your average college student with a ridiculous sock collection. If you follow these proposed measures, you’ll be clear of the laundromat for a month; your bedroom floor, however, may not be as lucky. Keep in mind that in the end, nothing compares to looking at a full closet of clean clothes and snuggling in your just-washed covers. And that clean laundry smell.

While getting ready for class last week, I passed by Sarah’s room to find her in full power suit and heels mode, getting ready for an on-campus interview. Big-time companies always come this time of year to kick off their full-time recruitment process, and scores of seniors have been steaming their nicest suits, polishing their power heels/shoes, and printing out resumes (on resume paper, please) by the ream.

Cornell does a great job coordinating career fairs (went to that, check), inviting companies to woo students during their presentations, and providing workshops for students wishing to perfect their interviewing/resume skills (”No, nunchuck skills should NOT be listed under Additional Skills…”). However, my dilemma is not “navy suit or black suit”, but finding time to go to these puppies. Most of these companies present at the Statler from 4:30ish to around 8:00ish, which is when I’m on the lake for practice.

Two weeks ago, one of those big companies decided to reach out to the student-athlete contingent and kick-off their summer intern recruiting process with a breakfast. The invitation was sent out to student-athletes with any potential interest in finance/business,”a casual meet and greet with some representatives of the company”. Working hard 6 times a week does have its advantages, I must say.

The breakfast provided me with a lot of schmoozing insight. While casual attire for the average college student would be a t-shirt and jeans, the event was clearly not casual, with both guys and girls busting out business casual slacks and shirts. Thank goodness I opted for pressed khakis and an oxford shirt. As I now know, “representatives of the company” could range from a new analyst or the “Cornell Ambassador” of said company, aka the one who can decide your corporate life in a second. It’s a big surprise to find out, especially while you’re in mid-sip of a glass of orange juice. Yep, that didn’t stay too well up my nose…

After the presentation, I had a whirlwind schedule of classes and was hitting myself in the head for not bringing an extra change of clothes. Who likes peeling off khakis? Finally, heels are your frenemies, like Paris and Lindsay. While walking down Dryden, you look hot, your legs are looking good, that guy from econ is checking you out. And then you’ll face plant.

In an effort to promote Greek Life on campus, all the sororities and fraternities banded together this week to participate in Greek Week, also known as a chance to show off the piles of greek apparel you accumulate throughout the years, most of which will probably not see many days after college…Anyway, during Greek Week, sororities and fraternities are split into color teams and battle in various activities, receiving points for attendance and performance at the events. Whichever team picks up the most points by the end of today will win the title of Greek Week Champion.

Kappa Delta is on a team with 4 other fraternities and another smaller sorority; together, I present to you…the Orange Team-m-mm (attempted reverb effect a la Olympic Stadium)!! Representing orange has its advantages and disadvantages. Incorporating orange in my daily ensembles has proven to be difficult, as I’m sure that no one has extensive orange representation in their wardrobe, unless you enjoy being compared to a traffic cone. I only have one orange item…bright orange crocs for rowing. If those were seen in public, the fashion police and anti-croc enthusiast Jenna would be all over my grill. So yea, no orange this week, stayed smartly incognito. But all wardrobe choices aside, you cannot deny how great the team motto is: Orange you glad to be Greek?

The Orange team won the 3-on-3 basketball tournament and showed strength in numbers at all the events which included a bonfire, Greek Olympics, and a 5K run. My contributions to Greek Week: I bought a t-shirt, went to most of the events, and donated blood. Donating blood counts me out of the 5K event today which I really wanted to run, but considering that it is sweltering hot outside and you can chew on the air, maybe donating blood wasn’t a bad choice. I saved 3 lives, got to look tough sporting a sweet hot-pink bandage around campus, and scored 10 points for the Orange team.

This just in: my roommate Cathleen won the women’s division in the 5K.  She is a goddess in her own right.

Thanks to my friend Eric, the prepped-out Vineyard Vines company came to Cornell today with free goodies, beanbag tossing, and…rain. I’ve always been a fan of this brand’s cute prints that adorn their tote bags, belts, and of course, their signature ties. However, being a pinching pennies college student, some of their products are a little out of my price range. So, when I heard free stuff, I came aflockin’.

VVines invaded Willard Straight Hall as a charity event benefiting United Way. With a $1 donation, you were given 3 beanbags which you had to toss towards this slanted board with a circle cut out in the center. Think Skeeball but with tossing a beanbag, and with only one hole. Get a beanbag in, win a prize. Get 2 in, a bigger prize. All three, well, you score yourself a very nice tie/tote/etc. So…I didn’t get any in, and I’m starting to think that the technique for this beanbag toss is closely correlated with bowling ability, which we all know that I am bereft of in all cases. Man, all I wanted was one of their foam whale hats. I did score some stickers and pens; my friend Whitney walked away with a totebag. My other friend Jason was having a field day, and walked away with a bowtie, frisbee, t-shirt, among other things. The Vineyard Vines reps were very nice, very genuine people. I also salute them for braving the Ithacan elements and stopping on the Hill to let us prepsters indulge a bit in ribbon belt wearing/totebag carrying/MV summering fun.