I think this video is hilarious. Gosh, don't you just miss the 80s?! I know, I don't either.
By the way, can you believe that Jane Fonda turns 70 this year? So she was 50 when she made those workout videos? Wow. Forget about engaging in "body fusion" activities; at that age, I'd feel lucky just to be able to chew solid foods and not have to wear an adult diaper!
On the topic of fitness gurus, apparently people around the world are still sweatin' to the oldies with Richard Simmons (he turns 59 this year). I guess that stuff never gets "old" for some people.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
We Got More Bounce in California!
I have returned from my short trip back to the States. It was great to go "home" even though I didn't get a chance to see my family. I was lucky, however, to spend some time with family friends, Diana, Andrew, and their two kids, and Michelle who generously took time off from her busy schedule to drive me all over LA to go sightseeing.
I hadn't realized how much I'd adjusted to living in Oz until I found myself doing little things like looking the wrong way before crossing the street, getting into the wrong side of the car as a passenger ("uh, did you want to drive?" was a look/question I often got), and constantly trying to go up a down escalator. And every time anyone spoke, my immediate thought was, "Wow! An American!" like I'd never met one of my own before.
The flights there and back were long and uncomfortable, and getting through airport security was a lot more complicated than what I've gotten used to. In the States - as I'm sure many of you already know - compared to pre-9/11 times, lines to get through security are longer, the likelihood of your bags getting searched is higher, and if you're like me, there's always something that ends up getting confiscated. I've replaced my small swiss army knife at least twice for forgetting that I had brought it with me in my carry-on bag.
And the new 3.2 oz and one plastic baggy rule for liquids in carry-on baggage - are you kidding? I forgot that I had a 6oz bottle of unopened juice when I got to my gate at the Sydney airport and I was told to either drink the entire thing in front of security or throw it away. Then after getting a pat down by a female guard, a male guard standing nearby came toward me as I was putting my shoes back on and said, "My turn," winked, and then started rubbing his hands on his chest. Gross! Apparently, the likelihood of getting sexually harassed is still greater than getting attacked by a terrorist.
In Australia, little has changed to airport security since 9/11. For example, every time I've flown on a domestic flight within Oz, I have not had to show any form of I.D. at any point between the check-in counter and getting on the airplane. This could be a bit scary given the state of the world that we live in today, but if you think about it - Australia is so far from anywhere else (except Antarctica but seriously, who goes there?), it's probably too much trouble to come all the way here to blow up an airplane. Of course, this perspective comes from a peace-loving, tree-hugging, kumbaya-singing, why-can't-we-all-just-along-thinking hippie pacifist. What do I know?
But anyway, back to Los Angeles. My "test" went okay though it was one of the strangest assessments I've ever taken. It was entirely multiple choice and it consisted of three main parts: critical thinking; life experience; and reading comprehension/grammar. I probably shouldn't go into specific details about what was on the exam (they're still administering it in different parts of the country) but I can't help but share a little something about the "life experience" section. What was odd about this section was that some of the questions asked about my performance in high school. Dude, that was so long ago, who the heck cares anymore? Apparently, the federal government does. The questions asked about my grades and attendance. Geez louise.
What I thought was the funniest moment was right before we started on that section. The proctor said, "I just received an email from the psychologist who developed these questions. He says do not complete question #93. Turn to that question in your booklet and cross it out." We all flipped to it and the question read (and I quote):
"No matter what I do, people just don't like me."
Exactly why it's necessary for the government to know this kind of information is beyond me, but whatever.
After spending four hours doing that silly thing, I went to the La Brea Tar Pits with Michelle. I had also wanted to visit the LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and the MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) but they were both closed on Wednesdays. So much for getting some culture while I was in LA.
Other highlights of my trip: Diana works for Tom Hanks' production company, Playtone, so I tagged along to her office, got a tour and chatted with some of her co-workers about the movie business. It's a small company but it does a surprising number of big projects for its size (e.g. Big Love, Ant Bully, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and upcoming productions - John Adams, Pacifica, etc). Diana also drove me through her neighborhood and pointed out homes of various celebrities including Jennifer Garner, John Travolta, Jim Carrey, and Alanis Morrissette. And by "homes" I really mean very tall bushes. I hope people don't actually pay money to buy celebrity maps or go on tours because there is absolutely nothing to see - unless you're really interested in iron gates and big thorny flora. But to each their own.
Now it's back to papers and problem sets. Two and a half more months to go! Woo!
I hadn't realized how much I'd adjusted to living in Oz until I found myself doing little things like looking the wrong way before crossing the street, getting into the wrong side of the car as a passenger ("uh, did you want to drive?" was a look/question I often got), and constantly trying to go up a down escalator. And every time anyone spoke, my immediate thought was, "Wow! An American!" like I'd never met one of my own before.
The flights there and back were long and uncomfortable, and getting through airport security was a lot more complicated than what I've gotten used to. In the States - as I'm sure many of you already know - compared to pre-9/11 times, lines to get through security are longer, the likelihood of your bags getting searched is higher, and if you're like me, there's always something that ends up getting confiscated. I've replaced my small swiss army knife at least twice for forgetting that I had brought it with me in my carry-on bag.
And the new 3.2 oz and one plastic baggy rule for liquids in carry-on baggage - are you kidding? I forgot that I had a 6oz bottle of unopened juice when I got to my gate at the Sydney airport and I was told to either drink the entire thing in front of security or throw it away. Then after getting a pat down by a female guard, a male guard standing nearby came toward me as I was putting my shoes back on and said, "My turn," winked, and then started rubbing his hands on his chest. Gross! Apparently, the likelihood of getting sexually harassed is still greater than getting attacked by a terrorist.
In Australia, little has changed to airport security since 9/11. For example, every time I've flown on a domestic flight within Oz, I have not had to show any form of I.D. at any point between the check-in counter and getting on the airplane. This could be a bit scary given the state of the world that we live in today, but if you think about it - Australia is so far from anywhere else (except Antarctica but seriously, who goes there?), it's probably too much trouble to come all the way here to blow up an airplane. Of course, this perspective comes from a peace-loving, tree-hugging, kumbaya-singing, why-can't-we-all-just-along-thinking hippie pacifist. What do I know?
But anyway, back to Los Angeles. My "test" went okay though it was one of the strangest assessments I've ever taken. It was entirely multiple choice and it consisted of three main parts: critical thinking; life experience; and reading comprehension/grammar. I probably shouldn't go into specific details about what was on the exam (they're still administering it in different parts of the country) but I can't help but share a little something about the "life experience" section. What was odd about this section was that some of the questions asked about my performance in high school. Dude, that was so long ago, who the heck cares anymore? Apparently, the federal government does. The questions asked about my grades and attendance. Geez louise.
What I thought was the funniest moment was right before we started on that section. The proctor said, "I just received an email from the psychologist who developed these questions. He says do not complete question #93. Turn to that question in your booklet and cross it out." We all flipped to it and the question read (and I quote):
"No matter what I do, people just don't like me."
Exactly why it's necessary for the government to know this kind of information is beyond me, but whatever.
After spending four hours doing that silly thing, I went to the La Brea Tar Pits with Michelle. I had also wanted to visit the LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and the MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) but they were both closed on Wednesdays. So much for getting some culture while I was in LA.
Other highlights of my trip: Diana works for Tom Hanks' production company, Playtone, so I tagged along to her office, got a tour and chatted with some of her co-workers about the movie business. It's a small company but it does a surprising number of big projects for its size (e.g. Big Love, Ant Bully, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and upcoming productions - John Adams, Pacifica, etc). Diana also drove me through her neighborhood and pointed out homes of various celebrities including Jennifer Garner, John Travolta, Jim Carrey, and Alanis Morrissette. And by "homes" I really mean very tall bushes. I hope people don't actually pay money to buy celebrity maps or go on tours because there is absolutely nothing to see - unless you're really interested in iron gates and big thorny flora. But to each their own.
Now it's back to papers and problem sets. Two and a half more months to go! Woo!
Friday, February 09, 2007
Another Reason to Feel Superior
A study published by a team of researchers at Southampton University a couple of months ago found a link between a high IQ and being vegetarian. Among the 8,000+ participants in the study, those who were vegetarian by the age of 30 had IQ scores five points above the average.
Other findings in the study show that vegetarians were more likely to be female, to be of higher occupational social class, and to have higher academic qualifications than non-vegetarians.
Vegetarians, on average, also experience lower rates of heart disease and obesity. So not only are we smarter, we're healthier too. And we're really hot to boot. No study is required to confirm that fact!
If that isn't a good enough reason to give up your Big Macs and fried chicken, you may want to check out this article. I read it about three years ago and it influenced me to switch to a vegetarian diet. Read it and form your own opinions on the issue. Feel free to share those opinions on this blog!
Other findings in the study show that vegetarians were more likely to be female, to be of higher occupational social class, and to have higher academic qualifications than non-vegetarians.
Vegetarians, on average, also experience lower rates of heart disease and obesity. So not only are we smarter, we're healthier too. And we're really hot to boot. No study is required to confirm that fact!
If that isn't a good enough reason to give up your Big Macs and fried chicken, you may want to check out this article. I read it about three years ago and it influenced me to switch to a vegetarian diet. Read it and form your own opinions on the issue. Feel free to share those opinions on this blog!
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Is it February Already?
At the rate I'm blogging these days, it'll take me until May before I finish writing about my travels over my break. I blame it all on this pesky thing called school that keeps getting in the way. On top of classes and capstone project work (which is done in lieu of a traditional thesis), I'm also a TA for two statistics classes and a peer mentor for some of the new incoming students. It's the second week of the semester and most of the newbies are already looking like shell-shocked flood victims. What can I say except - Welcome to the Heinz school, your new hell away from home! Suck it up and start getting used to it, cupcake! As you can see, I'm an excellent and sympathetic mentor to my peers.
Did I also mention that I need to be looking for this other pesky thing called a job? Since the administration has slacked in providing career support for its students, we full-time students are left to find jobs on our own. We have limited, if any, access to recruiting services back in Pittsburgh. With the distance and ridiculous time difference (i.e. 15.5 hours!), the career services staff back in Pittsburgh seem to always forget about us no matter how many e-mails we send reminding them that we do in fact exist and need jobs too.
Over the semester break, the staff interviewed a prospective candidate for the career specialist position for the Adelaide campus. Indhu and Andy, our student reps, attended a mock presentation that this candidate put on to strut her stuff. According to Indhu and Andy, she was dreadful. There was no mention of recruiting at all in her presentation. When Indhu asked her to describe her strategies to find students jobs, her response was that she'd have to do some "research" on that. So what does the school do about this? It hired her of course. She starts next week.
Although on-campus recruiting has been disappointing in that it has been non-existent, Heinz has been surprisingly helpful in other ways. I will be taking an assessment test for a federal government program next week in Los Angeles and Heinz will be reimbursing my airfare. It'll be a pain in the ass to fly half way around the world for a 3-hour test, but because Heinz is providing financial support for me to do it, it's an opportunity that I shouldn't pass up. The downside to this is that I will be missing an entire week of school. I fly out this coming Sunday morning and I leave LA Thursday night but I don't actually arrive back in Adelaide until Saturday morning, so I lose almost two days coming back.
It's hard to believe that when I fly into LAX this weekend it will have been almost nine months since I've been in the States. That's the longest time I've been out of the country! It hasn't felt like that much time has passed but it does feel like I've been in school for too long. I think I might be getting a bad case of senioritis!
Before I finish this entry, I want to say that I haven't given up on the plan to finish blogging about my recent travels, but it's taking a lot longer to write than I had anticipated. So I pose this question to all my adoring fans out there -- how interested are you in reading more about Southeast Asia and my romp through northeastern Australia with Lin, the 'promiscuous maneater'? (Did I intrigue you with that last little tidbit?) Post a comment - I need some encouragement here!
Did I also mention that I need to be looking for this other pesky thing called a job? Since the administration has slacked in providing career support for its students, we full-time students are left to find jobs on our own. We have limited, if any, access to recruiting services back in Pittsburgh. With the distance and ridiculous time difference (i.e. 15.5 hours!), the career services staff back in Pittsburgh seem to always forget about us no matter how many e-mails we send reminding them that we do in fact exist and need jobs too.
Over the semester break, the staff interviewed a prospective candidate for the career specialist position for the Adelaide campus. Indhu and Andy, our student reps, attended a mock presentation that this candidate put on to strut her stuff. According to Indhu and Andy, she was dreadful. There was no mention of recruiting at all in her presentation. When Indhu asked her to describe her strategies to find students jobs, her response was that she'd have to do some "research" on that. So what does the school do about this? It hired her of course. She starts next week.
Although on-campus recruiting has been disappointing in that it has been non-existent, Heinz has been surprisingly helpful in other ways. I will be taking an assessment test for a federal government program next week in Los Angeles and Heinz will be reimbursing my airfare. It'll be a pain in the ass to fly half way around the world for a 3-hour test, but because Heinz is providing financial support for me to do it, it's an opportunity that I shouldn't pass up. The downside to this is that I will be missing an entire week of school. I fly out this coming Sunday morning and I leave LA Thursday night but I don't actually arrive back in Adelaide until Saturday morning, so I lose almost two days coming back.
It's hard to believe that when I fly into LAX this weekend it will have been almost nine months since I've been in the States. That's the longest time I've been out of the country! It hasn't felt like that much time has passed but it does feel like I've been in school for too long. I think I might be getting a bad case of senioritis!
Before I finish this entry, I want to say that I haven't given up on the plan to finish blogging about my recent travels, but it's taking a lot longer to write than I had anticipated. So I pose this question to all my adoring fans out there -- how interested are you in reading more about Southeast Asia and my romp through northeastern Australia with Lin, the 'promiscuous maneater'? (Did I intrigue you with that last little tidbit?) Post a comment - I need some encouragement here!
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