let's get retarded

tonight is the re deux of the black eyed peas concert in central park that got cancelled in june due to the ridic, monsoon, god hates us thunderstorms that happened.

in honor of the concert, i would like to spend a little time reflecting on the black eyed peas, as it's easy to forgot some of their early hits and many of their songs figured prominently into my college career (undergrad and otherwise at least).

• where is the love (2003) - remember this one? according to wikipedia this was their first big hit. i remember listening to the radio on december 31, 2003 when it announced this was the number one song of 2003. i have to say, it isn't my fave, but i begrudgingly acknowledge its presence.

• my humps, don't phunk with my heart, shut up, hey mama, let's get retarded (2004-05) - remember these bep classics? they're all on countless basement mix cds (that are now scratched and unplayable, not that i have a cd player to play them on). for some reason my humps reminds me of ceppos - i think i first heard it while playing her in pong - but hey mama and let's get retarded were basement anthems when we were undergrads. 

• boom boom pow, i got a feeling, immabe, meet me halfway (2009) - i associate all these songs with mash-ups. they all have great beats that set the background for many of my favorite mash-ups including i got more than a feeling,and imma stop loving drugs

• the time (dirty bit), don't stop the party, just can't get enough (2011) - as catchy as ever, esp that 'dirty bit!' part :)

resonates

from penelope trunk's post 'how to see the need for change':

it's a pretty safe bet that we all live our lives somewhere between the perfect and the terrible. And nothing is really really good always. But there is still sometimes. Because the really really good parts exist only in brief moments. So when you think you need to switch jobs, or switch cities, or switch spouses, or switch any of the other bazillion things that you might feel are not as good as they should be, remind yourself that your job, your family, and even your dinners are probably pretty much the same as everyone else's. And remind yourself to enjoy those brief, really, really good parts.

hodgepodge

a few other thoughts i'll share:

i feel kind of left out this time of year when everyone's at their college bar in the city watching their alma mater play football on saturdays. there's really no one for us dartmouth kids to cheer for. i'm convinced alums wouldn't go up to hanover as often if there was a way to get together with alums and have dartmouth school spirit on a regular basis. i guess for the time being we have to hope the aires go all the way on 'the sing-off' if we want to have a dartmouth viewing in nyc

i've blogged about lumosity before and i won't gush about how much i love it now, but i was playing games on the lumosity iphone app while i was on the subway the other day and realized how ironic it was that i was playing a game designed to improve my attention while paying absolutely no attention to my surroundings.

speaking of apps, i would now like to do a quick overview of some of my favorite iphone apps. it's hard to find out about good/cool apps without people telling you 'this is a good app. so without further ado:

• camera plus - awesome photo app that puts the editing tools like cropping, borders and filters right on your phone.

• 360 - panorama app that lets you easily take panorama pictures. once you start thinking about it there are tons of cool panoramas to take. i've taken them from the top of baker tower, at the mets game and at the beach

• djay - music app that puts the dj turntables on your phone. being only an amateur dj i don't know what to do with half of the functionalities, but i've been told it has an impressive array for an app

• matchbook - love this app for remembering restaurants and bars. never tried it outside of nyc, but it groups your bookmarked locations by neighborhood so the next time someone wants to meet up for dinner in the west village you can consult and remember what places you like there and those that you've been meaning to try

• itrans nyc - another nyc centric app but this is a great one for telling you when the next train is coming so you can time your exit from the bar

• espn score center - great app for the play by plays of games when you can't be watching yourself. intuitive design and runs pretty smoothly for an app that's frequently updating

any other reader faves that i should check out?

sorry i haven't posted

sorry i haven't posted. i know it's been awhile - got back from the cape after labor day and things have been super busy. i guess they weren't kidding about summer being over.

here's what's happened since the last time i posted:

• watched the patriots win and lose (damn you bills)
• fixed my toilet seat (i can do it and home depot can help)
• caught up with robin, brogiin, huyett, cody, ceppos and celeste
• went to maynard's wedding in denver
• applied to a job at dartmouth and one in boston
• hung out with my sister for three nights while she was in town for work
• reuned with my old coworkers
• tried out 'the tippler', a new bar in the basement of chelsea market and 'bathtub gin', the speakeasy behind the coffee shop on 18th and 9th
• talked to my boss on the phone from australia
• attended the dartmouth club fall kick-off party with mulley
• had 4 cavities filled (yuck!)
• had two dates with a guy i met in a bar (not going anywhere)
• started my 10-week volunteer project with an elementary school in the bronx
• bought my plane ticket to miami for taylor's wedding
• planned trips to philly, new haven and boston in october
• checked into my 1000 check-in on foursquare
• heard 'damn it feels good to be a gangsta' for the first time in about 6 years
• got my hair done
• cried because logan had to be put down
• spent my september clothing budget at the lilly pulitzer summer sale

i'll try to be better in the future

ruminations on the single life

great post today from my friend and watching-the-patriots-is-a-dating-strategy partner in crime julia on being single on her blog 'it's not that weird'. in addition to being hilarious, she tackles some tough topics relating to sex and relationships. 

my favorite part of today's post:

Being single means that you have to put up with a lot of hope. And hope is like crack. You get rushes from it, and then you get let down in spectacular fashion and resort to terrifically self-destructive behaviors to mitigate the disappointment. Examples: eating entire pints of ice cream, smoking cigarettes for no reason, sleeping with people you shouldn't sleep with, drinking an absurd amount of whatever.
It's a wild and crazy ride, and guess what? Since you're single, you don't have anyone contractually obligated to listen to you detail every second of it.
I think the real anthem for single people is the song Dory sings in "Finding Nemo:" Just keep swimming. It's especially applicable for those of us who are out there trying to find the right mer-person or Olympic swimmer, but it applies to everyone. We don't have to feel empowered about being single, we just have to feel hopeful. Which is harder, but, ultimately, worth it. Hopefully.

i think a lot about hope, given that it's my middle name and i am a generally optimistic person, and this made a lot of sense. i have a couple songs i listen to when i'm feeling like i can't go on when it comes to love and relationships: poco 'keep on trying', jackson browne 'love needs a heart' and pure prairie league's 'early morning riser'. at the end of the day all you can do is keep believing and having faith in love, be open to what might come and the fact it might not look like what you thought and say yes (except for bungee jumping without a rope). adding 'just keep swimming' to the list. 

puppy tails

one of the best things about working from home last week was i got to play with the puppies on my breaks and after work (ergo the two previous posts of sasha and kaiser).

some observations:

sasha

sasha's nickname is 'sasha bear' and she really is as cuddly and huggable as a teddy bear. she also perches on the arms of the couch or sleeps on the couch with legs sprayed everywhere (and snores). i kept telling my mom it's great we have these lovely leather couches for the dogs to jump all over. like to call her a circus dog too - she loves leaping and twisting in the air and racing up the stairs to leap on your bed (or boxa's while she was visiting oops sorry!) for the sasha wake-up call.

kaiser

kaiser (or as i like to call him kaiser meister) is also quite funny. he looks older but when he puts his ears back and trots around with a deflated kickball in his mouth he is super cute. i was calling him a bumper ball dog, as he likes to run right into your legs with his ball to make sure you don't forget he's there. 

my parents put him in the kitchen with gates up on either end which they've been calling 'his gated community'

he's also very shy with people and puppies despite being a german shepard and having a ferocious bark. he puts himself in his box when things get crazy, and kept running in there when my brother's friends were over a few weeks ago. apparently he hid under the chairs during puppy kindergarten as well. as a result, i was singing 'he's a shy guy' from the song of the same name while i was home. when i finally listened to it i realize it was a song i liked back in the day and only just rediscovered. thank you kaiser!

logan

sadly logan really isn't doing very well. he's old and having lots of trouble walking. my parents say it's quite recent and i'm hoping he gets better, but he's been a good puppy. all dogs go to heaven right? 

Kaiser Meister

Sasha Bear

ghosts of lyon past

it's labor day weekend! jimmy buffett says that in a recording on 'tuesdays, thursdays and saturdays' and it is indeed labor day weekend. always had a bit of a soft spot, given that it figures so prominently in 'come monday' - a jb song that is close to my heart.

my week of working on the cape was interesting - not sure if that's b/c i'm usually in vacation mode when i come to the cape for a week or if it was just a strange week in general in the office - between the hurricane and people being out on vacation and whatnot. i did get some stuff done but i definitely needed a drink by thursday night.

we had a lovely calm after the storm on the cape, several sunny, clear, cool days. late summer in new england is a very different feel than july. lack of humidity, the changing colors of plants from greens to browns, and a coolness in the air that means you can sit on the beach, but it's good to have a sweatshirt handy. (fortunately at our house we have about 15 sweatshirts from assorted sports teams, colleges and accumulated over the years). i went down to the beach a few times after work to unwind and have a drink (sand bar - get it?) and it was nice to have the beach near by even if i couldn't go during prime time.

being home is always a little weird - though it's clear my life isn't in this house/room anymore, there are still remnants of it. the pictures and things i've collected over the years and that have stayed in my room despite moving out after college - i can still feel and remember elementary, middle and high schools, and of course the summers (and off-term fall!) i spent on the cape in college - but it's like looking back at a person who is a stranger. memories of the way we were i guess.

my parents just bought a new jetta for my mom to drive, which means the 1991 mercedes sedan has become the kids car. not that i'm complaining. it's so fun to drive (white with red leather!).

been tidying up as boxa's coming down for the night. the last time she visited the cape was right after we graduated, before she went off to med school in michigan, so it's been awhile and i'm excited we get to hang out!

monday it's back to nyc and then next weekend i'm heading to denver for maynard's wedding. it'll be my first time in denver and of course i'm excited to see everyone.

hope everyone has a good labor day holiday!

namesake

“the thing about life is that you must survive. life is going to be difficult, and dreadful things will happen. what you do is move along, get on with it, and be tough. not in the sense of being mean to others, but being tough with yourself and making a deadly effort not to be defeated.” - katharine hepburn

i'm named after her. she's a smart one.

Sunset on the Centerville River