Summer?

Between school and being sick I've been MIA this week. In addition to that, I've been doing as much as possible to encourage warm weather:

Drinking iced coffees
Making my desktop summery
Buying spring clothing
Opening the blinds (but not the windows)

We'll see how this goes... hopefully it all works out.

And you can expect a legitimate post tomorrow.

60 Days from Today

Exactly sixty days from today, I will be waking up entirely too early (or more likely, not going to sleep). My best friend Megan and I will get on the T around 5:00am so as to get to the airport around 6:30am so as to get on a plane taking off at 8:00am that will bring us to California.

Yes, officially we booked our plane tickets, bought concert tickets, and smooth talked my dad into shelling out some Marriott points for a hotel stay. And so, my friends, from March 25th through the 29th we will be in the sunny city of Anaheim all to see a band we love maybe just a bit too much.

In my defense, I had a plane voucher that I needed to use up before it expired and my dad was concerned when I asked, "is $35 a night too cheap for a hotel?" so really all I'm paying is the $101 for two days of concert passes. Oh and food and merch and such. But I won't need to worry about that until later, and I'm getting paid just before we leave.

Already I have much higher expectations about this travel than my recent trip to Florida. For one, by late March, Anaheim has average temperatures in the high 60s!! Also, we are flying American Airlines and were able to choose our seats. Thanks to Seat Guru I was able to change our seats to ones that have power outlets which will come in handy on such a long flight. The only disappointment is that American doesn't have direct flights from Logan to John Wayne, so we will have a connection in Dallas on the way there and in Chicago on the way home. Oh well.

And from the looks of it, my dad hooked us up with a pretty nice hotel too. Not only is it literally next to Angel Stadium where the show is, but it's got sweet looking rooms, a nice pool, and complimentary breakfast (if we wake up early enough). Since we'll have all day Friday available, I am especially excited to see my friend Jason who will be driving up from San Diego where he lives these days.

Getting Caught Up In Arrested Development

I have a lot of favorite TV shows. Of course, proper grammar will tell you this is impossible, I should only have on ultimate favorite and yet I find myself telling people that LOST, Law & Order, How I Met Your Mother, and sadly even Gossip Girl are all my favorites.

However, a conversation with my sister last night over Wagamama noodles has led me to the conclusion that ultimately, I do have one single favorite television program: Arrested Development.

This now-cult-phenomenon didn't even make it through a full third season before FOX cancelled it way back when, and the vast majority of the show's fans didn't even watch it on the original air date. Which is really too bad, because there is something irresistably funny about what is arguably the most dysfunctional family in the history of television.

I can't quite pinpoint the best episode, the funniest thing to happen, or even a favorite character; it was hard enough establishing a favorite show! You love to hate about half the cast and feel genuinely sorry for the rest of them. The story arcs range from ridiculous to outlandish and even if you are completely by yourself you will laugh so hard you're crying.

The follow up movie is highly anticipated and due out sometime next year. I can't wait for quite a few loose ends to be tied up and I especially can't wait to laugh for two or so hours straight without pause. For those of you who haven't experienced the awesome that is this show, most if not all of it is usually up on Hulu and I dare you to watch it and tell me it isn't the funniest thing you've ever seen.

Bringing Back Arena Football

Am I the only one who is super pumped for the revival of the AFL? Personally, I was heartbroken when the league filed for bankruptcy. Good thing it's coming back this year!

Here's what you need to know; arena football is better than the NFL for several reasons.

1) The teams have better names. From Chicago Rush to Colorado Crush, these teams have some pretty sweet names, way better than the Miami Dolphins and the Texas Cowboys. My personal favorite, the New Orleans VooDoo is sadly no longer in existence.

2) Legendary rock star Bon Jovi is the owner of the Philly Soul. In my opinion, he's a cooler celebrity than oh say, Bob Kraft?

3) The field is only 50 yards and the goalposts are smaller. This isn't your average football game (though the ball itself is identical)! Teams consist of twenty active and four inactive players; this cuts down on how many names you have to remember, always a plus! There are eight players on the field at once: four offensive, three defensive and one linebacker.

4) It's easy to learn! Movement of the ball is easy for NFL fans; there are four downs to advance the ball ten yards. Field goals, touch downs, extra points, and two point conversions all work the same way and are worth the same scores. There are four fifteen minute periods.

5) But it's not the same as the NFL either! For example, a field goal is worth four points when it's scored by a drop kick instead of placement. There is no punting. AFL passing rules are the same as those in the NCAA, pretty gosh darn cool! In OT, each team gets one possession to score, a very fair system if you ask me.

So now that you've got the basics down, you too can be excited about the league's comeback. I know I am. I am especially excited that prior to the league going bankrupt, they had been looking into expansion to Boston. Well, season tickets here I come! That would just be incredible.

Hopefully a rebranding and some management adjustments will let the sport succeed this time around. So give it a shot, I promise you'll love it!

My 5 Favorite Things Right Now

1) Remembering that you're watching a DVR-ed program after one commercial. Currently I'm catching up on my programs and after one annoying ad for some medication with too many side affects, I remembered "oh hey, I can fast forward through all of this garbage." Awesome.

2) Boys who are also musicians. For my birthday, Nick wrote a song called "Amanda, It's Your Birthday!" and it is my new favorite song. Not only is it a bazillion times better than the standard "Happy Birthday to You" but "having someone write a song for me" is number four on my secret list of things that I hope happen in my life. Check mark.

3) My Blackberry. See previous entry - it's only gotten better.

4) Skinny jeans that fit well. Today I bought the ultimate pair of skinny jeans: curvy in the hips and skinny all the way down. They're a really nice dark wash too with a little stretch to the fabric and extra comfortable. Rock out.

5) Cuddling. Because this is always on my list of favorite things and I've been cuddling a lot lately. With a super cute boy who writes super cute songs and would be perfect if only he didn't love the Yankees and Rangers.

My Newest Addiction: The Blackberry Bold

Last week while updating Twitter via text, my second hand and “well loved” LG Vu decided it would be as good a time as any to just up and die on me. I can’t say I was surprised, it hadn’t been holding much of a charge, the sound quality on a call was hugely diminished, and the exterior of the phone was in a sorry state. 

So on my break from work I walked over to the AT&T store on Boylston and purchased a Blackberry Bold 9700 (sometimes referred to as the Blackberry Bold 2). Let me tell you, after just over a week’s worth of use, I am in love. 

I had seen it online offered for free after a mail in rebate; in store it would’ve been $100 after rebate but when I asked the sales associate, Maria, about it, she offered me an additional $50 off instantly. I was disappointed that the white color was only an online offer, but she pointed out that with a case, you’d hardly notice anyway, and she was right.

Though I had to suck it up and add a $30/month data plan, so far it has been worth it. Not only did Maria set the whole thing up for me, she also carried over all of my contacts for free! Verizon used to charge me all sorts of money for that. Upon leaving the store, I was all set to go. I’m glad to have gotten a smart phone back; I feel much more connected and the interface has been so easy to use. 

I love streaming Pandora while checking my Facebook on the bus, at the airport, walking down the street, and even at my desk! At first I was apprehensive because I’d been told Blackberries weren’t compatible with Macs, but a quick Google search revealed that you can download the Mac software on the Blackberry website, which is easier than using an install disc anyway.

The 9700 model uses a trackpad, not a trackball which I have heard many negative things about. I also love using BBM to communicate with all my friends (and there are an awful lot of them) who are also Blackberry users - I was able to save money by dropping my texting plan from 1500 to 200 a month, a savings of $10. The sound quality is very good on calls and I am already a pro on the QWERTY keypad. It was also very easy to create ringtones on my computer and e-mail them to myself, no more $3.99 per tone from a very limited selection!

So yes, I am already an addict. I already love it more than I ever loved my iPhone (sorry Apple, I still love my MacBook and iPod). And I have become one of those people who preaches the awesomeness of the Blackberry to everyone else. So if you’re ready for an upgrade, I’d recommend the Bold. And I’d highly recommend the Boylston St. AT&T store if you’re in the Boston area, I have never received better customer service from a cell phone provider. 

Why I'm Never Flying Southwest Again

So amidst writing my planned entry for today, I was suddenly inspired instead, to write about air travel. This is largely due to the fact that the person in the seat behind me has been kicking the back of my chair for the last hour and a half. I turned around, expecting a small child who was getting restless, only to see a middle aged woman. Now I’m even more aggravated, because she should know better.

I spent this past week in Central Florida visiting with my grandparents. It has been the first time I’ve used Southwest and I have to tell you, I’m disappointed. For one, I actually like their ads on TV and the concept of open seating intrigued me. However, I think that for future trips I will go back to my ever reliable Jet Blue. 

The biggest advantage in flying Southwest was the ability to leave out of Providence. Though I live in Boston and Logan is only a quick train ride away, I’m traveling with my grandmother who lives outside the city, so to be dropped off at TF Green eliminated the hassle of driving back into the city and security only took a few short minutes. 

But these conveniences have nothing to do with the airline themselves. I noticed that while boarding for our flight down, people were getting very antsy about the seating situation. You line up in groups A through C and then numbers 1 through 60. Easy enough, right? Yet when a man said to a couple, “Oh I’m just ahead of you, I’m number 40.” The couple seemed taken aback and said, “Don’t worry, there are plenty of seats.” Sure there are, but some are better than others!

I also think this concept is easier for some people to understand than others. Many people seemed a little confused or were disappointed when they couldn’t sit with family. I myself like to choose my seat ahead of time. Window, on the wing, preferably the emergency exit row. I live by seatguru.com which rates the best seats on all models of commercial airlines. Window seats have the best views, sitting by the wing ensures the smoothest flight, and the emergency exits have an additional two inches of precious leg room. But with this flight, I just had to hope to get lucky and I only got two of the three, a window on the wing, but no emergency exit, and my legs are already getting cramped.

I also like the TVs on JetBlue flights! Even though I prefer to relax to my iPod, I like the map station which tells you where you are. I just like to know these things, especially on longer flights. 

In its defense, Southwest has offered very good customer service. All of the flight attendants have been very pleasant and upbeat, which I certainly appreciate. The pilots seem experienced enough though we did have a very shaky landing on the trip down and a rocky takeoff this morning. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and blame it on the wind. 

These airlines rely on customer loyalty, and they need to be innovative to attract new customers in an industry that’s not exactly a money maker. So thanks, Southwest for thinking outside the box and offering cheap fares but I’m just not so sure you’ve hooked me as a customer.

UPDATE:

The flight attendants SANG the safety instructions for landing... SANG. Also, the landing home was horrible too... but it could've been worse, I could've flown Oceanic!

Sorry for the lack of frequent posting - I am in the not-so-sunny state of Florida this week and trying to take a break from the world; it's been tough! Let me tell you. In a post scheduled for when I get back, I will tell you all about how I caved in and joined the world of Blackberry users.

My Blackberry Bold is making it tough to ignore my e-mails and work and Facebook notifications and all of that. But this is also the only week in a long time that I am not actually forced to sit in front of a computer screen at least eight hours a day, so I'm trying to take full advantage.

I'm not completely cut off of course, and the discovery of BBM is keeping me pretty in touch with a few of my best. My flight gets me back in Providence Friday afternoon and on Saturday I am turing what I like to call "twenty-one part two" or "twenty-one 2.0" because really, who wants to be twenty-two? Nothing special happens at twenty-two! So barring any major hangovers as a result of this magnificent event, I will back in front of my MacBook typing away on Sunday the 17th.

A Few Social Media Annoyances of Late

As you all well know, I absolutely love social media. Despite working all day, I keep Twitter and Facebook opened in the background and I check my LinkedIN account roughly every other day. It's nice to easily keep in touch with friends and get all my sports scores when I can't be in front of the game. But lately, I've been getting slightly annoyed.

If anyone can explain the following phenomenons to me, I'd greatly appreciate it:

1) Posting the SAME thing to your FB, Twitter, and LinkedIN accounts... ALL of the time! Okay, I maybe get FB and Twitter, if you primarily use Twitter to talk to friends. But ultimately this floods my news feed with things I've already read and it doesn't always make a lot of sense in the context of FB. And last I checked, wasn't LinkedIN primarily about job networking? Yeah, that's what I thought.

2) The boyfriend/girlfriend who love to tweet each other. Haven't you heard of txting? It's the same 140 characters of puppy love dribble - only it's PRIVATE. You could also consider checking out the DM feature. Trust me, I'm happy for you, but I don't need your relationship playing out on my TweetDeck. That's not to say you shouldn't ever mention your significant other, I certainly do from time to time; all I'm saying is that you don't need to have a full length conversation via tweet.

3) Tweeting over 140 characters and then continuing in a second tweet. I like that Twitter forces me to be concise - that's actually a very difficult skill to master. If you can't keep it under the limit - try posting through a 3rd party application such as Tumblr or even Facebook. It's not that I don't love hearing from you, but when you are the ONLY person I can see on the screen, well, I just think that's a little crazy!

4) People who over-promote trending topics. Yes, they are obviously popular points but no, you don't need to talk about them all day! Just because you can think of 100 different things to say about #LadyGaGa doesn't mean you have to post them! I will make an exception for sports here, as I like getting updates.

5) Companies who post too often. I think social media is really key for businesses - it's a great way to reach a large (and young) audience all at once. I do this myself for my internship and the company I work for full time also uses Twitter and Facebook to promote. When it's done well, it's great! When it's done poorly, it's a disaster. Companies that send out the same Tweet over and over are just annoying - spice it up a bit! It feels a lot less personal and lot like spam, which I am sure is not their intent. I like to try to make as many personal connections with @STAConsignment followers as I can and I try not to spam them with facts. You don't want to beg for business, it looks desperate. Instead you want to build an audience and keep them up to date on what's going on in the company.

A Recycled Post: Why I STILL Love Themed Parties

Oh look at me posting late again. I guess that's what happens when work continues to promote me and give me more and more to do on a daily basis. I suppose I'll get this all worked out in due time, but until then, well, patience is a virtue.

Also - I'm running a tad bit late to trivia this evening, so pardon me while  recycle a post that I made for my good friend Steve's blog. This is a favorite of mine, so without further ado, I present to you my love of themed parties!

So as previously mentioned, it’s now seeming like fall and it’s definitely back to school. Now, I don’t know if you know this, but Boston is kind of a college town and our city’s population has very recently swelled to 800,000, accommodating an additional 200,000 or so twenty-somethings. And what’s a better way for these co-eds to spend a night at than at a party? Specifically, at a themed party!

A ride on the Green Line last weekend reminded me of just how hip and happening themed parties are here. I would say that a good 60 to 70 percent of the parties I am invited to have some sort of theme. Popular themes include white and/or black parties, the 1980s, CEOs and corporate hos, Boston sports figures and the roaring twenties.

Now, I admit, from time to time I have been the host of such a party. Last year, my roommate and I got a tad drunk and we ended up whipping out our credit cards and buying some costumes online. It was July. Later that week the costumes arrived and we realized, “Oh crap! We just wasted $60 each on costumes... in July!” So we had a very, very premature Halloween Costume Extravaganza. (I want to make a quick side note, I was very happy with the costume, which was purchased here. I highly recommend the site if you find yourself invited to a themed party or if you are considering a career as a stripper and/or exotic dancer.)

I’m going to include some photos inspired by this party to really illustrate the rest of my story, which I call ‘The Three People You Meet at Themed Parties.’

First, we see the girl who drunkenly (though often these costumes are bought stone cold sober) bought an elaborate ‘army girl’ costume (and yes this is exactly what I bought, and you should all just stop laughing right now). These are the people who secretly (or openly) love themed parties and want to go above and beyond to fit in at the event, they are also usually female. These people are the ones who are “attending” on Facebook, who instead of bringing their own beer, brought their own tequila. These people aren’t just in costume, they have the makeup, shoes, and jewelry to complete the outfit. They are absolutely offended by the other types of people at this party.

This leads me to person number two. This person is called “guy in the horse mask.” This guy responded as “maybe attending” on Facebook, because he loves parties, but doesn’t love themes and is holding out for a better offer. When a better offer is not found, he will pull together a lame excuse of a costume at the last minute, but will ensure it has enough comic value for him to still get appreciation on the effort. This person is usually a guy, and his prime motivation for complying to the theme is the possibility of getting laid later on by one of the girls who fell into the first category.

The last type of person at a themed party is “that other dude.” This guy (and this person is almost certainly a guy) came for the booze and didn’t even bother to dress up, and he probably didn’t even respond to the Facebook invite. He knows he’ll get crap for his lack of dress, but only until everyone in costume is wasted, at which point they will promptly forget about it. This guy probably came under duress, as a date, or possibly due to peer pressure from a good friend. In the end, he still has as much fun as everyone else, possibly more, and the pictures on Facebook the next day are far less embarrassing for him.

Now I’m not here to pass judgment on any of these people, just a few observations I have made at the many parties I go to. I will even be so bold as to say that while you were reading that, you said “oh my gosh, it’s like she knows ME” during one of those descriptions. And by the way, since I clearly fall into the first category, if anyone has some cool and not overdone themes to suggest for my future parties, please let me know. I might even invite you and make you the guest of honor!