Ode to the Jetta

A milestone occurred today. As I was running errands, I looked down to see the Jetta at 99,997 miles. As I watched it roll to 100,000 miles, I couldn't help but think about everything that has occurred over the time I have had the car. I got the Jetta in August of 2000, meaning that it has been with me for roughly 9 years, or 1/3 of my life! That is longer than I have known my husband, cats, and several of my best friends. When I got the Jetta, I couldn't even drive a manual (thanks Ryanne for driving it home from the lot). I was getting ready to move to Arizona for college and had no idea what was ahead, but I was ready to take it on. Looking back, what a great 9 years it has been! 100,000 miles and 100,000 memories. College, Friendships, Heartbreak, Graduation, Jobs, Travel, Marriage, House, Grad School...growing up. The Jetta has been a part of so many things in my life! Unfortunately, the Jetta is not as pretty as she used to be. More recently, her paint started to peel and the tint has begun to come off of the windows. As I think about getting a new car sometime in the future, I get a bit sad. If the Jetta gets old, what does that make me? When she finally goes, I will miss the Jetta and what she has represented in my life...

NY, DC, and O-H-I-O

Let me start by saying WOW! We just got back from our trip to NY/DC for the inauguration and it really was the trip of a lifetime. I think I will summarize day by day to give you an idea of how awesome it went:

• Saturday- Left Phoenix at 9.45 am and got into Newark around 4.30 pm after a smooth flight. Ryanne and Kevin picked us up and we headed to their place in Manhattan. After quickly changing (we got there around 6pm thanks to NY traffic), we headed down to meet up with friends from college (Claire and Paul for me and Hutch for Tim). The whole group had a great dinner and then hit up a bar, but decided to head home around 11 to prepare for the long day ahead on Sunday =)
• Sunday- Woke up and headed to breakfast at Ry and Kev's favorite local place. After eating, we walked to the park by their place and it was beautiful! It was snowing and very pretty. There is a great view of the Hudson, the George Washington Bridge, and a bunch of the city. We then packed the car and left to pick up Paul and Andrea and headed to Baltimore. After a 3 hour drive, we were there just in time to see the Cardinals win (yeah!). We stayed with Ry's family friends and they were so amazing! They even had vegetarian food!
• Monday- We woke up early and headed to DC! We got there and found a space by my the loft of my Sorority Sister Holly where we were staying, 1 mile from the Capital) and headed in to get our tickets. We even got to meet the Simi Valley congressman that gave us our tix! After getting the tix we toured around town and saw a ton (Monuments, White House, Archives, American History Museum) It was the first trip for Tim, me, and Andrea, and I feel like we got a good DC in a day overview and I really want to go back to have more time with the amazing sites.
• Tuesday- Wow, we woke up at 5 am and headed out. Bundled up in LAYERS, we went to the Silver Section. After feeling like a center divider (good quote Kev), we finally made it thorough to security. We made it inside after going through very lax security and then proceeded to stand there until festivities started around 10.45am. I cant even describe the emotion and pride that was felt. People crying, hugging, chanting, and everyone feeling the same thing. When Obama came out I couldn't help but to cry as I was overcome with what was going on. There were people lined up from where we were in the ticketed section (the reflecting pool) to the Lincoln monument. Everyone was waving flags and just so amazed and excited. There really was a feeling of hope. It was unbelievable. The down side was that it was SO COLD. It rivaled when I was on the Great Wall in China...I really felt that I was freezing to death. I couldn't feel anything. It turns out that it was 13 degrees. I am so from Arizona (anyone who knows me well knows that I am not a winter person)...So after the Inag. was over, we headed back to Holly's, rested, and packed up the car for the ride back to NY. Believe it or not, we had No traffic and made it back to NY in 4.5 hours! We crashed almost immediately!
• Wed- We woke up and Kev took us to the airport. The flight back was really smooth and here I am in Econ writing my blog!
• Other- So, my favorite part of the trip, besides the obvious of course (the events, sites and seeing my best friends) =) When we were walking the National Mall on Monday, a woman from CNN was handing out buttons. We all took one, and she looked at Tim and said, "none for you". Tim was wearing an Ohio State beanie. She moved her jacket to reveal a Michigan glove. Tim responded with a "I don't want one anyway" and walked away. Scarlet and Grey run deep. My grandpa would be so proud.

What you get for $40k

So, today was a great day! As an MBA student, I get to go to the Economic Club of Phoenix lunches for free, which is an awesome benefit as it costs like $5,000 to join and a $100 for each lunch. No students ever go, but I decided that I was going to check one out because, well, because I am me and I never pass up something like that. So, last month I registered for today's lunch. The keynote speaker was none other than Ret. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (who, as my mom pointed out, has the same initials as I did before I got married...my mom is so cute).

Anyway, the whole thing was just plain cool. I got there at 11.30, and schmoozed a bit with some business people from around town (there were around 400 people there). Then, we were seated and briefed on the wonderful economic circumstances we have ahead in 2009. After a lecture by the Dean of the ASU Law School and and awesome lunch (they served chicken but upon my request whipped up a yummy veggie dish), SDO took the stage. She spoke about the importance of judicial independence in the courts (she believes in a merit based appointment approach over elected judges). She was so interesting and SO funny and sarcastic, it was awesome. The woman is like 80 years old and such a spitfire. After she talked she did a Q&A and we were rolling on the floor laughing by her responses. I gained a ton of respect for her just because she was such an awesome speaker and jazzed everyone up (although, as Tim pointed out, he disagrees with her equal opportunity jurisprudence)

After it ended, I enjoyed the ride back to work with my windows down in 75* weather. As I write my 4 page paper tonight (my team just left after a 3 hour meeting), I will try to think about the great benefits (aside from learning of course) that I am getting from the MBA program...we will see how long that lasts

Only 234 days until Ohio State's next football game...

I already miss college football.

Uninspired Pharmaceutical Drug Names

Am I the only person who feels like the majority of pharmaceutical drugs available on the market now have really uninspiring commercial names? Names like Cialis, Cymbalta, Levitra, Celebrex, Chantix, Wellbutrin, Strattera, and on and on.

You can just imagine some meeting room full of high-paid business consultants tasked with the job of coming up with a littany of these names. Pinhead groupthink sets in until one of the younger plebes saves them all by devising an efficient formula like this:

Noun (fun object) - Last letter + Typical drug suffix (ra, ta, ex, ix)

For instance, the drug Cymbalta = fun object ("cymbals") - last letter ("s") + typical drug ending ("ta"). The drug companies are so happy with the generic results that they keep hiring the same firm who keeps using the same formula that keeps getting unleashed on us consumers. All these drug names end up sounding bad emo bands from Holland.

As opposed to the cheesy names that are in use now, the drug companies should go with a different naming scheme that really motivates people to buy these drugs more. For added effectiveness, the names should connote virility and power and preferably sound like antagonists from old Nintendo games. My naming scheme, which subtly tweaks the typical drug one, would go like this:

Name of Norse deity - Last letter + My drug suffix (atrix, itrix, aton, ator, opolis)

For example, you take Loki (Norse god, shape shifter, trickster) - last letter ("i") + drug suffix ("aton") and get Lokaton. If your doctor told you that your toenail fungus could be cured by taking Lokaton, wouldn't you feel so powerful that your immune system would crush the fungus? How about if you suffered from depression; wouldn't a prescription of Baduhennitrix (Baduhenna - a + itrix) make you feel like you could take on the world?

I couldn't wait to see the commercials for these new drugs...

When it rains it pours

I am feeling quite overwhelmed at the moment. In all of my shining glory, I decided to take a winter session class for one of my MBA Elective courses. I am in Project Management, and although I love the topic, cramming the events of a semester are not easily crammed into 5 weeks, especially when I am going to be gone for 5 days in NY/DC. Everyone keeps asking if I am excited for the Inauguration, and although I am, I don't feel that I have had the proper chance to get excited because I am so busy with school. To top it off, work is crazy right now, in a good way as I like the projects I am working on, but I keep getting more piled on and my head is going to explode.

Things to do before we leave on Saturday:

• One Team Assignment
• One 4 Page Individual Assignment
• One Group Meeting
• Finish 3 Work Projects
• Clean
• Pack
• Assure kitties have everything they need
• Oh, and pull my hair out =)

P.S. Happy Birthday Mommy!

Vegetarianism

As most of you know, I have been a vegetarian for around 3 years now. Tim joined me about 1 year ago, and it is a lifestyle that we are both enjoying. Contrary to popular belief, I did not make him go vegetarian. I am sure that us living together had something to do with it (convenience factor), but in actuality, I feel like I created a monster! He is probably more into it now than I am! He suggested that we go vegan at the beginning of 2009, and we did. Well, not true vegan as we are still eating sugar, but I guess you can call us vegetarian's who don't eat dairy or eggs. For Tim this is no biggie, as he hates cheese, but it has been a bit tough for me (I am not going to lie). However, it is something that we are committed to!

Now, to the point of this post. I really do not understand why people are so offended by vegetarians. No joke, when someone finds out I am vegetarian, the first question I get is "why", followed up by the person trying to convince me that I should eat meat. Even people who know I am vegetarian will randomly question my decision and try to tell me that it is wrong (in an underhanded way of course). Yes, it is true that some vegetarians can be exclusive, but I really don't feel that I am that way. I respect other people's choices and it drives me crazy that people continue to question mine! I suppose that meat eaters feel that I am judging them, and although I may be, I don't say it to their faces, and I wish they would show the same courtesy.

Besides, a vegetarian diet is obviously far superior to a meat eating diet =) Why can't everyone else just see the light?

The Cultural Wonder Known as the Mexican Taxi

Welcome to our blog - Sandy and I are glad you could join us in our assorted ramblings and musings; we hope you enjoy. That being said, I would like to dive into a subject that I have always derived much awe and curiosity from - Mexican taxis.


When you ask someone to name the best methods of transportation in America's big cities, most will rattle off airplanes, subways, cars, and of course, taxis. Now while everyone is familiar with your standard bright yellow cab, few are familiar with the phenomenon known as the Mexican taxi. Living in the fine southwestern city of Phoenix, I am fortunate to have tons of opportunities to share the road with these unique examples of postmodern economic travel. I even once had a chance to ride in one (more on this in a minute).


Mexican cabs are very different from American cabs. Your typical American taxi is a Chevy Caprice or Ford Crown Vic, is painted yellow, and is adorned with an advertising thing on the top. There is no variation and no one screws with this design EVER. Mexican cabs, on the other hand, think more outside the box. They are made from ALL types of vehicles (Ford Taurus', Chevy Malibus, Vw's, station wagons, Astro vans, pickup trucks, etc.). Moreover, Mexican cabs don't restrain their color choices to just yellow; in fact, they are never yellow. I have seen neon green, red, navy blue, black, and even purple ones.


Mexican cabs also take a different approach to advertising. American cabs limit their advertising to the box on top of the cars, while Mexican cabs will use every single inch of car space to pimp themselves out. It is like NASCAR meets Telemundo - but decorated with the cheap alphabet stickers you can find at Staples. On a single Mexican cab, you could find out what the best Mexican radio station is, where is the nearest roller skating rink or discoteca, who sells the best menudo nearby, and where are the best deals on prepaid long distance phone cards - all on one fender.


The absolute best part about Mexican cabs is that they are ridiculously cheap. American cabs charge you a set posted fare based on miles travelled - simple and predictable. Mexican cabs charge you based on a vastly more complicated calculus that includes, but is not limited to, how their day is going, whether you are Mexican, how bad the neighborhood you're going to, whether you let them keep their Mexican radio station on, and whether you actually know the fastest way to your destination. There are rarely meters in these cabs and tipping is expected no matter what.


Speaking of how cheap they are, I once had the opportunity to find out for myself. My old buddy Scott and I got stranded going to a concert in north Scottsdale, AZ when his old Chevy Nova broke down. We were in a hispanic part of town and were able to hail a Mexican cab like ten minutes later. The cab was a navy blue Jeep Cherokee with green wording all over it and the driver spoke very little English (un poquito, as they say). We were able to communicate to him that we wanted to go to Scott's parents house in East Mesa, AZ. 40 minutes and 20 miles later (without using the freeway), we get to our destination and the driver simply said"$5". We quickly agreed, tipped him $10 more, and were off. The same ride in a standard American cab would have easily cost $60+ pre-tip.

Long live the Mexican taxi.

Hello

He wont join facebook, but he has agreed to blog. We will see how it goes =)