[tiffy trying] summer semester: of me & memes

My spring semester ended a few days after my last blog entry. I had two short, blissful weeks of summer before the new semester and my work fellowship began. It's funny for me to be typing this now because in one month, my summer semester and life as a full-time grad student will come to an end. I'm having mixed feelings about this.

[on one hand, I'm thrilled that homework is coming to an end.

on the other hand, I'm sad to be re-entering the "real world" when academia's been so nice.

on the other hand, I'm excited to do something w/ everything I've learned AND earn an income!]

And what happened to blogging my grad school adventures?

[ image credit: Gemma Correll] 

Well, that kind of fell by the wayside... sort of.

I ended up replacing Blogger (temporarily, because I'm back! I think...) with a mixture of Instagram and Twitter. Instagram was a way for me to document some of the activities I've gotten into over the course of the summer, while Twitter was a way to keep tabs of my cutting edge (if I do say so myself) research project (for my fellowship) on the utilization of Social Media in Emergency Preparedness and Response. I'm still in the process of finishing this up but so far it's been such a wonderful adventure. I love doing research. I love social media. I love writing. And I love thinking about how communication can actually make things better. This research project allowed me to combine all of those cool things. I read a lot of news bits and post mortem analyses on events, reached out to key folks in the industry and got to pick their brains, checked out the DigiDocs center at the American Red Cross HQ, and got to use a mix of traditional research and social media to get all of this underway. I feel like I'm making great progress on the topic but I'm also enjoying the entire process that's going along with it. So, I already feel happy and rewarded (and exhausted).

Aside from that research project, I am immersed in two other projects for my other classes. One project is on rebranding a city to make it even more of a tourist destination. The other project is an environmental campaign to get DC grad students (like myself) to embrace reusable water bottles instead of purchasing disposable plastic ones repeatedly.

So far, I'm pulling A's in my classes. #HumbleBrag

[ Angry Expectations Asian Father would be pleased. 

I'm proud too because of all the hard work I've been putting in]

Moving on...

The non-academic parts of the summer have been wonderful. I oscillate between NY and DC during weekends exploring new parts of these two cities that I haven't gotten to see yet. I've gotten to spend a lot of time with K's family and my own family as my parents made a quick detour to NY to visit. K and I have gone on a lot of date nights to make up for all that time apart doing long distance. Together, we've managed to hit up a lot of the food events in NY, double dated with a bunch of other couples, attended two weddings, hung out with different groups of friends, squeezed in some time for fitness activities, and caught up on a bunch of TV shows (although admittedly my taste in TV seems to skew heavily towards embarrassing reality TV). On a more serious note, I feel incredibly happy that I've been able to balance all of these fun things with my schoolwork and still feel okay.

[ how I look like at the end of every week day]

Well, maybe not TOTALLY okay. I'm definitely exhausted as heck, but I'm utterly grateful for everything and extremely excited for what's to come, whatever that turns out to be. :)

[ I actually, for real, dance like that]

<3,
Tiffy 

[tiffy trying] a DC snowstorm!

It's been a while since I've updated. So long in fact, that another snowstorm has decided to hit the Northeast again. This time it's hitting DC, although from the weather reports it seems that it's hitting Virginia and Illinois more than it's hitting DC. This snowstorm is being dubbed "Snowquester" because of the controversial Sequester (budget cuts throughout the nation) that kicked into effect last Friday. Mother Nature seems pretty upset about it.

[weather today]

[yikes]

[blankets + leftover pad thai + super awesome light saber chopsticks]

So, I'm spending today under the blanket in front of the TV watching Sex and the City reruns interspersed with CNN while researching and typing up homework. Grad School work is insane and it seemingly never ends. I've got a bunch of stuff due next week before Spring Break (yay!) and then a bunch of stuff due after (boo)! The last few weeks have just been piles of reading and writing and I can't believe I'm already approaching my 7th week of the semester. Time is flying by really quickly!

[photo from one of the late nights I pulled writing a paper]

Last weekend though was a nice change of pace from all my NY weekends. K came down to visit and spend time with me here but unfortunately he had come down with something and spent all weekend feeling pretty terrible. I did my best to make him feel comfortable. We went out briefly to have lunch with my friends V&N and to grab groceries so I could cook dinner. Indoors, we installed my new Xbox Kinect and had some fun playing around. 

[cheat day dinner because I was too busy with 

homework to cook]

[double date feast at hot n juicy. 1lb crawfish + 

2lbs shrimp + corn + sausage + fried zucchini]

[at-home date night: chicken noodle soup, greens,

baked chicken w/ olive oil w/ parmesan & bread crumbs]

My NY weekends have been really great though. K and I went out for a belated Valentine's date at Brushstroke which is an amazing Omakase restaurant downtown that served the freshest, most delicious Japanese food. We also celebrated my cousin's last weekend in the States by feasting at Momofuku and ordering their famous duck platter, which was massive, yummy, and ridiculously filling. 

[hilarious v-day surprise that brightened up my thursday]

[duck feast]

The week after that, I was able to check out Sleep No More, which is a pretty alternative theater experience loosely based on Macbeth. Basically, the audience wears masks and has the opportunity to wander around the McKittrick hotel and poke around and follow the cast as they are doing scenes in various parts of the hotel. Pretty cool stuff. 

[sleep no more mask and cards]

[sleep no more lobby/bar]

Also managed to take some pictures of gorgeous NYC. 

[5:30am subway ride]

[empire state]

And here are some pictures of some of my pasta experiments. 

[tuna on whole wheat pasta w/ olive oil & black pepper]

[farfalle with tomato, basil and peas]

I'm hoping the weather clears up by tomorrow so I can make it up to NY for another whirlwind weekend. I've got 2 despedidas, 3 birthdays, and K's football playoffs that I'm looking forward to attending. 

<3,

Tiffy

[tiffy trying] an nyc blizzard again

Hello, blog! Long time no update.

Since the last update, I've been a busy little bunny with homework. I also managed to take another trip to NYC which was pretty inopportune timing since a blizzard (which the Weather Channel dubbed "Nemo") was supposed to hit the Northeast. Oops. It's been years since I've dealt with a blizzard (and I use "dealt" loosely. I was holed up in my dorm room and didn't come out for days).

[DC Metro at 530am] 

Last Friday, instead of taking my regular 730am bus, I decided to take the 630am Bolt Bus, which turned out to be a pretty terrible bus ride because:
1) The driver arrived late
2) The driver wasn't actually our "real" driver. We had to go to a different station to pick up the real driver. This is the 2nd or 3rd time this has happened on my Friday bus ride to NY.
3) The bus' mirrors could not de-fog properly so we had to wait at a truck stop for a replacement bus to come for us
4) The replacement bus' heaters weren't working that well. Everyone was still wearing full coat while inside the bus

By the time I got to NY, I was exhausted and cranky. It was already hailing by the time I arrived so I rushed it over to the apartment so that I could shower, eat lunch, and take a quick nap before doing homework and heading out for date night with K.

I managed to wake up in time to do a grocery run to stock up on supplies in case the blizzard would end up being worse than anticipated. Afterwards, we dressed up and got ready for Avenue Q, a show that we've been wanting to watch for so long but seemed doomed never to see. (Quick backstory: We purchased tickets years ago to this show and then the Broadway strike happened and they refunded our tickets. So that was that. Fast forward to this particular Friday and boom! A blizzard!)

[snowy sidewalks]

Fortunately, the blizzard wasn't too bad and the show managed to still go on. Avenue Q is hilarious and I'm really happy we finally got to see it after so long. We walked around Times Sq a little bit because we wanted to see it in its deserted, snow-capped glory, but it just turned out to be a really slushy affair. So we returned to K's apartment to enjoy some nice, spiked, hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows.

[lit up trees, so very pretty]

[baby, it's cold outside!]

[baileys + hot chocolate + milk + mallows]

On Saturday, we (The wombats, K, and the adopted "cousin") went off to the NoMad hotel to have some yummy brunch before heading upstate to Graham's ancestral home for a quick overnight. We had dinner with his parents at a lovely restaurant before a night of silly games (Uno and Catchphrase), shots of wine (tsk tsk), midnight snacks (chicken skin, donuts, cookies, and assorted junk food), and a cozy fireplace to warm us up from the ridiculous cold outside.

[the nomad hotel]

[the nomad hotel brunch]

[sunset train ride to garrison]

[dinner at cathryn's]

[warming up by the fireplace]

On Sunday, we had brunch before an afternoon of sledding (and homework on my end). The wombats went off to explore nooks and crannies of the house and to also pack some of Graham's stuff to take home. K left early to play football with his league. The rest of us stayed til about 6 before taking a train back to the city in time to enjoy Chinese New Year dinner with Ginger's friends.

[winter morning]

[sunday sledding collage]

[kahlua sunning herself]

[view from the backyard]

[blurry sunset]

[CNY dinner]

Monday was a blur of food and homework. The wombats and I had lunch with my friend, Rhea, who was in the States for school but was leaving to go back home now that she was done with her program. We had lunch at Maialino which was really hearty, flavorful Italian food. I spent the rest of the afternoon doing homework before meeting up with Karl and heading uptown to Social Eatz to have dinner with the same crew + Rhea's room mate + Carla, another friend from home. The food was mediocre but the company was great and we all traded really ridiculous stories (mostly crude ones) that had us all in stitches by the end of the night.

[some of the food we ordered]

[black truffle shavings on a spinach and ricotta ravioli w/ a single egg yolk]

Before long it was the end of my weekend and I had to head back to go to school for more of this:

[hot date w/ homework]

This week, I had to prepare for two oral presentations. The first was on the health belief model, which was developed in the 1950s by social psychologists as a means to figure out why people didn't want to participate in programs that dealt with the detection and prevention of illnesses. It's evolved into a 6-construct model and I had to link it up to some sort of real world application for communication practitioners. I decided to try to connect it with the controversial NY large soda ban (Mayor Bloomberg wants to ban soda in oversized containers from restaurants in an effort to curb obesity and its related diseases like diabetes). I also offered recommendations on how communicators can handle some of the challenges that arise from the barriers and the lack of susceptibility and severity that people in NY feel from it. I gave suggestions for cues to action as well.

The whole controversy seems to stem from the fact that the regulation was just framed improperly. The media refers to it as a soda ban, but it's not banning soda at all. It's just limiting the sizes of the containers the drinks come in. There is a sense of psychological reactance that is stemming from this controversy. People think that this move is a step towards "loss of freedom of choice." But honestly, there are so many different choices of (healthier) beverages out there to choose from. I do think it's a bit of an issue that they're not just taxing the oversized soda, or that they're not limiting the sale of other super-sugary drinks as well, but I guess Mayor Bloomberg has to fight one battle at a time (one bottle at a time)!

The second oral presentation was on persuasion. Similar to the presentation for the other class, I had to link up the reading concepts from this week's reading assignments to real world scenarios and takeaways that communication practitioners could use. The concepts I chose were scarcity, authority, and exclusivity and I linked these up with the NY restaurant scene. I explained that I was deeply passionate about this topic because I love to eat and I consider myself a foodie. I also believed that the NY food scene was a great study in irrational behavior. Where else would people be willing to line up for an hour and a half for a (Shake Shack) burger? Or pay $26 for a (Minetta Tavern) burger when you could get a similar (but admittedly not as delicious) one from McDonalds for a much lower price? Marketers must be doing something right if people are willing to do things like this. So that intro and a quick recap of the concepts was my little "appetizer." The "entree" was the actual meat of the presentation where I dove into 4 types of restaurants (pop-up, michelin starred, food trucks, speak easies) and linked them up to the reading concepts. "Dessert" was a summary of everything I covered plus some tactics and strategies. It was very lighthearted considering that the amazing presentation before mine was on Obama's SOTU and the "they deserve a vote" moving speech on gun policy.

I feel like I did pretty well on both but I'll only really know when my grade comes up.

Valentine's update to come after this weekend!

<3,
Tiffy

[tiffy trying] a jam-packed nyc weekend

Last Friday morning, I headed up to NY to spend some time with K, my cousins, and some friends. I took an early morning bus and arrived in the city at around noon.

[ instagram photo of DC flurries at 6:30am]

Grabbed lunch, took a quick nap, then proceeded to work on homework before meeting up with my cousins for dinner. Dinner was takeout from one of my favorite places, a Cambodian sandwich shop called Num Pang right by Grand Central (which was celebrating its 100th birthday that day). We headed over to my cousin's apartment where we had some dessert before prepping food for a baby shower that she was throwing for a friend the next day.

[grand central's 100th birthday party]

[artsy b&w instagram pic of grand central]

[cheese & proscuitto platter for dessert]

[more dessert: blueberry chocolate clusters, orange-hazelnut slate,

mango-paprika slate. yummy in my belly]

[cupcake production and frosting by yours truly

with LOTS of help from cousin G]

Saturday was spent doing laundry and finishing up homework before our double date with "MuDy" for Mu's 30th birthday. We ended up having dinner at Ninja New York, a fun ninja-themed restaurant complete with mystery boxes, strong drinks, flaming food, crazy waiters, and a magic show to cap the night. We followed that with mini-golf where I proceeded to win all the way up until the end, where everyone else scored a 3-way tie and I lost by 3 points. Terrible.

[ ninja ny ]

[animal-themed mini-golf at the putt putt hutt]

Sunday morning was a lovely, lazy Filipino brunch at Jeepney with Kathryn, Carlos, K and cousins, followed by errands (K needed to buy some stuff and return some stuff), then cleaning the apartment to host a Superbowl viewing party. We were mostly cheering for the 49ers except for cousin Allen who cheered for the Ravens (just to spice things up). Turns out he backed the right team. The Ravens won after a really exciting (and slightly stressful) second half.

[chori burger w/ egg, arroz caldo, bulalo beef hash w/ egg

not pictured: longsilog & avocado shake. yum]

[crazy superbowl sunday spread: KFC chicken, cheese platter,

cupcakes, sugar cookies, proscuitto, bacon peanut brittle,

microwavable chicharon, pizza (not pictured), a LOT of beer,

coffee & doughnut flavored custard from shake shack]

On Monday, I had lunch with a friend from home and a bunch of her friends from her old industry. She made reservations at Aldea, a Portuguese restaurant that had restaurant week specials. The food was pretty yummy and the conversation was really entertaining. Unforgettable quote of the meal "if he could stick it into a keyhole, he would..."

[mussel soup w/ coconut curry & chorizo, 

skate wing w/ brown butter & parsnip-cider puree, 

gianduja mousse w/ toasted orange pound cake, 

banana brulee & frozen Greek yogurt]

I headed back to the apartment to wrap up some more homework (it really never ends) and surfaced in time for dinner with K and the cousins. We hit up Keens which is a really old steakhouse, which used to be an old boy's club that has been there for generations. They are known for their extensive pipe collection, some of which have been smoked by famous men like Albert Einstein, Theodore Roosevelt, and so on. They also have the original program that Abraham Lincoln was holding when he was assassinated in the theatre. It is framed in the second floor of the restaurant. The food was great - lobster bisque, porterhouse, mutton chops, thick slabs of bacon, bananas foster and chocolate cake. We went to a beer hall after for a quick drink before calling it a night to get some rest before the early bus back to DC.

[porterhouse, mutton chop, bananas foster & lady M chocolate cake]

<3,

Tiffy