[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] to do homework & not get distracted

I'm so easily distracted it's not even funny.

It's the third week of grad school and so far I've been holding my own in terms of staying on top of all the reading assignments and getting my requirements in on time. Today, I had a paper and an oral presentation for one of my classes which were based on a journal article that I found, summarized, and critiqued on positive organizational behavior. The article talked about the importance of effective communication and positive organizational culture for companies to effectively weather crisis situations. Effective communication referred to openness and transparency from management so that employees could see that they were credible and authentic and would not lose morale during challenging times. Positive organizational culture was said to stem from the values of company CEOs (who are living personifications of the brand's culture and what it stands for). If a CEO was said to be hopeful, optimistic, and resilient, those values would spread through the company and those corporations were statistically shown to be more able to turn crises into opportunities for change and renewal. I believe that having good core values in a company that are embodied and practiced by the management can lead to a strong corporate identity and a cohesive work place where employees will be more motivated to add value.

I wrote pages and pages about that stuff relating it to the lessons and throwing in my own opinions of it. I love reading journal articles like these because they have practical real world applications. I read a ton of other articles for class that are more theoretical in nature and those aren't as fun. Most of these articles end with a call to do further research on other related topics because the subject matter is just too broad to cover all the areas. I feel nerdy for enjoying most of my school readings although part of me wishes that I could read faster just to get through them all. There are way too many pages of reading per class and sometimes that can get pretty overwhelming.

Tonight, I'm in the midst of writing a reaction paper. It's a 2 page paper but it's a lot harder than the long papers I've had to write in other classes. Distilling many points and ideas into something that short and concise is probably one of the more difficult things I've had to do. I'm a pretty wordy girl and editing these sentences is taking a lot longer than it ought to. And now I'm on the blog typing away. I guess I have all this text to get out of my system!

On an unrelated note, I am struck by how some things seem to simply "fall into place."A random memory popped into my head a few hours ago about how I desperately wanted to be an English major in college. I remember telling my parents about this over the phone and they responded by asking me to pick a "more practical" major. What could I possibly do with an English major? Fast forward to 2013 and here I am taking a Masters degree in Communication. It's like being an English major but with more up to date literature (and a fancier diploma, I'd imagine).

It's times like these where I sit here and feel an immense sense of gratitude that I've managed to get here and that I'm actually loving it (despite the temporary bouts of homesickness and loneliness).

And on that note, I have to stop typing on this blog and start finishing my paper so I can get some sleep.  I have a long day of homework to get through tomorrow so I can max out another weekend in NY with my family.

<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

[tiffy trying] to get used to the routine

and the routine thus far looks like this: 

[where the magic happens. and by "magic" i mean

procrastination]

[routine: (new) food for the mind + 

(leftover) food for the body]

[i don't care how cold it is, ice cream is therapeutic]

no long paragraphs today. my day was long and i am le tired.

<3,

Tiffy

[tiffy trying] maryland!

Yesterday was a pretty eventful, fun-filled Monday. Jela, my cousin's gf is in DC for a few days and wanted to meet up for lunch. We decided to meet up at the Starbucks nearby then walk around the area and figure out where we could eat. I ended up walking to the wrong Starbucks because there apparently are quite a number of Starbucks cafes in my area. Eventually I found her and she introduced me to her niece, Nica, who was with her, who apparently works in my area.

We then decided on a whim to head over to Bethesda, Maryland for lunch since I haven't really ventured out of my little DC bubble. To be honest, with the weather being as ridiculous as it was over the last few days, I've barely ventured out of my apartment! So off to the train station and to Maryland we three went.

I've only been to Maryland once and it was a very quick overnight stay. I had visited one of my bestfriends in Baltimore and I didn't get to see much of the city other than her apartment, bits and pieces of her campus, and her boyfriend's family's house.

We ended up lunching at Nando's Peri Peri which is a fairly famous Portuguese chicken chain that they both frequent quite a bit. Funny story, when I was looking up possible restaurants to dine in, this was one of the options that stood out on my list because it sounded pretty interesting. The chicken was really flavorful with a nice, spicy kick. The sides were yummy too- spicy rice and creamy mashed potatoes.

For dessert I wanted to try out Georgetown Cupcake (DC's famous cupcakery) and we devoured the four flavors we ended up buying- Toffee Crunch, Red Velvet, Caramel Praline Crunch, and Cookies and Cream. We washed it down with coffee (green tea for me since I was already wired on sugar) and decided to catch a 3pm movie. We ended up watching Hansel and Gretel which... wasn't great... but wasn't that bad either. Really action packed and highly entertaining. We also found a photo booth nearby and ended up taking (and overpaying for) silly pictures of ourselves. Not bad for a Monday afternoon.

[pretty in pink! check out the bling on that mixer!]

[L-R top: toffee crunch, red velvet

L-R bottom: cookies & cream, caramel praline crunch] 

After this, we went back to DC where Nica's parents picked us all up (they were on their way to their son's birthday dinner) and insisted on dropping me off at my apartment just to be on the safe side. All in all, a really great way to spend a random Monday afternoon. Jela and Nica were so much fun to talk to and were so bubbly and cheery to be with. Considering that I had only met Jela once prior to yesterday's lunch, and it was my first time to meet Nica, it's pretty cool that we got along so well.

The rest of my night was spent doing the usual nightly routine- catching up on emails, talking to my mom on the phone, and working on homework (with the usual internet distraction thrown in).

<3,
Tiffy

[tiffy trying] neighborhood restaurants

For the rest of the weekend, K and I decided to try out some of the restaurants in DC since I haven't had a chance to venture out and explore yet. Here are some pictures from our Saturdate and Sunday Brunch.

[duk bokki and bulgogi at mandu]

[grilled pork chops w/ 2 sunny side up eggs and

corned beef hash w/ fries from trio]

[breakfast of (indecisive) champions: 

buttered wheat toast with grape jam on one side

and strawberry jam on the other side]

After brunch, K needed to head back to NY *sad face* so I packed him a little corny, dorky snack for the ride. 

["be mine clementines" and "ham & cheesy sandwich]

The rest of my afternoon was spent doing never-ending chores (this apartment gets really dusty really quickly for some reason) and now I'm doing homework (while getting distracted by the internet as usual).

[OC housebunny chore for the day: labeling all the food 

in my fridge w/ their expiration dates]

[found my to-do list for this weekend's meals.

good thing we ate out on Sat!]

<3,
Tiffy

[tiffy trying] work-life balance

Make that (home)work-life balance.

Yesterday was a full day of homework. Graduate school so far seems to be a process of surfing through a sea of reading. The reading assignments, admittedly, are extremely interesting and I am learning so much. Instead of just skimming through the text I find myself highlighting and taking copious notes on some topics because I feel like these will be useful information to refer back to in the future (although ideally I know I ought to commit those to memory).

It was also a day of household chores and cooking. K is visiting this weekend and he's been fixing up around the apartment because I've seemingly been behaving like a baby bull in a china shop. He's fixed the space heater, the sink drain, and my curtain rod. He's also attempted to seal the air leaks in the apartment but some cracks are trickier to deal with than others. And he did this while managing a full day's work of spreadsheets and conference calls and I had my full day of homework.

[K doing work, K buying things at the hardware store,

K fixing things]

In between homework, I tried to be a good little housebunny and cook. I'm still stubbornly resisting going down the takeout/delivery route and instead opting for the healthy cooking route. I succeeded at doing this for lunch, but dinner was a pretty unhealthy feast of bacon and carbs. As you can see I was in a bit of a tomato mood.

[tomato-basil soup, grilled cheese sandwich w/ brie, 

& a side salad w/ turkey bits & sesame-ginger dressing]

[bacon brussel sprouts, chicken parmigiano, spaghetti marinara,

& a bottle of cheap (but yummy) moscato]

I ended up finishing homework (for the day, there's still a lot more reading to do) at around 11pm and we watched the tail end of Ocean's 13 on TV before calling it a night.


<3,
Tiffy