You Gotta Beat the Beat!

I'm a little behind. But my love for this guilty pleasure deserves a mention:

My brother and I have had battles over the remote control from as long as I can remember. I distinctly recall a few times getting rug burn in one of our more epic battles. And for people who've met my brother, he has about eight inches and at least 60 pounds on me. So guess who won?

But the argument would stop every Thursday while the two of us watched The Jersey Shore together.

Yes, I watched and fully enjoyed, The Jersey Shore. And what else I loved about this show? All the news stories about how many begrudgingly and shamefully admit just how much they love the show.

Here are a few of my favorite articles:

1. My curiosity in the show began with this article from The New York Times. When The New York Times can make a show that centers itself around GTL (Gym, Tan, Laundry for non-fans)sound smart, I had to take a look.

2. A top ten list!? Love. A top ten list of the best Jersey Shore catchphrases?! Even better.

3. The news is out that the whole cast will be returning for a second season. Not that I'm against this, but I have a sad feeling that they will never be able to replace the purity of the first go around. How many times can you be a grenade, Pauly D.? Really?

4. And finally just because I'm already thinking of fun MTV reality spin offs. Can we call it Jersey Mom? Or I met a guy at Karma and all I got was this surprise pregnancy?

I wish I missed you, NC8

It's nice to be told you're missed by former co-workers. I'm not going to lie, I secretly hoped my replacement sucked so my weekend cohorts would think "Gee, I wish Sam was still here." Clearly selfish of me, I admit it.

My colleagues have also been keeping me up to date on the "news within the newsroom", and the most recent tidbit really frustrated me.

Apparently, the powers that be at my old station severely demoted a non-contract reporter to the point where he would have little to no choice but to quit, thus avoiding giving him a severance package. The same thing also happened to an amazing producer I had the honor of working with and learning from.

I understand that, from a business perspective, this is a gain. Higher someone cheaper to do the same job or get rid of the position. Makes sense in these economic times. But what happened to appreciating the employee? You give more than a decade of your life, working overnights, weekends and holidays to report and produce quality news and at the end get tossed out like last week's smelly garbage? I'm not saying everyone should get a parade for actually "doing" their job correctly, but is it wrong to receive a "thank you?"

UM's College of Journalism just opened up a new building on campus that will mold and teach tomorrow's journalists, but do these students realize that the industry is totally different from when they started at the j-school?

I also checked out last year's State of the News Media address, and they cite decreased revenue, new ways to receive news, the digital transmission switch as well as other problems has led the broadcast news industry into uncharted land. So now the question becomes will these "not normal times" actually change back to what we remember, or become our new reality?

Journalists? No, just hungry college kids.

I've become a fan of Caramel Creams in the past few months. Those individually wrapped chews that are caramel on the outside but that funny cream-like stuff on the inside. I know it's all sugar, but I can't help myself, I've recently started liking them. I even picked up a small bag of them at CVS so I can treat myself to one (or two) while at work.

I think my new love for them comes directly from my old job. The journalists I worked with were a lot of things. They were a little crazy (or A LOT crazy), sometimes abrasive, fast thinkers and hopefully objective. But really, at the heart of it all, these journalists were just college kids looking to mooch wherever they could.

Whether it was a holiday, a birthday, a Tuesday, dayside or weekend overnights, there was always something to eat in that newsroom. Well, not always. It was there, and then be gone five minutes later after the vultures I worked with swooped in and ate every last crumb. And besides the special treats at the assignment desk, everyday at 12:30 on the dot, our VP of News' Assistant would fill two little bowls of candy for everyone to take. It was different everyday, and could be M&M's, fun size chocolate bars, Rolos, Reese's Pieces or Caramel Creams. It was always nice to grab a handful after I finished producing the 1pm show (if there was any left).

Do I miss this? Sort of. But I have a desk drawer dedicated to snacks, dried fruit and different types of teas at my new job. And every time we have a satellite media tour, there's always leftover bagels and fruit and other pastries that we can totally swoop in on and enjoy.

So really, it's not just journalists that with the mindsets of poor hungry college kids. We're everywhere, searching for the next morsel of free food. Hoping there's enough so you don't even have to go out and buy lunch.

Wow, hop on the train to weight gain city...next stop, my desk.

It's a Lazarus Family Extravaganza!

Every time my family would come down and visit me at school, I would call it a "Lazarus Family Extravaganza." That's because it was never just my parents coming down for the weekend. It was my parents and my brother, or my parents, my brother, my aunt and uncle. We travel in packs. And now that I'm back at home, it's an "extravaganza" almost every other weekend.

Last weekend, we took my Grandma out to lunch for her 88th birthday. She now lives in what my brother calls "a college dorm for old people" right in Rockland, so it's easy for us to see her.
Guess Grandma didn't know we were taking a picture. But she couldn't help it, look at all that ice cream in front of her!

This weekend was my cousin Cameron's 3rd birthday party. It was at a firehouse in Stamford, CT. All the little ankle-biters got to play around in a fire truck and see the firefighters in their gear. They even got to ride around in the truck with all the lights and sirens. I felt like I was back on a elementary school field trip. My kids are totally going to have educational birthday parties.



I didn't actually take any pictures while we were in the firehouse, but the truck kind of looked like this.





As much as my family is loud and all over the place, I really missed these functions while I was away. I wasn't there for a lot of these birthday parties or random dinners and lunches, and it's been fun getting back into the swing of things. I can already feel my New York accent getting thicker.

Big Funds...Scratch That.

Ode to my first paycheck:

My first payday! My first payday!
Hooray! Hooray!
Finally making money, maybe I'll buy some honey.
But most of it will head to the bank.
I look at the final number.
And my heart sank.
Tax after tax, after tax.
After tax.
After tax.
Where did my paycheck go?
Sad Face
:(

Awkward Conversation Protocol

I love and miss the MD/DC/VA area. I now mostly miss my friends, but one of the great things living 250 miles away from home was the minuscule chance that I'd run into someone from high school, who honestly, are nice people, but I just don't really care about seeing.

That luxury is gone.

I've been home exactly a month this week, and I've run into four people from high school and one ex-boyfriend from college. Really?! It's not like I'm running into them in the same places. It's at a wide assortment of activities, like running through Penn Station, killing time in a bookstore in Brooklyn, or taking the S train to work in the morning.

I'm not trying to be mean; there is nothing wrong with running into people from high school. It's nice to have that "blast from the past moment" where you picture in your head what the person looked like six years ago and compare. (Hummm, he's bigger, Oooo, she learned how to use make up, Oh, he came out of the closet) The problem is what do you say after "Hi! How are you?"

You ask what they have been up to, what they do now, and if they are still with so and so, but then how do you make a clean break? You look for a friend to bail you out, or the moment when you realize you're going in different directions. But what if that doesn't come? Quick, think of something!!

"Umm, we'll I'll let you get back to what you were doing. Good luck with everything"
"Hey, look over there!" (dart in other direction)
"Well, have a great night. See you randomly somewhere else in New York in a few years."

Can that work?

11 Best Foods I Probably Won't Eat For Awhile

I've been living at home for almost a month now, and so far it's been quite enjoyable. I consider myself a semi-nomad. I am a repeat couch guest at my brother and friend's apartments. But one thing I do notice in my new travels in the boroughs and suburbs is just how difficult it is to continuously eat healthy when you don't have your own kitchen to fill.

I know for a fact that, compared to many of my friends, I'm an average healthy eater. I enjoy "good for you foods", but I've also been told by different people that they love going to out to dinner with me because I like ordering dessert. :) In the last year or so (in many ways thanks to Steve), I have started to enjoy going to the grocery store. Picking out fresh fruit and veggies. Finding fun foods to make into quick and easy delicious treats. And, also thanks to Steve, I am a bit bias. I have a new love, and his name is Trader Joe. And my second crush? Harris Teeter.

But the problem? Its turned into long distance relationships. There is not one TJ's in my county. The closest? Wayne, NJ...or Brooklyn. And Harris Teeter? There's one in Hoboken. Not exactly my "Neighborhood Grocery Stores."

And the other problem? I could stock my brother's kitchen while I'm staying with him in the city (pasta and potato chips does not a meal make), but going to his local grocery store on the East Side, and it's suburb-quality food with jacked-up city prices. Why does going 20 miles south mean a bag of apples or some prepared meatballs double, or almost triple in price?

This food rant actually only began after I read this article: The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating. I told myself I want to eat more of these foods, but then I started to wonder how I'm going to actually keep them when I'm not in the same house/kitchen more than 3 or so days? It's a goal that may have to wait until I move into a city-sized shoebox.

Excuse me while I go check on the brownies I just made with my Mom. :)

Crackberry

Meet the big slap in the face that reminded me I now work in Corporate America and not the journalism industry:
Now this is not my exact blackberry. I'm on AT&T's service, and mine has a few "character dings", and let's be honest, seen better days. This one vaguely looks like the blackberry my Dad had when I was in high school.
The fact that my company was so adamant that I have one kinda boggles my mind. And in no way did I expect them to go out and buy me a new one. I'm not that important. But at least could I have one that fits in the case provided to me?

I have already learned a few fun quirks about this particularly blackberry:
1. When searching through my bag, it's determined to always be found before my personal cell phone.
2. The screen only shows the following colors:grey, white, black, blue and orange. So if anyone has any images of Mets apparel, they can send it to my work e-mail.
3. My blackberry vibrates twice for e-mails. My cell phone vibrates three times for text messages, and continuously when someone is calling. I'll wait for the third vibrate to actually being the dig through the bag.

But now the next big step in bonding with my newest electronic device is naming it. So far I've called it The Brick, Blackie the Blackberry and Mabel (just for fun), but I'm not sure if any of them are worthy to be come the permanent name.

Anyone have suggestions?

Lions and Tigers and Bear Mountain!

"There's nothing to do in Rockland!"
It's a sentence I've heard come out of my mouth plenty of times. It's the universal complaint of most kids who grew up in the suburbs. We say nothing in the county is more than 20 minutes away, but drive 20 minutes and you're surrounded by more neighborhoods, schools and places to eat. But if you drive 20 minutes north, you're at Bear Mountain.

My only memory of Bear Mountain was when my dad would force me to go to take pictures of my brother and I in front of the foliage. But this time I was there with Steve and Justin, and I was the photographer.

Instead of outdoor ice skating (which could have been awesome had it not been sold out), we ventured around the park, went hiking and even forged across a larger than average stream. (We made it across mostly dry, the wagon stayed together and no one caught dysentery)

But before the flashback to Oregon Trail, we went back to our childhoods where a Merry-Go-Round was waiting for us! The dollar per person ride not only had photos of Rockland and other parts of the Hudson Valley through the years, it also had a variety of animals to enjoy the ride on!

We ended the day with hot chocolate and future plans to come back when the Bear Mountain Lodge re-opens, to go ice skating, and to enjoy Oktoberfest later in the year.
So I guess I can say I found one thing to do in Rockland.