Brooklyn Byline!

Nothing like a shameless plug for my first byline at the J-School! C'mon, you know you love it! Make sure to visit our class website for everything Brooklyn.

From farm to fork

Farmer's markets, Food Network specials, and Michael Pollan's literature have made many people think twice about the origin of food before they put it in their mouths. There is a heightened conscious about processed foods and the idea that "we are what we eat." In a perfect world, we could all eat organic food from the Stinson's Peace Valley Farm, but unfortunately we don't all have the resources or money to be a "localvore."k

This, as well as an article in the New York Times, inspired my partner Ishita and I to pitch a master's project about whether or not Wellness in the Schools, a grassroots organization, can successfully promote fresher, healthier menus in New York City public schools.

Pitching tomorrow, 10/9! Will find out if our multimedia pitch is accepted on 10/16. Wish us luck! Anyone with contacts in the NYC Public Schools let me know!

I'll leave you with some photos I took in May 2008 at the Stinson's Peace Valley Farm! Beautiful!

How Journalism is Changing

Yes, it's been a while, but I've been tied up trying to learn the ropes of an industry that is apparently changing so fast that J-Schools are doing their best to keep up.

Check this out:
Applications to journalism schools surge

Fun fact: Approximately 1.4 blogs are created every second! Not sure where the .4 factors in, but that's besides the point. I guess I better get my act together!

For the bloggers

Cartoon on page 81 of this week's New Yorker. I love it. I cracked up. I hope they come in women's size 6.5!

On a mission for Sex

It's not what you think. I'm still trying to keep the blog PG. I had to get your attention somehow though. It worked, didn't it?

My mission does involve sex, however, but, the Hollywood kind not the kind you awkwardly learn about in seventh grade health class. In case you haven't already guess, I'm talking about Sex and the City! I just found out that for the next TWO weeks, the Sex and City 2 movie will be filming in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, which is the geographic beat I am covering for J-School. They will be filming on a tree-lined street filled with beautiful brownstones, one of which serves as Miranda's place in the movie. And yes, I do have the address. And yes, I have already been there to scope out the scene. No luck today, but rest assured I plan on making a tireless effort to get one of the most coveted celeb/film sightings this fall!

As far as I'm concerned, the next two weeks will be: Eat, Sleep, Run, Report, Scope out Sex and the City, with an emphasis on the latter. Cross your fingers for me! Just think, this could do wonders for my blog :)

New York State of Mind

Happy Labor day too all. I am enjoying my first Labor Day off since graduating from Hamilton, considering small,private liberal arts colleges do not recognize national holidays. But they make up for it with a month long winter break and two week spring break. Damn, I'm really going to miss that in real life. Why can't jobs offer college schedules and summers off? I'm going to look into that.

I hope everyone enjoyed their last weekend of summer as much as I did. It was absolutely beautiful weather, complete with some wonderful company. I will be sad to see it go, will also be sad later this evening when I realize I need to crack open a book and do some homework. I guess labor day isn't completely work-free for everyone--Hannah too.

I'll make this quick. A few highlights:
1) Started off the weekend right on Thursday night at a Filligar concert with Molly and Cam. Rocked out to some tunes and drank a gallon of beer.
2) J-School BBQ on Friday
3) Run in scenic Rockefeller park with my dad, followed by Jenna's grad party
4) City date with Molly, which began with a complete stranger offering to parallel park Molly's car on the Upper East Side after watching us try to do it for a good 15 minutes. Only in New York.
5) Met up with some wonderful Hamilton people at The Frying Pan on the Hudson, follwed by running into even more Hamilton people at a different bar. Amazing.
6) Hamilton crowd all capped off the night with the most amazing NY pizza I have ever tasted, and it wasn't just because I was drunk. It was pretty f-in delicious.
7) Slept over with Molly at my sisters. Woke up, snuggled. Got a much needed bagel to cure our hangovers and tried tofu cream cheese, which was surprisingly delicious. Try it: www.tofutti.com
8) We walked off our bagels on our way to Central Park and proceeded to lay their in the warm summer sun for a good three hours. Great people watching.

All in all, it was a good time had by all and hopefully foreshadowing into the life that Molly and I will soon lead as roommates together in NYC. Everyone is welcome to visit once that dream becomes a reality. Haha :) Happy End of Summer everyone!

Red Rocket Tattoo

After a long day at a tattoo parlor (no, not getting one, just interviewing the artists), followed by an even longer day of uploading audio and visual clips and compiling a slideshow (which was interrupted by a power outage I might add), I am finally done! Well, as done as I can be when we have less than 24 hours to complete a major project. It may not be perfect, but I'm still getting the hang of Final Cut Pro.

Please check out the video below and let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is appreciated!

Who said Brooklyn was boring?

And my professor told me that my beat (neighborhood) in Brooklyn was too boring and "stroller-friendly"...

Body parts found in Fort Greene

I'd say this is pretty new and interesting (and a little bit freaky too!). I just can't tell my mom about this one.

Jaded Journalist

Now that I've been an official journalism student for a few weeks, I've been doing a lot of thinking about my blog. (Clearly the thinking has not materialized into writing, as my lack of blog posts clearly demonstrates). I'm afraid the snapshots into my daily life are hardly unique, and doesn't attract many followers other than my friends who are bored at work (not that there's anything wrong with that--I really do appreciate it). My point is that if I really want to call myself a blogger, I need to step it up a notch. And I mean more than just being more consistent with postings, considering I can't make any promises with my unpredictable grad school schedule. Rather, I would like to write more meaningful, focused pieces. Don't worry, I won't bore you with scholarly essays, I'll still maintain the tongue-in-cheek language that bloggers are known for. I will, however, try to expand my writing outside of my daily life. (Even though, let's face it, you all love to know the ins and outs of my life ;)

So, right now, I'm in the brainstorming phase. I'm reading "The Elements of Journalism" by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel (yes it's required reading, don't judge) and have been inspired to think more about the purpose of the career I'm paying a fortune to attain. In an age when any Average Joe (sorry for the cliche!) can report the news, it seems ridiculous to spend the time and money for a master's degree in reporting the news. But, the truth is, professional journalists set out to tell the truth and tell it well. People need and crave to know what is going on around them, which is why, despite what anyone says, journalism will never die! Muah...ha...ha. Ok, I'm going off on tangents now. And I'm tired. And a little tipsy considering the crazy Mexican waiter at dinner tonight decided to personally come over and pour extra Tequila in Liz and my margs. Not sure what that was about, but can't say I hated it :)

Moral of the story (which according to my peer editors I take too long to get across in my articles...I think they're right) is that I have a new theme, or rather an inspiration for my blog. Drum roll please...The Awareness Instinct. It's a term I borrowed from Kovach and Rosenstiel which refers to the need for people to know what is going on around them and to be aware of events beyond their direct experience in order to negotiate their lives and make human connections. Since I am guilty of being a nosy person who needs to know about everything and anything, I think it is appropriate to use this "need for news" as a guide. So--I plan on keeping my eyes extra peeled during my adventures in the Big Apple not only for my class assignments and stories, but for you, my faithful blog readers. I will do my best to inform you on things I think you need, or might crave to know (even if it is about me sometimes, ha). Who knows, maybe that won't change anything. I'll be honest, I was a lot more inspired about this while I was reading my book on the train after class then I am on the couch and ready for bed. I am, however, going to make a conscious effort to make my posts more meaningful, and as per Liz's request, "shorter." Hopefully this is at least some what coherent. If not, I apologize. Blame the tequila and guac. Hopefully my professor is not reading this.

Back to the blog

Wow, it's been over a week since I've last blogged. That's basically a century in blog years. Since then I've traveled the world, won a Pulitzer Prize, gotten married and birthed three children since we've last met, no big deal. I'm kidding, of course, just a little lame joke for y'all. I've got to get your attention somehow! Lucky for you, I do have a few exciting things to blog about since it's been so long. I don't even know where to start. I will attempt some sort of chronological order.

I'll begin with a quick grad school update. It's the second full week of classes, and it's been quite the whirlwind already. I've officially been assigned to my "beat," which is a specific area of coverage (either topical or geographical) for a reporter. My beat is Fort Greene, Brooklyn--a very diverse, cultural, somewhat gentrified, and not to mention exciting neighborhood (so far). My role as a student/reporter is to explore and spend a lot of time in Fort Greene, talking to residents to find out what is "new and interesting." This week's assignment is to do a detailed profile of an active community member. I interviewed a pastor for two hours on Tuesday and found out plenty of new and interesting things about him. Now all I have to do is write it, ha. Also, this weekend Spike Lee (a born and raised Fort Greene-er) is hosting a birthday party for the one and only Michael Jackson in a nearby park. Anyone interested in accompanying me? There will be lots of Thriller dancing, to be sure.

I've also been learning some photo tricks and Final Cut Pro. Enough about that though, you probably don't care. The best news is that I was able to get my Saturday class switched to Monday night! Hooray! By the way, I still hate the 1 train, in case you're wondering. Why must you be so unreliable and make me miss my train? Not cool 1 train, not cool.

In other, REALLY exciting news, Liz and I attended Britney's circus tour concert at Madison Square Garden. Lots of glitter, lots of screaming girls, and lots of fun! Granted she was not really singing (or even lip syncing for that matter), but she sure looked hot! Not "I'm a Slave 4 You" hot, but pretty close to it. The tabloids ain't lying my friends, Britney is back.

Well, I know this blog post wasn't terribly exciting, but I'm easing you back into it--just a taste, if you will. I also have homework to do, woops! Priorities. I need to take some lessons from my blog mentor and inspiration, Mr. Capone. I appreciate your shout-out, and not to mention helpful advice, and have been feeling guilty for not giving you proper recognition! I aspire to live up to your clever wit that brings all the readers to the yard.

Transit Trouble

1 Train, if you're listening, I really, really don't like you right now. Please do something to fix this, perhaps something in the form of running more often than every 20 minutes? I would greatly appreciate it. So would my professors. And my classmates, who have to sit next to a really sweaty girl who just sprinted 20 blocks in 95 degree weather. Ok great, thanks!

P.S. Sorry for the hostile blog post, I think the heat is getting to me. Thumbs down to dehydration.

Here's to hoping it cools off...more interesting blog to come

Swim, Bike, Run Recap

For those of you who have been hanging on the edge of your seat waiting to hear about the triathlon I competed in yesterday, your wait is over. You can thank me later. Haha, kidding of course. All in all, I really enjoyed the swim-bike-run and would love to complete another one. I think doing a sprint tri for my first one was a good decision because I was challenged enough, but am still walking and lived to talk to about it! It was a half mile swim, 16 mile HILLY bike and 5K run. And, the best news is I finished in under two hours (I think around 1 hour, 53 minutes), which I did not expect to do at all. That's the nice thing about going into something with little expectations other than to finish the race--you often end up surprising yourself with what you can accomplish.

I urge anyone who is interested in trying out a triathlon to do so because they are a lot of fun. Since there are three different parts, at no point did I feel bored and lethargic. The transitions from swimming to biking to running were exciting and kept me feeling very energetic and looking forward to what's next. I also had my mom, aka my number one fan, on the sidelines the entire time snapping photos, screaming "Go Mere!" and telling me how proud of me she was. Gotta love my own personal cheering section! Here are some pictures, courtesy of Cindy Lou.

Right after the finish. Clearly very tired, thirsty and sweaty--making for a great photo opp.

Cruising in after 16 miles on the bike. My entire left butt cheek was cramped up and still hurts a little today.

Right before running into the water for the swim. The men started swimming during the first "wave," five minutes before the women. And yes, I did pass and beat several men. Girl power :)

In other news, my mom and I saw the movie Julie&Julia today. Aside from the fact that we had to sit in the fifth row because every senior citizen in Westchester was at that particular showing, I really enjoyed it. For those of you who don't know, the movie is about Julie, a disillusioned, 30-year-old New Yorker who cooks her way through Julia Child's cookbook and blogs about it in order to live a more purposeful life. One of the more interesting points made in the movie during a fight between Julie and her husband was how often times blogging can come across as very boastful. I immediately began to question my own blog and how I am portraying it. Since my blog is essentially a chronicle of my daily activities and life, I need to make sure I make it interesting without too much fluff about myself. However, I do not think I am alone in this. After all, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Gmail and more have made us digitally-driven consumers obsessed with keeping track of each other's lives. There is no denying that social networking sites have become a large part of our lives, if not daily routine, and without them we would most likely feel lost. The New York Times recently published an article about technology obsessions and how some families (mine included) have become so consumed by media and technology that they even text or call each other room to room. Liz, you are definitely guilty of calling me from another room in the house in such vicinity that I can probably hear you breathing. Here's the link for the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/technology/10morning.html?emc=eta1

This obviously has and will continue to be a hot topic of discussion, which I am currently too tired to go into detail with right now. I do, however, plan on bringing in a copy of the article for our first class discussion tomorrow, since I think it is very relevant. Tomorrow marks the first official day of school! Don't worry, my mom has already asked me if I want her to pack a lunch for me. I said only if she includes a note or poem of how proud of me she is :) Goodnight all, and here's to hoping no one suffers a case of the Mondays!

Here today, Tri tomorrow

After an exciting three days of meeting new people and getting acquainted with Columbia, I am pretty exhausted. However, I'm gearing up for my first ever triathlon bright and early tomorrow morning! I just made some delicious grilled whole-wheat pizza for the fam and me because let's face it, the best part about competing in a race is the excuse for a carbo load the night before. Although I'm not sure my homemade cuisine can ever compare to team dinners at Commons Dining Hall before a 5K. Oh, college. Those were the days.

The forecast for tomorrow is nice, thank goodness, but very hot. Luckily it's early enough that it shouldn't be too bad. I also think the majority of the bike course is shaded which is also a bit of a relief. I'm pretty nervous despite the fact that I don't have any high expectations other than finishing. I guess there's a first time for everything though, right? I'm hoping I can get the transitions done smoothly and that I don't lag behind too much. Either way, it will certainly be a challenging new experience for me that I'm sure I will enjoy. Maybe I'll even become a triathlete and can get one of those nifty bumper stickers that say "Swim. Bike. Run." for my car? I won't get ahead of myself just yet.

As much as I would love to recap the J-School Happy Hour, dinner, and walking tour of Brooklyn, I better get to bed. 5:30 am wake up call tomorrow, 6 am departure. Wish me luck! Hopefully I'll be alive enough to blog about my finish tomorrow :)

First day of school

Well, it's official. Grad school has begun. So far, so good. Today was mostly orientation, meet-and-greet activities, but it was fun and exciting nonetheless.

Quick recap of the day. Had to wake up bright and early (5:30am to be exact) to squeeze in a run before taking the 6:56 train. Luckily I do not need to be at Columbia as early on a daily basis and can take the 7:48. After all, I need my beauty rest. The ride to the train station naturally involved my mother recapping every first day of school of my childhood and how my sister and I used to pose on the steps for a picture with our lunch boxes before sending us off. Thank goodness there were no photographs this morning! The sentimental moment was then followed by Cindy Lou telling me how I never leave enough time to get to the train and should really think about departing at least one minute earlier. I, on the other hand, believe I left a perfect amount of time and was even able to get a Starbucks iced coffee (thankfully there was no line) and still make it on board! Unfortunately, my commuter luck did not last long. When I got off at 125th and got on the cross-town bus (which miraculously pulled up just as I was exiting Metro North) I swiped my Metro Card and found a seat. To my dismay, the driver preceded to yell across the bus that there was no money left on the card (figures) and to come back to the front. I argued with him for a few minutes until he stopped the bus and made me get off. So not cool on the first day of school. I'll have you (Liz) know that I did not freak out because fortuantely the subway was just a block away so I was able to take the railway route without a problem.

Got my id, got some more coffee and mingled a little bit before beginning orientation. Our keynote speaker was CNN News Anchor Soledad O'Brien, who gave an engaging presentation and was very inspiring to all the students. On a side note, I have always loved her TV voice. We were also welcomed by many of the faculty and administrators, which lasted until about 1pm. Then I met with my Reading and Writing Class, which will take up most of the first semester, in which we will learn how to research, report facts, story tell and much, much more. Our area of coverage, otherwise known as a "beat" is Brooklyn. Starting in October, we will be traveling to different neighborhoods in Brooklyn finding people to meet and stories to tell and then publishing our work on our class website (more on that later!). I've got a great professor and a very interesting mix of students. More recent college grads than I had expected, which was nice because I thought I would be the youngest one. A bunch of us had lunch at a nearby spot afterwards and got to know each other.

The day culminated with a gelato party, which was both refreshing and delicious. I wish there was free ice cream at school everyday! I'm looking forward to the Happy Hour get together tomorrow evening, which will be a great opportunity to meet some more people. All in all, it was a successful day that made me more anxious and excited for the next ten months of my life. Sorry, I know this wasn't a quick recap. Nor was it completely coherent I'm sure, but I wanted to get my thoughts out there! I'll have to get used to writing under pressure, as we have our first writing under deadline drill first thing Monday morning!

Oh, and I almost forgot. Great Yogi quote on my tea bag this evening: "Feel great, act great, and approve of yourself."

That is all, my friends. G'night.

It's raining, it's pouring!

Not only was today the hottest day of the summer (somewhere around 100 degrees), we also just experienced one of the worst thunder and lightning storms in a while. I looked out the window to monsoon-like conditions that slowed traffic on the busy street of Broadway to 5 mph and unfortunately there was still a car accident. Don't worry, Sargeant Cindy was on the case and had the Pleasantville Police on the phone within two minutes giving them the play by play. It kind of reminded me of the first time our house flooded in September 1999. I was awoken at the crack of dawn to my sister screaming at me to wake up and get downstairs to recover what we could from the basement, which was filled with waist-high water by the time I arrived on the scene. I would post photos, but unfortunately that was before the digital camera era and who knows where those prints are. The best part of the pictures, which came in handy for insurance purposes, was that the only camera we had was one of those box cameras with the captions along the bottom of the picture once it was printed. It just so happens the captions were vacation themed and read things like: We're having a great time, Fun in the sun, and my personal favorite...Wish you were here! Needless to say, the pictures and captions helped us make light out of an unfortunate situation--after we dried ourselves off, ofcourse.

While that seems like an irrelevant tangent to my blog, tonight's storm reminded me of the days when a drop of rain would send my parents into a frenzy. Tonight we were on the brink of getting out the buckets to bail out water when the rain started seeping (more like pouring) in underneath our kitchen door, apparently due to an overflow of water on the back porch. Turns out it was nothing a bunch of old towels couldn't soak up. Phew.

Now that the rain has subsided, I'm relaxing comfortably in my bed, drinking some tea (Quote of the day: "Grace brings contentment"), and about to continue Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities. My goal was to finish it before grad school started, but not sure if that will happen, considering I have 300-something pages left and orientation is on Wednesday. Maybe that's how I will spend my last day of freedom (aka boredom) tomorrow. After all, it's much too big of a book to carry around NYC in my purse. Wish me luck! Ta ta for now.

Kennedy Quest for Fun

I'm back, bloggers. After a week of "family fun" in the sun, it's time to kick things back in to gear because I've got a busy week (or year, for that matter) ahead of me. On Wednesday and Thursday, it's off to Columbia bright and early for orientation, Saturday is the much anticipated sprint triathlon I'm doing and classes start on Monday! Talk about hitting the ground running. I can't wait! But before I get ahead of myself, allow me to recap some of the finest moments from the Thousands Islands 2009.

I've chosen to precede the vacation "highlights" with a rather humorous YouTube clip from the infamous movie, National Lampoon's vacation. This may give you a little better sense of the Kennedy atmosphere after seven straight days together. Enjoy.

Thank you Clark Griswald for bringing to light the fact that no family vacation is ever perfect. Either way, we still had some laughs and good times. One of the more notable parts of this vacation was the cottage we stayed in. The house we usually rent was unfortunately already booked so we moved a few doors down. As it turns out, we ate breakfast, played Scrabble, went swimming, BBQed and slept in the the former residence of the 1960s social and political activist, Abbie Hoffman. For those non-history buffs, Hoffman played a large role in the violent protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and eventually became part of theChicago Seven. As an influential anti-war activist, Hoffman is known for causing media frenzy surrounding the riots and protests he pioneered. More on that on his Wikipedia page. Following the Vietnam War period, Hoffman became a fugitive from the law after being convicted for dealing cocaine. And yup, you guessed it--Hoffman hid in Thousand Island Park (in the same cottage we just stayed in) under the alias Barry Freed. He eventually turned himself in and has since passed away, but his legacy lives on through his past girlfriend in the rustic cottage on the St. Lawrence River. Needless to say, my dad had a field day going through all his books and old photographs that just happened to be lying around. Oh, and I almost forgot--Liz and I may or may not have practiced yoga with Johanna (the girlfriend). She's got a killer downward dog. May or may not have a great idea for a features piece. Haha :) Oh, and shout out to my former history teacher at Hamilton, Maurice Isserman. If I hadn't enrolled in your Recent American History course last semester, Abbie Hoffman would have met nothing to me. Thanks man. Enjoy the photos below. It was pouring rain the first day we got there and we had to entertain ourselves somehow. Fortunately for us the cottage was like a historical gold mine of rainy day activities!

Don't mind the blow up whale. Things got weird. Two days later we raced the whales in the river, no big deal.

What kind of person leaves these signs just lying around a cottage you rent to strangers? Come on, Johanna. Yogis know better than that! P.S. Please note the map of the US in the background targeting all the areas across the country that are a threat to peace. Apparently there are a lot.

Aside from the "celebrity" cottage, other highlights included some great boat rides, Alexander Keith's beer from Canada, catching up with cousins, successful long runs with the dad during which he shared some of his favorite journalism stories from the good old days, catching rays on the dock, ice cream from The Guzzle, trivia night at the Pub, and the annual Kennedy Fam reunion at Lake Ontario.

Ok, that's all for now. More tomorrow folks. I'll leave you with a quote from a Yogi Tea bag, in honor of Johanna.

"You must know that you can swim through every tide and change of time."

Cheesy? Maybe a little bit. Make fun of me if you wish, but I think it's a tribute to the river, and is also personally appropriate, considering I'm preparing to swim in a triathlon, not to mention start a new stage in my life! Some inspiration every now and then never hurt anyone, even if it is from a tea bag. I think the quotes are my favorite part of the tea drinking process. Sometimes I'm even tempted to open all the bags at once just to find a good quote, but that would take away the excitement. I think it's time for bed. G'night!

Rabbit, Rabbit!

Happy August everyone! So I'm a huge nerd and just got really excited because I remembered to say Rabbit, Rabbit right after midnight! For those of you who are unaware of the superstition/old wives' tale, it goes a little something like this...On the first of every month when you wake up (or when the clock strikes midnight in my case) you must say Rabbit, Rabbit before anything else in order to have good luck for the entire month. It's hardly the case that I remember or am coherent enough in the morning (see earlier post) to say this, so I'm pretty excited about this one. Here's to hoping August gets off to a good start!

On that note, I'm taking off for vacation with the fam in the 1000 Islands on the beautiful and scenic St. Lawrence River. I'm ready and looking forward to some long runs with my dad along the water followed by a plunge in the refreshing river, boat rides and beverages around the islands, jet skiing with friends, trips to the local ice cream parlor, sunbathing and reading on the dock, kayaking, family reunions and BBQs, and much, much more! Clearly I will be keeping busy relaxing (oxymoron?) and having some good old-fashioned fun, so I won't have much time to blog. That, and we don't have a wireless Internet connection other than my iPhone. I know, it's crazy, right? So if you need to reach me, give me a call or text, but just know that I'll be on island time--haha sorry, I couldn't resist! Hope the weather shapes up and that everyone has a great first week of august! Until next time...

Dry run? Not so much.

6:02 am my alarm goes off. As usual, I wake up in a panic and wonder a) why I am waking up early and b) whether I am late for something. It usually takes a good 30 seconds before I get on track. Mornings can be rough.

In spite of my morning fog, I arose and got ready for my triathlon workout. I suited up in my new two-piece TYR swimsuit with some sweet spandex biking shorts and top over it. As previously mentioned, I look like I'm wearing some sort of leather cat suit...meow! Maybe I will be cast in the next Batman movie? Wishful thinking. I hopped on my bike and rode to the pool to swim 1000 yards (or 40 laps for you non-swimmers), which is a little more than the distance I will be swimming in the sprint triathlon. When I got out of the pool as some Pleasantville Swim Teamers were getting ready to begin their last practice of the season, it had begun to drizzle. I was already wet though so it didn't bother me much. Even though it was pretty rough having to put on the tight cat uniform over a wet bathing suit when it's really muggy out. So much for fast transitions.

As I got back on my bike I started to plan out the route I was going to ride. I was hoping to complete anywhere from 12-16 miles. Unfortunately, I had to cut my ride to 10 miles because I got caught in a TORRENTIAL downpour. And I'm talking heavy rain, borderline hail. My cat suit was like second skin at this point and my sneakers were completely water logged. Thank goodness for the nifty visor thing on my helmet that shielded my eyes from the rain, otherwise I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to see anything. I was pretty annoyed because I woke up really early on purpose in order to avoid the storms that Mr. G had forecasted for later in the afternoon! Not cool. All I could think about was whether or not I would be able to complete my tri workout and run in this weather.

Fortunately, by the time I got home and changed my shoes, which felt like bricks by now, the rain had let up a little. I threw on my mom cap (shout out to Hannah--the original owner of the mom cap) and headed out on my run. Of course, the skies open up yet again when I am on the opposite side of town. Why does it always happen that way? It was raining even harder this time and reminded me of that fateful day at Connecticut College when we ran the NESCAC race in 60 mph winds, hail, rain and waist-high puddles (aka the worst experience of my life). Even though this storm did not even come close to measuring up to that horrible (dare I say life-threatening?) weather in November 2006, the flooded streets of Pleasantville did make me think of that race, and not in a fond way. I found a picture from that day from the infamous Facebook group "Victims of the NESCAC rash" that I thought I would share with everyone to give you a glimpse of what it was like that day. I will do you all a favor and spare you the details of the disgusting rash we all suffered as a result of the fungus puddles (as if running in that weather was not punishment enough). Let's just stay we were all thankful it was cold enough to wear pants for six weeks because the rash was quite unsightly.

Random Colby runners completely oblivious to the fact that their post-race frolicking in the puddles will lead to a vicious skin rash. Way harsh.

So, although this was a very long-winded post, I wanted to give some detailed feedback about my not so dry run of the triathlon this morning. Plus, the whole time I was thinking, "Well at least I'll have something to blog about." Clearly my life is really exciting. Ha! All in all, it was a good practice and I know I'll be ready if it rains on the day of the triathlon!

As if my tag line isn't lame enough....

Here are some Kodak moments from our field trip from Columbia. Calling all journalists, major nerd alert! Liz--please be kind and spare me too much embarassment, otherwise I may be forced to post the pics of you post-Swim Across America. A sand goatee definitely tops a first day of school pose in front of the academic building, hands down.

Two for Two

Ok, here we go. I made it a priority to blog tonight so it doesn't seem like I am abandoning my new project after a mere twenty four hours. Even though I considered it after Liz made fun of my tag line that is an adaptation of the New York Times' infamous motto, "All the news that's fit to print." Not gonna lie, I was pretty proud of my creativity, but Liz thought it was too nerdy. In fact, I believe her actual response was, "your tag line is BEYOND lame." Thanks, Liz. I guess I will take it as my first constructive criticism that I'm sure I will be getting a lot more of once Journalism classes start. I have a feeling the feedback from Columbia will be a little more useful though. Just kidding Liz, love you!

Speaking of Columbia, my mom and I ventured down there this afternoon so she could see the campus and take a walk around. Her reaction was somewhere along the lines of "Wow, I had no idea the university was this nice. I thought it was just one building or something." Gotta love her. Then we took the 1 train down to 79th St. and enjoyed lunch al fresco at the Boat Basin on the Hudson. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the scenic view of the dirty Jerz (haha--love you Molly!). Taking my mom on the subway is also a unique experience in and of itself. All I have to say is, you can take the girl out of the north country, but you can't take the north country out of the girl. LaFargeville, NY for life!

In other news, I am training for a Triathlon that I will be completing (hopefully) in about two weeks. I've already got the running down, as well as the swimming after doing Swim Across America last weekend, but still need some more practice biking. I got a new bike that I'm still getting used to. It's a big upgrade from my fire-engine red bike I got in fifth grade and would ride up and down my cul-de-sac for hours after school. I also may or may not have pretended to be a soccer mom carpooling kids around in my car (aka bike) and that the big circular bush in my yard was the McDonald's drive-thru. No big deal. Don't ask questions, just accept it. I had a vivid imagination, goshhh!

Anyway, enough about that. I think tomorrow morning I'm going to try a "practice" triathlon of sorts. And by that I mean simply doing an early morning swim, directly followed by biking and then running. I'll let you know if I survive. Just thinking about it is making me tired. On that note, time for the CW 11 news at 10. I hope Mr. G gives me a good weather report!

Disclaimer

I was just informed by my other nature-loving friend, Emily that it was indeed a BOBCAT that Hannah saw today, not a beaver. Sorry about that folks. Clearly I have to brush up on my wildlife skills, but that's what outdoorsy friends are for, right? So glad I cleared that one up before it was too late! Phew!

Breaking News: I finally started a blog

Great news! I decided today was the day to stop procrastinating and start my blog. The reasons for this are twofold:

1) My wonderful, nature-loving friend Hannah emailed me a link to her new blog, http://wildlifeencounters.blogspot.com/ and I was so inspired by the beaver she saw on her drive to work this morning (Hooray for Western Mass!) that I decided to get to work on my own blog.

2) It has been pouring rain all day and unfortunately NYC Prep or Real Housewives repeats were not on.

Oh, and one more reason--I'm starting Journalism School in a mere two weeks and I figured it's a good time to get back into the writing groove after my summer hiatus post-graduation from Hamilton College. Am I the only one still feeling the effects of Senior Week? (Just kidding, sort of). I'm also hoping that I will have some exciting stories to share with you from my adventures on the streets of New York City. Yay reporting!

Anyway, I don't have anything too enlightening to share in my first blog seeing as I'm new to this and desperately trying to figure out how to make it look cool. Anyone good with graphics who wants to create a newspaper template for me? It would be greatly appreciated.

Yours truly,

Virgin blogger

P.S. I had the ultimate celebrity sighting last night at the Katy Perry concert at Hammerstein Ballroom with my sister, Liz. Liz was telling me how her daily gossip column informed her that Rihanna was is town and since her and Katy are friends (they even vacation in Barbados together!) we were hoping that the pop star would make an appearance. Fast forward ten minutes later to me complaining how much my feet hurt from standing in the ballroom when Liz exclaimed, "OMG there SHE is!" Let's just say we were pretty psyched and everyone around us was congratulating Liz on having such a good eye! I was basically watching her the whole time and checking out her sweet dance moves. Love her! Oh, and we also saw The Donald in his suit with his hot wife by his side. All in all, great night!