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...