Luck was mostly on my side this past weekend as I left Hamilton and headed home to Nice to celebrate Christmas and spend winter break. On Saturday, I spent the good part of the day heading down into New York from Utica. Amtrak was efficient, although as expected, delayed. Luckily, MTA workers postponed their unauthorized strike until today and I was able to get to my parents’ apartment with relative ease and low-cost, thanks to the Holiday savings the MTA was offering. As an aside, $1 rides would definitely be a great way to increase ridership. I visited with my aunt for a while until the past week’s stress and lack of sleep finally caught up with me - hard - and it wasn’t long before I was fast asleep on the couch.
Sunday, time to head to France. The morning and early afternoon was spent running errands, taking a quick stroll in the park, and having a light ‘Christmas’ lunch with my aunt. I bought tickets on the airport bus to JFK in the morning and left four hours before my flight. However, catching a bus to grand central station was difficult as a few of the drivers were holding their own unofficial strike early, refusing to pick up passengers. I missed the airport bus I had planned on catching by a couple of minutes, but as they head out every 20 minutes, wasn’t too delayed. Traffic was harsh though and it took a bit over an hour to get from the city to Terminal 1, Air France’s modern terminal at JFK. Lines for ticketing, as well as security were long and by the time I got through the last checkpoint, it was five minutes before boarding.
Arriving relatively late compared to the other passengers, I was forced to sit in the center seat of the Boeing 777 that Air France uses to Paris CDG. During the flight, while I was being crushed by the seat in front of me, I came up with my personal manifesto for flying which I believe everyone should follow: Continue reading »
This past semester at Hamilton, I attended a course with both Greg and Grant titled Modern Life and War in Japanese Literature. Starting at the beginning of the 20th century, we read translated poems, novels, and critiques, as well as watched various movies, that discussed topics such as the Second Sino-Japanese War, feminism, the Atomic Bomb, the Occupation Era, and post-war Japan. There was a lot of reading and writing to be done, but overall the course was excellent. I’d never read any Japanese literature before and was pleasantly suprised at the quality of the books that we read. For those interested in the books we read, here are the required novels that were needed:
My favorite book that we read was definitely Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Written post-War, it was just an interesting and exciting novel that mesmarized the reader. I’d be hard-pressed to describe the novel here, but I’ll try and provide a couple of key words: gender roles, war, and modern Japanese society; intrigue, suspense, pleasure, and sadness. It’s a long book - 600 odd pages - but if you have the time, I’d definitely suggest picking up a copy. It’s a novel so it reads quickly and once you get a decent way in, it’s hard to put down the book!
Continue reading »
With great interest, I’ve been reading the comments on Matthew Mullenweg’s recent post, Braindead Finder Behavior. Up until today, I had never realized that there was a difference between the way Windows and Macintosh replaces a folder. Before commenting on the issue, let me make it perfectly clear how both operating systems work.
On the Mac, dragging a folder to a location with a folder of the same name prompts you with the following confirmation dialog: “An older item named ‘test’ already exists in this location. Do you want to replace it with the newer one you are moving?” The two context-sensitive buttons are “Stop” and “Replace,” with ‘replace’ simply overwriting the old folder with the new one.
On Windows, dragging a folder to a location with a folder of the same name prompts you with the following confirmation dialog: “This folder already contains a folder named ‘folder_name’. If the files in the existing folder have the same name as files in the folder you are moving or copying, they will be replaced. Do you still want to move or copy the folder?” In this case, Windows provides you with four buttons titled “Yes,” “Yes to All,” “No,” and “Cancel.” Now, if you press either ‘yes’ or ‘yes to all,’ your files are merged unless there are conflicting names, in which case, the files are then overwritten. The difference with ‘yes’ and ‘yes to all’ is whether or not you would like to be prompted for each conflicting file. ‘No’ and ‘cancel’ provide you with the ability to skip a conflict or to cancel the full process.
Last night, four of us headed to the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica to watch Hotel Rwanda, a chilling and graphic depiction of the Rwandan genocide that took place in 1994 between the Hutus and Tutsis. Don Cheadle, who was nominated for an Oscar, performed beautifully, exuding both courage and fear and sharing his emotions with the viewer. The movie, summed up in one-word, could be described as haunting. The violence was distrubing, the actions of the characters believable, and given that this was based off of a real-event (Rwandan Hotel is Still Haunted by Horror New York Times, Feb. 28, ‘05), incomprehensible that humans could be so cruel. Although I had personally heard and read about the Rwandan struggles before, saddly, it took this ‘Hollywood’ movie to emotionally challenge me and force me to question why the US (and other foreign nations) had done nothing but look on. The saddest thing is that these struggles will continue through the world, and just like what happened in Rwanda, the plain fact will be that the majority of the developed world will simply look upon the actions in horror and then continue our daily routine. What will it take for us to be more pro-active when such an event occurs?
Perhaps one of the best features of Manhattan (and New York City as a whole) is the individualism. Sure, there’s a Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and New World Cafe at every corner, a Barnes and Noble and Borders every other avenue, and a Gap, Banana Republic, and Express every district, but for each chain store, there’s countless unique, individually owned stores and cafes that have their own, one-of-a-kind experience. Case in point, the pictured 1899 pharmacy on the corner of Lexington and 82nd. Peering through the windows, you can almost feel yourself time-traveling back to the early 20th century. Gone are the sterile, tight narrowed shelves of the corner CVS, Rite Aid, or Duane Reade, replaced by shelves of lesser known brands that allow the shopper to explore other brands.
1899 Apothecary (Left) and Myself (Right)
Don’t get me wrong - I think there’s plenty of room for chains. I myself am guilty of shopping at them each and every day. I buy clothes from the Gap, drink coffee from Starbucks, and shop at the Food Emporium. But, I’m fearful America (and soon after, other western nations) will turn to a brand-conscious lifestyle. You already notice this when you’re in rural America. Strip malls featuring the same stores, same designs, and same products. No matter where you are, there will be a Walmart nearby and the standard suite of fast food joints. So my suggestion: support your local stores. They may be more expensive, perhaps even less helpful, but they provide the opportunity to find products that are not as common, a shopping experience outside the norm, and the good feeling that your money won’t be heading to some nameless executive.
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