Hingis Things

I think she can make the semis of the Open, but then again I'm always in her corner.

Anyway, reading this interview after her first round win, today, two things crossed my mind (actually three):

1. She really does have a ton of perspective for someone who is 26, and she wasn't always known for that. It's good to see how much she's grown. I think the part where she says that, overall in her career, she doesn't really feel like there are many matches she'd go back and change (so she could have won more) because she recognizes that many things did go her way that could have easily not have, and that really things balanced out.

2. It's totally cute how she calls the Energizer bunny the "ongoing bunny." lol

3. I think we often forget, when different sports personalities are given different character types by sports media and fans -- that Hingis is more a thinker than an athlete, for example -- that ALL of these people (the supposed crybabies, the tacticians, the ones who are said to not train very hard and rely on natural ability), ALL of them are TOTAL JOCKS. I mean we can't even really conceive of what superior athletes they are. They are orders of magnitude more jockish and consumed by athletics than anyone we have ever met, and I think we totally forget that. I do NOT think of Hingis as more athletic than, like, the biggest football jock I've ever met, for example, but she totally is. They all are. It's kind of weird to think about. I know I'm throwing around the word "jock" a lot, but it's because I am just so stunned that it never really occurred to me that people like Hingis, even when they are thought of more as brains than bodies, are total athletic MACHINES lol.

VC

Heads of State Run

I've decided to entertain myself by naming my runs. TODAY WAS MY FIRST RUN IN NEW HAVEN AND IT WAS EXCELLENT!

Ok it was super flat and the weather was perfect, but I was running on the sidewalk on residential streets with lots of lights, and I totally hate that.

Anyway, it was supposed to be my "Orange Juice" run, as I was planing to run on Orange St. up to the Black Rock (? East Rock?) park and back, but Orange had WAY too many lights, so I ran up State St., hence the name "Heads of State" run.

So I ran about 4.25 miles in 39 minutes, which translates into 9:10 miles. In other words: I'm more or less where I left off in NYC two weeks ago, and I think that's a really good thing! I felt totally fine and was tempted to run more, but I don't want to push myself too fast and then have an injury. I think these 4-5 mile runs over approx. 40 minutes are perfect and can be done every day without too much stress on the body. I'm thinking tomorrow I'll complete the 5 miles with a crazy hill half way through the run (my turnaround point was a little side entrance to East Rock park, although I think the entire park is called Black Rock park...anyway, I think I'll go inside and see where that hill takes me, which will be intense and cool).

You can see the route for my run here.

GO ME!

VC

Joining You

[Great Alanis Morissette song for Casey]

Dear dar(lin'),

Your mom (my friend) left a message on my machine she was frantic
saying you were talking crazy,
That you wanted to do away with yourself
I guess she thought I'd be a perfect resort because we've had this inexplicable connection since our youth.

And yes they're in shock, they are panicked
You and your chronic, them and their drama
You this embarrassment, us in the middle of this delusion.

If we were our bodies
If we were our futures
If we were our defenses I'd be joining you.

If we were our culture
If we were our leaders
If we were our denials I'd be joining you.

I remember vividly a day years ago:
We were camping, you knew more than you thought you should know,
You said: "I don't want ever to be brainwashed."

And you were mindboggling, you were intense
You were uncomfortable in your own skin, you were thirsty but mostly you were beautiful.

If we were our nametags
If we were our rejections
If we were our outcomes I'd be joining you.

If we were our indignities
If we were our successes
If we were our emotions I'd be joining you.

You and I we're like four year olds -- we want to know why and how come about everything,
We want to reveal ourselves at will and speak our minds.

And never talk small and be intuitive,
And question mightily and find god,
My tortured beacon we need to find like-minded companions.

If we were their condemnations
If we were their projections
If we were our paranoias I'd be joining you.

If we were our incomes
If we were our obsessions
If we were our afflictions I'd be joining you.

We need reflection
We need a really good memory
Feel free to call me a little more often.

Goldman at YLS

We got the list of employers recruiting this Fall and Goldman Sachs is actually recruiting at Yale this fall!

I think it might be too intense for me, but at least that's one finance interview I'll be guaranteed.

VC

AMAZING Misty Run

SUCH SUCH SUCH a good run :) 43 minutes, 4.8 miles = just under 9 minutes/mile (my longest AND fastest run this week!). You can see my Upper Manhattan run route here.

It was 62 degrees and raining on and off today which is basically my ideal day (I think that nature is WAY more beautiful on a day like today than when it's all sunny).

I was thinking I'd run in the park, because Central Park is gorgeous on a day like today, but for some reason Upper Manhattan was calling to me.

I've never run north in Riverside Park before, and so I thought "ok I'll explore a new run."

It was a bit frustrating at first, because the park didn't really have many through paths in the beginning, so I kept entering and then crossing back to the Drive, and I was FREEZING in the beginning. You can't see it on the map of my run, but part of it (just like 5 blocks) is on a kind of bridge/expressway (which, in my infinite lack of geographical knowledge, I thought was the George Washington Bridge going to New Jersey, until I saw that I was only like 8 blocks from my house lol) and it was so windy I was thinking that I might have to turn around. I got really into the run, though, with all the new scenery around me (there is a lot of good running up there!), and I was actually thinking that I might run all the way to the real George Washington Bridge, which didn't appear to be that far in the distance (very deceptive lol).

I saw on a freeway sign when I got to 160th st. that the turnoff for the GW Bridge was at 178th, and if I was going to also run across it and back then that would be adding several more miles to my run. I looked down at my watch and I'd already been running for more than 20 minutes, so at 163rd st. at the top of a nice climb I turned around at the 23 minute mark. I actually brought my metro card with me today in case I decided that I'd rather run until I had to stop, rather than save enough to get back, but that strategy really only works when you're reasonably close to a metro or bus (like if you run in the park) and I knew that if I made the commitment to cross the bridge then I'd be really screwed if I tired out. It would have been really bad on my muscles (and probably just my system in general) to be stuck walking on a windy bridge over the Hudson in 60 degree weather, spitting rain, my legs tightening up, etc. On a warmer day I think I'll try to make it to New Jersey and back :)

Until I looked at the route online just now, I was thinking that maybe it was a net elevation gain on the way there and mostly downhill on the way back, because I made it back to my starting point in only 20 minutes (that was an 8:20 mile on the return!) but looking at the elevation map it was actually pretty even both ways (lots of ups and downs) and 163rd st. is about at the same elevation as 120th.

I'm really happy with my progress this week. That's more than 16 miles run this week and I'm feeling really fit (my legs are holding up quite well).

I've been eating really bad, but that's not really the point. I think if I can go out and run like I did today, noting that my fourth run this week was the best one yet (probably was good that I rested yesterday), then I'm doing pretty well.

VC

Procrastination: What North American Finance Centre Has the Best Weather?

So I was just looking at the Lazard website for more information on their recruitment cycle (Lazard is one of the few banks I think might be nice to work for) -- not that I haven't already looked at the same page every couple of weeks for the past several months, you know, because I love pointlessly worrying about future career stuff -- and I got to thinking: "I wouldn't have to work with them in New York. I could actually work for them in Montreal or Toronto (or a bunch of other gross cities that I'd not be interested in)."

Then, so you see how the thought process and wheels-spinning works (keeping in mind that Lazard doesn't even recruit at Yale School of Management, let alone the law school, and let alone people with NO finance experience) I was thinking things like: "Well Toronto is more developed and probably has better weather, but Montreal is more bilingual, and I could probably get more for my money there in terms of real estate and services." Then I got to thinking: "I wonder which city really does have the best weather? New York, Montreal, or Toronto?"

Well of course the next logical thing to do was look up the average monthly highs and lows for each, but I could only find them in celsius, so I first mentally made the high/low averages and then (learning a new Excel skill!) inputed them into an Excel spreadsheet and converted all the average monthly celsius temperatures with a handy formula so that I could graph them in fahrenheit.

As you can see from the graph I've copied, here, the exercise was (for more than just the obvious reasons) pointless lol. My expert analysis is basically that the weather in all three cities more or less sucks lol. I think when you factor-in general political progressiveness, respect for gay rights, and universal health care, I'd probably take both Toronto and Montreal over New York.

Oh Canada...

VC

PS: If you look closely at the graph you can see that I accidentally spelled Toronto, in the original Excel sheet, "Tontonto." Oops! Tontonto here I come!

How French Was Not Meant to Be Spoken

With a heavy Russian accent.

How English Was Meant to Be Spoken

With a gorgeous French accent.

The Feel-Good Shelf

Well the time has come for me to pack and clean everything (hence the Uno post) and I'm now cleaning out my last shelf -- the "feel-good" shelf that I've been in the habit of making ever since my first year of boarding school. The feel-good shelf is the shelf that breaks up a bookcase full of text books and other unpleasantness and contains ONLY things that I love -- usually cards or little trinkety gifts given to me over the course of the year. In boarding school, there was usually a shrine of some sort to my favourite Sanrio character, Pekkle (pictured rather provocatively in the image to the right), some Miss Saigon paraphernalia, and a couple photos of my cat.

Some things in the feel-good shelf (seen in the lower half of the photo, below) will go with me to New Haven (like my Turkish bowl, my Syrian box, a photo of my sister and her daughter covered in tropical birds in Maui, the large soup cup Dr. Juicy made for me for Valentine's day, my photo of Roger Federer with a personalized autograph made out to me!, and my rock from a river in Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains), but some things won't. For that reason, I'll memorialize them here (note how transitional justice mechanisms such as memorials have invaded my psyche!).

When I first moved back to NYC, Earth Ball made me a sweet care package that included a superman action figure (since I am superchunk, after all!), and cookie dough (long since eaten).

I'm also giving up some of my Christmas stocking stuffers and little things from my mom and sister, including a cartoon "secrets of life" calender. Here are some of the top secrets (the calendar included 16 months):

• A new year means you can put the past behind you and make all new mistakes.
• Always tell the truth...but have a backup plan.
• If at first you don't succeed...keep it to yourself.
• The best things in life are free. Everything else can be charged.
• In the true spirit of the holidays, help others...help them decide what to get you.

lol

I'll also be getting rid of my set of Dora the Explorer stickers, the various chicky things my mom sent me for Easter (of course I'm keeping the lapel pin! lol), a set of noisemakers, and a classic cartoons dvd singalong (don't ask where my mother gets this stuff!), as well as a note from Dr. Juicy that she left me one time when I was going to be at her house without her, which begins: "Just a reminder, check the expiration date on any food before you eat it!" looool

One of the more significant things I'm getting rid of is the token box of mints from my farewell dinner with Pookie (and a friend of his) at Brasserie 8 1/2 before I left for Egypt, back when we were still dating. I've had them with me for three years now, and taken them back and forth across the Atlantic, and I think it's safe to say that no amount of mints could change the taste that relationship left in my mouth (great guy, but really lame way to let a relationship die -- to his credit he did send me a nice Lichtenstein card on my birthday and has tried to be there for me this year even though we aren't in regular contact).

I'm also saying goodbye to the limited edition Cinnabon chapstick that Earth Ball got me :)

Going through all the cards and things I've received over the past year, the following rank in my top few:

• A gorgeous photo of the Swiss alps from the same friend who got me the Federer autograph (not Swissy -- just a friend)
• A funny card from my mom for Valentine's Day with an old 1950s add for hotdog buns and the June Cleaver figure saying: "Nice buns." lol (It's also adorable because you can see, inside, how the inability to draw hearts was genetically passed-down to me from my mother)
• Some REALLY cute puppy and kitty cards from my mom, including one that is a nice photo of a cat contemplating a goldfish in a bowl (I'm taking that with me to New Haven with the intent of framing it), and a funny photo of a dog sticking its head out a car window (wearing sunglasses) and on the inside of the card it says: "Hope you have a sun-in-your-face, wind-in-your-hair kind of day," but then she crossed out "sun" and wrote "clouds" since she knows I prefer it overcast -- that was for my 25th birthday.
• An ADORABLE kitty card from my mom with this cat that says "I think all people are basically nice. Except you." And then you open it up and it says: "You're basically wonderful." :)
• A really gorgeous 3D pop-up card of the Empire State Building (but all in white, and finely-cut paper, so really minimalist and not gaudy at all) wishing me a happy 25th from Earth Ball's roommate (also a friend from boarding school).

I also had to throw away two babies (stuffed animals), both puppies [UPDATE: It breaks my heart to see their little faces sticking up from the trash bag and now I can't throw anything else away in that bag!]. I'm only letting myself bring the walrus Curie got me for by birthday, and a chicky-ducky (I don't which it is!) my mom sent me.

There are too many cards and little things from the shelf for me to mention them all here, but I feel really thankful that I know such thoughtful people, and I'm happy that I can fill an entire shelf with "feel-good" reminders of the people I love.

VC

World Series of Uno, Summer 2006

All games are first to 500 (my mother and I tend to be gender normative when it comes to the personalities we assume, so the guys are me and the women are her):

7 July 2006:

Federico Mørgenstern d. Susan Vassiley, 701 : 264

8 July 2006:

Bailey Golden d. Annabelle Lee, 633 : 358

9 July 2006:

Cassandra Sommers d. Reginald Black, 527 : 244

10 July 2006:

Anthony Rothko d. Diedre Miller, 588 : 260

11 July 2006:

Florian Delapage d. Marissa Morgenstein, 523 : 223

25 July 2006:

Nathalie Bauhaus d. Johnny Metro, 437 : 399*
[*The final score for this match was not recorded because Johnny Metro had a seizure when it became clear that Nathalie Bauhaus's victory was imminent]

30 July 2006:

João Dossetti d. Manila Jordan, 528 : 206 (15 hands to 3)

4 Hot Miles

Well I did basically the same run as yesterday, except I didn't go back on the Drive, so the run back was on flatter ground (more like: barely graded upward the entire time, but not really perceptible). You can see today's route here.

It took me 37 minutes, which is 1 minute faster than yesterday (although since I'm not using a second hand, it could theoretically be as little as 1 second faster than yesterday, depending on how deep into the start/stop minutes we are for each day).

Anyway, if we figure I was *about* a minute faster than yesterday, then I'm at a 9:15/mile pace, which is certainly quicker than yesterday's 9:30/mile pace (and still more than a minute off my treadmill pace, although I've not run more than 3 miles on the treadmill in a while, so I was clearly going too fast, and that's all flat!).

I have to say that today's run was pretty hard, though, and I was so exhausted at the end that I didn't even get through my whole stretching routine, because it took too much energy (don't worry, I stretched while walking home AND in the shower, which is really nice).

Even though I ran pretty late, the conditions weren't easy, as it was 91 degrees out, and with humidity the "feels like" temperature was 97!

All in all, I'd say I've made really good progress, and running 4 miles at 9:15/mile for 37 minutes in 91 degree heat is pretty good in my book :)

VC

Ball of Yarn Theory of Business Management

I am totally cracking up right now, because what I'm about to post is so silly that you'll think it's fake, except I promise it's not lol.

I was poking around the Yale website looking for finance courses I might take in the Fall, and I came across the pdf of the Yale School of Management's new curriculum guide. It's totally innovative loooool. In fact, it's a ball of yarn.

You'll see the way Yale explains its new approach to the study of business management, but the point is: it's a cat toy. Take a look.

lol

VC

Bob Allen: Appalling Racist Who ALSO Gives Bad Head

I literally could not believe my ears, just now, when I heard Bob Allen (the Republican Florida Congressman who was part of McCain's campaign bankruptcy) explaining why, after he championed stiff penalties for public solicitations of sex acts, was himself arrested for offering an undercover cop $20 in a park bathroom so he could give the cop oral sex.

His excuse was that the undercover cop was a "stocky black man" and that the presence of other black men in the park instilled in him fear that if he did not offer one of them $20 and oral sex he might "become a statistic." Here's his actual statement:

"I certainly wasn't there to have sex with anybody and certainly wasn't there to exchange money for it...this was a pretty stocky black guy, and there was nothing but other black guys around in the park." He said he feared he "was about to be a statistic."

I could seriously wretch it's so disgusting.

VC

Real Running Progress!

I just got back from a run and it was even better than yesterday!

I ran a little over 4 miles with basically no difficulty, although I did do it over the course of 38 minutes lol so I'm DEFINITELY running slower than I would in the gym.

The speed really doesn't matter, though. The point is that I can run 4 miles and feel totally fine at the end (I felt even better than yesterday), and can do cardio for almost 40 minutes without difficulty. I think that's good!

You can see today's running route (through Riverside Park) here.

I've read some criticism about Gmap-Pedometer, which is what I use to monitor these runs, because it doesn't take elevation into account. It does have an elevation chart (not factored into the distance) that looks more or less accurate -- I know the long climb at the end of today's run was certainly accurate (although I don't know why it shows a drop at the end and a net loss in elevation when I ended in the same point that I started), but on courses like the Central Park loop and Riverside Park, too (especially when you run back on the Drive, like I did, and not in the park, which is flatter), there are LOTS of hills and not taking elevation into account can make a real difference. It's not wildly off, but the ups AND downs both add to the distance. All that is to say: I might be running a *little* faster than I think (and a little farther, too!).

VC

When the NYTimes Sucks

I can't believe this article from the Times, today, "Britain Asks U.S. to Release 5 Detainees from Guantanamo."


The article actually says: "The request is almost certain to be welcomed by the Bush administration, which has been working to reduce the number of Guantánamo detainees."

Not sure I'd put it quite that way. Aware of the international embarrassment that Guantanamo has caused the U.S., maybe, but "working to reduce the number of Guantanamo detainees?" Um, no. That could be easily done if they were, you know, charged and brought to trial.

How ridiculous!

VC

Over-the-Top CNN Headline of the Day

DRAMATIC HEATWAVE SPREADING MISERY ACROSS MUCH OF U.S.

Good Run Today

Just back from a nice run in Central Park (5 minutes longer than my last run!). I was able to create a map of my run and calculated that I ran about 3.11 miles in 28 minutes, which is about 9 minutes/mile. This is an entire minute per mile slower than I run at the gym, but it's also been a while at the gym since I ran for 28 minutes without being in misery (and today I was totally not in misery at all!), so I think slowing down is good for now. I then walked the rest of the loop and home, so running and walking combined today was over 7 miles :)

You can see today's run here :)

VC

Hingis Outreach

Martina I know you read my blog, so PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE.

I'm not sure tennis should be your life (so I don't agree on the "determination" point), but I definitely agree on the "power" point. Your body can physically produce the same weight of shot as Henin. You just need to train it to do it!

VC

PS: Hingis totally doesn't read my blog (I don't think), but on a Switzerland note, I did have a weird dream last night that Curie and I were with her parents somewhere (I don't remember where, but I thought it was in the US) and then we got into this new used black BMW that they bought and her dad surprised us by driving us to this great museum, except the funny thing was that the museum was in Switzerland...like he surprised us by being like "here is some great art, and it doesn't matter where we are," but I happened to see a map in the parking lot that said, in German, "Western Switzerland," and the museum had a German name, but (true to real life, so my dream subconscious is pretty good!) everyone in the museum spoke French since Western Switzerland is francophone (see language map: the Germans took over everything!).

DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE STUDENT DEBT

This post might make you throw up or die.

The Yale "entrance interview" (an online tutorial all schools have, in some form, that you have to complete in order to receive your loans) has the following loan calculator. I figured I'd have about $135,000 in debt when I graduate and here's what the calculator gave me (note that I'll probably pay it over a lot longer than 10 years and SOME of it has a lower interest rate, although some also has a higher interest rate!):

Debt Wizard
Question: How much salary do I need to support my student loan debt?
Answer: Based on student loan debt of $135,000.00 to be repaid over 10 years at 6.8 percent interest, my estimated monthly payment is $1,553.58. To support repayment of the debt, I should earn at least: $112.04 Hourly $19,419.81 Monthly $233,037.67 Annually

Yeah. Right.

VC

Really Tough Decision

Swissy invited me to come spend time with him in California the weekend before I start at Yale, and when I told him that I wanted to save my money and come to Europe later in the year, he was like "no I'm inviting you, it's just your job to find the ticket and I'll pay for you."

It might not make sense to some of you why I would let other guys pay for things but wouldn't let Swissy, but I finally decided to tell him no.

It was really hard to explain myself, and I wrote and deleted the email to him declining his offer probably ten times. I know for him it's not a grand gesture or loaded with special (or especially un-special) meaning, but for me it isn't neutral -- it's either a really intimate gesture between partners, or it's something business-like. I don't want it to be UN-intimate with Swissy, but I am also realistic about the fact that we are not a couple right now and we can't be at this distance. We're like...we are something akin to pre-boyfriends, but aren't QUITE there, and I don't want to mess up what we have because it's SO nice and so NOT messed-up.

I tried to explain to him that I know he is trying to share a special place with me, and that I am touched by the fact that he wants to share a place he loves with me. I just don't want something like that to NOT mean something with him, and I know we're not at a stage where it's feasible for us to make it mean what I want it to.

I'm probably going to drive him mad, so we'll see how he replies to my email lol

VC