Jet Setter: Take that George Clooney!

I went to Vegas for 16 hours over the weekend.  There were two purposes for the trip.  One was to go see some friends who were there for the weekend for the first weekend of March madness, the second reason was to make sure I would be on a plane at least once for 12 consecutive months.  Well, I was going to fly to Vegas regardless.  I'm at a point in my life where driving to Vegas really isn't going to work for me anymore.  The 4.5 hours drive back to LA while hungover is just not worth it.  I don't recover as quickly. 

Let's discuss my crazy attempt at a 16 hour trip to Vegas.  Prior to heading to Vegas on Saturday, I worked 8 straight 13 hour days.  This consisted of being at work at 7am and not finishing up until 8 or 9 depending on how things went.  On top of slaving away, I really only slept probably a couple hours per night since I was in a hotel and not my own bed.  I should have just rested on Friday night after hell week was over to prepare myself for Vegas, but a friend was moving out of the area and wanted to celebrate.  It would have been rude of me not to go.  So like a reasonable adult, I only have like four drinks (double jacks on the rocks).  I know, I've been really hard core with my drinking lately, but I think this is due to more financial and practical reasons that my taste of pure liquor.  I was doing some maths (thank you Willow Smith for coining that term) and I realized that a jack and coke would be like $8 and so would straight up jack on the rocks.  I thought this was more cost effective as there is most alcohol and even less calories.  Just sayin...so for all you calorie counters, just drink your liquor straight up and then throw it up afterwards, you know you want to.  I left the club around 2am and when all was said and done, it was probably 3am when I went to bed.  I was up four hours later (probably still drunk) and getting ready to head to the airport.

I arrived at the airport with not a single piece of luggage, I figured since I was only going to be in Vegas for 16 hours, I would just roll in with a jacket, jeans, and some Toms.  I didn't even bother to wear socks.  When I landed, I proceeded to the Wicked Spoon where I met my group and closed down brunch.  I know, I seem to have that ability everywhere I go.  The food was amazing as far as buffets are concerned, but the best part was that bottomless mimosas for only $9 more to your tab.  Between the seven of us, we had over 50 glasses of mimosas in what was only maybe a 2.5 hour span of time.  I wanted to die at that point already. 

Count those glasses. I dare you!

 After brunch, the rest of them wanted to gamble and I had no desire to do so.  It's not that I'm not a gambling man, but I figured that since I was only around for 16 hours, I would be able to do things that didn't require gambling.  Like I said, I had a long week, so I went for some R&R at the Canyon Ranch Spa at the Venetian.  I basically took a nap and detoxed for two hours.

I like how when people have gone to college, they never actually leave college.  I met up with the group at their suites at the Vdara.  It was off the strip and had no casino, but it felt awesome to go into a hotel that didn't welcome you with cigarette smoke.  It smelled clean and fresh.  I was sitting on the sofa watching Gonzaga get upset and all of a sudden someone decided they wanted to play Rage Cage.  You don't know what that is?  Well, here are the rules and here's a video.  After playing two rounds of this, it was probably second point of the night where I wanted to die.

Dinner reservations were at 9:30pm at Hofbrauhaus.  It's like German or something.  I should have known it was going to be quite the shit show when I was able to hear from the outside the MC saying "that's 21 nipples in a row!"  Funny, and here I thought nipples came in pairs.  The only thing you need to know is that one liter is equal to three beers in case you ever want to get the liter.  They also had the boot which I thought was just unnecessary.  I hate Vegas.

1 Liter = 3 beers

 For those of you who made fun of me for just walking on the plane and being a potential terrorist, doing saved me.  Sure, I might be on some TSA watch list because I just rolled up at the airport with no luggage and I ethnic, but at least I bought a round trip ticket.  I didn't have shoes that would get me into the club that night.  XS was the location and I forgot how in like fancy straight clubs, you actually need to like wear shoes and look dressy.  I'm just so used to wear v-necks and skinny jeans and cute sneakers.  Let's not even go there with the admissions into the club which is dependent on the guy/girl ratio.  Who wants to deal with that?  Who wants to even get dressed up so some bouncer (who is usually fat and ugly) can treat you like shit at the door?  I really don't have that kind of patience.  I barely have enough patience to wait on a line that's probably only five minutes long much less to say an hour with the potential of not even getting in.

My old age got to me and I went back to the room to catch a 2 hour nap before I head back to the airport.  Two hours later, it was the third time I felt like I wanted to die.  I boarded the plane and shut my phone off and put on my seat belt.  I woke up to us landing at LAX an hour later.  It's an awful feeling waking up to a plane landing, you're not quite sure what's happening.  Oh, my day was not over at 7AM that morning.  I had to kill a little over three hours since a good friend from college was flying in from North Dakota and had a layover at LAX before heading to Korea.  Let's just say, I slept at the airport for three hours and then woke up to other guys sleeping next to me.  At least I got this picture!

So let's recap the year starting with me on a plane starting with April 2012:

April 2012: RT Los Angeles to Austin, TX (work trip)
May 2012: RT Los Angeles to San Francisco (family trip)
June 2012: RT Los Angeles to NYC (work trip)
July 2012 (1): Los Angeles to Maui, Maui to Honolulu, Honolulu to Los Angeles (vacation)
July 2012 (2): RT Los Angeles to Las Vegas (weekend getaway with the boys)
August 2012: Los Angeles to NYC (saying good-bye to the Jew before she moves to Israel)
September 2012 (1): NYC to Los Angeles (what's carried over from saying good-bye to the Jew)
September 2012 (2): LA to Atlanta, Fayetteville, NC, Newark, NJ, and NYC (work and personal trip)
October 2012: RT Los Angeles to Sacramento (work trip, obviously!)
November 2012: Europe! (Rome, Brussels, London) That's how I roll when I turn 30.
December 2012: RT Los Angeles to NYC (home for the holidays)
January 2013: RT Los Angeles to Orlando (again, obviously work related)
February 2013: RT Los Angeles to NYC (Chinese New Year)
March 2013: RT Los Angeles to Las Vegas (16 hour rage fest)

Oh, why don't I just show off and mention that I'll be on a plane again in April for a work trip to Orlando and NYC. 

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

Eaton Canyon Falls

A lot happened in 1995.  To name a few:
1. I was going into my final year of junior high school.  The New York Public School system decided to discard the 9th grade from middle school as an option and everyone had to head to high school the following year.
2. The late Selena was murdered by her manager.  It's still bittersweet whenever I hear her on the radio.  I feel the same way about Vanessa Williams when they play her as well.
3. Oklahoma City bombing made me realize that terrorism can happen in America.
4. The New Jersey Devils won their first Stanley Cup...I know, who cares.
5. Microsoft 95 happened.
6. I became a teenager.
7. And the most important...TLC's "Waterfalls" was the bomb song of the year.

This past Thursday, I had the day off of work because it was going to be the beginning of the end of my social life for the next eight days.  Four weeks out of the year, I become a live-in camp counselor for a bunch of medical professionals where I plan their entire lives for them.  I'm essentially a CIA handler, but not as cool.  I decided to go on a solo journey to search for a waterfall.  I heard there were some in LA.  The ironic part is I ended up finding one in the San Gabriel Valley at Eaton Canyon, which is probably one of the more dry and inland areas of LA.  

The thing is that usually when I'm going on these adventures, I take someone with me who would be able to help me navigate my way around nature.  I grew up in NYC, so my idea of nature is pretty much Central Park.  There was this rock that my summer school program would always take us too and I would think it was the coolest thing ever when I climbed to the top.  The rock was pretty much maybe at best 100 foot tall...if even.  I should have known things might not go well when I was met with these signs:

 
It was an 81 degree day when I got to the beginning of the hike.  Now I read that the hike was only about 1.5 miles until we hit the waterfalls.  I just kept walking and then all of a sudden, I was heading uphill for about a mile after the first mile.  I had my "Karen" moment (I know, I go back and forth between being Regina and Karen), and realized "wait, why am I going uphill if I'm looking for a waterfall?"  Needless to say, I made my way back down the hill and realized I was supposed to go under the bridge and follow the stream of water up.  There was a lot of rock skipping.  The sad part was that I heard the water and I still kept going up hill after I passed it.  If anyone ever wanted to kill me, all they would have to do is drop me off in the middle of a hike trail and I'll be done in a days time because I have no sense of navigation or common sense in nature. 

With some help from two girls that I was following (they probably thought I was trying to kill them), I found my way to the waterfall.  I was greeted with this amazing sight:

After sitting around for a bit debating whether or not to jump into the cold water, I headed back to my car.  On my way back, I saw about 50 children that were maybe no more than 8 years old.  I was literally baffled that teachers would think to take a bunch of children hiking.  That must be a terror to have to watch over.  More teenage girls should have seen what I saw, perhaps that may stop teen pregnancy.  After I made it to my car, I headed back towards the freeway and decided to end my trip with this little gem:

The New and Improved Shamrock Shake!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Cutting out the plastics

Okay, this is a little dramatic.  I don't actually plan on cutting plastic out of my life.  How else would I buy things?

When I say this, I don't mean cutting the bitches that I hang out with on a regular basis.  Well, sometimes I do.  I won't really notice how much money I'm saving until the end of the month when I don't have any credit card bills to pay, but man, let me tell you...using cash and debit is a struggle!  I've never had more coins in my pockets, but at least I can do laundry!

I actually unknowingly faltered on this goal, but I still technically still didn't use my credit cards and I'm going to tell you why. 

iTunes: So I had to buy Demi Lovato's "Heart Attack."  Don't judge me.  A friend of mine agreed with me that if her and Selena Gomez were to go on tour together, we would both lose our $hit.  Now I hoping they do and it doesn't conflict with JT and Jay-Z or even worse, my other idol Ke$ha.  With buying this song, I forgot my iTunes was synced to my credit card.  I'm giving myself a break on this one since like c'mon, how do I pay for that in cash!?!  Plus, I'm about supporting artists and not illegally downloading music.  Napster is so 2000 and late. 

Company Card: This shouldn't even count, for many obvious reasons.

Credit Card Credit: So I received a credit which means I have a negative balance.  Why would I be crazy enough to use cash and not bring my balance up to an even "Zer0?" 

AMEX Membership Rewards: I bought a plane ticket with my points and there was a difference that I had to pay in which you could only use the card to do so, that does not count.  I was a victim of circumstances. 

So, here's the deal, as far as I'm concerned, I still haven't used plastic this month.  I wonder what it would be like to not have to pay a credit card bill at the end of the month!

Aren't I Just the Academic?

Like all fears, they must be conquered!  Around this time last year, a lot happened.  Besides having a complete melt down of epic proportions while at work and pretty much seeking out psychological counseling for what would be the equivalent of post-partum depression after defending and submitting my dissertation, I also finished my academic career.  It was a long journey that pretty much imposed on my adult life.  I'm pretty sure that is why for the past year, I can count on two hands how many weekends I actually stayed home.  I was self healing with vodka like some alcoholic Orange County housewife that gave up a promising career who just found out her husband has been having an affair with his secretary of whom everyone knew about expect her for the past five years or maybe more like a retired KGB agent from the Cold War era.

I figured out the easiest way for me to conquer my fears would be to look into some adjunct positions, but then I realized what if I didn't necessarily want to teach for an entire semester and be told I needed to be at a classroom at a certain day and time.  TAing is not the same as teaching, so I can't really draw on that for experience.  Then one day, it hit me that I should just present at a conference...

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU)'s mission as indicated on their website is geared towards:

• promoting the development of member colleges and universities;
• improving access to and the quality of post-secondary educational opportunities for Hispanic students; and
• meeting the needs of business, industry and government through the development and sharing of resources, information and expertise. 

The annual meeting this year is in Chicago, a city I have never been to.  I know, it's weird, I've traveled so much in the US for work and personal reasons, I find it strange that Chicago was never a destination I have come across as well.

So what am I presenting?  Well instead of writing about it, I'm just going to copy and paste my abstract:
Wish me luck that I get picked!

This study examined three institutional researchers from three different Hispanic-serving community colleges in southern California to examine how they would use data to act as agents of organizational learning and raise awareness of Hispanic students’ educational outcomes within their respective institutions.  This study was of a qualitative nature, and findings were based on data comprised of interviews and content analysis.  Based on the data collected, this study found that these specific researchers’ roles were not shaped by their affiliation with Hispanic-serving institutions and that using data to raise awareness of Hispanic students’ educational outcomes was not a primary concern.  However, even though raising awareness of Hispanic students’ educational outcomes was not a primary concern, these three institutional researchers exhibited qualities that would suggest the ability to take on the role of agent of organizational learning through the use of data to call attention to Hispanic academic achievement.  These qualities or practices include: (1) reflecting on the current role and institutional research practices to support the HSI identity, (2) not viewing Hispanics as deficient, (3) providing and promoting sufficient services for the success of Hispanic students, (4) understanding and knowledge of students’ histories and community realities, (5) further disaggregation of race/ethnicity into further racial/ethnic groups, and (6) developing strategic alliances.  These are further discussed and used as recommendations for the future practice of institutional researchers at Hispanic-serving community colleges to serve their Hispanic students better in regards to basic skills education. 

 

March - It's all about the savings and professional development

February Recap

It was really hard to hustle in February as it was only 28 days.  It's almost impossible to tackle 10 goals in 28 days!  So here's where I ended.  And oh, the update on my Bachelor pool...I officially lost when Desiree got sent home.  I couldn't think of anything more shocking than the fact that Lindsay is still on the show.  I did better than last month.  I accomplished 8.32 out of 10.  Still an Asian F, but we live in America, so showing improvement is all that matters.  So here's the run down...

Goal 1: Okay, I only went four times this month, but give me a break!  I had to run a 10K this month, so I was training for that instead of actually stepping foot into the gym.  I also traveled home for President's Day Weekend, hurt my back, and well...got lazy.  (.4 - a tenth of a point for each day I went).

Goal #2: Check for me.

Goal #3: Never will I attempt this goal again.  However, I really did like not drinking diet carbonated beverages.  So I guess from now on, I'll just use them as mixers.  Who really needs to drink 2 cans of diet coke a day anyways? 

Goal #4: The fact that the diploma frame has been sitting by my kitchen counter and the fact that it took me 23 days into February to do this just goes to show what a lazy POS I really can be at times.

Goal #5: Who am I to judge what my friends eat this month?  I had three donuts one day at work and I ate at Popeyes one weekend for lunch.  And then I supported my roommate's 11PM McDonald's run.  Kettle, meet pot.  I also pigged out on gelato at work thanks to Haagen-Dazs samples.  The point is, I supported all my friends this month in all the crap they decided to put in their mouths or at least I didn't say anything about it.

Goal #6: Let's put it this way, I've been REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY EXTREMELY blunt (vicious) this month to everyone I have talked to.  I mean like Regina George style.

Goal #7: Firecracker 10K in 55 minutes did not happen, but there were many reasons why.  The point is I ran it.  When was the last time you ran a 10K?  Yeah, I thought so.  (.75 points, just because).

Goal #8: Check plus!

Goal #9: FAILed.  I'm still going to give myself partial credit for it because I allegedly lasted a whole month in January and then an additional five days in February...so we'll just divide 5 by 28 and say I earned .18 for this one.  

Goal #10: FAILed, kinda, but totally giving myself partial credit.  The intention of going home was there.  It's not my fault Nemo happened that weekend.  Chinese New Year is a 15 day celebration, so I went home while it was still happening.  Plus, I stood in 27 degree weather to watch a parade.  (.99 points because in my mind I totally went home for CNY).