Please help me raise funds!

Hi friends,

I'm traveling to Fiji for a volunteer trip, and I need help raising money to fund my trip!

http://www.gofundme.com/nikkifijitrip

Thank you in advance,
Nikki 

Why I hate Forever 21

1. This
2. Only 30 days to return clothes, and you only get store credit, not the money back.
3. When you buy something online, it's virtually impossible to ship it back to them.
4. Their clothes shrink to about 1/2 the size after one wash (That cute crop top? Oh now it doesn't cover your bra, oops)

Palestine

Just yesterday, an email went out from the University stating that Conflict Kitchen had closed after receiving death threats. Conflict Kitchen is a small restaurant that serves food from countries that the United States is in conflict, changing the countries every 6 months. In addition to serving food, they also give more information about the culture and lifestyle of the people there. The most recent iteration of Conflict Kitchen was serving Palestinian food, and obviously, Israeli people seemed to take offense to this fact, protesting outside the store and trying to open up their own version of Conflict Kitchen. My issue with how most Israeli people react to any news about Palestine is too long to put into this post, but I found an interesting infographic that shows how many countries recognize Palestine as a state. Currently, it is 135 countries, meaning that greater than 1/2 of the countries in the world support the Palestinians. That being said, the countries that are missing are also the ones that have most of the power in global forums, so numbers clearly don't tell the whole story. 

From Washington Post

Last Quaker Classic

Dang. It's been 4 years of me coming to this tournament, and it's coming to an end. Tomorrow I will compete for the last time in my collegiate competition, at the competition I have loved the most.

#onelasttime

Car alarms

There is a car alarm in the parking lot next to my apartment that has (I'm not kidding) gone off >20 times in the past hour (each time lasting about 30 seconds, and then promptly stopping). 

Three possible explanations:

1. Someone is trying real hard to steal that car.
2. Someone has a baby/toddler who has stolen the car keys and is now playing with it.
3. Someone is using the car alarm as an alarm clock.

Whatever it is, I'm about thiiiiiissssssss close to calling the police and asking them to tow the car. Because this is unacceptable.


UPDATE: Police were called, car is now gone. Not sure if those two statements are related, but let's hope it is. 

Okay, human

So I had a group meeting scheduled at 7pm, and between 5pm and 7pm, I was going grocery shopping with my boyfriend. We happened to get done a little early, so at 6:45pm I went to our designated meeting place. Since I was there early, I decided to email my group and tell them I was there, and I started working on our assignment so we could leave as soon as possible.

After about five minutes, this guy from my group (who mind you, has not responded to anyone's emails or come to class for the past week) comes over and says "Hey you're here early." When I explained to him what happened, he said, "oh okay, you're not just showing off then?" With a completely straight face.

OKAY THEN

Last time I checked, in no way was that a proper response to someone telling you why they were here early and starting things so that everyone could enjoy the rest of their Sunday night. 

Facebook Like Envy

I'm totally guilty of this - obsessively checking my like count on Facebook, and then feeling either good/bad if I see another post that has fewer/more likes than my post has. In fact, this morning, I eagerly checked my Facebook, hoping to have broken the "200 like" barrier on my status. Sadly, I had not. And truly, I was a bit sad. How does my status about finally having a job offer have less likes than this girl's profile picture? I mean, she's totally stunning, also involved in legitimately 300 activities, and has lots of friends to like her picture, but still! HOW?!

And that's when it clicked. Percentages. Using my handy dandy Mac calculator, I quickly calculated likes/number of friends for both my status and her picture. My status? 21.6% of my friends had liked it. Her profile picture? 11.91%

Once again, raw numbers don't tell the whole truth


(and I feel a lot better)

New favorite app - Flipboard

I recently downloaded Flipboard on recommendation from a friend. Flipboard is a mobile app, that essentially congregates different stories from different topics into one app.

While this isn't exactly what the app looks like anymore (there was an app update yesterday), this gives good overview. There are five tabs on the bottom of the page. The first one is just an endless list of articles that are concatenated from all the topics that you follow. You can flip to see more articles (hence the name, Flipboard), and then click on any one to read more. 

The second tab is a grid layout, with different tiles. Each "tile" represents one topic, and clicking on a tile will bring up all articles that fall under that topic. The third tab allows you to search and add more topics to the second tab, while the last two tabs have to do with your account. 

There are a few things that I really like about Flipboard - my favorite being the interface. It is an incredibly clean one - the grid is very clear, and the flipping motion is incredibly intuitive, and also easier than having a continuous scroll layout to articles. Also, Flipboard is really clever in the sense that if it notices that there's a link that's an article that is saved to your clipboard (let's say you were copying an article link to send to a friend in an email), it'll automatically ask you if you want to add it to one of your magazines when you open the app. 

Which brings me to the second reason that I like the app - you have the ability to not only create magazines, but also add contributors to your magazine so multiple people can add to your collection of articles. This is a great way to not only keep track of articles that you like, but also a way to share articles between a group of friends. 

All in all, great app!

Counter vs Stack'd vs Burgatory

So last week, I flew out to California from Thursday to Monday. And while that meant that I missed a TON of class, I had a blast. One of the beautiful things about California is not only the weather, but also the food. On Sunday, a few friends and I went out to lunch at the Counter. For those of you not familiar, Counter is a build-your-own burger place. We got regular fries and rosemary parmesan fries for the table, and then everyone got their own burger. I still think Stack'd (which is the Counter equivalent in Pittsburgh) is better, but everytime I say that, I get crazy looks from everyone. Burgatory is another build-your-own burger place, but it's a lot more like Counter than it is like Stack'd. Here's why I think Stack'd is the best.

Fries: Stack'd
Okay, while I love the Rosemary Parmesan fries at Counter and the Truffle Oil Gorgonzola fries at Burgatory, nothing beats the curly fries at Stack'd. They just go with the burger so well - and they're not too heavy, which means you're not in a food coma by the end of your meal. Another reason why Burgatory isn't here - you get chips with your meal. Like, potato chips. No.

Patty: Stack'd
Again, Stack'd. I always get the veggie patty, and Stack'd is just far far superior to the both of them. The patty at Burgatory is a little hard, and the patty at Counter is just not as flavorful and falls apart a little quicker then the ones at Stack'd.

Bread Options: Tie between Counter and Stack'd
Each place has a variety of bread options. The reason that the Burgatory isn't up there is I feel like their bread is a little oily

Toppings: Counter (I think)
I think Counter has the most free toppings. I could be wrong.,

Spicyness: Stack'd
Habanero peppers + the spicy sauce = death

Value for money - Stack'd
Overall Winner - Stack'd

Miscellaneous notes:
Stack'd appetizers are rip-offs - 5 jalapeno poppers that look like they came out of a frozen box for $7? No thanks
Burgatory Spiked Shakes are very boozy
The special fries at Counter and Burgatory are a tad oily

Reality Checks

It's articles like these that remind me that what we see on social media isn't always the whole truth of the situation/person/event/whatever the social media happens to be describing. Most of us only post the best parts of our lives on our various social media platforms, yet the rest of us viewing those posts don't know that and just assume that that's how everyone's lives are like - which leads to a feeling of envy (regarding the other people's lives) or depression (regarding our lives). I think there has been a study on this (and obviously, Facebook has been playing with peoples' emotions recently), so I will try and find more concrete evidence of this in the morning (or at least, later in the morning). 

Is the NFL hypocritcal?

I was watching the highlights of the Colts-Texans game (sidenote: Andrew Luck and JJ Watt. Holy shitaake mushrooms), and I noticed that most of the football players had on something pink - for breast cancer awareness. Which is great! Breast cancer is the second most common cancer that women have (after skin cancer), and is the second most common cancer that women also die from (after lung cancer). It's great that the NFL is spreading awareness to this disease that affects so many women.

Until you realize that this may just be a marketing ploy. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the NFL is using its player to simply show that they support this initiative, that they support women in their fight against this cancer. But that's the only fight that NFL supports women in. In any other fight - women are on their own. Charges of domestic violence? Well, you'll only get kicked off a team if a video emerges of you doing it (looking at you, Ray Rice). You're a cheerleader who wants the money she deserves for her work? Oops. Outta luck (Raiders, this shout out is for you). You're a reporter covering a football event? Careful, you might be the subject of catcalls and lewd gestures by naked men (Jets and Patriots, you guys are similar in this regard). The NFL only seems to care about women when there is marketing money at stake or when the issue is one that's popular and already in the media - like Breast Cancer Awareness month. Otherwise, they just try and sweep it under the rug.

Maybe I'm being too harsh. After all, its possible that the NFL actually does care. But I don't think so. I think they're trying to repair their reputation by doing the least possible - having their players wear pink sneakers rather than teach their players to respect women.  

Pretty Coffee Infographic

Enjoy looking at this while you're drinking your daily cup o' joe.

Great article on Bollywood and women's roles in Bollywood

http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2014/10/women-in-bollywood/

#1 Most Viral Image

Our infographic was the number 1 most viral image on the internet (according to imgur) last night (I believe we hit this status at about 2AM EST).

And it was amazing to see the climb - every refresh of the page was adding thousands of views, people were commenting, upvoting, sharing - exactly what we needed for our project.

But also it nice to see that the most viral images on the internet don't necessarily need to be pictures of cute dogs or cute babies. It can be an actual informative artifact, and if it's about something that people care about, people will view and share it.

We made the front page of imgur!

This is so exciting, view counts are increasing exponentially!

Can you find us?

Good news!

I went to the Doctor to ask about the lead in foot situation - it's not infected and I'm cleared to dance!

That being said, he said it would take about 2 weeks to heal completely which means for 2 weeks I'll be awkwardly limping. Oh well. You win some and you lose some. 

Pinterest

Pinterest is something that has always confused me. I don't understand how people spend hours on it - to me it seems just like a newsfeed for pictures, and people can hang on to the pictures that they like by "pinning them". 

What is the appeal of it? 

I decided to spend a few minutes scrolling through Pinterest today, looking at everything that was filed with the tag "infographic", and while I appreciated looking at all the amazing infographics that were there, after a while, I just got bored. I wanted to create these infographics rather than just look at them and pin them, but I've been getting the vibe that that's not the main purpose of Pinterest (I could also be totally wrong about this). 

What's appealing about using Pinterest?

I know I have been incessantly spamming this, but please please please

click on this link: imgur.com/Mhx7qJs

It would mean a ton!

f.lux

I highly recommend everyone try https://justgetflux.com/.

It's a desktop app that basically changes the color of your screen at night so you're not blinded by the bright white light of your computer. As it gets darker, your screen becomes more orange, which is supposed to be better for your eyes.

It definitely takes some time to get used to the orange tint on your screen, but I can definitely notice the difference in how my eyes feel at night when looking at the screen. I used to squint at the screen when I got tired, but it's much more manageable now. Try it out!



Also, please please please click: imgur.com/Mhx7qJs!

London vs Paris Infographic!

I love infographics, and so I looked at reddit's r/infographic sub-reddit to find some cool ones.

Here's one I liked, although it's a little long in my opinion

Link: http://alexrister1.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/londonvparis.jpg?w=720

For a school project

We needed to create something that informed people about some aspect of the internet - whether it was about privacy laws, experiments, or just another funny cat meme.

My group created this infographic: http://imgur.com/Mhx7qJs

I would really appreciate if you guys could go visit the link! Part of our grade is based on how many people view our infographic, and so the more people we have the better!

Great article about "Indian Logic"

http://www.thefunfort.com/why-indian-logic-sucks-artist-aptly-explains-in-7-comic-strips/

How to get pencil lead out of foot

1. Soak foot in water and epsom salts
2. Use tweezers/nail clippers/safety pin to cut skin around it
3. Pour hydrogen peroxide over it
4. Repeat until it's gone. 

War on Women

Columbia University's Emma Sulkowitz's act of carrying a mattress around until her rapist is expelled has triggered a myriad of comments and articles regarding rape on college campuses. I was reading another one of these articles this morning (link here) when I realized that this problem is just indicative of a larger "war on women". What do I mean by that? Let me explain.

1) Rape on college campuses
This is possibly the biggest one - I don't think there has been a single year where one school or another hasn't been accused of turning a blind eye towards students who have been sexually assaulted. Last year, CMU kicked a fraternity of campus for secretly videotaping girls. Only now are there discussion groups on Title IX with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). And if you read some of the comments on a popular Facebook page at CMU, it becomes abundantly clear that CMU's policy and support for rape victims is shockingly lacking. Why? Why do colleges not care? The obvious answer is that by ignoring the problem, colleges can (attempt to) deny its existence, which means they can keep getting students, and by extension, money. So in an effort to continue lining the school's endowments, colleges sweep this issue of rape underneath the rug. And as a result, this "war on women" continues.

2) Abortion Laws
We all know that they are getting stricter. In heavily Republican states, abortion clinics have less of a chance of surviving than a snowman in July. But it's not just abortion clinics. It's also a woman's right to birth control. Slowly but surely, women are losing control over their bodies. Instead, that control is being given to old white men.  The "war on women" continues.

3) Gender inequality
Now this is an incredibly broad category, but also one that is changing for the better. Equal pay, for example. Maternity AND paternity leave in the Scandinavian countries, to make sure that it's not just the woman's responsibility to take care of the baby. But there is a long way to go, not just in the States, but also in the global community as a whole. In much of the developing world, women do not have the right to education. Or the right to work outside the home. Or the right to choose who/when to marry. Now in some places, this is getting better. But take a look at ISIS  - it is an example of a "state" which is regressing (in terms of women's rights). And only now is the US getting involved.

As a college student, the point I care about the most is the first one. As a girl, I know what it's like to go to a party and realize that I need to be extra careful and extra perceptive and extra in control of the situation because if something were to happen, I would be on my own. It's on us to stop this from needing to be the norm. It's on us to stop sexual assault. It's on us to end this "war on women". 

Pet Peeve #14353

People who cancel on audition times without even having the courtesy to email the Exec Board regarding the fact that they are canceling. 

Last first day of class

It has been finalized - I am graduating early!

And so begins my last semester at CMU. Wish me luck!

Finally in California!

I have finally arrived in San Francisco, CA, for the beginning of my 12 week internship.

Wish me luck!

Nespresso store in Omote-sando

The title says it all :)

Dinner at Roy's!

Today's dinner was at a place called Roy's in Roppongi Hills. It's a Japanese-American fusion place, and man was it delicious. Unfortunately, I forgot my phone, and so there are no pictures of this glorious dinner. However, my ever-awesome descriptions will still be there, so we're all good.

We got to the restuarant and the first thing I noticed was the view. Roy's has a fantastic view of the Tokyo skyline, especially Tokyo Tower. The orange of the tower looks beautiful against the night sky.

The second thing I noticed was the fact that the waiter poured some water into what looked like an empty bowl. But in reality, the bowl contained these rolled up towelettes that expanded when water was added, so that guests could clean their hands.

Drinks were also awesome at this place! I had my first alcoholic beverage with my parents - it was an apple Mojito and tasted just like fizzy apple juice. 

Appetizers were two different types of sushi. One of them was warm, and it tasted surprisingly good.

Main entrees for me was a tuna steak. If was delicious, but because my stomach is still a bit sore and the sauce that the steak was sitting in had wasabi in it, I traded with my brother, who had mahi mahi as his entree. That was also pretty yummy, except I only had half of it since again, stomach.

Dessert was not at Roy's, but rather, at Coldstone Creamery. That's right folks, this wonderful dinner was topped off with a Like It sized bowl of Chocolate Devotion. And it was scrumptious. 

Thai dinner

As promised, here's the blog post about the Thai dinner that we had yesterday. It was at a place called Ananda in Akasaka. The food was delicious, although I only had a little bit of everything because my stomach was still a bit sore. Here are a few pictures of what we ate!

Thai fish cakes, as an appetizer. The fish cakes were perfectly sized, and the cucumber-peanut sauce went perfectly with it. 

Thai papaya salad, otherwise known as my favorite Thai dish. This dish is the reason that we came to this restaurant in the first place. Last time my parents came here, they asked to make the salad at an authentic Thai spice level. And it was so spicy that only my mom could eat it. She said it reminded her of a Thai papaya salad that we had in Bangkok, and so she had to make me try it. Now unfortunately we couldn't have that level of spice, but it was still spicy and still delicious. I think we're planning on going again sometime in the week so that we can have just the Thai papaya salad at authentic spice level and mango sticky rice.

This was salted chili soft shell crab. I haven't really had crab much, but this was good!  It was pretty spicy, and the outside of the crab was crispy and the inside was nice and soft.

Rice in a pineapple - this was just rice with chicken and pineapple pieces in it. Nice and mild!

Thai red curry! Definitely different than the red curries that I'm used to, but equally as good. There is jasmine sticky rice on the side. 

And finally, mango sticky rice. A perfect end to a good meal. 

Japanese English

We went out to Thai food for dinner tonight, and it was delicious (more on that in a different post). What this post has to do with it is a funny sign that we saw on the way back. Japan is still a place where it is hard to get around without knowing Japanese, but there are signs in English sometimes.

Some of them are spelled correctly and are grammatically correct, but some of them are not :)

Bakery in Azabujuban!

Today we went to one of my favorite bakeries in Azabujuban. Below is a picture of some of the baked goodies that we bought!

The cones are the chocolate cones that I love so much. The chocolate donut on the top left is apparently really good, according to my brother, and so we bought one for him. And the two donuts-without-holes in the upper-middle part of the picture are red bean donuts. I'm excited to try it, since a) I like red beans and b) red beans are a popular part of Japanese cuisine. Hopefully it's good!

Shibuya round 2

We went to Shibuya today again, this time to visit two stores. Or well, one store and one mall. The store was Forever21, which I am proud to say had prices comparable to those is the states, but the store itself was a lot cleaner, a lot more organized, a lot bigger (it was 6 stories, after all) and had much more variety. 

The next place we went to was Shibuya 109, which is a 12 story building with about 8-9 shops on each floor. These shops were reminiscent of boutiques, and had every style from girly to western to goth clothing. While I didn't buy anything, the people watching was still fun.

Some of my observations:

1) Each boutique had 2-3 girls working in them. 90% of them had dyed their hair blonde or light brown, and had curled their hair at the bottom. Apparently, this is considered to be fashionable. Those who didn't had dyed their hair another color (for example, one store was pink themed. The girls had, you guessed it, pink hair).

2) Said girls also wore heels that were greater than 3 inches tall. I was wearing wedges about that tall, and after 20 minutes, my feet were screaming for rest. Working in those heels must be hell. I too my hat to all of you.

3) Said girls also wore lots of makeup, making them look almost doll like in appearance. This is a wider trend I've seen while in Tokyo - very few girls don't have layers and layers of makeup one. And it's nothing extreme, they all conform to having the "natural" makeup look.

4) If you're not thin, you will not be able to find anything to wear. For reference, I'm 5 foot 6 inches, and weigh about 110 pounds. At the Forever21 in the states, I wear a size small. In Japan? Medium to large. At Shibuya 109, I tried on a one-size-fits all dress. I couldn't fit into it. And honestly, it was depressing. I'm not used to not being able to fit into something. But that was exactly the case today. 

It makes me wonder - what about people who are actually bigger than the norm? How do they feel, especially in countries like Japan and South Korea, where conformity in appearance is key? 

This might, however, explain why plastic surgery in East Asia is as common as it is though. 

Thoughts?

Crossed 5000 views!

Thank you :) 

What was your favorite post?

Uniqlo!

Today I went to the Uniqlo in Ginza, the world's largest Uniqlo. It is (I'm not kidding) 12 stories big. The first 5 floors are for women, then the next 5 are men/kids, and the upper two are speciality floors (I think). They have every color tshirt, shirts, pants, and leggings known to mankind. It's simultaneously great and overwhelming.

Japan moment of the day - in the dressing rooms in Uniqlo, you're asked to take off your shoes. And the actual stall is raised (so you have to step up into the stall). In addition, they use a Swiffer wetjet type mop to clean up the stall once you're done. 

A great article

Written by someone who just graduated from CMU. He gives good advice regarding CMU CS by giving analogies to running. Overall, an excellent read, and I agree with most of it!

http://www.avesh.me/lessons-from-the-run/

New book!

Next book on the list - Michael Lewis' Flash Boys. It's about the high frequency trading market on Wall Street and is supposed to be a very good book. I shall let you know how it is once I finish reading it!

Food poisoning

Or at least, a mild case of it is what I have. I think it's both due to the fact that I've been eating a ton of food lately (more than I'm used to) and the sushi I ate.

Puking - it is not fun. Food does not taste better on the way up than on the way down. 

Sushi bar dinner!

So last night, my family and I went out for sushi. There are many types of sushi restaurants in Japan, ranging from ones where sushi is served via conveyor belt (you pick up the plates of sushi off of the belt, and each plate corresponds to a different price) to sushi bars that you can't sit at to actual sit down restaurants. We picked the first kind, and man, the sushi was delicious. I had scallop sushi and mashed tuna sushi and broiled salmon sushi (they use a blowtorch to cook the top of the sushi) and more sushi that I can't remember. But below are some pictures we took of last night, enjoy!

    Green tea is super popular in Japan, so they decided to create a self-serve green tea machine. Clever!

That's the conveyor belt that the sushi comes on! Also a nice picture of the chef.

 

    Scallop sushi! This was also broiled.

 

    Shrimp sushi! This came on one of the cheaper colored plates (green), while the scallop above came on a more expensive  one. One similarity though - most plates contain two pieces of the sushi. The only exceptions are pieces of sushi that are very expensive, or sushi that is something wrapped in rice which is wrapped in seaweed (the ones that are cylindrical in shape).

Also, while we're taking an explanation break, you can also ask the sushi chef to make you specific kinds of sushi, but we didn't, preferring to try our luck at the conveyor belt. Everything we ate, we liked, but towards the end of the meal the sushi chef started making the sushi that we like (salmon, tuna) and we were already full. Did that stop us from eating any more? Nope. Funny story, my mom was waiting for the tuna sushi to come, because we saw the tuna being prepared, and she just decided that we could leave and come back another time when the chef plopped the tuna sushi plates on the conveyor belt. And so of course, we split the two sushi on the plate :)

    Broiled salmon sushi!

    Mashed tuna with leeks sushi!

    The all-important tuna sushi!

    Final plate count! Although some of my plates definitely ended up in different stacks. Now, how did the restaurant determine how much the bill was. You could count the plates, but considering we had 22, that would have taken forever. So what they did is they had someone come with an electronic-paddle type thing, and he basically waved it over the top of the pile, and then down the side of the pile (I assume that he was somehow scanning the plates, and the different colors that the machine scanned corresponded to the different prices). Once he finished scanning all four stacks, he gave us a receipt, which we then paid at the front of the restaurant. I thought this was pretty neat! And it also shows some of the technological advancements in Japan that the US doesn't have (although I'm not sure if any restaurant would ever need something like this).

All in all, a fantastic dinner!

A quick note on the name change

As many of you probably noticed, the name of this blog changed! This wasn't something that I had been thinking about doing, but I was scrolling through the blogger site when I realized that the old title had very little (if anything) to do with the content that was posted on the blog. Yes, I am a brown girl, and yes, I was talking about my life, but it wasn't all about computer science. And so I changed it to something a bit more indicative of what this blog is actually about. 

The only downside? The blog title will only be accurate for a decade ;) 

A day in Shibuya!

Today, my family I spent the day at Shibuya, a part of Tokyo that's known for it's shops and it's vibrant nightlife. 

This is the iced chocolate shake, dark, from the Lindt store. It was absolutely delicious, although a bit too sweet. You could also buy Lindt chocolate here, by buying the individual chocolates or then mixing and matching them.

This is a farmer's market that we stopped at! My parents bought some freshly squeezed orange juice and some garlic paste. My dad also had a cup of sangria ;) 

Definitely one of the cooler things I've seen in Japan! This is commonly put outside of smaller restaurants. Before entering the restaurant, you order the food you want by pressing a button that corresponds to that food item. Once you insert enough money to pay for the item, you get a receipt, which you then take inside and hand to the cooks, who then proceed to actually make the food. 

It was a long and tiring day, but it's not done yet! Tonight's dinner will be at a sushi bar, which serves sushi by using a conveyor belt. 

Visit to a temple!

    

    

    

     

The last picture was of a wedding that we saw while at the temple!

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I just finished reading this book, and I'm sorry to say that it left a bitter taste in my mouth. For those of you who don't know this book, it's about a wife who goes missing on her fifth wedding anniversary, and all clues point towards her husband having done it. The book alternates points of view between the husband and the wife, which also happen at different times (some happen in the past, while others are in the present day).

I think part of the reason I was unhappy who the book was because it had a very binary way of looking at marriage. Either marriage was the absolutely over-the-top romantic thing, or it was horrible, terrible, and both parties were unhappy. And that's very rarely what any relationship (and I'm guessing marriage, although I've

never been married before) is like. There are ups and there are downs, there is good and bad, but sometimes there is just neutral. Where things are neither good nor bad, but just are. Where people float along life, content. But there is none of that in this book, which was infuriating after a while.

Another thing - I found myself reading this book just to get done with it, not because I actually liked it. And that's never something you say about a good book. I think this was because I didn't actually like any of the characters. I initially liked the wife and hated the husband,but then about halfway through, I hated the wife and the husband, and that's how I felt when I finished. I didn't care about any of the characters, which means I didn't actually care about what happened to them in the book, so I was just reading the book to finish it.

And finally, the ending. It was the worst ending that could have been chosen. I understand that the number of options for endings for this book were probably limited, but Gillian, you picked the worst one. Honestly, after finishing the book, I kicked myself for having wasted that much time reading this book, because there was no way it could have been worse.

Apparently, this book is becoming a movie, and apparently they're changing the ending. Will I watch it? Absolutely not. I'm done wasting time on this author and this book. 

More pictures of food!

This is a chocolate cone, and it's super common to find in bakeries in Tokyo. It used to be one of my favorite foods the last time I lived in Japan, and it is most definitely one of my favorite foods now. There is only one way to eat this cone (in my opinion) and that is - backwards! If you start at the tip of the cone, then as you continue eating you get a bit more chocolate in every bite, until it's overflowing at the end, and it's simply delicious! 

Apologies for the lack of posting

But now that I'm finally home, I can start posting again!

First post from home is a picture of only the most delicious dessert ever. It's flan with a caramel sauce on the bottom, and it's got the perfect consistency and amount of sweetness. It is absolutely my favorite, and I wish you could get it stateside!

This is absolute bullshit

Arguments like, "Oh, she was dressed provocatively", or "oh, she was asking for it", are ABSOLUTE BS. Are you telling me you have no self-control whatsoever? That you can't control your desires because you're an animal?

My other favorite part of articles like these? When these men are asked how their mother and sisters should respond to this kind of thing, they frown and talk about how their family is devout and the women are dressed modestly. And then they turn around and harass a girl who is is in a burqa.

There are many choice words that I would like to tell men like this, but I will say none of them.

Because I know how to control myself.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/sheerafrenkel/egyptian-men-say-new-law-to-ban-sexual-harassment-wont-make

In light of #BringBackOurGirls

Here's a fantastic organization working towards helping girls and making sure they get an education.

http://girlrising.com/


Girl rising also had a documentary that they aired on CNN a few years ago. I wanted to watch it, but unfortunately, someone else needed the TV about halfway through the documentary. From the half that I saw, however, I really liked it. It opened my eyes to exactly how fortunate I was that my parents could afford to send me to elementary school without worrying about the extra costs, or about my safety, or any of the other things that girls in the documentary had to worry about.


Take a read!

Live Below the Line

Live Below the Line is an organization that aims to raise awareness for people who are living in extreme poverty, which is defined as living under $1.50 a day.

One of the things that people can get involved is by taking the Live Below the Line challenge, which is to use $1.50 a day for 5 days for all of your food. 

I was looking at the cookbook that they release for the challenge, and it *almost* seems doable. Would you do it?

What do you think?

The link published below is about the owner and founder of Saravana Bhavan, which is an Indian Vegetarian restaurant that was started in India, but has spread globally to cities around the world. It serves fantastic South Indian food, and the article talks about how the owner got started in the restaurant business and challenges and successes that he has had, both personally and professionally.

Read the article - http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/magazine/masala-dosa-to-die-for.html?hp&_r=2 , and let me know what you think of him. On one hand, he sounds like the perfect entrepreneur, the quintessential rags to riches story. On the other hand, he seems crazy, making arbitrary decisions and trying to flex his power ad use his wealth to get him whatever he wants.

What do you think?

Brown CS Girl

Finals Week

Hi everyone!

Due to the arrival of finals, I will probably not be able to post very much. Instead, I will be studying :(

AirBnb offices!

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding AirBnb recently, and so while looking up information about them, I came across this article.

This is gorgeous! What's your favorite part about this office?

AirBnb Office Space

What an interesting concept!

Would you buy salads out of a vending machine?  I definitely would, especially if I was traveling. It's very easy to eat junk food because it is ubiquitous, but if these vending machines were placed right next to a McDonald's, I would choose it instead.

What about you?

Vending Machines for Salads?

What a great quote!

The capacity to be alone is the capacity to love. It may look paradoxical to you, but it is not. It is an existential truth: only those people who are capable of being alone, are capable of love, of sharing, of going into the deepest core of the other person—without possessing the other, without depending on the other, without reducing the other to a thing, and without becoming addicted to the other. They allow the other absolute freedom, because they know that if the other leaves, they will be as happy as they are now. Their happiness cannot be taken by the other, because it is not given by the other. –Osho

An unfortunate article

I came across this article as I was scrolling through my newsfeed, and after reading it, I'm worried about the future of minorities in higher education. This, coupled with the fact that over 55 universities are being investigated for Title IX violations (CMU included), doesn't bode well for women and minorities.

Why is there still favoritism toward white males?



http://www.policymic.com/articles/88731/wharton-study-shows-the-shocking-result-when-women-and-minorities-email-their-professors?utm_source=policymicFB&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social

A fantastic infographic about AirBnb!

AirBnb has recently been in the news for both good and bad things (for good - see the NYTimes Magazine article from last week, for bad-look at the protests in SF). The infographic below shows how the company got started!

A super cool blog

Talking about breaking stereotypes! These apply mainly to Indian people, and stereotypes associated with them, but I really like the way this was done.


http://blog.trulymadly.com/breaking-stereotypes/

A Brown CS Girl

What keeps me up at night

Last day of classes....

....and first all-nighter being pulled.

Happy Last Day of Classes everyone!

CS joke number 1

Gotta love that Boolean logic!

Definitely in the right major,

A Brown CS girl 

You can sit with us!

Happy 10th Anniversary of Mean Girls!

That being said, let's try and end the "mean girls" era, and end this girl-on-girl hate.

The largest cup of coffee I've ever gotten

Thank you Starbucks! 

One of the greatest articles I've ever seen

They say a picture is worth 1000 words, and this article proves just that.

How many of these pictures do you remember?

http://news.distractify.com/people/amazing/pictures-taken-in-past-10-years/?v=1


A Brown CS Girl

Sexism

Sexism is something that, although has decreased over the years, still exists. And it pops up subtly in every day conversations.

Cue Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield - one of the cutest couples ever, did an interview where a little boy asked them how Spiderman made his costume.

Andrew Garfield responded that he made it himself, and even though sewing is a feminine thing, he made it masculine.

Emma Stone jumped on that, and asked him why he thought it was feminine.

Read this article to see how he responded: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/22/emma-stone-andrew-garfield-casual-sexism-femininity-spider-man_n_5190832.html

Emma Stone, you rock!

Brown CS Girl

New nail polish!

Its called Breakfast at..., made by Color Club! I got it in my Birchbox this month, and I absolutely love it! 

Always!

#TitoEtern

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/tito-vilanova-dies-age-45-barcelona-announces-042514?cmpid=msn%3Afoxsports%3Aansfox11

Tito Vilanova was a fantastic coach, and he will be missed.

RIP Tito.

Burgatory!

So my mock trial team and I went to the opening day of this restaurant, and there was a 2.5 hour wait. We ended up getting a table in 20 minutes because some people in the party knew the owner (:

First day working out after a while!

Honestly, I wish I could work out more. But between schoolwork and extracurriculars and TA-ing, there just aren't enough hours in the day. But I did it today! Take a look :)

#BringBackourGirls

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jinamoore/two-weeks-after-kidnapping-200-girls-remain-missing-in-north

How I do homework

Lots and lots of scribbles!

Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake

The best kind of cheesecake! 

Congrats are in order!

To CMU's Bhangra team, Chak De! They won first place at Nach Ke Dikha, a Bhangra and fusion competition at The College Of William and Mary! 

Well done guys :)

TOMS...Worth it?

I, like many other people, was in love with the idea of TOMS. Buying a pair of shoes AND donating it to a child in a third-world country? Sign me up please!

And so, a little over a month ago, I bought my first pair of TOMS. Shelling out $44 hurt a little bit (okay, a lot bit), but I wanted to see what all the hype was about. When I got the shoes and tried them on, I was super happy with them. They were comfy, stylish, and super easy to wear. When I got mud on them, I just threw them in the wash and BAM they were clean.


But the downsides:

After just a month of use (and actually less, the second picture happened after about 2 weeks), my TOMS has holes in them. Both shoes have holes in the top of them, and the left shoe has a huge gash in the back. At first, I thought it was because I must have caught the shoe in something, and it ripped. But after reading other blogs about this, I realized that other people were having the same experience. TOMS were simply not built to last. Which makes me think about the kids that are getting these donated shoes. I live in a city, which means that I do walk a lot,  but no where near as much as kids in developing countries may have to walk. Giving them shoes may at the time seem like a godsend to them, but is it worth it if after a month, those shoes have holes and have ripped through? I don't think so.

TOMS, I don't want to give up on you. So I may still buy another pair to see if the damage was caused by me. But $44 is a lot to spend on a pair of shoes that last less than a month, even if you are donating another pair to a child in need. Because that child in need needs shoes that can last him or her more than a month. The child deserves that.


A Brown CS Girl

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!

One quick question though - over my Facebook newsfeed, there were many statuses that had something to the effect of "He has Risen". Now I understand what that is referencing, but a lot of people had posted this around 11 am. Is that the time that people believe that Jesus had risen, or is that just a coincidence that aligns with when Mass ends (and when people are able to use their phones)?

Brown CS Girl

Book Recommendation!

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon!

I just started reading it today, and I really like it! It is a historical fiction book though, which happens to be my favorite genre, which may explain why I fell in love with it.

Once I finish you can expect a full book review!

A Brown CS girl

Paella!

I had some pretty scrumptious paella a few weeks ago in Mountain View, California. Obviously not as good as the paella in Barcelona, but delicious nonetheless :)

Blogging consistently is difficult

And so shout out to everyone who does it so well!  I find it incredibly difficult to remember to write in my blog, just because of all of the other things that take up space in my to-do list.

Happy Friday everyone!