Take Your Sarah to Work Day

Frightening, is how I describe Page One: Inside The New York Times.

After the film ended I felt a sense of hopelessness, because what is happening to the Times (and the whole newspaper industry) is happening on such a grand scale, and no one stop the online revolution. I admit to preferring my precious 'free' Winnipeg Free Press app than to spend any money on actual newspapers.

The part I found the most discerning was when the lady who wrote the obituaries for twenty-one years decided to leave when the company asked workers to volunteer to quit. She had been very valuable for two decades and by no fault of her own she was out of a job. Now I do imagine her skill set was much more developed than that of my own (obviously), so for someone with such great experience, at the most recognized paper to be leaving her job is depressing for my generation.

Journalists, especially at the Times, have worked so hard to become creditable sources for the public, and watching the carpet being pulled from underneath the whole industry leaves me to think what will be left for us young hopeful students. Bloggers and Tweeters have stolen all the glory from actual news sources. The glory of being the first to reveal current events is lost on these online headline makers; the glory to the papers means so much more: it means a pay check. This leaves me wondering if journalists are going to have to work for free.

The documentary was not all horror stories. David Carr's story was one of achievement. After twenty years of battling drug addiction, he regained his life and a position at the Times, a dream he always had.

I thought that his story added some needed emotion to the factual documentary. He is a big personality and isn't afraid to voice his opinions which made the film much more interesting to me; to see such a colourful character succeed while pushing people's buttons. I loved when he was interviewing people because he came off cocky but he knew what he was doing and how to get the answers he wanted, even using his humour to get his point across.

I would have liked to see more of Tim Arango and his ventures reporting outside of the country. During the film he left to be a representative for the New York Times in Bagdad. It would have been interesting to see the process of reporting and residing in another country for a journalist.

I also thought seeing the whole process of how they come up with a story to how it ends up on the paper was so neat! The workers at the Times are always under such pressure, for timing and quality, but they always pull it off professionally because no matter what the paper has to hit the stands. It was like 'take your Sarah to work day', giving me a better idea if I think this is what I want to do.

Safety Hazard!

So, while being on an adventurous roll I got some type of soda with not a lick of English on it; since they wouldn't sell me Saki to go with my sushi. Anyway, the bottle had a blue plastic lid holding a marble to keep the drink closed. To pop the marble out you had to remove a rubber ring buffer so you could push the plastic cork right in, sending the marble right into a glass bubble so it wouldn't sink right to the bottom. Now the marble isn't edible, it's just as hard as a regular playground marble and it can fit through the top drinking hole. So basically you can choke on it until enough drink is gone to tip it out of the bottle, basically when it's empty, unless you get it stuck in your throat then you're pretty much screwed.  

  

Source of My Pickiness

I have a brother and a sister, and we can never decide on what we can enjoy eating collectively. We can't even decide on a restaurant. But I think we are so picky because my mom would cater to our specific likes. She would usually make a few options for us. (though my ten year old sister and I like most of the same plain things). Im so set in my ways I've never even had Subway. Thanks mom for caring, but you've created a fussy gal!

Sushi Skeptic

My picky side is definitely shining through when I ordered from the sushi menu. Though some of the ingredients sound pretty good together, I can't help but feel the urge to start asking if they can take some ingredients and replace them with things I like. Mayo! I hate mayo! It's in the California and Dynamite roll I ordered. Ugh. But I am really going to try to put my fussiness in the back of my mind and focus on a whole new type of food that I could potentially fall in love with. (Yes, I fall in love with food.)

The whole concept of raw fish is kind of freaking me out, don't get me wrong I love seafood but that's when it's piping hot! I'm unsure why but I can be very particular about food temperature.

Besides the two raw fish dishes I ordered the Bagel roll with smoked salmon, with cream cheese, I really don't care for cream cheese.... I have a feeling I might try and scrape it out and leave it to be on the side. That's thing about the way I eat, I'm very meticulous. I like to organize and build a perfect bite. You should see the way I cook!  

***

I don't know about this whole sushi thing.

I really think I should try and make my own. I'm going to create the most customized roll! I would use the smoked salmon from the bagel roll, which was my favourite one. I didn't care for the proportions; some of them would be good for the first bite, then just flat out disappoint me with the flavours. I would have loooved a bigger piece of fish in the rolls, and some garlic or spice. I'll admit I didn't put any soya as advised, but that's because I wanted the sushi to impress me on their own! Sadly, I am yet to be wowed by the flavour I suspected it would have.

Maybe I just don't get it. If I think of all the necessary changes needed to make this dish irresistible it would probably turn it into a hot stir-fry loaded with seafood, veggies and a really good sauce. But then it wouldn't be sushi.

I gotta say though that the girl working there was so super friendly when I made my order and I had no clue what I was doing. When I picked it up, she explained everything, being the noob that I am.

I'm not apposed to eating it per-say, but I don't fully enjoy as much I as I thought I would.  There's just so many things I would change, personally. I kinda want to throw it in the microwave. But I don't think I've given it a fair chance yet, seeing as I only tried three things on the menu. There's tons of sushi places around the city that could offer different  taste, and I'm just not sure if I've made up my mind if I like it or not. I checked out Izumi Sushi on regent, though I heard about some good in more central Winnipeg, which I think I should try before giving up on Sushi!

Visit: http://www.izumisushi.ca/

Hellooo Twitter

So, I am very new to the social networking world. (I'm new to Facebook even, as of three weeks ago!) I think I'm not too thrilled about the whole thing because I like to be illusive in the things I'm up to. I barely spent any time this past summer on the computer, except to check my work schedule; and the most technology I'm used to is the radio! But I suppose I got to get used to the fact that my classmates, teachers and anyone else is going to be reading my posts and tweets.

The best thing I find about Twitter is that it doesn't have to relate to what your doing or what pictures your tagged in but it's more about your opinions and neat topics you want to share. It's a far departure from reading all the personal updates people make on Facebook (what a bad day they had, or just gloating) (or mom threatening to post embarrassing pictures). I'm still figuring it all out, I had to ask a friend how to post a tweet on my iPad version of twitter. I feel really feeble about networking but it just comes along with being current and staying relevant. Unwillingly, I got to get out from the rock I've been enjoying hiding under!

Caffeine Concoction

I have no shame in the fact that I love to load up on caffeine, and though I consider coffee and expressos to be two of my best morning (and continuing into the afternoon) friends, I enjoy energy drinks no matter how hard I try to kick them. I know, I know their full of sugar and horrible chemicals but it's hard argue that they're delicious; even though I become riddled with guilt after downing one back. I cannot help being drawn to these sweet, caffeinated drinks! The heart wants what it wants.

Red bull is most popular, but with Rock Star and Monster having so many flavours it becomes a little difficult nowadays to even pick out a darn drink. My favourite Rock Star has to be the non-carbonated Lemonade from the new low-calorie line of Recovery drinks.

I decided to mix it up and try a drink brand new to hit the shelves, the Perfect Berry Rock Star Energy Drink, or Pink Rock Star as referred on their website. It boasts to be only 10 calories a can, which makes me wonder how much delicious chemicals did they mix in there. Overall, it's an appealing purchase, being the only Rock Star including a straw! Oh, how easily I'm won over by gimmicks. It's very reminiscent of the Tab drink, with a slim pink can, obviously created for the ladies. I think this drink might be a lot better if it were not carbonated. I'm not that into carbonation to begin with, but this drink boasts to be lightly carbonated, so it doesn't give that full effect which is not that desirable. It reminds me of pop rocks that keep on fizzing in your mouth.

The flavour is pretty good, being that other drinks with fruity flavours kind of taste like cough syrup (I'm talking to you grape flavour) this one doesn't. Though I was a little disappointed with the after taste, I'd still give it a three out five stars. I had my Rock Star today, but dang it it wasn't no Anthony Kiedis!

visit: http://www.rockstarenergy.ca/