Earthquakes and Hurricanes and Butt Stabbers, oh my!

A lot has been going on around here lately! And that is what I am going to attribute my lack of posts to--- I've been too busy watching my back and ducking for cover! I wanted to just write a little note and say, we will return to regularly scheduled programming shortly. :) Bear with me and stay tuned for new wine recommendations and other musings. Until then!

METRO READ Ugly Americans- Ben Mezrich

For those of you who don't know Ben Mezrich, he is known for writing books about Ivy League kids doing remarkable things. His first book was Bringing Down the House: The Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. It was later turned into the movie 21. Maybe even more well known is his recent book, The Accidental Billionaires, which chronicles Mark Zuckerberg and a behind the scenes look at Facebook. (I read this book as well, while it was good- I'd suggest just seeing the movie.) What I have grown to appreciate about Ben Mezrich is that his books, while highly entertaining-- are still non-fiction. If you continue to read this blog you'll quickly learn that I rarely read fiction. Nothing against it-- I just have found that there are plenty of interesting things to read about that are real, and those are the things that I prefer.

Ugly Americans is about a Princeton Alumni named John Malcolm (a pseudonym), who ends up working as an assistant daytime trader in Japan, after a fluke meeting at a Princeton football game(Malcolm played for the Princeton). Basically this book highlights a time in the 1990's where American Hedge Fund Cowboys were taking advantage of loopholes that existed in the outdated and inefficient Japanese Stock Market-- the Nikkei. The Yakuza, which is basically the Japanese mob gets involved, and things get dodgy. There's also a sideline developing love story between Malcolm and a native Japanese girl named Sayo. I'd say-o there's something for everyone in this book.

New job, new beginnings...new commute.

Friends, I am happy to report that as of March 7th, I am back among the employed. I have taken a position with DLA Piper, LLP in Washington, DC. I am happy to be working, and to have expendable income once again. However, as the title of this post would imply, with my new job comes a new commute. I am now officially one of those "commuters." I have a SmartTrip card, and I always have a pair of pumps in my bag. I drive to the Vienna metro station, hop on the Orange line, then the Red line, then finally after about an hour and 20 minutes door to door, I arrive at work. I've had to sort of monitor my natural tendencies on the metro as well (note-- no one wants to talk to me at 7:30 AM. No one. Also- no one says Bless you.) But now I feel accustomed to the cultural norms of mass transit, and so I sit quietly and stare sraight ahead-- and if someone sneezes....well I still say bless you. (Sorry I'm not sorry- not saying bless you is rude.)

The commute, you can imagine has been an adjustment. But it is not without its perks. I've always been a big reader-- but through grad school I became only a big purchaser of books. I have quite a collection built up of things I wanted to read, but would put up on the shelf-- "when I finish grad school I'll read this." Well, the time is now. My kindle is working overtime, and it's nice to sort of escape in the morning. When I finish a book, my first instinct is to share it with someone else, so I thought, well, why not include it in MLC? A sort of Metro Book Review. So stay tuned for my latest Metro Reads along with my wines (and sometimes whines) of choice......

Inexcusable...

It's inexcusable really. The amount of time that I've let go in between blog posts. In that spirit I'm not going to make any excuses. What's done is done. The past is in the past. All I can do now is go forward. To make it up to you and to kick off my comeback I'm going to post a new wine recommendation. I bought this particular red at World Market, during their huge red wine sale. (Coincidentally, and serendipitously their large wine sale coincided directly with my first few days of unemployment. Sometimes things just work out.) It's called Tilia, it is a red wine, and it has a pretty picture of a tree on the bottle. Pick up a bottle today. You'll be glad you did.

The FIRST Wine Wednesday of 2011

I am not above a bargain. Furthermore I am not above a bargain wine, hell- I used to drink wine out of a box.... the bottom line is I am a wine lover- but not a wine snob. I recently had a small get together at my condo and wanted to get a few bottles of bargain wine, not wanting to drain my personal stock. (Sorry I'm not sorry...) I went to Costco and found this gem; Frontera Wines Concha y Toro, it is a Cabernet-Merlot blend. Costco was selling the 1.5 L bottles of this for 6.98 I think? I was a little skeptical, because of the size of the bottle and the small price tag-- but hey, I'll try any wine once. The description claimed it was the #1 Chilean wine sold. This claim only highlighted how little I know about the Chilean wine market....was being #1 impressive? 1 out of 3? What are we talking? But I took a chance and I'm glad I did because it really was quite good. My guests seemed to enjoy it as well, plus I think it gave us all an edge in playing Just Dance 2 on Wii.....the more we drank the better we danced! Fact! Now get out there and try this great Chilean find. Ole!

Unemployment and why Oprah is the answer....

As some of you may already know I am currently unemployed. Being unemployed really makes you think about what it is you want to do; and I want to be Oprah. Hear me out; Oprah gets to make people happy, talk to all sorts of interesting people, write a magazine, make her own TV shows AND make a lot of money doing it. Since this 25th season of the Oprah show is her last, I am thinking she will need a replacement........

Now stay with me for a second because I have to switch gears....I got a GPS for Christmas (Thanks Dustin!) and for the life of me I can't figure it out. I read the book, followed the instructions and all seems to be working except for one catch; my GPS thinks I'm in Chicago, Illinois. Now, you can read into this however you want; I choose to think that my GPS is guiding me; it is as if my GPS is whispering..."Go, be with Oprah, in the windy city.....gooooo......Oprahhhhhh." I mean my GPS may not be telling me where I am, but perhaps it is telling me where I need to go.

I have a fortune telling, prophet like, GPS.

This is the only conclusion I can draw.

Chicago or Bust.... (Oprah I'll text you when I get there! xo)

Wine Wednesday Resumes!!!

I can't believe I've missed so many Wine Wednesdays, they are so dear to my heart. It won't happen again. Please forgive me. This Wednesday I want to talk about Super Tuscans. The term "Super Tuscan" describes any Tuscan red wine that does not adhere to traditional blending laws for the region. For example, Chianti Classico wines are made from a blend of grapes with Sangiovese as the dominant varietal in the blend. Super Tuscans often use other grapes, especially cabernet sauvignon, making them ineligible for DOC(G) classification under the traditional rules. (Blah blah- get to the wine...) OK so I had this particular wine at Ozzie's Corner Italian, and it was delish. It's called Monte Antico, and after paying 7.00 a glass, I ventured to my local Total Wine to see what a bottle would run me. 9.99. Seriously? The lesson, drink at home-- and try a Super Tuscan today! Preferably this one. Cheers! xo