A Commute

While those of you in the Pacific Northwest understand how poor drivers are, I know some of you don't believe me when I say that drivers here are the worst I have come across in the United States. Sure, folks complain a lot about drivers in New York or Los Angeles, but those are aggressive drivers, and their behavior is pretty predictable-leave enough space for a car to merge into your lane, and it'll happen.

When I do drive to work, it's a 4.3-mile commute each way. With no traffic it takes about 10 minutes to get to work, but when there is traffic, the same route takes about 45 minutes, which can be shortened to 30 by taking an alternate route. I wait until after most of the traffic has died down, but by no means does that mean there aren't poor drivers on the road. For example, my drive home last night (yes I'm a grad student so I work weekends):

Mile 0.4: The driver in front of me stops at a green light for no reason, and stays stopped while the light goes from green to yellow to red 5 seconds later.
Mile 0.9: A driver with a green light waves a pedestrian to cross the intersection in front of the car (Seattle drivers are notorious for screwing up right of way at the expense of safety). There are two left turn lanes at the intersection. I'm in the left one, and the person in the right turn lane always cuts in front of my lane in the turn itself and after the turn starts driving in the lane where the left left turn lane turns into instead of the lane the right left turn lane turns into (2 lanes per direction on that 4-lane road).
Mile 1.6: There's a bus stopped at the bus stop in the right lane, and I'm driving on the left lane. All of a sudden the car in front of me slams on the brakes and allows everyone in the right lane behind the bus to merge into the left lane until the bus moves again. (Seattle drivers are notorious for screwing up right of way at the expense of safety, again)
Mile 2.4: I'm behind a car going 25 in a 35 zone so I move into the other lane to pass, but as soon as I pull alongside the car, the other driver all of a sudden starts going 35.
Mile 3.4: Same as mile 2.4, except someone going 25 in a 40 zone.
Mile 3.8: At this intersection, the road I'm on has a left turn lane in both directions. However, most drivers use this as an opportunity to expand their own lane into the left turn lane while going straight through the intersection and to continue using the opposite direction's left turn lane as part of their own lane.
Mile 4.3: At the turn into the complex I'm living in, the middle turning lane has a clear demarcation for when each direction has a left turn (instead of fair use for both directions). However, this doesn't stop the car opposite me to use my left turn lane to get into their left turn lane while I'm approaching the turn with my indicator on.

While Seattle driving is bad, not everything else is-like these pictures I took when I went to Grand Teton national park earlier this month:

(Click to Enlarge)

(Click to Enlarge)

Edit: and now, for the second time in the last 4 months, someone has managed to hit my parked car...

Nissan Rogue and Marketing

I recently returned from a trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, and while there rented a Nissan Rogue (which was an upgrade over the booked Nissan Sentra courtesy of my National Executive status). Over the 5+ days of the trip, I ended up driving the car 1,349 miles and ended up getting a pretty good feel for the car to the point I had to take a second to figure out how to drive my own car when I got back home from the trip.

The Rogue, in my opinion, is straight up awful, and essentially felt like a crossover SUV based on the Versa or Sentra. If you've driven either of those cars, you know that both of those cars are incredibly weak. A Versa starts at 109 horsepower, and a Rogue starts at 170 horsepower, which is not necessarily ideal for going through the mountains of a national park. Even National straight-up told me that the Pathfinder at 284 horsepower was a much better option.

Through those 1,349 miles there was many challenging points for the car. At its weak power it particularly struggled on hills. At about 6 degree incline the car maxed out at around 50 mph, and at a 10 degree incline the car would not travel above 38 mph (my car, with 228 horsepower on the base model, has no issues getting past 35 on a 24 degree incline near my place). Additionally, the car really struggled on turns, and in general the balance did not feel stable. The center of gravity felt way too high for a crossover, especially since I had previously driven a 2005/6-ish Honda Pilot when I had my permit (and when I initially had my license) and that felt incredibly stable compared to the Rogue. It also didn't help that any time a car passed in the opposite direction on those rural highways the hood would shake profusely as if it would become detached in the front and obscure the windshield.

Now, I understand that not everyone is looking to take this car through a mountain pass in the snow or drive it over uneven gravel to get to a river. However, these cars are marketed as such to the general public, when most of them will never need these cars for those purposes. Of course that's marketing at work.

Nissan Rogue Pitch (Click to Enlarge)

I believe that this kind of marketing is used to make people feel like their car can do anything; that it's some status symbol of some point (look at me, I'm outdoorsy!) that's easy to display. Obviously this seems to work, as the Rogue is still around and selling. However, the vehicle itself is next to useless in any challenging condition requiring anything beyond basic all-wheel drive functions. I'm not even sure the car would make it up my parent's driveway, which might be 25 degrees, during a snowstorm. While I think the Rogue is much better suited for city driving, advertising it as such isn't going to drive sales as much as advertising it an an outdoors car, which is too bad for consumers who don't look at all the specifications before buying a car.

Another Year

It's funny seeing all the first year grad students (and undergrads) all happy and excited to be here. It's only time until they have the happiness beat out of them.

The DIY Way

Last week, for the first time, I hemmed a set of curtains. I may have cheated a little bit by using ironing tape instead of sewing the hem, but it gets the job done. I might pat myself on the back and marvel at a new job well done (well, not particularly well done, but a serviceable job nonetheless).

Obviously this isn't about tooting my own horn-hemming curtains isn't particularly difficult. What I am intrigued by is the ebbing of the DIY mentality, where today's young adults seem to possess fewer and fewer handiwork skills (which I had also mentioned with the increase in restaurant spending with the decrease of grocery store spending).

A New York Times Sunday Op-Ed provides some intriguing thoughts, and while I'm not as quick to believe an imminent demise of functional society, it does raise some good points. Many of those "world-changing" ideas exist to create a problem to be solved, and it seems that the primary basis of many of these is the convenience of someone doing something else for you. And of course more time to socialize, which seems to be the only priority outside working hours.

While I understand that we can't do everything and are unable to acquire every skill, the lack of these skills that the previous generation had around the house is quite galling. As the Op-Ed points out, many seek to outsource away "everything their mothers no longer do" to the point that they're completely useless inside the home. This lack of DIY, outside of figuring out how to make someone else do it for you, might also explain why so many seem to have such a hard time putting together IKEA furniture.

News flash: It's not that hard. With a little bit of can-do and some common sense, a lot can be done if only you have the spirit to try.

Overheard

Overheard at lunch yesterday:

Girl: Having the freedom to do what I want means that I can choose to be outwardly sexual.
Guy: But, that plays right into the patriarchy.
Girl: But isn't feminism all about letting me do what I want to do?

Rinse and repeat for the 10 minutes I was stuck within earshot of them.

Welcome to Seattle, and now a great portion of urban America, where you're free to do whatever you want to do, as long as it fits within the narrow mindset of the hive mind behind movements whose end goals don't actually have anything to do with equality.

GoldenEye Returns!

If you're like me and you spend a fair amount of time playing the greatest game ever created, you'd be pretty excited to hear about the newest version of GoldenEye: Source. It's basically an HD recreation of GoldenEye 007 running the source engine from Half-Life 2. Eventually when I have some free time I might check this out...

Because I'm So Cultured

Because this totally belongs on r/im14andthisisdeep /sarcasm

Because if it takes a song for you to actually pretend to care about something, then you don't actually care. Read the YouTube comments for a good laugh and to see how superficial people can be (to be fair YouTube comments are generally cancer to begin with).

The tune itself isn't too bad though, if you take it in the context that it's music.

Cleaning, Changing, and Compromise

After I moved out of my parents' house for college, I've yet to ever live with anyone who is as clean about their living conditions as I am. I've always done the majority of the cleaning in the communal areas and end up cleaning up after my previous roommates. Of course it's just not possible to tell someone to be cleaner and expect them to be better around the place (like how telling a jobless person to get a job won't solve their problems).

I think it comes back to personal standards to living cleanliness. Growing up I spent time helping (or being coerced into helping) clean up around the house, making me acutely aware of my living conditions, whereas I bet that most people didn't have cleanliness highlighted as a part of growing up. This is particularly true about my roommates, as they tend not to see a need to clean (except when they're expecting guests). Their lower standards of cleanliness frustrated me to no end, as I would occasionally try to cajole them into cleaning more often. Of course this wouldn't work, as old habits (such as not cleaning) die hard, cleaning doesn't happen. I think cleaning habits are particularly difficult to change, as there's a high energy barrier to cleaning (especially when there's a lot of it to do) and I think it's difficult for people who are used to a certain standard to raise that standard. My current roommate will occasionally scrub the stove (despite splattering large amounts of it on the stove and floor daily that I tend to clean up), but he'll always miss about half of it.

I've come to the realization that it's generally not worth constantly pointing these things out, especially since there is never any change. It only creates animosity between roommates, which definitely isn't ideal. As this point I've had to be the one to always settle for my roommates' lower standards (so not really compromise) to the point that I'm (barely) satisfied if they do their dishes, shower, do laundry, and take out the trash when it's full. It's a low bar, but it's what I've had to settle for without exploding at someone.

The Amazing Drivers of Seattle

I'm not exactly sure I can pinpoint why Seattle drivers are so bad, but they're pretty bad and getting worse. Actually I can hazard a guess, and it might have something to do with how politically correct things have to be around here and how that mentality of self-importance and self-confidence regardless of actual ability and reality translating to the road. It's one thing to know that you're an awful driver, but of course here in Seattle no one is willing to admit that and everyone keeps driving like a lunatic.

Driving in the Seattle area is an exercise of hyperawareness and anticipation, where I've come to anticipate everyone driving poorly in just about every aspect. Sadly these are things I see on a daily basis that I feel that I haven't experienced on a regular basis in other locations.

• Turning out of the wrong lane-I'm really not sure why you think it's a good idea to make a right turn out of the left lane or a left turn out of the right lane.
• Turning into the wrong lane when there are two left turn lanes (or right turn lanes)-This one really gets me since there's one of these when I drive home from the office.
• Not making wider turns-This is also a huge problem with two turn lanes, as the car in the outside lane will always cross in front of the path of the car on the inside lane, regardless of which lane the outside car will take. This also applies to parking, where drivers will always get really close to the car in the next space on the inside of the turn because they start turning too early. This also results in almost every car angling towards the direction where they came from instead of fitting straight into the space.
• Not yielding-There's an on-ramp that merges with the off-ramp I use to go grocery shopping, and no one will yield to the cars on the off-ramp. Instead they just keep going and for some reason I'm the one that has to fit to their spacing.
• Matching speeds-Speaking of on-ramps, most drivers will not reach highway speeds on the on-ramp, instead choosing to coast at around 45mph and then try to merge on the highway.
• Tapping the brakes-Drivers tapping the brakes before intersections where they have the right of way really baffles me. The light is green all the way but before the intersection there's a fair minority of drivers that will tap their brakes.
• Last-minute lane movements-There's a particular street that's three lanes with the right lane becoming a separate road that's part of my commute to work. Every time without fail during the last block there will be multiple cars from the other two lanes trying to move over to that right lane, and sometimes the majority of cars leaving the road will do that. It's almost possible that before the previous red light they can go over to the right lane instead of trying to cross through everyone.
• Blind spots exist?-Blind spots are a myth to many here as well, as someone will try to cross into my lane when I'm in their blind spot, especially on the highway when I'm passing them. Excessive use of the horn has occurred multiple times.
• Going excessively slow-It's one thing to go above the speed limit, but when there's no traffic and everyone's going 10 below...
• Disrupting traffic flow (other than on-ramps)-Instead of the mentality being "I'll make the turn when it won't disrupt flow" it's "I'll make the turn and it'll be alright if that car slows down". Pedestrians and cyclists also take this route when crossing the street.
• Headlights and turn signals exist for a reason-The lack of turn signal usage seems to be a general epidemic, but the lack of headlight usage really seems to be a Seattle thing, especially when I drive home from work late at night (like I'm about to do now).
• Red lights also exist for a reason-I feel like this one is pretty obvious. I've even seen the police here run red lights after stopping at the intersection.

Unfortunately this is only a sampler of the poor driving, as there are many more things that occur on a daily basis anytime I drive (and it's only a 10-mile round trip to the office...)

Complaining Towards No Means

Recently the local bus system made an unannounced change to one of their bus routes, making it so that it no longer passed through the neighborhood (and right next to my condo) during evenings and weekends. Naturally this is not a great change (though to be fair the route was added during the latest round of expansions due to increased taxes/funding), but one of the fellow residents taped an angry note to the mailbox area that did get my attention.

In the note she posted the reason why the route had to be further truncated during the evening and weekend periods (the route is normally truncated during the evening and weekend since it can only access a particular facility that's otherwise locked during regular business hours), noting that the park where the bus would turn around during evenings and weekends did not really like the buses inside the park (which does clog up a fair bit of traffic and takes up a lot of space). She also states that she was "stranded at a gas station", which is right along another bus route that goes right past our condo complex which you can use with a free transfer. Her only recourse of action was to urge everyone to call the local transit authority to complain to restore service (a service that the park didn't like having, with the buses turn-arounds inside the park boundary).

When faced with a problem, there seem to be three avenues of responding. The first, which seems to be favored by this lady (and those "I would like to speak to a manager" types) is to get angry and demand something from who the feel to be the offending party. This approach doesn't get anything done, and results in complaining for the sake of complaining. The second of course is to offer a solution or a work-around to the existing problem. Of course most people won't want to put in the effort as they believe that everyone else should fix their problems. The third, which is how I feel, is apathy. I don't particularly care, and I go on and live my life. The note did give me a nice chuckle at how people think they have been so wronged by everyone else.

Creativity

Because it's not every day you ask fine chefs to cook with frozen ingredients in an hour and someone uses an ice smoker

Eating Through Montréal

Recently I was in Montréal for a week and spent some time eating my way through the city (at least for meals that weren't catered at the conference), and had a delicious time eating my way though various types of cuisine.

Olive et Gourmando
This restaurant in old Montréal is more of a café-type place that's open through lunch, and tends to specialize in sandwiches. This place tends to give off a hip feel and seating is generally pretty limited. I ordered a Mr Miami sandwich along with the soup of the day, and I was decently impressed with the food. The sandwich definitely was pretty substantial, and definitely a lot better than most others that you just see come out of a fridge into a sandwich press. The soup, which was some kind of chicken and feta soup, was very good and definitely unique. However it was pretty pricey at over 20 USD, which is right in line with the hip vibe (which I don't understand).

Stach Café
Stach Café is also in old Montréal and specializes in Polish food, which I very rarely encounter. The restaurant has definitely a quieter feel, and the pace of the meal seems deliberately slowed, providing a more relaxing time in the restaurant. The krokeit, a filled breaded crêpe, wasn't cooked all the way through, as the filling was warm while the outside was hot. The accompanying mushroom bechamel-like sauce, on the other hand, was most excellent. I also had a mixed plate of pierogis, which were pretty good, though the portion size was a little small. My favorite dish was the dessert, which was a peach cobbler with sweet cream (and probably the least polish thing I had).

Patati Patata
Patati Patata is a tiny restaurant, and takeout orders are pretty common. It's a place for good cheap burgers and poutine (and a beer as well), and you can have a full lunch for around 10 CAD. I had the patatine, which is poutine with some peppers, mushrooms, some other stuff, and extra sausage. Overall this was very good, and proof that good poutine doesn't have to be expensive.

Qing Hua Dumpling
This difficult to find restaurant in Chinatown basically does only dumplings and offers a wide variety of fillings. The steamed ones are very similar to soup dumplings, as there's quite a bit of soup (though it's sold as steamed dumplings). They're better than what you can find at Din Tai Fung in the states (to be fair the outlets in the US are far inferior to those in Asia). My main gripe is that the flat part of the steamer was woven bamboo, and the dumplings would start to stick to it after a while.

Au Pied de Cochon
This was the one nice sit-down place we went to during the week, and it definitely lived up to expectations. Reservations are difficult to get on short notice, and the only time I could get that week was a 9:30PM reservation. While it's a nice restaurant, it definitely can be very loud, and at times the waiter couldn't even hear us. The restaurant is highlighted by its many dishes containing foie gras, and it definitely didn't disappoint. We ordered foie gras poutine as an appetizer, and I'd have to say it was probably the richest poutine I ever had with generous portions of foie gras. I ordered the Plogue à Champlain, which is a huge piece of foie gras on top of some bacon and a pancake covered in a maple glaze. The foie gras melts in the mouth (for real, especially compared to any meat), and the maple wasn't overly sweet. Dessert was excellent as well, though they made a mistake and gave us a maple poudding chômeur instead of our pecan pie. The pudding was excellent, but the maple crème brûlée was very sweet. We ended up taking the pecan pie to go, and it still tasted good the next day despite the hardened crust.

Schwartz's Deli
The restaurant is pretty reminiscent of a cafeteria, with long shared tables in a small crowded space. The house specialty is smoked meat sandwiches, and you could get either a sandwich or a platter (with a heap of meat on one plate and bread on another) and request meat on the fattier or leaner side (or in between if you're into that kind of thing). The only other thing on the sandwich is mustard, making the meat the start of the show. The sandwich is amazing, with just enough fat on it to help it come apart as you eat it. The food there is also pretty cheap, considering how much meat you get in a helping.

Dic Ann's
Dic Ann's is a Canadian burger joint (and they also serve poutine) that serves a very thin burger. The whole thing put together might be around one inch in thickness. I found a Dic Ann's food truck, so it might be different from the dine-in establishments. The standard burger is just meat and a bun, as a burger with veggies is another menu item entirely (and I'm not sure the food truck carries those items). In addition to the option of having cheese, the burgers can also be dressed with some kind of sauce. Overall it's alright as a good fast-food burger, but definitely a unique approach to burgers.

Félix & Norton
Right next to the Dic Ann's truck at the old port of Montréal was this cookie truck, which also sold cookie ice cream sandwiches, with a square block of ice cream stuck between two cookies. I liked the cookies, and the added ice cream was nice in the warm afternoon, but overall this was good but not great.

Vua Sandwichs
I'm a huge fan of banh mi, so naturally I had to stop by. The offer two sandwich sizes and a wide variety of meats. I ordered both a grilled pork and bbq pork sandwich with extra veggies. For those of you that are familiar with Lee's Sandwiches, which kind of skimps on the filling, the portions of vegetables and meat were pretty generous and tasted pretty good. I was a little disappointed that they ran out of the coconut shake, but I ordered a mango shake and wasn't too pleased, as it tasted like (and definitely looked like) the added mango powder to a shake and just a tiny bit of actual mango.

My First Waffle House Experience

A few weeks ago I experience the southern staple for the first time. I actually had a chance last year when I was on the gulf coast and there was one right across the street from my hotel, but I couldn't quite get around to going there. This time, I was in North Carolina and there was a Waffle House around the corner, and I was not about to let this opportunity slip by.

As I was dining alone, I sat at the counter and began consulting the menu. Of course I had to get a pecan waffle, and since I eat a lot, eventually decided upon adding a side of hash browns. I also threw in a salad to pretend like I was eating healthy (especially since this was the last night of a 4-day trip in North Carolina and I hadn't been eating particularly healthy at all). After all of that I added a Texas bacon cheesesteak melt since I was still a little hungry.

Naturally with the Waffle House you're not expecting gourmet food, but instead something that's always reliable. I was generally pleased with the food-I was a big fan of the waffle, and the pecan was a great addition. Perhaps I should consider adding nuts to my breakfast items next time I'm at Portage Bay. The hash brown was typical, and wasn't too starchy. The melt was definitely interesting, as the bread itself went on the flat-top and the cheese was added at the very end (right before the cooked meat was placed on top of it). It did taste a little cheap, like something that might come out of a freezer box. Overall good, but not great, but that's what you expect when you come the Waffle House. Perhaps next time I should go late at night to see how that goes.

On Sequels

Movie sequels are an interesting proposition. There needs to be enough new material to keep the sequel fresh while maintaining the old jokes and storylines from the previous film(s). As is the case with most sequels, they're pigeonholed into a half-assed effort to mostly ride out the money train into the sunset, complete with forced laughter and awkward character development (if at all-looking at you Star Wars). Of course there usually has to be a popular reception to the previous film(s) before a sequel can even come out.

Or so I thought, until recently.

I had actually watched the second movie of Don't Go Breaking My Heart  《单身男女2》before I watched the original. For those of you not versed in Chinese films, they're some combination of martial arts, fantasy, and love story, and in this case, it was a love story (love stories to be accurate, as it involved a love pentagon). The sequel was decently palatable without that much forced character development. It probably helped that the love stories weren't overly schmoozy and over the top. Additionally a couple of new characters helped liven up the story. The first movie, on the other hand, was too lovey dovey (though that plays right into the hands of a typical Chinese love story) and development was pretty poor. The relationships seemed forced and chasing the girls seemed quite petty. In general I felt that they could have done without the first film and left the second one as a standalone.

I'm just glad at this point Spaceballs 2: The Search For More Money won't come to fruition.

Watching Car2Go

Being in Seattle I've constantly complained about the driving of the local residents, ranging from their inability to use common sense or the expectation that drivers don't anticipate anything. Of course, anecdotes don't really mean anything since they don't pool any statistics or trends, and these observations cover a ridiculous range of driver mishaps. Common observations range from the inability to park without the car being angled towards the turn from which it was made to changing lanes at the latest possible moment to make a turn or merge off a highway instead of anticipating ahead of time, and more mind-boggling happenings involving right turns out of the left lane.

Something that really does mark the poor ability of Seattle drivers is their use of the rental service car2go. car2go is a rental fleet of Smart cars that don't require reservations and are charged by the minute. To rent one, you use a smartphone to locate a car and basically enter it to begin your trip; ending the trip by parking the car. However, the parking the car part seems to give a lot of people trouble. The guidelines are not that complicated.

In Seattle, you may park in any non-restricted curb side parking throughout the car2go Home Area as well as any Restricted Parking Zone location. You can park at all parking meter locations without having to feed the meter but may not end your trip in spaces limited to less than 1 hours. You are allowed to park and end trips in 1 hour or greater restricted parking zones. 

Non-restricted curb side parking areas are basically street parking areas where parking is allowed 24 hours a day. Most restrictions to restricted curb side areas generally prohibit parking during rush hour, so car2go vehicles cannot be parked in those locations. Restricted parking zone locations tend to require a sticker on your car allowing you to park in that particular zone during specific times (for example in residential neighborhoods near the university during home football games). Given these restrictions it's not too difficult to park a car2go vehicle at the end of a trip.

Naturally, given all things Seattle and its anti-establishment mindset, parking rules are for suckers. My office sits right next to a tow lot, and most days about four or five of these vehicles will be sitting in the tow lot. We tend to get a good laugh every time another vehicle is brought in, as the last driver will be charged by car2go for the towing fees, which are significantly higher than the $.41/min rate that could have been spent to find a proper parking spot.

In somewhat related news, BMW will be bringing ReachNow to Seattle, a competing service that plans to utilize BMWs and Minis. It plans to charge more ($.49/min) compared to car2go ($.41/min), so now you'll know who's more willing to spend an extra 8 cents per minute to look suave.

Keep In Touch. Or Not.

I've always found it interesting how the dynamics of friendship work, especially after distance separates individuals. Friendships come and go, but some endure the graduations and new jobs, and ultimately the test of time. As I like to sit around and take in my surroundings (and people watch), I've observed a lot of personal interactions and given them some thought.

In any given relationship there is always an initiator, regardless of how close two people can claim to be-someone who starts the conversations; someone who lays the framework of any plan. The "initiator" values the friendship more than the other individual does and values these interactions at a much higher priority. I quickly noticed this growing up, as I tended to be the initiator. As someone who generally keeps to myself, this was ideal as things tended to happen on my terms.

I became deeply aware of these interactions in high school, despite having little desire to be social, and this greatly shaped how I keep in touch (or in this case didn't do so) with those I went to high school with. With college occupying all of my time and energy, I would no longer initiate interactions with those from high school, and consequently I have fallen out of touch with just about everyone I had known then. These days, I rarely acknowledge my time during high school, as none of my current interactions (or anything in my life in general) needs to acknowledge that time, and almost everything I do draws from the past as far as my undergraduate times.

While my life is generally consumed by graduate school (and hopefully graduating someday...), I still find time to keep in touch with a small handful of friends I made during my undergrad days. Once again I am the primary initiator in these relationships-every message; every Skype call; every visit. Perhaps I'm being too overbearing; intruding into everyone else's lives when they have already moved on. One day when I have new priorities and have less time and energy, these too will fall by the wayside. That's how it will generally be, because that's how it's always been and will always be.

A Classical Audience

As an attendee of classical music performances and a people-watcher, it's always interesting to take a look around before and after the concert and during intermission just to see the faces and styles through the crowds. Most patrons tend to be older (and definitely many in the senior category), and most are somewhat dressed up. Most gentlemen are wearing a button-down shirt and/or a jacket with pants, and the ladies tend to dress up as well (I'm not very fashion oriented as you can guess). While many concertgoers don't stand out from the crowd, there are always those that we all know and (tend not to) love.

The cougher
These people decide, against their better judgement and courtesy to fellow concertgoers, that the symphony is always the place to go when one is sick. Not only do these people cough and generally cause commotion between movements, but they're also the source of coughing during the music itself. These individuals also tend to bring throat lozenges, leading to the classic crinkling noises that punctuate the space between movements and any and all solos. These tend to mostly be elderly patrons, but no demographic is immune to having these among their ranks. Additionally, these folks don't understand how to turn off their phones.

The napper
These patrons do the exact opposite, and generate no noise. They can be spotted from rows away, provided that they're sitting in front of you. Characteristics of sitting behind one is having an unobstructed view of the stage. Most of these individuals tend to fall in extreme age groups-the elderly or the younger adults. If the don't wake on their own they are often prodded awake by a fidgeter with whom they attended the concert.

The fidgeter
Fidgeters are characterized by the complete inability to sit still at all, and can be characterized by the endless background noise generated throughout the concert. Oftentimes their movements are coordinated with the beat in some way, whether it be head-bobbing, toe-tapping, leg-brushing, or knee-swinging. The movements and light tapping sounds made are always off-beat, making it highly likely that these people may attend sporting events where chants and cheers get exponentially faster. The fidgeting is only temporarily remedied when holding the hand or arm of a significant other, who is most likely also a fidgeter or a napper. Occasionally humming can even be heard, which is naturally out of tune and most likely in the wrong key.

The hipster
Hipsters stand out like a sore thumb at concerts. Just like in everyday life, they feel like social conventions don't apply to them at concerts, so the still wear what they would out on the streets. They may be seen wearing flannel, jeans, and boots, and some even don't remove their beanies in the symphony hall. They are generally not noticeable when the lights go down except for their beanies obstructing the view of the stage. During the intermission they can be seen enjoying a cup of coffee and congregating with other hipsters. Many of these individuals are also fidgeters and, aside from senior citizens, require the most time in the restroom during the break.

The casual
While these people do attend concerts, they feel no need to treat concerts as an event. They stand out in their t-shirt, jeans (or even shorts), and sneakers (and possibly a fedora), and it's also likely they don't own any button-down shirts. Casuals tend to be college students or young adults who work in engineering or tech, where dressing up is a no-no. Speculation is that they may be a root cause of applause between movements.

The family
Type I: These tend to be families that enjoy classical music in a broad sense, and tend to be spotted throughout the season. These families are typically well-dressed and well-behaved, and tend not to stand out other than when you run into the children because they're below your line of sight (or obstructed by your intermission beverage of choice).
Type II: These families tend to only attend performances featuring the most famous soloists (and those of their native country). These families generally have no interest in the broader realm of classical music; instead zeroing in on the featured performer. They are instantly recognized pre-concert with the hurried shuffling of the children by the parents into the auditorium and by how they stand out with their dress. Tiger moms are particularly easy to spot, as embroidery is often featured on clothing that accompanies a stern look and pursed lips wherever she may turn.

The bro
These are the rarest species of all, as most bros tend to have zero inclination of attending these concerts. Legend has it that if a group of bros shows up at a performance the venue will run out of alcohol during the intermission. Bros are easily spotted in their t-shirts and basketball shorts paired with either basketball shoes or flip flops.

On Holidays

It seems that every day we're bombarded with another holiday (or at least something that's recognized as a holiday) or a "national (insert some mundane thing that we don't really care about unless there's free stuff involved) day". On social media there's always the juxtaposition of hype about the upcoming holiday with our "celebrations" of the previous holiday. Most of the time, these events are to "remind" us of certain things in our lives that we shouldn't acknowledge on just one day. It's turning holidays into meaningless events and seems to serve as an excuse for us to not be mindful of our own lives. Of course this is best served with some light-hearted Dilbert shorts on the subject.

Popcorners

I'm a huge fan of snacking, especially during ultimate tournaments when you have to play all day and don't have the opportunity to eat a meal between breakfast and dinner. I like to take new opportunities to try new snack foods when I can (and of course within reason because compulsive snacking isn't good). Recently I was on a United flight and had the opportunity to try PopCorners, one of those newer snacks that's trying to put a healthier alternative into the marketplace (how healthy these types of snacks actually are though, is another question). Airlines do seem to be somewhat heading in that direction with their snacks as well, and I was pleasantly surprised at how good the chips/things/whatever tasted. I went through a couple of bags of the sweet chili variety pretty quickly (to be fair I'm a little bit of a sucker for spicy snacks). They aren't oily at all and after eating two bags there was very little oil or residue on my fingers-all in all a fine snack. However the snacks are made by a smaller company and can be difficult to find in stores (though of course you can order it via Amazon and other online retailers, though there's no way I'm ordering 40 bags of this at once). Alternatively, you can also find these on JetBlue flights and snack away to your heart's content.