Amy Middleton Loves New York

Manhattan operates on its own time-space continuum. Here is my guide to help travelers get from JFK to Manhattan. The best travel method for you depends on what is most important: time, cost, or convenience:

time + convenience: cab or car service

http://www.jfkairportguide.com/jfk-taxi.html
$45 + tolls and tip, car services can be negotiated at the airport but will be similar in price.
Considerations: most expensive option, but you’ll go straight to your destination with minimal stops. Up to 4 passengers.
Instructions: Go to ground transportation and grab a cab or car.
Total Time: 30 - 60 minutes (depending on traffic and destination)
Total Cost: about $55

time + cost: LIRR

http://www.mta.info/mta/airtrain.htm
(note: I’ve never done this, but it is a very quick and reliable option.)
Considerations: Involves transfers (bad for luggage) and ability to find one’s way (bad for visitors).
Instructions: Use HopStop to plan your trip in advance. Follow transportation signs to AirTrain. Take AirTrain to Station D (Jamaica) depending on where you are going. You will buy a $5 ticket AFTER you leave the AirTrain. Follow signs to LIRR. Take LIRR to Penn Station. Transfer from Penn to Subway if necessary.
Total Time: 35 - 60 minutes (depending on destination)
Total Cost: $13 - $15.25 per person

cost + convenience: shuttle

http://www.jfkairportguide.com/jfk-shuttle-information.html
Considerations: Expect to share the van with up to 10 other passengers. Arrival time is very unpredictable as a result. If you have luggage and time on your side, this is a reasonable option.
Instructions: Follow signs to Ground Transportation. Ask for the super shuttle. You can also book in advance on their site: http://www.supershuttle.com
Total Time: 30 min - 180 minutes (depending on traffic and which stop you are)
Total Cost: $23 + tip, $10 for additional passengers.

cost: subway

http://www.mta.info/mta/airtrain.htm
Considerations: You will probably have to use stairs and carry your luggage an uncomfortable distance. You will have to ask people to help you get to where you are going.
Instructions: Use HopStop to plan your trip in advance. Follow transportation signs to Air Train. Take Air Train to Station A (Howard Beach) or D (Jamaica) depending on where you are going. You will buy a $5 ticket AFTER you leave the Air Train. Follow signs to Subway. Buy a Subway ticket if necessary. Take E train to Manhattan. Transfer where HopStop tells you to transfer.
Total Time: 80 - 120 minutes (depending on delays and transfers)
Total Cost: $7.25

learn to walk on hands.
convince seth i’ve won the donut abstinence contest.
quit or get fired.
acquire a crocheted cap with a flower.
update blog. check.

Recently I decided to try a raw foods diet. Mainly because it scares me. As a long-time vegetarian and a lover of butter, chocolate, and lentils, I wasn’t quite sure what I would eat if I eliminated not only dairy and eggs, but also grains and anything… you know, cooked. If you take my normal diet and remove anything that is not a raw fruit or vegetable, you aren’t left with enough to subsist on. Which is exactly the challenge: I wanted to re-think my approach to raw the same way I encourage meat eaters to re-think their approach to vegetarian. It’s not just about omitting, but replacing, discovering, and enjoying.

I will tell you some sites that I’ve found helpful: Kristen Suzanne’s Kristens Raw and Esme Stevens’ The Best of Raw Food. Mostly I’ve been having smoothies and juices, and I’m introducing new foods to my diet and magic bullet.

Here’s the tally so far, after about a week and a half of being mostly (not completely) raw, but avoiding refined sugar completely:

• I already have lost a craving for processed foods. Bananas seem overly sweet to me.
• With a few notable exceptions, I can enjoy almost anything I make in the magic bullet. Kale, spinach, and carrot smoothie? Bring it on. I don’t love eating salads but I really don’t have a problem with liquefied veggies.
• I had faux oatmeal yesterday that left me happy all morning. Banana, apples, flax seed, and cinnamon- it was delicious.

Today I made this salad.
I call it antipasta salad. Here is my recipe:
1 zucchini squash
1 roma tomato
some pinenuts
some hemp seeds
a splash of oil and vinegar

I shredded the zucchini using some sort of device that just happened to exist in this kitchen of dreams where I live. I was expecting it to taste slightly unpleasant, which is why I went heavy on the nuts and oils. But it was absolutely great and I was wishing for more of the zucchini. Next time I might just eat it plain.

Also of note: I was just looking back at some old posts and I saw this from 2005. I had forgotten what a deliberate goal it had been of mine to learn to prepare food. It’s all the more satisfying to remember, and motivation to continue.

I got an email from Food Democracy Now asking me to join their petition to “tell the FDA and the USDA that Froot Loops® is NOT a Smart Choice for our children.” I certainly agree with what they are saying, but I don’t know that I want the FDA giving the thumbs up or down to every label out there. Mainly because I don’t think we should place credibility or confidence in any processed food that could keep the label. I don’t want to give the FDA–susceptible as it is to lobbying, biases, human error, and general non-omniscience–the power of judicial review to be saying that Twix is not a smart choice but Twix in a 100 calorie package is.

The Smart Choices Program website states:
Because shoppers are often strapped for time and need to make choices quickly, the Smart Choices Program provides at-a-glance information on the front of the package. This includes: A symbol to help you make smarter food and beverage choices within product categories.

Here’s what Dr Eileen T. Kennedy, president of the Smart Choices board, had to say about the checkmark in this NY Times article:

“The checkmark means the food item is a ‘better for you’ product, as opposed to having an x on it saying ‘Don’t eat this,’ ” Dr. Kennedy said. “Consumers are smart enough to deduce that if it doesn’t have the checkmark, by implication it’s not a ‘better for you’ product. They want to have a choice. They don’t want to be told ‘You must do this.’ ”

Dr. Kennedy, who is not paid for her work on the program, defended the products endorsed by the program, including sweet cereals. She said Froot Loops was better than other things parents could choose for their children.

“You’re rushing around, you’re trying to think about healthy eating for your kids and you have a choice between a doughnut and a cereal,” Dr. Kennedy said, evoking a hypothetical parent in the supermarket. “So Froot Loops is a better choice.”

So, to review, Froot Loops is a better choice WHEN COMPARED TO A DOUGHNUT. That’s amazingly helpful. When I lived in Belize, the women I knew there thought it was ok to fill baby bottles with Coke. The argument could certainly be made that it’s better than alcohol. You can always find something worse than what you’re doing, but that has no bearing on whether what you are doing is indeed “smart.”

However, if we as rushed consumers deserve to be making informed choices, and the clearly subjective checkmark system works, I have a suggestion to make it even more informative: put a graphic of the food it is better than next to the check. A box of cereal would have a picture of a doughnut so that those consumers can feel good about their decision to not start the day off with a greasy pastry. A doughnut could come in a box with a picture of, say, a dozen doughnuts. Or a turducken. The turducken could have an image of lead paint. And the lead paint stands alone.

The Smart Choices Program website also felt it important to include this kid cereal endorsement:

On average, only about 5% of the sugar consumed by U.S. children comes from ready-to-eat cereals, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Pre-sweetened cereals have been demonstrated to be a good source of vitamins and minerals for children. Studies around the globe have consistently shown that kids who eat breakfast have more physical and mental energy than those who do not. Cereal eaters are also more likely to have healthier body weights and greater vitamin and mineral intakes.

Again, it is significant to note what is being compared here. First, sugar cereal is compared to a poor national diet so full of bad food choices that it is only 5% of the problem. Nice work, America. Next, it is compared to a meal plan in which breakfast is not served. So basically eating is better for you than not eating, and if your kid has juvenile diabetes anyway, better to give him Count Chocula than a bowl of corn syrup and a can of Mountain Dew.

I’m not a perfect eater- I’ve had doughnuts for breakfast before and that’s not the worst decision I’ve ever made. A lot of us knowingly choose to be unhealthy, and I wish it weren’t so convenient or casual to do that, but that’s what we’re up against. My concern is that so many people don’t know. We are misled by claims, sponsored research, inaccurate reporting, and a false belief that if something were bad for us, the FDA would intervene and stop it. Froot Loops may not be the leading cause of obesity, but if we’re being told it’s a smart choice, we deserve to know, right on that same label: compared to what?

I’m sitting in the quiet, spacious living room of a San Diego farm house. I hear the cars pass by on the street. I hear the sound of roosters and crickets. I hear the mysterious noises of a rodent scurrying about. I hate that sound. But that’s what you get, I’m repeatedly told, when you live on a farm.

And guess what? I’ll take it!

With every day that I live in this gracious home of abundant plant and animal life, I become more convinced I don’t want to live anywhere else. Not for now, at least. Home ownership was a means to an end: the doorway to building a chicken coop and digging up the lawn to grow vegetables. But on this property where no grass grows, I have found all that I thought would make me happy. And so far, it does. And until I find the man who will build me a cob house, I’m more than content living here. Rent is affordable, roommates are fascinating, and there are nine chickens, several pullets, and many more chicks less than 100 feet from where I sit.

I’m looking around at houses which it turns out I can’t buy unless I have a W2 job. That’s one thing I wish I’d known before I moved to California. Sorry freelance life. Till we meet again.

But I still need a house so that I can have chickens. And I need chickens so I can feel like my life has meaning. You can see where this is going. I was chatting with Matt Cope the other day about house hunting and he told me:

Houses are like marriage. Don’t settle. The commitment is long, the price can be high. But if you love it (him) you will love every minute of it. And if you don’t the opposite happens.

Funny comparison to give to a girl who said goodbye to her twenties and is still single. I’m kind of the queen of not settling. I’m quite good at not committing; my problem is rarely that I don’t look before I leap. It’s that I look too long.

The beauty part about the internet is it makes it even easier to look. I can search a real estate site and quickly get the MLS or address of a property. Plug it into google, zoom in on the satellite map view, and a house that looked interesting is often removed from the list in the time it takes to see the actual size of the backyard.

Same story with my hunt for a W2 job.

Dear “fast growing retail company”:
You may be looking for an “energetic, proactive Web and Marketing Director who can make a positive impact,” but I just googled you and you don’t even have a website, and your average customer rating on city search is one star. I’m not going to pretend that anything I’d do for your marketing could save you from your lousy fulfillment and customer service. Good luck with that.

I appreciate being able to avoid rat holes by not committing to the “wrong” one, but I wonder if my reluctance to leap is getting me any farther. In my current frame of mind, I can see passing on life in its entirety: “The idea of choices and experience sounds good, but I looked into it and I’m not convinced it’s for me. I’m going to search for something that won’t involve dental work, msn adcenter, or Rod Stewart.”

There’s a lot of goodness in life and experiences that are missed if we insist on turning everything into a Dealbreakers Game, which I often do. And I realize that in the choices I’m trying to make right now, the stakes may be too high, but I wonder if it’s time to do the dumb things I gotta do. Touch the puppet head. And run with the consequences.

Dear Time Warner Cable,

I’m sure you consider “customer loyalty” to be an oxymoron at the TWC headquarters. Not only do you basically have a monopoly (at least in NYC) of internet service, but the quality of your service is–shall we say–lacking, causing many of us to shake our fists at you.

Naturally, you get your share of complaints and rude remarks. I’m pretty sure you don’t listen to any of it. The fact that you have a twitter account with hundreds of followers and no updates is another good indication that you sometimes pretend to care but aren’t really interested in helping people. However, even if you were to tap into all the “time warner sucks!” and “#twcfail” comments and conversations, you may be left just as clueless as how to improve. So please read and learn from the source of my frustration today when I tried to cancel my account.

I’ve canceled an account before with you, so I know that I need to return some equipment to 23rd street. But I remember it being a big process, and waiting in that giant line without a required item would be terribly inconvenient for me. Plus I didn’t remember if an appointment was required. So I decided to look up this basic, general information. Here was my process

1. I pulled up my last email statement, in which you advised me: “You can access your statement, change your payment options, add services, and more at http://www.timewarnercable.com/nynj/services/default.html“
2. On website, there are about 50 things I can do. Cancelling is not one of them.
3. I used the Search function to run a query on “cancel.” There are several results, most dealing with cancelling a TWC Navigator program. I don’t even know what that means, but I know it’s not what I’m looking for.
4. I logged into my account, which required a new password to be generated. Not your fault that I forgot it, just an extra step here.
5. From my Online Account Manager, I’m told I can View, pay, and manage my account. I would think managing would include cancelling the service if I choose. I can update my payment options very easily (thanks, giant orange button) but I can’t change my services.
6. A visit to the FAQ section tells me how to transfer my service if I’m moving, or transfer the account holder to a roommate. Am I really supposed to believe that no one has ever asked how to simply cancel the service? How on earth is that not an FAQ?

Now I’m frustrated. It didn’t have to be like this. You could have made it easy, but you obviously VERY INTENTIONALLY made it difficult to cancel, perhaps hoping that inertia and lack of info will lead to customers keeping their service a few months longer. Of course, this means that probably everyone who calls you will already be angry before they even speak to anyone. Is that really what you’d like to use your customer service department for? Handling irate customers who, as a direct and intentional result of the online experience you’ve crafted, already feel frustrated and powerless?

7. In order to remain a bit more neutral (phones are not my preferred communication method), I try to chat with an online rep. This requires not only my full address, phone number, and account number (even though I’m already logged in), but my social security number and a PIN.
8. I resort to the phone.
9. The menu offers “downgrade or discontinue service” as an option. Nice job guys!
10. I talked to a VERY nice customer service rep who provided me with this VERY BASIC information I was looking for without too much problem. When I asked her how to find that information online, she put me on hold, and confirmed that there is no explanation of how to disconnect on the website. She pointed out that the “contact us” section should help resolve that.

So, Time Warner Cable, all I need to do is bring my modem and its power cable to your location (the first date for a technician to come pick it up is after I’ll have moved). If that is seriously the entire process, WHY did you choose to make it so difficult? Do you really make so much money from people not getting around to returning your equipment that it is worth having everyone hate you? I guess if you’re a monopoly, it might be. Might as well ride that wave until you get beat out by smaller, better, customer-centric service providers. Maybe if you refuse to adapt you’ll even get a bailout. Or maybe, just maybe, you could improve your service, respond to feedback, and not have to deal with your entire customer base hating you.

Just received this email:

Amy, if you need someone to give a testimonial to your method, let me know! I just used your method today for a coverletter, and got asked back for an interview within three hours of sending it! …All I did was very blatantly use their requirements and show how my experience met them. It’s a _really_ great system and it works! Just wanted to send you a success story. I’ve told everyone I know who is looking for a job to go to your seminar.

My seminar? Why, yes. This Wednesday, July 15, I’ll be giving a presentation on cover letters. It will NOT be the same slideshow that is available online. I’ve created a new presentation just for this event, and I think it’s actually more helpful than the slideshare.

First and Third Wednesday Networking Group
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 - 5:30 PM to 7 PM
LDS Employment Resource Center: 144 West 15th Street, New York, NY 10011
Pre-registration is required by calling 212-255-0579 or sending an email to wel-ec-newyork@ldschurch.org

My presentation will be the last half hour- before that there will be a video and some group networking.
If you have questions, please let me know: orangewalk at gmail dot com
Hope to see you there!

I don’t have a bucket list for leaving NYC. My fake answer is “the last seven years are my bucket list.” In truth, there is no way for me to be done with the city and feel totally ready to move on. But with my mom and aunt visiting over the last few days, I’ve come a little closer to being ready to say goodbye. Here’s what we’ve done. My initial list had links but I can’t seem to get them to copy over, so if any of this is intriguing, google it or ask me about it:

wednesday
Jamaican patty stop
Fairway
Riverside Park to watch the Hudson
Subway to Chelsea. The Highline.
Tasti D-lite and Papaya Drinks
FIT Museum
Macy’s, pretzel, and chess, Herald Square
Penn Station, West 4th
Bleeker Street, Five Guys
Washington Square Park

thursday
Imagine Circle and Strawberry Fields
Alice’s Teacup
Manhattan Temple
Duane Reade and Columbus Circle
Brooklyn Botanical Gardens
Grimaldi’s
Raising Arizona at the Brooklyn Bridge Park

friday
food and Bryant Park
NYPL Main Branch Library
Grand Central Station
Union Square
Max Brenner
Dylan’s Candy Bar
MoMA
Times Square and t-shirts
In the Heights
pizza and Duane Reade

saturday
South Ferry, quick view of Battery Park
Governor’s Island
GW Bridge
7-eleven
tour of Washington Heights
Malecon

sunday
church
Conservatory Gardens
subway, airtrain, JFK

A few years ago I was at work and having intense chocolate cravings. After a while I realized my status message just happened to read: “Count Choculitis.” I changed it to something banana-related and had no problems the rest of the day (I had bananas with me). I’m that easily influenced.

Or maybe I should say, I’m that easily tempted by something already inline with my values. I’m not so willing to change my values by the power of suggestion; a thousand steak ads would not get me to consider abandoning my vegetarian ways. Maybe this is why most of us think we are immune to the effects of advertising–we don’t pay explicit attention to it and are unwilling to change our minds, values, or behavior to conform to ad messages.

I was disturbed to realize yesterday that even if advertising doesn’t change my values, it changes my perception of what society finds acceptable. For instance, because of ads that hawk them, I believe that most parents think it’s ok to give their kids ridiculous wrongly colored squirty fruit gusher processed snacks. I’ve never EVER talked to parents of grade school children about this, I just assume, based on the existence of the product and its advertising budget, that the message is accepted in our culture.

So if this personal discovery is at all reflective of how other people feel–if we collectively assume things about our culture based on the ads we see–then we really have to divorce ourselves from society in order to stand a chance of being immune to advertising’s influence. This whole time I’ve been thinking advertising doesn’t really change me, but it turns out it changes what I think about you, which is a more powerful influence than this Marketing Communications major had ever given thought to.