Are you supposed to conserve water? Click here to find out
Residents of 11 cities and counties in central Virginia are being asked to voluntarily conserve water.

Under the voluntary water conservation guidelines, utility customers are encouraged to limit their outdoor water use, mostly the watering of yards, gardens and other established landscaping, as follows:
# Mondays, no watering.
# Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, watering at addresses ending with an odd number.
# Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, watering at addresses ending with an even number.
# Residents would be encouraged to limit watering of vegetable gardens to two days a week between 8 p.m. and 10 a.m. if they use a hose.
# Newly planted grass or other landscaping can be watered without restrictions for 10 days and by the odd-even rules afterward.
# The washing of personal vehicles should be limited to two days a week.

I just read this article which in short is about how voters can sign up to receive an e-mail or text message as soon as Obama makes his decision for vice president. I was so happily surprised when I read this. Not because I am so super-stoked about knowing who Obama’s VP will be, but because of his use of technology. We all know that everyone is hooked to his/her phone, email, blackberry, whatever. So why not take advantage of it? If your name is out their all the better. I’m all for keeping up with technoogy because that is where our future is (which is I guess why I am predominantly a digital artist (www.stefanielutz.com)).

Another thing that Obama has is the issue of Net Neutrality. For those who don’t know what this issue is about…..you should. Net neutrality prevents internet providers from slowing down or speeding up web content based on its source, ownership, or destination. You can visit www.savetheinternet.com for more info (and yes I realize that “save the internet” sounds like a ridiculous notion, but its a serious issue). But either way, Obama is for preserving net neutrality, which is a positive stride in my book.

Here they are:
NATURE’S PHARMACY

A sliced CARROT looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye… and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A TOMATO has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

GRAPES hang in a cluster th at has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A WALNUT looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums.  Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

KIDNEY BEANS actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

CELERY, BOK CHOY, RHUBARB and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don’t have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

AVOCADOES, EGGPLANT, & PEARS target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today’s research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this?  It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

FIGS are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

SWEET POTATOES look like the pancreas and actual ly balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

OLIVES assist the health and function of the ovaries

ORANGES, GRAPEFRUITS, & OTHER CITRUS FRUITS look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

ONIONS look like the body’s cells. Today’s research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

I just tried a great new chinese takeout place. China Panda, on Sheppard St, is owned by the same family that own’s Panda Garden, and serves the same chinese fare. However, what sets this apart from the other chinese establishments in the area is it doesn’t have solely bean curd dishes for vegetarians. It has mock meats as well! That’s super exciting to me at least.  I ordered the Mock General Tso’s Chicken. It was fa-bu-lous. Its relatively priced and quickly made. For $6, its worth a try, right?

Here is a review I found online :
What sets China Panda apart from the many other takeout Chinese food establishments in Richmond are the mock-meat dishes. Composed entirely of substances like wheat gluten and soy products, entrees such as mock orange chicken or mock shrimp in garlic sauce may sound frightening, but they taste surprisingly like the real thing. Vegetarians who long for more variety will appreciate the comprehensive array of faux fare at China Panda. And for those who prefer the real thing, there’s a wide selection of traditional Chinese favorites on hand to keep their chopsticks clicking.

The Richmond SPCA will hold a feral cat seminar on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 at 6 p.m. at the Robins-Starr Humane Center.

Although there is no charge for the event, registration is required. For more information, visit http://www.richmondspca.org.

HONK HONK HONK. The car behind me and two other friends was super frustrated. Yes, we were in the left lane, but we were turning at the upcoming light. We weren’t two wide, we weren’t going slow, we weren’t riding in the middle of the road. You’d think Richmonders would know bike laws by now and number one when dealing with bikers: don’t honk at them because you are annoyed. I realize that , yes, bikers are not innocent themselves, but pestering never gets anybody anywhere. So for the convenience of all here are some bike basic bike laws so that hopefully everyone will be much more peaceful on the road:

BIKE RIGHTS:
Bikes can ride on any public road, street, or bikeway in the Commonwealth, except limited access or express state highways where signs specifically prohibiting bikes have been posted.

Bikes may ride on sidewalks outside business districts, unless local laws prohibit sidewalk riding. However, this does not mean they are SUPPOSED to ride on the sidewalks (despite what an angry woman yelled at me the other day)

Bicyclists may overtake and pass another vehicle on the right or left, and they may stay in the same lane, change lanes, or ride off the road if necessary for safe passing. Please note that passing motor vehicles on the right side may be extremely dangerous if the motorist does not see the bicyclist and attempts a right turn.

Motorists must approach and pass a bicyclist at a reasonable speed at least two feet to the left of the bicyclist

Bicyclists should ride as close as safely practicable to the right curb or edge of roadway. Exceptions are overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction, preparing for a left turn, avoiding unsafe conditions, avoiding riding in a lane that turns or diverges to the right, riding on a one way street where bicyclists may ride as near the left-hand curb or edge of roadway, or when the lane width is too narrow to share with a motor vehicle.

BIKE RESPONSIBILITIES:
Bikes must obey all traffic laws and regulations of the Commonwealth. (this includes stopping at stop signs)

Bikes must use hand signals to let people know you plan stop or turn.

Bikes must give pedestrians the right of way.

Bikes must ride single file unless passing.

f you are 16 years old or younger, you must wear a helmet.

Bicyclists are not permitted to wear earphones in both ears while riding a bicycle.

I hope that this can help prevent future arguments and disagreements on the road.
For more information please visit: http://www.virginiadot.org/programs/bk-laws.asp#Rights%20and%20Duties

So I’m walking into a convenient store in the inner city, a younger (25, maybe later) African American male was walking out at the same time.

Him:  Ji-had? Ji-had?

I completely stopped in my tracks and I’m staring at him, like is he actually saying this to me?

Him:  Islam? Muslim??

Me: Excuse me???

Him: You’re Islam, Muslim??

Me: You mean am I Muslim?? Yes, I’m Muslim.

Him: You’re from Afghanistan?

Me:  No, I’m from Ohio. You really shouldn’t assume things about people and you should ask questions before you assume.

Him: ohh I didn’t mean it like that, that’s why I asked.

Me: You know what jihad means?

Him: Like those Holy war people?

Me: No, that’s what the media wants you to think… it means Inner Struggle

Him: ohh really?? (Like all contemplating)

Me:  yeah… Thanks for asking…

and he walks away.

Even though I could have definitely answered differently, and elaborated more, or said things in a better way, I think I did my part in breaking down stereotypes when he walked away and he told all his friends “HEY GUYS! You know JI-HAD means INNER STRUGGLE?? IT MEANS INNER STRUGGLE!!“

So I walk down a couple more blocks and I’m checking out all the other stores down the street, and as I’m walking into another store, I hear a guy, a couple feet away from me, go.. “oh man! SHE GOTS A BOMB, SHE GOTS A BOMB… “

The thing is, I didn’t realize what he said till I got into the store. So I walked around the store to figure out if it was worth it to do anything… I couldn’t figure out what to do…
In the end, I simply I walked out and gave him a glare. And he didn’t say anything at all, so I took that has a cue that he felt stupid that I didn’t react to his comments. He was probably bored and wanted to mess with someone anyway. 

So there’s a couple things that I learned from these encounters.
1:  It’s okay if I don’t always respond to every person that wants to yell out ignorant comments – I have to be wise when “picking my fights”
2:  I cant believe I actually said “that’s what the media wants you to think”. Talk about re-enforcing stereotypes about the Media. I come from a background where the mentality is along the lines of “the media is evil… and it’s out to get you.” (Well, it’s not like media – whether its Hollywood or news corporations have really been getting any fair press or positive images in the past couple years… but that’s changing)  That’s one of the reasons I went into the journalism. So people in the media can understand Muslims, and at the same time, so Arabs, Muslims can realize that the media is really not all bad.
3: Everyone just needs to be educated about each other.

***** 
* Hijabi is what I would consider a slang term used among North American Muslim youth. The word “Hijab” is in Arabic, and we add “i” to it.
**Translation: “Peace be upon you” is the universal Muslim greeting. 
***Translation: “And peace to you too” is the response.

Boba ( also known as bubble tea, pearl tea drink, boba ice tea,  boba nai cha, zhen zhou nai cha, pearl milk tea, pearl ice tea, black pearl tea, tapioca ball drink, BBT, PT, pearl shake, QQ (which means chewy in Chinese), and many more) is a mix of iced or hot sweetened tea, milk, and other flavorings. They are usually split into two different categories: fruit-flavored teas and milk teas (I tried a milk). What are special about bubble tea are the “pearls” (or boba).  These marble-sized black gummy balls are made of tapioca and are similar to the consistency of jello. Add a brightly colored oversize straw for slurping up pearls and you have one hilarious (but oh-so-delightful) drink.

I heard about bubble tea only just a few months ago. So this morning when I had to go to the VCU computer repair services (my computer has graciously decided to revert to its original settings from three years ago for who knows what reason), my boyfriend and I decided to get some bubble tea (which was conveniently 1 block away). Unfortunately, we were an hour too early to get it, but sure enough one hour later we were standing in line to get our drinks at the TT Lounge (http://www.ttlounge.com). I got the green tea slush with boba and him the raspberry slush with boba.  I have to admit, that the green tea slush is not quite as good as the green chai tea smoothie from Crossroads (on 26 N. Morris St. in the fan), but it was good nonetheless. The raspberry was on the other hand, incomparable to anything I had had before. It was similar to the consistency of a slurpee, but tasted much less processed and much more of real fruit. The “pearls” were an odd experience, but once it’s such a novel experience once you get down the proper slurp.

All in all, a great (and surprisingly filling) drink that everyone should try.

image courtesy of Richy at http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Richy

They’re pictures from the James River Clean-up on Saturday June 14. Since I took my camera, I ended up taking more pictures than cleaning. I think the time was well worth it.

I would guess about 40 to 50 people attended the event. For some reason, I thought much more than that would help out. Interesting.

Picture of the James River

A small waterfall in the area we were cleaning. What I did is sped up the shutter and got as close as possible. This is the result.

People Cleaning. I didn’t get any names, so most of the pictures here will be either of the back of people’s heads or faces that are really far away.

People of all ages came to clean.

Someone brought a canoe so they could clean stuff right out of the river.

The scenery was just beautiful.

This is one of my all time favorite pictures. We walked a long way down and hit a highway bridge.

Everyone kept on walking to find more garbage to clean. These two girls stayed behind and played hand games. I stayed behind to take pictures of them.

All the garbage collected.

Old Bikes and tires are a usual find. Strange finds may include strollers, refrigeraters, vaccums, engines… stuff like that.

Sincerely,
Robin Robertson Starr
Chief Executive Officer
Richmond SPCA

We alerted you yesterday of the inhumane response of WRLH Fox Richmond to the presence of a feral cat colony on their property at 1925 Westmoreland Street. Many of you have quickly responded to our request to contact the station, and we are grateful for your efforts to encourage a compassionate solution. The Richmond SPCA is unwavering in our position that the proven method of Trap, Neuter, Return is in the best interest of the feral cats remaining on and around the property.

Robin Robertson Starr
Chief Executive Officer
Richmond SPCA

>We learned early yesterday that WRLH, the local Fox affiliate located at 1925 Westmoreland Street in Richmond, had contracted a local pest control company to trap and kill stray and feral cats and kittens residing on and around the station’s property. This course of action was deeply troubling to us and I communicated to them our willingness to help manage and control the cat colony using non-lethal humane methods such as trap-neuter-return or relocation.

Robin Robertson Starr
Chief Executive Officer
Richmond SPCA

If any dog licked me or touched me with its nose somehow… if I stepped in a puddle of drool (I dont know!), my clothes would then be considered unclean and I couldn’t pray in them.

I also decided I wouldn’t tell anyone that I had any issues with the assignment until after I got back.

The reason I made this decision is because there was nothing wrong.  Essentially didn’t have any issues, there was nothing Islamically inherently wrong with dogs or a dog show. Plus you’re talking about a place where the dogs are trained, calm and well under control. At the dog show, you barely heard any barking. I wish these nice dogs lived on my street. The dogs on my street… are something else. 
Anyway! I also didn’t want the situation to be like “ohh the Muslim girl can’t do that story…” or whatever. I’m sure people aren’t thinking like that, but its going to end up being like that. 

I like being challenged. If someone says I can’t or shouldn’t do a story, I’m more likely to go out and give it my best and prove everyone wrong. 

This is not the first time I did stories that I was uncomfortable with or I found morally wrong. Writing a newspiece about something I oppose doesn’t mean I agree with it. As a journalist, I’m the messenger in telling someone else’s story. Also as a journalist, I should also be able to accommodate to whatever situation that comes my way.

So you might be wondering… what would be a situation where I would absolutely not cover?

Probably if there was a story which required me to do a wine/alcohol/beer/pork tasting, that would be out of the question, or cover a concert inside a bar. 
Alcohol, wine, beer and pork are forbidden in Islam. Any practicing Muslim should not be consuming any of these. As for covering a concert inside a bar.. I’m going to break it down at this point. 

If you’re at a bar, obviously, there’s people drinking. Now in Islam, Muslims should not be in an environment where there is alcohol consumption. While I always try to go to restaurants where there is no drinking or at a time where alcohol is not served. At the very least I make sure no one at my table is drinking. 

In the second situation, imagine being at a concert, where people are dancing, getting rowdy and drinking. That’s a whole different story. Basically, without getting into the varying technical differences of opinion of dancing/music, in the end, if you mix dancing with drinking, you’re going to get an environment where a practicing Muslim would never want to be in.

In cases where there are specific situations like that, I would just say no. However, if the story was about the person giving the concert, I could meet with the person after the concert, or talk to people as they are leaving the concert. Or I could ask people to describe how something tasted. There are definitely ways around these unlikely specific situations.
Here’s the dog show story: http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/search.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-06-22-0159.html 

I got to the scene and took out my equipment and started filming. There were crews from all the local television stations and T-D reporter Bill McKelway was there also. We were waiting for the police to take the girl from the scene when a car pulled up with a woman screaming that they “had the wrong girl.“ It was her mother.

It seemed almost impossible at first that the police could have grabbed the wrong girl. They knew the name and age of the girl they wanted.

When the dust finally settled and the girl and her parents were free to go back home, there was an ethical dilemma at hand:

A suspect is in custody in a high-profile murder. The police make a mistake and detain the wrong girl. But do we use the footage I took to make a video about the story?

There is a story about the mistaken identity detaining and it will appear in the paper tomorrow, but the ultimate decision was that a video was unnecessary and would be unethical because of how it would breach the privacy of the family that was stuck in the middle of this case of mistaken identity.

The last thing this family needs is to have their pictures plastered on the Internet or all over TV when they did absoultely nothing wrong.

The real story is about how the police departments investigating detained the wrong person.

But this past Thursday night, I wanted a change. So I decided to use my “going to a real theater” trip for The Happening. The trailers made it look like it had potential (http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/thehappening/) and I thought some of Shyamalan’s other movies were good like the Sixth Sense, but man-oh-man was I wrong. Let me sum up the quality of this movie by saying THE MIC WAS IN THE MOVIE! Now, it would be understandable if it was in maybe one shot, but it was in at LEAST 6 different scenes. 6! That is just unforgivable…unprofessional…..unbelievable. I just don’t understand how this could even make it into movie theaters. Are these our standards for movies now? Are we going to allow this level of professionalism? Apparently so, since I haven’t heard anything negative said about this movie yet.

And it’s not just the mic mishap, but the entire cast of the movie’s acting as well. Everyone sounds like they are in an 8th grade play. There isn’t a single actor that is believable as being actually upset or even just in regular dialogue. Even Mark Wahlberg’s character was unreal seeming, but maybe thats because he can only play tough characters like in The Departed. I really like Wahlberg too (but that may be because I think he looks like my boyfriend.) The only part that scared me in the movie was the opening credits, where there is just a montage of scary clouds with an awesome score by Phillip Glass. It’s a hard thing to do to not scare me. I am scared by everything. I’m afraid of monsters in the closet and shadows in the mirror. I’m convinced there are going to be zombies in my back alleyway. But I was not scared by this movie. That’s a pretty hard thing to do.

I was very disappointed with this movie, but what made the entire experience worse is that I had to pay full price to see it. I wasted my “going to a real theater” ticket to go see The Happening over seeing other blockbusters like Ironman or Indiana Jones, or waited to go see Wall-E or The Dark Knight. I should’ve waited.

Don’t go see The Happening in theaters. At least wait until it comes to the Byrd theater, so if you’re going to waste your money it is going to a good cause.

As you may have guessed by now, I am a vegetarian (which conjures up images of “hippies” eating nothing but carrots and celery). But boy-oh-boy would you be wrong. On Saturday afternoon, two vegetarians(including myself) and three non-vegetarians (NOT “carnivores” as some people refer to them as. If anything they would be “omnivores”) went to the veggiefest to enjoy some tasty food, see some vendors, and listen to good music.

After just arriving, a friend and I were quickly separated from the rest of our group when distracted by the beautiful fair trade items at 10,000 villages. Realizing this, we went in search of them and instead were distracted again by the adorable Beagles and German Shepard mixes at the SPCA table. I’m always a sucker for cute dogs with bandannas, but unfortunately I have a very grumpy fat cat that hates dogs. At this point we were totally lost, so instead we decided to get some food. Some of the food vendors there included: Caffespresso, Carytown Teas , CousCous , Ellwood Thompson’s Local Market, Ginger Thai Taste, India K’Raja, Nile Ethiopian Restaurant , Panda Veg , Sticky To Go-Go/ Sticky Rice , Vegan Express Desserts, and Via Veneto Italian Ice. Although the price of the food was way overpriced (higher than the price at the restaurants), the food was delectable. Because the previous day I had gotten 3 wisdom teeth pulled, I opted for the coconut italian ice (Via Veneto Italian Ice), while my friend Jonathan got a samosa and some kind of masala. The italian ice was to die for. At $2 for a small and $3.50 for a medium, the prices were a little high, but the taste was oh-so-good. It wasn’t like the store bought italian ice that comes in the small Styrofoam containers with the cardboard lids that you scrape at with tongue depressor shaped spoons. This was real italian ice: real good. I tried some of the Indian food as well. The masala was just the right spice to tingle my tongue and even eating just a few spoonfuls I began to feel full.

We found our way back to our group and began to check out some of the other vendors. Row House Soaps had invigorating soaps such as green tea, and even doggie soaps made of lemongrass and eucalyptus. The flavored tofus at Sunergia Soy Foods (www.sunergiasoyfoods.com ) is worth mentioning. We wanted to get some fresh squeezed limeade but they sadly ran out just before we got to the stand.

...and then the rains came. We found ourselves stuck under the rescued racing greyhounds tent and waited out the torrential downpour for 20 minutes.  (p.s. did you know In 2000, an estimated 19,000 greyhounds were killed. This includes 7,600 greyhound puppies who were farm culls, and another 11,400 “retirees” who were not rescued?) The dogs were of course adorable and soft(check them out at http://www.colonialgreyhounds.com/), but we figured we were just going to get wet anyways so we risked it. Everything and everyone got soaked. As we were making our way to the car, the rain let up. Looking at the long line of cars waiting to leave, we played catch and dried in the sun instead. Although we only were at the festival for maybe 2 hours at the most, it was a overall a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

But how quickly things have changed.

My roommate got a new bike and told me I could use his old one whenever I felt like it. I just blew it off. I was not going to ride a bike.

But yesterday Shawn forced me - not quite kicking and screaming - to go on a bike ride to Belle Isle. I was already in a bad mood when we left because I really didn’t want to go, but than it started raining too. Things just went from bad to worse.

My demeanor changed, however, when we got to the bridge at Belvidere Street and I saw the cool pedestrian bridge and the sweet view of the James River and downtown. I was actually really impressed.

Belle Isle was even cooler. After circling the island and hiking off the beaten path into the woods - I couldn’t believe I was still in Richmond.

It’s an experience I’ll relive again – probably this weekend.

Overall, I realized that there is something about the relaxed pace and liberating experience of riding a bike over driving that I now prefer to ride a bike. It makes exploring the cool sites of Richmond seem like more of an adventure.

Except that my knees are killing me today.

And I have to admit – I was really surprised about the quality of the service. I’ve taken public transit in lots of cities: New York, D.C., San Diego, Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis; but of all those big cities, I’ve yet to ride on a city bus that was clean, didn’t smell and actually made it to it’s destination on time.

So when I was told I would have to ride the GRTC for my assignment – I was a little hesitant.

I got on the Gaskins Express bus on the West End after interviewing riders and shooting some B-roll (background video) of the bus and the people. The bus left promptly at 7:55 and got to my stop downtown, 9th and Broad, before the advertised time of 8:15.

I wasn’t sure whether that was fast or not, because I live near downtown and typically don’t have to deal with incoming traffic, but I felt that I definitely got my $1.75 worth for not having to drive myself and not having to pay for parking downtown.

That’s the last time I stop myself from riding a city bus just because of a couple bad experiences.

The second car obviously had no clue where it was going. Note to all bad drivers: know the route you are going before you leave your house. This will prevent future accidents as well as not cause the drivers around you to become aggressive. This note goes to all the drivers that don’t know their route, but rather than swerving or cutting other cars off they drive very slowly at each intersection. This is a regular occurrence especially I find those mornings when I am running a few minutes late. Although it may be my fault I’m late, please don’t make me even more late. These drivers are going 5 to 10 miles under the speed limit at each intersection almost coming to a dead stop (with no blinker of course) and then decide that “Oh no, this isn’t the right road.“ It is understandable that sometimes one might mistake one road for another, but when this happens for 6 blocks straight that’s when I start to become annoyed.

So here are some helpful hints to driving:

1. Drive in your own lane.
2. Use your blinker if you intend to turn.
3. A solid line means do not change lanes.
4. A yield sign means you yield.
5. Know your route before you leave your house.
6. (To pedestrians) If you see a car coming, do not cross the road. (If you are not at a crosswalk, I will not stop.)
7. Yield to bikes in your lane. They are considered vehicles and are not to be hit, honked at, or yelled at.
8. (To bikers) Do no instigate aggression in drivers. Allow them to pass you on the road by not taking the entire lane.
9. Know what flashing lights mean. A red flashing signal light means stop as if a stop sign. A yellow flashing signal light means slow or caution.
10. If you don’t know how to drive, don’t.

Thank you.

Note to readers: Although I may gripe, I would never drive aggressively. That’s just plain stupid.

cheap eats
date sites
things to do
places not to go
places to take visitors
places you didn’t know about

Any other ideas are welcome.

So, this past weekend one of my roomates helped me out by taking me to an awesome pizza place on West Main Street.

Piccola Italy Pizza and Subs may be a greasy spoon to most people, but to me it’s a quintessential stuff-your-face with giant slices of amazing pizza kind of joint.

The atmosphere was rough, but the service was great. I have to admit - having all the TV’s tuned to ESPN Deportes didn’t hurt either. (I always thought sports was better without all the commentary.)

But the best thing of all was the food. I’ve never seen slices of pizza so large that I could fold them over TWICE.

Overall, Piccola Italy Pizza and Subs reminded me of a typical college pizza place with atypical pizza.

From time to time I’ll write a post about different eateries I find and I expect anyone out there reading this - if there is anyone, hello? - to post your favorite places for me and the other interns to try.

Peace.

Because the only truck owning friend I had was out of town, I had the fortunate “choice” to get a U-haul truck. One thing (that I am ashamed to admit) is that I have a terribly phobia of using the phone. Dialing phone numbers sets my to trembles. I don’t know why…that’s just the way it is. So, as one might imagine, I was relieved to discover that u-haul has a reservation maker online. I made mine for 9am for a total of 5 hours. Later that night I received the confirmation phone call (where they butchered my name as per usual), which confirmed my pickup the for Sunday.

My new apartment has central air; my old does not. I was happy to be moving. I had been packing for months. Everything was prepared. So when Sunday came, my boyfriend and I walked the 3 blocks to the Lombardy St. U-haul center we had made the reservations at. We waited 15 minutes in line for a slow employee to ring up the one customer in front of me, only for her to tell us that “Oh, you can’t pick up your truck here. You have a reservation to pick it up at the Boulevard U-haul center.“
“No, I’m pretty positive we made for here.“
“They should have called you and let you know the nearest location with an available truck.“
“They only confirmed that I was picking it up today…is there any way we can transfer that reservation to here?“
“mmmm…...nooo.“

So after walking back home to pick up my car, we drove to the Boulevard U-haul. As we walked into the tiny office, we interrupted a woman on a rant about how she had been going back and forth between U-hauls this morning. She was furious that she had to drive all the way to this center, when she lived in Southside. THEN…oh boy…The employee showed her truck. She exploded. Apparently she had ordered a 10’; they gave her a 14’. At the time this didn’t make sense to me as to why she would be so upset. Its wasn’t as if she couldn’t fit all her stuff in; they obviously weren’t going to make her pay the difference for the truck and probably would compensate her for part of the gas. She was getting the best of them (or so I thought). Her tirade went for 45 minutes. It just doesn’t make sense to me people that get angry at employees. Her day was ruined, so she felt it was her duty to ruin the employee’s day, my day, and another customer that came in after me. (Plus, she probably had the ugliest jeans I have ever seen on.) So for 45 minutes this woman ranted, plus an extra 20 minutes for them to attach a car pull along to the truck, we waited. We entertained ourselves by learning to juggle twine, playing “guns” with tape dispensers, reading all the pamphlets in the office, and wondering why the other employee (that looked like a goblin) wasn’t helping us.

When the employee eventually came back inside, he told us our reservation was for 12.
“No we made it for nine. We also made it for the Lombardy U-haul.“
He just gave it to us at that point.

So, finally we got our U-haul. Then I understood why she was complaining about getting a 14’. Driving large trucks is terrifying. I drove 20 mph the entire time, frustrating cars behind me. No way was I going to risk getting in an accident after I had decided not to pay they $28 fee to get insurance. Moving out is exhausting (as one might suspect) and I have decided I am never going to move couches again.

I am also never going to use U-haul again.

Again, was Sunday, so it was completely dead, no one in the streets. I did see people coming from a certain direction, so I started to follow them.

Apparently, I ran into Brown’s Island where a biking event was going on. I walked across a wooden bridge. and it creaked. Yeah… I quickly walked across and wandered around before realizing the triathlon event was actually finishing up, not beginning.

As I was finding another way to cross the canal back, there was a walk along the Canal! I was like ooo I know where I’m going to go jogging from now on!!

Link to Info about Brown’s Island: http://www.discoverrichmond.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_DRMGArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149190481026&path=!mediatours&parentid=1059599863567

On my way back, I kind of wish I had my camera because some areas have really tried to maintain the old time colonial era look. Sooo pretty. For some reason, the first thing I thought was omg, they look like old houses in Damascus.  Or at least a variation of it.

Picture of an Old Arabic House from Damascus, Syria. Taken from Wikimedia.com. *Random Tangent*: Doesn’t it also look like the Alhambra and the old houses in Southern Spain (Andalusia)? I guess 700 years of Moorish rule of Spain does have some kind of influence on the world!

I think what I ran into, though, were some businesses on Byrd Street.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=300+E+Byrd+St,+VA+23219,+USA&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title

It didn’t have a sign.  (Click on street view and go down 3rd street toward SW to see what I ran into)

Then I got back in time to watch the Turkey v. Czech Republic game and the Portugal v. Switzerland game. I ended up walking around for about an hour. I definitely plan on walking around again!

Turkey won, scoring two goals in the last 10 minutes or so. Just insane. Turkey is now going to the quarterfinals.

And Switzerland won, but Portugal still had enough points to advance to the quarterfinals. Yay.

Oh yeah, and not to mention that in the World Cup Qualifiers, the US beat Barbados 8-0. haha.

Doesn’t the standard business model say to gain more customers, you decrease your prices lower than your competitors? I understand that there is break even points, cost of goods, and gas prices all to take into account, but is that $1 more per customer really going to cover the amount that is lost fromcustomers deterred by the higher prices?  My guess is no. It seems to me, that if businesses wanted more revenue, then they should keep their prices the same, while their competitors are increasing. In a college town, like Richmond, inexpensive restaurants boom.

It’s interesting. I like that it’s warm. Being from Toledo, Ohio, the snow was getting to me (apparently now it’s raining a lot)

I also quickly realized that Richmond was not the East Coast, but the South.  Everyone here drinks sweet tea, says “y’all”, and random people on the street say hello to you.

I love reporting about diversity, race, culture, and religion. Those are fun subjects.

I’m a history major, so I’m looking forward to learn much more about the history of this area. I even plan on visiting the Museum of Confederacy.  I figure if I really want to get to know the area, I shouldn’t leave anything out.

My way of really getting to know a city is to let myself get lost in it (during daylight hours of course) and then try to find my way back. I tend to run into really cool places like that.

The only sport I’m really obsessed with is soccer. Or football/futbol, whichever one works. The Euro 2008 games are going on right now. Problem is, they’re during the day, so this is definitely going to be an issue during the France v. Italy game Tuesday and then the quarterfinals up to the finals.

As far as music I like listening to the new genre of music put out by American-Muslim artists and underground hip hop. I consider pretty much anything on the radio as garbage. 

Either way, I’m very happy to be in Richmond and I look forward to writing about my adventures around town and in the newsroom!

After a while you begin to understand some of the terminology, but its nothing like actually having watched the show.

I’ve never worked in a newsroom before and to top it off, I work in the graphics section.  One starts to a feel a little out of place, being the only intern that doesn’t deal with reporting. For example, the only three sections we can categorize our blog entries into are “Living in Richmond”,“In the newsroom” and “How I got the story.“ Don’t get me wrong, everyone is super friendly at the RTD. But at the risk of sounding spiteful, I am wondering “how does my blog entry about a graphic fit into ‘how I got the story?‘“

Oh well. I’m content with being the newsroom newbie, as long as it means I get to do what I love.

In that time, I’ve learned that Richmond really is in the South, hummus and collard greens are not for me and that locals don’t like it when you drive the wrong way down a one-way street. (It was my first day in town, I’m really sorry.)

I hail from the Midwest. I’ve lived all over the heartland, but call Minneapolis my home – for now. Like Lindsay, I’m a big Detroit sports fan and if anyone has a problem with that – they can deal with us.

I just graduated from THE University of South Dakota (much like THE Ohio State University) with a degree in journalism and political science.

I love good music and despise tasteless crap – namely American Idol. I could rock to Pearl Jam all day long, but I probably wouldn’t get anything done. Other things you’ll find on my iPod: Boston, Eric Clapton, Elliot Smith and James Taylor.

This is my fourth summer internship at a professional newspaper, and I’m eager to learn the ropes from all the cool people here at the TD. I’ll be a Multimedia reporter for the summer, telling stories through alternative formats that have been foreign to newspaper reporters for years.

So far I think the greatest part of my job has been the opportunity every day to get out into the community and meet the interesting people that make a place like Richmond unique. I really enjoy the chance to tell a person’s story and try to help others see the world through a different perspective.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy reading/watching these stories as much as I had working on them.

Peace.

I left the nickname behind when I moved to college. Virginia Commonwealth University, being the wonderfully smart college it is, puts your last name first and your first initial last. But four years was all the luck I had.

I arrived on my second day at the Richmond Times Dispatch bright eyed and bushy tailed. But then we were given our username and email. And now, in my first job as a working adult, I have been once again branded slutz.