Phoenix Metblogs » pho_melissa

Leaving the Land of the Sun

pho_melissa — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 00:44:40 +0000

That’s right, I will be out of Phoenix for a year, starting next month (well, almost a year, maybe a little bit less). I was accepted into an International Development program that will be sending me to Armenia for the next 10 months to help out on a USAID project there. Perhaps the fine folks in charge of Metroblogs will let me start Metroblogging Yerevan?

A Little Taste of the Middle Kingdom

pho_melissa — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 23:24:49 +0000

Last Sunday, my Chinese professor took our class (all 4 of us) to Golden Buddha for Dim Sum, and it was fantastic. The staff were incredibly friendly (a huge peeve of mine is bad staffing, but more on that later) and the atmosphere was terrific. Golden Buddha is located in the Chinese Cultural Center not far from downtown Phoenix (I think). What struck me was the authenticity of the food. You can always tell when Chinese food is authentic because there will be more Chinese patrons than American ones. That was definitely the case at Golden Buddha, and evident from the confused looks on the faces of my non-Chinese classmates and our guests. (I suppose they were expecting lo mein, chop suey, or other “familiar” Chinese dishes.) They serve Canton-style dim sum, so it may be different from the dim sum served in Boston or San Francisco. The dim sum restaurants there tend to serve Shanghai-style dishes. I definitely recommend taking a trip over to the cultural center, not only for the food, but for the little shops and events there as well.

COFCO Chinese Cultural Center
668 North 44th Street, Suite #228
Phoenix, Arizona
General Information
602-275-8578

Look for me eating a table-full of desserts! (especially the red-bean cakes)

Pulling Over Celebrities

pho_melissa — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 17:27:19 +0000

You know, I never realized that so many celebrities visited our humble metropolis. Kate Moss did her stint in rehab here. Britney wants to move here. And now Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston get pulled over here. Wouldn’t you love to be the cop who stops them? The thing with Vince is that he looks drunk even when he’s sober. Especially when he’s packed on the pounds. But anyway… do you think they guy pulled them over to get their autographs? Just kidding. I don’t mean to imply that the Arizona police aren’t doing their job. On the contrary, I think they’re doing great. I admire the men and women who put themselves on the line to protect the rest of us. But again, I’m off topic.

Anyway, go hang out in Scottsdale and report any more Vaughn/Aniston sightings to me.

Weather Psychosis

pho_melissa — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 21:53:16 +0000

Coming from the East Coast (and growing up practically in the Midwest), I thought I was used to the cold, and that winters in Phoenix would be a breeze. But what is with the complete bipolarity of the weather? I woke up and it was 43 degrees outside, but the weather report said that the afternoon would be an enjoyable 74 degrees, so I put on a medium warm sweater and headed off to class. 43 degrees in the desert is much colder than 43 degrees on the coast. (The Boyfriend explained that the lack of humidity is the culprit in this phenomena) What always amazes me is the swing in temperature. After lunch, I was actually kind of warm and had to take off my sweater. Fall is gorgeous here. I love that it doesn’t rain, and that it isn’t cloudy and nasty, but I really do miss the heat. And the changing leaves, but whatever, watching people prune palm trees is a pretty damn cool alternative. Oh, sorry, I got off topic.

More Observations on Arizona (in no particular order)

pho_melissa — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 21:31:45 +0000

When I first began writing for Metroblogs, I talked about a few things I had noticed about the Phoenix area that differed from my home back east. Now that I’ve been here for almost 3 months, I have more to add:

The weather in Phoenix is confusing. When I wake up in the morning and go to my 8:30 class, it’s really cold outside. I put on a sweater, and am still cold. The air has barely warmed by the time I leave my second class at 11:10. But when I leave my afternoon classes (around 4:00pm), it’s somewhere around 80 degrees outside. This is utterly baffling. Not from a scientific point of view - the science behind it makes sense. What gets me all confused is that back east, the warmest part of the day is usually around noon, not in the late afternoon, early evening. The major issue (for me, at least) is that this creates a wardrobe problem. What I put on in the morning is completely inappropriate for the afternoon. Which means I have to change, so that’s 2 outfits per day. That’s a lot of laundry!

This kind of goes along with the weather, but I’ve decided that it merits its own paragraph. Even though it’s much cooler now, I still live in the desert. My body understands this, as it still gets dehydrated alarmingly fast. However, my brain thinks that because it’s not 100 degrees out, I don’t need to drink as much water. Not true! You still need to drink a ton of water, even if you’re not sweating through your clothes! In an effort to keep myself hydrated, I have resumed bringing my water bottle to class. (though that also helps keep me awake - can’t swallow if you’re sleeping)

Someone else posted about this a little bit ago, but the driving, oh the driving. Seriously people, do you not have to take the same drivers’ exam the rest of the country has to take? Do pedestrians not have the right of way in Arizona? Today as I was walking to my car from the store, an older woman in a Corvette (you know, there’s a whole ‘nother post waiting on that one) didn’t even slow down as she approached me crossing the road. Usually, that perks up the inner bitch in me and makes me walk very slowly (and almost stop) in front of their car, but something told me that this woman was not going to stop for me. I was right - she almost ran over my foot. There are so many other stories I could relate, but I think you all get my drift.

Is football not big in Phoenix? Is that because the Cardinals suck? Or is it just that football fans congregate somewhere I don’t know about? In the 3 cities I’ve lived in on the East Coast - Pittsburgh (still technically East Coast, thought not coastal, per se), Baltimore, and Washingtong, D.C. - football has been HUGE. Like, no one is on the streets on Sunday because they’re all inside watching the game huge. That’s all anyone ever talked about between August and January, and usually a bit before and after as well. But here? Never hear a thing about it. Why is that?

There appears to be a lot of suburban angst among the teenage population. Why is that? At the Arrowhead Mall, you see all these angry looking teenagers, and it really makes me wonder. How bad can their lives be? They live in suburbia and are given an allowance large enough for them to purchase $68 sweatshirts that say “Bitter” or “Rebel” (the verb, not the noun). Ok, maybe this one’s not just an Arizona thing. But still! Makes no sense.

Anyway, I apologize for not posting that often. School’s killing me. At least it’s school, and not a woman in a corvette, right?

Hey Metroblog-Atlanta!

pho_melissa — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 17:26:45 +0000

The boyfriend has somehow convinced me to come to Atlanta for NYE. Originally, I was supposed to go to Las Vegas with my girls from college, but since I have to leave for South Africa on the 1st, I can’t go anymore. See, I was planning on driving up to Vegas from here, and then driving back, then leaving for Cape Town on the 2nd. Then I realized I wouldn’t make it to our first meeting in RSA unless I left on the first. There’s no way I’m leaving my car at the airport for a month, so I had to change my plans. I bemoaned this to The Boyfriend, saying how much it would suck to spend New Year’s Eve by myself in a city where I know only my classmates. Imagine my surprise when he simply said, come to Atlanta with me. (Keep in mind, we’ve only been dating for a little under 2 months) My point here: Hi Metroblog Atlanta! Show me a good time!

In case you missed it

pho_melissa — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 19:05:33 +0000

Wikinews ran an article about Tbird’s rugby tournament. They did make a mistake though - the tournament is clearly in the FALL and not the spring, as it says.
Speaking of the tournament, the guys on the team are recovering, slowly, but surely, from their injuries. They have another game, vs. a team from Tucson, I believe, on Saturday at 1:00pm on the pitch. I’ll be there, so come hang out!

Calling all Rugby Fans!

pho_melissa — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 16:50:46 +0000

Tomorrow morning starts the beginning of the 2005 Thunderbird Rugby Invitational. Games start at 8:00 am and go straight through to a little after 5:00. Sunday all the fun starts again at 10:00 am, with the playoffs beginning at 1:00 pm. We have teams from other Business schools all over the country, so come on out and support the T-bird team! The best part is, it’s FREE. Beers and Brats available for a small donation.

See you there!

For Adults Only

pho_melissa — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 21:49:48 +0000

Please note that this entry has to do with adult entertainment, so if you a) are not an adult or b) are offended by adult entertainment, please stop reading here.

Ok… My roommate turned 23 today, and we have been planning a celebration for her for the last few weeks. Initially, we thought it would be really fun to get her a male stripper, but since we live in the dorms, that was ruled out. Instead, we thought we’d go to a club that featured an all male revue or something of that nature. But then the guys objected, saying that they didn’t want to go anywhere with “naked dudes”, so that was shot down. So then, we thought, what about a place where they have both male and female strippers? That way the guys could watch the ladies, and we girls could watch the men. Simple solution! Here’s the catch - not only are there almost no male strip clubs, there are no clubs with both. That’s not fair. In my quest for exotic dancers, I came across dozens of gentlemen’s clubs, but very few for male dancers. Those that I did come across were for the dancers to come to your house. Why isn’t there equal representation for us ladies?

You want me to wait how long?

pho_melissa — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 18:19:34 +0000

In celebration of their birthdays, a friend of ours and his girlfriend took us out to dinner last night. They’d heard wonderful things about Pizzeria Bianco from some of their friends back in New Mexico, so we decided to check it out. I totally thought they were joking when they said the wait was 2-2.5 hours. Oh no, my friend. We really did wait that long. Luckily there is this adorable little wine bar next door. It’s an old converted house, and the atmosphere was great. The wine selection was wonderful, though it would have been nice if they’d had coffee, since our table wasn’t set to be available until 10:30.
When we finally sat down for dinner, we weren’t disappointed. The fresh homemade mozzarella, tomato, and basil salad was excellent, as was the pizza. And the main restaurant had an excellent cappuccino. =) If you are a pizza lover, Pizzeria Bianco is not to be missed. My advice would be to try to get there a few hours before you want to eat (doors open at 5:00) so you can put your name down. I hadn’t eaten all day and was ravenous by the time we sat down, but was so tired I didn’t have the energy to eat much.