Office Foosball Tournament
We have a foosball table in the small conference room of our office. Games are held on a daily basis and everyone takes it pretty seriously :) This week we are having a foosball tournament with 10 employees competing. The schedule is written up on the dry erase board.

I'm the only female playing and my first match is against the President and CEO of the company!! He admitted yesterday that he's a sore loser and he would be humiliated to lose to a girl, lol. Yikes, and did I mention it's his birthday? So, now I'm gonna feel bad when I kick his ass ;) Hopefully I'll still have a job! haha!

UPDATE: Oh how the mighty have fallen, the 'mighty' being me. I lost by two goals :( He got to practice earlier though when I was in a video conference and I had a big crowd cheering me on against the boss. It made me nervous. It was a lot of fun though, I'm still charged from the game!

E-MAIL that my gloating boss sent out to the whole company:
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 3:00 PM
To: Fusion New York
Subject: tara shmara

I AM FOOSBALL?I AM KING?I AM?.MOVING ON. Let no player be left unturned and no goal unjustified for I have succeeded where other failed. With courage and grace, though unpracticed, I have left my mark on the game and on the field. Ryan, put me down for the next round!
-CEO

REPLY: Haha, glad to see it?s not going to your head!

Happy Birthday!

~Tara

RE: RE: tara schmara from another coworker:
A clear birthday gift...it's better to lose at foosball than to have to climb out of a cake like someone did last year...

AIDS Walk New York
I did another charity walk and again it was in the rain, but at least this time it was warm and it only drizzled.

It was the 10k AIDS Walk NY -- the world's largest AIDS fundraiser! I walked in honor of a college friend with HIV and of course the millions of other people who have it.

I joined the Ralph Lauren Polo team, because my friend works there and the company encouraged their employees to invite friends and family and walk together, thus why I'm with them. They gave me a nice t-shirt to wear, surprisingly it's not a polo tee though.

As we walked by the opening ceremony area, I briefly heard John Spencer, Rosie Perez and Judith Light speak and cheer everyone on.

Unfortunately since my friends donated to the Revlon Breast Cancer walk two weeks ago, I wasn't able to raise anything this time, besides my entrance fee and the money that I donated myself :( If anyone would like to make a contribution to raise urgently needed funds and send the message that the AIDS crisis is not over go to: http://aidswalknewyork2005.kintera.org/tara129

FACTS: (www.aids.com)
2.9 million people died from AIDS in 2003; nearly half a million were children under the age of 15.

4.8 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2003; that's 14,000 a day!

38 million people are currently living with HIV/AIDS

25 million children will be orphans by 2010 because of AIDS

70 million deaths from AIDS are estimated in the next 20 years (HOLY SHIT!!!!)

PS: I finally got a letter from MY SOLDIER, after months and months of sending care packages to him. He's from Colorado and on a 30 day leave.

Men With Bags
So apparently, men who wear backpacks do not realize that their bags are an extension of their body. That's why when they turn and hit you with the house that they have stored in their satchels and backpacks they don't apologize or feel any remorse. Even if you emit a yelp or an OW they can look at you like you were the nut for not avoiding their backpack when they decided to instantly spin around and look at the subway map. After all, the BAG hit you, not them. UGRHH! Lately it's becoming an epidemic in the city; even men with fancy business suits are carrying tattered backpacks.

Women, however, who are accustomed to owning large bags, are much more conscious of them in general. When someone new enters the train and space is needed, they will shift their bags in front of them and sort of clutch them like a baby. Men, however will let their freakin bags stick out there, proudly, making you crane your neck or duck to avoid being smashed against them. Even when the trains are not crowded they don't mind whacking the people who are sitting or the people they pass by, because they can't help having all that stuff on their back. They aren't to blame, bad backpacks, bad backpacks, you're naughty! ;)

If you've have been a victim of a backpack hit and run and have felt that dazed you've-just-been-struck feeling, don't worry, Tara will be forming a support group soon.

From the Friends episode "The One With Joey's Bag"
Rachel: Okay, it's missing something. Ooh, I know! Umm, okay. (Goes and grabs a bag, that looks like a purse, and shows it to Joey.)
Joey: Really? A purse?
Rachel: It's not a purse! It's a shoulder bag.
Joey: It looks like a women's purse.
Rachel: No Joey, look. Trust me, all the men are wearing them in the spring catalog. Look. (Shows him.) See look, men, carrying the bag.
Joey: See look, women, carrying the bag. (He puts it on his shoulder and looks at himself in the mirror and likes what he sees.) But it is odd how a women's purse looks good on me, a man.
Rachel: Exactly! Unisex!
Joey: Maybe you need sex. I had sex a couple days ago.
Rachel: No! No Joey! U-N-I-sex.
Joey: Well, I ain't gonna say no to that.

lol, love that scene!

Article: Men's Handbags - Will They Ever Catch On?

Just when I thought I was out,
THEY PULL ME BACK IN!

This summer, after a years absence, I was planning on pursuing a job or internship in journalism again. After all, that is what I am getting my master's degree at NYU in and signing lots of loans for. Yet, PR (Public Relations), which is considered the dark side of journalism and the media, has drawn me back into its sticky web.

I've been working at the PR firm, Fusion, in Times Square for the last year and I was just offered a full-time job and a promotion last week. I just accepted. The money is not great, by no means, but I'm still technically a student even if it's a graduate student and the title will look great on my resume. I'm an Account Specialist, not an Account Facilitator but a "specialist" (I actually did the finger quotes in my mind) The pres figured that since I had been there a year, I could forgo the junior title. I'll be working on four different accounts and will be responsible for getting them in the news, so do not be surprised if I shamelessly plug them here on my blog ;) Not that it would count though.

Now, my j-school friends, I'm so not giving up on journalism. I will still freelance, I even have an article coming up in a magazine and hopefully during the Fall I can explore an internship more through my studies. I'm also taking a night course this summer on Travel Writing, so I'll be one class freer come September.

Plus in Fusion's defense, they have a candy wall, foosball table, dart board, bagel Fridays and fun people. I'm also moving from my cubicle to a work station, which is not very different but I'll have more space and be closer to my coworkers. Addison, the boxers wearing Vermont teddy bear on my desk, will like that.

PS: Happy Birthday Audrey! You still look like you're in your thirties, even if you are not out disco-ing anymore! ;) smooches!

News: Ouch! Tony Danza's Go-Kart Flips During Show Taping

Happy Mother's Day!
50% of women say their moms are their best friends (Newsweek).

We celebrated my best friend's day on Friday with my Nanny too. The three of us walked around the stores near my apartment and of course ate a lot. It was the first time my Nanny saw my place and she really enjoyed her visit.

This is my Nanny trying out the ladder to my lofted bed in my tiny studio haha, she's too cute!



For a present, I bought my mother a canvas painting by Alice Dalton Brown. I think it will blend perfectly into its surroundings at her home in Connecticut, which overlooks the Long Island Sound :) She had liked a larger painting by Brown, but it was too big for her wall space and detracted from the actual view. This one is large too (22x37) but not as much so.

Whatcha think? The version I got her isn't a print but on a canvas and it doesn't have the signiture part on the bottom.