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obscuredolfin
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Name: Christie
Birthday: 10/12/1985
Gender: Female
Interests: savoring dark chocolate, playing tennis, reading, tae kwon do, trying everything that i can
Expertise: laughing and smiling. eating good food.
Occupation: Student
Industry: Engineering
Message: message me
Member Since:
3/31/2003
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| my apartment has furniture (thanks in large part to ikea and my dad's help in assembling furniture) and doesn't look like a hurricane hit it anymore. i'm pleased! [on a side note, i have perhaps the nosiest landlady on the face of the planet. she's always around and asking questions...and is super strict about what i can do in the apartment.]
also, whole foods has green and black chocolate on sale :p
the world is good! | | |
| ::sigh of relief::
Job: Check
I'll be working at Recycline (www.recycline.com - yes, I know the website isn't stellar) as a Product Development Associate. We make environmentally friendly oral care, kitchenware, and tableware, mostly from recycled plastics (polypropylene). It's actually very cool because there aren't that many products out there that use recycled PP (it's the stuff in your yogurt cups) and not all towns recycle it because it's not profitable to. We don't use very much post-consumer waste right now because we don't have a good source for it, but I definitely think that is on our horizon (as are biodegradable plastics - we also recently made kitchen cutting boards from post-consumer recycled paper).
We're only 14 people (including me and a new marketing associate), but growing quickly. As of last year, we are in select Target stores and all Walmart stores, and we released an exclusive kitchen product line to Whole Foods. In the future are new product lines and old product makeovers.
What will I be doing? Something of everything...conducting LCAs on our products, pursuing certification for them, sourcing new materials, testing new materials, packaging design, product design and idea generation, communicating with the manufacturers and product design firm we use, keeping track of stock, purchase orders...etc.
Apartment: Check
After a weekend of calling seemingly everyone in Massachusetts and setting up appointments to visit apartments (we visited 8 in total in both Porter Square and Walltham) - I've got an apartment. It's a small (cozy?) apartment in Waltham right off Moody St., a convenient 5 block walk from work and the commuter rail. Come visit me sometime..but only a couple at a time, please, unless you want to experience life as a sardine :p The worst thing about this place is there's no laundry in the building. Oh yeah, and it's obnoxiously pink (not pretty pink, but IN YOUR FACE pink). But it's affordable...and tenancy at will, so I can find a new place whenever I want. This way, I can get out of Waltham and move to Cambridge if it doesn't suit me...plus there's a TKD place like three blocks from my place.
So what's left in Operation Next Phase of Life? Furniture. Moving (Feb 4). Actually cooking for myself. Getting internet. Yay become an adult!
(There, Mel. I keep my promises! ;)
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| Super stressed about finding housing. So, I found a job in Waltham (will post on that later. maybe. who knows..) and I'm really excited about it but that's being WAY overshadowed right now with having to find an apartment looming over my head.
I'm supposed to start on Feb 4th - but have the first week be telecommuting so I can get an apartment set up, etc. So, I have a little bit of leeway in finding an apartment, but not much. Most of the February apartments have been filled already - obviously, only the ones that no one liked are left. Bah.
I want to live in Cambridge - there's a super convenient commuter rail train that goes from Porter Square to Waltham in 10 minutes. I'm also on a pretty strict budget because I'm not making that much money (working for a quasi-startup). Conclusion: only studios for me. There isn't anyone that I know (anyone? anyone? someone?) that is also looking for housing and I really don't want to live with Random Person from Craigslist who is Most Likely Dirty. Small studios. And not that many to choose from, either. Le sigh.
Other plan is to live in Waltham, where the same amount of money buys me more space (but there aren't really any cheaper apartments in Waltham, everything is at least $800) but I won't be able to save any money by going to Waltham.
Plus, I'm in NY, which makes visiting places super difficult. I'm coming up on Monday or Tuesday. So, my Planet Oliners, if you have any leads, let me know! I will bake you cookies...
No. Time. Gah. | | |
| Tomorrow I get on a plane to fly back to New York - it will be so strange to be back in the States after being in China for so long. I suppose that I should be used to it by now, having traveled so much this summer, but I will miss lots of things. Strangely enough, I don't really miss many American things - except chocolate and ice cream (which Hong Kong has, but China does not). :)
I'm actually in Hong Kong now, which is why I can actually blog - I swear, I fully intended to during my trip! But the Chinese government had other ideas, and blocks all blogging websites. China is so different from Hong Kong - as a special administrative region of China, many laws (such as the One Child Law, which is now something like the One Child Unless You Have Lots of Money Law) don't apply here, and there are laws that do (like all official signs have to be in both English and Chinese). People here are rich; people in China are poor. Cars here don't hardcore try to run you over and actually obey traffic lawes. There aren't large numbers of severely overloaded bicycles, scooters, or motorcycles in the streets fighting with cars (think three or four people on a scooter and two on a bicycle, one sitting on the back). People here have iPods; people in China live and eat where they work as cheap labor, saving money for their family or for themselves so that they can start their lives. The sky is usually blue in HK; in Chinese cities it is rarely blue and always smoggy. The differences are incredible.
That being said, I love Hong Kong, enjoyed visiting China a lot but could not see myself living there, and will post photos on Facebook of the amazing things in China (from old favorites like the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, me playing with pandas!, the beautiful mountains along the river in the southern city of Guilin, visiting my dad's village, and tastytasty food...). Hope to see everyone soon :)
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