Stop Child Trafficking Now... get involved!

www.sctnow.org

• Over 2 million children are currently enslaved around the world, including every one of the 50 United States
• The commoditization and exploitation of people, especially children, is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the world.
• This is happening here in New York City, where it is estimated that over 10,000 children are enslaved, as well as around the country.
• Child Trafficking is the recruitment, smuggling, transporting, harboring, buying or selling of a child through force, threats, fraud, deception, or coercion for the purposes of exploitation, prostitution, pornography, migrant work, sweat shops, domestic servitude, forced labor, bondage, peonage or involuntary servitude.
• Child trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world. UNICEF values the global market of child trafficking at over $12 billion a year with over 1.2 million child victims. Men, women and children are all victims but, the most vulnerable groups, those with limited rights or protections, have been the hardest hit… especially children.
• 300,000 children in the U.S. are at risk every year for commercial sexual exploitation. -U.S. Department of Justice


• 600,000 – 800,000 people are bought and sold across international borders each year; 50% are children, most are female. The majority of these victims are forced into the commercial sex trade. – U.S. Department of State, 2004, Trafficking in Persons Report, Washington, D.C.
• An estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States each year. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry. – U.S Department of Justice Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons
• An estimated 2.5 million children, the majority of them girls, are sexually exploited in the multibillion dollar commercial sex industry – UNICEF
• Investigators and researchers estimate the average predator in the U.S. can make more than $200,000 a year off one young girl. – NBC Report by Teri Williams

Level I CFA Exam... Pass

July 2009 6*******5 Amy Marie Benson Level 1: Pass

Woo hoo!

I wanna wake up... in the mountains... where the Colorado Columbines grow...

The title of the post is the lyrics of as a song we used to sing in elementary school that ended, "I want to live in dear-old Boulder... cause it's the best place that I know!"

Any guesses where the inspiration came from?

Another One Bites the Dust

He flew into our citronella candle, and it didn't work out so well.

One more week until the CFA exam!

Correct:  One more week until this "CFA charterholder candidate" gets my life back after taking the "CFA level I examination"

Incorrect: I'm getting me my C next Saturday, so that I can be a C-FA!

CFA Institute Guidance: Standard VII: Responsibilities as CFA Institute member or Candidate: Reference to the CFA Institute, the CFA Designation, and the CFA program: "The Chartered Financial Analyst" and "CFA" marks must always be used either after a charterholder's name or as adjectives, not as nouns."

Well, the LAST time someone sent me 10-dozen red roses...

Now this is something you or I may never experience.  I have a colleague with, well, an admirer.  Since I've been working here, this is the second time he's sent her a triple-digit-number of red roses.  If you saw her in person, you might understand why someone would send her 120, that would be 2 bouquets of five dozen red roses each.  ONE HUNDRED TWENTY roses.  Now, you or I may never have this experience... but imagine if that were YOU, getting 2 of these honking things delivered TO YOUR DESK AT WORK... on a bi-monthly basis.  Yeah, that could be a little embarrassing... not like you can really blend into the crowd with this one

It is easy to miss what 120 roses really looks like until you realize that Felice (not the recipient, just a willing model) is not a miniature person but a NORMAL SIZED HUMAN BEING.  She could curl her entire body into a smaller space than these babies!

A good and proper French lunch (sushi)... away from the office

My colleagues took me for lunch today... here is Boris and Joanna

Laurene and Joanna

Lizette and Felice

I really do work with a cool bunch of people :)

The waitress loved getting six different credit cards to split the check.  Thanks, guys!

You didn't need that piece of paper did you??

You know what is really satisfying? Shredding paper!

The little confetti is fun.  

Paris and candles and sushi, oh my!

Before it was gone, it looked like the Louvre...

Who knew they came in different colors?

The Thirty Nine Steps

Last night my mom and I saw Alfred Hitchcock's The Thirty Nine Steps.  Incredibly clever and funny.  Highly recommended.  

Next Broadway show on my list will likely be Shrek the Musical (this summer when my sister and brother-in--law visit.

Good times

What do you mean you didn't cook this for me???

But there is still some left in the bowl!

Oops...sorry... 

Excuse me, can I lock up my unicycle next to your Kebab stand?

I saw a guy riding a unicycle this morning on the way to work. We were BOTH on our way to the office, it seemed. He wore dress slacks, black dress shoes, and his coat tails were sort of flapping, perfectly symmectrically behind the wheel. Couldn't see under his coat, but I imagine there was a tie too.

It was quite a tall unicycle too. No helmet though.

The guy rode on the sidewalk along 52nd street, so seeing him on this particular route, unfortunatley, left me still a little unsatisfied about the logistical details of how exactly does one ride a unicycle to the office in New York City?

For example...

* What happens when you get to a stop light? Do you just hop off the thing, or just kind of "balance" in place?
* What if you can't avoid a sidewalk with scaffolding? Can you lower the seat, or do you have to stop and walk to avoid hitting your head?
* Hills? Both inclines and declines?
* Can you ride with a purse or briefcase? Do they make little unicycles with baskets?
* Where, exactly, would you put the lock on your cycle?
* Do they make a special helmet with an attached mouthpiece-whistle-contraption since you can't exactly attach a bike horn to your (non-existent) handlebars?

A little wrench never hurts anyone...

Especially like a blizzard in Colorado.  My mom's first flight yesterday was cancelled in advance of the snow that started yesterday morning.  All the school districts closed for a snow day.  Now, in New York (tri-state area), people kind of panic when it starts to snow, and they will cancel or delay schools because the WEATHERPEOPLE ARE PREDICTING SNOW.  No matter if it is currently 70 and sunny, if the forecast is snow, schools are cancelled.  

In Boulder, where I grew up, the rule of thumb was that unless the school buses were literally buried in so much snow that they couldn't physically LOCATE the buses, our education was more important. 

But they closed schools yesterday because the roads were so bad.  In fact, the highway itself was shut down, and my mom couldn't GET to the airport.  So for a few hours during the day, the trip was off- we figured we'd re-schedule for April or May instead.  It broke my heart to imagine not getting to see her, but yeah, a blizzard legitimately fits into the category of "things we can't control."

I even offered to my boss the Broadway tickets we have for Saturday night for The Thirty-Nine Steps.  French people, however, do not like Broadway.

BUT... the story has a good ending... we got her on an 8:00 am flight this morning (He-llo 4 am airport shuttle!) arriving this afternoon.  

Good thing this trip didn't end up BORING or anything!  

One more cup of coffee before we go...

New York Times has an article today called It's Time to Make a Coffee Run, proving what distance runners (at least this one) has known all along... the benefits of caffeine and exercise...

* Caffeine is one of the few legal performance enhancers not prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency

* Nothing new that caffeine improves performance... but scientists believe the reason for the power-output post-coffee is that the muscles release calcium stored in muscle, which helps speed and endurance. Also, caffeine impacts the brain's sensation of exhaustion

*The effect of performance improvement is estimated at between 5-25% (the low range for average performance expected for the masses, and a controlled labratory setting.

Not sure if I'll be able to find a Starbucks to get my SBUX staple (grande in a venti cup with cold soymilk) before my Paris marathon, but I'll definitely be able to find a cute place to get my pre-race cup'o'jo

Darn those spring snowstorms!

My mom is visiting me from Colorado this weekend (my birthday is next week, and well, that's just what mom's do!)  She emailed me last night because there is a big snowstorm en route to Colorado and they cancelled her flight...

But the excellent news...she was booked on a different flight arriving 2 hours later!  See, not even Colorado spring snow can get in the way of a mother visiting her daughter in NYC!

Time to go to the store...

I love the way my little fridge looks full of produce!  So colorful!  A kitchen adventure just waiting to happen!

At least we've still got salad dressings and some fruit

I did a what?

This weekend in CT we watched the 2009 Iditarod (that would be the 1,100 mile dogsled race in Alaska). Or rather, we watched 2 of the 3 TV specials on Versus, because their coverage only took us up to about day 6 in the 12 day race. So, I had to go google it and find out who won (since the winner finished a full week ago).

Some interesting facts:

• Winner Lance Mackey won, for the 3rd year in a row
• Like another well-known Lance, Mackey is also a cancer survivor and could not have won without a team of workhorses (15-four-legged Huskies)
• You'd have to finish in the top-10 in the race just to break even financially (race entry fee, transportation at the race, dog food etc). Note you still need a sled and a dog team.
• For the 30th place finisher (out of 67 starters), the purse works out to about $6 an hour. For a professional athlete. As for the extreme weather conditions with windchilll reaching 40 below... priceless
• Average pace of this year's race was slower than normal... Roughly 8-9 minute miles. For reference, I intend to run the Paris marathon within that range too. Note the marathon is only 26.2 miles

Have I already mentioned Lee's Art Shop?!?!

Here we are on the first day of Spring.  Besides the fact that it is snowing, I noticed the wall mural on the side of Lee's Art Shop.  For what it was worth, I was also walking the opposite direction

Feeling Goovy

This would be the 59th Street Bridge (any Simon & Garfunkel fans?!?)

The NYC marathon runs over this bridge.  I swear, the incline felt like we were running up Mt. Kilimanjaro and back, but you'd never be able to tell by the picture

It's a puppy!

This weekend I met Saler.  He's an 8-month-old German Shepard puppy that the Nortons just welcomed to their family.  They are my adopted CT family- so basically this is like my adopted dog :)  

Saler was excited to meet a new friend.  Especially a new friends with heels and ankles and calves to bite.  Maybe I should take it as a compliment that my lower legs seemed delicious?

Saler is also going to classes and training.  We have a lot in common.  I'm studying for Level I of my CFA exam, and Saler is studying for a Level I Shutzhund exam.  That is a 3-level dog-certification that includes tracking, obedience, protection etc.  I think we'll end up putting in similar hours studying.

Buffy in the background doesn't understand what the fuss is about.  She'll sit for you and let you pet her just because

He was only looking at me because he thought the camera was a toy to eat.  Look at him drooling.

I love old towns

When I was little I really wanted a dollhouse that looked like this

The Guliford, CT free Public Library.  Yes, folks, the library is free

She sells sea shells by the sea shore

Sunset actually happens inside Home Comfort.  And yes, if you live on the CT shore, you get to name your house

View from The Cottage porch

Nobody lives here, but what a great picture it makes

Low tide at Circle Beach

Seagulls also enjoy low tide

This weekend at the shore!

This weekend I'm going up to see my "adopted parents" in Madison, CT.  They live right on the shore, and it is literally my home away from home.

Last Spring... His name is Harry

Sally is the little filly, less than a week old here.  We're not sure when Harry met Sally

The cottage.  We stay there sometimes in the summer.

Some pretty shoreline houses down by Circle Beach

Best thing ever...

• Starbucks on Saturday afternoon:
• An old lady buttoning her coat and bouncing her knees to Frank Sinatra's "I've got you under my skin"

3 weeks to Paris!

I just came back from my last long run... 22 miles!  Must have been because I forgot to turn on my alarm clock this morning and got a little bit of a late start that I was inspired to run fast...  

Today I ran about 5 minutes faster than my 22-miler two weeks ago. 

 As usual, I finished at a much faster pace than I started... but I'm making progress in narrowing the gap and running more "steady."  My first 6 miles was at an 8:56 pace, and the last 5 at 8:24 (0r 8:30 pace for the last 10 miles).  Basically, that is only ~32 seconds in variation of my pace.  

When I got back from my run, I had all these great ideas to apply some CFA quantitative methods concepts to training:  My average pace was 8:41, or about 26 seconds/mile slower than my goal marathon race-pace (around 8:15/mile).  

Next, I thought, how about calculating the standard deviation of pace (between each loop and the total average pace)?  I was halfway through calculating the sum of squared deviations from the mean, when I got distracted by major "salt face" in my eyes and stopped to go take a shower.  

"Salt face", by the way, is the remaining white salt crystals that linger on your skin after the sweat dries a little.  I tend to get major accumulation on my cheeks (under my sunglasses), and on my shoulders.  But then again, salt on your shoulders isn't really called "salt face," but who is getting technical?

More to come later... but what a run today.  :)

I guess that's one way to get over an ex...

Last night I got a package in the mail from the ex-boyfriend who broke up with me last Sunday. Priority United States Postal Service.

He wrote a short but very sincere letter, and returned all the things I'd left at his house:

• A few Brazilian CDs he'd borrowed
• A book I thought he'd enjoy reading
• A tupperware bowl with lid (a good mixing bowl is hard to find!)
• A half-empty travel-size container of face wash
• A toothbrush

Ouch, toothbrush.

Strangely, I feel a little better now about the breakup.

Made it through the CFA materials...

Major accomplishment... made it through all 6 volumes of the CFA level I material.

The test is in 3 months, so I have until then to review everything and go through all the practice tests...

And 3 more months to come up with a good reason to figure out why this test is worth sacrificing my evenings/weekends, my social life, and my sanity