Sunday, August 31, 2008

Stern Nights & Moral Dilemma

As you may be aware, I'm in NY this weekend and last night, I went out around the East Village which is NYU territory. We started at Continental which has the cheapest shots in Manhattan (hint- they're watered down) then went to Bar None and Plan B to dance like an idiot. Then finished at Union Bar. Fun night. I didn't meet any Sternies and the kids at Continental were mostly undergrads but it really made me envision how much fun living downtown would be if I were to go to Stern. I think it might be the funnest school to go to and that impression is only reinfornced by the Stern Follies video below. Fast forward to 1:35 and there's a spoof on Summer Nights from Grease. It's hilarious! My favorite line is "got our backpacks, we looked like fools, met some people, thought they were tools."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVqp6H8dZ3U&eurl=http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11981670394&refurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fs.php%3Fq%3Dstern

I also took the liberty of checking out the Stern class of 2010 facebook group and HappyBunny is right, "Stern girls are the shiniest." That Grease spoof should lay the debate to rest. So I guess there may be life after Columbia after all (but let's pray that it doesn't come to it). I didn't intend to spend Saturday night researching Stern, but it certainly reinforced how fun downtown living is. If I could live anywhere in the city, it'd probably be the East Village. No joke. Depending on what vibes (or lack thereof) I get from Columbia, I'll visit Stern for a class visit and more research in late Sept or early October.

By the way, I think it's hilarious that Stern students are such avid beer pong players- at least from what I've noticed in other random videos and random comments. I guess my being an excellent beer pong player demonstrates strong "fit" with the program :) and nope, I don't call it beirut. One of my favorite lines from attending Georgetown undergrad actually relates to beer pong. You know how you're allowed to re-rack the cups in the middle of the game to create a better formation? Most people ask the opposing team to re-rack the cups into a pyramid, square, or "I" formation. But my favorite requests were "can I get a rhombus please?" !!! Yes, this kind of request happened more than once but it's funnier if you imagine a preppy Jack Hoya type saying it in a completely serious tone. How I love my alma mater :)

I also have a moral dilemma. I've been a vegetarian for 5.5 years now. I do it purely for moral reasons. That is, I don't want to kill animals. The health and economic reasons don't really resonate with me as much. Anyway, I'm starting to wonder if I should add chicken to my diet. This would help solve the protein problem and I wouldn't be fully reneging on the vegetarianism. It sounds stupid to me that I'd be a vegetarian except when it came to chicken. I feel really bad for those birds :( The way I see it, if I believe killing is wrong, then I should avoid it completely (hence full veggie-ism). Plus, eating chicken might make my life a little easier and help me avoid being a hassle for friends to dine with at crappy restaurants that don't even have 1 veggie option. Not gonna lie though, part of the reason I've started thinking about this is because I've finally caught onto this thing called "working out." Can't be a skinny guy forever. But this strikes me as a bad, vain reason. I shouldn't kill birds in order to look manlier. I guess that solves my ethical dilemma =/

P.S. I just got a Blackberry and have thus joined the 21st century. I'm not doing it for showboating reasons cuz I hate technology (really complicates my life) but rather because I think it'll be really useful to get acclimated to the thing before b-school when it almost becomes a necessity.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dude, eat fish and seafood instead of chicken. It may be killing fish, but many vegetarians consider it OK. Fish provides excellent quality protein at least as good as that in chicken breast, plus the 'right' type of fat. There are also veggie sources of protein, you can check the nearest supplement/vegetarian store.

I would advise against eating chicken meat every day, it's loaded with chemicals. The same with any other type of meat, really.

Finally, you have to know that being a vegetarian, you cannot go for the bulky bodybuilder look. Strong and not skinny, yes. But the Arnold biceps, forget it.

Mo Zhou said...

I'm a meatatarian. :)

Samantha said...

I'm with you on the blackberry thing. Technology is overrated, but I figure I'll get one next summer before school. And eat lots of tempeh/cottage cheese/tofu. who needs chicken?

I hear you on the women at Columbia. My perspective from visiting schools is that all of the top schools have a mix of the average and the wow, she's beautiful type. See, both men and women want more women, so why aren't they applying?

TienyChesney said...

Applicant,
You're right, seafood would probably be the logical exception rather than chicken. Arrgh. I think I'll wind up staying completely veg though because I know in my heart of hearts I'm doing it for the wrong reasons (aka not moral reasons). Thanks for the sound advice though. And don't worry, I'm going for a lean swimmer look (no, not Phelps). I don't wanna be a huge meathead (in the jock sense, pun intended!)

Samantha,
I'm a terrible cook. I eat out all the time. And cottage cheese has never grown on me. I think the women in b-school issue is well-documented. I think the whole biological clock argument makes sense. Plus the antiquated social norms still persist about men being the breadwinner (no, i don't agree with it but I think places in the south and midwest still heavily subscribe to this). Also, maybe women are nicer by nature than men? and thus the esquew the competitive, cut-throat nature of some types of business... i dunno, just an observation.

Anonymous said...

Cooking is essential to a good diet, IMHO. I mean 'diet' in the broad sense, like a nutritional lifestyle. Eating only high quality food without cooking is way too expensive. And so is seafood in my part of the world...

Many apologies for spamming you blog with non-MBA comments. But you got me started on one of my favourite topics ;)

TienyChesney said...

BS Applicant,
Don't worry, i tried spamming your blog last nite but realized that it wouldn't allow me to do so without showing my email (thus compromising my anonymity) hehe :P Anyway, I agree with you about cooking but it is one of my fatal flaws (along with swimmming and driving). That is part of the reason I need an MBA to accumulate mass wealth and eat out everyday j/k.

Anonymous said...

Stalking the facebook groups is brilliant! From a quick glance... Ross chicks = 5.84/10, NYU = 7.21/10, Wharton = 8.65/10.

TienyChesney said...

Anon,

Haha, I don't know what "stalking" you're talking about. I thought I was "researching fit... ness" :P And I've only looked at Columbia and Stern as they're my NY brethren. Interesting how you rate Wharton though.

Anonymous said...

Obviously an important part of research in any top-tier program. Clearly legitimate. Just the same, I'd encourage you to keep stalking. The swings can be radical from school to school. This just in... U Texas (McCombs)3.27. Yes, it's really that bad.

TienyChesney said...

Anonymous,

hahaha, can we please call it student life/social research or something like that? i believe stalking actually entails a specific person.