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| So, I'm starting a new blog at blogspot. matthewsvaldes.blogspot.com. I just wanted to start something fresh but thought I would let ya'll know. | | |
| Okay, so I'm not bringing up anything new, but as a student of languages and a barista at Starbucks, I just wanted to address this topic.
The sizes at Starbucks are:
Short
Tall
Grande
Venti
My issue today is not the fact that nobody understands why "tall" is one of the smaller sizes, but the fact that the majority of customers do not pronounce the word "Venti" correctly. They say it as if it were spelled "vente."
And maybe it's petty. Okay, so it probably is petty. But it annoys the heck out of me! Everytime a customer comes up and says, "Hi, I'd like to have a VEN-TAY, two pump raspberry, non-fat, no-whip, black and white mocha with extra raspberry drizzle," (or any other "VEN-TAY" beverage) I want to sit them down and give them a lesson in pronouncing Italian and most romance languages. "I" says "eeee." Venti is the Italian word for 20, because a venti latte is a 20 oz. beverage. It's not v-e-n-t-E. It's v-e-n-t-I.
So, whenever a customer comes up and says, "I'd like a vente latte." We repeat the order back correctly, "You would like a venti latte?" And they of course say, "Yes." You'd think that they might catch on.
What I want to know is why. Why do they do this? There has to be some linguistic reason. I think I am going to talk to my linguistics professor about it. If I can understand why people make this mistake all the time, maybe I will have more compassion on them in their misguided pronunciation.
Meanwhile, if you are reading this, please make a decision today, to say "venti" and not "vente." Your barista will appreciate it.
Oh, and Merry Christmas. (Christmas started yesterday at a Starbucks near you... share the cheer.) | | |
| I am currently working on an article for the Talon Magazine about the Stewart Adams Project. According to their multiple websites, "The Stewart Adams Project is a social experiment being conducted by a group of college students to examine the possibility of making someone (in this case, Stewart) famous by simply taking advantage of today's networking resources."
It's an interesting concept. When I first heard about it, I thought it was a joke. But these guys are for real, and the "Team" is putting some serious work into their publicity campaign.
Check it out:
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/stewartadamsproject
Xanga: http://www.xanga.com/stewartadamsproject
Blogspot: http://stewartadamsproject.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=StewartAdamsProject | | |
| Congrats to all of my friends who just recently graduated from college and enjoyed (?) a graduation ceremony. However, I want to share my feelings in regards to the this monumental piece of American culture.
One of my friends was quite surprised the other day, when I told her that I had no intention of "walking" on graduation day. I've been telling my family this for the past few months or so, because I want them to be prepared when the day arrives a year from now. People ask me why I would not walk, and I ask them why I WOULD! There are few things as tedious, boring, and anticlimactic as a graduation ceremony.
I pretty much have no appreciation for pomp and circumstance. I also assign little value to tradition. I am also keenly aware of the fact that I will receive my diploma whether or not I participate in the ceremony.
Let's just take a survey of pros and cons of walking:
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Pros-
? (Somebody help me with some of these?)
Cons-
REALLY LONG. (We only have so many hours to live.)
REALLY BORING. (I'd rather hear a lecture on quantum physics.)
EXPENSIVE. (How much do those caps and gowns cost again?)
DANGEROUS. (That many people packed into the convocation center, wearing gowns that impede movement. What if there was a fire or an unexpected attack of killer bees? How long would it take everyone to get out?)
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What I'm suggesting is that if I do go to the graduation, I won't be wearing a cap and gown. I might go and take photos or something, but I have no desire whatsover to actually walk down the aisle to get my diploma. And I especially don't want to sit and watch a thousand other people walk down that aisle.
It may be that the graduation ceremony simply needs reform, but I am personally ready to completely abandon this antiquated convention.
Some people think that it would be a memorable experience to "graduate" in the traditional way. I think it would be more memorable to have everybody go to Six Flags for the day! After putting in the time, sitting in class for 4 or 5 years, do we really want to go sit in a boring ceremony for the crowning moment? Not me. I'd rather be at the beach, which is actually what I think I might do. Once I complete that last final, it's off to Miami or Acapulco for me. And I'd welcome anyone else who would want to come along. While the others are counting the rafters in the ceiling of the convocation center, praying for the ceremony to go faster, we'll be drinking margaritas and laying out on the beach.
I will probably start a group on Facebook next winter, "Graduation Hooky." Many of you may be invited to liberate yourselves of the bonds of this unnecessary tradition along with me in Spring '08. It should be loads of fun, think about it! | | |
| The last four or five weeks of this semester are going to be tough. Things are starting to come into place for my trip to Europe, and I just can't wait. I'm kinda tired of shuffling along in my Spanish here in the USA, and I'm really ready to have an immersion experience in the language. I do so much here to help my language acquisition, but it feels like I'm walking in place a lot of the time. I am really hoping to get a lot out of my trip.
I'll be spending most of my time in Salamanca, but traveling to a number of other cities, visiting Portugal, and spending a couple of days in Paris with the rest of the group. Then, my friend Kim and I are going to stay in Europe for eleven days after everyone else goes back home. We are still figuring out all the things we want to do in that extra time.
And I love my classes with Dr. Figueroa (linguistics) and Dr. Simon (20th Century Spain), it's just I have the traveling bug and it's hard for me to really focus on the task at hand.
Just five more weeks, and I will be a bona fide senior at KSU, and nothing left to do but work like crazy before I leave for Europe. I'll be working two jobs in the six or seven weeks I have after school ends. I will be working in the English department at KSU, and also at Casa Grande. My goal is to make a thousand dollars a week, if that's possible.
Well, I should probably get to some homework. | | |
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