Moving Into the Dorms Today!

Hey everyone, so my plan is to be much better about updating my blog while I'm abroad then I do while I'm at school.  Here's a quick update on what's happened so far:

1)  Took off from O'Hare saturday night!
2)  Landed in Turkey
3)  Went out to dinner in Turkey (pics will come soon)
4)  Flew to Israel
5)  Slept till morning and did some errands
6)  Went to the Namal in Tel Aviv (Tel Aviv Port) and had dinner with my Aunt
7)  Hung out with Viva at the Mall in Tel Aviv: Azrieli (sp?) to be exact. (FYI, this was tuesday)
Update:  Jess would like me to remind you that I went to the mall with her and Milan.

Now it is 7:21 am on Wednesday morning and I should be asleep (but obviously I am not).  We move into the dorms in Jerusalem in a few hours!

Elephant Checks Luggage

For those of you who thought consumer reports was the best way to find out the quality of various brands and products, I bring you Consumer Elephant Ponya.  Ponya was given five luggage bags filled with food.  Checkout the video below.





It's quite clear, price was not a deciding factor in the success of preventing the elephant.

How would you protect your luggage?

[via CBS]

Au Bon Pain: Pointless Waste vs. Free Food (a Green Disaster)

So many of us at the University of Chicago have discovered the pleasures of Au Bon Pain: a huge chain bakery / sandwich place that has soup and other foods and such. We have two locations: in the Children's Hospital (open 24 hours), and in Mitchel (the main hospital). The best part of ABP is that (at least in Mitchel, from 10 to 11pm all the baked goods are half off! Its awesome to come and get cookies, croissants, cinnamon rolls, and cake for fairly cheap.

But what do they do with the food at 11pm? Trust me, you'll never guess. They take all the food off the shelf, mark how much it is, and throw it out in the dumpster in the back. Now doesn't that sound like a great idea, not only do they keep the college students from getting free food, but they keep their employees from getting the free food and polute the environment through the waste of creating the food and putting it in the trash.

Now I understand that sometimes restaurants are unable to give away free food for health code and insurance reasons, but there is presidence for this: ABP gave the food to the college students for free. Apparently, a long time ago, they would pack up all the left over food and give it to the students. But then the hospital complained. When they came to pick up the leftovers for the kids, there was none left to give the ER - so ABP had to stop giving out the free food. I understand this, it makes sense. ABP is a part of the hospital, and it should serve the hospital first.

But from what I've been told, the hospital doesn't go get the free baked goods anymore. It now gets tossed out every night to make room for the new (fresh) goods since the café is open 24 hours. I personally think this is a complete waste. Why should they toss all the food out. I understand its a nuissance to bring the food to the students, but why not put everything in a box at 11pm just outside the store, and leave it there until 11:30. Make the food first come first serve, and if people come and eat it, they will get to be happy and enjoy it, but if they don't come, its their loss. This makes a minimal loss to the café, and it provides free food for broke college students with tons of loans. Just take a chance, see what happens ...

Who thinks ABP would agree to this? My guess is, with all the regulations and corporate rules and stuff, they would prefer to throw out food, than give it out for free. :(