In my current job, I have to give presentations on a fairly regular basis. As such, I usually do a practice run with my coworkers first, especially before delivering to clients. One of the major criticisms I used to receive was about the cadence and volume of my voice. They warned me to avoid vocal fry and uptalk especially, and said instead to speak with authority. Throughout my life, I’ve always had people comment on how I talk. From friends to people I waited tables for, my unique way of speaking is always drawing comment. I talk very slowly. I sound like I’m from California. My voice goes up and down  in pitch like a lullaby (really). So, I tend to pay attention to how I sound when it matters, and am sure to speak in an evenly measured pace and tone, because even though it’s difficult to remember to moderate your voice, I like to be taken seriously when I talk.

While there has been a movement against valley-girl speak on the internet for a while, recently there have been several articles written about a newly identified vocal trend among women. It’s about how frequently women start sentences with the phrase, “I feel like,” and (again) it’s a verbal tic I am guilty of using.  The articles suppose that women use it to moderate their opinions, making them softer, less aggressive, and hence more likely to be accepted by their (particularly male) conversation partners, and I think they are probably not far off. When I find myself using the statement, it’s typically for one of two reasons. First, when someone is forcing me to give an opinion that I would rather not share, so I’m not fully committing in case everyone totally disagrees (think when your professor calls on you in class and you haven’t been paying attention). Second, when I know that people aren’t going to love what I have to say, so I am making it a sentence they can empathize with as a feeling more than attacking them with my opinion.

The phrase reminds me of the way people are often taught to discuss uncomfortable situations, or reason with unreasonable people, the “when you do X it makes me feel Y” communication technique, by making the sentence a feeling, people are less likely to outright reject what you are saying. Additionally, Lean In, and all it’s spin-off literature has called attention to the fact that overly assertive or aggressive women are seen as less likeable by both men and women. Starting a sentence in a less aggressive way may be a verbal way that women are trying to make their audience like them more, and get on their side, because people who like you are always going to be more receptive to what you’re trying to say.

Do you use this lead in? Why do you think women are using it more and more often than men?

You may already know that drinking ups your chance of injury. New research pointed out that even walking after a few alcoholic beverages can be deadly. Alcohol has been linked to increased risk of visiting the emergency room, having a car accident, and drowning, and is often involved in homicides. Now a recent study has even further dissected the issue, examining particularly which brews seem to make people more at risk for injury. It found that about 1/3 of all visits to the ER are drinking-related, and that most often, when people in Baltimore where the study was conducted, visit the hospital after consuming alcohol, they’ve been drinking Budweiser, Steel Reserve, Colt 45, Bud Ice or Bud Light. The scientists involved speculate that it may be because the malt liquor classification of Steel Reserve, Colt 45, and Bud Ice means they are higher in alcohol content than other beers, leading to more drunken recklessness and more injuries. While they are not sure if these results are specific to Baltimore, they suggest that this new data might have implications for labeling and marketing for beers containing a higher alcohol content.

There is something hilarious about taking fairy tale characters and bringing them into the modern world. You already know that I loved the Hipster Disney Princesses, and Fairy Tales for 20 Somethings. The characters we all grew up hearing as bedtime stories, and watching in Disney movies are having an on trend moment. Fantasy television shows are popping up all over the place (Hello Once Upon a Time), and every where you turn there seems to be a new riff on the old classics. Maybe it’s because the millenials who grew up on this stuff are coming of age, or maybe it is because it is just so entertaining.

Now B for Bel has brought the fables into the iPhone age, creating hilarious graphics of what the Disney princesses would post on instagram if they lived in the present day, complete with snarky comments from the other princesses and characters in their lives. Snow white posts #nomakeup selfies, while Grumpy grumbles about whose bed she is sleeping in. Belle brags about the library Beast got her. Mulan posts wedding photos. The results are hilarious. I hope she keeps it up!

I am all for easy ways to prevent physical attack and sexual assault against women. Waaaay back in 2010, I wrote about a lip plumping gloss (when those were all the rage) that came with testing strips to identify if date rape drugs were slipped into your cocktail. While this was a great innovation, it still involved coming off as a little suspicious of your potential suitor when you whipped out a “spike detector kit” after accepting the free cocktail. But now there is a new innovation that will let you tell if there is GHB, ketamine, or rohypnol floating in your beverage with a glance.

The company DrinkSavvy is rolling out plastic cups and straws that change colors if any of those three substances are present. They will go from clear to displaying vertical orange and yellow stripes when contaminated. Now all you have to do it make sure your favorite watering hole stocks them.

There is nothing worse that finally making it to your apartment after a long trek to get home, and when you reach for your keychain inside your purse/pocket/wallet, finding that there are no keys there. I have locked myself out of my apartment after wading through rain and snow, to feel the relief of dry pants and my couch only a few stairs away only to have to turn around and go back out into the elements again, and retrieve a set of keys from my roommate. It’s a devastating feeling, and one that we all take great precautions to avoid.

There are doormats that read: Phone, Keys, Wallet to remind us. We give keys to close friends, or hide them somewhere around the neighborhood. Because the only thing worse than locking yourself out, and having to go retrieve the spare? Not having access to a spare and having to call a very expensive locksmith to let you into your own home. Not only are you defeated, now you’re a couple hundred in the hole- until now (at least if you live in Manhattan).

KeyMe has come to the rescue (I read about it in today’s Daily Candy). Its an automated kiosk that will make you a fresh copy of your lost, misplaced, or locked inside keys for a small fee of $20. While it’s more than the $1 it takes to copy your own, it’s a heck of a lot less than having new locks installed. You can go to a kiosk or download the app then scan your key. The machine stores it in the key inventory until you need it. Then, when you find yourself locked out while your roommate is away on vacation, your super is MIA, and it’s pouring rain, all you have to do is scan your fingerprint at a kiosk, pay the little fee, and you’re off. If you’re feeling like splurging while you’re at it, you can pick out a snazzier option like a key that is also a bottle opener, has the logo of your favorite sports team, or is the shape of a character or tool. Now that is a wonder of technology.

Sometimes I have trouble sleeping. So, when I moved last fall, I decided to start fresh with my new bedroom, and eliminate any possible sleep disruptions. I hung blackout shades, installed a while noise maker, and bought some new pillows. I even got rid of my alarm clock, because it shed extra light in the room, and hey, that’s what cell phone alarms are for, right? I had an alarm clock that played cd’s, and after growing to hate every single song I tried to wake up to, I had converted back to the simple beep beep. It seemed silly to keep the whole clock around just because it had the potential to play music that I never used. I still get a jolt when I hear Otis Redding’s Dock of the Bay come on the loudspeaker in public after waking up to it for so many years.

Now I wake up to the aptly named “Alarm” alert of my iPhone, and while I have had a few snafus when I accidentally turned the ringer off, overall it has been a much more pleasant way to wake up, without the glow of the time shining annoyingly in my face if I wake up at 2am can’t fall back to sleep or ruining any more of my favorite songs. But now, I have another problem to contend with. In the same way my CD alarm made me hate every song that shook me awake in the morning, my iPhone has trained me to hate the sound of any tone I use as an alarm.

Because so many people have iPhones with the same set of sounds, and so many people like me have give up on old fashioned alarm clocks, there’s a new first-world-problem in town. It’s called phone alarm stress disorder (PASD), and it refers to the intense annoyance, and stress you feel whenever you hear someone using your alarm tone as their ring tone. With only just under 30 choices for every sound your phone makes, and millions of people using the iPhone as their cell, mp3 player, and mini-computer, you are bound to encounter someone who has decides that Alarm is a good sound to notify them when they receive a text, or a phone call from the parents. The sound that jolts you from sleep in the morning, popping up unexpectedly throughout your day can be extremely offensive, and cause you to tense up, much like how you feel when your alarm hauls you out of that lovely dream you were having in the morning. It’s unavoidable.

So, if you own an iPhone, do us all a favor. ONLY use the alarm tone for your alarm (duh, that’s why they conveniently named it that). And, if you want to be a less annoying person in general, stay away from any of the really grating tones in general –bark, duck, and old car horn, I am looking at you. Your friends, and acquaintances will thank you.