Nearing the one-year mark

I'm nearing the one-year mark in this blog. My first post was about finishing the week of training that I'm in the middle of right now. I switched to posting on my professional blog (now on hiatus) for a bit and then in late August/early September really began keeping up with both of them in earnest. July pretty much disappeared from both. The kids were with the grandparents for much of the month and Mr. Geeky and I made a trip to New York and generally kicked back and enjoyed ourselves--no time for blogging (though I blogged about the trip later).

It's been really fun keeping up with this. It's a great place to write without worrying too much about how it comes out. It seems like I even have to craft e-mail these days. It really helps me to write down some of my frustrations and thoughts. Sometimes I can see them more clearly for what they are. I read back over what I've written and reflect on what I'm really getting at--what do I really want out of x? why is y bothering me? And it's fun to see some of the interesting things I've shared and mused about.

And what's even better about it is that people actually read it! I admit that I went into this hoping for a small audience. I enjoyed reading other blogs before I started this one and I saw the small community of folks that had developed around some of them. Everyone seemed interesting and friendly. It really did feel like a grand dinner parter/cocktail hour. I miss that in my real life. It's just difficult to put a group of folks together and arrange for time to spend together. This way, we do it whenever we want. When I read someone's blog post, I feel like they're present even if it was posted hours ago. I can have a conversation with someone at 7 a.m. at 12 a.m and I can pick up said conversation again at 7 a.m or 5 p.m. or noon the next day.

Here are just some moments that have really affected me:

-sharing the election with everyone
-the commenting pixie party/spontaneous poem that resulted in 200+ comments
-celebrating when people get tenure
-Bitch, Ph.D's PK stories
-Scriveners' pics of his kids and his green and then blue hair
-commenting pixies in general, wherever they are
-Julie's always patient and wonderful advice
-Hedgical Trevor and his namesake
-Profgrrrrl's pink hair
-Phantom Scribbler's icon--it makes me smile every time I see her holding up that baby like in the Lion King
-even getting into arguments with people over the Lawrence Summers' fiasco
-reading so many touching, funny, poignant, inspiring, and well-written posts everywhere (I really should keep track of these more because often when something is particularly moving, I don't comment; I don't know why; I just don't).

The above list doesn't even begin to express all the daily little things that make me feel human again. I'm looking forward to another year. I have no idea what it will bring. I'm not sure where my life is going in a year. I'm not entirely sure what I want to be when I grow up. We'll see where the road takes me.

2 pages so far

only two pages so far

See more progress on: write 500 pages

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So this kind of works. If I just edit the pages down as I write them, it can kind of be a countdown. This was an automated post whenever you put an entry in so that was kind of cool. We'll see how it works.

Tracking the Writing

So I added a little sidebar item to track my writing. I put down 2 pages so far, though I wrote 5. Only 1 is actually useable so I gave myself 2. I'd love a better way of tracking this than editing my blog template every day. There's probably some simple javascripty thing I can do, but I'm pretty clueless about such things. My geekiness has its limits I'm afraid.

I stole the whole idea of tracking from What Now? I know 1000 pages is somewhat ambitious, especially at the rate I'm going. But I want to write every day--at least something. Hopefully some days, I'll be up to 5 or even 6 pages. Okay, wait, the math isn't working out for me (I need to take Becki's classes maybe). I've got about 76 days to work with. At 5 pages a day, I'll end up at only 380 pages. So I think I'd better cut that down a bit. Let's do 500. That's respectable. That gives me some days of low output hopefully balanced with some really stellar output. Because keep in mind, I'm doing this in my spare time!

What happens when women do well

Danica Patrick came in 4th in the Indy 500 yesterday. I was literally on the edge of my seat because she almost won the damn thing. It was really interesting. What's been even more interesting is what some bloggers are saying about the thing. I'm not a sports nut, so I don't read the sports blogs, but it's been a sort of backhanded anti-feminist rant.

"Good for you, but it's because you weigh less than everyone else." (Actually Robby Gordon, a nascar driver said this, but many agree with him.)

"I'm just sick that all the commentators talked about was this stupid woman driver."

"She's too cute to be in that jumpsuit; she should be in a tight sweater and a skirt."

Just awful. It's like "Good for you, but get back in the kitchen please."

racing

I know, I said I was pausing . . .

But I can't help it. I was writing this morning, the fourth draft of a chapter of my book and it's driving me nuts. I'm writing about the two years we spent in a house and neighborhood that I loved. We moved because it wasn't upwardly mobile enough. Anyway, I was writing the scene, just elucidating all the ways that this place and time were so idyllic, but what I really want to write is about a couple of semi-tragic, very non-idyllic moments. I want it to contrast with the idyllic parts, but I'm having a hard time transitioning from the idyllic background to the non-idyllic moments. But, however, in contrast--not doing it for me. And I can't just launch into it because I think it will seem like such a dramatic shift. Damn, this is hard. I mean the contrast is the important part, I think, because if I write just the tragic parts, then it might seem that that's what my life was about. And there's the complete absence of my mother so far. Partly this is because I honestly don't remember her presence that much during this time, except as the instigator of one of the more tragic parts. Where the heck was she?

I'm planning another round of this later this afternoon, so we'll see if I get anywhere. I feel like I have to get through this chapter before moving on to the next. Okay, I'm going to shower now and hit the drug store, grocery store, etc.

Long night takes its toll

I spent last night drinking with a bunch of friends. Towards the end of the evening, somewhere around 11, we started planning a history film festival, taking us from depictions of the Roman Empire to World War II. We wrote down names of films on the paper menus. It was quite amusing. Maybe this film festival will take place, maybe it won't, but it was fun coming up with possibilities.

I didn't get home until 1 a.m., an unusually late night for me. Now I'm feeling tired. But it's a beautiful day outside and I'm taking the kids to see Madagascar today. I think I will pause the blog for the weekend and get some much-needed rest and accomplish some other things.

Meme I couldn't resist--photos

from Profgrrrrl

Place I was born:



Place I grew up:



My name:



My grandmother's name:



Favorite food:



Favorite drink:



Favorite song:



Favorite smell:

More thinking about working, writing, reading, consulting

These thoughts are cyclical I realize but I've been thinking again about working vs. staying at home. When I have angst over working, it's more often not because of the actual work that I'm doing, but because of working at all. I enjoy my work despite some really frustrating moments, but increasingly, I often realize that my kids are not getting any younger and though I certainly don't feel like I'm doing them any harm by working, I sometimes feel like I'm missing something. The summer often brings these thoughts upon me because if I weren't working, I could be doing things with them. We could go to museums and parks. They could run around the neighborhood. I might get to know other moms in the area. All that jazz.

Mother-in-Chief writes all the time about the desire to find fulfilling part-time work. I want to work, for all kinds of reasons: financial rewards, intellectual stimulation, a feeling of contributing. Fulfilling part-time work would be a good solution to the problem. Another solution for me might be to rearrange my work schedule. I might, a couple of times a week, come in at 7:30 and leave at 4:00. Or I might squeeze 35 hours into 4 days, giving me one day a week to be a mom, perhaps giving me time to pursue my other interests: writing, blogging, just keeping the chaos in the house at bay, exercising.

It's those other interests really that are causing me angst right now, because they're the first to go when the kids need to be tended to. If it's 9:30 at night by the time the kids have been fed, bathed, homeworked, reassured, then there's very little time and much less energy to do much else. I do usually blog from about 9:30-11:00 and certainly I could give some of that time to other writing and I might. It often takes me some time just to get geared up and then it might be 10 and then I'm even tireder. You know the routine.

Then there's morning. I think morning could work better. If I gave up my morning blogging, I could use that time to write. I can also do some weekend hours--preferably away from the chaos of my house.

Something's going to give, though. It's either going to be the house, the kids, the exercise. I just feel like this is all hard to balance. It seems utterly impossible to have a full time job, children and anything resembling a life for yourself without feeling like you're doing a half-assed job as all of them. Maybe half-assed is just going to have to be good enough.

----

Then there's my actual work. To my colleagues who read this: I'm not on the verge of quitting or even truly dissatisfied. I often focus on the negative aspects of my job to figure out a way to turn them into positives. Yes, there are problems, some of them big, but despite my tension between working or not working, I see myself in this job for a really long time. As I often tell people, if I quit, it's going to be to stop working altogether, not to move on to another job. At least that's where I am now. Now if I get lured away by something, that might be another story.

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Reading: I finally got a shipment of books I've been waiting for for three weeks--sheesh. I just finished reading and discussing Flawless Consulting, a book I didn't really like at the start because it felt really corporate (flashbacks to my corporate life). But after discussing it with the likes of Eric B. and Megan (who was awfully quiet :) ), I saw some good things in it. It really made me think about my ever-shifting roles--from expert consultant, to tech support, to client. I think it would be a worthwhile book for the organization as a whole to read. I was discussing the book and the discussion with one of my colleagues and he said something I thought quite astute: "You just have to be confident in your skills, convey that confidence and things usually go much more smoothly." I think that's where I falter. Not in every situation, but when I think about the ones that trouble me, it's often because I wasn't confident. The discussion we had really gave me a lot to think about in how I manage those troubled situations.

I just started reading The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez to the kids. Geeky Boy really likes it so far even though he's a little on the young side for its content. Geeky Girl played with her stuffed animals while we read. And I started reading Laws of the Web--looks interesting so far. I think part of why I like blogging so much is that I like reading. I probably read the equivalent of a book every night.

Dilemmas big and small

IM-ing: I've recently gotten back into IM-ing. I had an ICQ account eons ago, but when I got my mac 3 years ago, I did the iChat thing (thegeekymom). I did a video chat the other day and it was really cool. So here's my dilemma: do I stick with iChat--which doesn't seem to have all the same features that AIM does? or do I go with regular AIM? or something else?

Writing: When do I write, morning or night or in a weekend chunk? Why am I writing this now and not working on my book? Why can't I bring myself to launch the word processor?

The writing dilemma always leads to the bigger dilemma: work or not work? A successful writing project might lead to a more flexible work life. Thus, putting off the writing begs the question, What am I afraid of? What am I avoiding? Would I miss the stability? The excitement? The companionship?

I think I must sound crazy right now. I promise to return to semi-normal on June 14th.

Delight in Disorder

I wish I could. I love the Cavalier poets for their examination of disorder and what it meant in their extremely ordered society. Disorder is often highly gendered in their work. One of my favorite poems is "Delight in Disorder" by Robert Herrick, a poem about the wantonness of clothes. Ironically, the "slightly tousled" look was carefully constructed much the way distressed jeans are today. And there is both a delight in the thought the the wantonness of a woman's clothes might mean a similar wantonness in bed, but also there is a fear of it, of the "wild civility" of it all.

Another favorite is Andrew Marvell's "The Garden." In the poem, the speaker retreats into the beauties of the garden to find solitude from society and all its ills. The garden is figured as female with men trying in vain to tame it. It is too fertile, too beautiful. The following stanza exemplifies the tug between reveling in the beauty of the garden's fruits and the danger of it.

What wondrous life is this I lead!
Ripe apples drop about my head ;
The luscious clusters of the vine
Upon my mouth do crush their wine ;
The nectarine and curious peach
Into my hands themselves do reach ;
Stumbling on melons as I pass,
Insnared with flowers, I fall on grass.

The speaker is literally tripped by the garden. Later, the speaker laments that Eden has to be sullied with the presence of women.

So what's the connection? I've been thinking about my own disorder, which is not constructed the way the object in Herrick's poem is, but runs more to the garden in Marvell's poem. I think in some ways, I am both speaker and garden. I'm tripping myself in my own abundance.

I've also been thinking about disorder more generally and how we (Americans at least) really value order--organization, efficiency, etc. Why? I have never been particularly organized. Oh, sure, I make my to-do lists. I have my schedule in my Palm, but my desk is always in a state of disarray. Though my house is no candidate for one of those "Clean House" or "Organization" shows, it's also no candidate for Martha Stewart's Living or Better Homes and Gardens. Is being organized and neat really better? I realized that this was the root of some of my stress. It's not I have that much to do that I can't handle it, but that I'm not entirely organized in my approach and that stresses me out. I feel like someone's going to say, "Wow, she's really disorganized." But if it gets done, does it matter if had everything in neat folders or in semi-organized piles on my desk? No. Then why, why do I feel bad about it?! And I do think there's a gender issue here. The cost for women who aren't organized is higher than for men. If my house is a mess, does Mr. Geeky get blamed? Not usually. If something falls through the cracks in a project because I missed something, do I get scrutinized more than if it happened on a man's watch? Possibly. And is there an element of fear of the "disordered" woman in the workplace? Quite possibly.

I guess my own philosophy is that yes, you need to have some modicum of order. You can't just let everything go, but you don't have to keep your pencils in a straight line. I certainly admire people who are more organized than me, but I don't begrudge those who are less so. And I wish people would recognize the delight that can be found in disorder.

Bleh

I feel bleh. Not even blah.

Because I'm outlining training sessions that are really technical (html, css, photoshop, video editing), I've been in techie mode lately. I like techie mode. I feel smart in techie mode. But after lunch today, I had to shift into half techie/half writing teacher mode and I felt less smart. I just felt out of my element. Would I feel more in my element if I had those three letters after my name? I don't think so. I felt out of my element the whole time I was working on the diss. Like I didn't know what I was doing. Today, I began expounding about all the cool technical things we could do and then was asked where the substance was. Is there substance to technology? Or is it just a medium? A tool?

The more I'm involved in technology, the more I realize that I think differently than a lot of people. And I think that some of those people see my way of thinking as not just different, but not as good. I really want to read that Steven Johnson book. I think it will make me feel better. There was an interview with him on NPR this morning and the interviewer asked him about multitasking and Johnson said basically, "You're missing the point. I'm talking about complexity of networks, complexity of the connections between things, not the ability to IM and email and watch tv at the same time." And that's the way I think--connectedly. I drove people crazy in school because I would interject something seemingly random into discussion; I always showed how it connected though. During my master's exams, I tried to find a way to connect everything we read to Gawain and the Green Knight. I like that exercise of figuring out how things, people, places connect.

I'm hating the book I'm reading because it's not about these connections; it's about business. It's very business-like. I do not want to function like a business (at least not the one depicted in the book).

I just feel bleh.

Staying up late/getting up early just to relax

I stayed up fairly late last night not working on many of the tasks listed below, but blogging. My schedule of events was interrupted by helping Geeky Boy clean out the hamster cages and by the time I could settle in in front of the computer, my brain just was not in good shape to be writing. I had also planned to read more of one of the books, but it's a pretty dense book and not at all interesting, so I put that off too. I did read some articles in the New York Times and the Chronicle. But that was it.

Then I got up at 6:30, not to exercise or anything, but, you guessed it, to blog. Is there a problem here? Maybe, but I'd be watching tv and frankly the blogs I read are about 4 million times more interesting (and better written) than anything on tv.

I realized last week that a half hour of relaxing, drinking coffee and reading was not enough to prepare me for the mad rush of getting myself and two children (and a husband) ready for school. I absolutely must have some time to myself before facing the day or I am cranky. Mr. Geeky is like that at the end of the day. Having time to myself has always been extremely important to me and thankfully Mr. Geeky has always recognized that, so not only do I get the morning (which is really just me waking up), but I often get time after dinner and on the weekends. When I was writing my master's thesis, Mr. Geeky took Geeky Boy (no Geeky Girl yet) away for a whole day every weekend. For some reason, when I began working on my dissertation, this arrangement did not resurface. Partly, it was the pressures of his own new job, but it was also my own ambivalence about the degree itself. I am thinking that this would be a good thing to reinstitute for working on the book(s). I wouldn't need the whole day--maybe just the afternoon. Hmm, I like the direction this just took. Oh Mr. Geeky . . .

Long days ahead

The multimedia program that I run in the summer begins next week. I'm finalizing arrangements, syllabi, software. I've been relatively organized but I put off some things that I shouldn't have. I hate that. So I'll be doing a bit of scrambling. The following week, I'm helping to run a workshop on Quantitative Writing with an emphasis on using technology to facilitate the writing and review process. I'm actually demoing a few things and I'm so not ready. Yikes!

I also have 2 books to read and I'm geared up to do some writing. And I want to squeeze some exercise in. The only way to fit all this in is to get up early and stay up late (ish). Did I mention my inlaws are coming the week of the workshop? Did I mention my house is a disaster--laundry everywhere, dishes not done, the kids living on poptarts and granola bars? Ack, ack, double-ack.

Oh, and did I mention I'm squeezing in coordinating a video conference and doing another writing/technology workshop? Yikes!

I have butterflies in my stomach from all of this--because it's fun but sort of scary. In theory, I am supposed to have people helping me with the multimedia program, but no one has as much emotional investment in it as I do. It's the *big thing* on my resume and I love doing it, but it is physically and emotionally draining. One of the hardest things about it is getting my colleagues to do something. I have one colleague who's done a lot. He's outlined the scheduled and the topics we'll cover during the training week. He's found some online resources. I'm just filling in the gaps there. The other two are running sections on their own and so far I have no idea what's going on with them even though I've asked them about it. The hard part is that they don't report to me, so I have no control over their work and realistically, this program is very peripheral to their main job responsibilities. I still obsess. I can't help it.

I'm so afraid that some great big ball will drop and the whole juggling act will come crashing down. Sigh.

Perhaps these pictures will calm us all. They're actually a little blurry I think which is perhaps representative of my state of mind right now.

Garden before:



Garden after:



As always, there's more at Flickr (just click on one of the pics).

And now she's gone

Well, she's really sleeping in her hotel room 15 minutes away, but essentially, she's gone. And it wasn't that bad. She emptied and loaded the dishwasher once more and wait until you see what she did for my garden. I'm not on the camera computer right now, but I promise tomorrow, you'll see before and after.

There were some interesting moments, though. We were driving by a graveyard that I was pointing out had been established in 1699 and my mom said, "That reminds me, I need to get my will together."

During a discussion about gay marriage, she said, "I would have been really upset if you'd turned out gay." To which Mr. Geeky responded, "I wouldn't be at all surprised if one of our kids is gay."

I also noticed while we were having drinks with my neighbors that my mom is almost always in teacher mode. She talks as if she's in front of a class. I think she does this when she's feeling uncomfortable. I don't know. I found it very amusing when she launched into a lecture about the history of grocery store chains.

My mother is almost always right. If you correct her, she'll say, "No, I don't think so" and reiterate her point. And these are usually over matters of fact not of opinion. Thankfully, this doesn't bother me anymore, but when I was 16 . . . and 20 . . . and . . .

So I survived the visit. Did I mention that I'm writing a whole book about her?

Eye Meme

I didn't think I was gonna do this, but here it is:

Search fun!

The number one search that brings people here is "mom sex." On that search, you are led to this post about the Kinsey movie. I'm the number one result in some search engines for "best friend's mom naked." Another search is "sexy mom" and the results of that search are disturbing at best. Then there's the "naked sex ladies over 60" and "naked mom pictures." Quite interesting. There are a lot of sad and lonely people out there.

But my favorite is "dog hair dye." Are these people dying a poodle pink or something?

While looking at my search results, because I hadn't in a while, I ran into a post that I really liked. It's this one, about the shifting of identities I go through.

There are two things I like about my site meter statistics. One is that they often lead me to people I didn't know were linking to me and so I find new and interesting people to read. The other is, these search results often lead me to older posts like the one above that I go back and read and think, "That's kind of interesting." The web is a great place.

Mom visit update

Because I know you're all waiting with bated breath. So far not too bad. I've managed to let the few fingernail scraping moments slide. My mother quit smoking a few months ago and it really does make her so much more pleasant to be around. But she still needs stuff to do. As I said in a comment below, she's folded clothes and done the dishes since she's been here. Sigh.

We went to Ikea and Lowe's this morning where we got materials for the great garden makeover. Hopefully, it will stop raining tomorrow so we can implement the plan. I'll have before and after shots tomorrow. We also got birdfeeders--very cute. It was actually fun shopping with her. And if it weren't for the rain, I think it would have been even more fun. We just didn't feel like running around and getting wet between stores.

We're going out to dinner tonight and, if the weather is nice, we'll have some friends over to cook out. Mr. Geeky is dying to cook out for some reason.

I hear the laughter of children. Mom duties call.

Friday Random Ten: Mother edition

In honor of my mother's visit, a random ten for her. So far, no arguments yet.

Mom--Beth Waters
Mothership--Drop Trio
There Come Our Mothers--Ladysmith Black Mambazo
That Was Your Mother--Paul Simon
Mother And Child Reunion--Paul Simon
Mothers Of The Disappeared--U2
Mama, You Got A Daughter--John Lee Hooker
Hey Mama--Los Mocosos
Mama--Sugarcubes

All I could get was nine.

fridayshuffle, random10

Mom descends

My mother arrives any minute. I am trying not to be tense about it, but I'm tense. Even if we avoid topics likely to incite disagreement, our personalities are so different that there's always a little tension. My mother cannot sit down and have a conversation. She must always be doing something. This drives me nuts. When people come to visit me, especially people I haven't seen in a while, I want to sit and talk to them. Though we may talk on the phone frequently, a face to face conversation is different. So if we are sitting, I'm always aware that my mother is getting antsy, that she wants to do something.

And she also gets bored when we are doing something. We can go shopping or to a museum and after a while, she's getting antsy and wants to go. She can never do one thing for too long. I try to be patient and understanding about this, but it's so counter to my own personality that it's hard. And of course, it's disruptive. We are used to moving kind of slowly, especially on the weekends, while my mom is a whirlwind of activity, flitting from this project to that project.

Was it Phantom Scribbler who was talking about the fingernails down a chalkboard effect of being around your parents? That is exactly it.

Class and Marriage

Today's installment of the NY Times series on class concerns marrying into a different class and the problems that causes. To some extent, Mr. Geeky and I came from different classes, though not as different as the couple portrayed in the article. Mr. Geeky's family was working class. His father worked for GM and retired at 51 when his division was bought out. His mother never finished college and eventually became a teacher's aide making less than $20,000/year. They have lived in the same small two-bedroom house in a borderline neighborhood (going quickly downhill) for 40 years. An aunt and uncle and their children live next door to his parents and next to them are his grandparents (grandfather deceased now).

These kind of living arrangements were unheard of to me. Among my friends anyone who aspired to remain near their family was a loser and probably didn't have any options. Admitedly, this was only a class issue in our small rural town where there were no opportunities for those of us going to college. In an urban area, like the one I live in now, it's common to return to the fold so to speak.

Mr. Geeky also did not go immediately to college. His parents had not offered him this opportunity, so he went part time and worked full time. When his brother, two years younger than he, was ready to go, Mr. Geeky asked for help in going to college full time. His brother had always expressed interest in being a doctor, so they had planned for him to go to college, but since Mr. Geeky had not expressed a definitive career goal that involved college, they just hadn't mentioned it to him. In my family, it didn't matter what you thought you wanted to be, you were going to college. Mr. Geeky and his brother also went to the big state school down the road. I was expected to go a nice, and expensive, liberal arts college.

These minor differences were not terribly important. They colored some of our decisions and some of our interactions. The biggest difference that still shows after 15 years of being together is the do it yourself vs. hiring someone attitude. When I was growing up, we hired people to do everything--yard work, housecleaning, painting, car repair, even minor remodeling. Mr. Geeky grew up with his father doing everything himself--even minor car repairs. Mr. Geeky is always afraid paying someone will cost to much and he, like his father and grandfther, feel that if you can do it yourself, you should. I am constantly pointing out that jobs are more complicated than he thinks and he just doesn't have the time and therefore, it's worth the money.

In many ways, we've taken what's best from each other's class culture and adopted it. Mr. Geeky now aspires for his children to go to ivy league colleges (or at least of that ilk) and expects to pay for it. He appreciates good food and good drink. I appreciate having family close by and the importance of keeping our own nuclear family close. I also appreciate a good bargain and think more before spending extravagantly. Mr. Geeky realizes that sometimes "you get what you pay for" and is willing to sometimes pay more for something if it will last longer. I don't care how something looks all the time and Mr. Geeky pays attention to outward appearances more (when it's appropriate).

I'd love to hear from people with even bigger differences in their marriage. I thought it was interesting that they focused only on one couple. Does that mean there aren't that many people out there like that?

The Three Meme

I've been reading these for a while (very fun) and AiE tagged me:

3 names you go by:
- Lu
- Mom
- Blankenship (people really call me by my last name)

3 screennames you've had (besides blog psuedonym):
- lblanken
-lu
-drphdmom

3 physical things you like about yourself:
- boobs
- hair
- weight

3 physical things you dislike about yourself:
- butt
- teeth
- the pooch

3 parts of your heritage:
- Scottish
- English
- German

3 things you are wearing right now:
- lime green (chartruse?) t-shirt
- my least favorite pair of Eddie Bauer jeans
- rockports

3 favorite bands / musical artists:
- U2
- They Might Be Giants
- Bare Naked Ladies

3 things you want in a relationship:
- companionship
- support
- fun

3 physical things about the preferred sex that appeals to you:
- eyes
- legs
- smooth hands

3 of your favorite hobbies:
- blogging
- playing video games
- writing

3 things you want to do really badly right now:
- take a really long vacation (3 or 4 weeks)
- be pampered
- sleep

3 things that scare you:
- something happening to one of my kids
- something happening to Mr. Geeky
- random crazy people

3 of your everyday essentials:
- coffee
- internet
- sleep

3 careers you have considered or are considering:
- college professor
- poet
- something in the non-profit sector

3 places you want to go on vacation:
- Greece
- Hawaii
- New England (hey, I've never been)

3 kids' names you like:
(besides the two we have)
- Harrison (runner up for Geeky Boy's name)
- Meredith
- Zackery

3 things you want to do before you die:
- publish a book (heck, I'd settle for finishing one)
- take a trip around the world
- buy the perfect house

3 ways you are stereotypically a boy:
- I like to play video games
- I drink lots of beer (and prefer beer over any other alcohol)
- I don't care much about how I look

3 ways you are stereotypically a chick:
- I giggle
- I like buying stuff for the house
- I like date movies

3 celeb crushes:
- Orlando Bloom
- Harrison Ford
- Vigo Mortensen

3 people I would like to see take this quiz now:
-Has anyone not done this? Bitch, Ph.D? jimbo? timna?

Before I forget . . .

A to-do list for tomorrow:

Finish stairs
Clean up hall desk and bedroom desk
Clean up bar
Buy wine
Drop off stuff at thrift shop
Drop off recycling

There's no way all this is going to happen mind you. They're goals really.

Primary Observations

This was a primary election in an off-off year. There was nothing major at stake. We had maybe a 20% turnout of registered voters. What was interesting to me was the kind of people who showed up, the people who are most dedicated to participating in the election process. Most of the people who came were over 65. I would say 75% at least. It was disappointing that more people of working age didn't show. The thing is the people that win these local elections sometimes serve as the minor league players for the next level up, for state positions and then for national positions. So aside from the importance of participating in local politics, the local politicians are often the ones who end up being the national politicians years down the road.

The other thing that I think is depressing is letting the people who are 80 and 90 years old determine your future. Not that I'm knocking their right to participate, but my impression with many of them is that they are afraid of change and that they are voting mainly to keep the status quo (a huge generalization I realize, but somewhat accurate for my area I think).

Republicans outnumber Democrats in our district, but not by the huge margins that showed up to vote yesterday. Of the 211 voters, 155 were Republicans. That's about 75% Republican. I think it's really about 60% Republican, but so many Democrats didn't even bother to vote. Part of the reason for that is that nothing was contested on the Democratic ticket, but there was a bond issue to vote on that was a statewide issue. In my area, at least, it seems that Democrats are less likely to vote.

The whole thing was kind of depressing. It's like we (the Democrats) feel defeated. I fully admit that I rarely voted in local elections, both because I was too lazy, but also because I was never in one place for long enough to care. Now that I'm in a place where I think I'll stay, I plan to participate more and get my fellow Democrats out to vote.

Post Primary Post

Hee--couldn't resist the alliteration. I want to write a bit about today's primary, but I'm a little too tired at the moment and want to catch up on blog reading first. How many of you voted today?

Quick Post

I'm monitoring primaries today so won't be checking in. If you have primaries or school board elections, go vote!

Class and Health

The second installment of the NYT series on class is out today and its focus is on class and health. Using three people from three different classes who all have heart attacks, they cover everything from hospital choices, doctor's visits and diet and exercise options. I wrote about this issue myself a while back. The issue I have with all these calls to eat better and exercise more is that these options are often not available to people at lower income levels. I, myself, who am supposedly in the top fifth in income (who knew!), can't really afford to join a health club, though I do have a nice neighborhood for walking and free access to tennis and basketball courts. I also complained about the cost of healthy food. Though I have found some possibilities (Trader Joe's and a good produce store nearby), it's still hard to reconcile spending $3.00 on asparagus that will only last for one meal when you can buy $3.00 in potatoes that will last for several meals. This is just the way most people watching a food budget think. Prices are more important than the nutrition label.

The NYT article is really revealing. The woman in the lower class was at a disadvantage to begin with, having unhealthy habits and not really knowing or having access to resources that would help her change those habits. Her visit to the doctor revealed other health problems that might have been caught at regular preventative visits, but without good health insurance and shaky language skills, those visits never occurred. In some ways, it's an argument for nationalized health care. I'm not saying it's the be-all end-all, but national health care would solve a number of problems. The bankruptcy issue, for one. Social Security, for another. When health care costs are a huge chunk of everyone's budget, relieving that chunk or lessening it means they are less likely to have financial difficulties as a result of health problems and less to worry about as they get older and have lots of medicine and doctor visits. They might not even have the health problems to begin with because they would have gotten proper care earlier.

We have been very, very lucky, but there have been times when we haven't had health insurance (like in grad school) and if something had happened (car wreck, major illness), we would have been in deep trouble. But, of course, we have families who are financially stable enough to help us and that's what many in the lower classes do not have. There's no one to bail them out.

For some reason, this whole issue makes me think of a Dickens novel where the poor families live in squalor and suffer horrible illnesses while the wealthy families go out for daily constitutionals and take trips to southern Italy to regain their health. I had always identified with the families in squalor because I certainly can't take trips to Italy on a whim. But I see now that I'm closer to that than I am to whithering away from a disease. A scary thought.

Blogopoly

This is really cute. I think it'd be fun to play it on the first day of the blog class--and maybe again on the last day.

Class and politics

There were a few posts about class this week. Class is one of my favorite topics because it is so complicated. I haven't yet read the NYTimes series on class referred to in several of the posts, but I did read David Brooks' column about why the poor tend to vote Republican. Here is Brooks' assessment:

These working-class folk like the G.O.P.'s social and foreign policies, but the big difference between poor Republicans and poor Democrats is that the former believe that individuals can make it on their own with hard work and good character.

According to the Pew study, 76 percent of poor Republicans believe most people can get ahead with hard work. Only 14 percent of poor Democrats believe that. Poor Republicans haven't made it yet, but they embrace what they take to be the Republican economic vision - that it is in their power to do so. Poor Democrats are more likely to believe they are in the grip of forces beyond their control.

The G.O.P. succeeds because it is seen as the party of optimistic individualism.

What I wonder is which view is really true. In looking the graphics from the NY Times series (yes, that's all I've had time for), it seems that there isn't much mobility at the very top or the very bottom. If you're in one of those classes you're likely to stay there. So it seems to me that the chances of someone achieving the American Dream when they start at the bottom are pretty slim. But I'm completely aware of the surrounding culture that tells us otherwise.

My own class story is that I was born into the upper middle class. I married into the middle to lower-middle class and we are now solidly simply middle class. Except according to the NY Times, we're in the upper middle class. Which just seems wrong. We're just missing some of the markers: big house, nice car, lots of vacations. What we have instead is: lots of degrees, multiple computers, lots of books, "enrichment" activities. When we first moved to the area after living in a place where the class structure is pretty flat, I had a hard time adjusting. Here, the upper middle class is seriously upper. There are mansions all around worth millions of dollars. A bmw is considered an economy car when people drive jaguars, hummers, and alfa romeos on a regular basis. When I went to the grocery store, I was regularly confronted by personal-trainer sculpted bodies weighed down with jewelry and fur coats. I had never seen such an ostentatious display of wealth in my life. And I chafed because I had thought that that was my class, but now I was looked down upon in my American car with my jeans, no makeup, no jewelry self. I did not like the feeling of being poor (even though I really wasn't!!).

But then again, I chafe against being upper middle class. Growing up, I went to public school. The district was drawn in a way that I went to school with kids from the projects. That experience made me realize the luck of the draw, the way I had just been lucky to be born to the parents I was born to. Beginning in junior high, I volunteered through my church to work with the kids in the projects. Much of what I experienced led me to believe that there was no way out for them. We weren't doing things that helped them; we were merely distracting them from their plight.

More recently, when I taught at a large urban state university, we did a unit that feature some of the work of Jonathon Kozol. Many of my students identified with the children he described. They walked by liquor stores, bums passed out on the street, and abandoned houses on their way to school. Everything around them told them they were going to fail. And their schools were no different. In talking about their school environment, one student said, "Maybe if we'd had grass on our playgrounds, we would have felt more optimisitc." Another talked about students in high school selling drugs because it was the fast track to the American Dream. It allowed them to buy the cars, clothes and accoutrements they saw their richer counterparts buy. These students had made it to college, but they were well aware of the people they'd left behind. I really loved those students and was very sad to leave them. If I ever taught anywhere again, it would be there.

I think class is very damaging, both psychologically and economically. Though I'd like to believe that anyone can move up, I think we're better off with a more pessimistic view. If the optimistic view means that just a few people make it, it seems the pessimistic view might mean that even more people make it. And I'm not pollyanna enough to believe that class structures will ever flatten out completely, but I do believe that the playing field can only be leveled if we force people to level it. Big business isn't going to do it. It's not in their best interest. The question is, how do we articulate our ideas about class and helping those less fortunate in a way that isn't condescending (which is what I think Kerry did sometimes, even if he didn't mean to). I think we have a long road ahead.

Update: The New York Times is similarly ambivalent: "Blind optimism has its pitfalls. If opportunity is taken for granted, as something that will be there no matter what, then the country is less likely to do the hard work to make it happen. But defiant optimism has its strengths. Without confidence in the possibility of moving up, there would almost certainly be fewer success stories."

What's left

Major accomplishments today. (I even washed and vacuumed the car! Not even on the list!)

The day was absolutely gorgeous. I wore shorts for the first time--hooray! I had to resist buying lots more plants at the store since my mother's coming next week. But they all looked so good. Of course, after reading an article on peak oil in Salon, I thought I should rush back and buy some veggie plants. I think I should grow chick peas. Are they legumes or what? How do they grow? I think I could live off of them--seriously. I'm totally plant illiterate. I do have books about them. Maybe that will help.

So the list continues, with indoor activities for tomorrow since it is likely going to rain:

Clean up front porch area--just needs a good vacuum
Laundry--done enough
Find places to take books/toys
Take books/toys to those places
Finish tweaking blog template (though I'm sure I'll play around with it more)
Trip to grocery store
Bills

The porch really must be done. And the bills and grocery store. The rest can wait until later. There's no way my house will be completely ready for my mother's visit. She's just going to have to see it in it's real state.

The To-Do List

Because I find it useful to put up a public to-do list, here it is:

For today:
Clean up front porch area
Get recycling containers
Laundry
Find places to take books/toys
Take books/toys to those places
Finish tweaking blog template
Trip to grocery store
Bills

For tomorrow (but maybe today):
Get container plants
Clean up deck area
Dig out other third of garden area

I'm actually feeling halfway human today after feeling pretty much dead yesterday. I had hoped to work on some of the above chores after the races, but felt so run down, I actually took a short nap and then laid around on the couch.

Just looked at the forecast--I may have to shift tomorrow's chores to today since it's supposed to rain tomorrow--dang. It might rain today. Guess I'd better get on that gardening thing.

Yes, I'm tweaking again

There are still a few more tweaks to be made. Man, that blogroll is long!

Back from the races

Here's a couple of pictures from the races. You can see the rest by clicking through to Flickr. I'm exhausted!

Off to the races

My kids have their annual field day today where they run races against each other. Did I mention that they're the only ones who don't have official school shirts? Sigh. No one told me. I'm volunteering this afternoon at the duck pond. Yay. I'm actually charging the video camera as we speak.

The bad thing about being sick with a cold is that you wake up really early because you can't breathe. So I went to bed around 11:30 last night and got up at 6:15. I prefer 8 hours, especially when I'm sick. At least I don't have to work today.

I'll let you know who wins at the races.

I'm a confused human with three world views

You scored as Modernist. Modernism represents the thought that science and reason are all we need to carry on. Religion is unnecessary and any sort of spirituality halts progress. You believe everything has a rational explanation. 50% of Americans share your world-view. Existentialist 63% Modernist 63% Postmodernist 63% Idealist 44% Cultural Creative 44% Materialist 31% Romanticist 13% Fundamentalist 6% What is Your World View? created with QuizFarm.com

seen at Scrivenings

Fahrenheit 451, Information, and the Blogosphere

Believe it or not, a meme made me read a book. I hadn't read F451, though I knew the basic plot, so when the F451 meme went around, I thought I should read the book it was based on. So I did and it was good. (Someone else around here just read it too. I can't remember who.) I'm thinking about using this book in my blogging course in the fall. We want to spend some time talking about information generally and I think the book is a good representation of information and its relationship to society. Vapid information in the form of television is okay, but literature and especially contradictory literature is not okay.

It seems to me that we've come to this point in terms of the media. I get so frustrated with tv news because they absolutely shy away from conflict. I have a little of my lawyer dad in me and I'm always yelling, "Ask the question, just ask the question." My dad says there's always some key questions in every case. If you figure out what they are and ask them in ways that get the answers you want, you win the case. 90% of the time, the media never asks the question. It's like the people they interview have told them not to (and I realize that's entirely possible). I also think about those town hall meetings Bush has been having where the only people who are allowed attend are people who agree with him. No contradictions. Don't confuse the people. Burn the books. I seriously often feel that they're hiding a lot of information from us. And the media focusing on runaway brides and cessnas that accidentally get into restricted airspace doesn't help the problem.

There's that aspect of information--misinformation and/or hiding of information. Then there's also information overload. Shortly after I finished F451, I ran into this article about information. He argues that, contrary to popular belief, we aren't actually taking in more information than we did 100 years ago, but it's just a different kind of information. Instead of knowing about farming conditions and trees and fauna and flora, we know about current events or literature or popular culture. The quote that struck me and reminded me of F451 was this:

Many of us have even let television or movie stars replace, for purposes of gossip and caring, the kinds of relatives and neighbors who would have filled those roles for us even only 100 years ago. Since what all those stars do is pretty intensely scripted, it’s like living in a gossip monoculture equivalent to 1,000 square miles of the same specific subspecies of wheat.

Of course, that's exactly what the people in F451 do; they watch "the family" on their walls of tvs. And [spoiler alert] while they're doing that, their government takes them into yet another nuclear war which destroys them all.

And that is my fear. And that is what is behind a lot of blogs. The attempt--not always successful--to find out what information is being hidden, when we're being distracted by certain information (is Social Security reform a distraction?) and whether the information that we read is true. We have many more ways of checking.

The article quoted above is actually about the freedom of information. To some extent a lot of information is free (that is available and at no cost), but there's an awful lot that isn't. When strict copyright laws prevent someone from preserving The Eyes on the Prize, does that chapter in our history fade? Does someone rewrite it? There are a lot of issues there. And I'm not sure I agree with his conclusion that we'll just figure it out. Corporate greed and a secretive government are not a good combination for creating an environment for information to run free.

Politics

I haven't really written about politics lately. I've been pretty bored by it, I must say. It's not that I don't care, but it seems like everyone is talking about the same thing, saying the same thing. The issues I really care about I feel powerless to change: peak oil, for example.

Since I'm sick and have plenty of time on my hands, I decided to open up the much-neglected "Politically-Leaning Blogs" folder. I had nearly 1000 unread posts in there. The thing is, many of them repeat themselves; whenever one of them writes about a topic, many of them write the same thing. This seems to be a simultaneous occurance; most of the poltical bloggers are reading the same sources and react similarly to the issues. So, I tend to find bloggers whose writing I like and if they post on political issues (like Bitch, Ph.D.), I'll likely read that and follow any relevant links. It's not that there isn't some good writing and information to be found out there, but that it's just not doing anything for me. I'm liking The Oil Drum right now because they give me information about a topic I care about that I couldn't find anywhere else.

A couple of weeks ago, I was thinking about this little blog community I have here and how insular it is--which is a good thing, I think--but I also thought that perhaps the best political action would be to go comment on a blog whose content I disagree with. I have looked for one, but haven't found one yet. Delagar, whose blog I really like, pulls in content from sources she disagrees with. The thing is, I don't want some Rush Limaugh type who's just spouting stuff, but someone who seems earnest, but might be misinformed or might just think differently than me and have reasons for their positions. It'd be an interesting exercise.

Sick Day: Schedule of Events

6:30 a.m.: Wake up with sore throat, ears exploding, nose running
6:31 a.m.: Decide not to go to work
6:35 a.m.: Tell Mr. Geeky you're not going to work.
6:45 a.m.: Hobble downstairs, make coffee, take various medications
6:50 a.m.: Back into bed, with new bed rest with heat and massage action plus cupholder and reading light (Mother's Day gift)
6:51 a.m.: Begin blogging, reading mostly
7:30 a.m.: Wake up Geeky Boy, help him get breakfast
7:40 a.m.: Back to blogging, with occasional breaks to check on progress toward door.
8:11 a.m. : Write fascinating blog post about being sick
8:12 a.m.: More blog reading and actual commenting.
8:30 a.m.: Send email to people who will care that I'm gone.
9:00 a.m.: Shower
9:20 a.m.: Watch tivoed This Week with G.S. while folding clothes (lots of pauses to put new loads in, take clothes out; about 3 loads were folded)
10:00 a.m: Watch tivoed Reliable Sources while continuing to fold.
10:15 a.m.: Finish load of clothes, get bored with show.
10:16 a.m.: Read two chapters of CSS book.
11:00 a.m.: Check email, answer a few, more blogging.
12:00 p.m.: Lunch and more laundry folding.
1:10 p.m.: Take a bath and read Dilbert.
2:00 p.m.: Call neighbor to see if she can retrieve the boy after track practice.
2:05 p.m.: Throw in another load of clothes.
2:10 p.m.: Read two more chapters of CSS book.
3:15 p.m.: More blogging.

Which brings me to now. I am amazingly down to only one or two loads of laundry left for the day. I'm not even halfway through the book though. My plan for the rest of the day is to watch bad tv while folding clothes, hope that the kid shows up, order pizza for dinner, watch tivoed Amazing Race with family. Not a bad sick day altogether. Throat still feels yucky and I think I'm going to have to go in tomorrow, which sucks. We'll see how it goes.

Sick day

I am home sick. I'm not so sick as to need to be in bed all day. I probably could have popped some medicine and made it through the work day. But I always regret it when I do that. I end up sicker and I don't really accomplish anything at work. So I can sit here in the comfort of my own home with my laptop and piddle away. I can sniff and sneeze without anyone noticing.

Of course, I will probably try to get something done. I want to do some work around the house and I brought home a book on CSS that I've been trying to read forever. I can probably polish that off today.

It's funny how we feel guilty if we take a day and don't do anything. I used to skip class at the first sign of illness and I felt horribly guilty. Of course, I probably could have sat through an hour of class; working for 8 hours is a little different. I mean, no one will really miss me if I'm not there. The world will not come to an end. And yet, the tug of guilt. Will they think I'm not a hard worker? That I'm lazy? Will they think I'm doing this just to get out of a meeting? I don't think those things about other people. Why do I think they're thinking it about me? Why do we do this to ourselves. It's crazy.

The other thing about sick days or vacation days spent at home is that I start thinking about the wonderful freedom of controlling your own schedule. In some ways I like the forced schedule of working 9-5. It means that I can stop at 5 and not think about work until 9 the next day. Though I sometimes violate this, it's an easy excuse to tell myself that no one expects me to work past 5 (and I don't get paid for it) and so if task Y is a day late, big deal. But then sometimes, I wish I could simply do what I want when I want during the day. Having a day interrupted by meetings and email and phone calls means if I want to do something like read a book or write an article, it has to be done piecemeal or I have to escape to another location (and then people are wondering what the hell I'm up to and am I *really* working). And there's the kid factor of being able to hang with them more than I do now. So sometimes I wish I had a job that allowed me to work on my own schedule, but I probably couldn't do the kind of work I do like that and I like the work I do. But you know, I've changed careers like every 5 years or so, so it could happen again.

All this because I have a sore throat and stuffy nose. :)

A twisted tale of blogging and privacy

Since this is the topic of the week, I thought some of you might be interested in a rather extreme version of a blogger's privacy being violated. If you don't follow the SCO-IBM trial that's going on, you probably didn't hear about this, but Burningbird has a nice summary, including a good quote from the blogger in question, Pamela Jones:

I never agreed to be a public person. I don’t want to be, and I have a human and a legal right to privacy. Just because you decide to blog, it doesn’t rob you of your rights as a private person.

I heard this whole sorted story in the car this morning, because Mr. Geeky is obsessed with the SCO trial and has been following Groklaw since its inception. Just some more for us to think about.

The True Slacker Mom: Me

For the record--and some background--I now share office space with 3 men (hi, guys!). Not a problem, really. I'm somewhat comfortable being the only woman around. But I'm also a mom and there are different expectations that go with that.

We're sitting around talking about various domestic issues. I'm actually multitasking and reading e-mail and articles at the same time (don't ask). We're talking about who cooks in the household and I mention that I do all the cooking and Mr. Geeky and Geeky Boy clean up. Which I don't mind because I like to cook and hate cleaning up. The biggest issue right now, I say, is that I often have to fix multiple meals because I tend to make things that kids don't like. My kids eat PB&J half the time, I say.

Office guy: Well, that sounds real healthy. Aren't you worried about nutrition and development and all that?
Me: My kids are lucky to be alive.

Huge laughter from the guys. I don't think it's that funny. It's the kind of snark I use among like-minded moms all the time. Somehow, for them, the incongruity of their image of what a mom should be--you know forcing the veggies and fruits--vs. my attitude of "at least they're not dead" struck them as funny.

Of course, one of them already ribbed me in the winter for a day I forgot to make the kids wear coats (hey, it was warm in the morning). It's true. I'm a slacker. Or a true evolutionist (survival of the fittest and all).

Note that CBS had a segment on this last night.

Nothing to say

I'm having somewhat of a writer's block, both here and in other writing I'm doing. Unfortunate, since I got linked by IHE. First, I think you should read what Profgrrrrl has to say about this whole linking by them thing. I didn't know I'd been linked until I read it in the comments there. Obviously, I'm not paying attention. You should also scroll down in her blog and see the comments to this post. And Jill writes about it too.

If you're here from IHE, put the post in context. There are other, better posts on the same topic. And you know, I'm a a human being, so there's other stuff here too.

Odes to me (from my kids)

Mom, You Are Special Because

You make us dinner.
You read to me.
You play Games with me.
You wake me up in the morning.
You help me with my homework.
You give me an allowance.
You don't do drugs.
You don't smoke.
You don't chew tobacco.
You obey the law.

Love Geeky Boy.

---

Mom rocks
Open-mind
Terrific
Handy
Extra special
Really awesome



Happy mother's day
May 8, 2005


Love,

Geeky Girl

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day everyone! If you're looking for something cheerful, move along.

I have issues with mother's day, unfortunately, because I have issues with my mother. She is the reason this blog is anonymous/pseudononymous. I probably shouldn't worry about that since the other day, she said to me, "When I start up the internet, I see this Google thing. Am I paying for that?"

My mother and I have never gotten along. I am honestly jealous of people, like Profgrrrrl, who have good relationships with their mothers. Of course, I'd have to have a completely different mother first. I tolerate her now--and of course I love her the way you love any relative--but I really just don't understand her. Since I was very young, my mother has pushed me to be things I'm not, to try to fit me into whatever her vision of what I should be is. She's still doing this, though thankfully, she can't force this the way she used to. The results now are a complete talking past one another and not understanding where the other person is. A simple example. My yard. My mother is coming to visit and wants to work in my yard. She has no understanding of my not caring about my yard and my tiny postage stamp size of a yard. I have a feeling she will gasp when she sees it. Her working in the yard is not what I have issues with; it's her not listening to me. She'll say, maybe you need a small tree then. And I'll say, As I said before, there wouldn't be room for that. You can see how this would be a big problem on bigger issues. She's still going to try to turn me and my yard into the epitome of suburban living. Which I really, really don't want. I'm still holding out the possibility that she won't gasp or make some backhanded compliment and will just plant some plants. Who knows. It's probably more my issue anyway.

I just feel uncomfortable around my mom. I'm sort of constantly afraid that we'll end up fighting. I try my very best to let her comments slide, but sometimes the 100th comment the needles me is impossible to ignore.

Mr. Geeky said, after our last visit, that he thinks she's the same person she was at 25. That kind of makes sense to me since as I've gotten older, I've gotten a little less tolerant or distant. I'm 37 and want a mom who knows what 37 is like and I'm not sure she does. She's 60 going on 25.

Part of me wonders why I care. Why don't I just write off our relationship and move on? But then there's Mother's Day and birthdays and holidays and we have to go through the motions of pretending we like each other. Sigh.

And I know I should be thankful to have a mom who cares about me, because it could be worse. But when what you've got kind of sucks . . .

And, of course, I worry about my own role as a mother. Am I going to repeat the same mistakes? Are my children going to feel the same way about me when they get older? And how the hell do you prevent that anyway?

Good haircut

I got a great haircut today. See?



And it didn't cost too much and she showed me how to style it in 4 different ways without too much work. Now, we'll just have to see what I can manage tomorrow. The pin you see there--gift from Geeky Girl for mother's day. She made it herself.

She also gave me the Kindergarten Cookbook. What they did was ask the kids to make recipes for their favorite meals. They were so funny. One kid's chicken recipe involved first removing the "hair" from the chicken and most of them had their oven temperatures set to 5 or 8 degrees. I'll have to post a couple of them here.

General Saturday Rambling Before I get my ass into the shower.

Saturday is my favorite day. I can laze around mostly. There's another day after to make up for the lazing and to sleep in. For instance, I am still in my jammies and slippers at 10:30. I am still catching up on the blog reading--shew! You people in the "Cool Blogs" category, you are prolific--cut that out! And the political blogs, forget it, I'll never catch up.

My mother was supposed to visit next weekend, but something came up and she's postponing for a week. I am grateful because my house, like my blog habit, is somewhat neglected. I'm hoping to whip a few things into shape this weekend--tomorrow, really. Today, there is lacrosse, followed by a trip to the pet store--toys and treats for the hamsters--then a much-needed haircut.

Laundry is taking over the house and I'm truly afraid it might come to life and smother us. How does this happen? Oh, yeah, that lazing around on Saturday. Sigh. Did I mention that the lawn looks like a meadow and the garden area looks like a desert? Not a good combination. The weather doesn't look like it's going to cooperate or I'd deal with that too. What I really need is hired help, but Mr. Geeky and I are both too cheap and too poor (can you be both at once?) to hire anyone--especially for the garden stuff. And we don't really care that much. We'd rather save for a family vacation or a new computer. Those are the things that really matter. :) Wait--Mr. Geeky just announced he's cutting the grass. But then he has to write an NSF grant. It never ends.

On the vegetarian front, things are going quite well. Mr. Geeky, though, is not doing well. Two days ago, he announced he needed to hit a drive through and last night, while eating out, he ordered steak. I had a salad. He's probably not going to like the chick-pea burgers I have planned for dinner. Oh well. I'm actually quite happy with my new eating habits and that, combined with the medication, has me feeling good. I have slacked on the exercise this week, though, so I need to get all that going in combo and then we'll see.

Hamster pictures

Geeky boy has posted hamster pictures!

Friday Random Ten

Yay! It's Friday! Maybe I'll catch up tomorrow.

I'll Never Be The Same--Django Reinhardt
Banquet--Bloc Party
Good Kids make Bad Grown Ups--Ariel Pink
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right--Bob Dylan
Beneath The Rose--Micah P. Hinson
Discretion--Pedro The Lion
Your Love Now--th' Losin Streaks
I Am The Lazer Viking--An Albatross
Now Rectify--Near Miss
No Time This Time--The Police

random10, fridayshuffle

Responsibilty

Sometimes I hate being responsible. It seems like I'm always the one holding things together. I know where the shoes are, who has an afterschool activity, and what bills ned to be paid. When did I become that person? And when do I get a break?

Can you please stop writing?

Seriously, I'm so behind. Can everyone just stop so I can catch up?

Occupying a liminal space

Earlier, I wrote about the faculty/staff divide. While I still think the divide sometimes exists and sometimes the two sides view each other with contempt or suspicion, I am coming to view myself as occupying the space between. I'm on neither side. Someone asked me the other day if I was thinking about pursuing a full-time faculty position and I said no--after some thought. Yes, a faculty position might be more "prestigious" but there are so many things I don't like about it: the tenure struggle, grading, the constant uncertainty, the singular focus on one thing. With my current position, I can do faculty-like things (teaching, writing, conferences) without those things affecting whether I keep my job. I like the huge variety of projects I work on and I like the very pragmatic nature of much of what I work on. I get bored by thinking abstractly for too long. Though I greatly appreciate those that can do this and give me things to think about. There's more to say on this but I can only type so much on a treo. :)

Update: Here.

Lack of sleep continues apace

I am in this horrible pattern of staying up late and getting up early. It's not that I'm not I'm not tired. I just can't make myself go to sleep. I feel the need to do stuff before going to bed--read, blog, whatever. Before I know it, it's 11:30 or 12. This morning, someone called at 6 a.m.--wrong number. Of course, I was awake after that and got up.

And work continues to be busy. I'm preparing for several summer events--booking rooms, arranging for food. I've had lots of people coming in to work on projects needing my help. I'm looking forward to graduation when it will all be over and I can get back to my regular life. Probably won't happen, but one can dream.

You know you're tired when . . .

You read sentences over and over and you think they're in English, but you have no idea what the meaning of those random words strung together is. Maybe this is how Bush feels most of the time.

We have hamsters and Chinese food

Not necessarily at the same time, mind you. We were not eating hamsters for dinner.

First, the hamsters. We have two. One black and one white. They're very cute. One has already figured out the wheel. Tomorrow I'm going to help Geeky Boy get some pictures onto his blog and I'll let him reveal the names to you. Suffice it to say, they're quite cute and somewhat original.

Okay, now for Chinese food. One of Mr. Geeky's colleagues is Chinese and she picked the place. She ordered all the food for us from the Chinese menu, not the English one. So we had the following:

Appetizers:
Jellyfish
Tendons
Vegetarian dumplings
Beef dumplings
West Lake Beef Chowder

Main dishes:
Peking duck with scallions and pancakes
Mushrooms and mini bok choy
Eggplant
Oxtail soup
Spicy chicken
Fish

I only ate vegetarian and seafood dishes--a sort of gradual shift to vegetarianism. Mr. Geeky was quite supportive and made sure there was enough for me to eat. It was all very good. I especially liked the Eggplant which was in a pretty sweet sauce and the mushrooms were good too. The dinner was quite pleasant and we spent a good deal of time swapping qualifying exam and thesis defense stories. Though we ended on cannibalism stories--not sure how we ended up there.

Random Monday Thoughts

The internet is slow today. Thankfully, not too many blogs to read this morning.

A more substantial post is coming. There are two in my head still on science and public interest and credit card debt.

Department dinner tonight (Mr. Geeky's dept.). These are the moments when you wish you had an anonymous blog. I could give a good blow by blow. Unfortunately, everyone in the department likes each other, so nothing exciting would probably happen anyway. If something does and it's bloggable, you'll see it later this evening.

I really wish I didn't have to get up so early. Couldn't I just wander in at 10? This 7 a.m. stuff is for the birds.

A brighter day

I woke up with the headache but took tylenol along with my thyroid medication and the headache is gone. Yay! The sun is shining; the kids are both away and friends' houses; Mr. Geeky is at the office working.

I still don't feel up for much today and I'm not going to force it. You know that post-illness energy drain? That's how I feel today. Better, but without energy. So what if I don't add two or three more pages to my piece for the writing group tonight? It really won't matter. Mr. Geeky is doing grocery duty and has started the laundry. So while I have the house to myself, I'm either going to watch bad tv or play video games or maybe change the blog template.

The sun is shining and I could, in theory, work in the yard, but it's still wet from the rain and it's just a tad cool out. I am a temperature wimp. That's what the south will do to you. :)

The family went to see the Hitchhiker's Guide and liked it. Geeky Boy especially liked it. Speaking of Geeky Boy, the hamsters are arriving at our house tomorrow evening. You'll have to keep an eye out on his blog to find out more about their arrival. I think they'll be a nice addition to the family.