30. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
OK, I am behind on my book reviews so I cannot do this one justice. I really liked this book. It is a beautifully written story of several characters connected in complex ways between pre WWII Poland to current day New York. Just really well done.

31. Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Another Foundation book. I actually think I liked the second book best, but this one was good and did indeed have a female portagonist.

32. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
Loved this book! It is a collection of people's memories of the Zombie War. If you enjoy post-apocalyptic works, you will enjoy this one.

33. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
This is a straight up good ol' fashioned sci-fi novel. Basically, at some time in the future humans have colonies all over the universe. They are protected by the Colonial Forces, which you are eligible to join at age 75. There is lots of adventure and some cool ideas about living in space and human colonization of other planets. It wasn't necessarily great literature, but I enjoyed it. Also nice to read a book from the POV of a 75 year old man. :)

Music meme!

I could not resist (seen all about on various blogs):
The rules, again, should you have missed them the first time around:

Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike through when someone gets them right I'm bolding because I can't be bothered to the html for striking through:)
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING.

1. Istanbul was Constantinople...TMBG
2. Que sera oh que sera/ The future will be, will be with us I've seen the headlines (NOT Doris Day)
3. Me and all the kids from the neighborhood--
4. She's into superstitions, black cats and voodoo dolls Livin' la Vida Loca -- Ricky Martin
5. destroy your safe and happy lives before it is too late,
6. Our first date was our last date.
7. I'm not a leader, I'm not a left-wing rhetoric mobilizing force of one, The pointless, yet poignant crisis of a co-ed, Dar Williams
8. 6 am day after christmas Brick, Ben Folds Five
9. It's happy hour again
10. If you're gonna get your heart broke, you better do it just right, The Blessings, Dar
11. on one hand i'm walking
12. My my my it’s a beautiful world Beautiful World, Colin Hay Band
13. squint your eyes and look closer 32 Flavors -- Ani
14. It's been a while since I've seen your face
15. Holiday Celebrate Madonna! Holiday
16. I'll never know what you'll find when you open up your letter box tomorrow Letterbox, TMBG
17. Look I'm standing naked before you Leather, Tori Amos
18. Secure yourself to heaven Secure Yourself, Indigo Girls
19. Don't worry about me, I'm gonna make it alright
20. I am walking Both Hands, Ani
21. Once upon a sign I read a warning and it said
22. Your eyes are made of wild blue sky
23. Fría como una estatua de sal Vuelve, Shakira
24. oh lordy,trouble so hard
25. Hey Sweet Annie

Facebook

I have a bone to pick with Facebook. I received an email telling me how my friends voted on my good and bad sides. Under bad they had best scientist!!! How can be being the best scientist be bad?? Is Facebook trying to propagate the idea that being a scientist is bad? My other bad quality was punctuality, which I think is a total good quality.

Still alive

It has been a while since I gave my trusty blog readers a real post. Sorry about that. Every day the dissertation becomes more all encompassing. Perhaps this means I will finish it? Who knows.

Anyway, since we last spoke I have had my birthday, flown to Ohio for a conference where I was an anthropology rock star and presented a rock star caliber poster and then returned home, taught, and caught the plague. Actually, it is just a minor plague.

So, my birthday was the 6th. R had to leave that morning to be woo-ed by grad schools so we celebrated the night before by taking the ferry to Staten Island and eating at an Italian restaurant staffed by Italian grandmas. Some of the food was great, some was mediocre but the wine was awesome as was the whole experience of taking the ferry, etc. On my actual birthday I met two friends for brunch and then we went for pedicures. Yay, pedicures! It was awesome and relaxing and now my toe nails are a nice robin egg blue. I am going to try to make pedicures a bigger part of my life.

On the 9th I flew to Ohio for a conference. I love conferences. This was the 4th time I had attended this particular conference, and I am starting to feel really comfortable at it, seeing all the same people and I'm more comfortable chatting with strangers. I had a poster to present which basically means I tack it up in a big room for 3 hours and stand by it for 1.5 of those hours, answering questions. I got really good feedback and lots of people said they couldn't wait to see the stuff published, so that is good and inspired me more to finish my diss and get papers from it out there. The whole conference was really confidence boosting as I conversed intelligently about my field with all kinds of people. Sweet! I also got to see grad school friends which was also fun.

I got home from that on Sunday, dove into prepping class and finishing grading. Then I taught a great class, became sad there are only 2 weeks of the semester left, and got sick. I was tired Tuesday night and then yesterday I decided to sleep in a little and ended up being out like a light until 11:30! eek. I slept almost all day. I am a lot better today so I think I was just over-tired and needed a rest. I already spent the morning grading and soon will dive into dissertation chapter 4. Watch out, chapter 4! I'm a-coming for you!

Haiku

Haiku2 for lrigyeknom
will be off for a few more real solutions for people who live
@ aboutmylife.netadvogato.orgblogger.comblogs.gnome.orgblogspot.comdeadjournal.comgreatestjournal.cominsanejournal.comlivejournal.commyspace.comspaces.msn.com
Created by Grahame

Photobucket Meme

From Profgrrrrl
DIRECTIONS:

1. Go to http://www.photobucket.com/
2. Type in your answer to the question in the “search” box.
3. Use only the first page.
4. Insert the picture into your Blog.

1. What is your relationship status?


2. What is your current mood?


3. Who is your favorite band/artist?


4. What is your favorite movie?


5. What kind of pet do you have?


6. Where do you live?


7. Where do you work?


8. What do you look like?


9. What do you drive?


10. What did you do last night?


11. What is your favorite tv show?


12. Describe yourself.


13. What are you doing today?


14. What is your name?


15. What is your favorite candy?


16. What is your favorite drink?

books

26. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
I read another book by Zadie Smith when in the field and loved it, so when I saw this at the library I thought I would give it a try. I didn't like it that much. It is a complicated story about and Englishman who's best friend is a Bangladeshi he met in WWII. They each get married and have kids and the story follows their families over quite a long period. There is lots about immigration, race, etc. I liked the very end more, but it was hard for me to get through the first 3/4.

27. To-Do List by Sasha Cagen
Very fun little book of collected to-do lists on everything from groceries to pros and cons of leaving a husband.

28. What Angels Fear by C.S. Harris
29. When Gods Die by C.S. Harris
Two more historical mysteries. I love these. I liked them better than the third book, but I think that's because I learned more about the characters. If you read these, read them in order.

Feels like Wednesday

It's a metaphor. Although it would most likely be a better metaphor if most of you weren't likely to read it on an actual Wednesday. Anyway.

I feel like I am at the Wednesday of my dissertation. If my dissertation were a week, I would be at Wednesday. I feel like I have been pushing and pushing this boulder up a hill (some metaphor mixin' for you) and am juuuust about to the top, whereupon the boulder will roll easily down the hill. I can totally see the summit. Yet although I am so close to the top, I am still suffering procrastination. I have learned over the last year or so that my procrastination is worst when I am scared of something -- what am I scared of? Going down the hill can only be good, right? That is true, but it is also scary. Once I go down the other side of the hill, or get to Friday, then other people start to look at my dissertation. So far it has been just me and my advisor in the thick of it (also R has read a good chunk). So it is like soon I will have to share it, and defend it, and explain it to others. eek! Scary! And then I will graduate! And have to get a job! And do the job! And find new things to research! See why it is scary?

So that is why it is Wednesday and why even though it is Wednesday I am still procrastinating. When I told R the Wednesday theory, he said he thinks it is actually Thursday, it just feels like Wednesday to me. Now I am waiting to realize it is actually Thursday but feels like Wednesday.

A Cat's Best Friend

passradiator
Originally uploaded by mnkgrl

Here is Pass with his true love, the radiator. He loves to turn his head over so he can cook his brains better. That pipe in the corner also conveys heat, and his other favorite thing to do is put his head between the heating pipe and the wall to cook his head. He often skips lunch because of this important head cooking.

Easter!

easterflowers
Originally uploaded by mnkgrl

R and I didn't do too much for Easter. We did have a breakfast feast of fake sausage, blueberry pancakes and fried eggs. Later in the day (after I worked on my diss some) we went for a walk in the park. It was beautiful and sunny and lots of people were out. You can see more pictures on my flickr page.

books

22. Single Wife by Nina Solomon
I randomly picked this book up at the library the other day. It is a strange book. It follows a woman whose husband tends to disappear for days on end. This time, he leaves for longer than ever, and the wife keeps up a charade that he is around, apparently convincing most of her family and friends. There is stuff about independence and marriage, and how much of yourself you give up in a partnership. I ended up enjoying the book, but I felt like it held me at arm's length a bit, and I am not sure I know exactly what went on. It was an interesting read, though. I have thought about it a lot since I read it, so that must mean something.

23. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
This is a really really powerful book. It is a series of letters by a woman who is the mother of a boy who perpetrated a Columbine-like school shooting. It is a really engrossing and disturbing book. I thought it was really brave and interesting, but am hesitant to recommend it as it is very disturbing and deals with such difficult subject matter. I also found Shriver's writing style overblown from time to time. This is the main problem I had with her book, The Post-Birthday World, which I did not like. We Need to Talk About Kevin is a much better book than The Post-Birthday World.

24. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
I really enjoyed this book, about all the different things that can happen to you after you're dead. I thought Roach had just the right tone in dealing with the subject matter, a little irreverent, yet respectful at the same time. This book would be a quick read, except that I could not read it while eating which is when I do most of my leisure reading. It is really not graphic, and I am not a squeamish person (ask anyone who's had to hear me talk about monkey poop at dinner), but I still couldn't quite stomach reading this over lunch. So this is a good book, but you might want to approach it cautiously if you are easily grossed out and have an active imagination.

25. Apartment Therapy: The Eight Step Home Cure by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan
I just read this book through and did not do the cure. That said, I liked the accessibility of this book and that it made me feel I could still make my place nice even though I am poor and rent a small apartment. It also inspired me to clean, take better care of my plant, and to try to live more purposefully in my next apartment (it is too late for this one and we're moving this summer anyway).

Dog

Permanence

So R and I are going to move this summer. We are sad about leaving NYC, and would've liked more time here, but maybe we will return one day. We don't know where we are moving yet, as it is based on R's schooling (that's right, he's being schooled!). A decision will be made by April 15 though.

Anyway, what I am most looking forward to on this next move is that we will likely be there for a multitude of years. This depends somewhat on me being able to get a job in the area, so lots of knocking on wood, etc. But R will be going into a long program, so at least he will be in that for many years. I have been feeling a little unsettled, frustrated and disgruntled lately. I realized a lot of it is due to the kind of impermanence of my life. Like I am a student, but I am over that. I am ready to not be a student. Very often lately, I have been thinking of things I would like to do and then say to myself, "not until after I graduate." So now I have a list of a zillion things to do after I graduate, and no sure date on when that is. Although it will come one day! I don't like to live my life in the future like this. Usually, I am pretty good at living in the present, but my present of analyzing data and writing writing writing is not fun for me. I am trying to do a little more of the stuff on my after graduation list, but also since realizing what was at the root of my dissatisfaction, I feel better about it.

books

19. Why Mermaids Sing by CS Harris
Mom, this is a mystery! It is set in 1800's England and I quite enjoyed it, so much so that I am going to get the earlier two books in the series from the library. Basically, Sebastian St. Cyr is a nobleman and former spy who gets involved in helping a magistrate figure out who is killing young men around London. I am not sure anyone could have really figured out who did it, due to the clues in the book, but I never figure out who did it anyway so I don't mind. I really liked the historical setting and it was a fun read.

20. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a year of food life by Barbara Kingsolver
Another book about eating locally. I loooove Barbara Kingsolver, and in a lot of ways this book was really interesting and inspiring. In some ways, though, it was also preachy and impossible for regular people to emulate. For a year, Kingsolver and her family plan to eat only food they grow themselves or that is grown in their immediate area. They are able to do this partially because they live on a farm in Virginia. I love Kingsolver's writings, and her descriptions of what they grow and the meals they make are really lovely. This book did re-energize my desire to go to the farmer's market more and eat more local food, and think about how many resources went into getting my bananas here from Hawaii or Central America, and if it was really worth it. However, I would have liked a few more real solutions for people who live places with a shorter growing season AND in urban areas without even enough sun for a window box.

21. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
I think this is technically a Young Adult novel. It is about a kind of awkward boy, with some social issues who finds his way into a group of older friends at his high school. It is a kind of coming of age book, very honest and real, I thought. Highly recommended.

why does the internet hate my dissertation?

So for three days now, whenever I get on to the Web of Science (database of science-y articles) and search for anything about predation, the internet freezes. This happens at home, and at two different libraries at Columbia. Why do you hate my dissertation, internets?

Funny

While technically correct, isn't it funny to describe non-ovulating female baboons as "impregnable"?

Yarn

Yarn loving peeps,
I am now on Ravelry. You can find me by entering the url of this blog.

It is going to re-inspire my crocheting!

books

15. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
I'm glad I read this classic of science fiction, but I am not sure I can say I really enjoyed it. Basically, a scientist (in the field of psychological history) in the far future predicts the downfall of this huge empire that is running everything. He also figures out how to lessen the "dark ages" between this fall and the rise of a new empire, so he set up a foundation to keep scientific knowledge alive and to carry out this plan of lessening this time between empires. It is an interesting idea, but as a social scientist I am skeptical of the idea that the future is so predictable, and would like to have heard more about that. Also, I am struck by how much, although these are set in the far future, you can still see how much the time period in which they were written -- the 1940's and 1950's -- informs them. Also, there are no women at all anywhere in this book.

16. Hack by Melissa Plaut
This is the true story of a woman who doesn't really know what to do with her life, so on her 29th birthday she starts driving a cab in NYC. It is super interesting to get kind of an insider's view of what being a cabbie is like, and there are some really interesting stories here. The writer had a blog first, and the book is written in a more informal, bloggy writing style which I didn't always like, but it was an interesting book overall.

17. Choice edited by Karen Bender
This is one of the most powerful books I have read in awhile. It is a collection of essays by various women about different reproductive choices. It was so honest, and striking how many women did not have choices about how/when to have children or not. It was really amazing, and I think is helpful in moving the abortion debate past yes/no and seeing the real people's lives ALL reproductive choices impact. Very good book.

18. Radio On by Sarah Vowell
In this book, Sarah Vowell, a regular contributor to This American Life, listens to the radio for a year and records what she hears, and what it makes her think about. Vowell did this project in 1995, and it is funny how dated some of it seems now. Anyway, this was an interesting book, unlike anything else I have ever read. Sometimes I thought I wouldn't really like Vowell, but it was kind of nice to meander through someone's thoughts as related to the radio for awhile. It did make me want to listen to music more.

Me today

OK, this is how I feel today. But I can't stop for a little dumb. I'm off to grade midterms, then I think I'll do a little data analysis.

Everything's coming up roses

Well, that title might be a little too cheery, but lately I've felt like everything is falling into place for me. On Tuesday I went to the place I teach early and just sat there in my little cube working all morning/early afternoon, surrounding by the voices of economists. While I was working I literally felt a kind of click, and it was like everything in my dissertation just came together and made sense and was awesome. Seriously. And I started really enjoying working on it. It was so strange. Since then, my serious procrastination issues have departed, and I have been able to get a lot of writing hours in. In fact, here it is Saturday and I am at the library. I got here a little after 11:00 and have been here for nearly 7 hours. woo! Go me! Yay woohoo!

Also this week I've gotten back into my running and this morning I ran two eight minute runs. Monday is the first 20 minute run, which is a little scary, but I haven't actually struggled to finish any of my runs in a while. It is more I feel kinda tired and want to stop, but I'm not gasping for air or feeling like my legs are going to fall off or anything, which is how I have felt during running in the past. I've also been doing other exercises like pushups and stuff on two days a week when I am not running. So that is cool. Maybe I can fit back into two of my pairs of pants soon so I don't need to go shopping.

Books

9. The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman
So this was my second read of this trilogy. Last time I really really disliked the final book, but this time it was my favorite. Very strange. I don't know what is going on with that.

10. The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner
A mysterious benefactor in my apartment building is responsible for me reading Jennifer Weiner. We have a spot where people leave books and things they no longer want, and i have gotten nearly every Jennifer Weiner book I have read from here. It is great! This one is a collection of short stories. They are all really good, and I was able to read them straight through which is something I can't often do with short stories.

11. The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld
Another kind of chick lit book, free from mysterious neighbors. I didn't really like this one. It follows one woman's issues with men from about high school until her late twenties. I liked the end, and it has a good message, but I didn't really like the writing style. It was kind of choppy and abrupt, but not in a good way.

12. Austenland by Shannon Hale
This is a really fun book about a woman obsessed with Pride and Prejudice who goes to a kind of theme park in England where she lives like an Austen character for 3 weeks. It was neat to imagine such a theme park, the main character was really engaging, and it was a fun read.

13. Madam Secretary by Madeleine Albright
I think I first realized my great love for Madeleine Albright when I read that she said Xena, Warrior Princess was her hero. This was my third try in getting through this autobiography, although that is not because it is a bad book, it is just very long and can get depressing with all the war and stuff. BUT it is very very good. It is well written and interesting and cool to read about Albright and her explanations for all kinds of world events. This book made me admire her even more.

14. Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes
Another freebie. This author is apparently somewhat credited with starting the whole "chick lit" genre. I did not really like this book though. I just may be tired of reading about women turning 30 and freaking out about get married. I thought most of the characters in this book were stereotypes and that it was very formulaic.

Saturday Night Fever

We got out of the house last night and went out like regular people with friends and social lives. woo! R and I went with our friend C to Thai in the West Village, and then to see the Oscar nominated live action shorts at the IFC Center (doesn't that mean the international film center center? But is is what their web site says). All the films were quite well done. I'd already picked who I thought would win for my yearly competition with Melinda, and seeing them did not really change my mind. I realized I've never seen an Oscar nominated or winning short film before, so I have no reference for knowing what kind of movies win.

Today I am trying to get some work done and also plan to go shopping for some new clothes. I somehow don't fit into anything I own, and have gotten down to one pair of pants and one skirt that I can teach in. I want to get something new before Tuesday to trick my students into thinking I have a wardrobe. After that, it is the Oscars! R and I were talking about buying tasty snacks to eat while watching. I'm not going to a party, though, because next week is Buckle Down and Write Like Crazy week and I am planning to get up early on monday and commence the buckling down.

OK, gotta get some work done so I can shop and Oscar without guilt.

snow!

This is the view outside our bedroom window. Snow! I love snow and we do not get enough of it here. I wish we had a better view out the bedroom window though.

Henrietta is in the living room window, looking like she wants to pounce on the fatty flakes that are falling outside. I think it is confusing her. She is a native Floridian after all, not used to these cold weather experiences.

I have been really tired lately -- I think it is left over from the plague still. But this morning I got up right when my alarm went off because there is to be no hot water after 10 am. Apparently the heat and hot water will be off for a few hours as the boiler is repaired. The whole thing make me nervous. I have visions of the heat and hot water not coming back on quickly... cross your fingers!

La la la

I think I am getting better from the cold! There is still a little residual coughing, but hopefully it should go away soon. I'm still a little more tired than usual as well.

I have been in a pretty good mood lately, ever since I got a hair cut really. Seriously, often when I am down it turns out I just need a hair cut to cheer me up. My most recent hair cut is awesome, and was part of an excellent day that made me generally more cheerful. In the morning, I went downtown to the Aveda Institute, where I got to sit for an hour and a half while someone washed and cut my hair, and gave me a scalp massage and back rub. It was so nice to just sit, with no opportunity to do anything else. I also loooove when other people wash my hair. It is so relaxing. After that, I decided to stay down in the neighborhoods I never go to, so I walked around a bit, treated myself to a nice lunch, and then found a coffee shop to work in for a few hours.

The day ended with me working in the library of another university, and then going to a monkey talk. It made me realize that I am happier and more productive in the end if I take some time out like that to do things for myself.

Sickety sick

I have deprived you of my lovely blogging voice because I have been sick. I went and taught last Tuesday, feeling fine, had a great class, came home and within 5 minutes of entering the apartment felt TERRIBLE. Usually colds sneak up on you -- you know they are coming and you can try and stave them off with Airborne and rest. But not this one! It came out of nowhere. So since Tuesday night I have been prostrate with a horrible sore throat, excessive coughing, and a headache. I have not had a cold this bad in forever. I went to the doctor Friday and got some antibiotics, and am feeling better, but it is a slow progression.

In good news, I went to the Town of My Grad School last week and found that as long as I get a whole dissertation written, I should be able to defend in April or May. So that is good! Now I need to get well so I can work again.

time of day

The description is nice, but any day I am up that early is a bad bad day.

ps: Jennifer, I made it home alive!

123 meme

The instructions are to pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. Find page 123. Find the first 5 sentences. Post the next 3 sentences. Tag 5 people.
from Lagniappe.

A friend who didn't know what was going on stopped me one day when I was out shopping. "I've seen you two on your walks," she said. "How nice."

From Madam Secretary by Madeleine Albright.

I'm not feeling taggy. Do this if you will.

cooold

I have been a good girl and worked at the library all morning. Now I am going to lunch. Yum, lunch! It is so cold in here, I am wearing stripey fingerless gloves I got from an internet friend. R made fun of me last time I wore them and said people would talk about me as that crazy woman in the library, but it is worth it to have warm hands.

A Little Better

I had a rejuvenating Saturday and an OK Sunday, until I realized Sunday meant Monday was coming.

Yesterday R and I went to the Natural History Museum where we enjoyed learning about Asian cultures. We critiqued the museum's obsession with "man's rise to civilization", saw a special exhibit on water and learned how much we would weigh on the sun (a lot). Afterwards we came home and I made Roasted Vegetables, Thai Style from this cookbook, which is one of the best presents I got for Christmas.

Today I did not run, which was bad, but I really really didn't want to. I will run tomorrow. I worked on a job application, and we made eggplant parmesan with stuff we had lying around the house, so that was pretty cool. The best thing I did all day was watch some men's figure skating. Nothing soothes the stressed out soul like a few triple axles. Right on.

hard slog

People, the dissertation is getting me down. I feel like I should post more but it will all be, "blah blah blah dissertation blah blah feeling sorry for myself blah stress blah tired blah complaining about stats". That just doesn't seem that interesting. It is weird, I am apparently very stressed, although I don't feel the feelings I would describe as stressed. I am tired all the time. And apparently less energetic and happy than the usual Laurie (others have reported this). And any tiny thing going wrong freaks me out. Like this morning I tried to do laundry, but only one washer in our building laundry room was working and then when I went to dry, all the dryers were broken. So I had to haul my wet clothes to the laundromat. Which actually worked out in the end because the laundromat dryers are way better than ours, and I had an excuse to sit next door in Dunkin Donuts and have coffee and donuts while I waited for my clothes. But the hiccup in laundry routine was like The Worst Apocalypse Ever to me when it happened.

The good news is I have now analyzed almost all the data for my entire dissertation, and all I need to do is write sentences around it. Lately, for me this is the worse part. Six months ago I would have told you I would like to think up projects and collect the data, then have someone else analyze it and give it back to me to write up. Now I have decided I will think, collect, AND even analyze (I have conquered a small corner of the statistics world, I think) and have someone else write it up.

OK, there is one horrible analysis part of my dissertation that is not done and which will take one million years. I am trying to decide if I can just throw it out, but in the meantime I am off to make a little more head way on it.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Watch the whole thing -- it is clever! And must have taken a long time...

books

6. Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
This is the sequel to A Great And Terrible Beauty which I read last year, but may not have posted about. It is the story of a 16 year old girl in Victorian England who learns she has these kind of magical powers and is connected to a powerful group of women called The Order. I don't want to explain too much, as I don't want to give stuff away. I liked this book better than first one, and the more I think about it I am really enjoying these novels with a mystical/occult bent and strong female protagonists. I will be looking for the third book soon.

7. The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland
I've enjoyed a number of Coupland's books, and this one is really good. It is about people working at Staples who write to each other back and forth in a journal, through letters, and there are also sections from one of the character's novels. Anyway, it is a very interesting structure, I found all the characters very vivid and real and really enjoyed this book.

year quiz

You Belong in 1959

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

Classy!

I had my first class today. Yay! I think I was in teaching withdrawal. I have 22 students this semester and they are all so smart and engaged and brought up fabulous points during our discussion ON THE FIRST DAY! Seriously, I am like in teaching heaven. Maybe it is the teaching honeymoon?

I also sent off my first draft of a book chapter. I was working soooo hard on it, I am glad it is done with. It will be cool to be in a book one day as well. It is just something more accessible to my friends and family who don't read Academic Journal of Academic Primatology Stuff. I know that is everyone's favorite.

My First Album

This is great!
From d_p_rackham

The Album Cover Meme:

Follow these easy steps:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result in your own journal (or as a comment here).

books

3. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
One of the best books I read last year was "Extremely Loud and Incredibley Close", so I thought I should try out the author's other book. I really liked this book as well, and it was similar to "Extremely Loud..." in it's nonlinear structure, but I did not like this one as much. The characters were not as interesting to me, and I though the books was a little longer than it should have been. Still a very good book, but I lost interest towards the end.

4. Kate Remembered by A. Scott Berg
For my last birthday, R bought me chocolates from this store which we later found out was Katharine Hepburn's favorite chocolate shop, and is mentioned in this book by Berg. I had also read Berg's biography on Lindbergh years ago and really liked it, so I thought I would get this book. I didn't have a particular attachment to Hepburn before, but this book made me admire her quite a lot. It is interesting because it isn't really a biography, it is more the author's memories of their friendship over the last 20 years of Hepburn's life. It is a little weird at times, how the author is so present in the story, but he is a good writer and it is an interesting book.

5. Shopaholic and Baby by Sophie Kinsella
Another in this fun series. I started to worry with the book before this one, where I thought the main character, Becky, was getting boring to read about, but giving her a baby made her interesting again. I especially liked how the author didn't totally change Becky because of her impending motherhood. She was still the same person. Very entertaining.

Super Productive!

I am not sure if I wrote here already that I quit my dog walking job. Well, I did. I am really trying to graduate in May, so I am on the big dissertation writing push, and the having to go walk dogs in the middle of the day was really cramping my style. I am a flitterer while I work. I work a while, then need to read some blogs or wander around the house or whatever. I have really intense periods of work, and then it all just falls apart and I need to recharge for a bit. All of that is to say that I work best with a whole day for it, instead of having to cram it in between other things. Also, the dog walking did not pay much. Anyway, I am loving having the writing be my only job right now (although my class does start next week, so I will have two jobs). Lately I have been going to various libraries to work and I am getting a lot done. I like the productive atmosphere in libraries. Everyone typing away or reading or jumping up once and awhile to look in fat dictionaries. It is awesome.

I've also gotten back into my running. Both Monday and today I woke up and went right out for a run. Monday I thought I was going to die as I was soooo sore, but today's run/walk was good, and I actually feel energized from it. Although that also could be be because I was having a little trouble sleeping so I took some Tylenol PM last night which made me sleep like a tired rock. R is also taking care of me this week and cooking me dinners at night. So after a week of 2008, I am enjoying it greatly with awesome food, exercise, and productivity out the wazoo.

Books 2008!

So, I considered giving this up in the interest of using the time I put into it into other endeavors. But I am still going to be reading, so I might as well list them, and I have been doing it for so long I can't give it up. My first two books for 2008:
1. The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman
I started re-reading this series because of the movie coming out, but then remembered I didn't like it that much. I like the general story, but I find them rather sloppily written with important things not well-explained or described. I did like this book, better than the first. I do like Phillip Pullman's other series, with a book called The Ruby in the Smoke, though.

2. Practically Perfect in Every Way by Jennifer Niesslein
This book chronicles the author's 2 year experiment in changing her life through self help books. I loved the voice of the author, and could relate to her well. The book was funny, but also serious at times. I liked this book.

New Years Meme

I like this one. I saw it many places.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? Get married. Turn 30. Teach high school students. Live in New York.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't really do resolutions... Although a quick check of the blog this time last year shows I resolved to call my brothers more, which I did not do. Maybe I will try and email more?
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Not in 2007, although there are some lined up for 2008!
4. Did anyone close to you die? no
5. What countries did you visit? none. :(
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? A PhD
7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? The day we got married, my 30th birthday.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Writing as much of my dissertation as I have. Teaching and planning an upper level class.
9. What was your biggest failure? Despairing once and a while.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nope.
11. What was the best thing you bought? Nothing for myself. I am most proud of adopting a penguin for R for Christmas, and the best things I received were a Timbuk2 bag from R and a laptop backpack from my dad.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? R, all my friends and family. I feel really lucky that everyone is so supportive of me and always there when I need them.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Some people in the academia.
14. Where did most of your money go? Rent!
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Having people come to NYC for the wedding.
16. What song will always remind you of 2007? Carrie Underwood -- the one where she takes a Louisville slugger to both headlights.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b)thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? I think I am the same happiness. I am definitely fatter (this time last year I had just returned from the the Suriname rice and beans diet) and I am richer as I am now somewhat employed.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Exercising, eating vegetables.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Freaking out.
20. How did you spend Christmas? With R's fam in Iowa.
21. Did you fall in love in 2007? Nope.
22. What was your favorite TV program? The Amazing Race!!!
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? No.
24. What was the best book you read? The Book Thief
25. What was your greatest musical discovery? I can't think of one.
26. What did you want and get? Progress on my dissertation.
27. What did you want and not get? Job interviews.
28. What was your favorite film of this year? Hot Fuzz
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was 30! We went to sushi in the 'hood and drank Sandra Lee cocktails at home.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Somehow getting my PhD
31. What kept you sane? fun books
32. What political issue stirred you the most? Healthcare!
33. Who was the best new person/people you met? some primate people
34. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007? Keep on keepin' on.
35. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. I have no idea.

New Year!

Hello! Happy New Year! I cannot believe it is already 2008 and that the future (which will begin in 2010) is only two years away! We had a great Christmas -- I even enjoyed the 3 states in 9 days whirlwind tour. It was nice to see family and a few friends. The cats missed us a lot thought. Both have been clingy and Henrietta has been screamy since we got back late Wednesday night.

I am diving into crazy working as I have a goal to defend my dissertation in April or May, need to finish my syllabus for my class, and have a book chapter to get edited and sent off. Whew.

So as many have been doing it, here are the first sentences of each month in 2007:
January: Our Ikea trip was so successful!
February: I think this is correct.
March: Just now I managed to read a bunch of articles and take notes on them.
April: Hey!
May: Happy Saturday!
June: I have learned a new term: krunkjuice.
July: Hello my little blog readers!
August: 54. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
The last Harry Potter!
September: Recently I went back to the town of my University and had a hard core 3 days working with my advisor on my first 2 diss chapters and another paper.
October: These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing's users.
November: The weekend before Halloween R and I took the commuter train north and walked along the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail.
December: Genius!

Vacation time!

Dear blog reading peeps,
I am sorry I have been ignoring you for nearly 3 weeks. I have many excuses, but you are not interested in them. I know you are only interested in results! Results in the form of posts that will give you something to do when you procrastinate. Well, you will have to be patient a little longer. In just a few hours R and I will be braving the various public conveyances we must take to the airport, where we will undoubtedly have many very long lines to wait in and I am positive our flight will be delayed. Eventually we will end up in the lovely midwest where we will have 9 days of frolicking with family in three states. I am looking forward to some mulled wine. Anyway, when we return I will be plunging back in to hardcore dissertation writing which is likely to mean more posts for you. yay! Have a happy Christmas and a merry New Year!

Twas the week before finals

Genius! This is part of why you will most likely get no substance from me until the New Year. Now I need another poem about living in my dissertation cave.

Spicy!

Dude, 0% hotness? Ouch.

Your Score: Allspice

You scored 50% intoxication, 0% hotness, 75% complexity, and 75% craziness!

You are Allspice!

You are the flavour of the Caribbean. You are not, as many think, a mixture of spices; you are your own, very unique, spice. Though you may be found in the company of "jerks," you're actually quite nice and rather good at making foul things seem nice, too.

Link: The Which Spice Are You Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Travellin'

Tomorrow right after class I am heading off to DC to a big ol' anthropology meeting. I'm just hanging out and seeing what's up. I've never been to this conference, but I'm excited to see what it is like. I'm staying with a friend and can get to DC and back for cheap, so it should be a good time.

I just need to kick my cold which I've had for nearly a week now. I came home after class Monday and immediately retired to couch. I have been able to do some lit search work, but I've also been really out of it. I hope to wake up magically repaired tomorrow.

I added a dissertation status bar to my sidebar. I actually want to double what I have now by Dec. 15. I am finding getting closer to deadlines motivating. Also, I am going to teach at the summer program for high school students again, and I have decided it will be awesome if I can make them call me doctor. woo! I'm taking the train to DC and have great dreams of writing away as I zoom down the tracks!

blah blah blah

I have nothing to say but I felt like it had been a while since I posted, so here I am. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! I did -- we went to Corbett's with Christopher and Maggie and ate lots of food. Especially good were the three kinds of pie! After eating we watched White Christmas and then played Wise or Otherwise and a fabulous 18th Century card game called Quadrille. It is a little complex as it was played by ladies of leisure. On the way home R and I were thinking about the leisure class of today and what they do to fill their time. We figured there were the ones like Paris Hilton, and the others who want to keep their leisure class-ness quiet. We wonder what they do. Maybe they go to that country in Europe only rich people know about.

Yesterday R and I got back to work. Today R is working again and I may work some. I did clean out my email inbox though, so that was good. I can't believe it is nearly December! I have a lot of dissertating to get done by Christmas, and I'll have papers to grade so it will be a busy busy time.

Gold Star, Loud Brain

Gold star: I went running this morning even though it was snowing! I am so hardcore. I also finally successfully ran the full week 4 amount of running. This is the first week which it has taken me two weeks to do. The plan is to run 3 minutes, rest by walking, run 5 minutes, walk, run 3 minutes, walk, and run a final 5 minutes. I have not been able to get that last 5 minute run done. Until today! I was panting like crazy though. It was very hard.

Loud Brain: Sometimes I kinda joke about not finishing my PhD, but recently I have come to face that it is really the best job for me and I love professor-ing so much. Last night I could not sleep because I was re-working syllabi in my head. Ha!

books!

87. Identical Strangers by Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein
This is the story of two women adopted as infants, who, at age 35, discover they are identical twins. The book alternates between the twins' voices and is a really captivating read. It is interesting to read about the women's journey and shocking to find out how and why they were separated. I also really appreciated their honesty throughout the book.

At times I found the writing a little uneven, but the voices are so strong and the story so compelling that it was hard for me to put down this book. Recommended for the amazing story, the discussions on "nature vs. nurture" and the voices of the authors.

88. Are You Really Going to Eat That? by Robb Walsh
This is a collection of columns by a food writer who is allegedly called "The Indiana Jones of culinary writing". I think other food writers are more Indiana Jones-like, but there were some interesting pieces in here. The author described fried chicken so well that I actually wanted some (although I've been a vegetarian for 12 years) and he is a chili pepper expert, so those pieces were really interesting.

89. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
I picked this up one night when I could not sleep and needed something to read. I've actually read it many times before, but the last time was probably in college. This is a very well written book with a great main character who I think it is very easy to understand. It was interesting re-reading this now, though, as it definitely didn't resonate with me as it did when I was in high school/ early college. Still, Sylvia Plath is a great writer and this made me want to re-read some of her poems, which I love.

Vanity comes out even

So yesterday I was out walking dogs as I am wont to do. A woman stopped me and gave me a flier advertising a concert at the Y (our neighborhood has the Jewish version, not the Christian). That was fine, but then she continued on to tell me I should come to events for people born between 1946 and 1964. 1964, people!!! I am 30!!! Not 43!!! Anyway, I was flabbergasted. I guess the PhD has aged me harder than I thought. Yikes.

So I was not feeling good about my aged appearance, but then I had several students mention they are sad they are going abroad or graduating because they can't take my ecotourism class in the spring. woo! One wanted to know if I would be teaching it spring 2009, so he could take it then. Rock on! I may look older than my years, but at least I am a popular teacher.

books

85. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
This is the story of a prodigy graduating from high school who wonders what will become of the rest of his life. He has also been dumped by 19 Katherines. He goes on a road trip with his best friend, and tries to figure out a formula to predict relationships. This book is really great. I think it is technically a young adult novel, but it is really smart and well written and the characters are very engaging and interesting. Great book!

86. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
This is a nonfiction book about the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and about a serial killer kind of tangentially involved in the Fair. I've read other reviews that found the book kind of choppy, and like an unrelated string of trivia. In a way I agree with this, but liked it about the book. There is all kinds of interesting information about architecture and innovations that were introduced at the World's Fair. I found the serial killer parts less interesting, but the book as a whole was really fascinating and once I got into it I found it hard to put down.

Catch up in pictures

The weekend before Halloween R and I took the commuter train north and walked along the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail. We'd originally wanted to go look at pretty leaves, but thanks to Global Warming they had not changed yet. It was still a nice walk.

We walked the trail to the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow. That's right! Sleepy Hollow of Headless Horseman fame.
Here is the cemetery from which the Horseman rose. The covered bridge is now North Broadway though. Oh well. I was glad we were not there at night.

They really love the Headless Horseman there though. Here he is on the police cars. He is also the mascot of the high school and we saw an awesome realtor sign which had the Headless Horseman carrying a house instead of a pumpkin for a head. Ha! Anyway, it was a really nice day in the fresh air out of the city.

I am a champion

Tomorrow I will finish my third week of running! Go me! Soon I will be so buff. It is funny, that as I entered my late 20's and now my 30's, I have gained a little belly. I was always skinny skinny so the belly is a little disconcerting. However, since I have been running these three weeks I don't really think the belly has diminished, I just care less about it. Because I exercise, so whatever is there is there. The sad side effect is that I have lost some weight but it was in my boobs. My boobs are always the first to gain weight and the first to lose it. Oh well.

If I were going to be in town for New Year's, I would be tempted to do a 4 mile fun run in Central Park at midnight. People wear costumes! But I will be in the lovely middle west, so no midnight fun runs for me.

books!

84. The Reincarnationist by MJ Rose

Full disclosure: when I got this book I was totally prepared to dislike it. The premise (a man, Josh, starts having memories of his past lives, then gets tangled up in conspiracies and intrigue, meets people from his past lives and tries to figure it all out) seemed hokey and it appears the author seriously believes in reincarnation and wants to convince others it exists. I personally don't care what the author's beliefs are, but I often find fiction written with an explicit purpose like this is not very good.

BUT despite all that, I ended up enjoying the book. It is a good adventure, somewhat reminiscent of things like The DaVinci Code. The hero and others go from Rome (ancient and modern) to New York (past and present) chasing some important reincarnation related artifacts. All the while people are having flashbacks to past lives and trying to figure out how those lives fit with their present life. I found it interesting though, kind of like a fun action movie. There are flaws in the plot (I'm still not convinced the Catholic Church would be as threatened by proof of reincarnation as they are in the book) but generally it is good entertainment. If you read it, suspend disbelief and just let yourself go with the adventures.

*this is a MotherTalk sponsored review

books!

I want to post some pictures, but Blogger is not being friendly about it right now, so you just get more books.

82. The Amazing Adeventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
This story follows two cousins who write and illustrate comic books from just before WWII until the 1960's or so. It is a long, all encompassing book and I'd heard many good things about it, but it just didn't grab me. It took me a very long time to read, and I never really grew to care about any of the characters. Just so so.

83. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
I loved this book. It is narrated by a precocious and eccentric boy (I think he is 9) whose dad died on 9/11. His dad used to make puzzles for him to solve, and he finds what he thinks is his dad's last puzzle. The story is really about him and his family coping after the death of the dad, and there is a mystery with the boy's grandparents. Unlike book #82, I loved the characters in this book, I thought it was really unique in how it was written, and I thought it used September 11 in a good way. I read another book recently where 9/11 came into it, and seemed gimmicky. It was an important event that should definitely be mentioned in fiction books, but this is the first book I've read where it didn't seem like it was just tossed in for effect, it seemed organic and it made sense for the story. Anyway, this was a great book.

My Wild Self

Build your wild self!
Seen many many places.

books!

81. The Gospel According to Sydney Welles by Susi Rajah

This is a very entertaining book about a woman who works at an ad agency hired to publicize the Catholic Church. I loved Sydney's voice and found her an engaging character. The book had a lot of the "chick lit" elements of a single woman with one eccentric best friend navigating the dating world. I liked the characters so much in this one, that it seemed fresh, as did Sydney's struggles with how to sell the Catholic Church, and questions of if we should be advertising religion. A good book!

Hearse Driver!

catchy music video!

Mutating Genre Meme

I was tagged for a meme! This started at Pharyngula and I got it from k8.

First, the rules:

There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is...". Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations:

* You can leave them exactly as is.
* You can delete any one question.
* You can mutate either the genre, medium, or subgenre of any one question. For instance, you could change "The best time travel novel in SF/Fantasy is..." to "The best time travel novel in Westerns is...", or "The best time travel movie in SF/Fantasy is...", or "The best romance novel in SF/Fantasy is...".
* You can add a completely new question of your choice to the end of the list, as long as it is still in the form "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is...".
* You must have at least one question in your set, or you've gone extinct, and you must be able to answer it yourself, or you're not viable.


Then answer your possibly mutant set of questions. Please do include a link back to the blog you got them from, to simplify tracing the ancestry, and include these instructions.

Finally, pass it along to any number of your fellow bloggers. Remember, though, your success as a Darwinian replicator is going to be measured by the propagation of your variants, which is going to be a function of both the interest your well-honed questions generate and the number of successful attempts at reproducing them.


So, without further ado:

My great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is Pharyngula.
My great-great-great-great-grandparent is Metamagician and the Hellfire Club.
My great-great-great-grandparent is Flying Trilobite.
My great-great-grandparent is A Blog Around the Clock.
My great-grandparent is Primate Diaries.
My grandparent is Thus Spake Zuska.
My parent is a k8, a cat, a mission.

The best young adult novel in SF/Fantasy is: Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper

The best scary movie in comedy is: Shaun of the Dead

The best uplifting song in country music is: Why Walk When You Can Fly? by Mary Chapin Carpenter

The best cult novel in pre-Victorian fiction is: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The best high-carb food in Costa Rican cooking is gallo pinto

The best dissertation-related words I ever received from a scholar are: "you don't have to write THE dissertation, you just have to write A dissertation"

I am propagating this meme on to:
Plomise
Anything Said
Underwater Knitting
Girl in Greenwood
Christopher

and anyone else who wants to join in....

Caturday morning

Hey! Wake up already!

lalala

I couldn't think of a better title so that is me singing to you. I have about 10 free minutes here, before I go off to walk the dogs. I'm currently importing audio tapes that are dissertation related -- I have 45 tapes, each lasting about 45 minutes and they have to be imported in real time. It is a long job. Also, I am scared to do anything else on the computer while they are importing. I am not sure if the computer and the program are smart enough to keep the importing going while I am doing other things, so I am just leaving it alone. So there are long stretched when the computer is working, but I am not working on it. This is all for the third chapter of the diss. I have put the stats drama to the side for a bit, but should get back to it by the end of the week.

The last few days have been really nice fall-like weather, but it is getting up into the mid 70's again today and for the end of the week. I do not approve! I think 60 is my new perfect temperature.

I also like the cool weather because I am copying Katie and starting to run. I am using this Couch to 5k schedule and this podcast to tell me when to switch between running and brisk walking. So far I am really enjoying the running, which is a little strange as I have tried running at various times in my life before and not liked it. I've also been going to pilates, which will never replace yoga in my heart but is more near by, cheaper, and helps keep me stretchy and my core strong. I only go once a week and it kicks my ass every time. Tonight is my third class.

OK, just a quick update so now you can stop complaining about my lack of posting (I'm looking at you, mom. :) )

statistician wanted

Does someone want to sell, rent, or gift me with a statistician? You won't get much more blog content until I finish my stupid dissertation, which is unlikely to happen until I receive an infusion of statistics knowledge. Alas.

book meme

These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing's users. As usual, bold what you have read, italicize what you started but couldn't finish, and strike through what you couldn't stand. The numbers after each one are the number of LT users who used the tag of that book.]

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (149)
Anna Karenina (132)
Crime and Punishment (121)
Catch-22 (117)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (115)
Wuthering Heights (110)
The Silmarillion (104)
Life of Pi : a novel (94)
The Name of the Rose (91)
Don Quixote (91)
Moby Dick (86)
Ulysses (84)
Madame Bovary (83)
The Odyssey (83)
Pride and Prejudice (83)
Jane Eyre (80)
A Tale of Two Cities (80)
The Brothers Karamazov (80)
Guns, Germs, and Steel (79)
War and Peace (78)
Vanity Fair (74)
The Time Traveler's Wife (73)
The Iliad (73)
Emma (73)
The Blind Assassin (73)
The Kite Runner (71)
Mrs. Dalloway (70)
Great Expectations(70)
American Gods (68)
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (67)
Atlas Shrugged (67)
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books (66)
Memoirs of a Geisha (66)
Middlesex (66)
Quicksilver (66)
Wicked : the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (65)
The Canterbury Tales (64)
The Historian : a novel (63)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (63)
Love in the Time of Cholera (62)
Brave New World (61)
Foucault's Pendulum (61)
The Fountainhead (61)
Middlemarch (61)
Frankenstein (59)
The Count of Monte Cristo (59)
Dracula (59)
A Clockwork Orange (59)
Anansi Boys (58)
The Once and Future King (57)
The Grapes of Wrath (57)
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel (57)
1984 (57)
Angels & Demons (56)
The Inferno (56)
The Satanic Verses (55)
Sense and Sensibility (55)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (55)
Mansfield Park (55)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (54)
To the Lighthouse (54)
Tess of the D'Urbervilles (54)
Oliver Twist (54)
Gulliver's Travels (53)
Les Misérables (53)
The Corrections (53)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (52)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (52)
Dune (51)
The Prince (51)
The Sound and the Fury (51)
Angela's Ashes : a memoir (51)
The God of Small Things (51)
A People's History of the United States : 1492-present (51)
Cryptonomicon (50)
Neverwhere (50)
A Confederacy of Dunces (50)
A Short History of Nearly Everything (50)
The Dubliners (50)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being(49)
Beloved (49)
Slaughterhouse-Five (49)
The Scarlet Letter (48)
Eats, Shoots & Leaves (48)
The Mists of Avalon (47)
Oryx and Crake : a novel (47)
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed (47)
Cloud atlas (47)
The Confusion (46)
Lolita (46)
Persuasion (46)
Northanger Abbey (46)
The Catcher in the Rye (46)
On the Road (46)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (45)
Freakonomics (45)
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (45)
The Aeneid (45)
Watership Down (44)
Gravity's Rainbow (44)
The Hobbit (44)
In Cold Blood (44)
White Teeth (44)
Treasure Island (44)
David Copperfield (44)
The Three Musketeers (44)

books!

77. Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
This book is about some girls who get into another London (UnLondon, get it?) which is much like our world but twisted around. Adventures ensue. I really recommend this book. I don't think I have ever described anything as delightful before, but this book is delightful. It is smart, so imaginative, and has a great lead female hero. Also, an extreme librarian, a sentient milk carton, and living words. Seriously. You should all read this.

78. Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orenstein
The subtitle to this is "A tale of two continents, three religions, five infertility doctors, an Oscar, an atomic bomb, a romantic night, and one woman's quest to become a mother". Whew. Anyway, I type it out because it is very descriptive of the book. This was also a good book. I liked Orenstein's tone and voice a lot, and appreciated her honesty in how she dealt with infertility, and perhaps waiting too long to have a child. She also does a good job of not drawing broad conclusions from her experiences. She doesn't really say that you should have kids early or you'll regret it, or that you should or should not spend money on reproductive technology, or adopt, or whatever. She does present her experiences honestly, leading you to draw your own conclusions. One thing she does well is to show how a lot of these issues are bound up in greater societal issues. Like workplaces could be more family friendly to men and women, so that women don't have to choose so much between family and their career. She also has a critique of the business of fertility medicine, which may be a little more about making money now, then helping people have babies. Anyway, a well-written and thought provoking book. I liked it.

79. Intuition by Allegra Goodman
This was also a good book. I've had great luck lately! This is the story of a lab at a research institute. It follows what happens when one of the post-docs makes a discovery that could have implications for cancer treatment, and what happens when others question these results. I don't want to give too much away, but I thought it was a really good and honest look about research, what is the line between letting research speak for itself and the need to be competitive for grants and funding, etc.

80. The Birth House by Ami McKay
One more good book! Although when I began this book I at first thought the language was a little too flowery, and that I would get tired of it, but it grew on me. This book is about a young woman in Newfoundland during WWI. It follows her as she learns to be a midwife, navigates as an unconventional woman in a small town, and deals a little with the medicalization of birth. I liked the characters and the story, but did think it went a little overboard with the "doctors and childbirth=bad, midwives and homebirth = good" message of the story. But I really enjoyed the book overall.

ha!

This is a bird dancing to the Backstreet Boys.

Handmaiden of Colonialism?

R sent me this link today. Basically, it is about anthropologists or other social scientists who are embedded with US army units in Afghanistan. The social scientists help the soldiers understand what is going on with the people, which can help diffuse situations without resorting to combat. The Army maintains that this program has reduced combat engagements.

I really don't know how I feel about this. On one hand, it seems reducing combat is a good thing. On the other hand, I agree with critics who are concerned it will make anthropologists seem like informers for the Army. Should we be using anthropology to help further the US government's goals in Afghanistan? Is it ok to do so in the cases when the US's goals are the same as those of the local people? What happens in cases when they collide? I find it hard to believe that in these cases it would be accepted/ok for the anthropologist to advocate on behalf of the local people.

That is what I am thinking about this morning.

Stupid Science

So I am able to think about things while I sleep. I often wake up with good ideas that I was thinking about as I slept. Last night as I slept I realized I have spent the last three weeks doing data analysis for my dissertation wrong. Curses! I was doing something that was artificially inflating my sample size. I started fixing it today, and it won't take three weeks to re-do, as I learned shortcuts in how to do it, but still. How annoying.

Funny Typo

Did you know that Bearded Sakis weigh 3000 kg? I, too, was shocked to read this.

Happy October!

I had a good weekend. The weather has been really nice -- almost Fall like. I love fall. Saturday we went out to Brooklyn for homemade pizza and hanging out. It was fun until it took us 2 hours to get home! First we tried to walk across a bridge to a subway stop, but the bridge was a drawbridge and was stuck open. So walked back to a different subway stop, but there was some sort of change of service so we ended up on a train going the opposite way of what we wanted. We finally got it all sorted out and got home, but it took 2 hours!!! I did realize I love Brooklyn Lager's Oktoberfest beer, so that is a plus. Sunday was also nice and R and I went to a medieval fair and he had an "Australian style" meat pie and I had a veggie curry pie. We also saw people in medieval costumes, including a tiny dog. Later on Sunday I started to not feel well, though, and went to bed super early. Today I had a little sore throat and some stuffiness, but Advil Cold and Sinus got me in good enough shape to teach.

I worry my class is a little boring. It is totally new subject matter to most of the students. Right now, we discuss the readings and I try to help them connect them and tell them concrete examples, but I think I need to think of activities or something they can do to use the info from the readings in a more practical way. We only have one day of class next week and we are using that for a field trip, so I am going to think about it some more.

book!

76. Lifting a Ton of Feathers: A Woman's Guide to Surviving in the Academic World by Paula J. Caplan

This book gets a post all of its own, as it has been a real eye opener to me. I mean, of course women are discriminated against and all that, but I had never seen it written out in black and white how this would specifically affect me in academia. A lot of the book is about the "maleness" of academia, and how women are socialized differently and therefore unable to fit in easily. The parts that most spoke to me were about women generally being harder on themselves, and assuming that if they are not a perfect teacher, they are a bad one. When in actuality they are most likely a good teacher who is not perfect. There is also a lot about the way academia isolates women, making them feel like they are crazy if they notice any of these problems. I have totally been made to feel like I am crazy many times, and this book really helped me see I am more normal than I thought. Seriously, if you are a woman in academia, or know a woman in academia, or probably even if you are a man in academia, you should read this book. If I ever get to have grad students I am going to give this to them. It has really helped me look at how I think about myself and my work, and to feel better about it.

books!

73. Dragonsblood by Todd McCaffrey
This book involves some of the original settlers of Pern, and I don't like them as much as the characters I first met, so this book was a little less enjoyable than Dragon's Kin. BUT it was still great! I am tempted to re-read all the Pern books, but maybe I will put that on my long long list of things to do when I am finished with my dissertation. :)

74. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella
The second in this series. I think these are well-written, fun books. I'm glad Becky learns lessons, but never completely overcomes her shopping weakness. :)

75. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
I just got this book because of the movie coming out and I was curious about it. It was way better than I expected. Very interesting, and I just felt terrible for a lot of the people in it. It was actually quite painful in a way, but a good book. I think it will be hard to translate a lot of it to the screen though.

yay!

People! Here I am writing from my new YELLOW computer which is actually connected to our actual wireless connection. woo! I got the computer on Monday, but a mere 3 hours after turning it on, it decided to break. Yesterday a Dell tech came out and replaced the screen and motherboard, so now it works. But last night we had a hard time getting it to connect to the wireless. I still don't know what made it decide to work, but it does and that is all that matters. The new computer is so fast, and thin and light. And did I mention, YELLOW!

Sick, but better

Now I am felled by a terrible stomach flu. It is not fun. I have been bed ridden for two days. BUT it cannot get me down as I talked to someone helpful who helped me decipher my academic problem, and realize it is not as much of a problem as I had thought. However, it did indicate to me, yet again, the many failings of academia and its crappy treatment of graduate students. Oh well. My character grows every day. Soon I'll have so much character I won't fit in the apartment.

Also, my new computer finally shipped! I ordered it 3 weeks ago, thinking it would ship Sept 6. Then I got an email saying it was delayed and it would not ship until Oct 8 BUT then I got another email, and it shipped yesterday! woo!

Anyway, posting may be slight until it is up and running, as my current computer refuses to work with our internet. I am using other wireless right now, but I am not sure it will always be available.

blogging struggle

Here I am again, apologizing for my lack of blogging. The Monday Poem is going on hiatus. I just can't keep up with it. I am having some issues with academia that I can't really write about, but they are making me very tired. Like so tired I feel I have lived 70 years instead of my mere 30.

In good news, the weather is cooling off, I went to Pilates last night, and my second chapter is shaping up awesomely. woo, second chapter! Now I have to go read the articles I am teaching this afternoon.

topics for discussion

Today you get subheadings with comments:

Teaching
I am really enjoying my class so far. I only have 10 students and am teaching my specialty. It is like a whole different world. So fun! It gives me more motivation to graduate and get a job where I can hopefully do something kind of like this more often.

Dissertating
It is possible this is not a real word, but some people in R's program use it and I love it. It sounds so cool: "what are you doing today?" "Why, I'm dissertating, of course." :)
I did some awesome data analysis yesterday, and my confidence with statistics grows by leaps and bounds every day. It may all work out for me in the end. Also, my results mean things!

Job Search
It is still early days for this, but I am slowly working on a draft cover letter for my first deadline. I am also going to make a sample syllabus for a course I have dreamed of teaching for many years. I am really excited about making this syllabus! Is that weird?

Life
The weather has finally started to be cooler, so R and I took a picnic to the park yesterday. It was very fun. We need to get out more. This weekend people are coming over on Saturday, and Maggie and I are volunteering to walk dogs on Sunday. I also signed up to read to kids one night next week. I had some disgruntled-ness earlier in the week, which I think was brought on by my lack of social time. Long ago, I thought I was shy, but I am more and more realizing my extrovertedness and that I need to be around people to recharge. So maybe the volunteering will help with that.

book!

70. The Valley of the Horses by Jean M Auel
Another sort of trashy book about prehistoric people. This one was also fun, although there was one major plot leap that bothered me some. I liked the animals Ayla tamed alot. Still a fun series and I will continue on with it.

71. Winds of Fate by Mercedes Lackey
The first book of a trilogy continuing the Arrows of the Queen series. This heroine is a little less vulnerable, and I will never love these as much as the other series, but still very good.

72. Dragon's Kin by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey
OK, in my high school days the Dragonriders of Pern series was right up there with the Heralds of Valdemar as books I totally lost myself in. I just found out that McCaffrey wrote this one recently with her son, and then he wrote one all by himself. I was disappointed in some of the later Pern books written by Anne, but this one was just as good as the ones from her heyday. Very very good. I can't wait to read the one Todd wrote alone.

On hold with Sony

Did you know that Sony has come up with a "revolutionary new screen technology that rivals paper"? Who knew someone could come up with something equal to the technology of paper!

Poem

A day late and a dollar short......

Air

Naturally it is night.
Under the overturned lute with its
One string I am going my way
Which has a strange sound.

This way the dust, that way the dust.
I listen to both sides
But I keep right on.
I remember the leaves sitting in judgment
And then winter.

I remember the rain with its bundle of roads.
The rain taking all its roads.
Nowhere.

Young as I am, old as I am,

I forget tomorrow, the blind man.
I forget the life among the buried windows.
The eyes in the curtains.
The wall
Growing through the immortelles.
I forget silence
The owner of the smile.

This must be what I wanted to be doing,
Walking at night between the two deserts,
Singing.

W.S. Merwin

Academia

Just wanted to share this post from Dean Dad. It speaks to a lot of what I have been going through regarding the job market, looking to the future, etc. Anyway, I found the last two paragraphs very heartening, and they made me feel less crazy. :)

In other news, data analysis continues! I did it all wrong twice already, so I should be getting close to the correct solution. Now I am off to learn more stats.

me me me

Recently I went back to the town of my University and had a hard core 3 days working with my advisor on my first 2 diss chapters and another paper. It was good to get so much work done. It was also good because we decided I should be able to graduate in May. Woo! To this end I am bucking down more than ever as I want a complete draft of the whole shebang by Christmas. Also, if I will be graduating in May I will need a job in August 2008. Thus, I am a going on the job market. I have a lovely excel sheet of places to apply and will be churning out applications this fall.

Things are going really well in the school/career department, but I am afraid the blog may suffer. I feel guilty for just doing the poetry and books, but I really can't make this too much of a priority right now. We'll see, though, sometimes when I am working hardest I post a lot. But this is fair warning that I am diving hard core into dissertation/job app land so don't know how much you'll see from me. Maybe one day I can give the poor blog the attention it deserves.

books!

65. Arrows of the Queen
66. Arrow in Flight
67. Arrow's Fall all by Mercedes Lackey
These are a fantasy series that was really important to me in high school. They've got it all and I still love to re-read them: strong yet vulnerable main female character, self-sacrificing heroes and magical horses! Awesome.

68. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A blurb on the front says this is a "moving portrait of modern Afghanistan" which is pretty true. It is the story of a boy in Afghanistan who ends up moving to the US but then returns to fulfill a task. It is a pretty good book, but I think I am at my quota of serious, deep books for awhile because I couldn't really get into it. It is a good book, though, and it was interesting to read about Afghanistan, as it is a place I do not really know much about.

69. In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner
Another alleged "chick lit" book. Again, I liked this one a lot. Weiner is a seriously good writer with a gift for characters. This was recently a movie, so you may have heard the basic plot -- two sisters, one skinny and with a messed up life, one overweight and with a seemingly together life. They kind of learn and grow together, and a retirement community in Florida is involved. The addition of the old people characters in this book is great. Good book.

Poem for you!

Eating Poetry

Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.

The librarian does not believe what she sees.
Her eyes are sad
and she walks with her hands in her dress.

The poems are gone.
The light is dim.
The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.

Their eyeballs roll,
their blond legs burn like brush.
The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep.

She does not understand.
When I get on my knees and lick her hand,
she screams.

I am a new man.
I snarl at her and bark.
I romp with joy in the bookish dark.

Mark Strand