Fun is over

Alas. The fun is over for me. I have not done anything work-like since December 22. It was amazing. It was maybe a little toooo long of a vacation and I am now finding it hard to give up my life of leisure. After 7 days I was a little wanting to work, but I got past that and now I don't want to work ever again at all. Oh well.

R and I rented a car and drove to Iowa and Missouri to see family. It was a good time, although in the future I might not choose to drive 8 hours, wait one day, then drive another 8 hours. I think a 2 day rest is needed between 8 hour drives. In St. Louis we got to see Laura and Shannon and Ellen at an awesomely old school pancake house where Shirley was our waitress. She looked like she'd worked there since 1961, when the place opened.

After St. Louis we came back home where I was totally slothful for a night and just watched bunches of TV and read Twilight. After a two day rest at home, R and I got on the train and set out to see Melinda et al. The train trip was awesome and easy, and we had a great time in Melinda's town watching Movies Where "People" are Saved in and Awesome Way, playing Rock Bands I and II, and teaching Cletus the Former Fetus to sing, "Flash! Aaaaah Ahhhh!" We were sad to leave and return home, where no Wii or singing toddlers awaited us. But we are soldiering on. I rewrote my monkey class syllabus today and went for a run, and R went to the library. Alas. Back to the grind for us.

2009!

Happy 2009, all! I am returned from my excellent holiday travels. I will post more about them later, but we went to two adjacent states, saw lots of family and some friends and ate a lot of junk food. In the meantime, here are the first posts of each month of 2008:

January: Hello! Happy New Year!
February: The description is nice, but any day I am up that early is a bad bad day.
March: Well, that title might be a little too cheery, but lately I've felt like everything is falling into place for me.
April: It's a metaphor.
May: Look at this awesome necklace I got from this Etsy shop.
June: Sorry for the lack of posting.
July: 50. The Last Colony by John Scalzi
August: I am alive, R is alive, the cats are alive.
September: R and I had an awesome time in Minnesota.
October: You know you all know the words.
November: So, I already missed a day, but I am going to try and post every day in November.
December: So I had a hold on my university record.

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!
Happy Solstice!
Happy Hanukkah!

Happy anything else!

Tomorrow (when it is very cold and very early) R and I are departing for our annual tour of the midwest. As we now live in driving distance, we've cut it down to 2 states: Iowa and Missouri. Sweet! Unfortunately we have to go to parts of Iowa and Missouri that are quite far from one another.

Anyway, I will most likely not post again until after the 29th, or maybe not even until after the New Year, which we are spending with the lovely Melinda and her family. I am taking a vacation until January 3 -- no dissertating, no prepping of classes, NOTHING to do with work. I hope to come back recharged and ready to teach awesomely and dissertate awesomely in 2009.

In the meantime, my holiday gift to you is a baby polar bear chewing on someone's leg.

Over the disseration

I am sure I have said this before, but I am so over my dissertation. It bores me. I wish it were done. I have a draft of the 4th chapter, but it really needs the discussion expanding and I am stuck stuck stuck. Blah. I am debating what to do, as I really wanted to send it to my advisor today, just so she sees how I am working AND so I could stop thinking about it for awhile. I am not good at working on one thing for a long time, and I feel I am that point with this chapter. My ideal plan was to send it to her today, spend the weekend grading, then take a real break from it all over Christmas/New Years. I want to start chapter 5 in January, then come back to 4 again and bounce between the two for a bit until going back to 1, 2, 3 and fiddling with them a little more. Argh. I think I will send it is as it is complete, there are just parts that need to be expanded on and I really don't have the energy for that. Also, I have 40 final exams to grade. I think I have convinced myself to send it.

Here is a deeper philosophical question that lurks behind it all. When do you send drafts of writing to an advisor/collaborator? I feel like I can send stuff when the logical flow is intact, but some of the details may be missing. Then they can comment on the big picture of it, and help me fill in the details. Someone else I was talking to, though, said they thought something should be in final draft form before sending it. I don't feel it needs to be that filled out, but what do you guys do?

before my battery dies

I did not die of my cold. I have promised my mom, however, that if I do die, I will post it here so she does not worry. :) I somehow think she will still worry.

I have spend the morning working in my new favorite spot -- the cafe of an art museum. It is very well lit, and quiet, and I think the art makes me smarter. However there are no outlets, so I have to use up my battery. So sad. I have actually not written anything this morning, but have read much on tourist satisfaction, which should hopefully help me write more later. Did you know that tourist satisfaction is based on multiple variables? It is! I would like to know more about what tourists look for in wildlife encounters, but so far I have read about white-water rafting and trips to the Boundary Waters with all woman groups.

I am now off to do some errands and then eat lunch and start the crock pot. After lunch I shall learn all about what tourists want from wildlife encounters and then hopefully write a brilliant conclusion to my fourth chapter. Maybe I will even make some tables for that chapter. Or I will clean the bathroom.

Just droppin' in

I don't really have anything to say. I have submitted grades for one of my classes and the other class merely awaits some exam takin'. Aw yeah. I am hoping to dedicate the rest of my time to crazy dissertatin'. I wanted to have Chapter 4 done (by which I mean have it in a state for R to read) by Sunday, but I have been felled by a sickness. It was really bad yesterday -- a cold PLUS nausea (not cool, people. Not cool.) But today I feel better with each hour that does by. Maybe I can get some crazy work done over the weekend.

Other to-dos before Christmas are go to the Lincoln Park Zoo and go to an allegedly authentic German Christmas Market. We shall see.

Fake Scientiae

I am sooooo sad I missed this month's Scientiae as the theme was "My Science is Hotter Than Dr. Isis's Naughty Monkeys". For Dr. Isis, these Naughty Monkeys are shoes, but... my science is hot because it is ABOUT Naughty Monkeys! Here is a photographic representation about the hotness of my science:







(First two photos from cliff1066 on flickr, the rest by me.

Woo! Party!

Tomorrow I am getting on a train to visit the fabulous Melinda! Although we lived together in a small apartment in DC, many years ago, geography has cruelly kept us separated since. Now she is in reach of a very reasonably priced train trip so we may proceed to the having of awesome times. woo!

So that I can leave here with a clean conscience, I must now go do dishes and read a little for my anthro class.

Hold

So I had a hold on my university record. They make it really hard to find out why one has holds, but they did tell me it was financial services, so I called them. I gave the not-friendly woman my id number and she muttered "exiti'lltransfer" and I got to listen to some really really bad hold music. I really think it is not a whole song, just like 4 bars repeated over and over. Anyway, it turns out that yet again, they think I have graduated. It is sad that at an institution granting many PhDs, the computer doesn't seem to understand that it takes a freakin' long time. Each of the last two semesters I have had a hold because they thought I graduated, and then some voice on the phone asked if I was "graduating late"! There is no late graduation possible! No matter when I graduate, it will be on time.

I would like to convince them to just give me the diploma, but they have not fallen for that yet. Maybe soon.

In other news, look how I beat my goal this week! Yay me!

InaDWriMo 2008 and moving on

I failed miserably at InaDWriMo. I got to 16% of my goal which is sad sad. I probably should not have chosen to participate in a month which included Thanksgiving and a 4 day conference. Oh well.

Here is my new plan -- small, achievable, weekly goals. I hope I will actually reach these goals, which will build my confidence and make me write more. The conference gave me some great ideas, and I just made a new outline of my whole dissertation which I hope will give it more coherence. Since I love those status bars, there is now one for this week's goal: 1000 more words on Chapter 4.

books

84. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
A Classic. I found it at the library and decided to read it. It was ok, but not amazing. Basically, it is a book about World War I, and filled with all the crappiness about being in a war. I didn't feel it added anything to my understanding of the badness of war, but it was well-written.

85. Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell
Essays about America/American history by Sarah Vowell of This American Life. Also a good book. I really like Vowell's voice and she is great at presenting her nerdiness about certain things in a fun way. The only other Vowell book I've read was Radio On, which was ok, but her voice kind of grated on me after awhile. I liked this book much better.

86. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
I am the last person to read this book -- especially the last anthropologist and am so sad I did not read it earlier. It is the story of a Hmong family in California and their conflicts with the medical system over the care of their daughter who has epilepsy. The author does an excellent job of presenting the cultures of the Hmong family and the doctors, demonstrating how they cam to so many misunderstandings, and not really laying blame anywhere. I wish I would have read this earlier so I could have assigned it to my anthro class -- it really explains and demonstrates cross-cultural misunderstandings so well. Everyone should read this book.

87. Making Money by Terry Pratchett
A Discworld novel about the central bank. The fun is all in the crazy surprises so I will not say more, but this was a fun book with the usual Discworld hijinks.

Missed two days!

Alas, I have missed two days now of this daily blogging. One was post-travel craziness and then yesterday I spent the day with R, our friend Matt from college and our friend Melissa from my GradSchool. So fun! Matt arrived around noon and we braved the small children at the Museum of Science and Industry. It was pretty fun -- we saw the U Boat, some old planes, and some propaganda for both petroleum (plastic is awesome!) and industrialized farming (we keep pigs clean and protect them from predators!). Melissa joined us later and we had dinner at a new to us pizza place (Pizza Capri) which was super good. Then we sat around the house and hung out and played the Game of Life, which R won like always. Melissa did really well for not going to college, though.

It was totally worth it to not blog and hang out with awesome friends, though. Now I think I have prepped my anthro class for the week, so all I have to do is make 2 more syllabi for next semester, make a rubric for my students' presentations, and dissertate a bit.

Oh yeah. PS: we also had the most awesome stuffing on Thanksgiving, thanks to a recipe from Corbett and his mom. It made a ton, but was totally slurped up and I barely had leftovers. I might make a half batch again some day, juts for myself.

Yay! Thanksgiving!

I have always liked Thanksgiving a lot. Maybe because it is about food. And it is still low key, really. No gifts or crazy decorations. Just eating and hanging out with family and friends.

We had a bunch of international students from R's program over and we made a ton of food. R brined a turkey a la Alton Brown, and word on the street is that it was good. I made a very complex pumpkin pie from Cook's Illustrated, which was ok, but in my opinion not worth the extra work. I am still on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin pie. After we ate we played some Atari and a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit (R and I won, but it might be because the questions were biased towards Americans). Everyone just left and now we are going to do some dishes and relax.

Thanksigiving! And Conferences!

I had a great time at my conference in San Francisco. I knew more people than I realized and enjoyed seeing a little bit of SF. My poster went well -- I had some people come talk to me and my poster neighbor asked me for tips, as mine was so attractive. I have to say, I loooove conferences so much. Each year I know more and more people so it is a time to catch up with people I don't see regularly. Also, I think I am better at talking about my research than writing about it, so posters and talks are a great vehicle for me. Conferences also always inspire me to get back into my own work, which I am hoping to do soon. I did come away with a whole new way to kind of frame my diss. I think I was lost in the trees and was not seeing the forest.

The other thing going on right now is Thanksgiving! R and I are hosting a bunch of international students. We are in the midst of baking pies, and R is trying to de-frost the turkey in prep for brining. I made the most complicated pumpkin pie recipe ever. Seriously, it took me like 2 hours to just make the filling and the crust. Unless it is the most amazing pie ever, I will not be making it again. We'll see.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving with great people to celebrate with!

Back

Alas. I missed a day. Anyway, I have returned from SF -- I had a great time. Now I am writing exams and grading and preparing for Thanksgiving. More later!

The Vegetarian's 100

So this went around the blogs long ago as The Omnivore's 100. Basically, a list of foods that everyone should eat at one time. I have a draft post around of the meme, but as a vegetarian there was a lot on it I was not going to eat. So I was excited when I saw the Vegetarian's 100. I can't remember where I saw it on my blogroll, but I got this version from Feeding Maybelle. If you want to know what any of these are (I didn't know a bunch of them) see the original link. Also, there is apparently nothing I wouldn't try once!

Here are the rules:
1. Copy the list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2. Bold all the items you’ve eaten
3. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4. Optional extra: post a comment on Very Good Taste, linking to your results.
and I am adding 5. italicize ones you would especially like to try.

1. Edamame
2. Cha Soba
3. Arame
4. Earth Balance Buttercream
5. "Homemade" sprouts
6. Green Bamboo Rice
7. Absinthe
8. Eat at a raw restaurant
9. Fresh (real) wasabi
10. Deep fried pickle this is so good!
11. Fiddleheads
12. Garlic stuffed olives
13. Smen
14. Goji Berries
15. Shiso or Perilla
16. Amaranth
17. Pomegranate molasses
18. Water convulvulus (Water Spinach)
19. Pea eggplant, Thai eggplant, green eggplant, Japanese eggplant, Indian eggplant, Sicilian eggplant...
20. A Zen Buddhist Vegan Meal
21. Kohya Dofu
22. Wild Asparagus
23. Elderberry
24. Candlenuts (kemiri)
25. Salsify
26. Nutritional Yeast
27. Pandan
28. Roman cauliflower
29. Anything with acorn flour
30. Poi
31. Chaya (tree spinach)
32. Pitahaya (dragon fruit)
33. Asafoetida
34. Fried plantains
35. Basil seeds
36. Cardoon
37. Durian
38. Ground Cherry or cape gooseberry
39. Fresh waterchestnut
40. Cashewnut cheese
41. Nettles
42. Fake duck from a can, tofurky, or any prepared vegetarian product to resemble meat
43. Kimchi
44. Masala Dosa
45. Lotus Seed
46. Matcha
47. Loubie Bzeit
48. Quince
49. Blue Potatoes
50. Injera
51. Nasturtium
52. Turkish Delight or Lokum
53. Spruce tips
54. Breadfruit
55. Mangosteen
56. Swede or Rutabaga
57. Garlic Scapes
58. Lavash
59. Candied Angelica
60. Rambutan
61. Sambal
62. Bhutanes Red Rice
63. Candy-cane or Chioggia beets
64. Mango
65. Ras el Hanout
66. Vegan marshmallow
67. Umeboshi
68. Red Currants
69. Puy or French lentils
70. Millet
71. Fresh Bamboo shoot
72. Jerusalem artichoke
73. Wild strawberry
74. Jambool
75. Po cha or Yak butter Tea
76. Adzuki beans
77. Shirataki
78. Manioc, yuca, cassava
79. Quinoa
80. Ramps
81. Chufa
82. Purslane
83. Curry Leaves (Kadipatta)
84. Sorrel
85. Sumac
86. Vegan cupcake
87. Montreal bagel
88. Peri-peri
89. Syllabub
90. Chartreuse
91. Kamut berries
92. Kalamansi Lime
93. Aloe
94. Morels
95. Raw “bread”
96. Dandelion wine
97. Rosti
98. Loomi
99. Stinky tofu
100. Something grown by you

Relaxing in the jungle

So we're in the jungle without a lot of the stuff we had to amuse ourselves with here in the US. What did we do for fun? Sometimes we had a lot of boxes and things around we needed to get rid of, and we did this by burning them. We usually saved stuff so we could have a bonfire. Here is one such bonfire for a field assistant's birthday. The darkness seems even more complete, somehow, with a fire lighting it up. It is very dark there. No light around for hundreds of miles, and you can see the stars so well, like you would not believe.

books

82. A Stab in the Dark by Lawrence Block
Another Matthew Scudder book. It was ok, but I have read to many too closely together now.
83. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
My first library book after the Tragedy of the Fine (tm). A 21st century LA woman wakes up to find herself in the body of someone in Jane Austen's England. She has to figure out how to behave properly AND how to get back home. It was kind of a clever idea, but I thought the book meandered too much, left too many loose ends and just never came together.

From the plane

So for awhile I have wanted to do a series of posts that are random images from Suriname with little stories or something for you. I just don't think there is enough fieldwork on this here blog. Here is the view from the plane on the way to our field site. The site is not on roads. You can take a bus for about 5 hours then a boat for three, or you can take a one hour plane ride. The plane is much easier and I have used it most. Often it is a little 5 person Cessna (my mom calls it a car with wings). I've never been scared in the plane -- it is a really awesome experience to feel flying so much, and as you can see the view is awesome.

books!

77. Even the Wicked by Lawrence Block
78.. When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block
Two more Matthew Scudder mysteries. I liked both ok, but after you read a lot of these in a row they tend to blend together.

79. Iron Council by China Mieville
I got this book because I love Mieville's "Un Lun Dun". This book is good, but totally different. "Iron Council" takes place in a grim and gritty distopian world and is about various groups fighting against a totalitarian government. It was very well-written. The world it is in is so complete to itself, I found it hard to understand and get into at times. It was a good book, but totally different than Un Lun Dun -- this one is pretty dark and harsh.

80. The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente
81. The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice by Catherynne M. Valente
I loved both these books and if you read them, recommend you read them close together. They are the story of a mysterious girl who lives in the garden of a palace, and the stories she tells. All the stories are amazingly interwoven with each other. Great books.

Ready to go

My poster came out very well and I am all packed and ready to leave in a bit. I'm going to teach and then I will go straight from school to the airport. woo!

My miraculous cure

Some of you may know/remember that I have a coughing problem. I have been coughing for years. Loud hacking coughs that do not stop. Awhile ago some doctor told me t was asthma, gave me some inhalers and away I went. Eventually, the inhalers stopped working so well so I went to another doctor who said no no! This is not asthma! It is allergies! He gave me an allergy shot and I took Claritin, but I still coughed, especially at night. Finally we moved here and I got access to the same health care as University of Chicago students. I went to see a nurse practitioner (I looove nurse practitioners) and she decided it was both asthma and some allergies, but most importantly it was post nasal drip. She hooked me up with some Flonase AND told me to get a neti pot. I have coveted a neti pot for awhile, especially after Maven blogged about it. But for some reason or another I never got around to it. When the NP told me too, though, I ran right to the Natural Foods store. And let me tell you. I love that thing. I seriously did not know a person was supposed to get this much oxygen in one breath. I breathe way better and I do not cough at night. It is miraculous and thanks to a $13 ceramic pot and pouring some salt water through my nose once a day.

If you have allergies/asthma/any breathing problems, get yourself a neti pot STAT. They rule.

Tired

Today is my long teaching day and I am tired and have headache. I have nothing else to write and I think I am going to to go bed early.

Plush Kidney

We're studying the urinary system in my anatomy class this week and while looking around for gross pictures to chow my students I came across this stuffed kidney toy. For when "urine love!" ha ha ha! Love it.

Much better

I am better already. Sometimes you just need a day to be sad and take to one's bed, you know? Anyway, today I woke up and my eye was NOT crusted shut. I think there is hope. Also, laying around and being sad yesterday gave me motivation to get all kinds of work done today. Here is a fabulous glimpse into my life and my to-do list for today. Watch as I hopefully cross some of it off!

*re-read poster, incorporate comments
*send poster to Kinko's to print
*prep A&P -- week 1
*prep A&P -- week 2
*Prep anthro -- week 1
*Prep anthro -- week 2
*chapter 4 -- get draft of discussion

Blah day

I am tired today and I have the blahs. I am depressed because I did not do enough work today, but I didn't work very much because I was tired and blah. Anyway. My eye is not very improved. I am stressed out about it because I have a conference to go to on Wednesday AND I teach two classes on Monday. The doctor said to go back if it is not better Monday, but I think I will have to cancel a class to do that and that sucks. One of my schools is very down on canceling classes, and both places will most likely dock my pay. Being an adjunct is not the glamorous life you might imagines. Also, I tried to make a 100% whole wheat bread and it did not rise. I have another loaf in now of my trusty white/wheat mix, as we are trying to not buy bread any more but I am concerned it is also not rising....hmmm....

Eye eye

The doctor said my pinkeye is "impressive". Go me. She gave me some eye drops and said to come back if it is not better Monday. I kind of feel like it is better already, though. I also got a flu shot and then bought myself a Gingersnap Latte. The latte was disappointing. It was not very gingersnappy. Alas.

On Wednesday I am leaving for my conference. I have realized this is going to impact my every day blogging so I am cheating and putting some posts in the queue to post while I am gone. Hope you enjoy!

The plague (of the eye)

People! I think I have pinkeye. It is gross. Luckily I already have a doctor appointment tomorrow so I will just have them look at the eye too. I got almost all my to-do list done, even with the pinkeye.

My addiction

People, there is one thing in all the world that I am addicted to. Alas, it is a nerdy addiction. The subject of my addiction is the library. Not just books, or reading, but specifically the library. I learned this in the last week, when I returned two books to the drop box a day late. This resulted in a 40 cent fine. Most libraries of my acquaintance let you still use the library and request books online when you have such a small fine. Not the Chicago Public Library. The Chicago Public Library is serious about getting its books back on time. If you are even a day late and owe just a few cents, the Chicago Public Library freezes your account. You cannot just zip online and request books that look interesting. Nooooo.... you have to haul yourself, through the wind and rain, to the library in person and pay them those 40 cents. Then you can finally have all the access to the library you need. I have been a week with my account frozen and it was really getting to me. I didn't know where my next book was coming from. Was I getting passed over for the Twilight series? WHEN WOULD I GET MORE BOOKS????? Seriously, I was starting to freak out so I braved the wind and rain, browsed the stacks for 2 new books and handed over my 40 cents. Now all is right with the world.

The San Francisco Treat

So next week I am off to San Francisco, one of the things white people like, for a conference. This is my second time to this conference and there are very few people there who do what I do. This is good in some ways, as I can talk to those people more and we feel a certain solidarity. Also, I can become a leader in bringing what I do more into what goes on at this conference. It is all part of my master plan. Anyway, I already have some plans with friends in the area, but what else should I do in San Francisco? I have never been there and know nothing about it.

blogging every day

I totally wouldn't post tonight if I weren't trying to post every day. So here it is. I had two good classes but just got 4 emails in a row telling me some sob story about why various students hadn't been in class for weeks. Argh. I don't want to hear it any more.

books!

73. Three Nights in August by Buzz Bissinger
This book is a really in depth look at a three game series between the Cardinals and the Cubs. Along the way it is also a lot about Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa. I was really impressed with how honest the book was, and how much access LaRussa gave the author. There are things in there that do not necessarily reflect well on the characters involved. It was also really cool to read about all the strategy in baseball, and all the quick decisions the manager makes. If you are at all interested in baseball, you should read this book. Although maybe not if you are a Cubs fan. :)

74. The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart by Lawrence Block
My first Lawrence Block book. R's mom gave us a sack of these, as R enjoys them. I have not been making it too the library as much as usual so I've been picking these up when I need a fun read. I really liked this book. It is about a thief who owns a bookstore. He meets a mysterious woman, attends a Bogart film festival with her, and keeps involved in a mystery. Mom, you might like these! This is the only one of this series in our sack o' books, but I plan to get more from the library.

75. A Long Line of Dead Men by Lawrence Block
This is a different series, about Matt Scudder who was a police man, is a sober alcoholic (at the time of this book) and a private detective. This is not really a standard mystery, as there is no chance for the reader to figure it out. It is more a novel about crime with a really interesting main character. I liked this book as well, although not as much as The Burglar Who...

76. What the Best College Teachers Do by Ken Bain
A very good book about how to be a good college teacher. Bain did a multiyear study of college teachers that had a big impact on students, then dissects what made them special. Sometimes it was frustrating, because while I agreed with his points, it was hard to think how I would ever have the time to implement them. I plan to buy a copy of this book so I can study it more in depth. I recommend this book to anyone who is a teacher or interested in teaching and learning.

From 52 to 48 with Love

OK, eventually those of us who supported Obama will have to stop celebrating, and all of us will have to figure out how to get along. One thing about politics lately that bothers me, is that so many people prefer to not talk about it, rather than disagree. Disagreement is fine, people! I disagree all over the place with people I love and respect. It is no big thing. Just stay civil and don't degenerate to name-calling. I feel like this idea that disagreement is bad is really harming my students. More and more my students are unwilling to debate, which I think impairs their intellectual development. They don't know how to choose sides of an issue and support arguments. That is no good!

So, in the spirit of coming together, I give you a link to From 52 to 48 With Love.

My election post

This is more serious and long than I usually get here, but the election has really affected me somehow. I saw so many people cheering and jumping around Tuesday night and I just didn't feel that. I do feel the historical moment, and I am hopeful yet cautious. But I also feel that I finally have someone in politics I can relate to a little bit. And I almost cried when I walked to the bus on Wednesday through my 38% black neighborhood and saw a very long line in front of the news stand of people wanting a paper for a souvenir. Somehow, that made it all seem real to me.

I was a Laurie come lately to the cult of Obama. I mean, he seemed cool, but I was leaning a little more towards Hillary during the primaries, I don't like the 2 party system at all, I am not registered in a party, and all mainstream politicians are too conservative for me. But somehow, as the election came closer, I got swept up in the excitement. I more and more did not want McCain, I more and more started to believe that Obama would be different. I started doing a little volunteering and I ended up calling 19 people in Missouri to remind them to vote. I still held back some, though, and I think I largely did not want to be disappointed. I was thinking about it the other day. For the first presidential election I could vote in, I voted for Clinton. In 2000 both Gore and Bush left me cold, and if I hadn't been in the jungle and unable to mail my absentee ballot back, I would have voted for Nader. My vast dislike of Bush lead me to support Kerry, and to knock on doors in Florida to get out the vote, even though Kerry did not inspire me at all. So really, for most of my adult life my options for president had not been exciting. There was no one I could get behind.

What is different about Obama? Maybe if he were running right after Clinton it wouldn't be such a big deal, but I am really happy we are going to have a president who thinks about things. Who understands the world in complex and nuanced. Who sees the US is not perfect, and wants to do something to make it better. The blustery patriotism of the last little while is not to my taste at all. I think it makes us forget how much we have to improve, how many people are left out of the "American Dream" and how stacked the cards are against many realizing that dream.

I have to admit, I never thought it was crazy that Michelle Obama said she hadn't been proud of the US in her life. Why should she, necessarily? Because we are big? Because we are a democracy? Because we are rich? In some ways we do have impressive ideals, but it seems to me we have squandered a lot of opportunities to live up to those ideals. This election, though, has made me proud of the USA. And I want to say thank you to it.

Thank you. Thank you for proving how awesome you can be on Tuesday. Thank you for realizing the badness of the last 8 years, for recognizing we have been going down the wrong path, and that we can be better. Thank you for not being as racist as I had feared. Thank you for letting more people into our political process. Voting rates of people of color and young people were up, voter registrations were up, and voter turnout was historic. Back when I took Latin American Studies I read about how a democracy cannot be successful without participation. How we need to think about who is participating, who is fully invested in their citizenship, and if people are not participating, why? If large parts of the population are not involved in the process, are we truly a democracy? What structures are shutting them out? Is it really their choice?

Before I was into Obama, I thought a lot of his rhetoric about change was too much. Unrealistic. But upon reflection, and from listening to more of what he says, it is not a big change we are looking for. I think the change of who voted, of who was at the rally in Grant Park, of all the diverse people in my neighborhood cheering and high fiving, of www.change.gov, of the Obama-Biden administration's anti-discrimination hiring policy (The Obama-Biden Transition Project does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other basis of discrimination prohibited by law. ), this change is a good first step. And I am excited to see where it takes us.

And finally, this part of Obama's acceptance speech spoke right to me, and where I was, and explains why I feel like I will finally have a president who understands me a little bit: "It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day." I was cynical. I thought there was little we could do to change, but I hope I have been proven a tiny bit wrong.

obama cupcakes!

obama cupcakes!
Originally uploaded by mnkgrl

The famous Obama cupcakes I baked on Tuesday. They are devil's food with cream cheese frosting. Good, but I find devil's food just makes me wish for chocolate.

so tired

Anyone who ever reads this blog can probably tell I am pleased with the presidential election results. It was awesome to be here in Chicago, and especially me and Obama's hood. R and I went to a friend's last night and as we walked home there will all kinds of people out just cheering and honking horns. It was super fun.

Obama's house does have a slightly increased security perimeter now, and I need to re-route my 2 mile run. Oh well. I will forgive him. :)

I want to post something more profound, but right now I am very tired. Hopefully I can remember it.

Vote!

Make sure and vote!

I just did. I am outraged, though, there are no "I voted" stickers here! That is half the fun.

Les Misbarack

For my musical loving friends...

Crack smokin'

Did I say I would blog every day this month? Was I out of my mind? Yes to both. Anyway, here is your post. As I expected my days of not working bit me hard last night and this morning as I scrambled to prep my classes. But I did, and they were actually good classes. I feel like something has shifted since I gave midterms. Like we know it is all downhill from here, or they think I am less scary since they didn't all fail. Who knows.

I am excited to go vote tomorrow. I am contemplating making Obama cupcakes, inspired by the Yes We Cake website. We are going to a party at one of R's grad school friend's. It has been really fun living in Chicago for this election. I overhear SOOOOO many conversations about the election on the street and in between classes. R and walked by Obama's house tonight and there is a little extra security. We had a brief moment of excitement when we thought we might share a polling place with the Obamas, but a little research shows they are likely to vote elsewhere. Oh well.

Lofty Goal

So, I already missed a day, but I am going to try and post every day in November. I feel bad I neglect the blog so much. I often do not feel my life is exciting, but I think that is a negative way of looking at it, and perhaps through blogging more I will appreciate the unseen awesomeness in my life.

I have been a little sick the last few days -- it has mostly been just a never ending headache and a lot of tiredness. It did make me miss a Halloween Party, which I had been looking forward to and was going to dress like a witch for. BUT it has also made me just take the last two days to sit around, watch Persepolis, watch the old school BBC Chronicles of Narnia and relax. I feel way better today and more energized, so although I have 65 midterms to grade, classes to prep and that pesky dissertation to write, I think it was good I relaxed for awhile.

Now I am off to get some work done, as Monday will come no matter what and I really need to grade and figure out what to teach.

No on Prop 8

Hey blog people!

I don't know if many of you are following what is going on in California, with proposition 8 on the ballot. Proposition 8 amends the state constitution in order to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry. This is just wrong. Rights taken from any of us deplete us all. I can't afford to donate any more money, but maybe some of you have $5 or $10 to share.

No on Prop 8!

InaDWriMo 2008

This is my official notice that I am participating in International Academic Writing Month. This is just happens to be occurring at the time when I really need to get in gear and get my last two data chapters done. SO my goal is to write 10,000 words here in November, which should equal chapters 4 and 5. Right on. There's a new status meter over in the sidebar so you can keep track. I will start November 1 and report back weekly. I expect your ridicule when I do not proceed as planned. I have been hoping, but it really appears that the dissertation refuses to write itself.

Hilarity!

If McCain somehow wins, maybe I will move to Canada.

I AM a champion (plus cute baby animals)

Hey! I survived the 5k! I did have to walk for a tiny little bit, but I think I finished in about 45 minutes. I forgot a watch so I tried to pay attention to the race clock, but addition, remembering numbers, and paying attention are not really any of my main talents. Anyway, my chip time (they give you this little chip to put on your shoe that records the official time) was 38:54, but that is pretty not possible. I did run the first mile in about 12:30, which is super fast for me, so I slowed down after that. My youngest brother and his wife ran the race too, and I was happy there were more experienced runners there with me, although they left me in the dust pretty quickly.

It was a Halloween themed race so there were costumes, and the highlight for me was that I beat two clowns. Ha! Take that, clowns. I also pulled ahead of a camel at the last minute. I was impressed by the camel, though, as it was two people under a sheet and I don't know how they stayed together AND how the back hump didn't fall and die, since I am pretty sure she could only see the ground and nothing in front of her. It was fun, and I am probably going to register for an 8k in March to keep me running through the winter.

Cute baby animals:
If you enjoy cute baby animals, you will enjoy this blog.

I was pointed to it due to these tiny baby gorillas!

OK, I'm off to either clean my desk or make up some activities to teach my students about the endocrine system and blood.

I am a champion

Well, that remains to be seen, but at 4:00 this afternoon I am running my first 5k! My goal is to run the whole thing, no walking.

McCain and Healthcare

If you are at all concerned about the state of healthcare in this country, read this awesome post by Sarahlynn.

books!

70. Lake of Sorrows by Erin Hart
I picked up this books from R's parents' house because it is about archaeologists and a forensic pathologist. Awesome. Basically, the main character is in Ireland investigating bog bodies when she comes across a more recent murder victim. There is all kinds of intrigue and mystery and I really enjoyed this book. It is the 2nd in a series and I plan to go back and read the first.

71. Daddy-Long Legs by Jean Webster
This is one of those books I read over and over again. Judy is an orphan, who has lived all her life in an orphanage, until she is chosen by a mysterious trustee to go to college. The book is her letters to her benefactor, whom she calls "Daddy-Long Legs". This is just a very pleasant book, and I love Judy's character. I have read it about a zillion times and will probably read it a zillion more. It is like my book comfort food.

72. Misfortune by Wesley Stace
This is an awesome book. A baby is found on a trash heap and taken to be the adopted daughter of a wealthy family. Only, alas, the baby is a boy. This is the story of Rose as she grows up and realizes who and what she is. I have a hard time describing why I liked this book so much, but it is just a great story with really well-written characters. I highly recommend this book.

What comes next?

So, way back when I became a comment-whore by asking for suggestions on what to write about, Emily asked about my post-dissertation plans. Here is that promised post.

How will I celebrate? I definitely am traveling to grad school town to participate in the whole graduation shebang. I want the pomp and circumstance and fancy robes. R will come with me, and I think my fam and R's parents are planning on coming too. In my fantasy world, we rent out the back room of my favorite pizza place and all go there for dinner. I will probably break down into sobs at some point from the relief.

I don't really have any plans career-wise yet. I am scared of getting too specific about what I want, as I could be happy in a lot of situations. I definitely want to teach, and I would love to be able to keep doing a little research. But for the first year or two I am also open to non-teaching postdocs. I figure I can put that time into publishing my dissertation which will help me be more attractive to more schools. I'm thinking a little about finding a new field site and plotting different projects I can do over summers off from teaching. My secret master plan is that one of my adjunct schools will give me a year long position next year, then love me so much that they give me a tenure track position after that, then love me so so much that they give me tenure AND hire R when he graduates. Whew. :)

There are a lot of things I have kind of been putting off until after I finish, but no major goals (except for becoming employed). I mostly want to get a somewhat normal life back. And for me a normal life means a little time to see friends, to get back into crocheting, and money to go out once and awhile. That is it. My needs and desires are few. I also want to get back into traveling more. R and I love to travel and do it well together and it has been far too long since we went on an awesome trip.

books!

68. Memo to the President Elect by Madeleine Albright
Have I told you how much I love Madeleine Albright? I looooove Madeleine Albright. This book is her advice to the next president on all sorts of foreign policy issues. It was very interesting, and made me think about the president's job differently. For example, she makes a point of talking about how we assume the president has all this power, but he or she cannot get stuff done without the help of others, including many people who are not elected and have been in their jobs for years and years. I hope both Obama and McCain have read this book.

69. Mystic River by Dennis LeHane
I really liked this movie and recently heard that the book was good as well. It is true. It is hard to describe, the book is kind of quiet and meandering, but really engrossing. I think because the characters were so well-drawn. Very good book.

From a distance....

You know you all know the words.

I apologize for neglecting you, my valiant blog readers. I have been very busy. I teach, I dissertate, and that is about it. The semester has been kicking my butt. I have wondered why, and then realized it is the first time I have taught two new preps AND tried to write/research/etc. But it is good I am figuring out how to balance the teaching a research, since that will be the story of the rest of my life.

Anyway, that prologue is to say I am totally going to stick to my promise and write about your requested topics. Today I am going to write about finishing my dissertation while being away from the school where I am enrolled.

I can some the situation up in two words: IT ROCKS! But it may not work for all. For me, I was not crazy about GradSchoolTown so I am happier away and being happier otherwise makes me a more productive worker. Also, R is happier pursuing his own grad school business, and that also makes me happier. Finally, I work better with my advisor with some distance AND she is the sort who loves side projects, which I avoid by not being there. I have suffered some from a lack of face time, but overall any problems have been worth the benefits, for me. I've also gotten some great teaching opportunities that I am hopeful will help me on the job search in the future. I think for some people the situation would not work out, but it has been great for me.

update

Alas, the charger was not found and I had to buy a new one. But it came quickly and my phone is now charged and back in action. Yay!

For my secret admirer Ellen: I feel we have not been cooking as much since we moved. The kitchen is smaller, and I am busier. Who knows? We did have a very good dinner this week. R gets the Weeknight Kitchen e-newsletter from The Splendid Table. One recipe we received in August was for "Fettuccine with Tomatoes, Basil and Crisp Bread Crumbs". We have made it twice now, most recently a few days ago, and it is super good. I can't find the recipe online, but it is really easy and we don't usually follow it exactly anyway. Basically you make a balsamic vinaigrette, drop some red and yellow cherry tomatoes in it (or just red, or chopped up full size tomatoes) and let it all sit together for awhile. Cook some pasta (I think we've actually always used linguine) and toast some coarse, fresh bread crumbs. Chop about a half cup of fresh basil into long, thin strips. When your pasta is done put it in a serving bowl, pour the tomatoes and vinaigrette over it and stir it up. Then top with the bread crumbs and basil. Yum yum yum.

The second tasty thing we have made lately is the most tasty ice cream ever. This Roasted Plumricot Ice Cream from the Chicago Tribune magazine. If you have the means of making ice cream, make this. It is the most tasty, flavorful ice cream ever. Also, double the recipe. This is not enough! I didn't bake the ginger wafers that go with it, but I did buy some crispy ginger cookies which we ate with the ice cream and it was all sooooo good. I am so sad there is only like 1 serving left.

The other fun thing we did lately was go to a jazz festival yesterday. It was free! It was in the neighborhood! We saw a jazz quartet that was pretty good, some Latin jazz which is always fun, but the most awesome was this guy, Orbert Davis, and his quintet. Soooooo good. Orbert is a trumpet player and he had a great saxophonist and pianist too. It was amazing. R called it one of the top random live music performances he has seen. After that we walked slowly home, stopped for some egg rolls, and then ate the aforementioned best ice cream ever. It was a great Saturday.

Blogging the lost

There's this idea floating around the internets that if you blog about something you've lost, it will turn up. I lost my phone charger. Where are you phone charger? I thought I packed it for the conference I was at over the weekend, but it is in none of my bags, nor is it anywhere in the house. Phone charger, please return. My battery is dead and I have no ability to talk to people....

Good readin'

Sarahlynn has up two great posts about the presidential candidates and their stands on disability issues. Read them here and here.

The rain and my neighbor, Barack

People! It has been raining here nonstop for a million days. It is out of control. I have only experienced this much humidity before in the rain forest. Our couch feels damp because of all the moisture in the air. We are going to attempt to foil our cabin fever by venturing out later to see Burn After Reading. We might not go, except we already bought tickets online. I am excited! I love the Coen brothers and the previews look good!

In other news, have I mentioned how we live mere blocks away from Barack Obama? We found his exact address recently and walked over to have a look. His block is blocked off with concrete barricades, and it looks like you have to pass a checkpoint to get through. There are Chicago Police all over the place, although we did not spy any obvious secret service people. Also interestingly, R and I stood right on the sidewalk in front of Obama's house a month earlier, and had no idea he lived there. All the security did not go up until he was the official nominee.

I also walk by Obama's barber to get to the public library. It is pretty cool being neighbors with a presidential candidate. It also encapsulates the contradictions of our neighborhood. We have a prestigious university, Obama's $1.6 million house, Farrakhan's very fancy house, other super fancy houses, and also are not far from some of the worst neighborhoods in Chicago. So if you hear people complaining about Obama being out of touch with regular people, I don't see how he can be and live here and go to the barbershop he goes to, unless none of the rest of us here are "regular people". Unlike many other people with big houses, his is not in a rich-people only compound, walled off from everyone else around.

books

65. Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke
This is part of a murder mystery series involving a baker in Minnesota, complete with recipes! It was a fun little read and I enjoyed the Minnesota setting, but if you enjoy this genre of mystery, I think Diane Mott Davidson is a better writer. There is some intriguing back story about the main characters love life (she can't decide between two men!) that I want to know more about, so I might read more in the series, although the writing did get on my nerves sometimes.

66. Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner
The sequel to Weiner's earlier book, Good in Bed. I read it hoping to join a bookclub and make friends, but then found the book club met somewhere too hard for me to get to on the public transportation. Alas. Anyway, I have kind of mixed feelings about the book. It meets Cannie Shapiro and her daughter, Joy, 10 years or so after the earlier book ends. I was disappointed in some of the issue Cannie had, like she hadn't grown much since the earlier book. Cannie's husband was not portrayed very fully at all, he was kind of a shadow character. I did like the depictions of Cannie's relationship with her daughter and the preteen angst her daughter had. I thought those parts were well done. Overall, though, this was not up to the standard I expect from Weiner who I usually think is a very very good writer. It just didn't suck me in the way her books usually do. Also, I don't want to give anything away but I thought the end was terrible. I don't know if I will ever forgive Weiner for writing it.

67. 4% Famous by Deborah Schoeneman
This is a kind of fun book about gossip columnists and the famous and nearly famous in New York. It was interesting for all the glitz and glamor and desperation, but also exhausted me. All these young people running around with high pressure jobs staying out all night at clubs and snorting coke. Exhausting. It was ok, but got kind of repetitive, and I never related to the main character like I think I was supposed to.

Settling in: Chicago style

So we've been in Chicago for over a month now. It is weird, we both talk about how unreal it seems. To be honest, it seems like we don't live in any one particular city. I would say we are pretty settled in, in that most of the boxes are unpacked (the ones that aren't are totally my fault! Sorry!), R has been going to school, I have started teaching, we both have awesome automatically re-filling transit cards, we know where the grocery store is, and we recognize some of the interesting characters in our neighborhood (like the guy who bikes up the middle of the street yelling "so many white motherf***ers to kill!" but he is really harmless, don't worry!).

But still, I have no real feeling of *Chicago*, whatever that is. We keep being surprised by it. Like I go downtown to teach and see the skyline and say to myself, "wow, that's the Sears Tower! I live in Chicago!" or on the way back from Minnesota we kept saying, "huh, all the signs say to Chicago, that's where we live." I don't know why this is. I don't know if it is because being back in the midwest seems familiar to us both. I keep saying Chicago seems like what would happen if St. Louis and New York had a baby. Or maybe it is because we had both been here a number of times before, so it is not totally unknown. Or maybe it is the comparison with coming from New York City, where so many people are so *in* to it being NYC. So often people there say, "That's New York for you" or "New Yorkers are like this" or whatever, which I haven't heard as much anywhere else. I also haven't gotten out at all to meet people, so I don't talk to many people other than R and my students and faculty/staff at the schools I teach at.

I guess I feel like we're settling in, but also that there is still so much we don't know. I spend all my time in one of two neighborhoods. When I got to New York I was more into exploring, but here I am so focused on my dissertation writing and teaching, that I haven't taken the time to go look around. Also, R's school will take anywhere from 5-7 years, so we also know we are connected to here for a long time. Maybe that makes us feel less urgent to get to know it all?

I am enjoying it, though. It is nice to know friends and family are so close, even if I don't have time to visit much right now. I will one day soon. It is nice to get lettuce for HALF THE PRICE we did in New York, and tomatoes for like a third of the price. Our apartment is awesome. Our neighborhood is very nice, and I know that one day when I get out there to make new friends I will find good people to be friends with. So that is the story of settling in in Chicago.

Returned

R and I had an awesome time in Minnesota. We ate many tasty treats. We saw Matt and Laura and Shannon and the baby. The baby is a very cute baby, top 1% of babies I have met. Definitely.

On the way home we stopped at the Mustard Museum in Mt. Horeb, WI which was super fun and we got many tasty mustards.

Unfortunately I also returned home with a sore throat and was bed-ridden all day yesterday. My first class starts tomorrow and I do not have the syllabus finished AND there is still that pesky dissertation to write, so I will be a little busy for the foreseeable future.

Reader's choice update!

I need to ask you guys more questions to get more comments! (I am a comment ho!)

Here is what I am committing to write about for you sometime before Oct 1:
1) settling in in Chicago (not settling for it. It was my first choice! Way better than SoCal)
2) Writing from a distance
3) THE OLYMPICS!!! (including shout outs to my bf, Raj, how the body of a beach volleyball player is my ideal body, and deep thoughts on the differences between men and women's gymnastics)
4) post-diss plans
5) after the 1st: THE STATE FAIR, including a catalog of which stick bearing foods were eaten by me, and which 4H projects were most impressive.

Here is what I will write if I can find the creativity: haiku inspired by Raj Bhavsar (I can't get the syllables right. Seriously, I've been trying. I'm not sure haiku is my medium. Shall I try a different type of formal poetry? A rondel?) and a summary of my and Topher's reality show, "So you think you can science?" Maybe we can collaborate on that, Topher?

books!

63. The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble
Nice, light read about a group of British women who form a reading group. Most of them don't really know each other before the group and they are of different ages and classes, but they become close as the group goes on throughout the year and they all go through different life stages. I liked the characters and the book was a good read. I might have gotten more out of it if I had read more of the books the group read, as they seemed to parallel somewhat the events in the women's lives.

64. The Man I Should Have Married by Pamela Redmond Satran
This was a kind of romance novel. A woman in suburban New Jersey gets divorced and runs into a man she'd kind of had a thing with in the past. Basically the woman has to decide if her old love changed from who he was, if she wants security or excitement. It was on ok book but not really well written and although I read it recently it didn't make a big impression on me.

Reader's choice

First, I have been wanting a new header for a long time. I don't think it is totally right yet, but I will work on it. I am hoping to change the look of the blog a little, hopefully I won't wreck everything.

Second, I am not feeling blogging inspired lately. I have been doing a lot of writing for he dissertation, so I think that is where my dissertation energy goes. So here is my offer to you: tell me what to write about! Leave a comment telling me what you want to read about and I will pick at least 4 (if I get that many responses) to write on. Maybe I will pick more if this lack of inspiration continues!

edit: looks like I changed the whole template! Hope you like it.

books

I am really behind, so here is an attempt to catch up some.

60. Turning Thirty by Mike Gayle
This is a kind of men's chick lit. That is, the audience is clearly women but the author is a man, the main character is a man and the book is about his romantic travails as he turns thirty. The cover even looks like standard chick lit. I heard that this was part of a foray into "lad lit" that maybe didn't quite take off? Anyway, the main character was engaging and it was a fun, light read. I would definitely read more by this author.

61. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
I have not totally bought into the Obama hype. I have not drank the Obama kool-aid. For me, all Democrats are too conservative and I don't like the two party system. The beginning of this book almost sucked me in, though. I found Obama's honesty about the problems in our political system/country refreshing. I also really like his self-awareness of how becoming a senator can lead into this cycle of only hanging out with the rich and powerful, and how that is easy to get sucked into. I found the first part of the book inspiring, but the latter part let me down a little. In the second half (ish) Obama talks about the main issues facing America and how to fix them. I appreciate that he seems comfortable with recommending new ideas that might go against general Democratic ideas (he is for federal funding for faith-based programs, for example) and also says we need to be willing to experiment to figure out how to solve problems. He also often says he does not have a pat solution to these problems. I think this is good as it is probably more realistic -- why should any one guy be able to solve the country's problems with education? But sometimes feels like a cop-out. This book is definitely worth a read to figure out more about where Obama is coming from, and it made me happier to vote for him (despite my problems with the dems, I definitely like them more than republicans!) but still left me wanting a little more. Oh, at the very least, though, people should read the section on race which I think treats the issue in a really smart and nuanced way, similar to Obama's speech after the whole Reverend Wright thing.

62. Popped Culture: A Social History of Popcorn in America by Andrew F. Smith
R got me this book (it was on clearance for $1!) due to my insane love of popcorn. It was full of interesting trivia, although not at all well-written. I really don't recommend this book unless you want a lot of random popcorn trivia and to be made very hungry.

PhD Comics

What you know vs how much you know about it

Tales of the Bus

So I get to ride the bus two days a week for my teaching jobs. It is actually not bad although I will confess to being a transit snob and enjoying the subway/train more than the bus in general. I have to walk about 10 minutes to this bus stop, but once there I have two express buses to choose from. I took the bus Wednesday which started well, it was not crowded, I had a seat next to a non-smelly person and we were on our way. Until we stopped at a bus stop and did not go again. Slowly, passengers started to notice the lack of engine noises and that the driver seemed to be turning the key again and again with nothing happening. Then she got on her phone and left the bus to look at something under the hood. At about this point we all started getting off the bus. Everyone was quite chipper, despite the inconvenience and the driver was super friendly and said she would put us on the next bus, but that it was small. She also complained about how she asked at the garage "for a good bus" and clearly was not given one. The new bus came and some people got on, but it was already small and full. I had no schedule so I waited around for another bus, which came soon after and was spacious. I also learned from this experience that if your bus breaks down the bus driver has pre-printed passes she can sign for you to take to work to prove you are late because of the bus. Awesome!

The second bus was empty so I got a seat again. There was a crazy woman on this bus, who kept screaming "Drew Pearson is dead!" in a scary exorcist voice, but other than that she was very friendly and smiled at everyone. She also spoke about how she was altruistic, but I didn't catch most of that sentence. In the end I made it to my destination just 10 minutes later than planned and I was super impressed with the friendliness and cheerfulness of my fellow bus riders in the face of the bus breakdown and the crazy lady. I think I'll leave extra early on days I teach, though, in case of further delays.

books

59. The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
This is another Young Adult novel by James Patterson. You may remember that about a year ago I read another YA book by Patterson, Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports. I liked Daniel X more than the other book as it was much more well-written. This book is basically the story of Daniel X, a 15 year old boy who goes around hunting dangerous aliens living here on earth. Like I mentioned in my review of Maximum Ride, though, there were a lot of pop-culture references that bothered me. I am really wary of this in books, as I think it is unlikely that in 10 or even 5 years a reader will know who Shia LeBouef is. I just think references like that become dated quickly, and stick out like a sore thumb.

Anyway, back to the book. A lot of the promotional stuff for this book talks about how boys read less than girls, and boys don't read because they find it "too boring". Patterson states that the purpose of this series is to get boys interested in reading and to this end the book is action-packed and has short chapters. That is all true. The book is very action packed, the main character is really likable and the story moves fast. I didn't particularly notice the short chapters, but as I mostly grab my reading time now in short spurts, I do love a short chapter. The book itself is fun and worth a read for anyone.

That all said, there were two things that troubled me here. The first issue has to do with the book itself and don't worry, it's on the back so it is not a spoiler. Daniel's parents are killed very early in a very violent way and this made me uncomfortable. I know Daniel needed to be alone in order for the story to work, but I think the violence of it went overboard. Also, Daniel says it bothers him, of course, but I never feel that emotion. Maybe this will come out more in later books, but I felt the trauma of the parents' death was alluded to and mentioned, but never dealt with.

My second issue has to do with the boys don't read because books are boring message put out by the promotional stuff. I think it is a good thing that Patterson wants to interest boys in reading. However I am not sure the boringness of books is really the problem. I feel like there are plenty of action oriented books out there. Also I did an informal poll of my male friends who read to see if they had read as kids, and if the boringness or not of books was a factor. All my male friends read as kids, but they felt like they learned to appreciate reading from their families. That is, reading was valued by their parents and/or siblings and so they did it too. This book might get a few non-readers to try reading, but I am not sure it will solve the problem on its own. It seems to me like a band-aid for a deeper issue.

Anyway, that is my thoughts on that. Go ahead and read this book for a fun read with aliens and alien-hunting. I think any young adult aged reader would probably enjoy this book, boy or girl. But I don't think it is suddenly going to start all (or many, or most) male non-readers reading.

This is a MotherTalk sponsored review (that means I got a free copy of the book).

Return

Hey! We got the internet! We are in Chicago! I love exclamation points!

So, as I said before all is well and our apartment is great. We had an ok drive here, although I do not recommend driving 500 miles the day after you pack a big truck in the July heat. The NJ-OH day was a little tough. The cats did really well, even Pass who on the last move apparently gave up on life and just awaited his death. This time he was definitely angry, but I think he knew he was not in danger of death. We still do not have a dresser but two IKEA shelves are filling in well. We also still do not have a couch but my brother provided use with a recliner so now we have two comfy chairs, buying us time to stalk craigslist for the perfect $50 couch.

Other than unpacking and exploring I've been busy with dissertating. I am really hoping to have a complete draft by Sept. 1, but it may be an impossible dream. I've also been digging up teaching jobs. I have two, at two different schools that are luckily not far from each other and accessible by the bus. I would love one more and the CVs are out, but we will see.

It Lives!

I am alive, R is alive, the cats are alive. We made it to Chicago and took possession of an AWESOME apartment. All it lacks is a dresser, a couch and the internet. Indeed, we will not get the internets until Aug 11 at the earliest. So, dear readers, you will have to soldier on mostly without me. I plan on hitting our local wifi coffee shop daily (our new neighborhood is even more awesome than our apartment) but I need to use the time for job hunting and mapquesting of furniture stores, so don't expect too much for awhile.

Ta Ta for Now

So our internet is leaving in the morning, and this is the last post you will have from me for a bit. Monday we begin our great journey back to the middle west. Send good vibes that R and I, our stuff, and the cats all make it one piece.

I'll hopefully report back early in August with tales of driving through New Jersey, Ohio, and whatever other states are between here and Chicago.

See you on the flip side.

Lazy

Crikey! I just had a terrible scare when I thought I have not updated this since people stopped clapping and Tinkerbell died... You would not believe how terribly tardy the Victorian internet can be. Stupid Global Warming!.

I am absolutely consumed with a weight-lifting regime, being distracted by the shiny, just generally being Snow White to anyone unfortunate to cross my path, my day starts with the dawn patrol from the light through yonder window breaks to 11pm at which point I fall asleep on the couch. I am beyond drunk most of the time. it will be fun fun fun till they take my TBird away.

I swear on the bones of my ancestors think of me as I battle mine enemies. Well, I'll try. Unless of course the pool with the cocktail bar is heated!

Courtesy The Lazy Blogger's Post Generator.

(as seen at Kristen's)

Grown Up

So I have done various grown up things in life. I am married, I'm 31, I take care of two cats, I buy my own insurance, I have various bank accounts, I teach college students, I almost have a PhD, etc. But today I did something that I felt truly marked my passage into adulthood. I got rid of nearly all my cassette tapes. It was really sad and hard, but in the end I needed the case for my dissertation tapes (how sad is that?) and I faced up to the cold, hard fact I no longer owned any sort of tape player, and that I had not listened to any of the tapes since probably 2000. In fact, the last time I remember listening to any of them was when I lived in DC with Melinda and we popped Into the Woods on and proceeding to sing along with the whole thing. I believe a friend of ours who I was dating was with us at the time, and may have been mildly alarmed.

The tapes were mostly soundtracks from musicals, which I spent a lot of time checking out of the library and dubbing. I also had all of They Might Be Giants' stuff until about 1994 (John Henry was the last album I had on tape). More than anything, these tapes represented high school to me. Me listening over and over to musicals, hearing non top-40 bands like TMBG and realizing there was so much more out there than what I had experienced so far. Anyway, I'm thinking that when I am moved I need to spend some serious time getting musicals from the library again and burning them, to recreate a little of that old vibe in a 21st century kind of way.

I did keep a few tapes. And I know you are dying to know what they are. I kept: Newsies (look at Christian Bale sing and dance!), Oliver and Company (no one remembers this one! Songs by Billy Joel!), a tape of a Collegium Musicum concert from college in which I dressed in medieval garb and played the crumhorn and finally a mix-tape from my high school friend Valerie.

Heat Wave

pass
Originally uploaded by mnkgrl

Here is the poor cat, suffering in the heat wave. He wishes we had central air (or a more powerful window unit). I say he should get a job.

books!

56. Hallelujah City by Tom LaMarr
This is a great little book I randomly picked up in the library. It is the story of an end-times cult, and what happens the day after the world fails to end. It is really more about a man and his cult member daughter and their relationship. I really enjoyed the book.

57. The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perotta
I was prepared to not like this book, as I had read a couple bad reviews. I also watched and disliked the movie Little Children, which is based on another book by Perotta. Here's a bonus review of the movie Little Children: blah blah blah we live in suburbia and it sucks and is alienating and our lives are not what we expected blah blah. I just feel it has been done before. Although I love Kate Winslet. She is my girlfriend. Anyway, back to The Abstinence Teacher -- I loved this book! The characters were amazingly well-drawn and fleshed out. They seemed somewhat stereotypical at first, and then as you got to know them you realized they were not what you expected. Also, I really appreciated the born again Christian character who was treated like a real person and not made cartoony, which I think is so rarely done. Read this book if you want a really well-done character driven novel.

58. Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
I was on an emergency out of books run to the library and grabbed this, even though it look familiar. On page 10, I did realize I had read this book before, but that was ok as it is a great, sweeping story of a Mexican-American family over several generations. I loved the narrator's voice and the lush descriptions of the different worlds she lived between. Good book.

What would McCain do to the Supreme Court?

Here is a well-written and interesting blog post about what a McCain presidency might mean for the Supreme Court. I also think this is an interesting way to look at the difference between Republicans and Democrats:

"I have long argued that the real difference between the two major parties lies primarily in the constituencies that they are forced to appease in order to stay in office. On judicial matters, the constituency that Republicans, including - perhaps especially - McCain, have to please is the religious right. No issue is more important to the conservative Christian base than control of the courts. The James Dobsons of the world are not stupid; they're politically savvy enough to know that they are one vote away from overturning Roe v. Wade and that McCain could appoint the justice who tips the balance."

Transitions

I've wanted to contribute to Scientiae for a long time, but somehow never got it together. But as I sit here rushing furiously to get through my dissertation, surrounded by boxes, the August theme of Transitions really spoke to me.

I am anticipating a lot of transitions. In 12 days we will be packing up and moving to Chicago. R will be starting a PhD program, I'll be adjuncting at least one new class at a new school (hopefully I will get some more classes as well) and I plan to defend my dissertation sometime this fall.

The move is exciting. Although I am not done with New York, and would love to stay here longer, I am excited to move to a city I have always liked. I love new things and it will be fun to explore our new neighborhood, find new favorite grocery stores, restaurants, bars and coffee shops, and hopefully make new friends. It will be great to start over in a new (bigger and cheaper!) apartment. And most of all, I am happy R and I are moving together. This is the first time we have moved into somewhere at the same time. I moved into our Florida apartment first, and he moved here to New York while I was in the field, so that is nice.

Defending my dissertation is also exciting, although scary. I still don't have a scheduled defense, and am rushing to finish up some excruciatingly boring data collection, but it is all starting to come together. I will be so relieved to have it all over with. I think I will be one of those people who just sobs with relief once it is all done. On the other hand, it is also scary. I have been in grad school for 6 years. I know how to do it. Now I have to go find a job, R and I have to deal with our two-body problem, I need to learn how to be a professional and not a student. It is weird, for as much as I want to finish, I am also scared of finishing. But when it is all said and done I am also looking forward to what I will be like a year from now. Will we have an awesome apartment where our awesome friends come regularly for dinner parties? Will I have a sweet postdoc or tenure track job at an exciting place where I can interact with cool people? Will I be adjuncting 5 classes a semester for basically no money? Will I be living in upstate New York while R stays in Chicago? Really, anything could happen and it is kind of equally exciting and terrifying.

scientiae+carnival

books

54. A Case of Need by Michael Crichton
So this is apparently Michael Crichton's first book, written back in the late 1960s under a pen name. It wasn't the best written book, I think you could tell it was by a first-time author, but it wasn't too bad. It is basically about some doctors involved in doing abortions before Roe v. Wade, and was mostly interesting to me as a historical piece. It was crazy to see how much scandal and legal problems were caused by these doctors doing abortions in some cases, but also how much the medical community kind of accepted it as well. It was kind of like watching an old movie, in which it is hard to judge a lot of the characters as they live in a world so different from our own (all the doctors had wives who stayed home with the kids, and did whatever their husbands said. LOTS of smoking.) So it was interesting, but I don't say rush out and read it.

55. Three Cups of Tea: One man's mission to support peace...one school at a time by Greg Mortenson
Three Cups of Tea is the story of how Greg Mortenson started the Central Asia Institute, which helps communities in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan build schools, especially in places where girls do not have access to education. It is an inspiring story and I am so glad an organization like this exists. The book did its job in that I plan to give money to CAI, but it wasn't good as a book, IMO. I thought there really was no arc of a story, and it is strange that Mortenson was one of the authors, yet it is all in 3rd person. It seemed like the book should have been shortened and been a New Yorker piece. I think if you are going to write an autobiographical book like this, you need to be willing to plunge a little deeper into your own inner life or something, to make it a more interesting read. Anyway, it was also really interesting to juxtapose this book with Infidel. This book makes the argument that Islam is an inherently peaceful religion, that most Muslims (at least in Pakistan and Afghanistan) are not terrorists and also want the best for their daughters, which is kind of the opposite of Infidel. It is good to read this book to learn about CAI, but not for the book's literary merit.

Sexism in Politics

From The Women's Media Center (and found by me on Sarahlynn's blog).

Chatty

Can you tell I am bored because R has been out of town?
I just found Chicago contains both an Aveda Institute and several Filene's Basements, so I can continue having cheap haircuts and cheap clothes. woo!

Recipe

So we have come to less than 3 weeks until moving, which means time to clean out the freezer/fridge! I have had two bags of cranberries in the freezer since thanksgiving. I love cranberries and always meant to make a tasty sauce to put on yogurt for my breakfasts, but I am lazy so I never did. Yesterday I made Fresh Cranberry Relish from the Food Network and it is super good. I used Triple Sec instead of Grand Marnier, as that is what I had (also contributed to using up some of our extra liquor). Anyway, I love this recipe -- easy, no cooking, and I have been eating it out of a bowl with a spoon, as well as mixing a bit with my yogurt this morning. It is more on the tart side, so add more sugar if you like your cranberries more sweet. I did add some honey since the cranberries and the yogurt together were extra tart.

Back Home

I am back from teaching the smart kids! woo! It is nice to be back home with my cats and my own bed and my stove that I can cook non-dining hall food with. Yay! It would be nice to be back home with R except he went out of town to work for two nights. But he will be back tonight. yay! I am trying to get myself psyched up to do all kinds of dissertation work and pack and all, but I am just feeling so lazy. I gave myself the last two days to relax, but now I really need to get cracking. I think I will eat lunch and then dissertate, and then get an iced coffee break. Good plan, eh?

I did run/walk this morning. It is way harder to run on the hills in my neighborhood then in the air conditioned gym on a treadmill. It took me 53 minutes to go 5k. :( Oh well, I can probably only improve from there and getting 53 minutes of exercise is still awesome.

I think I will make a fried egg sandwich for lunch.

books

50. The Last Colony by John Scalzi
The last in this sci-fi series by John Scalzi. This gets us back to the characters from the first book, and I really enjoyed it. I read it a little bit ago, so it is fuzzy in my memory, but it was a good read.

51. Killing Mr. Watson by Peter Matthiessen
This is a fiction book based on a true story and real people in the Everglades in the 1920s. It was a little weird and kind of meandering, without a lot of "plot", but I enjoyed it.

52. Violent Ward by Len Deighton
This is a cheapy paperback about a PI in LA. It was pretty random and there were some major plot holes, but it was an ok airplane read.

53. Beach Music by Pat Conroy
This is a really really bad book. Don't read it. I am pretty upset that I finished it. It is a weird story about a guy from South Carolina whose wife commits suicide, after which he moves to Italy with his daughter. They eventually come back to South Carolina and they are about a million side plots about all the characters in the present, in their childhood and during the Vietman war. None of the characters were realistic and it just was no good.

Done with flying

Hey guys, long time no blog. It takes a lot of time to teach the genius children, but here I am embarking on my last week and I have cleverly made them do independent projects so that is less planning for me. woo! I am enjoying the teaching, although the discipline for teenagers is exhausting. I feel like I have to always be on the alert. I can relax so much more with college aged students.

I took off weekend before last to go to the same wedding as Melinda and Christopher and Corbett. It was nice to get home for the weekend, but I had the WORST trip back. As the others described the wedding, I was just tell you about me. :)

My flight was out of LaGuardia, so I took the bus there and all was well. The flight got a little delayed, and then a little more delayed, and then finally canceled. There were apparently no more available flights for that day, so they said they could put me on one Monday. However, I am a freakishly responsible person and knew it would be terrible for me to not get back to teach. With the fast pace here missing one day is awful, and there aren't really subs they can call in. So I pressed the airline woman to get me out of town that night, and she said there was a flight from Newark. I decided to take this, got back on the bus, took it to the subway, took that to Penn Station, then took a New Jersey Transit train to Newark. I became concerned when I saw the airport was crammed with people just lying and sitting everywhere. I joined the surly, floor sitting people and watched my flight get pushed later and later and then finally canceled. Argh. So I got in another line, was confirmed on a 6:45 pm flight for Monday, and got a standby ticket for a 6:30 am flight. I was sorely tempted to pretend the 6:30 am thing did not exist, but my freakishly responsible side took over again. I got home from Newark at 11:30 pm only to get up again at 4:30 am to head back. R was the best ever though, and woke up with me and got a zipcar so I could save a little time and not have to travel on the subway/NJ transit combo so early.

I headed to the gate and waited and waited. The gate woman told me the flight was overbooked. There were like 8 other people looming about waiting for standby tickets. Finally, they got all the ticketed passengers on and then called out a name, and then another, and then another. They repeated the third name. Then they called me! woo! Thanks for not showing up, third guy! So I got the very last seat on the plane, flew here to smart camp town, got a taxi, and ended up getting on campus in time to teach my class. Of course, this meant I taught 6 hours with very little sleep, but I managed. I fell asleep basically as soon as I got back to my room at 4:00, but it all worked out in the end.

California gay marriage

yay!

The inundation

I am here at smart camp, and today the kids begin to arrive. Fun! I am dressed up in business casual to impress the parents with my professionalism and ability to impart knowledge to their children. I am actually pretty excited and feeling prepared. It helps that I taught here last year, so I know kind of what to expect.

family

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Alive

Lately I feel I only post so as to let you know I am alive. I am alive. I am in a hot state about to teach the brilliant children. So far I have gotten to sit in a classroom and be talked at. Ah, orientation. Our dinner was pushed back today so I am starving and tired, so that is all for now.

yum

I am a victim of academic neglect. Therefore, I got to spend my week in grad school town traveling about eating at tasty restaurants instead of doing what I thought I came to do. Even though I now live in NYC, allegedly the restaurant capital of the US or something, I miss so many restaurants here. Really, this town has a ton of good places for its size, and they are so cheap! I have eaten many portabella mushroom sandwiches, herbed goat cheese, butternut squash bisque, and sweet potato fries. Yum yum. So that is the bright side of this somewhat wasted trip. I also got to see friends which was good. And tomorrow I depart for my drive to Virginia. Time to charge the ipod!

books

46. The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell
This is a collection of essays by This American Life contributor Sarah Vowell. If you've listened to her at all, you know what to expect. The essays are witty and insightful and entertaining. As I have heard her a lot on TAL, I loved how I could hear her voice in my head as I read this book.

47. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
This is a very interesting book about what would happen to the earth if humans disappeared. It is very interesting and eye opening to see how quickly a lot of our structures will disappear, but scary about how mych plastic will remain forever. A good book.

48. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
49. Enna Burning by Shannon Hale
Two more Shannon Hale books, the first two of another series. I loved The Goose Girl, about a princess who loses her kingdom and has to regain it. It had a lot of the same themes as Princess Academy, and I liked Princess Academy slightly more, but this was still quite good.
Enna Burning was the sequel, and I enjoyed it, but not quite as much as The Goose Girl. There was more war and battle, and less concentration on characters. Still very good and worth a read, though.

I am still here

Sorry for the lack of posting. I am currently on my summer travels and right before I left I was stressed and now I am on the road. I am actually in my grad school town discovering that indeed, universities are not really concerned about their students. It sucks. Anyway, in the end I have decided it will make me more stubborn and willful about finishing, but for now I am feeling disillusioned and cynical.

I have been getting to see a lot of friends, though! And I am sure more fun adventures will occur AND I am renting a car for $75 for a week. Gotta love a bargain.