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.