More awesome

Here is another awesome thing. A web comic called Anders Loves Maria. It is about a Swedish couple, and written by a Canadian/Swede. It is NSFW and maybe NSFP (not safe for parents) as there is sex and nudity. I have been reading this for awhile, and the story just ended. Make sure to start at the above link and go forward so as to not be spoiled.

Anyway, it is a sweet/real/sad/funny story of a relationship and I've really enjoyed reading it.

Books!

12. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
This is the third book in a series about a regular girl in Brooklyn who finds out she is actually part of a magical group of people with the job of keeping demons out of our world. I remember really liking the first book and the second, and I enjoyed this one, but I felt the characters were getting a little tired. They lost their complexity and interest a little bit. Also, I figured out all of the surprises really early in the book. That said, it was a satisfying third book and would be fine to end a trilogy, although I think there is a fourth book coming. I will also read it. If you like YA fantasy of strong teenage girls kicking some demon ass, plus some romance and drama, this is a great book for you.

13. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Another YA fantasy novel with a strong female lead. I liked the story of this book better, and really liked the main character who struggles with having a supernatural power of killing. This book twists around a lot of the conventions of fantasy novels and has a lot of good women who seem to be damsels in distress but then take control of their situations. The writing was a little uneven at times, but the characters are all very compelling. I liked this one a lot and will also read the rest of the trilogy.

14. Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
I am apparently all about the kick ass women lately. This is the first book in a long series about Amelia Peabody, a Victorian woman who gets involved in arachaeology and manages to have an exciting and intellectually fulfilling life despite the constraints society puts on women. In this book, she sets out for Egypt, discovers her love for archaeology, and meets up with a bunch of characters important in the future books. I first read a bunch of these when doing field work, and I am not planning to read them in order to get the full story. Amelia Peabody is an awesome character to spend time with.

Becoming moral

I have already waxed poetic about Radiolab. Because they do not make enough new podcasts for all my commutin', I have been listening to oooold episodes. Today on my run (3 miles! woo!) I listened to this one about morality. One of the stories is about a woman who has been haunted by the way she behaved while playing a frontier simulation game back in 4th grade. She talks to various people and finds out that a lot of people have a memory like this. The first time you remember being really embarrassed by your behavior, a time when you did not do what was right that you can't forget and you keep coming back to it.

Some suggest that these times are so memorable, in that they help us remain moral being later on. Once you experience the terrible shame of knowing you did something wrong, you want to avoid that as much as possible. Sometimes these episodes might really impact who you are years later, as you swear to never repeat it.

Anyway, I was struck by this idea and could immediately think of two times when I was about 10 when I behaved in a way that, to this day, I am still really not proud of. Even though I know I was really young and I probably wouldn't blame an actual 10 year old for behaving this way, I am ashamed of what I did at the time.

1) When I was 10 my family moved across the country to a new state. I started a new school in 5th grade. A lot of the other kids had grown up together, and it was the first time I was the "new kid". I was really worried about fitting in. One girl was really nice and welcoming to me so I sat with her at lunch for a couple of days. Until somehow I got in with the more "popular" girls, and they told me if I ever wanted any friends not to hang out with this girl any more. So I didn't. I totally stopped and even joined in when others make fun of her. Today, that seems so unlike me that I am mortified that I ever did it. But maybe doing it, and feeling bad about it, is part of what makes that something I would not do today.

2) This one is not about interpersonal relationships, but about beliefs. It also happened around the same age. When we moved, I also moved from public school to Catholic school. I have mostly good things to say about Catholic education, and attribute a lot of my academic success to my time in Catholic school, but this was not one of its shining moments. I was in religion class and we were reading in the New Testament where Jesus is sending his disciples out into the world he tells them that they, the disciples, are worth more to him than sparrows (Matthew 10:31, if you are interested. I had to use a concordance to look this up. Lucky I have a husband who studies religion!). Anyway, somehow the class got into a discussion of how this meant God loved humans more than animals, and that lead to the fact that animals didn't have souls and would therefore just be dead when they were dead. I have always really loved animals, and at this time had both a dog and especially a cat (Tiger, may he rest in peace) that I totally loved so I just could not deal. Also, it seemed really mean of God to not make an animal heaven. I have never been shy about speaking in class so I asked something about this, or expressed my doubt that animals lacked souls, and the teacher was really not happy. Eventually, she made me stand up and repeat after her that "animals do not have souls." It was terrible and I was embarrassed I ended up giving in and saying something I really vehemently did not believe to avoid getting into trouble.

So those are my stories -- two instances when I was just figuring out how to behave, that have really stuck with me and taught me what it feels like to really know something is wrong and do it anyway. Do you have stories like this?

Awesome

You are going to hear all about my new true podcast love, Radiolab, in this and my next post. There is no podcast or radio show that is more creative, thoughtful and interesting. Each show asks big questions, like what makes animals animals and humans humans? And then tries to answer them by talking with various scientists and other people. On top of this, it is packaged really creatively, not just in a straightforward documentary style.

Anyway, all that is to tell you about an episode I was listening to called Space Capsules about the Voyager space craft which you have probably heard of. It set off in 1977 carrying a record that had all kinds of sounds from earth on it -- kind of a time capsule to let any aliens know about us. On this episode of Radiolab, they asked various people what they would put on a record today, what sounds would they want to share with any other life out there?

The answers are all really interesting, and it got me thinking. What are the most awesome things around me? What are some amazing things that I want to share about life on earth? To answer this question, and to help me appreciate more the awesome things I encounter all the time, I am opening a new blog feature called The Museum of Awesome. I just want to collect little images, stories and moments that I think are awesome.

So this first entry in the museum is my best podcast love, Radiolab.

Thing I love

R and I have never been into Valentine's Day. It is nice when you are a kid and give out those drugstore valentines and get candy and stuff, but the concentration on romantic relationships as one gets older is not fun. A lot of people tell R he is lucky I don't care about it, as I guess I should stereotypically be demanding chocolates and jewels and flowers. I am pretty much always demanding chocolates, but the rest I can do without. We're looking forward to a nice day of working followed by some important tv watching: The Amazing Race and some Winter Olympics (pairs figure skating starts tonight!).

Anyway, in the spirit of a more inclusive meaning of love and at the suggestion of an internet friend, here is what came to mind when I thought of all the things I love for a few minutes:

R
My family
So many friends
The cats -- even the one I am threatening to make into mittens
licorice tea from Stash
My office
monkeys
the jungle
the Amazing Race
the Winter Olympics
my bed
fresh snow before anyone has walked on it
RadioLab
the biological processes that let us live
evolution
sunny days
Lake Michigan
the portobello sandwich from a place in Grad School Town
homemade pizza
all my kitchen gadgets
fresh ground coffee
the Sunday paper
my tivo
driving all the way up Lakeshore Drive
Dove milk chocolate
popcorn
weird shaped fungus
pajama pants

Books!

I owe you some books!

7. Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding
Pretty typical chick lit in a lot of ways, although I found the plot kind of more all over the place then usual. It was a cut above a lot of this sort of book, though, as the main character was strong and capable and not obsessing over getting a man. Good fluff, but had some weird pacing stuff going on.

8. Whose View of Life? Embryos, Cloning and Stem Cells by Jane Maienschein
I saw this author speak at a conference, and she is an excellent speaker. I was excited to read this book, but found it really dry and somewhat superficial. I was looking for more of a description of the different views on cloning and stem cells, and this was a pretty straight up history of how humans have viewed embryos through the years. The beginning history was really interesting, but I would have liked more specific examples of recent events and more in depth examinations of the ethical arguments behind using or not using stem cells for research.

9. Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell
I don't know why I read these. Oh wait, because I get them for free sometimes! But seriously, the writing is not good. I used to really like the main character, a medical examiner, but now I am over her as well. This books is not well-written and ends with annoying cliffhangers. I can't promise I won't read more of these, but I'll feel kind of bad about it when I do.

10. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
One of the best sequels I have ever read. This is as good or better than the first book, The Hunger Games, and I may die of impatience before the third book comes out. Some nice post-apocalyptic dystopian young adult fiction.

11. Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
Awesome, funny book about punctuation. If "about punctuation" sounds good to you, read this book.

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Inspired by the famous person doppelganger meme on Facebook, I thought I'd see which celebrities I look like. I would like you to note, that although Blogger is cutting him off a bit, there is an old man on the end there. Also, Nancy Kerrigan?

Book!

6. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
There's been a lot of buzz about these books by a Swedish writer who died shortly after turning in the manuscripts. I read the first book last year. Like the first book, I found this book to start slow, but then I was totally engrossed by the story and could not put it down. I think the author's main ability is in the creating of dramatic tension, but there is also a lot of weird phrasing and pacing in the book. In addition, there is some violence against women stuff that is troubling. In the end I will also definitely read the third book when it comes out in May, but unlike some I do not think these are the best thing ever.

Avatar!

R and I and a bunch of friends finally saw Avatar in 3D last night. I went in expecting to think the story was boring and to possibly be offended on various levels. I expected the visuals to be awesome. I did think the story was boring, but that it was a super-pretty movie and very cool in 3D. I was not really offended, because the story was in a lot of ways so trite that there was not much to be actually offended by. If you haven't seen Avatar yet, be careful reading further as there may be slight spoilers.

As an anthropologist, I was struck by the fact that the scientists seemed to be some sort of general purpose scientist, and that if they had an actual anthropologist they might have had more luck getting to know the Na'vi. But this is nothing new, movies and tv often have a "scientist" who grasps all fields equally, making me think they must have spent a really long time in grad school. Although they are often also young and attractive, so maybe they are just geniuses.

The real take-home message I got from Avatar was to never work for the military/giant corporations as it will all go horribly wrong. CounterPunch has a post comparing the scientists in Avatar to the Human Terrain Teams that the US Military is using in Afghanistan and Iraq.

So in the end, I enjoyed my experience watching the movie because I enjoyed the 3D and the cool world of Pandora. I found the 3D to make the movie an especially immersive experience, and I thought several times during the movie that a Lord of the Rings or a Narnia movie or an Anne McCaffrey book inspired movie would be awesome in 3D. Those are all worlds I have been sucked into in book form, and it would be awesome to have that experience using the technology involved in Avatar. I was actually surprised at how much the visuals allowed me to be sucked in to the movie, despite the fact that I was intellectually aware the story was sub-par. Here's an interesting look at why we are so affected by virtual worlds. But in the end, I agree with this Savage Minds post that aside from the effects the movie has so little to offer that there is no great and deep commentary I can make, except killing people for their resources is bad.

Books!

4. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
It took me a little while to get to this book, although I was excited for it when it first came out. It was billed as an "adult Harry Potter". I totally love the regular Harry Potter, along with all the Narnia books, so I was interested to see where this went. I just finished the book this morning, and I am not sure what I think of it. Some of the Narnia allusions were really heavy handed, and I think the book tried to cover too much time. Basically it follows one person, Quentin, as he starts a magical school and 17 then graduates and goes on through life for awhile. Some sections of the book were really good while some were not, and Quentin was kind of grating as a character. So I don't know if I recommend this or not. You can give it a try if you are interested in people being swooped up into magical schools and lands, but this book never quite came together for me.

5. Little Black Book of Stories by AS Byatt
I am not a fan of Byatt, and probably would not have read this if it were not a book club pick. Like her novels, I wished most of the stories were about half as long as they are. I did like the last two stories ok. So if you like Byatt, you will like these. But if you don't, no need to read them.

Weekend

We had such a full weekend so far! Our friend Matt came in Friday night and we picked him up at Midway (they have some very strict traffic control people there who barely let you slow down to put a passenger in your car. wow) then we went to a Thai restaurant, had some snacky snacks, then came home and drank some drinky drinks and hung out. Matt is a perfect kind of friend who enjoys sitting around talking and drinking and looking up info on the US Interstate System on Wikipedia. We stayed up until 1:00 am, which is crazy for me these days. Saturday we used a free pass from the library to go to the Art Institute, where we enjoyed a lot of modern art and the miniature rooms. We also walked across a cool bridge to Millennium Park.

After all that, we drove Matt to Evanston to hang with his family, while R and I stopped off at a very tasty restaurant called Lucky Platter which was soooo good. I highly recommend it. I had a very tasty portobello sandwich and mac n cheese.

After that we were exhausted so we came home and napped and then headed out with some other friends to a piano bar. It was cheesetastically fun, but even better was the visit to the giant shiny McDonald's that occurred after the piano bar. We were up until after 1:00 that night too.

Finally we are to Sunday, wherein I need to work on the dissertation and grade some papers. Most importantly, tonight is the Golden Globes during which I will defeat Melinda in our annual contest of who can predict the most winners!

Winter

I know I've gotten some of your hopes up with all this posting of late. I'll try to keep it up some, but no promises. I just made it through the first week of the quarter and I am having a hard time adjusting. I think it is all the fault of the 8:00 class. I am really not a morning person. So far I am just so tired this quarter, although I have had more classes before and I am actually on top of all my work. I'm prepped ahead in all my classes and I have been making time to work on my dissertation and to exercise. I think the exercise might also be contributing to my tired, and I just need to get used to it all.

Books!

2. Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks and Gangstas at the Public Library by Don Borchert
This was ok. I just thought it overall was not that interesting. I am aware that crazy people, homeless people and unsupervised children go to the public library all the time and hijinks ensue. I thought the stories in this were not that interesting and not that well written. Maybe I know too many librarians in real life? Or spend too much time at the public library? Or both?


3. A Gap in Nature by Tim Flannery
Not really a book to read straight through, but this is a beautifully illustrated book of 103 different animals that have gone extinct sine 1492. Interesting, but most worth it for the illustrations.

Resolute!

In recent years, I have gotten into New Year's Resolutions. I used to think they were a set up for failure, but after actually completing some, I now think they are a good chance to implement some changes in life. So here are mine for 2010:
*keep running 2 times a week
*run an 8k in March
*run a sub 30 minute 5k
*if knees start to hurt go to PT
*take swimming lessons
*eat at one new restaurant a month
*have one social interaction (with someone besides the husband) once a week
*finish the dissertation

So that is more resolutions than I wanted to make, but I am already training for the 8k, already signed up for swimming lessons, and only have 1.5 chapters left on the diss, so I am ahead of the game!

2010 book!

Yay! First book for 2010:
1. The World According to Mimi Smartypants by Mimi Smartypants
Mimi Smartypants has a blog that I find hilarious. I love her writing, and she lives in Chicago and writes a lot about funny things seen on public transportation, which I can relate to. This book was published in 2004, and I don't think I started reading her blog until 2006, so I didn't know of the book for awhile. Basically, it is her blog from parts of 2003, put into a book. If you like her blog writing you will also enjoy this book.

Resolution Report

So last year I made some New Year's Resolutions:

*run at least 2x a week
*run in at least two races
*yoga or pilates 2x a week
*be more social and get out of the house more
*don't stress so much

How did I do? I mostly ran for 2x a week, until my knees started to hurt in October. Then I procrastinated going to the doctor. Then my knees fixed themselves. So.
Yoga/pilates was a fail. I am not good at doing them home on my own. I think I need a class.
I was more social. Yay!
And I stressed less, thanks to an awesome stint in therapy. Highly recommended, people. I was a naysayer, but my 6 months of talking to a licensed clinical social worker once a week totally changed my life for the better. Seriously, I still think about things she told me all the time.

Later, look for a post about my resolutions for 2010!

2009 Books

I read 128 books in 2009. Dude, that is a lot of books. I think that is my highest number since I started keeping track. I think it is explained by two things: 1) I have started reading before bed at night and 2) I read a lot of YA novels, which go pretty quickly for me.

Here are the ones I rated 5 stars on Goodreads. For 2010, I want to get back to posting my books here, we'll see how I do with that.


* The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
* Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy (Bloody Jack, Book 1)
* Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady (Bloody Jack, Book 2)
* In the Belly of the Bloodhound: Being an Account of a Particularly Peculiar Adventure in the Life of Jacky Faber (Bloody Jack, Book 4) by L.A. Meyer
* What Was Lost by Catherin O'Flynn
* The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
* Peeps (Peeps, #1) by Scott Westerfeld
* The Hunger Games (Hunger Games, #1) by Suzanne Collins
* Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
* The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
* How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing by Paul Silvia
* In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
* Dreamhunter (The Dreamhunter Duet, Book 1)
* Dreamquake (The Dreamhunter Duet, Book 2) by Elizabeth Knox
* Winkie by Clifford Chase
* The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
* Watchmen by Alan Moore
* The Riverbones: Stumbling After Eden in the Jungles of Suriname by Andrew Westoll
* Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb
* The Known World by Edward P. Jones
* The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller

2009 Movies

Here are movies I saw in 2009 that I remember especially liking:
John Adams HBO miniseries
Lars and the Real Girl
Air Guitar Nation
Double Indemnity
Man on Wire

I remember this from last year, I seem to be less likely to give high ratings to movies than to books. But there you go. I highly recommend all of the above.

Blinding you with science

I am not sure I have shared here how I never planned on being a scientist. In fact, it is still kind of shocking to me that I am indeed one. Here is my deep dark secret: I only liked biology in high school and in college the only science I took was intro psych and one semester of ecology and evolution. Yet here I am, an actual scientist with a science-y dissertation and attendance at science-y conferences. Aw yeah.

I have been thinking about this lately, as I am teaching science to non-science majors right now. Many of them are scared of science, and math. I have been thinking I should share my circuitous journey to science with them, so they can know that you can start out not liking science, and totally change. Also, I am still scared of math.

I have been struggling with some new to me statistics that I need for my dissertation. I was having trouble figuring out how to best look at some data, and one of my committee members came up with some ideas which are great, but which mean I need to teach myself some stats fast. I am not comfortable with math, and stats has always been the hardest part of science for me, but I am persevering and it is making me feel really smart and good. It has been quite awhile since I really had to learn something totally new and unfamiliar, and I am proud of myself for doing so. Here is a picture of the books I have been reading, so you can be impressed with my smart, science-y self.

Dentistry

After an embarrassingly long hiatus due to the fact that I haven't had a full-time job (aside from student, which does not come with good benefits) since 2000, I have re-entered the world of regular dental care. My new job does come with dental insurance, so I set off for the dentist a few weeks ago. My dentist is awesome and I told them how embarrassed I was about the long gap in my dental care and they were so understanding and not naggy and kind. I got x-rays taken and was shown alarming pictures of my wisdom teeth. My wisdom teeth are alarming, as there is room for them, but apparently not enough room to brush them super well, so they are getting yanked. But other than the wisdom teeth, I did not have a single cavity in the rest of my mouth. Right on, genetics! Thanks, Mom and Dad! I went back for a real cleaning today and am enjoying the very clean teeth. And I am going to the oral surgeon Friday, where I will be knocked out and have the offending wisdom teeth pulled while I sleep. R thinks my wisdom might go with them, but I am sure I have absorbed all the wisdom they have to offer by now.