(Actually now with PhD, but Doctor of Philosophy just doesn't have the same evil ring, does it?)
Yeah, I didn't know it existed until today, either. But here it is.
‘Star Wars’ Quotes On ‘Star Wars’ Day! May The Fourth Be With You… » MTV Movies Blog
Star Wars Wedding Cakes You Wish You'd Had
Now, must go dig out my metal bikini.
Again.
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Finding the Loose Ends*
Yes, I'm finding them. Doesn't necessarily mean that I've begun
winding them up yet, but I have at least been able to clear a space
off the coffee table and see some of the loose ends.
For about two weeks now, Limelet has been relatively healthy and
sleeping well. It's had a profound effect on our everyday lives. I
think that for a month or so last autumn this happened, but as I was
still recovering from the whole broken-leg incident I was not able to
take advantage of it or appreciate it as well. It's been three and a
half years that we've been living with some level of sleep
deprivation...from agonizing torture to merely exhausting
day-disrupting.
Lately, until about two weeks ago, the night usually went like this:
Limelet finally asleep around 10:30 or so after bedtime routine begun
at 8:15. (Mentally shakes fist at daycare naptime that lasts until
3pm). I want to read before bed the entire time I'm putting him to
sleep, but once he's asleep I'm usually too tired. So I fall asleep
shortly thereafter. Maybe three or four minutes thereafter. Limelet
starts tossing and turning at about 12:45, may calm down quickly with
a little soothing from me. Again at about 3:00, and then 4:30, and
then 5:30. At each instance he becomes more awake and has a harder
time getting back to sleep, sometimes five minutes, sometimes two
hours. We may both end up just being awake in bed from 5:30 onwards,
or from 4:30 to 7:00. Which is exactly when I have to get him up for
daycare.
That routine is still loads better than it was only a year ago, but
still exhausting.
So it is with great relief that I have welcomed this recent upgrade of
his sleeping habits to pretty much staying asleep until 7:00. Now I do
have to still soothe him a bit through the night from time to time,
but only for a minute or two. In fact, Friday night he slept
completely solid all the way to 4:30. Unprecedented!
I can't believe what a change this has effected.
The coffee table is nearly cleared off, my clean laundry and Limelet's
have both been hung up for a week now instead of piled on the floor
near our closets as it has been since we moved here, we got more done
(both work and fun) yesterday than we normally would in an entire
weekend, the dishes are clean, garden's weeded, food is made ahead,
the finances and other paperwork are in order, social obligations are
starting to be met, etc.
It's like what one would picture a "normal" family might be like! You
know, people doing stuff. Not slouching around dispiritedly and
exhaustedly, while we alternate child care for a miserably sick and
tired kid, so that the other might get some urgent basic household
task done. Which is what our lives have been like every day for years.
Solid. Years. This past couple of weeks has felt like escaping some
kind of prison. I literally do not know what to do with myself during
the days! Hopefully I can finally send out those résumés I planned
to...in November.
You know what this means, right? It means I am certain to discover
that I'm pregnant any second now. I just bet.
*With apologies to my husband, as he will be sure doom is headed our way since I dared to speak aloud that anything is going well. We've both become very superstitious about this over the past couple of years. Every time we've dared to say anything like "I'm feeling good" or "things are going well" something terrible has happened nearly immediately. Really!
winding them up yet, but I have at least been able to clear a space
off the coffee table and see some of the loose ends.
For about two weeks now, Limelet has been relatively healthy and
sleeping well. It's had a profound effect on our everyday lives. I
think that for a month or so last autumn this happened, but as I was
still recovering from the whole broken-leg incident I was not able to
take advantage of it or appreciate it as well. It's been three and a
half years that we've been living with some level of sleep
deprivation...from agonizing torture to merely exhausting
day-disrupting.
Lately, until about two weeks ago, the night usually went like this:
Limelet finally asleep around 10:30 or so after bedtime routine begun
at 8:15. (Mentally shakes fist at daycare naptime that lasts until
3pm). I want to read before bed the entire time I'm putting him to
sleep, but once he's asleep I'm usually too tired. So I fall asleep
shortly thereafter. Maybe three or four minutes thereafter. Limelet
starts tossing and turning at about 12:45, may calm down quickly with
a little soothing from me. Again at about 3:00, and then 4:30, and
then 5:30. At each instance he becomes more awake and has a harder
time getting back to sleep, sometimes five minutes, sometimes two
hours. We may both end up just being awake in bed from 5:30 onwards,
or from 4:30 to 7:00. Which is exactly when I have to get him up for
daycare.
That routine is still loads better than it was only a year ago, but
still exhausting.
So it is with great relief that I have welcomed this recent upgrade of
his sleeping habits to pretty much staying asleep until 7:00. Now I do
have to still soothe him a bit through the night from time to time,
but only for a minute or two. In fact, Friday night he slept
completely solid all the way to 4:30. Unprecedented!
I can't believe what a change this has effected.
The coffee table is nearly cleared off, my clean laundry and Limelet's
have both been hung up for a week now instead of piled on the floor
near our closets as it has been since we moved here, we got more done
(both work and fun) yesterday than we normally would in an entire
weekend, the dishes are clean, garden's weeded, food is made ahead,
the finances and other paperwork are in order, social obligations are
starting to be met, etc.
It's like what one would picture a "normal" family might be like! You
know, people doing stuff. Not slouching around dispiritedly and
exhaustedly, while we alternate child care for a miserably sick and
tired kid, so that the other might get some urgent basic household
task done. Which is what our lives have been like every day for years.
Solid. Years. This past couple of weeks has felt like escaping some
kind of prison. I literally do not know what to do with myself during
the days! Hopefully I can finally send out those résumés I planned
to...in November.
You know what this means, right? It means I am certain to discover
that I'm pregnant any second now. I just bet.
*With apologies to my husband, as he will be sure doom is headed our way since I dared to speak aloud that anything is going well. We've both become very superstitious about this over the past couple of years. Every time we've dared to say anything like "I'm feeling good" or "things are going well" something terrible has happened nearly immediately. Really!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Some Changes Are in Order
Now, you've probably already heard (or...read) me rant ad nauseum
about daylight savings and how that should be changed. Ideally,
eradicated. For God's sake let it die already. So, yeah, I've got some
ideas about that.
Anyway, I also have other lunatic fringe ideas about other dearly held
social conventions. Such as the seven-day week. It's not based on
natural phenomena like months (although some claim some kind of
relationship with "four" moon phases, which to me begs the question),
or even like the number of our digits.
Since earlier societies had "weeks" of anywhere from four to ten days,
as I read, we could reasonably still choose something in that range. I
think six days would be better. And we have to maintain the two-day
weekend, too. Five workdays in a row is just too many! So there'd be
five weeks per month and, what, 61 weeks per year? Perfect.
Perhaps we can start a religion that uses the six-day week, just to
get it some publicity.
* * * * * *
I have been thinking about this, mostly at 3:30 and 5:15 in the morning. Now as far as what day I would remove from the week--it's not the one you'd imagine: Monday. No, with a six-day week no one would need to dread Mondays. And I like the whole "Sunday, Moonday" aspect. In fact, that's what I'd change it to. Anyway. It's Tuesday I'd remove.
You probably think that's crazy (as opposed to the rest of the scheme), but hear me out. So we have Sunday, Moonday, ... Tuesday? I can never for the life of me remember what that's named for. Odinsday and Thorsday, those are pretty obvious. And Freiaday. Since Freia is one of my favorite chocolate companies, I'd make that a day sacred to chocolate-eating. But then we have...ta-da! Saturnsday. What the heck? Sun, moon, Norse pantheon, and then...Saturn? Isn't that Roman? I'm changing that. It can be, let's say...Lokisday. For the sake of continuity.
Now somebody go look up the meaning of Tuesday for me, please, as I have run out of time.
about daylight savings and how that should be changed. Ideally,
eradicated. For God's sake let it die already. So, yeah, I've got some
ideas about that.
Anyway, I also have other lunatic fringe ideas about other dearly held
social conventions. Such as the seven-day week. It's not based on
natural phenomena like months (although some claim some kind of
relationship with "four" moon phases, which to me begs the question),
or even like the number of our digits.
Since earlier societies had "weeks" of anywhere from four to ten days,
as I read, we could reasonably still choose something in that range. I
think six days would be better. And we have to maintain the two-day
weekend, too. Five workdays in a row is just too many! So there'd be
five weeks per month and, what, 61 weeks per year? Perfect.
Perhaps we can start a religion that uses the six-day week, just to
get it some publicity.
* * * * * *
I have been thinking about this, mostly at 3:30 and 5:15 in the morning. Now as far as what day I would remove from the week--it's not the one you'd imagine: Monday. No, with a six-day week no one would need to dread Mondays. And I like the whole "Sunday, Moonday" aspect. In fact, that's what I'd change it to. Anyway. It's Tuesday I'd remove.
You probably think that's crazy (as opposed to the rest of the scheme), but hear me out. So we have Sunday, Moonday, ... Tuesday? I can never for the life of me remember what that's named for. Odinsday and Thorsday, those are pretty obvious. And Freiaday. Since Freia is one of my favorite chocolate companies, I'd make that a day sacred to chocolate-eating. But then we have...ta-da! Saturnsday. What the heck? Sun, moon, Norse pantheon, and then...Saturn? Isn't that Roman? I'm changing that. It can be, let's say...Lokisday. For the sake of continuity.
Now somebody go look up the meaning of Tuesday for me, please, as I have run out of time.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
C'mon People.
So, can we be just a little tiny bit less of pains in the ass? Right now I particularly mean all of us White people. Is it really (really!) so excruciatingly hard and painful to get called on your shit, even in a polite way, and even by another White person who's trying to be careful of your gigantic teetering defenses? I mean basic, super-simple stuff like exoticization?
It is? …Well, okay, then can you at least look it up later in private to find out what it means, and how you might be doing it?
I mean, I'm sure not saying I'm perfect about it, either.
And technically, yes, I am an expert on the subject, to answer your unasked question. But expert does not equal perfect. It means I'll own mine, and look into myself if someone calls me on my dominant stuff. I might even apologize. Maybe that'll have to be when I get over feeling crappy and guilty, but I try not to blame the caller-outer for that.
Is that really such a threatening thing to consider doing?
Dang.
And hey, this also applies to all of us hetero-identified, Christian-raised, cisgendered, non-indigenous, age-privileged, marriage-accepted, ability-approved, all-that-other-stuff people. Whatever our dominant statuses are.
Find out yours.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
My Little Vampire
For no reason. Or just because several people have mentioned that Limelet looks like the sparkly vampire. So what do you think?
Monday, March 22, 2010
Poxford Season Over?
As I review the recent referrers to my pathetic excuse for a blog, I notice that there are no longer 40 viewers per day who are all looking for that dratted Round Table info. So the invitations must all be out and accounted for for this spring. Well, that's good.
What people are finding me with this week: "I hate my Canon scanner", a couple of queries regarding Bert and Mary Poppins's putative romance or analysis thereof; images of Spock; and someone trying to figure out how to get the sound on Putt-Putt to work. Yay for that last one, because it means someone was helped by my struggles. (Unless they couldn't understand the instructions, or didn't want to bother with the fix, in which case: boo! I made it as simple as humanly possible!)
I am excruciatingly tired after 8 days straight of child insomnia triggered by the time change (last night I slept 12:37 to 5:28, which was the best so far), but I can't fall back asleep yet. I plan to have some breakfast, shower, put in some laundry, then see if I can't nap for a few hours. Oh yeah, also having this stupid bronchitis for the same eight days is not helping me feel any better, either. I have a coughing headache and am really sick of taking cough medication.
Friday, March 19, 2010
For Little or No Reason
<a href="http://graphjam.com/2010/03/19/funny-graphs-queens-lyrics/%22%3E%3Cimg class="mine_3284770304" title="funny-graphs-queens-lyrics" src="http://graphjam.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/funny-graphs-queens-lyrics.jpg" alt="funny graphs and charts" /></a><br />see more <a href="http://graphjam.com%22%3efunny/ Graphs</a>
Dangit; can't get this to post properly. Well, later.
Meanwhile, deal with it.
Dangit; can't get this to post properly. Well, later.
Meanwhile, deal with it.
Improvement, or...?
Just realized that I used to have those neglected animal dreams all the time, and I have not had any in years. Maybe because I spend so much of my waking time taking care of an actual (human) critter.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Friday, March 05, 2010
Life and Letters: Becoming Mary Poppins: newyorker.com
More about Mary Poppins (and mostly her creatrix) than I had ever imagined knowing.
Life and Letters: Becoming Mary Poppins: newyorker.com
Life and Letters: Becoming Mary Poppins: newyorker.com
Flamingly Awesome
Neat! From Lifehacker. I want to try this Flame drawing tool. I can make that memory liquid from Harry Potter, right?
Right after I finish the other 50 grillion actually necessary tasks on my list for today, of course.
You know I'm mostly on Twitter these days, right? It's all my sister's fault.
Also, why am I saying "right" so much?
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Dear Courtney--You Already Are Ms. Fixit.
I always have some kind of bizarre problem signing in to Feministing, so I end up simply not posting my comments. Well, I'm tired of that. What is a blog for, if not a personal soapbox?
So here's the original post, about a woman with a doorknob to fix.
I was a little surprised to see so many commenters suggesting she have her boyfriend walk her through it. Or telling her it doesn't matter that much anyway, so don't fix it. Or implying that maybe she's not really mechanically apt, anyway.
I think they are missing the real issue entirely. So here's my response, not that she'll ever see it:
Oh, Courtney. Maybe you're not mechanically apt as some have suggested. But I doubt it. Most people of average "intelligence" (whatever that is) could surely fix a doorknob if they knew how.
Maybe you can ask your boyfriend to show you how to fix it, as a whole heckuva lot of people have suggested. But I have a hunch this would just perpetuate your feeling of being one-down to men when it comes to this kind of task, regardless of how personally nice and helpful your specific man may be. Teach me, O mechanical one! --I've been there, though not necessarily with this specific issue. If you're already feeling like a hardware loser, it will just make you feel like a (comparative) kid.
Make no mistake: this is not about the immediacy or urgency or importance of fixing the doorknob itself. This is about your sense of agency in and ability to affect your world.
The thing that made me start Doing Stuff like this myself was having a female friend who Did Stuff. Seeing her Do Stuff made me feel that it was a given that I could Do Stuff too, and why on Earth hadn't I Done Stuff before?
If, as you say, you learn best by having a human person help you with it, find a nice hardware-oriented chick to help you with it. I liked the suggestion of finding female store employees if you don't think any of your female friends are into doorknob fixing. Maybe you'll still feel one-down to her, but I doubt it. It won't perpetuate this belief you've acquired somewhere along the line (along with the rest of us) that Men Do, Women Do Not.
It's waiting to come out. Do Stuff.
So here's the original post, about a woman with a doorknob to fix.
I was a little surprised to see so many commenters suggesting she have her boyfriend walk her through it. Or telling her it doesn't matter that much anyway, so don't fix it. Or implying that maybe she's not really mechanically apt, anyway.
I think they are missing the real issue entirely. So here's my response, not that she'll ever see it:
Oh, Courtney. Maybe you're not mechanically apt as some have suggested. But I doubt it. Most people of average "intelligence" (whatever that is) could surely fix a doorknob if they knew how.
Maybe you can ask your boyfriend to show you how to fix it, as a whole heckuva lot of people have suggested. But I have a hunch this would just perpetuate your feeling of being one-down to men when it comes to this kind of task, regardless of how personally nice and helpful your specific man may be. Teach me, O mechanical one! --I've been there, though not necessarily with this specific issue. If you're already feeling like a hardware loser, it will just make you feel like a (comparative) kid.
Make no mistake: this is not about the immediacy or urgency or importance of fixing the doorknob itself. This is about your sense of agency in and ability to affect your world.
The thing that made me start Doing Stuff like this myself was having a female friend who Did Stuff. Seeing her Do Stuff made me feel that it was a given that I could Do Stuff too, and why on Earth hadn't I Done Stuff before?
If, as you say, you learn best by having a human person help you with it, find a nice hardware-oriented chick to help you with it. I liked the suggestion of finding female store employees if you don't think any of your female friends are into doorknob fixing. Maybe you'll still feel one-down to her, but I doubt it. It won't perpetuate this belief you've acquired somewhere along the line (along with the rest of us) that Men Do, Women Do Not.
It's waiting to come out. Do Stuff.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Nostalgia: Namespace EnterpriseBeverageSystem
Speaking of classic posts--of which I have very few--remember the one about programming the Enterprise to dispense the right tea for Picard, and the out-of-control geekfest discussion that ensued? For some reason we ended up re-reading this tonight and laughing about it.
(And just think, we still ended up getting engaged anyway.)
Tragedy / Comedy
The other day Limelet was in a rare mood of hyperness. He galloped over to his Lego box and tore the lid off, throwing it across the floor to crash noisily on the opposite wall. TheLimey and I both shouted "Limelet!"* at once. He looked cowed. TheLimey prompted him: "What do you say?" expecting a brief "Sorry."
Instead Limelet answered, "Thank you." TheLimey and I stared at each other, paralyzed with equal parts horror and mirth. Before we could correct his misapprehension, he continued, "Thank you for shouting."
It was such a smartass thing to say--if he meant it that way, which I'm sure he didn't--that it was really funny. At the same time, it was so pathetic that it was mortifying. "Please sir, may I have another?"
With our genes, it'll only be another six months or so before he says stuff like that and means it.
*Not his real name. I hope this is obvious.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Love / Hate Again
Amazon.com, what the heck is with your search "algorithm"?
Why is it that you lead me to your subscribe-and-save section, only to subsequently show me a shipload of items that are not subscribe-able or in many cases are not available for purchase at all? And you have no way to search solely for subscribe-and-save items!
I am frequently forced to use Google to search you for almost anything I want. It's just too bad that you do, in fact, have many of the things I want, so I keep coming back.
Friday, February 19, 2010
It's That Time of Year Again
That's right, the invitations to pay thousands of dollars to attend a vanity conference must be hitting the mailboxes of academia once again, because my Poxford post is once again getting tons of hits. That's right, like, twelve. Or something.
It's kind of funny that that post has been the most popular thing I ever wrote.
Well, that and the UTI treatment one. Maybe the sweatpants baby carrier one, too. There is just no continuity in my contents!
A Low Wreck
Please, people.
It's not "low and behold," it's "lo and behold." Also, for the eleventy-xillionth time, one does not "wreck havoc," when one can "wreak havoc." Wreak!
For Pete's sake please stop it--it's killing me!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Changing Email Address and Stuff on Monster
Just FYI, as of this post, every site in the flippin' WORLD says that to change your email address or password or whatever with Monster, you have to go to "your account" under "your profile". Or some dang thing like that.
However, I couldn't find it; it must have been like that before.
Anyway, currently you have to click on "preferences" which is up at the top of the page near the right when you first sign in. That's where all the good stuff is.
Sheesh.
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