If you were one of the 100+ people who took my blog reader survey for my research class project last year, I would like to say THANK YOU - because I found out today that my paper is being published in my school's communication academic journal! Woo!
I am really excited; I enjoyed that project a lot and learned that I was a research nerd in the process of doing it. And...my paper got accepted to the journal with NO requests for edits! I am so jazzed. :)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Travel day
I am in California right now for work. I left our house at 10:15 this morning and got to my hotel around 6:20 Pacific time, roughly 10 hours later. It was a long day. Hannah was mad at me for leaving and almost refused to hug me goodbye, and then she didn' t want to talk to me on the phone. That made me very sad, but I understand. She doesn't get why I had to leave and I'd be mad, too. Besides, I don't like it, either. However, California is sunny and has palm trees, and even if I am here for work, there are worse places you can be forced to go (Exhibit A: St. Louis, which is my least favorite city I've ever visited, with apologies to the people who live there and actually like it).
Anyway, here are some amusing/interesting things that happened today.
Anyway, here are some amusing/interesting things that happened today.
- My flight landed at LAX 20 minutes EARLY, which I was sure meant I was in the Twilight Zone. But then my connecting flight was 30 minutes late, so the space/time continuum must have righted itself.
- I noticed that many women travelers at LAX were wearing heels. High ones. I cannot figure out why.
- I heard a girl having a VERY LOUD conversation on her cell phone where she was apparently telling a friend that her boyfriend had finally said, "I love you" for the first time. I resisted the urge to congratulate her.
- I ate peanut butter pretzels, which was a treat since we don't have peanut butter at home.
- I had a fish taco for dinner that was awesome. The shrimp taco, not so much.
- My rental car is a bright, electric blue PT Cruiser. At first I thought it was the dumbest car ever - I actually laughed out loud in the rental parking lot - but after I got in I decided it was SO CUTE and I've now fallen in love with it. I am certain I have the most unique rental car of any of my coworkers. Even the dashboard is electric blue. I have to remember not to speed.
- My plane was full of little kids, who were all pretty well-behaved, actually. I had a horrible stab of homesickness because the little girl in front of me was watching The Backyardigans on her portable DVD player.
- I actually did homework on the plane and worked till my laptop battery almost ran down. It was a bit tough to do anything without internet access, but I got a pretty good outline of my thoughts. It helped that the in-flight movie was dumb so I didn't want to watch it. (I can't remember what it was, but it had Keanu Reeves in it, which should explain well enough. It even looked stupid with no sound, which is never a good sign.)
- I bought a new book, A Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin, to read at LAX because my laptop battery was almost dead and I'd read both my magazines, and I had a long layover. It's very good and will probably keep me from doing any more homework on any more planes. :)
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Midterm panic
I have two midterm papers due in approximately two and a half weeks, and I have started neither of them.
It's not for lack of trying. I have fallen asleep looking up stuff on the computer more than once. But work has been crazy busy, and as a result I've been totally unmotivated to give up family/home time. So here I am, T minus 2.5 weeks, and not only do I have not a word written, but I'm also getting ready for two horrible weeks of business travel. Two weeks that coincide with the two weeks I have left to get these papers done.
How did I let this happen to myself? Bah!
I just needed to whine about that a bit. Tonight I must at least finish the first couple sections of one of these papers, or I am probably doomed. Nay, definitely doomed. Bah (again)!
The only consolation I have is that after this, I only have three times left in my entire life when I will have to deal with midterms. Because after I get this degree, I am SO DONE with school. Forever. Unless I'm teaching it.
It's not for lack of trying. I have fallen asleep looking up stuff on the computer more than once. But work has been crazy busy, and as a result I've been totally unmotivated to give up family/home time. So here I am, T minus 2.5 weeks, and not only do I have not a word written, but I'm also getting ready for two horrible weeks of business travel. Two weeks that coincide with the two weeks I have left to get these papers done.
How did I let this happen to myself? Bah!
I just needed to whine about that a bit. Tonight I must at least finish the first couple sections of one of these papers, or I am probably doomed. Nay, definitely doomed. Bah (again)!
The only consolation I have is that after this, I only have three times left in my entire life when I will have to deal with midterms. Because after I get this degree, I am SO DONE with school. Forever. Unless I'm teaching it.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Evil peanuts
Even though I typically prefer NEWSWEEK over Time, this is a pretty good article on all the fuss over peanut allergies.
I am a bit peeved by the people who seem to think "all the fuss" is just a bunch of parents overreacting and making it unnecessarily challenging for other people's kids to eat peanut butter sandwiches, but if you're going to have a balanced report, it does mean you have to let both sides have their say.
We have always tried to strike a good balance between being appropriately freaked-out by, and simultaneously reasonable about, Hannah's peanut allergy. We don't have peanuts at home, and we are really good at reading food labels. We picked a preschool that was consciously peanut-free and doesn't allow kids to bring food from home, so we're minimizing risk wherever we can. But we let her eat the cake at kids' birthday parties, and we eat out at restaurants all the time without creating a scene about what's in every single dish. (Besides, nothing on any kids' menu in any restaurant is very likely to have nuts in it, because it's all grilled cheese sandwiches, mac 'n' cheese and pizza.)
Still, having a kid with a food allergy - especially a peanut allergy, which is considered to be the most likely to result in the most serious reactions - means relying on other people to keep your kid safe...even more than any other parent has to do for any other kid. Our lesson on Epi-pens was terrifying, and even after carrying two with us everywhere we go for more than two years, I still live in fear of the day I might actually have to use them. I still catch my breath a bit when she eats a baked good that I have not been able to completely inspect, even if it is totally logical that a sugar cookie should be fine. But I also don't want to be "that mom" who makes a big huge deal out of stuff. I just want my kid to be able to eat without worrying that she's going to end up swollen in hives and unable to breathe.
Hannah's getting to the age where we are trying to teach her more about what it means that she's allergic to peanuts, and that she has to ask about new foods before she tries them. I think she's starting to get it - she at least knows that peanuts will make her "very sick." But I don't want to freak her out, either.
But I also want other parents to understand that peanut allergies are serious, and if you're not dealing with a food allergy in your family you should be grateful, certainly, but you should also be respectful of those who are. We don't want to be a pain, and we hate that we have to ask for special treatment sometimes. But we do it anyway, because we want our kids to be able to go out for ice cream just like yours (so we ask the person at the counter to go wash the scoop before they get Hannah's vanilla, or we just go for soft-serve straight from the machine); and we want our kids to be able to eat lunch with their friends without worrying about anything bad happening; heck, we also want them to be able to fly in a plane without fear, so is it really that big a deal if the airline has to give you pretzels rather than peanuts? We're just trying to keep them safe, and while we don't want to have to ask for your help, we still have to. You would, too, if it were your kid.
I know there are lots of food allergies, and one very good argument is that concessions aren't made for those allergic to those other foods (milk, soy, etc.) the way they are for those who are allergic to nuts. But it's also true that peanut allergies tend to mean more severe reactions, and they're less likely to be outgrown than a lot of those others.
For my daughter, that means that it's very likely that she'll still be dealing with this and asking for special treatment and hating to draw attention to her allergy into adulthood. But that's the way it is, and a little help is much appreciated.
I am a bit peeved by the people who seem to think "all the fuss" is just a bunch of parents overreacting and making it unnecessarily challenging for other people's kids to eat peanut butter sandwiches, but if you're going to have a balanced report, it does mean you have to let both sides have their say.
We have always tried to strike a good balance between being appropriately freaked-out by, and simultaneously reasonable about, Hannah's peanut allergy. We don't have peanuts at home, and we are really good at reading food labels. We picked a preschool that was consciously peanut-free and doesn't allow kids to bring food from home, so we're minimizing risk wherever we can. But we let her eat the cake at kids' birthday parties, and we eat out at restaurants all the time without creating a scene about what's in every single dish. (Besides, nothing on any kids' menu in any restaurant is very likely to have nuts in it, because it's all grilled cheese sandwiches, mac 'n' cheese and pizza.)
Still, having a kid with a food allergy - especially a peanut allergy, which is considered to be the most likely to result in the most serious reactions - means relying on other people to keep your kid safe...even more than any other parent has to do for any other kid. Our lesson on Epi-pens was terrifying, and even after carrying two with us everywhere we go for more than two years, I still live in fear of the day I might actually have to use them. I still catch my breath a bit when she eats a baked good that I have not been able to completely inspect, even if it is totally logical that a sugar cookie should be fine. But I also don't want to be "that mom" who makes a big huge deal out of stuff. I just want my kid to be able to eat without worrying that she's going to end up swollen in hives and unable to breathe.
Hannah's getting to the age where we are trying to teach her more about what it means that she's allergic to peanuts, and that she has to ask about new foods before she tries them. I think she's starting to get it - she at least knows that peanuts will make her "very sick." But I don't want to freak her out, either.
But I also want other parents to understand that peanut allergies are serious, and if you're not dealing with a food allergy in your family you should be grateful, certainly, but you should also be respectful of those who are. We don't want to be a pain, and we hate that we have to ask for special treatment sometimes. But we do it anyway, because we want our kids to be able to go out for ice cream just like yours (so we ask the person at the counter to go wash the scoop before they get Hannah's vanilla, or we just go for soft-serve straight from the machine); and we want our kids to be able to eat lunch with their friends without worrying about anything bad happening; heck, we also want them to be able to fly in a plane without fear, so is it really that big a deal if the airline has to give you pretzels rather than peanuts? We're just trying to keep them safe, and while we don't want to have to ask for your help, we still have to. You would, too, if it were your kid.
I know there are lots of food allergies, and one very good argument is that concessions aren't made for those allergic to those other foods (milk, soy, etc.) the way they are for those who are allergic to nuts. But it's also true that peanut allergies tend to mean more severe reactions, and they're less likely to be outgrown than a lot of those others.
For my daughter, that means that it's very likely that she'll still be dealing with this and asking for special treatment and hating to draw attention to her allergy into adulthood. But that's the way it is, and a little help is much appreciated.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
School, schmool
I have always loved school. I haven't always loved all my classes, but I have always loved going to school and learning things and getting A's. :)
This semester I'm paying so little attention to school that it scares me. I'm 4 weeks in and I don't even remember when the midterms are due. And the worst part is that I periodically think, "I wonder when the midterms are due?" and I could, then, go look it up, but I don't.
I have one incredibly interesting class with a super-cool professor who doesn't seem to believe in having to do a lot of work and also believes in getting out of class early every week. This is the perfect storm of awesomeness for school: I learn something cool and applicable to my life every single week, but I don't even have to invest much to do it. I just show up and absorb. So I don't pay that much attention except for the couple hours a week I have to go there.
My other class is BORING and I am not learning ANYTHING so I'm having a hard time caring at all. It's an odd feeling not to care, but I really, really don't. For the first time ever, I'm embracing the idea that I can skate, and it's okay to skate, and I'm probably still going to get a good enough grade. I can't invest too much effort in something that's giving me no tangible or useful return except a grade and three more credit hours toward graduation. I even looked into dropping the class, but there's nothing else I can take; I've taken every other class that's being offered at the campus I prefer to attend, so I'm stuck.
It doesn't help that work is completely insane, so the amount of time I have left to divide between home and school is greatly diminished. And with two classes that don't really require me, at this point, to spend much time on them, I'm weighting my "free" time much more heavily toward home/family stuff.
It is so odd for me to just let this kind of thing go. But I guess I've finally hit the point where I know this is the way it has to be. Sometimes good enough is really good enough.
I've flirted with this "so what?" attitude before, but this is the first time I feel like it's really taking hold. I am beginning to understand how everybody in undergrad had so much time to go out and do stuff - they'd already arrived at this enlightened approach to education. Talk to me again, though, when I'm trying to get midterm papers done...because usually the closer the grade gets, the more wiggy I get. That will be the true test.
Which reminds me...I really should look up when those things are due. Bah.
This semester I'm paying so little attention to school that it scares me. I'm 4 weeks in and I don't even remember when the midterms are due. And the worst part is that I periodically think, "I wonder when the midterms are due?" and I could, then, go look it up, but I don't.
I have one incredibly interesting class with a super-cool professor who doesn't seem to believe in having to do a lot of work and also believes in getting out of class early every week. This is the perfect storm of awesomeness for school: I learn something cool and applicable to my life every single week, but I don't even have to invest much to do it. I just show up and absorb. So I don't pay that much attention except for the couple hours a week I have to go there.
My other class is BORING and I am not learning ANYTHING so I'm having a hard time caring at all. It's an odd feeling not to care, but I really, really don't. For the first time ever, I'm embracing the idea that I can skate, and it's okay to skate, and I'm probably still going to get a good enough grade. I can't invest too much effort in something that's giving me no tangible or useful return except a grade and three more credit hours toward graduation. I even looked into dropping the class, but there's nothing else I can take; I've taken every other class that's being offered at the campus I prefer to attend, so I'm stuck.
It doesn't help that work is completely insane, so the amount of time I have left to divide between home and school is greatly diminished. And with two classes that don't really require me, at this point, to spend much time on them, I'm weighting my "free" time much more heavily toward home/family stuff.
It is so odd for me to just let this kind of thing go. But I guess I've finally hit the point where I know this is the way it has to be. Sometimes good enough is really good enough.
I've flirted with this "so what?" attitude before, but this is the first time I feel like it's really taking hold. I am beginning to understand how everybody in undergrad had so much time to go out and do stuff - they'd already arrived at this enlightened approach to education. Talk to me again, though, when I'm trying to get midterm papers done...because usually the closer the grade gets, the more wiggy I get. That will be the true test.
Which reminds me...I really should look up when those things are due. Bah.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
I'm done with Twilight...what now?
This is kind of a review, I guess - but mostly it's just me sharing my all-consuming enthusiasm for the Twilight series. For the past three and a half weeks, I have done nothing with my down time (little that I have) but read these books. I know I'm very late to the game on this; the first book came out in 2005, I think, and the fourth and final one came out a few months ago. I kept holding off because I didn't think I had time to read them, and I wasn't sure if I even wanted to read them, but two of my friends - my age - highly recommended them so I finally went for it. I'm actually really glad I didn't start reading them till now, because I could just go straight through all four books without stopping, or having to wait in suspense while I wondered what was going to happen next. I just had to close one and open the next one, and keep right on going.
These are the first books I've been REALLY into since Harry Potter. It was so fun to be so excited about a book series again! Although, I admit, I was a little embarrassed for being so wild about books that are essentially about teenage vampires and werewolves. I confess that I didn't make eye contact with the salespeople at the bookstores where I bought the books. If I'd been thinking, I would have gotten gift receipts so it would've looked like I was buying them for a little sister or a niece or something.
But now, whatever. I loved these books and I don't care who knows it!
One of my friends asked me what the appeal was...and I couldn't really explain it. The mythology in the books is really intriguing, but I can't really come up with some high-sounding literary reason why I was so completely absorbed in the story. I just loved the characters, loved the love story, and loved the idea of something so imaginative being set in someplace so ordinary. The idea of a super-hot vampire being completely devoted to you for eternity isn't bad, either. I think, though, that what really did it for me was kind of remembering what it was like to be in high school and fall in love for the first time (for me, the only time!), even though there were no vampires at my high school (to my knowledge).
I finished the fourth book, Breaking Dawn, late last night, and I have to say I was very satisfied. It wasn't even like when I read the last Harry Potter book and felt sad that I was never going to read more about Harry. With the ending of the Twilight series, I just felt like I'd read the whole story, the ending was nicely tied up, and I could now go on with my life knowing what happened to all these characters. I don't particularly feel like I need to read more about them, because I'm not really sure what else is left to say. I'm also a bit glad to be done because I've been living on very little sleep while I've been reading these books (staying up till past midnight on more than one occasion, even during the week), so it will be nice to be able to turn off my brain and go to bed at a decent hour again. And when I have finally gotten some sleep, I have been having a lot of dreams about vampires, so it's not particularly restful. Some of them have been combined with work dreams, which is very weird, but oh well. :) Still, I love books, and I can't say enough about books that make me want to sacrifice sleeping to read them.
I won't say that the books were all perfect; there were definitely times when the main character, Bella, annoyed the heck out of me with her dramatic behavior, but then I remembered that teenage girls are just dramatic, so it was probably an unavoidable part of the story. Overall, though, they are the best books I've read in a very long time - worth the hype, and worth staying up too late and trying to cram in chapters over breakfast before work.
I'm now waiting on one of my friends at work to finish reading the series (I just loaned her New Moon, and I'm taking her Eclipse and Breaking Dawn on Monday) so I have someone nearby to talk about the books with!!
These are the first books I've been REALLY into since Harry Potter. It was so fun to be so excited about a book series again! Although, I admit, I was a little embarrassed for being so wild about books that are essentially about teenage vampires and werewolves. I confess that I didn't make eye contact with the salespeople at the bookstores where I bought the books. If I'd been thinking, I would have gotten gift receipts so it would've looked like I was buying them for a little sister or a niece or something.
But now, whatever. I loved these books and I don't care who knows it!
One of my friends asked me what the appeal was...and I couldn't really explain it. The mythology in the books is really intriguing, but I can't really come up with some high-sounding literary reason why I was so completely absorbed in the story. I just loved the characters, loved the love story, and loved the idea of something so imaginative being set in someplace so ordinary. The idea of a super-hot vampire being completely devoted to you for eternity isn't bad, either. I think, though, that what really did it for me was kind of remembering what it was like to be in high school and fall in love for the first time (for me, the only time!), even though there were no vampires at my high school (to my knowledge).
I finished the fourth book, Breaking Dawn, late last night, and I have to say I was very satisfied. It wasn't even like when I read the last Harry Potter book and felt sad that I was never going to read more about Harry. With the ending of the Twilight series, I just felt like I'd read the whole story, the ending was nicely tied up, and I could now go on with my life knowing what happened to all these characters. I don't particularly feel like I need to read more about them, because I'm not really sure what else is left to say. I'm also a bit glad to be done because I've been living on very little sleep while I've been reading these books (staying up till past midnight on more than one occasion, even during the week), so it will be nice to be able to turn off my brain and go to bed at a decent hour again. And when I have finally gotten some sleep, I have been having a lot of dreams about vampires, so it's not particularly restful. Some of them have been combined with work dreams, which is very weird, but oh well. :) Still, I love books, and I can't say enough about books that make me want to sacrifice sleeping to read them.
I won't say that the books were all perfect; there were definitely times when the main character, Bella, annoyed the heck out of me with her dramatic behavior, but then I remembered that teenage girls are just dramatic, so it was probably an unavoidable part of the story. Overall, though, they are the best books I've read in a very long time - worth the hype, and worth staying up too late and trying to cram in chapters over breakfast before work.
I'm now waiting on one of my friends at work to finish reading the series (I just loaned her New Moon, and I'm taking her Eclipse and Breaking Dawn on Monday) so I have someone nearby to talk about the books with!!
Slumdog Millionaire Review
We took a half day of vacation from work yesterday to go on a date for Valentine's Day, since the likelihood of going on a date on the actual day is never good for us. (We have no convenient neighborhood teenager to babysit, and no family nearby.) So, we went to lunch at Stir Crazy (where I tried something new, even though I didn't know what half the ingredients were, and it was delightful) and then went to see Slumdog Millionaire.
I know it's been out for awhile and already won a Golden Globe, so I will keep this short.
1) Go. See. It.
2) It is fantastic.
3) I now have a crush on the guy who plays Jamal, and I am resisting looking him up on imdb because I think he might be like 10 years younger than I am, and I just don't need that.
4) I laughed, I cried, I hid my eyes during a few uncomfortable parts. It had basically everything you need in a movie experience.
5) Go. See. It.
I know it's been out for awhile and already won a Golden Globe, so I will keep this short.
1) Go. See. It.
2) It is fantastic.
3) I now have a crush on the guy who plays Jamal, and I am resisting looking him up on imdb because I think he might be like 10 years younger than I am, and I just don't need that.
4) I laughed, I cried, I hid my eyes during a few uncomfortable parts. It had basically everything you need in a movie experience.
5) Go. See. It.
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