1July
2008
maura @ 10:17 pm
It’s time to blag, time for the blagging. That’s what the calendar tells me, at least. That it’s been nearly another week. And how can the time go by so quickly, anyway? What have I been doing?
Not much interesting, really. Working at work. Last week was a bad sleep week, so lots of coffee was consumed (and not much scooting done). Enduring high heat + humidity. Moving to temp office space during renovations. The members’ picnic night at BBG. Sesame Place. Family visiting + nephew baptizing. Driving on the NJT, 2nd most hated of all roads (right behind the SIE, which was also driven on). Kitten love (they missed us when we were away). And laundry, there is always laundry.
I am buried under reading at the moment. 1/2 a fiction book from the public library (renewed at least 13 times!). Another fiction book from work (plucked from the shelves mere hours before the PSs were sealed off for the rest of the summer!). 2 kids books. 1 new arty-n-writy book by Lynda Barry that I did not even know existed until my rad spouse got it for me for my birthday. 1 exciting (if you are me!) work book. Rounding out the pack are a few work-related articles, a few articles for the literature review of an article I hope to write, and a few articles for a research project I hope to start in the fall.
I need to stop sleeping. That’s clearly the only strategy.
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25June
2008
maura @ 10:45 pm
Years since we last subscribed to Harper’s Magazine: 11
Days since a colleague gave me this month’s issue:* 6
Issues of The New Yorker ahead of Harper’s in the ToT** magazine queue: 3
Times I have laughed out loud at this week’s New Yorker cover, by the amazing Roz Chast: at least 4
Boxes of stuff I brought from my cube to my temp office space: 1
Pairs of shoes: 2
Coat trees: 1
Hours of sleep I got last Sunday night: 5.5-ish***
Cups of coffee consumed per day on Monday and yesterday: 3 (plus 1 cup of tea on Monday)
Hours of sleep last night: 7.5-ish
Cups of coffee today: 2
Episodes of Battlestar Galactica watched in the past week: 3
Episodes remaining until we’re done with the season: 1
Days this month I’ve kept my writing pact with myself: 13****
This past week: 3
Summer Fridays I’ll be trying to devote to writing an article: 5
Summer Fridays I’ll be waiting in a long hot line for water slides and trying to avoid being hugged by Elmo at Sesame Place: 1
* She was finished with it, and we were prepping for moving day, which was today. The second floor of the library is being renovated over the summer so about half of us are temporarily displaced, split between 2 big rooms. It’s got kind of a college dorm feel. I’ll be hanging up my Joy Division and Cure posters tomorrow.
** Top of Toilet
*** Gus came in at 5:16am Monday, which is neither unusual nor typically a problem, except that he woke up the kittehs who then decided it was purr -n- playtime, bah.
**** I’m trying to write something most days recently (unless I’m crushingly tired), to prime the pump. Blag, journal, incoherent scholarly-ish ramblings: they all count. Keeping track on a calendar, because I’m a nerd like that.
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18June
2008
maura @ 10:38 pm
Wait, I was going to tell you about bicycles, wasn’t I?
I’ve wanted a bike for a while.* For green reasons, health reasons, fun reasons. But I haven’t been able to get myself to buy one. Partly it was a money thing: when we were on our eXtreme library school budget it didn’t seem properly thrifty to buy a bike. But there are other reasons too.
* I had a bike in college, but I didn’t use it for transportation as much as for health/fun rides along the lake between Hyde Park and the Loop. It’s a beautiful ride (and easy, too). But then the bike didn’t fit into the Uhaul when we moved east after college, so it lingered in the Midwest until Jonathan’s stepfather finally gave it to Goodwill (with my blessing!).
Reason #1: Can’t seem to find the time to go to a bike store. This is kind of lame, but bicycles are complicated and expensive, and it seems like it would take several time-intensive trips to a bike store to get one. I guess if I really wanted one I would make the time, right? Which leads me to…
Reason #2: See above re: complicated. I have a hard enough time doing maintenance work on the house and the car — it’s just not something that interests me. And I would feel bad about spending money on bike tune-ups when I could (theoretically) DIY.
Reason #3: What if the bike gets stolen? Would I have to get 3 million locks? What about the seat? I see some bikes with no seat — are they stolen or taken away by their owners for security reasons?
Reason #4 (possibly the most neurotic reason, certainly the most important): Brooklyn streets are full of cars driving recklessly. And, for that matter, they are also full of hardcore cyclists biking in a hardcore manner. I am not the world’s most graceful person. Reckless cars + hardcore cyclists + 1 klutzy cyclist who hasn’t really ridden a bike in nearly two decades cannot possibly = a good, safe commute.
But it’s getting too hot to walk every day. And it would be nice to have the commute be a little shorter, thus freeing me up to not take the subway home.
Enter: my new xootr! 0 learning curve. Can be ridden on the sidewalk. 100% fun. Also 100% dorky, esp. when I wear my orange helmet (yes, I know this is blue, but they don’t seem to have orange anymore). Jonathan said: “you look as cool as if you were riding a Segway.” And he’s right!
Just to really drive the dorkiness home, yesterday on my way to work I passed a little boy who exclaimed to his mom, “wow, cool!” Yes, even the first graders think I’m cool. AWESOME.
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13June
2008
maura @ 10:45 pm
Way back in April I was inspired to take the camera and document my walk to work one day. I downloaded the photos and there they’ve sat, in a folder named blag, on my desktop, for weeks now.
Until today! The day when you too can enjoy My Walk To Work in all it’s late April glory.
This is the block around the corner from ours, a particularly pretty one. Lots of lovely planting going on here — I always enjoy a good clawfoot bathtub planter.
A coffee shop on my walk has this cool bench. Never had their coffee though — I’m always too hyped up from J’s coffee (and walking too fast to stop at this early point).
This is one of two somewhat crazy clothing + other stuff stores I walk by. I’ve never been in though — maybe I am too afraid that I will buy something.
The Williamsburg Bank Building is the tallest building in Brooklyn. Of course they are turning it into condos (note scaffolding). The red and greenish building on the right is just one example of the hideousness wrought by the developer who wants to build a huge stadium in this part of Brooklyn. Bah.
I’ve never understood why there’s a cow in front of the hardware store. But it is a well-maintained cow, and the kids do like it.
Did you lose your glasses? I hope not, because these are in bad shape.
I am perfectly happy living in an apartment. But if I ever do live in a house, I would like it to be purple! After walking by it somewhat unintentionally, I actually changed my route because seeing this house every morning makes me happy.
Gus’s old preschool was across the street from this bar, which prompted many a joke amongst the parents, esp. during the always-excruciating “phase-in.” Note the “for sale” sign. Sigh.
I walk by lots of beautiful examples of urban gardens. I like this one for the pansies, which look so perky and happy, and the variety, which is quite eye-catching.
I also walk by lots of bikes. I’ve been having serious bike lust lately. This old school yellow number’s pretty rad. (More on bikes another day.)
How many new buildings can you count? The correct answer is 3 (4 if you count the one just to the left that didn’t fit in the frame). There’s a lot of construction these days in northern Brooklyn. Because, did you hear? There’s a terrible shortage of million-dollar 2 BR condos! TERRIBLE! Wherever will those people wanting to pay $1m for an apartment GO?! Quick, throw up more condos, before they all move to the suburbs!!!
</snark>
This is a sculpture in the plaza I walk through when I’m almost at work. Even though I’ve been at my job for almost 3 mos, I still wonder “where’s that dog’s owner?” at least once a week.
Another view of the plaza, while the cherry trees were in bloom. Public art is cool. The mostly blue + green mostly metal + stained glass sculpture on the left has an old-fashioned subway station feel to it. On the right is part of an installation of small plastic water bottles filled with red liquid hung in the trees, which look like alien fruits or eggs or something.
I like walking through this plaza — it’s right at the end of the walk and it’s nice to see trees, grass and art before starting the workday.
Work! The library’s in a funky building that was built in the 80s to connect 3 other buildings. Sometimes the floors don’t meet up (e.g. the library building has no 3rd floor) which is surprising! I’m lucky to have a window — the green dot approximates my location.
…and, I don’t know quite how to end this post. Except to say that it’s Friday night, and even though I can’t quite manage the popfest this weekend, I still probably shouldn’t be thinking about work. Bye!
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8June
2008
maura @ 3:24 pm
It should not be 90+ degrees and 90+% humidity in June.
—
What’s worse than spending 2 nights (because we started too late for one night) watching a movie that had all of the ingredients to be hilarious but ended up being a total dud? The same PLUS awful-yet-catchy songs that get stuck in your head for days afterwards! That pretty much sums up Music & Lyrics, which we watched last week. It looked so good on the outside: funny cast (Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore) + promising set up (what could be more fun than mocking Wham!?). But something went horribly, horribly wrong with the writing or direction or something because it was just BORING. And the songs are driving me crazy.
—
The kittehs are great, thanks for asking. But it appears that Mr. & Mrs. Fastidious are having a somewhat rocky transition to kitten ownership.
It’s funny, if you’d asked me a few months ago what housekeeping task worried me re: cats, I’d have said sweeping, of course, because of the fur. But you know, these little guys do not shed so much, and the fur is not bothering me at all.
However, both Jonathan and I are having a hard time with the litterbox. I hadn’t realized that a bit of litter tends to come out of the box when a cat exits (even despite the little footmat thing in front of the box), and am finding myself sweeping the bathroom about 10 times a day. Jonathan’s bugbear is the stinky poop, which he rushes in to scoop the very instant that a kitten has exited the bathroom. We are both freaking ourselves out with the thought of poopecules: the (probably imaginary, but what if not?) microscopic fragments of poop that give us pause whenever a kitten jumps up on the bed or sofa. Quel surprise!
—
Yesterday was stoop sale day, yippee! We took in a decent amount of cash, and got rid of a ton of stuff between the sale and our now-traditional hauling everything that didn’t sell directly to the thrift store afterwards (nothing comes back upstairs - nothing!). I’m proud of our steely resolve this year: we didn’t even buy much from our neighbors.
This year’s bang-up stoop sale innovation: the quarter bin (i.e. everything in the big plastic bin costs 25 cents) and the free bin (ditto but free). These ended up being a great way to get rid of all of those little toys and doodads (ay dios mia, plastic party favors!), while drawing in potential stoop sale victims. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!
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2June
2008
maura @ 10:22 pm
Woah! Seems like just yesterday I was all, “I’m going to write something every day, yes I am,” and now it’s already next month and here we are.
I did write something yesterday AND last Friday, but since I was at airports both times (and decided against schlepping the heavy laptop) it was on paper.
I was at a faculty development workshop all last week, then spent the weekend in America’s Most Livable City (2007). I learned a lot at the former, which was really fun, but you’re not interested in my blathering on about how much I love my job.
So let’s talk about travel, shall we? We don’t fly very often — about once a year, really, to visit Jonathan’s family in the midwest. And we tend to go for about a week so there’s not much time-related pressure.
But earlier this year a plan was hatched. A girlfriend* of mine moved to AMLC2007 w/her partner + son, so another girlfriend + I decided to go for a visit sans our own partners + kids. A whole 2 nights of sleep minus little Gus feet + little cat feet — incroyable! (Why is it suddenly French? Je ne sais pas.)
* I’ve been hyper-aware of small quick scenes in movies lately, one of which was that scene in Juno (which we finally saw, thank you Netflix) where Juno + her friend are at the mall and they run into Jennifer Garner who says that she’s shopping w/her girlfriends and Juno’s friend says, “are you gay?” And it cracked me up + made me feel about 100 yrs old all at the same time.
And thus a weekend away was planned. I’m hoarding my vacation days for our 2 family trips this summer, so I decided to fly out around dinnertime on Friday and return at the same time on Sunday.
You know, we’ve heard all of the travel horror stories over the past few years, but it didn’t really sink in until this weekend. Can I just say, wtf? What has happened to air travel to get us to this state? My flight on Friday was over 2 hrs late, and last night, 1.5 hrs. Much of the former was spent in the plane on the tarmac at Newark (hot, and with a chatty seatmate, grrr), while thankfully the latter delay was mostly in the airport. It doesn’t sound so bad while I’m typing it now, but on Friday I could have driven to my destination in the 7 hrs it took me to fly there.
My friend did fine on the Friday leg of her trip, which was earlier in the day, but fared much worse than me yesterday. Her (nonstop) flight was cancelled, she rescheduled to a flight with 1 layover, and with the inevitable delays didn’t get home until nearly 2am. Like mine, her kids are up at 6am. Ouch.
Can’t say I’m looking forward to flying again anytime soon. Luckily we’re meeting family in New England rather than the midwest this summer. And the next time I head to AMLC2007, we’re taking the train, man.
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25May
2008
maura @ 9:54 pm
Please give a warm mauraweb! welcome the two newest members of our household:
Not the greatest picture, but they are at the 2 1/2 month old constantly in motion stage. The one with the white back legs is Caramel, and the skinny one with the narrow face is Gummy (”named after my two favorite kinds of candy” said Gus). There were much tinier kittens at the shelter, but these two are brothers AND already fixed, an extra bonus.
We can’t quite believe we decided to get TWO kittehs, but we did, and so far, so good (though I’m sure we will rue the decision when they’re playing tag on our heads at 4am). They’ve settled in pretty well and already excel at Fiercely Attacking the Dust Mop, Protecting Us From Wayward Bits of Ribbon, Keeping Jonathan Company While Cooking Dinner, and Occasionally Sleeping Quietly Under the Table.
(And yes, can you tell we’ve had a Winnie the Pooh resurgence here lately?)
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22May
2008
maura @ 10:19 pm
(warning: long post ahead. probably boring, too. read at yr own risk.)
I’ve been thinking a lot about video games lately. Everyone in my house plays video games. I play video games. Jonathan plays video games. And yes, Gus plays video games too.
Right now you might be thinking, “What horrible parents! To let their 6 1/2 yr old play video games! This cannot end well!” And other overwrought thoughts. (And when I tell you that he started playing when he was 4, what will you think then?)
Or maybe not. Maybe you don’t think that video games are the world’s greatest evil. Maybe you just mildly distrust them. You read something once about how playing video games makes people more violent. Or you think that people should engage in less electrified forms of entertainment. You know, go out and run around the block. Or pick up a good book.
But, while I am a huge fan of both going outside AND reading, I honestly can’t bring myself to agree.
…
I would much rather Gus play video games than watch TV. With a video game he’s solving problems and thinking strategic thoughts, not just passively basking in the radioactive waves. We’ve never bought him anything specifically kiddie-themed, so he plays some pretty sophisticated games (mostly starring Mario, Zelda and Pikmin) that typically involve figuring out how to complete multiple tasks over wide stretches of space and time. The amount of knowledge he carries in his little skull about these games is incredible. Plus, the games he plays require lots of reading.
Yes, there can be killing, but it’s all of the swords + monsters variety, not the glocks + gangsters kind. And it’s not like he’s going to confuse Super Mario Land with reality. He did ask Jonathan to make him a cardboard sword, shield and helmet like the armor dudes in Wind Waker. But how is that different from picking up every stick he sees and thrashing around with it whenever we’re in the park?
…
Jonathan and I do have friends who play video games (including, I might add, both of my siblings). But we don’t have many friends who play video games and are also parents.
It’s been interesting to negotiate the video games issue with other kids’ parents. Some are adamantly against them, which is not a problem — Gus never seems to have trouble playing with his toys when his friends are over. Some are cautious + curious, as if they are fine with their kids testing out the video game waters at our house but there is NO WAY they will be getting one for their house.
Only a few parents have been neutral or positive. Luckily, one of these parents is a good friend of mine, so we can have video game playdates for the kids and talking playdates for the grownups. With cookies!
…
I guess my only real pause concerns the depth of Gus’s love for video games. Reading over what I’ve written here so far, I think, “of course he loves them, what’s not to love?” But the fact remains that, more often than not, playing video games is all he wants to do when we’re at home. His other toys sit neglected on their shelves, the pirates in drydock, the legos deconstructed in their box. Even when he gets frustrated or bored, he keeps on playing.
But then again, how is that different from what adults do? If there’s something you like, you do it. I’ve listened to New Order’s “Sooner Than You Think” about 50 times over the past week, easily. And how many times have I sat at my desk surfing the web for things to read and see, completely bored but unwilling to give up and find something else to do? Obsession is not just for children.
Yes, he could be reading. But he’s not quite reading fluently enough yet to easily read books with the level of plot that he needs. Of course we do read to him every day at bedtime at the very least. And he is almost there with the mad reading skillz, almost.
He could also be playing with his toys. But he’s an only child, and how much fun is it to play pirates by yourself? I must admit that I am not that into playing pirates or building legos (yes, I have finally outgrown legos!).
Or he could be outside riding a bike or hitting a ball. But we would need to be outside with him, and probably throwing a ball. While we’ve tried to introduce him to sports here and there, the fact remains that we are nerd parents, just not sporty at all. If anything I should be thanking my lucky stars that Gus is ambivalent about sports, since I’d hardly love spending my weekends endlessly spectating at sporting events.
…
What’s the conclusion? I don’t rightly know. I wish that playing video games didn’t require electricity — my tiny inner Al Gore does get a little bummed out that Gus’s preferred leisure activity is so uncrunchy. But other than that, I have a hard time finding fault.
I often think that it must be bad for Gus to spend much of his free time playing video games. But when it comes right down to it I’m unable to articulate WHY I feel this way. It’s probably the accumulated weight of the media spin on video games, the attitudes of other parents (esp. in my parenting-obsessive chunk of Brooklyn), and a general sense that obsessing over any one thing just has to be bad.
What if Gus wanted to read all the time. How would I feel? Would I be concerned that he should be getting off his butt to run around outside, or do a little building with legos? (Probably not, but that’s why I’m a librarian.) What if baseball was his thing? Of course I would be incredibly bored at little league games. But would I worry that he wasn’t spending enough time doing other things? And is baseball quantitatively better than video games?
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20May
2008
maura @ 9:08 pm
I have a facebook presence (page? profile? what the heck do the kids call it these days?) but I haven’t really been sure how to use it. I’m an old enough lady that I still rely on the email, and it seems like such a bother to have to check facebook also. I don’t have unlimited free time to devote to you, internets! (Okay, that is maybe a joke.)
Lately I’ve found myself checking in with facebook every few days or so. Not to use any of the apps, which I find perplexing and thus ignore (fear what you don’t understand!). But I do like to check my friends’ status updates and change my status, too. It’s a mini web shout out, easier + faster than an email but less giving-facebook-all-your-info than facebook messaging.
Just imagine my joy when I discovered yesterday that facebook friends’ status updates has an RSS feed! Now I can get all the status updates hot off the presses with igoogle (which I use as a blogreader).
In other tech news, despite the fact that we have made fun of it 4EVAH (as have the Penny Arcade boys [warning: 4th grade bathroom humor]), Jonathan’s now twittering, and he’s made me sign up too. He gave me some crazy iphone-related reason that I don’t really understand. I feel like twitter is kind of like facebook friend updates, and why do I need both?
Finally, we played with a friend’s iphone last weekend and I’ve made a decision: I Do Not Want An Iphone. Of course it’s lovely, and if I had it, I would use it, most definitely. But I don’t NEED it, not by any stretch of the imagination. I’d feel guilty about turning my old phone into technotrash (though it is kind of crappy and sometimes forgets to ring). And I maintain that it is too expensive for me to be carrying around at all times. Maybe if I traveled more it would be worth it, but I don’t.
And I think it’s out of my system. Iphone = NO!
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