whiplash weather

maura @ 6:37 pm

I’m always surprised at how fast things can change with early Spring weather. This time last weekend we were drinking hot chocolate after Jonathan took Gus and a pal to the park to get in some sledding and build a snow fort (after the 2 feet of snow we’d gotten the day before). Today it was 53 degrees and sunny, though there are still a few dirty piles of snow yet to melt. I took Gus to karate this morning, but we’ve spent the afternoon inside.

What is is about the internets that makes us want to own up to stuff that we’re maybe a bit ashamed about? I always feel guilty when we don’t take advantage of the nice weather and do something outside. The botanic gardens, the High Line, riding bikes in the park, getting back on our scooters: we could have done any of those things today. But I’m tired and Jonathan’s tired–indeed, we both napped, which is a rare luxury. Gus was perfectly happy to spend the day playing video games and watching Japanese Kirby videos (subtitled in English) on YouTube. And we’re planning to head to the zoo tomorrow so we’ll have plenty of opportunity for vitamin D and running around then.

You all know how I feel about video games, both for Gus and for myself. Recently we have put some limits on weekend gametime; the weekdays tend to police themselves, what with school and homework. But many weekends we’re doing stuff, too, in which case it’s not really an issue. We didn’t impose any limits today because Monday starts a 10 day electronic fast in our house. In Gus’s school the highest grades go on a camping trip each year, and to raise money for the trip they do a read-a-thon in which sponsors pledge a few cents a page. The teachers have decided that in the midst of the read-a-thon will be a 10 day period with no TV or other electronic devices. For everyone in the family, I might add.

I always feel a bit torn about these digital fasts. On the one hand, I do see some value in taking a break from electronics–they use electricity, and you don’t tend to move much while using them. They can also be kind of antisocial, though I hesitate to even bring that up because they can also be *more* social. When I’m talking to an old college pal on facebook aren’t I being more social than if I’m sitting on my sofa reading? And Gus already reads a ton–one day last month he read 219 pages of Harry Potter #2!–so it’s not like I’m worried that he’s not spending enough time hitting the books.

What I expect the 10 days will do (beyond raising money for the trip) is highlight my own various uses of electronics. Between my phone and laptop at home there’s work work (mostly but not solely email), research work, work-related reading, twitter (which is half work half not), personal email, news reading, facebook (actually not so much these days, maybe 2-3x/week), and TV/movie watching (I’ve been busy enough recently that there hasn’t been much gaming for me). Some of those can happen while Gus is asleep, so I don’t need to worry about them. But I do tend to use the phone, especially, to fill in at certain times. In the morning at the breakfast table I usually check weather, email, the NY Times, and twitter. In the evening while supervising Gus getting ready for bed I’m often catching up on personal email, twitter, facebook, or RSS feeds (overwhelmingly library- or higher ed-related).

Technically I won’t be able to use the phone or computer in that kind of filling in the cracks way during the electronics fast. Luckily I’m also about 2 months behind on New Yorkers, so maybe I can get through those, finally. But I predict that it’ll be hard to remember to check the weather at nights while Gus is asleep.

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happy lincoln’s birthday!

maura @ 8:10 pm

Today is the only day during the year that CUNY is closed but the public schools are OPEN. As if I needed another reason to like our 16th president.

In honor of this day I am doing no work at all. None! And also a couple of errandy things. And reading something for fun.* And I took a very small nap. Woo hoo!

* Just because I’m reading a book about plagiarism doesn’t mean it’s not fun!

Anyway, I have a couple of partially-written things to post here (or elsewhere) but I’m too tired from my day off to finish them now. Here’s some Twitter to tide you over.

RT @notjonathan My first iPhone app is live! http://cryptogram.com/tarot (iTunes http://bit.ly/bLLKH6) DM or @ me if you’d like a free promo code #tarot
1:22 PM Feb 11th from Tweetie Retweeted by you and 1 other

A brisk snowy walk, the quiet of the office before the library opens, taking some time to write. Happy Thursday!
8:40 AM Feb 11th from web

From the parent coordinator at my kid’s school: school is OPEN tomorrow. Best. Email. Ever.
6:27 PM Feb 10th from web

@alevtina Go, City Tech! Snow can’t stop the awesomeness, oh yeah. :)
8:20 AM Feb 10th from Echofon in reply to alevtina

RT @kittenwithawhip: RT @DrinkWellDoGood Southern Foodways Alliance seeking interns for Oral History programs. http://tiny.cc/8tVfD
11:36 PM Feb 8th from Echofon

Dear printer, Actually, paper is *not* jammed in the transport unit. Please get a grip. Thanks, Maura
4:07 PM Feb 8th from web

One of the cats likes to nap on the shelf next to my desk. Study buddy! http://twitpic.com/122mcu
10:23 AM Feb 8th from Echofon

RT @mwesch Check out “The Class” a parody of The Office on technology in the classroom from @LynnSchofClark ’s class at DU http://bit.ly/cerGqP
7:48 AM Feb 7th from web Retweeted by you and 16 others

Watching Fringe + swooning over Olivia Dunham’s awesome black wool coat, as usual. 3 buttons on the sleeves!
10:41 PM Feb 6th from web

Brooklyn, NY = NOpocalypse. Bummed.
3:11 PM Feb 6th from web

Already disappointed that we are not going to get enough snow. Bah.
7:40 PM Feb 5th from web

Gus would like me to know that he does NOT have a giga-memory, GOSH, how can he POSSIBLY remember all of the THINGS he has to DO before bed!
8:41 PM Feb 4th from web

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the future and the south pacific

maura @ 7:35 pm

This has been a weird day. I woke up with a sore throat and a headache and the sinking feeling that I may be getting sick at what’s really not the best time of the semester for it. (Though is there ever really a good time to be sick?) So instead of using this partly sunny + fairly warm day to go for a bike ride with Gus in the morning and maybe schlep us all to the Bronx Zoo in the afternoon, I sat on the sofa and read 400 pages of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell and drank herbal tea.

I always feel kind of guilty when we spend the whole day inside if it’s nice out, even when there’s a good excuse. Gus played video games and read nearly a whole book (The Great Cheese Conspiracy, a refugee from my ’70s childhood) and played D+D with Jonathan. Over dinner Gus asserted that he didn’t want to go for a bike ride today anyway. But it still seems somehow wrong to spend the whole day inside. Maybe I am also feeling a bit guilty that I just read today rather than tackling all of the other stuff on my list, much of which can be accomplished perfectly well from the sofa with my laptop.

We did get out yesterday, and in far more inclement weather. We went to Manhattan to see Fantastic Mr. Fox (surprisingly only playing in 2 theaters), which was a good time for the adults + the kid. Gus <3s Roald Dahl, and for the adults the movie was pretty much standard Wes Anderson fare with puppet animals instead of people.

Cloud Atlas is really good. I’m still in the middle of the other Cloud Atlas, which is a bit surreal. And the Mitchell book has a sticker in the back with the correct author information that’s covering a sticker that mislabels the book as the Callanan book. Woah, meta.

I could get to those other tasks now (Gus + Jonathan are playing a little Super Mario Galaxy before bed), but there’s only about 50 pages left in my book and I’m dying to know how it ends. Later, gators.

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i don’t need the daytime

maura @ 10:11 pm

So I thought I’d write about TV, how disappointing it’s been recently which is making me grumpy. But then I realized that the end result of disappointing TV these days is that I’ve been reading more, so I thought I’d do a (some of) what we’re reading post.

Me:

The Cloud Atlas, by Liam Callanan
Someone recommended this to me ages ago, then I forgot about it. Recently I saw it mentioned again, just in time for a wave of intense fiction longing. So far (I’m about 1/3 of the way through) it’s a great story about WWII set in Alaska, with rice-paper bombs and personal intrigue and religious mystery. Ever since Smilla I’m a sucker for fantastical mysteries set in snowy locales. I’ve had it for a while but haven’t finished it yet because I had to pause when a new book I’d requested came into the library (which I assume I won’t be able to renew, unlike this book, which is older and thus less in demand).

Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger
This is the new book. I seem to be reading it fast (150 pages yesterday, I think), because I don’t expect that I’ll be able to renew it. Also I keep reading bad reviews of it and I guess I’m eager to get to the bad part. I’m about halfway and it’s decent so far. Not as good as Time Traveler’s Wife, but I think that some people only get to write one great book. TTW is definitely nothing to sneeze at — if I were Niffenegger, I’d be happy to sit on my vast piles of cash and paint (apparently she is an artist as well). Anyway, this one’s about identical twin sisters who are the daughters of an identical twin who was estranged from her identical twin who dies and leaves the daughters her flat in London. It’s also a mystery. She does write some nice, dreamy, descriptive prose, which I like.

Jonathan:

Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely
This book has a fetching blue and orange cover, and is an exploration of the variety of reasons that people don’t always behave rationally. Sometimes Jonathan will recount bits of it to me, like the part about the experiments in which people were given money and no money to perform tasks and they more willingly helped people out when no money was involved. Which, to me, proves that money is evil.

The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic’s Adventures in Narnia, by Laura Miller
I remember reading about this when it came out but then it dropped off my radar. I don’t think that Jonathan’s started it yet; we will probably need to renew it if we’re both going to read it. I read the Narnia books multiple times both as a kid and a (now, agnostic) adult, and lately I’ve been thinking about when Gus will read them, so this book should be interesting.

Gus:

Dragon Slayers’ Academy, by Kate McMullan
Gus LOVES this book series, which is sort of a Harry Potter for the younger set with dragons instead of wizards. They’re pretty good, too, funny plots and reasonably complex language with a fair number of pictures interspersed throughout. Plus, they’ve taught him Pig Latin. He’s on book 14 (of 19) which for some reason the library only has ONE copy of, so we bought it and plan to donate it to the library when he’s finished.

Calvin & Hobbes (various), by Bill Watterson
Jonathan gave Gus his old C&H about a year ago, but now that Gus is older he’s really smack in the middle of the C&H demographic. So we got another 3 books from the most recent Scholastic flyer to come home from school. We did have a little bit of a splashing problem in the bath tonight when Godzilla destroyed Tokyo, but otherwise it’s been fun to watch Gus devour these, laughing all the way.

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and i don’t feel so bad

maura @ 10:15 pm

This morning* I had an idea for a short story/novel/work of fiction, the second this month. I don’t want to write it, but I do want someone else to, because it sounds like a cool story.

* Where this morning = 4/29, because that’s when I started the draft of this post.

Today’s idea is about pens. Yesterday I went to a meeting and passed around my own pen with the sign-in sheet, and of course it didn’t make it back to me. Which is not a big deal — frankly, the library is nothing if not a repository for pens left behind, so I never want for pens. But I started thinking about pens, how they move around between people. What if there were tracking devices in them, cameras and recorders? What if the pens were semi-intelligent and they had a plan, an agenda?

(Probably this was inspired by the evil pen that kills people in The Lost Room, btw.)

Pens left behind in the library might be part of the story, too. You decide!

The other idea actually got a bit more fleshing out because I started thinking about the last time we visited my mom; it’s a 2-ish hr drive, so I made Jonathan talk to me about it for a while. The basic framework sprang from archaeology: archaeologists assemble knowledge of prehistory from an incomplete record.* No one knows how incomplete it is, and while they work in scientifically rigorous ways there’s still never 100% certainty with any interpretation of the past.

* I remember a great diagram in the shape of an inverted triangle from my archy days that depicted the estimated amount of stuff (animal bones, I think, because that was my bag) that makes it into the archaeological record. Each level of the triangle depicted something else that happens to the bones: carried off by scavenger animals, crushed by accumulating sediment, etc. Probably under copyright; I can’t find it on the interwebs.

(This goes for historical archaeology too, but I feel like the existence of historical records can make a big difference in interpretation.)

Anyway, then I started thinking about ground-penetrating radar, and how it’s been such a boon to archaeology to have the technology to “see” sites before digging them up (and even instead of excavation, in some cases, since excavating a site essentially destroys it). And I started to wonder: what will the next technological breakthrough be? What if a machine were invented that could not only see the shapes of buried objects and features but actually tell you with certainty, this posthole is from a dome-shaped structure made of wood and skins, or this bone fragment is from a domesticated goat? That kind of technology could potentially completely rewrite prehistory and even history as we know it.

As Jonathan and I talked about it we tried to come up with a plot, since this is really just a setup, but we couldn’t come up with anything that didn’t involve aliens, which is kind of lame (and makes the whole dealie too much a derivative of Battlestar Galactica anyway). And this is probably a book only an archaeologist would love, sigh.

So if anyone wants to take these ideas and run with them, please do! Just write them quickly, because I’m almost out of things to read.

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how’d you get on the ceiling?

maura @ 8:41 am

I’ve had a hard time keeping up with leisure reading this semester. I think it’s partly because I’ve been reading lots for a research project I’m starting soon, and also trying to keep up w/general library + higher ed news. Or maybe it’s TV — there seems to have been much more good stuff on lately (and we haven’t even started watching Dollhouse yet).

Another reason for the leisure reading drought is probably because the last piece of fiction I read was Neil Stephenson’s latest 900 page bruiser “Anathem.” It was intense + awesome: compelling and academic scifi with lots of good plot twists in all the right places. I haven’t been so sad about finishing a book since “Time Traveler’s Wife” (which still hurts to think about, actually).

A couple of weeks ago I finished 2 disappointing nonfiction books. And afterwards I experienced an incredibly intense need for fiction, it was really weird. Now I’m reading “Never Let Me Go,” courtesy of our building’s ad hoc basement lending library. It’s pretty good so far, creepy + atmospheric + engaging.

Next up I think I’ll read an old collection of Kelly Link stories, “Stranger Things Happen.” Jonathan recently reminded me that it’s available for free for Stanza, the awesome iPhone ebook reader. And I have a bunch of meetings in Manhattan coming up this week so it’ll be convenient not to have to carry an extra book with me.

One of our recent TV diversions was this 6 hr miniseries that ran on the Scifi Channel a few yrs ago called The Lost Room. The intriguing premise is that there’s a hotel room that disappeared 50 yrs ago, no one knows why. The objects that were in the room have weird powers, and the key makes any door open into the room (and when you leave you can come out of any door that you can envision). It was a good ride for the first 5 episodes — the plot moved fast + hung together well — but the last ep was kind of weak, as if the miniseries had been a pilot for a show that wasn’t picked up.

When we finished watching the show Jonathan proposed that it was kind of like reading Borges or Donald Barthelme or Steven Millhauser or Kelly Link: “They’re all working on the same project. I don’t know what that project is, but clearly they’re all involved.” Which is what made me remember that Kelly Link book in the first place.

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let me try to pull you free

maura @ 9:28 pm

Interwebs! I’ve missed you, with your daily forced blag of months past. How the heck are ya? I’m still pretty busy. I keep thinking things will slow down any day now, then things pop up. Such is the downward slide til the end of the year. I’m chewing over a big post deconstructing what has of late become my dread of the Christmas season (complete with highfalutin’ references to anthropological essays!), but don’t have the gumption for it tonight. And maybe dread is too strong a word, anyway. Something like annoyance + unease + fatigue + nostalgia is probably better. Is there a word for that?

I was going to do “what we’re reading,” but I have not had time to read much of anything lately, either for fun or for work (my infostreams are neglected + unruly, sigh). Gus, on the other hand, has been a reading fiend. Apparently the trick is to tell him he can read before bed — it makes him think we’re letting him stay up later (which of course we are not).

I am not at all a reading snob when it comes to kids books. Honestly, he can read whatever Star Wars Spongebob Lego Captain Underpants Pokemon crap he wants to, as long as he’s reading. I do, however, prefer to reserve the ca$h money for purchasing books that he’s likely to read more than once (and that will take him longer than an hour to read, too). These are the suggested house rules for everyone, actually.

So we hauled off to the library one recent weekend morning and picked up a pile of paperbacks for him. While scanning the shelves I found a craptastic series called Beast Quest. You know the kind — there are 8 bazillion books in the series and they’ve all been published in the past year and their names are all formatted like so: <Crazy Fake Mythological-sounding Name> the <Weather/Elemental Attribute or Scary Thing> <Kind of Beast>. Plus cheesy cover art.

Well, he ripped through Zepha the Monster Squid in like 2 days, and similarly Tartok the Ice Beast (who is, apparently, a girl, I’ll have you know). These were middle books in the series so I requested the first 3 from the library. But then I started to feel bad that he’d have to wait for them, and yesterday was his birthday, so I headed out on my lunch hour on Monday + bought them for him.

And I have to say, they do work like magic. He’s been most excited about his new Nintendo DS, but he did pick up Ferno the Fire Dragon (Beast Quest book 1) today. I probably have about a week, tops, to order up books 4 through 8 bazillion from the library, so I’d better get on that.

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