turn it up

maura @ 6:37 pm

It’s not that time is ever NOT relative, but it sure seems more relative the older I get. And especially since becoming a parent. Whenever I see a newborn (or someone who’s pregnant) it seems like forever ago that Gus was a baby. Of course what everyone always says is totally true: reflecting now it seems to have gone by in an instant, and I occasionally experience nostalgia so intense it’s practically painful. But I also remember the sometimes excruciating dullness of babies and toddlers. Lying on the floor next to Gus playing trains I wondered whether my brain was actually dripping right out of my head into a pool of gray goo on the floor, or if I just imagined it to be true.

Last week Gus spent 3 days and 2 nights at camp with school. He had an awesome time hiking, building stuff, finding creatures in the pond, toasting marshmallows, etc. — all the standard camp goodness. He came home exhausted. We don’t tend to get a sitter that often (for a wide variety of reasons), so we were eager to take advantage of the time to cram in as much grownup stuff as possible. We saw a movie one night and went out to a medium-fancy dinner the other, and stayed up way too late. We were pretty exhausted by the time he got home, too.

Time was more fluid than usual when Gus was gone, I think because this was the first time that he’s been away while we were at home. In the past when he’s spent a few days away with his grandparents we’ve always gone away too. While we were home alone time seemed extra slow, but when we were out time sped by (also at work, but that’s often the case for me). The cats knew things were different, too, esp. the one that usually sleeps on Gus’s bed.

The movie and dinner were really nice, but I couldn’t shake the weird relative time feeling the whole time Gus was gone. So strange.

i am the passenger

maura @ 10:13 pm

Today I went to a conference and had a blast. I’m exhausted now, but it strikes me that I’m incredibly lucky (an incredibly grateful) to have a job in which I get to spend a day listening to and talking with smart, interesting people and thinking about important issues.

Lots of tweets from today, and before, because it’s been awhile since I’ve posted them:

@alevtina sounds delicious! except for the brussels sprouts, i just can’t abide them.
half a minute ago via web in reply to alevtina

Awesome time at #du10 today. My brain is full.
about 1 hour ago via Echofon

@mkgold experimentation and freedom to fail (and try again)… sounds like a game to me. #du10
about 3 hours ago via web

@jrrnyc ha! what about a homemade one? i got sharpies!
about 5 hours ago via web

RT georgeotte @s2ceball: What is rigor, and why is it applied in a way that clamps down on production & access #du10
about 6 hours ago via TweetDeck Retweeted by you

today makes me want to get a tattoo of the open access logo. #du10
about 6 hours ago via web

Clifford Lynch makes the point that peer review itself is extremely time-intensive and increasing as publication increases. #du10
about 6 hours ago via web

@epistemographer true, true. tho could be another argument in favor of curation as a valuable scholarly activity. #du10
about 7 hours ago via web in reply to epistemographer

clearly needs coffee, many tweeting typos from me this session
about 7 hours ago via web

@epistemographer yes! and other places. i think we need to be willing to consider multiple spaces for communities to come together. #dh10
about 7 hours ago via web in reply to epistemographer

@epistomographer discussing the flip side of everyone is a creator — interesting. #du10
about 8 hours ago via web

I suspect that the term paradigm shift was used in every workshop this morning. #du10
about 10 hours ago via web

Phil Pochoda (UMich): we need to think bigger, not smaller, in scholarly publishing. the system will adapt. #dh10
about 11 hours ago via web

digital scholarly publishing has evolved slowly for yrs, are we at a point now when we can make a strong push for change? (i hope so!) #du10
about 11 hours ago via web

re: needing 2 B in 4 rms at once: can the tweets B divvied up later & posted on workshop pages on the website? alternatively: clones? #dh10
about 11 hours ago via web

Willinsky: new models for publishing (of course) should include digital forms including datasets (amen to that!). #du10
about 11 hours ago via web

@lwaltzer nope, they are one + the same, just 2 diff digital spaces to accommodate non-CUNY folks too. #du10
about 11 hours ago via web

John Willinsky: there is already enough money in scholarly publishing, it just needs to be reallocated more cooperatively #du10
about 12 hours ago via web

Nick Carbone: with more open publishing scholarly writing will change, less jargon, more public discourse #du10
about 12 hours ago via web

Wow, diverse attendees in this acad publishing workshop: faculty, grad students, librarians, publishers. #du10
about 12 hours ago via web

In the Academic Publishing workshop at #du10
about 12 hours ago via web

Practically perfect blossoms today: http://twitpic.com/1goenc
6:33 PM Apr 18th via Echofon

RT CityTechLitFest Are you getting ready for Wille Perdomo on 4/29 at City Tech? Tell your friends, too!
1:26 PM Apr 18th via web Retweeted by you and 1 other

my kid just asked me if he could borrow my nintendo ds. :)
6:52 PM Apr 17th via web

On the bus to karate. Sometimes I love the bus.
11:18 AM Apr 17th via Echofon

@ChrysalisArch You should! I’d read it for sure.
11:14 AM Apr 17th via Echofon in reply to ChrysalisArch

Testing pasting in a longish URL to Twitter, pay me no mind: http://library.citytech.cuny.edu/instruction/workshops/faculty.php
3:17 PM Apr 16th via web

This morning I got into the shower w/my glasses on and was 1/2way finished before I even noticed. #iclearlyneedmoresleep
7:24 AM Apr 16th via Echofon

@captain_primate It’s really just impossible not to. Same with American Bottom.
6:05 PM Apr 15th via Echofon in reply to captain_primate

You know, when technology actually works the way it’s supposed to, it’s really awesome.
12:11 PM Apr 15th via Echofon

@Annefesto woah, you jetsetter! that is not enough time at home in my book.
10:40 PM Apr 14th via Echofon in reply to Annefesto

New workshop room projector training webinar (actually pretty cool).
10:24 AM Apr 14th via Echofon

This parenthood vacation has been a hoot, but I miss my kid.
8:39 AM Apr 14th via Echofon

OH: it’s like they’re anti-cellphone windows.
7:20 PM Apr 12th via Echofon

Hey edupunks, you saw this CFP, right? http://bit.ly/9ezSb9
4:59 PM Apr 10th via web

I was only temporarily awesome, apparently. Personal inbox=16, work inbox=23, feedreader=56. Bah.
11:04 PM Apr 8th via web

gearing up to team teach w/my evaluating sources game today. have candy for the winners!
10:47 AM Apr 7th via Echofon

Why I am awesome: apparently sometime last week I prepped for tomorrow’s class, thus preventing a severe case of end-of-Spring-Break-itis.
9:54 PM Apr 5th via web

i know it’s lame to tweet about the weather, but i am seriously not ready for it to be 76 degrees.
6:46 PM Apr 5th via web

The water is freezing, yet he must build. http://twitpic.com/1d8gd4
3:43 PM Apr 4th via Echofon

Home again, home again, and the cats are happy to see us.
9:09 PM Apr 3rd via Echofon

@JenHoward Hi, I’m a college librarian trying integrate games into my instruction, I’m happy to talk with your colleague.
7:18 PM Mar 31st via Echofon in reply to JenHoward

Did I forget to mention the giant inflatable census I saw last week? http://twitpic.com/1c2nb5
9:15 PM Mar 30th via Echofon

spinning my wheels a bit today, sigh
3:42 PM Mar 30th via web

RT Registration now open for The Digital University conf at CUNY GC (NYC 4/21). @sivavaid keynotes http://is.gd/b5cI4 #du10 Pls RT
10:23 AM Mar 29th via web Retweeted by you and 4 others

@boonebgorges I mouse lefty, totally helps w/carpal strain. Try swapping yr buttons. Bonus: freaks out ppl who try 2 use yr machine!
1:55 PM Mar 29th via web

@divanoir yah, rain is making me sleepy, too. tea is yr friend!
1:53 PM Mar 29th via web

First full RT day in weeks, yay! Let’s get this research party started.
8:55 AM Mar 29th via Echofon

palaces, barricades, threats meet promises

maura @ 6:43 pm

A pal sent me a link the other day to the 120 Minutes Archive, an online compendium of info about the classic late-night MTV show that first aired in 1986. The site is brilliant: the core content is a collection of playlists with each song is linked to a YouTube search. There are still some playlists missing, and I imagine (hope) that the site will continue to grow. But so far I’ve only struck out once trying to watch a video: the Age of Chance cover of “Kiss” (which is just so very awesome and which I could slap on the turntable right now if I weren’t too lazy to go all the way out into the living room).

The section dating 1986-1995 is a treasure. I think I actually had many of these early episodes on videotape until well after college — the playlist for 12/28/87 looks awfully familiar. Be careful when you click that link: it’s easy to lose whole buckets of time watching video after video (The Lucy Show! Siouxsie! Jesus & Mary Chain! Housemartins!). In fact, I started this post last night but spent so much time in nostalgiaville that I didn’t have time to finish it.

It would be hard to overestimate the impact that 120 Minutes had on my musical life. I didn’t really listen to music of my own until the summer before 7th grade, when we moved 1/2way across the country and got a color TV, cable, and a VCR all at the same time. That was the same year MTV launched, and while I did listen to the radio (most notably the show Rock Over London which played the top songs on the British charts), watching MTV was what really got me into music. Yes, I was a classic victim of ’80s new wave + pop music hysteria: Duran Duran, Madonna, Prince, Eurythmics, etc., the whole kit + kaboodle.

When we moved again just before 9th grade, MTV moved with me. Even though I was still mostly a teenybopper I already fancied myself something of a musical connoisseur, scouring record stores for import 12″s and B sides and the like. Because what’s cooler than the song on the B side of the import 12″ 45rpm for Duran Duran’s “Planet Earth?” Nothing, I say!

But, thanks to 120 Minutes (and a British cousin who sent me indie mixtapes), during high school I got a teeny tiny bit (musically) cooler. The show was my introduction to “college rock,” which led to actually listening to college radio and, eventually, co-hosting a college radio show of my own. Yay!

These days we don’t have cable, but of course MTV doesn’t even play music videos anymore anyway. And with the internets we can watch practically any video we want whenever we want to. But this site makes me miss MTV, just a little bit.

updates, in list form

maura @ 5:32 pm

1. We did manage to make it to the BBG today. What’s more fun than traipsing through the botanic gardens with a sullen, complaining 8 yr old? Same plus nearly every other resident of our fine city. I have rarely seen the gardens so crowded on a non-event day. We actually had to cut the trip short because the crowds were getting to all of us.

2. Here’s the flower report:
Magnolias: mostly finished
Tulips: full bloom
Grape hyacinths: full bloom, like a bluish-purple carpet
Lilacs: mostly not open, but a few bushes have started, eep!
Cherries: a mixed bag, some trees are full on, and some just have buds. Seems like the trees with whitish blossoms open earliest:

It’s like a crazy nature fast forward over there, even the azalea bushes have a couple of blossoms opening. Looks like Gus will have to endure a few more awful weekends of floral viewing. We’ll be consulting the cherry blossom status map to plan our viewing strategy.

3. We did have ice cream bars, phew. And as you can see, even the non-treat time wasn’t all bad:

Nothing like a muddy stream to really cheer a kid up after being dragged to see boring old flowers with his boring old parents.

4. Have you seen my to-do list? It’s gone missing, which has completely thrown me for a loop because I need to update it for this week and I usually start with the old list when I’m making a new one. I’ve got a couple of piles of work- and research-related stuff on my desk and shelves, and it’s not in any of them. I *just* had it yesterday, and I can’t for the life of me imagine what’s happened to it.

Maybe the cats stole it. I’ve been talking trash about shaving them lately because with the warm weather they are shedding like mad. This could be their devilish revenge: wig out the control freak by stealing her list! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

and never stop to ask the questions

maura @ 10:13 pm

I know it’s lame to blag about the weather, but sometimes when the weather’s weird it’s hard to think of anything else. I mean, the weather’s sort of there as background noise for everyone most of the time, but living in the city we walk a lot so I feel like there’s more of a chance for the weather to be intrusive.

Starting before Easter and continuing into last week we had a spate of much warmer than usual temperatures here. And it’s mostly good. I mean, it’s easy to enjoy the warm sunshine of early Spring, even for those of us who prefer Fall and Winter (like me). But last week was beyond warm all the way up into hot. It’s just not right for the temps to hit the mid-80s in NYC in April, not at all.

I noticed a curious thing on the hot days: I had to check the calendar constantly because my brain kept trying to convince me that it was June. I have a couple of deadlines in June, and I had to talk myself down from freaking out that I was late meeting them. And my temperature-induced date confusion skewed my perceptions in other ways, too: it made me think several times that it had been months since I’d seen some of my friends. “I haven’t seen X since it was snowy!” my brain said, but of course the last big storm hadn’t all melted until the first week of March.

No harm in that, really — the temperatures are back down to normal now, and my brain has stopped trying to confuse me. But I *am* worried about the flowers + trees. During the hot spell nature freaked out too, and now it seems like everything is blooming. It feels much too soon. I mean, the cherry blossom festival at the botanic gardens isn’t for another 4 weeks, and already the tree at the end of our block has tons of full flowers. We haven’t been to the gardens in a while and I hope we haven’t missed anything. We’re planning a visit tomorrow* so I guess we shall see.

* that is, if we can manage to drag Gus along, who has recently declared the gardens to be “SO boring” and asked us “why do we have to go there all the time?” The likelihood of ice cream bribery tomorrow is high.

i’m kinda busy

maura @ 10:54 pm

Recently not one but two completely unrelated people asked me about archaeology. Specifically they asked if I ever thought of getting back into archaeological research. I guess I’d be lying if I said I don’t think about it sometimes. I read news stories about new discoveries with interest, and whenever we go to the AMNH or anyplace at all historic I bore my family with any archaeological details I happen to know. And there is one chapter in my dissertation that I might be able to convert into an article someday. I wouldn’t say that I’m incredibly interested in heading back out to the field (and definitely not back to the lab), but there are lots of other archaeological research topics to consider.

But I’ve got lots of other research plates spinning right now, and not a lot of time for new stuff. There’s my big research project, which has a pile of data to analyze and more on the way (I started student research process interviews this week). And I’m working on an article with another colleague. And I’ve spent some time this semester developing a game to teach students about evaluating information, which I’ll be presenting at a conference in June and probably trying to write up somewhere. And I’ve got a couple of other ideas floating around, too.

Time is always the issue. I’m a greedy time junkie — I crave more time the way shopaholics can’t wait for their next consumer fix. It’s not that I want to do less librariany stuff to fit in more research. I love the librarian parts of my job, and I’m still totally thrilled to be teaching our new course this semester. If anything I want more time for that stuff, too. And family stuff and leisure stuff and and and…

Maybe I should stop reading. Clearly that’s part of the problem. Reading leads to new ideas, and new ideas lead to yearning for time for implementation. Literacy: the hidden dark side!

(Or, of course, I could always just relax a bit.)

two three four

maura @ 9:06 pm

I feel like some of my tweets are missing from this list, but I’m not entirely sure. I *have* been really busy lately and not twittering as much as usual, so maybe that’s it. Though I also think I remember hearing that Twitter was down at some point so maybe some got sucked into the ether. Anyway, complete or incomplete, here’s what I’ve got:

@Annefesto yah, there’s usually karate on sat mornings which helps, but yesterday it was canceled.
about 11 hours ago via Echofon in reply to Annefesto

@divanoir no baking, but I did make lunch & dinner fer the kid, does that count? also vacuumed enough cat hair to make a new cat, srsly.
7:07 PM Mar 27th via web

Finding myself somewhat paralyzed by the Saturdayness (and the chilly weather). What should we do today?
10:29 AM Mar 27th via Echofon

@lwaltzer If you’re NYC museuming next Monday many are prob open because the public schools are on spring break.
8:59 PM Mar 26th via Echofon in reply to lwaltzer

Lunchtime reading: library graffiti hilarity from my alma mater. Nerds FTW! http://www.crescatgraffiti.com/
12:20 PM Mar 26th via web

Today’s tactical error: I should have worn a hat. Wwwwwindy!
8:31 AM Mar 26th via Echofon

@librarianmer is the fruit heavier? if so, it might ooze downward & not look very nice. (also, thrill of discovery!)
8:29 AM Mar 26th via Echofon in reply to librarianmer

@divanoir j says April 1 for #fringe.
10:36 PM Mar 25th via Echofon in reply to divanoir

@mikhailg can you ask yr students if they’ll let you post their extra credit on the blog? I’d love to read their answers!
11:11 PM Mar 23rd via Echofon in reply to mikhailg

@divanoir A colleague of mine @s_francoeur from Baruch College Library tweeted it. Interesting! Might show to my class.
7:24 AM Mar 17th via Echofon in reply to divanoir

Found a small hole in my cardigan :( #yesimalibrarian
1:24 PM Mar 16th via Echofon

all this pushing and shoving

maura @ 10:46 pm

WARNING: this post is about cats. Even though the internet is made of cats*, I don’t spend a lot of time writing about ours. But tonight that’s all going to change, so if cats aren’t yr bag you might want to come back next time. I promise never to talk about cats for 2 posts in a row, scout’s honor.

* Link not entirely safe for work, just so’s you know.

We have had a bit of cat drama around here recently. Kind of an escalation, if you will, of bad behavior.

So, a little while back we started to have some issues with pooping outside the box. And the thing about that is that it’s not at all like thinking outside the box. It’s much much MUCH smellier and (potentially) more inconvenient.

At first it was just the one cat, and it was happening in the bathtub. So we started filling the tub with a few inches of water. There was one hilarious incident with a jump and a surprised “meow!” and then it stopped for a while. And then it started again, except on the floor. And then the other, stupider cat was like, “hey, this is fun for me, too!”

I looked on the internets, where all the crazy cat people live. Advice is, as you may imagine, plentiful, though never exactly what you want to hear. Why no, we are actually NOT going to have 3 litterboxes for 2 (smallish) cats in our 2 bedroom apartment, why would you think that?

Finally this week we took the main offender to the vet. (And his poop, too, because what’s more fun than collecting cat poop in a container in the freezer?) She doesn’t know what’s wrong but gave us some antibiotics to try. Wrestling the meds into the cat is taking us back: it’s just about as much fun as it was to try to get Gus to take antibiotics when he was a toddler. We finally resorted to vanilla ice cream for Gus, even for breakfast, but not sure what this cat would like since he’s not a fan of canned food.

The weirdest thing is this: the other cat has been totally, completely FREAKED OUT since the pooper came back from the vet. It must be the smell of the antibiotics, but I’ve never seen anything like it. He’ll walk over to the pooper, take a sniff, then hiss mightily and run away to hide! It’s a very weird feline showdown thing. The pooper is unfazed, and in some ways seems to be enjoying the freedom — the other cat is usually dominant when it comes to food and preferred spots for hanging out.

Hopefully the antibiotics will fix everything right up, because I have to admit that this is getting a little old. I like the cats, really I do, but I am tired of the shenanigans!

(That’s my instant make-Gus-giggle statement these days: he can’t get enough of my old-lady complaints about being tired of the shenanigans.)

kind of a cop out

maura @ 6:15 pm

Yeah, you guessed it, this isn’t really a post. Kind of a finger in the eye after 6 days, huh? But I did write a post on my other blog about the website I made for the course I’m teaching this semester. It’s long enough that I can add a “W” to the calendar for today (= I wrote something somewhat substantial), and will just have to do for a Sunday evening.

what did you see there?

maura @ 10:02 pm

Has it really been over 2 weeks since I posted my Twitterstream? Oh my, it has. And now I have to go read about plagiarism because this book is due back to the library soon. While I’m at it, you can read this:

@MissTanya @paigecasey stop it y’all, I’m about to start crying.
44 minutes ago via Echofonin reply to MissTanya

RT @aegisnyc: Sunday night and I want a do-over. (me too!)
9:17 PM Mar 14th via Echofon

I just don’t have time for daylight savings this year, can I get a raincheck?
9:14 PM Mar 13th via web

Trying to take advantage of Gus @ bday party time to get some work done. Hard to decide where to start.
12:39 PM Mar 13th via Echofon

Collaboration/interoperability across academic libraries is all good, but we can’t do it w/closed systems like Blackboard. #refsymp
10:52 AM Mar 12th via Echofon

RT @eszter: I’m hiring a postdoc. See details here: http://webuse.org/postdoc10
9:09 PM Mar 10th via Echofon

About to teach my first English instruction session of the semester!
8:32 AM Mar 10th via Echofon

I would like to have self-brushing teeth. Self-flossing, too.
10:35 PM Mar 8th via Echofon

Gus has a joke for librarians w/kids who <3 Kirby: metadata is data used by Metaknight
9:02 PM Mar 6th via web

@mkgold I’m not doing archaeology right now, but I’d be happy to help yr student if I can.
7:36 PM Mar 6th via Echofon in reply to mkgold

@jrrnyc right there with ya — spent the afternoon grading & emailing. I can go outside tomorrow, right?
7:31 PM Mar 6th via Echofon in reply to jrrnyc

@mkgold thanks for sharing that article (http://is.gd/9PnF8) – maybe something we can draw on for the grant proposal?
1:48 PM Mar 6th via Echofon in reply to mkgold

Gus is watching Kirby videos on the iPod, I’m catching up on rss feeds and Twitter. Friday night, y’all.
8:20 PM Mar 5th via Echofon

watching this: http://bit.ly/Hb9pW creepy, weird, cool. thinking I should reread the book. eyeballs!
10:54 PM Mar 4th via Echofon

Yay! RT @mkgold: RT @nowviskie UVA Faculty Senate unanimously approves [opt-in] Open Access/Authors’ Rights resolution. http://is.gd/9sEtY
1:51 PM Mar 1st via Echofon

Done! http://twitpic.com/15yov7
9:42 PM Feb 28th via Echofon

Ok, iphone cozy, it’s ON. I’m going to finish you this weekend if it’s the last thing I do!
9:50 PM Feb 26th via Echofon