your every scene is in the round

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.

for your viewing pleasure

maura @ 9:28 pm

kittehs one

kittehs two

yesterday is gone and now i need an alibi

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?)

i’ll keep on right on through it

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?

i want to be up in the air

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!

hello everyone, it’s nice to be here

maura @ 9:50 pm

Lately for me it’s been all about minute 1:04 in New Order’s song “Sooner Than You Think,” from their incredibly fantastic (and practically prehistoric) record Low Life. (Go ahead, cue it up, I’ll wait.) It’s just about the most perfect moment on that record: the point where the increasingly-layered drums, synth, bass and guitar all merge in a rush, just before the vocals start.

I’ve been obsessing over New Order recently, a situation which threatens that band’s good-for-work-music status. When I need to concentrate (read, write, think) the music I listen to usually has to be familiar enough that it fades into the background without making me sing along in my head. Which means that certain records get a lot of play (right now: Pipas, The Shins; when I was dissertating: Orbital, Beastie Boys [really!]). But anything that pushes my brain to recognize the music at more than a background level is just too intrusive for working.

Tonight I’m replacing most of my ipod with New Order, and finally ripping those Joy Division discs to add them, too. Maybe I am just looking forward to next month, when Control finally comes out on DVD.

—

Writing, writing, writing. I’ve been thinking about writing a lot recently. And simultaneously not doing enough of it. Writing is never easy, but I felt like it was easier while I was in library school and I had to do it. Deadlines can be mighty useful.

These days I’m having trouble even blagging and writing in my journal, much less attacking anything scholarly. Maybe I need to NaBloPoMo again, maybe just for a little while, to get back into the swing of it. I have some plans, I have some ideas, but most of them are too big for the small stretches of time I can afford to give them right now.

I do have 6 summer Fridays coming up during which I will buckle down and get some writing done (NOT clean, reorganize, regrout, or sew, really!). And if I can do the preliminary research (just right for small bits of time) on some of these ideas beforehand, all the better.

And all the better for you, too, since more writing should = fewer long + boring posts like this one. “Oh you know what I mean, yes you do.”

i think i’ll go there when it gets seasonable

maura @ 10:03 pm

Hello! Insert the usual complaipologies about not posting much lately here. Phew, glad that’s done with.

I’m chewing over a longish post about video games, but it’s too late tonight and I have email to answer and coop work to do so it’ll have to wait. Instead, a few brief updates:

I. You’ll be happy to know that I did finally get some (at least theoretically) nontoxic sunscreen. It’s a bit thick and goes on very white, but it rubs in pretty well and doesn’t leave me looking any paler than usual. At least I don’t think so — you’ll tell me if it does, right?

II. Tonight was movie night. Some people had fun movie homework. In our house we’ve given in to the dark side of the force, because we were stupid enough to tell Gus about Episodes 1-3. In case you were wondering, Phantom Menace is JUST as bad the second time around. Though apparently Jar Jar was written with a 6 yr old in mind, because Gus found him HI-larious.

III. I should have cleaned the house today, but I Just Did Not Feel Like It. Which I know comes as a huge shock to you. I don’t know, I’ve been kind of resenting cleaning lately, even though I do like to clean. Of course it’s the time, really. Maybe I need a new strategy. I’ve been doing 50% of the cleaning each weekend, but maybe I should go to 100% every other weekend and take a weekend off.

IV. My iPhone pusher would like me to know that the Apple store is SOLD OUT of iPhones. I’m not sure why I need to know that, but now you know it, too.

V. I kind of <3 this band from D.C., Julie Ocean. But I’m kind of thinking that they are pretty standard power pop too. But #2, I cannot get the song out of my head. So there you go.

VI. Work = still awesome.

VII. Popfest is coming up. I’m thinking Friday night and Sunday afternoon. You?

born to gaze into night skies

maura @ 7:47 pm

Sorry to have been neglecting this here blag lately. Just a short post tonight, as I’ve not yet got over the hump with my work that’s not really job-work but is library-work (and thus, I suppose, is kind of job-work, in a vague, tenure-track way). But more soon, I promise!

So Gus came home from school one day recently, took a piece of folded paper out of his pocket, unfolded it, and said, “this is my laptop.”

Note the apple!

We thought it was pretty cool. He said “it’s a pocket laptop.”

Of course version 2.0 hit a few days later. Note the huge antenna — this baby has a blazing fast wifi connection!

The antenna does make it a bit droopy, though you can flip it backwards to hold up the screen. He gave us a long explanation about what’s happening on the screen here, but I forget what it was. Note the labeled keys in this version, and the “emrginse” button and “spasbar” at the bottom. I wish my computer had an emergency button (I don’t think I need a spaz bar though).

The best part is down in the bottom right corner. “It’s the mouse, mom.” Duh! I love that the tail = the cord. Brilliant. I think the kid has a future!

p.s.

maura @ 9:22 pm

I almost forgot: Anne sent a mightygrip suggestion! Thanks Anne!

smile while your head explodes

maura @ 7:35 pm

I am a crankier-than-usual consumer lately, and (lucky, lucky!) you get to hear me vent, interwebs.

First of all, sunscreen. So sunscreen is non-negotiable for me, since I am so pale as to practically fluoresce. Last year’s sunscreen was kind of icky and it’s nearly gone anyway, and it’s getting too warm for my SPF 45 moisturizer. So I headed over to Skin Deep to research this year’s offerings.

Holy cow, did you know that there’s this chemical called oxybenzone that’s no good for people? So no good, in fact, that the CDC just released a study on how no good it is. Why, pray tell, is it in many suncreens on the market? And lip balms too?

I got all crazed and ran around the house throwing out sunscreens + chapsticks last night, then printed out a list of safe sunscreens from Skin Deep. Jonathan went to the coop this morning but the sunscreens aren’t going to be in until tomorrow, drat.

Secondly, plastics! Namely bisphenol-a. You may have seen recent reports about cancer and endocrine disruption from bisphenol-a leaching into food + drink from hard plastic (often #7) containers. Longtime (snort) readers may remember that I came early to the Nalgene-haters party and chucked all of our plastic water bottles years ago, replacing them with metal.

But now I am annoyed anew, because apparently this BPA stuff is also in the plastic used to coat the inside of cans of food. And also because I’d thought it was only Nalgene, but really it’s ALL hard plastic (e.g. our water filter pitcher). And ALSO because at the bottom of the Times article some scientist says not to microwave anything in plastic because we just don’t know.

I take my lunch to work. I LIKE taking my lunch to work. It’s cheaper, tastier and healthier. But I tried taking lunch in a glass jar last year and the jar cracked + made a mess (thankfully a small crack + a small mess). This year, with the walking to work, I really have to use plastic to cart lunch back + forth.

I am SO TIRED of worrying that everything we use is toxic. Can there please just be some regulation, oh government regulatory agencies? Pretty please???