InAdWriMo update part Deux

I did it. The third paper went to UPS on Wednesday and should arrive at the editor's office today.

Several deadlines this week, but overall I am feeling better about making progress.

Too many cooks...

So I am a combination of Martha Stewart and Sandra Lee when it comes to cooking. For example, I make my own cranberry relish, but I bought a pumpkin pie at Sam's because they are huge, really tasty and less than $6 around Thanksgiving. I can make a pumpkin pie out of an actual pumpkin, which I proved after Halloween, but on a day like today when over space is going to be at a premium, I take a little help.

But I have 10 people, so I need more dessert, so last night I made an apple pie. I was doing a few do-ahead jobs in the kitchen, including said cranberry relish, chopping all the aromatics for tomorrow and making the pie, which I was going to try doing the curst in the food processor for the first time (thank you to my S-I-L for getting me Mark Bittman's excellent cookbook, which has the directions.

I went into the kitchen to make the pie and was offered multiple sources of help. This ranged from competent adults who could do something quickly and then wanted something else to do right away to child help, which apparently involved more playing with the flour than actually adding to the recipe, since the first effort in the FP resulted in a roux, not a crust. On the plus side, I never realized how close those two things are, and it's kind of interesting. On the negative, it is frakkin hard to clean roux out of a food processor. This was followed by multiple pieces of conflicting advice about how to rescue it from well-meaning people who weren't giving advice in line with any food chemistry I understand (Alton Brown is my homeboy!).

At that point, I graciously (not really) said I was out of jobs for people to help with, which led to a lengthy negotiation with my Mom over did I mean just get away from the food or did I mean get out of my kitchen, darn it. Oh, and did I need her to do something with that celery I had her get out of the fridge, or should she put it away or what.

I have people from Kenya, India (vegetarian), Nepal and China coming today, and the international favorite for all nations through the years has been green bean casserole. All ingredients will be coming out of a can.

Have a happy Thanksgiving, and enjoy your family, if they are coming. Most of our friends are having any guests or family since the holiday is a) short, b) in the middle of the semester and c) right before Christmas, so they will be seeing family soon anyway. That's some of why we started inviting our international students, since they can't see their families either. I know they come from different cultures, but I think the milleu surrounding the holidays probably makes them feel bad, anyway.

I can't even remember any more

I completed and submitted paper #4 today. At least I think it is number 4. I honestly can't remember what the other 3 are.

My folks are coming today, and my house is still not in great shape. They aren't the cleanest folks (runs in the family, I guess), so I don't know how much they would notice. But I just got a call from Spouse that his eye doc appointment went zippety quick, so he's going to be able to pick them up at the airport which gives me an extra hour.

I remembered why I should feel guilty for thinking about getting a cleaning person once in a while - because I could be spending time with my kids right now instead of with my vaccuum...

How I am spending my birthday

*Coffee in bed
*Visits from my girls
*Eating breakfast Offspring prepared (cold cereal, but, hey, it's something)
*Clean floor after Bun accidentally spills cold cereal at breakfast
*Brushing teeth and hair and making sure backpacks are packed and, and, etc.
*Taking Offspring to school
*Returning home and watching most of the Today Show while working on a knitting project (trying to make something for Offspring's teachers for Christmas, but my first one, which took me a month and a half, I got off somehow and it turned into what Spouse is calling an abomination against nature. Or a thnead. Have now switched to ultra heavy yarn, which knits up lickety quick)
*Clean house
*Eye doctor
*"Delicious" turkey roll lunch at Offspring's school
*Phone call with school that might, possibly, want to hire me, maybe? At least they want to talk to me on the phone
*Help grad students with project
*Pick up girls.
*Cook dinner.
*Wash kids
*Clean house.
*Spouse comes home (it's his late teaching night)
*Clean house (parents and guests coming for Thanksgiving)
*Read trashy novel
*Bed

Conferencing in basketweaving deux - How to act

So you've packed your bags and made your way to beautiful conference city and found your way to the Marritin Intersheratt, host hotel for the annual basketweaving shindig. Here is what will happen.

Get there the first morning and wander around the lobby looking confused for 10-15 minutes, as you look for anyone you know or anything having to do with your organization. Finally see the sign that say Baskets '09! and follow the arrow up the escalator. Stand in line with the great unwashed masses of humanity waiting to be checked in by the friendly, but harried national office staff. While you are waiting, learn who the movers and shakers are in your field by counting who gets the most handshakes (gents) or air kisses (ladies). Make your way up to the front and get your packet of stuff, which will consist of the giant conference guide, 4 coupons to restaurants and bars you have never heard of and couldn't find if you wanted to with names like Crabby McSwellingtons, several flyers for special interest groups (the Rattan Division! the Sisal Interest Group!), and your lovely conference nametag which has your first name in large capital letters MOMMY and your last centered under in lower case prof. Under that is the name of your university. Put on your name tag and stuff everything else in your butt-ugly "we hate the planet" plasticine tote bag with more logos on it than a NASCAR driver's jumpsuit. Remind yourself that next year, you really need to bring your own bag, since there are now 1,000 people with the same one, and if that's not a recipe for disaster, I don't know what is.

Go back down the escalator and check out the caffeination possibility that you saw while wandering the lobby, and decide that $8 is really too much for a cup of coffee. Hunt for an empty chair in the midst of the giant laptop lane that the lobby has become, with all the attendees who are using the free wireless. Find one back behind a column and crack the conference program to find sessions you want to attend. Fold down those pages, and set off to find the first one, which is in the Rutherford B. Hayes room. Wander all over three different floors, following signs that seem to point in contradictory directions and arrive at the first session 7 minutes late. The room will be largely empty, but every seat in the back and on the aisles will be taken. Get the stinkeye as you climb over people to get to a chair. Listen politely. You'll hear some really interesting things that actually remind you of why you chose to go into Basketweaving in the first place.

But some panels will be really bad. The bad presentations will be one of four types, and you can tell based on the dress of the person presenting.

The aesthetic person's presentation will mostly consist of them squinting at their laptop and muttering under their breath about how fabulous this presentation would be if they had only gotten the technology to work. At last, when some kindly tech-savvy person from the audience gets up and helps ("Oh, the power button!"), they will have 2 minutes left, but will take 9. The other people on the panel will start fidgeting and pulling at their wooden jewelry in agitation as they see their presentation time eroding. You'll hear 1 and half papers where 3 are scheduled.

The humanities folks won't try to have visual aids. They will present by flipping, apparently randomly, through a copy of their 50-page work and reading sentences. They will look truly grateful when the session chair tells them their time is up. The session will end on time, but you won't really be sure what just happened.

The science types will have gotten in early to load their presentations on the projection computer. There will be a brief jockeying for dominance as each one will offer their laptop to hook to the projector, with people lauding theirs for video chips and RAM. But the session will start on time. The first lady will start with her title slide, and up through her rationale and lit review everything will be going great. When she gets to her hypotheses, you'll be a little confused as to why variables like basket construction technique have been replaced with a lower-case Xi, but you'll still be following. She'll put up her first result slide and say "I realize you can't read this," but continue on as if this is not a problem. You'll get to the end and have no idea what they found, but won't want to ask a question for fear of seeming stupid.

**If it is a graduate student paper, in any category, it will often be a better paper than the faculty ones. But the presentation will include each of the co-authors (read project group from last fall's "Basket methodology and practice" seminar) having a part in it, which will involve lots of awkward, mid-presentation interruptions as "Stu Dent will now present our hypotheses." (shuffle. shuffle. Thank you Gradman. Um. Where were we? oh yeah.)

Repeat. In between, take the elevator a few times between floors to enjoy a fun session of name tag surfing, where everyone tries to nonchalantly check out everyone else's name tag to see if the other person merits small talk, or possibly even sucking up (if that person is one who was cited in your dissertation).

At a time announced in the conference program, there will be a "refreshment break" listed, to be held in the exhibits room. This is code for free coffee and bagels. Go to the door of the room, which literally has a security guard hovering in it to keep people out until the appointed hour. When the guard lets you go, hurry to the back so you have a chance to get a cup before the poor grad students, the professors from schools that don't pay for travel and the senior professors who don't care how they look anymore take it all.

Go to more sessions like the dedicated little basketweaving scholar/teacher that you are.

At the end of a day of this, you'll look in your little plasticine friend and see that coupon for 2 for 1 happy hour specials at Crabby McS's and decide to see whether a swelter-city cab driver will know where it is.

How to go to a conference in basketweaving and leave with your soul

Dear reader,

So you have decided to focus your efforts on the commendable field of basketweaving, and will be taking the plunge into our super-keen annual meeting.

What to pack
Before you can make decisions about what you will bring, you need to decide who you are in the field. You will probably find one of these categories fits you:

The seeker
You are attending the meeting in order to use the placement service in hopes of landing a faculty job somewhere. You will be flying to hellish conference city, cabbing it to the soul-free hotel, and not leaving again until it is time to fly home. Your packing list is simple. For the ladies, a black pantsuit with a selection of white and french blue blouses, one for each day you will spend in the basement explaining how excited you will be to teach the intro course. Small eyeglasses with thicker than they need to be frames. A "padfolio." Yes, whoever came up with that name should be shot. Bring one anyway. One piece of "fun" jewelry like a necklace or a pin that is slightly unique, so the schlubs interviewing you have a way to tell you apart from everyone else in the uniform. Black heeled loafers. For the gents, a dark gray suit (two piece, please) with a selection of white and blue shirts. Same glasses. Same padfolio. One "fun" tie - WARNING, do not be too fun. Just avoid something with stripes that says "prep school." Black, shined shoes that you can't actually see because your pants aren't hemmed to fit. For both: industrial-strength deodorant because the super-keen annual meeting is always in the summer in some hot (read low season) place, and the basement is next to the boilers.

The schlub
You are attending the meeting in order to spend several days in the basement of the hotel pre-interviewing job candidates. Ladies - what you would wear to teach class. Gents - the same suit you wore when you were on the other side of the interviewing table. Same shoes, but don't shine them. No tie. Be sure to not iron your outfit. You wouldn't want the candidates to get their hopes up. Bring the little notepad from next to the phone in your hotel room to take notes.

The artsy side
If you are from the aesthetic side of basketweaving, ladies will wear a skirt with an "ethnic" vibe (like a tribal print), and a short-sleeved, scoop neck T-Shirt. Chunky jewelry made of something natural like wood or shells. Fancy flip flops with jewels on them. Gents: jeans and a polo shirt. Blindingly white sneakers. They will deliver presentations that depend a lot on their ability to demonstrate the qualities of different kinds of baskets, but won't be able to get the presentations to work.

The humanist side
If you one of the humanities types, ladies will wear dress pants, "comfortable" sandals and a sleeveless blouse, with one "Interesting" piece of jewelry, accessorized with a scowl as they deliver their papers about how unappreciated basketweavers are and about import tariffs on wicker products. Gents will wear dress pants and a Cabaña shirt, and "Comfortable" sandals.

The scientists
Guys will wear dress pants, scuffed shoes and a button-down shirt that looks like they packed it in a tennis ball can (save money on checking bags that way). Ladies will wear dress pants and a twinset and shoes that "don't sacrifice comfort for style". When not presenting, the cardigan will be rakishly tied over the shoulders. Both will carry laptop messenger bags, and will use the laptop in the presentation. Things will show up, but they will be so small that you can't read them.

The mommyprof
The mommyprof will stay at a different hotel because she will be turning the trip into a family vacation for Spouse and the kids. Since they are all sharing a bag allowance, she will have a few mix-and-match pieces that travel well like this and don't require trying to iron with a toddler in the room. She may accessorize with a hint of booger or food smear somewhere on the outfit. She will have one pair of middle-heel, plain black pumps that go with all the other items she brought.

Pros and cons of parrots

We have had an African grey parrot for 11 years. We deliberately got a male grey because they are known to be good talkers.

If you have a lot of time, parrots can be great fun as a pet. They can be trained to be affectionate and snuggly, almost like a dog, and I have heard that some people can even "perch train" them, which is like litterbox training.

Our bird is not so much the cute and snuggly type, in part because we are away for most of the summer and don't want the bird sitter to have to mess with getting him out.

But he is still a lot of fun. He definitely talks, and does so very well - so well, in fact, that he can often fool us into thinking another family member is calling us from another room. He does all 4 of our voices, and will string sounds together. Example: Garage door closing sound. Door opening and closing sound. Saying "I'm home" in Spouse's voice."

He also uses environmental context - like saying "Goodbye, Profbird, you be a good bird," in my voice when he sees me getting my keys. He will laugh in my husband's voice at appropriate moments during the Daily Show.

He hasn't gotten sick and is unlikely to as long as he gets a good diet. We probably spend $120/year on everything for him.

The negatives: we have to have a barrier around his cage so curious little people don't put fingers in it because he definitely will bite. If you feed seed-based food, you get meal moths fairly regularly (we switched to pellet-based, which is better for them anyone and don't have this problem any more).

Birds are a little fussy. We used to board Profbird at the vet's when we traveled, but had to stop because he was upset by and quickly learned to mimic the sound of cats having procedures. We have a neighbor's teenager come in and feed him and spend some time with him while we are gone, now.

Some birds (Macaws, Love Birds) can be extremely loud. Profbird can be annoying when he makes non-speech sounds like ambulance sirens, the phone ringing (we had to turn off the ringer on all phones except the one furthest from him), etc. You can fix that by covering him or putting him in a dark room.

Top tips for traveling with kids - air travel

Infants and tods:

1. For yourself, if you are nursing, dress in layers and in clothes suitable for nursing. I usually didn't worry about tops with strategic slits in the them, etc., but did for plane flights, since there have been *hem* issues with mothers nursing on planes. These issues are wrong, and I think it is lousy for parents to have to worry about it, but they are there, and I'd rather make adjustments than worry about getting put off the plane and stuck somewhere with my luggage on the way somewhere else. Dress in layers because you will want to have a blanket over babe and you, which could be pretty hot, depending on the temp they are keeping the plane. Bring your own blanket (or, if you are stylish, bring something like a pashmina that can do dual duty while you travel).

2. Get seats near the wings. The engines are noisiest there, and noises made by babe are less likely to be troublesome. Plus, the loud drone is sleep-inducing for some kids.

3. Change a diaper before you get on the plane, and bring enough diapers for one per hour of flight onto the plane with you. This seems excessive, and usually it is, but should you get delayed for 8 or 10 hours (has happened to us before), you will be glad that this is one thing you don't have to worry about. Put a waterproof pad on the lap of whomever is holding the baby at any given time. I don't know why, but airplane flights are great encouragers of blow-outs. You probably know by now which diapers don't tend to leak on your kids. Even if they are more expensive, use those for the flight. Whatever changing pad you need, load it with a diaper and travel pack of wipes if you use them, and reload at every diaper change so you don't have to bring the whole bag with you every time. You won't be able to wash your hands and keep an infant hygenic and safe in an airplane bathroom, so make sure you have sanitizer back at your seat.

4. For a slightly older infant, an ergo/bjorn/snuggli can work well. You can't use it during take-off or landing, but can during the flight, and it gives little one some freedom of motion without you having to restrain them.

5. Also for the older crowd, two good entertainment options are stickers (you can buy pads of them with thousands of small ones at places like SuperMegaLoMart and OfficeStuff stores) and water. After you clean the tray table with something antibacterial (Clorox Clean-Up does come in a travel size...in a pinch, I cover with sanitizer and wipe off), get a 1/2 cup of water from the Flight Attendant with one of those little mixing straws. Little one will have a good time "painting" with drops of water that you put on the tray.

6. No matter what you do, you will get the stinkeye from some other fliers. I have heard people complain about kids crying and about parents entertaining kids so that they don't cry. There are fliers who expect to be able to sleep at any time of flight, day or night. Most people aren't too obnoxious as long as they can see that you are trying. For the ones who still are, ignore them. You'll never see them again, and you can silently hope that when they have grandkids, they never see them because no one wants to take them on a plane.

7. Take a folding stroller through security, and then gate check it, so it will be there as soon as you get off.

8. Prepare for security as much as possible before you get up to it (this includes planning your outfit for the flight. I don't even wear underwire garments when I fly). Take off belts and jewelry. Take off little one's shoes and put in a bag. Open the zipper the laptop will come out of. If you have two parents, send one through first who gets all the stuff back together and the second through with baby. Put the stroller through first, so you can open it and put little one in while you gather the other stuff.

9. Think carefully about pre-boarding, if they offer it. For a non-mobile baby, do it because you will need the extra time to stow all the stuff said baby needs. For a mobile one, send one parent with the regular boarding group to handle stuff, and have the other and babe board in the last one, so little one can run around as long as possible.

10. If you are stuck in an airport with a toddler, escalators and airport trains are great fun. If you can find a pretty empty area, the more "running" games you can play, the better. If there is a playground find it. Chicago O'Hare has a really terrific one, should your travels take you there.

11. If you are going to visit relatives, ask them to pick up diapers, formula or food, etc. for you and to see if they can borrow a pack n play and highchair so you don't have to carry these things (maybe even a car seat, if they are picking you up). In some larger US cities, some have baby item rental services (google hotel baby item rental for ideas). With the cost of checked baggage now, you may well save money buying a set to leave at grandma's or renting at a conference. Many larger cities also have grocery delivery, and you can get diapers, snacks and formula delivered to the concierge, who will have it put in your room.

12. Stick 2 changes of clothes for baby and a clean shirt for you in the diaper bag. Put these in sealed Ziploc bags so if you need them, you can put the dirty item you are changing into the bag.

13. A box of quart-sized plastic bags in your luggage is good for packing up leftover dry food to take from a restaurant, and can substitute for your odor-blocking diaper pail while traveling.

14. Whatever lovey your kid might have, get another one (or several more) so you can take one on the trip without fear of damage or loss. When Bun was born, we got 10 $1 teddy bears from Ikea and it has been great. We learned this after we left Offspring's stuffed Eeyore at a hotel in D. C.

15. If something important like a stroller or car seat gets destroyed or lost by the airline (we've had both happen), they sometimes have loaner models, if you ask. We have also, for a stroller, asked our cab to the hotel stop at the most convenient Target on the way and picked up a new one.

Wondering what will happen...

This week I will answer your questions on the following topics:

1. Parrots
2. Vexing housekeeping issues
3. My field (although all answers will be in the context of basketweaving)
4. Secrets for successful travel with children
5. Girl Scouts

Leave a comment.

InAdWriMo update

Got one paper out. Got the data for the second - hoping to do the analysis tomorrow. Analysis on data for 3rd paper this week as well. Pretty worried about the fourth one - may take Friday off to work on it.

On the plate also is teaching, PTA this week and hosting a big social event for my grad program students and faculty.

Bun still not sleeping.

Missing the holidays

I don't know if you saw the movie Christmas with the Kranks, but it is based on a novel by John Grisham called Skipping Christmas that I really disliked. I think the thing that rubbed me the wrong way was how the main characters were eventually brought into line, after a huge amount of effort, to have the same conformist Christmas that they had ever had.

This year, the Profs are skipping Christmas. We will celebrate our 20th anniversary this summer, and have been saving for several years to go on a Mediterranean cruise to celebrate. But it turns out that with the downturn in the world economy, we found a rate over the holidays that is too good to pass up - enough reduction that it will pay for shore tours to see things like the pyramids and St. Peter's. So we are going. No I-95 Christmas, sitting in traffic for 15-hour days to get the distance covered between our parents' houses so that no one feels left out. But also, I will literally be turning in final grades the day before we leave, and doing a big service obligation at church that night. I feel a little bad about it - especially since I'm an only child, and I don't think my Dad has any vacation left after his own illness and the death of his father, so I think my folks will be stuck home alone.

I'm realizing that I have to get all the gifts bought and sent to relatives in the next week or so, but I don't know if we'll even put the tree up this year. Offspring will be in school until the day we leave, and I worry a little that we won't be making good memories for our kids this year through lack of repetition.

But a big, big part of me is thrilled that we get to skip the high expectations and horrible travel that make each holiday season a festival of stress.

In case you are wondering

I think about tenure every frakking day. And I am still very bitter.

Running out of things to say

Lots of things I am not saying right now, so here are some RBOC...

* I have had conversations about two colleagues recently that involved the phrase "Must have run out of happy pills"

* I read in the New York Times yesterday that jumping up and down is one of the more effective exercises for building bone mass. That reminded me that I don't believe either of my kids knows how to jump rope.

* I only made it through half of my list yesterday. My grad classes were like the walking dead with so much illness. Today my throat hurts.

* I don't know that I will finish Offspring's teacher gifts in time

* Bun's teacher at swishy daycare forgot we had this required conference on Tuesday afternoon and went home. So I have to go today.

* I got up early today and didn't use the computer before school, yet we still had a tough time getting out the door, which I had to do with neither caffeine nor lipstick.

* I think I am going to be grading exams until the second we go to the airport for Christmas. I don't understand why the university schedules exam times on the day that grades are due...I realize that we have an allegedly certified graduation (where you don't cross the stage if you haven't met all the requirements), but to get this processed through the assorted clerical people means that we do sacrifice academics.

* It is very difficult when your administrative staff person does not take initiative.

* One of our adjuncts, who I like very much, just finished her doctorate a year ago and hasn't had any luck getting a F-T job. She has a two-body problem, which doesn't help, but she also is doing things like applying for dean jobs, which I am pretty sure is the problem.

I had a dream

that the semester was ending. Everything that had to be done in the next 3 weeks, by me and by my students, had somehow been completed. It was monkey time.

I think it is because I spend some time yesterday planning the end games for my classes and I really can see the end.

Also, got another paper out. Go me.

Like watching a train wreck

Note to Dr. Competitor:

You must let the students do their own work. That is how they learn. You had your chance to go to college and produce the artifacts/processes that you are so hot and bothered about now. Even if it is not what you would do, it's their turn now.

I don't know where to start

Time for this week's list, and I am paralyzed (but managed to find time for blogging!)

The next two weeks promise to be really, really awful. Many of our extra curricular little things have ended, but the classes are in the screaming crescendo that will culminate in that piercing high note of the last major project/paper/test to be followed by the coda of finals, grading, packing for our holidays, etc.

Plus Bun is sick, which is something that rarely happens, so I am kind of thrown by this. It's weird, since I know that most mothers of toddlers/preschoolers have them sick all the time, but this is literally Bun's 3rd illness since January. I sometimes think she is like one of those super children they had on ST:TNG who had to stay in a shuttlecraft because their hot to trot immune systems would reach out and attack microbes in OTHER PEOPLE, which is not cool, at all. Really, I know her immunity must be high because I'm not a fabulous housekeeper. Thank you hygiene hypothesis for validating me.

Anyway, It's just a mild cold with an annoying drippy nose, but the sleeplessness and the endless nose wiping were not something I was counting on having to fit into today. To add to the fun, I had to carry her all weekend, and have damaged my back in some significant way.

Awesomeness.

The whole family is stressed out - me and Spouse because of work and Offspring because of the amount of homework she is having. Really, it's not that much for her regular classes, but she is on two different academic teams and the inter-district meet (I love having a mathlete : ) ) is in 5 weeks, so she has several hours of homework a week for that. Plus, she got picked for two special music things at school, which means extra practice time and before-school rehearsals twice a week. So I have to manage her mental state in addition to those of Spouse and my own.

Hmmmmm...maybe more whining than I intended ; )

Keepin it real for the hobos

A few random thoughts after taking my Girl Scout troop to the girls and science day at Pretty Good.

A large number of people in Central State, in Mid-Sized City, and in our small suburb are quite politically and socially conservative, and pass these values on to their children. When I am with Offpspring's friends or my troop, I find myself frequently having to bite my tongue and not say things outside of my place in these children's lives, although I do usually discuss thing with Offspring afterward. One sentiment that the girls frequently share is that poor people are "hobos" and worthy of disdain. You'd think I'd be used to this, but it still bugged me yesterday to hear one girl tell another that the next time they have vegetables they don't like, they should just tell their parents that they are saving it for the hobos. Where they got the term hobo, I have no idea - maybe from grandparents?

Then, when I was driving some of the girls home last night, Offspring wanted to listen to the TMBG Here Comes Science Album, and I found myself having to redact some of the songs because they mentioned things like angels not being scientifically proven, evolution, and the song My Brother the Ape, since I know some of the parents would object to their daughter hearing such things. I even had second thoughts about I am a Paleontologist.

It is sad that this is the world my family lives in.

So cool

A couple of years ago, Santa brought Offspring a pair of really good binoculars. Here in our suburb of Mid-sized City, there is a pretty good bit of light pollution and haze, but last night it was pretty clear and we went in the shadow between the house and the garage, wherein we were all able to see 3 of Jupiter's moons.

Made her night.

Extra, Extra, Read All About It

One of the things that we have tried to do with our kids is keep them away from the news most of time, figuring that a lot of times, it is stuff that we have no control over, isn't actually going to affect our day-to-day lives and would just be upsetting.

Yesterday's shootings in Texas hit kind of close to home here, since Mid-Sized City is not the home of, but is close to a major military installation and since my Dad is a veteran who actually trained at Ft. Hood. It is usual to see service members headed to or returning from deployment when we go to the airport here, for example.

We didn't discuss the shootings with Offspring yesterday, but now I am thinking that I probably should have, since I imagine a number of the kids at school will be.

Well, maybe I'm not so ignorant

So I have been feeling pretty badly lately because I have this research project I am working on and I am having to pull out my old grad school stats texts for the analysis. It's not even complicated, but I just have this uncertainty that I am going to make the right choices and use tests appropriately.

I'm in one of the less hard-core social science-y type fields, so although I took 3 stats classes in grad school, since I don't use it every day, it takes a while.

Anyway, so I feel like a bit of an idiot - especially since I have a good friend who teaches stats and could probably reassure me in about 2 minutes, but I'd be too embarrassed to ask. (I also just had to look up the spelling of embarrass, since we're here in true confession time).

But, today GuyNextDoor comes in to ask me what an outlier is, positing a definition having something to do with the stars not lining up. And then he asked me how to spell it.

So I feel a little better.

Time, time, time

Well all the little petty things from yesterday, combined with the fact that there are a lot of things that I do that are just more fun than working on tichy paper edits means I didn't even open up the research yesterday. Bad Mommyprof.

Today is a teaching day, as is tomorrow and some of Thursday. I got out of a huge service commitment for Friday by moving it to next Friday, but it is not boding well as of now.

New heights of productivity...that's what I should be TRYING for...

After a great weekend, it is now Nov. 2, and I want to be all about getting the papers out and the classes through the last push to to the end of the semester.

But, as always, things are conspiring to keep me from it, including:

Bun got into a nest of stinging insects at daycare last week, and has about 25-30 stings, mostly on her feet. They are itchy and painful and it has made her a cranky Bun who needs a lot of TLC and attention.

Our ISP forced us to upgrade to their "improved"
service, which apparently doesn't really reach our house reliably any more. In order to break our contract with them, we will need to prove that they aren't providing service, so while we get evidence about that, our Internet is only working sometimes. This is pretty much worked out to not working when Bun and Offspring are sleeping and we have time to get things done, and working at times like when we are trying to get out of the house in the morning.

I believe I have clogged sinuses AGAIN, and the post-nasal drip is making me nauseous much of the time.

I am doing a fairly major piece of work in the profession which is both fun and makes me a better candidate for jobs. But it is super time-consuming right now, and I don't control the schedule.

Our credit card number got hacked from someone we bought something from, so we are cardless for several days. Fortunately, they only charged $50 worth of stuff, and Citibank has a quite proactive security department.

That being said, it is time to make "The List" for today of all the stuff I need to get done.