I'm going to be less crippled by indecision than I was yesterday. Just as soon as I figure out which project to start on.
It finally occurred to me that there is coordination involved in the swinging, when you're trying to do toes-to-bar. I still can't get anywhere close to getting my toes to the bar (not Moby's kind of bar), but now I at least understand the swinging motion involved.
I don't understand 5 at all, but I can't get my toes very close to my penis, if that's what you mean.
4: Do it. Free yourself from SAS oppression!
Oh! I have another. One of the dads of the kid with three dads flagged me at drop-off yesterday, and told me how touched and happy he was to see how we were raising Hokey Pokey (ie because of all the dresses and skirts and pink.) He went on and on for a while. I was touched that he was touched. The affirmation was all around feel-good and I told him how happy I was that his family was in our community. (This after one of those mornings where I was Very Mean Mommy and hated myself. So, nice.)
My kids seem to be turning out saner and happier than I ever was.
And my boss gives me spectacular employee reviews. (My one flaw? I put too much effort into helping line attorneys perfect their work, rather than letting them sink or swim on their own. Other than that, I am peerless and there is no spot in me. I'm not clear as to whether she really thinks that well of my work, or she just has a firm belief in inflated evaluations, but I'll take it either way.)
I get to hang out with one of my favorite young people for 7 or 8 hours today. I plan on preparing her a dinner of turtle soup, Russian black bread, ripe olives from Turkey, caviar, mule steaks, Frankfurt smoked sausages, game dished up in sauces coloured to resemble liquorice water and boot-blacking, truffles in jelly, chocolate-tinted creams, puddings, nectarines, fruit preserves, mulberries and cherries.
8: I've been on a Stata kick lately.
I nothing about Stata, so I'll assume it's the Devil's work.
11: Have you thought about nannying the nouveau riche?
I feel like I have a lot of friends and colleagues who truly enjoy their teenage kids. It makes me feel good about the future. (Then there's Tedra....)(Kidding, if you're lurking.)
15: I used to get those from some place in Columbus and hadn't thought about them until you mentioned it. Shrimp toast is great.
I have cute boots on. (I'd say something more serious, but I fear that I am a ball of anxiety about my upcoming immigration appointment and am having trouble of thinking of the good things.)
19: Being unable to think of good things is half way to being assimilated. You'll do great.
19: Good luck! Think patriotic thoughts!
I met a guy I like a lot who used the word "girlfriend" in my general vicinity the other day. (I'm nervous because, on reviewing the conversation about children we had on our second date, I belatedly realized I wasn't sure I understood his position as well as I needed to, so I need to broach that subject when we meet next. But oh well, even if I don't get the answer I want and have to break things off, at least I met a guy I liked a lot.)
18: Mark Bitumen (leaving in the autocorrect) calls the recipe better than any restaurant's. I can report back if you like.
Let's see. My child often says "Sorry, I misspoke," and told me that I "look like a girl" today in my skirt and orange tights. My hair is behaving itself (in a giant kind of only semi-behaved sort of way) today. I'm giving a talk later and actually looking forward to it. The sun is shining!
24: Thanks. Unless it involves deep frying. I've learned my lesson on that.
23: Children are one thing, but what's his view on Stata?
My father gave me a suggestion for a great Christmas gift for him - and since he did it unintentionally, in casual conversation, he ought to be surprised even though he inspired it.
I spent yesterday hiking along the CA coast at Point Lobos, and today I'm going to the redwoods. The weather has been unseasonably extra nice.
They're changing the floorplans at work due to a big reorganization of sectors and I'll be sitting by a window for the first time in a few years.
I do not currently have a brain tumor that turns me into a pedophile.
It's good to be reminded of the good in the world.
I made onion jam from an America's Test Kitchen recipe an it was really good. (I looked for the recipe because I remembered redfox mentioning onion jam on her food blog a million years ago, but couldn't find her version.)
Work has, in fact, slowed down starting last week. I have things I need to get done by the end of the month, but for now nothing pressing.
Everything on my food blog was a million years ago! I probably called it "onion conserve" or something equally pretentious.
I went to the gymn and had a good workout. Also I'm hoping to get some actual work done today.
My blog was mentioned on a podcast.
Ooh, 34 is inspiring - after I oversee my department during tonight's show, there's a major quiet period, and our next concert won't be until after Thanksgiving.
That wasn't snark. I just didn't know.
The other day I became moderately fixated on the image of having spikey, puss filled things growing out of my nose. It was like having a song stuck in your head, except it was an unpleasant image. The things I was imagining looked like a cross between zits and polyps.
Fortunately, whenever I actually touched my nose, they weren't there.
That night I had a dream that my face was covered in scales. When I woke up, they weren't there.
I am not now being devoured by wolves.
Onion jam + scrambled eggs on toast = something I wish I was going to eat today.
The rejected grant application I just got back had much more positive comments than the previous rejected grant application. Goddamn "broader impacts".
The oral surgeon I just saw thinks the mysterious bubble the dentist spotted in my X-ray is probably benign.
I'm not sure I'm doing these right.
I'm making shrimp toasts tonight.
Just don't joke about that time you slept with the shrimp bride, or anything else that makes the whole shrimp wedding really shrimp awkward.
I plan on preparing her a dinner of turtle soup, Russian black bread, ripe olives from Turkey, caviar, mule steaks, Frankfurt smoked sausages, game dished up in sauces coloured to resemble liquorice water and boot-blacking, truffles in jelly, chocolate-tinted creams, puddings, nectarines, fruit preserves, mulberries and cherries.
Natilo is setting the bar very high for the rest of us planning dates in the near future.
Oh, which reminds me: I am planning a date in the near future.
I am doing really well. I read the dead thread and relived all the DC stuff and in a few hours I get to go pick up the kiddo and her medicine and bring her home. (Blood pressure medicine works for PTSD and anxiety sometimes; we'll see.) I've almost made it through my first week back to work, and I've remade both Nia's and Mara's beds by disassembling the Ikea bunk bed, getting rid of the horrible bed in Mara's room, and giving them each a solid single bed. I'm not caught up on laundry or anything crazy like that, but life is great and I hope this weekend will be good. And every night when I leave work there's this baby who thinks that seeing me is the most wonderful thing in the world and who throws herself into my arms laughing.
47: I would probably avoid emulating the mule steaks.
I'm not concerned about his views per se, but we're having kids, and we're raising them in R.
49: I'm dating a 19th century California gold prospector. There are problems in the relationship but at least I don't get hassled about not putting enough effort into my appearance.
I am having (half of) a genuine Melton Mowbray pork pie for dinner (among other things.)
In the future, all children will be raised in Wolfram Language.
I get to see M/tch and Sir Kraab tonight!
Also, unfortunately, all of the words we are using to write these comments will be part of Wolfram Language and we will retroactively owe royalties.
52. Named Clementine, or would this be her little sister?
There's a brand of chips at Costco called "Food should taste Good." Rhyme or not?
My son has two teeth, and I went for a run twice this week and did circuit training twice this week and nothing broke!
I'll never have royalties.
I think I get to see Sir Kraab in 10 days! And the other Pittsburgh people! I'm so excited!
It's also pretty amazing that I get 20 vacation days a year plus a handful of personal days and a week or so of sick time. It was actually sort of a challenge to use that remained between Thanksgiving week and the end of the year after getting two months off. I am a really lucky person and I am so completely grateful to all the people here who are friends and have been amazing supports when I wasn't feeling so lucky or happy.
52: Getting backshot for claim jumping, though? Always a risk.
62: " Dearly beloved. We have gathered together to grant this man, Ben Rumson, exclusive title to this woman, Mrs. Elizabeth Woodling, and to all her mineral resources."
There's a brand of chips at Costco called "Food should taste Good."
Unfortunately they aren't that good. Great name, though.
Isn't the recipe for onion jam "cook a lot of onions for a long time; flavor as desired"?
They don't claim their food tastes good, they're just stating a general aspiration for humanity.
Alex [our baby, not Yorkshire variety] is incredibly smiley, and loves strangers. It's a pleasure being out and about with him, as you sort of waft around in a trail of joy as people react to being smiled at.
Are you saying that the Yorkshire Ranter isn't incredibly smiley?
68: Yes, but the recipe I used was very clear and easy -- all the long caramelizing was in a dutch oven in the oven.
70: The Calabat still reacts to everyone with suspicion. I think we need to get him out more.
63: I said this in the other Pittsburgh thread long after it had gone dormant, but if all goes well here in the next week, it would be great if I could crash with someone in Pittsburgh and not have to drive home that night. I'm willing to do that, though, if Lee can't manage a morning alone.
52: the term is "gold digger," Ajay. I'm about to eat three eggs on top of a steak with some special prosciutto on the side, so things are good.
76: I have an extra bedroom which you would be welcome to crash in.
74: The Calabat is wise beyond his/her years. Suspicion is a perfectly good way to react to people.
39, it's under my real name, so I Can't promote it here. But I'd love to email people interested in biology-blogs with the address.
Does everybody here live in Pittsburgh?
To the OP (something good): somebody elsewhere just informed me that the Speaker of the House of Commons has a cat named Order.
Work is in a lull, so I've decided to stay home and take the dog on a long river trip this morning.
take the dog on a long river trip
Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
re: 74
Alex is a wee flirt. He'll work on strangers until they smile at him. We were in a pub, and he was smiling and then looking away (fake shy), and smiling and looking away, at a young woman who wasn't noticing him enough. Then when she spotted him and finally smiled, he turned on the full beam. It's hilarious to watch.
Calabat is a few weeks older, though? No? I gather they go through a suspicious phase. Ours might just not have reached it yet. Right at the moment, he will grin and interact with everyone, whether they initially want to or not.
This work day is not over yet. Grrrrr.
This afternoon's fun includes hiring interviews. I hates them.
Good news is that it will be over in about six hours.
My final project still has a lot of bugs and lacking functionality, but it's solid enough to show people, which is good because demo day is today. Gaahh.
Right at the moment, he will grin and interact with everyone, whether they initially want to or not.
Alex is Bill Clinton!
I get a week off from my work feeling of looming dread with a week of 16 hour days at a trade show in New York next week. (Speaking of which, anyone want to meet up in Midtown after 7 or so on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday? Sorry for the late notice, wasn't sure what nights I would be free.)
Also, Vinous Meetup tomorrow! Super stoked.
My final project still has a lot of bugs and lacking functionality, but it's solid enough to show people, which is good because demo day is today. Gaahh.
I would imagine that's normal, isn't it?
How are you enjoying programming academy? Are you enjoying what you're learning? Are you hoping for a job at the end of it, or does it convince you that you should be a cop . . .?
39, it's under my real name, so I Can't promote it here. But I'd love to email people interested in biology-blogs with the address.
Email me!
This might or might not be good news for people here, but it is certainly good news for Hillary Clinton:
Dick Morris just tweeted: Hillary Is NOT Inevitable.
Alex is a wee flirt. He'll work on strangers until they smile at him.
This is Ace. On the plane last weekend, she cocks her head, and then her whole body, and smiles and coos and bats her eyes until she gets the stranger to smile back at her.
It finally occurred to me that there is coordination involved in the swinging, when you're trying to do toes-to-bar. I still can't get anywhere close to getting my toes to the bar (not Moby's kind of bar), but now I at least understand the swinging motion involved.
Also, not sure how I missed this the first time round, but the coordination is...snap your hips. Of course.
How are you enjoying programming academy? Are you enjoying what you're learning? Are you hoping for a job at the end of it, or does it convince you that you should be a cop . . .?
It's been good. I enjoyed the daily pair-programming projects more than the final solo thing, because the later gave me a lot more room to freak out and get paralyzed and anxious, but even that wasn't so bad compared to, say, writing a paper. I'm hoping for a job at the end of it, though I have a hard time imagining that I'm even close to being able to produce anything of value for anyone.
51: They can use RStudio till they're potty trained.
Another good thing: I just game from a great talk on IGF-II with a lot of really impressive data on its enhancement of memory reconsolidation and restoration of function in mouse models of autism and Alzheimer's. IGF-II is easy to make and crosses the blood brain barrier. I felt all inspired by neuroscience and its potential to improve human health afterwards.
I have a hard time imagining that I'm even close to being able to produce anything of value for anyone.
I have no idea what the programming job market is like (either the difficulty of getting a job, or what you would be expected to produce) but my experience is that it's much easier to feel productive when there's a clear problem to solve, and you know that your work will feel a need.
Thanks, 82, 83, and 97. And whoever 103 is.
Anyone else?
My improv rock band played a really good show Wednesday night. For material, we interviewed a guy who was a clown and a balloon artist, and he was right blown away when in the middle of a slow soul jam ("She's Still a Clown") I began to drop references to the year Ringling Bros Clown College moved from Sarasota, Fl to Appleton, WI, which was apparently the year that both of us considered but ultimately did not apply. Other highlights included an audience song suggestion "I Fucked a Hobo in Bakersfield" which turned into a dramatic emo number with the refrain "Love Between a Man and a Traveling Man" and "Standing Naked in My Clothes" which resulted in the other singer stripping right down.
And every night when I leave work there's this baby who thinks that seeing me is the most wonderful thing in the world and who throws herself into my arms laughing.
Yeah, this. Although right now she's technically more excited to see the baby in the mirror by her car seat.
it's much easier to feel productive when there's a clear problem to solve,
This is why teaching is more rewarding than research. Student walks in office: "I don't understand." Ten minutes later: "Great! See you! Thanks! Now I understand!" Something useful has actually happened, on a short time scale. Great!
Apparently I am giving an hour long public talk next April. Is that good?
I'll learn next week whether a major project I've been working on for many months will fly. If it flies, that will mean a lot of work over the next year, but the work may be interesting and the results might mitigate my general sense of despair about the trajectory my university is on. If it does not fly, I will then execute the final elements of "Operation Return to Doing What I Like Doing: Writing and Teaching and Not Administering Things." I should probably put together a team to come up with a better title for this operation and then workshop the results of their efforts. Actually, I suppose the first step is to seek funding for the team. I hope I can get a seed grant from the university.
I have a hard time imagining that I'm even close to being able to produce anything of value for anyone.
You'd be surprised. Most of the code I write is rudimentary. Take this bunch of files here, read this [simple textual] information from them, read this other information from those XML files there, dump it to these other files and run an XSL, and then convert a bunch of images from one format to another format and plonk the lot into a folder for upload. You could do it with a shell script, or a batch file if you were good at writing bash.
That said, I don't think anyone would hire me to be a specialist programmer, but I can get a lot of stuff done [and often quicker than the specialist programmers].
Also, the weather has been spectacularly wonderful. Too dry -- if one isn't completely selfish about one's thoughts on the weather -- but mild and sunny. It's been great.* And I've gotten tons of work done over the past few months, including nearly finishing a project that well might destroy my scholarly reputation (this has been a longstanding goal of mine, so I'm very excited). Finally, my terribly anxious child has been considerably less anxious lately, and my not-nearly-anxious enough child has been a bit more anxious.
* I'm selfish.
A project I/we've been working on with the-place-the-Pope-shits-in-the-woods is near to launch and nothing has broken or gone catastrophically wrong. And the launch of the F/ rankenstein M/ anuscripts thing didn't break.*
http://hidemyass.com/?aHR0cDovL3NoZWxsZXlnb2R3aW5hcmNoaXZlLm9yZy9jb250ZW50cy9mcmFua2Vuc3RlaW4%3D
*largely an N/ YP/ L project, but the images are hosted on/delivered from one of my servers.
I'm enjoying my new job more than I've ever enjoyed any paid job ever, so maybe three years of school and a vast amount of debt wasn't a huge mistake.
The place the pope shits in the woods?
105: me too! I'll read your biology blog.
108 makes me think I'm doing it wrong.
I'm feeling pretty bleak about things today, to be honest. There's good stuff but it's just failing to set my psyche aflame with good feeling. But anyway yeah we're going to see The African Queen at the Paramount. So that's good.
Our students are not very similar, perhaps.
Maybe Heebie and essear can switch and essear can explain his material to heebie's students and Heebie can explain her material to essear's students!
After yesterday's fiasco, we got a $1,500 donation in the mail from someone who usually only gives $1,000.
120: maybe I should go to that. I'm not sure I could make The Pickpocket anyway, plus I've already seen it.
You've never seen "The African Queen"? Or just not on the big screen?
I am unexpectedly being recruited for a job in the South Bay which, if I got it, would be a very good job, but we would probably have to move. It is unnerving saying yes to everything to keep the ball rolling when I know that my husband really, really wants to stay here (near Berkeley) forever. Sounds like telecommuting is discouraged and wouldn't be an option for a while in any case. So, uh: life in the current place is good enough that I really don't want to leave. Anyone else dealt with a long commute and small children? It fills me with dread. I feel like I would miss her so much that my heart would crack in half after about a month. On the other hand I am, at the moment, totally spoiled by flexibility and time with her.
I've never seen "The African Queen". Is that so surprising?
It just seems like it is always on cable and it's pretty good.
127: if you're happy where you are, and it sounds like you are, why would you make a change? Says the happy guy who's considering making all kinds of changes, including, despite thinking that commuting is just about the quickest route to misery there is (more meetings would be quicker, and maybe cancer, but that's about it), adding a multi-hour commute to his life. Seriously, though, commuting is awful. So, too, is time away from one's kids is awful (unless one doesn't want more time with one's kids).
127: Long commutes suck unambiguously. I've commuted to the South Bay from where you are and it's fucking miserable (and I didn't have kids).
128: If you've never seen "The African Queen" you should come with us.
127: I've looked at a few jobs in the South Bay and kind of been creeped out by the plastic nature of the place. Maybe I'm just not looking at the right places, but Berkeley seems to have a lot more soul. Barring some kind of jump to a lifestyle you would prefer, I'd say stick where you are. But what do I know? I moved someplace for a job where I'd have to be relo'd again to get out, and there's too much competition anywhere I want to move for a prospective employer to pay for me to move.
Fortunately, there's no way that your husband will find out what you're doing until you've had time to weigh your decision a bit.
131: ok! are you all meeting somewhere in advance of the screening?
I think commutes up to about 45 minutes are basically tolerable. Over that it is hellish. Any chance of arranging the schedule for a super-early morning arrival plus early departure? I know a Mom who works like that with a kid and a pretty long commute and it seems sort of OK -- the drive in isn't as hellish and the drive out not as bad, and she gets afternoon time with the kid.
It's just like The Big Sleep, but on a boat and with a much older, more quivering, Lauren Bacall.
134: There are no current plans to do so. Given that at least three of the people going aren't currently working, it seems silly not to, though.
I've seen The Big Sleep! I liked it!
94: Wednesday works. Friday might.
I was staring at 137 in confusion for a weirdly long time.
I mean, I ought to know by now how Moby's comments work.
I'm not sure how much detail I should give to illustrate how much better this possible opportunity is than a) what I'm doing now (zero income) and b) anything I'm likely to get by sending out my resume alone. (Aggressive networking, self-promotion, etc., would probably get me somewhere, but I bet I'd need an impressive drug cocktail to pull it off. This was a completely crazy lightning strike, by contrast.) It's the sort of thing where, if I could do it for two or three years, I would be in a much better position to choose employers and neighborhoods. I definitely know how bad the commute is. I've lived on the peninsula and am actually fond of the network of open space preserves, which I miss even with Tilden in the backyard, but am suspicious of the competitive wealthy family culture and want to keep the child miles away from it.
It bothers me how much my 2-year-old daughter's nascent friendships with other 2-year-olds are weighing into this. Most of this is not silly, but that is.
136 is my default short-term plan if I get it, actually. I wish the place were closer to the train station, because that would be *really* ideal -- two express trains, time to read and write, etc. Given a car commute, I would seriously consider buying a Nissan Leaf or something (far cheaper than Volt or Tesla, and I think feasible here).
139: Well, Robert Mitchum is just as good in The African Queen.
Get a motorboat and commute via waterway.
143.last: is biking the last mile(s) at all feasible?
Oh definitely. The boat commute for this looks great on paper. I'm sure they make it a colossal PITA in practice, though, since you have to cross shipping lanes all over the place.
In the future, I will commute along the LA River in a self-propelled mini submarine built by BMW.
One possibility if you wanted to do the train would be to get either a super-cheap wreck or a cheap scooter/motorbike and keep it parked at whatever South Bay train station. IMO for a long commute by car, especially if you're on a leave-early plan, you want something that's both pretty fast and big enough to be comfortable, not a Leaf. But get the Fit Electric if you're looking for an electric car in that range.
146: if the bikes-on-BART pilot program is made permanent, almost certainly. With a folding bike, odds are even better, although I don't know what the terrain looks like in the South Bay. I'm thinking bike-on-boat would be ideal, though.
149: you could also leave a crappy bike locked at each end.
Robert Mitchum is just as good in The African Queen.
Robert Mitchum was equally good in Star Trek: Into Darkness.
150 is what I did before we had a second bike that could carry multiple kids. Now I just have a crappy bike sitting in my basement.
I can in theory commute to work by kayak but the boat rental place that allows 1-way rentals claims that it's a 1.5-2 hour paddle.
151: Robert Mitchum was in a less known version of The Big Sleep. Joan Collins was in it, but not playing the Lauren Bacall/Katherine Hepburn role.
Probably even longer than that when the river is frozen.
Hey speaking of bikes holy fuck (hi lw!) are bike forums crazy-making. I've been trying to figure out what I want to do for a new one and was looking at Mission Bicycles, but all of the reviews I can find of them online are from people who think that if you're not capable of building a wheel yourself you don't deserve to have a nice-looking bike.
I paid someone to build a wheel for me because I'm trying to land a profile in the Styles section.
I paid somebody to teach my nanny to build a wheel.
I paid a consultant to find a teacher for my nanny to learn how to build a wheel.
156: What are you looking for? For that kind of shopping, I've basically resigned myself to adopting either of two attitudes: 1) I'm just not going to be picky at all about the feel of whatever idee fix(i)e thing I buy online to spec, or 2) I'm going to try things out in the store and go by gut. It's nice when you can combine the specification and the physical trial, but that is also a good way to spend 3 months deliberating.
I have some nice Shimano hubs if you want them, possibly with repairable wheels attached, but for a mountain bike. I also remember admiring this guy's work about a year ago, though it's not quite my style.
159: I'll have my people find out how does that for me.
if you're not capable of building a wheel yourself you don't deserve to have a nice-looking bike.
TRUE!!!!
160: I'm trying to figure out how the spec/cost on the Mission bike matches up to, say, a Fuji Declaration, but all of the forum posts about the Mission bikes are basically "you're a complete sucker if you buy one of these, just get a frame from bikesdirect.com, have it powdercoated yourself, then do all the work to build it up on your own". I don't fucking *want* to do all that stuff myself, even if I had a) the skills and b) the facilities to do it.
I'm paying for my nanny to go to graduate school, so she can write better blog comments for me.
146: if the bikes-on-BART pilot program is made permanent, almost certainly
It already has been made permanent, I thought.
I thought it was an extended trial period till December. I actually have mixed feelings about the program, because while most people are considerate when they bring their bikes on the train during rush hour, there are still quite a few jerks who create inconvenience/delays with boarding or exiting/chain grease on other passengers' work clothes.
I don't fucking *want* to do all that stuff myself, even if I had a) the skills and b) the facilities to do it.
Word. We bought Novaras from REI for my wife and daughters for precisely that reason. Good components for the price, free tune up, hell of a warranty.
I know I can be cranky about how San Francisco is year-round summer camp, but my hat is off to you for Batkid. Definitely Something Good.
143: The open space preserves on the peninsula is nice, but nothing there beats having the Tilden steam trains and Little Farm ten minutes away. Berkeley's gotta be about the best place around to have a 2-year-old. Sorry, this probably wasn't the input you wanted.
God, I'd love to go see African Queen on the big screen tonight. But I think I'm looking after the kids. Which is fine, since I have to work all weekend and probably won't see them much.
chain grease on other passengers' work clothes.
This is sufficiently obnoxious that requiring chain guards seems like a reasonable measure.
Email sent out. Still don't know who 103 was, thoo.
169 -- have we ever had a thread about the Make a Wish Foundation? It seems like something appropriate for this place. On the one hand, who can say no to wish fulfillment of dying kids and yay Batkid but . . . I also just find something ineffably weird and possibly wrong about the whole thing.
I don't understand why there's not a single non-awful place on the Peninsula. Every town is indistinguishable and horrible.
173: I share your sense of discomfort. It's partly the whole thing of putting the kid in the spotlight for the event* and partly the fact that the money might be better spent elsewhere.
*in that whole "your suffering lets us shine" way.
Despite thinking that commuting is just about the quickest route to misery there is (more meetings would be quicker, and maybe cancer, but that's about it), adding a multi-hour commute to his life.
Wait, is this the live-in-Pittsburgh-work-at-Penn-State dream again?
Berkeley's gotta be about the best place around to have a 2-year-old. Sorry, this probably wasn't the input you wanted.
I don't understand why there's not a single non-awful place on the Peninsula. Every town is indistinguishable and horrible.
People, let's be clear that of all the places in the world where one can live and work the SF Peninsula is not in the bottom 50% by any measure and is in fact lovely, quiet, diverse, unpredictable, as capable of sustaining and nourishing the soul as any other place in the developed world of course you're entirely right.
165/166: The pilot is still in effect until December 1st, but the BART Board has approved it to become permanent from that date.
20: These are the boots! Not exactly pushing any fashion barriers, but I got them on a deal and for some reason I just love them.
21, 22: Thanks for the good thoughts!
80, 105, 172: ME ME ME ME ME! Will you pretty please email me about it? I love reading science blogs, and I'm missing a bio one, to be honest. My email is below.
Another good thing: my application is nearly complete, so I can stop feeling like a failure for not being farther along.
I'm jealous in a good way of everyone going to see "The African Queen." That sounds like fun!
94 Let me be the first to suggest Fresh Salt. Any of those days would be fine for me.
I like Fresh Salt, but it's a bit of a haul from the Midtown Hilton. Any place closer that's not too big an inconvenience for everyone?
My 7 year old kid spent all last weekend programming in Scratch, and is likely to try to do the same this weekend, except at some point we will have to drag him off to the beach.
The guy I knew was working on my problem while I floundered miserably in self-foot-shooting with my data published. And (having gotten through a day of hyperventilating and Reynaud's), it's a terrible paper. No new data and the model is parameterized with the results he's trying to explain. Bzzzt.
I am now writing faster on a big bulge of `oh, standards really are that low'. The hard data can be in the second paper.
There's a lesson tonight in several mazurkas I don't know, and while the Dwarf Lord is too RSI'd to go, the group is friendly enough that I don't mind going alone. Worried about his RSI, though.
Union Big Guy is something good:
[Chief Justice] Roberts, however, suggested that the card check provision is coercive. The union organizer 'comes up to you' and asks you to sign up, and there's a group of your fellow workers around.
'And he's a big guy,' interjected Scalia.
The exercise I took up as stress relief has made me noticeably fitter, and possibly less stressed. I wore my wedding gown to a Viennese-ish ball last week. All the parents who were hospitalized this summer are better or getting there. Seattle still has good stuff and I still like rain.
I cleared up a work thing I'd bungled months ago and had been kicking under the rug hoping no one would notice it for months. Next week is going to suck, though.
So when your boss mentions in passing that he was at dinner last night with your senator, the owner of your local world-series champion baseball team, and a couple other assorted billionaires, is it a humblebrag or not?
I had half a pork pie for my tea as well. Not a Melton Mowbray one though, it was from a nice shop in Ironbridge (just opposite the actual iron bridge).
My older girls are very happy because they got tickets today to see McBusted (McFly + Busted) next Easter.
Borgen series 3 starts tomorrow!
The guy I knew was working on my problem while I floundered miserably in self-foot-shooting with my data published.
Quoting just because I had to read that sentence several times to parse it correctly, but it did make sense.
Trying to figure out if it could be punctuated better I'm convinced that the best solution would be parentheses. . .
The (guy I knew was working on my problem) while I (floundered miserably in self-foot-shooting with my data) published
I love it that 191 is 100% incomprehensible to me.
Pork pie! What it says! Not hat!
Ironbridge = Silicon Valley of the Industrial Revolution!
McFly and Busted = massive boy bands of 8 years ago!
Borgen! Watch it! Sexy Danish people doing sexy Danish politics!
I never learned proper sentence-diagramming....
The guy (I knew was working on my problem (while I floundered miserably (in self-foot-shooting (with my data)))) published.
That's unforgivable or LISP or both. nosflow, take it away.
190 sounds like a joke setup to me. Other than that, plain old name-dropping.
Had some Bushmills 12 at COB with my office mate. And it's supposed to snow tonight.
194: thank you (said with Dick Van Dyke cockney accent)
Cosign 196.
201: People come back from California... changed. Weak. Desperate for daylight.
I miss the PNW. Every time I get anywhere near it I wish I could move back.
For people still in the East Bay -- what's the word on the street on the planned eucalyptus removal? Loosely, the ecos I know divide into fire people who say High time! and quibble about the technique, and sociologists who don't like anything being called an undesirable invasive. (Can one troll them by references to big-box stores? Yes. Is it fair? Probably not.)
Apparently if you don't include a name the email you put in has nothing to be linked to. Please subscribe me to your newsletter / biology blog.
Eucalyptus removal? Are they really going to mess with our nation's strategic beedie supply chain reserve?
Urban-wildland interface, man, it is spelled with dollar signs.
I had lunch with the executive director of my agency today. It went well.
The guy I knew was working on my problem while I floundered miserably in self-foot-shooting with my data published.
This is the best real example I've ever seen of a garden path sentence.
Chiming in late, but here are my happy notes from the day:
1. My very young and endearing staff member was somewhat confused by the performance evaluation that asked her to list things that I as a supervisor should "Start, Stop, and Continue" doing.
For "Start" she listed "Take more vacations."
For "Stop" she wrote "Putting other people's names on your writing." (I do a lot of ghostwriting.)
For "Continue" she said that I should keep being friendly, encouraging and creating opportunities (for younger staff, I think she meant).
As if that wasn't sweet enough, on my way out this evening the Algerian security guard interrupted his customary rhapsodizing about the United States to ask me what political party I voted with. When I answered, he said earnestly, "You should be one of them. You could do such great things for Philadelphia."
Awwwww. (I'm taking them both in the spirit in which they were intended.)
The Patriot-News's retraction of its editorial dismissing the Gettysburg Address is something good.
Via one of you at the other place, although I'm not actually sure which one of you.
211 is great, and this is also an apology to Witt who I snapped at yesterday, but as you know, I'm a volatile asshole. Self contempt not solving a problem again but hey it hasn't worked in 20 years so keep that train rolling.
Yeah, the original editorial is a piece of work. Fucking Democrats Copperheads.
Was that Lincoln's Mission Accomplished moment or his Katrina?
217 is beautiful. Also, I'm coming around to the idea that Lincoln was pretty overrated. I should write something up for Slate.
Inspired via Jon Stewart via Chris Hayes from this great piece (autoplay warning). In it he states what is pretty much my take to on the whole political moment wrt the ACA. (And for me makes up for many of his prior sins which I was excoriating him for in the other thread. Apologies, dude.). Some might enjoy watching it.
I don't think I'd ever seen any of Hayes's show before watching (part of) that clip. He sure does emulate Maddow's style.
After he didn't make it as a Colin Meloy lookalike in a Decemberists cover band he had to find a new spiel.
I think you mean shtick rather than spiel.
Did you to the part where he showed the tweet celebrating Medicaid expansion being rejected in Alaska.
You know who would have built a good website? Albert Speer.
Today I was nice to the people I wanted to be nice to, and offensive to the people I wanted to offend. Also somewhat neurotic to everyone, but that's normal for me and at least I didn't tear anyone's head off this time.
Going out with people to see The African Queen and then getting a taco made me feel much more like a sane human being.
I met someone off OKC about a month ago and she's amazing. So far things are going very well.
Ned, I'd love t read your blog. Please e-mail the link to the address above.
To the OP- we received another $100M donation from our founders (the reason for the dinner mentioned above.)
I'm sorry to have missed this thread, as I've been wanting to do a drive-by comment celebrating the fact that after Thanksgiving I'll be starting a new job. It involves administering and caring for the collection of an academic museum in the greater Boston area and devoted to modern and contemporary art. It's the one that caused headlines a few years back when its parent university attempted to close it and sell the collection to repair damage to their endowment caused by the financial crisis. Things are different now (he said with hope) and the staff is now focused a building a new institution. They are amazing people, and it's been a much-needed boost to find that they think I'm pretty good, too, and want me there. It's especially nice that they want to bring in the sort of writing and publishing I've been doing on the side (and would never be recognized for in my soon-to-be former job) into part of what I do with them. Plus they're already inviting me into the sort of activity that I would be elbowed out of where I am now. And will pay me about 20% more. Good times.
219: Howard Dean was one right after that clip. Have not seen him in a while, forgot how refreshingly direct he is. A good segment.
I completed my proposal for the paper at the conference before the deadline, and was pleased with it. If they say yes (I'll know in a month) I'll be in Seattle again for a few days next spring. Also I just had a nice short holiday in mid-Wales, staying in the house my family always went to when I was kid, visiting places we had happy times in when my sister and I were wee and mum and dad were young and well.
Topically, a paper I'm on finally got accepted. I think the first draft was 2008. Stupid negative findings.
I was one of 4 people in my field to get a 3-year research fellowship from the national funding agency. What my boss and his boss don't know is that I'm in talks with the university across town to take the money there, and then turn long-term (which is nearly impossible at my current institution). Academic suspense!
I am finding my own new(ish) job challenging and interesting. (New since May, but I only worked a couple of weeks then, and just started back after Labor Day.) We're quite short staffed, which means that to some extent I've gotten to pick and choose which among the duties of all the vacant positions I want to take on. My immediate supervisor left for another job while I was on maternity leave and hasn't yet been replaced, so I've gotten to work much more closely with my two-up supervisor than I otherwise would have, and she really (really really) likes me.
(What is this crazy place that doesn't hire enough staff, you may ask? State government. They're working on it, it just takes for ev er.)
A fellow jackbooted minion of the bureaucratic state! I mean, of a different bureaucratic state, but close enough.
I crashed into somebody's car, but I blame Whole Foods.
I got the DE's favorite cat out of the ICU and she's doing quite well now. Other than that, I'm sure I somehow managed to flaunt privilege, oppress the oppressed, and otherwise not give a damn about other stuff kids and middle-aged folk think important. It's been a good week, apart from the memories.
Thanks, Blume. I'm very excited. I'll miss working with an encyclopedic collection like at my current job, but I'm very happy to move on for many reasons. And it will be nice (I hope) to be back in an academic environment and closer to Boston. They're doing ambitious things as well, so it should be fun.
234 is amazing awesome! 238 sounds thrilling. Yay for lots of all this other stuff too.
242: I got in a fender bender at Trader Joe's. I blame materialist strivers.
I went to Trader Joes after my fender bender rather than continue to press my luck in the Whole Food's lot.
240: The state has a lot of jobs posted right now. I'm applying to some.
246: Given the way TJ's designs its lots, they have to be in collusion with repair and paint shops.
I need a "things that are going wrong in your life" thread right now, but I won't spoil this lovely, positive thread.
I'm looking out my window at my neighbor walking his cat on a leash and this amuses me. He's standing still, like the cat is taking a long time because of too much cheese.
I love the birds of Lake Merritt. Especially the little black ones with white beaks.
Those make Richard Cohen gags when he sees those birds.
Those look like the ones, yeah.
What is this crazy place that doesn't hire enough staff, you may ask? State government. They're working on it, it just takes for ev er.
Word. I'm getting increasingly frustrated at how long it's taking to backfill my old job now that I have my new one (which also took forever to go through), but that's just how it goes.
The paper I had to rewrite a couple weeks ago is getting published, with my name on top. I've never had anything respectable published before.
I take it the published version contains less plagiarism of Wikipedia.
Yeah. Large parts of the paper are still crap, but at least its no longer stolen crap.
Josh: F those nerds. Money can be exchanged for goods and services.
I have fallen into lurid's prophesied 3 months of deliberation because I'm looking for a ~64cm road bike, of which they have exactly one at Valencia (a Surly Long Haul Trucker) and I wasn't completely sold... Now I can't even really figure out what the next step in my search should be. Any recs for good shops with a deep inventory?
This girl just responded to my FB message. She doesn't seem to remember me, though.
I've lost 40 pounds over the past 6 months, about 12% of my starting weight. I started a 12 miles daily bicycle commute, and got my diet under control. I also bought an Oxxford blazer for 99.5% off at goodwill, in my new size.
262: don't buy new. Ask Von Wafer. Get on the paceline forum. Get somebody's used custom.
In my dating days I never quite figured out the remembering questions. There was at least one instance of someone not remembering me, and at least one who I didn't call because I figured she wouldn't remember me (on account of winter break putting several weeks between when I got her number and when I would have called) but where I later found out she would have dated me. I'm not sure how one sorts that out beyond just finding a way to not care if people forget you.
I saw a florid sunset from the parking lot of the Mormon Temple way up in the Oakland Hills.
266: In this case it's not really surprising that she doesn't remember me; it's been six weeks, and my message didn't explain the context, because I wrote it right afterward. (She didn't see it until now because she apparently had her FB settings set so that all messages from people she wasn't connected to went to her "Other Messages" folder, and who checks that?) I'll remind her in my reply.
I had a baby. She makes guppy faces.
270: And are things acceptable otherwise? I've thought about your situation regularly since you posted. I'm glad to hear about the guppy girl!
I am still so happy to have all three kids back together, though right now I'm hiding out from them and watching rain out the window, which is awesome. Maybe I'll make Lee take them to church so I really get a break.
Oh yeah, and Turkish peach nectar (or presumably other kinds too) with bourbon is delicious. So is bourbon with Turkish sour cherry juice, but in a very different way.
I got a piece of fiction accepted by a respectable magazine. My first. And today I cycled 30 circuitous miles in raw mist and found a pub - a real pub wioth an open fire and gravity-drawn beer - tucked into a railway station waiting room. Now I am showered and digesting a wonderful coffee.
270: Hooray! I'd also wondered about your pregnancy.
276: Gra\nta
Also, the story about the coke-snorting gay Methodist minister who presided over the collapse of the Co-Op Bank is British tabloid journalism at its finest.
I particularly like that the boy who ratted him out said he was "disgusted by the hypocrisy". Christ, if I had a fat cheque for every time I was disgusted by someone else's hypocrisy I would be able to spend all my time commenting on eclectic web magazines.
Wait. One can get paid for knowing any gay methodist minister who uses coke and causes a bank failure? There has to be more to it than that or everybody would be rich.
That's a respectable magazine, all right.
i was looking at the other thread, feeling a mixture of sadness at the stuff you folks are dealing with and relief that i don't really have anything to say over there, and getting ready to get ready to go skiing, when i got up to make some breakfast. sliced my finger pretty good cutting a ciabatta in half, which bled up a storm. still nothing worth saying on the other thread, i guess. it's going to be all lower case for awhile is all.
I found $5 to get the hydro turned back on, the rainstopped in time, and I am grateful for the listening ear of the mineshaft.
This is too petty for the other thread but I'm currently waiting to board a flight that's heading into what looks like seriously awful midwestern weather, and I'm a semi-terrified flier even under the best of circumstances. Wondering if it's time to finally take the xanax I've been carrying on flights as a security blanket the last several years since this fear developed, but I really don't want to be groggy all day (I assume xanax makes one groggy but do not actually know).
To make things worse I'm right now sitting next to a woman reading a book by Glen Beck.
282: People here seem concerned about the weather, and winds have been significant already. IME xanax didn't cause grogginess. I'd go for it if it will make you feel better.
Oh jeez take the Xanax! For me, benzos facilitate sleep but don't necessitate it...but I'm sure it's somewhat individual, so I guess I won't root that hard for the Xanax really. It's the airplane that prompted my outburst of course.
Another Something Good entry: I just made a new folder in my files labelled "Mortgage". We're moving to the -erville part of Camberville. Closing is early December, move-in probably late December or early January.
still nothing worth saying on the other thread, i guess
So the ciabatta wasn't a total loss, then?
My doctor (second doctor) ended up being stellar. The pregnancy was incredibly scary and sad for a while, but minus some exciting bleeding cervical polyps that limited movement, it was pretty uneventful. 19 hours of labor garnered one adorable kid. And now I have joined the ranks of those awful NYC parents!
285 is exciting. What neighborhood in -erville?
288: The great thing about NY (and SF!) is no matter how hung-up, pretentious, overwrought or overweening you want to be about your kid, there will be ten parents at any given playground who are worse than you can ever imagine being.
282, 283: yeah, thanks, that would doubtless be the sensible thing to do but I've been holding out so that I don't end up resorting to meds every time I fly. In the end I decided to bail because even after a bunch of rebooking it looked about 90% likely that I'd be stuck in Chicago overnight and not be able to get to my ultimate destination until after the early tomorrow a.m. thing I was going for. (I guess that belongs in the trip cancellation thread? though it is also Something Good as I should never have agreed to this trip in the first place.) The xanax probably would have helped me deal with all the airport mishegas.
Chicago just should not have an airport.
Until it proves it is responsible enough to take care of one.
Re: NYC: I've learned that just by holding an infant in public I am now fair game for crazy people to share their neuroses and compulsions with me. (One woman shared that she had a spiritual connection with her child because of homebirthing, and that hospital births are a violation of the soul. Also, did you know that mysterious people will abduct my baby if I say her name and her daycare in public? I did not.)
And if you bring a baby into a bar that allows smoking, mysterious people will yell at you.
289: up on the hill.
I will need to find a new bar, but our new liquor store seems to have a better beer selection than our current liquor store.
We don't even have beer in liquor stores.
287 -- the ciabatta was delish, and there turned out to be way more snow that I thought, so the skiing was pretty good. and i don't really use my left index finger much at all for that other than getting boots on etc.
our usual apres xc redneck logger bar has closed, so we went to the place that's even redneckier. lolo hot springs is sadder than it looked in river runs through it, but still doesn't belong in the other thread.
[i've already mentioned how they got burned hating the goddam hippies over the megaloads, right]
I complained in earlier threads about my husband being unwilling to have kids and me having given up. He came around and we started trying. The month I could conceive, I did. I miscarried at five weeks. I got pregnant the very next month and now I'm at 7 weeks. This might work!
I recently started seeing someone, and she's mind-bogglingly awesome.
Also, today I hung out with my nephew (18 mos.), and he's a total ham. It's hilarious.
As long as this one isn't a horse.
Hooray for pregnancies and new horses!
303-4: Nope, not a horse, although I do aspire to have a long-term stable relationship with her.
Well played, Stanley. Well played.
Thanks! I'm trying not to think about it too much until I get over the 12 week hurdle, but I'm pretty nauseous this time so that's a good sign.
Yay, Stanley! Yay, Rosalynn! Yay, everyone I still have to scroll up to read about!
I've made some new friends and strengthened some slightly older new friendships, and actually overcame the impulse to just go home and go to bed and went out this weekend to engage in social activity with my new friends.
I am really reassured to find that this post still has more comments than the one above it.
315: In the interest of keeping it that way, here is a photo that makes me happy.
I haven't looked at the group pics in awhile. So many babies!
I'm not sure which game thread this belongs in but I'm going to a job coach in a few hours.
Everyone Stanley recently starts seeing is mind-bogglingly awesome, I've noticed.
Indeed! What will this one's weird portmanteau name be?
319: It really is an amazing coincidence.
I got to see heebie & Jammies the other night! It sounds like I'll get to see Thorn soon! Plus the Pittsburghians! M/tch & I are performing musical improv in a week! On a stage and everything!
I just got a new position where I get to trade in living away from home 5 days a week for a work from home position!
So I have a bitcoin left over from one time that I bought some asthma meds though Silk Road, and right now the thing is worth $788. Do I sell that fucker, or can the bubble be inflated more?
262: well, I just put down a deposit on a custom build... (And proved, in the process of spec'ing out the bike, that you don't go custom for the cost savings. But it'll be soooo pretty.)
I don't suppose anyone needs me to hold his or her baby for them? I come highly recommended!
Ok, now that shit is at $884. Glad I didn't sell.
The price of bitcoin rose 12% in under an hour?
Its gone up by about 50% today. There was a Congressional hearing on Bitcoin today, so I assume its related to the publicity from that.
Just setting up my new computer to remember me.
Yeah, its gone parabolic. Or it was. I'm feeling like a sucker now that its back around $800 after peaking at $900. I totally should have sold 20 minutes ago.
Dude it might be time to sell.
Yeah, I think so. Right now I'm trying to figure out how.
Price is now down in the $600s. I missed it.
328: You are always welcome here, though Selah's very picky about who gets to hold her. Once she's given you her heart, though, there's nothing else like it!
Wild price swings are an underrated quality in a currency. This is why everyone should use gold.
I got to see heebie & Jammies the other night! It sounds like I'll get to see Thorn soon! Plus the Pittsburghians!
Isn't it time for a Kraab visit here!?!?!?
Congrats fertile people! Stanley too.
Did you do something to Stanley's testicles?
Come to Pittsburgh, will! All the cool kids are doing it! Well, just sir kraab, but you could make it two cool kids plus me!
Also, remember when I talked about wraparound services and everyone laughed? That started tonight and I think it's going to be really good. Therapy that doesn't require taking a child out of school is already a good thing, and having someone who is positive and understanding and supportive should help a ton.
Omg these fucking students. "I just don't agree with the penalty if you don't want health insurance, you know? You should be free not to have it" "yes, yes, we all agree." "Also being on your parents' plan until age 26 encourages dependency and keeps people from growing up." "Yes, yes, except for me because I work hard and will still need it."
Did you do something to Stanley's testicles?
I mean, who hasn't?
327: It's probably going to be one of these, although it might be one of these if the first one is absurdly expensive. It's a pretty basic build, no super-spendy parts (mostly Origin 8 stuff); the main extra expense will be a powdercoat in British Racing Green. Then bullhorns, a Brooks saddle and bar tape, and probably a set of Velocity Deep V's.
(I was originally considering building basically the same bike here, but both of the frames I linked above at least have fender braze-ons, which the Mission doesn't. And the Fyxation even has a derailleur hanger if I go that way ever decide I'm sick of riding singlespeed.)
||
More from my students: they are irate that if health care is freely available, people will see a doctor for now good reason. "Ooops, I bumped my elbow!" those sissies will say, going to the doctor for trivial matters. This is the most infuriating thing in the world, the idea that people might go to the doctor frivolously.
Also they are very concerned by this mix of private and public insurance. In Canada you have to make appointments years in advance, and how on earth do you know if you're going to have a heart attack, years in advance?!?
Also, it's fine to have an abortion if you used birth control and were responsible and got unlucky, but not to have frivolous abortions. This student who is infuriated by all things frivolous did in fact say that birth control should be widely available, though.
I hate my students and the world.
|>
||
It was current events night at the thing I do.
|>
||
help! I find myself at an airbnb with no wifi supplied and limited phone service. if anyone feels so generous as to spot me a comcast xfinity hotspot account and pwd (email under the pseud), I will be grateful and send you flowers or pay a chunk of your internet bill or something. I promise I won't sign you up for luxury internet services like a boat.
understand if this is too passwordy a thing to ask for.
|>
351: Sorry, someone's been making phone calls from the UK to Algeria on my SIM and leaving me with a $2500 phone bill, or I'd totally help you out.
Sorry, Josh turned off his SIM, or I would have hooked you up.
348: oh geez that doesn't even count as expensive. (It'll be nice!) We'll keep working on you.
354: Well I was hoping I could get this with track ends, but apparently that wasn't an option.
Can you tell All-City to make a frame that fits me?
OH. Well, if you are willing to go there we're getting someplace. VW! Weigh in! I would recommend these guys but only as locals I know. There must be somebody better near you.
Maybe I'll save up and get one of these someday.
355: why in god's name would you want track ends on a Planet Cross? Just get one as it's normally built, run it with an Eno hub, and bob's your uncle. Then, when you get tired of limiting yourself to one speed, you've got a derailleur hanger and a bike that can be used for just about anything.
That said, if you're always going to ride road, please just do the right thing and get yourself a race bike. IF makes nice stuff, sure, but there are much more interesting and better options out there. Jetpack is right that Geekhouse is one such option. As for Brent's stuff, I wouldn't go near it at that moment. He's been having a hard time on and off for awhile now, and I'd hate to see you disappointed by a flaky builder.
Great choices, in no particular order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
If it were me, and I didn't want to spend a ton of money, I'd buy a Della Santa. If I were willing to spend a bit more money, I'd buy a DeSalvo. And if I were willing to spend more than that, I'd buy a Kirk or a Bedford. And of course there are a few others that I'm forgetting.
Maybe get yourself on the list for a Speedvagen.
Sacha White brings you the best bike pr0n. Seriously, get a Speedvagen now and then get on Sacha's list for a custom Vanilla seven or eight years from now. Treat yourself!
Heard it from a friend who
Heard it from a fried who
Heard it from another you've been riding around...
You take it on the road, baby
If that's the way you ride it, baby
Then bullhorns, a Brooks saddle and bar tape, and probably a set of Velocity Deep V's.
Pffft, not Aerospokes??
I have been KILLING it today, productivity-wise, and am now enjoying a lovely lunch break featuring leftover homemade chickpea-flour spätzel. Woot!