Author Archives: tina

voodoo for sociology

Do the right thing, people. Head over to Wicked Anomie’s page at Etsy to buy an awesome handmade Blind Reviewer Voodoo Doll. Not only can you use it to vent your frustrations when papers are out of your hands and to punish the cruel reviewers who dare reject your pearls of wisdom, but you will [...]

happy mother’s day

Shout out to the moms today. I got the most awesome hand-made gift from Kid and a couple of great books from Husband that were just what I wanted. Plus, an extra hour of sleep in the morning, plus pancakes with raspberries. What more could I ask for? It was the best Mother’s Day ever.

Yesterday [...]

mario kart party at your house: may 30

Who needs to wait for the ASA party? Not us. I am announcing the first official Scatterplot Mario Kart Wii Party, to take place at 9pm EDT on Friday, May 30.
Everyone is welcome, even those orgtheory guys who, I have been told, can’t tell a blue shell from a banana peel. Readers, writers, and [...]

he’s probably for cloning, too

I have to tell you what Kid said yesterday.
What?
Kid: That lady has a bigger belly than anyone in the whole world.
Mom: Well, honey, some people are big and some people are small. Everyone’s different. Would you want everyone to be the same?
Kid: Yes, everyone the same!
So, basically, our Kid is Hitler.
I think all 4-year-olds are [...]

as the bees go, so go the bats

Though plagued by bats in my house, I still love the little web-winged critters. And even if I were anti-bat (hi, Jeremy!), I’d still be saddened by this news of a massive bat die-off in the American Northeast:
For more than four months, perplexed scientists have struggled to understand why upwards of a half-million bats [...]

facts may be unconstitutional

News of a crazy ruling by a federal judge that materials discussing the varying levels of acceptance of homosexuality in different religions produced by a Safe Space program at a public university is unconstitutional, in that it indicates support for some religions over others:
In another section, the materials discuss specific faiths, noting which faiths recognize [...]

good music, coming your way

If you’re in Madison, Wisconsin that is. On Saturday night, Kathleen Edwards will be playing at the Majestic Theatre. If you haven’t yet heard of Kathleen Edwards, isn’t now a good time to click the link and discover something new?
By the way, when I recommended Kathleen’s music to Jeremy, he asked me if it was [...]

soccerling

Is there anything sweeter than a 4-year-old playing soccer? Maybe, but I still have to share this photo of the Kid’s first soccer game with you:

It makes me think that I should organize more activities in which the Kid runs around without a clear purpose other than for my viewing pleasure. Do they make cat [...]

downed by the dishes

I’m out in sunny California, checking in on my folks and giving my sister a break from caregiving. Things here are much less chaotic than my last visit, when my mom was in a car accident. She’s much better now, and Mom & Dad have caregivers who drop by every day for cooking, laundry and [...]

from the library

I’m doing a bit of work in the public library of my youth, where I haven’t been for about 20 years. Two improvements to note: free wifi and a set of computers where the card catalog used to be. Other than that, absolutely everything is the same, from the pink carpet to the pink walls [...]

best game ever

Oh, those ImprovEverywhere people, with their crazy antics. Now they have gone and done it, with a prank so sweet it brought tears to my eyes. I’m sappy, and I am not going to apologize for it. Judge me if you must.

the bats are back

Last summer, back before scatterplot was a twinkle in Jeremy’s eye, I was writing about how I was batty over bats in our new house. Well, the snow just melted a few days ago, but apparently that’s good enough for bat season to start all over again.
I spotted this little guy this afternoon when a [...]

medical site blocks abortion info

Wired magazine has a story on the federal government-sponsored reproductive health site, Popline. Run by Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, it is a basic search engine that accesses research on global health issues. But, that federal funding has led to some curious censorship issues:
A librarian at the University of California at San Francisco [...]

Fafblog is back

Oh, Fafblog, I don’t know how I made it through the last two years without you.

behold, the interruptron

At the risk of becoming the first Internets Anonymous blog, I thought that all those of you out there who feel like your habits are getting out of hand might like this useful tool to monitor your focus: the interruptron.
It’s just a neato little gadget that lets you monitor when you’re working on task and [...]

home sick

The Kid is sick today, and since Husband has been primary parent for the last week and a half while I completed the copyedits on my upcoming book, I drew the straw of canceling class and staying home. So, following on the scatterplot zeitgeist, here’s what we’re watching today:

conversation from chez dork


happy pi day!


go say hello

If I were one of you folks near Chicago, I’d be heading out tonight to hear Jessica Hagy promote her book at Quimby’s bookstore. Hagy’s blog, indexed, is one of my favorites, especially this one about my Husband.

more on gender, work and power

WickedA: So, Tina, what did you do today?
Tina: I made 20 superhero capes for Kid’s bday party on Saturday. You?
WA: I broke the hinge on Dan Myers’s computer with my voodoo.
TF: Cool.
WA: Cool.