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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
My best friend, Laurie, lives in Portland, Oregon, worlds away from South Bend. We usually see each other during the summer, but this year there was a special treat - I’d be at the Pacific Sociological Association’s annual meeting in Portland - that would bring us together an extra time this year.
Laurie’s mom is dying. [...]
From someone who is ABD. This is a very liberal paraphrase (you will note that the language is strongly shakha’s), but still accurate, I believe.
I have two committee members who don’t get along. They pull me in different directions. They’re not really interested in what the other person suggests, and sometimes even seem to pull [...]
This is both a story about how I’m pathetic, and (cleverly) a way to brag. Soon, Top Chef begins. And through some mystical process, I have managed to get invited to watch the opening with one of the contestants! So I get the evite today and notice that only ten of us will be there. [...]
So this morning I’m calling to set up an appointment to get my hair cut.
Shamus: I need a hair cut.
Salon: Great! [Details...] Oh! And we’re having a special right now. With a hair cut you get a free make-up consult.
Shamus: Um… I’m single. [Meaning: there's no one in my life who could use [...]
I write this from my elliptical trainer. I suppose one might see pathology in someone squeezing his laptop into his elliptical trainer’s magazine rack, but at least my water bottle holder contains a bottle of actual water, not Coke Zero like yesterday morning. The real point for this post is that I don’t [...]
A friend of mine e-mailed with a different kind of complaint about the privilegometer that I posted about yesterday. She’s reflective about her upbringing and regards herself as coming from a background of essentially full privilege in socioeconomic terms. Yet she only scored a 28 out of 34. How would someone with [...]
Circulating among various sociology blogs is a meme that attempts to measure how much Privilege you had growing up (here, with links to others). I think “privilege” is a problematic concept–more exactly, it’s one of those social science terms that useful precisely because it is imprecise, and such terms only go so far. [...]
Well, I’m inspired. All the workflow gurus agree that setting a reasonable, actionable goal, logging your progress, and giving yourself incentives to follow it are the keys to resolution success. My prediction is that Jeremy is well on his way to fitness. I would also like to be fit, and so I considered following along.
And [...]
A plain fact about myself is that I am better when I exercise. I feel physically healthier; I am more optimistic; I am more proactive in other domains of my life; and I am more productive at work. Why this is so, and how these different positive consequences are related to one another, [...]
I am back from my holiday visit to my parents and sister, glad to be home. I was a little helpful here and there, and my sister and I had some chances to talk about the plan. I think my biggest accomplishment was convincing both of my parents to finally get hearing aids. I hope [...]
Like many, we were hit with a lot of fluffy, soft snow yesterday. Although it was the idyllic childhood scene, it took all day to convince Kid that going outside would be fun. Once he got out there, he complained about being cold and refused to get out of his toboggan. Husband and I each [...]
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