On Thursday morning I got on the Metro at Silver Spring; we sat there for a few minutes, and then were offloaded because the train was having “mechanical problems”. We stood on the platform for another couple of minutes, but the usual drill when a train is offloaded (some Metro employee walks down the platform looking gravely at the disabled train, which then slowly rolls away - I have no idea what purpose this ritual is supposed to serve) didn’t occur, and then they told us to get back on the same train, and we pulled away as though nothing had happened. No larger story to it – I just wanted to relate this nonsensical Metro episode.
On Friday after work my fiancee and I met downtown to look for wedding bands. I told her I wanted to get her a new iPhone for her birthday (she, unlike me, is into all those newfangled gadgets and stuff) but there is a new one coming out in early June, so I figured I’d wait. She found a wedding band online that she really likes, but it’s a lot more than we were planning to pay. So I told her that, if she preferred, I’d get her the expensive wedding band instead of the iPhone. So we were mostly on this excursion to check out that one particular band. The store had it, and she tried it on, and she liked it a lot. The woman at the store, who was very nice, thought it didn’t go well with her engagement ring. This is probably true (I have virtually no knowledge of these kinds of things) but most days after we’re married she’ll be wearing the wedding band rather than the engagement ring, and almost never would she wear both together, so I don’t think it makes much difference.
Anyway, my fiancee was pretty positive on the band but the store’s price – once we got a quote – was outrageously high (about a 50% markup over prices she found online). She says she is going to try to negotiate with them, and if that doesn’t work, she’ll just order it online. If they’re willing to play, maybe I will also buy my wedding band there, though I really am looking for something inexpensive and plain. Just durable – that’s probably most important.
After the trip to the jewelry store (which was near Farragut Square), we walked to Oyamel, a Mexican restaurant near Gallery Place. We walked down Pennsylvania Avenue most of the way, through throngs of tourists and right past the White House. (Sometimes it’s easy to forget that stuff is right there…even when you nominally work with it everyday.) It started to rain pretty hard when we got near Metro Center but we decided against taking the Metro one very short stop. A few blocks on it really started coming down, though, and even our umbrellas weren’t enough. But we got lucky – we were right near Ford’s Theatre, which has a new broad glass awning. So we ran over there and took shelter under the awning for the better part of a half hour while the deluge continued and we watched idiot tourists (and even some people who looked like locals, surprisingly without umbrellas) running through the rain, no doubt soaked to the bone because it was really pouring.
Finally it let up a little bit and we walked the last few blocks to the restaurant, where it was crowded but to our surprise we were seated immediately…even without a reservation at nearly 7 on a Friday night. My fiancee has a friend who is obsessed with Oyamel, but my fiancee was openly hostile to the idea of “gourmet Mexican” (we also went to Rosa Mexicano once a few years ago and were both pretty underwhelmed – and this business of charging you $15 to make guacamole at your table is totally ludicrous - we make it ourselves at home all the time), and I was just indifferent. I also don’t like these a la carte places because it’s more difficult to keep track of just what you’ve ordered. My fiancee wound up going there a few weeks ago with some friends and became a convert (though she thought they didn’t order enough and she came home hungry), so we went back there for her birthday dinner. It was good, but definitely more than we usually spend when we go out ($15 at Baja Fresh or $20 at Crisp and Juicy – maybe $30 for sushi – is more our usual speed).
I liked it. They had Dos Equis on tap and not terribly expensive ($5 for what was probably not a full pint – maybe 12 ounces, but still not awful); that was a big bonus for them right there. We ordered something with scallops that was pricy but absolutely delicious. The carnitas were great – we guessed they marinated them in a salty lime solution. I tried the grasshopper tacos, which were not at all what I was expected. I thought they would be shrimpy – but they’d shredded them, cooked them until crispy, and heavily salted them. It was OK – I wouldn’t run to have it again, but it was a neat novelty. I did notice the place seemed a lot more popular with the ladies than with the gentlemen, which my fiancee guesses is because of the smaller portions. All in all it was a good time. I doubt Oyamel will become one of our standards, but I would go back.
Yesterday afternoon we went on another shopping extravaganza, also partly fueled by the wedding. We went up to Joseph A. Bank to buy my suit and at least start thinking about what my groomsmen should wear. Whether because they were busy or because of who the manager on duty was, we didn’t have salespeople hovering over us the whole time, and that really enhanced the experience as far as I was concerned. (Especially because at this point I’ve been through the process of buying suits enough that I have a fair idea what to do, what looks good, etc.) They let us be to try on suits and play with shirt and tie combinations, but the salesman stopped by every so often to check how we were doing. I was pretty happy with the suit we settled on, and we also found a shirt and tie combination for me and settled on one for the groomsmen – we bought them their ties so they don’t even have to worry about it. (I was also happy that my waist size has remained the same since September, the last time I was there, while I went up a suit jacket size.)
Then we did our grocery shopping, went to the liquor store, had dinner, and went to Target (not in that order). I got a new 12-cup coffee maker to replace the small 4-cup ones we have. I’ve been trying to bring in iced coffee to work each day, and so I make a big batch on the weekend. With those 4-cup coffee makers, I had to set both of them up simultaneously and still make 2-3 batches. It took forever. Now hopefully one or possibly two runs through the machine and I should be set for the week.
Today we’re just hanging out, enjoying the relatively mild weather after all that rain. It feels good to start getting some of this stuff done, though. And we definitely did our part this week to stimulate the economy.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Must-See-TV
I got up early this morning to bring our car in for an oil change. We've had it for more than ten months now and have only put around 1,700 miles on it, thanks to commuting to work on the Metro and living in a fairly urbanized environment where nothing is more than a few miles away. Hopefully we can do a couple of small road trips this summer...just getting to and from our wedding will nearly double our mileage. Anyway, I brought the car up to our dealership and waited for it - besides being a little slow (I was there ten minutes before they opened and know I was first, and yet it still took slightly more than an hour) everything was fine. Everything but one of the other customers waiting with me.
An older middle-aged, somewhat disheveled woman, she pulled up in her Volkswagen Bug just after me, and I beat her to the room where customers can sit and wait for their cars by a few minutes. It was a plain waiting room - a small coffee maker, about half a dozen seats, a couple of magazines. And a flat screen TV mounted to the wall blaring out the news. The same sort of set-up that is the scourge of airports everywhere.
Well, I have my Blackberry so I can e-mail and surf the web as needed (fortunately not needed). I thought ahead and brought one of the books I am bringing, too (Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama). (Honestly, even if I had no distraction, I doubt any of the following would have occurred much differently.) I am first into the room and am instantly annoyed by the TV. There's a remote laying on a counter below it, so I pick it up to crank the volume down. Then I wonder if I maybe I should just flip it off, but decide against both of those options. Instead, I just mute it.
I sit down and open my book. Volkswagen Lady comes in. She goes to a seat but then immediately seems irritated. She goes up to the TV and stands looking at it, grunting and mumbling. She picks up the remote. I know what she's trying to do. She plays with the volume, but to no avail. She grunts some more, obviously frustrated. For a second I consider telling her I muted the TV, but then decide just to ignore her. She gives up, goes to the coffee, continues grunting. I am bigger and stronger than she is and would like to forcibly remove her from the room - maybe with a slap just for good measure - but of course I cannot.
She comes back to the TV, again grunting unhappily, again plays with the remote, again to no avail. I congratulate myself on muting it rather than just lowering the volume. She goes to her seat, sits down, picks up what looks like a National Geographic. Grunts some more. (I mean seriously this is like Monica Seles's aunt or something.) I figure she will just settle down now - life has surely thrown her bigger challenges - but she keeps fidgeting, looking up at the TV. She can't keep her eye on the magazine for more than about five seconds. She's probably 50 but acting like six. I'm pretending to be transfixed by my book. And, I have to admit, I'm kind of enjoying this.
Now, unfortunately, an employee comes through. She's immediately up, asking him to fix the TV. Not a look in my direction, not the merest thought of perhaps inquiring if it's OK, if it might disturb me. He of course knows the deal and unmutes it. I sigh. Her grunting finally ceases and she goes back to her seat and opens her magazine. Now she can concentrate for periods as long as 30 seconds.
I imagine what it's like at Volkswagen Lady's house. I imagine she lives alone. Maybe with a cat. And lots of plants. I imagine she's long divorced. Smokes. Those lady cigarettes, whatever they're called. Works part time. Maybe as a bookkeeper for some small business. Her co-workers all hate her. I imagine she takes two hours to put on all her make-up in the morning. Wasted time. I imagine she's childless, and somewhere in the ether those unborn children are thankful. I imagine the TV at her house, on constantly until the cathode tubes crack. She shrieks, jumps in her Bug, drives to Best Buy. But it's four in the morning. She waits, car radio blaring, then when the store opens she alternately haggles with the teenage salesperson and googly-eyed watches the display screens, before "settling" on a slightly bigger TV and driving back home, radio at full pitch, where she vacuums and runs the hair dryer and randomly throws food into the blender until the poor guy from the electronics store shows up to set the TV up. When he's done she doesn't tip him.
But in reality, we're all still at the dealership. Thanks to the noise, I have trouble concentrating on Barry. The TV news goes from the new Supreme Court Justice nominee (superficial reporting), to the weather (mildly interesting but I've heard it already), to someone whose daughter was abducted crying and answering ridiculously stupid questions from the reporter (disturbing and pointless), to commercials, back to the weather (ready to recite it by heart), to something about "American Idol" (Volkswagen Lady perks up even more and I think: please make it stop), to more commercials, to a fisherman who apparently jumps on marlins from a helicopter to catch them (I didn't look up to see this - more out of pride than anything else at this point in the whole ordeal - but I shit you not). All at what seems to me ear-splitting volume.
Well, Volkswagen Lady is now content (though when a mechanic comes in later to tell her it's her catalytic converter for starters and it'll be at least a couple of hundred bucks and another hour and a half, I can't say I'm not secretly pleased). A young Barack Obama continues struggling uneasily with his racial identity. I'm having trouble following our illustrious President at times and it's either because I'm a white guy or because of the man sobbing on the air while the reporter asks what he'd say to the kidnappers. Or maybe it's both. But, you know, I too have faced bigger challenges in my life and after briefly considering going outside (where there's nowhere to sit and where it is misting) I do my best to settle back into the book and I do OK.
An older middle-aged, somewhat disheveled woman, she pulled up in her Volkswagen Bug just after me, and I beat her to the room where customers can sit and wait for their cars by a few minutes. It was a plain waiting room - a small coffee maker, about half a dozen seats, a couple of magazines. And a flat screen TV mounted to the wall blaring out the news. The same sort of set-up that is the scourge of airports everywhere.
Well, I have my Blackberry so I can e-mail and surf the web as needed (fortunately not needed). I thought ahead and brought one of the books I am bringing, too (Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama). (Honestly, even if I had no distraction, I doubt any of the following would have occurred much differently.) I am first into the room and am instantly annoyed by the TV. There's a remote laying on a counter below it, so I pick it up to crank the volume down. Then I wonder if I maybe I should just flip it off, but decide against both of those options. Instead, I just mute it.
I sit down and open my book. Volkswagen Lady comes in. She goes to a seat but then immediately seems irritated. She goes up to the TV and stands looking at it, grunting and mumbling. She picks up the remote. I know what she's trying to do. She plays with the volume, but to no avail. She grunts some more, obviously frustrated. For a second I consider telling her I muted the TV, but then decide just to ignore her. She gives up, goes to the coffee, continues grunting. I am bigger and stronger than she is and would like to forcibly remove her from the room - maybe with a slap just for good measure - but of course I cannot.
She comes back to the TV, again grunting unhappily, again plays with the remote, again to no avail. I congratulate myself on muting it rather than just lowering the volume. She goes to her seat, sits down, picks up what looks like a National Geographic. Grunts some more. (I mean seriously this is like Monica Seles's aunt or something.) I figure she will just settle down now - life has surely thrown her bigger challenges - but she keeps fidgeting, looking up at the TV. She can't keep her eye on the magazine for more than about five seconds. She's probably 50 but acting like six. I'm pretending to be transfixed by my book. And, I have to admit, I'm kind of enjoying this.
Now, unfortunately, an employee comes through. She's immediately up, asking him to fix the TV. Not a look in my direction, not the merest thought of perhaps inquiring if it's OK, if it might disturb me. He of course knows the deal and unmutes it. I sigh. Her grunting finally ceases and she goes back to her seat and opens her magazine. Now she can concentrate for periods as long as 30 seconds.
I imagine what it's like at Volkswagen Lady's house. I imagine she lives alone. Maybe with a cat. And lots of plants. I imagine she's long divorced. Smokes. Those lady cigarettes, whatever they're called. Works part time. Maybe as a bookkeeper for some small business. Her co-workers all hate her. I imagine she takes two hours to put on all her make-up in the morning. Wasted time. I imagine she's childless, and somewhere in the ether those unborn children are thankful. I imagine the TV at her house, on constantly until the cathode tubes crack. She shrieks, jumps in her Bug, drives to Best Buy. But it's four in the morning. She waits, car radio blaring, then when the store opens she alternately haggles with the teenage salesperson and googly-eyed watches the display screens, before "settling" on a slightly bigger TV and driving back home, radio at full pitch, where she vacuums and runs the hair dryer and randomly throws food into the blender until the poor guy from the electronics store shows up to set the TV up. When he's done she doesn't tip him.
But in reality, we're all still at the dealership. Thanks to the noise, I have trouble concentrating on Barry. The TV news goes from the new Supreme Court Justice nominee (superficial reporting), to the weather (mildly interesting but I've heard it already), to someone whose daughter was abducted crying and answering ridiculously stupid questions from the reporter (disturbing and pointless), to commercials, back to the weather (ready to recite it by heart), to something about "American Idol" (Volkswagen Lady perks up even more and I think: please make it stop), to more commercials, to a fisherman who apparently jumps on marlins from a helicopter to catch them (I didn't look up to see this - more out of pride than anything else at this point in the whole ordeal - but I shit you not). All at what seems to me ear-splitting volume.
Well, Volkswagen Lady is now content (though when a mechanic comes in later to tell her it's her catalytic converter for starters and it'll be at least a couple of hundred bucks and another hour and a half, I can't say I'm not secretly pleased). A young Barack Obama continues struggling uneasily with his racial identity. I'm having trouble following our illustrious President at times and it's either because I'm a white guy or because of the man sobbing on the air while the reporter asks what he'd say to the kidnappers. Or maybe it's both. But, you know, I too have faced bigger challenges in my life and after briefly considering going outside (where there's nowhere to sit and where it is misting) I do my best to settle back into the book and I do OK.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
I Would Have Expected A Higher Level Of Discourse
I spend some time looking at science blogs (by which I mean blogs by scientists or about science), and I spend some time looking at literary blogs (by which I mean blogs by agents or authors about writing and publishing). There are established communities in both areas. I almost always lurk. I like being anonymous (as this blog has surely made clear) and so haven't created my own identity, rarely if ever comment, and don't follow most discussions or blogs that faithfully.
Maybe it's just my bias, or the relative novelty, but - as a generalization - I find the literary blogs many times more open, friendly, positive, and useful than the science blogs. Science bloggers like to argue, while literary bloggers like to discuss. This is a key difference because arguments are about winning, while discussions are about ideas. Some science bloggers are bullies, who hide behind anonymity to curse at each other and call each other names and avoid directly engaging with each other's arguments by focusing on personal attacks (and how I wish I could call one or two out by name for their egregious bullying). Some are whiners or victims all the frigging time. Some pull out the race or gender card with impunity, which is a shame because these and other factors can be very important, but if used sloppily or simply as a way to win arguments they have a "boy who cried wolf" effect. (And it is incredible that in a situation where no one knows anyone's real name or age or location, the race or sex or sexuality or career stage a person states about themselves becomes a lens through which all their comments are viewed. And if others don't know, they'll just assume in whatever way enables them to strengthen their argument...or put down yours - which amounts to the same thing 99.9% of the time.) Some just decide randomly not to post certain comments from certain other people but insist their blogs are about open discourse. Some gang up together. Some want to be anonymous sometimes but not others, or demand a certain level of revealed identity from those they are arguing with. (I say: if the internet lets us be anonymous to a certain degree, why not take advantage of it? My rule of thumb is to try not to say things to people online I wouldn't say in real life, but of course that doesn't mean I can't try to write/think out issues for myself here.) Still others will make ridiculous arguments but then claim that what you see of them online isn't the whole thing so you can't make any judgments based on what they say.
Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too. Everyone wants reality to conform to their desires. (Did they seek out science as a form of escapism?) Everyone wants validation. No one wants to learn or grow, and since they don't know how to talk like grownups, being challenged necessarily equates to not being taken seriously, to being put down, to being demeaned. I am really amazed, though maybe I shouldn't be, at the way the discourse resembles something you'd see on the playground, or (at best) in an undergraduate student government at a third-tier state school. Maybe some of them are enjoying themselves, but it's not clear to me who - they all seem fucking miserable. I rarely learn anything from reading the threads. I don't know why I even bother to look at some of these blogs, except I will say that they make me feel better about myself even as they piss me off. I guess if I ever find myself regretting leaving the world of academic science, I can always go back and look at some of these to remember some of the personality types (and hierarchical dynamics) that drove me away.
I'm not going to say that the literary blog world is all sweetness and light, but people can at least discuss differing perspectives (such as those between authors and agents) without calling each other names or pulling out the race/gender cards every damn time. There is an interesting parallel, which is that both sets of blogs involve "communities" of people set up around idealized but generally difficult-to-obtain endpoints: tenure-track positions at good universities and published authorships. The literary folks seem to have no trouble acknowledging the role of luck in the process. You don't just need to be good - you have to find the right match to help propel you forward. Agents don't pretend they are totally objective in judging author queries - they don't pretend they know what they want all the time or that the system is truly a meritocracy. Authors voice their frustrations with the process and agents acknowledge the frustrations are valid. Everyone acknowledges the difficulties and the role of money. Different agents may gave absolutely opposite advice but they don't start arguing with each other over who is right. There is room for slop in the system.
Now let me make absolutely clear that I'm not saying the process itself is any better. (If anything, it sounds more difficult and more haphazard and every bit as money driven.) But the way people talk to each other about it on blogs is certainly better. Another interesting difference is that both agents and authors are always urging themselves and their readers to keep perspective. You write because you love it, you try to get published because you want to, but rejection letters (or acceptances) are not who you are. And persistence is part of the game. And if one thing doesn't work, you try another. You don't bemoan the system for not recognizing your genius and keep writing the same thing over and over again until they finally get it. With science, it's this whole R1 or die mentality where people wrap their whole identities in the tenure-track search, simultaneously believing the system is a meritocracy while realizing it is not, blaming the system for their failures while blaming themselves.
I'm new to the publishing world (well, not totally new - I've got some rejection letters to show you - but relatively new) so maybe I'm just not sufficiently jaded yet. But it seems like the science types could learn a thing or two - at least in terms of attitude - from the publishing types. Including: not taking themselves so fucking seriously, understanding more about their own motivations, not being sloppy in how they apportion blame for (inevitable) failures between the system and themselves, and making the distinction between conversation and argument.
Goodbye science blogs. I'm putting you, along with fucking Facebook (and Evel Knievel), in my axis of evil.
Maybe it's just my bias, or the relative novelty, but - as a generalization - I find the literary blogs many times more open, friendly, positive, and useful than the science blogs. Science bloggers like to argue, while literary bloggers like to discuss. This is a key difference because arguments are about winning, while discussions are about ideas. Some science bloggers are bullies, who hide behind anonymity to curse at each other and call each other names and avoid directly engaging with each other's arguments by focusing on personal attacks (and how I wish I could call one or two out by name for their egregious bullying). Some are whiners or victims all the frigging time. Some pull out the race or gender card with impunity, which is a shame because these and other factors can be very important, but if used sloppily or simply as a way to win arguments they have a "boy who cried wolf" effect. (And it is incredible that in a situation where no one knows anyone's real name or age or location, the race or sex or sexuality or career stage a person states about themselves becomes a lens through which all their comments are viewed. And if others don't know, they'll just assume in whatever way enables them to strengthen their argument...or put down yours - which amounts to the same thing 99.9% of the time.) Some just decide randomly not to post certain comments from certain other people but insist their blogs are about open discourse. Some gang up together. Some want to be anonymous sometimes but not others, or demand a certain level of revealed identity from those they are arguing with. (I say: if the internet lets us be anonymous to a certain degree, why not take advantage of it? My rule of thumb is to try not to say things to people online I wouldn't say in real life, but of course that doesn't mean I can't try to write/think out issues for myself here.) Still others will make ridiculous arguments but then claim that what you see of them online isn't the whole thing so you can't make any judgments based on what they say.
Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too. Everyone wants reality to conform to their desires. (Did they seek out science as a form of escapism?) Everyone wants validation. No one wants to learn or grow, and since they don't know how to talk like grownups, being challenged necessarily equates to not being taken seriously, to being put down, to being demeaned. I am really amazed, though maybe I shouldn't be, at the way the discourse resembles something you'd see on the playground, or (at best) in an undergraduate student government at a third-tier state school. Maybe some of them are enjoying themselves, but it's not clear to me who - they all seem fucking miserable. I rarely learn anything from reading the threads. I don't know why I even bother to look at some of these blogs, except I will say that they make me feel better about myself even as they piss me off. I guess if I ever find myself regretting leaving the world of academic science, I can always go back and look at some of these to remember some of the personality types (and hierarchical dynamics) that drove me away.
I'm not going to say that the literary blog world is all sweetness and light, but people can at least discuss differing perspectives (such as those between authors and agents) without calling each other names or pulling out the race/gender cards every damn time. There is an interesting parallel, which is that both sets of blogs involve "communities" of people set up around idealized but generally difficult-to-obtain endpoints: tenure-track positions at good universities and published authorships. The literary folks seem to have no trouble acknowledging the role of luck in the process. You don't just need to be good - you have to find the right match to help propel you forward. Agents don't pretend they are totally objective in judging author queries - they don't pretend they know what they want all the time or that the system is truly a meritocracy. Authors voice their frustrations with the process and agents acknowledge the frustrations are valid. Everyone acknowledges the difficulties and the role of money. Different agents may gave absolutely opposite advice but they don't start arguing with each other over who is right. There is room for slop in the system.
Now let me make absolutely clear that I'm not saying the process itself is any better. (If anything, it sounds more difficult and more haphazard and every bit as money driven.) But the way people talk to each other about it on blogs is certainly better. Another interesting difference is that both agents and authors are always urging themselves and their readers to keep perspective. You write because you love it, you try to get published because you want to, but rejection letters (or acceptances) are not who you are. And persistence is part of the game. And if one thing doesn't work, you try another. You don't bemoan the system for not recognizing your genius and keep writing the same thing over and over again until they finally get it. With science, it's this whole R1 or die mentality where people wrap their whole identities in the tenure-track search, simultaneously believing the system is a meritocracy while realizing it is not, blaming the system for their failures while blaming themselves.
I'm new to the publishing world (well, not totally new - I've got some rejection letters to show you - but relatively new) so maybe I'm just not sufficiently jaded yet. But it seems like the science types could learn a thing or two - at least in terms of attitude - from the publishing types. Including: not taking themselves so fucking seriously, understanding more about their own motivations, not being sloppy in how they apportion blame for (inevitable) failures between the system and themselves, and making the distinction between conversation and argument.
Goodbye science blogs. I'm putting you, along with fucking Facebook (and Evel Knievel), in my axis of evil.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Happy Birthday To My SO, And Happy Memorial Day
Well, is “Happy Memorial Day” even really the right thing to say? Probably not, but since it’s a day off from work in honor of those who gave their lives for our country (or at least for causes our leaders thought were worthy of sacrificing people’s lives – I’m not really into spending a great deal of time dissecting that), it’s a happy day for most of us nonetheless. It is also the traditional start to the summer season…though it’s been quite warm enough around here for a while already. Many of our neighbors are already running their air conditioners. We considered it earlier this weekend – less for temperature and more for filtering some of the pollen out of the air – but decided against it. Even for northerners like us, it somehow seems shameful to turn on the AC before it has even reached June. But it is quite warm, which I noticed when we went to the gym this morning. The 71 degrees inside felt quite cool and refreshing. A storm is rolling in this afternoon – I can hear the thunder now and the sky is turning ominous – and I hope the heat will go with it. Ah, the rain just started as I wrote the last sentence. I will have to back this file up with some frequency in case we lose power.
Today is also my fiancee’s birthday. We are having a low-key day – I think she is just happy enough not to have to work today. We had ice-cream cake, took care of a few small chores, went to the gym, and otherwise are just generally taking it easy. OK, fuck it, I’m unhooking this computer from the AC adapter – our power’s already blinking on and off. Done. (Last May and June we lost power about a bazillion times as the evening thunderstorms rolled in. I didn’t mind one bit except when the power stayed off so long that we had to try to sleep in a quiet room with no fan or AC to move the air around, and had to set my SO’s blackberry to ensure we had an alarm to wake us up in the morning. They must have fixed, at least temporarily, what was causing all the blackouts because it stopped after that and we barely lost power again the whole summer.)
Anyway, what can I say about my fiancee? She just keeps getting cooler, hotter (no contradiction in those first two terms), funnier, sexier, wiser, and on and on. She enhances my life every day, and we have an amazing amount of fun together – just us and the huge menagerie of semi-fictional characters who accompany us on our adventures. Even after seven years, I look forward to showing her off to my co-workers as arm candy, know she can keep up a conversation with the best of them, and am dying to jump her bones when we get home. A lot of people hook up and stay together out of desperation, loneliness, inertia, or just a failure to consider whether their lives are better together than they would be apart. Other people get and stay together in ways that enable each other’s worst qualities, or give them crutches to lean on to avoid facing reality. They go through their lives like robots, their choice of partner just one among many robotic decisions. Not so with us. I am definitely lucky to have found her, and am a stronger, happier, more confident and more fulfilled person for having her in my life. I look forward to many many more years of fun together.
The rain already seems to have tapered off, but hopefully there will be more. Summer in D.C. is my least favorite time (if I haven’t already mentioned that a thousand times on this blog) – the price we pay for the relatively mild weather the rest of the year. I’m hoping the summer will be a little mellower than the past year has been, but of course nothing is certain. At least the next day off, Friday July 3, is a mere six weeks away. I’ve definitely got some things to do between now and then, but I don’t expect it will be insane.
Today is also my fiancee’s birthday. We are having a low-key day – I think she is just happy enough not to have to work today. We had ice-cream cake, took care of a few small chores, went to the gym, and otherwise are just generally taking it easy. OK, fuck it, I’m unhooking this computer from the AC adapter – our power’s already blinking on and off. Done. (Last May and June we lost power about a bazillion times as the evening thunderstorms rolled in. I didn’t mind one bit except when the power stayed off so long that we had to try to sleep in a quiet room with no fan or AC to move the air around, and had to set my SO’s blackberry to ensure we had an alarm to wake us up in the morning. They must have fixed, at least temporarily, what was causing all the blackouts because it stopped after that and we barely lost power again the whole summer.)
Anyway, what can I say about my fiancee? She just keeps getting cooler, hotter (no contradiction in those first two terms), funnier, sexier, wiser, and on and on. She enhances my life every day, and we have an amazing amount of fun together – just us and the huge menagerie of semi-fictional characters who accompany us on our adventures. Even after seven years, I look forward to showing her off to my co-workers as arm candy, know she can keep up a conversation with the best of them, and am dying to jump her bones when we get home. A lot of people hook up and stay together out of desperation, loneliness, inertia, or just a failure to consider whether their lives are better together than they would be apart. Other people get and stay together in ways that enable each other’s worst qualities, or give them crutches to lean on to avoid facing reality. They go through their lives like robots, their choice of partner just one among many robotic decisions. Not so with us. I am definitely lucky to have found her, and am a stronger, happier, more confident and more fulfilled person for having her in my life. I look forward to many many more years of fun together.
The rain already seems to have tapered off, but hopefully there will be more. Summer in D.C. is my least favorite time (if I haven’t already mentioned that a thousand times on this blog) – the price we pay for the relatively mild weather the rest of the year. I’m hoping the summer will be a little mellower than the past year has been, but of course nothing is certain. At least the next day off, Friday July 3, is a mere six weeks away. I’ve definitely got some things to do between now and then, but I don’t expect it will be insane.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
First Post In A While
Yes, I know it has been a very long time since I last posted, and during the month I have failed to post I'm sure I lost whatever readership (beyond my fiancee) I had. Assuming there even was any. I’ve mentioned this idea before, but I think what I need to do is simply devote short blocks of time more frequently to posts, and once the block of time runs out just post what I have regardless of where I am with things. I can always take it up again the next time. But I know mentally it is sometimes challenging for me to think about all the work that goes into a good post, then proofreading, then the formatting that goes along with getting it up on blogger. It is definitely a disincentive, especially when time is scarce (which it frequently is). So shorter but more frequent posts is what you should expect from me.
It probably goes without saying that I’ve been busy in the intervening month, and I think for this post I will simply hit some of the highlights. It’s been a particularly busy month at work, but I won’t go into details there besides saying that I am finally beginning to get more comfortable with the job and the people – I no longer feel like a big imposter all the time (see this neat article from a recent edition of Nature talking about imposter syndrome and what causes it – all I have to say is: nailed it). I was moved to a better office and my future seems pretty secure even after my current project ends.
In terms of writing, I finished editing my novel, printed up a copy and gave it to my fiancee. She read it very quickly (less than 24 hours) even though I tried not to impose too much of a sense of obligation on her. We spent a couple of hours talking about it when she was done. She had about half a dozen minor suggestions for improvement but overall seemed to really enjoy it. Of course she is not exactly objective, but I told her before she started that she shouldn’t be afraid to be critical because I was happy to spend more time improving the manuscript, and it seemed unlikely she would find a flaw so fatal that I would just have to put the whole thing away. So the next steps now are to revise in accordance with her suggestions, and then find a neutral third person to read and review it for me – preferably someone who knows something about publishing. We have some candidates in mind. I need to start thinking about query letters.
In terms of fitness, my fiancee and I went for “fitness physicals” last month, where we were assessed on everything from blood pressure to cardiovascular endurance to strength to flexibility. In the wake of the physical and my ongoing ergonomic issues at work (which I believe have been mostly solved with my recent move to a new office with a different desk and chair), I decided to do a fairly major revamping of my workout routine. I reduced my weight workouts from four per week (which was rarely doable, and almost never on a consistent basis) to three, consolidated core muscle group exercises (so I only hit my triceps once or twice rather than half a dozen times) and added in a few core strength exercises and a few for muscles that evidently had been underworked (rotator cuffs, rhomboids). Then, with cardio, I’ve reduced my minutes overall but added in two 20 minute high intensity interval training sessions per week. These kick my ass, but are supposed to increase my resting metabolic rate. I also added a stretch routine, though I haven’t been as good about that as I probably should be. Overall, we are going more days each week (4-5) but for shorter times (usually 30-40 minutes rather than an hour plus), which makes it less difficult to find the motivation to go after a tough workday.
I’ve kind of been stuck with reading for a while – reading The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia by Richard Overy, which is interesting but quite long. I also finished the Best American Short Stories of 2008, edited by Salman Rushdie, which was underwhelming. I need to pick up my reading – there’s no shortage of stuff to read around here.
Other than that, some other extracurricular activities and wedding planning has been taking up time. This is our “long” (well, three days, for the first time since February) Memorial Day weekend, and both my fiancee and I are a bit out of it with colds/reactions to unbelievably high pollen. Kind of sucks, but at least it is forcing us to rest.
I have been thinking about buying some clippers and trying to cut my own hair. I have a very short, simple haircut and I usually go about once every 3-4 weeks to get it cut (it grows out fast). I don’t really mind spending the money so much (though I do pay $18 plus tip for each haircut, which adds up), but it’s often difficult to find the time (I work downtown D.C. but get my hair cut over by Capitol Hill, and the place doesn’t open until 10 am). I would probably spring for some pretty good clippers but I’m anxious that I won’t be able to do a good enough job – especially with respect to neatening up the outline (down towards my neck in the back). I don’t want to spend the equivalent of five months of haircuts only to abandon it right away. But when I’m at the barber shop it sure seems easy enough to cut my hair – and it’d be easier if I just went one uniform length, which is what I think I’d do here at home. The greatest advantage of cutting my hair here at home would be that I could keep it short and cool all the time. Even after three weeks, especially in the summer, I feel like it’s a bit much. So I guess we’ll see if I go through with it.
Anyway, that’s it for now, but I’ll write it again for good measure: look for more frequent posts, even if shorter and less detailed than some of my past ones.
It probably goes without saying that I’ve been busy in the intervening month, and I think for this post I will simply hit some of the highlights. It’s been a particularly busy month at work, but I won’t go into details there besides saying that I am finally beginning to get more comfortable with the job and the people – I no longer feel like a big imposter all the time (see this neat article from a recent edition of Nature talking about imposter syndrome and what causes it – all I have to say is: nailed it). I was moved to a better office and my future seems pretty secure even after my current project ends.
In terms of writing, I finished editing my novel, printed up a copy and gave it to my fiancee. She read it very quickly (less than 24 hours) even though I tried not to impose too much of a sense of obligation on her. We spent a couple of hours talking about it when she was done. She had about half a dozen minor suggestions for improvement but overall seemed to really enjoy it. Of course she is not exactly objective, but I told her before she started that she shouldn’t be afraid to be critical because I was happy to spend more time improving the manuscript, and it seemed unlikely she would find a flaw so fatal that I would just have to put the whole thing away. So the next steps now are to revise in accordance with her suggestions, and then find a neutral third person to read and review it for me – preferably someone who knows something about publishing. We have some candidates in mind. I need to start thinking about query letters.
In terms of fitness, my fiancee and I went for “fitness physicals” last month, where we were assessed on everything from blood pressure to cardiovascular endurance to strength to flexibility. In the wake of the physical and my ongoing ergonomic issues at work (which I believe have been mostly solved with my recent move to a new office with a different desk and chair), I decided to do a fairly major revamping of my workout routine. I reduced my weight workouts from four per week (which was rarely doable, and almost never on a consistent basis) to three, consolidated core muscle group exercises (so I only hit my triceps once or twice rather than half a dozen times) and added in a few core strength exercises and a few for muscles that evidently had been underworked (rotator cuffs, rhomboids). Then, with cardio, I’ve reduced my minutes overall but added in two 20 minute high intensity interval training sessions per week. These kick my ass, but are supposed to increase my resting metabolic rate. I also added a stretch routine, though I haven’t been as good about that as I probably should be. Overall, we are going more days each week (4-5) but for shorter times (usually 30-40 minutes rather than an hour plus), which makes it less difficult to find the motivation to go after a tough workday.
I’ve kind of been stuck with reading for a while – reading The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia by Richard Overy, which is interesting but quite long. I also finished the Best American Short Stories of 2008, edited by Salman Rushdie, which was underwhelming. I need to pick up my reading – there’s no shortage of stuff to read around here.
Other than that, some other extracurricular activities and wedding planning has been taking up time. This is our “long” (well, three days, for the first time since February) Memorial Day weekend, and both my fiancee and I are a bit out of it with colds/reactions to unbelievably high pollen. Kind of sucks, but at least it is forcing us to rest.
I have been thinking about buying some clippers and trying to cut my own hair. I have a very short, simple haircut and I usually go about once every 3-4 weeks to get it cut (it grows out fast). I don’t really mind spending the money so much (though I do pay $18 plus tip for each haircut, which adds up), but it’s often difficult to find the time (I work downtown D.C. but get my hair cut over by Capitol Hill, and the place doesn’t open until 10 am). I would probably spring for some pretty good clippers but I’m anxious that I won’t be able to do a good enough job – especially with respect to neatening up the outline (down towards my neck in the back). I don’t want to spend the equivalent of five months of haircuts only to abandon it right away. But when I’m at the barber shop it sure seems easy enough to cut my hair – and it’d be easier if I just went one uniform length, which is what I think I’d do here at home. The greatest advantage of cutting my hair here at home would be that I could keep it short and cool all the time. Even after three weeks, especially in the summer, I feel like it’s a bit much. So I guess we’ll see if I go through with it.
Anyway, that’s it for now, but I’ll write it again for good measure: look for more frequent posts, even if shorter and less detailed than some of my past ones.
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