Category: _uncategorized
Unread books
Stole this idea from Dave Hingsburger: how many of the 106 top unread books from LibraryThings have you read?
Here’s my list (31 of the top 106):
Life of Pi: a novel (one of my kids gave this to me for Christmas a couple of years ago)
The Name of the Rose (got this after I had exhausted [...]
Time to Stop and Think
The other day my husband said, “You’re always so angry. I don’t know what’s making you so angry, but you should stop doing it.”
Uh-oh. Time to stop and think.
The Value of Failure
Dorothea offers some real food for thought in On Failure and Its Contentments. I’m not sure I have anything to add except that I know some of those never-failing people, and this gives me some new insight into them.
Brood X
Despite my best efforts, I may be in the National’s Capital for the emergence of Brood X. I’m actually kind of excited, since I don’t have to live with them, just visit them.
Periodical cicada information:
Cicada Watch 2004
UMMZ Periodical Cicada Page (includes many life-size pictures (!) and cicada noise recordings)
Cicada Central
Maternity Wars
Via Fazia, TIMEeurope Magazine | Maternity Wars
I’m out of the birth wars now (my youngest is almost 14), but this article touches on numerous important issues: maternal control, the use of pain relief, the rise in elective C-sections, the prevalence of midwife attendants, and the economics of socialized medicine.
Odds and Ends
Via CavLec, Why Content Management Fails
Via The 19th Floor, Thirteen Ways to Raise a Nonreader
Via jill/txt, Safety vs Censorship
Anti-Depressants
I’m pulling for Dorothea’s take on the antidepressant/suicide connection.
Wow, She’s Fast
It was great to meet Patricia at the concert tonight!
Brilliant
Kate goes speed dating:
Being a disabled woman and a feminist has led me neatly to the conclusion that disability is liberating because it excuses me from ever having to attempt to replicate unrealistic Western ideals of womanhood. If I diet myself into oblivion, I still won’t look like a Supermodel because Supermodels don’t wobble. I [...]
Getting Out
Government Workers: some comments on disability/emergency evacuation in the workplace.
This is to confirm that I will not comply with the CHP suggestion that I remain in the building at the top of the stairs in the event that there is a fire that is not a “raging inferno”.
More Desserts
Swimming Daughter made two State times! But this means she a) swims the State Meet this weekend, and it’s not as though she isn’t worn out enough, what with choir and advanced placement and volunteering and the talent show and … and b) she has to come up with gifts for all the other State [...]
Always Ranting
What she said: Dear Just Mouse.
Womanpower
misbehaving.net: Even a woman…
I don’t find it demoralizing; I think it’s funny and great that Bräuner sold the misogynists on Linux the way he did.
It’s also neat that Schwäbisch Hall has gone open source.
mobilewomen.org
mobilewomen.org looks like it may have some potential - someone should tell the webmaster that frames are passé, though.
Gimp Eye
Blog-E-Views Blog Interviews: Gimp Eye for the Clueless Guy
Leaping Mice
Seen in a discussion about YAMSRB (Yet Another Multiple Sclerosis Research Breakthrough):
I don’t want to throw cold water on optimism, but those damn mice have been leaping out of their wheelchairs for years now without it translating to human success.
Ouch! Falls
Very apropos for yesterday and today:
A User Guide To Falling Over
Your Top Ten Falling Over Scenarios
Headlines
Still battling barriers: Costs, intricate rules make goal of 1990 disabilities law elusive:
If there is an employment complaint, it goes to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or a local Fair Employment Practices Agency. Transportation issues are supposed to be voiced to the U.S. Department of Transportation, and problems with government buildings have to [...]
Jerks on the Loose
On the way home from work today I sang along with the Roches’ Jerks on the Loose (several times, very loud). I feel better, somehow.
Keep on Doing What You Do/Jerks on the Loose
Nobody round here knows what happened to you
No one will ask you to explain
You have your arm around a drastic measure
All of your [...]
Cantabile, Adieu
I dropped out of choir today. On the whole, the board and the membership are very nice, well meaning people who want to do the right thing in finding a wheelchair-accessible rehearsal location, but in the last two weeks there have been several more rounds of concern that we’re moving too fast, that people will [...]
Minimalist Wheelchairs
Another good article from Mark Smith of WheelchairJunkie: Minimalist Mania: Differentiating among today’s ultra-high-end manual chairs.
Unread Books
Cera writes about unread books. Years ago, I got a book on how to reduce clutter, and under “Books”, it said something about all the unread books people have, and how this is clutter.
I have no unread books. When I acquire a book, I read it. Then I put it on the bookshelf. Later, maybe [...]
Headlines
‘I just want to be included’ — After compiling a mixed record in making the disabled feel welcome, religious institutions are reaching out — “I would caution against teaching someone how to deal with the disabled. People need to acknowledge the disabled … and deal with the person.”
Multiple Sclerosis Not as Progressive or Disabling as [...]
Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell
Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell died this month, at the age of 101. I was privileged to know her. She was the sister of one of my first choir directors, James Christian Pfohl, a founder of WETA, the first public television station in the nation’s capital, a founder of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Arlington, where I [...]
Graduate Assistantship
misbehaving.net: graduate assistantship opening - researching underrepresentation of women in IT.
Ashes
I always thought Tuesday was a good night for choir rehearsal. It makes for a long day, of course, going to work, rushing home to get dinner on the table, driving back to Boulder to practice, but not so late in the week that it’s not manageable.
In fact, choir rehearsal always gave me a real [...]
You’re Welcome
Welcome to the Campaign To Restore “You’re Welcome” To Ordinary Conversation (CTRYWTOC).
Yesterday at the bank, I overheard a teller and customer say “Thank you” to each other twice each. The teller started to say “Thank you” a third time, then realised how stupid it would sound and kind of petered out.
Our entire society has forgotten [...]
Midwives
Alice Bailes attended the home birth of my second child, and Marsha Jackson attended the home birth of my third child.
Their words are like songs and prayers.
Singing
Study confirms that sopranos really are hard to understand.
I’m having a serious “Well, duh!” moment here. I’m not a professional singer, but I have studied voice, and was taught (by several different teachers) to modify vowels when moving up in the range. Why is this news?
Fear of Falling
Fear of falling is aimed at senior citizens, but is good reading for anyone whose balance or mobility is less than optimal.
While the advice on making your home environment safer is good, I’d like to see some emphasis on safer public environments as well (slippery marble/tile floors in department stores and other public buildings spring [...]
Are we there yet?
Copied straight from Simon Willison, ’cause it’s so great:
extreme programming, noun
A method of software development that combines all the charm of backseat driving with all the efficiency of a marital squabble.
Attack of the big noisy bugs
Out of the Frying Pan posted a link to Kill a Rat, and 100 other things to do this year:
17 Go and see the locusts. 2004 is the year that the 17-year locust emerges across the United States. Millions of them - they’re actually a type of cicada - will make a loud, creepy buzzing [...]
Good Closing
The pet store (as in, “store that sells live animals”, not “store that sells food and supplies for pets”) in the local mall is closing. I am sorry for the proprietors, but this is a Good Thing. If you want to sell puppies, get into the breeding business, don’t market them like bottles of soda.
Why [...]
Happy New Year
Once upon a time, it was customary to call on friends (”call on” = “visit”) on New Year’s Day.
I’m having fun going around leaving New Year’s greetings in the blogs I regularly read.
I wish you all a shiny New Year.
Firefly
My daughter received the Firefly DVD for Christmas, and we’ve been watching one or two episodes per day. What a great show! Interesting characters, really witty dialog, comic plotting … I wish there was more!
I’m not interested so much in a Firefly movie; I like the idea of the slow unfolding of events and characterization [...]
Lazy days after Christmas
This time off work thing is very fine.
I finished The Life of Pi, which my son gave me for my birthday, and The Dress Lodger, a Christmas gift from my sister-in-law. Both were very thought-provoking, not light bedtime reading.
Today my husband and I drove up into Rocky Mountain National Park and he was shocked to [...]
Christmas report
It’s been an interesting holiday. We have no guests, and we didn’t go anywhere. I tend to get a little morose about the tension between celebrating German-style, the way I was raised, and celebrating American-style, like my husband’s family, and this year managed to get more morose than usual.
(German-style: on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, [...]
Glurge
I learned an excellent new word today: glurge.
From The Word Spy:
(GLURJ) n. A sentimental or uplifting story, particularly one delivered via e-mail, that uses inaccurate or fabricated facts; a story that is mawkish or maudlin; the genre consisting of such stories.
There must be a special subset of these stories dealing with disabilities and/or handicaps, like [...]
Today
Today is my birthday.
Today is the first day of two weeks off work, which I am so ready for.
Today I managed to find Christmas tree candles, thank goodness (because it’s a little too late to get relatives to mail them from Germany, my usual source). Yes, that’s candles that go on the tree that we [...]
Brecht followup
Another followup, this time to my question about a Bertolt Brecht quote:
This quote is (in its entirety) a poem by Brecht called Motto, which can be found in Bertolt Brecht: Poems 1913-1956.
The German original:
In den finsteren Zeiten / Wird da auch gesungen werden?
Da wird auch gesungen werden / Von finsteren Zeiten.
Bruised
A while back there was a discussion on braintalk’s Multiple Sclerosis Forum about the pros and cons of the two styles of forearm crutches, full cuff and half cuff.
I prefer full cuff, because they stay on even if you’re not holding them. One poster said he was afraid of getting full cuff crutches, because when [...]
Lingerie
I need a new full slip, since the one I have is so 40 pounds ago. I’ve been to Target, Sears, Penny’s, Victoria’s Secret and Dillards. Have the women of the world conquered the twin problems of static electricity and thin fabrics? Because with the exception of Dillards, none of these establishments sell slips anymore. [...]
Symbol Inversion
When I went out for lunch it was snowing, and there was just enough stuff on the back windshield to obscure my view. I pushed the little button on the dash with the snowflake on it.
Ten minutes later I realised the little snowflake button was the airconditioning, not the defrost.
Chionophobia
I love shovelling snow.
I have never been fond of exercise; any periods of physical fitness I’ve enjoyed have been accidents of circumstance. For a while I pumped iron, dutifully. I’ve walked, dutifully. But I love shovelling snow.
One midnight, after a twenty-four inch snowfall and an argument with my husband, I shovelled for hours under the [...]
Guilt
I am so ashamed of myself.
I’ve apologized (a very embarrassing moment), and now I’m trying to get out of the rut of whacking myself over the head with my behaviour roughly every 30 seconds.
Regional Dialecticisms
A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks?
Creek or stream
What is the thing you push around the grocery store?
Grocery cart
A metal container to carry a meal in?
Lunchbox
The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in?
Frying pan
The piece of furniture that seats three people?
Sofa
The device on the outside of the house [...]
What is it?
From Symbols.com, emphasis added:
Physiologically rules the electric impulses in the nervous system.
In mundane astrology Uranus rules over astrologers, occultists, inventors, and those who are connected to aviation, spacecraft, electronics, and modern scientific breakthroughs. Such things as computers, electronics, and space technology are all ruled by this planet.
Symbolism
Here’s a really interesting website: symbols.com - an online encyclopedia of graphic symbols. Looks like a good source of ideas for icons and other graphic elements, not to mention lots of cool factoids about mythology.
One neurologist for every 116,000 people
MS patient care embarrassing, say Scottish doctors
Scotland has 5 million people, the highest incidence of MS in the world, and 44 neurologists.
Pies
We’re going to my sister’s for Thanksgiving. We’re responsible for the pies. Baking Son came through - by the time I got home from work today there was one apple pie all done, filling for two cherry pies and a pumpkin pie, and a lot of pie crust ready to roll out.
Yea for Baking Son!
Moving On
Upgraded from Opera 6.06 to 7.2 - interesting to see how many CSS based sites look different.
Two useful things for creating links that last:
TinyURL - makes a short, permanent link to replace long, ugly links. An added advantage is that TinyURLs validate correctly, unlike a lot of URLs full of ‘?’ and ‘&’ characters.
New York [...]
I Can’t Believe I Said That!
During the most visible portion of the World’s Fastest MS Relapse (that would be the 3 hours during which I went from walking fairly well with crutches to barely being able to walk at all, combined with practically no fine motor control in the hands, all in an extremely public place), an acquaintance told me [...]
Followup
A setback in the Mervyn’s case: Judge backs Mervyn’s in disability suit
Use of wheelchair in track races debated, following up on Wheelchair racer’s win raises issue of fairness
This sucks
I have a Very Bad Attitude today.
Which has something to do with the fact that I can’t walk, I can’t see straight, and I can barely type.
I wanted a longer remission.
Upon waking
Have I mentioned that I’m exhausted, too?
Oh, noooo………….
And I was doing so well.
Yesterday and today I’ve got the MS hug, vertigo (the bathroom is how far away?), increased leg and trunk weakness (I’d forgotten about having to use my arms to turn over in bed), and my brain has a herd (swarm? flock?) of bumblebees in it.
I came to work, but [...]
Fairness
Wheelchair racer’s win raises issue of fairness
This is an interesting one. My first impulse is to say that wheelchair cross country is a different sport from able-bodied cross country. Does cross country have the concept of an exhibition competitor? I’m very sports-illiterate, but when my kids were swimming competitively some meets had “no faster than” [...]
Weather
Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it…
Yesterday it was 85 degrees (with scattered wildfires). Today I’m walking through the parking lot in a freezing drizzle, admiring the ice-encased cars, trying not to die by slipping on the slick floor with wet crutch tips.
I just love these weather plots.
Diogenes of Bread
Twenty years back in the United States, and I think I’m cracking. There’s no decent bread to be had anywhere. If it wasn’t for the bread we make ourselves, my kids would think that stuff in the stores and the bakeries was bread.
I drove all over Longmont this morning looking for bread - and don’t [...]
Good eating
There was good eating at my house today.
I’m feeling very energetic, so in honor of the DVD release of Bend It Like Beckham, I made aloo gobi, dal saag and basmati rice for dinner.
In the meantime, Youngest Son whipped up a batch of strawberry-banana jello.
At the same time, Eldest Son was making two pumpkin [...]
Everything in moderation
Two of the online communities I read frequently are currently embroiled in controversy (must be something in the water).
At WheelchairJunkie, it’s inappropriate religious proselytizing. At the braintalk.org MS Forum, it’s the moderators’ attempts to cut down on vast amounts of off-topic posting.
Tom Coates’ blog Everything in Moderation is about creative ways to manage online communities [...]
Shop without a man
I’m not getting this at all:
Men happy at adult kindergarten while wives shop
Husband gets bored while shopping, leaves wife
Why are these people shopping together?
1. She doesn’t drive, so she needs him to take her shopping?
2. They’ve never heard that there’s nothing in the marriage vows about being joined at the hip 24/7?
I’m seriously, seriously confused.
Friday Five
Ok, it’s Saturday. I’m not very good at following instructions.
1. Name five things in your refrigerator.
Asparagus, wheat berries, pesto in a tube, salsa, eggs
2. Name five things in your freezer.
Homemade lasagne, whole chicken, frozen-gel icepack thingie, peas, coffee beans
3. Name five things under your kitchen sink.
409, Simple Green, some orange cleaner stuff, silver polish, stainless [...]
Love my IB students
Most of you probably don’t have an International Baccalaureate student in your lives (much less two), but trust me, these are really funny, and so true.
The funniest one was:
It takes you 3 days to get this joke:
A: you know what?
B: no, introduce me.
at which my two IB students stared blankly at me and said, “What?”
I’m still here
…but my husband’s been out of town for two weeks, so between the full time job, the three teenagers (and all their activities), the dog, the cat, the little stomach virus and the new web job I’ve got, I’ve been…busy.
I knew it before but I really know it now - the reason I’m still able [...]
Falling
Two falls today, one real and one almost.
In the Safeway parking lot, my crutch tip slipped on somebody’s freshly leaked antifreeze and down I went, complete with groceries. A couple of people looked around, but nobody stopped, which I guess was just as well because it would have been more embarrassing.
Went to a concert this [...]
Anger
I went to lunch with a new acquaintance yesterday, and as I unloaded the wheelchair, he asked, “How long have you had this affliction?” (He’s 75, I forgive the phrasing.) I told him a little about my disease, and he said, “But you’re not angry,” in a wondering tone.
I paused for a minute, because, no, [...]
Headlines
OSU and OHSU land grant to research air travel for disabled
New wheelchair course inaugurated
AirTran settles $125,000 disability suit
NBC correspondent talks about his ‘disability planet’
Childhood
Recent search queries have me thinking about Nigeria. We moved there, a German/American family with four children between two and nine, towards the end of the Biafran War.
I was young enough and had moved around enough to accept life in a diplomatic community in post-Colonial Africa as just another version of normal.
We lived in Lagos, [...]
First Monday in October
And that means the opening of the new US Supreme Court term, although the court will not hear oral arguments today because it’s Yom Kippur - the first time the court has taken the holiday into account.
The case to watch this term is Tennessee v. Lane, in which two disabled defendents charge that Tennessee courtrooms [...]
Searches, again
Excellent set of search terms yesterday (although I’ve got to wonder about the cockroaches):
#reqs: search term
2: juden herkunft
2: rehhof polen
1: bartels marie
1: polnische vornamen
1: gerhard dexer bruder
1: coefficient of friction
1: reston
1: twin seven seven nigeria
1: obituary lagos
1: back to school katja
1: home design with ramp to second floor
1: website criticism
1: openwave systems boulder location
1: faigaux
1: [...]
Cocktails
My stepfather is a cocktail man. When we visit, he always offers a drink before dinner, and breaks out the salted peanuts.
My father was a cocktail man, too, before it went out of style. He was a Foreign Service officer, and I remember watching the cocktail parties (complete with engraved invitations!) from the top of [...]
Thinker Quiz
Via Becky, What kind of thinker are you?
You are an Interpersonal Thinker
Interpersonal thinkers:
Like to think about other people, and try to understand them
Recognise differences between individuals and appreciate that different people have different perspectives
Make an effort to cultivate effective relationships with family, friends and colleagues
Like interpersonal thinkers, Leonardo had lots of friends and contacts, [...]
Hair and Heels
Very busy week - meetings with customers. I feel like I’ve had nothing but little fried hors d’oeuvres for dinner all week (it was only two nights). But I’m still on my feet - despite the tasteful pumps, and thanks to going home every night and falling immediately into bed.
I don’t think I’m cut out [...]
We’re sorry…
…but your call could not be completed as dialed.
Maybe a month ago I read in the paper that the lady who recorded the vast majority of voice mail and automated messages had died. I’ve been hunting for the article online, but unfortunately “voice mail” is not a very useful search term.
Yesterday I made a call, [...]
Always the Last to Know
This morning I drove by the high school and saw the marching band lined up to practice.
I have trouble understanding American high school schedules. The summer before my oldest child’s freshman year, I probably got the newsletter from the high school but didn’t understand how important it was to study it.
The next summer we moved, [...]
Monsoon
The glorious annual monsoon has arrived in Colorado.
After an abnormally cool June, we’ve had (like pretty much everybody else in the continental US) an abnormally hot July (tomatoes? in July? in Colorado?).
I went out this afternoon just after the rain and it was 65 degrees F; check out this temperature chart for the day (2 [...]
Product Design
Can I just complain about rotten product design? I’m staying in this hotel, and because I’ve been an idiot and packed linen, I’m ironing. Or maybe I should say that I’m trying to iron. This Proctor-Silex iron has two idiotic controls.
One is a toggle switch (left/right), which has a little cloud icon on one [...]
Cold Midsummer’s Day—or—I am So Gullible
Day before yesterday I look at the paper, it says “High: 81°F”. It’s a little overcast, but that happens a lot, and it burns off by mid-morning.
Fat chance. If it got above 65°F, I’ll eat that newspaper. I was freezing all day.
I should be grateful. Poor LA-the-sage is hot. I could be in DC.
I am [...]
Vive la France
The Country Quiz:
You’re France!
Most people think you’re snobby, but it’s really just that you’re better than everyone else. At least you’re more loyal to the real language, the fine arts, and the fine wines than anyone else. You aren’t worth beans in a fight, unless you’re really short, but you’re so good at other [...]
Black Hole
Went to a new building today, called the elevator. As the elevator door opened, I noticed it didn’t have much in the way of lights in it. When the elevator door closed, I realised it had no lights at all. The only thing visible was the “2″ button I had pressed. Thank goodness I didn’t [...]
Wheelchairs in the Halls of Power
Mme. Lise Thibault is the lieutenant governor of Quebec, and a wheelchair user. I really admire the firm and diplomatic way she has gone about insisting on access.
The reluctant gardener
I can admit it now: I don’t want to garden.
I have impeccable gardening credentials. My mother was a master gardener and later a landscape designer who created beautiful gardens in West Africa, Asia and the tropics of Washington, DC. We were roasting eggshells and collecting hair clippings to compost when I was six.
As a young [...]
You Know…
You know you live in a weird weather state when it’s sunny, in the 70s (F), and the girls in sundresses are walking past the 12 foot piles of dirty snow left from last week’s blizzard.