Land of Lakes and Volcanoes

I like stupid TV. It provides background noise and it doesn't require thought, and now that I can watch pretty much anything I like on Hulu , I often have something streaming. Despite not having time for a real post, I have enough time to watch Angel in the background. Yes, Angel, I said stupid TV. And Buffy is making a guest appearance. Let me just say, I haaate Sarah Michelle Gellar. Ugh, ugh, ugh. She's just so, vapid. How is it possible to be more vapid than these other characters? It's the blonde, wide-eyes, I'm so innocent yet so hurt and hard, ick. She's like a really stupid doll. And it's not just Buffy. It's every character she's ever played. She has four whole emotions and none of them are very believable. Sorry Buffy-ites, but there it is.

Courtesy of Pharyngula .

On the one hand I'm happy - yay diversity! On the other hand, how can it be that this is actually the first Hispanic to lead a university system in the US? In 2009??

There an article in Monday's LA Times about Jill Biden going by Dr. Jill Biden. Good for her! Apparently, this strikes people as pretentious, funny, and unnecessary. It was also pointed out that Lynne Cheney has a doctorate, and went by Mrs. Cheney. Good for her! I don't understand why this is pretentious. The argument made in the article is that usually only MDs go by Doctor. That is patently false. A doctor in a professional setting introduces herself as Dr. Whosawhatzit. If you met her on an airplane, she'd probably just tell you her name. People meet medical doctors in a professional setting every day, so we're accustomed to hearing MDs go by Doctor. In their corresponding professional setting, the university, PhDs go by Doctor as well. If you met one on the airplane, they, much like the MD, would just say their name. As the wife of the VP, she is perpetually in a professional setting, and is asking to be introduced in professional settings by her profes...

A women's shelter in Rock Hill has closed due to lack of funds, as explained in the State newspaper . This really is sad, as women who are homeless are at a greater risk of becoming victims of violence than men in the same situation. Not that that's an excuse, like, oh, the guys can take care of themselves, but across the nation there are consistently more programs and shelters available to men. This problem is true here in Columbia as well, where I used to do some volunteering at the shelters, which were all exclusively for men at the time. Even more unfortunate is the lack of family shelters. The separation of males and females at shelters is designed to reduce the likelihood of problems occurring and to protect women during times of vulnerability (showering, sleeping, etc.). However, when there are no family shelters available, men and women may be separated by long distances, and losing their one remaining source of support. The situation is really quite sad. All of th...

I feel sorry for my left eye, really I do. Like any biological indicator of the health of a larger system, my left eye is in sad shape lately. Let me explain. When I have a horrible headache, it is accompanied by eye pain. It becomes difficult to see, and I experience a throbbing behind my left eye. When I am under a lot of stress, my lower eyelid twitches. I'm not kidding. I wish I was, as I fear this makes me look crazy. Finally, when I cry too much, I get a mother-freaking sty. Always in my left freaking eye. Really? Really? In the past week, all three of these things have happened. Maybe this is an indicator that I need more sleep. G'night.

I miss my mom, for a thousand different reasons every day. Sometimes I can see whatever it is coming around the corner, and I can brace myself, and I can dodge it, or steel myself for it, or whatever is required. Sometimes though, there's just no way to know. It just hits you. Something you remember, something that you always meant to say or do, some bit of comfort that you didn't even realize you had until it's gone. I had a work triumph today. Not a big one, but the advisory panel for our research group met today and I have been working on this research this year, and while I'm not leading any pieces of the project, I've been thinking about them all and trying to contribute where I could. I'm also the person who did a lot of the organizing and coordinating, although I certainly had tons of help. And we've been prepping for this for such a long time, and all these other things went wrong this week, and then it happened. It was done. It went great. ...

Friday we went to Chinatown and I got TJ a scarf and I got a couple more pashminas, which are fabulous, since they are both scarves and shawls. Handy. We went to an aquarium store in Chinatown so Trevor could gawk at the fish, and we asked the women there for a good restaurant nearby. Via a translating niece, a very nice Chinese woman told us that there was a Malaysian place around the corner that was tasty. At Nonya , Trevor shocked me by selecting a shrimp dish, and I also had shrimp as per my usual custom and so we shared both and they were quite good, although our meals weren't even close to the best part of the meal. As a starter we got this Malaysian pancake thing that was all fluffy and 3-D and came with chicken curry dipping sauce. And, as if the pancake wasn't enough to win one over, the whole meal came with free hot tea, a lot of it. This was extra special awesome since it was FREEZING outside. Then we wandered around Chinatown for a while, since I decided to sea...

Well, I wasn't able to order in the other night because what I wanted didn't deliver to Jessica's address, so I took a little stroll around the East Village to S'Mac, short for Sarita's Mac and Cheese, and I am so glad that I did. Also, you may have noticed a cheese theme. You are not wrong. I love cheese, but normally don't indulge because once I start I CANNOT stop. But I'm on vacation, so... From S'Mac , I ordered two Nosh sized goodies, one for dinner and the other for lunch the next day. They have combos or you can design your own. I ate the Alpine for dinner. Gruyere with slab bacon, and I elected to get bread crumbs on top. Creamy and well-balanced. The next day's lunch was the Cajun - a combination of cheddar and pepper jack cheeses, andouille sausage, green peppers, onions, celery, garlic and seasn'n. Spicy, but not too much. I also got a take and bake, i.e. they make it and you take it home and bake it. That was a Meditteran...

Things I have eaten: 1. Seaweed salad, spider roll, shrimp udon at some Japanese place I can't remember the name of 2. Ordered in breakfast of French toast and bacon, which came with 3 little containers of syrup (3!) Jessica and Sean order in a lot because it is so convenient here. You can get everything from breakfast to Ethiopian food. It's magical. 3. The Great Iberian Peninsula 3 wine and cheese flight from Artisinal ; also 1/3 of a bottle of Prosecco and a pot of Fontina, garlic, and rosemary fondue with crudites, apples, and kielbasa - I highly recommend any of this, but especially the flights of paired wine and cheese. They have 12 different flights, one of which is all sparkling wines and another of which is beer. Delicious. 4. A chicken bowl from Yoshinoya, which is like the McDonald's of Japanese fast food. So it was a little bowl with rice, veggies, and some chicken. Very quick and so-so-tasty. 5. A feast at Suba , a Basque tapas place that was oddly decora...

Please ignore the awful hair. I was getting ready for bed, and I finished my most excellent new scarf. The scarf has fingerless gloves built into the ends. Courtesy of this Knitty pattern .

I am working from home again today, and I once again ran into a situation where I could have greatly benefited from a safety pin. I didn't have one, much like the millions of other times I haven't had one. Unfortunately, safety pins are one of those things I forget to buy every time I'm at the store, and I hate going to the store just for some tiny silly item. At that moment I longed for Nicaragua because had I been there, I could have carried on with my day, and eventually someone would have wandered by selling Rolex knock-offs, flashlights, pencil sharpeners, fruit, fish, soap, and eventually safety pins.

I have recently discovered TED , and I want to share it with you. This is some rather excellent video of bioluminescent organisms and camouflaging cephalopods.

I walked the dog this morning and I'm trying to work from home. The light struggling through my large windows can only be described as watery, like a Kate Chopin novel. It makes me melancholy. It's a missing, melancholy day. When the light has no color and seems to barely be performing its function, I become very sad. I start to think of all the people I'd like to be with that I am not, and I think What a waste. Incidentally , Garrison Keillor and the nostalgic style of PHC aren't helping either.

I put up my Christmas tree last weekend, but I didn't get a chance to post pics until now. It's kind of an homage to my mother. She made a lot of the ornaments on the tree, as well as the Christmas tree skirt. I bought the angel on top. I know the pic with the lights is fuzzy, but the pic with the flash just doesn't show its loveliness very well. And here are some ornaments she made out of macaroni, no less. There's an angel and some bows. They are painted in gold and silver and then adorned. She could make anything out of anything. Then she also made a variety of decorated Christmas balls: Christmas colors: Part of a green and purple set she made for me a few years ago: Some variegated:

I am teaching myself to knit, I think mostly because I want to do something with my hands that doesn't remind me so very much of my mom. So, I'll do this for a while, and then I'm sure, return to crochet, or tatting, or cross-stitch. I kind of cycle through. Anyway, this is my first dishcloth, in which I learned to cast on, knit, purl, and bind off in knit and purl. Incidentally, I also learned how to correct a mistake (lots) and pick up a dropped stitch (just once or twice).

I posted on Facebook that I was applying to grad school, and I did that because unless people know about stuff, I often wimp out on it. However... I'm nervous about giving too much away because what IF I DON'T GET IN?? I have employment backup, thanks to West Coast Boss, and yet, public rejection elicits a full-body cringing OUCH. Still, I'm excited, and despite my more pessimistic nature, I'm hopeful. So here's the skinny. There's a program at U of the Desert that seems like a great fit. It's also where Long-distance Boyfriend is located, which is important if I ever want Long-distance Boyfriend to become No-distance Husband. The program is an MA in English, requiring that I take at least a couple literature classes (not the worst thing for a bibliophile). The specialty to which I am applying is Rhetoric and Writing, and one of the purposes of the MA is to prepare people with a content background to become professional writers or editors. It's po...

Susan G at Daily Kos points out this sentence from Barack Obama's weekly web address. Will your job or your husband’s job or your daughter’s job be the next one cut? Then she says why this matters better than I could: Read that closely. In a speech about universal fears and hardship, he is addressing his primary listeners as women . Never have I heard sentence construction like that from a president -- women addressed directly in a non-"women's issues" setting as legitimate, fully fledged and very concerned and invested breadwinners. The effect is stunning.

The first meeting of the Hot Hobbyists of Columbia was successful. I finally finished this scarf. I usually use tassels, but this time I decided to try a scalloped edging since the scarf is shorter and will be used more like a muffler.

Homemade dinner for one.