cellophane

My Niece

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:04:08 GMT

(two and a half!)

Almost Friday

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:46:53 GMT

Today I gave in and turned on the air conditioning for the first time this summer. I was doing okay with just using fans and open windows up until lunch today, when I went out and ran a few errands on my bicycle. After pedaling around about five miles in the hot sun and humidity, I got home and was dripping with sweat... even after showering, I decided it was time. Happily, the AC started right up without complaint. Working in a comfortably cool house this afternoon was very nice.

* *

My Personal PA is away this weekend competing in one of the season's most prestigious golf tournaments: the Advil Open. Along with a little golf, it involves a lot of beer drinking around a campfire in the evenings.

I went out with our mutual friends S&R this evening. As we were walking to my car, I turned my ankle in a large crack in the pavement. I gracelessly stumbled sideways, bashing into the car next to mine (but I was fine).

S was concerned. "Oh, are you okay?"

R pointed out: "You'd better be okay, because your PA is drunk right now."

"Yeah he'd really appreciate a call, 'I need a drunken diagnosis over the phone!'"

"Oh he's used to it, we do that to him at football games all the time."

* *

I'm heading to Chicago for the weekend. I haven't made it there since January or so, so I am really looking forward to seeing my family! I picked up some little presents for the kiddies, so I can be the Cool Aunt. I also have presents for my brother and sister, since we are going to celebrate belated birthdays. Mom and Dad get no presents, because I already gave them something when they were visiting here last month.

It will be really weird traveling without my work laptop. I haven't done that in... well I don't remember how long. I'm looking forward to it.

Fun T-shirt Idea

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:43:18 GMT

They're there in their room.
You're not in your room.
It's not in its room.

WRITE IT RIGHT!

Summer Books

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:02:48 GMT

17. The Philosophical Strangler, by Eric Flint - A free e-book. Treo books are useful for travel, but while this was amusing it was not great.

16. The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel - Interesting story about an Indian boy shipwrecked in a lifeboat with a tiger. Religion, zoology, and humor combine to tell a captivating story. excerpt: "The reason death sticks so closely to life isn't biological necessity -- it's envy. Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a possessive love that grabs at what it can."

Home Safe

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:14:06 GMT

I made it home - yay! It's been awhile.

I just counted, and out of the past 16 days I've been at home for only two of them. I really shouldn't complain too much, as I've also been doing some really wonderful vacation travel on top of my business travel.... It's just been rough combining work travel and vacation travel. I've been working for ten of those sixteen days, despite only being home for two of them (and the days I was home were work days).

Tomorrow, for the first time in nineteen days, I will be both at home AND not working! I am sooooo looking forward to it. My tentative plans are "do nothing". Of course that will turn into "something" before the day goes very far, but the good thing is that I don't HAVE to do anything.

Much like when I was vacationing in Portland last weekend. M and I happily spent hours making plans and schedules to follow, then we just as happily ignored them and did whatever the heck we wanted. That will be me this weekend. I have scheduled two events I will definitely attend, and other than that I will spend the weekend making plans and gleefully disregarding them.

I actually had a dream about this a couple of nights ago. I was lying in bed, caught in some haze between wakefulness and sleep. It was saturday morning, in the dream. I was trying to remember where I was going. Was it Chicago? Florida? Milwaukee? Every weekend in the recent past has involved me being somewhere or doing something. Suddenly it hit me: I didn't have to be anywhere. I was at home and could stay there indefinitely. I was filled with this great pleasure and relief.

Then my alarm went off, I saw the hotel room around me and I realized, "Crap, I'm still in Lebanon and I have to go to work!"

Spending this weekend at home (or near home) will be a much-needed break. I'm so thrilled that my colleague arranged for me to fly home today rather than tomorrow, as we had originally scheduled things. It will be great to crawl into my own bed tonight. It will be great to reacquaint myself with a cat or two for company.

I had two awesome trips on the last two weekends, and I've spent lots of quality time with friends and family. It's great that I've been able to do all that, even if it did wear me out. I have more awesome trips coming up in future weeks, with more family and friends time to enjoy. This weekend will be just what I need to refresh myself and get ready for the rest of the summer's fun travel insanity!

Long Weekend Getaway

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:41:50 GMT

Friday

M and I met at the airport on friday morning. We had a 9:30am flight to Manchester NH, which left right on time. I was worn out and had gotten up early (like 6:30!), so I had a bit of a snooze on the plane. By the time we got to NH though, I was ready to go.

Unfortunately we had another couple of hours drive before a whole lot of excitement could happen. We got a cute little red car quickly and got on the road. Crossing into Maine, we found a place off the highway to stop for lobster rolls. Pretty touristy, but yummy anyway -- especially since by then we were starving!

Eventually we made it to Portland and found our hotel. It was a good room, kind of in the middle of town, with a pretty view of the water. After we got settled in, we decided to go exploring. First on the agenda was a drink at Gritty McDuff's. After that, we went in search of the waterfront.

We had read that there was a decent fireworks show on the water, so we went wandering to the beach then walked along it until we found the park. Upon finding the park, we decided to explore more. At this point we got a little turned around, and we couldn't find a good place to get dinner. My feet, looking cute in their impractical sandals, gradually got more and more tender. Eventually they became a continuous mass of pain, and the walk was no longer fun. Finally we made our way back to the waterfront, settled onto my blanket, and I got to get off my poor blistered feet.

At that point, the evening got better. We relaxed on the hill, enjoying the weather, boat-watching, and people-watching.

The harbor was beautiful, and it was gradually filling with more and more boats which were gathering to watch the fireworks. We got some carnival sausages, lemonade, and fried dough. Yum! Gradually the sun set, and eventually the fireworks began. The fireworks were really impressive! Much more so than I had expected for a relatively small city.

Before we called it a night, we visited another cool little bar, Bull Feeney's. It was a neat little place, with a very cool logo that reads: Lobsters Love Guinness. Later I got M a t-shirt, 'cause I liked the slogan so much.

Saturday

Saturday we slept in, which was glorious. When we finally awoke, we ordered room service. Even more glorious! After an incredibly lazy and relaxing morning, we finally got up and got moving.

We began our exploration by finding our way back to the harbor and checking out ferry options. We'd been wanting to take a lighthouse tour on the water. We found the coolest boat, an old schooner built in 1924 named the Bagheera, which looked like a perfect way to explore the Portland waters and lighthouses.

We picked up some beverages and snacks, then went onto the boat for a two hour tour. (Not a three hour tour, those are dangerous!) It was a beautiful afternoon on the water. We saw several lighthouses, but no seals. It was worth it anyway, peaceful and fun.

After the two hour tour, it was lobster time. M had gotten a recommendation of a really neat lobster shack out on a rocky point looking onto the ocean, right by a lighthouse.

I was really shocked when we ordered our lobster dinners: the girl rang us up, then pulled two live lobsters out of a tank right next to the register. She put them in a little net, then tossed them into boiling water. I saw my dinner alive! I mean, if I'm going to eat things which were living, I'm quite aware that they will transition from living to not-living at some point. However I've never watched it actually happen before. It was crazy, but neat... it is also not possible for my dinner to be fresher.

The dinner was delicious, eaten at a picnic table overlooking the ocean. Just a lovely way to spend an evening.

Sunday

Sunday was another relaxing morning without alarm clocks, although we got moving slightly more rapidly than the previous morning. We had a bite to eat, then went wandering around town. We did some browsing and shopping at various little stores, then took a ferry ride out to Peaks Island.

On the island we walked around for a bit, then stopped for lunch at a restaurant recommended by people we'd met on the schooner the day before. We also took a moment to dip our feet into the water. I've always felt that whenever I visit an ocean, it is essential to dip my feet in. The water was pretty darn cold, but it was still fun to roll up my pants a frolic in the ocean a wee bit.

After lunch, we found a place that rented old bicycles. For $5, I had a fancy-schmancy bike to ride around the island. M said it looked like the bike ridden by the Wicked Witch of the West at the beginning of the movie. I agree, and it was ricketey, but that front basket was handy. And it was good fun to be pedaling around checking out the whole island's shoreline. A perfect afternoon!

After the ride, and a bit more exploring, we caught the ferry back to Portland. I managed to spend all day sunday without once putting on my fleece jacket! M was very proud of me, since each day prior I'd gotten cold enough (even thought it was the middle of July) to need my fleece.

When we got back, we enjoyed more strolling around the city, looking for little souvenirs to remember our fun trip by, and saying goodbye to Portland. It felt as though the evening of walking around before fireworks, with feet hurting, was FOREVER ago. We crammed so much into just a few short days. For dinner we had some fish and chips at Bull Feeney's, then regretfully climbed into our car and started the drive back to New Hampshire.

M came to Lebanon with me, and I gave him a very brief tour of the area where I work. I allowed him to enjoy my luxurious hotel room (from which I am typing this very journal entry!), then early monday morning he drove back to the airport and flew home. I, on the other hand, strapped on my backpack and walked to work. Vacation over, it was time to start colo-ing. I have discovered that it's a little weird having my vacation be over but still not be home.... Tomorrow I finally head back to the airport myself, and I'll be home friday night. I'm looking forward to it!

In Memory

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:20:57 GMT

I still remember. With love.

SML
6-29-70 to 7-6-99

Happy Fourth

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:09:10 GMT

If anyone has ever wondered, fireworks in Portland Maine are really cool. Groovy, even! Best wishes and peace to all this Independance Day.

Work and Travel

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:21:24 GMT

Don't you hate it when you wake up in the middle of the night and realize that when you implemented the AttributeValueFilter, you forgot to take the DictionaryProperty into consideration as well? Yeah, me too.

I had one of those nights last night were I couldn't turn off my brain, and it kept puzzling over the things I'd been working on during the day. This isn't too strange, because when I'm trying to solve a puzzle during the day, I can't very well just decide to stop mulling it over just because it is six o'clock. The odd thing is that, during the day, I could barely concentrate, couldn't stay focused on my task, and kept looking at other things. So why would I suddenly be fretting over it at night?

Anyway today I implemented the property filter thing, and that's all green. I now plan to spend the day working on a resolver for reverse attributes, which should be interesting. (I don't know why I'm in the mood to drop work jargon into this post, but I am! Sorry.) Sadly our VNC is still vetoed due to a virus, but that's okay because a kitten ate my headphones anyway. Also I seem to have left the other ones in Newark. Oops. Time to go shopping.

I was talking to my cousin a couple days ago about a possible trip I was thinking of taking to Milwaukee in mid-August. "I can't decide now though," I said, "because that's way too far away."

"It's really not that far at all," she pointed out. "Just a little over a month."

"Yes, but before then I have to get home from New Jersey, go to Maine, go to New Hampshire, then to..." I twisted my face thoughtfully. "I think Chicago is next, then Florida, then Belgium. It's just too far away to think about."

"Oh. Well, when you put it that way, I see what you mean."

On the plus side, tomorrow I go on a mini-vacation before my colo that starts monday -- YAY!

Fireworks!

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:20:41 GMT

jebra has invited me to see the fireworks tonight in Royal Oak, and I am extending the invitation to any local folks who would like to join us! It should be fun, assuming it doesn't rain. (I don't trust this rain stuff, since it seems to come frequently. But hopefully it won't.)

Well actually non-local folks are also invited, but I (mostly) don't expect them to attend.

Here are the (admittedly vague) details I have:
July 3 - dusk - Royal Oak - near Red Run Park - S. of 13 Mile, W. of Campbell
Encouraged are the bringing of chairs/blankets and possibly even beverages

Let me know if you want to coordinate a meeting-up of some sort.

Skating

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:12:07 GMT

I went skating today during lunch. Since I went skating last thursday, we could stretch reality a little bit and say I went skating twice in one week! Good thing, since I won't make it back out for at least two weeks.

It was kind of frustrating today. Both of my knees were bothering me, and I just felt tired and wobbly. I know I'm worn out from the weekend, but I still would like to do better. I need to skate more to get to that point, but I barely am able to make time for the skating I do now. I suppose I should do some strengthening exercises when not on the ice or biking/running/whatnot, maybe that would help.

On the plus side, I was doing my moves relatively well. I just didn't feel smooth and natural during transitions on the ice -- and my stupid knees were hurting (each one in its own special way!).

I like skating, but there is a whisper in my head wondering if I should just give it up.

Or maybe I'm just tired and crabby. Good thing it's a short week!

...with luck, I'll feel energetic enough to do the club ride tonight. Personal PAs everywhere recommend bicycling for knees!

[Edit: apparently there are supposed to be storms a'comin', so the ride leader emailed us to say it's been canceled. He also included a link to information on lightning safety, so I guess he's serious!]

Books

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:06:20 GMT

I haven't been reading much recently. Not sure why, just been busy with other stuff I guess. Maybe my reading materials just haven't been captivating enough. I have a pile of books waiting to be read, hopefully I'll find something that gets me motivated again.

15. Voyager, by Diana Gabaldon - Third in a series, and better than the second. Loaned by a friend who loves them, these books are a little too "romancy" for my tastes, but they can be entertaining anyway.

14. Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow - Read on my Treo, a "future warning" kind of book about an out-of-control Department of Homeland Security that doesn't seem too faraway of a future.

13.5 - Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam - I only made it through a bit over half before I gave up renewing it and returned it to the library. Interesting discussion, a little too statistics-filled.

Home

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:33:53 GMT

I'm home safe and sound. My flight was delayed an hour, but it gave me the opportunity to pick up something to eat and a magazine before we left. I have counted three cats, and my house is still standing. I slathered my sunburn with lotion and hung up my new dress. (The rest of the suitcase can wait awhile!) All is well. Work did not go greatly today, but hopefully it will be better tomorrow. At least I'll be happily here in my own house again. But first... time to cuddle with some kitties and sleep.

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:53:26 GMT

I appear to be the only one on the internet without a Wii Fiit. Or whatever the heck it's called. The questions here are: should I be jealous? Is it really all that great, or is it just the latest fad? Should I try to buy one? Will it have everything I'd want, or would I need to buy extra crap?

Man I'm tired and distracted and grumpy today. Part of the problem is that I really don't understand the thing I'm working on today. I'm not sure if that's because it's poorly defined, or because of the previous sentence. Wish I was still on vacation.

NY Vacation and Dress

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:40:02 GMT

Today was Family Day, as was last night. Met up with aunts, uncles,
cousins, sister, and grandmother last night in New Jersey for dinner,
which was great. Today some of us went to see my cousin's new house
in NJ, and then we went to her local beach. It was sunny and perfect. We
had lunch in the sun, then lay in the sun chatting, then swam a bit to
cool off, then swam to a dock and sunned there, then swam back, and
sunned some more before leaving. "Being on vacation is difficult," I
said, "Should I sun myself here on this dock, or over there on the
sand?"

I am a little sun-burnt, but not badly. I wore sunscreen. It was a
good day -- nice quiet and social family time. Then we went for a
walk around a pond, saw N's wedding video, then went out for a final
family dinner. A good way to spend my First Ever vacation day away
from my new company. One more night here at my aunt's on the Upper
West Side, then it's back to real life tomorrow.

Well, sort of real life. I'll be working, but I'll be doing it in the
NWA business lounge at the Newark airport (is Newark real life?
that's a question for some debate). This way I can head home on a
convenient evening flight instead of rushing early in the morning, but
I still don't have to take an additional vacation day. Tomorrow night
I fly home for real. I'll be there two days until I fly out on my
next trip.... It's a busy summer! The next trip will initially be
vacation, but it will roll directly into a week-long business trip
before I go home again.

Attached is a picture of my new dress. Dress-shopping in Manhattan
was entertaining. We went into all kinds of chic little shops with
gigantic price tags, and tried on some stuff. Shook our heads at
other strange-looking stuff. Too high-fashion for me, I guess. Then
we went to Columbus Circle to check out the more reasonably-priced
shops, and that's where I found a dress that I not only liked, but was
willing to pay for! It's pretty.

Only in New york

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:44:04 GMT

After taking our bike tour of Central Park, we decided to head towards the natural history museum.

We passed a bunch of gladiators on Segways handing out free samples of organic Greek yogurt. Pretty tasty too!

NYC

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:54:29 GMT

Made it to New York this morning, found my aunt's apartment, went for a walk, had a Balducci's sandwich, had an iced coffee and an Orengina (it was Hot today!), bought some $5 movie star sunglasses, found a pretty dress for August, changed into nice clothes, and headed to Barbetta for a pre-theatre dinner. Delicious. Now we are in the theater, ready for a great Wicked show!

Goods and Bads

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:03:15 GMT

Good: Prior to today, I haven't driven my car since friday.
Bad: I keep misplacing my sunglasses.
Good: My sunglasses were in my car.
Bad: Big vans that totally block my view when trying to turn onto a road.
Good: Van drivers who wave at me when the coast is clear, so I can turn safely.
Bad: My shoulders are really sore today.
Good: They are sore from biking, using my body, which I like to do and is good for me.
Bad: My keyboard also hurts my shoulders.
Good: I went ice skating today after too long of a hiatus and skated fairly well.
Bad: I slept poorly last night, and I'm sleepy today.
Good: I'm going on a short trip to NY/NJ this weekend to see family.
Bad: I don't especially like July.
Good: I'll have a cool mini-getaway to Maine which will hopefully make it nicer.
Good: I'm seeing my boyfriend tonight.
Good: Diet coke and advil.

Oh look, more good than bad. Life is okay. Now if I could just wake up enough to make it through this afternoon!

Feels Like Italy

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:26:14 GMT

Biking in the rain, yet again. This time it was the club ride that I've been doing on wednesday nights. I was watching my email, half-expecting the ride to be canceled because weather.com was predicting thunderstorms. It wasn't canceled though, so at 6pm I put on my gear, pumped up my tires, and hit the road.

I swapped my sunglasses lenses out for the clear ones, because it looked cloudy. I'm glad I did, too! Just as I turned the corner off my street, I felt my first raindrop. Nice of the rain to wait until I was ready like that...

I wasn't sure if the ride was going on, but it wasn't far to the library to find out. I rode there, and the weather gradually turned from "dripping" to "sprinkling". Still not bad.

There was a small group of intrepid riders gathered at the library. We cast hopeful eyes at the sky. It was raining, but not badly. "It should blow over soon." "I'm sure the worst is already past." "It looks like it might rain." "Shhhh!"

So we mounted up. As we rode, the rain gradually got more and more serious. The first several miles, I could still wipe my hands on my shirt, and it was dry where I'd been leaning over. Halfway through, the ride leader asked us if we wanted to shorten the ride. It was no longer sprinkling, but raining steadily. The kind of rain that will last for hours. "I think it's clearing up," said one guy hopefully. Another added, "It's a warm rain, it's not so bad." The group agreed that we could do the full ride.

As we pedaled farther, somebody commented, "This rain is a good thing, because my shoes were a bit dirty. Now they're being washed clean."

I looked at my pale bare legs, wet and covered with little bits of dirt and road debris. "I don't seem to be getting clean, in fact I'm getting dirtier."

By the next traffic light, I noted that there was no longer any dry parts of my clothing to wipe my hands or glasses on. I was completely soaked, dripping. "They should give us medals, or ribbons for our jerseys," somebody suggested. "To indicate we did the club ride, even through this downpour. Like in the army, for valor or courage under fire."

"Courage under water," I suggested.

"My feet are in little puddles of water," the guy next to me remarked at one point.

"Yeah, my socks feel totally gross," I agreed. I thought my shoes weren't soaked through yet, at first. Then I flexed my toes. squish Yuck, I shouldn't have done that. Once I'd wiggled my toes, I could feel the water soaking into the skin of my feet. squish Eeeew. I like a nice warm rain, but I hate wet feet.

Toward the end of the ride, it was raining hard. Various people dropped off, as they decided to take shortcuts home. There were two flat tires, and each person had somebody stay with him to help, but the core group soldiered on.

It felt silly drinking from my water battle when we'd stop for traffic, what with all the water being absorbed by my skin, but of course the exercise still made me thirsty. I would wipe the drops off my glasses, rub my face with my drenched gloves, knock the raindrops off my helmet visor, then take a nice long drink of water. Ahhhh, refreshing!

As long as we kept moving, I stayed nice and warm. By the end of the ride (twenty-seven miles of rain), my fingers were all wrinkly, and my feet were just all kinds of water-logged-nasty. We all looked like we'd been showering in our clothes -- well, except that if we'd showered we would be cleaner. When I got home, I peeled off my dripping clothes and jumped right into a nice hot shower. Pruned skin or not, the water felt good and the soap felt better.

I might sound like I'm complaining, but in fact it was an entertaining ride. "They just can't handle a little bit of adventure," I said at one point, in reference to the people who dropped off or didn't come. We all had fun, socially dripping together while exercising our bodies. It was good fun, and I'm glad I went -- cold, dirty, pruned feet, and all!

Minesweeper

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:38:08 GMT

One of my first jobs involved traveling to customer sites and running data migration programs. There had to be a technical person on the tricky ones, in case something went wrong. There also generally had to be a customer on site, to keep me from getting into trouble.

The migrations would take hours -- frequently most or all of the night. Most of the time was spent sitting around, waiting for the next step of the process. As a general rule, there would be a PC or two around, but they would be standard Windows installs. (Win3.1, if I recall. It was a long time ago.) No extras, no movies, no internet. Just the old Windows games.

I had long since grown bored with standard Solitaire, and the only interesting thing I found somewhat interesting in the Windows 3.1 games folder was Minesweeper. During those long nights, I played hours and hours of Minesweeper. I also would teach the game to whatever unfortunate customer had to endure the vigil with me. That was amusing, passing on the various strategies and rules. We would take turns playing the game, having little all-night Minesweeper tournaments. By the end of the data migration, I would have created a new addict.

"Why are these mines even here?"

Sleep Betrayal

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:54:13 GMT

I consider some nightmares to be a sort of brain betrayal. This is particularly the case if there is nothing especially wrong in my life. The real betrayal is when my subconscious takes a warm and safe place, my bed, and makes me feel unsafe there.

I have had (though thankfully not often) nightmares which sent me leaping out of bed, or starting away from my pillow or covers. They are usually realistic ones which feature me sleeping, then something scary happening to me in or around my bed.

For example, I had one friday night. I'm not sure it was really a nightmare exactly, since I picture those as long-running and scarier, but it was a icky dream. I was sleeping on my futon, both in the dream and in real life, because my parents were guesting in my regular bed. Somebody (I don't know who, but I remember a hand) placed a couple of large creepy bugs right on my pillow. I jerked away, sat bolt upright in bed, looked for the bugs. I looked for the person.

Nobody was there, and nothing was amiss. There were no bugs, and it only took me a few moments to realize it had been a dream. It was only 4am, but at that point I was sitting up, adrenaline flowing. Also, there had been bugs on my pillow. Even though they weren't real, I couldn't just lie back down there and go to sleep.

I got up, had some cereal, did some reading, and eventually fell asleep again. But my occasional weird dreams like this always give me pause. Why would my brain betray me like that? It's one thing for my subconscious to exhibit its stress or concerns in some external environment, but why would it make my own bed, my warm and comfortable cocoon filled with pillows and teddy bears, a scary place to be? (Even my futon I had filled with my usual bedding and stuff, and I've had dreams like this take place in my regular bed as well.)

It annoys me. It's not a terrible thing, as dreams go, and it's not frequent... but I don't approve nevertheless. My brain should know better than to make my sleep-haven feel unsafe, especially since it is a safe place to be.

Parental Visit

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:39:52 GMT

My weekend was a combination of stressful and nice, but I'd say the nice outweighed the stressful so that's cool. My parents visited from Chicago, staying here at my place. I let them have my bedroom, and I slept on the futon in the spare bedroom. The visit resulted in a bunch of frenzied cleaning last week, and I think the place looked quite presentable by the time I was through. I only received minor criticisms, on items that I first admitted needed not so much cleaning as actual repair, so that works.

I was given a very pretty jade necklace for my birthday. We went to REI and I bought mothers/fathers day gifts for each of them. Saturday afternoon M came over, and we four were rained on during the clay and glass artshow. I ran into a friend while there, which is one of the cool parts of living here in RO. My parents took me and M to the Melting Pot for dinner, and although there were stressful moments there it was also yummy food and pleasant conversation. I got a couple of much-needed private minutes with M before he went home.

Sunday was a leisurely morning, and my mom made one of my favorite childhood breakfasts ever - thin pancakes! Then they went to see the newly renovated DIA, while I opted to stay home. I did some reading, did some weeding, and trimmed the bushes that were trying to attack my car. I have more trimming and related work to do, but at least I got some stuff done that's needed doing.

[Brief blogging break while I close my windows. The sky is making angry thundering noises. Okay, I'm back now.]

Mom baked me a belated birthday cake sunday afternoon, and then she made us a yummy dinner of stroganof with snap peas. I provided Limoncello with our before-dinner snacks, there was birthday cake and coffee, and finally I rounded off the evening with some Tokaji. By then it was basically bedtime.

This morning I woke up and got ready to work, while they had breakfast and packed up and stuff. They left just a little while after I started working, and now my house is my own again. I love my parents, and I'm really glad they came to visit. My dad drives me absolutely crazy. This is the interesting thing about families, that these two things are not necessarily exclusive.

Overthinking

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:52:31 GMT

Alpacas Are Tough

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:35:46 GMT

Best article I've read in awhile!

Here are some highlights:

"During a recent visit to Highgrove, Prince Charles' organic farm, the guide very proudly announced that they had not lost any lambs this season.

"The Prince keeps 4 South American alpacas which are used to fend off the foxes that eat the lambs at Highgrove.

"They regally confront foxes, chase them and try to trample or kick them.

"Alpacas ... look all fluffy and adorable but can be very fierce.

"The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was surprised when asked whether using alpacas was cruel to foxes. “Using an imported South American camel to chase British foxes is so bizarre, we have not even thought about it.” "

Woman or Girl?

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:42:21 GMT

A friend write a post this morning that got me thinking. She mentioned that somebody had referred to Hillary Clinton as a "girl", and that seemed wrong. In the context of her post, her reaction made a lot of sense. However this got me mulling over my own relationship to the words "girl" and "woman".

When I was in high school and younger, we were "girls" and that was that. When I went to college on the East coast, all of a sudden we were "women". There was a strong push to call all the female students women, and the word girl was even considered offensive. People joked about it, but it was also very pervasive. I and all of the females I knew were now to be called women. I modified my language accordingly.

After college, when I entered the real world, the word girls came back. It surprised me at first, given how essential it had seemed at college to refer to females out of high school as women. Many of the women I met and worked with referred to their friends as girls, and I found myself relaxing with the term.

Later I came to think that all of the fervor in college probably had to do with "coming of age". As college females tried to find their identity and embrace a grown-up status, they considered the word girl to be backtracking. It was a name for children, and we were trying to grow beyond childhood. Yet at the same time, we really weren't adults yet. We were almost all full-time students, almost all just out of high school. We were all at different levels of maturity, trying to figure out what we wanted to be when we grew up, even while pretending to already be grownup.

College females, I thought, insisted that they be called women because they weren't secure in their identity as such. It's a little bit like the way I used to be desperate to look unique in my clothing choices when I was younger, for example. I fought to proclaim to the world that I was different and interesting. Now I'm more secure -- I know I'm different and interesting, and I don't feel a need to shout it out with my clothing or hair or whatnot.

Now that I am more settled and more comfortable in my womanhood, I no longer am bothered by the word girl. Well, most of the time. Informally, I use it all the time. With friends, I'll use the words girls, women, or even ladies when being playful. In fact, the word women almost seems too formal and pretentious for casual use.

I think of myself as a girl most of the time, I suppose. After all I'm the JAVAGRL, and a girl geek, and I like some girly sorts of things. But at the same time I am also a woman -- strong, confident, self-sufficient. But at the same time I'll talk about Girl Power and whatnot. Maybe the difference in the terms is whether I'm feeling playful or serious. I'm not sure.

Professionally, it still seems that "woman" is a more appropriate word. This is particularly true with women I do not know well, or when referring to them with others. I feel uncomfortable to be called a girl by colleagues, even though I'll occasionally refer to myself as one when joking around.

I remember at my first job, I shared a cubicle with a woman. She and I had the same first name. A colleague of ours would stroll in often and say "Hi girls." We three (all about the same age) shared a friendly relationship, and joked around all the time, but it still felt weird. We bugged him about it until he stopped. He asked us, "Well what should I call you?" We suggested "guys is fine, women, folks, people, ladies, or maybe just use our name -- we even have the same one after all!" (I don't remember if he switched to another term, or if he just started saying something different when he approached us. It was awhile ago.)

It's an interesting question, and language is a funny thing. Part of the problem is that there is no female version of "guy". Although we embrace it in the plural, and a group of women can be called guys, it still isn't quite right to call one woman a guy. So in casual conversation I'll call women "girls" -- but to make up for it, sometimes I'll call men "boys". I figure that evens things out a bit.