Life as a post-doc

So now I am a post-doc. It's a good life, I must say. While there is the potential for extreme solitude, I find that it forces me to be proactive about meeting people. And I have done that--there is one other post-doc, who seems quite nice, and I have met a few faculty members. I am sure I will meet more as the semester gets underway.

I am also travelling back and forth from Happy Valley to Philadelphia, which is...interesting. It might be good practice for the future, since neither Alison nor I really know where we will end up, or what kind of arrangements we will need to make in order to keep living together. And the drive is beautiful. But it certainly feels a bit schizophrenic to live in the middle of a large city and out in a rural area within the same week, every week.

Luckily, I have been fairly productive so far in my post-doc. Two of my papers (with co-authors) have been submitted in the past month, and I am in the finishing stages of a couple more. Currently, I am revising one of my chapters from my dissertation. It is in good shape, but I need to push the theoretical contribution more. This is what I end up needing for pretty much any paper I write. I am timid when it comes to stating my "theoretical contribution", having a strong inclination to state my claims narrowly. But I am trying to re-frame the introduction to make broad claims. I am in that place where I'm not sure whether I'm making it brilliant (okay, maybe just smart) or incomprehensible. It's one or the other, and I'm really not sure which.

Lastly, I recently read this article in NY Times magazine. It's fascinating, and disturbing. Basically, it reviews the history of the decisions made to euthanize several patients at a New Orleans hospital in the days after Katrina. In early press coverage of this topic, I thought I supported the doctors and nurses who made these (difficult, I'm sure) decisions. But this article was deeply disturbing, particularly as the doctors' decisions to end some patients' lives did not appear to be based on comfort, but on a patients' quality of life. Now, of course, quality of life is important when considering comatose patients. But the problem is that doctors (and lay people) seem to mentally assign "quality of life" on a sliding scale, preferencing ability over disability, even where patients have full mental function. And of course, other potentially discriminatory factors weigh in--race, sex, age, and class. But mostly it's the disability issue that bothers me (full disclosure--my mother uses a wheelchair). Just because someone loses some motor skills, or their sense of sight, hearing, etc. does not mean that their lives are worth less. In our fear of difference and our near-obsession with fitness, Americans are two quick to dismiss the disabled as sub-normal, dispensible, and pitiable (in the worst sense). As my mother occasionally calls us, the "temporarily able-bodied" seem to have a pathological fear of disability. And support for living wills, DNR orders, and even assisted suicide protection (all of which I advocate) can sometimes quickly devolve into "I would kill myself if X", where X is usually a non-life threatening disability (e.g. loss of the use of legs). Which of course makes people assume that everyone else with X does not value their own lives. Let me assure you, they do.

Of course, I also have found NY Times magazine to be unnecessarily sensationalist in the past. So I don't know how much trust I put in the article. But it's an interesting (if long) read.

End of summer (?)

It feels like the end of the summer, anyway, despite the date. I am headed to ASA this week, in San Fran, and then I start my postdoc on August 17th. So this is the beginning of the end, folks.

I don't know whether I'm looking forward to starting the postdoc or not. On the one hand, I feel crappy when I'm not working, and there's been a lot of laziness this summer. It comes and goes. Last week, I got a ton of work done. This week, I'm pulling myself through the days. I'm hoping I'll be inspired by ASA. Something's gotta get me back in the game. On the other hand, I'm nervous about my position as a postdoc--not a student, not faculty. And I'll only by at Penn State for two years, so it's a weird transitory period. I just hope it will help me do okay when the job market rolls around again next year. In the mean time, I am enjoying my break from job searching this year. It is a relief!

Lastly, Alison has been in Oslo for the past week and a half. It's been lonely here in Philly, but I am excited that she was able to see Madonna--twice! Here's her re-cap.

New adventures

In less than a month, I will be starting my postdoc at Penn State. I'm pretty excited to have an office again, and to explore a new place. I'm not thrilled by the weekly commute, but I am so, so thankful that I will be working somewhere close enough to Philadelphia that I can come home every week. And I am looking forward to improving my snowboarding skills this winter on the slopes that are only 15 minutes from campus. (!)

For now, I am trying to re-energize myself to work. It is a sometimes losing battle, although I have managed to get some work done. I am trying to finish an R&R now. The editor has asked for a number of rather large revisions, so it's a slow process. But I'm getting there, and hope to finish by the end of the week. I am also trying to finally get back to all the papers I abandoned during the last year. My co-authors have been very patient for a long time, but I know they are tired of waiting. Too bad there are several of them. I think I am a tad bit over-committed.

The good part of having more time on my hands (or at least not having any immediate deadlines) is that I have been able to run, cycle, and go to yoga on a more regular basis. I love progressing in these areas, and I think I have.

I have some pictures of meals I (or Alison and I) cooked over the past few weeks, which I hope to post soon. When I'm uninterested in work, I put my time and energy into cooking. It works out well.

Lastly, I have been avoiding all news of the health care bill. I see those NY Times articles staring up at me, and I can't bare to watch. I'm so nervous that it will fail again, and I just can't watch it happen. This country needs better health care. It is a CRIME that people can go without--that insurance companies can declare someone "uninsurable", that insurance is linked to work, that people can lose all their money because of an unanticipated illness... The list goes on. This is a topic I cannot even write about in a cogent manner, because I feel so angry about it. How can someone be against healthcare for everyone? Why is "socialized medicine" such a bogeyman? I'm cool with socialized medicine. Yes, even if it occasionally means I wait a little longer to see a PCP or some other minor inconvenience. I'll deal. I think we all will.

Time off in NYC

It seems that all I have been doing lately is taking time off. And this week I extended my "vacation" by visiting New York. It was actually a Brooklyn vacation, since we spent nearly all our time in Brooklyn, only venturing into Manhattan once, for a couple of hours. But that is what I go to New York to do--visit friends, eat yummy food, hang out in bk, and pretend I still live in the slope. It was a lot of fun, and we got to visit Jen & Andrea, who will be moving to Germany soon, as well as many other good friends.

We also ate some amazing food! Jen & Andrea brought us to Chavela's (in Prospect Heights), a fantastic and cheap Mexican restaurant. Their guacamole & mole were really good. On Wednesday, Alison took me to Tom's Diner, a Prospect Heights institution, where I had a cherry lime rickey and sweet potato pancakes (yum!) We went to Ippudo, a great ramen restaurant in the East Village, for lunch on Thursday. We followed this up by cupcakes at ChikaLicious's dessert club (a s'mores cupcake & a red velvet cupcake). Back in Philly, we continued our foodie vacation. Last night, we grabbed dinner at our favorite local restaurant--an unassuming but great Ethiopian restaurant around the corner from us. We ate the lamb special, which was fantastic. This morning we bought a french baguette from the local bakery and some fruit from Sue's, and had a tartine with fruid salad (mango, banana, and figs in a honey lime mint sauce) and a latte for breakfast.

Today we are working (posting on this blog is work, right?) this afternoon, before taking another break to celebrate the 4th. After today, I must get back to work. I have many co-authors tapping their feet at me... Not to mention an R&R that needs to get done. Oops...

Passed! Phew...

So, as you all know by now, I passed my dissertation defense. Yay! It was a roller-coaster day. An hour and a half before the defense, Alison & I found out that our car was not worth salvaging, because of the extreme amount of rust through the undercarriage of the car. We were completely overwhelmed and upset, so I went into the defense after crying through lunch. I felt like 1) if I failed, it wouldn't be the worst think that had happened that day and 2) even passing wouldn't make me feel better. Luckily, #2 was incorrect. I did feel much, much better. And my parents are helping us buy the car--we still have to pay the full amount, but our payments are going to them. While it's not the ideal situation to be in, it is better than the alternative. And now we have a cute and jaunty car that will fit in small city parking spaces. Yay.

We went to the beach last weekend, and now we are back in Philadelphia. I have a little under two months before I start my post-doc, and would like to accomplish some major revisions to several papers, including an R&R that has been sitting on my desk for four and a half months. So far, I have read half an article and completed only a fraction of even my non-work-related to do list. I am okay with this for now, but will not be happy if my lack of productivity carries into July.

Quinoa

We finally tried making quinoa this Spring, after months of talking about it. Our first attempt was a disappointment. Following the instructions on the box led to a bland, wheaty version of coucous. But I tried making it again last week, this time spicing it up. And it was excellent:

I served it with roasted vegetables, a regular favorite. They don't look great in the picture, but they were. Roasted veggies are super-easy to make. It just involves tossing vegetables with olive oil, salt, and herbs (usually rosemary & thyme) and baking them in the oven at 375. Here I included sno peas, shitake mushrooms, onion, carrots, an orange pepper, asparagus, and parsnips. I also love shallots in this dish, but the shallots at our local produce store were looking mealy. I cook the peppers & onions first, then add carrots, parsnips, and mushrooms, and add the asparagus and sno peas last.

The quinoa involved cooking 1/2 cup finely chopped onions and 1/4 cup finely chopped carrot in 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil (I know--this decreases the meal's healthiness. But it increases the taste! And in future renditions, I would halve both quantities). Once the vegetables brown, add 2 minced garlic cloves and some salt. Stir, then add quinoa. Stir briefly, then add 2 cups water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for @15 minutes.

Voila! Excellent quinoa & roasted vegetables!

*As you can see, I have set up my new computer. Yay! I also turned in my dissertation and initiated my completely non-vegetarian status by eating a burger last night. Oh, and I cut my hair. New haircut picture below:

Number 3!

My dissertation is due tomorrow. So naturally, I am procrastinating. Here's something fun to amuse you, as it did me. It's from Google trends, and shows the relative frequency of searches (above the timeline) and news stories (below the timeline) for each of five social sciences. I've added a key below.


Dark Blue: Psychology
Red: Economics
Light Blue: Sociology
Green: Anthropology
Gold: Political Science

Try this!

Last night Alison made guacamole...with mango! It was excellent, and we are having the remainder of this magical food treat tonight, with some chicken-lime-cilantro fajitas. But by itself with chips is also an excellent way to eat said guac. (And if I haven't posted it before, we also have an excellent recipe for guacamole with pomegranate and pear.)

Fedex tells me my computer will arrive tomorrow. I won't have time to set it up until I send in my dissertation (Thursday), but once I do, I hope to start posting more pictures of food and recipes.

Sometimes I wish I had entrepreneurial skills, because opening a restaurant or bakery would be so much fun.

Final week

This is my official final week of work on my dissertation (pre-defense, anyway). I have heard back from both of my chairs, with approval to go forward after making a few changes. I am pretty happy with my version now, and I'm sure it will be even better once I make these changes. Yay. I am particularly proud of my qualitative chapter, because I have less experience with this kind of work, and because it's coherent despite being twice as long as the other chapters.

Of course, I may have more to do after the defense. I'm not sure how common it is to have changes from the committee, but I will need to format it for the grad school at the least. And then of course, many drafts of changes before journal submission. But that should be fun, actually.

In other news:

1) My food poisoning finally ended after a week and a half. Thank god.

2) I have been contacting my interview participants to update their contact info, and find out what the seniors are doing in the Fall. I have heard lots of good news (jobs, college, and an engagement--which might seem too early, but this young woman had a child in December, and she had been hoping her boyfriend would propose when I met her in October). I am happiest about one particular senior who had been the best prepared of all the working class/poor teens I interviewed--ambitious, smart, accomplished. She wants to get a ph.d. in psychology eventually, but had been arguing with her mother over college. Her mom wanted her to go to community college nearby. But she won the argument, and is going to a great state university. Yay!

3) I had a real weekend at home for the first time in a very long time (a year or more?) while waiting to hear back about my dissertation. We went out every night, slept late in the mornings, did a little shopping, and cooked yummy meals. It was really fun, and needed.

4) We also saw the Star Trek movie. It was great! I love Zachary Quinto even more now. Although I did spend the first part of the movie waiting for Spock to cut someone's head open. Also, I thought the actors who played Sulu & Checkov were great.

New Computer!

I bought a new computer yesterday, which was the second largest purchase of my life (my first being a certain ring...) I did not get a Mac. I had wanted to, but it was just too expensive for my budget. However, I am very excited about my new Dell--it's a Studio XPS, and I added more memory and a bigger hard drive along with a couple of other upgrades, so it should be roughly comparable to a MacBook Pro (at more than $1K less). It should arrive on or around my birthday, appropriately enough.

In the meantime, my old computer has pretty much died. The C drive is full, and the security system tells me it has found and killed a virus. Having little faith in the security system (the computer is more than 5 years old and has been on the fritz for at least 2 years now), I'm not so sure I want to transfer any of my files to the new computer. Luckily, I have already transferred most of my important files to my work computers, so I may not have to deal with that at all.

Unfortunately, until my new computer arrives, I cannot upload new pictures (disk is too full). I had planned to post pictures of my trip to China, my new haircut (very short!) and maybe food pics. But this will all have to wait. Stay tuned for pictures, and in the meantime I will try to entertain you with words...

Home Again

(Sidenote: "Home Again" was the name of my stepmother's consignment shop in RI.)

I am back from China. I had a good time, overall, although there were some bad spots. The conference was fun, if a bit lonely. JD & Hedy weren't in town until the last day, and Kathie didn't hang out at the conference for meals, so I spent a lot of time by myself. I met a couple of cool people, including a guy from the Ukraine who was in grad school in Japan, and grad student and professor from France. My collaborator from UCLA, Judith, introduced me to a couple of people she worked with as well. My presentation with JD went well--people told me they liked it, and they seemed genuine enough. And I felt pretty confident while giving the talk, which is always a good sign. I also saw some very good presentations. There was a banquet on the second day of the conference, at which I ate Peking duck. Yum!

On the very first night I was in China, Michelle and Ed (the people I was staying with) and I went to eat hot pot. Oh, how I regret this. I began to get sick on Saturday afternoon, shortly after I left the conference. Michelle and Ed had already been sick over the preceding day. I had stomach pains all afternoon and evening, threw up in the middle of the night while burning an extremely high fever, and then had a fever, chills, and stomach pains the following day. By the afternoon, I was able to walk around one of the old neighborhoods in Beijing with Michelle, before the fever came back and we went home.

On Monday, I felt much better, and I joined Lisa, Kathie, Hedy, Scott, and JD for a tour of the Wangfujing Snack Street--the one where you can buy scorpions on a stick! It was fun to look around, but we eventually went into a restaurant for lunch. After lunch, JD, Scott and I went to the Forbidden City, and then I went home.

On Tuesday, Michelle, JD and I hiked 8KM of the Great Wall. It was very fun, and very difficult. It was quite hot, and there were many steep climbs up stairs and the remnants of stairs. After 4+ hours of this, we ended our hike by taking a zip line over a small lake, and then a bus ride home. That night we had a yummy dinner followed by desserts at a rooftop bar.

All in all, the final two days made up for my misery. I loved hiking, and am inspired to do more sometime this summer. Unfortunately, I continue to have stomach problems--I felt very ill on the plane and on Thursday. Yesterday was a bit better, and I am waiting to see how today will go. I went for a run this morning, and the heat plus my stomach made for an unhappy time of it, but my post-run meal appears to be causing only minor stomach issues. It will be a while before I have any urge to eat Chinese food, though!

So long, for now

I'm headed to Beijing tomorrow for a conference and (hopefully) some sightseeing. I'll be there the 13th-20th. Unfortunately, a draft of my dissertation is due to my co-chairs on the 20th, so I may spend much of my time in Beijing working. It's really terrible timing. I feel resignation more than any other appropriate emotion--excitement, perhaps?--at the prospect of visiting China. I feel sad that this is one of the places that I have most wanted to visit for a very long time, and yet, I am dreading the trip and feeling completely overwhelmed by the thought of writing a dissertation introduction and conclusion, editing three chapters, attending and presenting at a conference, traveling for 30+ hours, and being in a foreign country all in the next 11 days. If I felt I had the option to not take this trip, I would stay home.

Updates on a Random Wednesday

1) I now officially hate my dissertation. I feel like I might not make it in time to defend on the date I chose. And if I do, I'll still be embarrassed to defend it. Does everyone feel like this, or is it just me?

2) I joined Twitter. I haven't been twittering myself, I joined to follow others. So let me know if you...twitter? tweet? twit? Anyway, let me know and I will follow you.

3) I secretly (okay, not so secretly) despise Elizabeth Edwards. I know she's supposed to be our favorite martyr, but I find her so self-righteous and full of herself. I have felt this way for a couple of years now, ever since her nasty comments about her choices (to stay home with her kids) made her a happier person than Hillary Clinton. But apparently people are catching on. Or at least they are questioning her complicity in Edward's affair debacle. That's a start.

4) Maine legalized gay marriage. Yay, Maine!

PAA

I am back from Detroit, where PAA was held this year. Detroit was a lot better looking than I expected. It was, of course, empty (particularly the restaurants). But the architecture was really cool. Except for the conference hotel, which resembled an M.C. Escher drawing--ironic, really, given that it was the GM building. Oh, GM, when will you learn???

So, the short version of the conference:

-Wednesday: Went for a run in the best hotel fitness center ever (new machines & great view), followed by yummy dinner in Greektown. Amy and I gathered leftover food and found a church at which to donate it, doing our good deed for the week. Briefly visited the mixer and met a Wellesley grad before heading to bed, exhausted.

-Thursday: Went to a great morning session on data collection, met with a coauthor for lunch, presented a paper, had dinner with Lisa & Melinda at Slo's Bbq (yum!), drinks with a couple of fellow demographers.

-Friday: Went for a run at 6am, followed by volunteering at the info booth (it saved me the cost of registering for the conference!) Went to the cohabitation section where Amy presented our paper brilliantly. Had coffee with my future postdoc mentor. Attended Kathie's awesome PAA address, then to the Detroit Institute of the Arts with Lisa & Scott, back to the conference hotel for Kathie's party. I ended up staying there until 1am chatting with Dohoon.

-Saturday: Up at 6am to practice talk, gave said talk which went okay until the discussant revealed all the flaws that I had skipped over in the talk. Attended a session on health in which I saw perhaps the worst talk ever, then on to a great session on education. Took a taxi back to the airport with Yingchun & Yilan.

Overall, I had a good time. I always have a great time at PAA. It's amazing how good the conference is, particularly when compared to other conferences (ASA, ESS). I constantly see people I know or at least know of, the quality of the presentations is pretty high, and I'm never at a loss for something to do. And while Detroit is not the best place to visit, it gave me an excuse to visit a city I would not have a reason to go to otherwise. Yay.

Restructuring American universities

This ("End the University as We Know It" by Mark Taylor) article was in the NY Times today. The author argues that American universities need to be restructured in several ways. I have always been interested in thinking about how universities are organized, and what changes could be made to make them "work" better. So I really enjoyed reading the article. Here are the authors recommendations, each followed by my thoughts:

1. Restructure the curriculum to facilitate cross-disciplinary teaching.

*I like this idea, but think it would be worthwhile to do a large study of interdisciplinary teaching already underway, to see what works and what does not. Unfortunately, most interdisciplinary teaching arrangements I am familiar with have not been successful. I think there are a few issues.

-First, there needs to be a natural fit of the disciplines involved and the theme of the class. It sounds good to put a humanities course with a hard science course, but that is often a mistake. Either one of the disciplines takes priority, or both are covered only on the surface.

-All faculty members involved must be comfortable with the approach of all other faculty members, so that they can truly engage in dialogue, and not just cover their own approach.

-Lastly, and most importantly, interdisciplinary courses either must be able to teach fundamentals or they must be offered only to more advanced students. Students in college still need to be taught certain basics (and this becomes increasingly true as a greater proportion of high school seniors head to college). It's great to think about the problem of "war" from many angles. But if students aren't familiar with the theoretical bent and tools of each discipline, they will be lost.

2. Do away with academic departments and create networks of interdisciplinary groups centered on thematic problems.

*I think this idea is only partly right. The problem (like most of the author's suggestions) is that he assumes expertise within a discipline. And of course, this is the case now--because we have departments that train faculty. Without these departments, how will new faculty be trained in one area, that they can then bring to bear on a central problem? I think we should think about how we can combine the benefits of expertise and generalization.

3. Increase communication between universities so that each institution can specialize in fewer areas, and then students can use distance learning to take advantage of other institutions' strengths.

*I really like this idea. I've never been a huge fan of distance learning, but I think it's getting better.

4. Transform the traditional book dissertation into alternatives, such as projects (websites, films, etc.)

*Clearly written from the perspective of a humanities professor. The hard sciences have already moved to an article-based dissertation, and the social sciences are close behind. The humanities could do this too. I do not like the idea of projects for Ph.D.s, because the primary qualification for being an academic should be the ability to communicate in writing. But given the next suggestion the author has (which I do like), maybe there should be some options for peole who don't want to go into academia.

5. Expand the range of professional options for graduate students.

*Yes! If academic departments took a range of professional options seriously, they could vastly improve the overall quality of ph.d.-graduates. I think a large part of the problem in current departments is that faculty refuse to acknowledge options other than research. Because of this, many students have to make their way largely on their own. Why not try to improve the preparation for people who are going to go into government, for example, rather than ignoring them?

6. Impose mandatory retirment and abolish tenure. Replace with 7 year contracts.

*I'm somewhat uncomfortable with the author's premiss for this suggestion, although not his solution. The author compares this to financial executives who spurred the current recession without oversight. But academia has too much oversight in some ways. Social pressure is extremely strong among faculty, creating all sorts of weird relationships. A little top-down management isn't a bad idea. However, the idea of going through a tenure-like process every seven years seems rather cruel. Maybe there is a way to instill tenure in stages, rather than all at once? And also, perhaps academic departments could have a little less power? Although if that is the case, the ways that academic administrators are recruited and hired would also need to be changed.


I think there might be an interesting way to combine the author's suggestions with the way universities work now--

Academic departments are necessary for training purposes--teaching the fundamentals of a discipline--and for reviewing faculty members' work based on the standards of the field. However, departments as they exist now do not promote creative thinking or an interdisciplinary approach. They do suffer from the problem of over-specialization. Not only does this narrow the influence of academics' work, but it fails to teacher undergraduates and graduate students to take a narrow problem they are working on and apply it to a larger question. So, I would suggest:

1) Keep academic departments, but establish interdisciplinary working groups structured around a central question/problem. These working groups would take over some of the work that departments do, as well as some of the power. They would have a chair, would share the responsibility for curriculum construction, and would take part in peer review of others' work within the group.

2) Teaching would take place both within the departments (to instill fundamentals) and working groups (to encourage interdisciplinary thinking), and faculty members would split their required loads roughly in half. Department classes would be smaller, because of their focus on teaching skills. Interdisciplinary courses would have more students, because they would have more than one faculty member teaching, and there would be more onus on the students to be independent scholars.

3) Both academic departments and working groups would evaluate their members for tenure and other promotions. Tenure would remain, but faculty would continue to be evaluated. If faculty members do not maintain high standards after tenure, they could be taken out of working groups and placed in departments as instructors/adjunct professors. They would retain job security but lose prestige. They could work to be reinstated, however.

4) Graduate students would apply to departments, but their education would take place in both a department and a working group. Students interested in pursuing academic careers would be placed mainly with a department and secondarily with a working group, while students interested in non-profit/business/government and other non-academic jobs would be more integrated into working groups (on the presumption that this kind of discourse would be more beneficial to students who are going to need to apply their skills to real-world problems). The boundaries would be flexible between the two options.

Thoughts?

Would you ever...

The other day, I read an interesting article on "neuroenhancing drugs" in New York Magazine. The story is here. It's quite interesting. The article interviews several users of off-label psychiatric medications for ADD, Alzheimers, and sleep disorders, who claim the drugs make them better workers. It goes on to profile doctors (!) and drug companies who argue that these drugs will be the plastic surgery of the future--enhancements of the mental, rather than physical, kind.

I have heard of ADD drugs such as ritalin being sold on the street as a drug (and was once asked if I wanted to buy ritalin in college--I declined). I am completely against this practice, mostly influenced by my mother's condition. As someone who contracted polio as a child and now suffers from post-polio, she takes heavy pain medication every day. Her medication is also sold on the street, and as a result, is very highly regulated. Two Christmases ago, she accidentally washed her supply of these drugs in the washing machine. Her doctor was out of town, and because of regulations meant to prevent street sales, my mother suffered through five days with almost no pills. It was awful, and something I never wish to see again. So the thought of people abusing necessary medication completely pisses me off.

On the other hand, the generic question of whether, as a society, we should develop neuroenhancing drugs for everyday use is an interesting one. The article shows both the up-side (better concentration and more productivity) and the downside (addiction, and sometimes the inability to dictate what task your productivity will make easier). Proponents argue that these drugs could make "society" better, and in particular, would make the U.S. more competetive. Personally, I think fixing the education system would actually do a better job in this realm, given the marginal improvements that drugs offer. Also, we don't really know the side effects of the drugs--do they increase the odds of heart disease, stroke, or high blood pressure? Do they interfere with short term memory or have an impact on one's personality over the long-term? Hard to say.

I have only once taken a drug meant to have a stimulating effect (okay, I mean apart from caffeine or nicotine). I was in high school and a friend offered me whatever the current version of N0-Doz was. Except she encouraged me to take four, which was the normal number of pills she took (or so she claimed). After taking them, I got in trouble for running around the theater where I was working, broke down in tears, went home, and was sick for the next day and a half. I have never had an interest in trying anything like them again. Which might make me less productive, but hey, at least I know my work is my own, and not the result of a drug.

City Living

I love that I can walk to a park, my hair dresser, several grocery stores, my gym, my yoga studio, any number of cafes, my favorite bakery, and all the retail stores I could want. I love that within a two-block radius of my apartment, I can get sushi, ethiopian food, thai food, low-end greasy pizza, medium-quality brick oven pizza, tex-mex, chinese food, and pub food. I am particularly fortunate that our apartment is located in the Center City area, only a block away from a centrally located park, and a couple blocks from a running path that extends along the river and into a large park on the outskirts of the city. So, yeah, I'm pretty lucky.

The downside of living in the city is driving me crazy, though. When we moved into our apartment, there was a popular bar/club occupying the space on the first floor of our building. On Fridays and Saturdays, they played loud (and bad) music that we could hear in our bedroom. We found it annoying, but we could usually sleep through it. The landlord told us they were leaving, and a new owner would be opening a mellow club that played jazz and served food.

At least, that's what they were told. The new place opened in March. And they are...awful. It's billed as an "invitation only" club. They put a red velvet rope across the entrance to our building and ask us if we are "on the list" when we arrive home late. They do bottle service for over $1000 a pop. I didn't even know what bottle service was before they moved in. And they play music very, very loudly. To be fair, it's good music. But it's loud. Loud like there's a party in my apartment, and loud enough that I can feel the floor (and consequently, my bed) vibrating with the bass. And they are open Wednesday through Sunday, so we get only two peaceful nights per week.

This is particularly bad on days I am working. There is nothing like working on one's dissertation while hearing Kanye blasted through your window, along with a bunch of scantily clad women screaming along with the music (I don't know why they scream, but they do).

Last night, for the first time in my life, I called the police about the noise. I felt terrible. No one wants to be the complaining neighbor. And you have to call 911, which seems terrible. Like, "Oh, someone got shot in West Philly? But I have a noise complaint!" Still, it was ridiculously loud and again accompanied by screaming. And other people in our building have been encouraging us to do this--apparently, the police have been receiving several complaints per night. And our apartment is actually closest to the noise that emanates from the back of the club. To make things worse, our bedroom window is closest to the noise, so although it's loud in our living room, it's like being in the middle of a house party in our bedroom.

So, yeah. Hopefully something will change. Neither Alison nor I have soured on living in the city. We have just learned to be picky about our neighbors. And maybe to drive by our intended living quarters at night before signing a lease...

(I should note, we do have the option of moving, but we *love* our apartment. It's a quandry).

Susan Boyle

By now, most people have seen this clip of Susan Boyle. She is a spunky misfit with great talent, and the modesty and age to bring a tear to our eyes. I cried too. She seems like a lovely lady. There are a great number of assessments of "why we love her." Here's the latest one I read, but there are plenty more. They all boil down to our own need for acceptance, her profound giftedness and charm, and a little studio exploitation. I can buy that.

But the Susan Boyle phenomenon also strikes me as having a dark side. Not for her--things will work out quite well for Susan, as they did for her predecessor, Paul. Rather, the dark side of this media sensation is what it says about us (okay, Britain, but it can be said of the U.S. as well). That is, we're terribly stratified. So much so that these two talented individuals--Susan and Paul--could live their lives in obscurity because their parents were not wealthy or connected. And it's not just these two individuals. The truth is, most famous, powerful, and wealthy people in the U.S. and Britain had famous, powerful, or wealthy parents.

What's worse, Susan and Paul are used as stories of hope and inspiration. We are expected to be grateful for the reality world's acceptance in embracing their talent and giving them the opportunity to shine. Through them, we can feel better about class stratification. "Look! It worked out okay for them!"

Reality shows owe much of their existence to our need to believe in the American Dream (and whatever its British equivalent is). And of course, they owe a great deal to class stratification in general. Britain's/America's Got Talent does not tell us that any working class schmo can get ahead. It tells us--through weeks of audition episodes--that most working class schmos belong exactly where they are. They suggest that talent is rare among the ignoranti and that the "truth will out" and will save these few gems from their surroundings. They encourage a belief in talent as raw and pure, needing no expensive coaching or time to cultivate. In fact, the opposite is true. Potential greatness exists among the working class, just as it does in the middle and upper classes. It is the money, independence, confidence, time, and access to resources that they lack.

C'mon, Paterson

Stop playing politics with the gays. If legislators aren't going to pass a gay marriage bill, don't put it up for the vote. Way to gamble gay rights to improve your popularity.

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/04/patersons_gay_marriage_gamble.html

Countdown to diss

I am about two months away from my dissertation defense date (June 18). That is, if it isn't pushed back. When I was in Chapel Hill, one of my advisors warned me that they could decide I wasn't ready, and could push back the date. She told me at least twice that I "had time" to push it back if necessary.

Except that I have an appointment with the beach on June 20. And I intend to make it. So now I am in full-panic mode, trying to get this mess of three drafted chapters into a polished (okay, adequate) dissertation with introduction and conclusion. On top of this, I need to write another paper draft in a week in order to meet with a co-author at PAA. And I am going to Beijing in mid-May. I am regretting that decision.

Anyway, not much new to share. I visited Chapel Hill, which was awesome. I plan to discuss the game and share pictures, eventually.

In other news...

1) I think it is laughable that the Somali pirates are so "outraged" about the killings of their comrades, and now vow revenge. You...get that you were holding someone hostage, right?

2) Also, I think I have finally decided to buy white strips for my teeth. They are too yellow. I'm just scared of the whole bleached-teeth thing, and worried I will do some sort of damage. Also, it would be better to bleach them over a period of time when I was not drinking coffee. This will not happen until late June/July. Hm.

3) I have almost completed the very loooong process of eliminating walk breaks from my running. Basically, ever since I ran my first marathon in the Fall of 2005, I have had recurring knee injuries. At first, it was my IT Band. I spent a year and a half recovering from that. Eventually, I started a marathon training program and got up to 14 miles in the summer of 2007. Then I stupidly moved furniture all day and went running the next day. Hello, runner's knee! This was much more persistent. By winter that year, I couldn't run 2.5 miles without pain. So I started a very long program of building up. I added more yoga, started cycling, cut running to 3x/week, and began running with walk breaks. Finally, I have almost phased out the walking, and I will soon be adding a fifth day of running to my week. Woo-hoo! I definitely credit the cycling and yoga. I did PT exercises for a while, and they were worthless. Mostly, I just needed to build strength in areas that were weak. Or at least, that seems to have been what happened. I'm only running 7.5 miles on my long days, but I dream of more...

Dreams

In honor of the craziness of my recent dreams and Anne, who blogs about her own dreams, I thought I would post mine here. Normally, I have no memory of dreaming. I can go months without recalling a single dream. When I do remember them, they are usually vague and ordinary. But no. Something is seriously wrong with my brain:

1) Two nights ago, I dreamed that a friend of mine, who is a grad student in another department, was leading a bloody coup to assassinate the current president of the ASA in favor of another. In my dream, the current president was a member of our department, but was not anyone who has ever been an ASA president. The new choice was from our department as well. In my dream, I felt that my friend and her co-conspirators were being a bit extreme, so I tried to talk her out of it. Still, as most of the attendees of the conference were seated in a large, outdoor stadium waiting for the president's speech, the current leader was murdered (outside the stadium) and the new president prevailed. It was all very Julius Caesar-esque.

2) Last night, I dreamed that I was grieving over an old friend's death. This friend, according to my dream, had been about to embark on a cross-country race that involved running, biking and swimming (like an ironman, but across several states) with some other college friends (Elana, that includes you). The details of my friend's death were hazy. When we arrived at her home, however, she was actually alive. Stricken by relief, I volunteered to join my friends on their race, only afterwards realizing that I didn't bike or swim well and that my running was hampered by recent injuries. This is where it gets weird. Our race was not marked, so I was running along streets and inside buildings while other runners passed me, heading in all directions. I had no idea where I was going. At what point, I began to run up a down escalator, when a herd of unicorns descended the same escalator and began to attack me. Shortly after this, our running/biking/swimming group went to dinner, where the bathroom consisted of a series of sinks in the kitchen of the restaurant. At this point, I woke up.

So, those are my dreams. Thoughts?

Analysis

I miss stata.

At the moment, I am trying to wade through 61 interview transcripts (which is equivalent to over 3,000 pages of text), searching for common themes. Do they exist? Probably. But as soon as I think I find something meaningful, I read more transcripts and everything becomes muddled.

I am beginning to suspect that qualitative research involves a lot of guesswork, and too many of our own prejudices. Which does not mean that I favor statistics, necessarily. Reading through transcripts is also a good way to realize that one's first, shorthand answer to a question is not always the best representation of a person's attitudes and behaviors.

Back to the grind...

Goal: Eat greasy food and watch 30 Rock

Status: Accomplished

My whirlwind tour of San Fran and Baltimore is over. San Fran was lovely. We partied with the bride-to-be on Friday night until the wee hours of the morning, drinking vodka, eating donuts and fries, and taking wacky pictures of Elana, Debby and Dani wearing animal-print robes. Then there was a wedding which may have been my favorite of all time (tied with Michelle's). Although Dani's wedding included an Elvis impersonator, which may have put it over the top.

I then headed to Baltimore, where the audience for our presentation was indeed small. Which made me angry about missing the rest of the reception. Although I did eat awesome crab cakes and a basket of fries for lunch, partially making up for my disappointment.

Then I returned home to amazing cookies, thai food, a fun guest, and a night of 30 Rock.

When I was younger, I didn't understand why people complained about traveling. But in the past few years, I have completely caught up. It sucks. Vacations are fun. Traveling is not. I am so tired of planning, packing, and commuting to somewhere every two weeks. I can't wait to live with Alison in one place, where neither of us have obligations to a second location. The good life...when will it be?

(Also, I should mention, a salary would be nice).

Never submit an abstract to a conference

...Because then you will find yourself, months later, spending many frantic days writing, culminating in an an all-nighter, in order to send a pathetic draft of a paper whose data you are not done analyzing to the session discussant. Then you will spend two and a half days procrastinating because you are wiped out from the mad rush of work, only to realize that you really do need to get that presentation written. And now you (okay, I) look forward to another long night of work before heading out of town.

Let this be a lesson to you. Do not submit a unwritten papers to conferences! Especially when they are small regional conferences whose audience will likely be miniscule.

I would have more time to work on my presentation, but in the 56 hours between Friday at 7:30am and Sunday at 3:30pm, I am taking a train to Baltimore, then flying to San Francisco via Philadelphia (I know--huh?), hanging out with friends, going to a wedding, leaving said wedding mid-reception to catch a red-eye to Baltimore, giving a presentation in Baltimore the same morning, and then taking the train back to Philadelphia.

At which time I want to do nothing more than eat greasy take-out and watch 30 Rock.

Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

These are a creation of mine, culled from three separate recipes for the cake, frosting, and caramel. A small amount of the caramel goes in the batter for the cake part of each cupcake, with another dollop on top of the cupcake after they are frosted. The caramel blends into the cake batter itself, but it does add to the taste.

Caramel
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

-bring first three ingredients to a boil, then bring to simmer
-simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often
-remove from heat
-stir in vanilla

Cake
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sugar
1.5 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup hot coffee
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

-melt the unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler, over simmering water
(fyi, if you don't have a real double broiler, put a small amount of water in a pot and sit a metal bowl on top, not touching the water)
-sift the dry ingredients
-whisk the coffee, sour cream, and vegetable oil
-add the eggs to the other wet ingredients, continue to whisk
-add the chocolate to the other wet ingredients, continue to whisk
-add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring

Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 sticks of butter, softened
2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

-place softened butter in a large bowl
-gradually add sugar by sifting a small amount over the butter, stirring
-beat hard with an electric mixer until icing is pale and fluffy
-you can add food coloring, milk, or fruit juice for variety :)

Cupcakes
-Preheat oven to 350
-Fill each cup with batter to almost 2/3 full
-Add small amount of caramel (@ 1/2 tsp?) to each cup
-Add small amount of batter to each cup
-Bake 20 to 25 minutes
-Allow to cool, then frost
-Add a dollop of caramel to each cupcake

Voila!

The News, In Brief

Sorry I haven't posted. I have many things I want to post, which the problem--it's overwhelming. And I have a paper due for a conference on Sunday. So, I will just summarize here. Elaborations are coming, I promise:

1. I accepted a postdoc at Penn State. This means a Facebook page is imminent. I'm busy right now (and scared to join, I admit). But I promise, it will be done!

2. Alison and I went to Miami for three days. We had a fabulous time, and I wish we were still there.

3. I made yummy chocolate-caramel cupcakes for Alison's birthday last week, and I keep meaning to post the recipe. Also, I plan to post my "secret" chili recipe soon.

4. The spot in my mouth was a freckle, in case anyone was curious (for those who don't know--I had to get a biopsy of a dark spot on the roof of my mouth).

5. I have injured the arch of my foot. I have no idea what's wrong, but it hurts, and is preventing me from working out. It is driving me crazy.

6. I bought tickets to Beijing, and I am psyched!

7. I am obsessed with stories about ponzi schemes & Amanda Knox. There is something wrong with me.

I think that's it. See you all soon!

I will not be unemployed!

I received an offer for a postdoc position yesterday. Yay! It's a great fit, so I'm very excited. I'm now waiting to hear back from other postdocs before I make a decision, but now I know I won't be sticking around grad school for another year. Yay.

Speaking of (un)employment, this really sucks. Having been unemployed for a (thankfully short) period of time, I empathize.

Conferences

In the next six months, I am attending 5 conferences and presenting 6 papers. This is one of my least favorite aspects to being an academic. While I enjoy attending conferences and talking about my work in an informal setting, I find academic presentations scary. I am not good at captivating an audience, or working without a script (in my discipline, reading from a paper is a no-no--I circumvent this by memorizing my talks). Answering questions on my research is also intimidating.

My next presentation is at the end of March, and unfortunately, submission to this conference required only an abstract. I am now a week away from needing to send a paper to my discussant, and I am still at the abstract phase. I think I will be able to put together a decent paper, but I hope they do not publish our submission abstracts in the program. I cannot deliver on the promises of those lofty goals.

Go Providence!

So, I love Providence's basketball team. Because I am from Rhode Island, and because I love scrappy underdogs who are perpetually on the bubble (granted, Providence is usually in the NIT). But now they beat Pittsburgh, the number one team in the country, and will probably make it to the NCAA tournament. I am super excited. Yes, they will probably lose in the first round. But I'm cool with that.

No other news to report...I'm in Chapel Hill, which is always so busy that I don't get much real work accomplished. But it does motivate me to work while I'm away, so it serves its purpose. Plus, I get to eat at Pepper's Pizza. And that is a wonderful thing.

Everyone else is doing it...

From best to worst (in my humble opinion):

I love this dress on Marisa Tomei. I know, I might be the only one. It does, in fact, look like a set of paper napkins. And it's white, which was overdone this year. But...I just like it. It fits her well, and it's interesting to look at.

Well played, Viola Davis.

I've read a few critiques of Amy Adams' dress--particularly the bib/veil coming out of the center of her chest. But I really like the color (not white!), it fits her very well, and the stitching on the bodice is cool.

The only other white dress I liked. Yes, Taraji looks like a wedding cake. But a tasty wedding cake--and that is rare.

Okay, I confess. I like this dress. In fact, it would be higher up on the list if not for all the critics out there who are telling me I should hate it. What can I say? I'm a lemming. (Also, my crush on Kate Winslet may be interfering with my objectivity here).

Anne Hathaway's dress looks see-through. I don't think it is, but the juxtaposition of the white bands at the top and middle of her dress next to the slightly darker bodice makes it appear as if her skin color is shining through. Also, why is the lower band curved? It appears to be outlining a belly that she doesn't even have.

I think Freida's other sleeve got caught on the limo door as she was getting in, and she decided to go with it. I know people like this dress, and the color is fab. But the sleeve bugs me. Not only does it miss its counterpart, but it also looks like it belongs on Sophia Loren.

The dress is beautiful, but the color reminds me of cheerleaders on prom night. The horror!

The dress might be boring, but AJ is hot. Although she would be hotter if she ate a sandwich.

I do love Marion Cotillard, but she looks like a corpse bride. What's with the leg showing through? Is there a slit in the dress? Did they run out of material? And the top of the bodice looks like it's about 3 inches away from her skin. Was she hoping to stash an Oscar there?

Was there a wedding at the Oscars that we didn't see? (Why so many brides?)

SJP's breasts are coming close to falling out of her dress. Which would be okay, if they weren't smushed up against her armpits.

I love that Amanda Seyfried looks perpetually like her character in Mean Girls. Her dress is fug, but not even fug enough to escape being boring. I dislike the bow, but I dislike the almost-orange color more.

Tilda Swinton wouldn't be so far up the list, if not for the fact that this is the best outfit I've ever seen her wear. Props for coming close to normalcy, Tilda!

Jessica, take the napkin off and wash your hair. This is the Oscars!

Oooh, look! I can totally check my makeup in your dress!

This...feels almost too easy. Pass.

I think Heidi might have worn a design from one of the losing designers from this season's (yet unseen) project runway. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the dress that got someone eliminated.

This dress makes Melissa Leo look simultaneously like an 80 year-old woman and a 12 year-old girl. Perhaps she is playing homage to Benjamin Button ("Pssst! Don't do it! It's not worth it!")


Meryl: "Oh, Sophia, you make me look so young!"
Sophia: "And you make me look well-dressed."
Meryl: "We both win!"

I have no words.

RuPaul's Drag Race

In the past few days, I have watched two episodes of this fabulous show. And it is a masterpiece. 'Drag Race' is a clear immitation of ANTM (a guilty pleasure and a train wreck). RuPaul is a sassier, more stylish, and more confident Tyra Banks--Tyra needs to be adored, but RuPaul knows she is. The prizes are also similar. The winning drag queen receives $20k, a spread in Paper magazine, a spot on the Pride tour, and a commercial deal selling eyelash extensions. The queens go through challenges, of course. The second episode featured a group performance, while in the third episode, the ladies had to channel Oprah while portraying a newscaster, on-air salesperson, and talk show host. At the end, the bottom two have to "lipsynch for their lives" to stay for another week. And, of course, every reality show needs ending taglines. The loser gets, "sashay away" while the winner hears, "Shante, you stay!" Magical!

Anyway, watch it. I promise, you will not be disappointed...

Random Thoughts

Just a few things I have been thinking about (and thought you should know, because I guess I'm just that narcissistic):

1. Wild animals are not pets. It should never, ever be legal to keep them in your home. I don't care if they can drink wine out of stemmed glasses. And what is the point in asking for an explanation when these "pets" attack? The explanation is that you brought a wild animal into your home. End of story, jackass.

2. The NY Times has list of promising dinner-for-breakfast options. Now, I'm more of the breakfast-for-dinner type, but I applaud their out of the box thinking. Last night, I did make a pizza (although it was dinner food). I make this every so often, and it really makes an excellent dinner. I used Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough (actually yummier than their white wheat version), and topped it with tomato sauce, mozerella cheese, sliced tomatoes, grilled chicken, and basil. It's an excellent meal, and pretty healthy!

3. Speaking of food, I am trying to eat more healthily. I am already a pretty healthy person, but I have been thinking about trying new grains and vegetables. My latest obsession is quinoa, although I have not yet tried it. Any advice on good food?

4. Now this is a teaching film I could go for. NY Magazine suggests this is the best film of the year. It's the story of an upper middle class white teacher struggling to teach a class of poor immigrant and minority youths. Cliche? Yes. In fact, having been such a teacher, I really hate this storyline (seriously, why does simply being white and willing to teach kids of another race automatically qualify one for a movie or book deal?) BUT--it's a French film. And better yet, the reviewer says this film ends in bitterness, not triumph. Excellent. Also, I like this description of the movie: "every class [the protagonist] leads is a juggling act that’s deeply disillusioning—then inspiring—then frustrating to the point of despair—then unexpectedly touching—then a god-awful mess." Yup, that sums up teaching.

5. What's creepy about this? When models fall, their faces remain perfect. Scary!

Working from home

One of the supposed advantages of being a graduate student--and, eventually, a professor--is the ability to work from one's home. This is true of many professional jobs, of course, but academia does seem to offer greater flexibility in this regard. And many people take advantage of this. My mom did, until being chair forced her to go to work. And most of my peers extol the virtue of working from home.

I have to admit, I don't really like it. I've always preferred going into an office. Once I was given an "office" (initially, this was a spot in the hallway that was buffered with a makeshift cubicle wall, and shared with another graduate student), I began going in every day to work. Even before this, I spent a lot more time in my shared Hamilton offices than many of my colleagues. And getting a closet-sized office to myself was the best thing that happened while in graduate school.

This is not to say that I never spent the day at home. But these were usually special occasions--I spent most of my time studying for comps at home, because I wanted the quiet. And when I'm down to the wire on a deadline, there's nothing that beats being able to wake up at 6am and immediately begin working. Also, it's not that I confine work to the office. When I did go into school to work every day, I brought my work home in the evenings and weekends. But it still allowed me to feel as if there was a delineation between "work" and "home".

This year, I don't have an office. And working at Penn requires a 20 minute walk, mostly over a windy bridge, and only offers a drafty (although pretty) library to do work in. So I don't really get out much. Instead, I wake up and move into the living room, where I eat breakfast, work, eat lunch, work, eat dinner, watch TV, and work. All in the same damn room. I hate it, and it has definitely slowed my productivity (despite saving me the commute). I cannot wait to have an office again.

So, what are others' preferences? I have the impression that my fellow graduate students love working from home--why?

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

...Actually, I only have the good and the ugly to report.

The good: Alison and I went on a lovely snowboarding trip for three days. We are tired and sore, but feeling refreshed for work. Pics and description of our "weekend" (Wednesday-Friday, really) below.

The ugly: Awardees of the RWJ were contacted on Friday, and guess who didn't get a call? Worst Valentine's Day ever (since I didn't find this out until today). It really, really sucks. But last year prepared me for rejection, so I'm doing okay.

Back to our trip. We went to Bear Creek (where two of our fabulous friends got married!) on Wednesday at around 4pm, and went snowboarding for a few hours before dinner. I had the opportunity to break in my new snowboard, and it was awesome. Here's a picture of the board:

The first night was a lot easier than we thought it would be. We headed to one of the easier hills, to practice. It was only our fourth time snowboarding, and we managed to stay mostly upright. We then had dinner at the lodge, and relaxed in the room.

The next day, we snowboarded all day. Somehow, we always manage to miss ideal conditions. It was warm on Wednesday (over 60 degrees), which had melted much of the snow and prevented them from making more. On Thursday, much of the snow had turned to ice or puddles, and it was extremely windy. We went on the intermediate slope, and did okay for the first half of the day. After lunch, though, I became really off-balance and tired, so we went back to the beginner hill. Here's a picture of Alison shredding (well, at least gliding), as well as one of me. Note the snow on my butt. That's from all the falling.

After our day on the slopes, we ate some yummy soup and watched tv in our room. I iced my knee, which was now twice it's normal size, and a lovely shade of purple.

They did not make any more snow on Friday, but they did groom the slopes, so it was much easier to handle. We returned to the intermediate hill, and I had a much easier time. Alison exchanged her snowboard from some skiis. Since she has skiied since age 13, she spent much of her time waiting around for me. Here is Alison looking dapper:

I fell a few more times that day, and added a few bruises to my other knee, and a very large, swollen bruise to my hip--I don't know why, but I always look and feel like I've been in a traffic accident after snowboarding, while Alison is largely injury-free. Although she does have a nasty nest egg on the back of her head at the moment.

Anyway, all in all, a good time. It was great to get away, and to get more experience on the slopes. If we can swing it, we'll go once more this year. Hopefully after a generous snowfall!

Waiting for Godot

Or waiting for word on postdocs. Same difference--idle talk, moving nowhere.

In the meantime...Alison and I went to see Slumdog Millionaire last night (fair warning: my discussion of this movie will include some mild "spoilers"). It was a sweet, funny, disturbing, saddening, and hopeful movie, all in one. A "made for Oscar" movie, in other words. I don't know if I hope they win, though. I liked the movie, particularly the first half or so. It kept me entertained, and the acting was excellent (particularly the star and the game show host--awesome). However, I was disappointed in the end, although I think this is largely because of all the hype. I expected the movie to be an out-of-the-box, thought-provoking film. But it hewed too close to a typical Hollywood script to be all that innovative. It wasn't an Indian film, it was a film set in India. And that was too bad. I was also continuously distracted by the juxtaposition of the good brother's light skin and the misguided (to put it kindly) brother's dark skin. I think this was less about racism than classism, but it still bothered me. I also thought the brother's change of heart at the end was entirely out of character--more a plot device than anything. That said, I did enjoy the movie a great deal. I think the cinematography was amazing, the acting solid to great, and the story was innovative. I just wished it really had been as much an outsider film as the critical acclaim suggests.

In other news, I thought I would post another recipe. This is a soup I've been making a lot lately, and Alison and I love it. You can leave out the bacon, and it would be a great vegetarian soup as well.

Guilty Pleasures Soup
1 package of bacon (10-12 strips)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3 tbsp flour
2 cups low salt chicken broth
2 cups milk
3 russet potatoes, peeled and diced (or equivalent if russet not avail)
1.5 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
tobasco to taste
sea salt to taste

1. cook bacon in skillet, and transfer to plate with paper towels to soak grease, set aside
2. cook carrots, onion, and thyme in separate pan with oil and a little remaining bacon grease (either use big pot or transfer to pot when done)
3. sprinkle flour and stir
4. gradually whisk in broth
5. gradually whisk in milk
6. add potatoes and bring to boil
7. reduce heat and simmer until potatoes tender (@20 min)
8. add cheese 1/3 cup at a time, stirring to melt
9. chop bacon into squares and add to soup
10. season with tobasco and sea salt to taste

--Goes well with sourdough bread. :)

A Trip to Rum Bar

Alison and I met a friend for drinks last night, at Rum Bar, which offers half-priced mojitos on Monday nights (score!) And, then this happens:

Man so drunk he can't focus his eyes: Hi ladies.

All: Um, hi.

Man: (Starts talking to me as Alison & Isabel go back to conversation) Where are you from?

Me: Philly

Man: Where do you live?

Me: In the neighborhood. Where do you live?

Man: 13th and Spruce, in the gayborhood. But I'm not gay. I'm a straight man. Do you think people think I'm gay, because of where I live?

Me: No, I don't think so.

Man: Are you engaged?

Me: Yes. To a woman.

Man: Oh, did I insult you talking about the gayborhood? I didn't say the F-word, did I? I don't use that word.

Me: No, you didn't. It's fine.

Man: There was a gay guy in my frat in college. I used to be like, "Hey, Zim!" 'Cause his name was Zimmerman.

[Long period of being trapped by man and his friend, who describe to me where Penn State is, why they hate the Steelers, and how they began drinking at 9am because they won a lot of money off the superbowl. Alison and our friend, meanwhile, get the bill.]

Man: So, do you think I could get your number?

Me: Um, do you remember that I told you I was gay?

Man: You are? Really? With who?

Me: Her (pointing to Alison).

Man: Ohhhhhh. Well, do you have any straight friends?

Alison: No, we don't have any straight friends.
[We start to leave]

Man: (Shouting across the bar) Good luck with your boring gay life!

No one should drink all day, because this is what happens.

Random thoughts

I really enjoyed this article by Judith Warner (one of my favorite opinion columnists) on myths about teenagers. The main idea is that, no, teenagers are not having rampant sex. Nor are overscheduled or overmedicated (mostly). I am so glad she wrote this column, although I wish it had come in conjunction with a major pseudo teen scandal so it could get more attention. I have failed to find any "overscheduled children" among any demographic of youth that I have had contact with in the past several years (yes, even the well-to-do). And sexual behavior among teens has been on a decline for many years now. What bothers me about these myths is, not only are they not true, they are also usually built around fears of the upper middle class, despite the fact that the issue being discussed (sex, health, and stress) are more likely to be experienced by the lower class. So we end up ignoring real problems in favor of fabricated ones.

Enough said. Anyway, updates. I am currently reading through the transcripts from my interviews. I am somewhat shocked by the number of interviews I conducted, in part because I can barely remember my time there. I do remember the participants and interviews themselves, but the rest of my experience there is hazy...like a bad dream.

Speaking of bad dreams: Last night I dreamed that I was rejected from the postdoc that I am really hoping to get. This may have something to do with the slice of pizza I ate at 1 am, after getting home from drinking and dancing at Silk City.

Lastly, I am super excited for two upcoming vacations. Alison & I are going to the Poconos in two weeks to do some snowboarding (yay!), courtesy of a Christmas gift from my parents. And then in March, we are going to Miami for Alison's 30th birthday. Neither of us have ever been, and we haven't ever done a "tropical"-type vacation. We are really, really excited. If you've been, feel free to send recommendations!

Sick

The NY Times profiles a food-invention called the bacon explosion. Gross. And yet...oddly appealing.


In other news, I'm in Chapel Hill, visiting friends, meeting with my advisors, and waiting for two paper rejections. Good times. I had a scary meeting with one of my co-chairs about my timeline for finishing this year. Fear is a great motivator, and I am afraid. I have no idea how I'm going to get this all done. I'm also waiting for word from postdocs I have applied to. After all, I do not want to finish with nothing waiting for me except a job application to Starbucks.

Sociology in the News...and after a hiatus

It's been a while, but here are some recent news gems that have featured sociologists:

1. You shouldn't settle down with your first love? (Ooops! My bad.) British sociologists argue that "puppy love" doesn't set the stage for long-term happiness. I am unclear whether their definition of puppy love is simply the fact of being in a first long-term relationship, or whether they had some other measure of attitudes and dispositions. Sounds fishy to me.

2. Sociologists measure crowds! Clark McPhail metaphorically rains on Obama's parade--the crowd may have been a paltry million.

3. Maybe the NSF will fund me now. A sociologist was appointed to the second-ranking NSF spot.

4. My favorite combination. Sociologist Gary Alan Fine wrote a book about food. Sociology and food...what could be better? Gary Alan Fine, by the way, has a food blog (a man after my own heart). And it's called...Veal Cheeks.

5. Why do real liberals live in Carrboro and pseudo-liberals live in Chapel Hill? That's right, social networks. Sociologists love them because they explain damn near anything.

Countdown to Facebook

First of all, hello to the five of you who actually read this site. Sorry I stopped posting--I was out of town, visiting lovely Boston and Ann Arbor. Despite the cold, I enjoyed the weather in both cities, because I miss the snow. And there was no lack of snow at either location.

Second: No, I am not yet on Facebook. And yes, I have read this article on why I should join. I am even convinced of the utility of joining--more from the persuasive arguments of Jennie and Elana than from a Slate journalist, but the points are largely the same. So why am I not on yet? I initially declined joining facebook because of some qualms about privacy. These have largely been solved by the smart folks who run Facebook. But only recently (in the last month or so) have I become aware of these changes. And over this same month, I have found myself both busier and more susceptible to the lure of procrastination. As paper and post-doc application deadlines approach, I have become a more avid reader of the many political, sociological, and food-related blogs on my growing favorites list. Not to mention the NY Times, the Daily Beast, Huffington Post, and the New Republic. It's bad.

So here's the thing. I fully plan to join Facebook. And I hope that all of you (yes, the five of you) will deign to be my friend once I finally enter into the 21st century. However, I have told myself that I am not allowed to create another procrastination tool until I actually secure a job or (more likely) a post-doc for next year.

And yes, I know that I can log off of facebook and say no to the hours of procrastination it affords. But who am I kidding? I won't.

I'm going to China!

A paper that I am writing with JD was just accepted to the International Sociological Association's RC-28 Spring meeting in Beijing. I'm psyched. Not only is going to Beijing awesome, but I will be able to visit my good friend Michelle. Yay. Also, this redeems (hopefully!) my previous disappointment over a trip to China. I was all prepared to visit Dani in Nanjing in 2002--I had the airline ticket and Visa ready to go. And then the Iraq war started. And then SARS hit. And my mom guilt-tripped me into not going. For which I was eternally bitter...until now. :)

Rick Warren, Part Deux

Picking Rick Warren was never a good idea, but apparently it was a terrible idea. Not only is Rick "I have gay friends" Warren a homophobic minister, he is also hurting rather than helping the movement to reduce AIDS in Africa.

This article, at the Daily Beast, covers the basics of Warren's involvement in Uganda (as does an earlier blog post here). In brief, he is linked to people in Uganda who have crusaded against the use of condoms by burning condoms in effigy, limiting the importation of condoms into the country, and teaching secondary school students that condoms contain small openings through which HIV can spread. Lovely.

Congrats, Sanjay!

WashPo reports that Sanjay Gupta will likely be the next Surgeon General. Yay!

2009

I made two resolutions this year (two more than usual--I'm not really into "self-help"):

1. Eat more slowly
2. Use all available food in my fridge.

Alison and I made resolution #1 together. We both eat too fast, and consequently, too much. We decided it would be healthier and less fattening if we made an effort to eat at a leisurely pace. So far, Alison says I am doing better with this resolution than she is. This is probably true. I think about it more often. Plus, I always have water with me (it's a compulsion), so I drink water to slow myself down. I also talk more, so that slows down the process. It's a little ridiculous to have to use tricks in order to avoid eating too quickly, of course, but it works. The only problem with the resolution is that I don't eat less. I tell myself that if I was eating faster, I wouldn't notice how full I was anyway, so I should just go ahead and eat more.

Resolution #2 is something I have been trying to do since the Fall, so I thought I would make it official. This is part of the reason for the "mini-bruschetta" endeavor. I decided sometime in October that I wanted to make a conscious effort to avoid wasting food, and I also wanted to experiment with recipes more. This led to a change in the way I plan for meals. Rather than thinking about what I want to eat and then going out to buy groceries for it, I look through my current food, and then figure out an interesting meal that would use up as many of the fresh ingredients I have. For example, we have leftover parmesan, onion, baby spinach, carrots, tomatoes, cracked wheat bread, and pasta sauce, so I am making penne with a side salad and bread tonight. That's a boring example, but you get the idea.

Hm.

To do, in the next week:

1. Finish table of variables for NIH proposal
2. Review paper for journal (deadline already passed--oops!)
3. Write data section of NIH proposal
4. Heavily edit dissertation chapter for submission to ASA
5. Re-frame/edit other paper for submission to ASA
6. Heavily edit cohabitation paper & construct tables
7. Read at least one paper for each of @16 faculty members I'm supposed to meet with next week
8. Write results section for LCA paper

...All before I pack for my interviews and get on a plane next Sunday. Sleep is optional, yes?

Before going back to work, a few updates:

-I recommend reading this article from the New York Times, on the missed signals of the Madoff scandal.
-I made a potato, cheese, and bacon soup tonight. It was so yummy. Food makes everything better.
-I've only been able to watch a few college basketball games so far this year. So what happens the very first time I catch a UNC game? They lose. Boo.

Happy New Year!

Here's hoping that 2009 is a much better year than 2008!

Alison and I have had an excellent post-Christmas and New Years. I returned to Philadelphia on the 28th, and then we headed to New York on the 30th. We stayed at Jennie's for the night. Since Jennie was out of town (boo), we enjoyed the comfort of her awesome Tempur-Pedic bed (yay). We went to an Alvin Ailey performance, which is our Christmas tradition. For the first time, we did not choose a night in which they performed Revelations (their signature piece). It seemed incomplete without it, but it was great to see three completely new pieces. I thought Suite Otis was too short, but I had a great time, as always.

After Alvin Ailey, we went to eat dinner at Alta, a fabulous tapas restaurant in the village. We have been before, and wanted to go back again. We had grilled quail & spaghetti squash, flatbread with mushrooms & ricotta, chorizo-wrapped shrimp, and pork belly. It was excellent. I have no idea why I wasted more than 10 years of my life not eating pork. But I am well on my way to making up for it. After dinner, we went to ChikaLicious, our favorite dessert spot in the city--in addition to amazing food, the owner (Chika Tillman) is adorable. Unfortunately, the main dessert bar was closed, but ChikaLicious Puddin' was open across the street. They were out of their cupcakes (boo), so we shared a bread pudding and an adult chocolate pudding.

The next day, we just had time to grab brunch with Jen & Andrea at Cheryl's in Brooklyn. Then we headed back to Philadelphia to celebrate New Year's Eve. This was the first year in a while that we have not celebrated New Years with friends in NYC. But we had a great time anyway. We made guacamole with pieces of pear, grapes and pomegranate seeds (we were dubious too, but it was great). We also made sausage-stuffed mushrooms and what Alison has dubbed our "mini-bruschettas". I think they are better called "pizza bruschettas," since bruschetta is mini by definition. I came up with them when trying to make a point to Alison that stale bread could be useful for a great many culinary delights. The recipe is at the end of the post, in case you would like to try it out yourself.

Today we ate breakfast, drank mimosas, played trivial pursuit, demolished the remaining bruschetta & guacamole, baked cookies (and ate them), and gave the cat a bath. Now it's back to work as usual.

"Mini Bruschettas"
1/2 lb mozzarella, diced
2 vine tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, pressed
fresh basil, chopped (to taste)
a pinch of sea salt
a dash of olive oil (maybe 1/2 tbsp)

1 french baguette, cut into 1/2" slices (best if stale)
balsamic vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix the first six items together in a bowl. They can be covered and stored for 1-2 days if not used all at once.
3. Pour a little balsamic vinegar in a bowl (@2 tbsp)
4. Slice the bread and lay flat on a baking sheet (if there are remaining pices of bread you don't want to use, they can be frozen in a freezer bag).
5. Spoon topping onto bread--basically as much topping as will fit.
6. After each bread has topping, spoon a small amount of balsamic vinegar on each, to taste.
7. Put in oven until cheese is melted (@8 minutes)

Voila! Best eaten with white wine :)