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Friday, July 11th, 2008
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8:17 pm
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I am pleased: Robin McKinley's Sunshine is getting a little of the recognition it so surely deserves.
She writes on her blog (she graduated from LJ to A Real Blog) (sensibly located at RobinMcKinleysBlog.com) that she wants to write the sort of books "that people take to bed with them, read in the bath till the bubbles are all gone and the water’s cold. Or choose to go with them on long gruesome plane flights."
For me, Sunshine is quintessentially that sort of book. It's a comfort and a delight, and - in this crazy life I lead - she can count on me to keep buying copies. Through the miracle of gift-giving holidays I have arranged for it to be shelved at my best friend's house and in my boyfriend's apartment (I made him read it once, and I've read his copy twice this year). I've got a copy at my parents' house, one in my apartment, and another that sort of "floats." That sounds like overkill until you realize I have five copies stashed in four houses (three of which make up my "residences," in various forms), in four different states splayed diagonally across North America (Alaska to Florida. Whee).
That floating copy exists largely so I have a spare for airplane reading. After a horrible flight a few years back where I spent hours on the tarmac strapped in, in front of an unsupervised four year old with shiny (pointy!) new cowgirl boots and an apparently deaf little sister who needed to be entertained, I don't travel with only new books. If they fail to meet expectations and work isn't engrossing enough, then I am stuck with nowhere to go. I carry one staunch favorite (often Sunshine) to hide in, when those disasters strike.
What books meet that criteria for you?
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, June 27th, 2008
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8:00 pm
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(UPDATED) Want to see what I have been playing with in my spare time? I am making jewelry, and having lots of fun. To see it, go HERE.
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, June 26th, 2008
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2:01 pm
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I am making a master list of other people's birthdays. Please help me out by either emailing me your birthday or leaving it in the comments.
Mine is October 24th.
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| Monday, June 23rd, 2008
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2:39 pm
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Dissertation proposal meeting is concluded.
As always, they were totally unconcerned by the thing I figured we would focus on (the statistical analyses), and all het up about something I figured would be easy (sample, one of the measures).
So, I need to address those concerns and get a revised methods section in, submit two IRBs, and plan to spend July pilot testing (gag!).
All in all, it did not go as well as I might have hoped (no fairy godmother showed up and awarded me a Ph.D., for example), but it went well enough. Constructive feedback, a handful of "good job" comments, and lots more work. So, very typical.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Thursday, June 5th, 2008
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9:17 pm
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| Monday, May 5th, 2008
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10:48 am
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I just - unanimously - passed the second (oral) part of my preliminary exams.
This means I have finished all the course work and all the exams for my Ph.D. I still need to write a dissertation, but I am A.B.D. and so pleased.
Thanks for your support, duckies.
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(10 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, April 27th, 2008
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8:01 pm
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The beautiful bribe boots. My ridiculous reward for writing the prelim I had to write anyway. Thanks to the lovely ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) gwenifyre for the photo....
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
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10:01 am
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A year ago today, A Very Bad Thing happened at my school. I am aiming to stay less Google-able, but am sure CNN will tell you where I am if you don't know. I mean, The Anchorage Daily News online has an article on it up today, down in the "National" section.
Last night driving home from the barn I saw a sign at a local day spa touting their support for the 33 dead, and it made me a little less despondent. One person killed thirty two other people, and our community lost thirty three members. I see them all as victims, including Cho.
Not everyone shares this attitude, and I have been accused of everything up to condoning his actions for holding it. I hope you understand that that is not true - it was a terrible, terrible act with unforgettable and unforgivable consequences. And I believe the perpetrator was also a victim of his own mental illness and isolation. His family still lost a son and a brother, and I believe they mourn him, alongside their sadness and misplaced guilt over not knowing in time to help him before he hurt others.
Friends who went to the annual dance show last weekend tell me Reema's absence was both formally noted and apparent in their choreography. I know that all the victims' families mourn and hope that this year has been a time of healing for them.
I woke up this morning to open the shades and let the sun stream in, and then lit a brace of candles in recognition. The local public radio station is play a requiem, and I am going to spend the day working on a giant project. Later though I will walk to campus and join the candlelight vigil to demonstrate my solidarity with the community. Forget the stupid rhetoric of overcoming, I just need to be present and continue to grow, and hope others are also finding what they need.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Sunday, April 6th, 2008
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7:24 pm
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My [real name] fairy is called Thorn Rainbowshimmer She is a fortune bringer. She lives in brambles and blackberry bushes. She is only seen when the first flowers begin to blossom. She wears purple and green like berries and leaves. She has multicoloured wings like a butterfly.
My {nom-de-blog] fairy is called Fire Elffly She is a cheerful sprite. She lives where fireflies mate and breed. She is only seen at midday under a quiet, cloudless sky. Her dresses glow with fiery colours. She has delicate green wings like a cicada.
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(comment on this)
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| Monday, March 31st, 2008
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6:05 pm - AERA Recap
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Sunday - Street vendor soft pretzel, Thai curry (solo), authentic Chinese (mu shu is the food of the gods)
Monday - New York Deli, American Indian Corn Soup, cornbread
Tuesday - Indonesian, Indian Take-out
Wednesday - Italian Trattoria
Thursday - Cuban lunch and Turkish dinner
Friday - Ethiopian, Thai
Saturday -Amy's Bread
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We saw the last three bouquet's of the day at the Macy's Flower Show.
We visited the MoMA design store, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the United Nations, the American Indian Community House, the Columbia University Campus ("I went to Columbia"), and, oh yeah, the conference.
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I am home now and have the world's most cruel head cold. More later, when I can breathe again.
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(comment on this)
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| Sunday, March 23rd, 2008
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3:52 pm
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| Sunday, March 9th, 2008
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11:49 am
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| Thursday, March 6th, 2008
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6:07 pm
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Tomorrow I will be meeting SeaWorld's dolphin performers. It is poolside, so I wont be swimming with them, but I have us booked for the backstage "Dolphin Spotlight" tour at 10 am. This makes me happy. Their website is horrible, so I am not even going to try to send you there, but TDaC agreed to go, after I found it listed on a local events page, and I am so excited!
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(comment on this)
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5:14 pm
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My favorite musher for the last twenty years is currently leading the Iditarod.
She is an old friend of my dad, a breast cancer survivor, and a persistent musher who has come in second twice, but never won. Watching her win the gold nuggets for first-musher-into-Cripple is a delight, and I hope she keeps on mushing those doggies to Nome ahead of the boys...
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Sunday, February 24th, 2008
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5:19 pm
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Go me. Since my last entry I have pretty much been nibbling around the edges of the impossible project. In doing so I have knocked four of my seven goals for the weekend off the list. I have a page of 18 sources - books and journal articles not available electronically - that need to be fetched from the library. Once that is done the only items left will be "plan to write paper" and "start messing with outline." I literally mapped out my schedule for the week, including several blocks dedicated to the prelim, which may count as "plan to write paper."
I need to be at Greg's in an hour and a half for dinner, and my current intention is to take 20 minutes to start my mom's birthday bracelet then go hang out with the cat until dinnertime. I'll take some reading, and give him some love, then after dinner I can fill out the matrix for the article I am presenting in the morning. I was thinking about going to the library, but that is going to take hours, so I think I will do it tomorrow afternoon. I am so good at this article gathering... its just the reading I procrastinate on...
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| Friday, February 22nd, 2008
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2:53 pm
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D&D Back Story, Take 1 - (People, I could use a little help here. What am I missing? What trouble am I setting myself up for?)
Kamai is a gnome bard whose backstory changes constantly. After all, all bards are story tellers by natures, and can't be trusted with the truth for long, since it shifts in their presence. We do know that she left home, following a charming fellow, years ago. And that the fellow's charm wasn't quite enough to outweigh the discovery of that fellow's charming wife. All the stories about the horrible incident that happened next are straight fiction - you can't actually believe she would have done those things! Now, freed from the need to live a conventional gnome life (since her family likes to pretend none of that mess really happened and oh, no, they don't know anyone of that name), she is out to add to her collection of fantastical adventures, pet badger in tow. The badger's name is Barrow, and he burrows.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
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2:16 pm
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D&D Audience Participation -
We did the Green Dragon Tarot today, and here are the stats for the character I will be playing:
Strength: 13
Intelligence: 16
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 18
Constitution: 15
Dexterity: 8
I still need a species (?) and a class.... I want to play a girl character. What type / backstory does this bring to mind for you?
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, February 18th, 2008
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9:08 pm
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Things I never say to the dog, but find myself saying to the cat:
Get OFF the laptop.
Hey now, no claws on bare skin.
Get your head OUT of my water glass.
Ack, the tongue. Save me from the tongue!
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
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8:36 pm
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I had a riding lesson tonight, sharing the ring and the trainer with a more advanced student. Mr. Sensitive and I were trotting over poles, while Cowboy and his rider cantered over two low jumps. It was fun to watch and I told Reanna, "I know I have to work up to it, but I! Want! To! Do! That! (Eventually)." This was a total surprise to me - I had never even thought about jumping before.
I was figuring another half dozen lessons or so, before I even got to think about taking the horse over anything. Instead she looked at us appraisingly and said, "Well, you aren't ready to do it at a canter, but you can try it at a trot."
So we did. He refused the jump the first two times, but then we got it. We went over both of them in series, several times, and I came home floating. If I can do that, I know I can survive my meeting tomorrow.
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(comment on this)
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| Monday, February 11th, 2008
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2:09 pm
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It would be refrigerator eggs, except I am out of eggs.
I threw the leftover black rice and chicken bits into the crockpot with a can of black beans, two cans of diced tomatoes, and a pile of steamed carrots. Wish me luck.
The refrigerator now contains two cartons of yogurt, some milk, frozen fish which is currently thawing, and condiments. Should be an interesting week.
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