Yesterday I was invited to join a book club. And I am currently reading The Jane Austen Book Club. Just a random coincidence. I've been to one book club meeting in my life, and I wasn't overly impressed. We read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, and although it was an interesting read, it just didn't inspire much discussion in this group of women. (I've found that book clubs are much more popular with women than men. Why is that?) Anyways, maybe because I have studied literature for much of my adult life, I found it to be a little lacking in substance. Is a book club supposed to be in existance to discuss the books read, or is it just an excuse for women to get together, eat yummy cake and gossip?
I'm sure that there are some good book clubs out there. And I'm going to try this new one out. But I don't know how willing I'll be to join a group that professes that it's about reading, when it's really about discussing the local daycare possibilities.
On Monday we'll be choosing what to read for the next 6 months. So if you have any suggestions that I can take to them, feel free to suggest away!
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Humble Apologies
My humble apologies to my sweet husband, who did not force me to go to the Parthenon in Nashville (see my post below). He suggested it, and I went. We both went for what he calls the "cheese factor." Apparently, exaggeration is not allowed in the blogging world...
Monday, August 22, 2005
Just Another Manic Monday...
Gosh, I'm exhausted already this week and it's only Monday! I was gone for work in Nashville on Friday. Ian and I spent the night there so we could explore on Saturday. It turns out that unless you're a big country music fan (which I'm not), there's not much to do there. It was kind of a disappointing city, really. Lots of road construction--so bad that the only place that Ian and I could compare it to was Costa Rica, and Costa Rica won the better roads contest. (And that's a country that doesn't put guard rails up on hair-pin turns in the mountains and trucks pass you in said mountains!) Also, it was just so hot that we didn't want to be outside at all. We drove around looking for a coffee shop downtown to waste some time before one of my meetings, and when we finally found a Starbucks (no indy coffee shops to be found), there wasn't any parking within 3 blocks. Also no bookstore downtown. None. I asked. What kind of city doesn't have a bookstore???
Well, anyways, at least we got to go swimming at the hotel and see the Nashville Parthenon. Ian made us go. It was kind of funny because the gift shop had all kinds of things you could buy, including a sno-globe with gold glitter as the snow and a commerative plate. I guess if you can't get to the real Parthenon, this one will have to do!
I got back to work today and had to attend a 3-hour meeting that included lunch with those people in the cafeteria. Don't bosses know that "lunch hour" doesn't just mean the hour that we eat lunch, but a break from work and those we work with???!!! And tomorrow it's off to Cincinnati for another work trip, and then it's just a short countdown till school starts again.
And I thought summers were supposed to be slow and relaxed...
Well, anyways, at least we got to go swimming at the hotel and see the Nashville Parthenon. Ian made us go. It was kind of funny because the gift shop had all kinds of things you could buy, including a sno-globe with gold glitter as the snow and a commerative plate. I guess if you can't get to the real Parthenon, this one will have to do!
I got back to work today and had to attend a 3-hour meeting that included lunch with those people in the cafeteria. Don't bosses know that "lunch hour" doesn't just mean the hour that we eat lunch, but a break from work and those we work with???!!! And tomorrow it's off to Cincinnati for another work trip, and then it's just a short countdown till school starts again.
And I thought summers were supposed to be slow and relaxed...
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Road Trip to Nashville
Tomorrow Ian and I are driving to Nashville. It's a last minute work trip--I'll be going to some intern presentations and then visiting an employer or two. I'm kind of dreading the trip because I don't really like my job, but I'm looking forward to seeing a new place. I've never been to Nashville, so I don't know what we'll do in our free time. (We're spending the night, so we'll have tomorrow evening and Saturday to play.) It's too bad I don't like country music that much...
Speaking of jobs, there's a job opening with Habitat for Humanity in a nearby town that I think I might like. The only thing holding me back from applying is that it would be an hour commute each way. Am I that desperate for a new job? Maybe...
Speaking of jobs, there's a job opening with Habitat for Humanity in a nearby town that I think I might like. The only thing holding me back from applying is that it would be an hour commute each way. Am I that desperate for a new job? Maybe...
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Site Score II
So I voted for myself and gave myself a 10. Like my mom always said, "If you don't vote for yourself, who will?"
Site Score
So, I just found this site that will score your website. It's pretty cool because it will update it as people vote for it. Right now I'm a 7.5. Not bad considering no one ever comments on my blog and I'm only linked to on two other sites! If you want to see my current rating, scroll down and you'll see it in the sidebar on the right. If you'd like to score your own site, go to www.silktide.com. And I think you can vote for my site (I don't think there are any prizes or anything, just the knowledge that you've contributed to cyberspace) by clicking on the icon down on the sidebar.
Now, I know people are reading this blog because I sure haven't checked it 1200 times, but no one comments, so this is my plea for you to start talking to me. Ericka and Ian, you are the only two who ever comment any more. Am I just talking to myself here???
So today I'm whiny, so sue me. :)
Now, I know people are reading this blog because I sure haven't checked it 1200 times, but no one comments, so this is my plea for you to start talking to me. Ericka and Ian, you are the only two who ever comment any more. Am I just talking to myself here???
So today I'm whiny, so sue me. :)
Monday, August 15, 2005
I'm Who???
So this little quiz says I'm Brian Eno. I didn't even know who he was until Ian explained it to me. (Luckily he's a Talking Heads fan.) Does that make me "unrad"???
You're Brian Eno.You're a little reclusive maybe, a little quieter
than most people...But man, who needs outside entertainment when your
brain is like KABOOM all the time? You are
innovative, creative, and intelligent. You
dress flamboyantly, gravitating towards large
feathers and tinsel. Everyone respects you, and
looks up to you. We are not worthy, we are not
worthy...
Which rad old school 70's glam icon are you? (with pics)
brought to you by
You're Brian Eno.You're a little reclusive maybe, a little quieter
than most people...But man, who needs outside entertainment when your
brain is like KABOOM all the time? You are
innovative, creative, and intelligent. You
dress flamboyantly, gravitating towards large
feathers and tinsel. Everyone respects you, and
looks up to you. We are not worthy, we are not
worthy...
Which rad old school 70's glam icon are you? (with pics)
brought to you by
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Dirty Pretty Things
Ian and I watched "Dirty Pretty Things" the other night, and since then, immigration in the U.S. has been a lot on my mind. Well, actually, it's been on my mind all summer.
I haven't really written anything about our trip to Krakow and Berlin, but that's mostly because there was just so much to take in. Because Ian got a grant to go, we did a lot of stuff having to do with the Holocaust for a project he's working on. I've been interested in the Holocaust for a long time, and one of my favorite classes in grad school was "Literature of Atrocity." I even wrote my Masters thesis on trauma. So the trip sounds worse than it was. Most of the stuff we went to was fascinating. A trip to Auschwitz, the new Jewish Museum in Berlin, a piece of the ghetto wall in both Krakow and Warsaw, the spot where most of Warsaw's Jews were shipped off to death, the Holocaust Manmahl in Berlin, among other more touristy places. I've visited other Holocaust memorials and sites on other visits to Europe and Washington DC. I know the story.
Or I thought I did. One of the things you learn in Europe and when you're skipping over what I think of as "beginner's" history of the Holocaust is what the United States' role in the Holocaust was. We all say, "We helped as much as we could!" But it's not true. The U.S. was rampant with racism and fear directed toward the Jewish population of the world. When we knew (and we did know--we bombed military-related sites near Auschwitz knowing exactly what Auschwitz was), we did nothing to stop it. We knew where the crematoriums and gas chambers were through aerial photos and never bothered to let a bomb go.
But what does this have to do with immigration? We knew all of this and we didn't allow people to escape the murders occurring in Europe. We could have allowed so many more people to immgrate to the U.S., but we didn't. We said that we didn't have room or that we had hit the quota, but people were being killed. How can we not have room for people heading for the gas chamber??? Our racism got in the way. We were just as bad with our ideas of who the "right" and "wrong" people are. The "wrong" people were the Jews, so they weren't allowed in.
We like to think that we're not like that any more, but we are. There are people being killed in many countries in Africa, but we only allow very few to immigrate to the "land of the free." There are people living in abject poverty in Latin America who risk their lives to move to the U.S. to support their families, and we don't let them in. These aren't people who won't or don't want to work. These are people who are willing to do anything to raise their families in a safe place. For them, America is that dream. But when they come here, legally or illegally, we treat them like shit. They're the "wrong" sort of people.
We have quite a large hispanic population here in Danville for the size that we are. They're called "Mexkuns" here. No one has bothered to see if they are really from Mexico. They work in restaurants, paint houses, do yardwork. Yesterday, a woman came into my building to measure the windows for window treatments because they're renovating a large room upstairs. She asked my (white) coworker when the painters were going to be finished, even as a hispanic painter was walking by. My coworker told her that he was a painter and she should ask him. She said in a Kentucky drawl, "Y'all gonna be finished Saturday?" (Even I could barely understand her with her accent and because she was speaking so fast.) He nodded his head vaguely, but you could tell he didn't understand. Instead of asking him again, she just rolled her eyes. I've also been told that "those Mexkuns" squat in buildings by the railroad tracks.
How can we condemn what the Nazis or the Hutus and Tutsis or Pinochet have done to their own people when we won't allow them inside our borders, or once we do, we treat them like trash?
I'd just like to know.
I haven't really written anything about our trip to Krakow and Berlin, but that's mostly because there was just so much to take in. Because Ian got a grant to go, we did a lot of stuff having to do with the Holocaust for a project he's working on. I've been interested in the Holocaust for a long time, and one of my favorite classes in grad school was "Literature of Atrocity." I even wrote my Masters thesis on trauma. So the trip sounds worse than it was. Most of the stuff we went to was fascinating. A trip to Auschwitz, the new Jewish Museum in Berlin, a piece of the ghetto wall in both Krakow and Warsaw, the spot where most of Warsaw's Jews were shipped off to death, the Holocaust Manmahl in Berlin, among other more touristy places. I've visited other Holocaust memorials and sites on other visits to Europe and Washington DC. I know the story.
Or I thought I did. One of the things you learn in Europe and when you're skipping over what I think of as "beginner's" history of the Holocaust is what the United States' role in the Holocaust was. We all say, "We helped as much as we could!" But it's not true. The U.S. was rampant with racism and fear directed toward the Jewish population of the world. When we knew (and we did know--we bombed military-related sites near Auschwitz knowing exactly what Auschwitz was), we did nothing to stop it. We knew where the crematoriums and gas chambers were through aerial photos and never bothered to let a bomb go.
But what does this have to do with immigration? We knew all of this and we didn't allow people to escape the murders occurring in Europe. We could have allowed so many more people to immgrate to the U.S., but we didn't. We said that we didn't have room or that we had hit the quota, but people were being killed. How can we not have room for people heading for the gas chamber??? Our racism got in the way. We were just as bad with our ideas of who the "right" and "wrong" people are. The "wrong" people were the Jews, so they weren't allowed in.
We like to think that we're not like that any more, but we are. There are people being killed in many countries in Africa, but we only allow very few to immigrate to the "land of the free." There are people living in abject poverty in Latin America who risk their lives to move to the U.S. to support their families, and we don't let them in. These aren't people who won't or don't want to work. These are people who are willing to do anything to raise their families in a safe place. For them, America is that dream. But when they come here, legally or illegally, we treat them like shit. They're the "wrong" sort of people.
We have quite a large hispanic population here in Danville for the size that we are. They're called "Mexkuns" here. No one has bothered to see if they are really from Mexico. They work in restaurants, paint houses, do yardwork. Yesterday, a woman came into my building to measure the windows for window treatments because they're renovating a large room upstairs. She asked my (white) coworker when the painters were going to be finished, even as a hispanic painter was walking by. My coworker told her that he was a painter and she should ask him. She said in a Kentucky drawl, "Y'all gonna be finished Saturday?" (Even I could barely understand her with her accent and because she was speaking so fast.) He nodded his head vaguely, but you could tell he didn't understand. Instead of asking him again, she just rolled her eyes. I've also been told that "those Mexkuns" squat in buildings by the railroad tracks.
How can we condemn what the Nazis or the Hutus and Tutsis or Pinochet have done to their own people when we won't allow them inside our borders, or once we do, we treat them like trash?
I'd just like to know.
Friday, August 05, 2005
Ribbon-Cutting Ceremonies
Today I was invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new O'Charley's that's opening up in town. My first thought was, "Will there be free food?" Sad.
I've never been to a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and it's kind of depressing to think that O'Charley's will be my first experience (since it looks like I'm going to have to go for work--you know, schmooze with the local employers). What's more depressing is that I'm actually kind of excited that there will be competition for the worst-run Applebee's in the country.** We don't have that many restaurants here in Danville, so anything that opens up is an improvement (including the most recent opening--Huddle House). It's like a contest for taste-bud mediocrity here in Danville.
Yeehaw.
**I went to Applebee's on Wednesday for lunch with some coworkers. Toward the end of the meal, our waiter asked if I wanted any more iced tea. I said no thanks. Two minutes later, he set down a fresh glass of iced tea. Now, if you weren't going to listen to me when you interrupted my lunch and conversation before, why did you even bother to ask me what I wanted??? He also forgot to charge us for any of our drinks.
I've never been to a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and it's kind of depressing to think that O'Charley's will be my first experience (since it looks like I'm going to have to go for work--you know, schmooze with the local employers). What's more depressing is that I'm actually kind of excited that there will be competition for the worst-run Applebee's in the country.** We don't have that many restaurants here in Danville, so anything that opens up is an improvement (including the most recent opening--Huddle House). It's like a contest for taste-bud mediocrity here in Danville.
Yeehaw.
**I went to Applebee's on Wednesday for lunch with some coworkers. Toward the end of the meal, our waiter asked if I wanted any more iced tea. I said no thanks. Two minutes later, he set down a fresh glass of iced tea. Now, if you weren't going to listen to me when you interrupted my lunch and conversation before, why did you even bother to ask me what I wanted??? He also forgot to charge us for any of our drinks.
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
From the Mouths of Babes
Ian and I babysat a friend's four year old daughter last night for a couple of hours, and I thought that I'd share some of the hilarious (and mostly true) stuff she said:
To her mom before coming over: "She tells me to tell Ian not to be so silly! I told her she likes it, she responded "I only like it, when I like it.""
At Baskin-Robbins: Me: "Does your ice cream cone taste like cotton candy?" Megan: "No, it tastes like rainbow."
About her "dog" (in quotes because we know that they don't have a real dog): "My dog doesn't poop. He doesn't have a booty."
After going "potty": "Sometimes when I go potty, it feels really good, and then I go "Ahhhhhh.""
Another funny little kid comment:
Kristi's daughter, Kailee, when told she was a baby, once said, "I'm not a baby. I'm a robot. I'm a robot. I'm a robot." (said in a robot-y voice).
Feel free to add any funny things kids have said to you...
To her mom before coming over: "She tells me to tell Ian not to be so silly! I told her she likes it, she responded "I only like it, when I like it.""
At Baskin-Robbins: Me: "Does your ice cream cone taste like cotton candy?" Megan: "No, it tastes like rainbow."
About her "dog" (in quotes because we know that they don't have a real dog): "My dog doesn't poop. He doesn't have a booty."
After going "potty": "Sometimes when I go potty, it feels really good, and then I go "Ahhhhhh.""
Another funny little kid comment:
Kristi's daughter, Kailee, when told she was a baby, once said, "I'm not a baby. I'm a robot. I'm a robot. I'm a robot." (said in a robot-y voice).
Feel free to add any funny things kids have said to you...
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
A Christian Nation Revisited
Here is a very interesting essay about Christianity in the U.S. As a Christian, it's a little disheartening for me to read, but it really reminds me of how important it is to fight for social issues.
http://www.harpers.org/ExcerptTheChristianParadox.html
http://www.harpers.org/ExcerptTheChristianParadox.html
Pics from our Trip
I glanced through our 500+ digital pictures from our Berlin-Krakow trip last night and picked out a few to share with you all. Enjoy.
Ian and I in front of the Reichstag (Germany's federal building).
Ian and I at the Castle Wawel. Not the best picture of ourselves, but hey, we took it ourselves on a really hot day!
Some really cool buildings in Krakow, which has a beautiful old town. If you can imagine, the colors were actually brighter and deeper than what is shown here.
A beautiful entryway in the Wawel Castle.
A piece of an old Jewish gravemarker in Hebrew (Krakow). One of the only Jewish cemetaries left in Krakow had a few of its walls made from destroyed gravemarkers.
Ian and I in front of the Reichstag (Germany's federal building).
Me with a giant puppet. It was actually pretty cool because they made him do all sorts of things (like cartwheels) which required them to know where to be at all times.
Ian and I at the Castle Wawel. Not the best picture of ourselves, but hey, we took it ourselves on a really hot day!
Monday, August 01, 2005
Reason #52
Reason #52 to leave my job:
Today I was organizing a computer drive that our office shares on the school's server space. It has around 100-150 files in it, none of which were organized into folders. Add the quantity with the fact that we all have different ways to name files, and that equals chaos when it comes to finding a file that you actually want to use. So, again, I decided to use some spare time this afternoon to organize them into a very simple folder system.
I told our administrative assistant (who I get along with really well) what I was doing. She seemed appreciative and excited about actually being able to find a file when she needed it. She came back just a few minutes ago to tell me that maybe I shouldn't do it because our boss might get mad--which is actually probably true, but at this point I don't really care...I just want to make my job easier. Now, tell me, what boss do you know would get angry at you for organizing a file system???
Only mine. And I organized it anyways. So there!
Today I was organizing a computer drive that our office shares on the school's server space. It has around 100-150 files in it, none of which were organized into folders. Add the quantity with the fact that we all have different ways to name files, and that equals chaos when it comes to finding a file that you actually want to use. So, again, I decided to use some spare time this afternoon to organize them into a very simple folder system.
I told our administrative assistant (who I get along with really well) what I was doing. She seemed appreciative and excited about actually being able to find a file when she needed it. She came back just a few minutes ago to tell me that maybe I shouldn't do it because our boss might get mad--which is actually probably true, but at this point I don't really care...I just want to make my job easier. Now, tell me, what boss do you know would get angry at you for organizing a file system???
Only mine. And I organized it anyways. So there!
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