I've been craving an eggnog latte from Starbucks for a few days, and I wondered about the fat content of one of these. If you don't want this drink ruined forever, stop reading right now. You have been duly warned.
Fortunately, its only available seasonally, and I rarely indulge. I prefer the soynog from Silk, and wish this was available in a Starbucks type espresso drink. But, alas. The marketing geniuses at Starbucks have not figured out that there are health nuts among us who like treats like this once in a while.
Okay, if you're still reading, don't click on the link if you ever want to drink one of these again. So here, dear readers, is the deal.Contents of one Grande eggnog latte at Starbucks. No, tall isn't much better, and don't even think about looking at the Venti version. I feel that craving slipping away very quickly. I'll have to switch to warm cider or something.
End of InadWriMo
I'm behind on blogging, but again, its for a good cause. If I don't get Chapter 5 out before the month ends, I'm going to feel even more embarrassed that I didn't meet my writing goal. Granted, I'm so terrible at figuring these out that I shouldn't be surprised that I didn't even get half of it done, but still. Some dignity must be preserved. Chapter 5 will be done tomorrow!! Actually, there isn't that much left, its just taking me forever.
Monday Movie: Into the Wild
I suppose its obvious from the title, that the MadHatter's trip here for Thanksgiving means that I got roped into watching a guy-movie (if there ever was one) this past weekend. What can I say? I was sorely disappointed. Its a good thing he bought my ticket, or I would have asked for my money back. But, since its so late, I'll have to continue this rant tomorrow. I know, you're on the edge of your theater seats now, just waiting to hear what I have to say, but tomorrow I will give you a full report!
Sludginess and goal revision
New coffeeshop and increased productivity not withstanding, the writing meter is not moving very fast. Partly this is because editing involves deleting as many words as I write on many days, and partly this is because I overestimate how much I can do over the long run, like a month. It is much easier for me to estimate how much I can do in say, 15 minutes, rather than one week, or one month, just because of the way that I think about my work. If I can finish revisions on Chapter 5 in the next 5 days, I will be happy. Other stuff will have to wait until December. I'm just being realistic here. I've done a lot this November, and the fact that Chapter 4 morphed into two chapters means that I'll get more out of my dissertation eventually, too. Its got article potential that is a bit wider than I thought, with this extra chapter. So, in the end, its all good. 2007 will end on a bright note, and with any luck, I won't carry any revisions into the New Year, unless they are post-defense revisions.
Caffeination Locations
Sometimes I just lurve postdoc city. There are small surprises here that I am still discovering. Since I don't interact with locals much yet, being in the dissertation bubble that I am, this makes discovering hot spots here harder. I had a couple of funky study friendly coffeeshops that MentorProf had recommended, plus a couple of Starbucks nearby that I could go to in a pinch, and also a couple of bakery/pastryshop places to feed my inner sugar fiend, all within biking distance of my place where I can easily drag myself and my computer to plug in and work. Surely Alice, you're happy with that selection, you ask? Yes. I was really happy, but today I'm THRILLED. I found a fantastic new coffeeshop. Its just the kind of coffeeshop that will get me out of the house in the winter. There are little sparkly christmas lights all over the ceiling. This place makes me SO happy. I lurve me some sparkly lights and $1 coffee!! Watch my writing meter go off the charts now!
Just feels Sew Right
Since my dissertation edits have taken so long that I'm burned out, more burned out than I was at the end of the summer (hard to imagine, all I did was write) I'm trying to do more things that get my life juices flowing. Like knitting that scarf, it felt so great to play with wool again after so long. And now, I have something to keep my neck warm that I like!
I'm on to the next project next week, which is sewing a jacket for my niece. I've cut out the long blue jacket I am sewing for my niece in a navy wool fabric. No matching hat, though. The one in the picture looks hideous. Its sort of a light jacket, even though its wool, its not very thick. Which, since she lives in Cali, is probably a good thing. I bought the pattern last year, but put it off, thinking I would finish my dissertation first (like so many other things.)Anyway, I have more justification for this distraction, since even though I cut it big, she's probably already grown out of it!
Anyhow, I don't think its really been a distraction knitting the scarf, playing more tennis, if anything, I have been more productive since I started taking better care of myself. After slaying Chapter 4 last week, I'm very ready to put the finishing touches on Chapter 5 tomorrow morning, and move on to the last two chapters. All these edits from Advisorman are really making the dissertation stronger. My resentment for his list of edits is getting smaller and smaller as I get through it, and I've actually been thinking that maybe I just saw him in a certain way (as not that helpful and not that encouraging) because of my experience with the program more generally. Its funny that I am going to bed thinking good thoughts about Advisorman. I never thought I would get here.
I'm on to the next project next week, which is sewing a jacket for my niece. I've cut out the long blue jacket I am sewing for my niece in a navy wool fabric. No matching hat, though. The one in the picture looks hideous. Its sort of a light jacket, even though its wool, its not very thick. Which, since she lives in Cali, is probably a good thing. I bought the pattern last year, but put it off, thinking I would finish my dissertation first (like so many other things.)Anyway, I have more justification for this distraction, since even though I cut it big, she's probably already grown out of it!
Anyhow, I don't think its really been a distraction knitting the scarf, playing more tennis, if anything, I have been more productive since I started taking better care of myself. After slaying Chapter 4 last week, I'm very ready to put the finishing touches on Chapter 5 tomorrow morning, and move on to the last two chapters. All these edits from Advisorman are really making the dissertation stronger. My resentment for his list of edits is getting smaller and smaller as I get through it, and I've actually been thinking that maybe I just saw him in a certain way (as not that helpful and not that encouraging) because of my experience with the program more generally. Its funny that I am going to bed thinking good thoughts about Advisorman. I never thought I would get here.
Secret Weapon
I bought one of these over a year ago, and it does so much for me, I feel that it deserves some praise, and, believe me, I am NOT so easy to please!
This timer has a light up and vibrate function that works for a timed meditation, since you don't have to be jarred by a loud obnoxious beep. Its also great as a timer for brewing my coffee, because it has a strong magnet that keeps it on the fridge. Plus, it also has a little clip, so you could bring it around the house while waiting for your laundry. Timed writing sessions have also become part of my work repertoire these days, and this little timer is perfect for that also. If I had one secret productivity weapon, this would be it. What's yours?
Frazled Friday
I still have a lot to do today, and the day is slipping away from me. So, to continue in my vein of boring my handful of readers so they don't bother reading anymore, I thought I would post a list of things that I have left to do today. But seriously its because I am feeling frazzled and need to stop, breathe and make a list.
Read and make notes on article by MentorProf
writeup notes into section from hell (SFH)
writeup notes from interview into SFH
beefup theory section with stuff from future article notes
run through list of mini-edits from Advisorman
call Chapter 5 done
clean whatever was burning on the stove's plate when I boiled water for coffee this morning*
get groceries
enjoy the fact weekly colloquium is cancelled today
plot next knitting project
*I would have cleaned it right then, but that would have violated my policy of writing first. Most likely culprit is the soup from last night that I poured without a ladle, and probably a bit of it dripped off the pot, escaping my notice. Yeah. I can be lazy like that when no-one is looking.
*I would have cleaned it right then, but that would have violated my policy of writing first. Most likely culprit is the soup from last night that I poured without a ladle, and probably a bit of it dripped off the pot, escaping my notice. Yeah. I can be lazy like that when no-one is looking.
Handwriting analysis
| What Your Handwriting Says About You |
 You are highly energetic. You are a passionate, intense, vigorous person. You are somewhat outgoing, but you're not a natural extrovert. You think first before you act. You tend to be independent, rational, and logical. You are extravagant, over the top, and indulgent. You set trends and influence people. You need a bit of space in your life, but you're not a recluse. You expect people to give you a small amount of privacy, and you respect their privacy as well. You are somewhat traditional, but you are also open to change. You listen to your head and your heart. You are a good communicator. You work hard to get your ideas across effectively. |
Missed Monday Movie
I'm a bad blogger. I haven't posted my Monday Movie yet, and its Wednesday. But, I haven't been messing around, I have been hard at work on the dissertation revisions. And, yes, I am making great progress! I just treated myself to a nice sit down tea break with a giant pastry from my favorite bakery to celebrate my progress. I even did laundry this afternoon, and while that was going, I finished knitting my scarf! I will have to find a new knitting project. I wish I had a digital camera to show you what my lumpy bumpy scarf looks like.
november
Now that we're a few days into November, I've been crunching on dead leaves everywhere I walk, wearing my favorite snuggly fleece again, drinking hot cocoa, taking knitting breaks from my writing, and ending my day (however challenging) by getting under the covers and moving on to the next, which is what I am about to go and do right now!
Should I be driving a car at night?
E.L. Doctorow described writing this way:
Should I make a list of all my revisions, or should I just keep going through them one by one as I have without a big list? I am following cryptic marginal notes from my advisor on a draft I gave him, plus a few emails he sent me. I am feeling compelled to make a list tonight. This will not help my word count any, I wonder if this is a sneaky form of procrastination. What do you think?
It’s like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
Should I make a list of all my revisions, or should I just keep going through them one by one as I have without a big list? I am following cryptic marginal notes from my advisor on a draft I gave him, plus a few emails he sent me. I am feeling compelled to make a list tonight. This will not help my word count any, I wonder if this is a sneaky form of procrastination. What do you think?
The borrowed book
MentorProf lent me one of his books earlier this semester, and then he asked me to put it in his mailbox because he wanted to use it to prepare for a guest lecture that morning. So, I delivered it to his mailbox, but I plucked up the courage to tell him I wasn’t quite done with it and wanted to borrow it again. No problem, he would put it right back in my mailbox as soon as he finished, he said. Except. I didn’t go into campus the next week, and I forgot all about it, as I worked on another section of the edits.
When I went back, it wasn’t there. I was so horrified, right then, I just bought the book on amazon, even though I am totally broke and do not need to buy anything, much less stuff that isn’t food, because I am too much of a wuss to ask him if he put it in there and it got stolen or something. I figured that way, if it has been stolen, I can quickly produce the amazon copy. If not, I have my very own copy of a book I should probably have bought years ago, because I have checked it out of the library so many times. Fortunately, and, oddly, he didn’t have any markings in the book, unlike other books of his I’ve seen.
When I went back, it wasn’t there. I was so horrified, right then, I just bought the book on amazon, even though I am totally broke and do not need to buy anything, much less stuff that isn’t food, because I am too much of a wuss to ask him if he put it in there and it got stolen or something. I figured that way, if it has been stolen, I can quickly produce the amazon copy. If not, I have my very own copy of a book I should probably have bought years ago, because I have checked it out of the library so many times. Fortunately, and, oddly, he didn’t have any markings in the book, unlike other books of his I’ve seen.
Monday Movie
I watched another foreign flick this weekend, this time it was the French Les temps qui changent/Changing Times. Gerard Depardieu plays a man who remains single most of his life. He searches out his first love after thirty years, telling her that he has waited for her all these years, afraid of how she would respond to him. He is undeterred when he finds that she is married and has a son.
Despite the central theme of “one’s first love becoming the last love,” the movie is utterly devoid of the kind of sappy nostalgia one would anticipate from this plot, which I appreciated. However, the pendulum swings too far in the other direction, with Catherine Deneuve’s character lacking the depth of emotion that she would require to be credible. She seems so hardened by her day-to-day life, apparently dissatisfied with most aspects of it, including her work, and she has long ago fallen out of love with her husband. While many of her lines are admirably feminist in their stance, they seem almost formulaic, rather than coming from the character she plays.
The numerous immigrants shown in this film are often treated as props for the main story, and this, I felt was the major failing of this otherwise complex film. Though there are brief glimpses into their lives, and a few immigrant lovers who are given a longer treatment, the lack of character development leads the immigrants in this film to be relegated to the realms of exotic, dark, mysterious, and perhaps most disappointing: unfortunate. All of which, needless to say, play to stereotypes of immigrants and do little to foster a more tolerant society. Ah, yes, Alice, you say, that is what makes you a social scientist and not an art critic. But can’t I hold filmmakers to be socially responsible, too?
I shy away from horror movies entirely (they would feed my neuroses all too well). So, while some might be unperturbed by such graphic scenes, I was thoroughly shook up seeing my screen fill with the blood of a freshly slaughtered sheep, and the later scenes shot from inside a construction pit showing dirt falling on the camera lens just felt nauseating. On a more redeeming note, Angelique Kidjo’s voice on the soundtrack is angelic, bursting through its thinner scenes to give the movie an added layer of sensitivity.
Despite the central theme of “one’s first love becoming the last love,” the movie is utterly devoid of the kind of sappy nostalgia one would anticipate from this plot, which I appreciated. However, the pendulum swings too far in the other direction, with Catherine Deneuve’s character lacking the depth of emotion that she would require to be credible. She seems so hardened by her day-to-day life, apparently dissatisfied with most aspects of it, including her work, and she has long ago fallen out of love with her husband. While many of her lines are admirably feminist in their stance, they seem almost formulaic, rather than coming from the character she plays.
The numerous immigrants shown in this film are often treated as props for the main story, and this, I felt was the major failing of this otherwise complex film. Though there are brief glimpses into their lives, and a few immigrant lovers who are given a longer treatment, the lack of character development leads the immigrants in this film to be relegated to the realms of exotic, dark, mysterious, and perhaps most disappointing: unfortunate. All of which, needless to say, play to stereotypes of immigrants and do little to foster a more tolerant society. Ah, yes, Alice, you say, that is what makes you a social scientist and not an art critic. But can’t I hold filmmakers to be socially responsible, too?
I shy away from horror movies entirely (they would feed my neuroses all too well). So, while some might be unperturbed by such graphic scenes, I was thoroughly shook up seeing my screen fill with the blood of a freshly slaughtered sheep, and the later scenes shot from inside a construction pit showing dirt falling on the camera lens just felt nauseating. On a more redeeming note, Angelique Kidjo’s voice on the soundtrack is angelic, bursting through its thinner scenes to give the movie an added layer of sensitivity.
the muse is back
I had the best Friday ever. And what did I do? I worked on my dissertation, went for walks, had too much candy and too much coffee and got loads of work done. I am amazed, my word count is stunning to me, if it were someone else's blog I was reading, I would say they were lying, but I counted 3 times, and I did actually write all that today. I'd like to say all this progress is due to InDaWriMo, but, I think its partly also the result of all the agonizing and filling in gaps of research that I did to get to a point where I could just sit and write. Well, whatever it is, I hope it sticks around the whole month, so I can get defended and officially post-doc'd.
1,764 words
Words, words, words. SO many did I write today. YAY. no more left for blogging.
Will sleep happy tonight, dreaming dreams of done dissertation!
Will sleep happy tonight, dreaming dreams of done dissertation!
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