November 2010
2 posts
Is this how it's going to be?
In the past week, I’ve learned that a good friend’s father is dying of cancer, my sister’s dog died (and to my sister, her dogs are like children), and another good friend has separated from her husband, after they endured the death of a preterm baby and subsequent miscarriages. I feel terrible for all of them. I’m also afraid that it will be my turn next. I’ve...
Update: Back Home
Just reread my post from January, when I first started commuting to Midtown. Well, that lasted 8 months, and then I took a job in recruiting and am typing this from my bed two months into my new work-from-home-again job. So, yes, commuting turned out to be miserable. Actually, not miserable so much as just not as convenient as NOT commuting. If given the option of a great job where I have to go...
February 2010
6 posts
Art Review - Viola Frey’s Sculpture - Colossi,... →
Considering Ted’s current obsession with wax museum figures, this might be an art installation he could appreciate.
The Marquis de Hoffstein
Karen: bc!
it's a portrait!
who gets a portrait of themselves??
Husband: but does it look legit?
should i get one for the house?
i can start selling these
at a handsome markup
everyone is saying it has a mona lisa smile
Karen: babe
i do not want that thing in my house
Husband: your house?
Karen: ha
our house
Husband: do you think my mom would like one?
Karen: no!
Husband: seriously?
i think it's a great portrait
Karen: babe
no one needs a portrait
Husband: i can't figure out whether you just hate the idea of a portrait or hate this actual portrait
Karen: the idea
Husband: ok well that's just your personal hangup
before photography, people had oil paintings done all the time
it's a classic gift
Karen: babe, maybe of the family or something
but not of just yourself
Husband: you are saying that people never had portraits done of themselves?
there are no portraits of teddy roosevelt?
Karen: ha!
you're not teddy roosevelt
Husband: i'm only 34
how do you know what's going to happen
he wasn't president until 42
anyhow, i'm going to simply step aside and let your dark energy fly past
Karen: haha
ok dear
Husband: and we can either put one of these in our bedroom or the library
your choice
maybe ted's room
Karen: oh dear lord
Husband: when i'm gone this is going to be something that you treasure
Serial (not multiple) Personalities
This would also transfer well to a TV series:
A psychopathic woman who constantly reinvents herself. One year she is suzy homemaker, the next she is dyke construction worker. She leaves behind loose ends, because that isn’t important. There is always the threat of being recognized as her last persona, but she is not that person anymore, so she doesn’t give it much thought. She is...
When is she just a bitch vs. a psychopath?
I have an inkling of a book idea and I’m wondering: What behaviors would make a woman a bitch and what behaviors would she have to exhibit to be considered an actual psychopath? And, furthermore, how is Asperger’s syndrome different from psychopathy? These are my upcoming research topics.
A word about fundraising for private schools
I really do not get how a school that charges more than $30,000 a year for tuition cannot meet their operating costs. Why not either increase tuition to fill the $2000 per student gap, or decrease costs? What is the real motivation behind the Annual Fund and the yearly fundraising? Is it because they will always get more money that way? Is it because the mothers want the sense of...
January 2010
3 posts
3 Days in a Work-a-Day Life
For the first time in at least 5 years, I spent 3 straight days commuting to an office in Midtown, and am going to continue to do so for at least several weeks. I can’t say it was terrible! The commute is 20-30 minutes. The train is crowded, and I know it will suck in the summer, but I’ve always loved the orchestration of the throngs of people in the rush hour commute in New York. ...
On becoming a WOHM
Starting tomorrow, I will be commuting to midtown 5 days a week, a work-a-day job, for the first time since Mr. T disrupted our world. In fact, ever since Mr. T was born I’ve been ranting about how the typically structured work day, with its requisite face time, is a virtual logistical impossibility in a family with two working parents. I guess I get to prove it now that I’ve given...
Note to the rain
This city sucks in the rain. It sucked when I was younger and my biggest concern was getting to the office with minimal hair frizz and trouser soak. Now that I have to get a whining, slow-moving 3 year old to preschool, the clogged gutters, the cab splash and the wind that breaks all but those f’ing golf umbrellas that should be banned (note to New Yorkers: the subway stairs are not wide...
September 2009
3 posts
1 tag
Preschool is stressful!
I suppose it is because I work from home and I was used to lazing around in the morning until the nanny arrived at 9, but whatever the reason, I find this preschool thing to be hectic! I used to not even have to feed Mr. T breakfast unless he was particularly hungry. Now I have to get him dressed (always an ordeal unless he explicitly states he is willing to cooperate), force feed him breakfast,...
Buttock Lift (Brazilian Butt Lift) Pictures -... →
Update on the Brazilian Butt Lift:
Although I do still think it is the perfect plastic surgery for me, if you’ve noticed that my butt is firmer lately, it isn’t because I got the BBL. I’ve been running all summer, including running the stairs in Morningside Park. That is an amazing workout. For days afterwards, I feel like I’ve conquered gravity. The one problem is...
The Happiness Project: Happiness Quiz: How Well Do... →
I’ve been reading The Happiness Project blog for a long time now, but haven’t much acted on anything. Today, I’m going to enact a project of my own. As a start, one of the insights from the blog that I’ve talked about before is “You can choose what you do, but you can’t choose what you like to do.” Lately I’ve been noodling with the idea of ramping...
August 2009
1 post
Gmail - Thank you for your payment to the City of... →
This is confirmation that your payment on 08/30/02009 09:44 AM for $254.00 has been accepted by the NYC Department of Finance. Your Credit Card statement will show an entry from Parking Fines NYCGOV. Please save this information in case you have questions about the items you have paid.
Lovely customer service, these NYC parking ticket money-takers.
July 2009
5 posts
Why we are getting a Land Rover
me: hodkinson says it's ok to buy a land rover!
http: //idler.co.uk/country-diary/a-country-diary-33/
Husband: ahh
i love that guy
i just decided we are getting a land rover
me: ha
me too
12: 42 PM how sad are we?
we're such a good match dear
Husband: i am pretty happy we're on the same page with this
me: with what?
Husband: the rover
me: hodgkinson or the rover?
haha
you decided just now, or you had already decided?
Husband: just now
me: i am bizarrely joyful about the prospect
and that Hodgkinson condoned it
Husband: yeah
you take your orders from the three Hs
me: haha
Husband: hitchens, hodgkinson, husband
“Lately it seems as if every store above 96th street is closing down. We’re...”
– Me, Feb 26th.
Today, this store is having a going out of business sale.
4 Months?! What the fuck?!
I’m sad and panicked to realize I haven’t blogged since April 1. If you had asked me, I’d have said it had been a few months. But 4?! I guess work got in the way, but that’s no real excuse. Now, considering I have the worst memory imaginable, how will I know what I or Mr. T have been up to for the entire spring and most of summer? This sucks.
The Idler » Free Anti-Twitter Bookmarks! →
Just went to The Idler blog, and the top post is coincidentally and conveniently descriptive of why Idling is not the same as being ruined by distraction and pleasure ala Huxley:
Free Anti-Twitter Bookmarks!
16 July 2009
From today, all orders that we send out will include a nice little letterpress bookmark, featuring a picture of a little birdie and the phrase: “Read, Don’t Twitter”.
April 2009
3 posts
Obesity - Reporter's File - For the Overweight,... →
Geez, it’s about time someone summed up why people can’t lose weight, and the myths that even public health officials propogate, like that moderate exercise will do jack shit. Some highlights:
Weight control is not simply a matter of willpower. Genes help determine the body’s “set point,” which is defended by the brain.
Dieting alone is rarely successful, and...
Salmonella in Pistachios Spurs Recall -... →
Ugh. I can’t even steer clear of animal-related contaminants by becoming a vegetarian.
March 2009
29 posts
“The marketplace of ideas for now doesn’t clear out bad pundits and bad ideas...”
– Op-Ed Columnist - Learning How to Think - NYTimes.com
This is a good column about how “expertise” is a sham. This passage makes me think about how I’ve been wanting to follow-up on columnists statements/predictions, etc, Paul Krugman, in particular. I often agree with Krugman,...
Secret to Toddler Vocabulary Explosion Revealed |... →
Don’t understand this article at all. What the hell are they talking about with “jar size”?
Why Toddlers Don't Do What They're Told →
This article says toddlers don’t plan for the future. They just retrieve information from the past when they encounter something in the present. For example, they don’t really understand that they should put their coats on before they go outside, because it will be cold. But, when they go outside and realize it is cold, they can think back and remember that they can get a coat to...
“When I asked another what he did with his mustard greens, he responded,...”
– What to do with the kale, turnips, and parsley that overwhelm your CSA bin. - By Catherine Price - Slate Magazine
Blogging this since I’m going to need it when my CSA starts in June again. Last year I was wholly unsuccessful at using the vegetables, especially the greens. I’ve vowed...
I Was Going to Succumb To Cancer, But Then I Got... →
This headline got me going in a real belly laugh.
Balloon Twisting Instructions: Three balloon... →
Ah Spring. Yesterday we took Mr. T to the central park zoo. He was delighted by the swimming polar bear, obsessed with the penguin poo poo, and thrilled to watch the zookeepers feeding the sea lions. None of the animals, however, nor the trip to FAO Schwartz, complete with time spent dancing on the giant piano, quite compared to his Spider Man balloon. It was a lame Spider Man, only a head on...
Mr T is a lovebug
He has been playing all day with a bag clip - the kind you’d use to clip up a bag of potato chips or something. He wants to clip everything. I was coaxing him in for his nap and suggested he clip his “nours-nours”, his favorite teddy bear. He gave me a shocked look and said, “No, I don’t want to clip nours-nours. It hurts. I love nours-nours.” and hugged the...
1 tag
Hirsute Hubby
Husband: i scheduled a haircut today at mark's place
truman's gentleman groomers
should be interesting
me: mark's cutting your hair?
oh
gentlemen
Husband: no the place he goes
me: ha
Husband: he always has a nice haircut
me: quaint
Husband: yeah
me: babe, you have no hair
me: you've got a fro
you don't get a style
you get a trim
Husband: i want them to style it
Husband: give me a look
me: babe
me: your hair is not stylable
it's fro
Husband: grr
why am i so messed up
me: inbreeding
1 tag
Who am I?
Just discovered something about myself: I am cool with all of my current and former-life friends reading my FB, twitter, profile, status updates, etc. And even this “anonymous” blog, to a large extent. However, I’ve got a potential new friend, and I’m censoring my web persona as a result, prior to granting them access. And I’d be embarrassed if I knew that person...
1 tag
TumbleTwitBooking
Whew, what with all these sites to update with a brain’s running dialogue, a girl can get exhausted and confused. I’ve also been neglecting this blog because I’ve been able to get out my feelings on FB or Twitter. Ha. Feelings.
However, I think I’ve got it worked out. Now my tumblr posts automatically update to twitter. I also think I can make my FB status updates go...
1 tag
1 tag
Here's something I didn't know
Those CFL (compact flourescent) lightbulbs, to which we have mostly switched now, and to which the entire country will switch by 2014 (by law), contain mercury. So, if you break one, especially if you have kids or pregnant women around, you have to be super careful cleaning them up. We also should be recycling them - just throwing them in the trash, which I did yesterday, is apparently a bad...
Op-Ed Columnist - Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health -... →
This is really f’ing scary. Once again, I predict we all go down via bacteria or virus. But I promise not to say, “I told you so,” when you pick up a flesh-eating bacteria from your backyard BBQ hot dog. Mmm. Hot dogs. Maybe the Jews and Muslims have it right afterall, with their disdain for eating pigs. They ARE bizarrely just like us.
Incidentally, Hitchens theorized, in...
“They were both first-time mothers who had written themselves dreamy birth plans...”
– The Case Against Breast-Feeding - The Atlantic (April 2009)
Sounds familiar…
I don’t actually like this article. It is too much in the realm of feminism to me, and also I can’t feel sorry for someon who has 3 kids and is sick of breastfeeding and of being more in charge than her...
2 tags
Big Boy Bed a big hit!
Last night, Mr. T slept through the night for the first time since having his tonsils removed. It took him til 9:30 to fall asleep, and his parents were close to blows by the time he did, but once he was sleeping, not a peep until 7:30 am. I’m not counting my chickens yet though, because I don’t think it has really dawned on him that he doesn’t have to stay in the bed if he...
“One of my Secrets of Adulthood is “You can choose what you do, but you can’t...”
– The Happiness Project: Paradoxes of Happinesss: the sadness of a Happiness Project.
From this Happiness Project again - this could be me. This is what has given me the most happiness in the last few years, condensed into one sentence, and I think this is what people mean when they say they are...
Ever Closer to 1982 - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com →
I’m trying to figure out what I was doing in 1982, the last time the unemployment rate was this bad. Let’s see, I would have been 5 years old at this time in 82. I probably was in Kindergarten. The thing I remember most about Kindergarten is that I was always being punished in class (because, let’s be honest here, I was way too smart for their reindeer games and so probably...
“But although somber, pessimistic people might seem smarter, research shows that...”
– The Happiness Project : Happiness Myth No. 1: Happy People Are Annoying and Stupid
This is a great blog about happiness, one of my obsessions. Already learned something: happy people aren’t just STUPID afterall. Hmmph.
2 tags
Mmm Falafel
Because it is called Jerusalem something or other, I have missed out on the great falafel place just up the road. (Rather than Middle Eastern, I pictured Jewish foods like gelfilte fish and matzo). This place, however, is very much like the beloved Rainbow Falafel I used to go to all the time near Union Square, but without the lines. Delicious!
1 tag
Final Preschool Update
Well, final admissions update anyway. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of preschool attendance posts in the coming years.
Mr. T was accepted at 4 of the schools we applied to:
Metropolitan Montessori: too cold
West Side Montessori: loved it, but gave us an afternoon spot, and it isn’t an on-going
Weekday: loved it, but also, not an on-going
Calhoun: Mr. T will become a Calhoun...
CNBC Gives Financial Advice | The Daily Show |... →
I know it’s obvious by now, but I just have to reiterate that Jon Stewart is one of the smartest men on the planet. This segment on CNBC reporting is a must-see.
“CRIPES: SPEAKING OF TERRIBLE THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN TANZANIA
Last spring, he...”
– Bid to Stop the Killing of Albinos - NYTimes.com
“The women filled most of Ward 2, a long, one-story building with a cement floor...”
– After a Devastating Birth Injury Called a Fistula, Hope - NYTimes.com
Wow, and I complained about my labor. This is one of the most depressing articles I’ve ever read.
Also, what are the leading theories on why it is that Africa is literally a century behind by just about every measure?
Three detective novels that restore pleasure to... →
I’ve decided to hole up and take to the Kindle until warm weather or until the cessation of this economic doom and gloom, whichever comes first. Thank you very much to Slate critic Ron Rosenbaum for giving me permission to read three supposedly very pleasurable detective novels. I just got them all on the Kindle and can’t wait to dive in!
I was also prompted to look into David...
Love in the time of tonsilitis
Mr. T had his tonsils removed on Friday. My heart broke like never before when I watched them gas him - his faint whisper of “mommy”, his arms and legs fighting it, then his body going limp. It reminded me, aside from the mommy part, of the times I’ve seen animals euthenized. The only thing worse was when he woke up in recovery, in obvious pain and confusion, crying and...