Yet another getting-to-know-you list from Rick's blog. (Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery)
1. Saddest movie you've seen: Shadowlands, and any other movie in which men cry. Seeing men cry always makes me cry.
2. Funniest movies you've seen: Clockwise and Rat Race
3. Irrational fears you had as a child: I used to believe that if the light from lightning touched you, you would die. Many summer nights I huddled in the stairwell terrified during a thunderstorm, until my mom set me straight that the lightning itself had to hit you.
4. Was there a book you had as a child that you were scared to read because the pictures were scary? My mom's Raggedy Ann books had some pretty freaky creatures in them
5. If you could have one talent in the world, it would be... skiing, but I'm so afraid of heights, I could never even get on a ski lift. Guess that's why I admire those who can.
6. Language I'd most like to master in my lifetime: English, of course. After all, I'm an editor!
7. What is your favorite city? Philly. It's a great place to live. My second choice would be London.
8. What is your favorite memory about the city in #7? The first time I went to the 4th of July fireworks with Joel. We brought bubbles and entertained some adorable kids we'd never seen before. Then we snuggled on the blanket and enjoyed the pyrotechnics show. It was fun feeling part of a community and individually loved at the same time.
9. Do you root for the favorite or the underdog? Underdog. I think Christianity has hard-wired this preference in me.
10. Left-handed people are: Fun to date. You can hold hands and still eat, write, etc. (Yes, Joel is a lefty.)
11. Animal you'd most like to see on the endangered species list: Merlins. They are the most adorable bird of prey, and I've only ever seen one in the wild. Okay, it was actually my parents' back yard...But they are rare!
12. Milk chocolate or dark chocolate? dark
13. Movie with worst casting decision: Anything with Jack Nicholson in it. He gives me the heebie-jeebies.
14. Most interesting foreign accent: I love African accents (except South African). Russian accents are just downright sexy.
15. Rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, well, or just plain tartare? Medium well
16. Have you ever had fondue? Of course. It was all the rage in the 70s.
17. Something interesting you've learned listening to NPR: That I know tons more about cars and car repair than my husband.
18. Can you balance a redox equation?: I love those crazy things. They seemed so incredibly easy that it helped me shed my math phobia once and for all. Redox equations are my only fond memory from high school chemistry, because my lab partner and I were total clods when it came to doing experiments. But that's a story for another time...
7.23.2002
A sad day
Chaim Potok, one of my favorite authors, died today of brain cancer at age 73. Here's a link to his obituary.
I was first introduced to Potok's writing in a freshman college course, in which we read his most famous novel "The Chosen." It was my first in-depth look at the lives of Jews living in America and was quite eye-opening, having grown up in a fairly homogenous mongrel-European protestant community in rural Pennsylvania. I had one Jewish friend growing up, but I never got to see what modern Judaism looked like in practice. Her parents were basically Russian atheists who got to the U.S. with help from the American Jewish community, then more or less ceased practicing once here.
I went on to read the sequel, "The Promise," as well as Potok's two books about a Hasidic Jewish artist, "My Name is Asher Lev" and "The Gift of Asher Lev." I also really enjoyed "Davita's Harp," which has a female protagonist, and "The Book of Lights," about a Jewish chaplain serving in the Korean War. I highly recommend all of his novels that I have read.
Chaim Potok, one of my favorite authors, died today of brain cancer at age 73. Here's a link to his obituary.
I was first introduced to Potok's writing in a freshman college course, in which we read his most famous novel "The Chosen." It was my first in-depth look at the lives of Jews living in America and was quite eye-opening, having grown up in a fairly homogenous mongrel-European protestant community in rural Pennsylvania. I had one Jewish friend growing up, but I never got to see what modern Judaism looked like in practice. Her parents were basically Russian atheists who got to the U.S. with help from the American Jewish community, then more or less ceased practicing once here.
I went on to read the sequel, "The Promise," as well as Potok's two books about a Hasidic Jewish artist, "My Name is Asher Lev" and "The Gift of Asher Lev." I also really enjoyed "Davita's Harp," which has a female protagonist, and "The Book of Lights," about a Jewish chaplain serving in the Korean War. I highly recommend all of his novels that I have read.
7.19.2002
Prophecy
Last night Joel was flipping through a book on feast days. "Well, look at this," he said. "August 11 is St. Clare's feast day. We were thinking of naming the baby Claire. I think she will be born on the 11th."
I really like this quote by St. Clare (who started the order called the "Poor Clares"): "can a heart which possesses the infinite God be truly called poor?"
Any one else want to weigh in with birthdate predections? The doctors have estimated my due date to be Aug. 13, 14 or 17.
Last night Joel was flipping through a book on feast days. "Well, look at this," he said. "August 11 is St. Clare's feast day. We were thinking of naming the baby Claire. I think she will be born on the 11th."
I really like this quote by St. Clare (who started the order called the "Poor Clares"): "can a heart which possesses the infinite God be truly called poor?"
Any one else want to weigh in with birthdate predections? The doctors have estimated my due date to be Aug. 13, 14 or 17.
7.18.2002
I've been reading an Orson Scott Card novel about the Biblical Sarai/Sarah. I've been especially curious to see how he, being a Mormon, would approach the text.
I've found it pretty good so far, so different from Anita Diamante's "The Red Tent," written by a Jewish author who seems intent on undermining Judaism--making YHWH a pretty nasty diety, and all of His followers either stupid or evil.
I've just finished a section where Card deals with the incident of Abrahm lying about Sarai being his sister while they are in Egypt to escape a famine in Canaan. Card handles the situation deftly, I thought, and makes Abrahm out to be far more godly than some commentators who wig out about the deception. I've also enjoyed watching Sarai's faith grow as she stuggles to be a good wife to Abrahm and deal with doubts brought on by the crisis of infertility.
Yet to come in the novel are the covenant and the Hagar situation. Should be intriguing reading!
I've found it pretty good so far, so different from Anita Diamante's "The Red Tent," written by a Jewish author who seems intent on undermining Judaism--making YHWH a pretty nasty diety, and all of His followers either stupid or evil.
I've just finished a section where Card deals with the incident of Abrahm lying about Sarai being his sister while they are in Egypt to escape a famine in Canaan. Card handles the situation deftly, I thought, and makes Abrahm out to be far more godly than some commentators who wig out about the deception. I've also enjoyed watching Sarai's faith grow as she stuggles to be a good wife to Abrahm and deal with doubts brought on by the crisis of infertility.
Yet to come in the novel are the covenant and the Hagar situation. Should be intriguing reading!
7.15.2002
I just remembered another funny incident from our first childbirth class last week. Near the end of class, we worked on relaxation techniques. To help our partners be able to discern how we moms feel when tense versus relaxed, the teacher asked us to tense up different parts of our bodies then relax them while our partners touched us.
When she told us to "tense up your nose," I had no idea what to do. Flare my nostrils? Frown really hard? It was all we could do to keep from laughing hysterically. Fortunately, the lights were dimmed, so no one saw my strange facial contortions.
I really couldn't see much use in at least half of this exercise. If I don't know how to tense my nose, chances are pretty darned good that I won't do so while in labor.
When she told us to "tense up your nose," I had no idea what to do. Flare my nostrils? Frown really hard? It was all we could do to keep from laughing hysterically. Fortunately, the lights were dimmed, so no one saw my strange facial contortions.
I really couldn't see much use in at least half of this exercise. If I don't know how to tense my nose, chances are pretty darned good that I won't do so while in labor.
My boss is back! (Well, kind of). I spoke with him this morning. He and his wife and their newly-adopted son arrived in the U.S. at midnight on Saturday from Moscow. He's coming in to the office on Thursday to go over what he's missed the past 7 weeks and make plans for my maternity leave. Though he won't be back in full time until Aug 5 (or sooner if I deliver early), he will help with editing from home.
Relief is in sight. Yay!
Relief is in sight. Yay!
7.10.2002
Last night we attended our first chirdbirth class at the hospital. I immediately realized how much I prefer exchanging information with other moms and moms-to-be on Internet bulletin boards. First of all, since people in the class know my real name and what I look like, I couldn't be exactly forthright. For example, we had to answer some icebreaker questions.
What is your greatest fear?
Safe answer: "post-partum depression. You hear stories about people like Andrea Yates and it gets you a little worried."
Real answers: Being induced with oxytocin but never getting any pain medication; retching on every hospital employee who walks in the room; tearing like a cheap rag so that all bodily fuctions are excruciating for months after; having a hairy, cone-headed, cross-eyed baby with a malformed mouth incapable of breastfeeding who screams at the sight, sound or smell of me.
I never could have said such things in front of these other nice, earnest young couples. After all, I've worked so hard at keeping up a front of normalcy as I go about in the world.
But now you all know some of the contents of my twisted imagination. Fortunately, you only know what a Lego version of me looks like. Whew. My weirdness is safe for now.
What is your greatest fear?
Safe answer: "post-partum depression. You hear stories about people like Andrea Yates and it gets you a little worried."
Real answers: Being induced with oxytocin but never getting any pain medication; retching on every hospital employee who walks in the room; tearing like a cheap rag so that all bodily fuctions are excruciating for months after; having a hairy, cone-headed, cross-eyed baby with a malformed mouth incapable of breastfeeding who screams at the sight, sound or smell of me.
I never could have said such things in front of these other nice, earnest young couples. After all, I've worked so hard at keeping up a front of normalcy as I go about in the world.
But now you all know some of the contents of my twisted imagination. Fortunately, you only know what a Lego version of me looks like. Whew. My weirdness is safe for now.
7.07.2002
Just to confound Rick, I thought I'd do two entries in one day. Waahahaha!
Joel helped me add a few more links to blogs. One addition, Great Scot, is the journal of one of my first pals from college, Jonathan Ferguson, who is in Taiwan teaching English. A particularly humorous aspect of this cross-cultural experience is the fact the Jon is 6'6" tall, trying to navigate in an environment of petite people.
The past two days, we had the privilege of hosting a Blog friend (in the flesh!), Tolle Blogge (aka Russ Reeves). Joel of course talked his ear off and dragged the poor man all over Philadelphia to show him our fair city. Just a warning if any others of you need a place to stay while in the area. ;-)
In a 24 hour period, Russ got to eat out and window shop in Manayunk; see La Salle's campus, historic Germantown, the Lutheran seminary, Fairmount Park along the Schuylkill River, Chinatown, Penn's Landing, and a 25-minute fireworks display; take several walks in Wissahickon Park with dog included; eat a big home-cooked breakfast; worship at Tenth Presbyterian and tour the historic building; grab a picnic lunch; eat in Rittenhouse square while listening to ragtime music; wander around a July 4, 1902 festival; and return to our house via a very circuitous route past Eastern State Pennitentary, Girard College, St. Joseph's Prep, north Philadelphia's urban renewal, and Deliverance Evangelistic Church--just in time to head out to Lancaster to settle in at the seminary to begin his week of research. (Whoa, that has to be a record-breaking run-on sentence if I ever saw one.) And he probably thought he was going to have a restful time away from this three small children. Not while Joel's Tour-Till-You-Drop is in operation.
Joel helped me add a few more links to blogs. One addition, Great Scot, is the journal of one of my first pals from college, Jonathan Ferguson, who is in Taiwan teaching English. A particularly humorous aspect of this cross-cultural experience is the fact the Jon is 6'6" tall, trying to navigate in an environment of petite people.
The past two days, we had the privilege of hosting a Blog friend (in the flesh!), Tolle Blogge (aka Russ Reeves). Joel of course talked his ear off and dragged the poor man all over Philadelphia to show him our fair city. Just a warning if any others of you need a place to stay while in the area. ;-)
In a 24 hour period, Russ got to eat out and window shop in Manayunk; see La Salle's campus, historic Germantown, the Lutheran seminary, Fairmount Park along the Schuylkill River, Chinatown, Penn's Landing, and a 25-minute fireworks display; take several walks in Wissahickon Park with dog included; eat a big home-cooked breakfast; worship at Tenth Presbyterian and tour the historic building; grab a picnic lunch; eat in Rittenhouse square while listening to ragtime music; wander around a July 4, 1902 festival; and return to our house via a very circuitous route past Eastern State Pennitentary, Girard College, St. Joseph's Prep, north Philadelphia's urban renewal, and Deliverance Evangelistic Church--just in time to head out to Lancaster to settle in at the seminary to begin his week of research. (Whoa, that has to be a record-breaking run-on sentence if I ever saw one.) And he probably thought he was going to have a restful time away from this three small children. Not while Joel's Tour-Till-You-Drop is in operation.
6.27.2002
Since Joel has been brave enough to answer all these personal questions, I thought I'd be supportive and make myself vulnerable too.
Birthplace: Williamsport, PA (home of the Little League World Series).
Age: 33 (almost 34).
Birthday: Late September
Hair Color: Light brown, with blonde highlights.
How long/thick is your hair: Chin-length and layered.
Eye Color: Blue-green.
Height: 5'6".
Weight: I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. ;-) Let's say it will take some hard work to get a figure again after I give birth in August.
Personality: On the Myers-Briggs I'm a INFJ (Joel is actually an ENTJ, he misremembered when he filled this out).
Do you drink? I have rarely met a tea I didn't like. In my non-gestating-baby days, I occasionally had wine and girly drinks in which the alcohol flavor is subdued
Have you had your appendix or tonsils out? Nope. I did have to have general anesthesia to get my badly impacted wisdom teeth out at age 13.
Have you ever gone skinny dipping? Not since I was a baby.
Have you ever been convicted of a crime? Nope.
'Dream' dream car: Silver Jaguar convertible
Favorite place to visit: London (been there several times and still have so much to see)
Favorite soft drink: Root beer.
Adidas, Nike, or Reebok: No brand loyalty. I've not yet found a brand in which every shoe in the line is consistently a good fit. I have high arches and short toes, so I have to try 10-12 pairs to find something that's comfortable.
Favorite Blog: Lady Dusk, always lots of fun links
Favorite subject in school: Social studies and choir in high school, poetry writing and "fiction to cinema" in college.
Least favorite subject in school: Phys Ed.
Favorite movie: Amadeus. (Seen this 16 times)
Favorite book: I loved all of Susan Howatch's Starbridge books except the ones about Aysgarth, who is a scoundrel.
Favorite alcohol: Woodchuck Dark and Dry hard cider; Tom Collins.
Favorite sport to watch: Equestrian show jumping; snowboard half-pipe
Favorite sport to play: Swimming and hiking. I dislike games that involve airborne balls, as I usually get hit in the head every time. Pool and croquet are fun, though.
Anything different about you: I was a girl percussionist in high school. In college I sang in a rock band, did theatre and created a poetry group called the Janitor Poets (we all had custodial work-study jobs). I also know how to make balloon animals.
Tattoos/Piercings: Standard 1 hole in each earlobe.
Quotes: "Too much of a good thing is wonderful." --Mae West
Favorite ice cream: Chocolate marshmallow, Vanilla Heath bar crunch
Favorite color: Burgundy.
What's your bedtime: Usually around 10:30-11:00
Favorite TV Show: The shows I like invariably get cancelled. Used to really love "Stark Raving Mad," about a book editor.
Words or phrases that you overuse: "Really." "Actually"
Something that can be improved upon: Worrying less
What you want to be: An encouragement to others
The one place you would like to see: Austria
Famous person you have met: Chaim Potok, Alice Walker, Ed Rendell, Lawrence Welk
Favorite animal: horses
Are you too shy to ask someone out: No, but I've only asked people who didn't intimidate me
Have you ever thought you were going to die: Yes, frequently. I have an overactive imagination.
Do you believe you have a soul mate: I used to. I also used to believe in the Tooth Fairy.
Have you ever felt you were in love: Yes.
Do you pray: Yes, but in a catch-as-catch-can kind of way. I aspire to give it more concentrated attention.
Do you attend church: Yes.
Single or attached: Married and carrying his baby, so attached.
What are the first things that you do in the morning to start your day? Listen to local news radio for weather report. Use potty. Dress. Fix hair. Apply makeup. Eat breakfast with Joel while listening to NPR. Kiss Joel and pets goodbye. Walk to train station.
What are the last things that you do at night before going to bed? Wash up. Sit and read a devotional or listen to Joel read to me while cross-stitching.
What daily routine have you recently added to your day? Lower back stretches and Kegel exercises.
What routine do you wish you could get rid of? Two - three potty runs a night. Get this baby off my bladder!
What's the one thing that makes you feel like something is missing if you don't do it some point within your day? Time to myself to just think
Birthplace: Williamsport, PA (home of the Little League World Series).
Age: 33 (almost 34).
Birthday: Late September
Hair Color: Light brown, with blonde highlights.
How long/thick is your hair: Chin-length and layered.
Eye Color: Blue-green.
Height: 5'6".
Weight: I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. ;-) Let's say it will take some hard work to get a figure again after I give birth in August.
Personality: On the Myers-Briggs I'm a INFJ (Joel is actually an ENTJ, he misremembered when he filled this out).
Do you drink? I have rarely met a tea I didn't like. In my non-gestating-baby days, I occasionally had wine and girly drinks in which the alcohol flavor is subdued
Have you had your appendix or tonsils out? Nope. I did have to have general anesthesia to get my badly impacted wisdom teeth out at age 13.
Have you ever gone skinny dipping? Not since I was a baby.
Have you ever been convicted of a crime? Nope.
'Dream' dream car: Silver Jaguar convertible
Favorite place to visit: London (been there several times and still have so much to see)
Favorite soft drink: Root beer.
Adidas, Nike, or Reebok: No brand loyalty. I've not yet found a brand in which every shoe in the line is consistently a good fit. I have high arches and short toes, so I have to try 10-12 pairs to find something that's comfortable.
Favorite Blog: Lady Dusk, always lots of fun links
Favorite subject in school: Social studies and choir in high school, poetry writing and "fiction to cinema" in college.
Least favorite subject in school: Phys Ed.
Favorite movie: Amadeus. (Seen this 16 times)
Favorite book: I loved all of Susan Howatch's Starbridge books except the ones about Aysgarth, who is a scoundrel.
Favorite alcohol: Woodchuck Dark and Dry hard cider; Tom Collins.
Favorite sport to watch: Equestrian show jumping; snowboard half-pipe
Favorite sport to play: Swimming and hiking. I dislike games that involve airborne balls, as I usually get hit in the head every time. Pool and croquet are fun, though.
Anything different about you: I was a girl percussionist in high school. In college I sang in a rock band, did theatre and created a poetry group called the Janitor Poets (we all had custodial work-study jobs). I also know how to make balloon animals.
Tattoos/Piercings: Standard 1 hole in each earlobe.
Quotes: "Too much of a good thing is wonderful." --Mae West
Favorite ice cream: Chocolate marshmallow, Vanilla Heath bar crunch
Favorite color: Burgundy.
What's your bedtime: Usually around 10:30-11:00
Favorite TV Show: The shows I like invariably get cancelled. Used to really love "Stark Raving Mad," about a book editor.
Words or phrases that you overuse: "Really." "Actually"
Something that can be improved upon: Worrying less
What you want to be: An encouragement to others
The one place you would like to see: Austria
Famous person you have met: Chaim Potok, Alice Walker, Ed Rendell, Lawrence Welk
Favorite animal: horses
Are you too shy to ask someone out: No, but I've only asked people who didn't intimidate me
Have you ever thought you were going to die: Yes, frequently. I have an overactive imagination.
Do you believe you have a soul mate: I used to. I also used to believe in the Tooth Fairy.
Have you ever felt you were in love: Yes.
Do you pray: Yes, but in a catch-as-catch-can kind of way. I aspire to give it more concentrated attention.
Do you attend church: Yes.
Single or attached: Married and carrying his baby, so attached.
What are the first things that you do in the morning to start your day? Listen to local news radio for weather report. Use potty. Dress. Fix hair. Apply makeup. Eat breakfast with Joel while listening to NPR. Kiss Joel and pets goodbye. Walk to train station.
What are the last things that you do at night before going to bed? Wash up. Sit and read a devotional or listen to Joel read to me while cross-stitching.
What daily routine have you recently added to your day? Lower back stretches and Kegel exercises.
What routine do you wish you could get rid of? Two - three potty runs a night. Get this baby off my bladder!
What's the one thing that makes you feel like something is missing if you don't do it some point within your day? Time to myself to just think
So much for my conviction to stick with public transportation through June! I woke up and told Joel, "I can't be heroic any more." The heat index in Philly is supposed to be 105 today, and I could barely walk down the stairs in our house this a.m., my sciatica was so bad. So we will be doing my commute together until I begin maternity leave. Thank God Joel has an academic's flexible schedule!
For the first time in weeks, I actually felt energetic when I arrived at work. The 9-block walk from the train station to my office was more wearing than I'd realized.
I guess this latest loss of autonomy is what Vicki Iovine means in The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy when she talks about "surrendering" to the process of growing a baby.
For the first time in weeks, I actually felt energetic when I arrived at work. The 9-block walk from the train station to my office was more wearing than I'd realized.
I guess this latest loss of autonomy is what Vicki Iovine means in The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy when she talks about "surrendering" to the process of growing a baby.
6.26.2002
I feel important today--I had to make nice with the AMA.
In our little weekly e-mail news digest for docs (circulation 1,200), we reported on the AMA funding--or not funding--its labor union. Our story was basically a digested from of a Chicago Tribune story.
Lo and behold I got an e-mail from the AMA this morning saying our story (really, the Tribune's story) was inaccurate. I called the AMA guy, made nice, got the rest of the story, and wrote up a revised story all by myself. See my new story at http://www.acponline.org/express/2002/6/25/index.html#union.
Wow, I feel like a REAL journalist now. I almost never get to write anything, I just fix everyone else's stories. Okay, it's not exactly Pulitzer material, but it's satisfying to know that this little e-newsletter is being read by the powers that be, despite our low subscriber rate so far.
In our little weekly e-mail news digest for docs (circulation 1,200), we reported on the AMA funding--or not funding--its labor union. Our story was basically a digested from of a Chicago Tribune story.
Lo and behold I got an e-mail from the AMA this morning saying our story (really, the Tribune's story) was inaccurate. I called the AMA guy, made nice, got the rest of the story, and wrote up a revised story all by myself. See my new story at http://www.acponline.org/express/2002/6/25/index.html#union.
Wow, I feel like a REAL journalist now. I almost never get to write anything, I just fix everyone else's stories. Okay, it's not exactly Pulitzer material, but it's satisfying to know that this little e-newsletter is being read by the powers that be, despite our low subscriber rate so far.
6.21.2002
Wow, I hadn't realized how much time had elapsed since my last blog.
Some good news: things are looking far less frantic at work today and hereafter. I got the July/August issue of the Observer through editing and design and it went to the freelance proofreader today at noon. Monday, her edits will be input, then the pages will go to the printers.
I took care of some budgeting stuff for my boss for the new fiscal year and found I enjoyed it. I usually think of myself as a math midget, but I do have something of a head for basic business stuff. I actually enjoy doing our taxes on TurboTax each year. I'd like to get more aggressive with investing personal savings, but I'm kind of a coward when it comes to risk. I had picked up the "Dummies Guide to Personal Finance" this past winter, but haven't read too much of it yet, other than the sections about life insurance (a big concern with a child soon to be in the picture).
While I haven't had much mental energy for obsessing about the baby like many first-time moms-to-be, our little girl continues to make her presence felt. The activity in my womb seems to be of seismic proportions. Perhaps we have a future gymnast in the making. She still enjoys hanging out nice and low where she can squash my sciatic nerve.
Starting in July, I am giving up the commute by train because I just can't manage the 9-block walk between my office and the station. Joel will be teaching at LaSalle for second summer session and can drive me in before he heads to campus. I never dreamed that I'd feel so incapacitated by pregnancy, but the hip pain from sciatica has become quite intense lately. The twinges I had starting at 15 weeks are nothing compared to the pain level now (32 weeks).
I'm now moved from my nice quiet office on the 5th floor of the building to a cubicle on the 4th floor. The only plus is being next to a window. Otherwise, I have less storage space, less privacy and far more noise to contend with. Of course, this fact should make it easier to convice my employers that I will be far more productive telecommuting several days a week. :-)
Some of things stressing me out at home are beginning to be resolved. Joel has made tremendous progress with the remodeling project. Our future guest room looks far less like the Warsaw ghetto now. The new closet is framed and drywalled, the new ceiling is 75% finished, the new ceiling fan is installed, and some of the new wood trim is up. Plaster repairs continue slowly, because several layers are needed in places.
My in-laws decided against the house an hour away, at least for now. Joel was never too worried, but his parents are far more change-averse than mine. My folks have been fairly impetuous most of their 54 years of marriage, and have not lived in one house for more than 7 years. They often don't share plans until they are already laid and beginning to be put into motion. It has been a real learning experience, trying to figure out the "rules of the game" in my new family by marriage.
Some good news: things are looking far less frantic at work today and hereafter. I got the July/August issue of the Observer through editing and design and it went to the freelance proofreader today at noon. Monday, her edits will be input, then the pages will go to the printers.
I took care of some budgeting stuff for my boss for the new fiscal year and found I enjoyed it. I usually think of myself as a math midget, but I do have something of a head for basic business stuff. I actually enjoy doing our taxes on TurboTax each year. I'd like to get more aggressive with investing personal savings, but I'm kind of a coward when it comes to risk. I had picked up the "Dummies Guide to Personal Finance" this past winter, but haven't read too much of it yet, other than the sections about life insurance (a big concern with a child soon to be in the picture).
While I haven't had much mental energy for obsessing about the baby like many first-time moms-to-be, our little girl continues to make her presence felt. The activity in my womb seems to be of seismic proportions. Perhaps we have a future gymnast in the making. She still enjoys hanging out nice and low where she can squash my sciatic nerve.
Starting in July, I am giving up the commute by train because I just can't manage the 9-block walk between my office and the station. Joel will be teaching at LaSalle for second summer session and can drive me in before he heads to campus. I never dreamed that I'd feel so incapacitated by pregnancy, but the hip pain from sciatica has become quite intense lately. The twinges I had starting at 15 weeks are nothing compared to the pain level now (32 weeks).
I'm now moved from my nice quiet office on the 5th floor of the building to a cubicle on the 4th floor. The only plus is being next to a window. Otherwise, I have less storage space, less privacy and far more noise to contend with. Of course, this fact should make it easier to convice my employers that I will be far more productive telecommuting several days a week. :-)
Some of things stressing me out at home are beginning to be resolved. Joel has made tremendous progress with the remodeling project. Our future guest room looks far less like the Warsaw ghetto now. The new closet is framed and drywalled, the new ceiling is 75% finished, the new ceiling fan is installed, and some of the new wood trim is up. Plaster repairs continue slowly, because several layers are needed in places.
My in-laws decided against the house an hour away, at least for now. Joel was never too worried, but his parents are far more change-averse than mine. My folks have been fairly impetuous most of their 54 years of marriage, and have not lived in one house for more than 7 years. They often don't share plans until they are already laid and beginning to be put into motion. It has been a real learning experience, trying to figure out the "rules of the game" in my new family by marriage.
6.03.2002
I'm not dead yet...I'm feeling much better. I think I'll go for a walk. I feel happeeee...
No I don't have the excuse of plague by association, as the poor bloke quoted above (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) for my absence from blogland. I've simply been swamped at work and not much in the mood to use a computer when I get home.
Why so swamped? I'm currently doing a job and a half while my boss is overseas for the next six to 10 weeks.
My boss and his wife left on May 26 for Moscow to adopt a little boy. They didn't have a definite court date when they left. They were getting so sick of being put off by the adoption agency (they were supposed to go in February to adopt their son), that they decided to go in person to help speed things along. A big bonus is extra time to bond with their son. The latest news from him is that their court date will likely be within the next two to three weeks, and they can return to the U.S. two weeks after that.
In the meantime, I will be putting together the July/August issue of the ACP-ASIM Observer by myself. Oh, and also move to a new part of our building while we're under deadline to lay out and edit pages of the issue. Isn't this just what every woman dreams of doing while seven months pregnant?
Back at home, my future guest room looks like a movie set of the Warsaw ghetto and my in-laws, who had agreed to help with childcare, are thinking of moving an hour away from us.
This would be about the time that the Hornes would all come down with scarlet fever, just to make a stressful situation more fun yet. ;-) Fortunately (providentially!), I'm feeling pretty good...just some sciatic pain in one hip. Joel is fit and trim and the pets are great. So, with God's help I will keep on muddling through.
No I don't have the excuse of plague by association, as the poor bloke quoted above (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) for my absence from blogland. I've simply been swamped at work and not much in the mood to use a computer when I get home.
Why so swamped? I'm currently doing a job and a half while my boss is overseas for the next six to 10 weeks.
My boss and his wife left on May 26 for Moscow to adopt a little boy. They didn't have a definite court date when they left. They were getting so sick of being put off by the adoption agency (they were supposed to go in February to adopt their son), that they decided to go in person to help speed things along. A big bonus is extra time to bond with their son. The latest news from him is that their court date will likely be within the next two to three weeks, and they can return to the U.S. two weeks after that.
In the meantime, I will be putting together the July/August issue of the ACP-ASIM Observer by myself. Oh, and also move to a new part of our building while we're under deadline to lay out and edit pages of the issue. Isn't this just what every woman dreams of doing while seven months pregnant?
Back at home, my future guest room looks like a movie set of the Warsaw ghetto and my in-laws, who had agreed to help with childcare, are thinking of moving an hour away from us.
This would be about the time that the Hornes would all come down with scarlet fever, just to make a stressful situation more fun yet. ;-) Fortunately (providentially!), I'm feeling pretty good...just some sciatic pain in one hip. Joel is fit and trim and the pets are great. So, with God's help I will keep on muddling through.
5.15.2002
An incurable bibliophile confesses...I'm a book club junkie. I'm currently in three groups and I know I'll have to give up one or two when I become a mom. But look at what I've read in the past 6 months (including several non-club selections):
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Children of God by Mary Doria Russell
Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkein
Personal History by Katharine Graham
The Red and the Green by Iris Murdock
The Coalwood Way by Homer Hickam
I'm already sad thinking about the books I won't have time to read once the baby comes. "Pat the Bunny" just isn't the same.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Children of God by Mary Doria Russell
Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkein
Personal History by Katharine Graham
The Red and the Green by Iris Murdock
The Coalwood Way by Homer Hickam
I'm already sad thinking about the books I won't have time to read once the baby comes. "Pat the Bunny" just isn't the same.
5.13.2002
We rented the film Waking Life over the weekend and were sorely disappointed. The animation technique employed is actually quite fascinating, but on the whole, the film left a lot to be desired.
First of all, we had the silly expectation that the film would have a plot. Second, we believed there would be something of a consistent visual look to the animation, so that characters are recognizable from scene to scene. The choppy incoherence might have made the film more fun for the animators--each obviously given license to do their own style in a given scene--but it makes for tedious watching.
The script seems like a poor attempt to be profound, giving random samplings of world views of benighted postmoderns and other poor schmucks of our day mired down in a moral and epistimological quagmire. Scene after scene, the protagonist wanders into conversations with various individuals who spout bankrupt philosophies. It struck me as being forced to sit up all night listening to sophomore philosophy majors jabber on and on inventing crackpot theories.
In no sense is any hopefulness expressed about our lives having meaning. The theories and stories the protagonist hears as he wanders in a dream state serve only to clarify that his waking life is an illusion. He is trapped in this existence of passivity from which he cannot wake.
I have not in a long time seen such a loud cry for help from a God who loves, who cherishes, who enlivens and fills his people with meaning and purpose.
First of all, we had the silly expectation that the film would have a plot. Second, we believed there would be something of a consistent visual look to the animation, so that characters are recognizable from scene to scene. The choppy incoherence might have made the film more fun for the animators--each obviously given license to do their own style in a given scene--but it makes for tedious watching.
The script seems like a poor attempt to be profound, giving random samplings of world views of benighted postmoderns and other poor schmucks of our day mired down in a moral and epistimological quagmire. Scene after scene, the protagonist wanders into conversations with various individuals who spout bankrupt philosophies. It struck me as being forced to sit up all night listening to sophomore philosophy majors jabber on and on inventing crackpot theories.
In no sense is any hopefulness expressed about our lives having meaning. The theories and stories the protagonist hears as he wanders in a dream state serve only to clarify that his waking life is an illusion. He is trapped in this existence of passivity from which he cannot wake.
I have not in a long time seen such a loud cry for help from a God who loves, who cherishes, who enlivens and fills his people with meaning and purpose.
4.30.2002
Last week, I finally finished up the tome I was slogging though for a book group, Personal History by Katharine Graham. I knew little about Graham except that she was in charge of the Washington Post during the Pentagon Papers and Watergate. I was more familiar with the former story because of my final graduate class, Journalism History.
I was concerned early on that this would be another "poor little rich girl" kind of story. After all, Graham's rise in her career can be attributed largely to her birth into a prominent family. Strangely, she is remarkably uncocky about what is handed to her. In fact, she downplays her education and work experiences from her single days. It seems strange that such a privileged background, growing up in two mansions run by hordes of servants, would produce such an unconfident person.
Graham attributes much of her lack of confidence to the ways in which her mother tore down her children, when she wasn't ignoring them completely. Only over the course of many years does Graham realize that her self-centered mother is not the only cause of her timidity. The entire culture fed her constant messages that she was nothing and that her talents would never stack up to a man's.
Graham never puts herself forward as any sort of poster child for the women's movement. She in fact faults herself for not being more sensitive to women in her workplace and of doing too little to improve working conditions for women. As a leader, she often deferred to the judgement of male colleagues, often against her better instincts. The way in which she fumbled around professionally actually made me see the women's movement in the 1960s and 70s in a new light. Many women were not bra-burning radicals, but simply intelligent people struggling to make a living and do their jobs competently. I don't think I appreciate enough what the last generation did to overcome barriers and remake our culture so that women could have opportunites to excel intellectually and professionally.
The other thing Graham's book helped me appreciate is how far mental health care has come since the early 1960s. Graham's husband left her a widow when he committed suicide in 1963. He showed all the signs of bipolar disorder, which experts then were just beginning to understand. Lithium treatment was experimental those days--bipolar patients usually received only counseling. I'm close to several bipolar people, including a relative, and I'm awed at what a difference medication makes. Tragic stories like Phil Graham's would be the norm if not for scientific breakthroughs in neurology.
I was concerned early on that this would be another "poor little rich girl" kind of story. After all, Graham's rise in her career can be attributed largely to her birth into a prominent family. Strangely, she is remarkably uncocky about what is handed to her. In fact, she downplays her education and work experiences from her single days. It seems strange that such a privileged background, growing up in two mansions run by hordes of servants, would produce such an unconfident person.
Graham attributes much of her lack of confidence to the ways in which her mother tore down her children, when she wasn't ignoring them completely. Only over the course of many years does Graham realize that her self-centered mother is not the only cause of her timidity. The entire culture fed her constant messages that she was nothing and that her talents would never stack up to a man's.
Graham never puts herself forward as any sort of poster child for the women's movement. She in fact faults herself for not being more sensitive to women in her workplace and of doing too little to improve working conditions for women. As a leader, she often deferred to the judgement of male colleagues, often against her better instincts. The way in which she fumbled around professionally actually made me see the women's movement in the 1960s and 70s in a new light. Many women were not bra-burning radicals, but simply intelligent people struggling to make a living and do their jobs competently. I don't think I appreciate enough what the last generation did to overcome barriers and remake our culture so that women could have opportunites to excel intellectually and professionally.
The other thing Graham's book helped me appreciate is how far mental health care has come since the early 1960s. Graham's husband left her a widow when he committed suicide in 1963. He showed all the signs of bipolar disorder, which experts then were just beginning to understand. Lithium treatment was experimental those days--bipolar patients usually received only counseling. I'm close to several bipolar people, including a relative, and I'm awed at what a difference medication makes. Tragic stories like Phil Graham's would be the norm if not for scientific breakthroughs in neurology.
4.29.2002
Thanks to Dawn and her talk of wine tastings, I am suddenly craving something alcoholic. I could really, really go for a Woodchuck dark and dry hard cider right now. :-(
4.23.2002
It's been a while since I've had a chance to blog. My organization's annual convention was two weeks ago, which meant several long days producing a daily newspaper for the show, then returning to the office to whip together the May issue of our regular magazine. The May issue went to press this morning, and I can now breathe again.
And now for the real news...drumroll please....
After our last disappointing ultrasound, we got our wish of learning the gender. We will be having a GIRL!
I realize that ultrasounds are not 100% accurate for determining gender, but none of us--the tech, her trainee, Joel nor I--saw evidence of boy parts.
Come August, we will welcome to the world Claire or Johanna or Amelia. We will pick the final name at the hospital.
And now for the real news...drumroll please....
After our last disappointing ultrasound, we got our wish of learning the gender. We will be having a GIRL!
I realize that ultrasounds are not 100% accurate for determining gender, but none of us--the tech, her trainee, Joel nor I--saw evidence of boy parts.
Come August, we will welcome to the world Claire or Johanna or Amelia. We will pick the final name at the hospital.
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