Not the worst looking station wagon in the world. The good thing is that Opels are kind of cruder versions of Volkswagens, so all the controls and everything are more or less in the same place as they were in our old car. Thus the learning curve won't be very long or steep. Unfortunately we can't pick it up until after the 8th, which is to say after our next two social events (for which a car would have been a huge help). But it will have been through the major service and have a trailer hitch attached, so it's worth the wait. Now if we can all just thaw out...
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Traust transport
We bought a car today! It was a pragmatic decision, and certainly nothing sexy about it. We bought a 2002 Opel Astra station wagon with 120,000 km. It was so bleeping cold in Oslo walking from car dealer to car dealer that we practically froze. Luckily all the cars themselves are inside. KE was the only one to test drive it, since we had E with us in his old stroller but no car seat, and we were all getting kind of wiped out by the cold and the walking. Hope it's a decent car! Here's a picture:
Not the worst looking station wagon in the world. The good thing is that Opels are kind of cruder versions of Volkswagens, so all the controls and everything are more or less in the same place as they were in our old car. Thus the learning curve won't be very long or steep. Unfortunately we can't pick it up until after the 8th, which is to say after our next two social events (for which a car would have been a huge help). But it will have been through the major service and have a trailer hitch attached, so it's worth the wait. Now if we can all just thaw out...
Not the worst looking station wagon in the world. The good thing is that Opels are kind of cruder versions of Volkswagens, so all the controls and everything are more or less in the same place as they were in our old car. Thus the learning curve won't be very long or steep. Unfortunately we can't pick it up until after the 8th, which is to say after our next two social events (for which a car would have been a huge help). But it will have been through the major service and have a trailer hitch attached, so it's worth the wait. Now if we can all just thaw out...
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Mariusgenseren
This post is intended to be in the spirit of Archival Clothing. Consider me the honorary Nordic correspondent...
The Marius sweater pattern is one of the best modern classics for ski wear. It's named for Stein Eriksen's handsome (but less athletic) brother Marius Eriksen. This article gives a good overview of the controversy surrounding the origin of and rights to the design. It's only in Norwegian, but be sure to to scroll down through the article anyway to get other kitchy photos and especially the label shots. Clearly I'm going to have to make one of these for E for next winter.
The image is from the "ski comedy" film Troll i Ord fom 1954. Henki Kolstad and Marius Eriksen are wearing Marius sweaters, and Inger Marie Andersen is wearing a different Søiland Dale sweater (Foto: Merkur Film).
The Marius sweater pattern is one of the best modern classics for ski wear. It's named for Stein Eriksen's handsome (but less athletic) brother Marius Eriksen. This article gives a good overview of the controversy surrounding the origin of and rights to the design. It's only in Norwegian, but be sure to to scroll down through the article anyway to get other kitchy photos and especially the label shots. Clearly I'm going to have to make one of these for E for next winter.The image is from the "ski comedy" film Troll i Ord fom 1954. Henki Kolstad and Marius Eriksen are wearing Marius sweaters, and Inger Marie Andersen is wearing a different Søiland Dale sweater (Foto: Merkur Film).
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Hybelen vår
I thought it might be fun to post some snapshots from the "hybel"--our rental unit, which we'll be living in until May. The main part of the house is rented out until then. Here is an evening picture from the main room, with the boys hard at work (although I admit it was me that sorted the legos according to color):
The round table is the only furniture that we actually purchased ourselves. Everything else is a freebie, and will probably stay in the hybel when we move into the main house. We hope to actually decorate that with things we choose ourselves. This room is a combined kitchen, living room, and dining room. We also have an entry, a bathroom (with washing machine and shower), and two very small bedrooms. I think it's about 60 square meters (roughly 600 sq. feet).
Here is a snapshot of the exterior of the hybel from two summers ago. It was taken with the camera on my laptop, so it is reversed:
Here's another (reversed) exterior shot, this time showing the side entrance to the hybel:
And here's a shot of the yard, showing one of the many birch trees on the property. This shot is looking from the house toward the street. It's a one-"mål" lot, which is to say about a half an acre:
Pretty nice, huh? KE designed the house himself and had it built in 1996 or 1997, I think. He inherited the lot from his father. There used to be an old cabin on it that he had to pull down. He had to clear the lot and did a huge amount of work on the yard by hand. We're excited to take over the whole property, and have lots of plans for small changes and improvements on the main house.
The round table is the only furniture that we actually purchased ourselves. Everything else is a freebie, and will probably stay in the hybel when we move into the main house. We hope to actually decorate that with things we choose ourselves. This room is a combined kitchen, living room, and dining room. We also have an entry, a bathroom (with washing machine and shower), and two very small bedrooms. I think it's about 60 square meters (roughly 600 sq. feet).Here is a snapshot of the exterior of the hybel from two summers ago. It was taken with the camera on my laptop, so it is reversed:
Here's another (reversed) exterior shot, this time showing the side entrance to the hybel:
And here's a shot of the yard, showing one of the many birch trees on the property. This shot is looking from the house toward the street. It's a one-"mål" lot, which is to say about a half an acre:
Pretty nice, huh? KE designed the house himself and had it built in 1996 or 1997, I think. He inherited the lot from his father. There used to be an old cabin on it that he had to pull down. He had to clear the lot and did a huge amount of work on the yard by hand. We're excited to take over the whole property, and have lots of plans for small changes and improvements on the main house.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Døgnvilt
We're struggling with the time adjustment. It's hard to convince a four-year-old to try to sleep at night when he feels totally awake, and even harder to keep him awake during the day when he is sleepy. This is now day four, and it's almost seven in the evening and he's still very concentrated on his legos, so there's hope that all three of us might actually sleep through the night for the first time.
I've come down with a cold and have really low energy today. We all took it really easy, but still have got the apartment more or less in order. There's just a few boxes to dispose of, and a few suitcases to move from the closet to the attic, but really it came together astoundingly quickly. We're not really nesting, since we'll only be in this part of the house ("hybelen," our rental unit) until 1 May, but we do definitely want to be comfortable for the next few months. Now that everything is put away we're dreading that big crate of stuff that is going to arrive in eight weeks!
We're looking into buying a car (a used Volvo!), and otherwise trying to figure out our priorities and budget. We might go car shopping tomorrow if we all get a good night's sleep. And I still have to go register with the police in Oslo.
Knit wise, I'm working on a project I feel a little guilty about. My friend L in Eugene and I traded sweaters right before I left--she got one of my old two-color stranded Norwegian jackets, and she gave me her beautiful unfinished "Obi," which is a striped, very cropped kimono knitted in two colors of Jamieson's heathered yarn. It is lovely and her knitting is meticulous and beautiful. She gave it to me because she knew she was never going to wear it, and after pondering and trying it on as many ways as I could think to try, I came to the sad realization that it will never fit me either. It is just way too wide and boxy for both of us. After much gnashing of teeth, I decided that the yarn was just too lovely to let it languish, and set into ripping it out.
While ripping I searched Ravelry for a pattern that would work for the yarn, and came upon yet another free Drops pattern that I think is going to work perfectly. It's knitted from side to side and is another garter stitch project (believe it or not) with short row shaping. The yarn is DK weight, rather than the fingering weight of my Drops "rillejakke," and much less splitty, so I'm actually enjoying the garter stitch this time. Here's the image from the Drops catalog:
I feel bad for ripping out all of L's exquisite knitting, but I think the yarn is going to work so much better for this particular jacket and I do think she would want me to use the yarn for a garment that will get a lot of wear and love, which I definitely think will be the case with this one.
It has been fascinating (and oddly intimate) to rip out someone else's work. There are so many idiosyncrasies that appear only when you literally start to pick apart a piece of knitting. I always assume that everyone knits the same way, but of course there are dozens of ways (probably more) to deal with any given issue, and if you add together all the technical and design decisions that go into a single knitting project, the variations increase exponentially.
I've come down with a cold and have really low energy today. We all took it really easy, but still have got the apartment more or less in order. There's just a few boxes to dispose of, and a few suitcases to move from the closet to the attic, but really it came together astoundingly quickly. We're not really nesting, since we'll only be in this part of the house ("hybelen," our rental unit) until 1 May, but we do definitely want to be comfortable for the next few months. Now that everything is put away we're dreading that big crate of stuff that is going to arrive in eight weeks!
We're looking into buying a car (a used Volvo!), and otherwise trying to figure out our priorities and budget. We might go car shopping tomorrow if we all get a good night's sleep. And I still have to go register with the police in Oslo.
Knit wise, I'm working on a project I feel a little guilty about. My friend L in Eugene and I traded sweaters right before I left--she got one of my old two-color stranded Norwegian jackets, and she gave me her beautiful unfinished "Obi," which is a striped, very cropped kimono knitted in two colors of Jamieson's heathered yarn. It is lovely and her knitting is meticulous and beautiful. She gave it to me because she knew she was never going to wear it, and after pondering and trying it on as many ways as I could think to try, I came to the sad realization that it will never fit me either. It is just way too wide and boxy for both of us. After much gnashing of teeth, I decided that the yarn was just too lovely to let it languish, and set into ripping it out.
While ripping I searched Ravelry for a pattern that would work for the yarn, and came upon yet another free Drops pattern that I think is going to work perfectly. It's knitted from side to side and is another garter stitch project (believe it or not) with short row shaping. The yarn is DK weight, rather than the fingering weight of my Drops "rillejakke," and much less splitty, so I'm actually enjoying the garter stitch this time. Here's the image from the Drops catalog:
I feel bad for ripping out all of L's exquisite knitting, but I think the yarn is going to work so much better for this particular jacket and I do think she would want me to use the yarn for a garment that will get a lot of wear and love, which I definitely think will be the case with this one.It has been fascinating (and oddly intimate) to rip out someone else's work. There are so many idiosyncrasies that appear only when you literally start to pick apart a piece of knitting. I always assume that everyone knits the same way, but of course there are dozens of ways (probably more) to deal with any given issue, and if you add together all the technical and design decisions that go into a single knitting project, the variations increase exponentially.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Hjemme? Borte?
And just like that we're here in Norway. The past five days were very intense: grading, cleaning, packing, traveling in one big whirlwind rush. We arrived at Gardermoen airport late last night to silence and cold, and stayed the night in a nearby hotel. It was so lovely--duvets, radiant heat in the floor, wood, peaceful quiet, and amazing Norwegian bread at breakfast. Waves of relief and anticipation of my new life are rushing over me.
It started to hit me on the flight from San Francisco to Munich that I'm now really and truly an expat for the first time in my life. All my other sojourns abroad have had an end date. Not this one!
It started to hit me on the flight from San Francisco to Munich that I'm now really and truly an expat for the first time in my life. All my other sojourns abroad have had an end date. Not this one!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Tre dager igjen...
Obviously other things have been preoccupying me lately, but I did want to do a little knitting update (weird, I first wrote "oppdate"! Talk about code switching). I finished the size large Frijoles refritos hourglass sweater while down in New Mexico, and am hugely disappointed to find that (yet again) I am not a size large person. When will I ever learn? I'm taking it to a dinner party tonight to give away to whomever it fits. I have the luxury of having enough of the same yarn that I can just re-knit the same sweater in the correct size.
I had taken two other little projects down with me because I knew I would finish the hourglass sweater, and ended up deciding to start an "old shale" or "feather and fan" lacy scarf, since that was the most mindless of the two projects. I'm using really nice hand-dyed merino fingering weight yarn by nummanumma that I bought on Ravelry. The color is called "bleu cheese" and it has a lovely range of blues and some mouldy green too. It's a little grannie-ish, but that's okay. And the skein had something like 530 yards, so it's going to be really long.
Here's an in-progress snapshot taken with the camera on my computer, since our digital camera is packed already. And no, I don't usually wear scarves as I knit them:
Okay, lunch break over and back to packing...sigh...
I had taken two other little projects down with me because I knew I would finish the hourglass sweater, and ended up deciding to start an "old shale" or "feather and fan" lacy scarf, since that was the most mindless of the two projects. I'm using really nice hand-dyed merino fingering weight yarn by nummanumma that I bought on Ravelry. The color is called "bleu cheese" and it has a lovely range of blues and some mouldy green too. It's a little grannie-ish, but that's okay. And the skein had something like 530 yards, so it's going to be really long.
Here's an in-progress snapshot taken with the camera on my computer, since our digital camera is packed already. And no, I don't usually wear scarves as I knit them:
Okay, lunch break over and back to packing...sigh...
Friday, December 12, 2008
How do you say "denial" in Norwegian?
Oh dear. It happened. We are down to four days before we depart for Norway. Kind of unbelievable. E and I got home from New Mexico late Wednesday night. I had to spend most of yesterday finishing up grading (still a few more papers to read and some administrative tasks to take care of this afternoon when E has his last afternoon at preschool). Yesterday before and after work I tried to get a little packing done. KE has thrown himself into packing and sorting with great enthusiasm. He rooted around in the utility room for two hours last night, sorted through all his clothes, packed nearly everything in his office, and generally bustled around with a big grin on his face.
Me, I can barely move off the sofa (which St. Vincent de Paul will be picking up today, along with most of our furniture, by the way...). The only thing I managed to do was sort my knitting and sewing stuff (naturally) and my Christmas decorations (oddly). My office is a wild mess, with things strewn everywhere. I am so overwhelmed by the very idea of it all that I can only focus on excruciatingly small details, like making sure I have knitting projects lined up and ready to go for the trip and the first few days in Norway. Or that I take the time to organize the files of knitting patterns on my computer. Now that's a good use of time when you're trying to pack up your entire house. Here's the result:
Phew. Good thing I did that. Otherwise we could have never moved. Actually, I blame Pinneguri, who blogged about organizing knitting patterns, and asked her readers what they do. In answer to her question: I actually got rid of most of my knitting books a while ago (gasp) and only have about 7, plus a handful of magazines, and then two portfolios (the kind with clear plastic pocket pages) of patterns--one for Norwegian and one for US patterns (since the paper sizes are different). I fit them all, plus all my works-in-progress, and my entire stash into ONE plastic bin yesterday. And the lid even closes.
Me, I can barely move off the sofa (which St. Vincent de Paul will be picking up today, along with most of our furniture, by the way...). The only thing I managed to do was sort my knitting and sewing stuff (naturally) and my Christmas decorations (oddly). My office is a wild mess, with things strewn everywhere. I am so overwhelmed by the very idea of it all that I can only focus on excruciatingly small details, like making sure I have knitting projects lined up and ready to go for the trip and the first few days in Norway. Or that I take the time to organize the files of knitting patterns on my computer. Now that's a good use of time when you're trying to pack up your entire house. Here's the result:
Phew. Good thing I did that. Otherwise we could have never moved. Actually, I blame Pinneguri, who blogged about organizing knitting patterns, and asked her readers what they do. In answer to her question: I actually got rid of most of my knitting books a while ago (gasp) and only have about 7, plus a handful of magazines, and then two portfolios (the kind with clear plastic pocket pages) of patterns--one for Norwegian and one for US patterns (since the paper sizes are different). I fit them all, plus all my works-in-progress, and my entire stash into ONE plastic bin yesterday. And the lid even closes.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Hurra for deg som fyller ditt år!
My little boy turned four today! We've been down in New Mexico visiting family, and we just finished opening presents. Let me take a moment to say what a sweet boy he is. Right now as I write he's sitting at the dining room table with his grandpa playing with a new set of Legos that is way too advanced for him (age 6-8), but which he absolutely loves. So nice to hear them chatting away together like the best of friends...totally worth all the effort to bring him down here!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Evig opposisjon
My guy got elected, in case you hadn't heard. And even before he takes office, I'm starting to feel leery. A friend just posted a link to this commentary on Facebook, and it gave me a sinking feeling to read it. It's a pretty biting criticism of Obama's ideological positioning.
Looking back, I think I got swept up in the same hysteria as everyone else: Obama has the extraordinary ability to absorb whatever hopes and aspirations people from all points on the political spectrum project onto him. I actually thought he was a leftist. That is really demoralizing, because more than anything it means that I bought the anti-Obama republican propaganda.
So, as Obama's cabinent and policies start to take shape, this leaves me back where I always am: in the eternal opposition...
Maybe I actually really am a kverulant (a "curmudgeon" for the non-Norwegian speakers). And becoming more of one. I was at a meeting yesterday with really delightful colleagues from across campus. We were evaluating and ranking fellowship applications. The discussion was earnest, collegial, and serious. Yet I find that I have absolutely no patience. I was short, interrupted people, and was cranky. I had no earthly reason to be that way. For some reason, perhaps because I'm so out of practice in social interactions in general, I'm having a really hard time behaving myself. I'm not really sure when I turned into such a misanthrope. I think I used to have more social skills. Now people just get on my nerves. This is ridiculous! I really need to get my act together, especially as I enter a new job setting in a temporary position.
Looking back, I think I got swept up in the same hysteria as everyone else: Obama has the extraordinary ability to absorb whatever hopes and aspirations people from all points on the political spectrum project onto him. I actually thought he was a leftist. That is really demoralizing, because more than anything it means that I bought the anti-Obama republican propaganda.
So, as Obama's cabinent and policies start to take shape, this leaves me back where I always am: in the eternal opposition...
Maybe I actually really am a kverulant (a "curmudgeon" for the non-Norwegian speakers). And becoming more of one. I was at a meeting yesterday with really delightful colleagues from across campus. We were evaluating and ranking fellowship applications. The discussion was earnest, collegial, and serious. Yet I find that I have absolutely no patience. I was short, interrupted people, and was cranky. I had no earthly reason to be that way. For some reason, perhaps because I'm so out of practice in social interactions in general, I'm having a really hard time behaving myself. I'm not really sure when I turned into such a misanthrope. I think I used to have more social skills. Now people just get on my nerves. This is ridiculous! I really need to get my act together, especially as I enter a new job setting in a temporary position.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Traumatisk julekalender
I made a quilted advent calendar over the weekend. It almost killed me. As soon as it is light enough to take pictures, I'll post some.
What I learned in the process:
So, here is the overall view of my julekalender:
And now, in the interest of full disclosure, I am providing a close up of the horribly wonky stitching around stocking number 10. This is really embarrassing, and it's not like it's an outlyer. They're nearly all that bad. I guess it proves the depths of my narcissism (a problem with blogging in general...) that I would even upload this picture:
Here's what I should have been making. I found it at Den gode feen's blog. I sincerely hope it's okay to copy in the image here--this project photo is buried in a posting with a huge number of other fabulous holiday decorations, so it's kind of hard to find. She does beautiful work:
This I think I could have handled, and I love the combination of monocromatic patterns. I love monochromatic things in general... Cool idea to make a bunch of bags--can't wait to see how the whole project turns out. I also would have been thrilled with the advent calendar posted at the Purl Bee just a couple of days after I bought and cut out the material for mine. Sigh.
After all that sewing trauma and accompanying high blood pressure, I quickly retreated to the safe haven of my knitting (the hourglass sweater that I'm affectionately calling my frijoles refritos sweater--don't you think it looks like refried beans?). We even had some glorious sunshine. The balance in my life was thankfully regained:
Ahhh. Relief.
What I learned in the process:
- I hate, abhore, despise, loath, and cannot abide sewing on a sewing machine. Clearly I need to take lessons.
- Applique quilting is not for me. I am a perfectionist and completely incompetent with a sewing machine (see point 1), and the end result is not even close to satisfactory. Quilting is all about the surface, and if the surface sucks so does the quilt.
- I learned how to do a quilt binding, which has mystified me for years. That part was actually fun. I have an old baby quilt that's all done except for the binding, and I could actually imagine finishing that. Even on a machine.
- I really like hand sewing. That feels almost like knitting.
- I should only sew when I'm alone in the house. Anything else is disastrous.
So, here is the overall view of my julekalender:
And now, in the interest of full disclosure, I am providing a close up of the horribly wonky stitching around stocking number 10. This is really embarrassing, and it's not like it's an outlyer. They're nearly all that bad. I guess it proves the depths of my narcissism (a problem with blogging in general...) that I would even upload this picture:
Here's what I should have been making. I found it at Den gode feen's blog. I sincerely hope it's okay to copy in the image here--this project photo is buried in a posting with a huge number of other fabulous holiday decorations, so it's kind of hard to find. She does beautiful work:
This I think I could have handled, and I love the combination of monocromatic patterns. I love monochromatic things in general... Cool idea to make a bunch of bags--can't wait to see how the whole project turns out. I also would have been thrilled with the advent calendar posted at the Purl Bee just a couple of days after I bought and cut out the material for mine. Sigh.After all that sewing trauma and accompanying high blood pressure, I quickly retreated to the safe haven of my knitting (the hourglass sweater that I'm affectionately calling my frijoles refritos sweater--don't you think it looks like refried beans?). We even had some glorious sunshine. The balance in my life was thankfully regained:
Ahhh. Relief.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Luksusproblem
As I do every year, I had a "buy nothing" day yesterday as a protest against "Black Friday." It's not like it's that hard, since in our family most days are "buy nothing" days, but I like to make a special point of not participating in the consumerist hysteria that ensues each year after Thanksgiving here in the US. Yesterday a person was even trampled to death in a Walmart and two people were shot in a toy store, according to news reports. Something is very wrong with human nature.
Instead of shopping we went over to my mom's house to help her with a bunch of paperwork. She wants to get all the health care stuff taken care of, including what to do with her body when she dies. She wants to donate her body to medical research, which is what both of her parents did. Kind of a melancholy topic, but always good to air it. I've known for years that this is what she wants, so it was no surprise.
While we were there she pulled out 19 skeins of this yarn from her weaving room to give to me--Donegal Tweed Homespun by Tahki in color 849 (discontinued):
It's a huge amount of single-ply aran weight yarn--over 3000 yards! It's kind of a yucky color actually, with navy blue, burnt orange, and ocher flecks in the brown to make it a tweed. But in a way it's appealing too, in a puky sort of way. When we got home I became totally obsessed with making swatches and trying to figure out the perfect pattern for it. It turns out that this tweedy yarn looks terrible with any kind of stitch pattern, but really good in stockinette (plain knitting). It is such a generous gift, and I felt like dropping all other projects. It would work wonderfully for a Brooklyntweed "Cobblestone" sweater, but KE swears he doesn't want another sweater right now (just skiing socks!) and that kind of sweater wouldn't work well on me. Finally, this morning when I woke up I realized that the only pattern that will really work is the "Hourglass" sweater from Joelle Hoverson's Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Conveniently, I had photocopied that pattern when I had the book checked out from the library, so at about 6 this morning I started in on it. So this is a totally unexpected turn of events, but I'm excited to see how it turns out--I'm definitely going to do it with a (mock?) turtleneck instead of the wide neck opening in the pattern, but otherwise plan to follow the pattern.
Instead of shopping we went over to my mom's house to help her with a bunch of paperwork. She wants to get all the health care stuff taken care of, including what to do with her body when she dies. She wants to donate her body to medical research, which is what both of her parents did. Kind of a melancholy topic, but always good to air it. I've known for years that this is what she wants, so it was no surprise.
While we were there she pulled out 19 skeins of this yarn from her weaving room to give to me--Donegal Tweed Homespun by Tahki in color 849 (discontinued):
It's a huge amount of single-ply aran weight yarn--over 3000 yards! It's kind of a yucky color actually, with navy blue, burnt orange, and ocher flecks in the brown to make it a tweed. But in a way it's appealing too, in a puky sort of way. When we got home I became totally obsessed with making swatches and trying to figure out the perfect pattern for it. It turns out that this tweedy yarn looks terrible with any kind of stitch pattern, but really good in stockinette (plain knitting). It is such a generous gift, and I felt like dropping all other projects. It would work wonderfully for a Brooklyntweed "Cobblestone" sweater, but KE swears he doesn't want another sweater right now (just skiing socks!) and that kind of sweater wouldn't work well on me. Finally, this morning when I woke up I realized that the only pattern that will really work is the "Hourglass" sweater from Joelle Hoverson's Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Conveniently, I had photocopied that pattern when I had the book checked out from the library, so at about 6 this morning I started in on it. So this is a totally unexpected turn of events, but I'm excited to see how it turns out--I'm definitely going to do it with a (mock?) turtleneck instead of the wide neck opening in the pattern, but otherwise plan to follow the pattern.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Eksperiment
Yesterday in the literary seminar I'm teaching this term I presented a full-on conference paper exactly as I would do it at a real conference. It was an experiment in teaching the culture of academic discourse in the humanities, rather than just the content. I gave the students a listening exercise to work on while I presented, which was intended to help guide them through the paper. It has the following instructions and questions:
In this exercise you will listen to a fairly typical conference paper presentation and attempt to sort out what the argument is based solely on listening (rather than reading). This is exceedingly difficult to do, yet it is the standard format for presenting research in the humanities. (Is that a good thing?)
And, in other news, a holiday confession: KE and I browbeat my mother into agreeing to have our Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant! I am so utterly relieved. This will be the first time in my entire life that I don't have a home-cooked meal on Thanksgiving, but I just didn't have it in me this year to prepare one. There was just too much else to be thinking about and doing. KE is delighted, and I'm looking forward to being able to either A) trash the restaurant food or B) learn some new dishes and traditions to encorporate in my own Thanksgiving meals (I presume I'll go back to making Thanksgiving dinner starting next year).
Update: The restaurant dinner was fantastic! We ate at Sweetwaters on the Willamette river, then took a short walk along the river after. Wow, I didn't realize what a breeze it is to do a restaurant Thanksgiving! And the best thing of all was that I got to wear my finished (finally!!) rillejakke:
Yay, yay, and double yay! Boy was I tired of that project...
In this exercise you will listen to a fairly typical conference paper presentation and attempt to sort out what the argument is based solely on listening (rather than reading). This is exceedingly difficult to do, yet it is the standard format for presenting research in the humanities. (Is that a good thing?)
- You will need to come up with at least one question to ask the presenter about the content of the paper. Write that question (or those questions) here as it (they) occur to you during the presentation. At the end of the presentation, pose it (them)!
- What is the thesis for this presentation (what is the problem to be analyzed)? Does the presenter state the thesis outright, or did you just have to infer it? (And in the end, did the presenter actually analyze what she said she was going to analyze?)
- List the key points that the presenter makes. There should be some. If not, it is a weak paper! There shouldn't be too many, though. Hope for about 3-5.
- Does the presenter make use of specific theoretical terms or specific theories? If so what are they, and do they work to support the argument being made? Would something else that you know of have worked better?
- Does the visual material presented help or hinder your understanding of the paper?
And, in other news, a holiday confession: KE and I browbeat my mother into agreeing to have our Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant! I am so utterly relieved. This will be the first time in my entire life that I don't have a home-cooked meal on Thanksgiving, but I just didn't have it in me this year to prepare one. There was just too much else to be thinking about and doing. KE is delighted, and I'm looking forward to being able to either A) trash the restaurant food or B) learn some new dishes and traditions to encorporate in my own Thanksgiving meals (I presume I'll go back to making Thanksgiving dinner starting next year).
Update: The restaurant dinner was fantastic! We ate at Sweetwaters on the Willamette river, then took a short walk along the river after. Wow, I didn't realize what a breeze it is to do a restaurant Thanksgiving! And the best thing of all was that I got to wear my finished (finally!!) rillejakke:
Yay, yay, and double yay! Boy was I tired of that project...
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Gjenforening
At last, after two weeks I have my laptop back! I couldn't be happier. To celebrate I uploaded some of my autumn pictures. First off is E as perpetual motion machine. Not quite sure how this picture happened, but I like it...
No children were hurt in the filming of this shot. Then there were a couple of pictures to document the house after getting it painted this summer. Here's the front:
Not long after this KE got cranked up and raked up all those leaves by hand! He left them down in the road for city pick up, but then some folks from around the corner drove up and hauled them off to use as compost. We've never been able to get the leaves to break down (they're sycamore), but apparently these people lie in wait, ready to claim our leaves as soon as we get them out into the public domain. And here's the driveway and side of the house:
The driveway doesn't actually look half bad here. In reality it's like a BMX course. No accident that the house color is practically the same as my blog background. Ah, how I love the colors of mud, clay, and brown paper bags. And finally, even my plain Jane dishcloths look cheery (relatively speaking) in the autumn leaves:
Happy November, happy computing!
No children were hurt in the filming of this shot. Then there were a couple of pictures to document the house after getting it painted this summer. Here's the front:
Not long after this KE got cranked up and raked up all those leaves by hand! He left them down in the road for city pick up, but then some folks from around the corner drove up and hauled them off to use as compost. We've never been able to get the leaves to break down (they're sycamore), but apparently these people lie in wait, ready to claim our leaves as soon as we get them out into the public domain. And here's the driveway and side of the house:
The driveway doesn't actually look half bad here. In reality it's like a BMX course. No accident that the house color is practically the same as my blog background. Ah, how I love the colors of mud, clay, and brown paper bags. And finally, even my plain Jane dishcloths look cheery (relatively speaking) in the autumn leaves:
Happy November, happy computing!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Strikkekrise!!!
Whimper. I am so sad. I have been happily knitting away at the last part of the rillejakke (the right front) for the past two or three days. But this morning when I got it out and started measuring I realized that the whole dang piece is wrong! I just ripped the entire thing out. Sigh.
I have to confess that I got a little seduced by Brooklyntweed's frequent praise of the garter stitch. He goes on and on about how rhythmic and soothing it is to knit in garter stitch (knit every row, as opposed to knit and purl subsequent rows for you non-knitters). One person's comfort is apparently another person's torture. I've never really done anything in garter stich other than this jacket, and I didn't realize how much harder it is to correct than regular stockinette knitting, and how impossible it is to measure. Impossible, that is, unless you actually count the rows that are formed by the stitch pattern. Lo and behold, you actually can count them, which I discovered this morning. So now all the misshapen work is ripped out, but I'm too wary to start right in again. Again, sigh. I so wanted to have this thing done. Feels like I've been working on it forever.
On the up side of things, yesterday I finished off some major adminstrative stuff at work, which freed me up to start thinking about my next conference paper, which is going to be on Henrik Ibsen's Når vi døde vågner. Here's a sketch of the first act that Ibsen made in his manuscript:
I actually managed to bang out about four pages! The conference isn't until the end of April, but we're reading that play in my "space and place in literature" seminar this coming week, and I wanted to present a preliminary version of the conference paper to the students on Wednesday. I've really been focusing on the nuts and bolts of literary scholarship and publishing, and I wanted to give them a good model for an academic presentation.
I have to confess that I got a little seduced by Brooklyntweed's frequent praise of the garter stitch. He goes on and on about how rhythmic and soothing it is to knit in garter stitch (knit every row, as opposed to knit and purl subsequent rows for you non-knitters). One person's comfort is apparently another person's torture. I've never really done anything in garter stich other than this jacket, and I didn't realize how much harder it is to correct than regular stockinette knitting, and how impossible it is to measure. Impossible, that is, unless you actually count the rows that are formed by the stitch pattern. Lo and behold, you actually can count them, which I discovered this morning. So now all the misshapen work is ripped out, but I'm too wary to start right in again. Again, sigh. I so wanted to have this thing done. Feels like I've been working on it forever.
On the up side of things, yesterday I finished off some major adminstrative stuff at work, which freed me up to start thinking about my next conference paper, which is going to be on Henrik Ibsen's Når vi døde vågner. Here's a sketch of the first act that Ibsen made in his manuscript:
I actually managed to bang out about four pages! The conference isn't until the end of April, but we're reading that play in my "space and place in literature" seminar this coming week, and I wanted to present a preliminary version of the conference paper to the students on Wednesday. I've really been focusing on the nuts and bolts of literary scholarship and publishing, and I wanted to give them a good model for an academic presentation.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Svett
I am pushing the envelope, which is to say attempting a sewing project. Today I started the cloth advent calendar that I want to make for E, and initially I though "how hard can it be?" I think that about all sewing projects. Usually that gets me through the cutting phase, and then the thought of setting up the sewing machine is usually too overwhelming, so I just let the project lie dormant until I throw it away five or ten years later. Or else I do actually try to sew, and it always ends up sloppy and disappointing.
But I'm really motivated on this one, because I'm hoping that it can be a little anchor point in a few chaotic weeks, maybe just as much for me as for E. I've been casing the local quilt stores to see what they have, and today I went in for the kill. I was a nervous wreck. I actually produced that rank sweat that only nervousness brings forth. My brain froze up, and I just couldn't envision the way the fabrics would go together at all. It was really weird, as I usually have pretty clear notions of what I'm after aesthetically when it comes to yarn, paint, and even clothes. I finally had to have an employee talk me through my nerves. You could tell she thought I was an idiot, but I'm trying to suppress the memory of that.
After an eternity of looking through the greens and reds and Christmas prints I finally came up with a combination and brought it up to the counter to be cut. I was all dithery and wondered aloud if they would go together. With great comic timing she looked blankly at me and said "They're all green and red. Of course they go together." Argh. I felt even more moronic. But really, all the greens and reds don't necessarily go together.
So, I spent some time this afternoon while E was at preschool cutting out 24 little Christmas stockings. It was a mentally and emotionally exhausting experience. After E went to bed I hunkered down in front of the tv with the old rillejakke project. Ah, what comfort to knit and watch bad tv (House and Fringe for those who must know)...
But I'm really motivated on this one, because I'm hoping that it can be a little anchor point in a few chaotic weeks, maybe just as much for me as for E. I've been casing the local quilt stores to see what they have, and today I went in for the kill. I was a nervous wreck. I actually produced that rank sweat that only nervousness brings forth. My brain froze up, and I just couldn't envision the way the fabrics would go together at all. It was really weird, as I usually have pretty clear notions of what I'm after aesthetically when it comes to yarn, paint, and even clothes. I finally had to have an employee talk me through my nerves. You could tell she thought I was an idiot, but I'm trying to suppress the memory of that.
After an eternity of looking through the greens and reds and Christmas prints I finally came up with a combination and brought it up to the counter to be cut. I was all dithery and wondered aloud if they would go together. With great comic timing she looked blankly at me and said "They're all green and red. Of course they go together." Argh. I felt even more moronic. But really, all the greens and reds don't necessarily go together.
So, I spent some time this afternoon while E was at preschool cutting out 24 little Christmas stockings. It was a mentally and emotionally exhausting experience. After E went to bed I hunkered down in front of the tv with the old rillejakke project. Ah, what comfort to knit and watch bad tv (House and Fringe for those who must know)...
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
En spøkelse fra fortiden
Earlier this term I noticed a woman in the crowd here on campus who looked oddly familiar--she has a very distinct personal style that appears to be inspired by interwar boyhood. After passing her at a distance once or twice on my way to or from class her face worked its way into my cerebral cortex and simmered there for a while. Suddenly I remembered who she reminded me of. Back in the late 80s I had spent a couple of quarters taking classes at WWU (in my home town of Bellingham, WA). She looked a lot like a young woman I had taken a class with and struck up a passing friendship with.
So today on my way to the library today I passed right by her on my bike. I just had to stop her and ask whether she had gone to WWU in the late 80s, and lo and behold, she had! Turns out it was a very frustrating class on Existentialism that we had taken together (winter quarter 1987 to be exact--I checked my transcript). We were both just passsing through WWU on our way to other places, which makes this all the more unlikely. She did a PhD here and then took a library job on campus. It was so fun to reconnect briefly, and we're now making plans to get together. So many times one thinks one recognizes someone and it turns out to be a false alarm. This time it wasn't. Such a treat. This plays right into my nostalgia trip of 2008.
Edited to add: she keeps a very spiffy blog!
So today on my way to the library today I passed right by her on my bike. I just had to stop her and ask whether she had gone to WWU in the late 80s, and lo and behold, she had! Turns out it was a very frustrating class on Existentialism that we had taken together (winter quarter 1987 to be exact--I checked my transcript). We were both just passsing through WWU on our way to other places, which makes this all the more unlikely. She did a PhD here and then took a library job on campus. It was so fun to reconnect briefly, and we're now making plans to get together. So many times one thinks one recognizes someone and it turns out to be a false alarm. This time it wasn't. Such a treat. This plays right into my nostalgia trip of 2008.
Edited to add: she keeps a very spiffy blog!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Urolig
I woke up with a start from a terrible dream. In real life our neighbors across the street have had two loose dogs since we moved in. In the past couple of weeks they have also acquired what appears to be a pit bull. They are also allowing this dog to run totally loose. I dreamed--of course--that it mauled E. Horrible and terrifying. It made me feel like we can't leave this place soon enough.
But on the other hand, it feels so surreal that we will be leaving in a month! I have been having flashes of emotion--not sure whether to call them panic, anticipation, excitement, or what. I think that at least on some level I've wanted to move to Europe (and Norway in particular) for good since I was a teenager. It never appeared possible to stay for anything but limited stints, even after I married a Norwegian citizen, oddly enough. I always dismissed the thought as impossible. And now, suddenly with this postdoctoral position, it's happening! I am emigrating. I don't know why, in all the flurry of the job search and preparing for the move this fact has never struck me before. My identity will shift to that of an expatriate, rather than just a sojourner abroad.
I guess I've felt all along that my primary motivation for the move has been A) KE's desire to return home, and B) what I perceive of as a better society for E to grow up in. I know that I can do okay in Norway, since I've lived there for what amounts to a little over five years, spread out over many stays varying from eight weeks to two years. I guess I really haven't had time to think about this in terms of my own trajectory in life. My feeling this week has been an intense set of gratitude for the opportunity (along with the panic). I don't know if that means that I've really wanted this for myself all along (but somehow didn't/couldn't acknowledge it) or whether my pragmatic nature just worked out an attitude shift. If I'm really, really, really honest, I think when KE and I first started discussing moving to Norway, and even after I agreed to the move, I still sort of secretly harbored a hope that we would decide not to when the time came. It's funny to look back at that.
I guess I feel that my future here in this town, this house, this job, would be really pretty bleak. I have been happy here, but only in the company of my immediate family--husband, son, mother. The satisfaction and challenges I have received from my job have been fleeting and could be found in a different work setting. And I have been terribly, terribly lonely here in terms of developing friendships. I seem to go in cycles. If I look back at my moves and the social networks that I develop, it appears that every other major move produces good social networks:
1. left home for college -- humiliatingly awkward attempts, no lasting friendships from that time
2. moved to go to graduate school -- developed real, lasting friendships who are still my closest and most beloved friends
3. Fulbright to Norway and then a year of teaching -- again humiliatingly awkward
4. postdoc. in Finland -- sort of in between -- one good friend and some good professional contacts (a temporary thing, so it doesn't really count)
5. job in Arizona -- a wonderful network of friends (in a place I hated and a horrible job)
(5a. sabbatical in Norway -- this doesn't really count either since I met KE within the first week, and subsequently spent nearly all my time developing a relationship with him. I did strengthen some relationships with people I knew from before, though)
6. job in Oregon -- again humiliatingly awkward
Case in point on my inability to relate: The other night I saw the most ridiculous thing on Fox TV's new FBI drama "Fringe" (a show that attempts to be cool and freaky like "The X-Files" and fails miserably). The lead character went to Germany to interview a prisoner incarcerated in--get this--Wissenschaft Prison. Yeah right! It's almost as bad as the absurd episode of "The X-Files" that took place in Norway and featured a certain "Mr. Trondheim." Here's a screen shot to prove it:
So, I got all excited and thought, "Hey this is something my colleagues in German will find amusing, so I'll email it to all of them." Silence. Only one person even mentioned it out of the 10 colleagues I said hello to yesterday. Oh well, I still find it hilarious.
But on the other hand, it feels so surreal that we will be leaving in a month! I have been having flashes of emotion--not sure whether to call them panic, anticipation, excitement, or what. I think that at least on some level I've wanted to move to Europe (and Norway in particular) for good since I was a teenager. It never appeared possible to stay for anything but limited stints, even after I married a Norwegian citizen, oddly enough. I always dismissed the thought as impossible. And now, suddenly with this postdoctoral position, it's happening! I am emigrating. I don't know why, in all the flurry of the job search and preparing for the move this fact has never struck me before. My identity will shift to that of an expatriate, rather than just a sojourner abroad.
I guess I've felt all along that my primary motivation for the move has been A) KE's desire to return home, and B) what I perceive of as a better society for E to grow up in. I know that I can do okay in Norway, since I've lived there for what amounts to a little over five years, spread out over many stays varying from eight weeks to two years. I guess I really haven't had time to think about this in terms of my own trajectory in life. My feeling this week has been an intense set of gratitude for the opportunity (along with the panic). I don't know if that means that I've really wanted this for myself all along (but somehow didn't/couldn't acknowledge it) or whether my pragmatic nature just worked out an attitude shift. If I'm really, really, really honest, I think when KE and I first started discussing moving to Norway, and even after I agreed to the move, I still sort of secretly harbored a hope that we would decide not to when the time came. It's funny to look back at that.
I guess I feel that my future here in this town, this house, this job, would be really pretty bleak. I have been happy here, but only in the company of my immediate family--husband, son, mother. The satisfaction and challenges I have received from my job have been fleeting and could be found in a different work setting. And I have been terribly, terribly lonely here in terms of developing friendships. I seem to go in cycles. If I look back at my moves and the social networks that I develop, it appears that every other major move produces good social networks:
1. left home for college -- humiliatingly awkward attempts, no lasting friendships from that time
2. moved to go to graduate school -- developed real, lasting friendships who are still my closest and most beloved friends
3. Fulbright to Norway and then a year of teaching -- again humiliatingly awkward
4. postdoc. in Finland -- sort of in between -- one good friend and some good professional contacts (a temporary thing, so it doesn't really count)
5. job in Arizona -- a wonderful network of friends (in a place I hated and a horrible job)
(5a. sabbatical in Norway -- this doesn't really count either since I met KE within the first week, and subsequently spent nearly all my time developing a relationship with him. I did strengthen some relationships with people I knew from before, though)
6. job in Oregon -- again humiliatingly awkward
Case in point on my inability to relate: The other night I saw the most ridiculous thing on Fox TV's new FBI drama "Fringe" (a show that attempts to be cool and freaky like "The X-Files" and fails miserably). The lead character went to Germany to interview a prisoner incarcerated in--get this--Wissenschaft Prison. Yeah right! It's almost as bad as the absurd episode of "The X-Files" that took place in Norway and featured a certain "Mr. Trondheim." Here's a screen shot to prove it:
So, I got all excited and thought, "Hey this is something my colleagues in German will find amusing, so I'll email it to all of them." Silence. Only one person even mentioned it out of the 10 colleagues I said hello to yesterday. Oh well, I still find it hilarious.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Og det motsatte er ... motivert!
After another whinging post, I feel the need to say that things really got better after I got that blasted søknad om oppholds- og arbeidstillatelse thingy into the mail. Since I was applying both for a work permit and residence permit for me and for a personnummer for my son it was a frighteningly thick packet I sent off by Fedex Monday night. Then to top it off I actually finally made plane reservations to take E down to visit my Dad in New Mexico before we leave and called my Dad on the phone to tell him (I despise talking on the phone). Phew.
It has also helped that after quite a few days of dreary rain we had glorious sun and warmth today. E ran around in the leaves like a wild child, looking oh so photogenic. As soon as I get my laptop back from repairs I'll upload pictures of his frolic.
Getting the application and reservations out of my hair freed me up to take on the next big task, which is figuring out how to ship things to Norway. Today I think we settled on a shipping company and have a firm price and details. $1500 to ship a container that is approximately 4' x 4' x 7 ' (about 40 medium sized plastic bins). The company will come to our house with the container and load it up with our (already packed) bins, and whisk it all away. We'll (supposedly) see the stuff again in 8 weeks when we pick it up at Oslo harbor. So I think we're going to use the weekend before the flight to pack (that way both KE and I will be done with finals) and have them come on Monday the 15th to remove our earthly possessions. We'll clean out the house, then spend the last night at my Mom's house, before flying out on Tuesday the 16th.
In knitting news I'm still working on dish cloths rather than my blue rillejakke, for some inexplicable reason.
I am also contemplating a new sewing project. It occured to me that E is old enough to enjoy an Advent calendar, and that having one might help him to understand all the events that are coming up in December (trip to New Mexico, E's birthday, the move, then Christmas). I found a pretty simple idea that I can tweak here. Not totally sure I can pull it off, but KE was relatively enthusiastic, so maybe he will help?
It has also helped that after quite a few days of dreary rain we had glorious sun and warmth today. E ran around in the leaves like a wild child, looking oh so photogenic. As soon as I get my laptop back from repairs I'll upload pictures of his frolic.
Getting the application and reservations out of my hair freed me up to take on the next big task, which is figuring out how to ship things to Norway. Today I think we settled on a shipping company and have a firm price and details. $1500 to ship a container that is approximately 4' x 4' x 7 ' (about 40 medium sized plastic bins). The company will come to our house with the container and load it up with our (already packed) bins, and whisk it all away. We'll (supposedly) see the stuff again in 8 weeks when we pick it up at Oslo harbor. So I think we're going to use the weekend before the flight to pack (that way both KE and I will be done with finals) and have them come on Monday the 15th to remove our earthly possessions. We'll clean out the house, then spend the last night at my Mom's house, before flying out on Tuesday the 16th.
In knitting news I'm still working on dish cloths rather than my blue rillejakke, for some inexplicable reason.
I am also contemplating a new sewing project. It occured to me that E is old enough to enjoy an Advent calendar, and that having one might help him to understand all the events that are coming up in December (trip to New Mexico, E's birthday, the move, then Christmas). I found a pretty simple idea that I can tweak here. Not totally sure I can pull it off, but KE was relatively enthusiastic, so maybe he will help?
Monday, November 10, 2008
Demotivert
This was a hard weekend for me, not because I did anything at all (I didn't), but because my lack of motivation and direction started to get me down. There have been a couple of tasks I desperately needed to accomplish, and I had put them off every day for over a week. These are things that need to be done right away, crucial things that pertain to our move, yet for some reason I couldn't bring myself to do them. I've been incredibly cranky, and have picked some really stupid fights (well not fights, but totally unnecessary spats over minutia) with poor, long suffering KE.
Finally, after a long talk with a very sympathetic KE, I got him to promise to nag (or shame) me into doing them yesterday. My prime motivation was the fact that there was a one-day-only yarn sale at one of the local shops. I know that's pathetic, but it took rewarding me with a trip to the shop to get me to do what I had to do. Unfortunately, the trip didn't turn out as fun as I would have liked. I had E with me, and a few minutes into browsing he peed his pants. Sigh. Toddlerdom.
What I did manage to buy was good old Sugar 'n' Cream for making dishcloths like these, only in off white. Very satisifying knitting, I must say, and the dishcloth it produces is really cool.
Otherwise, I'm slowly progressing on the "rillejakke." I have the peplum and back done, and have started on one of the fronts. It's starting to get awkward since it's all knitted together rather than sewn together at the end:
I got my package of buttons from the McCain campaign the other day (still waiting on the Democrats...). The one that has really given me pause is this one:
I'm flabbergasted. Apparently this is supposed to project a positive message about the fact that the Republican vice presidential candidate was a woman, but I just can't imagine a more denigrating way of expressing that! In a weird way this button completely infantilizes the candidate. It also expresses a weird exhuberance about the candidate's gender, as if that's the only thing that matters. I showed it to a bunch of friends at women's dinner last night, and they first thought it must be a button intended to make fun of the candidate. They were incredulous when I told them I had bought it from the GOP itself!
And finally, a couple of finished objects from last week: the turban hat from Folk Hats for my Mom's birthday, and then a little "child's hat" from Last Minute Knitted Gifts for a 2-year-old's birthday gift (obviously using the left over yarn from the turban). I have to say, I like the child's hat best:
Finally, after a long talk with a very sympathetic KE, I got him to promise to nag (or shame) me into doing them yesterday. My prime motivation was the fact that there was a one-day-only yarn sale at one of the local shops. I know that's pathetic, but it took rewarding me with a trip to the shop to get me to do what I had to do. Unfortunately, the trip didn't turn out as fun as I would have liked. I had E with me, and a few minutes into browsing he peed his pants. Sigh. Toddlerdom.
What I did manage to buy was good old Sugar 'n' Cream for making dishcloths like these, only in off white. Very satisifying knitting, I must say, and the dishcloth it produces is really cool.
Otherwise, I'm slowly progressing on the "rillejakke." I have the peplum and back done, and have started on one of the fronts. It's starting to get awkward since it's all knitted together rather than sewn together at the end:
I got my package of buttons from the McCain campaign the other day (still waiting on the Democrats...). The one that has really given me pause is this one:
I'm flabbergasted. Apparently this is supposed to project a positive message about the fact that the Republican vice presidential candidate was a woman, but I just can't imagine a more denigrating way of expressing that! In a weird way this button completely infantilizes the candidate. It also expresses a weird exhuberance about the candidate's gender, as if that's the only thing that matters. I showed it to a bunch of friends at women's dinner last night, and they first thought it must be a button intended to make fun of the candidate. They were incredulous when I told them I had bought it from the GOP itself!And finally, a couple of finished objects from last week: the turban hat from Folk Hats for my Mom's birthday, and then a little "child's hat" from Last Minute Knitted Gifts for a 2-year-old's birthday gift (obviously using the left over yarn from the turban). I have to say, I like the child's hat best:
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Min første meme
On Rainy day goods I finally found a meme that I couldn't resist doing. Here is how you play: 
- type your answer to each question below into Flickr Search
- using only the first page of results, pick an image
- copy and paste each URL into fd's mosaic maker
- blog it!
The Questions:
- What is your first name? Ellen
- What is your favorite food? thimbleberries
- What high school did you go to? Sehome
- What is your favorite color? periwinkle
- Who is your celebrity crush? Rufus Sewell
- What is your favorite drink? tapwater
- Dream vacation? Zanzibar
- Favorite dessert? chocolate pudding
- What do you want to be when you grow up? balanced
- What do you love most in life? learning
- One word to describe you? quixotic
- Your flickr name? Kverulantinnen. Nothing was generated so it asked me if I meant "quarantining," so I used that instead.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Puste ut...
I have been hesitant to write because I can't quite get a handle on how I'm feeling as a result of the election. I am, of course, delighted that Obama won. I really like his public persona: I like his seriousness of purpose, his inspiring oratory, his vision for the US, his even temper, and his realism. I'm just so afraid everyone is expecting that he will single-handedly make everything better over night. I thought his acceptance speech was really good. It was tempered and realistic, and it appears that he's trying to contain the limitless expectations now placed on him, while still maintaining people's sense of hope. This opinion piece by Roger Cohen really sums up a lot of what I'm feeling.
As I have been thinking about this election over the past months I would often tear up at the thought of the symbolic value of a black person being elected and sworn in as president, but to my surprise I wasn't really emotional in response to Obama's victory and speech. My primary feeling was that of relief that he won, and concern about the future. I did feel for Jesse Jackson. The emotions on his face showed through so strongly. (And as a side note I was happy to see Sarah Palin looking visibly upset.)
One of my old friends from my high school exchange year in Stange (1983-84!) contacted me on Facebook to ask if I could send him campaign buttons from both sides. I took E with me to the Republican headquarters here in town on Monday before the election, but they were all out of McCain/Palin paraphenalia (something I took as a bad sign at the time). Eventually I just decided to order off the internet from both parties. Both had "value packs": the Republicans offered this, which I'm really looking forward to receiving:
You get 20 buttons for $10, plus an additional $9 for shipping. The Democrats send you a similar pack of 50 buttons for $10, but charge $11 for shipping. Still it's a better deal, since you get more than twice as much propaganda:
I'm not going to think about the discounts that they're all offering today, the day after the election. I have to admit I'm going to pick out a few from both sides to keep before sending them along to my high school buddy (I'm hoping for the art deco one with the palm tree, and the Republican "It's A Girl" one).
I also have to say that I was impressed by McCain's concession speech. He said what he had to say. Now I'm excited to see the transition take shape and to get this Bush joker out of the White House once and for all. In a way I'm sorry that I'm not more elated, not more connected to the collective euphoria that appears to be rampant right now in the U.S. I guess I just see the problems as so profound that I want to focus on them, rather than on the "horse race" of the election.
Last word: It appears that most of the voting went off okay. I haven't read many reports of voter fraud or failure. That to me is almost the best part of this particular election, given the horrible "irregularities" of 2000.
As I have been thinking about this election over the past months I would often tear up at the thought of the symbolic value of a black person being elected and sworn in as president, but to my surprise I wasn't really emotional in response to Obama's victory and speech. My primary feeling was that of relief that he won, and concern about the future. I did feel for Jesse Jackson. The emotions on his face showed through so strongly. (And as a side note I was happy to see Sarah Palin looking visibly upset.)
One of my old friends from my high school exchange year in Stange (1983-84!) contacted me on Facebook to ask if I could send him campaign buttons from both sides. I took E with me to the Republican headquarters here in town on Monday before the election, but they were all out of McCain/Palin paraphenalia (something I took as a bad sign at the time). Eventually I just decided to order off the internet from both parties. Both had "value packs": the Republicans offered this, which I'm really looking forward to receiving:
You get 20 buttons for $10, plus an additional $9 for shipping. The Democrats send you a similar pack of 50 buttons for $10, but charge $11 for shipping. Still it's a better deal, since you get more than twice as much propaganda:
I'm not going to think about the discounts that they're all offering today, the day after the election. I have to admit I'm going to pick out a few from both sides to keep before sending them along to my high school buddy (I'm hoping for the art deco one with the palm tree, and the Republican "It's A Girl" one).I also have to say that I was impressed by McCain's concession speech. He said what he had to say. Now I'm excited to see the transition take shape and to get this Bush joker out of the White House once and for all. In a way I'm sorry that I'm not more elated, not more connected to the collective euphoria that appears to be rampant right now in the U.S. I guess I just see the problems as so profound that I want to focus on them, rather than on the "horse race" of the election.
Last word: It appears that most of the voting went off okay. I haven't read many reports of voter fraud or failure. That to me is almost the best part of this particular election, given the horrible "irregularities" of 2000.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Penger på bok!
Happy November! Yesterday the sale of our house went through, and I deposited the check in our bank account! I'm so totally thrilled to no longer own this house. Our buyers are incredibly easy to work with, and we will be renting back from them until the day before we leave for Norway (16 December is D-day).
We barely got more than our down payment back, but really that's okay. Everyone I've told agrees that we're just incredibly lucky to have sold at all in this market, especially given that we didn't even have to use a realtor or have masses of people come and look--much easier in a family with a toddler who spreads his toys everywhere.
So now we're anxiously eying the exchange rate. Earlier this week the dollar reached 7 crowns, but now it's back down to just over 6. I know the election on Tuesday will probably bump it down significantly. I think KE would have done the exchange yesterday if he could have (we couldn't because we got the check too late in the day on a Friday). I'm kind of interested in waiting and seeing, but there are never any guarantees. This week was a 2-year high I think.
E wore his "James" (from Thomas the Tank Engine) costume to preschool yesterday. He was really proud of it. Things have become kind of a struggle with him. He is so stubborn that he resists everything. I'm starting to get tired of all the battles, especially now when my energy is so low because of my cold.
As you can see, I have been crocheting like crazy with some more of the weaving linen my mom gave me. I finished all the grannie squares for the Häkelbeutel bag and sewed it together today. Now all I need is straps and some kind of lining. And then today is the day I'm supposed to start knittng the hat for my mom's birthday next weekend...
We barely got more than our down payment back, but really that's okay. Everyone I've told agrees that we're just incredibly lucky to have sold at all in this market, especially given that we didn't even have to use a realtor or have masses of people come and look--much easier in a family with a toddler who spreads his toys everywhere.
So now we're anxiously eying the exchange rate. Earlier this week the dollar reached 7 crowns, but now it's back down to just over 6. I know the election on Tuesday will probably bump it down significantly. I think KE would have done the exchange yesterday if he could have (we couldn't because we got the check too late in the day on a Friday). I'm kind of interested in waiting and seeing, but there are never any guarantees. This week was a 2-year high I think.
E wore his "James" (from Thomas the Tank Engine) costume to preschool yesterday. He was really proud of it. Things have become kind of a struggle with him. He is so stubborn that he resists everything. I'm starting to get tired of all the battles, especially now when my energy is so low because of my cold.
As you can see, I have been crocheting like crazy with some more of the weaving linen my mom gave me. I finished all the grannie squares for the Häkelbeutel bag and sewed it together today. Now all I need is straps and some kind of lining. And then today is the day I'm supposed to start knittng the hat for my mom's birthday next weekend...
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Drømmepresidenten
I realize that I'm posting way too much these days, but I'm finding this a very useful place to record what I'm thinking about. Last night I watched Barack Obama's 30-minute informercial. When I first heard about it I was very skeptical and thought it was really over the top to buy 30 minutes of political advertising in prime time. I found it pretty interesting and not creepy at all. In fact there was a moment when he spoke about stories that I found incredibly moving. Basically, he says that everyone has a story, and that he wants to learn from those stories to make the U.S. a better place.
As a literature professor and someone who specializes in prose fiction, I am obsessed with stories. I always say that we tell ourselves stories to make sense of ourselves. It appears that Obama has really tapped into this notion of the American story as a tool for helping people feel better about themselves and their country. It can of course be a dangerous tool of propaganda, but with altruistic intentions, I do think that Obama's mastery of narrative could actually improve the morale and reputation of this country. At least I really hope so.
And then, of course, I had a very vivid dream about talking with Obama and telling him my story. It was very comforting. I was in a yarn store (of course) that he made a campaign stop at and I showed him two things: a map of the U.S., where I pointed to Bellingham (my home town) up in the very far northwest corner, and then my Dad, who was lurking in the background with massive amounts of camera equipment. I can't remember what Obama said, except that it was comforting and I felt understood, respected, and valued.
As a literature professor and someone who specializes in prose fiction, I am obsessed with stories. I always say that we tell ourselves stories to make sense of ourselves. It appears that Obama has really tapped into this notion of the American story as a tool for helping people feel better about themselves and their country. It can of course be a dangerous tool of propaganda, but with altruistic intentions, I do think that Obama's mastery of narrative could actually improve the morale and reputation of this country. At least I really hope so.
And then, of course, I had a very vivid dream about talking with Obama and telling him my story. It was very comforting. I was in a yarn store (of course) that he made a campaign stop at and I showed him two things: a map of the U.S., where I pointed to Bellingham (my home town) up in the very far northwest corner, and then my Dad, who was lurking in the background with massive amounts of camera equipment. I can't remember what Obama said, except that it was comforting and I felt understood, respected, and valued.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Flaut
So now I feel silly for the whining and whinging in my previous post. I really have nothing to complain about. My colleagues are all fine. We're not best buddies, but they're all decent and intelligent or at worst benign. I can't expect to have the easygoing and deep friendships I had at my previous job everywhere I go.
I knit these pointy toed rainbow socks for E to make myself feel better (note to self: the round toe that works wonderfully on my foot is not appropriate for a toddler sized sock!):
I love them in all their pointy stripy silliness.
Now if only I could sleep. I'm having an insomnia night. Hence the updated look on the blog. I think it looks better (being a lover of mousey colors), and I can now follow my favorite blogs more easily.
I knit these pointy toed rainbow socks for E to make myself feel better (note to self: the round toe that works wonderfully on my foot is not appropriate for a toddler sized sock!):
I love them in all their pointy stripy silliness.
Now if only I could sleep. I'm having an insomnia night. Hence the updated look on the blog. I think it looks better (being a lover of mousey colors), and I can now follow my favorite blogs more easily.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Uønsket?
Is it just me, or is it weird that not a single person here at the university I work at has expressed any regret over the fact that I'm leaving? My only real complaint about the job here has been that I haven't made the kind of close connections to colleagues that I had a ton of at my previous job. Mostly, I have blamed that on myself, since I came here pregnant and newly married. Starting a family took up all my non-work time, so I haven't had the energy to put out for making work friends. But at a certain point things settled down, and I made concerted efforts to connect with people. I did manage to twist a few people's arms enough that they would go out to coffee with me, but the efforts were never returned. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that no one here is sad to see me go.
But that doesn't stop me from feeling sorry for myself! I feel like I have a lot to offer my friends. I'm loyal and supportive and enthusiastic. I also feel like I put a huge amount of effort into this job. It sucks that no one here recognizes or values that. Sorry for the pity party, but it really hurts my feelings that I've been doing a job for four years that no one seems to care about. When I brought the whole fellowship thing up to my boss the first time his primary reaction was to be pissed off at the extra work my leaving would cause him.
I don't want to pout, and I don't want to leave in a huff. It would just be so nice if someone here at my job would say "I'm sorry to see you go." Rant over.
On the upside, we finally finished our Twin Peaks marathon. Loved, loved, loved it. I had to reserve Fire Walk With Me at the library just to get the full package. I know it's supposed to be really bad, but I'm just not ready to let go of the series. Oddly, episode 17 from season two is missing on CBS.com. Hmmm. Mysterious. It gets rave reviews online, so I'd really like to see it.
And we got off pretty easy with fixing up the house to sell: under $700 for all electrical and plumbing work. Luckily the buyers had put a clause in the purchase contract that capped what we would have to pay at $1000. I thought I'd have to go over that, but they stuck to it, and didn't want to split costs for more work that they had originally hoped to get done. Yay! Closing this week, if all goes well.
But that doesn't stop me from feeling sorry for myself! I feel like I have a lot to offer my friends. I'm loyal and supportive and enthusiastic. I also feel like I put a huge amount of effort into this job. It sucks that no one here recognizes or values that. Sorry for the pity party, but it really hurts my feelings that I've been doing a job for four years that no one seems to care about. When I brought the whole fellowship thing up to my boss the first time his primary reaction was to be pissed off at the extra work my leaving would cause him.
I don't want to pout, and I don't want to leave in a huff. It would just be so nice if someone here at my job would say "I'm sorry to see you go." Rant over.
On the upside, we finally finished our Twin Peaks marathon. Loved, loved, loved it. I had to reserve Fire Walk With Me at the library just to get the full package. I know it's supposed to be really bad, but I'm just not ready to let go of the series. Oddly, episode 17 from season two is missing on CBS.com. Hmmm. Mysterious. It gets rave reviews online, so I'd really like to see it.
And we got off pretty easy with fixing up the house to sell: under $700 for all electrical and plumbing work. Luckily the buyers had put a clause in the purchase contract that capped what we would have to pay at $1000. I thought I'd have to go over that, but they stuck to it, and didn't want to split costs for more work that they had originally hoped to get done. Yay! Closing this week, if all goes well.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Manisk
I can't control myself! I don't want to work. I don't want to take care of my house or family. I just want to knit, crochet, read about knitting, read about crocheting, look at yarn, and think about all of the above.
Clearly I'm attempting to avoid reality, and reality is pretty overwhelming right now: We're selling our house and moving overseas. My father is very sick. My husband is stressed out. My mother is sad that we're leaving. My son is in constant need of attention. I have students expecting me to guide and advise them competently. I have friends with whom I want to maintain friendships. I'm going to be starting a new job in a foreign country. Argh. There's just so much to deal with!
So, instead we have:
This is made out of left over linen that my mother gave me, improvising a pattern out of Erika Knight's Simple Crochet. It makes me very happy, even though it doesn't really have much of a function.
Then there's this:
Or, rather more accurately, these:
Which are the grannie squares for the "Häkelbeutel" purse that I failed miserably at last month. I won't have enough yarn to finish it, and I am too cheap to buy more, so why even bother? Manic behavior. But ah, the triumph of mastering the evil "grannie square." What I didn't understand before is that, unlike in knitting, in crocheting you don't make the stitch into the stitch below, but rather below the stitch below (if that makes any sense). It changes everything.
And then the German sock yarn (Trekking XXL, purchased used from a Raveler) for making the Drops "rillejakke" arrived in the mail the day before yesterday, and it is so gorgeous that I absolutely had to drop the Lattice lace pullover (which I'm finding rather demoralizing since I'm convinced it will be too small) and start knitting. It's kind of a midnight blue with various blue, teal, and purple highlights. I'm really enjoying the easy garter stitch. Very therapeutic for my addled mind...
And if that's not enough I spent a lovely afternoon with my mother yesterday deciding on her birthday present. I'm going to -- what else? -- knit her a hat. After visits to three different yarn stores we settled on three skeins of this (O-wool Balance, 50% merino 50% cotton, all organic in a color called "Ruby"):
I did manage to work my way through my mail-in election ballot, and turned it in today. I also finally managed to call a plumber to set up an estimate for the plumbing work that needs to be done before the sale of the house goes through. And after a reminder, I faxed a form over to the title company. Little by little I do a few things, but mostly I just sit in a fog, frantically manipulating needles.
Clearly I'm attempting to avoid reality, and reality is pretty overwhelming right now: We're selling our house and moving overseas. My father is very sick. My husband is stressed out. My mother is sad that we're leaving. My son is in constant need of attention. I have students expecting me to guide and advise them competently. I have friends with whom I want to maintain friendships. I'm going to be starting a new job in a foreign country. Argh. There's just so much to deal with!
So, instead we have:
This is made out of left over linen that my mother gave me, improvising a pattern out of Erika Knight's Simple Crochet. It makes me very happy, even though it doesn't really have much of a function.Then there's this:
Or, rather more accurately, these:
Which are the grannie squares for the "Häkelbeutel" purse that I failed miserably at last month. I won't have enough yarn to finish it, and I am too cheap to buy more, so why even bother? Manic behavior. But ah, the triumph of mastering the evil "grannie square." What I didn't understand before is that, unlike in knitting, in crocheting you don't make the stitch into the stitch below, but rather below the stitch below (if that makes any sense). It changes everything.And then the German sock yarn (Trekking XXL, purchased used from a Raveler) for making the Drops "rillejakke" arrived in the mail the day before yesterday, and it is so gorgeous that I absolutely had to drop the Lattice lace pullover (which I'm finding rather demoralizing since I'm convinced it will be too small) and start knitting. It's kind of a midnight blue with various blue, teal, and purple highlights. I'm really enjoying the easy garter stitch. Very therapeutic for my addled mind...
And if that's not enough I spent a lovely afternoon with my mother yesterday deciding on her birthday present. I'm going to -- what else? -- knit her a hat. After visits to three different yarn stores we settled on three skeins of this (O-wool Balance, 50% merino 50% cotton, all organic in a color called "Ruby"):
I did manage to work my way through my mail-in election ballot, and turned it in today. I also finally managed to call a plumber to set up an estimate for the plumbing work that needs to be done before the sale of the house goes through. And after a reminder, I faxed a form over to the title company. Little by little I do a few things, but mostly I just sit in a fog, frantically manipulating needles.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Å herregud
I try to be a nice person, but fundamentally I'm just pretty cranky. Case in point on Friday. I walked across campus for a meeting and my path was blocked by two young women distributing copies of the Book of John. I politely said no thank you and went to the meeting. When it was over I passed them again, and again they went out of their way to get in my way. I swerved around and when one of them asked me if I wanted a copy of the Book of John I said (shaking my head, and with a fairly aggressive tone of voice) : "Pack of lies. Pack of lies!" and kept walking. She shouted back (indignantly): "Ummm, I beg to differ! It's a pack of truth!"
Sigh. What a terrible attempt at communication on both parts. I know I had PMS. Maybe she did too? Either way, it doesn't bode well for peace, love, and understanding in the world. I've just reached a saturation point with proselytizing, and can't even bear to be confronted with it any more.
When I was at a conference last week I shared two 3-hour drives with a colleague who is a professor of religious studies and a life-long, and very dedicated Christian. We had the most wonderful and open conversations about belief and non-belief. I think we both are left with an uplifting feeling of having learned and shared on a pretty deep level. I was so happy to hear him say that he thinks doubt is the only defensible position as a Christian. I don't think I'm anti-belief per se, since it's one of my favorite things to discuss with people I respect and know, but I just can't abide complete strangers shoving it in my face.
While waiting in the airport on the way to that same conference a woman with a "We Need Alan Keyes" button sat down next to me and another guy. They guy looked at the "Boycott MacDonald's" form she was filling out and asked her about it. It turns out her "reason" (in the loosest sense of the word) was that MacDonald's is pro-gay and holds meetings to encourage its employees to become gay. Seriously. He asked her if she was voting for McCain and she said "No way! He's not pro-life" (last time I checked McCain is running on a firm pro-life platform, but who am I to correct this lady?).
She and the guy started exchanging comments about how horrible homosexuality is, and then out of the blue she turns to me (who is diligently knitting and trying to avoid eye contact with the nut jobs) and tells me I need to go see some movie that will "improve your marriage." When I say I don't think I'll do that she goes on the attack "Why not? Don't you want to improve your marriage? I went and it improved my marriage." Not a word about whatever religious message is in the film, because then it would be obvious that she's pushing her religion on strangers, but you have to know the film is religious. To satisfy your morbid curiosity I'm linking to a Christian website that has a description and trailer of the film, which is called Fireproof.
From there the woman went on a rant about how liberals are supposed to be so tolerant, but they're really more closed minded than everyone else. Well, yeah. She's right. I wasn't going to listen to her, so I moved to another seat. I am intolerant. I'm sick of the crap these people spew at complete strangers.
What I don't get is how these people, who know absolutely nothing about who I am, what I believe in, or what my life is like continue to think it's okay to just launch into me. And then if I choose not to drop everything and bow down to whatever cockamamie attitude or deity they're buying into, they get all huffy. What a totally weird way for people to spend their time...
Sigh. What a terrible attempt at communication on both parts. I know I had PMS. Maybe she did too? Either way, it doesn't bode well for peace, love, and understanding in the world. I've just reached a saturation point with proselytizing, and can't even bear to be confronted with it any more.
When I was at a conference last week I shared two 3-hour drives with a colleague who is a professor of religious studies and a life-long, and very dedicated Christian. We had the most wonderful and open conversations about belief and non-belief. I think we both are left with an uplifting feeling of having learned and shared on a pretty deep level. I was so happy to hear him say that he thinks doubt is the only defensible position as a Christian. I don't think I'm anti-belief per se, since it's one of my favorite things to discuss with people I respect and know, but I just can't abide complete strangers shoving it in my face.
While waiting in the airport on the way to that same conference a woman with a "We Need Alan Keyes" button sat down next to me and another guy. They guy looked at the "Boycott MacDonald's" form she was filling out and asked her about it. It turns out her "reason" (in the loosest sense of the word) was that MacDonald's is pro-gay and holds meetings to encourage its employees to become gay. Seriously. He asked her if she was voting for McCain and she said "No way! He's not pro-life" (last time I checked McCain is running on a firm pro-life platform, but who am I to correct this lady?).
She and the guy started exchanging comments about how horrible homosexuality is, and then out of the blue she turns to me (who is diligently knitting and trying to avoid eye contact with the nut jobs) and tells me I need to go see some movie that will "improve your marriage." When I say I don't think I'll do that she goes on the attack "Why not? Don't you want to improve your marriage? I went and it improved my marriage." Not a word about whatever religious message is in the film, because then it would be obvious that she's pushing her religion on strangers, but you have to know the film is religious. To satisfy your morbid curiosity I'm linking to a Christian website that has a description and trailer of the film, which is called Fireproof.
From there the woman went on a rant about how liberals are supposed to be so tolerant, but they're really more closed minded than everyone else. Well, yeah. She's right. I wasn't going to listen to her, so I moved to another seat. I am intolerant. I'm sick of the crap these people spew at complete strangers.
What I don't get is how these people, who know absolutely nothing about who I am, what I believe in, or what my life is like continue to think it's okay to just launch into me. And then if I choose not to drop everything and bow down to whatever cockamamie attitude or deity they're buying into, they get all huffy. What a totally weird way for people to spend their time...
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Grimase
Actually, I sympathize a lot with John McCain in this snapshot, as he apparently caught himself heading the wrong way off the stage last night. I do things like that all the time, and usually have much the same expression. Of course that doesn't mean I'm going to vote for the guy.
By the way, I finished the purse in time for my trip to Decorah, Iowa for a conference. I'm not wild about the color, but the shape of the purse is perfect for my purposes. I made it much shorter than the pattern. Here it is, in all its wonky, neophyte-crocheter glory:
Skolevalg
I watched the third presidential debate tonight. Actually, I watched it twice--once live and once on PBS. There are dozens of issues I could raise, such as McCain calling people who support choice "pro-abortion," or Obama's failed and repeated attempts to equate McCain and Bush, which I find really irritating. But the thing that struck me the most was actually the discussion of education.
I was finally able to put my finger on what bothers me about McCain's position of "school choice." His entire education policy is based on giving parents a choice in where to send their children. What he doesn't say is that his competition-based model for education is based on the assumption that somehow everyone will be able to put their kids in the "good" schools through vouchers. But what happens to the bad schools? And how can the good schools meet the demand, even just in terms of logistics, especially given that class size is a crucial element in improving student performance? It's a Lake Wobegon approach to education, in which all the schools are somehow going to be above average, and in my view it's totally unrealistic.
Oh, and here's the really important part. This is what I was knitting during the debate:
It's the free scarf pattern "Japanske bølger" that a Danish raveler published. I decided to use the wildly popular Japanese yarn, Noro Kureyon sock yarn, which I got for $11 (using a 40% off coupon to bring down the price). People rave on and on about it, but I actually pretty much hate the yarn. It's single ply, so it gets all twisted, and it is exceptionally scratchy. The thickness varies from sewing thread to worsted weight yarn, which to me just seems sloppy, even though I know it's on purpose. The variegation in colors also includes a bright electric blue, but I've been taking it out as I go along as I wanted a more subdued scarf. So now you know!
I was finally able to put my finger on what bothers me about McCain's position of "school choice." His entire education policy is based on giving parents a choice in where to send their children. What he doesn't say is that his competition-based model for education is based on the assumption that somehow everyone will be able to put their kids in the "good" schools through vouchers. But what happens to the bad schools? And how can the good schools meet the demand, even just in terms of logistics, especially given that class size is a crucial element in improving student performance? It's a Lake Wobegon approach to education, in which all the schools are somehow going to be above average, and in my view it's totally unrealistic.
Oh, and here's the really important part. This is what I was knitting during the debate:
It's the free scarf pattern "Japanske bølger" that a Danish raveler published. I decided to use the wildly popular Japanese yarn, Noro Kureyon sock yarn, which I got for $11 (using a 40% off coupon to bring down the price). People rave on and on about it, but I actually pretty much hate the yarn. It's single ply, so it gets all twisted, and it is exceptionally scratchy. The thickness varies from sewing thread to worsted weight yarn, which to me just seems sloppy, even though I know it's on purpose. The variegation in colors also includes a bright electric blue, but I've been taking it out as I go along as I wanted a more subdued scarf. So now you know!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Nedtellingen har begynt!
The first week of the quarter is over (10 to go, including finals week). We also have a partially renovated bathroom, which is to say a lovely new floor and a new tub surround. It looks exponentially better, and the buyers (who picked out the flooring) are happy. It would have been nice to replace the hideous walls too, but we were really just replacing areas that were water damaged. Here's what it looks like:
Yesterday was the whole house inspection, so that was kind of stressful. I think we're looking at somewhere around $2000 more that we'll have to put into the house. Sigh. But it looks like everything is still good to go. If all goes well, we'll close on or around Halloween, then rent back from the buyers until our departure date of 16 December.
I continue to knit like there's no tomorrow. This time it's the "Lattice Lace Pullover" from Knit So Fine: Designs with Skinny Yarns. I started knitting in too small a size, so I had to rip out about 9 inches and start over in the right size. I'm now back up to about where I was when I started ripping:
Today I also did my first real blocking of a piece of knitting (as opposed to simply steam pressing a piece of knitting). It is so cool. Can't wait to see the dried results tomorrow. It turns out one of the best things to use as a blocking board are the foam alphabet floor mats that most kids, including my own, have. So here's the Ribbon Lace Scarf in all its 73 x 10 inches of glory, with about 14,000 straight pins in it:
Confession: I've been watching a lot of tv lately...
I have now watched two episodes of a new show on Masterpiece Mystery, "The Ruby in the Smoke" and "The Shadow in the North." Now, don't get me wrong. I adore mysteries. I adore period pieces. I especially adore period mysteries. I even totally adore the actor JJ Feild, who stars as the love interest. But I think these are absolutely dreadful! They are so un-Victorian in every way. I appreciate the revisionism in terms of race (the cast is totally "integrated" in a cool way), but the female character is just utterly unbelievable on every level. Wrong, wrong, wrong, as any fan of nineteenth-century England would tell you.
But on the up side of things, KE and I have started a mini Twin Peaks marathon. It turns out CBS.com has all the episodes available on its website. And here's an embarrassing confession: I only saw two or three episodes when it originally came out, and completely missed how fabulously brilliant it is. I am absolutely entranced by it now. We watch about two episodes a night, most evenings. It is so totally absorbing and weirdly familiar. We just watched the episode in season two in which Laura Palmer's killer is revealed (I must be the only person born in 1967 who didn't know who it was). Fascinating. I've skimmed a couple of academic articles on the series, and it sounds like things are about to get really weird. Can't wait!
Yesterday was the whole house inspection, so that was kind of stressful. I think we're looking at somewhere around $2000 more that we'll have to put into the house. Sigh. But it looks like everything is still good to go. If all goes well, we'll close on or around Halloween, then rent back from the buyers until our departure date of 16 December.
I continue to knit like there's no tomorrow. This time it's the "Lattice Lace Pullover" from Knit So Fine: Designs with Skinny Yarns. I started knitting in too small a size, so I had to rip out about 9 inches and start over in the right size. I'm now back up to about where I was when I started ripping:
Today I also did my first real blocking of a piece of knitting (as opposed to simply steam pressing a piece of knitting). It is so cool. Can't wait to see the dried results tomorrow. It turns out one of the best things to use as a blocking board are the foam alphabet floor mats that most kids, including my own, have. So here's the Ribbon Lace Scarf in all its 73 x 10 inches of glory, with about 14,000 straight pins in it:
Confession: I've been watching a lot of tv lately...
I have now watched two episodes of a new show on Masterpiece Mystery, "The Ruby in the Smoke" and "The Shadow in the North." Now, don't get me wrong. I adore mysteries. I adore period pieces. I especially adore period mysteries. I even totally adore the actor JJ Feild, who stars as the love interest. But I think these are absolutely dreadful! They are so un-Victorian in every way. I appreciate the revisionism in terms of race (the cast is totally "integrated" in a cool way), but the female character is just utterly unbelievable on every level. Wrong, wrong, wrong, as any fan of nineteenth-century England would tell you.
But on the up side of things, KE and I have started a mini Twin Peaks marathon. It turns out CBS.com has all the episodes available on its website. And here's an embarrassing confession: I only saw two or three episodes when it originally came out, and completely missed how fabulously brilliant it is. I am absolutely entranced by it now. We watch about two episodes a night, most evenings. It is so totally absorbing and weirdly familiar. We just watched the episode in season two in which Laura Palmer's killer is revealed (I must be the only person born in 1967 who didn't know who it was). Fascinating. I've skimmed a couple of academic articles on the series, and it sounds like things are about to get really weird. Can't wait!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Don't heckle the hekler
I need a purse. I had a very expensive leather Coach purse that I carried for about 5 years. I kind of liked it, but not really since the straps always slid off my shoulder. It started getting worn looking, and I jettisoned it during part of my decluttering this summer for our move I had a great crocheted basic sac thing that I always used for travel since it was light weight and easy to pack, but that has disappeared. I have an ancient (I bought it when I was 16!) small leather purse that I can't quite fit enough in. So, I need a purse. I decided that I could possibly crochet enough to make one for myself. I started out trying to make one out of "grannie squares," and it was a disaster. It turns out one of the fundamental things I enjoy about knitting and the like is the continuous process of knitting (or crocheting) a long strand. Both grannie squares and the knitted mitred squares that some people use (I also tried that) entail all the things I don't really like about knitting, and very little of what I actually like. I was about to give up, but then I found this! It is the exact duplicate of the great travel purse I have misplaced, and what's more, it is super fun to make! It's just one continuous spiral of 50 rows of single crochet stitch in a big loop. I, who thought I couldn't crochet, am actually having fun and making an acceptable creation. It's so cool, and I'm so excited!
We have accepted the bid on the house and it's in escrow now! Yay! It was low I suppose (2% less than what we paid in 2005), but all things considered, I think we're very lucky to have an offer, especially even before we officially put the house on the market. We'll be doing the transaction without a realtor. We really like the couple who wants to buy the house. Here's hoping it all goes through...
P.S. Note to self: in honor of the upcoming season of Survivor, I'd really like to get myself one of these, the "pre-pixelated t-shirt produced by Ironic Sans.
We have accepted the bid on the house and it's in escrow now! Yay! It was low I suppose (2% less than what we paid in 2005), but all things considered, I think we're very lucky to have an offer, especially even before we officially put the house on the market. We'll be doing the transaction without a realtor. We really like the couple who wants to buy the house. Here's hoping it all goes through...
P.S. Note to self: in honor of the upcoming season of Survivor, I'd really like to get myself one of these, the "pre-pixelated t-shirt produced by Ironic Sans.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Bikube ... eller vepsebol?
I know how I feel about the political policies of John McCain and Sarah Palin. I oppose their solutions on nearly all issues: the economy, social justice, reproductive rights, and foreign policy.
I don't, however, know what to think about Sarah Palin's hairdo, or its eerie similarity to Cindy McCain's. Why are both women sporting beehive updos? What is that supposed to signify?
Here's a link to one analysis published in the Boston Herald. But all it offers is a critique of the style itself, not a questioning of what signal the Republicans are trying to get across. US Magazine reports here that the look is intended to downplay her physical attractiveness and get people to take her seriously. My theory is that its a kind of homage to the early cold war period. And also, it's a way of dealing with fine, limp hair (something I have intimate and extensive knowledge of...). Kind of like: control your hair = control the world ???
I don't, however, know what to think about Sarah Palin's hairdo, or its eerie similarity to Cindy McCain's. Why are both women sporting beehive updos? What is that supposed to signify?
Here's a link to one analysis published in the Boston Herald. But all it offers is a critique of the style itself, not a questioning of what signal the Republicans are trying to get across. US Magazine reports here that the look is intended to downplay her physical attractiveness and get people to take her seriously. My theory is that its a kind of homage to the early cold war period. And also, it's a way of dealing with fine, limp hair (something I have intimate and extensive knowledge of...). Kind of like: control your hair = control the world ???
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