>5 minutes of typing fury.

>I’m only allowing myself five minutes for this post so no complaining about typos, run-on sentences, etc.

I had a long talk with Dr. Advisor Monday evening after our usual meeting. I had Charlie with me. I brought him to work and paid a friend in Sonic gift cards to watch him for an hour during our regular meeting. The friend had to leave and Dr. Advisor still wanted to talk to me some more so I held Charlie and he fell asleep and everything was fine. Then the meeting was still going on when Charlie woke up hungry. I felt like the meeting was really important because we were finally talking about the elephant in the room (me not getting anything accomplished so far this semester), so I just fed Charlie right there in the meeting. Not weird at all! Nope. No sirreee bob. Dr. Advisor was super nice to me and I admitted that I really don’t want a prestigious job because it would take too much time away from my family and all that. He agreed and said I was doing the right thing. I also told him that I still wanted to finish my degree and that that is my goal and I am committed and he said that’s good and aknowledged what a difficult position I am in because I have all these things (Ryan, Charlie) that are more important than my dissertation that take time and that I’m not the kind of person who could just walk away from all the work I’ve put into my degree so far (oh but you are wrong there!). He told me he couldn’t push me too hard because he really believes that I am doing the right thing by supporting my family at the expense of my dissertation. I said “that’s very nice of you to say but at this rate I will never finish” and he said “that’s true what can we do.” Anyway it all boils down to him being way way way too nice to me and me feeling really guilty and that might be just the motivation I need because yesterday I got a ton more done than normal. I cried all the way home and most of that evening because I certainly don’t deserve such an understanding advisor and I am so lucky and all I have been doing is bitching about how I hate everything and I don’t really have anything to hate.

That was Monday. Yesterday like I said went really well, I was able to focus and work and not get distracted. And then last night I found a good looking job at a small university and sent in an application online. Because I have learned nothing and apparently someone else was talking when they said “I don’t want a full time job.” Oh well, I think this one has summers off and it is teaching only so it would not be as intense as a regular faculty job in some ways. Plus I am barely qualified and I don’t think anything will come of it and it only took an hour to do the application so really I have nothing to lose.

Five minutes is up, see you later!

5 minutes of typing fury.

I’m only allowing myself five minutes for this post so no complaining about typos, run-on sentences, etc.

I had a long talk with Dr. Advisor Monday evening after our usual meeting. I had Charlie with me. I brought him to work and paid a friend in Sonic gift cards to watch him for an hour during our regular meeting. The friend had to leave and Dr. Advisor still wanted to talk to me some more so I held Charlie and he fell asleep and everything was fine. Then the meeting was still going on when Charlie woke up hungry. I felt like the meeting was really important because we were finally talking about the elephant in the room (me not getting anything accomplished so far this semester), so I just fed Charlie right there in the meeting. Not weird at all! Nope. No sirreee bob. Dr. Advisor was super nice to me and I admitted that I really don’t want a prestigious job because it would take too much time away from my family and all that. He agreed and said I was doing the right thing. I also told him that I still wanted to finish my degree and that that is my goal and I am committed and he said that’s good and aknowledged what a difficult position I am in because I have all these things (Ryan, Charlie) that are more important than my dissertation that take time and that I’m not the kind of person who could just walk away from all the work I’ve put into my degree so far (oh but you are wrong there!). He told me he couldn’t push me too hard because he really believes that I am doing the right thing by supporting my family at the expense of my dissertation. I said “that’s very nice of you to say but at this rate I will never finish” and he said “that’s true what can we do.” Anyway it all boils down to him being way way way too nice to me and me feeling really guilty and that might be just the motivation I need because yesterday I got a ton more done than normal. I cried all the way home and most of that evening because I certainly don’t deserve such an understanding advisor and I am so lucky and all I have been doing is bitching about how I hate everything and I don’t really have anything to hate.

That was Monday. Yesterday like I said went really well, I was able to focus and work and not get distracted. And then last night I found a good looking job at a small university and sent in an application online. Because I have learned nothing and apparently someone else was talking when they said “I don’t want a full time job.” Oh well, I think this one has summers off and it is teaching only so it would not be as intense as a regular faculty job in some ways. Plus I am barely qualified and I don’t think anything will come of it and it only took an hour to do the application so really I have nothing to lose.

Five minutes is up, see you later!

>Baby Showerin’

>The whole family went to a baby shower last night for my friends Iris and Rolando who are expecting a baby girl in April. I got to wear my new dress and Ryan wore his standard man-wear that works in every possible setting– khakis and a polo shirt. We dressed Charlie up like a frat boy.

Is there anything cuter than a baby in a miniature striped oxford cloth buttondown shirt? The answer is no; unless you count a baby in a miniature striped oxford cloth buttondown shirt and KHAKI PANTS!

(I was making Charlie do the Twist as I bounced him on my knees and sang. He thinks it’s hysterical and I have no idea how I figured that out. I mean who thinks “I should bounce this baby on my knees and sing like Chubby Checker”? He also likes it when you sing his name over and over again to the tune of Havah Nagilah. I don’t know.)

In the picture you can see the skirt of my new red dress. It’s a magic dress that hides my funny tummy and giant boobs so that I look normal. Worth it’s weight in gold and it was only $25!

The shower was a good time. The couple was very grateful for all the gifts and there was yummy food and fun games. In particular I liked the one where the guys had to eat babyfood and guess what it was. Ryan won me a pretty candle by being the champion babyfood flavor guesser even though I teased him so much about his first guess, turkey, that he changed it to carrots and it ended up being turkey after all. It’s the same game we played at my baby shower that inspired me to learn to make Charlie’s babyfood myself because if something could really be either turkey OR carrots? Ew. A’s husband K guessed “Denture Adhesive” when it was actually prunes but I think it was because he had a cold and couldn’t taste well.

We gave the baby two tiny outfits (because their baby will be a dainty little thing and not grow out of size 0-3 months by the end of week five), burp cloths (don’t leave home without em), and some Babylegs, because they are the coolest.

The dad-to-be held Charlie for a while and Charlie fell asleep. Mostly because Charlie is the perfect baby and rarely fusses for more than a minute or two but also because I had given him a stern warning about only being cute and not scaring the new parents by projectile spitting up or blowing poop out the back of his diaper. Looks like it worked.

Charlie: “I like Puerto Ricans.”

Baby Showerin’

The whole family went to a baby shower last night for my friends Iris and Rolando who are expecting a baby girl in April. I got to wear my new dress and Ryan wore his standard man-wear that works in every possible setting– khakis and a polo shirt. We dressed Charlie up like a frat boy.

Is there anything cuter than a baby in a miniature striped oxford cloth buttondown shirt? The answer is no; unless you count a baby in a miniature striped oxford cloth buttondown shirt and KHAKI PANTS!

(I was making Charlie do the Twist as I bounced him on my knees and sang. He thinks it’s hysterical and I have no idea how I figured that out. I mean who thinks “I should bounce this baby on my knees and sing like Chubby Checker”? He also likes it when you sing his name over and over again to the tune of Havah Nagilah. I don’t know.)

In the picture you can see the skirt of my new red dress. It’s a magic dress that hides my funny tummy and giant boobs so that I look normal. Worth it’s weight in gold and it was only $25!

The shower was a good time. The couple was very grateful for all the gifts and there was yummy food and fun games. In particular I liked the one where the guys had to eat babyfood and guess what it was. Ryan won me a pretty candle by being the champion babyfood flavor guesser even though I teased him so much about his first guess, turkey, that he changed it to carrots and it ended up being turkey after all. It’s the same game we played at my baby shower that inspired me to learn to make Charlie’s babyfood myself because if something could really be either turkey OR carrots? Ew. A’s husband K guessed “Denture Adhesive” when it was actually prunes but I think it was because he had a cold and couldn’t taste well.

We gave the baby two tiny outfits (because their baby will be a dainty little thing and not grow out of size 0-3 months by the end of week five), burp cloths (don’t leave home without em), and some Babylegs, because they are the coolest.

The dad-to-be held Charlie for a while and Charlie fell asleep. Mostly because Charlie is the perfect baby and rarely fusses for more than a minute or two but also because I had given him a stern warning about only being cute and not scaring the new parents by projectile spitting up or blowing poop out the back of his diaper. Looks like it worked.

Charlie: “I like Puerto Ricans.”

>The Blustery Blustery Day

>Ryan took Charlie out this morning so I could get some sleep. As I was snuggling down under the down comforter I heard the door close and a loud WHOOMP as my neighbor’s trash can slammed into the side of my house. I was so tired I had no problem dropping off to sleep for a couple of hours. When I woke up around 10:30 the sky was orange and the winds were thirty miles per hour and gusting to sixty. Almost a tropical storm!! I was still pretty sleepy so it was really surreal. Half asleep, I found some pants and shoes and went out for a cup of coffee. I drove through my neighborhood past uprooted trees, overturned patio furniture, toppled basketball goals, broken fences. I had to dodge tumbleweeds!

The news is going nuts with stories about the wind. They showed two pictures of overturned eighteen-wheelers on the highway. Eventually many of the rural highways were closed because there were so many wrecks. The peak wind speed in the area was recorded here– 70 mph.

The coolest thing I saw was a large bay door at a carwash that had been punched out of its track and into the building by the wind. That I saw when I was on my way to shop for some new clothes. I found some great deals at a sale and bought a dress, skirt, sweater, and a tshirt for like $61. I was there for nearly two hours because I HAD to find a striped shirt. I don’t know why. For some reason I have wanted a striped shirt for months. Found one! Yay! Also found some cute onezies for a friend’s baby girl. The shower was today, hence the new dress.

Also, if you are going to a baby shower and you find you don’t have any wrapping paper? A receiving blanket works nicely. 🙂

The Blustery Blustery Day

Ryan took Charlie out this morning so I could get some sleep. As I was snuggling down under the down comforter I heard the door close and a loud WHOOMP as my neighbor’s trash can slammed into the side of my house. I was so tired I had no problem dropping off to sleep for a couple of hours. When I woke up around 10:30 the sky was orange and the winds were thirty miles per hour and gusting to sixty. Almost a tropical storm!! I was still pretty sleepy so it was really surreal. Half asleep, I found some pants and shoes and went out for a cup of coffee. I drove through my neighborhood past uprooted trees, overturned patio furniture, toppled basketball goals, broken fences. I had to dodge tumbleweeds!

The news is going nuts with stories about the wind. They showed two pictures of overturned eighteen-wheelers on the highway. Eventually many of the rural highways were closed because there were so many wrecks. The peak wind speed in the area was recorded here– 70 mph.

The coolest thing I saw was a large bay door at a carwash that had been punched out of its track and into the building by the wind. That I saw when I was on my way to shop for some new clothes. I found some great deals at a sale and bought a dress, skirt, sweater, and a tshirt for like $61. I was there for nearly two hours because I HAD to find a striped shirt. I don’t know why. For some reason I have wanted a striped shirt for months. Found one! Yay! Also found some cute onezies for a friend’s baby girl. The shower was today, hence the new dress.

Also, if you are going to a baby shower and you find you don’t have any wrapping paper? A receiving blanket works nicely. 🙂

>Reeeee-jected!

>

Looks like I won’t be working at that Lutheran College in Austin. I wonder if it was because I’m Methodist or because I have no teaching experience (and I’m a little afraid to re-read my cover letter and teaching philosophy statement because I was like a hundred months pregnant when I wrote it and at the time was doing some really awesome things like leaving my car door open in the driveway all afternoon and passing my street three times on the way home from the grocery store). At any rate, I’m a little disappointed but not too much because I don’t even know if I want to work full time anyway (so NYAH!).

Also it’s good because I don’t want to have to deal with all the “Saved by faith alone!” graffiti that would certainly be painted on my car by my zealous Lutheran coworkers.

And Ryan interviewed for a job today that would be nowhere near Austin. I won’t say where it is, but the town looks very much like Stars Hollow of Gilmore Girls fame. Time to start knitting my reindeer sweater!

Reeeee-jected!

Looks like I won’t be working at that Lutheran College in Austin. I wonder if it was because I’m Methodist or because I have no teaching experience (and I’m a little afraid to re-read my cover letter and teaching philosophy statement because I was like a hundred months pregnant when I wrote it and at the time was doing some really awesome things like leaving my car door open in the driveway all afternoon and passing my street three times on the way home from the grocery store). At any rate, I’m a little disappointed but not too much because I don’t even know if I want to work full time anyway (so NYAH!).

Also it’s good because I don’t want to have to deal with all the “Saved by faith alone!” graffiti that would certainly be painted on my car by my zealous Lutheran coworkers.

And Ryan interviewed for a job today that would be nowhere near Austin. I won’t say where it is, but the town looks very much like Stars Hollow of Gilmore Girls fame. Time to start knitting my reindeer sweater!

>"When you woke up Saturday morning were you embarrassed to live in MyTown?"

>Charlie was wearing another baby’s clothes when I picked him up from daycare for the third time in a row yesterday. I think it must be the runny teething poop that is causing the problem. His teachers were all excited this time because he was wearing size “24 months” which is crazy because today he is wearing size 6 months. So he is getting closer to age appropriate clothing. Here’s a picture of him in his baseball suit and flame Babylegs. (Babylegs are how you turn summer outfits that probably won’t fit in the summer into winter outfits)

Now on to the real topic of this post.

Saturday morning I woke up to two IMs on my computer directing me to check out the local news. Apparently the police raided a Chippendale Dancers show at a local sports bar. The dancers were wearing pants, but no shirts, and all the hooplah went down after they got off the stage and went into the audience and danced in “a sexually suggestive manner.” All the dancers were arrested, as were the owner of the bar and a couple of other employees. Everyone spent the night in jail and were released the next day without having to pay bond. No one has been formally charged with a crime yet.

It gets better. Monday at a public townhall meeting that was advertised as a place for citizens to ask any questions they wanted of the City Council a man stood up to ask the City Council about improper and excessive enforcement of the city’s sexually oriented business ordinance. Here’s a quote:

“Last Friday night, they set this town back 25 years; who else woke up Saturday morning thinking I’m embarrassed to live in MyTown?”

The City Council told him to sit down and be quiet and when he didn’t the Mayor and City Council of MyTown walked off the stage and left.

I’ve complained about the overconservative nature of this town before, but it’s not the town this time. Most citizens view this incident for what it is, an abuse of power on behalf of the City Council and a too liberal interpretation of the sexually oriented business ordinance.

In what universe is it illegal for consenting adults in a club to watch men dance with clothes on? What kind of “democracy” is it when the City Council acts as some kind of “morality tribunal” and shut down any activity they personally disagree with. Why do legal adults have to drive to the county line to buy alcohol like it’s some kind of covert shameful activity. And there are some real problems (like rampant teenage std and pregnancy rates despite zealous “abstinence only” education and a high level of violent crime for a city of this size) that are not getting addressed at all!

This is the kind of junk that makes Ryan and me want to get Charlie the heck out of here before he’s old enough to realize what’s going on.

"When you woke up Saturday morning were you embarrassed to live in MyTown?"

Charlie was wearing another baby’s clothes when I picked him up from daycare for the third time in a row yesterday. I think it must be the runny teething poop that is causing the problem. His teachers were all excited this time because he was wearing size “24 months” which is crazy because today he is wearing size 6 months. So he is getting closer to age appropriate clothing. Here’s a picture of him in his baseball suit and flame Babylegs. (Babylegs are how you turn summer outfits that probably won’t fit in the summer into winter outfits)

Now on to the real topic of this post.

Saturday morning I woke up to two IMs on my computer directing me to check out the local news. Apparently the police raided a Chippendale Dancers show at a local sports bar. The dancers were wearing pants, but no shirts, and all the hooplah went down after they got off the stage and went into the audience and danced in “a sexually suggestive manner.” All the dancers were arrested, as were the owner of the bar and a couple of other employees. Everyone spent the night in jail and were released the next day without having to pay bond. No one has been formally charged with a crime yet.

It gets better. Monday at a public townhall meeting that was advertised as a place for citizens to ask any questions they wanted of the City Council a man stood up to ask the City Council about improper and excessive enforcement of the city’s sexually oriented business ordinance. Here’s a quote:

“Last Friday night, they set this town back 25 years; who else woke up Saturday morning thinking I’m embarrassed to live in MyTown?”

The City Council told him to sit down and be quiet and when he didn’t the Mayor and City Council of MyTown walked off the stage and left.

I’ve complained about the overconservative nature of this town before, but it’s not the town this time. Most citizens view this incident for what it is, an abuse of power on behalf of the City Council and a too liberal interpretation of the sexually oriented business ordinance.

In what universe is it illegal for consenting adults in a club to watch men dance with clothes on? What kind of “democracy” is it when the City Council acts as some kind of “morality tribunal” and shut down any activity they personally disagree with. Why do legal adults have to drive to the county line to buy alcohol like it’s some kind of covert shameful activity. And there are some real problems (like rampant teenage std and pregnancy rates despite zealous “abstinence only” education and a high level of violent crime for a city of this size) that are not getting addressed at all!

This is the kind of junk that makes Ryan and me want to get Charlie the heck out of here before he’s old enough to realize what’s going on.