I think I've cracked the case here- it's the horrible architecture of their building! This is the most poorly designed and confusing building I have ever been in- I wandered around for 45 minutes yesterday before I could find registration, and I have been walking in circles for 2 days because the architect put the escalators on the opposite side of the circle on each floor (so you have to walk around to the other side of the building to get up a level- every level).
So yeah, I think GM must be failing because no one can find their offices and do business with them. :)
It's also somewhat hilarious in a sad way to be here right now...they have signs up on the outside of their building that have all the companies that are owned by GM, and more than one of these businesses have been in the news lately because GM are getting rid of them (Pontiac for instance). They have all the 2010 model cars on the first floor of the building, and even though one or two are hybrids, the vast majority are cars that are probably not going to have a great market right now. Speaking of which, did anyone else catch Letterman last night and the guest who has designed an electric sports car that can run for something like 280 miles before needing to be recharged? Interesting stuff there...
Meanwhile, I have yet to see a single whore at my hotel, and I'm kind of disappointed about it. :)
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
anxiety
I've been having some overwhelming feelings of impending doom over the past week or so, accompanied by anxiety dreams and early-rising insomnia (today, for instance, I woke up at 5:30am).
Partly the news of course, no one likes hearing about impending pandemic flues. Not that I'm worried that I'm going to die (unrealistic), but I don't want to get really sick right before my wedding. I know logically that my chances of infection are quite small (at this point), but the constant news bombardment about how this is THE END OF THE WORLD (tm) just brings up anxious feelings.
Also I'm flying to Detroit today for the Population Association of America conference (no I'm not presenting, so don't bother trying to google stalk me, crazy people...you know who you are).
Awesome thing: The conference is being held in the Renaissance Center which is the headquarters of GM. Quite an interesting place to visit given current events!
Not so awesome: The Detroit airport is a major hub for flights to Mexico.
Also, the motel I'm staying at has a bunch of reviews that mention prostitution. I mean, prostitutes are people too...but still, probably not the safest situation to put myself in. Thankfully one of my friends is staying at the same motel, and we have a deal to walk back from the conference hotel together at night so that I'm not walking back alone. Still worried about it though.
I also just get anxious in general when I travel to places I've never been before, but this is more than the usual amount of travel anxiety.
Other things making me anxious:
*B's dad was admitted to the hospital overnight last night for observation, and is now on blood thinners to break up a blood clot in his lung...very worried about him.
*Youngest brother has been making more contact lately...the one who said B would die within a year if we didn't break up or B converted. He's been sending me facebook and text messages, more so than usual. He just worries me in general, but increasing his level of contact right before the wedding? Not helping.
*Been having some problems with a person on my dissertation committee...nothing horrible, more like a personality clash, but I may have to replace him with someone else.
*The academic job market does NOT seem to be recovering for next year (when I will be needing a job), and now my adviser is seriously discussing the possibility of funding a postdoc for me with soft money. This would mean a lot of grant-writing over the next year, with no guarantee of getting any of these grants. Also, not sure I want to stay here for an extra year or two. Also, not sure I want to work with this adviser for an extra year or two. Why did the economy collapse just in time for me to graduate after 10 years of higher education?
*Our wedding is in 2 and a half weeks! So much still to do! (although my BFF has decided to come stay at our place for the week before the wedding, so yay for an extra person/car to help out!)
A lot (but not all) of this is wedding related. People keep asking me if I'm nervous about the wedding, and I am, but not the way they mean. I'm terrified that something horrible will happen between now and the wedding that will prevent us from getting married. We've been through so much together to get to this point, we've been engaged almost a year and have worked so much on planning this wedding- not to mention all the things I went through before I even met B- all the relationships that failed, all the endeavors that didn't work out my way. It seems almost impossible to me that I am lucky enough to have found such an awesome partner, and I get to marry him too!
Partly the news of course, no one likes hearing about impending pandemic flues. Not that I'm worried that I'm going to die (unrealistic), but I don't want to get really sick right before my wedding. I know logically that my chances of infection are quite small (at this point), but the constant news bombardment about how this is THE END OF THE WORLD (tm) just brings up anxious feelings.
Also I'm flying to Detroit today for the Population Association of America conference (no I'm not presenting, so don't bother trying to google stalk me, crazy people...you know who you are).
Awesome thing: The conference is being held in the Renaissance Center which is the headquarters of GM. Quite an interesting place to visit given current events!
Not so awesome: The Detroit airport is a major hub for flights to Mexico.
Also, the motel I'm staying at has a bunch of reviews that mention prostitution. I mean, prostitutes are people too...but still, probably not the safest situation to put myself in. Thankfully one of my friends is staying at the same motel, and we have a deal to walk back from the conference hotel together at night so that I'm not walking back alone. Still worried about it though.
I also just get anxious in general when I travel to places I've never been before, but this is more than the usual amount of travel anxiety.
Other things making me anxious:
*B's dad was admitted to the hospital overnight last night for observation, and is now on blood thinners to break up a blood clot in his lung...very worried about him.
*Youngest brother has been making more contact lately...the one who said B would die within a year if we didn't break up or B converted. He's been sending me facebook and text messages, more so than usual. He just worries me in general, but increasing his level of contact right before the wedding? Not helping.
*Been having some problems with a person on my dissertation committee...nothing horrible, more like a personality clash, but I may have to replace him with someone else.
*The academic job market does NOT seem to be recovering for next year (when I will be needing a job), and now my adviser is seriously discussing the possibility of funding a postdoc for me with soft money. This would mean a lot of grant-writing over the next year, with no guarantee of getting any of these grants. Also, not sure I want to stay here for an extra year or two. Also, not sure I want to work with this adviser for an extra year or two. Why did the economy collapse just in time for me to graduate after 10 years of higher education?
*Our wedding is in 2 and a half weeks! So much still to do! (although my BFF has decided to come stay at our place for the week before the wedding, so yay for an extra person/car to help out!)
A lot (but not all) of this is wedding related. People keep asking me if I'm nervous about the wedding, and I am, but not the way they mean. I'm terrified that something horrible will happen between now and the wedding that will prevent us from getting married. We've been through so much together to get to this point, we've been engaged almost a year and have worked so much on planning this wedding- not to mention all the things I went through before I even met B- all the relationships that failed, all the endeavors that didn't work out my way. It seems almost impossible to me that I am lucky enough to have found such an awesome partner, and I get to marry him too!
Friday, April 24, 2009
The dog park
Barkley likes to run. A lot. This is somewhat problematic, in that we have a pretty small apartment (so no running room there), no backyard (we live in an urban area), and we can't let him off leash because he would just take off. So we had been trying to jog with him every morning, but even trading off between the two of us, we were totally wearing ourselves out.
So today we joined a dog park! It's a private dog park about a half hour walk away from our house (we will probably drive there usually cause that's how we roll). It only costs $5 a month, but that way we know that all the dogs are up to date on their shots, and they don't let in overly aggressive dogs. Plus it's the only dog park within walking distance, so it's not like we had much of a choice. It's kinda like a co-op: all the members are expected to help out on park cleaning days, join a dog park committee, and chip in to keep the park clean.
We brought Barkley in for an interview today, and there were like 25 dogs there (they emailed the members to come when we were interviewing so they could see how he interacts with other dogs, and a LOT showed up). There were a few scuffles, but nothing overly serious, and mostly I think Barkley had the time of his life. And we passed the interview!
He ran almost the entire time we were there. We tried to play fetch with him a little- he's great at chasing after a ball, but not so great at bringing it back. :) But now we can work on that! Also, now we can hang out with other doggies! (He LOVES other dogs)
Anyways, I think this dog park thing will be great- and it'll be nice to get to know other dog owners in our neighborhood, because then a) we can make more friends and B) we can maybe find a potential dog sitter. Also I can take the dog there with a book and do some work outside when the weather is nice. Hardly anyone is ever there during work hours, so it'll be like a private backyard.
Also, what is it about playing around with 25 dogs that makes you forget all your other worries? :)
So today we joined a dog park! It's a private dog park about a half hour walk away from our house (we will probably drive there usually cause that's how we roll). It only costs $5 a month, but that way we know that all the dogs are up to date on their shots, and they don't let in overly aggressive dogs. Plus it's the only dog park within walking distance, so it's not like we had much of a choice. It's kinda like a co-op: all the members are expected to help out on park cleaning days, join a dog park committee, and chip in to keep the park clean.
We brought Barkley in for an interview today, and there were like 25 dogs there (they emailed the members to come when we were interviewing so they could see how he interacts with other dogs, and a LOT showed up). There were a few scuffles, but nothing overly serious, and mostly I think Barkley had the time of his life. And we passed the interview!
He ran almost the entire time we were there. We tried to play fetch with him a little- he's great at chasing after a ball, but not so great at bringing it back. :) But now we can work on that! Also, now we can hang out with other doggies! (He LOVES other dogs)
Anyways, I think this dog park thing will be great- and it'll be nice to get to know other dog owners in our neighborhood, because then a) we can make more friends and B) we can maybe find a potential dog sitter. Also I can take the dog there with a book and do some work outside when the weather is nice. Hardly anyone is ever there during work hours, so it'll be like a private backyard.
Also, what is it about playing around with 25 dogs that makes you forget all your other worries? :)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
talked to dad
so my dad called yesterday to thank me for sending him a 'happy birthday' text message on sunday. Updated me on random family things, and then was all "so, are you still going forward with your plans for next month?" Which somehow resulted in me telling him the wedding plans in detail, including about the ceremony we are planning (Which will include no religion of any kind). And then we said good night.
I turned in a book review on Monday night that I've been working on for maybe 2 months (not very hard, but I read both the books in small bits over a long period of time, and I read them twice). So it's nice to have that off my plate, and it'll also be nice to have another publication on my CV, even though book reviews don't really count for much of anything. I really liked the way it came out though- I think I had some insightful things to say about the books, and since it was for a feminist-oriented journal, I actually got to say fun things like "the personal was indeed political" and "essentialist differences" and "consciousness raising" and I also got to talk about my own standpoint, which most journals don't stand for, but which this journal encourages (based on about 10 past book reviews that I looked at).
I'm now done with most of my major deadlines for this semester, except that I have one more conference presentation to give in about 2 weeks. But I am co-authoring that paper, and my co-author is actually doing most of the work for the presentation. A week after that I'm going to an all-weekend really tiny music festival on a farm (maybe 300 people will be there) which is serving as my bacholorette party. And a week after that is the wedding! Since I spent every waking hour this weekend working on my book review, I'm taking a few days off and doing some wedding odds and ends...about to go off to the thrift store to buy more plates for the reception, later maybe will finish up the center pieces. Don't really have much to do at this point except wait.
I turned in a book review on Monday night that I've been working on for maybe 2 months (not very hard, but I read both the books in small bits over a long period of time, and I read them twice). So it's nice to have that off my plate, and it'll also be nice to have another publication on my CV, even though book reviews don't really count for much of anything. I really liked the way it came out though- I think I had some insightful things to say about the books, and since it was for a feminist-oriented journal, I actually got to say fun things like "the personal was indeed political" and "essentialist differences" and "consciousness raising" and I also got to talk about my own standpoint, which most journals don't stand for, but which this journal encourages (based on about 10 past book reviews that I looked at).
I'm now done with most of my major deadlines for this semester, except that I have one more conference presentation to give in about 2 weeks. But I am co-authoring that paper, and my co-author is actually doing most of the work for the presentation. A week after that I'm going to an all-weekend really tiny music festival on a farm (maybe 300 people will be there) which is serving as my bacholorette party. And a week after that is the wedding! Since I spent every waking hour this weekend working on my book review, I'm taking a few days off and doing some wedding odds and ends...about to go off to the thrift store to buy more plates for the reception, later maybe will finish up the center pieces. Don't really have much to do at this point except wait.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Gender emphasis
Today in my feminist theory class we were discussing the concept of gender emphasis as resistance; women (or men) emphasizing their femininity (or masculinity) because they know doing so will make it easier to get what they want, even if they normally question those norms. So the professor spoke about deliberately getting dressed up, doing her hair, and putting on makeup and heels when she went to meet with the trustees of her school to ask for more money for the women's studies program- because she knew that by temporarily buying into those gender norms she could get what she wanted- more money for the womens studies program, which would ultimately empower women. While if she dressed in her normal manner (much more tomboy-ish), she wouldn't get what she wanted.
I think that concept nicely sums up my feelings about marriage.
I think that concept nicely sums up my feelings about marriage.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)