Life is Really Unfair

2 years ago Paul and I were on a plane with Boomer from BSG (and if you don't get the reference - too freaking bad). We were so excited about being near someone who is kind of famous - and for BSG fans super famous. But I have been trumped by a pal who was on a plane with Robert Redford. ARGH!!!

My Daughter is the Next Warhol

the Princess's new fave thing to do is take stuff out of the lazy susan that she can reach and stack and re-stack. I believe this is the first evidence I have that she is actually related to me by some quirk of DNA - meaning, there is nothing I love more than reorganizing stuff - seriously, nothing I love more. Today I walked into the kitchen when she was in her room sweeping (don't ask, that's a whole other post) and saw this in the middle of the floor. It looked relatively artistic, so I thought I post it here.

Weather

We're having some weather here in Ogden. It's not a white out - like we used to have white outs in New York - but its heavy, wet snow. Pretty stunning, actually. Thank God I don't have to leave the house today.

Kids Place Live on Sirius

Right now on Lily's station we are listening to Peter Gabriel - we've heard Lisa Loeb and U2 and Bare Naked Ladies and They Must be Giants among others. Pretty cool that the musical training starts early. I especially like the Chipmunks version of Bad Day - it's pretty funny.

French Revolution

In 2007, the CEO of Countrywide, earned $1.9 million, in addition to about $45K in travel benefits, and dues paid to swanky country clubs around the world, he also reaped about $251 million as he sold off his company's stock while lying to investors that it was a good buy to have his company's stock. At the same time Countrywide laid of tens of thousands of workers and dropped 80% in the stock market causing many ordinary citizens major economic crisis.

Lest you think this is one evil dude - in 2008 only 6% of CEOs said that if people were hard workers and loyal to the company and contributed to the business, they deserved to keep the jobs. The vast majority feel that ordinary workers are totally expendable.

Seriously - do these people not think about why their heads were lopped off in the French Revolution?

Cheerios

The Princess has just discovered the magic of cheerios. So we eat them all the time. She knows which cupboard they are in and she often just helps herself. She loves them with soy milk (considering her favorite thing to eat is vegetables and she loves soy milk, I am predicting a vegan in our midst) and normal milk sometimes. But her favorite thing to do is to take the bowl the cheerios are in and pour them all over whatever she's near - the floor, the table, the tray. Luckily Hobbes likes cheerios too, so we don't have to keep grabbing the broom.

I love being a parent.

Conference

I went to a teaching and learning conference last week. I spent four days away from my family to have intellectual intercourse. My university paid for this trip in these very lean times. The conference was about civic engagement in political science courses and political scientists presented ideas about civic engagement assignments. It was great. At one point a woman presented an assignment that was essentially a simulation. I do simulations all the time, they are great for learning for students. And generally, the kids love them. But, I argued at the conference, they are not civic engagement. If the student has not left the classroom, then the student has not done civic engagement. My raising this offended the woman and she didn't speak again.

Today I was chatting with some friends about this. I was told that I wasn't influencing people or winning friends and that I take stuff too seriously.

I've been mulling this over. I was at a conference, again, intellectual intercourse. First of all, there should be nothing offensive in an intellectual conversation about how to teach. We should all bring our best game and then have a great argument about it. If indeed it is the case that we can achieve civic engagement without leaving the classroom, prove it to me. I am skeptical enough to think that even my own position could be wrong. Second of all, the woman's response to me was, "I knew someone would say that." Really? If so, you have brilliantly anticipated a question and you should have a good answer. Not a pout for the next two days, but a good answer. Oh, and since I am really into intellectual intercourse, if you were persuasive, I'd buy it.

I was at a conference. I was taking four days of my life to learn something. Don't waste my time with crap. And when I call you on it, if I am wrong, tell me how I am wrong. Let's not all insult each other with schmoozing.

Right?

Conference

Tomorrow I head out to what will probably be my last conference for a while. As budgets are tight, travel will be at a premium. Thus, I will be staying home. For the past 10 years, I have gone to 2 conferences (at least) a year, so this will be a new era in the travel life of the Duchess.

And what, you might ask, is my last conference. And the answer is, a teaching and learning conference. I plan to sit in my room most of the time, lonely and bored. But I will survive, learn something, and come home on Sunday and give my baby a big kiss. Hopefully I will have internet connection and will pay attention to the world while in Baltimore.

Baltimore - seriously, couldn't my last conference have been in Savannah, GA? It is beautiful there.

My Baby's Pig Tails

My baby can now wear pig tails. When did this happen? She was just born two seconds ago.