Horsing around

The bug is deeply in love with "a-min-ahls." While she still prefers to be held by one of us while in the company of dogs, since they have mysterious abilities to jump and lick, she took to horses in approximately 2.5 seconds, as you can see.

On our morning and afternoon commutes, she regularly comments on the horses and cows visible in the countryside along the highway, and will often moo and neigh at them from the car seat. She can identify what to us seems like a surprisingly large number of other farm animals, given that we live in the suburbs.

Matt and I realize that she is more likely to come in contact with farm animals in the context where they go "sizzle," unless we seriously encourage this interest. Other parents: do your kids seem to have a rather strong farm-animal interest? Why do you think so many young children's books seem so farm-oriented? Does anyone have recommendations on some urban-type kids' books to help balance out the collection?

Meme of the day

Thanks to Staci for today's subject matter. Contribute your own answers in the comments, or link to your own blog if you'd rather post your answers there for your usual readers.

Four jobs I have held:
1. Calculus tutor
2. Independent coffeehouse barista
3. Waitress in a Mexican restaurant
4. Children's indoor playground supervisor

Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. Bend it Like Beckham
2. The Princess Bride
3. Shrek
4. Men in Black

Four places I have lived:
1. South Sioux City, Nebraska
2. Omaha, Nebraska
3. Haverford, Pennsylvania
4. Boulder, Colorado

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Baked potato with sour cream and cheddar cheese
2. Zucchini
3. Fresh-baked french bread
4. Raspberries out of our backyard

Four places I would rather be:
1. Hiking with my family
2. In Omaha, hanging out with family especially my nephews--hi, guys!
3. London, this time without the mysterious illness so I could enjoy it.
4. New York City, to see some great new shows

Four friends I think will respond:
Well, Staci's out since I got the meme from her in the first place, so I'll just keep an eye on the comments to see who answers!

today is the type of day where...

everyone else is more brilliant than I am.

So, a few recommended readings as your assignment for the day, by subject:

Politics
There are a number of books on the market that examine the rise of the religious right as a political power, but they tend to paint all religions with far too broad a brush. Ross Douthat provides a worthwhile critique of several at:
Theocracy! Theocracy! Theocracy!

Feminism
The Forbes.com article entitled "Don't Marry Career Women" generated quite a bit of discussion on several blogs I read this week. The NY Times has a rather neat take on the controversy at:
Forbes has the glitter, but...

Parenting
Because my little one learned "Sh**" from me this weekend and soaked it up like a sponge, I suggest:
Curses!
Special props to the author for her 'zine name.

quick miscellany

The freshmen have arrived. I really WAS that young once. Dude.

An addendum to the Muddy Buddy race report: a guy standing next to me at our wave start asked where I was from. Turns out he and his girlfriend were visiting the U.S. from Germany, and they saw the race on the Internet. They asked around Boulder, and were told it was a great thing to do to "get what Coloradoans are all about." He said they'd never seen so many great-looking fun people in one place, and wished us all good luck. Talk about positive international relations! I hope they had as much fun as we did.

Note the additional blogs listed on my sidebar if you haven't in the past. I'll be adding more on various topics in days to come.

Muddy Buddy race report

Matt and I had a fabulous time doing the Muddy Buddy together this weekend, even if I have a few tips for the race organizers to make next year's event a little better.

Packet pickup was at REI on Saturday and went very smoothly--well-staffed and friendly people got us in and out in about 7 minutes even though there were probably 50 people there when we arrived. The "one free beer at the Dark Horse" certificate was a nice touch. For non-Boulderites, the Dark Horse is a bar in south Boulder with a lot of video games, pool tables, air hockey, and such, so it's a popular family hangout on weekend afternoons. The bug had a great time walking around the air hockey table, which was blacklit so glowed in the "dark."

Oddly enough, the information packet we picked up contained no race information. No starting schedule, no directions to the race site, no course map, no parking suggestions, nothing. Much of this info was contained on the website somewhere, but usually one expects an info packet to contain, well, race info.

Sunday morning we arrived at the Boulder Reservoir, bug in tow, just after 7 a.m. We had to pay for parking (this should have been included in the race fee in my opinion) but got a nice spot close to the end of the course. Shortly after arrival we discovered our race wave didn't start until 8:54 a.m., so we would be standing around for two hours with the bug before the race even began. Wave start information would have been helpful to a lot of people, as there were amazing numbers of small children hanging out with their parents at this event and they were getting pretty cranky as the morning progressed. There was a "Mini Muddy Buddy" event for kids from 4-12, but the bug was still a bit young. In a few years she won't have to watch.

Once the race started, the course was great and things went pretty fast. I wish I had pictures of all the obstacles, but I'll do my best to describe each one.

The way the race worked was that Matt started out on the bike and rode the first 1.1 miles, then left me the bike after the first obstacle and started running the second leg. I ran the first 1.1 miles, then rode the next leg, and so forth. In total, I ran three legs and biked two, while Matt did the reverse. Each of us had to do all the obstacles, too.

The first obstacle was a balance beam, probably about 20 yds. long. It was a piece of cake. The second obstacle was a pirate-style rope climbing net about 10 ft. high. After this obstacle, the bike rider had to carry the bike through a waist-deep section of the reservoir. (I got lucky, Matt was riding/ carrying on that leg!)

The third obstacle was a climb where you had to be able to pull yourself over a wall ledge that was about 5 ft. off the ground. This one seemed a little unfair to the very short women, and I saw a few who took a couple tries and then just skipped the obstacle. Can't blame them.

The fourth obstacle was my favorite. It was a huge inflatable climbing wall with a rope net, probably about 25 ft. in the air, and then a big slide down the other side. The final obstacle just before the finish line was a mud pit about 25 yds. long and about 2 ft. deep that people had to go through on their bellies. Thus, our finishing picture:

We got fairly slimy along the way, but that was pretty much the point of the event, so it was a big success! Special thanks to Niall who supervised the bug while we circled the course. Here's a picture he took of our biggest fan, getting cranky in the sunshine:

We all cleaned off by jumping in the Reservoir at the end of the race, bug in tow, and she loved the wading in the sand part, so the day ended happily for all.

TGIF, everyone! Last day of summer, sort of...

A few busy days and sleepless nights later, it's almost the end of the workweek. Training for my upcoming half-marathon went pretty well this week. As it works out, I end up running about 12 miles spread out over the workweek, then one long run on weekends. The training has productively occupied my lunch hours at work this summer, but now gives me one more reason to dread the coming week because the gym will be packed from here on out until my late-September race.

The freshmen arrive on campus this coming Monday. Lord preserve us all, and those who are trying to drive anywhere near campus for the coming month. I will have a long list of "things not to do as the parent of a new collegian" by the time the bug heads off to school. So far, this list (currently worded to include the people I will shortly see outside my window) includes:

1. Wearing a nametag that clearly identifies you as the parent of a freshman when off-campus in the town. Geek check, everyone. On campus, though, that nametag serves as your "clueless pass" so wear it with pride. Don't lose it as people will be far more polite to you and helpful in answering your inane questions if you're wearing it.

2. Wearing inappropriate clothing while following your child around campus as closely as possible. "Inappropriate clothing" includes (but is not limited to) tube tops and miniskirts for moms, t-shirts with holes and armpit stains for dads, and skinny-leg jeans on anyone over the age of 25. Please, people. Have mercy on the children.

3. Driving on the grass next to the dorm to avoid the move-in crush. Hello, facilities management just spent two months resodding, people, wait your turn! You are not a unique snowflake!

4. Freaking out on people in the registrar's office because your child didn't get his/her preferred class schedule. Look around you. There are roughly 5760 incoming freshmen this year, and just about everyone doesn't have their preferred schedule. This is largely because the preferred freshman schedule involves classes that meet between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, giving them plenty of time to sleep in and get ready to go out at night, plus Fridays off. The academic world is not particularly forgiving of these preferences.

5. Spending too much time near your child, period. Hug them, help them unpack, meet their roommate, and then let them get acclimatized by themselves. Hell, plan a romantic dinner that night to celebrate your empty nest if you wish. But your kid is chomping at the bit to explore this new environment and meet up with friends, so leave them in peace. Trust me, they'll call soon, probably to request money or to ask how to fix something they've broken. This doesn't mean your child doesn't love you. In the next four years, they will go from thinking you're a moron to realizing how smart you are. Trust me, my parents were amazingly smart by the time I graduated from college. I have no idea how they learned so much so fast. :)

Feel free to add to the list through your comments--back to school tips for parents of kids at any age.

The difference a year makes

Three years ago today, I moved to Tempe, Arizona by myself, temporarily leaving my husband behind in Boulder to complete his dissertation writing and sleep on friends' floors. I located our apartment and unpacked our stuff in 117-degree heat. The month and a half before our marriage resumed was not a particularly glowing time in my life. I went to a different coffeehouse each day just for the chance to speak briefly with a human being, who would then hand me caffeine. I got turned down while applying for several menial jobs, including a receptionist position at a hair salon. (I'm still not sure whether this was due to bad hair, or to my age, which was at least three years older than everyone there except the owner.) I racked up some serious cell phone minutes complaining about the heat, the lack of arts jobs in the area, and the general dearth of happiness and excitement in my life. Thank you to everyone who helped me through that time as I know several of you are regular readers.

Two years ago today, I was pretty darn pregnant and it was still pretty darn hot. We were happily anticipating my due date, which I was sure would be a few weeks early compared to the doctors' predictions. (Hah! I was induced in early November, a week after the doc's best guess, actually.)

One year ago today, we left behind the Tempe heat, and became the proud owners of a beautiful house in Longmont, Colorado. Matt and I are a little fuzzy on the exact date details of when we arrived in Colorado. We had a ten-month-old bug at the time who had yet to sleep through the night, and the combination of joy, stress, and sleeplessness related to the move definitely shows:

Joy.

Stress.

Um, sleeplessness. Sort of. This is the morning AFTER sleeplessness in a somewhat questionable hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona.


Regardless, we were about to embark on a grand adventure. All evidence of our life together was stuffed in boxes in the back of a moving truck. I was once again jobless and about to learn the thrills and pitfalls of temporary at-home motherhood. Matt was on the brink of returning to his old department, in a new position, with enticing opportunities. The bug was shortly to experience the chance to be outside during daylight hours, regularly, in the month of August. (Arizona does not offer similar potential during monsoon/ haboob season, for those of you who haven't lived there for an extended period.)

Today, we're a lot more rested. The house is (almost completely) unpacked. I have a job and occasional time to reflect on work, motherhood, and other subjects. Matt's job seems to be going swimmingly. The bug not only sleeps through the night, but occasionally sleeps past six in the morning. And, frabjous joy, it is only supposed to be in the high 80's outside today so we'll probably go for a walk after work. We've reconnected with friends, grown as parents, and...well, it's hard to believe we've already been back for a year. At the same time it's hard to believe we've only been back for a year. Colorado feels like home now, because it is.

My special helper.

Pictures are finally on disc and headed to the developer's from the family odyssey of early August. I'll put a few more on site over the next few days but wanted to share this one with a brief story:

The bug has taken to being super-helpful around the house of late. She is fascinated by all manner of household tasks, from toilet-scrubbing to mirror-wiping to floor-sweeping. She strongly prefers anything involving bubbles. Of course we keep all the potentially poisonous cleaning supplies on a high shelf in the laundryroom, but sometimes she does manage to get hold of the dish soap under our supervision. Here is a pic of the little washerwoman helping clean the kitchen floor:



As you can see, she's pretty efficient at cleaning herself as part of the process, too. Now, if we can work toward washing windows in time for fall cleaning...

Weekly Rant: A Nation of Adjuncts

Last week I went to a conference in Chicago for the Association of Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). This annual event is attended by roughly 1500 theatre academics from around the world, although the vast majority of attendees are from the U.S. I saw a lot of people that I went to graduate school with at some point in the last seven years.

It's taken most of them at least three years to find a steady job. Several are still piecing together adjunct appointments at three or four colleges a semester. The only ones with tenure-track jobs are those who were willing and able to do a nationwide job search, then pick up and move wherever they were hired, a few with less than a month's notice. One or two of my friends have been on the job market for a solid five years, always at the ready for that chance to land a permanent job.

Plenty of other articles have been written on the woes of the adjunct life, on the difficulties of teaching six or seven classes a semester without health insurance, other benefits, or the chance to play a significant role in an academic department. For those of my readers who aren't academics, a typical adjunct teacher gets paid between $3000 and $5000 per three-credit-hour class depending on the school and the discipline. Contracts are by the semester, and often notification of one's teaching load isn't settled until just a few weeks before classes begin each semester. So, in order to make a living this way, most adjuncts need to teach at least four classes a semester. Because most schools have to start offering benefits for employees who are teaching more than half-time, though, it's very difficult to find a department that will allow you to adjunct more than two classes a semester. This means that most adjuncts are working at more than one school, some with hellish commutes, others lucky enough to live in an urban area with multiple colleges and universities.

Adjuncts are hired at will, which means they have no job protections. When their contracts run out, they are no longer employed. This makes maintaining health insurance over the summer very difficult, just to give one example of an important benefit that most employed people have access to. While they're affected by departmental politics, they usually have very little say in department decision-making and often aren't invited to department meetings.

It's worth pointing out that adjuncts teach the majority of lower-level undergraduate classes at the vast majority of public universities. So, although they have all the responsibilities of instruction for less than half the pay of their tenure-track colleagues, and none of the benefits of full-time employees or the protections of academic freedom, most of the responsibility for student retention falls squarely on their shoulders.

When my friends and family ask me why I chose a job where I'm not teaching, I have a hard time giving them a straight answer. Truth is, I think dependence on a nation of adjuncts is a bad approach to higher education for a host of reasons. I refuse to adjunct because I believe my degree and my skills are worth more than that market pays. I believe the two-tier system of tenure-track over adjunct is creating an educational system where teaching is devalued even though it's what we are all supposed to be doing, first and foremost.

But mostly, it is because some of the smartest, most talented, and best teachers I know have really suffered while pursuing the adjunct life. There is no easy solution to the growing economic dependence on adjuncts--I know that from sitting on the administrative side of the table. There are also a lot of people who would argue that universities are turning out too many Ph.D's which is creating a glut of people who are overqualified to do all but a very few jobs, which they then compete intensely for. I'm looking forward to hearing all your comments on this subject as I'm hoping someone will have some good ideas.

Pig Trauma with the Bug

Last night Matt was out playing poker, so the bug and I had a girls' night. We brought dinner upstairs to the TV room and folded laundry and read books.

One of her favorites is "Tails," a sort of push-and-pull book with tabs that lets the reader make the animals with tails move. Our copy is well-loved with all the physical evidence of this love one might expect from a 21-month-old. One of the best pages has a mama pig who is swatting flies away from her baby with her tail. Last night, the mama pig's tail finally ripped as the bug was pushing and pulling it.

"Broke," she said, bringing it to me in her cupped hands.

"Yup," I said. "You ripped it. We can't fix it."

"Fix?"

"No, honey, we can't fix it. It's broken."

"But, flies?"

"What?"

"Flies! Flies!" (increasingly upset) "Poor piggies. No swat."

At this point, she starts stroking the baby pigs on the page, crooning, "Sorry, sorry, piggies. Broken." Over and over, until I finally took the book away and we went to brush teeth and get ready for bed.

On the way back to her room for bed, she picked up "Tails" and tucked it on the shelf behind the other books, saying, "No flies."

Wow, you never know what's going to stick in a toddler's noggin.

Why I will not blog about work (mostly)

Basically, I like my job and want to keep it.

Some people see the sort of administrative detail work that I spend the majority of my time doing as soul-sucking boredom. I have those days occasionally. Generally, though, I really like spending time in the belly of the academic beast. I enjoy my insider's seat on various committees and actually enjoy sifting through minutiae in order to make things happen, like getting people paid on time.

Because I have access to a large amount of confidential information, which certain people might be unduly interested in, I will not blog much about work. I value my job and their trust too much to let my blog get ahead of my common sense.

This will not spare my readers from the occasional customer-service-type anecdote which I will pass on without names attached, in an effort to protect the moronic.

A recent example: The same student, a senior, called my office three times in two days looking for information on changing a low course grade. I directed him to the (same) correct office that could assist him each time. On the third day, his mother called, in an attempt to end-run the system by getting a dean's signature on "some form, she wasn't sure what." She spent almost half an hour trying to convince me that she had the correct office and only my dean could provide the signature. Just before she hung up on me in frustration, she mentioned that "My son can't seem to figure out how to change his grade by himself. He's just not capable enough. So I'm calling everybody even though I'm at work. The other office I called won't change his grade without the instructor's signature. Is that how you people operate?"

The response I wish I could have given: Why, yes, ma'am, that is how "we people" operate. Students can't change their own grades, nor can their mothers, even when they call from work. Since your son is not capable enough to figure that out, you can probably guess why we flunked him in the first place.

The response I actually gave: "We require the instructor's signature on all grade changes because only the instructor has the authority to issue grades. (with a slight emphasis on authority, which she missed completely) You'll have to contact the instructor directly. Would you like the instructor's contact information?"

Her answer: "Not really." (hangs up)

Oddly enough, most of my memorable moments at work come from these sorts of wrong numbers. The calls I get for my actual supervisors are (for the most part) from polite, sensible people who know what our office actually does. The wrong numbers make me realize how lucky I am to be working here.

Beginnings

Several of my mommyblogger friends have been encouraging me for months to begin a blog to chronicle the exploits of our family. My immediate family members also have requested increased access to photographs of the Colorado family unit.

Thus bowing to public pressure, I have created "Awk" as a combination academic blog/ mommyblog/ triblog. Most of the blogs I read and enjoy most center on these three themes: academics, parenting, or training for triathlon (run, swim, or biking) events. So I've decided at long last to join the online party. Politics and events of the day may also rear their ugly heads occasionally when topical; I appreciate the opinions of my readership and of course want to inculcate them with my own thoughts on multiple matters. Recommended readings may also pop up from time to time as I come across articles of interest.

Before you ask: I chose "Awk" as the title of my blog because I see my current lot in life as a somewhat awkward combination of interesting components, similar to a sentence with promising content still in need of clarifying revision. So, welcome to Awk, and I'll look forward to your comments.