And on a political note...

Glass Booth

This website asks you to take a quiz, then lets you know the top three candidates that best match your positions.  This isn't all that unique, but you can also browse all candidates on all issues (including many smaller parties like Greens, Libertarians, etc.). The site goes into depth on how it's figured out what the candidates' positions are, including actual past votes, quotes from discussions on political talk shows, and legislation drafted or sponsored.  A useful resource, I think, regardless of party affiliation.

It also demonstrated to me that I disagree with both of the two major-party candidates on a majority of the 14 issues, but then, I didn't find that particularly surprising.

Food for thought.

Real Food for Long Workouts

This makes me feel slightly better about never having gotten around to a true "nutrition plan" when I was training for triathlons the last few years.  Since I'm taking this season off and am watching what I eat for prenatal reasons, though, it did get me thinking about next season and what I'd like to be doing.  Besides taking care of the new baby and potentially working and being with my family, of course.

I got in my first two swims of the season this week before the weather turned rainy, and it's nice to know there is at least one sport I can do, albeit lumberingly, right up until delivery.  It felt really good to be back in the water.

Many of my friends are on the move this summer: moving soon, travelling a lot, raising kids, training for races...what are you all doing in terms of fitness this summer that you find enjoyable?  And what are you eating for pleasure?

Who says there's no cool public art?

Animation on Public Walls

It probably maintains the family-friendly nature of this blog that most of my readers won't speak Spanish so can't read the other comments on the walls. :)  But this is the coolest public art I've seen in quite awhile.

Something that actually costs less now than it did when I was in grad school.

Dress for Less and Less

Interestingly, one feature they don't discuss in the article is whether or not the quality of these "basics" has declined since 1998.  "Low-end clothes" such as the ones they describe make up the vast majority of my wardrobe.  My first quibble is with the idea that a $46 pair of jeans is "low-end," but I'm used to the Times columnists who fear to cross the threshold of a discount department store and treat Walmart as an exotic locale for fashionistas on a value hunt.

In terms of what I've encountered in the past decade clothing-wise, I think stitching quality has declined so that items fall apart more quickly even with light wear. Dyes may or may not hold after a single washing. Sizes have become even less standardized (if such a thing is possible), meaning that two pairs of identically sized pants from the same retailer exhibit significant measurement variation.  Those of you who shop at Old Navy, where I have to try on three pairs of jeans in the same size to find one that fits, will know what I'm talking about.

Still, it's refreshing to know that I can still find something to wear to work for under $50, even if I can't fill my gas tank for that anymore.

Too personal?

There's a story coming out in this weekend's New York Times Magazine about the issues that blogging can raise in personal relationships.

Exposed

I was a good few years older than the author in the NYT when I started this blog, so I'm not sure whether it was maturity or just stronger personal filters that kept me auto-self-editing my posts.  However, it seems to make sense--if current or future employers wander across my blog, would I get nauseously panicky?  Given that friends, family, and colleagues are all regular readers, does it make sense for me to alienate any of them by telling the kinds of stories that would embarrass or irritate them?  For some reason the "how much to share online" seems to mark a generational dividing line between myself/my 30-something friends and my 20-something students and younger colleagues.

Of the blogs you read most, how "juicy" are they? My faves are personal but in a mom-sharing-story-about-the-little-ones way, not in a guess-who-I-slept-with-last-night kind of way.  (Then again, that may say more about the quality of my circle of friends and acquaintances.)