Some housekeeping

First, thanks for your comments yesterday. I'm not the only one who thinks that professional and private lives should be kept apart and that's good to know. I fired off that post yesterday to just get some thoughts out there and out of my head, to give some tidbits on what it's like to be a new faculty, sadly it's not all science all the time. I think I'm going to let it lie for a little while. Taking on extra responsibilities pre-tenure is something everyone discourages. Tenure committees think that it is all science all the time. Should I decide to take on this particular service task I think the most obvious solution is to start new profiles for my professional online me, which is do-able, everywhere except facebook, since my current facebook account is in fact my real live name, when I joined 5 years ago I wasn't really savy to what facebook was going to become. I am, however, going to lobby that this is why we have a web programmer on staff...

I also think the incident served to remind me of something I had been trying hard to forget. I not only face the prejudices of sex, but those of age as well. A double whammy for a new faculty. Also a fact that I think hinders academia a little, where else in the world is 30 not considered a full fledged adult, but rather the magic portal to youth?

Anyways, I have been remiss. There is some good news to share. The world is a little cuter this week, and just in time too, the news was helping us reach our ugly quota. I want to extend a warm welcome to Fran Jr., I wanted to knit, I really did, but your mother's stubbornness hindered gender appropriate knitting, so I issue a public apology for being remiss. You are still loved and welcome and downright adorable. And, as you are the only baby that is in feasible driving distance these days I hope to meet you in person soon. :)

Going Public with Me

I just got back from a faculty meeting. One of the joys of being a faculty is the faculty meeting (insert sarcastic tone). Fortunately, I'm still new, we have a small faculty, and only meet once a month, so our brand of meeting isn't as bad as it could be. I'm not privy to the politics so maybe I'm still immune a bit. Thus far, I've been relative quiet at the meetings, although I started to talk some more today. We cover a lot of topics in the 1.5 hour meeting, most of which I have little to no opinion on or have little relevance to my current life. As I become more integrated with the department that will change, but for right now, I'm quite comfortable with my new girl status.

Until it became the center piece of the conversation.

We are having trouble recruiting graduate students. Our enrollment is down this year and for a variety of reasons that's not a good thing. We were discussing our options for recruitment strategies when one of the faculty members said something to the effect of, well we'll have to get Dr. Rini to get us involved in all the new technology out there, you know facebook and twitter and my space and what not.

I should probably mention I'm the youngest faculty by 10+ years.

There was alot of "what's twitter" and "oh yes, thats why we hired a young person" talk that ensued. I explained twitter. I do occasionally but infrequently twitter. I also have a facebook account, which I have been using to keep in touch with friends, although I'm not a heavy facebook user either, and yes I do have a blog. The thing is, I don't want either of these things to become part of my professional life.

I know that some faculty have had sucess with facebook as a tool, and I don't disagree that it can be used appropriately. I don't, however, beleive that a faculty who had facebook as a student can transition her social network to a professional network. I fall into this latter category. My students and colleagues don't need to know that my friends gifted me a can of whoop ass or see picture of me at my nephews baptism. My facebook behavior is not illegal, immoral or anything that can get me fired, it's just not a side of my life the needs to intersect with my academic life. My facebook life grows because of my friends activities and not necessarily because of mine. Do I have to call everyone up and say "hey I really need you to censor your facebook life because mine needs to be professionally acceptable". Same is true of my twitter. I twitter so my friends from far away can feel connected to me and I to them. And the blog, well, the blog is anonymous for a reason.

For a long time I didn't use facebook at all, because of these very reasons. Now that I live 1500 miles away from everyone I know I've started to use it more, but my security settings are on super high. Thus far I've found that it is a good balance for me. I'm not sure how to integrate it with a professional twist. I'm not sure I want to try. As far as twitter, I could set up another account, I suppose I could start a professional real me blog as well. In the end I suggested that the department set up a blog, where the current graduate students and faculty could post about what we're doing, what we want to do etc. I think that it might be a good solution, but it made me think a little about this stuff.

So I want to know how the rest of you feel? Do you live a split personality in reality and if so do you live one online too? I'm not sure I'm ready to maintain another public me.

blog action day

Something I miss every year is blog action day. Every year Paul has something very smart and interesting to say, and I think to myself, I should also have something smart and interesting to say, but I have a hard time being smart and interesting on demand. (I think I used up all that power in all of those interviews earlier in the year)

Today is not much different, and last night I actually was thinking that I might write a post today about the debates, because that whole anyone can teach with out those pesky qualifying tests remark really got to me. Really John, anyone can teach? Being in the military qualifies you to teach? Come wrangle a classroom for a day dude. ANY classroom and see how well you do. Students are not soldiers. I'm going to stop before I say something I regret. Let's just leave it at this, to me, it was the most important moment of the debate and, it's been lost among all the Joe the plumber talk. Education is an issue that has been largely ignored in this race, and one that is near and dear to my heart. Maybe it will be next year's blog action topic.

Anyways, poverty. I haven't really spent much time thinking about poverty. We are not poor by any standards, although the budget is pretty tight right now. Tight is relative. One salary, two mortgages and some school loans also doesn't make us well-off. We fall somewhere in between, which I guess counts a middle class. That's not to say that we don't feel the pressure knowing that our current situation is not sustainable for much longer, but we also recognize that this life (the academic one) was a choice we made and we were lucky to have the means to make it. I could be an engineer, making more than twice what I make now. I have the training and the certifications, I chose not to use them. That being said, it is sometimes hard to not feel sorry for ourselves and to feel the stress of the zero-sum balance at the end of every paycheck.

Being wrapped up in my own life, as we all are, it's hard to remember that others are having an even harder time. I guess that's what blog action day is all bout though, making us remember.



At times in my life I have been fortunate to visit other parts of the world where poverty is a completely different situation than the one we have here in the US. On both occasions what struck me the most was how different cultures deal with different things. This is a working school, I mean can you imagine? But, I maintain that the multiple generations of family members living in a hut smaller than our "spare" bedroom are happier people than the wealthiest Americans you could find. Core values are different in different places and wealth is not necessarily one of them.


Here in America, I have recently relocated from a wealthy state to a poor state. From one with one of the lowest poverty rates to one with one of the highest. My perspective has changed. What lesson can I expound to blog readers about poverty? The one I learned during my first hurricane season. I may not be able to afford to replace my ruined pants this month, but I also didn't have to spend hours in a FEMA line waiting for food or water. I am lucky, many others are not. This does not make them bad people, or lazy people, or less deserving people. They are people. People like you and me who are trying to navigate in a society that values looking out for number one and no one else. It is not the value that makes every kid that attends this one room school house have a smile on their face everyday. Maybe we can learn something from these poor societies. Maybe a culture that values people more than it values wealth is one we could all start to strive for.

A punishable offense

One of the random things I'm finding difficult about my new(ish) professor status and my new climate is my attire. When you are 5'2", and the youngest member of your faculty by almost a decade, dressing age appropriate, professional and comfortable all at once can be a challenge. I have been mistaken for a new student at least half a dozen times since I've been here, and been complimented on my attire just as many other times. I'm at about a 50% success rate if you ask me. I think of this as one of those little things that women deal with and men don't. On it's own, it's not a really big deal, but alot of those little things add up to a pile more of stress that a woman TT prof deals with and a man doesn't.

Anyways, given the unknown appropriateness factor, coupled with a body type that is not the one most clothing companies design for an a very limited budget, and it's a struggle. Don't get me wrong, I like to shop, so it hasn't been too much of a burden, just something extra on my plate.

I found myself in need of some new shoes. Brown flats that could work with skirts and pants, and weren't too tall to make my pants look like the wrong length, but weren't too flat to make them drag on the floor. That also were comfortable enough to get around campus without falling on my face. I searched for awhile and finally settled on a pair I liked. I ordered them, they came and I'm quite happy with them.

Well, on Thursday, I wore them to work for the first time. Somewhere between the office and the vending machine I apparently stepped in gum! A really gooey nasty wad of gum. That in and of itself would usually be bad enough. I, however, was so engrossed in my world, that I did not know that this gum was on my shoe, and settled in on my nice chair, to read a journal article...with the gummed shoe tucked nicely under my butt. Sitting like this is an awful habit I just can't seem to break. I'm 30, I know better, but I do it anyways. I figure it's less offensive than some bad habits (like the improper dispoal of gum), so whatever.

So here we are, gum shoe and butt of my favorite pair of pants all merged on the chair for the 20 minutes it takes for me to read the article. I'm glad no one was around to see what happened when I tried to get up and all of the above components were rather stuck together. Chair is ruined, pants are probably ruined, and my loving husband spent some considerable time saving the shoes so they survived.

The next politician to support a ban on gum like the one in Singapore has my full support!

Cobblestone

A finished knit!

And a perfect fit! The whole time I was knitting I was so worried it would be too small, but I trusted my gauge swatch and it was all good.

When I updated my ravelry project page on this one it came to my attention that it took me a VERY long time to knit it. I'm blaming it on the travel. This sweater was knit in at least 4 different states and I recall at least three airplanes. Geez it's been a long year!

Here's the stats:

Pattern: Cobblestone by Jared Flood from Interweave Knits, Fall 07 (issue is sold out, but you can buy the pattern on it's own)
Yarn: Classic Elite Skye Tweed, color 1243, purchased when it was on closeout at webs shortly after the issue came out. I used just over 11 balls. The pattern calls for exactly 11 for the size I knit. I did also knit 3 swatches, so that ate up a little yarn, but in my opinion, 11 won't make it.
Needles: US Size 5. This is two sizes smaller than the pattern calls for. I consistently need to do this with patterns from interweave. I don't know why.

Notes: This is a really great pattern, which is obvious by the number of people who have knit it. I did make one mistake, after it was sitting for a long time I confused myself with my weird knitting technique (sometimes I knit regular, sometimes it knit like this...sometime I'll tell you why), and I did a single round of the underarm garter band as stockinette. It's barely noticeable and hub said not to pull it out, so I didn't.



This is my first yoked sweater, it is was fun to do a new construction, and hurray for no seams! Also, once I got to the yoke, it occured to me that this yarn was a perfect candidate for spit splicing, and that greatly reduced my ends to weave in. I think spit splicing is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Which, by the way is one of the books I read last month, I'll have to tell you about that sometime too.

Non knitting craftiness!

Ha, yesterday I alluded to the return of political commentary and today I'm posting about crafts. Tricked ya didn't I? Whatever, it's my blog and I can do what I want to.

One of the bizarre things about Universities, especially large ones, is the ownership of stuff. Some stuff is purchased by the U, some stuff is purchased by individuals on grant money via the U, and the ownership rules get weird: the granting agency owns it and at the termination of the contract can ask for it back, although this is almost never enforced. Universities have systems to keep track of stuff, usually only the really expensive stuff, but sometimes all stuff. These systems are constantly changing, or are very inefficient at best. Bar codes and numbers should be scanned yearly, but what if no one knows where the item is, or it's out in the field, or it's moved, or the original faculty has left? Undergraduate workers sent to scan the tags will rarely track it down...so there is always stuff.

The stuff that tends to get lost the most: Office furniture. Buildings are renovated, faculty leave, offices are moved, etc. BUT, a U will never throw something out that could still have some value. Enter the wonder that is Surplus. Unwanted and unclaimed and outdated stuff goes to the magic place called surplus. It gets put in the hall, you call a phone number and it disappears...to the surplus, where is it either a) resold or given free to someone else in the U who wants it, or b) is available for sale to the public. Every university I've been associated with has the two versions, internal and external. Surplus stores are like thrift shops, populated with everything from old unused athletic uniforms to dining hall dishes to computer monitors to...office furniture, and public surplus stores have been decorating poor grad students apartments everywhere. If your looking for something a University might have once owned check out the public surplus store near you, they usually open once a month or so...

Occasionally, whole buildings and labs will be abandoned and before being reclaimed the poor graduate students end up cleaning it out, which of course gives them first dibs on the surplus destined stuff. This is exactly how I came to aquire this beauty (sorry for the blurry, I don't know what happened there):

A Do/More office task chair, I'm guessing circa 1950-60. (company still exists! www.domorelux.com)

The other bizarre thing about Universities, is that often, no one has consistant office furniture, so, depending on the current economic climate, a new faculty will make do with what's there, the surplus store, or spending start up funds. Personally, I salvaged a really cool l-desk setup that was destined for surplus, it's low to the ground desk, perfect for my short person. Chairs were another story, however. When I remembered the beauty above unearthed from the basement. Several hours, some old curtains and a can of spray paint later and voila:

I have the hippest chair in the building. Pretty comfy too. Just needs some new casters: I'm eying these, but they seem a bit pricey, any suggestions on where to get some neat ones for less dough?

voting time is here...

http://russelldad.tumblr.com/post/52678280/5-friends-vote

I'm not smart enough to figure out how to embed it in the blog right now. But it's an important message, so click and watch. I'd like to believe that everyone who reads this blog is already registered. (if not, you probably stopped reading during my political phase back in January), but send it on, get the word out. In some states, like mine, October 4 is not the registration deadline, but an actual day to vote, not for president, but for the other people of importance, and for congressional primaries. Every position that requires voting is important...you've heard that rant before.

Since my responsible primary voting, I've stayed away from political topics here. I figured my views were pretty clear and there really wasn't much else to say. That and I was happily living in a state whose electoral college has agreed with my candidate for all of my voting life, and there is no question that that record will stand during this election. (I was going to say all of history, but my quick internet search told me that during my youth the state supported the opposite party...this is shaking my world view a little so I'm going to move on).

Since the big move, I'm no longer safely ensconced in a "blue" state, but rather a currently considered red, but strongly voted for Clinton and looking at total history was more blue than red state. Besides the slight cultural shock that the move has brought to both myself and my uber-liberal husband, this means that my vote might actually matter here. Current polls indicate we are "likely McCain", which give my internal optimist a little hope. This turn of events has me rethinking my lack of political commentary, that and the whole Palin thing...

Anyways, check out www.270towin.com. You can change your state from blue to red or red to blue to undecided and see what effect the change would have on the election. They also have tidbits on each state and the historical data I mentioned above.