skookumchick

User Image

Posts by this author

June 12, 2008
You may have read this announcement already - it's making the rounds on the "women in STEM" listservs (I got this version off of WEPAN, but I also saw it on the NSF-PGE listserv). It reads:House Celebrates Women Scientists, Technologists, Engineers, and Mathematicians On June 4, the House approved…
June 12, 2008
Newsweek isn't really my mag - I'm more of a Ms, Mother Jones, Yes! magazine reader, or would be if I didn't have so much other stuff to read too - but I got a subscription as a gift, and it serves in lieu of conversation as my breakfast companion. Two articles of note this week: A great piece on…
June 11, 2008
I had a meeting yesterday at 4, but was stood up (by a colleague who is now completely apologetic). I had another meeting today I thought at 1:30, but no one appeared. I went back to my office, saw I had got the time wrong and it was at 2:30. The meeting had been scheduled for 2, and I had…
June 11, 2008
Okay, I've been having some interesting conversations on and offline about what boils down to engineering epistemology and identity. Of course, that's my research area, so I dig it. And I want to start having a bigger conversation about if there's anything particularly indelible or inherent about…
June 10, 2008
So I'm going to bed *now* (it's hard to go to bed really early when the sun doesn't set until almost 9:30) and get up at 6:30 and do yoga. And if I don't, I will have to 'fess up to you. And then I am going to prep for my meeting with my research group, and then review an article that I have to…
June 10, 2008
This is another excerpt from our travel journal to Isle Royale. The first day is here. Photos by me, text by my husband. Monday May 26 Copper Harbour to Isle Royale Writing is often a bit behind. [No kidding.] Today's entry starts on the day advertised, but I am under few illusions that I will…
June 9, 2008
Okay, I lied, one more thing. Zuska has put together a really smashing Scientiae this month, on the theme of "Adding Weight: Taking Up Space." She also wrote a really great post on how she has to let go of her family's home. Go show her some love, will you? Thanks for both posts, Zuska.
June 9, 2008
Well, darn it. I'm back in Slug Pattern. I skipped yoga and watched TV this evening, and nothing good at that. I didn't work this afternoon, even though I have things to do. I didn't even clean up around the place. My husband drove back to the other house this afternoon after we spent 2.5…
June 7, 2008
Note: When we travel, we keep journals. My husband writes, and I take the photos; he skips the back of every page, and I put in photos. The next few posts from me will be from our journal of our trip to Isle Royale at the end of May. Note also that the "I"s are my husband, and the "Alice"s are…
June 4, 2008
It has been proposed by the fabulous Pat of FairerScience and other places that the developing genre of "women in science" blogs might be used as a way to recruit girls and young women into science and engineering careers(see a good outline and guidelines here). Women who write about their passion…
June 3, 2008
ScienceWoman mused about the completion of her first year here, and I had hoped I would develop similar observations and reflections while on Isle Royale. Truth be told, rather than taking the hiking time to think, uninterrupted, about the last year, I did anything but. Think, that is. Instead,…
June 2, 2008
We got back from Isle Royale Saturday night to a house with no toilet. Luckily enough, we have another house a mere 120 miles away, so really got home late late late Saturday night, and spent Sunday recovering. Today, shockingly, I actually got a good dent done in my research! I'll have some…
May 31, 2008
Probably what our yard looks like right now...
May 27, 2008
Wonder if these will look as good when we get back? I love those early purple azaleas too, am hoping we can get some for our mudpit garden...
May 25, 2008
Yep, that's pretty much me - a bleeding heart. I should be on the boat to Isle Royale by now...
May 23, 2008
I'm taking a vacation next week. For real. Miles from anywhere. We're headed to the isolated Isle Royale National Park, which is the island in Lake Superior that is the eye of the wolf, as it were. We take a boat there Monday, and come back on the next boat, which runs on Friday. Guess what…
May 21, 2008
My small friend Anni, on the left wearing the crown in this Christmas photo (with her sister Frankie) is 7. She is waiting for her third liver transplant. Last week, she was taken from our town to Chicago in an ambulance because of a particularly heavy bleed, and although the bleeding has now…
May 18, 2008
Hahahah, I foolishly thought that, when summer officially started, my life would settle down. Hohoho, so why don't I try to complicate things by, oh, I don't know, how about moving, and putting our house on the market? So here are some updates that give a somewhat authentic snapshot of what I'm…
May 12, 2008
Okay, so I've been keeping this under my hat for the last six-eight months, scared of jinxing things, but it's becoming arduous to keep hiding, so I'm sharing. Purdue submitted a proposal in December for an NSF-ADVANCE institutional transformation grant - the purpose of these grants are to improve…
May 7, 2008
The newest Scientiae Carnival has been posted by Flicka Mawa at her blog, A Cat Nap. Flicka has been going through some trials at the same time as getting Scientiae together, so her carnival is doubly-fabulous. Thanks for the great reading, Flicka, and good luck with your next steps!
May 6, 2008
I got back into town at about 1:00 pm on Monday from a weekend at my other house. I ate lunch from leftovers in the fridge from at least 1.5 weeks ago (ack), and proceeded to waste much of the rest of the afternoon. While I did call some landscapers for help with our blank-slate back yard, and go…
May 4, 2008
Right, so I now live (most of the time) in Indiana. We're up next, along with North Carolina, in the presidential primary spotlight. I've been getting multiple mailings every day, we've got ads on TV, the cities are being visited by major players; while I'm new to Indiana and am coming from the…
April 30, 2008
Redbud blossoms seem so odd to me - coming straight out of the branch or the tree. But they make for a beautiful effect...
April 29, 2008
No, really! My first meeting of the Three Days of Meetings that I thought started at 8 am, does in fact start at 8 am, but I don't have to be in it! So I get an hour back! Just thought I'd share. :-) I take the good things where I can get them, even if they're little.
April 28, 2008
... despite how miserable and cold it was today. My mom said she even saw snow!
April 28, 2008
I'm moving into the last week of the semester, and I have been having blog posts swirl around in my head for weeks now, haven't found the perseverance to sit down and write about them yet. But after this weekend, a few things have settled down. In particular, my husband has officially decided to…
April 23, 2008
I am tired. Dog tired. We're nearing the end of the semester, but not so near that I can see the light at the end of my tunnel of meetings. I've been traveling every weekend for the last month, the house needs to be cleaned, the laundry done, the fridge stocked, and the email responded to. And…
April 18, 2008
I woke up at 5:30ish realizing the room was moving. Irrationally I thought it might be because of the geothermal installation - maybe the foundations had been disturbed and the house was going to fall down! Or maybe there were burglars, as I heard a crash downstairs. As my brain kicked into gear…
April 17, 2008
... as I'm sick. And swamped. And sick. And traveling again both this weekend, and next weekend. And last weekend. Did I mention I'm sick? In better news, the bobcat guy flattened our backyard, so it's flat now from the geothermal installation, and looks like it has potential for gardening. A…
April 13, 2008
For the first weekend for quite a number of weeks, I've gotten to be at home. The other home, yes, but at least one of them. So it's been a weekend of odds and sods of various flavours: We are avid NPR listeners and heard about this interesting story about fortnightly clubs, clubs that women…