skookumchick | April 1, 2008Oh lord, what fools these mortals be. Especially that one down there named Alice.
I've had two particular moments of foolishness in the last few days that have smacked me upside the head. And because the Scientiae theme for April (shockingly) is "fools and foolishness," I feel compelled to share them with you.
There will be drama, politics, famous names, remorse, public humiliation... I tell you, it's worth looking below the fold.
Yesterday, the president of our university came to visit our new building. She spoke with all kinds of people throughout the college from NAE members to recent…
sciencewoman | March 31, 2008First, note the time stamp on this post. I have just now succeeded in getting Minnow to sleep and have sat down with a cup of tea and tomorrow's lecture to prepare. It's going to be a long short night. And I'm already tired.
I'm tired because for some inexplicable reason, Minnow couldn't sleep last night between 3:15 am and >5 am. And when Minnow can't sleep, neither do I. This afternoon as I tried to start writing tomorrow's lecture and preparing this week's lab, I was overcome by exhaustion and I broke down and bought a bottle of Coke. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but in…
sciencewoman | March 31, 2008As I head into each weekend, I start to think about possible topics for Mommy Monday. What will inspire me? What will my readers be interested in? What do I feel comfortable writing about? I debated a couple of topics this weekend, but I think I've settled on an update on breast-feeding a toddler. This post is inspired by ScienceMama's bittersweet post as she approaches the one year mark of breast-feeding Bean.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breast-feeding for at least one year in healthy infants where there is no contra-indication. ("Breastfeeding should be continued for at…
skookumchick | March 29, 2008For Earth Hour, I had hoped we'd get a chance for a walk in the gloaming, but the day got away from us. My husband was just getting back from his run (alone) and I was just getting dinner started at 8 pm our time. We lit candles as it got too dark to see, and he did the crossword while I made curry.
We kept the lights off for another hour after dinner, and only reluctantly turned one back on in order to not trip over any furniture and catch the house on fire. We didn't notice any of our neighbors' lights off.
What did you do for Earth Hour?
sciencewoman | March 29, 2008There is an occasional faint light at the end of the tunnel of the academic year, and with that light come a lot of planning for the summer. I'm trying not to place unrealistic productivity expectations on the summer, but I also know that it is unrealistic to think that I will have the summer "off."
As I start to make my summer plans, I'm realizing that I'm going to be out of town for ~5 weeks this summer, and that Minnow will be coming along with me. That fact, combined with really wanting to see Minnow more than just breakfast, dinner, bedtime and weekends has got me wondering whether we…
skookumchick | March 29, 2008Remember tonight is Earth Hour to highlight our increasing global warming crisis. Join millions of other people in turning off your lights for an hour starting at 8 pm in your time zone.
Here on the western edge of the Eastern Time zone, it's still light at 8. So my husband and I might go for a walk, or just sit out on our front porch and watch the world go by for a little bit. Other ideas are here.
Remember also that Scientiae posts are due in the next day or so - on fools and foolishness, or anything else you care to contribute. See here for submission instructions. And if you haven't…
skookumchick | March 28, 2008Ages ago people asked me what my research was actually about. Well, here's a synopsis of my PhD work as a starter.
I got my PhD in Industrial Engineering at the University of WIsconsin-Madison, and a PhD minor in women's studies. I was interested in how we keep using two ideas to understand women's underrepresentation in engineering - the pipeline, and the chilly climate - and how the programs and solutions that came from those ideas didn't seem to be increasing the number of women going into or graduating from engineering (in fact, the number is actually decreasing). I wondered if there…
sciencewoman | March 27, 2008It's really hard to talk about what I do and how my research relates to other people in my department/field and the challenges of inter(sub)disciplinary research, while maintaining any pretense at pseudonymity. Inspired by Bright Star and her roller-blading analogy for her research, I decided a while ago to think of science with a sports analogy. I'm a far cry from an athlete, and endless baseball talk bores and frustrates me, so I apologize if the sports analogy antagonizes some of you. (I know FemaleScienceProfessor has ranted about them before.)
In my sports analogy, I study skiing. My…
skookumchick | March 26, 2008I've noticed my posts seem to kill the comments and conversation. Sorry about that. I realize this is really part of the gig of the bigger megaphone, and maybe blogging about stuff people don't want to comment on. Or that they find boring. Or that are too long. Or that are posted on days when people don't want to read. Or something... Hmmm...
I'm not complaining per se, except I find myself surprised a little at missing the community I had on my pseudonymous blog. I felt supported there. Not so much here yet. I thought about what I would risk in my career by blogging as me -- I hadn't…
skookumchick | March 26, 2008I've survived my spring break; now I have my first week back, while my husband tries to survive his.
Week of March 17-23Monday we moved the appliances and all the kitchen stuff back into the kitchen, packed up all my stuff from the previous week, all my husband's stuff for the forthcoming week (his spring break), all my parents' stuff for their trip to visit my sister, and a bunch of extra boxes to move to our other house. We packed up the fridge so we'd have something to eat when we got back to Indiana, and put it all into 3 cars. We put one more poly coat on the floor, cleaned, and made it…
skookumchick | March 26, 2008*Whew.* I have been slammed down by work and life, absolutely no room for blogging. Today I get a breather, and so you get an update.
Week of March 10-19
My spring break started out pretty well. Monday I had a phone conference with people I am co-authoring a paper with for the Frontiers in Education conference - the paper was due on March 24. I had lunch with my husband. I caught up on email and, because it was spring break and other people were actually taking time off (a good thing) most of the email questions didn't come back. I bought my plane ticket to the Engineering, Social…
sciencewoman | March 25, 2008Don't be a fool and forget to submit something for the April edition of Scientiae, the blog carnival by, for, and/or about women in STEM. The theme for the month is fools and foolishness, and the carnival is being hosted by Peggy at Women in Science on or about April 1st (hence the theme). For details, see here.
sciencewoman | March 24, 2008Minnow discovers sand and explores gravitational versus turbulent effects upon releasing a handful into the wind. When we got home, we read Bagnold's "The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes." No, not really...we saved it for bedtime! :)
Below the fold, Minnow demonstrates some classical mechanics principles at the playground.
Maybe this could be a late entry to the Accretionary Wedge carnival....
skookumchick | March 21, 2008Not only has it been INSANE in my job this week, my computer has been in the shop since yesterday morning, and won't be back in my hands until Monday morning. If then.
Of course, part of the recent insanity has perhaps been BECAUSE my computer has been in the shop. And they've been installing the geothermal system - my backyard looks like a bomb hit. And upgrading the power to the house to 200A. And now I have to go cook for 11 people. As well as drop by the computer fixit place to get some files (like my annual report, due in an hour and 15 minutes) to work on over the weekend. And…
sciencewoman | March 21, 2008Picking up where we left off a week ago...Caplan outlines 11 myths about women that she argues are pertinent to the case of women in academia. I'm going to skip over the first batch of myths, and focus on the ones specifically about women and working.
20. Full-time men work full-time, but part-time women only work part-time - and both full-time and part-time male employees work harder than females.
I think this myth encompasses the perception that if your office is occupied you are working, and if it is not you are not. Never mind that in your office you might be checking the sports scores (…
sciencewoman | March 20, 2008Apparently Purdue and Mystery U coordinate their "overwhelm the new faculty" schedule.
Had lunch with the provost this week. Take home message: time would have been better spent bringing in oodles of grant money. Avoid desert.
Have been consciously avoiding blogging as part of a get-things-done mode.
Unfortunately, last night I got sucked into the worst show on television last night. Did not help get-things-done.
We have tomorrow off. Yay, no meetings. (well, one, but it's off campus).
I am thinking about rearranging my office. It's Jane's fault.
I actually have a number of posts in my head…
sciencewoman | March 20, 2008Yesterday morning Kate birthed a healthy wonderful baby girl. Go on over and congratulate her.
skookumchick | March 18, 2008I had thought that I was getting on top of things over spring break. My folks came to visit us in the Illinois house, we refinished our kitchen floor and made umpteen home repairs, and drove back to W. Lafayette yesterday. My first full day back at work has been outrageously busy, I have a full slate of things to do tonight, let alone tomorrow, and not enough time to do it. So sorry for the lack of posting, but it will persist for a couple more days at least, and my folks will be heading back this way on the weekend...
But spring is definitely in the air here. It smells like earth, the…
sciencewoman | March 17, 2008This morning I was using my cell phone to make a donation to NPR while putting gas in my Prius.
I'm not going to put up a mommy monday post today because I am afraid I will say something I'd later regret. Instead, if I get a chance to blog later today or tomorrow or ..., I'll stick to the literature and continue to bring you myths, damnation, and then solutions from Lifting a Ton of Feathers. I'm a bit behind schedule, but I'm going to finish the exercise, so that I have the posts for my own future reference, if nothing else.
Hope y'all have a good week and that my students rock their exam…
sciencewoman | March 15, 20083. Unwritten Rules and Impossible Proofs
"Anyone who spends much time in academic settings learns that they are riddled with unwritten rules, and this can make for a great deal of bewilderment and frustration for all kinds of academics. For any oppressed group, this situation is particularly dangerous, since rules can be made and broken in order to keep them in their place. Furthermore, the unwritten nature of so many rules means people who are treated unfairly may find it nearly impossible to prove that any rules were broken." (p. 34)
I found Caplan's chapter on unwritten rules to be one of…