30.5.07

i'm not quite bleeding pesos yet

I've done some shopping recently. Huzzah for a new pair of boots (and having bought a pair for my mother-in-law as well, which made her quite happy). And for new jeans for S, even though I wanted to pull my hair out while we were shopping... with pants I can never guess what he will or will not like, and all of the different brands have different sizing. Not fun. But in the end we found a nice pair so that is good. Plus, I got a few new books, which always makes me happy. As anyone who knows me would already know.

I really like Yogen Fruz. You can't go wrong with frozen yogurt and fresh fruit, can you? I haven't yet.

28.5.07

Good (movie) times

Yay for feeling better.

With my in-laws we went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Quite fun. Though I didn't like what ended up happening with Will and Elizabeth but I guess given the circumstances it was the better of two bad options. But it was a fun movie.

It's kind of funny, I only tend to go see movies in theaters when I am down here. It's fun to go with S. Because then we discuss the movies, and we have totally different taste in film so it's kinda cool to see the times we both like things and all. Good times.

23.5.07

if only it would rain from 3 AM to 5 AM

It's amazing how much more energy a person has when they aren't as sick as they were. Of course, the generic person to whom I am referring is, um, me. But yes, I am getting better! The hearing still isn't totally back, but it's on its way.

I feel woefully out of touch, though. I've only been able to read a few US headlines upon occasion, and even in terms of Chilean news, I have somehow managed to miss most of the news shows. I even managed to miss most of the Presidenta's speech on Monday. Part of that is because I was trying to sleep, and part of it is also because of my weird hearing thing.

This sounds ridiculous, but it would be wonderful if it would rain in the middle of the night tonight. That way, the valle would get some of the pollution ventilated out of it, but the rain itself, given Santiago's horribly not designed for wet weather topography that floods half the city every time it rains more than a few minutes, would be at a time when no one is trying to get anywhere and in a small enough quantity that it wouldn't take forever to drain away. Just a thought.

Santiago is so much neater in the summer.

22.5.07

Sick watch update: it's more than just a cold. It's a cold + ear infection.

My mother in law made me go to the doctor this morning. It went fine but my ear is definitely not. At least now I have the antibiotics to kill the infection and, hopefully, get better. But, yet again, way for me being sick to get in the way of all the cool things I always want to do when I'm in Santiago. Harumph. At least S doesn't seem to be doing too badly. He's just sniffing a bit. But, then again, so is everyone in the house.

21.5.07

i'm a tissue-using monster

So I'm still fighting this cold. Definitely not cool. But it's showing signs of relenting - I can sort of hear out of one ear now, I don't cough so much that I can't sleep and I can even taste some food again. I just want it to go away!

However, the still having a cold bit means that I still can't hear right, my eyes water all the time, I go through multiple boxes of tissues a day, I haven't been able to breathe through my nose for the last few days, I am still sleeping badly, S keeps showing signs of getting more sick but then he doesn't, and I generally hate being sick and want it to GO AWAY.

Also in fun news, S kinda sorta maybe broke the computer (the old one, not the new one) on Friday but he fixed it today so yeah. But that was a little unnerving.

I read Eragon yesterday. It was a fun read. Too bad I only sent S the first book in the series.

Here's to me finally kicking this cold, and S not getting it!

16.5.07

Sick, in Chile, AGAIN!

It only took four days in Chile for me to get sick.

Both S and I caught a cold, probably from one of his cousins. S is dealing with it pretty well. I'm doing better with it today, but yesterday was another story. However, I can't hear things very well, my balance is off, and I can't really talk. But hey, at least this time it wasn't the anti-airsick medicine that made me sick. I just caught a cold. Oh, late fall.

14.5.07

Fun-filled (and kid-filled) weekend

I love family time.

Since I got here on Friday, we had a whirlwind weekend of good times with little kids. And I am still like, oh, yeah, I'm in Chile. And I don't have any work that I need to do. Which feels very, very odd.

Saturday we went to a birthday party for S's twin cousins, who turned 4. This is the birthday party that last year I was miserably sick at due to the supposed anti-airsick medicine that the doctor prescribed. Whoops. This year was much more interesting. The baby is huge now and says things, and the twins are gigantic, remember my name, and with the cousins in the same age range run wildly everywhere. Somehow, the adults ended up split by gender, with all of the men shivering outside while the women sat inside at the table. Someone thought it would be a good idea to have a barbecue around 9 PM, so they went to buy meat and we had a barbecue, too. The men had their meat outside (I don't know if they even had plates) and had wine and cognac while us women enjoyed our meat on plates with silverware and had tea. It was actually a lot of fun but I especially found it amusing how the genders split. It was also funny because my sister-in-law was the only non married woman at the table and I think she was embarrassed by some of her aunt's jokes. Oh, well. The only downside was that we didn't get home until around 2:30 and the twins and the 5 year old who adores me all thought it was great fun to pile on my lap as if I were a horse. Actually, when the twin who came to lunch yesterday saw me, he came running to give me a hug and ask, horsey? horsey?

I forgot how much I love the food here. My father will be jealous because we had sopaipillas last night at onces but what I didn't tell him was that we had it with... PEBRE. Quite delicious.

I also have been playing a bit of guitar hero, which I had never played before yesterday. That, and LEGO Star Wars, and Mario Bros. games. It's nice to be on vacation.

12.5.07

llegada

I got to Chile just fine. I wrote stuff to post up here while I was sitting in train stations and airports. However, given that the lappy runs Vista and the modem we have here doesn't have drivers for Vista, it can't get on the internet. And that is quite sad.

But other than that, it's nice to be in Chile. I'm happy. And I'm on vacation!

9.5.07

I'm off to see my husband...

I'm off to see my husband!

Unfortunately, getting there requires a good 24-26 hours of transit. And most of that will be spent sitting in train stations or airports. You know, if I lived in Miami, it would be a lot easier to go to Santiago. Cheaper fares, and you just hop on the 10 PM plane and get there in the morning. None of this have to leave at 7 AM to get a train to get to the other city that is hours away to wait until your plane leaves at 5:30 to go TO Miami, where you get to take the 10 PM flight. Yeah.

I'm all packed. I don't think I've forgotten anything. I have my wallet this time, thank you. And my passport, and my train ticket, and my itinerary, and my phone, S's laptop, etc... clothes, gifts... I am proud, I am only bringing one suitcase! This is a definite first for me. However, I may end up coming back with 2. We'll see how many books I buy.

I'm really quite pleased about seeing my husband. Imagine that! Home body though I am (we are, really), I'm looking forward to seeing him :-) Despite the fact that as I have said many times, for a woman who travels a lot, I don't travel very well. He's been trying to head off bad moods by saying, try not to be cranky when you get off the plane. At least he's direct and honest about it.

So my goal is to try not to be too cranky, and get to Santiago in one piece. I think I can handle that.

8.5.07

oh, grades

Grading time.

I just finished giving the final to my students, and I am now grading. Fun.

Thanks to S's new computer I was very entertained during the exam - I watched TV shows streaming from Chile and on DVD. Not bad. And if I hadn't gotten the wireless working, I had Northanger Abbey to read. Who doesn't enjoy reading Jane Austen?

I get to see my husband Friday morning! I am so excited. I have missed him very much and I am looking forward to spending time together. Plus, I get to see friends! Hang out! Play Playstation! Life will be good. As soon as I get through this pile of grading, and assuming that I can, um, de-clutter my apartment before I leave. But that's totally do-able, right?

6.5.07

Just do your own work, please

Since I left the house before Weekend Edition came on this morning (I know, it's shocking), I just was checking to see if there were any really interesting stories and I stumbled across one about cheating in graduate school. I admit that I find the idea of cheating repulsive and I don't understand why people don't just learn things the normal way rather than having to cut corners. Evidentally, that is a minority view.

Given that over the past three years I have had around 200 students, the chances that at least one of them have cheated are probably pretty high, be it in my own class or in another class they are taking. I couldn't find specific statistics but I thought that ETS's fact sheet was pretty interesting. Some tidbits that I think are worth highlighting are:

  • Grades, rather than education, have become the major focus of many students.
  • Research about cheating among college students has shown the following to be the primary reasons for cheating: Campus norm; No honor code; Penalties not severe; Faculty support of academic integrity policies is low; Little chance of being caught; Incidence is higher at larger, less selective institutions.
  • Additional influencers include: Others doing it; Faculty member doesn't seem to care; Required course; No stated rules or rules are unclear; Heavy workload.
  • Profile of college students more likely to cheat: Business or Engineering majors; Those whose future plans include business; Men self-report cheating more than woman; Fraternity and Sorority members; Younger students; Students with lower GPA's or those at the very top.
  • Cheating is seen by many students as a means to a profitable end.

There have been moments that I have suspected misdeeds by students, but I never have had a situation where I was sure beyond a doubt, as has been the case with some instances my colleagues have shared with me. If I see someone cheating, I would turn them in - at the same time, the process at my university can be very tedious, especially for the teachers, and depending on the "severity" of the offense can get the student kicked out of school. To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about that.

However, graduate students cheating is ridiculous, especially in the humanities. Most of the high profile cheating of late in the post-graduate area has been in engineering and business - I'd appreciate that the people designing that bridge actually earned their degrees, thank you very much. I guess it is just one of those situations that I see a moral black and white - do not represent another student's work as your own, period - that other people either do not see that way, or do not care about one way or the other. And that, in my mind, is profoundly disturbing.

4.5.07

Modern family values quiz

Check out this quiz on the reality of modern family life. Quite interesting, isn't it?

I got them all right :-) Though that divorce question was a little tricky.

Progressives have family values, too!

3.5.07

a pilgrim's progress

I've been listening to a lot of classical music lately. Particularly, I've been listening to a lot of Ralph Vaughan Williams lately. Mostly orchestral stuff, mostly symphonies.

I am totally and completely in love with his Fifth Symphony, particularly the third movement, the Romanza. Seriously, I adore it. If you readers get a chance, you should listen to it. It's great. It's up there with Holst's Jupiter, Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, and Vaughan William's own Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis in my favorites. Along with a few Star Wars themes like Anakin's Theme from Episode I and Anakin's Betrayal from Episode III. Yeah that list totally gives away my classical music preferences - though it is totally leaving out some of the cool brass and organ stuff I really like.

I listen to music all the time, and think about it, but as I am trying to express the way I feel about that Symphony (ja, ja, D major? in whose dreams?) I realize that I don't really have to tools to write about music. Perhaps this is something that I will look into this summer. In the meantime, you can find a "guide" to the symphony here and here. I can't find it now, but I was reading about hose the third movement is one of the most passionate pieces that a particular individual had heard, and is in fact Vaughan Williams at his most passionate. I can believe it. And I love every chord.

For more fun, check out the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society.
Your Travel Profile:

You Are Extremely Well Traveled in the Midwestern United States (100%)
You Are Well Traveled in the Northeastern United States (57%)
You Are Somewhat Well Traveled in Latin America (40%)
You Are Somewhat Well Traveled in the Southern United States (31%)
You Are Somewhat Well Traveled in Western Europe (21%)
You Are Untraveled in Africa (0%)
You Are Untraveled in Asia (0%)
You Are Untraveled in Australia (0%)
You Are Untraveled in Canada (0%)
You Are Untraveled in Eastern Europe (0%)
You Are Untraveled in New Zealand (0%)
You Are Untraveled in Scandinavia (0%)
You Are Untraveled in Southern Europe (0%)
You Are Untraveled in the Middle East (0%)
You Are Untraveled in the United Kingdom (0%)
You Are Untraveled in the Western United States (0%)


I'm surprised about the Western Europe bit. Though the rest of it is about right... I really need to go somewhere in Latin America that is South of Habana but North of Chile. Ideas, anyone?

2.5.07

Walking down the aisle

This is a very random meandering but I was thinking about weddings...

When I got married, I didn’t walk down the aisle. I walked down a staircase, where my husband was waiting at the bottom of the staircase accompanied by his parents.

I didn’t come down the staircase by myself. I came down with my parents. Both of them. Mother and Father.

I am who I am because my parents, both of them, raised me. Yes, my Mom stopped working and stayed home after my younger sister was born; she went back to work when I went to college. She chose to stay home. As a feminist, she was able to make that choice, not have it forced upon her. I am convinced that I owe my feminism to her. However, my Dad also helped me become the person I am today. I learned a lot from both of my parents, and I value both of them and love them both dearly. Their marriage is a model for my own. I know a lot of feminists make a big deal about marriage as an institution and marriage ceremonies, in particular the tradition of the father giving away the bride. My parents didn’t “give me away.” I’m still their daughter, and they are still my parents. However, I made the choice to join my life to my husband’s. My parents, supporting me as we walked together, accompanied me to the next step in my life as an adult.

Yes, I have stamp collections from childhood

Because I'm a dork and had to do some other stuff at the US Postal Service Website, I stumbled upon the Star Wars stamps. You get to vote on which one will be the actual stamp here.



Who doesn't love Star Wars stamps? Fun, and pretty!