Mishaps and other haps

Yes, it was 5 below as I drove to work this morning, according to the radio. But the north part of the state sounded even colder, so I am glad I don’t live there. Let me reassure my people who live out-of-state that I have been warm, though. I have cranked up the heat in my apartment and I am layering and even wearing a bulky sweater today. My car is in a heated garage overnight, so that is helpful. No scraping the snow and ice most of the time and no problems starting it in the morning. I hope it is willing to start this evening after being left outside all day, though

Anybody want to go for ice cream soon?

Today the New York Times printed an obituary for Robert Heilbroner, an American economist who wrote “The Worldly Philosophers”, a sort of introductory book on the history of economic thought. One of my professors in grad school was a fan of this book (and I think of Heilbroner) and taught it in his History of Social Science course, which I TAed one semester. It was a pretty good book to use with undergrads– straightforward, easy and interesting to read.

Pretty conservative, too. There has always been a lot of talk about “liberal academia” and college towns are often described as “liberal.” Nowadays, people have been suggesting that this is changing somewhat and that the younger generations are more conservative than their predecessors.

But I’m not sure this is really such a huge change. I think there have always been mixed political opinions in academia (as well as in the media and in other places that are labeled as “liberal” or “conservative”– religious groups, for example). Individuals transmit their influence for decades through their work in whatever profession they choose.

And another thought: My sister was ranting on her art site the other day and she noted that what people usually describe as “morals” or “values” are actually opinions. I thought it was an important observation. It seems pretty easy to accept the idea that people have different opinions. I wonder why, then, it is often so hard for us to accept the idea that people have different “values.” People are very protective of their opinions about things, I guess. They *want* their worldview to be valid. Hmmm …

This line of thought was also prompted by a phone conversation this past weekend with my grandmother, who finds “what other families do” strange Her perspective about this is mostly local, but I think it’s how people tend to react on a larger scale, too.

1) Ancora has recently set up a book-exchange shelf. More and more coffee shops are doing things like this. You take in one of your old books and exchange it for something you want to read on the shelf. I guess you can also donate, if you are narrowing down your collection.

2) If anyone happens to be looking for stuff (like imported British snacks), they should follow the spiders (to Cost Plus). I’m not sure whether they are expanding their kitchen/pantry section or if they just happen to be overstocked right now.

1) Spending a lot of time with people, spaced out over the entire weekend
2) Friends who cook vegetarian meals for people because that’s what they like and want to share
3) Absinthe candy and violet candy
4) A ball python
5) Larry’s new Eberron game
6) Being randomly poked in the ribs and having a newly-grown handle (of hair) to tug

If I ever make a movie about the adventures of my first set of 3rd ed. D&D characters, I have found the woman who will play Lia! For those who don’t know, Lia was my first sword-toting fighter character: a butch & brawny, renegade elf princess who looks a little like Jon Gruden in the face (who, in turn, is said to look an awful lot like “Chucky”). So yeah, this woman who works at my workplace fits the bill. She doesn’t have red hair, but that could be fixed. Also, I would have to shrink her a little on screen– she is taller than me– but she has the right build– muscley.

My printer at work is developing its creative side. It keeps folding all of its paper into origami. Unfortunately, it has not advanced beyond making fans. I will report back when it produces a crane or a cat.

Oh, chelovyek– if you are reading this, it was the latest Utne that I picked up last night. I don’t know why I couldn’t say that on the phone. I think I am a little embarrassed by how much I like it. I think I’m going to subscribe and ask that they send it in a brown paper wrapper to my home address. Then I will turn off all of the lights and read it with a blanket over my head.

So I was out last night shaving ice from the tip of the iceburg at my local bookstore and I read yet another article about how reading is declining as a leisure activity in our society. (I wonder how many of these have been written in the past thirty years.) Anyway, it noted that the self-help sections of bookstores have expanded, suggesting more readers (or at least buyers), but that fewer people are reading fiction and general non-fiction.

Then, a bit later I looked at a copy of Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus– which has been out for years, but has always been a little beneath my radar (yes, some snobbery is intended– sorry, I really can’t help it). Anyway, it caught my attention because the blurb on the cover said something like “first time in paperback” and I wondered why it hasn’t been published in paperback before. Apparently, it sold well enough in hardcover editions that they didn’t bother to print it in paperback.

And I thumbed through it and really didn’t see anything in it that wasn’t garbage. Now I think I really *might* be concerned about the state of reading. Hopefully, people are just buying self-help & advice books to stick on their (proverbial) coffee tables and are reading some really cool, trendy zines online or something.

Oh, the insults and curses we throw around when we are submerged in Mario Kart Double Dash! If the game were a ship, we would lash our pride to the mast and would certainly smash the hull against the rocks before we would cede first place to the competition (particularly to the animated red flower with the cool car). Any grievance we have can be aired and exhausted here: we can kick, shove, and claw our way down the racetrack and exercise our competitive natures without fear of reprisals … until the next course.

Well, it looks like it’s going to be a good year. If last night was any indication, it should be filled with friends, fun, and an awful lot of cheese. I am excited!

But I am kind of sad, too. My friend Matt will very likely be moving to England this year and I will miss him. Other friends will be moving this year or may be moving within the next few years and I will miss them also. Life is always in transition, but having a network of very neat people in my life is important to me. I remember wanting one when I was very small, but little kids are kind of brutal when it comes to friendship and then adolescence tends to kick the shit out of human relationships, so maybe it is good that I waited until my twenties to rediscover the importance of networks.

I have some of the usual New Year’s resolutions floating around in the back of my head. I will be turning 30 this year and adjusting to that fact is a resolution in itself. I covet all of the miles on the exercise bike or treadmill and the weightlifting that will make my muscles and bones stronger. I will be looking for a job that pays more and means more to me this year.

But really the most important resolution I can make is to cherish and develop relationships with people and to open my life (and my heart) to others. It makes everything else so much easier and I am grateful for my friends.