Posts from the “Too much to ask?” Category

#OMSI pinkwashes science and I am #NotBuyingIt

Posted on June 15th, 2013

I was appalled when I saw the pinkwashing of Wonder Woman at Target. “The real Wonder Woman does not wear pink,” I told Pea. Case closed. #NotBuyingIt There is one place in Portland where I (thought I could) count on taking Pea to learn about science without even thinking about gender stereotyping: the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. We’re there a lot. One of my proudest moments as a mother was the first time she put on goggles and we did a chemistry experiment together. Yesterday we watched a new planetarium show. We ate at Theory. We played in the science playground, futzed around Life Sciences, and then, on our way out, went into the store. The store had changed. OMSI went pink.…

Categories: Epiphanies, Portlandia, Too much to ask?, WTF

Event planning 101, or be a dear and pass the Snickers my way, would you?

Posted on June 12th, 2013

There is a charitable organization I strongly believe in, for which I have done pro bono work and donated time in the past (somewhere on the tubes you can find a webinar I did for them), and to which we, despite our one-income-poverty status, donate money through the CFC. For some bizarre reason, given my misanthropic, introverted nature and my time-jealousy of weekend days (when my husband is home and I can write without punting to television), I volunteered an entire day of my time at a recent event. On my former law school campus. I know, right? I also donated two hours (including travel time) of the previous weekend to go for an orientation (which promised food, and there is still enough of…

Categories: Etiquette, Law, Too much to ask?, WTF

Fruit

Posted on May 21st, 2013

I’ve pulled myself out of last week’s abyss and have become productive again. (Go, Protestant work ethic, go. This is how I measure my worth, when I’m not measuring it by the state of my house, my age, education, or the behavior of my child in public situations.) Even though sequestration means I won’t have access to some of the archived materials I need, the public domain, Google books, Powell’s, and various digitization projects mean I’ve got enough primary and secondary material to work with until someone in federal governance decides to spend money on public services again. The novel I should be pitching? I’m not. It’s done, as much as it’s going to be done before an editor works on it. I need…

Categories: General Parenting, Moving, Not crazy...yet, Too much to ask?

I want a do-over (Or: no plan survives contact with my husband’s foot.)

Posted on April 11th, 2013

Today’s plan was for me to have a break. It was going to go like this: Pea to Pre-K (a drop-in day at her preschool). Up, ready, driven and dropped off. This is a big splurge for me, because it costs $65. That is a lot of money in my world. Me to coffee with the woman who did not hire me for the job I’d hoped for. Done. And delightful, because she’s a fabulous person. The only thing I regret about not getting that job is not working with her. Me to lunch with a law classmate to talk smack about Commodore Porter, because how often can I do that? Me to Powell’s, to browse in peace for hours without Pea lying on…

Categories: Too much to ask?, Weird day

M’s latest project, or: M gets called Sir.

Posted on April 1st, 2013

We live in a condo surrounded by old people. This is fine, so long as we accept we may see/hear EMTs at any hour of the day or night and we must remember that many of our neighbors seem to have aged out of their sense of humor. (Fortunately, most of them love M. They aren’t sure what to make of me, but they love M. This may be because the population is overwhelmingly female.) But…we are renters. Our landlords, however, control the HOA. Because of the scope of M’s latest project and the concern of one elderly neighbor, he thought it was a good idea to keep our landlords apprised of his progress. This project is a marvel of engineering, and frankly, anything…

Categories: Portlandia, Too much to ask?

There are no girl toys or boy toys, McDonald’s.

Posted on March 15th, 2013

Dear McDonald’s: When I order a happy meal, don’t ask me if I want a “girl toy” or a “boy toy.” Because I know it’s coming, I try to avoid the question. So I’ll order this way: “I’d like a hamburger happy meal with the HEXBUG toy.” It doesn’t matter. Inevitably, the next question is: “Oh, so it’s for a boy?” Please stop. Don’t ask me about my child’s gender. Because my daughter is listening. My daughter is wearing Supergirl underwear. My daughter likes comic books. My daughter likes many things that are not pink and sparkly. “Oh, so it’s for a boy?” suggests it’s the only logical conclusion to make after requesting a toy that is not Barbie. I’m here to tell you…

Categories: Eating, General Parenting, Too much to ask?

Oh, my.

Posted on January 6th, 2013

Yesterday was a day. Nothing went right. It was emotionally exhausting. But today, apparently, I decided to make up for lost time. I woke up relatively early for Sunday. Went grocery shopping. (There were firefighters! Nothing is cuter than firefighters grocery shopping!) I decided to run a PBEM or by post, or something game, based on a book I wrote a gazillion years ago, where gazillion=15. I discovered the book is freely available on a pirate site, which should bother me a lot, except I haven’t gotten any royalties since about 2000 or 2001, despite several inquiries on my part. I created a Facebook group for this new game. It’s not publicized here, but if you want to know, email. I wrote a post…

Categories: Geek, Good day, Too much to ask?

This year and 2013

Posted on December 29th, 2012

This year, I decided I would “get healthy.” To that end, I cooked more, watched what I ate, and lost 22 pounds, despite all the medical weirdness of this year. I have not exercised more, because unless it’s hiking, I pretty much hate exercise. (OK, running, but running by myself is boring.) Still, I want to lose at least 20 more, so that’s on the table for 2013. (If I lose 10 more, I unlock the wonders of my best wardrobe. It’s a powerful incentive!) This year, I read a lot. I set a modest Goodreads goal of 25 books and have read 40-something books. (To brag, I don’t read fluffy fiction. We’re talking mostly 400+ page nonfiction.) In 2013, I want to continue…

Categories: Not crazy...yet, Routines, Too much to ask?

Kids’ table, hair, the French Foreign Legion, my holiday playlist, and hiding from Black Friday

Posted on November 23rd, 2012

Pea sat at a kids’ table last night. Granted, the next oldest kid was, I think, 11 years older. But the four teenagers who put up with her so I could eat with grown-ups and not be interrupted constantly? They are my new heroes. I straightened my hair last night for the first time in a gazillion years (or maybe two). If all it takes to get a billion (or five) compliments on my hair is ten or fifteen minutes a day, I may need to work on that. I read this interesting article about the French Foreign Legion, and you should, too. My Holiday playlist rocks. Rocks, I tell you (or not, where it’s some other genre). Pea, right now, is dancing to…

Categories: General Parenting, Good day, Too much to ask?

A crazy idea

Posted on October 1st, 2012

I have two crazy ideas for my professional future. (By crazy, I mean a sharp deviation from what my work history would indicate I ought to do.) One is secret for now. The other is… …well, very different. Yesterday I spent time looking at what it would take to become a physician’s assistant (PA). It’s a 26-month master’s degree at the university in town. Why? Well, employability. The estimated need for PAs skyrockets by 2020 and hits low earth orbit in 2030. The average salary now is $86K. (Statistic NOT provided by the school.) And the reality is, at least academically, I wouldn’t have much to do to get ready. Because of my university minor and the other science classes I took, I’d only…

Categories: Too much to ask?, WTF