Furniture Updates

My Mom has been asking to see some photos of new additions to 83 Durant. Last fall, you may remember that we got a new dresser for the guest room/craft room (formerly known as Bridget's office). It is finally all full and (relatively) well-organized.


It is pretty full of supplies for various projects. Here, for instance, is the top drawer:

I clearly have some work to do.

Lucy LOVES coming in here, opening the bottom drawer (which is filled with her craft supplies) and finding new treasures for her projects.

We also picked up a few pretty things during the holidays that we've added to the dining room built-in. Here it is:
If you'd like to play one of those fun "find the different things" games, you can check out an earlier entry on the built-in here.

See if you can find:

• My new teapot from Jake
• My new teacups with Ginko leaves from Jake
• The new GIANT martini-shaker that was once my grandmother's
• Set of six gold-rimmed German glasses

That's all for now. More updates soon. We're in the process of excavating -- getting rid of old stuff and attempting to organize things a bit. It's almost February! Yikes!

Wildlife spotting!

Today we went to the Ecotarium in Worcester. It was very very fun and Lucy had a grand time checking out the exhibits, playing with puppets, and going up and down stairs. On the way there, we watched as a very strange looking creature crossed the road in front of us and ran off to hide in someone's backyard. After some staring, talking, and research on the web, we've come to the conclusion that we probably saw a Fisher Cat! This is very exciting! I wish I could say that we took a picture, but sadly, the camera was at home. Here is someone else's picture -- this really is what it looked like!
I'm particularly excited about seeing a fisher cat, because it's a creature that figures prominently in many tales of New England witchcraft. In the testimony against witches, folks often claim that the supposed witches supposedly sent out their "familiars" (creatures that supposedly did their bidding) which often took the form of a "warraneage" which is apparently a Native American term for what we'd call the Fisher Cat today.

It's sort of funny though that the most exciting wildlife we saw was actually outside of the trip to the wildlife exhibit.

Of Jobs Long Forgotten

Today I was attempting to clean up the piles of papers and files that have stacked up everywhere. While getting things into new piles (throw away, recycle, shred, file), I started to wonder just what the heck was filling up my many file drawers. A quick look revealed that I have kept all of my tax return documents dating back to 1992, when I first filed. There are many other absurd things in those drawers, too, but at least these I can safely say can be tossed (at least the ones older than 7 years). While I realize that this stack of documentation would be a treasure trove for future biographers, I really don't need to hold onto these things; instead, I will toss them, but remark here upon a few notable discoveries. At the very least, they are fodder for future short stories.

I was shocked at how many jobs I've had in the past that I had completely forgotten. For future biographers, then, here is a portion of my work history which I have now completely obliterated from my file cabinet:

1989-ish - 1996-ish (on & off): Dickinson College Dining Services
I worked in their catering department throughout high school and on breaks from college. Mostly it was for their banquet events and alumni things. I also worked during some of the camps they held there, perhaps most notably, the summer training camp of the Washington Redskins. The football team. I personally served Jack Kent Cooke, the ridiculously wealthy owner of the team. True story: after tending to the many, many special requests of Cooke's personal entourage (there were a bunch of kids with the group and they all wanted particular kinds of ice cream treats), Cooke thanked me, then turned to his assistant and said "take care of this young lady." I took this to mean that the assistant should tip me, not kill me (as the vagueness of the suggestion of "taking care" of someone might suggest). Neither happened.

Summer 1993: U.S. Army (I am not kidding)
I washed towels and checked IDs at the gym at the Army War College. I had completely wiped all memory of this job from my mind until I found my job documents, including certificates from the US Army attesting that I had completed various training on things like sexual harassment policies, and a letter of thanks from the Colonel on the base that asserted that I was "just the kind of person the Army needs." Wow.

Summer 1994: PPG (Pittsburgh Plate Glass) factory floor worker
I have made mention of this job before, and there is a longer version of this story somewhere. This was the only job I was ever fired from. I resigned, and then a few weeks later, I received my pink slip informing me that I had been terminated for "voluntary resignation without proper notification" -- I hadn't given them enough notice when I quit. I had worked there for about five weeks (mostly night shift, all physical labor, mostly spent sweeping floors for 8- hours shifts) when I couldn't take the craziness anymore. After a few incidents that really aren't even worth discussing, I lodged a complaint about sexual harassment with H.R., and resigned effective immediately. Looking back, I really should have sued them or threatened to. Maybe I could have made enough money to stop having awful summer jobs. I can't believe they fired me.

Summer and also school breaks, 1994: Ross Distribution Center
I put price tags on things. This involved opening giant boxes of, say, shirts or bras, or whatever, and attaching pre-printed price tags to each item using a tag gun. For 8-hour shifts. Mind. Numbing.

Work-Study @Lehigh, 1992- 1995: Gallery Assistant to the University Galleries
You might think that this meant hanging out in the campus galleries, looking at art. Nope. This meant hanging/installing exhibits. I actually liked this job a lot. I got to go into these secret art gallery storage facilities and meet the occasional artist and see how exhibits work. I got to build frames and display cases. I wore a Makita on a tool belt. I really liked my boss, who seemed bemused by me (my hair changed color a lot back then) and sometimes called me "Cindy Lou" because apparently, at some point, I looked like that character in How the Grinch Stole Christmas who asks the Grinch "Why are you taking our Christmas tree?" I really don't remember the context for when/how I looked like her, but I have a vague recollection that I was often very sad then, so it's entirely possible that I did look like a kid who was watching her Christmas tree being stolen by a man dressed as Santa.

Summer 2001: Errors Survey at Baystate Medical Center Emergency Room.
This was by far the strangest one (and that's saying something given this list!). I worked the night shift, following around the workers (doctors, nurses, orderlies, etc.) in the E.R., and at least twice during their shift, I had to ask them if they had made any errors or witnessed any errors. I had to wear a white lab coat, so I looked like a doctor, which meant that patients (and/or their family members) were always coming up to me and asking for help. You see a lot of gnarly things if you hang out in an E.R., just watching stuff, for that long.

That's all the employment reminisces I have time for today (I really MUST finish going through those files and throwing stuff out!). Stay tuned for more exciting stories of on-the-job perils. Please do share your worst-job-ever stories in the comments. This trip down memory lane has made me very very happy to have the job I have.

Conversation with Lucy

Last night, I was doing a little work on my sewing machine. Lucy became very interested and came in to watch. She asked what I was doing and what "that" (the sewing machine) was, and then we had this exchange:
Lucy: I want to work the machine
Me: Sorry honey, you're too small. I'll teach you how to work it when you're a big girl.
Lucy: Make me big!

Snow

If you've driven by our house lately and had trouble finding it, it may be because there is a giant pile of snow in front of our house. The house next door (to the left as you look at this picture) is a rental unit, and the owner comes by during every snowstorm and plows his tenant's driveways. He also, very kindly plows ours if it's empty, or if he sees us shoveling ourselves out. He typically just shoves all the snow from the driveways into this enormous pile, which has been sitting in front of our house for about a month now. Who knows if it will ever melt. Oh, and it's snowing right now. Sigh. It's only January. There is a lot of winter left.

Welcome, Luke William Marshall

Lucy has a new cousin! Hooray! Pictures forthcoming, no doubt, but for now, vital stats:
11:45 am
8 pounds, 8 ounces
20 3/4 inches
Congratulations to all!
Here is a link to Brendan & Jennifer & Luke's Flickr page.

Anticipation

The 83 Durant extended family will be getting a bit larger very soon. Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Brendan's baby should be arriving tomorrow (Monday)! We can't wait to meet him or her (or should we just go ahead and say Luke or Leia?). Good luck and love to you from all of us here!

This has me wanting to make a brief public service announcement here: Brendan works for the American Red Cross (testing blood and managing blood-borne disease tracking) and we'd like to suggest to folks that if they can, make a donation to the Red Cross's relief efforts in Haiti. Here's a link to the Red Cross site.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend; we'll update the blog when we get the news!

Things We'd Like to Change

This is the first installment of a new series called "Things We'd Like to Change," in which we tell you about things that are old/ugly/odd in our house that we'd like to replace or fix. Today's feature focuses on our couch. Here it is:

We have had this couch for I'd guess about 6 years. We inherited this couch from some other grad students (when we were also grad students). This is the sort of thing we all do when we're grad students. It's actually a reasonably comfortable couch, but it's in pretty rough shape. It is currently covered by its third slipcover (from Target), which makes it look a lot better. The quilt on the back of it (made by Michele and we love it!) also helps distract you from the otherwise ugliness of the thing. Underneath those beige stripes, it's a deep burgundy fuzzy fabric with lots of spots and stains and the like.

Back when we finished fixing up the (formerly pink, but now) blue room, we decided it was time to buy a new couch. But we have some problems making decisions. And some problems going shopping. So we need to just pick one and buy it already.

Here is one possibility:


Here is another:

Here is a third:

And here is just one more:

Readers, would you like to vote* for our future couch?

* Votes are non-binding upon us. Also, we seriously ARE considering one of these couches (should be obvious which one) and would be interested to hear your feedback

Words & Pictures

Longtime readers may remember that I've been working on my (academic) manuscript, which I turned in (with much trepidation) last fall. If not, you can get the background here:

http://83durant.blogspot.com/2009/09/printing-in-process.html

A week ago, I got very good news on that front: my book has passed the clearance review! I have a few targeted areas of revision and some tidying up to do, but I should be able to get that done (I think) in about a month. There is one other big task I need to do, and that's why I'm writing today: I need to find a cover image.

Here's a word cloud that will give a sense of some key themes of my book (you can click on the image to make it bigger):
I'm not going to put the title here, because then this page will pop up when people look up the title, which is not really the first thing I want them to see. But basically, it's a study of gothic novels (Caleb Williams, Frankenstein, Edgar Huntly, and The Bondwoman's Narrative) and how they portray the justice system. The cover will be a fairly boring academic one with the title in a plain font, and then an image in the middle. Typically this press's books feature historical images, and I'm sort of imagining some kind of old illustration of a courtroom or a prison or something like that. If you, dear readers, have suggestions, please let me know. If you happen to have a fabulous photograph of some legal or judicial building (particularly an old one in London or the UK more generally) that might be a possibility, too. Links to good sources, or suggestions for images are very much welcome.

Public Service Movie Review

We’ve never done this before at 83 Durant, but it’s a new year, and I’m trying to write more. Also, I’m feeling like I’m on a bit of a mission: I need to save those of you still savable from seeing Avatar.

On Tuesday, we went to see the film at Jordan’s Furniture. Non-local readers may find themselves wondering how exactly we saw a movie at a furniture store. Jordan’s bills itself as “Not Just a Store: An Experience.” To provide that “experience,” two of its locations feature Imax Theaters. The Reading store (where we were) also features a trapeze school and a “Liquid Fireworks” display. As the trailer before the film explains, the two Jordan’s Furniture IMaxes are the only places IN THE WORLD where you can watch Imax from the comfort of a custom-made, Tempur-Pedic seat. I was incredibly grateful for that comfortable (though disconcertingly warm) seat, as the movie is 170 minutes long. We saw it in IMAX 3-D so we would be sure not to miss any of the much-touted amazing effects of this spectacle.

This movie is not good.

Yes, it’s an amazing technological feat. But there are many advances in technology that produce dumb, useless, and pointless things. The movie’s not all bad, but seriously, it does not deserve the kind of over-the-top praise I’ve been hearing. Herewith, then, some thoughts:

This was a $500 million (according to some) film and apparently had no budget line for an editor? Seriously? 170 minutes? This was absolutely many many more minutes than necessary. I would say as many as 100 minutes too many. This could have been an episode of a TV show. In fact, Jake suggested that with the given premise, Joss Whedon could have made a terrific TV show. Of course, it would have been a TV show that everyone would love and no one would watch and that would be cancelled, but it would be a great TV show.

This was a $500 million film and apparently had very little budget for actual writers? OK, you’ve seen James Cameron movies. You know what to expect. It’s a thriller/sci-fi film, so I know I’m not there for the dialogue. But seriously, there were many, many times when I had to willfully ignore the talking so as to attempt to return to the fantasy world. The lines weren’t just clunkers. They were clunkers that dragged down perfectly fine moments.

There are some beautiful things in this movie, like these jelly-fish like things that float around.

Unfortunately, these lovely things are given ridiculous back-stories. For instance, the pretty awesome airborne jellyfish are “sacred seeds” of some sacred tree yada yada yada. It’s like Midichlorians all over again.

And speaking of Midichlorians, there is Star Wars all over this thing. And unfortunately, it’s mostly Phantom Menace. That whole insistent, heavy-handed anointing of the chosen one. The over-extended racing scenes (Avatar’s dragon-creatures, Menace’s pod-racing). A variety of weird beasts that have to be fought and/or trained, providing both humorous and scary moments.

The first act introduces crazy fire power on the human side and super-scary flora and fauna on the Pandora side. We see all these dangerous things laid out, and it’s pretty obvious that the movie is heading for an epic battle between the two. But after the superior power of the technology is made clear, the Pandorians don’t seem to do anything to prepare for battle, other than yelling all Braveheart-like. I can’t believe he said this, but I totally agree with Jake (the other half of 83 Durant, NOT the “Jake” character in the movie) who said after the movie: “they needed some Ewok action.” No, we’re not endorsing Ewoks, but it’s true that what we needed to see was the Pandorians doing something, like setting up traps or laying out some kind of insurgency plan. Instead, after the attack begins, they just reveal that their flying dragon creatures can take out the flying warcrafts. Really? When exactly did they figure out how to do that?

You may be excited to know that golf is still a pastime in the year 2154 (when Avatar is set). We know this because the evil corporate-type guy is seen putting in the middle of the war room. This sort of behavior is movie shorthand for “this guy is a jerk.” Additionally, the activity provides the opportunity for a gratuitous 3-D shot, which impresses no one. The 3-D thing is cool, but there seemed to be way too much here that was done just because it looked cool. I imagine that by the real year 2154 (and even sooner) this coolness is going to look woefully lame.

The evil corporate type reveals that the thing the evil corporations are looking for is called “Unobtainium.” I am not kidding. “Unobtanium” is the word writers throw into a script to be replaced later by the real name of the unobtainable, highly desirable item. Did no one at any point in the development of the film, not stop and say, uh, we should probably get a real fake name in here rather than this fake fake name?

Sigourney Weaver is certainly a high point of the film; she’s a scientist, and it’s nice to see that they actually chose someone who might, you know, be old enough to be a scientist. I also thought it was nice to see someone smoking on screen again (aside from villains, people in movies don’t smoke anymore). But then, as Jake reminded me, we don’t actually SEE her smoking. She’s all cranky and demanding a cigarette after being woken from her years of cryogenic sleep, but we don’t see her smoking; she just carries the thing around. It’s curious.

All the reviews keep pronouncing on the “spectacle” of the film. I’ll accept that, but other than amazement at how they developed these stunning special effects, what am I supposed to take away from that? There’s spectacle and crazy effects everywhere. I can go to the New England Aquarium and stare at jellyfish. I can walk out into the lobby of Jordan’s and see their “Liquid Fireworks” display. I don’t want to do any of these things for 170 minutes.

I made the unfortunate choice to click on this story at CNN on the evening before seeing the film: “Audiences experience ‘Avatar’ Blues.” The CNN piece cites an individual named “Ivar Hill,” who wrote in an online Avatar forum:

"When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed ... gray. It was like my whole life, everything I've done and worked for, lost its meaning"

From this and other postings on various Avatar fan boards, CNN claims that this is a serious issue of concern; they suggest that the amazing effects make the world of Pandora so real, that some viewers experience “separation anxiety” (their words). While I was indeed depressed after seeing the movie, it was mostly because we had paid for a babysitter (in addition to admission to the film) and that was time sorely wasted on this bungling behemoth of a film.

The whole article ends with this:

Within the fan community, suggestions for battling feelings of depression after seeing the movie include things like playing "Avatar" video games or downloading the movie soundtrack...

At this point, I have to think that this whole story is a plant – clearly the solution to your sadness is to go pay another $12.50 to see the film, then purchase assorted film tie-ins. After all, Cameron needs to make back that $500 million he spent, right?

I have many other meandering thoughts about this movie, but really, I have other writing I should be doing. Thanks for reading.

...and we're back

We've returned from our 2009-2010 Mid-Atlantic tour. Thank you to all who hosted us, and apologies to all those we didn't get a chance to see. After two weeks away from the homestead, we were very excited to return. All is well here. We're slowly unpacking our stuff and unloading the camera, so details will be forthcoming. We wish you all a Happy New Year and we look forward to a fabulous 2010!