One possibility completely open

DF got a job offer. In Rhode Island. Still waiting on one.

Some Women Show How To Make It

A Women's Place is on Top

Breaking into male-dominated fields sucks. Its good to see how some women make it. Although it requires switching out of the horrible places and often doing it on your own.

It was bound to happen

I crashed.

Hard.

On Friday on my way into work on my bike.

There was this guy in a Lexus SUV who decided that he didn't need to not block the sidewalk / bike path. Its a marked bike path there on the sidewalk. Its common for bikes to be going 15-20 MPH on this part of the trail. Instead of stopping at the big white line in the driveway, he moved all the way up to the front curb.

So, as I approached this intersection, I slowed down to ~12-15 MPH, swerved into the road to avoid the Lexus, and then swerved back onto the path.

Except I didn't make it onto the path. My bike went one way and I went the other. My bike has minor injuries - scrapes on the brakes and left pedal, and both brake hoods were bent to 45 degree angles. No idea how *both* ended up that bent.

I, on the other hand, am extremely grateful that I was wearing my nice gloves with leather padding. For the most part my entire left side is sore. I sorta flew over the bike to my left, and landed first my hands, then my left elbow, then my left knee, then my chin, then the rest of me.

At this point, the chin is almost healed. The left arm has a nice red mark (2" by 1/2") right inside the elbow that's mostly scabbed over. It is uncomfortable My knee, however, is a different story. Its about a 2" diameter circular wound that hurts like hell. The entire kneecap is a huge bruise, bad enough that it hurts to touch it. I cannot bend my knee easily. Sitting is virtually impossible unless I keep the leg straight.

But, no real damage done.

And the guy who blocked the path actually seemed to be a nice guy. He got out of the SUV, checked if I was OK, and offered to drive me to the hospital (not needed) or wherever I was headed (work).

Hopefully he doesn't block the bike path again.

Crooked Timber » » Mommy-Tracking the Ivy Leaguers

More on the NY Times article.

Crooked Timber » » Mommy-Tracking the Ivy Leaguers

Elite College Women

According to this NY Times article roughly 60% of women paying $160,000 for an education plan to stop working when they have kids.

That is their choice.

However, from an economic standpoint, that's a really expensive education. The theory goes that we pay that much to go to Ivies and their ilk because of the advantages down the road in our careers. But, if you're not going to have a career, that argument goes out the window. In essence, these women are getting the 'Mrs' degree.

On the other hand, I don't know of many women from college who's paths are going quite the way they intended. The grad degree by 25, married at 27, kids at 29, make VP by 33. Most of us are quite off that schedule. And almost all had a schedule close to that. Some have the VP part, just not the rest.

While I think women should be able to make the decision to stay at home, it seems to me to be a waste of the education if they do nothing but raise the kids.

Wedding To Do List

Why is it every time something gets done, it seems like there's a million things left to get done. And time is starting to run short.

I need to: get a haircut, get new contacts (since mine no longer work... can't see in them), create invites to the bar night gathering after rehearsal dinner, buy a necklace and earrings, pick up the newly dyed shoes, make a hotel reservation for night of wedding, buy a wedding ring for me (Chris got his), contact the band about the play/noplay lists, mail sheet music to the quartet, get a manicure, reserve manicure/pedicure for the morning of rehearsal. And make the programs. And get the final head count (there's about 25-30 people I haven't heard from).

*sigh*

Good news. Bad news.

Good news - the constitutionality of the pledge of allegiance will go to the supreme court, its ridiculous that we pledge allegiance to a SYMBOL and define it as being 'under god'.

Good news - Massachusetts decides heavily against banning gay marriage in the legislature

Bad news - something is going on with DF, but I don't know what. He's not telling me what's wrong, if he knows. Its making me more stressed out. I think I know what's going on, but I know that when I went through it I didn't handle it well.

Bad news - I'm too stressed to be of any use for anything. The latest turn of events just want me to fast forward 12 months to when everything is settled, somehow.

David Brooks is an Idiot

Brooks, the leading Bush cheerleader at the NY Times, does it again. His column goes through a document produced by the government about how to deal with a major hurricane and then goes on to state that this is why big government doesn't work.

The government's plan was good. The implementation was spotty. The execution was a disaster. Cronyism, funding cuts, and funding diversions to pet/pork projects is what caused the plan to fail. When you can appoint people who have no background in the field, you have problems.

I think that what we need is a 5 year moratorium on government contracts with contractors. Allow me to explain what I mean by this. Once you leave the government as an elected official or as a state or federal employee, you cannot have a job with any company (official or unofficial, aka lobbying firm) that has government contracts for five years. This would include military service, as that's part of my idea on how to correct the military-industrial complex. In reverse, you cannot leave a government contractor or lobbying job for the government (GS or appointee) unless 5 years have passed. Working on ANY campaign counts as either government service or contracting/lobbying service. Including volunteering on the campaign.

Basically, if you want to play politics you can't play in the money waters (lobbying and contracting). If you want the money, you can't play in politics. If you're in the military, you don't have a free pass into the lucrative security clearance area unless you stay in government employ.

Why five years? its longer than one presidential term, and its long enough for a security clearance to expire, thus getting rid of the military free ride.

Two views on Bush's response

The political cartoon:
Star-Ledger's Sheneman

The AP photo: Bush on August 30

Nero fiddling is apt.

Katrina and Gas

I have been transfixed by this hurricane, even before it hit. I usually am not. I don't know why I was this time... maybe I somehow knew it was going to be bad. I've never been to New Orleans. I hope the city recovers to some degree so I can see it once. If not, maybe someone will create a good VR of it.

I donanted to the Red Cross. It was all I could do; I have too many reponsibilities otherwise to be able to volunteer. I realized that I gave more money to the Red Cross than I have to all charities, alumni organizations, PACs, etc over the past 5 years. I need to change that. I have enough money that I should be donating to causes that I support. I have my life membership in Sierra Club, but that was done before that 5 year thing started. And I haven't donated to it much lately either.

I think I need to come up with 5-10 organizations whose efforts I want to support monetarily. I may volunteer at 1-2 others - another thing I have neglected since college.

In other news, in my drive from DC to Philly tonight I managed to average 38 MPG. That's roughly a 15% improvement from normal. With the rising price of gas, I'm going to do what I can to use less. Here's what I did with my driving style:
1. Slow accelerations & decelerations: roughly 2.5mph/second accel, and decel as gently as possible. Occasionally I had to speed up faster, but I tried to avoid those times.
2. No AC - I had the drivers window open ~2 inches, which was enough.
3. Slowed down. I still sped, but I was going 62 in the 55 zones and 70 in the 65. There was a HUGE difference in MPG when I was going 70 vs 62, but, if I went slower it didn't feel safe as so many cars were blowing past me
4. Used cruise control most of the time. Its hard when driving in traffic, but, I tried to use it and did for about 80% of the drive.