Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in whymc's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
2:54 am	More about me! Wow! I have some sort of magic gift. I tour a property, and it immediately vanishes from local real estate databases... spooky... or... the house that I was drooling over has been purchased - probably for the best, as it was spendier than my bank would have approved of, and the taxes, based on a crazy assessment, were brutal. I have a few other leads on that front - including two older farmhouses. They're both quite inexpensive, and seem to have both space and character, which I approve of. One of them is two blocks from the train station, the other has more space, but would be a short drive. I'm'a try to see them either Monday afternoon or Wednesday early in the morning... or after the holiday weekend. I'm thinking that I'd like to move sooner, rather than later, now that I've gotten the bug - and the nice thing about the cheaper houses is that I'd actually be paying *less* than I do for a bitsy two-bedroom apartment. On an academic front - I've been reading a bit more about China recently... and the more I look at their recent economic policies, the more I see the connection to NEP, and the more attention I want to pay to China. I think that Americans, rather naively, have assumed that China's re-orientation was the first step in a steady race away from socialism/communism... whereas I'm almost positive that such is not the case. Limited economic freedoms, real personal freedoms, and circumscribed political freedoms certainly can co-exist, despite the fact that we seem to think that freedom is a boolean variable. Need to read more about China after Mao... anyone have a good book or two to recommend? Finally - a bit of a repeat from FB - I was thrilled to find that a local liquor store - complete with cheesy paper sign for PBR in the window - had a manager's special on Talisker, Glenmorangie, and Chartreuse. Now, after a busy and fairly productive day of house-hunting and lecture-writing, I'm off to bed. G'night, world. Current Mood: content (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, November 20th, 2009
11:15 pm	Update! Haven't posted in a while. The semester has kicked my ass a little bit, but I've survived. I have a new plan for modern Europe in the spring - screw the old-timey stuff - I don't love it, so I'm not going to focus on it in excruciating detail. Modern culture is going to get its very own lecture, I think, and the modern half of the course will get more weight overall - I'll hit the high points along the way, but they'll get better value for their dollar if I focus on the material that I know and love more. Things with miss A. and I are going well. Really very well. Haven't been gushy about that, 'cause of the Norwegian... but still... I'm happy. On a related note... I'm likely going to try to buy a house. Looked at one today that is pretty much perfect for us. 3 bedrooms, wet bar in a spacious family room, lovely dark brick construction, a workshop the size of a large bedroom, fenced back yard for the frisky dog beast, lovely little brick courtyard in back... its all very nice. It's also far from a done deal - I'm only about 1/2 employed right now, and, while the payments wouldn't actually be too rough for the two of us... for a variety of reasons I'll be the only name on the mortgage... and the payments *do* look rough for me, at 1/2 time employment... hoping that my shiny credit score and a large down payment (and perhaps a co-signature from my dad) can convince the bank that I'm a good risk, even though I don't look like it. We'll see. If it doesn't work, I'll do this again once I've found a second gig, and am raking in the big bucks on a crushing 35 hr/week, 8 mo/year schedule... Other than that... things are pretty quiet here. Current Mood: anxious (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
12:24 am	stress The last few days have actually been a bit rough.  Nothing has gone wrong - many things have been great, in fact, and my life, basically, is going in several good directions.  However... I've been noticing lately that I'm showing a variety of physiological stress symptoms - jaw pain, my one red ear, odd muscle aches, trouble sleeping,  and more.  I guess that this semester is being a little overwhelming.  I'm pondering weighty decisions about impending home ownership, finishing my dissertation, teaching three classes/two preps (one of them for the first time, which is probably the thing I worry most about, actually), commuting for a relationship, worrying about the state of the world, politics, health care, and a variety of other things. I've got to get a better handle on this.  Some of my stress responses are annoying, some of them might actually be bad for me, with higher blood pressure and less ability to focus on tasks at hand... which would in turn produce *more* stress. Argle.  So much to do. Going to try to make the next few weeks, while busy, as relaxing as possible, and going to try to build more planned relaxation time into my days, ideally of types that I've not heretofore been getting enough of.  Kinda want to look into a Y membership, so that I can swim, since that does a marvelous job of relaxing me, and would be great exercise.  Perhaps I should consider trading netflix for swimming... hrm... Anyhoo - mostly, this is for some of you who haven't heard much from me lately, as a word of explanation as to why. => Current Mood: stressed (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
7:19 pm	more music than I can keep track of... I'll be DJing BellyBoo this weekend.  To get ready for that, I've been poking through my music for additional, appropriate filler music - not for the dance numbers, obviously, but for before, after, and so on... and I was amazed by the number of neat things that I own, and had completely forgotten about.  I clearly need to spend more time being a music geek, if my collection is getting away from me like this!  To the CD burner! Current Mood: amused (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
4:30 pm	Huh... that's peculiar I just received an email from the REEC... no surprise, I'm still enrolled at UIUC, and on their mailing lists.  This one was different, however... in that it was to confirm that I would be teaching a class on Russian youth in transition in early November.  This... startled me, since, although I did in fact teach that class last fall, I had assumed that it was a one-time deal.  I've heard rumors that things are chaotic and poorly organized at REEC this year, and I agreed to teach the class, since its a weekend that I'm planning to be in CU anyway... but egads could that have turned out badly for REEC... poor planning on someone's part, I'd say. Current Mood: annoyed (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
3:07 pm	From the classroom... So... I was a bit medicated yesterday, which always makes me loopy... Student: (question about Fathers and Sons) Me: (question re-phrased and re-directed at student) Me: "Oh yeah, how's that for the Socratic method.  See what I did there?" Gogo professionalism! (Comment on this)
12:23 am	netbooks and abandonware ftw! I'm a little under the weather today, but probably just a cold.  Meh.  I made it through my days on campus for the week, so it doesn't really matter.  Part of making it through the day today was having my wee little fire engine red netbook along.  I like being able to surf the web during office hours.  I like the fact that it really does seem to have a 5+ hour battery life, even with the optical mouse that I insist on using instead of the silly touchpad.  I *love* the fact that its a perfect platform for playing abandonware video games.  I played some good old pacific general on the train home today, and it was exactly the right thing to keep me busy - I've always had trouble focusing on a book well enough to get anything out of it on the train home, but classic video games make the ride zip by. Now, to get some food and drink and relax for a bit before bed. Current Mood: tired (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
8:09 pm	One of those days... My shiny new netbook didn't arrive on time.  It turns out that it failed to arrive on time because amazon had shipped it to an address where I lived three years ago.  Ack.  I've asked Ms. A. to go and poke the people who live there, and failing that Amazon customer service says that they'll be able to replace the order, but still... ack... Time to delete all of my old addresses, I suppose. Current Mood: tired (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, September 13th, 2009
7:10 pm	Whew The last week has gone well, but has left me exhausted. First meetings went well for my Russian history classes.  Trip to the south was lovely, and included a meeting with Diane that went pretty well - I'm officially working on Chapter four now, which feels good. I've just finished prepping my first, introductory, lecture for my Western Civ class - I remain daunted by how much ground I'll need to cover, but it should be okay... and I worked a mention of the Large Hadron Collider into my introduction, so I get to have a bit of geeky fun tomorrow. Sadly, I now have all of twoish hours to have dinner, get organized, and relax for a minute or two, before I need to start thinking about going to bed... so that I can get up at 5 am tomorrow.  Ouch. Current Mood: busy (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
11:28 pm	Echoes of my father Today went well.  I met two of my sections for the semester, and I like 'em - not a surprise, given my track record of liking kids at Columbia, but still nice.  Our department sprang for a shiny new photocopier... so I arrived three hours early to do five minutes of copying... I realized something odd this morning - a part of me secretly likes getting up early for work.  Really early mornings - the kind that start before the sun has figured out which parts to shine with - always remind me of my father.  He was a firm believer in getting to work by six-thirty, since he always felt that he did his best work during those early morning hours before the staff arrived and the pace picked up.  I have this web of memories of my dad, which involve the smell of old spice and coffee and shaving soap, a sense of hurried purpose, and a lingering overtone of sleepiness.  I even sometimes looked forward to the mornings where one of my geeky high-school activities brought me to school before classes for this or that practice, and I could get a ride in with my dad on the way to work. I felt that way today - I like the feeling of purposeful motion, of being part of a greater organism that is Chicago. Now, however, I'm tired but content at the end of a long day filled with interesting new students, and conversations with colleagues who might be slowly becoming friends.  Its time for a bit of dinner, and a bit of relaxation. Current Mood: content (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, September 7th, 2009
11:13 pm	Wow... that went by quickly The summer is officially over.  I've already taken melatonin for the night, because six am will be coming painfully early tomorrow.  (Well, to be more precise, six am always comes painfully early, I just don't normally have to do anything about it...)  It has been a pretty good summer.  I'm back on a pretty even keel, after a long period of being kinda messed up in the head, and that's a nice improvement.  This has led to actual academic productivity, which is also good.  I have high hopes that my meeting with Diane this week will not entirely suck.  I've also even started work on my final chapter.  I know, I know - revisions will be painful.  Revisions are, however, far less painful than the initial writing of things, at least for me, and having a draft that has some academic merit in the eyes of my committee, even if it needs work, is a thought that cheers me up tremendously. For now, however, I'm off to bed, since I've things to do on the morrow. Current Mood: sleepy (Comment on this)
Friday, September 4th, 2009
1:36 pm	Good news! I've received the first short assessment of chapter three from Diane... which did mention more work to be done, but also, crucially, included the phrase 'has much to admire'.  Giant knot of stress... relaxing...  Odds of my actually finishing my Ph.D. sooner rather than later... improving. I'm also pleased as punch that, in a moment of mad genius, I decided to include an essay by Charles Stross in my syllabus for Modern European history.  I'm hoping to have a really good end-of-semester discussion of possible futures.  We'll see if they have the energy to care by then.  I also decided to try something fun with primary sources - I've assigned a bunch of different declarations of rights documents, hoping that I can use them as a way to chart out the different values of different societies - we'll see how that plays. Its funny, really - when I was first starting out as a TA, I loved survey classes, because I knew just about enough to sound smart every week, and didn't actually run out of knowledge... now, knowing more, I find myself in the position of wanting more time for everything... that's good, on balance, and an interesting way to think about my own growth as an academic. In any event... I'm taking the rest of the day to relax, I think - I have a date with the gym, then some quality hearts of iron III time, then some public affairs documentaries on pbs... I'm a wild party freak. Current Mood: accomplished (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
10:51 pm	Ooof Today has mostly gone well so far.  I'm at the 50% mark on revisions and editing, and should finish by the time I wander off to bed.  I could have done without the smoke alarms going off, and refusing to shut up no matter what I did, as a response to my scorching just a wee bit of olive oil while making dinner.  It would have been especially nice if they'd waited until I had drained my pasta, so that I didn't have a gelid lump of egg noodles.  Oh well... I'll survive. The rest of the week should involve the writing of syllabi (which will probably happen tomorrow), and then I'm thinking that I might try to explore some of the parks around town - I'll need to read or re-read a fair number of things before I can write chapter 4, and I think that I could do with a bit of nature, so I might just bring my Russian history to the parks. For now, though, I think that I deserve dinner, and a bit of a break from editing.  Ooof. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Friday, August 21st, 2009
3:33 am	today... has been a pretty good day... I finished the first draft of chapter three, finally, today.  I've gotten some work done on chapter four already, and it's an easier chapter, both in terms of sources and theory... so I think that I'll finally maybe cross the finish line on this. I went to Neo with Trae and Andrew and others tonight... and that, too, was marvelous.  I've been being pretty good about going to the gym every day for... oh... about a month now... and I discovered tonight that, while I'm still farfarfar from skinny, I can *dance* again.  I may look goofy, but I've got the stamina to dance until I don't want to anymore... and by all the dark gods I've *missed* that. And now... some food before bed, because I am *ravenous* Current Mood: ecstatic Current Music: pet shop boys in my head (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
12:28 am	a techie question Has anyone purchased a netbook?  If so, do you like it?  I'm looking at getting a midrange bitsy acer to take in to work and on my travels, but I wanted to poke y'all to see if you've any advice for me. (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
4:02 pm	Sacrifice I've been thinking a fair bit about the idea of sacrifice.  After terrible moments of suffering in some part of the national community, I believe that there is a collective impulse to help, to sacrifice, to give.  After 9/11, during the wars in the middle east, and during Katrina, there have been attempts at private charity and sacrifice, but there was never a clear call for sacrifice.  There was never leadership.  There was only the admonition to keep the consumer spending rolling. I think that, for a variety of reasons, that the failure to ask Americans to step up and make sacrifices was a bad idea.  I understand why the Bush administration acted as it did - although I don't agree with its decision-making process.  What I find more troubling is that the Obama administration has also failed to ask for national unity and sacrifice.  We know, instinctively, that things are very, very bad right now.  I am perhaps a naive optimist, but I believe that, if they were asked, clearly and unambiguously, people would step forward and make sacrifices, and would be willing to accept some difficult legislative choices. I believe that those who are comfortable would try to give more, if asked, and would accept temporary taxes to keep essential services running.  I believe that corporations could be asked to sacrifice some theoretical profits on foreclosures in the interests of maintaining long-term real estate values, and of saving individuals from suffering.  I believe that the middle class, such as it is, would understand that it might take a little longer at the DMV.  I believe that even the poorest of Americans, with the least to sacrifice, and the least to show for their citizenship, would make an effort to use fewer public services, and to be better neighbors to one another.  I believe all of these things because they have happened before.  We nodded our heads and paid higher taxes to fund the second world war.  Communities of working-class folk provided what charity they could afford for suffering neighbors during the bleakest years of the depression.  Greed does *not* need to be the defining feature of this country.  However, without a call to sacrifice, there will always be the fear, driven on by decades spent venerating greed and profit, that individual acts of sacrifice and charity are foolish, because nobody else will pony up, and sacrifice will look like stupidity. I would like to hear Mr. Obama give a speech about sacrifice.  I'd like that very much. Current Mood: contemplative (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
3:31 pm	On employer-provided health care I've been, unsurprisingly, thinking a lot about the issue of health care lately.  I mostly side with my big fat lefty friends, who want single-payer state-run health insurance (not health care, just insurance).  However, I find that I also sometimes agree with some of my more... er... right-leaning friends.  I'm coming to suspect that the employer-mandate system of health care might be the worst of all possible solutions to the problem. A few reasons: 1 - the current system provides bad incentives to corporations - they're torn between a desire to be responsible to their employees, and the need to offer good benefits to attract talent, and the need to pay as little as possible for benefits - they tend to land somewhere in the awkward middle ground 2 - the current system leads employers to under-hire.  Because insurance costs are so high, businesses don't hire enough workers, instead relying on mandatory overtime, or on the abuse of the salary system - again, I don't blame the corporations for this, they're just responding to circumstances, but its a bad situation. 3 - the current system isn't portable - the modern labor market works best when it is fluid - when employers can adjust their workforce to meet temporary needs, and when employees can respond quickly to new job opportunities - currently, the structure of the health care system limits both of these useful processes 4 - the current system offers no protection against harsh market conditions - corporations fail - that's normal, and shouldn't be seen as anything but the natural working of a market economy - however, with health benefits tied to the survival of corporations, competition between corporations is reduced, as efforts are made to save companies to preserve the health benefits that they provide. 5 - unemployment = uninsurance for most people - this leaves some employees vulnerable to extra management pressure, and also adds extra risk to the already dangerous economic situation 6 - the current system is a dis-incentive for employers to expand and to take risks - if we're going to bet on capitalism and free enterprise, we need to provide a framework that makes them as easy as possible - even twenty years ago, insurance prices were high enough to make small/medium business owners (such as my father), seriously re-consider hiring decisions. 7 - the current system favors large business over small businesses, as large businesses have more leverage with insurance companies - this retards the growth of new and small businesses, and by so doing limits innovation All of that said... I'd *prefer* to see a single-payer system, so that I never, ever, ever needed to worry about making insurance decisions... in the same way that, ideally, I don't ever want to decide between competing road networks, power companies, or garbage collection services... Still... I think that I'd be happier to see the complete abolition of the current system, doing away with all the employer mandates, and their replacement by a fairer tax on corporate profits (better than the current fee-for-having-employees, because it does less to stifle growth and risk-taking).  The money from this could be used to subsidize anyone making... oh... up to 2-3x the poverty line.  I'd still want to see extra regulation and standardization for the insurance industry (if insurance is going to be a consumer choice, it should be a maximally transparent consumer choice, with minimal standards in place for all plans, and so forth). Apologies for the wall of text... but I've been mulling over this issue, and considering why I'm so uncomfortable with the current proposals that are on the table, from both the 'moderate' left and the 'moderate' right... Current Mood: irritated (20 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
3:43 pm	My life out of boxes` I believe that I've unpacked the last of my boxes, crates, barrels, bags, and whatnot... and it all fits.  The storage locker in the basement is crowded, and a few things will be going to stay at my 'rents place... but not too many, and I *could* fit 'em in the basement if I wanted to.  Whew.  I wasn't ever panicking about this... but I was dreading the need to store a *ton* of stuff with the 'rents. In other news... prep for fall teaching is under way, since I need to spin up a western civ class in addition to my usual Russian classes... I'm still debating what books to make 'em read - I think that my new standard for assignments is textbook+1 or 2 novels + short documents... and I haven't settled on the documents... or a textbook... ack... need a textbook by friday, but the class's start date doesn't line up with any of the major western civ textbook periods... so we'll see... they may have to learn about the reformation from me, with no help from their textbook - wouldn't be the end of the world. Writing is also moving along - not tons everyday, but a good amount, overall, and I think that I can finally see the finished shape of the thing in my head, and have a real chance of a draft by the end of August.  Yay! On the home front - visited miss A and the band of zany malcontents in C-U last weekend, and helped a bit with the move.  That should be a nifty place to visit, and it was great to see everyone again.  This weekend I'm staying in Chicago, and heading into the city for festivities.  Yay! Current Mood: calm (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
2:46 pm	Camping plans... and one odd observation I finished stowing my camping gear in the basement.  Oof.  As I was carrying load after load of #2 white pine, I started, for some reason, to think about ways to make my setup better... and lighter/smaller. Three ideas: 1 - (easy, will definitely do) - replace the rugs on my tent floor with canvas.  The canvas could be nifty and colored (perhaps red, as that seems to be traditional), and would fit the full size of my tent, while weighing less, and taking up less space... it would also be machine washable, in the event of a mildew incident. 2 - (considering) - replace my current slat camp bed with a cot-type bed.  I was talking about this with some of the folks in camp, and it seems like a good compromise between a rope bed and my current system.  I'd affix canvass to two siderails, and then have a supporting frame.  The canvas should make the bed comfier... although it might not work so well for sleeping two, because of the sleeping-pit effect. 3 - (considering, for war) - a carrying pole - made of wood - 2x4, probably, trimmed, sanded, and with two cutouts for shoulders.  The shoulder cutouts would be padded.  The middle would be designed to allow either several hooks or a canvass sling - ideally, this would make carrying supplies/armor easier, without all the fuss of making/using a cart. Thoughts? And... finally... mostly for eithni's benefit... as I was unpacking my car today, I came upon a piece of string that I'd used in my encampment... and thought 'hrm... I should toss this'... then, over-ruled by some instinct, I stowed it in a tool pouch.  Ack! Current Mood: thoughtful (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
3:26 pm	Home sweet home I'm back in my FoS, and glad to be here.  The whole trip was lovely.  I've had a chance to chat and re-connect with a whole bunch of people who are important to me, but with whom I have not been in terribly regular contact.  I do need to be better about remembering that, while I enjoy a certain amount of privacy and solitude, I am, fundamentally, a gregarious extrovert, and that I'm happier with the world, and feel more part of a web of life, when I keep investing time and energy in renewing the bonds of friendship and affection. On a practical level - the time at my parents house was actually quite productive.  I did a variety of small tasks around the house, and finished building Eithni's livingroom set in time to deliver it at the start of ww, even though the humidity conspired to keep the last of the wood oil from fully drying. WW was great.  The household seemed to hang together nicely this year, with new and old folks mixing well.  I'm pleased to announce that Ragnarr and I are each the proud new fathers of adorable baby doumbeks, and that much drum-y happiness was had around the fire.  I'm happier with my drumming these days - its getting to be more natural, and I love the new little drums - they have about the same sharp and tinny sound that the drum in some Abney Park songs does, and I think that I'd been subconsciously wanting something like that for a while. Camp worked well - my tent framing sneered at yet another giant thunderstorm.  (I'm happy, in the middle of stromy camping nights, that I over-engineer).  My three-legged stools remain one of my best ideas ever... although I have no idea how I'll manage to make the one that I promised during the event, since my apartment is not much of a woodshop... but I'll think of something.  Danr makes iron hinges, and I'm thinking of making a new lid for my current sea chest, and making a new sea chest - perhaps out of oak, although the pine is both light and sturdy.  I'm also thinking that I'll try to make a camp chair for next year that is both good for lounging and at least very close to authentic. For now, however, I'm badly in need of some quiet, some coffee, and some solitude. Current Mood: tired (11 Comments |Comment on this)