Haircut

I got my hair cut tonight. It was well below my shoulders and now it's at my chin, complete with new bangs. Like sciencemama, I like how the bangs look, but I'm worried about their maintenance costs. Anyway, it had been over 8 months since I had my hair cut (and I don't even have a baby), so anything is an improvement. It a really cute cut, actually, but more work than a ponytail.

My day

My snowy, 105 minute commute to work this morning kind of did me in for the day. I got there late and not in the best of moods. My inbox had the link for prospective summer interns, so I read through those for about an hour. Some of them are just a hoot (some students, usually the younger ones, say the strangest stuff), but this time there were a few really promising ones. That raised my spirits a bit.

Academic Advisor practically made me promise to stay out of the lab for at least a few weeks so I could made some headway on my paper. I have honored the agreement for the post part, but now Research Advisor wants me to help Awesome Technician with some lab work not related to my thesis (although it hasn't been discussed explicitly, I believe I will be a coauthor on the paper). We collect samples for this project every 1-2 years, and I have taken part in the lab experiments for it every time. There is great value in consistency in our work, so it's desirable for me to be involved again. The lab technique we use takes two people, so AT can't do it on her own anyway. So, we agreed that I'll help for 3-5 hours a day until it's done and write the rest of the time. I just didn't have it in me to sit at my desk and think today, so we did the lab stuff all day. I really enjoy it, but I feel guilty because AA wants me writing only. This is the downfall of having two advisors.

On the bright side, there was no traffic at all on the way home for whatever reason. Seriously, if I were going to get involved in a religion, it would have to include a traffic god.

Bonus

So far, Project Efficiency, my catch-all New Year's Resolution all about not procrastinating and getting more done, is going pretty well. For example, I paid for my car license plate renewal the day the notice came, which is the sort of thing I'd usually put off and then scramble to do before the deadline, accompianed by much anxiety. More notably, I haven't been blogging at work at all. Although twice I quickly checked my blog related email to look up specific information. And, I admit that when I worked last Saturday, I did read some blogs over lunch, but I figure it's okay if I'm there on a weekend.

Anyway, an unexpected side effect of less procrastination is a tidier home. We're not super messy, but we're not neat freaks either. Since I'm no longer putting off things like sorting the mail or doing the dishes, we are maintaining a cleaner environment. How nice.

Privilege meme

Flicka Mawa has this interesting meme that I thought I'd do. She got it from Watershed, who asked that credit be given to the original authors:

This is based on “From What Privileges Do You Have?,” an exercise about
class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen,
Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University.

Green means I answered yes.

1. Father went to college
2. Father finished college
3. Mother went to college She took some classes as an adult, but never enrolled in a degree program that I know of.
4. Mother finished college
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor. a cousin
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home.
9. Were read children’s books by a parent
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18.
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively. This one is borderline.
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs. They helped a lot, but loans and scholarships were more than 50%.
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs.
16. Went to a private high school.
17. Went to summer camp.
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18.
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels.
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18. The next sister up from me is 9 years older, so hand-me-downs weren't really an option. I'm sure she had lots of them.
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them.
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child.
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house.
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home.
25. You had your own room as a child. Not all the time, and when I did it was because my siblings were grown. There were times when three of us were in one room.
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18.
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course.
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16. My oldest brother moved to Texas when I was little, so we flew there from the Midwest for his wedding and for another visit or two.
31. Went on a cruise with your family.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family.
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up. Seldom, but it did happen. However, we were always had a membership to a swimming pool.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.

12 out of 34. No analysis of what that means.

Facebook?

I just joined 2006 and created a Facbook profile. I don't really get it. I've been on MySpace for a while, and I don't really get that either. What am I supposed to do with it?

A new leader!

POOF!

This post had to go away.

I have it so good

I've been thinking a little about why I am interested in women-in-science issues. I have never once personally experienced gender discrimination at work. Two of my three advisers have been women, the third is an extremely enlightened man. Yet, I identify with the plight of the screwed-over woman scientist.

I think it's because my culture is steeped in sexism and I hate it. This post on Propter Doc's blog clarified it for me. I think I just expect the negative stereotypes present throughout the rest of my life will carry over to my work. But they haven't (so far). I know they have for many, many other women. I feel very sensitized to that.

I'm very thankful that so far my work experience has been free of that crap. It's almost like it's one place where it doesn't matter that I'm a woman; the expectations are the same for me as for a man doing the same job (with the exception of field work, but that's just practical). I want more women to share my experience, except that I want all the cultural stereotypes to disappear too. I'm sick of the image that women are bad at things like investing or home repair and men shouldn't plan a holiday meal or buy their kids' clothes. An example: my friend would love to have a boat someday, but I pretty sure she considers it something a man buys and maintains, not something she would be responsible for. I think when I suggested she start saving for her own boat, it was the first time it occurred to her that she could get one for herself. It shouldn't be this way.

Anyway, I'm glad I get to work with a group of wonderful, mostly female, people. Am I the only lucky one? Or am I totally sheltered?