Yes, congratulations joaniemcchicken. That's really amazing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 3:20 PM on September 25, 2008

I completely agree with the blanket. I drove a ton of things cross-country and stayed four nights on the road. I filled the trunk first, then put the rest in the back seat. Then I put a blanket on it. Whenever I parked, I picked a spot by the entry or the office of the motel.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 5:43 PM on August 24, 2008

I'm also Asian and female, and I also think you shouldn't tell. One of my exes is Asian. Sometimes I stayed with him at his parents' house. We never talked about it to his parents or grandparents, who also lived there. The six of us had dinner, watched TV, played mahjong... it was OK. We didn't hold hands or kiss in front of them. His grandparents liked me. His best friend visited once with his girlfriend; she sat on his lap. My ex's grandmother told me later that she thought the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 6:33 PM on June 28, 2008

I get night terrors if I'm sleep-deprived and stressed out. I wake myself up when they happen. If I go right back to sleep, they start where they stopped. But if I sit up and walk around before going back to sleep, they don't come back. This goes against other advice here, but it works for me.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 5:37 PM on March 15, 2008

I grew up in a tiny, tiny hick town where men are pretty rough around the edges, and I just recently moved to a liberal town not too far from NYC

Along with the other advice, try spending more time adjusting to your new home. Adjusting can take a long time -- at least a year or two. Give yourself time to observe how city people think and act. Eventually you'll understand East Coast, liberal city culture and get better at these things.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 4:53 PM on February 29, 2008

"...my lying reflects badly on him because he is accountable in part for the actions of those he associates with."

This isn't true. How is an adult accountable for the actions of another adult? This is a hurtful and uncalled-for thing to say.

Sometimes pushing people and losing friends can't be avoided. You know more about this situation than we do. Maybe this friend is hot tempered and it's worthwhile to be understanding of their... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 9:31 AM on February 20, 2008

I'd like to second The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley. It's so beautiful, dense, and detailed. It's one of my favorite books and I think I've read it six or seven times. Gosh, I think I got it in fifth grade.

I always thought Beloved was comparable to it. Beloved was assigned in 12th grade English AP and everyone in the class struggled with all the surrealism, non-linearity, and detail... except for me... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 11:12 AM on February 8, 2008

The Space 24 from Quo Vadis might be a good replacement. It is like the Moleskine Weekly Planner mentioned above, but with the hours of the day marked. Unfortunately it also doesn't have a checklist included in the notes section. Other interesting designs from Quo Vadis are the Classic, the Principal, and the ABP. I just bought the ABP to use at work.

I had a smaller version of the Moleskine Weekly Planner for 2007. It was nice, but weekly layouts stress me out, so I... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 7:26 PM on January 1, 2008

I think you should ask your boyfriend if he would like to vent about his problems. Maybe he'd welcome the opportunity to try a new coping method. He should at least have the option.

It seems to me that saying something out loud makes you feel better about it and puts it into perspective. It also changes it from being a worry inside your mind to a problem you've put out there for your friends and family to help you on. Perhaps you could say, "I see... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 12:52 PM on December 16, 2007

Another knitting recommendation: Vogue Knitting. It covers everything. For example, a lot of knitting books may talk about dropping stitches without explaining how that's done. This book also explains how to repair stitches which were dropped accidentally, and has instructions for several methods of casting on and casting off.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 9:34 AM on October 16, 2007

Sex-education instruction may be available from state social services. I know this is definitely true in California. I was an instructor for two years. I taught my students sex-related biology and I taught boundaries. I focused on the parts of others one may and may not touch (e.g., putting your hand on your friend's shoulder is okay; putting your hand on their behind is not okay), and what parts of oneself others may not touch. I think that may be your most immediate concern.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 6:56 PM on August 15, 2007

I agree with zia. And, soon you'll be in graduate school yourself and many of your classmates will be eligible and interested. Keep an eye out. Good luck!
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 8:47 PM on August 10, 2007

Slashdot is heavily populated by the cohort dendrite's friend works with. So take that into account.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 11:54 PM on August 4, 2007

Come to the Chicago MeFi meetups if you can. We'd love to see you. You too, jammer!
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 6:54 PM on March 16, 2007

There are many Indian restaurants in Pasadena. If you go there to see the Huntington Library or the Norton Simon Museum they are convenient. There are listings for them here. Search for Indian cuisine. But firstdrop's recommendations are better.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 7:16 PM on February 17, 2007

It sounds like you broke up with him. You might want to consider whether this issue should have been a dealbreaker. A person who doesn't say "I love you" could be more loving to you than a person who does. Since you are agonizing over it, perhaps you've imposed a requirement which was more artificial than necessary.

Or, perhaps you've mixed up the saying of the words with many other things that were wrong to you in the relationship. If so, you will probably... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 12:52 AM on January 1, 2007

Clorox Wipes and Fresh Brush toilet cleaners.

Expensive kitchen accessories, like Calphalon pots and pans, and Caldrea's all-purpose cleanser. A 1000 ml bottle is thirteen dollars, but I look forward to using it because it has such a nice smell.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 3:23 PM on December 30, 2006

nebulawindphone: which doesn't make sense to me, since very few people in the City actually come from the City. Or even the Bay Area.

Every city has both transplants and natives who are snobby, elitist, and in love with the city, or who are angry, who can't be satisfied, and who can't wait to leave. They're truly annoying. I think they just latch on to these things so they can have something to be negative about.

I like San Francisco a lot, but... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 5:38 PM on December 26, 2006

May I suggest Giant Robot San Francisco? They are a store and gallery.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 9:18 PM on December 5, 2006

I have had a lot of these problems, too. People often think I'm an undergraduate and in eight years of working there have always been people who behaved badly because I'm short, female, look young, and so on. There are a lot of good suggestions here. I'll add my personal philosophy:

Be completely competent at what you do. Be completely professional. If people are talking over you, you can stop speaking. You don't need to fight them for self-validation. When they... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 1:51 PM on November 17, 2006

I think that at any age, you can talk to children about what they see. Everyone has a desire to be treated fairly. If a child is not treated fairly (for whatever reason, including racism), then you can do what you can as an adult to fix it, and then talk to the child. See what they thought or felt about what just happened. See if they figure it was a good thing or a bad thing. Then discuss a little about how some people have personal problems which keep them from treating others fairly, and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 1:27 PM on November 17, 2006 marked best answer

They're the kind to report me to animal welfare if I intend on leaving my dog with them - either that, or they refuse to look after my dog - or they think me the WORST PERSON EVER AND WILL TALK ABOUT IT AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY FOREVERS for leaving a pet behind.

Please don't listen to your family when they say these things. When they say similar things about your education, please don't listen to them either.

or say how... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 6:02 PM on November 5, 2006

Your school may not have a bioengineering department, but you should see if anyone there has worked with someone who does bioengineering research, or has a friend or acquaintance who does bioengineering research. Start by asking your professors. Communicate with the contacts they provide, learn what they do and what they know, and ask each for more contacts.

At the same time, like others have said, learn the literature, learn what you want to do, and learn which PIs... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 7:59 PM on October 23, 2006

I second sbutler. I see this with scanned images (of chapters from books or handwritten notes), which were done at very high resolution and converted to PDF without reducing the resolution. The printer spends a long time processing each page, even though the pages don't look unusual to the naked eye.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 12:19 AM on October 23, 2006

(It could be something else too of course! This is what I see most often.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 12:20 AM on October 23, 2006

2. the lack of absence of my female colleagues. some of the things I read here would make me expect they wouldn't show up for a couple days each month but I can't say I've noticed. are women tougher than men? (oh, that question sucked.)

I really think this is something we don't get enough credit for. We are just supposed to show up, and we do, usually with a bottle of Motrin or something stashed in our purses.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 9:34 PM on October 20, 2006

I used to shop at their store in Santa Monica. I never used their Web site, but the store was always well-run and customer service was always good. I'd recommend the store to anyone, for what it's worth.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 8:47 PM on October 20, 2006

I agree that AskMe can't give you a real answer, since we don't know you or your boyfriend. I also agree with everyone else. My two cents are...

If you feel you just have to be with the other guy, then go be with the other guy. If it turns out it was the right thing to do, then that will be good. If it turns out it was a mistake, you can use the experience to learn why.

Stable relationships are good in principle. But they're bad when one of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 10:38 PM on October 17, 2006

I want to compile a list of science fiction books that are/were great science fiction, but possibly not great literary fiction. I have this theory that sci-fi is mainly about the ideas and I'd like to compile a list of books that support this theory.

I agree with sciurus and languagehat. You can't use books which support your theory in order to test your theory. Maybe I don't understand your intent, but this is what it seems to be. You need to fix your methodology.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 8:07 AM on October 12, 2006

Four cinderblocks worked fine for my full-sized mattress and boxspring. A fifth probably would have helped. You can get a cheap bedskirt (five to ten dollars) for the boxspring so it doesn't look bare. I wrapped the cinderblocks in butcher paper and I thought it worked very well.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 6:42 PM on October 10, 2006

You could print out some long Wikipedia articles and read them. If they are stapled together they look just like meeting notes. A small toy like rhiannon suggested is good too. You could work on long-term plans and write in a calendar.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 5:54 PM on October 8, 2006

I'd like to add to jessamyn's comment and say that I always thought a real test of one's knowledge of something is how well one can explain it to a person who doesn't know it. Or a child who's twelve... and then a child who's eight.

Absolutely speaking, I suspect that human intelligence is much less variable than people think; it's just obscured by socio-economic and emotional factors.

On the other hand, when you're talking about employment... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 9:03 AM on October 5, 2006

Re: "marketing and business people" -- that won't change. It's an attitude thing, not a credentials thing. You're going to have to become 50% business yourself to get over that. Someone always is paying for your salary, and unless you've invented an immediate profit-generating technology that has no capital expenses, it's not you. Getting signatures on a dissertation does not fix this problem.

I second this. You always answer to someone in... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 7:10 PM on September 5, 2006

On equations generally:

It seems to me if you're already getting a Master's in CS that you have the potential to understand equations. If you have too many emotions about them to spend time with them, that will be problematic. Granted, you may have a subtle learning or cognitive disability that will prevent you from being a whiz at them. If so, remember that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. You won't know either way unless you... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 4:39 PM on September 7, 2006

I was raised Buddhist.

The Buddha doesn't crave anything. So to have something named "What the Buddha Craves" means you're not familiar with a basic parable of Buddhism--the story of Gautama Buddha's realization that desire is the root of suffering is as fundamental as the story that Jesus paid for mankind's sins by dying on the cross. Or perhaps you think you have something even a person who has achieved enlightenment would crave. But, again, enlightened... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 10:29 PM on September 5, 2006 marked best answer

However, my thinking has changed in the last decade or so as there's too much hard biological science about brain anatomy and functioning that indicates widespread physiological sexual differentiation.

Perhaps, but there is a significant body of findings indicating the brain is plastic in response to its environment. This brings up at least two issues:

- What is the evidence of sexual differentiation in the brains of newborns?... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 7:30 PM on August 13, 2006

Navelgazer: If we had more famous Philosphers of African descent, would we expect their work to focus on the "philosphy of race"? I would hope not, just as I would hope that female philosophers wouldn't focus on what it means to be female. Philosophy should be universal in order to be worthwhile, and while issues such as race, gender, and sexuality (and notably, religion) certainly have their place within it, they are barely a fraction of that universe. If people are to make... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 5:25 PM on August 14, 2006

Great comments, EB and occhiblu.

Navelgazer, I think where I'm differing from you is that I think this self-ghettoization is useful now and will be useful for a while longer. I also think it will be useful for it to exist in some form forever. From a distance academics seems pure and cleanly logical, the way it ideally should be. But in reality it's made of individuals who want validation and recognition and who are trying to juggle family and financial... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 11:58 AM on August 15, 2006

Do hand stretches and exercises, but also exercise and stretch your entire body. Be careful not to hurt yourself, of course. Try massages (I recommend sports massage. Tell them about your injury so they know what the problem is.), acupuncture, and the chiropractor. Make your seat and desk ergonomic at work, and upgrade your mouse, keyboard, and monitor if you can. Make everything at home ergonomic also. Like everyone has said, don't work through the pain.

Be sure... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 4:54 PM on July 24, 2006

I agree with occhiblu too. If a guy can smile at me without being creepy, it is okay that he's looked at me. If a guy wants to stare I don't mind in principle, but I think it would be nice if he does it after I've passed by, or in a way that I don't have to think about the staring. I'm female and I sometimes stare at guys... some of them look so good! But I follow those rules when I do it. I think don't like seeing that I'm being stared at because while I know there is a lot of harmless... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 6:17 PM on July 20, 2006

I have seen the Spanx at Nordstrom Rack for $9.99. So if you would like to save money check the Rack and Marshall's or Ross. Good luck!
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 4:19 PM on July 16, 2006

I am afraid I don't live in New England, nor do we have any private schools around us with a good reputation for academics.

You should relocate so your children can go to a good public or private school. Also, as chickletworks pointed out, don't assume a school is good just because it is a private school. Research schools.

This may sound drastic. But as far as I know it's pretty necessary. You may stay in a so-so or bad... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 3:43 PM on July 15, 2006

I don't work for Google so I don't know exactly what Page Rank means, but the numbers probably mean that out of sites whose content match your search term, X site is ranked Y for being linked to by important sites. So Shakespeare.com is seventh among other sites with similar content (content about Shakespeare). It is seventh in terms of being linked to by important sites. So maybe Yahoo Directory links to Shakespeare.com, so that's an important link which gives it a high Page Rank like seven.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 9:43 PM on May 31, 2006

If you are using your key on a Mac and emptying the trash didn't work, try pulling up Terminal and looking at the contents using the command line. Try deleting from there. Or what caution live frogs said.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 10:01 AM on May 5, 2006

Fear usually lies behind anger, so look for fear whenever you feel anger. Regarding your sister, I suspect having control in that moment felt validating. It fits with what you say about your parents. The reaction your mother had to your destruction of her flowers is common, but unfortunately incorrect. When parents cry at their toddlers' acting-out, it powerfully shows toddlers that they are in control of their parents' well-being. But consider- toddlers know nothing of social mores. They... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 9:51 AM on May 5, 2006 marked best answer

I make myself run two errands, so I feel productive, and then I don't force myself to do anything else the rest of the day. Then, if I happen to do more errands, they're a bonus. If I don't, it's OK because I've already done something with the day.

Hope your Sundays get better!
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 10:29 PM on February 12, 2006

My condolences, languagehat. I am sorry to hear this.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 12:31 AM on December 29, 2005

I try to tip well. Since I've been a college grad and everything, I find myself at places like the Four Seasons or the Beverly Hills Hotel sometimes, and the people parking my car or bussing my dishes are Hispanic immigrants just like the parents of my classmates where I grew up next to East L.A.

I've donated to the UN Populations Fund and the Organic Consumers Association recently, and I've volunteered to work on my local Linux users group's Web site. I think I like... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 4:21 PM on August 21, 2005

I second Shu Uemura. I like it much better than Shiseido. I can't express how much. You may need to get some style references (say, Japanese fashion magazines) to understand the look that they design for, but if you have a fair Asian complexion it will flatter you very well. I've bought equivalent foundations from both companies and the Shu foundation was of better quality and better formulation, provided more even and natural coverage, and gave a really pretty glow. I... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 1:41 PM on August 15, 2005

I used to wear a watch pendant and while it was pretty, I didn't like it because it was a little heavy and would swing and knock me in the chest when I moved around. It was all metal with enamel on the lid. It was very pretty, but to me the swinging around wasn't worth it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by halonine at 9:46 PM on August 12, 2005