I do this as well. I wince, then I often jump up and shake my hands or walk quickly into another room. It's like I've been hit and then am trying to escape whatever hit me. And I do it all the time because I have plenty of these memories - THANKS A LOT PAST BIBLIOWENCH! dork

And I cannot get rid of these memories. I try to visualize shutting them up in a box that I'll never open again, but any random thought could cause a chain that could... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 10:06 PM on July 22, 2008

Just one thing to add to stormgrey's (very good) brining advice - don't forget to rinse the brine off before cooking them. If not, you'll end up with something like the salty abomination I served last night.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 2:32 PM on July 22, 2008 marked best answer

Pick it Up from the kids' show Yo Gabba Gabba always makes me giggle. I"m going to start issuing all my parental dictates in ska form.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 9:00 PM on July 21, 2008

Boy, I haven't heard that exchange for a while. And I haven't said it for a while either. In my experience, on both sides of the conversation, people who say "I wish I wasn't so fat" often aren't really that fat. They're not the skinny ideal that they wish, but they want reassurance that they're not actually overweight. I know that since I've failed to regain my pre-baby figure, the last thing I want to talk about is my fucking weight, even in the guise of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 12:16 PM on July 21, 2008 marked best answer

Speaking as someone who is just starting to claw my way out of Scrabulous ignominy . . .

First of all, she's going to beat your ass. A lot. Hopefully that won't be a problem for either one of you, as I'm sure she's seeing you for your other qualities.

Second, remember that long words are not always the highest scoring words. A well-placed QATS or JO can get you a decent score, especially if you put them parallel to an existing word.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 5:15 PM on July 20, 2008

Ok, none of this sounds like fun, and I can't imagine ever requiring any of these obligations for my wedding (I got married in grad school surrounded by my fellow starving students, so many of my wedding gifts came from Archie McPhee) but here's my idea regarding the sheets:

--Get together with the rest of the Bridesmaids
--Each of you contribute 10-15 dollars
--Do you have discount stores in Canada like Ross, Marshalls, or TJ Maxx? Or do you... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 6:56 AM on July 15, 2008

This bride-to-be sounds like she would reject a sheet set bought from Winners, especially if she knew that it came from there.

But that's just it. I can go to my Marshalls and get a set of sheets from Ralph Lauren or Calvin Klein (admittedly more valuable as a brand than as an actual bed covering, although they beat Target) at a deep discount, and no one needs know were they came from. Not that I'm in the habit of showing off my sheets to my guests . . .
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 7:20 AM on July 15, 2008

Five Were Missing is the book I was thinking (and apparently misremembering key plot elements) of. Lois Duncan strikes again.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 9:21 AM on July 7, 2008

Well I'll be damned. I clearly remember the passages from the Duncan book that I saw on the Amazon preview, but this one sounds more like the book that was originally tickling my brain. I apparently read more than one book about kidnapping - which, considering I worked my way through the entire YA section each summer, is not that surprising.

Any guesses on the deadly prank call book?
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 6:28 PM on July 7, 2008

Thank you Science!, Karlos, and iconomy. I can quiet that part of my brain now.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 6:53 AM on July 9, 2008

If you're interested the distinction between "model" and "supermodel," you should look at a series of articles on Jezebel written by a pseudonymous model. She talks about how most models live in squalid conditions, make next to, or less than nothing, and have extremely short careers. From her descriptions, it sounds like the move from model to supermodel is based less on looks and more on an indefinable mix of fickle fashionable aesthetic and luck - this post seems to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 7:28 AM on June 29, 2008

You'll want to emphasize your teaching ability, not your publications or research interests. Most community colleges don't care if you publish or not, but you need to show the committee that you are willing and able to teach a heavy courseload (it's 5/5 at my cc).

You'll also want to demonstrate your knowledge of teaching methods. I remember reading a CHE article in which a cc instructor claimed that university students tend already know how to learn when they come to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 1:31 PM on June 8, 2008 marked best answer

God, I hate this feeling.

Crazy intense exercise - like full-out on a treadmill for as long as I could go - would often work for me. When I'm not working in the summers, I try to go to the gym every day, both to burn off energy and to give my day some structure. Or sometimes a long, long walk by myself - one that allows me to talk things out in my head - is more effective.

You might want to talk to your doctor too. If these episodes are... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 8:43 PM on June 7, 2008

When I'm viewing embedded youtube videos in Firefox, I have to scroll down until the top of the video is at the very top of the browser window. If it's any lower, I only see the white, empty space you mention.

I've never tried to figure out why because it's just easier to scroll. But as far as minor annoyances go, it's pretty annoying, so I'll be glad to hear what others have to say.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 6:40 PM on June 2, 2008

I had such a hard time with breastfeeding my first child, and I didn't have a support group at that time. Most of the information I found on the internet basically equated formula with meth-spiked Dr. Pepper. I spend the first few months pumping and feeding, pumping and feeding, and crying because I was both in pain and feeling like a horrible mother. The whole process worked eventually, but if I went back in time, I would have switched to formula much earlier. I would rather have been able... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 4:12 PM on May 13, 2008

I drove from North Carolina to Denver in 2 days about 12 years ago. I averaged about 15 hours a day, got one speeding ticket in Kansas City (hint: "This state is so boring" is not a valid excuse.) and had excruciating leg cramps for the last few hours of the trip. I didn't have air conditioning, so my window was open the whole time, and I was noticeably darker on my left side for a few weeks. And crossing the Colorado state line is very anticlimactic - the landscape is monotonous,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 9:30 AM on May 11, 2008

First, I'll echo what everyone else said and advise you to wait a while. I can't imagine having had kids before 30. I needed my 20s to be selfish and have fun - otherwise, I probably would have felt the same resentment that you anticipate.

Second, motherhood may very well affect your work, even if you find a balance between home and office. I squeeze a full-time teaching load into a five hour day, chair two departments, resume work after the kids go to bed, and stay in... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 8:56 AM on May 11, 2008

I volunteered at an excellent in Austin for a while - very well run, very clean, and no-kill (although they would turn away animals they didn't think they could place) . As for volunteers, they took whoever they could get, even those who could only work a few hours a week. They just wanted you to show up when you said you would. The shelter had lots of different jobs - walking the dogs, visiting with the cats, playing with animals who were recovering for injuries, helping with dog training,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 7:02 PM on May 8, 2008

don't write off kill shelters if you were tempted to -- you can do the most good in the worst places..

I agree with bluenausaea. No-kill shelters are easier to stomach, and I think many people prefer adopting from a place where they know they're not dooming an animal that they don't choose. But until we find a way to reduce the number of unwanted animals, these shelters will be ultimately impractical as a universal practice. And I imagine that the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 6:15 AM on May 9, 2008

I didn't make many female friends until my late 20s. Before that, girls just made me feel like crap most of the time.

I never had any success in making and keeping female friends until I was in a situation where we had much more in common than just our gender. Although I consider myself a feminist as well, I found myself frustrated by what I saw as stereotypical female behavior (long simmering resentments over imagined slights, backstabbing, cliquish exclusion) that... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 12:28 PM on May 3, 2008

Also, Bibliowench, when you say:

"it reminds me of my earlier experiences with female cliques and I assume that I'm being judged and found lacking, in part because I just don't care about common topics of conversation."

You're not reading my sentence the way I meant it. I don't enjoy hanging out with typical women's cliques (PTAs and the like) in part because of my own insecurity, which I can attribute to my past... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 3:06 PM on May 3, 2008

How little can you live on? You might want to look into working as an adjunct at a local community college or university. You probably wouldn't get a class in your specialized field of study, but we (in Colorado) only require 18 graduate hours to teach a college course in that subject. So if you had 9 graduate classes in history or philosophy, you might be able to teach those classes.

The pay will probably be crap, and you won't get any health benefits, but you can... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 3:10 PM on April 26, 2008

And that would be 6 classes instead of 9. I don't teach math.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 3:15 PM on April 26, 2008

I don't remember anything specific offhand, but as a former intern at the library, I remember having to answer questions like this for visiting scholars (I just don't remember what the answers were). I think we had a standard sheet with lodging and travel information. If you email one of the book curators, I'm sure they'll pass on the information to the right underling.

And have a great time. The librarians there are amazing people. Are you reading something from the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 5:03 PM on April 22, 2008

--Hand sanitizer/lotion or wipes
--Some sort of breath-freshening spray or mint (Altoids or Listerine Pocketmist)
--Notepad and pen(s)
--Lip balm and exfoliator (I get paranoid about lip crud)
--Oil absorbing sheets for the face
--Small brush and rubber bands
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 3:51 PM on April 22, 2008

I've always allowed, and been allowed to use "but" at the beginning of a sentence. I had a professor in grad school, however, who wouldn't allow me to begin a sentence with "however." I could only use in as a parenthetical expression or at the start of a main clause after a semicolon. He was fun to write for. But I still can't start a sentence with "however" without feeling dirty.

And I'm thirding the brand name warning. I just got done... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 7:42 PM on April 21, 2008

I dropped out of my PhD program after taking all the classes and exams and writing two dissertation chapters. I was discouraged by the job market and figured that I would never get hired a place that I or my husband would be willing to move. To this day, I keep thinking back on this decision, and I tend to blame all dissatisfaction about my life (probably irrationally) on it. I wish I'd at least tried and failed instead of just giving up - especially since when I look at my department's track... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 9:35 AM on April 21, 2008

You're me, aren't you? From the past? Buy some Microsoft stock, ok?

I missed being a student too: the set schedule, the ability to start over each semester, the affirmation I got from my professors, the peer group of people my age, income-level, and interests, the constant progression towards a definite goal, and the status.

So I went back to school and got one Masters. Then I hated my job. Then I started my PhD, but my emotional masochism... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 8:14 AM on April 20, 2008

I used this Sunrise alarm clock for a year. It was okay; in winter, I enjoyed waking up to light, and I woke up more gradually and peacefully than being jerked awake by sudden noise. I didn't find it did anything for my SAD though.

Then my husband started to use his radio alarm clock to wake up about an hour before me, and the clock became much less useful.

Then it broke after a year. Considering I spent over a hundred bucks on it (or had... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 1:03 PM on April 19, 2008

My homemade "mcmuffin" is similar to the above recipe: crack an egg in a small bowl or ramekin, microwave for about a minute until the yoke is mostly firm but still a bit runny, put on a piece of whole-grain bread, layer a slice of cheese over it, then toast. A thin slice of ham makes a good layer as well, but this addition might be too unhealthy for your taste. This breakfast keeps me full until lunch.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 12:38 PM on April 19, 2008

My son had a last-day-of-preschool party last year at the park. THE hit of the party was a bug search. Their teachers had bought a packets of plastic bugs, two of a kind, about 2-3 inches long. Each kid got one of the pair (centipede, beetle, etc . . .) and then had to find it's twin, which was on the ground (in a designated area). My younger son played a similar game a few months ago, but they also made their own bug bags out of clear bags, glitter, stickers, and a pipe cleaner handle.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 7:38 AM on April 19, 2008

Oh fuck - seconding Amber Tamblyn's body in the closet in The Ring, especially since that shot comes from out of nowhere in the middle of another character's narration.

I'll add the ghost's eye through the keyhole jump scene in The Devil's Backbone.

Now, I am going to make sure my closet light works.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 8:53 PM on April 16, 2008

Seconding DDR - you'll work up a sweat, but you'll look ridiculous doing so. I'm always worried the neighbors are going to glance in our window at night and think I'm having a seizure.

I remember reading an article last year on Ars Technica. It pointed to a British study that claimed the calories burned playing the Wii were only greater than playing other systems' games. I think one of the points people have made is that it's possible to play tennis, for instance, like... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 6:41 AM on April 14, 2008

My father is an Episcopal priest. He's firmly on the left side of the political spectrum, and he frequently finds himself picking up new parishioners who have left "the other" Episcopal church in town because of his political views. Of course, he also loses some parishioners who assume he's a godless, divorced commie who will lead him to hell. But in my experience, if there are multiple churches in town, they will frequently align with left or right politics.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 1:11 PM on April 10, 2008

One of my friends worked for a summer on a fishing boat and community in Alaska. One of her first jobs (thankfully brief) was to inspect fish for any worms. Those with worms were put aside for use in fishsticks, fillets, and other artificially shaped fish products.

So you've probably eaten worms before.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 12:50 PM on April 10, 2008

Adding my support for "Psychopomp." Be careful to enuciate it though. I just graded a mythology exam which explained how Hermes and Anubis were examples of "Psycho Pimps." This student is attending a much more exciting class than I'm teaching.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 8:15 AM on April 10, 2008

"enunciate" - crap. That's what I get for providing humorous anecdotes first thing in the morning.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 10:10 AM on April 10, 2008

La Vie rêvée des anges, perhaps?
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 9:55 PM on April 5, 2008

Or maybe not - the film has two main female leads, but I don't remember if one narrates or not. During one scene, one of them casually throws herself out the window.

Your description also reminds me of a scene from Wim Winders' Wings of Desire, although the jumping character is only a minor part of the plot. He does have something like narration, though, in the form of an internal monologue.

Given the reputed bleakness of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 10:07 PM on April 5, 2008

One of the reasons that my Zojirushi (which I asked about here, is languishing in a cabinet is that I never could just throw the ingredients in the machine and walk away. Depending on the day's climate, I had to always add more water or flour (usually the former), or else I ended up with a loaf that was too dense. Your dough should have that slightly tacky, springy earlobe consistency, and I could never get that without standing over the machine and making small adjustments - which negated the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 1:34 PM on April 5, 2008

It's not a movie, but St Elsewhere had an episode where Howie Mandel's character gets shot and goes to purgatory, hell, and heaven.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 5:30 PM on March 28, 2008

Also, the young adult novel Elsewhere, by Gabrielle Zevin (which I enjoyed way more than I should probably admit, not being a young adult), is about a teenage girl who dies and then lives backwards in an afterlife world.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 5:35 PM on March 28, 2008

As many posters have mentioned, the dead mother trope predates Disney by centuries. One of the few things I've retained from my 18th century novel seminar was that Arabella's dead mother was significant in Charlotte Lennox's The Female Quixote. Lots of folklorists have written on the subject, but the one that's freshest in my brain is Marina Warner. You can see part of her lecture The Absent Mother, Or Women Against Women in the "old Wives' tale" through Google... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 9:34 AM on March 12, 2008

Steve Earle's Ellis Unit One is about a death row prison guard. It's not much about love, though.

Also, Jonathan Coulton's Code Monkey .
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 10:06 PM on March 6, 2008

All these suggestions are good. Co-sleeping can be a wonderful way to work in night feedings, and teaching a baby to sleep in his/her crib is an invaluable lesson that can result in increased sanity for you and independence for her.

But whatever path you chose may not be completely up to you.

We tried everything to get our first son to sleep on his own (everything from trying to sleep on a mattress next to his crib to locking the door and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 4:20 PM on March 3, 2008

I spent a summer researching crime reporting in nineteenth-century London papers. It's amazing what people could do, and did do with alarming frequency, with knives, blunt instruments, and their bare hands.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 4:18 PM on March 2, 2008

The plot of Margret Atwood's novel Oryx and Crake ultimately focuses on a recreational superdrug - sort of a combination Prozac/Viagra/Birth Control pill.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 12:07 PM on February 28, 2008

One more vote here for the Medela, and another for renting a hospital grade pump for the first month or so if you're not going to be exclusively breast feeding. Be warned though - those things can stretch your nipples out like so much salt water taffy. (And just think of what they'll do to your wife's).

For my second baby, I didn't want to spend the money or carry the bulk of the Pump in Style, so I got Medela's Single Deluxe Breastpump, which worked fine for me. I... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 8:46 PM on February 22, 2008

45moore45, anecdotal evidence.

I've heard other people describe the same things, and when I did a Google search, I found questions like this one and comments in threads like this.

Plus, I don't have any trouble connecting. :)
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 11:58 AM on February 22, 2008

Thanks for all the suggestions. I hadn't thought about the similar inability to read or do math in dreams - my dream persona is embarrassingly unintellectual - but I'm wondering if, like many of you have suggested, our sleeping brains don't process the symbolic systems we take for granted in real life. And that's probably as far as my liberal arts education is going to let me go with this one.

But if I dream about a phone tonight, I'm eating it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bibliowench at 8:18 PM on February 22, 2008