Update on the little guy. He's doing fine, and his laceration is healing fairly well. He doesn't even seem to notice it, honestly. A few times I've seen him pick at the half-disintegrated sutures, but other than that, it's baby life as usual. He's been really whiny lately, but that has nothing to do with his wound. I don't know what it has to do with. He'll seemingly be fine, and then he'll just start fussing, out of the blue, and putting his hands up in the universal kid "hold me" gesture. If we don't do it, he'll come over and start tugging on our pants. It's not just with me and S either; the daycare reports say things like, "Lil' S played on the slide and ate all his lunch. Then he whined for a while." Like I said, I'm not sure what's up with him. It could be he's just a baby. That's a perfectly acceptable answer to me.
I'm a bit worried that we're indulging him too much, because we almost always give in to his cries. We've talked about being a little bit firmer with him, but it will have to wait a few weeks. We're going to S's parents' in a week, so any progress we make will be instantly undone. He's going to be doted on and then spoiled and then doted on some more. Their nickname for him is the Kannada word for gold, if that tells you anything. What Lil' S could really use is a little sibling to put him in his place. Hopefully that's in the cards in the not too distant future.
Now for an update on me. I'm doing well, although it was a tough morning. S and I woke up in one of those married-couple moods, where neither of you is doing anything wrong, but you're just annoyed with each other for some reason (perhaps sleep deprivation). The mutual annoyance reached its peak on our way to a birthday party for our friends' three-year old. It was at a park, but if the weather was bad, then it was going to be at their house. Of course, just to mess with us, today was one of those days where the weather was kinda bad, but not really bad, so it wasn't clear which way they would go. S thought it would be at their house -- and they just live two blocks from us -- so she said we should just walk there. I said she should call them to find out where it was. So she said I could call them if I was so concerned about it. But I feel weird calling because they're more her friends than my friends -- I don't even have their numbers, and the evite wasn't even sent to me -- so we just walked to their house.
And of course they weren't there. They were at the at the park, which we figured out because S called them. I (perhaps foolishly) pointed out that that was exactly what I suggested in the first place. S of course didn't appreciate this and came back at me with "you never want to do anything", meaning she's the one who does all the planning and coordinating and all that. Normally this is a fair point, but not in this case, in my opinion, because these are people she was friends with before we met, and she's the one who got the evite and has their numbers and all that.
To make matters worse -- annoyance begets annoyance -- on the way to the park it was as if all the drivers on the road had conspired to drive me insane. The worst was when we got to park. The only parking spots available were on the curb, which wasn't a big deal because there was a huge open space that could fit four cars. One guy is in front of me, and he pulls into the space, and instead of pulling all the way forward (or all the way back) he parks right in the middle of it. So now instead of just sliding in behind him into a long gap, I actually have to parallel park in one of the two little gaps he's now created. And he made it so that only three cars can fit now. This is one of those things that's so irritating, because it's just ... Why? Why would he do that? He's either colossally inconsiderate or colossally oblivious. I prefer to assume it's the former, because it better justifies my indignation.
So I was in a bit of a stew this morning, but things got better. The party was fun, some friends came over afterwards for some beers, I sneaked in a catnap, took a walk, and in a minute S and I are going to watch a movie (The Way Way Back) which we almost never do. Plus I came across this article about the degradation of modern science, which strangely made me feel good about my current career.
The article talks a lot about how one of the biggest problems with science is the publish or perish gauntlet that so many researchers face. Researchers feel compelled to equivocate with their findings to make them sound more significant than they are. And not enough people have the time or willingness to put in the legwork to call them out on this. As a result you get a bunch of results that can't be replicated. Fudging things to come out the way you want is the antithesis of science. And that's basically what's going on on a large scale right now. And I complete understand it, because I lived in that world for a several years (and I still moonlight in it when I can). The academic publishing process is completely outdated and broken. I have many thoughts on how to make it better, but those will have to wait for another post (or not, we will see how it goes).
The reason the article made me feel good, in a weird way, about my career is because it confirms that I made the right "choice" to go into the private sector instead of academia. I have to use quotes because academia more denied me, than I did it. Over the course of two years I applied for at least 50 tenure-track professorships and got exactly two interviews. One got canceled, because the position was eliminated; the other I turned down, because logistically I couldn't make the interview, and it was at the bottom of my list anyway. Now, I'm sure I could've found an adjunct position at Palookaville City College and tried to work my way up; maybe by the time I was 40 I could've had a real gig. Or I could've done what I did, which is take a position with a private company in a major metropolitan area for double the salary and half the stress. It was a choice in name only.
Alright, that's it for this entry. It's movie night! (Smash cut to an hour later: S is sleeping on the sofa, and I'm working on a crossword puzzle with my earbuds in while a movie plays in the background.)
Until next time...
*Robbie Gould once got me a mention in the "Missed Connections" section of the local paper. I was at a bar watching football, and I was shooting the breeze with a girl sitting next to me, and I made the (lame) joke "good as Gould" after Robbie Gould kicked a field goal. The next week the owner of the bar, whom I know fairly well, showed me that she submitted a missed connection about me that referenced this joke and suggested we go out sometime. I didn't follow up on it. I think I was dating S at the time. Also, she was a bit too, um ... Rubenesque for my taste.
I'm a bit worried that we're indulging him too much, because we almost always give in to his cries. We've talked about being a little bit firmer with him, but it will have to wait a few weeks. We're going to S's parents' in a week, so any progress we make will be instantly undone. He's going to be doted on and then spoiled and then doted on some more. Their nickname for him is the Kannada word for gold, if that tells you anything. What Lil' S could really use is a little sibling to put him in his place. Hopefully that's in the cards in the not too distant future.
[Gold]
Now for an update on me. I'm doing well, although it was a tough morning. S and I woke up in one of those married-couple moods, where neither of you is doing anything wrong, but you're just annoyed with each other for some reason (perhaps sleep deprivation). The mutual annoyance reached its peak on our way to a birthday party for our friends' three-year old. It was at a park, but if the weather was bad, then it was going to be at their house. Of course, just to mess with us, today was one of those days where the weather was kinda bad, but not really bad, so it wasn't clear which way they would go. S thought it would be at their house -- and they just live two blocks from us -- so she said we should just walk there. I said she should call them to find out where it was. So she said I could call them if I was so concerned about it. But I feel weird calling because they're more her friends than my friends -- I don't even have their numbers, and the evite wasn't even sent to me -- so we just walked to their house.
And of course they weren't there. They were at the at the park, which we figured out because S called them. I (perhaps foolishly) pointed out that that was exactly what I suggested in the first place. S of course didn't appreciate this and came back at me with "you never want to do anything", meaning she's the one who does all the planning and coordinating and all that. Normally this is a fair point, but not in this case, in my opinion, because these are people she was friends with before we met, and she's the one who got the evite and has their numbers and all that.
[Tracey Gold]
To make matters worse -- annoyance begets annoyance -- on the way to the park it was as if all the drivers on the road had conspired to drive me insane. The worst was when we got to park. The only parking spots available were on the curb, which wasn't a big deal because there was a huge open space that could fit four cars. One guy is in front of me, and he pulls into the space, and instead of pulling all the way forward (or all the way back) he parks right in the middle of it. So now instead of just sliding in behind him into a long gap, I actually have to parallel park in one of the two little gaps he's now created. And he made it so that only three cars can fit now. This is one of those things that's so irritating, because it's just ... Why? Why would he do that? He's either colossally inconsiderate or colossally oblivious. I prefer to assume it's the former, because it better justifies my indignation.
So I was in a bit of a stew this morning, but things got better. The party was fun, some friends came over afterwards for some beers, I sneaked in a catnap, took a walk, and in a minute S and I are going to watch a movie (The Way Way Back) which we almost never do. Plus I came across this article about the degradation of modern science, which strangely made me feel good about my current career.
The article talks a lot about how one of the biggest problems with science is the publish or perish gauntlet that so many researchers face. Researchers feel compelled to equivocate with their findings to make them sound more significant than they are. And not enough people have the time or willingness to put in the legwork to call them out on this. As a result you get a bunch of results that can't be replicated. Fudging things to come out the way you want is the antithesis of science. And that's basically what's going on on a large scale right now. And I complete understand it, because I lived in that world for a several years (and I still moonlight in it when I can). The academic publishing process is completely outdated and broken. I have many thoughts on how to make it better, but those will have to wait for another post (or not, we will see how it goes).
[Robbie Gould*]
The reason the article made me feel good, in a weird way, about my career is because it confirms that I made the right "choice" to go into the private sector instead of academia. I have to use quotes because academia more denied me, than I did it. Over the course of two years I applied for at least 50 tenure-track professorships and got exactly two interviews. One got canceled, because the position was eliminated; the other I turned down, because logistically I couldn't make the interview, and it was at the bottom of my list anyway. Now, I'm sure I could've found an adjunct position at Palookaville City College and tried to work my way up; maybe by the time I was 40 I could've had a real gig. Or I could've done what I did, which is take a position with a private company in a major metropolitan area for double the salary and half the stress. It was a choice in name only.
Alright, that's it for this entry. It's movie night! (Smash cut to an hour later: S is sleeping on the sofa, and I'm working on a crossword puzzle with my earbuds in while a movie plays in the background.)
Until next time...
*Robbie Gould once got me a mention in the "Missed Connections" section of the local paper. I was at a bar watching football, and I was shooting the breeze with a girl sitting next to me, and I made the (lame) joke "good as Gould" after Robbie Gould kicked a field goal. The next week the owner of the bar, whom I know fairly well, showed me that she submitted a missed connection about me that referenced this joke and suggested we go out sometime. I didn't follow up on it. I think I was dating S at the time. Also, she was a bit too, um ... Rubenesque for my taste.
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