Getting ready for winter Part 2

Okay, remember that cute little post earlier today about the snow falling gently on the hillside? Well, screw it. Because of that snow I missed my book club tonight!!

I figured the roads wouldn't be bad once I got off of the hill and started out at 7 pm, giving myself an extra 10 minutes for the trip. Made it out of the driveway. Made it down the road. Didn't make it up the hill. Backed down Hwy 20 and turned around to drive a different route. Got stuck halfway up another hill. Called in the reinforcements (spouse and boy). Couldn't get back up the hill to our house, ended up leaving the car at a neighbors (after getting stuck in their driveway) and took the truck home. It was about 8 then, too late to make it to the 7:30 discussion.

Bummer. I hate winter.....

Getting ready for winter

It is snowing here. October 28, 2008 and we have a winter storm warning. Already there are several inches of wet, slushy snow on the ground. This morning when I walked to the end of the driveway to retrieve the newspaper it was raining, with some snow mixed in. Now it is all snow.

We got a new snowblower today, just in time for the weather. We bought our first one 13 years ago when we moved here, and it served us well all that time. The new one has a light, an electric start, and a wider path. It' great, I think. Maybe we will test it out this evening.

Winter is actually my favorite season in most respects. I don't mind the cold, because it usually is easy to get warm. I like fires in the fireplace. I like hot chocolate.

Secrets

I've been thinking a lot about secrets and privacy lately. Maybe the exposure of political campaigns brings that about, the way in which candidates' lives are scrutinized. I imagine we all have secrets, things that we have never told anyone. Wasn't there some big project recently where people could send anonymous postcards with their secrets written on them to some guy? I think he published a book of them. Are secrets a good thing? Should there be some things that we keep only to ourselves?

I guess most secrets are things we are ashamed of, or maybe afraid of. Things that we have done or felt that, we fear, if others knew would change their feelings or opinions towards us. But what one of us might find very embarrassing or shameful, others might find humorous or interesting. The problem is, we don't know unless we tell. And if we guess wrong, we are in trouble.

Then there are secrets that we might keep from some people, but not others. When I was getting ready to interview for academic jobs I was given the advice by one senior female faculty member to hide the fact that I was married. I couldn't imagine how I could interview for 1-2 days and never mention my husband. I have a friend who's mother is coming for a visit, to sort of cheer her up a little after a tough time. The mother doesn't want her other daughter to know that she is coming, she's afraid that the other daughter would be jealous. How could you keep that secret? Is it worth it?

Do we keep secrets to protect others or protect ourselves? Are we trying to keep information from someone that would be hurt by that truth, and how do we know? Doctors used to keep terminal diagnoses from patients, thinking that the patient should keep a positive attitude. But what about the need to prepare for death?

So, how do we decide what to tell others? What secrets do you have?

Anti-Intellectualism

One of the things that really bothers me in the current presidential campaign is the anti-intellectualism that is being revealed. I don't consider myself to be a supporter of academic elitism, but I do like to think that the thoughtful consideration of ideas is something we as a country values. I don't think you need to have attended Yale or Harvard to be able to think, in fact for the most part I would argue that NOT attending one of the elite educational institutions is to your advantage.

A few years ago I listened to an academic administrator talk about the limitations of some high school students who were being interviewed for a prestigious scholarship here. Specifically, she was critical of the students from rural areas and small schools who had not been exposed to a diverse student body, or had the opportunity to eat (non-European) ethnic foods, or had not visited large urban centers. She scoffed at their possible contributions to the program and the University. What could these "hicks" offer us? I would argue that they could offer a lot, provided that they are smart, thoughtful kids who are put into an environment where their experiences and ideas would be respected.

In another instance, I had a faculty member actually try to make the point that attending an Ivy League graduate school program may disadvantage new faculty, because they would not have had the opportunity to teach as students. We are to feel sorry for junior faculty who attend the most prestigious graduate programs in the country? I don't get it.

So, this has strayed a little from anti-intellectualism. My point is just that we should worry less about credentials and more about ideas. But, at the same time, we don't need to discount someone's ideas because they came from either an "elite" or "hick" school.

The Mediocre Table

Driving my 13 year old son and his best friend to play practice today they discussed the advantages of middle school over elementary school. Most of these revolved around lunchtime--in middle school you can sit where you want, they don't make you talk quietly, you can fit as many kids at a table as you want, etc.

I asked, "Who do you guys sit with at lunch?"
"Oh," they said, "we sit at the mediocre table."
"What does that mean?" I asked laughing.
"Well, there is the cool kid table, with Nicky, Mike, (and some other names). Then there is the mediocre table, that is us, Connor, Austin, (and it seems like about 10 other boys)."
"So, who's left?"
"Oh, that's the rejects table...Zach, Cody, (and a few others.) The same is true for the girls, except they have the rejected by the rejects table, too."

Remember those days? Who was cool, who was not? I guess that doesn't end. I still see it at faculty dinners and meetings. Who is going to get to sit at the "cool table"? Who gets left at the reject table?

I know in school I was probably part of the vast "mediocre" group. I was certainly too nerdy and unattractive to be at the popular table. Funny, though, those of us at the mediocre table were pretty happy with our position.

Brains

Since I got my iPod a year or so ago I've become addicted to podcasts. All the shows I wish I could listen to on NPR during the day I can download and listen to while I walk or drive. It's great! And free! So, over the last few weeks I have, by chance, listened to two different stories about brains. One was, I think on "To the Best of our Knowledge" and was about brain plasticity. The other was on "Radio Lab" and was about identity. The Radio Lab story started with describing the old experiment where the put paint on chimps' faces and had them look in a mirror. When the chimps touched their own face it was clear that the understood that the mirror image was them. Then they described an interesting experiment where they merged an individual's face with Bill Clinton's face. When they show the morphed image (50% you, 50% Clinton) to the individual, they always identified the picture as themselves. When they showed the image to someone else, who knew you, they identified the picture as Clinton. So, some part of our brain is responsible for seeing "me." Turns out if you anethestize the right side of the brain, the person sees Clinton, not themselves. So, something on the brain's right side is associated with personal identity.

What I found really fascinating, though, was a comment along the lines of "we are each only a freak accident away from being another person." The point being that people who have suffered some type of brain injury often exhibit different personality traits than before.

The other program talked about how different parts of the brain could be reprogrammed to take over functions when one part is injured. And that we can change our thoughts--we can reprogram ourselves to think more positively about something.

Put these together, could you change your personality? Can you reprogram part of your brain to always think differently?

Camping trip

I've just returned from a weekend camping trip with my 4 sisters and 3 nieces. Well, I actually haven't returned home yet, I'm still at my Dad's house, but I've returned from the "wild." And it was a wild and wonderful weekend. The 8 of us, plus another female friend, had a wonderful time. We sat around the campfire, ate, swapped stories, drank, took a long hike, ate and drank, played some games, ate some more....you get the picture. We hope to do this again next year, but even if we never do it again it was definitely worth doing. It is fun to spend time with people who know you so well. We don't spend much time together now, or at least most of us don't, but something about spending those first 10-20 years together creates an incredible bond that can't be broken. I feel sorry for people who don't get along with their siblings, it is a great loss. I'm glad that I grew up in a big family.

Out of commission

I've been out of commission for a few days, nothing major, but some medical tests that required some preparation and recovery time. Those over 50 know the kinds of things I've been through! I'm feeling better today and raring to go. Tomorrow I leave early in the morning for my trip to Indiana to go camping with my sisters and nieces. Everyone is excited. Among the 9 of us we must have just about every piece of camping equipment known to mankind. The weather forecast is wonderful--70s and sunny. I am prepared for the 600+ mile car trip--charging the ipod, have a few books on tape, car is gassed and tires filled.

But before all of that, the family is going out for dinner and to see the show Spamalot tonight. We are celebrating my younger son's 13th birthday. A true teenager now! I can hardly believe it.

My Thursday

It was a cool, gloomy, rainy day in Syracuse. I woke up to find, to the surprise of all of us in the Himes' household, that we had no hot water. Okay, I can deal with that. Heated up a few pitchers in the microwave and made myself presentable. I was on my way to Baltimore for an NIH meeting, but, more importantly, to meet my old friend Mark for dinner. I would have plenty of time to wash my hair before dinner once I got to Baltimore. Got to the Syracuse airport to find that the parking garage was under construction and I would have to park in the open lot, a long walk in the cold rain. No problem, I hadn't had a good shower anyway. We boarded on time, then heard that the latch on the fuel tank cover was bent and would not close. We would wait for maintenance, and wait, and wait. We finally took off about 45 minutes late. So, there is no direct flight from Syracuse to Baltimore, I was flying through Philadelphia. Given that I had a 45 minute layover, I was feeling a little nervous, but hey, what are the chances that the BWI flight would leave on time? Turns out, VERY GOOD! Even though there were at least 8 of us trying to make that connection, and the flight is only about 30 minutes, would they wait? NO! We landed at 1:20 (the time the other flight was to depart) and were at the gate before 1:40...just in time to see it rolling away. There was another flight at 3:25, oversold and with a standby list. I was given a seat on the 6:25 flight. I now had nearly 5 hours to kill in the Philly airport. It is under a 2 hour drive by car from Philly to Baltimore....A little late lunch, a glass of wine, discovery of a renegade free wifi site....not so bad, but I'm really wishing I had taken a good shower. Then, just to top things off, the 6:25 flight is now delayed to 7:30!!! I long ago gave up on dinner plans, my goal now is to make it to the hotel in time for the debate. We get on the plane, we taxi, we taxi, we taxi some more...our taxing took longer than the actual flight. I grabbed a cab, with the only black Muslim Republican in Baltimore, and made it just in time to write this little missive before the debate! Success at last....