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April 20th, 2012
03:15 pm - 100 Things: Master List ![[sticky post]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/icon_sticky.png "[sticky post]")
Thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2) tsuki_no_bara, I have landed on a topic for my 100 Things entry: 100 Things I Geek About. I will discuss 100 different things (or 100 aspects of things) that make me geek out. This post will be the tracking post for those 100 items.
1. Words!
2. Yarn!
3. Punny Stuffed Animal Names!
4. Fandom's Relationship to the Source Material
Current Mood:  creative
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May 25th, 2012
09:00 am - New Patch Column Up!
In today's Brookline Parent column, mabfan discusses how we try to give Muffin and Squeaker opportunities to socialize through playmates. Click to read Occupy Playdates.
Current Mood:  busy
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May 16th, 2012
02:56 pm - 100 Things: #4 -- Fandom's Relationship to the Source Material
February 2012 marked my 30th anniversary as a member of fandom. I was 11 when I first attended the Sunday of Boskone 19 (beckyfeld and lcmlc had attended for the whole weekend, and I got a taste of the convention when Abba-with-no-LJ and I headed over to the Park Plaza on Sunday to fetch them). After that first taste, I was hooked. I attended the full weekend of Boskone 20 and from there I haven't looked back.
When I started in SF fandom, it was mostly centered around book fandom. Science fiction written-wordfans have an interesting relationship with their source material. We feel a proprietary relationship with not only the book itself but with the creator of the book. And at conventions in the early 1980s (which for me was Boskone), we had access to many of our favorite writers, either because they were guests at the convention or because they were fans themselves and attending the convention by paying out of their own pockets for the cost of hotel rooms and food (some conventions comp memberships for people who participate in programming; I do not know if Boskone did so in the 1980s). This easy access to our favorite writers led to, for instance, my meeting Joan D. Vinge in the hot tub at a Boskone. We stop writers randomly in the hallway and ask them about their current writing projects or about things in the books we've read that we want to understand better. And we expect this level of interaction.
With the growth of the Internet when I was in college, I became active in USENET groups that discussed TV shows I enjoyed. There was something wonderful in the ability to join with other fans of shows that might be unknown to people in one's everyday circle of interactions and discuss things that would make your nearest and dearest go "Huh?" Internet fandom on USENET had etiquette rules about interactions with the show creators (in many cases, they boiled down to "Don't do it unless you can be respectful. Don't make us look like a bunch of idiots"). The September that Never Ended (1993, when AOL got USENET access) came and went and USENET groups eventually moved to mailing lists and then to the Web, but fandom stayed fandom. We still wanted to discuss every detail of everything we saw or read.
Over the years, through many TV fandoms, I have seen how fandoms with an "open canon" (shows are still being broadcast, as opposed to shows with a "closed canon", those shows now off the air and thus not adding new shows to the "canon") react to new episodes. In my many fandoms over the years, most had members who were online moments after the end credits rolled, with people discussing the shows while they were fresh in our minds. These discussions (and, usually, debates) would rage until the next episode ran and often even thereafter, folding in what we learned in new episodes to flesh out our interaction with the show. I remember on alt.tv.er we had rules about spoilery discussions about just-broadcast episodes: They were forbidden completely until the episode had run on the West Coast of the US. After that, they had to be marked as "Spoiler" for a week. After that, spoilery details were fair game. This led to discussions by those of us on the East Coast that for a couple of hours looked like this:
Person A: Can you believe [spoiler] did that?
Person B: I *know*! When [spoiler] [spoilery verb-ed] [spoiler]? Amazing!
And so forth.
Anyway, so I've become used to online discussions happening as or right after the show has aired. But one show I am watching, for which there is an online presence, does not seem to have this "discuss-immediately-after" culture, which I find interesting. I wonder if it's that the fans want to think more thinky thoughts about the show and therefore are holding back on posting or if I'm just not hooked into the sources of more immediate conversation. So I will either have to be patient or look around more.
Current Mood: busy
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May 11th, 2012
09:00 am - New Patch Column Up!
In today's The Brookline Parent column, I discuss the questions that Muffin and Squeaker ask as they learn about the world around them. I also talk about how we try to ensure that their learning the answers to these questions is done as safely as possible. Click to read The Hows and the Whys.
Current Mood: busy
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May 10th, 2012
10:48 pm - This is lomedet's Fault
( Lag B'Omer Revisited )
Current Mood:  silly
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09:21 am - Some Links About Today
::points to icon::
Today is the thirty-third day of the Omer. Thus, I bring the following:
-- Counting the Omer
-- Lag B'Omer (today)
-- ( Matt B'Omer )
Current Mood: silly
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May 9th, 2012
02:02 pm - 100 Things: #3 -- Punny Stuffed Animal Names!
I don't honestly remember how it started. It might have been when mabfan bought me a trio of stuffed dinosaurs in honor of not-our-wedding-date (a story unto itself; maybe I'll write that one up some day). So he got me a brontosaurus (don't tell me they don't exist; that's what the tag said it was), and I named it Charlotte. And then he bought me a second one. And I named it Emily. And then he bought me a dimetrodon, which is technically not a dinosaur, but that's neither here nor there. I named it Dmitri. But I'd decided that had he bought me another brontosaurus, I was going to name it Anne.
From there the floodgates opened. We have a giraffe I named Vander. We have a brown bear I named Frederick (now known by the girls as Fred the Bear). We have an obscurely named owl I call Rick Mercer (because this owl has 22 minutes). At one point, I compiled a list of names of stuffed animals in our collection, but it has fallen woefully out of date. Also, most stuffed animals in the house now belong to Muffin and Squeaker, and they're not so creative with animal names yet. (The bears that Sabba and Savta gave them are both "Sabba Savta bear." The bears that we told them were special to Mommy and Daddy are, respectively, Mommy's Special Bear and Daddy's Special Bear). The stuffed octopus that I knit ended up with the name Calamari, but Muffin only knows her as Callie.
At some point, I need to dig out the list again. I may post it here for amusement purposes.
ETA: mabfan reminds me that we named our stuffed bison Freeman.
Current Mood:  cheerful
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May 3rd, 2012
01:55 pm - Small World Factor Strikes Again
This afternoon, as I was heading to a meeting, I happened to strike up a conversation with a coworker. Through a series of bizarre conversational connections, I discovered that he knows lensman along with beckyfeld's friends E. and JP. beckyfeld's name sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't remember if they knew each other.
I am always surprised when this happens, though it happens often enough that I often think I should stop being surprised.
Current Mood:  amused
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April 27th, 2012
09:11 am - New Patch Column Up!
In this week's The Brookline Parent column, mabfan channels his inner Sam Seaborn in "Celestial Navigation" and is nuts about dental hygiene. Read about the trials and tribulations of trying to get the girls to care for their teeth, and how Sesame Street helped us, in Nothing But the Tooth.
Current Mood: busy
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April 25th, 2012
01:14 pm - Why I Love Being in Boston
Seen and photographed near the Old State House during my lunchtime walk:
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| Paul Revere Buys a Hot Dog
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(Click to enlarge the photo.)
Current Mood: amused
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April 24th, 2012
10:28 am - 100 Things: #2 -- Yarn!
Yarn. I love it. I have skeins of it that will probably never see my knitting needles. I have balls that I bought for projects that I was all set to start but that never made it out of the bag. I've got hanks given to me by friends who were deaccessioning from their stashes.
I prefer natural fibers, but I am not a yarn purist. I believe that synthetic yarns have their place (such as for baby gifts, as I refuse to knit baby gifts that cannot be tossed into the washer and the dryer), but I prefer the ones that have a more natural feel (so, for instance, yarns that are wool-synthetic blends).
My grandmother taught me to knit when I was about nine, and I admire many things about her and her knitting, but I have no idea why she had this seeming obsession with cheap Red Heart yarn. That's not to say she only worked in Red Heart, but there is quite a large quantity of knit objects that she made out of Red Heart that survive to this day.
I like to go into yarn shops and just fondle the yarn. More than once I have come home with yarn that I have no idea what I might want to use it for. It followed me home; what it will become will be revealed eventually.
I will, and have, bought yarn online, but I prefer to buy yarn that I have had an opportunity to feel for myself. So one thing I will do is look in my local yarn shop (LYS), buy a skein or two there, but go online to buy multiple skeins if I am making a sweater, mostly so that I don't buy the whole inventory of a yarn in my LYS and to be sure that all the skeins I buy come from the same dye lot (thus preventing the pitfall of different dye lots looking different when knit into a finished item).
I appreciate mabfan being tolerant of my bringing home skeins of yarn that have no immediate project designation. And now Muffin and Squeaker are beginning to express interest in my yarn, so I may have to start buying them yarn that will be just for their own use.
Current Mood: busy
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April 20th, 2012
03:16 pm - 100 Things: #1 -- Words!
I am something of a word nerd. That was a giant understatement right there. I cannot remember a time I didn't love words, playing with words, learning about words. I do know that when I was in my early teens I spent an afternoon in the Boston Public Library poking through books about words.
My love of word play is definitely traceable back to my childhood. My father is an inveterate punster, and he raised beckyfeld and me to look at words as things that can be played with. I eventually parlayed that into a focus on Linguistics and subsequently into careers as an editor and as a technical writer.
I often say that my Linguistics background gives me license to create new words (neologisms). I have a number that I use regularly:
-- Snackquistion (the acquisition of snacks)
-- Procrastiknitting (knitting instead of doing something else I should be doing)
-- Splorp (home made whipped cream)
Now I am watching Muffin and Squeaker learn about language. I'm fascinated by the stages they are going through while acquiring language. They clearly have studied Jean Berko Gleason's research on children's understanding of morphology, as they have an innate sense of how to pluralize words they have never heard before. They are also learning the pitfalls of irregular verbs in English as I correct their "goed" to "went" and "childs" to "children." (Of course, I am also warping them by referring to them as one girlificus and two girlifici.)
(This is most likely just the first of many 100 Things posts that will be somehow about language, words, and the like. Just warning you all.)
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April 19th, 2012
11:36 am - Letter Meme
1. Leave a comment to this post, specifically saying that you would like a letter.
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Post the names of five fictional characters whose names begin with that letter, and your thoughts on each. The characters can be from books, movies, or TV shows.
I got N from elrhiarhodan:
1. Neal Caffrey, "White Collar": An obvious place to start. He's the character that drew me to "White Collar," and I remain fascinated by what goes on in his head. He is a possibly reformed con man, but how reformed he really is, and what drives him, is still unclear. Part of me also wonders if he's pulling a long con as Cooper Anderson and Bryce Larkin.
2. Natalie Hurley, "Sports Night": Natalie is one of those characters whom I love on screen and would probably hate to know in person, though I'd always know she had my back if she was my friend (though I would never cross her, because I know about sharing and I know about punishment).
3. Nog, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine": Nog grew on me as the series went on. I found him somewhat grating at first, but as he grew as a character I really came to like him. I followed him as he joined Starfleet and worked for Chief O'Brien and felt for him when he was injured during the Dominion war.
4. Noah Bennet, "Heroes": Ah, HRG. A very complex character who really loves his family and is doing the wrong things for all the right reasons until he starts doing the right things for the right reasons. My favorite episode of Heroes is probably "Company Man," in which we really see HRG up close for the first time.
5. Natasha Fatale, "Rocky and Bullwinkle": The brains of the organization. Boris would be nowhere without her.
Current Mood: busy
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09:51 am - I Never Met a Meta I Didn't Like...
Or, recursive blogging about blogging.
I am considering doing this, but I cannot figure out (a) if I will keep up with it or (b) what I would choose as my overarching topic. So, I turn to you, my readers, with three questions:
1. Should I do it?
2. What should I write about, should I actually choose to do so?
3. Will you guys keep on my case to write about the [whatever]?
I know I still owe 14 posts on topics provided by twitch124 and dpolicar; I hope to start those in the next day or so.
Current Mood:  contemplative
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April 12th, 2012
03:15 pm - An Intriguing Bit of History
Based on the suggestion of a friend on Google+, I started looking on the 1940 Census pages for various addresses that are important in my life. One I couldn't find at all -- the town in which I grew up does not even seem to be on the census. But I did find our current home, and I discovered that in 1940 the residents were a woman and her female partner (that's how she's described on the Census form). They were in their mid-60s, and they had lived there since at least 1935.
Current Mood: intrigued
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09:47 am - Because He Asked...
...I am linking to popfiend's post. Please go read if you have been following him recently.
Current Mood: busy
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08:59 am - New Patch Column Up!
This morning (a day early, due to tomorrow being the seventh day of Pesach and therefore a yom tov), our The Brookline Parent column discusses Muffin and Squeaker's experiences preparing for Pesach and then at the Seder. Click to read It Was, In Fact, Just About Enough for Us.
Current Mood: busy
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April 9th, 2012
08:57 am - We Talk Like This at the Seder
Scene: On Saturday night, mabfan and gnomi are at the seder with lcmlc and Abba-with-no-LJ. gnomi has just broken the Afikoman for distribution.
gnomi: There are pieces of varying size.
mabfan: Pieces of Varying Size? I don't believe they exist.
This subsequently sparked a conversation about "The Princess Bride," the fact that lcmlc has never read the book, and whether Goldman should do a digital enhancement.
mabfan: It would be like what Lucas did with "Star Wars."
gnomi: Inigo parried first!
Current Mood:  tired
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April 5th, 2012
09:22 am - You Keep Using That Word. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means
Here's one that I see smart, well-educated people using, and it drives me nigh on bonkers.
remuneration: Payment for work done.
renumeration: Not a dictionary word. Were it one, it would likely mean "the act of renumbering."
Current Mood:  cranky
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April 4th, 2012
10:48 am - [Casting Spoiler] Sings Gotye! On Glee!
Fans of White Collar might be interested in the following ( Glee Casting Spoiler: )
Current Mood: busy
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March 30th, 2012
09:07 am - New Patch Column Up!
In this week's The Brookline Parent column, mabfan addresses Squeaker's new fear based on something imaginary and discusses the real-life fears we as parents face. Click to read Snakes in a Crib.
Current Mood: busy
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March 25th, 2012
06:55 pm - Temporary E-Mail Repointing
For those of you who usually send me e-mail at my [firstnamelastname] domain, please cease using this address until further notice. The domain expired without my knowledge (I never received any notification it was about to expire), and while I was able to renew it (it only expired a couple of days ago), it will take a couple of days to get things up and running again. I can always be reached through my @livejournal address, so if you don't have another means of contacting me, that's a safe one to use.
ETA: It's back up; all is well. One can return to e-mailing me at the previous address.
Current Mood: cranky
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March 16th, 2012
09:01 am - New Patch Column Up!
In this week's The Brookline Parent column, I discuss what happened the first time we took Muffin and Squeaker to a bookstore and let them choose what they wanted to buy. Click here to read "Book 'Em, Muffin and Squeaker!"
Current Mood: busy
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