Weekend Reading: The Sort of Almost There Edition

I am so very close to breathing a huge sigh of relief and having a less hectic schedule... sort of. The publication of Missed Chances finishes off the intense period in which I scheduled myself two book releases and an online class.

However, we still have a lot to do to finish off the renovations. To be honest, I'm not even looking at "finishing," I am just looking at "getting everything in the right room, getting my new desk functional, and getting my books out of boxes." Last weekend, we moved Petunia into her new room. We still need to take a trip to Ikea to get the rest of the things we need to "finish" her room, and we need to unpack some more of the boxes with her stuff. I think we're about halfway to done there.

This weekend's goal is painting the room that used to be Petunia's room and steam cleaning its carpet.  This will be our music/guest room. I'd also like to get to Ikea to get the stuff for Petunia and the shelves for our office.

After that, we need to paint the shelves, install the shelves, move the piano and other things into the music/guest room, and then start putting things away so that I can move my new desk into its final position and actually start using it.

Oh, and we need to buy and install window treatments. The new office has nice big windows on three sides, and that means I get blinded by the sun twice a day.

I also picked up a new project with my main client, which is good (because it means more money), but does cut into the "rest and recover" time I thought I might have coming up.

I'm not complaining, though! It has all been a good kind of hectic, and while I need to squeeze some real down time in soon, I'd rather be busy like this than have no work to do.

So anyway, on with the links:

The paperback version of Missed Chances is now on Amazon! The blurb got messed up in the transition, though, so I'll have to figure out how to fix that.

If you've scratched your head over your kid's math homework or laughed at the seemingly absurd examples on social media... you should read this explanation of why 5x3 does not necessarily equal 5+5+5 in math homework land. It is an excellent explanation of that one example, but also a good general reminder that education is about laying the foundation for true understanding, not just "getting the right answer."

An object lesson in why women often don't talk about the harassment we get- talking about it just brings more harassment, and it is often worse. Thanks, internet trolls.

Speaking of internet trolls: GamerGate is not gone.

Speaking of subtle sexism... read Michelle Goldberg and Rebecca Traister on sexism and the Democratic primary. For the record, Bernie Sanders fans: I won't think you're sexist if you vote for Bernie. I will think you're sexist is you continue to talk about Hilary in such a condescending manner. And I damn sure will think you're sexist if you say women who point out the sexism in how people talk about Hilary are "flipping out."

(Also for the record: I haven't decide for certain how I'm voting yet, but I can say that my number 1 concern will be that the Democratic candidate be able to win in the general election, because the majority of the Republican candidates just downright scare me. And if you think that there is no way that one of the scarier Republicans will win... you need to talk to more people who aren't liberals.)

In happier political news, this clip of the new Canadian prime minister answering why he wanted gender parity in his cabinet will make you smile. And while we're talking about the Canadian cabinet: it is pretty impressive.

Japanese klezmer pop... just go check it out.

XKCD was on fire this week. Water distribution and Git are my favorites. And I somehow missed Overthinking a couple of weeks ago.

Finally, here is a beautiful picture of a place I'd like to visit.

Happy weekend, everyone!