Weekend Reading: The Day Off Didn't Go How I Planned Edition

This post is late today, because my day off didn't go to plan at all. It started off well. I finished the little bit of work I needed to do, and headed off to rollerblade by about 10 a.m. I got to my favorite rollerblading spot to find it closed for a speedboat race this weekend. So I went to a different part of the bay. The rollerblading there was just not as good, and I could hear the damn speedboats, taunting me with the fact that I wasn't rollerblading where I wanted to be.

Then I had lunch with my husband, which was nice. After lunch, I went to my personal stylist appointment at Nordstrom. It was fine, but took about twice as long as I expected. I am undecided about whether I'll do it again. It will be easier to use the stylist now that she knows me, and she picked out good things for me. I bought two dresses, two jackets, a cardigan and matching tank, and a pair of pants and a blouse that can be both for everyday and for dressier occasions if I pair it with one of the jackets. Based on what I bought, Nic+Zoe is my new favorite brand. The dresses are fabulous!

So, that was good. But the problem with working with a personal stylist at a place like Nordstrom is that she has every incentive to push me towards trendier things, so that I'll need to update more often. I resisted and ended up with what feel like pretty basic things. Certainly, the dresses should last for a good long time. The pants will need to be updated whenever we change our pant styles again, but there's no way around that. Still, it rankled a bit to have her keep talking about making me look more "up to date" and "modern," particularly when she was showing me accessories and shoes. I didn't buy shoes there, because the shoes that are in style won't work with my feet. I am happy to spend a lot of money on shoes, but only if they are completely comfortable and will last for years and years. The stylish ones will be out of style before I get good value from them.

Anyway, I consider that a mixed bag. And by the time I got home from the shopping, I only had 20 minutes in my hammock before I had to go get the kids and then get ready for the back to school picnic. We're just home from that now.

So... links. I have a few.

I found this piece about the changing Democratic consensus on economic policy interesting.

Here's another interesting piece: Maori women talking about deciding to get the traditional chin tattoo.

The Sit With Us app is such a wonderful idea. It is also an example of how people in a community (in this case, teenagers) will often see a need that those of us outside the community do not see. This is a particularly striking example, since we were all teenagers once and should have remembered this!

Cate Huston's post on changing how you think about money as a woman in tech is really good, and applicable beyond women in tech.

This is a really fascinating article about schizophrenia. Or at least it is fascinating to me: I'm really interested in how different cultures view the biological states we call mental illness. The intersection of culture and human biology is interesting to me from a purely intellectual standpoint, but I also wonder if understanding this better would help us treat mental illness more successfully and also whether we would discover that there are aspects of our culture that are harming people.

I think this Anil Dash post about the "teach kids to code" movement is very good.

Finally, a little self-promotion. The Kal Ho Naa Ho watchalong to support Don't Call It Bollywood is this Sunday. Join us if you can!

And I'm running a promo for Okay, So Look next week, and have discounted the ebook price to $0.99 in support of that. The price changes should trickle out over the next couple of days, so if you're interested in that book, you can grab it for a discount.

Leaving on a smile... this is amazing:



And there is a joke that runs through both Frozen and Zootopia.