It is time for my annual year in review post. (Here's last year's post if you want details... you can click through and read earlier years from there.)
I don't think I wrote enough this year to pick my usual two to three posts per month. So instead, I'll just summarize the year and share a few posts.
Obviously, the political situation in the US was a big part of my year. The post I wrote the day before Trump's inauguration summarized how I felt at the start of the year, and it is still accurate. January also featured the release day for Caresaway.
In February, I ranted a bit about how angry all the lies in our political discussions make me.
In March, I wrote about why I don't think we should worry about immigrants "assimilating." And I found a great recipe for pizza dough. It is easy enough to mix together in the morning that I think we can continue our Friday night pizza dinners even when I am no longer working from home on Fridays!
I found 2016 and the ugliness around the election to be much harder on me as a woman than 2017 was, but I know that for many women, 2017 was the year when the anger about all the extra crap we've had to deal with broke out. I do have at least one post relevant to that: some thoughts I had after having lunch with an old friend in April. I also wrote about our spring break trip up the coast to Santa Barbara.
The headwinds I was feeling in May eventually combined with some other factors to make me decide to go back to "regular employee" status... which led to all the drama I've been posting about recently (and will summarize below). I also wondered how much further down we'd go in terms of bad behavior by political leaders. I'm sad to say, I don't think we have found the bottom yet. But I had a good birthday!
June brought the release day for Hemmed In, which is my best performing Taster Flight to date. I also wrote about trying to figure out how to keep Pumpkin challenged and happy at school, and got some good suggestions in the comments.
We took our vacation at the end of June and beginning of July. It was a road trip around some Western states, and it was wonderful. We saw many wonderful things, and you can go click around to find all the posts about them. I also wrote about some political observations from our time in Utah.
I didn't post much in August, partly because I had a week solo with the kids as Mr. Snarky flew to New Zealand to surprise his father for his birthday.
In September, I wrote about what I learned from my mid-life crisis. A lot of those lessons figured into my eventual decision to go back to being a full time employee. I also released Water into Wine.
I finally finished up my posts about our summer vacation in October: here's the last post. And I wrote about my theory for why we have mid-life crises.
November brought the release day for The Burning, and since I was struggling with a cold and then follow on illnesses that in the end wiped out my entire month, my announcement about my decision to go back to being a regular employee came as part of a Weekend Reading post.
And that brings us to December. There was a release day for Both Sides of My Skin, and then I lost the old new job and got the new new job.
All in all, 2017 was a tough year, but one that my country came through better than I feared we would at the start. There were some great times for me and my family, and some tough personal decisions. I felt like I reaped the benefits of the some hard personal work I'd done in the previous few years, so I guess that's a plug for not putting off that personal work. I had no way of knowing that in sorting through some of my old buried issues in 2015 and 2016 I was making it easier for me to get through 2017... but this year, I was really, really glad I'd dealt with those old issues when I did!
So in that spirit, I plan to spend some time over the next few days thinking about how to be ready for the challenges I think 2018 will bring, both in terms of the wider political situation and in terms of my own personal situation. I may write about that, but that will need to wait until another night. For now, I'll just thank you all for reading in 2017!
Showing posts with label year in review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label year in review. Show all posts
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Year in Review: 2016
It is time for my annual year in review post. I'll pick two or three posts from each month that I like best and link to them here. Last year's post has more details, and links to earlier round-ups if you're curious.
This has been a tough year on a lot of fronts, but I think I'll find some happiness to revisit, too. It also saw my posting frequency fall at times, so I am a bit worried I may struggle to find two posts to revisit from some months. But I'll deal with that when I get there, I guess. Let's get to it.
I started January with a little show and tell: delivering on my promise to Petunia to get her a fishy pet, and my promise to myself to learn crochet. (I am happy to report that both the fish and the crocheting are still going strong.) I was worried about my main contract ending mid-year (it didn't, and in fact is extended for next year and probably the year after that), and feeling a little jealous of my husband's new job energy (that passed). And I wrote about the hidden costs of the way things are. I still really like that post, and think about what costs I'm not seeing.
I mused some more about the costs I paid over the course of my career early in February, prompted by a sexual harassment case at my undergraduate alma mater. I started to work through my feelings about Hillary Clinton, not aware of how many more feelings about her the year would create. Maybe I'll work through the new ones in 2017, but I'll be surprised if I can. I suspect we'll need to be past the danger posed by Donald Trump before I feel like I have the space to work through all my feelings about the election. But back in February, I was realizing how much I admired about Hillary Clinton, and being a bit surprised by that. I also had a lesson about not second-guessing myself so much, courtesy of my lungs.
In March, I started writing hodge-podge posts... and my first may be my favorite of the entire year. It was the first post in which I started to wrestle with the unusual stakes in this year's election. And I continued to wrestle with those stakes in a post that was mostly about a couple of books I really liked, but also about how our life is made of our choices, and how sometimes circumstances make our choices more momentous than we'd like. And I went to BinderCon in LA and had a great time.
April saw me pondering my mortality and the limits of what I can hope to accomplish, first after attending the funeral of a dear family friend and then in response to the news of Prince's death. I also realized that my brain was lying to me, and that showed me the limits of empathy. (Perimenopause has been hard on me this year... that will come up again in later months.)
In May, I had some epiphanies about my career. The extension of my main contract has bought me extra time to keep trying to build a sustainable business, which is great, because that is what I really want to do. I wrote about the lack of breathing room in our lives, and the porous nature of the boundaries in my life. I also turned 44, but I didn't write about it.
In June, I didn't write much, but I really like the post about wanting to stop worrying and start living.
We took our family vacation to New Zealand and Rarotonga at the end of June and the beginning of July. While we were in NZ, the Brits voted for Brexit, and I started to take the possibility of a Trump win seriously. When I came home, I wrote about holding the center. I also saw the pictures from the beach portion of the trip and resolved to try harder to live the healthiest life I will enjoy.
In August, I was surprised to discover I still have some hard-feelings about all the blonde jokes I used to hear. My kids went back to school, and I found that I was struggling with motivation. I didn't realize it at the time, but I think the toxicity of the election was starting to get to me. I never did get to take a lot of long walks on the beach. I may need to make time for it in the new year.
September found me struggling with hormonal headaches. I have finally found a birth control option that seems to have sorted those out, but it has its own side effect issues. Perimenopause sucks. I was also struggling with clothes, which I fixed with a visit to a personal shopper at Nordstrom. And I expressed a wish for people on the more conservative end of the political spectrum to recognize the damage they have done by accepting racism and sexism from their fellow conservatives. That wish didn't come true, to say the least. I've also seen more racism and sexism from the more liberal end of the political spectrum, both during the election and in the aftermath. So I get to practice what I preach in this regard, too.
Politics occupied a lot of my attention in October. I wrote about stepping away from the abyss. But of course, we didn't. We've plunged into it, and it is as terrifying as I thought it would be. Reading my post about almost deciding to go see President Obama speak was hard, since all of the optimism in that post has been squashed and all the worries are amplified. I still have no idea how I am going to explain Trump's misogyny to Pumpkin and Petunia when I can no longer hide it from them. I need to start preparing them for the world we have instead of the world I thought we would have, though, so I guess that will be a project for 2017. Petunia still has her "Go Hillary Clinton" sign in her bedroom window. "She is still a great person," Petunia says. And so the sign stays.
And then came November. After I voted my ballot, I wrote about how disgusted I am with the Republican leadership. Their behavior since the election has only deepened that disgust, although there have been some bright spots among the old guard (e.g., McCain and Graham's push for a proper investigation into the Russian interference in our election) and I see some hope for a better Republican party (or perhaps a better conservative party under another name) in the future if some of the younger Republicans like Evan McMullin manage to take the lead. But there would need to be a lot of changes for me to consider voting for a Republican in the future. The day after the election, I wrote about how much it sucked. I am sad to say that even my modest hopes for the transition have been dashed. Two days after the election, I wrote about consulting my moral compass. I've been spending a lot of time with it since the election. Unfortunately, it is no help for the scariest of my worries. I did rally for Thanksgiving, though, possibly helped by my decision to write about what I'm thankful for.
Now, in December, my sadness has ebbed a bit, but I am more frightened. I find myself in a weird state of fear, anger, and hope. And I found my mantra for 2017: Hope is something you create.
This is likely to be my last post for 2016. I may get a links post up tomorrow, but it seems unlikely, given the other things on my schedule tomorrow. So I'll sign off wishing for all of us to create as much hope as we can in 2017.
This has been a tough year on a lot of fronts, but I think I'll find some happiness to revisit, too. It also saw my posting frequency fall at times, so I am a bit worried I may struggle to find two posts to revisit from some months. But I'll deal with that when I get there, I guess. Let's get to it.
I started January with a little show and tell: delivering on my promise to Petunia to get her a fishy pet, and my promise to myself to learn crochet. (I am happy to report that both the fish and the crocheting are still going strong.) I was worried about my main contract ending mid-year (it didn't, and in fact is extended for next year and probably the year after that), and feeling a little jealous of my husband's new job energy (that passed). And I wrote about the hidden costs of the way things are. I still really like that post, and think about what costs I'm not seeing.
I mused some more about the costs I paid over the course of my career early in February, prompted by a sexual harassment case at my undergraduate alma mater. I started to work through my feelings about Hillary Clinton, not aware of how many more feelings about her the year would create. Maybe I'll work through the new ones in 2017, but I'll be surprised if I can. I suspect we'll need to be past the danger posed by Donald Trump before I feel like I have the space to work through all my feelings about the election. But back in February, I was realizing how much I admired about Hillary Clinton, and being a bit surprised by that. I also had a lesson about not second-guessing myself so much, courtesy of my lungs.
In March, I started writing hodge-podge posts... and my first may be my favorite of the entire year. It was the first post in which I started to wrestle with the unusual stakes in this year's election. And I continued to wrestle with those stakes in a post that was mostly about a couple of books I really liked, but also about how our life is made of our choices, and how sometimes circumstances make our choices more momentous than we'd like. And I went to BinderCon in LA and had a great time.
April saw me pondering my mortality and the limits of what I can hope to accomplish, first after attending the funeral of a dear family friend and then in response to the news of Prince's death. I also realized that my brain was lying to me, and that showed me the limits of empathy. (Perimenopause has been hard on me this year... that will come up again in later months.)
In May, I had some epiphanies about my career. The extension of my main contract has bought me extra time to keep trying to build a sustainable business, which is great, because that is what I really want to do. I wrote about the lack of breathing room in our lives, and the porous nature of the boundaries in my life. I also turned 44, but I didn't write about it.
In June, I didn't write much, but I really like the post about wanting to stop worrying and start living.
We took our family vacation to New Zealand and Rarotonga at the end of June and the beginning of July. While we were in NZ, the Brits voted for Brexit, and I started to take the possibility of a Trump win seriously. When I came home, I wrote about holding the center. I also saw the pictures from the beach portion of the trip and resolved to try harder to live the healthiest life I will enjoy.
In August, I was surprised to discover I still have some hard-feelings about all the blonde jokes I used to hear. My kids went back to school, and I found that I was struggling with motivation. I didn't realize it at the time, but I think the toxicity of the election was starting to get to me. I never did get to take a lot of long walks on the beach. I may need to make time for it in the new year.
September found me struggling with hormonal headaches. I have finally found a birth control option that seems to have sorted those out, but it has its own side effect issues. Perimenopause sucks. I was also struggling with clothes, which I fixed with a visit to a personal shopper at Nordstrom. And I expressed a wish for people on the more conservative end of the political spectrum to recognize the damage they have done by accepting racism and sexism from their fellow conservatives. That wish didn't come true, to say the least. I've also seen more racism and sexism from the more liberal end of the political spectrum, both during the election and in the aftermath. So I get to practice what I preach in this regard, too.
Politics occupied a lot of my attention in October. I wrote about stepping away from the abyss. But of course, we didn't. We've plunged into it, and it is as terrifying as I thought it would be. Reading my post about almost deciding to go see President Obama speak was hard, since all of the optimism in that post has been squashed and all the worries are amplified. I still have no idea how I am going to explain Trump's misogyny to Pumpkin and Petunia when I can no longer hide it from them. I need to start preparing them for the world we have instead of the world I thought we would have, though, so I guess that will be a project for 2017. Petunia still has her "Go Hillary Clinton" sign in her bedroom window. "She is still a great person," Petunia says. And so the sign stays.
And then came November. After I voted my ballot, I wrote about how disgusted I am with the Republican leadership. Their behavior since the election has only deepened that disgust, although there have been some bright spots among the old guard (e.g., McCain and Graham's push for a proper investigation into the Russian interference in our election) and I see some hope for a better Republican party (or perhaps a better conservative party under another name) in the future if some of the younger Republicans like Evan McMullin manage to take the lead. But there would need to be a lot of changes for me to consider voting for a Republican in the future. The day after the election, I wrote about how much it sucked. I am sad to say that even my modest hopes for the transition have been dashed. Two days after the election, I wrote about consulting my moral compass. I've been spending a lot of time with it since the election. Unfortunately, it is no help for the scariest of my worries. I did rally for Thanksgiving, though, possibly helped by my decision to write about what I'm thankful for.
Now, in December, my sadness has ebbed a bit, but I am more frightened. I find myself in a weird state of fear, anger, and hope. And I found my mantra for 2017: Hope is something you create.
This is likely to be my last post for 2016. I may get a links post up tomorrow, but it seems unlikely, given the other things on my schedule tomorrow. So I'll sign off wishing for all of us to create as much hope as we can in 2017.
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Year in Review: 2015
It is time for my 2015 year end wrap. I don't go looking for my most popular posts of the year. Instead, I pick my favorite two or three posts for each month to revisit. You can read the 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011 editions if you really want to walk down my memory lane. I probably will, because I find it fascinating to see how my ideas, opinions, and worries have changed over the years. It took a huge amount of self-control not to go read them all myself right now, in fact. I took a peak, and I have to say, my 2011 post about weeding in my garden is still one of my favorites. It also made me miss some of my old commenters. I love my new ones, don't get me wrong! But as my blog evolved away from writing primarily about parenting, and as various people stopped blogging... a lot of people I thought of as online friends disappeared. It isn't that different from real life, I suppose. People change and move on.
Anyway, I suspect most of you don't want quite that much Wandering Scientist nostalgia, so let's just get to this year's posts, shall we?
January opened with me doing some navel-gazing about how getting a PhD helped me evolve into who I am now. This was related to a larger discussion underway about the purpose of the PhD and who should get one, so it is probably not surprising that some people took my post as advice. It was not. I wrote a follow up post about that discussion, and the difficulties of giving actual advice. It wasn't all serious topics here in January, though. I also wrote about my Twitter rules.
In February, I wrote a second part to the "becoming me" post from January. There has, as of yet, been no third part. I wrote about learning to embrace marketing (an ongoing process....) The post has some bonus recommendations for things I've really loved, so go check it out for those, if nothing else. And I wrote about the somewhat depressing realization that my original career path had been derailed by the same things that derail a lot of women's career paths. My sorrow about that is at least somewhat mitigated by the fact that I love what I'm doing now, though.
March saw me meltdown about a dress... but not really. I'm happy to say that all of that uncertainty resolved in the most satisfactory way possible, but boy, that was a stressful time! I was also working on rebuilding my professional confidence (another ongoing process....) And I really like this somewhat fluffy post about bookish things, so I'll include it, too.
In April, I contemplated some mysteries of the universe and also a book about what women can do to keep their career on track despite the drag of bias. And I negotiated a difficult wardrobe problem- a post that also includes a favorite story about Mr. Snarky and Tiffany's.
I didn't post all that much in May, because I spent a week and a half in France, which I think is an excellent excuse. I talked about how I've borrowed the concept of "offering it up" from my more religious relatives. I still find this a useful concept. I also wrote about "worry work" and the possibility of rebalancing how work gets done in your household.
June was a busy month, blog-wise. I wrote what is surely the most trafficked post of the year: about playing a game that is rigged against you. I reviewed Laura Vanderkam's latest book, I Know How She Does It. And I wrote a post that I can summarize any better than I did in the original title: On Saying Stupid Things and Internet Outrage. I have to squeeze in a fourth post, too: the "awards show" version of my trip to France.
In July, I wrote about a parable from the summer camp parking lot. Pumpkin got email, and I got a lot of awesome emoji-filled emails for awhile. I also thought about how maybe I need to stop looking for wisdom from others, and start practicing the wisdom I already have.
August opened with some thoughts about the risks of trying to cram messy life events into a neat narrative. It was release day for Annorlunda Books' first release. (Incidentally, that book and all the other Annorlunda Books titles are on sale right now for just $0.99....) And I talked about the start of a new way to celebrate success.
In September, I wrote about muddling through as a parent and about companies behaving badly and how the big scandals may just be extreme examples of some unhealthy aspects of our culture. And I wrote an extremely lightweight post about the two sides of living in the moment, that I still really like.
I continued the lightweight vein in October, with a cautionary tale about living with someone who does not have allergies. I celebrated another Annorlunda Books release day. And I talked about the "just keep making progress" approach to projects that are so big they feel overwhelming. (Update on the home renovations: we're still making progress.)
November saw me continue to think about the role of marketing in growing my business, and also the final Annorlunda Books release day of the year. I had a beautiful walk on the beach to celebrate it, and came home to find that horror had been unfolding in France. I didn't know what to say about that, but I tried anyway.
In December, I talked about tea storage and problem avoidance and about focusing on the good things, and I wrote about how they have always misunderstood our heroines.
And now... onward to 2016! May it be good to all of us. Thank you for reading, and for commenting when the mood strikes you. I can't believe I'm heading into my ninth year of writing here. It has been great, and has brought so many good things to me. I am not sure if I'd have kept this up so long if I hadn't found a community here. Thank you for being part of that.
Anyway, I suspect most of you don't want quite that much Wandering Scientist nostalgia, so let's just get to this year's posts, shall we?
January opened with me doing some navel-gazing about how getting a PhD helped me evolve into who I am now. This was related to a larger discussion underway about the purpose of the PhD and who should get one, so it is probably not surprising that some people took my post as advice. It was not. I wrote a follow up post about that discussion, and the difficulties of giving actual advice. It wasn't all serious topics here in January, though. I also wrote about my Twitter rules.
In February, I wrote a second part to the "becoming me" post from January. There has, as of yet, been no third part. I wrote about learning to embrace marketing (an ongoing process....) The post has some bonus recommendations for things I've really loved, so go check it out for those, if nothing else. And I wrote about the somewhat depressing realization that my original career path had been derailed by the same things that derail a lot of women's career paths. My sorrow about that is at least somewhat mitigated by the fact that I love what I'm doing now, though.
March saw me meltdown about a dress... but not really. I'm happy to say that all of that uncertainty resolved in the most satisfactory way possible, but boy, that was a stressful time! I was also working on rebuilding my professional confidence (another ongoing process....) And I really like this somewhat fluffy post about bookish things, so I'll include it, too.
In April, I contemplated some mysteries of the universe and also a book about what women can do to keep their career on track despite the drag of bias. And I negotiated a difficult wardrobe problem- a post that also includes a favorite story about Mr. Snarky and Tiffany's.
I didn't post all that much in May, because I spent a week and a half in France, which I think is an excellent excuse. I talked about how I've borrowed the concept of "offering it up" from my more religious relatives. I still find this a useful concept. I also wrote about "worry work" and the possibility of rebalancing how work gets done in your household.
June was a busy month, blog-wise. I wrote what is surely the most trafficked post of the year: about playing a game that is rigged against you. I reviewed Laura Vanderkam's latest book, I Know How She Does It. And I wrote a post that I can summarize any better than I did in the original title: On Saying Stupid Things and Internet Outrage. I have to squeeze in a fourth post, too: the "awards show" version of my trip to France.
In July, I wrote about a parable from the summer camp parking lot. Pumpkin got email, and I got a lot of awesome emoji-filled emails for awhile. I also thought about how maybe I need to stop looking for wisdom from others, and start practicing the wisdom I already have.
August opened with some thoughts about the risks of trying to cram messy life events into a neat narrative. It was release day for Annorlunda Books' first release. (Incidentally, that book and all the other Annorlunda Books titles are on sale right now for just $0.99....) And I talked about the start of a new way to celebrate success.
In September, I wrote about muddling through as a parent and about companies behaving badly and how the big scandals may just be extreme examples of some unhealthy aspects of our culture. And I wrote an extremely lightweight post about the two sides of living in the moment, that I still really like.
I continued the lightweight vein in October, with a cautionary tale about living with someone who does not have allergies. I celebrated another Annorlunda Books release day. And I talked about the "just keep making progress" approach to projects that are so big they feel overwhelming. (Update on the home renovations: we're still making progress.)
November saw me continue to think about the role of marketing in growing my business, and also the final Annorlunda Books release day of the year. I had a beautiful walk on the beach to celebrate it, and came home to find that horror had been unfolding in France. I didn't know what to say about that, but I tried anyway.
In December, I talked about tea storage and problem avoidance and about focusing on the good things, and I wrote about how they have always misunderstood our heroines.
And now... onward to 2016! May it be good to all of us. Thank you for reading, and for commenting when the mood strikes you. I can't believe I'm heading into my ninth year of writing here. It has been great, and has brought so many good things to me. I am not sure if I'd have kept this up so long if I hadn't found a community here. Thank you for being part of that.
Friday, December 26, 2014
Year in Review: 2014
It is time for my annual review of the closing year, so that will take the place of my usual Friday links post. I pick a few posts from each month to review, based on the somewhat random criteria of popularity (with me or others) and representative nature.
For more info, see the 2013, 2012, and 2011 editions.
One of the interesting things for me about going through my 2014 posts was seeing the pressure building in the first half of the year. Looking just at my own life, I am ending 2014 in a much happier place than I started it. Looking more globally, though, it is clear this has been a tough year.
In January, I ranted about sexism. I ranted about how to make STEM more attractive to women and about men feeling entitled to women's stories, and people judging other people's decisions even though they do not understand the full context in which they are made... but there is also an epilogue about using mindfulness to deal with this nonsense.
I also was working through a lot of questions about my own choices, which led me to write a list of some things I know but struggle to really believe.
February was a tough month, at least judging from my posts. I looked for a more inclusive view of productivity, and wondered whether it is fair to make people earn your respect. I also wrote about the cost of spending so much time in a male-dominated environment.
In March, I talked about keeping side projects low stress. I posted my recipe for New Zealand steak and cheese pies. And the assholes were getting me down, so I wrote a rant about how having an autism spectrum disorder doesn't make people assholes, being an asshole does.
Things were coming to a head in April. On the bright side, Pumpkin turned seven. But I was really struggling at work. I posted some tricks I use for surviving as a woman in a male-dominated field. And then I quit my job.
In May, I discovered that quitting my job didn't immediately relieve the pressure. (I found my driver's license, by the way. It had fallen down between the driver's seat and the center console in the car.) But following my arrow was already starting to feel pretty good. Things weren't that great outside my head, though- and the horror of the Isla Vista shootings led me to write about starting the work against racism and sexism with myself.
Mr. Snarky and I also continued our tour of unlikely tourist spots in Southern California, and spent a weekend in Torrance. I also turned 42! I didn't write the post about it until June, though. I also wrote about some things I want to remember and wrote a post for National ASK Day, about asking other parents about guns in their home.
July started with me writing about what a wonderful June I had. July itself wasn't too shabby either- we had a terrific family vacation in Colorado. I also worked to make peace with my aging body.
Ugly things happened in August. Words failed me as I contemplated the events in Ferguson and beyond and I wrote about how we can't skip the hard part in confronting racism. In response to Robin Williams' suicide, I thought about the difficulty of maintaining health, particularly when you have a chronic disease.
In September, I released Navigating the Path to Industry. I've been pleased with how well it has done, but by all means- buy a copy and tell all your friends! On the family front, Pumpkin started asking some truly hard questions and I discovered a miraculous recipe for pretzel chicken.
I apparently failed to write a post for Petunia's fifth birthday in October, but I did write a post with some of her trademark phrases. My second children's book, Petunia, the Girl Who Was NOT a Princess, was released. I haven't received my first royalties report on that yet, so I don't have a good feel for how it is doing, but by all means- buy a copy and tell all you friends! Around the time my Petunia book was released, the We Need Diverse Books campaign was in full swing, and I wrote about the need for diverse books for kids, and included some recommendations.
In November, I did a fun science experiment with my kids (it demonstrates gravity).
I decided to become a publisher, and the fallout from the sexist shirt worn during the Rosetta comet landing led me to ponder the difficulty of fitting in.
I didn't write that much in December, but I did write about how small changes can help me feel more organized. I have several interesting post ideas written down in the writing journal I mentioned in my gift ideas post, so stay tuned for some more posts soon.
I'm on pseudo-vacation until the new year, though... so those interesting post ideas may have to wait until January. In case I don't post again in 2014: thank you for reading this year. I am so grateful to have my community of readers and commenters here. I wish you all a happy new year!
For more info, see the 2013, 2012, and 2011 editions.
One of the interesting things for me about going through my 2014 posts was seeing the pressure building in the first half of the year. Looking just at my own life, I am ending 2014 in a much happier place than I started it. Looking more globally, though, it is clear this has been a tough year.
In January, I ranted about sexism. I ranted about how to make STEM more attractive to women and about men feeling entitled to women's stories, and people judging other people's decisions even though they do not understand the full context in which they are made... but there is also an epilogue about using mindfulness to deal with this nonsense.
I also was working through a lot of questions about my own choices, which led me to write a list of some things I know but struggle to really believe.
February was a tough month, at least judging from my posts. I looked for a more inclusive view of productivity, and wondered whether it is fair to make people earn your respect. I also wrote about the cost of spending so much time in a male-dominated environment.
In March, I talked about keeping side projects low stress. I posted my recipe for New Zealand steak and cheese pies. And the assholes were getting me down, so I wrote a rant about how having an autism spectrum disorder doesn't make people assholes, being an asshole does.
Things were coming to a head in April. On the bright side, Pumpkin turned seven. But I was really struggling at work. I posted some tricks I use for surviving as a woman in a male-dominated field. And then I quit my job.
In May, I discovered that quitting my job didn't immediately relieve the pressure. (I found my driver's license, by the way. It had fallen down between the driver's seat and the center console in the car.) But following my arrow was already starting to feel pretty good. Things weren't that great outside my head, though- and the horror of the Isla Vista shootings led me to write about starting the work against racism and sexism with myself.
Mr. Snarky and I also continued our tour of unlikely tourist spots in Southern California, and spent a weekend in Torrance. I also turned 42! I didn't write the post about it until June, though. I also wrote about some things I want to remember and wrote a post for National ASK Day, about asking other parents about guns in their home.
July started with me writing about what a wonderful June I had. July itself wasn't too shabby either- we had a terrific family vacation in Colorado. I also worked to make peace with my aging body.
Ugly things happened in August. Words failed me as I contemplated the events in Ferguson and beyond and I wrote about how we can't skip the hard part in confronting racism. In response to Robin Williams' suicide, I thought about the difficulty of maintaining health, particularly when you have a chronic disease.
In September, I released Navigating the Path to Industry. I've been pleased with how well it has done, but by all means- buy a copy and tell all your friends! On the family front, Pumpkin started asking some truly hard questions and I discovered a miraculous recipe for pretzel chicken.
I apparently failed to write a post for Petunia's fifth birthday in October, but I did write a post with some of her trademark phrases. My second children's book, Petunia, the Girl Who Was NOT a Princess, was released. I haven't received my first royalties report on that yet, so I don't have a good feel for how it is doing, but by all means- buy a copy and tell all you friends! Around the time my Petunia book was released, the We Need Diverse Books campaign was in full swing, and I wrote about the need for diverse books for kids, and included some recommendations.
In November, I did a fun science experiment with my kids (it demonstrates gravity).
I decided to become a publisher, and the fallout from the sexist shirt worn during the Rosetta comet landing led me to ponder the difficulty of fitting in.
I didn't write that much in December, but I did write about how small changes can help me feel more organized. I have several interesting post ideas written down in the writing journal I mentioned in my gift ideas post, so stay tuned for some more posts soon.
I'm on pseudo-vacation until the new year, though... so those interesting post ideas may have to wait until January. In case I don't post again in 2014: thank you for reading this year. I am so grateful to have my community of readers and commenters here. I wish you all a happy new year!
Monday, December 30, 2013
Year in Review: 2013
It is time for my annual year in review post. If you're new here, or just don't have the minutiae of my blog committed to memory, this is where I pick a few posts from each month to recap. I pick based on fluid and inconsistent criteria. That's just how I roll.
If you want to know more than that, you can check the 2011 and 2012 versions.
Now, to the posts:
At the start of January, I was still struggling to get over my sadness and anger at what happened in Newtown, and tried to explain my thoughts on guns. The other site and Twitter feed I introduced were active for about 6 months, at which point the venom and nastiness of a subset of gun fans drove me away. I remain committed to the issue, though, and am trying to find other ways to work towards change. In much less traumatic news, my company announced a move to a less convenient area of San Diego, and I thought about what that meant for my career plans. The move has happened, the commute is almost exactly as I expected, and I still don't know what I'm going to do about it.
I whined about management, and am still amused by the idea of having people who insist on propagating a neverending and rather pointless technical argument settle it with a dance off.
In February, I started using the Amazon Associates earnings from this blog to send diapers to a local charity. I've sent roughly one box per month every month, except for one month around the time my books came out, when I had enough earnings to send several boxes. This makes me happy. Thank you all for buying things via my affiliate links and making it possible. It makes me less happy that I stumbled off the thin line of appropriate female behavior at work, and felt lost in the labyrinth. That has worked itself out OK in the short term, but I think there has been some long term damage to my prospects at this particular company. Time will tell if that is true, and also if I find that I care. I also wrote about why I don't like snark, which seems almost prescient given the given the current back and forth on snark vs. smarm. (For the record, I do not agree that the opposite of snark is smarm. And I think there is also the option to just be polite and straightforward in stating our opinions, even negative ones.)
March was smack in the middle of the hubbub surrounding Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" and Marissa Mayer's every decision as the newish CEO of Yahoo. I joined in and ranted about the discussions of Sheryl Sandberg and Marissa Mayer that were driving me a bit crazy. My children's book The Zebra Said Shhh was published. I have been delighted with how well it has sold. It will not, however, be funding an early retirement for me. I also expanded on my argument that weeding is an excellent metaphor for life, which remains one of my favorite posts of the year.
In April, we took the kids on their first ever trip to Disneyland. Petunia got sick, and that prompted me to realize that I am my children's refuge. I was (and still am!) of two minds about how to best steer my life, and I mused about what equal opportunity should really mean, and how I think we're falling far short of that goal.
May saw me start my Ask Cloud series with a question about handling an annoying co-worker.I tried out kanban methods at work and at home, and that was a successful experiment. I continue to use kanban in both places. Taming the Work Week, my short ebook about productivity, was released. It has also done fairly well. It is gratifying to read the notes from people who have liked it and found it helpful.
In June, I wrote about the joy of problem-solving, and the importance of looking away from hard problems even as you try to solve them. I also explored how I made some important decisions in my life and wrote about how much I love my Chacos.
We went to New Zealand at the end of June, and stayed through the first week of July. Not long after we got back, the verdict in George Zimmerman's trial was announced, leading me to write about how we white people need to figure out how to fix racism. Based on how the rest of the year went, I'd say we aren't making much progress on that.
August was a month for navel-gazing, in which I talked about why it is important to me to have a side project going at most times and why true leisure is also important. It wasn't all deep contemplation, though: I also wrote about the method I use to make meal planning relatively easy.
In September, Pax Dickinson said some remarkably stupid and offensive things, and I got some important things wrong in how I reacted to that. I dealt with a work dilemma (but didn't tell you the details) and named my pet peeve Pete. That work dilemma worked itself out quite nicely, and I am glad I took the time to really think (and seek out advice) before acting. The best part of the month, though, was that Tungsten Hippo went live. I'm still having fun with this project, but wish I could make more time for the next steps, both technical and content-related.
My posts in October were all over the place. I wrote about my difficult postpartum and weaning experiences. That post was hard to write, but I am really glad I finally wrote it. I also wrote one of my rare political posts, in which the madness in Washington DC called to mind the back stories of post-apocalyptic fiction. I am glad we stepped away from the brink, but can't shake the feeling that one of these times, we won't. In a much lighter vein, I wrote about how Auckland feels like a second home.
November found me musing about having multiple online identities, and why I always use a pseudonym. Early in the month, Petunia broke her arm. It was not nearly as much trouble as I thought it would be when I wrote that post. She only had to wear the cast for about 3 weeks. On the plus side of that experience, I was able to post a picture of Petunia's nails, done up by a day care teacher to match her cast, in the Manicure Monday madness that swept the corner of Twitter that I frequent. Hope Jahren got a bunch of scientists (including me!) to participate in the Manicure Monday hastag started by Seventeen Magazine. That was fun, and also prompted some more serious thoughts. People are still tweeting out Manicure Monday pictures, and I may occasionally join in, particularly if I happen to have painted nails or something more interesting than typing on my computer for my hands to do on a Monday.
In December, I discussed how I need to work on giving myself permission to fail (another post prompted by Hope Jahren! Will this be an emerging theme? Perhaps I should start a new tag in my blog....) I also found myself writing about the 23andMe mess, which truly surprised me, but ended up leading me to some interesting things to read.
I intend to keep writing in 2014, so I hope you'll keep reading. See you next year!
If you want to know more than that, you can check the 2011 and 2012 versions.
Now, to the posts:
At the start of January, I was still struggling to get over my sadness and anger at what happened in Newtown, and tried to explain my thoughts on guns. The other site and Twitter feed I introduced were active for about 6 months, at which point the venom and nastiness of a subset of gun fans drove me away. I remain committed to the issue, though, and am trying to find other ways to work towards change. In much less traumatic news, my company announced a move to a less convenient area of San Diego, and I thought about what that meant for my career plans. The move has happened, the commute is almost exactly as I expected, and I still don't know what I'm going to do about it.
I whined about management, and am still amused by the idea of having people who insist on propagating a neverending and rather pointless technical argument settle it with a dance off.
In February, I started using the Amazon Associates earnings from this blog to send diapers to a local charity. I've sent roughly one box per month every month, except for one month around the time my books came out, when I had enough earnings to send several boxes. This makes me happy. Thank you all for buying things via my affiliate links and making it possible. It makes me less happy that I stumbled off the thin line of appropriate female behavior at work, and felt lost in the labyrinth. That has worked itself out OK in the short term, but I think there has been some long term damage to my prospects at this particular company. Time will tell if that is true, and also if I find that I care. I also wrote about why I don't like snark, which seems almost prescient given the given the current back and forth on snark vs. smarm. (For the record, I do not agree that the opposite of snark is smarm. And I think there is also the option to just be polite and straightforward in stating our opinions, even negative ones.)
March was smack in the middle of the hubbub surrounding Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" and Marissa Mayer's every decision as the newish CEO of Yahoo. I joined in and ranted about the discussions of Sheryl Sandberg and Marissa Mayer that were driving me a bit crazy. My children's book The Zebra Said Shhh was published. I have been delighted with how well it has sold. It will not, however, be funding an early retirement for me. I also expanded on my argument that weeding is an excellent metaphor for life, which remains one of my favorite posts of the year.
In April, we took the kids on their first ever trip to Disneyland. Petunia got sick, and that prompted me to realize that I am my children's refuge. I was (and still am!) of two minds about how to best steer my life, and I mused about what equal opportunity should really mean, and how I think we're falling far short of that goal.
May saw me start my Ask Cloud series with a question about handling an annoying co-worker.I tried out kanban methods at work and at home, and that was a successful experiment. I continue to use kanban in both places. Taming the Work Week, my short ebook about productivity, was released. It has also done fairly well. It is gratifying to read the notes from people who have liked it and found it helpful.
In June, I wrote about the joy of problem-solving, and the importance of looking away from hard problems even as you try to solve them. I also explored how I made some important decisions in my life and wrote about how much I love my Chacos.
We went to New Zealand at the end of June, and stayed through the first week of July. Not long after we got back, the verdict in George Zimmerman's trial was announced, leading me to write about how we white people need to figure out how to fix racism. Based on how the rest of the year went, I'd say we aren't making much progress on that.
August was a month for navel-gazing, in which I talked about why it is important to me to have a side project going at most times and why true leisure is also important. It wasn't all deep contemplation, though: I also wrote about the method I use to make meal planning relatively easy.
In September, Pax Dickinson said some remarkably stupid and offensive things, and I got some important things wrong in how I reacted to that. I dealt with a work dilemma (but didn't tell you the details) and named my pet peeve Pete. That work dilemma worked itself out quite nicely, and I am glad I took the time to really think (and seek out advice) before acting. The best part of the month, though, was that Tungsten Hippo went live. I'm still having fun with this project, but wish I could make more time for the next steps, both technical and content-related.
My posts in October were all over the place. I wrote about my difficult postpartum and weaning experiences. That post was hard to write, but I am really glad I finally wrote it. I also wrote one of my rare political posts, in which the madness in Washington DC called to mind the back stories of post-apocalyptic fiction. I am glad we stepped away from the brink, but can't shake the feeling that one of these times, we won't. In a much lighter vein, I wrote about how Auckland feels like a second home.
November found me musing about having multiple online identities, and why I always use a pseudonym. Early in the month, Petunia broke her arm. It was not nearly as much trouble as I thought it would be when I wrote that post. She only had to wear the cast for about 3 weeks. On the plus side of that experience, I was able to post a picture of Petunia's nails, done up by a day care teacher to match her cast, in the Manicure Monday madness that swept the corner of Twitter that I frequent. Hope Jahren got a bunch of scientists (including me!) to participate in the Manicure Monday hastag started by Seventeen Magazine. That was fun, and also prompted some more serious thoughts. People are still tweeting out Manicure Monday pictures, and I may occasionally join in, particularly if I happen to have painted nails or something more interesting than typing on my computer for my hands to do on a Monday.
In December, I discussed how I need to work on giving myself permission to fail (another post prompted by Hope Jahren! Will this be an emerging theme? Perhaps I should start a new tag in my blog....) I also found myself writing about the 23andMe mess, which truly surprised me, but ended up leading me to some interesting things to read.
I intend to keep writing in 2014, so I hope you'll keep reading. See you next year!
Friday, December 28, 2012
Year in Review: 2012
Last year, I wrote a year in review post, in which I recapped two or three posts from every month, chosen for whatever reasons struck me as right. I enjoyed writing that post so much that I decided to make it a tradition. So... here is the 2012 year in review post.
January started off a little rough, with a scary incident involving some unleashed dogs at our local park. Pumpkin is still dog-shy, but she's gotten a lot better over the year. I remain more cautious, though. I wrote a post I really liked about the importance of comparing things in my life to realistic alternatives and not fantasies. And the month ended with a look at LEGO Friends.
In February, we figured out a plan for how to handle the choices around where Pumpkin would go to Kindergarten. As regular readers know, she ended up getting into the Spanish immersion program in our neighborhood, and we've been really happy with it. I wrote a post about "big careers" and work-life balance that resonated with some and annoyed others, and I wrote the first in what has become a series of posts about toys that build skills, even for princess-obsessed little girls.
March found me taking advantage of a toddler sick day to slow myself down. I also pondered the role of non-academic pursuits for kids with perfectionist streaks and thought about how the limits of our imagination can hamper our communication with other people, and feed our pointless "mommy wars."
In April, I recognized some emotional effects of having weaned Petunia, Pumpkin turned 5 (!!!), and I wrote a post about men, women, and chores that got more comments than any other post I've written.
In May, we went on a vacation in Texas, and I took a reader's advice and did some reading about scanners and renaissance souls,which has helped me understand myself a little better. I also wrote a popular post about how work-life balance is both easier and harder to achieve than a lot of people think.
June was a very work-oriented month here. I wrote a post with my project manager's view of long hours that has proven to be very popular, and I also posted my reaction to the (in)famous Atlantic article from Anne-Marie Slaughter about how women still can't "have it all." I also wrote some basic advice for people making the transition from academia to industry.
July was my most prolific month, with 21 posts, so I'm going to pick four for this review. I reacted to some negative news about the scientific job market, with a bit of navel-gazing about my own career path and how something that is probably at least my third career plan since I decided to major in science has turned out to be a great career. But clearly, my great career isn't perfect (are any of them?) because I also posted about wanting to feel closer to free. I also annoyed some people by defending Marissa Mayer. I ended the month with a look at my uniform- a post I really liked, for some reason, probably because it reminds me of what I love about blogging, namely that I get a chance to ruminate on whatever is on my mind, even if it is fairly trivial.
In August, I posted a review of Soundings, a book I really liked. I also landed myself in urgent care with an asthma attack for the first time ever, and I wrote the first of several posts inspired by reading Sarah Blaffer Hrdy's Mother Nature, this one about how the existence of differing mothering strategies within a group might be a good thing overall. I still have more thoughts about Mother Nature that I have not explored, so you might see more posts inspired by that book in 2013.
Pumpkin started Kindergarten in September, and I wrote a post about how I was trying to enjoy parenting more, inspired in part by the fun Pumpkin and I had on her last "ditch day" before the arrival of the scheduling rigors of school and in part by reading Gretchen Rubin's Happier at Home. I wish I could say I'd really learned this lesson and was now enjoying the "long days" more... but I still need to work on this. Maybe I'll do better in 2013! I also wrote about how sexism in my life is like those stupid ankle weights people wore in the 80s. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to get better in 2013. I was apparently feeling very navel-gazey, because I also wrote about building a meaningful and happy life, and how I am still working to figure out how best to do that.
Petunia turned 3 in October, which I didn't really write about except in passing as part of the work-life storm that hit in early October. (She had a great party at a pumpkin patch with her friends, by the way.) I read Cal Newport's So Good They Can't Ignore You and wrote a post about the book and my reaction to the career advice it gives. I also wrote another Mother Nature inspired post, this one with thoughts about how our society could be reconfigured to truly support mothers.
In November, I continued to think about Cal Newport's book and wrote about rebuilding my career capital. I had a happy election night, but still wished for a better opposition. Despite the happy election news, the troubles of the world weighed heavily on me, and I eventually decided I needed to pick one thing and make it better. My Amazon earnings were a little light recently, but I still think I'll be donating my first box of diapers soon.
December started out with me thinking about careers, and I wrote a post with some advice for college students that was largely overlooked- probably because I posted it smack in the middle of finals. Oops. If you missed it and are interested in my thoughts on careers and college majors, by all means go back and take a look. I also posted some more toy guides, including one in which I tried to think about toys that would stretch skills that get overlooked in typical toys for boys. The tragic events in Newtown really shook me, but I tried to get my anger and sadness out and move on so that I could give my kids the happy holiday season they deserve. I have mostly succeeded, but I remain convinced that we Americans need to find a way to address our gun problem. I hope we will take steps towards that in 2013.
But for now, I hope everyone is having a good holiday season, and that I'll see you here (or maybe even in real life!) in 2013. Thanks for reading!
January started off a little rough, with a scary incident involving some unleashed dogs at our local park. Pumpkin is still dog-shy, but she's gotten a lot better over the year. I remain more cautious, though. I wrote a post I really liked about the importance of comparing things in my life to realistic alternatives and not fantasies. And the month ended with a look at LEGO Friends.
In February, we figured out a plan for how to handle the choices around where Pumpkin would go to Kindergarten. As regular readers know, she ended up getting into the Spanish immersion program in our neighborhood, and we've been really happy with it. I wrote a post about "big careers" and work-life balance that resonated with some and annoyed others, and I wrote the first in what has become a series of posts about toys that build skills, even for princess-obsessed little girls.
March found me taking advantage of a toddler sick day to slow myself down. I also pondered the role of non-academic pursuits for kids with perfectionist streaks and thought about how the limits of our imagination can hamper our communication with other people, and feed our pointless "mommy wars."
In April, I recognized some emotional effects of having weaned Petunia, Pumpkin turned 5 (!!!), and I wrote a post about men, women, and chores that got more comments than any other post I've written.
In May, we went on a vacation in Texas, and I took a reader's advice and did some reading about scanners and renaissance souls,which has helped me understand myself a little better. I also wrote a popular post about how work-life balance is both easier and harder to achieve than a lot of people think.
June was a very work-oriented month here. I wrote a post with my project manager's view of long hours that has proven to be very popular, and I also posted my reaction to the (in)famous Atlantic article from Anne-Marie Slaughter about how women still can't "have it all." I also wrote some basic advice for people making the transition from academia to industry.
July was my most prolific month, with 21 posts, so I'm going to pick four for this review. I reacted to some negative news about the scientific job market, with a bit of navel-gazing about my own career path and how something that is probably at least my third career plan since I decided to major in science has turned out to be a great career. But clearly, my great career isn't perfect (are any of them?) because I also posted about wanting to feel closer to free. I also annoyed some people by defending Marissa Mayer. I ended the month with a look at my uniform- a post I really liked, for some reason, probably because it reminds me of what I love about blogging, namely that I get a chance to ruminate on whatever is on my mind, even if it is fairly trivial.
In August, I posted a review of Soundings, a book I really liked. I also landed myself in urgent care with an asthma attack for the first time ever, and I wrote the first of several posts inspired by reading Sarah Blaffer Hrdy's Mother Nature, this one about how the existence of differing mothering strategies within a group might be a good thing overall. I still have more thoughts about Mother Nature that I have not explored, so you might see more posts inspired by that book in 2013.
Pumpkin started Kindergarten in September, and I wrote a post about how I was trying to enjoy parenting more, inspired in part by the fun Pumpkin and I had on her last "ditch day" before the arrival of the scheduling rigors of school and in part by reading Gretchen Rubin's Happier at Home. I wish I could say I'd really learned this lesson and was now enjoying the "long days" more... but I still need to work on this. Maybe I'll do better in 2013! I also wrote about how sexism in my life is like those stupid ankle weights people wore in the 80s. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to get better in 2013. I was apparently feeling very navel-gazey, because I also wrote about building a meaningful and happy life, and how I am still working to figure out how best to do that.
Petunia turned 3 in October, which I didn't really write about except in passing as part of the work-life storm that hit in early October. (She had a great party at a pumpkin patch with her friends, by the way.) I read Cal Newport's So Good They Can't Ignore You and wrote a post about the book and my reaction to the career advice it gives. I also wrote another Mother Nature inspired post, this one with thoughts about how our society could be reconfigured to truly support mothers.
In November, I continued to think about Cal Newport's book and wrote about rebuilding my career capital. I had a happy election night, but still wished for a better opposition. Despite the happy election news, the troubles of the world weighed heavily on me, and I eventually decided I needed to pick one thing and make it better. My Amazon earnings were a little light recently, but I still think I'll be donating my first box of diapers soon.
December started out with me thinking about careers, and I wrote a post with some advice for college students that was largely overlooked- probably because I posted it smack in the middle of finals. Oops. If you missed it and are interested in my thoughts on careers and college majors, by all means go back and take a look. I also posted some more toy guides, including one in which I tried to think about toys that would stretch skills that get overlooked in typical toys for boys. The tragic events in Newtown really shook me, but I tried to get my anger and sadness out and move on so that I could give my kids the happy holiday season they deserve. I have mostly succeeded, but I remain convinced that we Americans need to find a way to address our gun problem. I hope we will take steps towards that in 2013.
But for now, I hope everyone is having a good holiday season, and that I'll see you here (or maybe even in real life!) in 2013. Thanks for reading!
Thursday, December 29, 2011
2011 in Review
For some reason I can't really explain, I feel the need to do a "year in review" post, even though anyone who is interested in reviewing my year could just as easily use the archives in the right hand column. But it is my blog, so I get to do the post, even if it is not at all necessary.
I've decided to pick two or three posts from each month, and link to them here with a little bit of commentary. My criteria for inclusion in this list are arbitrary in the extreme- some posts are here because a lot of people read them and/or commented on them, some posts are here because they cover things that seem important to include in a year in review post, and some posts are here just because I like them.
Without further ado...
January opened with me weeding in my garden, and thinking of it as a metaphor for making self-improving changes. I failed utterly at starting a meaningful yoga practice, but I do still enjoy chocolate. So its a wash, right? Then a mentally ill young man shot a bunch of people in my home state, and the events leading up to the event and the reactions to it reduced me to feeling glad that at least we're no longer flinging live children at castle walls, which is obviously a rather low bar. But, on the bright side, the book I read about Genghis Khan (which included the story about people flinging live children at castle walls- and note, Khan was not the one doing the flinging) was really interesting. I truly am a history major who has wandered far, far afield. And, um, only took a few history classes in college, and knows nothing about doing real history research. I enjoy reading history, though! The month ended with a post that could be viewed as the first Weekend Reading post, but I called it Friday Links. It was about the Tiger Mom furor (remember that?) and included a hilarious beat poem (no, that is not an oxymoron) about "alternative medicine". If you missed that the first time around, you should go watch it now. Unless you're into homeopathy, in which case you are likely to be offended.
In February, I wrote a post that I really liked but no one else really noticed called Obscurity and Success. The seeds of that post were planted way back in 2003, when I came across a statue honoring the men who made sure that Shakespeare's works were published after his death. Later in the month, I was surprised to find myself agreeing with an article about parenting and food in the New York Times. Usually, food articles in the New York Times seem to be written primarily for serious gourmands who take food far, far more seriously than I do, and the parenting articles seem to be written about a different species altogether.
March saw me musing about the transitions in my kids' lives and what they mean for my own identity. It was quite a lot of navel-gazing considering that it was sparked by the sight of a crayon from The Olive Garden (don't tell the NYT food people, but I really like The Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana). I am happy to report, though, that Petunia still lets me kiss her on the head, and it is still very sweet. March also saw my first real Weekend Reading post, which you should go look at if only to follow the link to Bad Mom, Good Mom's post about the life lessons of calculus. And I posted about an argument Hubby and I had about chores, which really resonated with some people, proving that I have no idea which posts will be interesting to anyone else- I thought that one was pretty dull.
In April, Pumpkin turned four and had some really good cupcakes at her party. I posted about how I buy time and compared the tension of balancing time with kids, time for other things, and money with the time-honored project management adage about how a project cannot be done cheaply, well, and fast- you have to choose two of the three. Finally, I had a weekend reading post that was really more rant about race, privilege, and education, which may (or may not) make the slew of posts I will undoubtedly write about choosing a kindergarten for Pumpkin make more sense. I will emphasize again, though, that I don't think there is anything wrong with people choosing private schools for their kids- I just want us all to remember how important public schools are.
May might have been the peak of our worries about Petunia's health. She still gets sick a lot, but it feels a lot more like normal day care stuff now. I also suspect that she's going to end up diagnosed with allergies eventually, but given my history with allergies, that won't be a big surprise. I also wrote a post about the conflict between our society's (and our own) parenting ideals and reality. I rather liked that one, because it bugs me how parents, and mothers in particular, get caught in a bit of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" bind in terms of how society judges them.
I turned 39 in May, but I wrote about it in June. I also posted my "Don't Lean Back Ahead of Time" rant,one of my most popular posts of all time, which was actually a series of comments on other people's posts, stitched together. I ended the month with a post about my "work limit"- i.e., how sometimes, trying to do more work is counter-productive. I like that one because it is a topic I really care about. I think we're a bit nutso about work hours in this country. Why in the world do people brag about working really long hours?
I followed up in July with my Work-Life Balance for Everyone Manifesto. I also reconstructed my first ever rant post, which was actually written in a paper journal. It makes me more happy than it should that even now, with two kids in my house, I still think my former coworker was a bit of a prat. I was also forced to admit that we were turning into "those parents" as we started Pumpkin on soccer lessons. Pumpkin loved those lessons, though, and has been asking to start them up again. So maybe "those parents" aren't so bad, after all.
I started August with a post that summarizes my parenting philosophy, and also explains why I can't talk about parenting with a lot of people in real life- namely, that I inhabit a different parenting universe than many of the people I know, because my kids don't sleep anywhere near as much as many of their peers. I also gazed deep into my linty navel and wrote about why I blog. You all wrote some really nice comments on that post, which is why I really like that post now. And just to prove that I still do sometimes post "mommyblog" things, I wrote a post about a walk with my daughters and their baby dolls. It was the first of many double stroller walks which I never really got tired of taking.
September brought the Great San Diego Blackout, which prompted me to write about emergency preparedness. We also went on a California road trip, which prompted me to write about how I travel with a toddler and a preschooler and enjoy it. That last post brought me a little good-natured flak from a commenter who thought that our brand of travel is unrealistic. I see her point, but stand by my post, and point out that we have made the road trip between San Diego and Phoenix enough times to have some experience with long days driving through scenery that bores the adults, let alone the kids.
In October, Petunia turned two. She had yummy cupcakes, too- not that she cared. I wrote a post about the phrase "working mom guilt" in which I think I offended Liz at Mom101, although that definitely wasn't my intent. And a twitter conversation with Fishscientist prompted me to draw a graph showing my post-partum productivity curve.
In November, I argued that I am not married to a unicorn, which is another one of my top posts if you judge by the number of hits it got. The follow up to that post eventually led me to post about being a feminist mother, which is a post that I thought sucked when I wrote it but that I now rather like, proving that not only do I not know what my readers will like, I don't even know what I'll like the next day. I also wrote the first post about our impending school decision. I'm sure there are more of those coming in January- we visit the two magnet schools we are considering on January 9.
Given how much I had to do in December, it would have been smart to be relatively quiet on the internet. I was not, however. I got in a prolonged discussion on someone else's blog that ended poorly, but made me think about why I get involved in online discussion in the first place. Despite what the other person on that other blog probably thinks, I don't set out to antagonize people! I held my first ever giveaway, as part of a review of the Secret Agent Josephine eBooks (and my new Kindle Fire). Pumpkin and I just read the Colors book tonight, so I wasn't lying just to get myself some free eBooks. My opinion cannot be bought that cheaply. I ended the month with a multi-part discussion about gendered toys, princesses, and how we handle the issue in our house. (Yes, I just broke my rule and linked to five posts in December. My blog, my rules, my exceptions, I guess.) I think the last post is the best, but also think that I probably beat that topic to death.
So... on to 2012. I enjoyed going through all my posts for this year and picking out the ones to include here. Who knows? This may become a tradition.
I've decided to pick two or three posts from each month, and link to them here with a little bit of commentary. My criteria for inclusion in this list are arbitrary in the extreme- some posts are here because a lot of people read them and/or commented on them, some posts are here because they cover things that seem important to include in a year in review post, and some posts are here just because I like them.
Without further ado...
January opened with me weeding in my garden, and thinking of it as a metaphor for making self-improving changes. I failed utterly at starting a meaningful yoga practice, but I do still enjoy chocolate. So its a wash, right? Then a mentally ill young man shot a bunch of people in my home state, and the events leading up to the event and the reactions to it reduced me to feeling glad that at least we're no longer flinging live children at castle walls, which is obviously a rather low bar. But, on the bright side, the book I read about Genghis Khan (which included the story about people flinging live children at castle walls- and note, Khan was not the one doing the flinging) was really interesting. I truly am a history major who has wandered far, far afield. And, um, only took a few history classes in college, and knows nothing about doing real history research. I enjoy reading history, though! The month ended with a post that could be viewed as the first Weekend Reading post, but I called it Friday Links. It was about the Tiger Mom furor (remember that?) and included a hilarious beat poem (no, that is not an oxymoron) about "alternative medicine". If you missed that the first time around, you should go watch it now. Unless you're into homeopathy, in which case you are likely to be offended.
In February, I wrote a post that I really liked but no one else really noticed called Obscurity and Success. The seeds of that post were planted way back in 2003, when I came across a statue honoring the men who made sure that Shakespeare's works were published after his death. Later in the month, I was surprised to find myself agreeing with an article about parenting and food in the New York Times. Usually, food articles in the New York Times seem to be written primarily for serious gourmands who take food far, far more seriously than I do, and the parenting articles seem to be written about a different species altogether.
March saw me musing about the transitions in my kids' lives and what they mean for my own identity. It was quite a lot of navel-gazing considering that it was sparked by the sight of a crayon from The Olive Garden (don't tell the NYT food people, but I really like The Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana). I am happy to report, though, that Petunia still lets me kiss her on the head, and it is still very sweet. March also saw my first real Weekend Reading post, which you should go look at if only to follow the link to Bad Mom, Good Mom's post about the life lessons of calculus. And I posted about an argument Hubby and I had about chores, which really resonated with some people, proving that I have no idea which posts will be interesting to anyone else- I thought that one was pretty dull.
In April, Pumpkin turned four and had some really good cupcakes at her party. I posted about how I buy time and compared the tension of balancing time with kids, time for other things, and money with the time-honored project management adage about how a project cannot be done cheaply, well, and fast- you have to choose two of the three. Finally, I had a weekend reading post that was really more rant about race, privilege, and education, which may (or may not) make the slew of posts I will undoubtedly write about choosing a kindergarten for Pumpkin make more sense. I will emphasize again, though, that I don't think there is anything wrong with people choosing private schools for their kids- I just want us all to remember how important public schools are.
May might have been the peak of our worries about Petunia's health. She still gets sick a lot, but it feels a lot more like normal day care stuff now. I also suspect that she's going to end up diagnosed with allergies eventually, but given my history with allergies, that won't be a big surprise. I also wrote a post about the conflict between our society's (and our own) parenting ideals and reality. I rather liked that one, because it bugs me how parents, and mothers in particular, get caught in a bit of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" bind in terms of how society judges them.
I turned 39 in May, but I wrote about it in June. I also posted my "Don't Lean Back Ahead of Time" rant,one of my most popular posts of all time, which was actually a series of comments on other people's posts, stitched together. I ended the month with a post about my "work limit"- i.e., how sometimes, trying to do more work is counter-productive. I like that one because it is a topic I really care about. I think we're a bit nutso about work hours in this country. Why in the world do people brag about working really long hours?
I followed up in July with my Work-Life Balance for Everyone Manifesto. I also reconstructed my first ever rant post, which was actually written in a paper journal. It makes me more happy than it should that even now, with two kids in my house, I still think my former coworker was a bit of a prat. I was also forced to admit that we were turning into "those parents" as we started Pumpkin on soccer lessons. Pumpkin loved those lessons, though, and has been asking to start them up again. So maybe "those parents" aren't so bad, after all.
I started August with a post that summarizes my parenting philosophy, and also explains why I can't talk about parenting with a lot of people in real life- namely, that I inhabit a different parenting universe than many of the people I know, because my kids don't sleep anywhere near as much as many of their peers. I also gazed deep into my linty navel and wrote about why I blog. You all wrote some really nice comments on that post, which is why I really like that post now. And just to prove that I still do sometimes post "mommyblog" things, I wrote a post about a walk with my daughters and their baby dolls. It was the first of many double stroller walks which I never really got tired of taking.
September brought the Great San Diego Blackout, which prompted me to write about emergency preparedness. We also went on a California road trip, which prompted me to write about how I travel with a toddler and a preschooler and enjoy it. That last post brought me a little good-natured flak from a commenter who thought that our brand of travel is unrealistic. I see her point, but stand by my post, and point out that we have made the road trip between San Diego and Phoenix enough times to have some experience with long days driving through scenery that bores the adults, let alone the kids.
In October, Petunia turned two. She had yummy cupcakes, too- not that she cared. I wrote a post about the phrase "working mom guilt" in which I think I offended Liz at Mom101, although that definitely wasn't my intent. And a twitter conversation with Fishscientist prompted me to draw a graph showing my post-partum productivity curve.
In November, I argued that I am not married to a unicorn, which is another one of my top posts if you judge by the number of hits it got. The follow up to that post eventually led me to post about being a feminist mother, which is a post that I thought sucked when I wrote it but that I now rather like, proving that not only do I not know what my readers will like, I don't even know what I'll like the next day. I also wrote the first post about our impending school decision. I'm sure there are more of those coming in January- we visit the two magnet schools we are considering on January 9.
Given how much I had to do in December, it would have been smart to be relatively quiet on the internet. I was not, however. I got in a prolonged discussion on someone else's blog that ended poorly, but made me think about why I get involved in online discussion in the first place. Despite what the other person on that other blog probably thinks, I don't set out to antagonize people! I held my first ever giveaway, as part of a review of the Secret Agent Josephine eBooks (and my new Kindle Fire). Pumpkin and I just read the Colors book tonight, so I wasn't lying just to get myself some free eBooks. My opinion cannot be bought that cheaply. I ended the month with a multi-part discussion about gendered toys, princesses, and how we handle the issue in our house. (Yes, I just broke my rule and linked to five posts in December. My blog, my rules, my exceptions, I guess.) I think the last post is the best, but also think that I probably beat that topic to death.
So... on to 2012. I enjoyed going through all my posts for this year and picking out the ones to include here. Who knows? This may become a tradition.
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