I have ADD (the non-hyper form, not ADHD). I was diagnosed at the age of 30, when I finally couldn't keep covering it up with my smarts and organizational tools. Believe me, I was "working smarter, not harder" as hard as I could, but my life was becoming a constant game of treading water and it SUCKED.
I got through school because I was genius-IQ smart and loved to learn. I could easily 'hyper-focus' (an ADD behavior) on schoolwork because I enjoyed it immensely and I'd finish it so fast that I never had to worry about follow-through to the extent that it would affect my grades. In college, however, I could no longer slide by and my grades tanked - I barely squeeked out with a degree.
Ritalin (well, actually Concerta) has been a godsend. I'm able to finally follow through effectively with all the self-help organizational tools I tried to use in the past. I can organize my thoughts and tasks, I complete things for a change, and I no longer feel overwhelmed by everyday life.
It's nothing at all like being high (I'm assuming - I've never gotten high). It just helps me have the volition to follow through on things I *want* to do, but had a hard time getting the volition to complete before.
I bet you tell diabetics to suck it up and quit taking insulin, too.
Re:Lots of stupid references in A.I
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Review: A.I.
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· Score: 1
Actually, I don't believe there is ANY DNA in hair, unless you pull it out by the roots and get the living cells that create the hair. That kinda pissed me off, although at that point, the movie was just a waste of film anyhow.
Um, also black = night = basic early human fear. We used to be afraid of the dark and the shadows for the very good reason that that's where the animals with the pointy fangs and claws were. I'm sure it didn't come to have racial connotations for several millenia later.
Hell, hundreds of engineers have spent the last decade or so in almost continuous cellular radiation at work. I've done IT for labs full of cellular switches and banks of test phones. If cellular radiation was so bad, you'd think they'd notice hordes of completely unprotected cellular engineers dropping dead by now. Why don't they test for brain cancer among that population and an equivalent control and see if something show up at that level?
Then they can see if it's really too dangerous to use on a personal level, or if it's similar to Xrays and only the professionals will have to wear foil helmets.
I agree with this in reference to the melodramatic bits, as high school is generally a giant Colliseum, but there has been a dangerous post-Columbine trend for the adults to get involved in what is normally an adolescent-only war.
It's one thing to get tortured by your peers, whom you are expected to battle with on a roughly even playing field. It's another entirely for adults who have an authority over you to participate as well. I think I'd like the book better if it got away from the "poor us" mode and into the "look at this disturbing new social trend" concept.
I knew very little about cameras and especially digital cameras. Every camera seemed to boast about a different feature, until I didn't know what was important for me to consider. This site asked me questions, explained the pros and cons of various features, narrowed it down through comparisons and finally gave me a list of cameras. I read the consumer reviews and looked at the professional image comparisions that were linked to from the site.
In the end, I picked the Casio QV2000 with the IBM microdrive and I'm very happy with it, as is my friend who went through a similar process at dcresource.com and chose the Casio. It certainly made me feel better about spending that much money - I was confident that I'd chosen a camera that would meet my needs (and surpassed them in a couple areas - it can go completely manual, if I want and does mpegs).
And definitely include a badge or pin, something we could wear every day. Draw a parallel between this and the Jews getting labelled with Stars of David by the Nazis. And no, I do not compare this to the Holocaust. But this is how Holocausts start and I don't want to wait until they are packing the undesirables off to reeducation camps. God, that gives me the creeps just typing that.
An organized campaign should be sending out a statement to TV, radio, government officials. Say it early and often, and wear the badge to show your support. People will start learning about it just from wondering what's up with this {star|logo|symbol|pin} showing up everywhere. Maybe hold rallys or marches in the larger cities.
Hell, a couple of my friends started the Amazon mock reviews and that got national coverage - you'd think some concerted effort could get something this important into the limelight. All we need is some "concerting".
It is in fact a good exercise to think about how you would feel if this program were being used in the workplace instead of schools. Would you really want to add this kind of anonymous informing to an already furious struggle for status? Can you imagine it *not* being abused to eliminate political enemies?
Actually, I experienced something like this. A large co-worker with a known violent temper had crippled a co-worker in the middle of a meeting (grabbed her by the wrist so hard it messed up the nerves). Some of us were later called to testify in court and the attacker called HR on one of us, claiming that "he talks about guns and going postal and I'm afraid!"
Well, for Christ's sake, we're sysadmins! We always talk about going postal, have been for the last five years we've all been working together, duh! And everyone knew the gun nuts were gun nuts (in a healthy way) - it's not like they were suddenly making furtive gun deals in the parking lot for illegal weapons.
So, suddenly, my friend was called onto the carpet for behavior that all of us had exhibited frequently for years. And yes, somewhere, there's a report in HR about it, even though HR and my friend's manager both admitted that it was bullshit but they still had to followup on it officially.
What happened to the guy who assaulted a co-worker in the middle of a meeting? He was found guilty in a court of law, but not one thing happened to him at work! I was much more afraid of working late when he was around than when my "postal gun-toting" friend was. I was nervous whenever I had to deal with him and I refused to be alone in a room with him. I wanted witnesses, at least!
I've been thinking about a vacuum sealer, to prevent meat freezer burn more than anything. Are they really worth the money (and counterspace)?
Forget Tupperware and Rubbermaid - the new disposables are the way to go! I don't feel guilty when my leftovers have grown fur and I throw the container out.
Every winter, I make up a few batches of soup. One evening, minimal effort = one meal + 10 bowls of frozen soup. 10 minutes in the microwave and it's as good as new. The key is to find recipes that will use up a large cut of meat. I get a ham dinner, a ham&pea streudel and the 10 bowls of soup from one ham. You can do similar things with a good beef brisket or pot roast.
Where in the hell did you get the idea that I was stinky and scraggly?
I am always clean, neatly (though casually) dressed, and smell, well, like clean woman. I don't wear makeup, but I have a naturally good complexion. I don't wear perfume except for special occasions, because I find that can be as offensive as it is attractive. I dress simply, but I'm a classic kinda gal, so even when I get dressed up, I keep it clean-lined and simple. My hair is cut by a professional, whom I trust to make design decisions. (Heh, last major hair revision I suggested getting it cut really short in back and his response was "Oh, no, honey." in that same tone I use with users who *think* they know what they want.:-) He told me what I would be getting. It's a nice change.)
To tell the truth, I don't know too many geeks that fail the hygiene test. I mean, really, I don't know of real stinky, sloppy or generally unkempt geek guys. Most of them are casual dressers - jeans and a t-shirt or polo, but there's nothing wrong with that at all. I think it's more of a stereotype than a reality. (Although there's one guy at work that has breath that would kill at 10 paces....)
I think Nonesuch was right about the geek girls' need for respect at work. Geek girls sometimes need to be one of the boys to be part of the team, to get respect as a techie and not a "babe". Maybe it spills over into the social life, so we tend to give off a 'one of the gang' vibe there too. Huh, something to think about...
Yeah, I know what ya mean. It's not that I don't look, I'm just saying that's a preference.
But yeah, I'm already physically imposing enough as is - I'd like to date someone who makes me feel delicate. Or at least delicat*er*.
Wouldn't you *prefer* a girl who fit just right under your arm?:-) We may not end up with that, but it's nice for the wish list. Maybe you need to come visit just to meet all the women who are at least a head shorter than me. (With a fair number at least a foot shorter!) We have a lot of them around here.
But that never works. I can hang out with a whole herd of geek guys and they treat me like....one of the guys. Even hard-up geek guys aren't attracted to geek women - they want cute girls with tight sweaters, perfect makeup and a styled 'do. There's nothing I hate more than standing next to a guy I could like (but who treats me like one of the guys) who is bemoaning his womanless fate and ogling some cute young thing. "There are no decent single women around here!" I'M STANDING RIGHT HERE, DAMMIT! RIIIIIIGHT HEEEEEEERE!
I mean, I know it's a matter of chemistry, not just availability, too. (Case in point, a geek male friend of mine who is just the nicest guy, would treat me well, possibly worship me, but I don't feel attracted to him.) But damn, am I emitting anti-attractive particles or something?
Chicago, NW suburbs. 28, UNIX sysadmin, brown hair, blue eyes, 5'9", on the sturdy side right now, but working on it. Read voraciously, like studying languages, trying to keep up with my tai chi. Fond of the theater, but also appreciate backyard BBQs. Comes with two cats, one color, one B&W.
Looking for a guy who plans on quietly and tastefully adoring his woman, occasionally in public (recently cleansed myself of a long-term relationship in which he treated me like an embarrassing secret - never again; celibacy is preferable to the self-esteem drain).Basic hygene and the ability to converse outside of tech a must.I prefer men taller than I and not too round (althought teddybear cuddly is fine). Sexual experience not necessary - but must be willing to learn and be creative.:-)
I don't track calories - I just watch the EatWatch trend and eyeball the rest.:-) Then again, I'm only losing a half-pound a week right now. I'm trying to maintain my food habits before ramping up into serious daily exercise.
As for the grazing (a former bad habit of mine as well!), try making sure you have low/no fat snacks around the house. Fresh raw vegetables, diet snacks, etc. I found that fresh grapefruit is *great* for evening snacking - healthy, low calorie and oddly filling.
Another hint is to always give yourself time to feel full. Since I started watching my portions, I'm getting a better feel for how much it really takes to fill me up without stuffing myself. In the past, I'd eat until I felt full, then the feeling would catch up to reality and I'd feel stuffed and incredibly bloated. Not good for morale.:-) Even if I'm not losing as much weight as I want yet, at least I feel lighter and more positive.
He's also really right about the water. Lots and lots! Fills you up, cuts the hunger cravings, and it's better for your body all around. (Not to mention one's complexion.)
As an INTJ, this is fairly spot-on for me, as well. My specialty is bringing order out of chaos; coming up with new processes, new methods, new concepts. I, too, have a huge pile of spawned projects that just await someone who can manage the daily grind necessary to implement. If they could just assign me a few programmers!
Having taken a poll of sysadmins, I can say that the predominant temperment is NT, the predominant individual elements, by far, were Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging and the top four types were (in order) INTJ, INTP, ENTP and INFP. Programmers might be more methodical (ISTJ), but sysadmins need to be highly flexible and innovative in order to keep one step ahead - born problem solvers.:-)
As for "knowledge-stuffing colleges", it was college that got me into this field, after I burned out on biochemistry. College, done properly, gives you a chance to explore some interesting subjects that you might never otherwise have encountered. (Anthropology and Religion being my two required "liberal artsy" bits - very fun!)
It's weird, but most of the women I know found "Jamcracker" to be strangely creepy, just like the women in the article. I think we narrowed it down to a vague, hard-to-explain feeling of sexual violence. And seriously, I'm not sure why. But, ICK!
If it takes you "a plastic bowl, a larger plastic bowl, a wooden spoon, a measuring cup, and an old milk jug -- and about 15 minutes of time from start to final attempt at cleanup" to make orange juice from frozen concentrate, god, you're an incompetent boob!
Turn on water to let it get a little cold, open the can using the easy-open ripcord, plop it into a pitcher, fill the pitcher with cold water using the now-empty can and, if you don't have a pitcher you can close and shake to mix, give it a few swirls with a spoon. Two minutes, tops. Good god, man...
I might spend two hours making dinner by hand, but that's because it will often taste better/fresher than microwaved stuff (ever try to microwave cuts of meat? Bleh.) and I enjoy the activity. It's often almost meditative and gives me something to occupy my hands while I think over things. Of course, with your apparent dismal lack of basic cooking survival skills, I can see how it would just be torture!:-)
I also think microwaves are the best thing since sliced bread. I'm all for nuking a quick dinner so I can waste more time in front of the computer.
The point is that it's our choice to work for technology or make technology work for us. I get so tired of hearing people whine about pagers and cell phones digging into their precious free time. Well, you know what? Try not answering them for a change! If you're out having a drink after work and work pages you, IGNORE IT. Turn the cell phone off! Let the answering machine get it, let the paging system catch up with you when you've got the time, don't answer email until you have time to address it. Stop trying to read 500 web sites each morning and keep up with 43 different mailing lists if you are drowning in information overload. Pare it down to essentials, and you'll probably find you aren't really missing anything much.
If you let technology dictate how you spend your day, instead of vice versa, you deserve everything you get. My PalmPilot and PageWriter and TalkAbouts and computer all serve *my* needs, and I have no problem leaving them all behind when I need to. Just like the microwave and the kitchen knives.:-)
I noticed Systers was mentioned on LinuxChix, too. That was a mailing list I bailed on rather quickly after I flamed someone for posting one of those 2M "send this to all your friends and save the headers" deals. All the other women jumped up and had a hissy fit because I was a "meanie".
WTF? We're supposed to be techno-savvy women and you're pulling a June Cleaver on me because someone acted worse than an AOL luser?
I think women sometimes have a hard time in this field because you really do have to buck the traditional female enculturation. Hanging out with geek guys is not about being passive and ornamentive and *nice*; it's about being a right bastard who slings data with the best of them.
I've noticed that women do tend to get whacked career-wise often - but it's mostly their fault. In our team, the women tended to get the scutwork and maintenance type tasks. Why? Because the guys wouldn't touch it with a bargepole and the gals caved and did it. Well, except for me. I'm good at metrics and documentation (a LOT better than any of the guys), but until my manager demonstrated how highly he valued those tasks AND how much he admired my work in those necessary areas, I refused to let them saddle me with "secretary work". The gals would cave and do the meta-work (the curse of the BigCorporation) and the guys would get all the plum tech jobs.
I talked to my manager and together we made sure that, although my work was critically important to the team and I enjoyed it, I would also get plenty of tech training and always have at least one new tech project on my plate. But you can't just be passive and expect to get the career you want - and too many women in my team expected the managers to magically see that they were martyring themselves and fix it, even when they weren't complaining.
While I didn't have to be "one of the boys", I do speak up for myself, clearly declare my needs and desires, and go after my wants and interests. Too many women are taught otherwise.
Now, while I admit I've had my fun scanning user directories for images, we never actually do anything with them. The admins around here believed that we were like confessors or doctors - we knew what you were really doing, but it's our job to be discreet. It's part of my job to manage the disk space allocations around here and when a group is whining for more disk space while maintaining 400M of porn, well, I'd be remiss in not clearing up that situation. It's my job to know what is on my network and allocate those resources to the best of my ability. Games and porn on our network are not the best allocation of scarce resources, but they usually get ignored until some idiot forces us to step in and put the smackdown on them.
With the proper gifsniffer, you can have hours of amusement seeing how users hide these things. One guy had them all named *.o and *.c; looked like one big code release. Made the mistake leaving an index README file in there, since I didn't recognize the 'package' name and I was curious as to what code was worth him going over quota. I usually just point out to them that they are over quota and here are some directories that would be good candidates for deletion (or archiving to home) - you do it, or I will in two days.
We've had users waste my precious time asking for file restores on their porn. This usually results in the deletion of all their porn and a nasty note. We've also had a user clog to unusability an ISDN link to a remote office with porn. He got a serious spanking for that one, I believe.
Now, I know that's how the stereotype goes, but how does it actually happen in practice: did your parents take you aside on a sunny afternoon and say: "Honey, you know we really love you and all, but for heaven's sake, will you act a bit dumber please? You're scaring off all the boys, and we're NOT going to get stuck with you at home!"
You already answered yourself :
Later on, though, the girls just drop off the map somehow. Could be the rising self-consciousness...
Girls drop off the map because they learn quickly in grade school that boys are intimidated by intelligent girls and relegate them to buddies at best and ridicule them at worst. And when everyone hits puberty, that becomes a huge social imperative - to be acceptable to the opposite sex and your peer group.
My parents were very supportive and proud of my intelligence. And they encouraged me to be whatever I wanted to be. But I still remember coming home from some event and crying on my dad's shoulder because my dumb blonde skinny cousin and I went together and she'd get all the attention from guys and I wouldn't even get noticed.
You get real sick of being ignored after a while. Or being the buddy, or the sidekick, or the comic relief.
And even among geek guys, you can get it on occasion. There's a guy who I'd even call a friend, but I get the impression that when I beat him at trivia games, he feels irked in a way that doesn't seem to apply when a guy beats him.
When you're 28 and still lookin' for geek love, that's a really depressing realization. The likelihood that I will ever find a guy that I can be intelligent and my usual BOFH self around becomes increasingly scarce.
This concept keeps coming up - the idea that being more accessible means you have to make yourself available to whomeever wants you whenever they want you. But frankly, it's just not true.
Most of us have figured out by now that when the phone rings in the middle of dinner, you let the machine pick it up. Or you use CallerID to screen. The only way technology will control our lives is if we choose to let it.
When I go home on Friday, I read my alphanumeric pager but have no compunction about ignoring anything that is not important enough to interrupt my day off. Likewise, my employer knows that something had better be on fire if I am getting work calls at home.
So, with a little common sense, don't bring the whole kit and kaboodle with you when hiking in the mountains, or learn to say "No" to whomever is bugging you while on vacation.
Come on, this has to be a joke article. It's too silly to be real. Wearing the silver suits for that "old timey" feel? And the NASA guys are too sarcastic to be believable.
"I've got to get to work, and rather than explain to my brats why they can't see a movie that's probably not appropriate for them anyway, I'll just give them over to this strange man who is telling people that he is a priest in order to get his hands on them..."
"Brats"? "not appropriate for them anyway"? Well, aren't we the little judgemental conscience of the world?
The mother walked her kids up to the ticket booth and was going to pick the kids up after the movie. She was fully aware of the movie they would be seeing. She was allowing a guy to help her out by fulfilling a technicality. Actually, she sounds a lot like my mom (who saw South Park with me).:)
What else would have been served by her being physically in the theatre with them? Does her being in a chair beside them make a difference as far as parenting goes? If teenage kids can't go see a movie with a little swearing in it, I don't know what this world is coming to.
I used the phrase "minorcultural revolution" for a reason.:-)
You don't think that the way TV opened up your average American to the larger world, in an attractive, powerful format, had anything at all to do with the change in attitudes in the 60s/70s? Suddenly, we're *seeing* people dying in faroff wars and getting oppressed and starving, etc.
Instead of *reading* a dry, factual accout of, say, a civil rights march being broken up, you can see some poor guy getting the bejesus beat out of him while non-violently resisting. That's a much more powerful image, a much more powerful medium, to evoke a much more powerful response. Which equals a much more powerful counter-response to those who liked the old way just fine, thankyouverymuch.
Now think about the Internet in this light. Now, you don't even have to rely on the bias of the journalist present; you can get that kind of information and imagery fed back to you from anyone and everyone present; see a hundred points of view coming to you moments after an event.
And with television, everyone knew how to work a TV, and for the most part, the trusty news reporter was, well, trusted, so even the old guard wasn't scared of the medium itself. With the Internet, it's a whole different story - computers are for the young, the elite, them funny-lookin' kids with all the piercings.:-) The younger generation is the one in control of the medium this time. That gives more of a sense of a lack of control. And thus, the greater fear.
Which comes back to the main point - the return of "book burnings" and censorship and "Let's post the Ten Commandments in the classroom".
The Internet does have a huge effect on our culture, as TV once did (but doesn't quite have any more, IMHO). For one small example that shakes the applecart of tradition, I was raised Catholic. Like my parents, like their parents, and AFAICT up the family tree on both sides for five generations. EVERYONE. And now, the sixth generation is Taoist. Because I met a lot of people just like me on the net, and a lot of them were Taoist/Buddist, and I was intrigued by their comments and I did some research on the net. Voila, a new religion of choice. And this generation thinks nothing of it, but how many Wiccans and Taoists and Buddhists would seriously be coming out of Middle America if they weren't finding communities across the net? How often would this be happening before we could link up with thousands just like us across the world and experience new ways of thinking that effortlessly?
Now, I don't want to give you the impression that I'm trying to make it sound like some big scary all-powerful 'whoooo!' magic, because I know the bad side of the Internet, too. It's no cure-all or magic wand for society's ills, by any stretch of the imagination. And there were Wiccans and Buddhists and geeks and outcasts and all that before the Internet, of course. It's just communication, and something our generation uses like others use the phone. And this is a good thing. But we have to realize that the older generation does not see it that way, that to them it's a mystical entity they can't control, and they're scared.
Maybe we can de-mystify it for them. Maybe we just have to ride it out. But to me, this feels like the beginning of some interesting (and probably serious) culture/generation clash.
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Oh, shut the hell up.
I have ADD (the non-hyper form, not ADHD). I was diagnosed at the age of 30, when I finally couldn't keep covering it up with my smarts and organizational tools. Believe me, I was "working smarter, not harder" as hard as I could, but my life was becoming a constant game of treading water and it SUCKED.
I got through school because I was genius-IQ smart and loved to learn. I could easily 'hyper-focus' (an ADD behavior) on schoolwork because I enjoyed it immensely and I'd finish it so fast that I never had to worry about follow-through to the extent that it would affect my grades. In college, however, I could no longer slide by and my grades tanked - I barely squeeked out with a degree.
Ritalin (well, actually Concerta) has been a godsend. I'm able to finally follow through effectively with all the self-help organizational tools I tried to use in the past. I can organize my thoughts and tasks, I complete things for a change, and I no longer feel overwhelmed by everyday life.
It's nothing at all like being high (I'm assuming - I've never gotten high). It just helps me have the volition to follow through on things I *want* to do, but had a hard time getting the volition to complete before.
I bet you tell diabetics to suck it up and quit taking insulin, too.
Actually, I don't believe there is ANY DNA in hair, unless you pull it out by the roots and get the living cells that create the hair. That kinda pissed me off, although at that point, the movie was just a waste of film anyhow.
Dunno about Kidman, but I've heard McGregor sing in other movies and he's got good pipes.
Um, also black = night = basic early human fear. We used to be afraid of the dark and the shadows for the very good reason that that's where the animals with the pointy fangs and claws were. I'm sure it didn't come to have racial connotations for several millenia later.
Hell, hundreds of engineers have spent the last decade or so in almost continuous cellular radiation at work. I've done IT for labs full of cellular switches and banks of test phones. If cellular radiation was so bad, you'd think they'd notice hordes of completely unprotected cellular engineers dropping dead by now. Why don't they test for brain cancer among that population and an equivalent control and see if something show up at that level?
Then they can see if it's really too dangerous to use on a personal level, or if it's similar to Xrays and only the professionals will have to wear foil helmets.
It's one thing to get tortured by your peers, whom you are expected to battle with on a roughly even playing field. It's another entirely for adults who have an authority over you to participate as well. I think I'd like the book better if it got away from the "poor us" mode and into the "look at this disturbing new social trend" concept.
I have to second the motion for the Digital Camera Resource!
I knew very little about cameras and especially digital cameras. Every camera seemed to boast about a different feature, until I didn't know what was important for me to consider. This site asked me questions, explained the pros and cons of various features, narrowed it down through comparisons and finally gave me a list of cameras. I read the consumer reviews and looked at the professional image comparisions that were linked to from the site.
In the end, I picked the Casio QV2000 with the IBM microdrive and I'm very happy with it, as is my friend who went through a similar process at dcresource.com and chose the Casio. It certainly made me feel better about spending that much money - I was confident that I'd chosen a camera that would meet my needs (and surpassed them in a couple areas - it can go completely manual, if I want and does mpegs).
And definitely include a badge or pin, something we could wear every day. Draw a parallel between this and the Jews getting labelled with Stars of David by the Nazis. And no, I do not compare this to the Holocaust. But this is how Holocausts start and I don't want to wait until they are packing the undesirables off to reeducation camps. God, that gives me the creeps just typing that.
An organized campaign should be sending out a statement to TV, radio, government officials. Say it early and often, and wear the badge to show your support. People will start learning about it just from wondering what's up with this {star|logo|symbol|pin} showing up everywhere. Maybe hold rallys or marches in the larger cities.
Hell, a couple of my friends started the Amazon mock reviews and that got national coverage - you'd think some concerted effort could get something this important into the limelight. All we need is some "concerting".
Actually, I experienced something like this. A large co-worker with a known violent temper had crippled a co-worker in the middle of a meeting (grabbed her by the wrist so hard it messed up the nerves). Some of us were later called to testify in court and the attacker called HR on one of us, claiming that "he talks about guns and going postal and I'm afraid!"
Well, for Christ's sake, we're sysadmins! We always talk about going postal, have been for the last five years we've all been working together, duh! And everyone knew the gun nuts were gun nuts (in a healthy way) - it's not like they were suddenly making furtive gun deals in the parking lot for illegal weapons.
So, suddenly, my friend was called onto the carpet for behavior that all of us had exhibited frequently for years. And yes, somewhere, there's a report in HR about it, even though HR and my friend's manager both admitted that it was bullshit but they still had to followup on it officially.
What happened to the guy who assaulted a co-worker in the middle of a meeting? He was found guilty in a court of law, but not one thing happened to him at work! I was much more afraid of working late when he was around than when my "postal gun-toting" friend was. I was nervous whenever I had to deal with him and I refused to be alone in a room with him. I wanted witnesses, at least!
I've been thinking about a vacuum sealer, to prevent meat freezer burn more than anything. Are they really worth the money (and counterspace)?
Forget Tupperware and Rubbermaid - the new disposables are the way to go! I don't feel guilty when my leftovers have grown fur and I throw the container out.
Every winter, I make up a few batches of soup. One evening, minimal effort = one meal + 10 bowls of frozen soup. 10 minutes in the microwave and it's as good as new. The key is to find recipes that will use up a large cut of meat. I get a ham dinner, a ham&pea streudel and the 10 bowls of soup from one ham. You can do similar things with a good beef brisket or pot roast.
There's a great recipe archive at http://soar.berkeley.edu/recipes/ which can range from basic food to fancy.
Where in the hell did you get the idea that I was stinky and scraggly?
:-) He told me what I would be getting. It's a nice change.)
I am always clean, neatly (though casually) dressed, and smell, well, like clean woman. I don't wear makeup, but I have a naturally good complexion. I don't wear perfume except for special occasions, because I find that can be as offensive as it is attractive. I dress simply, but I'm a classic kinda gal, so even when I get dressed up, I keep it clean-lined and simple. My hair is cut by a professional, whom I trust to make design decisions. (Heh, last major hair revision I suggested getting it cut really short in back and his response was "Oh, no, honey." in that same tone I use with users who *think* they know what they want.
To tell the truth, I don't know too many geeks that fail the hygiene test. I mean, really, I don't know of real stinky, sloppy or generally unkempt geek guys. Most of them are casual dressers - jeans and a t-shirt or polo, but there's nothing wrong with that at all. I think it's more of a stereotype than a reality. (Although there's one guy at work that has breath that would kill at 10 paces....)
I think Nonesuch was right about the geek girls' need for respect at work. Geek girls sometimes need to be one of the boys to be part of the team, to get respect as a techie and not a "babe". Maybe it spills over into the social life, so we tend to give off a 'one of the gang' vibe there too. Huh, something to think about...
Yeah, I know what ya mean. It's not that I don't look, I'm just saying that's a preference.
:-) We may not end up with that, but it's nice for the wish list. Maybe you need to come visit just to meet all the women who are at least a head shorter than me. (With a fair number at least a foot shorter!) We have a lot of them around here.
But yeah, I'm already physically imposing enough as is - I'd like to date someone who makes me feel delicate. Or at least delicat*er*.
Wouldn't you *prefer* a girl who fit just right under your arm?
But that never works. I can hang out with a whole herd of geek guys and they treat me like....one of the guys. Even hard-up geek guys aren't attracted to geek women - they want cute girls with tight sweaters, perfect makeup and a styled 'do. There's nothing I hate more than standing next to a guy I could like (but who treats me like one of the guys) who is bemoaning his womanless fate and ogling some cute young thing. "There are no decent single women around here!" I'M STANDING RIGHT HERE, DAMMIT! RIIIIIIGHT HEEEEEEERE!
:-)
I mean, I know it's a matter of chemistry, not just availability, too. (Case in point, a geek male friend of mine who is just the nicest guy, would treat me well, possibly worship me, but I don't feel attracted to him.) But damn, am I emitting anti-attractive particles or something?
Chicago, NW suburbs. 28, UNIX sysadmin, brown hair, blue eyes, 5'9", on the sturdy side right now, but working on it. Read voraciously, like studying languages, trying to keep up with my tai chi. Fond of the theater, but also appreciate backyard BBQs. Comes with two cats, one color, one B&W.
Looking for a guy who plans on quietly and tastefully adoring his woman, occasionally in public (recently cleansed myself of a long-term relationship in which he treated me like an embarrassing secret - never again; celibacy is preferable to the self-esteem drain).Basic hygene and the ability to converse outside of tech a must.I prefer men taller than I and not too round (althought teddybear cuddly is fine). Sexual experience not necessary - but must be willing to learn and be creative.
I don't track calories - I just watch the EatWatch trend and eyeball the rest. :-) Then again, I'm only losing a half-pound a week right now. I'm trying to maintain my food habits before ramping up into serious daily exercise.
:-) Even if I'm not losing as much weight as I want yet, at least I feel lighter and more positive.
As for the grazing (a former bad habit of mine as well!), try making sure you have low/no fat snacks around the house. Fresh raw vegetables, diet snacks, etc. I found that fresh grapefruit is *great* for evening snacking - healthy, low calorie and oddly filling.
Another hint is to always give yourself time to feel full. Since I started watching my portions, I'm getting a better feel for how much it really takes to fill me up without stuffing myself. In the past, I'd eat until I felt full, then the feeling would catch up to reality and I'd feel stuffed and incredibly bloated. Not good for morale.
He's also really right about the water. Lots and lots! Fills you up, cuts the hunger cravings, and it's better for your body all around. (Not to mention one's complexion.)
I wouldn't call something that glows in the dark and looks like piss after a dose of mega-vitamins "lightly colored".
As an INTJ, this is fairly spot-on for me, as well. My specialty is bringing order out of chaos; coming up with new processes, new methods, new concepts. I, too, have a huge pile of spawned projects that just await someone who can manage the daily grind necessary to implement. If they could just assign me a few programmers!
:-)
Having taken a poll of sysadmins, I can say that the predominant temperment is NT, the predominant individual elements, by far, were Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging and the top four types were (in order) INTJ, INTP, ENTP and INFP. Programmers might be more methodical (ISTJ), but sysadmins need to be highly flexible and innovative in order to keep one step ahead - born problem solvers.
As for "knowledge-stuffing colleges", it was college that got me into this field, after I burned out on biochemistry. College, done properly, gives you a chance to explore some interesting subjects that you might never otherwise have encountered. (Anthropology and Religion being my two required "liberal artsy" bits - very fun!)
It's weird, but most of the women I know found "Jamcracker" to be strangely creepy, just like the women in the article. I think we narrowed it down to a vague, hard-to-explain feeling of sexual violence. And seriously, I'm not sure why. But, ICK!
If it takes you "a plastic bowl, a larger plastic bowl, a wooden spoon, a measuring cup, and an old milk jug -- and about 15 minutes of time from start to final attempt at cleanup" to make orange juice from frozen concentrate, god, you're an incompetent boob!
:-)
:-)
Turn on water to let it get a little cold, open the can using the easy-open ripcord, plop it into a pitcher, fill the pitcher with cold water using the now-empty can and, if you don't have a pitcher you can close and shake to mix, give it a few swirls with a spoon. Two minutes, tops. Good god, man...
I might spend two hours making dinner by hand, but that's because it will often taste better/fresher than microwaved stuff (ever try to microwave cuts of meat? Bleh.) and I enjoy the activity. It's often almost meditative and gives me something to occupy my hands while I think over things. Of course, with your apparent dismal lack of basic cooking survival skills, I can see how it would just be torture!
I also think microwaves are the best thing since sliced bread. I'm all for nuking a quick dinner so I can waste more time in front of the computer.
The point is that it's our choice to work for technology or make technology work for us. I get so tired of hearing people whine about pagers and cell phones digging into their precious free time. Well, you know what? Try not answering them for a change! If you're out having a drink after work and work pages you, IGNORE IT. Turn the cell phone off! Let the answering machine get it, let the paging system catch up with you when you've got the time, don't answer email until you have time to address it. Stop trying to read 500 web sites each morning and keep up with 43 different mailing lists if you are drowning in information overload. Pare it down to essentials, and you'll probably find you aren't really missing anything much.
If you let technology dictate how you spend your day, instead of vice versa, you deserve everything you get. My PalmPilot and PageWriter and TalkAbouts and computer all serve *my* needs, and I have no problem leaving them all behind when I need to. Just like the microwave and the kitchen knives.
I noticed Systers was mentioned on LinuxChix, too. That was a mailing list I bailed on rather quickly after I flamed someone for posting one of those 2M "send this to all your friends and save the headers" deals. All the other women jumped up and had a hissy fit because I was a "meanie".
WTF? We're supposed to be techno-savvy women and you're pulling a June Cleaver on me because someone acted worse than an AOL luser?
I think women sometimes have a hard time in this field because you really do have to buck the traditional female enculturation. Hanging out with geek guys is not about being passive and ornamentive and *nice*; it's about being a right bastard who slings data with the best of them.
I've noticed that women do tend to get whacked career-wise often - but it's mostly their fault. In our team, the women tended to get the scutwork and maintenance type tasks. Why? Because the guys wouldn't touch it with a bargepole and the gals caved and did it. Well, except for me. I'm good at metrics and documentation (a LOT better than any of the guys), but until my manager demonstrated how highly he valued those tasks AND how much he admired my work in those necessary areas, I refused to let them saddle me with "secretary work". The gals would cave and do the meta-work (the curse of the BigCorporation) and the guys would get all the plum tech jobs.
I talked to my manager and together we made sure that, although my work was critically important to the team and I enjoyed it, I would also get plenty of tech training and always have at least one new tech project on my plate. But you can't just be passive and expect to get the career you want - and too many women in my team expected the managers to magically see that they were martyring themselves and fix it, even when they weren't complaining.
While I didn't have to be "one of the boys", I do speak up for myself, clearly declare my needs and desires, and go after my wants and interests. Too many women are taught otherwise.
Now, while I admit I've had my fun scanning user directories for images, we never actually do anything with them. The admins around here believed that we were like confessors or doctors - we knew what you were really doing, but it's our job to be discreet. It's part of my job to manage the disk space allocations around here and when a group is whining for more disk space while maintaining 400M of porn, well, I'd be remiss in not clearing up that situation. It's my job to know what is on my network and allocate those resources to the best of my ability. Games and porn on our network are not the best allocation of scarce resources, but they usually get ignored until some idiot forces us to step in and put the smackdown on them.
With the proper gifsniffer, you can have hours of amusement seeing how users hide these things. One guy had them all named *.o and *.c; looked like one big code release. Made the mistake leaving an index README file in there, since I didn't recognize the 'package' name and I was curious as to what code was worth him going over quota. I usually just point out to them that they are over quota and here are some directories that would be good candidates for deletion (or archiving to home) - you do it, or I will in two days.
We've had users waste my precious time asking for file restores on their porn. This usually results in the deletion of all their porn and a nasty note. We've also had a user clog to unusability an ISDN link to a remote office with porn. He got a serious spanking for that one, I believe.
You already answered yourself :
Girls drop off the map because they learn quickly in grade school that boys are intimidated by intelligent girls and relegate them to buddies at best and ridicule them at worst. And when everyone hits puberty, that becomes a huge social imperative - to be acceptable to the opposite sex and your peer group.
My parents were very supportive and proud of my intelligence. And they encouraged me to be whatever I wanted to be. But I still remember coming home from some event and crying on my dad's shoulder because my dumb blonde skinny cousin and I went together and she'd get all the attention from guys and I wouldn't even get noticed.
You get real sick of being ignored after a while. Or being the buddy, or the sidekick, or the comic relief.
And even among geek guys, you can get it on occasion. There's a guy who I'd even call a friend, but I get the impression that when I beat him at trivia games, he feels irked in a way that doesn't seem to apply when a guy beats him.
When you're 28 and still lookin' for geek love, that's a really depressing realization. The likelihood that I will ever find a guy that I can be intelligent and my usual BOFH self around becomes increasingly scarce.
This concept keeps coming up - the idea that being more accessible means you have to make yourself available to whomeever wants you whenever they want you. But frankly, it's just not true.
Most of us have figured out by now that when the phone rings in the middle of dinner, you let the machine pick it up. Or you use CallerID to screen. The only way technology will control our lives is if we choose to let it.
When I go home on Friday, I read my alphanumeric pager but have no compunction about ignoring anything that is not important enough to interrupt my day off. Likewise, my employer knows that something had better be on fire if I am getting work calls at home.
So, with a little common sense, don't bring the whole kit and kaboodle with you when hiking in the mountains, or learn to say "No" to whomever is bugging you while on vacation.
Come on, this has to be a joke article. It's too silly to be real. Wearing the silver suits for that "old timey" feel? And the NASA guys are too sarcastic to be believable.
"Brats"? "not appropriate for them anyway"? Well, aren't we the little judgemental conscience of the world?
The mother walked her kids up to the ticket booth and was going to pick the kids up after the movie. She was fully aware of the movie they would be seeing. She was allowing a guy to help her out by fulfilling a technicality. Actually, she sounds a lot like my mom (who saw South Park with me).
What else would have been served by her being physically in the theatre with them? Does her being in a chair beside them make a difference as far as parenting goes? If teenage kids can't go see a movie with a little swearing in it, I don't know what this world is coming to.
I used the phrase "minor cultural revolution" for a reason. :-)
:-) The younger generation is the one in control of the medium this time. That gives more of a sense of a lack of control. And thus, the greater fear.
You don't think that the way TV opened up your average American to the larger world, in an attractive, powerful format, had anything at all to do with the change in attitudes in the 60s/70s? Suddenly, we're *seeing* people dying in faroff wars and getting oppressed and starving, etc.
Instead of *reading* a dry, factual accout of, say, a civil rights march being broken up, you can see some poor guy getting the bejesus beat out of him while non-violently resisting. That's a much more powerful image, a much more powerful medium, to evoke a much more powerful response. Which equals a much more powerful counter-response to those who liked the old way just fine, thankyouverymuch.
Now think about the Internet in this light. Now, you don't even have to rely on the bias of the journalist present; you can get that kind of information and imagery fed back to you from anyone and everyone present; see a hundred points of view coming to you moments after an event.
And with television, everyone knew how to work a TV, and for the most part, the trusty news reporter was, well, trusted, so even the old guard wasn't scared of the medium itself. With the Internet, it's a whole different story - computers are for the young, the elite, them funny-lookin' kids with all the piercings.
Which comes back to the main point - the return of "book burnings" and censorship and "Let's post the Ten Commandments in the classroom".
The Internet does have a huge effect on our culture, as TV once did (but doesn't quite have any more, IMHO). For one small example that shakes the applecart of tradition, I was raised Catholic. Like my parents, like their parents, and AFAICT up the family tree on both sides for five generations. EVERYONE. And now, the sixth generation is Taoist. Because I met a lot of people just like me on the net, and a lot of them were Taoist/Buddist, and I was intrigued by their comments and I did some research on the net. Voila, a new religion of choice. And this generation thinks nothing of it, but how many Wiccans and Taoists and Buddhists would seriously be coming out of Middle America if they weren't finding communities across the net? How often would this be happening before we could link up with thousands just like us across the world and experience new ways of thinking that effortlessly?
Now, I don't want to give you the impression that I'm trying to make it sound like some big scary all-powerful 'whoooo!' magic, because I know the bad side of the Internet, too. It's no cure-all or magic wand for society's ills, by any stretch of the imagination . And there were Wiccans and Buddhists and geeks and outcasts and all that before the Internet, of course. It's just communication, and something our generation uses like others use the phone. And this is a good thing. But we have to realize that the older generation does not see it that way, that to them it's a mystical entity they can't control, and they're scared.
Maybe we can de-mystify it for them. Maybe we just have to ride it out. But to me, this feels like the beginning of some interesting (and probably serious) culture/generation clash.