whimsy 5

adventures on i-95

whimsy 4

whimsy 3

whimsy 2

my mom is always right

i wrote down what she told me over the summer:

• you have to be happy before you can be in a happy relationship
• relationships aren't about fairness or counting sacrifices.  you do things for your family because you care about them.
• relationships are about patience and understanding.  everyone has a different personality and you have to let them abide by their own schedule. she says if i don't learn this lesson now, i will learn it it when i have kids.
  
• relationships aren't business deals that you rush to close.
  

whimsy

the days are getting longer

i'm rubber you're glue!

in 8th grade, we studied genocide in english class.  anne frank and all that.

i gave a presentation on the genocide of native americans.  i was outraged and wanted everyone else to be too. 

one of my classmates pointed out that what we did to the native americans wasn't the same as what the nazis did to the jews.  he had a point, but i took it personally.  when the teacher invited me to talk about it after class, i acted like i didn't care.  it bugs me that i couldn't just say how i felt.

* * * * * * * *
my college friend drew and i have the same conversations over and over again. they are basically variations of this:

drew:  i'm sad.
carol:  aw. don't be sad.

carol: i feel terrible. i know i shouldn't feel terrible.
drew: don't fight it. feelings don't make sense.

somehow, that's sustained 10 years of friendship.

things swirling in my head

there are many things.  here are a few:

• naureen writes about being superior but still failing.
  
• an inspiring ted talk about shopping at thrift stores.  she radiates happiness :)
  
• i said to a classmate -- i don't care about poor people.  development work is depressing and hard.  if i don't care about the poorest people, i'll never want to work at the world bank or unicef (neither of which are in SF).  but, it's hard not to care when 40-ish percent of children under five in india are malnourished.  and the real energy challenge is about rising living standards in the developing world. 
  
• magnetic fields!

stop it, facebook

of the four or so ads that facebook shows me at a time, typically:  2 are for engagement rings, 1 is for home-related things like real estate, and 1 is for shoes and dresses.  see exhibit to the left. 

today, the shininess was a bit much for me -- three pictures of diamonds? really?  facebook used to show me yoga retreat or doula training ads.  what happened to that?

i've compared my ads to matt's ads, and we are nothing alike.  he gets ads for tools.

i wish it were easier to ignore, but advertising totally works on me.  like, i've purchased a mccafe coffee right after walking past an entire train station lined with mcdonalds ads.  regret.  and i've purchased (and returned) dresses that i seen advertised on fb.  now, i'll check out how to stop blood diamonds!  after all, i'm writing a paper about information asymmetries and private certification / eco-labeling.  it's research, right?

dutch landscape painting

(van ruisdael, view of haarlem)

i was reminded of dutch landscape painting last night, when i was writing a paper for energy economics.  dutch landscapes have little bitty windmills.  wind produces electricity.  and we can add those electrons to the supply stack sometimes. 

i like these 17th century paintings:

• the clouds are magnificent!  not unlike the icloud, which matt recently put our music into.
• the sky takes up 2/3 of the painting!  it's humbling to see signs of human activity as little specks on the canvas.
• there are lots of windmills in the horizon.