New Kid on the Hallway

A food bleg

Not to spammify the internets this morning with a gazillion posts, but: I am looking for advice. What are your favorite things to pack in a bag lunch? (or box lunch, or however you carry it.) I'm particularly looking for things that are yummy, easy to make, and easily carried to and from school. I am determined not to throw money down the drain at the law school cafeteria, so I've resolved to pack lunches this year, but whenever I think about what to bring, my brain immediately goes blank (it's kind of like how NLLDH and I can sit at home and say, "I'd like to see this movie, this movie, this movie, and this movie," but if we ever make it to a video store, we can't remember any of them). So I thought I'd see what kinds of ideas you, my brilliant readers, might have.

(I'd also love suggestions for a good container for schlepping said lunches. I've been pondering this, or a more traditional bento, but it did dawn on me that I might want something insulated. My priorities here are to find something light [because I have HUGE books to haul as it is, which sort of rules out the Mr. Bento], and something that makes carrying lunch feel like fun, not an economy.)

Law school syllabi, and a bleg

I have syllabi for my fall classes! Well, all but one; that prof hasn't posted it yet. (They're posted on the law school equivalent of Blackboard; Westlaw does its own course-management thing. So I don't have to wrestle with Blackboard. Given that back when I took grad school classes, professors didn't all use e-mail yet, some profs still typed syllabi, I don't think I'd yet seen course materials distributed as PDFs, and online course management systems didn't exist, it's a little weird negotiating one as the student rather than the prof. It's not any prettier than Blackboard, I can say that much.)

This also means I have the reading assignments for my first day of class. Ack!

Two of my profs have an interesting (to me) policy called "present and prepared": when you get to class, they circulate a seating chart and if you're present and prepared, you circle your name and they know they can call on you. One prof docks you if you're not present and prepared for x number of classes, the other rewards you if you're present and prepared for more than x number of classes. If you say you're prepared and the professor figures out you're not, you get docked; and if you get someone to sign you in as prepared and present and you're not there at all, you're in BIG trouble. (Though I suppose some days the luck of the draw would let you get away with these bluffs, if the professor didn't get around to calling on you.)

I thought this was fairly cool because it means that if you're not prepared, the prof knows not to call on you and waste everyone's time (and embarrass you in front of everyone).

It also seems to encourage you to come to class even when you're not prepared so you can learn something - because you don't have that fear of being called on when unprepared to keep you away. This was something I struggled with when teaching - students who thought, "well, I didn't do the reading so I won't go to class." Yes, I much prefer students to DO the reading, but even if they haven't, I still want them to show up! Not because I want to call on them and make them look stupid, but because they might learn something regardless.

I wonder how well such a policy would transfer to a different academic setting? It seems better suited to larger courses than wee tiny ones (my law school classes run from 35-40 to 80-90, I think). It also seems more designed for a course in which the professor is running the discussion/interactions, rather than students generating them (it's about answering the professor's questions, not so much about other participation). Anyway, I thought it was interesting.

It was also heartening to think that class participation counts for something. It's a teeny-tiny something, but it can add or subtract a couple of points from your final grade (and I'll take all the points I can get). I mean, I know the crucial thing remains the exam - that's what determines your grade, really - but since I know that I learn better if I go to class and talk about the subject, it's nice that these profs seem to consider that a valuable activity as well.

It has also dawned on me that this means very soon, I'll be sitting in class taking notes. I plan to use my laptop for note-taking (I always liked writing my notes by hand in the past, but I also want to be able to cut/paste/reorganize/revise/otherwise manipulate my notes when studying for exams, which is much easier to do with computer files than handwritten sheets, and if I take them on the computer to start with, I don't have to waste time entering them into the computer later), and this leads me to my bleg:

I've been looking at two programs that are basically note-takers/outliners (outlining is very big in law school): Circus Ponies' Notebook, and the Omni Group's OmniOutliner Pro. Both are effective, easy outliners. Both cost about the same (I'd be upgrading to OOP, not buying the full version). Both have things going for them: OmniOutliner Pro feels more "professional", more like a multi-functional power-app. Its interface is extremely clean - almost to a fault; it's a little spartan for me, who likes her Mac because it's pretty. OOP feels a bit more flexible than Notebook, but conversely the learning curve for using that flexibility seems a little steep. Notebook flirts with cutesiness - you take notes on "notebook pages" of ruled yellow or white paper, or you can use graph paper - but I actually quite like the notebook metaphor. I like that Notebook allows you to keep "writing pages" (plain text) as well as outline pages in the same document. And Notebook seems maybe a bit more limited in what it allows you to do, but it's easier to learn what it does allow. Notebook indexes your notes for you, which is a feature that appeals to me; I'm not sure if OmniOutliner Pro does that or not. (I'm sure you can search OOP for keywords, but what I like about the index feature is that you don't have to know already what term you used in a given context - you can just skim the list to see what they are.)

So the bleg part: anyone out there have an opinion on why one of these applications is better than the other? (FWIW, I've played around with MS Word's outlining feature, and first, it's really ugly, and second, it doesn't have the features that I like about Notebook/OOP, so I know I'm not going to use that.) Thanks so much!

I am FINALLY home

And I am kind of bemused that the Olympic commentators keep calling the French swimmer Alain Bernard "a-laine." Um, people, that's NOT how it's pronounced.

Okay, that has nothing to do with anything, but I felt the need to share.

This was one of the most annoying journeys I've ever taken, travel-wise. Thankfully my schedule was flexible - there wasn't anywhere I had to be at any given time. But delays still suck. On my way out to the east coast on Thursday, NYC was apparently hammered with thunderstorms, and since I was flying through NYC (JFK, specifically - wow, is that airport in need of an upgrade), I hit delays, and ended up reaching my mom's place at 2 in the morning. Okay, that's only about 3 hours late, but I think once you hit midnight, every hour feels more like two or three, yes? (I felt worst for the car service people she had picking me up, since she lives 2 hours from Boston and she does not drive into Boston anymore. Actually, she pretty much never did. The guy was nice about it, though). And then of course thunderstorms descended again on Monday, when I was supposed to return, to such grand effect that my flights were canceled. So I took a 2-hour bus ride to Logan, found out that my flights had ceased to be, and couldn't find a single alternative that didn't cost $1100 or have me arriving in, say, Cleveland at 9 pm and departing Cleveland for Current City at 6 am, or both. So I turned around and took the bus back again. And then did it again the next day (yesterday) - and then THAT flight was delayed ~2 hours, and I made it home between 2:30 and 3:00 am.

But I'm here now. Phew!

It was a very mellow weekend. I watched a lot of Olympics and started knitting a very pretty scarf. I've had to rip back a section of the lace like three times, and I seem to have lost two stitches along the way (but I cast on two extra by mistake, so I guess that's okay), but it's starting actually to look like lace. Unfortunately, I picked a pretty multi-colored yarn (this, in Sinbad the Sailor) - I bought the yarn before I'd decided what to make, so thought I might just make a plain scarf - and the colors of the yarn kind of hide the lacy pattern of the knitting. (I like the way solid-colored things look once they're done, but when I'm in the yarn store, I get completely sucked in by pretty, shiny multi-colored stuff.) Oh, well, if I like it when it's done, maybe I'll make a second one in a solid color - there's a lovely little yarn store mere blocks from me that I haven't dared explore yet....

The weather was fairly gray and dreary most of the weekend - the kind of New England summer weather I actually sort of miss, sometimes - and there were a few moments when it felt like fall already. And right before I left Current City, a cool front came through and the temperature dropped about 10-15 degrees, which made it all too clear that fall is right around the corner. And in case that wasn't clear before, it was when I finished buying my school books this morning.

My most recent fall crisis was yesterday, when I called up my favored hair salon to find out that they're closed this week for remodeling, and while I could get an appointment before classes start, I couldn't get one until after orientation. Can I tell you how distressing this was, the idea of showing up at orientation un-trimmed and then turning around and showing up for the first day of class with new hair?? Actually, it wasn't really THAT distressing; even I had to laugh at my dismay, because it shows you how much power I invest my hairstylists with - at some level I really thought that getting my hair done between orientation and the first day of class would mean that I would look COMPLETELY DIFFERENT when classes started. And how could I make my best impression on everyone at orientation if I couldn't get my hair cut/colored by then?? I would be shunned - SHUNNED - if I had crappy hair, even if I then turned around and had nice hair. And then I got a grip and said, Self, 90% of the people you meet in orientation will NOT notice any changes, short of cutting of six inches or going platinum blonde. And the minor details of haircut/color are NOT going to determine how people respond to you. You are more than your hair.

But I called and made a pre-orientation appointment at another salon, anyway. Some neuroses aren't worth fighting.

Got a problem? Throw money at it

Okay, I don't really have a problem - but somewhere along the line I picked up the idea that buying things could improve any situation. I know that's not really true, but it's still my knee-jerk reaction. Identity crisis due to changing careers? It could all be solved if only I could buy the right wardrobe!

Recently, Maggie posted about back-to-school clothes, and the Bittersweet Girl posted about her "bi-annual Personal Appearance Crisis (P.A.C.)," the one that crops up at the beginning of each semester, in which she's "suddenly thrown out of my usual appearance complacence into a desperate desire to be fashionable and look stunning." So wardrobe concerns and crises are certainly timely roundabout now. As I commented on the latter post (and probably the former post), I am so in the midst of my own P.A.C., because I'm going to a NEW SCHOOL where NO ONE KNOWS ME.

On the one hand, this is liberating: no one knows me! No preconceptions! Reinvention!

But on the other hand, it's terrifying, because I know that in the past I was better-looking than I am now: I had no gray hair (stupid graying bangs), I had younger skin (though honestly, the academic lifestyle is a boon for preserving the complexion, since spending all my time inside with books tends to minimize wrinkles), and most importantly, I weighed less. My resemblance to a dumpy middle-aged matron was, well, non-existent - whereas now it's rapidly becoming inescapable. And no one at school will have known me any other way. They will have no memories of previous aspirations to hotness to temper my current image! I will always be that Older Woman.

Which I know is silly. Like success in law school is dependent on how hot you look! But, you know, it's how I think sometimes. So, if I could buy a new wardrobe, I would OF COURSE look stunning and make exactly the right impression in law school. Of course.

The other thing is that if I thought it was hard to dress myself as a thirty-something academic, it's even more baffling as a nearly-forty-something aspiring lawyer. On the one hand, I'd love to buy some more comfy, campus-friendly clothes (since my wardrobe currently consists mostly of "teaching" clothes and "can't leave the house in" clothes). But on the other hand, soon enough I will be working in legal-type settings in which I'll probably be expected to wear (gasp) suits (I possess none). So buying comfy clothes seems counter-productive in the long run.

And really, it's not even that I can't put together comfortable-enough outfits from my teaching clothes (though I think I REALLY need a new pair of flat black shoes... really, I do!). It's that buying new clothes would be a great way to help facilitate my shift from one career - and consequent identity - to another. If I look different, I will be different.

I always feel like if I procure all the right accessories for a new situation, I will succeed. You should see me in the lead-up to a trip to Europe - I search for the PERFECT shoes, the PERFECT bag, the PERFECT clothes, because if I find them, this will mean that during my trip to Europe I will be a) comfortable b) elegant c) not sweaty d) able to maneuver my goods around public transport effortlessly and e) not immediately spottable as an ugly American. If I had the money, I'd probably buy a metric crapload of stuff I don't really need. Since I don't have the money, I spend a lot of time agonizing over what the right accessories actually are. (Parallel anxiety now: what should I use to haul my law school crap around in? I hate backpacks. Should I get a rolling bag? Will I be a complete geek? Will it be unmaneuverable on the bus? etc. etc.)

If someone handed me the proper accessories, I'm sure that would be good. But there's something about BUYING stuff, about throwing money at the problem, that consoles me even more.

What's nice about going to law school is that unlike going to Europe, I don't have to prep EVERYTHING before the first day. If my bag turns out not to work well, I can buy one IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEMESTER if I want. There will always be more clothes and shoes to buy if I find there's something I really need (as opposed to thinking I need before I even start). Telling myself this helps calm the "if you spend money, it will help!" beast inside me.

But I'd still love to buy a new wardrobe to transform myself into this new person. I won't, but I'd love to.

(I will, however, get my hair cut and colored before school starts. Some things are non-negotiable.)

Free books!

Okay, I think I've finally sorted out what I'm getting rid of, what I'm keeping, and where it's all going. So now is the time that we give away books on the blog! Here's the deal:

1. I have created a list of books that I'd like to get rid of at LibraryThing. You should be able to access it by clicking that link, or by finding my library under the username newkidonthehallway.
      
2. To claim a book(s), please comment here with the name of the book(s) you want so everyone can see what's been taken. First come, first serve, going by whose comment shows up first.
      
   
   1. With one caveat: I'd like to give grad students first crack, so until midnight PST 6 pm EST next Tuesday (July 29), grad students only, please. After midnight PST on July 29 (i.e. very early Wednesday morning) 6 pm EST, anyone can pick a book(s).
         
3. No limits on quantities; if you really want them all, cool by me.
       
4. The only catch: I need you to pay for shipping. I'll charge cost for the shipping itself, plus a buck for supplies (I don't have enough envelopes/boxes lying around to eat the cost). If you do in fact claim the whole library, or other large numbers of books, I reserve the right to negotiate a little on the cost for supplies, just so I'm not out of pocket to send stuff.
          
   
   1. Please leave an e-mail with your comment, or e-mail me at newkidonthehallway AT yahoo DOT com if you'd rather not have your address on the web. I'll e-mail you with shipping costs. (You can back out if the shipping ends up being more than you expected.) I have a Paypal address where I'll ask you to send the money (it's the same address as above, actually). I would prefer not to take credit card payments because that account isn't set up to do so, but if you need to pay by credit card, let me know, and I can direct you to a different account. If you can't/don't want to do Paypal but really want something, let me know and we can probably work something out (like the old-fashioned check or something). 
   2. I'm asking for payment in advance. I hope you trust me to send you the book(s). If you don't, well, then maybe it's best if you pass this time. But again, if you have a particular concern, let me know and we can work something out. I'm also happy to hold something for a while if you'd like to pay later.
   3. I plan to ship media mail because it's cheapest. But if you want something faster/more secure (e.g. with Delivery Confirmation), that's cool - just let me know so I can give you the correct total.
   4. I will let you know when I'm likely to get things in the mail - it may take a few days if I have to buy supplies/actually have interesting things going on in my life.
         
5. Just so you know, the vast majority of these books are medieval history or early modern European history. There are a few random "other" history volumes, and a couple of teaching-type things.
     
6. Anything else you want to know that's not answered here? Ask in the comments, or e-mail me!

In which I choose "girly" over "shark"

So, what I really want is a new iPhone. (By "new" I mean "newly released," rather than "new to me," because the latter would imply I have one already, which would be a big fat no.) But those suckers are expensive, and I really can't justify getting one right now. NLLDH is so sweet - he sort of hinted that if getting an iPhone would help me excel in law school he'd be willing to consider me getting one. And I was very tempted to say, "Why, YES - yes, an iPhone IS necessary to my success in law school!!" But that would be a bald-faced lie, and I hear that's not a good foundation for a marriage. If I actually had a job as a lawyer, I might need to be connected all the time (hence all those lawyers attached at the hip to their Crackberries), but I think I can handle keeping track of when class meets and such pressing law-school-type things without MobileMe technology. (By the way, if anyone has any great suggestions for student-y time-management things, especially of the technological variety, feel free to share them, since the last time I was actually taking classes, I took notes on legal pads, e-mail wasn't an official form of communication, and I had profs who still handed out photocopied typed syllabi, so technology has, you know, advanced since then.) Anyway, the fewer options I have for connecting to the internet during class, the better.

But I do kind of need a new phone - my current one works fine (except for a couple of mornings when the alarm didn't go off - which ISN'T GOOD, but I can't entirely rule out user error in those cases), but Youngest Cat has knocked it onto the floor enough times that the face-plate has split open all down one side and there's a gaping crack I could stick a finger into. (Okay, a small finger.) I thought about supergluing the crack, but decided that would look awfully low-rent, and I've had this phone long enough that I can get a free replacement anyway (that is, free if you overlook the $18 upgrade charge).

NLLDH's suggestion: "Which one screams 'shark'?"

What I got:

So, not exactly shark-like. Incredibly girly, in fact. And I don't really like the dark blue of the front display against the pink. But you know, I am SO SICK of black phones (for me - no offense if you love yours), and it wasn't worth paying money for a non-black phone that met all my aesthetic requirements. And this will be easier to find in the gaping black abyss that is my purse. And my other purse. And my book bag.

So I'm all ready to intimidate on the first day of law school, with my Elle Woods phone.

* * *

In totally unrelated news, it appears that getting my gall bladder out has severely limited my chocolate chip cookie tolerance. If I eat more than one, I feel absolutely vile.

This is a tragedy of epic proportions.

Catching up

Thank you for the great comments on my last post, everyone! I added a couple more cents at the end of the comments, if anyone's interested. It took me a while because frankly, I'm only just recovering from a prolonged case of teh dumb brought about by recuperating from the gall bladder thing. (Seriously, it took me hours to write the last post - not because I was so incredibly thoughtful or careful or any of that, but just because after each sentence or two I had to sit and stare into space for a while to recover!) I am WAY better, and am pretty mobile by now - I even left the apartment yesterday! to go grocery shopping! wooho! - but annoyingly, not back to normal yet. I'm close, which I can tell because instead of being happy simply to sit and do nothing, I've reached the point where it's incredibly boring. On the other hand, I still get tired if I do much more than sit around. Sigh. Oh, well, just a little longer! (And at least I can eat chocolate again!)

Sales! Yay!

Thank you for the birthday wishes, everyone! I had to run an errand at the local mall this morning, so I took advantage of the early hour and no crowds to do a little birthday shopping. And it makes it a VERY happy birthday to find things I like, that are ON SALE! So I bought a linen blouse (in brown) and a short-sleeved cardigan (in black) from Eddie Bauer for ~ $70 instead of ~ $110, and I bought two pairs of cropped pants at JJill (these, in black and stone) for $48!! (Total!) The Eddie Bauer stuff was cute and not ultra-cheap, just cheaper than it would be usually; but the pants were a total steal, especially since I have the hardest time finding pants I like. I'm trying to pare down my wardrobe (she says, having just bought more clothes) and only have things I really like that all pretty much go with each other, so I'm trying to go with simple classics, that kind of thing. The going-back-to-school thing is a bit weird, wardrobe-wise, because most of my closet consists of teaching clothes: many of these are a bit dressier than I'll probably enjoy wearing to class all day, but they're not quite dressy enough to be lawyer clothes (or perhaps a wee bit too boho). Anyway, finding clothes you like and that fit you is always a mood-booster.

Yet again, of course, I was confronted with the insanity that is the sizing of women's clothes - size [redacted] in one store fit fine but was too small in the next store and too big in the one after that. And even in the same store, I can try on three tops in the same size and one will be too big, one too small, and one juuuuuuust right. Craziness.

And I received a final birthday present - the scheduling of my gall bladder surgery: a week from Wednesday. Wheeee.

Still here

And still trying to post - the new and "improved" Typepad has eaten this post three times already! It gets shorter and shorter each time, for which I'd apologize, but I don't think you're missing much.

Still have my gall bladder; surgery yet to be scheduled. The good thing is that this means it won't be tomorrow, which is my birthday. The bad thing is, I still have to avoid fatty foods, so no birthday cake and ice cream!

For your amusement: a woman I've known since kindergarden recently e-mailed me to say that when she was at her mom's house, she found an old picture of us in elementary school. (I think it's second grade. I think. If so, that would be 32 years ago.) She stuck it in her purse, went to work, and it fell out of her purse and prey to the engineers she worked with, who scanned it and made up rude captions for it. Apparently they were most amused by the "fancy" jeans on the second figure from the right in the front row, whom they dubbed my friend's "boyfriend," despite the fact that said figure is a girl. As my friend wrote, "I tried to explain that many of the girls in this shot had the 'Dorothy Hamil' hair cut and that’s why they look like boys – but my words fell on empty ears as these guys were all born just when we were graduating high school and they have no idea who Dorothy Hamil is – how depressing!!"

I can definitely name three of these girls (including me), and have a guess at four of them (though one of those I know I don't know her last name). The other two, I have no idea. What's particularly funny is that if I have one of the guesses right, it's a girl who disliked me and gave me a hard time all through elementary school - I remember her as this tough, mean, scary person, and to look back at this picture and see her as a little girl is kind of shocking - why was I scared of THAT? But at the time, I was very scared...

Don't you just dig the 70s clothes? Any guesses as to which one's me?

Random update

Thank you again to everyone for your sympathy and support about the gallstones - especially those of you who've had the surgery; it's great to hear about how easy it is! I'm crossing my fingers that it will be just as easy for me (once I can get it scheduled).

Janice asked about diet restrictions; yes, I have to forgo fatty foods, because the gall bladder is involved with processing fat and hence eating fat is likely to cause another attack. In fact, I suspected it might be gallstones before my doctor mentioned them, because the ultrasound technician (a very nice lady of Russian/Slavic origin - she'd been telling me to take a deep breath and hold it, that kind of thing, and when she said, "Small breaths this time," at first I thought she said "Small breasts this time"! Which is true enough, but I wondered what it had to do with the ultrasound...) warned me against eating fatty foods herself when I was leaving.

I mentioned this in my last comment, but the fear of having another gallstone attack is almost enough to make avoiding fat easy. Not quite - I find myself hankering after gooey cheese (mmmm, cheeeeeese) - but I do NOT want another attack, so I'll stick with my bread and fruit and vegetables. Thankfully, sugar is fat free. (Seriously, I have a killer sweet tooth and sweet = comfort to me, so at least I can eat things like sorbet and jelly beans. Of course, then I want something salty and fatty for contrast, but too bad.) I think it's easier - for me, at least - to avoid fat than it would be to avoid sugar; my mom had to go on a no-carb diet for 48 hours once prior to a medical test for something, and she said it was VERY hard. (And I know the empty calories of sugar aren't any good for you either, so I try not to eat too much of it, but at least I can have SOMETHING treat-like!)

So, along these lines: anyone have great low-fat or fat-free recipes they feel like sharing? Ideally something quick and easy? (Why is it that quick, easy, good-tasting, healthy, and cheap are so hard to find all in the same food?) I've been weaning myself off meat so veggie is preferred, but I don't eat tofu (I'm allergic to soy).

Now I need to get my act together and unpack some more boxes. I've reached that stage in unpacking where you have everything you really NEED set up, and so the incentive to make a mess digging into more boxes is much less, because while you know there's stuff you'd really like in there somewhere (ex: the speakers for my iPod), you also know you can get by without it for a little longer. And so I've spent some quality time this morning browsing through all the online sales at my favorite clothing stores instead. I have to keep reminding myself that just because something that I like is on sale, doesn't mean I need it. And I really don't need any interesting summer clothes, because I'm not working or doing anything else that requires looking professional in any way. But I still waaaaaaaaaant them...