Naturally Yours

Naturally Yours finally opened in B-N after months of being an empty building with a coming soon sign in the window. We were really excited to go because we've been trying to eat more organic and less processed food. Here are my initial thoughts:

• It's smaller than I expected. Initially, I thought they were going to have the entire buidling that was an old grocery store, but right before they opened it became clear that the space had been subdivided and was going to be much smaller. On top of that, within the small space, there's not a ton there. There are wide aisles and lots of open space at the back, but it's definitiely not a full size grocery store.
• Who ever organized the store needs to be fired. I understand that they just opened and they may not have had a chance to put up aisle numbers or section markers, but it's nearly impossible to find anything. There is an aisle that places dog food next to salad dressing. It appears that it is partially organized by type of item (produce, grains, etc) and partially organized by dietary needs (vegan, gluten free, etc). Since there are no signs and some items appear in multiple places, you literally have to comb the entire store to determine your options.
• Once you have located what you need, however, I think that the store will be really useful for people looking for non-mainstream ingredients. They have tons of bulk bins with granola, beans, dried fruits, grains, herbs, and other items. We bought quinoa for about $3.00 a pound instead of the $7-10/lb commercially packaged version that we have to drive across town to get (if we'd ever bought it that is). We also bought some pumpkin spice granola out of the bin that was wonderful (and cheap).
• It terms of allergy friendly stores, they are amazing. Organic products in general tend to be better about clearly labeling major allergens, but if you are allergic to gluten, dairy, eggs, etc and want to find non-allergy containing versions of popular foods (such as pizza crust, salad dressing, etc) this is a great store. Of course, carrots don't qualify as a major allergen, so other than clear ingredient lists, this doesn't help me out too much.
• The prices are high. With the exception of the bulk bins I mentioned above, I was very disappointed in the prices. Schnucks has a lot of organic prodcuts as well and while Naturally Yours may be a little more local many mainstream organic brands (Seventh Generation, etc) were considerablly higher. Organic chicken at Schnucks runs about $7.99/lb, the same product here was $10 or $12. Organic apples at Schnucks $2.99/lb, at Naturally Yours $4.99. If they were differences of a few cents, then I might be able to justify it, but for commonly available items, this is not the place to shop. I will say that they had organic versions of produce that Schnucks doesn't carry, so if I ever want organic nectarines, I know where to shop.

Overall, I hate to say that I'm really not impressed. I was really looking forward to Naturally Yours opening and had envisioned it to be something like Whole Foods. It's not. I will probably use it for bulk bin items, but that's about it. I'm looking forward to making a lovely trail mix, but in terms of actual shopping, I don't think it's going to be part of my regular routine.

The American President

The American President is one of my all time favorite movies. My VHS copy of it is actually broken because it's been watched too many times. Last night after Barack Obama's speech, M called and said "he's channeling Andrew Shepard." Within minutes Chris Matthews started talking about the speech as an Aaron Sorkin moment. In case you haven't seen the movie, here's the speech that Andrew Shepherd makes.



Ironically, both men are talking about old, white guys.

Road Trip: The Musical(s)

R told me about NPR's segment "9 Minute Road Trip" this morning. While Stephen Thompson gives you nine minutes worth of music that makes up for the fact that gas prices don't allow for longer road trips at the moment, I would also encourage you to listen to the five minute description of the nine minute road trip. I can't figure out how to embedded everything in this post, but you can listen to the story and the five songs here. It turns out that NPR has been taking musical road trips all summer.

RE: Email

I've been thinking about email a lot lately. As much as I am a fan of it's convenience, sometimes it also drives me nuts. I am the type of person who needs the emotion and inflection to determine what "that's supposed to mean."

Several week ago PhD Comics published a strip that illustrated email communication between grad students and professors.

This describes most of the emails that I write to professors, but was especially true last night as I was trying to word two emails about setting up appointments to talk about comps and diss committees. In grad school, this is second only to asking someone to be your advisor in terms of places you might accidentally screw up and ruin your academic life (a subject for another post).

Of course while I spent nearly 1 1/2 drafting the two short "can I meet with you" emails, I received this*...

dear ms. b,
i saw a spot open in your english xyz class and i was just wondering if i could join your class. I talked to the english department and the lady told me to email you. When you get word i think she said that you need to email someone named john doe and he can approve it? i'm not too sure. but just let me know. thanks Jane Doe

While my response should have the brief "prof" No (send) response illustrated above, I explained that it was too late to join the class and then added the following (courtesy of M)...

For future reference, you may want to double check your emails for proper punctuation, etc. when emailing an instructor. I am sure you would want to come across as professional as possible.

Yes, I am that prof who sends snarky emails.

*Names and course descriptions have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty. Punctuation and capitalization have not been changed at all. Please note the capitalization of the student's name.

My Life on a Post-it Note

As much as I have enjoyed my delusion that now that I am done with coursework, I have nothing to do except teach, I knew that it would crumble shortly. In fact, I made an appointment last week with my advisor in order to talk about what exactly I was supposed to be doing this semester. Even though I had a pretty good idea what I needed to do, sadly I can no longer claim ignorance of goals. I left with my academic life (for the next six months or so) planned out an a post-it.

Here is my post-it...

In some ways, I feel much better about having a plan, but when I told R that I needed goals and deadlines I was hoping for a few less goals and deadlines.

Library Fines

I'm glad that I don't live in Grafton, OH. Two overdue notices apparently equals a court date. Just another reason for me to stick to Paperback Swap and avoid the library if at all possible.

Today...

Today...

• I got rained on while biking to work and had to teach looking like a drowned rat.
• I tried to be a good teacher, but couldn't because I am working in broken chaos, so I closed my door and cried in frustration.
  
• I got stuck in my own office because my door cannot be opened from the inside.
• I was rescued by a maintenance man while a colleague sat in her office and did nothing.
  
• I got a copy of work order about the above situation; it said Priority: Low
• I read emails on the department listserv that professed to be unaware that grad students were being blown off in the move.
• I offered to help someone who's been a total b!%@# to me and when she said something rude, I apologized to her instead of telling her off.
  
• I listened to a faculty member tell the tech people they were too loud and she was "actually trying to work."
• I watched the tech people leave without installing our phones because installing them meant making noise.
• I started to send an email to someone about how frustrated I was, but didn't because I was afraid I would get in trouble.
  

BFG?

A recreation of a recent conversation in our house:

Me: Blockbuster was having a sale on previously viewed so I bought some for my children's lit classes.

Greg: What did you get?

Me: X, Y, Z, and BFG

Greg: BFG? in children's literature.

Me: Dahl's Big Friendly Giant, it's the animated version.

Greg: that's not what I think of...

So here's my question... How many of you played Doom? and if so, at what age? And if you're willing to go so far as to give me info regarding the non-giant meanings' popularity, I'd be even more grateful. Was it used in other games? Is it still used?

And yes, I'm a nerd who just learned that BFG could stand for something other than Big Friendly Giant.

Smart Classrooms

While I have taught in computer labs for several years, this year was the first time that I would ever consider the classroom to be smart. While the instructor station and LCD projector are lovely, this is my new favorite piece of technology. No more walking around while reading picture books or scanning documents that I only need to talk about briefly.

In other renovation news...while the university spent millions of dollars removing asbestos, upgrading technology, and redoing the paint and carpet, they apparently ran out of money before they were able to replace the broken latches in the women's restroom--the door still do not close.

"Kevin's" First Day

Last semester might have been my most memorable first day of classes ever. I had a student, I'll call him Kevin, who spent the first day passed out in the fetal position under the desk at the front of the room. Really, to be fair he came in class about 20 minutes late looking like he hadn't showered or slept in days and announced "I'm Kevin." He then semi-passed out in his chair and shortly after that fell out of his chair, rolled in a ball and stayed under the table. This was a very awkward first day for me, mostly because the other students seemed not to mind that Kevin was unconscious and looked like he'd been strung out on multiple things for several days. Kevin amazingly passed that class, although he spent a great deal of the semester mentally strung out, not showering, and looking for B.

I really curious what kind of first day this will be, but I'm really curious what kind of first Kevin will have this semester.

Children's Movies

I realize that days before school starts is not the time to be posting this question, but I've decided to do a film unit this semester, but I can't for the life of me pick a movie. My problem is now I want to teach too many movies. I don't want a Disney movie because I already show clips during a unit of fairytales, but anything else is fair game. So, if you could teach a movie in a children's literature class what would it be?

Note: you do not have be a children's lit person to answer this question. I welcome all suggestions.

Cute Matters

The fireworks scandal didn't really bother me. In fact, I was a little perplexed by the outrage people, most of whom were watching the opening ceremonies on television, voiced over the digital "fakes."

This, however, really bothers me. I think that part that bothers me most is the official who explained

The audience will understand that it's in the national interest

Umm, if he's talking about the global audience, then clearly I didn't understand or agree with the move. Voiceovers for seven-year-olds should be in anybody's "national interest" of perfection.

We drove 250+ miles to replace a ...

Lightbulb? Yes, I feel like a moron.

We bought new bedside lamps from IKEA several months ago, and recently mine stopped working. Initially it would flicker on and off or take several tries to get it to get it to turn on. Since it had a brand new compact fluorescent light bulb in it, we both assumed it was the lamp. As we were driving to Chicago this weekend to get a new lamp, we discussed that we should have probably checked the light bulb, but those lightbulbs are supposed to last forever, right?

Now we have 3 bedside lamps, all of which work.

We did, however, do some other shopping, so it wasn't a wasted trip and it was a great last get-away before school starts back next week.

Overheard in Normal

M introduced me to Overheard in New York. Here's the Normal edition:

One half of a cell phone conversation outside the post office:
College Student: This semester I've got to remember to go classes next week

Um...I hope that the person on the other end told him that classes start the week after next.

(Non)Recommeded Reading?

So a few weeks ago, Rakicy and I taught his mom how to use Google Docs. In our demo, we were trying to show her how two people could edit the same document simultaneously. I didn't really feel like typing a large block of text to use as a demo, so I cut and pasted my booklist for my internship proposal.

Fast forward to today...Rakicy's mom calls and says that she read a book on my list and it was really good, so she thinks she might read some more of them. Uh oh! Because they were alphabetical, she started with Joan Bauer's Rules of the Road. This is probably the most conservative book on the list, and lets just say that they go downhill (in terms of lining up with her world view) from there.

Rakicy called her back and said that they may not all be her style. She said, "that's okay, I'll look them up on the internet first." Hmm...do we think that she will find the blog entry about the next book on the list or the very offensive movie poster first. I could go into the Google Doc and delete all of the titles that might offend her, but wait that would be most of the rest of them.

I'm Done with Summer

I just biked up to the post office to mail two books, and it's really hot. The actual temperature isn't really the problem, but it's super humid and oddly there's no wind today. Okay, I know it's not as hot as if I were still living in Arkansas or even Springfield, MO for that matter, but we don't really get super hot summers here, so I've forgotten what they are like. I may go buy a parking pass because I definitely can't teach my current state. If only I could wish summer away, and we could get to fall already.

As a side note, last week when S was here we were chatting about greasy men who ride bikes and don't shower. I think I found B-N's version at the post office this morning.

I have a problem...

I love books. I've written about this before, but really I have issues with books. I know the library exists and is a great way to avoid buying books, but in the event that I "love" a book I want to be able to 1) write in it (sorry B!) and 2) not give it back. I use the library to check out things I need as demos for teaching, but I rarely read books from there. This means I buys lots of books. I don't really want to calculate the amount of money I spend on books, but let's just say that I keep bookstores in business. This is mostly because I'm a sucker for a deal. If Borders sends me a coupon, I interpret it as a sign that I need new books (hence the filter "skips the inbox" for Borders coupons during the summertime). B-N was home to a Scholastic warehouse that opened to the public twice a year, until it sadly closed for good this summer. This was a major event in my life. The great thing about the sale was that it had lots of books for $1. Who can refuse a book for $1?

Fast forward through 2 1/2 degrees in English, and I have too many books. That's very hard for me to admit, but it's true. I have to get rid of the junk. I have books I've never read, mass market "junk" that I read in airports, books I had to buy for classes that I didn't want to take, etc. But ever since I took a Shakespeare class as an undergrad and bought the Riverside Complete Works of Shakespeare, I've had this issue with selling books.*

A couple of weeks ago I heard a friend talk about paperbackswap.com and my gut reaction was "I don't have any extra books." This afternoon I played around on the site. I'm by no means purging my library, but I did manage to find 20 books (a tiny fraction of my collection) that I could live without. I posted them, redeemed my two introductory credits and thought to myself "nobody wants the crap I just posted." Not true...I was shocked. Granted I have only swapped one book, but I'm thinking that this may be the solution to my book addiction. It allows me to get an even swap (I realize that this doesn't fix the volume of books issue), and it forces me to think about what I really need. Do I need 3 French-English dictionaries? probably not. The book that I sold (an old French book) was a great deal for the person who snagged it, but I was able to replace it with something I might actually read. Thanks Joe!

*I packed up my books to take the the campus "sell back" and looked at Shakespeare. Even though the book had cost me nearly $100, I felt could not in good conscious sell back the complete works of William Shakespeare. This moral dilemma quickly spread to other areas of my life, and I haven't sold a book since.

Netiquette

It seems like I keep running into conversations about Netiquette in very odd places. In a conversation with Joe last week we were discussing the blog "lurker." I've been guilty of this, although mostly on author blogs and mostly because I don't want to be that fan who attaches -wa after my name on Scott Westerfeld's blog). At the same time, I recognize that everything I type is available to anyone who stumbles across it, and I should always assume a certain level of unidentified readers.

A discussion on a message board I read recently resulted in a list of member blogs to which someone asked if he/she should get permission before linking someone on their blogroll. My gut reaction was "YES," but mostly because I always wonder when Google Analytics tells me 18 people from Santa Fe logged in yesterday and I'm not sure that I even know one person in Santa Fe. Likewise, another discussion board revealed that for those of us with recipe blogs, certain magazines will come after bloggers who modify a recipe and include a line like "inspired by ..." This really shocked me. In my mind it goes against the concept of blogging. I would never copy another person's idea or words, but blogging is about connecting those ideas (and seriously how many can you say bring water to a boil and add...?).

I'm curious how others view netiquette. I use initials, but anyone with half a brain could find out who I was in a matter of minutes. Mostly I do this so that if my students google me, my blog is not the first this that pops up. Do you lurk? Do you "hide" your real identity? What are the new netiquette rules in your mind?