New in Google Reader this week
In My Mother’s Room, via Elana Centor on BlogHer
Girl Sailor, via Girl With Pen
I’ve missed Literary Feline this week – hope she’ll get caught up on her (book) reading and be back soon!
I can’t let this pass without comment, since Television Without Pity was one of the first online communities I ever joined, and it’s still one of my favorite sites. Its founders took it to the top, found it a home, and now they’re moving on. I just hope the site keeps their legacy and their standards – and the snark, of course! – going strong.
I discovered the pop-culture group blog PopDose not too long ago. It has numerous recurring features, and one that I particularly like is “Basement Songs,” which blogger Scott Malchus defines as
…a personal tune that settles into a certain moment or moments of your life and stays with you. For the rest of your life, within seconds of hearing it, a basement song can transport you to a time or place, often causing you to relive emotions, good or bad. As I can only write about my own experiences, that’s what will fill this space each week.
His post this week featured one of my personal “happy” songs, The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” and how it has become an anthem for his young son, who has cystic fibrosis – and it choked me up a bit, honestly. I’ve known a few CF patients, and it’s a tough thing; I can only imagine how it is to have it in your family. (It also reminded me that I need to send my uncle a donation for the CF fundraiser he’s participating in next month.)
In responding to some recently published controversies, Diane Danielson posted a couple of thoughtful reflections on the power of word choice, context, and effect. Speaking of words, Julie Pippert used hers to remember someone who probably never knew he made a difference. Karen Funk Blocher (our “Weekend Assignment” director) had a few words about avoidance and procrastination. If you’re still avoiding and procrastinating about doing your taxes, here are a few words on that topic from J.D. Roth at Get Rich Slowly.
Avoidance and procrastination are often part of a vicious stress cycle. This week’s Wednesday “tip sheet” at The Happiness Project offered “20 very easy tips for lowering your daily stress level” – and they really are.
If you really want to avoid stress, you might consider avoiding airports – B-Side‘s tales from the baggage claim reminded me of some actual conversations I’ve had with my frequent-flyer son.
While we’re on the subject of stress and things you might rather avoid, here’s another: job hunting. If you’ve ever wondered why that company is taking so long to get back to you about that interview, the Evil HR Lady has a pretty good idea of what’s going on behind the scenes. (If you’ve been on the hiring side, it might sound familiar.)
We’ve been forced to avoid The Office for several months now due to that little writers’-strike interruption, but we can go back on April 10. In the meantime, we can celebrate The Park Bench‘s “Nerd Man of the Month” for March – John Krasinski, a.k.a. every gal’s office crush, Jim Halpert. (That’s a birthday present I’m quite pleased with, I must say…I voted for him in the poll.)
Back to the “procrastination” topic, regarding new ways to do it: I’m not all that caught up in the LOLcats thing, but if you are, did you know there’s a new translation of the Bible in the works? Karen at Verbatim finds the most fascinating stuff…(and is also celebrating her fourth blogoversary!)
I support public education; my kids are all partakers. However, I’m aware that good public education can be hard to come by in many places, and it falls to parental resources to fill the gaps – or, in some cases, take the job on themselves. I never had any desire to homeschool, in part because I don’t think I’m qualified. The state of California has recently weighed in on that question, ruling that home-schooling parents must be credentialed teachers, which I don’t think is necessarily a bad thing. However, it’s unfortunate timing, since the state’s perpetual budget crisis is prompting consideration of serious cuts in education funding, which will make things even tougher for public schools – and could prompt more parents to pull their kids out of the system, and possibly consider the home-schooling alternative. However, without a teaching credential, they apparently won’t have that option. I was going to write more about this, but I think The Mom Bomb has said it quite well already.
Earth Day usually falls in April, but “Earth Hour” will take place between 8 and 9 PM on March 29. All you have to do is turn off your lights for an hour, and save some energy. Thanks to MaryP for putting the word out about this.
That’s all for now, folks! Have a great week. By the way, that sidebar button for the Dewey Donation System will be coming down in a few days when the book drive ends, so please consider sending a book if you haven’t already!
I’ve been meaning to check out Television Without Pity for a long time. It’s blocked at work and I never remember when I get home. It sounds like a fun sight. Hope it stays that way.
Mike – They’ve just started blocking websites at work, so I may not have it much longer either. I’m kind of surprised you found Pamie.com without TWoP first, but I guess that’s just me.
I found pamie.com through John Scalzi’s website. I heard of TWoP on her site but can never get to it. It’s frustrating.
Mike – Oh, gotcha. I have it backwards; I found Scalzi via Pamie.