weapons of massdistraction

What a wonderful weekend. Life is good right now, despite our egregious seasonal allergies (I practically have to sit on the kid to get the prescription eye drops in his eyes). A small price to pay for contentment I guess. Though I am just superstitious enough to think I should shut up now, lest I jinx myself.

The boy and I kicked off our weekend with Punch Pizza on Friday night. We dined outside, on their patio, for the first time this year. Then it was a hop skip and a jump away to Amy Rice’s art opening, at the Frank Stone Gallery. I was only able to speak with Amy briefly, but she made some exciting propositions. I’m looking forward to exploring them. After heading back to St. Paul I had a lovely and curious evening…spending some time getting to know an interesting friend a little bit better.

Saturday involved pancakes, lazing about, catching up on my teevee shows (online), swimming at the rec center, more lazing and then having a good friend babysit. So that I could head out to see Adam perform as Oktaha at Eclipse Records. A lovely set, as always, but TOO BRIEF. And no lap lap steel guitar. He’d better have that next time. Or else! And I managed to get over my claustrophobia long enough to swing through the Art Crank poster show opening. SO PACKED. Almost didn’t take my camera out but that goes against my nature. So here are those photos. I didn’t manage to snap any shots of the bike valet setup, as it was dark by the time we’d arrived, but Pete Ryan got some and WCCO did a little video piece.

Sunday was fairly quiet. Spent a lot of the day outside, split between socializing at Cake Eater Bakery and a park near there, and our backyard, where we grilled for the first time this year. But I’m kind of kicking myself for not heading to the Alpaca Expo in Owatonna, with Adam and Carolyn. I had no idea alpacas make such weird sounds! Oh well. We’ll check it out next year, for sure.

Five or so good things for this fine Monday:

• The Awesomeness Manifesto - advancing the hypothesis that awesomeness is the new innovation. Worth a read.
• I only learned about the new Cult Status Art Gallery, in the Lyn-Lake neighborhood, this morning and here it turns out there’s been controversy over it already, due to a Deuce Seven mural. I love his stuff!
• So many people have forwarded this “First camera, then fork” article to me saying, “hey look, it’s you!” Yes, I do compulsively photograph my food (though maybe not quite so thoroughly). Guilty as charged. In other NY Times related photography news, A Photographer Whose Beat Was the World - Henri Cartier-Bresson. And lastly, a photo of my son will be used, with my permission, in a piece for Science in the Service of Autism in the UK. Cool.
• This Thursday, April 15th, is another one of those nights with multiple shows happening that I’d like to attend but I don’t know that I’ll get to any of them. Sad face. Quasi is playing at the Turf Club, Dark Dark Dark at The Cedar and Daughters of the Sun with Vampire Hands and Brute Heart at The Hex.
• Like, whoa. Kitty cat legwarmers?

In other news, summer childcare options are being fleshed out and things are looking up. We may be able to get into the expensive awesome looking day camp after all. Though the budget will still be a bit tight. I do have unnecessary items around the house I could sell for cash money. One friend said “selling crappy old hardcore records I would never listen to again = cash for clunkers.” So true. The next few weeks will see some more scrambling, to get that all sorted out and to find out whether or not we do get into the school of our choice for next year, but after that? Hopefully the rest will be gravy.

I am not an indecisive person. Life is much simpler when clear options present themselves, to be sure, but that isn’t always the case unfortunately. And hasn’t been, at all, when determining which school my son will attend for the 2010-2011 school year (and beyond). But I have a good feeling about the one I toured yesterday. It is an arts magnet, geared toward creative, visual learners like my boy. And they understand the need for mainstreaming our students on the autism spectrum. Inclusion is key. The fact that it runs through 8th grade also swayed me. So I’ve just called the district center and declared that to be our first choice. I’ll find out in the next few weeks whether or not we’re in.

This week I also managed to gather all of my tax documents, just in the nick of time. That’s another major task out of the way. Now to find a summer day camp for the kid (which is where my tax refund will be going), to work on updating my photography portfolio, lining up engagement and wedding shoots and fleshing out my novel.

Some terrible or awesome or terribly awesome things:

• The Regretsy book signing - complete with a penis costume and taxidermy mishaps.
• Love love love the Kaikidan Ekotoba - “a mysterious handscroll that profiles 33 legendary monsters and human oddities, mostly from the Kyushu region of Japan (with several from overseas). The cartoonish document, whose author is unknown, is believed to date from the mid-19th century. It is now in the possession of the Fukuoka City Museum.”
• An adult artist shares her sketchbook - and some lovely memories - from the first grade. Makes me even more determined to hang on to as much of my son’s creative output as possible.
• Venturing into the uncanny valley is this seriously creepyass humanoid robot that laughs and smiles.
• An 8-bit version of Dr. Horrible and how about a Peeps Show?
• And lastly, a elementary school production of Scarface, with expletives replaced with the term motherfudger (via weird universe).

Even though it’s just on the other side of the river from me, in downtown St. Paul, I hadn’t been to Babani’s Kurdish restaurant in ages. I was so happy it was Brian’s choice for his birthday celebrations. I’ll definitely be returning soon. Other things to celebrate? The beautiful and talented Amy Rice has an art opening at the Frank Stone Gallery on Friday. And Saturday my dear friend Adam Bubolz will be performing at Eclipse Records as his Ennio Morricone-inspired solo act Oktaha.

A little further out? The annual Minneapolis / St. Paul International Film Fest opens April 15th. On April 17th Skoal Kodiak will be playing at MCAD and, later that day, The Wedding Present will perform Bizarro, in its entirety, at the 400 Bar. Saturday May 1st will see my son’s favorite thing ever - Free Comic Book Day! And the following weekend Cinco de Mayo will be taking over our neighborhood. Can’t wait for it get really warm out so we can walk down to La Chiquita to grab some horchata popsicles. We have much to look forward to in the coming weeks and months. Emerging from my winter hermitude never felt so good.

And we’re back. With much catching up to do work-wise and life-wise. Trying not to let myself get too distracted or led away on tangents but it’s hard. And my To Do list seems to have bloated up in my absence.

We didn’t end up locating the bronze Fonzie statue before we left the Cream City but we did enjoy the Mitchell Park Conservatory. And, though I am horribly conflicted about it, we also visited their Zoo. That was the happiest I’d seen the boy on the trip! Mostly because he acquired a brand new Mold-A-Rama. My little goth-ling got a bat. As soon as we returned home from our trip he ran around the house in a frenzy gathering up all of his other Mold-A-Ramas and they are all now on display together, on the top book shelf in the Lady Cave. Perfect spot to keep them safe.

Five good things:

• So excited about Cake Eater Bakery’s grand opening this weekend! We stopped by there earlier today and things are shaping up nicely.
• In other food news, a friend just pointed out the Taste of Beirut recipe blog. I’m putting their lentil kibbe at the top of my to-cook list.
• The crying wife blog. So odd. Wife cries at the ending of nearly every movie she watches. Husband records her crying jags.
• A little crude/crass for my tastes but I appreciate the sentiment.
• I know of many folks who are big fans of David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology but honestly, this comic sums it up for me.

Now off to a nearly forgotten dinner engagement, if the kid cooperates. And soon to come? A visit with my CPA to have my taxes taken care of, another school tour, and dental appointments. I can hardly stand the excitement! But really, other things are afoot that are exciting.

Today is Ada Lovelace Day - an international day of blogging to celebrate the achievements of women in technology and science.

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace was born on 10th December 1815, the only child of Lord Byron and his wife, Annabella. Born Augusta Ada Byron, but now known simply as Ada Lovelace, she wrote the world’s first computer programmes for the Analytical Engine, a general-purpose machine that Charles Babbage had invented.

Our very own Geek Girls were on Jon Gordon’s Future Tense yesterday, repping for Ada Lovelace Day. They’ve posted more here and here.

Growing up I didn’t have many strong female role models. I’m sorry to say I was surrounded by unhappy housewives or working mothers who clearly hated their clerical level jobs. Nowhere in sight were any women involved in technology or science. With my love of Omni Magazine and fueled by other nerdy passions I often felt like a Tomboy-ish freak. My interests didn’t line up with those of most females around me. I do remember idolizing aviation pioneer Amelia Earheart when I was in grade school but things didn’t end so well for her. I even recall having mad respect for Margaret Thatcher. Hey, she was Prime Minister of the UK during my formative years and that’s pretty powerful. But we don’t share the same politics so instead I turned to a very different Margaret…Atwood. Which led to finding the work of another feminist fantasy/science fiction author, Ursula K LeGuin. As a teenager I found other women to look up to in the world of music. From the British Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees to local ladies of rock, Babes in Toyland.

Over time and with the advent of the internet I found there were other women out there, even closer to my own age and skills and interests. Especially inspiring were (and are) early web pioneers like writer/blogger/librarian Jessamyn West of librarian.net (who is also a MetaFilter moderator) and Heather Champ, now of my beloved flickr but of many web other projects as well.

In the beginning we were few but now we are many. At some point along the way it felt like the floodgates opened. I’m continually awestruck by other women online. Photographers, bloggers, vloggers, programmers, musicians, cartoonists, designers, physicians, scientists, creators of things. We’re everywhere! Doing everything! But we still have a long way to go. In the real world women still earn less than men for the same work. Here’s the tale of a woman who started a web business but only became successful after changing the name of her business and her own name, pretending to be male. And one of my favorite cartoonists - the amazing Kate Beaton of Hark, a vagrant - recently posted a web comic that bummed me out while also resonating with me: “Foiled again. Thus we end the conversation on sexism” More distressing still, reading through Ofrenda’s reposted Sexual Assault Prevention Tips from Colleen Jameson (with the onus on the attacker to hey, NOT attack).

But enough of that! For now let’s celebrate gains made, globally, and my own personal progress. I’ve been really lucky to have carved out a rewarding career pursuing the things that interest me. And for that I can thank the women who came before me. Beginning with Ada Lovelace.

Lately I’ve been inordinately preoccupied with my son’s future. His immediate future in particular…as in the 5th grade. At this point there are no clear options for next school year. His current charter school has found a new building so we could move with them, for one final year. But he is really ready to move on. But to what? St. Paul is giving us the runaround. If I want to get anywhere with them I’ll have to enlist the aid of their ombudsperson. I’ve spent some time researching other charter schools. Naturally they all seem to be far away. Like the DaVinci Academy of Arts and Sciences (in Blaine). Or sketchy. Like the Cyber Village Academy, where students only go to school three days a week and work from home for two (maybe not the best option for my son). On Friday night we saw the film adaptation of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which only served as a reminder of how difficult yet crucial those middle school years can be.

Saturday night I watched Christian Bale, with guns blazing, in the pre-Batman era Equilibrium. It made me realize equilibrium is something I could do with more of right about now. Only without the Gun fu. It’s a damned good thing the boy’s Spring break is coming up and we’re getting away for a while, even if it’s just a little road trip to the Cream City.

Five good things for this Monday morning:

• Speaking of vacations…these hastily made Cleveland Tourism videos are brilliant with lines like “see our river that catches on fire” and “our main export is crippling depression.” Video #1 and video #2.
• “The brave crew of the Nautilus battle the monstrous squid“
• Owlet Pipping and Peeping (thanks for the heads up, heatherica)
• My kind of movie - The Good, The Bad, The Weird
• Another trailer for the upcoming Doctor Who season. It’s good to know that the Dalek story was written by Mark Gatiss, who wrote the first Dalek story of the new series back in season one. Hoping it will be good enough to make me forget the awful Daleks take Manhattan story arc. Blech.

Other recent highlights…last Thursday night we hung out at Eclipse Records. Long enough to catch up with some friends and see Awesome Snakes play, but, alas, not The Soviettes. In our sister city that same evening surlygrrrl bore witness to the magnificence of Leslie & the Lys. Saturday we attended a kid’s birthday party at Science Museum and got a good view of the rising Mississippi River. And yesterday, Sunday, we returned to Space Aliens Bar and Grill with a few friends.

And away to my hidey hole for now. Going heads down to get To Do list items taken care of before leaving town.