everyday life

Walking!

2008-07-12T13:46:00.002-05:00

first steps from Andrew Rittle Family on Vimeo.

Can you believe it?

Say it with me while you watch: Whooah, almost fell there, whooooaah, ok now, Got it!

Every day Edie crawls a little less and walks a little more. Any day now we'll have a walker! Mommy and Daddy are so proud.

sociology of Metra seating

2008-07-08T18:17:00.006-05:00

I'm not familiar with too many public transportation systems, but I do know that the Chicago area Metra is differently designed than the Chicago El, New York subway, or Washington DC Metro. The biggest difference is that it's double decker. I took this picture from the top, on a particularly empty train.

If you could see the top, you'd notice that it's single seating instead of double. The first five or six seats up top* are placed so that you face the back of someone's head. The remaining 10-12 seats sit side-by-side. I think spatially, so that's how it looked in case you do too.

I've been riding the Metra for a few months now, and I've been trying to analyze the seating by race and gender, possibly by economic status but that's a little harder. I'll stick to gender for now.

MORE MEN RIDE METRA?

My sample comes from rush hour, either to or from work five days a week. There are arguably just as many men as women who ride, but today up top not a single woman was found in my car. Below there were slightly more men than women, perhaps a 60/40 split. But overall, more men. The question is, in what cases do men congregate?

Time of Day. Anecdotal evidence (that is, I haven't counted) suggests that more men ride earlier in the morning. I think that I see more men than women at 7am than I do at 8:15am. No matter what, the early birds are absolutely more dressed up than than the later more casual workers.

Up top. I usually see two or three women up top on Metra, but the men usually outnumber for some reason. I've considered feminist theories somehow involving the male gaze as to why this happens, but in the end I'd have to start asking people to really find out.

In a couple. Sarah and I ride the Metra together. We both work downtown and our work day begins and ends around the same time. I've noticed that other women and men sit next to each other and talk as well. Especially when these couples kiss each other goodbye at our destination, I presume the riders to be together. Does this mean that less women take the train alone than do men?

These observations lead me to believe that at least I have a case to begin a study. When I decide that sociology is more important than my travel mug of coffee at 7:30am, then perhaps I'll record a few notes.

*When the Metra man goes around to collect tickets, he first collects the bottom seats, yells "Up Top!" as we hand down our tickets. Today the Metra man had a picture of his daughter on the top of his hat.

here comes the 10pm ice cream truck, signing its 10pm ice cream truck song.

2008-06-28T22:30:00.003-05:00

This deserves a blog post. Well at this point *anything* deserves a blog post, since I clearly lack the motivation to blog anymore. Maybe in the winter when it's not so fun outside I'll return to it. That, by the way, might be just around the corner. On a side note: what's up with a high of 70 degrees in practically July?

ICE CREAM TRUCK

Every night - and this includes Sundays and all weekdays - an ice cream truck goes up and down our street tooting some little song that Sarah has now memorized and sings during the day. And when I say night, I really mean it. We hear the song at pretty much exactly 10:30PM each night.

Every night! I've been getting up at 5am for quite a while now, which means an early bedtime for Daddy. I tell you, if I'm up and around when I hear the ice cream truck song, I know I'm up too late. And I'm always up too late. The ice cream truck song is more like Pavlov's bedtime song for me.

DID YOU SAY 5AM?

So I could play the parent card and say that I get up early because of my daughter's early rising habits. Truth be told, she's been getting up a little later these days, at the nearly-afternoon hour of 6am. This is quite an accomplishment, considering last summer's early 4:30 risings.

But I'm still getting up at 5am! It's all a part of my plan to get a Ph.D. I'm finally - finally - taking seriously the title* of the book, "Write your dissertation in 50 minutes a day." If I continue to rise at 5, like I'm used to doing anyway, and work for an hour before everyone gets up at 6, then my 50 minutes of work is finished before anyone's day has begun.

And it works! I turned in a paper last week**, and I'm one step closer to defending a dissertation proposal, which I still plan to do this calendar year. Not only that, but it feels good. It feels like when you get up an exercise first thing in the morning - only without all the physical exertion. The sense of accomplishment is almost profound, though. Especially when you consider that it's only an hour a day.

*because, come on, who's actually read the book?

Maybe we should bring back the sociobiologists

2008-06-10T22:15:00.008-05:00

Similar to the Euro Cup, here's something else I don't usually keep track of: Science Tuesday in the New York Times.

It's well worth it, however. For example, today an article on the social behavior of a plant. If you click on the link, check out the video!

Truly: The sea rocket plant extends it's roots to stranger plants and take over, but among like species it keeps to itself.

Sociobiology is more popularly known for things like social darwinism gone awry. But plant behavior might be a reason to take another look.

via Scatterplot

Yes, there is a world outside of the U.S., and they are playing lots of SOCCER

2008-06-09T22:07:00.005-05:00

It took a friend from Romania to point out to me that the European soccer championships have been going on for three days now. Check out the schedule and standings here.

I admit I'm a rather passive sports fan, the kind that decides to root for the Cubs or Sox only upon landing myself at a Cubs or Sox game. The kind that finds out who's playing in the Super Bowl the day of the party and picks a team. But I do keep track of the World Cup when it comes around and there's no reason to wait until 2010 to root for Russia and Greece.

That's right, I'm picking Russia and Greece to win tomorrow. F8ck Spain and Sweden.

UPDATE 6/10 12:36pm. Doesn't look good for Russia. 2-0 Spain, with 12 minutes to go.

autobiography in six words

2008-06-08T07:17:00.003-05:00

Pastor's-kid Flute Sarah Sociology Edie Coffee

(What's yours?)

more on workplace terminology*

2008-05-28T20:03:00.004-05:00

Just posting something so that my partner's isolated episode of cursing isn't at the top of my blog. I've been learning lots of new terms at work, ones that are evidently par for the course in some worlds. So let this be a learning experience for us all:

Webinar: A seminar over the Internet. No, "sem" is not a location, so just replacing it with "web" does not make perfect sense. Yet, webinars are terribly common events. I'm sitting in one tomorrow.

Boil the Ocean. Apparently a consulting term, a negative phrase implying unguided research. Why boil the ocean when all you want is a cup of hot water? I made that last part up. Anyway, read this for another good definition by a blog titled non other than "boil the ocean."

Methodology. Ok, now we're just getting into pet peeves. Reminder to everyone: A method is how you do something, a process. Methodology is the study of, or the principle of methods. Wikipedia agrees: "Methodology is frequently used when method would be more accurate."

Review of old terms: Outlook Me! Harvey Balls

*And, now that I look at my post, I think I'm misusing the term terminology! I'm merely ~~defining~~ critiquing terms here, not engaging in a study of their use.

maybe by Thursday we'll reach a high of sixty degrees

2008-05-27T19:27:00.005-05:00

click for larger version

Inspired by Meghan*, just thought I'd welcome you into our world for an evening with a typical conversation about the weather. These are nearly nightly occurrences these days. And mornings too, for that matter.

Sarah: Oh look! Tomorrow is supposed to be Much Warmer than today!
Marc: Wow, really?
Sarah: High of Fifty Six Degrees!!
Marc: ...
Sarah (to computer): You f*ck*r! You f*ck*ng m*th*r f*ck*r! G*d*mn you m*th*rf*ck*ngb*tch! F*ck!
Marc: That sucks.

Or something like that. You get the dr*ft.

*Oh, and Meghan I left the "weddings gone wild ad" in just for you

Edie's 1st Birthday

2008-05-22T19:22:00.001-05:00

Edie's 1st Birthday
Originally uploaded by bourgeoisbee

Hopefully Bee won't mind if I blog his video of my daughter's first birthday party. As you can see, slight confusion on the baby's part.

Happy Birthday Edie!

Audience Participation with Flags and Puppets: Now THAT'S Pomp and Circumstance!

2008-05-16T20:45:00.007-05:00

Perhaps the single most tell-tale social characteristic of YouTube I can think of (aside from all that social networking stuff) is the ability for most videos to stand devoid of any context whatsoever. Take this clip for example. What the Hell's going on here? We all know the tune. To me, first flute for four years of High School, this song resembles more of a death march. Or better, it reminds me of the art of repetition. And repeating. And repeat again -- and coda*.

Not so for this audience. I have a newfound love for the song after watching these people. Of course I haven't gone to any graduations yet this year. Maybe I'd feel differently if I had, especially if it was required of me. But that's not my circumstance** ... [wait for it]

Sarah's Graduation from Law School is this Sunday! She got all dressed up in her regalia tonight, complete with six corner hat and colorful hood. The law degree is called Juris Doctor, but Hallmark just calls it "lawyer degree" in their card section.

*In fact, read this oh-so-accurate comment from the video (notwithstanding the "Wtf is wrong with that audience?" quip):

lol. our band's lyrics go
Pleaseee let it be o-ver
this is, the 23rd time
if, we play this again
I'm go-ing to cry!
when, did we get so many sen-iors
I swear, they're going too slow
Oh-yay, es finally over!
Tha, aaa-aank, you
GOD!

**Get it?

for you sociology nerds: bibliographic edition

2008-05-13T21:22:00.003-05:00

Quick! Without using a search function or looking at your bookshelf, how many Arlie Hochschild publications can you name that begin with the word THE? I'll start you off with some easy ones...

The Time Bind
The Second Shift

I'm editing a bibliography and just noticed that all six references to Arlie start with THE and then reveal a new concept, to be forever etched into the minds of sociologists.

No links from this post, as that would give it away.

My New Best Friend, the Harvey Ball

2008-05-09T09:43:00.011-05:00

So in my new position at The Place Which Shall Not Be Named*, my job is often to present a lot of material in a very little amount of time. In order to accomplish this end, I am quickly learning the wonders of The Matrix.

Not the Meatrix, and not the movie either, but rather an 8x8 chart (or 7x5, or 6x9, or what have you) that usually compares a set of criteria to multiple entities. Here's an example, from a quick image search.

Using symbols instead of words. The most challenging part of using a matrix is that I'm confined to boxes. Not only that, but I'm finding that people like to see pictures instead of words, a further confinement. Sure, I can (and have) developed matrices of text. This works in narrative-style reporting, or in cases when one-to-three words will suffice. It doesn't work so well with the at-a-glance snapshot, however. My solution? A series of checks and check-pluses, stars, frowney-faces** and smiley-faces.

And then I discovered Harvey Balls. Developed by a consultant, Harvey Balls are quick reference indicators of scale. A filled in circle exceeds criteria; an empty circle is akin to a frowney-face. Mostly, I just like saying "Harvey Balls" to people and seeing their reaction, especially in a meeting. There must be a better name for these!

Why "Harvey Balls?" Why not "Criteria Circles" or something resembling the function of the things? Turns out that Harvey Balls were developed by a consultant named Harvey Poppel. Harvey Poppel did not like using check marks on matrices. He had to come up with something that displayed a range for criteria. And then he named that thing after himself.

Harvey Ball did not invent Harvey Balls. Most importantly, when referencing the inventor of the Harvey Balls, remember that it was Harvey Poppel, not Harvey Ball. Harvey Ball is another person entirely. Harvey Ball invented the smiley face.

Let's recap: If you, like me, use a smiley face for matrix criteria, then it's from Harvey Ball. If you use Harvey Balls, then think of Harvey Poppel.

This makes me wonder, were Schweaty Balls invented by Harvey Schweaty? Well, they should have been.

*Thanks to Ralph for the title. It's not that I care if you know where I work; it's that I'd rather it not come up in a search engine. Here's a hint.
**I cannot express enough the strength of response to a frowney face.

just in case you wondered if they sold coffee in a coffee shop

2008-05-02T18:43:00.003-05:00

Those who go to Starbucks regularly will appreciate this overheard comment by a barrista:

No, don’t spray it. Don’t spray it! You will eliminate the coffee scent. You’ll be written up.

sociology of babysitting

2008-05-02T10:39:00.002-05:00

If you're interested in the topic of the field exam I'm just finishing up, read this. My paper is so far titled For Love or For Money: somethingsomething. Its theme? The value of care. Is caring its own reward? Should we pay top dollar for care, and will that make it better? Should we test to be sure that our children are loved, in addition to receiving caring services? How much does that cost?

Case in point. In January, when I used to stay home with Edie part time, I needed a babysitter for about 12 hours a week. I placed ads for ten bucks an hour babysitting services, what I understood to be the going rate from a former student emphasizing in early childhood education. In practically no time at all, without even seeing the ad, a different former student said that she would love (note the word: love=good) to sit for Edie - and her schedule even fit our schedule.

I haven't written about this because this person reads my blog (and so does her Mom). But the sociological lesson I believe is a good one. Said student was visibly surprised at the ten dollar pay rate, so much that she agreed to do it for eight. I sort of felt bad reducing the initial promise for pay, a negotiation faux pas, where I should have started with less with a chance to increase later. But she was truly honestly fine with the $8, especially because she really wanted to help us out*.

Love as commoditity. What's interesting, and really what has always bothered me, about this is that we paid less to gaurantee better care. Paying the full $10 to someone answering our ad would have meant a stranger in our house taking care of our daughter. Maybe she would have been fantastic, maybe not.

Not to commodify care for a child, but in essence we replaced two dollars an hour with a gaurantee of love. Sociologists of care distinguish "caring for" versus "caring about." The first means that caring services are accomplished. The second means that someone genuinely has feelings for a person. For our money, we got both. We received $26 per week of love, and it was worth it.

We pay more now. I'm going overboard with the analogy, of course. But it's true that we deliberately paid less for better care. These days we take Edie to an in-home daycare four days a week, but we still pay Edie's favorite babysitter (thank you Ellen) on occasion. Sarah and I are working more and we can afford the full $10 per hour. But since our sitter is worth that extra $2 of love, really we are getting a $12 an hour value for her services, no?

All of this to make a point. When it comes to care, do you really get what you pay for? It would seem that the people you love are the ones better at the service, and paying your friends and family seems counter-intuitive. But what if you pay really a whole lot of money? Would private daycare be the best care Edie could get?

And the questions keep on coming. It's a good day to be a sociologist in the field of care.

* I should point out that when Edie was born she offered to watch her for free, so actually this is a signifcant increase in payment for the service.

how a bottle of scotch can jumpstart my dissertation

2008-04-30T11:15:00.014-05:00

Random Thing #42: in High School and college I was into theater. I'm even a member of Alpha Psi Omega, the national honorary theater society*. After school I didn't pursued theater. I don't have a single acting (or techie) class to my credit. I sort of closed the door on the whole thing after college, not intentionally but more by happenstance. The result: I haven't been on stage in a good twelve years.

Back on Stage. Correction, I haven't been on stage in 72 hours! My alma mater invited me back for a production of Enchanted April, a play about four women who escape their predictable British men for an Italian retreat. We rehearsed and performed the show in six days, from the Sunday script read-through to Opening Night on Friday. I can't speak to the quality of the production, but the play ran smooth, was reportedly entertaining, and most of all, We did it! I'm super impressed with this accomplishment and sort of want to do more.

"I've been translated!" is a popular line from the play. My wife in the show discovers a new world through her retreat, reforming her life's outlook and purpose. In a quirky parallel, I did the same.

This is where the dissertation part comes in. Remember that I'm a sociology student? With my full time non-profit position, caring for my daughter, and supporting Sarah through the end of law school and bar exam, I haven't spent much time inside of my studies since Thanksgiving. If you count the three months I took off last summer when Edie was born, I've lost nearly a year of study. This is discouraging. My friends are passing me up with their ABD status and dissertation research beginnings. I feel like I'm almost there, I don't feel bad about where I'm at, but all the same I am ready for a boost.

This week I feel rejuvenated. I'm tired, but that's something different than how I feel. For the last few months I've needed a fresh start of some kind. Some transition, or gate to pass through. A trip to Jamaica (not that I would do this) was not what I needed. Surprisingly, a sleepless week of project-focused rehearsal closing in full production was.

I accomplished my goal! I performed in a play as a hopefully convincing character. Maybe it took revisiting a college student schedule to figure out that I can also pass my pre-dissertation field exams. Maybe it took stepping away from my past routine and looking forward to a new one to be able to think about school again. As my director friend suggested, maybe it took using my right brain for once as opposed to crutching on my left. No matter what, the sense of accomplishment from this experience is invaluable.

This is where the scotch part comes in. My last show - 12 years ago in college - I played head school master dealing with issues of AIDS and sexuality at my school. The Old Boy was a deep play, and not without controversy in Central Kansas in 1995. But more than that the show was transformative for our theater prof.

Glenlivet, if I'm not mistaken. My prof had just finished his dissertation, defended and passed, and hadn't let down from the stress that went with that process. As the story goes, The Old Boy was a time for him to finally let go of one cumbersome life chapter and move on. In appreciation and honor, the cast got him a bottle of fine scotch whiskey. We all signed the box.

Last week I saw the empty box with signatures for the first time in over a decade. I had forgotten about it, and when I mentioned The Old Boy as my last show before now, our prof produced the box and retold the story. I was touched by his sentiment. After all this time, the box with our signatures sets above his desk at home as a reminder.

Jumpstart. Not only did I accomplish something great last week, but I reunited with a part of me that had been covered up. Much like my prof's bottle of Glenlivet which signified dissertation-related new beginnings, so my experience last week refreshes me and moves me forward. Symbolic yes, and also cathartic.

Denouement. Where before I was constantly consumed with stuff that I felt constrained my progress toward a Ph.D., now I feel that a majority of that stuff is not nearly as crucial as I imagined. I'm ready to practice patience in my writing, and not feel overwhelmed when I set aside the time. In short, I feel a preparedness for getting back to work.

And also I might start drinking Scotch.

*Seek a life useful!

the Boss endorses Obama; disses Bittergate

2008-04-16T18:24:00.002-05:00

Look if Bruce isn't bitter, than neither am I. Click the subject heading for link.

notes from work: earth day and cat stroller edition

2008-04-14T13:09:00.004-05:00

As if it wasn't bad enough that my work is celebrating Earth Day by posting paper signs wrapped in plastic all around the building that say "Thank you for recycling" -- in addition to all of the other recycle signs and cans about,

Now my coworker tells me she just bought a cat stroller yesterday. That right, to stroll your cat. On wheels. Photo above submitted by my coworker, who says it's this style in red and black. My supervisor, who happens to have a cat with three legs, thinks this is outrageous and thinks cats should walk for themselves. Leashes are OK; wheels, not so much.

click here if you like pictures of children, cats, birds, and bugs, taken by my friend Chris

2008-04-11T11:52:00.002-05:00

that's right, in the title. click there.

Sarah passed the bar!

2008-04-08T21:20:00.005-05:00

Here's Edie, showing how excited she is that Sarah passed the bar! Sarah's pretty thrilled too:

To quote Sarah at her law grad reception last week, "What a relief!"

Still cute!

2008-04-03T13:44:00.004-05:00

At this point I'm counting on people with feed readers to check my blog. If you check me via straight up bookmark, then bless you. I took these photos on Easter Day. If it wouldn't have snowed six inches that weekend, this would be an outdoor springtime shot. Still cute, though.

a compelling reason to bring the troops home: They're asking us.

2008-03-25T07:08:00.006-05:00

Reading this article on Iraq soldier diaries reminded me to visit this blog (especially this post from today), which I used to follow then lost track of. I don't know too many - OK none - people enlisted in the military, and Spc. Freeman writes in a way that makes me feel that this could have been me.

Especially as the U.S. troop death toll reaches 4,000 and key political figures turn the pull-out debate into a navel-gazing excercise, I have to wonder why no one is actually listening to our soldiers. I mean, debating whether we should remain overseas is becoming like political crossword puzzles: the debate passes the time in an interesting way, without any actual progress on the ground.

Of course our soldiers are speaking. We could listen to the Winter Soldier hearings from Washington last week, something I've been meaning to do but still haven't found the time. But that's just it, right? The more time that passes, now five years, the more desensitized we become.

But if we didn't have online diaries, I'd have to depend on the Times, or NPR, or worse our Government for information from the sand. So this is a public Thanks, Spc. Freeman, for keeping us grounded. Oh, and welcome home!

choosing my gender: Gentleman, Damsel, or Grrrl?

2008-03-24T17:05:00.003-05:00

For those keeping track, my new Blogspot interface doesn't include my del.icio.us links on the sidebar anymore. I'm trying a new social bookmarking application, diig.

I'm signing up for this thing, and in clicking to find my gender, I notice more than the two typical gender choices of Male and Female. My first reaction: This is awesome! Finally an application that recognizes transgender and other gender identifications. My second reaction: Hmmm, are they poking fun at this issue? I thought I had my gender down fairly pat as Male. Now I see I could also be Dude, Fellow, Bird, or Chap.

Of all the decisions I have to make in a single day, I'm at least happy that selecting my gender is one of them.

Almost crawling!

2008-03-16T07:15:00.004-05:00

(that's Edie in yellow and her baby friend Isa)

not the sandwich i intended

2008-03-14T22:46:00.005-05:00

I've been taste testing this terrific new sandwich shop near my work*. I fell in love with their Mediterranean with foccacia, but was bait-n-switched this last time with the above photographed sandwich. Just for the record no sandwich is a bad sandwich at Specialty's. That said, it's not every day I eat a natural peanut butter and raspberry jam sandwich on whole grain bread. With apples and bananas.

Rich, sweet, hearty, and I must say not too shabby. And, because they messed up my order** I got a free coffee!

*Crazy, I notice their yelp reviews are more community discussions over the menu than anything else.
**Ok, so they were out of focaccia and asked if I wanted different bread or a different sandwich. I opted for another sandwich and this was the only veg option I haven't tried.

end of the microblog

2008-03-14T22:38:00.004-05:00

Well that didn't take long. Two people told me they couldn't figure out what the hell I was doing on-blog and Zero people told me they liked it. At the very least, I'm moving the flickr and twitter spots to the sidebar.

This is for you, Jana!