Apt. 11D

Not Fabulous

It's New Year's Eve, and I'm not doing my hair and pulling out the party dress. I'm not standing in the cold drinking from a flask in Times Square. I'm not frantically calling friends to get everyone to show up at a particular bar at a particular time. I'm not worried that I could be at a slightly better party somewhere else.

I'm not going anywhere. We have one, very laid-back friend coming over. She's coming with her laptop, so we can all watch TV and read stuff on the Internet and do holiday cards at the same time. Our treat is take-out Thai food. 

I'm glad that we've outgrown the competitive fun years. I'm really burnt out from too much entertaining these past two weeks and just want to be quiet. I'm looking forward to drinking beers and watching Ryan Seacrest prattle on.

I'm such a grandma. Someone get me a Snuggie®!

Our Belated Card

Dude Studies

How awesome that the Dude has spawned a series of academic papers. There's even a new book coming out on the subject, The Year's Work in Lebowski Studies. While it would seem that most academics would gravitate to Barton Fink as a favored Coen brothers character, they have chosen the Dude as book-worthy.

In one essay Fred Ashe — he is an associate professor of English at Birmingham-Southern College — profitably compares the Dude to Rip van Winkle, for both his “friendly charisma” and what Washington Irving described as Rip’s “insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor.” Both men, Mr. Ashe notes, expose “the sickness of a straight society premised on the Puritan work ethic.”

While this book looks fascinating, I would much rather drink a white Russian and go to the Lebowskifest.

Surrender to Potter

Move your money. That's the message today in a Huffington post and YouTube video. The only way to deal with Wall Street is to take your money out of the big banks and give to your local banks and credit unions.

I spent the afternoon with the kids at the movie theater watching Alvin and the Chipmunks. When I got back, Steve slowly got around to telling me that there was a bomb scare in Times Square today and that this video went viral today.

Steve claims that he was saying the same thing just yesterday, when he was complaining about the 40 cents per month we get from our old Chase account in the city.

Spreadin' Love

Grading papers. And an amazing rant from a non-tenure track professor about not being able to find a job or afford to go to the MLA conference. (via BitchPhD)

Fighting for Women and Children

I was very moved by Sunitha Krishnan's TED talk on sexual slavery in India and googled to get more information about her.

She has a blog. Check out her post on why the legalization of prostitution does not improve conditions for women.

This is her organization. You can give money here.

Cards

Getting Checked Out at Check-In

 So, now I have to wear the good underwear when I travel?

There is no way that I'm going allow some rent-a-cop at the airport do a millimeter wave screening on me before I board my flight to Florida.

Sunitha Krishnan and Sex Slavery

Spreadin' Love

Women and relationships in a pro-sports world are something that can be bought and managed by the team of agents and handlers. Doug Glanville explains,

If the player dares to take the next step — marriage — there will likely be a legal team at his disposal (via his agent) that can set up a prenuptial agreement. This negotiation is often dragged out for months as a way of seeing whether the future spouse shows an ugly side during the process. But it’s a red flag for your relationship if you have to resort to such tactics to force the worst in someone, and the prenup becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, set up not just to distribute assets but to deal with an inevitable break-up or philandering. In fact, it might as well be seen as a pre-meditated agreement (I may do all of this dirt, so when I do and you want to leave, I still win because instead of half you only get a check for X dollars and one house).

I love bumbling around on the Internet and coming across a huge subculture that I didn't know about before. Before Christmas, I found a gaggle of bloggers who just blogged about things that they wanted or they had bought on Etsy. The New York Times has an article on the fashion and makeup bloggers.

I would totally make the brie stuffed mushrooms.