Geek in Heels - Page 152

May 20, 2010 • In Cute, Funny, Geek, Personal, Star Wars, Web

My Name is Jenny and I am a Serial Subscriber

I subscribe to over 500 sites via Google Reader (sadly, if your site doesn’t have an RSS feed, it’s likely that I’ll never visit it again unless it is spectacular) and I always have a heck of a time trying to “weed” through my feeds in an effort to lessen the number of posts/articles I have to read each day.

And yes, I must read ALL of them because I’m anal like that.

Unfortunately, as many feeds as I “unsubscribe” each week, my “subscribe” number is always higher.

How can I resist when there are sites like ZooBorns (which my friend Jillian introduced via Twitter earlier this week and started a “zOMG so cute!” frenzy)…

Or the weirdly obsessive, “Thanks, now I’ll always see that…” site Cannot Unsee?

What say you, readers? Do you have any tips for cutting down on your Google Reader subscriptions?

…or are you a helpless serial subscriber like me?

. . . are there any new sites you’d recommend?

Star Wars Opening Crawl

And here I thought the sequence was entirely CG…

The rudimentary method is quite ingenious, and I’m a bit saddened to learn that the remastered movies have replaced the manual crawl with CG versions.

I wonder if the opening crawl for Flash Gordon (George Lucas’ inspiration for the Star Wars films) was done using the same method?

Via Gizmodo.

5 Months

It’s amazing what can happen in that time.

a little seahorse at 2 months

a BABY at 5 months

Free Range Kids

In light of yesterday’s post regarding The Bubble Wrap Generation, I found it strangely appropriate that I learned about “Take Our Children to the Park…& Leave Them There Day” this morning on the radio.

I was not surprised when my favorite NYC blog, Gothamist, picked up on the story and ignited a furious war among its readers.

Would YOU leave your 9 year-old child alone in Central Park?

Because I think that I would.

My parents taught me independence from a very young age. After teaching me to safely cross the street, to not talk to strangers and never get into an unfamiliar car or building without them, they trusted me to walk the ½ mile to kindergarten every day.

I was a quiet, introverted person as a young child too, so I didn’t go out too much…I much preferred to sit at home and read. However, my sister — my opposite — loved to go out and play with the neighborhood kids. She would spend all day outside without adult supervision, returning in time for dinner, starting at the age of 4.

Did she ever get lost? Yes. But my parents had taught her to seek policemen in case this ever happened, and my sister followed suit. (And the one time she got lost at the beach, she had the common sense to go to a lifeguard…at the age of 3½.)

I think my sister and I turned out okay. Neither of us experienced any major injuries or traumatic incidents while growing up. We both did well in school, attended prestigious universities, and while I am preparing to be a SAHM, my sister is currently working on her PhD in art history and archaeology.

Are we the exception?

I’m genuinely curious as to how my readers grew up. Were you allowed to go out, unsupervised before the age of 10? Were you allowed to tinker in the kitchen by yourselves, preparing food with sharp knives and hot stoves, starting at the age of 6 as my sister and I?

I know that the world is a dangerous place. But the sheltered, over-protected life only seems to have arrived within the last generation or two. Wasn’t the world ALWAYS a dangerous place? What prompted parents to change their ways?

(And again, I’m not looking to spark a debate. If anyone can enlighten me with facts or even theories, I would really appreciate it.)

Going back to the topic of “Take Our Children to the Park…& Leave Them There Day,” I have to agree with Gothamist reader GoldenRuler, who writes:

if you can’t trust your 9 year old – especially an urban 9 yr old – to be in a park or get around the city by herself, then you should question your parenting skills.

ANYTHING can happen at ANY age, and the sooner they learn how to take care of themselves, the better – and how else to help them build their confidence and skills than by letting them venture out alone? this doesn’t necessarily mean you go from holding their hands on the slide to complete abandonment in one day. done gradually, with informative guidance and common sense (i.e., not letting them run to the corner store at 1 AM in east new york), and taking the kid into consideration (all kids mature at different ages and ways) it’s perfectly normal.

Fallingwater Animation

I have always had a soft spot for architecture. I mean, who hasn’t seriously considered becoming an architect after reading Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead?

And as cliché as it sounds, Frank Lloyd Wright has always been my favorite architect and Fallingwater my favorite residential building.

Visiting Fallingwater has been on my to-do list for over a decade. Unfortunately, the 6+ hour drive to western Pennsylvania is too daunting for this lazy geek. Perhaps we can make a weekend trip of it years down the road, with kids screaming in the back seat, “Are we there yet?!!”

For now, I can almost feel like I’m there…AND see how it was constructed in this beautiful animation by Cristobal Vila.

Via FlowingData.

P.S. — How could I end this post without once mentioning LEGO® Fallingwater?

Twitter Parade

I usually don’t like to be at the center of attention, but this made me crack up!

Create your own Twitter Parade at http://isparade.jp/

Via Gizmodo.

The Bubble Wrap Generation

The War on Children’s Playgrounds

J thinks that I will be an overly overprotective parent.

I firmly disagree.

I believe that there is an age up to which a child should be protected and nurtured because they just don’t know better. However, we must also educate our children during this period to be aware of dangers, to learn to fend for themselves, and to also take the occasional injury as a learning experience.

And after this age? I will encourage my children to live life and learn from their mistakes. This is not to say that I will let them do whatever they want; rather, I will not be opposed to their taking risks just as long as they are not unreasonable. After all, taking risks starting at a young age is important so that children can realize their own limitations.

I will not be an over-coddling parent.

Living in the “Bubble Wrap Generation,” it saddens me to know that my kids will not be able to have the same childhood that J and I were allowed. Where we were allowed to play outside with friends — without adult supervision — until dark. Where it was not unusual to return home with cuts and scrapes and blood-stained clothes. Where playground injuries were learning experiences, not the cause for lawsuits.

It’s sad to think that my kids might never experience a playground
like this. Doesn’t it look fun?

Now, every playdate is carefully orchestrated by parents and the kids watched over with hawk-like eyes. Playgrounds are boring affairs with no nooks and crannies, no high swings or slides, or even sand. (When was the last time you saw a metal merry-go-round or a seesaw at a public playground?) No kids play outside anymore, and when asked why, parents will often respond, “No one else lets their kids play outside, so my kids will be bored anyway.”

It is no surprise that childhood obesity rates are an all-time high.

We live in an age where our nation is ruled by the fear of lawsuits. After all, a broken arm can fetch up to $100,000 (after paying the attorney fees) if the injury occurred on a playground. If that happened in my generation, the child would have gotten a tongue-lashing from the parents for being careless, then taken to the hospital with no involvement from the legal system.

There comes a point when the idea of “being safe” becomes an obsession to the point where it becomes impossible to have any kind of enjoyment in life.

I will not cover my kids in bubble wrap.

Who Knew Skynet Started Off As A Printer?

Via Geekologie.

Unconditional Love — Is “The Giving Tree” a Depressing Book?

When I was little, I asked my mother what love is.

“Love is something you give away. But unlike other things, the more you give the more you receive in return. If you give one, you get two. If you give two, you get four, and so on. But you shouldn’t give love just for the sake of getting more. You should love as God loves us.”

This statement has had a profound impact on me since I was that curious little girl of four.

Perhaps this is the reason I still cite Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree as one of my favorite books of all time.

A few years ago, I attended my cousin’s daughter’s 1-year birthday party and I decided to gift The Giving Tree, along with a couple of other Shel Silverstein books, as a present.

A younger cousin decided to flip through The Giving Tree when the celebrations began winding down. He had never read, or even heard of the book before, so I awaited his finishing the book with great anticipation.

“Wow, that was DEPRESSING!” he declared as he closed the book shut with a flourish.

“What are you talking about? It’s a great book that teaches the concept of unconditional love, either from parents or from God. It’s one of my favorites!” I countered.

“Yeah, I get that. But don’t you think it’s too dreary for little kids?”

“No…”

However, I did see his point. And I was reminded of this incident once again when I read this quote from Ryan Gosling on Best Week Ever regarding The Giving Tree:

That book is so f**ked up; that story’s the worst. I mean, at the end the tree is a stump and the old guy just sitting on him; he’s just used him to death, and you’re supposed to want to be the tree? F**k you. You be the tree. I don’t want to be the tree.

I was taken back, and shocked further to read that the author of the post, as well as the majority of commentered, agreed with Gosling that The Giving Tree is a depressing, “f**ked up” book.

What say you? Do you think that The Giving Tree is a depressing book?

I can definitely see how people would think so; we live in an imperfect, cynical world. As humans, we are incapable of perfect, unconditional love. Additionally, attempting to love someone with the type of love described in the book has the potential to have devastating effects — whether through heartbreak, unnecessary sacrifice, and/or devaluation of oneself.

But I still stand firm that we should strive for perfect love, as God loves us.

Just as my mother taught me 26 years ago.

And I plan on teaching my kids this important lesson too.

Comang with Daddy

I know that I constantly chide J for acting immature, but whenever I see him with Comang I can’t help but just know that he will make a wonderful father to our little girl.

photo taken with my Moto Droid, edited with Totally Rad actions

The best relationship advice I’ve ever been given is, “Do not marry a man unless you would be proud if your son turned out just like him.” I’d be over the moon if our future son(s) turn out like J, and I’d be pretty damn proud if our daughter takes after him too.