No, I'm not referring to the Chinua Achebe novel (of course, it just made me think about the novel and, realizing how little I remember of it since I read it years ago, I had to go find a quick plot outline to refresh my memory). I'm talking literally: things fall apart.

• Tried to cut the lawn and only managed to finish the backyard since the right front wheel fell off.
• Found a cracked glass in the cupboard. Many of our dishes are being dropped or getting cracks or chips in them.
• Opened a window the other day and some little piece of plastic, plugging a hole in the other pane frame, was jutting out just a little too much and the edged was snapped off.
• And, of course, the "0" button on the laptop I'm writing this on has been waiting in the case for weeks now, for me to get it reattached.
  

Things fall apart. I was thinking about how horribly unfair this is, how this is all I need, what with money being tight and having no luck in finding a new job for after my current contract ends. But of course, things fall apart. Things break. Things die and rot and gather dust and get loose or get rusted or whatever the age-related verb is for any given inanimate object.

Get over it, bub.

Things fall apart. Get new things.

Labels: aboutLife, aboutMoney, aboutWork

This was the last work day before flying out to Winnipeg for the CHLA/ABSC 2009 conference. This is an important one for a couple reasons: (1) I'm looking for a new job so it'll be good to do a little networking, chatting with people, asking around, letting myself be seen (I hate shmoozing but it is helpful so I do what has to be done) and (2) I'm helping host next year's conference in Kingston, so I'd like to help out as much as possible promoting it at this year's conference.

I'm the chair of the Publicity Committee for CHLA/ABSC 2010 and also the webmaster so I've been pretty busy already getting things ready as much as possible. I know
we've all done a lot of work and organizing and everything but I always feel as though I could have done something more, something else to make things even better. I know, I'm a bit of a perfectionist (non-clinical diagnosis there) but I'm getting better. lol

Labels: aboutProfessionalService, aboutWork

About a month ago, I heard on the radio (it's CBC so it's trustworthy) that, for the good of your hair, really, we shouldn't be washing our hair every single day. It has to do with the fact that your scalp/follicles produce oils to prevent your head from drying out (I think that's what they said) and since shampooing removes all that oil and grease, it's actually drying it out, causing more oils to be produced. Shampooing indirectly makes your hair greasier. And the last thing I need is to be doing damage to my already retreating hair. "Come back here, you!"

So I tried it. I only wash my hair about 3 times a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, just to make it easy to remember. I've been doing it every since that fateful radio show, so it's been about 5 weeks, and honestly, I really can't tell the difference. It felt somewhat weird the first few days without it, and I thought everyone was going to be able to tell and be all grossed out, but no, I'm not disgusting people daily, I haven't been scaring small children on the street.

So what do you think? Eww or yay? Try it. It saves your hair, oh and it also saves shampoo. Bonus!

Labels: aboutHealth

March 26th. I guess I had nothing to do. And I certainly wanted that certain monkey off my back that's been hounding (Monkey? Hounding? From my back? Hmmm.) me ever since it became such a sensation.

Yes. I started a twitter account and feed back then. And now it's into May and I have been updating it once in a while. And that's ok. I didn't start it to be the constantly-updating-of-everything-I-do-and-everything-I-think kind of twitter. I chose something focused, practical, and simple. I tweet only about the books I'm starting or finishing, or articles, or movies, or other media in my life. That's it. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I have not had much time to read or watch anything with all my work, volunteering and job-searching. Those are 3 full-time jobs that I'm doing alongside my flawless parenting and husbanding (no, not husbandry... we've got two kids and we're done as far as I'm concerned).

And it's kinda fun too. Limited to, what is it, 140 characters? Yeah, I can fill THAT up pretty quick. And since I've kept a strict rein on what I'm going to tweet about, it should be easy to keep up. The only problem is that now I have not only joined a community ("So-and-so just created at Twitter account! So-and-so is following your feed!") but it comes with a whole new set of info-streams that I'm tempted to redirect, process and absorb (Very borg-like.) but that I've managed to put off for now.

So go try it if you haven't already. And if you have, tell me about what you've learned so far. Or give me the link to your feed. You know I'll buckle and then you'll be famous. At least at my house.

Labels: 2checkout, aboutCommunication, aboutOnlineTools