Apt. 11D

Blog Migration

Please change your bookmarks and RSS feeds to www.apt11d.com .

I have moved to WordPress. Somewhat. Mostly. 

Warning --- Blog Transfer Happening

OK, guys. Lots of changes going on behind the scenes today.... Don't bother commenting until the transfer happens. 

I'm moving to a very VANILLA design at WordPress. Fixing the design is the easy part. Moving the archives, the ad codes, and the domain name is boring, but terribly time consuming. My goal is to get this boring stuff done in the next 24 hours. 

Three Books About Unusual Families

I just ordered three books from Amazaon about unusual families. 

Priscilla Gilman's The Anti-Romantic Child: A Memoir of Unexpected Joy. 

 

Andrew Solmon's Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity

Bruce Feiler's The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Rethink Family Dinner, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More

A Business Day

After a weekend of family fun, I'm sitting at the computer looking a long list of troublesome chores. Steve and Jonah went off to work and school with that same hangdog look. Only Ian went to school with a smile. Thank God for Ian. 

The first order of business is dealing with this blog. Typepad installed a new spam filter a couple of months ago, and it has wrecked havoc with this blog. I haven't updated the blog design in several years. I need a new logo and all that. With ten years of archives and a sidebar with ads, it's a huge pain in the ass to make a change. I have to tranfer info with GoDaddy, sitemeter, and Google analytics, too. 

So, I need to do a little research on paying someone else to deal with that mess versus doing it myself. 

This blog feels like the home of a hoarder. Instead of collecting hats or buttons, I'm a collector of words and ideas. I haven't done the best job of keeping things organized, so now I must pay the price. 

I'm going to put up some very short blog posts over the next couple of days, but nothing too long. I'll be mostly working behind the scenes to clean up this mess. 

UPDATE: I really love the design options at SquareSpace, but they don't import from Typepad, so now I'm checking out WordPress. 

UPDATE2: What a time suck!!!! I picked out a vanilla design from WordPress. I'm the process of tranferring the archives. Next step, transfer the domain name. After everything moves over properly, I'll play around with the design more leisurely. I probably should have started this process during the weekend, but whatevs. 

It's Girlie Friday!!!!

Alright, it's a girlie day, so let's talk clothes again. 

Last week, I picked up this shirt dress from the GAP. It's marked down way more in the store. With that sale price, plus a 30 percent coupon, plus the GAP credit card discount, I think I paid $20 for it. 

I'm a huge fan of pairing a tunic or a shorter dress with leggings. Leggings are the best way to keep wearing short skirts without horrifying the neighbors and small children. Hue's footless tights are not too thick. 

And then let's quickly talk about the printed pants trend. Gap's got 'em. So does H&M, J. Crew, the Banana, and just about every place. A few months ago, I got a pair from Uniqlo, but I don't think I would recommend them. The material was too cheap. 

So, what do you wear with tight, printed pants? What do you wear when you have something so girlie on  your ass? 

It's easy to go wrong. Wear those pants with heels and too much jewelry and you'll be all ready for Cougar Night at the Bicardi Grill in Paramus, New Jersey. I say if you're wearing flowers on your ass, then you have to butch it up everywhere else. Loose black shirt and clunky shoes. 

A New Coen Brothers Movie. Yaaaaaaaay!!!!!!

And a great Dylan soundtrack, too!!

Gas Pump Bon Jovi

More here

The Race to the Top and Its Casualties

The New York Times reports on two new studies about the influence of money on education. On a geeky level, I'm thrilled to see data that clicks so well with my anecdotal observations. It also supplements the research summarized here. 

The first study by Sabino Kornrich and Frank F. Furstenberg, “Investing in Children: Changes in Parental Spending on Children, 1972–2007,”  found that spending on children grew over the past four decades and that it became more unequal. “Our findings also show that investment grew more unequal over the study period: parents near the top of the income distribution spent more in real dollars near the end of the 2000s than in the early 1970s, and the gap in spending between rich and poor grew.”

The rich are spending way more on their children's education than they did in the past. Rich parents are investing more than ever in tutors, after-school enrichment programs, camps, and private schools. The gap between them and their poorer peers grows every day. 

But all that enrichment is making kids miserable. The intensive enrichment is coming out of parental anxiety, and the kids pick up those vibes. (I can't tell you how many of Jonahs' peers have serious anxiety problems.) 

Research from Suniya S. Luthar, professor of psychology and education at Columbia University’s Teachers College finds that upper-middle class kids are reacting all this enrichment and pressure in unhealthy ways. She found high levels of substance use, depression and anxiety, particularly among the girls. They were more at-risk for these problems than inner-city kids.

Upper middle class kids are feeling the stress of their parents. The anxiety of falling out of the middle class. The backup plans for average middle class kids do not exist any more. There is the perception that there are fewer and fewer winners in this new economy. And kids and parents are freaking out. 

Spreadin' Love 552

A Creationist science test. 

Interesting article about the cuts to Cleveland police department, which knocked out Community Policing, and may have been a reason why that Castro wasn't caught earlier. 

We're going to Cleveland in July. I think I'm going to drag my family around to these new foodie spots. 

The Met Gala

What you didn't get your invitation to the Met Gala? What's wrong with you? 

I'm enjoying flipping through the slide show at New York magazine. I would totally wear Christina Ricci's dress. Love plaid. 

Uma looks pretty awesome, too. Kim Kardashian is dressed like her grandmother's sofa. 

And here's what everyone looks like the next day with a hangover. 

Check out all the great square shaped sunglasses on the hangovered stars. Ray-Bans. Glad that they are back in style, because that's the only shape that looks good on round faces like mine.