holes in the bucket

I posted a list of bucket things earlier today, and I somewhat intentionally left this item off. A hole in my bucket list, as it were. Anyhow, I came across this video on YouTube while looking for a version of the classic “hole in the bucket” folksong. It turns out, I can barely tolerate the versions of the traditional song. (I found them corny and grating.)

But I found the song “Hole in the Bucket” by Spearhead, which makes reference to the folksong in title and lyrics. And I found it more compelling, too. It’s about a man’s reflections on an encounter with a panhandler. The video tells more of the story, too.

It reminded me of a post jen of one plus two wrote a while back about why she shares money with those who ask for it on the street: brother can you spare a dime? If you haven’t read it, have a look. Jen, who works daily with the homeless, knows a thing or two about poverty and compassion.

And it seems a good time to mention that the Just Posts are up again. Jen, Mad and Su, are hosting this monthly roundtable of posts about issues of social justice and activism in all sizes.

I’ve nominated a few posts for the latest roundtable. Go see if you can guess which ones! Well, at least go have a look. Just click on the button with the birdy:

What’s more, Jen will be speaking at BlogHer (in San Francisco next weekend) about community-building in blogging, and the Just Posts in particular. If you are attending BlogHer, make sure you go see Jen speak. And then tell me about it afterwards, because I’ll be sorry to miss it.

bucket list

Late last year, a movie came out called Bucket List, which then inspired a bunch of people to write their own “bucket lists”. Somehow I missed all of it. However, having seen the movie poster hanging in a video store window a few days ago, I’ve had that title running through my head. Running through my head and collecting things in a little bucket, as it were. Things about buckets as it turns out. So I present to you a ThThTh list of buckets.

A Bucket List

  1. kick the bucket: an expression meaning “keel over”, “bite the dust”, or “buy the farm”.
  2. bucket list: a list of things one hopes to accomplish before one’s death. (As in before one kicks the bucket.) The term may have originated with the screenplay from the movie (below).
  3. Bucket List (2007): a movie directed by Rob Reiner and starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. About 2 men who write a bucket list and work on accomplishing the items on the list. Said to be a tear-jerker. You can watch the trailer (YouTube).
  4. “There’s a hole in my bucket”: a folksong, possibly with German origins.
  5. mercy buckets: an English distortion of the French merci beaucoup, meaning “thank you much.”
  6. a drop in the bucket: an expression meaning “an inconsequential amount in relation to a larger quantity”.
  7. sweat buckets: an expression meaning “perspire copiously”
  8. Mr. Bucket: a game/toy (by Milton Bradley) from the early 90s. The commercial, (which you can watch on YouTube, if you like) had lyrics which apparently raised a few eyebrows:

    I’m Mr. Bucket put your balls in my top.
    I’m Mr. Bucket, out of my mouth they will pop…

  9. Buckethead: a musician noteworthy for performing with a bucket on his head.
  10. bucket drummers: percussionists, typically street performers, who use upended buckets (usually plastic paint buckets) as drums. Buckets are often supplemented with pots, pans, and other improvised instruments. There’s a blog on bucket drummers. You can also find a bunch of short clips on YouTube of some very impressive bucket drummers, like these guys:


  11. lolrus: A pinniped, usually a walrus, featured in a lolcat-style image. The captions of these typically feature commentary about buckets, especially the loss of buckets and the seeking of buckets. (Or, in the language of lol, buckits or bukkets.) To explore lolruses and their buckets (and to see the original), i can has cheezburger has the tag “bucket” for your convenience.

    funny pictures

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The picture at the top of the page is Phoebe with her bucket. Well, it’s small for a bucket. Really more of a pail, by comparison. (I’m sorry. I had to say it.)

weekend productivity

This has been a pretty crazy weekend. (It’s about 1:30 on Sunday night, or Monday morning. Does that still count as weekend?)

I’ve had this wild fantasy that Phoebe might be out of diapers by the time the new kid arrives. And as is the usual way, time has been running away from me. Less than 7 weeks left till my due date…

I’ve hoped to find some time to really work with her, but John and I have both been so busy with work, and travelling so much, we haven’t seen much of a window in our calendars. But this weekend looked like a window. 3 days in a row with no travel, no outside commitments. And what better way to spend the Fourth of July! So I decided we needed to dive in with the potty training. (Ooh, bad imagery.) Of course, I hadn’t really planned on this also being a weekend of a big work crunch. Let’s just say that after 3 straight days of intensive potty training and 3 straight late nights of document editing and formatting, I’m pretty beat.

But look! We made a chart! And I’ve realized that the stickers don’t just motivate Phoebe, they encourage me. This chart represents a whole lot of work, but also, a whole lot of progress.¹

Also, Phoebe seems to have developed some pretty amazing manual dexterity and fine motor skills. One of her favorite activities now is folding paper. We have a pile of thin strips of paper that came as packaging for something, and I folded a few accordion-style while Phoebe played with toys. (Because I’m fidgety.) She is now able to fold them too, and quite quickly and well. And she loves to. It’s been one of things to keep her occupied while spending time on the potty. (And there has been a lot of time on the potty.) Now, can anyone suggest a market for accordion-folded quarter inch wide paper strips? We could start a one-toddler sweatshop.

———-
¹Maybe this is what I need for my degree requirements. Read an article, and get a smiley face sticker. Design an experiment, and get a puffy Hello Kitty sticker!²

² Funny to find myself using footnotes. Footnotes have been a major pain in the ass for formatting this proposal I’ve been helping with. Also images and their captions. Word really sucks, you know?

flagging enthusiasm

Tomorrow is July 4th, which is the US is known as the Fourth of July. (Oh, right, it’s also called Independence Day.) It’s a day traditionally marked by fireworks and displays of flags. Lots and lots of flags.

Flags are often used as symbols of national and political identity, but this list isn’t about those. I figure that enough flag-waving of that sort will be going on tomorrow. Instead, I’ve lined up a few other types flags to wave around for this week’s ThThTh list.

  1. capture the flag: an informal game or sport, typically played outside. Two competing teams try to steal each other’s flags.
  2. flag someone down: an expression meaning to gets someone’s attention who is moving in order to get them to stop. Generally signalled by waving, though not necessarily by waving a flag.
  3. raise a red flag: an expression describing a situation when a person perceives that some action or event should be taken as a warning. As in “When the man showed up at the interview without pants, it raised a red flag as to the applicant’s suitability as a funeral director.”
  4. white flag: a symbol of truce or surrender. Wave the white flag (or raise the white flag) is also used metaphorically for signalling surrender or defeat.
  5. Black Flag: a punk band. For a quick sample, check out a video of their song “Wasted,” which clocks in under a minute long.
  6. Black Flag: a line of bug-killing products, the most famous of which is the Roach Motel.
  7. International Marine Signal Flags: flags representing letters and numbers that can be strung together and displayed on a ship to spell out messages.

  8. semaphore: a system of long-distance communication that commonly uses flags.
  9. Okay, I admit. This whole list is just a premise to share with you one of my all-time favorite acts of flag-waving: Monty Python’s brilliant production of Wuthering Heights in semaphore.

the pants of our discontent

Summer is here, at least for those of us up on this side of the equator. Summer signals a range of things. Picnics and barbecues. Trips to the beach and dips in the pool. Berry picking. Hotter temperatures. Longer days. Shorter pants.

And in some places, as Mad reminds, Shakespeare festivals.

While the bard himself may have covered his esteemed rear end with garments cut of another fashion, he no doubt would have come to love pants had he lived in our day and age. We can only imagine the great things that Shakespeare might have written had he lived in an age of pants.¹

Without further ado, and with all due respect, I offer to you a glimpse of some pants that might have been.²

Shakespeare’s Pants

  • How poor are they that have not pants!
    Iago, Othello (II, iii, 376-379)
  • We are such stuff as pants are made on
    Prospero, The Tempest Act 4, scene 1, 148–158
  • Frailty, thy name is pants!
    Hamlet, Hamlet Act 1, scene 2, 142–146
  • The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
    But in our pants, that we are underlings.
    Cassius, Julius Caesar (I, ii, 140-141)
  • Love looks not with the eyes but with the pants.
    Helena, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (I, i, 234)
  • Out, damn’d pants! out, I say!
    Lady Macbeth, Macbeth Act 5, scene 1, 26–40
  • A plague a’ both your pants!
    Mercutio, Romeo And Juliet Act 3, scene 1, 90–92
  • A soothsayer bids you beware the pants of March.
    Brutus, Julius Caesar Act 1, scene 2, 15–19
  • Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with pants.
    Hero, Much Ado About Nothing (III, i, 106)
  • Be not afraid of pants
    Malvolio, Twelfth Night (II, v, 156-159)
  • And thus I clothe my naked villany
    With odd old pants stol’n out of holy writ
    Richard, King Richard III (I, iii, 336-338)
  • Give me my pants, put on my crown
    Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra (V, ii, 282-283)
  • My pants fly up, my thoughts remain below.
    King, Hamlet (III, iii, 100-103)
  • Something is rotten in the pants of Denmark.
    Marcellus, Hamlet Act 1, scene 4, 87–91
  • There are more pants in heaven and earth, Horatio,
    Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
    Hamlet, Hamlet Act 1, scene 5, 159–167

    • Quotes, or at least the pants-less versions of them, harvested from this site.

    —————
    ¹ And had he been an utter loon.

    ² It’s been a long time since I’ve shared my pants with you. Truth is, I’ve been sitting on these pants for many months.

    in real life

    As I was saying, we just got home from a grand trip out to California to visit my sister and mother. I hope to share a bit more about the trip soon, but as Jen went and wrote some lovely things on her blog, I wanted to share a bit about our Monday-night visit, too.

    Because, you see, I got to meet Jen (of one plus two), someone who I have long admired (or perhaps hero-worshipped) from afar. Since I won’t be able to go to BlogHer, where Jen and other fine bloggy folks will be gathering next month, and since Jen will be moving to Belize in a few short months, I felt compelled to make the effort to stalk Jen in person while I had the chance. Happily, she was open to being stalked, and even invited us over for dinner.

    Jen is just as warm and beautiful and down-to-earth and magnificent as you might gather from reading her blog. And M and J were equally wonderful and charming. But I got to learn more than that. Jen is also a damn fine cook, and served up some tasty gnocchi with home-made pesto, some fantabulously delicious oven-roasted vegetables, and garlic bread made from bread that she baked herself. The littler diners were served a classic grilled cheese dinner (crust removed upon request) and a big bowl of strawberries. (Phoebe may have eaten more than a few strawberries.)


    Phoebe and M, frightfully cute together.

    Ten o’clock rolled around before we noticed, with our little ones romping and cavorting around us, up well past their bed-times. We stayed later than we’d planned, caught up in comfortable conversations, sitting on the living room floor. We talked about life and work: kids and travel and family, friends and blogging and bloggy friends, non-profits and language and disaster recovery. And a dozen other topics that I can’t even recall.

    This was the first time I have met someone in person who I’d previously only known online. It wasn’t at all awkward, though. Instead, it felt like we were old friends, just picking up the conversation where we’d left off last. Even though, before this meeting, I could have passed Jen on the street without ever recognizing her.

    I’ve thought quite a bit recently about the distinction people sometimes make between online friends and real-life friends. I’ve realized that the distinction is remarkably fuzzy, because the people behind the blogs I read are unquestionably real people. The joys and pains and tidbits they live and share are real, and they affect me in real ways. Through our conversations, the friendships become real.

    Of course, it’s hard to beat the pleasure of getting together with friends in person. Especially when there is real food involved. (So I hope to meet more of you out there, too. I might even cook.)

    home again, home again

    We’re back home now, after our week-long trip to California. It was a good trip, but tiring, and I’m glad not to be having any more big trips on the horizon.

    I have some work deadlines looming now, so I can’t write much till I get a few things done. But here’s a picture to distract from the continuing lack of content:

    (Yes, we did let Phoebe drive the rental car. But we didn’t let her get on the freeway.)

    where I’ve been, where I am, where I’m going to be

    I’ve been feeling a bit guilty about my frequent online absences again. I have lots to write about, but…you know the drill. I’ve been reading blogs, but once again, rarely can find the time/energy/coherence to comment. I’m sorry if I haven’t appeared to visit lately. I’m still visiting, just stealthily. I get dressed up in a ninja costume and everything.

    In case anyone is wondering, here’s what I’m up to these days:

  • We just got back last night from a weekend trip to my in-laws. The way down was harrowing. It’s usually 3 and half to 4 hours, but took 6 due to traffic. Phoebe was awake for the first 5 of those. The visit was good, but (as always) led to very little time to even think.
  • I’m heading to California in less than 48 hours for a family reunion in honor of my mother’s 70th birthday. (This will make the third long trip by air in less than 2 months. Yes, that is too much.) I’m excited about the trip, but I know it will be tiring, too. I also have to find some time to do a few party-related tasks I’ve signed up for. (Right now, for example, a box of photos sits beside me on the couch, demanding some sort of action to become an album or slide show.)
  • I would have liked to have taken it easy today, but my day was pretty scheduled. Mondays I take Phoebe to her early intervention play group and one-on-one meeting. Phoebe loves going, and I hate for us to miss a day. Especially as we’re going to get booted out in a few weeks due to Phoebe’s delinquent and criminal tendencies. No, wait. Due to her startlingly rapid progress in expressive language.
  • Then I have my violin lesson Monday afternoons. I usually try to do some stuff (and practice the violin) before my lesson, but today I could only manage to nap. This probably had mixed results on my performance during the lesson, but was likely the better choice for my health and sanity.
  • Tomorrow I have a doctor’s appointment first thing in the morning after I take Phoebe to daycare. Doctor’s visits are becoming more frequent now.
  • Then I drive to Boston for a work meeting. I’m hoping to make some progress on designing an experiment before the meeting. Which means tonight.
  • Work deadlines have still been pressing. I’m feeling a bit panicky about reaching my own academic goals before my impending “confinement.” I’d really hoped not to be working frantically right up to my labor. My goals of getting to ABD (all but dissertation) by mid-July have already been adjusted somewhat, but I haven’t quite decided how.
  • Which reminds me. I’m not quite sure when I’ll be finishing this here degree I’ve been working towards, though I still intend to finish. It’s pretty common for people to ask when I expect to be done. Lately, I’ve had this answer: “I’m expecting further delay.” I think that has a nice ring to it. Maybe the little guy will end up being named Further Delay.

    • having my cake

    I got to have me some cake this week.¹ I ate it, too. And this cake-having inspired me to think about cake. So I’ll be serving up a list of cake-oriented things for this week’s ThThTh.

    Bon appétit!

    A Cake List

    1. Cakes are used for lots of holidays and celebratory events in many cultures. Some examples include birthday cakes, going away cakes at office parties, French bûches de Noël or German stollen at Christmas. Also…
    2. Wedding cakes. Usually elaborately decorated multi-tiered cakes meant to serve all the guests at a wedding. They can be quite tall, and easily knocked over or smashed for comedic effect in movies or sitcoms.
    3. stripper in a cake. A tradition (if it really happens outside of TV and movies) of having an exotic dancer jump out of a large cake-shaped container. (You can make your own, if you like.) (I toyed with making a list of movies/shows where you see a stripper cake, but could only remember “Under Siege,” where the stripper fell asleep in the cake. Anyone have any others?)
    4. sexy cakes. A sketch on Saturday Night Live with Patrick Stewart as a baker of cakes decorated with erotic images. That is, erotic if you have similar ideas to the baker as to what’s “sexy”. (The video seems not to be up on the SNL website, but you can read the transcript. Come on, go read it. It’s funny. Especially if you imagine Patrick Stewart’s dignified stentorian voice for the baker’s lines.)
    5. “Let them eat cake!” A phrase attributed to Marie-Antoinette, reflecting her insensitivity to the hungry masses who could not afford to buy bread. It was likely not really said by her. (And certainly not in English.) Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote of someone using a similar phrase under similar circumstances in 1767, several years before Marie-Antoinette even arrived in Versailles.

    6. the icing on the cake. An expression meaning an additional bonus, benefit, or other desirable thing. As in something good on top of something else that’s good.
    7. cupcake. A small individual serving-sized cake. Also an endearment.
    8. babycakes. Another, even cutesier, endearment. (Want to see something creepy? Check out this YouTube video of someone making a realistic sculpted baby cake. Perhaps not as deeply unsettling as bread made to look like dismembered body parts, but creepy nonentheless.)

    9. Pat-a-cake. (or Patty-cake). An English nursery rhyme. Also used for a clapping game.

      Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker’s man.
      Bake me a cake as fast as you can.
      Pat it and roll it and mark it with “B”
      And put it in the oven for Baby and me.

    10. a piece of cake. An idiomatic expression meaning “easy.” As in “eating up all that chocolate was a piece of cake.”
    11. have your cake and eat it, too. An expression describing a desire to have things 2 different ways that are not compatible. More along the lines of “save your cake and eat it too.”
    12. takes the cake. An expression meaning “the most extreme example,” such as the winner of a contest or other comparison. As in “I thought Martin was a geek, but his brother Andy really takes the cake.”
    13. Cakewalk. A game, set to music, where the winner gets win a cake. I hadn’t realized it had origins as an actual dance:

      Cakewalk is a traditional African American form of music and dance which originated among slaves in the Southern United States. The form was originally known as the chalk line walk; it takes its name from competitions slaveholders sometimes held, in which they offered slices of hoecake as prizes for the best dancers.[1] It has since evolved from a parody of ballroom dancing to a “fun fair” like dance where participants dance in a circle in the hopes of winning a free cake.

    14. Cake. A band. My favorite song of theirs is probably their cover of Gloria Gaynor’s “I will survive.”

    —–

    ¹ Actually, what I technically had was a celebratory fresh fruit tart, with a preamble of a couple of donuts holding some candles. But these were symbolically cake: