blogger + me

test post for 3060

2007-09-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

Hilary Anne WardEnglish 3060: Advanced Tech Writing
Assignment 1: “Infuriating by design” narrative
Description and Criteria

Text: Norman [distributed in-class on Sept. 13]
Genre: Narrative
Required length: 3-4 pages

Write a narrative (i.e. story) about the “infuriating” design problems associated with the technology adopted by your team. These design problems will help to provide a focus for your collection of hacks.

Moving to blogsome!

2007-08-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone, move on, nothing to see here! After 3 years @ blogger, bloggerandme has moved to the land of enhanced customizability. Update your bookmarks!

The new URL is stardotstar.blogsome.com

Please pardon the stock images while I figure out how to customize. Also, I haven't found the blogsome login page yet so there may be a slight delay before I am able to post.....

2007-07-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

Going up the wide open sidewalk Hilary thought about how many times she had defeated the building and how many times the building had won. Champion swivel doors: 1, Hilary: 0. Even the bacteria on the brass on the doors had won. The security guard wasn't sure that he could let Hilary in.

In a dream that morning she had trudged up the square square stairs and fell asleep on the edge [name deleted]'s fictional bed. Now any time [name deleted] talked there was a halo effect of the mint comforter cover to deal with. Hilary glared bravely at her reflection in the elevator doors, not knowing who might be standing there when the doors opened.

word of the day

2007-06-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

In a Sentence: Adroit is one of those combo pak vocabulary words because you get both adroit and maladroit out of one root word.

Vocabulary Word: Combo pak

Sometimes I Worry

2007-06-08T12:52:00.001-07:00

Sometimes when [name deleted] is the last person I spoke to before going to sleep and is the first person I'm going to see now that I'm up, I worry that [name deleted] and I might be spending too much time together.

At least it doesn't seem to me like we are, or ever do, but I think that there might be applicable social rule. Now you don't see me rushing to look up that rule.

Let's Just Say

2007-06-06T16:28:00.000-07:00

Let's just say that there appear to be no unwanted toppings on the pizza, although I seem be allergic to condiments.

automagically

2007-06-02T10:08:00.001-07:00

I'm feeling better this morning due to the magic of drano. Last night my bathtub water was at tsunami level, staying in place on surface tension alone. Now surface of the tub is gleaming with a coat of mild skin irritants.

...

2007-06-02T10:02:00.001-07:00

Wouldn't it be hilarious if I renamed this blog "the petri dish?".

Because I hate it when people get all Dr. Phil about not letting their problems define them. I mean, the spirit of not letting problems define you is right on point, but I just don't want to be the thousanth person to go:

I'm not letting this setback define me!

You know, like I think I'm saying something new and snappy? And then my friends would go:

Yeah, be strong.

No matter what happens, I do not have to talk like Dr. Phil. It's boring.

Example of a faulty mental model (Norman):

2007-05-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

But what if we get bored while the salad is in the oven? Hilary inquired.

not to my recollection.

2007-05-14T09:09:00.000-07:00

However, I do recall heeding the natural sorting of the leaves into random piles at the abandoned Ford-McGraw plant: phusimorphism?

...

2007-05-10T09:58:00.000-07:00

And when the doorbell tolled I realized that I am naked. At first I was trapped in a clean bathroom and then I got scared, and then bored. Now I am trapped in a dirty bathroom making a Faux Hawk in the bubble bath.

10:31:

2007-05-03T13:10:00.000-07:00

Ashen-hungry faces following you through State Hall like the crescent moon.

the hard sell

2007-04-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

Current status: Trying to get fjr to go in with me on a pair of lizards, which we would house on 10 to help control the outlaw cockroach population. It's part of my 3-step plan to suck up to Margaret.

grace

2007-04-30T11:29:00.001-07:00

Dear Thor, thank you for the shirtless man who cooks for me.

oh crap crap crap crap crap

2007-04-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

Look who has been conjured by my bad mood.

Matlock ain nothin to f^&*;> with

2007-04-23T14:44:00.000-07:00

Basically, I would describe my personality as the Wu Tang clan meets Matlock.

Wo-HOO!

2007-04-23T14:41:00.001-07:00

No fines
No tickets
No points
No court date

Your final grade in ENG 3060:

2007-04-19T14:50:00.000-07:00

"It is not born,
it does not die
having been,
it will never not be;
unborn, enduring,
constant, and primordial,
it is not killed
when the body is killed" (bhagavad gita 2.20).

how to sort messages from everyone-so-far as spam:

2007-04-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Click this is spam in the message header.

Step 2: Check spam options:

block messages from this sender
move message to junk folder
report spam to administrator

Step 3: Click purge deleted items to clear spam folder.

hmmm

2007-04-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

I wonder what would happen if Grendel got in a fight with some dementors.

some girls

2007-04-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

Did you know that some girls view their friends as boring placeholders to pass the time before they get a boyfriend? And he's always a mook, but she adores him, and she wears this revolting yellow ribbon in her hair that bounces as she carries out a festive snack tray while he and his buddies play poker.

Nothing makes me quite so sick as watching an All-American ponytail girl babying her mooky boyfriend.

...

2007-04-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

Ow, my bronchioles.

coming down from all the excitement,

2007-04-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

Hilary has 2 &*##%^& papers to evaluate.

guest speaker

2007-04-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hilary reclined on the ledge of 213 STAT as women in hijab walked in , startled, and backed away slowly.

it

2007-04-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

it's non-skid to prevent your premature death.
It's Pink Duchess Oil Sheen!
it's #2/30
it's leather but it has some give to it
it's hard to listen to you eat your doughnut
it's like smuggling a giant moose into the English dept.

2007-04-09T11:20:00.000-07:00

I love sentences that end in "no reason".

Example: Do you think that Ruth will let me borrow her trench coat tomorrow 6-9 for "no reason"?

everything is illuminated: the autism epidemic

2007-04-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

Last night I calmly asked Google, so why are all these autism-related tv programs airing on ABC?

Answer: April is National Autism Awareness Month, a festive season whereby nonautistic people and other nonexperts discuss autism on network television.

So I've been going home immediately after work to catch up on the scoop. Here's a sample of what I learned about autism from Oprah and The View:

1. With genetic counseling, doctors will eventually attain 100 percent prevention of autism. That's right! 50 years from now, my birth could have been prevented.

2. Autism is characterized by having adorable big brown eyes, but pacing and pulling on your hair to utter devastation of remaining family. Those parents are goddamn heros for still loving their kids.

3. It is unknown (and uninteresting) whether autistic individuals may survive to age 21. There are no autistic adults.

4. Mainstream kids may be frightened of the autistic kids in their classroom and may need to do special workbook exercises to cope with the presence of these ... monsters. Oh the humanity!

Rosie's autism couch talk on The View (6.4.2007) culminates in a slightly-less-offensive interview w/ TG:

Rosie: So is there a gene that doctors can -- treat -- with gene therapy?

TG: Look. If there were no autism -- gene -- , then there would be no cameras and technical equipment to film this program. Those genes play a tremendous role in advancing in technology and the sciences --

Rosie: --- blah blah blah.

So this got me thinking: Many of my people are highly influential engineers of networks, CGI, cameras and ... the epistemological framework of genetic science.

So why are we allowing crap like this to air?

acts fast!

2007-04-05T09:51:00.000-07:00

> Do you want to borrow my fast-acting soporofic sleep sheep?

1s and 0s

2007-04-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

"Unfortunately" Hilary explained, deftly spearing her favorite parts of the salad, "there are only two available positions:

1) completely innocent

and

2) dirty culpable ho.

".

more tantalizing updates

2007-04-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

This morning I absent-mindedly scribbled the media cart access code [DO NOT CIRCULATE!!!!] on my jeans while listening to Lauryn Hill, "Ghetto superstar" on a Sony walkman. It was mainly a publicity stunt to broaden the reader base of bloggerandme.

flight of birds

2007-04-02T18:46:00.001-07:00

Hilary palmed the cat-gray wall , felt tip marker in one hand, canadian money in the other.

the magic of student work groups

2007-03-29T11:31:00.000-07:00

It's 2:32 pm and I'm free to leave. Is this for real? Hold me, I'm scared. I hear Myrtle. There must be some kind of a catch.

ahem:

2007-03-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

Someone owes me king size chocolate.

2007-03-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

Hilary nestled un-self-consciously into the purple silk, feeling a mix of affection and searing physical pain.

grr

2007-03-27T12:09:00.001-07:00

GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

cerebrovascular accident

2007-03-26T13:09:00.000-07:00

I think that I may have sustained permanent brain damage during the bus ride through PA. But how can this be? Now, if my brain really were damaged, how come my newfound illiteracy is miraculously cured by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix?

Spoiler: Ron Weasley attacked by giant brain in Book V.

Bits of doughnut and stolen chocolate:

2007-03-26T12:08:00.001-07:00

Breakfast of champions.

meanwhile on 10 ,

2007-03-26T11:57:00.000-07:00

EB produced her office key and glanced warily in my direction.

"Hi Ellen -- Dr. Ellen -- hey!" I waved.

"Wrong side of the desk, Ward" Ellen muttered.

home

2007-03-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

"Hello", said Hilary. The building wheezed.

Sno Balls:

2007-03-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

snack of champions.

reading notes

2007-03-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

Notes from Gurak and Lay
Southard and Allen, "Identifying audiences for tech comm research".

These guys look at DF's "Research as Rhetoric", asking the interesting question "Who is the end-user of research-generated knowledge?"

DF proposes 5 audiences: participants, gatekeepers, disc. colleagues, nonnative practioners, "our bosses". S&A complicate these categories:

disc. colleagues: in tech comm, research isn't the only "ticket" into disc. conversations. The tech people are surprisingly egalitarian.
gatekeepers: DF has them just valuing "uniqueness", but S&A want the results to serve authentic research audiences.

nonnative (ie nonacademic tech comm people) : don't reduce reseaerch to "practical uses", don't leave them to interpret -- clarify applications and misapplications. A call for "usefulness" doesn't have to be anti-theoretical or positivistic. Just guide readers toward potential applications.

"our bosses" isn't just academic bosses.

This was a good article. It was interesting. I liked it. I'm going for a walk now.

Grice, "evaluating the complete user experience: dimensions of usability".

G goes beyond the traditional (for us. research) is it accurate? is it complete? Is it clear? to suggest 5 dimensions of user experience:
task dimension
motivation dimension
product dimension
cognitive dimension
interactivity dimesnion
comfort dimesnion

G wants to address these new dimensions through research and designs research quetions to get answers (mostly interview/survey). Theory: This relates to my project because these dimensions are addressed in hacks to a greater extent than in proprietary doc.

Blyler and Thrall's article on cultural studies: cameo analysis of the Sony walkman as a "high-tech" device. The fact that this analysis makes me laugh illustrates another impt. principle of cult. studies research: it's historically contingent. What does the walkman mean now?

Gurak and Silker, research on the WWW is similar to and different from researh in print and irl.

n + 1

2007-03-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

And then something happened that was like a parody of the kind of thing that would annoy Hilary to the nth degree. Much to her surprise, the thing made Hilary laugh and the feeling of being annoyed melted away.

A remarkably high page rank in google [See figure A]:

2007-03-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

[Figure A]

cilantro

2007-03-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

soup w/

pita.

ATTW 2007 Ross Pudaloff Richard Grusin laundry detergent Session A5

2007-03-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the WSU English Department's overwhelming generosity, we had the fortune of being able to travel via luxury charter bus to ATTW / CCCC 2007 in New York City. Fortunately, thanks to Grayhound, we were not unnecessarily burdened by our luggage during our stay.

4 hours prior to Session A5, we arrived at 4 am in our lavish hotel room with spacious communial showers and authentic arctic water piped directly from the Alps (cross-ventilated by a permanently open bathroom window). Laundry detergent was conveniently located in a store 5 blocks South of the hotel; this early morning stroll afforded us a rare glimpse of Manhattan nightlife. Even without a map, we were able to navigate through the unlit streets via strategically located piles of garbage ("remember, our hotel is south of the mattress and 1 block west of the dirty needles").

After we emerged from the piles of garbage and theorized our hotel shower [it's an "or" gate with zero potential for practical application], we discovered that NY has implemented a brilliant new fitness plan specifically designed for tourists. After a vigorous workout on the Nordic Track, ie 6th avenue, we arrived at the Hilton for Session A5.

The ease and comfort of our travel hoodies, combined with our total lack of data, really took the pressure off of our panel. For example Hilary presented her abstract ("my slideshow is at a rest stop"), sans data, and quietly exempted herself from paying the registration fee. While the CCCers pretended not to notice our distinctive style, their bemused expressions belied the fact that we were mistaken for characters on the Simpsons: in that sense, we were treated like celebrities. Francie loved our conference room so much that she designated it as a satellite of her 12th floor WSU office and permanent new home for her iMac.

Thanks to ATTW 2007 Ross Pudaloff Richard Grusin Laundry Detergent Session A5, our travel log enjoys a remarkably high page rank in Google. Thanks for the line on the CV.

Sincerely,

Hilary Anne Ward

5 am

2007-03-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

no clothes
no toiletries
no laptop or jump drive
no presentation files of any kind
no phone [dead -- charger in luggage]

What actually happened:

2007-03-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

"We're here!" I said to Jessica at 3:40 a.m.

"Yay!" Said Jessica with tired enthusiasm.

And then we proceeded to the baggage claim area (scary music).

Crap!

2007-03-21T11:03:00.000-07:00

If I told you that all the minor complications were just leading up to what actually happened in NY, would you beleive me?

DONE!

2007-03-18T18:13:00.002-07:00

Being done is boring.

DONE!

2007-03-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

Being done is boring.

2007-03-18T16:39:00.001-07:00

GOD DAMN IT!

2007-03-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

Then I said now, I bet you've heard this same story millions of times and they were like "As a matter of fact, no".

pita meditation

2007-03-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

What is it about being a workaholic that makes one inherently dislike other workaholics? There are like 3 other people who regularly burn the midnight oil around here and every time I see them I think, creeps.

update

2007-03-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

The conference fairy did NOT write my paper last night.

The lab fairy did NOT clean up my mess last night.

The desktop fairy did NOT put my documents in a damn folder.

In fact, it's almost as though I never left to sleep for 12 hrs. Scary.

update

2007-03-17T21:13:00.000-07:00

Slides completed : 33 [but disorganized w/ lots of gaps].

2007-03-17T19:26:00.001-07:00

Know what's unnecessarily upsetting? I think I'm going to be here all night.

2007-03-17T19:03:00.001-07:00

blah blah blah blah blah.

2007-03-17T18:54:00.001-07:00

drunk.

2007-03-17T14:12:00.001-07:00

Done: Slides 17-24.

2007-03-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

Slide 16: [SKIPPED] St. Johns list screenshots.

To do: Slide 17: The ai ghetto.

GAAARG

2007-03-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

Hilary chose a desolate terminal in the back of the PK library and closed out her webmail. "Good, she said. Now I can finally work on my conference paper".

Hilary opened up a blank document but then remembered to send a quick text message about postponing dinner.

The phone in the adjacent terminal beeped immediately. Hilary quietly stretched up to peer over the cubicle wall and a corresponding pair of tigery eyes peered back.

"Silence your phone!" Hilary said brightly. "Can't you see I'm trying to work?"

"Then maybe you should stop "texting" me", the girl retorted.

"Yeah? Maybe you should stop emphasizing "text" with scare quotes", said Hilary, returning to her document.

Three minutes later a black-and-white-picture of an orchestra playing vaccuums and floor waxers fluttered over the cubicle wall. But Hilary's cursor had not moved.

Hold on, I could be neo-pagan:

2007-03-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

Your Results:

The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.

Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.

How did the Belief-O-Matic do? Discuss your results on our message boards.

1. Hinduism (99%)
2. Neo-Pagan (97%)
3. Jainism (97%)
4. Sikhism (92%)
5. Mahayana Buddhism (91%)
6. New Age (83%)
7. Bahá'í Faith (79%)
8. Unitarian Universalism (75%)
9. Orthodox Judaism (73%)
10. Liberal Quakers (70%)
11. Reform Judaism (67%)
12. Theravada Buddhism (61%)
13. Islam (60%)
14. Orthodox Quaker (54%)
15. New Thought (50%)
16. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (46%)
17. Scientology (44%)
18. Secular Humanism (42%)
19. Taoism (42%)
20. Seventh Day Adventist (34%)
21. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (33%)
22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (31%)
23. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (29%)
24. Nontheist (26%)
25. Jehovah's Witness (26%)
26. Eastern Orthodox (26%)
27. Roman Catholic (26%)

barefoot

2007-03-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

on slide 16 [of 25] and going home.

Slide-By-Slide ATTW Countown

2007-03-16T17:20:00.000-07:00

I pledge not to leave this chair until the ATTW slideshow is finished, with the exception of the clips from Jackass 2. I will updates as each slide is finished (total: 25).

Finished: Slides 1-8 [the Dilbert Google Health Plan clip]. To do: Slide 9, the title page.

Slide 9 is kind of a construction site and has been backlogged.

Slide 10: "Professionals" is done. To do, slide 11: "Quacks".

Slide 11: "quacks" is done. To do: Slide 12, "Jackass".

the stomachache:

2007-03-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

Now in beta.

....

2007-03-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

Sure! Just one minor detail: Can you drive a stick shift, Hilary?

Oh, absolutely!

Good. Reassure me by explaining how.

We-ell, you just put the key in the ignition and ... pull ... the old ... switcheroo.

Right. Describe the "switcheroo".

"ri-ight",

2007-03-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

said Hilary, closing out her webmail. "The message is clear: obviously, for some reason, God does not want me to write this conference paper".

Then her phone mooed, a distinctive noise created by Jessica and Francie's combined ringtones. But Hilary knew better. If I answer that, my travel plans will be altered in noncompossible ways., she muttered, fumbling for the Call Block function.

"Sorry", she whispered, pressing OK: "It's only for a few days until after CCCC".

2007-03-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

Hilary stretched in 2 directions like a gumby doll, the lower part of her frame sinking waaay down into the drivers' seat while her neck craned up to the rearview mirror.

"Nice save, Ward", she muttered to herself: "He'll think that the Sunfire is a ghost car or something".

2007-03-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

Hilary clenched her teeth in the daydream. "Again: I am yours", she said, "now kindly guide me".

"OK. I didn't want to get all up in your space", replied the duck.

life, the universe and everything

2007-03-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

My resolution not to be afraid seems to posess almost mystical powers. It's as though as soon as I said "yes", the whole world sprang to life.

A mere fraction of me wishes to be enclosed among the low ceilings of Hubbard Farms like an anchoress. Note: My favorite thing about that film is the flapping bird that marks the transitions from scene to scene. So another part of me wants to pounce on the bird. But what I really need to pounce on here is my conference paper.

travel

2007-03-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

Our plane tickets fell through so we're taking a greyhound bus a la Spike Lee's Get On The Bus, as though that movie did not suck the first time. On the bright side, I've changed my name tag to "Hilary X".

My biggest fear: Suriving for 13 hrs on granola bars and carrot sticks.

so far,

2007-03-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

The best thing about my ATTW slideshow is the clip from Jackass 2.

...

2007-03-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

Way to keep things in check, Ward. Waay to keep things in check.

countdown:

2007-03-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

Book 1: Mirel and Spilka, "Reshaping tech comm: New directions for the 21st century".

The almost Ramist split between content management and information architecture fragments the practice of tech comm.

The focus is on "nontraditional" ideas for moving forward, w/ an academic - industry balance in contributions. Most contributors have done both academic and industrial research.

Part 1: Revising industry and academia / cultures and relationships

Chapter 1 (Dicks) : an interesting comp / contrast of academic and industrial culture, incl. language, power structure and perceptions of time.

Chapter 2 (Bosley) "Jumping off the ivory tower: changing the academic perspective": Shocking claim, academics set up the barriers to academic-industry partnerships by focusing on differences, exclusion, and underestimaging the value of their own work for practitioners. Article focuses on cultural similarities and common ground. Makes the radical suggestion that the university is a normal organization that needs tech comm.

Chapter 3 (Blakeslee) Researching a common ground: Exploring the space where academic and workplace cultures meet. Focuses on underestimated overlapping spaces and boundary work.

Chapter 4 (Pare) Keeping Writing in its Place -- a participatory action approach to workplace comm. Focuses on strategies for overcoming cultural differences. Interested in bidirectional failures to influence. Extreme embeddedness of nonacademic writing, which it's hard for classroom to simulate. The inuit social worker thing.

Chapter 5(Bernhardt) Active-practice: Creating Productive Tension between Academia and industry. Academia in industry need a shared sphere of activity (an active-practice).

I'm going home. It's a beautiful night.

Update: HAR! I read 150 pages, but I'm not taking notes.

the travel situation sucks

2007-03-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

but at least it sucks for free.

AS DSM IV criteria w/ explanations (for conference paper)

2007-03-13T12:43:00.000-07:00

(I) Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:

(A) marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction

Does the person have noticable impairments such as underuse or overuse of body gestures, and/or have trouble looking people in the eyes, and/or have few facial expressions, and/or have an odd posture?

(B) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level

Does the person have a hard time forming friendships/relationships similar to the ones people their age do?

(C) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interest or achievements with other people, (e.g.. by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people

Does the person fail to point out things that might interest the people around them, and/or fail to show interest in things that interest other people, and/or fail to share things that might interest other people?

(D) lack of social or emotional reciprocity

Does the person fail to respond to other peoples emotions or attempts at socializing?

If answer is yes to atleast two of the questions, the person meets the criteria for catagory I.

(II) Restricted repetitive & stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:

(A) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus

Does the person have an interest in something(s) which they are obsessed with, in other words, does the person have an obsessive interest in something?

(B) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals

Is the person inflexable to change in routines or rituals they engage in, which are not technically necessary to engage in to complete a task, and/or prefer sameness, such as the same type of clothing, foods, etc?

(C) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)

Does the person have a habit of doing something like flapping their hands, and/or twisting their hands or any other part of their body, and/or rocking back and forth, and/or anything of that nature?

(D) persistent preoccupation with parts of objects

Does the person have an obsessive interest with a certain part or parts of an object or objects, for example, a spinning part?

If the answer is yes to at least one of the above questions, then the person meets the criteria for catagory II.

(III) The disturbance causes clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

The criteria the person met is valid if the behaviors met in the criteria causes great impairments in the persons social interaction, job, or other social or living skills.

(IV) There is no clinically significant general delay in language (E.G. single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years)

The criteria the person met is valid if the person had no delay in speech development (if the person did have speech delays, the criteria for High Functioning Autism might be met)(V)

There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction) and curiosity about the environment in childhood.

The criteria the person met is valid if the person did not have a noticable delay in cognative thinking, for example, could answer "yes/no" questions at the appropriate age level, if they could feed and dress themselves at the appropriate age level, and if the person showed an interest in the environment around them at the appropriate age level.
(VI) Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia.

The criteria the person met is invalid if they meet all of the criteria for for another disorder in the PDD spectrum, or Schizephrenia.

2007-03-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hilary lay on the white sofa next to a stagnant cup of ramen. The dirty yellow candle softened: ew, ew, ew. Through closed eyelids Hilary could still see the following:

#1: a cardboard box of papers up in the office

#2: her paycheck at the front desk

#3: "Must he wander forever under the restless gaze of the gods?" Updike.

#4: naked people

The desk slid and coughed up some floppies but Hilary didn't move. Obviously #1 and 2 were going to pose a problem.

and yet:

2007-03-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

This still pleases me.

3

2007-03-13T11:47:00.000-07:00

First,

Had vivid dream about talking to god in which god is represented as a mallard duck. Why? "You never listen to me anyway" god explains fanning its wings in the candlelight.

Also,

"Both the good and the pleasant present themselves to a man. The calm soul examines them well and discriminates. Yes, he prefers the good to the pleasant; but the fool chooses the pleasant out of greed and avarice" (katha upanishad 1.2).

And finally,

Commemorative note: Bloggerandme has tracked the recurrance of this dream since 2004.

hey, where's my

2007-03-12T16:27:00.000-07:00

Cars-themed mini lunchbox? Because my pen drive is in that!

Poll: Travel plans

2007-03-12T15:55:00.000-07:00

So the amtrack plan has fallen through. Will F let me borrow her car to travel to ATTW?

1) Yes

2) No

She shouldn't, but I'm guessing yes.

2007-03-12T15:53:00.001-07:00

blah blah blah travel. Why can't it be easy?

2007-03-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

It's strange what brings me peace. The sound of the gate smacking the house brings me peace. The word "yacky" brings me peace. Clipping out matted hair extensions especially brings me peace. It's not like in the upanishads.

research update

2007-03-12T15:09:00.001-07:00

Unless someone else has been working on my ATTW paper, it is not exactly getting done.

2007-03-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

Today I slept in until 2 pm and then did the walk of shame in the sunlit gap between the houses. That reminded me of when Ruth brought over the table and the microwave last Spring. I made her walk in the cool stoney gap between the houses where the big gate opens to the apple blossoms. And the moral of the story is that when the gate smacks against the side of the house the turkeys sqawck. It never gets boring.

2007-03-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

Roxanne convinced me to hate the experimental hair extensions [tangled + matted --she was right], which I clipped out rather than waiting for the knots to slip.

Then I (gasp!) spent real money on a new custom set -- ie not just what's laying around the salon --which I will then (gasp! gasp! gasp!) spend real money to have professionally put in. To celebrate the travel funding that left me w/ some extra cash for once. And just in time for summer.

Meanwhile my brush and I are in 3-week time out and I'm in a very good mood about that. Also, I hardly ever spend money. So that was nice. It's a good thing that I do not have a credit card.

cilantro

2007-03-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

soup

immediately.

secret

2007-03-11T15:42:00.001-07:00

I'm skipping out of conference panel prep to take my first walk in Clark Park in the spring. Hopefully fjr's super-arch-enemy does not have the same idea.

2007-03-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

I looked away from the bright library and toward Christine, who is a nice soft neutral color. And then she really straightened me out about some stuff.

ACK!

2007-03-11T13:29:00.001-07:00

The consequences of consuming fewer than 10 alcoholic beverages per year are: 1 hangover per beverage consumed.

I do remember eating a whole thali by myself. Then we went back to aunt Becky's house, where it looked as though a silkworm had vomited silk over the entire house and Roxanne was stirring a boiling cauldron of silk on the stove.

I also recall sleeping in a pile of dry silk watching a panel of wet silk fade up to blue like an antarctic sunrise. Today my teeth have fuzzy slippers on them.

task list

2007-03-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

Done:

Stripped, redyed and recut own hair @ 4am. Came out a gorgeous in a yaky asteroid kind of way, ie sun-kissed brown with choppy homemade layers.

Slept for 12 hrs.

"Asato ma sat blah blah blah".

Read Sade/Fourier/Loyola, the passage about the anti-giraffe.

Became for a second the kind of person who hedges bets against how much she can get away with.

Ps, I am 26: notes

2007-03-09T22:32:00.000-08:00

It's my 26th birthday and I'm awake in the lab writing my ATTW slideshow as though I like to work or something.

So here's the run-down: This year was comparatively seamless but punctuated by the following:

#1: The turkeys at the end of my block.

#2: A few brief moments when my stomach did not hurt, once while I was watching Ruth clutch her stomach in the 10th floor lounge (is that what it looks like? Stomachaches are hilarious!).

#3: The line "peace among goats".

Still, there are some things that I hazily remember but that seem to could not not have happened.

Take for example not talking to f: I do vaguely remember what that was like as though it were a dream [Keep in mind that "not talking" comprised a thread of 83 email messages titled "ps -- final note"]. But it sounds made-up.

I also had a brief, semi - passionate friendship with an abd grad student that (at that time) seemed very real to me. And sometimes now, when I am being the demanding high-maintenance yaky princess that I am, I remember that there was a point in time and a why that I sharply raised my expectations for others' conduct. But it seems to me now that I was always like that.

Honestly? It feels as though I have not moved from this chair except to get a twix bar. It's amazing that I'm not obese.

task list

2007-03-08T11:55:00.000-08:00

Done:

Made bootleg copy of website replacing images of the Welcome Center with abandoned bldgs on mouseover

Badgered Renuka for description of mysterious stranger / email correspondent. He got to her first.

"""" Mike M

"""" Vicki

"""" Michelle. "He's ... nondescript", she said unhelpfully. "Like he might be a Republican : Clean cut. Like a grown-up. Like these are the shirt and pants he got at Kohls".

Made bootleg copy of website replacing images of the Welcome Center with abandoned bldgs on mouseover

Brushed my teeth and hair

Snooped on fjr's active desktop to discover that Ken has his very own folder. How special!

Added my own folder to FJR's active desktop. Title: Hilary's Superfolder That Is Marked In Its Superiority To Ken's Folder.

"Your folder is empty" teased f.

"Yes, but if you turn it inside out it contains the whole world".

ATTW rehearsal.

"Theory is what separates humans from the squirrels".

Came within an inch of committing a sex act in my office.

Confessed to Francie

Stepped over Ruth on my way to the refrigerator. Wait: why was she laying on the floor of the 10th floor lounge?

"I wish I had a cat laying right here", she said, patting her stomach with a pained expression.

Note to f: "See? I am not the only person who lays down when my stomach hurts".

Talked to Kim

2007-03-08T09:16:00.000-08:00

Anyway, Blogger and Me is pleased to announce that the topic of my hair is closed until May.

2007-03-08T09:15:00.000-08:00

Seduced by so few words.

summer

2007-03-06T09:50:00.000-08:00

It's the middle of the semester, but I'm already neglecting core responsibilities to work on projects such as: an impressionistic slideshow of the maha mrityunjaya.

For example, "triyambakam yajamahe" would be a traffic light. Sugandhim is the steam that rises from manhole covers.

(I think) the pictures would have to be moonlit for contrast and the OneCard machine is bound to make a cameo somewhere ...

travelgate update -- even more funding

2007-03-05T13:23:00.000-08:00

Super Bob finds more travel dollars behind the microwave [see below]. Note Bob - Francie correspondence for added cuteness, which becomes cuteness cubed with me and Jessica on the CC line. Too bad these fantasies never work out irl.

Wait, what fantasies?

>-----Original Message-----
>From: ROBERT J BURGOYNE [mailto:ad5148@wayne.edu]
>Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 1:32 PM
>To: ae8683@wayne.edu
>Cc: hilaryanne@wayne.edu, j.rivait@wayne.edu
>Subject: Grad Student support
>
>Dear Frances,
>
>I will approve $100 apiece for the grad students in tech writing who will be
>presenting papers at the conference you describe. Please talk to Kathy to
>find out what the procedure will be. The larger question should be taken
up
>later.
>
>Best, Bob

2007-03-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

So Roxanne and I are talking to each other again, and I see this as a positive development for several reasons. For example, the cool cool interesting smartness exemplified by Roxanne. And plus she has long hair, so she might be able to help with the problem with my bangs.

usability problem

2007-03-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

So here's the thing: What do girls do when they have like Rihanna-style sideswept bangs that sweep over 1 eye, and they need to like use that eye to write a short perl script or something? Should I assume that sexy hair and programming are mutually exclusive?

handprint awareness day

2007-03-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

Along with my hair, the following items are now soft ash brown:

1. My hands.

2. My cell phone.

3. The Origins of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.

4. My ipod nano.