So the conference weekend got better (sort of). I nailed my talk on Saturday morning. Its so strange- but I felt so chill about it. Which was a far cry from when I gave the talk three weeks ago (at the CDPH brownbag). Even crazier, is that the three guys who wrote a pretty important book on mortality ("Living and Dying in the USA") were all in the session (one is currently a professor at FSU (retired), one is at CU-Boulder and the other is at UT Austin, but got his PhD from FSU). So I feel like I should have been a lot more nervous than I was. But Ike told me I did well, and I felt pretty good about the talk.
We left Saturday afternoon after grabbing lunch from a place called "Gaidos", a really old restaurant across the street from the beach. Then we took the ferry (instead of going back up through Houston). Really glad we did, because we got to see dolphins swimming along side the ferry. We ended up staying the night in Lafayette, after having one of the best meals ever. We ventured away from the high way in search of Cajun food and food a place called, "Randols", which was complete with a dancefloor and a zydeco band. It was pretty great.
Sunday, things to a turn for the worse when we went to get going and the 4Runner wouldnt start. Long story short, turns out the battery was completely dead... so we got a late start out of Lafayette. I didnt make it back in time for tutoring :(
How was Nico's first road trip? It was good. He was awesome. He got a tad crantastic at the end (when we were about an hour away from Tallahassee), but other than that, it wasnt too bad. Exhausting dealing with all the logistics. And all the stuff...Its amazing how much crap it takes to keep this kid clothed and in clean diapers. Absolutely amazing.
So we are trying to get back into our old routine. Practice and job market and whatnot. Speaking of whatnot... check it out:So I have been trying to figure out another possibility for hanging onto Nico while doing chores, being at practice, etc. I love the Baby Bjorn, but its hard to do chores around the house, because it doesnt stay close to my body... so when I am leaning over the kitchen sink doing dishes, Nico just sort of dangles there. Not very comfortable. Plus, its hard because I keep knocking his legs when I sweep the floor. One of the hippie blogs I read talks about "baby wearing"... and I was intrigued. Turns out you can take a 5-6 yard piece of knit fabric (20-30 inches wide) and wrap it around your body in a special way that makes the most comfy carrier/wrap thing. You slide the baby in the top, so you're tummy to tummy and pull this band up over him, and Voila!
I have gotten a lot of comments about it- mostly about how ingenius it is... but also about how comfy Nico looks. We went to the grocery today and a bunch of people thought it was cool that he was in there, snug as a bug.
We had a nice relaxing weekend, but hit it hard on the grindstone yesterday. Since Nico is getting to the point where he can hold up his own head a little, I thought it might be kind of fun for him to try out his little bumpo seat thing that his Grandma Royse got him. Its been a boon for us. I can actually set him in it and eat breakfast or do some laundry without him freaking out. I think its because he can see a little better sitting up in it... so he doesnt wig out that I've left. So that is good. A video of Dave playing the harmonica for him. And yes, that is a halloween hat. That mysteriously appeared in the house after one of Dave's recent trips to Target.
Tryouts started yesterday and we ended up with about 10-12 more girls than we expected, tiny little freshmen and sophomores that came out of nowhere. Good for the team, bad for organizing. Nico was a peach coming back from Wakulla yesterday. Trying to figureout how to duplicate THAT.
So I finished reading "How to Teach Your Baby to Read" and MAN! It blew my mind! Defintely going to try to teach little homey to read using the method described in the book- which coincidentally, is not like learning ABCs and then small words and then reading... it starts by having kids memorize words that they know and use... like "Mommy", "Daddy", "nose", "toes", etc. Which makes sense, because those are things that babies are interested in... and its kind of difficult to explain what a "C" is.
Doman, the guy that wrote the book called it "The Gentle Revolution", which is to say that we can teach our kids to be excited and in love with learning, if we make it fun and exciting for them early on. And that you really can't start too early with trying to teach children. The majority of brain development takes place before the age of 8... so now is the time for him to learn. Even more amazing, is that the book talks about kids learning language and how easy it is for them to pick it up, just by hearing it. Makes me wish that we didnt live here. If we lived in India or Mexico or China and had an Nanny- Nico would grow up speaking Hindi, Spanish or Chinese. Since Dave's only second language that he is conversational in is French, I guess that means I need to learn French so that we can be conversational in the house... either that or Dave needs to learn Chinese with me (What? Dude- one in five people on this planet speaks Chinese, and that is not going to change in HIS life time. It really is the language of the future. My mother calling me a commie socialist pinko in 3....2....1....)
Got the chance to go to the gym last night. Managed to run about .75 miles and walk 1.25 miles, did some time on the ellipitcal and did some weights. Consequently, I am hobbling around like an old lady today. But it was nice- I'd almost forgotten how much I love the gym. Of course, I get home to find out that Nico had been screaming for the last four hours, non-stop. Which brings me to Nico's first ever Likes/Dislikes list:
Likes:
The Jimmy Buffett/Eagles/Van Morrison Genre
Sleeping on Mom
Showers
The Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack
Windows down
My beanbag stuffed dog
Dislikes:
Mom tutoring
Mom eating spicy foods, foods containing lots of garlic, or Mom drinking Milk.
Big dumb trucks honking while he is sleeping.
Riding back from Wakulla
Being in his carseat.
So Pandora rules! Its an internet radio station that started as the music genome project. Long story short, some nerds put together the project with the aims of being able to recomend music based on certain types of likes... so you put in that you want to start a Bruce Springsteen station. And it plays a song- now Bruce covers a lot of different genres- so it will play one song, perhaps "Born to Run", which is kind of distinctive. Its pretty much fast-tempoed rock, with a strong male lead, hard drum beats, etc. So the next song Pandora plays will be another song that is somewhat similar- perhaps "Sweet Child of Mine" by GNR or "You shook me all night long" by ACDC. And you say if you like the song or not, and keeps doing it. So you end up with a Bruce Station that also plays other songs that sound like the Bruce songs you like. Its genius.
In any case, Dave and I have been perfecting our Pandora stations. We have stations for Jimmy Buffett, Counting Crows, Van Morrison, Horns, Gregorian Chant, and obviously Bruce Springsteen. I think Nico is going to have our taste in music- because he can be fussy and I will sit down at my computer, turn Pandora on, a little bit of rocking and homeboy is asleep. As I type this, we're listening to the Jimmy Buffett station- which is playing a Kenny Chesney song right now. OUT. LIKE. A. LIGHT. Its pretty fantastic.
Speaking of fantastic- here is a video I took on my computer with the webcam of Nico... holding up his own head. Its pretty awesome... this kid is growing up!!
Okay, not really. But that would have been awesome! Instead, we had our last preseason workout on Saturday. Our friends Flav and Austin came, so we went to The Riverside Cafe afterward. Overall, he's been pretty good at practice. Saturday was no exception. He slept most of the morning and afternoon away. We are at the point now, where I generally dont wake him up to eat... he's routinely going 5-7 hours at night sleeping (woo hoo!). So I didnt wake him up to eat on Saturday. The result was that by the time 7 or 8 pm rolled around, he had only eaten four times since he woke up. And MAN was he pissed! But when I tried to feed him- even more pissed. He eventually stopped crying and went to sleep- but I have no idea why he was so mad... am wistfully hoping that we have one of those babies that likes to go to sleep early and is severely pissed off when you keep trying to feed him when he wants to sleep.
Aside from that- not much new to report. Have been looking at the job market and trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. Still have no idea. Its getting to the point where I am entertaining the idea of just putting a bunch of options on pieces of paper and drawing one out of a hat- and going with that. Seems like a reasonable way to make career choices, no?
Nico and I had a good day today. We watched the Villa and City game on tv today. BTW- I am loving the hell out of this not working thing+the premier league playing games on Monday. It makes me feel less bad about not having a job when I can lay on the couch and watch Soccer on tv. Suckas!!
We also went for a walk around the neighborhood. Today was the first day that Nico sat in the Baby Bjorn face out. And he loved it. Am thinking about heading up to campus tomorrow, but taking the bus- which is a lot less of a pain in the ass than driving and parking at the stadium and having to walk with Nico to Bellamy. Of course, I may just decide to stay home. Who knows?
So Nico had kind of a big week, which culminated with a trip to campus today for a center brownbag presentation. He hung out with Kim down on the fifth floor while I gave my talk, which didn't go as well as my proposal defense last week. Part of the problem is that the presentation was one I gave back in April at PAA- and in the time leading up to the presentation back then, I lived, breathed and ate my talk. I was so deeply wrapped up in it, that I didn't realize how bad it was... I went to give the talk today and turns out the two tables I included could have been labeled better than I had them, which led to confusion. I didnt realize it, because I was focused more on the script than the presentation- since the talking part is always a weakness of mine. But, I got some terrific feedback- some ideas that will strengthen the paper when I get it back from PR squared- and also when I give the talk at the end of the month.
Its funny- I don't feel like I am "there" yet, wherever "there" is. Largely, its due to confidence, I think. When someone asks me a question about my research, I freak out a little inside, assuming that they know more than I do and that they are actually just testing me, to see if I know my stuff. I think I will be "there" when I can talk much more comfortably about my research, in more general terms. I also have a hard time judging how much my audience knows about my topic. So today, I jumped right into the data and the methods without really setting up the project... because I assumed they all knew what I knew. I guess its a learning process. How I get there, I don't know. But I guess that is part of the process.
In other news, Ike gave me his blessing to go on the job market... traditionally, you go on the job market once you've defended your proposal, the idea being that you get your materials together and your applications out, work on your dissertation, go on job talks and interviews in the spring, get offered, accept, finish dissertation, defend in the summer and start your fabulous new job in the fall. Theoretically.
Ike suggested that I cast my net far and wide- dont apply anywhere that I would turn down due to location. So I have been compiling a list of job posts that I am interested in. So far, I have four or five, specifically I am interested in... generally there are about a dozen state and federal jobs I am intrigued with. I am not sure this bodes well for getting hired this year- but you miss 100% of the shots you don't make, right? Its funny, there are some jobs I see and think, "Holy shit- I could so totally do this job. Right now. And do it really well!" And there are some jobs that I am grossly underqualified for. Like an assistant professor position at Harvard. The whole, "missing 100% of the shots" mantra goes out the window when I think of applying at Harvard. Like, really Jessi? Really? Harvard? Did the job post ask for academically schizophrenic stressed out new moms? NO? Don't you think that might be a waste of time to apply? Exactly!
So back to Nico's big week. We went to the "First Friday" thing in Railroad Square... for non Tallahasseers, First Friday is when all the galleries and shops open up at night down at Railroad Square. There are street noms, beer and wine, music, and art. Its pretty cool. Nico slept the whole time, which was pretty cool. Man! That kid can not resist the power of the baby Bjorn. You put him in it the count down goes sometime like: 10...9....8... ASLEEP. Its pretty sweet.
We went to the Leon County Public Library yesterday. We got two books, one on baby games and one called "How to teach your baby to read". I first became intrigued with this during a late-night feeding, cruising through the 800 channels we have when I found a paid advertisement for "Your baby can read". I think it was based on the work by Glen Doman. Check it out:
Obviously my plans for Nico to rule the world with his superior intellect (and his bow hunting skillz), could be dramatically improved if he could start reading at an early age. So I got this book, "Teach your baby to read" from the library. Its an easy read- filled with lots of anecdotes on how "tiny children" want to read and have the capabilities to do it, so long as you accomodate them on some issues... like their eyesight. Because the eyes aren't fully developed, the author says that you start with BIG letters.
This is actually pretty cool, because when Dave's mom was up here after Nico was born, she told me that when Dave was born, she decorated his nursery with large cutout letters (the size of construction paper sheets). Result: Dave Royse actively reading the newspaper on his own, by first grade. Operation Nico Reads: Launch!!!
So I have been trying to figure out another possibility for hanging onto Nico while doing chores, being at practice, etc. I love the Baby Bjorn, but its hard to do chores around the house, because it doesnt stay close to my body... so when I am leaning over the kitchen sink doing dishes, Nico just sort of dangles there. Not very comfortable. Plus, its hard because I keep knocking his legs when I sweep the floor. One of the hippie blogs I read talks about "baby wearing"... and I was intrigued. Turns out you can take a 5-6 yard piece of knit fabric (20-30 inches wide) and wrap it around your body in a special way that makes the most comfy carrier/wrap thing. You slide the baby in the top, so you're tummy to tummy and pull this band up over him, and Voila! 
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