group w

10 calls in need of return. I'm waiting. Poor planning.

Middling

Perhaps this is why I find it fairly blah here in cheeseland. I have always said that it is "regular" here.

The question is, though, would you rather be a resident of a representative state? I wonder, if you polled folks from each state ahead of time about how much they thought it would be a good thing to be most representative of the U.S. population when it came to things like population density and home ownership rates (numbers that are going to leave extremely rural states and those with old-growth large cities on the outs). I would bet that, on average, folks would tend toward the condition of their state (e.g. folks in Hawaii would not consider it a good thing while folks in Michigan would).

The most 'representative' state: Wisconsin

By Mark Preston
CNN Political Editor

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Looking for a state that is a microcosm of the whole country? You won't find it in Iowa or New Hampshire -- there are 25 states that come closer to average statewide measures on important characteristics such as race and income.

[...]

Holland identified 12 key statistics -- four that measure race and ethnicity, four that look at income and education, and four that describe the typical neighborhood in each state -- and added up how far each was from the figures for the average state on each measure.

Holland said he chose these 12 different categories because "they have a strong impact on the political landscape in every state."

Close behind Wisconsin are four other Midwestern states that look most like a hypothetical average state -- Missouri, Kansas, Indiana and Ohio. Most of the least-typical states tend to come from the Northeast, including Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. West Virginia is in 49th place, while Mississippi comes in dead last.

[...]

So, what makes Wisconsin so special -- or, to put it another way, what makes Wisconsin so average? It is about as close to the average state as you can get on most of the 12 measures included in this study.

[...]

"It's important to note that there are hundreds of ways of making this same calculation, and dozens of states could all make a legitimate claim to being the most representative state in the nation," Holland said.

To make the calculations easier to understand, Holland recalculated each state's score to produce a zero-to-50 scale -- there are 50 states, after all -- with a high score indicating a state that is more representative than a state with a lower score.

A ranking of the 50 states

1. Wisconsin 36.4

2. Missouri 35.2

3. Kansas 34.4

4. Indiana 30.8

5. Ohio 30.1

6. Oklahoma 29.9

7. Oregon 29.3

8. Nebraska 29.0

9. Georgia 27.3

10. Minnesota 26.9

11. Michigan 26.8

12. Washington 26.3

13. Wyoming 25.9

14. North Carolina 25.8

15. Florida 25.6

16. Montana 25.3

17. Virginia 25.3

18. Alaska 25.1

19. Pennsylvania 25.0

20. Arizona 24.8

21. Delaware 24.1

22. Tennessee 22.3

23. South Dakota 21.4

24. Kentucky 20.3

25. New Mexico 20.3

26. Iowa 19.6

27. Texas 19.6

28. Illinois 19.5

29. Rhode Island 19.0

30. Maryland 18.9

31. Colorado 18.8

32. Louisiana 18.3

33. Idaho 18.1

34. Vermont 17.9

35. Maine 17.4

36. New Hampshire 17.4

37. Utah 17.0

38. Hawaii 16.3

39. South Carolina 15.8

40. California 15.3

41. Arkansas 15.0

42. Alabama 14.6

43. North Dakota 13.8

44. Nevada 13.5

45. Connecticut 13.1

46. Massachusetts 11.6

47. New Jersey 11.4

48. New York 6.5

49. West Virginia 4.8

50. Mississippi 2.8

note of optimism

Meetings with advisors went pretty well this week although one advisor suggested a substantial reorganization of the project. Although I think he is right that it would make for a better project and a more interesting book, there is no way that I could finish the diss by the fall 2007 (seeing as I will have additional data collection to do in spring 2006) - a problem given the fact that I am going to try to sell myself to a few select places as someone who will have a Ph.D. by August.

Another problem: recommenders. I am so out of the loop I don't even know who to ask.

don't sweat the small stuff, right?

rocks along the starboard side

Working on this dissertation is a lot like being the captain of a sinking ship. Not the Titantic, however, more like some slapped-together, oddly-painted old wooden dinghy like the one belonging to Burt Dow, Deep Water Man.

it's been one of those days (weeks?) that lead me to suspect that I am the problem.

why am i such a freak/jerk/snowqueen/snob/puritan/perfectionist/nerd/bookworm/misanthrope/coward/poser?

Persnickety, pernicious, persimmon

Have I mentioned that we don't have air conditioning? Every year we (I) bring up the idea of purchasing a window unit but then we count the number of days we would have used it (it usually ends up being less than seven) and decide it would be a waste. In our case air conditioning would be particularly silly because I am a fanatic about having the windows open as much as possible from May through October (and even at other times of year. Basically if the temperature exceeds 60 degrees, I open the windows) and couldn't stand to give up use of a window for an air conditioner that I am only going to use 7 days of the summer.

It's all perfectly sensical but yesterday I would have signed a contract agreeing to keep my windows closed for all eternity in exchange for a little cool.

for free

it really irks me when people refuse to give without getting-- particularly when a request is converted in a bargaining discussion.

e.g.
[q]would you be willing to help me out next monday?
[a] only if you do something for me on friday.

so what you're telling me is you are able to help me out monday but you won't do it if you can't get something in return, right?

fair warning

I can hear you searching the coffee table drawers for the remote control. I told you that if you continued to leave it lying on the arm of the sofa I would hide it.

Sorry but I am a woman of my word.

[untitled]

I just don't have it in me right now, folks.

Part of it may be that after our treks the mundane seems a little too mundane to be blogworthy. I'm sure a large part of it is that I have enough mundane in my life that many days I am up by 6:30 and I don't stop moving, except for the occasional bathroom break, until after 8 p.m.

However there are a couple of items worthy of mention, and even discussion, although I am not likely to elaborate a great deal.

1. E started daycare this week. She's going 2 half days for the rest of the summer and 3 half days in the fall. She made the transition without any trouble at all. In fact, if I hadn't rationalized her obvious indifference to my leaving her as clear evidence of her sense of trust and security in her mother's love, I might be a bit upset that she happily scoots away to play with the daycare's toys the second I put her on the floor.

2. In the last 1.5 weeks I have doubled the number of times I've been to the gym in the past 10.5 months. I also brought my bike in for a tune-up and got a baby trailer. Heart health here I come!

3. I am going on the job market, albeit in a limited fashion, this fall. Not ready to apply to those dream jobs (and dream locations) yet, just throwing my hat in for a couple of openings in the area. I mean, given the difficulties of the market when you are coordinating with a partner who is also an academic, I would be crazy not to apply for available positions this year - they're small departments making multiple hires so I'm guessing they may not hire at all next year.

4. At present I find I can't eat enough cottage cheese and pineapple - two foods that I learned only in the past year that I can tolerate at all. Mostly I eat the cottage cheese with lettuce, snap peas and sliced tomatoes from our farm share. I eat the pineapple alone or with strawberries from the farm.

E's Photo of the month: 10 months old