My mother told me this weekend, after I commented on her comment on the last post, that I haven't been blogging. She said in that scolding way that mother's do so well. It's true, of course. I haven't had much to say lately. Today I'm feeling good, though. The sun is shining and I'm sitting overdressed on my couch. I'm overdressed, because I've been combing my closet the past week, trying to come up with an appropriate outfit for a wedding I'm attending this weekend. I'm happy because I think I struck a good combo of shoes, tights, dress that is colorful but still early-spring appropriate. (My dresses seem to be decidedly summer or winter, so finding the summer ones I could do with tights that didn't look stupid was difficult.)
I'm also happy because I just got some helpful constructive criticism on my resume from a friend of a friend. It turns out I know her and took a class she taught. She sent me a long and helpful email, which I think means she remembers me favorably, which is always a nice thing. I'm off to tweak my resume and then take a walk in the sunshine. After I change into something more appropriate for the day.
Here are a couple of articles I read in the last 24 hours that I want to share.
An article for transit nerds about how we tend use the fundamental attribution error when discussing how others choose their transportation. The author, Michael Druker, argues that we tend to attribute other people's transportation choices on social on cultural issues, i.e. poor people choose mass transit for economic reasons or Europeans use transit for cultural reasons. He argues this oversimplifies the issue and hinders transit discussions. He argues that it is more a matter of infrastructure than cultural/social/etc. reasons. My mother recently told me some statistic about how much different countries put towards infrastructure, I don't have it in front of me at the moment, but the US was drastically less than European countries and China. Quelle surprise. (Hat tip to Jarret at Human Transit.)
Here Steve Conn tries to talk us off the ledge and argues that the Obama presidency is not the failure that the media would have you believe. (Do yourself a favor and stick the Rustbelt Intellectual in your RSS reader. Conn and the other authors don't post often, but when they do, their posts are wonderfully written and insightful.)
Finally, this is a post from Roger Ebert last month, but I just read it this morning. It's a lovely essay on walking and memory. It's beautiful and makes me want to get to London immediately. When will my fairy godmother drop me that unlimited travel allowance I keep asking for? This post, and the lovely spring weather we have today, will get me out doors and wandering around today.
Comments