Sunday Night: Family Guy, American Dad, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Bored to Death

• Family Guy. Last Sunday's season premiere of Family Guy rates up there with the least funny, least interesting, I wish I had changed the channel episodes. Since Seth McFarlane's creative energies have been spread to other shows and since the show returned from the realm of cancellation, Family Guy operates on a random ratio schedule of reinforcement. It isn't consistently good (that would be continuous reinforcement); it isn't good every other week (that would be fixed interval reinforcement). It is good randomly after random numbers of episodes (hence the random ratio reinforcement), which psychology shows is one of the most effective schedules of reinforcement and why I will continue to watch. Last week's episode featured Stewie and Brian jumping to various universes for nearly the entire 22 minutes. It featured the usual "like the time I" lead into jokes. It was neither interesting or creative. There may have been one laugh out loud moment, but I don't remember it. And human Brian being hit by a car at the end of the episode... totally predictable and bland.


• American Dad. Now here is where Seth McFarlane demonstrates his genius (or maybe just all of the good writers are on this show. We missed the Cleveland Show, so I can't make any comparison to that). The episode was full of seamless mixing of various Vietnam war movies without belabored flashbacks or "like the time I" crap. Funny, outrageous, and yet heart warming. Stan is a buffoon and an idiot, but when necessary he can act like a good dad. This is what the Simpsons had at its height during its best seasons. American Dad is consistently funny and quirky, and occasionally features voice acting by Patrick Stewart.


• Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry David the person is a genius and Larry David the TV character is an asshole. Like It's Always Sunny, this show consistently makes me laugh until my sides hurt. This is probably the only show that gets us to talk back to the TV. Mostly a lot of "no, Larry. Don't do it Larry. Oh Larry, please shut up!!" As I've seen mentioned elsewhere, the opening of last Sunday's episode in which Larry struggles to open a plastic encased GPS (and is then mirrored at the end of the episode) was priceless in its accuracy to real life and accuracy of Larry's character. Painful, awkward, and hilarious are the three words to describe this show. On HBO, Curb gets away with pushing the envelope more than most shows, and while it takes full advantage of that, it doesn't abuse it. Larry is a terrible person, but he is a realistic person. You don't get cookie-cutter archetypal characters here. You get the jerks, assholes, and ego maniacs who make life hell... but in Larry's world, they also make life hysterical. The ending of most episodes, like the ending of most It's Always Sunnys and NOT like the ending of most Family Guys, are unpredictable and yet completely tie the episode into a tight little package. This season features a Seinfeld reunion with the full cast!!


• Bored to Death. This is a new HBO show following Curb. I had read a few good reviews and so we decided to check it out. At this point, I've only seen the first episode. It has some potential. I couldn't tell if it was trying for dramedy or dark comedy. I'm not as drawn to it as I was to "Hung" which just finished its first season two weeks ago. Hung was amazing. A 30 minute drama with well-timed and well-placed humor. The premise is absurd (guy with a big penis who needs money, but is a really nice and good guy, decides to become a male prostitute with a female pimp), but at the same believable. I look forward to its return next season.

... to me at least. Here's what is befuddling me.



1. Leggings as pants. Ok, I know this has been complained about many times before by much more important fashion mavens than I, but it appears to be spreading and not ending. I see leggings as valid leg wear if (and only if) your complete buttocks is covered by your shirt or a skirt. If you want to wear leggings, at least wear something over top that is at minimum mini-skirt length. So, I'm fine with leggings under a long tunic or a dress/skirt. But leggings with a waist or hip length shirt. Not so good ladies.



2. Skinny jeans. Have you tried these things on? I tried on a pair or two a few months back just to see. Oh my god! My butt, hips, and thighs have never looked so huge. What I can't understand is why other girls haven't had this realization. How do they leave the dressing room thinking that these look good? If you have thighs that are even half an inch larger around than your ankles, the jeans do you no favors. A little bit of roominess in the calf portion of your jeans helps to balance your body.



3. Tights under shorts. Why?! I really don't understand the wearing of short shorts (sometimes denim, sometimes not) with black tights. Not leggings, but patterned tights. I guess part of my confusion is that I despise wearing tights or pantyhose because I've never met a pair that was remotely comfortable. So you want to be comfortable in some shorts, but then you wear uncomfortable tights underneath?!



Interestingly all bottom related fashion befuddlements.

No, not my observations about anything. Though I'm glad some of you agreed with my thoughts on fashion. Yes, in the 80s I did rock the leggings look, but it was the 80s and I was in middle school. But anyway, the observations.



It has much too quickly reached that point in my career to be evaluated on my progress. Even though I've been receiving semesterly evaluations from students, I stopped reading them after the second semester because they make me want to cry. They can be 99% good, but that 1% bad or negative (and even if it is wildly untrue) just is depressing. So I don't read them and I remain blissfully unaware. But these, these observations I cannot avoid. These observations are by the senior members of my department. Each one schedules a class to visit, sits in on my lecture, and then writes up a letter to me about my performance. Since I learned earlier this semester that they were planning to observe in the fall and not the spring (as I had hoped), I've felt sick to my stomach every time I thought about it.



Friday was the first of 5 observations. The chair of the department sat in on my intro class as I talked about learning. It was a lecture that I felt comfortable with and that I thought was a good balance of information and fun examples with even a fun video clip in the middle.



In the hour before class, I prepped and tried to remain calm. I was doing ok until I got to the classroom and it was HOT even though it was a chilly day outside. As I set up my stuff, I felt myself getting hotter and hotter and I could feel that I was flushed and sweating. Then my colleague walked in at the last minute, sat down in the back, and it was time to start.



I felt as though I was off my pace right from the start and stuttered over a few more words than I usually do. After a few minutes though, I mostly hit my stride and tried hard to be upbeat and animated. A student asked an interesting question that I couldn't answer, but I think I handled and deflected it well. At the end, my colleague waited to talk to me while answered a few questions from a student who didn't want to ask them during the class period.



My colleague said I did a great job and that my powerpoint slides were very professional looking. He said that he'd have the official letter to me later this week and there are just a few small style things that are on the more negative side of the evaluation, but everything else was good.



But just like student evaluations, there can be 99% wonderful, great things, but those little, small negative ones are hard not to dwell on. And so, without even knowing what those things are, I spent the rest of the day in a funk (well, at least until I met up with Kevin and some friends for a few too many beers).



I have two of the remaining four evaluations scheduled. My hope is that I can get them all out of the way before October is finished. Then I can not have to think about being observed again for a couple of more years.

Mr. H. Langston Rutherford is very excited in this picture because he got to sample some of that cheesy bread I told you about in the last post. He got very energetic after eating some, which is understandable because cheese is his favorite food. Well, scrambled eggs are his true favorite food, but cheese isn't far behind.

Oh boy, it was over a year since I updated Dr. Girlfriend's Sock Gallery. In 2008, I knit 7 pairs of socks and all of them were for me. Thus far in 2009, I have knit 3 pairs of socks (two for me and 1 pair for a friend's baby). If I can't bang out two more pairs before the end of the year, it will be my lowest year for total pairs of socks since I first started knitting socks in 2004.



I have one sock that just needs to be kitchenered and it's mate knit. But at the pace I've been knitting, I worry I won't get three more socks finished by the end of December. But I'm going to try!! (And of course, that would bring back some knitting content to this poor blog!).

Because I know, you are all dying to know... I received my "letter" the other day about my observation (or I guess about being observed). Of course it had to arrive in my email 10 minutes before class on my last email check before heading to class. I briefly contemplated "do I read it now and get it over with or do I wait until after class?" I picked read it now. It was all good. The couple of negative things were ones that I had completely anticipated and was aware of (I don't move around very much; less lecture, more interaction). And then I had a revelation... this is information to be used for the next round of evaluations before tenure. If my teaching just evolves and improves, I'll be able to look back at these letters and see the pet peeves of my evaluators and be sure to "address" them the next time that person sits in! Brilliant!!

Showing the stereotypical female obsession with clothes and prerequisite hatred of all of the clothes I currently own, I broke down and purchased some new pieces. Since I apparently don't dress poorly enough that anyone's nominated me for "What not to Wear," I wasn't scraping my wardrobe and starting over because that kind of money just doesn't exist. I decided that I needed a few easy pieces that could be combined with what I own.



Enter Athleta. I'd never heard of this place before and if you click the link, you'll see that it is primarily yoga clothing, but is part of the same conglomerate as the Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic. I typically avoid Old Navy because I've rarely found things there that I like. I haven't been in the Gap in years (bad jeans in college soured me on them). And well, Banana Republic always seemed to snobby. (Oddly for a true-blue Jersey girl, I have a definite dislike for the mall and mall-type stores). I found Athleta through another blogger and mostly because she posted pics of several items that she was considering buying and they looked really cute. The clothes are certainly pricier than what I'm used to (I typically just shop at Kohl's when I have my 30% off coupon), but were darn cute. The descriptions also sounded like just what I want... easy to wear, easy to care for, doesn't wrinkle much.



I have a strategy when I shop. In the store, I walk through at least once just looking. I pick out things that I like, but immediately put them back. After walking through once, I walk through again, this time gathering things to try on. If I pick up the same thing on the second time as the first time through, that's usually a good sign. I'll try stuff on, reject most of it. Do a third and sometimes fourth walk through. A second dressing room visit, and then leave with a couple of items. Even with this system, I still end up with clothes I hardly wear once I see them at home, but it works for me. I do very poorly shopping, especially for clothing, with other people. I like sticking to my strategy.



And so I haven't purchased clothing out of a catalog or online in a looooooong time. I was very worried about ordering stuff that might not fit. I employed my strategy. I looked through Athleta's entire site and bookmarked the things I liked. Several days later, I went back to the site and did a second look through (ignoring my bookmarks) and picked out what I liked. The things that I picked on the second time that I had bookmarked (there were 4), I considered and considered and considered, and then finally clicked purchase.



Even though shipping was supposed to be USPS, it arrived via UPS much quicker than I expected. Friday night I had a fashion show for Kevin and got his opinion on my picks. I was thrilled that everything fit and was as cute as could be expected. (I say as could be expected because the models are all super skinny and tall, and well, I don't fit that.) When ordering I was torn between which size to order and went with the smaller sizes because several reviews suggested the clothes ran a little big. Here's links to what I got: Cassidy Dress, Durango Dress, Nusa Rollover Skirt, Pencil Skirt, and Yama Sweater Vest.



I can't wait to wear my new duds to school on Thursday. (Yay for long holiday weekend and no class on Tuesday!!)

School has been ridiculously busy and yet I have finished two knits and went to Rhinebeck. You'll hear about all that soon. Until then, I need to kick this evil cold that is making me feel like crap.

So I've been sick since Thursday. It started with a throat tickle that progressed to a cough, head cold, and fever for Friday and Saturday. On Saturday, I used up an entire box of tissues because my nose was like a faucet. By Sunday, the fever was gone, which was good because I had to be at work for Open House (I decided that future tenure was more important than current health). Today, I'm still stuffy with a bit of a cough and energy levels are low. The biggest problem is that I just can't concentrate, which means lectures aren't getting written and papers aren't being graded and I'm falling farther and farther behind. Wee!! Thank god two of my classes tomorrow are taking exams (although that does add more to the grading pile.).



Was my sickness swine flu? My non-medical opinion is probably. At its worst I was up to 6 of 8 symptoms for swine flu and most websites said you only needed two or three to be a likely candidate. Although without official tests from a doctor, who knows what I have.



But this brings me to my theory (again I stress totally non-medical). Since getting sick, my eczema as vanished. Typically, I use a steroid cream on my legs every two to three days. If I go more than three days, the itchies start and quickly the bumps. Steroids are my friend. But since getting sick, I haven't used the cream. AND I've been taking wicked hot showers (a big no no for eczema) because it helps me to breathe for at least 10 minutes, and still no itchies.



So my eczema theory is that 99% of the time my immune system is bored. Because it is bored and has nothing to do, it attacks my skin causing the itchies, bumps, and much worse if I don't beat it down with steroids. But now that my immune system has something legitimate to fight, there is no need for the random attacks against the skin.



What to do with this theory... I don't know... All I do know is that I want to be able to stop breathing through my mouth!!!!

I finished the pretty purple scarf and mailed it off to the recipient way back on October 16th. I knit this with 4 colors of KnitPicks Palette on size 6 needles by carrying two strands together. I created a chart so that the colors would progress is a semi-random pattern in semi-structured block sizes.






The scarf is symmetrical. I followed by chart from A to B which got me to 33" and then from B to A for the next 33". I really wanted to keep the scarf for myself, but then I would have had an empty package for my swap partner and that wouldn't be fair.






I definitely want to make another one with different colors for myself. I just need a break from that much seed stitch for a while.

The trip to Rhinebeck this year was a blast! I got to hang with my best knitting friends Kathy and Cordelia, and new in person (long-time blog) friend Terby! Despite the ominous looking weather, we didn't get rained on, and while it was chilly, I was nice and cozy inside my many layers of knits. I once again wore my rainbow kauni clappy and got tons of comments. People wanted to know the yarn, how long it took, and some even wanted to touch it.



The festival felt more crowded with people than in past years, but that may have been because the weather was keeping everyone inside the barns and buildings. In past years, there were always many outdoor activities (punkin' chuckin' and herding events) and people would just be hanging out on the grass knitting. There also seemed to be fewer vendors too. While Rhinebeck is always more geared toward spinning goods, this year felt especially spinner, fleece, and roving heavy. There was certainly a lot of yarn, but it felt somehow underwhelming. In fact, I only bought four skeins, and get this... NO SOCK YARN!!! There was sock yarn there, but nothing jumped out at me. I got two skeins of Araucania (an alpaca/silk blend) in blues and purples for a scarf. And I got two skeins of Shelridge Farm Soft Touch in blue for a shrug (the pattern for which I purchased from a different vendor). I also got some cute sheep buttons.



Finally I bought a really cool sheep drawing/painting/picture and a calendar from Charisma Art Gallery. The picture and calendar have already gone over to my office. Here is the picture that I purchased.



And what trip to Rhinebeck would be complete without pictures of animals...

Sometimes I spend too much time with my friend Youtube. Here are some favorites from back in high school...