Highly Magnified, Thoroughly Educated

Test drive report

I test-drove three cars yesterday: the Jetta diesel wagon and the '10 Outback and Forester.

The Jetta was RED! and SHINY! and RED! When you step on the gas, nothing happens, and then VROOM! In fact, I found myself saying "vroom" each time it picked up speed. Very nice car in many ways. There are two things that bugged me, one of which is a deal-breaker for the lovely red diesel. The moonroof is covered only by a sort of perforated scrim thing, so even with the roof shade closed, sun still comes in. I am very sensitive to glare – I drive with my sun visors down at night to avoid glare from streetlights – and on a sunny day that was really bugging me. It is possible to get a moonroof-free TDI, so that's not an absolute deal-breaker, but the cars that are actually available have the roof. The more serious issue is that the driver's seat, while pretty comfortable as is, lacks a certain mode of adjustment, the height-and-angle adjustment, that I really rely on in my current car. I can tell that the seating position in the Jetta would be a serious comfort issue in the long haul. (I have both back and knee problems, so I am getting even more picky about finding interior ergonomics that suit me perfectly, and on long drives I find I am much happier if I can make constant slight adjustments on the fly with the power seat controls.) But if you don't have the particular seat and moonroof neuroses I do, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend trying out the Jetta. Gorgeous car.

The Outback was extremely cushy. The driver's seat was like a cloud-upholstered throne. Land of lumbar happiness. The CVT transmission is, indeed, very smooth. There's lots and lots of interior room. The view out the windshield is great; the seating position is high in relation to the car, which I like. Inside, I felt like I was in bank-vault isolation from the outside: very safe, very quiet, slightly hard to see what was happening in any direction but front. The Outback would be seriously in the running except that the one color I really like, the Sky Blue (a sort of periwinkle) isn't available in the trim I want anywhere closer than about 2000 miles away. And yes, color matters to me. I've compromised on color on my last two cars (Subarus, not surprisingly), and this time, when Subaru finally has a color I like, I'm not going to spend close to 30k on a car and know that that periwinkle color was out there and I couldn't get it.

The Forester may just be the Goldilocks car. It's definitely placed between the Outback and Impreza in cushiness: you can get leather and a power seat, but it's more spartan inside, sans cloudlike throne feeling. Since I pretty much treat my car as a rolling kennel and junk storage room, that's ok. Two especially great things about the Forester: because it has an almost-square back, it has vast usable cargo room. With the seats down, you could probably carry home an armoire if you wanted to. The visibility is amazing. It's like riding in a very safely reinforced glass box. Clear views all around, and since it's about 10" shorter than the Outback and the rear hatch window is pretty much where the read bumper is, it should be easier to park in the city than the bigger car. And, contrary to reports, it's not underpowered. It goes ZOOMP! away from a stop, which accords better with the way I drive in city traffic than does the wait-then-vroom effect of the diesel Jetta. So I think it's the Forester. I'm going to sleep on it one more night and then put down a deposit. The dealer can get me one from not far away in a nice mid-blue color, with the added benefit that it's a Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle, for what that's worth. Here are a couple of pics, of the blueness and of the Ikea-ready cargo room:

Retractationes

I said that I was uninspired by job listings in libraries. But now there is a job in special collections in the fabulous Midwestern city where my sister went to grad school. I am going to apply. I'm probably underqualified, but it's worth a shot.

I said I wasn't interested in anything as SUVish as the Forester, but I visited the Subaru dealer (one on the far side of town, since the nearby one is staffed by idiots) and really kind of loved the Forester. Huge interior room, parkable length (about 9" shorter than my current car), amazing visibility from the driver's seat, and the seat is exactly the right height to simply slide in without either climbing up or bending down, which means it should be very comfortable for my mom to get in and out of. When she's here for a visit, we'll go for a test drive together.

Fangirl Fridays: AKMA

Today I am fangirling AKMA. How could you not love a man whose short list of blog categories includes both "Fountain Pens" and "How To Do Exegesis"? Or a man who can write, "Our lovable madcap Saviour has been at it again..."? Go and read about our lovable madcap Saviour, Ikea, and the merits of the Dishmatique here, and an exceptionally graceful, generous, and far-sighted response to the recent Apostolic Constitution here.

Help me choose my next car

My current car isn't dead yet, but it's got well over 100k on it and it's getting to the point where I feel like I should pre-shop for my next car, so when the time comes that I need to make a new-car decision in a hurry, I'll have a short-short list and be prepared to make an informed choice without undue dithering. Probably the next really expensive thing that goes wrong, I'm going to decide it's a sign from God and get a new car. So for the sake of today's discussion, let's assume I'm going to buy a car this winter or next summer, either just before I head off to Second Fellowship Location or after my first semester there. I long ago set aside the money for this, since I assumed that around 2010 I'd be thinking about a new car, so let's say we can talk about cars up to about $30k - though of course I'd be happy to spend less than that.

The parameters are these:

• My current car is a Subaru Outback. It's my second Subaru and I have been extremely happy with it.
• This is my midlife crisis, so other things being equal, I kind of wanted my next car to be my midlife crisis car, which for me means not a sports car, but something small, zippy, efficient, and bright red. Or, on days when the stock market feels relatively buoyant, something small, zippy, a bit luxurious, and maybe a bit used, and bright red. Did I mention bright red? I keep ogling the Audi A3.
• Other things are not equal, because I have three (3) dogs. Even after the Eldest Doggie Era comes to an end, I will have two sizable dogs, and I will still be a person who goes on long road trips with the dogs and has a hard time packing light. In particular, 2010 will involve multi-day trips in which I move my dogs and worldly goods among the two fellowship locations and Mom City and other family locations in even-more-distant cities. (Winter roadtripping is one of the reasons I'm nervous about trusting my current car into extreme old age, though I realize I'm just psyching myself out about that.)
• The dogs ride in the back seat, wearing seatbelts, so Stuff needs to go in the trunk or wayback.
• I should acknowledge that I tend to treat my car like a mobile living room/library/trash can/kennel. The wayback is always full of bags of dog food, footwear for all climates, and books I've been meaning to return to the library, at a minimum. Much as I'd like to think I would change these habits if I had an entry-level (red, zippy) luxury car, I should probaby admit that I won't.
• The four-wheel-drive issue: If I thought I was going to simply settle permanently in Mom City and only wanted a city car, I would buy a Civic or a Fit or sim. and wouldn't worry about haulage apart from taking the dogs to the vet or bringing home dog food. But it occurs to me that if/when I am back living in the city, I will drive my car a lot less overall, but when I do drive it signficant distances, I will be roadtripping to visit PhD City, which lies beyond the snow belt, and my best friend who lives in Wisconsin, and my sister who lives in Minnesota and has a cabin up an unpaved road in northern Wisconsin, and when I want 4-wheel drive, I will really want it.
• The reality is that once I move to Mom City, a significant use for my car will be driving my mother around, because she is increasingly feeling uncertain about being able to drive herself in any but perfectly dry weather and the noonday sun, and all the friends with whom she likes to go out are in worse shape than she is. So I need to have a car that she can comfortably get into and ride in, including long rides for the aforementioned road trips to visit my sister in northerly climes. Mom's car comfort issue is that she has trouble bending her arthritic knees, so she'd be happier not to get into too low a car and she needs legroom. She recently rode in a friend's Lexus RX350 and, rather embarrassingly, loved it.
• My dogs have as much trouble getting up as my mom does getting down. Well, Youngest Doggie doesn't, but Middle Doggie is starting to have hip issues, and during the lifetime of the next car, Youngest Doggie will age into being less able to jump. I lift Eldest Doggie up, but the other two weigh more than twice what he does, so they need to be able to get themselves in and out. And even if the dogs weren't an issue, I'd be physically and morally uncomfortable driving a high-up SUV, even a small one. I drove a rental RAV-4 last year, for example, and was terrified the whole time. I felt like I was teetering around on stilts.
• Subaru has come out with an entirely new Outback and Legacy for 2010. On the plus side, after decades of really crappy colors, they have introduced a new, periwinklish color which, while it is not red, qualifies as my second-favorite color and would make me very happy.
• The new Outback would seem to be the obvious choice for stuff-and-dog haulage, but it's been revised into something embarrassingly huge. I recently swung through a Subaru dealer's lot and briefly pulled my current Outback up next to the new model, and I felt like I was huddling next to a hulking SUV. I don't think I could see myself driving such a car, even if it's periwinkle and a Subaru.
• On the other hand, the new Legacy comes in the same lovely color and has fantastic back-seat room, power-adjustable passenger seat as an option (thinking Mom here), and a big trunk, for a sedan. But it's a sedan. A Camry-sized, middle-aged, middle-of-the-road sedan. I have always driven hatchbacks and wagons. Can I drive such a car? How much will I miss having a wayback? A big trunk would certainly accommodate dog food etc. and a couple of suitcases, but is that enough?
• Stuff! I have so much stuff! If shame and gas mileage were no obstacles, honestly, I'd love to have a minivan. Actually, probably the perfect-sized car for my needs would be the original Odyssey, like from the early 90s - about halfway between the size of the Fit and the current, ginormous Odyssey.
• FYI, I am not going to buy a Volvo because their shoulder belts cut across my neck. Lack of adjustable shoulder-belt anchors is a deal-breaker.

So, tell me what I should be considering that I haven't thought of. What car do you have? Do you love it? What would be on your dream-car list?

While indisposed

Sorry for missing a couple of Fangirl Fridays. I've been sick - not flu, just something cold-like - and have, simultaneously, been strangely busy for a not-really-employed person. Once I finished the batch of job-market recommendation letters for VCI students that always come with Exploding Head Month, I had some time in the last few days to lie around trying to muster the strength to become un-sick, and I've used the time rather productively to a) make more concrete plans for the next phase of career transition; b) read (listen to) some fiction; and c) shop online. Herewith, updates on those activities.

I've had a pile of books on historic preservation and history of architecture piled on the coffee table for a while. I did a bunch of reading in the field in late summer, and I dove back in. I've realized that the fact that I'm having a great time with my editorial project this semester doesn't mean that I would be happy to slide back into my previous worklife, and now is the time to take steps if I want to have options for when my 18 months of fellowship time ends. I have been religiously reading ads in the rare book field for which I'd be qualified by previous (pre-PhD) degree and experience, and find myself mildly interested but not really excited by the prospect of actually occupying such a job. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't apply if a really well-located and well-suited-to-me job came up, but I don't find myself getting all jazzed about my future as a librarian, at least in that mold. I have, long story short, decided to apply for a limited-residency program in historic preservation that would allow me to begin work on that degree while still on my 2010 fellowship in PhD City, and continue it wherever I move next. I may also apply for other programs, but this one has so many advantages - being tailor-able to my interests and geographically portable, and a lot cheaper than a traditional program - that I think there'd be no reason not to at least start the program if I am accepted, whatever other things I'm pursuing at the same time next year. My goal is to move towards meeting the Secretary of the Interior's standards for being an Architectural Historian, which one can do through a master's in historic preservation plus relevant experience, and which should make it possible to apply for jobs ranging from gov't agenies to QUANGOs to local organizations to private consulting firms. I still have a notion that it could be fun to work as a historical-preservationally-informed librarian or archivist, in something like the library of the National Trust or for HABS or in an historical society or sim. One way or another, it's a field with a great density of jobs in Mom City and vicinity, but I also figure anywhere I'd want to live, I'd be attracted there because of the richness of the historic built environment, and it wouldn't hurt to work in a field that jibes with that. The application for the program I'm interested in isn't due till February, but it requires a longish essay (like conference-paper length), so I am reading up and jotting ideas.

On the fiction front, following Dame Eleanor's recommendation, I've been listening to The Magicians and loving it. (I've been doing a lot of book-listening recently because I have a longish commute here, and anyway after a day of manuscript transcription my eyes are shot and I'd rather listen in bed than read in bed. And now NPR is fundraising, so it's an especially good week for recorded books.) I'm a couple of chapters from the end, so I'll wait to do a final report till I finish. But I can report that it's very entertainly read by Mark Brahmall in the version on Audible. Brahmall doesn't seem to have read anything else that's currently available on Audible, but I'm going to keep an eye (ear) out for more of his work. And when I stopped into Borders the other day for a shelter magazine fix, I noticed that Diana Gabaldon's new tome in the Outlander series is out. I sometimes find her style irritating, but I'm addicted nonetheless; I've listened to several of the books in the series and they're very nicely read by Davina Porter. I checked Audible as soon as I got home and found that yes, An Echo in the Bone is available unabridged - 45 hours for 1 credit! I often find Audible irritating, because usually when I think of a book and go to see if they have it they don't, but this is a very good deal. It's downloading now, so it'll be ready when I finish the Grossman after today's commute to and from Fellowship Center.

Shopping: I've gotten better over the years at remembering that if I like something and it fits well, it's worth buying multiples. I have two endorsements. These pants from JJill are incredibly cushy-wonderful. They're thick, stretchy cotton, cozy enough for cold weather. They look like they're supposed to be yoga pants, but in fact with boots and a long sweater, they're more than spiffy enough for more-respectable-than-jeans daily wear on campus. I bought three identical pairs in black. Fyi, I am 5'5" and my legs are longish in proportion to my height and the Petite version fit me perfectly. Regular is evidently for mutant tall people. (Apologies to mutant tall blogfriends.) And speaking of long sweaters,  the Feel Good Turtleneck from Land's End is incredibly cozy without being at all bulky, and, as pictured, is fully hip-covering in length. Also as pictured, Land's End's "Rich Red" this year is a true, bright red. And yes, FCC, I paid for these myself - though if any of my favorite stores want to start sending me free clothes, I'd be delighted to arrange something :-)

Now I am launching my annual, futile search for a lightweight, fabulously-colored swingy parka with a hood and big pockets for mittens and dog-walking paraphernalia.

Next post coming up: Help me decide what my next car will be.

Sisterly Poll

Byatt or Drabble? Discuss.

Our first couple are really tall.

Slate's Political Gabfest led me to this marvelous Flickr set of presidential photo-ops from the recent UN General Assembly meeting. Foreign heads of state and foreign ministers and their families posed with the preternaturally consistent Prez and the always-fabulous Michelle. What I learned from this: the Obamas are, on a world scale, really, really tall. (A polite way of saying many foreign leaders are really, really short.) Also, there are countries I've never heard of. Nauru, anyone? And finally, Africans win hands-down in the style stakes.

Fangirl Fridays: MMM!

Well, Fridays do seem to sneak up on me awfully quickly now that I've committed to a regular Friday feature, and now that I spend my weeks in happy and engrossing labor. Anyway, no singing this week, but I have a special treat for all my friends in fandom. This week, I am fangirling the guys who bring you MMM Commentaries. These are four Aussie blokes who do fan-made commentaries for films and tv series, mostly scifi et sim., but hey, they also did one for The Blues Brothers. The've done a lot of Who, vintage and new series, and chunks of Buffy and Angel, and lots, lots more. Just this week, they released a commentary for The Two Towers. They are very funny, deeply knowledgeable, bracingly un-politically-correct in that antipodean way, and all of them have great voices. Their podcast is beautifully produced. And here's where I confess that yes, I listen to commentary tracks without having the DVD playing in front of me. I like to sort of imagine and reconstruct movies and episodes I know well as I listen. I am a hypernerd of the highest order.

Yoga report (testing post-by-email feature)

The New Typepad claims I can post to my blog by email, so let's check that out. (Some script is running on my newfangled dashboard page and it's hung Firefox, anyway.)

So, I've started taking yoga! I've had two classes so far. I'm very happy with the class: it's an absolute-beginners' class, and the instructor is an RN and is very good about explaining the anatomy and dealing with creaky knees and the like. I was hoping for a class that emphasized biomechanics over ohm-ing and that's what I got. The people in my class are very relaxed and of various ages and shapes and sizes, which is also nice.

In class on Wednesday, when I was supposed to be clearing my mind, I found myself reflecting on the difference between yoga class and all the dance classes of my life. I used to be a pretty serious ballet student and have had multi-year periods of ankle-destroying enthusiasm for other dance forms in adulthood. I love to dance, and I have, at various times (though not in childhood with ballet) loved the particular buzz of dragging myself to class when I didn't want to and doing increasingly hard things and ending up hyped up on endorphins of music and accomplishment. Since I went into yoga thinking mainly about what a slow and structured class might do for my oft-injured and increasingly arthritic joints, I had slotted yoga class into the mental space previously allotted to dance classes, and thus set myself up to be taken by surprise at the differences. Here's what I've observed so far:

– In yoga, you lead with your hips. I can't tell you what a revolutionary concept this is. It never in a million years would have occurred to me. I am still processing the implications, but I can report that it feels good.

– In yoga, you time your movements to your breath. In dance, you time your movements to the music and then try to get your breath organized to support movement.

- In yoga, there is no mirror. You shape movement according to what your body feels like, rather than what your body looks like.

- In yoga, there is no performance and no competition (at least not in this very laid-back class). You don't need to try to outdo what you did last time; you only need to do what your body can do that day.

- In dance, there are bursts of intense mental effort as you try to learn a combination, followed by intense bursts of physical effort as you try to execute it. Yoga you can go to even if your brain isn't yet functioning, because it's body-first and mind can follow (or not).

- In a dance class, you end by doing something frustratingly or exhilaratingly challenging that leaves you twitching with energy and frustration. In yoga, you end by relaxing into the floor in a darkened room.

What all of that amounts to is that yoga class is not only good for the sore parts of me. It's a good antidote to my perfectionist tendencies, because I know all I have to do is show up. I don't have to be particularly prepared or primped or alert. I don't have to worry that if some part of my is stiff or painful it means I won't be able to perform adequately and will end up frustrated with myself. I know that if I just go, I will end class feeling better than when I started.

OK, sending email...let's see if this posts.

Fangirl Fridays: Lonesome Polecat Edition

I'm sure my readers are already fans of the deeply goofy but beautifully choreographed Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Tonight, I am fangirling the Brothers who were primarily dancers, Matt Mattox, Marc Platt, Jacques D'Amboise, Tommy Rall, and Russ Tamblyn. Especially Matt Mattox, who was featured in the mesmerizingly silly number, "Lonesome Polecat". As a special treat, here he is singing the song in his own voice. (He was dubbed for the final cut.) This clip also gives a good sampling of the movement styles of the other brothers, as well as several sheep.

As a bonus, here's a great clip of Tommy Rall giving Bob Fosse a run for his money: