Beyonce + Baby = Cuteness

How have I not seen this before?!!

Blanket for Butterbean – First FO for the Baby

I haven’t made a whole lot of progress on my other crafty projects, but Whitney gave me some yarn to make something for Butterbean this weekend, and I leapt all over it. I crafted up this blanket in just under a week. Whoo!!

I wasn’t sure I was going to like this project as much as I do. I feel like it’s kind of old lady-ish (like something your grandma would make for her grandchild), but it turns out that’s my favourite part about it. It’s very textured and very cute, and it was fun to make.

I used this pattern (without the hood): http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/cpl-bafg.html

New York City, Baby!

Aside from the fact that getting to and from New York via the Buffalo Airport was a complete (and expensive) disaster, my first trip to The Big Apple was great.

Keeping in mind that we really didn’t stray very far from Times Square, my impression of New York City is that it’s like a big Toronto, but with more cabbies. And Americans.

Looking at the taxis from our hotel window. Seriously, there were SO MANY TAXIS!! Lindsay insists that it’s because we were in Times Square and, you know, surrounded by hotels, but I am CONVINCED that the whole city is teeming with angry cabbies.

Highlights of the trip include:

Our two cab trips. The first guy honked at least 3 times at other drivers, and the second not only honked at other drivers, but giggled as he did so, and backed into another taxi. It was awesome! I really felt like I had an authentic New York Experience before we’d even left the airport parking lot!

The plane ride. My first one ever! They gave me free sprite and animal crackers and chips! Plus, I saw my first up-close-and-personal cloud. Amazing! Oh, and turbulence is AWESOME.

A five course meal at Vermilion

Dessert

Central Park

Photo by Lindsay

Photo by Lindsay

Our swank (and free, courtesy of Lindsay’s ability to choose a number at random) hotel room at the Westin Time Square. We stayed on the 14th floor, but we knew what floor we were really on.
(Does anyone else feel like I just ripped off channeled Mitch Hedburg there?)

View from our hotel room

All in all, a good trip. It was too short, but I am thrilled to be home again.

Thanks YearBook Yourself

Thanks to yearbookyourself.com, I now know that I make a more attractive man than I do a woman. Awesome.

Compared to:

This is my favourite pic:

It reminds me of a former boss of mine who was like, crazy and crotchety and the most awesome lady of all time. I hope to be just like her when I am older.

What do you think, Jer? Is it Shirl?!

It’s Smartifying: The Rorshach Test Part II

I received the following email from my friend who’s in school to be a psychologist (the same friend who posted the Rorshach article to begin with), regarding my last post. Not only am I extremely grateful to her for shedding some light on this topic, but I am over the moon that she gave me permission to post her letter (and not just because it saves me from having to research and word this all on my own!).

Mir,

I read your blog post, and felt like I should give you a better reply. Yes, the Rorshach is kept secret so that lay people are not influenced when giving their answers (in my scientific opinion, this test is horseshit, so keep that in mind). It is exactly what you said, there is a complex scoring system, so if the crazies knew how to answer so as not to seem crazy (sidenote, I am the worst psychologist ever calling them “crazies”), that would defeat the purpose. However, research shows that the Rorshach test only identifies those with schizophrenia, and really, do you need an inkblot test to tell you if someone thinks that aliens are broadcasting signals into their brain? C’mon, that kind of disorder is pretty obvious.

Another similar situation that comes to mind is with some personality tests. We’re trying to screen out people who “fake good” or answer in a socially desirable way. I think this is mostly used with the extreme social deviants, or forensic type stuff. It’s helpful to identify individuals who are trying to be seen in an extreme positive light, as this can be indicative of some kind of problem worth investigating further. Conversely, there are other scales with really bizarre items that can identify people who are trying to “fake bad”. This is useful to identify someone who may be pretending to be nuts in order to get out of a crime.

There are sometimes questions in scales that aim to identify this issue as well. If you ever fill out a questionnaire that asks you things like “Do you ever feel jealous?” or “Do you research all candidates before voting?” you have filled out a very common social desirability measure. They want you to say no to the first one and yes to the second in order to say that you’re a liar, basically.

In order to gain access to the “secret” stuff, a psychologist needs a minimum of an MA usually, and will have to undergo specific training for that assessment tool. Once the training is done, you are expected not to share that info. There’s no contract or anything, but it’s more of a professional respect thing. There is a section in our ethics code specifiying that we do not share this type of info. However, there is also a section saying that we shouldn’t sleep with clients, and who really listens to that?

It’s Smartifying: The Rorschach Test

Clearly, I need to research more before spouting off about topics I know very little about. I do it all the time, and it’s always a smartifying experience when I’m made aware of my ignorance. Tonight, for example, I learned that some things in psychology are hidden from the general public. Okay, to be honest, I have no idea if there are “some” top secret items on the shrinky agenda. . . yet – I just know of one in particular: the Rorschach ink blots.

My friend uploaded a link to this news story about a bunch of professionals getting their knickers in a knot because the original Rorschach tests were posted on Wikipedia (complete with common answers given when people are asked what they see in the pictures). In addition to not really caring WHAT information is on the internet (the more, the better is my motto), I failed to see why anyone would care that a few nonsense images were posted online (they weren’t even dirty!). I was all like “What’s the big deal?! I could go to the library and look up that exact same information in a psychology book. IDIOTS!!”.

But then my friend pointed out that you CAN’T find that information in the library – not the original ink blots, anyway. Apparently, the psychologists keep them under wraps. Which, I guess makes sense if you don’t want to influence what people see in the images, or if you don’t want psychos to trick you into thinking they see a butterfly on the plate when really they see their dad skull-fucking a corpse or something. If I was nuts, I’d totally lie and tell people I saw a vase of flowers rather than something violent or obscene.

See? I’m spouting my mouth off again. I don’t know how the mentally ill think and I don’t know the complicated scoring system (or whatever it is) that’s used to analyze patients with these tests. I’m just saying . . .

Anyway, I am really shocked that this kind of information is kept from us lay people. I mean, I expect the doctors who are hired by pharmaceutical companies to cover up the cure for AIDS because that entire system is corrupt, but I never expected the mental health community to keep something as seemingly trivial (to me) as ink blots from the public.

It raised a bunch of questions for me. Like, who has access to the original Rorschach plates? Do you have to promise not to show anyone? And, most importantly, what else are the psychologists keeping from us?! I MUST KNOW!!

WIP – Carry-Boo

This isn’t the first crafty thing I’ve started for Butterbean, but it’s the first one I may actually finish (years from now, because knitting takes for-fucking-ever).

Peanut Butter Balls

Confession: this post is mostly for Todd’s benefit.

This is a peanut butter ball (several, actually):

Balls by me, Photo by Chase

And, should you feel so inclined, you can make your own by using this recipe. I don’t add extra nuts, and I use smooth peanut butter because the pb balls taste more like my childhood that way.

Please Tell Me This Idea Is Not Taken!

If I were to break into the music industry, I would play really corny christian stuff – songs about walking hand-in-hand with the Lord and such. And I would call the band Cheesus.

Is it just me or am I a freaking genius?!!

Knocked Up!

Obviously, this calls for a new blog! I will still be updating here (no, really! I will eventually post an entry or two!), but anything baby related is going to be at The State Of My Hoo Hoo.