“I’m not so much a girl geek as scientifically minded, but OK.”
That’s what my nine-year-old daughter said when I asked her to pose for a picture wishing the Edmonton Girl Geek Dinner a happy first birthday.
So, yeah, she’s a geek.
But I mean that in the nicest, proudest way. I love that she made a Venn diagram comparing herself with Kari Byron from MythBusters. I love that she wants to be a paleontologist when she grows up, and has wanted that since she was three. I love that we read books on prehistoric life at bedtime. Pure geekery.
I have met many wonderful role models for my girl at the Girl Geek Dinners. Every time I have attended, I have talked to fascinating women who do amazing things. This has become a valuable networking event, and it is always a good time.
So thank you, Shauna McConechy and Brittney Le Blanc, for bringing this institution to Edmonton. Shauna is about to depart on an adventure in Toronto, but I think they have created something so good that we’ll find a way to help Brittney keep it going. It’s got to stick around long enough for my girl to be old enough to go. Nine more years, OK?
My son, who is about to turn 6, made this list of Thomas the Tank Engine trains he wants for his birthday. The bigger the printing, the more he wants the train, he said. I don’t know if he knows what a tag cloud is, or if he has ever seen one, but I think that’s what he made, isn’t it?
I would like to pay tribute to my husband, who tried many hard things this year and accomplished them. One hard thing was running for office. Another hard thing was reclaiming our backyard.
He toiled for much of August to prepare the yard for his grand vision, which he mostly kept secret. He rebuilt the fence, got the out-of-control lilac pruned and created a badminton court. Badminton is a big deal in his family.
Then he hauled a bunch of dirt in to level the yard out before it snowed. This I questioned, for he had just won the election and suddenly had so much more work to do. But he had a vision, and that vision was the skating rink you see above in the blurry picture I took with my BlackBerry. He used to build a rink every year with his cousins, but this was the first one all his own. The kids love it. I love it. He should be very proud.
2010 has been a challenging year for our family, with lots of turmoil and tears. But we have also seen joy and triumph, and we count ourselves fortunate. The rink is just a little thing, but it feels like victory. It gives me hope for 2011.
My son, who is almost 6, says he has in his head an album of things he likes. He goes through an imaginary questionnaire when considering whether to add something to his album. I am in the album; so is his dad. His sister goes in and out, I believe. Thomas the Tank Engine and all associated paraphernalia are definitely in the album. Categorizing things in this way makes him a “brain album person,” he says.
What he is describing is how I imagine Tumblr. My brain, being older and less elastic than his, needs to store its album externally. I plan to use this space to save and comment on interesting things about journalism, Edmonton, family and other things that are in the album of things I like. But mostly I want to be able to more closely follow some smart people I know, and find some more smart people to follow.
