Random Thoughts: The Absence Edition

I haven’t blogged this week, primarily because I am going on vacation and I will be away from work for an entire six days, which means I have All The Deadlines.

And of course since I am going on vacation for more than a week, with the family, it’s unlikely that I will be blogging much over the next few days.

A couple of things to leave here:

• A working mother in South Carolina was thrown in jail, and her 9-year-old child was made a ward of the state… because she (the daughter) was at a playground alone (with a cell phone) while her mother worked at a near-by McDonalds. Complicating this outrage is the fact that the mother is single, working poor, and African American. I think it’s horrible that a busybody called the police when they realized the girl was there without a parent hovering nearby. I also think if the mother and child were white, jail and CPS wouldn’t have been the outcome. Maybe a stern warning. But not jail. (This article on fundamental attribution error and how it applies to this case was interesting, IMO.)

• A nanny wrote about five things that parents are doing wrong. This is pretty spot on. Parents, if you see yourself in this list, take a step back and reevaluate. I especially like the first one. A good mantra to learn, and we use it in our house, is, “You get what you get, and you don’t get upset.”

• 2014 is shaping up to be a solid year for good music. Or at least music I really like. If you’re looking for some new stuff, may I humbly suggest:
1. KONGOS, Lunatic
2. The Black Keys, Turn Blue
3. Little Daylight, Hello Memory
4. Afghan Whigs, Do To The Beast (This album, guys. This album Does Things to me.)
5. First Aid Kit, Stay Gold

Have a great weekend, everybody. I hope I will have some nice vacation pictures to throw up on the site while I’m out.

Lake Erie at Sunrise