Photo Hunters - Messy

With two young kids, today's theme of messy was quite easy.

Here's Adam on his 2nd birthday deciding that markers are more fun on his hands than on paper.

Of course, Dova felt the same way. This was taken when she was 2 1/2. Thankfully, they are both past this stage now. Happy New Year everyone!!

Thursday Thirteen #26 - Things our family received for Christmas

Thirteen things that our family received for Christmas:

1. Visit from Grandma. The kids had fun snuggling with Grandma in the mornings instead of bothering their poor parents.
   
2. Chinese Hot Pot dinner with meatballs, tofu meatballs, squid balls (actually quite tasty), fish, shrimp, pork, dumplings, soybeans, spinach, zucchini, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, and noodles. Everyone was well fed.
   
3. White Christmas. With all the snow in the past few weeks, we had tons left for a white Christmas. Grandma had fun making snowmen with the kids.
   
4. Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii. Adam played this for 5 hours straight on Christmas day and got up to level 3. It made me dizzy just looking at it.
   
5. A makeup kit for Dova. This was the one thing that she asked from Santa and spent the day putting on lip glitter over lip gloss and 4 shades of eye shadow on. With mom's help of course.
   
6. Nintendo DS Lite Gold with Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for me. Only so that I can play Mario Kart with Adam . Not to mention that I am whizzing through Brain Age 2 and unlocked the Advanced Sudoku puzzles already. The Zelda game went to Adam which he loves. I just liked the gold color of this special edition.
   
7. Racing tire gauge with bleeder valve for Doug. Who knew that you could spend $60 on a tire gauge?
8. Lego chess set for Adam. Very cool indeed and he beat me in our first game.
9. Bella Dancerella Disney Princess Dance Studio for Dova. She danced around with Bella and her magic wand and new princess dress-up clothes twice on Christmas.
   
10. Mario doll for Adam. We found him sticking out of Adam's stocking on Christmas morning. The boy is totally Mario crazy.
11. Skippyjon Jones Doll for Dova. This cute Siamese (or is it Chihuahua?) was found sticking out of Dova's stocking.
12. Snap Circuits Jr. for Adam. No time like the present to learn about electricity for this budding scientist/engineer.
13. An aquarium for Dova. Technically this was for her birthday today (December 26th - Happy 4th birthday Dova!!). We finally got some beautiful $.26 goldfish that have survived for 3 days so far.

Photo Hunters - Light

The great thing about Flickr is that you can simply search for a term and see all your photos having titles, descriptions or tags with it. There were so many choices that came up for "light" that I'll offer a smörgåsbord (wow, thank you Firefox for adding all those accents) this week to make up for my lack of photo hunts in the last couple weeks. 

Impressive lighting array from the Richard Rodgers Theater in New York where we saw Tarzan. 

Beautiful lighted tulip vase from Tucker's Bistro in Newport, RI. 

Nothing says lights like Las Vegas. This was taken from my hotel room in Treasure Island.

The Photo Card Curse

Do you see this picture perfect photo card that was taken during Thanksgiving weekend and ordered in the beginning of December? It has not arrived yet and I had to have the order resent. It is December 21st already and I HATE TO BE LATE!!!! And this is not the first time this has happened to us... 

Two years ago, I ordered photo cards through Club Photo (now Winkflash) in the beginning of December. For whatever reason, they were totally backlogged for the holiday season and they didn't process the order for three weeks. Needless to say, I mailed the cards out after Christmas and swore never to use Club Photo again. Did I mention that I hate to be late? 

Last year, I ordered photo cards through Snapfish and they were promptly processed and mailed the next day. However, two days later, I got an email special from them for 20% off photo cards. I emailed them and they graciously credited my account for that amount. The cards arrived within five days and we were back to being on time. I was extremely pleased and have been using them ever since. 

This year, I knew to expect a 20% discount off photo cards from Snapfish at the beginning of December, so I held off on the order until I got the offer. Sure enough the email arrived on December 4th, and I promptly placed my order. For shipping, there was a choice between in store pickup at Walgreens, which is about 1/2 hour away, or pay for shipping. Since I was running a 103°F temperature when I placed the order, I opted for shipping. Besides, I was a little wary about the quality of the cards if there were processed at Walgreens (was not happy with Target photos in the past). 

They promptly processed and shipped my order on December 5th. When the cards failed to arrive by the end of the next week, I started looking into my options. They said to wait 10 business days after shipping to inquire about the order. Since it was USPS, I included Saturday shipping days and emailed them on December 17th. They replied that I needed to wait 10 business days meaning two weeks. In the meantime, I had placed another order for regular photos and they arrived right on time. On December 19th, I emailed them again. Finally they agreed to reship the order, but could I confirm my shipping address? At this point, I wasn't going to mess with USPS again and asked whether I could take in store delivery. No, can't change the order. Finally the order was finalized yesterday and shipped today. Now I will definitely be late again this year. AARRGGGGHHH! 

Lesson: Always take in store pickup for holiday photo cards, even if you think the quality from Walgreens may not be up to snuff. 

12/22 - Edited to add: They arrived via FedEx today (day after I wrote this)!! I guess Snapfish realized how irate I was.

Wordless Wednesday - Fun in the Snow

Taken from the warmth of my home with my new 70-300 mm IS USM lens! Thanks to my mom! And thanks to Google for the falling snow effect!

Letting go of anger

Note: This long diatribe has been sitting on my chest for years, so please skip it if you're only up for my usual chipper self...

It has been two years since my father passed. Our relationship as adults was friendly and cordial, but not necessarily close. We saw each other about twice a year and he enjoyed seeing his grandchildren, calling them "golden boy" and "jade girl". He divorced my mother about 8 years prior to be with his girlfriend, eventually moving in with her in his last year. He was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer which in the last few months left him confused, angry and frightened. It was certainly not the man I had known my whole life. When I first heard that his condition was worsening, I paid him a visit to make sure he had his affairs in order, including power of attorney, etc. I had already known that he had appointed his girlfriend's daughter as the executor of his will because as he said "It would be more convenient because she lives in New York." Sure fine, I had no problem with that. I just wanted to make sure that he had a power of attorney and health care proxy in place while he was alive, who could very well be his girlfriend's daughter (she is slightly younger than I with young children as well). He adamantly refused to believe that he would not be physically or mentally able to pay his own bills or handle all of his affairs. At this point, I didn't even know whether he had married his girlfriend or not as I wouldn't have been surprised if he did so without telling me in order not to upset me or my mother. I had to awkwardly ask them point blank whether they were married so I could understand my legal position and responsibilities. After this rather unsuccessful visit, I started to receive angry letters from him addressed to me, my mother and his sister-in-law who had paid him a similar visit. These letters were extremely mean and really upset my mother who throw them away. I filed them away just because that is what I do (when in doubt organize). He accused us of being after his money and to stay out of his business and not to call or visit him.

As he got worse and spent more time in the hospital, I still went to visit him by driving 3.5 hours each way by myself on weekends. He appeared to be glad to see me and enjoyed seeing the sweater I was knitting for Dova. As he worsened, more of my time was spent being nurse, helping him move, getting the nurse, helping them change his diaper, etc. In all of these visits, I saw his girlfriend only once and I never saw her daughter. They were never there when I came to see him, only another friend of his and my mother. Of course when it came time for treatment or emergency procedures, the hospital had to call me because he hadn't set up a health care proxy.

When he passed, he left clear directions for his cremation and internment. His girlfriend and her daughter were completely useless in handling the arrangements, so I arranged everything from the cremation, ordering the urn, setting up the memorial service and luncheon, picking out the music, making the slide show, everything. During the service, several of his long time friends spoke of him as well as my mother. I hadn't prepare anything to say because I had been too busy arranging everything. But one of his long time friends did say something that really touched me. He said that most of all, my father was extremely proud of me. It was something that I never thought he had felt about me, let alone hearing him say it in person. His girlfriend also got up to speak, and although I didn't understand most of her Chinese, I did hear that she claimed that his entire life was unhappy until he met her, and she completely depended on him and what was she to do now, woe is me, woe is me (selfish whiny bitch).

After the service, it was finally time for the will. I learned that he named me as his only living descendant, but then proceeded to give everything to his girlfriend and her daughter. That included all his belongings, cash and two properties in New York City. Well, it wasn't as though I was completely surprised, but I felt that it was extremely unfair to his own grandchildren. The date of his last and binding will was after his descent into dementia. I began wondering if he felt that it was a simple matter of financial aid, where his girlfriend's daughter and her family were not as well off as mine, or whether he truly felt he replaced me with her. Did I mention that she was totally useless during funeral arrangements and did not come to visit him once in the hospital while I was there? I then remembered a time when I was 14 years old and he said that he was disowning me because I had a boyfriend and was no longer his daughter. It was a crime in his book, but not in mine and if he couldn't let me be my own person, so be it. I was just as stubborn as he was.

I was extremely angry about the will and looked into contesting it but in the end, felt that it wasn't worth my energy. I had long deleted the doctor's names who could corroborate his mental state. Their lawyer kept hounding me to sign papers giving up my rights to my father's estate, but I refused. Finally, a court hearing was scheduled several months ago. I didn't go, therefore forfeiting my rights. I had no intention of really fighting with them, just wanted to make them squirm. Since that incident several months ago, I've finally started to let go of my anger. I'll never truly understand his reasoning for choosing his girlfriend's daughter and her family over his own flesh and blood grandchildren, but I guess he got his last laugh and disowned me after all.

Here are some podcasts that I really related to in the aftermath of my father's death:

WGBH Morning Stories Behind the Blue Ribbon - Another unappreciated daughter until after her mother's death.

WGBH Morning Stories From Us To You Part 2 - A daughter who was disowned by her father comes to terms with it twenty years later (hopefully it won't take me that long). The text of her letter was so moving, I am including it here:

I'm 44, and I've recently come to terms with the fact that my father disowned me when I was 24. I was in love with a black gentleman and my dad couldn't take it. I was his baby girl and the one of his five children most like him. We stayed estranged for the next nine months and then he was killed in a car accident in Zurich. Everyone always puts on their sad face when they hear this story, they say "Oh, if you'd only known that you had so little time left." But I don't agree with their thinking. I wouldn't have done anything differently. I'd been angry I guess, and that anger kept me closed to any memory of him. But in the past few years, I've let myself think about it from some distance, and I see that it was his gift that enabled me to stand up to him like that. He didn't raise me to be a racist, he taught me to stand up for what was right, even at great cost. He instilled in me the personal dignity and sense of decency that enabled me to even attempt such unheard of behavior in my family. It was a defining moment in my life, one that clarified many things for me. I'm so thankful that I can finally separate these things from the cruelty and small-mindedness of his other action. And I really know he was proud of me even if he wasn't able to see it at the time.

NPR A Year to Live, A Year to Die - A moving chronicle about a man dying of a brain tumor, descending into an angry violent state.

Thursday Thirteen #25 - Things I did while sick

What another sick post? Well, last one hopefully. Today was the first time in 12 days that I have seen a normal temperature. Woo hoo!! Three doctor visits and some free samples of Levaquin and Advair later, I am finally on the mend. Here are some things I did to pass the time in the last couple weeks (besides sleeping and coughing).

1. I discovered Jeff Buckley. I had not heard of him before and suddenly 10 years after his death I'm mourning him anew. He and Kurt Cobain were born within 2 months of me but I never related to Kurt's music. Jeff is more of a kindred spirit. This video of Hallelujah (written by Leonard Cohen) brought tears to my eyes and I listened to the song on repeat on my iPod for hours in my fevered state. Check out Grace as well.
   
   
2. I uploaded pictures from the kids camera (notice last post). I had to delete about 95% of the pictures of fingers, knees, the ceiling, the cracks in the wall, me in my underwear, etc.
3. I organized in Flickr like crazy. I created six new sets and tagged over 200 photos. I have about 1500 more to go before I'm all caught up. Check out our Best of 2007 set.
   
4. I put actual photos from last year into a photo album. Now that I'm caught up, I ordered a bunch of prints for this year.
5. I paid bills online and had to fight a stupid charge from FreeCreditReport.com. Don't ever visit this site as they will automatically start charging you after 30 days and I'm usually a good reader of fine print.
   
6. I wrapped Christmas presents. There were a few hours when both kids were out of the house and I was strong enough to venture out of the bed (heavily sanitized). Alas, now Adam is sick (something different), so we are back to a full house.
7. I mastered Cubis 2. Adam was so jealous when he heard that I finished all twenty levels in the web game. A few times.
8. I played Bejeweled 2. And Jewel Quest, and Gem Shop and Chuzzle.
9. I played Hearts online. My old name moonfever was gone on zone.com and I couldn't even get moonfever0 and had to settle for moonfever3 as moonfever4 (my favorite number) was taken too! I lost the game, but I did manage to shoot the moon.
   
10. I ordered a side order of yeast infection to go along with my antibiotics. I hate how antibiotics mess with that delicate ecosystem down there...
11. I yelled at the kids. Apparently, Doug says that I take it right up to yelling and don't even build up to it. Most of the time it was something like "Don't touch me!" as if I had the Ebola virus.
    
12. I changed the sheets on the bed twice.
13. I can't think of anything else, I'm sick after all!
    

Wordless Wednesday - Sperm Mousepad

In my illness, Dova (age 3) has stepped in as photographer this week and offers up our sperm mousepad (see them swimming in the upper left corner?).

Happy 500 posts

In my sickness, I totally blew by my 500th post with Thanks for the Well Wishes. Believe it or not, I'm still sick, not as severely, but still running a fever for the 9th day now. My head and neck are also hurting because I can only sleep without coughing on one side, so now my imagination and Googling are running wild with thoughts of meningitis. Anyway, I will lay low in blog land for a while so that I can concentrate on getting better. I don't even want to think about what I still need to buy for the holidays, let alone Dova's Birthday invitations which need to go out right away if we want to have a chance of having a party. Not good to be a sick mom for the holidays! Thankfully, Doug is doing a fantastic job holding down the fort and not killing the kids.

Doctor Rant

Image from Made in ENGLAND by Gentlemen

I love my primary care physician, she is an MIT graduate in Course 2 (Mechanical Engineering) which means she has perfect credentials (i.e. exactly the same as me). Wait, that doesn't qualify me to be a doctor... Oh yeah, she went medical school as well, details. Anyway, I had been running a high fever since Friday night with some minor coughing. On Monday, I couldn't schedule my usual doctor for urgent care so I ended seeing another doctor in the group and I was not impressed. Today, I had to go back again because I am STILL SICK and got another doctor and what a difference! So much so, I became infuriated thinking about my first experience. The first doctor was a young Indian woman (I have nothing against them in general, just this one). She looked me over extremely quickly, glancing in my ears and throat, listening to my lungs for a millisecond in each spot over my shirt, taking all of 15 seconds to do the entire exam. This is how the conversation went (my thoughts in parens, I was too polite and too sick to speak up). She had a flippant attitude the entire time, like she wasn't impressed with my illness.

Doc 1: Looks like you have the flu.

Me: But I had a flu shot.

Doc 1: When did you get it?

Me: Beginning of November (actually end of October)

Doc 1: It takes 21 days to become effective.

Me: It's been longer than that.

Doc 1: I think it's viral so you don't need antibiotics, you should start feeling better in 3-4 days.

Me: Okay. (What the hell do you mean, anytime I have a barely controllable fever that goes over 103°F for more than three days, I need some freakin' antibiotics!#!!@!#! That's why I came here in the first place!)

Doc 1: Just keep taking your Tylenol and Motrin and alternating them. If every 4 hours doesn't work, try every three hours.

Me: Okay. (Are you trying to overdose me or what? I know the Motrin says do not exceed 6 tablets in 24 hours and the Tylenol says do not exceed 8 tablets in 24 hours. I have those bottles memorized!)

Doc 1: (type type type on a laptop) I'm ordering a blood test and a chest x-ray just in case you have some pneumonia hiding in there. I'm sure they will be fine.

Me: Okay. (If you actually listened to my lungs, you would've heard they were clear. And if you're sure it will be fine why are you ordering an x-ray? To appease me or something?)

Doc 1: (leaving) It's down the hall and down the stairs.

Me: What? Where?

She finally slows down for one second to point out where I need to go. While I was waiting for my x-ray, I told the desk that I decided not to have it. She asked why and I told her because I didn't think I needed it. I got a call later from the nurse saying that my potassium level was slightly low, so eat more bananas, broccoli, etc. What kind of freakin' blood test did she order? Does my not eating in the last three days have anything to do with it?!?! Did you check my cholesterol too?

So six days into this illness, my fever is the same (as I suspected) and the coughing is much worse. Today, I got an appointment with an older Chinese man, one I've seen before and who magically cured me from a two month long illness two years ago with an antibiotic safe for use while nursing. He spent at least four times as long looking me over, listening for a full second in each spot under my shirt, in about three times as many spots. This is how the conversation went:

Doc 2: Well your lungs sound clear, but there still may be something there. Would you like an x-ray?

Me: Not really.

Doc 2: How about this, would you like to try some moderately aggressive antibiotics and see if you improve?

Me: Yes (Hallelujah!)

Doc 2: Would you like some cough medicine with Codeine?

Me: No, I should be fine without that.

Doc 2: I'll just print a paper prescription so if you change your mind you'll have that option. The cough might be with you for a while after your fever goes away.

Doc 2: Do you have any questions?

Me: No. (Will you adopt me?)

What an angel! He took his time, was respectful, asked for my input, and was even humorous during the exam. We even discussed exactly which antibiotic to use as I wanted to avoid another Zithromax disaster. Is that so hard to do in this day and age? I still gotta perfect the right number of days to wait before seeing the doctor to guarantee getting some drugs. Obviously three is too little and six is unbearable. I'll try for five next time.

Welcome back ClustrMaps

I always respond to quick feedback (see comments on the last post), so ClustrMaps is here to stay. Welcome back!

ClustrMaps removed from blogs everywhere

I think ClustrMaps is one of the oldest widgets around and is the last widget to be removed from my blog (along with Flickr). As Skelliewag puts it in 50 Tips to Unclutter Your Blog:

21. Remove widgets showing which countries your visitors are coming from. The internet is quite old now. It’s no longer amazing to us that people can visit a blog from overseas.

Sniff! Sad but true. I'll visit you in this post. Thanks for all the overseas visits!

Thursday Thirteen #24 - Good things about being sick

As I sit here suffering from what I'll dub the "Canadian" flu, it's always good to look at the bright side of things. Today I hit a high temperature of 103.6°F! Woohoo! (Trust me, I was not saying that at the time...) So here's a list of good things about being sick.

1. I get out of work. Yippee!
2. I don't have to tend to the darn kids, hard to do while bedridden. Although that doesn't prevent them from having tantrums on the floor next to my bed.
   
3. I don't have to cook.
4. I can use a laptop in bed.
   
5. I can still blog (deliriously) if my temp is under 102°F.
6. I can eat in bed.
   
7. I don't have to shovel snow.
   
8. I don't have to do any household chores like cleaning and laundry.
9. I'll hopefully lose some weight as my appetite is not very good.
10. I actually get to read the woefully neglected books on my nightstand.
    
11. I get to sleep as long as I want (granted, waking up every hour with fits of coughing or the sweats).
12. I can sleep with a kitty at my feet (always on my side, hmph!).
13. I will eventually get better!
    

Wordless Wednesday - Michael loves to fly

Here's Adam's cousin Michael jumping off our slide three years ago.

And recently after completing a soccer head shot.

Assimilated into the Disney Princess cult

I blame myself for buying The Little Mermaid for Dova last year (yes, the original DVD is still MIA) and coupled with our trip to Disney World, she has gone completely Disney Princess mad. But me? Surely, I am impervious to such folly. However, not only did I ace Facebook's Name that Disney Princess quiz, I thoroughly enjoyed the new movie Enchanted. It was hilarious, sweet, and made all sorts of funny references to past princess movies. I kept catching myself with a huge grin on my face during the movie. Even Adam, the ultimate princess skeptic, said he enjoyed it. Apparently with an 8.1 rating on IMDB, we're not the only one who succumbed to this movie's charm. We actually went on opening night, where I went 1.5 hours before the family to secure tickets. Talk about dedication! Apparently resistance is futile.

The Killing Fields

 I had the opportunity to watch The Killing Fields when it first came out in 1984 at MIT, with a Q&A session with Sydney Schanberg, but at the time was not up for a movie about genocide. I finally watched it on the plane last month. Unfortunately, I only had my new V-Moda Vibe Duo headphones and although they are "noise-isolating" they are not "noise-reducing" so I couldn't hear most of the dialog even with the laptop set at full volume (stupid Lenovo). I watched most of it without much dialog and could get the gist of the movie, but then I watched it again off the plane. Even without the dialog, it was extremely moving and the range of emotions was apparent, from fear to shock to hatred. Watching with the dialog definitely added another layer to the movie as there were many voiceovers that I had been unaware of. The interesting thing in the special features was a bio on the actor Dr. Haing S. Ngor. The DVD said:

Born in Samrong Young, Cambodia, Ngor was a doctor (OB/GYN) engaged to Chang My Huoy before the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975. Ngor and Huoy were imprisoned and tortured by Pol Pot forces. Huoy died after experiencing a forced premature labor. After his third imprisonment and release from prison, Ngor put Huoy's picture in a golden locket, which he always swore to wear...

Ngor was murdered February 26, 1996 in the open parking garage of his home next to his car in the Chinatown section of Los Angeles... The attack was not politically motivated. They wanted the locket he swore never to part with.

Such a tragic life for the award winning actor. He lived through the atrocities, so acting the part of Dith Pran was completely convincing. I found more on him on Wikipedia and found more information on his life:

As an ethnic Chinese he faced persecution and he was compelled to conceal his education and medical skills (and indeed the fact that he wore eyeglasses) to avoid the new regime's intense hostility to intellectuals and professionals. He was expelled from Phnom Penh, along with the bulk of its two million inhabitants, as part of the Khmer Rouge's "Year Zero" socialist experiment and imprisoned in a concentration camp along with his wife, My-Huoy, who subsequently died during childbirth in the camp. Although a gynecologist, he was unable to treat his wife who required a Cesarean section as he would have been exposed and both he and his wife would very probably have been killed.

This reminded me of a Radio Lab episode on Morality, where they discuss the M*A*S*H episode where a mother smothers and kills her baby who was coughing in order to hide their group's location from enemy forces. To me, that is completely unfathomable, because I would feel that even if the baby gave away their position, there is a chance, albeit a slight one, that it would not necessarily mean certain death. Then again, the brutality of the situation under the Khmer Rouge left not much hope as they were looking for any excuse to execute people.

Thanks for the well wishes!

Not much better today, although I managed to drive myself to the doctor only to have it dismissed as viral (left both kids with Doug because it is a snow day). The doctor offered a blood test and a chest x-ray but I declined on the x-ray because my cough is not pneumonia-like (not that I've ever had it, but I can tell). She felt that the 100-103°F temperature swings were fine. Let's just say I got less than top notch care from the "attending physician". Dova made a miraculous recovery today so maybe it is viral. Last night I couldn't write my post on The Killing Fields movie because Doug actually wanted to get some sleep, so instead I dreamt deliriously about it all night. Not exactly a restful convalescing topic. That and dreaming about laying out all the cables of my instrument at work and "breathing" through the wires to make sure they were correct. So without further ado, onto The Killing Fields!

Sick again

This is the second time that I've gotten this god awful illness where I run a high fever continually without it ever breaking below 101°F even with medication. If it is over 102, I'm completely incapacitated, and usually have the chills, where I bundle up under four blankets including an electric one, and have a fleece hat pulled down over my head to the tip of my nose and my shirt pulled up above my mouth to stay warm. If it is around 101.5, like it is now, I deliriously try to compose blog posts in my head. I can usually get out of bed, but I feel like I leave hot footprints everywhere I step and I risk getting the chills again. The worst part is the unshaven legs. At first, I didn't put on some sleep pants, so every single hair was sending needles of pain to the other leg. I finally had to fall asleep with one arm between my legs as it was less painful on my arms. The last time I had this illness, I failed to go to the doctor for a week and wrote many a delirious blog post including Mother and Daughter Insomnia. Apparently I am not heeding my own advice not to blog while having a fever. I was prescribed Zithromax which would have been effective, but unfortunately since I have a stomach sensitivity to the similar Erythromycin, the first double dose gave me vomiting and diarrhea for 2 days straight. As if I weren't sick enough! Unfortunately, Dova seems to have the same illness this time, so I not only have to try to take care of myself, but I have to take care of her and her vomiting on top of it. We are both going to doctors tomorrow in a snowstorm. So onward with the delirious blog posting...

Gender Genie

Anyone happening by this blog would have no problem identifying that the author is female, where the title and picture are dead giveaways. But according to the Gender Genie, more times than not, my writing is pegged at "male". According to their site:

Inspired by an article and a test in The New York Times Magazine, the Gender Genie uses a simplified version of an algorithm developed by Moshe Koppel, Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and Shlomo Argamon, Illinois Institute of Technology, to predict the gender of an author. Read more at BookBlog, The New York Times, and The Guardian.

Here is a typical result:

Words: 702

(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)

Female Score: 665 Male Score: 773

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

My guess is that my engineering style overpowers my writing!