My Ravellenic Medal Podium

IMAG0718.jpg, originally uploaded by fudh4x0r.

The Cowl is a simple seed stitch border, some stripes with slipped stitches, and then another seed stitch border. I made it for Chas. The yarn is Red Heart Soft.

The WIP Wrestling is Byron the Clubfoot Sheep. He was knitted in fourteen pieces that then had to be sewn up together. Did I mention I hate sewing up? I knitted 7 feet in order to produce 2 pairs that matched. There was no way I could have knitted 4 that matched. The yarns are Hobby Lobby's Bamboo Spun for the wooly parts and Bernat Cotton Tots for his head and extremities.

The Scarf Hockey has a 6 stitch cast on, twisted loop bottom in lieu of fringe, knit all the even rows, expand to 20 stitches by adding 1 stitch on each side on every odd row. Then GARTER GARTER GARTER until it's time to reduce down to 6, do the twisted loops, and cast off. The yarn is the remainder of the bamboo spun from Byron plus another skein I bought at the same time because I thought I might want to make a bunch of sheep. HAR.

All in all, I am quite pleased with the amount of knitting I did during Those Games That Don't Want Us To Associate With Them. I am having some neck pain on the left and elbow pain on the right. We won't even start on how sore my eyes are.

I think my favorite part of the Olympics is seeing countries recently or not so recently liberated, where the athletes may now truly sing their own anthems.

Seeing the moms hug their winners gets me every time as well.

In Mom News at my house, my baby turned EIGHT today. My mind, she is blown. The day he was born, he turned at the last minute, to an unfavorable position, leading to an emergency c-section. There was a hurricane Charley on the news. Life has been like that since then. This kid, my Charlie, continues to amaze me with his curiosity, his humor, his volcanic temper, his foul feet, his amazing energy and his big, loving heart.

Not that kind of shrub

IMAG0633.jpg, originally uploaded by fudh4x0r.

I just strained my first batch of shrub. (A colonial era method for preserving fruit where you steep it with vinegar and sugar and drink it later mixed with water and possibly a little hooch.)

I made it with a bag of frozen mixed berries, 3/4 cup turbinado sugar, and 1 1/2 cups vinegar. I basically chucked it in the fridge, giving it a little shake now and again over the course of 3 weeks. I am having 4T in a pint of club soda. It's delicious.

Winner: Iz Won

I won a copy of the new Jill Shalvis book from Dear Author!  I have just started reading book one and so far it is a great read.  I'm a sucker for construction/renovation themes.  The Home Repair is Murder books are good for mystery fans, by the by.  I guess I need to hit the bookstore/library/innerwebs for books 2 and 3 so that book 4 makes sense.   I haven't been getting through many books.  Actually, I have a little case of startitis.  I am in progress on 4 books. 

The first subject I'm reading on  summer reading for kids.  The Chuckster is not a huge fan of reading, so finding him something is a challenge.  The Augster is big time into the fantasy/sci-fi genre, so finding him stuff that is both good and age appropriate is a challenge.  James Patterson has a site called Read, Kiddo, Read! with excellent recommendations for little dudes.  Nancy Pearl's blog has great recommendations, but is a little light on the organization.  I do love a tag-cloud something fierce.  Of course, you can also sign up for recommendations from the Omaha Public Library, or presumably your local library.  Caldecott and Golden Sower awards have their lists of past winners on their websites also. 

The next subject I'm reading on is really an undisciplined sort of gang of work related topics.  LEAN, group dysfunction, automated test tools, testing methodology, IT Culture, Women in IT.  I haven't been happy with any of the personal development plans I've written since I came over to IT from the business, mostly because my department reorganizes a lot. I've reported to 9 different people in 7 years.  Some of them more than once.    Every manager has different ideas for what I should be doing, but I don't get to stick with one long enough to make any traction.  One course of action is to write my own and present it as a done deal.  Or you know, I could opt out of doing it inside my employer's system and maintain total dominion.  Presenting it as a done deal carries the challenge of sticking to my plan and tactfully refusing suggestions.  Tactful. . . . hmmmmmm.  Opting out presents the challenge of paying for it myself and finding my own time to get shit done.  I notice that the most productive bloggers in terms of writing tend to be contractors who are hitting software in a variety of industries.  A lot of testing focused bloggers also split time with speaking, writing, and working.  I am not interested in being a public speaker.  Well, I am not interested in traveling around to speak.  You're all invited to come over for a beer to talk about testing. 

As far as yarn goes, Hitchhiker is an excellent knit for variegated yarns.  Sadly, I am quite prone to purling the first stitch on each row instead of just on the pointy side.  I'm on the 32nd point of the 42.  I'd show you a picture, but my phone is sulking.  I put it in time out.  (Note to HTC Incredible Overlords:  your constant changes to the OS of this phone don't seem to make it any better, so knock that shit off.)

How funny is it that the spell check of Blogger doesn't recognize 'bloggers' as a correct word?

Book 22: Let's Pretend This Never Happened

Do you read The Bloggess?  No?  Click the link.  I'll wait.


Jenny Lawson's memoir is screamingly funny.  I am torn between wanting to make all my friends read it and not.  If they read it, they will certainly find me less weird.  On the other side of that equation, if they read it, they will certainly find me less funny too. 

Jenny grew up in Texas with the  most profoundly weird father since Gomez Addams.  Can you handle reading about taxidermy?  What about a duck that gets eaten by hoboes?  The story of her courtship with Victor is very sweet.  And there is a chapter about her pug, Barnaby, that made me cry and laugh and cry and laugh. 

In Dreams

Last night, I dreamed I was had by Zeus.  I had twins and one of them was a black swan.  (The other one was a boy, human.) Jason was not pleased.   In my defense it went down in Ireland and Zeus was really funny.  And a god. 

I'd been listening to Irish public radio and the announcer had been interviewing Pagans about some change coming.  She was rather rude about it "Have you ever seen Pan?"  "Maybe your baby is a fairy changeling" etc.  I turned off the radio and went to walk past the docks to a swimming cove and saw him out of the corner of my eye.

Then it was flash forward to the awkward moment in the delivery room when I was handed a swan and a boy.  So the sexytime happenings were but a memory and not truly part of the dream.

Finished Object: Radiating Star

IMAG0592.jpg, originally uploaded by fudh4x0r.

This is the Radiating Star blanket, by Alexis Layton. I used just shy of 4 skeins of Lion Wool-Ease and it's 4 ft across. The edge does curl a bit, so I believe that after it's had a little bath, I shall block it aggressively into an octagon shape. The bind off was a real slog.

I did end up using the expanded rows, so if you make this of worsted yarn, be prepared to have both parts.

2012 Books 12 - 21

Book 12: Bring on the Blessings by Beverly Jenkins. 

This was one of the free Friday books available to nook users.  The heroine gets a metric crapton of money in her divorce, so she buys a town founded in Kansas by freed slaves in the 19th century but now floundering and saves it.  Some of the townsfolk don’t really want her there.  The children, praise the Lord, are NOT plot moppets.  It was a rather wish fulfillmenty sort of book with religion/spirituality sort of skirted around.  I have heard great things about Jenkins historicals and I will have to pick one or 2 of them up. 

Book 13:  Sweet Enemy:  A Veiled Seduction Novel by Heather Snow

I find historicals with scientists to be rather interesting.  I wish I had taken some of the classes in college about the history of science.  The heroine is a chemist.  Sadly the book lacks in explosions.   Well, outside of the bedroomy types.

Book 14:  A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare

More historical science, this time archeology.  A nice addition to the series.

Books 15 and 16 The Year of Living Scandalously and The Revenge of Lord Eberlin by Julia London

Book 15 has a plot moppet, but I did like the story overall.  Book 16 has an Alpha-hole hero I was much less fond of this one.  I have the 3^rd book in this set, but I’m not in any hurry to read it. 

Books 17, 18 and 19 The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Like millions of others around the world, only slightly later, I have finished reading the Hunger Games Trilogy.  I read nearly the entire trilogy over Easter weekend when we were in Western Nebraska. So I sort of pictured a beige expanse of emptiness as the perfect stadium for a battle to the death.  It’s harder to hide on the prairie.  Also, the water above ground frequently has farming and ranching runoff.

I found the first book to be the best in terms of pacing.  Very tightly wound.  I have a hard time following Epic Battle Scenes.  Yes, Epic Battles are chaotic, but the writing of this was more organized and I didn’t have to go back and reread to find out who killed whom. The ending really was an ending but also was an introduction to the idea that it was about to hit the fan.

Catching Fire was full of fan hitting craziness, but the ideas were plotted well.  I did find the whole dithering over whether or not Katniss would pick Gale or Peeta to be supremely irritating.  Reminiscent of the dreaded Team Edward Team Jacob Nonsense from the Twilight books.  Katniss’s experiences growing up under the regime of the capital made her emotionally crippled in many more ways than an ability to give and receive romantic love. Those other ways were not really plumbed to their depths. 

Mockingjay could have explored the  differences between the two oppressive regimes a bit more.  In fact, I think Star Trek TNG did a better job with the idea of a regime that is peacefully oppressive in several episodes.   Ultimately, a lot of pointless deaths and a not very satisfying ending.  I have to imagine the survivors made some of  the most fucked up parents of all times

Books 20 and 21:  A Great Deliverance and  Payment in Blood by Elizabeth George

I’ve picked up the Inspector Lynley series.  It should take me a while to get to a point where I am impatiently waiting the newest book.   These people are SO MESSED UP.  Sure, they can spot murderers, but they can’t seem to get their acts together and be anything but glum, lonely, or grimly determined.   Allow me also for a moment to beat upon my old drum. Ebooks where the original publication was years ago should not cost the same as a new paperback.  I’ve purchased the  first 2 Lynley’s as ebooks, but I’ve got the next several from the used book store  I would be so much more inclined to pick up established series of books if any books over 10 years old were half the price. 

Wingspan

I have started the  Wingspan pattern from Tri'Coterie Designs and it is fun.  I am doing my short rows with the holes.  I would like to learn a hole-free technique, but I think for this project, the holes are fine.  I have, like many knitters, a crapton of sock yarn, so I've also bought the Hitchhiker's set of patterns from Martina Behm.  I will probably get some new short row techniques for the Hitchhiker and the Lintilla.  (I may make Trillian first though.  I really like that one and have a pretty green and purple yarn for it.  I must say that it is rough that many of the patterns call for The Elusive Wollmeise yarn, seldom found in the wild and rarely found for trade unless the colors are Too Much For Me.) 

Knitting the wingspan, I got a small way into my 7th triangle and found I had dropped a stitch  that was supposed to be slipped and it fell so far that I had to rip back to the first third of the 6th triangle. The yarn giveth and the yarn taketh away.

I am using the e-wrap to cast on new stitches and I think I'd have preferred something a bit firmer. 

I'm using some hand dyed sock yarn from a local vendor who no longer vends.  It has a looser twist than I can sometimes handle, but the colors are great.  Green flecked with Blue-Brown-Gold. 

Using my first Addi Turbo Lace needle.  The hype:  I GET IT.

Lately while I knit I've been watching Inspector Morse mysteries or episodes of Foyle's War.  Morse really needs to stop sleeping with suspects. 

Books of 2012

Just the ones I've finished so far:

Fiction:
Book 1: Succubus Revealed by Richelle Mead
Book 2:  Notorious Pleasures by Elizabeth Hoyt
Book 3:  Drink Deep by Chloe Neil
Book 4:  Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
Book 5:  Bet Me by Jennifer Cruisie
Book 5:  One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
Book 6:  Until There Was You by Kristan Higgins
Book 7:  She Went All the Way by Meg Cabot
Book 8: Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt
Book 9: Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

NonFiction:
Book 10: Lynchpin by Seth Godin
Book 11: The Dip by Seth Godin


I must say, I found Seth Godin's books utterly irrelevant to my life. His assumption is that everyone wants to climb as high in the corporate ladder as possible and presumably make as much money as possible.  He is rather glib about dispensing the advice to quit and move on.  Clearly, the guy has no one in his life who is financially dependent upon him.  And the fact that he tries to spin his past business failures as expertise is pretty much revolting.  I have to wonder how many lives of others who were along for his enchanted ride in goofyland were financially or emotionally ruined.  He seems pretty self involved and clueless, frankly.  Plus, I went to his website and he wears stupid glasses.

If you are looking for good business reads, I recommend Jason Seiden ("My Life is Profersonal") who discusses the mingling of professional and personal without devolving into some idiotic mommy war.   His blog is great.

I also recommend a thoughtful read of The No Asshole Rule.

Grimm Legacy was a very fun read.  My son got it at the book fair a couple of weeks ago and it was my favorite type of book as a youngster, combining a certain autonomy from adults (see also, The Secret Garden and The Boxcar Children) and magical stuff (see Harry Potter, The Crystal Cave, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe,  and the first 7 or 8 Xanth books). 

The Succubus series conclusion was satisfying.  I was glad to see it was not going to drag on ad infinitum.  

The Night Huntress books by Jeaniene Frost started off slow-- the heroine is immature and rather stupid in the first book.  I am sorry to say that  she has a certain dynamic with her mother, where she craves her mother's approval which her mother is pretty clearly withholding intentionally, ugh.  Hate that.  Grow a pair, girl.  Also, gentle readers will want to skip the next part because it's about Ess Eee Ex.  These books have A LOT of it, and it is graphic.  I have heard it said that in Urban Paranormal that Anal is the New Oral and umm, I guess it is in this series.  So if you are not into that sort of thing, I've warned you.

Now that I am caught up on the Chicagoland Vampires series, I have to wait till August for the next installment.  Like a NORMAL PERSON.  It's so nice to start a series a few books in, but sooner or later, I get caught up to the author.  The end of the previous book was very WTF and this book ALSO was very WTF at the end.  The vamps of Cadogan House spend Drink Deep under observation by the big council of whatever.  I found the vibe in the house very much like what it was like at work under the previous regime.  And that's all I have to say about THAT online.

The Maiden Lane Series by Hoyt starts well, falters in book 2 in my opinion, but then gives us one of my favorite romance tropes-- Pirate With A Heart of Gold.  (Other favorites:  Girls Dressed As Boys Making Hero Wonder if He Has Caught The Dreadful Affliction of Ancient Greece, Heroes or Heroines Who Are Secretly Authors/Artists/In Trade, Treasure Hunts, Ghost Stories)

The 3 Contemporary Romances I read were by pretty much my 3 fave contemporary romance authors.  Cruisie, Higgins and Cabot are all very funny and write a sweet romance. There is really not enough humor in Romance as a genre. Unlike life, where Romance and Humor are often hand in hand. 

Impending reading topics for non fiction will focus on Agile and Lean methodology for software development.  Don't be jealous!

Clockwork

IMAG0506, originally uploaded by fudh4x0r.

This pattern from Westknits is mostly garter stitch, and yet, I didn't find it too much of a slog at the end.

I swapped with a friend it for some cross stitch. I knitted it in dk yarn (Kashmira from Joann's Sensations line) on a size six needle. It blocked out to be the size of the top bunk-- a twin bed. Well, a wee bit wider. After blocking, I would have liked the gauge a bit more snug. I have some other dk yarn set aside to make one for myself. I may though, make West's current pattern from Knitty. This one was well worth the money, so I may also buy another of his lovely shawl patterns for the yarn in question. The yarn is rather aggressively girly, so the geometric qualities of his patters will balance things out.

Stitch Markers

IMAG0518.jpg, originally uploaded by fudh4x0r.

There are a crapzillion tutorials on the web for making these. Here is mine.

For tools, I had only crimping pliers and some sort of pliers with a bent front? I think I needed some other needle nose pliers. I may well have them, but I can't find them. Oh, and I spilled an entire jar of glitter in my craftsman tool chest that I use for nonknitting craft stuff. Glitter: The Herpes of Crafting. I will NEVER get rid of that shit.

For materials, I had findings in gold plate. I couldn't find sterling and nickel irritates my skin. I'm a thenthive printhess. The findings included 2 inch gold plated headpins, 10 mm rings, gold crimp beads, bead spacers. I bought a small tube of beads to supplement my random leftover beads.

Put 3 random beads with spacers or crimpers between them. I used some crimp beads as spacers because I am pretty sure there are no crafting cops.

Above that, put a crimp bead.

Bend the head pin over, making a loop and thread the non-head end into the crimp bead. That was the part that was the biggest hassle. I had a couple head pins that got hopelessly mangled.

Crimp.

Add 10mm ring to the loop on the headpin.

If I were doing these again, I would use a 3 inch headpin and skip the 10mm ring. I would make the loop and then give the end a little twist above the beads, on the stem, as it were.

So now. . . .my knitting has jewelry. More jewelry than I do, actually. I think I spent about 90 minutes making 24 of them. I am not built for speed though. I tend to fuss unnecessarily over things like making them all the same or all unique. I went with unique, but then I wondered if I had randomized the bead placement enough. It's tough work being nuts.

ReverbBroads Day2 Prompt

There is a facebook group for bloggers called Reverb Broads.  I liked 'em for this writing prompt:  What is the stupidest thing you've done this year.

It's kind of them to narrow it down to 2011 for me. . .

You know what I did that was stupid?  I got caught up in a bad scene at work.  I don't know how it started but I know how it ended.  I can't talk about specifics or I could get fired.

I pretty much learned all the same lessons I've been learning for the last few years about  forgiveness and work politics.  I feel pretty stupid for staying in Stockholm, but I get a lot of paid time off.

Let's Kill Monday

Seriously.  I will bring the shovel. 

Book Whatever: Sarah's Key

I have a Nook, so I can buy books with no forethought.  Normally, this is only bad for my bank account, not my mental health.  I saw Sarah's Key recommended to me because I liked a couple other books set around WWII.  The title rang a bell and I thought that maybe the mom of one of Charlie's friends recommended it.  I bought it. In the first chapter, I started to wonder if reading this was a good idea.  I couldn't bloody stop myself.  I have not fully conquered the need to finish every damn book I start.  This book is only slightly less depressing than Jude The Obscure.  They both have divorce and suicide, but this one has fewer dead children.  There are Nazi Collaborators  though, which sort of edges out Thomas Hardy.  I can't say I recommend this if you are in one of those stretches where you are doggedly trying to keep up your own spirits in a stiff upper lip sort of way. Turns out it was my mom who recommended it.  She has a lot higher tolerance for that sort of thing.

Things I Find Baffling

There is a new interface  now, if you are blogging, instead of getting a smallish text box with a lot of business around it, you get a smallish text box with a lot of white space around it.  I can see that those with writer's block or performance anxiety might be losing their crap right now. The tags are easier to select if you use a set of them.  Other than that, I am not sure if this is progress or just change.  I am in favor of progress, opposed to change for its own sake.

I am baffled that no matter how much of an asshole someone is, that Jesus loves them anyhow.  There seem to be an excess of assholes around me lately.  It's a constant struggle not to be an asshole back.  Good thing  I read "The No Asshole Rule".  If you work as part of a team that is in crisis, I highly endorse it.

I don't understand why the last 10 rows are so daunting on my current 2 projects.  I am just slogging along.  

I find it baffling that there are so few washable striping yarns.  If I want to make a mitered crosses blanket that is machine washable, I am relegated to making it on sock yarn and teeny tiny needles.  I think I shall pass on that.  I have not ruled out hobby lobby's "I Love This Yarn!" despite the irrational exuberance of its name.


I am also confused that anyone thinks jingoistic flag-waving makes them seem like they have contributed anything.  I don't care if we are talking about 9-11, the environment, or the jobs market.  Facebook Slactivism is on my last nerve.

I don't understand why I have totally lost the love for my little book reports.  I still clipping along at the rate of about a book every week, but I'm keen on the paperwork of keeping track.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation (With! Hyper! Hyper! Links!)

Technically, I was not vacationing.  I was working, but I went to Jersey City, NJ to train some of my work peeps about the application for which I'm a subject matter expert.  Incidentally, I feel like a complete douche when I call myself a subject matter expert, but I'm not as much a douche as people who call an SME a smeeeeeee.  It's not a word! It's an acronym! Don't do that!  Ess. Emm. Eeee.

I worked on a powerpoint ahead of time, deleting and restarting it with the kind of vigor that only an overthinking neurotic nutjob possesses.  Maybe this is unique to me, but formatting the slides and taking just the right snippet of a screenshot takes me far longer than composing the text, but in the time I fiddle with the fonts and sizes and colors I continually redesign my topic flow and it's just a hot mess of crazylady.  Midway through presenting it, I was asked to redo my syllabus.  So I am taking the half-assed final version of ppt and trying to make it into a comprehensive document with a table of contents and everything.  I am completely serious when I say that I will be needing a med check.  Soonish.

The limo came for me at 5:30 am last Monday.  This was my first ride in one that didn't go to a funeral.  So that was a nice change, though I am pretty confident the retail purchase price of the car was very close to being the cost of my entire house.  I got to the airport at 5:48, the recommended 2 hours ahead of flight time. The airline sucked so badly I got to wait over an hour and 20 minutes just to check my bag.  Fortunately, the TSA decided I had an honest face and sent me right through the line.  Just so you know, you have to remove laptops from laptop bags and put them in their own plastic bin to go through the machine.  Everyone seems to have a dell.  I had a purple sticker on mine, courtesy of Chuckles.  I am not sure how the other 3 dell owners figured out who belonged to which computer.  So get yourself a distinctive little sticker for your laptop!

Right around the time boarding was to start, the pilot came through the door where the plane docs to the building and set off the alarm.  Ten minutes of shrill, ear splitting, skin crawling Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. .

It does not inspire confidence when your pilot can't help but set off the alarm.  Nor does it inspire confidence that the airline has not entrusted them with permission to turn the damned thing off.

Eventually, the nice folks of the TSA made it stop and then we boarded the 'plane'.  Please note my use of snicker quotes.  One seat, aisle, two more seats. That's the width.  Nineteen rows of seats.  I guess when it comes to planes, I'm a size queen.  Let me back up, I have not flown in the Brave New World.  My previous flight was March of 2001.  I was a bit of a basket case.  I talked to strangers in the airport.  I checked and rechecked for my ID, my boarding pass, my knitting, my book, my other book.  I don't know how I thought I'd get to that much in a nonstop flight from Omaha to NJ.  Clearly I underestimated the amount of time I'd devote to reading the safety pamphlet, clutching the armrests, and clenching my jaw to avoid vomiting up a cup of tea, a 16 oz breve (with 4 shots of espresso), and a can of coke.  In retrospect, I would not advise that nervous fliers mainline caffeine until they hit a level of tweakiness comparable to a monkey on crack.   (I can quit any time I want.  I just don't want to quit.)  The plane did a little more bobbing and weaving than I like when I'm up above the cloud layer.  I compulsively looked at other passengers to see if anyone else was panicking.  Turns out I was the token nutbar.

When I got to NJ, I was able to get my bag straight away and my next driver appeared to need directions to my office.  I could not  give them.  Even if I lived in JC, it would be a pretty slim chance  I could give directions.  My sense of direction is somewhat less accurate than that of Christopher Columbus.  If I had set off to discover a spice route, we'd have found penguins. We eventually got there and when I got up to my temporary desk and said hello to all the people I normally talk to only on the phone, I realized I was completely fucking knackered. I put in a pathetic attempt at work that afternoon.  Everyone was amazed that I was even shorter than they expected.  Still it was good to see my fellow testers, my environment engineers, and the developers. 

When the day was done, I took my first ever ride on light rail!  Matt walked me to the hotel, since I was sort of weaving with fatigue and couldn't get my sense of direction. I checked in at the hotel and found they'd put me in a suite.  AND IT WAS SWEET.  It was! The outer room was a sofa/chair/tv/dorm fridge sort of set up.  I had total dominion over the remote! Just past a set of French doors, I had 2 full sized beds to pick from, both overlooking a lot of tall, sparkly buildings and looking into an immaculate bathroom with a dry toilet seat.  It's the simple things in life that bring me happiness.  Oh, and there was a second tv and remote!  I got there just before 6, had a mediocre chicken piccata in the restaurant and went upstairs.  You know what I did?  I did what I had looked forward to since I booked my flight and room.  I DEPANTSED!  Free! Free from the tyranny of pants!  I tried to sign onto the internet, which was $12.95 for 24 hours, and yet so slow I couldn't stream an episode of Suits from USA network's site.  Don't judge!  Gabriel Macht has La Voce. He could grow a hunchback and I'd still listen to him read the phone book. I gave up on internet after about 15 minutes of tomfoolery. Then there was some non streaming tv watching.  By 9:20 eastern, I was nearly unconscious.  I snuggled into the bed on stage right and made sense of the 5 pillows. That bed was like being snuggled by angels and the baby Jesus.  I slept through until 6:30 when my alarm went off.  Probably the last time I slept like that was farther back than my last airplane flight.

I walked to the office on Tuesday and proceeded to annoy pretty much everyone by being perky and happy and shit.  I felt like I was standing outside myself! Who is this manic woman?  I don't know but she's wearing my underpants!  After proving to be too stupid to connect a laptop to a projector, I taught the basics of order management and then went for a Mexican lunch with my boss and one of my students.  I only wish I hadn't gone to JC during Ramadan so that my teammates could come along.  I never feel like I'm really connected to people until we eat together.  And eating alone feels wrong, like when I've accidentally left Bakers with a case of soda under my cart that I didn't pay for. Tuesday afternoon I worked on a project of mine, worked on documentation, and had a lovely chat on IM with Jon B, who is in yet another office.  He had restaurant recommendations for me, Light Horse Tavern and a Cuban place, but he  couldn't recall the name.  The next thing I knew, everyone was gone and it was just shy of 6pm.  So I went outside and I walked.

I walked to to the water, where I could see NYC across the Hudson.  I walked past the Memorial for the Katyn Massacre of 1940.  I walked past the memorial for the citizens of Jersey City who died in the terrorist attacks of 9/11.  I walked all over the waterfront, toting my laptop bag for good measure.  I wanted, more than anything that evening, to get a really stellar picture of the Statue of Liberty for my dad.  She sort of hides in and out of the scenery as you walk along the shore.  It's like being in an Escher sketch!  Eventually, I was at the ferry landing and the brochure said they arrive every half hour for trips around the harbor.  It was 7:49 and my cell battery was on red.  I seriously considered rolling the dice and taking the 8pm ferry, knowing I'd be walking back to my hotel at 8:30, in the dark essentially.  Remember my sense of direction? Yeah, I called my friend, Matt, thinking he'd yell some sense into me but he didn't pick up and I left a message. The father of the nice family on the landing said to me "Honey! Where you from?"

"Nebraska," says I.  "I want to get a better picture of the Statue of Liberty!"

"Oh honey!  Don't be telling your business on the cell phone in public! And don't even think about walking home from here alone at night!"

My dad's paternal grandfather came through Ellis Island twice.  The first time, he didn't realize that when he went home to visit, he'd get conscripted into the Italian army and almost die of a saber wound. The second time he elected to get as land locked as possible I guess.  On my dad's mom's side, they go back to the revolutionary war, so not a lot of Ellis Island research to be done there.  I wish I knew more about the immigration history of my mother's family. Still, in what other country could I be born?  I'm Italian, Irish, German and WASP-Converted to Catholic.  I'm married to a German/English/French/Lakota man and we have the two best sons ever. So the Statue of Liberty is one of my favorite ladies.  That's right, that supposedly rare bird-- the Liberal Patriot.  We're not all that rare, just so you know. 


So I for once did the sensible thing.  I walked back to my hotel, hoping I'd find Light Horse Tavern.  Failing that, I stopped to get a soda along the way.  Good, but not tart enough! I got back around 8:20 and figured that I had 2 choices, eat in the hotel restaurant again or walk to the mall and find a snack.  I decided to change into a non-sweaty shirt and walk to the mall.  On the way to the mall,  I saw this place, Azucar! Just like Jon B said. I'd never had Cuban food before, so I went in and ordered this!  (Why the exclamation points?  Just doing my part to put the 'hyper' in 'hyperlink'.  You're welcome.)  Beef empanadas, plantain chips, shelled mussels in saffron and white wine broth and the best mojito I've ever had. It was an excellent balance of lime and mint, with a stick of real sugar cane.  It hit me just right.    I ate nearly everything.  The mussels were excellent.  The empanadas were very good.  The plantains were good, but considering how people rave about them, I was somewhat let down.  I walked home full, buzzed, and quite content with my lot in life.  I read a chapter in my ridiculous but entertaining book, called the boys for good night murmurings and despite knowing the dog was in a deep depression without me, I once again fell into a deep, satisfying sleep. 

Wednesday morning, something happened that almost never happens, I woke up before the alarm but not of a nightmare.  I am more shocked than you, I promise.  I walked to work and intentionally smiled at everyone I passed.  I think it made people nervous. Har!  Take that New Jersey!  My morning sort of got away from me and I ended up sprinting out at 1:30 to get some lunch before I had to teach.  I got truck food! First time ever!  I had curried lamb and saag paneer with rice.  When I got to my desk, intending to hoover it down, I choked on the second bite.  Before I could stop myself I said "There's a bone in my meat!" Hilarity ensued.  Then my friend, Phil, to whose house I was going for dinner said "You're having Indian for dinner!"

"One billion Indians eat Indian food three times a day every day! This American can eat it twice today!"  I thought it was a good response.

"Who'd you get that from?" asked one of the managers.

"I dunno.  Some guy."

"Some Guy! Some GUY? You don't know who?"

"No.  Because. I. Don't. Know. Anyone. Here." I only barely managed to avoid adding the words "WELL DUH" to my response.  Filtering! It works if you work it!

Class went better on Wednesday.  I talked about balances for much longer than the attention span of my students errr spanned.  What can I say, I love the meeting of math and money and on the fly calculating!  After class, it was off to dinner.

Phil is a bald faced liar when he says his house is a wreck! It is far less wrecky than my house was at move in.  And it's much less wrecky than a lot of houses we looked at last year.  Mrs. Phil was a sweetheart. And the food was awesome.  So delicious-- Indian dinner followed by Tiramisu. Nomtastic! I hope sometime I can cook for my JC friends.  Preferably I'll be in a kitchen bigger than a breadbox.

Thursday dawned with no plans for the evening. It was Charlie's birthday back in Omaha and I was a little weepy when I woke up and wasn't home with him on his special day.   I went in to the office, did some work, taught some validation rules and process stuff. Then it was quitting time and Matt totally punked out due to a pinched nerve.  I guess some people have reservations about mixing prescription painkillers and booze. Who knew?  So my awesome boss, Jim D offered to take me into THE CITY.  New York City! I had never been.

We walked toward the water intending to take the Path train to the financial district.  I suggested we take a ferry, since I'd missed it the other night.  As we got on the ferry it sort of. . . lurched.  I wondered if this was such a good idea, since I get sick playing Mario Kart and all. I figured though that the ferry ride wouldn't take long, the harbor wasn't that big.  GUESS WHAT?  About 2/3 of the way across the Hudson Bay, the Coast Guard came out in their inflatable boats (with machine guns!) and the NYPD harbor cops came out and they Stopped The Ferry.  We started going around in circles.   And around. And around.  With a brief interlude were we stopped going in circles and instead backed into a  pier across from our landing slip.  No ferries could  go forward. No ferries could go back. President Obama was landing at the helipad for a fundraiser dinner. . . at some point.  So I hauled my knitting out of its ziplock bag and tucked it into the side of my laptop bag.  Then  I prepped the ziplock to receive a hearty shower of barf.  Jim D suggested I go stand out by the rail.  I went out and the boat continued to lurch in such a way that I thought that side was likely to result in splashback.  So I went back in and crossed to the other side and hung my head out like a pathetic loser.  The ferry captain's assistant asked me "You gonna barf?"

"I dunno. Maybe."

"I been doin' this 20 years.  I never barfed."

"Well, we don't have ferries where I'm from."

"Where you from?"

"Nebraska."

"Don't you have water there?"

"Well, yes, but we have bridges. The Missouri is not wide enough for ferries."

"Well, just let if fly.  There's been worse stuff in the Hudson.  It's just fish food."


" . . please. . .stop talking."  Font shrunken to reflect my patheticness. Patheticity?

I went back in and clenched my jaw.  In all, we went around in circles for over 40 minutes. Then Jim D called and texted everyone about what a lamentable dumbass I am.  While he did that I happily paid $1.50 for a can of coke to settle my stomach.  And then! WE WALKED!  To the subway!

I took the subway for the first time where I flaunted all convention and talked to strangers in my usual cheerful, oblivious manner.  I think I freaked out a group of teenaged African American dudes.  That is like a reversal of nature or something.  Here is me on the subway, trying to look like a disgruntled resident of New York.  How awesome is that laptop bag? In my opinion it is totally awesome.  It is loud and plasticky, like the davenport of many Italian Nanas!

So we walked to Wall Street!  I saw the NYSE! Jim D took this pic of me by the Bull on Wall Street.  And this one by the lion in front of the New York Public Library.  And this one in Times Square. Times Square is like Disneyland for grownups.  I saw the memorial to the most decorated Army cleric ever, Father Duffy.  And we went to Roxy Deli, which has no website, but does have cheesecake so good it's a religious experience.  We walked for close to 3 straight hours after the subway. I saw Radio City Music Hall and 42nd Street, but didn't get great pics of them.  At last, we got on the bus, where one last New Yorker got to be surly to me, an old lady who proclaimed when I didn't move back "I HAVE A CART." I was having too good a time to snarl at her.  Now though? Dear New York:  I can't reach that overhead bar so step off, I'm not moving back.  We took the Path train UNDER THE RIVER to get back to NJ.  I got back to my hotel at about 9:30, feeling a little guilty that poor Jim D still had to commute home for almost another 2 hours.  He worked from home on Friday, so he slept in.

Friday, I woke up sad my trip to Jersey was  over.  Next time I'm bringing my good camera, and coming in on Sunday so I can see more stuff.  I consoled myself by having an iced coffee and an old fashioned from Dunkin Donuts.  The coffee at the grocery store is not as good as in the DD.  Must be that Hudson water.  I didn't get as much work done as I wanted, but the car came for me at noon and I was glad to be on my way back to the monkeys and Jason and the dog. The dog and Charlie gave me the best welcome home ever.  Augie and Jason were glad to see me too, but nothing compares to a dog and his boy.

Crescent Shawl

IMAG0341.jpg, originally uploaded by fudh4x0r.

Clearly, I need to work on lighting for Droid photography. This is draped over the back of the recliner.

The Summer of Meh

I do not think I can cobble together a list of the books I've read since my last book related post, even if you held a gun to my head.  I suppose I could figure out what I've read on the nook, and recall a couple of library books I've read.  I will get to that later. . . .

Work on the house continues at our usual pace-- a day or two of sturm und drang and paint and arguing followed by a week of slack.  Well, if working and doing laundry and cooking and all the other administrone can be called slack.  The new windows are done, the garage door is repainted, the trim is nearly painted.  Wall painting continues and feels as if it will continue forever.

I've gotten in some knitting.  It was my intention to finish a blanket for lovely baby Jacinth and a shawl for lovely Aunt Bonnie prior to the end of the first week of August.  That will not be happening.  Well, perhaps one of them.

The shawl is being knitted in a vaguely crescent shape.  I have a 14 row repeat that consists of one row of YO K2 TOG, 3 rows of stockinette, 3 rows of stockinette where there are 11 evenly spaced KFB increases on the 2 knit rows, and then 7 more rows of stockinette.  The Paton Lace has delightful long color changes, but as the crescent has increased, the stripes were getting narrow.  Thus,  I shall manipulate in part of a second skein in order to balance it out a bit.  Once I finish this repeat I'm on, I shall do a row of K1 YO to double all the stitches and have a nice ruffly bottom until I run out of purple yarn.  I hope it softens a bit with washing as well.  I'm getting a bit of a dry spot on my tensioning finger. The yarn being 80% acrylic is going to require a steam block.    I haven't done that before and my ironing board died a quiet death.  I opened the closet one day and it was in the closet in 2 pieces.  The welded spot have given up the ghost.  I can't remember the last time I used the ironing board for anything other than blocking knitting.  I'm a slattern. 

My blanket body is finished.  I've picked up and knitted along the border and I THOUGHT I had increased to the correct number of stitches for feather and fan.  The joke is on me.  My plan was feather and fan along the straight-aways and increasing feather and fan at the corners.  Maddeningly enough, someone decided to move my stitch dictionary from the sofa to the floor.  The floor right by the litter box.  I shall be requiring a new copy of Vogue Stitchionary Volume 5.  Diablo even had the nerve to walk around yelling at me in that abrasive cat fashion.  I may chuck it in and do a simple lattice border.  

Hamlet Knits

You remember Hamlet, right? Over-thinker, underachiever. In the world of deciding what to knit or how to design my knits I am TOTALLY Hamlet. I have a thing for knitting baby blankets. Sadly, I cannot keep up with the rate at which my friends appear to be breeding. I am considering a pi shawl sort of blanket, but I want to start it from the outside and go in. How screwed would I be if I ran out of yarn? Completely and totally. I am also considering a different shape, where the decreases are made in 4 pairs, so that I make a giant square. Perhaps something stripey, where I'd have options for more colors is the way to go on this one. Or perhaps just start with an obscene amount of yarn and a receipt to take it back. I'm not clear on what is an obscene amount though. . . 69 ounces? snicker. My previous pinwheels have consisted of 750 grams of bulky and 22(ish) ounces. Perhaps some nice yarn overs and slipped stitches would stretch it out a bit. I suppose I should start swatching.

I am also pondering the creation of a knitting app for the droid to track the stitches in my stitch dictionaries and others. I would love to be able to query for different stitches based on the number of stitches or rows in them. . . .ah, database design. So many potential pitfalls. I swear I am not using this idea as an excuse to buy more of Barbara Walker's stitch dictionaries. I am fully admitting I just like them.

In This F-cking Old House News: we are still chipping away at the house. Whoever buys this place will be crazypants lucky. I've gone to see inside 3 comps for open houses in this neighborhood. So far, we have the best smelling basement. Our house has also been weather-proofed better than the others I've seen. Also: I have masonry paint stuck to my hair and under my nails and I think I may be 5% drywall dust by weight.

Today on PBS

On a new episode of This Fucking Old House, our homeowners frame walls and hang drywall as they finish their basement. For extra excitement, they've called in the father in law-- Mister Fucking Perfect. Not only is he the president of the Fucking Perfect Club, he is the founder. And he has a pickup.

I really think people would watch a reality show of Jason and I fixing this house. First of all, we are 100 times more anal than any contractor, secondly nothing is plumb, straight or level in a 60 yr old house, so a project like our basement provides enough footage for a whole season.

We've been churning on the house like crazy, in the hope we will get it listed by July. We know what we want to get and we know what other houses are like in our neighborhood (crappy). Our hope is that by making a room in the basement and getting everything painted, polished and decluttered prospective buyers will find ours the easy choice.

Today while the dudes are in the basement, I intend to work on laundry (like every day) and paint the porch and foundation. CURB APPEAL, BITCHES!