Friday, March 31, 2006

Technology Requires Patience...and a meme

With all the extra time on my hands maybe I should learn to meditate. After all, I had 1 hour and 56 minutes to stare at my monitor and laptop screens as old and new machine, um, shared files. (Calling a spade a spade here, they had SEX! I'll share Andy's comment, "Your computers are having sex and you're just hoping one won't die of a heart attack!") There was much nail biting as I doubted very much Lappy would stand to be on for 2 hours, but low and behold he did. I would not at all be surprised if the sound spontaneously came back and the letter "k" magically began working again. Aaaauuuummm. I did not just drop a grand for nothing....hmmm, maybe that should be my meditating mantra??? Kinda like the one that sounds like, "Oh how money makes me hummmm," that my high school chum Lily shared in an "In the garden of Eden, baby" moment.

Enough with the big scary machines. Well, mini scary machines. I'll be putting Lappy away once I'm sure all the files I need are really and truly on the new guy. Joy, more time with the machine....

Until then let me do the meme I found over at Snitty, which she got from Scout. Basic premise: choose your favorite painting and 'splain why.

So of course I'm torn...I took my one and only Art History course in high school, which I found absolutely amazing, even 14 years later. Call me sheltered, but before then I thought most art consisted of the religious nature I saw at church (or on the walls at home) or the murals of all those Aztecs around the El Sereno/Lincoln Heights area where my mom took us to bank and shop.

My friend Carla was in that class and I learned to sketch, if not as well, at least as fast as she did cuz, well, WOW, art is cool! But the final consisted of identifying 100s (okay, maybe just 100) works, naming artists and years--or something...similar. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, so like any convert (art really is a form of religion) I'm rather overzealous at times. My favorite? Eeep, there are many...Snitty actually posted one of my favorites: "Flaming June" by Lord Frederick Leighton. As I commented to her, I had that and a couple by Maxfield Parrish decorating my dorm room walls, as well as Escher and Magrite for that matter. But I think it's Parrish I will share with you tonight (maybe I'll do the others later :)).

I'm cheating though, I'm posting two paintings:
"Daybreak" 1922

and "Ecstasy" 1929

Why? Aside from the breathtaking beauty, the color, the fantastic use of shading and light...(deep sigh) they both speak to me in ways that Magrite, Escher, and Leighton don't. "Daybreak" is Puck coming in to wake Titania, or a sprite coming to make mischief (same difference there, eh?). I LOVED "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Especially as I got to see the "Shakespeare in the Park" video with Julian Sands playing Oberon, wow.

"Ecstasy" is where I want to be. Can there be a grander feeling up above with the world at your feet? There's such a look of, "Now my life is beginning" or "I can do anything you can, and maybe even better" on her face. Well, that's what I see anyway.

That's the funny thing about art, it really is in the eye of the beholder. I can't make you like what I like. Ah well. So umm, yeah, if you're interested in doing the meme, go for it :).

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Is this thing on?

Hi.
Um, writing to you from the new machine...I need a name. I've tentatively called it mini Lappy. Or maybe it should be Lappy mini? Hmmm, must ponder that. Whatever I name him, there's gonna have to be a "mini" attached to it.

I also need a couple cables...to, um, you know, try to get stuff off of Lappy. Sniff. I miss Lappy. SIX YEARS! 3 different hard drives! A "k" key that doesn't work anymore, no sound! I know, I know, it was time. How does that make it any easier?

The Mac Store does not like me BTW. I'm a hard sell. I'm sorry Steve, I just didn't want the .mac account, the personal service, the extended warranty, and all the other things that would have made my credit card bill EXPLODE. I did get the printer though. I mean, well, $99 printer + $99 rebate = free. So I'm a little gullible. SHUT. UP. Tax in WA? 8.somethin', ouch ouch ouch. I though CA was high.

So, now all I gotta do is find the camera and I'll be back in business. Though um, peoples, if I can't get my email off of Lappy, umm, write me? Cuz I don't know how else to get your info again :).

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Lappy Must Know...Random Picture Wednesday

Are computers like cars? Does Lappy know the end is near? He's behaving this morning. See, see, he says, no need to go and buy a new dual-core enemy! False sense of security, I know. I'm not that naive, shut up!

So two thoughts this morning before your random picture wednesday:
1) I dreamt I was to pick out my child from this gaggle of children (classroom of children? What would that plural be? Hee hee a coven of children, a bushel? moving on). I didn't know where to start...what would my kid look like? What color would they be? Seriously, I came out of a very dark very small woman, what would my child look like? Would they take after my mom's side of the family (small, dark, native-lookin') or my dad's (BIG, light skinned, clear eyes, ranching stock)?

No. Not having kids. Not pregnant, thank you. I dream about kids all the time. It helps to remind me why I don't teach the little leaky ones, 'member?

2) I realized and shared with Andy the thought that I call my computer by an "internet identity" like I've taken on (well, sort of, I kinda sign my emails with my name 99% of the time), you know, to protect the innocent? Cuz Lappy? Not his real name. But Andy and Tim and Richard and all them folks I actually NAME on my blog? Yeah, those would be their real names...I'm weird, I know.

I am not going to unpack the scanner/printer/behemoth right now, so we're digging into the files again...I just bought a frame for the real thing at IKEA. WOW, that store, now I know why Crazy Aunt Purl raves about it.


Okay, so I've been dragging this little guy around since I was about 16 or 17 years old. It's currently the background on Lappy. I took the picture as part of a light/shadow assignment for Mr. Zimmerman's Photography II class. Little did I know that it was later taken, mounted, and put into an art show competition. I won a prize for it but I can't tell you what it was...I don't remember anymore...that was half my life ago (eep).

My mom still has the book on the little stand in my room. The lamp died years ago. My little brother lost the tea set. I think I saw the "vase" (an OOOOOOOLLLLLLLD glass 7-up bottle that I melted wax on to get that artsy effect) at my mom's house the last time I was there. No, my old room is NOT hung with the velvet ropes or anything, since my departure it has been both my little brother's and my niece's room...I think my nephew is starting to wedge his way in too. Somehow though, little things of mine have remained untouched, ha ha ha mostly books. ICK, who would touch my books :).

I am so very afraid my computer is about to bite it big time so I'll go now.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Money I don't have...

So we all do it, spend money we don't quite have on hand for various "necessities."

I'm shuffling things around a little, knowing rent is due next week, already? Didn't I just fork over a couple big ole' checks? Mon dieu. Sorry, I listened to 2, TWO Tracy Chevalier audio books on the trip up: The Lady and the Unicorn and The Virgin Blue. I liked the Unicorn one better. I absolutely hated the way Blue ended. It cut off too soon. Decisions were not made. Too ambivalent an ending for me.

Where was I? Oh yes, well, um, yeah, I'm plopping down some cash for a Mac Mini tomorrow. As well as an external hard drive enclosure so I might (please oh please oh please) be able to take my current info and copy it into the new computer. I'd do it tonight but I think moving has finally caught up with me. I'm exhausted. The thought of making dinner makes me want to cry. Pasta with butter it is! The fact that my lappy keeps, unexpectedly, at the worst possible times, and for no apparent reason, turning itself off, doesn't make matters any better. (Enough commas for everyone there?) I've been trying to look up the cause, but well, the bloody thing KEEPS TURNING ITSELF OFF! (There's a hole in the bucket Dear Liza...)

AAAUUUUUUMMMMMM....so I sit and knit on my mom's socks instead. I've turned the heel and am off and running on plain stockingette again as well as Listening to Arcade Fire and ignoring the fact that no one has called me back on any of the applications I've sent out.... I'm trying (very hard and failing) to convince myself that I need this free time to move in anyway. After all, if I don't do what I want to do right now, next thing I know it's 10 months later and I'm packing to move somewhere else...or something. And really, you can only put up with folders taped to the window instead of a real curtain for so long.

I'm pleading with my computer to stay on long enough to spellcheck and publish. Do you think lighting a candle or seven would help?

Monday, March 27, 2006

Finally...

If this is a complete post, then miracles do happen...

I'm mostly moved into the rental here in Seattle.
Yes, I drove the whole way.
No, my lappy is not long for this world.
Yes, it's almost midnight.
No, I'm not sure when I'll post next.

Kisses all, must get some sleep.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Hiatus Looming...& Random Picture late Tuesday


Transforming Artificial Construct Trained for Logical Exploration and Scientific Sabotage


Thanks Snitty, I needed that. Scientific Sabotage...I like that.

Today, was long. Good thing we now have more hours of daylight than nighttime...or something. Tomorrow will be longer.

The kitchen, bathroom, Andy's office, and 'this and that', 'here and there' are all that's left to pack. Andy's already started on all three areas...I'm going for the "this and that."

We pick up the 12' moving truck tomorrow morning. Yes, 12 feet. That's all we need to haul up stuff to Washington from Cali. Lugging stuff 800 miles seems a lot to me. Then again, the last time I moved it was 3,000 miles and I mailed most of it to my mom in LA. (Yes, it's all still there, no I don't know when or how I'll get it to me in WA...details, details...) The time before that I just moved where I lived (32' sailboat) to where I wanted to be! Moving stuff? Sucks. You know just thought I'd let you know.

Tomorrow is filled with last minute packing, sorting, goodwilling, changing of addresses and cleaning cleaning cleaning. Fun.

Well, unless I get up extra early before the cable modem goes back to the folks at...ummm, wherever the cable modem lives, this might be it until WA. And I have no pictures of this craziness or my last minute gift, cuz the camera is packed. Maybe I can get Andy to take a picture of the living room...SCARY place right now. I measured out how much room we'd have in the truck, marking it out with all the extra shoes I kept finding. (Well, I'm not gonna put down duct tape on carpet or anything!) It's amazing how many shoes come out of the woodwork when you're moving. We get 11.4' x 6.4' x 6.1'. What doesn't fit gets tossed or donated to goodwill. Eep. See, it's best my junk is all at my mom's house in LA :).

I dug deep for my random picture this week, something from the archives. This is what my beautiful sailboat looked like one of the last times I saw her.
It makes me sad. Boats should not be rotting away on land. Time and circumstance gave us no choice but to take her out. I just wish that motivation to keep her pretty overrode the laziness of living on land. After I'm all set up in Seattle I'll look for and scan in what she looked like at her prettiest. My lovely Irish Rose. My first real home (not my parents' I mean).

Must keep packing...miles to go before I sleep.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Can't Blog...Applying for Jobs...

I've dedicated the morning to applying to a couple online job thingies I found. I'm hoping the caffeine will hit and my English will improve with said boost in firing synapses. Have this instead:
You Are Animal

A complete lunatic, you're operating on 100% animal instincts.
You thrive on uncontrolled energy, and you're downright scary.
But you sure can beat a good drum.
"Kill! Kill!"

Saturday, March 18, 2006

March, CHECK!


Persistence, that is key to free blogging your way...

Here she is, really small picture though so the blogging gods will see that I am humble, really I am, just ask any of my loyal following.

My new and improved knitting bag. She's not that much bigger than the little treasure I found:

Here they are side by side. I wanted something a little deeper, an eensy bit wider, maybe with a way to close the top, and with pockets. As I was not about to alter my former students' mom's work (what a mouthful) I decided to play with the material I had lying around. Having a blizzard raging outside your door and procrastinating from packing helps a whole lot, lemme tell ya.

Here's a finished view of the inside with pockets already full to bulging. I probably should have made them deeper, but that would have: a) required more fabric, and b) would tempt me into packing even more into them. We're looking to slim down here at Tactless Wonder, the more ways the better.

I found a way to close the top. Can you see it? In the left-hand picture it's pulled up to show off the pockets, in the right-hand picture it's pulled tight. I added a drawstring closure with some extra black fabric I found in my "stash." (If you can call it that...my fabric stash is about as large as my yarn stash, i.e., non-existent.) Here's another view:
This little detail was really rather important to me. I saw it...mmm, eons ago on another blog...was it Sheep In the City? I think so. She's the one who buys bags on every trip? Yes? Okay, so she got one that had the surprise drawstring closure. I felt I needed something similar so I too could hang up my bag on the back of a restaurant chair (or similar, I'm a proud KIPper) without drawing attention to exactly how much "tiliche" is in the bag at the moment.

Okie dokie, now to look for something orange and/or yellow...

Technical Difficulties

They're not just a band anymore...

So I was going to blog about my finished March Project Spectrum, um project (a little redundant?) but I too am experiencing what the blogging world has been shouting from the mountain tops about...blogger + uploading pictures = unhappy me.

Instead, I will use my allotted 10 minutes to knit on a last minute knitted gift item. Wednesday seems to be looming ever closer. Ever so quickly.

So, anyone in the greater Seattle area know of any job openings? Might as well start botherin' peeps.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Red Spectrum

So I'm speed blogging this afternoon as I really really really need to get my act together and finish packing my stuff...and stuff, yeah that's another entry, but later, after I'm done wondering why I have receipts that date back more than a year...urgh.

Project Spectrum March, or the RED project.
No, not done, not nearly. I am only allowing about 10-20 minutes to work on it a day as I pack my life away...but yeah, so I had this red and black cloth:
Yup, bad picture, but no time for retakes today, we're speed blogging. I really really like it, and hope that the kanji is not saying "stupid haole" or something similar, cuz I'm making something with it to carry around my "tiliche" as my mom calls my "stuff." My knitting project stuff.
Here we have a bad picture of the inside. I wanted pockets, which is what that little treasure I found a few weeks ago, didn't have. I didn't have the time to make individual sized ones, so I just sewed a wide stripe inside and have divided it with my oh-so-scientific method of "hmmm, yeah that looks about right."
Here it is, so not finished, but nightly nearing completion. Yeah, fuzzy picture number 3. Also in the picture is my iPod which reads to me as I sew...and my little Jenome, back from the dead and sewing beautifully...if fitfully at times. I figure if I can get another year out of her, everyone will be happy.

So this, I'm sure, is old old old, but I swear it's what the Irish nuns were sayin', "Air in, go bra!" As in, suck it up and let's get rid of these over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders :).

Go drink. Be safe. Remember the water and maybe an ibuprophen or two.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Reverse Discrimination

(ETA: Sorry English teacher habits die hard...edited for grammar & flow.)

I had a project spectrum update, but sometimes other things come up that I'd rather share.
This morning I was sent this "chain" email:
A Mexican man walks into a cafe one early morning and noticed that he was the only Mexican man there. As he sat down, he noticed a white man behind him. The white man said, "colored people are not allowed here." The Mexican man turned around and stood up.
He then said: "Listen Pendejo....

when I was born, I was BROWN"
"When I grew up, I was BROWN,"
"When I'm sick, I'm BROWN,"
"When I go in the sun, I'm BROWN,"
"When I'm cold, I'm BROWN"
"When I die, I'll be BROWN"
But you pendejo...."
"When you're born, you're pink"
"When you grow up, you're white"
"When you're sick, you're green"
"When you go out in the sun, you turn red"
"When you're cold, you turn blue"
"When you die, you turn purple"
"And you have the nerve to call me colored?"
"Chinga tu madre, puto"

If you're a real beaner pass this on to 8 trueMexicans you know... keep the brown pride!!
As I pointed out to the sender, um, in his "to" field, he'd pretty much used up my list, even if I'd wanted to send this around. 8 "true" Mexicans? Brother, then I'm not even a part of that list...

I've mentioned this before, I am so pale I glow in the dark. My hair is not dark brown/black nor straight. My eyes aren't even all that dark of a brown, and they turn green when I'm not even aware of it. None of it comes from a bottle or due to contacts, thank you very much, I'm vain, but too much of a tomboy to go that far.

Happily, I did not have to appease the "chain mail" gremlins, I was exonerated about 14 years ago (yes, I've been on the internets for OVER 14 years, talk about feelin' OLD) by a helpful fellow that sent around "the last chain email ever." I think it's somewhere on the nets. So I can read this email and not worry about gremlin retribution.

Instead, I replied with a couple of stories which I thought I'd share here:

When I was in college a housemate of mine, wanted to take "Spanish for Spanish Speakers" (a class for native Spanish speakers) so very bad. You see, she'd done all the Spanish UCSC had and wanted more. So I sat down with her (dark-skinned Italian girl that she was) and we wrote out her fake Mexican "history" stating where her "family" came from, etc. using mine as the base.

So she gets in the class.

The class had "mixers" and her turn comes up.

I meet the class and they are a bunch of pendejas and pendejos themselves. All full of themselves and theirMexican PRIDE (in the sense of the SIN of pride) and they were talking smack about my other housemate (my maid of honor years later, white, blonde, pretty) and I in Spanish. My other friend, who was also in the class, asked me to please please please not say anything. You all know how I am :). My other housemate had gone upstairs.

"Pinches pretendidos, estan en mi casa y ni saben quien soy. Hablen lo que hablen, que se lo tragen todo." (I learned that little bit from my dad's people. Basically it means that whatever evil they speak or do, may it get swallowed into them and they experience it/do it/get it, etc..

The room was silent as they realized their faux pas. (Hee hee, I can be tri-lingual see :) ) Not only was I "one of them," I was from "el rancho," and possibly (cuz I do sound rather authentic when I swear) born there. I left shortly thereafter to go off on them to my then boyfriend. The night ended pretty soon after that I'm told, and like most Mexicans in these situations, (and I know this is gonna sound pretty bad but unfortunately it's true,) there were no apologies.

I am sorry I'm so pale I pass. Who can I apologize to? But that's no excuse for us being evil in places where we shouldn't. Just like it's no excuse for others to be prejudice against us. What fun it is to be told about, "fuckin beaners who are campin' on my land! Who come to this country to take my jobs away," from a man who helped raise my Xhusband, at a Thanksgiving Dinner? Lord we thank you for this bountiful feast....I was in HIS house, so I kept my trap shut. I do have some survival instincts after all. Even after he went off and said, "all that those beaners do is come into the country and apply for medical and social security and bleed this country dry. Evryoneadem's been on unemployment or some kind of social help." I could have popped my top...I knew my X had been on food stamps, and he's white, but I KNEW KNEW KNEW that my family never had.

Or the time in college when I was denied a place in a class because of my name. "No, this is for newcomers or 1st Generation. You're obviously not." I told off that professor, yes, in college. I'm lucky I went to a public university that approved of students having their own voices... But how dare she base it all on a name? ('member, I'm named after an IRISH nun that my mom loved loved loved.) And yes, I told her off in Spanish. I think I called her a puta too, it was just too much for me by then (I was a senior, I had a couple quarters until graduation, I didn't have much to lose.

And people still wondered why oh why I didn't participate in the "Latin graduation" or whatever they called the ceremony. Great, let me be a part of a group that looks at me funny when I say I belong. Who knew you needed to carry around credentials to prove yourself? Especially when the family you've been around most of your life does come in every color of the rainbow and they're all Mexican?

Bitter much? May-be. Okay, yes. But if I'm gonna be discriminated against a group, why does it have to be the one I grew up in?

Okay, must go pack, we pick up the moving truck on Wednesday so this is really hittin' home now.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Random Picture Wednesday, Snow, and B-Day

Alrighty, back on schedule. So no, you're not on LSD and seeing big fuzzy ears magically sprouting out of these poor fellows' heads (or maybe you are...hmm, moving on). Here's the lengths Tim's building went to in order to get more tenants (University District if anyone is interested). An Easter promotional open house! All I know is there was chocolate and snacks in the lobby. HAPPY BUNNIES! Well, maybe just the first guy, I think the second wanted to punch Andy (he took the picture), but well, it wouldn't exude the kind of attention they were seeking, you know?

Snow update?
Well, the garage door was frozen to the ground, and the garbage can is sitting on about 3 feet of snow(trash day). The plow has been working since 5AM and it's not snowing right at the moment. I think today is our break, and Andy's gonna try to go boarding. I tried to take a picture of the driveway, but it wasn't happening...both our next door neighbor and he were industrious about shoveling yesterday. But, if you'll imagine it for me, you can see where we stop being "neighborly" quite clearly...a 3 foot wide, 3 foot high BERM that separates our shared driveway. Nice huh?

Okay, last thing:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICHARD!!!

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

SNOW!

I know I've been told I'm not allowed to take pictures of the snow as I tend to jinx it and it melts and so you guys never quite see the damage the white stuff can make in California...but I just couldn't help it this morning, and I think others will be thanking me later. (Phew, enough with the long sentences that may or may not be grammatically correct.)

Here we have my shared driveway/road/across the street PK's house at 7:27AM from my bedroom window:
( Yes, photoshop arrows for easier viewing.)
The topmost arrow shows a neighbor DRIVING down the street in ruts made earlier by something with 4WD. Yes, do look closely, his car is indeed SCRAPING bottom and the snow does come three quarters of the way UP the tires. FUN! Second arrow: My neighbors' car. Though all you can see is a PILE OF SNOW. It's a Ford OLD BIG SUV of the kind that really and truly deserved the name back in the day. Yes, BURIED. Third arrow: the Bear Box. It's grown several feet with its "snow-fro." I guess running our errands yesterday was a pretty good idea, eh?

So PK's house, right behind the traveling car? Yes, well, there are two ginormous mounds of snow. That would be PK's truck and snow mobiles. Buried for my pleasure. Snow-ma?

And BTW and all, IT'S STILL SNOWING...7:49AM. As Andy and Tim would say, there will be POW POW tomorrow.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Karma & Presents

Karma, I'm a big believer in it. Or maybe Car-ma this time. It (and Andy holding me back) is what kept me from stomping across the street and kicking my Puppy Kicking (PK for short) neighbor in the jimmy yesterday. So Puppy spent most of yesterday afternoon playing with Old Lab and cute Husky Friend (no, I don't know these people, or their dogs, but Kings Beach only has so much going on, that yeah, it's pretty easy to figure out who is what and etc.). That evening when everyone came home, Husky's owner took Puppy with Husky! PK was nowhere to be seen. This morning he came out ready to go off in his big white truck with his snow-mobiles when, ha ha ha ha ha...sorry, he realized one of the mobiles was not working. Husky Friend and his owner came by to drop off the dogs and sure enough, no playing in the snow for PK today. Today he got to try to fix his dumb ski mobile while the doggies all played far far away from him.

Presents...I like presents. 'specially for my burrday.
I received cards from all the usual suspects and was on the phone with another when Andy came back from a failed attempt at snowboarding :(. The lot was full. So instead he stopped off and got me flowers for my burrday!!! I was so very shocked. Pretty roses :). Only, um, well, we don't own any vases and are trying to pack what we do have so they're living in my purple liter Nalgene bottle for now. He'd tried to use wine bottles, but it was too silly, even for me.

Later, after his head was about to explode from trying to get his taxes together, Andy decided it was time to explore the sewing machine problem. Since February I had obtained a drill of my very own (I can't wait, the new house's garage is gonna be our work room!), the bits of varying size, a tap, and a replacement screw. I blogged about my bad local experience, so I remedied this by going to BIG HARDWARE STORE where no one helped me and I wandered around aimlessly for 45 minutes but did eventually find everything I wanted, especially the drill ;).

Well, about 2 hours later there was a sewing machine ready for tweeking. Andy knew all about removing shorn screws, but nothing about adjusting sewing machines, so I took over. For anyone who is ever in a similar situation, there are 2 adjusting screws to know about that work just like bicycle brake adjusters. Seriously. One is just above the needle, um "thingy" and one is on the arm next to all the gears for all the stitches you never ever use. One tightens the gears, the other aligns the needle. So I adjusted them until they were "good enough for gov'mint work" and tried her out. Then readjusted. Then, um, yeah adjusted some more, and then yeah...

But the final outcome: I got a working sewing machine just in time for my burrday (and that project spectrum thing I wanna do :))!!!

Okay, must go pack. We just got back from BIG HARDWARE STORE where we procured rubbermaid-esque bins for packing "stuff." Fun on a stick!

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Puppy Kickers, Tech Support, & Pictures

Happy Sunday!
Lemme tell ya, it's quite some thing to be woken up to the screams of one pissed off neighbor. What a wonderful beginning to my day. What could make it better? Ah yes, looking out the window and watching him pick up several pieces of detritus and flinging them at their (my guess) 1.5 yr old puppy.

WHAT?

NO, I'm still asleep, must be! Then I see it, him actually KICKING the puppy.

Okay, I'm no pet expert. My parents kept our dogs in the back yard and they were trained enough to know where to poop, and what they could and could not touch. Except for the Labrador mixes, we even taught a number of them NOT to eat the chickens. Never could convince the labs of that, musta been the breeding (Their mamma was an award winning bird dog, go figure...). It's been a while, granted, but I don't ever remember KICKING and THROWING things to HIT as part of the training. Happy Birthday to me...

Cuz yeah, it's that time of year again. As usual I got a call from the parents. My little brother was all about talking to me today...see, he got a new (to him, we're all about hand-me-downs) computer for his birthday! But it's all backwards! He got my older brother to help him figure it out and they were both stumped! Hi, it's a Mac, and I'm the only person who knows how to use it, and I laugh and laugh. So I gave my lil' bro tech support for his birthday present (back on the 9th), and we conversed as his b-day gift to me :). Hey he's 14 now, talking to adults is so very uncool and stuff, oh yeah.

So on to the pictures:
There be Seattle, as seen from Tim's guest room 7 stories up. If you look real close, I had to ask Andy to make sure, you can see the Space Needle just right of center along the horizon. Cool clouds eh? Haven't seen the like since Hawai'i. I didn't realize how much I'd missed them.
So this is my burrday (the way my niece says it) present to myself. I got it in Downtown Seattle parts at "So Much Yarn..." after I'd completed my first sock and realized it might actually be a good thing it's a little too small for me. Mom's day is just around the corner and there's just enough blue (her fav. color) in the socks that I bet she'd like them. So of course I felt justified in buying myself more sock yarn!
I loved the name! I kept thinking of the opening party in "The Fellowship of the Ring" where Bilbo is introducing the families at his burrday party and he says something about the "ProudFootes" and the fellow says "PROUDFEET!" Yeah, I did mention I'm a heck of a Tangent Queen, right?

With no further adieu, here's where I stand with the sock:One down, and the next one is past the ribbing and chugging along. The ball by the heel is what's left over from the first skein. The one by the instep is how far I had to "travel" to find a matching starting point for sock #2! That didn't please me much, but as I saw I'd have plenty extra, I didn't worry, much.

One of the reasons I've bought myself a duplicate set of dpns is so I can actually try to make these "Wildfeete" socks at the same time, as recommended by many. The worry of matching them might be less...maybe I'm just a bit too OCD for this hand-knitting thing? We'll see.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Still Snowing...

While in Seattle I told Andy I'd make him another cheesecake for his B-day... I don't think that's happening... I don't think we're gonna have anything more exciting than plain pasta with red sauce from a can at this rate... It's really coming down and Safeway seems REALLY far away right now. Heck, the end of the driveway seems REALLY REALLY far away right now. Mother Nature's messin' with me... But that's okay, at least there'll be enough snow for Andy to go snowboarding tomorrow. Well, that is, if the driveway can be dug out and the lil' rolla makes it.

With that in mind:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY!!!

Happy Saturday...pictures forthcoming, I'm up and about and have 150% more energy. Being sick, sucks!

Friday, March 10, 2006

Should be packing....

But the Sudafed has made me ADD, I swear...
So instead I go off and join:
Project Spectrum (Still trying to work out if I should link to the button or link separately, sorry if it looks funky.)
Cuz you know, I just have SOOOOOOO much extra time on my hands these next couple weeks... But I like the idea so much that I'm spreadin' the love. That and the fact that I actually do have a couple things in my head that I've been wanting to do, and MUST do before the move, and I think I even have the material in RED...As it's been snowing for the last couple days, I'd better have ALL I need here at home, as, Andy's orders, I'm not to leave the house until I'm well again, and mother nature's orders, I'm not to DRIVE anywhere until the "snowing" thing is over.

Being housebound...and yesterday bedbound (I think I got up three times total, each time only long enough to take advil and sudafed and visit the potty, TMI, I know,) I resorted to practicing literacy and scouring my stalking buddies to keep me entertained. Thus the new link in my sidebar. Deceptively Packaged has some great places to go, lemme tell ya! Questionable Content, and I read the WHOLE thing. But the Sudafed ADD really didn't let me concentrate much on his sidebar entries, I did try though, and may have to go back and do that just so my guilt is alleviated.

Between sleeping and comic reading, I also finished Jasper Fforde's latest:
I'm so not into the mysteries, I know I know, open my mind, broaden my horizons, etc., but this is awesome. It's detective fiction like you'd never believe. It's the same fellow who wrote the Eyre Affair: et. al. that I'd written about before. Yes, more alternative universe stuff. In this one the fellow introduced in the Thursday Next Series, Jack Spratt, must find out who killed Humpty Dumpty. Yes, it sounds insane; it's beyond words. Go out and make this man wealthy and buy his book...or make your library happy and check it out. My only big stumbling block with the story line came from my lack of children's literature experience when I was growing up. I didn't get introduced to most fairy tales (barring those Disney made famous) until I was in college. So lost was I in a Children's Lit. class I sat in on that I actually own a copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales, but it is boxed in LA, so I was a bit lost here and there with some of the references. I still liked the story, a lot.

Snow, snow, and more snow...and a very tired me that needs another nap...

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Rube 1 Tactless 0

So I'm gonna get kicked out of the knitting bloggers community, or at least ostracized after revealing this information: I don't own a cat. Never have. The closest I've ever come is "cat-sitting" for Tim while he was in New York, and then when he first moved to Seattle. Andy and I moved into his brother's townhouse which housed the queen, Rube. There is a reason I shy away from fur-balls...allergies.

Now, I'm special in many ways, I know that cuz it's not just a cat's dander that'll make my eyes water and skin crawl & etc., no. It completely depends on the cat. Rube and I got along famously, I was her substitute Tim for far too long. She kneaded bread on my tummy and meowed her most friendliest when the cat treats were taken out of her drawer, I could even brush her, as long as I washed my hands immediately. See, her hair is what does it to me; her head-butting, if her face got too close to mine gives me hives! In a 3 bedroom house with my room being cat-free, this was not too bad. I vacuumed often and life was beautiful.

Enter the tiny 2-bedroom apartment Tim is renting. We went out often so I would not get the sneezing fits...but every morning I was chomping on sudafed and blowing my nose in hopes of ridding myself of what felt like a furball in my throat. 6 days of this did me in...my histamines were working overtime and a half, and beat my sorry butt. I am officially sick. Urgh.

We flew back to CA and Kings Beach yesterday afternoon and I thought the plane ride would kill me, or at least make my head explode. I went straight to bed. I had fevered dreams about knitting Andy a sweater with a stockingette bottom and ribbed body, and canoeing through the snow with some of my students from Hawai'i whose hair came down to their ankles...weirdness to say the least.

I dislike being ill, motivation becomes non-existent and I have so very much to do in the next two weeks! I suppose I can still pack, but I'm not likely to be thinking clearly enough to be applying to the jobs whose applications are staring at me from my email...urgh again.

So about the sweater...I am going to knit him one, and I have the yarn, but I'd been wondering how to make the sleeves so that he can wear it over say a white t-shirt without it showing through...it's a bulky yarn knit with US 11 needles and though I'm sure it's gonna be warm, it seems too "holey" and not wind-proof. Would it look weird to have a stockingette body with ribbed arms? I guess the fevered dream is leading me toward something useful.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Where Did Bill Gates Go to School?

Have house, will travel, or move at any rate.

Anyone know anything about Haller Creek? Aside from the fact that I AM RENTING A HOUSE THERE?!?!? My new landlord tells me that Bill Gates went to school in the same neighborhood...and there are schools a-plenty! I might actually have to apply for teaching positions in the area.

So....stress levels lowering. Finding housing is HARD on a person. I had no idea what I'd "missed out on" by living on a boat I owned and then buying a house and living there this last, um, yeah, almost decade. I vaguely remembered how traumatic the whole "finding a place to live" was in college as most of us were living places only during the school year and going home to try to make some money...when my nieces and nephews come of age I've got plenty of advice to share...not that they'll be talking to their old and lame aunt then...you know how teenagers get...and yes, I know, they're only 3 and 1 now, but they age so quickly....this is me pondering the fact that my birthday is this Sunday and I'm no spring chicken anymore...time to trade me in for a couple 16 year olds...

Where was I before I began wallowing in self-pity? Oh yeah, the house/renting thing...so glad the search is over. I signed my life away yesterday; 10 month lease. I figure 10 months is a good round number to see if A) I like the place (Seattle I mean), B) I can work here, and C) is New Zealand still calling... I hate hate hate moving, but I'm also not one to stay where I'm not happy. I know my mom realized this the last time I visited. LA is fun, but I'm not happy there. It, like Hilo, Tahoe, ports of call in Mexico, have been waypoints in my search. I'm not looking for perfection, but home. Can I finally call a place that?

When I was in college I had to watch what I said to my mom. She'd just about explode if I said something as silly as, "Sorry I didn't call you earlier but I just got home." HOME, she'd remind me, was the house in LA. I had just gotten back to "the house I was renting." Did that become some kind of subconscious declaration of war? Cuz I never did, you know, "go home" after college. I pretty much packed up my room and left it to the wiles of my little brother...hoo boy, who's birthday is the day after tomorrow!!!! How did I forget that? Oh yeah, that moving thing... Oops. Gotta plan something quickly....

So I finished a sock, yes, singular. Have started the second one...will post pics when I'm in front of Lappy and not a borrowed lappy, which is wonderful, thank you Tim!

And it's raining in Seattle, amazing isn't it?

Friday, March 03, 2006

Seattle, On the Ground

So, here I am using a foreign computer (one of them pee see thingies) to try to update for everyone...I think the browser needs updating, but that's me. I feel like I've gotten tre-technological since landing. Everyone seems to have iPods and laptops...I felt a little deprived (depraved ;)) until Tim let me carry his laptop around a bit yesterday. I didn't turn it on, but you know, it's a city, and what you show and how you show it is more important than something that exists for being, I dunno, utilitarian.

Day two of the search for a roof over my head begins! I've got about 10 houses to look at today...I must say this much though, rain? What rain? Must be some kind of myth, you know, like the 132 inches of rain Hilo, HI gets. Cuz you know, when you have smart-alecs a'visitin', it NEVER rains :). It's been very nice actually. A little chilly, but hi, not North Lake Tahoe chilly in the least :).

I've already mentioned this to Richard, for the sheer lack of ability to deal...but, there are SO MANY COMIC BOOK STORES here. No, no yarn shop excursions, yet. :) House first, then yarn! I have my priorities!