Nerd Humor

I have an acquaintance who works for the UT-Austin Physics department and they were "victims" of guerrilla art. She sent photo's via email & I just have to share them.


Madam Curie - pretty self explanatory

Moebius - Underwear turned in the famous "strip"

Ada Lovelace - Known as the first programmer.

Grace Hopper - covered with bugs. :)
My fav: Feynman - None, Baby! :) Don't know why Cornell's is boxers with penguins.
Weinberg is in a thong, th-a,-thong, thong, thong

Schrodinger was represented by a box that said, "boxers or briefs? you won't know until you open the box" (ala the Schrodinger cat
"experiment")

C&L

I love the blog Crooks and Liars. The guys running that site do a great job poking at the religious right and the politicians associated with them.

There was a video showing Hardball where they were debating the war on religion. Reverand Al Sharpton got on and he really took Tony Perkins to task. You know, it's great to see a theist get the whole separation of church and state issue. Perkins talked about how the LA county had to get rid of a cross that was an emblem on there seal. Sharpton said that it was the right thing to do because if there was any other religious symbol, then he'd want it removed, too. Sharpton said that we want a Democracy and not a Theocracy, which is where the country is moving towards. Wow! I mean, wow! A theist sees what secular American has seen for quite some time and said it publically!

Good News

Just heard that A got a job with a REALLY good consulting firm. They're very well established and have LOTS of municipal work. I've really happy for him and hope the move is a good one for him.

Great Fun!

We had the in-laws show up this weekend and had a good time. We essentially just bumped around between the house and the hotel. We also made the trek up to IKEA in Frisco. They're hooked. As J calls it, "welcome to the cult of IKEA." It's just so easy to leave with so much stuff!

We also took M to Six Flags for the first time and went ahead and bought season passes. We rode the ship swing first. M was so excited to ride on it while we were waiting in line. . . but when the lap bar was brought down and M was "stuck", she panicked. "I don't want to ride this!" "Let me out!" The kids running the ride were kind to wait to see if we were going to stay on or not. M calmed down enough and ended up riding it. She held on really hard and concentrated on looking straight ahead. Afterwards, she claimed that she was yelling because it was just fun. :)

We then rode on a number of rides: The bob sled roller coaster, the log ride, the run away mine roller coaster and a couple of typical kid rides. She had so much fun and it was great fun watching her enjoy riding the rides.

I only had one "fat" moment on the run away mine ride. The lap bar wouldn't close, so we had to move to a different car so it would close on us. It was embarrassing and I could have just gotten up and not ridden the ride, but I stuck in there and moved to the other car without panicking. In another life, it would have ruined my day, but I pushed through it and had a great time.

I'm trying to up my phyisical activity and have done so over the past couple of weeks. I've been stiff, but happy because I'm getting out.

I'm also participating in a Candy Swap. I sent out my package and should receive mine sometime early this week.

On the knitting front, I've been knitting a banner for a group I belong to, but I've run out of yarn and need to order more. So that is on hold. Then I am not happy with how my socks are turning out - the toe looks weird and the body of the sock is too large. I'm going to have to frog what I have done and start over. I'm also going to go up on my needle size. 0 is too small! Right now I'm knitting a hat in cotton for an on-line friend who has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. It's a pretty straight forward hat. I just dislike knitting with cotton.

I miss him

I really miss having A show up here at the house. Just having him come in really helped out. He's super talented and I really appreciated having him stay on top of everything. His professionalism is top notch. I'm glad to get the occasional phone calls asking for references for A. I'm hoping he is enjoying some of the time off that he's getting.

What I really hate is that he's completely severed all contact from me. I know from a business standpoint I "did the right thing," but it still hurts. I am human, after all.

He's just too talented to be wasted in a dead end job. Unfortunately, he doesn't have his degree. But I'm the first to say that he is top notch and really knows his profession. I hate that the possibility exists that he won't be reimbursed at the right rate - he's that good, honestly.

On a personal note, I've received one job offer, but I turned it down. I'm still waiting on a local city job. Business has been fairly good in that I've been very busy, so I'm on the fence regarding jumping ship to go work for a competing consulting engineering firm. Let's face it, even at a part time basis, I can make more money working for myself than for a consultant.

But here's the deal. . . I'm getting burned out on drafting. I've been drafting since 1988 - 18 years with the same software.

Going to work for the consultants that I've been interviewing with has a lot of professional potential. I feel like I could easily fit into two of the three firms I've interviewed with. It's going to be a difficult decision. One group I'm really worried about is that they aren't really seeing the right person they need to break into the public works market. I feel that I am a "one trick pony" and couldn't really deliver the goods. The opportunity is really great - I could conceivable be making over $100,000 a year in one years time -of course that's *if* I can deliver. My contacts are in Tarrant County. The consulting firm I'm interviewing with is in Dallas. I really like these guys, but I just feel like I'm potentially setting myself and the firm up for failure. They also want 50+ hours a week. I have a four year old. I don't want to miss out on her childhood because of work.

The other group is located in Tarrant County, so my contacts would still be good. I get along VERY well with the Department head and feel that the office is on the ground floor of something that could grow fairly rapidly. I have a lot in common with the guy in charge and have an ease with talking to him that I really like. I just feel that the previous firm is more together regarding the business end of consulting. They have goals and an open accounting policy that I really like. I don't see myself being with the first firm on a long term basis. I'd basically take the knowledge and run because I don't wish to miss my child's childhood.

Finally, there is a city job that is currently being advertised. I'm a little under qualified for this job, but I'd love to get it because the city has a great pension plan (and they pay for health insurance at a reduced rate during retirement). The other thing that attracts me is the fact that I don't really like how the development community runs over the engineering department right now. There will need to be some updating to the current city ordinances - mainly to the drainage and development portion of the code.

The city just hired a new Engineering Director and extended the date on interviewing prospective candidates till the beginning of April - SUCK. So, I'm waiting till I know what's happening on the city front prior to entertaining other offers. I've never lived 3 miles from my job, with the exception of working out of the home.

I also interviewed with Brinker (the Chili's guys). A, BTW, if you're reading this, there are three positions open for Project Manager and I KNOW you are eminently qualified for these positions. I've applied, too, but I have a feeling that they're going to skip me and say that I'm overqualified.

Classic Movies

There are a couple of movies that I really love seeing and feel they're true classics.

Forrest Gump

I just love how this movie merges popular culture with a great story. It makes me so happy to watch.

Seabiscuit

I remember one time when I was talking to one of my clients, he said he went to see this movie with hi wife and thought it was one of the best movies of all time. I never thought about it, but I just love how the story follows four different story lines. It's written very well. I have to agree. This is one of my all time favorites. You know it's a favorite when you watch it over and over again when it's on cable and really have decided to watch it.

The Green Mile

Wow. This was really just so good. I remember crying a number of times while watching this movie. I just love how this married the supernatural with the natural world. The story regarding the long lived mouse was really great. It definitely appeals towards my love of comic books.

The Shawshank Redemption

I'm of the generation who learned how to read from Morgan "Easy Reader" Freeman. He was just wonderful in this story. I absolutely hated the head guard (I don't know his name, but he's been in so many movies and TV shows: Highlander (movie), Carnivale (cable show), Earth 2 (TV). (Google says his name is Clancy Brown)

The Big Lebowski

Just an all time great movie. I still find myself quoting this movie. I remember seeing this in the movie theaters and just not getting it. One of the reasons why I feel the Cohen brothers are truly the best movie makers of my lifetime is because their movies are really subtle - in other words, it takes some time for you to really get the genius of their movies. The great appreciation, for me at least, comes when I re-watch Cohen movies. That's when I actually get some of the humor I missed it the first time. Plus, their choice of music is really great. I love the soundtrack to "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" too.

I'm sure I'll name others later, but for now, these are some of my all time favorites.

Searching

Well, I've been on four job interviews and have liked each place in it's own way. I still don't know if I want to go work for a consultant or for an owner (or city). I'm really on the fence about it. You see, my family is very important to me and I do not wish to lose out on seeing my daughter grow up.

I've told each firm that I was not in a hurry to accept a position as I wanted to make sure that I was picking the right one for me. They seemed to feel the same way, to that's a good sign.

We'll see what happens. Still no offers - just successful interviews, IMHO.

More Finished Objects

These are going to go to my husband's cousins family who just had baby boy #2.

Here's the back of the hat. Notice the seam (I am beginning to hate seams). I also bound off too tightly as I did a stupid thing and broke the yarn before I had bound off (d'oh) so I was running out of yarn. I just made it, but it was because I BO'd tightly.

I also made a "boy" robot.
And I'm getting better at the embroidery part. I embroidered the eyes and the mouth on this one since the toy is going to go to a small one.

Getting Real

Okay, I started getting boring on this blog as it isn't really doing what I initially wanted to do with it - and that was to bitch.

Well, as my dear husband reminded me, F-em if they can't take it. So here it goes.

My business has slowed down considerably. I think it's because I've been giving poor customer service to my clients. I just had a lot of trouble saying NO to some and stringing other along so I can eventually get to their work. But in my defense, I've actually worked to get rid of my horrible clients at the expense of the good ones. Unfortunately I had to lay off my one employee - who is just fantastic - in order to look at re-tooling my company or going off to get a job working for someone else. Our bill-ables were getting to where they were *just* covering payroll, but not enough to cover other overhead expenses and I started to see the cushion I've built up slowly decline. So, rather than let the cushion go to zero - or negative - I decided to try to make a bad situation good: I gave my tech 35% of his annual salary and am paying for another full month of health care for his entire family. (Note: I think I paid him quite handsomely, so 35% was not something insignificant. In truth, he has more money in his bank account right now than I do).

So I get this nice note in the mail from our local Work Force Commission stating that the tech has applied for unemployment benefits.

I was shocked and felt very betrayed.

Applying for Unemployment Benefits directly impacts me as my company has to pay a percentage of our earnings to the state for Unemployment. If anyone actually claims on the company, then the company is required to make up the difference at tax time - in other words, I'll be the one paying the Unemployment Benefit - not some nondescript state agency.

I honestly feel that this was a direct "Fuck you" to me personally. I understand it's a difficult thing to lose a job, but I really tried to do right by him and his family. It just makes me deep down sad that it ended this way and I now have feelings of resentment towards this person.

I'm sorry I let A go. I really am. But I feel this was the best decision to make considering our work load and our prospects. I've been interviewing with companies and all of them want to talk to him because I've sung praises about his ability of being a tech. I hope someday we can look back at this and laugh. Right now, I just feel awful.

Am I Blooooooo?

Just feeling a little blue today. Perhaps it's because of the emotional roller coaster DH and I are putting ourselves through the demise of my company. Perhaps its the weather.

M turned 4 yesterday. I love how magical birthdays were at that age. We have her party scheduled on Sunday at the local Pump It Up. Looking forward to it!

Another Finished Bear

I just love the way these bears knit up so quickly. I've received a couple of comments that the colors remind them of Piglet. M initially called her "Lu Lu Bear" which I really loved, but now she calls her "Teddy Margaret".

Olympic Glory Is Mine!

Well, I finished my Knitting Olympic items: a pair of alligator mittens. They're awfully cute and, once I finally got into the ribbing groove, found they knitted up fairly quickly.

I also finished knitting the robot. M has named it "Magenta" and insisted on giving her a bow.
I'm now knitting a bear (the other one was sent away) for her and am using the same yarn/colors as Magenta (she once had called the robot Magentle, which was pretty cute - but it's gone back to being Magenta).

I have started to swatch the Pin-up Queen. I like the way the ribbing is setting up, but I think I'm going to have to look at redoing the pattern. I don't like fuzzy stuff as I'm already a "big" girl. Fuzz just makes you look bigger, if you ask me. :)

Anyway, I cast on enough to make the sweater be 6-inches, according to the gauge. It's coming up 3-inches - crap. I'll try knitting on larger needles (I do tend to knit tightly - especially on aluminum needles). If that doesn't work, I'll have to go to my handy-dandy super knitting neighbor who can help me figure it out.

Sad week

I had the hardest decision to make this past week. My business has been slowing down and it's very dependent upon the real estate market. I see this huge real estate bubble popping soon and know that it'll be very difficult for me to continue working independently.

So, I was faced with a choice. Continue on the pace we were working at and end up in the hole money-wise, or give everyone a bonus and allow them to get a job while jobs are still available.

I chose to punt. I let my tech go this week and it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. I care a great deal about what happens to him and his family. I felt like I let everyone down by making this decision - but deep down I feel like it was the right one. J & I cried when A left - and writing this blog entry isn't easy for me either. It's been a very emotional week. I know you're supposed to keep business business but it's hard when you impact people's livelihoods - especially the ones you care a great deal for.

So, I'm floating my resume around and have an interview set up this coming Wednesday. Wish me luck as I'm going to try to go work for someone else for the first time in six and a half years. Half of me is excited while the other half is very disappointed.

I guess the upside is that I'll actually get some sort of health care that doesn't cost $1000 a month. Then there's the chance of working for someplace and actually work up to a retirement. I still have time to do that, but (ugh) I hate even thinking that I'd be the type of person who counted down the years till retirement. After paying for my own health insurance though, it just may be worth selling out if the trade off is having retirement health insurance benefits.

Steam Blocking

I never have steam blocked, so I did a search and found that it was really rather simple.

The glove definitely doesn't look as small anymore. The top photo is from the top, the middle is the bottom, and the last is with the mouth open. Now I have to embroider the teeth in the mouth, attach googly eyes, and mattress stitch the piece together. Getting closer - but I have to make a second one, too!

Small alligator

Well, I have the top and bottom of the first mitten done. I slipped it onto M's hand this morning and found that she has a HUGE hand! I'm even following the pattern for the middle sized mitten!

I'll go ahead and finish this up and see if it works any better when I have the middle part done. If not, I'll just donate this as a puppet to a worthy cause. I should have it done by the end of tonight.

Oh, and I am not a big fan of Win IE 7.0. It's still not playing well with others - that's what I get for upgrading to a beta! :(

Half a Robot

I have finished the front of a robot. It’s PINK! I didn’t like knitting it from the bottom up. I’m going to try to knit the back from the top down. I think it’ll be easier to knit the legs at the same time.

Intarsia was really not so bad – I don’t know why I was so afraid to try it. I will, however, make the butterfly balls the next time. I just needed to get a project under my belt so I could understand where to do it.

I also went to the North Texas Bluebonnet Knitting Guild meeting last night. It was really great fun as I’m amazed at the talent of some of the ladies. I went ahead and joined. It’s much more organized than SnB. I like the informal-ness of SnB, but I also like the formalness of NTBKG.

Today is the first day of the Knitting Olympics. I don’t think I can make the mittens circularly with intarsia (circular knitting is essentially a spiral so there would be no way for me to ), so I’ll go ahead and follow the pattern in SnB-Nation. The robot will have to be put on temporary hold (although, the back would go really fast – I would definitely have time to finish it up).

Bad Ju-ju

Thought I'd pass on a neat little craft:

Your very own knitted voo-doo doll.

Too silly!

Intarsia

Whoa! Intarsia is a way to knit with different colors. I'm attempting it with a robot I'm trying to knit up.

I did a very lazy thing: I didn't put yarn on bobbins, I just pulled yarn from the other side of the skein. (Bad me! Bad, bad, me). It wasn't so bad at first, but now I'm knitting a row with three different colors and it's just become a bloody mess. I'm pushing through it right now, but the next time I attempt this, I'll definitely do bobbins or butterflies.

The IT Crowd

J has found a very cute show that's being produced by the same guys who did Father Ted (a personal favorite show of mine). Over the years I've noticed that I really don't watch sit-coms anymore. Current exceptions: My Name is Earl (possibly the funniest show on television right now) and The Office (I like the UK version, but the American one has grown on me).

Now I am a huge fan of The IT Crowd. The first episode had one of the guys in a "RTFM" shirt (inside joke here at the house as J is constantly telling me to RTFM*) and there was a flying spaghetti monster posted on the wall behind him. To a nerd, this was really wonderful to see! J said that the set folks actually had a group of Open Source guys help them to decorate the set. If you don't know what Open Source is, don't worry. It's computer-ese and I just know enough buzz words to make myself dangerous.

*Read The Fucking Manual

From peanut to a cute teddy bear!

Okay, all together now. . . .

Awwwwww !!

As you can see, I finished my bear. I'm pretty happy with how she turned out. I hope the cousin who's going to get her gets much comfort from receiving her (she's going in for some pretty major surgery).

I tried to match the bear from Jess Hutchinson's pattern book as much as possible with the colors for my first try. I did, however, add my own embellishment - a two stitch I-cord bow at the top. It turned out much cuter than I thought.

This time I followed the pattern and did Kfb's whenever she called for them. Like I mentioned before, it definitely is part of the charm of these toys.

M wants one of these SO MUCH! She's told me that she want's a pink bear with stripes and a bow. We'll see. I have the Knitting Olympics starting on Friday where I'm going to attempt to knit the alligator mittens using the intarsia method - I haven't quite wrapped my head around how I'm going to be able to do that as I also want to do it in the round.

In the mean time, I think I'm going to use the arm/leg patterns for finger puppets and make a Flying Spaghetti Monster. I still haven't worked out how I'm going to do it, but I think I'll incorporate the 2 stitch I-cord as seen in the bow above for the noodley appendages. I could knit a pipe cleaner into the center of the I-cord so the noodles can be adjustable. I could also shrink the sphere pattern from Spherey to make the meatballs. I still need googly eyes. I've found some on-line here, but they have a $10 minimum order, so I'll have to see if there's another resource. I also need the googly eyes for the alligator mittens.

It's a peanut!

I finished the main body for the teddy bear I'm knitting.

I really suck at the embroidery part (that's an "A" on the chest if you can't figure it out) so I opted for a safety nose for the face and went the Miffy/Hello Kitty route and omitted the mouth. I knitted this on circular needles because I really dislike DPN's. I have the Denise System and I love them. The joins on the needles are smooth and I don't spend all my time pushing the stitches around - I actually knit! The Clover's were just not smooth and I was much slower on them. I knit pretty tightly and the Denise System needles just won't let me knit tight. Perhaps its because the needles are plastic and have some give to them.

The yarn I used for the bear is super cheap, but he's soft. These are Caron brand yarns and cost $1.25 for a 3 oz. ball at my local Hobby Lobby. What are the colors in this bear?

Head: Buttercup #2713 (Simply Soft)
Shirt: Rubine Red #2718 (Simply Soft)
Pants: Mango #9605 (Simply Soft Brights)

I don't think the Buttercup is made anymore as I can't find it on their site.

Next I have to make two arms, two legs, and two ears to finish this one up.

Robot Factory

robotfactory
Originally uploaded by Jess Hutch.

Found this little hidden jewel of a photo - a robot in the middle of being made! It certainly helps me think about how to make one now. It's going to have to wait until I'm done with the teddy bear I'm knitting.

Finished Object

J found Jess Hutchinson's patterns for unusual toys on the internet and became enamored with her robots. So I went ahead and ordered her book and showed all the pictures of the toys to M. She really wanted a “Spherey”. After my success with the devil hat, I felt like I could do it. And I did. I’m amazed at how quickly it knitted up.

It’s not perfect as I’ve learned so much while knitting it. Instead of doing the Kfb increase, I did the M1. It leaves a better seam, but part of the charm of the toy is having the bar in the increase. The eyes are closer together than what the pattern shows, but it’s because I had a hole right where I put the left eye. I have also learned that I suck at embroidery. I just don’t have the patience for it, plus the yarn I was using was really a different contrast, so all the imperfections showed through. The body of Spherey is a cheap acrylic (Red Heart) yarn that I had lying around from an unfinished crochet afghan. I hated working on the afghan. It was just dull to do – how many potholders can you make, then string together? Bleh. Knitting these little toys and hats are infinitely more satisfying.

Oh, and I love http://www.knittinghelp.com/. They have free videos on how to knit the stitches and give a great explanation of what the finished stitch looks like. I’ve watched them and knitted the stitch side by side (I love having a laptop with a wireless network card next to my chair).

M has named it “Mr. Handster”. It is very weird name, but if you turn him over, you can see where she got the name:


I have to figure out how to knit a bow or something like it so I can change Mr. to Miss. It has to be a Strawberry Shortcake bow according to M.

I really dislike Verizon

We had all of our phone stuff with Verizon - wireless, home, fax lines, and internet. They started a new program called One-bill where we'd only get one bill to cover all the services above (we used to get a separate invoice from the wireless guys and the home phone guys).

Back in August, we decided that spending over $300 a month on phone stuff was just too much so we simplified.

One of our cell phones on the family plan was costing us $30 per month, and we just weren't getting the value for our money out of it, so we killed the contract a year in advanced - to the tune of a contract breaking fee around $175. We were still money ahead in the long term by changing to a pay as you go phone. So we paid that bill on time.

At the same time, we changed our main home phone number to Vonage (a Voice Over the Internet Program - VOIP) and dropped Verizon for our home number - we kept the fax because we wanted to make sure the Vonage would work.

Well, the Verizon One-bill department had paid the Wireless department the $260 we owed that month, but after the main number was cancelled, we were no longer able to be enrolled in the One-bill program. So, the geniuses in the One-bill department reversed the payment - thus, making our account delinquent. That was back in October. I still don't have this resolved with them. I actually had to pay the bill with my credit card because they were going to cut off my wireless service - bastards.

Yesterday was the coup de grâce. I woke up to find my phone is dead and I have no internet. Turns out that when we cancelled the fax line account, the Verizon monkeys thought that we wouldn't need our FIOS anymore. It took all day yesterday to get them to reinstate our internet and I must admit, I am addicted to it.

The nice thing, though, is Vonage is smart enough to know when the land line isn't working and automatically forwards to a number you've set up previously, so we didn't miss any of our phone calls as it forwarded to my cell (good thing I paid that bill a second time, huh).

So the only thing we have with Verizon now is my cell and our FIOS account - which, BTW, rocks. I've also been very please with Vonage - we've got our fax set up on it now as well. It's certainly cut down on the original monthly phone bill as we don't have to pay long distance whenever we fax.

Fallen Childhood Idols

When I was ten, I went through a very brief period where I read Tiger Beat and would post pictures of my pre-teen crushes. Who were they: Shawn Cassidy, Robby Benson, and Leif Garrett.

I loved watching Leif shake his little ass and wear open shirts with a scarf (of course I am totally mortified by this past behavior, but I was ten and had just started puberty).

It's just sad to see someone go from this:

To this:

I commented to J that I'm really, really glad that I never got into drugs. They certainly haven't been kind to Leif.

Ummmm, Chocolate

J came across a quickie recipe that's just very bad for me, weight watchers wise, but oh-so yummy.

You have to like chocolate covered espresso beans. Essentially, take a chocolate bar (we tried a dark chocolate), nuke it till it's melted and mix in fresh ground esspresso. Spread it on a parchment paper and cool in your fridge.

Much cheaper than those esspresso beans and yummy to boot.

Oh, and Latte's are a gateway drug. J didn't drink coffee until three years ago. I was pregnant and had ordered a Breve' latte at my local Starbucks. I couldn't drink it as my pregnancy made all coffee off limits (read: I couldn't keep it down). So J took a sip and really liked the taste of it. He's been drinking coffee ever since. Now he's drinking the regular stuff, too.

My first finished knitted item!

Woo hoo! I did it, I did it!
I finished my first knitting project, ever! I frogged this baby over and over and over! It's extremely satisfying to know that I can finish a knitting project that's interesting!

Peeking out from behind the anonymity closet:

Casting off at the bottom of the hat made the brim very tight so this will have to be delegated to M - that or I have a very large head. I'm sure she'll love it.

M the budding crafter

M is going to a Montessori school (she's three going on four next month) and she's learning how to sew. Here's her latest creation (it's a bookmark - I had to ask, too).

I'm very proud. :) She's really proud of it, too.

One of the things that I really value from my childhood was the fact that my mom did a lot of different crafts. I feel this is important to my personal development because I feel it has allowed me to look at something and have the confidence to try to make anything. I'm looking forward to when I can start getting her those neat kids kits so she can start making her own stuff, too.

The types of crafts I remember doing when I was a kid: crocheting, cooking, and decoupage. Then there was that weird three-D cut out thingy's (3-D decoupage). We painted and macraméd, too. It was really all a whole bunch of fun. One of mom's old friends called her basement, the G.S. art school because it seemed like mom would have all the kids over in the neighborhood to do crafts.

Mel the protector

Since we live on the edge of a natural area, we get all sorts of critters. Our trash is routinely rummaged through by raccoons, bunny rabbits scurry when we drive down the driveway at night, cardinals, finches, and squirrels come and feed at the bird feeder, you know - wildlife!

To this city girl it's pretty cool.

Anyway, we have an armadillo who's decided to live in our shed. He doesn't hurt anything, so we pretty much just leave him alone and marvel when he's out routing for bugs.

But Mel the Protector dog has decided that the armadillo presents all sorts of trouble, so he follows the poor guy around and barks at him. Here's a photo of Mel terrorizing the poor armadillo.

Signs

One of the things that truly tickles me is when I read a sign in a public place that asks or warns people of not doing something. I'm often intrigued by what made the folks post the sign in the first place.

For example, I was at a local city doing business and I saw a sign stating that using profane and abusive language will get you a fine.

It's called disorderly conduct and the law specifically states, "a person commits an offense if he intentionally or knowingly uses an abusive, indecent, profane, or vulgar language in a public place, and the language by its very utterance stands to incite an immediate breach of the peace."
Since I'm somewhat amused by the story behind the reason WHY the city had the sign posted, it was because some years ago they had a builder come in and essentially threaten the poor workers behind the counter. Apparently, he kept doing it over and over and didn't realize he was doing it.

So the next time you see an odd sign posted, ask for the story behind why they needed to post the sign.

What sparked this blog entry was seeing a post on one of my yahoo groups with a link to Snopes. First of all, I love Snopes. It really helps me temper my less computer literate family members whenever they get some stupid email that gets them upset. Invariably, Snopes has already looked into it and has determined if there is any validity to the email.

But Snopes occasionally gets stumped and they have a page with the questions that have stumped them. Like my fascination with signs, I have wondered (and worried) about some of the stories behind the emails.

Enjoy:

http://www.snopes.com/humor/question/urgent.asp

SnB Devil Hat update

Okay, I'm actually seeing a hat form out of this mess of yarn! I wanted to show you how the top of the hat looks because I knitted from the top down.

The reason why this is interesting is because the original pattern calls for the hat to be knitted from the brim down. I did increases to widen the hat from the top and I like the way it looks. Some of the hats I've seen others do have the decreases showing and the spiral on top of the hat is much more pronounced to see.

The other thing that I liked about knitting from the top down is that I was able to do the whole thing on circular needles and don't have to go back and sew the flaps on the hat. Look at this photo.

I just went strait into knitting the ear flap and the i-cord with my double point needles (which you need for the i-cord).

Then on the other side, I have my circular needles holding the stitches for the other earflap.

I probably should have a holder there, but the needles are working just fine for now.

I also wanted to show you how the cast-off looks next to the earflap.

This is where I think the look can really be different from the original pattern. The brim now has a very distinct border (since the pattern knits from the brim up, you have a softer edge because it's a cast-on edge).

I still have problems keeping track of the seed stitch on the ear flaps - it's so much easier to do it in the round. I'll eventually figure it out, but for now, I am pretty happy with the way the hat looks. Frogging it before was a difficult thing for me to do, but I'm now glad I did it. The hat looks WAY better and I feel good about how it looks.

I need to figure out what I'm going to knit for the knitting Olympics. I'm thinking alligator gloves from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation. From the Google searches, though, I think I'm going to have to change the pattern up a bit. I hate to sew pieces together (because invariably it never gets done) so I am going to try to knit this like a toe up sock. I'll try to keep photo's if I do them.

Zombies

First of all, I wanted to post a url for a totally silly site:

http://ravensblight.com/papertoys.html

Free creepy paper toys. Download zombies, et. al. there. Oh, and zombies really creep me out. No really, they do. My "fear" of zombies can be traced to the stupid movie The Omega Man with Charlton Heston. I still remember those creepy blue-ish white eyes.

I also had to stop playing the Doom stuff when they introduced the stupid zombies. I mean, you can't kill them - they keep coming. Ugh!

A, my co-worker, once tried to scare me with a picture of zombies. It did startle me, but I must admit that my fear has diminished over the years. You see, I married a horror movie junkie. I still don't like playing Doom, but I must admit that Shaun of the Dead is one of my favorite movies. I won't be able to listen to some Queen songs without remembering certain scenes from the movie.

Weird Head Stories

I dream weird dreams.

Here's one that I had last night - sort of. I've certainly embellished it over the morning in my strange brain.

People who get old download their neural networks into a computer network before they die(sort of like Matrix, but the personalities are not tied to a body). So, once that happens, people can talk to them day to day. It's essentially the only way that people can experience eternal life.

At the beginning of the development of this technology, religions vehemently fights against this new technology, but folks warm up to it because they actually don't lose their loved ones.

Strange, huh? Very Lawnmower man meets the Matrix.

Scared of Santa

Since our own experience with M being terrified by Santa, I found this site oddly reassuring and funny.

http://www.southflorida.com/events/sfl-scaredsanta,0,2245506.photogallery

Some of the photo's of the Santa's are downright scary. Thanks to W.M. for this link.

Frogged it

Frogging is a term I learned from my knitting books. It means that you have unraveled your project (when you pull it apart, it makes a "rip it" sound - get it?)

Well, I got one of the flaps done on the hat and was successfully making an i-cord when I tried to put the hat on. The whole time I was knitting it, I was a little skeptical about how it looked. I had increased it too aggressively and made the top flat and the hat like a tube. Furthermore, it wasn't large enough. I did like knitting from the top down and will do that again. I just couldn't wrap my mind around the way to increase it because the pattern called for decreases (knitting from the brim up). I pulled out my excel spreadsheet and finally figured out how to increase from the top down. Essentially, I will have to increase each row, but if it's the third row, then I will increase between every two stitches. Hopefully this will make the top of the hat look better. Plus, I can still follow the pattern, somewhat.

I also started knitting on the SnB Pinup Queen sweater. I bought a nice green color for the yarn and started it. It'll be my first ever sweater. I'm not too sure about how well it'll turn out. My neighbor knits all the time but she likes to knit small stuff - so she can get the project done.

I also have my eye on making alligator gloves. I also am thinking about making some finger puppets for M.

But first I WILL finish this damn hat! :)

Podcasts

I found the Point of Inquiry podcast and have found the shows to be really, really good and top notch quality. They're put out by the Center for Inquiry and well worth checking out.

Knitting

I am really enjoying learning how to knit. It's not been as easy for me as crocheting is, but I like the way knitting looks better than crocheting.

I'm getting close on finishing my hat. Here's a picture of what it's suppose to look like when it's done.
I started knitting it according to the instructions, but went to a Stitch 'n Bitch session and had someone show me how to knit top down - which is a lot easier as I can size the hat any size I want and avoid seams. I'm surprised at how much I like knitting.

Funny Bible

I came across this link from one of my many yahoo groups.

http://www.thebricktestament.com/

It's hilarious! Some fundy used Lego's to reenact the Old Testament. I'm amazed at the time that must have been spent to do this.

Here's one of my favorite photo's:

Of course, without knowing what the caption is, it is a pretty salacious photo.

For those with inquiring minds: Genesis 2:7 - And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

Survivalist mode

Not to sound too wacky, but we've started stockpiling canned food "just in case". This whole H5N1 avian flu pandemic potential has me more than spooked.

I found a good article talking about how everything was effected due to the 1918 pandemic.

http://members.cox.net/~tjohnston7/ww1hist/flu.html

When you have two prominent reporters (who have been in combat zones) saying that they're going to stockpile so they can ride out the pandemic, I think it would be prudent to do likewise.

Clients who decide how much to pay

How do people feel like they can change the terms of my contract? I have a client who I did about 12 hours of work. I had to also hire a surveyor, and have paid for them out of pocket already in order to get the work done.

I was essentially hired to explain the current drainage pattern, not to fix it and I made that pretty clear when I spoke to the homeowner.

She decided that she would only pay a quarter of what is owed (which give me a whopping $40 over my surveying costs - uh, I don't think so.)

She also went in halves with the neighbor behind her. The neighbor isn't going to pay her half because the letter was addressed to the first woman and, in her opinion, outlines the problems of her neighbor and not hers. Well, the simple situation is that her problem isn't as easily correctable without losing a very large, very old oak tree. Furthermore, she didn't realize that the existing drainage easement took up a good deal of her front yard.

sigh. . .

I'm going to have to demand a retainer up front for smaller projects. They rarely turn out well, take too much of my time, and I usually end up telling the homeowner things he/she does not wish to hear (mainly that the problem is usually costly to fix).

Happy New Year and Junk

Well, I celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary on the first. I can't believe it's been 15 years, but I have to admit that it's been a great 15 years. J is wonderful support for me emotionally and is, if there is such a thing, my soul mate (in other words, he's the right guy for me).

Happy New Years to all!

Mel has been a bit of a handful, but really is a wonderful dog. He has chewed up my shoes, our carpet, and my latest library book.

I am now the not-so-proud owner of Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Preston. It was a good read and I find that I like Preston's stuff better than Crichton's - which is actually easy to do because Crichton's stuff has become fiction against science. The last Crichton novel I read was the one warning about nanotechnology. I don't know. I really didn't enjoy it. I still haven't read his latest one about airplanes.

I liked TC because it took a character from The Codex - my favorite one, in fact - Tom Broadbent and Sally Colorado (yes, I know, isn't that an awful name!). I also now have a new character I'd like to see in future books - Wynan Ford, the former CIA guy who turned into a monk initiate who turned into a consultant for hire. He's a compelling character with lots of potential.

Okay, okay. I know this is absolute trash, but I love to read. It's far better than reading romance novels - ugh. I HATE those.

The sky is falling!

I just listened to Meet the Press' podcast from Christmas day. The guests were Ted Koppel and Peter Jennings and they were talking about the only thing that we can do to prepare for the inevitable outbreak of H5N1 - or Avian Flu.

Basically they said you need to start stocking up to four weeks worth of food so when - and they stressed WHEN the flu outbreaks in your community. They basically all agreed that you have to essentially hole up for the duration in order to avoid getting the flu.

Ted Koppel hasn't done it yet, but he and his wife are going to do it. Peter Jennings and his wife *have* done it.

My dear husband always thinks I over react in times of pending doom - and he's usually right. But I just can't shake the feeling of the inevitability an upcoming outbreak. I live near a major hub airport and many of my neighbors work for the airlines. I can't help but feel that we'd be one of the first communities hit.

So, do I invest in a freezer and start stocking up now or just stock when the outbreak finally hits? I must admit that I'm feeling very vulnerable and need to find things to help me "prepare" 'cause a flu shot right now just isn't going to help.

Puppy Fever

Ever since we had to put down our dog Maxy I have had a dog-shaped hole in my life. Little things would pop up - from food falling down on the floor and having to pick it up because I didn't have a dog to eat it to remembering to bring the dog in from a freezing day.

I was looking at photo's of last year's Christmas with M and we saw a photo of Maxy. That was it. I started looking on-line for a rescue dog.

Each dog I found and called on had already been adopted.

So I ended up calling the vet's office - the ones that had put Maxy down - because we had a good experience with them. They had a male black lab mix and said that he was really sweet.

We went to look at him and I fell in love. He is such a friendly little guy. The nice thing is that he's not going to be huge, but he's not an itty bitty thing, either.

Please welcome the newest member of our family, Mel:

The vet has estimated that he's around 9 months old. He's got almost all of his adult teeth in, is potty trained, and loves to cuddle. I'm pretty happy right now. He likes to sneak things into his crate. We'll have to go and look to see what he's dragged into the crate. He's especially smitten with all of M's things. M likes him, she just gets a little intimidated sometimes when he's jumping up on her. I tell her that she's in charge and that she needs to teach Mel to not jump up on her.

Oh, and Mel's name comes from Jack's Big Music Show. It's a kids show with puppets. The puppet's names are Jack and Mary and they have a dog whose name is - you've guessed it - Mel.

Americans United

Just got a nice reply from AU.

Here's the note I sent to them:
----------------------
From: XXXXX
Sent: Thu 12/22/2005 11:53 AM
To: americans united
Subject: Rob Boston Rocks!

I have been a long time non-member of AU. I get the email updates and
generally am very happy that this organization exists. But I never joined. I
don't know why, but I just never did.

But I just saw the segment on Fox News when Rob Boston took Mr. Gibson to
task for lying about the "War on Christmas". He rocks and I loved seeing Mr.
Gibson squirm.

I'm tired of being accommodating and nice to these folks. It was absolutely
wonderful seeing someone honestly fighting the good fight.

This is why I just joined.
----------------------
Here's the nice note I got back from them:
----------------------
Dear XXXX,

Welcome to the AU community!

Thank you so much for kind words. We have received so much negative correspondence (often hostile and with obscene language) about the so-called “War on Christmas.” It lights up my day to read encouraging e-mails from our supporters. Rob is one of our most articulate spokesmen and we were very proud of his performance on Gibson’s show. I will pass your note along to him.
We appreciate your support of Americans United and church-state separation. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to ask.

Sincerely,
Lauren Smith
----------------------
Okay folks, you need to write the people who are fighting the good fight! They need to hear from you! For every letter we write, they're getting tons of hate mail. Let's keep brightening their day and remind them that they do have supporters.

Christmas

We celebrate Christmas even though we're atheists. It's a cultural thing for us as we celebrated Christmas as kids ourselves. Believe it or not, you can celebrate it in as secular a way as possible. I got rid of my nativity scenes years ago. The story of baby Jesus is similar to the story of Santa - it's just a Christmas story.

I love Christmas music, the tree with lights, looking at the outdoor lights of our neighbors. I really love it.

We had a great Christmas this year. We went over to my folks house on Christmas Eve and had lunch. It was really great. M loved helping Grandma cook and everyone behaved themselves. Drinking was only done at the dinner table and it was in moderate amounts.

Christmas morning was fun. We woke up, saw the puppet show theater that she got from Santa, then headed over to our local Waffle House. It's become our Christmas morning tradition to do that. It's fun because the ladies at the WH know us from over the years. We also bring them homemade cookies and fudge. They're always very complimentary when I bring them in. It definitely is something that makes me feel good to do.

We then headed home and opened presents. M had so many presents that she got tired of opening them.

Side story: our neighbors have kids M's age and they have a pretty small Christmas. Santa brought one big present - an deluxo-electric piano. I actually like this and we'll probably try to do that next year. M gets stuff all the time during the year (uh, yeah - I spoil her) and we now have to go on a toy purge to make room for all her new stuff.

The day after Christmas we went to visit our good friends, the C's. We have a standing Friday night family night with these folks and I just love getting together with them. The girls love each other and we're very compatible from a couple standpoint. Same age, been married for a while, had kids late, nerdy.

As we were going home from the C's, M pipes up in the back, "You know who hates Santa?"

I thought she was going to say one of her school buddies. . .

"No honey, who?" we replied.

"ME!" she answered.

Well, I was a little crushed. I knew that feeling so well. I had a little trouble with the whole Santa thing and remember as a kid having trouble going to sleep on Christmas Eve thinking that this strange man would be coming into MY house. Granted, he was coming in to leave toys, but he was coming in using magic. How does he come in? We didn't have a fireplace. The questions kept on running through my head.

Well, M is having a similar experience. Last year she didn't want to come out of her room on Christmas morning because she thought Santa was waiting for her in the living room. As soon as she understood that Santa came and went, she was fine with coming out to see what goodies she got (or more importantly, what did Santa remember to bring her from her list).

This year she did NOT want to sit on Santa's lap AT ALL. We tried to see if she'd sit on his lap, but we never forced her or made her feel bad for not wanting to sit on his lap. We recently switched to Vonage for our phone service and they had a deal where you could dial *101 (I think) and listen to a message from Santa. She wasn't really keen on talking to Santa on the phone either, so I pretended to talk to Santa and gave him her list of things that she wanted this year (Barbies, a scooter, a Leapster, a baby doll, and a skate board. . . and that's all). She remembered from last year that Santa didn't give her a skate board, so that's why she put it on her list this year. Reminder: She was TWO last year.

So, since she finally said that she hated Santa, we decided that it was time to tell her that Santa was Mom and Dad.

She was relieved and I can see the happiness in her eyes when she holds up a "Santa" gift and ask who bought her this toy or that toy. Life makes sense again.

Books

I read a lot and haven't been posting anything about my books. I just finished a quick, trashy novel: Honeymoon by James Patterson. It was a pretty formulaic book, but it was entertaining.

I also finished Dance of Death by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs. It was the latest Pendergast novel and I enjoyed it. They've started writing the books like a serial, which is fun because I like the cast of characters. They've definitely improved their writing since The Relic.

I'm still trying to get through The Historian. It's well written, but it's SO slow and it details EVERY STINKIN' little detail of the adventure. I have stuck with the book because it's been a fun read, but it better pay off. All the reviews of the book say that the pay-off in the end is well worth the trouble of slogging through to the end.

War on Christmas

Well, I know most of you already know about the so-called "War on Christmas" that Bill O'Reilley is pushing with his pal John Gibson (who's really just trying to shill his book - wonder if BO gets a cut).

Anyway, I just joined Americans United for the first time and it's because of one reason: Rob Boston ROCKS!

Check out this video .

I have been really disappointed with some of our Progressive leaders because they just don't seem to want to lead - they've allowed the Religious Right to run rough shod over the US. Rob Boston really goes on the attack in the above video, and rightly so. These guys are LIARS!

Go Ro-ob, go Ro-ob, go Ro-ob!



Then there's the stupid House Resolution 579 recently passed to "protect" Christmas.

Whereas Christmas is a national holiday celebrated on December 25; and (Engrossed as Agreed to or Passed by House)

HRES 579 EH
H. Res. 579
In the House of Representatives, U.S.,
December 15, 2005.

Whereas Christmas is a national holiday celebrated on December 25; and

Whereas the Framers intended that the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States would prohibit the establishment of religion, not prohibit any mention of religion or reference to God in civic dialog: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) recognizes the importance of the symbols and traditions of Christmas;
(2) strongly disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas; and
(3) expresses support for the use of these symbols and traditions, for those who celebrate Christmas.

Come on guys! We're at war where real guns are being fired. Can we worry about that war, instead?

I love this video that addresses the silliness of this "war". Congressman John Dingell is a new hero of mine!

Nip/Tuck Season Finale - Spoilers

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. It was Quinten. The writers did a good job with bait and switch on this one, and I'm glad they didn't switch it at the last minute - you know, I got a little upset when they pulled in Liz - the evidence didn't suggest Liz at all.

But the shocker was Kit being Quinten's sister. Makes the earlier scenes with them even more creepy.

I was surprised to see Julia get back together with Shawn. That's nice.

Then the whole story line with their son - I can't believe they killed the Nazi.

Once again, Bravo! Great show!

Weight Watchers revisited

Well, I think I've officially entered into a cycle that won't break itself unless I tackle it head on.

We went on vacation a while back for a family wedding and then the next weekend we had something else going on where I wasn't able to make my WW meeting again.

Of course my weight loss has stalled (luckily, I haven't gained it back) and I keep telling myself that I'll be good this week and lose weight and then go to WW meeting.

I know this is self destructive behavior so I just need to make the next meeting and face the music and get back on the program.

Why do I have to make this so hard?

Let us pray

M has been hearing stuff about where you go when you die from her buddies at school.

"Dead things go to heaven, mama."

"Where did you hear that?" I asked, somewhat alarmed because I'm not prepared to talk about this WITH MY THREE-YEAR OLD!.

"Kelsey," who is a friend from school.

"Where is heaven?"

Long pause. . . "I don't know. I'll have to ask Kelsey. But Maxy dog is in doggy heaven."

"No, Maxy dog is dead and her body lies in a grave."

"What's a grave?"

Ugh. The conversation goes on and on. We're starting to work with her on determining what's real and what's make believe.

Then this morning just before we were getting ready to eat, M said that we had to put our hands together and say our phone number before we eat.

I did it because I was a little charmed. It's better than praying.

More TV - Warning, Spoilers!

Not really much to discuss this time as we see many series start to go on hiatus.

Monk:

Last week's Monk was good. I usually see who did it a mile away, but find the particulars of the characters worth sticking around to continually watch the show. But this time, the clue was so subtle that I didn't pick up on it until towards the end of the show. I love it when that happens.

Nip/Tuck:

I really, really thought that Julia had killed her mother. The writers did a good job with with the ending of the show - I certainly didn't see it coming that Julia had actually killed a different woman. The episode also showed Julia that she has a talent for medicine - perhaps she'll go back and finish med school. I still think Quinten is the Carver.

Survivor: Guatemala

The big question I hear every one ask: Would you have taken the car or given a car to each of the contestants. I personally would have given the cars away. Most folks I've spoken to today would have kept it. Cindy seemed pleased as punch to have the car - she must have known she was going to be voted out. "I'll think of you as I look at the stars through my moon roof in my new car." I love it. Tell us how you really feel, Cindy! I love it when people who are voted out are visibly pissed.

The Apprentice: The Donald

I liked how the show allowed the contestants to pick their own teams. The tasks that the apprentices do for the final two were always high visibility events - why sabotage them with the nitwits and dig bats? I thought it was interesting that the contestants wanted the same people and had to negotiate for their teams. It is a good way to do it. I hope to see this to be the norm. Also, it'd be nice if there's monetary compensation to the players who are picked to come back to help the contestants out - It certainly would make folks be kinder to each other and not so cut throat.

ER:

OMG! Abbey is pregnant! I certainly didn't see that one coming at all! It'll be interesting to see if she decides to keep in given her staunch stance on no kids because she doesn't want to pass bi-polarism to her kids. It's also interesting because I think Luca is having difficulty with dealing with not having his kids around - which has been a recurring theme, and rightly so, for his character.

Officially Middle Aged

Okay, I now officially feel middle aged at 39. I just had a birthday and can't avoid the realization that it's all downhill from here.

Sometimes I do a weird mental gymnastic while glancing over the obits. I look at the age they died, split in half, and count how many times my age is over the halfway mark. Sick, I know, but it always made me feel okay. The numbers started to get smaller and smaller when I turned 35, but now that I'm 39 - I can't deny it. I'm middle aged.

But the funny thing is I wouldn't want to be any other age. I wish I had my 16 year old body, though. Mentally, however, I'm really in a great place in my life right now.

Poncho

Well, I got tired of making little pot holders over and over (I'm making an afghan) and decided that I needed to step out of my comfort zone, so I made M a poncho. ("Is this my poncho, mama? It's so pretty")

I used Lion Brand Velvetspun yarn (which is REALLY, REALLY soft) and trimmed it with Fun Fur yarn. It went together fairly quickly and I'm very pleased with the finished result.

I now am trying to get brave enough to make a robot but I think I'll need some help from my neighbor since the patterns are incredibly complex.

So for the time being, I'm going to go back to making little pot holders till I'm brave enough. I have a lot of pot holders to make: 63 in all. I only have 12 of them done, so I have a lot to do. To be fair, each square is a different crochet pattern, so I'm actually learning new techniques as I make each one.

TV commentary

Nip/Tuck:

Okay, I saw the whole Kimber being kidnapped by the Carver coming a mile away. I still don't understand why the Carver has focused on Christian. This tends to make me want to steer away from thinking it's Quintin. I just don't know who the Carver is now.

Lost:

I am anxiously awaiting seeing the spliced together film. It'll be interesting. The new information regarding how the doors are blast doors makes this even more interesting.

Where did Donovan go? Did he join the Others? I thought it was interesting about finding out what Kate did as her original crime and why she's fighting her feelings for Sawyer.

The Biggest Loser:

I had a great time watching this show. It's very inspirational for someone who has given up on the idea of having WLS. I'd love to see the show do a follow up contest a couple of years later to see if the folks have kept the weight off.

Survivor:

I still wish Gary Hogeboom was in the mix. He was truly fun to watch. Another show I think I'd like to see is to have the spouses/siblings/children of previous contestants to compete. I was surprised to see Judd to go last week. I can't wait till the jury questioning session - if Cindy's not one of the two, he's gonna rip folks apart (although if Rafe is one of the final two, he has a reason - Judd didn't pick his mom while it was pretty obvious that Rafe is a bigger threat than Stephanie). Go Rafe, go Rafe!

The Apprentice: The Donald

I think it's pretty clear who is going to win this one. It's been pretty clear from the start. We're going to have the first black winner of The Apprentice.

Russell!

And really, he has been the best candidate for the whole show. I have been very surprised to see The Donald firing multiple people at a time. Doesn't that make the show shorter? I was also surprised to see Alla go. I thought she was a stronger candidate than the chick that's going up against Russell. She was put in a very difficult situation by the project manager and I just don't know how I would have played it, either. I thought that was a bad call on Donald's part.