Knittin' and Movies

Today was a busy day. I spent the early afternoon at the knitting store finishing Charity Blanket # 10 - the Log Cabin a la Mason Dixon.


I also went to the movies! This afternoon the work group ventured out to see Live Free: Die Hard (which Bruce Willis has also termed "Die Hard: Shoot Everything that Moves"). Although I haven't seen the other Die Hard's, I really enjoyed this one. It was the perfect fun summer movie - lots of action, some funny moments and just some good plain fun. This evening Wes and I watched the Sci Fi flick Final Cut starring Robin Williams. In this futuristic society, people are implanted with chips that record their entire lives. These chips are edited after their deaths by a cutter, who delivers a final "re-memory" of their lives. This was an interesting movie and Robin Williams was excellent.

Sweet Cracker Sandwich* it's Finally Friday.

This week has been eternal in the history of long weeks. All sorts of little stuff has gone awry, and there have been a few bigger things to touch the lives of my friends. In general, I'm just glad that this daggum week is over and that we're onto a beautiful summer weekend, and a Holiday week next week.

Sidenote: could the Holiday people screw it up any more by having July 4 in the middle of the week - we couldn't just time shift to the Friday and have a 3 day weekend?!?!?

This weekend's plans include mountains of laundry, a movie with my sweets, Die Hard with the work crew, and lots of knitting. See y'all in the new week!

*This phrase found via Holly at Nothing But Bonfires.

Just Ducky: Part Deux

Rubber Ducks End 15-Year Odyssey

Hundreds of rubber ducks are expected to appear off the coast of Cornwall - having been afloat at sea for the past 15 years.

The wayward bath toys have covered 17,000 miles since they accidentally fell overboard in the Pacific Ocean during a storm in January, 1992.

They were among a consignment of 28,800 plastic ducks, beavers, turtles and frogs that were being taken from Hong Kong to Washington State in the US.

Seattle oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer has been monitoring the toys as a means of mapping ocean currents.

He is interested to see where they come ashore, with some of the toys apparently having reached the east coast of America.

The Daily Express quoted him as saying: "It's now inevitable that they will get caught up in the Atlantic currents and will turn up on English beaches.

"Cornwall and the South West will probably get the first batch of them."

If a toy is returned to the manufacturer the finder can claim a £50 reward.

But the ducks are far more valuable if they are sold privately as curiosity items - fetching up to £1,000.

The plastic animals have already reached places as diverse as Indonesia, Australia and South America.

But Alaska has proved a popular washing up point for the washtime toys.

Between 1993 and 2005 Alaska residents Dean Orbison and his son Tyler collected 121 plastic animals as they came ashore near the city of Sitka.

I don't know whether it's for real, but I found it here.

Drunk Stupid Crazy Criminals

.. OF HAVING SEX WITH HIS BIKE

A MAN has been charged with having sex with his bike.

Robert Stewart was allegedly caught in the act by two terrified cleaners who walked into his bedroom in a hostel.

Stewart has denied the accusation, claiming it was caused by a misunderstanding after he had too much to drink.

The charge alleges he conducted himself in a disorderly manner, simulated sex with a bicycle and continued to do so while naked from the waist down in the presence of two female employees.

Found here.

In a sponsor meeting. Talk amongst yourselves.

Ducky!

Well I won't say that this day has been totally ducky, but things are looking a bit better. Some payments cleared on my work credit card overnight, so it should be reactivated shortly. We had a meeting of the work book club today. The discussion on our first book, Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem, was interesting and we picked one I'd really been wanting to read for our next book - Wild Trees by Richard Preston. Can't wait to dive in!

I had pole dancing last night and danced to Pain by Three Days Grace. It's a great song, and I had a great time. Even my very uncoordinated self was ok on the pole last night. Then I had a wonderful sushi dinner with my pole partner in crime.

I got home about 10pm and worked a bit on the sweater for Tadpole who is going to be a beautiful little girl!!! (Just found out today via Mommy's ultrasound.) I should be done with the garment shortly, but I just LOVE the ducky buttons.

Today I'm leaving work shortly to go to some doctor appointments and to complete my parents' anniversary surprise (they will be married 32 years on Friday!) Then it's home to KNIT KNIT KNIT.

Thank goodness it's hump day. Is it weekend yet?

Forget raining... it's pouring.

Ok, so maybe it's a slight exaggeration, but they're not kidding in that old saying "when it rains, it pours." I got back to work today after a few days out (Friday for the seminar, Monday to deal with the glasses) and my desk was a mess. There were tons of loose ends to tie up, and the sponsor on one of the projects is doing a site visit on Thursday, so I'm awash in agendas and catering and reports and presentations.

Which makes the unexpected phone call from the credit card company (the work expense cards) so annoying. Apparently my reimbursements to the credit card are tied up in bureaucratic hell. So I was politely informed by the woman at GE Capital that my credit card payments are 60 days overdue and my card is now suspended. She then asks me when they might expect payment. Hmmm... well the last expense report I filed was over 3 weeks ago, so I haven't a clue where it is or why it hasn't been paid. And now the caterer is calling me telling me that my credit card won't go through so I have to transfer the charges to my personal card. ARGH! Sometimes ya gotta hate the establishment.

Other than that, I suppose nothing is really wrong. Just lots of really aggravating little bits that make me wish I was able to stay home sick today. And these glasses are really annoying me - I'm still in my old pair and the world is just too damn blurry for my liking. My patience is already wearing thin... let's hope those new ones come back early.

Let's go on an adventure Charlie!*

So today was QUITE the adventure. I started about 9:30am on the phone with my apartment manager to try and get the little water leak problem fixed. I'm not sure exactly what they have in mind in the way of a solution, but when I arrived home this afternoon the carpet was pulled up and an industrial fan was drying things out. Somehow, it's smelling a bit less too.

I left right after that for Costco in search of new glasses. I found a cute pair (not unlike my current glasses, although not as broken!) and went to get my prescription read. Except by law they can't read a prescription from an old pair of glasses. And the optometrist at Costco is booked until July 8. So I went up the street to a walk-in clinic, plunked down my $39 to get some guy to tell me I should be wearing contacts, my vision seems worse in one eye and better in the other, and to give me the blessed prescription. Then it was back to Costco to drop it off. Now it's just 7-12 business days of waiting until they're ready. So I guess it's just a blurry blurry world until then.

After that I had lunch with a friend, bought some super glue to try and jimmy the old pair together for a few more days (no luck so far), grabbed some organizing implements at Office Depot, and headed home. Here I succumbed to a nap, and now I'm knitting to my heart's content and watching The Closer on TNT (my favorite summer drama).

*More on Charlie's adventure here.

What a weekend!

This weekend was pure craziness. I was a little bit of everywhere! To recap:

Friday evening I came home to crash on the couch and watch a movie with my sweetie. We watched Eragon. Though it certainly wasn't the best movie I've seen, it was a good story and I did enjoy it. I never would have thought that my man and I would be able to have movie dates, but I look forward to it each weekend!

Saturday morning my friend and I went to a little soiree at a local aesthetics center. Apparently our pole dancing teacher has hooked up with them for a little homeopathic laser healing. The drill was simple: breakfast, a little zap to show us what can be done, and then the hard sell. Although I'm not signing up for any $2-$3k treatments soon, I was happy to have them laser some of my hair away forever. Honestly, it was pretty interesting to listen to the sales pitch, hear the testimonials and see many of the group put down money right away. I was interested, but also skeptical and don't have the money just lying around.

Saturday afternoon was knitting with the ladies at the yarn store. I worked on another itty bitty vest, and the knit bikini. I love how it's turning out, despite the fact that the skeptics seem to think a knitted bathing suit could never work.

Saturday evening Mom and I stole away to see Knocked Up. It was very funny, and an entertaining evening. Afterwards we went to the Peninsula Grille and had a flaky pear and marzipan tart with vanilla ice cream and caramel. It was out of this world!

This morning began very early when I brought breakfast to Dad at the annual Field Day event. This morning's event was a little slower than in past years. Sun spots are wreaking havoc on the bands, and I was only able to work about 50 contacts before the end of the morning, compared to my usual 200-300. It was still a good morning though - got to spend a little quality time with Dad.

I returned to LA midday to head up to A Mano's 3rd anniversary celebration. There was a great potluck with all sorts of delicious foods and knitting was fabulous. I'm almost done with the charity log cabin blanket. Pictures will be along very soon!

Tonight I came home and watched Running with Scissors. Though the book got rave reviews, I had heard the movie was only fair. Maybe it just wasn't my type of movie. I didn't hate it, but I thought it was only mediocre.

I had a few other mishaps this weekend. My bathroom seems to be leaking somehow, and the carpet right outside the shower is damp and smelly. Despite a call to the management, it doesn't seem to have been dealt with, so that's on the list for tomorrow. I also found my glasses were broken tonight. So tomorrow won't be spent at work, but rather running around trying to obtain a fix or a new pair. I'm pretty much blind as a bat without the ole specs. Though I have an old pair, they seem to be fairly blurry and scratched, so I'm going to spend the day hoping for a new set. It's only money right?

Guess that's all the news that's fit to print. If you made it through that, thanks for sticking with me and I hope you enjoy the knitting humor!

It's a wrap!

My latest commission for the shop, a beautiful ruffled shawl. The yarn is Lana Grossa Babykid, in colorway 603. This shawl took 5 1/2 skeins. It took a while, but came out beautifully!

The Top 5

This afternoon at lunch was a little reminiscent of a Friends episode. Somehow the conversation turned to which actors would be on our Top 5 list. Responses were pretty typical, but it's always interesting to see who your friends would pick.

When I got back from lunch, I related the conversation to Wes who turned the tables on me. So here it is, my top 5.


1. William H. Macy - I know he's not quite in my age range, and he's married to Felicity Huffman, but I love him as an actor, and have watched almost everything he's done. My favorites include Fargo and The Cooler.


2. Ewan McGregor - I admit that I wasn't totally sold when I watched Trainspotting, but by the time I got to Moulin Rouge I was hooked. He is not only a hottie but he can sing!!


3. Colin Firth - I don't know when I first became aware of Colin Firth, but he always plays some yummy Englishman. Notable favorites include Pride & Prejudice, Bridget Jones Diary, Love Actually, and Girl with the Pearl Earring.

The Girls:

I don't always fill my Top 5 list. Getting married to Wes makes me dream of meeting celebrities less... However, the discussion in group settings always turns to that question of who of your own sex would you put on your list. So if I have to pick women my choices are


1. Angelina Jolie - I don't care about her adoptions, about her weird relationships with her family, about the vial of Billy Bob's blood. I've always thought she was hot. And if I had to pick a woman to experiment with, she'd be at the top of my list.


2. Kate Beckinsale - Van Helsing might have been a horrible movie, but Kate looked HOT HOT HOT. She's the one other woman I would think about experimenting with. You know... if she just happened to walk into my world and want to kiss a little.


So that's me. How about you?

The Itty Bitty Vest Factory

I just knit this one up last night and had to share.... sometimes I knit new yarns up into swatches for the shop. For non-knitters, this is usually a small square of knitting, to give you an idea of how the yarn will feel when it's knit into a garment. Lately, one of the women at the shop has been trying to get us to knit more interesting samples. She schemed and planned for a bit, and came up with the itty bitty vest. This is my first one in Rowan Handknit Cotton in a beautiful spring green. So cute!

Seinapalooza

I came across this gem today: Sein of the Times. The creator, Eric Snider, is pure genius. He creates dialogue to address technological advances that weren't part of the Seinfeld Schtick because of it's 1998 finale.

An excerpt: Seinfeld on Blogging

JERRY: You got a new job? Why didn't you tell us?

ELAINE: I posted it in my blog.

JERRY: Your blog?

ELAINE: Yeah, my blog.

JERRY: You have a blog?

ELAINE: What, you don't read my blog?

JERRY: Why would I read your blog? I see you every day. What are you going to say in your blog that I don't already know?

ELAINE: Well, that I got a new job, for one thing.

JERRY: So that's what it's come to? We don't have to talk anymore, because I can just read your blog to see what's new?

ELAINE: Pretty much.

Check out the rest!

Songs to Strip To

As I've mentioned in a few of my recent posts (found here), I have started a pole dancing class. We just finished week three tonight.

So far I've learned the following:

* It's not easy to support your body weight on a pole.
* Because of this, there's a LOT of strength training that we're doing.
* Ergo, I suddenly feel muscles I didn't know I had or could use.
* Further, those of us who aren't totally coordinated should be wary of said pole.
* Beyond the strength training and the pole, there's also DANCING.

Which brings me to the topic of this post. Each class we are supposed to bring some music to dance to. As I've quickly learned, the songs you know and love are the best ones to dance to. You know the ones I mean - the songs that rev your engines and make you want to dance around the house. The songs you want playing in a dark club while you're with someone you want to rub up against. The songs that scream sex.

So far, I've identified the following as good songs for this activity:

* Kiss Me by Shelley Fairchild
* Say it Right by Nelly Furtado
* Letting the Cables Sleep (remix version of a Bush Song)
* Wicked by Chris Isaak

Songs that don't have appropriate lyrics but turn me on nonetheless:

* Crash by Dave Matthews Band
* Pain by Three Days Grace

Your turn. What would you dance to if you had the chance?

What Happens After High School

Sometimes you wonder what became of people after high school. Then sometimes, you find out they're the hottest sensation on YouTube and people around you at work are talking about what they did.

That would be the case here with Nintendo Punchout by Team Awesome Rocks. You can find the original and the outtakes on Youtube here. For reference, I was a high school drama geek with Little Mac, Bald Bull, Referee Mario and Pit.

A most uncomfortable feeling.

Received yesterday at 4:07pm, via text message -

"Plane just landed, heading to the hotel now. -Jon"

Received yesterday at 4:15pm, via voice mail -

"Hey Laura, just wanted to let you know that I'm in town now, heading for the hotel. Give me a call."

*utter confusion*

Do I know this person? Did I forget something important? Does one of my bosses have someone coming into town? What's wrong with me that this guy knows my name and number and I haven't a clue? Am I going insane? Who do I know with a Texas number?

Sent yesterday at 4:25pm, via text message -

"Are you sure you have the right person? I'm not sure if you meant to find me... do I know you?"

No response.

*utter foncusion*

Political Haha.

Some of you won't remember Animaniacs - the crazy cabaret cartoon with Wacko, Yacko and Dot, as well as a whole host of other characters. I remember racing home from high school to catch episodes - it was an adult cartoon... sort of.

Those pictured at the right (the animations!) are Pinky and the Brain.

Pinky: "Gee Brain, what do you want to do tonight?"

The Brain: "The same thing we do every night, Pinky - Try to take over the world.

For more entertainment visit Pinky and the Brain's Wikipedia page.

Happy Father's Day!

Today we celebrated Daddy's day by going to dinner and a show. For dinner it was a sumptuous feast at Il Capriccio. I had the Proscuitto e Melone and the Ravioli di Ricotta e Spinachi.

Then it was onto the show. Tonight we saw Mary Lynn Rajskub in her one-woman standup comedienne show. Yes, she's otherwise known as Chloe O'Brien on 24. She was crazy and very funny. It was definitely an interesting evening.

Hope you had a good night dad and Happy Father's Day!

V-neck Cardigan

After a few weeks worth of work, it's done. My first adult sized sweater that fits!

Now I just need to finish the wrap for the shop and the book for book club and it's on to the bikini!

T &*$%*^& G I *^&(^%$ F.

Yeah, this has been one heck of a week. I'm looking forward to a weekend. It may not be relaxing, but at least it's some time away from the office and the drama. I'm planning to do the usual things: knit at the yarn store, knit some more, read a book, watch some movies and generally just enjoy some time to myself (and with my sweetie!).

Sunday is Father's Day so I'll be spending the evening with my parents attending a theatre production in Hollywood and snagging some yummy eats.

Otherwise not too much to report... just REALLY ready for the break. Is it August yet? I hear my cruise calling to me.

Art and Politics

Just in case...

There was any doubt...

Look at what arrived today!


Only a million more loan payments to go....

For the academics in the house....

This stunning study found here.

Laundry Gripes

To my fellow tenants:

As you all know, we live in a really nice apartment complex that has multiple laundry facilities. Given that we all co-exist I'd like to take this time to remind you ask that you take a modicum of responsibility.

1. If you're going to do a load of laundry and you spill your detergent, for heaven's sake clean it up. It's not that hard. Take an item of clothing or a towel out of the washer and wipe the top of the machine. It's just soap it isn't dirty.

2. If you're going to dry your laundry in the dryers (that take twice as long as the washers) please come and remove your dry clothing promptly. I know it's hard to remember how long an hour is. That's why God invented the timer. You just set it for an hour and bam, there's an alarm to remind you when your laundry is dry. Don't make us all wait around for 15 or 20 minutes or more to get our sopping wet laundry in the dryer. It's not very pleasant and it makes me angry. It also tempts me to take your laundry out of your dryer and leave it in a heap somewhere, which I don't really want to do.

3. Please don't do five loads of laundry at once. There are only 6 washing machines and 6 dryers per room. Don't you think anyone else might want to do laundry at some point? Meanwhile they're stuck waiting 90 minutes for your washers and dryers to be free. Then if you don't follow rule #2, they're just effed.

4. Why not go for broke and clean the lint trap? I got news for you. It's probably your hair in there. I know you don't want to get my hair so I clean it up when I leave.

5. NEVER EVER dye anything in the community washers. I don't want pink underwear and neither do you. (Unless of course they were pink before they got washed... then that's ok.)

Thank you for listening.

-A disgruntled fellow tenant

Finally, something that makes sense.

Finally, something that makes me feel better that I've had no response from all the resumes I've been sending out.

Survey: 29 Pct of Companies Hiring

MILWAUKEE — Only 29 percent of companies expect to add new positions in the next three months, which is typically the best time of the year for hiring, according to a survey of 14,000 employers being released Tuesday.

The survey by Milwaukee-based global staffing company Manpower Inc. also showed 7 percent of companies said they expect to reduce employment.

So tell me, where are all these jobs for MBAs that you speak of?

The Rage that is Pinkberry.

For those of you outside LA, you probably haven't even heard of Pinkberry. Pinkberry is the newest frozen yogurt rage, bringing back that 80's "fro-yo" craze. I'm all for frozen yogurt - my favorite spot to hit during Sunday night ice cream cravings is Penguin's for some coffee yogurt with fresh strawberries!

Lately all the stars have been spotted at Pinkberry, though (yes even Ms. Jailbird Hilton herself). What started as one little store in Hollywood with a 1 hour line out the door and down the block, is now springing up all over Los Angeles. So today, on a late lunch hour, I decided to venture into a Pinkberry and see what all the fuss was about.

I walked into the tiniest storefront I'd ever seen, but the cashier welcomed me to Pinkberry. There are two flavors of yogurt - original and green tea. I opted for a 5oz. original with FRESH blueberries. (other options included Mango, Strawberries, Pineapple, Coconut, Raspberries, Blackberries, Chocolate Chips, Granola... to name a few).

I have to say, I was impressed. The yogurt is a little sour and a little sweet - it tastes more like yogurt than ice cream. And yes it's creamy and light and chilly. And the fresh fruit is amazing. I didn't expect to like it so much, but I just might have to go back.

What can I say... I always wanted to be a star.

Weekend Update

I can't believe it's Monday again. Where do the weekend's go? This weekend was about intense relaxation.

Friday night was a culinary fete at WineGuy's house, the first in a long time. We noshed on a few appetizers and moved right to the pastries. There were all sorts of dutch treats including spiced cakes, pastries with marzipan, apple pies and lots of cookies. It was a sugar overload, but delicious!

Saturday was a day at A Mano, my favorite place! I'm making progress on my three ongoing projects: the cardigan for me, the wrap for the shop and the super top secret gift for a friend. I think this coming week and weekend will see me moving on from at least one of the first two. Next on the needles - a bathing suit for my upcoming cruise!

Lastly, there were movies!

* The Fountain - This was a sci fi flick that my movie going group tried to see and for some reason never got to it. I picked it out for Wes' and my "date night" movie this week. It was incredibly disjointed and odd, but the overall movie was pretty interesting. I love Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman so it was worth watching.

* Sherrybaby - I wanted to see this one after I saw Maggie Gyllenhal on the Daily Show a while back. I love everything that she's in - that it's quirky and dark and raw. This did not disappoint. It wasn't an uplifting movie, but if you like her work, it is a must see.

* Dr. Zhivago - Last weekend I noticed that this was on Turner Classic Movies and I DVR'd it. I was pleasantly surprised to see that, not only was it the original, but it was also aired without commercial interruption and uncut. I have to say, most times I think of classics as those things everyone talks about but no one has seen. But this was very good and Omar Sharif was quite the handsome man.

* Season Five of 24 - I finished Season 5 this weekend. Now just waiting for Season 6 to hit DVD and see what happens when Jack is back!

Progress

After a good weekend of knitting, I'm all set. Just need the sleeves!

Knit Graffiti

Found on the Wired Blog.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

I just finished reading an excellent book: The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. I was really taken in by the second page with her writing style and the story that was about to unfold. The story begins in the mid-60's with a young woman and her physician husband. On a cold winter night she goes into labor and delivers a son and a daughter. The son is healthy, and the daughter has Down's Syndrome. In one regrettable instant, the doctor hands the baby girl to his nurse and asks her to take the girl to an institution. As for his wife, he tells her the baby has died. The story is a riveting tale of the ripples we create and the walls we erect as a result of the secrets we keep. I would highly recommend!

Weird Wacky Things That Have Happened to Me Today

1. I had a dentist appointment this morning. My regular dentist was otherwise occupied so I saw the new dentist. It turns out I went to junior high with her a million years ago. We used to eat lunch and go to the mall together. Now she has her DDS and her hands in my mouth.

2. Recently, I have been making new friends at work. One is a sweet Australian postdoc who's here for a couple years doing research. This afternoon she IM'd me from the conference she's at, a little panicked because she was just asked to give a presentation on Australia this evening. That's kind of like asking an American to give a presentation on the whole United States on the spot, discussing geographical regions and differences between those regions. But I had something to help her - the presentation I did on Australia in grad school a few semesters back. Yes that's right, I sent the Australian my PowerPoint presentation on Australia so she could use it. HAH!

The social networking age...

Being a pseudo-techie I'm interested in some of the aspects of social networking today. Given that I met my fiance online, I'm definitely a fan of meeting friends online. I've re-connected with friends from high school and college on networking sites (like LinkedIn). But I didn't expect to reconnect with family on there.

For more complicated reasons than I'm going to go into here (and out of respect for my family), let me just say that things went awry in the family several years ago. At that time two sides of the family pretty much ceased speaking. Although I don't necessarily disagree with the decision, the unfortunate part was that my sister and I lost our relationships with our cousins.

Fast forward a few years. In the past few days, our cousins have found us through MySpace. I'm not a huge fan of MySpace, nor do I spend a lot of time on there, but the experience has reminded me that today's technological culture actually does create real opportunities for people to connect and reconnect. It's been really interesting to catch up with my cousins, learn about what they're doing these days and what kind of people they have become. Since most of us live in Southern California now, I think we're going to try and meet up sometime this summer. I don't know if we'll be great friends, but it's really nice that now we have that chance.

Fruit and Vegetable Pickup Lines

Wacky British Humor

I found this site today. Even though I don't know how accurate it is, it reminds me of Overheard in New York or Overheard in the Office. My favorite one so far is this:

"May I remind all passengers that there is strictly no smoking allowed on any part of the Underground. However, if you are smoking a joint, it's only fair that you pass it round the rest of the carriage." --Overheard on the Underground

Be careful what you wish bitch for.

One of my coworkers is currently undergoing some unpleasantness in her working situation. The problem is that she was originally unhappy and complained about it. Management, in its infinite wisdom, came up with their own entirely un-brilliant plan and now she's sort of forced to live with it. And thus, a new phrase was coined.

Knitting Progress

For the past week or two I've been remiss in my knitting blogging. (Causing Wes to tease me that the knit bloggers are going to throw me out of the ring!) Mostly I've just been working on a number of bigger projects that don't show progress as easily. For instance, this cute little cardigan that I'm knitting:


I LOVE the yarn (Rowan Classic Cashsoft DK - Merino and Cashmere - Yum!). I also like the pattern, although the written pattern doesn't exactly follow the picture on the front so I've had to do a little modifying on my own. But as I'm on the body and shaping right now, the progress has been slow even if I do 10-20 rows a night.

Or I could talk about this wrap that I'm working on:


I love the colorway, although the yarn (Lana Grossa Babykid Print) is super sticky and hard to pull out if you forget you're doing stockingette stitch and knit when you should be purling (too many garter stitch blankets for me). I like the pattern and think it's going to be gorgeous. First you knit a 60" rectangle (yes 60" - I'm on the second week of this project and I'm only at 30....) and then ruffle it at the edges. This one's for the shop!

There are a few others, some that can't be disclosed for gifting reasons. So I'm still knitting, alternating between plenty of projects, just not making tons of visual progress.

That said, tonight's stunning pics were brought to you courtesy of my new Canon Powershot SD800 Digital Elph camera - thanks for the WONDERFUL gift sweetie!

Sad but true.

Found here.

Introducing GiGi

I realized that I have neglected to mention the newest addition to my technology portfolio - my brand new iMac at work. I have named her GiGi which stands for Gigantically Ginormous because that's what she is. I got her because someone else didn't want her, but she's a brand new gorgeous 24-inch iMac so I'm not complaining.


I had initially resisted going Mac at work because so much of the work world is PC based. But then I learned about Parallels. This nifty little program allows you to run both Windows and Mac OSX at the SAME TIME. Meaning I toggle between the two windows like they were simple applications. So far there have been a few bumps in the road [like when I run Outlook on the Windows side (Entourage on the Mac side is a bit buggy) I only have access to the Windows side documents and all my documents are on the Mac side] but overall I'm loving it.



To round out my Mac lovefest, I found a new chat client. Well, the credit here really goes to Wes, because he found it. I LOVE iChat, but it doesn't support anything except AIM and .mac and that just doesn't cut it at work. So today I downloaded Adium and so far I am pleased as punch. The cute little green duck flaps it's wings in my toolbar each time I have a new message. So cute!

So that's what I'm playing with over here. Now just to rip all my old music that's on the bygone PC into my new iTunes.

Monday, Monday.

Wow. I can't believe I'm back at work AGAIN. This whole work 5 days and only have 2 off seems slightly skewed don't you think? Especially when I have so many wonderful things I like to do that can't be done at work!

This weekend was very relaxing and exactly what I needed. Friday night I came home and chatted with my sweetie and knitted the night away. Saturday I woke up, did a few chores (renewed the lease!) and headed over to the knitting store for a day of knitting, Thai food and chatting with creative ladies.

Saturday night was supposed to be movie date night with Wes, but the US Postal Service foiled the plans by not delivering my Netflix on time. BOOO! We chatted anyway, and I started a new special project. Pics to come soon!

Sunday was also relaxing. I laid low, knitted, caught up on Season 5 of 24 (only 1 disc to go!) and headed out for a little retail therapy with a new friend. I had a few gift cards from graduation and my birthday burning a hole in my pocket, so I gave in to my love for all things Nine West and picked up this:


All in all, a great weekend. More knitting photos (taken with my new camera!) to come soon - mostly I have several things in progress where the photos aren't very exciting.

Altering your research results.