Tuesday, January 29

Fantastically hot or fucking freezing ...

Two posts in less than a week? Too bad I don't have anything particularly witty to say. In fact, it's just about the weather.

I have this funky weather widget called Forecastfox on my browser here at work. It can tell me all sorts of numbers and give me fun pictures of radar and useful stuff like that (for instance, in the photos below you can see a severe alert icon, the radar icon, a mouseover of current conditions, and icons for the next few days, which tell you the forecast when you mouseover). It gets data from AccuWeather.com.

I glanced up a while ago, after working on finagling some particularly difficult text, and saw the windchill. That's the number in parentheses below. When I saw it, I nearly started swearing.


If this doesn't qualify as fucking freezing, I don't know what does.


You see what I mean? This weather is absolutely ridiculous. I wish I had taken a screenshot yesterday of my beloved Forecastfox. It was an astonishing 50-some degrees here. I actually walked outside yesterday, outermost layer a sweatshirt. Today? Couldn't wear enough layers. Thankfully, I can easily catch a ride home. No way in hell I'm walking six blocks with a windchill this low.


Look at that forecast for Saturday! Much nicer than right now.


Although the temp, as of this second, has adjusted to 3 degrees above and a windchill of 29 below, so we're getting there. Slowly but surely.

Monday, January 28

Today feels suspiciously like a Sunday, but it's Monday

*Sigh.*

I just can't get Heath Ledger out of my head. And the image of him that continues to pop to my mind is not one of his more recent roles, but rather his portrayal of Patrick Verona in 10 Things I Hate About You. It's very strange.




As you may have noticed by taking a gander at the sidebar, I've cast on for another project: Swamp Witch from The AntiCraft. I have no photos currently, but it's just a really big, lacy shawl on really big needles.

And I finished another block on the Filet Crochet Par-tay. It's squirrels. (Again, no photo. I'm a slacker.)

Tuesday, January 22

In which I mumble awkwardly regarding several topics

I'd like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey ...

No, that's not it.

I will say, however, that my dear BAS has updated over at Double Life of a Pretend Adulthood, which is a treat that happens oh so rarely. Teaching school and attending school can make one quite busy, so I don't blame her in the slightest. Also, the happiest of birthdays to our dear Aramad on Friday. She's the third of the Cribbage Crew to hit the quarter century mark hard.

Also, I saw this strange post over at Terra Nullius just as I was reading BAS' post in my feed reader. Heath Ledger has died. It's truly one of those moments when you say, "What? ... I was watching that." And you're sort of stunned.*






Um. Yes. I've done some knitting. See?

Sweeney Todd mitts


Sweeney Todd mitts, which are really Garter Stitch Mitts by Ysolda. The yarn is Patons Lacette, the needles US 5 bamboo. The picture is so smashing because it's actually a scan. And the only reason I got these started and finished at all was because I watched all four Bring It On movies on ABC Family on Sunday. (It was one of those days, ok? And anyway, they're not the same size, because I was all distracted and off on my counting. But it doesn't matter when they're on, so I don't care.)

And I've been fiddling with the template. I added a fun Ravelry widget to the sidebar, telling you exactly how much knitting I'm not doing (despite the FO pictured above). Two of those projects listed have had the very same percentage done for a Very Long Time; the other two for Longer Than I'd Like.

I waffle back and forth on whether this template or that looks good. Mostly it looks bland because I can't get it exactly what I want it to do, so I leave it looking as though some strange sea has washed over the sands of code, causing all the interesting CSS driftwood to lodge itself on some other sandy beach far from my own.


*Eddie Izzard reference, because I'm that uncouth to mention death and Eddie Izzard in the same paragraph.

Wednesday, January 16

In which I make excuses for not knitting.

Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned. It has been eight days since my last confession post.

I haven't knitted anything at all. In two weeks. I have, however, crocheted two things, which is a very strange thing for me. Firstly, I saw some Evil Minions on Craftster, and for some reason I *had* to make them that night. So there's a sparkly red bunni (sic) sitting on my computer here at work.

Secondly, I taught myself to filet crochet. I am about two-thirds through my first piece: the fleur-de-lis filet crochet. (That's probably the most French I've ever used in a sentence. And look at all those unpronounced consonants. I shake my head in disdain at you, French language!) It's actually coming on quite nicely. I'm using some random acrylic and a large-ish hook (the only kind, right?), and I'm at the first row on the chart where there's a whole lot more black than white.

What else have I been occupying my time with? The aforementioned Ravelry Book Challenge. Someone who is also in the challenge is organizing the books through goodreads. So I opened an account. My challenge bookshelf can be found here. There are only four books at the moment, but I'm probably going to finish one or two of them today. (I'm quite near the ends of them.) I'll stick a goodreads widget in the sidebar so's you can keep up with my appetite for bound volumes.

Really, that's all I have. Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, January 8

Howie Mandel, all in white

I had a very interesting dream last night. In fact, I woke up and for a few minutes, I was quite convinced it was real. And I know some of you might not enjoy reading descriptions of others' dreams, but tough luck, I say.

I was at work. All the desks were gone in the front office, and the walls were a bright white (I assumed someone had been painting). Suddenly, the office despot walked into the room, crying. She had gotten fired, and everyone that *she* had fired was hired back.

And then our owner walked in through the back door, his head shaved bald, wearing a white suit and looking oddly like Howie Mandel (who resembles our owner about as much as a pebble resembles a Lamborghini.


So that was fun.

Anyhow, the book challenge is going well. In addition to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I started reading The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. I'm about halfway through, and enjoying it quite a lot. It's been a long while since I've read any Pern books, so it's nice to come back to that.

Really, that's all I have. There hasn't been a lot of knitting lately. I've got half a pair of Mrs. Beetons done, and I'm still working on the Bellatrix socks.

ETA: Bwahahaha! I had to share this with you: The Top 25 Men Who Look Like Lesbians according to Cracked.com.

Thursday, January 3

Book challenge!

My dad was on national news last night. He was interviewed about the Iowa caucusing by Charlie Gibson for ABC World News. The segment, if slightly hokey, was still pretty cool.

I joined a book challenge on Ravelry yesterday. I set a goal to read at least 52 fiction books and and 12 non-fiction books in 2008. (One fiction a week and one non-fiction a month. Clever, I know. I got the idea from someone else in the group.) My first fiction book is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (it's a good thing re-reads and audiobooks count!) and my first non-fiction will be Bait and Switch by Barbara Ehrenreich. I bought and started it last year and, er, stopped, so I'll be starting over soon.

Wednesday, January 2

I eat plenty of eggs.

As background to this fragment of conversation, Circulation Worker 1 and Circulation Worker 2 are married.

Circulation Worker 1: "Eggs are good for your sex life."
Circulation Worker 2: "I eat plenty of eggs."
Circulation Worker 1 laughs: "I know you do."


Also, these two are probably in their early 60s. *shudder*




I convinced a co-worker to start a blog yesterday, in the midst of chatting and sharing favorite 80s songs (and working, of course). Turns out she's a good writer, too! Check out Minor View when you get a chance. She's getting linked in the sidebar, she is.

And hey, new Project Runway tonight. ('Bout time, after leaving for two bloody weeks.) I didn't steal the bitch's dye!

Tuesday, January 1

Happy new year!

Apologies to Ms Kim, for at my New Year's Eve party, there was no knitting, no Harry Potter watching, not even any André. I wasn't drinking due to having to be lucid at work today. But I did find a sparkly flapper headband after the fact and wore it for a good five minutes.

To share a sentiment I saw a few times at the Knitty Coffeeshop yesterday, May your best of 2007 be your worst of 2008. I found it to be more than appropriate, and thought I'd like to share it with my loyal readers. (Thank you, two people!)

Resolutions seem to be the cool thing to do 'round this time of year, but I was never really one of those people. Nevertheless: to be more wholly me and to be more involved with activism are two goals I have for the coming year. I managed to curtail a couple of bad habits over the past few months, though one is trying to sneak back in, and I feel all the better for my accomplishment.