Tempting Fate
Okay, my mom has warned me about the Jinx Gods and their wiles, but I have to report that... So Far...
Milo doesn't interfere with knitting.
He jumps up onto my lap, and does the Big Cute, and then crawls up onto my arm. My left arm. I'm a Continental knitter, so he kind of bobs up and down as the muscles in my left arm work.
It's cute. And he's not fussing my yarn. Yet...
Oh, I have hopes for this kid.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Wow.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Just my Luck...
...to get my Ravelry invite on a Tuesday.
(For any other Ravelry folks out there, I'm "writingortyping" - for anyone who doesn't know about Ravelry yet, either you're a non-knitter who won't care, or you're a knitter who may just lose their mind if you click on the link. You were warned.)
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Sunday Photography Roundup
I love dragonflies, so here's a dragonfly:
And for Mom, who's been traveling, here's all the photos on Flickr of your "grandkitten," Milo:
Friday, July 20, 2007
Hey Rachael - Guess What I did Today?
"911, what is your emergency?"
"Forest fire."
----------------
Rewind about two minutes: I say to John, "Fire."
He mutters something about the grill, I say, "FIRE," and point into the woods.
He says, "No, it's sunlight."
My brain has a one-word vocabulary by now. I point again and say, "FIRE."
And it is at this point when my husband goes from, "John Smith, International Terrorist/His Satanic Majesty, Lucifer Prince of Darkness" to "John Smith, International Terrorist/His Satanic Majesty, Lucifer Prince of Darkness/Smokey T. Bear, a.k.a. My Hero." He races back through the house, grabs a shovel, and tears down the 45-degree slope behind our house into the woods. I stand there like a dumbass, because I hope I did not see what I just saw.
15 seconds later, he's running back, yelling grimly, "Call 911." Which I do. Thankfully, by now my brain has unlocked and I am more or less in Corporate Communications Crisis Mode: trust me, ma'am, I'm a professional. Let me give you that data you need in very crisp, carefully enunciated English.
John races back down the slope with a big bucket (three cheers for the stream at the bottom of the slope).
Cutting to the chase: small bonfire, lit by stupid effing teenagers (we assume - definitely lit, crude pile of sticks, etc. No random cigarette). Put out by John and Handy Bucket before nice firefighters arrived in their big truck, but we were happy to have them confirm this. Nice, very concerned neighbors also stop by to make sure all is well (my backup plan in case John's efforts were not enough was "run down our length of rowhouses, banging on doors and yelling, 'GET BUCKET!'" My backup plan's resemblance to LOLcat memery was not comforting then, is less comforting now).
I could do with a bit less drama on my Friday evening, but I must say to all 911 operators like Rachael and their compatriots in Fire, Ambulance, Police, etc. a profound, "Thank you." (Have I mentioned that my house burning down is the nightmare I have woken from in tears more than once? No? Let's not have to mention it again, mmmkay?)
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
FTL Redux
Okay, Battlestar Galactica has officially reprogrammed my brain.
Today, I folded my husband's Faster Than Light underwear.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Smart People are SO COOL.
Especially when they demo their ideas in such a mellow, low-key way.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Technical Announcement
If you're reading WoT through an RSS reader, you're not getting paragraph breaks or photos. It's something to do with the new version of my blogging software - apologies, but if you want more white space and cute cats, you're going to have to click through.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
A Curious Collection of Things I Thought I Knew
Here are some things I know about myself:
- I don't like to run.
- I'm not crazy about club music.
- I'm not particularly a morning person (stop laughing at that "particularly," Mum).
- Summer in DC sends me inside for the duration: too hot, too humid.
So why, despite these things I "know" about myself, am I getting up early every other morning in order to run to club music? Why am I going to bed every alternate evening thinking, "Ooh - cool. Tomorrow I get to run"? Why am I looking at the weather reports and lamenting that a morning with good running weather occurs on one of my "off" days?
Here are some of the things I have learned from the synthesis of the things that I "know" and the things I am learning in the course of ignoring what I "know" and trying this running thing:
- It's not that I don't like running, it's that I don't like running at someone else's pace (I'm slow. I'm also 38 now and not overly concerned with running at anyone's pace but my own*). Having someone else keep me honest also helps (even if that someone is the guy on the "Couch to 5K" podcast). Apparently, I push myself too hard sometimes. Imagine.
- Club music is good for keeping a beat and taking your mind off of your breathing.
- Mornings in DC are cool enough for physical activity outside, even if they are still humid as hell. Also - the woods around our house in the morning? Dead gorgeous.
So, yeah - for about three weeks now, I've actually been running. Get me.
* Here's to throwing off the shackles of grade-school gym class. Thanks, 1970s-80s phys-ed teachers. It only took 20 years for me to finally reprogram myself and really internalize the fact that doing it is more important than doing it faster than everyone else, regardless of the limitations of your actual aptitude.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Brief Friday Roundup
Two things.
First - hey bartender: can I please get a glass of white wine?
Second - my man Thor Hushovd won Stage 4 in the Tour. Whee!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Weirdo.
I'm becoming increasingly convinced that if you take any two people, there will be some point where either would say to the other, "You like/think/hate what?!"
That being said, why on Earth do we human beings constantly assume that there are universal truths that bind us that go beyond things like water, oxygen, and protein? Why do we assume that we all want the same things, covet the same experiences, fit the same frames?
It may be even worse when you realize that your loved ones want things for you that you have either no interest in or (worst yet) something you actively don't want. It may be well-intentioned, but it puts you in an awkward position of trying to realign their worldview, to say, "No. Sorry - you may think what you want for me is something universally desired by all humans, but I'm human and I really don't want that." And that's not likely to be a discussion you have once. It's going to be one you have over and over and over, reacting to the fact that this person continually insists on putting you into a frame that makes sense to the way they see the world, without ever trying to make the leap of understanding the way you see the world, let alone acknowledging that you see the world differently at all.
Does it make it worse or better that you will inevitably do the same to someone in your life?
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Live Free or Die Trying?
First off: as a Granite State native, every time I hear about the new* Bruce Willis movie, I think, "They set an action movie in New Hampshire?"
Ehrm. No.
Second (off?): I read this story and thought (probably unreasonably), "Good grief. Only in New Hampshire. Birnham Wood didn't go to Dunsinane, it went to the frigging bank."
*Okay, not so new, I guess.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Got Cute?
Friday, July 06, 2007
Overheard at Our House
John, on the phone to my mother: "Hang on - I have the font of all knowledge here."
Me: "Helvetica?"
Thursday, July 05, 2007
An Unnatural Fascination with Weird Signage
I love odd signs. I'm not sure why. I especially love funky, oddly-spelled, hand-lettered signs like this one:
There are also a couple of odd signs near my in-laws' home. It's almost as if this one is poorly punctuated:
I want it to say, "Hidden Drie?" Whatever that means. This one, though, is my favorite, though it's also poorly punctuated:
"BAD curve!"