yet another vid

It seems all I do these days is post vids...not much else going on, I'm NOT buying yarn, and Christmas is stressing everyone out.

I did do a few one-shot recordings that are now up on my main site - check out the SpellCast readings and the Deathday Auction one-shot.

Raesive sent me this (she's a Mac person):



They reminded me of Cylons, as well....

Cheers!

*is sad*

Computer?
Computer?

:(

Majel Barrett Roddenberry Dies at 76

equus breaks record for fundraising

Someone on PFW posted this to the forum, and I just got around to watching it.

Spew warning!!!!



I think I startled the dog laughing.....!

ETA: The frame where the vid is 'frozen' for YouTube is about to kill me. Dan looks rather....surprised! *convulses in laughter*

how about a knitting meme

I usually post these to LiveJournal, but what the heck.

You Are a Cardigan

You are traditional, old-fashioned, and even a little conservative. More than anything else, you are a creature of habit. You haven't changed much over the years. You shy away from flashy ideas, people, fashion, and foods. You have simple tastes. You go for established quality and longevity every time.

What Kind of Sweater Are You?

They didn't have an option in the last question for socks. Humph.

another feel good vid

One of the people on my friends list on LiveJournal - mudblood428 (check out her art, it's FAB. Word.) - posted this tonight and I thought I should share :)



w00t!

Here's the extended trailer for the same site:



In other news, ABC Family didn't have extra scenes for GoF. More on that later.

more sneak peeks at hbp

We've had an excess of fortunes! ABC Family is running the Harry Potter Movie Marathon this weekend, and here are 4 more 'exclusive looks' at HBP:

#2:


#3:


#4:


#5:


There should be at least one more - Goblet of Fire premieres on ABC Fam tomorrow night. My little shippy heart loves the last line of #2. *g* *pokes WB for good measure*

I had to take a nap when I got home from work yesterday - it was a very slow day and I had to fight to stay awake most of the afternoon. Now it's 4 AM and I'm awake! Meh.

Anyway, cheers!

sneak peek #1 for hbp

The ABC Family Harry Potter Weekend has already started....and here's a 'sneak peek' at HBP. It looks a lot like the last trailer!



*wants next movie NOW*

*pokes WB with really big knitting needle*

For all of you who haven't heard me babbling about this, I bought a sapphire blue Acer Aspire One - it's a netbook. It's way cool!! And it only weighs 2.5 pounds! I love it!

To bed. Cheers!

something to make us all feel better

It's been a weird week. Someone who I knew through LiveJournal passed away. A friend's aunt passed away as well - my friend got to see her two weeks ago. Another friend lost a 16 year old four-legged friend, and my neighbor across the courtyard is missing *her* four-legged friend who was put to sleep last week.

Then we have the tanking world economy, and India, and everything else.

This made me feel better - maybe it'll help you, too.


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

okay, so maybe i am a fangrrl

*rolls eyes at self*

I'm hoping that the E! interview will embed properly...I still have not watched Dan on Inside the Actors Studio, but I hope to on Tuesday night.



Isn't he cute? hehehe! I'm such a perv. Sigh. AND! I am right!!! I've said that the reason that WB moved HBP to next year was because they didn't have a blockbuster for next summer due to the writers' strike, and now Dan says he thinks that too! Vindication!! *pokes WB for good measure*

Also on the video front, someone (Robert from Spellcast, I think) sent me a link for a "Disney Sarah Palin Parody" which was quite amusing.

I know, I still haven't reviewed my yarn. Time now!

• 1 4oz skein Red Heart "Strata" (100% acrylic) in colorway Crayon (white, red, yellow, green, blue/white dot)
• 1 2oz skein Yarn Bee "I Love This Yarn Sport Weight" (100% acrylic) in colorway Green Camo Multi (chocolate brown, forest green, olive, black, tan, white)
• 1 3.5 oz ball Yarn Bee "Elvish" (100% polyester) in colorway Clove (rust, orange, red) Phoenix colors.
• 2 50g balls Red Heart "Heart & Sole with Aloe" (70% superwash wool, 30% nylon) in colorway Toasted Almond (medium brown, dark brown, charcoal, black, cream, tan, grey, navy)
• 2 50g balls Patons "Kroy Socks Stripes" (75% machine washable wool, 25% nylon) in colorway Burnished Sierra Stripes (orange, brown, grey, rust, black, gold)
• 1 5oz Red Heart "Super Saver Fleck" (96% acrylic, 4% other fibers) in colorway Aran Fleck (cream with brown, black, rust, and dark green donagal fleck). I'm using this one to teach someone how to knit - I'm making a scarf, and my SIL has been eyeballing it. Christmas present!

I haven't taken shots of these yet - I may not at all, since most of them are online. I'll think about it.

Lots of recording to do - I was auctioned off for the Deathday party on PFW, and Bob, the "Squirrel King" won me. I'll be reading a one-shot by Viridian. We're also working on the Christmas ep of PFW, and I've got at least three things in the works for that. I'm in the middle of recording Chapter 14 of Harry Potter and the Battle of Wills (we're reviewing Chapter 16 right now! eep) and I still need to edit Chapter 26 of After the End. I'm working on them, I promise! I've been getting distracted by a couple of very good fanfics - I'm following several WIPs, and one has reached the 100K stage, so it made it on the "Books Read" list. It's called Easier To Be, and it's by hgfan1111. It should be finished shortly. Mature themes, so it's not for the under-17 group.

We had a good day yesterday - Ash and I went to Nephew #2's hockey game (they lost), then to Happy Joe's Pizza (yum!), LadyBug Beads, B&N, and then Michael's. Ash got most of her Christmas shopping wrapped up, and I get to wrap them. LOL!

Okay, that's enough for now.

Cheers!

not a fangrrl, really. *ahem*

I'm wearing my Jitterbug Horcrux socks. I'm cold!!

I ran across some YouTube clips of DR:



Dan talks about donating his jeans for charity



On the daily10 talking about Equus, Harry Potter, and Robert Pattinson (Cedric)

I still have yarn to review, but I'm pooped. Tomorrow will be interesting - I'm driving 30 miles to see a PeeWee hockey game, and it should be snowing by the time I leave. Yay! Ash is going with me and will get to meet my brother, SIL, nephews, and Dad! Eeep.

Cheers!!

not really an ad for guitar hero and geeking

This is just too funny not to share:

I posted this over on PFW, but some of you don't get over there so....

Okay, the setting. Me, at work. I work in Internet Security. I wear a badge.

Saturday, November 22, 3:45 PM.

Ahem. ;)

I get on the phone with an older gentleman who is having issues logging into his mail. I reset his password, and he still can't log in. I log in to make sure the account is still accessable, and then log back out. He tries again, and now can access his mail.

While I was in his box, I noticed he was on a Yahoogroup for DeLoreans. You know, the Back To The Future car with the gull-wing doors.

So, I ask: "I'm sorry, I noticed you are in a DeLorean group. Do you own one?"
He says "Yes, yes I do."
Me: "Is it one of the new cars from the old parts? I've seen a few of those."
Him: "No, this one has a few miles on it. It's the prototype model - I was on the design team."
Me: *blinks* "Oh, wow, that's cool!"
Him: *laughs at me*

He WAS the design team! Look! Yes, I went all geek. He was very happy with my customer support (said so, too!) and I was just geeking.

And so ends my second brush with fame. I've talked to Leigh McCloskey, too. Heee!

PK, Keish, A and I went to lunch and then to the grocery today, and then I wandered through Hobby Lobby. Yes, I got yarn. No, it wasn't a lot. Enough for a pair of socks, a furry scarf, and a pair of wristlets. I'll list them after I take some pics.

Cheers!

yarn and quiche and hp

It's been a wicked crazy 2 weeks. First, the yarn.

• 1 100g hank Fire Lizard Studios "Lizard Sock" (75% superwash wool, 25% nylon) in colorway Autumn Woods (dark leaf to forest green, dark gold to burgundy, plum) and #2
• 1 100g hank Fire Lizard Studios "Lizard Sock" (75% superwash wool, 25% nylon) in colorway Julia (bronze-gold, burgundy-berry)
• 1 4oz hank St. Paul's Catholic School by Cherry Tree Hill "Supersock DK Select" (100% superwash merino) in colorway Garfield (black, yellow, cream, orange)
• 2 50g balls Patons "Kroy Socks Jacquards" (75% washable wool, 25% nylon) in colorway Denim Jacquard (sky blue, dark blue, grey, white, charcoal/white check)

Most of those were from DBNY, and sold out very very quickly. The Julia color of the Fire Lizard made me laugh - it's Gryffindor colors. Perfect for PFW Julia!

Today is Day #1 of 5 days off in a row, and the only thing I've done is wash the dishes. Lazy! I'm recovering from last week. I think I took more calls on Friday than I have for the week prior. From what I understand, the DMCA tickets are just going to get worse. Don't share copyrighted files, peeps!

I've started sorting the laundry, so where is the pooch lying? On top of the clothes on the floor of course. *rolls eyes*

I'm making the sausage & salsa quiche into minis for an appetizer on Thanksgiving. I made them as a test case last week, froze them, and then defrosted them in the frig. They were great! I couldn't find the mini shells in the store, so I made the crust myself. First time for me making crust, first time for making anything in the mini pans, total experiment. Mike @ work liked the crust (flour, butter, cream cheese) - he said it reminded him of potpie crusts. I'm so glad it worked!! I can't wait to see what the family thinks.

PotterCast had a review of the new trailer (which is totally totally made of awesome) and posted it on their site. It's a little hard to hear in places, but it was way cool. Too bad the movie couldn't have been out this weekend (*pokesWB really hard*) but I supposed I'll live. The Deathday part on PFW was a lot of fun!! I was auctioned off to Bob, The Squirrel King for an audiobook commission!

The bad news of the week was L-of-the-scarf in Colorado got laid off on Friday. 20 years at the same place, and she's out. I always figured her boss for a crackhead, and this proved it.

Well, on that sad note, I'm off. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving weekend!!

new hbp trailer and a news bite!

A new one *squees muchly*....and get this. It will be screened with Twilight. Meh. 244 days to go.



*bounce*

In other HP news, Leaky has announced that Melissa Anelli's Harry, A History will be premiering on the New York Times Nonfiction Bestseller List at #18! Yay Melissa! For those of you who don't know, Melissa is one of the hosts for PotterCast. I'm just thrilled for her!

No yarn right now, but there is a box coming.....

Cheers!

calendar of wrock, a star wars funny, and a recipe

First, I give you an announcement from Julia of PFW/Pwncast:

Several months ago I had an idea. I was tired of not being able to find good wall calendars, so I decided I wanted to make my own, and that I wanted it to be a Wizard Rock one. So I got Cody on board and she did a ton of work, and now we have an AWESOME Wizard Rock calendar for 2009. It features eleven WRock bands: Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls, The Whomping Willows, The Moaning Myrtles, Catchlove, Justin Finch-Fletchley and the Sugar Quills, The Parselmouths, Tonks and the Aurors, The Remus Lupins, Draco and the Malfoys, The Butterbeer Experience and Harry and the Potters.

Cody, Dan and I decided pretty early on that it would be mean of us to keep all this awesome for ourselves, so we're selling it to you! We also decided that if we were going to sell these, then we should share the awesome and give all the proceeds to the Harry Potter Alliance.

This project has been a lot of hard work for all three of us, but in the end it's really been worth it. The final product is AMAZING, and we're very excited to share it with all of you. Each one costs $15, including shipping. We'll have them shipped out as soon as we have them printed, which will be as soon as we have enough money to cover the costs, so buy them now!

Click here to order via PayPal: http://calendarofwrock.thehogshead.net/
For more info, you can visit their MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/pfwradio
or e-mail Julia here.

Julia also has a LJ account at http://pinstripers16.livejournal.com/

If any of you readers could post about this, or link to it, they'd appreciate it!! I've already ordered mine. :)

Next, a Star Wars funny snatched from Tom Smith's LJ:

The original [done in 1999, apparently] was from Moosebutter. This guy, Corey Vidal, created the video using their audio.

Lastly, I made an experiment for dinner tonight, and it turned out very well! I made a Salsa Sausage Quiche, following the recipe here. I'm not a big fan of salsa, but it was very good! I'll have to remember to pick up some sour cream next time I make it.

Cheers!!

gotta have an after-midnight thought, you know

I ran across more proof that I'm gonna like the guy in office:

He's a geek!

Need more proof? How about this? Or this??

I'm telling ya:

Cheers!

i'm drowning in yarn

Um...a little too much. What, you may ask? Yarn....:

• 2 3oz balls Naturally Caron "Country" (75% Microdenier Acrylic/25% merino wool) in colorway #0024 Black (black).
• 2 3oz balls Naturally Caron "Country" (75% Microdenier Acrylic/25% merino wool) in colorway #0011 Gilder Age (gold).
• 1 4oz skein Baby Bee "Sweet Delight Baby" (60% acrylic/40% polyamide) in colorway Teddybear Ombre (sky blue, tan, pink, white).
• 1 4oz skein Baby Bee "Sweet Delight Baby" (60% acrylic/40% polyamide) in colorway Blue Baby Camo (medium blue, light blue, tan, chocolate brown, pale blue).
• 1 4oz skein Baby Bee "Sweet Delight Prints" (60% acrylic/40% polyamide) in colorway Green Camo (light green with dark green, medium green, white, and light chocolate brown dots).
• 1 4oz skein Baby Bee "Sweet Delight Prints" (60% acrylic/40% polyamide) in colorway Pink Camo (very light pink with forest green, light chocolate brown, and pink dots).
• 1 6oz skein Lion Brand Yarns "Homespun" (98% acrylic/2%polyester) in colorway Corinthian (red, purple, green, orange, yellow)
• 1 50g ball Red Heart "Heart & Sole with Aloe" (70% superwash wool/30% nylon) in colorway Tequila Sunrise (orange, sky blue, hot pink, red-purple, rust).
• 1 100g hank Araucania "Ranco Solid" (75% wool, 25% polyamide) in colorway Brick Pumpkin (deep rusty orange). #2
• 1 100g hank Araucania "Ranco Multy" (75% wool, 25% polyamide) in colorway Island Retreat (brown, sky blue, cream, aqua). #2
• 1 100g hank Araucania "Ranco Multy" (75% wool, 25% polyamide) in colorway Cocoa Blue (rust, chocolate brown, dark sky blue, cream). #2
• 1 115g hank Handmaiden Yarns "Casbah" (80% merino/10% cashmere/10% nylon) in colorway Merlin (yellow-green, ruby red, purple, jewel blue, black)
• 1 115g hank Fleece Artist "Trail Socks" (80% merino/20% nylon) in colorway Horizon (olive, forest green, yellow, hot pink, red, black, rust, chocolate brown). #2
• 1 115g hank Fleece Artist "Trail Socks" (80% merino/20% nylon) in colorway Paris (dark leaf green, gold, dark purple-red, orange, black, rust, chocolate brown). #2
• 1 50g hank Araucania Yarns "Atacama" (100% alpaca) in colorway #509 (medium brown, dark brown, cream, rust). #2
• 1 100g ball Noro "Kureyon Sock" (70% wool, 30% nylon) in colorway #S226 Reds (red, orange, olive, purple, teal).
• 1 100g ball Noro "Silk Garden Sock" (40% wool, 25% silk, 25% nylon, 10% kid mohair) in colorway #245 Bronzes (deep forest green, leaf green, blue, teal, bronze, grey, purple, rust). #2
• 1 100g ball Opal "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (75% superwash, 25% polyamid) in colorway Hedwig (green, grey, cream, white)
• 1 100g ball Opal "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (75% superwash, 25% polyamid) in colorway Harry and Ron (blue, white, green, orange, yellow, rust)

Good grief. Where did all of this yarn come from?? Okay, well, the first 8 came from Hobby Lobby, the next six came from The Loopy Ewe (including my Groupie hank! w00t!!), and the last 5 are from the Weaving Department.

I need a yarn diet. Seriously. I heard a term the other day that describes my problem:

SABLE

This is an acronym for "Stash Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy". I don't need a 12 step program for pancakes (okay, maybe I do...) - I need one for YARN.

Time to knit! I am almost finished with the Swan Song socks in Ron - I'm going to knit another pattern repeat, ribbing, and then start the next one. I'm going back and forth between the Fetchings and the socks; it just depends on what I'm in the mood to work on.

Harry, A History is on the bookshelf! I already have my copy!!! Well, I don't know if it's STILL on the bookshelves, as it appears to be selling well. I'm so happy for Melissa (she was on the front page of USAToday!!! Squee!!), and haven't read past the foreword by Jo yet. There was a review on Borders that made me tear up, tho!! Julia has another one on PFW that I haven't read yet, but she told me to find tissues before I read it. :)

Off to read, watch Leno, and knit.

Cheers!

buzz time

I just read this article on Yahoo and was the first to "Buzz" it!

Fresh face, disciplined race, message of change by Sharon Cohen, AP National Writer. I liked it!

On a different note, I'm rather irritated that 'my fellow Democrats' (and I'm using the term 'fellow' loosely) broke in, looted a Republicans on Campus office, and spray-painted insults that I will not repeat here on the walls. Come on, people. Maturity. Sheesh.

I'm going to be taking some shots of the yarn I purchased over the weekend (I may have a box waiting for me at home as well) and I'll be posting that asap.

Cheers!

in case you missed it....

.....we have a new president.



At this time - 1:10 AM Central Time - the numbers in Missouri show that McCain leads Obama here in this state by 549 votes. Holy crapola.

ETA: 1:24 AM. The gap is now 398 votes.

did you vote?

Wow, it's been a whole week. Yarn to review, hockey games to talk about, computers to fuss at, television ads to avoid.

Actually, this will be a short one, because I want to talk about voting.

Today is the day that the people here in the US get to use what the founding fathers and their followers fought for: the right to vote for representation.

It's been a long time since I've seen lines of people waiting patiently in long lines for anything that they didn't pay for. I was very impressed with the lines I saw - even tho they meant that those people were having to take off work, or missing their soaps, or anything else they usually do on a gorgeous Tuesday. The weather was perfect!.

I looked out my window at 7 this morning (my polling place is across the street at the clubhouse, 50 yards away) and saw the line stretching out the door, around the building and down the block. There must have been 400 people in line. I went back to bed for an hour - I figured by 8:30, people would be off to work and there's be less of a line. I was right - there was less of a line, but it was still there. I actually waited until about 9:30 to walk over. They did have a choice between touchscreen and 'opti-scan' (bubble marks with an ink pen), and the optical didn't have a wait, so I did a manual ballot. The election officals were telling people that the touchscreen was faster, but I don't think so. I was in and out in 15 minutes, and there were still people waiting for the touchscreens, and the intake line had grown again as well. I must have timed it just right.

I was the 366th person to use the opti-scan, and the 617th person overall to come through at Hazelcrest. Wow. At 9:30!! I remember voting for Clinton in 1992, and there were only 382 people registered to vote at that particular polling place. I wonder what the turnout will be after 5PM??

On the way to work, I pass a library, several churches, a city hall, and a school. Everywhere that there was a polling place, there was a line out to the parking lot. From what I understand, in other areas of the county and city, stores are giving out coffee, donuts, and danishes to people in line, and if you have a "I Voted" sticker, you can get free FOOD in some places. Chik-Fil-A in the mall is offering a free sandwich if you have a sticker, Starbucks is giving away free coffee, and Krispy Kreme is giving away donuts. All for a sticker! I'll be having chicken for dinner tonight! LOL!

I've been reading the Post's coverage and things seem to be pretty smooth - the weather was a huge factor here, so people aren't complaining about standing in lines. I've also read about some of the electioneering, but (ha!) there was no-one on duty when I went to vote, so I didn't get the flyer harrassment that I usually see.

I'll be mostly avoiding the networks tonight - I have stuff to do on the computer, and the results won't be in until tomorrow or later anyway. I liked what Leno said last night, tho - he was happy to see that people have reached the saturation point of negative ads. We want to know about the ISSUES, not how 20 years ago one candidate sat in the living room of someone who 40 years ago was involved in political protests.

I've already posted this to my LiveJournal, and if you are registered to vote but have not (and are in the US), watch.



I think that's all for me right now. Yarn reviews and other stuff later.

VOTE!

darn clearance bin

I went a little nuts in the clearance yarn bin at Michael's, and decided that the Knitty pattern "Fetching"would be a great Christmas pattern. The wristlets go very fast - and I wish I had a pair done now, because it's COLD outside. Brrr. All of the following yarn came from Michael's over a three day period.

• 6 40g balls Bernat "Glow in the Dark" (70% acrylic, 30% polyester) in colorway Brilliant Blue (powder blue and white twist). This yarn actually glows in the dark! It's a bit splitty, has quite a halo, and 2 balls of the 6 are just being finished as "Fetching" wristlets.
• 3 40g balls Bernat "Glow in the Dark" (70% acrylic, 30% polyester) in colorway Lilac Lustre (light purple and white twist).
• 3 40g balls Bernat "Glow in the Dark" (70% acrylic, 30% polyester) in colorway Bright Blush (light pink and white twist).
• 4 40g balls Bernat "Glow in the Dark" (70% acrylic, 30% polyester) in colorway Green Glow (light leaf green and white twist).
• 2 60g balls Bernat "Cashmere Natural Blends" (65% acrylic, 30% nylon, 5% cashmere) in colorway Earth (rich brown).
• 2 60g balls Bernat "Cashmere Natural Blends" (65% acrylic, 30% nylon, 5% cashmere) in colorway Coal (charcoal black).
• 1 85g ball Bernat "Satin Sport" (100% acrylic) in colorway Taupe.
• 1 113g ball Red Heart "Soft Yarn" (100% acrylic) in colorway Embers (brown, red, orange, cream, rust).
• 1 141g skein Red Heart "Super Saver Multi" (100% acrylic) in colorway Peruvian Print (white, sky blue, leaf green, chocolate brown, teal blue, black/white dash). This may actually have a fair isle effect. I don't think I've seen that in RH SS before.
• 2 50g balls Patons "Stretch Sock" (41% cotton, 29% wool, 13% nylon, 7% elastic) in colorway Mineral (sky blue, medium blue, grey, orange, brown)
• 1 50g ball Lion Brand Yarns "Moonlight Mohair" (57% acrylic, 28% mohair, 9% cotton, 6% metallic) in colorway Safari (orange, reds, greens, black)
• 1 170g ball Lion Brand Yarns "Vanna's Choice Print" (100% acrylic) in colorway Denim Mist (heathered blues)

I wish I could get a shot of the glow in the dark yarn - it really does glow. I think Ash and PK will like those - pink of course, for Ash, and the purple for PK.

Game 5 of the World Series has been suspended because of weather for the first time in Series history. Yahoo! has an article here, and I'm SO so so glad that Tampa tied up the game before they called a halt. The field was a real mess. I know Dan's going to smack me, but Go Rays!

Cheers!

new international teaser trailer for hbp leaked!

I originally saw this video courtesy The Leaky Cauldron's YouTube channel, and originally from TrailerAddict.



I want the movie NOW.

*mutter*

What do you think??

attack of the videos

This was one of my favorite music vids - the literal version is so funny!




DR talking about NYC and Sardi's!! w00t!




Eeeeeek!!!

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

I'm having a video attack. Forgive me.

Cheers!

nyc, day 2 (10 oct 2008)

Friday, October 10, 2008

Well, it’s actually Saturday morning – just after 1:30 AM.

It’s been an amazing full day!!

D and I started the day out with my first real NYC bagel! Okay, so it was a plain bagel with cream cheese, but there you go. We got a little bit of a late start – we were going to get up earlier than we did, but oh well. Breakfast was at about 10:30. We walked up and got Metro cards (and they will have paid for themselves by the time we leave) and then took the subway downtown. We actually changed our minds about three times ON the train, and ended up going to the Brooklyn Bridge first. We walked up to the first pylon and then back. Yes, I took lots of pictures - link here. I took pics of stuff I didn't know about until later - like the one of the Woolworth Building (used to be the tallest building in the world until the Chrysler Building o'ertopped it) and the American International Building (tallest building in downtown Manhattan now that the WTC is gone). Did I mention that it was an absolutely perfect day? I’d say 70 degrees and clear as a bell. W00t! Thank you, Ryan, for suggesting we walk across the Bridge. :)

Next stop, (after changing our minds again – we decided against Washington Square Park) we went on to Battery Park – we didn’t get to see much of the park (I wish we’d had more time – I’d have loved to look at the battlement ruins. Alas.) However! We got right on the ferry – an adventure in and of itself due to the 3 foot swells at the pier (check out this vid and this one too) – and went over to Liberty Island. Lots more pics! OKay, so, I went a little overboard (not literally). I got a great one of the Statue with the torch’s flame blocking the sun – I’m looking now to see if it turned out! (It did! I’ll link it here) Next stop of the ferry was Ellis Island. We rented the audio sets and did the tour – if you get a chance to go to NYC, this is the one thing that you should not miss. It was an amazing feeling, standing in the Great Hall of the main building and realizing that millions of immigrants went thru that same place. We even sat on original benches from the early part of the twentieth century. We were there for about an hour (we had to come back uptown to change and get the theatre tickets) so we did the tour quickly. Took pictures of the Manhattan skyline, the NJ shore, the building, everything. At least till the battery died on the camera. (ETA: Make sure to read the captions on the pictures - I detailed what we were looking at on each one.)

We got back to D’s Mom’s about 6ish – great considering it was rush hour, and we had to come some distance. We’d intending on sort of eating our way across the city – turned out that we mostly drank water across the city instead. Strawberry drink from Papaya King is yum and was very nice on the parched tissues.

Changed clothes, grabbed tix, and back out we went. We took the subway to 42nd, (which ended up being 40th, for some reason) and I got my first view of Times Square. People EVERYWHERE. The billboards go STORIES up the sides of the buildings. Wow. We did stop for “real NY pizza” – we’d last eaten at breakfast, remember – and then onto the show. The Broadhurst is a half of a block off of Broadway, and is next to the Shubert, which was showing Joe’s fav play – Spamalot! We got seated about 15-20 minutes before curtain. There WAS no curtain, but you know what I mean.

The sets are minimalistic, with a polygon-shaped step-up platform with 4 large blocks. You can actually see the setup in the WSJ video review - the footage they show is from the very beginning of the play, and nother spot later. Around the stage are life-sized wire horse heads, hanging on wooden doors. The ‘stage’ seating was almost like balcony seating, except it was facing the audience. We were about 40 feet from the stage.

The play was incredible. The ‘horses’ were very well-built men with chestnut pants and sheer form-fitting shirts, the large wire-form horse heads, and what appeared to be platform shoes – about 8-10 inches high and with horseshoe bases. Richard Griffiths was funny and thought-provoking at intervals, Kate Mulgrew played the Magistrate who brings Alan Strang to Dysart, and Dan, well, Dan was amazing. I had to laugh at one point – Dysart refers to the patients he sees as ‘freaks’ and then sees Alan for an appointment. Sounds like Uncle Vernon! The large blocks were used at times as a desk, chairs, beds, living room furniture, and hay bales. The lighting was very dramatic, the use of fog really created an atmosphere of dreams, and finally the nude scene was very well done, very tastefully done. I really need to sit and detail out how I felt about the play…there were places that there was laughter from the audience that I thought was rather odd, as the implications of the comments were serious. More on that later.

Sardi’s – salmon and swordfish. YUM. More tomorrow AM – the laptop battery is dying!

Cheers!

nyc, day 1 (9 oct 2008)

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Well, we’re here in New York! The plane took off about an hour late, but we had clear skies all the way into LaGuardia. We flew in on a different route – we were within sight of the northern shore of Lake Erie for a good distance (it's weird being able to see across the whole lake...) – and then I was lucky enough to be on the correct side of the plane to get an absolutely wonderful view of downtown and midtown Manhattan at night. Everything was lit up. Amazing view. It looked like a wire construct from that height, and I managed to see the Statue of Liberty as well, out in the middle of the harbor.

We took a cab from LGA to D’s mom’s (she lives in the Upper East Side, I think the area is called Yorkville) – after dropping our luggage off, we walked to the Papaya King at 86th and 3rd for real NY hotdogs (according to D) and fruit drinks. YUM! We walked a few blocks up 3rd and then back over to the apartment. I hope the weather holds – it’s NICE outside!!

We’re going to see how much we can squeeze in tomorrow – we are coming back to change before going to the play. Mrs. G saved me a very nice picture and article from the Sept 14th edition of the NYT – I’ll take it into work and see if I can scan the picture in and post it somewhere. Probably on the PFW forum as well as the blog. (ETA: Haven't brought it in yet, but the picture that's on the link is the same one, and it took up most of the top of the front page of the Arts & Leisure section.)

I have purchased several of the Opal HP yarns – three last Saturday and another three Wednesday night. Saturday’s haul was Dumbledore, Ron, and Harry, and Wednesday’s was Draco, Lupin, and Tonks. Nancy still had all the colors, but she was down to 1 ball in a couple colorways. I brought Ron with me, as well as the pattern for the Lombard Street socks. D likes the Comfort Sox yarn, and now wants Twinkles as short-cuffed socks. :) (ETA: I have reviewed the above Opal yarns in a previous post.)

More later!!

Cheers!

yarn only

I wanted to get the yarn purchases from the last four weeks out of the way....first two are from Knitorious, the second two from Hearthstone Knits, and the 6 "Potters" from Weaving Department.

• 1 100g ball OnLine "SuperSocke 100 - Savanne" (75% superwash, 25% polyamide) in color #1032 (cherry red, forest green, wine, white, sky blue, olive, pink)
• 1 100g hank Ella Rae "Lace Merino" (100% extra fine merino superwash) in color #102 Primaries (bright yellow, green, pink, orange, deep purple, red, wine)
• 1 100g hank Araucania "Ranco Multy" (75% wool, 25% polyamide) in colorway #302 Purple, Blue, Ecru (purples, blue, wine, aqua, white)
• 1 100g hank HPKY "Sock Superwash Merino Donegal" (65% superwash, 25% nylon, 10% donegal) in colorway Madama Butterfly (gold, orange, wine, brown, purple, blue, black)
• 1 100g ball Opal "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (75% superwash, 25% polyamid) in colorway Ron (orange, burgundy, gold, cream, blue, grey, pinkish grey)
• 1 100g ball Opal "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (75% superwash, 25% polyamid) in colorway Draco (dark blue, grey, light blue, white, forest green)
• 1 100g ball Opal "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (75% superwash, 25% polyamid) in colorway Dumbledore (blue, pink, grey, green, wine, white, gold, brown)
• 1 100g ball Opal "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (75% superwash, 25% polyamid) in colorway Tonks (yellow, pink, grey, white, green, wine, teal)
• 1 100g ball Opal "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (75% superwash, 25% polyamid) in colorway Lupin (yellow, orange, green, grey, pink, blue, white, red, black)
• 1 100g ball Opal "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (75% superwash, 25% polyamid) in colorway Harry (dark blue, purple, lime, white, fuchsia, red, sky blue, indigo)

Ron is already on the needles - I've started a pair of socks using the pattern Swan Song Toe-up Socks from WendyKnits - the pattern is available from the Loopy Ewe or from Wendy's page. I've started and frogged it three times - once, I was trying Lombard Street (needs a semi-solid or a solid), then on US3s (too big) then on US2s (still too big) - and now I'm cruising on US1s with magic loop. Zoom!!

That's all for today - I went to the zoo with Rae and her husband's Aunt Becky and am pooped!

Cheers!

still breathing, more coming

Yes, I'm still alive and kicking. No, I'm not ready to post my 'notes' yet!

I've had a lot go on in the last three weeks - bought yarn, had some time off work, and oh, yeah, went to New York and walked my feet off! I didn't have internet access while I was there, so I did a journal - which is almot 8 Word pages long and is still not completed. I'll post, I promise.

Here's a tidbit:

I liked the blurb about it:

'Equus' Revival Impresses 9/25/2008
WSJ's theater critic Terry Teachout says the new Broadway revival of "Equus" --starring Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame -- is an impressive production and a "near ideal" revival of the play. (Sept. 26)

Amazing play. Really really.

Yarn reviews, journal notes, and links to NYC pics (I took almost 300!!) are coming soon. Patience, grasshoppah.

Cheers!

ETA: Have I mentioned I love XKCD? His disclaimer:

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

heeee!!

yarn, ike, ninja cats, and other mutterings

Yes, Sue, it's been 10 days, but I've had bits and pieces in here since the 17th...just haven't had time to compose the post.

So. Yarn, news, stuff, Ike! Yikes.

Let's get the yarn out of the way - now, I didn't buy all of this at once. Some was from Weaving Department, the rest from Hancock Fabrics:

• 1 50g ball Trendsetter Yarns "Aura Antique" (100% nylon) in colorway #3001 Animal Print (green, brown, dark antique gold, antique silver, glitter)
• 1 50g ball Trendsetter Yarns "Aura" (100% nylon) in colorway #7503 Plum (dark hot pink)
• 1 100g ball Noro "Kureyon Sock" (70% wool, 30% nylon) in colorway #S180 Wine (purples, cherry, aqua, orange)
• 3 50g balls Crystal Palace "Tingle" (100% polyester) in #A3127 Black/White Tweed (greys/white/blue)
• 1 50g ball Needful Yarns "Piccadilly" (54% nylon, 24% acrylic, 20% mohair, 2% lurex) in colorway #350 (white/black/gold, silver glitter)
• 2 50g balls Berroco "Crystal FX" (100% nylon) in #4710 Mica (silver and glitter)
• 2 50g balls Berroco "Crystal FX" (100% nylon) in #4706 Carbon (deep midnight blue and glitter)
• 1 100g skein Reynolds Yarn "Blizzard" superbulky (65% alpaca, 35% acrylic) in colorway #673 Camel (beige). Was used for the Small Cabled Purse designed by Susan.
• 1 3.5oz skein Premier Yarns "Angel Self Shading" (100% acrylic) in colorway #63-207 Baby Daisy (white, green, yellow twist)
• 1 3.5oz skein Premier Yarns "Angel Self Shading" (100% acrylic) in colorway #63-205 Blue River (teal, white, sky blue, aqua twist)
• 1 3.5oz skein Premier Yarns "Angel Self Shading" (100% acrylic) in colorway #63-202 Pink Dream (pink, white twist)
• 1 3.5oz skein Premier Yarns "Angel Self Shading" (100% acrylic) in colorway #63-201 Peach Candy (peach, purple, pink, white twist)
• 1 4oz skein Lion Brand "Baby Soft" (60% acrylic, 40% nylon) in colorway #217 Candy Print (white with pink, green, and yellow flecks)
• 2 50g skeins Lion Brand "Moonlight Mohair" (57% acrylic, 28% mohair, 9% cotton, 6% polyester metallic) in colorway Arctic Circle (white, grey, black, silver metallic)

The Baby Dream is already in use - as BSJ #5. Sigh. I don't know what's wrong with me...these little sweaters are addictive. Looks like Jen may be getting more than 1 baby sweater!

Weaving Dept had their Back-To-School Sale (ergo, me buying yarn) and I made the Small Cabled Purse out of the skein of Blizzard during the sale.

Finally, in Opal news, Nancy called the distributor to make sure that WB wasn't making them delay the HP yarn. The verdict? Opal is shipping the HP yarns as scheduled. Nancy told me she'd call me as soon as they were in! W00t! Can't wait!

A viral vid off YouTube this week:

Ninja Cat!

Mwhaa!

Pluto and I had an adventure this week. Okay, he had an adventure, and I was a wreck. Sunday night, Plu started acting as if he'd hurt something, not getting up when called, levering himself off the floor and gingerly sitting. First, I figured he was - well, not pottying. Nope. Everything that was going in was coming out as usual. The lethargy lasted all day Monday and into Tuesday. By lunchtime on Tuesday, I was very worried, and so made an appointment to see the vet early the next morning. So. We visit! Decided on x-ray to make sure he didn't break/fracture anything. Guess who had a bad reaction to the anesthetic? Sigh.

I missed the whole day on Wednesday, they didn't find anything, and he's back to normal. Meh.

The Cardinals aren't going to the playoffs, and color me shocked. They were officially eliminated during the 7th inning of tonight's game against the Diamondbacks (gasp, we won). The last 4 weeks have been abysmal, so I'm not the least bit surprised. Ah, well, there's next year.

At least the baseball guys aren't doing as badly as the football guys. i'm not sure the Rams are actually a pro team. We're 0-3 and let's go for 0-16! W00t! Bleh. It's so bad that Bulger has been benched - Green will start this weekend. We'll have to see how it goes.

On the other hand, the Missouri Tigers are ranked #6 in the country (down from #5 last week) and start conference play this weekend. Go Tigers!!! They're 4-0, and the Mizzou-Nebraska game will be on ESPN on Saturday. Football night!

I took some pics of the local damage caused by the 5 inches of rain we got in 3 hours last Sunday (Sept 14th). It was kind of strange, seeing preparations for the storm. I think the biggest thing were the boom cranes - I see 5 of them on the way to work every day (a pair at Edward Jones in Des Peres, another pair at St. John's Mercy at I-270 and I-64, and a single one at the Edward Jones project at Dorsett) and they were all pointed northeast. It was just really weird!! I put all my lawn furniture into the storage shed and made sure all the windows were closed and locked. When I went to bed at 3AM Sunday morning, the leading edge of the rain was about 20 miles away - but there was absolutely no wind here. It was very strange! I went to bed, and slept thru the whole thing. I woke up a little at 7 AM to the rain hitting the windows in my bedroom - which are under 4 foot deep eaves - and promptly rolled over and went back to sleep. Lindbergh flooded, the 24-hour Walgreens had several feet of water inside, the park across the creek was 4 FEET deep in water. Unbelievable. Locally, three people died; one was killed by a falling tree, and two others were swept away while trying to move their cars. The Pirate Fest was closed for the day due to the parking lot swamp. All in all, we fared a heck of a better than Texas, but Ike really walloped people as far north as Cleveland. Amazing. I took pictures of some of the mud left after the park drained, and you can go look at them here.

Lastly for today - but waay not least - D called to make sure that the tickets for Equus were for Friday because....drum roll...her mom is taking us to see Billy Elliott on Saturday! W00t!! Elton John songs! omg! I am SO looking forward to this trip, I can't tell you.

Now I just have to figure out how to cram 4 days worth of clothes into a 21" rolling carry-on. Yikes.

Cheers!!

hawks, jkr, yarn, and ike

I have a couple meanderings, so here goes.

I've been spotting what I figured out was a red-tailed hawk - perhaps two of them - in Maryland Heights and in Hazelwood. It might be the same one, since I'm not sure what the range usually is for one, and I saw them about 6 miles apart. The first time was on the way to work on the highway on Wednesday of last week - it was perched on the highway sign, and sat about 15-18 inches tall. Those signs are not small, and it didn't dwarf the bird! The second sighting was audible first - I was walking the pooch last Friday, and heard the cry. You know, that sound you hear when you're watching an old Western and they want to make sure you feel like you're watching the frontier or something. Anyway, the cry made me stop - it didn't register at first - and when I turned, the bird was on the peak of the roof over my townhouse. He was gone by the time I came back out with my camera. I saw it again yesterday on the way into work back in Maryland Heights, riding the thermals over the highway.

The red-tailed wasn't the only new bird I've seen lately - heard and saw an owl on Tuesday this week...my Hogwarts letter! Okay, maybe not. The knitters heard and maybe saw an owl (prob the same one) just after the Wednesday Night S&B session at WeavDept.

There was an announcement on Monday that a decision was reached in the JKR/WB vs RDR/SVA trial - JKR/WB won and you can read it here at the Boston Herald website. I'm glad. This means that WB won't go batsh*t over enforcing copyright the way that Paramount did a few years ago to their Star Trek fans. It was also a nice birthday present for Julia. ;)

Yes, I did buy lots of yarrrrnnnnn:

• 1 100g ball Fortissima Socka Mexico Country Color (75% superwash wool, 25% polyamide) in colorway #14 Serengeti (yellow, orange, green, brown, tan, rust, grey, black/white check) which is also here and here.
• 1 100g hank Misty Mountain Farm Blue Ridge Yarn "Jubilee" (100% superwash merino) in #22 Waterfall (deep blue to sky blue, grey). Ravenclaw colors!
• 1 100g ball Zitron "Trekking XXL" (75% superwash 25% polyamide) in colorway #145 (orange tweed). Also pictured here - I'm thinking the Autumn Lace socks for this yarn.
• 1 100g ball Noro "Kureyon Sock" (70% wool, 30% nylon) in colorway #S233 Deep Blues (grey, deep to sky blue). Also here. I found a nice scarf pattern online that used this yarn, so I'm torn. Scarf or socks??
• 1 3oz ball Yarn Bee "Intrigue" (57% polymide, 43% Lurex glitter) in colorway Bisque (bronze) to go with the midnight blue for a Ravenclaw scarf.
• 2 3.5oz balls Yarn Bee "Beguile" (100% acrylic) in colorway Aegean (cream, red, teal, lime).
• 2 3.5oz balls Yarn Bee "Whirligig" (100% acrylic) in colorway Regatta (white, yellow, royal blue, red) for another scarf.
• 1 4oz ball Baby Bee "Sweet Delight Baby" (60% acrylic/40% polymide) in colorway Sweet Mocha (pink, tan, cream, chocolate brown). Think Neopolitan ice cream. For another BSJ.

Newsflash! IHOP is taking over the world! Okay, maybe not. I love xkcd.

Speaking of BSJs, I finished the third one (!!) and started a fourth. Isn't it cute?? My dentist is going to be a grandfather again, so i'm making one for his new grandson. He's due September 24th, which happens to be my nephew's birthday! w00t!

I ran across this very helpful blog post by Kenny. His blog is The Boy Who Knits - Techniques: Baby Surprise Jacket Spreadsheet Revision 2 and that particular post has a wonderful line-by-line reference for the BSJ. Thanks, Kenny!!

I think that's all for me right now - we'll be getting ready to face the remains of Ike tomorrow (5-8 inches of rain. Yay.) and having a sale at the Weaving Department! The sale info is here! Come buy yarn so I won't. :)

Cheers!

ETA: Here's a pic of my Wollmeise. Yum!!!!!!!

wollmeise, fanfic, and equus

Whoops, been a few days here. Look! it's not 1 AM!

Let's see. I got my Wollmeise (!!), worked a lot, slept a little, and edited audio. Yeah, that about sum up my week!

Let's start with the goodies:

• 1 150g hank of Wollmeise "Sock" (100% superwash wool) in colorway Wilder Mohn (poppy red and pinks). The photo does not do it justice - the red is a deep, rich, almost lipstick red (think Elmo!) and I can't wait to knit it. Figuring out the pattern will be the tricky part!

That, dear readers, was the only yarn I've purchased lately. I've been good! (and now that I've said that, I'll probably buy more tomorrow.)

I've been working on the the BSJ for Jen - on the buttonhole band now. She's due in February, so I have lots and lots of time. The Giggles Ombre is BRIGHT! Woof. Lots of orange and green. I think I might put duckie buttons on it. Hmmm.

Gave Tam the Shadows shrug I finished about 2 years ago - finally got around to weaving in all the ends and washing it. The weather was cool for the first time in a long time yesterday, and so it was appropriate!

I've been reading fanfic (surprise!) and ran across one called the After the Flaw Sequence. It's by an guy named Kanedax, and the main list is on his LiveJournal here. I like it - it was on the 61 fic nomination list (!!) for PFW, and I hadn't read it, so I checked it out. It's a fill in for Deathly Hallows between the end of Chapter 36 and the Epilogue. Read it!

Speaking of fic noms - I know that there are like, tons of people who want to review the next Dangerverse book, but please. There are a lot of other stories out there that aren't Dangerverse, and we've already DONE the first story. Can we move on? *sigh*

I also discovered (thank you, Wayne and NotACat) that Yellow Submarine was also on ff.net and SIYE as Here Comes The Sun, and has more parts posted in those two locations than on LJ. Another good one, but contains implied sexual violence.

Equus opened last night on Broadway - this was the preview, official opening is on the 25th - and Leaky had a review posted in the comments of the announcement this morning. I thought it was interesting to read that the on-stage seating is actually 11 FEET above the stage, so as to get out of the actors' line of sight. Very cool. I'm still glad I got orchestra seating, though. One of the guys here at work still wants me to take a vid cam. *rolls eyes* As if.

I finally made myself sit down and edit more of AtE - the next 2.3 chapters are posted. I'm going to attempt to edit Ch 25 pt 2 today, but I'm not sure how far I'll get. It's one of those monster parts (54+ minutes raw) and so that should take a couple of hours. Posted length for AtE is 24:43:09!! I passed the 24 hour mark! W00t!

I need to record Ch 10 of Battle of Wills, too. Chapters 1-8 of that are here, and I'm waiting for Scott to finish editing Ch 9, since we're already reviewing it.

Nothing else going on - D and I have our plane tickets, and I'm now starting to figure out things to pack. We're not checking any bags, but I have liquid meds that I need to take with me, so I'll have to figure out how to re-package and label them. I can't take anything more than 3 fluid oz in carry-on luggage, and the bottle is a 16 oz. Maybe I'll call Walgreens and see what they have to say - it's a prescription, after all.

Back to work...Cheers!

sneaks in

Lisa's gonna kill me, I told her I was going to bed...um...a long time ago? and I'm still up. Shhh. Just a few little quickies.

First off, thanks to Teh Sue, I got Wollmeise!!!! *does the happydance* It should be here tomorrow! squee!! I'll post about it in a day or so.

Secondly, Dan was cute if not a little fuzzy on Conan on Monday (yes, it was Monday, not Tuesday, oh DR.com. Whoops.). He talked about how New Yorkers know their theatre - he apparently got lost one morning going out for a run, and had to stop and ask for directions back home, and the guy he asked knew he was going to be in Equus. I wonder how many people went out early the next morning to see if they could spot Harry Potter out for a jog. More on the interview when I'm more awake.

(aside: my TV is on Good Eats and it's frozen. The picture ON the TV, not the TV. I'm looking at a still shot of Alton talking into the refrigerator cam with his mouth open. It's making me laugh!)

Thirdly (and finally), I've been reading LiveJournal (insert gasps here) and I'm .... well, yes, enthralled by a WIP on a new LJ community, hg_silverlining. The story I'm reading is called Yellow Submarine, and is an AU H/G story. There are only three parts posted so far (a prologue and two chapters), but it's really got me sucked in. I'll probably be posting more about it as it is updated.

Not much more going on - someone had the bright idea of getting me my own laser printer at work to print letters, and we futzed around with it today to get it to print duplex. It was a bear, because not all the letters are the same length due to the information on the third page. Some of them are front-and-back on pages three and four, but most are not. Ugh. Now the real fun starts...print/fold/stuff! Whee! Maybe now we can actually process more complaints per day than we get per day. What a concept. Trust me, I am not belittling anyone, but we've received so many more complaints than we did last year, it's not even funny. I'm talking double. So far this year, we've received more complaints as of July 15th than we did all of last year. At this rate, we'll have had an increase of about 275%. And we're handling it with less staff. I think my new nickname is going to be "TreeKiller" for all the paper (yes, it's recycled) I'm using.

I started yet another BSJ - this time in the Sweet Baby Delight Giggles Ombre. It's crayon bright but very cute. I think this one is for Jen! She's having a boy! Yay!!!

*jumps* The TV just unfroze and startled me. It's been frozen for almost a half an hour!

Crawling off to bed now. Cheers!

forgive the ramble

I think this is going to be a short post. Or a rambling post. Depends on NBC, actually. I'm watching the late night version of the Olympics, and Men's Volleyball is live, but we're watching the REPLAY of the Men's Mountain Biking. Why? Why can't see watch this AFTER the basketball game?? Sometimes I'm just not sure of the logic. I'm watching the real-time results on the website, and we just tied the Brazilians at one set apiece. Go USA!!

It's been a long week - we have some temps in the office with us working on tickets, and I've started ordering envelopes in groups of 10M instead of 5M. We've been killing trees quite rapidly, trying to work through all the complaints. They're not gonna go away!

I bought the Wonderful Wallaby pattern for Tere - she had been looking for it online, so I went up to Weaving Dept and grabbed a copy. My own copy has scribbles and notes in the margins and all over the pages, so I wasn't going to send that! Bought some yarn too:

• 1 50g ball of Regia "4 fädig" (Mini Ringel Color) (75% superwash wool/25% polyamide) in colorway Blue Sea (indigo to light sky blue, black). This was an orphan ball and I'll make some footies with it.
• 1 100g ball Opal "Rainforest 3" (75% superwash wool/25% polyamide) in colorway Kasimir der Draufganger (Kasimir the Daredevil) (all fair-isle effect in red/white, yellow/white, blue/white, pink, yellow, blue)
• 1 100g ball Universal Yarns "Classic Worsted Tapestry" (80% acrylic, 20% wool) in colorway Rose Garden (dusky rose, pink, fuchsia, orangey-pink, dusky rose/white fair-isle effect). This is for a large BSJ.

Speaking of the BSJ - I finished the BSJ for the Ravelympics! Yay! There are unstitched pics in my Flickr, but here's one:

Awww, isn't it cute?

We went from the mountain bikes to javelin, and now we're watching TABLE TENNIS. *sigh* On the site, it shows that the US is up 2 sets to 1 in Volleyball. I'd MUCH rather be seeing that game. Bet they show it after basketball, at like 4 AM. Meh.

We bought airplane tickets for NYC yesterday. w00t!!! We'll be in NY from evening Thursday (10/9) to early afternoon Monday (10/13). Non-stop, and at a great price. Now I just have to figure out how to pack the carry-on, since neither of us will be checking bags. I'm also going to call the ticket office on Monday, as I haven't seen the tickets yet in the mail, and I'm worried.

*insert 45 minutes of elevator muzak*

We won the gold in men's volleyball! YAY! NBC isn't showing it until 6 PM Sunday night my time! Boo! Everyone's got the Gold Medal Round Men's Basketball game on live right now, including the west coast, and we're leading. Don't think I'm going to last to the end of the game, thought - it's really really late. Or early. Whatever.

Dan Radcliffe will be on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Monday night, talking about the movie and the play. Rehearsals have started, so he's pretty much based in NY for the next 5 or 6 months. Bet he misses his dogs... Sigh I don't like Conan, but I guess I'll have to suffer. Edit: This might be on Tuesday instead of Monday, Will have to watch to see.

Julia proofed the re-charted blessing for the Challot cover, and I e-mailed Knitters to see if they wanted the corrected version. There was more wrong than an extra aleph! Thank you, Julia!!

Okay, I've just been told to go to bed. So I'm going.

Cheers!!

not a happy camper am i

Well, Warner Brothers decided to totally diss a fairly substantial part of their audience base today.

First reported on Market Watch:

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Moves to Summer 2009

This has been confirmed by WB to Leaky (which apparently has crashed again - can't access the site at all) and was announced this afternoon. SciFiWire and other media sources are now reporting this as well.

Hope you didn't have any plans for November, or were planning on HBP merchandise for Christmas. I'm sure that the Royal Film Performance selection committee isn't too happy, either. WB released the teaser trailer 2 weeks ago with the November release date, fps. *pokes them really hard* I can't tell you how irritated and very disappointed I am.

Let's talk about something else.

I bought some yarn from Kirkwood Knittery on Monday - they are having "Olympic Sales". Check out their website (linked on the sidebar) for sale dates and times. Monday's was Sock Yarn! w00t!

• 1 130g ball of Universal Yarns "fibranatura Yummy" (100% superwash wool) in colorway #41359 Seattle Skies (sky blue, ash grey, deep purple). It's not for me, it's for Ms. Violet. I already have some.
• 1 skein of Wisdom Yarns (by Universal Yarns) "Marathon Socks - Chicago" (75% wool, 25% polyamide) in colorway #231 (white, royal purple-blue, olive green, burgundy, rust-orange). Self-striping yarn without the 'fairisle' effect.
• 1 skein of Fortissima Colori "Socka Color" (75% superwash, 25% polyamide) in colorway #13 (distressed blue, blue/white check, grey, beige, light terra cotta/tan)

Like I said, one of those is for Ms V of Lime&Violet. She of the Seattle Fixation. I figured I'd be an enabler. ;)

Some HP fics I've been watching: Robin's Promises series on SugarQuill and FernWithy's "Shift-verse" which includes the completed Teddy Lupin and the Forest Guard that I've been watching on SugarQuill as well. It's been done for a while! Geh.

I've joined the Team Slackers for the Ravelympics - I'm on the neck decreases for the BSJ. The striping pattern is pretty! I'll take pics when it's cast off.

Happy 84th birthday, Grandpa!!

I can't think of anything else to blab about - Cards won today against the Marlins, and the Olympics are on. (go Phelps!)

Cheers!

ramblings, bsj, gold, and fangrrling

Just some rambling.

I'm doing another BSJ for an unofficial entry into the Ravelympics! I did finish the knitting on the first one - it's a little bigger than I thought it was going to be, so the Ravelympic one is on smaller needles. Some pics, hosted on Flickr:

(the amoeba)

(front)

(back)

Teh Drunken Sue likes the colorway - I forgot to get buttons yesterday, so that's on the list for tomorrow's errands.

I've been reading a few works-in-progress that are noteworthy - one is twisting my brain into ribbons, and the other is a fairly realistic post-war fanfic:

• Phantom Limb by rbackwards2 is at 13 chapters and just over 71K words. It's a very interesting story, but you really have to read it - and I mean every word - without distraction. You will not stay in the story if you are interrupted. Trust me.
• The second one is Shut and Be A Bud Again by MinistryMalcontent and is at only 6 chapters, but nearly 90K words. The author's synopsis is "Voldemort is gone, but the aftereffects of the War linger. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione all must deal with the toll, and confront the consequences of their actions. Only one thing is certain: things will never be the way they were before." It's really good.

Alli and I are sort of watching the Olympics together - it is really hard to talk to someone about what I'm seeing when she sees it 3 hours later. Gaaah! The best thing IMHO so far? This. The US Mens Swimming Team won GOLD in the 4x100 free relay on Monday - new world record (broke the old one by 4 seconds!!) and beat France for the medal by .08 seconds. It was amazing. The French team was trash-talking - and they got pwned. Wow. (Edit: Here's the link for the NBC site - they have the relay video up!

The only big thing I did this week was that I went on my tech ridealong - Tim was great, it was 98F, we only went on three calls. First one was a failed telephone install (fixed, talked to the subscriber about home networking, got all their computers online), second one was a flapping modem (residential and business installers apparently messed each other up a bit), and the third was a bad underground drop. It was a very interesting day, I talked to the subscribers about their services and how to keep themselves online. I was wiped by the time we got back, but it was a lot of fun.

Scott, Dan and I are still working on the audio of Battle of Wills. The guys have been busy, so I have had several parts in a row. Lots to go! We're finished with 7 of the 51 parts. 3:46:34 done so far, and that's only 7 parts. Woof. No progress on AtE - I've been slacking off a bit. Time to get back into it!

PK and Ash are back from WI - Ash starts high school tomorrow (ack!). I hadn't seen PK for about 2 weeks so me and the pooch went over and visited. She and I caught up - she still hasn't seen the trailer yet - and while we were talking about the upcoming trip to NY (mainly when she was teasing me about fangrrling), I realized something.

I like Dan Radcliffe, but I don't fangrrl him. I fangrrl Harry.

PK said the same thing about Sarah Michelle Geller and Buffy. I think that's why I am uncomfortable visiting Dan's site, but don't have any qualms at all reading the fanfic sites and the HP sites that WB and Scholastic have up. That actually makes me feel better - I don't feel so much like a perv. LOL!

Well, I think that's all for me. It's really the middle of the night now, and I need sleep!

Cheers!

the h/g top ten updated

StMargarets updated the Top Ten list that I found on her LJ to reflect DH, and for silly's sake here it is:

Ten Reasons Why I *Still* Ship H/G (by StMarg)

1. Because it’s still canon! (And it's still satisfying to say that!)
2. Because Ginny knows the best birthday presents to give Harry.
3. Because Ginny doesn't have to marry the nameless, faceless guy.(Cho does, poor dear)
4. Because Ginny steals swords and does what she can for Harry even when apart.
5. Because Harry's only fun on the camping trip was looking at her dot on a map.
6. Because twenty-something years later there are three Potter dots on the map.
7. Because now his best friends are his brother and sister-in-law.
8. Because Ginny was his last thought when Voldemort was going to kill him.
9. Because neither one of them is a vampire. (HP - you're my One True fandom)
10. Because Ginny was at Kings Cross in book one and she's there in the epilogue.
*11. Bonus movie shipping reason. Just look at [this] icon. How cute are they?



Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. *g*

Teh Kez on PFW was squeeing this afternoon on Skype - apparently there's been some paranoia about if we will REALLY see a H/G kiss in HBP. According to this article, that's been confirmed by one of the kiss-ees (Dan). Thanks for the hook-up, Kez! I have to say, I've been trying to stay away from the actors' websites - I'm so trying not to fangrrl, but it's not working. Oh well. I do think it's amusing how Dan talks about Harry in the third person, and then says "I survive and I defeat the bad guy...". *chuckles*

I capitulated and started a BSJ yesterday. I'm almost to the end of the decreases, and its not looking like anything yet. From what I understand, it won't look like anything till I bind off and sew the shoulders! Hmm. I'll take the Comfort socks along with me on Tuesday in case we get stuck somewhere. Hopefully somewhere cool.

Nothing else going on - just trying to stay cool.

Cheers!