I must be insane..

S'hokay.

I am officially insane.

As about 30 minutes ago.. I officially purchased a pair of size 35 knitting needles.

What does that mean?

That means I now own a pair of needles that are basically like knitting with tree trunks.

They are no where near the largest needles one can have, but they to me.. are absolutely huge.

Yes, I bought these for a reason.

No, I won't tell you why yet, as it's a secret. Ha ha ha.

My needles should arrive in a few days. Then I get to play. Oh wait, not really as I still need to buy the yarn for this particular project.

Today was an odd day as I spent part of the morning struggling to get the piano stand to actually... hold up the piano. Parts of it look warped, which some how doesn't surprise me. Considering where the piano came from, it very very much does not surprise me that the stand is warped.

So I am now coming up with alternatives, so that I can actually use the piano. Yup, this is me. The girl who is using 2 book shelves and the spare shelves from my china cabinet(which is currently my tv cabinet.. which works since I don't have any china) as my desk.
So, I've got one chest of drawers that is a good height, and I just need to figure something out for the other side. I'm thinking another little bookshelf that I've realized has been buried behind the boxes. Why this shelf doesn't have more than 5 books in it, is because it's one of those tilted book shelves, and always used to use it, but this time all my books are in the downstairs shelves and or the other book cases around the house. So the tilted one generally gets saved for the odd sized books.
Chest of drawers + tilted book shelf + Shakespeare's unabridged and annotated complete collection = piano stand. (the Shakespeare won't get damaged and will be just about the right height to make the shelves even)

I'm going to completely start from the beginning again, which works since it looks like the books that came along with the piano are the beginning level. So, even if I'm still at the self taught beginner level... by the time I move to the uk and then finally actually have lessons someday.. I hopefully won't be a complete loss cause.


Okay.. off to make dinner.

Swift and winding...

So, I'm entering a contest for a Swift and Ball winder. Which unless your a knitter, you won't care about.

From the blog of "Musings of a Fat Chick" http://musingsofafatchick.blogspot.com

Webs Plastic and Metal Swift and Ball Winder Combo

The swift is sturdy and lightweight and opens to 60". It can hold skeins up to one pound. The clamp at the base allows it to be easily attached to a table edge or shelf and can pivot for use at any angle. The ball winder will create 4 oz. center pull balls. Separately, the swift retails for $39.50 and the ball winder for $39.50.

So yeah... it'd be nice to win. I want a swift.

Dream, Snow, and Sookie

Alright, while it's fresh in my thoughts..

I just finished reading The Absolute Sandman Vol 2.

And I say just finished, as I also just started it. I quite literally read it all in one go. (Okay, not just one go as I did get up and use the ladies at least twice)
But I gotta say wow!

Vol 1, took me at least a week to read. And that was with skipping an entire section because the art and the story was absolutely of no interest to me.

But Vol 2 I just zoomed through. And I didn't skip over any of the stories.

I can't wait to own it. Because yes, I will own it some day.

And actually, it has made me ponder some colorways that would be awesome. Nope. Not allowed to start dyeing yet. Nope. Won't do it. But I know I'll look through the book again later when I do start dyeing and such like that.

Also I really shouldn't ponder a project after reading that book, as it's making my brain go into many different paths of ideas.

A friend of mine posted a 5 People Gift giving Pay it forward type thing. The gist of it is, you post the note, and the first 5 people to respond will get something made by you. Rules are though that they must also post the note, do the same for the first 5 people, and also make something for you. So, she is making something for me, and I am making something for her.
As this was done on my facebook, if I don't get enough people responding, I will post it here for all my non facebook people.

Now onto Sookie...
I made a project that I have dubbed "Sookie Stackhouse Laceup Sexahhness"

Jen at Fresh from the Cauldron sent me a ball of her Sookie Stackhouse colorway, which is a silk base. It wasn't much, it was roughly... about the size of a Leprechaun's ball. (Oh yes, that just gave you a mental image you won't be able to escape from)
The yardage wasn't important, it was simply so that I could knit it up, see how my hands react during the knitting, and then also how the swatch would be against my skin.
Well, me being me.. I couldn't just do a boring swatch.
So instead I did a laceup wristwarmer.

Seed Stitch because I think it's so pretty.
And, I also taught myself how to do something I didn't know how to do before.
a 3 row buttonhole. I can honestly say, that this is my most favorite buttonhole that I have yet done. It was so simple.

Now, of course I will post photos, but unfortunately my camera sucks, and there is no way to turn off the auto focus, so there is never any way I can take a good photo of seed stitch at all.
So the photos do NOT do this little wrist warmer any justice.








Now on to my discussion about snow.
Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that this portion of the country has had some extreme weather.
We had a Blizzard.

No big deal right?

Well, this is the first time in more years that I know, where they called it a Blizzard before it hit. Previously, they would just call it a "severe storm" and then when it was over they would call it a Blizzard.

All day long while at work yesterday I was watching the weather reports...
At 9:00am I went outside, and it was sunny. You couldn't see the mountain (Pikes) but that wasn't uncommon.
By 12:00pm, apparently it was snowing.
I went out at 12:30pm and it was really snowing.

I flicked on the traffic cams, and saw that things were getting worse.
So at 1:00 I made the decision to leave early. you all know how I feel about driving in bad weather ...

Well Janice and I did the buddy system driving home. Which was comdedic.
Oh well, first I had to clear off my car, which was a miserable experience. Because I didn't wear a hat. So my hair was drenched and my ear was frozen. My hair wasn't just drenched, it was frozen.
Janice and I forgot to exchange phone numbers. Mistake. Whoops.
The plan was, that we were taking the safest route home, and she was going to break off from following me at Academy and Woodman. (where I turn right, and she would go forward)
Well, we get to Academy, and she's turning along with me.

I'm making hand signals out the window because I was like "dude did you miss it? that was woodman!"
then, I notice she's got a sign in her front window she's holding up (yes, this is all while we are driving on very bad roads with cars) that says "Call me" and her number.
Which I could not for the life of me see the number. Even when we were stopped at one point I opened my car door leaning out to look at the number. I was of course blinded by the snow so I couldn't see the numbers.
We pulled off into a parking lot (the first chance we had) and she informed me that a friend of her's had just been on Powers (the road that runs parallel to Academy for the most part and was going to be her route home to avoid the bad hills) and that there was a huge accident. So she was going to go down Academy with me and cut over after the bad hills.
Back in the car I go, and once again we start making the trek. The weather is getting worse and worse, and it's just about to become 2pm. Then I run into traffic before Dublin. There is this little bit of a hill there. Which I had forgotten about, but there is no good way to avoid it. It's the least of all the hills going that direction.
Well, in my previous car, I remember having problems on that little hill before. So I was nervous for good reason. Though, so far my car Byron had done fabulously on all the little inclines we had. Mind you, I had been coaxing and praising and encouraging my car the entire time. Yes, it would have been amusing if anyone had heard me.
But so Byron makes it up the hill without giving me any fits at all. Though, there were newer and fancier cars that were abandoned in the middle of the road at the median, and one that was being pushed up the hill by a nice guy with a big truck.
So I was honestly shocked that my car did so well.

I didn't want to risk the hill on the street before my neighborhood, as that is the one where I had my first experience of not making it up a hill and having to maneuver back down. So I just went around to the only other option on getting into my neighborhood. It worked though because it let me out at the top of the hill instead of at the bottom.
Yup, I got home safely. It only took me an hour and 15 minutes instead of the normal 7-10 minutes it normally takes me. But man am I glad I did leave early.

I slept restlessly, as I could hear the storm and my neighbor's wind chime all night (seriously.. I hope that stupid chime might 'disappear' someday. )
So at 4 am, I got out of bed. Looked outside. Saw the 3-4 foot drifts around my car. (Thats what happens when you have a end of the row parking space)
i fire up the laptop, and check the traffic cams.
Not many cars on the road, and the roads don't look bad. At first glance. But I noticed that there was a suspicious gleam.. that meant ice.
I make the decision that I'm not going to risk it. Not at 4am with no other cars on the road.
I go back to bed.
Janice texts me around 645 asking me if I was going into work.
I tell her my reasons why I wasn't but that I hadn't checked the roads in a while. She was going to see if her fiance made it to work then make her decision.
Daniel then texts me 730 (or something like that) asking the same things. Only he doesn't have inet right now so he can't check the cams himself.
So I get out of my nice warm bed and fire up the laptop. I really did need the update so I didn't mind.
I see more cars on the roads, but they are all 4wheel drive type vehicles. And things still looked icy.
Janice then texts me again after I've gone back to bed, and informs me that she attempted to go out on the roads (in her big 4wheel drive suv) and didn't make it far before she gave up. Apparently it was really slick. At this point, I'm not feeling guilty about not attempting.. I don't have 4wheel drive. And I have to replace one of my wiper blades. Specifically the driver side one. The rubber has decided disconnect from the metal. So really, it is useless. Which means if the roads turn into Splashback, I'd be screwed before I could even get to the store.

And guess what happened after the sun came up? The ice started melting, and splashback is the huge issue right now.
Yeah.. I'm not going anywhere until tomorrow at the earliest.

Yes, the sun is out and things are melting. And I possibly could have gone to work after 12.. but I still wouldn't get all the hours I've lost due to the weather, and it would also mean staying till after the sun set. Which no... not doing. So the amount of hours I could actually make up.. wouldn't be worth it.

So yesterday and today I've been watching Andromeda season 1.
Oh and finished Witchblade. lesigh I miss that show. Though yes, season 2 got WEIRD.
I still love it. And I will still own my buell. And I think I've mentioned this already.. .

I've got a stack of dvd's to get through... and I'm sure I think of a new knitting project.. and I can also finish reading the Sookie Stackhouse short story "Unusual Suspects"

Methinks I'll finish it this afternoon. I would have finished it when I first started it, but I decided to put it down and then yesterday I was simply knitting.

I'm rambling.

Santa Olivia, Snow, and a date with James..

So, I plan on avoiding the whole "female body part + weapon of some kind+ tattoo" cover art that is soooo popular in the whole paranormal novel sector.. but if I do throw a girl on the cover of my book..

I want it to look as awesome as this cover on Jacqueline Carey's new book "Santa Olivia":



Cause that is just freaking sweet. But, I am trying to avoid anything like that.

Oh and I am not so patiently waiting for the library. I'm almost tempted to just buy the damn hardcovers so that I can read that and Naamah's kiss.

A storm front moved in last night. I woke up to snow on the grass and my car. None on the road.

As soon as I got into work, I got one of my ugly headaches.
And it hasn't gone away. Even though the sun is shining, and the sky is clear.. The pressure in my head has not.

It is quite frustrating.

But you know what, I'm able to type most of this blog with my eyes shut, which I have to say is pretty cool. (seriously, the last sentence was entirely typed with my eyes shut, and no changes were made to it. Opening my eyes, I screwed up this sentence at least 3 times if not more. And screwed up 'seriously' at least twice.)



I am home now, my headache has not yet dissipated to my knowledge, but I also don't really plan on moving but for to go to the ladies when necessary.

I have a date with Bond tonight.. .mmmmm James...

Well, later ya'll.

Boring Tuesday..

I must say...

I am annoyed with Blogger. Le sigh. Mostly i am annoyed with not being able to respond to comments the proper way.

Mayhaps I'll have to slowly change things over to Wordpress as it has that option.

But don't worry my dear readers, I shant do anything crazy yet.

I might just suffer through blogger for the next 15 months, and then when i move to the UK, and Guy and I have made our own server and websites, I'll have my blog just how I want it and won't have to rely on silly little programs such as this one.

yeah mayhaps that is just the way to go for now.

I feel slightly bad, as when i bought my Flying Monkeys and they arrived, I was highly disappointed. Instead of emailing the person to inform them that the description was wrong, and that I had wanted Lobster Clasps. I simply stated in the feedback I left that the description was incorrect for the objects. Now, I did not leave neutral or negative feedback. I clicked that Positive button, because they did arrive quickly, and the transaction was painless. I just commented in my post of "i love them but.. "
Well, she emailed me today apologizing. So now I feel bad. Gee I'm glad I didn't hit that negative button.
But when it comes down to it, she should have checked her descriptions, since ALL her items that are stitch markers say that. Oh well, I still plan on buying more, and I'll just leave a glowing feedback on the next one.



Still plunking through Bride of Casa Dracula.

Here is a prediction: she's about to introduce werewolves.

Lets see if I'm right.



I did not get anything done on my vest last night. I just had no motivation. I'm in that final stretch. Tonight after I shower and feel more awake, I'll put it on. Check the pinning, then stitch it up and be done with it. Woohoo.
I do want to do it again, but out of different yarn, and I've learned a few things while doing this one. I know I need to lengthen the base without adding to the width.


A Hard Day's Bite: Been mulling a few things, but haven't made any decisions. I don't want to lean towards falling into the same lines as Charlaine Harris or Kim Harrison, or LKH for that matter. If you don't know what I'm talking about its the "Oh my god. She wrote about this. She's copying them!" Charlaine recently wrote a blog about that circumstance. Someone made the comment of "Charlaine added motorcycle gangs into her story! She's copying LKH."
Well.... people get over it. It's kind of hard to not incorporate things that are actually quite common in real life. Such as motor cycle groups. I have friends that are part of different motorcycle groups here in Colorado. Am I going to ignore a good plot because *gasp* it might involve a motorcycle?Also, it makes sense in the fact that Vamps and Werewolves tend to be part of the subculture. And what do you find in the sub culture? Gangs, adrenaline, and danger. No. Now, mind you I have nothing penned in that regard, but I'm using it as an example. Same goes for politics. Which is really what the whining was about. Yes, Sookie's world has gotten very Vampire Political, just like Antia's world.
But if your going to whine about that... well... Anne Rice kinda got the ball rolling on that. Remember The Theater of Vamps? Well, that was basically the start of the vampire political structure. Armand was in charge.

I'm rambling. Lets move on.
Umm...
Ummmm....
Cold snap here in Colorado? It's been freaking cold the past two days. Thank goodness I hadn't removed my heating blanket yet. Cause I'd never get to sleep otherwise.

It's a boring Tuesday thus far. Just sayin' .

Flying Monkeys!

Yes, this Wicked girl has Flying Monkeys.

Wooohooo!

They are quite adorable. I ordered them from a shop on etsy.



Though, I have to admit that I am annoyed. As they were not as they were advertised. The description stated that they were "Lobster Clasp" markers. Meaning when you screw up and stitch them into the stitch of your knitting instead of just moving it along your needle, you cannot at all remove it without either cutting IT or ripping out all the knitting you just did (better pray you didn't realize your mistake after a very long row)
And you cannot use it to mark various spots in your knitting like I just did for my Wicked Verdigris vest.
So off to Hobby Lobby went I, to get some Lobster clasps and to get a few beads to make them extra pretty.
And I have remembered that me+hobby lobby+beads=bad idea. Well, bad idea for my wallet that it.
Had to get a few other beads so that I can make my own markers, even though I have beads upstairs. Which, I will go through and use as well... really i will... *shifty eyes* good thing, my bead box is compact and can be shipped to the uk with no issues.
I did pick up some pretty metal type beads that look rather steampunkish. So that'll be fun to work with. Who knows, mayhaps I'll throw them up on Etsy and make a buck or two.

I also bought some yarn that I shouldn't. 2 little skeins (and I say little. About 95 yards each.. ) of some cotton that was in pretty colors.
I bought a pretty Bamboo spun yarn that reminds me of fluffy chenille yarn. So *shrugs* the companies are starting to understand that we dont want just boring yarn.
Also they are starting to learn that yarn is safer for the planet.
Bamboo replenishes it's self in 56 days as opposed to wood that takes 56 years to regrow to the same height.
I also got a Spa yarn that is also bamboo. It is this pretty pearl type color. It is actually called "misty taupe" but it's more pearl than taupe. I'll have fun playing with it. And the good news, is it is DK weight. WOOOHOOO! So, I'll really get to play with it, and mayhaps make myself another Alexandra if I so desire. Who knows. We'll see. But now I gots me some options.

I could not find myself any Hat Boxes, which I need to get at least 2. I guess I'm going to have to go online to find them. I remember a time where you could walk into Hobby Lobby and see an entire aisle of Hat Boxes because people were using them for crafting and gifts etc. Now, no such luck.

I honestly don't care what they look like, I just need them to protect the hat that I bought from Traveler and a few other hats that I do not want to damage in transit. And honestly, they should be in boxes now just to avoid all the dust that is Colorado Springs.

Update on the Wicked Verdigris:
I am almost done. I have the last section pinned on and waiting to be stitched. I need to try it on first and make sure it falls the way I want it to. But then I'll be done. Woohoo. I would have finished last night, but I was just far too tired.
Though putting it together, the project has been very simple. Yes, sometimes putting it together felt like a puzzle, but now that I've done one, I know what to expect and it's not that difficult. I just need to remember to mark my rows next time so that I'm not doing ungodly amounts of row counting when it's all done. (Which is when lobster clasp stitch markers come in handy. That, or saftey pins) Next time I'll just mark every ten rows with a marker and leave 'em alone.

This weekend I was watching Witchblade. I gotta say I miss that show so very much. I love it. I will own it. Yuppers.
This means I really will need a region 1 dvd player in the house, because it took 10 years to get Witchblade on dvd (okay, only like 8 or 9 years, but you see where I'm going with this) and I doubt it'll get onto Region 2 any time soon.
And I still want my 2000 Buell. It's soooo pretty. Come on.. it's sexy. You know it's sexy.

Randomly:
I cannot believe that in today's day and age, a "serious" author can get away with using the word Frememy. It makes me cringe.
Wait, I just figured it out. The character of Milagros (sp?) in the books of Casa Dracula is always saying that no one considers writing to be a real career or "work", perhaps this is simply the author translating her own experience. Yup. that has to be it. So she doesn't consider herself doing any real work, and therefore can use words like "Frememy" and just have pretty bad novels. Why does at least one word in every sentence of this book have to be in spanish? And I'm sorry, I lived in California, not everyone intersperses their vocab with spanish, or spanglish even. And dude, I lived in SoCal. Even closer to the border than SanFran. But then, this is Marta's (the author) world, and I guess if in her world she thinks that everyone is of some form of hispanic descent, or if they are not they obviously hate the little mexican girls and obviously think them sluts... Hmmm thats starting to sound rather racist a hypothesis. But it's her world.. not mine. Hmm another interesting point.. not a single person of another race other than White and Mexican are in the books.. how very odd. I remember SanFran, and it's quite a mixed city. but dear lord everyone she meets is hispanic.. or white. Thats it. I would hate to live my life like that to be honest.

Not to mention, SanFran has the BEST chinese food. And I mean seriously, there is a reason for that. Last time I was there we drove through like 40 minutes of traffic just to get some proper dim sum.

I'm starting to rant. Again, I just need to remind myself to finish the book. At least I'm half way done, and I can pretend that I didn't hear that she is writing a 4th book. If I don't know about it, I won't be forced to read it by compulsion.

On another completely random note:
I absolutely cannot believe that it is already March 23rd. This month has flown. Woohoo.
I can't wait for it to be over and another month bites the dust.

Though, unfortunately i'm already being plagued with heat dreams. The weather is warming, the odd dreams begin.

I'm going to have to buy a new bottle of sleeping pills if this doesn't stop. I gave Mother of Mine my last bottle.
Sigh, the dreams are as bad as insomnia. This isn't fair, and it's not conducive towards me not snapping at work. So must take steps to remedy.

Well, I guess I've slacked off enough this morning.

Poll is now closed and other rants.

Weeeeeelll...

As I'm uber paranoid.. and due to circumstances...
I am not going to end up getting any other nifty colors.

I just sent in my color list.

10 Luciens. Just to make sure that I have enough. It'll work out though, because it is a beautiful colorway, and I will just have lots to play with. I'm sure Guy wouldn't mind a scarf or something.

So yeah, 10 Luciens, and 2 Michael Corvin colorways shall soon be mine. Woohoo.

All the other colorways will have to wait till next year.. if I get in the club.. if the club happens again as a matter of fact.

I know, I know.. it seems silly to get nearly 3500 yards of a yarn, but I reaaaaally don't wanna run out, and I don't know how the smaller weight will react in the pattern.

After much frustration, I finished my taxes this afternoon. I'm not getting as much as I was planning, due to not being comfortable filing as HoH and claiming my mother as a dependent. Yes, I am HoH, and Yes all the bills are in my name. But my mother makes too much for me to be fully confident claiming her as a dependent. Sigh.

In fact, it's half the amount I was planning on. Which means, that little glimmer of hope I had at having all my money for the uk move ready to go with plenty of time for emergencies etc.. just went away.

All in all, nothing drastic has happened today, but it's been a no good, bad day. Just not happy. I've been bitchy and cranky and tired and people have been crapping on my parade.

I was almost inspired to write. Or at least I got an idea.. sort of.. but I'm not going to write right now because I'm cranky and tired and bitchy and if one more person tells me that Twilight is a good book, I just might snap.

I need to remember to not talk about my feelings on Twilight in areas where there are Twisheep. Because I have strong feelings on the crappiness of the book. But the Sheep come out in full force with their singleminded love.

I call them Twisheep, as it stems back from the days of a Harry Potter based school that I shant mention here so that the dreaded google doesn't find me and they think I'm still talking about them or any bullshit like that.. . Where there was a protest about censorship. I made a banner,

ah ha.. took me a while.. but i found it..


Okay. I'm tired. I'm bitchy still. I'm going to watch one more episode of BSG, which apparently we just fraked the order and watched disc 3 prior to disc 2. Sigh. So much for me paying attention.

Edit:

Thank you to all who voted.. I'm just sorry I couldn't get any of them And no it was not the plan all along. I quite honestly had 2 spots that I need help choosing on. It was just the yarn fiasco that changed that.

Defying Gravity...

So just to make this even more themed...

Yes, I am going to Wicked in October. Wooohoooo! I can't wait.

now on to my Wicked Verdigris.

I am completely finished with section A and B. (Which are exactly the same)They are currently getting some light blocking done. Meaning they were made damp, and currently are pinned to the carpet to "form" them into the proper shapes.
I'm proud of myself, as my tension was pretty darn good and so they really don't need much blocking at all. Woohoo.

I am skipping ahead though, because your supposed to wait till it's all done to block and then put the pieces together.
But as I am modifying section C, I want to put section A and b together so that i can put it on, and see exactly how long i need and or want to make section C. The difference can be at least 40 rows of stitching, so I'd rather just try it out first then end up having to rip stitches out.

Last night I cast on section C (meaning I started it. for all you non knitting readers), and I got about 20 rows done before bedtime. Mind you, that was less than an hours worth of work on a very boring part. You know the boring parts I mentioned on the other sections? Well this entire section is that boring part 200 to 240 (or something like that) rows of nothing but garter stitch. BORING. gotta put it down every few rows.

On the reading front:
Currently reading The Bride of Casa Dracula. I'm about 50 pages in, and the entire time I've been debating it if I want to actually read it. But it's slightly a compulsion. Sigh. it's just... I don't know. Once again there is the whole "i dress like a slut, but why does think i'm a slut?!" aspect. Honestly. A plastic white mini skirt at least a size too small????
At least it hasn't dived into the "oh everyone hates me because i'm hispanic" aspect of it yet. And I say yet, as it will be inevitable.

I guess I read these books as reminders to myself of what I don't want to write like.

On the writing front:
Nope. nothing new. Sigh. Don't have time right now. but I got ideas percolating, and I'm still running high off the new chapters. woohoo for that.


On a random note:
So some of you have been hearing me whine for a while now (most likely in the previous blog on myspace) about how I want to get back into playing the piano.
Well, there was that bruahaha with a certain individual whom I was going to borrow a piano from.

Weeeeeeel... the person who was kindly storing the piano for the bitch in question has also had not fun times with bitch in question, and has decided to let me use the piano. When bitch in question asks for it back, they'll get it back obviously, but for now it's out of my friends house, and soon I shall actually have it set up and shall be reminding myself how horrible I am at playing piano.

Though, as I just discovered, there are some things one never forgets. My right hand has full muscle memory of the right hand intro for Tarantella. Woohoo. Ironically, it was that piece of music which facilitated my abrupt stop of playing music when I was a kid.

Tarantella was the piece I had to learn to move onto the next level. I informed my teacher I didn't want to compete. She didn't want to teach me anymore. And I was terrified of Tarantella because it was so beyond my skill. So it's the last piece I really "learned" and after at least 15 years, my right hand still knows how to play it. the left hand.. has half the memory, but it was confused the last time I attempted to play it.

On the work front:
Busy busy busy. They are messing with us greatly. Which is making more work for me. Which sucketh. To the point where my eye twitches when i'm at work. Almost non stop. I can't stand it.

The only thing that keeps me going is my constant mantra of "15 months, 15 months"

Speaking of that... Today is once again the monthly anniversary of meself and Guy. By the old counting system.. we have 1.39 years left.
The new counting system.. 15 months and a week and a half.

On the Vampire yarn front:
Poll ends tonight. But there might be some last minute changes. Such as I might only have 1 yarn to pick when it comes down to it.
As I said there is issue with the whole dying thing.
And now there is an issue with the whole Weight of yarn thing.

Jen is sending me one of her leftover balls of yarn, out of her "Silk Sock", which I can't remember the content right now but I think it's like 80% silk, 20% wool.. I think i can't recall. Which I might be able to stand, but she can only get it in whats known as Fingering Weight. Which is a lot lighter than the DK that I need to do the project in. So I have to do the math and figure out how much more I'm going to need so as to be 100% sure I have enough for the Alexandra. So I might need 9 skeins of the Lucien just to be on the safe side. And, that means with the 2 yummy Michael Corvins, that will leave only 1 spot open for a random color.

I will of course let ya'll know how it plays out. But I won't know till later.

Dumbing down the world.. one Tv channel at a time..

Article can be found here:

Link

So for those who won't read it. The gist is that SciFi is now going to try to shed the geeky image by changing the name to "SyFy"

SyFy? What the f*ck is that?

Sci Fi is supposed to be SCIence FIction. Yes, it is geeky. Yes, it brings up memories of StarTrek, StarWars, and cheesey poof eating geeks in their parents basement.

But you know what. I'm one of those geeks. I've played Dungeons and Dragons. I've done online role playing games. Hell, I've done LIVE ACTION role playing games.

Growing up, I read science fiction novels about telapathic spaceships.
It made me think about the possiblities that are out there, and what we can achieve as humans.

Now, Science Fiction isn't just about space creatures and such like that.

It is Steam Punk. It is exploration. It is so many other things that just geeky overweight guys in their parents basement.
Jules Verne was a Sci Fi dude.
So was HG Wells. I mean, come on.. a time machine? That is one of the classic Sci Fi fodder.

SyFy has no meaning to me.

I am not happy. the SciFi channel was one of the few channels that I still enjoyed watching things on. I guess now I'm gonna have to go over to Discovery Channel and tell "SyFy" where they can stick their "Sy".

Wicked Verdigris

So, yesterday was spent just put-putting around the house.

I got up. Took a shower. Watched the second episode of Ashes To Ashes. Which, I shouldn't be watching since I haven't seen season 2 of Life on Mars. But, screw it, if I don't watch A2A now, I won't get to until after I move to the UK. And comcast has A2A on demand for free. Woohoo.

After that I hopped in my car, and drove to Whole Foods. I knew I needed to buy cereal, and I really didn't want to go to Walmart. So, I splurged at Whole Foods.
Got a few things, including a bag of Jade Pearl rice.

It's rice... that is infused with Bamboo. Ooooh Ahhhhhh. And it's also short grain, which I like. I can't wait to try it.

Then, I came home.. changed back in to my jammies, and just chilled watching telly and knitting.
And I have mastered the art of knitting and typing. Okay, not so much mastered, but I'm getting the hang of it.

I was working on a particularly boring section of knitting, so after each row I would type something.

84 rows of 11 stitches of Knit.

Not even Knit/Purl. Just straight Knit on both sides all rows for 84 rows. BORING!!!!!!

But, it was a necessary part of the vest.

I am officially done with section A. woohoo!
Now on to section B, which is... sadly exactly the same as section A.
I spent at least 3 hours untangling my skein of yarn. This cotton yarn I'm using, every time I go to wind it into a ball, it catches on it's self and then tangles in an ungodly way. Thank goodness I'll need only to go through that process on one more skein.

I did cast on Section B last night. I'll most likely finish all of B tomorrow. Who knows, it depends on how much I knit tonight.

I have decided to call the vest "Wicked Verdigris" as it is quite a green color. And that just seemd to fit for now. Don't know if I'll change it or not..

I watched Kung Fu Panda yesterday, which was cute.
I watched a horribly dubbed Jackie Chan movie, which.. sucked because Jackie didn't even do the american dub for himself, so it was really... weird.

Oh, Saturday I watched one of the most horrible Vampire movies. The Vampire Kiss or whatever it's called. The one with Nicolas Cage.
I think I could have liked the movie if it wasn't for Nicolas Cage. He had this weird accent, like he was trying to just be an ass, but it was coming out pompish, feminine and just... creepy. If I had been in the movie iwth him, I wouldn't have been able to get through a scene without laughing at how ridiculous he was speaking. it was pointless, it did not add anything to the character.

Watched most all of BallyKissAngel season 6, and I gotta say.. I could really care less about this season. Most of the people I like are gone, and the people I like that are still left don't have that much of story in this season. Boooo.


I have to admit I'm very glad that on Ravelry I don't participate in any of the "value / belief" oriented groups, as there is a huge bruhahha going on right now to the point where legal action is being taken and people are getting banned in the crossfire.

It's about Knitting people. Everything else is besides the point. Get over it.

And on the writing note..
Got my chapters back from James, which I'm very happy about as there was nothing that was added or needed to be subtracted really. That means I'm on the right track, and that makes me happy. Woohoo!

Okay, well I guess I've slacked off enough. Back to work I go.

An impossible amount of sneezing.. .

So this weekend there was a goal to stay home and knit.

Yeah... that didn't happen

Friday night I wrote... got a good amount. Not a GREAT amount, but I like what I did get.

Then I started getting headachey. Mostly I think it was the end of the week "been doing too much" type headache. Along with staring at a computer screen for too long.
So I stopped early and went to bed.. it was after 8, which wasn't bad considering I normally go to bed at 8.

Saturday I had planned to write more.. But then when I woke up, I had a headache even worse than the night before. On top of that, I was sneezing non stop all morning. It took much application of Benedryl and nasal decongestants to get me in a semi functioning state. But, that unfortunately meant I was in no state to write. Sigh.

Seriously, there was a time there, where I was sneezing non stop for at least 20 minutes, then i spent the next 40 minutes in a state that felt like I was going to sneeze at any second. Highly annoying.

So, I decided to start knitting. Which shockingly I was able to do even doped up.
Woohoo, I have a project on the needles.

I put my previous project down as it will take much more trial and error before it's just right. And frankly, I wanted a completed project right now as opposed to many bits of "trial" laying about.

The current project will be a vest type sweater. And it's my very first "garment" woohoo!



Right now, I'm doing it in a bright green Aryan weight yarn, which is heavier than called for in the pattern, but I'm using my stash as it were. And I made sure that I adjusted my needle size for the correct gauge.

This is the yarn I'm using:


When I'm done with it, I'm going to over dye it with I think a blue. That way it's toned down.

I'm already about 20% done with the project. Woohoo. I am loving it.

Okay.. I'm off to go knit some more since the cat is no longer laying on it.

Final Vamp Colors - VOTE!

Alright.. it's time to vote. You only have till 3/19/09 to vote (gotta turn in my list on the 20th)

Here are the two that are confirmed that I want:
So 8 Lucien


2 Michael Corvin


And here are the ones I haven't decided on. I only get to get 2, doesn't have to be 2 of the same, but just 2 of something. I think I'm in love with Armande and Lestat.. yummy.

Also, there is a bit of a problem arising with the whole dyeing part. So jen and I are working on that to get the bamboo to do what we want it to do when it comes down to it. So, who knows I might end up with something entirely different than any of the ones below.

So here are all the colors I like and that are Vamp club exclusives

From True Blood (Sookie Stackhouse):

Debbie Pelt:





Anne Rice Colorways:

Louis:


Claudia:


Armand:


Lestat:





Underworld Colorways:

Sonja


Viktor


Selene



Twilight Colorways:

The Volturi

The impossible hunt for raw fish...

So yesterday was Mother of Mine's birthday as I had mentioned.

As I also mentioned part of my day was not so bueno. But, as I cut myself off from a lot of things (oddly, I was extra chatty on Ravelry and Facebook) it made it a sort of okay day.

My afternoon was spent suffering through training I did not need. But as everyone needed to officially take it, I was stuck listening to things I had mentioned we as a desk need to work on.

My last break of the day, I call to check on my car. Still no news, but a promise that they will call me back shortly. Yeah, I still have not recieved a callback from them the entire time they have had my car. The only reason I know anything (which amounts to nothing) is because I call them at least once a day. (I didn't call on Sunday because I didn't expect anything really till Monday). So yeah. No news. Bummer.

Then Mom picks me up. We head home. my two packages arrived, one was mom's birthday gift, the other was my Zen. Woohoo! I tried not to be tooooo excited as it was supposed to be mom's day.

We finished watching Army Wives, and then about 4:45 we started to head out for dinner. The plan: Sushi.
So we go to Mobo down the street. They were supposedly open at 4:30 for dinner. Nope, lights are off and nobody is home.
So we head down the street to Jun, I've been there once for my own birthday many years ago when I first moved to Colorado Springs, once again lights are off and nobody is home. But they aren't supposed to open till 5:00. It's about 10 till. But there is absolutely no movement inside at all.
So we head across the street to Tako, which neither of us have been to. Lights are off, nobody is home, it's 5 till 5 and they are supposed to open at 5.

We are both hungry, so we decide to just say screw it and go to Whole Foods. I don't mind cooking and we can get something good.
So, for the price we most likely would have spent on a good meal of Sushi, we got a few meals and dessert.
For dinner, we ended up with Asparagus, steamed Fresh Wild Clams, and sourdough bread. YUM. Of course my clams all were gritty, but thats fine, mom's weren't. And when you have clams, your gonna get some grit. It always happens. Specially when they are wild. We shared an eclair type concoction that mom wanted, and it was good, just not my cup of tea. I'm a Bavarian cream filled eclair type girl as opposed to whip cream filled. But the ganache on top made it alll so yummy. Of course I felt sick as a dog after two bites, but still it was worth it. (Whip cream and I don't get along)

We watched Stargate Continuum. I liked it. I miss Stargate. I miss the humor. I will own it on dvd. Hmm I really do need to start working on my Stargate washcloths again..

Now, as everyone is dying to know, I got mom her first set of Knit Picks interchangeable needles.

Which, are these:


I also got her The Tudors Season 2

Now, I hadn't planned on buying any dvds, as the goal was to buy things that were super useful, and not things that might not work later if she moves to the UK. So dvds and books are no longer my fallback.

But for the price, it was unbeatable. So I had to get it. Not to mention, neither of us have seen season 2. So it's something we can both enjoy for the first time. And I know she'll use it later on.

I also made her a card. Yeah I'm silly that way. I make cards rather than buy them.

For the house, I bought us Bones Season 1, as it was only 14.99$. Which was a STEAL! Sadly, it's not Bones Season 3 like I really really want right now, but I'll survive.

Today, I did not want to get out of bed at all. Which is not uncommon on Wednesdays. So far my back is not yet tweaking but it's not happy my neck is a little stiff and mostly I just want to go back to sleep. I hate DST.

Almost done with Deja Dead, but not quite yet. Didn't get to read yesterday afternoon, nor at work. So I've got about 90 pages left. I'm sure I'll finish it before it's due, which will be nice. I haven't decided what my next book should be. Hmm I guess I should decide that today, so that it will come when I return this one.

Well, I guess it's time for me to get back to work...

Interview with Louis..

For those of you who have read Interview with the Vampire, or hell.. even if you've just watched the movie... You will remember Louis.

In the movie, Louis was played by Brad Pitt.

In both the movie and the book, Louis was a whiney bitch. I can't stand Louis. He's just so emo it makes me want to gag. Now, Lestat.. he's a vamp I can sink my teeth into. yum.

But, Jen over at Fresh from the Cauldron just posted her Louis inspired colorway.

And don't worry, I will repost one blog with ALL the colorways for your viewing and voting pleasure.

I kinda like this one..




He's kinda like a Baroque caramel yummyness.

Selfish book reading

My day started out fine.
Woke up on time without being too groggy (I'm sure the daytime cold med stuff helped)

Wished Mother of Mine a happy birthday before she very kindly drove me to work.

Nope, I still don't have my car. Apparently the mechanic that was working on my car called in sick yesterday. It is never a good idea to throw someone else onto looking at someone's car if someone else has already been working on it. That would be like doing surgery and half way through the surgery switching doctors, and not telling the second doctor what's already been done.

Tonight there is the possibility of Sushi. Which will be nice.

Last night, I spent the evening watching Army Wives (season 1)- which is a show that I'm starting to like and reading my book. It's due in a few days, and so I'm trying to plow through it so that it's not late. I can't renew it unfortunately, and it's not the kind of book I think I could just put down for a few weeks and pick it back up when it comes back to me from the library. So, I've only got about 110 pages left, and if I'm sneaky like I was yesterday, I'll be able to get it finished before it's due.

Wanna know something that annoys me?

Or I should say it annoys me right now...

animated cartoons that show nothing but busty women, and people screaming every 3 seconds. Seizure inducing flashing lights, and fighting every 5 minutes.

What is this you ask?
Anime.

I used to love it. When I was a kid.

I still occasionally watch it, but it is rare. the screaming is what annoys me the most. And every few minutes in an anime, someone is screaming.

There are exceptions to the rule, of course. But even those exceptions aren't exceptions really.

The other night I watched My Neighbor Totoro. One of my favorite movies. No violence, no gravity defying breasts, but... there is of course yelling.

I also have other reasons for not liking anime right now, which I shall not go into.

Lets just say that this morning is no longer a good one. Thank you very much.

The only good thing about right now is apparently I spelled Neighbor correctly, which is a first. Apparently I need to be angry or upset to spell correctly.

There has been no knitting done. And none shall be done until I'm done reading my darn book. I even *gasp* took a library book to bed with me. And you all know how I don't do that ever.

Knitting...

So, the one line note yesterday that I did about my knitting not turning out how I wanted.

Well after letting it percolate all yesterday afternoon and last night and this morning...

I think I have come up with some new ideas I need to try to see if I can get it to work.

I am determined to make this project work. And yeah the first go didn't work out. That is not surprising, it was my very first attempt at free hand knitting. It's also an odd and awkward shape, so the normal rules don't necessarily apply.

This time I'm going to work completely backwards, that might work a bit better.

I do apologize for the very angst driven blog yesterday.. I just had hit the wall. I then proceeded to hit the wall again later in the day.

Last month was a killer month at work. But on the home/personal front, last month was fine. Nothing dramatic happened.

This month it seems that work might be fine, but the personal front is a nightmare.

I spent at least 3 hours untangling yarn last night, and I'm not anywhere close to being done cleaning it. Sigh.

Still no news yet on my car, and it's past noon already.
Can i say I hate Daylight Savings time? It sucks.

I started yesterday working on a non Knitting project.. won't go into details about it as its rather girly, mayhaps I'll post about it once they get finished. I didn't get to do much more than cut out my little templates of the pattern, because I needed to wash the fabric.
So today, I get to iron the fabric and then actually possibly start sewing. I really should just table to project though till I finish cleaning my yarn. I do need to get that shipped off to Jen @ Fresh from the Cauldron sooner rather than later.

gotta say, I cannot wait to see this yarn dyed. It feels sooooo wonderful. I can't wait to start working with it.

I guess I don't really have anything else to ramble about right now.. So I guess I'll end it here.

Very annoyed.

So.. Yesterday.. not such a good day.
Got off of work.
went to Colorado Mill Outlet to pick up the remaining button I need to finish Guy's gator. Bought a few other buttons for a future project.

Got in my car and drove to Target. I needed to find something else for my mom's birthday. Just in case the main thing didn't arrive on time.
Well I found it. Yay. She'll like it.
Also, I find out Target, carries Milky Way Midnights. Which is one of my FAVE candies. And I hadn't been able to find them in a year at the very least. So of course I grab a few bags. I also found a sheet set on sale that was a pretty color and was nice feeling.
As I was starving, I grabbed many other things I shouldn't have. But I figure it was okay to splurge.
I go out to my car.
I put the key in the ignition.
I turn the key.
The key turns with no resistance.
But nothing happens
...
i take the key out and try again
This time, I get the battery to engage.
But nothing else.
Funny thing is, the key will still turn, and I can take the key out, but the battery doesn't shut off.
Shit.

I try to keep myself from panicking. I realize my car book is at home. As I had been planning on doing my taxes, and that has all my info in it. (for the car)
Which means I don't have the number for the Firestone down the street. Sigh.
So I call my mom. I can tell I'm starting to panic, but I try not to.
She grabs the book and starts heading down the street.
I go back into Target and return all the candy I don't need, and the sheet set I don't need. In my panicking mind.. I will need every penny. I did not however return the Milky Way Midnights. chocolates have endorphins, and i'm gonna need them.

Right as I'm walking out, mom drives up. we look at my car, and we start unscrewing the battery connectors so that my battery doesn't die. Thankfully, we did not electrocute ourselves. Though, right as I was disconnecting it for some reason my wiper blades went off. Scared the piss out of me as I was not expecting it.

We drive literally the 10th of a mile down the road to the Firestone, these guys are the ones who have been working on my car so I trust them. And they are the closest place. I describe the problem, they think they can fix it, and I get the info for the tower they work with.
We go back to the Target, mom and I go inside, i show her the sheets I was going to get, and a discuss a few things. A few minutes later we walk back outside and the tow truck shows up.
We head back to the Firestone, start the whole process. I knew they wouldn't get to my car last night. Which was fine. It's the weekend and I had no plans that required my car.

I distract myself the rest of the night with tv and knitting.

Today, it's also been tv and knitting.
I just got the call.
The Tumbler is fine.
The ignition switch is fine.

so it's neither of the two problems we were hoping for.
They are going to have to remove my entire steering column and find out whats going on.

I'm most likely not going to get my car back till monday. Which means, I'll also need to get a ride from my mother, and this is going to cost me at least 300$ And thats really not knowing what parts are going to be needed. Yup, I have a feeling most of my tax return is going to go bye bye.

Ironically, I'm blaming this on Daniel. As the day after he filed his taxes, his car also died. I was planning on filing my taxes yesterday, and my car died. He jinxed me.

Oh.. I completely forgot to talk about the rest of friday night.. yeah..
So mom told me I had gotten a package.
my yarn finally arrived... yay right? no.

it was in a clear bag of "because we care" from the post office. Shit.
the original bag, was so torn up that you could see my precious yarn.
I carefully remove my yarn....
the cone it's self is crushed, and there is a bunch of grease/gunk on a section the yarn.
I'm not happy.

While I typed up an email to the company, mom quickly hand washed a section of the gunked yarn to see if it was salvageable. I actually need to go check it now. If I can't salvage the yarn, the company is going to get some holy hell from me. And nothing.. nothing is worse than a bad review. Cause guess what.. I know a lot of people who want to buy undyed yarn. And they listen to me.

Either way the company is going to get an email with photos of the damage saying "you might want to change your packaging in the future because this is not acceptable."
If it's salvageable, I'll clean it, skein it for transport and send it off to Jen for dying.
If it's not salvageable, I'm going to cry.

This has been a crappy weekend. And March was supposed to be a good month. People wonder why I'm not a "happy" person. Well why the fuck should I be happy when every time I try to have a positive outlook or be happy, the world shits on me.
I can't take a fucking step forward without being kicked seven steps back. I'm sick of it.

And I finished my little knitting pattern this morning.
I'm not happy with it.
So, I get to figure out how I can change it so I am happy with it. This pattern is not going to get published for a long time methinks.

Frankly.. the world can fuck off right now.

This, is an image of the damage on my yarn:


Oh, and I am very annoyed with Blogger and Gmail. Both of the fucking applications can kiss my ass and I can't wait to have my own damn server so I don't have to deal with crappy applications such as these.

Slippery Slopes and Torchwood Babiez

So other than posting the new colorway.. wait.. did I do that yesterday, or was it the day before???

Either way, yesterday was not a day for much of anything. As soon as I walked into work, I got hit with one of my migraines. Ugh. Joy.

Thankfully I was able to keep it mostly at bay, and then by the time I went home it was gone. I am glad I didn't let my boss convince me to go home.

I did not do a lick of knitting yesterday, nor writing, nor reading, nor much of anything.

Well thats not true.. yesterday while at work, I started typing up the "chatty" bit of a pattern I'm creating. Meaning the backstory of why it has come about.
And I read a few pages in Another Life (Torchwood) before going to sleep. But otherwise.. not much was done.

Finished watching Hamish MacBeth season 2, I like that show. This season bugged me a bit on a few things, but it ended well enough. and egads.. Robert Carlyle was so young!

Today was one of those days starting off...
wide awake when my alarm first went off. Then immediately realized that i could not wait 30 minutes before using the ladies. Sigh. Out of bed. Back in bed. Quite literally i started to be the most comfortable, the perfect temperature, and in "mmm sleeeeeeep" mode, literally minutes before my alarm was to go off again. Sigh. Thats just bloody not fair!
Getting ready for the day, I had an odd combination of Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody - the "nothing really matters" part) mixed with one of the Wicked songs. Now that I am typing this out, i cannot recall which song. But it was a very weird and perfect combination. lol.

I sit here at work, a touch of a headache starting. I think I've tweaked my neck which is causing this... but so far it's at bay.
And I've only got 4 hours left in my work day right now, with not much to do.

I've got one or two errands to run when I get off work but then I'll be home.. chilling, and hopefully knitting. I want to get the pattern worked out, so that I can have someone test it. I have to admit that I'm going to be very proud of myself if this works out, because it will be a pattern that I have fully created. I'm not going off of someones instructions, I'm not going off of anything I already know. I'm doing it myself, with only the occasional question to Mother of Mine on how to do a stitch that is necessary that I've never done.
That point might put me to a stopping point, due to needing "the perfect yarn" to actually do the project. Right now it's just being done in my "stitch practicing" yarn. I unfortunately doubt I'll find the perfect color in a non wool yarn, therefore I will either have to have someone dye it for me.. or I'll just have to dye it myself. I have a feeling I'll have to dye it myself to get it exactly the way i want it. Which means possibly tabling the project till I move to the UK, because as I've decided, I'm not going to learn how to dye or start a new hobby while here in the US. But, I don't know.. mayhaps a 1 time breaking of the rule?


No.. i prolly shouldn't do that. It's a slippery slope, because I'm already thinking about two projects I want to do in a solid color yarn that I will most likely have to dye myself. (that would be one batch of dye for 2 projects because I want them both in that color....)

See the slippery slope??

Now on to some fun stuff... I've been meaning to share it previously.. but kept forgetting..

Torchwood Babiez

And yes, i have decided that when I spawn.. and the spawn is still too young to be in anything more than a "bundle" type costume.. I shall have my spawn be a Ianto babiez. I think he's absolutely adorkable. I love it.

My other fave is of course the Doctor Babiez. the slipper.. the glasses.. the absolutely adorableness of it all... i could die from the cuteness.

New Color will be added to the poll

Actually, the poll will be coming down. As I actually like the new color that Jen has done.

It's called Debbie Pelt. Now, for those of you who have not read Sookie Stackhouse, Debbie Pelt is one vile bitch.

But as far as her color goes.. I rather like her.

So yeah, the poll will be coming down until I see the three remaining colors that will be coming out. Then I will put the poll back up with all of the options for your voting pleasure.

Perspective and Doctor Who socks...

So, I am blogging at work out of sheer boredom. So please forgive any typos.

Lets run a few things down.
Last month, was hell at work.

Friday.. the last work day of the month, was a "meh" one for me. I got spoken to about some negative feedbacks that I had gotten. That always puts me in an ancy mood. For the record, 1 of them was COMPLETELY bogus. the lady must have been smoking crack, because I know I didn't do any of the things she said I did. And considering the next ticket she had under her name, she was helped by someone at *cough* another help desk that will remain nameless... it would not surprise me if she simply mixed up who helped her on which ticket. I know I didn't do what she said I did because 1) if I connect with her computer at all, I freaking put our entire ticket template in the ticket. if I simply give her instructions on how to fix it, I don't. Guess what, there was no template. i did not connect with her computer, therefore I could not have put her on hold for 10 minutes while connected to her machine. 2)I dont' put people on hold. I detest hold music, so the only time someone gets put on hold with me is when I'm calling the other help desks per process. This, was not the case for her situation.
The lady was smokin' something. (and yes, I'm trying to keep things mostly vague so that I don't get in trouble)
Another one of the tickets was also mostly bogus.
But still, here I was freaking out about 4 negative feedbacks.

The weekend rolls about, and Sunday as you all know was the Vamp Club sign up. Which I made it by the by. I was the second person to sign up, but I think the 1st person and I signed up at the same time, she jsut got in a second faster. No biggie, I'm in. Thats all that matters.

Monday, I'm still in a Vampy club high.. I drive into work determined that it is going to be a good day, and that it is going to be a good Month.

I start working... my boss comes over and tells me that they had to layoff 4 people. This did not surprise me. And the choices did not surprise me. I just wish there had been one more specific name on the list. But alas it wasn't.

Now, with Friday still fresh in my mind, I start panicking even more.

About an hour later, I start doing my Month totals.

Now again, I'm not going to go into too much detail.
847. Thats the amount of 1st call attempt tickets I did.
then throw in about 200 other inbound calls/ and or 2nd call attempt tickets.

yup, I did approx 1000 tickets the month of Feb. Holy crap. No wonder I was stressed.

Lets put this in perspective, our entire desk, did just over 4000 tickets for the month.

We had anywhere between 9-15 people each day depending on need.

I did a fucking quarter of the entire months work??????

Once I found that out... yeah.. I felt better. I feel slightly safe.

Moving along.
The past 2 days though have been completely slow and boring. The complete opposite of Feb, so sigh. It makes the desire to work even less.
This morning, I created an entire TARDIS sock chart in MS Excel.
I was frustrated, because after searching for a good TARDIS image, and then turning it into a sketch format, and then having to basically redraw the entire thing... Knitpro still didn't give me a chart I liked. And seriously.. all that photo editing was done in crappy MS paint of all things.

But, I now have a good chart from Excel.. I'm waiting on a little bit of info from a girl who's socks I based the pattern off of, and then I might start knitting them up. Who knows. Either way, when I do finally start knitting socks, I have a pattern to try and the BBC can't yell at me since I did not purchase, nor am I selling the pattern or the final product I shall create.

But now that I have finished that little project, I am insufferably bored.

I could leave early, but I don't want to. I like leaving early on Fridays.

I guess I should go back to work now.

Later people.

Much rambling...

So I've been meaning to blog for a little while now, but I have been distracted by a few things. Mostly work.
February was a very LONG month. Which is ironic since it is the shortest month of the year. January was busy, but it flew by. Feb was just miserable. I'm hoping March will be better. So far it is off to a good start. Pan actually LET me sleep in until 6. (My paranoia only needing to go so far as to slide his litter box contraption right against my bedroom door so as to prevent him... complaining in a physical way. (I say liter box contraption because what I've done, is taken a large moving box, cut it up, taped it back together and made a little outer box for his box. That way it's small attempt to have him not track litter all over my floor. I lost the battle on where his litter box was to be placed, but so far I'm wining the battle of the track. It also makes it easier if I need to slide the box side to side at all, as it just glides on the carpet easier than the plastic box it's self.)
6am came about, and I hop out of bed. Normally I would try to stay in bed till 7, but today has a mission.
Today is Vamp club sign up.
Yup, those previous posts about yarn colors etc, today is my chance to join up. The reason for the 6 am start time of me stalking my computer, is because poor overwhelmed Jen from Fresh From the Cauldron has decided for her sanity's sake to limit the club to 50 members. There are about over 40 confirmed people who want to be in the group, and about 10 or so lurkers who haven't made up their mind.
The club was supposed to go live last night at Midnight, but Jen's kids had softball so she pushed the start time back because she knew she wouldn't be up at midnight.

I do not blame her for wanting to save her sanity.
As I said, so far the month is starting off well. I was decadent and had a slice of home made apple pie for brekkie, and I am snuggled under a blanket on the couch currently watching "One Way Out" great show. The bloke on it is a crazy escapologist. But he isn't all "oooh it's magic" like Criss Angel. He's a english bloke in jeans, that has an engineer who creates crazy shit for him, and a friend with a camera that doesn't mind putting him in dangerous situations. I just watched him locked up in chains, 30 feet above the ground, with only mattresses to catch his fall if he didn't escape the chains and grab the "duct tape descent" contraption his engineer contrived for him. He did it by the way. It was close. Like last second close. But he did it. He glided down safely in a stream of duct tape. Now it's time to watch Top Gear. Love that show.

I do hope that March continues this well.

Yesterday was quite a productive day, and I was away from the computer for most all of it.
I got my bathroom cleaned up. (They are FINALLY coming to fix my sink, so I had to clean my bathroom so that they can get under the cabinet)
I got a ton of my bedroom cleaned up, and I even moved the mini dresser into my bedroom. Holy crap!
It still doesn't have it's drawers in it, but that will hopefully change tonight.
Once I secure or loose my spot in the vamp club, I plan on working on my closet as we convinced the management company to bring a ladder to change the light bulb in my closet. But since I haven't been able to have any light in my closet for like 3 months now, everything is kinda piled on the floor. Must move that so he can get the ladder in.
Got the floor mostly vacuumed and just lots of little things done in the upstairs region.
I also finished reading Castle in the Air by Diana Wynn Jones (I'll review later in this blog)
But the reason I was able to get most of that getting accomplished, was because I was *cough* umm... coping a few audio books to download onto my Zen replacement that I'll be getting in a week or so. - Speaking of, that was a funny story. And I don't recall if I already spoke of it, so screw it, I'm going to talk about it. The other day, I got an email from Overstock saying "We are sorry to hear about your Emmerson 4 head VCR (refurb) no longer working, and we will be refunding you your money, you have the choice either of having it refunded to your credit card, or store credit. If you choose store credit, you'll get an additional 10% increase refund."

Me: What The Hell?

Did you catch the mistake? Yeahhhhhhhhh my Creative Zen V is not a VCR, nor has it ever been.
So I emailed them back stating (mayhaps a bit shortly... mostly I just underlined a few key points, which can be construed as short, but I wanted to make sure that they got the point of my response) I would be happy for the refund back to my credit card for my _Creative Zen MP3_ player as long as I am refunded for the _right_ amount.
I told them they could call me or email me, and that night I got a phone call (mind you, i got the call at 8:20pm - which what freaking help desk ever calls that late?!)
The girl I spoke with apologized profusely for the email error of her coworker. And that it is of course the Create Zen V MP3 player that they will refund. As I had forgotten that my credit card had expired and been replaced since I had ordered my Creative originally, I just had to give them the new information, and in a few days I'll have my refund. Woohoo. The girl on the phone was very sweet and helpful. So other than the email snafu, the whole experience has been not too horrible.
I decided not to go the store credit route, because 1) Overstock didn't have any Creatives other than a few Refurbed Zen V Plus, which was exactly what I was returning.
Right now, I can get the new Creative Zen for 99.00$ from Creative 4gb. Which is a much better deal, as the Zen now has removable memory. yup, so I can pay 99$ and then later spend 30$ and buy a 16gb memory card or whatever. It no longer limits me to what I have on my mp3 player. I can have many cards and just interchange them. Ironically, Guy had just decided to buy the Zen as well because his grandmother gave him some "You better spend this on something frivolous- absolutely NO bills" money.

Great minds think alike as we were going to buy the same one. Woohoo.
As my refund from Overstock will be 109.99$, it means that I will also buy the 2 year protection plan from Creative, and end up spending a total of like 4$. How sweet is that? Totally upgraded and spent less than 10$ (Though, I'm going to actually buy a case for this one, as I don't want any scratches this time! But i'm not counting that as part of my upgrade, because well it's an accessory that I had planned on buying the last time and never got around to it.)
I shall also be knitting my new Zen a little cozy, but I haven't decided what I want to knit for it, or if I want to try my first Doctor Who kitting project. No one has a pattern out there for the Zen yet, cause apparently people are only obsessed about ipods. Which, considering how often those break, and are expensive to repair, I can understand their paranoia.

But this shall be my new baby:



This of course was my old one (only in the colors of Black/Blue)



The Zen is going to be the size of a credit card. Which will be neat. The V was about the size of an Ipod nano? possibly. I don't know since I avoid those at all possible.

Can you tell I'm excited? I can't wait. I'm holding off on actually buying the new one until the refund shows up, because I just know my luck too much. I'd get screwed somehow.
Okay, I'm done talking about my new future mp3 player.

Haven't done much knitting this week. I did a little. Printed off a lot of patterns for the future, and even came up with the idea for another Kushiel inspired sweater. Yup, I'm now up to 3 possible future sweaters.
But this week I was working on a swatch of Long Spirals. It's kind of neat. I haven't decided which side I like more, the write side or the wrong side. As usual I like to work in texture as opposed to color.

Awwww crap. I had a really good idea for something, but now I can't recall what it was. I think it was a sock. Hmm must ponder it and sketch it if it comes back to me.
I will of course post photos when the swatch is done.

Bookwise:
Finished Castle in the Air like I said. It was good, I did not enjoy it as much as Howl's Moving Castle, but I did enjoy it a lot. It relied heavily on The Arabian Nights. Howl, Sophie, and Calcifer made a cameo appearances, but you didn't 'see' them until the last quarter of the book. Howl was vain and cranky as ever. Still love that Welsh wizard.

Bed book: Torchwood "Another Life" - I am enjoying it thus far, but I have discovered a problem with reading books of Torchwood... what is that? Well, there are often welsh words interspersed in it. And when you are only reading the book prior to shutting of your light and going to sleep, it makes for much confusion. lol
And i just now realized that I was reading two books dealing with Wales at the same time. Granted Castle in the Air, it was only a casual mention of "Howl isn't from this world. He's from a place called Wales" but still.. it amuses me.

Purse Book: Still plunking along on Peshawar Lancers- meaning I haven't touched the book in prolly 2 weeks lol. Someday, I will switch the book to being a couch book, or hell, it will be a book I read on the plane moving to the UK. There is a very distinct possibility that will happen.

New Couch book: Yup, the new one shall be Kathy Reichs's "Déjà Dead" which is the first book of the Bones books, yup I'm finally reading the novels that inspired Bones. I know without a doubt that they are going to be highly different, but I still want to give them a go. And I know that the first one is the most painful to get through. And yes, it is quite a far cry from the books I have normally been reading for the last nearly 2 years, but I gotta say.. change is refreshing. Like reading the Bryant and May book "Full Dark House" it was just refreshing.

Oooooh I see Jen has just popped online. Woohoo. That means club any moment now hopefully!