Knitting and Novels (and snow--so go buy bread & milk)

I swear, this week is going by super slow and I'm beginning to think it may never end. Oh well.....

In knitting updates, I finally finished the hat I was making for my sister. It's very cute sort of fuchsia/hot pink with a purple stripe done in Cascade 220. I hope it fits her. I tried it on, and it fit me (and my huge head) but it was tighter than my hat, so we'll see.

I'm still not done with my Magic Scarf. I'm nearly through 2 balls of Artisan's Shakespeare yarn (with one more to go), but I've gotten bored with it, so who knows when it will get done. I do think, however, that I will give it to my sister along with her hat since the colors work out so well. I didn't plan it that way, but no one needs to know that. Plus, I have the feeling that by the time this scarf is done, I'm going to hate it way too much to wear so someone should get some enjoyment out of it.

I have also frogged, wound, and restarted my Harry Potter like scarf that was the beginning off all this craziness. This time I'm using my size 8 16" circs so that I can get that "purty" stockinette stitch and not have to purl. It's going okay, I've gotten one repeat done and am about 1/3 of the way through another. It would go faster, I think, if I could just stop falling asleep while I'm working on it. Something about that dang scarf just makes me sleepy!

I do have my next project picked out, however (and I may have found a use for my Noro). I've been thinking that I'd like to learn to do entrelac, and there is a really nice pattern on knitty for an entrelac scarf (Danica) and I'm on the waiting list for the book Scarf Styles from the library which has a pattern in it called "Lady Eleanor" which is a entrelac stole type thing. I love the way this looks, and Noro is supposed to be just wonderful for entrelac type things, so perhaps the Noro has found a home.

Speaking of the library, I got in some holds yesterday that I just love (so far). They are both books by Debbie Macomber (who I love as an author) and they involve a lady who has just opened a knitting shop! Knitting and novels all in one go, who knew!? So far I'm about 1/3 the way done with The Shop on Blossom Street. I started it last night and I couldn't put it down. I've also go A Good Yarn (the best name for a knitting shop EVER, BTW) so that I won't miss a beat when I'm done with book 1. I have a feeling that actually knitting is going to take a backseat to reading about people knitting until I get these two books done (unless, of course I can find a way to read and knit at the same time, but this is doubtful since I still have issues knitting and watching TV at the same time).

Normally I'd be looking forward to my Thursday night knitting extravaganza by now, but this week isn't quite so exciting. (Warning, Rant ahead) Ugly Betty is new, but Supernatural is being preempted for a basketball game!! And it's not even a UK basketball game (that would upset me, but I could deal)! NO, we decided to show EKU vs Morehead St. instead of Supernatural. While I appreciate that EKU and Morehead are wonderful schools and they deserve to be on TV just as much as any other program, why on Thursday night? And why, when we have two channels that show the exact same thing at all times (the old UPN Ch 5 and the old WB Ch 17) do we need to show the game ON BOTH OF THEM? Couldn't we show the game on one and Supernatural on the other? I will get to see Supernatural eventually, but they aren't showing it until midnight. After the game, at 10pm, we are showing Oprah!! and then we start Smallville at 11 and Supernatural at 12. Why in the world do we need to show a rerun of Oprah? Can't we start Smallville at 10 so that I won't have to stay up until 1 to fill my Supernatural quota for the week? Oh well. Rant over.

Also, it is supposed to snow 1-4 inches tomorrow which means the world will end, so I guess this won't really be an issue. We all need to rush out and buy bread and milk so that we won't starve (because everyone knows that you can't live through a snow storm without bread and milk) and prepare for the end. At least we can all be happy with our bread and milk. Perhaps we should buy some eggs too and make french toast since that is pretty much all I can think to do with just bread and milk (and eggs). I hope you survive...

It's finally Friday

After the longest week in the history of the world (perhaps due to the fact that a good portion of my lab is only semi-speaking to me) (because that is mature and professional) it is finally Friday. Thank God!!

But, since today is Friday, that means yesterday was Thursday which means Ugly Betty!!! and Supernatural!!! and (I'm ashamed to admit this) Nashville Star. I haven't actually seen Ugly Betty yet since Jenny and went and watched the UK women lose in 2 OTs last night, but it's on the DVR and is on the slate for this weekend. I also missed the first 45 min of Supernatural (because of the 2OTs), and the DVR hates me again (I think it gets mad when it has to record Betty and SPN back to back) but I was smart this time and left the TV on channel 5 so that when I came in, it had been showing Supernatural the whole time and I could record it backwards. Me and the DVR are going to have to have some words about this.

I did get to see all of Supernatural, though, so that is good since it was one of the best episodes of the year. Really. It felt like I was watching an action movie because it was just go, go, go the whole hour. It was perhaps not the scariest episode the action and the humor more than made up for any lack of scare. And besides, who can not love hearing the word "mandroid" about fifteen times in an hour?

Nashville Star is my other (and newest) Thursday night obsession. It's the country version of American Idol, except that these guys are singer/songwriter/musicians instead of wannabe pop stars. I got sucked in on accident. The guys on the radio were talking about the show one morning, and so when Supernatural was over, I decided to just flip over and see what it was all about. I got hooked, and now I hate to miss it. Oh well. Right now my favorite is Angela Hacker with a close second being David St. Romain. It's a guilty pleasure, I know, but it's fun.

Arrested.....

So here's a fun trick, go to Google, type in "(your first name) was arrested for" and see what comes up. Here's a sampling of mine:

1.) Kim was arrested for allegedly entering the victim's backyard, shooting him once in the head with a handgun and fleeing.

2.) Kim was arrested for burglary at George Fox College by Newberg Police May 13 on a search warrant that found more than 1,000 items including large quantities of women's underwear.

3.) At the tender age of fifteen, young Kim was arrested for the first time, after the Chinese discovered that [s]he had helped to found a communist youth league.

4.) Kim was arrested for kitten juggling. (I have no idea what kitten juggling is, but it sounds like a fun thing to be arrested for.)

Updates....work fun.....

So, the "issues" at work are...well...they aren't over, I'm sure of that, and I can't say they are resolved because that would mean we came to some sort of conclusion, but they are done for now, I guess. We had lab meeting today and Dr. Hall basically told everyone I'm the boss when it comes to making sure everyone follows the rules and they needed to listen to me. Then we came to the fun part of the day in which L. & Y. got to air their grievances with me in front of the rest of the lab. Shall we list them? It will be fun....

1.) I am unprofessional because I got upset (although apparently getting upset and not speaking to someone for two months is not unprofessional).

2.) I can't manage people because I don't know how to handle confrontation.

3.) I yell when I get angry.

4.) I have a problem with L. so that has clouded my judgement in all things related to L.

And my personal favorite....

5.) I am a dictator who spends all my free time sitting around thinking up ways to "persecute" the graduate students.

Who are they kidding, I spend all my free time either at church (thanks Kyle) or knitting or shopping for Yarn so I can knit. I don't have time to think up ways to "persecute" them, although that might be fun.....

Oh well, my boss is on my side, and I'm sure the rest will fall into place.

Speaking of knitting, I have the yarn and I have the head measurement, so I'm all ready to start Jenny's hat tomorrow just before tip off so that I can knit away all during the game. I'm not taking any chances this time, and if this works, I may have to see if knitting needles are on the list of banned items at Rupp.....guns, knives, brass knuckles, professional cameras or cameras with telephoto lenses, and knitting needles....

1987

1987 was the year I started school. I was 4 years old at the time (my birthday was two weeks before the cut off date, but seeing as how my two goals in life were to learn to read and to ride a school bus, mom didn't think she should make me wait another whole year before I got to go) (and yes, I accomplished everything I ever wanted to do in life by the time I was 6 years old). I thought that I had left kindergarten behind a long time ago, but apparently I was wrong.

A little background first. I am the youngest person in my department by about 6 months and the youngest person in my lab by about 4 years. I work with 4 graduate students (2 from China, 1 from Gambia, 1 from Jordan), 1 post doc (Stephanie), and 3 PhDs. I am also the only person in my lab who does not have a PhD and is not working towards one. Now for the drama...

Back in December, one of the students, we shall call them Y., go into a fight with Stephanie over the two carts we keep in the lab. Y. was using both carts at the same time, Stephanie needed one, and there was some arguing and maybe some yelling. We started signing out the carts, and I thought all was well. I found out on Friday, however, that Y. was still not talking to Steph because of the whole cart incident. Y. is also only speaking to me on a need-to-know basis because (I guess) Y. feels like I took Steph's side in the Great Cart Scandal.

If this wasn't juvenile enough, there was more fun on Friday. About two weeks ago I sent out an email detailing some new procedures we needed to be following when we do surgery. I had gone over all the information in Lab Meeting, but I felt like a written explanation might help to make things clear. On Friday, I was assisting another student (we'll call them L.) with surgery when it became clear that L. had no idea what needed to be done. When I questioned L. about some of the things I had explained in the email, L. admitted to me "I didn't read the email because I didn't think it was important." Now this made me mad. I don't send out many emails, and when I do, they are usually about things that everyone needs to know. Since it was obvious that I couldn't depend on people reading my emails, I decided that the best way to make sure everyone was on the same page was to have a mandatory information session where we went over everything that needed to be going on. I discussed this with LabManager who thought it was a great idea, and then sent out an email telling the date and time.

Now, I will admit that I was still a bit mad (and maybe a bit menstrual--I'm just saying) when I sent the email. And I admit that there were some all caps, bolded, underlined sections, but since they didn't seem to read my emails all that often, I figured I needed to make it very clear what portions I expected them to read. This didn't go over to well. L. and Y. both got very upset and were going to to talk to BigBoss and do....well, I don't know--get me in trouble, get me fired, get me a raise (well, maybe not that last one). Luckily, LabManager headed them off, talked to them, and told them they needed to calm down or leave. LabManager then went and talked to BigBoss before he came and told me what had gone on. Then I had to go talk to BigBoss just to make sure that he understood my side of the story (which he did) and he assured me he was behind me 110% and that he would make sure that everyone understood that I was in charge of anything to do with animals and/or DLAR.

So, as of Friday afternoon here is where I stand with my lab: BigBoss & LabManager are on my side along with Steph & Jeff while L., & Y. are so mad at me that they are no longer talking to me and Y. has made sure that about half of the other students in the department aren't speaking to me either. No one knows what the other two students (A. and X.) think about all this since they haven't been seen or heard from since Tuesday.

Now, LabManager's excuse for L. & Y.'s behavior was that they are just young and aren't mature enough yet, at which point I had to remind him that I am 3-4 years younger that both L. & Y. and I don't act like that. It's bad enough that L. & Y. got all bent out of shape over an email that was sent to the entire lab (not just them), but Y. holding a grudge over the whole Cart Episode for two months is just ridiculous. She needs to just let it go. Oh well, we'll see what happens on Monday.

In other news, we are expecting some kind of big winter storm to hit tonight/tomorrow (which will hit this time since my friend Nathan is leaving tomorrow to move to Pennsylvania) so of course today I had to go stock up on the essentials (milk and yarn). So yes, I made my third trip to the Yarn Store since last Saturday. I needed to get another skein of yarn to finish up my Aunt Purl's Magic Scarf and I wanted to get some move yarn to make another hat using up some of the purple yarn I had left over. While I was there, however, I just had to go take another look at the Noro Yarns that I wanted so badly the last time I was in (umm.....Wednesday, yeah, I have a problem). Low and behold, they had restocked, and now they had a ton of new color choices!! I immediately gravitated to Noro's Kureyon color 90 and I just couldn't let it go. It was so pretty. It wanted to come live with me so badly. So I bought 4 skeins even though I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. I may need to take a second job to support my yarn habit.

The Noro yarn color that just had to come live with me. I am now the proud owner of 4 skeins of this stuff.

Oh yeah, and just in case anyone was wondering, I LOVED this week's Supernatural. It was totally awesome with just the right balance of creep factor, brotherly love/hate, and humor. You've got to love a show that makes fun of itself. Come to think of it, that's why I love Ugly Betty as well--and let me just say that the last five minutes of Betty totally caught me by surprise. Perhaps Faye is really dead after all.

Southern-ese...and Yarn!

So I was having a discussion yesterday with Zel about certain things that we say here in Kentucky (which is part of the south as far as I can tell, although not the deep south) that don't make a lot of sense to people from other places (you Yanks and also foreigners).

The first one that came up was the phrase big ol' as in "Did you see that big ol' box over there?" or "That was one big ol' mess you got yourself into."

Then there was y'all which we take a lot of flack for, but really, every other language that I know of (read: Spanish, French, Italian) have a perfectly acceptable way of saying y'all. Why is it that we get such a hard time for this one? Really. Without y'all you wouldn't have the world's most redneck water tower ever which proclaims "Welcome to Florence Y'all."

And then we got to our favorite phrase (and one that I use a lot) which was bless his/her/their heart. This is really just a way for us here in the south to say something mean about someone without it sounding mean because bless his heart is never followed by (or preceded by) anything nice. "Bless his heart, he's not the brightest crayon in the box" or "Bless her heart, she has a great personality" or "He has a rather unfortunate nose, bless his heart." Really. This is just our way of trying not to sound mean when we are being mean. I guess it's a southern thing.

Another one, which is very common here in Kentucky (I have no idea about anywhere else) is the phrase I don't care to. Apparently in the rest of the world, this means "Hell no, I don't want to do that" but here, it means "I don't mind doing that at all." (Go figure, we're backwards.) For example, if someone asked you if you would mind watching their turtle over the holiday you would answer "I don't care to do that at all" if you were willing to do what they were asking. This is very confusing to people who don't know the system, since they tend to think you are being rude and very un-Southern by refusing to do something nice when you are asked. So, FYI, if you are in Kentucky and someone says to you "I don't care to" just smile and say thank you.

Moving on.....

I went back to Stitch Niche yesterday to buy MORE YARN! Yes, I can see that this is going to be a very expensive habit for me. But I decided that I wanted to try out Crazy Aunt Purl's Magic Scarf since as she says:

The basket weave/checkerboard scarf is probably my all-time favorite because it's easy and it looks great and I was so sure I was making crazy advanced knitting strides -- although, really, it's just knit and purl. It's so easy! Even though it looks complex! (I totally lied and told non-knitting friends this pattern was VERY complex and DIFFICULT knitting.

And since her patterns are written in a language I can understand, I thought I'd give it a shot. So, of course, this mean another trip to the LYS (since I may never be able to buy cheap yarn at Michael's or Joanne's ever again). I found wonderful multicolored 100% wool (I've also turned into a fiber snob) that is really soft and wasn't too expensive (only $12.00 for 150yds) to try out. I still can't figure out exactly how I want to work this up, but it should look pretty when I get it done. I may also go back and try to finish (read: frog and restart) my blue/white scarf that was my whole reason for getting into knitting in the first place since I was going to knit it flat and seam it up, but I liked knitting in the round so much that I think it would go faster if I just scraped the whole thing and started over. (Also, it's a little wide, so I think I'd like to make it thinner, and make it in Stockinette instead of garter, since when I started I had no idea about any of that.)

A side effect of my trip to the Yarn store was that I now what some Noro yarn (despite the fact that it is slightly expensive). I have no idea what I want to do with said yarn, but I want it. I must have it. I'm trying very hard to keep from going back to the yarn store today and buying some. I really don't need to, but I really want to. Oh well.

And...exciting...tonight we get all new episodes of both Ugly Betty and Supernatural which makes me happy. The previews for Supernatural looked very good (something about creepy dolls) and last week Ugly Betty ended with Amanda beating the crap out of Sophia in the elevator (which is always good TV) so I can't wait to see what happens this week. And, I plan on being home all evening so that I don't have to rely on the evil DVR to record things (which it doesn't do if it doesn't want to apparently) and I can work on my Magic Scarf. What fun!! Knitting and good TV. I love multi-tasking.

Oh, and I can't say much about my meeting at church last night except for Hallelujah!!

And, just in case anyone was wondering, there have been no Scopeman sightings yet, and no further email communications. Oh well. He will have to show up at some point.

And (last one I promise) Hi Jenny! Since you are (as far as I can tell) the only person that reads this. Isn't it sad that we live about 500 ft away from each other but I only get to see you about once a week?

Lights and Trains...oh yeah, and Hats

So I have a meeting tonight of the dreaded PNC (or Search Committee). I think, perhaps, just maybe I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Or it's a train. Either way, at least there is some hope that we will be done sometime this decade. (We'll be done by Christmas, Woody? Christmas 2020?) Until then, however, I will continue to post this picture of Kyle every time I mention this darned committee (because this is all his fault, you know) (and he could have avoided this if he had helped me move, but HE chose to be busy that day....so you know....)

In other wonderful and exciting news, I finally finished my hat (Crazy Aunt Purl's Easy Roll Brim Hat) last night while the Cats were stomping South Carolina. (If they are going to play like that, I will knit up a hat every time they play.) It's very cute, I promise, but seeing as how I don't have a digital camera, I can't show you all. I guess you'll just have to come see it in person. And to think it only took me three tries, two froggings, and one week to get it all finished. I might just get the hang of this knitting thing yet. If the flood doesn't come and swallow me up.

It finally stopped raining after about five days of nothing but gray skies and drizzle, and I thought I was in the clear. But NO! Today it was clear and sunny (if darned cold) outside, but we had a freaking FLOOD inside. One of the post docs from another lab was using our water system to fill up a big 10L carboy (which is normal). She put the carboy under the spigot, turned it on, and left. I didn't pay much attention to what was going on until the cleaning lady asked if I needed a mop. I was confused until I turned around and saw that the post doc had forgotten to close the spout on her container so all the water she was putting into the jug was flowing out again at the bottom. By the time anyone noticed, there was a large pond forming on the floor. Cleaning it up was not fun and involved a mop, some towels, and lots of complaining. I love my job. I do. I swear.

Supernatural, Yarn Heaven, and a Religious Experience

I went to my LYS (Local Yarn Store...see I'm a totally hip yarnster) for the first time this Saturday. I had been waiting to go because I had a feeling that once I went, I would be ruined forever, but I felt like I had spent enough time practicing on cheap yarn from Michael's and Joanne's that I could move up to the good stuff. Let me just say WOW. I was in awe, or maybe shock, or perhaps shock and awe. I have never seen that much yarn in my entire life. There was yarn of every color, texture, weight, fiber, and price (who knew that you could pay $35.00 for one skein of yarn?). I shall never be the same again. This store also sold Cross Stitch supplies (which is my first crafty love) so I was doubly in heaven. I meant to ask for a schedule of their classes, but I forgot. Next time I will have to since I would love to take a class there. Not that I mind the solitary teach yourself to knit from a book and some websites way of things, but sometimes you need someone to explain things to you in person.

I did get some lovely wool yarn in purple and this wonderful variegated purple/green to make my first hat (as well as some 16" size 8 circs) which I did knit up this weekend, and then frogged because it was too short. I started on it again yesterday, got about 3/4 of the way done, and then had to frog a couple of the stripes because the back (where they joined) looked all wonky (I am a perfectionist, I know this about myself and I accept that fact.). I should be able to get it done either tonight or tomorrow, though. I may have to take pics of this one, since I'm so proud of the fact that I can make circular things now. (Jenny, I'm coming for your camera, beware.) What's next? I have no idea. Maybe Mittens!

In other news. I have finally gotten to watch this week's episode of Supernatural in it's entirety. Remember I said I had to go to dinner with my Dad? Well, I didn't end up getting home in time to catch the beginning of the episode, but no problem right? The DVR had it covered, right? WRONG! For whatever reason the DVR decided not to record Supernatural that night (even though I checked that it was set to about 100 times before I left the house). Darn you evil technology! This is why I don't trust that darn thing. All was not lost, however, because I'm OCD and I had also set the VCR (old school, but at least it never fails me) to tape as well (score one for the neurotics!). The only draw back was that I had to wait for the VCR to finish taping before I could rewind and watch the first half of the episode, so I ended up watching the second half of the episode first and then going back and watching the whole thing. It was good. Well worth the time and the hassle of trying to get to see it. I do think the impact was somewhat diminished by knowing exactly what was going to happen. Oh well. This week I plan to be home on Thursday night so that I can see the whole episode as it airs in the correct order. Don't mess with my Supernatural baby!!

I leave you with some bondage, cute boys and maybe some gun porn (just saying is all):

All Work and No Play...

I love my job, I really do, but sometimes I wonder about the people that run our "Next Great University" (which was the WORST slogan ever).

First there is the whole no Coke on campus thing. Somewhere, at some point, someone decided that Coke was evil and that Pepsi (and Pepsi products) should be the only thing available on campus. Now, I am a Coke girl through and through. In fact, I can't really stand to drink Pepsi at all (unless it is mixed the something else, like Rum, but campus is dry as well, so that is out too). The only exception to this rule is that they do sell Coke products at basketball games--men's games, not women's (they are held in separate places, so I guess it's all good). So, even though Pepsi isl a major sponsor of Men's Basketball, you cannot drink a Pepsi at a Men's Basketball game. Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either.

Next, there is the whole issue of my building. It is a nice building. It is a brand new building. (It is an ugly building, but that doesn't really factor into this equation.) We moved into the 3rd floor of this lovely building about two years ago, and we actually like it. When we moved in, however, the 4th floor was not yet finished. They had run out of money before they could finish the 4th floor, so it was only a shell. Not too long after we moved in, they got a grant and so began work to finish the top floor for a new Cancer center. Now, after much banging and beating and other strange, distracting noises coming from upstairs, they are almost finished but what did they discover? When they applied for the grant, they told the Grant-giving people that they floor was going to be a Neuroscience floor. While Cancer research is important and wonderful, it is NOT Neuroscience. How are they going to resolve this problem? By making us move to the 4th floor, of course. We are all about Neuroscience, so it makes some sense, but WHY MUST WE MOVE TWO TIMES IN TWO YEARS? Moving a lab is a lot like moving from one house to another, only about 50x move complicated because of all the things (read: Chemicals, Radiation, etc) that has to be move carefully as well as very very expensive equipment that can only be moved on the first full moon after the second Tuesday of every month by someone trained by monks in China. The first move was horrible, but I got through it by saying this was the one and only time I would ever have to do this. It's a good thing that there isn't a 5th floor.

Oh yes, and in some fun other news, one of the female PIs got some flowers delivered to her office today. They were beautiful pink Lilies and Purple Daises. They were, however, giving one of the Administrative Assistants (Secretaries) hives (these are super fragrant flowers--you can smell them all the way down the hall) so now they are spending the day with the most wonderful Zel who works at the other end of the hall until it is time for the recipient to go home. There is never a dull moment around here, that's for sure.

A Tale of Two Sisters

A bonus joke for you today. My dad sent this to me via email (yea Dad), and I felt the need to pass it on. You can't beat a good Nun joke.
_________________________________________________________

There were two nuns..

One of them was known as Sister Mathematical (SM), and the other one was known as Sister Logical (SL). It is getting dark and they are still far away from the convent.

SM: Have you noticed that a man has been following us for The past thirty-eight and a half minutes? I wonder what he wants.

SL: It's logical. He wants to rape us.

SM: Oh, no! At this rate he will reach us in 15 minutes at the most! What can we do?

SL: The only logical thing to do of course is to walk faster.

SM: It's not working.

SL: Of course it's not working. The man did the only logical thing. He started to walk faster, too.

SM: So, what shall we do? At this rate he will reach us in one minute.

SL: The only logical thing we can do is split. You go that way and I'll go this way. He cannot follow us both.

So the man decided to follow Sister Logical.

Sister Mathematical arrives at the convent and is worried about what has happened to Sister Logical. Then Sister Logical arrives.

SM: Sister Logical! Thank God you are here! Tell me what happened!

SL: The only logical thing happened. The man couldn't follow us both, so he followed me

SM: Yes, yes! But what happened then?

SL: The only logical thing happened. I started to run as fast as I could and he started to run as fast as he could.

SM: And?

SL: The only logical thing happened. He reached me.

SM: Oh, dear! What did you do?

SL: The only logical thing to do. I lifted my dress up.

SM: Oh, Sister! What did the man do?

SL: The only logical thing to do. He pulled down his pants.

SM: Oh, no! What happened then?

SL: Isn't it logical, Sister? A nun with her dress up can run faster than man with his pants down.

And for those of you who thought it would be dirty, Say two Hail Marys!

Thursday Thinkings...Knitting, Supernatural, and what's wrong with TV today

It's Thursday and I'm tired. Really, I've been tired all week, but for some reason it seems worse today. (My right arm also hurts for some unknown reason.) At least it's warmer today than it has been, although I think it is supposed to get COLD next week. Oh well, it is winter. Maybe the cold weather will inspire me to knit something nice and cozy. I think, perhaps, my next project needs to be a hat. I need to practice knitting on circular needles as well as the Dreaded Double Pointed Needles of Death! A hat would accomplish both of these goals as well as cater to my need for short, simple projects that I can finish quickly since I think I have knitting ADD. I think I liked Knitty's Calorimetry so much because I could finish it in just a few hours (read two or three days) of knitting. This may be my biggest problem when I start my New Year Goal of Knitting a sweater.

In other Thursday news....today is the first new episode of Supernatural since it went on hiatus back before Christmas. This is one of those shows that I like to watch and that I harbor a secret addiction to (and since nobody reads this, it is still a secret, see how sly I am ;) ). I love that it can scare the pants off me, and I love that it is different from pretty much anything else out there. It's not a medical drama like ER or Grey's Anatomy. It's not a law drama like Law & Order (any of them) or CSI (which I can't watch because of the bad, bad science in that show. It just makes me mad when they make mistakes like that. Can't they pay someone to do some research?). And most importantly, it's not reality TV. Now, I will admit to watching some reality TV. I LOVE The Amazing Race and Project Runway, but other than that, I don't watch much Reality TV. I want my TV shows to take me away from reality, and the last thing I want to see is a bunch of money hungry whiners running around in some mansion competing for a million dollars. (I want a million dollars!!!) The problem with TV today is that this kind of thing passes as entertainment, and PEOPLE WATCH IT!!!

Anyway, I love Supernatural because it is not only a show that can creep me out (but the bad guy always gets had in the end, so I can still sleep at night), but it has the most wonderfully real relationship between the two main characters. They are brothers, and you actually believe that they are brothers. They fight and pick and tease. They know just what to say to push the other one's buttons. They bring up all kinds of things from the past that should really just stay buried (literally sometimes). But they also have this wonderful way of showing each other that they care without saying anything and without being over the top. They might fight, but they still stick up for each other when someone else jumps into the mix. Really, they remind me of my sister and me (without the whole demon hunting thing, of course). I came for the scares, but I stayed because of the brothers. (Plus they are hot, so that helps too. I sat through all of the movie Troy just to see 30 seconds of Brad Pitt's ass, so I can totally do 1 hour of good TV every week if I get to stare at Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki.)


Anywho, it comes back tonight for the first new episode in a month or so, so that is exciting I guess. Now all I have to do is make sure that I'm home from dinner with Dad before 9 so I can watch it (although I guess that's what DVR is for, right? oh, and since I'm a dork and don't trust my DVR 100%, I also record it on VHS as well. Yeah, I need help). And, yes, I realize that Grey's Anatomy also comes on at 9 on Thursday, but really, what are you going to miss? Someone is going to sleep with someone (probably Meridith) and someone is going to get mad at someone (again, Meridith). And, if you really must see all this, they show it again on Friday nights at 8. Really, people, branch out. Be different. Watch something new. If you don't like, you can go back to watching Sex in a Hospital (I mean Grey's Anatomy).

In the mean time, I'm going to go buy yarn to knit a hat. Go me!!

Whatever....

That's how I feel today....just whatever. I don't know what happened. I was going along great, and then I just lost all motivation to do anything, so now I'm just all "whatever...."

In other news...I have made exactly zero progess in accomplishing any of my new years goals. I did think about starting to run again, but then it got cold!!! Yes, I know this is a crazy thing to happen in early January (gasp!) but when it was 65 degrees on New Year's Eve, a day where it never gets above 35 is cold. And while I see plenty of wonderfully fit and dedicated people out running in the cold, that's not for me. I don't like to run much at all. It hurts and I look funny, so I'm certainly not going to do something that un-fun when it's so cold outside that I won't be able to feel my ears after five minutes.

Although I could use one of the brand new Headband thingys that I knitted up the other day from the Calorimetry pattern on Knitty. I made up two of the little buggers over the Christmas break (well one over Christmas and one as soon as I got back into town). On both of them I used Pattons SWS (one was Natural Plum and the other was Natural Blue) and despite the fact that everyone over at Craftster seems to find that they knit up HUGE (!) I found that mine came out just right. Apparently my gigantor head is even more huge than I thought it was (oh well, I get it honestly, my Dad has an Enormo noggin as well). The first one (in Plum) I knit on my size 10 needles and went strickly by the pattern, the second one (Blue) I did on some size 8s since I was going to give it to my sister (who didn't inherit the Giant Head), and because I didn't allow enough space for my cast on, I only cast on 112 stitches instead of the 120 called for. The second is a bit smaller, and it actually doesn't fit as well, but the stripes came out almost perfectly semetrical, and I love the blues, so it's staying with me. Jenny can just get something else. I wish I had a camera so I could post some pics of my wonderful stuff, but alas, I am one of the four people in the world that don't have a digital, so you'll just have to use your imiginations. You can see lots of wonderful examples of this delightful little project at the Craftster Forum, however, including several of the Pattons SWS Plum variety.

New Year, New Stuff

Happy New Year!!!

Yes, I know I'm a bit late, but hey, I was stuck in the land of no Internet for most of the holiday season, and it's taken me until now to get caught up on all the stuff that fell by the wayside while I was gone. It's the thought that counts anyway people.

Since it is a new year and since starting a new years means we all have to vow to lose weight, gripe less, work harder and just generally become better people, I thought I'd put out my goals for 2007. (Note: These are not resolutions. I don't do resolutions because I always forget my resolutions. These are goals.)

1.) I will run in a 5K this year. I know I was going to do this in 2006, but I got waylaid. Actually, the family got in the way, but I will do it this year--at the Fancy Farm Picnic, if not before. (And this could actually count as a resolution because it involves exercising more, which usually is a resolution that I forget or otherwise fail at, so HA!)

2.) I will improve in my knitting to the point that I will knit (or begin knitting, or begin to attempt to knit) a sweater. I don't think I have the attention span to do this, but we'll see. It would be cool.

3.) I will hire a new Associate Pastor for my church so that I can finally get off that darned search committee (thanks again Kyle). Although I will miss the other people on the committee. They really can be fun.

4.) (Goal 3 leads directly to...) I will take a class in the Fall. UK pays for me to take at least one class a semester and I haven't had the time to use that benefit for the last year or so, but I will take one in the Fall. I promise.

5.) I will finally make one of the trips that I keep talking about but never take (to Chicago to visit Nick, to Chicago to visit John, to D.C. to visit the 14 people I know that have moved there). It will happen.

6.) (I was only going to have 5, but this is like an extra bonus). I will go out on a date. Maybe only one, but I will go out on at least one date. Really, it's not that I turn guys down, most of the time no one asks me. In fact, I don't think I have ever said no to a guy when he asked me on a date (not counting drunken bar incidents since I'm going to guess that most of those guys don't remember that they asked me the next morning).

Oh, and just in case you are keeping score at home, I still haven't seen Scopeman, although I did get two emails from him over the break--one saying thank you for the ecard that I sent him, and another without solicitation saying Happy New Year. Boys are strange.