Wednesday, April 30, 2014

No News. Blather.

No news today, so let's talk of something else. I bet I can come up with multiple somethings!

For instance, I read (on Dave Barry's blog) of this man who lets bees sting him for scientific purposes (his purposes, not the bees' purposes)(are we all in agreement that he's kind of nuts?), and although I am not a man, I was greatly interested to read the sentence that Dave called out:
'A sting to the scrotum is painful but the nose is far worse,' says scientist who let bees attack his body five times a day for research.
As a child, I was stung on the nose by a bee, and that has to be 35 years ago but I vividly remember how incredibly painful it was. How validating to read this!

Another something: fascinating story via NPR that has this headline:
Lab Rats May Be Stressed By Men, Which May Skew Experiments
Can you pass that by? Just wild, the stuff they're figuring out.

Another, unrelated something: my wardrobe has been lacking updates recently, something I didn't really think about until my mother brought me a sleeveless top and sweater set she found, and I was terribly pleased to have something new to brighten things up. I even wore it on Monday, despite recognizing that a sleeveless top and three-quarter sleeve sweater were unlikely to be enough in my office (and I did in fact end up wearing a fleece over them for most of the day). They're from Talbot's, and what do I see in this morning's newspaper but that Talbot's is having a sale tomorrow? Perhaps I will stop in after work.

A hockey something: every year in the playoffs, when teams are eliminated, Puck Daddy has someone write a eulogy of them--someone not fond of the team, that is (as it says at the top of each post, "This is a roast and you will be offended by it, so don't take it so seriously"). Of course, I enjoyed the recent Red Wings eulogy, written by the crew at Stanley Cup of Chowder, but my favorite part was that they showed the Red Wings' scoring in the playoffs, and put in Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask where he would fall on that list.
He had one assist in the series, and that was more points than, oh, two thirds of Detroit's players? Hee hee.

Now, his lordship is letting me know it's time to get off the computer. And after all:
You know it's true.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Hmmmmmmm!

So, you ask, how did it go? The interview, the second in-person interview, the interview with the president? Let's see, how best to describe it?
No, not quite.
Mmm, better, but not quite.
Well, close enough! So here's how to dissipate most of those pesky pre-interview nerves: after we shook hands, she said that we wouldn't be working together that closely, but she wanted to meet me. As though it's already decided! I don't recall her wording accurately, but she said like the two women I met with previously were "blown away". We talked for less than half an hour, she sounds like both a nice person and a reasonable leader ... ahh. She said they have to do the background check and references, but I should be hearing back from the recruiter before the end of the week. Wouldn't that be fabulous?

If you'll excuse me, I'm off to do a lot of reflective humming as my mind bounces around (and then, I predict, crashes, and I'll be in bed by 8:30). Carlos is pleased that my plans leave a hand free for him. After all, what could be more important than petting the kitty?

Monday, April 28, 2014

Start Your Engines!

We have an interview time!

And since it is tomorrow afternoon (at 4:30, for those of you planning on crossing fingers, sending good vibes, or, as some of my knitting friends suggested, eating chocolate or petting a cat), and I just got in from stitch and bitch, you will excuse me if I go prepare for it, instead of writing further for now. I will leave you with two thoughts:
  • I started work today on a report for non-hodgkin's lymphoma. I expect much giggling as I read about NHL, which does not mean to me what it means to them.
  • Carlos is hoping that my idea of preparing will leave a hand free for petting the kitty. I think we can work something out.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Can It Be?

Sunday evening already? Really? How?

It's been a good weekend, really, other than the weather, which has been perfectly charming if you happen to like 45 and rainy. I had coffee with a former co-worker, got groceries, made that pasta pesto bake I like so much, read a lot, and had a ton of cat snuggling time.

I paid the bills, did the dishes, put away laundry, that kind of fun stuff. The temporary crown on my tooth doesn't exactly hurt any more, but it is annoying and discomfiting and I am more than ready to be able to eat a thing without thinking about how hard to chew it is.

I also watched the Bruins win yesterday, taking the series and moving on to face Montreal in the next round, which is nerve-wracking given the history of the rivalry, but does at least mean I get to hear their anthem a few times (Montreal's the only Canadian team that made the playoffs this year). That series won't start until next weekend sometime, so the team can rest up and I can face the week without worrying about fitting games into my schedule.

I managed not to worry too much about the upcoming interview, though I'm sure I will get nervous in the hours before. I look forward to having the time set, so I can plan for that.

Finally, here's a photo I took last weekend, in a restaurant.
Apparently, one of the "signs that a person can't speak, breathe or cough" is that the "person cannot breathe, cough or speak". How very circular.

What, you wanted a more entertaining picture? How about this?
Not so nice, is it, to mock the ducks for being slow? I mean, they have short legs.

Oh, a prettier picture? Would you settle for atmospheric?
OK, seriously, then, my uncle brought Grandma a picture of my grandfather from around the time my mother was born. Wasn't he debonair?
Quite the dashing figure, eh?

Lazy Sunday Morning

Friday, April 25, 2014

It Is Friday Night. You Can't Argue With That.

I think my allergies are starting to bloom along with the trees; yesterday my eyes felt heavy and tired, and I was slightly more congested than usual. At first I thought, "I have to get some extra sleep," and then, "But not tonight, the game doesn't start until 8." And of course, it went into overtime! By the time the Bruins mercifully ended it, I was listening to the radio in bed, and was thrilled to be able to turn it off and go to sleep happy. Early to bed, late to bed, whatever; it's the playoffs. Next game, the first could-clinch-the-series game, is tomorrow afternoon.

Other than the game, and Mister "you were away FOREVER, you will cuddle me NOW," it was a quiet evening. I polished my shoes, cut my fingernails (which were at the stage where it's hard to get my contacts out), rode the bike a little. Had some soup. Envy my glamorous life? Well, just wait: tonight it's laundry! Though I also picked up treasure on my way home: a library book, the new Patricia Briggs, mmm.

As for the job thing, despite all my mutters of please-please-please to the universe today, there were no further developments until just now, when I came upstairs from rotating the laundry to hear the you-have-a-message chime from my phone. These California people! I called her back and got her voice-mail, then she called me back to discuss possible times, which will need to be confirmed on Monday since of course the people here are gone for the day. So kind of back to limbo (with a mild wish that the California people could have gotten their acts together during business hours on the east coast, is that so much to ask, oh well).

Earlier, I had thought about e-mailing the recruiter in California back, since on Wednesday evening he had said that the scheduler would call me "tomorrow" to set up an interview for "early" next week. However, when I double-checked the e-mail he sent, it says the scheduler will contact me "soon" to set up a meeting "next week," which I decided meant I should wait and see if I heard from them on Monday before I nagged. And now, in a sense, I'm just waiting until Monday anyway. And I hate waiting!



But enough. At least I know something. Back to the laundry and the book and the cat. And the weekend.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Updates: Job Prospect, Dentist, Grandma Birthday Weekend

Right, where to begin? How about with this: I almost didn't answer the phone.

When my phone rang last night, I wasn't thinking about the job, because it was 6:30, long after I'd given up on news for the day. When I looked at the display and saw not just an unfamiliar number, but an unfamiliar area code, I figured it would be one of those annoying, I'm-on-the-do-not-call-list-why-are-you-calling-me calls that I still get. Perhaps my fairy godmother goosed me, though, because I did pick up and say hello. Then I almost hung up when no one spoke right away, but fortunately I held on long enough to realize that it wasn't someone calling from "your credit card company" or to offer rug cleaning, but was actually a different recruiter, calling from the parent company (which is in California, explaining both the time and the area code), to update me about my candidacy. That I'm a "very, very strong candidate" and "possibly a finalist"! He said that they want me to come back in to meet with Ms. Smith* early next week, which, since the company is the Smith** Group, means something, eh? But in the meantime, if I could sign the release form they can get started on the background check, since that takes a few days. Well, okay then! I guess I could do that.
*Not her real name
**Not its real name

And now I wait to hear from the "scheduler" and wonder, is that a full-time job? Probably not.

The dentist update is that the whole in-the-chair experience was miserable; I spent the entire time tensed up, struggling against a fight-or-flight impulse, which is exhausting. (If you're squeamish about dental stuff, and I don't blame you if you are, I am myself but this happened to me and I want to whine about it, you may wish to skip over this section; I'll throw some asterisks at the end of it.) Lots of drilling, more drilling, oh-god-more-drilling, trying to breathe through my nose but the smell, six interminable minutes for the goop to set for the impression (I know, breathe through your nose and try to think of something else, I pondered whether the Red Wings will win another game in the series, I think probably they will), and oh-by-the-way, I also had a cavity in the next tooth, shall we fix that while we're here? It would add about another ten minutes, she told me, and I told her that it wasn't the time I was worried about, but in the end I had her do it. Get it over with. The whole thing is now mercifully blurring into one general cloud of awful, instead of specifics. Though the frustration of being told to "bite down normally" on a mouth that feels the very opposite of normal remains with me, and I have a slight lisp and a sore tongue today that are both bugging me.

Ironically, now that the temporary crown is on, I am better able to appreciate how little trouble the actual broken tooth was, since this is far more obtrusive and makes chewing much more awkward. The treatment's worse than the problem, what else is new. And since I don't get the permanent crown for two weeks, I can only hope that I'll get used to it. Or to eating foods that require little chewing; unlike my poor aunt, who had a dental problem this weekend that made chewing actively painful, I am currently only at chew-with-caution, causes-discomfort levels, but things that slide down easily (soup, scrambled eggs, pudding) are a much better idea. You know you're having tooth discomfort when merely hearing someone eat carrots makes you wince.

Perhaps in part because the experience was so bad, I find myself considering going to another dentist in future (perhaps one of those with "gentle" in the name). The people at this practice are all very nice, and it's not like they were mocking me when I explained that I have trouble with gagging easily and so on, but I didn't feel as though they made a lot of accommodations for it. Perhaps this was the best they could do, but when the dentist was pushing down on the temporary crown, trying to get it on (and it took quite a few tries), I found myself wondering, is that much shoving really necessary? Also, it feels as though something rough dried down the side of my gum, and if I bite down on that side much, it has a rubbery give to it that is disconcerting (as well as uncomfortable). I don't know. I'm turning into one of those characters in a Looney Tunes cartoon that chomps down on something hard and all their teeth disintegrate and crumble out of their mouth. No fun. Let's move on.

***** Safe again!
The weekend/trip/Grandma's birthday event all went well. Surprisingly smoothly, all things considered! The weather was decent to good, none of the family misbehaved at the party, about 20 people showed up, and overall it was very good.

More specifically, I picked my mother up after work on Friday, and we had dinner at her favorite local restaurant. After that, the evening consisted of watching the Bruins being underwhelming (it was the first game of the playoffs, and they lost), and me trying to get my packing organized. I finished that in the morning, and we loaded the car and drove to NY. After catching up with my aunt and relaxing a bit at the house (it's not a bad trip, but it isn't a short drive), she drove us to the home where Grandma is, so we could see her and vice versa. We did cut it short, though (by which I mean under an hour, not 5 minutes), in order to go get ourselves some dinner. Which was delicious, and also featured an amusing menu.
"Some decent wines"? "Incomplete beer list"? Amuses me, and I don't even drink.

On Sunday, my aunt went back to the home to pick Grandma up, and my mother and I got ready and went to church to hold seats. It didn't fill up early, but by the time they arrived*, it was getting there. Everyone was so pleased to see Grandma, and she seemed pleased to be there, though in fact she slept through much of the service. We took her back to the home for her to have lunch, since we knew there was nowhere we could take her on Easter Sunday that wouldn't require a wait, which she isn't up to. She was happy to take it easy after the morning's excitement.
*When my aunt got there to pick her up, Grandma was still eating breakfast, so there was a slight delay.

After that, we went to have lunch ourselves, then back to the house, so I was able to watch the Bruins game, in which they played much better and beat Detroit handily. In the evening, my cousin and her boys came in from Pennsylvania and we had pizza and hung out for a while before they went off to the motel for the night (not enough room in the inn, so to speak). They came back Monday in time for lunch, and my cousin's mother, my beloved aunt*, came too, and after lunch we convoyed to the home for the party.
*Not my only beloved aunt, but I hadn't seen her in a while, so it was really nice to get the chance

100 tulips for the birthday girl.
Flowers shaped like a cake.
More flowers, flowers, flowers!
There was cake and cheesecake and she got cards and presents, and everyone behaved well, and the people at the home were wonderful, and it really was just all so nice. If somehow exhausting, and I'm not halfway to 100!

We drove back Tuesday morning, in light rain when we started that cleared before we got home. Unfortunately for me, I had a slight headache that got more bothersome later, but it never got awful, and I was able to get us home, out to dinner, and back to watch the Bruins game (they won again) while propitiating Carlos.

Wednesday morning I was available to work from home (though there actually wasn't anything for me to do), then dropped Mum off before going to the dentist, about which I have already whined enough, I suppose. That gets us current, and now I can go watch tonight's Bruins game. Go Bruins!

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Not Dead Yet

Hi there!

So much going on! So much to tell! So much aching from the novocaine wearing off, and discomfort around the temporary crown!

I will beg off for tonight, just say that the weekend was good and went more smoothly than one might even have expected, and despite the overall miserable toothiness of today, the tenor of the day was reclaimed a few minutes ago by a call about the prospective job, and how "very, very" strong a candidate I am. I will try to get into more tomorrow (or soon, anyway, not promising in blood), but I will leave you a picture of my left-hand cat, who before that phone call was the only thing making me smile this afternoon.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

A Short Mix

Right, I have about a million things to do now, in order to only be unprepared for the weekend and trip (rather than woefully unprepared or startlingly unprepared). Here's what I have for you. Cute lion cuddles.
This next thing is because it's too true:
It was about 40 degrees today. Brr. Trees and all are juuuuust starting to go green or flowery, but really, it's solidly pre-spring, again.

And now I speak to myself the words of Ferris Bueller: "You're still here?"

Otherwise? Happy Easter. Happy grandma's centennial. Go Bruins. All that good stuff. Later!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Cautious Optimism; at the least, relief

It's over! And I think it went well? Who knows. Interviews, right? As always, who knows how it really went, but thinking that it went well is better than being sure it didn't! And it's done, which is good enough for now. Survived, and no red flags. Beyond that? The recruiter said she expected to be in touch in a week or two. We'll see!

I drove from their office to the nearby post office, and sat in my car to dash off quick thank-you notes, because why not? I'm grateful to get an interview, even if nothing else comes of it. Job searching while you have a job is awkward at best, but at least the desperation level is far, far lower than during unemployment. On work's more irritating days, I have to remember that.

And then I came home to discover the no-reason-except-it's-perfect-for-you present sent by my brother:
Which is now in the laundry, so I can wear it on Saturday. I just vacuumed, and now there are dishes to wash. Don't be jealous of my glamorous life. Or can yours top mine?

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

So, About Those Crossed Fingers

(Here's what I started to write, Monday afternoon/Tuesday morning)
I knew that I was going to be busy on Monday, what with the dentist, the phone interview, the chiropractor, stitch and bitch, and, you know, working, so on Sunday I set up a post to go up Monday night. Now, on Tuesday, I can update you on some of Monday!
  • The dentist says I need a crown on the tooth that lost a corner. Actually, what she said was, the left side wants to be like the right, it wants a crown too. Since it's not bothering me, it isn't an emergency, so I'm going in next Wednesday, after returning from Grandma's.
  • The phone interview went ... well? I think? Who the hell actually knows. She didn't say anything that turned me off, and hopefully vice versa. She said she will be in touch by the end of the week about "next steps", and wouldn't that be nice, if it were to happen? I'm not holding my breath, though of course I can't help thinking about it. But other than the immediate pre-call jitters, and post-call nerves, I'm doing fine about it.
(Insert sound of record scratching)
Aaaaannnd then, I got an e-mail from the recruiter this afternoon, asking about my availability to come in, for an interview, this week. That sound you just heard was my previous calm evaporating in a puff of eek. And then I had to be cool all afternoon, a la Willie Mays Hayes learning he didn't get cut from the Indians, until I could leave. Exhausting.

So I'm working a bit earlier than usual tomorrow, so I can be done earlier and there by 4. And I'm going off to prepare now, and try not to freak out (too much). If you could cross your fingers tomorrow, I would surely appreciate it.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Random Photo Time

What has my camera seen, around and about lately?

Well, there was this gift bag that I saw when looking for one for Grandma. I so would have gotten this for my dad. Sad smile. He would have loved that.
There was this cartoon my mother sent, which so speaks to me in this era of passwords:
There was this unusual sign, seen in downtown Needham:
Is it meant to be a traffic sign? You've got me.

I went out west on Saturday to visit a friend, and you know, once you're going outside 495, you might as well combine it with a trip to Webs, right? Particularly when you have a gift card hoarded from your birthday.

I got a few tools:
More DPN protectors, and needle tips. I also got a circular needle, in rare-for-me metal, to replace this one:
Which apparently did not enjoy being in my purse. Sigh. Perhaps metal will be wiser. Anyway, I'm trying square needles for the first time.
So far, so good. And the sock does not seem to be too big so far, thankfully. It was getting ridiculous, this process. Though I should bring some other sock yarn with me next weekend, in case I change my mind on that when I get farther along.

And you know I got some yarn as well. Manos del Uruguay Fino, lovely and soft and (unsurprisingly) blue:
And some happily/unhappily-on-sale Blue Moon Marine Silk Sport, also unsurprisingly blue:
Lovely stuff, but it was only on sale because Webs isn't going to carry Blue Moon yarn any more, which is terribly sad. They were my "see it in person" source outside Rhinebeck, which after all is only once a year. I don't know why they are making the change; I know that Blue Moon is going to be sold in a few more shops than it used to be (worldwide, that is), so the change could be part of that, but I hope it will appear somewhere else near me. Maybe Coveted will get it! That would be awesome.

My camera has also caught someone with a complaint.
And on another day, when his complaint was that I was bothering him.
His is a hard life.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Mostly Knitting Updates

It's been a busy weekend, so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised that it's Sunday evening already.

I made it in to work on Friday, the headache being more mild than it had been on Thursday. My boss had e-mailed that she would be working from home on Friday, so I wasn't expecting her, but somewhat to my surprise, no one else was in the office either. We don't generally get full turn-out on Fridays, but at least a few people are usually there. It was kind of funny, but nice to be able to talk to myself aloud, hum or whistle, etc.

Meanwhile, it's time for a knitting update, and specifically, knitting for my grandmother's upcoming 100th birthday. It's being productive, which is a good thing with a week left, eh? I have finished four small projects and am working on the fifth and (presumably) last.

First was the doily I made:

Second, I made her a cupcake cloth and embellished it with "100":
I tried adding her initials, too, but it didn't look good, so I decided to leave well enough alone.

Next, I made two versions of the same thing, a double-knit soap sack (and then I decided to re-do one, since it was slightly wonky). Double knitting is a cool technique where you knit both sides of an item at once, by knitting half the stitches as you go across a row, just slipping the others, then doing the opposite on the way back. It's pretty much magic, if you ask me.

It looks kind of normal.
But then, when it's big enough to hold your selected soap, you slip the stitches onto two needles, and voila, it opens!
Slide in the soap, put the stitches back as they were, and bind them off.
One cotton, one wool. I'm doing the wool one over, since it was slightly too big for the soap.
But aren't they cute? I hope she likes using them, too.

The last item took the longest, because although it's pretty simple, it's fingering yarn and thus takes more time (so, a week instead of a day). It also encountered an early setback, but it went well after that. The pattern is called Ditty Bag, as I thought she might be able to use a small bag for something or other. I'm using the yarn left from the shawl I made for her in January.
The setback happened after the row with the eyelets, which is for the drawstring. The pattern says that after that row, you just straight knit it all until it's as long as you want it to be, so that's what I started to do, but the eyelets are double yarn overs, and I was dubious about how they were looking in the following rows. They seemed to be laddering a little, and I wasn't happy with how they looked.
This was at stitch and bitch on Monday, and I put it aside. When I got home, I looked at some of the projects on Ravelry, and found a lifesaver of a note: "Figured out that although the pattern says to knit the round under the eyelet row, the second yarn over actually has to be purled." Ah-ha! I, too, think I learned that at one point, but I'd forgotten. I ripped back to that point, picked the stitches up again (ugh, fiddly little things) and did it that way. Perfect! I do know what I'm doing, some of the time! It's a nice little pattern, other than that oversight, and would make good purse knitting as, like a sock, it doesn't get big but does take time. The soap sacks I did in a total of three evenings, not many hours, but this is slower. Which is good, sometimes. I also love the way the picot hem looks, and it was surprisingly easy to do; fiddly, but not difficult. Things like this help my confidence when other projects (ahem, duck feet) have dented it.

The pattern does give instruction to make a cord, but I simply could not get that to work. The woman who came up with the pattern is a spinner, and perhaps she was transferring skills from that, skills I lack. Fortunately, I had this bit of ribbon that goes nicely; problem solved.

One thing I have to decide on, soon, is what project to bring with me to work on during the visit. Of course, I want something that's fairly "social knitting," that doesn't require close pattern-following. I also want it to be for me; I checked my projects on Ravelry to confirm, and other than socks, I haven't actually made much of anything for myself in a while, like a year, which is very un-me of me. [I do have two probably-for-me shawls that have been started and put aside for other things, so I may bring one of them, but I'll have to check how well they fit the social knitting criteria (I'm thinking not so much).] And I have so much fabulous yarn I'm dying to use! I really want to start something with the Briar Rose I got at Rhinebeck last year, but I'm having trouble deciding what to use it for. Unless inspiration strikes, I may go with the Maple Creek Farm Richmond yarn that I got with a pattern in mind; one of my friends bought some more because she had used it to make a little Kiri shawl, and she loved it; the pattern is pretty and she said the yarn was wearing like iron. So, that's a distinct possibility. I even wound the yarn and printed the pattern, in case.
Isn't it pretty? We'll see if that ends up being next. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up winding something else before we leave...

Thursday, April 10, 2014

So! Things to Say!

Well, there's been a lot happening in the last few days, some mildly bad, some potentially good. Let's see, to be chronological:

Tuesday, I got an e-mail from a recruiter who saw my resume on Indeed (which, if you are unfamiliar, is a job-search site) and wanted to point me to some openings at her company. I looked at the listings and one did sound possible. (I also looked at my information on Indeed Tuesday night, as I haven't been using it lately, and found that yes, it did not include my current job. So, that's interesting!) I replied to her e-mail to say that I was currently employed but "very open to discussing possibilities elsewhere", and sent my current resume and the link to my LinkedIn page, in case, and asked if she wanted me to go through their website's application. (I was kind of hoping she would say no, we can talk first.)

Wednesday I worked from home, intending to go to the alternate knitting group in the evening. I heard back from the recruiter that yes, I should fill in their application (drat), so at lunchtime I took a look at that. First, it gave me the option to link to my LinkedIn page, and next to upload my resume, so I was hoping their system would pull at least most of what it needed from one or the other. Nope! It was basically an electronic version of the multi-page application you would have been handed, with a pen, when you went for an interview 20 years ago; I swear, some companies don't "get" the possibilities of the internet age (and this is me saying that!). I let the recruiter know that I wouldn't be able to finish it until later, and went back to work for the afternoon.

Mid-afternoon, I decided to make some popcorn for a snack, and afterward was trying to figure out why I couldn't get a piece that was stuck in a back tooth out, but soon realized it wasn't a kernel, it was a corner of the tooth which seemed to be missing, next to a filling. Excellent. I called my dentist's office, and (of course) she's out of town. I made an appointment for Monday morning; it doesn't actually hurt, just feels weird, but it's definitely One More Thing I Don't Want to Deal With. I really don't want to deal with finding someone else, covered by the insurance, who would agree to see me ASAP when it doesn't actually hurt ... but I hope that decision doesn't bite me on the butt over the weekend.

Anyway, after work yesterday, I went back to the application, and man, it's just annoying. I mean, when all I've seen is the job description, and don't even know if I'M interested in YOU, to have to give: the date I could start, education history, employment history, three references, assurances that should I be employed by them, and then leave, I will return the company's property ... overkill much? I worked on it, trying to not be annoyed, let it go, let it go. I also e-mailed the two previous co-workers I had lined up as references in the past, to let them know I'd be giving their information out, and tried to decide who to ask to be a third ... Oy. My mood was deteriorating, so I decided I'd better leave it for the night. I wasn't feeling social by that point, so I knit on the couch with Carlos, instead of going out (Grandma's birthday knitting is progressing, updates to come).

Thursday, aka today, I had intended to go into the office, but woke with a mild-but-annoying headache, and decided better not risk it. I was able to work, so I finished up the report I was on (for the last three and a half weeks, the devil) and sent it back. I also heard back from the recruiter, even though I hadn't finished "submitting" the application, to set up a phone call in the next few days. Interesting! (Does that mean I didn't have to fight with the silly form? Or that I did enough of it? Who knows.) I will be talking to her on Monday afternoon, if anyone wants to cross their fingers then. Meanwhile, the headache and attendant upset stomach have lingered, a little better, a little worse, plus for some reason I was sneezing my head off all morning--that had to be a coincidence, it isn't a thing with my headaches, but honestly, more irritation? Not welcome. At least, working at home, I only drive myself crazy with it, and could be unhappy-headachey out loud (Carlos was very sympathetic). Also good was that, after I returned that report, I only had one short piece to do; I was essentially on call all afternoon in case more came in, but as it didn't, I was able to loll and whine, and knit, and pet the kitty. Not the greatest day, but it could have been worse.

Wednesday, April 09, 2014

Kind of a Random Mix

The amount of overlap on a Venn diagram of fans of the Winnie the Pooh movie (the one from my childhood, that is) and the first Star Wars movie may be small, but hey, I'm in it, maybe you are too? If so, watch this, it's awesome.


And if that's not up your alley, sorry about that. How about this charming picture of a German shepherd "hiding"?

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Some Hockey Thoughts

As the end of the regular season approaches, there's a possibility of a fun new piece of hockey trivia coming up: how do you score a goal in an NHL game you don't play?

Tomorrow night, Columbus and Dallas are playing the make-up game for the one that was called off last month, when Rich Peverley's heart stopped on the bench*. The league announced that the game would play from the beginning (it was stopped early in the first period), but that the score would start 1-0, since Columbus had scored in that game.
*If you aren't familiar with it, the summary is that he was revived, and has since had surgery; he's "fine" for now, hoping to play again.

Here's the catch: Nathan Horton, who scored that goal, is out with an injury and may not be able to play in the make-up game. Cool, eh? Assuming Horton doesn't play, that becomes one of my favorite hockey trivia questions, along with the one about who scored all five types of goals in one game.

Also, if you're a hockey fan and on Ravelry, I found a thread in the Puck This group with hockey lolz, and oh, so funny! Such as:
It's an awful lot of fun, I must say.

Monday, April 07, 2014

Less Heralded Signs of Spring, and a Question

Much is made of the first robin as a harbinger of spring (overlooking the fact that they can be seen in January).

Seeing plants come up is less exciting in an office park, where the landscapers have placed them.

If you have to look closely at a tree and squint to see what may be, might be buds, it lacks thrills.

But there are early, pre-spring signs starting to show up. Beginning to start to commence to, anyway.
  • Street-sweepers clearing the winter's left-behind sand.
  • Cars parked by ponds that disgorge fishing poles instead of ice skates.
  • Geese are seen in pairs instead of groups.
Have you seen any signs where you are?

But that's not the question. The question is: If you asked someone at the grocery store if they carried pre-made pesto, and found that (perhaps related to English not being his first language), he didn't know what pesto was, how would you describe it?

Sunday, April 06, 2014

A Photo Post: Cat, Florida, Random

Carlos is starting to wear out my I-was-away-and-abandoned-him guilt feelings. I'm not going to be his beck-and-call girl 24-7, I hate to break it to him.

Good thing he's cute, eh? Here he was yesterday, getting ready for the Bruins game.
You can see how excited he was. Why, several times, he stirred!

What woke me?
 If you could keep it down...
 Must you be so loud?
 Then he turned around.
 And later, back.
 And tried to drown out my cheering.
 I swear, I tried to keep it down.
But he's a hard one to please. Though I know he's happy when I'm happy.

In other news, I am sorry to say that my arm is peeling. I didn't even get that much sun in Florida, and it's hardly hang-around-outside-showing-skin weather around here, so I won't be getting much more for a while. It was nice to visit it.

My perfect breakfast: coffeecake, raspberries, fresh-squeezed orange juice.
Your average ditch in Florida holds the neatest birds.

And some shots of the basic Florida sunset.
 
 
 
 
As for random, how about this movie review in the Globe recently?
Isn't that something? "Unremitting meditations on and images of incomprehensible human evil". Wow. That has my name all over it--in the sense of the last movie I would ever want to see.

Also random, and more entertaining, seen recently in a used bookstore:
 Doesn't he look overly serious, for the author of "The Miracle of Milk"?
In another bookstore, Barnes & Noble this time:
Would you call a model of a siege tower an activity for everyone? I'm unconvinced. Though I suppose a sign saying "Will Appeal to a Random Few" wouldn't be much of a sales piece. What sign would you put over this?