Muchly Randomness

Carlos was very disappointed in me that, after he made his position in regards to my coming home late perfectly clear, I was late getting home again last night. I think he despairs of getting his simple message through to me. Though I came straight home tonight, so perhaps that will comfort him.

*****

My Tardis shawl may have suffered a setback; I say "may" because when I looked at it and saw what I may have done wrong, the mere idea was too upsetting to contemplate, so I put it away before all the blood could rush from my head, and am waiting for the stamina to look at it again and be sure*. Let's just say that if you spend hours picking up hundreds of stitches, the cursing you did during the process is nothing to the cursing that will unfold if it turns out you did it wrong, and have to do it all again. Ooof. If I did what I think I did, it's totally fixable but very annoying. Which is better than not being fixable, but not by much.

*Which hasn't happened yet.

 

At least the sock is going well; I turned the heel last night, and used a new heel flap that is a fun alternative to the regular one. I'd heard of an "eye of partridge" heel before, but didn't realize that it was a variant of the heel flap and thus could easily substitute into my standard sock pattern (the Skyp, of course). Here's the basic heel flap, the straight-line part to the left:

And here's the new one.

It should be equally sturdy, and the look differs enough to entertain me (I know, it doesn't take much). 

 

*****

I've learned a few new jargony terms in this new job; one of the first was KOL, which I have mastered by now (it stands for key opinion leader: they get interviewed and then quoted in reports). The one that makes me want to giggle, though, is SWOT. Since I knew it as an informal British term for someone who's always studying (the closest US term they come up with is grind, though that feels dated to me), the idea of it standing for an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats amuses me no end.

 

Especially threats.

 

*****

Wouldn't "Generic Erosion" make a great name for a rock band?

 

*****

I was reading up on some diseases at work, and went to the NIH website as a seemingly reputable source of information. You can imagine how I felt, then, when I ran across "nervves" and "Hormone treatments may may the tumor smaller in some cases" there. Ow, NIH, ow.

 

*****

Remember the "stop clubbing" picture from the other day?

 

Is it wrong that when someone at work didn't get it, my opinion of her dropped a little? Is that wrong of me?

 

This is another editor, to be clear. First she just glanced at it and away, thinking that it was actually about clubbing baby seals (like I would put up a poster about that at work--I mean, if I worked for Greenpeace maybe, but I don't, and even if it was my top cause, what does that have to do with my job?). Then she looked at it and said she didn't get it, before finally actually reading it and then calling it "weird". WTF? It's not weird, it's funny. It's a word-nerd joke. Hello? How is that not funny? Anyone? Bueller?

 

She's rather an odd duck, and she seems to be struggling even more than I am with the global logistics of the company (other writers in India and other editors in the UK). We'll see if she settles down to it, I guess.

 

*****

The temperature fluctuations at work are getting a little (more) annoying. It's one thing to dress in layers for chilly inside and hot outside, but it's another kettle of fish when inside is 77 in the morning and 72 by the end of the day. And when it's 69 the next morning, well, come on. A little consistency, please! And (I know I ask a lot) preferably not consistently 69-72. That's not warm enough for me. I think 75 would be perfect.

 

*****

Speaking of being out last night, I need to get to bed early tonight. Man, am I tired.

Scattered Sunday

I know this is true of headaches, and probably it's true of other ailments and maladies as well: if you have a bad one, or even a semi-bad one, then when it gets less bad, you're kind of grateful, even if it doesn't go all the way away. You wish it would go all the way away, but you know it could be worse because it just was, so you have to be a little happy about that. Which is kind of weird and backward now that I write it down, but this is the best I can do with half a headache.

So: the bad news is that I have half a headache, but the good news is that I don't have a whole headache! And my stomach is barely upset (it currently rates one on a scale of one to ten, one being Am Aware of Stomach). So this is good!

Because some function is possible with half a headache. Sadly for you, coherent and entertaining blog posting is not on that list, but laundry is (good thing, since I blew it off last weekend), and washing dishes, and even making tuna noodle casserole (currently in the oven). Knitting is, assuming no complex patterns, and taking pictures of knitting also is. Behold the sweater:


Doesn't it look ... kind of close to being done? And like it might fit? I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, metaphorically speaking. We'll see where tomorrow night's nervous knitting gets me.

And now, since we have that lack of coherence thing going on, here are some random pictures for you. A shoe store that should be ashamed of itself:


I mean, selling shoes for just one kid? Doesn't that sound wrong? This is America! Shoes for all kids!

A car with stickers I crave:


Eat chocolate. Feel Better!

Finally, this was in a charming old novel I just read, called Marjorie's New Friend. It's part of a series, it was published in 1909, and I enjoyed every peaceful page. And it tickled my fancy to think that a century ago, a girl of about twelve would know a word that sent me to the OED to look it up. Eleemosynary!



There was also this charming piece of advice:

For every evil under the sun,
There is a remedy, or there's none;
If there is one, try to find it,
And if there is none, never mind it.

Easier said than done, don't you think?

I am such a word nerd

Recently, Jennifer blogged about this online game, FreeRice, which simultaneously tests your vocabulary and donates rice to the UN's World Food Program. I had to try it, of course, and it is addictive.

The way it works is, they show you a word and four choices for what it means. The more you get right, the more rice is donated (it's paid for by advertising on the site, but I didn't find the ads at all obtrusive).

It also gives you a rating for your vocabulary, which goes up and down as you get things right and wrong. Now that is addictive! I would see my number dip and have to play a little longer to get it back up! I got my vocabulary level up to 47, and couldn't get it higher (though I will keep trying, of course; addictive, remember). I donated a lot of rice! I don't even know how much; I've been watching the words, not the rice tally.

And here's something I don't say very often: what a lot of words I don't know! I have to learn to trust my instincts, too, when I don't know the answer right away: many times I would first think the answer was one thing, but then select another as more likely, only to find that my first guess was correct. Somehow I know more than I think I do. Isn't the brain mysterious?