And how was your day?

I overworked the snooze button this morning, traffic was bad, and all I had to bring for lunch was a can of soup. (Grocery shopping tonight!) Due to some power problem at work, the power-supply boxes on several nearby computers were randomly beeping all day, just about driving me batshit crazy. And the elves did not do any noticeable work on my In Box overnight.

On the other hand, the sun was shining much of the day (a vast improvement over yesterday, though still chilly), the grass is green, the flowers are blooming, my allergies are not yet totally killing me, and I have a beautiful cat.


Harold says, "What am I, chopped liver?"


Last night was so much fun, visiting the twins with their chubby cheeks and chubby legs and utter fascination with every sight and sound. And when I say chubby legs:


They're standing with help and really working those leg muscles. It won't be long before their parents will be trying to run in two directions at once!

After they were in bed, we ate dinner* and talked and it was very nice, but it was a late night, and I need to get to bed early tonight, please and thank you.

*Halibut and I liked it, how about that? I was somewhat surprised, not being a big fan of the fishies.With roasted potato slices and green beans, and all cooked by that magical person, Someone Else. Mmm!

A thing I like about dealing with knitters

When you fill out a survey, you get a not-so-cookie-cutter response:

Can't make it out? It says:

"Thank you for your input! Knitty loves you and thanks you for your time. Now go knit something nice for yourself."

Do my socks count? I think so!

Inexplicable Knitter Behavior

Before I start in on the wonder that was Harlot-ing, I want to say a word about my day at work.

I don't generally write much about working in the Marketing Department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation, because who wants to be dooced? That way trouble (potentially) lies, and even though I like my job and doubt I would say anything worth being fired for, still, I err on the side of caution. Today, though, I would just like to say that today I learned that my In Box is stronger than it looks.


It appears that I do not need to get a stainless steel one after all.

Not that that's all the work on my desk, by the way. In case you were wondering. I have a space above the in box for "soon but not yet" projects. They go into July.


Anyway! Harlot!

When last I wrote (except for the one-line from last night, which did you notice that Stephanie herself commented on this morning, hello, did you see?), I had just made cookies, for the road trip and to give to herself. My mother had recently sent me a knitting-related comic from her local paper, so in a fit of weird craftiness, I taped it to the side of the bag that I put the cookies in. Yeah, I'm not sure why myself. It's a pretty funny cartoon, though. See?


It's very apt. Cookies, card explaining who they were from (and let's not dwell on the possibility that she told me they were good after throwing them away because who knows if I'm loony, which has been bothering me, although I think knitting-rock-stardom is still a small enough world to get away with it, but I don't know), done. Yesterday morning we gathered, visited Dunkin Donuts for the coffee-people, and were on the road.

In Western Mass., we stopped at a scenic overlook that does not welcome vampires.


I think it's a little sad that they're so closed-minded, but perhaps education isn't spreading as much as one thought.

Our original idea had been to get to town in time for a short visit to Webs before lunch and the show, but we got into town around noon, and decided that we'd better go straight to lunch. This turned out to be a good decision, as when we went in here:


there weren't many people there, but as time passed, more and more people came in. In groups. With bags that had yarn and needles showing. And a lot of Ravelry buttons. And, at the next table, oh, look, it's Jess from Ravelry. (I did not Kinnear her.) Knitting really is a small world. Hi, Jess! we all said. We don't know you, but we all love Ravelry! You may go back to eating your lunch now!

That must happen to her a lot, but I bet it's still weird. (At Webs later, I got a button from her: "a daily dose of fiber", which I liked even better than "where your stitches at?")

After lunch (good food, slow service, but the knitters may have caught them unprepared), we went along toward the Calvin.

Spring is coming to Western Mass.


Another store in town taking advantage of the event.

Tragically (for them), although they were open before the show, they were closed afterward, when a thousand knitters were walking right by their door on the way to Webs. It seems a little short-sighted of them, but who knows.


And here we are! I know everyone got this shot, but I just loves it.


My shots inside the theatre turned out ... artistic. Yeah, that's it! This one isn't too bad. It's half an hour before show time.


Check out these light effects!


So no more photos from inside. It was actually rather dim in there. The minute Stephanie came out and was taking her sock pictures, she said, "Are the lights up enough for you to knit?"* And the answer was a resounding, "No!" Unfortunately, it turned out the house lights were up as far as they go. Apparently in a rock and roll theatre, knit-worthy lighting is not the top priority. Go figure. When we rule the world...

*Which was a classic thing to instantly notice, don't you think?

I was not taking down her talk in shorthand or anything, and even if I was I would hardly put it all up, but there were a few that I noted as particularly funny:

• On the subject of the knitting demographic: If you were not knitters, you would not be caught dead with some of these people.
• knitting as artificially generated patience
• relaxation items such as "worry beads, rosaries, and knitting"
• When asked how she feels about the storm she unleashes on yarn producers (aka "Harlotting") when she recommends something and the flock rushes to order it, she said that she now does not post about something without sending a message to the person first. She said she'll be posting about something soon, once she hears back from the producer to whom she sent a one-word message: "Incoming."
  

It was hilarious and entertaining and by all means, go see her if at all possible. If I was artistic, I would create a t-shirt that we repeat offenders could wear, with "Harlot-Head" or "Harloteer" on it. If anyone else likes the idea and has the skill, go ahead, and let me know where to get one. Kthanx.

On the way out afterward, I saw one of the posters for an upcoming event that seemed to contrast with what I'd just been seeing:


"Oh, yeah, I love seeing shows at the Calvin! I just saw the Yarn Harlot, and next month it's the Electric Prunes!"

Then there was this poster down the street. I'd heard about this movie, a documentary, on the radio more than once, but of course the radio doesn't show you the poster, particularly apt that day:


Spring, remember?


One of the funniest parts of the walk was the reaction of locals to the tide of knitters walking down the street. How do you even explain? Soon, we were there:


When you look up and see alpacas (possibly) on top of the shelves, you are home.


Webs is overwhelming. I had heard, but you really do have to see it. The front looks like a really large and really, really well-stocked, but not insane, yarn shop, and then you look in the back room, or should I say warehouse?

Do you see the scale hanging in the middle? I'll take three pounds of peas, a pound of apples, and 500 grams of baby alpaca, please.


I had found one or two* gadgets that I wanted, and some sock yarn, but I could feel myself getting overwhelmed, and decided to get in the signing line and try not to hyperventilate.

*okay, two, but I can't find a picture of the particular needle gauge I bought

Which was harder when the line went by this stuff, in what looked like shoe boxes, that felt like petting clouds. OMG. Soft!


While I was in line, I noticed that a woman ahead of me seemed to be crocheting around a cut-out piece of a beer can. No seriously, she was. I Kinneared her doing it.


(By the way: Kinnear? Is totally in the Urban Dictionary. There are no limits to Stephanie's power. Now she's coining words.)

Do you know who it turned out to be? Stitchy McYarnpants. It seems she's making a costume for someone in a drag pageant. She had Stephanie sign the piece she was working on.


Finally, it was my turn. I handed over the bag and said that last time I saw her, I brought her chocolate, but this time I made cookies. She said, "Really?" in a rather intense way, and I said yes. She told me that with the bottle of beer that someone else brought, she now had breakfast, since she was leaving the next morning before the hotel started serving breakfast (at 7 AM. Ugh!). She signed my book, and that was it.

Well, except for waiting in line to pay, which I wish I had thought to do before. Overall, Webs did a fantastic job with the entire event, but just at the end, when I was getting really tired of being on my feet ... they split the line into two, which would be fine, except that one side had one register and the other had two. I stood there watching person after person after person who had been behind me (ten before I stopped counting out of sheer depression) paid and left, while I Just Stood There. Sigh. Still, they did a great job, and I don't want to nitpick too much. Just a little.

On the way back to the car, I had to capture this for you.


I think of Noho as pretty much a cultured, progressive place, but they do have a range, don't they?

We decided to get dinner before leaving town, and picked a Thai place we saw on the way back to the car. My companions got Thai iced coffee, which was so pretty:


And my plate included a carrot flower, which was pretty and tasted good, too.


In the parking lot, I saw a bumper sticker I haven't seen since I was a kid.


Does anyone else remember the Bear Necessities store in Faneuil Hall?

Oh, and I said "sock yarn", didn't I? I snapped its picture tonight, although the color doesn't look fully true to me. In addition to the blues and greens, there's some purple, too. It's pretty.


I look forward to playing with it, someday. Although I got about four inches of the second Banish February sock done yesterday, I have a ways to go, and other projects, too. But who knows?

Now, it's late, Harold is snoring, and I must get to bed. I wanted to get this done tonight, while it was still fresh, while I remembered seeing the black-and-white cows on the way home (black on each end, white in the middle, totally cows by committee), and because tomorrow night I'll be out playing with almost-nine-month-old twins. Busy, busy!

A Great Harlot-y Day

Great day. Long day! I'm tired. It was fun. Harlot was great. More tomorrow (or Tuesday).

Why I Am Baking Cookies at 10 PM

Properly phrased, it's actually a two-part question: why am I making cookies at all, and why am I making them so late?

I'm making them at all because tomorrow is this:


And I fully intended to have them done earlier in the day (of course). What I did not intend was to have a headache earlier in the day. Ugh. However, due to medicating or resting or the phase of the moon and congruence of the planets, I'm feeling better now, and the cookies are done. I took this picture less than an hour ago, and already the last batch is out of the oven.


Chocolate/butterscotch chip. Some for us to have in the car on the way, some for the Harlot. I gave her chocolate last time, but I thought cookies would be fun this time.

So, I am very proud of myself for not letting the weakness of my body overpower my plans! I am up later than I wanted to be, particularly since I was most uncharacteristically up until midnight last night*, but hey. I'm feeling better. That's what's really important.

*I went to dinner with friends, and it was wonderful, both to see them and the food, but I am not now and have never been very good with being up so late. I could totally be nocturnal if I didn't have to get up in the mornings, but oh well. Every situation in life has its drawbacks. Meanwhile, if you're ever in Jamaica Plain, do try the Alchemist. The food is quite good.

And! I got so much done today! The cookies. Six loads of laundry, much needed after being away last weekend. I got my car inspected (and what happened to April? All of a sudden it's the end of the month and where did it go?). And, I finally got to Lady Grace for bra fitting/shopping.

It's taken me this long because during the week, they're open 9:30-5:30, which is awfully close to my own working hours. At least the Woburn store, however, is also open on Saturdays, and after a few weeks of not being able to go for one reason or another, I made it today. And it was a pretty good experience, I have to say.

I was considerably startled to learn that I wear a 40DD, of course. Well, maybe you don't see what's of course about that. How do you not realize you're in that kind of range, you might wonder. Well, either I'm oblivious, or maybe I'm just special that way. As I said before, it's a long time since I wore a bra with actual bra sizing, but I seem to recall 38C being the number at one point. So: 40DD? Really?

Anyway, although it is certainly odd to have a woman I never met before adjusting a bra on my body, she* was very good, very knowledgeable, and listened to what I liked or didn't like about each. I tried on about ten different ones, which can I say was exhausting, and bought two (one black, one white) of the one I liked best to try out in real-world testing before buying any more.

*Her name was Robin, if you find yourself in the Woburn Lady Grace. I recommend her. I must say, there was one scary older woman who, if she had asked me first if I needed any help, would have heard that I was just looking around first, thanks. Whew.

So there's that! I must get to bed to rest up for the big day. So excited! And if the weather interrupts my plans (poor Chicago Harloteers), Mother Nature will be hearing from me.

Striving for Balance

I have come to the realization that when work is particularly busy, I lose some elasticity toward the ups and downs of my personal life. In other words, when work is very busy, I can't handle much busyness in my personal life without getting out-of-proportion stressed about it.

I think this explains why I am finding Life in General overwhelming this week, though if I list off all the Things, there aren't really that many of them (no more than usual, anyway). While I do not now, nor have I ever considered work primarily as a place to recharge for life, apparently I need more balance between the two than I sometimes get. "Losing" last weekend to the trip, enjoyable as it was, doesn't help.

And that's as philosophical as I'm going to get right now. I'm in a decent mood tonight, despite having had the kind of day where every single thing I touched had to be brought to someone else for a question before proceeding, which was ... oh, frustrating. But I got home and accomplished something right away: I brought in the dresser that has been in my car since Sunday.


My aunt and grandmother were getting rid of it, and since I've been wanting a tall dresser, and this is functional if not lovely, and of course free for the taking, well yeah! They actually have another (Mum, do they look familiar? your sister said they're the ones you two got after the fire), but it seemed like pushing it to try to get both in the car. Maybe next time, if they haven't found another home for it. I'm excited to start moving things into it.

My mouse is squeaking, I don't know why, but I don't think I can deal with diagnosis tonight. I'll finish with this car, which I saw coming home tonight. I noticed the Treehugger sticker from farther away, then as I got closer, saw the other two.


There's wearing your heart on your sleeve, and there's wearing your philosophy on your bumper, I guess.

Finally: pretty!


P.S. Yarn Harlot at Webs on Sunday! See you there?

Get your pictures here

I don't feel like assembling coherent thoughts tonight, so I present a photo essay for you. Enjoy!

The flowers I brought to my grandmother for her birthday:


The tag said snowdrops, I think. Close-up of the coolest-colored one:


Daffodils in their natural habitat (do dafs grow in the wild anywhere?):


The critter we saw walking near work one day last week:


I thought he was cute until it occurred to me, he might have been the garden-eater last summer. In which case I hate him. Though I signed up for another plot this year. Am I a glutton for punishment? Discuss.


Driving to NY on Friday, I saw sunset in one direction...


...and moonrise in the other.


Of course, ten minutes later I was by the side of the road with a flat tire, and enjoying the view far, far less. Life, eh?

Some choice items from the dollar store (which was next door to the tire shop we visited the next day, in case you're wondering why I would go to a dollar store while visiting relatives).

I think you would have to offer me a LOT of money before I would even try this:


And although these drinks were intriguing in various ways, the fact that they were unrefrigerated makes me question the "milk" claim on the right. At least the Havana drink on the left says "Delicious hot or iced", though even that leaves out room temperature, doesn't it?


Now, if people eat animal crackers, what do animals eat?


Another thing I can't fathom.


May I say, taking photos in a dollar store felt a little ... unseemly for some reason. How does one wash out one's camera with soap?

Look at all the green! That should clean things out.


The dafs are coming! And the hyacinths, and crocus...


Yes, Spring is finally getting its rear in gear. The weather has been vastly improved of late, and while it won't last*, I have been enjoying it tremendously.

Not only does it feel wonderful, and smell great, but it looks so pretty:


*I'm not just being pessimistic. Today was mid-eighties, and Sunday is forecast for 60. Enjoy it while it's here!

What. Just. Happened?

Uh.

The Bruins.

Scored 5 goals in the first four games of this series.

Scored 5 goals tonight.

Won game 5 of a best-of-seven series against Montreal, when down in the series 3 games to 1, for the first time in franchise history.

I'm very, very pleased, but even though I watched it, I don't believe it.

What just happened?

Neighbors...

...every bunny needs good neighbors...


I startled this guy when I came home last night. He ran into the neighbors' yard and posed from a distance. I din't know we had bunnies in the neighborhood!

Hockey Thoughts: a Proposed Rule Change

So, the Bruins managed to pull it out Sunday night in OT (yay!), but lost last night (*crickets*). Interestingly enough, if you don't score any goals, you can not win a hockey game. Funny, no? It's impossible. Now they're one loss away from picking up the golf clubs and starting summer (which I might not mind *quite* as much if the weather was, say, summery, but I digress).

I found myself thinking about how different the season could have been if Patrice Bergeron had been available, if he hadn't been out, injured, since October. I won't say that the result Would have been different, but it surely Could have been: losing one of your best players ten games into the season will change a team, and not for the better. I further found myself thinking about numbers.

Tomorrow night, Bergeron will miss his 77th straight game (per the Globe, he can’t return before next week maybe, at the earliest).

Randy Jones was suspended for hitting him (from behind, into the boards, hard enough to [potentially] kill him ) for 2 games.

Two. Two games.

So, here’s my proposal for a rule change: the Parallel Suspension.* In the case of a player injured by the actions of another, when the league is considering disciplinary action on the offending player, that player shall be suspended until the injured player is well enough to play again.

*I'm not the first to come up with this idea. But honestly, why not?

I will add that the league should have the ability to override the otherwise mandatory Parallel Suspension if, in their review, they determine that the player’s actions were not the primary cause of the injury. Nothing I’ve read about the Travis Roy situation, for example, suggests that it was a bad hit, just an incredibly, heinously unlucky one. The player who hit him should not have had his career finished for it. But how often is that the case?

If this rule was in effect now, Randy Jones would still be sitting, watching his team. That would be fine with me. He wouldn't even have to deal with pain and therapy. Even better, maybe he would have thought twice (or heck, once) and stopped himself from hitting another player, another human, in a way that could have broken his neck.

It is of course not possible to say for certain what effect it would have had on Boston if this never happened, or on Philadelphia if Randy Jones was out along with Bergeron. But Jones had 31 points in 71 games this season, and although he has yet to earn a point in the playoffs, his plus-minus is at a plus three, so he is clearly doing something for his team. Bergeron had 7 points in the ten games he played, which projects to 57 points in 82 games. Marc Savard led the team with 78, and in second was Marco Sturm with 56, so you can see what that loss means.

I believe it would be a good rule. The players talk about how they need to respect each other, but obviously some don’t. Maybe this would get their attention.

To play devil's advocate for a moment, some might say that the injured player would stay out (or be held out) of game action even once he was better, in order to further *punish* the offending player. I don’t believe that would be a factor: from what I understand of athletes at this level, they want to play. No mere revenge is going to keep a hockey player off the ice if he has a choice. The best revenge is playing well.

Dear NHL: there you have it. Sound good? I don't want to hear any of this nonsense about considering it or testing it in the minors for a few years first. Just do it. You've proved you can move quickly when you want to ( from A to B in no time flat). Wake up.

***********

Sign of the times (or yes, they're giving up on us now): Game 5 will be on NESN Plus channels, leaving NESN for the Red Sox. (Jess, sorry that you don't get NESN. I lived out of the area for 8+ years, I know your pain!) The reverse happened twice, much to my surprise, but now reality reasserts itself.

***********

Next time I post, I'll put up some signs-of-Spring pictures, or something less depressing. By the way, if I don't fit blogging in tomorrow night, I'm away this weekend, so it'll be next week. Wouldn't want you to worry about me: I'm off to wish my grandmother a happy 94th birthday (for real, this year).

Oh, My Bruins

All I can say right now is, the Bruins are continuing their unfortunate habit of making opposing goalies look really, really good.

They can't all be that good. There are plenty of good goalies in the NHL today, but not great. Not super.

I'm Not having fun.

Why can't they score? Why?

Improving weather, garden thoughts

Slowly, gradually, the days get better. We aren't quite at Sumer is icumen in*, and there are setbacks, but still, it's encouraging. Today was lovely, in fact, and it was wonderful to not wear coat, hat, scarf, and gloves every time I set foot outside. We even ate lunch outside, and it was beautiful, "I don't want to go back in, no, I simply can't" beautiful. I tried (really, I did try) not to dwell on the fact that it isn't going to last. (Le sigh.) It's hard. One step forward, four steps back.

*If you go look at that page, don't miss the parody section. Winter is icumen in, Lhude sing Goddamn!

As the season approaches when the charming work people will be getting the community garden ready, I ran a self-test internally to see whether I was at all over last year's critter disaster, and interested in gardening again. To my own surprise and possibly yours as well, if you recall all the wailing and gnashing of teeth, I am! The thought of growing things makes me smile.

Of course, that assumes that I can grow things, for myself to eat, and not the critter. The garden is fenced, but while it looks critter-impeding to my eye, it has been proven otherwise. So, what to do?

I think the basic thing to do is to get some short fencing of my own and fence off my little plot within the garden. Not that it would keep out a really determined evil critter, but perhaps if I make it harder to get my stuff, the thing will go with the easier target, like a car thief passing by one with an alarm for one without, and eat from other plots instead (sorry, guys; nothing personal).

Next, what to grow. I believe I will bring back last year's cast:

• basil
• green peppers (although maybe not)
• cucumbers
• peas
  

I also want to try plum tomatoes, to go with the yummy pesto that basil brings to my table. Mmm, pesto. And if I can find a catnip plant again, like I did two years ago, I'll get one, since Pan loves fresh catnip, and I can dry some for Harold. (He doesn't "get" fresh catnip, just sniffs it and gives me a blank look, like, "What?")

If any of you have advice, suggestions, or general gardening expertise that you wish to pass on, by all means do so! I might even take it. And no matter how it turns out, whether I follow your advice or realize I should have, I won't blame you a bit. Promise.

I'll blame the critter.

P.S. Repeat after me: Go Bruins!

OMG: Not! That's not me!

No way!

When I saw this blog quiz on what one's name means, I had to try it, even though I figured I wouldn't be able to post it. (What, you thought my parents named me "ccr"?) But once I saw how totally, utterly not me the result was, I saw how I could go into the HTML* and edit the name out. Because this is too funny not to share. Much of it is, in fact, diametrically opposed to me. Wild. Who knew that blog quizzes weren't always correct? ;)

*See how I throw the term around like I understand it? I may know what it stands for, but what it means? Very little, i.e., not at all. Still, enough for this situation!

What (MyRealName) Means

You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily. You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind. A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Not only is it funny how wrong it is about me, but doesn't some of it seem a wee bit, oh, contradictory?

"You are relaxed" versus "you tend to be pretty tightly wound" doesn't quite add up, to me. Of course math was never my favorite subject.

And how can it be true of one person that "It's easy to get you excited" and "You don't get worked up easily"? Hmm? Very interesting.

Forecast: continued mostly grumpy

Now, maybe it's the hormones?

For the last, what, month? I've been blaming the weather for my frequent and grumpy unhappiness. Now today's weather is decent, not fabulous but miles better than most of what we've had lately, so why am I still grumpy?

I know none of you charming people would be so rude as to tell me that I might feel better if I exercised, but in case you were thinking it, I shake my head at you. I have been exercising, consistently and increasingly (and it does nothing for my mood). I may be falling down on the Eat Less part of The Plan, but Exercise More I am doing. In fact, I'm doing more More, based on two "duh" moments I had last week.

I was a little discouraged that I wasn't feeling able to do more than 5 minutes on the bike at a time, still, after two-plus months, when I realized that I could probably manage the 5 minutes twice a day, instead of once. So, a week ago Sunday, I did, with no ill effects. Good!

Then, last Thursday morning, shortly after I woke up, I remembered that I hadn't biked the night before, and decided to try doing it that morning, though I had previously not done the bike in the morning. However, no problem, other than needing to do it with a little time in the schedule before showering (to allow the jelly-legs feeling to diminish). So, I have been doing this most days over the last week (in addition to continuing the twice-daily walks at work), and you know what? The biking, although still not easy, is not quite as obnoxious as it was before.

My first goal was this:

The goal I set was modest, since I don't want to set myself up to fail. I figured that once I get into the rhythm of it, I can up the numbers, but for now, I will try to do five minutes at a time*, at least three weekdays and once over the weekend. This doesn't mean that if I ride on Saturday, I won't ever ride on Sunday, just that if I can't face it, I won't. This week, for instance, I did Monday night, so when I was really tired last night, I didn't make myself. But I will tonight. I just know better than to set the goal of doing it every day. If I do, great, but if not, tomorrow is another day.

*And it's the longest five minutes imaginable. The first minute is fine, the second is okay, the third is not nice, the fourth and fifth never end, and then I stagger to the couch on jelly-legs and collapse. It takes at least ten minutes to want to walk ever again. I'm in such great shape!

I think it's time to up that! I mean, gracious, I can kind of walk around after biking now, and I'm serious that before, I could barely make it to the couch. So: out of a possible 14 bike sessions a week, my new goal is ten. Just looking at the last seven days, I've done 8, and that doesn't count tonight's*, so I think this is doable. The trick is to not feel put-upon, but gradually sneak it in on myself. If that makes any sense.

*And this with my period, thank you very much, would have been the perfect excuse but I still did well.

I am also going to try six minutes at a time, though I reserve the right to go back to five if six is too much.

And I'm trying to get back onto the Eat Less part, having sickened myself with how quickly those Jelly Bellys vanished, but I'm doing it gradually, very gradually. I'm still grumpy, remember? Hunger won't help that.

One thing that's made me laugh recently: this video*.

*And by the way, do NOT go to the web address on the screen when it starts up. Whew! I haven't closed a window that fast in I don't know how long. I don't know what the connection is between the graphically naked woman and this video, but I think I'd like to stay ignorant, you know. Ouch, my eyes.

The kid's joy, and laugh, are infectious, and I even love how much the dad is loving it. Laugh out loud.



But since I can't listen to it 24/7, it isn't the total cure.

Well, hai ... um, how you doin?

There are quite a few things I want to write about, though of course you may not want much detail about how the cramps have been sucking my energy into a big black hole for the last few days (and before that, I blame PMS). However, for tonight I'm not going into much detail, because I'm so tired that I'm hitting about one wrong key in ten, which doesn't seem like much until you have to go back and correct where you typed "rdetail" and then correct where you started to do "tiped" and maybe bed should come sooner, not later. But let me just say, not only did the Bruins make the playoffs for the first time in several years, but Patrice Bergeron has been cleared for full-contact practices and may be able to play in the playoffs, AND! The Red Sox game on Thursday is going to be shown on auxiliary channels, while the Bruins game stays on NESN. I almost can't believe it, but so says the Globe and it isn't April first any more, so I think they may mean it. Just last week we got bumped for them, so this seems surreal.

But in a good way.

What else can I give you? How about this?


Happy dog.

A blog quiz hurt my feelings

Yes, as mentioned before, I can be absurdly oversensitive (number five). And when I say this quiz hurt my feelings, I don't mean I'm going to cry myself to sleep about it. However, my mouth may have dropped open upon seeing the results. Sigh. I am such a child. Apparently.

Another blog I read, Book Trout, posted about his results in The Blog Readability Test. He was a little surprised, but in a good way, that his blog was rated at Genius reading level.

Now, I enjoy a little meaningless blog quiz as much as the next blogger, and probably more than some. What is my regional accent, what movie character am I, whatever, it can be fun. Over I clicked, and plugged in my blog's name.

And?



Really?

Elementary?

Don't I use enough big words? I would have said I did...

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I don't blog for two days and I feel like I've missed telling you a lot. (I missed you. Did you miss me? You missed a lot of whining, at least.) I did, in fact, finish the first sock on Monday night. Sound the trumpets!


However, despite doing my best to cast off loosely, the top edge is a little uncomfortable. I think I'll be ripping out the bind-off and a row or two, and binding off even more loosely. I did bind off over two needles, but I think if I use a larger needle, I'll be even happier with the result. And I am pretty happy with it as is!

Plus, I like the way the edge ruffles.


It did that all by itself. Isn't it clever?

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Here's something I wanted to share, since I get the feeling most of you aren't necessarily hockey fans, and I don't know that they play this during anything but hockey games. It's a commercial from the NHL, and what I like is how they've put together scenes from many different games, different eras, kids, pond hockey, but managed to make the flow look like it's continuous action and only the camera angle is changing.



I like the music, too.

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The other thing I've been doing while I was not blogging for a whole 48 hours? Look what I found at Target:


It's an experiment. I thought perhaps, having eaten many, many of these over the course of a week, if I can just get to the "enough" point, I could be cured.

And you know the best part? Aside from eating them, of course? Look what's on the back:


All the little flavors. I can try to guess whether I'm about to eat peanut or caramel apple. I am in serious danger of conducting geeky experiments with flavors, because really, what's the taste difference between Lemon and Lemon Drop? Strawberry Daiquiri and Strawberry Jam? Stay tuned...