Brief Text, Mostly Pictures.

Even with the gift of an extra hour today, the end of the weekend comes too soon. I have accomplished quite a bit, but goodness, am I tired. I vacuumed, and ran the dishwasher, and did laundry, and there was some shopping in there too. The used bookstore brought me what looks to be another good one: How do you like a book titled, "Elope, If You Must"? Me, too. Had to give that one a try.

Also, can you explain how I found a pair of Old Navy corduroy trousers (for $2.99, thank you Savers) in size 18 that fit me, while the ones I found a few visits ago in size 20, also Old Navy, are too small? That's just messed up.

I did 10 minutes on the bike tonight, which after all the stairs for the laundry is all I can manage. And I did do another 10 minutes last night after the first, so there's that. So far, so achy. I also set up the scale so that I can weigh myself weekly. Oddly enough, I weigh a few pounds less than I expected to. Going by the fit of my clothing, I haven't lost any weight, so that's odd. We'll see what happens.

I don't seem to be achieving any coherent thought, so let's fall back on photos, shall we?

Happy West Wing birthday to me!

 

I don't think I would have bought my father a Giants Santa hat anyway, but I wish I could tease him with it.

At first glance, I thought lobster, then, hesitantly, scorpion. Do you think? But if you tilt your head to the left, do you see it?

A dinosaur in enormous carpet slippers?

No? Just me, then?

(Un)clean House, Bike Thinking, Hockey(ish)

So, today was my first Groupon-sourced house cleaning, and I'm sure you're dying to know what it was like to enter a sparkling-clean home!

So am I. They didn't show up.

So! Anticlimax. I haven't heard back yet with a reason, or at the very least an apology. They were due at 11; at 11:15, I called and left a voice-mail; at 11:30, I used the "schedule an appointment" form on their website to let them know that IF they can explain why no one showed up, and IF they can promise it won't happen again, I'll reschedule; if not, I'll ask Groupon for my money back.

Since I respect punctuality as well as professionalism, I was bothered by the incident, but I recognize that it could be for a valid reason, and will wait to see what they say. The part that bothered me the most was that I had popped Carlos in the carrier to be ready to take him out to the car, and though he was an angel about it, I'm still sorry that he sat there for half an hour for no reason.

What did I do?

Further updates as events warrant. Meanwhile, I guess I have to vacuum this weekend after all.

*****
An update to yesterday's musings on using the stationary bike: in today's BoingBoing, I saw a link to this video about a guy who rode his bike over 3000 miles in a year.

Now, let me say that it may very well not have been all the exercise he was doing, but that's not the point of inspiration, is it? Anything that incites me to keep it up is a good thing. Plus, two points he made caught my attention in particular.

First, the idea that easy access to equipment is a key point:

Second, addressing the bike-inside versus real bike issue:

Too many excuses! Preach it, brother.

I didn't ride the bike last night, but I've done ten minutes already today, and will try to do it again later. Baby steps.

*****
In more entertaining news, the minor league hockey team the Kalamazoo Wings is having an 80s Night. How do I know, given that they're in Michigan, hundreds of miles away?

Because they made this wonderful "cover" of the Wham hit Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. Must watch! Smile!

There, wasn't that fun?

Back Here and There

First: Back at the weekend, hooray!

Back on the bike
I did get on the bike again last night (pause for applause), for 12 minutes this time. Build up to real time, right? I had to pause part way through, because after I dropped my yarn, I didn't notice at first that it was wrapping around a pedal. All the exercisers have this problem, right? Knitting and biking aren't so compatible, it's true, but if that's what it takes to get me on the bike, I'll make it work. I don't like riding the bike*, of course: it's boring and uncomfortable, and I get sweaty and breathless and achy, and why go through all that when nothing positive happens, right? But it does have the advantage of being in my home, ready whenever I am. For that matter, it's free, and not just "already paid for" but "free hand-me-down, let me deliver it to you" free.

*I like the idea of riding outdoors, on a nice day, in a pretty area, but for regular exercise that's a fantasy, in this part of the world anyway. You know I'm not stoic.

I appreciate the "in my home, ready whenever I am" part now more than before, because, the Y. Oh, the Y. Over two weeks after I toured it, I keep not going to the Y, even for my free trial week. I've thought about it, planned on it, tried on my swimsuit and put it, with a towel and flip flops, in a bag in the car ... and I haven't gone, largely because my schedule, aka life, gets in the way of synching with its schedule (the pool schedule, specifically). I'm still pondering the issue, because the bottom line is that if it isn't simple I won't do it. I tried putting it on my calendar, to plan ahead and get used to the idea of fitting it in, and I can't take it. My calendar in October is already such a stressful thing, and this was not making November any easier for me to face. Do you know how long I've been trying to fit in an oil change? I'm usually early for those, and it's been weeks. If exercise planning raises my blood pressure more than exercising lowers it...

 

So, could I get to the point where the biking is enough exercise? How much is enough*? I have read about the benefits of making something (that you don't want to do, I mean) part of your everyday schedule, thus removing the deal-making procrastination, and I think for me, exercise is one of those instances when I'd have to make it every day. It's just too easy, if I say I'll do it three or four times a week, to say "not tonight" on any given night. If, however, I set myself the goal of at least 15 minutes every day, say, and then a couple of times a week work up to doing more (half an hour?), that would have to be good, right? Would it have any noticeable effect? I want to think it would, but there's that definition of insanity again.

*Don't answer, I know: it depends. Well, do answer if you have a better answer!

 

Back on the smoothie bandwagon 

A few years ago, I was making smoothies regularly, enough that on a visit to my parents, I converted my mother to the habit, but over time I sort of stopped (and she went on making them, actually, so some good came out of that). I was talking to someone about them recently, and decided I should try to pick up that habit again, and get more fruit into my diet. I finally started toward the end of September, and man, they are good. Kind of a pain, with the clean-up*, but yum. I make them pretty simple: start with (usually orange) juice, add some non-fat vanilla yogurt, slice in a banana, then add frozen fruit. Strawberries are my favorite, but I also got some peaches, and those are good too. In the past I've tried raspberries (and found them too seedy) and blueberries, which I remember not liking too much although of course seeds weren't the issue, and I'm sure I tried others that I'm not thinking of now. Pineapple, I remember, did not blend well. Mixed berries are a nice change, but strawberries are still my favorite.

*Strawberries are delicious but the seeds are so tenacious. I need staff, really I do; it would make all this healthy nonsense much easier.

 

One thing that makes me feel less like a grown-up, though, is carrying my 24-ounce Tervis Tumbler with the Bruins logo and bright yellow top, filled with pink or yellow slush, among people carrying sleek traveling mugs of coffee. Oh well. I should give up on feeling like a grown-up, I guess.

One funny thing is that the first week, I was making just the right amount to fill the glass, and then I was making too much. The only difference is that, since I got a really big bag of frozen strawberries at Costco, I'm not pouring them in, but taking them from the bag (since hoisting a 6-pound bag up seemed unnecessary). Weird that I can eyeball it one way and not the other, though. One morning, I poured too much in the glass, so when I put the top on, a big blob went {splort} onto my shirt. I was Not Amused. This was, in fact, one of those moments when it's better that I live alone, for anyone trying to talk to me (or, god forbid, laugh at what happened) would have seen this face:

I'm doing a bit better with the amounts now, but I try to remember to make the smoothie before my shower. Just to be safe.

 

Back to better mental health

I've tried not to worry about Carlos's health before the facts were in, while there was nothing I could do. The test results were inconclusive, so we went to the next step, and he had his ultrasound today--and nothing bad turned up. May I be the first to wish you a Happy No Tumor Day? We are celebrating with treats here, but feel free to choose your own celebratory method. Unfortunately, that leaves us with the "blood in the urine, no known cause" thing, so he's getting another two weeks of antibiotics for insurance, and he'll get the urine checked again in a few months, and we'll see. I have taken to reminding him that he needs to live, if not forever, then at least many many years, and he's smart enough not to argue with me.

What a good boy. 

Disjointed Thoughts

• I can already tell that I will be apologizing to the cleaners on Saturday and assuring them that I understand the clutter will impede their ability to fully clean.
• While I appreciate the companies that managed to hold off on the full-bore Christmas push until Halloween went by, it's a little disconcerting to have Christmas advertising be everywhere all of a sudden, like a switch flipped. Yesterday pumpkins, today mistletoe, boom.
• I have come to the realization that my physical body, the infrastructure, believes we live in an era when we would expect to die by 45 or 50. Since I am hoping to considerably outlast that, it's a little depressing to be so achy and creaky already.
• Learn something new every day: I was reading about prostate cancer recently, and ran across a reference to "indolent clinical courses" that I didn't quite understand. It turns out that there's a medical definition for indolent. How about that?
• causing little or no pain: an indolent cyst
• slow to heal: an indolent ulcer
• inactive or slowly developing: an indolent tumor
• Sometimes when I'm reading stuff for work, it reminds me of reading in a foreign language: I can sound out the words, the way I would in French, but that doesn't mean that I understand what it means. Science is its own language.
• How to carry belongings and purchases at Rhinebeck is a challenge I have not quite mastered yet, and this year's plans left me with unbelievably sore arms. A backpack seems like it would work, but if you knew how many times I got clouted by someone's backpack when they turned without accounting for the added depth ... not that I can exactly blame them, I did it myself more than once when I did sling my bag onto my back to give my arms a break. It's just impossible to avoid, no matter how good your intentions, in a crowd of that size and concentration. Some people brought wheeled shopping bags, which are similarly not ideal. I don't know if there is an ideal solution, to be honest. 
• On a whim, I picked up a tube of "caramel brûlé chocolate bites" at Starbucks, and wow. It is all I can do not to go back and buy ten more, because what if it is only going to be there for fall?! It will be gone and what will I do? Dangerously good. I may have picked up more on subsequent visits.
• Speaking of which, I did manage ten minutes on the bike last night, though it took knitting AND watching the Bruins rerun to get me through the ennui/exhaustion. Good times. 
• I will try to do that again tonight, but, did you read the first point here?
• I have things to do!

Calendar Moments, Health Thoughts

I looked at the calendar this morning and it really hit me that Thanksgiving is in three weeks. No, really, it is! Sorry if you didn't realize, but it's on the early side this year. Perhaps I should be grateful that we have ours in November, not October, the way our neighbors to the north do (any Canadians reading?): October has been such a blur, as it is every year, and when I contemplate November, well. Here it is already, ready or not.

I hope my November will be a tad less crazy than October. That doesn't seem like too much to ask for. I'm still feeling a little over-stretched today, to be honest, and though you haven't asked, I'll tell you that I haven't gone back to the Y yet. Partly their schedule, partly mine, and only a little I-don't-wanna, really.

I did go for a walk on Sunday, thirty minutes* of striding and puffing and not stopping even up a moderate hill. (I didn't bring my camera, so I wasn't able to stop for all the tempting photo opportunities; this is key for me.) And the amount of laundry I got through over the weekend made for a lot of stairs. But I know I need to get to the Y, and I should be using the stationary bike in my living room as more than a clothes hanger. I don't wanna do that either, but these last few pounds I've gained are past my tipping point, plus my doctor is displeased with my blood pressure**. Sigh. Aging sucks.
*And even after that short amount, the soles of my feet were slightly tender. I have such wimpy feet. Walking as the sole method of exercise will not work for me.

**First time I've ever had that kind of trouble, and I'd rather avoid medication if I can, I guess.

After work tonight, though I didn't get to the Y, I went to Wilson's and loaded up on healthy foods. Have to have them around in order to eat them, right? I had a salad for dinner, not a common happening for me, and it was pretty good. I also got cider, and I'm going to try it in my smoothie and see how I like that.

The cashier at Wilson's was in training, checking with the bagger for which codes to enter, and my, but it seems like a lot of numbers to learn. She would guess on some, though she wasn't usually right, but when she got to the star fruit, she said simply, "I don't even know what that is." And when my mother reads this, she will boggle at the idea that I buy star fruit, since she has a friend who gives them away by the bag from the tree in her yard, and Mum doesn't even like them! I like them well enough, for once in a while. I guess today was that day.
Another Wilson story: I was at a Starbucks recently and someone asked me if I got my bag at Wilson's. I said, "Uh, no?" before I realized what she meant, and she was right: Wilson Leather, not Wilson Farms!

Healthy food to end the day, a cleaning at the dentist to start it ... you'd hardly know it was Halloween, would you?

*****

I had an even happier calendar moment today, or rather calendar/map moment, when I was considering my trip to Webs on Nov 10th (to see Franklin Habit, yay), and realized that on the way back, I could swing in to the Wegmans in Northborough by barely going out of my way. Wooo! Wegmans! I am going to be one happy (and worn out) camper by the time I get home that night.

*****
File this one under both The Kitchen is a Dangerous Place and under I Am Amazingly Clumsy: I managed to give myself a "paper" cut on a piece of tin foil. Yes! It can be done! Without even trying, might I add. It's on the palm of my hand, halfway between the base of the thumb and the first finger. That's going to be all sorts of awkward, I can tell already.

All right, I'm going to watch the Bruins rerun on TV (god bless you, NESN) and move the clothes off the bike. Maybe I'll even ride for a few minutes!

Life Moves On (the Clean House Edition)

I actually did go into work this afternoon, after learning that a few others had made it in, and I had no trouble. There were branches down here and there, but not on the road, and other than feeling a little jumpy about it, and one traffic light that was blinking yellow instead of three-color, I found it a pretty normal drive. There are still plenty of people without power (and oh, am I grateful to have mine), but for me, life has gone back to normal pretty quickly. I went to acupuncture tonight, I have a dentist appointment in the morning ... stuff. Life. With an extra dose of gratitude for its normality.

And what's on my mind, post-storm? It's actually something out of the ordinary for me: house cleaning. Last month, I saw a Groupon deal for house cleaning, and decided to bite the bullet and get it. I'm not a good housekeeper; I'm too lazy to do much around the place, and that means that the corners start getting furry long before I get around to doing anything about them. I doubt I'll become a regular client, but the occasional deeper clean would be a Good Thing. The deal is for two sessions (it cost a total of $89, and I suppose I should tip on top of that, right? anyone know what's standard?), and I booked the first for this Saturday.

So what does this mean? First, I have some tidying to do! I used to laugh at my mother when I was a kid and she was tidying up for the cleaning lady. Now, of course, I understand better that in order to clean it, they have to be able to get at it. (Whatever it is.) And to be honest, a little external motivation to tidy up isn't a bad thing for me. There are things about living alone (well, without other humans) that I very much enjoy, but there's a line between 'enjoy' and 'abuse' that I don't want to cross. No, I don't have to do the dishes the instant they're dirty, but how long do I want to leave them? Even if there are other things I'd rather be doing?

Each session is supposed to be two hours, and I'm planning to bring Carlos out to the car and hang out with him there. Miri's on her own, I'm afraid; I'm just not willing to shed blood to catch her, and honestly being caught and then being with me in the car, even with it unmoving, would likely stress her out as much as playing hide-and-seek with the cleaners will.

Do you have outside help with cleaning, or anything else? What's your experience been?

I'm Fine. Are You?

As you can see, the cats are very stressed by the storm.

I feel very fortunate to have come through the storm unscathed. The wind and rain yesterday afternoon felt like being in a giant car wash, and when the power flicked off around 4, I thought that was it for me, but it came right back on and stayed. This morning the sun is shining, part of the time at least, and there's hardly a breath of wind. We may have water in the basement, I haven't checked yet, but even the trash cans that blew away were dragged back this morning by a neighbor, and the regular trash pickup has already happened. Counting blessings very much, here.

How are you?

Home, and Safe for Now

So, as planned, I went into the office and worked this morning. Must say, as a silver lining to this storm, the commute was nice! I came home at lunch time, and found that, surprise, surprise, my document didn't want to play nicely on my old version of Word. So sad that I have to take some time off! Such a shame, really. I popped some popcorn to celebrate.

So for now, all's fine here. It's a bit rainy* and veryveryvery windy, trash cans blowing down the street and all, but other than that... Apparently there are already 50,000 in MA who have lost power; my guess is that's mostly along the coast. I hope I keep mine; Carlos is already mad at me for closing the window--his window--and if the heated bed loses heat, I don't imagine he'll be pleased!
*Like going through the car wash more than anything else.

Anyway, I feel like I'd better get this up while I have power. Hopefully after the storm is done, my biggest annoyance will still be missing stitch and bitch tonight--if that's the case, I'll feel very lucky!

Only a Week Later: Rhinebeck, Day Two

Yes, it is finally time to get to last Sunday at Rhinebeck. It's been so crazy around here, somehow, though it's the kind of crazy that, if I list all the things, doesn't sound like it should be that crazy ... but it makes me crazy, so I declare that it IS crazy. There.

When I covered Day One, I brought us up to dinner Saturday night at the good old Eveready Diner, which I highly recommend if you're in that area. We went from there back to the motel (we had run down to check in before dinner), and there was a note on one room door asking me to come to the office. I went along, and the woman there asked if there was any way we could use two rooms instead of three. Wise One and her Niece were sharing, and New Knitter and I had mutually agreed not to (you know I love to save money, but the quiet time is worth a lot to me; and then, she was getting over the flu, and still coughing, which made it seem an even better decision)(Never Comes to Meetings, by the way, was added to our group after I reserved our rooms, so she got one on her own). The motel woman said that she'd over-booked, she couldn't find another room at any motel nearby, and she was begging me to give up a room. I tried not to give in, but not only was she so imploring*, I felt bad at the thought of someone coming to the motel for a reserved room and being told that they were SOL. Then what would you do?
*Apparently next year, we will be getting "the best rooms". This motel is pretty basic, and I'm curious just how nice the best rooms can be!

So I ended up sharing the room with Wise One and her Niece, which actually had three beds (since I am not sharing a bed, no compromise there), and it was fine, just not the quiet rejuvenation I had planned. Though I do wonder where the young get all that energy! Niece stopped talking eventually, sure .. when she was asleep.

But it really was fine, and we talked a bit before falling into exhausted sleep: all that walking around, fresh air, and the yarn highs just wore me out! And seriously, my arms were already sore by Saturday night, and only got more so on Sunday. I'm a wimp.

Sunday morning, we packed up, checked out, and had breakfast back at the diner, then drove north to the festival. Like the last few years, we saw some great old cars going the other way on our drive. Fantastic! And then we were back in heaven. Before I go on, here are a few pictures from Saturday that I didn't get into the Day One recap. The license plate of someone with a Boston accent:

Alternately, it could be Lobstah, but never with the R!

We'd been talking in the car about the idea of being a yarn snob, so I had to get a photo of the "micron snob" mug.

And another mug that I liked, "Live, Love, Llamas".

In the award display area, this man was demonstrating a pendulum wheel: the dangling part on the left really did swing back and forth. Since I don't understand how modern spinning wheels work, really, I didn't even try to follow what he was saying about this one, but it was pretty cool. Needs its own room, though!

Right, now, Sunday! I didn't go around the animal barns very much this year; see last year's post if you miss all those pictures. But there were a few, of course. Bunnies, for instance, this one:

And that one:

And one sheep picture, since I don't think it's legal to write about Rhinebeck without one:

What curls!

I did make it to the punkin chuckin', which I hadn't realized was a competition between local school teams (high school and college). They were quite serious about it, in their hard hats.

It was fun, but I didn't stay long. By mid-day Sunday, I was in an advanced enough state of tired that staying still for too long would have led in short order to "not moving again", and there were still things I wanted to see. Could I have forgiven myself if I didn't get to see this creative sock display? I think not.

And I did swing through the llama barn, too:

 Eyeliner, darling, all the llamas wear it.

And, yes, I bought more yarn. I finally photographed it today, though the lighting was not ideal. Better than no pictures, anyway!

Here's the complete haul, yarn-wise:

Not bad, eh? I had a good time! New Knitter asked on the way home how long it would take me to knit it all, and my guess was that if I knit only from this (which of course will not be happening), it would last me a year. Maybe? Who knows.

Moving on to specifics, there's the Socks That Rock I showed you already, two skeins of lightweight ("single cell dating pool" and "puddle of bleu", specifically), most likely destined to be socks:

And the skein of mediumweight, which I plan to use for Drin's ribbed mitts pattern (it'll make more than one pair, we'll see how long that takes me).

This colorway is called Tempest, and it's a nice dark teal sort of color.

On Sunday, I couldn't resist one more skein, in heavyweight this time. Look at the yellow! "Saffron surprise".

I don't know if this will be thicker socks, or if I'll make something else with it. I just couldn't say no to that color.

I got another skein at The Fold's booth, and it's my big splurge, but when I touched it, and touched a shawl made from it, well, no contest. There were some gorgeous saturated colors, but I went with a more neutral shade, with an eye to being able to wear it more flexibly. This is from The Grinning Gargoyle, and it is ...

Yes, 100% mink. Mink! Unbelievably soft.

Pictures cannot express it, I'm afraid, but if you're on the fence about getting it, then do so! I haven't worked with it yet, but the feel of the yarn itself is amazing.

Now, more lovely sock yarns.

This one is a purply sort of blue, and (you can say this about everything I got) so soft!

Merino, nylon, and cashmere.

The same blend as the Sock Dream from Periwinkle Sheep, which I showed you previously:

And the same as this one:

And again, this one:

AND the same as this one! Are you sensing a theme, here?

Then this one is merino and nylon, no cashmere, still so soft:

A couple of yarns actually are not sock-weight, if you can believe it. Lovely autumn colors in blue-face leicester, DK weight.

And this one, the colors that speak to me so much. Merino-tencel, handpaint.

I got three different brands of sock needles, in hopes that one will feel more pointy than the others:

I got the little project bag, which I'm using now, and also picked up some super-fun buttons at The Fold's booth.

All very true!

And as you can see a hint of in the project bag photo, progress is being made on the latest sock. I did the heel flap last Wednesday, and turned it Thursday, and on we go. Fun wide stripes and bright colors as the daylight dwindles.

Also working on Christmas knitting, thus un-show-able, but happy with it, so that's good news.

So that's Rhinebeck and all along with it. Back in the present day for now, I'm trying to determine what this storm is going to mean for me. Reports are very mixed, with representation from both the "we're all going to diiiiieeeeee!" side and the "whatever, wind and rain, you people are wimps" side. It's hard to know who to believe.

One report I read said that for my kind of area, being inland from the coast, wind and rain will be the extent of it, but there's going to be a lot of wind, which may cause further problems like power outages even with our distance from coastal flooding areas. On the other hand, schools are already announcing that they're closing tomorrow, and the governor is asking businesses to close Monday as well; I guess the worst of the storm will be Monday afternoon, and they don't want people stuck.

My boss forwarded on an e-mail from the management people of our office park, so I'll be able to check before I go in the morning that they're going to be open; for now, they're planning to. However, the boss recommends we either work from home (not easy for the three of us without laptops, of course), or plan to take a personal day (or two, since Tuesday may not be good either). I'll probably go in for the morning, then bring work home, unless anything changes drastically before then. I just don't know; I guess I'll have to play it as it comes.

I have plenty of food and water, I've caught up on the laundry and showered and the dishwasher is running, so I'm pretty much ready for it, whatever it turns out to be. 

To be honest, what's bothering me the most is that stitch and bitch is probably out for tomorrow night. Rats.

Stormy Weather

A while back, I signed up with Boston.com to receive "Breaking News" alerts in my e-mail, and in retrospect I ought to have started counting from the beginning how many of what they consider important enough to be an alert related to the Red Sox (general answer: a lot). Today's alert had me laughing, though. Here's the subject line of the e-mail:

Now, if you didn't know that the governor's name is Deval Patrick, and that the mega-storm bearing down on the state is named Sandy, wouldn't that be funny?

Then, after laughing and copying that for the blog, I went to read the story, since it is actually news that might affect me. And I had to laugh again at this part, where you have to understand that the "she" in the line is a National Weather Service meteorologist:

This combination of forces has prompted some to dub the hurricane “Frankenstorm.” That is not a term that the National Weather Service endorses, she said.

No! You don't say! They don't officially call it Frankenstorm? And yet they give it the oh-so-threatening name "Sandy"? No sense of humor, I tell you.

I'm hoping to be back here finishing up my Rhinebeck story later tonight or tomorrow, but for now, the laundry is too loud to ignore. If we do lose power, I'd better have clean clothes!

Little Typing, but Fun Hockey Links

My hands are having a bad day, for whatever reason (I don't think 15 minutes of knitting last night did it, though it did accomplish a heel turn on the latest sock), so I'm not going to finish Rhinebeck tonight. Let me pander to the fellow hockey-starved tonight instead.

When I lived in Charlotte, NC lo these many years ago (seriously, ten years since I moved, how is that possible?), the minor league Checkers were my team, as I could only follow the Bruins from afar so much in those pre-Internet days. [My mother mailed me the stories from the newspaper in 2004, that's how old-school we were! ;)] Checkers games were a lot of fun, and though they never replaced the Bruins in my heart, I was happy to see the team again in this video (though looking quite different since their uniforms now proclaim them to be a Hurricanes farm team), drumming up business for their new season by covering the Vanilla Ice classic, Ice Ice Baby.


Though it did make me want to listen to, not the Vanilla Ice "original", but to the song whose music he ripped off. I give you Under Pressure, by Queen with David Bowie.


There, that's better. Now, back to hockey!

Another minor league team that I feel some mild alliance to is the Florida Everblades, since I've been to a game with my mother. I loved this story from Puck Daddy about the creative way an ad agency is advertising on the (and this is key) visitor's bench at the arena.

Very nice! And do click through on the story link to see the picture of what the exterminator's ad says, too. You don't have to tell me that Truly Nolen is creative, since I'm used to seeing their fun cars around southwest Florida, but well played, indeed.

Back here again--I got to watch part of game 6 in the 2011 Montreal series last night on NESN (so I knew they lost that one, and could go to bed before the end), and tonight I got to see the third period and OT of that game 7, with the Bruins winning in overtime, which was still pretty exciting, even almost a year and a half later and knowing the outcome. Jack was so excited! Which brings me to a recent video find via Bruins fan blog Stanley Cup of Chowder. In past years, they've titles posts "Monday Morning Skate" and so on; this year, they switched to "Monday Mourning Skate" which is sadly more fitting.

What is the video, you ask? All Jack Edwards! Ah, the manic laughter, "cry me a river," the ode to the composite stick, "snowball 1, hell 0" ... love it!

The end, and his ramble, isn't as much fun, but the first 5+ minutes had me smiling and laughing. My hockey!

Some other fun videos, if that isn't enough (Youtube is a rabbit hole):
Tyler Seguin scored his first goal in Boston, it's against Toronto, and the crowd taunts, "Thank you, Kessel".

Highlights of Patrice Bergeron in 2011-2012. This had me beaming fondly at the computer.

In (from dinner) and Out (to watch hockey on TV)

News in the world of book publishing today is that Penguin and Random House are discussing a merger. Since I no longer work in a book-related field, this doesn't have a huge impact on me, but I bring it up because it led to this chunk of awesomeness from author John Scalzi (via BoingBoing):

YES! PLEASE! I would like to order a book from Random Penguin, please.

Now, I have an update from Tuesday night. I signed off that night to go watch the Bruins rerun on TV, and before bedtime, I was ready to take back the nice things I'd said about NESN. I turned on the TV at 7 to see my hockey panacea, and they were doing a "special" NESN Daily because the Red Sox announced their new manager. Maybe, I said to myself, they'll just delay the hockey for half an hour for this ... but no, at 8:30 it was still going on. Actually, I think they were re-running the same 30 minutes of programming over and over, since when I checked back on the half-hours, each intro was very like the last, but I may not be right on that. All the same, it was rather a crushing blow. Hit a fan when she's down, why don't you? But tonight, there's a game on after all, so Carlos and I are off to watch that. Later, y'all!

Not More Rhinebeck (Yet)

The good news about today is that my migraine did not come back. The bad news is that the headache of my day was Microsoft-based, and it was a pretty bad work day. Still better than the migraine the day before! But not by much, and tomorrow doesn't look great either. The good news about that is that the report in question absolutely positively we mean it this time has to be done by the end of the day Thursday, so that it is on its way to India for them to do their thing on Friday. Which means tomorrow will very likely suck, but then that stressor will be off my desk, in whatever state it's in.

This report was originally supposed to be finished in July, and I don't thing one single thing along the way has gone right the first time. A corrupted file and hours of work lost today is the least of it, really. But I'm glad I had knitting tonight, with casual conversation and showing off Rhinebeck yarns, to re-set me for tomorrow.

So, no more about Rhinebeck tonight. Tomorrow may not work either, but we'll see when we get there. Meanwhile, if you have a few minutes, go look at the Globe's Big Picture feature today: all balloons! There are some really cool photos there.