Faking the Fourth

I watched part of the Boston Pops concert on Monday night, as you may recall, but I turned the TV off long before it was fireworks time: I like fireworks, but they're better in person and I needed my sleep. Not to mention that I haven't forgiven the organizers for changing The Way We Do These Things in order to pander to the national audience. (The order is SUPPOSED TO BE: concert including patriotic singalong, 1812 Overture with cannons, and immediately into the fireworks. World without end amen.) All this is a roundabout way of saying that this morning's Globe story was news to me, and I am fit to be tied.

It turns out that the fireworks were not scenic enough, impressive enough, something enough for CBS, what with their annoying location being so far from Boston's famous landmarks. So they did what any moronic insufferable foolhardy creative network would do, and "dubbed" the shots of the fireworks over footage of Fenway Park, the state house, and other landmarks that were inconveniently far from the river, or facing the wrong way, or the other side of Beacon Hill. Why show reality, when it can be improved upon? (As one of the comments on the story said, then why show real fireworks at all? Go for CGI, it's "better".)

Sputter.

Stop it! People watch the Boston fireworks because of what they are, and where they are is part of what they are, and stop it stopstopstop!

Ohhh, I'm going to bed. What a world.

Again With the Not Much Actual Content

Cats are cats, whether they're ten-pound house cats or much, much bigger. They have their grace and their dignity, and they startle easily.






PS
If you're an NHL fan, you really want to check out this NHL fan flow chart. Which team should you root for? It cracked me up!

Look Out, I Feel Random!

It's that time again! Time for posting a random collection of odds and bobs! Welcome back ...

Inside My Brain!

(Am I overselling? If you make it to the end, tell me what you think.)

One:
A Most Ridiculous Item, courtesy of the Unclutterer blog:
Please never buy this. Please. Go peel the bark off a stick in the backyard the way you're supposed to.

Two:
Dave Barry recently blogged a letter from a fan who reported that when wearing one of his Dave Barry for President shirts, she was asked not only who Dave was, but if he won.

Arg.

Three:
In a happy confluence of hockey and knitting* comes a story of how historically famous goalie Jacques Plante used to knit to relax, as well as because “I can’t get what I want in the stores.”

*Considering that they quote from a book, it's practically my perfect story. All it needs is a cat!

Four:
These poor people lost their house to a tornado, but the federal government sent them a letter that said:

"Based on your FEMA inspection, we have determined that the disaster has not caused your home to be unsafe to live in"

O RLY?

My tax dollars at work. Sigh.

Five:
Speaking of tornadoes, the path of the one(s) that recently went across Massachusetts can be seen from space.


Six:
The Globe's Big Picture feature had photos of the volcanic eruption in Chile last month. Have you ever seen the like?


Click on it to see it bigger! Then go look at the other pictures. Don't miss more lightning in photos 22 and 27.

Okay, I think six is a good random number for tonight. Have a pleasant day/night/time period, wherever you are. (Now I want s'mores.)

A Little More 4th

My favorite part of last night's Pops concert (and granted, I didn't watch all of it) was their debut of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.



How can you not love the Pops headbanging?! (Starting at 3:27 in this video.) I wish Freddie Mercury could have seen it.

I think the in-the-crowd perspective shows, better than the TV broadcast did, how the crowd was singing along, though last night I did like seeing the closeups of the electric guitar player, who is a little obscured in this version.

If you need a refresher on the Queen version:



Or, for that matter, the headbanging from the Wayne's World version (banging starts at 1:10):



And if you didn't get enough of The Stars and Stripes Forever this weekend, there's a flash mob in the supermarket version now, too.

You May Think That This is the End

I was at the house of friends today for a 4th of July cookout, and sat smiling at these flowers for a few minutes before I realized that they are, in fact, red, white, and blue.





So happy 4th from the flowers!

And from the cats, who spent most of the day as one might expect:



But I'm sure that they were feeling the national holiday, really. Deep inside.

...

Who am I kidding? Every day is a holiday to these guys.

**********
Oh, the title of the blog post? Well, the 4th makes me think of Stars and Stripes Forever, which naturally leads to Be Kind to Your Web Footed Friends.

Naturally.

I can't leave without putting in the 1812 overture, naturally, but there's also this awesome firework alternative:



And the finale:

Clichés are Clichés for a Reason

It really isn't the heat, it's the humidity! Today was only a windows-open day if I was planning to sit on the couch reading, and occasionally raising a cloth to dab at my brow. For me to get anything done today, it was an air conditioning day. This always makes me a little sad, but this morning I broke a sweat sitting and talking on the phone: it's humid. I do feel grateful to have air conditioning. (And now the windows are open again. It's humid in here, but not more than I can stand.)

And not to have a headache! Feeling grateful for that always makes me a little sad, since it shows how much headaches muck up my life, but it's true. Not having one is a gift.

So what have I been doing today, you ask? Well, laundry for one--the stairs are a bit much, but it's nice and cool in the basement. The sweater is (ulp) washed and laid on its rack to dry. It seems to have come through the experience all right, though I don't want to handle it much while it's wet, so I don't really know for sure. Solution: put the rack in the corner and try not to think about it. The weather has certainly passed into the realm of too-hot-to-wear-it, so there's no rush.

I'm also doing some closet clean-out, since I have way more clothes than I ever wear, and I want the space back. Some are things I don't love, some don't fit, but in any case, I can take a lot to the Salvation Army without feeling the pinch. I mostly tend to wear the same 10% of what I own anyway, so I may as well let someone else get some use out of the rest. I didn't think to take a "before" picture of the very overcrowded closet, but trust me when I tell you that I can see the difference.

Food for thought this afternoon:
Is it wrong to wish that the rain storm currently threatening would come in, so that the kids next door would go in and stop with the almighty never-ending basketball bouncing already?

The last month or two have been so crazy, and one of the casualties is that I never wrote about the books I read in May, and here it is time to write about June's. Another casualty was reading time, as can clearly be seen in the numbers. After reading 20+ books in each of the first four months of the year, I read ten in May and 16 in June. (Legacy of a long weekend: I've already finished four books in July, and that doesn't count a couple I tried, but didn't like enough to finish.)


In May, only one book was a re-read. Some of what I read was only just interesting enough to finish, but not compelling. I found a new sci-fi author I liked, John Ringo, and enjoyed a middle-readers book, Okay for Now, quite a lot.

In June, five were re-reads, including the first three of Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series, preparatory to reading the new one, Heartless (which was good! Go read the series! And tell me what you think!). I don't know if I was more excited for that or for the new Penderwicks book, and considering that one of those is a re-imagining of Victorian England with werewolves and vampires, and the other is a series of young readers books about a family of young children, well, what's the word I'm looking for to describe my reading taste? Varied? Eclectic?

What about you? Have you read any good books lately? Or do you have any further questions about my reading?

Briefly to Say Ahhhh

This week was a very busy one at work, with lots of projects due and lots of people working late (not me: I don't know enough yet to be on the late-coverage calendar). Today, though, nothing was due, they announced first thing this morning that the office would close at 1, there was 100% less urgency, everything was much more relaxed, and of course, time crawled.

At noon, I'm normally not even half-way through a day, but today I was all, "Another hour?! No way!" Why are short days and short weeks so long? It's a weird perception thing.

Anyway, it was a pleasant playing-hooky afternoon, and at 8:15 I'm yawning fit to crack my jaw. Three days off. Doesn't that sound lovely?

Happy Canada Day, if that's your thing. Happy 4th of July weekend, if that is. Happy Weekend to all.

Feeling Stupid is Just Exhausting

No matter how much one wanted to find a new job, actually starting a new job is never easy. And while one doesn't expect getting that new job to solve all of life's problems, the amount of stress that comes with starting the new job can be startling.

I still have high hopes for my new job, don't get me wrong, but it has been quite a strain. The company has several dozen different clients (who each have their own rules and preferences), there are dozens of different possible material types, projects can have multiple pieces and go through many stages ... it's an awful lot to learn, basically.

And though they are not pressuring me or pushing me, what it boils down to is that I frequently, repeatedly feel stupid, and I don't like the feeling. No wonder I feel stressed lately. And less competent even than usual (which is not a good thing). I haven't wanted to cook much lately, and when I do, it doesn't always work out well. (Guess who's cleaning the oven this weekend? And throwing out unappealing leftovers?) I haven't been exercising (though I did go for a walk tonight; a mile is better than nothing ... but it isn't much). I just haven't been getting up and going much.

Whoof. I am just ready to know what I'm doing, at least a little bit.

**********
I want to send a note to my neighbor, a man I've never met but frequently see from my bedroom window. (My driveway and the building doors are on other sides of the building, so I'm never outside on the side where his house is, to see him and say hi or anything.) He's an older gentleman, I'd guess around 70, one of those people with boundless energy who's always going-going-going. Did I mention the time a few months ago when he had roofers come work on his house starting at 7:30 on a Sunday morning? Or that he's meticulous about his yard work, resulting in hours of lawn-mowing, edging, and other loud noises?

Last night was just the end, though. How does this sound?

Hello,
My name is (ccr) and I live across the street from you; in fact, my bedroom faces your driveway. I mention this because Wednesday night, when you started your motorcycle at 10:45 PM, and then didn't ride away on it until 11:00 PM, I was trying to sleep. If you could not leave the engine running late at night, I would be very grateful.
Thank you,
ccr

Too nice? Not nice enough? Do I have to tell him that it's loud?

I suck at interpersonal relationships.

**********
Let's end on a lighter note. Recently I've been pulling out my camera in the car a lot, for odds and ends of interest. Such as this one, with the many stickers, including the unusual "Wine Not Brine".


Of course I had to go look at the website. It has to do with protesting a proposed gas storage plant neat Watkins Glen, NY (which I have only heard of because I had a friend who was a huge NASCAR fan, and one of the race tracks is in Watkins Glen). So no amusing story there. I don't actually "get" the bumper sticker myself.

Looking this over, I think I made a boring picture even more boring. Sorry about that.

This one is better. Who remembers the old FedEx commercials, "When it absolutely positively has to be there overnight"?


Go Marines!

And who wouldn't rather be at the Mucky Duck?


Most likely, this one is just their initials (George Nathan Klein and his wife, Marie Antoinette), but I was behind it for a while and my brain kept trying to make it stand for something. No dice. Anyone?


For that matter, who can explain this to me: Beer Line Cleaning? I'm not even going to Google it; I'm kind of afraid to know.


Finally, I've seen the window-decal things that look like a baseball through the window, but this was my first hockey puck viewing. Yay!


One more day to the weekend ... one more day ...

More Random

I went to bed early last night, turning the light off shortly after 9:30, so this morning I bounded out of bed with energy and enthusiasm for the day.

Ha!

Actually, instead of my usual practice of hitting the snooze button twice before rising, this morning I hit it four times before dragging myself up. If I could have one selfish wish, no peace on earth or eliminate poverty wishes possible, it would be to need only a few hours of sleep a night. Now that's a dream.

Though perfect health, meaning no more headaches, would also be veryvery tempting. Perhaps it's just as well that I don't get to choose.

So let's have some odds and ends, shall we? Since that's about all I can summon? I look forward to regaining coherence, one of these days...perhaps the upcoming three-day weekend is what I need (it's sure what I want).

So, how about the Winnipeg Jets logo in dominoes?



Welcome back to the NHL, Winnipeg.

How cool is that there's a Chicago Gay Hockey Association?



Last year they had the Cup in their parade...but not this year, sorry guys!

And how about a gay pride flash mob?



And,

Hockey Notes: Drinking and Handcuffs

There was a story from the Bruins' celebration with the Cup that I meant to write about last week, and following a further development today, I knew I had to get to it.

After the Cup parade on the Saturday before last, some of the team got on a bus and went to a casino to party. And I guess it's only to be expected (?) that they were given a $100,000 bottle of champagne? I mean, if you say so. And really, who could expect them to limit themselves to just that? They had a lot to celebrate!

There's a pretty good picture of the bar bill/receipt here, and there is a certain fascination in it. All the Red Bull is doubtless because they hadn't slept much that week; but why is there only one "Kami Kazi" but 35 "Jager Bombs"? I don't drink, so I don't know what most of it is, but it sure does tell a story.

And today, in the continuing saga, comes word that Amstel Light is trying to learn which Bruin drank the one Amstel Light on the tab. Can you blame them? That's one hell of an advertising moment.

**********
In non-drinking-related hockey news, word came today that the Montreal police want to question Zdeno Chara about the Max Pacioretty incident back in March. Even Pacioretty says that Chara should not be prosecuted, but we'll see what happens. But what made me laugh was this line, from the Puck Daddy story:

Plus, arrest(ing) Chara might prove difficult, unless they can fly in the handcuffs they used on Chewbacca while saving the princess on the Death Star.

I suppose when a guy's that tall, standard issue might not work, eh?

The Finished Sweater, and Other Random Bits

As I mentioned recently, I finished knitting my sweater, while watching the Bruins on their way to winning the Cup (ahhh). I didn't start weaving in the ends until last week, working on it Wednesday and Thursday nights. And while the process was relatively painless, I may take one of those finishing classes at a yarn store sometime, to gain some confidence in what I'm doing (I feel like it's done securely, but not necessarily prettily). But anyway. It was a simple enough thing, as the pattern is knit in one piece, so it's just a matter of securing the ends.

I changed my mind a few times before deciding Friday morning that yes, I would wear the sweater to work on Friday. The weather, sadly, is not too hot for it (it should be too hot to wear it, but weather-complaints are a whole separate topic), and since I haven't washed the sweater yet, I kind of wanted to wear it at least once before that happens. Yes, I am nervous about washing it: you noticed? I'm usually nervous about washing big projects. And I want to get a sweater-bag for the washer and a flat rack thing to dry it on, but Target let me down for both the other night, so I need to try Bed and Bath.

I spent some time Friday, in passing as it were, contemplating the sweater and its fit in the bathroom mirror at work, wondering as I did if I would be "caught" and find myself trying to explain that it isn't vanity, it's a knitter's review! Camera, what camera?

And how do I like the final sweater? Overall, very much. I changed the yarn recommended, and like the feel of what I used very much (I think with the Northampton, I would not have been happy wearing the sweater over a short-sleeved shirt, the way I did today), though if you're not an over-sensitive person the way I am, you might not mind that. This yarn is softer but probably not as durable (it pilled quite a bit on Friday), and while I'm good with that, your mileage may vary.

There are a few things that I might have done differently if I did it again, or perhaps I should say, if I have to do it again (I worry that I'm going to wash it and it will grow to double its current size). Such as:

• I would make the sleeves a little more fitted. By design, they are currently rather bell-shaped, which I personally find gets in the way of life, plus I can't push my sleeves up and have them stay up, which I like to be able to do. I could probably lose five inches (seriously) at the cuff and be happier with the fit.
• I might make the body slightly less fitted, though this may be a body-image issue, since I think it actually fits well, surprisingly so. (What do you think? Do you like a lot of ease in your sweaters?)
  
• I might put another round of garter at the cuffs and bottom hem, since they have a slight propensity to roll.
  

Overall, though, I feel very fortunate in how well it turned out. I certainly didn't want the body or the sleeves longer than I made them, but they're not too long for me, either. And for someone who was uncertain about what size to make, and basically winging it on gauge, I got pretty lucky.


(I went with the single-occupant bathroom for photography purposes: slightly smaller mirror and no natural light, but no one walking in on the weird new girl taking her picture in the bathroom, either.)

**********
Awesome Tim Thomas sandcastle!

**********
I received two very amusing spam messages recently:

I know, hard to read. One has "Spam" as the start of the subject line, which sort of gives the thing away, but then the message apparently* starts, "If this email is not spam, click here to submit the signatures...". Sneaky, eh?

*I say apparently because I didn't open the message, but Gmail shows the beginning of what it says.

The other, though the message is from "Sample Men's Supplement", has as its subject line, "Oprah top 10 things to wear", which rather suggests that they don't think I'll be looking at both before I open it.

**********
Backing up photos on the new external hard drive. Select-all in the pictures folder, copy, paste. And it says?

Well. I've never denied that I'm a photo nut. And that does go back to 2006. But still. Whoa.

We Loves a Lazy Saturday

Can't Blog, Things To Do

Lots to do tonight, as tomorrow night I'm going to my friend's house to meet her new baby, yay! Remember the baby blanket and hats I made this spring? Baby boy is safely here, and I get to hold the baby, I get to hold the baby...

And if he cries, I will try to channel the President, and not the First Lady (sorry, Mrs. Obama):



I love babies...

Head Follow-Up, Hockey Filler

Sorry about yesterday's outburst. I'm more prone to headaches around my period, and though they often aren't the terrible want-to-die level, it turns out that having a headache on and off for a week is just about as obnoxious as the killer-pain ones. Unfortunately for you, I had a Bad Moment when I was at the computer, and boom. Like Don't Drink and Drive, there should be Don't Post With a Headache.

Still, last night was better than Monday, when I didn't even turn the computer on, and tonight is better than last night. The worst should be, and appears to be, past.

Though seriously? Come on, menopause.

Anyway! I've been planning for a while to watch the NHL awards tonight, but I'm more like monitoring them (Chara loses the Norris, but wins the Messier Leadership award; still rooting for Timmy), since they try so desperately to be entertaining and just don't hit my buttons. (The Real Housewives fell pretty flat though--that wasn't just me.)

For instance, the opener was a takeoff on the HBO series 24/7, which they did before the Winter Classic, and since I don't have HBO and never saw the show, it was a little hard to tell where the show ended and parody began.

Another time, I left the room when Donny Osmond was announced (and doesn't Donny Osmond seem a little wholesome for Vegas? or am I just out of touch?).

Anyway, it's fun more in a hey, I don't have a headache way, but that will do.

My head

needs to stop hurting

better is just not enough

all gone

please

Parade Recap: Seeing the Stanley Cup, 2011

Ah, the Stanley Cup parade for the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins. It was hot and tiring and sweaty and oh-so-crowded, and it was wonderful. I never thought that seeing the Cup in person would be so special, but just a glimpse had me wide-eyed. I just saw the Stanley Cup. Wow.

And of course, I took a lot of pictures.

First, for Kate, this glimpse of the foam claw and hat combo:


The crowd in Government Center, over an hour to parade time.


All these people, still an hour to go.


It seemed like nine out of ten people wore Bruins gear, which was awesome. Red Sox fans probably feel this way every day.


This is how far we were from the street where the parade would go by.


A plane went by pulling one of those message-things.


Can't read it? Here's the close-up.


i will admit, I don't actually believe that Chara shot Osama. But he is capable of a lot!


Closer to parade time, bigger crowd.


Near us, there was a guy with a homemade Cup. You'll see this one again.


Waiting...


Waiting...


And here we go! Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara on the first duck boat.


Tim to the captain: "You really are ten feet tall, aren't you?"


They had the Cup on their boat, but weren't holding it up as they passed us. I glanced left after they went by, though, and there it was.


Now, the man with the homemade Cup passed it over, and it went to Nathan Horton:


Who obligingly held it up:


He was pretty happy.


As was Milan Lucic:


The Bruins bear was more low-key, though perhaps it was the incipient heatstroke.


He did raise a paw.


Brad Marchand, self-proclaimed rat, Globe-designated Little Ball of Hate, was too cool for school.


And here comes my favorite, Patrice Bergeron. Ahh.



I don't know who this was, or why he was holding up signs for great past Bruins, but Terry O'Reilly was my favorite player as a kid, so I was glad to catch this:


So that was the parade itself. It took almost half an hour to go by. You can see highlights of the parade here.

There were outfit choices both great and ... interesting.

I like the Boston shirt this guy had:


Her boots, on the other hand? Would not have been my choice to pair with short-shorts.


This guy had rockin' Bruins-color sneakers.


I guess the woman at the left side of the photo thought that her shirt was close enough to Bruins colors to count as team spirit, though I think I disagree.


And you can see this guy was just behind her, in what appeared to be a fleece Bruins bathrobe. I just about had heatstroke looking at him.


Bruins pajama pants? Oh, dear, not out in public.


Speechless.


Also speechless.


Jersey foul! No one named Blak wore number 13 (I checked).


Oh, heinous jersey foul! No one but Orr gets his name on this jersey!


Jeez. Heresy, anyone?

(In the unlikely event that all this was Not Enough for you, the full set is on Flickr, here. Don't say you didn't ask for it.)