Saturday Night Movie

I regret that with all good intention, there is no Saturday Night Movie this week. We went to an REM concert tonight, and youtube.com will not cooperate and let my post my snippet. Poop. Sorry.

So, here are a couple of pictures. They had two opening acts, and we missed the first one. This picture is of Modest Mouse.



They were ok - must be that I'm getting old. The picture does show the stage at the venue, which was the Greek Theater at UC Berkeley, donated by William Randolph Hearst in 1903, I think. Very cool, except for the concrete seats.

Here is REM.



For the distance and the lighting, it's a little crappy, but at least I can say we were there.

The videos were ok, considering I took them with our Canon Powershot, which is a 6 megapixel camera. If only I could have snuck in the video camera. Oh well.

FO Friday

It was a busy week.



Wild Kat, pattern by Deby Lake. Knit in Tofutsies #739. I did these using the Magic Loop method, which worked out much better than I had thought. I have to revisit the use of the dpn's. I'm not a convert yet.



3-4 years ago I discovered all kinds of cool kits on eBay. This was a Fiber Trends kit with the recommended yarn included. Other than one being a cotton chenille and the other being a cotton/rayon blend chenille, I can't tell you much. This is the first time I have made a hat with a brim. I probably won't wear it until the winter.



And, of course, chemo hats. I am anxious to get through the yarn I purchased for this project, and I'm getting closer. Since the pattern uses about 1 1/3 skeins, the leftovers are going towards an afghan. I have now competed 100 squares towards that afghan. I need to make the calculations to see how big it might be.

Favorite's

I'm going to make this one quick, because I have to study. More about that later.

In a word, one of my favorite things is cheese. I love cheese. I could happily munch on cheese all day. My two favorite's are Jarlsberg and Smoked Gouda. Yum.

In fact, I think I'll go have some cheese now!

What's On The Needles

It's become a week about hats. I've been working on Chemo hats, and I broke out an old kit for a chenille hat that I thought would be a quick project. On my goodness, it just killed my hands. They ached all through the night on Sunday. But it's done, along with two more chemo hats. I also finished knitting Kevin's sweater, but I need to block and fit that, so I doubt I will have that ready by Friday.

I was rather surprised when I realized that I finished two big sweater projects in the last month. Not bad for me! I'm busting through some stash!

Do Something Different

I've decided that I need to do something different. I've tried to find work in the Mortgage and Real Estate industry, and there isn't anything that would work for me. I've looked into Secretarial/Admin work, possibly an Office Manager or something, but I'm hard to place because of my upper management background.

It sucks to hear you are either over qualified or have non-transferable skills.

God, I hate this.

Memorable Moments

I barely remember making this:



It's a crocheted throw in Red Heart. I probably made it when I was 14-15 years old. I thought most of these "old" throws were long gone. Even Red Heart will eventually give in to my mother's rigorous cleaning rituals. This was found in one of the cabinets in the garage where my mom keeps excess linens. I haven't seen this is in at least 15 years, so imagine my surprise.

Mom said she doesn't use it much, she thinks it's too pretty for regular use and I may want it someday. I asked her if there was anything else that she might have that I thought was long gone. "I'm not sure, dear. What do think I have?"

I wish I could get her out of the house for a few hours so I could snoop. I know my old Barbie's are there somewhere.

Sunday Quotes

I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to.

-Elvis Presley

Saturday Night Movie

I've always like Robert Downey Jr., and the "Tony Stark" looks is good for him. Jack Black just makes me laugh. Ben Stiller - it depends. And Gladys Knight, well, she's awesome. This is a cool video. If you didn't watch the American Idol finals, here is Gladys Knight and one version of the Pips.

FO Friday

As I mentioned on Wednesday, this has been a hats and socks kind of week. Last weekend, I was pretty industrious and finished two hats.



These are both Chemo Hats, pattern by Kelly Petkun of Knit Picks. The yarn is Knit Picks Shine Sport in the colors Cream and Grass. I have now knitted 28 of these. All of them are charity knits meant for the Cancer Society.

I didn't get my socks done, but I have a feeling they will be done by next Friday, so check back!

Favorite's

Velvetta Mac & Cheese - cold. I don't like it reheated. I never had mac and cheese as a kid, until maybe high school as part of a cafeteria lunch. We never had anything close to it in my house growing up. American cheese was not something my parents ever bought and the only type of pasta we had was spaghetti - also good cold. Pasta wasn't part of a Norwegian diet back then. Even a Norwegian-American diet. My parents were not good at experimenting. And why do I bring this up? Because I am having it for lunch, along with my slices of cold London broil. Mmm, tasty.

What's On The Needles

Back to socks and hats this week. This weekend, I put some real effort into my Sock Madness Round 3 socks, Slippin Stripin is the name of the pattern.



You use two lace weights. In this case, Jojoland Melody and JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool Silk. The Jojoland had long variegations, and the Jaggerspun is a solid. The stipes are based on a AA, AB, BB, AB, AA color combination. The Jojoland is very thin, and I was almost tempted to triple up on it, but it's working out ok anyway. After finishing the first socks, and burying alllll the ends, I moved on to an old WIP that has been languishing since last July.



This pattern is called Wild Kat and is by Deby Lake. I don't know why I was so apprehensive about this pattern. Once I got through the first patter repeat, it was smooth sailing. These are knitting up very quickly. I really only started working on this Tuesday night, having completed the ribbed cuff and stuffed it in a bag almost a year ago, and I have the first sock done today. Not bad.

I think that once I'm done with these, I'll still be taking a break from the lace weight socks. The pattern is easy, but those needles are very stabby.

Thoughts for a Tuesday

Every time I turn on the news, there seem to be reports on the ever increasing cost of oil and the rising cost of fuel. What amazes me, as I hear the poor oil company executives complain about their narrower profit margins, is that as oil goes up the cost of gas goes up. What we are pumping now was refined months ago. The cost should be based on the cost of that oil. But, no. I'm sure there is something my poor brain hasn't figured out.

Those of us who remember the oil crisis in the 1970's should have learned something, but we didn't. Brazil learned. They made a concerted effort to reduce their oil consumption and are using sugar cane Ethanol, which is 7 times more efficient than corn based Ethanol. They are not feeling the effects of the current oil crisis, and that's what we looking at, folks.

The US, and I know I'll catch heat for this one, has a government that doesn't give a crap about those that are struggling to make it from paycheck to paycheck. Our economy is in the tank, and Bush thinks we're going through a "rough patch". The Democratic party is more concerned about keeping special interests groups happy than in doing what's right for the constituency. In a word, we're screwed.

As individuals, we kept our rose colored glasses on too long. I'm in that group. Obviously, I'm a consumer of things that I don't need. Do I need 50 skeins of sock yarn? Do I need those 5 knitting magazines? Do I need that new blouse? Do I need those CD's? No. Do I need to save money for a rainy day? Do I need to save money for retirement? Yes.

One thing I can honestly say that we did right comes to our cars and driving habits. When Kevin was in his accident last year, we weighted the idea of fixing his car instead of buying a new one. The $2,000 to fix the Subaru would have made sense if it weren't for the fact that we knew we would have to replace it in the next couple of years. It had 267,000 miles on it, but it was still getting 38 miles to the gallon. We were more concerned about it's reliability on long trips, which we made several times a year. So we bought the Honda. It was the first time we had had a car payment since 1996.

Now, I drive a car that is 20 years old. Granted, with freeway driving, I only get about 17-18 miles per gallon, but I'm not driving 20-30 miles one way to work. I take BART to San Francisco. I try to consolidate my errands to make it as economical as possible. This is coming from someone who loved just to get in the car and drive somewhere just to get out of the house. I've spent less than $2000 in upkeep in the last 2 years. It killed me to fill it up for $60, but my monthly cost for maintaining the car is exceptionally low.

When I think of those people that drive their huge SUV's and trucks that get less than 15 miles to the gallon, with their $500+ a month car payments and their $2000+ a year car insurance bills, I don't know how they do it. I read about one man that is a contractor and when taking the three factors I mentioned into consideration, he's spending over $2,000 a month just to use his truck. How much more does he have to work to make up for that? I have also read about many people that are just leaving their gas guzzlers in the driveway with the keys in the car, and have told their lien holder to come and get it.

Last year, there was a bill before Congress to raise the fuel efficiency requirements. Lobbying from the car industry and oil producers was sufficient enough that Congress didn't nail them as they should have. It all comes down to CAFE Standards, which is the bar that car manufacturers are supposed to achieve. As of early 2004, the standards for cars had to be 27.5 mpg and light trucks 20.7, otherwise the manufacturer would have a fine. The manufacturers pay the fines instead of working towards the creating more fuel efficient cars. Since 1983, they have paid more than $500 million in penalties. In 1974, the standard was set to double the average by 1985 to reach 27.5 mpg. In 1978, it was set to 18mpg, and then it was raised each year until in reached the goal. Standards were dropped slightly between 1986 and 1989. They were set at 27.5 again in 1990 and remained unchanged until last year when the first new goal was set in over 30 years. The manufacturers have until 2020 to reach a standard of 35 miles per gallon for both cars and light trucks. This is a bigger change than the one seen in 1973, because standards for trucks was not imposed until 1979 and the set yearly without a specific long term goal.

So auto makers have 12 years to improve fuel efficiency by 6.5 mpg. In comparison, auto makers previously had 12 years to double their efficiency. Granted, that was around 13 mpg and they were working with engines that had carburetors not fuel injection. One question - the Japanese have been doing it for years. The Japanese have never paid fines. I am reminded of that old quote "if you build it, they will come". The Japanese imports have kicked US manufacturers butts for years. US and European manufacturers can build fuel efficient cars, we've seen them on the road. Here's a novel idea - instead of just fining the auto makers, add a usage tax to the inefficient cars.

Ok - I'll stop my rant. If you want to see where I got my info - here are the sites:

CAFE Overview - NHTSA
Corporate Average Fuel Economy - WIKI

Memorable Moments

It seems I'm in a rut here. The only types of pictures I decided to look at were of the dogs.



Heidi and Fen in 1995. Heidi was used to being on her own after 5 years. Then this little, annoying furball showed up.



This look tells me "Look, Mommy - I kilt it!" The novelty of playing with "it" wore off after a week or two, when she realized "it" wasn't going away. The main problem was that he didn't respect 1) her sleep time, 2) her cushion, 3) her special time with Mom and Dad, 4) her toys, 5) her food. He learned over the years, and he paid dearly for his indiscretions. He was completely devoted to her, though.

Every once in a while, I could really use a dog fix.

Sunday Quotes

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.

Roger Caras

Saturday Night Movie

I really needed an Elkhound fix tonight. I found this video on youtube:



Two things that are true about this video. Yes, elkhound pups will chew on anything. I still have the evidence of that on a number of bookshelves that were perfect for teething. Yes, they love to wrestle. It gets more interesting when two of them are doing it in your living room when one weights 75 lbs and the other 55 lbs. The lighter one was my old girl and she would kick his 5 year younger butt every time.

You have to admit, they are awful cute as puppies. It almost makes me want to get one. Then I have to remember the training, housebreaking, teething, and basic mischief they get into. A bored elkie is a wiley elkie.

FO Friday

This will have to be brief, but at least it's a post. Earlier this week I sent my socks of doom to my target in Australia. Yes, I am participating in Sock Wars III. I completed them in decent time. I used Regia 4 ply on US 2 needles. The pattern is called Detonator.



Now I can say that something I made is in Australia. I can check another continent off my list.

Favorite's

Any day that is between 72 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Perhaps some fluffy clouds in the sky. A light breeze. Sandal weather.

What we are having today sucks. God, I hate sweating while I'm just typing!

Are you well read?

I found Library Thing about a year ago, and thankfully have not become obsessed with it. It could happen, very easily. There has been a meme going ‘round, and this is one of the lists being been used. Since the count changes with people joining and adding their libraries, you can only hope for so much continuity. So here is my breakdown of my list of the top 106 books tagged “unread” on LibraryThing. The rules:

bold = what you’ve read ( ) school reading requirement, which I added
italics = books you started but couldn’t finish
crossed out = books you hated
* = you’ve read more than once
underline = books you own but haven’t read yourself

1.            Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

2.            Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

3.            One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

4.            Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

5.            Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

6.            (Catch-22 by Joseph Heller)

7.            The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

8.            Don Quixote by MIguel de Cervantes Saavedra

9.            (The Odyssey by Homer)

10.       The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

11.       Ulysses by James Joyce

12.       (Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert)

13.       War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

14.       Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

15.       A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

16.       The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

17.       Moby Dick by Herman Melville

18.       The Iliad by Homer

19.       Emma by Jane Austen

20.       Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

21.       Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

22.       The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

23.       The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

24.       Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

25.       The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

26.       (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)

27.       The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

28.       The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

29.       Life of Pi by Yann Martel

30.       Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

31.       Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

32.       Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco

33.       Dracula by Bram Stoker

34.       (The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck)

35.       A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

36.       Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

37.       Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

38.       Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

39.       Middlemarch by George Eliot

40.       Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

41.       The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

42.       Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

43.       The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

44.       Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

45.       Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson

46.       American Gods by Neil Gaiman

47.       Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

48.       The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

49.       Wicked by Gregory Maguire

50.       A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

51.       The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

52.       Dune by Frank Herbert

53.       The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

54.       Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

55.       Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

56.       The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

57.       The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

58.       The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

59.       Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

60.       (The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand )

61.       To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

62.       A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

63.       (Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy)

64.       The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

65.       Persuasion by Jane Austen

66.       One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

67.       (The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne)

68.       Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

69.       Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

70.       The Once and Future King by T.H. White

71.       Atonement by Ian McEwan

72.       The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

73.       A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

74.       Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

75.       Dubliners by James Joyce

76.       Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

77.       Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

78.       Beloved by Toni Morrison

79.       Collapse by Jared Diamond

80.       The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

81.       (In Cold Blood by Truman Capote)

82.       (Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence)

83.       A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

84.       Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

85.       Watership Down by Richard Adams

86.       (The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli)

87.       The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

88.       (Beowulf by Anonymous)

89.       A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

90.       Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

91.       (The Aeneid by Virgil)

92.       Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

93.       Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence

94.       (David Copperfield by Charles Dickens)

95.       The Road by Cormac McCarthy

96.       Possession by A.S. Byatt

97.       Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

98.       The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

99.       Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

100.   The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

101.   Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

102.   Candide, or Optimism by Voltaire

103.   Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

104.   (The Plague by Albert Camus)

105.   Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

106.   Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

The tally:

What you’ve read: 46 (14 while in high school or college)
Books you started but couldn’t finish: 2
Books you hated: None on this list – there are books I just hated, though
You’ve read more than once: I’ve only read two books twice – The Stand by Stephen King and Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Books you own but haven’t read yourself: 20

I surprised myself a little. It also reminded me of how much I loved to read and how little I have read this past year or so. I need to exercise my brain.

 

Global Warming?

I can't remember the last time in was nearly 100 during the month of May. In our little corner of the world, it doesn't get that hot until July or August. Well, it's coming early this year.

It's supposed to be 100 by Thursday. I am so not looking forward to that. We don't have air conditioning, and our electrical system can't handle it. I have errands that I need to run over the next few days, but I'll get those taken care of in the morning. I don't want to be out in the worst of it in the afternoon.

Those who think Global Warming is myth need to wake up.

I was reading an article in Newsweek written by a man who has lived in Alaska since the early 70's. The valley he lives in has a glacier at one end. It has receded by more than a mile since he moved there. No one can say that's normal.

We are looking at drought conditions this year. The Sierra snow pack was lower than expected, our spring rainfall way off. We're pretty good about water conservation anyway, so I don't know how we're going to cut back anymore than we have.

It's just depressing any way you look at it.

Here it is

The biggest thing I finished so far this year...



The Einstein Coat!

The flash washed it out, the colors are much deeper than that. I tried to take the picture in natural light, and it came out too dark. As you can see, I also knitted a hat to go with it. Now I'm going to put it in the laundry room, mist some Febreeze on it and hope the smell of the dye goes away.