Thursday, July 16, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Let's Ponder Whale Brains This Wednesday Morning
From a long (and often sad) article, "Watching Whales Watching Us," in the NY Times this week (emphasis mine):
In 2006...researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine analyzed the brains of two other baleen species—humpback and finback whales—as well as those of a number of toothed whales like dolphins and killer and sperm whales. The study revealed brain structures surprisingly similar to our own. Some, in fact, contained large concentrations of spindle cells—often referred to as the cells that make us human because of their link to higher cognitive functions like self-awareness, a sense of compassion and linguistic expression—with the added kick that whales evolved these same highly specialized neurons as many as 15 million years before we humans did, a stunning instance of a phenomenon biologists refer to as parallel evolution.
“In spite of the relative scarcity of information on many cetacean species,” the Mount Sinai scientists concluded in a report in the November 2006 edition of the journal The Anatomical Record, “it is important to note in this context that sperm whales, killer whales and certainly humpback whales exhibit complex social patterns that include intricate communication skills, coalition formation, cooperation, cultural transmission and tool usage.” They added that it is therefore “likely that some of these abilities” are related to the comparable complexity in the brain structures of whales and hominids.
In 2006...researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine analyzed the brains of two other baleen species—humpback and finback whales—as well as those of a number of toothed whales like dolphins and killer and sperm whales. The study revealed brain structures surprisingly similar to our own. Some, in fact, contained large concentrations of spindle cells—often referred to as the cells that make us human because of their link to higher cognitive functions like self-awareness, a sense of compassion and linguistic expression—with the added kick that whales evolved these same highly specialized neurons as many as 15 million years before we humans did, a stunning instance of a phenomenon biologists refer to as parallel evolution.
“In spite of the relative scarcity of information on many cetacean species,” the Mount Sinai scientists concluded in a report in the November 2006 edition of the journal The Anatomical Record, “it is important to note in this context that sperm whales, killer whales and certainly humpback whales exhibit complex social patterns that include intricate communication skills, coalition formation, cooperation, cultural transmission and tool usage.” They added that it is therefore “likely that some of these abilities” are related to the comparable complexity in the brain structures of whales and hominids.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Tuesday Project Roundup: Nautical Exclamations Abound
Ahoy! I'd been looking for a sailor-collar dress pattern since last summer--one that's not too costume-y, not too cutes-y--and when I saw this one a few months ago I said, "Avast! This be the one."
I used some really nice gray stripe seersucker, the kind they make suits out of in the South, and it turned out OK despite some real struggles with the fit (my own fault--"measure twice, cut once," anyone?). I haven't worn it yet; I'm waiting for the day when I feel jaunty and nautical and I'll wear it and shout "Belay me!" and "Hoist the rigging!"
I used some really nice gray stripe seersucker, the kind they make suits out of in the South, and it turned out OK despite some real struggles with the fit (my own fault--"measure twice, cut once," anyone?). I haven't worn it yet; I'm waiting for the day when I feel jaunty and nautical and I'll wear it and shout "Belay me!" and "Hoist the rigging!"
Monday, July 13, 2009
Definitely A Problem
So the neighbor kitten that's getting left out all night was left out all day AND all night, all weekend. It discovered Toby's veranda Saturday morning:
Saturday night he sat on top of the veranda (with Toby in the veranda), looking in as we watched a movie.
This is kind of an impossible situation: Toby does not immediately try to attack the kitten, but 1.) we don't have room for two cats in the apartment and 2.) Toby can't have a cat roommate that goes in and out while he remains an inside-only cat. Also, Christopher Kitten* is scaring away all the quail and quail chicks.
Some of my neighbors were outside last night and I geared up for a lecture about responsible pet ownership, but it turned out they were the housemates of the girl who "owns" the kitten, not the girl herself. The housemates said that they'd been watching out for Christopher Kitten, too, because owner-girl doesn't let him in a lot because he's "too frisky" (!) and sometimes forgets to feed him (!!). What a despicable woman.
So...what happens now? I guess I could be justified in calling CAWS and getting Christopher Kitten fostered, since he does seem to be neglected by his owner. It also sounded like the housemates were looking for a new place to rent and wanted to take Christopher with them, but I don't know if I can count on them. Does any blog reader out there want a kitten?
*Yes, I named him. It's a problem.
Saturday night he sat on top of the veranda (with Toby in the veranda), looking in as we watched a movie. This is kind of an impossible situation: Toby does not immediately try to attack the kitten, but 1.) we don't have room for two cats in the apartment and 2.) Toby can't have a cat roommate that goes in and out while he remains an inside-only cat. Also, Christopher Kitten* is scaring away all the quail and quail chicks.
Some of my neighbors were outside last night and I geared up for a lecture about responsible pet ownership, but it turned out they were the housemates of the girl who "owns" the kitten, not the girl herself. The housemates said that they'd been watching out for Christopher Kitten, too, because owner-girl doesn't let him in a lot because he's "too frisky" (!) and sometimes forgets to feed him (!!). What a despicable woman.
So...what happens now? I guess I could be justified in calling CAWS and getting Christopher Kitten fostered, since he does seem to be neglected by his owner. It also sounded like the housemates were looking for a new place to rent and wanted to take Christopher with them, but I don't know if I can count on them. Does any blog reader out there want a kitten?
*Yes, I named him. It's a problem.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Friday Unrelated Information
1. Happy birthday, Marcel Proust, born in 1871 today.
2. Complaining about mosquito bites on my face yesterday reminded me of Little House on the Prairie, in which the entire family ends up getting malaria* one summer:
In the daytime there were only one or two mosquitoes in the house. But at night, if the wind wasn't blowing hard, mosquitoes came in thick swarms...Pa could not play the fiddle at night because so many mosquitoes bit him...And in the morning Laura's forehead was speckled with mosquito bites.
That's actually a pretty terrible chapter, with the whole family sick and Pa passed out on the floor and Jack the bulldog upset and unable to help. Just another reason to be thankful for tonic water and DEET.
3. *In the book, Laura calls it "fever 'n ague." I'll probably never hear that second word used in conversation in my life.
2. Complaining about mosquito bites on my face yesterday reminded me of Little House on the Prairie, in which the entire family ends up getting malaria* one summer:
In the daytime there were only one or two mosquitoes in the house. But at night, if the wind wasn't blowing hard, mosquitoes came in thick swarms...Pa could not play the fiddle at night because so many mosquitoes bit him...And in the morning Laura's forehead was speckled with mosquito bites.
That's actually a pretty terrible chapter, with the whole family sick and Pa passed out on the floor and Jack the bulldog upset and unable to help. Just another reason to be thankful for tonic water and DEET.
3. *In the book, Laura calls it "fever 'n ague." I'll probably never hear that second word used in conversation in my life.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Deterrents To Being Outside
As I said yesterday, I feel as if summer is passing me by. That might be due to the fact that I'm not spending a lot of time on the patio in the evenings, and here's why:
1. Mosquitoes. They are the devil. They are bad this year, after all that rain. I was outside for about half an hour last night and got three bites. Currently, I have three bites just on my FACE. Mosquito fail.
2. The neighbor's kitten. This kitten is not the devil; it's the cutest roly-poly tabby who purrs furiously when you pick it up. But the neighbor girl who "owns" it leaves it out at night, starting at about 6:00, and it's either crying at their door, wanting to play with us, or crying at OUR door. Toby does not like this one bit, and neither do I: Who leaves their tiny kitten outside all night without a bed to sleep on*? At least it has food and water, but still--cat ownership FAIL.
*I am debating taking the final step towards totally becoming my mother (who always has sheltered strays) and getting that kitten a little cat house with a bed in it. I doubt the neighbor is going to let it sleep inside; we can't steal it to live with us; and I don't think we can say it's a stray and call a rescue shelter. But I can at least make sure it has somewhere to sleep that's not on a concrete patio or in the grass.
1. Mosquitoes. They are the devil. They are bad this year, after all that rain. I was outside for about half an hour last night and got three bites. Currently, I have three bites just on my FACE. Mosquito fail.
2. The neighbor's kitten. This kitten is not the devil; it's the cutest roly-poly tabby who purrs furiously when you pick it up. But the neighbor girl who "owns" it leaves it out at night, starting at about 6:00, and it's either crying at their door, wanting to play with us, or crying at OUR door. Toby does not like this one bit, and neither do I: Who leaves their tiny kitten outside all night without a bed to sleep on*? At least it has food and water, but still--cat ownership FAIL.
*I am debating taking the final step towards totally becoming my mother (who always has sheltered strays) and getting that kitten a little cat house with a bed in it. I doubt the neighbor is going to let it sleep inside; we can't steal it to live with us; and I don't think we can say it's a stray and call a rescue shelter. But I can at least make sure it has somewhere to sleep that's not on a concrete patio or in the grass.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
A Poem For You, If You Feel Summer Is Passing You By
I certainly feel as if I'm missing out on everything, and I'm not sure why...maybe because I don't know where June went nor what I did in it? Because I missed the moonflower blooming two nights ago? Because I haven't been to the farmer's market yet? Who knows. At least we have a poem about summer:
Although I watched and waited for it every day,
somehow I missed it, the moment when everything reached
the peak of ripeness. It wasn't at the solstice; that was only
the time of the longest light. It was sometime after that, when
the plants had absorbed all that sun, had taken it into themselves
for food and swelled to the height of fullness. It was in July,
in a dizzy blaze of heat and fog, when on some nights
it was too hot to sleep, and the restaurants set half their tables
on the sidewalks; outside the city, down the coast,
the Milky Way floated overhead, and shooting stars
fell from the sky over the ocean. One day the garden
was almost overwhelmed with fruition:
My sweet peas struggled out of the raised bed onto the mulch
of laurel leaves and bark and pods, their brilliantly colored
sunbonnets of rose and stippled pink, magenta and deep purple
pouring out a perfume that was almost oriental. Black-eyed Susans
stared from the flower borders, the orange cherry tomatoes
were sweet as candy, the corn fattened in its swaths of silk,
hummingbirds spiraled by in pairs, the bees gave up
and decided to live in the lavender. At the market,
surrounded by black plums and rosy plums and sugar prunes
and white-fleshed peaches and nectarines, perfumey melons
and mangos, purple figs in green plastic baskets,
clusters of tiny Champagne grapes and piles of red-black cherries
and apricots freckled and streaked with rose, I felt tears
come into my eyes, absurdly, because I knew
that summer had peaked and was already passing
away. I felt very close then to understanding
the mystery; it seemed to me that I almost knew
what it meant to be alive, as if my life had swelled
to some high moment of response, as if I could
reach out and touch the season, as if I were inside
its body, surrounded by sweet pulp and juice,
shimmering veins and ripened skin.
A Warm Summer in San Francisco
somehow I missed it, the moment when everything reached
the peak of ripeness. It wasn't at the solstice; that was only
the time of the longest light. It was sometime after that, when
the plants had absorbed all that sun, had taken it into themselves
for food and swelled to the height of fullness. It was in July,
in a dizzy blaze of heat and fog, when on some nights
it was too hot to sleep, and the restaurants set half their tables
on the sidewalks; outside the city, down the coast,
the Milky Way floated overhead, and shooting stars
fell from the sky over the ocean. One day the garden
was almost overwhelmed with fruition:
My sweet peas struggled out of the raised bed onto the mulch
of laurel leaves and bark and pods, their brilliantly colored
sunbonnets of rose and stippled pink, magenta and deep purple
pouring out a perfume that was almost oriental. Black-eyed Susans
stared from the flower borders, the orange cherry tomatoes
were sweet as candy, the corn fattened in its swaths of silk,
hummingbirds spiraled by in pairs, the bees gave up
and decided to live in the lavender. At the market,
surrounded by black plums and rosy plums and sugar prunes
and white-fleshed peaches and nectarines, perfumey melons
and mangos, purple figs in green plastic baskets,
clusters of tiny Champagne grapes and piles of red-black cherries
and apricots freckled and streaked with rose, I felt tears
come into my eyes, absurdly, because I knew
that summer had peaked and was already passing
away. I felt very close then to understanding
the mystery; it seemed to me that I almost knew
what it meant to be alive, as if my life had swelled
to some high moment of response, as if I could
reach out and touch the season, as if I were inside
its body, surrounded by sweet pulp and juice,
shimmering veins and ripened skin.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Tuesday Project Roundup: One-Yard Projects Are Inexpensive
What am I doing sewing tops when I'm "just happier in a dress?" Well, I've been wearing skirts, too, and those need something to round them out. I found a new Simplicity designer pattern that only takes 1 to 1 1/4 yards, so I've been using nice shirting fabrics without guilt.
Here's the pattern:
Here's my first version:
(Here's a better picture of the fabric.)
And here's the fabric for a second version, without the neckline trim. This fabric is really nice (Liberty of London), but again, it only uses one yard. And it's not $98 like this ready-made one. And it comes together in about two hours.
Here's the pattern:
Here's my first version:
(Here's a better picture of the fabric.)And here's the fabric for a second version, without the neckline trim. This fabric is really nice (Liberty of London), but again, it only uses one yard. And it's not $98 like this ready-made one. And it comes together in about two hours.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Today's Post Taken Directly From The Writer's Almanac
But it's about Beethoven, so it's OK:
"It was on this day in 1812 that Ludwig van Beethoven wrote two famous love letters to an unknown woman. Beethoven wrote the letters from the Czech resort town of Teplitz, which his physician had recommended for his health, and there he became friends with the poet Goethe. And over the course of two days, he wrote three letters to a mysterious woman who has come to be known as "the Immortal Beloved."
Today's Almanac post also includes the full text of all three letters, the last one of which is so sad:
Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a wretched life — Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men — At my age I need a steady, quiet life — can that be so in our connection? Be calm — love me — today — yesterday — what tearful longings for you — you — you — my life — my all — farewell. Oh continue to love me — never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.
ever thine
ever mine
ever ours
He was already mostly deaf at this point. Poor Beethoven.
"It was on this day in 1812 that Ludwig van Beethoven wrote two famous love letters to an unknown woman. Beethoven wrote the letters from the Czech resort town of Teplitz, which his physician had recommended for his health, and there he became friends with the poet Goethe. And over the course of two days, he wrote three letters to a mysterious woman who has come to be known as "the Immortal Beloved."
Today's Almanac post also includes the full text of all three letters, the last one of which is so sad:
Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a wretched life — Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men — At my age I need a steady, quiet life — can that be so in our connection? Be calm — love me — today — yesterday — what tearful longings for you — you — you — my life — my all — farewell. Oh continue to love me — never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.
ever thine
ever mine
ever ours
He was already mostly deaf at this point. Poor Beethoven.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Friday Unrelated Information
1. I was in a month-long cooking rut in June, where just the thought of coming up with something for dinner made me want to tear my hair out. Usually the ruts don't last more than a week--they can't; I'm the cook in the house--so fortunately M.F.K. Fisher has saved us from more takeout and frozen things: I found a new book of her collected short fiction at the library. Last night, we had souffles.
2. I have today off for the Fourth so we're going to go to Lagoon. I haven't been there since I was twelve. This will either be really fun or a huge mistake, like going miniature golfing in my early twenties and being the only one there who could drive.
3. "Someone Famous Has Died":
2. I have today off for the Fourth so we're going to go to Lagoon. I haven't been there since I was twelve. This will either be really fun or a huge mistake, like going miniature golfing in my early twenties and being the only one there who could drive.
3. "Someone Famous Has Died":
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Wallace Stegner Apparently Liked Cars
I'm making myself read new books this summer, not just re-reading The Hobbit and Dune and other things on my shelf. I started with Crossing to Safety, in which I noticed uncomfortable similarities between the bossy wife and myself, and found this quote. [Set up: It's about two couples. One of the couples is rich and has this fancy old touring car, a Marmon.]:
Looking in under the propped hood, I could see that the engine was not twelve in line, as I had always half believed, but a V-16. It would have pulled a fire truck. At every stroke a stream of gasoline as thick as my finger must be pulsing through the carburetor. She panted at us in the whiskey-and-emphysema whisper of an Edith Wharton dowager. "Dollar-dollar-dollar-dollar-dollar," the Marmon said.
That quote is probably the funniest part of the book, which deals with polio, thwarted ambition, stomach cancer, etc., but I do recommend it. I think it's something I'll have to revisit in the future. Because re-reading is really where it's at.
Looking in under the propped hood, I could see that the engine was not twelve in line, as I had always half believed, but a V-16. It would have pulled a fire truck. At every stroke a stream of gasoline as thick as my finger must be pulsing through the carburetor. She panted at us in the whiskey-and-emphysema whisper of an Edith Wharton dowager. "Dollar-dollar-dollar-dollar-
That quote is probably the funniest part of the book, which deals with polio, thwarted ambition, stomach cancer, etc., but I do recommend it. I think it's something I'll have to revisit in the future. Because re-reading is really where it's at.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Now It's Personal, Chickens
So Mr. Isbell's parents became chicken owners this spring, and the chickens are now big enough to wander their back garden freely. This is all kinds of cute:
They're really soft--even their feet--and have so much personality. They take sun baths and stick their leg out like Toby!
Obviously, I do not eat chicken. I do eat eggs, but I make sure they're at least cage free, if not Certified Humane. (I'm really looking forward to eggs from these girls!) But after seeing these chickens up close, I'm now hyper-aware of the eggs from unhappy factory farmed chickens used in things like mayonnaise and ice cream. So Mr. Isbell and I are exploring the strange new world of Vegannaise and Soy Dream.
It's a good thing his parents don't have a pet cow: I'd never buy shoes again.
They're really soft--even their feet--and have so much personality. They take sun baths and stick their leg out like Toby!
Obviously, I do not eat chicken. I do eat eggs, but I make sure they're at least cage free, if not Certified Humane. (I'm really looking forward to eggs from these girls!) But after seeing these chickens up close, I'm now hyper-aware of the eggs from unhappy factory farmed chickens used in things like mayonnaise and ice cream. So Mr. Isbell and I are exploring the strange new world of Vegannaise and Soy Dream.
It's a good thing his parents don't have a pet cow: I'd never buy shoes again.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Tuesday Project Roundup: Looking Slept In
I finished the pajamas that match my robe on Friday and have been sleeping in them ever since, which is why they look slept in:
These (and the robe, too) were fun projects--my machine makes putting on piping really slick and I'm happy with how everything turned out.
Piping detail and darker photo that is closer to the real color:
I feel very put together in the mornings now, which is always a good thing. I'm already planning a winter version.
These (and the robe, too) were fun projects--my machine makes putting on piping really slick and I'm happy with how everything turned out.
Piping detail and darker photo that is closer to the real color:
I feel very put together in the mornings now, which is always a good thing. I'm already planning a winter version.
Monday, June 29, 2009
I Bet He Drank St. Germain Eledflower Liquer-Based Cocktails, Too
It's the birthday of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the dashing French pilot who wrote Night Flight and Wind, Sand, and Stars--and wrote and illustrated The Little Prince. He was shot down on a reconaissance flight over the Mediterranean in WWII.
Here's the most famous quote from The Little Prince:
Translated as, "It is only with the heart that one sees rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye."
Here's the most famous quote from The Little Prince:
Translated as, "It is only with the heart that one sees rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye."
Friday, June 26, 2009
Friday Unrelated Information
1. Transformers 2 started out pretty good for a mindless action movie, but by the second hour it became clear that when Michael Bay had to choose between paying the writers to finish the script and adding more explosions, he chose the explosions.
2. Poor Michael Jackson. In the first gossip going around at work yesterday, one of my bosses asked, "What happened? Did one of his monkeys kill him?"
3. Here's a J.D. Salinger quote to ponder, from "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period" in Nine Stories:
The fact is always obvious much too late, but the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy is a liquid.
2. Poor Michael Jackson. In the first gossip going around at work yesterday, one of my bosses asked, "What happened? Did one of his monkeys kill him?"
3. Here's a J.D. Salinger quote to ponder, from "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period" in Nine Stories:
The fact is always obvious much too late, but the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy is a liquid.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Summer Blockbusters
We're going to see Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen tonight, and while I don't have high expectations of it, just yesterday I found a priceless review by Roger Ebert that makes me think it's going to be pretty bad:
"If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination."
"The music of hell"? Roger Ebert, you are a treasure. I will think of your review tonight in the theater and probably laugh in inappropriate moments.
And speaking of movies: This site is genius. Genius! Why has no one thought of this before?
"If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination."
"The music of hell"? Roger Ebert, you are a treasure. I will think of your review tonight in the theater and probably laugh in inappropriate moments.
And speaking of movies: This site is genius. Genius! Why has no one thought of this before?
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tuesday Project Roundup: Winter Projects, Just In Time For Summer
Here are pictures of that chunky knit cowl top I knit when it was so cold and rainy last week. I did get one good wear out of it and now it can wait until the fall.
And I've made progress with Thing #7 of the 29 Things: Knit Christmas stockings, starting with Toby's. Here's Toby's stocking.
He is not aware that it's a Christmas stocking, as those concepts are hard to explain to a cat, but he does know that it's wooly and he's allowed to lay on it.
He also is allowed to help with photo shoots--actually, we can't stop him.
And I've made progress with Thing #7 of the 29 Things: Knit Christmas stockings, starting with Toby's. Here's Toby's stocking.
He is not aware that it's a Christmas stocking, as those concepts are hard to explain to a cat, but he does know that it's wooly and he's allowed to lay on it.
He also is allowed to help with photo shoots--actually, we can't stop him.
Monday, June 22, 2009
For Your Summer Cocktails, Now That It Is Summer-like
I've been reading about an elderflower liquer in my magazines for a while now, and it's finally available in the liquor stores here! (Well, in the new wine store, at least.) I'd been subsituting the non-alcoholic IKEA elderflower concentrate ("Fladersaft") in the recipes I'd read calling for the liquer, but this
has nothing on this:
Buy it for the bottle alone, and feel like your apartment is really full of French antiques and witty people enjoying a full bar whenever you open the cupboard. The site is nice, too--the St. Germain Cocktail with sparkling wine and soda water is going to be the new fancy drink around here.
has nothing on this:
Buy it for the bottle alone, and feel like your apartment is really full of French antiques and witty people enjoying a full bar whenever you open the cupboard. The site is nice, too--the St. Germain Cocktail with sparkling wine and soda water is going to be the new fancy drink around here.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Friday Unrelated Information
1. The summer solstice is this weekend. Perhaps it will actually be WARM this summer. I'm not holding my breath, though.
2. I have another work project to share: Provo Craft's microsite for a Cricut promotion. More exclamation points that I've ever used in my life contained herein. (I've also written the blog posts to date.)
3. Speaking of blogs, Mr. Isbell has one now: animaaeturnus.blogspot.com. It is geekier than I am really comfortable with--and I just heard him talk about the langugaes used in Star Wars (Galactic Basic and Huttese!)--but it shows off his mad model-painting skills. His blog name is "Lord Captain Valentine;" I call him "Cap'n."
2. I have another work project to share: Provo Craft's microsite for a Cricut promotion. More exclamation points that I've ever used in my life contained herein. (I've also written the blog posts to date.)
3. Speaking of blogs, Mr. Isbell has one now: animaaeturnus.blogspot.com. It is geekier than I am really comfortable with--and I just heard him talk about the langugaes used in Star Wars (Galactic Basic and Huttese!)--but it shows off his mad model-painting skills. His blog name is "Lord Captain Valentine;" I call him "Cap'n."
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Because I Know You Were Wondering
I finished the sweater discussed yesterday and am wearing it today. I'll have to wait to block it before I put it away for the summer, but I got a sweater in a week and a chance to wear it--not too bad.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tuesday Project Roundup: My Window Of Opportunity Is Rapidly Closing
I blame the rain for this project. I was going absolutely crazy by Tuesday, so started looking for a summer sweater to knit, despite my history of finishing summer sweaters in time for fall. Then I saw an extra-chunky project that could, in theory, be finished over the weekend and worn while it's still cool and rainy.
(This is not me, as I did NOT finish over the weekend. The pattern's from this book.)
I'm not sure why anyone needs a turtleneck with no sleeves made out of really thick, really warm wool, but it looked cool, gave me somewhere to put my nervous energy, and the yarn was on sale.
I'm so close to being done, but I only have about two more days before the weather is going to turn nice again and I won't be able to wear it until October. I'd better get knitting.
(This is not me, as I did NOT finish over the weekend. The pattern's from this book.)I'm not sure why anyone needs a turtleneck with no sleeves made out of really thick, really warm wool, but it looked cool, gave me somewhere to put my nervous energy, and the yarn was on sale.
I'm so close to being done, but I only have about two more days before the weather is going to turn nice again and I won't be able to wear it until October. I'd better get knitting.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Say It With Poems
This poem was featured on The Writer's Almanac last Thursday in the middle of the most emotionally difficult week in recent memory, so it was nice to read. I will try to keep it in mind this week:
Horses At Midnight Without A Moon
by Jack Gilbert
Our heart wanders lost in the dark woods.
Our dream wrestles in the castle of doubt.
But there's music in us. Hope is pushed down
but the angel flies up again taking us with her.
The summer mornings begin inch by inch
while we sleep, and walk with us later
as long-legged beauty through
the dirty streets. It is no surprise
that danger and suffering surround us.
What astonishes is the singing.
We know the horses are there in the dark
meadow because we can smell them,
can hear them breathing.
Our spirit persists like a man struggling
through the frozen valley
who suddenly smells flowers
and realizes the snow is melting
out of sight on top of the mountain,
knows that spring has begun.
Horses At Midnight Without A Moon
by Jack Gilbert
Our heart wanders lost in the dark woods.
Our dream wrestles in the castle of doubt.
But there's music in us. Hope is pushed down
but the angel flies up again taking us with her.
The summer mornings begin inch by inch
while we sleep, and walk with us later
as long-legged beauty through
the dirty streets. It is no surprise
that danger and suffering surround us.
What astonishes is the singing.
We know the horses are there in the dark
meadow because we can smell them,
can hear them breathing.
Our spirit persists like a man struggling
through the frozen valley
who suddenly smells flowers
and realizes the snow is melting
out of sight on top of the mountain,
knows that spring has begun.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Friday Unrelated Information
1. If you like 30 Rock and you liked The Muppet Show, you'll enjoy this blog post that compares the two. The pictures of parallel characters are great.
2. The gardening is going well. The tomatoes in the long bed got staked Saturday (the last day we've been able to work in the yard; stupid rain) and we planted cabbages and still more tomatoes.
3. Good times with student writing workshop commentary.
2. The gardening is going well. The tomatoes in the long bed got staked Saturday (the last day we've been able to work in the yard; stupid rain) and we planted cabbages and still more tomatoes.
3. Good times with student writing workshop commentary.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Diagrams Of Awesomeness
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
What I Do At Work (Besides Ride On Private Jets)
A couple of sites I worked on the last two months are finally live:
- A Novell partner site (I did this freelance, actually; then got a job. All the Microsoft wasn't for nothing!)
- The Franklin Covey Mission Statement Builder
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Tuesday Project Roundup: Half-Finished Projects Are The Best
I had to scrap the yellow pin dot dress (the fabric wasn't working with the pattern and it was awfully yellow), and while putting it in the "fail bin" I noticed a chambray dress I'd scrapped two summers ago. I put that one away because I couldn't figure out the placket; but in the last two years I've made plenty of plackets like that so I finished it up over the weekend:
I can't place the pattern exactly--maybe early 70's? Here's the envelope:
It's not the best dress I've ever made but it will be fine to wear to the farmer's market. I'm liking chambray a lot lately: I've bought trousers and a shirt made out of it (yay disposable income!), and now I have this. The fabric reminds me of The Grapes of Wrath.
I can't place the pattern exactly--maybe early 70's? Here's the envelope: 
It's not the best dress I've ever made but it will be fine to wear to the farmer's market. I'm liking chambray a lot lately: I've bought trousers and a shirt made out of it (yay disposable income!), and now I have this. The fabric reminds me of The Grapes of Wrath.
Monday, June 08, 2009
Toby Is Two!
We know Toby was born in June, because he was nine months old last March when we adopted him. I arbitrarily picked June third as his birthday because it was the same day of the month as mine, making it easy to remember.
Well, June 3 came this year and I was out of town--I missed his birthday! Fortunately, cats don't really keep track. I did bring him presents Sunday: a new scratching post and a crinkle tube that he loves.
It's a pretty dark photo, but I'm sure Toby likes how it makes him look more like a vicious hunter hiding in the jungle (tunnel).
Well, June 3 came this year and I was out of town--I missed his birthday! Fortunately, cats don't really keep track. I did bring him presents Sunday: a new scratching post and a crinkle tube that he loves.
It's a pretty dark photo, but I'm sure Toby likes how it makes him look more like a vicious hunter hiding in the jungle (tunnel).
Friday, June 05, 2009
Friday Unrelated Information
1. I didn't mean to sound as if I was complaining about the ride on a private jet yesterday; the booties just struck me as funny. (To be clear, I was complaining about Unprofessional Dude.) Maybe it was a "the rich aren't different from you and me" moment.
2. Another baby at the alpaca ranch:
3. That's all I have. I'm dragging today.
2. Another baby at the alpaca ranch:
3. That's all I have. I'm dragging today.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Questions I Pondered During The Business Trip
1. If the owner of the conglomerate we were hired by can afford a private jet, can't he afford to have the jet's carpets cleaned? If so, then why would we all have to wear booties over our shoes while in the plane?
2. Is it really professional to point out various landmark places of worship in the Salt Lake Valley as we fly over them and talk about doing religious work in each one of them? Was it really only this guys righteousness that was keeping the plane in the air? Because it was starting to feel like it. (This guy wasn't with our company, fortunately; but professionalism FAIL.)
Anyway, glad to be back.
2. Is it really professional to point out various landmark places of worship in the Salt Lake Valley as we fly over them and talk about doing religious work in each one of them? Was it really only this guys righteousness that was keeping the plane in the air? Because it was starting to feel like it. (This guy wasn't with our company, fortunately; but professionalism FAIL.)
Anyway, glad to be back.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
That Business Trip
...is happening right now, so I'm using Blogger's scheduled posting function to tell you this. Someone didn't want me to leave:
Back this afternoon and posting live tomorrow.
Back this afternoon and posting live tomorrow.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Tuesday Project Roundup: Nightwear
I always thought the concept of nightwear was just odd--clothing you change into especially for sleeping? But as I head into 30, it's starting to sound sane and adult, especially matching nightwear. So I started by making a robe: 
Pajamas to follow. Then some sort of increased maturity.
Pajamas to follow. Then some sort of increased maturity.
Monday, June 01, 2009
World Got You Down?
Upset by the latest news? Feeling blue? I have two words for you: Baby alpaca! The first cria of the year was born at Blue Moon Ranch Saturday:
Friday, May 29, 2009
Friday Unrelated Information
1. This weekend I will see Star Trek and go to the Neko Case concert at Red Butte and get a haircut AND buy some bark mulch for the yard. Big weekend!
2. Here is an article about "Caring for Your Introvert" from the Atlantic quite some time ago. I think everyone I know needs to read this.
3. Something silly from Married to the Sea (click for big):
2. Here is an article about "Caring for Your Introvert" from the Atlantic quite some time ago. I think everyone I know needs to read this.
3. Something silly from Married to the Sea (click for big):
Thursday, May 28, 2009
I Got Nothing
Between not knowing what day of the week it is, and being busy, and obsessing over finding a good travel dress to wear on a business trip (my first business trip!), I am just drinking coffee and looking at pictures on the internet in the mornings, not composing anything good.
I'll have a list tomorrow.
I'll have a list tomorrow.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Schubert Weather
This partly cloudy end of May with the honey locusts in bloom reminds of when I first discovered the Schubert Cello Quintet eight or nine years ago (and blackberries in cream-top yogurt, and the difficulties of sad people, but that's not what we're talking about today). I had to listen to it twice this weekend while sewing, and you should listen to it, too. The second movement, the loveliest, is below, but the whole thing is worth an hour of your time.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Tuesday Project Roundup: Long Weekend
Even with Mr. Isbell being gone all week and me having Monday off, I really didn't accomplish much this weekend. When I try to think of what I did, all I can come up with is "Make blueberry muffins."
I did sew a little, because for the first time in about 15 years I've decided I want a pair of pajamas again--with a matching robe. This probably ties in with wanting to have long hair, although watching all that Mad Men again doesn't hurt, either. And I decided it was time to improve on what's described at 1:40 below:
"Team Building Exercise 99, yeah!"
I did sew a little, because for the first time in about 15 years I've decided I want a pair of pajamas again--with a matching robe. This probably ties in with wanting to have long hair, although watching all that Mad Men again doesn't hurt, either. And I decided it was time to improve on what's described at 1:40 below:
"Team Building Exercise 99, yeah!"
Monday, May 25, 2009
Memorial Day Now Memorialized With Furniture Sales; Sorry, Veterans
You can read about the holdiay's history as Decoration Day here if you'd like, or you can read this Carl Sandberg poem that I always think of:
Grass
Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work -
Grass
Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work -
I am the grass; I cover all.
And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?I am the grass.
Let me work.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Friday Unrelated Information
1. Why is Dick Cheney still talking? Why are there news articles about how he's still talking? Please stop talking now, Dick.
2. The Writer's Almanac tells me it's the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who hated writing Sherlock Holmes stories:
"To get out of writing Holmes tales, he asked Strandfor higher and higher prices for his stories, ridiculously high, hoping they would turn him down. But they went ahead and paid him anything he asked."
3. Finally, Lego sets that adults can leave out without feeling silly: Frank Lloyd Wright models! Read more here.
2. The Writer's Almanac tells me it's the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who hated writing Sherlock Holmes stories:
"To get out of writing Holmes tales, he asked Strandfor higher and higher prices for his stories, ridiculously high, hoping they would turn him down. But they went ahead and paid him anything he asked."
3. Finally, Lego sets that adults can leave out without feeling silly: Frank Lloyd Wright models! Read more here.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
May Is National Bike Month
I've finally started riding my bike to work! I know I wanted to be less wimpy about riding in cooler weather (Thing #9), but I started my new job in April and was just too shy to wheel my bike through the office right away. (It didn't help my shyness to learn that one coworker is a fancy bike racer and one boss rode/ran/swam the Hawaii Ironman last year.)
But now I've started riding and it's significantly easier to pedal every time, which is good, and all the roadies at work are friendly, and I'm getting waves from passersby again. Velo bon!
But now I've started riding and it's significantly easier to pedal every time, which is good, and all the roadies at work are friendly, and I'm getting waves from passersby again. Velo bon!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Attack Of The Cute
I had to be on an East-coast client call early this morning, and Toby did not like that one bit. In his cat mind, if I'm up earlier than usual it should be to lavish him with even more attention and monologues in the kitty voice. So he did his best to distract me with races, squeaks, surprise attacks, and most distracting of all, the Cute Roll:
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Tuesday Project Roundup: Christmas Stockings Are Not Holding My Interest
To be fair, I haven't been working on them very much because of the yard and graduation parties and eating outside on the new patio. But these caught my eye, despite my knowing I haven't worn any summer knits I've made in the past:
I really like the navy one, but the directions appear to be in Finnish and would have to be mail ordered and Christmas stockings are easy and I'm not knitting that much anyway. (I'm not sewing much, either. Because have you noticed? It's WARM outside!)
If I do decide to knit either of these, I guess I could get enough yarn to make them long-sleeved. Because I probably wouldn't finish until fall anyway.
I really like the navy one, but the directions appear to be in Finnish and would have to be mail ordered and Christmas stockings are easy and I'm not knitting that much anyway. (I'm not sewing much, either. Because have you noticed? It's WARM outside!)If I do decide to knit either of these, I guess I could get enough yarn to make them long-sleeved. Because I probably wouldn't finish until fall anyway.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Ninety Degress!
I think the whole office will be restless today.
There is some treasure hidden in the heart of summer
everyone remembers now, and they can't be sure
the lives they live in will discover it.
(From "Santa Barbara Road," Robert Hass.)
There is some treasure hidden in the heart of summer
everyone remembers now, and they can't be sure
the lives they live in will discover it.
(From "Santa Barbara Road," Robert Hass.)
Friday, May 15, 2009
Friday Unrelated Information
1. Things I have done at work this week (unrelated projects): Researched the difference between a multi-level marketing scheme and a pyramid scheme; used more exclamation points writing one web site than I have in my entire professional career; and learned about the growing mainstream market for total-body cleanses. My job is awesome!
2. Speaking of advertising, let's watch some Precious Roy Home Shopping Network (from the most brilliant show ever to appear on MTV, Sifl & Olly):
3. And to end the week on a more highbrow note, I came across an Elizabeth Bishop quote that, for me, defines the reason literature exists: "Since we do float on an unknown sea I think we should examine the other floating things that come our way carefully; who knows what might depend on it."
2. Speaking of advertising, let's watch some Precious Roy Home Shopping Network (from the most brilliant show ever to appear on MTV, Sifl & Olly):
3. And to end the week on a more highbrow note, I came across an Elizabeth Bishop quote that, for me, defines the reason literature exists: "Since we do float on an unknown sea I think we should examine the other floating things that come our way carefully; who knows what might depend on it."
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Science Fiction Plants!
Last night I discovered that ivy has pushed through the outside bricks, into the walls, and is trying to sprout through the baseboard in the bedroom. And that is thoroughly creepy. Not because I think that ivy will suddenly come shooting in to attack us in our beds, but because the ivy has been slowly, slowly working its way in and is probably not going to stop now. (I am so glad I rent, by the way.)
Something that inexorable and vegetative reminded me of a couple of science fiction stories--there's one by Bradbury in S is For Space about mushroom kits that kids order and start growing; the mushrooms then turn out to be a weird alien life that takes over the world and smothers all the kids' parents. And Ursula LeGuin wrote "Vaster Than Empires, and More Slow" which I don't recall as well, but is about a planet whose plant life slowly strangles the explorers, I think. (I mostly remember that the title comes from Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress": My vegetable love should grow/ Vaster than empires, and more slow.)
So maybe if I hadn't read so much science fiction I wouldn't be nervous about walking by the spot where I saw the ivy pushing in. I think the landlord can deal with this...
Something that inexorable and vegetative reminded me of a couple of science fiction stories--there's one by Bradbury in S is For Space about mushroom kits that kids order and start growing; the mushrooms then turn out to be a weird alien life that takes over the world and smothers all the kids' parents. And Ursula LeGuin wrote "Vaster Than Empires, and More Slow" which I don't recall as well, but is about a planet whose plant life slowly strangles the explorers, I think. (I mostly remember that the title comes from Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress": My vegetable love should grow/ Vaster than empires, and more slow.)
So maybe if I hadn't read so much science fiction I wouldn't be nervous about walking by the spot where I saw the ivy pushing in. I think the landlord can deal with this...
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
It's Almost Time To Read Dandelion Wine Again
This poem was on the Writer's Almanac this morning and it reminded me of the first long chapter of Dandelion Wine where Douglas realizes he's alive (well, mortal; he's 11 in the book so obviously he's been alive and known about it for some time).
Anyway. Good old Mark Strand gives us another lovely poem:
My Name
Once when the lawn was a golden green
and the marbled moonlit trees rose like fresh memorials
in the scented air, and the whole countryside pulsed
with the chirr and murmur of insects, I lay in the grass,
feeling the great distances open above me, and wondered
what I would become and where I would find myself,
and though I barely existed, I felt for an instant
that the vast star-clustered sky was mine, and I heard
my name as if for the first time, heard it the way
one hears the wind or the rain, but faint and far off
as though it belonged not to me but to the silence
from which it had come and to which it would go.
Anyway. Good old Mark Strand gives us another lovely poem:
My Name
Once when the lawn was a golden green
and the marbled moonlit trees rose like fresh memorials
in the scented air, and the whole countryside pulsed
with the chirr and murmur of insects, I lay in the grass,
feeling the great distances open above me, and wondered
what I would become and where I would find myself,
and though I barely existed, I felt for an instant
that the vast star-clustered sky was mine, and I heard
my name as if for the first time, heard it the way
one hears the wind or the rain, but faint and far off
as though it belonged not to me but to the silence
from which it had come and to which it would go.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tuesday Project Roundup: What I've Been Doing Instead Of Sewing
The short answer: Buying things for the yard. (And working in it, too, but mostly buying things.)
Mr. Isbell expanded the front stoop into a patio and I bought some chairs:
(And a new hose! and hose storage!)
And I bought a lot of marigolds and potting soil:
I did finally get the yellow dot fabric from two weeks ago cut out last night, but someone decided to impede progress as much as he could:
Look at that stubborn face. He wasn't about to move.
Mr. Isbell expanded the front stoop into a patio and I bought some chairs:
(And a new hose! and hose storage!)And I bought a lot of marigolds and potting soil:
I did finally get the yellow dot fabric from two weeks ago cut out last night, but someone decided to impede progress as much as he could:
Look at that stubborn face. He wasn't about to move.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Let's Talk About The Twilight Movie
This movie made it onto the Netflix queue because I was considering the books for trashy summer reading (along with Anne McCaffery and some Ian Fleming) and I thought the movie might give me an idea of how bad the books might be.
And let me tell you, it was bad. Not so much bad dialogue, or a bad plot (well...), but bad for teen girls all over America: How did a book that teaches you that it's ok to throw all your love at someone who will hurt you--who might even kill you--become a worldwide bestselling romance? Because in real life the person you're throwing your love at isn't a sparkly vampire; he's just going to give you a broken arm. Or worse.
So I don't think I need to read the books--I'll spare myself that frustration (and spare Mr. Isbell the rants about women perpetuating these behavior patterns). (Seriously, Woman Author and Women Director and Producers? You think that because a secondary character asks a boy to prom that this makes your book/movie modern and empowering? Wow.)
The movie ended with a Radiohead song, though. I didn't see that coming.
And let me tell you, it was bad. Not so much bad dialogue, or a bad plot (well...), but bad for teen girls all over America: How did a book that teaches you that it's ok to throw all your love at someone who will hurt you--who might even kill you--become a worldwide bestselling romance? Because in real life the person you're throwing your love at isn't a sparkly vampire; he's just going to give you a broken arm. Or worse.
So I don't think I need to read the books--I'll spare myself that frustration (and spare Mr. Isbell the rants about women perpetuating these behavior patterns). (Seriously, Woman Author and Women Director and Producers? You think that because a secondary character asks a boy to prom that this makes your book/movie modern and empowering? Wow.)
The movie ended with a Radiohead song, though. I didn't see that coming.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Friday Unrelated Information
1. How cool are these Blue Note album covers from the 60's? Even the names of the albums are cool:
You can see a lot more here on what looks to be a Japanese site.
2. Seriously, I can't take the coolness. If anyone browsing in a thrift store finds any old jazz albums, I plan to buy a turntable someday. Hint.
3. I stumbled across an essay on perfume that does as good a job as anything can describing a smell, in the purplest prose imaginable. Which is a good thing, because it gives us paragraphs like this:
"The best way to describe Bigarade is to say, first, that it is a vast smell. And second, that it smells like a human being in the summer in a complex weather system; whoever this person is, we can smell them, they're showered but they have a smell all the same, and the lovely, intricate smells of summer are all around and clinging to their skin, and also it seems to have just rained because there's the scent of rainwater on pavement and perhaps a bit of ozone, plus some flower petals and grass that got washed into the puddle they're stepping in. "
You can see a lot more here on what looks to be a Japanese site.2. Seriously, I can't take the coolness. If anyone browsing in a thrift store finds any old jazz albums, I plan to buy a turntable someday. Hint.
3. I stumbled across an essay on perfume that does as good a job as anything can describing a smell, in the purplest prose imaginable. Which is a good thing, because it gives us paragraphs like this:
"The best way to describe Bigarade is to say, first, that it is a vast smell. And second, that it smells like a human being in the summer in a complex weather system; whoever this person is, we can smell them, they're showered but they have a smell all the same, and the lovely, intricate smells of summer are all around and clinging to their skin, and also it seems to have just rained because there's the scent of rainwater on pavement and perhaps a bit of ozone, plus some flower petals and grass that got washed into the puddle they're stepping in. "
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Happy Brithday, Famous Composers
Today is the birthday of Johannes Brahms AND of Piotr Tchaikovsky. Poor Brahms was in love with Clara Schumann his whole life, which was tricky because Robert Schumann was his good friend and mentor, and poor Tchaikovsky was gay at a time when that was illegal in Russia. (Hell, it still might be.)
I recommend listening to the Brahms string sextet #1, which I found online here (pretty good, but find the Berlin Octet recording). And for Tchaikovsky, you can watch The Music Lovers, but then you'll be depressed, so you'd better just put on the 1812 Overture.
I recommend listening to the Brahms string sextet #1, which I found online here (pretty good, but find the Berlin Octet recording). And for Tchaikovsky, you can watch The Music Lovers, but then you'll be depressed, so you'd better just put on the 1812 Overture.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Entertaining, Yet Morbid
I found this in my online reading yesterday: A site with the premise, "If we started a movie on the day you were born, and stretched it over your lifespan, this is where you'd be in that movie."
You enter your birthday, how long you expect to live, and pick a movie (Ghostbusters, 2001, Star Wars, etc.), then the results tell you where you are in that movie, if that movie were your life.
Apparently, I'm in that long fantastic scene in 2001 where Dave is jogging in the round part of the spaceship. I don't know how that helps me with my Wednesday at all, but such is the internet.
You enter your birthday, how long you expect to live, and pick a movie (Ghostbusters, 2001, Star Wars, etc.), then the results tell you where you are in that movie, if that movie were your life.
Apparently, I'm in that long fantastic scene in 2001 where Dave is jogging in the round part of the spaceship. I don't know how that helps me with my Wednesday at all, but such is the internet.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Tuesday Project Roundup: Working On Thing #7
Thing #7 from the 29 Things is "Knit Christmas stockings, starting with Toby's." I got the yarn a few weeks ago and finally started last week. I'm to the heel now but, since it looks like a stripey tube, I'll wait on a picture.
Mr. Isbell saw my yarn colors (orange*, turquoise, and a weird green) and said, "Those aren't Christmas colors!" But they are:
*Toby gets the orange one, of course.
Mr. Isbell saw my yarn colors (orange*, turquoise, and a weird green) and said, "Those aren't Christmas colors!" But they are:
*Toby gets the orange one, of course.
Monday, May 04, 2009
The Map Of Library Cats
The internet has produced yet another neat thing to look at--thank you, internet! This is an interactive map of all the known library cats in the world. The main page gives you the summary, and then you can click on the state of the country for more particulars. For example, a library in Huntsville up north had a cat named Dewey ten years ago.
Now the internet needs to come up with a map of all the bookstore cats in the world.
Now the internet needs to come up with a map of all the bookstore cats in the world.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Friday Unrelated Information
1. Happy May Day to everyone enjoying an eight-hour work day today. International Workers Day "is the commemoration of the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886, when Chicago police fired on workers during a general strike for the eight hour day" (although someone did throw a bomb at the police first, apparently. But still.).
2. If I were ever going to knit anything for my brother, this would be it:
I actually think these are machine-knit anyway, but check them out on the collector's Flickr page of "promotional knit beer sweaters from the 70s and 80s."
3. And more music to finish the week--this is a blast from my past that I suddenly wanted to listen to, and then I was 15 again and riding around with my friend in the summer, going to malls.
2. If I were ever going to knit anything for my brother, this would be it:
I actually think these are machine-knit anyway, but check them out on the collector's Flickr page of "promotional knit beer sweaters from the 70s and 80s."3. And more music to finish the week--this is a blast from my past that I suddenly wanted to listen to, and then I was 15 again and riding around with my friend in the summer, going to malls.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Songs Used To Good Effect In Popular Television Series
In addition to shoes, I bought the first season of Mad Men with my first paycheck. Watching it again has been as enthralling as watching it the first time, but since I know to expect the sexism I don't get so worked up about it--a win-win!
I watched the final episode last night and it closes with the main characters' marriage (still) on the rocks, with "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right." And listening to it, I thought, "Man, those are some bitter lyrics. But such a pretty tune. And wow, does that really work well to close the first season."
So here is some early Bob Dylan for your listening pleasure:
I watched the final episode last night and it closes with the main characters' marriage (still) on the rocks, with "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right." And listening to it, I thought, "Man, those are some bitter lyrics. But such a pretty tune. And wow, does that really work well to close the first season."
So here is some early Bob Dylan for your listening pleasure:
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
So True
I think this has been making the rounds, but I had to post it anyway: It's a fake "internet age writing course description and syllabus," from McSweeney's, and it makes writers everywhere feel very smug and vindicated. The whole thing is here (check out "Week 7: Blogging"--not so smug now!) and a sample is below:
Course Description
As print takes its place alongside smoke signals, cuneiform, and hollering, there has emerged a new literary age, one in which writers no longer need to feel encumbered by the paper cuts, reading, and excessive use of words traditionally associated with the writing trade. Writing for Nonreaders in the Postprint Era focuses on the creation of short-form prose that is not intended to be reproduced on pulp fibers.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tuesday Project Roundup: Types Of Dots
Aspirin dot:
And pin dot:
The aspirin dot is a knit that I've made into a t-shirt dress (I want to wait to get a modeled shot) and the pin dot will be a little 60's shift soon.
And then I think I need to really work on the quilt that's languishing at my parents' house, because the closet is getting so packed with clothing that it's going to becoming super-dense and turn into a supernova. It's that full.
And pin dot:
The aspirin dot is a knit that I've made into a t-shirt dress (I want to wait to get a modeled shot) and the pin dot will be a little 60's shift soon.
And then I think I need to really work on the quilt that's languishing at my parents' house, because the closet is getting so packed with clothing that it's going to becoming super-dense and turn into a supernova. It's that full.
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