"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"
- Barbara Bush, 3/18/03

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a few days ago, my laptop’s power cord started shooting out sparks. scary! after three years, the cord had been tripped over countless times, yanked out of the laptop dozens of times, and so on. it was not looking pretty, but i was not expecting the sparks – i’ve been so careful the last few months.

anyhow, went to the nearest apple store and i gotta say i’m not happy. not only do they not carry the old powercords, but there’s none to be found in all of l.a. county, they said. so, i went online to apple’s website to order one, and the soonest they can get it to me would be in 3-4 weeks. ridiculous! makes me very angry.

online again i went, and found this, for less than half the price of the apple version. with 2 day shipping, it’ll be here on wednesday at the latest. good reviews can be found as well, though i won’t be completely sure until it arrives, of course.

i’m really disappointed in apple, and looking at the 1,077 reviews for the old powercord, it seems there are many many of us out there. bad design, horrible shipping wait, not to mention expensive price equals a lot of unhappy people.

ok, end of rant. i’ll be back in a few days ~ ~ things have been miraculously good and real and all the things you hope for, but i’m cautious and trying to not jinx things or fall into complete dreams. hope your first day of october goes beautifully.

update: it arrived in record time and works like a dream. yay ;)

comment [4]

posted 1 October 06 & filed under cranky, techno-babble

divided

off to maryland for a week – a conference and a double baptism, plus meeting up with some cool online friends. i’m lucky for all of these events, but right now all i want to do is the above. here’s a favorite song of mine recently, by blonde redhead. listen to it loud.

comment [4]

posted 21 March 06 & filed under cranky, libraries

mid-week

a great weekend but since then the week has really bit. i had my first spinning conversion at the dinner party on friday, but like a dork, forgot to take a pic of my star pupil. ;) no fear, she left my place with her own spindle, some fiber, and a good spinning mag – see? i’m a responsible spinner. ..the party was such a hit – i had a great great time catching up with friends and was relieved to see that seven people in my apartment was not too crowded at all. i’ve also been cooking like a madwoman: homemade applesauce, herbed croutons, herbed butter – can you tell i’m trying to use up my fresh (store-bought) herbs? – spinach lasagna and goat cheese gratin, watercress & endive salad, and even some chocolate fondue. delish.

my body hurts a lot recently – aches from actually using muscles that normally are allowed to just be and not actually do anything. one of my sisters drew up an exercise plan for toning and stuff and then with horseback riding classes (still loving it, just frustrated with the group lesson setting – just a few slowpokes and uninterested can bring the whole class to a halt, arggh), some part of my body is always a bit touchy. it feels good though – is cathartic the right word here?

on monday, i went with a handful of other library students up north to tour the library at the san luis obispo prison, “california mens’ colony” – isn’t that bizarre it’s called a colony? anyhow, it was an all-day thing and really intense and i feel like i’m still kinda processing it. i think everyone in the u.s. should at some point bee inside a prison, just to get a glimse of what life is like for the many (with the numbers always growing) that spend years and years of their lives there. it was depressing to see all these kids there, just little ones, barely 20. the whole prison system is so friggin corrupt and inherently wrong, it’s just depressing and scary. ... the focus should be on rehabilitation, and it’s not! people should not be in prison for non-violent crimes! they shouldn’t be put in jail for being addicted to drugs! the three strike law is bogus! etc etc. sigh. the library was a great thing to see – and there need to be many more! – but the setting was just too overwhelming to be able to focus on it much at all.

... so! i leave you with some happy photos (tequila is my mom’s dog, a typical trouble pose, and then my first spindle-spun and spindle-plyed yarn), in hopes of not scaring you off. i have the beatles’ song in my head “it’s get-ting bettah all the tiiiime..” and a headache as well – what a lovely combo. off to write a paper, take a good long shower, and then maybe a nap. as my cousins say, chausito ~ ~

comment [7]

posted 8 February 06 & filed under cherry scarf, cranky

spinning again

on friday, after two strong emails to various spinning enablers all about how i was going to wait to get a wheel, or even rent a wheel, later that day, during lunch i drove up and rented a majacraft rose. so pretty! and a little more tricky than the ashford traveller but ultimately, i’m sure it’ll be more satisfying. why am i not positive now? because my brother, out of the blue, came to visit me this weekend and we did the following:

(the smart guy that he is, he saw and did more in 48 hours than a lot of people do in a week of visiting l.a.) so, now i need a weekend to recover from my weekend. and i need some wheel time, it’s just been sitting there all neglected. there was no knitting either – i asked my brother about bringing some to the hockey game and he just stared at me as if i had grown a second head.

so this is how that crazy fun yarn is made.

silk spinning explained, with pictures

MJ pointed out some beautiful wintery hat kits that i’m a-thinkin’ about.

there’s so many crafts i want to dabble in, like screen printing. i’ve done a bit but this cheap screen printing tutorial makes it seem much more do-able.

felted pumpkins are also on my mind – though what to do with them later..?! it’d be cool to make them hollow somehow, to put candy in or something like that..

for itunes users, i’m trying to figure out how to manage multiple libraries – success or failure to be announced soon-ish

i’m thinking ahead to new projects. i have probably four different works-in-progress, but i just don’t feel a zip of motivation about them. so, in the meantime, i’m making a plan. first:

theoretically, also on the list:

a verrrrry long post with zip pictures. sorry. i’m still under this dark evil mood cloud i’ve been under for weeks now. the kind that makes me want to be (or at least feels it’s inevitable so why not accept it) a hermit at the edge of the woods and become very bitter and spit at people as they pass. sux. but, hope some of this was interesting nonetheless – the creativity of people and beauty in the world are what keep me inspired and hopeful for some chance of meaning & beauty in some parts of my life at least. so, keep on keepin’ on, ok.

p.s. have you ever wondered why it’s always windy in autumn? this kind of question, the answers that follow, and the sites that promote them make the info-crazy in me happy.

comment [7]

posted 24 October 05 & filed under cranky, familia!

oh

i’m trying to get back into the groove of posting more than once a week – especially about things that make me mad – but the week just flew by, i guess. not in a terribly good way, but that’s ok – my apartment is very very clean (considering i have two very sheddy cats) and at night i’m starting to dream of twisted stitches, cabling, and other fun knitting stuff. ha.

but yes, it’s friday – and i have happy knitting news. inspired by laura (of comsicpluto) , i’ve finally started mon petit chou, that lacy lingerie pattern from last summer’s knitty. here’s the front – and i’ll get the back done this weekend, and then the top done next week. it took a little while for me to get the pattern memorized – it’s hard being an ambidexturous combination knitter (doesn’t that sound fancy), because i have to reverse all the wrong side instructions and the increases and decreases have to be really understood structurally, i.e. are they left leaning, right leaning, or what.

anyhow, i’m really enjoying this pattern – yes, kate gilbert creates beautiful things! – but one complaint: why isn’t there a &$*(@^ chart?! or, at the very least, a stitch count at the end of every row? in my life, i try to use as little math as possible, and yes in knitting, i’m betrayed time and time again, sigh. see the pencil, see the scribblings? that’s the mark of one frustrated andrea who wasn’t able to concentrate on her movie and instead had to fiddle with numbers. one upside: once i figured it out, i felt like a math genius.

i’m loving the picot hem – i’ve never done one of those things before and it’s really fun to do, plus to begin i had to cast-on invisibly (sounds funny that way, doesn’t it), which i had never successfully done. i love the color – and so far, it seems like i’ll only need one ball of cascade’s fixation to finish it up, yay.

for knitting inspiration, and a peek at where i’m heading, see here: only two balls of jaeger trinity to make this corset!, and can’t help it, i love this shrug, and yikes, it’s almost the end of september, and i have yet to finish my stitch ya neck out turtleneck shrug, i.e. dpns, here i come.

lastly, i’ve found out over the last few weeks that various people i had no idea knew of this site are reading it – makes me a tad nervous, but ultimately, welcoming. ;) so, welcome luci and claud’s raleigh addidas folks!

have a great weekend everyone.

update: bloglines is ignoring me and i’m not happy about that.

comment [8]

posted 16 September 05 & filed under cranky, knitting

mixed me

this is pissing me off:

In a segment on the surge of evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: “What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (she chuckled)—this is working very well for them.“

what a major major bitch. i shouldn’t be surprised by this i guess.

it’s way past time for me, and many many others, to get our heads out of the sand.

from dem now, when i heard it, it hit me like a gong:

“JUAN GONZALEZ: And what can Americans who are concerned about the lack of attention of our federal government to this issue, what can they do?

ROSS GELBSPAN: Unfortunately, it has to be political action. It’s not lifestyle action. Even if we all sat in the dark and rode bicycles, it would not stop global warming… We need to take the lead in spearheading a rapid transition to clean energy. That will happen only through political pressure…”

and this goes way beyond energy and enviromental issues – though sometimes when i think about what we’re doing to this world of ours, i just think holy crap, we are so screwed – including war, major mass-denial class and race issues, who we let be in charge around here, etc etc.

all words, very easy to say.

in between moments like these, when i’m just trying to find tons of information and wondering and seething, i escape. cowardly, i know. but i do – i’ve watched probably ten movies in the last three days, and actually have a completed knitted thing, and i’m definitely caught up on sleep, and if i take another shower, i’ll probably turn permanently into a raisin. (there’s even been some spinning, that was great.)

[not all of my emotions are coming from anger about katrina/new orleans/bush idiocies/condi shopping/ etc, but from other personal upheavels. i’ll be ok. just wanted to add this so.. i don’t know, so the context is more real. ]