It’s from an angry and sarcastic person with a cold:
Good Bornig Asshole
ETA: Just so people don’t think I’m completely oblivious… First on three!
Good luck Shadow!
Good Luck Shadow!!
Fingers crossed for you, Shadow.
Hope all is well with the folks, taxi.
Shelli, what goes in a Blue Balls? I’m too lazy to look it up (plus the company might wonder what I’m using their internet for). I’m always on the lookout for new yummy cocktails.
Speaking of taxi’s folks… nutty weather we’ve been having this year, huh? I’m having bread and Nutella for lunch, mostly because it’s now raining outside and the streets are a slushy mess. Even the thought of proper food isn’t enough to motivate me to leave the building and brave the wet.
Good vocational vibes for ReboHubby and Shadow!
{{{Taters & Shelli}}}
No coffee yet so no idea on the GBA thing… Pipples is weird.
Shadow, how many stitches cast on for that scarf, and is it any sort of a complicated pattern? It looked like just a straight up knit stitch but I’m by no means an expert… However, that’s a scarf I think I could manage to do! And it’s Graple!
Sheesh, we’re having what sounds and feels like 100 mph wind gusts out there, it’s insane! Not cold at all, it’s like 52F right now but damn, that wind and rain is kinda scary. Stoopid Pratchett is insisting he wants to go out in that shit and we’re attempting to explain to him that he is NUTZ. Serve him right if I staked him out on his leash in this and let him get totally soaked. I need to do some errands today but damn… Yuck. Well, at least the van isn’t all wambly any more so the sheer terror factor is minimized. Big White Van = High Sail Area + Strong Broadside Winds + Fucked Up Front End = Upholstery Sucked Up Anal Sphincter. No thanks! I also need to get the van fuelled up which is an adventure–pumping propane is a delight in bad weather and it takes a while–two tanks…
Bleargh… Can I just go back to bed and give this day a miss?
Smarty, the purple scarf pattern is cast on 9 stitches with the yarn doubled on US 35 needles and knit every stitch until the scarf is long enough. I knit about 65 inches and had about a quarter of a skein left of Malabrigo (215 yards/skein). BTW, LittleKnitsjust got a bunch of Malabrigo in, if you don’t have a LYS that carries it. I’ve ordered from her before and she’s great. Good prices and fast shipping.
One more hour. No one’s been “reassigned” yet, just let go.
I’ve seen this in a few places. What does “doubled” mean?
It’s almost meeting time. I’ve got fingers and toes crossed for you, Shadow. Or at least mental fingers and toes since I need my real fingers to do work!
Shadow those yarns are quite purty. Me thinks it would be a pain to wind the hank into balls though… fingers and toes crossed for you!
Taxi “doubled” means that you use two strands of yarn at the same time. So, you’re always pulling from two skeins or balls.
Ah, thanks.
Also, why do people rewind yarn into a ball instead of pulling it from the middle of the skein? I know it’s “bad” for some reason to pull it directly from the skein, but I don’t know why, and I’m too lazy to rewind it. So far my scarves have all seemed to turn out ok. Am I really DOOOOOOOMED for not winding the yarn into a ball? (I haven’t gotten that feeling from anyone here, but I have from others.)
Shadow, I’m practically drooling over this Little Knits site… I don’t suppose you know offhand if she’s willing to ship to Canuckistan? I’ve looked all over the site and can’t find anything that says either way (sadly, the web is still a very US-centric place… many smaller 'Murican e-businesses have very unfriendly shipping policies in that they either won’t state shipping costs up-front or won’t ship outside the US but neglect to state that anywhere on their site).
taxi, I can answer that one! Most mass-produced skeins (the ones that look like this) are designed to unwind neatly from the center and so don’t really need to the rolled into a ball. However, the nicer handcrafted stuff (which is sold in a twisted skein likethis) will turn into an unforgiveably tangled mess in no time if you try to work directly from the skein, which is a giant pain in the ass. I spent nearly 3 hrs untangling a beautiful pima cotton once because I made that mistake, where I could have just spent 20 minutes winding it into a ball.
Ah-hah! Thank you. Now I don’t feel so bad.
Oh and to whoever asked upthread a bit (herbsI think…?), my parents’ area of PA wasn’t too badly hit by the ice. Mom said the trees were all covered but the roads were warm enough and well-salted enough to be ok. Thanks for asking!
Oh thanks for the hugs y’all! Like you said, I just keep telling myself “it’s for my kids, it’s for my kids” and it gets me through. I remind myself that personal pride never cured a child’s broken leg…
Blue Balls - very easy and lots of ways to do it but here’s the one I do: 1 shot each: blue curacao, peach schnapps, malibu coconut rum. Add a splash of sweet and sour and a splash of sprite. Shake in ice and pour into glass. I liked a little more than a splash of sprite because it is thick. It’s one of those that is a shot but you can thin it out with a more soda to make a drink.
Also, if you pour irish cream into curacao it will dance around and make a neat shot.
I paid my first payment on school tuition and bought books today. I meant to ask the registrar’s office if I could also budget into the payments a sherpa to haul these big ass books around!! They are so cool though. I love being a student again. I ate lunch in the dining hall and studied pictures of bones.
That is awesome.
Good luck wishes, Shadow!!
Just finished supper - we had this soup and it is more yummerrific than my usual N.O.T. soup. Only difference - I didn’t cube the potatoes. I kinda mooshed them in the skin, then cut them in half and scraped the innards out. We had swiss, bacon, and sour cream to top it, but you could add anything you’d have on a baked 'tater. I had 2 bowls and I’m stuffed!!
It was a rainy, cold day, and my office was chilly, too. I wonder if my new cube is in a draft also? I’ll find out next week - I’m supposed to move Monday or Tuesday. Goodbye, window… <sob>
That’s all for now. Good employment thoughts to those who need them. Hugs and gropes for everyone.
Is it Firday yet??
Thanks, Shadow, I think I might have to give that a try–it’s within my ability and I looooove knitty wool thingies and that yarn is not only scrumptious but quite affordable as well.
For all you Agony Aunt fans out there, check out this incredibly passive-aggressive Craig’s List ad I just saw on our local page. That’s some bloody craftsmanship for a throwaway, don’tcha think? I LOL’d…
Oh my god. The bitterness makes it good, but the misspellings make it grand!
I’m proud of me. One of my goals this year is to work out (defined by my terms) at least five days a week. This morning I almost didn’t do anything, but I told myself that I had to walk the dog. We got caught in a rain burst and got soaked, so we didn’t do the full three mile route, but we did do a respectable two miles so I’m happy. Now I just have to keep this up.
My terms, by the way, consists of the three-mile dog walk route and my 45 minute yoga DVD. Later on I’ll vary it but I’m more concerned with getting my stamina up and my back unkinked at the moment.
I have to work every night this week at Reference Work because I’m not only the only GA who’s signed a contract, I’m the only GA at all since the other one got a new job. It’s only a couple of hours and my regular hours don’t start till next week, so I don’t mind. It’s partly thesis-working-on-time and I can bank these hours for later.
Oh thesis. How I haven’t missed you. Why didn’t you finish writing yourself over Christmas like I asked you to?
I hate iTunes. The first time, I installed it on my Windows partition just fine, and copied all of my music to it. No problems. Then I booted into Ubuntu to transfer some music that I got through, er, less-than-legal means, and it got fucked up somehow. I booted back into Windows, and iTunes threw a fit, so I reinstalled it. Then it said I had to reformat the iPod, so, grumbling, I did. Now it won’t put all of my music back on. It just says something like “ADMINISTRAT is not readable or writeable” or “no disk found” and shit like that. I’ve tried other programs, and the best I can manage is putting on one song at a time. And even that doesn’t work for long. Sigh.
Let’s all go storm Apple Cap’n! I’m tired of answerin’ questions about iphones anyways, so it’d be fun.
[color=blue]Shadow[/shadow] here’s hopin’ you survived the layoffs.
I opened a box of maple walnut fudge I got for Christmas. Ummm… ick! I like maple. I like walnuts. This however is just teh yuck-O!
I played phone jockey for most of the day today due to high call volumes. Thus the desire to storm Apple. I’m beginnin’ to hate, detest, despise and in general, not like, iphones. People are buyin’ ‘em who have no idea what they bought. Plus also, I get so tahred of sayin’ “you cannot delete the iphone data feature.” If you do, well, you have an ipaperweight basically. Plus a big ol’ bill for data cause iphones lurves them some data. Have I mentioned I hate iphones? I do.
Ok, gotta go read me some Agony Aunt Ryl now.
I did get laid off today and my last day is Friday. I had the option of leaving today or working through Friday. Guess which one I chose? I still get paid through Friday, though, plus 1 month severance, plus 3 weeks vacation. Health insurance is through the 31st. I have about 6 months of expenses saved up, so I’m not frantic. I have to say, the :eek: and expletives from people who found out I was laid off were gratifying. I also got one solid reference (not my director, natch.)
I’m taking the rest of the week off, filing for unemployment on Friday, since I can’t file before my “last” day of work, and calling the outplacement service on Monday. We get 30 days with the outplacement service, which includes reviewing your resume and mock interviews, as well as job placement. We also get 6 months of the EAP and concierge program, which is awesome. They provide everything from counseling to financial planning to, well, anything you can think of, most of it at no charge.
I’m doing ok overall. It’s possible I’m still in shock and might freak out tomorrow but I think I was prepared for it.
**
Mahna Mahna**, I don’t know what Little Knits shipping policy is, but I know she’s pretty responsive to email.
Awwww, Shadow, I’m so sorry. I certainly hope you keep doing as well as you’ve sounded. You sound like you’re much more prepared that I am. I’m impressed that you have access to all those support services. It seems like that should help you get through this to the next job more smoothly. Hugs!
Glad your parents weren’t hit by the extra ice, taxi.
Good luck with keeping the fitness resolution, Spaz. Sounds like you have reasonable goals. And yay on doing the walk today!
Soup sounds yum, FCM. I’ve added the link to the blog.
Making sure your kids have what they need is just plain ol’ sensible, Shelli. Sure, it’s not how you’d like to provide insurance for them, but if it lets you get to a much better job…it’s what you have to do. It’s neat to hear you so excited about going back to school, by the way.
Sounds like you had a nice Christmas break, Nava. Isn’t it fun to have holidays with nieces and nephews?
It’s too soon to tell for sure, but I’m currently quite impressed with HP customer service. I finally sent my laptop to them New Years’ Eve (they sent me the box and packing stuff and label). They received it Friday, checked it into their process on Monday and gave it back to FedEx yesterday. They had to re-image my hard drive, which I’d expected, so I have to restore what I had on it. Not a biggie since it was practically brand new, all my data and document files are saved and I hadn’t loaded much on it. I didn’t keep as good a list of what I put on it last time as I’m doing this time, but I remember enough that I should be fine.
Back to see how whatever I’m loading is going.
Back later.
GT
Sorry to hear the news, Shadow. Layoffs blows hairy donkey balls, but I suppose at least now you can put an end to all that waiting and wondering. Fingers crossed that something comes your way soon-like.
I made meatloaf and rice and peas for din-din. The only thing missing to make this a picture-perfect housewife moment is my June Cleaver apron and a pair of kitten heels… but I refuse to get dressed that way to make dinner so long as I’m working for a living. 