b's buzz

Moving on.

2010-02-07T15:01:00.000-08:00

Moving over to a WP blog in response to the death of Blogger FTP. I'm not a big WP fan, but it's a ubiquitous enough solution that there's not much I have to do to get things going. New feed here. I'll keep this stuff here for awhile, but there won't be any changes from here on out.

It's been a bad year for our tortoises.

2010-01-21T22:55:00.000-08:00

It's been a bad year for our tortoises.

After living with us for as long as we've been married - that's since 1996, for those of you who are counting - Natasha the tortoise died in July last year. This was a nasty, nasty shock. I expected her to outlive all of us. ALL of us. She was supposed to make it to 75 years old easy... and yet, suddenly, she was gone.

Here's the thing about Natasha: she was kind of loud to live with. The tortoise loved to dig. Unfortunately, her tank wasn't very deep, yet she persisted. This led to the droning, 1 Hz thump of Natasha attempting to dig through the bottom of her tank to deeper, cooler ground. She had laser-like focus on digging.

Thump.... Thump.... Thump....

And so on.

Visitors never failed to comment on it. We didn't really notice it after awhile, but on a warm day it was just constant thumping coming from Natasha's tank. Cory and Jen suggested that Natasha was actually my role model - following her lead, I was just as tenacious even in seemingly pointless situations. Thump... Thump... "We can be better than this, we just have to look at it from a different angle..." Thump...

I suppose they had a point.

One morning in July and without warning, The Boy went downstairs to feed the tortoises and Natasha was gone. Just gone. No warning, no symptoms we had noticed. It was sudden and terrible and heartbreaking. I didn't see her after it happened. The Boy cleaned everything up (my request) and by the time I came downstairs, both Natasha and her home for the past 13 years were cleared away.

Fast forward to December 2009. After living with us for 12 years, Nausicaa laid an egg -- and we knew she didn't have any boyfriend-tortoises. A visit to the vet said, "They just do that sometimes." After x-rays it turned out there were TWO more eggs in there, waiting to come out. Getting them out was important, because if they broke up inside and putrefied, that would be the end of our remaining tortoise-companion. He gave her hormone shots and sent her home, and the second egg came out a few days later.

We waited for the third.

When it still hadn't come out three weeks later, Nausicaa was back at the vet for another check-up. The egg was still in there, so another round of hormone shots was called for. This was serious. If that egg didn't come out, it was going to kill her.

In the end, that's what happened. Despite her excellent veterinary care and many baths, the egg broke up and poisoned her. It wasn't the total shock that we had with Natasha, but still terribly disappointing. For the first time in our marriage, there are no pet tortoises to nom up our leftover apple cores and lettuce hearts.

No idea when I'll be ready to bring home another tortoise. I'm just not ready to think about it yet.

Holy crap, thirteen years!

2009-07-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

Holy crap, thirteen years! That's how long we've been married. This also marks the end of our seventh year in the Bay Area. It's easy to say, "Wow, so much has happened." I find it's more interesting to think about what hasn't changed. Or maybe I just find it comforting. The Boy and I are closer than ever, and I suspect even more annoyingly cloying to be around for any amount of time. To celebrate, we went down to the Monterey Aquarium on Sunday morning -- the very best time to go, we discovered, is early Sunday morning. I highly recommend the seahorse exhibit. For the most part, though, we've spent this long weekend lounging and being near, and for me that is more than enough.

As for our tenure in the Bay Area, it's been good to us overall. We have friends and a comfortable lifestyle, and enjoy living in such a beautiful place. Oh, and did I mention that it's thirty degrees cooler here than in Dallas today? That takes some of the sting out of being far from family.

Relaxing puttering Sunday.

2009-05-24T13:28:00.001-07:00

Blanket and cat on my lap - doing a bit of housekeeping on the blog. Deadliest Catch reruns on the TV is nice background noise.

2009-03-22T22:54:00.000-07:00

Today was a lovely, relaxing day. You'd think that, what with no job to go to, every day would be lovely and relaxing but in fact you'd be wrong. Many days are just plain interminable -- a not-exactly-interesting mix of boredom tinged with sadness, with lots of little tasks to accomplish and random appointments thrown in for flavor. Some of the tasks and appointments are in and of themselves quite interesting, but it's not enough to keep me buoyed up. In short, I'm kind of bored, and though I know that there is still lots of work ahead of me on the job-search path, it doesn't have the same satisfaction of feeling connected to something larger than myself.
I mean, come on. How much knitting can I really do non-stop? Yes, I have been practicing drop-spindling -- emphasis on drop -- but I'm not seeing skill development yet.
So what was fab about today? Well for one thing, I met a ferry-friend for pedicures first-thing this morning, which was such a nice way to start the day. Once home, I knit for awhile and watched a movie, then finished sewing on a pair of pants I've had in-progress for way too long. They're kind of not so great, actually, so don't expect a pic of them. I did make some progress on the lace scarf I've been working on for a few months, though. I also had time to do some reading and generally laze in a sunbeam, before a delicious dinner of My Favorite Thing Ever -- a simple roast chicken. Chocolate cake for dessert. All in all, just one thing I enjoy after another. I felt very blissy.
Karen and James are coming in tomorrow night, and staying for (I think) a few days while getting ready to move into their new place. It will be such fun to have them here!

2009-03-16T12:27:00.001-07:00

Didn't take me long to start another sock project. This time, it's the Cloning Anemone Rib socks from BMFA's RSC last year. I think I've learned my lesson this time, since instead of using US0's I'm using US1.5's as the pattern suggests. I'm also 75% through Yet Another Diagonal Noro Scarf since I keep losing them, but that's not so interesting, even by my low standards of what's "interesting."

I've been in an interviewing frenzy of late, which is both fabulous and super-draining. I think that having nice hang-out time with friends plus lots of knitting is keeping the shiny as charged as can be expected for now. I didn't give up anything for Lent this year, given that I figured the stress of being "in transition" (UGH I HATE THAT PHRASE SO MUCH) was enough without artificial austerity. I have plenty of genuine austerity at the moment, thank you.

Did I mention that Karrie came by last week to teach The Boy and me how to spin on drop spindles? Cross that one off the Zombacolyst. It will take lots of practice, but she loaned me a learner's spindle and left a load of lovely fiber to play with as well.

Okay, off to the DMV to fix my incorrect birthday. It's been wrong the whole time I've had a CA license -- and now I have time during the day to drop by and fix it.

2009-03-15T12:31:00.001-07:00

Will I never learn? This is the second pair of socks in a row I've made that turned out too tight. Though my usual toe-up formula - size 0 needles, 64 stitches, shortrow heels - has worked time and again, my beloved STR yarn just don't have the stretch of, say, a Lana Grossa... and I know this and I still make the same damn mistake.

So, I rigged up some sock blockers out of wire hangers (thanks to this tutorial) and I'm hoping that these will have a bit of stretch in the blocking process. I mean, I really love how they turned out and the colorway. They're just too damn tight.

Hopefully this time I'll learn my lesson and follow the damn pattern recommendation on needle size next time!!

2009-03-05T13:25:00.001-08:00

Wipeout. As in, I am wiped out. I need to schedule more recharge time between calls.

2009-02-27T09:25:00.000-08:00

Today is my last day as a Linden. If you're one of those people who's been following me via FB or Twitter or $deity forbid an RSS feed of this poor little blog because of my Linden-ness, here's your heads-up to unsub. There -- can't say I never did anything for you. :-)

Though I haven't been in the office for weeks, it's amazing how much you can keep up with via IRC. I know that the lights are back on in the basement, for example. There will be Mexican food for lunch - which I admit I won't miss being at my old desk for because the food-smell on Fridays can be kind of overwhelming for basement-dwellers.

The part of this that has been so difficult - aside from giving up the Best Desk In The Building - is when I painfully realized this week that I will no longer get to soak daily in the awesomeness that is my fellow Lindens. LL is an organization filled with people I love to hang out with. What I'll miss most is that I'll no longer have access to all of them all at once whenever I feel like it. I won't be dropping into IRC late at night or on the weekends just to see who's around and how things are going. The time of majestic porbeagles and cake is behind me now. I'm certain there will be some withdrawal, so I'm counting on Twitter and FB to get me through the disconnect adjustment.

If any Lindens are reading this, please know I am exceptionally proud to have worked with y'all. Thank you for making the last three years challenging, rewarding, and never boring. I wish you nothing but the best.

Well, time to wrap this up so I can tidy up those very last loose-end emails. I'll be at Stitches West tomorrow (thanks, Abby, for picking me up on the GFI!!) and at Potlatch for a bit on Sunday. Next week, I start a new adventure.

2009-01-30T12:18:00.000-08:00

Updating Turbo Tax. It's as much fun as you'd think, unless you thought it would be great fun. In that case, you'd be mistaken. I'm home alone for the first time in several days, and I have to say that even with the addition of Turbo Tax, it's nice to feel "off-duty" for a little bit.

2009-01-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus � and non-believers.

Thank you, Obama. This means more than I ever would have expected it to.

2009-01-15T21:27:00.001-08:00

Huzzah! Feeds seem to be back! Yay!

2009-01-04T17:59:00.001-08:00

The house is finally coming together, I think. We have a hard deadline because The Boy's mom is coming to visit in a few weeks, and of course we want everything to be "just so" for her trip. I've had a pretty good holiday, all things considered. Back to the grindstone tomorrow.
I've spent the last several days working on my first lace project from Victorian Lace Today, which is a lovely book but oh-so-intimidating for lil ol' me. I think I'll do a nice safe boring scarf next... or maybe some socks since I must admit with shame that while I've been a member of BMFA's Rockin' Sock Club, I have not yet made a SINGLE pair of socks from club yarn. Not one. Feh.

2008-12-25T20:26:00.000-08:00

Finally. As in, I have finally finally FINALLY finished my Space Invaders socks. They turned out great, but I'm weary of them. So many teeny teeny little stitches!!

2008-12-15T10:40:00.001-08:00

Down with plague today. I hope it goes away as quickly as it came on.

2008-12-14T18:47:00.001-08:00

SO CLOSE to being done with this hosting provider move. I really am ready for it to be over with.

2008-11-12T20:56:00.000-08:00

And since we've been packing, I can say:

I have a CRAPLOAD of yarn.

That is all.

2008-11-12T20:54:00.000-08:00

It seems I have an answer to that question from... uh, March. Ugh. Anyway. Answer is this -- we bought a townhouse here in Alameda. We're not moving to Seattle for the foreseeable future.

2008-09-27T17:28:00.001-07:00

How long CAN she go without posting to this blog? Answer - a really long time.

2008-03-16T14:12:00.001-07:00

This brings me to something else that's been on my mind. We've been mulling over whether or not to (ever, not RIGHT now), buy a home in the Bay Area or maybe move to Seattle. By the end of the year, I hope we'll have a better idea of what we want to do over the long term. Do we want to really REALLY commit to CA for another decade? How much of a lifestyle hit am I willing to take to be able to own a place? We'll make a decision by the end of the year. It takes me a long time to make a decision, after all. :-)

2008-03-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

GAAAAAAH. Dammit. My sewing machine just came back from a tune-up a few months ago, and now, after a few seams, it's not working. I'm crazy annoyed. I think it might be time for me to get at least a serger, but do I want to make that level of commitment? I dunno...

2008-03-15T13:04:00.001-07:00

No, I'm not going to talk about work. On the incredibly teeny chance that's why you bother to slog through my rare posts about knitting, go ahead and unsub now.
Now that that's out of the way, I'm back on my 80% finished Bombshell sweater. Why oh why did I ever put it down? The color is beautiful, and Cash Iroha is buttery and wonderful to work with. I'm sure the sleeves will still annoy me when I slog through them, though.

2008-03-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

Greenie is done! I'm not sure what I'm going to work on next. Maybe I'll finish up that green silk sweater that's been hibernating for months.

2008-02-08T14:16:00.000-08:00

Maybe I am to blame for *some* of my iPhone problems. Well, one of them. The home button dying, well I'm blameless for that one. There's just some shitty soldering or something causing that. I do have to take some blame for the Aunt Pat problem. Stephen took my iPhone to the Apple Store today while I was working -- sweetness, yes I know -- because of the once again dead home button. He also told them about the problem with the headphones not always disengaging correctly. Turns out the switch that detects whether or not your headphones are plugged in is a simple but mechanical (not electronic) switch. Sometimes a hair or some dirt can make it malfunction, so if you're having this problem just blow some canned air in there to clean it out. Unless you're me. If you're me, you have not a hair or some dirt but a giant and compact hot pink ball of fluff shoved down in the speaker jack... from my covet-worthy iPhone cozy. Guess I'll keep an eye on that with the new one they gave Stephen. That was nice, by the way. Both times I've had problems with the phone they've just replaced it immediately, not put me through the bullshit rental program. I appreciate that.

2008-02-05T09:49:00.000-08:00

First vote! This morning, I was the first voter in our precinct. Because of this, the "dude in charge" had to give me a specific tour of the voting boxes and the special touch-screen for disabled voters. The point was to show me - the first voter - that there were no other votes in the ballot boxes or registered with the touch-screen voting booth. I had no idea they did that.

This morning, I thought about the suffrage movement a lot. I thought about how they fought so hard for me to have the vote, all this time later. I thought about how some things are worth fighting for, no matter the cost.

This is the first election in a very VERY long time where I've felt like my vote actually makes a difference. It's both inspirational and a great sense of responsibility, kind of intermingled.

On a completely unrelated note, Lent starts tomorrow. I think I'm giving up gummi bears. Battery Lindens, beware!