Bellhops Posterous Archive

I'm not exactly sure how to handle my archived postings from Posterous. I want to make them accessible to searches but since they aren't in the blog itself, then I suppose the best way is to tag this message and hope we can find what we are looking for when we want it. In case you are feeling nostalgic, I've archived them at snarfff.com. The direct url to the index is http://snarfff.com/posterous_archive/.

There are a lot of posts from when Bellhops was on Posterous and I make myself giggle when re-reading. My dad doesn't understand the whole blogging thing. To him it seems very ego-centric and self-absorbed. "Who cares?" he would say to me. To a point he's right. I do, at times, feel pretty self-centered to think anyone would want to read my stuff. Most of it's not very serious and even though I occasionally rant, most of my stuff is just downright silly or, yes, involves cats.

In the end, though, I enjoy my blog. I enjoy writing my posts. I enjoy figuring out what pictures to include. I enjoy when my friends comment on something. And if some random person out there happens to come across something I posted and happens to enjoy it, then all the better. I know I come across people's blogs randomly and I get a kick out of reading what they've posted. It's like a little window into the life of a stranger, which appeals to my voyeuristic personality.

And another just because.

Obsessive Activity Circle

Reading obsessively --> knitting obsessively --> WoWing obsessively --> repeat. I'm now in the WoWing part of the circle. My elbow hurts, but I'm having fun. :-)

I start my new job Monday. Already have projects on my list, plus the task of having to transition my replacement.

And please do check out KP's blog: http://saywhatkp.blogspot.com/. She's doing it for her class, so show her some support by reading and, if you are so moved, please post a comment, too! I know she'd appreciate any comments.

Agh, Knitting Frenzy!

Warning: This is a ridiculously long blog entry. I take no prisoners!

Since Saturday, I have twice been admonished for failing to update my blog.  In an effort to redeem myself, I shall therefore blog.  First to clarify: my failure to blog is not because I have been playing WoW obsessively.  In fact, you may doubt me when I say this, but I have not actually played WoW in many weeks.  The reality is I needed a WoW break -- and frankly I had to catch up on my movie watching.

I had a burst of Roku/Netflix watching madness where I watched all available seasons of the BBC series, The Chef, many many movies -- some of which were simply a poor use of my time, random episodes of 30 Rock, South Park, and Couplings, and, well, other stuff too.

Then I decided to catch up on my Tivo list -- which was mainly episodes of this season's The Closer.  Okay, kick ass.  The Closer still retains status as one of the best shows currently on television. (Speaking of which, who the heck did I loan my Season 1 DVD collection to?) And I caught up on Top Chef (only 3 episodes so far).

Once I was back on the television side of things, one thing led to another, and I started watching some On Demand stuff.  Like S2 of True Blood. I'll confess without shame to have watched all episodes twice, now. Snarfffable Survey says: 50-50 on the rating meter.  There are essentially two story lines, one involving vampires and the other not. Having a preference to vampires, I prefer that story line.  The other story line is just a bit over the top even for me and my fondness for supernatural curiosities.  Despite that, I think I might say that S2TB is better then the first.

Lest you think I've done nothing but work on turning my brain into mush, I have also been reading a lot.  On my Kindle, of course.  I read all the books in the Sookie Stackhouse series (of which True Blood was based on).  They were okay.  The first few were very entertaining, but as the series progressed I found the author spent far too much time trying to explain pervious storylines (in case a new reader started later in the series).  This was very distracting.  Also, I think the author lost some of her interest and enthusiasm because at seemed at times like she was trying to fill up the pages with anything, rather than something really good.  Nonetheless, I don't regret the time spent. The vampire love scenes were just perfect.  Who needs women's erotica when you can just pick up one of these books and thumb to a love scene with Sookie and her vamp of the week?

I read some other stuff, too.  I started re-reading the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin in the hopes that the last book will come out soon -- or in prep for the HBO production.  Well, there are other books I could list, but suffice to say the Kindle makes it very convenient for me to read all sorts of random stuff.

So, that's a lot of TV/Movie watching and book reading.  But that is not all.  I have also been knitting like a fiend.  I knitted a little cozy for my MacBook Air because I couldn't find a cover I liked.  That then inspired me to knit a cozy for my Kindle.  Of course I then had to make cozy's for the Slacker, so know he has his own set.  I'm also knitting a scarf for PacoTacoMike to keep him warm out there in the windy madness of Chicago.  I'm using Misty Alpaca Chunky and let me tell you, such softness!  I found the very manly pattern on a knitting blog for a yarn shop out in Philly -- can't link to it yet cause I don't want PTM to see the scarf pattern before he gets his -- but that blog led me to several other patterns I am also working on -- some new scarves with lovely silk and beaded yarn and a lap blanket for the Slacker (in dark colors, of course). The yarn for the blanket is organic cotton, perfect for the Bay Area. I liked the Misty Alpaca so much that I got some for myself and am knitting another scarf for myself.  When I'll ever have cause to wear such a warm scarf, I have no idea.

This here is my MacBook Air Cozy.  One thing I do have to say about this was my seaming at the bottom kicked ass. I'd say very nearly perfect.  I also really dig the pico edge I did after the couple of inches of seed stitch. Gives it a nice finish.


This one is the Kindle Cozy I made the Slacker.  I was trying for a much different pattern, but I didn't plan out well, and this is what I ended up with.  I'm not really happy with it, but the Slacker likes it, so I guess it will do for now.  When I find another yarn I like I'll knit him a new one.  I made myself one in this same yarn, but it's a straight stockinette stitch with just a little change towards the top edge where I did a couple of rows of seed stitch before going back to stockinette for the final inch before bind-off.


Here's Slacker's MacBook Air Cozy.  The yarn I used was a much lighter weight -- really a sock yarn -- so the stitches are much finer.  I really loved the variegated blue yarn and it worked up beautifully.


Here's some pics of works-in-progress...

This one is a scarf I'm making with the scrumptious beaded silk yarn noted above (I purchased several colors so I could make one for a few of the girls). Below that is a pick of the 3 other yarn colors.




This one is another scarf in the same pattern as the above but using the Misty Alpaca Chunky.


And this one is Slacker's blanket in progress. I'm using just four colors and I'm planning on 3 repeats of those colors (though the size is off from the pattern, which will require me buying 4 more skeins of yarn). I'm thinking the middle repeat will have more rows of the pattern, maybe 8 or 10 depending on how much yarn I have.


My hands have not been idle.

Amidst all the above, I've done a little bit of socializing and relaxing, but nothing exceptional.

Oh, I am changing jobs, too.  I asked to transition from my position as the Director of the Project Management Office to a newly created position of Sr. Systems Analyst.  I decided I didn't want to keep doing the project management stuff.  I'm hoping the new position will give me a chance to get back to doing some more technical things. We'll see how that pans our over time.  I'll be in the programming/dba group and my main focus is to be the go-between between our functional users and our technical team.

So, there's my update.  I can only hope this will satisfy my impatient readers.

Ciao!

I can SO Relate!

This poor little Cute Overload kitteh and I are so on the same page... someone send him some flowers and maybe a catnip face mask!

My physical therapist, Mary Edna, says I can go ahead and try a little knitting. She thinks doing some things that will get me back to a more natural habit will be good help in loosening the muscles. She did note that I shouldn't, uh, promise any finished projects anytime in the near future, though. Heh. I found a simple seed stitch hat pattern that I'm going to give a try, provided I can get a good gauge. M.E. also suggested trying some other natural movements, like splashing water on my face. That one didn't go to well since I couldn't really get my hand close enough to my face. I did, however, manage to butter and jam up some toast using my right hand! You may scoff, but if you had seen me in the beginning trying this with my left hand you'd be happy to see my progress with the right. :-)

Overall the day has been boring. The slacker bro was supposed to come up for a visit, but his back is bothering him so he had to pass. Instead, I've been pretty much doing nothing except thinking about the organizing of my living room and looking for some easy knitting patterns to try.

Scarves

Before I forget, here are a couple of pictures of my two recent scarves. The grey one with the cables was taken from knitty.com -- the Elbac Scarf to be exact. I used Debbie Bliss's cashmerino. It worked up very fast and once I picked up the pattern is was easy as pie. It was made for my stepmom. I'd been trying to make a scarf for her for a long time but hadn't found the right yarn or the right pattern. This was was perfect. She loves it.



The second scarf is from the book, Scarf Style, by Pam Allen. The pattern is Misty Garden, by Jo Sharp. Again, this worked up super fast and was super easy. It's a great pattern for a verigated yarn. I cannot, though, remember which yarn I used. This one I made for my fellow project manager (my other half in my current world). She says she loves it, too!



Now I'm working on another pattern for a special friend. This one is a much more complicated pattern than I've worked on before, but since it is a surprise I cannot reveal more details here. The issue for me will be whether or not I can actually finish it in time for Christmas! Uh, maybe I should get to work!