A "little" something different for Christmas

I've been in my wonderful apartment for over two years now which translates into three christmas's, counting this one in 2007. The first year I had been temporarily carless in mid-December (forget why), but remember I took the opportunity with a visit from my brother (and his Civic) to pick up a tree at the local Boys and Girls Club. I think it cost $35 with tip and everything (yes, I live in the city, tipping occurs). I put it up in the far corner of my living room, where it lived quite comfortably and integrated with my life. It was glorious.



Then, the second Christmas was really hectic with a monstrous project at work that took over my life (am still trying to block that out), and I decided to forgo a tree that year. Did I really need one? It's not like I spend Christmas at my place. And last year I even went to a farm in the outback of Vermont where you put your $20 in the envelope, grab a saw and drive onto their land and cut down your tree. I got to help Dad put it up and decorate it and everything. But felt like I only got a small slice of Christmas - not really getting into the holiday spirit until much later in the month.



So this year, I knew I was going to get a tree. I also thought I would try to wrangle getting it from the farm in VT (would require using dad's pick-up to bring it back to Boston). In November I started laying my ground work and thinking about exactly what type of tree to get. The more I thought about it the more it made sense to try out a larger tree. I have this wonderful living room that is quite open, two stories tall. The first tree seemed a bit dwarfed in the space as it was so short in relation to the height of the room. It looked like it was cowering in the corner (a bit of an exageration, but I was learning to justify my new plan). Plus, as I thought some more, if I'm paying a flat fee for the tree, it would make the most economical sense to get the largest one possible - more bang for the buck. Plus a tall tree bought in the city would cost in the range of $80 (I ended up only paying $25 - their taxes went up). I thought about it and then some more. And it helped that my brother was coming back into the country and claiming one of the cars at dad's meaning there was a shortage. This opened up the opportunity to get not only the pick-up but my dad's assistance in bringing in and putting up a tree (I got the first tree all by myself, but couldn't handle a bigger tree on my own).



Fast forward to last weekend. I drove up to VT Saturday afternoon and Dad and I hoped into the truck and booked it up to the farm before it got dark (at 3 pm). We walked around a bunch and selected two trees - one for him and one for me. Mine was a bit big, but then again his was a bit small. We bungy chorded both into the bed of the truck and made it back to his house. Spent the evening putting up the tree and decorating it. The next morning, I was looking out the window at my tree in the truck and parked near by was the neighbor's humongous SUV with a tree strapped on. My tree looked big. But again, I explained it away in that it was one of those optical illusions related to the diminutive size of Dad's pick-up in relation to the SUV. We headed off that morning and spent the afternoon bringing my tree in and putting it up.



Bringing it in was a little difficult and one of the tragic casualities was that the wonderous crooked top branch broke off. But otherwise after a quick sweeping afterward, you couldn't tell that I had brought a monstorous tree upstairs into my apartment. Yes, it turns out that my big tree is quite enormous. It's colossal. I was going to put it in the same corner, but was unsuccessful. I decided I will now catelog my lessons learned so that future Christmases I can learn from this one.


1. A room may be tall, but only in the center if you have a sloped roof/ceiling line. This means the tree cannot be in the corner.

2. Those exposed cross beams in the air way above your head are genrally invisible in daily life but can become quite an obsticale when putting up an object that reaches that height. They may seem invisible but they are still solid. This further restricts the positioning of the tree in the room.

3. Suprisingly, a tall tree translates into a big tree. Let me elaborate. Let's call the height of any given tree, H. And the diameter of any given tree at the widest point (near the base), D. As H increases, apparently, so does D - they're related, nature's funny like that. So the taller a tree the larger the girth.

4. A room may seem big because of tall ceilings, but that doesn't mean it's a big room. The floor area may still be limited. Again, an elaboration. Let's call the height of a room, H. And let's call the floor area of a given room, A. As H increases, A does nothing - they are not related. In the end you still have the same A.

5. Combining a large tree with a tall room that has a small floor area results in a room with a tree in it... and almost nothing else.

6. Also related to the girth of the tree is possible positioning of the tree in the room. Tucking the tree into a corner, or along the perimeter is no longer possible as the tree, although "tucked" is still a ways into the room. Actually, once you reach a certain size the tree will always appear to be in the center of the room no matter where it's placed.

7. If you have a tall tree, it would be helpful to have a foot stool. Unless you are really tall too. (getting that star on top was a bit tricky).



So that's my tree. It's 9'-4". I think it was over 10' before I broke the crooked top branch off. It's a big tree. I was worried I wouldn't have enough lights and decorations but buying just one more small string of lights it worked out wonderfully.



Well, the snow is really coming down this afternoon. We should be getting a foot or so. It is really turning out to be quite a christmassy Christmas!

3 Babies and a Wedding

So in my lapse of writing, tons have happened - of course. The big news though is that I now have three friends who are expecting and another that is engaged (no overlaps). And one of the due dates is on my birthday in February! So congrats to all - not sure, if it's public yet, so am being on the safe side and not naming names. But the due dates are February, April and July, wedding unknown.

In other news, this is my life. Well at least my mornings. It wasn't always like this, but for the last year or so we have been on a diet (the we being Winston). I can't tell you how close this is, other than the baseball bat - it's got the mornign routine down to a tee.

And to wrap up this brief post, can I just say how much I dislike it when I accidentially hit a button and things go screwy with the computer. I was cleaning up my office this afternoon as we have a public event. I was dusting (where does this dust come from - I think it's all my dry, dead skin) and the keyboard got knocked. Anyways, the settings are all strange now and I have no idea how to reset it all back to the way it was. Hopefully tomorrow when I turn the computer back on that will do the trick.

Reality TV

On my way home, I was reading a piece in the paper about the on-going writer's strike and likelihood of increased reality tv shows in the next few months. It got me thinking and I felt it was time to weigh in on reality tv, a genre that is too often ragged-on and quickly dismissed.



First, I have to admit I'm a quasi-closeted reality tv viewer. Just like my religious beliefs (or lack of), I don't lie about where I stand, but don't readily reveal them either within certain circles. I have quite a few friends who not only look down on reality shows but television altogether. They rail on the boob tube and see reality tv as the epitomy of the junk shown. I was brought up with limited tv viewing, the majority of which was composed of PBS shows. But some Saturday mornings, all I wanted to watch was Saved by the Bell. All grown up, PBS is still my favorite station(s). They provide some of the best documentaries (latest recommendation is Who Killed the Electric Car) and entertainment (gotta love BBC). And if I look back, some of my favorite reality tv show's are from PBS - the whole House series from Colonial House to Frontier House to 1900 House are wonderful escapes into living in a different time and place.



Now understand, like anything else, there is a spectrum within the reality tv genre. There are the good and the bad and the mediocre. If you look at the mother of all reality shows (some would argue Survivor, but that was really just a spin off with money), the Real World has the fundamental element that attracts people to reality shows - the simple sanctioned voyerism. Who doesn't enjoy the cafe seating outside that allows people watching? You get to see all walks of life and that's what reality tv has provided over the past decade - variations on this theme, from the safety of your living room.



You have your professional series. Who hasn't thought about being a model or a chef or a fashion designer? I could do that. Even intriguing professions like designers and venture capitliasts got Martha and Donald to join the game for awhile.



You have the celeb series. This feeds into our endless love/fascination with the celebrities (or quasi-celebs). We've had them live together, dance, and even play detective - figuring out who the mole was in their group.



Then you have the elmination series - there can be only one. What that one is up to the show - the fastest, smartest, prettiest, geekiest, skinnest. Sometimes decided by judges, sometimes by your fellow contestents.



Or in contrast, you have shows, where the only premise is to all get along. The idea is through adversity and turmoil you learn from each other, grow and become enlightened - well at least that's the theory. Here we've seen it happen to people from different parts of the country switching mates to pre-pubescent kids rebuilding a town.



And let's not foget about Cops, which stands on it's own. There is no assembly cast, it's not needed as the show boils the characters down into two categories: the good guy and the bad guy. Or rather, the cop and the person disturbing the peace. It's a good stand-by, you always know what you're getting with Cops and it's real!



But getting back to the original point - not all reality tv is bad. So the question is, what makes for a good reality tv show? Just like any show, from Seinfield to Masterpiece Theater, there are two elements that must be provided with quality and balance: character devleopment and an intriguing plot. The downfalls in some of today's shows are that not enough time is provided for the backstory of the characters. We're not vested in them, don't relate with them because we don't know them - they're just portrayed as stereotypes. And unfortunately, the casting department will over do it - trying to cast the next Puck for turmoil, or casting the stereotypes. And unfortunately, once the execs feel they have a proven formula, they run it over and over, but missing the key elements of the original success - the unique situation and cast.



For some, tv is a great escape. Reailty tv provides that escape, allowing you to wonder how you would have done, living in a house and doing nothing all summer, strolling down the beach with a naked guy forming alliances, meeting the test of love versus money when faced with a pseudo millionaire bachelor, telling the difference between queer and straight folk, or living with Quaker kids. Reality tv gets stranger and stranger, and there is a lot of crap out there, but there are some gems out there too. My point being don't make a broad statement that all reality tv is bad until you give it a fair shot. In today's age, you sure have a lot to choose from and it looks like more is on the way.

Benefits of working downtown

Having lived in a half dozen cities and states over the years, I have to say I really like where I am. I like the town I live in and I like working in downtown Boston. Case in point being yesterday.



I was heading in to work a little late and instead of having a half empty subway car, it was jammed with red - people coming into the city to celebrate the Red Sox's great victory. One person had even created a World Series crown - it was fantastic! There were a lot of kids who should have been in school, but, hey, how often does your town win the World Series - oh right, once every four years - not bad.



But then I was once more ensconced in the walls of work and somewhat forgot about the celebrations. Although, throughout the morning we had been hearing the periodic roars of the fans. The parade route for the celebrations was just two blocks over.



For some reason, the first day in several weeks I hadn't had time to make my lunch. So a collegue and I ran out, both of us tight on time, to grab a sandwich. The streets were abuzz with people in Sox garb. We discovered the roars had nothing to do with the parade but was actually just the language of fans. As various groups roamed the streets, when they passed another group of fans they would cheer at each other. It was quite wonderful. We were all one group - the winning group.



But we didn't have time to wait around for the parade. So got our sandwiches and as we were heading down the street, we see people running ahead of us. There was ticker tape/confetti raining down on us, and the steady roar of fans. We got caught up in the anticipation and ran to see what people were running after. I got goose bumps as we rounded the corner and the block was packed - it was one of the side streets off the main parade route and the parade was in full force. The street was about 50 people or more deep, but with the duck boats, you could see all the players. The cheers as different players rode by from Lowell to Manny to Dicekay. We even got to see Papelbon do his jig while the Dropkick Murphys' played live on one of the flatbed trucks. It was great - such commradery. I've never been part of something like that. It reminded me what the parades for soldiers returning home from WWII must have been like.



And the amazing thing was that the confetti just kept raining down on us, the whole time. We couldn't figure out where it was coming from. It added to the surealness of the whole thing. All in all it was a nice 15 minute diversion to share the moment with the other hundreds of thousands of people. It was wicked cool!

Boston Contractors

Real quick, as it's been non-stop go this monday morning at work. I was enjoying my subway ride in - good book, good tunes and realizing that I have the luxury in coming in relatively late if I want too. I'm used to jobs in the past that you have to be in 8 am. And where 8:30 is pushing it. As long as I put in my 40 hours and get in by 10 am, no worries. Granted, I put in more hours than that, and do get in early and stay late. But nice to appreciate what you've got.



So coming up the elevator this morning, I'm in there with our local contractor - who worked on our office rennovation and works on alot of other floors in the building, and one of his crew. So the GC (general contractor) is this born and bred bostonian. The vowels are different, the r's adjusted, the h's manipulated. He's as irish or itlian or whatever, as it gets. Well, his employee is vietanamese, and he has some other crew that are chinese. You know how he talks to them? With an asian accent. At first I thought it was condencending, but than realized, the he figured out, if he talks like they do - with the broken english and accent and all, they understand him much better.



By the time I got off on my floor, I was close to cracking up in front of them. They were talking english the whole time - but I felt like I was next door in china town. Not what you expect, but you have to love Boston!

News and Updates and other goings on

Apologies again for being out of touch for awhile, although frankly, I think I need to get better about that. The apology thing, not the be being busy part. Why should I be apologizing to my blog, but than again I guess it's part my nature or waspiness, or who knows what. (Side note, I remember one time during a summer job working for the government - ok, I worked at the county landfill - but that's county government, right? And it paid well and I was appointed to the position. It was the summer before heading off to college. But that's not improtant, back to the point of the side note. I was with all these older college kids and would apologize every now and then for whatever it was, which might have been more than I realized, because one of the girls pointed it out and said I shouldn't apologize so much. And how did I respond? I apologized. Which was funny because then I wanted to apologize for apologizing. Anyways, this was the time I first really became conscious of the apologizing and tried to filter a bit better. Ok, that's not entirely clear, but hopefully you get the point, if not, sorry.) That would make for some good schtick if I ever did stand up comedy, which a friend actually was suggesting we do together the other day and on my way home I got some great ideas but of course didn't write them down and now have completely forgotten them, except that I remember they were really really really good.

So, I made a list of things I needed to update on my way into work one day, and just came across the list and realized I hadn't posted yet, and now the list is really really really long. So before it get's to daunting and I just give up on this whole blog thing, here goes. In list form of course and in no particular order of course:

1. First, in knitting news, several things. One, I'm a little screwed (pardon my language ma and pa), but I finally got invited to join Ravelry. If you're in already (I'm sukeyknits), you know why, and if you aren't well most likely you're not really into knitting all that much and so it doesn't really mean much to you. But for the outside folks, it's this wonderful central hub for knitters and all things knitterly. I've not really spent much time creating my profile. Still need to do inventory of the yarn stock and grandma's needles and projects (finished, unfinished and those that are itching to be started). The great thing is the database of information (mom, you'll apreciate the ref. librarian aspect of it all). I've been stumbling on some wonderful patterns I want to start, finding projects people have made with some of the yarn I own and frankly just sinking too much time surfing through the site and procrastinating at work, at least the initial couple of visits. On a second note, I don't know why, but I decided to knit a christmas gift this year. I know I'm horrible with deadlines when it comes to knitting, so don't know why, but it was the only thing I could think of giving to the person and I started in the end of september so figured I had months to go. I can't really say what it is, but am already half done, and feeling good about the timeline, so am starting to wane on actually working on it and trying to come up with convincing arguments why I should allow myself to start a new project from the many I've recently seen (also just got the new Webs catalog - need to make a run to Northampton soon - good sales). So I'm holding strong and just working diligently (although the last few days got distracted by a book so my most effective knitting time during commuting was lost, but just finished and am back on track - even knit as I walked to work - it's at the beginning of a new piece so isn't that heavy). Two more things to add to this too long paragraph on knitting: I did finish the birthday present for Cece, a bit late, and finished and blocked (ok just ironed, but that's pretty much the extent of my blocking) at her place the other weekend. I had to knit with my bag in my lap so she couldn't see, but was determined to not let it drag on too long. I don't usually gift knitted gifts as with any gift, people don't always love it as much as you do, and when it's knitted and all that work, it takes more for me to gift as it's more of a gamble. Well, this was great as the yarn was Cece's (left over from a shal and just beautiful - Rowan - my favorite) and the pattern was one she had gifted me for my birthday so felt pretty safe she liked it. She wrote about it here on 10/1, and took a picture - ain't it purty. Love the color but can't wear it myself. The second thing is that an old knitting group of mine got revived. It was with some old coworkers who no longer worker with me. In the end it was a sad showing, but it was me the hostess and another lovely woman - with my name! Hopefully, it'll take off this time. Need to get back into that sort of thing again - it was tons of fun and love the community it creates.

2. Enough with knitting, on to art and culture. Ages ago now, I went and saw my old buddy Garrison speak at Northeastern. The line was long, but we got in and it was free. It was soo strange to be there and hear that familiar voice and it be in person. He is my one constant (that and orion's belt), everytime I moved - comforting. And now I download each week the news from Lake Wobegon to listen on my way into work. It was strange to hear him live that saturday on his show after just seeing him in person several days earlier. Tried not to think about that too much. My friend and I took pictures with our phone of him on stage. Technology has come a long way, but yet neither of us have been successful of getting the photo off hte phone, and regardless, it's a blurry red blob far off on a stage - not very recognizable. That was the culture, the art was attributed to the Lowell art festival Cece and I went to the other weekend. Amanda has a studio in this wonderful old mill, so we confined our journey's just to the building. It reminded me of the old art studios in SF - the old marine base. Anyways, just like then, I was hoping to find some wonderful art at affordable prices. The prices were great, but no art really spoke to me until the very end and I got a wonderful painting from a recent art student (gotta love them) at a killer price. Needless to say Cece and I had a great time perusing and shopping. I got a pair of earrings for myself from Amanda's studio which I've been wearing almost everyday (think I like them a bit). Cece got a bunch of stuff too, which helped me get stuff - nothing like a fellow enabler. Happy with everything.

3. Finances. I've been working on getting back on top of things now that I'm relatively out of debt (still have the student loans - ugh). I took this class for retirement. It's me and these three older women nearing retirement. The class is a bit of disappointment content wise - know most of that stuff already. But it's forced me to bring all this info together and get it up to date. Very useful. Also, been working alot on my job - being more strategic about what I take on as projects and looking at long term development for myself. Much better than just reacting to what needs to be done immediately. I've finally got my salary up to what I should have been hired at - now just need to work on phase II.

4. Entertainment. Not sure why, but realized I needed to straighten out my television viewing, so over labor day weekend, I went out to buy a new tv. But there were none - quite literally the shelves were bare - for the small sized tv I wanted. In the end I got a new HDTV as I didn't want to have to buy a new one a couple of years down the road. It's amazing, which is surprising. I've seen HDTVs before, but didn't think it would effect me as I don't have cable. But the way it works, is if I can pull in the station (i.e. decent reception), than the HD chanel is there - like cable. It's amazing - no more fuzz (well kind of). Plus, they have additional stations. Mostly the PBS (my favorite), so now I just expanded my station repetoire - I think I'm in double digits now. The second thing, partly because of this purchase and I've been thinking about it all year is Netflix. So I signed up for the cheapest version and been enjoying some new movies which has been great as I think I probably saw a total of three movies in total last year.

5. Which leads into my day of hookie. Having worked so much the previous week, I got a bit burnt out by thursday, and with the change in the weather making it harder to get out of bed (is it just me?) and that fact that The Departed (in HD too) had just arrived the day before, I decided to be startegic and work on maintaining good energy level. It was a fun movie being in the Boston area and it being set in Boston. I was able to finally run weekday errands and closed an account I had wanted to close since March and made a deposit of some rolled coins that had been sitting around all summer and in general enjoyed a nice day in my town. While at the bank to close the account, I noticed a painting behind the desk of the busy intersection. And instead of the modern, not so great, church that is there now, was a wonderful old New England church. I wonder what happened - it must have burnt down - will have to find out. I visited my local used book store and picked up a bunch of books after spending two hours perusing. Just finished the quick read "Quite Honestly" by John Mortimer (sp?). Bought primarily because he is the author of the Rumple of the Baily series from my days of growing up. It was ok. Just finished it this morning, on to read the next book.

6. Gotta love my town (more on that next post). But before I forget, I was leaving for work the other morning. Beautiful crisp fall day. And as I walked down my sidewalk, there, across the street, walking down the sidewalk were a pair of what appeared to be tibetan monks - they wore the red and yellow garbs like in the picture (but imagine a new england setting for the back drop). It was strange as we were walking along at the same pace on opposite sides of the street. Not what you expect first thing in the morning in my quiet hamlet. Gotta love it!

7. And finally, the real maple syrup cotton candy. As mentioned in the previous post I was enlisting some family to go to the New England fair to hunt down some of the euphoric aforementioned cotton candy. Had a great time, dad and my cousin Catherine, and I. Although I did get tuckered out the soonest (long week for me). Tons to see and do. And I got not one, nor two, but three bags of the cotton candy. I had brought a canvas bag so as to cut down on trash, but when I mentioned I had my own bag the salesperson scoffed and said it wouldn't do, while simultaneously pulling out a white kitchen trash bag. $3.50!!! That's all it cost for the big bag of cotton candy (each). Dad bought one too and we ended up eating some of that first. I ended up lugging the bag around most of the day, trying to protect the fluffiness from being defluffed. Then, the next week was so busy that most nights I didn't get home until just before bedtime and couldn't really ingest sugar as the sugar high would be counterproductive in the whole going to sleep thing. So it wasn't until Wednesday that I actually opened a bag (4 days later!). I did share some with Cece as her birthday present - she so knows how much I love the stuff she was very hesitent to accept the gift. I assured her I had more. Unfortunately, there was a lesson learned when it came to the cotton candy (which on another side not, funny enough, the purchase of hte cotton candy coincided with being the same week I finally had my first boston visit to a dentist - a little guilt there). The lesson learned, and learned the hard way, is that although it is beneficial to place the big bags of fluffy real maple syrup cotton candy up high so that the cats won't maul the bag apart in the middle of the night like many other items I forget about when I bring home, the storage place for the aforementioned treasures should not include on top of the fridge. Although a useful resting place for many other items, apparently the heat (not evident from short term observations) transforms the light and fluffy cotton candy to a reduced hard (very hard) maple syrup candy. Luckily I made it through a bag of the cotton candy, so this really happened on the last bag. I've tried knawing on it a bit, but now that the roof of my mouth is all torn up, I'm thinking of just melting it and using it on the pancakes saturday - sad but true - lesson learned. Also, note to self, the vermont stand is not the only dispenser of cotton candy at the fair - massachusetts also represents!

I'm Not Dead Yet

If you're a Monty Python fan, you know the bring out your dead scene. It's been a bit busy, and frankly I'm not sure how I'll get what I need to get done in the next week done - if you know what I mean. Last weekend I had a fun slumber party over at Cece's to celebrate her birthday and hang out with the old knitting gang since Lauri was visiting from California. I unfortunately found out that there were more people reading this than I realized. It's very deceptive when you have few comments and is no resulting in a little stage fright I have to admit - I'll get over it, so no worries. Amanda had brought a home-made ice cream cake (my first - who knew you could make one of those from scratch - makes sense) and Cece's mom made a ridiculous to-die-for blueberry pie. We had a great feast and gift openings and of course knitting. I got a lot of knitting done, and between that and the commute knitting, I've finished almost all my projects on the needles (when I say finish, I mean of course just the knitting part - tons to block and make-up). Of course, the one knitting project not done yet was Cece's gift. It refused to get done before her birthday, just reinforcing that me and knitting deadlines are not meant to be.

Work has been going well, although still crazy as we go through these growing pains. But am in a much better place than before, have a plan and am not as emotionally drained by it all. Still trying to not work the long hours.

It's been nice not having as many roadtrips now as fall settles in. It got a bit crazy this summer. I've started driving to pick up my weekly food share, simply because it's gotten heavy. Can you imagine me biking with a watermelon and pumpkin, not to mention all the squaches? I tried it once and it was scary. Actually, this week, when I picked up the food, I was determined to make only one trip - but we had the box, and a pumpking and some extra leeks and extra tomatoes and a pint (or was it a quart) of delicious orange cherry tomatoes and spagatti squash. Well, I had them all piled up and was slowing making my way out when of course the pint of cherry tomatoes tips out, spilling them all over the drive. I scrambled to pick them up and no harm done, but of course this was one of the few times there were other people picking up their share at the same time.

Well, this weekend, starting friday night I'm meating with a friend to see about teaching a course on the side. Then I'm heading off to the Big E on Saturday. It's a local fair... on steroids. It represents all the states in New England and has the food stands and crafts and 4H livestock and who knows what else. To be honest, I am only going to buy this heavenly REAL maple syrup cotton candy. A friend brought a bag back for me last year and I was floating (and not just from the sugar high) for weeks. It's like the maple syrup candies but in a fluffier form. And apparently not too expensive - although there is a $15 door cover for the fair. That's why I invited dad to come along :) It's in Springfield MA (center of the state) so will head up to VT after for a short visit with Dad and Barbro, and then have a dinner party Sunday night that is at a coworkers country house on the way back to Boston (it's an underground house and apparently a little chaotic as multiple construction projects are going on). There will be tons of kids, so I'm excited, but realize that all said and done, Monday will be my day to recoup from the crazy weekend. And next week is really busy. Hence why I'm a bit worried and why you might not hear from me for awhile.

Knitting Updates - More Simply Marilyn

I first just wrote this and it was too random and didn't really seem to say much, so am not switching to list form - got to love lists. Warning - number one is long.



1. Blog Community: Wow, I just thought I'd do a quick google to find the Interweaves image for the Simply Marilyn sweater and stumbled upon people's blogs about their adjustments for the sweater. I really need to learn that there is a community out there that I should use especially as research before starting a popular sweater.



2. Simply Marilyn: Well back in October last year I finished the Simply Marilyn sweater - free pattern here. I didn't use the expensive cashmerino yarn called for, but had a good substitution wool yarn. I plugged along, it was a fast knit and in the end I got a teaser sweater. I call it a teaser sweater because it was almost great. It was too short both in the arms and torso for me. It was a bit bulkier than I would have liked. But otherwise turned out to be a very distinctive, beautiful sweater. However, with those "minor" issues it wouldn't really get worn and sit in the back of the closet - hense a tease.







It's now September, almost a year, and enough time has gone by to unravel all the hard work. As mentioned earlier I carefully measured and made comments on the instructions before undoing the work. The sleeves I only had to undo back a quarter of the way to allow for elongation in the correct area. The front and back had to be undone in their entirity. Well, working on the front, I decided to cast on 8 less stitches (called for 68 - CO 60). And I've been working on the shaping for the waist.






Funny thing, looking at other people's comments: from fig and plum to stacy's there is no mention of need for elongation so think that might just be me. They did comment on the bulkiness and lack of fitting for the shape. I am a bit waifish like the model so don't think I need to do as much as they are. Although I'm starting to wonder if I should have reduced the size for the sleeves as well. Those are quick so will just wait and see.







Anyways, I'm almost done the front - cranked most of it out last night while trying to get sleepy for bed. Done the sleeves, and am not doing the neck until I've stitched up everything to make sure it fits. So really only have the back to do. Good progress - that's whats so nice - it's so simple. The bad news - I don't have circular needles in the right size so have been knitting on the old fashioned straight sticks.



3. Circle Needle Convert: What with the weight of the sweater and the new way of holding things my hand cramped up a bit. I guess I'm a bit of a convert now on circulars - never understood originally. Also I'm dying to bring the project on the road but the straight needles require too much elbow room which I just don't have on the bus/subway.



4. Ravelry Prep: I'm starting to get the yarn in order so as to process it for photographing in preperation for joing ravelry. Frankly, I'm more interested in accessing all the info on there than showcasing my work. But as friends have started documenting their stash and completed projects, I've caught the bug and am excited about it - plus it's organizing, how can you not love that. Granted, all I've done so far is wind some balls of yarn on the winder. Gotta start somewhere.



5. PeaPod Sweater: Still working on yet another Pea Pod sweater for a friends baby - the largest size. It's a good travel project and frankly I seem to only knit it at staff meetings so it's been slow going.



6. UFOs: I've tried to finish up random projects. Not much exciting knitting news to report. I've staved off starting any new projects until these are done. I am stuck on two projects though. One is the orange cardigan from this sweater - need to learn how to knit in a different die lot of yarn. The second sweater I recently discovered and wondered why I hadn't finished it - I ran out of yarn. So need to make an expedition to find something that matches - doesn't have to be exact.



Don't know why I wanted to blog about all of this right now, as I don't usually report on knitting until I've finished something and even then it's a hit or a miss. Anyways, that's the report.

List Catch Up

Ok now it's so long that I've forgotten half the things I wanted to jott down to remember forever and ever. So before the other half have gone, here goes - keeping it short and sweet (well at least trying).



1. Cousins from CT came to visit one weekend in August. I wasn't exactly clear if it was Tyler and Catherine only or if Barry was coming too. I also wasn't exactly clear if they were coming up friday night or on saturday. I was clear that due to the schedule during the week, I had to go grocery shopping on Tuesday and stay up late on Wednesday to clean. In actuallaity, I got the shopping done but the bed won out over cleaning (it always does, especially when tired). So was quickly cleaning friday morning before work (a bit late in as I really haven't cleaned for awhile). And then of course I get the call that they aren't coming until saturday, so instead of finishing I just take a break and put off everything until the last minute. I'm running around saturday morning mopping and vaccuuming and basically doing a spring cleaning. Except I didn't touch the loft area, betting Barry wasn't coming. They arrived - all three, and I had to do a bit more cleaning in the loft area. Moral of the story, I resolved to keep the house a bit cleaner so that this didn't happen again (fast forward several weeks, and although not quite as disasterous, it's on the road back to pre-visitors - no lesson learned).



2. Besides cleaning, we went letter boxing - I'm horrible at entertaining - rather be entertained than figure out what to do. We biked up to the local park and followed the clues. I started my own stamp collecting book. Funny thing was I couldn't find a stamp. I thought I had one of an ant, but nowhere to be found as we were running out the door. Barry suggests I use "one of those". I completely forgot a plaque of architectural stamps a friend gave me from antiquing. If you're interested, check out: www.letterboxing.org. I want to do some near work but most of them have dissappeared. Overall nice and relaxing weekend, just hung out and chilled before they left for camping in Maine.



3. I got to babysit one night. A coworker and his wife were celebrating their anniversary. Jack and I had a great time. They live in this itty bitty apartment in Harvard Square area. I don't know how they do it - must stay neat at all times. After they gave me the run down of all the nighttime ritual stuff they headed off. And it was just me and Jack. Mind you we've played together and hung out before when he's come into visit at work or at other social events. But I was struck after mom and dad left that I was left with this boy who doesn't talk. That didn't stop me from talking though and we had a grand old time playing made up games and splashing in the bath and reading. Granted I did have a pang of "when is it going to be my turn". I wanted to be celebrating the anniversary and having the kid to play with. But sometime. Maybe not exactly that, but something. Patience is a virtue right? That or else I make it happen one way or another.



4. Had dinner with a friend from India that I had met while visiting Nick (she's his friend too) - Swethaa. She is just starting law school at Harvard. It was great to catch up with her and meet her new fiance Jay. I had been working late and was able to meet up with them for dinner - Indian in Harvard Square area. They were kind and kept the spices mild - still a bit hot for me. I remember a funny thing when visiting India is our constant trouble of dinner. We would be famished and ready to eat by 6 pm or so, but most places wouldn't even open until 7 and it didn't get busy until 10 or so. We were always in the restaurants with foreigners as they eat so "early".



5. Last night I had one of my last town committee meetings. I'm on the building committee - we act as the owner and represent the town when building schools and fire stations and what not. I was brought on I think in part because of my environmental background. Except we were working on the tail end of projects so I wasn't really able to do much and now they're about to be closed out. And the town didn't pass the reforendum needed to start the next school renovation project, so we will be on hiatus for awhile. Anyways, it's been really fun - twice a month meeting with this group who are full of local characters - nice thick accents, people who grew up in the town or the next one over. I really enjoyed it as I felt more connected with the community. I wish I could have done more. My major feat was getting them to use low VOC paint for the fire station. Which is such a small small thing in my daily work, but somewhat big for this project - the chief mentioned last night that hte firefighters really appreciated it. Anyways, I'll miss it. ONly one or two meetings left.



6. Speaking of neighborhoods, I noticed another blind person last night on my way to pick up my produce. There's a fellow that I'll see at my bus stop in the mornings. And there was this lady last night crossing my intersection. And funny thing, this morning, there was another fellow on the bus with his dog. Very strange to see so many - at least for me.



7. Speaking of the bus this morning, there was a very annoying person on her cell phone behind me talking fairly loudly. It was annoying. That bad part of it all, as I sat there and knit trying to listen to my podcasts, was that she was also knitting. Very poor representation I think. But I guess I'm reminded that there are all kinds.



8. Can't think of anything else, other then I got to test drive another car thanks to Zipcar. I was impressed too, it was a Nissan Altima. Nothing much to speak about on the outside - form is bland, but inside was nice and luxurious (at least for my standards), and it handeled really nicely. I'm sorry to say, nicer than Sam, my Volvo I favor from Zipcar. Very tight suspenssion and sharp breaks. Also, it had less blind spots. The volvo seemed to have very bulky back corners and small rear window, leaving a lot of the road unviewable.



And that folks is all that this little brain can remember for now.

Lessons Learned from the Moon

This was drafted last night while I was under the full moon. My ode to the moon in 14 parts.



1. The full moon is a glorious thing. Beauty contained in a simple stamp on the sky. It causes one to stop in their tracks on their walk home and put into perspective life's mundane little details.



2. The full moon is big and bright. And although it appears it is coming earlier these days, can still help bridge the divide between a wonderful summer evening where it stays light all night to the cold early pitch black nights of winter.



3. The full moon can help light one's path as they ride their bike to go pick up the weekly food share of produce, because one forgot when they offered up their extra parking spot to friends who are in Cambridge (where there is no free parking), that the tandum parking would block their car and they wouldn't be able to just hop into the car after an extra long day at work to pick up the food before the doors close.



4. The full moon likes to play hide and seek. Although providing light on the town streets - a nice gesture although a bit redundant considering the proliferation of city street lights, it likes to disappear when truely needed along the bike path. Becoming shy and hiding behind the tree canopy.



5. The full moon likes to watch as the slow realization that what once was a simple bike ride is now a difficult/scary/dangerous task and that I really should buy a light. Not to mention, I haven't biked for the last month due to various reasons so add to that list being out of shape.



6. The full moon perhaps watched humorously as one tries to pace themselves the correct distance behind a runner. Close enough so that if an ax-weilding-psycho-jail-jumping-serial-killer-rapist jumped out of the trees they would be able to assist, but yet just far enough away so as not to make the runner think they were being followed by a bike-riding-ax-weilding-psycho-jail-jumping-serial-killer-rapist.



7. The full moon helps at times, trickeling through the trees to provide a scarce amount of light. Just enough, you must note, to prevent ones eyes to fully adjusting to the pitch blackness. And just enought to eliminate mysterious objects - such as abondoned bicycles on the side of the path.



8. The full moon likes to laugh at jokes played on the "blind" biker. Building on the disorientation already created of a familar path transformed in the darkness, the scariest was the apperation of a car without motor heading right towards them - only to discover at the very last moment it was actually two bikers with strong bike lamps.



9. The full moon might have not even been witness to the stumbling upon the town's youth, as it was so far out of sight. It appears that not even the moon is privy to viewing the hanging-out haunts of the bored teenagers that would appear to the biker as dark blobs only when one was a few feet from them causing sudden swerving - multiple times. They seemed proliferic along the path.



10. The full moon definately laughed as the biker realized watermellons are really, really, really heavy if one has to carry them home along with a box full of other produce. After just beating the clock and getting the produce before the doors closed, one almost wishes it was a "light" day for harvesting. No such luck, although it really was just the watermellon that broke the bank. And when I write bank, I mean back of course since teh bungy chords to attach anything to the bike were missing so everything was loaded into the back pack.



11. The full moon watched humorously as the biker slowly made the trek back home, fully loaded like a donkey. And when I write donkey, I really mean donkey, but the kind that might only have a bag on one side, so ends up walking a little crooked. The biker learning that any movement of the body - with the center of mass so drastically shifted, meant an unfamiliar shift in the bike.



12. The full moon peeked in at times to watch the progression home by the biker. Trying to ride as fast as possible to make it home safely, yet being weighed down by food, and coming across invisible dog walkers who insisted on walking on one side of the path while the dog, attached to a leash of course, insisted on walking on the other side of hte path, therefore creating a virtual tire-spike equivalent for any fast moving objects on the path - such as bicyclists.



13. The full moon provides the spot lighting of the biker as they make their way up the last hill across the busy city street intersection to their home, starting to sweat like a dog because of hte weight and too many layers, because it was really cold when they started causing a fleece to be added to the wardrobe but really not needed now, but too close to home to stop to take it off.



14. And finally the full moon is witness to the last of the bikers frustrations of being locked out of the basement causing one to have to run all the way upstairs and then back downstairs and many extra minutes to put away the bike, when all they want to do is drop onto the couch and be done with the bike and nature and the moon.



And that my friends, was my night last night. The moral of the story being: don't be deceived into thinking the moon is your friend simply because it is so beautiful - it may end up leaving you in the lurch. That or simply: don't share with friends.

Happy Half Birthday...

...to me! It's been a bit hectic, so thought I would provide an update in list form.
(I've of course had this sitting in draft form for awhile. With the intent to capture as much as what has happened over the last month, I provide a list of random events in no order, and only part 1 of who knows how many parts).










1. I got a bed to celebrate. Ok, not really, it just worked out that on my half Birthday I finally found, after searching for 21 months and 19 days, a bed frame that I, 1) liked the look of, 2) didn't cost way more than I thought a bed should, 3) was something that I would have for a long time and not just a filler until I found the "real" bed of my dreams. This last week or so has been mixed emotions. I've had withdrawl from craigslist without anything to search for specifically. On the plus side, for the first 4 days I would be itching to go home to my new bed and sometimes would decline social offers - ok not that extreme, but wish I could have. It's really been awesome. The bed is handmade by Vermont artisians from solid cherry and from an expensive Harvard Square store - bought for much less on craigslist of course. I was able to pick it up from two very nice ladies in Cambridge Wednesday night (except for one of the drawers - more on that later) and bring it up and assemble it that night. It's nice and high - which is essential for me, but since no box spring I was worried about achieving. It fits perfect in the room. I wasn't completely gung-ho about the under bed drawers - didn't think the lines were as clean - more cluttered look, plus the more storage you have the more junk you accumulate. Except I didn't realize that the clean lines are still achieved since the drawers are not seen and I already had accumulated the junk. My random piles (not many, but some) in the bedroom, suprsingly fit exactly into the drawers - as if it was meant to be. I picked up the second drawer later that weekend as my little old car is always challenged in the transportation department. Note the head board just exactly fit - if it had been a bit taller, it would have been a no deal. So everyone in the household is happy as a clam with the new situation.

2. I "kinked" back the Monroe sweater last night. Not sure if that's the right term, but I had finished this sweater ages ago (it's somewhere in the archives, too lazy to look and link to). It was too short - both in torso and sleeves. I wore it a few times though - people praised it, but I didn't feel comfortable in it. Felt like a grown woman wearing my favorite sweater from when I was 8. It had been a fast knit (chunky yarn). I had extra yarn left over. So why not get it right. Except I needed time before undoing all that work. Looking at all my UFOs there are none I can work on - really, so started on this. I'm almost done lengthening one sleeve and am trying to make careful notes so as not to have to do it all over again. I'm hopeful I might have this in time for the fall. I have to admit the cool autmn weather triggered this project. But we are back into humidity so will see.

3. Visited Reegan up in NH the weekend before last (three ago now). Got to chill with the girls on Lake Winnepesaukah (got to love google for the "did you mean..." spelling help). I was clueless about the fame of the area, but the following night at home, I realized it's the name of the lake that that kid menitons in the commercial with ellen and sheryl crow and andrea agassi and martin scrosese (again, thanks google for spelling help). The next day we had a wonderful time blueberry picking up Maine at Blueberry Hill Farm (google just failed me, the name is too generic so no link). I think it was near a town named Atkins. I had never went blueberry picking where the blueberries were in bushes - apparently it's only wild blueberries that I've picked (both in NY and in France). And super cheap. I think I spent about $12 for a huge amount of berries. I'm so sick of blueberries right now - completely ODed. We also went kayaking on Salmon Falls River near Reegan's house. So nice and peaceful - meandering in and out of little tributaries. Very relaxing and all around wonderful weekend.

Camping fun

I went camping this weekend at Devil's Hopyard in CT with my cousins Catherine and Tyler. They had gone up Friday night and I joined them Saturday morning for the weekend. It was somewhat last minute as they had gone the weekend before and had invited me, but I was in NYC but mentioned if it was the next weekend, I was free. So they ended up going twice and I got to partake in some camping. Everything came together last minute and smoothly. I borrowed a tent from a coworker who happened to have one at the office. And I still got to go home friday night and crash before heading off to spend the weekend with the monster you see here.



It was tons of fun - really hot, but again, felt like summer. We went swimming at a great little swimming hole, played cards (I taught them the Jungle Board game I just learned the previous week). We talked and hung out and ate and built a camp fire. It was rumbling all Saturday during the day but no rain until after dinner and then, it was only a heavy downpour for ten minutes - the bark was definately worse than the bite. We went hiking and letter boxing. It was tons of fun and you can read more about it here. I'm even thinking of hiding one by me although it seems like the urban boxes disappear. I can't wait to hunt for some of them hidden just down the street from me - under my very own nose.



Sunday we went biking and explored the Gillette Castle. I should be getting more pictures as Catherine's camera seems to perform better than mine plus it had more air time. All and all a great weekend. Relaxing, although tons of activity. I got home at a reasonable time on Sunday but ended up crashing and getting some sleep (I've become soft in my old age). I picked up a tank top I've been knitting that has gotten too big to carry with me. Made some good progress but am stuck on how to finish the top as I have a different numbre of stitches than the pattern as it suggested leaving out the darts for the flat-chested women, but didn't adjust the pattern in any way. Anyways, too tired to think and figure it out, so back on hold.



In other knitting news, I've been working on yet another Pea Pod baby sweater as my travel project. I've already knit it twice before, but different sizes each time. I just realized this morning that I missed a "and at the same time", so need to pull out the weekends knitting and readjust. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that will happen any time soon, as I was just handed a copy of the latest Harry Potter book. I was going to be good and wait to read it when visiting VT in a few weeks. Now I must be strong and try not to let it take over my life these next several days. Maybe I can try to knit and read like my friend Cece, but unlikely - too tired for that. And finally, for all of you who have read the book, check out this review. Tons of spoilers so beware. Of course I haven't read it yet, but am told it's hilarious.

Summertime

I feel like it's summer. I know it's the end of July and almost August so we've been in the belly of summer for awhile, but with the strange weather and everything, it didn't really feel like summer to me... until now. This week has been warm, but on top of that I feel like the summer activities have taken off. I've been catching up on sleep and on Wednesday after work had a full night. I went to Ivy with some coworkers and had a nice bottle of wine and I splurged and got some mussels in a wonderful butter and garlic sauce - we had to ask for bread twice, it was so good, sopping it up. Although one mussel was a bit undercooked - didn't like the slimey feel of that. Then off to Shakespeare in the Park, just two blocks up where we met up with some friends. The place was packed, blankets next to blankets, not a patch of grass available. Our neighbors were playing cards and within minutes I was dealt in - great game called Jungle Board. The production was suprisingly good. It was Midsummer's Night Dream, which I have to say I've seen a dozen times and have even been in once (I was Demetrious). Having seen quite a few Shakespeare in the park gigs, I was suprised how well they performed and the set and costumes. However, it was still outside, you couldn't really see the stage being a football field away, and well, I ducked out early and met up with a friend who was celebrating her Birthday. All in all, by the time I got home, it was a classic summertime evening in my opinion. Warm, relaxing, and an evening that seemed to be timeless. Too bad it was a school night.



In knitting news, yesterday as I headed home from work a bit late (having come into work a bit late), I struck up a conversation with a fellow knitter. Pulling out my knitting definately starts conversations with strangers. I've been carring it around a lot more and making a ton of progress on yet another PeaPod baby sweater. It's starting to get bulky, so am already looking for another project to start. That's the problem, knitting, elbow to elbow with my fellow commuters, I need to keep the projects small. It works for awhile until the project grows, and then it gets put aside into the pile that just grows and grows. I need to buckle down and knit more at home. But I have to say I get about 80% of my knitting down in transit. I get a good episode of Fresh Air on the mp3 player and an easy pattern to follow and I'm good to go.



Well, Rosanne, my fellow knitter, pointed out a wonderful hole in the wall knitting store in Porter Square. She swears there are wonderful hand-dyed yarn in there. I almost didn't want to know where it was. And then, as I get on my bus, a block away, where the Indian clothing store used to be, there is none other, you guessed it, a new yarn store. I hadn't really noticed. So, I'm going to be good and not explore the two stores until the fall. We'll see how strong I can be. I'm usually good at avoiding yarn stores because I have to make a trip to visit one. These are on my daily route - not a good sign.



And finally, wrapping back to the summertime theme, I'm making my list of things to bring camping this weekend in CT with my cousins. It should be fun, although I'm a bit worried about the weather, and how to fit my bike in the car. I'm packing tons of sunscreen - three bottles. But have a feeling that the trend will continue, where the weekend wipes me out and I recoup during the week (instead of the opposite). But it's summertime - you've got to enjoy it!

Red Bean Buns Found!

After 3 years searching, I've finally found one of my favorite pastries. The wonderous, scrumptious, luscious, delectable, red bean buns. Except I didn't really know what they were called or where they came from. I was introduced to them back in my days in the midwest when I tutored for a Korean family who always provided delicious snacks during my sessions. Fresh fruit, and traditional Korean snacks. It was a good gig. But I never found out what they were called, if they were Korean or Chinese or what. And so I just always kept an eye out, a hopeful eye.







Then on Monday, I was down in Chinatown with a friend grabbing a Vietanemese sandwich and we stopped by a pastry shop on our way back. Everytime I'm in Chinatown, I scan the case looking, hoping to find the wonderful pastry. My Korean friends had helped identify that the wonderful filling was red bean paste. And I find red bean paste pastries, but they're never the same - more croissant-like, flakey dough, than roll like. Well, this time, I look, and nothing, just the red bean flakey pastry - which I figured is better than nothing. We are waiting to order, and you have to keep in mind we are no longer in Boston, we are in Chinatown - a whole other wonderful world. Getting to the pastry shop we had cut through the market full of live seafood, some I know, some I've never even heard of. People don't speak english, most people don't even understand english, including everyone in the pastry shop. It's almost our turn when two elderly men barge into the shop and cut in line to get coffee and pastries. Except their pastries are from this unassuming warming case on the back wall. I hadn't noticed. There are the buns. Filled with sweet and savory. Filled with pork and custard and coconut and, yes, even red bean. I'm so excited. I think this could possibly be the moment when I get reunited with the delectible delight I've beeen searching for. There is a sign on the door listing the different types, in english and in chinese characters. I order. I ask for a custard and a red bean bun. She pulls out one and than the second one. She pulls out and holds it in a questionable manner - with her body language she is asking, "Is this the one you want?" Of course, yes, yes, the red bean, it's so close, I can't wait. My mouth is watering, I can almost taste the sweet bites of heaven I'm about to devour.







And I'm patient. We walk back to the office. We eat our lunch - no skipping to dessert. I've waited this long, I can wait 10 more minutes. And than finally. It's time. I take a bite, and it's good. It's wonderful. It's the custard one, but it's soo good. I know the red bean is going to be even better. And I pick it up, this second one, the red bean, and I take a bite. And it's coconut. It's good, but it's not red bean. I realize, the lady didn't know what I was asking for. We had ourselves a little language barrier problem. And I was stumped to figure out how to remedy it. I can't just point to what I want - they all look the same on the outside. They are all together on the racks - there is no way for me to point. No way to fall back on my only second language I know - universal hand gestures. I could tell her I wanted two or three of them, no problem. But I couldn't tell her which one. I'm so close.

So, a little later, I'm working with our intern Jean. When it dawns on me. She's asian. I hadn't really noticed as she's american to me, and I definately hadn't put two and two together. So she instructs me on how to say Red Bean. Thats all I need to know. We practice and practice. It's phoenetically "hung doh". Except there are 10 ways to say hung with the various inflections. And to me, they all sound about the same. You drop on the end of word down and inflect back up on the doh part. I keep practicing on my way home that night. I practice when I wake up. I practice on my commute into work the next day.

And I'm still not saying it right. A group of us head to Chinatown the next day. Ok, I make them go. I'm determined. And thankfully Jean decides to come. We go to the same place, although my friend thinks there are better places to go. No, I know they have them here, I'm going back. And we wait in line. And it's our turn. And Jean orders for me. And thank goodness she is there. There would have been no way for me to have done it on my own. I don't know what she said but she said a lot more than what I would have thought would be needed to order. In the end, I get four. Three for me and one as a treat for Jean for making it happen. And I'm not patient. I bite into one as we're heading out the door. And... It's heaven. I've finally found them. I've found my Red Bean Bun.

So the good news. They are only $0.85 each. So if I get one a day, that's only about $200 a year. Much better deal than my fellow coffee drinkers. And the bad news. I do the math. It's going to be less than that, as Jean is only with us until the end of August. She's going to MIT so will hopefully continue working a few days a week in the fall. But I'll need a translator. Right now, I'm hopeful that if we go a lot now, the lady (it was the same person both times), will just know what I want as I become a regular. I've also thought about getting someone to write out what I want in chinese characters, so that I can just hand the note over (I did something similar when I would get the sunday pastries for my german family years and years ago, and I didn't know german yet). I don't know. But for now, I'm happy that I will be able to enjoy my Red Bean Buns for the summer.

NYC Revisisted

I can't believe how time has flown - classic summer. Well, since my last post, work has been busy and draining. I have purposely not been working extra hours but since it's been so demanding it feels like I've been putting in 60+ hour weeks. Last weekend I had popped over to Vermont to visit dad and Barbro and Sunday evening had a nice relaxing evening having dinner, playing hearts and knitting at Cece's with her husband and Amanda.

This past weekend, I visited NYC. I had gone a month ago in the hopes of seeing my friend, John's musical, but no luck getting tickets. Even though I didn't get to see the show I still had a great weekend reconnecting with old friends I hadn't seen. I realized that I love visiting places, but much more enjoy catching up with friends. Anyways, this time I was going to be prepared and buy tickets in advance. Except, the show is pretty much sold out - only the VIP $300+ tickets left. I realized I wanted to see the show but also wanted to catch up with John as well. So, in preparation, I emailed John as well as Matthew, another friend of mine I had lost touch with, back from my days in California. John was busy, so no luck there, but Matthew was in town and I was staying with my highschool friend Ankan. On the aggenda was trying to get standing room tickets to the musical, catching up with Matthew, hanging out with Ankan, seeing the Richard Serra exhibit at the Moma and wandering around some more neighborhoods of Manhattan.

So my journey began when I bought tickets for the greyhound. I had decided not to drive since I love driving but hate sitting in traffic - it kills my knee - clutch-shift. I was going to take the train, but the bus was cheaper and took less time. Plus the Fung Wah I had heard so much about, I thought it would be a fun summer adventure. For $30 roundtrip, it goes from chinatown to chinatown. Except in the end I chickened out and went with greyhound as I thought they would be more reliable, less accidents, and more likely that I'd get on the bus I wanted.

Well, I was wrong. I show up at the bus terminal in Boston and it was packed! I realized I had never taken the bus in my life before. I find my gate, and trace the line back to the end. Except it keeps going and going and going. It was snaking out of the gate area into the food court area. It turned out there had been a fatal accident on the Pike that afternoon and it had been shut down. No traffic. No buses coming or going. Normally I think I would have been a bit pissed and maybe would have called the whole thing off and gone home. But I've gotten so worn out from work, I just ended up standing in line to see how it would play out. I made friends with the group in front of me, two guys (I think from MIT) who had taken the buses before, a guy from India trying to get to Jersey (I swear he looked just like our driver from Kerala) and a girl who was from New Jersey. We hung out and talked and shared in our misery. In the end, I was only delayed two hours, getting on the fourth bus to come - which isn't that much different than what you get with planes sometimes. So I didn't get in until late Friday, after midnight. It took me a while to get a cab, and than of course, I didn't realize but the big steam pipe fiasco that happened last week, is over near where I was staying, so that was a bit convaluted.

Saturday, frankly I was undecided how to spend the day. I was on the fence about really standing in line for two hours to get ticktes. But, than that morning, while getting ready, on the TV was an ad for Jersey Boys, and there was John performing. I knew than that I had to go. So I headed over towards the Moma, enjoying the New Yorkness of NY. So many people and tall buildings, the energy on the streets - there really is no other city like it. I was still a bit tired, so took my time and ended up window shopping a bit, which than turned into full out shopping when I realized that if I was going to see the musical, I couldn't go in jeans but would need to dress up a bit - any excuse to shop in NY. Fast forward and I realized that if I wanted to get tickets, I would have to skip the Moma and head over to make sure I didn't miss my opportunity. I knew before you had to get there about 2 hours prior to when the tickets go on sale. But they don't sell student tickets anymore, so wasn't sure, if that meant the start time was earlier. To be on the safe side, I headed over at 3:30. I checked one last time that I couldn't buy a ticket - they were sold out. But that was fine. I had my book. I had my knitting. I had some work, my phone to catch up on calls, some Fresh Air episodes on the MP3 player, some new music and even some food. I was definately equiped to spend 2.5 hours in line. And I was first! In the end all I did was knit. I ended up having a lovely afternoon with Carol, who joined me in line soon after and was this wonderful character. She used to live in Manhattan and was a day trader - some crazy stories. She was now quasi retired, still dealing with the death of her husband from 3 years ago and worked for the cruise ships. It was a nice day out, and tons of people watching while we talked and I knit. Again, waiting in line for several hours, you definately get to know people. By the end, I knew the front half of the line pretty well.

The people watching in NY is fabulous. It was perfect being able to sit and relax and talk and knit and watch people go by. The tourists were funny, always with a dazed look on their face, walking around a little lost. It was funny when people would ask for directions. One lady asked came up to me and asked me how to get to 42nd street. I don't think she understood the idea of consecutive numbers and how they applied to the grid of Manhattan. Then, there was this one guy with the avaitor shades, jeans and jacket walking along. I wasn't really paying attention, until he walked right up to me - it was John! I totally didn't recognize him at first as I didn't expect to see him on the street. He was impressed I was first in line and he had brought a bag of water for the people standing in line - isn't that great?! He said he'd put my name on the list so that I could come in through the stage door after the show (i've never been on a list before, so that was fun). It was so good to see him and when he headed into the theater I got bombarded with questions from people in line. It puts a smile on my face just thinking back on it. I mean he is the star of the show. Crazy.

Well, a moment later he comes out and grabs me out of line. I got the tour of the theater, back stage, we even went up on the stage and looked out at the seats that would be filled in a few hours. It was great being able to chat and hang out a bit. He's the same old John I grew up with which is great. Such a great guy and very grounded which is good for this industry. He had to get ready, but had hooked me up with an emergency release ticket. Except, I had to pick it up right before the show, ten minutes before 8. I was a little worried that meant I might not get a ticket in the end. I had been first in line, so didn't want to miss the show. But should have had the faith. I ended up sitting in the best seat ever - fifth row center. I was giddy throughout the whole show. There was John, up on the stage. I would sometimes forget it was him and than it would dawn on me that I knew this guy. It gave me goosebumps and I have to admit that I got teary eyed at times (granted, there are parts of the musical that make you teary anyways). I couldn't stop grinning through most of the show. He was amazing. The story follows the life of his character, Frankie Valli, who begins as a naive teenager just wanting to sing to a mature, wisened Frankie decades later. Seeing John evolve on stage was great - and he had an accent the whole time which was so fun to watch. He's the second one from the left in the picture here.

Well, the best part, yes, it gets even better. I'm grinning ear to ear right now remembering. At the end, you have the wonderful climax as they finish up the show with the big number and the crowd breaks out in applause. All the different actors come out to get their recognizition. And finally it's the four guys, the four seasons. Standing ovation of course. And finally John steps forward and the crowd goes crazy. Did I mention he was amazing, he did win a Tony for a reason. He takes his bow and as he's backing off stage he does one of those double points, right at me. A bunch of people in the audience turn around to see who he was pointing to. It was amazing and I was so happy to be able to have shared that performance with him. It completely made my day. My weekend.

So it was a good weekend. I had brunch with Matthew on Sunday and we talked for ages. He's another great guy I'm glad I reconnected with again. He's working in urban planning now and we were sharing stories about work and life. He was quite impressed with all that I do for my job - it is a good position I am in, a good place to effect change. I just need to get a better game plan. We had brunch at this place in the West Village off of Greenwich Ave. It had fabulous food. The heirloom tomato salad we shared was so full of flavor. I love good food. I had forgotten that I knew Matthew originally because we worked on a project together in California. (He was good friends with David that I dated, so ended up knowing him more socially than professionally). This was back in my early engineering days. He was telling me how impressed he was than on how I held myself. I had mentioned later that I had had no idea what I was doing, but he said the impression he got from me was qutie the opposite. It was great positive feedback - don't we always love that. I was such a youngin back than though.

So all in all the weekend was great. The ride home I slept for almost 3 hours - I really didn't sleep well - coming down with something, and visitor beds are never the same as your own. I had a great time catching up with John and Matthew, hung out with Ankan, got to see the show. Never did get to see the Moma but that's fine. The guy I had met last time was a bust, so that was disappointing. But I love that I was able to reconnect with old friends. I really can't believe how many this year I've met up with. I really am taking stock of and appreciating what I've got now. And now, I really need to buckle down and crank on work. I vow this week will be overly productive. Of course, only time will tell.

Patience

I'm a patient person. I'm known for my patience. I was raised to favor the long term enjoyment rather than the immediate gratification something might bring. I make PB&J sandwiches everyday for work while coworkers buy lunch and coffee and snacks so that I can put my money aggresively away into retirement accounts. I enjoyed tuturoing math, explaining things over and over again, in different ways, until the students finally get it. Until last year, I didn't realize I had a quota on my patience. I just thought it was a virtue of mine - an endless well of patience. Yes, I have no children yet, that would have clued me in that there is a finite amount of patience that I have. Instead, work has worn it down. In a way I think it's good, I've learned to deal with certain things that patience would have taken care of. But I'm not here to discuss work. Instead, I just wanted to explain, that I'm back in the range of the average folk, with an average level of patience (some more days than others). And I wasn't patient last week.

I've been picking up my produce boxes each week - and although full of surprises and a delight to open, I was starting to wane on what to cook up each week. So last week, I went to the grocery store and bought some additional produce (think I mentioned it in previous post). I bought some tomatoes and potatoes and onions and almost bought some fresh herbs but opted to "borrow" some from my neighbor (which I never did get around to). Now, I love that I eat produce grown down the road from me. That I pick it up by bicycling with a back pack to lug it all home. And I eat food that is in season and available. Or at least I tried for a month. I almost made it. I should have had that thing called faith they keep talking about.

What the $%^& is she talking about? Patience, food, what? Yes, I'm a little loopy today and incoherrent, but I have a point. (Heat is not my friend). Yesterday I thought I might be able to drive to pick up the food since the weaherman said it would be in the 90s. Turns out that the weird weather we are having means its 90s in some parts and 60s in neighboring areas. Very strange. So even though it was humid, there was this pleasent and unusual cool sea breeze. I was a little chilly biking up to the food pick up. And guess what I got this week. I've been getting lettuce, squach, zuccini, and than a surprise or two for the last few weeks.

This week I got lettuce, zuccini, some more kohlrabi - very familiar. But the rest of the box? It was filled with huge bunches of parsley and basil and cillantro and what I thought were chives but realized at home that they were scallions. And there were some potatoes (the small red kind that I just bought) and some really fresh onions (sweet white like I just bought) Are you starting to see a pattern? I didn't get any tomatoes thankfully but got some delicious fresh carrots that have almost disappeared (I had some garlic hummus - great snack).

So the point is, I should have just been patient and waited. The food was coming. I just never know what to expect. But I've learned my lesson. Work with what you've got (or in my case are given). The herbs are wonderful - in beautiful full bunches, roots still intact so are sitting in glasses of water in a wonderful meledy on top of the fridge (else the boys would attack). They are so fragrent. And the onions - I've never bought onions like that. There is no paper layer like skins, but moist thick fresh meat exposed, and the tops are cut off much higher, so they have necks. I can't wait to taste them.

In knitting news, I got tons of compliment on the tank I just finished and wore for the first time this week. I really should press it, as the edge around the armpits kept curling under. It's in the "to-do" pile. I still have to pick up the remaining balls cece bought for me to finish the orange cardigan I was working on until I ran out of yarn. So instead of finishing up old projects, I've cast on a summer cotton pattern by kate gilber called Keyhole Top from the spring 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. I won't run out of yarn for this one since I'm using the slate cotton yarn from the never ending cone (I knit and knit one sweater after another, hundreds even, and the cone is still the same size). I like the back which is exposed. I'm almost done the waisteband and am thinking of adjusting the bottom so that it doesn't flare as much and will not do the decreases in the bust as the pattern recommends for those of us without much of a bust line. I keep trying to start another sweater wrap, but can't get the right gauge. I keep trying different yarns and needle sizes, and nothing. I'll post once it is officially started - I am determined to knit it and am going to try doubling up the yarn to see if that works tonight. It should be a fast project. Oh, and I've decided to redo the Simply Marilyn sweater that was a bit too short for me. It's been long enough. Time has healed. I haven't worn it more than once or twice. I can start ripping. Looking through old posts, it was back in October I finished it - 9 months ago. So tonight, I take notes, make adjustments, and turn the sweater back into balls of yarn. Wish me well.

Qatar

First I should preface that geography has never been a strong suit of mine. I left that topic to my brother who plastered his bedroom (ceiling too) with all our National Geographic maps growing up. I hadn't even heard of Eritrea until he visited there a few years ago. However, in my defense, I think it wasn't a country when I studied geography in middle school (ok, it's a weak argument, but it's all I got). But I think that might be the point - I don't really remember the name of countries unless it relates to me - funny that. Well, all of a sudden, in the last three days Qatar has come onto my radar. I vaguely recognize the name - from half listening to NPR in the mornings. But I'll get back to this in a moment.

I had a great lunch with my old college friend/roomie Emily and her family. The nice thing was I just saw her about a month or so ago at our reunion get together. They were up on vacation visiting family and I was able to sneak out of work and hang out with them a bit. Natalie was very glamorous and wore her sunglasses in the restaurant for awhile. I think it's practice for when she becomes a big rock star - doesn't she have the wonderful attitude to play the part in this picture? The funny thing was when we were meeting up in the park, it was Eric, her husband who recognized me first - and we haven't met before. It's that lost look I must have had. It was really nice just hanging out with them over food. Makes me wish that everyone I meet in life would just move and live wherever I'm living - one can dream.

This weekend I got a good chunk of my spring cleaning done - cleaned inside the stove and oven and microwave and moved furniture and everything. Still a ways to go, and frankly, the place still looks a mess - the whole vacuuming thing is what pulls me down. Started a new knitting project (or two or three - opps, more on that later). And than last night I had a great time taking two boys to go see the new Transformers movie. Definately the way to see it - although we were all so cold in the theater - arms and legs folded up inside our shirts. On the way home, the younger boy declared this the best night ever in his life. Don't you just love kids? Especially when you get to borrow them and be the one who gets to pamper them. I was assured this movie wouldn't be too scary for them, but the younger one kept asking several times through the movie if Bumble Bee would be ok. I kept saying he would be fine in the end and crossing my fingers I wasn't lying. He's the main character's yellow car/transformer and we get attached to him. How could they kill him off, right? That's not a very Hollywood ending. Well, he doesn't fair so well in the film, and at one point, I wasn't even sure if he would make it. I was tempted to text a friend who had just seen it to see if Bumble Bee would actually be ok. But in the end, it all worked out - corny dialogue and everything.

So what about Qatar you ask? Isn't that the title of this post after all? Well, here it is, my fairly low key weekend, and three times I tell you, did Qatar pop up. First, I learned a friend of mine is moving there which got me excited that I could visit perhaps. Second, where does the Transformers movie open? None other than an outpost in Qatar. Which made me rethink the whole visiting idea. It looks a little hot and what's with the crazy robot trying to kill people? And finally, this morning, reading my blogs, someone in the knitting world had a houseguest who is an expat in Qatar. Hmm, expats, that sounds interesting, maybe not such a bad place to visit after all.

So you have to admit, that's more than the usual blips on the radar. If nothing else, I at least know where Qatar is and how much plane tickets are to Doha. That's right - I even know the capital.

Summer Reading

I wasn't intending on posting a blog today, but just finished another book this morning on the ride in. Last week I had finally broken down and stopped by my local used bookstore. It's been over a year and a half since I moved to this town, and I walk to the grocery store, and I walk to the hardware store, and I walk to the library and the toy store and the bank and you get the idea. I try to shop locally, I try to not use the car, but yet I wouldn't go near the bookstore. And the reason being - last week case in point.

The bus that brings me to town, but doesn't go by my house was there when I got off the subway, so I decided instead of waiting for the more direct bus, I would hop on this one and walk the extra 3 blocks (really, it's a lazy life, when 3 blocks seems out of your way). And as I was getting off, I realized that I wanted to get the book, Life of Pi that a friend was just talking about earlier that week. It dawned on me that perhaps this was the day to visit the bookstore. I wanted to read the book and didn't want to wait until later in the week to make it to one of the mega stores downtown (i.e. Borders). Plus I like to buy books used. Besides the lower cost, the idea that the story has been shared with someone else is inticing. So, to appease the need for immediate gratification, I headed over to the bookstore, just yards away from the bus stop.

Now, let me set the scene. It was a nice summer afternoon, the sun at it's wonderful angle that time of day coming in through the store windows. I wasn't in a rush. It wasn't too hot, I had a good selection of new songs on the mp3 player and the store wasn't crowded nor vacant. A nice buzz of a few people parusing the stacks, a few other mothers looking for school designated summer reading books for the kids. And there I was looking through the books. I asked straight off for the Life of Pi, and they had one copy - task accomplished. But, since I was here, I might as well look around, right?

Well an hour later, I came to the conclusion it was a descent bookstore, not too dangerous - they seemed to have a lot of paperbacks in the sci fi, romance and grisham genre. The trades were fun to look through, but were weighted in the category of chick lit. Some classics, and my favorite was the spinning rack of selected books of interest. It contained several David Sedaris books, which I passed up, I much prefer to hear him read his books rather than read them myself (same for Garrison Keillor). I did find a book I had started reading several years ago while in a Borders in Michigan, called, Nickel and Dimed, that is about a journalist/writer who takes a year to try to live on minimum wage. A fast read.

In the end I walked away with 6 books for under $40. Not bad. And in the last week I've gobbled up three. Life of Pi is a fairly quick read - good summer book. And the last book that I liked called, Safekeeping: some true stories from a life, I picked up in the memoir/biography section. It was filled with poigent moments. Literally, the book composed of chapters that were quite often just a paragraph or two, less than a page.

And that is that. Good books. Would recommend all three. I wouldn't necessarily say any was my favorite (Life of Pi was my friends favorite). But than again I don't know if I have favorites. And they pass the test, that they get put onto the bookshelf and will not be sold back to the used bookstore for partial store credit. I've started another book about the life of doctors - I think the residency section of their career. And well, I've started the three remaining books, but will post them when completed. It's a nice break from listening to mp3s and knitting, to reading while commuting. I do enjoy the commutes - not too long enough to be a hassel, and just long enough to get something accomplished.