Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Inauguration!

Yesterday, Washington DC was standing room only!

No kidding!

All of downtown was filled with people to the point that there was only room for them to stand. Well, you know that if you watched the inauguration on TV.

Holly said she looked at the photos of the crowd and was floored. 

I looked at them and something in the back of my brain said "That can't be right." I found myself checking landmarks, thinking that they couldn't be taking those photos where it looked like they were, and it must be someplace smaller. But no. Downtown DC was literally standing room only!

And the commotion extended all the way out to here in Northern Virginia (or NoVA, as the natives refer to it). I was at PRTC (local bus company in PW county) headquarters in Woodbridge, and watched big buses leaving in a constant stream with big signs on the front that said "FREE RIDE DAY." They were headed to the Metro. For people going to or coming from DC on the Metro, buses were arriving at the Springfield station and leaving every minute, apparently all day. I didn't know they had so many buses. The only thing to or from DC yesterday was public transportation. Which was probably a good thing. After all, where would you park?

The local buses were not free yesterday, though. Which I found out since I rode around on three buses yesterday. I took four trips, but caught one of the drivers on the way back on the same bus.

After watching the actual inauguration on TV, I pulled myself together and took the bus to the station and took another bus to Comcast to straighten out the mess. It's not totally straightened out, but at least they're not planning to turn it off at this point, and I can not only watch TV, but blog and use the internet without fear of sudden disconnection. I caught the same bus on it's way back to the station. I've been riding the bus so much that I'm beginning to know all the drivers.

Yesterday, the temperature did not get above freezing at any point. So, I was amazed to watch our new president take the oath wearing a business suit. His only concession to the cold seemed to be warm gloves. I can't imagine how he avoided freezing, but he did look spiffy.

I watched the proceedings on Channel 7, and Holly watched it on 4. We compared notes later and discovered that we had seen very different things because of the way that it was presented. One of the things that I missed, but Holly filled me in on was that he was sworn in with the same bible that Lincoln was sworn in with.

Since I spent my day riding around (it was well after dark by the time I got home), I missed the parade. Holly says that despite the strong resistance of the secret service, Barack and Michelle got out of their bulletproof limo and walked for a couple of blocks, and then did it again for a shorter distance later.

I have been around Washington, DC, one way or another ever since 1964, and I have never seen such a wild frenzy here. I wasn't crazy enough to go downtown, but stories of friends are filtering back to me. It's awe inspiring.

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I'm halfway through the leg of the fourth stocking. This is what it looks like from the front.


This is what it looks like from the back. Please note that I have darned in the ends from the colorwork at the top. The ends from the name and date, and the ends from the edge between the white of the "snow" and the red of the body of the stocking. The mess you see here is just from the tree and Santa designs.

This is why I don't like to do colorwork. I can't just knit. 

I have to keep stopping to count. And cut new lengths of yarn for a new color section. And wind bobbins. Then unwind parts of bobbins so I can knit a few more stitches. And periodically stop completely and spend an hour untangling the mess and darning in ends because the yarn ends have gotten too unmanageable to continue unless I do. 

Once I get past the colorwork on the leg, the rest is simple. Just knit. Well, and there's some shaping, too, but that's easy. And it doesn't require untying a bad tangle and darning in ends.

Actually, I took the photo a while ago, and in the meantime I've darned in most of the ends and gotten further. Only one more complete stocking to go!

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Haunted has been on the SciFi daytime rotation all today, and Doctor Who will be on Friday's fare. Those episodes will include Tooth and Nail, and School Reunion, which show the inception of Torchwood and the beginning of The Sarah Jane Adventures, respectively.

Which reminds me of the Leverage episode last night. They suddenly find they need some aliases, and they go through "Sylvester McCoy" and decide on "Tom Baker" and his wife, "Sarah Jane." Who says they don't have a sense of humor?

SciFi is starting two reruns on it's Friday night line-up starting this week. Look for Invasion and Moonlight on Friday.

They're both good series.

Invasion is about a first contact situation during a hurricane in Florida. It started on the air right before Hurricane Katrina, and was interesting because you could watch a hurricane aftermath and clean-up both on a TV show and on the news. The show was far more bizarre. Kind of Hurricane Katrina meets the pod people. Although it was very good, it ended after the first season, and they didn't have a chance to wrap up the story successfully, so it was very disappointing that way. I want to watch it over again, though.

Another really good show that ended after the first season was Moonlight, about a vampire private investigator. It starred Alex O'Loughlin as the most likeable vampire ever, Mick St. John. This one is beyond description, it's so good. You really need to watch it. They didn't get a chance to wrap this one up successfully, either, but it's easy to assume that they just went on with their lives (or undeadness). Invasion never got a chance to tie up the loose ends that really needed to be resolved.

I was very unhappy when each of these shows ended.

But the really BIG news on TV is the premier of Lost tonight! This is what everybody has been waiting for!

Enjoy!

I know I will.

And don't forget that Burn Notice will be having it's premier Thursday, too, on USA!

Oh, and Dragon Sword will be on SciFi on Saturday.

Check local listings!

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After riding around on all those buses yesterday in sub freezing temperatures, with a 20 mile-an-hour wind with who knows what kind of chill factor in order to pay my Comcast bill, Comcast thought it was necessary to call me today and ask if I'd like to make a payment. This is just another example of their substandard everything. I wish I could change to another provider.

Oh, well, it's supposed to go above freezing tomorrow, and I might even go out voluntarily under those conditions. I still have money on the Michaels card that Malaia and John gave me, and I'm thinking about using it for some sock yarn. Yes, I really want to take a break from knitting Christmas stockings with knitting socks! Even though it sounds crazy. I also have to get busy on the photos for the cover of Volume 2 of the Steve Canyon series. Busy, busy, busy!

Have fun with Lost tonight and Burn Notice Thursday!

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