Moon Day!

Happy Moon Day!

Forty two (an auspicious number) years ago, a human being set foot on the moon for the first time!

For you older people, you probably remember where  you were and what you were doing at the time. For you younger people, it was an amazing event!

You can find more information on the Moon Landing here. In case you weren't paying attention, that was two links.

So, my opinion on all this is that I should do something loony today to celebrate! Actually, the most loony thing I can think of to do is to buy some of the moon. I can't afford it, but you might be able to.

Yeah, I know it's not expensive, but I'm broke.

Maybe next month for my birthday.

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If you like the Harry Potter scarf from yesterday, you can make a matching watch cap (if you use the same colors) with the instructions here. The link is also in the sidebar, so you can find it any time.

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Coming Attractions!

There are a couple of things coming up that I'd really like to go to, but won't be able to due to budget constraints and health reasons.

Can't get to San Diego Comic Con? Neither can I, and I'm all broken up about that. It's probably the biggest comic, science fiction and fantasy con around these days and it's happening this weekend! Actually, there's a preview night tonight, and one of my friends will be there tomorrow evening.

Another friend (John) will be there sometime over the weekend. So it's possible I'll get some first-hand accounts up here.

So, I propose a rerun of last year, wherein I collect the best of the best of Tweets about SDCC, and retweet them. If you don't have a Twitter account, you can follow them right here in the sidebar. See, over there, on the right, where it talks about Twitter?

It's not much, but it's a tiny taste of the con, and if it is the same as last year, there'll be lots of links to see photos taken there.

While you're checking Comic Con here, you might want to check G4, which will be broadcasting live from Comic Con at various times over the weekend (and then rebroadcasting the live shows later, if you miss them).

The other thing that's really breaking my heart to miss is Pennsic! If you click the link, you'll find out that it's a Medieval wargame held in Western Pennsylvania for two months in August. Actually, they've moved the dates up, and it now starts at the end of July, specifically July 29th this year.

Actually, Pennsic is far more than just a wargame. There is that, and a lot of Pennsic is built around that, but there's much, much more. To begin with, it's over 10,000 people getting together and living essentially the way people lived in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

SCA also has University classes, where they teach just about anything that was done during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and not just in Europe, but in the Middle and Far East. There are classes in blacksmithing, bellydancing, carding, combing and spinning wool and other fibers, period names and naming, period recipes and cooking, jewelry making, leather crafting, shoemaking, fletching, and much, much more. Just because I haven't mentioned it, doesn't mean they don't teach it.

I'll be doing the same thing with retweeting the most interesting stuff from Twitter, but I'm also going to try to blog almost every day, and include something that you would encounter in University classes if you were there. Since I do a lot of fiberarts, that's mostly what you'll be getting. If I can work up to real ambition, I might even show how to lucet some cord. I have a bone lucet that I bought a while ago and haven't used yet. This would be a good time to break it out. There were cords all over Medieval clothing, so this was a useful thing to know.

About the every day thing, I already know that at least two days (probably in a row) will be taken up with personal, time-consuming stuff, and I don't expect to be able to blog on the third or fourth of August, although I'll try.

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I have lots of stuff to do, so I have to get going.

Have a great evening!

Tweet

Oooops!

In my last post, I said several things about the future that did not come to pass.

Sorry!

I was looking at the wrong day when I said what would be on TV. It was not, in reality shown on Monday night, but on Tuesday night.

And I intended to put up something biographical yesterday. But I seem to be suffering from terminal shyness.

Also, computer problems.

When I got my iMac, it was a present from a friend, and it was not brand new. The keyboard would sometimes type two letters when I hit a key only once. The mouse would sometimes jump to a totally different location on the screen just as I was pressing the mouse button.

Now, it periodically locks one key on, and just keeps typing the same key. The key isn't stuck down. I don't know what's wrong with it, but it's an occasional challenge.

And the mouse has gone from a mild annoyance to almost impossible to deal with. I'm using the keyboard for scrolling and stuff as much as possible. It quit working at all (once in a while) until it was unplugged and replugged in months ago. Then that happened with increasing frequency. Now it's to a point where I have to unplug it and replug it in each time I want to point and click. Sometimes I have to replug to point and then again to click.

If you don't hear from me for a few days, it's because of input problems.

I am taking steps to replace the keyboard, and, more urgently, the mouse. I'm amazed at how expensive replacements are, though.

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I was amazed that I got some feedback from the last post!

The supernova I provided a link for is 190,000 light years away. Without thinking about it, it seemed like it would be a long time until we could possibly have any effects from this. But when I actually stopped and thought about it, it seems like it must've happened 190,000 years ago since we can see it. So, the question is, how fast are these effects traveling? If they were traveling at light speed, they'd already be here. The next question is, will there be any noticeable effects here on earth?

The article didn't answer either of these questions.

There is a link on the article, which will take you here. They didn't answer the questions, either, but the article has some incredible photos of supernovas. There's an article here about the birth of a different supernova. The photo above is Kepler's Supernova, and you can find out more about it, and other supernovas here.

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I talked to John yesterday, via instant messaging chat, and he sent me some of the photos that he'd taken at Comic Con.

This first one is of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jamie Kennedy signing autographs.

The next one is of one of the power girls at the con. John said that there were many, many power girls, and I think there's a whole page of power girls that were just at SD Comic Con, but John said that he particularly liked this one, both for her costume, and for choosing a costume that was perfect for her body type.

Unfortunatly, he didn't get the name of this lovely lady. If you know who she is, give us a shout. We'd love to credit her with having such great taste.

And we have yet another mystery photo. John swears that the person on the left is "somebody famous," and is sure he knows who the person is, but is suffering brain freeze. And I can't say that I am any better at the "name the famous person" game. So, if you know who this is, let me know in the comments, and you'll be putting up a credit for the photo.

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There's a thunderstorm getting ready to strike, and I want to get off the computer right away, so I'm going to stop posting now.

Have a great evening and don't miss Leverage!

Chicken Soup

The apartment I live in is really a joy in so many ways. One of the good things about it is that each apartment is isolated from all the others.

The walls are fireproof and soundproof. We have regular fire alarm tests and have all been given instruction on what to do in case of fire: stay in your apartment and keep the door closed, and wait for someone to escort you safely from the building if it's necessary. The walls are fireproof, and if your apartment isn't on fire, it's safest to stay there.

I was worried that my TV would be too loud and bother others, but I was told I could turn it up as loud as I wanted, and nobody in another apartment would hear it. The sound does escape a bit under the door to the hall, but not through the walls.

And I think the space under the door is responsible for the wonderful smell in my apartment right now.

Somebody is making chicken soup! And it smells heavenly! I'm not really hungry, but the smell is, like popcorn, one of my favorite smells. I have a large cache of canned chicken soup left from the last time I had a real apartment that I haven't exhausted yet, and I suspect that I've already decided what to have for dinner.

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I've mentioned a few times that I'm on Twitter, and that there's a widget in the sidebar where you can read updates in between blogs, but today I found out about something I hadn't heard of at all: Plurk. I've joined (I'm lostarts--hi!), but I'm still trying to figure it out.

Twitter doesn't give you a lot of help, and neither does Plurk. Twitter has lots of supporting sites that tell you how it works, though. Maybe Plurk does, too. I'll have to check.

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John went to SD Comic Con over the weekend, and took lots of photos. He sent one of them to me via phone without any caption or explaination, and here it is:

I keep thinking I should know who that is with him, but at this point, I haven't got a clue.

Anyway he said that there will be more photos. I'm not sure if they'll be on his blog, or if he's going to send them to me, but I can't wait.

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Well, I'm about to plunge into knitting for Christmas. I placed a Knit Picks order today for yarn for a Christmas present for one of my granddaughters. I don't think she reads my blog, so I can probably show photos when the yarn arrives, and even update photos of how it's going.

I have also started on knitting Christmas stockings to sell in my Etsy shop. I'll keep you updated on that, too.

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Well, tonight we have a rerun of Medium on, and, on ABC Family, Bridge to Terabithia. I know, that's a children's movie, but it's a good fantasy story, too.

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I'm thinking about doing something biographical one day a week, and I plan to start it tomorrow, so brace yourself. It'll probably start slow, and (hopefully), pick up speed as time goes on.

In the meantime, have a great evening!

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Addition:

Breaking News!

There has been a Supernova in a neighboring galaxy, and the shock wave is headed straight for us!

Brace for impact!

It's only 190,000 light years from earth!

Comic Con Is Winding Down

Children of Earth has already started on BBC in America and will run all day until it's done, followed by the new Doctor Who episode, Planet of the Dead!

Last night was the first showing of Being Human, too. They're the science fiction channel this week!

Speaking of being a science fiction channel, there's been yet another article about the name change from SciFi to SyFy. I wish they had thought about imagining greater and improved the programming rather than just changing the name.

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Report from John at the front lines at San Diego Comic Con:

Hi! Wish you wuz here ;) Humid and sweating...and crowded, but cool in other ways! Would call but too loud to hear. Bye!

I wish I could be there, too!

There's not a lot happening around here other than that. Check on twitter or in the sidebar for updates of the aftermath of Comic Con.

Have a great weekend, even if you're not at Comic Con!

More Steve Canyon News!

Check out the new post on John's Steve Canyon blog! As usual, John has lots of Steve Canyon news, but he also has a bit about me, too.

John will be going to the San Diego Comic Con tonight and this Sunday, so if you see him there, say "Hello!" and ask about Steve Canyon! Copies of the DVDs will be available to buy at the con.

There's Wi-Fi there, and he'll have his laptop with him, so he'll be Tweeting while he's there, and his tweets will be available in the sidebar tonight and Sunday, along with interesting tweets from others at the con. I'm so excited about all of this!

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Today, before packing to leave for the con, I had a chance to talk to John, and he had just talked to some people at the Smithsonian, and was excited about some stuff on the internet about some of the Star Trek models. You can read these two articles here and here. John was lucky enough to get to see the model before it was displayed, while it was still stored in the old red brick museum building. This was the building where they originally hung Bevo Howard's biplane, the one that I got to stand next to and touch at the air show in Charleston on Armed Forces day in 1963.

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Today is Day Three of Children of Earth. It's been so good so far. I want to say a billion things about it, but I don't want to spoil it for you, so I'm totally frustrated about it. It's fabulous, though!

There's one thing I can tell you about without it being too spoilery. As is usual with these things, they kill Jack. I'm sure you're not surprised. But they do it so thoroughly that he comes back without the clothes that he was wearing. When interviewed about it, Eve Myles said "There was the Barrowman, wearing handcuffs and a bit of dust." She also said "I had nightmares for weeks. It was horrific!" Then she giggled "And I want to see some more!"

So, if you missed Jack in the altogether, you can see him tonight in the rerun of Day Two before they go on to show Day Three, or you can see the whole series rerun in sequence on Sunday on BBC in America. Check your local listings! Oh, and the DVD will be available on Tuesday (click the link above).

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This is a short post today because I'm not feeling especially well. Nothing serious, just really ragged.

I hope you're feeling better than I am. Have fun with Children of Earth tonight!

Science Fiction Review

Well, I watched Warehouse 13 last night, and felt it was the best I could have reasonably hoped for.

A series needs a lot of establishment, and this had all it needed, and got into the action right away. It will just get to be more fun as the series goes on and we get to know the characters better. Io9 says it best and at great length in this review of the first two-hour episode. I should mention that it's not a wishing lamp, but a teakettle, and it's not Pete who makes the wish. If you missed it last night, it'll be on several times during the coming week. Check it out!

As an artist, I was drawn in by the steampunk theme of the warehouse and it's contents. There's an interesting juxtaposition of modern tech and antique stuff, such as Artie's computer, which is sleek and modern, but has an old typewriter keyboard. It makes me feel better about my old iMac.

I also liked some of the references to the inventors of some of the tech. Oh and Renaissance buffs will be interested to note that this week's artifact (in the second half of the episode) was (supposedly) once owned by Lucrezia Borgia, and made by an alchemist. So there's some heavy Ren vibes, too. At least in the second half of this episode.

As you may, or may not be aware, Torchwood is currently airing it's third season mini-series in England this week. One episode of the five-part series, Children of Earth, will be shown each weeknight, starting on Monday. So two parts of the story have already been shown. Io9 has a review of it here. Since I live in Virginia, I haven't seen it, so can't really say much about it. It will be on BBC in America starting on July 20.

As many of you know, there was an episode of Dollhouse that was filmed, but never aired by Fox. Little by little, more information about this episode is leaking out. It will, or course, be on the soon-to-be-released DVD.

Io9, once again, has some information on this for all you fen who are waiting with baited breath.

You can get to see the actual episode on the DVD when it's released later this month on the 28th here:

Which leads me right into Comic Con. There will be a special, limited edition of Dollhouse available there, also later this month.

Comic Con in San Diego will be starting on the 23rd, and running through the 26th. John has plans to go, and I'm so envious! I'm going to try to get him to gather some information for you on the con. Wish I could go.

Oh, and speaking of SF Cons, someone on Twitter was talking about getting ready to go to Shore Leave, which is apparently this weekend. I'm going to have to be more alert and plan for something like this so I'll have the likelihood of possibly going.

I was just reading over the page, and Howie Weinstein's going to be there! I haven't seen him in ages. I met him at a private party also called Shore Leave in the '70s.

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There has been lots of knitting going on, but not a lot that's worth photographing. There will be photos soon, though.

Sorry this post was so heavy on SF and light on knitting!

Have a great Wednesday!

The Tour de Fleece Is Over!

Yesterday was the last day for the Tour de Fleece, and I finished!

In return for that, I got the spiffy little badge in the sidebar. 

You can see the beautiful yarn I produced in the previous post.

So, now that that's over what next?

Well, I'll tell you. There's a Harry Potter KAL/CAL on Ravelry that I've been meaning to join, but I keep knitting other things. You may not be able to see the page if you're not a Ravelry member.

Anyway, things are supposed to be finished by Harry's birthday, the 31st of July. That gives me until Thursday to make a project and finish it. I'm thinking about competing in the "A bag for all things" category. This will give me a chance to finish my rune bag. You know, the one that I expected to have done around the beginning of June. Yes, that one.

I've started it, but it's my own design, and I made charts for the runes, but I used square graph paper, and the knitted runes look all squashed and short.

So, I'm going to have to make new charts that will actually look OK. And then knit it. Or finish knitting it.

So, assuming that I finish that, that will give me a chance to knit some more bags before the real event begins!

The Ravelympics is about to start! Once again, if you're not a member of Ravelry, you probably won't be able to see this page. If you do fiberarts, you really need to think about joining Ravelry. It's just too much fun!

I have already signed up to compete in the WIP Wrestling for Team TARDIS. This doesn't start until the eighth of August (during the opening ceremonies), but if you are going to compete, you have to sign up now. If you are a Doctor Who fan, you really want to click the Team TARDIS link. It is just s0 funny!

The WIP I'll be wrestling with is the off white tweed Celtic sweater that I started months ago, and stalled out after knitting the hood. You can see a photo of the hood that I'm using as my profile picture, but I'll include it here.

I need to do an EZ type percentage system for picking up stitches at the base of a hood to continue with the body. So far, I haven't figured it out. But I did have a dream about it. That's where I decided I need a percentage system. I just haven't figured it out yet.

But I'll be starting a page for the Celtic Sweater with the directions. This will be a WIP itself until I finish the actual sweater, and possibly a bit after that until I get it all up there. Once I start it, I'll put a link to it in the sidebar, and I'll try to note that it's a WIP until I finish the sweater and the instructions.

For fans of the blue coat that I knitted for the knitting olympics, this will walk you though the same design process that I used on the coat.

For science fiction fans, tomorrow is a big day, at least if you like Eureka. Tomorrow seems to be Eureka day on the SciFi Channel. They will be showing reruns during the daytime rotation, followed by the season premier later. There's a lot to look forward to!

The big news for tonight on TV for SF fans is the Middleman.

My problem with this is that Comcast still hasn't fixed ABC Family so that the closed captioning works.

On the Comcast front, the repairman showed up today in the time slot he was supposed to show up in on Saturday. Well, the saying is "better late than never."

I let me know that the problem with the sound on 35 (which had grown and spread to 45 and 47 by then) could be fixed by turning on SAP.

Acording to Wikipedia, "Second[ary] audio program[ming] (SAP) is an auxiliary audio channel for analog television that can be broadcast or transmitted both over the air and by cable TV. It is often used for an alternate language..."

I guess I'm just so dumb that it never occurred to me that any cable or satellite company would possibly be obtuse enough to require having SAP enabled just to be able to hear a program.

The repairman also didn't fix the problem with closed captioning. He said that it's the network that's not broadcasting it. I pointed out that the network was broadcasting it to DirecTV, and asked why it wasn't broadcasting it to Comcast. He said he'd put in a work notice at the office and get them to check it and call me back either later today or tomorrow.

Why should I have to pay full price if they're not offering full service? I'm really unhappy with them.

I hope to be surprised by them and be able to read what's going on with Middleman this evening. Even if they don't get it turned on tonight, if they turn it on at all, I may still be able to catch tonight's episode later in the week. They run it several times over the course of the week.

I haven't gotten a chance to talk to John about yesterday and the panel at Comic Con yet. I suspect that he's busy putting up a new post at his Steve Canyon blog about it. His computer is online, but that doesn't prove that he's sitting in front of it and is actually present.

More info when it happens!

In the meantime, join the Ravelympics! And expect to see some really neat Ravelympics buttons in the sidebar soon.

And have a great Monday!

Last Day for Tour de Fleece and Comic Con!

Here are the two bobbins of singles, ready to ply.

Now there is a full bobbin of plyed yarn.

And a finished skein, ready to wash and dry! That means I met my goal for the Tour de Fleece!

OK, I realize that this is not an enormous amount of spinning, but it's more than I've done in the past year.

It turned out all soft and yummy. Well, it should, considering that I started with Merino wool. I'd have had to do something awful to it in order to mess it up.

I've been looking at the skeins that the Yarn Harlot has been churning out, and I feel like I'm going to have to do a lot of spinning to catch up to her beautiful color combinations. She really does beautiful work.

The last day of Comic Con is here, and it's the big day for John and Steve Canyon fans.

It's a long ride for him to get there, a long day, and a long ride home, so I probably won't know how it went until tomorrow.

In the meantime, G4 is not covering the con today, and although I thought I told the DVR to record days 1, 2 and 3, it only recorded 1 and 2. I couldn't find day three anywhere on their schedule, and I could've sworn it was listed earlier.

I haven't gone through and watched what I did record of Comic Con yet. From Thursday night on, there have been so many things I wanted to watch on TV that there isn't enough room on the DVR to store them. So, I've been watching all the things that I wanted to get off the disk and then removing them. 

But today isn't helping, because the SciFi Channel is running Eureka during the daytime. They'll be doing that again on Tuesday, followed by the premier of the new season. I love Eureka!

More knitting news tomorrow! This is exciting!

Have a great Sunday!

More Comic Con Fun!

I hope you've had a chance to watch the Heroes marathon on G4 today. It's just about winding down now, but I'm so thankful to G4 for showing it!

A lot of really good TV has been on over the last 3 days. I recorded it all on my DVR, but haven't had a chance to watch all of it yet, so I'm not as informed as I'd like to be while writing this post.

The SciFi Channel keeps sending me text message bulletins about what panels will be shown in which room at Comic Con. I just wish I could be there to see it all!

I have been recording the live coverage of Comic Con on G4, and I could have sworn that there was going to be another episode of it today, but the digital TV Guide says there won't be. I can't wait to catch up on all of the SF news, but I've been too busy watching Tru Calling and Heroes and clearing them off the DVR so it will keep recording all the good stuff that's out there on TV.

On the television front, the cable repairman was supposed to show up to day and fix my connection, but never showed up. I called one of Comcast's local numbers, and finally got to talk to someone with some sense. When I told her that channel 50 wasn't displaying closed captioning, and that channel 35 didn't have sound, she said "Wait a moment. Let me check something." Then she turned on the TV at the station. 

Guess what? Her TV was doing the same thing mine was!

It's just what I told them it was: they're not transmitting those signals on those channels.

She said that she would send the technical people in charge of all that a message to check their settings, and what was wrong. It hasn't solved the problem yet, but it may, once they get the message and actually check it.

And for the Tour de Fleece, I still have enough to do to keep me busy this evening. I've been doing a lot of TV watching and knitting the past three days, trying to keep up with all the information generated because of and including Comic Con.

I want to get all of the blue merino at least spun so that all I have to do tomorrow is to ply it.

One of my favorite bloggers included a URL for photos of telephone sheep. You really have to see this to believe it!

Comic Con Just Keeps Rolling!

What an exciting weekend! 

Comic Con is running all this weekend, and the Tour de Fleece is finishing up. 

By Monday morning, it will all be over.

Check the listings for G4 this weekend. They don't seem to be covering Comic Con on Sunday, which is a shame, especially for Steve Canyon fans, because that's when all the news about the new DVDs will be coming out. I don't have the details yet, so I'd love to be there and get to see the panel John will be on.

Speaking of the schedule on G4 today and this weekend, there is still day 2 of Comic Con today and day 3 tomorrow, as well as a Heroes marathon on Saturday!

I really should have started at the beginning with what's happening today, but Comic Con is so exciting!

Today, the channel to watch is SciFi! They're in the middle of a Tru Calling Marathon at the moment, and this evening there will be a new Joan of Arcadia, followed by the first of the two-part finale of Doctor Who for the current season! Not to mention a new Stargate Atlantis.

A large group of people on Ravelry were raving about the trailer for the Doctor Who finale, and I hadn't seen it until this morning. There's a lot to rave about!

I watched it as a recording and slowed it down so I wouldn't miss anything. The characters I saw in it were Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen, Ianto (from Torchwood), Martha Jones, Rose Tyler, and, of course, Donna Noble and the Doctor. I suspect that last week's episode, Turn Left, is something that will help understand the grand finale. I can't wait!

And now for the second part of this weekend's excitement: The Tour de Fleece.

I've had some slow going on the spinning front, but have most of the singles done. Finishing the singles tonight and tomorrow and then plying on Sunday should get me to my goal with time to spare.

On the knitting front, I've actually blocked the Shetland lace shawl and the Christmas hood, but I plan to take photos outside, so they'll be taken either this evening or tomorrow and posted here ASAP. The shawl turned out particularly well. I just love my steamer! I hadn't blocked a lace shawl with the steamer before, and I have to say the blocking went off like a dream. knitted lace looks like a wad of tangled yarn before blocking, and then turns into the most beautiful, magical web!

John called last night to let me know that he was all right. He had some dental work done yesterday. He had a dental problem that he thought would make speaking on Sunday an ordeal, but the dentist fixed everything painlessly without having to give him novacaine or anything. He said it was the best dental experience he's ever had, and he's now willing and able to smile and talk without worrying about malfunctions.

I sounded off again about my current cable problems, and was particularly annoyed about not being able to hear The Middleman, which looks like a really fabulous show. He said I should tell you about it.

It's beyond description, but here goes: It's got a very comic book feel, and the general tone reminds me of Get Smart, with a lot of SF in-jokes and general fun. 

In the first episode, Wendy is working as a temp answering phones in an office with a big window behind her. Through the window you can see lots of technical equipment with many scientists rushing around. 

Then they start running frantically, there's an explosion, lots of smoke, and one of the lab-coated technicians gets slammed up against the window behind her and dragged away. In the meantime, Wendy is cheerfully and efficiently answering phones. 

An enormous monster gets slammed against the glass, and it starts to crack, and then suddenly breaks with explosive force, throwing her and the monster across her desk and onto the floor. Wendy says into her headset "Please hold." and then gets up to battle the monster, who has grabbed her around the waist and is trying to drag her off.

Comcast is not displaying closed captioning for this channel, though so I can see the pictures and catch part of the dialogue, but I know I'm missing a lot of it.

I called and complained to Comcast again last night, and they finally talked me into letting a repair person come out on Saturday for free. This is going to drive me crazy because he'll be here during the Heroes marathon, so I'll miss some of that, but maybe I can get him to report the problem to the office once he figures out that it's not the box or my TV. 

A TV that's delivering sound on every channel but one, and closed captioning on every channel but another one isn't malfunctioning. They're not broadcasting it.

Check out  The Middleman. The bits and pieces I can decipher are so much fun!

Have a great weekend!

Comic Con is Here!

Well, Comic Con is not here, but it's happening

John went last night. He said he thought it was supposed to be for people working at the con, but it seemed like everybody was there!

He also said that there's  a panel sometime today about Stargate SG-1 with Christopher Judge, Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, and more!

I wish I could go!

If I have John's schedule right, he won't be able to get back there until Sunday.

And thank, you John for your generous contribution to the dental fund.

Other than that, I have spent the day dealing with entropy, as I have for the past month.

The particular mess I've been trying to fix (mostly) today is ComCast Cable. They just keep creating tons of problems. I don't get what I've paid for, and they won't do anything to fix it.

In the past 24 hours, they've displayed a "weekly test" during prime time (they don't have to do it in prime time, but they'll probably do it again during prime time tonight), a weather warning that says to go to channel 21 for more information instead of channel 101, lack of closed captioning on ABC Family, and lack of sound on the USA Network (I won't be hearing Burn Notice tonight).

The problems with the weekly test have been going on all this year, the weather warnings have been that way for a year and a half (ever since I got ComCast Cable), and the closed captioning problems have been going on for more than a month. USA became silent just today.

ComCast insists the sound and closed captioning problems are the fault of the networks, even though they're broadcasting sound and closed captioning to every other TV provider.

So far today, after three complaints that brought no help from ComCast, I've also complained to USA, ABC Family, Saab (whose commercials are going out without sound) and the FCC. And then complained to ComCast again. And I plan to write down the names of all the advertisers whose commercials I can't hear during Burn Notice tonight and let them know about it, too.

ComCast wants to send out a repairman and charge me for it. My viewpoint is that I'm already paying for TV, why should I pay them because they don't just send out the signals like I'm paying them to do already?

I'm thinking about doing what one of the people at ComCast said to do on the phone: go over to their office and complain in person. Loudly. In front of other customers.

That usually works, but I have to take a bus to get to the bus that will take me to their office, and then do the whole thing in reverse to get home. It's about a four hour round trip. They're disgusting!

In fiberarts news, I spun some more last night on the bright blue merino for the Tour de Fleece, and blocked everything in the queue. The Shetland lace shawl is particularly nice. I didn't get around to taking photos before I became embroiled in the ComCast fiasco.

Fiberarts is my lifeline to sanity during all this chaos.

I hope you're having a better day than I am!

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Don't forget Tru Calling on the SciFi daytime rotation tomorrow!

Comic Con Sweepstakes

Most of yesterday was used up getting help for my various problems (food stamps, help affording Medicare, etc.).

I still have more papers to fill out and get in right away. The woman there said I would get food stamps, but she didn't know how much.

I have just a short section of the Christmas present hood to kitchner together, and then block it. The purple shawl has the knitting finished and has to be blocked. The lavender Shetland lace shawl is knit and needs to be blocked.

As you can probably tell, I'm not real fond of blocking. But I have a steamer, which makes the whole process a lot less painful. Actually, I have a pile of other stuff to block, too, and I should do it and get some of it up on my Etsy store.

Photos of that will happen real soon.

In the meantime, I have forms to fill out, documents to get copies of, and mail out, along with some books to pick up at the library.

This Friday, the SciFi Channel will be showing Tru Calling in their daytime rotation. There are some great episodes being shown, notably the end of the series, where the plot starts to thicken. Don't miss it!

Speaking of Friday, later in the day they will show Joan of Arcadia and the next episode of Doctor Who. I think this is the next-to-last episode of the series, so I hope you saw last week's episode, Turn Left. It's shaping up to be a fabulous finale!

And the SciFi Channel sent me a text message this morning and let me know that there's a Comic Con sweepstakes going on right now. It sounds great. I've already entered, and I don't know why I'm lowering my odds of winning by telling everybody else.

For any of you who are lucky enough to be going to Comic Con, here's the schedule for SciFi channel stuff.

My friend, John, will be there, but he'll be spending all his time on panels, etc. Being a guest at a con is fun, but it has it's limitations, too. I hope he gets to see some of the con.

Steve Canyon at Comic Con!

My friend John, and a bunch of other people will be at Comic Con this coming weekend, and there is more news about the Steve Canyon DVD!

Read all about it here: http://stevecanyondvd.blogspot.com/2008/07/upcoming-san-diego-comic-con-2008.html.

Find out more about Comic Con and see it on TV on G4!

Comic Con Is Coming!

Next week, Comic Con will be happening!

There are always exciting things happening there, and G4 will be showing a preview (they're showing one right now and I don't think there will be another one), and live coverage starting on the first day (the 24th), and continuing throughout the Con.

Some of the guests will be: Forrest Ackerman, Ralph Bakshi, Jim Butcher, Dean Koontz, Noel Neill, J. Michael Straczynski, and Connie Willis! I was going to make the people I'm particularly interested in in bold type, but I realized that would be all of them. John will also be there part of the time at the cartoonists' booth. John, if you have the  chance to get autographs of any of these people, I will love you forever for it.

There will be more Steve Canyon disks available soon! And I'll be doing the covers/labels/slipcase for the set. I'm really excited! Keep up with the news with the Steve Canyon button in the sidebar. John will be putting up info about Comic Con real soon, now.

All my knitting is in limbo for the moment, i.e., it's all "in progress." Nothing is finished, so there's not a lot of news there.

I'm putting some knitted goods up on my Etsy shop, so if you're looking for something knitted, it'll probably be up there real soon now.

Have a great Friday, and a great weekend!