Bye Bye, TiVo!

It was nice for the year that I had TiVo, but it was also a real trial attempting to deal with the customer "service" there.

I bought a refurbished TiVo HD at the beginning of July last year. It had a warranty. That warranty is still good.

But after about 11 months, the TiVo didn't work. They were very nice and sent me a "new" refurbished HD Model. That one lasted almost a month to the day from when it went into service.

In spite of the fact that they sent me a replacement that was almost ready to die, and in spite of the fact that it's still under warranty, if I want another one, it's going to cost me $50. For another refurbished one that's (for all I know) about to die in a month.They were very firm on the price for a replacement.

There are no more new ones of this model available, and haven't been for over a year. Aside from the fact that I really can't afford $50, I question whether that's a smart use of money. If I'm going to spend money on a TiVo, it might be better to spend $100 and get a brand-new one with updated software, as opposed to used-to-death-and-then-refurbished.

There's also the consideration of having to actually deal with the TiVo people about billing and other issues. They were at least as bad as Comcast customer "service" but Comcast has improved things, and now TiVo is far worse. I'm not sure I want to voluntarily sign up to be mistreated this way.

There's also the consideration that I would have to sign up for at least a year, maybe two for TiVo, and we may be switching from Comcast to Fios, and that would raise the question of compatibility, with me possibly stuck with a contract requiring me to pay $20 per month for a year and a half or so for a service that I might not be able to use.

So, it looks like I'll be continuing to use the Comcast DVR that I got to temporarily replace the TiVo. If I'm going to spend money on something, I know a place that regularly has sales on 2 terabyte SATA drives that I could plug into the DVR and be able to keep recordings when (for some reason) I have to switch DVRs again! Then I could just unplug the drive and plug it into the new DVR or TiVo, and just keep truckin'.

This is making me really depressed.

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Did any of you see the kickoff episode of the new Doctor Who season Let's Kill Hitler on Saturday? If not, you missed one of the best Who episodes I've ever seen!

I know, I know. That title is a real turn-off! I've seen a bunch of time travel stories where someone goes back in time to kill Hitler and stop the carnage, but it all goes terribly wrong, and they don't accomplish anything.

As it turns out, Hitler is just a peripheral character, and gets locked in a closet early on. I was looking at a rehash of the story on Ravelry (Who Knits), and halfway through, somebody timidly asks if Hitler ever got out of the closet. It's really not about Hitler at all. It is about the Doctor, Rory, Amy, and Rory and Amy's childhood friend, Mels. I want so much to talk about it, but as River says, "Spoilers!"

If you don't care about spoilers or have already seen it, click on the Who Knits link above (if you're also in Ravelry) and you'll get plenty of spoilers and a chance to discuss the episode if you've seen it.

Regardless of anything else, I love the beginning of it! It took me a few seconds to figure out what Amy and Rory were doing. First, that they were trying to contact the Doctor, and second, how they were going about it! It's very funny! Then they get the tables turned on them! I really love the opening sequence!

I have to go and actually do something constructive now, so I'll be back again soon.

Have a much better week than I had around here last week!


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Hi! I'm Still Alive!

Just barely.

Sorry for not blogging more. I certainly intended to blog.

But this sinus infection that's been going on for more than a year now was treated with a new antibiotic. The doctor said this one was much stronger, and, judging by the results, it was. It's been a bumpy ride.

First of all, the infection had really become systemic, with aches all over, sort of like flu. The antibiotic got rid of a lot of symptoms that I hadn't even connected with the infection. My bones ached all the time, but worse after some walking or other exercise. When I got near the end of the antibiotics, all that went away! Of course, it also caused digestive problems, which to some extent, I expected, but what I didn't expect was the stomachache, and more, that lasted a few days. I know my digestive system has problems, but this stuck me more as something I might have expected from drinking Draino.

I went to the library, and then over to Safeway yesterday, and I was surprised how weak I felt, and was shaking from fatigue and overwork by the time I got to the library, which is not really very far away.

And now that I'm (mostly) recovered from the antibiotic, most of my symptoms from the infection are back!

I hate this!

On to more pleasant things!

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Vogue Knitting has published a preview of their Fall issue! You can see it here.

I love the hood (scroll down) shown in red! I think I'd like to make it with a seam instead of the buttons, but then I can't seem to ever just make anything the way the pattern is written. I'd change some of the cable design, too. And it's so loose around the neck that I'd want a scarf to go with it, too. And, of course some mitts, and I'm thinking of writing a pattern for short mittens to go over my already existing mitts pattern, and that seems like a good addition to the set.

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We're halfway through the first week of Pennsic at this point. This is the "lounge around and have a vacation" portion of the festivities. This weekend and the upcoming week will be the part devoted to actuall events that affect the war score, and also University classes.

In the spirit of the University classes, I'm going to try to put up a fiber-related how-to on most days of the week. Theoretically, that should start no later than Saturday, but Holly and I will be going out to see (finally) the second half of Deathly Hallows, and I don't really expect to get anything up then. I'll also be busy the rest of this week, and it's unlikely that I'll get to do much with the blog. Sorry! In the meantime, I'm going to try to repost the most interesting stuff from Twitter about Pennsic, so it'll show up in the sidebar, and you can get an instant update even if I don't post something.

Which leads me to my next topic:

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My TiVo (remember, the thing that malfunctioned badly, and left me without for almost a month?) is malfunctioning badly!

If you'll remember, I got a Comcast DVR to replace it temporalily, and returned it. They replaced it, and now, less than six weeks later, I'm having another problem all over again.

This time, it decides it needs to be restarted, and proceeds to do that. It kept restarting all day Monday, but by Tuesday, it would begin to restart, and then try to restart again, and effectively turn itself off.

I just tried to watch the Doctor Who episode, The Doctor's Daughter, starting at 5:00. It turned itself off at 5:02, 5:14, 5:33, 5:38, 5:50, and 5:54. Since the start-up sequence takes 5 minutes to complete, I didn't really get to see much of Doctor Who!

All the programs I wanted to see last night wound up as collections of program parts in their own separate folders, some in as many as four or five pieces!

This is really not acceptable! I've spent a lot of Monday, Tuesday, and today on the phone with TiVo support, and they don't seem to be able to do anything about the problem. I wasn't really enthused with the idea that the TiVo they sent me didn't even last a year, but I'm even less enthralled with it not lasting even two months!

So, this is part of what's going to keep me so busy for the next couple of days. Tomorrow, I'm going to go over to Comcast (a 2 to 4 hour trip each way, and a full day of time-wasting) and get a DVR so that I can at least watch TV. Then, I still have to take the TiVo over to UPS on Friday, which is not quite as long a trip, but still a lot after the exertion of the day before.

When a TiVo box is working, it's a dream! I really love TiVo boxes!

But customer service is a nightmare with them, and the hardware seems to be very undependable! So the question is: Is it worth all the aggravation and the extra expense?

That's a question I'm having a hard time answering at the moment.

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Back on the topic of health, I found this internet article interesting. There doesn't seem to be a reliable test for Lyme Disease, so the state government of New Hampshire has voted in a law that frees doctors from having to rely heavily on tests to diagnose Lyme Disease. This has a lot of legal implications, some of which are quite interesting about how they affect the way other diseases are treated. I'm glad to see a state taking an interest in the health and welfare of it's citizens, and I wish more states would follow New Hampshire's example!

I'm wiped out, and have to go.

Have a wonderful remainder of the week!

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It's World Wide Knit in Public Day!

It's World Wide Knit in Public Day, which is actually a misnomer because it runs from the 11th to the 19th of July. There are scheduled, organized events (which you can find via the link) or you can (like me), just get out there and knit. Whatever you decide to do to celebrate, have fun!

It's also International Yarnbombing Day! If you're a yarnstormer and want to get some credit, check this out! There's some more basic information here, too. You can find some great photos of yarnbombing, too. There's lots of information about yarnstorming on the internet. Just check it out! The photo above is from this site, and there are many more photos.

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More knitting content!

If you're looking for some fiberarts books, there's a sale going on for hurt, damaged, and overstock books! It's mostly spinning books, but there may be some others in there.

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I've finally gotten to nearly the end of the beautiful Comfort Sock Yarn that is no longer available from Mary Maxim. There is a brand called Comfort Sock Yarn that's available, but it's mostly acrylic, whereas the 15 balls of it that I ordered are 75% superwash wool, and each ball is 100 grams, so you can make 2 socks (a pair!) from one ball and still have just a little bit left if you're making socks for women with size 9 feet (like mine). Actually, I got 12 pairs from 10 balls, and there's still a bit left over for a really neat project I have in mind. I'm not talking about this because it's so unique, and I want to make surprises for some people.

That's some of the yarn with a sock in progress.

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The last episode of the Spring season of Doctor Who will be on BBC in America tonight! If you've watched the last two episodes, you know that they ended in a real cliffhanger, so don't miss this one! You can read more about the episode here, but be aware that there are some very mild spoilers. If you think about what happened, what it reveals is just about what you'd expect.

The BBC in America site also says that fen of the Doctor should pay special attention to them on Tuesdays, because they'll be putting on all sorts of Doctor-related stuff then.

Oh, and did I mention that there's a Doctor Who marathon on BBC in America today?

I should have, because I want to go watch it right now.

Have the best weekend ever!

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Fiberarts Content Is Back!

For all you people who are not interested in fiberarts, skip down. I may get to another topic before I'm finished.

I got a catalog from Mary Maxim on Monday stating that they have 500 new items. They used to have those  catalogs with all the tacky, ugly yarn. They still do have that kind of yarn, but they have a lot of really fabulous yarns at great prices, too!

Most of the new items are not yarn, but some of them are. I've been going through the listings of new yarn, and will list some of them for you. Bear in mind that since these are new, I haven't had a chance to try them. I'm just passing along information, here.

For you sock knitters, they now have Simply Sock Yarn. They do not, unfortunately still have the wonderful Comfort Sock Yarn that they used to have at such a great price. I'm finishing up the last sock from the batch I ordered from them right now.

For novelty yarn interest, they're now carrying Bernat Boa Yarn. I've tried this before, and it's a very interesting novelty. It feels (and looks) like knitting with feathers. I think it's listed as new because there are new colors. Another novelty fur yarn is Patons Moxie Yarn. They appear to have taken the "fur" part literally, and it only seems to be available in colors that could be natural fur grown by something. More fur yarn in decidedly unnatural colors is available in Red Heart Fur Sure. I, personally like it in eggplant. For the ultimate in novelty yarn, try Red Heart Sashay, which is supposed to be a self-ruffling yarn. You can get a free ruffled scarf pattern (shown below) for this yarn if you register and sign in. I have no idea how this works to make the ruffles.

The scarf shown was made with one skein, but I think I'd like it better with two. But it's still not bad for about $5!

If you're looking for a hand-dyed, multicolor effect, there's Lion Brand Amazing, which has just come out with some new colorways, so maybe that's why they're listing it as new. There's also the Mary Maxim sport weight wool blend yarn, Mardi Gras, which is not new, but has come down considerably in price.

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Still on the fiberarts topic, but switching gears, Holly sent me an email about a sheep named Shrek. You can read about it here. Shrek managed to evade the shearers for seven years, and when they finally caught him and sheared him, the fleece weighed 60 pounds! Knowing Merino fleeces, probably half of that weight was lanolin, dirt and vegetable matter, but that's still an incredible weight for a Merino fleece!

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World Wide Knit in Public Day (which is not a day, but a bit more than a week starts on the 11th of June. That sounded like a long way off when I read about it a few weeks ago, but it's coming up fast (Saturday). You can click on the link and it will lead you to lots of organized events in a lot of different places, but if there's no organized event, you can just go out somewhere and knit while you're there. Pick a project that's easy to carry around, and go!

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Some of the new seasons of Summer shows have begun, even if USA did call the first episode of the new season of Covert Affairs the "Season Finale!" If any of you haven't seen it yet, it's more of a spy fi than science fiction. It started last night, right after the season premier of the delightful con called White Collar.

Doctor Who is continuing on Saturday evenings on the BBC in America's Supernatural Saturday. I, personally, find their idea of Supernatural Saturday a bit disappointing, since it consists of one hour of new programming which follows a rerun of the previous week's hour. I really like the idea of rerunning that hour, but my idea of an evening of programming is more like 4 hours. Once they've run through all the new Doctor Whos, they'll be switching off to another show. One of the new ones will be Battlestar Galactica. If you haven't seen it and always wanted to, keep an eye on Saturday evenings on BBC in America. They'll be rerunning it from the very beginning. They're also advertising several new science fiction or supernatural shows for Saturday evenings.

One of their new shows is called Outcasts.  It'll premiere on June 18th, and there's far more then I can put here if you click the link. When it comes out, it will replace Doctor Who, which is having it's mid-season finale on Saturday, and will finish up the season in the Fall.

It's getting late, and I want to watch some TV (if my TV is still working). I've (finally!) found an LCD TV
and ordered it through Amazon, and it will hopefully be here next week.

I hope your TV set is healthier than mine, and that you have a great week!

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Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I hope you're having the best Memorial Day Weekend ever!

I've been watching the Firefly marathon on the Science Channel, and it's the usual good fun. Yesterday was the Doctor Who marathon on BBC in America. Otherwise, I'm spending a quiet weekend at home watching TV, knitting socks, and wishing I could see the Thunderbirds.

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I still haven't blogged about Tuesday. I had an appointment to have my hearing aids checked at the VA Hospital in DC, and Holly drove me there.

She got to play with my new Galaxy Tab while we were waiting, and seemed to have fun with it.

We stopped at WalMart because she wanted to get some things there, and I wanted to return the light bulbs that didn't work in the old fixtures in my apartment. There was nothing wrong with the bulbs, it's just that the fixtures are old and finicky.

I was afraid that WalMart wouldn't let me return them, but they did. Something new happened, though. Instead of returning my money, they gave me a WalMart gift card. So, I got to wander around the store with money in my pocket that I couldn't spend anywhere else.

I've been looking for a project bag for a while, and while I've found some nice ones, I still haven't found what I'm looking for. I found one there though that comes really close.

It's the perfect bag for this weekend, with all the stars, too. As you can see, there's a zipper pocket on the outside, but there's also one you can't see on the inside. So, there's a pocket for extra needles, a knit picker (tiny latchhook, and this one happens to be lighted), and the outside pocket is for stitch markers and other tiny stuff. It's mostly for sock projects, and there's room for a ball of yarn (even a 100 gram ball) and the sock itself inside.

I also found a key ring (shown above the bag and below).

 And they match! How perfect can you get?

I know. It doesn't take much to please me. But it's more fun that way!

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My TiVo and the cord to plug it in arrived on Thursday, and I got everything hooked up, including my DVD player. When I hooked up the DVR, I knew it was only temporary, and it would have made it a lot more complicated to hook up the DVD player, so I didn't bother.

Thursday evening I got to watch part one of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I think they did a great job on it! I won't say anything more here because I don't want any spoilers, although if you've already read the book, you know what's happening because it's pretty true to the book.

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I promise that there will be some more scintillating conversation about knitting soon. Well, hopefully soon. I really have to get back to writing the pattern for the plain mobius set (hat, scarf, neck warmer and mitts) and finish making and start writing the pattern for the cabled version. The cabled version is not something I can just knit, though. I have a general idea, but I'm figuring it out as I go. It's really nice so far, though.

It's going to look a lot like the lavender set I made for my granddaughter. I was going to add a photo of it, but Blogger seems to have jammed up the photo loading mechanism for the moment, and the technical difficulties don't seem to make it possible.

Have a fabulous Memorial Day weekend!

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Braindead Blankness

I wanted to blog yesterday because I haven't put up a post in a while. Well, I couldn't think of anything to say yesterday, and I still can't.

When I started blogging, I thought, why are all those other bloggers moaning about not having anything to say? I don't think I'll ever run out of things to talk about.

Well, I've realized that mostly, I talk about what I'm doing. I seem to always be doing something creative and interesting. But this past week and a half, I've been spending most of my time running around trying to avert a series of catastrophes that all seem to all be happening at once.

Here's a video that will cheer you up before all the rest of the blog:



Holly told me about this the other night, and most of these things are stupid, but this one is irresistibly funny. This won't play on my ancient computer, so I hope it plays on yours. It plays beautifully on my Galaxy Tab!

Back to the subject.

The Galaxy Tab that I got was wonderful for the first five hours, and then it seemed to crash and burn. I finally figured out that if I'm going to load up a bunch of apps and tons of files, it either has to have more memory or it's going to lose it's mind (or at least all it's computing capability). There's a memory card on it's way to me now, and, hopefully, it'll arrive today.

I just took a moment to check, and, according to the internet, it's waiting downstairs for me, and I have 13 minutes to pick it up (we can only get packages during certain hours at or apartment place). In actual practice, I might be able to get it later. The packaging might fit into my mailbox. Most paperback books will fit in there. It's only a micro SD card, which isn't really big. It's about the size of a fingernail, which leads me to believe that they may overcompensate and put it in some large packaging.

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Speaking of books, I got the copy of Charted Knitting Designs that I ordered to make me feel a bit better for not being able to go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I bought the original book, which was later published as a Third Treasury of Knitting Designs. It's got a stitch pattern in it that I've been looking everywhere for without success. I plan to make a spectacular new pattern with it, and I'm not telling you about it because it's going to be a surprise. So that's good. I've had this design in the back of my mind for several years, and it looks like I'm finally going to bee able to make it.

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John called up the night before last. He wanted help finding a file I made for him. He's working on something, and it looks like some of my art is going to be in a book, and, at least theoretically, I should get a credit for it in the book! I've put together lots of books, but they've all been of someone else's work. Oh, I've done tech illustrating and drawings that got into manuals and other publications, and the design of those publications was mine, but none that showcases some of my work specifically. I'm excited!

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The TiVo has arrived back at the TiVo place, and they said I should get the replacement in seven to ten days. I can't wait! This Comcast DVR acts like it was made of stone knives and bearskins.

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You can tell that sweeps month is over. There's really nothing on TV tonight. The first night with some really good TV will be Saturday, in the person of Doctor Who. They'll be rerunning The Doctor's Wife, from last week, and it's a really good episode (it was written by Neil Gaiman, so it has to be good), so if you missed it, here's your chance to catch it again.

I'm still trying to find some way to replace my dying TV, and I'm rapidly running out of ideas. I'd really like to replace it with something that I can move myself if I have to, which means one of the newer, flat TVs that you can hang on the wall like a painting if you want to. My first thought was Craig's List, but you can only get older CRTs at any kind of good price there.

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Not only am I trying to handle all the stuff that's being attacked by entropy, but I'm still in a mental fog from all the tree pollen which drifted in my window while it was warm outside, but the A/C still hadn't been turned on. It's going to take me months to recover.

Maybe I can make a really neat knitting project in the meantime, though. And get it written up, formatted and into a PDF so it can be for sale. Along with the mobius projects I'm still working on.

I hope the rest of your week is much better than mine has been so far!

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Happy Friday the Thirteenth!

Happy Friday the Thirteenth!

Well, this has been a bad week for electronics as far as I'm concerned.

My TV is still in the process of dying.

My TiVo bought the big one on Sunday. I finally got it to the UPS store and got it on it's way back to TiVo. Once they get it, they'll send me a new one (or maybe a newer one, or at least one that works). So, with any luck, they'll get it Tuesday, and if they get it out to me the same day, I might have one as soon as next Friday.

In the meantime, I spent most of the day on Monday on the bus to go to the Comcast office and get a DVR until the TiVo comes back. That's kind of like taking your top-of-the-line sports car to be serviced and have them loan you a tractor to get around on. But at least it's possible to watch TV in the meantime. I'm particularly looking forward to the Doctor Who episode tomorrow because it's written by Neil Gaiman! Here's a publicity photo:

Last Saturday, before all this started, I ordered a Samsung Galaxy Tab from T-Mobile. It arrived yesterday, and I did something stupid and didn't know how to operate it. I can't believe I did something so dumb! I thought it wasn't working, and returned it yesterday (while I was dropping off the TiVo at UPS). They overnighted a replacement, and it arrived completely charged up late this morning.

The new one was completely charged up when I got it late this morning, so I spent about 5 hours having fun with it! Then it said the battery was low, so I unpacked the charger and cord from the box and plugged the whole thing into the wall. A few minutes later, it wasn't working. I finally got it to light up and try to tell me what's wrong, and it did. It said to connect the charger.

I tried plugging it into a different outlet, I tried plugging the USB cable into my computer's USB port, and it didn't seem to be working. I finally decided to just plug it into the wall and just leave it for a while to see what would happen. It looks like it's charging now, but very slowly. I'll check it in a bit and see if there's any difference.

I have to say that it is absolutely excellent when it's working! It loads web pages very quickly (faster than my computer), and it plays videos beautifully. It came with some apps I'd never seen before, and there's at least one that I really like. I don't remember the name and I don't want to interrupt it while it's charging, but the app is called something like daily status. It's got five pages, and once you tell it where you live, when you open it, the first page tells you what your local weather is. You can also load other locations, and see what the weather is like there. I already loaded in a location for my sister in New Jersey, and one for John, in California, so I can see what the weather is like there. I still have to load some other locations. But I've got Friendship, MD loaded, so I can see what the weather is like at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

The fifth page shows you what you have scheduled on your Google calendar. The other pages show stock quotes if you enter your stocks in them, and some other stuff that I'm not interested in, but those two pages are worth their weight in gold (not that they actually weigh anything, you understand, being virtual).

It comes with the Kindle app already installed, and I installed the Nook app, and it seems to run even better than it did on my G1. All the books I've already bought showed up right away, and I had to make the text smaller because it was trying to display it at the same text to screen size ratio as my G1, and since this screen is much bigger, so was the type. But that's easily adjusted.


There's a Gallery app, and I opened it, thinking that I'd have to figure out how to load photos, and discovered that a lot of my photos had already loaded!

This is a really great device!

The people at the local T-Mobile store said that I could bring it in, and they'd use a cord that they have in the store to check and see if it was the cord. They have a car charger with a cord like the one I have, but it has a plug that attaches that will fit into a cigarette lighter that I can buy if that's the problem.

Or maybe it'll just charge?

I'm hoping.

It finally seems to be charging now.

Maybe it's OK.

As mentioned, my TV is still dying. Almost a year ago, it acquired a faint green cast to the color. You can't see it a lot of the time, but when there's a shot in low light, instead of being mostly shades of grey, it's more like shades of olive drab. It's been slowly getting worse. I've had it connected to two TiVos and now the DVR, and it's not from them.

Then there's the buzz that's developed whenever it's on. Oh, and don't forget the two thin, staticky lines that slowly travel up the screen all the time. I've been too distracted by the other things I've been dealing with to do something about that. I don't have any money saved, so if I want to do something about it now, it'll require going into debt, which I'm reluctant to do.

I feel like I'm just whining now, so I'll stop, although I will say that if there's a day that people should be entitled to whine, it would have to be Friday the 13th!

I hope yours was spectacular, and that your weekend is the best that it can be!

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Was It Good for You?

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last six months, you know that Prince William and Kate Middleton got married today.

For more information about Kate's gown and jewels, check it out here.

The best news, from the point of view of the participants, I'm sure, is that nobody forgot their lines, went the wrong way, or tripped and fell. I'm sure there are two happy people somewhere today, yelling in pure joy because it's all over and nobody threw up!

If Facebook is anything to judge by, there are many people out there who are fed up with having almost nothing else on TV, but that's their problem, and it should be over really soon.

For all you people out there who are confused (like me), I found the Answer Bitch today, and she has answers for many of the questions floating around out there. She didn't answer all of mine, though.

I watched the ceremony, and saw William place a ring on Kate's finger, and then they went on and did other things, and I thought (it was almost 7 am) that I'd fallen asleep for a moment and missed something, but the photos of the two leaving Westminster Abby showed William clearly wearing no ring. I'm puzzled.

Some of the hat's were unbelievable! There was one that I missed on TV until they were riding back to Buckingham Palace, and I saw it in one of the coaches and thought she was wearing antlers! It's been so popular (or at least, so talked about) that it's spawned at least 8 web pages, and probably more by now. Follow the link to find them.

If your problems with the wedding were of a verbal nature, check out this guide to British slang. I've always followed the differences in the English language better than most Americans, but lately there have been a lot of things that threw me.

One of the things they showed off during the times when not much was happening was some of the souvenirs that were for sale around there. They didn't do it formally, but they showed and interviewed the crowd, who had loads of swag with them. Some were cheap and ugly (one person in the crowd wore a crown that looked like it had been cut out of a sponge), but a few looked like fun. If you'd like to find out about some of the more strange collectibles, check it out here.

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But, enough about the wedding. The first episode of the new season of Doctor Who aired last Saturday, and you can see that and it's sequel (the second half of the story) tomorrow (Saturday) evening.

Have a fabulous weekend!

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Happy Earth Day, Good Friday and Jelly Bean Day!

Wow! I can't believe they could squeeze all that into one day!

Read more about Earth Day! I can't believe that they're even asking if we can afford to protect the environment! How much is it worth to you to continue breathing? Tear down enough trees, and this huge spaceship we're on won't be able to continue to produce enough oxygen for the people on it!

I don't really have to say much of anything about Good Friday. Everybody who hasn't been hiding under a rock knows about it. I used to love all the great biblical movies that were on at this time of year, but they almost don't exist on TV anymore.

There are a lot of things on the channels about learning, discovery and science about biblical stories and the possibility that they could be historical fact, though.

I didn't even know that it was Jelly Bean Day until I saw it online in a newspaper! And right before Easter, too! I'll bet the diabetes doctors will be having a lot of patients next week!

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And some of the best news today is that the new season premier of Doctor Who will be on BBC in America tomorrow evening! They're having a Doctor Who marathon during the day to build up to the premier. I can't wait!

In fact, it seems to be starting right now!

The photo above seems to be one from the first episode, which will be on tomorrow evening. Not having seen it, I don't know.

Neat, huh?

If you didn't know, Neil Gaiman has written a script which will air later in the season. I love his work so much, and can't believe I have such good luck that he's writing for Doctor Who! I'm so excited!

I'm going to be pretty much stuck on BBC in America as my main channel for the next week because of the new season of Doctor Who and all the hoopla about the Royal Wedding. If my TV lasts for the coming week, that is!

I have to run, now.

Have a fabulous weekend!

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It's Dead, Jim!

It's not quite dead yet, but my TV is well on the way to the dump or wherever old, broken, malfunctioning TVs go.

Last Wednesday, I turned it on, and my hearing aids started buzzing. I figured that one of the pieces of equipment must have started leaking an RF signal, and the aids were picking it up. But there were thin, staticky white lines running across the picture, too.

I spent a few days trying to figure out how I could test to see if it was the TV, TiVo or RF converter. While I was doing that, I turned on the TV when I wasn't wearing the aids, and still heard the buzzing, so it wasn't an RF leak.

I continued trying to figure it out.

Today, I woke up really early, and decided to check the weather for the rest of the day before I went back to sleep. I turned on the TV, turned the sound down, and read about the weather. Then I hit the button on the remote to turn the TV off, and it went to black and restarted! I tried that about 5 more times, then tried the button directly on the TV (which did the same thing) and it restarted each time. I finally had to unplug it to actually turn it off.

Later, when I actually woke up for real, I plugged it in, waited 5 minutes (to let it warm up), and hit the on button on the TV. Nothing happened. Then I tried the on button on the remote, and it started. I tried hitting the volume button on the TV without effect, and after a few tries with the remote, I was able to adjust the volume on it so I could actually hear it!

Doctor Who is on Saturday! Friday of next week is the royal wedding! New episodes of Chuck, The Event, Castle, Hawaii Five-O, The Mentalist, Supernatural and Fringe will be on, too! Will it last? Will I be able to see them?

At this point, I'll be lucky to have enough money for food for the rest of the month, let alone money for a new or even used TV.

I'm bummed!

But the TiVo is recording The Fall of Sam Axe, so I'm going to get to see that tonight, at least.

I hope your weekend has been better than mine!

Sci Fi Friday

About 10 years ago, Showtime used to have SciFriday, and that's when they showed Stargate SG-1, plus some other good stuff. Then there was someone else having Sci Fi Friday. All that's gone, although BBC in America is having Sci Fi Saturday.

What has put the Sci Fi back in Friday for me has been a get-together of science fiction and fantasy writers and fen on Twitter from 2 to 4 pm, EST, using the hashtag, #scifichat.

Today, Twitter was so overloaded that almost nobody was able to get on until about 3, but we hung out until almost 4:30. If you love science fiction, and have some free time on Friday afternoons, check it out. You can also go to Twitter and search for the hashtag and probably get it if you want to see today's discussion.

In the past week, I've gotten back to Twitter in a big way. From now on, I plan to add a button at the end of each post that will let you post a link to that post on Twitter. I plan to do it for Facebook, too, as soon as I figure out how to do that.

You can tell I'm really good with technology, can't you?

The new season of Doctor Who will be arriving on BBC in America around the middle of April! They used to show it in England, and then later on in the US, but the rumor is that they'll be showing then at the same time (or at least on the same day) this season!

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I know I haven't written in a while, but I'm still getting over this thing that's been dragging on for more than a month. I'm nearly over it, or maybe I should say I'm nearly to the point that I can say that I'm not sick, or at least not any sicker than usual. But I haven't been walking any more than I have to, and I'm just plain wiped out! I'm going to have to start a regular program of walking if I have any hope of being able to walk around the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

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So, anyway, not much has been happening around here.

I am well on my way to finishing the Screaming KnitFit version of the mobius hat, cowl, scarf and mitts set. Can the pattern be far behind? Actually, yes, it can. I need to get a bust mannequin to model it for photos. That means I'll need to wait for April for a new influx of money, and then send for it and wait for it to arrive. But I can get the instructions together in that time, and once the photos are taken, it should be out soon.

In the meantime, I've finished the cuff (except for Kitchnering the ends together) for the mobius hat that has a cable, and the cable is reversible! Part of the matching cowl is done. I have to chart out another cable for the cowl, and get that in the works. Then there will be the chart, knitting and instructions for the scarf and mitts. Lots of work to do there!

While that is all going on, I plan to spend some time converting some of my current patterns to PDF format, too. So there should be lots of new patterns in the near future.

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I'm still in kind of a daze from being sick, but without checking, I think there's a rerun on Supernatural tonight, but a new Fringe! And, of course, a new Merlin on Syfy.

Have the best weekend ever!

See? Here's the new button. Not that you might want to Tweet about this particular post.

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

As usual, it's been an amazing year, but I wish you the best year ever in 2011!

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To start off the new year with a bang, we (planet earth) will experience a solar eclipse on the 4th of January. But wait, there's more!

The Eclipse will happen at the same time as one of the best meteor showers of the year! And as if that were not enough, Jupiter and Uranus will be in conjunction at about the same time.

Unfortunately, we won't be able to see even the partial eclipse on Tuesday morning (that's the best anybody's going to get). But it will happen, and it's extra exciting with all the other stuff that's happening up there.

If you have an iPad, there's a program (I think it's called Star Walk) that will let you hold your iPad up to the sky and label each star for you. I have an Android-based phone, and there's a program I have on the phone called Google Sky Map that will let me hold my phone up to the sky, and will label things so I can find them. This came in handy within the last two weeks to help me find the totally eclipsed moon when it was almost, but not quite, invisible in the sky. Once I was able to find it, I could see it, but it was so dark and so faint that I might not have found it on my own. It will also help find the constellation that the meteor shower will be coming from.

Holly pointed out to me something I hadn't realized. That is that if you point your phone down (in the Northern hemisphere), you can see the Southern sky on it! I haven't been able to test the iPad program extensively, but the Google one is awe inspiring! Oh, and the Google one is free, if you have the hardware to run it (any Android powered phone)!

Happy sky viewing!

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I've been enjoying the Doctor Who marathon on BBC in America all today. It's going to continue through tomorrow, too, so you can see the new year in with the Doctor!

Only Nine Days 'till Christmas!

To get me in the Christmas spirit, Mother Nature dropped about an inch or two of snow on the Northern Virginia area (or NoVA, as the natives call it). It looks like this:

I took this photo out my window, and I think it looks like a Christmas card, so I thought I'd let you enjoy it, too.

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I'm trying to get back to posting more often. Hopefully, every day, or nearly. I've been so busy knitting Christmas stockings to sell. I put almost all my free money into them, and none has sold yet. It sounded like such a good deal! It should take three days from ordering until you get one in the US, so there's still time to order!

That's the base of a small lavender Christmas tree in the upper left hand corner of the photo.

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There was a lot of Burn Notice on USA today because they're building up to the two hour season finale tonight. It starts an hour early, so don't miss it! They've been saying that it's totally amazing on Twitter.

BBC in America seems to be rerunning all the Doctor Who Christmas specials this week. The Runaway Bride is on right now and will be repeated tomorrow morning. I caught a rerun of a Christmas episode of The Vicar of Dibley yesterday, and someone told a joke that I had missed the first time I saw it.

It goes:

Knock, knock.

Who's there.

Doctor.

Doctor Who.

Yes!

OK, it's what you might expect from a joke I got from The Vicar of Dibley.

Buck up, I did see a trailer for the Christmas Special for Doctor Who on BBC in America, and they said that Christmas will not come late in the US, because they'll be showing the Doctor Who Christmas special (A Christmas Carol) on Christmas day! I wanted to get up and cheer!

It looks like there's a new The Big Bang Theory on tonight! Almost everything else except Burn Notice is a rerun, though.

Have a really wonderful evening, and best wishes on getting all your Christmas shopping done in time for Christmas!