Busy Saturday

I've been busy making Christmas presents!

I'm getting to the end of the yarn I have on hand, and projects keep shifting under my feet. I started one project for me, and as I was knitting it, I looked carefully, and the project was saying "I belong to Malaia." Just whispering it quietly, but I couldn't ignore it.

I ordered several things, and there was one I was hoping would arrive yesterday, but it didn't. That was the one with the Bernat Mosaic yarn (color swatch below), the Addi lace needle, and some sparkly, furry yarn for Christmas stockings.

I was originally thinking of the Mosaic yarn for a Christmas present, but then it occurred to me that it would make perfect accessories for the Celtic sweater I still haven't finished knitting, and would go well with my jean jacket, too, so I'm going to do a hat, mitts, and something to go around my neck with it. That's another project that's changed ownership! I haven't really made up my mind exactly what, but I'm suddenly in love with self-striping or self-patterning yarn, and think that they would look great in patchwork!

The Addi lace needle is one I want to use to finish my Celtic sweater. So I really wanted it ASAP! The weather is getting just right for a sweater like that. I'd like to get the stuff for me done now so that I can use them right away and get on with the Christmas projects. But they're coming UPS, and I'm not sure if UPS delivers on Saturday or on Columbus Day, so there may not be a chance of actually getting all this until Tuesday. I keep checking outside my door in case the UPS person knocks and I don't hear it!

In the meantime, an order I placed the day after the one I described above was delivered by UPS yesterday! There's only one thing in this order: a bag of 10 balls of overstock self-patterning yarn.

They sent me an email full of self-patterning yarns, and I took one look at the swatch of this light worsted weight yarn knitted up, and it said "I belong to Jeff." My brother, Jeff, that is. I can safely write about it here because Jeff has severe dyslexia, and avoids reading whenever possible.

I wanted to make a hood, watch cap and mitts for him, and I'm picturing it knit in different directions in random patchwork style. And while I was writing that sentence, it suddenly occurred to me that it would look good with a few solid patches in there, too. Maybe the solid patches could be in seed stitch or something. This may generate a new pattern to sell!

I'm planning on knitting it in one piece by picking up stitches from previous patches (so it'll be in one piece), and I want to get a solid chocolate color yarn to do a whip stitch over the joins when it's done so it will look like it was hand sewn together. It should turn out looking very handmade.

I bought some tan yarn to use as trim on another project, and happened to set the bag of yarn down next to it, and it is a perfect mid-tone match for this yarn, so I'll probably use that. There's enough yarn in the bag that I can probably make a set of two hoods, hats and mitts with some left over, and if I mix in a solid color, it might stretch to three. One set for Jeff, one set for another Christmas present, and one set to sell.

Anyway, I got the whole bag of ten balls for $25 plus shipping! A good deal, even if it will leave me broke for the rest of the month!

If you want a custom project knitted to give for Christmas, now would be the time to request it (while I'm broke, and more willing to do almost anything for money).

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There's not much on TV for science fiction fen this weekend. I'm glad I have my DVD player hooked up, and I wish I had all my DVDs back from Holly.

I have had my TiVo record two episodes of House because it was listed as Human Target. The second time was last night, so I checked it out on the internet. Fox dragged it's feet about deciding to pick up Human Target, decided they did want to pick it up (I understand it got great ratings--I certainly enjoyed it), scheduled it for their Fall season, and then said to the people who create it something like "What, we ordered 13 episodes of it last week! You haven't filmed it yet?" So, thanks to the gross incompetence of Fox, it won't be on until later in November (the 17th), not the early October date that they scheduled. At least this was only gross negligence, not deliberate murder, like they did with Firefly and Dollhouse!

Speaking of Dollhouse, Syfy will be rerunning the second season soon. I'll keep you updated, or you can check your local listings.

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Holly is going to her knitting retreat next weekend. There is a contest on for all returning knitters to create a knit-in-the-round cowl starting with some yarn that they supplied.

She hasn't started yet.

She described to me how she wants to knit it, and I described to her how to chart the pattern for it. She's known about this since last year, and got more yarn for it at the Sheep and Wool Festival, but hadn't done anything as of last week. So, last Saturday, I sat down and charted the pattern for her the way she described it. She has to come up with the actual pattern herself, but I think it's OK if she uses a chart that she didn't write. People use stitch pattern dictionaries to design things all the time, and the design still belongs to them.

So, today, she finally decided to start swatching to test the chart I drew, and maybe later in the day, actually start the cowl.

The yarn they gave her was a skein of navy blue wool in a worsted weight (she had her choice of colors), and she's bought some other med/light blue and off white beaded yarns to go with it. I'm excited! I can't wait to see it actually done!

All I can say is she'd better take pictures!

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Most of the things I have to knit are not things that you can knit and watch TV. They're things that require almost complete attention (that's why I've been putting them off), so this weekend is a good time to do them. I'll be spending the rest of the weekend in front of TV watching things that I've seen at least a dozen times (so I can follow them while I pay attention to my knitting) and doing all the stuff that I haven't done because it requires too much attention. You may not hear as much from me as usual for a while.

But I wish you an even better weekend than I'll be having!

The Very Last Dollhouse Is Tonight!

Well, as you know, Fox has gotten rid of another fabulous Joss Whedon creation, and tonight is the very last episode of Dollhouse.

I doubt that Fox will be generous enough to rerun them, so tune in tonight for Armageddon! If you've DVRd them and still have them, go back over the last few episodes.

Tonight, we're out of the Dollhouse and into the real world, and it's going to get nasty!

This is the episode they were filming when Eliza broke her arm! She tweeted about it as she was leaving the hospital, wondering if they could cover the cast with wardrobe. She only had the very last day of filming left to finish it completely. We'll see what happend.

We also have a brand new Ghost Whisperer (on at the same time as Dollhouse--I hope you have a DVR or TiVo!), and Medium on CBS, and a new Caprica on SyFy! Immediately following Caprica, SyFy will be rerunning an episode of Warehouse 13, which is always a treat, even though a rerun!

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One order from Knit Picks arrived on Monday! I got the book from Holly for Christmas: Continuous Cables, and my copy of All New Homespun Handknit! I have a copy of the original Homespun, Handknit (somewhere), and it's one of my favorite knitting books. Even in projects that I'm not interested in making, there are so many slick and easy ways of doing things that it pays to really read the patterns. I've looked through the new Homespun, and there are projects that I like, and some that I love! I haven't had enough time to really read through the whole thing, but I already found one slick tip: how to make a crochet provisional cast on, which, when unzipped, leaves you with all your stitches on a lifeline, so you don't have to pick them up as you unzip it! That's almost worth the price of the book right there!

Soon after I placed that order, I realized that I'll be finishing the Christmas presents soon, and will then need something to knit, so I ordered the yarn for Holly's sock and some light grey Palette for a wimple for me, and there's probably enough of it for mitts, too. That order arrived yesterday, but I lost track of time, and didn't realize it was after 4:30, and too late to pick it up. I got it today, and it's all ready to knit, and the first thing I did was cast on with the new provisional cast on I learned from my new book.

One thing that I forgot to mention is that in the new Knit Picks catalog, they have cable connectors, at last! Add a pack of them to your next order if you use Options Needles! They mention that you can use them to make extra long cables, but you can also use them to substitute a different size cable for the one you're using in your project. Just unfasten one tip, add the size cable you want to switch to, put the tip you just remove on the other end, and pull it through your work. Then, remove the old cable and put the tip from the old cable on the other end of the new one, and you're done!

All that has me happy with Knit Picks, but I submitted a design for their designer program, and they turned up their nose at me. It was the hat that I made for my friend's daughter.

OK, so they don't have eyelash yarn available, but the basic design doesn't have to be made that way. Anyway, I plan to write it up (and do a few more samples) and publish it myself. New pattern coming up!

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The weather people are saying that it's going to start snowing late tonight, and on into tomorrow, and I'm wondering if I need to go out and get any supplies today. Then again, maybe it would be fun to walk around while it's snowing. Actually, I don't think I need anything, but I need to go assess the situation.

The overcast that's happening now, and the snow that will be happening later are going to make it impossible to view the first full moon of the year, and the best one we can expect all year! I'm disappointed!

I have lots to do, so that's all for today!

Have a fabulous weekend!

It's Wednesday! Also Known as "Guess the TV Show" Day!

I'm currently playing "Guess the TV show" due to the fact that there is no digital TV guide data being displayed by Comcast today!

After three phone calls, the best they can do is blame it on my DVR (that they just gave me--brand new), and send someone out on Monday. That someone will probably decide that the only way to fix it will be to take away all my recorded programming and give me a completely different defective DVR.

All this past week, it hasn't been displaying any programming for Wednesday. I unplugged it and restarted it after I got tired of this, and after the fifth or sixth attempt, it did display information for Wednesday, briefly. But now that Wednesday's here, it's not displaying any information for any channel or day. At all!

So, here's some information I found for you when companies do this to you and won't give you satisfaction:

You can complain about it to the FTC here. Once you're at that page, there's a big brown box on the upper right side of the page to click for the actual complaint form.

It probably won't do much good in a case like this, but if everybody complains about bad service, sooner or later the numbers of complaints may get them to do something about it. We can only hope!

After the third call I made to them about this (to get their email address because the FTC form asked for it and it's not available anywhere, not even if you call them and ask for it), the person I spoke to promised me that they'd have a supervisor call me. That was several hours ago. I'm not holding my breath. And the typical response for a really severe and repeated complaint is for Comcast to classify it as the "highest priority." Please notice that that classification doesn't entail actually doing anything about it. It's just changing the priority to make you feel like it's important to them, even though they couldn't care less.

Regardless of what happens, I plan to get a TiVo if I can ever save the money for it.

After looking for TiVos on Amazon, I found this DVD-R/RW Recorder/TiVo Series2 DVR Combo for significantly less than those available from TiVo. Yes, I know it's used and not ATSC, but it represents a significant improvement over the piece of junk that came from Comcast.

And you can get two weeks of digital TV guide with TiVo! And with that box, I'll be able to watch my DVDs again (if I can ever get them back from Holly).

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I'm sorry. It's almost 5:30, and I'm just now recovering from waking up and finding my TV service only semi-operational! Sorry to be so cranky.

I had planned to talk about something else, but I can't think what it was at this point.

Tomorrow three programs start their new seasons: Burn Notice (USA), and Vampire Diaries and Supernatural, both on the CW (?). I know that because I marked it on a calendar, not because I could get any TV programming information on cable! I know Burn Notice is on USA, and I think the other two are on CW, but I can't verify that because my digital TV guide doesn't work!

Yes, it's on the CW. I checked online!

On Friday, we'll have the premier of Caprica on SyFy! And, if memory serves, Dollhouse and Ghost Whisperer will be preempted. Fox is really leaving us in suspense on Dollhouse!

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

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Addition:

I take back some of what I said. Maybe complaining to the FTC does do some good.

I got a call back from one of the supervisors at Comcast, and he apologized for the problem and took $15 off of this month's bill! That's the first time I've ever had them do something like that!

It was probably the fact that I called them to ask for their email address and explained it was to fill in the complaint form for the FTC.

I'd rather just have good service from them, but the money off does make me feel better because if they do that with everyone who has complaints that they can't solve, it's going to affect their bottom line, and I don't think there's any better leverage to get a corporation to shape up.

TGIF!

As you can probably tell from the title, this post was actually posted on Friday, but Blogger messed up!

Let me get you all caught up on what's been happening around here.

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Tuesday, I went back to the dentist for what I thought was the last time. I was almost right about that.

He gave me a shot of Novocaine, removed the temporary front teeth and filled a cavity on a tooth next to the ones he was replacing. The cavity was so small it was almost nonexistent, and now that I know that, I wish he'd skipped the shot.

He then put on the new caps, so I have my permanent caps at last. I can now bite into a sandwich or cookie if I want! I'm planning to get some corn on the cob next time I go to the supermarket.

At this point, the area that the shot affected is not hurting as much, and in a day or two (hopefully) I won't be able to feel the ache anymore.

I have to go back in two weeks just so that they can check out how the new teeth are working with my existing teeth, the alignment, etc. There may be a few minutes of adjustment, but that's all.

Corn on the cob! I've missed it!

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Wednesday was a nightmare of trying to get my computer to work properly again. John was an enormous help, and after reloading the last upgrade to the system, some of the problem seemed to be fixed. My browser still wouldn't open. I tried to use Software Update to update it, but it said I wasn't connected to the internet, and I couldn't do it. Then it asked if I'd like to update my software. I said yes, and it informed me that I had a big problem with my browser and asked me if I'd like to fix it. I clicked yes, and it's fixed. Well, it's still a little slow and glitchy, but at least it works somewhat.

I still have some other programs that I have to repair or replace before I'm back to where I was before it all crashed.

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Thursday I saw the doctor again. She told me that I need to do more walking, and I told her I've been discouraged about doing that because I feel so bad after even a little walking. She looked at me like I was crazy.

So, after thinking about it for a bit, it finally occurred to me that if she thought it was that weird, maybe there is something wrong. She thinks I'm not getting enough vitamin D, and I'll be getting a test for that. I should mention that I'm taking lots of vitamin D supplement, but the gastroenterologist did say that I probably have big problems absorbing certain kinds of nutrition.

I went to JoAnn Fabrics and (finally!) got the yarn for Everett's Christmas present!

Yes, I know how late it is.

Getting to the store involves what is a lot of walking for me, and I felt terrible last night, and still feel like someone beat me up yesterday. I had planned to go to the post office today to return the yarn I bought that looks very different in real life than it does in the photo, but in light of how I feel, I think it's going to happen Monday instead.

I feel bad enough that I don't intend to be on the computer for very long today. I just hurt everywhere!

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There's a new post on the Steve Canyon blog! John recorded a new interview for the next and last of the Steve Canyon DVDs! All the information on it is on the blog. It's very exciting!

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January is Thyroid Awareness Month! I see people all around me almost all the time with very obvious hypothyroid symptoms, and their doctors insist that there's nothing wrong with them and won't even test them, so I feel that this is an issue that people need to know more about because I can promise you that your doctor doesn't know much about it. And if that doctor is an endocrinologist, he probably knows even less about it than a GP, but thinks he knows everything (from my personal experience), and therefore won't listen to anything you have to say.

By the way, there was a study done where they sent out questionnaires to patients with hypothyroidism, and they discovered that, out of patients who had hypothyroidism for two years or more, 95% of them knew more about hypothyroidism and it's treatment than the doctors who were treating them!

The problem with this is compounded by the really bad tests available for it, and most doctors' misinformation on the subject of thyroid testing. Not only are the tests bad (as in not giving accurate results, especially the TSH), but what's considered "normal" is skewed so that it misses all but the worst cases. If the drug companies can keep you sick, they can sell you osteoporosis, cholesterol, and other medicines and make more money from it.

Check out the symptoms here, and if you suffer from many of them, see your doctor! If you actually do see your doctor, print out the list, and check off all your symptoms. He probably won't listen to you unless you do that.

Wow! I just read that list and I have 41 of the symptoms! I knew that I wasn't getting enough natural dessicated thyroid because Armor Thyroid (which is what I'm taking) was reformulated about a year ago, and although the stated amount of hormone is in each pill, the filler that they changed makes it difficult or impossible to absorb the medicine, and everyone who's been taking it has had hypothyroid symptoms. I'll be switching to Naturethroid as soon as the drug store gets it in, and that should solve the problem or at least help the situation. But I didn't realize how bad it really was!

If you have many of the symptoms, check the sidebar for more info.

And don't let your doctor prescribe Synthroid! Ask for Naturethroid or West Throid! Or even Armor Thyroid, once it's available again. They're reformulating it again to make it the same as it was before last year. Doctors keep telling me that some people get along fine on Synthroid, but it's really hard for me to believe because I feel so bad when I take it. Taking Synthroid is like being short on sleep every night. When you fist take it, it's an improvement, but over time, you just feel a little worse every day until it's even worse than not taking anything at all. Switching to Armor Thyroid was like waking up from a nightmare for me!

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Sanctuary has been on SyFy all day today, and there will be a two hour season finale on tonight!

The next-to-the-last episode of Dollhouse is still scheduled to be on Fox tonight according the electronic TV guide on Comcast, but somebody on Twitter was tweeting that it will be bumped to put on a program about the earthquake in Hati. So, at this point, I just don't know.

Other new episodes on tonight include: Ghost Whisperer and Medium.

Tomorrow, BBC in America will be showing the Doctor Who episode The Shakespeare Code, and a new episode of Demons.

Have a fabulous evening, and a wonderful weekend!

Hi! Sorry to ignore you for the last two days, but I've been busy trying to finish up the Christmas presents.

Yes, I know how late it all is, but they're not done yet. Once I finish them all, I plan to start knitting for next Christmas almost right away.

Anyway, I have to get back to finishing them and, more important, packing stuff up to go to the Post Office.

I apologize to almost everyone. I've been trying to get to the post office for two weeks, now, and there's been either bad (snow, sleet, ice) weather, or intense cold accompanied by gale force winds! Since going to the post office involves waiting for a bus (and it seems that when I come home, they always have a bus out of service and I have to wait for at least an hour and a half) and a lot of walking. Please note that when I'm leaving, there are places to sit and places to get out of the wind and cold, but on the way back, it's out in the open with no place to sit, so that's where the bus doesn't come.

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I hope you all got to see the Chuck Marathon last night!

Here's a list of SF stuff that will be either premiering or coming back to TV all new in thee next few months. Enjoy!

There will be a new Ghost Whisperer, Medium, Sanctuary and, best of all, Dollhouse tonight! Only two more Dollhouses to go after tonight!

Have a great evening, and a wonderful weekend!

Christmas Is One Week from Today!

There's only one week until Christmas!

I can't believe that time has snuck by and that there's only one week until Christmas!

I'm not even anywhere near done with making Christmas presents!

So, I'm going back to making presents, and you won't be hearing much from me until after Christmas, when I will still be making Christmas presents!

Don't forget that the newest Doctor Who episode (for us here in the USA) will be on tomorrow on BBC in America! They'll be showing The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, and The Waters of Mars, along with two "making of" programs and a Graham Norton Doctor Who Special. Check your local listings.

And tonight, there will be two brand-new Dollhouse episodes! Oh, and also a new Sanctuary.

I'll try to get photos of the stuff I'm knitting for presents up on the internet soon after Christmas.

Have fun until I get back on the internet!

Christmas Is Two Weeks from Today!

Yeah, I know. Yesterday was two weeks until Christmas eve, so it stands to reason that today is two weeks until Christmas.

It's arriving so fast! I'm having serious doubts about whether I'm going to be able to finish all the Christmas stuff!

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I've intended to go get those shoes all week, but it's been raining every day. Today it cleared out and was beautiful! It was also 22 degrees out and windy!

I gave up and tried to order the shoes over the internet, but even on backorder, they didn't have any in my size that weren't black.

I was hoping to get a spiffy pair, plus a comfortable pair to wear when I'm doing real walking (for me), and maybe a pair of warm boots.

So I went through all the bookmarks I'd filed under "shoes" and reviewed everything available. I sent for a pair of walking shoes and a pair of warm boots. I haven't found shoes that really look good and look like they'd be comfortable, too.

Now the major clothing items are jeans and maybe some turtleneck shirts, if I can find some at a good price. Hopefully, Holly and I will be going out on Saturday and I can get the jeans at WalMart and look around at shirts.

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There's two hours of Dollhouse on again tonight! I'm excited! The last two hours had me on the edge of my seat! I'm so sad they're canceled!

And, speaking of good news: there will be another episode of Eastwick on this coming Wednesday! With any luck, ABC will at least show the rest of the season's episodes. I'm even sadder that Eastwick is canceled!

They're not even putting on a rerun of Ghost Whisperer tonight, but they are putting on an episode of The Big Bang Theory on during the second half of it's time slot!

Sanctuary is new tonight, although Stargate Universe is a rerun.

Sorry I'm so boring today. You can probably tell that my mind is on getting back to making Christmas presents.

So have a great evening and a wonderful weekend! Good luck with getting together all the Christmas presents you need to get!

The Big Bang Theory

I happened to come across this today, and thought you'd enjoy it.

I only discovered The Big Bang Theory recently, and I don't know if this is a new episode that's coming up, or one that's been shown before, but I thought it was very funny, and I thought others would enjoy it.

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Yesterday, I went running over to the library lugging enough books to return to cause spinal damage, and there was a Christmas tree up in the airlock between the outside door, and the inside one. It was so pretty, it stopped me in my tracks. The lights on it were white (clear) and in the shape of roses! The tree was covered in lit-up white roses! So pretty!

I asked where they got them, and Susan said CVS, so after I returned my books and dragged home another stack of bone-endangering proportions, I went over to CVS.

Well, I think that each CVS store got a different batch of lights, and that they weren't all the same because they didn't have roses, but they did have stars! Stars! Which was even better! Susan warned me that there are a lot of lights on the string (30), but that they're so close together that a string of lights doesn't go very far, and that the tiny tree had two strings of lights on it. So, since my tree is a similar size, I got two strings, also.

Now, I just have to get the tree up!

I have so much to do at the moment, and not enough time to do it! I haven't gotten any of the Christmas decorations up yet. I did pull out one string of lights and plug them in so that I could see how pretty they are, though.

And I have the tiny lavender tree that I just got to put up, too. I know, a lavender tree sounds SO tacky, but it really is pretty. The pink one just like it is tacky, though. I'm really determined to get that up tonight!

So, I have all the Christmas decorating to do, I really should go back to CVS and get at least one more Zyrtec so that I can take one today. Actually, I should have done that much earlier than this (it's about 5:30, and I should have taken one by now), I have a blog post to put up, and I still have more work on the back cover of the Steve Canyon DVD than I expected to have at this point! And I'm not even going to think about how much knitting I still have to do for Christmas presents!

I have re-prioritized my Christmas knitting. The further away the recipient lives, the sooner I'm knitting their present. People who live nearby may not get presents until I finish them, which may not be until after Christmas.

There will be far fewer blog posts happening in December than there usually are, so don't panic!

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Dollhouse will be on TV for two hours tonight! Don't miss it!

Monk has been on USA all day today. They will be repeating the first part of the last (two part) episode, and then premiering the second part at the end of the marathon this evening. We're finally going to find out why Trudy died!

And there will be a new White Collar on right after that. Natalie Morales was requesting that everyone tune in to see it tonight. I hope it's not on the "We're sharpening the ax for this one" list! And speaking of Natalie Morales, she just tweeted this photo.

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One of the books that I lugged back to the Library yesterday was And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer. It did actually have at least a hint of plot, and the writing in any one sentence seemed to be as good as Douglas Adams' but it just didn't seem quite as good as the previous books in the Hitchhiker's Guide series. It truly did seem like an afterthought, though, so I guess that's good.

Years ago, in the early '70s, I read a very good book called The Witches of Karres. I loved that book then, and about a year ago, I got another copy of it, but hadn't gotten around to reading it. Well, I'm rereading it now, and it's every bit as good as I remember! I am having such a good time reading it!

I have sitting here, waiting for me, The Wizard of Karres, which I have read more recently, and expect to enjoy even more since I'll have just finished the first book.

But the big news is that there's a sequel to those two coming out early next year (January 5) called

The Sorceress of Karres, and I can't wait to read it!

It's almost 7pm here, and I'm still writing and checking stuff on the internet, and I really have to go!

Have a great Friday night (don't forget Dollhouse), and a wonderful weekend!

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Addition:

Before I managed to escape from the internet and actually do something useful, I happened to notice this and thought that you might enjoy it if you're going crazy finding Christmas presents this year. Yes, that's right, it's a USB powered pet rock!

Save Eastwick!

What is it about television networks that makes them remove every TV program that I really like as soon as possible?

The Middleman was there and gone so quickly that I missed most of it because Comcast refused to broadcast it with the closed captioning that was in the signal when ABC Family sent it to them. The little bit I did see was wonderful! ABC Family could have had it for several more seasons and I would have watched and treasured every episode, but no, they wanted me to watch some other network instead of them.

The latest casualty of this kind of thinking is ABCs Eastwick. This is easily the best show on TV right now. Yes, there are other shows that I watch and enjoy, but Eastwick is the one I most don't want to see go off the air. So, naturally, ABC is demonstrating that they want me to watch some other station.

OK, so they're replacing it in the time slot by moving Ugly Betty to Wednesday. While I was searching for more information to link to for Eastwick, I found the link above, which says that not only have they canceled it, but they aren't going to show the final few episodes! The thing that baffles me, is that Ugly Betty is getting ratings that are lower than Eastwick. And Ugly Betty is getting replaced by something even worse in it's old time slot!

ABC, why don't you put Eastwick into a timeslot on Tuesday night? Everything there is so forgettable that I don't even remember anything that's on your network on Tuesday, and I certainly don't watch your network (or any other regularly scheduled show) on Tuesday.

If you want to save Eastwick, or at least try, go here or the Facebook Save Eastwick page (or both). You can get more info about it on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Eastwick?v=wall, or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SaveEastwick. You can write to ABC here.

Well, anyway, tonight there will be an all-new episode of Eastwick, so let's enjoy it while we can! From what I'm reading on the internet, it may be the very last one ever!

While I'm on the subject of canceled/reinstated shows, Chuck will be back in January!

There will be two (count 'em, TWO) episodes of Dollhouse on Friday!

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I'm on the internet! You can see an article about Volume 3 of the Steve Canyon DVD here!

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I've been doing a lot of knitting for Christmas presents, and I'll take a photo of some of it tomorrow (if I get a chance--there's a lot to do tomorrow), when we're due to have some sun, which is something that didn't happen at all today.

I've also been working on the covers for the new Steve Canyon DVD (Volume 3), and I have to do a bit more of that today, so I have to quit writing this and get busy!

Have a great night, and don't miss Eastwick!

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Addition:

Vogue Knitting is having a sale on their patterns. Get more information about it here!

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Veterans Day to all veterans and currently serving military no matter where you might be! I wish you the best now and in the future. May you all come back safe and sound!

For an article about some of my more flamboyant adventures while in the Air Force click here. I might mention that I actually did some stuff that was actually useful to the Air Force, and before I was in the military, I did some stuff that was even more useful to defend our country.

I got a job right out of high school working as a technical illustrator for a small printing company doing the assembly, wiring, and other diagramming for all the manuals for the BMEWS Project.

I hope the weather where you are is nicer than it is here for Veterans Day. Here it's chilly, overcast, and drizzling! Makes me not want to go out at all!

I had planned to go to the library and grocery store, but if the weather is better tomorrow, I think I'll do it then.

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The repairman from Comcast came on Monday, and said that the only way he could "repair" my DVR would be by replacing it. I wasn't really happy about the idea of giving up all the shows on the hard drive. There was at least half of one show that I hadn't watched, and some others that I wanted to watch again. He said I didn't have to decide now, that I could try to get along with the machine I had and If I changed my mind, I could get a new one later. He said most of my problems were because I had the machine set to keep programs until I erased them. Possibly, but I really don't think that that's why it says I only regain 1/4 of the space used to record a program when I erase it. He says it is, though.

The new DVRs they have are made by Motorola, and mine was from Scientific Atlanta. He said that the two DVRs were identical, just made by different companies. You would think that they'd go for some kind of improvement, but NO. I looked around the internet and discovered that the "new" DVR is just as unreliable as the old one (maybe more), and has it's own set of idiosyncrasies. I'm not sure I want to change.

But, while looking around the internet, I found out that you can use TiVO on Comcast. I have to find out more about that. I suspect that you have to pay the fee for TiVO service, and I know that you have to buy the box yourself. If there's anybody out there using TiVO on Comcast, give a shout, and let me know how the arrangement works! Clearly, I have to do some more research on this. But if there are still any questions, there will be a representative from Comcast here on the 19th to talk to all their disgruntled customers in this building.

Maybe he can explain why they have done their "weekly required test" and then repeated it and hour and 10 minutes later, and then again, 45 minutes later! Three tests in less than two hours doesn't strike me as a "weekly test." The answer I get to that one is that the government requires it. No, not true! Otherwise, why call it a weekly test?

I have to laugh at the FIOS commercial where their representative is asking their customers about how they like the service, and the cable guy wants to know why they care what the customers think. I've dealt with some other cable companies, and they seem to provide quality service and care about their customers. But Comcast really doesn't care if they provide what you're paying for, or how bad their service is.

The people who are supposed to fix things over the phone are actually there to provide excuses so that you can never get anything fixed. Their DVRs (and cable boxes) malfunction on a whim, and it's not just that there's a bad box or two floating around. They all malfunction, and they do it from the beginning. I have never seen a DirecTV box malfunction! The DirecTV boxes are the best out there in my experience, but I've never had an actual TiVO.

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Well, there doesn't appear to be any science fiction on TV today at all! I thought there was an SF movie on SyFy today, but I tuned in, and it's a documentary on possession, like Ghostfacers in Supernatural.

Eastwick is not on tonight, due to the Country Music Awards. I'm disappointed!

Sorry I'm so boring today. I think it's all the rain and overcast today. Days like today always made me wish I could play hooky, and stay home from work. It's one of the few perks of being retired.

I have to run to check the mail!

I hope something cheerful happens to you today!

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Addition:

The news has just broken that Fox has decided that they will cancel Dollhouse after this season. At this point, they're saying that they'll show all 13 episodes of this season, and that the decision to cancel it has come early enough for Joss to wrap up the story for the series. There are only two episodes that haven't already been filmed, so I tend to wonder about that.

Fox has been notorious for sabotaging their own shows and then canceling them when their sabotage is effective, and seems to be fairly schizophrenic at best. It looks from the outside (where I'm standing) like they're over endowed with a combination of greed and fear.

In related news, Joss wrote up info on a project called Goners, and submitted it to Universal, who are not doing anything with it, but haven't freed up the rights so that Joss can use it. See more information about it here. The site doesn't include an email or street address for Universal, but does contain all the information you need to make your opinion known on Twitter.

Books

Holly asked me the other day when the next Dresden Files book would be out. Well, after doing some checking, I'm not so sure that she's gotten the latest book that's already out, called Turn Coat. And, as usual, it's a fabulous book.

The next book is Changes, and it'll be available on the 6th of April.

And now for the big news in new books!

There is a whole new book to add to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series! It's called And Another Thing... and it's by Eoin Colfer.

You didn't really think it was going to be written by Douglas Adams, did you?

I already have a copy of Turn Coat (and I've enjoyed immensely, just like I always do with Dresden Files books), but in hope, I've started a Christmas Wish List at Amazon for anyone who might want to buy a Christmas present for me. There are a few pricey items on the list (because I live in hope), but for others who are as broke as I am, there are a few books on the list that are under $5! I have no problem with getting used books as presents, and would love to have anything on the list! One of them is so cheap, in fact, that I'll probably buy it for myself at the beginning of the month!

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There's a new Dollhouse on Fox tonight. After saying that they planned to show the whole series, they're now saying that tonight will be the last one. Fox seems to always be pretty schizophrenic, and I don't really know which thing I should believe, but Fox is so good at messing up good shows that I tend to believe that they've really cancelled it. They've caught on to the fact that if they get 1,000 emails begging them not to cancel Dollhouse, it doesn't mean that it has 5 million viewers. It's more likely to mean that it has 2,000 viewers. So, they don't seem to be listening to viewers anymore. They say it has a small group of very vocal and enthusiastic fans.

But they are listening to ratings. So make sure that you watch it tonight if you want to see the rest of them! I plan to watch it and record it both. I hope that counts!

There's also a new Ghost Whisperer, and they've scheduled Medium to show at the same time as Dollhouse and Ugly Betty, giving me a hard choice.

And then, of course, there's SyFy, which is showing a rerun of last week's Stargate Universe, followed by the new episode, which is a very nice way to watch them. And let's not forget Sanctuary.

All in all, it's a great night for SF on TV!

Got to go! Lots to do! Have a great weekend!

Welcome to the Sauna!

It's gotten over 70 degrees both yesterday and today, and that means that even with all the windows open as far as I can open them, it's about 90 degrees in here since the people who run the apartment building have the heat turned on. I have my thermostat turned down to freezing, but that doesn't slow it down at all. I think I've turned it up past freezing in the winter about twice since I've been here. And that was when we had weather that didn't get above about 13 degrees for a high for an extended time period. Usually, all I have to do to warm the place up in extreme weather is to shut the windows.

So, don't expect a lot of blogging until it cools off a bit.

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Here's an update on what's been happening around here.

Holly and I decided to save on some of Bud K's shipping fees and place a combined order for both of us. Holly and I both have an interest in edged weapons, both as tools and as art objects. Some of the edged weapons I have used to be useful for SCA, but Holly collects them. I, for one, could not resist a sock knife that has a braided cable pattern for a hilt and has a blue stone set in it. It's beautiful. We're each getting one, in fact.

See why, as an artist, I like it?

But here's the really big news!

Holly and Robin are going to New Orleans for Halloween!

Holly called me from work last night to gloat that a week from then, she'd be in New Orleans. I envy her the opportunity! It sounds like so much fun! I've already told her I want pictures!

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I have news about Dollhouse. Lots of news, and it's all conflicting. Apparently, according to Fox, they have decided to show the entire season, all 13 episodes, and they have cancelled it, and Friday's episode will be the last. Which is par for the course for Fox. I have no idea how it's possible for them to do both of these things, but then they managed to kill one of the best TV shows I've ever seen, namely, Firefly.

When they originally decided to pick up Dollhouse, Firefly and Joss Whedon fans immediately started a campaign to get Fox to not cancel Dollhouse. After murdering Firefly, Fox was bewildered that the fans might think that they'd managed to destroy Dollhouse, too. Gee, I can't imagine why.

I don't know if you've been watching Castle or not, but there are some little nuggets for SF fen scattered here and there. There's a recent episode where he says something to the effect of "I'm going to buy a space ship and call it Serenity." But for next Monday's Halloween episode, there will be references to Bufffy the Vampire Slayer (specifically the episodes that Nathan Fillion was in) and to Firefly, specifically, he'll be wearing his "Captain Tightpants" outfit as a Halloween costume. Fans of the captain should not miss it! It looks like it'll be a lot of campy fun! I can't wait!

There's a game of some kind on TV tonight, so I'm finally going to get to see an episode of Grey's Anatomy, for the first time this season because Fringe won't be on.

I don't know why all the networks have put anything worth watching on Thursday and Friday nights. They probably didn't have room for Heroes and Eastwick on Thursday and Friday due to the jam-up of all the good shows then. Those are currently the only good shows, along with Legend of the Seeker that are regularly scheduled shows on TV, other than reruns of Torchwood.

Eastwick, by the way is the only show currently on television that gets me to yell out "No!" at the TV because the episode is over! I'm hooked!

So, tonight, you can enjoy Flash Forward, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and The Mentalist. Tomorrow, we have Ghost Whisperer, Medium and (of course) Dollhouse!

Enjoy!

I feel like I'm cooking from the inside out, so I'm going to go and either lie down or maybe take a cold shower. I hate this every Spring and Fall!

And here's something funny for you, just because I can!

Crazy Aunt Purl, this one's for you!

I hope you're not overheating, and that you have a great evening!

Monsoon!

I give up. I've been denying it for a while, and we were lucky enough to get a break from it for the Fall Fiber Fest, but it looks like monsoon season is really here to stay in Northern Virginia (or NoVA, as the natives call it).

It's been raining almost nonstop (at least it seems that way) ever since FFF, and there was considerable rain before that. I'm sure I remember seeing some actual sun within the last two weeks, but I couldn't say I did with any degree of certainty.

Rain doesn't usually bother me too much, but it doesn't usually go on for so long. Not without a break every so often.

Another thing that's got me down is that I went to the library yesterday, continued by a trip to CVS, and then swung by Safeway for some groceries. That's a decent walk for me. I haven't gotten to the depressing part yet.

On the way, the very first time I stepped in a puddle (well, not really a puddle, just something about a quarter inch deep), my sock was instantly soaked with cold water! Well, the toes were instantly soaked. It took a little more walking before the top of the sock was soaking the bottom of my jeans.

It really shouldn't be doing that, and I examined the offending left shoe when I got home. These are fairly new shoes with beautiful leather tops that show no wear, mind you. Not a scuff. They look totally and completely brand new! But there is a crack across the sole all the way across, under the ball of my foot! It's completely invisible unless you bend the sole to expose it. But it does a great job of letting water in!

These are nearly new shoes! And I really can't afford new ones!

OK, OK, I know I have a batch of shoes that don't really fit me well anymore that I haven't thrown out, so I can probably find something to wear.

But why should I have to? I mean, these shoes are nearly new!

So, we have a monsoon and a decided lack of shoes!

I should be thankful that I had the foresight to buy some tall rubber boots. I don't want to wear the boots, though, I want to wear my shoes!

And then I think that if that's my biggest problem, I'm really lucky! I should quit whining, and buck up.

But we were planning to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival this weekend, and it's supposed to rain right through Sunday.

This is depressing!

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I broke down and started to knit my new sweater today. So far, I have about an inch of the back done. Photos when there's a bit more to show. At least this isn't a Christmas present, and I can take photos and show them.

As with all self-patterning yarn, I'm enjoying watching the patterns emerge as I knit. Yes, I know. Fun for the feeble minded!

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I've been meaning to mention this ever since I noticed this about a month ago.

Without fanfare or any notice whatsoever, a new needle size has turned up in the Knit Picks catalog for their Options interchangeable knitting needles, and it's an important size!

Local yarn stores (mostly) carry size 10-1/2 needles, but the chain craft stores like Michaels, AC Moore, and JoAnn Fabrics seem to have buyers who don't actually know anything about knitting needles, so there are never any size 10-1/2 needles!

There's a big leap in size from 10 to 11! Size 10-1/2 helps, but there's still a big size difference between 10-1/2 and 11!

Knit Picks has brought back the size 10-3/4 needle!

If you order a set of any of the Options needles (nickel plated, Zephyr, or Harmony), you won't get 10-3/4 tips, but they're suddenly available to order from their catalog in all those varieties!

I feel like dancing in the street! This calls for a celebration!

And here's something else to celebrate: Laurie Perry (Crazy Aunt Purl) has finished another book! She turned it in earlier this week, and it's already available on Amazon for advance order!

And I love the title! It's called Home is Where the Wine Is.

You can read more about it at the above links.

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Dollhouse is, sadly, not on tonight. In a way, that's a good thing because there are two other things I want to watch at the time it would normally be on. Three if you count Stargate Universe (which also comes on later, so I can catch it then). Universe, by the way, has moved on from it's initial, never-ending episode called Air, and is now into Darkness. It's been pretty elemental, so far. Oh, and there's the second episode of the new season on Sanctuary, while we're on the subject of SyFy.

Normally, I watch Ghost Whisperer at 8, followed by Medium and Dollhouse at 9.

What's throwing a monkey wrench into this schedule is Ugly Betty.

OK, I know it's not science fiction or even fantasy. I know it's really a prime-time soap, but I really like it. It was worth watching in the past just to see Christopher Gorham. It's probably good that they moved it from Thursday night, because I'm already missing Grey's Anatomy because of the pile-up of great shows, but why couldn't they have moved it to Tuesday, when there's nothing at all worth watching anywhere on TV!? Or, failing that, Wednesday at 9 or even 8 is a good time for me. The only thing really worth watching on Wednesday is Eastwick. With any luck, Betty will be on at 8 in the future, and won't mess up my schedule.

Oh, well. Tonight is jammed with great things to watch. I'm going to sit and knit in front of the tube this evening! Again! One of my favorite things to do!

Don't forget to keep your eyes open for Halloween programming! There are so many networks that are putting up lots of holiday shows! Too many to really list.

Oh, and here's something I was talking about with Holly, Everett and Jeff at the FFF almost two weeks ago. We all enjoyed it so much then, I thought I'd rerun it!

Have a great Friday evening!

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Addition:

Canada is issuing a silver $4 coin picturing a Tyrannosaurus Rex!

Stargate SG-1 All Day Today!

SyFy is the "Stargate SG-1 all day, all the time" network today! And they seem to have picked out the best of the series, too. If you've just caught onto the marathon now, you've probably missed a lot. Episodes include Wormhole Xtreame, Window of Opportunity, Urgo, Crystal Skull, The Nox, and more! There are several two-part episodes, especially Mobius.

And while we're on the subject of TV, Dollhouse will be premiering on Fox tonight! Also, we have the season premier of Ghost Whisperer! I can't wait! And the return of the cancelled Medium!

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Two other things that I haven't been able to wait for are coming up tomorrow and a week from tomorrow!

Tomorrow we planned to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival. I say planned because the forecast for the area it's in is showers all afternoon, and Holly already had a bad experience with rain at the Ohio Renfair.

I knew we were in trouble last night when the weather guy on TV said that there was rain in Ohio and it was headed this way. Unless we have an amazing miracle, I'm bracing myself for disappointment. Either we'll go and get rained on, or we will miss it entirely tomorrow.

We do have another trip to the Renfair scheduled for around the middle of October, so we do have one more chance, but that's then and this is now.

Next weekend, though, is what I'm really starting to get psyched about! It's the Fall Fiber Fest! Yaaay! I really can't wait for this one! My monthly income will arrive the day before the fest!

I have lots to do to get ready, so I have to go, but I wish you a fabulous weekend!

I Think I'm Back, Now

I haven't been feeling really good for a long time, now, but the antibiotics and decongestant I've been taking have been having side effects that have had me feeling worse than usual for the last week or so. But I've just taken the last antibiotic pill, and so I assume that I'll be feeling better soon. At this point, I don't think they have improved the general background low grade sickness, though. I was really hoping they would.

So, anyway, it looks like I should be back to posting almost every day soon.

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Holly is coming home today from her weekend trip. I heard from her last night, and the trip was good and bad. She had severe plane delays on the way out, but did get to Hoagie Man at least once, and planned to go again before she left. This was complicated by the fact that her phone managed to quit working, necessitating a trip to the phone store to get it going again. It quit again soon after being fixed, but then was fiddled into working again. The renfair trip on Saturday seemed to be a success. At least she said that she'd bought a really beautiful ring that I can't wait to see.

She didn't want to hang on the phone for long last night when I talked to her, so I got a sketchy report of Sunday's renfair trip, and it wasn't pretty. There was a lot of rain, and it was chilly, which didn't go at all with her pirate costume, which, you may remember from the last post was a bit skimpy on warmth. Her wool felt tricorn hat may never recover. Heather got fed up with it and left, then promptly had a car accident due (I presume) to the bad weather. I get the impression that although there was a lot to enjoy, the general misery from the weather cut into the merriment.

I wish her a safe trip home!

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I managed to knit the entire ankle, a heel flap, turn the heel, and most of the gusset on the last blue sock for Holly on Saturday while watching Children of Earth again on my DVR from last weekend's BBC in America extravaganza. I've gotten the green yarn wound into balls (actually cakes) and am into the heel flap on the first green sock for her. I've discovered that the green dye on the socks is coming off on my hands, so now I have green marks there. That's the first yarn I've gotten from Knit Picks that's done that. So, now I'll have to wash the green socks before I can give them to her.

I washed Heather's yarn in shampoo and conditioner in hopes of softening it, but with no real improvement. It looks like somebody sold her the first yarn they'd ever spun. It's a singles, which can be OK to knit, if the spinner knows what she's doing. A singles is inherently not a balanced yarn, and will tend to skew. Overcoming this tendency is delicate, and easy to mess up. On top of being a singles, as I said, one skein looks like it was the first thing someone ever spun. It's not even structurally sound. Some of it is thinner than sewing thread and overspun, ready to snap at the slightest tension, and it has slubs, which are spaced far apart and not a relatively even design feature, that are thicker than some of the bulkiest yarn. The other skein is more evenly spun. It has some thick and thin, but is nice, stable, handspun.

Whoever spun it tried to make it act like a balanced yarn by boiling the heck out of it while dying it with logwood, which produced a stunningly beautiful lavender color, and turned some perfectly good wool into something that feels like steel wool. While boiling, they didn't put any tension on it, so there are a lot of kinks that are felted into the wool.

I'm thinking about plying the two skeins in hopes of removing a bit of the bias, which is till there, and making it actually structurally sound before knitting it. I'm having a hard time trying to decide how to handle it because it's really bad. I don't think it would look good in the Hermionie's Hat pattern. Actually, once it's plied, I think it would look good in a very plain hat pattern to show off the slubs and inconsistencies of the yarn. I'm thinking it over while I knit Holly's sock before I do anything. This is turning into trying to make a silk hat out of a sow's ear. Whoever ruined this wool should be ashamed of themselves!

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This week will see the beginning of a number of new shows, so pay close attention to your TV guide, and prepare to be entertained!

Being Human is on daytime BBC in America today! Later on, we'll have the season premiers of Heroes, Castle, and The Big Bang Theory!

Tomorrow is the season finale of Warehouse 13! If you've heard about it but missed the beginning and want to see it (and have a way to record it or have the day off) you can watch the whole, entire first season of Warehouse 13 on SyFy tomorrow, starting early in the day!

On Wednesday, the premier of Eastwick will be happening on ABC. This show looks interesting!

Thursday will see the premier of Flash Forward! I've been seeing the trailers for it, and I'm excited! This premise has a lot of potential. The season premier of The Mentalist will also be on!

Also on Thursday, we'll get to see the second episode of the season of Fringe and the third of Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries. Well, you might get to see The Vampire Diaries. I won't. I can only watch two programs at a time, and I'd rather see the second episode of Bones. The premier of Supernatural was as wonderful as I'd hoped. I have the second episode on the DVR, and I'm saving it up for a special treat!

And on Friday, we have the long-awaited premier of Dollhouse! Of course, there's an episode between the last one aired and the new premier that you won't have seen unless you bought the Dollhouse DVD. I think that's really chintzy of Fox, but then they are the same people who managed to kill Firefly, which is one of the best shows I've seen on TV since Babylon 5.

And, just before Dollhouse on Friday is the season opener of Ghost Whisperer!

Whew! My DVR is going to be really busy this week!

I hope you have a great week, and enjoy all the great shows on TV!

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!

USA, Canada and the EU attempt to kill treaty to protect blind people's access to written material

Neil Gaiman has a post up on Twitter about this, which is how I found out about it. 

He says he's on the side of the blind people. 

So am I! 

Read about it here. So far, I've only read the article. I keep thinking there must be more to this than is in the article. I'll be doing more research, and I thought you might like to, too.

Why would anyone want to block the access of blind and disabled people to the books that you and I can buy?

Anyway, you can write to President Obama at this email address: comments@whitehouse.gov

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I mentioned friends who've got a lot of financial problems yesterday. They're stuck, like a lot of us, with agreements made before the bottom dropped out (like a mortgage and car payment) while having an ever-decreasing income to deal with it. This not only includes them, but a number of otherwise unadoptable animals that they've given shelter to. They have a nonprofit status as an animal shelter, and all donations are tax deductable.

If you can help, use the donate money button in the sidebar, and mention that it's for my friends, and I'll pass it along.

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It just doesn't seem like Friday anymore without Dollhouse and Ghost Whisperer!

But on Sunday, there will be a dragon thing on SciFi starting with Dragonheart and followed by Dragon Sword, both excellent movies to watch with kids. Unfortunately, they'll be moving on to Grendel, one of the most awful movies ever made.

Have a great weekend!

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Addition:

I was corrected when I sent an email to the above email address. There is now a contact form here. Please use that instead.

Dollhouse to Get Second Season!

I just caught a Twitter from Eliza Dusku, and she thanked Fox for something. 

I checked it out and found this. Apparently, they'll be showing the episode that's really last, in addition to including it on just the DVD and they've renewed it for a second season! The Fox channel's Dollhouse site doesn't seem to have mentioned anything about it, though. You can find more information about it here and news about Chuck and Dollhouse being renewed here. I couldn't be more happy about this! They also mentioned that Heroes will also be back.

In the meantime, despite May sweeps month being almost over, there is a whole new summer season to look forward to. Burn Notice will have a marathon on USA on June second, third, and fourth, and will be back with new episodes on the fourth of June at a very early hour (1:15 am)! Another USA show that's already back on is In Plain Sight on Sunday evenings. Neither is SF, but they're action/adventure, and lots of fun.

In July, we have tons of great shows coming back! They include: Torchwood with Children of Earth, and I think I'm becoming brain dead because I can't think of any more of them at the moment. As soon as I publish this, I'll think of ten others.

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There's a new post up on the Steve Canyon blog, and if you have red/blue 3D glasses, you can see some photos in 3D. It looks to me like you'd need red/green glasses, but John says not. I tried it with the amber/blue glasses I scored to watch Chuck the day after the Super Bowl (which is what the glasses were intended for), and they don't work. But if you have the right glasses, I think you'll be impressed to see three dimensional photos right on your own computer!

John is so creative!

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I hope you got to watch Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy over the weekend. It's sitting on my DVR, waiting for me to watch it. I think I like the original version better, though.

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I actually have the new chair for my computer, but have to track down a phillips head screwdriver to finish assembling it. In the meantime, I don't like sitting here. It makes my back hurt (although that's gradually going away). So I'm going to quit writing now.

Have a great Monday!

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Addition!

Warehouse 13 is one of those great shows starting in July. So is Eureka.

Tax Day

Happy Tax Day. 

If that's not an oxymoron.

I went through tax day yesterday. 

Back in January, the IRS sent me a copy of form 1040 with an instruction booklet to help me fill it out. I quickly read through the part that said that I have a small enough income that I don't need to file taxes, and put the envelope aside.

Then the IRS sent me a certified letter. A certified letter from the IRS is something that's enough to make me certifiable. It said that they had discovered that I owe them taxes from 2002, and they've assessed interest and penalties, and therefore doubled the amount I owe. They wanted about a thousand dollars instantly.

Since this is more than my income for a month, I didn't have it.

Since I didn't have it, I am now saddled with an agreement to pay them some money every month and file a return and pay taxes owed every year. So, now, suddenly, at the last minute, I find that I need to file taxes.

I spent the whole day yesterday filling out 1040EZ, finding out I owed $79 (which I don't have), then reading it again and finding out I'm not allowed to fill out that form, tracking down the correct forms and information online (because I didn't keep track of forms I knew I didn't need), doing more arithmetic than a math lesson, and finally finishing up last night with the discovery that I actually don't owe anything, and getting the whole mess in the mail.

I still have more stuff to fix with them, but it doesn't have today for a deadline.

I hope it was a better experience for you than it was for me.

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I ground my teeth, bit the bullet and sent another order to Knit Picks to replace the yarn that I have to return to them. Not that I can afford that, either. I chose the (I hope dark) purple shade of Gloss Lace called Pinot. This would work even if I'd already bought the beads.

I've been repeating to myself over and over all month "I'm saving money for the Sheep and Wool Festival." It hasn't helped me save any money so far, though.

In the meantime, I'm knitting socks from the yarn I bought at AC Moore almost a month ago now, and have almost finished the first pair. There's enough yarn for another pair.

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I got a comment from somebody at ReaperDMV yesterday thanking me for my mention of Reaper and asking me to fight for a third season. If you're a Reaper fan, get on over there and join the fight! Even if you're not a Reaper fan, get over there and click on the link to save a whole list of other shows (including Dollhouse), and there's also a lost cause category for shows that are not just in danger of cancellation, but that have already gotten the ax. The catch is that you can't vote for Chuck, Reaper, Dollhouse and Life. I wanted to vote for all of them, but you can only pick one. It will ask for your email address and password, but you don't have to be a member to vote, just fill in your name and the little box with the word they give you.

Lost is on again tonight! A new one, following Better Off Ted.

Have a great Wednesday! Remember, if it's Wednesday, we're half-way to the weekend!