Dreaming...

It's a chilly (55 degrees), wet, rainy, overcast day here in Northern Virginia, or NoVA, as the locals call it.

In New Orleans, it's 86 degrees right now, and mostly sunny. 

The other night, Robin came home ticked off about something. He said he was tired of living in such an expensive place, and said he'd been thinking about moving to New Orleans and starting a restaurant/bar.

Well, he's been thinking about starting his own restaurant ever since I've known him, so that's nothing new. The New Orleans part is, at least for me.

Holly's reaction was that she's been thinking about it ever since they went there for Mardi Gras last year. I get the impression that Robin was surprised that she'd been thinking the same thing he had.

So, Holly's been looking at real estate listings, and finding some interesting things.

They've been saving money for a while, and real estate prices are low enough there that they can probably buy an apartment building with four apartments. Not finance. Just go and buy outright. 

The plan is that they would live in one apartment, I'd have another, and they'd rent out two more apartments. I'm guessing that electricity and water would be included in the rents, so the rent they collected would pay taxes, utilities, and give them some profit every month (until something broke down). Which would mean that they'd be living free (and making some kind of a profit) and I'd be living nearly free. And I'd be able to get some other cable company instead of Comcast!

All of this is just dreams and thinking about it. There have been no decisions made as yet.

My thoughts on it range from "How will Lynn be able to visit?" and "No more Sheep and Wool Festival!" to "Wow, no more rent! If I save my money, I can buy a TV that's not broken!"

***********************

Speaking of Comcast, I was trying to watch Legend of the Seeker last night and the reception was horrible! It would be OK for as much as three minutes, then the picture would freeze, the sound would go off, and I'd have to wait about 10 to 15 seconds. Then the picture and sound would start again (from the new location, skipping a section of the show), with the sound at a drastically different level, ranging from nothing to stick-your-finger-in-a-light-socket-loud! 

I called them and they refreshed my DVR. None of the rest of the channels seemed to be having problems that were more than usual.

After being refreshed, it seemed to work for about 10 minutes. But the second I hung up with them, it started all over I called back and they said they'd send out a supervisor (not a repairman) to look at the wiring in the entire building. I've only mentioned about thirty times that everybody else in the building that I've talked to has been having the same problems I've been having, and somebody seems to have finally heard me. So, they'll be out Wednesday, and look at the wiring in the whole building!

Which probably means that TV will be off for at least part of Wednesday afternoon.

******************************

I read something today that says Legend of the Seeker has been canceled. They did seem to be building up to the very end, so I'm not entirely surprised, but I am disappointed. I like that show!

Legend of the Seeker comes from the Terry Goodkind books The Sword of Truth series of books.

Tonight, there will be something on SyFy (tonight, late) called The Sword of Truth, and I can't find much about it anywhere. I'm not sure that it has anything to do with The Sword of Truth series of books, but I'm going to record it, just in case.

There will be no Supernatural on this Thursday evening because Sweeps month is almost up and they're reserving the last week for a two hour Smallville, If you watched last week's episode of Supernatural, you know that the end of the season was very final. I've been looking around, and from what I can find, I don't think it's been cancelled. Remember back when they opened the gates of Hell, and we didn't get to find out what happened until the next year? Well, this one wasn't like that. 

Stop here if you don't want a spoiler. 

This one ended with Sam in Hell (this time), but Dean had gone back to his girlfriend and the kid that he thought (for a short while) was his son. Then they panned out the window of a happy family moment, and you could see someone watching from outside. They panned back more, and it was Sam, so apparently his stint in Hell wasn't as bad as Dean's previous one.

Oh, well. If it's back on next season, I'll be happy.

We've had a full day of Ghost Whisperer on SyFy, and it's going to continue right on into the evening! On broadcast TV, there will be a brand new Chuck, Big Bang Theory, and Castle.

On the subject of science fiction, I was talking to Holly last night and I recommended a really good movie to her. It's called Vibes, and stars Jeff Goldblum and Cindy Lauper, and I love that movie! I looked it up on Amazon because I was telling her about it, and it's available (at long last) on DVD! It was previously available only on VHS. I can't wait for the next influx of money to get it!

******************************

Well, that about does it for a chilly, rainy day in NoVA. Have a great week!

National Procrastination Week!

Finally, there's a holiday, or in this case, a special week set aside for people like me.

Actually, National Procrastination Week started on Monday, the first of March, but then, what part of procrastination didn't you understand?

**********************

There's a new Ghost Whisperer and a new Medium on network TV tonight, and a new Caprica on SyFy.

Have a happy weekend!

This and That

What is going on with curling in the Olympics?

The other day, Holly sent me a text message saying that she was surprised that I hadn't commented on the US Olympic uniforms with all their blue with white stars. Well, I would have, if I'd seen any.

First of all, you have to understand my viewpoint of sports. They're great fun to play, and boring as watching paint dry to watch. And this is as it should be, I think.

I'm not completely disinterested in the Olympics, but I've been recording parts of it and fast forwarding through the boring bits, which is most of it. So far, I haven't seen any blue with stars in the uniforms.

So, I tried looking up "US Olympic uniforms" on the internet, and there were dozens of uniforms for every kind of sport you could think of. I saw one uniform with a dark blue top and three tiny (almost invisible from more than a foot away) stars on each shoulder, and I'm still trying to figure out what she's talking about.

But back to curling. I wrote a blog post the other day, and had the TV tuned in to the Olympics. In the middle of the post, I dropped everything and turned to the TV in a panic.

There was a man on TV who was screaming! Not a yell of surprise or disappointment. This was a high pitched, sustained scream such as you would expect to hear from the teenage girl who has just discovered the mauled dead body covered in blood in a horror movie!

I thought that someone else had died in a horrible freak accident!

No. They were curling, and this is apparently a normal part of curling.

From what I can tell, if a man wants to be a curler, he has to be neutered in his early teens, and practice high-pitched, hysterical screaming, or he won't make it.

So, from now on, when the curling starts, I'm turning the TV to something else. I'm tired of thinking that somebody must've gotten run over by the Zamboni!

*************************

I'm feeling a lot better after my fall on Friday, but my shoulder and knee still feel really unhappy about it, plus the bones somewhere in my left foot/ankle feel like they've gotten yanked into a position they shouldn't be in, and it hurts every time I take a step.

I'm still taking it easy.

The long period of under-medication for my thyroid has finally slowed my thinking to a crawl, and I'm really not feeling capable of doing much at all. I want to start knitting that vest, but I just can't make up my mind what I want. I am starting to figure out why nobody has designed a knitted Triquetra Celtic knot, though. I thought it would be easy, but with my mind seizing up like it is, I just can't figure it out.

I'm still waiting to wake up from this daze now that I'm getting the right amount of medicine.

I hadn't planned to do anything at all today, but I read about McCain's horrible bill to outlaw nutritional supplements, and I just have to write something about it, but not in this post.

**************************

NASA has published at least one photo, and information about some brand new galaxies that have been found by the Hubble Telescope.

************************

The newest Dresden Files book, Changes will be out on the sixth of April! I'm really looking forward to it.

The newest Dresden Files book that's already out, Turn Coat, will be available in paperback on the second of March! This is my all-time favorite series of books!

****************************

Tonight on TV, we have reruns only! They include The Big Bang Theory, Castle and four back-to-back episodes of Ghost Whisperer.

******************************

Here's what seems to be the latest information about Andrew Koenig. He still seems to be missing, and I'm really upset about it. I wish him and his family the best of luck and hope that they will be reunited soon.

Have a great day!

**************************************

Addition:

Holly sent me this photo. At first glance, it looks blue, but if you look closely, you can see some lighter spots which I'm guessing might be stars? If so, this is the clearest photo I've seen of them.

It looks nice (probably much better if you see it nearby and in person), but I think I like Coraline's sweater better.

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!

****************************

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!

**********************************

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).

*****************************

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!

*******************

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.

********************

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!

*********************

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.

**************************

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!

***************************

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!

**************************

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!

***********************

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.

***************************

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 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!

****************************

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.

*********************************

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!

Shifting into High Gear for Christmas

Sorry! I feel like I've been neglecting you, but I'm shifting my previous efforts toward Christmas into high gear. We have only about a month left until then, which for knitters and crafters is getting to be last minute.

I'm also preparing a Thanksgiving post (which will go up on Wednesday) about some of my favorite Thanksgiving stuff. I'm putting it up on Wednesday because there are some people who will be away for the holiday, and I want to give them a chance to see it before then.

************************

I finished an absolutely gorgeous hat for someone last night using the Bernat Alpaca yarn in lavender.

It's just a little darker than it looks on my screen in that photo. The color is soft and beautiful, and it feels just as soft and cuddly, with just a little bit of fuzzyness. I really don't like yarn that's this thick as a general rule, but I love this yarn, and especially this color. They also have a plum color that's to die for, and a beautiful denim as well as other colors.

Considering that it'll be a Christmas gift, I'm going to take a picture (although not today: it's raining outside and dark in here), but that will not be available until after I give it for Christmas. Sorry, you'll just have to wait along with the recipient, and I'm not saying who that will be. I have finished knitting the hat, but although it fit my head snugly when I tried it on while I was knitting the critical part, now that it's finished, it feels a little loose, so I'm going to get some thin elastic cord and weave it through the area where a hat band would be to make it a bit more snug, so it's not completely finished. The hat is completely original, specifically for the person it was made for! And did I mention how beautiful it is? I may make a similar one for myself!

I'm busy making a hood out of the same stuff, for the same person. Then, I'm not sure if I'll make mitts or mittens to go with the set. I'm also considering the possibility of making a scarf in a way that will drive any knitter nuts trying to figure out how I did it. But I haven't made any decisions yet, except for what I'm already knitting.

****************************

Some of the networks have thrown out their normal scheduling completely for the duration of Thanksgiving week, with SyFy leading that parade. They're having movies on instead of their normal daytime rotation all this week, with only James Bond movies on during Thursday and Friday. In a few cases, they're putting on movies that I previously wouldn't have expected from SyFy, so maybe they are trying to change their programming a bit. I personally thing they could stick to science fiction and fantasy and still expand their borders tremendously. Case in point, Grendel will be on again soon, specifically, Saturday at 11am (here), and on Sunday, we'll have the complementary Beowulf. I still can't figure out how someone could take such a timeless classic, and destroy it as thoroughly as they did in those two films. They beg to be on MST3K! The only was these films would be watchable is if you watch them with friends and either supply MST3K-like remarks or have to drink a shot every time Grendel uses his "scud missle."

There are some new episodes on tonight on Heroes (NBC), The Big Bang Theory (CBS), and Castle (ABC) as well as the usual Monday night line up of four reruns of Ghost Whisperer (SyFy) tonight.

Tomorrow, we have only one new SF entry, V, which will be the last new episode shown this year. Read about it here.

For the overall outlook of science fiction on TV this week, check this out!

And don't forget to check your local listings for The Legend of the Seeker, which is the only worthwhile sword and sorcery on TV right now. I'm seeing it locally on the CW on Sunday nights, but it may be different where you live, and they keep moving it around, so you may really have to look. Saturdays and daytime weekend TV have not been immune from this enjoyable series, so check it out.

Although they usually show the episode from the week before, and then a new episode, last week they showed the episode from the week before and then repeated it again immediately afterward. I was hoping they'd catch this, and show the new one they should have shown last week along with the next one, but they have definitely skipped an episode, and a whole new character has shown up and we don't know why. But they are doing reruns, so maybe we'll get to see the missing episode for the first time during the reruns.

Have a great evening!

**************************

Addition:

Today is the 46th anniversary of the showing of the very first Doctor Who episode!

Happy birthday, Doctor Who!

TGIF!

I've had a week full of getting up early or earlier than usual, and I just want some sleep!

For all you knitters out there, here's a collection of great patterns to make Christmas gifts. These are, for the most part, smaller projects that have lots of WOW appeal. If you don't see what you like, click on one anyway because each project has photos of other projects below it that are good ideas. One of the links is messed up, but if you click random other links, you'll find it below the featured pattern.

If you dig a few layers under all the links they provide, you'll find the Cinchy Hat, which I think would look great in a solid color, too.

Oh, and there are other pattern links on the side. I like this page so much that I'm putting a link to it in the sidebar.

There are only 35 days until Christmas!

*****************************

For any of you that live in the LA area, there's a Serenity and Firefly convention this weekend! There will be stars from the show! Enjoy! I envy you!

**************************

I went to the Comcast meeting yesterday. It was basically to sell stuff to the people here. The representative didn't know anything about TiVo for use with Comcast.

She said I had to call and talk to a representative over the phone. I did exactly that, and found out that if I trade in my Scientific Atlanta DVR for the newest Cisco model, I'll get a more reliable box, and a hard drive that's several times larger! Since the box is free, I'm leaning toward that option at the moment.

****************************

The usual (mostly) Friday night line up is on tonight. We have a new Ghost Whisperer and Medium on CBS, new Sanctuary and Stargate Universe on SyFy, and new White Collar and Monk on USA. That should keep your DVR busy!

Have a great Friday night and a wonderful weekend!

Quiet Tuesday

I've been doing some investigation on TiVo, and it sounds like a good deal.

Essentially, it would just be replacing my junky, chronically malfunctioning DVR from Comcast (which has a maximum recording space of 50 hours) with an excellent, top-of-the-line DVR from TiVo (which has an SD recording capacity of 180 hours, and can be expanded with a terabyte hard drive to almost infinity).

The details (if I understand it correctly) would include not paying Comcast $16 per month for the DVR, but $2 (?) for card(s) and TiVo $13 per month. If the info on TiVo is right about the card price, I would have a net savings of $1 per month. The catch is that I would have to buy the TiVo box for $150 (refurbished). Aside from the initial fee, it sounds like a fabulous deal.

Bear in mind that a new DVR (even if it is a TiVo) will not prevent Comcast from failing to broadcast closed captioning on a particular channel, or prevent them from doing THREE weekly tests in less than two hours, or any of the other junk they do. But it will at least give me a great DVR.

I'll be checking the details when I talk to the Comcast representative who will be here on Thursday. I suspect that his real agenda will be to sell us more stuff, but since that's not my agenda, I don't think that's going to happen.

***********************

This will be a busy week for me. Tomorrow, I get the permanent caps on my teeth and one last cavity filled at my dental appointment. I will then actually be able to bite into something without fear of my front teeth breaking. Well, I will after a few days, when my gums heal. They have to drill and do other work below the gum line, so I know that my gums will not be happy for a few days.

Thursday, there will be a Comcast representative here to discuss our service with us. I have to organize my thoughts, and calm myself to keep from screaming at him.

And Friday is the yearly inspection of our apartments. Oh, joy!

I shouldn't complain. It's partly to keep things working well. They check the seals on the refrigerator, and stuff like that.

********************

The Science Fiction Week on TV, courtesy of io9!

If you read the page at i09, you'll find that they were not overly impressed with The Prisoner last night. I'm hoping it will improve tonight. Throughout the original Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan fights back, whereas this particular number 6 was beginning to cave in the second episode. It might have the capacity to

And I made a mistake. It will be rerun again tonight, but only once, at 6pm (here), followed by a new episode, shown twice. But the rest of tonight includes four hours of Ghost Whisperer reruns on SyFy, brand new episodes of Heroes, The Big Bang Theory, and Castle.

In the meantime, I have lots to do.

Have a great evening!

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!

***************************

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!

Happy Columbus Day!

Happy Columbus Day, particularly to those of you who have a day off work!

For this blog, it's going to be a Miscellaneous Monday. And to kick off this insanity, here's a great photo with a great story to go with it:

Although, I must say that the photo sort of says it all!

******************************

For those of you who were worried, I found an article that proves that the 21st of December in 2012 will not be the end of the world. According to the article, the people on the History Channel have just misinterpreted some things.

Well, I'm certainly relieved!

**********************************

Now we have several different items about knitting.

If you're a knitter and also into fashion, you're in luck this year. Knits are big in both senses of the word in fashion at the moment! Read more about it here!

Knitstorming hits the news in this article.

Has your stash reached SABLE (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy) proportions? Read about yet another scheme to hide your addiction here.

**********************

I'm busy! Sorry! Otherwise I would be blogging more.

This past week, I had a lot going on that I couldn't control, including: having my kitchen completely redone (they ripped things out to the point where only the walls were left--I'm still moving stuff back into it), a dental appointment, and a doctor's appointment. That's on top of the normal stuff.

I'm currently working on the outside cover for Volume 3 of the Steve Canyon DVDs.

I'm not only knitting, but also designing Christmas presents. I'd love to discuss it more here, but can't for obvious reasons. I have just a bit of the toe to do to finish Holly's birthday present socks. The Christmas present socks are done and were delivered on Saturday. She knew all about them and even picked the colors for them, so I saw no reason why she shouldn't be enjoying them right now. On the subject of socks, that leaves only Malaia's socks to do.

But I'm trying to focus on Christmas stockings for all those that I haven't made them for. Which means that you can forget about it, Malaia. I already gave you and John yours.

But that leaves me trying to figure out how to make a festive Christmas stocking in Robin's favorite color, which is black! I am piecing together a concept for that little by little. Actually, I had a concept a while ago. I just have to find the yarn and stuff to put it into practice. Last year, I gave him a black Santa hat.

************************

There's a new Heroes on tonight! As well as a new Big Bang Theory.

Dead Like Me: Life After Death will be on the SyFy Channel at 5 (locally) in case you missed it the first time it was on, and will be followed by four episodes of Ghost Whisperer.

Have a great evening!

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!

*******************************

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.

******************

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!

***************************

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!

**********************

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!

Wedding Story

A fellow Tweep just put up a tweet about a woman who owns a flock of sheep, and made their fleeces into a beautiful wedding dress. You really ned to read the whole article and see the photos! The dress is unbelievably wonderful!

***************************************

Not much going on here at the moment. I've started on the fourth sock (of eight) for Kyle, and I'm up to the heel flap.

I have today and tomorrow before I'm one year older on Sunday, and I'll be spending today quietly, mostly knitting.

Tomorrow, Holly and I are going out. We'll be going to JoAnn Fabrics to get some supplies for a project she's making for Robin. We'll also be going to Olive Garden for dinner. I'm going to talk her into taking me to WalMart, too. And I'm really thinking seriously of giving myself a land line telephone (with wifi) for my birthday to supplement the computer. It will be so much fun!

****************************

There's a new Eureka on SyFy tonight, and they'll also be showing episodes of Ghost Whisperer sometime over the Labor Day weekend.

Have a great weekend! I know I will!

*********************************

Addition:

Read about how wonderful a pair of socks can be here!

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

**************************

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.

***************************

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!

***********************

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.

It's Friday!

Yesterday, I went to the library, and on the way, I noticed that the local ducks had a batch of ducklings. They were just too cute. I had to take a photo.

Here's the Earth Day Bag that I got the pattern from Ravelry, all finished.

It's OK. The construction, in general, is ingenious. The stitch pattern is intricate, and needlessly complicated and it biases. The author of the pattern says that the bias isn't a problem, and when you've used the bag a bit, it doesn't seem to bias as much. So there was a lot to like and a lot to dislike about this bag.

So, I started changeing it to suit myself. Here it is partly knit.

And here's the finished bag. It's a lot more open, which means it's bigger and will hold more without really using more yarn; the stitch pattern is much simpler, and it doesn't bias. When it has something in it and stretches, the pattern looks even better.

I'm calling it the Mrs. Figg String Bag. 

At the beginning of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Mrs. Figg is coming home from the market with canned (it clanks) cat food in her string bag. Hence, the name.

*********************

There's a new Ghost Whisperer on tonight!

May has traditionally been sweeps month, so there's been a lot of good stuff on the air. But this year, sweeps month (in May) ends on the twentieth. So last week and this have had a lot of season finales, including Dollhouse. This is the last Friday that's considered part of sweeps month, and I don't know if the episode of Ghost Whisperer is the season finale, but I'm glad there's something new to watch tonight.

Have a great Friday evening, and a great weekend!

Good Friday

Happy Good Friday to all those of you out there who are celebrating it.

I really intended to post yesterday, and never got around to it.

One of the things I wanted to say then was that Vicki Howell is having another contest! So get on over there and enter to get one of her books. I already have!

***************************

I finished the leg on the second Christmas stocking, and also the first of two socks from the yarn that I bought at AC Moore. I have been using it as a carry-around project while I was working on the Christmas stocking, which is not something I want to try to knit on the bus. I need to cast on for the other sock so that I'll still have a carry-around project.

The stocking, by the way, still needs a couple of ends darned in and then it's switch to knitting in the round, when it will be a mindless project like the sock. In fact, that part of it is exactly like the sock.

**********************

I'm starting to get excited about the Sparkly Shawl (see Wednesday's post). The yarn is in the mail, and I think the new crochet hook I ordered from Etsy is probably on its way by now, too. Now all I need is the beads. There's always tomorrow for that. 

Holly was sick last week. Her voice sounded bad over the phone. But she's feeling much better now, and we plan to go do something tomorrow. I'm hoping to get beads. She sounded pretty outraged that I would want to drive all the way to Tyson's Corner, which is where Beadazzled is, so I guess we might go to the new bead store in Occoquan. If not, we'll probably stop at JoAnn Fabrics. I'm pretty sure I remember seeing all the beads in the store that I have been thinking about and/or considering for the shawl.

*************************

I hope that any Moonlight fans out there got to catch it on the SciFi Channel last night. If you missed it, there is another one on tonight.

There's also a new Dollhouse and a new Ghost Whisperer.

Usually, around Easter time there are some Biblical movies on, but there's nothing this year before Sunday, and you'll have to look to find them.

Have a great weekend!

Hi! It's Friday!

I have lots to do today, so this will be a short post.

First of all, before I forget, here's the post from Vicki Howell about another contest she's having on her blog. If you're a crocheter, get on over there and enter!

**************************

Here's where I am on the first of two Christmas stockings I'm knitting on a commission.

I'm about to switch to knitting in the round for the foot. It will eventually (when I've finished the foot) need a seam up the back of the leg.

***************************

I have to go over to Comcast to pay my bill and yell at them once again. I yelled last month, but I started keeping a journal of stuff that's been messed up on TV because of them, and I've got two pages almost completely filled already. I plan to make an "I Hate Comcast" sandwich board to wear over there. They drive me crazy!

This is going to keep me pretty busy for the rest of the day, considering that I have to take two buses to get there, so it's a three or four hour round trip. I'm considering stopping at JoAnn Fabrics as a reward on the way back.

I also need to pay a flurry of other bills before I leave to do that.

***************************

I watched a bit of the British version (the original) of Life on Mars before I watched the US version. I was less impressed with the original than most people seemed to be, but persevered through the first four or five US episodes. I'd read where some people were annoyed that the US version was so different, but the main difference I found in the first few episodes was that they called Sam's phone a "wireless" in the original, and a "cell" in the US versions. I didn't really see much difference between the two. They even had the woman policeman (Annie) in a knock-off of a British police uniform which is something I've never seen on a US cop anywhere.

After the first few episodes, I gave up on it, lost interest. But then I heard rumors that Sam kills himself in order to get back to 2008 in the original, and when the season finale came up last week, I watched it.

Wow! It was good. And Sam didn't kill himself. The ending was neat, though. I won't say any more except watch the reruns (if they ever show the series again).

**************************

Tru Calling is on the SciFi daytime rotation today.

Tonight, we have a new episode of Dollhouse, and a rerun of Ghost Whisperer. 

On SciFi, a rerun of last week's Ark of Truth followed by the premier of Continuum this evening in the Stargate universe. If you have a problem watching Dollhouse and Continuum, the latter will be rerun next Friday.

I have to get running if I hope to do all I need to do today.

Have a great weekend!

Oh, and since it's a bill-paying day, I thought you would enjoy this: