Human Target is Back!

The season premier of Human Target is tonight at 8 (here) on Fox!

Yes, I know that it's not science fiction, but it's a great action adventure show. Each week Christopher Chance (Mark Valley) protects someone who has become a human target, or as In Plain Sight puts it, "Somebody wants them dead."

For fans of Pushing Daisies (which I loved!), you should know that it also stars Chi McBride, who played Emerson Cod, the knitting detective who wrote and made pop-up books. He always plays a character that I just want to run up to and hug.

And for fans of Torchwood, there will be a new character in the series played by the same actress (Indira Varma) who played Susie.

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The yarn for the Christmas stockings arrived today. It's a very bright, warm red, perfect for the Christmas season. I still need the white yarn for the toes and heels and the fun fur for the cuffs to start, but they're going to be really terrific! I'll have a photo for you real soon, now.

I have to go. The tail end of the Doctor Who marathon on BBC in America is on, and I really want to watch it!

Have a lot of fun tonight watching Human Target!

Stupidity!

The universe is going out of it's way today to show me how many stupid people there are in this world. Some of the examples are just dumb and even funny, but some verge on fraud and medical malpractice.

I was just watching TV via Comcast.

First of all, who in the world at ABC came up with the idea that it would be absolutely spellbinding to watch a spelling bee? It's right up there with golf for excitement and thrills! They could have started rerunning Ugly Betty, but no, they apparently think the public is really committed to watching children spell difficult words.

Anyway, they get to the commercial, and there are national commercials which Comcast blocks out so that they can show local commercials that they get paid for. They keep telling me they don't, but this is an example of how they actually do.

So a commercial starts out for the new movie Up. You hear a knock at the door, and see an old man walk to the door and look through the spyhole in the door. Here they change to another commercial, and you see a beautiful young woman getting dressed! 

I'm sure that the humor was inadvertent. Due to their high rate of messing up, this must have been entirely accidental. This is actually the least obnoxious mistake that Comcast has made in its entire history.

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I got a bill from T-Mobile that I needed to get straightened out. The first problem is that I had a program on my old Sidekick 3 phone which had a $1.99 per month charge. I bought a new G1 phone from them on 26 Feb 09, so the charge should have stopped, effective that date. The bill testifies that the charge not only was not stopped and that they still want me to pay for it, but it also says that they want me to pay for this "service" that I'm not actually getting, THREE TIMES EACH MONTH! So, I called them to get it straightened out. They promised me that it would be fixed, but they promised that for the future, not right now. It has to go to the billing department to be fixed.

So, I'm still slightly annoyed that although they promised it will be fixed, it currently isn't.

Then I go on to ask questions about the billing for my new phone, and discover that although I wrote a check for $102.99 (and they got paid $102.99), the person in the store (who apparently can't read or count) reported to T-Mobile that I paid $68 instead. Now I have to go over there and yell in the store. I'm really not happy with this. It said the amount on the check. I told her the amount of the check. And she was still stupid enough (or larcenous enough) to write down $68!

So, now my only recourse is to spend money and time to go over there on the bus and prove to them that they have an error. And if I go on the bus, I'm going to be in serious pain by the time I get home! I am past anger and into rage over this!

My bad temper from all this was helped along by the fact that I'm having to fill out all sorts of forms about my financial situation for a couple of government agencies, with the attendant frustration over questions that don't really explain what they're asking, coupled with all the fun of looking up all the paperwork to prove the information I've put on the forms.

But then I get a call from my daughter, Holly. Her blood pressure is dangerously low because an incompetent doctor has taken someone with a perfectly acceptable blood pressure and convinced her that she has high blood pressure and should take medicine for it. The result is that here blood pressure is now so low that she can't stand up without feeling faint.

I hate doctors that just want to sell drugs! I run across them all the time! There was an idiot (apparently the word  "endocrinologist" is synonymous with "moron") at the VA hospital in DC who wanted to prescribe a drug that nearly killed me the first and last time I took it. He was really determined, too. He kept insisting that it couldn't have possibly have caused what it did, even though the labeling carries a warning that it can do that! He seemed to want to kill me just so that he could sell some drugs, which is especially weird because the government would have been paying for them. Everything that fool wanted to prescribe was injurious to me! So, after a trip all the way to DC, I still had to go see another doctor if I wanted to avoid death, because he absolutely refused to prescribe anything that wouldn't cause harm to me.

Which is reminding me of another idiot doctor at the VA who looked in my ear and pronounced it healthy. It's NOT, and I'm thinking that rather than going over there and giving back the hearing aids, I think I'll go over there and try to get some actual help, for a change.

As if my mood wasn't bad enough after all this, I talked to a friend who has been desperately trying to hang on through this depression that they're calling a recession, and he's losing the battle. 

They plan to turn off his electricity tomorrow, his girlfriend's car was just repossessed, and the bank has been telling him that they're renegotiating the mortgage and there's nothing to worry about, he won't lose the house, but they're also telling him that they're about to foreclose. I wish I could help, but I'm in nearly as bad shape as he is.

I'm at a point where I want to hit something!

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ABC will be having a show on Friday evening entitled Un-Broke: What You Need to Know About Money. With any luck, it'll be more helpful than the stupid thing that was on last week, where they showed you how to save a but of money on things that were already outrageously expensive.

But there's some good news:

Pushing Daisies will be on ABC on Saturday evening! Obviously, it's a rerun (because it's been canceled),  but Pushing Daisies is always worth watching. Check your schedules and find the wacky pie-maker with a supernatural ability, his dead girlfriend, and their friend, the knitting detective!

I hope you've been having a better day than I have!

I'm Going to the Sheep and Wool Fest!

Like The Little Engine that Could, I keep saying that to myself over and over again. And I'm hoping desperately that it's true. 

Last night, the temperature outside started to go down. It went into the sixties outside (according to the weather people), and by 8 or 9 last night, it was at about 70, where it hovered until midnight or so. So, after an evening, all night, and most of the day (which has been cloudy, cool and rainy), the temp in my apartment is down to 80 degrees, and I've started to feel like I'm not being cooked. The air conditioning should be coming on at any minute now.

After the past five days, 80 degrees feels cool. The rain has washed some of the pollen out of the air, which is a good thing. The cars outside were all yellow because they were so covered in pollen, but they're all different colors now.

And I'm finally starting to feel like I might make it.

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I was reading the Yarn Harlot's blog today, and she mentioned a bag she had her yarn in. The site that bag link is to appears to be down at the moment, but the link should work when it's back up again. She also mentioned that she had one of their knitting bags, and it looks like dynamite! Same caveat on the link. I'm hoping that somebody has them for sale at the MSWF!

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I don't really have a lot to talk about at the moment. All I've been doing for most of the last week is lying on my back reading and melting.

Right now, I'm on the last Twilight Series book, Breaking Dawn, and really enjoying it. It's about teenage love, so it's full of hormones and "I'd rather die than...," vampires, and werewolves, but it's a quick, easy, fun read. I'm enjoying it. 

The books are also so big that they'd make great doorstops, so I got the first two books of The Princess Diaries out of the library so that I'd have something to take to the MSWF that I was willing to actually carry. The writing in these is very fun and alive. I'm sure I'm going to love them.

I'm going to go and recuperate from the heat.

Have a great evening! Remember, the work week is half over!

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Addition:

Check out the first annual KNIFTAS, which is the Knitting in Film and Television Awards! I loved the knitting scenes on Pushing Daisies!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Due to the fun I plan to have tomorrow, I doubt that I will get a chance to post tomorrow, so I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving now.

More than a week ago, I got a notice that there was a package for me, and when I went to pick it up, I was told there were actually two packages. Then the person could only find one, and thought he was mistaken.

Well, after waiting and waiting for my Knit Picks order, (and judging by past performance, they're pretty quick), I finally asked if there was a package for me even though I hadn't gotten a notice.

It turns out that my package had been sitting there for over a week!

So, here's part of it. That's the black Swish DK wool yarn for a hood for John M, and some of the same in blue/lavender for mitts for another Christmas present. The yarn is yummy, and, as you can see, I managed to make the first mitt last night.

Also, (not in the photo) I got some 47 inch cables for my Options kit, and a delightful book called Knockdown Knits. I bought it because I liked the star shaped bag, plus the hat with a big star on it. Written for and by roller derby skaters, it's fun. It's a great book for active people because it has a couple of patterns for slings for injured arms and one to hold a bag of frozen peas for your knee. Plus lots of other fun knits.

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A new Pushing Daisies will be on tonight. I got the news this week that it will be canceled along with Eli Stone and I'm sad. I fired off notes to the network protesting both.

Later tonight (actually tomorrow morning at 1:30 here), Timeline will be on the SciFi channel according to the electronic TV Guide that Comcast puts out. According to the SciFi Channel, it will not be on. Check your schedules.

And fibermom mentioned that she wanted to see the Eloise Movies, so I wanted to let here know that they will be on ABC Family on Saturday. Check schedules!

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We've been having dull, overcast weather all this month. I ran over to the library to pick up the books they were holding for me in the grey, cold-looking overcast, and as soon as I got back the sun came out. Right now, the sun has just set but it's still lighting up the sky and making everything look very pretty.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

Walk to the Library

After my post yesterday, I went to the library. I returned two books, picked up two books I'd requested, and found two other books to take home with me.

On the way, I played with my new camera and discovered that Winter had arrived!

The first bridge on my walk is a tiny one:

Followed by the covered bridge that I like so much.

There's a fabulous view of a fountain further up in the water, but there were only so many photos I could download. I'll add it tomorrow. You can see the fountain in the background on this photo, though.

This is part of the maze of townhouse-like buildings in what is actually a business park.


The maze is full of stairs, ramps and other levels, as well as winding paths.

Beside the lake, is this little outlook point at the back of the mill.

I love walking to the library. It's so pretty.

But I didn't love the results of the walk last night and today. It felt like winter, and I could tell it was cold, but I didn't feel cold. Unfortunately, I am now dealing with the reaction my muscles always have when they get cold. My back muscles are all crampy and sore. I plan to do some serious laying down today interspersed with other activities that support my back.

The most vigorous item planned for today is pulling out the heating pad for my back.

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I've finished the second front part of the pockets, and gotten three quarters of the way through the back down to the bottom of the pockets. By tomorrow, I expect to be where I was three days before.

No point in photos, they just show less than the photos I've already posted.

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Pushing Daisies is back with a new episode tonight! And at 11 pm, Van Helsing is on TNT.

Have a great one!

Quick Update

More news is out on the Steve Canyon blog! Read about it here!

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Welcome to the Jungle is out in the stores! I was asleep at the switch, and they sneaked the latest Dresden Files books out while I wasn't looking! And before I forget about it, Backup will be out on Halloween or the next day.

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I finished the first sleeve on the Celtic sweater completely (including the I-cord) and am nearly finished the first sleeve. There's about an inch to go plus the I-cord.

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Pushing Daisies will be on tonight at the same time as Knight Rider.

I have some errands to do, and am otherwise busy, but here's something you might enjoy.

Have a great evening!

Another Wednesday

I spent about five hours of my day today paying my Comcast bill. Most of that time was spent riding on a bus or waiting for one of 4 different buses I needed to ride to get there.

But I did get to talk to one of the technical people at the office. He promised me he would look into the fact that there's no closed captioning on ABC Family, and hasn't been since early May.

In all fairness, I have to say that they have started (usually) to do their "weekly tests" by transmitting a ribbon across the top of the screen and they've been doing it at around 2 am, rather than showing a lime green screen that completely blocks out all the picture and sound during prime time on Friday, Saturday and Tuesday evenings. So, that's an improvement.

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Yesterday, I got all the way back to the start of the redo of the Saint John's cross on the back of the Celtic sweater. I love the St. John's cross with the interlaced ring that's in Elsebeth Lavold's Viking Patterns for Knitting book, but it's much smaller than I wanted for the back of the sweater. 

I solved that originally by putting a "frame" around it to make it seem to take up more space.

But this time around, I was just really ticked off, and sat down with some graph paper and redid the cross a bit larger. I really think I'm going to like this SO much better than the way I did it originally.


Well, I didn't include the shoulders in the photo, so maybe you can't see how much bigger it is, but it is bigger, trust me. I like it so much better than the original.

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John says he can't see or smell smoke from his house anymore, so it looks like that's going to be alright for him.

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Pushing Daisies and Knight Rider will be on tonight! Presidential debate, too. But I can't watch the debate for long without getting completely upset, so, I'll probably miss part of it. 

Have a great evening!

September Charms Homework

You may or may not be aware that I have joined a Harry Potter House Cup KAL on Ravelry.

Each month (or in one case, each week) there is a homework assignment posted for any members who care to participate.

The September Charms assignment was to choose either Lumos or Wingardium Leviosa to knit something for.

For Wingardium Leviosa, we need to make something that shows something that flies, or, for extra points, is something that flies itself, like a kite. The sweater I did for an earlier HP KAL would have been perfect. One year, for Christmas, Harry gets a blue sweater from Mrs. Weasley with a snitch on the front of it. Of course, since I did this for a previous KAL, it's not eligible.



For Lumos, you need to make something that shows something that lights up, or, better yet, something that actually lights up.

I made this Christmas stocking with beads (some of them star shaped) and white yarn that are glow-in-the-dark, so that when the lights go out, the stocking lights up by itself.

You can see other finished projects here.

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Yesterday, I planned to do a lot of things, but then reality intruded with it's own plans, and very little of the the things I planned actually got done.

I'm finding that the current second great depression is causing a lot of the same effects as the first one There was a discussion I heard on the radio about it because of a book that had been written on the the great depression. 

The author said that it tended to separate people by their reaction to it. Some people became very nasty and treated others badly because those others could no longer afford to pay their debts. Some of these people went so far as to abandon their children.

In other cases, whole communities banded together to help each other survive in the best way possible.

Yesterday, annoyed that my bank had imposed fees that they previously had told me they wouldn't do, I went to close an account with them. I was amazed to find that they refunded some of the fees, changed my account to one without fees, and added in several nice things I hadn't even thought to ask for! So, now, according to the new set-up, I not only have a little money to spend at the Fall Fiber Fest, that money shouldn't be spent on anything but fiberarts, and I really need to spend it to avoid bank fees! This is the first time in my life that somebody else wanted me to spend money at a fiberarts sale!

So, now I'm really excited about the Fall Fiber Fest on Saturday! There has been some rain last week, and it looks like it might rain now, so I'm not sure about the footing we'll find this weekend. I'm taking my Wellies. But the weather sounds like it would not be better if we were given an air conditioning controller to set it up! The high for the day will be about 70, so we may want a little something to keep warm at some point, but it will not be too hot, even in the sun that is expected!

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So, here is the schedule coming up for a while:

4 Sep 08  Fall Fiber Festival

18 Sep 08  Maryland Renaissance Festival

6-9 Nov 08  Stitches East

And then, of course, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year and Twelfth Night.

Wow! What a lot of wonderful stuff to do!

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John and I are getting down to the end on the front cover of the New Steve Canyon DVD. We are pretty much agreed on the cover except for the colors for the title. We worked on it for a while yesterday.

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Tonight, Pushing Daisies is back on ABC for it's season premier!

In non-SF TV news tonight, it will be followed by Private Practice,  and Bones will be on at the same time.

Knight Rider will also be on (NBC) at the same time, which creates a conflict for me. I found the premier sufficiently intriguing to want to watch some more, but it will not be on again later in the week on the SciFi Channel, so I'll have to make some hard choices in order to see it.

Tomorrow evening, get set for another new episode of Supernatural, which has developed into the best spooky show on TV for a long time.

And on Friday, the premier of Sanctuary will be lighting up the SciFi Channel.

Have a great rest-of-the-week!