It's Dead, Jim!

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

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

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

I continued trying to figure it out.

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

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

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

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

I'm bummed!

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

I hope your weekend has been better than mine!

Hope You Had a Happy Equinox!

Yesterday was the Equinox, and I hope you had a good one.

Yesterday, Jupiter was the closest to Earth it has been for 47 years, and the closest it will be in our lifetimes.

I have a camera with a looooong lens, but this was the best photo I could get of it last night. It looked very bright when I was just looking at it, but the photo made it almost invisible. I had to hike up the contrast drastically in PhotoShop to be able to see it. I was hoping to be able to see the moons, but just couldn't. It's possible that the light fog that was present was responsible for that.

While I was out there and taking photos, I took a picture of the moon and Jupiter together:

I had to hike up the contrast to be able to see Jupiter in this one, too, in spite of the fact that Jupiter and the Moon looked equally bright to me. I only messed with the contrast on Jupiter, not the moon in the photo above. The sort of halo around the moon is because of the mist we were experiencing where I live at the time.

Tonight, though, the moon will be full, and maybe the mist won't happen. We'll see. And although Jupiter was at it's very closest last night, it's not like it's moving directly away from us, so it'll still be pretty close in case you missed it last night!

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Tonight, we have a bonanza of good shows on! Season premiers include Bones, Fringe, The Big Bang Theory, Grey's Anatomy, and (I think) The Mentalist! Vampire Diaries premiered last week, so there will be a new episode, but not a premier.

While we're on the subject of the media, my friend, Tim Davis is currently filming a zombie movie (Nudist Camp Zombie Massacre), and the last day of principle filming will be on Sunday. I'll be going (doing make up), and I just found out that Tim needs some extra zombies, so I'm going to ask Holly if she wants to be a zombie for the movie. Yes, Holly, you will get a credit on the movie if you do this!

I'll be taking my cameras along, and snapping lots of pictures. I already told Tim I'd give him copies of all the photos that turn out well. I'll see if it's all right with him to show some of them on my blog. It sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun, plus I'll get to add more credits to my IMdB page!

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As you can see, there's not much happening around here, just celestial events and zombie movies! I probably won't get a chance to blog tomorrow, though.

Have fun tomorrow and I hope your weekend is as fun as mine's going to be!

Holly and the Doubters plus even more Star Wars

I got a phone call from Holly last night, and she was feeling a little down because she happened to mention to some people the work she had done on John's movie Twilight of the Dogs (which was later released as New Genesis by a "distributing company" who shall remain nameless, but who were obviously a covert branch of the CIA, and felt that they should keep any videos they were "making available" a deep dark secret).

The reason mentioning it to some people was making her sad was that they didn't believe her!

So, for all you doubting Thomases out there, here's official notification. Holly did, indeed work on Twilight! Holly did some voice work as one of the children who were dancing and singing near the end of the movie, and she did some rotoscoping of special effects wherever Gage fired her alien pistol.

That's Gage above, with her alien pistol, and the fabulous costume that Nancy Handwork made for her to wear in the movie.

If that's not enough proof for you, you can check out John's blog about his current project, Steve Canyon on DVD. Check the sidebar to talk to him on iChat (or AIM) or leave a comment, and he'll get back to you. If you like Steve Canyon, check the blog anyway, because he put up a new post fairly recently. And, just so you doubters know, I did the art for the covers for the DVDs. And the last one will be coming up soon!

I love the Steve Canyon blog, but I think that John should put up his own blog, because the Steve Canyon blog only covers one of the incredible things that he's doing! And I've been sworn to secrecy because there are several things in the works that are still in negotiations and haven't been settled, but I think I can say with confidence that there are big, exciting things that will be happening for him soon. I've already offered to help him in any way I can because it sounds like this is going to be a fun ride! And when did I ever turn down a fun ride?

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Just when I thought I was through with Star Wars as a subject for my blog, Tim Davis put more photos up on Facebook! So, here I am with more photos and stories.

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away. . .

There was an electronic genius named Tim Pace. Tim enjoyed science fiction and Star Wars, and he made a little 'droid named R2D2

That's Tim Pace on your left, and Tim Davis on your right, and, of course, R2D2 in the middle.

And the little 'droid went on a trip to Washington, DC, and had his photo taken on the mall.

That's Bruce Rauscher on the right, posing as Luke Skywalker, and I'm afraid I don't know the princess who was with him and R2.

He got there in the wonderful, amazing, science fiction van that Tim also built!

Left to right: That's Tim Pace, Bruce Rauscher, R2D2, and the incognito princess.

Here's R2D2 and Tim Davis, also out on the mall.

And, finally, R2 all on his own.

That R2 unit could roll around all on his own (with a little help from radio control) and make beeps and all the other appropriate sound effects!

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As mentioned before, it's no longer sweeps month, and consequently there's nothing on TV tonight!

That's right, really nothing!

Tomorrow night, The Vampire Diaries will be followed by Moonlight on the CW, both reruns, but better than the nothing that's on tonight! That will be followed on CBS by The Mentalist (also a rerun).

All that will be followed by Burn Notice and Royal Pains (both new) and White Collar (rerun) on USA. For once, the stations have spaced things out so that you can watch each of those shows live and in the order I've listed them. I know Royal Pains and White Collar aren't SF, or even spyfi, but they're good and worth watching.

It's the middle of the week! I hope you're having fun with this week! I am!

Fiberarts Update

Ever since the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, I've been thinking a lot about spinning. I got some (4 oz.) roving that's 50% merino, 25% silk, and 25% bamboo, and it's a dream! It's space dyed in one color, and goes from navy blue to natural white, with all the shades of blue in between represented. I'm spinning it with some slubs in it, and I'm going to ply it with some medium blue corriedale that I'm making slubby, too. I'm pretty sure I have a lot more of the med. blue, so I'll probably have a solid yarn to mix with it in a project. Here's the variegated blue.

And I've not only been thinking about it, I've been doing it! I have about half a bobbin of the medium blue spun, and I just started on the variegated blue yesterday. This is what I did yesterday.

I also got 8 oz of the same stuff that's hand dyed with lavenders and blues. It's in two 4 oz bags, and the bags don't seem to exactly match, so I think I'll use one bag for one ply and the other for the other ply and make it a slubby two ply. MAYBE, I might even sell it in my Etsy store!

All of the roving shown here is from Bullen's Woolens, and it's just dreamy, and a joy to touch or spin!

Oh, and while I was at the Sheep and Wool Festival, I got a bag to hold a sock project. It's a Hiya Hiya small project bag. The good part about it is that I can close the zippered top most of the way, and the yarn feeds out through the space left, and it's got a small zippered pocket inside to hold stitch markers, sock needles (I like to knit most of it on two circular needles, but the heel is much easier for me to knit on double points, so I like to have the double points with me for when I get to the heel.

The sock that's shown with it still needs the cast-on yarn end woven in, but it's a sample of the yarn I bought on Mother's day. I love self-patterning yarn! It's Red Heart Heart and Sole yarn in toasted almond.

I also bought a beautiful pendant knitting needle sizer from Carolina Homespun, although I believe it's distributed by Deborah's Garden. The one I bought is the light lavender one, and it's much prettier than it looks in the photo! I have to get a cord or chain for it!

I also ordered some stitch markers yesterday. These are being sold by Seeking Sanity on Etsy, and she's currently having a sale of some really beautiful stitch markers. She's about to move soon, and would rather sell her stock than move it, so check it out if you're in the market for stitch markers because she's got some great deals. The ones I ordered are, first a set of small markers (left) for socks. The end-of-round marker is a lavender glass, and the others are blue goldstone.

The medium markers on the right are a pale lapis, and very pretty. She's also made me a set of medium markers in blue goldstone. They were shipped today, and I can't wait for them to arrive! I was just looking at her site and found another listing for stitch markers that I like.

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For you science fiction fen, here is a reminder that Towel Day is rapidly approaching, and you should prepare your towel now! Towel day will be next Tuesday, the 25th of May!

As you can see, carrying a towel on Towel Day is mandatory, but there are a lot of other ways that you can celebrate. You'll have to scroll down pretty far on that link, but there are all kinds of celebrations all over the world, plus other ways you can celebrate, such as wallpaper for your computer.

42!

Oh, and if you don't understand that, you urgently need to read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!

Oh, and BBC in America has started showing Doctor Who and some other SF shows in the afternoons and Tuesday evening. Check your local listings for exact times!

Tonight, we'll be seeing a brand new Fringe and The Mentalist! If you check your guide and find a rerun of The Mentalist, keep looking. There'll be two episodes on tonight!

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I keep meaning to mention this and keep forgetting. My granddaughter wanted to buy some of the Sookie Stackhouse books, and asked me to put them in my Amazon store. So, I created a whole separate section for those books and videos. Check it out here. It has an advantage if you're shopping Amazon anyway. Amazon lists the first few books with the number of their order in the series, but quits after the first three or so. Then it's hard to figure out which is the next book. These are all listed in order, ending with a collection of short stories and the DVDs of the TV series.

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Comcast really surprised me yesterday!


First of all, they called me three or four times on Tuesday, to ask if the problems that have been going on for more than three years had magically healed themselves the way Christian Scientists think they can do. After being told that no, they hadn't magically gone away, they called me several more times yesterday to ask if the problem had cured itself, and did I still want someone to come out. I assured them that I did.


Then, nobody showed up!


Well, they told me that the supervisor (instead of a regular repairman) would be checking the whole building, and might not come to my door, but that was before I requested a new DVR.


I didn't realize until last night that he must have come and fixed whatever was wrong with the building. It took about a half an hour of watching before I realized that I had a crisp, clear picture that wasn't freezing or breaking up every 5 minutes or so. The sound didn't cut out at any point, or drastically change it's level, either! And the closed captioning continued to display, not fading out every so often. Then I started watching some recordings on my DVR, and, while not perfect, they were much better than they had been! I don't know what he did, but I can't help but wonder why he didn't do it thee years ago.


I have to say that I'm stunned and amazed! I'm almost afraid to say this out loud (because I'm afraid that if I say it, it will all go away), but I think they actually fixed it!


If this keeps up, I could even get to like Comcast!

I'm rethinking my need for a TiVo. I'm sure that I'd like a TiVo better, but it costs money, and the DVR I have didn't. It's a hard choice.


Well, I'm going to go do some spinning and enjoy my newly functional TV reception!


Have a great evening!

Happy April Fools Day!

Happy Birthday, Malaia!

My granddaughter, Malaia, is having her birthday today, and I wish her the best!

Somehow, April Fools Day suits her for a birthday!

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If you look around the internet today, you'll find a lot of April Fools Jokes.

I happened to look at something on TwitPic, and noticed that their name is upside down.

If you go to Google today, you might notice that they seem to have changed their name to Topeka.

And if you believe that, here's an article for you! DO NOT, under any circumstances (unless your boss is leaning over your shoulder) miss that last link! It's totally outrageous!

The most elaborate April Fools Day joke I've ever seen for fiberartists appears here, and involves a whole new fiber that you've never heard of before! This is just too funny!

If you enjoyed that, check out what they did last year!

Here's more information on the history of April Fool's Day. As the article points out, it's difficult to tell if the "history" is true or an April Fool's Day joke. My personal favorite is the "Arm the Homeless" campaign! Don't forget to scroll down for lots of links to other related stories!

The DiGionoro people want to help you publish an outrageous story to Facebook, and give you a coupon for a pizza to celebrate Aprils Fool's Day. Check it out, it's really hilarious.

Wikipedia has an April Fool's Day story on their main page today. That link will probably only get you the story today, but here's what should be a direct link. In case you're interested, here's the link to the actual April Fool's Day information on Wikipedia. Don't neglect to scroll down and find out how Alabama changed the value of Pi! My particular favorite is about the resort called San Seriffe. I have done typesetting, and anyone who appreciates typefaces will enjoy the description!

If you keep scrolling down, you'll be able to spend a large part of today reading about past April Fool jokes and pranks. One of my favorites is the Dead Fairy Hoax.

And last, but not least, click on the April Fool link and read about the Google vowel outage!

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The universe played it's April Fool joke on me just a little early this year. One of the things the doctor prescribed for me to take is Nasonex. I took it according to directions yesterday.

The instant reaction was lots of sneezing that lasted quite a while, strong nasal itching and having my nose and every sinus I own filled to bursting in less than one minute! It was horrible! Kind of like having your head explode!

My nose and sinuses are just now starting to clear out. I think this is what's called a paradoxical reaction. My eyes still feel all swollen and bleary and I'm exhausted from little sleep last night due to imminent suffocation!

But I got the blood tests for the ENT doctor done at 8:30 AM today, which is good.

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In science fiction media news today, check out this link for information on the changing face of science fiction schedules on TV. Some shows are finishing their season and others are starting, so you have to be on your toes to avoid missing something you might want to see. Some of the info is for this week, and some for into May.

There are lots of new episodes to regular shows tonight. They include The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, Fringe, Flash Forward and The Mentalist. Unfortunately, if you can only record or watch two shows at a time, you won't be able to watch them all.

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I happened across information on an interesting new artist. Check her out here!

I have some stuff I really (should have done it yesterday) have to get done, so I have to go, now.

I wish I could go out and walk for a bit before it gets dark. It's warm and sunny out, and perfect for a walk.

Back to the grindstone!

Have a great April Fool's Day, and don't get taken in!

Salt!

Salt is a healthy, and, if it's natural sea salt, nutritious part of any diet. It's essential to good health, and, in fact, to the continuation of life, itself!

Somewhere along the line, there was a clinical trial of various factors that might affect blood pressure, and two of the factors tested were salt and sugar.

Sugar raised blood pressure. More sugar raised it even more. And the more sugar you eat, the more it raises your blood pressure. The media was ready to report that until TV and radio stations and newspapers got phone calls from the sugar groups threatening lawsuits to any company that reported that news. Of course, the threatened companies said that it was true and they could report it, and the sugar people said, that's right, but it'll cost you lots of time and money to win that victory. The media didn't report that part of the study.

They reported the results on salt a little backward. Phrased more understandably, salt deprivation lowers your blood pressure slightly right before you DIE from it!

So, if your doctor tells you to cut back on salt in order to lower your blood pressure, he's really saying "I get my medical information from confused sources on TV, NOT from actual medical literature!" If he had read the actual trial, he would know better than to tell you that!

As of about five years ago, doctors in hospitals had killed at least eight people by denying them salt. That total may be higher now. They were unable to kill anyone outside of a hospital because studies found that when people approach death from lack of salt, they will crave it so much that they will eat it no matter what the doctors say.

In fact, the health benefits of salt are extraordinary, and exactly backwards from what doctors usually tell us.

So, I was appalled today to read this article in the New York Sun. It seems that the NY Department of Health and Mental Hygiene wants to kill the citizens of NY by depriving them of salt!

For an article that's actually based on facts about salt, check out this article. Here's some more basic information about salt. This second article is really interesting, especially about the different kinds of salt.

Gourmet cooks delight in the different kinds of edible salt available, and the best restaurants serve dishes with dividers filled with different varieties of salt so that you can salt your own food with the type of salt you prefer or wish to try.

I've been so interested in this because salt is one of my favorite things, and I'm starting to talk about health things here, that I'm starting my own Amazon store. It's definitely under construction at this point, but I'm starting to add salt products. This is a part of a healthy diet, and you might as well enjoy it!

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If you catch this post right away and tune in, you might catch the daytime rotation of Jake 2.0 on SyFy!

There's a new Mentalist on tonight as well as the season finale of Burn Notice!

Have a wonderful day!

I'm in a Daze

This is the second week this month that has me getting up early several mornings in one week. Today was one of those days, and tomorrow will be, too.

Earlier this month, I had to get up early on Tuesday to go to the dentist and have my kitchen replaced, and then on Thursday for something else that I can't think of at the moment.

This week, we have another early dental appointment on Tuesday, followed by an appointment to tell me what my new rent will be for the next year, and tomorrow I have to get up early again to get a flu shot.

The dental appointment on Tuesday wasn't fun, but I've just about recovered from that. The awful tastes/smells are almost gone, it feels a little funny, but doesn't really hurt anymore, and the whole center of my face is still not happy about having been filled with Novocaine, but I'm pretty much over it.

Even though my income won't be going up next year (Susan, in her wisdom insists that the newspeople reporting that Social Security will not be going up next year are wrong, and it will), and my rent is dependent on my income, and in spite of the fact that I managed to muster $500 in eligible medical expenses from last year, my rent is still going UP! That $500 in medical expenses is getting me a whole $13 a month discount on my rent. Wow! I'm underwhelmed!

I'm also tired from getting up early two days this week, and I'm going to have to repeat it all tomorrow to get a flu shot.

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There's a lot of good stuff on TV tonight!

Vampire Diaries and Supernatural will be on the CW tonight, and they'll both be new. For any of you who (like me) have missed some of the Vampire Diaries, they've been running reruns at other times. I think there was one on Tuesday, and I know there was another one last night. Supernatural has been dynamite, but I still haven't made up my mind about the Vampire Diaries. I keep hoping it'll grow on me, but so far, it's "Who cares?"

There's a new Mentalist on tonight, too, and a new Flash Forward.

I need to manage to catch up on my sleep. Unfortunately, it's impossible for me to "catch up on my sleep" because if I miss those early morning hours, I'm never able to catch up.

Have fun with all the great TV tonight!

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!

I'll Pass, for Today

Well, today was another day that I had to get up early.

At this point, I'm so tired that I can hardly focus my eyes, I can't tell if I need to eat or sleep more, and my brain just isn't working. I tried to get some sleep earlier, but my sinuses decided to try to drown me, and I don't sleep well when drowning.

I need some food and sleep, and some time to unwind and recover.

So, what I'm trying to say is that I'm not going to be putting up much of a post today.

Flash Forward will be on tonight, as will Supernatural, Fringe and The Mentalist.

Enjoy!

I'm going to veg out.

The Netbook Jones

Within the space of this week so far, several things have changed for me.

These things have only changed in my head so far, but that's the most important place to start.

The first of those things is that I was reading the Drex Files, which is a science fiction blog (see my post from earlier in the week). Anyway, he did a blog post about the Steve Canyon DVDs I've been working on. I made a comment on a later post about something in a Steve Canyon strip, and he asked me to write about myself for his blog: my experiences in the Air Force, and also my experiences with science fiction fandom and friend of John Ellis. What that means is that there's a lot to write about.

I told him that he wouldn't get it all at once.

Anyway, earlier this week I sent him some photos: two newspaper articles about me, two sketches that I did, and a photo of John and Holly and I. Then, I sent the text for the "Adventures of Jo in the Air Force" article. It was rather long, and I told him he could cut whatever he wanted.

It was still long, even though I left out the time I was back late from leave during basic training and wound up climbing over the fence and getting back on base illegally so that I wouldn't be late, and a lot of other amusing stories, such as stopping the stock car races at the airport at Walterborough Airport so we could land and watch the races.

I still have to write the story of my misadventures with John.

And all this got me thinking about the next article and writing in general. About a year and a half ago, I decided to write a book. Actually, I decided to write several books. I even started writing them. But somewhere along the way, I stopped.

I think it's time to get back to writing.

In the meantime, earlier this week, my poor old original iMac (you remember the big old original ones?) started telling me it can't contact some internet sites. It still works well for editing photos, page layout, drawing, doing Steve Canyon DVD covers, etc. I don't have to upgrade it to have it be a very useful tool.

But I can see that it's the beginning of the end for it on the internet.

Yes, I upgraded my browser. I can't upgrade my operating system, because a newer OS just won't work with the processor in the Mac. And the newer browser is the newest that will work with my OS.

So, it's about to become obsolete for anything on the internet. Not now, not tomorrow, but real soon now.

I had been thinking I'd like to have a small notebook computer for writing and accessing the internet.

Then yesterday I read Crazy Aunt Purl's blog.

Crazy Aunt Purl is Laurie Perry, who has a wildly popular and usually very funny blog. She also wrote Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair. And one of her favorite things to do is travel. She most recently went to Ireland. She also sometimes posts about really neat products that she's found.

Anyway, yesterday, she put up this post. If you scroll partway down, you'll see the cutest little computer ever. There's a link to Amazon in her post. You can also see it here, and there's an upgraded version with more features for not much more money here. And if you plan to travel anytime soon, she has a batch of tips in this post.

When I first looked at it, I didn't think it was real. I thought "Wow! That's a really BIG glass of whatever she's drinking!" Then I looked at the passport in the photo, and decided that it is really that tiny. And when I checked on Amazon, I found out that I could actually get one for about $250, including shipping! The upgraded version is better, and is available for more like $300.

I'm in love!

I wrote to Laurie, and she was nice enough to write back with a long, detailed letter about netbook computers, which is a whole different thing from laptops. She recommended a Mac Book. Well, I'd like one, too, but the netbooks are about a third the price. The difference in price is the difference in getting one in the foreseeable future, and getting one someday, maybe.

She pointed out the keyboard is really small and that she wouldn't like to do a lot of typing on it, and maybe I'd like one of the newer, slightly larger netbooks better, and sent me a link to this Acer netbook. I have to say (from the standpoint of an artist) that the fact that it's blue is a big emotional factor in it's favor. Scroll down in the description and see how pretty it is.

The theory that the keyboard is larger may not be completely true, though. It's about an inch wider, but the Eee has a keyboard that goes as close to the edge as possible. The Acer has at least a half inch on either side of the keyboard, so I don't think the keyboard is really noticeably bigger. And I'm really biased toward the Eee because the buttons next to the touchpad wrap around the front and are intended to be hit with your thumbs, which is how I always try to use a touchpad. But a review of the Acer says that you can tap the touchpad instead of using the buttons which is probably how I would wind up using it. Decisions, decisions.

I'll keep you up to date on further developments.

I'll quit boring you with this now, and we can get back to our regularly scheduled post.

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I'm so sorry about saying that Eureka was on the other day. It was actually Warehouse 13, which is good enough that John said he hoped it would remain on the air. I was in the middle of writing my Air Force article, and wrote "Warehouse 13" and then turned on the digital TV guide, and it said Eureka (they were rerunning the last two week's episodes right before the new Warehouse 13), and thought "Eureka is on Tuesdays. What's wrong with me?" Well, it was on Tuesdays, but it just changed to Friday the week before, and my subconscious hadn't caught up. Anyway mea culpa.

Anyway, and all-new Leverage was on last night on TNT, and it was wonderful! I hope you caught it, but if you didn't, it'll be on again sometime before next week.

Tonight, we have The Listener, and The Mentalist, a new Burn Notice, and later, Doctor Who on SyFy, this week, The Stolen Earth, the second part of the three-part finale from last season. Check it out, its so good!

I have a lot to do, so I'll see you tomorrow! Have fun!

Good Deal

I got my Comcast bill, and it didn't have the discount I applied for (which you're supposed to be able to get on your internet service if you have income under $18,000 per year), so I called them. 

I called them, and got to talk to someone at their main office, who had no idea of what I was talking about. But she said that there is currently a promotion for Comcast internet customers, and if you call up and ask for it, they'll charge half price for six months! I said to sign me up, so my current bill is suddenly substantially reduced!

If you have Comcast internet, call them up right away!

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Not a whole lot is happening around here. The biggest news seems to be that they're forecasting rain for the whole of the upcoming week.

Oh, joy!

It's been pretty much steady rain with only occasional sun ever since the middle of April. Bummer!

I would be glad for the plants (which are thriving) if I didn't know that all this rain is guaranteeing a bumper crop of ragweed this Fall.

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There's a rerun of The Mentalist and Burn Notice tonight, plus a new episode of Mental.

Have a great evening!

Burn Notice!

The USA Network has turned into the "all Burn Notice, all the time" channel, at least for today. They will be showing Burn Notice all day, and premiering the new season later tonight, followed by a premier of their new program, Royal Pains.

I know very little about the new show, but Burn Notice has become one of my favorites. I suspect that shows like this, that show people who take advantage of others getting what they deserve should be very popular about now. The tendency of a lot of people and especially companies to take advantage of people around them/their customers should make this kind of show very popular. You may not actually be able to get rid of Comcast, for example, and the ways they find to take advantage of you (including not giving the service you're paying for), but these shows give the illusion that there might be a way to get back at them.

Tonight is a great night for TV! A rerun of Supernatural will be on, and at the same time, the premier of The Listener, which will be followed by the another episode. Or possibly the first episode will be on at 10, according to the link. It's a little hard to tell from what they said.

So, here's the problem, and the solution. Burn Notice, Supernatural, and The Listener are all on at 9 (at least here). Tune your TIVOs/DVRs to Supernatural and The Listener at 9, then catch the rerun of the Burn Notice premier at 12:17.

The Mentalist, although not strictly SF, will have a rerun of an episode at 10, too. Simon Baker is always worth watching.

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I looked over my progress so far on the purple beaded shawl, and found a lot of mistakes. I really didn't like that many mistakes, so I frogged most of it. The very beginning of the shawl was a royal pain, and didn't have any errors, so I didn't frog the first 3 or four pattern repeats. I was amazed at how many beads came out of it, though. And how long it took just to rip!

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My old spinning group on Ravelry, Fluff and Nonsense, (the one I haven't been able to attend for a while due to lack of transportation) got together and bought all the fleeces in a particular flock in Iceland, and I got one of the fleeces. Now I have to arrange to pick it up and pay for it. It's a grey Icelandic fleece, and I can't wait to see it! I'll have more news on this as it develops.

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It's a grey, overcast day here, very dreary. It makes me thankful that Holly said she's coming to visit on Saturday, and I can do all my WalMart shopping then rather than going out today when it might rain.

This Is Bizarre

Check out this news story from China. You'll have to follow the link. I can't possibly do it justice. 

I've seen this in a couple of places where people can comment, and the comments are all very mixed. The general reaction seems to be bouncing back and forth between horrified and laughing.

The weirdest part is that I knew someone who probably would have pushed the man off the bridge. My family will know immediately who I mean, but I don't want to admit it publicly.

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My package from Knit Picks arrived today! Such an event is always cause for rejoicing! I got a pair of Harmony tips in size 6, and three balls of Merino Style in fog. Or mist. Or something. It's light grey, and it's going to be used to make the copy of Hermione's hat from Half Blood Prince. It's for a class in the Harry Potter House Cup KAL. I intend to wear it to the movie, too.

The first thing I have to do on this project is write the instructions. So, I'm going to get busy and do it.

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There's a brand-new Reaper on TV tonight, and unless I'm mistaken, it's the season and series finale. There are a lot of people who are very unhappy about this. I'm not terribly enthused that it'll be off myself.

There's a rerun episode of the The Mentalist tonight, too.

And tomorrow night, there will be the Monster Quest episode about the Jersey Devil on the History Channel. I grew up with Jersey Devil stories, so I'm looking forward to it.

Have a great evening! I hope the weather people aren't promising you three more days of rain to go with the two we've already had like they're doing here.

A Little Progress

I've been swatching for the shawl I'm knitting for the Harry Potter House Cup KAL on Ravelry. Well, I've been finishing up some Mrs. Figg String Bags and swatching.

I have the pattern settled for the beginning of the shawl, but I still don't have a good pattern that I like for the border around the bottom, and haven't even started to try anything about the edging that I'd like to put on. I could, conceivably, just do a picot bind off, but I'd really like a nice edging.

But I finally got impatient with not starting. We're more than half way through the month, and I have to be at least a quarter of the way through the project by the end of the month. I'm doing an OWL for Charms. OWLs are a three month project. So, I do have time, but still have to be about about 18 inches along, measured on the front edge by the end of the month.

Since I do have a pattern designed for the beginning, I thought I ought to get started on it. Here's what I've got as of this morning:

I'm using Knit Picks Options needles with the nickel finish, but I'm thinking I might like to use Harmony tips for this because they'd be just a little less slippery, so I ordered a pair of tips in size 6 today. Getting another set of tips in the right size will let me experiment with stitch patterns for the border without having to keep switching the tips from the shawl to the swatch, too.

I already did a project for the regular charms class, and I have another small project planned. They asked for projects that could be worn in the muggle community without making the wearer look odd to muggles, but that would identify that person to the magical community as a witch. I'm planning to make a lucet cord which can be tied into a bow around almost anything that the person is wearing/carrying in blue with silver knitted stars on the ends. It seems obvious to me that tying such an article to my handbag (which is blue) would identify me as a member of Ravenclaw. Not to mention what a great Christmas ornament it would be!

I'm planning to make another project for muggle studies. We were asked to make an item from muggle TV or movies to help us look more like muggles and blend in. While placing my order at Knit Picks, I ordered three skeins of Merino Style yarn in fog to make a hat like Hermione will be wearing in the  new Half Blood Prince movie which will be out this July. 

This is the only photo I've been able to find of it so far. There are instructions for copies of the hat that I've seen, but I didn't think that any of them looked enough like the photo to suit me, so I'll be designing my own for this one, too.

Sorry to put all the science fiction and stuff in yesterday's post and all the knitting in this one, but that's the way it worked out.

Have a great evening! Oh, and there's a new The Mentalist on tonight along with a new Reaper!