Four Wheeling and Miscellaneous Information

I'm having a dull weekend at home, but Holly and Robin have gone four wheeling in their new Hummer this weekend!

This is a photo taken with Holly's phone, and it shows how much fun they've been having! She said they've also scratched the paint. I can see from the photo that they've gotten and installed a roof rack, spotlights and a grill over the front of the vehicle. Oh, and they've also installed a lot of mud!

Looks like they've been having fun!

Speaking of fun, Holly and Robin and I are going to go to the Renfaire on Labor Day! Everett and Jeff have been invited, but I don't know if they're actually going to go. I am so excited I can't wait!

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I've been mentioning information about thyroid problems from time to time on the blog, and ran across a useful post on the Stop the Thyroid Madness blog. Check out Ten Thyroid Tidbits!

There were a few things that surprised me in it. I had heard that most cooking oils tend to suppress thyroid function, and that one of the best things is to switch to coconut oil for cooking (and be sure to cook at a lower temp--coconut oil burns at a much lower temp than most cooking oils), but she sounds like she's talking about eating it. Which sounds gross, except that I've cooked with it, and it tastes sweet. Her recommendation of coconut milk would probably be the way to go if you're not planning to cook with it. One thing you do NOT want to do is drink Silk (soy milk)! Not only does it suppress thyroid function and promote weight gain through that mechanism, it also adds lots of extra estrogen to your system. As a country, we're using so much soy that the excess is causing pollution that's making fish hermaphroditic.

Anyway, if you're interested in your health, check it out!

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In science fiction news, I just found some information about the new season of Doctor Who! The way it's explained, it sounds good, but all I know about it is in the article, so check it out.

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There is a blog that I've been reading since 2004 (wow--six years) by fibermom which is an interesting blog, or I wouldn't have been reading it so long.

I'm mentioning it today, though, because she's doing something she's been doing since before I started reading her blog. She's going to participate in the Holiday Grand Plan, which is a plan which happens to start today, and is intended to get you ready for the holidays without getting frazzled. You can read about it at the above two links.

Yesterday, I suddenly decided I need to start making a list of Christmas presents to get/make for friends and family, so I guess I've already started in a way. Mind you, I didn't actually start making the list, but I thought I should do that since most of the presents I give are hand made.

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Have you ever watched TV and saw someone use a gun with a silencer and wondered how it works? Well, you can find out right here.

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It's getting late, and I've been thinking for a while that I need to try to get out and walk every day. So, I'm going to go and do that. I'm taking my camera! Just in case.

Have a fabulous week!

Steve Canyon in French!

There's a review up for the Steve Canyon series in French! You can read an English translation of it here! It's actually gone through a translation process, and some of it is quite amusing after being dragged into English.

The good part about this for many people will be the listings of which planes appear in each episode. This is particularly interesting to me because I was in the Air Force right after the series was on TV, and we had many of the planes that appear in the series right on base where I got to see them up close, sometimes too close.

Scary Monday Night

I've been wanting to see the movie, Avatar, for a while. I considered renting it from Blockbuster, but then realized that I could get a copy of it free (for a week) from the library! I asked for it to be sent to the library right behind my apartment building, and yesterday I went and picked it up.

But I'd had trouble connecting everything when I got my TiVo, so had to plug in the DVD player, and wanted to plug in the DVD recorder, too. After I was finished watching TV last night, I did that, and thought I'd blown out the RF modulator that I need to connect things because the TiVo doesn't have an RF output.

I couldn't get anything to work! I thought I wouldn't get to see any more TV until I could replace the modulator, and wouldn't have enough money to do that until the third of September.

But I did some more investigation today, and finally discovered that if the modulator doesn't have something plugged into it, or doesn't have something that works plugged into it, it will not function. The true culprit of the piece turned out to be the DVD recorder, which either doesn't work, or it's RCA jacks don't work. I have to do some more research on that.

The recorder is going to be more expensive to replace than the modulator, if I have to do that, but at least I can watch TV at the moment. The bonus is that the DVD player is hooked up, it works, and I can watch Avatar later tonight, after all the good TV is over!

Speaking of which, tonight there are new episodes of: Warehouse 13 (I think this is the season finale), White Collar, Covert Affairs, and Memphis Beat. Almost all the new episodes of shows this week are season finales. After all that, I'll be checking out Avatar. If I can find the remote, that is. It's been so long since the DVD player has been hooked up that I'm not sure if I can remember where the remote is.

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I finally got the last book in Meg Cabot's Airhead series (Runaway) from the library yesterday, and, as with all her books, it's a fast read. You may recall that I mentioned I bought the second book, Being Nikki, for the Nook application on my phone. It's the first real ebook I've bought, and it was an interesting experience. I suspect the actual reading might have been more comfortable on a real Nook, but it was OK. On my phone, it ran the battery down fairly quickly, which shouldn't happen on a real Nook. Otherwise, it was enjoyable.

The one surprising thing about it is that it was suddenly over! With a real book, I can see that I'm near the end, and I kind of expect it to finish soon, but this just suddenly ended.

Part of that was because the three books are really more of one big story that's been chopped into three pieces. The first two don't really have endings, they just stop. I'm already near the end of the third book, and I'm assuming that it's going to have an actual end.

The one thing that I could really get addicted to is being able to decide I want to buy a book, selecting it, and then having it just be there, ready to read! No going to the bookstore, or ordering online and waiting for it! Just press a few buttons, and the book you want to read is magically in your hands! And some of the money in your account is magically in the hands of Barnes and Noble!

It's truly amazing the first time. If I get a Nook WiFi (which I'd like to do), I could download a book at home without having to plug it in to my computer, but with the phone, I can get a book to read almost anywhere!

The twenty-first century is truly amazing!

Eureka is on, and I'm going to go catch the last few minutes of it.

Have a wonderful evening!

Mea Culpa! Errata and Other Stuff

Well, I got ABC Family's Harry Potter Weekend all mixed up!

Tonight is Goblet of Fire and Sunday night is Half Blood Prince. I still don't know of any plans to put on Order of the Phoenix.

Sorry!

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I just got back from the grocery store, where they had one last copy of Vogue Knitting! They don't have any now, because I couldn't leave without it.

There are a lot of beautiful things in this issue, but three things really caught my eye. The least of them is a "Scarf" shown below. I think this is actually circular. It looks like it could be worn without the coat as a poncho, too.

I LOVE things with wings, and the rectangular wrap in this photo is no exception!

There is also a sleeveless coat with similar wings, and I love that, too, maybe even better!

As usual, though, I immediately want to change it all around. I think I'd like it with a hood, sleeves, and I can't leave out the pockets!

I have to run, now. Being Human is on BBC in America, and I may be wrong, but it looks like there are two new ones! Hope you're having a great weekend!

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Important addition!:

After extolling the virtues of Vogue Knitting, and then paging through the magazine, I feel I should issue a warning!

A large percentage of the patterns in the magazine require charts, and they're NOT included with the magazine! You have to go online to find the charts and print them out. In the case of the sleeveless coat, I need to study it more, but it looks like the chart provided is really for the wrap, and I don't see how you could possibly use it for the coat. This requires more study, but at least at first glance, it looks like a colossal mistake!

Another Giveaway and Miscellaneous

Wow! I opened my email today, and there it was… Berroco sent me a notice about their newest giveaway, a kit for the Northampton Kerchief. This is much prettier than it sounds like it would be.

The photo doesn't have a link in it, you have to click the link in the paragraph above.

Pretty, isn't it?

I entered immediately! You might want to do the same, since entries have to be in by the 26th. You might also want to sign up for their newsletter, because the winners will be announced there.

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More knitting content: If you design your own knitting patterns and/or would like to chart your own designs, here's some information about three knitting chart fonts! I haven't tried the fonts yet, but they sound like the best solution to charting yet. And I chart things all the time.

My previous best solution has been graph paper and pencil. Although that's probably the best while you're developing something, I really want to keep a permanent, and reprintable solution on my computer! Not to mention that you can publish it that way!

I'm seriously considering frogging almost all of the Celtic Sweater and redoing it! There are a few things that I'm just not totally happy with. I'm still thinking about it, but you may suddenly be hearing a lot more about it on my blog (with photos, I do have a new phone, after all).

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If you use antibacterial soap, you might want to reconsider.

The ingredients that provide the antibacterial effect for these kinds of product can pose a severe threat to your endocrine and reproductive systems. Please click on the link to find out more.

There are millions of people in the US with hypothyroidism who have not been diagnosed due to the misinformation spread by drug companies to doctors who hang on their every word. I see people around me all the time with hypothyroid symptoms that are so bad that I notice them just from sharing a bus ride with them. And their doctors not only don't know enough to recognize these symptoms, but are actively testing those people with inaccurate tests and telling them that they don't have a thyroid problem!

And, by the way, if you have high cholesterol you do have a hypothyroid problem! Not maybe, not possibly, you DO! And I can almost guarantee that your doctor is unaware of this connection.

If you have high cholesterol and you do happen to be diagnosed with hypothyroidism by your doctor, make sure he prescribes natural desiccated thyroid (Armor Thyroid, Naturethroid or West Throid), which he probably won't want to do. This will fix the cholesterol problem (along with a lot of other problems) whereas Synthroid or other T4 medication won't fix those problems. But the drug manufacturers have told doctors to prescribe T4 medications so that they can sell lots of other drugs for cholesterol and more. Check this link!

I'm glad to hear that it's the FDA that's being sued. Maybe they'll learn to stop rushing dangerous drugs to market so that drug manufacturers can save money on the testing and start making money on drugs that are going to kill thousands. The drug companies won't learn. They make so much money on drugs that they feel they'd rather pay out some of it to the people they harm than miss all the profits. Unfortunately, the episode of Leverage that dealt with this problem is all too accurate! It's called The Double Blind Job, and I'm sure they'll rerun it. Watch for it! TNT (I think) has been airing reruns of Leverage on late night/early morning.

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I was going to post this earlier, but we had a power outage last night, and somehow, it damaged the elevator. I was just about to start the post earlier today, and my computer went off. I panicked for a moment when it wouldn't start up again, but then thought to check the printer, which also wouldn't start, and after a bit of investigation realized that the stove didn't work, either.

I tried resetting the circuit breakers with no effect, and then they made an announcement about the problem with the elevator and said that they'd turned off the electricity in part of the building while they fixed it. It seemed confusing, because the TV and some other stuff, like the microwave and refrigerator, still worked.

Everything's back to normal now, though.

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I love my local library, and read lots of books that I borrow from them on a regular basis. There's just no way that I could afford to continue reading without them.

But I ran into a bit of a problem with them this week. There are some books that are very popular, and I ran afoul of that this week with Meg Cabot's Airhead series. There are three books in the series: Airhead, Being Nikki, and Runaway, in that order. They have plenty of copies of Airhead, and I got that with no problem, but they don't have many copies of the other two books. Unfortunately, Airhead doesn't have much of an ending, it just segues into Being Nikki, so it's kind of like getting half of a double-length book. I picked up the first book, which my local library had on the shelf a week or so ago, and read it. I had the other two books on order, but had to wait because of the demand.

I checked on what books were in, and found that Runaway was sitting and waiting for me, but that I wouldn't be able to get Being Nikki for a while! Who wants to read the first, third and second books of a series in that order? And, since there are other people waiting for the last book, I can't keep it very long.

So, I broke down and bought a real, honest-to-goodness ebook copy of Being Nikki, my first ever real ebook! I got the Nook application for Android on my phone, and it seems to be working well. I'd rather have a real Nook ebook reader, though, because I can run down the battery on my phone pretty quickly when I read.

If you're interested in the books themselves, they are considered "young adult" books by the library, but a lot of adults are reading kids books these days. As I've said before, "A good story is a good story." The premise for these books is a little hard to believe, but if you can get past that, they're the usual top-notch writing that I've come to expect from Meg Cabot.

In the first story, Em dies in a freak accident, her body crushed beyond repair at the same time that Nikki Howard dies from an aneurysm. The doctors having a ruined body with a perfectly good brain and another perfect body with a useless brain are able to combine the two and create a healthy person, who is Em in Nikki's body. Obviously, Em has trouble dealing with a past that she can't remember and another that she can remember, but which is not legally her past.

The Meg Cabot series I've liked best so far is the Mediator series, and I have to say that if you like ghost stories and liked the Twilight series, this is even better!

I'm really tickled about my first real ebook, though.

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There's a new Eureka and Haven on SyFy tonight!

If you're a Harry Potter fan, ABC Family will be having another of their Harry Potter weekends, starting with The Prisoner of Azkaban tonight, Half Blood Prince Saturday night, and finishing with The Order of the Phoenix on Sunday evening! To the best of my knowledge, it'll be the first time Order of the Phoenix will be shown on non-premium cable.

Other than that, the big news on TV is that it's nearly football season, and it's squeezing almost everything else off TV! My only consolation is that it will eventually go away.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Namaste Holster Giveaway!

Hip Mountain Mama is giving away a brand-new, just-out Namaste holster bag!

This seems to be much closer to the elusive project bag design that I've been pursuing for the last few years. You can wear this on your belt or sling it over your shoulder. Either way, it's got a large interior space for your actual project, plus a separate section for things like a measuring tape, extra DP needles, stitch markers and more, and keeps all this paraphernalia from messing up your actual project!

I don't know about you, but I want one, and entered their contest immediately!

For an extra entry in their giveaway, be sure to check out their store. It's mostly for mothers of young children, but there's a whole knitters and crafters section with some nifty stuff!

Enter soon! It'll be all over on Friday! Good luck!

Post-Birthday Report

I got the best birthday present EVER yesterday! The exact camera I really, really, REALLY wanted turned up in the mail yesterday, a present from Lynn!

It's a Canon PowerShot A1100IS 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD!

Lynn really hit the jackpot on this one. It's an excellent camera! It takes AA batteries, which makes it just a smidge bigger than I'd like, but means that if the batteries in it die and I don't have any recharged batteries with me, I can get batteries for it anywhere. Pretty much every 7-11 or gas station I've ever been in has them! It also has a real viewfinder, which most digital cameras don't seem to have these days, and I find a viewfinder much better for action. It has a longer zoom than most small cameras, and the zoom is very easy to get to the precise point you want it to be.

Well, I immediately put batteries in it, and attached the hand strap, and called Lynn to thank her. She was out getting groceries (I learned from her voice mail), so I went straight out to play with my new toy, which is why I missed her return call.

Here's the pond behind the building I live in from the covered bridge:

When I got to the other side of the bridge, I took this one of the bridge, itself:

And here are some of the buildings on my side of the pond (taken from the other side):

You're probably getting tired of seeing the same place over and over again, but the wading bird that lives back there didn't show up. I was disappointed in that, but it seems to have a sixth sense, and never shows up when I have an actual camera with me. Either that, or I walk right up to it without noticing that it's there, scare it half to death, and it flies away before I have a chance to pull out my camera.

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Since yesterday, I've discovered that some other well known people have the same birthday I do, notably Julie Newmar and Bjo Trimble! Oooops! When I looked up Bjo, it turns out her birthday is the day before mine. On Facebook, it looked like it was on the 16th, but no, it's actually on the 15th. Still, there are a lot of people born in August!

I loved Julie Newmar in Oblivion! If you haven't seen it, and liked Tim Curry in Rocky Horror Picture Show, check it out. Musetta Vander plays a female version of him, but with a whip in this movie!

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I got my newest copy of Knit Picks catalog in the mail yesterday, and they not only have a new cashmere blend yarn, they also have brand new colors in so many of their existing yarns! I've been drooling all over the catalog ever since it arrived! My special favorite at the moment is the double knit weight in City Tweed. I've been wanting to try it for a while, and I'm going to have to break down and get some soon.

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It looks like Tuesday has turned into the good night to watch TV! There are new episodes of Warehouse 13, White Collar, Covert Affairs and Memphis Beat on tonight. Enjoy it while you can, because most of the summer shows will finish their seasons this or next week.

Last night, I got a fabulous birthday present in the form of an episode of The Big Bang Theory! 

Years ago, as a tech illustrator, I worked on a project for an aviation toilet. There I was in a room with about eight guys, all working on illustrations and maintenance diagrams, etc., of a toilet for a new military plane.

There were spaces of five to ten minutes of silence, interspersed with jokes about what we were working on. First of all, I wouldn't have thought the topic could be so genuinely funny, and I never would have believed that it could continue to be funny for more than two hours straight, but it was! This particular sentiment was echoed by Sheldon in last night's episode, where they try to fix a design flaw in a toilet for a space station.

The Big Bang Theory is always up there among the top 10 shows I've ever seen for how funny it is, but last night's episode was a gem! It has to be seen to be believed!

I've got to go or I'll never get this post up! Have a great evening and enjoy all the terrific shows while you can!

Happy Birthday, Bob, and Pennsic Is Over for Another Year

Happy Birthday, Bob!

It's my granddaughter, Kyle's boyfriend, Bob's birthday today! I wish you a birthday as happy as the one that Kyle just had! I'm sure you can figure out which one is Bob.

Speaking of Kyle's party, here's my favorite photo from it:

That's Holly with Kyle.

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Pennsic is over for another year. At this point, some are already home, and some are probably still traveling, but it's all over.

It always makes me feel a little sad when it's done.

But then again, there's always next year's war to look forward to missing.

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Yesterday, Holly came over and we went out together and she got to show off her new HumVee!

If I had to choose a single color name to describe the color, it would have to be grey. But it looks very blue sometimes, too, probably from reflections from the sky. Once in a while, you can see some green in the color, too.

We went to AC Moore, WalMart, and then to Ruby Tuesday. She said that she'd take me to Olive Garden for my birthday, but some other time because neither of us was really hungry, and you need to be when you go there.

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Check out this neat article about yarnstorming (with lots of photos)!

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Well, it's been a wonderful weekend for me! I'm all ready for my birthday tomorrow. Lynn said I should expect my birthday present from her to arrive on Saturday, but since the apartment place I live in doesn't let the post office deliver packages on the weekend, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to get it.

I hope you've had as good a weekend as I have, and a fabulous week coming up!

The Persieds Meteor Shower!

There's a thunderstorm rolling in, and I want to get this post up fast, and get my computer turned off, so this will be a short post.

The Persieds Meteor Shower will be at it's best tonight! Don't miss it! It's one of my favorite things about Pennsic, and one of the things I like best about what the universe does to celebrate my birthday!

There's more stuff about it on the internet (check your favorite search engine), but I wanted to get something up here before I got off the computer.

While I'm on the subject of celestial stuff, there's been a new asteroid discovered, and it tells us about the origin of our solar system!

I've been running around most of today gathering financial information for my yearly review here at the apartment I live in. My new eye doctor seemed to be really great, but she (and everyone else in her office) seem to be either having as much of a problem hearing as I do, or they just don't understand the English language.

I ask them for a note with a recommendation for Vitamin A, Billberry and Lutien for my eyes because the expenses incurred in taking those nutrients will help to lower my rent, and I get back "No, you don't need a prescription for that. You can buy it over the counter!" After ten minutes of speaking loudly and clearly, they still didn't get it.

I didn't get the recommendation, either.

Even though they said that taking that stuff is good for my eyes.

Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.

Well, the last of the information needs to be in tomorrow, so it'll all be over, one way or the other by the end of the day.

Hope you're having a better day than I've been having! Enjoy the meteor shower tonight!

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Elizabeth Zimmerman!

There really are a lot of birthdays in August, and I forgot most of them!

I'm chagrinned to have missed Rob Rekley's birthday, which was on the second! Happy birthday, Rob! I hope it was fun!

The big news for knitters is that yesterday was the anniversary of Elizabeth Zimmerman's birthday. For those of you who don't know, EZ has gone to the big sheep and wool festival in the sky, and left us poor mortals to struggle through without her help. One of my favorite bloggers wrote a post about it here. You have to read this--it's funny!

Of course, I mentioned that the sixth, last Friday was Kyle's birthday, and I'm going to hear more about it on Saturday when I see Holly. They did celebrate by taking her to a bar on Thursday night at midnight so that she could show her ID to the bartender the instant she was 21! She got either free or $1 drinks all night, and everyone seemed to conspire to get her the worst-tasting drinks possible.

And yesterday was Tim Davis' birthday! Happy birthday, Tim! I hope you had the most fun, ever!

The next one coming up is Bob, Kyle's boyfriend! It's on the fifteenth, the day before mine. He got to accompany Kyle for her birthday, so I'm sure that they'll celebrate his birthday on Sunday.

Then, of course, there's me! Don't miss my birthday wish list on Amazon! Used books or DVDs are OK! There are some expensive presents, but there are some that are under $5 including shipping! I got a call from Lynn yesterday to check my address so that she could send me a present. I'm all excited about that!

My cousin, Barbara, is also having a birthday on the 18th!

And Facebook surprised me and let me know that later on this month (the 18th, too) Rick Foucheux will be having a birthday! I know Rick from working with him when he was in Invader.

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This is going to be a bad week for me to get posts up due to the fact that I have to turn in all my financial evidence for some benefits, and I've been running all over getting it together. Yesterday I spent all afternoon making a trip to get some info I need, and I have more stuff I need to do today and Thursday, and Friday I have to turn it all in. So, don't expect a lot of posts.

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Holly called me earlier today to confirm my address during the process of buying her new car. She said it really is green, and not the blue it appears to be in the photos, but that it's a "funny shade," whatever that means. She took the day off of work to go get it since it arrived late last week, and she'll have the evening to actually go somewhere if she wants to. I tried to encourage her to come here and show it off, but she said she didn't want to be on the highway during rush hour, so she's not going to bring it down here until Saturday.

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I found this on the internet today and just had to share it with you! A young woman who seems to prefer to remain nameless, quit her job by sending an email to everyone in the company (and I hope she sent this to the owner, too) with this series of photos. This is priceless. I should warn you that my computer gave me several warnings about a slow script on the page, but it's really worth wading through and waiting to see it all! I love it! And I wish her all the best!

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I just got a call from Holly, and the financing on the car was ridiculous, so she's checking with her company credit union to see if they'll finance it on much better terms instead of the finance company that works with the dealer.

So, she hasn't actually got the car yet, but should have it either tomorrow or Thursday. I'm a little disappointed, but they'll get the car this week no matter how it turns out.

She said the car is a dark green, but that the green has a lot of grey in it. She looked at all the colors available on that model and year of Hummer while I was talking to her on the phone, and she said that none of them are called green, so she's not sure about it.

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I need to get going and get something done today, Hope you're having a wonderful week!

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

Today is Kyle's birthday, and her mom arrived last night out there in Wisconsin to be with her on her one and only twenty-first birthday! After scaring me the other day, I still hope she has a good birthday.

This will be a short post, today.

I went to the eye doctor, and they put lots of drops in my eyes, and now it looks like I smeared Vaseline all over my eyes. I'm sure it will wear off in a few hours.

The good news is that my eyes are essentially healthy, and everything's OK. The bad news is that they've changed more than I thought, and I probably should get new glasses. For the lenses (if I use the frames I already have), they quoted a price of $150, which they insisted was the cheapest I'll find anywhere. I think I'll check out the sales for the next month since I don't have the money to get them right now anyway.

I finally found out what that blurry spot in my left eye is, though. The other doctor gave me a big long word (or maybe three) and didn't explain it. This doctor says that it's basically a large floater, and that it's something to keep checking on, but not something to cause worry in and of itself. She said I can expect to have it forever. She said that she had an incident of retinal detachment when she was 20, and has had floaters ever since. Holly had them a while ago, too, so I guess I'm lucky that I never had it happen until I was 62.

But the computer screen looks all smeary, and the good stuff is coming on TV, so I'll catch up with things later.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Happy August!

I intended to write a post welcoming August on the first day of the month.

Yeah, we can all see how much good that intention did!

But August has been here for a few days, and it's nice to take notice of the fact.

I tend to think of August as birthday month. Yes, I was expecting that! Yeah, it is the month that my birthday is in (on the sixteenth, and my birthday wish list is here and I should mention that there are a lot of great presents available used for under $5), but that's beside the point.

I worked for two different companies where over 75% of their employees had birthdays in August, so they had a big birthday party for everyone in the company in that month! Both companies employed a lot of creative people, and most creative people seem to be born then. I don't know why. I'm not trying to say anything with that statement. It's just an observation. Although it has made me think a bit more favorably about the idea of astrology at times.

So, lets get on the subject of birthdays!

Today happens to be the birthday of the president of the US! Yes, Barak Obama is celebrating his birthday today. Or, more accurately, he's having a birthday. I don't know what his plans to celebrate are, but I do know that people all over the country are throwing birthday parties for him even though he probably won't attend.

I know all this because Michelle sent me an email last week asking me to sign a birthday card for him, and I also got an invitation to a party for him in Fairfax.

Living in the DC area has always been fun that way, but I think the internet has brought what used to be a DC phenomenon to the world, or at least the rest of the United States.

Continuing on the birthday theme, Friday (the 6th) is also my granddaughter, Kyle's birthday. Holly will be going to visit her on her birthday. She will be 21 on Friday!

I have a friend that I haven't seen in ages, Whitlock, who was born on the 15th, and there were a couple of years that we started celebrating on his birthday and finished up at the end of mine.

That doesn't seem like a lot, does it?

August is the month that August Party used to be held in (of course). For those that don't know, August was the month that the original Star Trek cast and crew would have a wrap party each year, and the Star Trek fen used to hold August Party, which was a Star Trek convention each year. It's the con I met John at, and I always remember it even though it's not happening anymore.

August is also the month that Pennsic happens! Pennsic is one of my favorite things ever, and I'll be missing it again this year! But I'll be keeping up with what's happening by retweeting stuff from Pennsic in the sidebar, in my Twitter feed. You can keep up with it there, too, should you be interested.

Here are some random photos I found on the internet, to give you an idea of what Pennsic is like.

And here's a photo of the entrance to the Clan Lurkr camp, where I stayed quite a few years ago. As you can see, Wookie (Viscount Sir Wulfbrand Lurkr) likes red!

There are buildings and towers! People make them pre-fab and take them to the camp ground and store them there between Pennsics. I wish I could find some of the photos I took there.

So, stay tuned to the sidebar, or follow me on Twitter to keep up with what's happening if you can't go.

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For the fiberartists out there, Knit Picks is having a contest with a prize of enough cashmere blend yarn to knit a sweater as a prize! If you're not acquainted with them, Knit Picks has quality yarn in natural fibers available at very reasonable prices. You should check them out!

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Note to Lynn: I promised you that I would see an eye doctor for an exam, and I've been putting it off, but I have an appointment for a check up on Friday.

And I think I've run out of steam for today. I'll blog more often in the future!

Have a great rest of the week!