Quiet Sunday

Not much is going on around here other than I seem to have gotten off the tracks with my knitting. I was going to finish the last little bit of Christmas knitting, but the blue, self-patterning Comfort yarn from Mary Maxim that I got last month was calling me, and I rationalized it all by saying to myself that I could knit just one sock to get an idea of what it would look like so I'd have a better idea of how to design the vest I bought the yarn for.

Sort of a useful swatch.

Well, I finished the sock, but then one sock isn't much good unless you're Dobby. So, I thought I'd just knit a second sock and then get back to finishing my Christmas knitting.

I'm now on the third one.

This has got to stop!

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The only exciting thing that's been happening is that my phone has started to make loud beeping noises in my ear when I'm using it at random times.

At first, I thought that I just hadn't charged the battery in the handset enough. It's a cordless phone.

But it seems to be charging OK. The other night I was talking to Holly, and it started beeping loudly, and I told her it was beeping and I couldn't talk on it. I hung up, and she called me back because she couldn't hear me once it started beeping, so she didn't know why we got disconnected. She couldn't hear the beeping, but couldn't hear me, either. Anyway, it worked fine then. So, it's obviously not the battery.

The current favorite theory is that it seems to be happening around the time that Comcast sends out the signal to turn off their DVRs. The phone is plugged in to the internet connection from Comcast via a T-Mobile router that I bought for that purpose. If you have a T-Mobile cell phone and a broadband internet connection, you can get a router from them (mine cost $40) with a SIM card and plug it into your internet connection, then plug your landline phone into it and get unlimited service to anywhere in the US for $10 per month.

The router also gives you WiFi.

This is a really good deal for T-Mobile and the customer. My cell phone will work from a wifi connection, and since I use it at home most of the time, I've been using about 40 of my 600 minutes per month. Especially since I use the landline instead of the cell most of the time when I'm at home.

So, I can call my friend in California and talk for an hour whenever I want,  and it doesn't cost anything extra. So, T-Mobile gets $10 extra per month, I use fewer minutes on my cell, and T-Mobile actually has to do less for their money.

But, once again, Comcast is probably messing up a good thing.

I'm so sick of them.

One of the things I really hated about them was that they send out a signal between 1 and 1:30 am to turn off your DVR. Doesn't matter if you just checked to see what was on, changed the channel, whatever, it just tries to turn  off your DVR. It blanks out the picture of whatever you were watching, turns off the sound, and says "Your DVR is powering off, now. Press any button to stop it from doing that."

I hate Comcast!

Although they still send out the signal, now that I have a TiVo, the box ignores that signal. But I think it may be affecting the phone. I don't know for sure that this is what is happening, but I'm still really disgusted with Comcast (as usual)!

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Speaking of TV things that I'm really disgusted with, Fox did another one this week.

I was really looking forward to watching two back-to-back episodes of Human Target on Wednesday. It was so much fun last week! So, at 8 pm, I sit down to watch, and there's a stupid sitcom on! I check the electronic TV guide, and it says two hours of Human Target. I stick with it for a while and finally find out that they bumped those two hours to televise the memorial service for the victims of the shooting in Tucson.

Don't get me wrong. I would have wanted to watch it if I'd known it was on. I did watch it, and sat and cried for a while.

The thing I object to is that they didn't let me know what was happening.

And then they televised the first of the two Human Target episodes on Friday night, but didn't tell anyone. I didn't find out until it was over and I'd missed it.

If you don't let people know your schedule, it's all useless. There were probably thousands of people who wanted to watch the memorial service and didn't because they didn't know it was on.

Ditto, Human Target.

Get your act together, Fox! You have had some great shows on, but you manage to kill them! Notably, Firefly.

I hate it when TV networks change their schedule 15 minutes before something is due to air! Especially since that's too late to change the electronic TV guide (not the mention the printed one), so nobody knows what's happening. You could at least make an announcement on air at the beginning of the change!

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I hope you've been having a good weekend and I wish you the best week possible!

Happy 1/11/11!

We've had some interesting repeating numbers in our dates lately, and this is one of the more fun ones. Of course, when we get to November we'll have 11/11/11. Lots of ones! What fun!

Or as my ex-husband used to say "You're easily amused!"

Oh well, you have a choice with things like this. You can either be bored or find it amusing. Amusing is more fun.

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It was supposed to snow here early in the morning, but it just started a little while ago. I checked the window, and there were big, fat, wet flakes falling out of the sky.

It was also supposed to stop after rush hour and then start up again just in time for rush hour in the late afternoon. Maybe that means that the second batch will wait until after rush hour to begin. It shouldn't be bad in any case because we're expecting about an inch of snow total today. We're also expecting "snow showers" (flurries?) over the coming few days.

After checking the window again, I can say that it's stopped, and all it's done so far is dampen everything slightly. The lake behind me is frozen, so it probably added a very thin layer to the top of the snow there.

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I still have a little Christmas knitting to do.

I know. Some people don't finish on time, but this is ridiculous.

I'm taking a break to knit a sock, though, and then I'll finish the Christmas knitting. But since it's not a present for someone, I can show it to you.

I bought a batch of this yarn from Mary Maxim last month, and I wanted to knit socks just to see how the self-patterning looked on this yarn. I like it! In fact, I like it so much I'm thinking of making a vest for myself out of it. That's what I originally bought it for, but I've been turning over various ideas for how I want to make it. There are no decisions yet, but I think I'm going to like anything I make out of this! Maybe I should order some more.

This is done in their Comfort sock yarn in denim. Do not try to buy this elsewhere. Their Comfort sock yarn is superwash wool with a bit of nylon for reinforcement. There's another brand of Comfort sock yarn out there that is primarily acrylic, but the price isn't as good for what it is. And the search engines seem to only find the acrylic yarn, not the wool yarn from Germany that Mary Maxim has.

Anyway, this yarn is about $5 for enough yarn for two socks (with probably a little left over unless they're very big socks).

I used to think that Mary Maxim only had the cheapest acrylic yarn, but either I was wrong or they've added some very nice yarns. Whichever, they're worth checking out because they have some yarns that are very nice! And some good prices on that yarn! They have a nice acrylic tweed yarn in some colors that are hard to find or too expensive for me to buy in wool. And some nice self-striping wool yarn at a good price. Sign up for their mail catalog. There's a lot of dreck in it, but a few real gems!

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I watched Castle last night. It's one of the few shows on TV at the moment that are showing brand-new, never-seen-before shows! The one last night was one of their best. Someone died at a magic shop, and Castle went on about how he loves magic and used to practically live at the magic shop when he was a kid. Beckett doesn't say anything, but does a few magic tricks right in front of him during the show. Her signature line for this show is "Alakazam, Jackass," which she says to people whose alibis she pokes holes in or just as she's arresting them. It was a very entertaining show. Oh, and a friend of mine on Facebook mentioned today that it's been picked up for another season! Thanks, Steve!

For you V fen, they've shown some reruns (At least I thought they were reruns, but maybe not) during the past week, and there's more on tonight. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that they may be new shows. I've TiVo'd them, but haven't watched them yet, so I couldn't say. I do plan to watch them later today in preparation for the show tonight.

As far as new shows (as opposed to reruns) are concerned, Human Target will be on tomorrow with two brand new shows on back-to-back (same as last week). This is action-adventure, not science fiction, but very good, very well done, and a real treat to watch! If you were a fan of Pushing Daisies, Chi McBride, who played Emerson Cod, the knitting detective, is in this. In a wasteland of reruns, this really stands out!

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What a great day I have to look forward to! Snow flurries visible out the window while I sit nice and snug and warm watching some great science fiction on TV and knitting! Can life get any better? Maybe, but not much.

I do plan to take some books back to the library and get some more, and while I'm out, get some things at Safeway, so I can have snacks for my snow, TV and knitting.

Happy 1/11/11!