Stargate SG-1 All Day Today!

SyFy is the "Stargate SG-1 all day, all the time" network today! And they seem to have picked out the best of the series, too. If you've just caught onto the marathon now, you've probably missed a lot. Episodes include Wormhole Xtreame, Window of Opportunity, Urgo, Crystal Skull, The Nox, and more! There are several two-part episodes, especially Mobius.

And while we're on the subject of TV, Dollhouse will be premiering on Fox tonight! Also, we have the season premier of Ghost Whisperer! I can't wait! And the return of the cancelled Medium!

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

Two other things that I haven't been able to wait for are coming up tomorrow and a week from tomorrow!

Tomorrow we planned to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival. I say planned because the forecast for the area it's in is showers all afternoon, and Holly already had a bad experience with rain at the Ohio Renfair.

I knew we were in trouble last night when the weather guy on TV said that there was rain in Ohio and it was headed this way. Unless we have an amazing miracle, I'm bracing myself for disappointment. Either we'll go and get rained on, or we will miss it entirely tomorrow.

We do have another trip to the Renfair scheduled for around the middle of October, so we do have one more chance, but that's then and this is now.

Next weekend, though, is what I'm really starting to get psyched about! It's the Fall Fiber Fest! Yaaay! I really can't wait for this one! My monthly income will arrive the day before the fest!

I have lots to do to get ready, so I have to go, but I wish you a fabulous weekend!

Happy Autumn Equinox!

Happy Autumnal Equinox!

Today is the Autumnal Equinox, or the first day of Fall to all of us.

There's a strange story that says that you can balance an egg on it's end on either of the two equinoxes, and you can read all about it here. Whatever you choose to do to celebrate, the day and night will be in a balance today, with light and dark taking up an equal part of the day. From here, it can only get darker each day until around Christmas, when prayers, feasting (or fasting) and arcane rites will persuade the sun to come back (with luck).

Which reminds me that I have to be really busy on planning and making Christmas presents! I hope you've got it all organized! Speaking of which, I'll finish the first green sock for Holly today and get started on the second one! Only 3 more socks to go, and then two pair of purple ones for her birthday, which is three days after Christmas.

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

Well, I feel like I'm about to go over the falls in a barrel again. John sent me some photos (black and white, natch) for the covers of the third and last Steve Canyon DVD last night! I started them downloading and went to watch TV, then checked the computer later and turned it off. This morning, I checked the photos, and, as usual, they're great! I have a batch of things lined up to do today, so I'll be busy, but I can't wait to start work on them. They're going to be beautiful!

If you click on the link above, it'll lead you to a post on John's blog which has links to more info on Doug Drexler's blog about Steve Canyon and the DVD, plus links to an article Doug did about me.

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

While John was sending me the photos for the DVD, he also sent a really bad scan of a photo he took of me years ago.

A while ago, I asked John for an opinion on my blog, and he said that he would probably want to read my blog even if he hadn't known me for so long. I asked what I could do to improve my blog, and he said I should write about things that had happened to me and things that I'd done.

So, here's one of them, which is an explanation of the photo.

Years ago (in about 1977?) John and I belonged to WSFA (Washington Science Fiction Association), which may (or may not, depending on who you talk to) be the oldest science fiction club still in existence. It was incorporated as a nonprofit organization, I think. I'm not a lawyer, but that's the way I remember having it explained to me.

Anyway, after years of having Disclave (a science fiction convention) and other events, WSFA had built up more money in it's treasury than it should for a nonprofit, and the IRS was beginning to make threatening noises about it. So, during a meeting, we put up several propositions for ways to use some of the money, and get them off our back. There was a vote, and we chose to rent a tall ship for a day, and go for a sail on the Chesapeake! Aha! Now the photo is beginning to make some sense!

So, John and I set out in my MGB GT for Annapolis and the docks. During a scenic ride, John was busy singing and refining a song he had written called "Gillilands Isle." I'm sure you can imagine the tune, if you think about it for a moment. The name in the title referred to Alexis Gilliland, who is a science fiction writer, member of WSFA, a friend, and whose name happened to fit well into a nautical-sounding song, with just a bit of tweeking. The link above, by the way, is to Wikipedia, but if you want to see more about the real Alexis, check here. He's a fabulous cartoonist! I remember going out for donuts with WSFA, and watching Alexis draw on the napkins.

Well, we had our day of sailing on the Chesapeake, forming up in lines to haul sails up and down, and generally having a fabulous time. John took the opportunity to get up and sing his song, and a good time was had by all. It was one of those long, lazy days where not much happens, but it's all fun, interspersed with frantic ship handling activities. I brought along a camera, and John and I put it to good use.

The photo above was scanned from a 110 negative, so it's not so good, but does convey the general idea. John thinks he can scan it better. I think he should go to WalMart, get them to print the neg and scan the print.

While I was looking stuff up for all this, I came across the Science Fiction Fan Dictionary, which will explain all the terms used by SF fen. If you happen to be a fan, you will enjoy reading it! I liked it so much that I put a permanent link to it in the sidebar so you can read it in the future.

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

Well, new shows tonight include: Warehouse 13 and The Forgotten. Warehouse 13 is on all day today, the whole first season in it's entirety!

The Forgotten is a show I haven't heard much about, but it sounds like it's got a good premise and has the potential to be a great show. All we can do is tune in and see. It stars Christian Slater, so it can't be all bad.

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

Well, the book version of Flashforward is being held at the library for me, so I'd better get going and walk over there and get it.

Have a great evening!

I Think I'm Back, Now

I haven't been feeling really good for a long time, now, but the antibiotics and decongestant I've been taking have been having side effects that have had me feeling worse than usual for the last week or so. But I've just taken the last antibiotic pill, and so I assume that I'll be feeling better soon. At this point, I don't think they have improved the general background low grade sickness, though. I was really hoping they would.

So, anyway, it looks like I should be back to posting almost every day soon.

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

Holly is coming home today from her weekend trip. I heard from her last night, and the trip was good and bad. She had severe plane delays on the way out, but did get to Hoagie Man at least once, and planned to go again before she left. This was complicated by the fact that her phone managed to quit working, necessitating a trip to the phone store to get it going again. It quit again soon after being fixed, but then was fiddled into working again. The renfair trip on Saturday seemed to be a success. At least she said that she'd bought a really beautiful ring that I can't wait to see.

She didn't want to hang on the phone for long last night when I talked to her, so I got a sketchy report of Sunday's renfair trip, and it wasn't pretty. There was a lot of rain, and it was chilly, which didn't go at all with her pirate costume, which, you may remember from the last post was a bit skimpy on warmth. Her wool felt tricorn hat may never recover. Heather got fed up with it and left, then promptly had a car accident due (I presume) to the bad weather. I get the impression that although there was a lot to enjoy, the general misery from the weather cut into the merriment.

I wish her a safe trip home!

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

I managed to knit the entire ankle, a heel flap, turn the heel, and most of the gusset on the last blue sock for Holly on Saturday while watching Children of Earth again on my DVR from last weekend's BBC in America extravaganza. I've gotten the green yarn wound into balls (actually cakes) and am into the heel flap on the first green sock for her. I've discovered that the green dye on the socks is coming off on my hands, so now I have green marks there. That's the first yarn I've gotten from Knit Picks that's done that. So, now I'll have to wash the green socks before I can give them to her.

I washed Heather's yarn in shampoo and conditioner in hopes of softening it, but with no real improvement. It looks like somebody sold her the first yarn they'd ever spun. It's a singles, which can be OK to knit, if the spinner knows what she's doing. A singles is inherently not a balanced yarn, and will tend to skew. Overcoming this tendency is delicate, and easy to mess up. On top of being a singles, as I said, one skein looks like it was the first thing someone ever spun. It's not even structurally sound. Some of it is thinner than sewing thread and overspun, ready to snap at the slightest tension, and it has slubs, which are spaced far apart and not a relatively even design feature, that are thicker than some of the bulkiest yarn. The other skein is more evenly spun. It has some thick and thin, but is nice, stable, handspun.

Whoever spun it tried to make it act like a balanced yarn by boiling the heck out of it while dying it with logwood, which produced a stunningly beautiful lavender color, and turned some perfectly good wool into something that feels like steel wool. While boiling, they didn't put any tension on it, so there are a lot of kinks that are felted into the wool.

I'm thinking about plying the two skeins in hopes of removing a bit of the bias, which is till there, and making it actually structurally sound before knitting it. I'm having a hard time trying to decide how to handle it because it's really bad. I don't think it would look good in the Hermionie's Hat pattern. Actually, once it's plied, I think it would look good in a very plain hat pattern to show off the slubs and inconsistencies of the yarn. I'm thinking it over while I knit Holly's sock before I do anything. This is turning into trying to make a silk hat out of a sow's ear. Whoever ruined this wool should be ashamed of themselves!

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

This week will see the beginning of a number of new shows, so pay close attention to your TV guide, and prepare to be entertained!

Being Human is on daytime BBC in America today! Later on, we'll have the season premiers of Heroes, Castle, and The Big Bang Theory!

Tomorrow is the season finale of Warehouse 13! If you've heard about it but missed the beginning and want to see it (and have a way to record it or have the day off) you can watch the whole, entire first season of Warehouse 13 on SyFy tomorrow, starting early in the day!

On Wednesday, the premier of Eastwick will be happening on ABC. This show looks interesting!

Thursday will see the premier of Flash Forward! I've been seeing the trailers for it, and I'm excited! This premise has a lot of potential. The season premier of The Mentalist will also be on!

Also on Thursday, we'll get to see the second episode of the season of Fringe and the third of Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries. Well, you might get to see The Vampire Diaries. I won't. I can only watch two programs at a time, and I'd rather see the second episode of Bones. The premier of Supernatural was as wonderful as I'd hoped. I have the second episode on the DVR, and I'm saving it up for a special treat!

And on Friday, we have the long-awaited premier of Dollhouse! Of course, there's an episode between the last one aired and the new premier that you won't have seen unless you bought the Dollhouse DVD. I think that's really chintzy of Fox, but then they are the same people who managed to kill Firefly, which is one of the best shows I've seen on TV since Babylon 5.

And, just before Dollhouse on Friday is the season opener of Ghost Whisperer!

Whew! My DVR is going to be really busy this week!

I hope you have a great week, and enjoy all the great shows on TV!

International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day today!

You can actually buy a book about the day! It's called The Pirate Life.

Holly will be at a renfair in Michigan (or possibly, Ohio) today, and she'll be wearing her pirate costume, which you may remember from last year.

Whichever fair she's at, she'll be at the other one tomorrow. I envy her! Not only that, but she's getting to see Malaia, John, Heather, and all the other wonderful people out there. I miss them! And she's already gotten to go to Hoagie Man, and will get to go back again before she leaves. I envy her! And she got to fly there on a plane! Even if her flight was delayed and delayed, and even though it was a commercial flight, she still got to fly, which is one of my favorite things in the world!

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

I started the fourth and last sock for Holly in the Winter Night color last night. I have to decide if I want to do the green (Kenai) or the purple (Cosmos) ones next.

Heather sent some hand spun yarn that was dyed in logwood, which makes a beautiful lavender color. She wants me to knit it into a copy of the hat that Hermione wore in the Half Blood Prince movie. Here's a photo of the one I made for Holly.

The yarn seems to me to be a little on the light weight side for this hat, though. The yarn was very scratchy, and rough, so I've washed it in a combination of shampoo and conditioner in the hopes that it'll get much softer. It's still drying, but part of it seems to be dry, and slightly softer, although it seems like it will never be something that I would consider nice to touch. I'll have to knit some swatches to determine the gauge I'll want to use.

I'm thinking hard about wanting to do something more interesting with it than the Hermione hat, though. Something that will show it off at it's best, which I don't think the Hermione hat will do.

Well, it has to finish drying, and get wound into balls and have some swatches made before I make any decisions.

Heather says she really wants that particular hat, but I think this yarn could be so much more.

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

In case you haven't noticed, BBC in America has started to do the same daytime thing that SyFy has been doing: they're picking a series and showing several episodes of it each weekday. On Monday, they'll be having Being Human: the first episode, and then the last few of the first season. This past week, they showed some of Torchwood and some of Doctor Who. Keep your eyes open for the future.

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

I had planned to go do some things with my friend, Nancy this weekend, but I'm still not feeling too good. The antibiotic should help in the long run, but it's making for some side effects at the moment that made me want to stay home and just exist until I can manage to feel better.

Yesterday, everyone in the world wanted me to be up early and be busy doing stuff. I wasn't really too enthusiastic about it. One of the things was a series of blood tests, and these make me think that I may have found a doctor who knows what she's doing. She ordered some very intelligent tests, and one no doctor has ever thought to do for my thyroid problems. So far, I'm impressed!

So, I'm probably going to spend the weekend knitting and watching TV. I have Children of Earth on the DVR that I recorded last weekend, and I'm thinking about spending the day watching it.

I hope you're going to have a weekend that's at least as much fun as mine, and with any luck, as much fun as Holly's!

Still Here, Barely

I've had stuff I needed to do, and I've been feeling bad lately. My failure to write has nothing to do with you.

The doctor's treatment has been both helping and hurting. I felt dizzy and light headed, had a terrible headache, and my heart was going like I was running somewhere all the time, and I was dazed and exhausted. It finally occurred to me that it would be a good idea to switch back to the decongestant I had been using before rather than what the doctor said to take. The decongestant the doctor said to take really kept my head cleared out and stopped the post nasal drip, but caused all the other symptoms. A simple switch to the old decongestant stopped all the bad symptoms, but leaves a little post nasal drip left over. At least I'm not drowning anymore!

In spite of feeling bad, I had three errands to do yesterday. One of them was to visit the dental clinic to give them my new phone number and ask what's happening and when can they schedule the rest of the work. I got there, and they had already left for the evening. I would have been there on time if the bus had been somewhere near on time, but it was running about a half an hour late.

I checked my knitting bag and discovered that I hadn't put the package I intended to mail in it like I thought I did, so there was no point in going to the Post Office. At that point, I caught the bus and went to WalMart, which had just what I needed.

So, that left the other two things to do today.

I did get to the Post Office, and get my package mailed, and put up with the usual annoyances there.

I got to the dental clinic in time, and, as it happens, they're just at a point where they're starting to be able to help people who need dental work that involves lab work, so they gave me an appointment for the 6th of October! I just can't wait until it's over, and I can actually bite into something again! I can't tell you how happy I am that I was able to get an appointment!

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

My mouse and keyboard are acting funny at the moment. I'll be away from my computer for a while over the weekend, so I won't be posting then, But I'll be back on the internet on Monday, so I'll be writing more then.

Have fun in the meantime!

I'm Back

Where, you may ask, have I been? Well, I've been right here, but I haven't been feeling too well, and haven't been blogging as much, and you may have noticed that my posts aren't as interesting as usual.

I did, finally, get to see a doctor on Thursday. And she listens, and is at least trying to do something about the problems. As opposed to the previous 15 or more doctors I've seen in the past about this. Those previous doctors have learned that if they say the magic words "There's nothing wrong with you" that they won't have to bother to do anything, and you still have to pay them.

So, anyway, the strategy is this: we start off with some antibiotics in the hope that they're going to stop the post nasal waterfall and clear out my ear. Then we continue with an antihistamine/decongestant combination in an effort to keep the advantage we hope we'll gain from the antibiotics.

I felt pretty bad before I saw the doctor, and I think I'm starting to feel a bit better. With any luck, it will continue. We'll see.

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

I hope you've been watching either The Lord of the Rings trilogy on TNT, or the Doctor Who marathon on BBC in America today. I'm recording LOTR, and watching the Doctor.

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

I just finished reading The Host, by Stephanie Meyer, and let me tell you, it's fabulous! It's about an alien invasion of Earth where the invaders are tiny creatures who take over human bodies. The humans don't even realize it's underway at first. The story follows an alien named Wanderer who is inhabiting a body named Melanie, and it's an excellent story. I highly recommend it.

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

The new issue of Spin Off is out, and so is the new issue of Knitty! Knitty also has two contests (scroll down)! Don't miss them!

I'll put up some better posts soon, when I feel better. In the meantime, I hope you've been having a great weekend!