Trivial Things

So, I took some pics. of the descent down my driveway. Yes, I was driving with one hand and held the camera out the window with the other, that's why the pics are so tilty. Yes, I know that was really stupid and dangerous of me. Please don't e-mail me and tell me how stupid and dangerous it was, Mike and I have discussed it length. I have learned my lesson and repented. But since the deed was already done - here are the pics! As you can see it really sucks. Also as an aside, I had to call the plow guy yesterday and left the following message :" Hey plow guy, um, I really need you to come and sand my driveway. My car is stuck at the top, and my driveway is a complete ice slick. We have guests coming in an hour, and they probably will not make it up the driveway. I mean, we are paying you $75 per storm, last year we paid $80 to another guy and the driveway was beautifully sanded and passable each time, I didn't get stuck even once. This year I have been stuck 3 times, and have had to get my dad to pull me out. Please come over as soon as possible." To which he responded by doing.............NOTHING. No call, no coming over to sand, nothing. I have very strong feelings about this guy right now. Needless to say, he will not be assisting us with our snow removal needs in the future. You can be assured, my plow guy rates a big poopsandwich.


Friday I participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count, which is still going on today if you would like to help out. It's really easy, you just count birds for at least 15 minutes, fill out a sheet, e-mail it in and your done! I have a lot of chickadees at my house that's for sure. You can also check out the stats. of bird species in your area in real time . This is going to be filling in some of my volunteering time. Which leads me to another volunteering thing. A certain organization mailed me - in the regular mail - a flyer with a sign up sheet for an event occurring soon that I was interested in participating in. On the sheet it said you can register on-line. So I did. To which I have had no response. Now, I am familiar with this organization, and am pretty sure that they probably don't check their email ,or just deleted it. But, I am totally not e-mailing back or calling. Why? Because I don't feel like I should be chasing them down in order to volunteer, I really don't. Places need to make it as easy as possible for volunteers to sign up, and I feel like in a lot of cases they don't, and then they whine about lack of interest and volunteers. It's really easy people - the answer is this - Use the internets. They are your friend. How's that for a bad attitude?

Friday I also did a "new-thing" which was to participate in a trivia challenge at my local bookstore. Not only did I not win, but I was defeated by my trivia nemesis, Mr. Daniel Bachelder by one point. ONE POINT! But I'm a good sport and so am publicly reporting my defeat and his stunning fourth quarter victory. I think I will be going to more trivia nights and have heard that there is an excellent trivia challenge at the Liberal Cup in Hallowell on Tuesday nights. Which might be even more fun because instead of tea, you can also enjoy delicious adult beverages. Thanks Dan and Erika for being my dates! I look forward to going out again soon :)

Let's see, what else. Oh yes! I have been learning new words thanks to a word of the day app. on my desktop. My favorite so far is "pestiferous". which sounds like a word I would make up myself. I will now use it in a sentence "One must avoid walking in the pestiferous woods around my house during the summer, lest you be covered with legions of mosquito bites."

This weekend I nearly completed a pair of slippers for my mom. I think if I knit non-stop on these, I could have had them done in about 6 hours. Probably less. I am really disappointed in the lack of slipper patterns knit in the round. Most of them are back and forth on straights. Annoying. Last night I won a set of 15 pr. of dbl pointed needles for like 14 bucks on ebay. This is a huge score, as they are usually between four and eight bucks a pair - my new ones are less than a buck! Woot! It's rad to have a whole set like this because now I know I always have the correct size that patterns call for. I plan on knitting some bitchin' socks and fingerless gloves. OH! I also entered this crazy knitting contest thing on Ravelry. People are matched up with a pattern and a partner. When the item is finished it is mailed to the partner via usps, if you receive your partners piece before you are finished you are "dead", and they move on to the next round. Sounds like fun. Just a note about Ravelry, it has to be bar none one of the best websites I have ever seen, been on, participated in, etc. etc. Unfortunately you have to be a member to even check the site out, but if you are a knitter or crocheter I highly recommend it. Oh, and it's Freeeeeee.

Movie review! Last night I watched Memoir of a Geisha, which rates a Double Woot! with the following disclaimer: if you are a dude, this is probably not a movie you will enjoy as it's a romance/drama set in Japan in the 30's/40's. I'm not trying to be sexist, I'm just saying, it's not really a dude movie. Just the same as the new Rambo promoters are probably not including moi in their target demographic. The movie was stunning visually, as most movies set in Japan are. If it wasn't a zillion hour long plane ride I would love to visit Japan sometime, but I really can't see myself on a plane for 16 hours anytime soon. Anyhow, the movie tells the story of a young girl who is sold at age nine to a Geisha house. Apparently this was fairly common for parents with little money etc. who felt their daughters had no real chance at life. The movie still left quite a bit of mystery surrounding Geisha, and I'm sure the book is quite good, but I was always under the impression that Geisha was a choice for women, but I would say it's as much a choice as those who "choose" to be prostitutes. While Geisha are not prostitutes they are sort of viewed as pieces of art, not really people in the traditional sense. There's a lot to it. Anyhow, Double woot! And possible book choice as well!

Oh, that reminds me, back to Ravelry for a minute, there is a little online book club for knitters who also read, and so I joined that too. This is a new thing for me, being a joiner. Anyhow in the next few weeks I will be reading the next choice - A Thousand Splendid Suns.

As of today, the only category with 0% goal completed is lose 30lbs. Which is going to be more like lose 40lbs if I don't literally get my ass in gear....I'm sure there's more but this is already super long. Cya.