I don't fully trust GPS either.

There's the famous "Easter egg" in (I think it is) Google maps where if you try to get directions from (say) New York City to Stockholm, it tells you to start swimming.

But there are also errors that they can make; I've heard of people getting tickets for doing illegal left turns that their GPS told them to do. I guess my concern comes in that I see a lot of people allowing technology to replace common sense. (You also see this with calculator dependence, which is why I'm now glad my 6th grade math teacher would not permit calculators under any circumstances other than to check our work. I get a lot of students who come up with completely unreasonable answers (like, it's an order of magnitude too large) and they kind of shrug and go, "But that's what the calculator (or Microsoft Excel) says" Are you gonna trust your brain, or are you gonna trust a piece of silicon?)

I don't know. I tend to get kind of prickly about people not being able to do simple math, and needing calculators for it. Or not being able to estimate. You need to be able to have a "feel" for things, I think.

****

I'm waiting on a student who's going to help me grab the samples for the next round of soil critters. It's already humid out and I have to say I'm glad he's available to help - he can grab half the samples and I can grab half and it will be much faster. (And my other research student had to cancel for this afternoon, so I get the afternoon off. I'm considering going home and showering after THIS fieldwork, and then, after my hair has mostly dried, going shopping in Sherman. There are a few things I want to pick up from the Target but have been too busy to, and it is sometimes just nice to have a slightly different place to go. And I can get to the Kroger - which is apparently the ONLY place anywhere near me that carries Stonyfield Farm plain lowfat yogurt any more. The Wal-Mart here has reduced their yogurt inventory (in favor of those little pre-made refrigerated tubs of gelatin, of all things) and the other groceries in town don't seem to want to admit that plain yogurt EXISTS. I know it's a specialized thing, but...it's also used in some cooking and baking.

I know, the solution is probably to start making my own. But meh. If I'm going to get a pet I have to tend, I want something with fur.)


***

I have been doing some knitting.



This is part of a semi-secret project. (But I don't think the recipient reads here, nor does the recipient know at this point that they are the recipient).

This is the first time I ever used Berroco's "Vintage" - it's a blend and is washable. I have to say I really am pleased with the stitch definition. (It's just a plain old basketweave stitch from one of the old Harmony guides, but wow, does it look good in this yarn).

I've actually been flipping through the stitch guides again...and am sort of wanting to do my own self-engineered socks again, where I pick a stitch pattern I like and work them out myself, rather than always following someone else's pattern.

I probably need to start doing more designing, with the idea that someday I'm going to design that vest for the pretty pale blue Cascade 220 tweed I have in stash. Maybe do some socks to warm back up, then a hat, and from there maybe start considering the vest.