Thank God, didn't get picked for the jury, it was a sex-abuse case and I know that would have affected me badly.

like I said to a friend "I hope if I get on a jury it's something nice and simple, like a check-kiting ring."

Not feeling well today. I think the "midsummer demon" has hit me. (I get something similar to SAD, but in the summer. I think it's a combination of allergies and not tolerating humidity well). I also am queasy today, but that could be allergy related.

On top of that, I have jury duty and I'm tense and wound up about that. One of my students is apparently a witness in the case I might be on; he came in with the subpoena showing he had to testify in the case (because he, like I, will have to leave class early).

that might get me off if I mention that in the jury-empanelling part of the situation. I don't actually KNOW anything about the case but the fact that I know one of the witnesses might make the defense attorney (I think my student is testifying against the guy) unhappy.

I knit very little last night - a few rows on the sleeves - before bailing and going to bed with a book.

Incidentally, I guess I did jinx myself (*) by finishing the bag...they "need" me for jury duty tomorrow. Le sigh. So I tapped one of the student workers to come in and fill in for the rest of lab tomorrow.

I hope I either get on a trial (and get dismissed from service after it's done) or get rejected out of hand. I'm getting tired of this "house-arrest" thing of having to call in between 4 and 5 pm to find out what turn my life is going to take for the next day. Makes it deuced hard to plan.

Fun and spunky, you link, there for you are! This
is all fun and games, and you do what you
damned well please!


What kind of blogger am I?
brought to you by Quizilla


so, I'm the scary big-eyed 60s girl type of blogger?

Plugging away on the sleeves of the Lightning-Bolt Family pullover. I'm probably about half done.

When a pattern has identical sleeves (i.e., the shaping is exactly the same and not mirror image or something like that) I knit them at the same time, on a long circular needle. This helps me get it done more effectively. The SSS I suffer from is not Second Sock Syndrome, but Second Sleeve Syndrome.

The sleeves (except for the very cuff) are all stockinette, with gradual increases. I find I can knit on these and read journal articles or textbook chapters at the same time. I know I've talked about this a lot, but it's something I do and I find it helps me immensely. The knitting:

1. occupies the low-level monitor-and-worry centers of my mind that would normally be going "Hey, don't you need to do the dishes?" "Wait, did you order two boxes of checks and only one came? did someone steal the second one and is now out draining your account?" etc.

2. Keeps me from racing through the read, thinking "just two more articles then I can KNIT!" It makes it feel less of a punishment. (Yes, sometimes reading scientific journal articles feels like a punishment - some scientists CAN NOT WRITE coherently, or they jargon-up their papers to show how smart they are, or they take an interesting subject and suck the life out of it).

3. Slows my brain down so the stuff has a chance to sink in. I tend to read complex things too fast and on "autopilot" and I catch myself thinking about other things and have to go back and reread pages or paragraphs. I think the slowing down is part of the "low level monitor and worry centers" being occupied.

4. Gives me the chance to work on the more, shall we say, meditative parts of a piece without getting frustrated with how "boring" stockinette is. Television and knitting stockinette doesn't work anymore; it's not distracting/interesting enough for me.

5. I find I both knit and read for longer periods of time.

That last isn't always good. I have to find a better position to sit in so my back doesn't ache the next day.

Natural History link 'o' the day: Wayne's Word, a newsletter of ecological and botanical facts and trivia. Excellent! (sorry, had to do that)

Friday Five

1. How many times have you truly been in love?

Really, only once. (Didn't work out). Many crushes though, still am prone to them, alas.

2. What was/is so great about the person you love(d) the most?

romantically speaking: this person made me feel like I was beautiful. We could talk about "nothing" for hours.
family members (the people I really love best): they know all my quirks and weirdnesses and they still love me.

3. What qualities should a significant other have?

For me, he needs to be kind. He needs to be someone who doesn't have that need to show off his "importance" by being rude to waiters and the like. He needs to be intelligent. He needs to appreciate my need for space. He should not be someone who ridicules my interests or enthusiasms.

4. Have you ever broken someone's heart?

No. At least, not that I know of (I was told by a friend that a particular fellow had "feelings" for me but he was too shy to speak up. I don't know if that qualifies as breaking a heart or not)

5. If there was one thing you could teach people about love, what would it be?

Romantic love is way overrated. You shouldn't be made to feel like a loser if you don't have a significant other. There are many different forms of love, romantic love isn't the only one, and it probably isn't even the most necessary one.

ok, I suck.

I gave in and ordered Koigu to make the "Landscape Shawl". I've had that pattern hanging around for a while, had bought some yarn for it, but decided the yarn was too bright and too blue. So I picked a Koigu (color 401) that is more muted.

now, what to do with all the Emu DK in the "Lake" colorway (bright light blue and green)...

Heads-up: Handworks Gallery is having a 30% off all yarns and all kits with yarn today (Friday) and tomorrow.

I didn't order anything.

not after that huge bunch of books I ordered this week.

not that there weren't things I wanted - the Koigu sweater kit out of last fall's Vogue, for example.

but it WOULD be $77 instead of $110. No. I'm not going to look, and I'm not going to do any more percentage math in my head.

Kogepan goes on vacation. I love these things. There used to be a website somewhere about all the crazy adventures a stuffed toy cow had.

(If you're not familiar with Sanrio-world, Kogepan is one of {I think} the more whimsical of the Japanese cartoon characters. He is a small burnt bun who has developed a sour and cynical outlook on life because he cannot fulfill his "destiny" to be a red bean-filled delicious bread. He appeals to me for the same reason Eeyore does, and for the same reason that I always liked Puddleglum in "The Silver Chair". I think I remember reading somewhere that children have a particular fondness for "sad" characters, because they like to imagine that they would be the ones to cheer them up.)

yes, I have my own little stuffed Kogepan, he looks like the one in the pictures.

here is one of the versions of Kogepan's life story that is on the web.

heh...I almost went to the Friday Five site to look for this week's questions. Teaching a four day week rocks. Today feels like Friday.

oooh, free patterns I've not seen before:

Knit your own gnome!
Fingerless mitt from aran-weight wool (would be nice made of 1824 Wool, I bet)
The Eurosock (knit with Berroco's Europa - I have no idea what that yarn is so I don't know how appropriate it would be for socks).

my favorite one is the gnome. Any pattern that starts off with "take one ball of pretty wool..." gets me interested in it.

Fondly remembered: Playing Punch-Bug (I grew up in Ohio; we called it Punch-Bug there. Also, the hit-back bit wasn't part of the game - you would gently punch the other person and go "Punch Bug Orange!" (or whatever color) but they didn't get to hit you back. There was also a game, for older "kids" driving with a boyfriend or girlfriend; it was called "Padiddle/Padunkle. If the girl saw a car with one headlight out, she said "Padiddle" and kissed her boyfriend; if he saw a car with a rear light out, he said "Padunkle" and kissed her. As for the other games: "Cruiser Bruiser" makes me laugh, and "Camry Compliment"? What's up with that? I mean, ick, how smarmy.)

Bookage.

Well, I gave in to the "SALE!" catalog put out by Bas Bleu and bought me'self a few books. One of them was the huge tome called "Living with Books" - basically a coffee-table book on how passionate bibliophiles have their homes set up to reflect their love. I had seen this book at the public library in the town where I used to live, had checked it out like 18 times over the span of time I lived there, just so I could sit and imagine myself in all the wonderful book-rooms pictured therein.

When I saw it for sale in a book catalog, I thought of buying it. But it was $50, and even I balk at a $50 book.

Well, Bas Bleu had it on sale for $35. Not too bad. I vacillated for several days on buying it but finally gave in last night. Oh, and also bought a couple editions of the "Pocket Poets" series that were on sale (I love the size and shape and design of these books...). And a book on Lenten meditations (yes, yes, I know Lent is over but I can use it next year.). And I bought a copy of "Pretzel" (a kid's book about a dachshund) because I could also buy a stuffed "Pretzel" to go with it.

I've always liked dachshunds. I'm not a dog person, so I'd never get a real one. But this one was cute. And it reminded me of a toy I had had as a child, and almost forgotton - a little stuffed dachshund, possibly one of the Dakin "Dream Pets" line.

innocent me, her name was "Doxy". That was before I knew (or even could have conceived of) what a doxy actually was.

Finished the "Hippy Bag" out of JCA's "Dance" chunky cotton last night. This is the one I started the one day I was called in for jury duty, and it had sat in my bag for a couple of weeks.

I hope this doesn't jinx me and get me called in for more jury duty, now that my "big wooden needles, see I'm not a dangerous person knitter" project is done. (Well, I have big plastic needles and the JCA "Cinema" to make a dressy scarf out of, so I can take that. Or my big Pony Pearls and the yarn for a headscarf.)

The bag is...interesting. Not sure if it's something I'd actually carry, it's too small for my wallet. It would work for keys and maybe a money clip with a few bucks in it. It actually resembles one of the old-fashioned "reticules" in shape - but it's a chunky knit, so I guess that's where the "hippy" comes in.

I used the color called "Jig" - a mottled grey green. (One of the things I love about Artful Yarns are the creative color names they give to their yarns, and it annoys me when some officious catalog writer decides that their own description of the name suits the yarn better. I'd rather buy a yarn called, say "George Bailey" than buy a "mottled blue railroad ribbon". But maybe that's just me.)

It is 84* outside.

I am sitting in my office, wearing a sweater over a heavy t-shirt.

what is wrong with this picture?

I NEED one of these*. Your own personal "cloud", that you can crawl into for a nap or to get away. I think one of the reasons I don't get as much done in my office is that I keep the door open (office hours) and I have the psychological sense that "if I let myself really concentrate on something, someone is going to sneak up on me". It doesn't help that my back faces the door when I am at my desk, but there's really no other arrangement of furniture I can work out.

*(as seen on Right Moon?)

Tired out today - ran to the allergists the next city over yesterday afternoon. Didn't get home until nearly 8 pm (partly my fault; I went out to eat and then to the Hastings' there, which I have to say is the WORST and nastiest Hastings' I've been in (and that's saying a lot)). Found out this morning that the NSF proposal I was on didn't get funded. Poot. I'm trying not to let this get me all worried about getting tenure again.

Made it through the first 2 hr. 40 min. class period. Only 10 more of those to go!

Now I'm trying to read a paper on spatial statistics. I wonder if everyone who works in a particular field that they have to read reports, or articles, or whatever, have "scare words" that make their brain shut down. Because I know I do.

"Variogram". Shuuuuuddddder. I knew what that was, once. The phrase "partitioning the variance" makes me nervous, too. And I always said when I was in grad school that if I saw more than five Greek letters on the page, my brain shut down (in ecology, Greek letters mean tough equations ahead.)

I really really really need to read this, but I really really really don't want to.

First day of summer classes. Grey and rainy, but that's OK, I have no outside labs this week.

The Knitlist has had some discussion on "how do you store your needles?" I use three different ways, depending on the type: Double-points "live" in a large flat clear plastic pencil-box from the office supply store. The box is maybe 12" by 6" and is divided into four sections: two longish (8") lengthwise sections where I keep my sock needles, and then two short (maybe 2" by 6") widthwise sections where I keep cable needles, a tightly rolled measuring tape, an emery board, my darning needles, and other small items. I keep my small scissors and a couple of crochet hooks (for picking up dropped sts) in the long compartments as well. This is my "travelling needle house" because it's what I grab when I'm traveling. I knit mostly socks when I'm on the road (and dpns are also good for small projects like hats, mittens, toys...). I keep all the dpns in the same place.

For circulars, I bought a Circular Solution. It is a very good thing. (Yes, I know, it would be possible to make your own, but there's the time issue, and also I wanted the designer to get some money for her good idea).

For straights, the few I actually use, they stay in a large glass vase. This protects my precious Walnut Brittanies (no longer being made) and shows off the funky plastic Pony Pearls.

Courtesy of Reusablog, here is your bio-geek moment of the day:

The Taxonomy of Bread Tags. Click on "known orders of Occlupania" for a list with pictures and descriptions. I love these things - where people do mock-science using serious language - like the sites where people test Peeps, and pop cans in the freezer, and the Twinkies Project (which I thought Hostess had shut down...I guess they decided it sold more of the nasty little cakes so it was ok).

A serious Friday Five:

1. What do you most want to be remembered for?

For touching at least one life. For helping someone decide that biology is the career they want. For being a good teacher and a decent person.

2. What quotation best fits your outlook on life?

as corny as it sounds, "It's nice to be important but it's more important to be nice." You may gag now.

3. What single achievement are you most proud of in the past year?

hmm...that's a toughie. Probably writing/rewriting three research articles in the span of two weeks.

4. What about the past ten years?\

that's easier. Picking my butt up off the floor after Grad School #1 said "we don't want you, neener neener" and going to grad school 2 and getting a Ph.D. and a real job in academia. (who's saying "neener, neener" now?)

5. If you were asked to give a child a single piece of advice to guide them through life, what would you say?

I would somehow teach them to enjoy and value learning.

I would also tell them that sometimes things that look like the worst possible thing in the world at the moment actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise - the "kick" you needed to get yourself onto a better path.


No knitting content today; I did develop a migraine yesterday afternoon and spent most of the evening curled up in bed waiting for it to go away.

There is a quilt show in town this weekend; I'm going this afternoon. I'll probably talk about my purchases later. (For me, it's all about the vendors. I like seeing other people's work but I love being able to browse new fabrics).

Interesting link: Wikipedia, an "open source" (they call it "open content") encyclopedia. An encyclopedia that evolves online, from the input of readers! It has some good brief entries on different scientific topics. There's also a "Brilliant Prose" page that is kind of "the best of Wikipedia".

Well, the summer Kn*tters came yesterday.

I have to say that I am usually underwhelmed by the summer issues of any knitting mag. (I am not a Tank Grrl, I don't care what the fashionistas say about VBS* being ok and even sexy, the idea of it on me gives me hives. And I can't do without the B in the VBS, at least not in front of a classroom (where I am for most of the summer) or at church or some other public forum)

So anyway, I may have the right to bare arms but I don't exercise it.

The origami bears was a cute idea and I might try it out. The same with the juggling balls (although fair isle on that small a scale - I don't know). But the sweaters left me cold. The cover sweater in particular - the color was totally wrong for the model's skin tone, IMHO. The socks - they're pretty but I bet the seams and lumps are murder on your feet. (Give me a nice cabled or slip stitch pattern any day!)

I dunno. My general rating is "Ehhhhhh." Too many of the sweaters are, I don't know, kind of blah?
I know, a few months I was complaining Knitters was too avant-garde (the holey sweater and socks). But it looks like they swung back too far the other way.

In general, I agree with Wendy and Michelle and Ginny, who said "The socks rock, the balls rock, the rest of it needs to be tied to a rock and sunk in the lake..."

(*VBS does NOT stand for "Vacation Bible School" here (even though that's the first thing I think of when I hear it). It stands for Visible Bra Strap)

Last night - finished the underbelly of the lion cub and partially sewed it to the upper body. Not sure how much knitting I will do tonight, I have a feeling a migraine may be flitting around inside my head waiting to strike (it's the first hot hot hot day of the year and what does Erica do but go out and do field work and then climb up on her roof to scrape off the leaves...not smart). I did take some Excedrin Migraine and I'm hoping it holds off at least for a while...have a 3:30 work meeting...

Still working away on the sleeves, interspersed with working on my quilt (I really do need to do at least 10 minutes on it each day if I'm ever to get it done).

No jury duty tomorrow, I don't even have to call back for another week. Whoo-hoo! That means I can get my first week of teaching, plus an appointment at the new allergists', out of the way without having to think about jury duty.

Ran out to the field site today but had to cut the session short because of the stinkin' mosquitoes. We have the Asian Tiger Mosquito here, and the unfair thing is THEY COME OUT DURING THE DAY. Yes, you can't even avoid them by standing right out in the sun - they will find you and bite you. They are the most annoying organism I have yet to encounter. I'm going back out tomorrow, but remembering the Cutter's this time.

I was stuck at home most of the day because Eggbert had to go in for his 30,000 mile checkup, tuneup, and system flushing. I baked an angel food cake - from scratch. I had a dozen+ eggs that were close to their expiration date, so I figured even if it didn't turn out, at least it wasn't like I'd have used the eggs otherwise.

The cake turned out. I'm quite pleased. And it wasn't nearly as hard as everyone I've ever talked to had led me to believe. I wonder if angel food cakes could be the socks of the cooking world? Before I knit socks, everyone was like "oh, they're so hard to do...turning that heel" and after I had turned the first heel, I have to admit, I can't really see why they seem so hard. Different, maybe, but not hard. In fact, on the angel food cake, I'd rather separate eggs than try to cream butter. Creaming butter ticks me off, because the brand I buy seems to be harder than I remember the butter being when I was a kid. And doing the "let it sit until it attains room temperature" - I'm too impatient for that. Anyway, the angel food cake turned out. It is good. Really good. Moist, and soft, and fine-crumbed, and without that chemical taste that ones from the store have. Better enough than mix cakes that I might just figure that I'll make a real angel food cake whenever eggs are on a good sale.

And I have to admit, it gives me a sort of sense of smug pride to think that I can successfully make a dessert that is supposedly so hard and arcane to do. (My mom doesn't even make angel food cakes from scratch). Maybe I'll try a souffle sometime.

OK, knitting...

I've finished the pattern-rows on the sweater sleeves and am progressing through the stockinette-stitch-with-increases-every-few-rows. I can see this done, so I'm eager to work on it. (when I have a pattern with both sleeves identical, I do them at the same time, knitting back and forth on a long circular needle. I don't know how many people do this, it seems logical to me).

I also finished the first beaded-rib sock and began the second, and started the belly for the lion cub from Kath Dalmeny's "World of Knitted Toys"

I watched two of the three movies I rented (I need to watch "Rushmore" tonight, they're due back Thurs.). "Undercover Brother" was funny but forgettable - I don't even remember most of the jokes now, two days after watching it. "The Man who Wasn't There" was interesting and atmospheric, but v. dark. Very much a film noir. Not quite my cup of tea. It's amazing how different the different Coen brothers movies are - "O Brother Where Art Thou" is a drama with comic moments, "Hudsucker Proxy" is almost slapstick, "Fargo" is a straight drama, and "Man Who..." is a very noir drama.

If you are a resident of the United States, you may have seen VFW members out on Memorial Day selling small paper poppies. And you may have wondered why. I think it is a reference to World War I, and the poem In Flanders Fields.
(And interestingly, this poem that is so linked to Memorial Day (formerly Decoration Day) in the States, was written by a Canadian, John McRae)

I have relatives who are veterans; I have some relatives who died fighting wars (but I never knew any of them, they were all in WWI). I have relatives that I know of who fought in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the first Gulf War.

Perhaps not all wars are "just" wars. Perhaps you believe no war is "just." But I think you have to appreciate the sacrifice of someone giving up their (usually his) life for country, freedom, and "the folks back home".

Campfire Brand marshmallows.
Vernor's Ginger Ale.
Brer Rabbit Molasses.
Crown Pilot crackers.
Moon Pies.

Every region of the country has its own distinctive food products, despite the ongoing (and sad) homogenization of American culture. However, when you move to a different part of the country, there are things you miss - products you thought every store carried, but you find to your regret, does not.
You can mail order some of those foods from Hometown Favorites.

They have Lyle's Golden Syrup - which is a British product but is fairly widely available where I come from. I have some recipes that call for it and it's also good on toast. Another thing I have noticed, is that groceries here inexplicably do not carry the single-pizza size Chef Boyardee pizza mixes - the big double boxes, yes, but I could never use those up. And sometimes I get a craving for the Chef's pizza - grew up eating it. And Vernor's ginger ale is not to be had west of the Mississippi, it seems.

They also have a truly amazing candy selection, and will make up "decade boxes" with candies representative of the 1950s, 60s, 70s, or 80s.

I am contemplating placing an order with them (But I'm going to check with my mom first; it seems that $2.95 plus shipping is a bit steep for one of the Chef's pizza mixes, maybe she could buy and send them to me cheaper.

Alas, the site does not have one of my most coveted, most jealously guarded food items: Paisley Farm's Pickled Baby Corn. (I beg my parents to bring it to me when they come and visit; it is in glass jars which I fear wouldn't survive shipping).
"

Well, I'm done with the rewrite of one paper, I've got a bit of rearranging I have to think about on the second, and I need to look at my resources again for a last few bits on the third. I think I'm done for today. Went out and rented "Undercover Brother" (someone told me it was funny), "Rushmore" and "The Man who Wasn't There" for this weekend. The stupid video place didn't have "Spirited Away" and wasn't planning on getting it. Their assortment of what might be considered "children's" movies is pitiful, but it looks like they have a large curtained-off back room for the pr0n. I think I need to find a new video place.

Started the sleeves for the Lightning-Bolt Family pullover last night. I'm at the point where you do 20 rows of the pattern, and then it's just plain old stockinette (with increases) till you're done! I'm getting excited about this project again.

Next up is going to be the Sitcom Chic made from the 1824 cotton.

I find I am most excited about anything I'm doing (knitting project, a book I'm reading, something I'm writing for research) when I'm either just beginning or when I'm to the point where I can "see" it being done. It's the midpoint slogthrough that gets to me.

I have small amounts of finishing work on three research papers (one is a rewrite a co-author suggested, one is one that I will need to send out to a co-author, and the third is a "sole author" paper but it's in education rather than ecology so I'm going to pass it on to someone with more education background for a readthrough and criticism). I think I can get those done this morning, and maybe do some lab-rewriting this afternoon.

It's funny, but after procrastinating all week, I dropped into a working-groove yesterday afternoon and it's still going. So I'm going to ride the groove of getting good work done.

I've promised myself that if I can get these papers cranked through, I am going to see if the video store has Spirited Away or something else good to rent, and watch movies and knit tomorrow. And Monday, I'm going to thoroughly clean my house.

I swear to God, no matter how rich I become, I will NEVER take on rental property as an investment.

I just watched as one of the renter-guys next door threw a whole milkshake out of his car. Oh, and the cup, too. On purpose. And the junk is right in front of my house on the street. No, I am not getting dressed again (I showered and put on pj's when I got home) just to pick up some damn dirty hairless ape's piece of trash. I'll pick it up tomorrow morning if it's still there.

There's also what looks like a basketball in my front yard. I'm leaving it, too. If it's still there in the morning, it will go in my trash, and if they ask me about it I will feign ignorance.

This has really opened my eyes to something my dad always said: when people have an investment in owning something, they care for it a lot better than if they don't. That's one of the best arguments I've heard against Communism (where the state technically owns all property).

(I deleted the post on diet and health; on second thinking it revealed more than I want to reveal)

Kim has some interesting thoughts concerning the knitting "revival" that may or may not exist.

I have some thoughts of my own on this...I think there was in general, a resurgence of interest in various forms of craft prior to Sept. 11. Quilting has been going strong since the 80s at least. I think the "rediscovery" of making things (I'm not sure if this "rediscovery" is media-driven or if there really are that many new fiber-craft people out there) may be in part a response to the increasing impersonality and mechanization in our world. The whole "paperless office" thing, where there are people who now sit in a cubicle all day and have little meaningful interaction with others.

I think wanting to make things is partly a desire to do something that feels meaningful. Also, if you have a job that involves lots of computer-work, or paper-shuffling, or even something like teaching, your work "goes away" at the end of the day - by that, I mean you don't have something you can actually point to and say "this is what I did today." It's hard to stay motivated when everything is intangible, when it's all electrons on a screen.

So some people turn to cooking.
Some people turn to restoring old cars
Some people make their house a beautiful showplace
Some people "drop out" of the career arena to spend more time raising their children (which can be an intangible activity itself...)
and others, they start making stuff.

I don't know, though, about the "new" crafters. I've always "made stuff". The one time of my life I was unhappiest was when I was living alone, in a v. small apartment, in a big isolating city, and I didn't have a sewing machine or any craft supplies with me (and there was no craft store within walking distance, and I didn't have a car). My mom sent me some embroidery kits, and that made all the difference - then I learned there was a yarn shop in town, and since I didn't really knit at the time, I picked my crochet hook back up.

Ever since then, I've recognized the power of "making stuff" to keep me happy, to give me a backup sense of accomplishment when things aren't going well at work, as a way to spend rainy weekends. It's something I need, I've discovered, as much as I need physical exercise and meaningful work and fruit and vegetables. If I'm away from "making stuff" for too long, I get sad and cranky and listless. For me, it is simply a part of a balanced life, and it almost always has been. Perhaps the reason we might be seeing a resurgence (and again, I emphasize that the "resurgence" may be more that the media has picked up on it) is that people are realizing more what is needed for a balanced life, after the various monomanias (hours at the gym, bizarre diets, working 80 hour weeks, whatever) that we've seen in the past 20 years.

take the nerd test.


and go to mewing.net. a nerd utopia.



and I CAN, too (I just choose not to... gnocchi are one of those things that you have to be truly Martha-driven-perfectionistic to want to do. Anyway, the ones in the vacuum sealed pouches from the store are almost as good).

I may have finished the front of the Lightning-Bolt family sweater. I say "may" because when I measured it against the back last night, it looked like the right length, but I'm going to try it again today to be sure.

Also: does anyone else ever "solve problems" in their dreams? I tend to remember the "last dream" of the night (the one I have right before waking up) the best. I guess I must have still been thinking about those comments because in my dream, I had rewritten all of my labs (one of the complaints was that some of the lab instructions were unclear) and they seemed better. I'm going to take my dream-advice and go over the labs this weekend, remembering all the sticking points, and see if I can improve them.

I also dreamed I did an experiment with the class looking at germination rates and percentages of wildflower seed, but I'm not sure where or how to get that much local wildflower seed.

Today I am heading up to Sulphur, for a day of hiking at Chickasaw. I need a day off.

the post below was mainly thinking out loud. I'm not that insecure, really.

I'm beginning to think about the purchase of a digital camera. Just at the "thinking" stage right now, I know really nothing about these things and want to buy the best one for my purposes. I need pretty high resolution and a camera that can photograph small things close-up (like flowers) without going all blurry. Or without mucking up the colors, although I don't know how much of that is a camera issue and how much of that is a printing/display issue.

I also want one that's a fairly "standard" brand, and ideally one available at a place like Best Buy or Office Depot or a good electronics department of a department store. I'd much rather buy the camera "in person" so I have a place to easily return it to if it's defective, and I also don't like buying something that expensive and either trusting UPS will bring it when I'm home (and not just bung it over the fence into the backyard or hand the package to my untrustworthy neighbors) or doing the whole send-it-to-my-department dance.

I'm guessing more megapixels = better resolution. Email me if you're familiar with digicams and have any more input. I looked at a Sony Mavica at the Wal-Mart (2 megapixels) but have heard that there are 4 megapixel cameras out there...

Just got and read my teaching evaluation comments.

it's funny (but it's not). My ratio of positive to negative comments is perhaps six to one. (out of maybe 12 total comments). Yet, it's that one that makes the big impression on my mood.

I feel like I want to go home now and stare at HGTV for the rest of the afternoon. Not even knit or quilt. Just sit and stare at the tv.

all because ONE person said "I learned nothing useful in this class." I mean, how do I change that? Do I change it? I'm following kind of a standard syllabus for classes of this nature.

I'm not good at discounting other people's opinions. I can't just justify it to myself saying "oh, that was probably the person who sat in the back of the class and talked all through the semester" or "that's the person who always skipped". I don't know that for a fact (Although I think I know who wrote the long, long positive comment because the other students were hassling her over how much time she took to write out the comment).

Did the person think what they were saying would help me in some way? If they said "I didn't find the discussion of x useful, the way it was presented confused me" I could DO something about that. Or were they just saying it because they were angry and wanted to lash out at someone? Or (horror of horrors) did they think they could get me denied tenure?

this is one of the other reasons why I dread putting together the tenure packet - rereading my past comments. It's funny, but the positive ones don't stick with me like the ones that sting me do.

I don't know - maybe all professors get snarky comments from students regardless of how good they are. But it still hurts.

A non-knitting, non-craft blog that I enjoy regularly is This Woman's Work. For what felt like the longest time, it was offline, because Moveable Type screwed something up.

It's back! If you've never visited the site, it's the blog of a woman writer who has a young son and a great husband, and who is looking forward to adopting this summer. A totally different life from mine, but it's enjoyable to read about.

I have a small list of bookmarked sites that I keep because they have the power to make me laugh no matter what is going on in my life. I found another to add to the list today: Groovin' Granny.

(warning: not for those offended by the mention of the word "boobs")

Bio-geek alert: you can now buy plush toys that are representations of common pathogenic microbes. No kidding - it's Giant Microbes. (I think Shigella is the cutest).

Incidentally, if the blog ever doesn't come up (you get a "this page not available" message) or it comes up partway and hangs, hit the "refresh" button. This seems to be a periodic problem with Blogspot blogs.

(Yeah, I know, saying how to view blogspot blogs when they hang on a blogspot blog is like saying "raise your hand if you're not here")

Writing away on the succession/old-fields paper this morning, trying to decide if the weather is going to clear enough to make it pleasant to travel to Sulphur for an afternoon of hiking (I'm thinking no, Thursday might be better).

When I called yesterday afternoon, the court clerk told me no jurors were needed this week. Whoo-hoo!

Picked away at various knitting projects while reading journal articles. Knit some on the Lightning-Bolt sweater (and wound up making a mistake), then switched over to the beaded-rib socks.

I also watched the "Martha Stewart movie" last night. Cheese. Pure cheese. I would have been better off reading journal articles. Still, it WAS entertaining, and I knitted the back body of the lion cub from Kath Dalmeny's "World of Knitted Toys" during the movie.