Just because you sat down next to me doesn't make me want to talk to you

This week has been hell. Yes, it is only Tuesday. That does not make it any more pleasant, especially since I missed knitting yesterday. Zuzu's tail on my foot kinda does, but just because I love my kitteh. Anyway, met Mike at the local bar tonight, because I really needed a beer. (I had two. Woo. Gulden Draak and Weihenstephan. Wow, I actually spelled that right. Gold star for my forehead, right next to the "L" tattoo!)

Anyway, I am happy that our local watering hole has wifi. I was able to send a few work-related emails after escaping, as well as browse Ravelry, while enjoying some sweet beer to ease the pain. Shared some chocolate chip cookies, and was mostly antisocial, although I laughed at a Pat Benatar beer joke (Helles is for children). Until some guy walks in with a buddy, sits down next to me, and starts talking to me. "What's the bartender's name? Who was the other bartender? Is he still here? What happened to him?" Dear Mr. Man: Please note that I am staring at my computer, and not looking at you. I do not want to talk to you. No offense, I just do not want to deal with people.

So I left, and went home to hang out with Zuzu. I love my kitteh, and would rather spend time with her than with most people.

I also wanted to gripe about all the construction around our house. Some days it feels like you can't get there from here. We need to go south before we can go north, and east before we can go west. Here is a map to illustrate, although I feel like I am missing more construction. Blue arrows show the route when the roads were open. Green arrows show the detours. Map not to scale.

One last gripe: Went through the Toxic Hell drive through at 4:45 today to grab some lunch. They forgot to put cheese on my cheesy rice and bean burrito. They also did not give me napkins. If that lunch had cost more than $2, I would be really peeved.

Oh well. I should stop complaining and do something productive. Just wanted to vent for a while. Hope no one is offended. And yes, I shared cookies with the guy that I didn't want to talk to, as well as the other people that I ignored for most of the evening. But I brought the rest home, because I need chocolate too, dammit. And Zuzu needs love. Time to snuggle until all is right with the world again.

How life has been...

Please enjoy this video, as it is I've been feeling over the past few weeks, and will probably feel for most of March. Windmills of Your Mind - Muppet Show

Anyway..... Watching the Muppet Show tonight. It's a quiet evening at home, as I could have gone over to North End with Mike, but decided not to deal with the weather. It's not that bad, but ice is accumulating on cars and stuff. Ahhh, Veterinarian's Hospital....

Yesterday was a long day, as the server that is limping along while The Server That Makes Me Cry is waiting for its replacement crashed. Overheated, apparently. Luckily the data was safe, but it took until after 6 to get things backed up.

Just anti-slipped two pairs of slippers. Shipped a few out yesterday, with some goodies. Still have a few packets to send, as I didn't have everything packed up when I went to the post office yesterday, and I could only spare a few moments away from Server Hell. Will try to escape tomorrow, maybe.

Awww, I love Rowlf. And his cute little snoozing puppy. (Anyone who cares, I am watching Episode One of Season Two, with Don Knotts.) I wonder if they drugged the dog. Or sleep-deprived him for several days - poor puppy is really tired. Or well-behaved.

Nearly finished with yet another pair of clogs. Only 4 more to go! Hopefully I will get a decent bit done tonight. Worked with high school kids again today - my student picked up knitting very quickly. Within an hour, she had learned to knit and purl. She'll be knitting circles around me soon, probably.

Feeling a lot better now. Yesterday was a bit better than the weekend, but I still passed out on the couch around 8:30. I had wanted to have a beer, but was too tired (and apparently didn't need the assistance sleeping!). Perhaps tonight. Oh, made brownie cupcakes on Sunday. Good stuff. Remembered the flour this time. Had hoped to send some away today, but ended up sharing with the kids and other knitters.

What else? I really need to add some variety into my knitting. Let's see how many more clogs I can get done this week (it's only Tuesday, right, and I work this weekend), and then I'll start another new big project. I still need to find my size 8 DPNs for my glove/gauge swatch. I think that's the size I need, as 9 seems just a tad too big. Maybe tonight's plan should be to finish the clog-in-progress (just need to attach the second sole), and then organize, so I can find my needles and work on the gloves. Also want to start B.S. Johnson. Not sure what yarn I want to use, but I'll figure something out. Although I will probably start another hat tomorrow, as it's a lecture. Oh, crap - more babies are due. Which isn't a bad thing, but I need to get back on the baby hat kick. Oh! I bet my missing needles are in the baby hat bag. That's the size that I was using with the Cotton Fleece. And I still need to work on my socks. Maybe I'll do that instead of the gloves. I am far too indecisive. Suggestions, anyone?

Ahhh, breathe. Just an update...

It has been a long week. Had an awful morning on Tuesday. Any day that starts with a "server down" phone call is not good. I won't go into more detail about the rest of the morning, but will warn everyone to back up their data if they try to defrag a computer that hasn't been defragged for years.

Tuesday afternoon, I volunteered over at Success Tech. There's a group of us that are teaching some of the kids to knit/crochet/whatever. I was a bit discouraged at first, partially bad day, partially I am not the world's best knitting teacher, but it took a while for my student to catch on. But when she got it, it clicked, and she was off and running. Anyway, that is a Tuesday commitment for the rest of the school year. Should be fun.

I should have gone to the SAAZ meeting on Tuesday night, but wimped out. I needed some quiet time with Zuzu. I had a few beers and played on Ravelry. Mmmm chocolate stout and belgian trippel. Yum.

Wednesday wasn't much better of a day, especially since I forgot my purse at home, and didn't have money for lunch. Nice part was that I went home early, and watched movies with Mike. I had to run some errands, but combined that with a pizza run for dinner. I think I knitted something, too, but I don't really remember. Oh! I started the Fibonacci fingerless gloves. They are a gauge swatch for my Fairfax Fibonacci Sweater, and I need smaller needles. Must find my size 8 DPNs somewhere. I am very confused about needle sizes - I originally thought that my Foliage hat was on size 9 DPNs, then on size 8s, but really it was on size 7s. I have been working on that tonight at work. I have done 1.5 of 3 pattern repeats of the body. Row-wise, I am just above 50% done. Since the crown has fewer stitches, stitch-wise I am not nearly that close to being done.

I've finished a few more clogs, I think. Made some red and white ones that are really crying to have red hearts put on the foot, but as they're for a guy, I may restrain myself. I might not, though - I haven't decided. I don't know why I am in a Valentine's Day mood. Especially since my big VD excitement was buying cheap candy. I don't celebrate Hallmark holidays, but I needed chocolate.

Thursday was another long day, and we won't talk about the afternoon. The evening was great, though - I met several girls from my knitting group at Moko Coffee downtown, and we went to see Wicked. Had a lot of fun, and really enjoyed the show, especially when I talked to an usher during intermission and spent the second act somewhere other than my original seat. I could actually move my legs there! The seats at the State Theater are incredibly cramped. Legroom is very limited. I am not the world's tallest person, but my knees were pushed up against the seats in front of me. Since my knees aren't very happy when confined, I was experiencing intense pain by the end of the first act. The lights went down, and I stood up. Anyway, the show was great. I am not a huge fan of musical theater, but was very impressed with Wicked.

Driving home last night was miserable. Nothing like being on a snow-covered interstate and exhausted. I have no idea how people could see their lanes, what with the road being white and all, but there were lots of people going 50-60 mph in the snow. Oh well. I made it home a bit after midnight, and went straight to bed. Zuzu woke me at 4, as usual, and I curled up on the couch after feeding her breakfast. She crawled under the blankets on the papasan chair, and snoozed there until I was ready to leave.

Anyway, took a nap this afternoon, and am at work now. For another 30 minutes, as I type this. It's been a quiet evening, which is good. I like having downtime at work. Not sure if I'll finish Foliage tomorrow, or get back to clogs. I still have Nina's hat to finish, and the Baudelaire socks to work on. Somehow I doubt that they'll be done before the end of the month. Maybe I will just hibernate them and start something else............ I really need to try Magic Loop. Must make more socks.

Next week should be calmer, as I only have events on Monday and Wednesday (well, maybe Tuesday, depending), and I have the weekend off. Things will be picking up again in March - three lectures the first three weeks, and an event every night during the week of the 10th. I think I have five events at the museum in March.

As I haven't done this for a while, let's try now:
Reading: Collapse, by Jared Diamond; Best of the World Cafe by David Dye
Listening: Challengers Executive Edition, New Pornographers; Magnetic Fields
Watching: After Sex; In the Valley of Elah; Supernatural

The craziness never ends

Mike actually left the house for five days in a row. No, wait, it was six. I think.

Friday - he brewed at a friend's house, while I went to a lecture about the tree kangaroo
Saturday - he went to North End; I met him there after work
Sunday - he played games with some friends
Monday - he visited a friend while I was at knitting with that friend's wife
Tuesday - SAAZ night out at 69 Taps in Akron
Wednesday - he went to North End while I watched the Muppet Movie

And if he was that busy, you know I was busier. Last week, I'd played with brand new server guts. This week, the server is still not running, due to licensing issues. The manufacturer never applied for the codes for the licenses that were purchased. And they are now trying to figure the whole thing out.

I haven't finished anything for a while. I finished the knitting bits of my dad's clogs, so they just need to be seamed and felted. Still making baby hats. Still haven't actually finished any. Need to buy yarn to finish Mike's hat. I had enough yarn when it was short. But he wanted it longer, so I frogged back, and have now run out of yarn. I need to visit a yarn shop to find more. But I'm not allowed to buy more yarn. Maybe I should make him do it. I am a sucker for sock yarn. If I go in for just one skein of his hat yarn, I am likely to leave with at least one skein of sock yarn, too. Last time it was Paca-Peds, which is alpaca (imagine that!). I should not spend money on yarn until I have used at least some of what I have. Oh, I started another pair of clogs too, but haven't gotten very far. I think I've given up on the knit-a-mile challenge, at least for now. I haven't been keeping track, but I know I'm waaay down. I will try to catch up this weekend. I would really like to start on my next sweater.

Anyway, I should get moving. Work calls, and as much as I try to ignore it, not working doesn't pay the bills. (I tell Zuzu something like that every now and then - if she'd earn enough money for her food, I could stay home with her every day. She hasn't gotten the hint and gotten a job. Although then *she'd* have to leave the house, which neither of us would like.)