Does popular culture have any effect on wine sales? To the extent that the Snook and I always giggle that we’re “not drinking any f**king Merlot,” I’d say it does.

Oh, wow! I just discovered today that the Nike+ site now offers embeddable widgets. I’ve replaced my old training log in the right-hand column with a sexy new Flash one that shows my last five workouts. (The slow ones are walking to/from work.)

Deep-fried latte. *shudder* Somewhere in Darlinghurst, the Snook is gagging quietly to himself… (Link courtesy of Just Jussi.)

I don’t know what’s more annoying: that George Bush is arriving in Sydney tomorrow and can’t even spell the name of the city, or that John Howard laughed it off because “Americans are bad spellers.” I WON THE COUNTY SPELLING BEE, YOU CRAZY-EYEBROWED FOOL!

Mario Andretti woulda sure been proud…
I know I shouldn’t be, but sometimes I’m surprised to discover that, yes, I really am a capable adult. This morning I had errands to run in both Clovelly and Rosebery, and I was dreading the thought of sitting on multiple buses. “Hey!” I thought. “I can take the car!” So I did. I used Google Maps to plan out my route and hit the road. The first stop was a relatively straight shot down Botany Road, which was cool, except for the parking, which was not. But I managed. Getting from Rosebery to Clovelly wasn’t too complicated, and I even negotiated some roundabouts. Coming back home was the fun bit. And I mean fun in both the literal “Wow! Driving a little car on windy roads with a view of the ocean is FUN!” sense, and also in the ironic “Man, Google Maps was smokin’ some crack with these directions to get on South Dowling” sense. Now I’m home in one piece, and basking in the pride of having managed my first solo driving trip in Sydney. And I didn’t even run into any APEC fences!

Anatomically Correct Knee Socks. Oh, those are sweet.

Urge to kill rising…
My knitting nemesis is leading a class today, and I keep overhearing snatches of conversation that MAKE MY BLOOD BOIL.

• “When we’re all dead, no one will knit anymore! Young people don’t want to knit!”
• “How in the world would I have ever learned that without you to show me? They print all these fancy books, but no one can learn something so difficult from a book.”

And this was a classic:

Knitter: Where can you get cheap wool for a rug? Back when I was young, you’d never use expensive garment wool for a rug. I just want something cheap.
Me: (with a laugh) Big W.
Knitter: Oh, but I don’t want acrylic!
Nemesis: (stage whispering so she thinks I don’t hear) LINCRAFT AND SPOTLIGHT HAVE INEXPENSIVE WOOL…

Give ’em hell, Gough!

We are officially *on*, folks! Tapestry Craft will be hosting a book signing with renowned knitting author and designer Nicky Epstein in two weeks. The details:

When: Friday, September 14, 2007 at 3:30pm
Where: Tapestry Craft knitting department, 50 York Street, Sydney

We’re going to have as many of her titles available to buy as possible, and they’ll all be sold at the recommended retail price. So if you’ve ever wanted to get them, this is the time! Hope to see you there.

Update: Just heard from Nicky’s PR people, and she wants to do an hour-long demonstration for us! So the demo will be from 3:30-4:30, and then she’ll sign books for people.