Quoth the Snook: “Wow. Hippos are badass.” (Link courtesy of John.)
Month: November 2009 (page 3 of 5)
How to Run a Meeting. A very useful article whether you’re “manly” or not.
Have a beagle and carry on… I love that site. If I ever got a dog, it’d be a beagle.
Fifth grader Will Phillips refuses to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance because gays and lesbians do not enjoy “liberty and justice for all.” Will, you’re my hero. There’s no way I’d have had the backbone as a ten-year-old to take a stance on anything. (See, this is why I’m scared to have kids. Sometimes it seems like the only alternatives are to raise a mouth-breathing jerk – like the ones calling Will names – or to have a smart, brave kid who gets beat up by the mouth-breathers. I’m not sure I could deal with either.)
Socks!
First up are the Biohazard Socks I designed and knitted for Eileen. They were a gift for getting her Biology PhD, so I thought the biozard symbol was fitting. I took the symbol and turned it into a chart, scaling it to fit nicely around the leg of the sock. I also centered it so the motifs would continue nicely down the top of the foot. Other than that, it’s your basic cuff-down sock with a slipstitch heel. The yarn is Pagewood Farms St. Elias that I bought last year at Compatto Yarn Salon in Santa Monica. It’s hand dyed Bluefaced Leicester and it’s GORGEOUS. I loved knitting with it. I knitted the socks one at a time on two circular 2.75mm needles. (Ravelry details.)
The second pair are Sheri’s Posie Socks from Socks from the Toe Up. (Thanks to Miss Fee for lending me the pattern.) I started them at Guild Camp last month but only finished them last night. I knitted them at the same time on two 2.75mm needles. The yarn is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in the “Sherbet” colourway, kindly gifted to me by Mary-Helen and Sandra. I was worried that the colours might compete with the lace, but instead I think it all worked together really well. The yarn is lovely to knit with and it really showed off the stitch pattern. There was very little pooling, and I ended up with heaps of it left over. I had some trouble with my initial cast-off being too tight, so I tried out Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, which worked perfectly. (Ravelry details.)
Now, on to the next project…
Kite Flying
Saturday evening we headed over to Steph and Eva’s for some barbecue action. It was a lovely gusty day, so we all decided to go across the road to Sydney Park and fly kites up on the kill. Steph and Eva have some crazy kites: a whale, an octopus, and a giant PENGUIN. It was fun.
I even shot a bit of video and uploaded one to 12seconds. We stayed out til the sun set, occasionally getting the kites in a tangle or accidentally attacking pedestrians. Then we packed up and headed home for the feast, which culminates in the Snook’s signature chocolate pavlova. YUM. Thanks to Steph and Eva for a fun night!
Busy Saturday
I’ve got a busy but social Saturday ahead of me. The Snook and I got up early to go to the Eveleigh Farmers’ Market. We had breakfast, ran into family and friends, and picked up supplies for tonight’s BBQ. Now I’m off to the Knitters Guild meeting and AGM while the Snook prepares his legendary chocolate pav. Then tonight it’s over to Steph and Eva’s for some yummy food on a warm summer’s evening…
Stop – Hammer Time!
As those of you who follow my Twitter feed know, Tuesday night I went to a very special event hosted by Social Media Club Sydney. The topic for the night was ostensibly “Building and Managing Online Audiences,” but really it was all about MC Hammer. Yes, he was the very special guest. As soon as I heard he was going to talk, I proposed it to my boss Anthony and he got us both tickets. The event sold out pretty quick. I’d guess that the majority of people were there strictly for the novelty value, as evidenced by all the “hammer pants” jokes flying around Twitter beforehand. Here’s the amazing thing though: The guy really does know what he’s talking about with social media and technology. And he’s not just a Twitter-fanboy; he’s much more on the “entrepreneur” side of things and he emphasised how many business opportunities there are surrounding social media. He described himself as a “super geek,” and his speech was peppered with references to meetings with Silicon Valley insiders (Ev, Orkut, the guys who invented Guitar Hero, etc). He talked about the importance of data mining and analytics. Most of us were enthralled. The thing that I didn’t like was that the organisers had the #SMCSYD Twitterfall running on big screen in the background, and some folks used it as an opportunity to make jokes and distract from the speech. (One guy – who I don’t even think was in the room – kept insisting that somebody stand up and ask Hammer about his bankruptcy. Talk about bad manners.) So that part was a little bit cringeworthy, but to his credit Hammer just ignored the giggles. They did open the floor to Q&A at the end, and he graciously dealt with idiots asking “So Mr Hammer, can you elaborate on what one can and can’t touch?” Overall I’d say that the quality of the speaker made up for the immaturity of some of the audience. Nice job, Hammer!
Official Run4Fun Photos
The official photos from the Run4Fun are now up! There are four of me. One from the course where I’m looking pained, one from the course where I look happy (shown here), and two as I’m coming into the finish line and grinning like an idiot. (I know it looks like I’m walking in some, but I’m really not!) If you go to the official site, you can also see my finish line footage. I come into frame about a third of the way through. You’ll see Peter the kickboxer cross the line and raise his arms, and I’m right behind him. Then we have a little hug. Great moment!
  
Xenophobic Letter Drop: I got a little angry tonight. How DARE some cowardly nationalist leave an anonymous slip of racist trash in our letterbox? Is it meant to intimidate those of us – and there are many in the neighbourhood – from other countries? Is it meant to drum up quiet support for their vicious campaign of hatred? I’ve been preaching free speech for the last few weeks, but my resolve is weakening. I’m starting to think those who protested on Friday had the right idea. This crap is not welcome in our neighbourhood.