Never stop learning

I feel like this past week has been an interesting learning experience.  Last Saturday we helped a friend move.  I learned that helping a friend move totally counts as a workout day.  I am also the kind of person that believes that if said friend lives in a 2nd floor apartment and is moving into a condo which also happens to be on the 2nd floor and neither place has an elevator, it counts as a week's worth of workouts.  I discovered that my head is not harder than the back window of Chris' car.  On a related note, I learned that my head is hard enough to insist that I don't have a concussion - just a nasty headache.  When the headache is directly caused by a very large bump on the back of my head, maybe I shouldn't be trusted on my assessment of my own mental state.

Anyway, moving on.  I found out that you can stave off an impending panic attack with a very large chocolate covered marshmallow Santa.  Also - discount Christmas candy on sale for super cheap is excellent.

I learned that I am only capable of working 6 consecutive 10+ hour days before I start to have panic attacks (see above).

Finally, I learned that sometimes you need to celebrate surviving the week with a bottle of cheap champagne. And that's a good thing!

Confessions of an overweight skinny kid

I've always been a skinny kid.  Now my grad school lifestyle (unhealthy food and absolutely nothing resembling exercise) has caused me to gain ALOT of weight in unfortunate places.  I'm also closing in on the end of my thesis and I need the exercise to help keep me sane.  So I'm trying the resolution thing.  I'm eating healthy and exercising when I can.  I'm using Chris' Kinect to do the Ubisoft Your Shape exercise program. I signed up for their website that helps track the calories you burn.  So far so good.  The Kinect is pretty awesome because all of the games get us up and moving, which at this point is exactly what we need.  The Kinect Sports lets you post videos of you playing the games.  It's fantastically funny to watch the videos.

I figured I would track my progress here, not because it's entertaining but because it might help keep me motivated.  I'm not really weighing myself to track my progress.  I'm a scientist.  I know exactly how long it takes to lose a pound.  It's depressing.  I also know that weight is just a number.  It has a correlation to health at extremes of the scale but not so much in my weight range. So if I'm not weighing myself then I can't get depressed about a number and how little it has changed. I'm hoping it will force me to notice that I have more energy and am sleeping better.  I'm hoping it will make me notice how much less stress I have (haha).  My goal is to be healthy, reduce stress and not let exercise be another source of stress.  If I work a 14 hour day, I don't need to workout.  I need to fall into bed, and that's ok.  If I need a break from work and Disco Dance for 20 minutes, that's ok too.

Today I broke the 200 calorie burned mark on Your Shape.  I've been doing the Zen classes and the personal training so far.  I really am enjoying the workouts.  I like the potential variety you can have in your workout. I like the short sessions so you can do more sessions if you want, but you aren't locked into a 45 minute workout. I wish the program it designs based on your fitness test was a little more varied.  Based on my fitness level and the answers to a few questions, it decided that I wanted to do a toning program.  Which is not wrong.  But I want to do cardio too.  And sculpting.  I want to be well rounded.  And not bored.  So I've been selecting workouts myself and not following my "personal workout" that it designed for me.  I also have some trouble because I'm tall.  I'm 6'2" tall.  When it tells me to lift my arms, they go out of the Kinect viewing area and I don't get credit for lifting my arms.  Whatever, I'm not worried about it.  I'm moving, which is all that matters.

So stay tuned.  It will either be a success or an amusing decent into madness.....

Procrasti-knitting

Twas the night before Christmas
My knitting's not done!
Why do I do this?
It's not very fun!
I'm knitting and purling
with the greatest of speed.
I'm in such a hurry,
now where is that bead?!
The stockings are finished,
the pillows are stuffed.
I hope that these presents
will be enough!
The carols are playing
so they might inspire.
I pray that these needles
don't catch on fire!
Never again
will I wait so long.
But every year
I sing the same song!
I'm almost finished.
The end is near!
I'm so relieved,
I might shed a tear!

Merry Christmas to all and to all happy crafting!!

That wonderful chill is in the air!

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. It always has been. I miss fall. Southern California doesn't really so much have "seasons" per se, which is sad because fall is so wonderful. (Any SoCal resident will now try to tell you that they have Hot, Hotter, Fire and Mudslide seasons, just smile at them)

It has been unseasonably fall like here a lot lately and I have absolutely been soaking it up for all I can get.  I made my friend Tammy go out and play in the leaves with me. We walked to get a pumpkin latte afterward. Apparently that is how Southern Californians note the change in season - new flavors of coffee at Starbucks.  (Not that the pumpkin latte wasn't delicious and the perfect ending to our fall festivities.)

I always thought it was strange that I enjoy Fall so much because growing up in East Central Illinois, Fall was the week between average temps in the 90s and average temps in the 30s.  It wasn't very long.  And I HATE cold weather.  Well, I did when I lived there. Maybe that's why I liked Fall so much.  It didn't overstay it's welcome (I'm lookin' at you winter).  Fall kept you on your toes.  It meant seeing your breath as you waited for the school bus in the morning.  Wearing layers to school because you knew it would be hot by lunch.  Fall was the only time you ran the heat in the car on the way to work, the air conditioner at lunch and heat again on the way home!

Fall also meant the start of football season.  Even before my current obsession with Ed Hochuli's biceps, I loved watching football.  I grew up watching Cowboys games with my Dad and watching the Fighting Illini lose was a great family tradition (also applies to basketball, but that's for winter).

Fall is the time for looking back on your year and realizing all the things you have to be thankful for. All the blessings you have in your life. I'm not sure why, but that always seemed so much better to me than Spring. Yes, everything is green, shiny and new and you have so much to be hopeful for in the Spring. I guess that is just my practical nature to enjoy the things you have more than the things you wish you will do.

Fall is also home to my favorite holiday - Halloween!  It was always so much fun getting dressed up and going trick-or-treating.  My Great-Great Aunt Betty made the best popcorn balls and pumpkin cookies.  My Mom was always pretty creative with costumes. I remember my sister and I wearing cardboard boxes covered in white tissue paper with black spots and we were a pair of dice. I also have vague memories of a sweatsuit, a lot of balloons and being a bunch of grapes. Then there was this awesome clown costume that was enormous enough that even I didn't outgrow it in a week. And that's saying something. To this day I go crazy at the first sign of Halloween decorations. I have enough Halloween stuff to decorate a mansion covering every surface of our cozy little home. I also get a little angry about the way the Christmas has totally eaten Thanksgiving and is making its move on Halloween. Labor day had better keep an eye out. Was the entire month of December really not enough for you Christmas? Seriously!

I seriously hope the next place I live has Fall. I want brisk air and crunchy leaves. I want a chance to wear scarves and mittens and beautiful knitted hats. So Fall, if you are listening, I will enjoy our chance encounter here in SoCal but mark my words - you and I will be spending some quality time together in the not so distant future my friend.

So totally not back on the tracks

But that's ok.  They are fun diversions, like my mom, sister and niece coming to visit for a few days.  Then there are not fun diversions like my guy needing an epic 3 part root canal.

As I was sitting in the waiting room at the endodontist today I had the sudden realization that I am a true child of the computer age.  I design my charts for knitting patterns using...

...not graph paper (but I do love me a green engineering pad and some crayons)

...not even Microsoft Paint

wait for it...





Excel.  That's right kids!  I use spreadsheet software to design my charts.  It's like graph paper but changes are instantaneous and way less effort.  The intarsia blanket I am designing has gone through 3 complete overhauls all via Excel.  It's so easy to set the column widths to make the cells squares instead of rectangles then you click the little paint bucket and have at it.  You can even set certain rows/columns to have thicker borders every 5 rows to make counting boxes on your charts a breeze!  Seriously.  Stop laughing and try it.

Anyway, so I think I have just about figured out the design for this intarsia blanket I have floating around in my head.  I wanted to call it the "Harlequin blanket" because it has green, purple and black diamonds on it.  I would have even settled for the "Joker blanket" but Chris has started calling it the "Halo blanket" which seems to have stuck.  Why the "Halo blanket"?  Because he asked me to pick colors to make his armor on his Halo character and I told him purple and green.  They are kinda my default colors.  Thus the color of this blog in spite of it being kinda hard to read.  But there you have it, the "Halo blanket" it is.  Someday when it jumps out of its spreadsheet and into real life I will show you a picture.

Speaking of someday.... someday I will restart that silly Super Bowl Scarf.  I think I have that bad boy figured out too, no excel needed. I'm just not quite ready to take it out of time out.  I don't think it has shown adequate remorse over its behavior.

And back to our regularly scheduled programming

I know I haven't mentioned my knitting on here in forever, or really even written one of these in like a month.  I've had some health trouble (beyond those stupid midwest germs!) which means my knitting has been either fast and furious or not at all.  And blogging didn't make the list of things that absolutely had to get done, so it didn't.

I finished the traveling woman shawl except for blocking, but lets be honest, that's not going to happen for awhile.  I just can't seem to take a decent picture of it :

I also finished a baby kimono for my friend Tammy that is expecting a little girl in November:

The yarn is Plymouth Yarn Dreambaby DK Prints in color 203. I used a kumihimo loom to make the ties and it worked out super cute!

Now I am working on a top for myself!  I started out using a pattern, but in my typical fashion started winging it about 1/4th of the way in.  I'm using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport Multi in Happy Valley.  I absolutely love it!  This yarn is incredible and the colors are gorgeous!!  If I have enough left over I am going to make a matching headband/headscarf to go with it.  I LOVE IT!

I'm sorry the pictures are weird.  Technology is not cooperating.  Speaking of not cooperating...

I am knitting a scarf for the 2012 Super Bowl and I have torn it out and started it 5 times!  Sheesh.  I just can't quite get the pattern that is in my head to work out in the yarn.  Hopefully eventually!  So now I think we are all caught up on my knitting and hopefully we have this train back on the tracks!

Go ninja go ninja go!

That's right kids, we kick it old school around here.  Yesterday I went to Jack's 5th show concert at Verizon Wireless in Irvine.  AWESOME!  The day started with 2 different cover bands playing 80s music on the side stage down by the concessions.  The Spazmatics played 80s pop hits and Metal Shop rocked out to some classic hair metal....notably missing was Motley Crue.  What kind of hair metal cover band plays 2 Bon Jovi songs and 0 Motley Crue songs?!  Anyway...

The main stage kicked off with Sweet and they definitely got the crowd going with "Little Willy", "Fox on the Run" and "Ballroom Blitz".  Then Modern English took the stage and rocked their "I Melt With You".  Skid Row (minus Sebastian Bach) stormed the stage next and rocked out to some of their hits and some new music.  We saw them play at the Galaxy a couple of years ago and they were able to rock the large outdoor stage just about as well as the small club in Santa Ana.  Impressive! Then Young MC took the stage for 2 songs, 1 new one and the party staple "Bust A Move".  Dude can rock a space/track suit like nobody's business.  Next up was The Fixx.  I wasn't familiar with most of their music, but did sing along to "One Thing Leads To Another".

Next up was the highlight of my night, my month, let's be honest...probably my year.  VANILLA ICE!  That's right, the man himself.  In the flesh.  50 yards in front of me.  AWESOME!  He comes out with an intro song claiming he is from the Dirty South.  Not sure Miami counts as Dirty South.  Then he says that he is going to take us back and kick it old school.  The crowd goes wild expecting "Ice, Ice Baby" but no... he says "Go ninja, go ninja go!" The crowd erupts into response with "Go ninja, go ninja go!"  OH MY GOD!  So excited!  I got to see Vanilla Ice perform the song from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.  You bet I "rocked out" to that one.  Then the showstopper... "Ice, Ice Baby"  I sang every word at the top of my lungs.  I lost my voice.  I croaked like a frog, but I kept singing.  I embarrassed the pants off of Chris.  He was hiding in shame.  I did not stop singing!  The Ice man finished off his set with a catchy new song from his new album.  INSANE!

Next up was Night Ranger and they played some of their hits as well as Damn Yankees hits.  It was a pretty incredible set capped off with a much anticipated "Sister Christian".  Then came The Cult.  I only recognized a couple of their songs.  "She Sells Sanctuary" and "Fire Woman".  I was a little disappointed that they didn't play "Painted On My Heart" but whatever, I enjoyed their set.  The final act was the Steve Miller Band.  They played a few hits, a few covers, a few B sides and a few new songs.  Steve Miller also sponsors a rock school for kids and had one of the kids come out and play guitar with him.  Pretty awesome.  He also had Vanilla Ice come out and sing with him and Vanilla Ice knew every word to every Steve Miller song.

All in all an awesome night.  I have to say my soul needed it.  There is something so soothing about live music.   It seems to rejuvenate me and shake me out of my weekly grind.

As a completely unrelated side note: Ed Hochuli is freakin' ripped.  I'm watching the Patriots/Jets game as I write this and holy cannoli!  Everytime he makes a call it's a gun show.  That's all.