AnnaIkeaRep?

About a year ago I was looking for something at Ikea.com, I couldn't find it so I used the online help rep they have, I think her name is Betty. I did end up finding what I was looking for, but my conversation with her didn't go as well as it could have:

Actually, her name is Anna.

hey hey! (non-Rant time! plus a couple of pics)

More than a month without posting. It's a new record! wooooo!

On the pet arena:

1) My Kiera rat broke her nail the other day, I don't mean "broke" I mean the whole thing tore off and she started bleeding for at least a good 5 minutes (big fat drops of blood). She was laying on her little cage and she never does that, my Emma rat was all nervous walking all over her and trying to lick her and trying to lick me, she was freaked out and she never is. In any case, Kiera is all better now (alas, seven-nailed).
2) My Emma rat got sick with something last night after I got back from awesome Indian/pakistani food. She was hunched in a corner and appeared to either be having trouble breathing or she ate something that make her puky, I'm still not sure which. After a good two hours of her not wanting anything, she started moving around and eating (clean) toilet paper - not sure why, but it helped - then I gave her some antibiotics just in case and now she's all better.
3) I'm caring for a "Pet Pup" and a "Cute Cat" on Facebook.

When my dog is learning:


My cat is learning:

It's great!

Creating Things with Yarn - A Resource List

Hi everyone!

This is my list of favorite online resources for knitting and one on crocheting, and a bit about why I like them:

1. http://www.knittinghelp.com/: This website is awesome, apart from having a very extensive glossary of knitting terms, they have videos that explain how to do each type of stitch for both Continental and English styles (curious? read their site! I couldn't do as good a job as they do at explaining stuff).
2. http://www.knitty.com/: Online magazine with not-your-grandma-style knitting patterns. They are very fresh but don't go extremely out of the norm, so it's a safe place to explore if you're convinced knitting is for boring people. Be sure to check out their archives and look up Norberta!
3. http://www.crochetme.com: This website has tons and tons of patterns you can crochet. They have things from dainty wristwarmers to a dodo bird to a hat-and-Groucho Marx Glasses-combo. I'm almost done with the Thirds scarf (...it takes a while).
4. http://www.theanticraft.com/: This site will definitely remove the "old lady sitting in a corner, waiting for her life to end and in the meantime force you to wear ugly sweaters" perspective that people have on knitting, sewing and beading. They're a bit snobbish and have a very "more-evil-than-thou" writing style, but if you ignore it they have some interesting stuff; I already have a request for a Cthulhu, let's see if it doesn't kill me first.
5. http://www.domiknitrix.com/: I put the Domiknitrix in more for the book than for the site; she preaches the domination of yarn, so knitters become more confident in their own work. Plus, it's pretty cool to think of yourself as an accomplished Domi.
6. http://www.maggiesrags.com/: This is another one that's more the book than the site. If you EVER get stuck on ANYTHING knitting-related, this book will most probably have the answer. This is one of the less-scary links I have on here.

Alright, now that I've given you all my little secrets, go knit something, will ya?

*sigh*

hola gente!

ok, here I am, staring at a blank post, trying to figure out what to write, or even if I have any interesting stuff left to post about. I guess that now that I changed my job I don't have this need to remind myself and people around me of what makes me happy (Isn't that depressing?). It's very sad, because now that I'm ok with what I'm working on (even when the work culture becomes very frustrating), I don't feel that telling you what I'm doing is that cool.

Before, it used to be pretty awesome to say "hey, my job stinks, but I'm making this really cool scarf I got from a kid's instructional kit!", now I'm not so convinced. It might also be that I have to choose what to make now, and it's not as easy as having a box inform me of my next project (I was working on a very detailed crocheted scarf, which consists of a bunch of triangles put together, and I worked on it so long that now I feel that I'm overexposed to that project, so I had to stop. Cool side of it: I'm working on a baby dragon that's coming along very quickly and he's totally adorable :) ).

Also, they have a bunch of distribution lists at work where they post random videos and pictures, and I'm like "that would be great for my blog!" but then I'm like "but I didn't come up with that, that's plagiarism!", so even though I have a number of interesting items to tell you about, I can't really tell you about them because they came to me without me doing any effort (so it doesn't feel like it's mine).

I think everything took a turn for the worse right around the time I did the Fairly Oddparents post...

Well, thanks to you who read on until now, I'm glad you did, because writing out loud helps me think and makes me not think that it's so bad. So here are my two top favorite things to post right now:

This is my favorite contestant ever from Animal Planet's Pet Star:

And this is a dog they sent out at work:

Next project: Change the look of the blog!

HORRENDOUSLY EVIL!!!

I'm sooooooo sorry

soooooooo sorry

I'm not ignoring you

Really!!

I know it looks like I totally forgot, and I'm totally not getting my extra points for not posting in like 3 weeks, but I have an excuse. I quit my job and started a new one! WOOT! I'd say that beats writing in my blog, but it's still pretty bad that I leave you, my demi-constant reader, without any new crafty news or awesome links. Since we're on that subject, I'll leave you with the following:



If you don't understand spanish and Venezuelan slang, I'll try to translate for ya, because it's pretty funny (although you have to catch the rhymes, which kind of gives it the kick).

This video was a mock of the following pretty decent Salserin* song (the video is bad):


*Salserin: Venezuelan Salsa group consisting of a bunch of little kids and teens.

Extreme Tribal Style!

You should totally check out Alanna's blog http://weirdandsurprisinglygood.blogspot.com/ (the link is also on my friendly blogs section). She is a sculptor and for one of her jobs she made a caveman tattoing "kit" for a History Channel show, the pic below is a ceramic needle holder with bone needles which you could have used had you been a prehistoric dude and into that kind of stuff:

I wonder if you could use them for real (I'm sure Austin would be up for it).

Thanks for the link Ms. Alanna!

Aaaw so sad!

Huckabee dropped out of the presidential race! I know that McCain made a lot more sense (and actively won the votes) and I don't agree with Huckabee's policies, and that definitely Mitt Romney (who dropped out a while ago) had a better shot than Huckabee, but I liked him. Because of him poking fun of himself from the very beginning on the Colbert Report (I think the first time he was on his rating was less than the margin of error), he's kind of grown on me as a person.

He looks so sad!

Bugs Vs. Daffy

http://www.slate.com/id/2185720/

The video the guy quotes is pretty funny, even more considering people then laughed "with" the Bugs joke and would now find it unnerving.

Food for Thought

Always consider if you're the warmer, or the warmee.

Fairly Odd Parents

This is my favorite Chip Skylark song from Fairly Odd Parents (he's a teen sensation on the show, along with Britney Britney)



He's voiced by the 'Nsync dude with the dread-type hair (well, not anymore), here's the guy:

They also have constant guest appearances by:
Jay Leno as the Crimson Chin

and Adam West as himself and Catman:

CJ7

This is the trailer for the new Stephen Chow movie (the dude that directed/starred in Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle), cool!

"The Ssiny Guy Always Worries"

Ack!

Threatdown: BEARS!

Here's my proud moment: I made the beige bear kit while traveling out of town, I guess it went quickly because it's pretty small (I'm a notoriously slow knitter - working on that). Here's my finished bear:

Yay bear! So I put it in my living room and had a Rock Band Rock Out night at my place. Some friends came by and one of the guys absolutely loved the bear, so he jokingly asked if I could make him a Goth Bear. I took him up on it:

Note the ear stud, dead eyes, moody hair and scarf, and Anarchy sign on his chest. He came a lot quicker than I expected so now I'm playing around with new bears to make (I'm open to ideas!Post them back as comments if you think of anything, anything!)

P.S. Before Gothy left home to live on his own with his very first (and hopefully only) roommate, he got in trouble with an evil Tyrannosaurus Rex:

I'm guessing he must have been annoyed at the depressive mood and self-cutting threats around the house.

Frilly Hat Mess

Yay! Here's the pic on the messed-up crochet hat I was making. Doesn't it look like a cool hat you would wear to something serious and chic? *snork

Something went horribly wrong with it, and I still can't figure out why. I'll keep researching though; any ideas?

Crochet Scarf Kit

Pink! and Purple! how much more 8-year-old can you get with a crochet kit? It has little beads on the edges and everything! Ok, so I'm definitely not 8, but if you're going to learn something from a book I highly recommend going with easy-to-follow instructions, which I mostly found in the kits I got.

Final result:

Girly!

Cake Decorating

This is my final cake from my first cake decorating class, it's made with a nasty buttercream that's good for beginners, so I didn't really want to eat it. I'm wondering if I can get a recipe from a neighbor lady from when I was growing up, her cakes were so awesome they're my standard best cake for ever and ever.

I like the flowers, but they kinda look like carnations rather than roses (frosting issues).

Fruitful Weekend

Ok, so the posts for last weekend's activities are on their way. I made a surprising number of things so before I move on I have to put them up.

In the meantime, here's a pic:

Click here for more Wondercon 2008 costumes.

Pancito

I made bread! First time ever, it made me feel surprisingly connected to the earth. The most basic of man-made food products, and I never took the time to make it myself. And it's so pretty! I made two loaves with this french bread recipe.

They turned out a bit deformed but I figure I rolled too much in the middle (tip: make sure when you're rolling the dough that it actually looks like a rectangle, if not this is what happens).

Thanks to Austin for the idea (the roommate of Goth Bear's new owner - more on that later).

Excuse Time!

Hi everyone,

I haven't been writing a lot lately, I have a ton of updates I should have made last weekend but here we are, me with the pictures and you without seeing them (as always). Here's my excuse: I've been working on stuff at home. But you sometimes post from work, you might say. These posts require picture placement, and it's hard do pretend to be doing something important when you're playing around with pictures of crafty stuff. And I'm in a conference room with my whole team sitting around me (I tried working on another terribly personal professional document in there this week, I did it Matrix style!).

I'll get these posts up this weekend, my new task for extra points!

SF Craft Links

Here's a bunch of knitting links I want to take a look at when I have time, here they are so I don't lose them:

• http://www.stashyarn.com/
• http://noeknit.com/
• http://www.articlepract.com/
• http://www.theknittingbasket.com/
• http://www.greenwichyarn.com/
• http://www.imagiknit.com/
• http://lacis.com/
• http://www.craftgym.com/
• http://knitty.com/ (Look at the Whimsies archive)
• http://www.simplycrafted.com/
  
• http://www.knittersreview.com/ (Online Magazine)
• http://www.knitscene.com/ (Magazine)
  

Books to Read on the Human Condition

Books to look up:

• The Lucifer Effect: Understanding how Good People Turn Evil, by Philip Zimbardo
• Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, by Hannah Arendt
• The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, by Steven Pinker

Update on Crafts

Hey everyone!
Here's my update on what I've been working on this week:

• The hat kit I was crocheting ended up like a frilly yellow and pink coaster, which along with the fact that I ran out of yarn I'm figuring I messed up at some point. I'm looking for principles on how to crochet hats to figure out what went wrong. Status: On Hold Pending Review


• I started the bear and have almost finished making the body. I have very little left to knit, once I finish I'm going to put everything together and add the details. Status: In Progress


• I just started the pom pom scarf (yeah, yeah, laugh at the pom poms). The needles for this one are huge! Fun! Status: In Progress (and barely started)

That's it for now. Since I didn't post anything visually entertaining, here's a pic:

The guy in the middle looks like my dad.

Wolvie

" Wolverine: Origins" is coming too!!! Sweet!!! Haha, cool movie overload day!

Rumored characters on IMDB:
- Sabretooth, Wolverine's all-time main antagonist played by Liev Schreiber (kinda random pick)

- William Stryker, a christian televangelist reverend guy that's out to kill all mutants, played by Michael C. Hall (Dexter! or David from Six Feet Under! Awesome!)

Ok, I can't wait for this movie. AHMEGAAHD!

Indy

Happy joy people! Indy's coming out on May 22nd! Woohoo! We like Indy.

Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Mister Harry
Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegria Mister Harry
Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Mister Harry
Eee Mister Harry! Eeessooo!

As my ratties would say: "AAAH ME GAAAHD!"

Screen Cleaner

My friend Bobby sent me a computer screen cleaner, it doesn't look like it works very well but I'll take it any time.

http://www.linein.org/media/screen_clean.swf

Almost Got It!

Hey!

I finished watching Dexter Season 1 yesterday, they were so close! The season is great, but the resolution did not convince me. After I did my last Dexter post (here) I couldn't wait to finish it. The setup was awesome with the ice truck killer (Miami Slasher in the book), but then... they couldn't quite pull it off as well. Now I have an opinion, if you're going to read and see Dexter, finish the book first, and savor the setup. Try not to feel too bad for the ending because it's not as great as the book. And, oh, by the way, Deb is not so whiny as she is in the series (she won't stop complaining about stuff, grow a backbone lady!).

Issues

Ok, so here's the reason the blog is called the way it is. I tend to start projects and I'm all excited and want to get them done because it would be so awesome to do them. I finish one. I get even more excited about the prospect of doing new things so I start with another one, and halfway through that one I start another one. Then I find that there's a third project that would be great to do, so I forget about the first one and start the third. By the time I get to where I am right now, I get frustrated because there's so much other cool stuff I could be doing that I don't finish anything, which makes me even more frustrated.

My reason for this blog is to keep myself in check with projects that I start. So here are my current efforts:
- I'm going to knit a bear for a friend that asked for it, I already got the yarn and have the design in mind, I haven't started it yet.
- Kit: mini-purse and belt made of knitted Granny squares (this is the one I abandoned for the sake of another project)
- Kit: Crochet a mini purse and hat (I'm about to kick this one to the curb because of the next one on the list)
- Kit: Knit a scarf with two different colors and pom poms on the edges.

I did finish a couple of kits, I'll get pictures of those on another post (so I can show myself I can actually finish stuff!).

Dexter

This is the opening for Dexter, a Showtime series I recently started watching.

Ale, Ma - If you can rent the first DVD of the season, it's worth watching it on High Def, it completely tells the inner story of the main character, and the design is gorgeous.



The first season is based on book one of the Dexter series, Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, which follows the life of a serial killer who kills serial killers. I just started season one which follows the first book very closely, so I'll leave it up to you to choose which you'd want to get the ending from; this is one of those rare cases where the book itself is an awesome read, and the series based on it is addictive and very well told.

From what I've read, the second season and second book (Dearly Devoted Dexter) are different stories, more Dexter fun for all of us! I "read" (on audiobook) this one too, I liked the first story better but in this one Dexter evolves as a character, and his relationships are explored more. It even gets to a point where you begin to make decisions like Dexter, because of "Harry's Code."

And in the middle of researching for this post, I found out a third book on the series came out last year! wooo! I have to go and see what Dex is up to in Dexter in the Dark. Happy murderous joy (of course, not for real :D ).


P.S. If you're interested in the inner workings of a sociopath, get a copy of The Sociopath Next Door, by Martha Stout. It's a surprisingly easy read, and it gives you perspective on how your boss' bosses might qualify as sociopaths... Even a soccer mom could be a sociopath.

WTF Post for Friday, February 8th

These dudes are all about the classic edge, they're taking string quartets in an interesting direction.



helicopters!

Books I'd Like to Read

• Birth: The Surprising History of how we are Born
• The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World
• A book I saw someone reading the other day about how the educational system forces children to learn to a standard and ignore their inherent abilities (I'll research that one)

Good Music for Work

I was working on a process flow for my presentation today, this song helped me through it:



It helps me concentrate and think.

Hey Everyone!

Hello people! Let's get this thing started, I'm pretty bad at keeping up with activities that I think would be cool to do but then never get around to finishing. I'll do my best and hopefully get some extra points for trying :) .

All right, so cool stuff for now:

• I did a good presentation at work just now, and it went very well! I'm happy because I look like I know what I'm talking about (yay!)
• I have a cake decorating class tomorrow, I'm hoping I can make it (if I have to show up with my luggage in tow I will)
• Blueberries are awesome

High five!