I Have Insomnia!!! \0/

Okay, so, insomnia doesn't usually occasion glee, but because of the sleep apnea, for a year I have struggled with the problem of being constantly sleepy and the sleep I get never being quite enough. I have had to take three-hour naps every day for probably over a year, and while doing so has kept me functionally rested and able to drive cars without falling asleep at the wheel (well, except for that one time), it's not exactly convenient.

For the last week or so, however, I've had some insomnia. I can't seem to nap during the day as easily as I usually do, and it takes a lot longer to fall asleep at night. Yeah, it's made it a bit harder to get up on the mornings where I haven't been able to get to sleep until 2am, but to be honest? I don't care. :) It's okay to be a bit tired when you've only had four hours sleep. But guess what? I go through my day and when night comes, I'm not so tired that I feel like crying. I'm not so tired that I can't even get up. I'm just normal, everyday, "Gee, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night" tired. I had honestly forgotten what that feels like.

I had a follow-up visit to my doctor yesterday about my new migraine prevention medication and my new dose of anti-depressants (both of which appear to be working well), and I mentioned the insomnia. He said, "I think that's a good sign," and I said, "Yeah, I think so, too." :)

NOTE: I apologize for not crossposting to this blog lately. To read recent posts, please visit my Livejournal:

http://jinjifore.livejournal.com

It's Easy Being Green

I got a new cast today. It is, as the subject line suggests, green (at the request of Her Booness).

Boo had decorated the pink cast with kitties, sunshine, a flamingo and family portraits. I made sure to take pictures, because I was pretty sure the cast would be too unsanitary to keep around. As it turns out, though, the unsanitary inner layers of gauze and stockinette could be peeled away and discarded, allowing me to preserve the fiberglass part. If I can find my camera cable, I'll try to post the pictures.

They did more x-rays, and everything still seems to be in place. The doctor says I'll be in this cast for three more weeks, then in a splint for two weeks, then I'll have one more surgery to take the pins out. The pin removal is apparently miles simpler and less painful than the first surgery, and I should be ready for physical therapy within a couple of weeks. Physical therapy should take six months to a year, so in the shortest-case scenario I'll be finishing up my recovery a little over a year after I first fell. Next time, I'm landing on my head.

I actually had to have two casts put on today. The first time, I felt like the bottom of the cast was too tight, and they had to wait for the fiberglass to harden at bit, then cut off the cast they'd just put on and start over. I felt silly, especially since I could stick my whole finger between my arm and the bottom of the cast and run it all the way around, but I couldn't convince myself that it wasn't cutting off my circulation. My doctor was very patient and kind about it, when in all likelihood it was just me panicking because I (apparently) have an aversion to anything on my body that feels too tight. He made sure he didn't pull the bandage at all when he was wrapping the second cast, and it feels fine. Probably the danger now will be it falling off.

I'm still dropping back on the painkillers, although today has been a "take lots" day because of all the moving around between casts. My pinkie continues to be very sore, and the doctor was a bit surprised when I mentioned it, because apparently it's not a typical symptom. It doesn't impair me much, and I can even type with it now, but I have to be careful when I'm gripping or when I'm rubbing lotion on my hands. I'm not too worried about it, considering all the rearrangement that's gone on inside my hand.

Onward and upward. :) I feel that I can do everything that's really important (well, okay, almost everything :)). I certainly can find plenty of ways to be occupied and happy. The good things are getting better, and the bad things are diminishing. Can't ask for more than that.

Note to Self

Note to self:

If you haven't driven in a month, and therefore haven't drunk your regular post-school-delivery regimen of coffee, it's entirely possible that when you do test your cast-impaired driving ability by going to the coffee shop and drinking a large coffee at four in the afternoon, you will find yourself writing journal posts at 5:45am.

Just FYI.

Five Things

Five Ways In Which My Life Has Improved A Lot:

1. I can type using up to nine fingers with minimal discomfort (for some reason my pinkie is taking a while to get back in the game). Only short periods right now, but considering that on Friday I couldn't even press the keys, this is pretty darn stellar.

2. I can open bottles, cans and other food packaging. This means that my husband no longer has to leave a cooler of sandwiches and a certain number of pre-opened bottles of water for me when he goes to work.

3. I can go up and down the stairs as I darn well please. Free access to the kitchen is good.

4. I can take a shower almost all by myself, instead of having to have the assisstance of my entire family. If I could just figure out how to open and squirt out the shampoo with one hand (okay, and wrap my own right arm in plastic), I'd be golden.

5. I am taking about half the amount of pain medication I was taking last week. It might *sound* fun to spend six weeks stoned on various members of the -codone family, but the reality is that I can't wait to get off the stuff. Obviously, I'm choosing to continue to take it because, well, pain sucks, but I feel that the pain is also approaching the point where I can see the end of it.

In short:

:)

Belated Update

Sorry for not updating lately. I fell and tore a ligament in my wrist about four months ago, and ended up having surgery on it ten days ago. I've been updating my Livejournal, but forgot to include this one in the updates. If you want to read the details (including my recent post about my exciting pink cast) you can find them here:

http://jinjifore.livejournal.com/tag/wrist+injury

Take Care!

Sore Throat: 1; Red Cross: 0

Well, crap. I made an appointment to donate blood this morning, but instead I woke up with a sore throat. I did wallow around in denial for a while, but then I sucked it up and admitted to myself that the Red Cross doesn't *want* my infected blood, even if it is O-.

I'm especially bummed because between the three bouts of bronchitis, the feeling crappy after the bronchitis, the feeling crappy before the bronchitis and in general feeling crappy between the bronchitis, it's been well over a year since I donated. Still, there's always next week. :)

In the good news department, my service appointment for my car only cost me $425. You may wonder why this is good news. I will tell you.

On the way to DragonCon, the automatic sliding doors on my van quit working. If it wasn't for Jamie cleverly figuring out that we needed to turn the doors off, we would all have been driven insane by the buzz of the door alarms. As it was, all I had to do was push the doors open and closed manually. This is okay in the short term, but it's a severe drawback in the school drop-off, pick-up lines, which are run on timing similar to a NASCAR pit crew. In addition, I have been receiving complaints from the passengers (ie, Boo) about the lack of air conditioning in the back of the car.

Now, the door problem was, I hoped, a minor one. Maybe a reset or cleaning the contacts. But the A/C problem was one I dreaded. My mom had had similar problems in her last two cars, and both times hadn't fixed them because they were prohibitively expensive. As in $1200 or more of prohibition. Also, if the door issue was some kind of electrical snafu, I could be looking at hours and hours of labor. Needless to say, I was wasn't looking forward it.

You can imagine my relief when it turned out that both problems were relatively simple wiring problems. One of the wires on the door system had gotten kinked up and subsequently shorted out. One hour of labor, no parts. The A/C problem took longer, but it turned out to be an unplugged connection, so the only cost was in the time spent tracking it down. Again, no parts, just the labor.

Now, it might seem that $275 (the maintenance check/upkeep stuff was $150) for two simple wiring problems is a lot of money, and it is, but I was seriously anticipating that these repairs might run me into the $1000 or more range. Electric problems *suck,* and I felt pretty darn lucky that they were solved with only three hours of labor and not with many more expensive hours spent finding expensive problems. Bullet dodged.

ETA: Finally located the thermometer and took my temperature. 99.7. I don't think the Red Cross wants me today.

Dragon*Con

I have packed for Dragcon*Con. Actually, I did it yesterday. I need to bring along an inflatable mattress, but I'm also going to have to haul all my luggage on Marta. So, I did a test pack to see if I could fit everything into my rolling backpack, or if I'd have to suck it up and use my daughter's very small--but also very girly pink--suitcase.

I did manage to fit it in, but it's a tight fit and I'm thinking that the girly pink suitcase is the better option. Still, I'm kind of impressed that an entire inflatable mattress + pump + usual crap for a four-night stay all fit into the backpack.

Yesterday I picked up all the miscellaneous crap I needed: power strips, band-aids, cash, power bars, hand wipes, etc. Today I cleaned out my car in anticipation of loading up extra luggage. This means that at 10:30am the day *before* I leave I am a) packed and b) actually prepared to leave.

I'm not sure what this all portends, except that I've probably ensured that I will forget at least sixteen really important things and that I will really, really need extra space in my luggage on the way home.

Oh Joy, Oh Bliss

Okay, so I'm way behind the news on this, but the other day I decided, on a whim, to re-read Elizabeth Peters' last Vicky Bliss novel, Night Train to Memphis which led me to think "Hey, it's been a while since her last book, let's check Amazon, see if there's a new Amelia Peabody book."

There wasn't a new Amelia Peabody book.

There was a new Vicky Bliss book.

The first new Vicky Bliss book in fourteen years.

Now, the Amelia Peabody books are awesome, but the Vicky Bliss books are freakin' rare from this woman. Well, okay, comaparatively rare, as in a mere five books (now six!) instead of eighteen Amelia Peabody books, not to mention the other gazillion books the woman has written.

The other good thing is that the book comes out the day after my mother's birthday, and the CD version *also* comes out the day after my mother's birthday, instead of later as used to be the case. This is good because my mother doesn't actually read books anymore. Instead, she listens to them. All the time. (Seriously, all the time. She has two iPods.) I have, therefore, ordered the audio CD for her. Unfortunately, she has an annoying habit of keeping up with this stuff herself and ordering things on her own, so I'll probably have to spill the beans to keep her from buying it.

Feline Hunger Strike Ends--Cats Say "No More Kroger Brand"

In general, we feed the cats whatever food is available where we're shopping, and is cheap. The cats have always happily gobbled up whatever we put in front of them, so we never worry too much about brand names and what-not.

Last week, however, my husband bought some Kroger brand cat food. The cats, to a feline, refused to eat it. Not only our cats--both indoor and outdoor--but the two neighborhood cats, the skunk and the possum who also feast uninvited at our back door left the food bowls untouched.

I admit, I didn't really catch on until second or third day of the strike, when Mimi kept pawing at the deck door even after I'd put out fresh food and water for her multiple times (despite the fact that there was food still in the bowls). It wasn't until the third day, when I realized that *none* of the food had been touched by any creature, that I understood that I had a full-blown hunger strike on my hands.

Yesterday we bought some of the usual cheap-o Wal-Mart Special Kitty cat food, and they fell upon like ravening beasts. Today my home has fat, full kitty bellies, and all is well.

Yet, I still have to wonder what the heck was in the Kroger food that even the possum wouldn't eat it...

ETA: Until I responded to another commenter, I'd forgotten that one subject detected no difference in the cat food: "Well, when I fed the kitties I licked some off my fingers and it tasted the same," reported Boo.

There you have it.

Holiday Knitting 2007

I realize that I haven't been updating lately, but I have two very good reasons. Really.

First is that I've been doing a lot of knitting. As in, most of my holiday gift knitting. Last year, I was smart enough to start knitting in September, so that when NaNoWriMo came along (not that I'd actually planned that far in advance, but never mind) I had time to do both. This year, I wasn't nearly as smart, and found myself starting my holiday knitting over Thanksgiving.

Of course, there is a difference between this year's knitting and last year's. Last year, I made several pairs of socks, a lace scarf, and a Clapotis. This year? Hats. Lots of hats.

The good news is that my family seems to appreciate knitted hats. And I happen to think that they make good gifts because they're the kind of thing that the recipient will actually wear, especially considering that all the people for whom I knitted hats this year will be going to Wyoming to ski right after the holidays. So, I knitted all of them using a basic 2 x 2 ribbed watchcap formula. I make them fairly long, usually 11 to 12 inches of ribbing, so that they can be folded up around the ears for extra warmth. I then decrease fairly rapidly for the crown, and voila! A nice gift.

The other reason for not posting is that many of the people who will be receiving said gifts read this blog. And, okay, now they might have some idea that they might, perhaps, be getting a hat this year, but at this point it's not much of a secret, considering how much frantic hat knitting I was doing at Thanksgiving. Still, I won't be posting the pictures until afterwards, because I want to leave some mystery about the color and so on.

The good news is that I am, in fact, done. I finished the last hat on Friday, so any other knitting that I get done will be a bonus. And the first thing on my bonus knitting list is a sweater for my daughter. I have been a crappy knitting mommy because I haven't yet made her one at any point in the last five years, but I really, really wanted her to have a nice wool sweater for her first skiing experience.

I'm using a pattern from Cabin Fever's Top Down For Toddlers, and I now feel doubly guilty for not having done one before because it's so easy. I started it on Friday, knitted a lot on Saturday, and now (Monday) have 10 of the 13 body inches done. I'm working it at a slightly larger gauge than the one called for (5 stitches to the inch instead of 5.5), which means that I'm working the pattern for a size smaller than what I actually need, which means that I'm doing a wee bit less knitting than I might otherwise have to.

I have also made a serendipitous discovery, which is more or less what inspired me to make a post today. I had 16-inch and 32-inch 3.75mm needles, but the body of the sweater is only 28 inches around. Not wanting to have to stretch the body around my 32-inch needles, I bought a pair of 24-inch needles. The only 24-inch Addi needles available were Addi lace needles, and I figured it wouldn't make much difference.

I was wrong.

The Addi lace needles were the best thing I could have ever bought for this project.

The sweater is cabled, and for years now I've been working my cables without a cable needle. Instead, I slip stitches from my working needles and pick them back up to rearrange the stitches. This means that I do a lot of delicate maneuvering with my needles, slipping the needles into stitches out of working order, dropping stitches and picking them back up, etc. The lace tips are amazingly good for this. They're pointy and tapered, perfect for slipping into stitches and picking up newly-dropped ones.

I also love working with the brass. For years, I've only used nickel-plated needles because anything else feels like I'm knitting with sandpaper, but the brass has been a pleasant surprise. It's not quite as slick as the nickel, but it's still well within my parameters for fast and fun knitting. The real joy, though, is the smooth-oiled feel to the way the needles rub together. It's made knitting with them a genuine pleasure.

The only drawback is that I can't hold the needles as close to the tips as I normally do, seeing as the tips are significantly longer, but that's been a very minor adjustment. Overall, I've been quite impressed with the Addi lace, and I think I'll have to look into investing in a few pairs for my actual lace knitting.

Yeah, probably should have asked for a Patternworks gift certificate for Christmas...

LibraryThing Progress

The LibraryThing process is proceeding. I've entered 3,000 books now.

I've moved from working from the card catalog to the actual books. While I was unable to get up and down the stairs, the cards were very useful. I could just lie in bed and work off them and when I got sleepy--bed! But since the catalog isn't complete, and since the CueCat scanner makes it about 10,000 times easier to just scan the barcodes rather than typing off crappy dot-matrix printouts--where I may or may not have written down the correct ISBN ten years ago--I learned that it was quicker to just work from the shelves.

I have all the hardbacks done now, except for the oversize ones and the ones that are mixed in with my husband's books. I did the hardbacks first because I have a lot of old and unusual books that I knew would require more research and possibly manual entry. From there I've moved to the one bookshelf I have of non-science fiction, non-mystery paperbacks and paperback-sized hardbacks, for pretty much the same reason.

Some observations: I have close to a hundred books that aren't shared by any other members, and about two hundred and fifty others that are shared by fewer than ten others. Some of them aren't suprising. Dante, Chaucer, and the Currency of the Word : Money, Images, and Reference in Late Medieval Poetry is a good example. I'm a bit surprised that no one else shares The Writings of Medieval Women : An Anthology, though. And I'm kind of sad that no one else has The Alps as Seen by the Poets or Billy-Boy because they're both beautiful books and I'd like to think that someone else has had the opportunity to enjoy them.

According to my stats, my median book obscurity is currently 107, and my mean book obscurity is 590. This means that, on average, I share books with 590 other members. But half of my library is shared by 107 members or less, and half is shared by 107 or more. Kinda cool.

This will also be an interesting exercise in Total Book Estimates. For a while now I've been tossing around 4,500 as the number of books I have without having any real idea about the true totals, and now I'll have the chance to see how close I am. Based on how many books I've entered, and how many I estimate I have left, I think it's going to be pretty close.

Health Update

Daily pill intake: 27
Books entered on LibraryThing: 409
Number of times cursed at crappy dot-matrix library catalog printout: 409
Items checked off on "When to Call Your Doctor" bronchitis fact sheet: 4
Secondary bacterial infections: 1
Pneumonias: 0
New prescriptions: 3
Stargate episodes watched: 10
Crappy fanfics read: 90234857

Bronchitis: 1, Jinjifore: 0

The good news is that I have approximately 4,000 more books to enter on LibraryThing, so it's not like I'm going to run out of things to do from bed. Also, among the numerous new pills I'm taking are antibiotics and steroids, which should hopefully help me feel better sooner rather than later. Here's hoping. :)

PSA, FYI, ETC

Right. So I have bronchitis again, and it seems to be of a slightly nastier variety than the previous one. According to the literature I was given, I can expect this to last for 1-2 weeks. This is, therefore, my blanket statement to not be totally surprised if I don't show up for my usual social engagements. I will, of course, try to give all due advance notice of my absence, but I wanted to give a heads-up that is going to be a bit more long-term than usual.

The really bad news is that I have now seen every episode of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, and listened to all the commentaries ever made for both shows. More than once. The good news is that I finally decided to see what LibraryThing was all about, and I suspect that typing in ISBNs for 4,500 books will keep me occupied for a while.

Take care, all, and I'll see you soon. :)

So, About The Lawn Mower...

I don't think I was alone in thinking that the saga of the lawn mower was over. Yesterday, though, as I was pulling out of my garage, I noticed this:



Or rather, I noticed that I didn't have to be careful about running over the lawn mower because it wasn't there. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, our brand-new lawn mower had been stolen.

Operating on the dual assumption that your average lawn mower thief a) probably couldn't get far and b) isn't likely to be all that smart, Albert made a brief tour of our street that evening and, in fact, spotted our mower sitting in a yard about a mile away. Armed with the serial number from the delivery form and a cell phone, he called the police and filed a report. He gave up on the cops around midnight (understandably, there seemed to be more urgent matters afoot than a stolen lawn mower), but returned to his post and phoned again this morning.


The residents of the house denied all knowledge of the mower, but since the serial numbers matched we were allowed to bring the mower back.



Sadly, though, not undamaged.



On the plus side, Albert saw some people returning to the house with a gas can, and there appears to be at least two or three gallons of gas in the mower. Eight or nine bucks worth of gas is nothing to sneeze at.

On our to-do list for the weekend: Buy a yard shed.

Now We Have a Lawn Mower, Ho Ho Ho

The lawn mower repair folks delivered our shiny new lawn mower this morning. They also installed the mulch kit, no charge. So, while losing an entire lawn tractor = not so good, replacing it with a brand new one definitely counts as a save in a customer service department. Plus, it's been so darn dry around here that we haven't even needed to mow for something like three weeks, so not having a mower hasn't even been much of an inconvenience.

In Hypericon news, I'm washing my pile o' Potter scarves in preparation for tasselling this afternoon. I have two ear flaps left to knit on my fourth Jayne hat, and I'm fairly certain I have enough yarn for a fifth, which I feel confident that I can finish during the con. I used Elann's Highland Wool, and it's actually not a bad yarn, especially for a project that's supposed to look rustic. And, when I mentioned here that I was waiting for yarn, the yarn was, in fact, sitting on my front porch at that very moment, so I was able to get started a couple of days earlier than I'd hoped. Cheap yarn delivered fast. :)

Harry Potter and the Knitting Machine

Allow me to present my life for the next two weeks:



Hypericon is weekend after next, and my plan is to turn the contents of the big green bucket into scarves and hats before then. I've run off five so far, and number six is on the machine. (Actually, I'm making this post because my daughter complained that the machine was too loud. :))

So far, I've made two Gryffindor scarves, one Hufflepuff, two Slytherins, and am mid-way through a Ravenclaw. Unfortunately, I used up all the Slytherin green I had, so if I want to make any more Slytherin stuff I'm going to have to re-scour JoAnn's and Michaels and other cheap yarn venues for dark green yarn. In retrospect, it might not have been my smartest move ever to make one of the nearly-all-green scarves from the third and fourth movies. But it is very pretty.



Well, it'll be pretty once it's seamed up. :)

My plan is to make at least two scarves for each house, and hopefully I'll be able to make some others based on the third movie design. It takes me about two hours to run off one scarf on my machine, and two to three more hours to do the seaming up. The seaming, though, can be done in spare moments, whereas getting blocks of time to use the machine are more of a challenge.

Greebo is a big help with this:

How Do You Lose a Lawn Mower?

We have an update on the lawn mower saga.

Apparently, the shop has lost our mower. Their best guess is that it was mistakenly shipped off to one of our many local home improvement stores, because they do a lot of contract repair work for them.

Albert finally found this out by talking to the owner of the shop, and also found out that Ms. Customer Service was the one who failed to tag the mowers when they came in. This makes her annoyance with myself and Albert all the more special.

The good news, though, is that the owner of the shop has promised to make it good, one way or another. If he can't find our mower (and he's not too optimistic), they'll replace it with a new one.

I'm okay with that. :)

Adventures in Customer Service

Adventures in Customer Service, Part 1

'I'm sorry. That's not my lawn mower.'

As my fellow homeowners are no doubt aware, with spring comes the most vigorous time of lawn mowing. My neighbors all keep tidy lawns, and are very patient and uncomplaining when our lawn--as it often does--shows signs of scraggliness. This year, we were late with the first ritual lawn mowing, and when Albert did try to start up the lawn mower, engaging the blade resulting in a horrible screeching noise and clouds of white smoke. Sure enough, the blade belt was broken.

We called Bolen, the manufacturer of our mower, and they gave us the name of their local authorized repair shop. They came and picked up our mower. My husband taped a note to it explaining what the problem was and also asking them to install the mulch kit we'd never gotten around to putting on.

On Monday, I get a phone call from the repair shop. Our mower, the woman said, was ready. But they had three mowers that were all alike, and didn't know which one was ours. Based on the serial numbers, they could tell where each one was purchased, so she wanted to know where we'd bought ours (two years ago). Her attitude was that it was somehow my problem for not remembering off the top of my head which of the three local hardware stores (all of which we'd patronized) we'd bought the mower from, and not at all *their* problem for not having, say, stuck a tag on our mower when it arrived at their shop.

Luckily, Albert remembered where we'd bought it, and they said they would deliver it. Someone needed to be there, they said, to pay for the repairs. No problem, Albert said, How much is it? Once again, our fault for asking, not hers for not knowing, or being able to look it up and find out.

Finally, later that afternoon, the lawn mower repair person arrives. The doorbell rings, and I am ready with my checkbook. I'm still ignorant of the amount I need to pay, but what the heck. The man comes in, I sign the delivery slip, and ask how much. He says, "Nothing. It was under warranty."

Great! But as I start to hand the paperwork back, I remember the mulch kit, which was certainly not covered under any warranty. What about the mulch kit? I ask. He has no idea. I look at the second sheet of the paperwork, which details the repairs, and see words like "won't start," and "faulty switch."

"I don't think this is my tractor," I say, and step outside and walk around to look, for the first time, at the lawn mower on the back of the trailer (admittedly, this probably should have been my first step).

I can say this much: the mower they brought us was also green.

It's two weeks later. We've called a couple of times about our mower, and heard nothing. I suspect that we're going to have to go down there and pick it out of a lineup.

Adventures in Customer Service, Part 2

'What do you mean by Deadwood?'

In my ongoing quest to organize my yarn, I decided that I needed some shelving for my closet. I went to Sam's, and picked out some nice sturdy metal shelves on wheels. I got the checkout slip for the shelves, picked up some other stuff I needed, and was passing the DVD section when I spotted the first season of Deadwood. I'd heard good things about it, and am a huge fan of Ian McShane, so I decided what the heck. All the DVD sets are locked down, so once again I got a checkout slip with a barcode in lieu of the actual item. I was a little concerned because, unlike many other slips, there was no title printed or written above the barcode, and I couldn't confirm that it was the correct slip for that DVD. Still, it was the only slip there, so I presumed I was okay.

I got the checkout, and a lady was doing pre-checkout, which means that your membership card is scanned, then all your items, so that when you get to the cashier all she has to do is scan your card and the total pops up, without any loading and unloading. Easy peasy.

When the woman scanned the Deadwood slip, I asked her if it was the correct slip for Deadwood. There was no title written on it, I explained, and I wanted to be sure I'd gotten the right one. "What do you mean, Deadwood?" she asked. I explained, again, that that was the name of the DVD I was trying to buy. She turned without answering and starting calling someone to fetch my shelves. Okay.

I get up to the cashier, and ask where I should go to pick up my shelves and DVD. She gives me an utterly blank look, and asks who pre-checked me. I look around, and the lady is gone, vanished, absent. The cashier asks me to wait near the food tables. No problem.

Very soon, a guy comes up clutching the my ill-fated slip. Which season do I want? he asks. I said I wasn't sure, I just wanted the Deadwood DVD. He explained that the barcodes didn't indicate seasons, and I said, Okay, no sweat, first season.

He returns a few minutes later with my shelves on a flatbed and the first season of The Sopranos.

Once more, I explain that I want Deadwood (which I have explained at least twice to each person I've encountered). He goes away again. Finally, he comes back and says that I'll have to show him, he has no idea what I'm looking for. I smile, say "Sure," and walk right up to the Deadwood DVD. He gets it for me, I say thanks, sorry it was so much trouble.

He says, "Just take the shelves on out and tell the girl at the door you need someone to help you."

Now, my understanding--based on him saying so--was that he was going to take the shelves out, but fine, whatever. It's only when I get back to the front door that I realize that it's impossible for me to pull both the flatbed and my own shopping cart with the rest of my stuff. So, I transfer everything to the flatbed, explain (twice) to the lady a the front door that I need someone to help me load up the shelves, and finally, finally, meet someone who gives a crap.

I parked the flatbed outside the door, and told the loading person that I'd be back in a minute with my van. When I started to back out, though, I almost ran him over because he'd followed me out. He helped me load the shelves. He helped me load my stuff. I apologized again for nearly running him over. He said no problem.

Bless you, shelf-loading guy.

Party Pictures!

For any interested parties, I've uploaded pictures from Riley's 5th birthday party. I just went ahead and uploaded files that are, theoretically, big enough to make prints from. The pictures are all in this set, here:

Riley's 5th Birthday

Or you can just click on the picture above.

If you would like to make a print, look at the right side of the individual photo page, in the "Additional Information" section. You'll see a link called "different sizes." Click on that link, and it will take you to a page where you can select from several size options.

Photograph Upload

I've just finished a massive upload of photographs to Flickr. There are a lot of new pictures of Boo and my friends and family, but I've also put up just about every picture I've ever taken of my knitting.

Jinjifore's Photographs on Flickr

If you want to look at pictures of people and animals, you can visit the "People, Places and Things" collection, which you can also get to by clicking the icon to the right of my main page on Flickr.

If, on the other hand, you'd like to look at thrilling knitting pictures, visit the "Knitting" collection.

There are several subsets in each category that will, hopefully, be self-explanatory. I've also tried to tag the pictures with years and subjects. In the knitting pictures, the "Project Main Entry" tag is used for the picture that has the complete notes for that particular project.