It's on, baby!

In case you didn't know what you were doing January 10th here's a hint. What a sopisticated poster!

I'm back from the holiday mayhem and familial good cheer. Now that some of my sibs are married and one even has chickadees my immediate family has an informal tradition of meeting every other year at our parents' house for Christmas. This was an off year, but I still got to see Oldest Sis and Older Younger Brother with Sister In-Law-1 and their brood. I got to spend a lot of time with my niece and nephew aged five and two respectively. I played the role of "horsey" and I shared the joy of throwing stuffed animals down grammy and popop's laundry chute. I checked myself before I taught them how to "sled" down the stair case in a sleeping bag. That's for another time. Anyhow Sister-In-Law-1 used to be in the Israeli army, and while she claims she couldn't I'm sure she could give me the ass whooping of a lifetime. My favorite part of being an aunt is never having to put the kids to bed. Whew. They are a handfull.

Friday night we had the Naptown Roller Girls 2009 Season Launch and Warning Belles Coming Out Party at Birdy's. It was a blast complete with live bands, skating derby girls, and musical chairs. If you haven't seen derby musical chairs then you're missing out. Let me set this up for you. We had seven derby girls in full battle array with skates, pads and helmets. We took four very brave volunteers from the crowd. Add ten chairs and musical guests from Hero and you have the start of what I would find totally horrifying musical chairs if I wasn't in my full pads. Tom K, not just a pretty photographer, gave me fits, but I managed. Yours truly was encouraged to play a little dirty so as to ruthlessly exploit "derby rules". I think derby rules permits all but the most egregious advantage theiving by say brandishing a weapon or using brass knuckles. Surely those are right out, but pulling a chair out from someone is perfectly legit. Which I did. And a part of me felt really good about it. The gal I yanked the chair from was a great sport about it. Clearly a woman who is in touch with derby.

The Naptown Roller Girls first home bout for 2009 goes off on January 10! I'm so excited and I'm pimping it a little here:

Saturday, Jan. 10th, 2009 7:30 pm IN State Fair Grounds - Toyota Blue Ribbon Pavilion

It's the first bout of Season 3! Watch your Tornado Sirens take on 38th ranked Steel City Derby Demons from Pittsburgh, PA!

Tickets are $11 in advance and $16 at the door. http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/50099

Season tickets are now available! $75 gets you a ticket to each bout, an autographed 2009 calendar, a Naptown Seat Cushion as well as assorted stickers all inside your very own NRG canvas tote! http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/45193

And.....paper tickets are availabe at Indy CD & Vinyl (Broadripple), Out Word Bound (Downtown) and Strange Brew (Greenwood)!

All bouts are general admission. Seats are on a first come first serve basis. Tickets are CASH only at the door. Doors at 6:30pm, bout at7:30pm. Schedule subject to change.

Our bouts are family friendly but it is VERY loud! Our fans are excited! If your child is scared easily by loud noise, a roller derby bout may not be a good place to be.

Directions to the Fair Grounds: http://www.state.in.us/statefair/fairgrounds/maps/driving.html

Rock Pedal

If you are an imaginary rock 'n' roller of the drumming persuasion then you probably have repaired or replaced your pedal. Perhaps you know someone who likes to beat on plastic drum heads in time to bright lights and music on a TV screen. If so then I strongly urge you to check out the RockPedal. This is the real deal, folks. It's an actual drum pedal with a sturdy chain drive, retractable floor pegs, velcro bottom, and a proximity sensor to trigger when you've hit the drum. It comes with all that you need, and since it's an actual drum pedal you can change the action through tension, height and drop. If you want to fashion a bass drum out of a practice pad or whathaveyou It comes with a beater stick.

I knew this was the way I wanted to go, and much has been said about this product elsewhere, and I don't need to add to that. What I would like to add is what an exceptionally delightful service process the guys at RockPedal have. I abused my pedal in bad ways that would probably void a warranty (yanked the sensor off). I told 'em what happened, they apologized for my inconvenience, they shipped me a new pedal, and they're sending me a shipping label to ship back the old one. All of this was accomplished with very responsive e-mails. I experienced super prompt, very polite, I could even say kind e-mail interaction with someone on the other end.

Bottom line is that this product is high end, indestructible through normal use, backed by a strong warranty, and the guys who make and sell it are super cool. Go buy one. If in 30 days you decide you don't like it you can send it back to 'em for free. Full refund. Such a deal.

Dismember in December

This past weekend the Warning Belles of the Naptown Roller Girls traveled to Evansville for our first couple bouts. The Demolition City Roller Dolls hosted a four team tournament with a two game guarantee called Dismembered in December held at the Evansville Memorial Coliseum. The building was constructed in 1916 and made out of brick and limestone. It has a great theater vibe to it and seats around 2500 with a large balcony ringing the floor facing the stage. We had an actual dressing room for our dressing room with home made couches. Very comfy.

Our first bout ever was against DCRD, and I am so glad this bout was away from home. I was sent in to block on the opening two jams to knock people down. After two jams I was to come back to the bench and go back to jam. I managed to knock one skater down. Too bad. The penalties were flying and they were not the fun kind either. My first recorded trip to the penalty box was for a false start from the jamming line. During my next jam I went in for cutting the track. Silly. But I got it together and I scored some points. I hit some skaters and I got one girl to chase me around and keep trying to knock me down. We spent a lot of time in the penalty box. There were some legitimate calls and there were some questionable calls. It doesn't matter. The refs are a part of the game. I don't think the scoring defecit would be so high if not for the many penalties we got, but I also don't think the outcome would necessarily be different. We lost the bout, but we gained invaluable experience.

The next bout pitted the Slay Belles against the highly experienced Quad State Terrors. Both teams came together for the tournament, but the similarties ended there. The Quad State Terrors were the dominant force of the whole tournament, and they showed their skills early against the Slay Belles. QST has some great skaters, and even though that was the first bout they played together (I think?) they moved really well together keeping control of the pack and jamming right on through. QST owned that bout.

We went to the consolation match against the Slay Belles. Joan of Dark came in to ensure we didn't go home with a loss and she proceeded to host a clinic on how to achieve multiple grand slams in a single jam. Her first jam out she officially scored 18 (it was 19, but no one was going to quibble). Blue Messiah also netted an 18 point jam. Everyone who jammed, Ivanna B. Naughty, myself, Ana Slaysya, heavy hitting Joanie Gouge grand slammed. The final score was 177 - 6. We won.

I was pretty wiped out after two bouts, and I probably would have been more comfortable at the hotel than at the after party, but I couldn't miss my first post bout bash. It was held in a bar called Hammerheads around the corner from the venue. They had a deafening juke box cranking out nu-metal, grunge, and miscellaneous with an 80s dance party going on in the basement. If Broadripple was distilled into a single bar you would end up with Hammerheads. Everyone was having a good time, and it was great to get loose with my teammates and our opponents. I have a hard time with loud noise though. I think I'll bring some discreet ear plugs to the next after party. I'll risk being lame to be able to party down.

Six more days to go

Only six more days until I get a chance to compete in my first Roller Derby bout, and it's a tournament with a two game guarantee no less! I'm so excited I can barely stand it, and it's only Monday. I have been pumped up for this bout for the past couple weeks to the point where the hair on my arm stands on end when I think about the pre-game warm-up. I'll need to bring a paper bag to breathe into by Thursday.

In the wake of all this excitement are great moments from this weekend. Namely, the NRG calendar launch party. This was another event for which I was excited to the point of having the squirmies up until I arrived. The place, Christoper West's new gallery, was packed the entire time the event was going on. A couple of friends dropped in, including Fitness Nerd and Athena, to see the new calendar and give support. Even a co-worker showed up. The finished product looks amazing, and covers fifteen months. Such a value! If you're interested in purchasing one then shoot me a comment, and I'll hook you up. Nay from the [un]official Fan Club lead the crowd in some rousing cheers. I stood back and warmed up to the glow from all the support, volunteerism, and down right creativity that was put into all this. NRG is blessed with the best fans and support staff ever.

It's a human rights thing

So maybe you can't call in next Wednesday, but you like millions of others support the choices of consenting adults and would like to know how to help? Post this message. Donate time or money to a GLBTA cause. The website is full of useful ideas for those who can't take off work, but want to offer support.

I don't know where I changed up. Up until now I've been patient. I've told myself all kinds of stories that have kept me on the sidelines: All out groups experience a time of struggle. I'm not even a fan of marriage. Gay marriage will never happen in Indiana in my life time so why bother. It will happen in more progressive states. That's good enough.

Well it's not good enough. It has nothing to do with my personal views of marriage. And there's no time like the present to get involved in the struggle to perhaps pave the way for gay marriage to be accepted in Indiana whether that be now or later.

But what was it that got me really mad? A group of people took away the rights of another group of people and used a state constitution to do it. I am a strong believer of majority rules with minority rights, and when the gravity of the situation sunk in - that hard won rights were revoked by a simple majority vote I got angry and a little scared. It's not just my freedom we're talking about here. It's everyone's freedom.

Under threat of expulsion

What a juicy title for a standard update post. I read in Fitness Nerd's blog that if those of us on his Blog Roll didn't update our blogs then we'd be cut, and I just can't afford the traffic loss...

Seriously though, I have plenty going on, but I go back and forth as to what I'd actually publish in a blog. My most recent news is Thanksgiving and the lovely time I had with Maestro, Persephone, and Gentle Giant. We played a lot of Rock Band 2, the modest changes of which make it even more enjoyable for group play of varying skill levels. Persephone got to rock out in front of her younger brother when he dropped by. That must have been a highlight. Persephone singing Blitzkrieg Bop was a bit of an image departure, I'm sure.

I continue to work on the sport and art of roller derby. Last night I broke out the new bout only wheels. For the gear heads, these are the grippiest Radar Tuners, which I don't think is saying all that much. The durometer reading on them is still somewhere in the low 90s. I haven't skated indoors on anything other than Radar Tuners so I'm getting a good feel for what the line has to offer. When I started out in them they were slippery almost as if they were coated in something. After I skated on them for about 10 minutes they felt better and eventually they felt softer than my blue tuners (tite). I don't know if there was something on the wheels or if the slip feeling was from my bearings being brand new as well (Kwik ABEC-9). I think the next set of wheels will have to be these Answers my teammates are going crazy for. Grippy without slowing down? We'll see.

I had a strong practice. I learned a new skill and received some kudos. I'm really excited about our calendar launch party this Friday (1647 English Ave. Indianapolis, 6 - 9 pm. Be there!) And I'm practically humming with excitement when I think about our upcoming bout in Evansville. A mixed team of Vets and Rookies will be going to Evansville for a small tournament against some stiff competition. When it's talked about at practice I can feel my skin electrify and I start pacing in anticipation. I have been thinking about how to handle strategies and tactics that I have never seen before in oponents. I am visualizing successful jams. I believe I am stoked.

Phew... the beat goes on

George Stephanopoulos is saying the show will go on tonight. Overall, I'm glad to hear it, but I'm a little sad that we didn't get to witness Obama holding a townhall style meeting with the media. That would be a departure. Seriously, there was no way McCain could skip the debates seeing as how every journalist outside of the Fox network was left scratching their collective heads trying to decide how to report this piece of news without stating McCain is playing a game. Fox actually embraced that and lauded McCain's political brinksmanship. What a jaded audience they must have.

As I've said, I believe McCain's move was an attempt to grab the spotlight at a time when his campaign was coming down from the Palin poll bump and simultaneously attempt to add some economic credibility to his CV. I only wonder if Obama will deliver a knock out blow during the debate or just let it drop.

Dear McCain: Please stay out of Washington until the bailout deal is completed.

If there is no debate on Friday I'll spit.

Well, honestly, I spit often so it's not like I'll refrain if there is a debate. I'm frustrated with McCain's bull fighter's cape sweep attempting to manufacture relevance in an arena he has not entered in some time. He has not seen much of the senate in the last two years and now he wants to go to Washington, presumably to broker a bipartisan deal for a bailout of our financial markets, one that is argued we may not even need. I see this as an empty flourish added to a campaign bolstered by his sensational running-mate selection. McCain is weak on the economy. What better way to avoid a debate that would be completely dominated by the thorny subject of finance than to pretend to trim the briar patch in question? It's hard to nail him on it, because he can counter that he's too busy fixing the economy to talk about it.

The fact is finance is perhaps the most complicated area of an already complicated subject, and in this case we're attempting to fix finance with finance born from taxes. There is a lot of tension between Wall Street, the Fed, the Treasury, and the Hill. I envision lobbyists forced to camp in neighboring parks due to a lack of hotel vacancy. Now that many in Congress have had to say, "If I knew then what I know now..." there will be far more measured thought before we blindly sign a check for what is the gross domestic product of the Netherlands. Basically, this issue is hot enough. How about we let the politicians do their jobs and keep the campaign out of Washington.

My right cheek

Training for derby means skating aggressively counter clockwise a lot. It creates a special wear pattern on our skates and wheels, but most importantly my body. Certain muscles get worked a lot more than others. My right ass cheek and my left groin for instance are sore in concert today. I feel lopsided, and a wallet just isn't happening today.

In my cubicle I have assembled a bunch of networking gear for a lab. When I turn it all on the fans create so much noise I have to wear headphones to keep from going crazy. Lab work is the best part of my job, but it's also the noisiest. Here I go.

Bizarre overture to an update

This morning I woke up to the opening monologue of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" running through my head. Weird, I thought as I hopped into the shower. I decided to let it go. Throughout the day I've returned to this fact letting it roll through my mind hoping to perhaps find some meaning to it by not really looking at - like finding the 3D image in the magic eye pictures. I've settled on it being a curious augur marking my return to blogging. Happy Monday, dearly beloved, we're gonna get through this thing called life.

I've been running my buns ragged lately. I'm working at the new regime which is a welcome change. I love my new job. I'm taking a workshop to try out for the Naptown Roller Girls. We'll see how that goes. Training for the roller derby has been the best exercise I've ever done, and in a month I've managed to get back to some of the jeans I couldn't wear after the Mean Gurls Biggest Loser competition backfired on me.

I'm doing quite a bit of work for Woman Within - Indiana. If you're interested in women's empowerment, emotional accessibility, and authentic living drop me a line. I'll introduce you to a wonderful organization full of exceptional women.

So there you have the late summer update. Tune in for the late fall update in October.

Notes

Yesterday, I was visiting a friend on her recently acquired farm. She and her husband are working the land just outside of Martinsville. They have a few acres and rather than just plant one vegetable they are planting what seems like hundreds of varieties. All kinds of lettuce, strawberries, leeks, onions, three different varieties of garlic, peppers, cucumbers, sunflowers, potatoes. Oh there is a lot of goodness coming out of the ground. I made a soft commitment to weed in exchange for some fruits and veggies. I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

While I was out there my friend explained how easy it is to make paneer, Indian cottage cheese. I love cooking with paneer, but I don't enjoy driving to the north east side of town in order to gather up what appears to be the only fresh-ish paneer available for sale. She assured me it was a snap and that all I needed was milk and lemon juice. She wasn't kidding. I googled some recipes today and picked up the requisite whole milk and lemon juice with my regular groceries. All it takes is boiling a half gallon of milk on medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice, and allow it to curdle. After you think you have a good amount of solid curds throw the mess into a colander lined with a cheese cloth and let all the whey out. Squeeze out some extra moisture from the cheese cloth and then put it in between two plates with weight on top. Let it sit like that for an hour et voila! Paneer. I happened to have some cheese cloth left over from some past science experiment, and I woke up this morning thinking it was a great day to make cheese.

It turned out great, but next time I'm going to wait for the milk to come to a full flowing-over-the-edge-of-the-saucepan boil before I add the lemon juice. I ended up adding the lemon juice too early so I had to add more and turn up the heat a bit to get my curdle on. I now have some lemony paneer that tastes lovely. My new co-workers and I have entered a pact to bring out lunches on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I can't wait to bring in my palak paneer with homemade cheese this week.


In other news I received a wonderful gift from Persephone in the mail congratulating me on my new job. Gifts are great, and unexpected packages in the mail are fabulous. Underneath the brown paper was a bodum tea press. It's a fusion infuser blending the mechanism of a coffee press with a tea infusing cage. It works great in the office. I've been chugging pots of sencha and loving it. I was so tickled to get it I sat down and hand wrote her a letter, however, I still haven't sent it. I am without stamps and apparently without any gumption to change that. So Persephone, the tea pot is excellent. Thanks so much. You'll be receiving a proper thank you note by post... eventually.

Feet up

I am typing this post from my recliner using my television as a monitor. I have a whole new entertainment system set up in my den, and I just placed the finishing touches of phase one: computing from comfort. I just picked up this little wireless keyboard and air mouse from Fry's electronics. That's right, air mouse. There are all kinds of Power Point presentation mice out on the market these days, but to my knowledge the one from Gyration is the first and most versatile. I'm thoroughly pleased.

The new entertainment system all started with the need to play Rock Band. That meant buying a new console system. I've been in the market for one and I finally settled on the XBox 360 based on ubiquity and superior online gaming system. If I was going to get a new game system I figured I might as well get a new television while I was at it. My current television is from the early Clinton years, and with the mandated digital television coming along I figured now was as good a time as any to take the plunge into the age of televisions with processing power. What was once a desire for a new game turned into a living room altering shopping spree. But I had set myself on my course. It didn't matter then when I saw that Rock Band was available for the PS2. I had already gotten my credit approval at Best Buy and was well on my way to glutting myself in a consuming frenzy.

I went from a 15-year-old 24" tube style TV with rabbit ears and a PS2 to a vast pile of fabulous technology. The large flat panel looks a little funny on the sagging, old TV stand. I'm thinking that should get updated as well.

And speaking of new things, as I was typing this blog my brand new mouse seemed to run out of juice. The jury's still out on that one.

I might start getting some posts in now that I feel like I'm watching TV while blogging.

A soggy greeting from Hope

I recently started a new job that has better pay and less stress with more interesting work than the old slog. Not bad, huh? I'm pleased as punch about it. After 18 months hard time in a supermax facility, aka working in an overstretched I.T. department for a fortune 300 financial institution, it's gratifying to know there is reasonable work available. This is my third week and I'm on my second business trip. Last week I was in California. Yay, right? Not bad. I had a lot of work to do and not a lot of time for sight seeing. No beach combing. This week I'm in the birthplace of Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee. Hope, Arkansas has a Walmart, a restaurant called Dos Locos Gringos, and a Western Sizzlin franchise. Hope is a small town with not much to offer, its main export being politicians that are able to hit national standing and high end speakers.

My flight into Little Rock was entertaining. While squeezing into his dwarfed seat on the tiny plane an enormous old German traveler confused me for his proctologist and shoved his ass in my face. It was the kind of experience I could only imagine would happen at a thirty year reunion of dancers from the Unicorn. Flabby ass cheeks draped with loud gold, blue, and brown checkered pants hit me square in the face. Awful. I was later informed that the airline lost his luggage. Karma's a bitch I guess. Also on the plane was a god squad in wool suits and bibles. They looked like a bunch of fresh faced MBAs looking for a job or a sales team getting ready for the next pitch. The Little Rock airport is small and brightly colored. Red support pillars shoot up to the vaulted ceiling. On the way to baggage claim a sign welcomed all and sundry to Arkansas. Another sign welcomed the World Series of S.W.A.T. which is being held in Little Rock April 9 - 12. I hear tickets are still available if you're interested.

It takes a little less than two hours to drive to Hope from Little Rock. After a quick meal at a lovely bar/sandwich shop/restaurant we hit the road in the rental car. That's when the heavens opened up. Sheets of rain so thick I could hardly see the road in places. And while the hail wasn't constant it was large and in charge. My boss half believed that the windshield was about to crack at any moment. It was rough. Strangely enough though the satellite radio never gave out. Equally strange were the three distinct moments no longer than two seconds a piece when the rain simply stopped. It was as if I had driven underneath a small, invisible canopy. Completely bizarre. The rain stopped and lulled us into a false sense of confidence only to start up again with renewed vigor. I got off the road two hours ago and the thunder continues. It's a lovely sound.

Goregeous

Today is beautiful. It's warm enough to recall days of real warmth, and I rolled down my windows in my car while running some post lunch errands today. Since I'm going to be oncall for my last two days of employment at my current job I just couldn't help but take an hour or two out of my day today and run a few errands. Driving around in the midday sunshine with a strong musical accompaniment is utter bliss. At the office I just cannot be bothered to pay attention anymore. I feel like I should have taken today off it being so disingenuous of me to call this a day worked. Another day another dollar - although today I just didn't earn it.

The final countdown

It's been a while, but the silence is over. These days my job has had my complete attention. I found that even my downtime was focused on not thinking about my job which meant it wasn't fully released to leisure. Today marks day two of my final week at my current job, and I couldn't be more excited. I turned in my two weeks last week to pursue a new opportunity with an expanded role in a smaller company. Thank gawd! I learned a lot of technical widget skills at this job, but the thing I learned that I value the most is how to be a professional and see a task all the way through to the bitter end regardless of whether or not I think it's a losing proposition. Well, and that I want to work in a small shop with less demands. I'm not interested in forfeiting half of my oncall duties running configuration errands for other business groups. "Sorry it's such late notice, but we need to do it now or the business will lose thousands of dollars. You weren't doing anything Tuesday night at 1 am were you?" I'll just reschedule that appointment I had with my bed.

I keep getting asked why I'm leaving by my management, and I believe their questions are genuine and my answers are heard. Since it's on my mind I'll let it loose on the blog, too.

I work in I.T., specifically in infrastructure, and I'm a fan of making changes to the network during a maintenance window, but it's cruel and unusual to state the time and periodicity of such a window and then say, but if it's X enough (important, embarrassing, a VP has a burr in her britches over it) then this change can happen at the whim of the requesting party. There is some need to be this flexible in this business. The only problem is this back door policy doesn't scale well. In a company of thousands of employees with hundreds of business groups the potential to be called upon to make a change whenever one is watching the network is large. Which brings me to the next point. In my opinion oncall personnel, one who is available to repair a problem after hours, should only be notified when a device or service isn't working that this individual manages. Since I work with infrastructure technically everything touches my equipment in some way so I can expect to receive a page at two in the morning for a problem regardless of whether or not there's any evidence to support that my equipment is even breathing heavily much less broken. Here's an analogy: Bobby is expecting a package via UPS and it doesn't arrive. He contacts UPS. When the UPS service rep says he doesn't know what happened to the package, rather than escalating to the service rep's manager Bob thanks him for his time and calls the Department of Transportation. Clearly the package was lost somewhere on the road and it's the DoT's lot to figure out where and get it back.



I'm told at the new job that there is a window that is kept sacred. Nothing is to be manipulated outside of this window beyond break/fix issues. Also, the network is much smaller so it follows that I'll receive less after hours notifications of broken stuff. Honestly, I may never shake the UPS/DoT problem, but I've been told that my new help desk staff is very helpful and is expected to do the requisite troubleshooting to assign problems to the right place. That alone gives me a warm fuzzy.

I'm looking forward to my week off in between jobs. Originally I was going to quit in the middle of the week so I negotiated to start on the following Monday with the new job, but my current boss said it was fine and that I could make Friday my last day. The funny thing is that I don't own a computer. I haven't owned one since college. I've always just used the laptops that I've been issued through work - not the smartest thing when it comes to privacy, but I'm not checking out porn so it's mostly kosher. The long and the short of it is I'll be disconnected for nine whole days. I have a groovy iPhone so I have access to e-mail, but I'm not going to be composing any long ass narratives on that touch keyboard. It gets the critical jobs done, but it's no substitute for a full computer. I haven't spent this much time without access to the Internet since I was aware of the Internet AP (After Prodigy). I look forward to it. I'll be forced to write with a pen and paper which is just weird and tiring, but I'll also have plenty of time to read and knit. Maybe I'll get some more work done on the old bike and de-winterize the new one. I imagine by day four I'll either find myself in a Zen-like blissful state with birds landing on my shoulders to bask in my healthy warm aura, or I'll be clawing my way through a Best Buy clutching my credit card determining if I want to go for the investment machine or the cheap quick solution. The Wii has a browser... Is that a little drool hanging from the corner of my mouth?

Bette Midler

This morning I woke up with "From a distance" rolling through my head. It gets worse. I don't know all the lyrics so this is a jumbled mass of words conveying the world is blue and green, we're at war, and that god is watching us in a loop. I needed to share this immediately.

I'm not dead yet. I realize I've been pretty quiet, but with good reason. The only thing that's been on my mind these days are work and my girlfriend. I'm not interested in blogging about either topic. It is my hope that my work situation will evolve to allow me some freedom of expression here, but that remains to be seen. In the meantime I'll pick a topic out of a random word generator and start blogging on it as filler if I have to.

A sock is born!

Well really this sock is so enormous I could stuff a leather bottom into it and call it a moccasin. I finally got over my fears of heel turning, gusset stitches and toe decreases and have a finished sock to show for it. This fine piece of knittery to the right here took me a few weeks to knit up. Yesterday, I decided I needed to get cracking on its buddy, and now I'm more than half-way through having completed the gusset shaping. All I've left is the foot which knits up fast. This sock is on display underneath a scarf I knit that I'm going to be replicating with some color modifications for Aganippe. I can't wait to hit my favorite scarf pattern again! Thanks, Maestro!

In other news I've taken up yoga. I went to my first class ever Saturday and afterwards experienced the state my buddy Belerophon refers to as "yoga bliss". This is ashtanga style which, I've been told, focuses on the upper body; shoulders and whatnot. I couldn't tell you how ashtanga compares to other yoga styles, though. I felt so great on Saturday I curled up into a blanket and napped for a few hours. I'm napping dysfunctional so this took me by surprise. I was still more surprised to find myself actually falling asleep that night. Go yoga! I thought of you, Persephone, when it came time to do handstands in the class. Everyone who was going for it was instructed to take our mats to the walls. You are not alone. And now that I've actually attempted a handstand, and only managed to get into position with the overwhelming efforts of my instructor, I can say that your wall free handstand style is totally bad ass and really mean it. So now I've done yoga, and I completely adore it. It really kicked my ass, too.

Grass fed dairy!

I surrender to Traders Point Creamery, located on the northwest side of Indy. Today, after my workout I had what I thought I'd never eat: cottage cheese topped with lentils. I had to put cumin and garam masala in to deal with the lentil flavor, but that worked out. The cottage cheese was made by Traders Point. Holy crap, I've never eaten cottage cheese this good before. I've decided that I'm a friend of that farm so here are my reasons why they are great.

• They make a great tasting product. If it doesn't taste good why bother? Their yogurt has won best yogurt in the nation for 05 and 06, and their cheeses have placed second in those years as well. And as I've personally testified the chocolate milk is transformational. You have not tasted chocolate milk this good before. Trust.
  
• The product is super good for you: Organically grass fed and grazed cows. Cows are supposed to eat grass and roam in a pasture, but often times dairy cows' diets are supplemented with grain and all manner of things to boost production. This reduces the amount of good stuff in the fat of the milk. The fat is where you get all the stuff that boosts your immune system. They don't homogenize their milk which means they don't pulverize the fat cells. I don't know what that means to our waistlines, but I'm thinking that anything that keeps a food closer to its natural state makes it better for us to eat. Don't even get me started on antibiotics and growth hormones.
  
• They're local. We're not the cheese state, but apparently someone around here knows how to make great cheese. That is just great for Indiana. Purchasing Traders Point products supports local business - tasty local business.
  
• The packaging is retro cool. Milk in a glass bottle! The bottle is reusable, and totally recyclable. The yogurt comes in the same packaging. Safety Tip read that label. I thought I had plain yogurt when I actually had plain milk. But I was transported to the Swiss Alps when I had a glass of that fabulous fluid.
• Stick it to the man. So this isn't the strongest reason to make this purchase, but I like to consider it when I'm eating my super yummy cottage cheese. Every dollar you spend on small ops farms with excellent production practices is a dollar diverted from a company that boosts production through bad production practices. Reducing their market share is the best argument to get them to change their practices. If it's not profitable they will adapt.
  

Yes, it's a buck or two extra and they don't have any fat free options, but this is the best dairy product you can put in your belly. So if you're walking through your grocery store's dairy aisle and you happen to see them, go ahead and try some out.

Hip Hip Hooray only light on the hips

I returned to the gym a couple months ago warming up to my current workout level. It takes me a while to ease into a new routine so I like to get a head start. Also, I was prompted by the appearance of knee flab. Seriously, I had saggy knees, and this wasn't going to stand. After years of working out and more or less modifying my eating habits I wasn't going to allow this backslide to transform into an avalanche. I mentioned how I've gained weight and I have to watch it only for people to reply that I look skinny as ever. Well, I don't just want to be small. In fact, I don't give a fig if I'm small, what size I am, or how much I weigh. These are just measurements which, true, are helpful guidelines providing objective progress reports, but my ultimate metric is to look good naked. What's the point of all the numbers?

Knee flab. I had developed a small fat fold around my knees. I hadn't gained much weight, but my body was sagging. Cellulite is a fact of life for women who are not professional athletes. That's just how it is. Most women - drop dead gorgeous too - have some cellulite. I've let go of saying goodbye to the bag of nickels nestled just above my hamstrings. However, I know the amount can be reduced and the resulting look smooths out my legs nicely. I also know that this only happens after years of healthy eating and regular exercise, and I'm now learning that slacking off for a year will bring it all back. There's some motivation for me to stay on the treadmill.

So why all the fanfare? This morning, I noticed that the knee flab was gone. I've officially hit my first fitness goal. I don't think I've lost any weight. I know I haven't gone done any pants sizes, but by jing my knees have firmed up! I started cardio only workouts sporadically since Thanksgiving, I started earnestly sweating at least three days a week around Christmas. Recently, I included weights in my routine and I'm working out four days a week. Resistance or weight training is essential to weight loss since muscle cells burn more calories than fat cells. Bottom line: pumping iron increases metabolism.

Now that I am taking my workout seriously, perhaps it's time for me to start dieting. I'm so conflicted on the diet thing. I don't want to modify my eating habits to a level that I'm not going to sustain, but I know that if I slog through for a few months then my body will naturally want to stick to the new regime. Ultimately, I will ease into restricting my diet just like I eased into increasing my workout.

Bad Robot!

This is a politics free zone today. For reactions to Hillary's win in New Hampshire you'll want to go through the list of blogs on the right. Political races don't interest me much, and I have no eye for the juicy tidbits. Democracy is perhaps the best system available, but I'm leery of any system that allows a large group of people to tell a larger group of people what to do because when separated out they make up the largest splinter. I look at all these goings on like an 18th century sailor. I'm completely powerless against the wind and the tides, and I can only predict them with the shortest of foresights. When it comes to politics I like the big e-z hold building blocks of ethics and morality. When you boil it down, I like the theory. I couldn't tell you how to get to what I think is the tao of running a nation making a neat linear progression from where we are today to whenever we get things squared away in Scrawlvania, my happy imaginary nation.

But I'm digressing into the topic I was avoiding.


Today, marks the first day since December 29 that I am free from Lost. I finished watching the third season last night, and I'm looking forward to the season premier on the 31st. Serious people have written quite a bit about the show. I am not one of these people. Last night I was drawing comparisons from Lost to The Smurfs with Benjamin playing the role of Gargamel, his people playing collectively filling the role of Azrael, Sawyer is Greedy Smurf. Sayid is Sneaky Smurf. Hurley is Clumsy Smurf. Locke is Vanity Smurf (it's a stretch, but I can see it), Jack is Papa Smurf and naturally Kate is Smurfette. Claire is Mother Nature. The list goes on. Why can't Benjamin just leave these poor people alone to have their Smurfy good time while they wait for rescue? I guess the show would devolve into a beach party shoot then. Sun and Jin would be doing the bump by the campfire. Chaos.

Oh gawd, I have the beginnings of three posts piling up so in the spirit of getting it out there I'm going to suck it up and finish this one. I've found that I actually have serious analysis of the program, and that will be the focus of my next post.

Updates

I just got back from a vendor provided lunch (shh!) at a good burger joint. Naturally, I had to have a burger regardless of the fact that I'm involved in this Biggest Loser program with the Mean Girls, and I'm so glad I did. They cooked it as "rare as you dare" just like I asked which is something that I've simply not encountered in a burger restaurant before. Red "juice" was oozing out of it. However, it was enormous and now I'm a little overfull.

I finished the second season of Lost. That's right. I watched something like 48 episodes of the same television program in five days. And I managed to see some roller derby and attend a warm gathering for New Years Eve.

In knitting news I've finished another scarf, knit 2 hats (one on straight needles one on circular) and now I'm working on a sock on double points. I've gone knitting mad.

That's it for blogging news. Aren't you glad I updated?