It ate double point needles!

I arrived home early enough to set aside an hour or so to knit. I was stoked. I am working on this cute sock, and I just got my ravelry account activated so I've been chomping at the bit all day. I rushed through some house maintenance and snapped some pictures of knitting projects from the past to post later. I plunked down on the couch next to my yarn work when I realized I was missing some needles. One of my teammates told me she hated double pointed needles because she was always losing them in between seat cushions. I defended my precious dpns. You can't go around judging a tool simply because you misplace it can you? Besides, I have never lost my needles. Clearly she was crazy.

I lost a size 8 within a week. Thankfully, I was finished using it at the time so I could put off retrieving it.

Fast forward a month, and I find myself in a dire situation with a different set of needles. I was without a critical component for my relaxing evening. I figured the needles must have fallen in between the cushions of the couch which I unceremoniously removed from the frame and shoved my hands into the books and cranies of my tawny brown microfiber couch. No needles. Perhaps they fell through the cracks in the frame and dropped to the ground? No needles u dee the couch. I flipped the sucker over to find a rough cloth crumb catcher stapled to the underside of the couch. I heard metal rolling around when i did so i knew i was getting warm A couple staples were missing so I removed a few more and stuck my hand in. Nada. A flashlight, lots of couch flipping, and some arm contortion later brought me my missing size 8 needle but still no sign of the missing size 1s. I turned, flipped, and shook the couch around, and all I found was some loose change. I tore through the house. Finally I reassembled the couch, sat down, and started digging through my knitting tool bag.

Yup. The needles were where they were supposed to be the whole time. All I could do was stare at the furniture with which I had become so intimately acquainted. I don't trust it. I'm still convinced that my sofa lives on knitting tools.

Buzz words destroy sound bites

It's a big package. This package will not stimulate as much as it advertises. Obama's package is bloated.

So am I filthy minded or does this sound like something other than economic recovery?

Of course these quotes are referring to the collection of government programs and funding that are being proposed in the House and Senate to get us out of the current financial crisis. So what's with all the innuendo words?

This all started in December with the taint of Rod Blagojevich. The word was used first to describe the immoral residue Blago allegedly left on Barack and later on his Senate appointee Roland Burris. The word was in constant use. It would catch me off guard while in the kitchen listening to the news. I had to verify that I was not in fact watching some new spoken word porno channel. There was an excellent montage of television journalists using the word taint on the Colbert Report. If you find a link drop it in the comments.

So what's the real story here? I like to think someone is exploiting the herd mentality of twenty-four hour cable journalists by infecting them with a few double entendres.

Penis.

Naptown Roller Girls on the morning news

Channel 13's very own Treeboy showed up with cameras to the secret NRG lair early this morning. I would embed the video, but either it's protected or I'm not adept. This link will take you there all the same. You can see an interview with Touretta Lynn and watch a bunch of roller girls skate around in the new practice space.

I am about to jump out of my skin I'm so excited for this bout.



Happy New Year

Someone asked me what my New Year's resolutions were, and I replied none. I've not made a New Year's resolution in a long time, generally because I believe there's no time like the present. If I waited once a year to get my act in gear in one area or another I'd never get anything done. I do like the formality of it all, though. A personal legislation body of one can annually draw up a decree for all the citizenry (population 1) to follow. Neato.

I came across this article on Slate today. Christopher Hitchens puts forth the argument that Rick Warren (head of Saddleback church and active campaigner in support of Prop 8) is a douche bag of many flavors and not just sexual intolerance. From this article I now have my favorite diss of the day: Hitchens refers to the president of Syria, Bashar Assad, as a "Human Toothbrush". Delightful.

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.