How do you say "Goodbye"?

This is what my TV looks like off.



And this is what it looks like on.

I have had this TV for longer than I've been married - it's going on 20 years old. It's gotten me through sickness, health, Grand Slams, checkered flags, late night feedings, early mornings, long days and lonely times.
It was working just fine when I left it last night and I can hear the power on "click" but it just doesn't go on. I was actually kind of pitiful - after I double triple fuckiple checked the power cord I just sat there clicking the remote, trying to make a picture come on.

And just this weekend I had mentioned to Joan & Cindy that I was flirting with the idea of buying a 40" Sony that Future Shop had on sale. I decided against it and now I'm TV-less upstairs. sigh I have got to learn to roll with my instincts without all of this 2nd guessing. Ah well, it's not like Future Shop only has one sale a year. And with all of the hours that I'm not at home right now I'm sure that Kerwyn and I can share a TV. I'll just have to get to the remote first!!

Tied to the Desk

I'm writing this from the desktop. I'm seriously tempted to leave in all of the spelling mistakes - I'm so used the nice flat keyboard on my laptop that typing on this keyboard is nearly driving me to drink!!

I can't connect to the internet through Etienne and I had to set up a new connection on the desktop. Bell is very quick to blame the Linksys wireless router so, through clenched teeth and most pissed off but not yelling voice I've requested that they send the modem/router that they will actually support when virtual shit hits the virtual fan and leaves me with nothing but expensive paperweights!!

I really hate checking my mail through the Sympatico website - I like Outlook and how I have it set up and I don't do well with change. So I have to suck it up and use the desktop (where none of my passwords are saved - how the fuck am I supposed to remember them all!?! Especially if I'm not supposed to make them all the same!!?!!) but I don't have to like it.

I'm planning on going to In the Loop Cafe tomorrow night for the official launch of Joanne's 12 Months of Knitting. Hope to see you there!!
I'll also be at In the Loop on Saturday, so if you're up for just sitting and knitting with someone, come join me from 10-2-ish!!

Lego my Yarn

Très cool - but I wonder if the resulting cord will be too loopy/lacy to be of any use. Still, very cool!!



ETA - I found this via Kristi.

1, 2, 3 ...

I'm a counter. Even when I was little I counted the steps from here to there, number of a specific letter in a paragraph, tiles on the floor, whatever was there.
Nowadays, I will count the stitches as I knit them even if it's just stockinette stitch. I don't do it out loud (I'm not weird or anything!) but I do it. I know, why can't I think of these things when those memes come around? For this CPH, I k40, p2, k6, p2, k14, p2, k6, p2, k6, p2, k14, p2, k6, p2, k40 on the RS. I didn't look this up - it's memorized because I count. So I really don't understand how I didn't notice this for 9 whole rows!!! And the Tahki Donegal Tweed is such an excellent wool that I had to actually to rip it out to find & fix it - it didn't unravel any further on it's own!! It just sat there, waiting to be missed and brought back into the mix. Which I did. All better now.

What does this look like to you? Just a soccer ball or a target? A target that is taunting you, daring you to give it your best shot. It took all of my self-restraint to not run it over. I really wouldn't be that mean, but it was really fun to just imagine the BANG!!!

ETA a title - !

File Under: WTF?

Okay, so back in the fall Amanda & I went in search of a snow suit and we found the one that she loved at WalMart. It was cheap enough, especially considering how hard she is on clothes, so we bought it.
When we got home she cut off the price tags and looked for the magnetic, anti-theft tag. She's pretty good at finding them - the Old Navy hides them like there's money riding on it! She couldn't find one so I didn't give it much thought. (See - nothing here!) Maybe WalMart just trusts people.
Then every once in a while she'd beep going into and coming out of some stores - most notably the Sobeys in town. Amanda taken to wearing a different coat if she knew that we were going there. I'd just tell her to keep walking - I honestly can't be bothered stopping, walking back to the CS desk with the entire store watching just to have them scan everything after I try explaining that she just beeps!
Yesterday one of the diligent CS ladies at Sobeys came after us. I explained my sad story and she said that there was probably a tag. I sucked up the sarcastic retort that came unbidden to the tip of my tongue and without rolling my eyes explained that I'd looked for one and couldn't find it. She said that it's sometimes in the back neck tag. I thanked her and we left.
When we got home Amanda checked and she said that she could feel one. So I looked & felt. Who the fuck in their right minds would HIDE a magnetic, anti-theft tag inside the jacket label? Which is sewn down?!?


Whatever - so I snipped a few threads figuring that the magnetic, anti-theft tag would just slip out.
The Moron who would put a magnetic, anti-theft tag inside a sewn-down label was a freakin' Mensa-level genius next to the fucktard who would SEW DOWN the magnetic, anti-theft tag UNDER the sewn-down jacket label AND label it thusly:
How, in any of the possible multi-verses, by any stretch of the imagination (and when I say "imagination" I mean like Tad Willams, Terry Pratchett or Clive Barker scale imagination!!) was I supposed to guess that there was a tag under there?!? Really.

My incredulity now knows it's outer limit!!

Rated M - follow up

I was surprised/not surprised to find out when I spoke with one of the owners that the Hock Shop actually doesn't have a policy/procedure in place when selling Rated M games. Here is part of Jeff's response to me/correspondence to his partner (which he copied me on).

I don't believe we have anything in our Policy & Procedures Guide regarding the AO (Adults Only) & Mature games.

It is a law under our Theatres Act licence. Here is the link.

http://www.ofrb.gov.on.ca/english/page19.htm

Although the associates understand the requirements of the Mature ESRB label. I'm sure they are not being as diligent as required.

First off we need to instruct our managers to train the associates to always ask for ID if the customer "could" be under 20. That is if they are purchasing a Mature game or an AO (not that I recall seeing one of those).

I do recall seeing an ESRB listing posted in a few of our stores, but perhaps not all.

I'm sure that he won't mind my sharing it here as it puts him and his company in a much better light than a few days ago - at least in my mind. I really appreciate that he took this matter seriously and is (apparently) working to bring his stores up to code.
Chalk one up for the little guy (or girl)!!!

Rated M

Kyle has been buying rated M games from the Hock Shop in town. Not that it does him much good - once I find them I confiscate them, but a boy's gotta try. Worse than that, the Hock Shop has been selling the rated M games to Kyle.
When I asked the manager about their policy regarding the sale of rated M games, she started with, "You mean, like to minors?" (She's not young, there's no excuse.) "Sure, let's go with that." Then follows a long litany of excuses, protestations and evasions that revolve around "trying" and "impressions".
She tried to deny that she had sold any of them to Kyle, that it must have been her staff. Yes, she's the manager, but takes no responsibility. Yet. Then she tried to turn it on me!! "I'm sure that you were here when he bought some of them?" Kyle had the presence of mind to look at his feet and by sheer force of will teleport out of range. "NO. Not ever. I have been with Kyle when he buys these games. I only get dragged into this hellhole store when he wants to sell them," I denied adamantly, unequivocally & uncategorically! They won't allow anyone under 18 to hock anything, but they don't care what they buy apparently.
Desperation sets in and Kim goes for the classic diversion. "It's not just the Hock Shop - my 11 year old son bought an M rated game at WalMart. I couldn't even get his money back." I know - doesn't your heart just bleed for her?
"I guess that's your issue with WalMart. The thing is is that Kyle didn't buy these games at WalMart, he bought them here. And I'm not here asking for any refund - Kyle is bringing these back for whatever you're going to give him for them. My issue is that you are selling rated M games to children."
"We try, but some games are 18+ and some are 17+ ... we try but there's not much we can do." Again, I'm just aching for her itty, bitty problems!!!
I'm all about the helping. "Well, the LCBO cards customers if they don't look 25 as does any store that sells cigarettes. Did you ask Kyle for ID?"
You'd think that the expression "blank slate" initially stemmed from an actual blank slate but you'd be wrong. It came from the look on Kim's face at that very moment.
"You know what - you just don't seem to be understanding my concern and really don't seem to be interested in taking any responsibility here so if you can just give me a card and let me know how I can contact the owner. I'm sure that he'll be more interested given that any criminal repercussions will be directed to him." "Oh, well, we've had meetings and talked about this, and I guess that we could put up a sign or something that says they have to be 17 or 18 and show ID if that would make you feel better. We could put them in all of the Hock Shops." Kim stammers, the effort that she's putting into back-peddling making me sweat!
"Again, this isn't about me Kim. If I could just get the owners name please."
Too little too late sweetheart! And did you catch how all of a sudden she can gets signs put up in all of the Hock Shops? She's got quite some influence all of a sudden.
She brings out a card and says, "If you call the Bayfield store and ask for the owners they'll be able to help you." As if I can be brushed off so easily. Homey don't play dat!!!
I take the card, put my Tom Bihn bag on the counter and find a pen. Then I look up at her and wait for her to stop inputting the games into her computer and look at me. "The owners names?" I ask expectantly.
"Jeff & Al."
I sigh impatiently and write that down. "Last names?" I query, with a tone that implies that I'm speaking to a child or village idiot. Personally I'm leaning towards the latter.
She answers as if she's a POW and I've tortured the location of her troops' base out of her. "Hockley. But that's not Al's last name. If you ask for Jeff Hockley he'll usually get back to you within the day."
"I'm sure that he will," I reply with certainty and a smile.

It occurred to me that maybe this was one of those things that would make sense to the average Joe but was not enforced. À la peanut butter sandwiches!!
Google to my rescue! Ontario Film Review Board
I wonder is Jeff is aware of the amendments to the Theatres Act made under the recently passed Ministry of Consumer and Business Services Statute Law Amendment Act, 2004. I'm sure that he is and that the Hock Shop does have a strict policy regarding selling rated M games to children and that he will have an apologetic and pro-active attitude when I speak to him.
Otherwise, I will have to step it up and contact the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services. Apparently the penalties are quite steep. I wonder if they're used often?

And no, Kyle's willpower is insufficient to teleport so I'm quite certain that he's probably sufficiently mortified to stay out of that den of iniquity for a little while. My work here is done.

Not Catching Up

The problem with not posting in a few days a week is that I feel a need to catch you all up on what's been going on but that just seems like a monumental task. Actually, this week it's not so hard - finished Cassidy, drove the bus, worked in the office, drove the van, did housework, rinsed and repeated and finished Elise's black & white Koigu sweater.
I did a charter to the Ontario Science Center and helped Leigh get a cowl started. She'd never worked on a circular needle before so when she found out that I was the other driver going down she packed her knitting!!
And the squirrels!! OMG they were huge and tame to the point of cockiness! Squirrels up North are scrawny and have the fight or flight reflex down to a fine evolutionary art. Down in the T. they wait until you're almost close enough to wind up for a good swing with your leg and then they'll move off - not scurry or scamper even!! - just enough to watch and see if you're going to drop a tasty morsel for them.

I've also made a vow that, in writing it here I will certainly not fail at keeping. I will finish Julie's Patrick before the end of the year. There will be no acceptable excuses - it shall be done.

I'm watching the finale of Survivor and will be back with TAR next week!

Don't Leave Home Without It

Even though it's Saturday I stoically set out for Rona to have our locks re keyed (nope - didn't find them yet and taking the locks in will save me about $80 over having a locksmith come out to the house) and to get some driveway salt and a light bulb for the fridge. I knew that traffic/parking would be hellish but I was mentally prepared, knitting prepared and I went alone. Somehow, listening to a child's running commentary on the traffic, the searching, the waiting and the inevitable starving does not, in any way make any of the above faster or easier.

This is the light bulb aisle. All I wanted was a simple refrigerator light bulb and it took me nearly 15 minutes to find them. I asked - no one has ever actually had a stroke from merely having to pick out a light bulb. My ability to speak coherently was briefly affected though, I could only muster a few weak moans.

I wandered up and down, back and forth across the vast acreage that is Rona finding a few other items that I had the foresight to write down, then I went to get the locks re-keyed. All the blue-vested employees had suddenly disappeared and it didn't even occur to me to go looking for someone. Not when they leave phones with labels on the buttons just sitting around. Nope, no impulse control whatsoever!! Fortunately I had called before I left home to make sure that there would be someone who knew how to re-key the locks and I knew who to page. "John to Key Cutting please. John to Key Cutting. Thank you." Of course John doesn't come, it's Rick who doesn't know how to re-key a lock. But he takes me over to the hardware desk where John is and John starts in on it. And I make myself comfortable on a stack of wood flooring and start knitting.
Not too far into it John just fucks right off has to go help someone else do something, so I just keep knitting. Eventually Louis arrives, Rick brings him up to speed on the pile of metal bits on the desk and Louis dives right in.
Customers and staff pass by expressing varying degrees of interest and amusement. Louis makes progress and so do I.
I really don't know how long I was there - I didn't look at my watch. I'm sure that Charlie Eppes could work out an algorithm to calculate the passage of time based on knitting speed, compensating for temperature variances and the current phase of the moon. But it was awhile - long enough to get this much sock knitting done. If I had known that it was going to be so long I'd have brought in Patrick - he was in the car - and set up the chart and worked on him!

The entire experience was made all that much more torturous by the karaoke that was going on. Now karaoke is a wonderful concept and I'm all for it - in the right place. The right place being a bar with a lot of background noise and copious amounts of alcohol so that the audience can hear the singer the way that the singer imagines themselves being heard.
Rona is a big echo-ey building that does nothing to enhance or dampen the sounds coming from the amplifier. They also don't serve alcohol and wouldn't turn on a loud power tool for me. I could hear every painful note. I have never wished for traditional Muzak and/or deafness so fervently in my life!!

But all's well that ends well and I'm safely at home with nice TV sounds and Patrick on my lap. Yes, a drink too but that should just go without saying. Kerwyn put the locks back on the door & I have a new key that I will try not to lose.

There are no words ...

Done with Summer

Hang in there - I'm still tweaking the blog with Michelle's help. We'll either come up with what I want (which I know in my head but I can't verbalize) or we'll break Blogger in the attempt. I really want it to be interesting and visually appealing but still comfortable and a pleasure to read.

Once my ragweed allergies kick in mid- to late-August, I am totally done with summer and begin to pray fervently and frequently for frost. Hard frost and days in a row of it. If the sneezing - which on the plus side has got to be an abdominal workout based on how sore my stomach muscles feel - wasn't disrupting enough, there's the endless nose blowing which only seems to make room for more nasal drippage. My eyes are runny & dry. Trust me, they are both simultaneously and itchy to boot. When I can't stop myself from rubbing them for another second I rub them with a relentless fervour. When the urge to rub abates I am left with swollen red eyes that leave me looking especially pitiful.
Then there's the scratchy, sore throat that neither scalding tea, ice cold ginger ale nor extra strength Halls can soothe.
None of these tortures is as difficult to live with and endure as the exhaustion. I am utterly sapped of energy. It requires all of my willpower to not crawl back into bed and just lay there, whimpering and feeling utterly hard done by. I'm not sleepy-tired, just exhausted and wanting to close my eyes.

Yes, I take allergy meds. I've tried various brands and formulations and they all offer a modicum of relief, but the above describes me on the medication. I tried the shots but I was so sensitive to them that it made little sense to continue. So for now massive amounts of caffeine, looming deadlines and familial obligations are keeping me going, but I really need that frost.

Amanda had clothes laid out in the living room and kept switching and re-arranging them trying to settle on "the perfect" outfit for the first day of school.
I threw a wrench in the works when I finished her Stop & Go sweater Monday night and laid it on her chair. When I left for my bus run on Tuesday morning this was what she had decided to wear. Of course, she changed her mind about 5 times over the next hour or so and didn't end up wearing the sweater - it was too warm. That's okay - we'll have a frost soon.

Rhonda did this and I'm weak and had to do it to! I just love Blogthings!!

You Are a Yellow Crayon

Your world is colored with happy, warm, fun colors. You have a thoughtful and wise way about you. Some people might even consider you a genius. Charming and eloquent, you are able to get people to do things your way. While you seem spontaneous and free wheeling, you are calculating to the extreme. Your color wheel opposite is purple. You both are charismatic leaders, but purple people act like you have no depth.

What Color Crayon Are You?

The More Things Change...

Well, whadda'ya think? A friend once told me that she really liked a black background so since I was messing around with changing to the "new" Blogger (I know, it's old now) I figured that I'd test it out.

Edited to add: Okay. Here is a tweaked version. A bit dark (some of you just haven't met Bizarro Wannietta), but still light.

Home Again

Home again, jiggity-jig!

Working at Julie's for the tent sale was great - she put Amanda & I up at a hotel so that we wouldn't have to drive home and then back again for the next day. I know - she's a great boss!! Amanda took her job at the cash register very seriously and didn't want to leave.

We stopped at home Wednesday night after the Stitch 'n Pitch, then it was off to my mom's in Goderich Thursday morning. She is much better - Amanda & I had a nice visit with her but are very happy to be home.

Off all of the trouble that Kyle could possibly get himself into while I was away & Kerwyn was at work he decided to screw with the computer and phone lines. He's sticking to his "I dunno, I didn't do anything" story so we don't know what he was trying to do but it resulted in me having no internet connection. I'm sitting in front of my neighbour's house right now using hers!! Kerwyn tried to work through all the cables and connections and spliters today and tomorrow he'll bravely call Bell Sympatico and see if they can talk him through it. He thinks he's got it wored right but we still don't have a dsl signal. sigh I swear, if that boy comes within arm's reach of that computer he'll deserve whatever happens to him.

I guess without my www. to play on I'll get a lot more knitting done!