Potpourri of goodies

So, the Great Storm of 2005 did not happen. Sure, we got snow, but nowhere near the 10" predicted. Closer to the 4" that was the low end of the prediction. Hell, the snowstorm before Christmas was worse and didn't get half the freaking hype. I'm not complaining, but why the hell do we listen to the weather people? I'm refusing to call them forecasters since they do such a shitty job of forecasting. Oh, but wait, it's snowing out there. I've been inside for three and a half hours, so maybe we'll get another inch. I'm just so thankful that I don't have to drive to work on days like this. I blissfully walk past my car all snow-covered (okay, it's still at the garage, so I didn't walk past it, but I would have) and think of all the poor people out there who have to brave the freeway system, main and secondary roads which have been inadequately plowed and salted for rush hour morning traffic. It took one of my co-workers two hours to get here. And he's normally 30 minutes away.

I hate hearing people yelling at other people here at work. Makes me crazy when our employees feel they can yell at our suppliers. Just seems like bad form and I so hate it. Makes me want to find a happy place. I think I'll turn Tchaikovsky up. Problem with classical music is that there are quiet music moments, so you turn the sound way up and then it goes into its presto or scherzo moment (or whatever the hell it's called) and it scares the ever living daylights out of you as all of a sudden there's this huge boom from the percussion section when you'd just been listening to some lovely soft violins, and the adrenaline starts pumping like you have to save a baby from a burning building. And it's still not loud enough to drown out the yelling person. ARGH!!!!

"Book sales were way down last year, off by something like 26 million copies, and a majority of Americans bought no more than one book in the entire year, and most bought none." Thanks to Mark Morford

How can this be? How can people go a whole year without buying a single book or even buying just one book? I know I did my share to help the bookseller union. I can't imagine life without books. I have three five-shelf bookcases, two four-shelf bookcases and one three-shelf bookcase (extra-wide) and I need at least one more of the five-shelfer for the piles of books I have around the house. Oh, and I didn't even include the two four or five shelfers that I have built-in in the kitchen. I'm actually proud of myself that it's January 6th and I haven't bought a book yet!

I've been reading Justine by Lawrence Durrell for a while now and it's gotten easier (I just had to get used to his writing style), but with the cold weather and rain and snow I haven't been reading as I walk home and then with the holidays I'm afraid that I spent all spare time on knitting. It's technically post-holiday time but I'm still making Christmas presents, so still no time to read but hopefully I will find time to read more soon. I have all four books of Durrell's Alexandria Quartet, but I'm not sure I'll be reading the next one right away. I have the new Arturo Perez-Reverte book, so I might take a break from the deep philosophical stuff and go for a deep mystery. I've read all of his other books that have been translated (it appears there's one out there that hasn't been translated – do I trust my extremely rusty Spanish or just wait for the translation?) and really enjoy his writing. He wrote The Club Dumas which was the basis for the Johnny Depp movie, "The Ninth Gate."

I also have two Brian Jacques books to read. My nephew introduced me to The Redwall Series some years back and I quite like them. I bought him the latest one for Christmas and he's already read it and given it back to me, so that I can read it. And then I had missed one somehow, so I have that one awaiting my attention too. As the tote bag in all the catalogs says, "So Many Books, So Little Time." Too true!!! I need one that says "So Many Books, So Much Yarn, So Little Time." ;-)

I finished Rebecca's scarf last night (now it'll take me three weeks to get to the damn post office) and started a simple one just for the helluva it while I find an easy watch cap pattern. Easy to me means NO DOUBLEPOINT NEEDLES as I have no clue how to work those suckers! *sigh* I found a bunch of patterns, now to see if any of them are within my skill level. I hope the Twisted Sisters can help me out. Once I finish the hat (assuming I ever start it), I'll then make the matching scarf and ship off to the person for whom I'm making them. So much to do still!!!!

If the weather improves today, I need to go and get my car. I had the brakes done on Tuesday but didn't get the call until 5:55 p.m. that it was ready and there was no way I could walk there 5 minutes, so I told them that I didn't really need it and that if the weather was shitty on Wednesday I wouldn't be picking it up then either. She was fine with that so it's still up there. If I didn't have dinner plans tonight to celebrate Kelli's b-day I'd probably leave the darn thing up there until tomorrow. I just hope it's not too cold and icky when I get outta here at 4:00 p.m. I need the walk/exercise, especially since we're going out for Mexican food tonight, and I'm taking my cousin Leah to the symphony tomorrow night – and you all know that means dinner at The Traffic Jam & Snug! YUM.