Post #2 of 2012 - So Exciting!

Oy vey, work's killing me. I'm not happy about it at all. Another 11 hour day and I could still be there I have so much work to do. I didn't even have time to eat my lunch today. I brought it back home and ate it for dinner.

For the first time ever, I made a New Year's Resolution...which I'm failing at miserably. My resolution is to knit for myself more. I have a ton of yarn that I've bought specifically for me, bought/found patterns which I want to make for me, etc., and so far, not so good.

Part of the issue is work. The other is all the people in my life having babies. I've already finished one baby blanket (co-worker's baby was due today). The second baby is due at the end of February (another co-worker) and I'm waiting for the pink yarn to show up (I don't generally buy pink yarn, as I don't like pink). Then there's my cousin's baby shower in March (it won't be done by then), and then a co-worker whose baby is due in May (yay, a boy, so I don't to knit with pink yarn), and then one more co-worker whose baby is due in July. *sigh*

I've told some people pointblank that they're not allowed to get pregnant, because I just don't have time to knit for them, dammit.

I have yet to finish my SIL's scarf from 2010 Christmas. *sigh* I hope she's forgotten about it and it'll be a surprise when I do finish it.

I signed up with my Knitting Guild's Sneaky Sheep (think Secret Santa, but not at Christmas) which means I'll have to knit something for someone. I think it's due at April's meeting. Let's hope I have time to complete whatever I end up knitting.

This past weekend I went to the Redford Theatre to see Forbidden Planet with a bunch of friends. I had never seen it, and I'm glad I went - I liked it. Only $4, plus reasonable prices at the snack/candy counter...and real butter for popcorn. The weekend before that I went to the Detroit Film Theater (DFT) at the Detroit Institute of Arts to see a restored "Director's Cut" of Touch of Evil with Orson Welles and Charlton Heston. This coming Saturday I have plans to head back to the DFT, this time to see Andrei Rublev, which is a film I've wanted to see for a long time! It's 305 minutes long!!! I'm pretty sure there will be an intermission or two. And since it's a matinee, it should only be $4. Gotta love economic prices.

Okay, I'm giving up on this post, as it's really difficult to type with Igor laying across my arms. Good thing he's cute. I hope you're all well.

Really Nothing - Revised

Hey all, it's been too long since I've blogged. I'd like to say it's because I've been doing something fabulous, but that would be a bald-faced lie. I haven't felt like doing anything at all. I've barely done any knitting. I've made a few rosaries (with two more to make), but I've actually been watching TV without doing anything else at the same time. That is so not like me.

I write great blog entries in my head when I'm nowhere near a computer, but now that I have the time and inclination, I can't remember those great blog entries in which I'm brilliantly clever and funny.

I just read this story and dammit! It makes it really hard to hate the Yankees organization. It made me cry - I'm a wuss, I readily admit it.

This morning I heard on the radio something that had me scratching my head, questioning whether Americans really are this stupid. The report was that GM had done a study where they found out that people didn't know that Chevy and Cadillac were brands of theirs (apparently Chevys and Cadillacs are selling, while anything with a GM badge wasn't – I'm thinking GMCs), so they were going to start NOT badging their GMCs – no clue what they're going to call them, but to those of you who don't live in southeastern Michigan, is this true? People don't know that Chevy and Cadillac are GM brands? Along with Pontiac and Buick? Even if they are killing off the Pontiac brand (something they should have done before they killed Oldsmobile, IMHO).

One of my co-workers was pregnant, due at the end of September, so I made her some cute little booties and then started a sweater to go with the booties as I chose red yarn and I figured babies don't get a boatload of red clothing. Anyway, I say she was pregnant because she gave birth Friday night – six weeks early – and the darn sweater isn't done!!! Because as I pointed out earlier I haven't been doing a damn thing, not even knitting. So, now I need to finish the sweater, and then make a preemie hat. I'm thinking that if I could find an adorable dress in white with red swiss dots that the red sweater and booties would be perfect. Hmm.

Hmm is right. I reached a point in the sweater where I don't know what the hell to do, so I packed it up to take to work tomorrow, so my friend Mary can help me. She's an amazing knitter and doesn't let little things like Cast on 2 stitches in the middle of a row worry her. So, I've started a hat.

My birthday is tomorrow and I have to tell you that I got the most amazing present from a group of my friends...a hand-painted picture of Ian Curtis by someone I actually know. She's a very nice young woman (that's how you can tell I'm old - I have a good 20+ years on her) and I'm honored to have her art in my house, as corny as that sounds.



I received some not so fabulous medical news today. I won't know anything for a few weeks, but in the meantime, if you could keep me in your thoughts and prayers (if you're so inclined), that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

And because it has been requested...CATBLOGGING!!!

Hodgepodge to annoy LL & the Good Doctor

Along with consistent catblogging to annoy LL to the nth degree (no, I haven't forgiven you for the whole Crosby thing yet), I've decided to tell you what I've been up to...my friend Stephanie (from work) told me that I should occasionally knit for myself (I rarely do) and I was telling her about Beth and she said, You two need to pick a month when you knit only for yourselves. It was an idea that piqued my interest. So, I wrote to Beth and said that during the month of June we needed to knit something for us. And since we are who we are, we still knitted for others, but we had to work on something for ourselves more.

I had bought a number of knitting books in June and I chose this sweater (I liked the pattern, but even better, I had the necessary yarn) from them. In case that link doesn't work perfectly, it's on page 30 and it's pink - while mine is most definitely not.

I have finished the back and have started the front and I could have probably come close to finishing the knitting part of it this weekend, but I spent it re-reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, in preparation of re-reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince prior to seeing the movie next week. It's going to be an exciting month of movie watching as I've already seen one in the movie theater, and with HP6 coming out, that'll be TWO movies in one month in the theatre. It's craziness...and it'll probably be it for the year, unless I can catch HP6 at the IMAX.

Is anybody watching le Tour de France? I love it and am excited about this season and hoping like hell there's no bloody stupid doping scandal(s) this year. I'll be happy with any number of winners - the only one I don't want to see win is Cadel Evans. Anybody but him and I'll be pleased as punch - unless he's improved on his personality since last year - which I doubt.

I'm Bbbbbaaaaaccccccckkkkkkk!!! Be very scared. ;-)

So, I've been remarkably absent, haven't I? I have any number of reasons. 1) Super busy at work where I was working more than 8 hours a day. 2) Super busy at home knitting scarves for visiting California-based family members who were coming in for Grandma's 90 Birthday Party in the midst of the coldest weather of the winter. 3) I was sicker than a dog with bronchitis for 2 weeks (and I actually haven't fully eliminated from my lungs quite yet – 4 weeks later). 4) Two weeks ago I joined Facebook.

And I've, somehow, managed to create a list a mile long of knitting I need to do. And the funny thing is that none of the knitting that "I need to do" is for me. Sometimes I'm just too darn Catholic. I have a boatload of yarn that I've bought for ME, but I never get that far. I'm working on three scarves right now: 1) Knit Picks Felici Sock Yarn in a very pretty feather & fan scarf for my cousin, 2) red mohair lace patterned scarf for one my Mexican family members (the others have been done for months, but the mohair lace is taking a LOT longer), and 3) scrap yarn scarf for the nephew's girlfriend who likes crazy things (this is almost too crazy, but nephew insists the GF will love it). Oh yeah, and a baby blanket for my friend Julius' new baby who was born in December. Dang it!

Both of those scarves have grown since I took those pictures.

At one point, I know I typed up the list of movies and books from November and December, but I have no clue where it went. I'm not sure how much of a synopsis I'll be giving, but I do at least want to maintain my lists.

January Books

Rough Justice by Jack Higgins (326 pages)

Fidelity by Thomas Perry (357 pages)

Heat Lightning by John Sandford (388 pages)

My favorite authors came out with books in December, which made for a large Borders bill, but they're so worth it. I loved all three books so I can't pick one for Book of the Month.

December Books

The Invisible Intruder by Carolyn Keene #46 (175 pages)

The Mysterious Mannequin by Carolyn Keene #47 (178 pages)

The Crooked Banister By Carolyn Keene #48 (179 pages)

The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople by Jonathan Phillips (320 pages)

The Secret of Mirror Bay by Carolyn Keene #49 (178 pages)

The Double Jinx Mystery by Carolyn Keene #50 (180 pages)

Mystery of the Glowing Eye by Carolyn Keene #51 (181 pages)

Silks by Dick and Felix Francis (338 pages)

I love Dick Francis, so when it came time to choose which of my favorite authors' new books would be read first, there was no contest. The Fourth Crusade book was a birthday present and it was extremely interesting. I know damn near nothing about the Crusades, so I feel enlightened. The cool thing about the Nancy Drew books this month is that The Mysterious Mannequin ends in Constantinople so there was a theme.

Book of the Month: I have to go with Silks, just because it was the only non-Nancy Drew book (save for the Fourth Crusade book - and while it was good, nothing beats Dick Francis).

November Books

The Moonstone Castle Mystery by Carolyn Keene #40 (178 pages)

The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes by Carolyn Keene #41 (177 pages)

The Phantom of Pine Hill by Carolyn Keene #42 (176 pages)

The Mystery of the 99 Steps by Carolyn Keene #43 (176 pages)

The Clue in the Crossword Cipher by Carolyn Keene #44 (177 pages)

The Spider Sapphire Mystery by Carolyn Keene #45 (176 pages)

I also read 176 pages of The Fourth Crusade book in November – academic treatises take me a tad longer to read than Nancy Drew books.

Book of the Month: Oy vey...I'm going with The Clue in the Crossword Cipher because it taught me a few Spanish words way back when. Can't really pick The Fourth Crusade since I didn't finish it in November.

January Movies

1/4 – Stranger Than Paradise – 1984 – (N) – Jim Jarmusch's second film (watched his first in December) and like most of his stuff, it's truly independent (unlike those pretend Coen Brothers) and different. I'm terrible at summaries, so go read and the link – although let it be known that the person who wrote the first summary didn't seem to watch the movie. The second summary is much more true to the movie.

1/4 – Forgetting Sarah Marshall – 2008 – N – I forget why I moved this to the top of my list and got it in the middle of my Jim Jarmusch film retrospective, but something made me do it. Oh yeah!!! Russell Brand I had seen him a few times on The Graham Norton Show and found him extremely entertaining (and a tad attractive).

1/24 – Anatomy of a Murder – 1959 – (Redford Theatre) – From the Redford Theatre's Calendar of Events, "Filmed in upper Michigan 50 years ago, this exciting small-town courtroom drama with James Stewart as the easy-going but cagey defense lawyer gives the audience first-rate fare with sterling performances by George C. Scott, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O'Connell and Eve Arden. I had seen this movie a few years back but when there was the opportunity to see it on the big screen, I took it. At the end, I queried, "Why did we want the wife-beater to beat the murder charge?" I think it's solely because Jimmy Stewart is his lawyer. The judge in the case is not an actor, but the attorney who took down McCarthy – Joseph Welch. If you go to IMDB, you'll see that someone started a discussion thread talking about how bad the actor playing the judge was. I have to say that I disagreed wholeheartedly with that person.. I thought the judge was great. Watch it and let me know what you think.

1/31 – Wit – 2001 – (N) – This is an Emma Thompson made for TV movie, but not of the bad Lifetime variety. For some reason I think it was made for HBO, but I can't find that information anywhere. This is not what I would call a light movie, as it deals with cancer, and in fact, by the end I had tears streaming down my face. I read at imdb.com that medical schools show this movie as an example to doctors-to-be of how not to treat patients.

After that, I needed something to cheer me up, so I broke into my MacGyver DVDs and I made it through the rest of Season 1. I love Richard Dean Anderson as MacGyver.

Movie of the Month: Anatomy of a Murder - I mean, really...I couldn't really pick Forgetting Sarah Marshall over Jimmy Stewart.

December Movies

12/1-6 – Firefly & Serenity – I was in the mood for some Nathan Fillion and a little futuristic sci-fi-western. You all know it. If you don't, I'm sorry for you, because it is so worth the time investment.

12/7 – Saboteur - 1942 –(K) - I love Hitchcock as you all know and this is one of my faves – with the Statue of Liberty ending and Vaughan Glaser telling our young hero as he goes off to save the country "and practice that triangle." That part just makes me laugh.

12/7 – Ocean's 11 (K) – What can I say? I was in the mood for something familiar.

12/6 & 9 – 27 Dresses – 2008 – (N) – I watched this over the course of two days because the bloody disk was messed up and I had to return it halfway through. I don't watch a lot of chick flicks (I'm not completely averse to the, but there are just other movies to watch that normally interest me more), but occasionally, you need a little frivolity in life. I have to say that I liked this movie. I thought it was cute. I laughed my ass off at the scene where she tries on every single one of her 27 dresses. I laughed out loud at the first wedding (and all subsequent weddings) when the bride said, "I picked that [bridesmaid] dress, because you'll be able to wear it again." Every single bride (or damn near) has said that to their bridesmaids as they're foisting some ugly-ass taffeta number on them and it's never ever been true once.

12/21 – National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation – 1989 – (Friend's) – This is an annual Christmas event with my friends from the University (colleagues from when I worked there, not fellow students from when I studied there). Even though I think it's a tad silly, it's growing on me and I laughed out loud at parts this year that I didn't laugh at previously.

12/28 – Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa – 2008 – (IMAX) – I walked across the street to watch this with my friend Marianne and her two kids. It was cute, but the first one was better. And it made me sad seeing Bernie Mac's name up on the screen.

12/28 – The Librarian: Quest for the Spear – 2004 – (TNT) – As some of you might know, I watch Ellen every day (she makes me laugh) and one day Noah Wylie was on plugging the third of the Librarian movies. They sounded fun (besides the clip they showed of the 3rd one had him sword-fighting and I love sword-fighting). TNT played the first two that Sunday that they showed the new one, so I DVRd all of them in that one day. While not exactly Oscar worthy films, they are enjoyable. Besides, they have Jane Curtin and Bob Newhart. I enjoyed all three of them.

12/28 – The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mine – 2006 – (TNT) – See above.

12/29 – The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice – 2008 – (TNT) – I think TNT played them against this past weekend, so if you happen to be home one day when TNT is showing them again, you might consider them worthy of a peek.

12/29 – Permanent Vacation – 1980 – (N) – Jim Jarmusch's very first film which was from his film student days. I liked this better than Stranger than Paradise (January Movies). PV follows a young man around New York City where he meets interesting characters.

12/29 – The Diving Bell and The Butterfly – 2007 – (N) – Based on the book by Jean-Dominique Bauby who has a stroke while driving one day and ends up paralysed from the neck down, but unable to speak and able to move only one eyelid by which means he dictated his book – assistant would recite the letters of the alphabet in order of frequency and when she got to the letter he wanted, he would blink and she would writ the letter down and repeat the process. While a depressing topic, it wasn't a completely depressing movie as it showed what you can accomplish if you try.

12/29 - Bonneville - 2006 – (N) – The link contains spoilers, so don't click if you don't want to know. I saw the trailer for this on the 27 Dresses DVD and thought it looked like fun. Middle-aged women on a road trip in an old Bonneville – and thankfully, it didn't end with them driving off a cliff. I have to say that I really really really really liked this movie.

12/31 – Atonement - 2007 – (GG) – A work friend lent me this movie because she just loved it. I didn't. It was unbelievably depressing, and no, writing a better ending than real life because you fucked up does not make up for the fact that you ruined people's lives. I wanted to slap the little sister. The high point of the movie for me was the green dress Keira Knightley wore at one point. Dear heavens, it was a GORGEOUS dress - that picture does not do it justice, I have to say.

12/31 – MacGyver: Season 1 – (K) – After suffering through Atonement, I had to cheer myself up, so I put in Richard Dean Anderson. I still wanted to slap the shit out of the little sister from Atonement, but it helped me to put it aside long enough to go to sleep.

Movie of the Month: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Although I really did love 27 Dresses and Bonneville, almost as much. I'd recommend all three of these, but for different moods.

November Movies

11/14 – Patti Smith: Dream of Life - 2008 – (DFT) – A cinematographer followed Patti Smith around for a good number of years and then edited it all down into this movie. She was followed on a visit her parents and essentially, just being a regular person. I'm not really a fan of Patti Smith, but I have to say that I liked this movie.

11/23 – Un Chien Andalou – 1929 – (DFT) – While I had seen Un Chien Andalou years ago (college), BST hadn't seen it and the DFT was playing it along with two other films of similar vintage - Entre'acte - 1924 – and L'Age d'or - 1930, which I hadn't seen. L'Age d'or is in my 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die book, so I took the opportunity to check it off. They were all surrealist films (Buñuel and Dalí) and therefore, no real plot. I remember fighting to keep my eyes open during Un Chien Andalou (none of which was familiar except for the slitting eye scene). L'Age d'or was completely insane as it followed this couple who apparently were in hormonal overload and couldn't keep their hands off each other, especially in public places. And I believe at one point there was a huge cow in a canopied bed.

11/23 – Henry Rollins: Uncut from New Orleans – 2008 – (IFC)
11/26 – Henry Rollins: Uncut from South Africa (IFC) – I love Rollins, but after watching this I loved him even more because he declared Iggy the King of Rock and Roll.
11/26 - Henry Rollins: Uncut from Northern Ireland

11/26 - Mr. Smith Goes To Washington - 1939 – (TCM) – I had never ever seen this movie, and instead of going dancing on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I stayed home and watched Jimmy Stewart instead. I loved this movie and wish the Democrats would make the Republicans filibuster like this now!

11/28 - Seventh Seal - 1958 – (TCM) – Like Un Chien Andalou, I had seen this film many years ago, but didn't really remember anything about it except for Max von Sydow playing chess with the Devil. I know some people LOVE Bergman and others LOATHE Bergman (Ingmar, of course), the latter calling the former pretentious. I'm in neither category as I haven't seen many of his films, but I have to say that I quite like Seventh Seal. I wouldn't say it always makes sense, but who cares, especially since it made way more sense than the surrealist films I watched earlier in the month.

11/28 – Juno – 2007 – (N) – Yes, I was the last person in the world to see Juno. I loved it. It was so cute and dealt with teenage pregnancy w/o making light of it or making it seem as if the world is coming to the end either.

11/28 – Death Becomes Her - 1992 – (N) – I never watched this movie when it came out because I've had Meryl Streep issues ever since Kramer vs. Kramer, but when Goldie Hawn was on The Graham Norton Show (yes, it's a trend), they talked to her fans some of whom were OBSESSED with this movie. For some reason, they made it sound appealing and I added it to my queue and moved it to the top. Was it utterly brilliant and profound? Nope, but it was funny and worth watching. And I might have gotten over my Meryl Streep issues. I'm glad I watched it.

11/28 – Goth Cruise - I found this on On Demand and had to watch it. I want to go on a goth cruise!!!! The possibility of being on a cruise and dancing to good music instead of complete dreck is such a draw! Some of the people seemed a tad over the top, but generally, most of them were just normal people who like to wear black and listen to Goth music.

11/29 – The Queen - 2006 – (EGC) – My dear friend EGC lent me this DVD and I finally got around to watching it. I wasn't sure I was ready to live through Princess Diana's death all over again. I'm of the age that I watched the wedding on TV and thought she was utterly beautiful, to say nothing of her charity work over the years. While showing the Queen in a slightly more human light (at some points) than we usually see her, it didn't make me think of her as a good person. In fact, I had always liked the Queen Mum and if the way this movie portrayed her was even slightly accurate, I'm sorry I wasted that affection over the years.

Movie of the Month: It was a toss-up between Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Juno - do I go with the classic or the clever, new movie?

November Events

I had one event in November…The Crüxshadows in Detroit ( Hamtramck , really) on 11/8. I dragged Marianne with me (everybody else bailed on me that day). I still loved I:Scintilla (first opening band) and even bought their CD after the show and got the entire band to autograph and then got my picture taken with them. I'd link to the picture, but that would require me to have downloaded the pics to my computer which hasn't happened yet. I want the dress the lead singer wore that night. Ayria was interesting solely because I was watching the water that the stupid bitch next to me spilled by putting her drink on the stage and then knocking it over and doing NOTHING about it. I was scared Jen (lead singer) was going to slip and fall and kill herself. It turns out that Rogue and most of the Crüxshadows (and a good number of the other two bands) all had the flu.

I was right up close – right up against the stage – much to the stupid bitch's dismay next to me who spent the first two bands and the hour or so before they even went on stage trying to get me to move because a friend of hers showed up after me and wanted to squeeze in on the other side. After the second band, I finally called her out and told her that she might as well stop elbowing me because I was going fucking nowhere. She tried to protest that everybody was pushing and I said, "No, they're not. It's just you. You want me to move because your friend showed up late and you think that I'm going to move if you're annoying enough, but I won't, so you might as well stop." Amazingly enough, she and her stupid boyfriend finally did stop trying to get me to move. Honestly, I might be old, but that just means that I've been to more concerts than you, honey, and I can hold my own.

The stage at Small's was significantly smaller than the stage at the DNA in San Francisco and I worried that they weren't going to have room , but they made it work. Of course, the stupid bitch next to me kept putting beer bottles on the stage (right where all the lead singers were going to be standing) and I kept picking them up and passing them out of danger's way. I swear I wanted to slap the shit out of her and her stupid boyfriend. Inconsiderate, poorly raised assholes.

After the concert, I got to meet Rogue and got my picture taken with him (I look fat in it, so you won't be seeing it). The poor thing was absolutely sicker than a dog and you could tell – but not during the concert. I think it was a better concert than the San Francisco one. I was ready to drive to Cincinnati or Pittsburgh the next weekend to see them, but couldn't find anybody to go and the weather was complete shite and I wasn't going to drive I-75 in the snow. I'm nuts, but I'm not insane.

And there, you've caught up with the last three months of my life.

Red Wings Parade & Niece's Graduation

Greetings and salutations, all! I have had so much going on and so much to write about, but no time to write and now I have no clue what to tell you. If I include everything done over the past two weeks, this entry would be a novel. And a not very interesting one.

I think in my last post the Red Wings were on the brink of winning their fourth Stanley Cup in 11 years. LL was rooting for the Pens (bastard), while I was obviously rooting for the Wings. The Wings came through in Game 6 (whew!) and I took that Friday off from work to attend the parade in downtown Detroit. I had missed the Cup parades in '97 and '98 because I was living in SF. I remember calling my friend Debbie in '97 who had my old job at the U and asking her if she was planning on attending the parade. She wasn't sure. I told her she should go, because if I were still living there, I would be going to the parade and she wouldn't be able to – as we worked in the same office and one of us would have had to be there and since I was the boss, I would have pulled rank.

I wanted to go in 2002 but couldn't find anybody with whom to go. This year, however, it worked out perfectly. The Game 5 triple overtime loss was actually advantageous for the YS and LB, as the YS doesn't work Fridays and the LB was flying in from SJ late Thursday night (early Friday morning). I went into work on Thursday, June 5 and told my boss I was taking the next day off. "Going to the parade?" "Yup."

Friday morning, the YS and LB show up at my place and we transfer their crap into my car (it was hard getting ready for the parade because I was doing all the things I normally do to prepare for a hot day at the race track). Parade day was forecasted to be HOT and HUMID – 90F with an insane stupid humidity of 70% or something ridiculous like that. It was bloody hot. Actually, the YS and LB showed up with an extra person which meant I had to move my crap out of the back seat of my cute little Focus and into the trunk – coolers, spray bottle with battery run fan filled with ice and water, knitting bag (hey, we were heading down early and I had a tank top to finish for the niece's graduation present – no need to waste precious time), sunscreen. YS had the water, I had the soft-sided portable coolers.

I always have to drive downtown because the YS got her truck broken into once (parked on the street – I always pay to park in downtown Detroit). I told her that I'm going to get a new car just so I don't have to drive all the time. She just laughed.

We decided to go to Hart Plaza and stake out a spot for the rally which would take place there after the parade. It turned out that that was probably not the best decision, but only because the rally was not as long as the one in 2002. I swear EVERYBODY on the team got a chance to speak to the crowd in 2002 (I taped it), but this year only a few players spoke (Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Chelios & Brian Rafalski, Kris Draper & Chris Osgood, Darren McCarty, Tomas Holmstrom and Jiri Hudler). It was a little disappointing. In hindsight, I think I would have snagged a good place on the curb along Woodward and had a chance to see everybody as they want by. We were far enough back (yeah, there are pictures, but you know how good I am at downloading them) from the rally stage, that there was no way anybody would have heard me if I had yelled.

I developed a habit at the races that during the driver parade I would yell for every single driver as he (or she – love and miss you, Katherine) would go by. I hated that drivers like Paul Tracy and Michael Andretti (back in the day when he wasn't a complete loser-traitor) would get massive cheers and hollering, while other drivers were barely acknowledged. I always hollered for the drivers, but when it became de rigueur was after Toronto 1996. I'm not normally very loud, but that's the first race where I remember the drivers actually hearing me, because after I would yell their name, they would look up into the stands, and I always sit as high up as possible (well, except Toronto, because the top 3 rows in my grandstand were blocked by one of the Exhibition Place buildings, so as high as I would go there was Row 4 – road courses are counted from the top down).

Two weeks earlier I had met Jeff Krosnoff in the paddock at the Cleveland race. I was nervous and didn't know what to say after asking for his autograph on my racing shirt, but he asked me how I was doing and if I were having fun, etc. He was so nice that I rooted for him that race (even though in the POS Toyota he didn't have a chance in hell of doing anything but finishing) and so as he went by my Toronto grandstand I yelled extra loudly for him and he turned and looked up and waved. Two hours later Jeff was dead in an absolutely hideous accident I will never ever forget. That night at dinner my friend Ottawa tried to comfort me by saying how I had probably made Jeff's day knowing he had a fan in the stands (he was new to the series as he had come up the ranks in Japan, and had therefore only run 11 races (including Toronto). Back then we had a fair number of drivers, which meant it could take some longer to make their way into our hearts (unlike the past few years), so Jeff didn't have a lot of people cheering for him in Toronto. Ever since then I made it my duty to cheer for and welcome every single driver in my own loud and annoying (to the people sitting in front of me) way. And I didn't give a damn if the people in front of me didn't like it, because I simply thought of Jeff and realised it was more important to show my support for every driver, even the 'king Hiro - who, for all his faults, was exceptional at getting out of the way – for the most part. While Hiro might not have been a great driver, he was rarely a "moving chicane" (Hi Dennis Vitolo).

Anyway, all that was to tell you that the next time the Wings win the Stanley Cup I'm going to watch the parade and yell for every single player and then force my way into Hart Plaza like all the parade-watchers did that Friday.

That Friday was exhausting and very busy. After the rally, we went and got food at Cheli's Chili Bar and then we all raced home because we had to be at the Niece's graduation commencement exercise at 6:00. And we all had to shower away the nastiness of 90F, humidity, and sunscreen. And you'dt hink that after a high school graduation of nearly 500 kids, the day would have been over, but you'd be wrong. Since the LB was in town, HRH drove down from Toronto and the plan was to meet her over in Windsor that night. It was probably close to 11:00 p.m. when we (Mom, YS, LB and I) got across the border and found our way to the Windsor Casino, which means it was around 2:30/3:00 a.m. when I got home and to bed.

I would have slept in except that HRH was coming across the river that day for the party the LB's friends were having for him, and was going to crash at my place. This means I had to clean (hide yarn in the closet, vacuum, etc.). I was also getting my hair cut (Whew, it was LONG) at 12:30, so that took time out of the day which could have been used on the apt., but in the end, it was all good.

HRH showed up, we watched F1 qualifying from Montreal, the Euro Cup game between Portugal and Turkey and then headed to the far western suburbs to meet Mom and YS for sushi. YUM! I ate WAY too much. The original plan was for HRH to spend the night and then attend the Niece's graduation party on Sunday, so that she could meet Grandma. We've been friends for 13 years and while she's met a few members of my family, she hadn't met Grandma. As has been the case for the past few trips we've taken, however, someone died (her high school best friend's father) and she hadn't to fly back (not actually, but the way she drives…) to TO then next day to get to the funeral home. This means that instead of heading straight to the party, we had to make a side trip to my Uncle's house, as that's where Grandma was (she rarely turns down dinner invitations, especially when my Uncle's cooking).

So, while HRH got to meet Grandma, various cousins, and an extra aunt, we almost missed my older brother, SIL and the Terror Children who were leaving the party as we arrived.

We take a break from the regularly scheduled program with the following public service announcement.

WOOHOO!!!! My Igor will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!

Okay, I'm bored telling you about stuff that happened two weekends ago. I can't imagine how bored you are reading about it, so I'm not going to tell you all about the graduation party and how bloody hot and humid it was and how I needed a shower after helping my sister set up in my party dress. It was pretty, oh so, pretty. Nothing quite like sweat dripping off your nose.

Why can I think all of sorts of stuff to blog about until I sit at the computer and then it all disappears? I need to learn to write stuff down. I always think I'm going to remember it, but never ever do.

I want this car.

I'm *this* close to having my niece's tank top finished, but now I'm thinking that I need to rip it back to where the shaping for armholes start and make it longer. I don't know this for a fact or anything, because I haven't measured it, but that's what I think. You would, of course, think that I would have gotten it out of its bag and measured it last night, but I just didn't feel like "frogging" it last night, so I ignored its existence. (I have absolutely no idea why ripping out your knitting is called "frogging," but it is…normally, I refuse to use that term as I think it's stupid, but as I already had used "rip" I was trying not to use it again. Oh wait, I think it's called "frogging" because when you say "rip it," it supposedly sounds like "ribit." I knew there was a reason I refused to use it.)

Work is quite stressful these days as for the fourth year in a row (and sometimes multiple times in a year), we're having workforce cuts/layoffs. At some point, you have to figure your luck is running out and this time it might just be you that's cut. I'm ready to throw up thinking about it. Oy vey. Please keep your fingers crossed, pray, light candles, etc. that I make it through once again. Moving home with my mother is so not an option if I want to remain sane, and not kill her.

Medicare Sucks, I suck at knitting, Sushi doesn't suck, although the waitress did

Forget that good news about Grandma. It turns out that Grandma is getting kicked out of the rehab facility next Monday, because Medicare rules state that you can't stay if you're not making progress. And Blue Cross is mindless and just goes along with whatever Medicare decides. Mind you, it's hard to make progress when you're medically not allowed to put any weight on your leg. Our only hope, apparently, right now, is that she has pneumonia (she's back on oxygen and just not feeling very well at all – when I talked to her on Friday she wasn't eating at all as she just wasn't hungry or able to eat) to the point where she has to go back to the hospital. Once at the hospital, she needs to stay a minimum of three days (or so I've been told) and then she can return to rehab for another 20 days. How bloody stupid is that???

She thinks it's all taken care of and she's allowed to stay until she can take care of herself. The pathetic thing is that is the way it should be. I realise there are people who might need a little incentive to motivate them to do their exercises, but Grandma isn't one of them. She even did her PT last Friday when she wasn't feeling well and had no energy. She needs to build up her upper body strength in order to use the walker properly (i.e., not put any weight on her right leg), and that takes longer than 3 weeks when you're 89 years old!

I'm very displeased.

Friday night at the Token Lounge was very good. I enjoyed listening to all three bands, although I couldn't watch the first band as the lead singer was annoying and pretentious. He seriously needed to be slapped. And holy shit, were they LOUD!!! I could feel my clothes moving from the percussion of the music. Thankfully Urs was prepared and brought a bunch of earplugs. I was saving mine for the YS who was coming down, but a few minutes into the first band, I broke down and shoved them into my ears. Dear God, I think that was the loudest show ever. I text the YS a few minutes before she got there and told her that if she had earplugs in the truck, she might want them. Thank God, she had some. Urs' OOMA's band played last and they were quite good and enjoyable.

The second band invited people onto the dance floor to mosh. As it was so hideously loud, the YS and I were communicating with each other using the text messaging feature of our cell phones. We weren't sending messages, per se, just typing them up and showing the other person and awaiting acknowledgement with a nod. Anyway, I told her that I would never slam dance (I'm old, that's what we called it) with kids these days since none of them knows the proper way to do it, or as I put it, they don't know how to pull their punches. They just slam wholeheartedly into each other thinking that's the proper way to do it.

As soon as OOMA's band finished playing, the YS and I were out of there as the cigarette smoke was killing us! I took a shower as soon as I got home to get rid of all that secondhand smoke, took an alka-seltzer nighttime cold & cough and a Bronkaid to counteract the effects of the smoke, and then slept until noon. I don't need to get sick as I'm leaving Wednesday after work for Southern California.

I couldn't sleep at all last week, for some reason, so I needed to sleep until noon. Once I got up on Saturday I went to visit Grandma and took her bed jacket project with me. After harassing Grandma for a few hours, Mom, the YS and I took off for sushi. We got a new waitress who was horrific. An hour after we got there, we had no food, while every table around us who came in after us had their food. She also missed my tempura asparagus order on the back of the sushi order sheet. At no point did she apologise, she just blamed the kitchen. Sadly for her, she didn't know that we know the owner and once he showed up, the YS gave him an earful. Amazingly enough, my tempura asparagus showed up very quickly – I wouldn't have bet money she submitted it even after we pointed it out to her. We're so nice, though, she still got a 15% tip.

Yesterday, I pinned out the back of Grandma's bed jacket on my cardboard thingie and then pinned the left front next to it. Ooops, too long. Then I re-read the instructions and realised that everything was all kerfluffled and I ended up taking the whole thing out and starting again. *sigh* The right hand side is still sitting on my circular needles, but I'll end up taking that out and re-doing it as well. I don't want to think about the fact that the armhole shaping for the left and right sides on the back doesn't look symmetrical. I'll be calling Soyon later today and asking her about that. I also need to ask her to translate the instructions where I got hung up yesterday on the armhole shaping. It made NO sense to me, whatsoever. *double sigh*

How was everybody's weekend? Do anything fun? Eat anything yummy? Not mess up a knitting project?

Latest Grandma Update, Knitting, Long Beach

Sorry for my absence, but for the first time I can remember I think I'm suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder. I need warmth and sun…the warmth from the sun. I've never discounted SAD's existence before, but I never thought I suffered from it. This winter, though, has put me over the edge. I'm always tired, I don't feel like doing anything. I don't want to leave my apt. once I'm home. I don't feel like working when I'm at work. I don't feel like blogging or reading blogs. It's really pathetic. I need SUMMER!!!

I had Good Friday and Easter Monday off work which was nice. Grandma is doing quite well. She had surgery on the Tuesday before Easter, as you know, and the hospital released her on Good Friday. I slept in Friday but made it to church by a little after twelve noon (had to stop by the University to pick up hockey tickets from a friend) – they were on the second station of the cross when I got there. After the service was over (only day of the year when there is no Mass in a Catholic church – little trivia there for you – I won a bet on that once), I went to Target (not my usual one and it was stupid busy) and then Mom called to say Grandma was being moved right then, so I headed up to the rehab place. I beat her there as her ambulance driver didn't have a clue how to get to the place, so he decided to go up Greenfield from the hospital to 13 Mile Road and then west to Meadowbrook Road. Yes, theoretically it's direct, but it's not the fastest way to get there. When they finally arrived, Grandma said, "I think we came by way of Toledo." I was amused but I'm not sure the ambulance guys were.

We got Grandma settled in and stood and chatted for a while, until I decided the snow was coming down a little too hard for my peace of mind and I said my good-byes. It wasn't as white-knuckle driving as when I had to take the YS to the airport back in December, but it wasn't the best time ever, either. Thankfully, Saturday was warm-ish (low 40s?), so driving to Knitting Club that night wasn't a problem. The city where EGC lives has a snow rule, so one whole side of EGC's street is forbidden. I proved my parallel parking skills by getting into the tightest damn spot. I might have had a couple of inches on both ends of the car. I rock.

I started knitting a sweater/bed jacket for Grandma that night. Soyon brought me some patterns and I picked one that looked easy. You can see it here (third picture down in blue). It's not going to be that long, obviously, since it is a bed jacket and Grandma's only 4'7". I've already ripped the damn thing completely out as it was going to be way too long. I've started shaping the armholes for the back piece, and figured out it's still going to be too long, but hopefully only by an inch or so. I'm not ripping it out again.

I took a break from the bed jacket this weekend to knit a scarf as a housewarming gift. I had a housewarming party to attend on Saturday and wanted to knit something for the "lady of the house." I didn't finish it in time, and was hoping to finish it by today so I could give it to Katie this afternoon, but it didn't happen. I went to the Red Wings game on Sunday (they won in OT – woohoo) and that took up quite a few hours, and then yesterday I was visiting Grandma and this particular pattern needs my attention. I kept messing up and having to take rows out one stitch at time so that I wouldn't have to rip the entire thing out. I ended up working on the bed jacket so that I wasn't wasting time while visiting with Grandma. ARGH! I didn't get home until 9:30 which is bedtime, so it's not done. Darn it!!!

Grandma has only been in physical therapy for a week, but she's making great progress. They're teaching her how to use the walker to support herself as she hops to get from point A to point B. I met a lady with whom Grandma has PT and she told the OS and me that Grandma has progressed very quickly and that she was very impressed with Grandma's accomplishments. She gets out of bed with a minimum of help and is just doing really, really well. Even though she's making friends at the facility, she can't wait to get home and be on her own again. It's good to have a goal.

Grandma's not allowed to put any weight on her right leg for six weeks (I guess we're down to 4 weeks, now). She figured out yesterday that she's more than likely not going on our trip to CA in 3 weeks. She's bummed because she really wanted to surprise the LB for his b-day. I was really looking forward to it, too. I now need to call the airline or Travelocity and see if we can get a voucher for the ticket, so Grandma isn't out the money and can get to CA eventually.

I leave two weeks from tomorrow for Long Beach. While I'm looking forward to the trip, I'm also dreading it as that's when IT will really be over. Supposedly, the first Icky Racing League race of the season was this past weekend. I had a party to attend that night, not that I would have watched anyway, but HRH tried to watch it and she said it just brought it all home to her that our series is really over. It upset her so much she couldn't even sleep that night. A bigwig at work (who back when the takeover was announced argued with me that there would still be a race in Cleveland and all this other stuff, he simply refused to believe that someone who didn't wear a suit to work might actually know more about something) yesterday asked me "Did you watch the race?" I replied, "There wasn't a race." He just laughed. I didn't.

I know that at some point I will need to "get over it," but I'm not ready yet. HRH's trying to get me to go to Charlotte for the 600…I wouldn't bet money on it happening, but never say never, right?

I hope all is well with everybody. It'll probably take me a little while to catch up as I've been lax for the past couple of weeks, but I trust comments will be popping up around the blogging world.

Waiting for summer….

Winter Weather, Knitting & Deodorants

I wrote this Friday, planned on working on it over the weekend and posting but that never happened as I never even opened my computer over the weekend.

This good news is how I get through winter, especially this winter with which the coming 3-5" (yesterday the prediction had been 5-10") of new snow predicted for tomorrow will bump us into the Top 10 (they say) of Detroit's snowiest winters. As I tromp through snow on a daily basis, I simply recite my mantra, "It's good for the Great Lakes. It's good for the Great Lakes. It's good for the Great Lakes." It's also how I manage to put up with rain in the summer when I want to sit outside. While the Great Lakes were at or near record lows last summer, even with the snow melt, they're a good foot below where they should be.

I'm just really thankful I bought these boots (in black) back in early November. I have definitely needed them.

And as much as I hate snow, I'm not overly fond of bitter cold. Is there a reason Roberta Jasina can't tell me EVERY DAY what the RealFeel temp is? Don't say it's 26F out there, which sadly, I would welcome, when the RealFeel (i.e., wind chill) is 12F!!! That's a big friggin' difference! I mistakenly took WWJ at its word one day last week when they told me it was 30F. Yeah, not so much, in actuality. I think it was actually 10F or something equally ridiculous.

In case you can't tell, I’m officially over winter. It can go the bloody hell away!!!! As much as I love my new boots, I'm tired of having to wear them every freaking day. I'm tired of having to bundle up like the Michelin man to walk to work. It literally takes me 5-10 minutes to get dressed to go outside. I'm tired of having to wear a hat (as much as I love my hat which keeps my ears toasty warm) and then deal with hat head once I get to work, as my hair goes every which way when I pull it off. At the height of the insanity this winter, I was wearing two scarves, two coats and two pairs of gloves. I don't do negative windchills very well.

It's now Tuesday and I ventured out without a hat and without my super warm gloves. My ears weren't happy, but I'm being defiant in the face of a continued winter. Actually, the weather types are saying that it's supposed to be 50F Thursday and Friday! I can't even stand how excited I am about that. I'd sit outside except that I have a feeling the ground will be wet and cold.

Saturday was an exercise in frustration for me. I've been working on this green scarf for the LB's girlfriend (it's her favorite color) in this quite lovely zig zag lace pattern that Beth sent me (we've been sharing free patterns). As of Saturday morning I had already ripped it out completely and started over at least 4 (probably 5) times. My problem was that the 2nd row (it's a 4-row pattern) starts with a yarn over while the 3rd row ends with a yarn over. I would be knitting along and find that I had an extra stitch. Turns out that I was ending the 2nd row with a yarnover as well. ARGH!!! Rip! Well, Saturday I was being ultra-careful about that particular issue and got through one whole skein. I was very excited. Then I tried to do something I see all the really good knitters in Knitty Gritty on the DIY Network do – add in the next skein without using a little knot. They just hold the yarn and start knitting. It looks so damn easy. I somehow messed it up so badly that I had to rip the entire bloody thing out (can you tell I gave up the "F-word" for Lent – otherwise, this entry would be chock-a-block full of it, trust me).

At that point, I put away the green yarn and got out this beautiful black alpaca yarn I bought in Maine. It was ostensibly for me, but a friend from work wants a hat to match her scarf and it matches the scarf a bit better than anything else I have or have seen. So, I start casting on my 98 stitches on the double-point needles and I join without twisting and knit a few rows where it became obvious that the joining hadn't gone so well – I had a good 2-3 inches of yarn at the join. *sigh* I take it all out and start again. The joining went a lot better this time and I did the 1 ¾" of ribbing and then started the pattern which is a lace-like pattern. I'm cruising along and after a good 3 inches or so I notice that it doesn't look like the pattern. Hmmm, I count my stitches and I have two less than I need and started out with. ARGH!!! I rip it out, wish I hadn't given up drinking for Lent, as a beer would have been really nice right about then, and start again. I get through the casting on, the joining and the ribbed band and am working on the body of it and being ultra careful. I'm counting every stitch as I knit muttering under my breath "knit 1, knit 2, knit 3, knit 4, knit 5, knit 6, slip, slip, knit through the back, knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 1, yarn over." Repeat...until I notice that it looks exactly like it did before. Once again I count my stitches and once again I have two less than with which I started. At that point, I said the two words I gave up for Lent as I was so frustrated and pissed off. I rip it back, roll the-not-as-pretty-as-it-used-to-be-yarn into a ball and go to bed.

So, after knitting for about 12 hours, I had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to show for it.

I started it again on Sunday, but had to go to the BAB's house for my niece and nephew's birthdays, so I only got through a row or so of the ribbed band. As I was having so much trouble with it at home alone, I left it there and took something mindless to work on. Good thing as my SIL's brother was all intrigued by the knitting and was asking all sorts of questions. He's a mathematician, and he saw the mathematical nature of the lace pattern. He didn't understand how the project got from one needled to the next, so I showed him.

I didn't get home until 8:00, so I fixed my breakfast and lunch for work for Monday and then crawled into bed and read the Tao Te Ching. And for the first time in I don't know how long I actually slept Sunday night. Of course, I slept like crap last night. *sigh*

Tonight I'm supposed to go dancing at the old bar. It's Bauhaus, Peter Murphy and Love & Rockets video appreciation night, but my feet have really been bothering me the past four or five days. My stupid feet hurt just walking (in two different spots on the two different feet). Stupid feet. I hate my feet. The funny thing (funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha) is that they look fine. I've noticed that when most people complain about their feet, they have major bunions or their feet are malformed. Not mine, they look perfect, it's all internal messed-upedness.

I have a personal question to ask the females in the audience. I am completely unable to find an anti-perspirant that works for me. I have been using Tom's of Maine which is just a deodorant (as I figured all the anti-perspirants I've tried don't work for crap and why use something with aluminum and give myself Alzheimer's later in life for no reason), but it's reached the point where it's not really working very well and it's only winter time here. I figured I'm going to be doing my best impression of a hippie in the Haight come summer. What do you use that you find works well or at least works marginally well? Last week I was actually experimenting using one brand under one arm and a different one under the other. The problem was that I couldn't remember which was which at the end of the day. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Birthday Purse (Picture finally posted)

I promised you last August a picture of my birthday purse. I finally got the external hard drive which means I finally got my music (what was on the hard drive - lot more to go) off my computer and that I uploaded all the pictures I've taken since last August.

For the next few posts, I'll be linking to my Road America (August), Baltimore (August), Maine (October), and Vegas (February 2008) pictures. But first, here is my Interlude Scarf and birthday purse (front and back).

The stupid pictures didn't pull up, so you'll have to click the links. ;-(

Here is the Interlude scarf pre-, during and post-blocking.

I'll have to be changing my profile soon, as I won't be spending my summer travelling to Champ Car races anymore. But we have one last race to attend. They announced that there would be one last hurrah, as Motegi, Japan wouldn't let the IRL out of their contract for the same weekend as the Champ Car Long Beach race. As angry as we are (yes, we realise it's a business decision, but it doesn't change the fact that it has affected us adversely), we knew we couldn't let the last Champ Car race ever happen without us there. The last race of the Panoz DP-01 and turbocharged engines will be held in April and HRH, Roadrunner, C&C and I will be there.





And you know what that means...one last batch of Champ Car pictures with which I get to bore you. ;-)

Update:

I know that you all are probably bored with my Champ Car talk, but a friend (one of C&C) found this article which basically says what I've been saying. I guess I'm including it so you don't think I'm blinded by my love of Champ Car and hatred of TFG. I have never even heard of the writer, Russell Jaslow, before, but I'd love to shake his hand.

Robin Miller Dropped The Ball

Rochester, N.Y., February 26 — For the past month or so, Robin Miller really ratcheted up his criticism of Champ Car, specifically the so-called leaders running it. It certainly was warranted. Champ Car had become a rudderless ship aiming straight for an iceberg with a penguin at the helm. It ceased operating as a respectable sporting organization since Road America last summer when they decided bullying tactics was preferable over proper media relations.

I've always liked Miller, his writing, his style, his sheer love of open wheel racing, and his no holds barred viewpoints. Even when I don't agree with him.

However, this time, I believe he dropped the ball.

In his zest to see unification happen almost to the point of fanaticism, he lost sight of doing what he does best -- ask the next probing question. And that question isn't will we be better off with one series, but will we be better off with solely Tony George in charge. The first question is obvious. The second question is potentially disturbing.

No, this isn't what you think. It isn't a Tony George started it, so why should we accept this rant. It is simply a question, is Tony George the proper person to move this sport forward from this point on.

Robin Miller says, "Get over it." I agree at some point we all have to. I also agree that this is probably the healthiest thing to do. However, it can also lead one to forget about history. Not simply to rehash the tired old story, but to learn from it. And what we learn, I fear, is that Tony George and the IRL are not the people to lead open wheel racing.

This is the organization that created the 25/8 rule.

This is the organization that downplayed, even lied, about injuries (remember Alessandro Zampedri's severed partial foot described as "minor injuries?").

This is the organization that designed a new racecar with a bulky, solid transmission that stuck so far out it created a tail happy unstable car which crushed backs in rear end impacts.

This is an organization that designed cars with the tendency to go airborne causing the death of Tony Renna, the mutilation of Kenny Brack, and the potential PR disaster of nearly sending Mario Andretti into the grandstands.

This is an organization that despite all those safety issues, put band aids on the problem sending open wheel racing back 30 years with their injury record.

This is an organization that feared the CART owners allegedly wanting to shorten the month of May and ended up shortening the month of May.

This is an organization that blatantly fixed one of the largest sporting events in the world (where was Senator Arlen Specter when you really needed him?).

This is an organization that secretly provided power steering to two of their smallest and weakest drivers, Danica Patrick and Dan Wheldon, against the rules which made them suddenly -- and suspiciously -- faster.

This is an organization that steadfastly refuses to do what every other racing organization does and set the minimum weight of the car with the driver, thus providing smaller, lighter drivers an advantage, which just so happens to potentially provide the IRL with a PR coup.

This is an organization that went against every single one of their philosophical believes in their quest to control open wheel racing.

And therein lies the problem. They have never been interested in the sport. Only the control.

Miller did give us some hope. He mentioned that there are competent people now working for the IRL that will help guide them towards a better vision combining the best of Champ Car with the IRL. People such as Tony Cotman, who is quite capable of doing this. I even think Brain Barnhart is also capable of positive change. From what I hear, he receives a great deal of respect from the competitors and the way he treats them (let's not forget that the Paul Tracy fiasco was beyond Barnhart's control).

However, there are still signs that concern me with the IRL. For instance, they still have Fred Nation, who is the reason why PR workers get such a bad rap.

The clincher was what Tony George said on Wind Tunnel the other day. He described his vision of American open wheel racing and subsequently provided a recipe for Champ Car racing -- "20-race schedule is going to be split between the three different disciplines," "It will be an international series," "...international drivers and manufacturer participation is a good thing."

Miller was on his game at this point when he pointed out to George that he was referring to 1995 CART.

There is your leader for open wheel racing, folks. The man who had a hissy fit because he couldn't be in charge. The hissy fit that destroyed a sport only to acknowledge CART had it right in the first place.

That's why Robin Miller dropped the ball. What makes him think that a single series could possibly be the savior of American open wheel racing when the leader is a man-child who had a $300 million hissy fit?

Russell Jaslow

Copyright © 2008 by Russell Jaslow and Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.

Heath Ledger RIP, Weekend Doings

There is so much going on. First thing this morning, after hearing the "RealFeel" temp is -5F (-20.555555 in Celsius) is that Heath Ledger was found dead. I didn't believe it at first. And then I heard it again (apparently there is no news from Iraq, Iran, Gaza, etc. to tell me about), so I had to believe it. I have a few issues with the way it's being reported. First off, who cares if he's naked? Lots of people sleep naked. Hell, if I were to die in bed and made the news reports (not likely, I know), would they be reporting that I was found in a ratty, threadbare T-shirt that was falling apart? And if so, who the bloody hell cares? It doesn’t mean anything, except that I slept better in that T-shirt.

I read in the newspaper that after portraying the Joker in the upcoming new Batman film that he had trouble sleeping because the character is so dark and depraved, and that two Ambien only got him an hour of sleep. All this from an interview he gave the NYT recently. Anyway, my point is that if you can't sleep, you're willing to try anything after a certain period of time and if two didn't help, you think why not try another two. I made the mistake of reading the first page of comments at the article at the Freep (you'd think I know better because the comments always piss me off) and was appalled at the lack of human decency. Just because someone is famous doesn't mean that their life was spiraling out of control and that they deserve to die. I'm hating people lately. Especially stupid, ignorant people who have no empathy for others. I hope the autopsy shows he dies of natural causes (still sad), but it would shut the losers.

I had so much I was going to tell you over the weekend, but I got caught up in my knitting. I'm working on this lace shawl but as a scarf since I didn't have enough yarn for the shawl. The second picture is closer to what mine is looking like right now, as in the first picture, it's been (or being) blocked). The YS bought this beautiful orange yarn for me at this yarn store in Maine that I never got to (closed both days I tried to go). She was there to buy Tofutsie sock yarn which is made from the shells of shrimp and crab and saw the orange yarn. She was debating about buying it for me, unsure if I'd like that particular shade of orange. It was past the end of tourist season, so the lady told her she could have both skeins for the price of one. SOLD! I love it, love it, love it, love it. If I ever get my computer organized (i.e., get my music off it so I can download pictures – yeah, I know it's been six months since I've been saying this), I'll take a picture and show you the finished product.

It's funny. Every year the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) aka the Detroit Auto Show always manages to be held during the coldest week of the year. This year they moved the show one week later than usual (so the foreign automakers weren't shipping vehicles over the holiday – we're very nice like that here in Detroit) and the coldest weather of the year followed. The traditional week for the auto show this year was damn near balmy (40s, at least). It's crazy. For the third year in a row, I didn't get to the auto show and I'm still bummed. I'm afraid that I got spoiled going during the preview week which has significantly fewer people (obviously). The reason going to the auto show sucks so badly when it's the coldest week of the year is that you can't get a decent parking spot, so you're walking for BLOCKS in negative windchill, so you have to be bundled up. Then you get to Cobo Hall and it's heated to the nth degree, so you're sweating. You don't want to check your coat, because there are jillions of people there and when you want to leave you're going to be waiting in line for a half hour just to get your coat. Instead you walk around carrying your big, bulky coat unable to get near any of the cars, even the not so interesting ones, because there are a jillion people there. You can forget getting anywhere near the concept cars.

The last time I went to the auto show as a non-preview spectator I was still dating the ex, so that was pre-1990. It was hotter than Hades in Cobo, as usual, and we not only looked at every friggin' car, we looked at every friggin' car's engine. And it wasn't just a glance or even a ten second look at the engine. It was a good five minutes at every car. I was going insane and swore I was never going to the auto show again. It's so much more fun when you go with someone with a similar mindset (i.e., let's just look at the cool cars).

On Saturday I went to a Memorial Mass for my aunt's father. Although I wasn't technically related to "Granddad," I loved him as if I were. He was definitely one of the good people of the world. Most of my cousins aren't old enough to remember Grandpa, my mom's father, because he died in 1984. In fact, they're all around the ages my siblings and I were when Grandpa died, so I understand how they're feeling. Of course, Granddad was 81 and Grandpa was only in his 60s when he died. Grandpa's death is the reason the YS is virulently anti-chiropractor. Grandpa had a bad back and therefore went to the chiropractor. The chiropractor took X-rays, as is normal, but didn't tell Grandpa that he saw the tumor in his lungs that would eventually kill him, because the chiropractor thought he could cure Grandpa himself. By the time, he conceded that he couldn't cure the cancer and told Grandpa about it, it was too late and it had spread everywhere (bones, every organ, etc.). I know, in theory, it's supposed to be easier when a person dies from cancer, because there was time to say good-bye, and the person was no longer suffering, etc., but I've never fallen for that BS. I'd have preferred that my Grandpa hadn't gotten cancer at all.

I've never been one for showing my true feelings in front of my immediate family, at least, not the important emotions. I remember I was writing a paper the night Grandpa died (it was a Wednesday), and we got the phone call from Mom at the hospital. I went to campus the next day and attended my classes as usual, I had a 400-level Spanish (writing and translation) class that I could not miss. The funny thing was that I was completely stressed out that semester already. Along with my 400-level Spanish class, I had a 400-level Econ class (International Finance, I believe, or International Trade, but I think it was Finance). Anyway, Econ met MWFs with Spanish meeting TTHs. For both classes I had to write FOUR papers (long papers) and every single paper was due within a day of each other. Every Tuesday and Thursday I would leave my 9:00-10:30 a.m. Spanish class crying thinking of all the work I had to do, not just for that class, but all my classes, as well as work to pay for my classes. I told you I was stressed.

One of my friends, John, would meet me every TTH with a tissue and a hug. The Thursday after Grandpa died, I sat and cried all through class, so afterwards I went to Manuel's office to explain why I cried throughout his entire class. He said to me, "I was wondering what was wrong. You usually don't cry until the end of class." right when he would be handing out the assignment and I would be trying to figure out when I was going to have time to get it done. Oh yeah, not showing my emotions…I knew I was going somewhere with that story. Back then, it was traditional to have a viewing at the funeral home for two days, and during one of the times at the funeral home, my Mom said to me something about not knowing how I was doing because she hadn't seen me cry at all, but hearing that I was crying all over campus. Therein lies the problem of going to a commuter campus close to home where two of your siblings also go. I'm trying to cry privately (away from family eyes), but not succeeding. To this day I have no idea how they know I was crying all over campus, because neither the OS nor BAB were ever on campus. The OS literally drove to campus for class and then drove straight home. The BAB spent a little bit more time on campus than that, but he was usually in the Natural Area (and trust me, I wasn't there). There are spies everywhere.

Saturday night was a much more enjoyable experience. I went with a group of friends to see To Catch a Thief (don't read the entire synopsis, as I think it retells the entire movie in word form – the first couple paragraphs would be enough to give you an idea) at the old Redford Theater. Only GtG had seen it before, but it had been a long time. After it was over, everybody declared they loved it and acknowledged the fabulousness that is Cary Grant. I was happy.

Sunday I was supposed to go and see Man from Plains but it was my sister's birthday and my BIL invited Mom, Grandma and me to join them (and the niece and nephew) for dinner. The movie was at 4:00 & 7:00, dinner was at 6:00. *sigh* It turned out to be okay, though, because nobody else could go anyway, so we decided we'd rent it when it comes out and all watch it then. Dinner was quite nice, as I had to do a smackdown on the almost 20-year-old nephew (He.Knows.EVERYTHING), and that's actually enjoyable. Mom leaves today for Egypt and Jordan on a 2.5 week vacation, so it was good to spend time with her. I think she was a bit nervous about going, but I know she's going to have a great time. She might lose weight while she's there as she's just about the pickiest eater in the history of the world, although the YS and I have gotten her to eat Thai food and sushi, so she'll try things, on occasion. My aunt and I were discussing what the heck Mom was going to eat there. I'll find out when she gets back. I know they're going for Indian food at the Mena House which overlooks the Great Pyramids of Giza and Mom thinks she doesn't like Indian food. I told my aunt to get Mom Tandoori chicken, as that should be bland enough for Mom.

I guess that's it for now. I need to get a cup of tea.

December Movies (finally) and other stuff

I'm heading to bed shortly as 4:30 comes pretty quickly, but felt the need to post. Not that I have a thing to say, but what the heck.

Does anybody watch The Graham Norton Show on BBC America? It's on Saturdays at 10:00 p.m. (I think - I DVR it) and it is so bloody funny. I laugh out loud all the time. I love that he has his guests come out right at the beginning and he talks to them together. One show last season he had on Marilyn Manson and Nigella Lawson, the cooking show woman. Stinking hilarious. If you have BBC America and you're not watching, you're not doing yourself any favors. They do stuff on British telly that is just insane. And they get to swear, but of course, it gets beeped out here. Our family values will explode if they're allowed to say the c-word for a male anatomical part on TV, I guess.

Even though Christmas is officially over I still have tons of knitting to do. I have gotten into slightly more complicated knitting, as I found myself actually a little bored with my usual scarves. I've finished two scarves of late that includes slipping stitches and passing the slipped stitch over, and yarnovers and knitting stitches together. It's quite exciting. I've even started, for myself, a 20-row lace pattern. This means that rows 1-20 are different from each other and when you reach row 21, you start over again with row 1. Not really the mindless knitting I've always preferred. It's quite scary. I might even tackle cables sometime this year. *shudder*

I did my civic duty today and voted in Michigan's "primary." It's in quotes, because I've heard that because the Michigan legislature voted to move our primary up from its usual Super Tuesday date, in order to get a little bit more attention from the candidates, the Democratic Party has taken our delegates away from us. And the Republicans only get half the usual number of delegates. So, that worked really well. The only Democrat who came to the state was Dennis Kucinich, while the Republicans (minus Giuliani, of course, who is planning on winning the Republican candidacy on only Florida) were criss-crossing the state all weekend. It was making me sick listening to Mitt Romney talking about how he's a native son, blah blah blah. He hasn't lived here since he was 18 when he left to go to Harvard (or some other Ivy League college), and that's a good three + decades.

I watched a ton of movies in December, but I don't feel like linking, so if you're interested, you can google, IMDB or rottentomatoes them yourselves.

Evil Under the Sun - old Agatha Christie with Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot. Always a good time.

Howl's Moving Castle - This was up against The Corpse Bride and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit for best animated Oscar a few years ago. I liked it a whole lot more than I thought I would. I will, however, stand by my assessment that The Corpse Bride deserved that Oscar - and I love Wallace & Gromit.

The Other Side of the Street - This was billed as a Brasilian Rear Window which it kind of was with an unexpected twist at the end. It's not better than Rear Window, but I mostly liked it.

Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same - I have NO clue what I was thinking when I netflixed this because I *hate* Led Zeppelin. I watched the entire thing, though, so give me credit for trying to broaden my horizons. The little vignettes that supposedly showed the mindset of the individual members of the band were just plain strange. The only one I liked was the one of the drummer (John Bonham, I think) because it included all sorts of cool cars, including him drag racing. SWEET.

The Squid & The Whale - I try to watch most films nominated for an Academy Award, even if I don't get to them for a few years. That's why I watched this one. I fucking hated this movie. I hated Jeff Daniels (I think it was Jeff Daniels) beyond words. I didn't hate Laura Linney quite as much, but it would have been hard to reach the level of malevolence I felt for Jeff's character. Do not waste your time with this one unless you want to stab people when it's over.

American Hardcore - Very cool documentary on the hardcore music scene in the States. I loved it.

Friends With Money - A movie that looks like it's a comedy, but isn't really. Jennifer Aniston plays the poor friend of three couples who all have way more money that most of us. I think this is the first movie I've seen with Joan Cusack where she played somebody not completely likable. It was "meh."

That Touch of Mink - Cary Grant, Doris Day...love it!

None But The Lonely Heart - I had to look this one up. 1944 Cary Grant movie where he plays a drifter, essentially, who comes home for a while with every intention of leaving quickly until the neighborhood doctor informs him his mother is dying. He gets mixed up with the wrong people, and it goes on from there. It's Cary Grant, which means I recomend it, of course.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - I watch this every year with a group of friends from when I worked at the University. I had never seen it before 2000 or 2001, but I can say appreciated it more this year than any of the previous years.

The Bicycle Thief - I had heard about this classic post-war Italian movie for years, and I finally saw it. The YS (younger sister) had seen it in college in a film appreciation class and she didn't appreciate it at all. I did, however.

The Polar Express - Wow, I really didn't appreciate this Christmas movie at all. About halfway through I was absolutely hating it, but came to not hate it by the end. I don't think I'll be making this a Christmas tradition, but it didn't suck completely.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeousie - I did not "get" this movie. But it was directed by Luis Bunuel, so what did I expect. It had Fernando Rey whom I love, so that helped get me through it. A little strange, especially when the two couples and Fernando Rey would be walking down the middle of a country road...it was interspersed throughout the movie and the meaning went right over my head. If someone could explain, I'd be oh so grateful.

My Left Foot - Yeah, yeah, I know, the whole world saw this back in the 80s, but I didn't. I can now say, "Yes, Daniel Day-Lewis definitely deserved the Oscar for this movie." After reading Angela's Ashes back when it first came out, I have avoided most movies and books that have anything to do with the bleak Irish life, but this one was worth watching, as it wasn't completely bleak.

Wilde - Movie with Jude Law about Oscar Wilde. It depicted Oscar as quite a congenial fellow. It was OK, not stellar, but not hideously hateful. Sad, of course.

To Have & To Have Not - Bogey & Bacall's first movie together. LOVE IT!

Casino Royale - This was not the Daniel Craig/James Bond movie of last year (or the previous), this was a Peter Sellers/David Niven spoof movie. I wrote in my notebook - complete ridiculousness, as you'd expect from Peter Sellers, no? Orson Welles is in it and I read somewhere that he and Peter Sellers hated each other and one or the other of them wouldn't show up for their scenes together. That had to be fun.

White Christmas - Mom and YS had never seen White Christmas, so the Sunday before Christmas we went to Grandma's to watch it with her. I love Danny Kaye. If you have never seen this movie, you must see it. At the end, I teared up, as always, but tried to be surreptitious about it, until I saw the YS going for the tissue and then passing it to Mom. All three of us were crying - Grandma's not that sentimental, cute as she is.

Aguirre: The Wrath of God - I've finally gotten to the Werner Herzog movies in my Netflix queue. The man is in a class by himself. And it's not altogether good. The movie is good, but he has some interesting ways. Klaus Kinski plays Aguirre, a Spanish explorer, conquistador in Peru who is a little crazy and mounts a mutiny against the leader of the expedition. It's a little weird to hear "Spanish" conquistadors speaking German, but it doesn't really detract from the movie. As is normal with Herzog's films, this isn't exactly uplifting.

The Blob - Steve McQueen's first movie - I liked it better than I thought I would and saw where Slither (the Nathan Fillion movie I watched back in November) got most of its ideas.

Besides these movies, I went to three live performances. The first was my friend Dan's daughter in a Salute to 21st Century Broadway. She was fabulous. Next up was The Brian Setzer Orchestra's Christmas Extravaganza. I've seen them twice before and loved those shows. This one I didn't think was as good. I hate and despise long-ass guitar soloes and drum soloes...and they were definitely more prevalent this time area. I hope he doesn't do that next year. And finally, Stuart McLean of CBC Radio brought The Vinyl Cafe Christmas Concert to Windsor. It was fabulous fun, as always, and we even got TWO Dave & Morley stories. If you have never heard Stuart, go to CBC Radio. If you live in a border state, find it on your radio. If you don't, you can go on-line and I understand there are podcasts now, so you don't have to try to catch it at 10:00 a.m. ET on Saturday mornings on-line.

Whew, only halfway through January I finally listed my December movies. I'm such a slacker.

The Lie Which Refuses to Die - Black Tape for a Blue Girl

This week I'm taking on the issue of those pesky ambiguous traffic signs. I think I only have two to discuss, so it won't be quite the diatribe that the grammar post was.

The other day I was driving in Royal Oak and saw someone turn from the far left lane into the right lane. This might not seem to be a problem to you, except that the second left lane also can turn left…I think you see the problem.

I'll set it up for you. There are five lanes of eastbound traffic at this particular intersection (I696 service drive & Woodward). I was in the fourth lane with my turn signal on to indicate that I was turning left at Woodward (that lane can also go straight to turn at Main Street). The car that had been in front of me got into the fifth lane (i.e., far left lane), where he didn't have a choice, he had to turn left or hit a curb and cement guardrail doohickey. I made my turn into the far right lane as I wanted to head up Washington. I notice that the dumbshit in the car that had been in front of me made an exceptionally wide turn into the right lane, thankfully behind me. But, really, people. If two lanes can turn left (or even right), let's think about where we're turning. Far left lane into the far right lane is STUPID!!!

My other issue is the Yield sign. This sign actually means something!!!! It's NOT the same as NO SIGN!!! My problem location for this is the Southfield service drive southbound at Michigan Avenue. It means you're supposed to YIELD to traffic coming off the freeway. They aren't supposed to YIELD to you! And sometimes with a YIELD you actually have to STOP. I swear damn near nobody on that service drive even *thinks* about yielding. They just go and people coming off the freeway have to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting them. Dumbshits. I really wish they'd put a STOP sign there (like the Ford Road exit), because then people would at least contemplate YIELDING!


Monday, my sisters, niece and I took Grandma out for dinner for her 89th birthday (isn't she just the cutest?). She got to pick where we went and she chose The Olive Garden. Just an explanation for what follows.

Open Letter to The Olive Garden

Dear Olive Garden,

I just wanted to send you an FYI: Budweiser, Bud Light, Miller Lite, Coors Light, Michelob Ultra & O'Doul's are generally not considered to be "premium" beers – by anybody. Just because you call them that on your menu doesn't fool anybody. I'm guessing it's just so you can charge "premium" prices.

That is all,
Kathleen


I've almost done with my Christmas shopping. The only person left is my 17-year-old niece. I know what I'm going to get her, the problem is that I try to avoid malls this time of year and I've decided on a gift card to The Body Shop. I refuse to buy the girl clothes. I'd like to give her money for the college fund, except that as far as I know there is no college fund and she'd just use it to buy clothes. I'm hoping that she'll buy more than just make-up at The Body Shop and start taking care of her skin. Maybe I should just buy some skin care products, instead of the gift card, eh? My mother didn't teach me at all about skin care, so I want to rectify that wrong. I didn't get Grandma done until late last week when I ordered her a beautiful silk scarf from National Geographic and it's already arrived! It's a combination b-day/Christmas present as her birthday is so close to Christmas and she's impossible to buy for. She's been known to tell people what she wants for Christmas, but then buys it for herself before Christmas. I even got to the post office yesterday to mail presents off around the world. I had bought the LB's (little brother) Christmas present back in Sept. or Oct., but getting to the post office is a complete chore for me, so I had to make myself go yesterday so that it would get to CA before Christmas Day. I also mailed out a scarf for my aunt – it's technically her b-day present which was in October, but again, I'm not so good at getting to the post office. And lastly, there's a box heading to Iraq and Blue Meany. Nothing spectacular, just a little something to remind her that there are people stateside thinking about her.

This weekend is going to be hectic, starting with a Christmas concert Friday night. Saturday is Fucking Cookie Day followed by a party at Martha's. Sunday is church, followed by brunch at Grandma's country club, after which we all go to Grandma's and hang out and complain about how full we are while Grandma putters in the kitchen trying to put out snacks. She's so darn cute. I'll sit in the "knitting" chair because I'm still knitting furiously trying to get everything done that needs to be done. Although if Aunt Joanie suggests a game of Scrooge, I will put the knitting down because there's nothing as fun as a high stakes (pride) game of Scrooge (although if Mom plays, it's automatically less fun as she takes after her father – we all loved Grandpa, but he was a well known poor loser – and she's an even worse winner. She's lucky I don't slap her as she whines her way through the game.).

I just told you about two family traditions (F'ing Cookie Day and Brunch) – do you have any family traditions you either hate or absolutely love?

P.S. I swear FWG, I'm working on the book post.

Crazy Eights

I've been tagged by Fermi to list eight facts about myself. I don't remember if I'm supposed to list things you don't know or not, but here goes.

1. I have two fused cervical disks. Back in 2000, I started working for my present company after returning from San Francisco and figured I was young enough to go 3 months without health insurance. Ha ha!! I'm so funny. Not so much. Thankfully, my pain started w/in the first month when I could still sign up for the "pay for yourself mostly insurance." It's really cool to be in a new job when the pain starts because crying at your desk daily is a good way to meet people (not really). For a solid month I couldn't sleep from the pain, so crying at my desk was pretty reasonable, I think. I had my MRI the Wednesday before Labor Day weekend. I got the phone call from my doctor Thursday night around 9:00 saying "Your disk is almost touching your spinal cord. Call this doctor tomorrow for an appt." Needless to say, there were more tears. I cancelled my trip to MA for my friend Rick's wedding as the whole "disk touching your spinal cord" freaked me out. Got an appt. with a neurosurgeon for Tuesday whereupon I scheduled the surgery for the following Monday (aka Mom's b-day - I'm such a fabulous daughter, I moved to SF on her b-day and I scheduled a surgical diskectomy & fusion for her b-day). No wonder she prefers the YS, eh? My surgery was scheduled for 1:30 but didn't happen until 9:30 p.m. I woke up in recovery pain free after my most beloved neurosurgeon (if you need one, let me know, because I highly recommend him) fused C5 & C6 disks.

2. I'm fairly obsessive. The YS has said that it's a good thing I've never tried drugs because she thinks I'd be addicted. I don't agree because the few legal drugs I've tried have done nothing for me (i.e., vicodin, Tylenol 3s, Percoset). She thinks this because since I learned to knit, I knit fairly constantly. I don't think it's an obsessive thing, so much as an excuse to watch TV w/o feeling like a complete slacker. But if I become interested in something I do like to do a lot of research on it. Example: My love of Joy Divison has me reading every book I can find on them. I do the same thing with Mexican history, ancient Egyptian history, Champ Car, Hitchcock, music, mountain climbing, etc.

3. I hate seeing my cats stoned, so they very rarely get catnip. When I moved to SF, I gave Zapata a tranquilizer prescribed by the vet. Tikal couldn't have one because they discovered he had a heart murmur. Seeing Zapata all drugged up just broke my heart. She couldn't jump up on the bed or move well at all. She fell trying to jump on the bed. It was horrible. I have catnip, but Igor and Boris seem to get a little feisty on it and I hate to see them fighting, so although it's in the house, they don't get to indulge very often.

4. I'm a redhead, but not a stereotypical redhead in that I don't have a short fuse. I'm pretty hard to upset/piss off, but once I'm there, oh boy. Look out!

5. I have a B.A. in Economics and International Studies (Spanish, Finance and Latin American studies). I love Latin American history and the language of Spanish, itself, but can you really picture a Kathleen with red hair getting a job using Spanish? Yeah, not so much. For the record, I make an excellent secretary.

6. Speaking of being a secretary, although I'm not one now technically, I type over 90 wpm. I love typing. Probably because I generally like things at which I excel. Don't try me at computer type games, I suck.

7. I have a fairly impressive CD collection, but nothing compared to some people I know. I could count them for you, but have better things to do than that. I would say somewhere between 700 and 1000 CDs. I also have a decent DVD collection, although nothing close to my CD collection. We won't discuss my book collection which rivals the CD collection.

8. I'm the scarf-knitting queen. You want a scarf, you let me know because I knit like a fiend, but only things that are squares or rectangles. I have plans to knit a sweater, but I'm scared of messing it up. And then finishing the knitting part and then finding out that the back doesn't line up properly with then front when I go to "finish" it, i.e, sew it together.