Eye candy nom nom nom

Sometimes after a session of web surfing (oh please tell me we're still allowed to call it that) you've traveled so far from your original site you're not sure how you ended up where you did, but you're glad you did. This morning I started out on FB and browsing new knitting patterns on Ravelry. I linked through someone's blog and ended up on a site called Superherofan that is just a huge gallery of shirtless male celebrities. Pretty tasty eye candy, regardless of your preference. There's another site called Squarehippies that's great if you like guys with chest hair. The author of that blog is really funny to read. His indignation over Bon Jovi shaving his chest for his Sex & the City episode (he slept with Carrie) is a riot.

Resistance is Futile

I rented a car to attend a training session on using a graphical statistical software package being held in a nearby state. Ooh, let's hear it for sexy business trips! I was driving down with one other person and we both started laughing when they brought out our "mid-size sedan like a Chevy Malibu" and it was a Nissan Cube. First off, is this really a sedan? I think I was giddy with embarassment over it, especially when I noticed heads turning in nearby cars to stare at our crazy ride (complete with Alabama plates).We laughed over some of the ridiculous features, like the "ripples in a pond" roof.The Disney-trademark-infringement cup holders.I wondered over some of the oddments inside, trying to figure out what intended use they had. For instance, the shelf in the passenger side dash is a great place to plunk your knitting when you run into a store. That's the Nutkin socks done on 2 circs, if you were wondering.
It also was a handy spot to stand the driving directions. I suppose a GPS or iPhone would fit there equally well.A funny thing about this picture is that we tossed the directions when we got there, and didn't have any for the return trip. That area has many overlapping roads and is very confusing. After buying a map and being lost a bit, I was browsing my photos and discovered the photo of the directions that we could have been following!

The Cube also had the perfect place to hold an extra biscuit and jelly leftover from Bojangles. I'm so glad for such specific features in a car! Really, heated seats are one thing, but a biscuit and jelly holder? How can you ask for more!
By the end of the trip I was fairly impressed with the Cube's handling. It has the sharpest turning radius of any car I've ever driven. It feels more roomy up front (the "cockpit" according to the owner's manual) than a lot of SUVs. Everyone else notices you, so you're probably pretty safe on the highway. BUT it's just so goofy. Every time we walked out of a store and found it in the parking lot we had to make fun of it. Yet once we were inside, we were glad to have it. In the end, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes this type of car - it really is a good car. If you live with someone sarcastic, it might be hard to own an asymmetric cube-shaped car, no matter how great it is inside.

Ale tasting

My parents came down for a visit and I thought it'd be fun to have an eclectic mix of beers for me and Dad to share. He said he likes brown ales so I went to the local wine shop and told the manager what style I wanted. It was great being led around the extensive beer section having him pull bottles off the shelf explaining why each choice was special. He pulled a Dogfish Head ale down and I commented that I didn't really care for DFH beers. He seemed stunned, knowing that my tastes are similar to his, and said DFH is his favorite brewery. He handed me a bottle, saying I needed to taste it. He saw my hesitation and dragged me over to the counter to open it, saying I *had* to try it. He poured us each a healthy dollop to drink. It was pretty good, and I promised I'd give the brewery another try. So here's the array I ended up with. My favorite was the Boont amber ale. Dad & I had a fun time working our way through the lineup over their visit. They were all very different, and a few times we traded glasses after tasting each other's choices. Best of all, they're about 1/4 the cost of my normal Belgian ales. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing a similar style-tasting in the future for other varieties. Anyone want to join me?

New Year Deer

I woke up fairly early on New Year's Day (can you tell I'm a bit behind in my posting?). Like 7 am, which is roughly when the dogs' desire for me to be mobile overrides my ability to ignore their ear-flapping head shakes just inches from my face. God forbid I burrow under the covers, or a cold probing nose will worm its way in and guarantee I shoot out of bed in an instant. Still, I figured I'd enjoy a nice quiet morning since it's the one day per year you can pretty much guarantee everyone stayed up past their bedtime the night before. I brewed a cup of my awesome Teavana white ayurvedic chai and sat back to appreciate the morning stillness and snowy backyard scene. The deer in the photo was standing next to our fence, still enough I was able to run and get the camera.

The echoing gunshot that sounded next was uncomfortably loud even in our closed house, causing the dogs to whine and bark. No wonder the deer were hiding along our back yard - we all hoped the hunters had the sense not to fire towards the houses. I fully respect the right of someone who wants to kill a deer for food, but not in my damn backyard, and not at 7am on freakin new year's day! Thankfully deer season has ended and I can stop worrying about misfires finding their way into our yard and dogs.

Women Frame Drumming

I found a great youtube subscription page entirely of women drumming. Some are performances, but many are home videos of women in their native cultures drumming and dancing for the joy of it. It's mesmerizing to watch some of them, and makes me wish I could experience it live. There are tons of videos to watch, but I think Youtube is an agent of the Dust Bunnies trying to steal our free time (see my last post for the DB epiphany), and I must do my best not to get sucked in for too long. Still, this one was really great. I love the woman on the left playing the riq (tambourine).

2009 review post & epiphany

It was so great for 2008, let's see how my 2009 blog review stacks up. Here's the first sentence from the first post of each month for 2009:

Do I talk about fiber and yarn too much on this blog?

Ok, I'm finally back online.

You ever have those days where you really want something chocolatey, but just can't figure out exactly what you're craving?

Now that the weather's brightening up, I'm spending more time outside with the dogs.

Flying Bosoms!

I wish my collection of Legos included an ark of the covenant!

We moved last weekend to our beautiful new house.

Reading another blog (CrazyAuntPurl's) she had a post that I just had to share a bit of.

I've seen some strange things driving on the interstate, but rarely do I have my camera handy to snap a photo.

So remember that pair of socks I was knitting and FROGGING, and just couldn't get the size right?

I just made a trial batch of Southwestern Thumbprint cookies - shortbread cookies made with blue cornmeal and jalapeno jelly filling the thumbprint dent.
---------------------

Well, certainly not the insight into my life last year's review post was, but in a way still representative of what things were like this year. Frankly 2009 just disappeared on me. I can't still blame my lack of gumption, organization, or time on moving to our house. After all, that was like 6 months ago! Wow, has it really only been 6 months?

Where does the time go? Seriously. Is there someone akin to the tooth fairy that sneaks in your house and steals your free time? What do they leave you in return? It's certainly not a basket of clean laundry. Oh, I know! They're the dust bunnies! You can tell they've been there stealing spare moments because they leave tell-tale tracks along the baseboards and under the furniture. The more time they steal, the more likely you are to find their remnants in your house. I'm going to go battle them and see if I can win back enough extra time to post a proper new-year's blog entry later.