The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
Blanket 30
This is another example of making the best use of small pieces of fleece. Of course, I didn’t sew those panels together. One of the other volunteers that prepare the fleece handled that. I just stitched my standard three rows of single crochet. Lion Brand Pound of Love yarn in White:
I considered using red yarn, to mix it up a bit, but this seemed safer. I was really worried that I wouldn’t get through this stash of fleece before the next Starbucks night. But I only have two left and plenty of time to go.
Crisis at the Animal Welfare League
Of all the vile things I can think of, stealing from a charity ranks way up there on the List of Things that Make Me Sick. But last week, thieves stole the A/C units and parts from the Animal Welfare League‘s building on Wabash in Chicago. Here is the story:
http://chicagotribune.vid.trb.com/player/PaperVideoTest.swf
I set up a project on Crowdrise to try and help them out. If you can make a small contribution, the site is here. It features the awesome pic of my puppy, Gibbs. He was not not adopted from this shelter, but we like to spread the love. Thanks.
Blanket 29
Another solid fleece, and this one was hard to find a color combination. I considered pink, but figured I should keep it gender neutral.
Two rows of Pound of Love yarn in White and one row of Vanna’s Lion Brand yarn in Dark Grey Heather.
Things the Puppy Learned While I Was Out of Town
- Spooky is a mean, mean cat
- Not all toys squeak alike
- To bark like a Big Boy
- Runrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrun
- Thunderstorms don’t bother me:
Reflections on SHRM
If you are looking for an intelligent review of this conference, please go here. Now that’s out of the way..
I don’t like Vegas. But this was the first time I had the time and the budget to attend SHRM. Also, this was the first city-wide conference I’ve attended that was not produced by my employer, so I was fascinated to see how it ran. Which leads to my first tangent:
At my employer’s conference, I coordinate the shuttle bus transportation between the hotels and the convention center. This is my job because my predecessor (and first boss) had the job. He had the job because he asked, “What’s the assignment at this conference that no one wants?”
A few years ago, I was at my desk on a random day when I got a call from one of my people. Matt was at the ASTD conference, another city-wide. He said something like:
“I just want you to know that I have seen what bad shuttle bus coordination looks like, so I know how good a job you do. Thank you.”
So besides making my year, Matt taught me that if I ever attended a city-wide conference myself, Rule #1 was Stay in Walking Distance of the Convention Center. So we stayed at the Springhill Suites which had three added bonuses:
- Mini refrigerators for the unbelievable amount of bottled water I purchased.
- Free breakfast that did not suck.
- There was no casino in the lobby.
I understand there is also a pool on the roof, but I haven’t gone to look for it. I have been seriously exhausted at the end of each day.
Sessions started at 7am on Monday and Tuesday. This was fine, but it meant keeping my body on Central time if I wanted to function. Last sessions broke at 5pm. I don’t know how people went out and partied at night. Seriously, people. I am old.
I barely made it around the Expo – it was enormous. I found the Giveback.org booth, which was disappointing because they couldn’t tell me much about the workplace giving program they were launching. It seems they were trying to get people to sign up as individuals in advance. However, they did give me a card worth $5.00 in donations so I was happy. I found a couple of other vendors I wanted to see and otherwise skipped the swag. But here is what I learned:
The trick is to scan your registration card, so they get an automatic upload of your contact information. I really felt like none of the vendors wanted to talk about the products – they just wanted to scan the card. Every other booth was raffling off an iPad 2 if they could scan your card. It was a bit of a joke.
The General Sessions were great. Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington (who gave a shout out to Patch.com), Tony Hseih and Michael J. Fox. I was interested to see how many people bailed out of the session to get into the lines for speaker book signings. Other interesting sightings:
- An attendee wearing fishnet stockings and gladiator sandals. (Joy actually saw a bare midriff.)
- The Starbucks line was never less than two dozen people long.
- Outside the Keith Urban concert (we skipped it): Guy is wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Girl is dressed to the nines.
- Star Wars Droid Hunt slot machine (no, I didn’t play it).
Flying home tomorrow to clean off my desk and go back on Puppy Duty. It was a good week.
Thunderstruck, by Erik Larson
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=leartojugg-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1400080673&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrBook 33
Thunderstruck has been on my shelf for awhile, I have read two previous books by Erik Larsen and loved them. Then I saw the library had a “Plaway” audio copy. It is an MP3 player that has one audio book loaded on it. The borrower has to come up with a AAA battery and the headphones. So that was worth a try.
I liked that I could tak the audio book anywhere, as opposed to the CDs that I play on my computer or CD player. However. The MP3 player does not tell you how far along you are in the book, which made me crazy. And the device lost my bookmarking really easily. I wasted a lot of time fooling around trying to find my place again. I also may have fallen asleep a non zero number of times while playing it. Not the fault of the book. I always fall asleep on planes and trains.
Like Devil in the White City, Larson bounces between two stories. In this case, it followed Marconi, the guy that produced, if not actually invented, wireless technology in the form of ship-to-shore cables. Also Harvey Crippen a nice guy that may or may not have murdered his wife who was a horrible, horrible person.
I spent the entire book wondered what the heck these two stories have in common. And perhaps being embarrassed that I was way more interested in the salacious story of the bad marriage than in the dude winning the Nobel Prize for Physics. The stories weren’t even running on the same timeline.
You find out very near the end that (SPOILERS)
the wireless technology that Crippen didn’t know existed allowed Scotland Yard to apprehend him fleeing to America.
This is not my favorite Larson book. But I don’t know if it was the stories or the delivery that made it less satisfying for me.
Shakespeare’s MacBeth
My friend, John Wilson, is finishing up a run in Roundhouse Productions’ MacBeth. As I type, so my blogging about it will be of no use to him.
The most interesting thing about this interpretation is the use of green screen technology to add some layers. I don’t think I am a purist exactly, but I found it more of a distraction. It might be that the tech operator was a couple of beats off. But it also drew my eye away from the action, when there was action. Points for trying something new, because it was rather cool. But not necessary.
Another creative bit was adding “combat witches” to the cast. They held the actual swords, creating the sound effects, while the actors mimed the action. The director talks about it here, with more symbolism than I had pegged it. But it also makes very effective use of space. In a small theater, men wielding swords in various directions can be treacherous. I appreciated that.
Overall, I really enjoyed this show. I’d go back and see them again. If it isn’t Point Break.
Product: Big Sexy Hair Dry Shampoo
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=leartojugg-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001U6FIVE&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrYesterday, I had the day off of work. I was on puppy training duty and had several errands to run before I went out that evening. And I had an appointment for a facial. While the aestheticians try not to get soap and oil and stuff in the hair, it doesn’t always work. On the average day, I don’t much care. But again, I was going out that night and wouldn’t have time to shower again.
In a bag of samples from somewhere, I had a small bottle of bigsexyhair dry shampoo. Seemed as good a day as any to try it.
The instructions are to spray it at the roots, wait two minutes and brush it through.
Now, I didn’t have big expectations. I didn’t try to do my hair for real after using it. But for what I needed, which was to take the oily look out and freshen it up, it was great. The scent was rather strong, such that I wouldn’t ever use it and then walk right out the door. But since I was going outside with the puppy regularly, by the time I left for the night I was in great shape.
Blankets 27 and 28
I have several posts churning in my head, but little time to post them, so for now, you are stuck with another blanket post.
With the fleece blankets, there are three ways to fancy them up:
- Awesome print
- Creative stitching
- Interesting yarn
Blanket 26
This was supposed to be my first “scrap” blanket: using yarn leftover from other projects. Then several colors in Bernat’s satin line went on clearance, so it is a Scrap and Clearance yarn blanket:
I did circles rather than rows because I have no concept of how far any given amount of yarn will go. My mother says it looks like a baby throw rug. But it is soft and colorful and I am sure there is a kid out there that will appreciate it.
The colors Meadow and Cyan were new yarns, Lavender and Sage were leftovers and Banana was both.
The Next Dark Age 