The Road Most Traveled

The one thing my mother absolutely was determined to do while we're here in India was to visit the Taj Mahal. I'd heard not so great things about Agra, so it wasn't really that high on my priority list this time around. Still, being the Responsible Eldest Son, I wasn't about to let her go off on her own where she might get fleeced by a tout, pick-pocketed, or worse. And at the end of the day, the Taj is what it is for a good reason, and there was no good reason to pass up the opportunity. So, a driver was arranged for Monday morning and off we went.

As a former British colony, Indian drivers drive on the left side of the road. Except, of course, when they don't. Which is often. The rules of the road here are really more like suggestions, which a driver may or may not choose to follow, depending on how convenient they are at any given time. Or depending on whether or not there's a traffic cop with a big cane about to give your car a whack, which is generally less often than not. I decided that the stop signs should really have a question mark on them. It's especially fun at night, when functioning vehicle lights appear to be another one of those optional things.

On top of all this, add on the interventions of the Indian bureaucratic machine and fairly regular and exorbitant road tolls, plus throw in a few popular religious sites along the way, and it creates frequent instances of what in polite circles would be referred to as a clusterfuck. All topped off with a liberal, and literal, dusting of pollution and, well, dust.

What should theoretically have been a 2 to 3 hour trip took us nearly 4½ hours. In the end it was, though not for the faint of heart, well worth the effort. We decided to go first to Agra Fort, which is a huge complex built by the Mughal rulers and where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son and lived out his last days. There was quite the gauntlet of touts and beggars to run before we got into the relative sanctuary of the fort, but we were well-rewarded for the effort.



















At one point, the whole crowd of tourists was swarmed by what appeared to be some sort of honeybee on steroids. I managed to escape unscathed, but my mother was stung three times and they continued to dog her everywhere else we went in the fort. Our only escape was to stick to darker areas, as they seemed to be drawn by her black camera and black pants, a color well known to trigger bee attacks. Staying in the shadows had the additional advantage of keeping us a bit cooler, though, and helped keep our pale northern skin from getting quite so fried.

Then after a nice lunch, we headed downriver to the Taj and yet another gauntlet of touts and beggars, this one even worse because of the greater distance visitors are required to walk to get inside. Still, we had gotten there in time for the best of the afternoon light, there was a nice, cool breeze coming off the river, and the world's greatest monument to love absolutely lived up to its reputation.









What I couldn't get photos of, and what I was most taken by, were the stone inlay flowers on the marble screen surrounding Mumtaz Mahal's tomb. The inlay around the exterior is beautiful, but these were beyond exquisite. The inlay was so intricate and detailed that the flowers may as well have been botanical illustrations, as if they had been painted with stone.

While the experience was absolutely worth it, by the end we were very ready to leave on the long ride back to Delhi. The traffic clusterfucks were far fewer and farther between on our return so we made good time, but it was still after 11PM by the time we got back to Likir House. We took just enough time to stretch out our knotted muscles a bit and take hot showers, but we fell into bed very soon and slept, exhausted but satisfied. Today we are spending a relaxed final day in Delhi before heading into the hills.

Delhi, Days One and Two

note: This was written offline on Friday evening, then just updated now. Finally found wifi, thanks to Desiknitter!

We got to Delhi last night and got through our first day here without any problems. Or at least none that were critical. I suppose it could be premature of me to say this, but I think my prior travels have helped prepare me enough to avoid serious culture shock. Really, in a lot of respects, Delhi is very much like Lima – sprawling, noisy, polluted, dusty, etc. There's just twice as much of it here. In fact, coming in on the plane last night, you could see the city lights bouncing off the thick haze. My snot is coming out grey, and my throat is raw this evening, so that aspect I certainly won't miss when we leave the city.

Fortunately, the Tibetan-run guest house where we're staying, Likir House, is a little off the main thoroughfare, so the noise is a little bit dampened. Also, we're in an area of South Delhi that's not heavily trafficked by tourists, which means fewer touts and beggars, as well. And my time in Spain dealing with the gypsies taught me well the importance of not making eye contact with all the people yelling, “Sir! Sir! English?”

Of course, the big disadvantage of being in a less touristy area is that wifi hasn't made many inroads in this neighbourhood yet. We're just a short distance from a Starbucks wannabe chain store that typically does offer pay-as-you-go wifi, but the local one doesn't have it, nor did they know of anywhere nearby that does. And when we got cell phone SIM cards today to make calls on the cheap (srsly, about $0.48/min. to call the US), I figured for sure they could tell me where I might find a connection around here. No dice. So I'm typing this out in our room Friday night and planning to post it tomorrow afternoon when we go to Connaught Place to meet up with Desiknitter.

No Delhi Belly yet, either, but we are trying to be a bit careful about what we eat and there are several more days to go before we head north. Still, I figured this would be as good a time as any to share a few pics from the bathroom here in our room. Richard, this is especially for you.

We're actually relatively fortunate to be staying somewhere with Western-style toilets, since the traditional norm in these parts, as in many other parts of the world, is a squat toilet. Still, the septic systems around here aren't equipped to handle things like toilet paper. Hence the little wastebasket sitting next to the toilet.




For those who are accustomed to squat toilets and aren't part of the TP set, the room is also equipped with this:




How this is supposed to work is that the big bucket gets filled, and while you're squatting, you use your right hand to wield the pitcher while using the left to do the job toilet paper does as you pour water down your crack. A bit of a complicated operation to perform, and it's the reason that handling food with your left hand here is a serious faux pas. On the other hand, when one has the Delhi Belly, it's probably kinder to the hiney than constantly abrading it with TP.

The bucket also comes in handy, I've found, when your geyser decides to blow up. And when I say geyser (pronounced “geezer”), I'm talking about one of these:




This is where hot water comes from. Or sometimes not. It worked fine this morning, but when my mother went to turn it on in preparation for washing off the day's grime, the switch sparked and smoked and the little light on the geyser went out. Which, naturally, prompted her to flip the switch on and off several more times.

Hopefully it will get fixed tomorrow, but tonight it meant squatting in the shower and strategically soaping up and splashing water from the pitcher to get clean. I figured it'd be less of a shock to the system than standing in a cold shower. It does, however, make one tend to hurry up.

Oh, and one last thing before I go. Actually, it was one of the first things we noticed when we got to our room last night. Check out the bathroom tiles.





Gives cowboys and Indians a whole new meaning, doesn't it?

Day Two

Well, not much to report, really, except that we met up for coffee with Desiknitter. It was really nice to meet up finally after following each other's blogs for so long. We spent a bit of time getting to know our own section of the city better, too, and I took a couple photos sitting out on the porch of Likir House.

The guest house is located on a small square that's surrounded by apartment buildings. This is the power source for all the buildings:



They've also been doing some beautification in the area. Note that there's no paintbrush involved in this operation (the occupational hazards of which I'm trying not to think too much about):



And that'll have to do for now. We're about to go try to find the brand new Delhi Metro and head up into Old Delhi to see some of the sights there. I may even manage a photo or three!

My Hero

So it's my last night at work before I leave for India. I've got homework I should be doing and planning lists I should be working on, but it's busy like it hasn't been for months. Because getting a foot of snow dumped on you is apparently a compelling reason to drive to the emergency clinic with your pet. Plus, of course, I got way too little sleep for fretting over getting up early to make sure I got to work on time.

Anyway, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed, but thanks to a certain birthday boy I made myself a hero when I had a few spare minutes. Naturally, I made him to look just like David.



Now I just need to get some Lycra and some giant bat wings and make that costume. Rrrowr!

And the song put me in mind of this video of a drag performance one of my friends (I don't remember which one, but one of them) linked to on Facebook the other day. They've disabled embedding, so you're just going to have to click over to see it. It's very much worth a watch, though.

Three Years!

It's my blogiversary today! Kind of crept up on me, truth be told, but it's neat to think that I've been doing this for three years now and have been able to meet so many wonderful people because of it. Like knitnzu, who sent a package yesterday for the kitties.



It was really sent with Cougar in mind, but Tolo had to be the first to shove his head in, much to his younger brother's chagrin.



Of course, Cougar being the larger of the two managed to shove his way in pretty quickly.



To say he was pleased with his present would be an understatement. In fact, it's already been disemboweled loved to pieces.



He wasn't the only one who was pleased, since there were two mousies in the box.



Their excitement was so infectious, that Tuck ran over and started playing with one of his toys, too.



Crockpot Curry

I decided to make a curry for dinner yesterday and though that it might work well to do it in the crockpot, especially since curries do particularly well when they're given plenty of time for the flavors to meld. We'd gotten a head of cauliflower especially to make a curry, and David thought it might be a good idea to use a big golden beet I got in it, since he's not that fond of beets but likes curries. He also suggested using seitan in it as a protein. It turned out quite tasty, especially served over basmati rice.



It was also super easy. I chopped up the cauliflower, a large onion, and the peeled beet, put in about three tablespoons of curry paste, a couple tablespoons of cashew butter, a can of coconut milk, and a big (20 oz.?) can of diced tomatoes, then set the crockpot on high and let it simmer for about 8 hours. I think I stirred it twice. It doesn't look like much liquid at first, but it cooks down very nicely without any additional water added. Try it!

Thanks to a tip from VUBOQ, I've also been saving up vegetable scraps for the past few weeks and last night put them in a pot with water and cooked them down into yummy broth.



These simmered for about 4 or 5 hours before I strained out the scraps, then added salt and simmered it for another few hours to make a nice, rich bouillion. I'm not sure what it'll get used in, but I'm sure it'll be tasty.

Don't You Just Love...

...a snow-bordered, wintry stream?










Except it's not a stream.



A water main broke this morning behind the L.L. Bean warehouse next door to the clinic. My tech discovered a raging river when she walked a dog outside at about 5:30. We called the non-emergency dispatch, fire crews were sent to survey the damage, and now the water utility has a crew working on the problem. This is our clinic parking lot, though:






I hope only sure-footed people wearing crampons (If ever there were a word screaming for redefinition....) come in today.

What I Need, Apparently

I think I've done this one before (though it's not coming up on a search), but Sean just did it, and it made me think maybe I should do it again to see if my needs have changed. You type in your name on Google, followed by the word "needs" and see what comes up. It appears that:

1. Mel needs a vacation. (Leaving for India in 12 days!)
2. Mel needs to lighten up.
3. Mel needs a home.
4. Mel needs to trade his Lexus in on a magic carpet. (Actually, I was passed on my way to work today by a Lexus SUV with dealer plates and noticed the sticker in the window. The gas mileage is only 14mpg city/18mpg hwy! Sweet FSM, how can anyone justify that?!)
5. Mel needs a laptop computer. (I only have three at the moment.)
6. Mel needs a big, wet, sloppy kiss.
7. Mel needs to focus on [him]self and heal.
8. Mel needs liability insurance.
9. Mel needs massage treatment for ice dance test. (How's about I get the massage and skip the ice dance test, whatever that is?)
10. Mel needs less passion for the spirit. (I didn't know that was possible.)

Catch Up

I did say I had a few pics, right? Let's start with one from VD. I actually had the day off, and we had a very nice, low-key day. No roses or cards with pink and red hearts, but we did pay a visit to our local chocolatier and each picked out an assortment of their handmade yumminess, according to our individual tastes.



The box on the left is David's and tended much more towards the conventional, or at least as much in that direction as Cacao ever goes. His big stepping-out-of-the-comfort-zone pick is the white one in the upper right corner, which had a gorgonzola-white chocolate ganache filling. He also got one of their extremely popular fleur de sel caramels, as did I. My selections, on the other hand, trended much more towards the spicy. I started out with the one wrapped in green foil, which is filled with an habanero-lime ganache, and finished off with the "Mayan", which is filled with a citrus-chili pepper ganache and has had a square of 24k gold leaf on top. Yum!

After that it was lunch at the local bakery, followed by a visit to the produce market next door, where we got salad fixin's, baby taters for roasting, and artichokes, which I steamed up and served with a cheese sauce for dinner, which we ate while watching a movie. As I said, low-key, and about as perfect as the day should be.

Work Pics

For the most part, work is what it is lately. The other night, though, we had this handsome fellow come in:



You can't tell from the photo, but this kitty weighed in at over 22 pounds! And he wasn't even fat! He's a Maine Coon, and a real one. Most people around these parts will call any long-haired cat a coon cat, but the purebred ones are generally really big like this.

This guy had a couple of issues. He came to see me because he had a urethral obstruction and couldn't pee. Common enough problem in male cats, but he'd been previously diagnosed with problems and I know his regular clinic would have counseled the owner properly on avoiding recurrence, meaning there were likely some compliance issues. Complicating matters a bit was this little problem:



This lip lesion is what's known as an eosinophilic granuloma, or rodent ulcer, because of its tendency to deform the upper lip at the philtrum (the cleft at center front) and expose the incisors. It's peculiar to cats and appears to be a type of allergy manifestation. The suspicion with this guy is that his diet was likely to blame, which meant that he probably should go on standard prescription-type diets for the urinary problem. Of course, these lesions tend to be steroid-responsive, and there are hypoallergenic diet options available that would also be appropriate for the urinary issue, so I suspected there was a bit more to the story than I was getting, but his owner opted to transfer him to his regular veterinarian the following morning, meaning I never got more history on him. I'm hoping the management of his health issues improves, though, because he was a really nice cat.

Knitting

There has been some going on. I have yet to cast on my sister's second glove, as I got wrapped up in a special project just for me. Two Rhinebecks ago I bought myself 2 oz. of qiviut, but I couldn't decide what to make with it and it's been sitting in my stash. And then last month Carole (whose blog appears to be down as I'm typing this, but y'all know who she is, right?) posted pics of her Dale wearing her rendition of the Three Seas Cowl. Instant inspiration!

So it took me a few false starts to sort out the right combination of needle size and pattern repeats for this particular yarn, which is a little thicker than the yarn the pattern calls for, but I found it and have been knitting away on it - a little here and a little there.



I weighed the remaining yarn last night and calculated that I should get it to about 11", which is one inch less than the pattern recommends but will be, I expect, just fine to keep my neck nice and toasty. Exquisitely and expensively so, even.

New CD

In case you missed it, Ted's nephew, Chris Donnelly, recently released his first solo album. Given Ted's incredible ear for music, I figured it'd run in the family. Besides, it's also been nominated for a Juno Award (kind of like the Grammys, except in Canadia). I still went over to the website and listened to some mp3 clips before I ordered it, though.

I ordered mine from the folks at Archambault, which is usually where I go to find québecois albums I want, since they're often a bit hard to find other places. It arrived the other day, but I popped it in the CD player for the first time today when I got home from work. And now I'm going to let it serenade me to sleep. Absolutely lovely.

The Pied Piper

Apologies in advance for a somewhat disjointed post. I actually have pictures, including some knitting, but they're still in my camera rather than uploaded, and I'm feeling too lazy tonight to upload them. I worked the last two nights in a row, then slept hard, but not quite enough, when I got home this morning. Then Annie posted brownie pics, which really bummed me out, because we were out of cocoa. Or so I thought.

When I was making dinner tonight (garbanzo chili = nom!), I actually found my cocoa tucked away at the back of the cupboard. Hooray! So I quickly whipped up a batch from scratch using the Joy of Cooking recipe, which turned out slightly undercooked (due to having to guesstimate adjustments for our edge-only brownie pan) but incredibly gooey and delicious.

For our viewing pleasure this evening, we watched a couple episodes from Season Two of Wonder Woman. The first episode of the evening was Knockout, which had guest stars Ted Shackelford, who would later become famous as Gary Ewing on Knots Landing, and beauty-queen-turned-actress-turned-sportscaster Jayne Kennedy, with a forward-thinking, but very poorly fleshed out story about terrorist sleeper cells.

The next episode, The Pied Piper, guest starred the Gorton's Fisherman, Eve Plumb(!), and Martin Mull, doing what is likely the worst fake flute playing ever in a role that probably comes back to haunt him in his nightmares. And because I'm all about the sharing, I went looking online and found the entire episode on dailymotion.com. So without further ado, I give you The Pied Piper:

Wonder Woman: The Pied Piper
Uploaded by Classic_WB_TV

I bet Diana Prince totally danced around in her underwear to that album.

Another Random Internet Find

I was doing a Google search for something very, very different - manual hair clippers for use in India, if you must know - and inexplicably got a link to this video on boob jobs breast augmentation from a plastic surgeon's office in Bangalore.



I'm not even going to get into the whole women-getting-themselves-carved-up-as-objects-for-male-consumption thing. Twisty does a much better job at that than I. What struck me was that the background music they chose was Abba - specifically, the song "I Have a Dream". Okay, you say dream, I say nightmare, but fair enough.

Except that the song ran out before the end of the video and it apparently flipped over automatically to the next track, which was "Fernando". Which, of course, made me wonder if they were thinking up new lyrics to it.

Can you see my boobs, Fernando?
I remember long ago you said they were mosquito bites.
Full of silicone, Fernando,
I can play them just like drums while you are strumming your guitar.
You can hear them from around the block, even sitting in your car.

Come on, everyone join in!

The International Minute Maid Conspiracy

Take that, Florida Orange Growers' Union!


see more pwn and owned pictures

Thanks to FAIL Blog for this one. It was too good not to share.

A Quickie

Life has been busy, as usual, but that's left me with not much to put together a coherent blog post. The big upcoming event is that my mom and I will be off to India in less than 4 weeks now, so the toher day I went to get my polio vaccine boostered and my flu shot. Now I'm taking the oral typhoid vaccine, which entails taking a capsule full of weakened Salmonella tyhpi bacteria every other day for a week. No problems with the first one this morning. At least not so far.

This evening I went to my first ashtanga yoga class in several years. I used to practice regularly when I lived in North Carolina, and it did wonders for my flexibility, which in turn helped with the fibromyalgia. I moved away from there 7 years ago, though, and my schedule has been so hectic that it's been hard to find the time. After a couple of yoga classes when I was in Salt Lake City, though, I realized that I really missed the practice and needed to make the time.

To that end, I sat down last night and tried to sort out a better sleep schedule. Tim had talked a while back about trying to go to a polyphasic sleep schedule, but looking at my work schedule and yoga schedules and where I'm able to fit in family time with David, plus the fact that I know I do much better if I'm getting close to 8 hours of sleep, it made more sense for me to look at a biphasic sleep pattern. Turns out, I found this well-reasoned article explaining that this sort of schedule is really the biological norm for humans.

In fact, when I studied in Spain, twenty-one years ago now (Doesn't that make me feel old!), I did just that. Stay up until late, sleep until 7AM, come home from class for lunch and siesta, then go back to class for a few hours, and it worked great. So well, in fact, that I didn't even need an alarm clock. I might have woken up late once or twice, at most, in the entire four months I was there. So I'm going to give it a go again and see if I can't make it work this time around, trying to make myself get in some sleep time during the quiet(ish) hours at work.

Of course, what usually happens is that once I drift off to sleep, it's like an invitation for cases to start showing up. Last night was no exception. Still, I managed a bit of shut eye, was able to drive home this morning instead of sleeping at the clinic, then crawled into my own bed to get several more hours, so that I was all rested up and ready for yoga. Now it just remains to be seen if theory can match reality consistently.

And with that, it's time for bed.

In Case You Weren't Aware

Today is...



...and I am most definitely celebrating it.

Rocky Mountain High

Okay, so this is the Wasatch Range, but it is part of the Rocky Mountain System. We drove up to Park City last night for a play day before heading home. The drive up - at night, on a twisty mountain freeway, in a heavy snowstorm - was a little tense, to say the least, but we had a nice day.

Since Sundance finished up just before we got here, we only had ski crowds to contend with, and even that wasn't too bad. We were both intrigued, though, when we drove into the heart of Park City and found that they've got a ski lift smack in the middle of everything.



We were also impressed at the fluffiness of the snow...



...and enjoyed the antics of some of the locals.



Then we visited the 2002 Olympic Park, which was practically next door to our hotel. They've got a whole ski museum and 2002 Olympics museum, so I got several photos. On the last one, be sure to embiggen for the middle button.











Tomorrow we head back home, and as interesting as this trip has been, I'll be glad to get back to my little dog.

More from SLC

Here's a better photo of the mountains I snapped outside our motel room door this morning:



I also have a color version, but somehow managed not to upload that one before handing the camera off to David. Since the color palette of the mountains this morning is already pretty much black and white, though, I don't see that it makes much difference.

Here's a news report with video on the shooting and crash that happened the other night. The nightclub in question is a gay bar, at least on certain nights. On the night of the shootout, it was apparently Latino night. I found the dead guy's name in this story.

In other, more mundane, news, I had a really miserable and largely sleepless night. Before bed last night, I realized that I had left my backpack behind at our booth at the convention center, which was by then locked up for the night. Since I had been keeping my meds in the backpack, it meant that I had no way to quell the restless legs, which would twitch every time I'd start to doze off and wake me up. So this morning, I threw on some clothes and walked the 4 blocks to the convention center to retrieve my backpack. But the meds weren't in it.

Turns out they were right here all along:



I had even set the rental car keys down next to the bottle right before I walked out the door to the convention center.

Feck.

It's Not All Bad

When there isn't this whole inversion/fog/rain thing going on, I understand that Salt Lake City has some really lovely views of the mountains. Actually, the above really blurry cell phone pic was of those very mountains (if you embiggen, you can sort of see them in the background, but it's really a crap photo). The fog lifted today and they were really very pretty - all moody with their heads in the clouds. I actually can see why people would want to live here, though it's way too far from the ocean for my taste.

And then there are some decent folks here, as well. We had dinner this evening with Margene and Smith, who are just wonderful people and really good dinner company. Margene and I almost met a couple of years ago at Rhinebeck, but someone (*cough* Norma *cough*) failed to introduce us when she stopped by our booth. No matter, a great time was had by all, and I look forward to coming back and getting to see them again.

Tomorrow is the last day of the show, and then we're headed up to Park City for a couple of nights before we head home. Sundance ends tomorrow evening, so maybe we'll get there in time to catch some straggler celebrities. If not, the motel we're staying at has an indoor hot tub, so we have high hopes for that, if nothing else. And maybe I'll manage to get a decent photo of the mountains before we get out of here.

Tales from a Salt Lake Motel

First off, I thought I'd share the artwork that hangs above the beds in our motel room:



I don't know about you, but I think Tin Man looks just a little serial killer. I've been trying not to think about it too much.

Anyway, David has been coming to this show for a few years now, and every time has involved a bit of motel drama of one sort or another. One time it was an unidentified pill found between the supposedly fresh sheets; another it was a broken toilet that required a room change (no mean feat when every room in town is booked up); then there were fouled up reservations; and then the whole bedbug incident. Doesn't seem to matter where he stays - something always happens.

The current motel, creepy artwork notwithstanding, has been fairly nice - budget, but clean and with attentive staff. Yesterday morning, though, I was working in the room and heard fire sirens. I didn't think much of it until I heard people clomping around a little later and realized that I could still hear the diesel engines. Turns out there had been a gas leak at the water boiler, which prompted an emergency call, though the firefighters determined that it wasn't necessary to evacuate once the gas was turned off. So, no hot water for a while, but we weren't staying all day in the room, so no harm done.

I thought that would be the extent of the drama for this trip, but this morning I woke up to David opening the door to the room to get something. When he saw I was awake he told me that we had no running water, and that Christine, his production manager who left early this morning, had called while I was still asleep to tell him what had happened.

Around 1:30AM, the driver of a car was shot right in front of the motel. The car then veered off the road and crashed into the light pole and fire hydrant just outside the motel office. Police and ambulance were called, Christine went down and tried to comfort the very nice and gentle Asian woman who was working the desk, and the ambulance workers wrapped the dead guy up in a bloody sheet and took their time removing him from the scene (apparently they didn't know about body bags). Meanwhile, another guy shows up and starts pacing back and forth in the middle of the street screaming at the cops and accusing them of shooting his brother. This led to a standoff that ended with the guy running away with the police in pursuit, and then more gunshots.

David and I slept through all of it, but this was the scene in the parking lot this morning as the utility crew was taking down the light pole:



Crazy damned town. Tonight, though, we're hoping to meet up with Margene for dinner, which I'm very much looking forward to.

Liberty Faded?

I snapped this today here in Salt Lake City, but really it could have been taken on any number of street corners across the country.

A Very Different World

One of the fun things about being married to a designer is that I sometimes get to go to trade shows as unpaid labor. I do, of course, go to big veterinary conferences, which have exhibit halls and vendors, but it's just not quite the same vibe as the apparel industry. Especially not like the Outdoor Retailer show, which is where we are right now.

When one thinks of party destinations, I'm pretty sure that Salt Lake City doesn't rank very highly on anyone's list. This show, though, is quite the party atmosphere. The last hour every evening is happy hour, which means beer for most vendors. We went upscale, though, and stocked up on wine, which has actually gotten us a bit of attention from the non-beer-drinker crowd and just may have helped us get some sales.

And in case you don't believe me about the whole party thing, here's a short video from tonight's fashion show. This was the collection for Woolrich, of all things. Who knew they were so hip-hop-happening? And the male dancer who ends up on the right? Totally cute and a really talented dancer. Over the course of the show, he threw out hip hop, ballroom, salsa, and ballet moves - just plain beautiful to watch.




The best part for me, though, is the deals on stuff. A lot of the vendors will sell at wholesale prices to other vendors, and I absolutely needed that this morning. The boots I wore here were absolutely killing my feet by the time we finished setting up yesterday, and that pain just radiates right up my back and into my neck and head. The thought of spending another day on a hard concrete floor in them was nearly enough to reduce me to tears, so I headed over to see the folks at the Dansko booth and scored these:



I cannot begin to say how much I love these. First day, not even broken in yet, and I felt so much better - and at wholesale, no less! Still, though, I decided I really needed to go to one of the yoga classes offered by the folks at Prana. It's been years since I've done yoga regularly, and I was reminded of how much I loved it and how good it feels for my poor, aching body to stretch out and move. The best part of that? Prana provides clothing for people to wear, then sells it all on the cheap at the end of the show. I am so there. And I expect they're not the only ones I'll be visiting.

And just so you don't think all I'm doing is getting likkered up and buying stuff, this is my travel knitting project:



It's the first of a pair of wristwarmers for my grandmother in Alpaca with a Twist's Mojito. She really liked the ones I made for myself back last October, so I told her I'd make her a pair that would fit her a bit better. Since it's mostly 1x1 rib, I figured it'd be a perfect mindless project to do on the plane. I also brought along the yarn and charts for the second Selbu glove, but since that requires a bit more attention, I haven't done anything with that so far. Here, though, is the finished first glove, palm and back:



There are a couple of minor mistakes, which I'll now have to try to duplicate intentionally in the second glove. On the whole, though, I'm quite pleased with it, and I'm hoping my sister will be, too. Just in case, I may try to snag her some stuff at the show, too.

No Surprise

I have Andy to thank for this one:




Of course, this is also consistent with my results on the Nerd, Geek, or Dork test, where I rank as a pure nerd.

Glove-in-Progress

Took me a bit to get this up here, I'll admit, and I've actually completed the ring finger now. I didn't get to sleep during the day yesterday - filled peat pots and started some artichoke and rhubarb seeds, instead - and ended up as a useless blob yesterday evening.

I did, however, get home in the afternoon with a mission. I haven't had a haircut for a few months and was just sick of it - perpetual hat head, especially in this cold when I actually have to wear a hat. My hair, when long, just does not know how to behave. And while I have a stylist I really like, I've been having a hard time trying to justify the additional expense when we're supposed to be trimming financial fat.

So out came the clippers, and I set to work. The big challenge, of course, is to get the back blended without taking out any big chunks. Apparently I succeeded reasonably well, since David got home just after I had gotten out of the shower and declared it "pretty good". And while having more hair in winter may sound good in theory, it doesn't really make a difference when the crown is thinning and a hat is necessary anyway. At least now I don't have to worry about giving the impression of a slightly crazy person.

Not at a distance, anyway.

While You're Waiting

Since I'm being a slack-ass and haven't yet taken any glove-in-progress photos, I offer you this one, created here.

Selbuvanter

Hot off the mittens, I decided to start working a project from Terri Shea's book Selbuvotter. I've had this most excellent book for a while, but I hadn't completed a project from it. So I'm making the Annemor #11 gloves, which I expect I'll send to my sister.

No pictures yet, I'm afraid, since I spent the entire day yesterday in a continuing ed meeting, relying on my knitting and copious quantities of caffeine to keep me awake. I came home and promptly collapsed into a quivering mass so that I could be fresh for work tonight. I'll see if I can't remedy that later on, though.

The meeting yesterday was pretty good and focused on zoonoses, one of my favorite subjects. It's also nice to get to catch up with people I know but don't see often. The funniest/neatest thing that happened, though, is that I overheard one of the industry veterinarians there talking on the phone with a very noticeable southern accent. Whenever I hear a southern voice, I have to ask where they're from, so I said to her, "You're not from around here, are you?"

Turns out she's originally from Alabama, but the funniest bit is that she only lives a mile and a half from me. So I'm thinking that a dinner invite is in order, and since my mother recently brought back provisions from down south, pecan pie will definitely have to be on the dessert menu.