Tag Archives: work

Now for a real post

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I did indeed cast on for Birch last night. I even swatched first… and I’m not entirely sure I was getting gauge because Birch is one of those patterns that gives you gauge in pattern instead of stockinette stitch. It looked like it was right, and this is a shawl, so I don’t need to be bang on. Of course, now I’m worrying that my gauge might be a little on the big side. Of course, I’ve only knit 4 rows so far, and the cast on edge is really loopy, so it’s hard to tell if things are a bit loose or not. It could just be that I haven’t knit enough yet. When I was swatching for Ribby Cardi, I got a gauge of 8 sts/inch after knitting about an inch… my gauge changed to 9.5 sts/inch after I knit another inch. I think I’m just going to have to cross my fingers and hope that the stitches work things out amongst themselves… ripping this out would be beyond a pain in the ass. I tried to rip back my gauge swatch and ended up breaking the yarn. *sigh*

Thankfully, I have all these knitting problems to worry about cause otherwise I’d be worrying about the fact that my manager is on a 2 week vacation to Europe. This is worrisome because there are certain things that have to be done on a daily and weekly basis… and it’s end of quarter, so I have to take care of that report, too. Of course, one of the automated scripts we have broke on Friday night, which meant I had to run a whole bunch of things manually when I came in on Monday. Boy, did I have an argument with that computer… I had to reboot 3 times. *gah* And now people are coming to my cube and asking me questions about projects I have no clue about because I’m not working on them.

Other manager: Can you tell me when we’re planning for this search tool project to go live?
Me: No, but I can tell you that it’s being tested* at the moment.
OM: Can you tell me which server it’s set up on?
Me: Nope.

Hopefully, this won’t drive me crazy… I just have to make it to the 12th.

*And that’s only cause I’m included in the alias my manager sent an email out to.

Loopy Liz

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The painkillers must have made me a lot more loopy last week than I thought they did. One of the first emails I got this morning at work was about an alert not being up on the website. So, I check, yup, not there. But, I was sure I had done it on Friday… it was one of the last things I did before leaving… I thought. Perhaps I had made the necessary changes, but forgot to change the dates it should be viewable… nope, it wasn’t there at all. Oops. I’m still pretty sure I took care of it on Friday even though I now have pretty clear evidence that I didn’t. So, loopiness is the only explanation.

The weekend was thankfully rather uneventful. The Husband and I went to the LYS on Sat for a couple hours. I regaled the usual attendees with the details of my accident soon after which a motorcycle ran into an SUV at the nearby intersection causing all sorts of excitement as cops and an ambulance arrived with flashing lights. This all lead into an interesting conversation of the worst accidents we had ever seen/been in, which for some reason lead into a conversation about stupid criminals. Never a dull moment at my LYS.

Sunday was spent mostly in my pajamas. 🙂 I didn’t get dressed until about 3 pm. Then, we headed out to go to the hardware store, where an adapter was acquired to attach a coil garden hose to the kitchen sink. This was an amazing feat because with this simple hose adapter I can now water my plants with incredible speed. Previously, I would lug pitchers of water from the sink to the balcony upwards of 8 times to get all the plants watered. Now, I simply attach the hose (w/adapter) to the sink and walk out to the balcony, the hose slowly uncoiling behind me. 50 feet of purple coiled hose… it’s a wonder. And, it even came with a spray nozzle with different spray settings… fancy. 🙂 Yes, I truly am that excited about this… come the melty hot days of July, when the plants have to be watered every day or else they crisp beyond repair, I can keep the plants refreshed with minimal effort on my part. If my knee didn’t hurt, I’d be dancing a jig. 😀

JavaScript rots your brain

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I don’t know why but this week has been exhausting; thankfully, it’s at least going by fast. I blame it on the JavaScript project I’ve been working on for work. My manager had the brilliant idea that now that I had done a website with JS, I must be an expert, so I could easily complete this page for marketing. *ugh* I’ve been working on it since last Friday. At least I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, which is glorious since the light was in doubt until moments ago. I have been building the page in parts, and yesterday I added the last important part of the JS code, and it didn’t work. Everything was working beautifully, then I broke it. I have spent a goodly portion of today taking things out and adding things in an attempt to make it work goddammit. My manager came up with a way to make it work that was akin to using a hammer to make a square peg fit in a round hole. I’m rather proud of my coding finesse (I would have gone into programming if it hadn’t been for the required calculus classes). So, I spent today working on it, and now, finally, it is working. The only thing left for this project is to apply a stylesheet to make it conform to the company website. For some reason I have a feeling that’s going to break it again… of course, that would have nothing to do with the fact that the company website was designed by someone who has a limited grasp on how a website should be designed for usability standards. Anyways, the JS is working — properly, no less — and now my brain is goo. I have a couple more hours of work left and all I can do is stare at the wall. Hopefully, if I keep my head upright my gooey brain won’t leak out my ears.

Actual Knitting Content
I haven’t done much… haven’t even considered the dropped stitch in my Beginner’s Triangle Shawl. Might have something to do with me wondering if this is the pattern I want to use this yarn for. I thought it would be good because I only have 1000 yds, and the pattern says knit till the triangle is as long as you want it, you’re bored, or you’re half way through yarn. But, I’m still in love with what Deb did with her Brooks Farm, and I’m slightly unhappy with the fact that the Beginner’s Triangle Shawl will have vertical stripes…. *ugh* Perhaps an email to Deb is in order to find out how much yarn she needed for her shawl….

Monday again

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Once again it is Monday and I find myself at work… the last place I want to be. I have no idea where I’d rather be or what I’d rather be doing, but work just isn’t it. It’s just a blah day… there’s no motivation to do my job, not even my paycheck.

My Thanks
Thanks to everyone who shared their sympathy over the fridge situtation. I think it’s a problem in any workplace with a communal fridge. I think it was just the last straw for me last week, and I snapped. But, a loud angry blog posting is probably better than me actually yelling and throwing things in the breakroom. (I don’t get out-right angry easily, but when I do I have a tendancy of throwing a fit… usually I just get pissed off or frustrated and I might give people looks and fume, but I tend to keep it to myself.) I’m thinking of inveting in a mini fridge. Kenmore makes a 1.7 cubic ft mini fridge that’s only like $60 at Sears. I figure that’s a worthwhile proce to pay to not have people taking my food… and who knows over time, if they keep doing it, the cost of lost food could eventually add up to the cost of the fridge.

RAOK’d!
Sunday, when I finally got around to checking for Saturday’s mail, there was a package from Marina containing a couple of lovely lavender sachets. I like lavender… I like all herb-y sorts of scents. One sachet came to work with me today in order to try to establish a sense of calm in my cube. *Crosses fingers* Here’s hoping it’ll work. I think the other will find its place amongst part of my wool stash. I have cedar balls in with the wool that’s in a dresser drawer, but my overflow is in plastic storage without anything to chase off pests or keep it from smelling plastic-y and stale. So, many thanks to Marina from me and my yarn!

Actual Knitting Content
I unofficially finished the Wool Peddler’s Shawl last night. It’s unofficial cause I am still working on the cast-off. I decided to go with the sewn cast-off from Knitting Without Tears; I think it gives a nicer edge, which I think this shawl deserves. But, it’s going to take forever. I started casting off last night and got about 8 inchs done in about half an hour. I think part of the problem is the ass long end I’m using, but I’d rather be using too much for the cast-off then run out an inch from the end, which happens more than I like to remember.

As soon as the cast-off is finish I’ll be casting on for the shawl for me… it shall be mine… mine, I tell you! Bwahahaha! *Clears throat* Excuse me, yes, I shall be making a shawl for myself. Of course, I could also cast-on a sweater for myself. I went to my LYS on Saturday and they were selling all their Cascade yarn at 20%. Couldn’t pass up a sale, now could I? I picked up enough Cascade 220 for Mariah in color 4148 (I think)… it’s a heathery mauve color.

I also got to pick up my drum carder while I was there on Saturday. Yea! Drum carder! Let the rejoying commence for my precious is in my grasp. Sadly, I’ve been so busy it is still in the box. *pout*

It’s That Time of Semester
While I have not yet redeveloped my eye twitch from last semester, the next 2 weeks could see it coming for a visit. I have a 20 page paper on the history of a California library (I’m researching the Mountain View Public Library) due in a week. I have 2 small Web projects due this Wednesday and next Wednesday. I have my History of Books and Libraries final exam on the 16th, and my final Web project is due on the 18th. *ack*

Secret Pal
A trip to the post office on Saturday saw off the last package to my secret pal, a goodie package to the person for which I’m a secret pal angel, and finally, the felted kitty bed for my sister’s new kitten. Yea!

Unfortunately, my secret pal (the one that was sending me goodies) has not revealed themself. Secret pal, are you out there? Are there email problems again? Have you revealed yourself in your blog and I some how missed it (actually, that wouldn’t be that hard… I had so much of a back log in Bloglines that I only skimmed the blogs, and then Bloglines started making me login every third blog.) If you have tried to get a message to me and I have missed please try my email again, or post a comment here. For now, whoever you are, thank you for being my secret pal. 🙂

Tears of Frustration

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I apologise in advance for the language… I just need to get this out…

GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKER SONOFABITCH! Who the FUCK do you think you are?! Food in the communial fridge is not there for you to take especially if it has someone else’s name on it. And no, you can’t just take a little and hope they don’t notice, cause they will notice. I noticed. I may not be drinking my milk that fast but I know I have not drunk that much. That milk is for my diet… I am trying to improve myself, to make myself a better person. And you’re not FUCKING HELPING. You have made me so angry and frustrated that I am on the verge of tears. If I knew who you were you would be getting more than an earful.

Did you take my fat-free cream cheese, too?

I was going to have some for lunch with my apple, but the container is gone. Did you just take a little bit that wouldn’t be noticed… everyday… till it was gone? Did you think I wouldn’t noticed the whole container missing?! COCKSUCKER!

I need to go find something I can kick…

Hmm… I need a title…

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It would appear that I am not the only one around here in desperate need of a vacation. Many people I pass in the hallways of my work place have a look on their faces that screams “What the fuck am I doing here?!” along with an air of being plain worn out. For all I know it’s the precursor to some illness ravaging our dept’s ranks… which makes me all the more thankful for my new cube out on the edges surrounded by empty cubes. I’m taking tomorrow off though as a mental health day… there will probably be knitting and getting back on track with my classes (I’ve fallen a tad behind on the reading).

I pulled $100 out of my savings account today as that is the budget I have set for myself for visiting the Stitches Market on Saturday. (I’m so glad Stitches isn’t in Oakland this year… and having it in Santa Clara puts it 10 minutes down the highway from me.) As I was getting my budget out of the new mini ATM my credit union has installed in the cafeteria building on my work’s campus I noticed a sign saying that as a promotion they had randomly put fifties. Unfortunately, there were no fifties amongst my twenties. *pout* An extra $30 to spend on yarn would have been sweet.

It doesn’t look like we have anything planned for Sunday, which is good cause this weekend is jam-packed otherwise. Friday night, we’re driving down to Monterey to go to a wine tasting/silent auction with my parents. Saturday, I’m hitting Stitches. Saturday night, there’s a wake for the little girl who died last week. Sunday will probably be for recovery…. and fondling my Saturday purchases, I’m sure.

Getting back on track?

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Trying to get back into the habit of posting more often than once a week… should be slightly easy since I don’t have shawl time competing with blogging time anymore. Unfortunately, I am horribly sick… we’re talking the works here, folks… stuffy nose that occasionally runs, sore throat, plugged ears, bit o’ cough. I should be at home cuddled on my couch with a warm blanket watching something mindless while knitting or downloading wedding pictures from my camera so I can actually show you what the shawl looked like on my sister* as well as the pictures of knitting and spinning related loot that was gotten for Christmas… but, no, that’s not my reality… at the moment I’m at work trying to share my germs with all my co-workers cause I used the last of my time off to go to the wedding. Good planning on my part getting sick right afterwords, eh? *sigh*

*It looked really good on her; I was jealous. Everyone loved it… some were so surprised that I had made it they asked me 3 different times in amongst going on about how lovely it looked. I even have one friend asking what sort of bribes I would take to churn out another lace shawl that might be sent in her direction. *grin*

Just say "Bah!"

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Due to a various number of things, I feel completely drained. However, thanks to my sister’s wedding and me selfishly taking a week off at Thanksgiving, I am out of usable hours off. This of course means that I am at work and do not want to be. This means that when I have been at home the last few days I have thought that I should work on the Sister Shawl because the wedding count-down is growing terribly short, but I say “Bah!” I have been spinning instead… spinning a little bit of silk and now a little bit of baby alpaca which are dyed to coordinate with each other. I’m about half done with the alpaca, then there will be plying. I feel like a horrible blogger since entries have been sparse, without pictures, and rambling… this entry being a prime example.

I can only hope that the pain I am experiencing in my sinuses is from the sudden drop in atmospheric pressure affiliated with the rain storm that came through last night… cause otherwise I might be sick… without an usable hours off… and a manager who won’t let me work from home even though all I do is edit stuff. A co-worker has suggested I cough on him if I do indeed turn out to be sick.