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Individual names began to be attached in the 1950s, with US meteorologists using initially the phonetic alphabet and then female names... In the 1970s feminist groups succeeded in changing the nomenclature to alternating male and female names.

I guess I can see where I might take offense if terribly destructive storms were only named after women, but seriously ladies, weren't there more important things to worry about? I don't want to seem ungrateful here, but I personally would have prioritized, say, equal pay for equal work over the equal gender division of hurricane nomenclature.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

[3]

Game Show Host: Which Wright brother made the first maiden flight at Kitty Hawk?
Me: (with absolute certainty) Frank!
Snook: (eyeing me askance) Uh, Orville.
Game Show Host: That's right; it was Orville, not Wilbur.
Me: (complete double-take) What the--? Who the hell is Frank?

It's my sinusitis, I swear.

[6]

Thanks to Deb for sending through this schweet picture of the Snook and me at Steve and Kate's Bollywood dinner last weekend...



And don't worry, Mom. That facial hair lasted about 24 hours before he shaved it off. :)

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

[4]

I have to face the fact that I have been in total denial about my nose for the past week. I have a full-blown sinus infection. I feel like somebody punched me in the face, and everytime I cough I feel like my eyeballs are going to pop out. Friday I'm off for some antibiotics...

Monday, September 19, 2005

[4]

Hamlet Text Adventure. See, this is why I hate these games: I get stuck. I'm stuck on the damn balcony talking to the ghost and I can't get off. I even tried jumping off and eating the bat.

[4]

This is the post wherein I MAKE KELLY MCMAHON'S YEAR: a complete video archive of SNL's Celebrity Jeopardy. Too bad I can't get Windows Media Player to work on my computer... (Link courtesy of geek fu.)

Sunday, September 18, 2005

In an incredibly unbelievable (but also strangely fateful, it would seem) twist, I won a skein of sock wool in the Give a Little Katrina Appeal. Should make some nice socks to donate to one of our Guild group's charities...

[2]

Holy crap! Hiroyuki Sakei, the "Delacroix of Japanese cooking," is coming to SYDNEY?? I've already sent in my contest entry. (Link courtesy of Amy, who'd also kill to go...)

So I ran over a dead wombat...
No, really. That was the only traffic-related incident of the weekend, though, so I'm going to chalk this one up in the "Win" column. We got into the Blue Mountains pretty easily Friday and made our way to the Melaleuca Chalets. As soon as we stepped out of the car, we noticed that it was frickin' freezing. Mountains are cold, yo! At Reception we figured out that we were the first arrivals and picked up the key. "We've got the fire going in your chalet," the owner told us. SWEEEEEET. And there it was, perched up on a hill: the Rosewood Chalet, also known as the Cutest Accommodation Ever. It was this tiny wooden cabin with a wood stove, kitchenette, double bedroom, bathroom, and kids' room with bunks. Oh, and cable TV. We were in heaven. And get this - there were kangaroos all over the property. They'd just bounce right up around your cabin. How weird is that? A really big one hopped out near the resort's driveway and I nearly drove off the road. It's like staying in a zoo!

The rest of the gang arrived not long after us and we all got ready for Steve's wedding. This is when tragedy struck - I felt a telltale tingle in my lip. The stress of getting my license and planning for this trip gave me a goddamn cold sore! I spent the next eight hours frantically rubbing Zovirax on at every opportunity but it was all for naught. That's why I didn't take any pictures; I was a horrible scabrous leper the whole time! (Not really, but I'm still gonna airbrush any pictures the other guys send me.) Read on for the rest of the weekend... [more...]

Saturday, September 17, 2005

[2] Moblog: White-knuckled terror In over five years, this is the first time I've ever been in a car the Snook was driving. Love means trust, folks!

Friday, September 16, 2005

[4] Moblog: Easy Rider Driving on the M4 towards Katoomba. No accidents yet!

Well, we got the rental car safely across the city and back to our place in the middle of rush hour traffic, so perhaps my driving skills aren't as rusty as I thought. The whole "turn signal on the right" thing is my biggest problem at this point. I keep flipping on my windshield wipers instead. The Snook says it's okay; everyone will just think I'm a Volvo driver.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

[13]

FINALLY!


Check out what I finally got today! No thanks to the incompetent jackasses at the Indiana BMV, who officially win the award for most backward-ass government office in the history of the world... But, bygones. More importantly, what's up with my hair there? In my defense, it was 9:30 in the morning on my day off and I'm sick as a dog.

In case any of you non-Aussies are wondering, the big flower in the middle is a waratah.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Jelly Yarn. The mind boggles. (Link courtesy of not martha.)

[6]

GO IRISH! Holy crap, #10? I might have to start listening to the games again.

[3]

Did you know that it's Vasectomy Awareness Week and that you can watch an actual vasectomy online? I sure as hell didn't. I obviously can't watch it at work, but I'm kinda curious to see what the procedure entails... (Hear that scream in the distance? That's the Snook reading this in his office across town.)

Monday, September 12, 2005

[1]

Man, when you TiVo and then liberally use the fast-forward button, Australian Idol is almost watchable! I have to admit, most of the performances this week were pretty boring. The Snook and I both liked Dan the best. I yelled out loud when Kate came onscreen: "Ahhh! BIG ARMS! NO SPAGHETTI STRAPS!" like the fashion robot I have become. I mean, seriously, though. She's a gorgeous girl but that tank made her look like a linebacker. The most unintentionally hilarious moment of the show was during Chris's intro video, when I mused "He looks like Weird Al Yankovic's slightly 'cuter' younger brother..." and the Snook added, "...Yeah, crossed with the TOE SUCKER from Six Feet Under!" I'm still laughing.

[2]

Amy's going to LOVE this: Peeps Go to the Library. They're so cute! And vile. (Link courtesy of Pop Culture Junk Mail.)

[14]

Does anybody else really, really want to see Brokeback Mountain? Because I am all about gay cowboy lurve...

[2]

The Snook and I need to whip up last minute Bollywood costumes for the wedding this weekend. Anybody got any ideas? I'm asking over on AskMeFi too...

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Yesterday Amy and I headed out to Westfield Bondi Junction with the aim of picking out a new dress for me to wear to Steve and Kate's wedding this weekend. We were armed with a copy of the What Not to Wear book and I was confident that, with Trinni and Susannah and Amy's help, I couldn't go wrong. We marched into Myer repeating the lessons from the "Big Tits" and "Big Arms" sections: no high necks, no short sleeves, go for deep V's and 3/4-length sleeves. Lo and behold, the first dress I tried on was a plain black wrap dress, the kind that fashionistas are always telling you look great on everyone. And guess what? It looked fabulous on me. (That's what Amy said, anyway.) We tried on a bunch more but I kept coming back to that one. My only worry is that it's a bit more "grown-up" than I normally dress, but I guess the bright red hair will counteract any Mrs. Robinson effect, right? We finished it off with some sexy black sandals and a bling-y long silver necklace. Don't worry; I'll be posting a photo soon. (And if you're in Sydney, you'll probably see me wearing this everywhere as it's the most flattering thing I own.)

On a related note, I actually tried on one or two size 14 garments... and they fit! Not perfect, but I didn't rip them like the Hulk or anything. I'm getting closer to my goal!

[1]

Today I had my second attempt at teaching a circular sock knitting class, and I'm happy to report this one was a huge improvement over the last. It helped that I changed the course description to make it more of an intermediate lesson, which meant I wasn't struggling with people who didn't know the difference between a knit and a purl. I also only had four people this time so I could give them a lot more individual attention. We managed to pretty much get through both mini-sock projects I had prepared - a traditional "leg down" turned-heel sock and a "toe-up" short-row heel sock - and I think everybody learned something new. Surprisingly, they all loved the short-row sock (which my original group just couldn't get their heads around). So I guess I've cracked the secret to teaching: get better students. :)

Saturday, September 10, 2005

[12]

I'm involved in an interesting argument over at Witty Knitter. Basically, it all started when M-H opined that people donating money to disaster relief just to win prizes were "weird." I actually agree with her on that point, and I think most people would. You shouldn't give to charity just because you think you might get something back. Where we differ though, is that I don't see anything crass about a group reporting how much they've raised or about people who don't have cash donating gifts for those who do. (Assuming they're giving away things they already have and that wouldn't be of much use to disaster victims.) I think purely anonymous philanthropy is a nice concept but human nature gets in the way. I hate to think of the struggle my sister would have raising money for cancer research if she told corporations "Sorry, for idealogical reasons we're not going to name you or give you any positive press." So it's an argument that isn't really an argument. I just maintain that there's no point in speculating about the motives of a bunch of strangers on the Internet and writing them off as "weird" when what they're doing doesn't hurt anybody and, in fact, quite explicitly helps a lot of people. I dunno. I've just been irritated this week by all the holier-than-thou types insinuating that anyone who gives to charity is somehow defective or self-centered, and that we should all watch New Orleans regress into the Stone Age to score a political point against George Bush.

[1]

Bruce's Gloves
A few weeks ago I was teaching a private lesson after hours in the shop when a nice old guy knocked at the door. He asked if we repaired things for people, and I said we did, but that we were closed and he'd have to come back the next morning. Twelve hours later, there he stood. His name was Bruce and he had a much loved pair of fingerless gloves... but he'd lost one of them recently. He wanted a new pair to replace them. None of our usual contract knitters wanted to do it so I volunteered. This is what I ended up with. The wool is Sirdar's Town and Country sock wool, chosen because his originals were knitted in a variegated brown-and-white. They were a weird thickness of cotton though, so I had a hell of a time approximating the shape in a completely different guage wool. I also messed up the reverse shaping on the second glove and spent two nights repeatedly frogging it back to the thumb. I got there in the end though. I was worried he wouldn't like them but he was totally happy, which was a major relief. No more commission jobs for a while, I think. Knitting for other people is too stressful.

Friday, September 9, 2005

[2]

The iTunes 5 Announcement From the Perspective of an Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal User Interface Theme. BWA HA HA! My favorite bit is when drunk Aqua calls him up at the end and calls him "bee-yotch." (I downloaded iTunes 5 this morning but I haven't installed it yet, so I can't really give a personal review of the new look yet.)

My sister sent me the funniest e-mail. You'll recall that she works for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society of California, and her fundraising work means that she often has to liase with "celebrities."

Subject: are you and wil wheaton cool again?
cause i know there was possibly some miscellaneous cyber tension between the two of you a while back...i forget why? anyway, i'm going to try and contact him about our event. ha! i don't want him to somehow find out your my damn sister and think i'm stalking him or something.

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