Whoa… My e-mail to the ABC got our WWKIP Day pictures linked on their Arts blog! I also got in a plug for the TC SnB. Sweet!

Later: Someone from the Public Broadcasting Company of Japan read the article and rang the shop asking about both the Sydney stitch and bitch groups and the Melbourne “Knitta” people. I explained that the “knit graffiti” movement – as far as I can tell – seemed to be inspired more by magazine articles than any real creative urge. (It’s the same problem I have with the zombie thing, really.) She also seemed oddly fixated on how many men were coming to these knitting groups. She actually said she had a funny image of a bunch of funky young guys sitting around knitting. And while I know that would make a great image for a story, it’s sadly not the case. I’d love to get more guys interested in knitting, but most of them still think it’s a bit of a joke (as witnessed by the drunken louts who stopped by WWKIP Saturday). Maybe I should organise “Teach a Guy to Knit Day” or something. Anyway, I tried to play up the “hip” factor of Sydney knitting without giving her too much the wrong idea…

This morning the Snook and I watched this clip of a lyrebird from one of David Attenborough’s nature specials. Lyrebirds are native to Australia and I’d heard they were good mimics, but I had no idea. It’s amazing! The chainsaws and the camera are the bits that blew my mind.

HOLY CRAP! Australia stuns Japan 3-1. I’m kicking myself for going to bed after the disappointing first half. (In my defense, we bought a new heater yesterday and being toasty warm is not conducive to staying up after midnight…)

“Tabby Cat Chases Bear Up Tree, Twice.” HA! This is particularly relevant this weekend because I finally managed to witness Dr. Amy’s mistreatment of the Snook. He’s maintained for some time that she attacks him whenever I leave the house, and he has a theory that he’s below her in the family power structure. (I, of course, am the top.) I just laughed at him until I actually saw her nonchalantly walk up to him and then lunge at his leg (resulting in a four-inch-long scratch). So yeah, I can totally buy a cat terrorizing a bear. Snookums is just lucky we don’t have any tall trees around. (Link courtesy of John.)

Raiders of the Lost Banana. Dude, with nanners up around AUD$12 a kilo (like US$8 a pound), I’d become a banana bandit too! (The Snook wants me to link to a picture of Mr. Banana Grabber here, but I can’t find one.)

You can see the photos here. I gotta say, I was really, really impressed with the turnout we had. The weather was about as good as could be expected – it sprinkled a bit at first but held off the rest of the day. (We were under cover anyway.) The folks at the Sidewalk Cafe looked a little worried when they saw how many people were turning up, but we kept buying stuff and that seemed to assuage them. People walking by kept doing double-takes when they saw our sign, and we even managed to talk a few into knitting with us! This is definitely going to have to become an annual (or semi-annual) event.

I’ve got some Amazon gift certificates burning a hole in my e-pocket, so I headed over there today to order the Veronica Mars DVDs. I was alarmed to see a notice that my “June 6 order has recently shipped.” I didn’t place any order on June 6th. What’s even more disturbing is, the site won’t let me in to view the details of that order. All I can see is that it’s a Simpsons Clue game and it was sent to someone named “John Mackill.” I never ordered this. I don’t know that person. I never received the usual order confirmation e-mails. My fear and paranoia is balanced by the fact that they couldn’t possibly have charged to my credit card (my old number expired months ago and I haven’t put the new one in yet), and none of my gift certificate credit seems to be missing. I’ve sent through an e-mail to Support. Snookums thinks that it’s just a screw-up, and that someone else’s order has become associated with my account (which is why it won’t let me see the details). Besides, if you were going to scam someone, you’d buy more than a $20 board game, right? Just to be on the safe side, I’ve changed my Yahoo and Amazon passwords to the most elaborate gobbledygook I can possibly remember. I’m crossing my fingers this is all just a mistake.

Update Two Days Later: Yep, it was a mistake. Of course, it took two e-mails and an international phone call to clear that up. *sigh* I’m gonna have to ding their customer service score on this one.

Dad, your dreams have come true. Some guy is starting up a professional deer hunting league. YOUR DESTINY AWAITS!