November 2003 Archives

Mason and Reese have a horse named Uncle.

A cool, new, all-in-one universal remote that even works on a DirectTV with TiVo receiver? Say it ain't so! SO!!! Of course I was skeptical but we bought it anyway and for God's sakes, it actually WORKS. Well, on everything but the Yamaha DVD player which for the life of me, I can't figure out, but regardless, the fact that it integrates the TV, the audio receiver, and the TiVo is enough for me so that basket of remotes can now be put away.

Yah! I'm in lypolysis again. Last time it took me more than 72 hours to burn my stores of carbohydrates before I converted over. This time it took the normative 48 hours so I'm feeling more human than potato, again.

I'm currently standing next to my mailbox awaiting the arrival of Ron and Marlin's wedding announcement.

Harry Potter III teaser trailer up and online. Release date June 2004

Supposed All Star Survivor line-up named.

The Polar Express, trailer is up. Release date: November 2004

Not content to just knit my way to, through, and back from Ohio, I ran out and bought a quick read that had been on my list for a few weeks, Confessions of a Deathmaiden, which had a cool title and a great front-flap review: a midwife to the dying who helps people cross-over is set-up in the murder of a child and has to discover who the real killers are to exonerate herself and her sister-hood. The story was certainly that, but it was generally lacking in much of anything interesting, despite the fictional deathmaidens who come off as impotent spiritualists who have to give up on everything worldly to be able to do their work and who, by definition of their work abhor organ donation. I mean, how do you turn organ donation into a bad thing? And their work is a bit wonky, even for my liking, and I like stuff like that. Deathmaidens are called to help guide the dying through the use of therapeutic touch and other alternative medicine venues, visualizing the dying through colors and forms to determine if they're ready to move on or if they're lagging and need directions, which they help provide.
Anyway, the story winds in and out of southern California and most chapters can't be finished without a description of something the chick ate for dinner. Then it takes a weirdo turn and she ends up being tortured in a South American prison while on some Mayan artifact quest. The whole thing made me wonder if I wasn't reading The Celestine Prophecy all over again.
All in all, I'd have to recommend a pass on this one.

Heard as Jeff and I, knitting intently, were sitting next to the check-in counter at the US Air gate 23 in Pittsburgh this afternoon:
Questionable Mother:Jake Joseph!! Stay RIGHT here with me!
Jake Joseph: OK, Mommy (tears off down the aisle towards the moving sidewalks)
QM:Jake Joseph...you come back here RIGHT NOW!
JJ:<ignoring his mother but heading back towards the check-in counter anyway>
QM: Jake Joseph....if you don't stay right HERE with me, all those people you see looking at you are going to snatch you away from me and you'll never be heard from again.
Jeff to Me: She could only HOPE.
Me to Jeff: Word.

Awesome...now as we're getting new fasionable updates, redesigning our messy homes into swanky hipster homes and learning how to make a smart cocktail, we can do it to music. The Queer Eye for the Straight Guy Soundtrack is due out....um...well, apparently I'll have to wait until I'm 40, but still, AWESOME. Things just keep getting better.

I'm not one for video/PC games which I know is strange. No Doom or Halo or CarTheft2003. I don't own a PS2 or XBox or GameCube which only sort of invalidates me as a fully functioning member of 2003 except when you realize I only just got my first cell-phone about three weeks ago which puts me well out into the invalid acreage of yesterday. But the one exception is Myst, Riven, and Exile...those quiet, self-directed, full-emersion worlds of puzzle solving. And now the next one, Uru, is coming November 14th. Awesome.

Knitting is coming along swimmingly, thankyouverymuch. I actually got several rows of knit-one, purl-2 done with only moderate shoulder pain. I see a new scarf in my future. I'm so lame.

Heaven help us...we've started giving Tivo's as gifts.

After buying 2 pairs of size 6 aluminum needles, 3 skeins of acrylic/wool blend yarn in varying hues, 2 more skeins of acrylic practice yarn, 'Stich'n Bitch', 'How to Knit' CD ROM, and a few other odds and ends, all at a total of $43.27, the knitting has begun. All I can say is thank God for both the book AND the CD-ROM or we never would have figured out the simple but intricate flow of loops and knots...and ibuprofen as I now have repetitive stress injury in my left rotator-cup from the high-strung, anxiety-produced "clutch of death" I had on my needles. All that led to continually knitting small, tight loops which in an ass is a good thing but in knitting was enough to cause me to knit and then unravel 38 out of the 41 times I set out to make a 5-inch swatch. I'm assured via written and oral communications that relaxation is a welcomed by-product of knitting but I can tell you from an entire night of knitting in my dreams that just isn't something that's landed on our doorstep yet.