In Loving Memory of Mia

Sadly the day came today to say goodbye to Mia. He put up a great fight but in his old age (we think around 23) he simply wasn't having a good quality of life. It was a hard decision to put him down but we knew it was for the best.

Mia was a fighter -- 20 some odd years ago I picked Mia up at the airport, a sickly kitten that was given to my brother's partner as a gift from a class of flight attendants he was training who were all going to Miami International Airport (thus the name M.I.A.). The class got him from a pet store in Texas. The stupid people at the pet store thought he was a female and didn't realize how sick he was. He had a bad case of diarrhea and was touch and go for a few weeks.

Mia obviously made it through his early illness and became quite a character. He was a companion to a long line of pets, family members and friends. Hopefully all his previously departed furry, feathered, and scaly brothers and sisters greeted him today as he joined them crossing the rainbow bridge.

We'll miss you Mia.

Target Domo-Kun

David told me a while ago that Target was selling Domo-Kun stuff. But I totally forgot, until now. I must run to Target and get the plush Domo's before they're gone.



He's too cute for words. I just adore him.

How Sarah Palin's mind works

I got this hysterical flow diagram in an email today showing Sarah Palin's thought process when debating.

WARNING: Make sure you have emptied your bladder before reading




Credit: Jason MacFarlane || Lead Genius || Apple, Inc. 1038 Baybrook Mall, Friendswood, TX 77546

Stick it to Sarah Palin

My very brilliant Junior Highschool/Highschool friend created an awesome group on Facebook. It's called "Donate to Planned Parenthood in Sarah Palin's honor!!!" Please join the group and make a donation following the directions. If you're not on Facebook and still want to have a laugh, donate to a good cause and let Sarah know just how you feel, following these directions.

************* Directions ****************

Instead of us all sending around emails about how horrible Sarah Palin is, let's all make a donation to Planned Parenthood in Sarah Palin's name.

And here's the good part: when you make a donation to PP in her name, they'll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor. Here's the link to the Planned
Parenthood website:

https://secure.ga0.org/02/pp10000_inhonor

You'll need to fill in the address to let PP know where to send
the "in Sarah Palin's honor" card. I suggest you use the address
for the McCain campaign headquarters, which is:

McCain for President
1235 S. Clark Street
1st Floor
Arlington , VA 22202

PS make sure you use that link above or choose the pulldown of Donate--Honorary or Memorial Donations, not the regular "Donate Online"

**************** end of directions **************

I actually made sure the post card had Sarah's name on it so I filled in the first name as: "Sarah Palin", and the last name as "c/o McCain for President".

When whimsy goes bad

When we first moved to North Queen Anne we didn't realize how close we were to Fremont. The thrill of being between 2 nice neighborhood centers was invigerating. Plus we were very happy that we were so close to Lake Union. We even thought that it was nice to have a cute bridge to cross. And it adds to the beautiful urban landscape.

Well that whimsical highlight was short-lived, at least from David's perspective. An old friend used to have a saying of which I will paraphrase, 'Don't put things you don't want to happen into the Universe (either verbally or in thought)'.

The cute drawbridge that connects us to the Fremont neighborhood goes up very often, especially during the summer, to let tall ships pass. It was a novelty for us at first that David quickly grew tired. And I truly believe that because he dislikes having to wait for the bridge to return to its crossible and prone position, 99% of the time that he comes close to the bridge the familar boat horn blows, the bridge warning bells ring, the blockacade drops and up goes the drawbridge. The percentage for me happens a lot less. I understand that I have no control of the situation.

A few weeks ago I captured this lovely pic:



Maybe David could benefit from following my friend's saying, don't you think :-)?

There Are No New Ideas

So I'm taking my 2nd and 3rd knitting classes this weekend with Debbie Abrahams. She's in town from England promoting her latest book, Design Your Own Knits in 5 Easy Steps. The first class I took with her was a few years ago back in Oakland at Article Pract (I miss my old LKS) on finishing techniques that I absolutely loved. Debbie and her sister were fantastic.

I have had this idea for an Asymmetric Argyle Sweater Vest running through my head for probably about 3 years. I figured now's my chance to take a stab at designing my first knitted garment, and maybe something that no one else has ever done before.

Ummm, yeah right is all I can say.

I was perusing and reading a post on a co-workers blog about the latest Knitty issue so I figured I'd check it out. Lo and behold guess what I found in the issue? Yup, a men's sweater vest with an asymmetric argyle pattern. Sure it's not exactly what I was thinking of. But 'fuck' was the first thing out of my mouth. Admittedly I had this silly idea that maybe my first design would be sooooo coool and 'original' that I would submit it to Knitty, and it would be approved for an up and coming issue.

Arghhh! I'm reminded of what my art history professor said in one of her boring lecture halls, 'there are no new ideas'. That was hard to hear as an art major. Maybe that statement is true but it won't stop me from striving for originality.

BTW, I have been knitting but been too lazy to post my progress. I finished a lace/cable knit scarf and am getting close to finishing my first attempt at knitting a women's sweater for my sister-in-law Cheryl. I'll try and post pics in the next few days.

Quick Observations: Macho Truck

Is it me or are you scratching your head the same way I did when I saw what was hanging from the back of this truck?


(taken with my crappy cell phone camera through my dirty windshield)

I mean I know that there's a mystique that trucks are tough but WTF are those orange things?