One reason i'm glad i'm not an undergrad

Says "so dirty you'll beg for a shower." ad by axe. more to come on this. . .
HeatherViaPhone

SOAR: On the Upswing

SOAR!*
First, before I get all snipey, as always, the people from Interweave and the Spinners themselves, are spectacular people I've been able to spend a van ride and a breakfast with Jan and Meg from the UK (Basingstoke--home of the Magic Roundabout) and they once again confirmed my love of all fiber folk. We're just great.

Okay, enough of the happy happy.

We got here after a VERY HOT AND HUMID VAN RIDE--for which I wasn't prepared. It's suddenly 85 degrees here--it was 70-75 on the Google Weather up until the morning I packed. Did I have the computer on while packing?
No I did not.
Am I woefully under prepared?
O yes
And no umbrella.
Will it rain?
O yes
Was that on the radar?
O no.

So, fine. I'm at a resort, right? It's not like I'm going to be OUTside! I'm going to be INSIDE at the conference meetings.

Um...except for the whole, "oh, um...yeah...we're remodeling, so we had to move rooms around."

My room was not only craptastic, but it was hell-and-gone from the main building (steep hill down to the room or up to the conference). Now, in all honestly, I can use/don't mind the walk, but rain + spinning wheel isn't good.
There is a way, though, I'm sure.
There have to be shuttles and such things.

Well...there sort of are...sort of...

Okay, fine. So the room is decorated in Victoria Club, (Riverside, CA) circa 1979.
Fine.
Whatever.
It smells musty and vaguely unused.
Okay...at least I'm not sneezing.
There's a little refrigerator...so that's good right?...and would be great if I had a way to get some groceries...
But...okay...I'm surviving.

But.
There is no hairdryer--I know this doesn't sound catastrophic, but I don't have comb-and-go hair any more. So...drowned rat is my new morning look, followed by the you-did-a- lousy-job-ironing-your-flatass-hair lack-of-body look.

But why should I care? My husband is in AZ. He wouldn't care anyway.
That's how wonderful he is!

But.
BUT!

The Internet is down!

The Only Thing I Asked About When Making a Reservation...
The Only Thing I Wrote About Just To Make Sure and Confirm...

"Does the room have an internet hookup?"

I don't even care if it's wireless. I'm prepared. I just need access.

O there was a signal. But it was a faux signal. One that you couldn't actually USE, you could just SEE it...like Tantalus, I spent HOW much time last night trying to get it to work???

All reminiscent of Thing One and me in Denver...

So this morning I go to the desk to ask about a hairdryer and the internet and was told that (a) housekeeping could get me "a hairdryer...maybe....we'll see...", and (b) "yeah, um...the internet's been down in that building for weeks...we keep calling..."

Long story short... My room was in a condo. The condo association is responsible for the wireless. 'Nuff Said.

So I beg. I plead. I smile nicely and remind her that it's the ONLY thing I requested.

"We'll see what we can do. You can bring your laptop up here, we have desks back there..."

Didn't I see a business center on the map?

"It's closed for the renovation..."

Ah...

The "desks" were dinner tables.

In the space next to the indoor pool...that much humidity and me? And my laptop?
Eh...

I head to breakfast with no faith, but a "what the heck can I do about it" regard to the day.

I get back to my room (after a very nice meal with Jan and Meg) and start working...then the phone rings. It is, in fact, Jessica at the front desk telling me they have a "studio" I can have in the big house.

I assume this means I'm moving to a closet. I don't care. I'm ecstatic! Uncontainable enthusiasm returns! I will have a connection to the world and work! I'll be able to put the podcast up! I am fully realized again.

The van comes to get me (15 minutes late, but who's counting) and I get my new (working) key, open the door and here's what I see--in order:

1) A really bitchen Murphy Bed
2) OMG there's a whole kitchenette here!!!!
3) OMG there's a fireplace here!!!!!
4) OMG

there
is
a
whirlpool
tub
here!!!

I don't deserve this.

But, in my defense, I didn't yell or scream. I was very nice. I just asked to have internet--like they promised me when I booked my stay.

The only thing wrong now is that have a WHIRLPOOL TUB AND ANDREW'S NOT HERE!

There is a cruel irony there.

And now, it's time to get lunch, then back to work...

*Spin-Off Autumn Retreat

Life, don't talk to me about life...

Life is both boring and terrifying all at once.

There's no work at work, so I'm not going to make enough this month to pay the bills.

At all.

Then there's the boring part. I have a lot of "stuff" to do, but most of my time is so fractured with teaching Thing 1, running around with Things 1 and 2, now teaching (which, when I'm taking the bus is a godsend of unadulterated time), and then...the stuff I do to myself (spinning, knitting, podcasting).

I'm trying, in the middle of all that, to find time to write--for publication--and that's what's got me right now. I need more than 15 minutes here or there, or an hour at night when I'm wiped out, to get the articles done and the book draft done.

Blah blah blah.
Bitch bitch bitch...

And in the middle of it all, I know I'm one of the luckiest people on the planet.

Video Killed the Radio Star

There is something so sweet about this group...

Overwhelming Ennui

I have a vague idea of why, but really, the important thing here is that I am completely overwhelmed by melancholy right now. Yeah, AO is traveling, and that's always a bummer, but it's more than that.

I know on last year's podcast of this time-ish i mentioned feeling this way and here I go again.

This time, however, I think I sussed it.

It's the light.

I remember distinctly how, upon moving to NYC, I could see the seasons in the quality of the light. Something about the angle of it...the way it filtered in the windows differently...you can see Fall coming.

I know it's still August and even in NY there's a good chance that nice weather is at least a week or two off...but...the light is changing here. I can see it. It's distinctly different in the morning and evenings. Beautiful. It's the approach of Fall.
But...
It's 100° out.

Seriously.

Okay, now it's evening and it's not...well...hell, maybe it is. I know it won't be for long. But it'll only get down to 78° or so tonight and my Web Weather Monitor tells me tomorrow will be 102°.

This is not Fall.

I never really did the "season" thing before, having grown up here in the Southwest, but eleven years in NY... it's... it's very very hard to lose that. I suppose it's something primal... something... internal. I don't know. All I know is I'm sad. And it should be cooling off. And I miss my seasons.

In October sometime, the nights will start to cool off, and we'll have some days that are in the low 90s and it'll be dry again. That will be nice. Then, by November, we'll be sitting in sweaters around the fire pit at night.

But that should start in a little over a month...not a little over two. And I should have Jackie and John and Liisa and Professor Eval with me (a little Eval must enter every life).

There's something in my body that's telling me one thing while my environment is telling me another.

I wonder how many years it will take to erase this?

In the meantime, I'll just be...like this...

Up Again...

This time it was me being stupid.

I watched Zodiac with Andrew.

So...here I am. Why? Because there is also a hellacious rainstorm going on...it sounds like it just took out our rooftop satellite dish.
Ah...more fun for tomorrow.

We need the rain, no doubt, but I can hear the beating the house is taking. I'm tempted to go out on the backporch just to see how bad the flooding is in the wash...I just heard the gate smack itself open/shut again.

I wonder how long it will take the boys to wake up scared.

Ah well...if my eyes weren't so bleary I'd go knit...tra la la...

Redwood creek Pino Noir. Surprisingly

Redwood creek Pino Noir. Surprisingly good.
HeatherViaPhone

How I spent my Saturday Morning

In trying to avoid the slow pace of the Blogger picture upload, I tried to use the iWeb feature of iPhoto and screwed myself in the process. Now you have to go here to see what I did.

My personal vision of hell
HeatherViaPhone

Ridiculous Bureaucracy

Few things burn my butt more than Ridiculous Bureaucracy--and I seem to find the majority of it close to schools. And today was ALL ABOUT Ridiculous Bureaucracy.

We began yesterday, actually, trying to hunt down the correct division of the NYC Bored Board Department of Ed which sent me a WTC registry form. Evidently they want to keep track of those of us who were there on 9/11 and/or worked/lived down near Ground Zero for the year after 9/11/2001. Why? Because we were breathing toxic soup and they're anticipating that we'll die—early.

At least, that's what I think.

BUT.

It isn't enough that they have my records on file which prove that I worked there. No. That would be too simple. So, some stealth office sends out a form. Which I fill out. That I then have to get notarized (see how nice it is to be trusted by your employer! What a gesture of good faith. Boy, it makes me want to work harder for them).

I had the completed letters in the back of the car with the other errands (returning goggles that don't fit, that sort of thing) only to have my DH return from a trip and throw them out in a fit of fatherly cleanliness (not that I'm complaining).

This is only sort of egregious--I leave things around all the time. I know it's annoying. I also know that he recognizes the unique/ugly font on All Things DoE. Did he toss it out of spite? I'll never know...

So. The letter is gone.

I spent close to 3 hours yesterday trying to track down the office that sent it out so I could get a copy and redo it--it's due sometime this month.

NO ONE KNEW WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT.

Here's the kicker--The LEGAL COUNSEL for the ENTIRE DISTRICT didn't know...which means...what? They didn't vett the thing? I think that's the scariest part of the story.

So, today I called my faithful friend Josie to see if she had a photocopy of her form (she did) and if she'd fax it (she will) so I can be tracked for when I die young and Andrew and the kids will (at least) get some money out of it.

It's the least I can do.

Then today's fun was with the UofA.

In a rare fit of efficiency, NYU--who I faxed a request to last night--immediately faxed over my immunization records to the UofA health office so I could (finally) enroll for a summer program. I was floored at how fast they moved. But not as floored as I was to find out that my two MMR shots ('68 and '69) don't' count b/c there was a measles outbreak here in 1979 (Was I living here then? NO!) so I need to have ANOTHER shot.

Can they get me the shot?

Well...not until I'm registered.

When will I be registered?

When I have the shot.

See my point?

Add to that the letter I just received from the UofA domicile office. I'm not a resident. I may have to "prove two years of financial independence". I can resubmit paperwork in JULY '07 (the program I'm in is JUNE '07). I gather that uprooting my family from NY and buying a house here for us all to live in doesn't count in the whole Domicile thing. I'm just another semi-legal Alien here in AZ.

I understand these rules are for students who are Kids.
I understand that this is how the Universities make money--out-of-state tuition being a cash cow.
I get it.
I do.

But I'm forty now.
I
Have
Had
It
With
Stupid
Checkboxes
Where
People
Aren't
Allowed
To
Use
Their
Brains
And
THINK
About
Why
The
Checkbox
Is
There.

Am I a resident?
You bet your arse I am! I bought a house! My kids are in school here!

Am I carrying the measles virus?
Um...no!
Wanna do a blood test? Then YOU do the blood test! I held up my end! You have my MMR report (good enough for NY, btw).

So, blah.

I'm ticked.

Whatever.

Business Acumen

I know, I know I'm way behind the times on this story, but it just bears repeating. I wonder what the actual numbers (subscribers and cash) actually were that these fools walked away from?! I'm used to stupidity like this in, say, the NYC Bored Board Department of Ed, but for an actual BUSINESS?!

Golden Compass Fun!

Pain: Two Kinds

First: Oral Surgery. Ouch.
Drugs—Niiiiiice.

But enough of that.

My mind is with Virginia now, not in some sappy "I feel your pain" way, but more like, "the horror...the horror..."

Having lived through my little corner of 9/11 and the aftermath, I can honestly say how sorry I am that these kids will forever measure their days by this moment. This blip on an otherwise lovely life. This is their own little corner of hell, and many, too many of them are going to wrestle with survivor's guilt and "what if" and "if only" and there's a huge part of me that wishes I could take that away from them.

Then there's Keith Olberman...

Last night Olberman talked about the disconnect between mourning the kids who died at VT and (the lack of mourning for) the kids who died in the last ten days in Iraq and he made me think...

There are too many of us who think, "well, the kids in Iraq knew what they were signing up for. They KNEW they might die...I mean, they're in the Millitary fer chrissake."

But that isn't true. I mean, they know they're WILLING to die for their country. But I cannot believe any of them signed up TO die. Nor did they sign up for this war. Rememeber what we of the hubris said back in the '90s?

The next war will be all buttons.

There won't be another war.

You should join the military! You'll get some discipline and some good training and think of what you can do with all that experience.

I think we're jaded these days in some really ugly ways.

Jaded and mean.

And I'm including myself in there. I've gone there too.

WWMDfK?

Makes me sick...

And So It Goes...

Rest in Peace, Kurt Vonnegut.
I miss you already.

Sorting-hat.com says you're in Ravenclaw!

Sorting-hat.com says you're in Ravenclaw! For the Harry Potter Sock Swap!



I'm a Ravenclaw! My first swap ever!

Oooh! And look

Sort Me!

A DIFFERENT sorting hat said Ravenclaw!

A third said I was tied Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff (at least I'm not in Slytherin!)

---

And my questionnaire:

Hogwarts Sock Swap Questionnaire

1. What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into?

Lo, unto me has been given the honor of the house of Ravenclaw. (Thank God it's not Slytherin...)

2. Shoe size?

My shoe could kick a Basilisk's butt--it's a 10 women's.

3. Foot Length?

A sprightly 10 inches (that's not always true, is it?--size same as length)

4. Foot Circumference?

REDONE MEASUREMENT: A svelte (for a size 10) 9.25".

5. List your three favorite double-point needle brands, including size and length.

a. I am a sucker for Lantern Moon anything, and I'm a sock knitter, so anything size 2 or smaller.
b. Inox, 8", steel, size 000 (not only killer for fine sock yarn, but killer needles in general!)
c. size 0, 00, 000 any brand circs longer than 20" (I know, they're not DPNs, but I often do two socks at once...)

6. Would you like to try a new brand needle? If so, which brand? Size? Length?

I am always up for adventure (as anyone from Ravenclaw should be) and therefore, I'm thrilled with a surprise...or challenge...or...anything. I've been good in DAtheDAs.
; )

7. If you are a RAVENCLAW, do you prefer the colors in the film or the book? Do you have a strong preference?

Blue/Bronze (book) and Blue/Silver (films) are both lovely. No preference at all. Just...you know...no woosie powder blue...I'm in Ravenclaw for goodness sake! What would Rowena say???

8. Are you willing to have an international Hogwarts Sock Pal?

Heck yeah! Bring it on!

And evidently my HP name is:

Everyone see here,
Heather Anne Hutchinson Ordover done it! Splendid!

You have succesfully transfigurated yourself into
Lavender Caerphilly

According to the Random HP Name Generator!