Good night, Blue Eyes

Paul "Cool Hand Luke" Newman
1925-2008

Diagnosis: palinitis

I can hardly stomach watching her anymore. Her interview with Katie Couric? Vapid and redundant to the point that I was embarrassed for her. Seriously. I think I could speak more convincingly on the issues that she does. I think my daughter could come close.

[cleansing breath]

Here's some Sarahlevity to get you through the end of the week.

UPDATE: Can't see the video? Follow this link. (Damon video can be found here.)

A spoonful of sugar may help us endure the campaign season, but there ain't enough sweetener in the world for four years of this crap.

Vote.

Encourage your friends to vote.

Volunteer to drive people to the polls.

Get. Out. The. Freakin'. Vote.

My little politico

Today after church, Kidlet and I went to JoAnn Fabrics to scope out patterns for Halloween costumes. Turns out that, when in the presence of pattern books with oodles of choices, a decision is nigh on impossible. She wanted to be a different character at every bolt of fabric. Good Witch? Bad Witch? Dorothy? Too many fabrics, too little time.

As we were walking toward the checkout with one pattern in hand, we passed the wall of costume accessories, and Kidlet zeroed in on these masks:Yes, she can name Barack Obama on site!

Honestly, I just asked her to wave. How was I to know my camera phone would make it appear as if the Senator was flipping off the free world?

Please rise for George W. "Hear No Evil" Bush.

On a more serious note, we took an elective detour to cross the new I-35W bridge over the Mississippi. It was a bit surreal. Part of me barely noticed and took for granted that little bit of road north of downtown Minneapolis; another part noted the stark newness of the concrete deck and barriers, painfully aware of the broken slabs they were replacing. My thoughts are with everyone whose lives were changed a year ago.

Last but certainly not least...

...expensive?

Presenting the latest in convertible needle sets: the addi Click. From the LYS newsletter I received today:

The addi Click system provides 10 different sizes of addi Turbo™ tips (US 4 – US 15), three different lengths of our new, extremely pliable blue cord (24”, 32” and 40”), and one connector piece which helps to either store stitches or combine your cords. The Click tips require no tools to change; simply insert the cord deep into the tip, twist and release. The tips will remain secure until you change them.

Crikey, I don't think I want to see the price tag.
(approx. $149.95 US retail)

An auntie's day

Happy birthday wishes to my little sister (who is also an AWESOME aunt - just check the sticker from Kidlet's card if you need proof).

I love ya, Ness!

.

Fie on them

OK, everyone: I've been duped by new-wave advertising.

Apparently the cell phone popcorn video is an example of viral marketing, which is an ad (sometimes explicit, sometimes never seeming like an ad at all) designed to use pre-existing social networks to spread marketing messages like wildfire. Picture yourself hearing actors planted in a bar having audible conversations like "Ooh, this Xbrand beer is SO wonderful, blah blah blah").

Creepy, isn't it? What do we trust now?

Can you say speakerphone?

Holy crap.

Pop Corn téléphone portable micro-ondes
Uploaded by sassiere

On the nosey

I [heart] Tina Fey. This is spot on - enjoy!

Let's hear it for the boys

Everyone's favorite male knitter, Franklin Habit, has done it again. Check his blog to see photos from his upcoming release, Guys with Yarn: The 2009 Calendar. (I'd post photos, but I don't want to © infringe.)

I can think of at least three knitting dudes (and a big basket of she-knitters) who will be clearing a space on their walls for these bad boys of the fiber arts. Let the yarnplay begin...

Coming up for air

The Republicans have packed up and gone home.

The school year has begun.

Facebook is a fatal time-sucking black hole of doomy-doom-doom (thanks, friends).

Hopefully I'll have some actual knitting content next post. OMG. If I remember how to knit.

Check your facts, people

I can't begin to speak about what I listened to last night (on the radio) from the podium of the RNC in Saint Paul. Let's just say my view of a certain big-city mayor has changed forever, and, like eWAC, I'm also glad my mom isn't a pit bull with lipstick.

Please read this article. It's from the AP, not "an elitist liberal blog."

42 years

Happy anniversary, Nana and Papa - I love you!

What to do...

Dave Freeman, co-author of 100 Things To Do Before You Die, has died at the tender age of 47.

He wasn't gored by a bull in Pamplona.

He wasn't skewered through the heart by a stingray off the Great Barrier Reef.

He fell in his own home and hit his head.

Do you have your own list of experiences you crave or places you dream of visiting? Take a minute today and, somewhere on your computer, start your list. It doesn't have to be definitive, and it's completely open to editing at any time, but just write it down. You don't even need to assign numbers. Just. Write.

After you make your list, feel free to leave a comment on this post and share as many ideas as you'd like. Simple or complex, exotic or domestic - they're your dreams.

They're heeeere

The McCain campaign has made an announcement this morning, which (I'm guessing) they hope will be overshadowed by news from the Gulf Coast: Governor Sarah Palin is going to be a grandmother at 44 via her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, who plans to marry the father. Congratulations, Sarah!

Here's some additional reading material about the VP nominee, courtesy of the London Telegraph:

The allegations [of corruption] are bound to increase discomfort among Republicans about Mr McCain's choice of running mate. His main line of attack against his opponent Barack Obama - that Mr. Obama is not ready to lead the country - has been

undermined, by the prospect of Mrs. Palin, who has been governor for only 20 months, being forced to step in if Mr. McCain, who is 72 and has suffered several bouts of cancer, were unable to fulfil his duties.

Mrs. Palin's apparent lack of knowledge of or experience in foreign affairs has aroused particular concern. When asked in an interview for her thoughts on the "surge" of American troops, Mr. McCain's support for which is a key plank of the Republican campaign, Mrs. Palin said: "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."

In an interview last month, when it seemed unlikely she would be offered the role by Mr. McCain, Mrs. Palin dismissed the job of vice-president, saying that she couldn't understand what it would involve day to day.

Even Mrs. Palin's mother-in-law, Faye Palin, has said she doubts her suitability. Saying that she was still thinking of voting for Mr. Obama, she said: "I'm not sure what she brings to the ticket, other than she's a woman and a conservative."

In other Republican-based news, St. Paul is rolling out the red carpet for the (micro-)RNConvention. One little perk is double-decker tour buses which are serving as free shuttles up and down Grand Avenue. Yesterday, Kidlet and I hopped on. Why not, I thought? We were the ONLY riders on the bus, both ways. It was fun, taking Kidlet up the spiral stairs and sitting in the front seat up top, getting a bird's eye view of the Avenue. We were, however, waved at with a single finger 3 times by residents. The tack I'm taking is that these good liberals confused us for being of the "R" persuasion. I love my town!

We decided to swing through downtown to see how awkward it was. It was. We did get to see a herd of St. Paul's finest on bicycle patrol.