Bored, with nothing to say at the moment. Therefore I present my answers to a Wednesday meme.

Wednesday Whatevers

Posted at 10:03 AM | (0)

• The Carrow’s chain of restaurants started in SB. Awhile back I noticed that the Carrow’s on Fairview in Goleta closed. This afternoon I saw that another establishment had taken its place…Denny’s! I find this to be a bit incredible—there was a Carrow’s in Goleta and a Denny’s in SB. If one needed to eat something at 3am, one would drive to whichever was closer, as their food and service are about comparable. So how was Carrow’s driven out of business? It’s obviously not location, or else another IDENTICAL establishment wouldn’t have moved in!
• Polarized sunglasses are kinda trippy to drive with. I got a pair right before my vacation and now whenever I look at my car windows from certain angles, I see little circles of light—I guess from the way the windows and sunglasses filter said light. Anyway, it’s weird, but kinda cool.

Posted at 6:41 PM | (2)

Today I decided to walk to the public gardens again to do a bit of reading and get out of the house a bit.

As I sat on a bench, I saw a group of young boys, not older than 10 I’d say, running around. The thing that struck me about these boys was their appearance. From the looks of them, they were wanna-be hardcore punk kids. One had long blonde hair and was dressed all in black—including LEATHER pants! One had blonde hair half shaved, with streaks of bright color, and the other had dark brown hair, almost all shaved except for very long strands in the front. They were actually all dressed in complete black, but with varying accessories.

The thing that made it more strange was why they were running through the garden in the first place—they were playing hide and seek! I guess no matter what you dress them up in, to a certain extent, kids will be kids! But I have to wonder why their parents thought this style of dress was a good idea…

Posted at 3:56 PM | (4)

Ugh, maybe being financially independent isn’t all it’s cracked up to be! Living alone, I’ve suddenly got all these issues that I didn’t have to deal with when I lived with my parents and they supported me.

Last night my stupid toilet backed up, and of course being the handy, domestic person I am (not), I don’t own a plunger. So I have to go buy one. Only problem is, I had a scheduled appointment to have my car serviced today, so I have to wait until I get off work and pick up my car to buy anything. Not that I even know how to unclog a toilet. The thought alone totally grosses me out—especially when my bathroom could stand to be cleaned. *Sigh*

So anyway, the car is in for 30,000 mile service, which isn’t free, because I don’t own a luxury car with a free service package. I then get a call saying that two of my tires are in really bad shape, and the other two are almost as bad, so I should probably replace them all. So now I have this unexpected cost on top of what I already am shelling out today.

I’ve never bought a tire before, so I don’t know what is cheap and what is expensive, but I just looked around online, and IT’S EXPENSIVE TO REPLACE 4 TIRES NO MATTER WHAT! It’s going to cost between $360-$640, depending on if I get them from the dealer or not, and what kind I get. Not that I know what kind is good, but I would like a pair that can last longer than 30,000 miles. I’m no expert, but it seems like they should last longer than that. Who knows though, maybe they don’t put the best tires on brand-new cars, or maybe I’ve run over too many potholes (there are a ton near my house as a result of all that winter rain).

Anyway, all I can say is, yikes! :(

UPDATE: They wanted me to pick up my car before 4pm, so I just went and did it at noon (although it took me over an hour to do so, because the bus was late). I didn’t have them order me tires yet, as I’m going to see if I can get them cheaper. I looked at the list of services completed and apparently my rear tires are at 3/32, and the front are at 4/32. I guess you’re supposed to replace them at 3/32, as 2/32 (or 1/16th of an inch of tread) is the legal limit for what you can safely drive.

So I guess they weren’t playing me for extra money when they gave a strong warning. The guy reiterated when I picked up the car that I REALLY should get them replaced soon to avoid a blowout. Great!

Posted at 11:35 AM | (2)

Hmm, I’m sensing a theme with a lot of my posts lately! It’s not so much that I’m obsessed as that nothing else is really going on at the moment. Rather than leave my blog idle for days and days, I’m just posting updates on what I’m doing. Perhaps this will be good for posterity if I’m still knitting years from now.

Anyway, a few days ago I finished Steve’s hat and proudly presented it to him. I think he liked it, though still has yet to wear it. It’s too bad the weather has been almost unseasonally warm in the 80-degree range (can you believe I’M saying that?!) because it’s now too hot to wear a woolen hat for a morning run. So, I can’t get too upset that it hasn’t been used yet.

Since I needed a new project, I decided to be a lemming and make the super-popular Clapotis. I went to the local yarn shop and spent like 45 minutes trying to decide what to buy. I finally decided on some shimmery purplish/pinkish/silverish yarn. Unfortunately, I spent so much time trying to decide, that the woman didn’t have time to roll the yarn into balls for me. (I suppose I could do it myself, but I don’t want to spend 3 days on it like I did last time!) So she did just 1 for me yesterday and kept the rest of it to have ready for me today. Which means I have to go back there this afternoon to pick it up. Kind of a pain, but not as much as me doing it myself.

So that’s about it. I took a self-portrait of me wearing the hat I made, but perhaps I shall have to see if I can take one of Steve wearing it, as he was the designated recipient!

Posted at 3:40 PM | (1)

Happy Summer Solstice! (Well, to those of you in the northern hemisphere, anyway) Anyone have any plans to take advantage of the longest amount of daylight until next year? It’s a shame that I’m stuck here at work as it’s actually QUITE nice and warm outside!

Here in Santa Barbara, we have an annual Summer Solstice parade that happens the weekend after the solstice. In all the years I’ve been here, I’ve never once attended this parade or its subsequent festival. Perhaps it’s just too eclectic for me? Or perhaps I’m just too lazy? This year I live only a few blocks from where the parade will take place, but I’m betting I still won’t see it!

Posted at 12:38 PM | (2)

Well, early this evening I was about to post a triumphant, yet quizzical post about how now that I purchased some bug spray, that the wasp had yet to reappear. Perhaps it sensed the danger that now lurked just beyond its kitchen window retreat?

And then, it flew quickly through the room, circling once, before heading back to its usual kitchen haunts. Unfortunately, I was wearing a sundress, which I deemed unsuitable wasp-hunting attire, as it exposed far too much skin to be potentially stung. I frantically donned the attire of a crazy person, throwing on my coat and slipping on a pair of warmup pants under my dress—items that were handiest in my goal of minimizing the possibility of getting hurt, but surely an odd sight to behold on a warm almost-summer day. I then quickly grabbed the spray (kept on my desk for easy access!) and waited for the wasp to settle on a spot for me to go in for the kill.

The wasp decided to be uncooperative and stealthily slip beneath my blinds. I waited a bit and, not seeing it re-emerge, I pulled up the blinds only to discover that the wasp was nowhere to be found!

I stood on a chair and discovered that there is a sizable gap between where the top of the window ends and the wall begins, gone unnoticed as it is obscured by the valence my mom put up when I moved in.

So, I decided to just sort of spray the area surrounding the hole, just to discourage the insect, or any others that might be inclined to come in. Shortly after, I heard some slightly frantic buzzing about, and then saw the wasp crawl down the window, before crawling onto the ledge created by the topmost part of the bottom window segment (this window is really 2 squares. The bottom square sits slightly in front of the top square and slides upward to open). Just as I was about to spray while it was trapped, I saw it wiggle through what is apparently another gap created by the distance between the 2 panels that allows it to slide, and fly away.

I then copiously sprayed the wood and everything near that other crack. Hopefully this will be enough to deter the wasp from coming back. I will probably spray this area every few days to ensure that it doesn’t wear off, but hopefully this will solve my problem with the scavenger wasp that thinks it had free room and board with me.

I think at the very least, it explains where the wasp was originating from and how it always seemed to disappear when I was sure it was on the window.

If it DOES manage to get past the toxic chemicals, I have every intention of spraying it to death if I get half a chance! This is war!!

Posted at 8:23 PM | (2)

Took the day off work yesterday to attend that wedding. Overall it was an ok event, although it was mostly family-oriented. Steve and I were sitting at pretty much the only “friends” table. It was nice to see the people that I knew.

The wedding was complete with a Catholic mass, so it took awhile before we got to go to the reception. We left probably around 9:30pm, and at that time cake still hadn’t been cut, nor had the bouquet been thrown, etc.

On another note, I came home to find that I seem to have a new roommate. As far as I can tell, he/she moved in last weekend, went out for a bit during the week, and came back yesterday afternoon.

I am now living with a wasp. :( Since it is a creature that might indeed attack me if I try aggressive tactics, I have tried to resort to the friendly method of leaving a window open and letting it fly out. Now, the past few times I’ve never actually seen it fly out, but it would disappear. Today, however, I KNOW if flew out, and then not 2 minutes later, I see it flying around the kitchen again.

So either I have a visitor who very much likes my apartment and does not intend to be evicted, or there is a whole family of them, and they only come out one at a time (I’ve never seen more than one at once so I’m not sure how many I’m dealing with). So I am a bit creeped out, because I have NO idea how it got in, and I have even less idea as to what I’m dealing with. Is it one or many? I suppose I would find out if I managed to kill one and another showed up. Anyway, I guess I will have to go buy some bug spray and see if I can kill it without getting attacked. My place is so small that I have nowhere to run if my assassination attempts are unsuccessful!

I HATE bugs. I am so creeped out by this it’s not even funny! :(

Posted at 12:37 PM | (2)

The whole “things to talk about” seems to go in cycles. I either have 5 things at once, or nothing at all. This would seem to be one of those “nothing at all” times. I keep meaning to fill the void a bit by posting another picture, but I always forget. I only remember once I get to work and login to my computer, at which point I make the connection of computer=checking blogs=my blog=posting a picture from my computer onto my blog=DOH, can’t do it because I am at work.

Just in case you were wondering how the connection is made.

Hmm, what else. I’m going to a wedding with Steve on Friday. Yes, the wedding is on FRIDAY. I’ve never been to a non-weekend wedding. And no, Kevin, it’s not a Jewish wedding avoiding a ceremony on the Sabbath. At least, I assume not, as the ceremony is taking place in a Catholic Church. In a neat bit of 6 degrees of separation, the guy getting married used to run with Steve on the track team, but is also from WHITTIER. He used to live not TOO far from you, Kev. Wooo!

Oh and I am knitting this hat in black for Steve. I wasn’t very smart and started making it before I measured his head. Now that I’ve done like 2 inches of it, it’s dawned on me that “hey, he probably has a bigger head than me. Maybe I should see if it will even fit him.” So I found out how big his head is, but since I haven’t exactly tried to put the work in progress over his head, I don’t know FOR SURE that it’s ok, but it’s pretty stretchy, so I’m sure it’s fine. In the meantime, I guess I’ll just pretend that I never had this dilemma and keep going!

Posted at 1:01 AM | (2)

My weekend was good, if not especially eventful. I’ve spent so much of my free time lately knitting, which I haven’t seemed to get sick of yet. In fact, my next project will likely be a black beanie for Steve. Some time soon I may find the courage to attempt a garment of clothing for myself—it’s a scary prospect as I have no idea what I’m doing, and will most likely either make myself something roomy enough to shelter me and my family or small enough to fit a toddler. Although I suppose I could just always wind up with some lopsided atrocity as well.

However, my first two projects went surprisingly well—both bags of sorts. It seems that I knit a bit loosely, so they are a little bigger than intended, but since it’s a bag, I’m not sure that it matters. Plus, the Sophie bag is 100% wool and still needs to be felted (thrown in a washing machine several times in hot water), so I’m sure it will shrink a bit.

Anyway, for those of you interested, pics of my creations are below.

Zeeby’s Bag

Sophie Bag

Note, due to the fact that I used a digital camera, at night, in a badly lit room, the colors you see are not QUITE what they look like in person. For instance, the first bag is really a deeper purple.

Posted at 8:48 PM | (4)

In case you were wondering (and this is probably especially the case for my readers who aren’t really into the whole “blog” thing and only read my site because they know me personally) who the “popular” or “A-list” bloggers are, I provide you with

The List

This site lists all of the A-, B-, and C-list bloggers. If you’re an avid blog reader, many of these names will be familiar to you. If they aren’t, I guess you can get acquainted with the popular sites. Although, I’m not sure how accurate the list is. After all, my blog isn’t listed! ;)

Posted at 9:12 PM | (2)

So, remember that post I made about going to see the midnight showing of Star Wars and bluejacking to pass the time? I made a point to get my message through to the phone named “Yoda”, because hey, they were obviously a Star Wars fan and would appreciate it, and if they renamed their phone, they might even be familiar with the technology.

Well, it turns out they are more than familiar with the technology—they are friends with the guy who indirectly introduced me to the phenomenon! “Yoda” even has his own blog, and amusingly enough, blogged about his midnight-showing experience and how excited HE was to get a message (which turns out to be the one I sent.) And that message that I got, the one I was so excited about? Yup, it was sent by this guy.

Random huh??? His reasoning for trying it out that night were much what I was thinking, as well as the excitement he felt when getting a message back. He even has screen shots showing the message I sent, as well as my phone’s name. (It is Nokia 6620 in the first shot, but later in the night, right before I sent him the message I decided to be more “Star Wars-y” and change it to “Padme”)

Anyway, the guy who is the link between us thought this was one of the funniest things in the world, and indeed I have also found it highly amusing. I suppose though that it’s not THAT much of a coincidence that the person who knew how to bluejack that night was friends with this other guy. Not many people know how to do it yet, so odds are that someone else who can do it in SB was probably told about it by the guy I know.

You have no idea how cool I thought this was. I’m such a dork.

Posted at 10:19 AM | (3)

So today begins the first full week back to work—I think I preferred the 2 day work week more. :)

I didn’t really do anything this weekend. I did catch up on the almost 2 weeks worth of soaps I had on my Tivo—I can’t believe it watched them all in like 3 days. Let me just tell you that that is a lot of soap operas since I watch 3 different shows on a daily basis. I did however, finally learn who killed Phillip on Guiding Light back in like October or November. These things move SO slow, but then they decide to air the crucial information when I’m out of town! I would’ve been mad if I missed that. Anyway, the summer season is coming up and that means…lots of gratuitous scenes of hot shirtless guys with 6-pack abs and girls in skimpy bikinis (not that I care about the girls. I just didn’t want my male readers to feel left out). Awww yeeeeah!

I also did a bunch of knitting while watching these shows. I’m doing a multi-colored dish cloth just because I bought some cheap cotton yarn and needed something to use it for. I’m also doing a Sophie bag using that yarn that took me 2 days to untangle. I promised my sister that I’d make her one someday (a bag, that is, not a tangled ball of yarn), but I figured I’d do a test one for myself first to make sure I could do it (hey, it’s not selfish that I am making something for ME first. I was merely looking out for HER best interest and making sure that she doesn’t get a deformed gift! That, and I already had this yarn, whereas I’d have to go find the colors she requested and buy it.). Anyway, I did quite a bit of it, even though it’s a pain in the ass to do it with my interchangeable needles on such a short circular cord. It’s gotten easier though, and I even made my first decrease stitches ever. On the good side, even if it looks kinda crappy, the design calls for felting it, which will hide all the mistakes, so yay.

Ok, now that you’re all probably nodding off to sleep, I’ll return you to your regularly scheduled programming. :)

Posted at 12:35 PM | (0)

Ok, not REALLY. I just spent like a day trying to turn a hank of yarn into a ball. Of course I assume that there is a quick and easy method to this, but I obviously failed—I quickly wound up with 240 yards of VERY tangled wool yarn. Let me tell you, that is A LOT of yarn. It seemed neverending as I tried to make sense of all the twists and knots.

What sucked even more is that sometimes the wool would ball up and entrap other pieces of the yarn, making it impossible to just pull everything apart easily. At least now I am done!

I think that next time, if I HAVE to get yarn that is sold in this fashion, that I will ask the nice salesladies to do it for me (I’ve heard that they do it for you if you ask).

Thank god I only had to do 1 thing of yarn—I can’t imagine if I had bought several of them and had to go through this for EACH ONE!

BTW, in other knitting news, I finished the Zeeby’s Bag during my vacation. Perhaps I’ll include a picture of it, if anyone cares.

Posted at 9:38 AM | (0)

Blah, I leave wonderful 80+ degree weather only to return to upper-60’s all-day-gloom. It’s so cold I can’t wear anything that even remotely shows off my new tan. It might be years before I’m ever this tan again and it’s being wasted on sweaters!

Stupid June Gloom. :(

Posted at 2:03 PM | (0)

I made it back safetly from my vacation to Maui, although I am currently still at my parents’ house, since the flight got back too late and I wouldn’t have reached SB until after 1:30am.

The vacation was quite nice—the weather was nice and warm and not too humid, I got a tan, and saw some beautiful scenery. We visited a few places and made the well-known Road to Hana trek. I didn’t partake in all the activities, such as parasailing or kayaking, but I did do snorkeling.

I must say that the beaches and ocean are much better than California. The water is MUCH warmer and cleaner—no seaweed wrapping around your legs or rough waves trying to knock you over (at least on the part of the island we went to. It’s kinda neat being able to just go out into the water a little ways and just sorta float around.

I took a ton of pictures—it was a good thing I took my laptop too, because I took more pictures than would’ve fit on my memory card so with the computer I was able to download the pictures. As it was, I forgot to download pictures from a luau we went to the night before the Hana trek and I cut it VERY close with my pictures—even going back and selectively deleting similar or crappy pictures.

I’ll have to go through and see how many of my pictures look decent—I may decide to post some in my photolog after I have gone through them.

Even though I’m sure it might get boring to extend the vacation, it was nice to just throw your bathing suit on in the morning, head to the beach, and not do much else until dinner. That said, we all majorly overpacked, since we spent so much time in our bathing suits that we didn’t have many opportunities to wear all the clothes we packed. Things to keep in mind if ever I go again I suppose.

It’ll suck having to go back to work tomorrow! Although, my mom had to go today (hehe) so I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much. My dad and I are off to meet her for lunch soon, and then I will begin my drive back to SB.

I’m sure I will write again soon. Hope everyone had a good week, and that my American readers had a nice Memorial Day weekend! :)

Posted at 11:08 AM | (6)