July 30, 2008
~ hate me, but I'm still right ~
Cover story on today's newspaper, The Valley Crosses Ozone Line delights me. And I quote:
The day of reckoning has come for air pollution in the Treasure Valley. Levels of ozone, the colorless gas that causes lung and heart damage and is the main ingredient of smog, crossed a key threshold Friday - all but guaranteeing the state will have to take painful new actions to reduce air pollution in the coming years.
Another thing that absolutely delights me is
the price of gas. It gives me great joy to see all of those single-occupancy SUVs driving around town, knowing that they're paying over $4 a gallon to power their ridiculous vehicles. Hah!
I've been walking around lately saying all kinds of pompous things about how the recession hasn't been affecting me - - except, of course, lowering the interest on my savings account - - GAR! Gas prices can go up to $6 a gallon for all I care - - since I fill up the gas tank in my car MAYBE once a month, but more like every five or six weeks, it's not a big deal to budget for gas. Hah!
But yes, air pollution, as with all pollution, really pisses me off, especially since I feel that I have a very low carbon impact on the world, I don't see why I should have to breath in everyone else's SUV fumes.
The air here has been pretty crappy - - it's always crappy in the summer because the entire West is always on fire (exaggerate...me?). So crappy, in fact, that it has sometimes been impossible to see much of the foothills. Gar. Anyway, on Sunday Joshua and I went on a road ride. I haven't been riding all that much (because of both the heat and the air quality) so it was nice to get out and pedal...sorta. I did not have the opportunity to look up what the local Air Quality Index was for Sunday, but my guess is that it was pretty bad. About half an hour into the ride, I developed a screaming mad headache. I've actually been getting a lot of headaches recently that I attribute to the bad air. Anyway, eventually the headache went away and was replaced by various migraine symptoms: dizziness, nausea, tunnel vision, disorientation. These symptoms took over my entire being during the last 15 minutes of the ride when I was peddling home, and it took all of my concentration to not fall over. What is noteworthy is that this has never happened to me before in all of my life. And I place full blame on all of those assholes who continue their single-occupancy SUV driving.
Yesterday, however, I went on a road ride and it was wonderful. There were a bunch of high clouds in the sky blocking much of the sun's rays. And the Air Quality Index showed the area to be in the green. I made full use of the opportunity and took my bike out for a spin. I was under some time constraints, what with a lovely scheduled social interaction with Leah, but managed to put in exactly one hour on a glorious bike ride. Besides the fact that I really really enjoyed myself, I suppose it's worth noting the little game of chase that I tried to play with another cyclist on the road. At some point during the last half of the ride, I had turned a corner and noted that way far ahead was another biker. I decided to try and catch up with him. Several times, I put in a huge effort and would get really close to him, but would then feel so pooped out that I dropped way back. Once I caught my breath and energy, I would resume the chase. I felt pretty accomplished whenever it was clear that I was gaining on him - - as it was evident by his sculpted leg muscles that he was in much better shape than I. I should also mention that I suspect he wasn't on a very serious ride - - (lowering my eyes in shame), as he was carrying a large backpack and appeared to be commuting home from work. BUT STILL, I totally caught up with him (sorta) several times. At the end of my final chase, I did catch him and was riding right behind him, drafting to rest my legs and lungs. I couldn't decide if it was psychotic to draft a total stranger, so I 'let him go' and mosied on home.
July 21, 2008
~ rashes and lots of fun ~
I had a mostly perfect weekend. Here's a detailed synopsis of the mostly perfection...
On Friday, right after I got off work, Josh and Jennifer did some hill climbs on our road bikes. We rode up to the Crestline Ridge area and I got to practice going fast in my drop bars. I also saw my Dad's motorcycle up there and I spent a bit of time wondering where the Dad was, but I now believe that it was my uncle who had taken the motorcycle, as I have seen him wandering around up there on previous occasions. At any rate, it was a decent 'quickie' bike ride.
We had just enough time to shower and get our booties on over to a birthday party. Per my usual, I didn't bother to confirm the location of the party before leaving, and so I took advantage of my cellular phone to contact Elizabeth about where I ought to have been going. I hypothesize that Joshua really loves this aspect of my personality. What is nice is the non-judgementalness that I receive from Elizabeth when I contact her because I was irresponsible - - Elizabeth herself had not actually looked at the location of the party and had to get online and look it up - - so we both benefitted from my irresponsibleness. Anyway, I had a really good time at the party. Josh and I brought ingredients for calimotxos, and I took the opportunity to sit back and enjoy several. There was homemade guacamole and salsa available, and so I actually hung out right next to the food table for the duration of the party. Fortunately, most everyone that I was interested in talking to were also interested in standing adjacent to the food table. It worked out quite well - - the talking and the eating. Later, they brought out entree-style food items - - such as grilled fish and enchilladas with mole sauce (Laura and Tom made the mole and it was very yummy). Beyond the mole, I'm not entirely certain of who made what, but it was all delicious. I spent some time over by the grill area in awe of the cooking action - - they had two or three grills fired up and were doing all kinds of exciting things with dutch ovens. The experience really made me want a backyard of my very own.
On Saturday, I got up early to plan out the cable action on one of my current knitting projects. For some time, I've been wanting to make a modernly fashionable fisherman guernsey-style of sweater. I've taken a cotton/angora blend of yarn that I harvested from a $2.50 thrift store sweater and am fashioning it into something that I am calling "Inishfern" - - a nod to Alice Starmore. Though, I am hesitant to associate my Inishfern with the term guernsey or with Starmore, for fear of offending the traditionalists. I plan for Inishfern to be the polar opposite of traditional. The construction is Barbara Walker's top down raglan cardigan and I'm just at about the bustal region. I'm very pleased with how this project is coming along.
In another knitting digression, yesterday I harvested an XXXL sized thrift store sweater for a lovely cotton/wool blend of yarn. It is a fantastic red color and is the same weight as the cotton/angora for Inishfern, so I'm plotting a two-color ribbing with this new yarn. /end knitting digressions.
Back to Saturday morning...
Josh and I took advantage of the morning coolness to venture out on a road ride. We did the "Jennifer Loop" - - which is also known as the "Floating Feather Loop" - - a pleasant 32 miles. The ride's goal was to work on cadence. Josh and I would take turns leading - - during the higher cadence intervals, depending on the road's grade, I was leading us at 19-24 mph which I felt good about. We both consumed about four Gu's throughout the ride and I never felt overheated (thank you, windchill factor!) - - though, at one point when we were stopped at a traffic light, I was aware the it was pretty hot. I ended the ride feeling very healthy and physically fit. It was a great ride.
That afternoon, we wandered downtown and spectatored at the Twilight Criterium. There is a new course this year and I found it more pleasant for spectators than the previous course. We found a nice grassy knoll upon which to relax. We saw a bit of the kids race, which is always super entertaining. Then we saw the "4s and 5s" race - - several of Josh's coworkers and ex-coworkers were in this race and it was interesting watching them.
After that race, we took a bit of a siesta and splashed around in the pool where Josh lives. I have since developed a horrible rash either from an allergic reaction to the chlorine or to a fungus on the pool lounging chair. Either way, the vast majority of my person itches so badly that I want to scratch it off and I'm not finding my anti-itch cream very soothing. I am also treating a mild case of athlete's foot which is adding to the overal itchiness of my present.
After the siesta, we returned downtown to watch the men's pro race. I had wanted to see the women's pro race, but time did not allow for this. By the time that we returned, there were a lot of other spectators and we found a variety of locations from which to spectate. The final location was atop a parking garage which offered a good view of an exciting turn in the course as well as the finish line. Personally, I found the beginning of the race more interesting than the end - - as there was a three-person breakaway right at the beginning which was able to 'lap' the peloton in about five laps. In this breakaway, there were two Toyota-United racers, and the rest of that team got to the front of the peloton to slow it down (possibly facilitating the breakaway's 'lapping' of the peloton). After the race, we went to Gernika for some wine and beer.
My Sunday was also nice. Well, sorta nice. It was god-aweful hot and I spent the majority of the day feeling overheated and sluggish. Sundays are also my 'errand-days' so I spent most of the day on errands. But I rather enjoy doing errands - - makes me feel like a grown-up. One of my errands included going to a hardware store to buy some clamps. Now, finding what I am looking for at a hardware store is not my forte, and I was unable to locate a customer service representative, so I spent a good amount of time wandering around. Once I found the clamp section, I stood in front of them, pondering my MANY options, for some time. In case you are wondering, I needed a clamp for my new knitting yarn swift, as the clamp it was manufactured with is insufficent for my clamping requirements. I located an affordable clamp, purchased two just in case, and have since been successful at using my swift with a greatly improved camp system.
July 15, 2008
~ that which I have lost ~
Life has been rather eventful the last several days.
On Friday, Josh, Josh's Mom, Carla, and I went to the YMCA after I got off work and played some basketball. It was quite hot outside, so some athletic recreation in the airconditioning was lovely. We played some game called "knockout" - - I'm not sure if this is a pre-existing b-ball game or if they made it up, but it was a lot of fun. I, however, was not very good at it - - that whole "hand-eye-ball-hoop coordination" thing. I did arbitrarily win - - at some point, someone decided that the next person to get a shot would be the winner - - and that was me, the winner, even though I was well behind everyone else in terms of total shots.
Afterwards, we all made the trek over to someplace south of Nampa to attend a Mormon singles dance. Occasionally, I have noted that sometimes a person can have unrealistic expectations of a particular situation. On this particular occasion, Josh's Mom was rather consumed with the notion of meeting a Mormon cowboy...specifically, a Mormon Sam Elliott. I'm not prone to bursting anyone's bubble, so I went along with the scheme as though meeting the Mormon version of Sam Elliott was a realistic endeavor. When we arrived, we were all disappointed. I am at a loss as to how to describe the scene without coming off as an ass, but since I normally come off as an ass and since I don't care if you think I'm an ass for how I felt about the attendees at the Mormon singles dance, I'll just spit it out. Ugly, everyone was butt ass ugly. Even Josh's Mom, who I have the sense is not someone to riducule someone else's appearance, pointed out an ugly person with a terrible haircut. Another problem with the dance was that it was misleading as a dance. By "dance" everyone has assumed that WE would be the ones dancing. Instead, they had two Hawaiian women dancing and everyone else watching them dance. It was odd. We hung out long enough to watch a full Hawaiian dance and for the women to introduce their children and tell everyone what ward they belong to, and then we began our escape to the car. We did sit in the car in the parking lot for several minutes just in case Sam Elliott were to swagger by. Eventually, we left and went to a motorcycle bar in Melba.
On Saturday, we all piled into the car (with the addition of Eric, so it was a very full car) and went to Blue Lake. Blue Lake has become the standard place to take out-of-towners to show off the wilderness glory of Idaho. Even though the water in the lake was freezing (indeed, we later learned that a week ago, there was still ice on the lake), Josh was determined to get his swimming on. Now, when opting to go swimming in freezing water, some people employ the tactic of jumping in the water immediately to get it over with. Not Josh. Josh prefers to slowly inch is way into the freezing water, to really prolong what would be a relatively short freezing shock to the system into about a half hour ordeal of shocking his body one inch at a time. Me, I waded in the water a bit, and then just relaxed on the shore.
One point worth noting about the trip was that I had failed to bring appropriate footwear for the quarter mile hike down to the lake and back. As you all know, that hike, while short, is decently steep and has lots of rocks and loose sand. And I hiked up and down it in my flip flops.
Incidentally, I've been wanting to update everyone on my flip flop situation. Several months ago, I mentioned that I had opted to purchase a rather expensive pair of Ugg flip flips, only because the salesperson assured me over and over that they "would last forever." You may recall that I was skeptical but gullible. So, this was back in April, which is not exactly flip flop wearing weather. For roughly one month, I had barely worn them at all. And then one warm day, I wore them to my place of employment, and at some point during the course of the day, they broke. So much for "lasting forever." Lucky for me they broke before the month was up and I was able to return them for a full refund. I then procured a much more affordable pair of flip flops that I have been wearing ragged, have held up remarkably, and that have proven to be the best pair of flops I have ever had the privilege of wearing under my feet.
It was this pair of flip flops in which I hiked over the weekend. I was very impressed with their performance as hiking flops. The only drawback to them was that after I had tromped across the various streams and they were all wet, the material under my feet became ridiculously slippery and it was a bit problemmatic to hike back up to the car in my slippery flops.
That evening, Josh, Carla, and I got really smashed and went dancing at a local club.
July 10, 2008
~ le merde *EDIT* ~
Really, truely, I have no idea why my grand mind is unable to wrap itself around lace. And this is an easy lace pattern. Those of you who scrutinized the previous photo of my shawl were undoubtedly horrified by all of the mistakes. I have since unravelled the whole thing for about the fifth time. And behold, my sixth revision of the Swallotail Shawl. At this juncture, I'm wondering if lace does not go well with beer. I know, I know, how can something not 'go well' with beer??? I, too, am shocked by my statement. I also expect that some of you may wish that I had provided a photo that more clearly depicted the knitting, instead of this one, which shows the lace all bunched up in an indiscernable glob. Normally, knitters tend to want to show off their handiwork, allowing the details to stand out for appreciation.
**EDIT** Gar! Over my noonhour, I brought out the knitting in the hopes of completing a few more rows. Upon completing the second row, I noticed that I had dropped a stitch on the previous row. As any lace knitter should know, dropping a stitch in lace has far-reaching and disasterous consequences. This is to say that I did not merely drop ONE stitch, but the stitch that was dropped had knitted THREE stitches together, and those three stitches were also not composed of a single knit. There is a HUGE hole running down the whole damn shawl. As I can't bear the thought of casting on yet again, I am forfeiting this entire project. Polka Dot Jersey be damned. This project, while most certainly easy for others, has been the antithesis of everything that I find good and joyful about knitting. I am eager to resume work on my fugly Kaffe Fassett-inspired skirt (I am calling it Oolong), or to begin an entirely new project. **END EDIT**
Speaking of beer, I've recently discovered a new favorite brew, the Anderson Valley Summer Solstice which is fantastic. Their Boont Amber is good as well, but the Solstice is truely delictable! Additionally, as evidenced by that above photo, I only recently realized that Mothership Wit is organic.
In life news, I've had a number of fun time adventures recently which I should really get around to aknowledging on the internet. Firstly, a shout out to good friends! I've been spending a lot of time with friends recently which has been lovely. I believe that I mentioned the pool party that was had a few weeks ago - - thanks to Amy for instigating that one. A few weekends ago, Leah and I hiked the Polecat Trails. This past weekend, much fun was had during the 4th of July in which a number of people gathered to watch the City's fireworks display at the park. Elizabeth and Edvin met Josh and I for beers (see above: Anderson Valley Summer Solstice) and then Josh's mom joined us for a bike ride to the park. Ah yes! Josh's mom is in town and because Josh is always working to promote the way of the bicycle, he convinced her to buy a bike! (How she'll get it back to Arkansas, I have no idea)
Then, last Saturday, Josh, Josh's mom, and I took a trek up to Idaho City for the day. Photos from that adventure are available on my Idaho City Photoset. We had a pleasant time walking all around the town and exploring. One noteworthy event was when we were exploring some rusted machinery from the mining era and we found a snake in the process of defecating! It was both fascinating and gross all at the same time. We also had the opportunity to watch a Fast Draw competetion.
July 7, 2008
~ knews ~
First and foremost, I am currently participating in my very first knitalong. Those of you knon-knitters out there may ask, "What is a knitalong?" In a nutshell, it is when one knits along with others. This particular knitalong is themed after the Tour de France and everyone is assigned to teams that correspond to the actual teams in the Tour. I, for example, have been assigned to Team Silence-Lotto, which obliges me to root for one of the more attractive riders - - Go Robbie! In addition, the knitters are grouped into classifications to determine their knitting project. One of the organizers has developed some nice artwork for the knitters to display their classification (see below). I have the polka dot jersey classification, which stipulates that I must do a challenging knitting project involving a new skill.
For my project, I have chosen the Swallotail Shawl, which was to be an ode to the interplay between bicycle and rider, with each yarn over representing the ticking over of another pedal stroke (or something cheesey like that). Lace (beyond a four row repeat) is very challenging for me. On Saturday, I cast on using Classic Elite Silky Alpaca lace yarn. It's caused me a number of headaches - - I've cast on, ripped out, re-cast on many many times. I even tried another (thicker) yarn, thinking it was the yarn's fault (not mine). Alas, it was not the yarn's fault. I even contemplated casting on an entirely different project. For me, this project has become my own personal Alpe d’Huez. blech.
In other knews, I have completed my first thrift store sweater recycling. From Goodwill, I located this XL-size Alfani sweater for $2.50. The fiber content is nothing spectacular, a cotton-nylon blend, but it was mostly for practice. For anyone who is interested in this process, I would HIGHLY recommend a thorough reading of the online tutorial. For me, this was good practice - - I experienced a bit of frustration that could have been avoided, had I engaged in a more thorough reading of the tutorial. But there was considerable learning involved and I am confident that this will be a good method for me to continue with my knitting hobby without breaking the bank. Below are photos depicting the sweater sections, unraveling the sweater onto my new swift, the ramen-noddley yarn before dunking it into water, hanging the yarn with some weight to get the kinks out, and finally, my three 'cakes' of yarn ready for knitting! I would have four cakes, but one ramen-noddley yarn section became much too tangled and I was forced to throw it away in complete irritation (see above, thorough reading of the online tutorial to avoid aggravation).
In other FOs, I recently finished my Logan River Scarf knit with the glorious Noro Silk Garden. Silk Garden is lovely. I was delighted to locate three skeins in the same colorway that had somewhat subdued colors.
And finally, I have fixed the error in my Ruffled Jacket. Josh was kind enough to take this very awesome photo of it.
July 1, 2008
~ off topic ~
I overslept this morning. This, after (re)commiting to a morning workout routine involving squats. Resolving to perform squats in the morning, every morning, after not doing a single squat since you were in capoiera five years ago, can be a somewhat traumatizing experience. Even if you think that your legs are strong and fit and in-shape, squats will make them really hurt and will make you have great difficulty walking with ease. So, this morning when my alarm woke me for my morning workout, I opted for the snooze button. I overslept significantly, prepared some scrambled eggs, and hobbled to the coffee shop.
Incidentally, I make fantastic scrambled eggs.
In the way of food preparation, I've been making some delicious items. Last week, I made this pinapple-mustard glaze which was WONDERFUL. Initially, I made it for a seared ahi tuna steak, but found that I made a sufficient amount of glaze to continue to use with multiple food items. Josh had the opportunity to enjoy it with some free range chicken. I still have about two cups worth that I'm plotting to use somehow this week. This weekend, I made a mushroom-apple curry over basmati rice, which was a tastey summer meal. Josh enjoyed multiple servings. For dessert, I made a peach pie, which I continue to enjoy at the end of the day, over an episode of Voyager.
In knitting knews, I've become greatly irritated by the price of natural fiber yarn. I will spare you the titillating details behind this, but would like to direct your attention to my new plot (which is new to me, not new to the world) of recycling used sweaters from thrift stores for the yarn. Over the weekend, I purchased three sweaters of various natural fibers for about $3 each at a thrift store. I have been perusing a number of online tutorials, such as this one to guide me in this process. And I am about to begin. Several tutorials mentioned washing the yarn AFTER it is unravelled, but I greatly loathe the chemically-perfume they spritz over thrift store sweaters, so I chose to wash the sweaters first. They are currently drying and I estimate that tonight or tomorrow I will be able to begin taking them apart. Which is very exciting. As a result of my tendency to go totally bananas at the oddest intervals, I even purchased a yarn winder and swift (which was something of an investment) because, even though I've never done this before, I've decided that recycling used sweaters for yarn is something that I will be doing for the duration of my existence, so I'm really SAVING money by investing in expensive tools. See how that works? Anyway, it should be arriving in the mail today. Which is exciting. And because of my love of online shopping, I couldn't stop there! While I was at the whole 'yarn winder and swift purchasing', I decided to throw in a copy of Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top which I figure I must have if I am to call myself a knitter.
So, I've got loads of stories to share about all of the fun I've been having. Bike rides, a pool party, hiking...but I'm not feeling it right at this very moment. Sorry to disappoint, maybe later.
