*looks around to see if anyone is here*

What did I really want to do after finishing and passing comps?
I wanted a month of vacation, where I could sit and chill with my friends and DO NOTHING. (outside of basic necessities and whatever I wanted to do).

well, as we know, we can't have everything we want.
After the last post, I did go off to Camp Wanna Knit Knit (our 5th camp!!), which was awesome. I seem to remember CWKK lasting longer though. We were at a great house in Breckenridge, and Stacey outdid herself organizing everything. ESPECIALLY when you think of all that is going on with her family. So, belated THANK YOU to her.

Anyway. We got tons of goodies in our goody bag this year. Everyone was 'assigned' to get a gift bag party favor for everyone else. I'd show you pics of things, but I'm pretty sure that the ppl who are reading this? have a goodie bag of their own, or have read about them on another blog.

I got to spend time with my Little Red Headed Monster. Who I need to re-nick name b/c he is NOT LITTLE anymore. WAAAAAAHHH!!! He is gigantic. He is TALL. He is 6 years old. When he sits on my lap, his feet touch my feet. I can't really pick him up anymore (not without injuring myself). And I came to the shocking realization that his younger brother (who was born right before I moved to Boston) is now the same age as Liam WHEN I MOVED. That makes me sad.

A good friend of mine who now lives in DC also happened to be out in Denver at the same time, so it was great to spend time with him and other old co-workers as well. (that part is more for my diary - b/c I know it's not all that interesting to you).

Then, I came back to Boston and hustled to get stuff ready for my annual geek fest (aka the American Psychological Association annual conference/convention) which was in Toronto Canada this year. I was pretty relaxed this time, with no set schedule EXCEPT for my own presentation. I was nervous b/c I HATE public speaking. I got some good tips (speak slowly. when you are speaking so slowly that you think you sound like you're speaking TOO slowly, you're speaking at JUST THE RIGHT pace). I was comforted in the fact that it was scheduled for Saturday at 8am, so I figured there wouldn't be anyone there except my classmates. Well, it had pretty good attendance for a session at 8am! And I got good feedback from the symposium chair.

When I got back to Boston (it's only a 2.5 hr flight to Toronto!), I had to wrap up some loose ends for research. Then, I went to MI to see the family. I was excited to see my niece, b/c I hadn't seen her since she was 5 weeks old! She's 10 months old now, and much more interactive. I finally finished up the Debbie Bliss cabled hoodie, and just in time! it fits her perfectly.


lookit the buttons!

aren't I cute?

You wanna piece of me?

in da' hoodie!

I got to spend lots of time with her!

I'm back in Boston and thankfully it has cooled off. I gotta crack down and prep for the class I'm teaching this year to undergrads, and establish some sort of schedule to work on my dissertation. UGH!!

WOO HOO! it's OVER.

I feel huge relief, finding out a couple weeks ago that I had passed my doctoral comprehensive examinations with distinction (whatever that means...). My pursuit of a PhD continues.

No new episodes of left wrist pain in the last 2 months. Perhaps b/c there has been very little knitting.

My lemon kitty is doing great. Click on pic below for before, right after, and now pics of my baby. You can see how pink/red his third eyelid is in the first pic, how swollen and frankenkitty he is in the second (2 days after the surgery) and I took the last pic yesterday)

Cosmo's eye journey

For awhile, I was calling him Frankenkitty. But now the fur has grown back, and can't see the stitches.

Am currently working on manuscripts for journal article submissions like a mad fool, finishing up overdue assignments, and prepping an undergraduate class I'm teaching in the Fall.

Last: am SO excited for my trip to Denver next week!! Camp, here I come! An old work friend is also visiting Denver at the same time, so hopefully the old gang can do a huge meet up.

Next post... I swear I'll take a pic of something knitterly to share.

Psst! is anyone out there?

Ok Ok. I was the one who was missing. Well, most of you know where I am/was, and believe me, I'd rather be blogging and knitting. Er, knitting and blogging about the knitting.

Surprise (not), that I have no actual knitting content to discuss. I am casting on like a mad fool, with almost no actual intention of finishing any project anytime soon. Recent cast on projects include another sweater for my adorable niece, who has just begun to crawl, the ubiquitous Noro Striped Scarf, and the Modern Log Cabin.

Reasons that I barely knit
1) a belief that I have carpal tunnel or tendonitis in my left wrist. very uncomfortable, which is made worse when I knit for prolonged periods or on larger than usual needles (anything bigger than a US 7)

2)my doctoral comprehensive exams. basically, the faculty assess whether we have learned what we were supposed to have learned in the last three years, by way of torturing us slowly and surely over a period of almost a month. First up, is two days of writing in class, where we are not allowed to use our notes or books, but expected an answer a series of essay questions thoroughly and citing relevant literature. A stupid futile exercise in memorization. THEN, they send us home with a take home portion, a 20 page paper where we address another three questions. THEN, we wait while they read our written portions, and then schedule our oral defense. Three faculty and one student. Where faculty can ask us any question they want. I am waiting for my orals defense, which takes place on Tuesday. Knitting girls beware: if I fail, I'm packing up and coming home, b/c I am NOT doing this again.

3) Cosmo: sigh. My lemon kitty has earned a new nickname. Lemon kitty is still appropos, but his recent surgery has left him looking a little... frankenkitty-ish. He looked like he had an eye infection, but several vet appts discovered that he had a tumor wrapped around his eye, and that he has lymphoma. So, we removed the eye, and now he looks like a rakish pirate.


"Arrrrrggggghhhh. I'm a pirate kitteh!"

so. to sum up. I am alive. and sorta knitting.

Pictureless.

b/c I'm too lazy RIGHT NOW. I'm hoping this weekend, I can show a few pics. of what?

1) birthday presents!! I turned a year older in early-mid December.

A Mat & Nat wallet from my brother/sister in law. I love their stuff that feels like leather, but isn't.

yarn gifties from Michelle, Stacey, Tiffany, Jeni (aka, what I bought at Colorful with their gift certificate)

a holiday mug and sock yarn from Wanda

and a project bag (Stacey) and hand sewn ginormous knitting bag (michelle). Michelle made me my very own birdie swing bag! Not sure if the birdy swing was an Xmas or b-day gift... but gifts are good!

a pretty pad of paper for making lists from my friend Ann.

my gift to myself: a new Offhand Design bag (Weekender in a lovely aqua and brown fabric). Tiffany is a bit evil and a bit of an enabler, and gave me a wee discount to make it impossible for me to say no.

hmm. pic of the "old" weekender (left) and "new" weekender (right)



*both pics from the offhand designs site

No one can tell what my favorite color combos are, can they?

2) Christmas pressies:
tons and tons of foodstuffs. One of my friends made me a huge batch of ground turkey and basil tomato sauce (I normally don't like red pasta sauce, but she doesn't add sugar. it's sooo good!) plus one big thing of her "christmas pasta sauce" which contains beef, pork, veal, and PANCETTA. Yum. She also gifted me with homemade biscotti, and spiced walnuts.

Oiyi surprised me with a box of Christmas goodies! Check her blog to see pics (b/c I already ate most of it) of homemade vanilla marshmallows, some yummy choc. chip pecan cookies, and some toffee! The marshmallows are SO decadent in a big mug of hot cocoa.

and a funny water bottle my friends in NYC got me from the onion. Captioned: "I will never take this camping." ha ha ha.

*pic from the Onion online store.

I also have some FO pics to post. My Hanami made with Woolen Rabbit lace weight, the peapod sweater I made for my niece, and a DB hooded cardi I made for my niece too.

hope everyone enjoyed their holidays!!!

A rare artifact has been dug up...

An FO!! My friend just sent me this pic of her daughter wearing it around her first birthday. Forgive me for not remembering RIGHT NOW the name of this pattern, except it's designed by Libby, and I used Cotton Ease. Used a crocheted scalloped edging at the bottom instead of whatever the pattern calls for. I now wish I had made the straps wider (maybe some thicker knitted I-cord, or some flat-I cord).

Two months and change

And what change!!! I am currently watching some football (let us not speak of Michigan's horrible rebuilding season, ok? I have enough to cry about lately) and listening to the new Will.i.am "It's a New Day" song. And it makes me cry.

Maryse posted a link to these beautiful photos that made me tear up at the coffee shop earlier today. These photos are so gorgeous, and show so much of President elect (i love saying that) Obama's personality.

I've been knitting... still working on Hanami... and have moments of weakness where I feel like ripping it out b/c I chose to use a variegated yarn instead of a solid. Even if it was a tonal variegated yarn, I think it would have been better. Not that I don't love it, I just think the pattern would pop more if I hadn't chosen a variegated. Oh well.

So, Since early October (October 5th) I have been working to vote in Colorado. I still have my condo there, and plan on moving back, so I consider myself a 'student' and my Denver address my permanent address. I sent in my registration/application for an absentee ballot on Oct 6th, and received both email and mail confirmation that they had received it and my ballot would be sent to me. Come October 24th, no ballot. I call and they say, it will be there tomorrow. Nope. Call again. It'll be there tomorrow. Nope. Now I insist on some action. They say they will overnight the ballot to me, but since it is Thursday at 4pm, it might not get out until Friday's mail, and should def. be here by Saturday. Nope. Monday morning, I spend a few hours on the phone insisting on an emergency faxed ballot and spend the day sitting next to a fax machine in order to get my APPLICATION for an emergency faxed ballot, fill the app out, fax it back, wait for the ballot to be faxed to me, and fax it back. Never you mind that the ballot they faxed me was illegible. I could make out Obama's name, and that's all I really needed. VOTING FOR THE PRESIDENT should NOT be this hard.

And guess what I got in the mail today? TODAY?? My ballot. Is it totally paranoid to feel like someone was holding it somewhere? who the eff wants their mail ballot the Saturday after the election??

Prats and Pitfalls of Being a Busybody

I'm trying to be a good, conscientious student. As I told someone last night, I can get work done just by procrastinating... by doing work I would rather do than the work I don't want to do. Work still gets done, and at some point, the work I don't WANT to do becomes work i HAVE to do, leaving me little choice. Which explains why I am at Panera Bread, enjoying soup and free wi-fi while I edit documents, manuscripts, and skim book chapters for class this week.

***POST IS NOT KNITTING RELATED. POST IS ABOUT POLITICS AND ME BEING NOSY. If you do not want to read about my political opinions, you should probably SKIP THIS POST****

A lovely family sitting in a booth across the way are having THE DISCUSSION. About politics. On one hand, I congratulate them for being mature enough to be able to discuss politics within the family. That's not how it works in my fam. I pretend my parents are voting with their pocketbooks, and they pretend I didn't vote for Clinton two terms in a row (though I think that's the closest I got to being disowned).

The son, a physician (they were talking about his job previous to the politics discussion) started talking about how Obama's minister/preacher, Jeremiah Wright is an anti-semite. How he has often had Palestinians and TERRORISTS (how I hate that word) come and guest speak at his church. How since Pastor Wright and Obama are such bosom buddies, that Obama must be an anti-Semite as well...

**convo became to quiet for me to get particulars for a minute**

Then, we move onto how the SON (the doctor) is also pro-life. In my head, I grumble, EVERYONE IS EFFING PRO-LIFE you asshole!! No one is pro-abortion! But I am staunchly pro-choice. oops. Got off topic. My anti-men thing is coming out here, b/c I am not sure that I respect the opinion of men about the topic of the legalities of abortion. Should men get a vote on what a woman can do to her body and reproductive organs? (I had more vitriolic rant going off here... which I deleted. You can tell I'm not happy.)

So, my question to you, (should you still be reading my rant here) is... is any of this true? Is Pastor Wright a known anti-Semite? Should we judge Obama based on this... allegation? Then my question becomes... how come we didn't judge the current Prez on these criteria (judged by associations and their alleged values).

-- off to Stapes to buy school supplies. Pens. Pens with a very very fine tip make me happy. Graph paper for my statistics class. I love graph paper. It helps me take very neat notes... I can be happy with the small details.