But recent discussion with friends has shown me how much I’ve fallen away from some things I used to enjoy. Namely, creative stuff. Yes, I do this, and I twiddle with sticks and string and come up with (mostly)wearable stuff. But once upon a time I used to fiddle with watercolors and [...]

In the end, I’m not sure which is more troubling, the inanity of the existing regulations, or the average American’s acceptance of them and willingness to be humiliated. These wasteful and tedious protocols have solidified into what appears to be indefinite policy, with little or no opposition. There ought to be a tide of protest [...]

Yeah, it’s late for posting video of Christmas songs, but this is still very funny in that collegiate-clever a capella group kind of way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

…because she played the oboe*. (However, she should probably not play with kiddos about).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fi7Y6MFWns

“We have spawned the devil!”
* The oboe bit is about halfway in.

Naturally, when I saw this, I had to try it. The results:
me: merry christmas
en2de: Frohe Weihnachten
me: are you going to the christmas market?
en2de: Werden Sie den Weihnachtsmarkt?
me: did you bring the camel?
en2de: Haben Sie bringen das Kamel?
Which reminded me of something else I’ll yank out of the rerun file (originally entitled “Use Your [...]

…well, except this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rnhjcazfaE

The problem, it was OUTSIDE.
I got a blog visitor for the previous post from Tamil Nadu, India, linked through Buzzmetrics “Threat Tracking.”  They even outsource their paranoia.

We have had three different visits from Comcast techs since late November.  Three.  Two to the insides of our house, which of course requires one of us to wait around during “normal business hours” (read: when we really should be elsewhere) chained to the house so we can let a guy stomp around, twiddle wires, [...]

This year, the grandmothers in my life are getting simple, airy scarves made from kidsilk haze.  Easy to knit, portable on airplanes, and nice warm bits of pretty fluff.  I was finishing the second (for John’s Granny - actually out of kidsilk night - a deep lavender with flecks of silver, perfect for her) sitting [...]

It’s that time of year again - people are talking about holiday music - their favorites, least favorites, songs of regret and longing, songs of holiday cheer.  I’m a bit pressed for time, and I have found that searching my own archives from the old site is mostly borked (why?  We may never know), so [...]