My 333rd post & 48 years

And to celebrate such auspicious numbers... more natural heather colored yarn photos!


This weekend I finished up my final aran afghan square ( #6) and seamed them all together (yes I did my finishing!) and you know what? I love it. Now I may have to knit more squares. I have to think about it. I don't have a photo of the current "FO" but will take one when it stops raining (yes... it's one of the 6 days a year it rains in Southern California so I couldn't take a photo... I need to hang it up outside somewhere to get a good pic I think). So with the blanket "maybe finished" I spent the majority of the weekend swatching.

My knitting group has been talking about wanting to learn to cable and I've said I'd be willing. Now that we're going to have a new LYS, I *might* be teaching an actual cabling class. I'm happy to do it... I just want to confirm that the new owner isn't just joking and really wants me to do a class.

So if I'm going to do a class, I need a pattern to teach. Hence, swatching. Behold the beginnings of the "Gemma" cabled scarf.


You can see on the left the different permutations of the scarf that I'm putting together. I started with the center cable as the prominent feature surrounded by two smaller cables. After a few inches of that I realized that the center was too small (only a 9 stitch cable) and decided to switch up to a 13 stitch center cable. I liked that one much better. After a while though I realized I don't really like the row of knit along each side of the center cable. This is similiar to what's in the luxe cable sweater, which I love, but I just don't like it here. I think it's too busy for such a small space. So out with the knits and in with plain purls in the center. A little less filler in the fourth try and I think I have something that looks not too bad. The knitting on the right is that final pattern. It should stretch out a bit wider once I wash it, but all in all, not too shabby I think. I love the texture you know, and this one has lots of it.

So will it be too complicated for a beginners class? I hope not. It's really just a left leaning cable and a right leaning cable (different numbers of stitches, some left, some right).

Only the great OZ knows whether this will turn into a class or not, but at the least I'll get a fun new scarf out of it. I'll write it up later for others who are interested too.

And in honor of my mom, a true Irish girl, I'm going to call it the Gemma Cabled Scarf. It seems quite fitting that in a post about cables and aran knitting, I get to honor my mom and dad. My mom who was born and raised in Derry and only moved to the states after she was swept off her feet by a yank.

Happy 48th anniversary Mom and Dad!

Just when you thought I was done . . .

suddenly there's another square.



There is something crazy about unloading. The day that I posted that I wasn't going to make the afghan and that I had frogged three squares, I cast on another square. Yep... I must be crazy. I don't know, all of a sudden I just had three lovely squares and no real interest in making them into pillows. I started looking a the Mason-Dixon moderne log cabin baby blanket and suddenly realized that I was halfway to a baby blanket with my three squares.

Today... well now I have 5. Only one left to go and I'm about 20% through that one too! When I'm done I'll just box it up until the time is right and some friend decides to add to their family.

It's wonderful when things work out that way.

Good for me that something is working out right too. Work just sucks these days. Not work, per say. Just parts of work. You know what? I really don't like parts of my work. I don't like it when people don't do what they should and I'm the one that has to do the documentation and the "firing." I don't like it when people who have been "fired" are too stupid to understand what that means and just keep coming back again and again with more appeals. Sigh. If I could just do my job, I'd get so much more done.

On a more positive note... my better half is having a good time off traveling again. Yes my previous-South Bend, Indiana residing spouse now is off in Brazil! I don't know, some excuse about doing fieldwork for a dissertation [laugh]! He spent his first 10 days near the rain forests in Belem and is to arrive in Rio today. He spends another 10 days there "working" and then finishes up his trip in Sao Paulo. Sounds tough hmm? I get updates and have seen a few pics. Looks like all is going well there.

So that's me... working too much on soul-sucking tasks, hanging out with the boys (the cats and dogs), and looking forward to another Thursday night knitting club. And best news of all ... my LYS is definitely going to re-open (sort of). One of the women who works there is going to open her own store in another location not too far away. This is the best... I can't wait!

Happpy February friends!

Knitting... remind me ...

what exactly is that and how do you find time to do it? [laugh]

How is it that time just seems to disappear on you? Work expands and fills up every moment of your cognitive existence? When you get home, you're like jello? Even knitting seems like a bit of a challenge? Such has been my tale of late.

Poor, poor, pitiful me hmm? [laugh ... don't give me any sympathy... I don't deserve it].

In the almost two weeks since last I posted, I have squeezed in a *small* amount of knitting time, mostly on MLK day (a giant blessing!). My cabled hoodie is slowly coming along, but is getting minimal attention, I have to admit. I still seem to be distracted and wanting to do something else.

My most recent distraction, another square for the cabled afghan I started years ago.


That top square represents the end of square 6 of 16. A funny thing happened after square 6 though. I got all excited about starting another square, pulled out a stitch dictionaries to come up with my own square, cast on and knit about 8 rows, and then asked myself the fateful question "why are you doing this?".

You see, even I had to recognize that the 6 squares I had completed were never going to go together into an afghan. When you look at the picture up there closely, you'll see it too. The far left, far right, and top squares are all nice and large (these are the three most recently knit squares). The three squares in the middle, the ones I started with, not so much on the large size.

I deluded myself for awhile that I could block them into the right size, but you know what, just a delusion. I could have blocked to the right length OR the right width, but there was no way physics was going to allow me to get to both the right length and width simultaneously.

Really I had three completed squares and three objects with no practical use. How much did I really want a 16 square afghan? How many more months would I spend on this task.? Was this the task which was most worth my knitting time?


Does this picture answer the question for you?!

I looked myself squarely in the face, admitted that the early squares had been a good learning experience (this was how I taught myself to cable and how I learned that you don't knit through the back loop normally ... something that never occurred to me when I taught myself... something I only discovered later when watching knitting on television and someone made the distinction between knitting normally and knitting through the back loop), and did the frog dance.

The most recent three squares I've saved and I think I'm going to turn them into throw pillow shams. The first three squares... dust. Let's just say they now rest in the stash, ready along with a number of companions to find another use in the future.

I feel a great unburdening and I've just decreased my "knitting in progress" list by one.

Now if I can just escape the vortex of work and not get distracted into frogging any other WIPs around here.... [grin].

First FO of 2009

Yesterday, inspired by both Kay over at Mason Dixon and Ellen at LA is my Beat, I felt compelled to cast on for a new project -- Calorimetry, to be specific. And really, truth be told, it was Ellen's fault suggestion that led to my choice. She participated in this really great idea, cast on with wild abandon. I love that idea! Don't worry about what you have in progress, what you think you "should" be working on, give into your fancy. And that's just what I did.

I printed out out the pattern for Calorimetry, pulled out the perfect yarn from my stash (and trust me that rarely happens, so it must have been meant to be) and off I went.


The best thing, it's already a finished object!


S and I have been keeping up our morning runs and this is going to be perfect for a cool morning. I find that I get a little too hot with a hat, but think this headband will fill the bill. Keep the ears toasty while letting a little steam out as well.

I used Plymouth Yarn's Boku for the first time to do this project. I actually bought the yarn at my LYS's closing sale thinking I'd knit up a tea cozy (and then I promptly stopped using the tea pot ... I'm much more a 'one cup at a time' girl -- probably because the tea gets cold in the pot which is why I need a cozy... grrrr). Let me tell you, I love the colors. It's very similiar to Noro and I'm starting to understand why people love Noro so much.

Boku is pretty much like Noro in terms of its feel too ... a bit on the scratchy side. It's 95% wool, 5% silk, but honestly you don't feel the silk. But the colors... pretty. I love the transitions. I'd definitely put this on the list to use again.

And gold star for the project that can be finished in a few hours of dedicated knitting!

Calorimetry
Plymouth Yarn Boku (95% wook, 5% silk)
< 1 ball Color 7 Lot 37 (a mix of blues and greens)
US 4 circulars
Cast on January 11, 2009
Finished January 12, 2009

Modifications: None, just dropped to a smaller needle to get gauge with this yarn.

Ravelry details here.

What's better...

than knitting with friends! [rhetorical question... of course]


Since my LYS closed, my knitting group hasn't met. Last night we all got together at my house for a night of fun, laughter, and knitting!


There really is nothing like having fun with friends! And to end the evening, we here in California like a little rock 'n roll....


Yep, nothing like a little tremblor to shake you up and get the adrenaline rushing. At least no one will forget knit night at my house!

I can't wait for next week to see everyone again.

My newest start

Hey everyone ... thanks for your feedback on the ribbed cardi. I'm going to take your advice and leave it as is.

Of course, with one sweater off the needles, it was time to cast on for something new. Next up, the Cabled Pullover with Hood (it's from a Paton's brochure).


With the new found realization that yes, texture is my friend, I'm going to do another all over cables pattern. This one should keep me busy for awhile I think. Fun, fun!

So what's up for 2009?

2008 was a good year... busy but good.
Last January I set some goals for myself and didn't do too badly on the list. Let's review shall we.

1. More quality knitting.

Check ... I came up with several projects I really enjoyed and a number of finished objects I'm quite happy with. Not everything was a winner of course, but on the whole, a successful year. I did knit one pair of socks... I love having the finished pair but still think that socks take an awfully long time to finish.

2. Higher quality blogging.

Hmm... well I think I get a mixed report card on this. My posts have become more infrequent so there is less "trash" post, but the visuals haven't improved tremendously. I still struggle with sharing alot of quality information. Something that can still be worked on I think.

3. Spinning.

Oops... failed this goal. No spinning at all this year.

4. Live within a budget and save money.

Well this always seems to be an area for improvement doesn't it?

5. Live healthier (eating healthier foods, exercising).

I finished 2008 having walked or run 616.4 miles, exceeding my goal of 540 miles solidly. I also began running. Now this my friends was a crazy thing; I have never run. Not even when I was a kid. I used Robert Ullrey's Couch to 5K podcasts and, OMG, now I can run. I got up to 5K and then dropped down to what I think is most reasonable for my knees... about 2 miles per run.

6. Learn Spanish.

Excellent progress here... I've now completed two semesters of college spanish and have learned quite a bit. Still couldn't carry a conversation in a bucket, but man oh man do I feel like I have accomplished something.

7. Increase my research productivity at work.

Well it didn't go down... does that count? This year was a crazy busy year with too many other work demands. Research didn't get the time it deserved. I'll try again on this goal.

8. Commit to being more present and positive with people at work.

I'm going better with this but will continue to work on this. We can't ever be good enough to the people around us.

9. Work on being more outgoing, less introverted, with others.

OK... I'm still just as shy and introverted as ever. Honestly, I'm not sure how important this goal is for me. The costs still seem to outweigh the benefits.

10. Appreciating what I have, being mindful, managing my work-related stress, enjoying nature.

This I did well with. Of course there were crazy moment, stressful moments, but on the whole I managed to keep my sanity. Morning walks go along way with this as does being surrounded with such a great group of handsome boys.

2009 should be a pretty busy year. Always more to do than time to do it in, right? To get off to a good start, S and I have come up with a few new resolutions. Here's my new list.

1. Appreciating what I have, being mindful, managing my work-related stress. I've decided to move this one up the list. It's what gives me quality of life -- got to give it priority.

2. More quality knitting.

3. Live within a budget and save money.

4. Live healthier (eating healthier foods, exercising).

• 630 miles by 2010
• run 2 miles, 3 times per week
• watch my diet, eat at home more often, cook healthier foods
  

5. Contine to learn Spanish.

6. S and I have committed to taking a nature trip and going to the movies at least once per month. With mountains, desert, and beach all within a short drive, we need to take advantage of the bounty around us.

Seems like a pretty reasonable list, right? I'm looking forward to the year. Hope your's is off to a good start and you're optimistic too.

Off the Needles in 2008

It's always a very rewarding feeling to look back over the past year and to see what's been accomplished. Shall we take a walk down the 2008 memory lane? I think I'd like that.

From right to left, starting on the bottom row:

• Ribbed Cardi with Collar

• Cable Luxe Tunic
  

• Chunky Knit Cowls (v 1 & 2)
  

• Scott's sweater
  

• Fantine
  

• Trinity Stitch Baby Jacket
  

• Rotating Rib Trekking Socks
  

• baby's pure & simple pullover
  

• Garter Stitch Mitts v. 1 & 2
  

• Celtic Tote
  

• Baby Booties & Beanie
  

• Doctor's Bag
  

• One hour hats v. 1-5
  

• Neckwarmer v 3.0
  

• Elizabeth Bennet cabled cardigan

Not bad for a year... 7 sweaters, 4 cowls/scarfs, 7 hats, 2 bags, 1 pair of booties, 1 pair of socks, and 3 pairs of fingerless mitts.

All and all, and enjoyable year of knitting. My favorite init this year was definitely the cable luxe tunic. I must have been slow on the up-take, but it has finally dawned on me that my love of texture extends to knitting. I'm a cables girl.

My second favorite knit of the year was the Doctor's Bag... no suprise, another textured object. Love that herringbone texture on the bag. I also love the fact that it's big and can hold big knitting projects.

I'd put both of these projects high on the to-knit list.

Hope everyone else had an equally enjoyable knitting year. Next time, I'll do a bit of planning for 2009.

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone has been having a great holiday season! The picture above is from my flight last week. The plane flew right over the tops of the mountains close to where we live. A beautiful parting shot of our warm L.A. home, I have to say.

S and I spent our holidays with family and then moving him back home from Indiana.


With family, we of course ate generous meals and had very good company. We then had two days of very pleasant, if not cold, driving through Oklahoma (where the family lives), New Mexico, and Arizona on our way back to California.

It is good to be home though and to have S back here as well.

Best wishes to you all from us both!

Ribbed cardi done

I am always astonished that it can feel like you work on something forever and you still have miles to go. Then one day, all of a sudden, without warning, you're done! Such was the case with the ribbed cardi I cast off last night.


The sleeves are wayyyyy too long. I foolishly made them longer thinking that would be a good idea. Not such a good idea. Laugh. I may chop the ends off. I'm still giving this some thought.


I'm also not 100% sold on the wide collar but it's growing on me.

I can say that I loved the Sidar Eco wool dk the sweater is made out of. I'd describe it as a loosely spun single. A little splitty, but not too bad. Nice and warm, pretty soft for wool. Good stuff!

So what do you guys think? Shorten the sleeves? Narrow the collar?

Regardless...Yeah!... one more project down.

Ribbed Jacket with Collar
Sidar Eco woll dk book (336 Code c)
12 balls Sidar Eco wool dk (100% undyed virgin wool)
US 6 circulars
Cast on about October 27, 2008
Finished December 19, 2008

Modifications: Recalculated the pattern given that I got very different gauge than the pattern suggested. Extended the sleeves longer than recommended by the pattern.

Ravelry details here.

A new day

This morning broke clear, blue-skyed, cold, and beautiful.


I love it when you can see snow blowing around on the mountain top, snug from inside a snow-free home.

Life is good -- despite my momentary melt down yesterday.
=]

It must be a monday

• It's raining giant bucketfulls of cats and dogs today (yes, I live in Southern California where it never rains.
• I needed to go into the office early today to do a make-up exam (my oral exam for Spanish that I've already missed twice!)
• Today was the day my car battery decided to give up the ghost so I couldn't get into work
• Depite the fact that I'm wearing a turtleneck, a sweater, a jacket, a scarf (handmade alpaca of course), and boots, I can not get my feet warm.
  

But have no fear, all is not lost.

• It only took AAA 20 minutes to come out and jump start my car
• I only spent an hour at the repair shop getting the battery replace (and oh yeah... did I realize that one of my brake lights was also dead and did I want to have that fixed too?)
• I still get to take my written final exam in Spanish in an hour
• The rain has finally gone down to "light"
• We have no mud to slide in my neighborhood and all that snow that I can see up on the mountains won't get down to us here in the valley

Some days you know it must be Monday.

=]

Long lost blogger

Yep... I'm still here. Long time no post. =]

Life goes on ... work is busy. I'm so looking forward to time off at the holidays. Knitting has happened, in limited spurts.


My ribbed cardi is coming along. I finally cast off the collar last night (after the photo was taken). Now there's just the rest of the endless body to go. I get tired of sweaters before they're done. It's inevitable ... I can take a break or I can just push though... but I just get bored.

I'm going to like this one when it's done though so I'm knit, knit, knit, purl, purl, purling away. =]

In honor of our upcoming holidays I also managed to put up a few lights.


I believe strongly in celebrating the winter solstice and can't wait for the days to start getting longer again.

Hope everyone is doing well and having more free time for fun than me. I'll try to update you again soon.

Lazy days... love em

Five days off of work ... this has been a great, lazy five days! I need to do this more often. And the best thing, big piles of work shouldn't be waiting for me since everyone else has been off too. Yeah!!

So what have I been doing for the past several days. Well amazingly little knitting it turns out. I've been on a Twilight binge. After I saw the movie, I reread all the books. I'm thinking about going back to see the movie again. Teen angst... love it!

But it hasn't been all teen romance around here, I did finish up one project and have been working dutifully away on my sweater. First up, a finished object.

A pair of garter stitch mitts for myself.

Last May I made pairs of these for my mom and sister and planned to make a pair for myself. Here were are 6 months later and I've finally gotten around to it.

My favorite part... the way the greenish gold colors contrast with the pinks of the Soy yarn on the palms.

Garter Stitch Mitts by Ysolda
1 ball Pattons SWS (70% wool, 30% soy), Natural Violet (color 70312)
US 9 circulars
Cast on about November 14, 2008
Finished November 28, 2008

Modifications: Cast on only 26 stitches given yarn with a different gauge.

Ravelry details here.

I've also been making progress on my ribbed cardi. Instead of knitting the body pieces in pieces, I put them all on the needles at once. This is making for slow going, but it is finally starting to look like a sweater. So far, I'm still pretty pleased with how this one is coming along.

And last, pictoral proof that I am able to cook and enjoy Thanksgiving solo. S... here's my yummy thanksgiving lunch. An overflowing plate of starchy calories.


Yum! Hope all of you counted your blessings and enjoyed your weekend too.

OK... admit it ...

you want to see it too.

I did ... I love teen angst movies... always have. Loved it. All the sappy, illogical, heartthrobby stuff. It was great! Want to have that giggly teenage girl feeling again... you should go too! You won't regret it.

Sad news in the LYS department

Yes, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but my favorite LYS, Knitwitz in San Dimas, will be closing next month. I'm going to miss this place... locale for my regular Thursday night knit group. What will become of me? (OK... maybe that's a bit melodramatic, but it is quite a loss, a girl has to have a place to whine a bit). It's been great to have a store close by with friendly people, a place to hang out and knit on thursdays. Maybe this will be a good excuse to move to a venue with wine.

As part of the closing, the store of course is having a sale. While I hate to prosper at the cost of a closing, I did want to continue supporting the store, so I went out sweater-quantity shopping. Here is my ambivalent (yeah new yarn -- boo store closing) haul.

Pretty cascade pastaza ... great soft lavendar color.


Alpaca with a Twist, Baby Twist. There probably isn't quite enough here for the cabled short sleeve sweater in the new Debbie Bliss magazine, but maybe for something similar.


More ecological wool! I really liked this wool when I was making S's sweater so it seemed like a good choice for more knitting.


And last, but certainly not least, cascade 220 in a rich purple.


All lovingly selected, even with some remorse mixed in. I was laughing at myself a bit when I picked this pile out. Recently S made a comment about how all my sweaters are light green ... not the truth I claimed. Of course, in the store I kept being drawn to the green yarns. I purposefully didn't let myself overload with green and look what happened... purple everywhere. At least I can identify themes in my likes and dislikes!

So on other fronts, life around here has been crazy, accounting for my recent blog absence. I spent several days in Florida on a business trip and then came back and had to immediately report for jury duty. I spent two days on a panel seating a jury for a gang-related double homocide (with a juvenile defendant). It was a long process to seat the 12 jurors and 4 alternates. Out of the panel of 60-80 people, there were only 12 of us left (including me) who hadn't been questioned when they finally settled on a jury. It was a frightening insight into the judicial system, I have to say, although in the end I felt the process was OK. Now I am back to work, trying to dig out from the pile of work that accumulated during my absence. Studying to make up a spanish exam I missed during my excursions. Why is it that you have to work twice as hard before you leave and twice as hard when you come back from an absence? Somehow that means you've done twice as much work as you would have if you never left. Makes me want to stick around more.

Hope everyone else is having a good pre-Thanksgiving week!

Look what the postal carrier brought

A gift, and what a gift! Barbara Bretton just published another book and did a celebratory drawing on the blog she contributes to, Romancing the Yarn. Lucky me... I won some Debbie Bliss cashmere. Great hmmm? And to make the gift even more super she threw in a copy of the new book! I can't wait to read it. I think it will be perfect plane reading when I go on a business trip soon.

And all that cashmere... well I'm going to have to think about what kind of sumptuous items I'll make with that. Thanks Barbara!

And those of you who haven't visited the blog, you should. Barbara's very generous and has been having a number of give aways of late. It's fun to see what she, and her other author contributors, are up to.

Knitting on the ribbed cardigan continues slowly ... because of work I'm once again finding less time to knit. Yep another Sunday spent in the office... = [

On Monday for my spanish class we had a bit of fun though. We're learning various types of past tense now and for practice found recipes (in spanish) for a popular spanish food. We were to make the recipe, bring the food to class to share, and then share with the class how the item was made (yep in spanish).

My contribution... arroz con leche. S wanted to see a pic...



It's not a runny soupy pudding like you get an most indian restraurants, but more of a sticky rice dish ... full of cinnamon, raisins, and condensed sweetened milk. Can you say sugar? Comfort food, Spain and Latin American style. Wish you were here to share the left overs!

Knitting?

Who me?


Well yes. Spending hours in front of a television watching election results allows one the opportunity to cast on new projects and make good progress!


These (terrible) photos are of my newest work in progress, the

Eco Wool Ribbed Jacket with Collar (ravelry link) by Sirdar.

After my last post about the bulky cabled cartigan, I saw two separate discussions about the pain that knitters get in their hands (which I also experience). I decided to take my own advice and take a break from knitting with big needles (which seems worse for my hand). That means I needed to cast on for a new project. The ribbed jacket is something I bought a few months back ... I ordered both the pattern book and yarn online from Rams and I've been looking forward to having the sweater.

It's a very interesting construction. You start at the end of one sleeve and knit up to the shoulder. The work then gets wider and half becomes the yoke for the back and the other becomes the front yoke. The front yoke includes lots of decreases so you end up with a v-neck jacket. Construction like this isn't my favorite because you can't try on as you go... you have to have faith.

I hate that since more often than not, faith in patterns seems to result in bad fitting garments.

Nevertheless, off I went. I had to recalculate the whole pattern since, even though I'm using the recommended yarn, there was no way I was going to get gauge. (The pattern recommended 6s... my swatch on 6s and 4s suggested I might have to go down to 1s or 2s to get gauge... no thank you!). You might guess this has even further heightened by lack of faith issue.

I ripped back once part way through the sleeve due to a misread on my part and then after the photos above were taken ripped back the very end of the "point" on the front of the jacket. I decided that the point needed to end sooner so the sweater would fit. The fronts do overlaps some, but would have completely doubled over each other if I hadn't tried, tried, tried again.

After I do the right side, I'll pick up stitches along the bottom (or what looks like the bottom in the picture above.. bottom is relative given how this is knitted) and knit the ribbing down. This should provide a nice finished project with ribs going multiple directions (down the sleeve and body; across the chest).

Wish me luck (and better picture taking for the next set of photos)!

You spin me right round baby ...

We're having a dance party around here today!

Wanna join us? You've got to check out this web page for folding candidates president elect, first lady elect, and vice president elect. The music at this page (really play the video on the page... you'll feel good) is exactly how I feel today about the presidential election... deliriously happy, spinning .... Some things are good in the world.

Unfortunately, not all is well. In California, 5, 359, 110 people voted to legalize discrimination towards others. Really? Over 5 million people want to discriminate against other Americans? America is not yet a country of equality. I'm still hoping beyond hope with others though:

Statement by "No on Prop 8" Campaign on Election Status

Roughly 400,000 votes separate yes from no on Prop 8 – out of 10 million votes tallied.

Based on turnout estimates reported yesterday, we expect that there are more than 3 million and possibly as many as 4 million absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted.

Given that fundamental rights are at stake, we must wait to hear from the Secretary of State tomorrow how many votes are yet to be counted as well as where they are from.

It is clearly a very close election and we monitored the results all evening and this morning.

As of this point, the election is too close to call.

Because Prop 8 involves the sensitive matter of individual rights, we believe it is important to wait until we receive further information about the outcome.

Geoff Kors Executive Committee NO on Prop 8

Kate KendellExecutive Committee NO on Prop 8

Keep your fingers crossed that those who voted early by mail weren't bigots.
After all, two other states made the wrong choice yesterday. I'm going to keep hoping bad things don't come in threes.


link to puppets courtesy of monster yarn's post today.

I voted ...

have you?

No?! ... well get off the computer and go! Voting this morning was so energizing! I got up early, well in fact I woke up early several times and had to keep going back to sleep until it made sense to get up. After a brisk walk with the pup and a quick shower, off to the polls I went.

I love my neighborhood ... so many different kinds of people. The polling place was a great slice of America ... it made me feel proud to be able to vote with people of different ages, races, sexual orientations.

My wait wasn't too bad... only about 25 minutes. I figured that early (I went around 7:20am) was the best bet for beating the crowds. I suspect it will be even busier later. Even more reason for you to go vote now!

Be part of the process. Read up on the issues and go vote! Me, I'm going to be waiting anxiously for the returns. We Californians voted on some important issues (beyond the obvious presidential choice) including whether or not to legalize discrimination in the state constitution... I'll be glued to the returns to see whether my fellow residents are truely humane and don't make the aggregious error of passing Prop 8.

I haven't been so excited to vote since 1988 ... that seemed like a chance to turn the country around but we didn't do it then. I think this time we might make a better choice. =]