Life is random, why not me?

1. Baked :: Alaska.
2. Excited :: to go.
3. Print :: out of,
4. Obstruct :: -ionist.
5. Bladder :: full.
6. Matrimony :: wedding.
7. Car :: many.
8. Reconstruct :: Civil War.
9. Lenses :: contact.
10. Best for last :: save it.

* * * * *

I got to thinking about John Sandford and his Virgil Flowers novels because I noticed a new one had come out, Mad River. Love John Sandford, love Virgil Flowers. Maybe not quite as much as I love Lucas Davenport of the Prey series, but close. Couldn't remember which of the books I had already read so I requested all of them (five plus the newest one) from the library. Have been reading them one after the other, kinda like 350-page potato chips. Just started #4 AND got the email that the newest one is waiting for me at my local library.

Heaven.

Edited to add: the reason I like Sandford's novels and characters so much is that they are the most intelligent but down-to-earth ones I have read, amen.

* * * * *

Speaking of books.

I sit on the board of trustees of the regional library system, which is currently embarking on its [latest] long-range planning process. Members of the board were tasked with visiting all the libraries in their respective counties and chatting with the directors about the services they get from the regional system. On Friday the other board member from our county and I visited four municipal libraries and had four wildly varying discussions. Wildly varying in a good way, mind you -- their experience in the library system ranged from 1 to 29 years and their education/library size/community demographic varied almost as much.

It was an interesting and informative and fun way to spend a day. Which is good because next Wednesday we are going to do it again with four different libraries.

* * * * *

I liked the yarn I knitted the fingerless gloves out of so much (it's been sitting in my stash since 2007, why haven't I used it before?) that I decided to make myself a hat from it, the Twisted Toque from 60 Quick Knits. 

Fail.

Sorry, I should have taken a photo to show how terrible it looked. If you scan the projects in Ravelry you may notice that on some, the non-stockinette portion of the hat sort of... sticks out. Mine looked like the one in the link but much, much worse.

Ribbit.

In hindsight, I think the problem was that the pattern was written for Cascade 220, which is a light worsted, and I knitted it from a plump worsted. Perhaps if I had gone up a needle size all would have been well. 

But we shall never know because I am NOT knitting that pattern again.

So there.

Not that I am bitter or anything...

 * * * * *

(something I commented on another blog that seemed so revolutionary and astoundingly awesome that I had to include it here)

The possible long-term effects of global warming have been endlessly reported upon, but the day-to-day effects have been downplayed. I have concluded what the latter means for us in the northern latitudes is that our weather will change more quickly than we are used to. The past few weeks, with fronts blowing through seemingly every other day, are what have convinced me of this. Makes sense meteorologically, too -- globala warming is basically just more energy in the atmosphere = more volatile weather.

Kinda fun, actually. Every morning is a new surprise. Can I go into town minus hat/scarf/boots or will I need long underwear and three pairs of socks? 

* * * * *

Have any of you been watching House of Cards on Netflix? I started last night, got annoyed in the first 30 seconds*, so annoyed in the next three minutes* that I stopped watching. I eventually went back and am now ready to start episode 2.

But it is not nearly as good as the British original with Ian Richardson, imnsho. I blogged about that once twice before. When Kevin Spacey delivered that line -- You might very well think that. I could not possibly comment -- I actually groaned. He is a great actor, don't get me wrong, but this whole thing seems kinda flat compared to the original.

I will continue to suffer through it, though ;-)

* They broke a primary law of good writing/movie-making: show me, don't tell me. When FU kills the dog, that is showing; when he expounds to the camera to give every bit of background information we may need, that's telling.

 

Comments

[k]

Speaking of reading: Quite a while ago I read an enormous scifi book by A. A. Atanasio? called Raadix? I think. In that world, every so often there would come a huge storm that would wipe everything off the face of the earth every so often. They had much more warning than we've been getting, however, and would run underground to hide. (We won't talk about the gaping plot hole that caused, because I was young and enjoyed the book quite a bit.)
But yeah. That inland hurricane from a few years ago (through which I walked back the six blocks to my dorm, oh yeah baby) is just one example. 70 mph winds? New normal, I think. 80 degrees in February followed by a ten-inch blizzard? Why not?

I should go write on my own neglected blog.

[Chris]

Oh yeah - increasing global weather extremes, not global warming. Eep.

Having a legit excuse/reason to visit all those libraries sounds fun!

[Shirley]

I am a huge Virgil Flowers fan, more so than Lucas Davenport. I've read them all

[Tinebeest]

Remake of house of cards? The fools! How could they possibly improve on perfection?! :-) Ian Richardson was outstanding in that series.

I'll try and check out your reading recommendations. I must get some more fiction in, so it seems like a good depareture point.

[gayle]

Netflix has been shoving House of Cards at me, but I've been resisting. I love Kevin Spacey, but the show didn't interest me At All. Maybe if they had thrown in a couple of zombies...

[soxanne]

I've not seen the show House of Cards, but I remember thinking the movie was very good.

Sorry to hear the hat didn't work. No need to be bitter now...it took me a long time to figure out how important it is to match the yarn to the project/pattern. That resulted in a lot of not-quite-right knitted things. But I'm not bitter ;-)

I'm envious of your library excursion(s). Enjoy!