kmkat and her kneedles

Energy fair, or How To Have Fun While Keeping An Eye On The Toilets.

I volunteered at the Polk County Energy Fair today. Because I cannot walk very far or do heavy lifting or really anything remotely physical, my job was to check the women's bathroom every hour or so to be sure there were sufficient paper towels and t.p. and that no one had done anything disgusting. Except for the 30 seconds it took me to walk from my comfy camp chair out by the information booth to the restrooms every time, the job required roughly 3.5 minutes spread out over an 8-hour day. 

A few of the information booth crew:

.

There were workshops and speakers. Five minutes before each round of workshops started, Dennis would skip (skip!) around the area ringing a cowbell and Jean (in the green dress) would put on her loudspeaker voice and announce the workshops.

.

This is the second annual energy fair. From the very beginning it has aimed to be a low-waste event. This recycling/composting/trash station sums up their success.

.

In between my arduous stints of checking the bathrooms, I spent most of the day knitting; it was my own little Knit In Public day. Three afghan squares done for Blankets for Birmingham:

.

En Esch approves.

Knitting retreat w/ CPE.

Once again it is time for the annual 2-day tax conference in Minneapolis. I have my knitting (2 projects), I have my iPod (fully charged and loaded with an audiobook), and I am ready to go.

Catch ya on the flip side!

Better safe than sorry.

Yesterday I got vaccinated against H1N1.

This morning I had my annual mammogram.

I just signed up for online data backup for my computer (already have a external hard drive that backs up automatically every hour or so).

...and if I ever knit lace I will use a life line. That is all.

* * * * *

I lied. That is not all.

Last night I had the delightful experience of joining four other local fiber crafters (3 knitters, 1 crocheter) for a couple hours of fibery fun, chatting, and a scrumptious chocolate dessert. I may have [finally] found my knitting group :) Thanks, Julie, for the invite!

* * * * *

I found this in the readme.txt file that came with the online backup software.

"Mozy may protect you from a zombie invasion in a post-apocalyptic environment."

Good to know...

Knitting retreat w/ CPE credit; day 2.

This was the scene Tuesday.

 

Same audio book, different hat. I finished this one on Tuesday and knit the first 3" of another.

I learned less during this conference than usual (NOT because I was listening to my iPod -- I did that was ONLY between sessions). The keynote speaker, who also led on one of the ethics sessions, was entertaining but absolutely irrelevant to the accounting profession. He tried to tie in his message to business but failed, imho. Other speakers varied from okay to miserable.

One of the better speakers, who led three sessions on various technology topics.

 

From him I did learn a few things. Unlike most of the speakers on tax matters, he chose fewer topics to present in his sessions but did every one thoroughly. The tax guys tended to attempt to cram way too much into their 75 minutes, with the result that nothing was well-presented. There is a lesson in there somewhere.

But accountants are not all about spreadsheets and tax code and hidden treasures in Excel.

 

The Society, sponsors of the conference,  also raised nearly $1200 for the Second Harvest food shelf. Good work.

* * * * *

Now I am back home in Polk County, another 16 CPE credits (of the 40 required annually) under my belt, sipping my morning latte and listening to Bear the dog snore under my desk. Life is good.

WWKIP day.

My question is, exactly how public does this need to be? Does knitting in front of my computer count if I have Twitter open?

Probably not.

Google?

No.

How about if I knit while on the phone with one of my sons and he is out in public?

Still no.

What if he is in Central Park?

Uh-uh.

Times Square?

No way, José.

Well, okay then, this is my final offer: I'll go knit on my deck and whenever I see a boat on the lake I'll wave my knitting in the air.

Note: it is not that I am afraid to be seen knitting in public. Heaven knows I do it all the time. I'm just opposed to getting in the car and driving somewhere just to do it.

So if you read about a crazed woman arrested in Wisconsin for waving a half-knit sock in the air in a manner deemd to be threatening to boaters? That would be me. Please send bail.