Best Quote I Heard All Day

The young always have the same problem - how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another. --Quentin Crisp

Did that knock your eyeballs outta your head? Well, I'm quite fond of it, given that it is a Liz creation (Grammy kibbitzed while this was being made). I see knit design possibilities here.

For some very strange reason, Liz and her doppelganger, Miss Daniella, seem to think that if I put a picture of them up on my blog, they will achieve instant stardom. Because people read my blog and only their closest associates read their MySpaces, I suppose.

So being the doting Grammy that I am, and because both Liz and Daniella think I'm kewl, I'll give in to the "Oh pleeeaaasse Gram" and publish this totally goofy picture of the two gangstas wearing Burger King crowns.

Note the charmingly tinted braces on my granddaughter's teeth. Liz has gone from dyeing her hair blue, purple, pink or what-have-you to decorating the choppers.

On the other hand, Britney's bald. Must have been that one day in rehab.

OK, girls. You've had your 15 nanoseconds of fame, such as it may be. Now you owe me. Big time. It ain't easy being 14 but it's tougher being almost 57. So Liz, maybe you might empty those boxes of books on the landing, like I asked you to do three months ago?

I loves my Liz because we're more alike than either of us would dare admit.

(And to the Wolverinas, Liz would love to come along on our next get-together, preferably at the Stockton Inn. Because she thinks my friends are kewl.)

Knitting ZZZZZZZZZZZ
Damn, I'm bored with my knitting. Loopy and I both feel relegated to simple shit, like knitting socks. Even Ma is knitting a scarf, although she's also working an Aran. Jeez. I can't even bring myself to do that.

I've been knitting on the BBF Red Light but even lace is making me yawn. I looked through IK and Vague and saw nothing at all that appealed, although I generally don't find squat that I like in Spring issues. I suspect it's some kind of SAD deal here. The yen for bright colors is growing.

On top of which, I'll be going down to Virginia on the 25th for five days on business, which means staying in a nice hotel, complete with indoor pool and Jacuzzi. And the potential for quality evening knitting time. Except that I have nothing right now that's exciting.

This too shall pass.

Cameo Appearance
Other than working my ass off this week, my first week, trying to pull together a configuration manual for a very complex application, I did have a piece of good news. On Tuesday, I'm getting together with a very well-known knit designer, someone who I've admired for many years. I'm not going to spray her name all over the blog, at least not today. Suffice it to say that I'm looking forward to meeting her, very much.

No, it's not the Tiny Diva.

Gone But Not Forgotten
But perhaps they should be. While fiddling around on Google the other day, it occurred to me that some of the yarn brands of my youth have seemingly bit the dust. Columbia-Minerva, Spinnerin, Melrose gone. Bernat, Pingouin, Chat Botte, Scheepjeswol--no longer players, if indeed any of them really still exist in retail, besides Bernat.

Sad to say, Anny Blatt seems to be making a comeback, of sorts. I used to finish garments made with that crap and even just seaming with it gave me psychosomatic hives. Same with most of Melrose's stuff, although Cravenella was about the best yarn with which to knit skirts. The Crav mix, 70% wool, 30% rayon, was made by various companies, Sunray being one of them. Sunray is also history.

All in all, despite the whacked-out fashion yarns that have been littering the retail shops for the past few years, I think that the overall quality has really gone up. More colors, more fiber blends, more possibilities.

Sometimes it's good that the past is past.

This Coming Week
I rather expect that the work pace will continue. Makes no difference whether I'm working from home or in an office, I still have a lot to do, especially learning this suite of applications that ride on top of Microsoft SharePoint, a collaborative platform that gives companies an out-of-the-box intranet/workplace. Courtesy of my employer, I now have a laptop loaded with Office 2007 but gratefully, not with Vista. They're waiting on that one, for which I don't blame them.

The jury's still out on Office 2007. I've been using Word 2007 and I'm still not sure if I like it or not, having been a dedicated Word 2003 power user.

Change management, kids. That's what it's all about. In corporatespeak. In my speak, I'm getting tired of learning new tricks, but what can you do?

Go to bed, that's what. Because staying up until 12:30 on a Saturday night is really not all that rare and handy.