Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Date night: Fleetwood Mac

Husband and I went to see Fleetwood Mac last night. It was great fun. Not only because the music was good -- they played "Tusk" my favorite, but alas with no marching band. The horns must have been taped, I didn't see any of the backup musicians play horns or keyboard.

No, the best part was that Husband and I canoodled pretty much through the whole thing. :)

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Goodbye Phillip

Just learned that a friend passed away from a heart attack. He was in his 6os and we worked together at my previous job. We had the same job titles and did the same work, and he was a great mentor, showing me the ropes of the job.

He really cared about Atlanta. He took seriously our responsibility at work to serve all of the metro Atlanta area, especially those who are homeless. He also cared about historic preservation and making sure everyone had the opportunity to participate in civic society and neighborhood activism.

Since I left that job, we lost touch. Then just last month I learned that he got laid off from that job and we made plans to get together next week. And now I'll never get that chance.

I hope that he knew how many people cared about him and how much, before he left. I'm glad that on my last day working with him, I did at least get to give him a hug and say "I love you."

Thursday, April 23, 2009

I guess I named my blog correctly!

Wow. Found this quiz at KnitTech's blog (see blogroll to right)

Your rainbow is strongly shaded red.


What is says about you: You are a passionate person. You appreciate energetic people. You get bored easily and want friends who will keep up with you.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Boston Marathon

No, I didn't run it, Brother in Law did. He did the marathon in 3 hours, 17 minutes. He came in number 4170ish out of 25,000 runners. Pretty darn good!

Husband, Mother in Law, and I were in Boston to support him. Poor BIL. He's all focused on what he can and can't eat and drink in preparation for the run, and the rest of us gorged on seafood, beer, scotch and whiskey. We were sure to have some Italian, some Irish, and some sea food while there. And the appropriate spirits.

Now that Husband and I live in the city, we took the metro to the airport and used the metro in Boston. Not every station in Atlanta or Boston had elevators or even escalators, but we got around okay.

All in all, a good trip despite the cold and drizzle. It was fun walking around North End, a real city neighborhood where people live and shop in the walk ups. Boston's such a compact city, it was really easy to get around even walking.

MIL, however had a harder time, since she had both knees replaced, arthritis in her feet, and overweight, putting more strain on her knees and feet. She walks really slowly and has a hard time taking stairs. In someways, she's even more mobility impaired than Husband who used a wheelchair, but very healthy and strong in all other respects.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

loving Netflix

As mentioned previously, I finished disc one of Torchwood and returned it yesterday. Just got an e-mail that the next disc will be here tomorrow. Squee!

I've found a new favorite website The Recapist which, obviously, recaps TV shows, complete with screen caps, commentary, snark, and fangirling. Love it.

So I've read the recaps for the next few episodes and now I'm really looking forward to seeing the episodes.

I've also added Doctor Who to my Netflix cue, right behind Arrest Development. I really hope the AD movie gets made.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Moved in!

This weekend was busy, busy, busy. Moved from the western suburbs to downtown Atlanta, and I have pretty much set up and unpacked the study and kitchen. Still lots yet to be done, like getting a closet set up, drapes (hi neighbors! Hope none of them have binoculars), and other odds and ends.

There are still things left at the suburban house to get, like a fish sculpture, pictures on walls, but nothing major.

After 5 days away from work, now I'm back and trying to get into it again. But my mind is still back at the condo. Maybe I'll take Thursday afternoon off. I have a lunch meeting just a mile from the condo. What's the point of coming back to the office?

Plus, by then, then next Torchwood DVD should arrive from Netflix. I am so totally crushing on the Jack/Ianto relationship. The Jack/Gwen thing bores me. Yeah, yeah, newest female character has unresolved sexual tension with male main character, but that's so standard. Hot male main character developing a relationship with hot, young, male administrative staff/sometime field agent -- now that's interesting.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Angry angry angry

On April 3, 2009, Jiverly Wong opened fire on the American Civic Association in Binghamton, NY, killing many people and then himself.

When I first heard about it on CNN.com at 2pm, all anyone knew was that an immigrant and refugee serving agency was shot up and many people hurt or killed. The killer was unknown and I assumed it was a xenophobic American. Immediately I sent an e-mail to an immigrant rights legislative list serve I'm on to say that we have to issue some kind of statement; we have to respond.

For years, the anti-immigrant sentiment has been on the rise. There have been cases in Georgia where Americans teens have specifically targetted immigrants, especially Latinos, for assault and robbery. And for the past few years, I've been part of an immigrant rights group to prevent the passage of anti-immigrant legislation in Georgia.

So I was keyed up and angry about this. Immigrants come here only wanting to start a better life for themselves and their families! Refugees are refugees because they have been targetted for persecution and here there are targetted again! WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF?

Then I found out that the shooter was an immigrant himself. That did not make me any less angry. Again, WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF?

Mr. Wong apparently just lost his job, like a zillion other people, and felt that he was being demeaned and passed over for jobs because his English wasn't so good. And so the answer is to shoot up other immigrants who are going to English classes? How the hell is that supposed to make things better?!?!? And this is not helping to alleviate the xenophobia in this country. And don't even get me started on the availability of guns in this country.

My agency's put a message on our website sending condolences to the victims and condeming the violence, but I am outraged and continue to be outraged and don't know what else to do about it.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Done with Season one of Torchwood

For the first time around, anyway and watched the "making of" episodes on the last disk.

So far, my favorite episode is "Captain Jack Harkness" where Captain Jack and Toshiko get sent back in time to a "Kiss the Boys Goodbye" dance in the 1940s. Doomed star-crossed lovers and a passionate good-bye kiss. Loved it. Gets me every time. Looking forward to watching it again with the commentary.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Finished the Green

The green part of the green is done on the Sean Scully Malabrigo afghan. The Firefly and Torchwood DVDs really help me rock through all the miles of garter stitch and I'm loving it.

Next up: sewing on the purple and grey strip along the bottom and then knit on a blue and pink striped section to the left there. The pink's not varigated but if I make them narrow stripes, I don't think it'll matter.

This will be the softest lap blanket ever.