HFCS: effika’s blog

I stole this from cello.
There was a time when all I carried was cell phone, wallet, lip gloss, and keys. Now, though…

Either a purse I knit as a bored senior in college, or a cheap black faux-leather purse. I have sizes from small to huge. For this discussion, we’ll pretend I’m not [...]

Just woke up (early on a Saturday!) and took my camera to my computer to get the pictures off of it, when I realized all this was a dream. I should have known it was all a dream— my hair looked so much better in my dreams than it usually does (it also looked [...]

I hate to post emo stuff here anymore, but where better to put it? Everything from 2001 to 2005 or so is pretty much one big whine on low self-esteem, so I might as well add to it a little bit.
When I was fresh out of college, there weren’t that many lab jobs in [...]

There are some days when all I want is to wear this shirt and scowl at everyone.
Not right now, though. There is a lovely warm breeze blowing through the house. Everywhere I look outside I see green grass, clover, henbit, and dandelions. It feels easy to be alive– not like winter, when [...]

So! We moved. Settling in; making horrible design decisions. If anybody wants to come over and tell me what to do I am all ears. I should not do this myself, as last Friday I painted an accent wall so deep a brown it is nearly black. I could blame [...]

One of the houses we are looking at buying was built in 1951. It resides at the end of a small, quiet neighborhood. The street it’s on ends in a field, suddenly. The way the trees have been cleared imply a much larger neighborhood was the plan at some point.
It is a failed suburban development, [...]

Didn’t get through the trim for my Nation Knit a Sweater Month Sweater. The sweater itself has all the sweatery parts attached, and is wearable, so it’s not a complete loss. I should have the trim finished and seamed on either tomorrow night or Wednesday, depending on how much time I get to [...]

Get flu vaccine distributed to two counties
Keep the food supply of an entire city safe
(many boring things)
Get some knitting done
(many even more boring things)
Learn how to read minds

Please note that I haven’t actually gotten to that last one.
So this isn’t a completely cynical post, how about that Thanksgiving? Should be a fun time. [...]

I swear I am not trying to turn this into a knitting blog, but here is a picture of a scarf. More on the Flickr.

Spent waaaay too much of this month not actually doing my job. Instead, I’ve been dealing with H1N1 stuff (how did I end up as Planning?) and various trainings [...]

I promise I’m not on anything, but I may be a bit dehydrated.
A friend posed a question to me recently— when did I realize I was me? I’m not certain I have an answer for that, but it did lead me to think about how self-aware I was when I was a child.
Somewhere around [...]

My phone has a camera that is just as good as the one I used to take artsy photos with back in high school (they’re laying in my dormant DeviantArt account that I can’t remember the password for) and it is with me constantly. I used to see cool things and wish I’d had [...]

I have the checkbook for OUI!. :-(
I have the checkbook because it was Julie’s last night in town. We (+Jay) went to dinner, chatted long after they cleared the plates, and at the end of it she gave me the OUI! checkbook and a bunch of books to return to a friend.
She’ll be [...]

First! A bit of advertising: If you enjoy well-written thoughts about things, you should go read my friend Sam’s blog over there in the sidebar. For those of you too lazy to get over there, here it is: http://diiq.blogspot.com/.
Second! This is my 800th blog post! Congrats to me for [...]

My broken car stereo has had the slow CD from the Foo Fighter’s In Your Honor stuck in it since February of 2007. Last night, the stereo finally let it go!
Now I just need to figure out what I’m OK with getting stuck in there for another 2-ish years.

Today is odd. I’m back from my trip to Colorado Springs with my improv troupe! Pictures eventually, although they’re not really spectacular. The landscape was great but I mainly focused on people that none of you know, and even then took very few pictures.
Anyway, today is odd. I am back to normal life [...]

I’ve got off work the rest of the week and Monday and Tuesday of next week. Why?
I’m going to Colorado Springs this weekend! It is over 10 hours away by car! There is an improv festival and I will visit yarn shops!
I will make sure to post lots of pictures and possibly [...]

Note: I found this in my drafts after last night. I am presenting it without good reason.
RESVERATROL’D
That is all.

I think I’ve figured out why I refuse to get a new cell phone, even though the one I have is just barely meeting my needs (and soon won’t if the battery continues to decline in performance). Getting a new phone means moving all my contacts over. I don’t dread the monotony of [...]

I sat outside in the sunshine for nearly 2 hours today, knitting while one of the improv troupes practiced. The Bradford pear trees were in bloom but not stinky, the sun was warm but the wind was cool, and the yard was predominately green.
I have been happy to see the signs of Spring’s return [...]

Dear Winter/Spring:
I cordially request that you figure out what our weather shall be like. I don’t know if the groundhog saw his shadow on the 2nd, but from the way you’ve been acting I think you don’t know, either. Please decide if you will let us have highs in the 70’s and [...]

Loose-leaf tea is pretty awesome.

I’ve got samples of a bunch of teas from Adagio and one of their IngenuiTEA teapots to brew them in. Here’s what I have so far– feel free to suggest some favorites for me. I’m not the biggest fan of black tea, but I’ll drink Irish breakfast blends if [...]

An electrician came out yesterday and today to fix up the condo. He had to replace a secret hidden outdoors breaker that controlled the hot water heater and the central ac/heater. It had, apparently, burned up while we were gone. Fun! The electrician also got into multiple tiffs with our downstairs [...]

The hot water heater isn’t heating water! That’s OK, we’ll get a plumber here on Monday and we have friends who are letting us borrow their showers until then. The thermostat went out a few years ago, what will it be this time?
It’s a lot chillier than I think 65F should be! [...]

Nearly 9 years ago to the day I bought a black wrap from Sarah when she worked at JC Penney’s. I had let Jay borrow it (every winter for the past 3 years) to use as a scarf, and now after 9 years it is no longer in a location I can name. [...]

For any interested, I did indeed finish my sweater for National Knit a Sweater Month. Here’s a nice shot of it! Thanks, Jay, for being patient with me while taking photos that blustery cold day. (If it wasn’t for Ravelry I never would have joined Flickr, it being too cool to be [...]

My 28 year-old coworker wants Twilight for her Secret Santa present. I think I am going to have to pay cash and wear a wig while I buy it for her. Of course, it also is about to be gift-buying season, so maybe if I get a couple of normal books too it [...]

To No One in Particular,
I don’t feel that I’m wasting my talent in Oklahoma. Part of why this state “sucks” is that capable people are drawn off to more interesting parts of the world. (Luckily we’re not the 3rd-world!)
I like the climate, I like the friendliness of the people, and I like the [...]

Since my creative and cool friends are doing Naniwrimo, and trying to convince me to be creative and cool with them, I had to find another NationalXYMonth project to do. Sure, there’s No Shave November, but I don’t have a beard and I hate leg hair.
Enter National Knit a Sweater Month! I’ve never [...]

Remember how a while ago I said I should start writing down scraps of thoughts I had through the day and posting them? Apparently this morning I thought that was a swell idea. I was amazingly tired this morning and had trouble staying awake. I wrote this little note out at work.
I [...]

August is usually the awful month for me: the new school year always makes things very hectic. I’ve been out of school and employed for almost two years now, and August has started sucking less. The farther removed from school the less stress it causes me.
September this year has been tiresome. [...]