General Laura-Related Updates

Knitting Olympics: I've finished one of the two lace bands that I've got to knit. I did only one because 1. I got tired of knitting the lace of my first band back and forth and back and forth over only nine stitches and 2. so that I could just make some progress already.

And I did. So far I'm half through with the back stockinette portion of my Uhura tank top and 1.5 seasons into M.A.S.H. I found the first two seasons in a bundle for $20.00 at Walmart. A deal too good to pass up, considering that I don't have cable and have only the prospect of people firing weapons while on skis to look forward to during the remaining days of the Olympics and beyond (we have to wait until April for a new Fringe).

I also must ask all of you to focus good energy in Rachael's direction. See, Rachael thinks she might run out of yarn before she runs out of sweater-pattern (Myrtle cardigan). That's a bad thing. We don't want that to happen.

Funny things: Last night I was so tired when Paul came in to stare at my television that I ate my last bite of cookie, and while I was still chewing I walked across my room to put the plate down somewhere out of the way (I was tired--no way I was taking it back to the kitchen), then while still looking at the ground in the general direction of my dresser, I pointed at myself, mimed taking off my shirt, then pointed at the bed. This horrible attempt at charades (for changing into my pajamas and going to sleep) was enough to cause Paul to laugh so hard he started having trouble breathing. Indeed, it was worthy of the Buffy episode "Hush" in which Buffy pantomimes staking something by rapidly moving her fist back and forth, producing a gesture that could be easily misinterpreted as obscene.

Okay, fine. Watch it. Don't mind the subtitles.


See? Obscene. That scene is a great deal funnier when you watch the whole thing, but I couldn't find it. Apparently, Buffy making the staking motion is funnier than Giles' blood-covered stick figures (which is what I thought was funniest). But then, I am a girl.

Paul's laugh was quite good for him, as he'd spent the whole day in a rotten mood. Finally, I demanded that he tell me what his problem was. His response?

"It's Valentine's Day."

So there you go. I had chocolate, so I didn't care what day it was. I've always thought Valentine's Day was a bore. Except for the card-making. That's fun.

In my point of view, buying someone Kroger roses (or even DeBrand's chocolate and Hercule Poirot, vol 1) doesn't show them that you love them any more than you loved them the week before, when you brought home milk on your way back from work because you knew your loved one would have to go out early to get it so they could have coffee the next morning (my parents are so sweet to each other).

Tech problems: Not only did iTunes swallow one song-download whole, when I purchased the song a second time to avoid having to cope with tech support then took the computer to work to see if the internet speed-improvement would help, it swallowed the second copy of the download of Song One along with the copy of Song Two that had been just peachy up to that point.

Laura: 0

Computer Bugs: 50,000,000,000,000

[That's a record of all the times that computers have annoyed or inconvenienced me. It's an approximation.]

So instead of buying a song twice to avoid having to cope with iTunes tech support (it takes usually three days for them to get my issues fixed), I must cope with them regarding three songs and still wait three or more days. My question: why don't they just let you have say...five tries to download a song? You could download it only to the computer you originally downloaded it to or something, but if something happened, you would only need to click "download" and it would do it again? Could that work?

Wait. Of course it would work. That's why they aren't doing it. Life would be too easy if they just, you know, did the logical thing.

I quit. I quit life. Right now. Except for the Knitting Olympics. And work. And the other fun stuff, like books and Italian food. And listening to music on my iPo---crap.

Oh, well. In four to six weeks, I'll have those songs I want.

By then I'll have fast internet. That should happen this Wednesday, if the people really do what they told us they were going to do. But since they just sent us the router so we could go wireless once we have our fancy new DSL modem, it looks like they might actually come through...but I'm still not holding my breath. I've been crushed too many times while waiting for fast internet.