More Harlot

The Yarn Harlot was in Annapolis last night and I was there. (I can just feel my cool quotient expanding.) I got there about six and snagged some chairs across the atrium from where the Harlot would be standing. (Turns out the speaker was kind of obscuring the view, but it was fine. In fact, if you have great eyesight and check the picture on her blog, I am the person in the first Annapolis picture who is taking of picture of the pictures.)

The Harlot talked about losing her luggage in Atlanta, but how - using the measure of naked in Calgary as the low point - still better.
The Harlot talked about how when people discover you are a knitter it befuddles them because knitters fail to fall into neat categories, despite people's attempts to force them to. And that as humans we like things in definable categories. She mentioned this also is what drives a lot of knitting and yarn retailers to drink since no matter what you offer, about half the knitters are bound to tell you it is crap.
The Harlot spoke of studies proving that repetitive actions make you smarter, happier and better able to handle stress. One study in particular mentioned that they weren't sure what to do with this since it supposedly (they said) would not be practical to carry around "emergency knitting".
She talked about her friend Denny knitting in a doctor's office and having another person tell her that she was glad she had never been bored enough to knit. Denny responded that she was grateful she knit, since it kept her from being so bored that she insulted strangers.
I was number 168 in line and waited happily knitting away (Parthenope still, I'm being fairly loyal so far and have made it to the second skein). The harlot complimented my nutty Greenjeans, which I will possibly be mentioning to people for some time. I met lovely people while waiting and listening and in line - none of who's names I remember. (But all of you - lovely.) I do recall a lovely princess child who was just a bit ahead in line, and she will likely make a blog appearance, so we'll hold out for that.

And, as always, when surrounded by knitters, I learned something amazing. The Fibre Company has a stand at Sheep and Wool. In my blitzkrieg approach last year I missed a lot of things - but this is the one that has cemented for me that no matter how much I think I have enough yarn (for a while) - still must go to Sheep and Wool.

Go Caps!

The Caps have not only made it to the playoffs, but they have executed
the biggest turnaround in NHL history.

Fifth Graders are Smart

Oh the muttering in Paleobiology staff at the Smithsonian. Apparently a notation on the Tower of Time in the Museum of Natural History mistakenly references the Precambrian era. And yet the notation has remained since the tower was placed in 1981.
But, a fifth grader noticed the issue and brought it to the attention of museum staff. Kenton Stufflebeam got a letter back from the museum, indicating that he was correct and that they would likely remove the word era from the tower. Sadly, the letter spelled his name wrong.

PS - Thanks to the friend who passed this story on to me.

Knitting and...

I am a multi tasker. I sometimes have trouble doing just one thing. My father could not understand how my sister and I could get any studying done with all that loud music. When our school had us take a test to determine our dominant learning style, my sister and I both tested haptic or kinesthetic. One of the suggestions for haptic learners was listening to music while studying. My father was so annoyed by this (clearly not a kinesthetic learner himself) he called to school to see what they were trying to do. This is not to suggest my father did not want us to learn, it was that it was so foreign to his way of studying, that he could not wrap his head around it. He may have been a little sick of the music too.
At knit night last night, there was talk that a politician's spouse had whipped out knitting during her spouse's speechmaking and that people were annoyed. (Non-knitters one imagines, although if the ravelry knitting in church thread is any indication, perhaps not.) Now - first - she may listen better if her hand are occupied. I do. I am much better on conference calls if I can knit. Second - one has to imagine she has heard the speech before. Third - if she had whipped out a blackberry, one has to imagine that folks would not have minded so much - and yet - she could be playing solitaire on that blackberry for all we know.
I wonder if, because in this day and age knitting is no longer a necessity and so is considered frivolous, people resent the spouse doing something fun while they are trying to listen. I will give these folks the benefit of the doubt and assume that they, like my father, are differently-abled listeners, and so, are currently unable to understand that some of us listen better while knitting, rather than tuning everything out while knitting.

Insurance Giggles

When working on some of the more mundane benefits related tasks, I sometimes struggle to find things that make it - well - less mundane. So thanks to those of you who designate yourself as the beneficiary for your life insurance because (while recognizing the you were likely understandably confused by the terminology) this never ceases to amuse me.
And for those who might still be wondering the beneficiary is the term for the person(s) to whom your life insurance payout would go, in the event you pass away. So, sadly, you will not be around to enjoy this, much as you might wish to be. I also find twisted joy in the people who have a $5,000 policy and divide it between eight people. Since one assumes that part of what these people need to do is pay for your funeral - that $600 a piece, while very generous of you, is not going to help them much.
Yes, it is a good thing I don't believe in hell.