Google WIN!

This is the best hit from Google I've ever gotten.

I'm stuck at work tonight, doing a leadership retreat for some students and missing a really cool field trip to a new yarn store, but this search totally cracks me up- full of win.

The search term? (For those not willing to click through...)

"soldiers make better lovers"

So much fun!

I just got home from my first-ever belly dance class! It was so much fun! I've never taken a dance class before (well, maybe when I was 5 I took ballet, but that was it), so it was hard, but it was a ton of fun, I can't wait until next week to go back!

Question

For all you work-out/creative types (two things that are not usually combined, but I know that there are both people that are fitness crazy and people that are creative that stop by here every once in a while, and this venture combines both. Perfect!)

I'm the team captain of an inter-campus fitness challenge thingy at work- basically people sign up to be on the team and then track the miles that they run/walk/cycle/whatever.

I want to somehow visually track people's progress in the staff lounge so there's some motivation- but I know that we're going to have people who struggle to get in 2 miles each week, and others that are going to do upwards of 20 miles each week, so I don't want to just have a number of miles race to the end of the timeline- I want to somehow represent that each participant is working hard and accomplishing something important to them.

I have some little sneakers to use for place markers to represent each participant, now I just need to figure out what I can measure and represent in public that is going to be motivating for everyone. Perhaps something cumulative to emphasize that it's a team effort? (the mileage gets averaged together each week). Maybe we need to set some sort of group mileage goal or something? Or the number of times per week the participants run/walk/cycle? What would be motivating, but not time consuming? I thought about asking them to set weekly goals, but that would be too much effort I think.

Any suggestions?

Knitting Update

Remember the Mystic Ice Shawl?

If you don't, don't worry about it. It was frogged. It was too complicated for me right now- I actually frogged it back in January (frog means ripped out to you non-knitters- I completely un-did the whole thing). After I had rewound the ball, I realized it was a darn good thing I frogged it because I had been knitting it completely wrong anyways- the chart is repeated once, and it should have been done as a mirror image rather than a regular repeat. So the shawl would have had to have been frogged anway. Sigh.

Anyway- now the malabrigo is growing up to be something else, and it is much happier (watch out- that last link is a ravelry link).



It's much bigger than this now- in fact the body is completely done (a little more than twice the size it is above). All that's left is the edging (and to figure out how to do the knitted on lace edging), but I realized that I don't have the proper size DPNs (Double pointed needles for the non-knitters, they are exactly what they sound like). So, this is on hold for a while- the likelihood that any of the big-box stores around here have the correct size is slim-to-none with my luck, so I'll have to order them. Darn, more yarn shopping.

And the sweater? I bit the bullet and figured out the darn sleeves. I think I also may have inadvertently figured out how to magic-loop in the process, thank goodness for long cables on my circular needles. Go me.

** Also- note the lack of lifelines. All the other pictures of my lace have had lifelines. This pattern has been a ton of simple, almost-mindless fun **

A Visitor!

My Grandma came to visit me! I am so happy that she's here- sure that I'm going to go a little nuts spending a week with a more-than-half-deaf 82 year old- but really happy. I'm not precisely sure how I'm going to manage my work schedule, although I already know she's spending all day here alone, in my apartment, today. Eek! But she mentioned baking cookies or something, so I guess I can't complain too much.

Insofar as this visit doesn't coincide with either of my Spring Breaks and so therefore I'm still crazy busy/stressed out during it, the timing isnt great. But I'm also in the longest radio-silence we've had yet from Ranger Man (which, thankfully, still isn't that long), but I'm sure if she wasn't here I'd be doing something silly like worrying about it. Instead, I have to come up with ways to entertain her. It's a win-win.

And the best part? One of the first things she did last night was ask me to knit her a pair of socks! Coming from a knitter, that's quite a compliment. So we went diving into the stash and she picked a skein of yarn for a pair of socks to wear with her clogs.

And now? I'm off to work and to brainstorm things to do with my (very energetic) Grandmother!

Have a great weekend, y'all!

They Messed with my Head!

On the Island, there is no daylight savings time. I had forgotten what this was like- my poor insomniac head is fried! I had finally gotten into some semblance of routine that was actually working when WHAM! They messed with my head!

I'm sitting at my kitchen table right now with coffee and a blank stare, thinking in my head, "what happened? am I awake enough to try showering yet, or will I drown?"

It should be a glorious day! After one more cup of coffee.

Reflections : This time versus last time.

This deployment has been very different than the last, and completely different from the 'other' deployment (Ranger Man and I have each been through one deployment without us).

Warning : Webster is literally in my lap right now- and my laptop is in my lap, so half the cat is sitting on the computer, making typing more of an challenge that it usually is. But he needs his snuggles and since I'm sitting here trying to convice my Lunesta-ized body that it is in fact bedtime... here we are. If Ranger Man were here, he would laugh and take a picture. Of course if he were here, Webster would be snuggling on the lap that isn't moving or otherwise occupied by electronic devices. ideally. Anyways- that's why all of the typos, I can't see what I'm doing!

This deployment is very different. I've not posted a lot of it because it's been a very personal battle that i've been fighting. Our last deployment was not typical: It was very short (he came home early to go to Super Secret Army Land), I was moving to Hawai in the middle of it, and before moving I was living with my parents, working with a wonderful and supportive group of people and had just established myself with some great friends.

Then I moved to Hawaii and went back to my default position of being more solitary. Ranger Man came home (to Ranger Local #1) soon after I after I moved to the Island. We had great mail service (well, one way- I have no idea if mail went both ways) and we wrote via email almost once a day. The email was rough, as we are really bad email communicators as a unit, but for less than two months, it wasn't that big of a deal. I could go home and talk to my mom, my dad was supportive and willing to distract with talk about biking or hiking or kayaking or climbing or whatever, my friend A from work (of Deportment fame) and I would hang or go out occasionally on the weekends and my friend Danger would take me once a week for a walk in one of the beautiful places to go for a walk in the Pacific Northwest and then we'd go out for margaritas afterwards. It was good.

This time around- it's completely different. I am completely on my own. My mom and I aren't really talking (really- I don't need to hear about how you got drunk and hula danced in a bar mom). My dad's never been the one I go to for talking, but he's trying. A and Danger are great, but they have no idea about anything in the alternate universe that is a Southern Army Base Town. At work, most of my interactions go like this: "Hey, Ms. KJ, will you do this citation for me?" "No, but have you seen this great style book? I'll show you how to do it!" "grumble, grumble."

This time around, until this morning, I had no idea when he was going home. It literally could have been any time between sometime this month to December. That was awful. Now I've got a bit better of an idea. It's not December, thank goodness, but it is certainly longer than 'typical' Ranger deployments. Now I know when hes scheduled to take block leave, so now at least I have something to look forward to. Before- it was just a bunch of days that I kept crossing off on my calendar... Now crossing them off has a purpose.

So the hardest parts of this deployment (so far) have been two fold: Feeling completely cut-off, and the utter uncertainty. And: My Grandma will be here for a week, starting next week so that will help with that, and the little tiny bit of information I got this morning definitely alleviates some of the uncertainty problem.

There have been more than a few bad days- and a couple really bad ones. But overall, it's truly going well. I'm eating better than usual and exercising more. I've got school largely under control for now and Today, I feel happy. So that's a start.

And oh my gosh- I cleaned today! Usually, Ranger Man does the cleaning (have I mentioned I love him?) But obviously, he's not here, and before he left, he cleared out his barracks room. So there was STUFF everywhere... it was terrible. He took a picture of it at its worse, I may have to post that sometime. And he seems to think that he "cleaned it up" before he left. And I think by that he means that he cleared a path or something, I don't know. And he is such a packrat! Apparently, we are in the deepest throes of a box shortage. So that means: We MUST NOT throw away any boxes. We must keep the empty boxes. Not so much. He named some specific boxes he wanted to keep before he left, and I am tossing the rest!! Good riddance.

And now, after a weekend of cleaning, It's not bad.. It's not perfect- and Lord knows we still have boxes of stuff, but they're mostly contained boxes. and put in corners. And only a couple empty ones.