Monthly Archive: August 2012

This meri is medicated. Loopiness may ensue. That is all.

Thanks to everyone who provided input (<Johnny5>INPUT!</Johnny5>) to my question yesterday about how one pronounces the final word when expanding the TCP/IP-centric initialism ‘TTL’. The results were, as expected, unanimous, and in favor of a short i, as in the first syllable of the word ‘livid’ and not as in the second syllable of the word ‘alive.’

While I knew this, there were a few things that caused me to doubt myself.

• I’m often incorrect.
• The author in question, Robert J. Sawyer, is a pretty net-savvy guy.
• The mispronunciation persisted through all three of the books in the trilogy in question (the WWW: (Wake|Watch|Wonder) series. I would have thought that, after the first book, someone would have waved their arms and corrected the narrators (multiple) as to the proper pronunciation of the word. But, it seems that either didn’t happen, or an executive decision was made to keep on keepin’ on with the standing error.

Anyway, I thank you all for confirming that I’m not completely off my rocker. It’s always good to have some external validation of that.

I’m listening to an audiobook which has a lot to do with the Internets. It’s a pretty good book, and part of a pretty good series, but there is one consistent mispronunciation that’s driving me nuts. However, upon further reflection, I realized that it’s remotely possible that I’ve been saying the phrase incorrectly all these years. I’m fairly certain that, if I am, I’m far from alone. But, it’s always good to check these things. That’s where you come in.

The mispronunciation in question comes about when the acronym TTL is expanded and the component words are said individually. Do you say the last word as:

• the last syllable in the word ‘alive’, or
• the first syllable in the word ‘livid’

Like I said, I’m pretty sure I know which way this is going to go, because the term just doesn’t make sense to me the other way. But I never underestimate the ability of the world to surprise me.

While I was last in Massachusetts, I made a sock. (See below.) It is a pretty cool sock, but sadly, is only one sock. In order for it to be truly useful, there needs to be a second sock. Based upon my adventures thus far, that may be a long time coming.

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Nothing to see here. Move along.

In theory, this should be automatically posted to my LiveJournal account, but not my Facebook account. We’ll see how that works out, in reality.

Amigurumi (編みぐるみ) is, according to Wikipedia, the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. So, string + tool = cute stuffed thing. It’s a pretty cool hobby, and there are people who are crazy good at it. I am not one of those people. However, that certainly is not the fault of my teacher, Stacey Trock of FreshStitches. Several years ago (when Stacey was still living in the area and working at A Tangled Skein, I took an Introduction to Amigurumi class from her, and had a blast. I made an awesome little piggy, who has since gone on walkabout somewhere. If he ever resurfaces, I’ll be sure to grab a picture.

Since that time, Stacey has moved on to new things, and is now a full-time designer of cool amigurumi. And, for a limited time, you can get one of her ridiculously cute patterns (Frankie the Lobster) absolutely free! You should definitely check out Frankie, Stacey, and the rest of the FreshStitches menagerie. They’re all adorable.

If you’re a fan of Old Blue Eyes, you might want to check out this deal from Amazon, wherein you can get 22 of his greatest hits for 99¢. I’m not sure how long the sale will last, so if you’re interested, act quickly!

A wonderful story about a blogger who unexpectedly has his world view shifted a little by the man who invented the first internally programmable computer.

*sigh*

As you all know by now, I’m making two of the Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl. One (SSMS #2) is in a state very commonly known around this house: all finished except the finishing. This means that all the actual knitting is done, and all that’s left is the blocking and the weaving in of loose ends. I keep swearing I’m going to start blocking an item a day, and make an interesting week of it, but yet, mostly-finished items continue to languish in their little baggies, waiting to be finished and sent on to their new homes. Life as a knitted object is hard.

Last night, thanks to an off-by-one error and not trusting my instincts that something was wrong, I ended up making a series of unfortunate mistakes in SSMS #3. Rather than following my initial urge (throw it away and go find a big drink), I carefully stowed the offending shawl back in its project bag, and set it aside until more awake – and calmer – minds were available.

After my morning meds and daily cup of coffee, I sat down with the shawl to see if the harm was reparable.

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So, a while ago, Jenn mentioned that she was lacking a nail file at the office. Since I had failed to get her anything for her birthday, I told her I would build her an office survival kit as a belated birthday present. Those of you who know me know that I go all out for these sorts of things. The photo below shows all the items that I collected to put into the kit. I tried to cover most eventualities. (more…)