Yearly Archive: 2014

It’s gonna be one of those days.

(Small context: We’ve had a foot of snow.)

[meri] Today is gonna be a long day. I can tell.
[meri] I’m feeling cabin fever, just from knowing that I can’t go out.
[meri] And layout is slow.
[meri] Also, I have no pony.
[meri] I do, however, have yarn. Maybe I’ll make a pony.
[meri] … I wonder if I have any pony patterns.

This is me, not going to Ravelry.

This is pertinent to your interests: Hugh Laurie & Stephen Fry edition.

Based upon a comment made in response to my last post [1], I went searching for Hugh Laurie on my Roku. I was not able to find the show I was looking for, but I did discover that Jeeves and Wooster (IMDB) is available on Hulu Plus. I know this doesn’t pertain to most of the people reading this, but if all you know of Hugh Laurie is from his Hollywood-based acting, you’re in for a lovely surprise. (I recall once watching Jeeves and Wooster at work at AOL, and a co-worker declaring what a wonderful job Hugh Laurie does at portraying a British accent. I about choked.)

And, well, Stephen Fry. You do know Stephen Fry, right? Right?

I have the DVDs of Jeeves and Wooster (as well as those of A Bit of Fry and Laurie (IMDB)), but that would be effort, and not something I can watch at my desk without ripping them. Streaming, ahoy!

[1] Based upon a comment in LiveJournal from Colin, I was looking for the series Fortysomething (IMDB) (which has both Hugh Laurie and Benedict Cumberbatch), but alas, that does not seem to be available via Netflix, Amazon Streaming, or Hulu. I may be forced to acquire media.

This is pertinent to your interests, Benedict Cumberbatch edition.

If you’re interested in Mr. Cumberbatch, I found a series that he did back in 2008 called “The Last Enemy” (link leads to IMDB page). It’s about a brilliant mathematician (Cumberbatch) who has been living in China for the last several years, and returns to the UK only to attend his brother’s funeral. Upon arrival, he discovers a London that has been vastly changed by a bombing of a tube station, resulting in greater police / military presence and a decline in anything resembling personal privacy.

He also falls for a woman, loses a corpse that was in his apartment, gets a new job, and gets into various kinds of trouble. And I’ve only watched the first (of five) episodes. It’s kind of erratic, and I’m not sure they’re going to be able to pull off the premise in 7.5 hours (each episode is 90 minutes long), but I’m willing to give it a shot. Besides, you get to see our hero’s naked bum, and in a pair of plain white boxer shorts. I can’t decide if this is more or less amusing than the Sherlock-in-a-sheet scene.

Anyway, for those with Amazon Prime, it’s available to stream for free. Of course, you could always buy the episodes to stream, or purchase the DVD.

Enjoy.

Never a dull moment, part in a series.

I think I might have overextended myself this week.

  • Today, I was supposed to have three medical appointments (starting at 7:30 AM!), but one of them cancelled on me. So far today, I’ve gone to PT, gone grocery shopping, and ran a quick errand for G. Now I have a few hours until I have to head out to the orthopaedic surgeon, to see if he can figure out why I can’t straighten my left knee. (The physical therapist was quite adamant that, no matter how much she tries to help my ankles, it’s all going to be for naught if I can’t straighten the knee. And I see her point. Thus, the appointment.)
  • Tomorrow, I see a dermatologist, to have him examine a weird mole, and to see if he can figure out why my skin seems to be at war with me.
  • Wednesday, I’m having my car serviced.
  • Thursday, I have more physical therapy, and knit night (and maybe dinner afterwards).
  • Friday is thus far blessedly free.
  • Saturday, the Harvest knit-along continues. (I’m well past the point of having joined my sleeves, and am almost at the end of the increases, for those playing along at home.)
  • Sunday, I think I shall collapse.

Intermixed with all of this is a bunch of layout and design that I have promised people, and little things like eating and bathing and doing laundry.

Does anyone have any spare energy to spare? I think I’m gonna need an influx.

Discovery of the day: Skill lost.

It’s early yet, so another discovery might surpass this one, but this one is kind of annoying.

I appear to have lost the ability to be simultaneously reading one thing, typing another, listening to another, and speaking a fourth thing. I used to have to do this all the time when I worked at Kinko’s as a desktop publisher, and honed it when I was a sysadmin at various places.

However, I was just trying to do something along those lines here at home (reading a piece of text in a web browser, typing a correlating piece of text into InDesign, listening to the television, and singing a song), and it all ended up a mess. I ended up either typing what I was reading or listening to, or singing what I was typing. I suppose I should be happy that I didn’t sprain something.

So, what weird thing can you do? Or can you no longer do that you used to do?

Oh hey. It’s 2014.

I’m slow, but I do eventually catch on.

Since it’s a new(ish) year and all, it’s time to renew my crafty pay-it-forward thingie. It’s pretty simple. If, at some point in the next year, you’d like to receive something that I’ve made, respond here. The first five people to respond, win. (Or, well, at least receive something that I’ve made.)

Please note that this will most likely be a knitted something, though I’d probably try to come up with something else for those of you in Florida and Hawaii. 😉 But, I do have other crafty skills, and it might be a custom planner, or a photo album, or a calendar, or something similar.

Last year, nobody took me up on this, which is ok. I certainly give away plenty of hand-made goodness throughout the year without the help of this meme. But, if anyone is looking for something fun, please feel free to reply.

[The original meme I saw required that anyone who replied then turn around and post it on their blog / wall / timeline. I think it’s silly to impose that sort of unenforceable requirement. But, if you feel like playing along, the more the merrier.]

TLD madness. Or, “This .land is your .land, this .land is my .land.”

It would seem that there are a bunch of new TLDs available. And really, some most of them are just silly. Reading them, and imagining an actual domain, they read more like USENET (remember that?) group names.

soc.meri.land (I have to admit, I’m really tempted to make that happen.)

meditation.guru (For Amiga users everywhere.)

The possibilities are endless. And kinda dumb.

PSA: Luncheon for DC-area female (sorry guys) geeks.

If you’re a female geek (sorry guys) and if you’re in the DC area, or are attending Shmoocon, you might be interested in this.

Look what Santa brought me.

 

And by Santa, I mean the USPS, acting on behalf of Jer, Shama, Shamamama, Terri, and Krikor. Thank you all!

I will be strong. I will finish Shamamama’s vest first, I swear.  (more…)

So much potential.

The question is, do we use our powers for good or evil?