Sara / Kate

More info I did not need to have

2008-10-14T15:30:18Z

Movie meme

2008-07-10T21:33:07Z

Not the Entertainment Tonight one, but another. Ripped off from rfrancis .

This is IMDb’s top 25 all-time box office hits. Bold the ones you saw in theater, italicize the ones you saw some other way instead, and leave the unseen ones alone.

1. Titanic (1997) $600,779,824
2. Star Wars (1977) $460,935,665
3. Shrek 2 (2004) $436,471,036
4. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) $434,949,459
5. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) $431,065,444
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) $423,032,628
7. Spider-Man (2002) $403,706,375
8. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) $380,262,555
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) $377,019,252
10. Spider-Man 2 (2004) $373,377,893
11. The Passion of the Christ (2004) $370,270,943
12. Jurassic Park (1993) $356,784,000
13. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) $340,478,898
14. Finding Nemo (2003) $339,714,367
15. Spider-Man 3 (2007) $336,530,303
16. Forrest Gump (1994) $329,691,196
17. The Lion King (1994) $328,423,001
18. Shrek the Third (2007) $320,706,665
19. Transformers (2007) $318,759,914
20. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) $317,557,891
21. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) $313,837,577
22. Iron Man (2008) $311,708,133
23. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) $310,675,583
24. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) $309,404,152
25. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) $309,125,40

Gotta have 'em

2008-04-24T05:36:25Z

These shoes are made of awesome.

Lawn art

2008-04-13T04:51:26Z

Oh, goodness, I so do want one of these in my garden.

Wrong, but evocative

2008-02-28T21:56:09Z

I find myself rather fond of a particular eggcorn, to wit: "nip it in the butt." While hilariously mistaken, it brings up such a very clear picture of what the writer thinks they are intending to say, that I just can't condemn it much.

Collective knitted objects post

2006-12-03T03:30:12Z

This is 99.44% for my own reference, so I don't have to go searching back for things, but just in case it's of interest to others, I'll leave it accessible. Here's a list of the various knitted things I've posted pictures of, other than (or in addition to) in my own journal:

I learned to knit as a kid, did a few things and then dropped it; I picked it up again as an adult in 2001 (apparently I made only this comment at the time), learned a few more things, and then dropped it again when I had morning sickness with Amy and the repetitive motion made me ill. I picked it back up in 10/2004, at which point I knew how to cast on (in one method) and bind off (also one method), knit and purl, increase (kfb only) and decrease (k2tog or SKP only), cable *with* a cable needle, and that was about it. I'd never knit in the round in any method, never done lace (or even an on-purpose YO), never done a proper seam, but I did have an understanding of how gauge worked and what it was for, and how you could use a known gauge to obtain a knitted object of a desired width, and increases or decreases to change that width at a desired rate. Everything else I know, I've picked up since then.
2004:
The first wool soaker I did, my first project and a self-designed one
The second wool soaker I did, also self-designed, first project on circs and on DPNs, first picking up stitches and grafting. I am somewhat proud of this project, yes.
Multiple early projects, including my first sock
Strawberry hat I designed for Amy
First adult socks -- this post is somewhat out of order, since it was actually made for the purpose of showing the clear boots I'm wearing the socks inside; I cast on for these in early 11/2004, finished a week or two later.
Eensy Fair Isle purse
Skinned-muppet fingerless gloves -- I still use these, because they are toasty.
2005:
Acorn hat, apple hat, trim on a dress
Tulip hat
Knitted nametag
Bulky cardigan (totally fails to fit now that I've lost weight; I must get around to reclaiming that yarn)
Eensy cabled bag
Fingerless gloves
2006:
Flora scarf
Watermelon hat
Pineapple hat
Toddler shrug
Pomatomus socks, with reversed second sock
Acorn/sunflower hat

This makes me realize how many things I've knitted that I haven't ever posted pictures of -- mostly socks. I should round up all my socks and take a picture! And I have some lace that I have taken pictures of, but they're still on the camera.

Edit: Here come the 2007 projects!
Lace swatch from Nancy Bush workshop
Top-down fingerless mitts
Kiri shawl, finished in 2006 but posted in 2007
LLSS socks Adult and toddler socks, posted to show how differently the same yarn can behave; these were actually knit in early and late 2006, respectively.
Stuffed cat
Baby sweater prototype
Cabled hat, formerly my oldest UFO

2008 stuff:
Robby's cobra hat (not done) -- the multi-colored cabled band, in progress, posted for the sake of showing the technique

It's always something.

2006-07-18T15:32:31Z

My secretary called in late this morning because there was a baby opossum in her computer desk.

sarakate @ 2006-06-29T11:09:00

2006-06-29T16:16:04Z

The other day in the airport here in Houston, I saw a shirt that had "Don't mess with Texas" running up the sleeve. Okay, fine -- not something I'd pay money for personally, but not really that ridiculous. However, what initially caught my attention about the shirt were the large block letters on the front.

And maybe it's just that I've spent a long time working in the environmental arena, and we have a plethora of acronyms and a tendency to try to pronounce them as words (for instance, RCRA, for the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, is commonly pronounced "RICK-ra"), but ...

My first thought on seeing DMWT is not, "Don't mess with Texas," but, "'Dimwit'? Who would want that on a shirt?".

Another hat

2006-06-08T23:09:47Z

I made a watermelon hat:

Knitter friends can check out details here.

RIP, Greg

2006-06-06T13:46:59Z

I just learned that gblake, who was a longtime online friend of mine (I think I first met him online in 1990, in person in 1992), passed away yesterday, from complications following surgery. We weren't all that close, but he was very close with other friends of mine, who are devastated. He was a kind and generous person, optimistic in the face of adversity, and just a really nice guy to know. His passing leaves an ache.

To his family, if they happen to read this, and to the rest of his friends, I'm so sorry.

To Greg, goodbye; you will be badly missed by many, many people.

Dallas trip

2006-05-07T16:13:47Z

In a couple of hours, I'm going to hop in my car and drive to Dallas, where I'll be staying for the next couple of weeks while we're in trial over a contract dispute. I'm not 100% sure of my schedule, but I should have at least some evenings free, I think (since I am not trial counsel, but the corporate representative). I'm staying downtown at the Fairmont, but don't mind driving if you can give me decent directions. If you're interested in getting together for dinner or something, drop me a line!

Happy Easter, y'all.

2006-04-16T23:54:55Z

In addition to today's other significance, it's a day of great importance to the well-dressed Southern woman: today's the day you can start wearing white shoes. Yeah, I know, up north it's Memorial Day, but down here it's been in the eighties for three months by then, so Easter is the starting line, pretty much throughout the southern US.

It may be only Texas, however, where today is also the day you put up your felt cowboy hat, and get out your straw. :)

Oh, sure, give it here.

2006-04-16T03:57:35Z

One of the aspects of being a mom is that various junk belonging to my children winds up in my purse, and periodically I clean it out and redistribute and/or toss the stuff. Today's find, however, was definitely one of the odder ones: a plastic tomato slice. I've never even *seen* this item before, and have no clue at all how it got into my purse. Usually I at least vaguely remember having been handed the item at some point, and this is definitely the first time I didn't even *recognize* it.

Whew!

2006-04-11T15:04:35Z

Minor crisis this morning -- I came into work, and my computer, which was being cranky yesterday afternoon, had apparently worked itself into a seriously pissy mood overnight, because it promptly crashed and took all the Outlook-synced data from my handheld, which was connected at the time, with it.

Loooooooooovely.

But a reboot seems to have fixed it, and the handheld seems to have recovered on re-syncing, so the only real consequence was that I was 5 minutes late for a conference call, since the call-in number was on both computers but not written down on paper anywhere I could access easily at 7:30 am.

But today sure does seem like a good day for backups!

Mmmmm chocolate

2006-02-07T20:35:19Z

The inventor of Hershey's Cherry Cordial Creme kisses is an Evil Genius. I mean, these things are like chocolate-cherry crack. I've eaten so many that I'm honestly at the point where one more would probably make me throw up, and yet it's taking a major effort of will to keep from going and getting another. Avoiding the chocolate is probably all I'm going to get done in the entire rest of the afternoon, that's how much effort it's taking.

Brrrr!

2005-12-07T21:15:31Z

I was just looking at the forecast, and to my dismay, discovered that tomorrow's high -- the HIGH -- is supposed to be 42. It's supposed to be in the twenties tomorrow night! Yes, I know, I'm a big sissy for whining about this, but there's a *reason* I live in south Texas, dammit! And acclimation makes a huge difference, too; I'd have been happy with 42 for a high in December when I lived in Michigan or Colorado and had had a nice crisp fall to get used to the dropping mercury, but it was *87* on Saturday here, so there's been no chance to get acclimated at all. It's fortunate that I do enough work on the east coast that I do at least own a nice big full-length wool coat, because I'm going to need that tomorrow. And hmm, maybe if I knit really fast I can finish my winter hat tonight!

Further teacup annoyances

2005-11-21T21:49:02Z

Unpleasant discovery #2: the cute little teapot that goes with the cracked teacup has a serious flaw. It dribbles down the side of the spout. This was not previously apparent, because the cracked teacup is very wide indeed, and so the dribbles simply dribbled into the cup also, and all was well. Not so, when using the teapot with a more ordinary cup. So, I guess I have a whole set of cute little plant pots now. Grrrr.

Broken teacup

2005-11-17T22:52:29Z

Oh, maaaaaaaaaaaan. I just discovered that sometime over the non-tea-drinking summer, my favorite teacup, which has a matching little bitty teapot, has developed a nasty crack. It goes all the way through, too, and I can see the moisture leaching into the porcelain behind the glaze, so I'm thinking it's not salvageable, or at least not safe to have hot liquids sitting in, although it remains a pretty desk ornament.

Yeah, I know, if that's the worst of my problems, I've got a real rough life.

Stop, You're Killing Me!

2005-10-18T21:15:44Z

As a great lover of mystery books, and especially older series that are only partially in print, I am loving this.

East coast jaunt

2005-09-07T21:05:22Z

So, I'm leaving tomorrow for a 5-day business trip to NY/NJ. I'll be tied up with work stuff *most* of it, but I have pretty much all of Sunday wide open. If any of you would like to rescue me from the wilds of East Brunswick, NJ, I'd be delighted. I won't have a car, but it's pretty easy for me to get to a train and thus into NYC or whatever, or I could provide directions if you wanted to come get me.

Any takers?

Back

2005-06-20T18:01:19Z

Hey, I'm back from the various jauntings about the globe. Actually, I've been back for a few days, but it's taken me this long to get caught up enough to post. Even at that, I may well have missed something, especially if it happened in the first week of June or so, so if there's something you want me to take note of, comment, please.

Completely random encounter

2005-05-12T16:29:26Z

Today I'm at a legal seminar, and I just ran into somebody I went to high school with and hadn't seen since then. Freaky!

sarakate @ 2005-02-15T15:46:00

2005-02-15T21:51:32Z

At my local Wal*Mart yesterday, they had a sign at the entrance which read, "Valentine candy behind stationary."

It took me a minute to parse that, and realize that they meant the candy could be found behind the paper and like items, and not some unspecified immovable object.

Procrastinating

2004-11-17T22:00:14Z

I have a big memo to write, but it's still cooking in the back of my head, so while I'm letting it turn over back there, I'm procrastinating heavily and avoiding work by updating my LJ. An update was overdue anyway.

The retreat weekend before last was amazing. There were about 100 invited guests and 50 attorneys from my old law firm, and we all stayed at Bishop's Lodge on the outskirts of Santa Fe. The resort was really lovely; I stayed in one of the somewhat older cabins, which had a real fireplace (some of the newer ones had gas fireplaces), and after my initial laughable attempts I finally remembered how to actually get a fire going, and had a marvelous fire in my room every night. We had several really interesting lectures, with CLE credit (which the attorneys amongst us need to maintain our licenses), and a bunch of optional activities. I ended up having a walking tour of Santa Fe, a cooking class, a massage (slightly weird -- it was outside, in a teepee, and although there were heaters, it was still very chilly), and a horseback ride, over the course of the weekend. And there was loot! We got bags of spa type stuff (fancy flip-flops, lotion, t-shirts, towels, resistance bands, a loofah set, and probably something else I'm not remembering), and not just any bag, but small L.L.Bean canvas bags with our first initials on them, very stylish, upon arrival, and then a smaller gift each night (one night was a little 3-piece Burt's Bees set, for instance), plus several lawfirm pens, and since one of the speakers was Janet Gurwitch, the founder of Laura Mercier cosmetics, we all got Laura Mercier lipstick. Fun! I'm definitely hoping to go again when the next one rolls around in a couple of years.

Since getting back, though, work has been a zoo. The last couple of months of the year always tend to be fairly busy for us, and with my schedule thrown off by the arbitration and a couple of other trips, I've had a lot to catch up on. This week, I've been researching our records concerning a company we used to own in the early 70s, in response to an agency inquiry, which is related to the memo I need to be writing and am currently not.

The kids are doing well; I don't think I mentioned that Robby got his first report card for 2nd grade -- all As! His lowest grade was a 92 in spelling, and his highest a 98 in math. This kid is a *whiz* in math; he does math problems *for fun*, and is already multiplying multiple digit numbers, which in case you don't remember is *not* something taught in 2nd grade -- he's just doing it on his own. The G&T program in this district starts at 3rd grade, and we're definitely applying to have him evaluated; I think he's probably just ordinary bright in his other subjects, but he *is* gifted in math, and it needs nurturing. So yeah, proud mama.

Also, he's made it up to yellow belt in tae kwon do, some time back, and is still really loving that, and I think it's been good for his discipline in other things as well, so I'm very happy about that. And Cub Scouts is still a very fun thing for him, and something he and Bob do together. Also, he's just learned to tie his shoes. I know, this is ridiculously late, but he had convinced himself that it was hard, and therefore he was refusing to even try ("I will do it when I'm eight, okay?" No, kid, not okay.); he's got a very big perfectionist streak, and often will refuse to do something that he doesn't think he can do well, which takes some careful maneuvering around. However, I finally got him to try it again, and walked him through it carefully, and as soon as he saw that he *was* able to do it, he was off and running and now he ties his own shoes all the time. Silly boy, but it's a part of his nature, and something we need to take into account when introducing things to him.

Amy is continuing to grow by leaps and bounds. She's speaking in sentences, and getting clearer every day (at least to us), with occasional very sweet moods of cooperative communication, although she's *very* much coming into the Terrible Twos, and she has much more of a temper than Robby did at the same age, although I don't think she's any more stubborn. I can definitely tell she's going to take different tactics than he did. I may have to break down and cut her hair, because she's fighting me on putting it up every day, and if I don't then she can't see and she gets food in it, but on the other hand if I cut it once then I have to keep cutting it, and I'd rather avoid haircuts until she's old enough to understand cooperating with them, if possible. We'll see.

She's also continuing to get taller and slimmer; in fact, a lot of the clothes she wore last winter and early spring, she's going to be able to wear again, because she's slimmed down so much, and they were enough long on her then, that this year the length is great and the width is either perfect or a little loose. The one-piece stuff had to go, and some of the shirts are too short, but she's actually back into a lot of things that I had nearly given up on, so she actually needs less winter clothes, at least for the early part, than I was anticipating. At the least, I should be able to hold off until after Christmas and stock up on the sales. Woo! Of course, this will be made up for by her brother -- I had been getting hand-me-downs from my cousin's boy, who's 3 or 4 years older, but he's about average size for his age, and he's not out of his size 12s yet and Robby's already into that size, so my supply of better-brands-than-I-would-buy clothes is drying up on me! Poor kid may have to go back to wearing Wranglers instead of Gap, awwwww. Yeah, yeah, I can hear the violins.

Anyway, enough procrastinating. I need to get this memo done so it can be reviewed tomorrow, and go out Friday, and then I should actually be caught up on my backlog and back to just normal workload. Bye for now!

Oh, wait, picture! Amy in her strawberry hat:

suewin, misskerri, ectv

2004-10-19T14:45:50Z

Ladies, I'm going to be in Arlington this weekend again, if you guys wanted to have another Baby Brunch. Sorry for the short notice, but we just decided we were going. Sunday late morning, like last time, is probably the best time for me again. Let me know if you guys want to do something!