Today’s mission, if you’re willing to accept it:

Watch episode 1.2 of CHUCK!

Chuck vs the Helicopter

So, now that the government knows that Chuck’s brain holds all its secrets, the first objective is to see if they can get them out! First: Test him to see how much he knows. Second: Remove the secr…. oops! The doctor’s car just blew up, now what will they do? But can Chuck trust Casey? Or Sarah? Even though she’s having dinner with his sister and has been known to use poison? Chuck is freaking out again–and he hasn’t even seen the helicopter yet!

Since Chuck isn’t slated to come back for Season 3 until March, that gives just enough time for everyone to watch all 35 existing episodes, one week at a time, to be all set and ready for Season 3. If you don’t have (or can’t beg, borrow, steal, or rent) the Season 1 DVD, you can watch season 1 at the WB.com. And … not only should you watch … but if you Twitter, join in and tweet about it to all your friends.

Tags: General by --Deb
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Really, the only thing I have to say today …

Happy Birthday, sister!

Tags: Family by --Deb
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Today, my sister came down to celebrate her birthday. (Which made the entire day feel like Sunday, but that’s okay! Yesterday felt like Saturday, anyway.)

We surprised her by having one of her dearest friends come, too. Just in time, too, since they’re moving to Oregon in a couple of weeks.

“You Will Always Be My Best Friend. (You Know Too Much.)”

And, she liked the shawl!

Because, um, my Fountain Pen Shawl? It was a birthday gift for her–not that she knew that! When I showed it to her a week or so ago, she said, “It’s greener than I thought” and left me worrying that it was TOO green, or that she didn’t like the color … because, well, it was going to be hers. Not that she knew it at the time–which just made it that much more fun.

Happy day!

Tags: Family, Friends by --Deb
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You remember the blanket I’m making for Chappy, right? With the leftover yarn from my Sylvi Afghan, because he liked that one so much?

Well, I’ve started the border. The center of his is just plain seed stitch, but the border is the same cabled one as on mine.

This was highly unusual for me. I actually did some knitting this afternoon. Usually, as you know, I’m a night-time knitter. I get about one hour a day to knit, from 8:00-9:00, while watching TV with Mom. But today was different.

I took the day off from work today. My sister’s birthday is this weekend, and she’s coming down tomorrow for dinner and a family day. I’m looking forward to it! But, while Mom is taking care of dinner (lasagna), I’m in charge of the dessert, and I didn’t feel like trying to get a layer cake baked and frosted after work, so …

And, besides, I haven’t taken any time off since April. This was the very first year I can remember that I didn’t take a week’s vacation in the month of May. And, no, I’m not exactly sure how that happened, either. But, anyway, a day off today sounded very, very appealing.

So! I was home from work, and one of my projects for the day (other than the baking, and other than giving Chappy a bath and a much-needed haircut) was to try to get some of the movies on the hard-drive of our DVD-recorder (because we don’t have Tivo or any of its equivalents) onto actual DVDs … and some of them are copy-protected. What I COULD figure out how to do was to get it off of the recorder and onto VHS tape. (Which, you know, is better than nothing, in the event that hard-drive were to crash.)

So, anyway, while I was playing/recording Pirates of Penzance onto VHS (and, seriously, WHY is the 1981 version with Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith, and Angela Landsbury NOT available on DVD?) … anyway, since I was playing it anyway, I figured … why not WATCH? It’s been a couple years since I saw it, so … I pulled out my knitting and sat down. Ah, I love watching that musical! And I’ve been humming ever since.

The next step? Copying as many of our old, bulky VHS tapes to slim, tiny DVDs as possible. Because, um, I really like our movie collection.

Oh, and folks? Here’s the perfect antidote to that site of “The Customer Isn’t Always Right” stories I linked you to the other day. Operation NICE.

Tarantara!

Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning by --Deb
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Okay, it’s really a tree, but it LOOKS like news print, huh?

Brought to you by:

Tags: Eye-Candy Friday by --Deb
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Today was a sad day for our local deer population today, because they lost one of their own to a gunshot.

There were extenuating circumstances to this tragedy. The deer had apparently been hit by a car, and was curled into a small, landscaped island, surrounded by bushes, while she tried to take stock, but when people came along and started making noises with a truck and cars as they arrived at work, she didn’t move anything more than her head.

So, one of the people in the office building called Animal Control, who called the police, and, taking stock of the situation, they decided the only option was to put her out of her misery.

They told the office workers to stay inside and the officer pulled out his guns. The deer tried to stand to run away, but could only manage about 3 steps on very shaky legs before folding down again. A few minutes later, there were shots, and the deer lay motionless on the ground.

Let’s all have a moment of silence for the poor doe, taken before her time.

(And, yes, it was an interesting start to my day at work today.)

Tags: General by --Deb
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A couple links you must see:

Not Always Right … kind of a car wreck of Customer Service stories about less-than-brilliant customers. It’s appalling, and yet, you can’t look away. Besides, except for the appalling-stupidity part, it’s pretty hilarious.

Surprise Wedding Reception–how about this? Improv Everywhere throws a wedding reception for a random couple at NY City Hall–down to bridesmaids, presents, and cake! Love that.

Best Game Ever–same improv group, this time totally making the day of a Little League team. They turned their normal, Saturday game into a Big League event–including a Jumbotron, Jim Cray as announcer, and the Good Year blimp!

Dorothy Dunnett Audio books–And, well, this one might not be a “must,” but I’ve told you often enough how much I love Dorothy Dunnett’s peerless historical fiction. Well, now you can get them on audio. (Or, at least, there are release dates for all of them.) They’re not cheap, but hey …

Tags: General by --Deb
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Cute Chappy story for you. You know how I’ve told you how much he likes our mail carrier, Sandi? And how she’ll stop her truck to say hello whenever she sees us out for a walk? Well, at lunchtime, we were walking along, about two houses away from home, when I heard her truck coming up behind us. That’s fine, I figured, she’ll deliver mail to those few houses on the way, and she’d catch up to us by the time we get home.

Chappy, though, heard her coming, and started watching back over his shoulder, while I kept saying, “Come on, keep going straight, come ON, Chappy.” All while I tried to keep making forward progress toward home … then, I glanced down, and he was completely backwards. This tail was facing the direction we were walking, and his nose was firmly pointed toward the mail truck. Backwards! I had no idea he could walk backward so well!

Well, Sandi saw all of this–and by this time, we’re not moving at all. Chappy can exert a LOT of leverage when he leans against his collar, you know. Besides, I’m bent over laughing, because it’s just so darn funny. So, by this time, she’s just skipped ahead a few houses so that she can say hello to Chappy and put him out of his misery, and she’s laughing almost as much as we are. She will never, ever have any doubts about how much Chappy truly likes her!

What’s missing from this picture?

Maybe this will help:

Tags: Chappy, General, Knitting/Spinning by --Deb
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Today’s mission, if you’re willing to accept it:

Watch the Pilot episode of CHUCK!

Since Chuck isn’t slated to come back for Season 3 until March, that gives just enough time for everyone to watch all 35 existing episodes, one week at a time, to be all set and ready for Season 3.

Starting tonight.

If you’re in the Americas (North, South, Central), tune in Monday night, at 9:00 EST.

If you’re in Europe, tune in Monday night, at 8:00 GMT.

If you don’t have (or can’t beg, borrow, steal, or rent) the Season 1 DVD, you can watch the Pilot at the WB.com.

So, the Pilot: It starts with Chuck’s disastrous birthday party, that ends with him getting an email from his ex-friend Bryce, who got him kicked out of Stanford their senior year. He opens it and sees all these odd photos … and after that, everything changes. Odd things start happening. Odd people start showing up. And … is that a gun? Chuck is freaking out!

And … not only should you watch … but if you Twitter, join in and tweet about it to all your friends.

The goal (as explained by the masterminds, ChuckTV.net) is to keep awareness of CHUCK up during the looooong hiatus before it starts again. And, ideally, to get #Chuck and/or #ChuckMeMondays into the trending topics, and to do that, they need lots of people tweeting about it at the same time … and since they’re hoping lots of people will be watching at the same time, well … why not tweet about it, too?

Tags: General by --Deb
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Here are the books I read in May. (And, yes, I DID go on a mystery kick. Dick Francis is like comfort-reading.)

1. The Shadow Matrix by Marion Zimmer Bradley (556 p.) Second book telling the story of Marguerida Alton. Enjoyable.

2. Traitor’s Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley (534 p.) Takes place something like 15 years later, when Marguerida and Mikhail have three children and uncover a plot to kill all the heads of the domains, as the terran empire crumbles. Not the best Darkover book, but not the worst.

3. The Alton Gift by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Deborah J. Ross (525 p.) This may possibly be the worst Darkover book I’ve ever read–and I’ve read all of them! I had read bad reviews of this book, talking about how it headed in directions that MZB probably never imagined, but shrugged and figured I’d read it anyway, since Deborah Ross had been doing such a good job … well, it was dreadful. I shouldn’t have wasted my time.

4. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (493 p.) Oh, such a favorite book–funny, clever, creative. Did I mention funny? And with time travel, too. Love.

5. Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids by Christina Katz (287 p.) I won a copy of this book a month or so ago and found it interesting–now, sure, some of the advice is about how to find time to write when you’re raising children, and that doesn’t really apply for me, but the book itself was good and informative and seems really useful.

6. Feminine Knits: 22 Timeless Designs by Lene Holme Samsoe (126 p.) Knitting book of pretty, feminine knitwear.

7. Scales of Gold: The Fourth Book of The House of Niccolo by Dorothy Dunnett (519 p.) Book four, and a heartwrenching ending. Nicholas, in an attempt to save his bank, heads an expedition into the heart of Africa, accompanied by his friend Loppe, his quasi-cousin Diniz, his mother’s companion Bel, and Gelis–the sister of poor dead Katelina, who despises Nicholas. It’s a book of growth, peace, and meaning, set amongst eternal struggle for wealth and survival, and it’s ending is a twisting gut-stab that simply just changes everything. Fantastic.

8. Rat Race by Dick Francis (216 p.) Mystery, with the main character a pilot flying for a struggling air-taxi service.

9. High Stakes by Dick Francis (223 p.) A race horse-owning inventor discovers he’s been being cheated by his trainer and sets out to find out why.

10. Bonecrack by Dick Francis (222 p.) A trainer is compelled to hire a jockey for his stable.

11. Banker by Dick Francis (303 p.) An investment banker funds the purchase of a stallion for a breeder and runs into problems not even a faith healer can fix.

12. In the Frame by Dick Francis (206 p.) An artist’s cousin’s wife is murdered and he heads to Australia to find out why

13. Knockdown by Dick Francis (205 p.) Bloodstock agent comes up against a ring of thieves cheating owners and who threaten him to get out of their way, or else.

14. Wild Horses by Dick Francis (319 p.) A film maker gets caught up in a decades-old mystery while making a movie.

15. Break In by Dick Francis (317 p.) A generations-old feud flares up when a newspaper makes an unprovoked attack against a jockey’s sister and her husband.

16. Bolt by Dick Francis (318 p.) An owner’s husband is threatened by a business associate, and the jockey must help figure out a way to stop him.

17. Knitting In the Sun: 32 Projects for Warm Weather by Kristi Porter (181 p.) A nice book of knitting patterns for warm weather. Review here.

18. The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin (411 p.) Really interesting book about the US Supreme Court that (also interesting) I was reading when current Justice Souter announced his retirement–reading about recent confirmation hearings for the other Justices just made the current news that much more fascinating!

19. Mother-Daughter Knits by Sally Melville and Caddy Melville Ledbetter (160 p.) Knitting patterns written by a mother and daughter (not patterns for cute, matchy-matchy outfits). Love. (Full review here.)

20. Decider by Dick Francis (318 p.) Suppose you’d inherited 8 shares in a racecourse that’s being fought over by a family that hates you?

21. Hot Money by Dick Francis (324 p.) A tycoon is being threatened, so he asks his jockey son to help protect him.

22. To the Hilt by Dick Francis (322 p.) Alexander is an artist living on his own in the hills of Scotland until he’s attacked out of the blue by 4 thugs, just as his father-in-law suffers a heart attack.

23. The Edge by Dick Francis (324 p.) Suppose you were employed by the Jockey Club to keep an unobtrusive eye on trouble-makers, and were sent to Canada to protect a “Race Train” that also has a murder mystery?

24. Longshot by Dick Francis (320 p.) A writer signs up to write a trainer’s biography and ends up embroiled in a murder mystery.

Tags: Monthly Reading List, Reading by --Deb
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