Short Update:

I am working to attend the Tennessee Broadcaster's Association job fair in Nashville, TN on January 8th. At least - that is the preliminary plan. I hope to have some gallery cards printed up to bring with, and make the rounds.

Went to the local job center today (as well as price/spec hunting on the cards) and was told 'What are you doing here? Go to indeed.com and post an Internet resume, get the same hits as here, and the entire area.... OK. Hopefully I'll get more help on my resume today, tweaking and working with it.

Jack of all trades.. master of none?
It comes down to the line - do they get the job done?

Merry Christmas to All

and Happy Holidays!

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I've been quiet for a while, may be quiet for a while more. I've rewritten my resume and bought a new suit for interviews.

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My sincere thanks to Lynn for giving me some sound advice this season, when it was badly needed.

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Alee, I haven't forgotten about the aliens - they'll get done right after Christmas and sent out to you. Then, for a while, I may close the shop.

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---we know that all germs or seeds, whether vegetable or animal, when they fail to meet with proper nutriment or climate or soil, in proportion to their vigour, are all the more sensitive to the want of a suitable environment, for evil is a greater enemy to what is good than what is not. --- Plato's The Republic

---"Fix your mind on the right way; hold fast to it in your moral character. Follow it up in kindness to others; --- Confucius

Kitty Whisker Wishes for Boogie

Susan's little girl Boogie is sick - and Willow and Sally are sending kitty whisker wishes to her to get better!


Sally

Willow

Momma Calico

There are just so many stray cats in our neighborhood, truly - it is a sad sight to see. This little girl has been hanging around a lot lately. Earlier this year, she had three kittens. They've flown the nest. Recently, she has been trying, quietly, to ask me to take care of her, following me within five feet, waiting for me by the door, etc etc..

She even sits on the roof of our truck looking at the back window (maybe Sally and Willow talk to her?) I talk to her too - 'Pretty Girl, you need to find a person to take care of you, and it can't be me...', 'I have two little girls in the house of my own - you look a lot like their momma.' and 'Are your kittens all grown up now?' She cocks her head and gives me the slit-eyes relaxed face, but stays where she is. When I start to go back in the house, she jumps down and follows to keep her 'decided-upon' distance from me.

Today I took the vacuum cleaner outside to change the bag, and she was there watching me. The cord came undone as I was bringing it back in the house. As I started dragging the cord towards me to roll it up, I saw this look in her eye and a little 'oh I see a toy' hop - and then after almost bounding towards me, she stopped and said 'Oh, wait... I'm a big outside cat.'

Then she casually sauntered over (as if, who me?) to the porch there to sit and watch me some more.

Geek Craft: Rhombicuboctahedron

stage 1
OK - my brain is seriously on overload lately:

Materials: wooden dowels
each stick is 4" long and joined at ends
pruning shears
tape measure and marker
floral wire
this page

I might cover it with rice paper and hang it from the ceiling...
maybe no rice paper, we'll see how the framework looks afterwards.
I'm sure there are better ways to make these -- but I've had a fun morning.

In honor of 10,000

Susan gets a gift, in honor of being the closest to the 10,000th visitor that my hit counter was able to identify by location and referring URL. I'll get a nice package ready for her in January! Thank you Susan, and thank you everyone! I've really enjoyed our conversations and shared experiences throughout the last year!

Today I am looking at:
Turing Machine
Beethoven's Creatures of Prometheus video at Youtube
Word Shoot typing game, spell quick or die!

Knitting:

Lace Pattern.
Number of stitches - even number greater than 20
(I have 54 in size 5 needle).
Garter stitch border for bottom.
Begin to knit a stockinette lace interior with a border on each side of 5 garter stitches.

K5, work 5 stitches regular, decrease, yarn over, decrease, yarn over, work stitches to last 5, K5. Repeat for next row as above.
K5, work to last yarn over of previous row, decrease, yarn over, decrease, yarn over, work stitches to last 5, K5, Repeat for next row as above.
Repeat pattern until the eyelet stitches meet in center, begin to work pattern backwards, so eyelet stitches are moving away from center again. Repeat until end of scarf.

It would be interesting to see multiples of this pattern stemming off of each other - but that would require more 'keeping track of' than this pattern currently does. Thiis pattern was decided upon specifically because there is no keeping track, the pattern itself tells you the next step, and the next etc...

Rebekah tagged me... six weird things again

At Knitowl and friends

Still working hard on the shop stuff - trying to keep things going, even though there is a lot of stress around here lately.

Knitting:

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I have FOs to show sometime this weekend, as well - a pair of socks and the final outcome of the Triangular Theatre Shawl... (at least, I've been wearing it this way, don't think I'm going to change it now) The grey lace rectangular shawl is about 3 inches from culmination. These are the things I do when watching tv with Mr.J in semi-darkness (our comprimise - I keep on the light in the other room and sit in the cast light while we watch).

Meanwhile...


Jess and the Boss work on sticking old parts together
and making them work as a new machine.

I was tagged by Rebekah! I did this meme before, but I'll try to find some other weird things about me. Shouldn't be hard ;o) I'm weirder than most (you were warned)

So here's the "Six Wierd Things About You" Meme Rules:

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.' People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged' in their comments and tell them to read your blog."

1.) When I was eleven, I was fascinated by the world of conlanging (making your own, unique language from elements of real ones). My language got -complex- I even studied linguistics to make it better. There still might be some of that out on the Net from when I published a little of it (my Babel text was out there up until last year). What can I say - I was a geeky kid with few outlets. Mikelul garanveten edtun sip?

2.) My ink art has been described as 'Look out Picasso, here she comes.' and 'Escher on LSD - after a long fever.' Those are compliments, right?

Example:

A failed drawing from my right-brain day.Kinda scary, huh? - I thought so.
Today's drawing has more promise, as I have a little more focus and mental cooperation going on.

3.) I believe in the healing powers of certain herbs - things my Grandmother told me, that seem to be a bit more than 'folk knowledge.' I've learned some of her 'remedies' are actually medically sound, like willow-bark for a headache, or rosehip tea for a cold.

4.) My mom taught me it is perfectly alright to talk to animals - all animals -- it doesn't matter if they don't seem to understand your words. What is important is they hear your tone of voice and see you trying to communicate with your body language, which we humans do best when we talk as if something understands us.

5.) I have a medical condition called orthostatic hypotension which is very unusual in 'younger' people (not elederly). It's a pain. I had 17 stitches in my head in 1998 which led to the doctor finally admitting my dizzy spells and occasional loss of vision were not just fantasies.

6.) I have a recurring dream I am late for school, don't have my schedule and am running all around some mish-mash of every school building I've ever been in, trying to find out where I'm supposed to be.

OK - but I can't tag anyone. Sorry!

First sentence meme

I saw this over at Chris' blog. What was the first setence you posted every month on the blog?

Since I'm having a 'right-brain' day, this is a nice substitute for trying to make sense of real words.

January
How to write 'cat' in Japanese - neko!

February
I think Willow is saving up for tuna.

March
We went out to look at another piece of land today -- a place that we are quite interested in.

April
We are off to Paris Landing State Park today!

May
All of the POV-Rayed images here were generated by me.

June
*sighs* - I have so many little creatures to get done!

July
I promise lots of pictures tomorrow. (migraine day)

August
Yesterday was so hectic!

September
I'll try not to ramble too much, but I am having a sinus nightmare right now.

October
This was the most fun I've had in at least a couple of months ;o)

November
We're back at work - trying to get caught up!

December
Can I ask for a survey here?


Right brain day: A day when all the stars in my head are exploding with wanting to draw everything at once and the limitations of time and space are frustratingly clear with each line put down on paper.

right-brain linkys
leonardo da vinci drawings
Mayan glyphs
vesalius drawings (anatomical - discretion of viewer advised)
da vinci anatomical drawings (discretion advised)
Aratus by Johann Buhle constellation maps
Anatomical drawings at wikipedia
geometrical drawings and cartesian coordinates.

Robot Hamster?

More progress at the toy shop...
They seem a little frightened about being mailed this close to Christmas...

3 more aliens to do and I'll be done!

I dub thee: Robot Hamster.
Another 'from scraps' toy.

Sally auditions for Fark.
I'm in your house, turning up your HEAT!

Progress

Progress at the Softie Toy Shop
for the Holiday rush

These two were a LONG time coming, and I really wish they could have been done earlier - but now they are, and hopefully the rest will get done tomorrow, so I can do all my mailing on Monday. I just haven't felt particularily 'artistic' this last month - although I've been doing things. The applique work on these aliens really takes my time and concentration to end up 'right' - which up until today, I hadn't had enough of either.

A thank you for her
made from scraps
Everything at KnitOwl is hand-stitched.

Off to start the finishing-work on the next order.

Where is Salamander and Willowpede?

In the Window, of course!
It was 56° in the house at 10 am this morning.
They were cuddled onto a wool coat until the house heated up,
then it was window-time.

I really love their expressions here!

My current WIP (for office)...most of it is just 'guidelines'
Being designed with: Inkscape
I reccommend it - it's cool (and free!)
.Progress Report: 8 aliens due PDQ. 1 finished, 2 in applique, 2 in sewing, 3 to cut out.

Office: I heard our radio ad play today! No calls yet :o( We have three more days on two separate stations. The above work is for a logo for our newspaper ads. Inkscape can do some 'mathematical' work - which makes it excellent for this kind of work - but would work well for freehand drawing as well. It is a free graphics program that works on Mac and Windows machines.

Mail! : I received the Fall 2006 issue of Interweave Knits from Knitter Sue in Australia! Thank you Sue!

Salamander lives up to her name, again.

The plan is percolating...

Note the monkey-like back paw 'clinging' to the air conditioner ridges.

That's a ledge of about 1 inch. Yet she balances for several minutes.

Sally: What are you looking at?

Mr.J originally named her Salamander for two reasons - one, she "clings to walls" and has been seen hanging from things by one paw. two, the nickname "Sally" fits her well - as she is a bold, loud type personality and all the Sally's we had known up till then fit that description well.

Not my workstation anymore...

When the temperature drops below 65°* - the KnitOwl loses her workstation by the simple dropping of a sweater...

Progress Report: 1 alien finished, 1 ready to applique, 1 in sewing stage and 1 more cut out. 6 total due PDQ. Sally and Willow claim they are unable to help speed things along... something about no thumbs (and cat hair).

Mr.J: He sees the surgeon for the last time today to check on how well his bones are knitting.

At the Office: Dragon mailbox is being put in the ground today. We are trying to solidify a radio advertising deal to begin tomorrow. Our boss did the voice-overs for our commercials, and wow, they sound professional.

* : Inside the house.

'Work-space' is to alien as 'Knit-Owl' is to....

I've got lots of toys to sew!

I'd better let the alien invasion come sooner better than later! ;o)
before other things crop up next week and keep me from the workshop again.



See you soon!

Willow and Sally meet the helicopter

Mr.J borrowed a radio-control helicopter toy from our boss, and the girls don't know what to make of it. Willow thinks it is annoying, until it comes near to her, then it is going to eat her. Sally thinks it is interesting, and keeps pulling it down out of the air when it flies too low. Then - when it 'attacks' her, she attacks back. I'm worried it will buzz them badly, but so far it's been the other way around. Mr.J had to replace the rings after Sally batted it too hard and sent it crashing into the ground.


Sally: I hear something overhead!


Crash-land on a candle left over from the last blackout.
Little claws have been murder on
my grandfather's secretary-desk lately.. :(


Hey Mom, it's dead now, right?


Bonus: That's a pair of white WoolEase socks
I'm finishing up knitting from a while back.

How to use a receipt book?

Thanks Everyone!

Can I ask for a survey here? When using a carbon-copy receipt book, does the business keep the original (white) copy and give the yellow (duplicate) copy to the customer, or the other way around?

Please post your answers in the comments -- it seems to be a simple method, but there is disagreement here.

Answer: The customer gets the white (original) copy and the business keeps the yellow (duplicate) copy. thanks to all who helped us out!

And why? Because the company had a residential job last night - the first since the split-off from our parent company. We were all surprised it came in so quickly. Newspaper advertising works!


YAY!

The Case:

User cannot reach Google or Yahoo on his browser. His network connectivity had dramatically slowed and other techs in the area had been unable to solve the problem.

The Diagnosis:

All network hardware was in working order. All computer settings seemed correct. A text-based browser was able to connect to the internet with no problem. The machine could still ping remote browsers and receive back packets.

The diagnosis was that the machine was suffering from viruses and/or spyware affecting search results and advertising, which were crashing the browser.

The Solution:

After spyware removal software refused to find and eliminate the issue, and anti-virus software refused to install - we were faced with a backup of the drive and reinstallation of Windows XP from the user's original disk. We then installed a less virus-prone browser and new virus protection software (which had no issues after the Windows install).

Result:

User's Internet connectivity was restored. Further protections were made against recurrences of the specific problem.

So, which copy does the company keep and which does the customer get, for future reference?