PoA Scarf Project Update

Well I guess I fall under the usual new knitter category. My stitches are to tight, but I can't help it... as my wife will attest to, I can be a little OCD (obsessive compulsive) at times. I don't feel like I can make my stitches the same if I don't pull the yarn snug as I am going along, so the pattern I am following says I should have 6 rows per inch and I have 7 rows per inch so when I reached the specified 27 rows I was nearly an inch short so I am knitting a few extra rows so that the large bands of Burgundy will be 4.5 inches. The pattern says my width should be about 9 inches wide and I am somewhere between 8 and 8.5 inches wide so it will be a little narrow but I like the weight of the piece, only time will tell if it is going to turn out to be too stiff If all else fails I guess I could always felt it and make it into a soda can cozy. I will take a picture of it once I get a little further into the project.

B is for Books...

I love to read Sci-Fi/Fantasy books so I could think of nothing better to photograph, for the letter B, than a few fo my favorite books. I am currently in the middle of reading Knight of the Word by Terry Brooks, who is currently one of my favorite authors. If I could I would have a very large Sci-Fi/Fantasy library.

XBox 360 please...

We have been calling for the last few weeks to all the stores in town, that sell the XBox 360, except the game stores because they all still had reserves to fulfill. Well Friday my wife called in the morning, twice, to each of the stores, once when they first opened and, once after 11am to give them a chance to have received one via UPS as well... No Luck.

Well I got off of work early Friday, because I had worked extra the day before, my plan was to go play disc golf if it was sunny out, but it was raining as usual so I sat down on the couch to do some knitting instead. Stacy decided she wanted to give one more try on the phones. On a whim she decides to call one of the game stores, and they did not have any, which we were not surprised about, but they said they had fulfilled all their reservations, so the next shipment they received they would be selling first-come first-served. So I suggested we try one of the other game stores... of course at this moment it is about 3:45 and I am sitting on the couch "tinking" because I messed up a knit stitch on the GoF scarf I am making. Stacy makes the call and asks if they have any XBox 360's available and as I tink another stitch I hear her say "Excuse Me?!?" and I dropped my knitting and grabbed for my coat, I was half way to the door before she was off the phone, it was first-come first-serve they could not hold it for us. She grabbed our XBox 360 savings fund and we were out the door. When we got to the mall I drove straight to the closest entrace to the mall to where the store was, and Stacy took off running almost before I stopped the car. I found a parking spot and by the time I got into the store it was on the counter and being rung-up on the register. We finally got it!! After that all we could think about was XBox 360 so we went to Toys-R-Us since they were closing and we got a game at 40 percent off and some accessories at 20 percent off. And then we went up to Best Buy bought the extra wireless controller with the gift card we had and we stopped at Costco for a quick bite to eat and a glance at their 360 games and then we were on our way home, to lay hands on the actual 360, not just the box...

...and then the weekend was over and we had to go back to work.

A is for Adoption…

I was adopted twice...

My parents adopted me first way back in 1970. I was put up for adoption with the Children’s Home Society of California because my birthmother wanted me to live in a “stable two parent family”. My adoptive-parents wanted another child and when they heard about me they decided they wanted me. I love my parents, and I would never trade them for anyone else, although I would like to know more about my biological family.

My parents were Christians so I was raised in the church but I came to know Jesus as my personal Savior when I was at camp one summer. At that moment God adopted me as his child, now that is the best adoption anyone could ask for. That is why my image for A is a cross, it represents my adoption into God's family.

Ok now… Fast-forward a few years, to when I was in my twenties… well I fell in love with my beautiful wife, and as it turns out she was adopted as well.

Now it’s our turn… it is time for us, to pay it forward… we are now looking to adopt as well.

New Sounds

My wife and I have been attending Neighborhood Church of Redding for the last few years. I went to my first meeting, today, to learn how to run the Mixer for our Church's new service called The Well. I have run sound before, but never on this advanced of a mixer. Thankfully they will be giving us a chance to learn before we are let loose on it all by ourselves. I sat in the booth for our churches Celebration Service, after the meeting. I am glad I am not being "thrown" at that mixing board. I will probably get to use it someday but, WOW... I mean compared to that one, the mixer I am going to be learning now, is like... half as complex, in comparison what I have used in the past.

Knitting

Well I started knitting in the past couple weeks, I was kinda forced into it, because my wife did not want to make me a Harry Potter scarf. Well to be totally honest I wasn't really forced. I mean no one is holding a gun to my head and if I pushed enough she probably would have made it eventually, but I decided that I want to do something other than just sit like a bump on a log when I am watching TV. I couldn't think of anything better to do so..... My wife got Santa to bring me yarn and a pair of circular needles for Christmas.

I have not gotten to far on my project yet, but of course this is all new to me. I mean I have helped my wife understand how to do some techniques in the past, but I have never really done it myself, so it is taking me a while to get going. For my first project I am learning to knit on circular needles using the "Magic Loop" technique. Why, you are probably asking, if you are not going start on straight needles, would you doubly compound your learning curve by adding the "Magic Loop" technique? Well, the pattern I am following for the PoA/GoF Harry Potter scarf calls for knitting in the round on 16" circular needles, and no one in Redding has anything smaller than a 26" circular needle in aluminum. So since I have already decided I like aluminum better than bamboo I am stuck for now, however there may be a trip to Chico in the near future. My wife would like that even if the excess cable wasn't annoying me and in turn her, as I am sure she would love to go to a "real yarn store".

Mugglecast and more

We just listened to our first Mugglecast on iTunes tonight. "The first podcast of 2006" It was fun to hear the theories that other people have. There should be a new one out tomorrow I think.

My Nephew just turned 11 so we got him his own PDGA approved disc. Now when he goes out with us he has his own disks. I think he will be able to play with these better than the ones that he borrows from us. It’s great to see him enjoying something other than just video games.

Speaking of video games we feel like we have waited long enough we cant wait to get our hands on the new X-Box 360. But all that we have available to us right now is the core system and we want the system that includes the hard drive. What’s the point of the core system anyways I mean it is not backwards compatible without the HDD and you cant do online gaming.

Happy New Year!!!

Well it is a new year and a time for new beginnings. I have been absent from my blog for quite awhile so I am going to put on my New Years Resolution to blog at least once a week.

New Years Resolutions

1. Go to the gym at least once a week.
2. Swim at least 1 mile each month.

(I stopped swimming in November when the gyms heater went out over a cold weekend and started using the weight-room)
3. Blog once a week.