Pre-race fun!

We're here in Long Beach!  Race weekend all ready!

(The logo above is from the goody bag we received with our shirts and numbers and all. I really like that more races are going to the reusable drawstring backpacks for their swag bags.  More earth-friendly, and I certainly do use them!)

Of course, any good race expo means fun racing stuff!  And with expo sales too :)  I found a SPI Belt like I'd been looking for.  None of my running shorts have pockets, and if I'm going on a shorter run, it's nice to have someplace to stick the phone, keys, iPod, etc.  It's amazing how much the pocket stretches to hold!

The fun find of the day, though, was a Sock Guy sock sale!  They have some of the cutest socks!  As you can see, I found several pairs that were very "me."  The penguin pair says "Cold Feet  Warm Heart" on the bottom, and the bunny ones say "Chubby Bunny."  The watermelon socks don't say anything on the bottom, but are the pinkest socks I've ever seen!  In case you hadn't realized, bunnies and penguins are my running mascots ("quick like a bunny!") and two of my favorite critters, so I nearly squealed out loud in the expo.  And for watermelon, well, I have been known to try and eat my weight in it during summertime...  These 3 socks were just "me" and too much fun to resist :)

The expo and start/finish line areas were all at the Long Beach Convention Center and the adjacent Rainbow Lagoon City Park.

As you can see in these pictures, it was perfect running weather!!  The temperatures hung out in the 60s, with plenty of clouds and just a bit of mist or fog.  For a long run, that's AWESOME weather - couldn't have asked for better!  And just being closer to the water made for easier breathing too.  Heck, just being out of the desert helped with that!  Looking forward to the race!!  Bring it on, Long Beach!

T is for...

Twisted Stitches!

This is a knitting-confession-time post, really.

Anyone who has knit with me and actually watched me knit, knows that I knit... oddly.  My own sister (who I actually taught to knit!) saw me knitting once and was perplexed over what I was doing.  To sum, I do several things differently:

1. I'm a lefty.  If I set up my pieces in the most comfortable working direction for me (right needle to left, not the other way round), I often end up reversing the image.  This doesn't really make much difference in the average cable or lace pattern (does it really make a difference which way leaves are cascading?), but it does take special concentration if it's something like a logo or lettering which HAS to be facing a certain direction :)
2. I don't actually turn my work (this is a BIG oddity).  I am always looking at the right side of the piece.  This keeps my hands from getting as tired, and it makes reading charts very easy, since I just have to make it all look like the picture!
3. The way some (most) people knit in English or Continental style... I don't.  If I'm being a little more 'normal' for whatever reason in a project (perhaps not wanting to reverse an image), or if I'm knitting what would be the wrong side row, I will knit English ("throwing").  If it's in the round, though, or if it's the right side rows of a piece, I use what's called Scottish style.  Realized that I was using a 'real' knitting style with the Interweave Knits Spring 2004 issue's article on different, less common knitting styles.  Scottish style is designed for long straight needles (so I'm a little slower on circulars), but it keeps all the needle control in my left hand - very good for me!  

Oh yeah, if you haven't read that issue of IK, you should - TONS of great patterns, and that awesome article on knitting styles.  Really one of their best issues!

A side effect of not turning my work was that I had to learn to read my knitting and how the stitches sit on the needle.  Very useful skill, especially when you drop a stitch, but you do have to make an effort to learn it.  When you turn your work, you're always facing the stitches in the same direction, your movements to create the stitches are always the same.  But when you don't turn your work, you are twisting the stitches as you are going one way, and then untwisting them by going back the other.  The combination of the two rows gives you the regular "v" shaped knit stitches (as you should create), so all is good, as long as you know what you're doing.  The problem was when I was still learning - I didn't always untwist the stitches on the returning (wrong side) row!  

So, after that long explanation - T is for Twisted Stitches!

I realized all this in my first project that had yarn clear enough to see the stitches: a big rugby-striped, "Harry Potter style" scarf in my college colors, green and gold.  Other projects I'd done were in boucle yarns or in really dark yarns, so it was very difficult to see the twisting.  Then came the gold in my W&M striped scarf, which was a brighter, smooth yarn.  Took the entire hugely-long scarf to figure out what I was doing to create the stitches I was getting!  And by that point, I just finished what I was doing through the end of the scarf.  So, this project became a learning project and a lovely example of how a mistake repeated across an entire project can become a design element!

Coolest bookshelves EVER!

Check these out!

Between a love of maps and a love of books, these are the coolest bookshelves I've seen in a while!  However, that doesn't mean I want them.  My anal ordering system overrides the coolness of the map :) Yes, I do alphabetize my books, after sorting them roughly into categories (my mysteries alone are a bookcase's worth!).  So, irregular shelf shapes do not flow neatly with alphabetization.  And what could you put in Rhode Island or Delaware?  So tiny!  Still, as a work of art, these are some pretty dang cool shelves...

I'm much more of the mindset of the Old English Library - lots of dark wood, floor to ceiling shelves, big comfy chairs. More like this one here :)  Always knew I liked Neil Gaman!!

Or the classic, the Beauty and the Beast library!

As the Facebook group says, I'd marry the Beast for a library like that!

An interesting discussion...

This topic showed up recently on the Runner's World forums, based on an article on men running in women's-oriented races.  And since it's a week until my own marathon (yikes!), I thought it'd be a good topic.  There are more and more women-geared races appearing around the country - the Nike Women's Marathon, the Iron Girl series of races, the Disney Princess Half Marathon, the Women's Running Half Marathon series of races, the Run Like a Diva race...  These races have more female-oriented swag, finisher's awards, etc.  The debate has come from male "interlopers" running in these races.

Reading the comments posted on the actual article is rather depressing, like "What's next he's going to enter a 12-year old's race? Jonathan Mederos, King of the Sixth Grade Fun Run."  Thanks, idiot, for comparing a predominantly-female field to 6th graders.  Very supportive.  How fast can you run 13 miles?  (Can you hear the sarcasm, folks?)  Just another sad reminder of how bitter and derogatory people can be behind the anonymity of the Internet.

The forum at Runner's World was a little more balanced.  If you set a best time, no matter what the competition it, it's still a good race.  However, if you're focusing on what place you came in, instead of what time, then it's a different story, and that's what really triggers the debate over these races.

Races are becoming a big business nowadays,  both for the companies running them and for the numerous charities who take advantage of the races to raise money for their causes.  Obesity is a serious problem nationwide.  As people try to get moving, get away from their computers and sedentary jobs, races provide plenty of opportunity to get some motivation to get moving.  Gotta train for these things!  A lot of women might feel uncomfortable in a mixed setting, the same way some women are more comfortable in a women's college instead of a co-ed one.  It's the same reason behind the running club Girls on the Run - giving women and girls who might be a bit shyer, a place where they might feel less pressure.  And if having a race where you don't feel judged, or there are some wonderful swag bags (the Nike Women's finisher's loot includes jewelry from Tiffany's), whatever it takes to motivate you to get moving, then that's a great step in the right direction towards being healthier!  And if you are a faster woman, it's a nice mental boost to actually be the first to cross the line, not just the first woman.

However, it's true - the races aren't restricted to women, just geared towards them.  Men can enter, if they don't mind the "girlishness," like having their finisher's medal presented by a guy in a tux (at the Nike Women's).  If they are running as Prince Charming to their own Princess, then more power to 'em!  I think it's great to be that supportive.  I think it's uncalled for on the specators' side to be heckling the runners, regardless of sex.  No matter the gender, those runners are putting forth significantly more effort than the spectator simply watching the race, and at the end of 13 or 26 miles, you don't need to be hearing belittling or unsupportive comments.

If the race organizers really want to have women cross the finish line first, or be first on the podium, they do have several options.  Several of these races stagger the starting corrals - have the women start in the first corral or in the first few.  The men then start several minutes after the first batch(es) of women, so even if a male posts the fastest time, odds are still good that a woman crossed the finish line first.

The point was made by several posters though, about how bitter the reaction would be with men's-only or men's-oriented races.  And it's an unfortunate truth. Possible perceived prejudices can only run one way, no matter what it's referring to - sports, scholarships, anything.  It's a PR suicide to have them run the other.  But that is a societal problem; the races are simply another example of how hard it is to really achieve a level of equality which satisfies everyone.

I'm of two minds when it comes to this debate.  It's nice to have a female-only environment sometimes - can be a bit more supportive, less competition-focused.  But, if it's an open race, then the guys have every right to run too.  I guess because I'm not fast enough to make a difference if the race's predominantly women or not!  Kinda hard to be passionate about opportunities to reach the podium, when I'll be in the middle of the pack either way :)

Personally, I'd love to run some of these women's races.  The swag looks GREAT at some of them, and Mom and I have already started talking about doing the Disney Princess race one of these years (maybe the year I turn 30, Mom???)  I choose races based on loot, on scenery, on a fun race environment.  If that happens to be a women's only race, then it's a women's only race. Like I mentioned, I'm a middle of the pack runner, so the actual place doesn't make much difference to me.

Review: 24

Zach got interested in this because of a friend at work. And since it's on Netflix Instant Watch, here you go: 24 (Season 1, at least)

You know the premise - the show is relatively real-time, each episode being one hour of a crazy 24 period in Jack Bauer's life.  Jack being a senior agent in the LA Counter-Terrorism Unit, his crazy days are crazier than most other people's.  The first 'day' in the show (i.e. Season 1) revolves around an assassination attempt on a Senator/Presidential candidate's life.

I wanted to like it.  I really did.  I like Kiefer Sutherland.  I like Dennis Haysbert. I like kick-butt action and suspense movies and TV shows.  I should have liked this too.

Didn't happen though.

The cast is inconsistent.  Some are actors I really liked, and some really got on my nerves instead. Kiefer Sutherland is a great cast as Jack Bauer.  He can do the gruff, imposing, strong, yet secret soft underbelly, good hearted character very well (remember back to his Athos in The Three Musketeers, back in 1993?  Same sort of feel.)  And when he has to sound threatening, well, he's got a great voice for it (used beautifully in Phone Booth, too, though the rest of that movie was ridiculous).  And I like Dennis Haysbert too, playing the Senator here.  Good, dignified, honest politician trying to do the right thing and still be elected - a fine line to walk.  Dennis Hopper appears about halfway through the season as the lead bad guy, and we all know he does crazy bad guys pretty darn well.

Some of the characters, though, like I said, drove me nuts.  I don't know if it's the characters were written like that and the actors just did a good job of portraying that; or if the characters were neutrally written, and the actors were what were driving me nuts.  At any rate, I felt absolutely no empathy for some of these people - Nina (the coworker/ex-girlfriend), Terry (the wife) and Kim (the daughter) were the worst.  And that makes it hard, when we're supposed to relate to Jack and why he's doing all these crazy things to protect his family, but the family themselves are ridiculous!  I do believe that Kim's character was written badly.  C'mon, how many times in a 24 hour period is the girl going to get kidnapped???

I didn't mind the unusual pacing - the whole 24 hours thing.  I actually think it's a pretty neat idea.  I will admit, though, it did take a little bit to get used to.  Talking with Anne about it, she explained it as "You're so used to an hour being about a TV week, that it feels like the show's just dragging on."  And in some ways, that hits the nail on the head.  Even if a full movie covers only a 24 hour period, it can feel like it's being stretched to fit the 2 1/2 hour time frame, if it's not paced properly.  Here, when it's a full 24 hours they are trying to full, sometimes it FELT like they were trying to fill it.  Maybe because we were watching  the first season, and the writers hadn't really hit their stride yet. There were definitely times where it felt like they were either letting story lines stagnate for an hour or two, or were pulling into the bag of cliches to fill time (Terry gets amnesia??  At that point it was just "Really, 24?  The amnesia card?  Really??").

Some of the characters' decisions were written to help extend the events into 24 hours, and you can tell.  These people make some of the WORST decisions at times!  It was like 11:14, but not funny.  Really!  It would have been a great dark comedy at points, except they kept playing it seriously.  And this office has to be one of the most unprofessional departments ever.  Even Zach was commenting on that one.  The number of times people prefaced their actions with "Well, I'm not really supposed to do/say this..."

Overall:  2 of 5.  A few small acting high points and an interesting concept ruined by irritating characters and forced writing.  I made it through the first 6 episodes before I got so irritated I had to stop watching - after that it was a very half-hearted watching.  Zach made it all the way through the season, but the subsequent seasons have not made it onto our queue.  That should say a good bit.  The writing must have gotten better over the subsequent seasons for the show to have continued this long.  It almost makes us want to add season 2 to the queue to see.  Almost. 

A burst of beading

Mostly stitch markers. :)

Some removable.

Some not.

 

Some are the simple ones, just beads on a jump ring.

These are a new style for me. Beading wire (jewelry wire) and crimp beads to secure them. A lot closer to "jewelry," in my mind. These were a little more fiddle-y to make, but I like them, because now I have stitch markers for my bigger needles too.  I know the one below on the left is pretty small, but it was very hard to get the camera to focus when it was zoomed in any closer :\

These are from some beads I swapped with a friend here on post.  Not beads I'd usually get, but I really like how the markers came out!

 

These sets are for me and Mom and Anne (if she wants them). I found the Evil Eye beads from Goody Beads, and couldn't pass them up. One of our long-term baby-sitting jobs in high school and college was a Turkish family stationed out of Norfolk. Lovely family to work with, and their son was lots of fun too. And we learned a lot about Turkey in the process, too! One of the gifts they gave us during our time babysitting for them is a nazar boncuğu, or Turkish evil eye stone. These are common amulets in Turkey, found just about everywhere, even on the planes for a Turkish airline! They look very much like these little beads. So, beads that make me smile or remember something special- perfect stitch marker material, right? :)

And not just stitch markers - a bracelet too! This is based on a free pattern from the Oriental Trading Company website. Yes, they do sell some basic craft supplies (nothing too fancy, which is nice if you're just trying out a craft) and they have patterns available online, as well. I changed the colored beads in my version, obviously, and without the extra blue links on either side of the clasp, I think it ended up a little smaller too. That's OK, though, as my wrist isn't really big, either :)  Nice and spring-time-y!

Sport Your Pink!

Again time for the October Public Service Announcement, brought to you by the Knitting Penguin. Our family is buxom, with our own share of breast-related issues, but thankfully, no cancer as of yet. However, friends' and coworkers' families have been touched by this disease, as I'm sure it has affected many of yours, or your circles.

So pass on the Penguin (courtesy of JGoode Design's Penguin)! Get your checkups and keep the boobies healthy!

Oh, and if you were wondering, the title to the post is from this shop, first noticed several years ago on a car sticker back home in VB. Still tickles our philanthropic funny bone :)

Save the rainforest! Save the whales! Save the sea turtles! Save the ta-tas!