It's playoff season, and I'm really unable to care, but I have to say that the people of Boston are just off their rockers.  People are moaning and bitching about how yesterday was the worst loss in Boston sports history, or at least Pats history.

Now, don't get me wrong: there's a mathematical possibility that I could care less about the patriots (or about Boston sports in general - sorry Bruins), but it's really only because there are very few zero probabilities in the world.  My apathy generally knows no bounds, but geezum crow, folks, even *I* know that that's patently false.

I mean really?  You're going to put this loss over the Buckner ball loss?  You're going to put it over the loss in the Superbowl to the Giants after the unbeaten season?  I know very little about Boston sports history, but even *I* can come up with those two.  The world series loss scarred people - there were death threats.  A sucky game going out in the first round of the playoffs even compares?

Drama queens. 

So, I have not been on the El-Jay in some time.  Life and work have been somewhat busy, and while looking for my New Year's Resolutions from last year, I notice that a) all of 2009 takes up a page and b) most of them start with 'I'm a bad updater'.  On the other hand, I like being able to go back and read this stuff, so I really need to write.

And thus:  Resolutions for '010:

• Journal.  Like, at least once a week.
• Read 15 decent sized books as pleasure reading.  List still to be determined, but will probably alternate between fiction and non-fiction, though it's all dependent on me ever finishing this god-forsaken Murikami book I've been attempting to get through for ever.
• Publish (even if it's just to Rav) 2 patterns this year.  Submit at least 1 for consideration.
• Learn to steek.
• Teach one person to knit
• Drop a Double Star (it's a silks thing)
• Perform at least twice this year.
• Go 2 weeks without eating out.
• Bike to work at least once.
• Run a 5K
• Get Christmas Cards out for '10

So wedding work continues - today is my last day in the office for almost 2 weeks - I'm taking off before the wedding to get all my crap done, and a couple of days afterwards.  Mr. Marz and I may go up to Quebec for a few days after the wedding, just to be out of town and decompress.  Nothing decided yet.

This weekend is sort of a mixture between a lot of time in the kitchen an a lot of time out.  I have 9 dozen cupcakes to make this weekend so I can get them to the caterer and in the caterer's freezer, along with the batch of goat cheese I'm making to go out as well.  And I need to make more yogurt.  Also, tomorrow night is my bachelorette party - pool and dancing.  Karoke got cancelled because the place we were going to go is having some sort of True Blood event instead.  Suck it, vampires. 

Still need to pick up my dress.  Still need to finish the cupcake tray.  Need to do up more thank you note envelopes, as many of the ones I did earlier got humid and managed to seal themselves.  Damnit.  Need to get Dave to write the thank you's to his family.  Need to get the food orders for the I guess rehearsal dinner.  Still need to spend some quality time in my shoes to break them in a little.  Still need to actually write down the list of formals for photos.  Still need to put together playlist.  Still need to pick up the rings. 

Other than that, I have very little news of my own to report.  Cousin R had a baby 2 days ago - Liam James.  He looks kind of like a cross between Winston Churchill and Mick Jagger.  Morissa had a baby the same day, an as yet unnamed baby girl.  I've been up to my eyeballs in baby knitting as a result, but I should finish up the final pair of booties today so I can drop them off. 

I want a nap.

So, the great Dairy Experiment began this evening.  My cultures came in the mail last week, and I finally knew I'd have time to tend to everything.

I went to the store and got my gallon of goat's milk.  Came home, put it in the enamel pot, brought it up to temp (had a bit of a problem when I realized that the first thermometer I was using was a candy thermometer - that is not going to get the job done).  Added the culture.  Took the pot off the stove to hang out and sit.

I'm now in the interminable waiting stage.  I just checked on the pot, and I see curd forming.  This excites me greatly.  More than that, it smells a little cheesy. 

But it's also a lot of cheese.  Like, a crapload of cheese.  I'll likely have 2 lbs of chevre when I'm done, and I just can't eat that much cheese in 2 weeks.  Some I'll freeze, but I think I'm going to wind up giving a bunch away.  Really, to anyone into whose hands I can put it.  Even my co-workers will wind up with some.  And I'll certainly have someone bring crackiers to Weddingbrau because i'll bring some (more) of the chevre.

Though, if it turns out well, I'll probably make another batch to give to the caterer so that it can be served at the wedding.  Between that and the homebrew and the cupcakes, there will be quite a bit of home-made stuff.

I have bellydance and silks shows coming up at the end of June.  I was posting a general invite in the yarn group I'm on, which generated the (frequently asked) question: what are silks.  I embedded a video, and got the following response:

"Holy schlamoly. It’s like someone combined my fear of heights, my spectacularly weak upper body, and my inability to get a T-shirt over my head without getting tangled in it, all into one thing that I am guaranteed never to be able to do."

I had to actually stifle the laugh so my co-workers didn't hear.

Mother's day success.  Whew.

My boss just let me know she got a reference call on the DoU&T job. 

They could be doing reference checks on more than just one candidate.
They really might not offer me the job, though apparently they're thinking about it.
I'm still not sure I'd take it if it were offered.
The pay question would still need to be answered, as I sure as hell can't take less than the pittance I make here.

On the other hand, I have a headache from dealing with idiocy from multiple levels here (like, right at this moment), and I'm very much on a "god I want out" swing.  And I just found out that there is no cap on the vacation buy-out, so anything I don't take I get money for (sa-weet!).

I must now work on not getting my hopes up too high.    You know how I fear disappointment.

 1. Bold the shows you watch/used to watch (or have watched a bunch of through Netflix).
2. Italic the shows you've seen at least one episode of.
3. Post your answers.

50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex & The City
45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek
42. Only Food and Horses
41. Band of Brothers
40. Life on Mars
39. Monty Python's Flying Circus
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation
36. Father Ted
35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI: Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5
31. Deadwood
30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf
25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks
23. The Office
22. The Shield
21. Angel
20. Blackadder
19. Scrubs
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Doctor Who 
15. Heroes
14. Firefly
13. Battlestar Galactica
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld
10. Spaced
09. The X-Files
08. The Wire
07. Friends
06. 24
05. Lost - I'm not counting this as "watch regularly" since I haven't since season 2
04. The West Wing
03. The Sopranos
02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
01. The Simpsons

Since Alaska, I've been working on my hair - specifically, I've been trying to not wash it as often.  After 4 days out in the middle of no-where, unable to bathe, I decided to try only washing my hair 3 days a week.  After an initial bit of oiliness, my hair got itself together and chilled out.  It now looks better on days when I don't wash it than on days when I do.

So I've taken the next step, so to speak - nopoo.  Today I opted to try the washing my hair with baking soda (2 tbs baking soda/1 cup water)  and conditioning it with apple cider vinegar (about the same ratio).  My hair does not smell like a salad, so so far, so good.  We'll see how it looks after drying, and how it looks tomorrow (when I don't plan on washing it at all).  

So, one of my resolutions for 2009 was to climb a 5.10.  Today at the rock gym with Mr Marz and Marz the Younger, I climbed a 5.10a.  I didn't do it clean (though in my defense, I also didn't have any falls), but I did get all the way up.  It wasn't impossible, just hard.  I wasn't actually expecting to get all the way up (I just figured I needed to start trying them), but I made it all the same.  Whoo.

Now, about that chin up... 

But as of 12:47, my thesis is in and done. No more revisions (my advisor promised). No more "oh if you could change the format on this" or redesigning tables or trying to find a better way to explain things. No more adding sections (or cutting them out). I will not have to re-number my figures YET AGAIN. It's absolutely totally done.

Whew.

I just emailed the full draft of my paper to my advisor. It's got the formatting finished and everything. I'm so excited I cannot tell you.

And now, I make pumpkin soup.

I swear to god.

Maybe it's your Civil Duty Not to Vote

Hey kids, you don't know anything! You shouldn't vote! (Not, for instance, you should get some edumacation so that you can be a responsible voter, but you shouldn't even register.)

I don't generally watch network news, but I wouldn't have expected to see ABC practicing voter suppression.

Also.

table style='border:1px solid black'><tr><td align="center"> You are a
Social Liberal
(78% permissive)

and an...
Economic Liberal
(36% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Democrat



Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid.com: Free Online Dating
Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test </td></tr></table></center>

I officially applied for graduation today. If all goes well, I will be officially graduating in January. Yay!

I am in the Vancouver airport, on my way back to Boston. I'll sleep in my own bed tonight, and fight to get back to East Coast time tomorrow. Joy.

And I am going to have to knit like a mo'fo' to finish this project before ocho ocho ocho. Aieee!

(Not the least of which is because I've also signed up for the Ravelympics, so I have some mitts to knit during the Olympics, and opening ceremonies are on the 8th.)