It was interesting to look through my 2006 photos to pick the “Top 20″ for the year. The first 12 photos are ones selected by Flickr in the order of Interestingness determined by their magic formula. The last 8 are ones that I chose for a variety of reasons - ones that I like, ones that have special memories, whatever it may be. Two of the pictures (#4 and #12) are photos of the print originals from my Photo I class last spring; I am planning on taking Photo II this spring *with a different instructor* and I am really looking forward to it. An added perk is the fact that she is a knitter and so I already know her from the LYS.

I am still trying to figure out what I am going to do as far as school this semester. As much as I would like to go to pharmacy school, I can not handle going to school on such a demanding schedule while Jason is in high school. It just won’t work. Add to the mix the fact that I really want to focus more on photography. Really, really want to focus more on it. So this semester I may just take Photo II and nothing else. I might decide to add the computer class that I need to get my Associates Degree (it is my outstanding requirement) or I will just test out of the class, since I have plenty of years of computer experience. Decisions, decisions.

As it is New Year’s Eve, it is that time again. Time for the resolutions. Although I prefer to think of them as goals, because it is just easier to handle them that way.

1. Take more photos. Branch out more. Work on my portfolio, and get into more portrait work. Expand Fresh Photography into something beyond supporting my photography habit. Seek more opportunites to grow as a photographer, whether it is meeting with other local photographers for photohunts more (I have one planned with Laurie on Tuesday, so that is a start) or finding meetings and seminars to attend.

2. Go back to my “5 at a time” weight loss goals from 2005. I didn’t do well at it back then, but many other people found success in it. I’ve already joined Weight Watchers a few weeks ago, so that is a step in the right direction. I lost weight at the beginning of the year, and somehow I have gained it all back in the past 3 months. (Most of it was gained back when I stopped drinking Pepsi and started drinking Diet Sprite and more water. Makes perfect sense, right?) I’ll post more about the “5 at a time” concept in the next day or so, but if you want to join me in this let me know - you don’t have to do WW, you can do whatever works for you. A network of supporters is a good thing for us all.

3. Reorganize the rest of the house. (The master bedroom and Jason’s room were already done this past summer.) We moved in two months before the wedding, and it was just too crazy to get everything set up right back then in 2004. For some reason, it has never really happened since then. Purge, purge, purge - we have too much stuff that we really don’t need. Whatever remains will have a place. I am going to be ruthless. Two bags of clothing were donated just yesterday, and I am sure there are more that can move on out.

4. Participate in the 2007 Stashalong and knit my current stash. I’ll be photographing it and making a list of corresponding projects (I generally only buy yarn if I have a project to go with it) later this week.

5. Podcast more often. I have many great ideas, and some more interviews coming up - but none of that matters if I don’t get the show out. A regular schedule is probably in order, if I can just figure out which day of the week works best.

6. Read more books. I want to make a list of the “classics” that I have somehow never read, and the ones I read and enjoyed. There are many other books that I also want to read, so those will make the list too.

7. Spend more time with friends. It is ironic that Mike & I are home on New Year’s Eve, as we had planned to go out. He seemed to have a bug back on Friday, and about 24 hours later it hit me. Neither one of us is feeling “up to par” so we stayed in - but I want that to change in 2007.

8. Get back into the world of the internet more - redesigning my sites and maybe finally learning CSS. There are other plans for 2007 that tie into this, but I am not ready to talk about those here. *grin*

I think that covers everything, and I know I can do it all. I’ll be printing out my goals in the next day or two and working on them weekly. I sense a year of changes ahead, and that is a good thing.

Because I don’t post photos of him very often, I just had to share this one. It was one that I took at our “photo session” before Christmas, and I like how it came out when I converted it to black & white. I still need to work on my mad Photoshop skillzzz, but I’m getting there. Slowly but surely.

First up, the Argosy scarf. (There are more finished objects to come as soon as I get photos!) I started this as we watched Rice play in their bowl game on December 22nd. I finished most of the first ball of Noro that night, and all was well.

On the 23rd, while we had coffee with Mike’s high school English teacher, I got everything set up so the start of the second ball lined up perfectly with the end of the first ball. Again, all was well.

That night, we went to the Lexington Stitch & Bitch to knit, and I brought the scarf. I worried at first that I would botch the pattern, but after a few minor (and easy to fix) mistakes, and tinking a row or two, I was happily knitting along. And then it happened.

The Noro knot. The infamous Noro knot.

All was no longer well. As much as I love Noro, I freaking hate Noro because of the knots. I thought it was going to be ok at first - the other side of the knot picked up right along in the same color as the I had been working in. Problem is, the yarn color was supposed to go burgundy, purple, pink, purple, blue, and so on. Instead it went purple, pink, purple, pink, purple, blue. There is a LOT of pink and purple in the second half of the scarf. A little blue at the end, and no green at all. Grrrrr. *shaking my fist at the Noro*

It is still lovely, and it was a fun and easy knit. I finished it up on Christmas Eve night, and I will block it this weekend. But I must admit, I’m still bitter about the second half of the scarf.

Scarf Stats:
Pattern: Argosy from Knitty
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Lite in color #2014, two skeins
Cast-on: December 22, 2006
Cast-off: December 24, 2006

After we watched Rudolph, we realized today that we needed the alternate perspective of Sam the Snowman.

Santa knew just what I wanted, and it was under the tree this morning! (It is a very wide angle lens, in case the numbers don’t mean anything to you.) I loooooove it.

Santa also brought me a lot of other great goodies, including:
- a 2gb memory card for my camera
- a Stitch & Bitch Calendar
- Knitting without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmerman
- Two Ansel Adams photo books
- The Creative License by Danny Gregory
- Saturday Night Fever on DVD - the 25th Anniversary Edition!

… and more. Mike got a PSP, and Jason got an Xbox 360, the only thing he has asked for for a year now. We will be celebrating Christmas again later in the week with my parents when we get back to Houston, but Jason already got his big gift from us all today.

We are still waiting for the snow to arrive. It has rained today, but no snow.

All in all, we are having a great time. More on my visits to the LYS and meeting with the founders of The Anti-Craft later this week.

Hope you are having a Merry Christmas (or a happy Monday, whatever works for you) too!

Argosy Scarf from Knitty

Originally uploaded by bpc.

Two days in the car, over 1000 miles logged. I’m tired, and I wasn’t even the one driving it. Allergies have attacked, and my eyes itch and my throat is scratchy.

I needed a flower this morning. It is helping my recovery.

I managed to knit 3.5 strips for my Faith Jacket in the car on the way up; photos to come later. It was perfect car knitting, just as I suspected it would be, with no shaping or stitch pattern to it. I actually knit most of one strip in the dark - garter stitch can be a very good thing!

It seems that if you are editing a podcast late at night while feeling a bit loopy, you might just end up completely leaving out a song.

The file has been edited and the new version of episode 11 of the podcast is now online.

Now I need to run around the house with my checklist, make sure we have done everything we need to do, make sure I have all of my knitting projects (although Katy Blogless has already reminded me that there is yarn in Kentucky), make sure my iPod is synced, and pack up this very laptop that I am typing on. Wheeee!

Oh goodness - when you are tired and should be packing instead of podcasting, you tend to ramble. So this episode may be a little “off” - my apologies in advance to everyone! I had to get it out before we went on the road, so the next episode will come out a little early since this one was a little late.

You didn’t notice though, did you?

Check out episode 11, Road Trip! of the Pointy Sticks podcast. Try not to laugh at me too hard.

Mike found this this morning and asked if this summed up the last two weeks of my Trig class. It does, so perfectly. I swear, they are just making that stuff up.

From xkcd.

For the past … oh, I don’t know how many years anymore … I have had problems getting into the holiday spirit. Big problems. First, consider the fact that it was in the 70s today in Houston, 10 days before Christmas. Nothing says holiday shopping like seeing people out in short sleeve shirts and flip flops as they shop. Gets me in the holiday spirit every time. Next, there is the problem with just being too busy to get it all done - the past two years, I’ve had finals to deal with the first two weeks of December. Decorating a tree? Not high on the list of priorities.

This year, having the Yale Street Market on the first weekend of December and wearing our Santa hats while we spent the day out in the cold, nippy air helped some. But I still didn’t really have time to think about the holidays. I have to admit, I don’t like to put the tree up and the lights out right after Thanksgiving, so the fact that it isn’t up doesn’t bother me at all. It drives me crazy that Christmas appears earlier and earlier every single year. This year, we’ll be gone, so we’re not putting up the tree. Or I may set it up, but leave off the ornaments. Less for the cats to mess with while we are away. We are putting lights out in the yard, since it already looks like Christmas threw up on our street, and we don’t want to be the “dark house” on the block.

I don’t know, it just sort of hit me when I read Kristen’s post about failing at Christmas, which lead me back to Julia’s post about what Christmas would be like if she ruled the world, and S t a c i ’s comments about her plans to make Christmas easier, and well… it sort of all rolled together in my head.

I’m not going to beat myself up about Christmas anymore.

- I like to shop in person, online just doesn’t have that same feel for me. I will shop wisely though, and shop early like I did this year. No stress shopping.
- I will wrap my gifts early too for a change. Matter of fact, I will be doing some of that tomorrow. No more staying up late, late at night on Christmas Eve wrapping presents.
- I will make handmade gifts. And while Jason will probably still get “big” gifts, I might just make the handmade gifts THE presents in the future. (Not this year, because I’m not ready for it yet.) We have plenty of “stuff” and don’t need a lot of “things” - so I will give things made with love.
- I will try to spend at least part of one day baking Christmas treats, and make a point of giving some of those goodies to others. - I will also consider all Christmas treats to be calorie free and not nag anyone (myself included) about enjoying a few more than they should otherwise eat. It is the holidays, so the holiday treats should be enjoyed. (Mike & Jason will cheer when and if they read this.)
- Christmas is not about spending crazy amounts of money. Or about the number of packages you open. It is about spending time with family. I will try to focus on that.
- I will mail Christmas cards. Once I find my address list.
- I will accept that sometimes those cards may go out late, and that is ok. As long as I get them out to people before the 12 days of Christmas run out, I won’t consider myself failing at the card sending.
- I will work to educate people about the fact that the 12 days of Christmas are AFTER Christmas, not before.
- I will spend time watching my favorite holiday movies, including Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Miracle on 34th Street.
- I will also sing the “I’m Mr. Heat Miser… I’m mister HOT!” song a bit too much, but that is ok.
- I will put holiday music on and spend time enjoying it.
- I will celebrate the spirit of Santa Claus … GIVING without expecting anything in return.
* Most important of all, I will enjoy spending time celebrating with family and friends, with good food and good times. Because in the end? THAT is what the memories are made of.

Now where did my Santa hat go? I think I need to spend some more time wearing it…

Wheeee! Fall 2006 semester is officially behind me! My Trig final yesterday was supposed to be from 12:30 - 2:20. I finished at 5:00. Yes, over 4 hours on a Trig final. However, I think I did pretty well - I won’t get the A in the class that I originally wanted because I never could remember some of the formulas in the middle of the course (double angle identities, half angle identities), but I should come out with a B. Considering I have thought for over 20 years that I am terrible at math and I never took Trig in high school, I did really well. If the third test had not kicked my butt like it did, I probably could have had that A. (I had a 94, then a 99, and then a *gasp* 57. Thank goodness for the 20 points worth of test corrections I did over the semester!)

Thanks to studying so hard for the test, I totally forgot to wish Elaine a happy birthday on Wednesday. I didn’t forget her birthday - it is the day before my Mom’s, which was yesterday (Happy Birthday shout-out to Mom!), but I forgot to call. Or e-mail, since this is the first time I’ve been on the computer since my last post. Eeep! I hopefully have rectified the situation with sufficient groveling to make up for it, and we will be at her birthday party on Saturday to celebrate in person.

Now I just have to figure out what I’m taking next semester, and decide if it is time to transfer to a 4-year college next fall or the following spring. I hate to pay the higher tuition, so I’m trying to stay at the junior college level for as long as possible!

Care to guess what week it is? Finals week! I only have one exam, but it is in Trig, and while I was doing so well at the beginning of the semester, I started to slide somewhere around the time that my tutor (aka Mike) went to The Holland. So now I am playing catch up as I get ready for the test on Thursday.

I haven’t been just studying lately though! Here is a quick rundown of the past few days:

Thursday:
- Dinner meeting with Jeff to discuss potential work opportunities for the new year. Wheee!

- Finally made it to the Central Houston Stitch & Bitch! I didn’t stitch much though, as it was a long day with papers due that afternoon for psych and so forth, plus the late night podcasting the night before. It was fabulous to get to see everyone though, which was the main reason why I went. I *heart* the SnB gals!

Friday:
- Went to Twisted Yarns for the gumball sale and got my entire purchase for 25% off!

- A visit to the hair salon meant a fresh cut and color for me, just in time for the holidays! As much as I hate spending the money for it to be colored at the salon, it was so worth it.

- Kohl’s had a “late night” sale from 9pm to midnight, so we took Jason shopping for jeans and I managed to get some new clothes for myself too. I’m just so tired of looking in my closet and feeling “meh” about everything in there. Especially when it comes to winter clothes - with a short winter season here, I tend to hold on to pieces for a long time because they don’t get worn out. It is time to refresh the wardrobe!

Saturday:
- Mike & I had looked at the new Knitty before I went to the gumball sale on Friday, and I realized that he needs to knit again. He really likes the binary scarf (I suggested Encore instead of Red Heart - that way he can wash it and it won’t be quite so scratchy) and the slingshot coffee holder (Dale of Norway Baby Ull, no intarsia, just dark gray and machine washable), so I offered to go pick up yarn for both. Back to Twisted Yarns I went, picking up some Noro Silk Garden Light also for the Argosy scarf too. I managed to get the 50% OFF GUMBALL! I was beyond thrilled!

- Afterwards, I went to the Kohl’s over near the shop as I had found a lightweight jacket at my Kohl’s that I liked, but they didn’t have the right size. The store in Spring had one though, so I picked up that and another top, plus some jeans for my Mom.

- Then I made a “quick” trip to Ross that turned into a long trip to Ross. I found a convertible coat for Jason that is a winter coat with a lighter coat inside of it. Perfect for taking to Kentucky or wearing in Houston, as it has many options. I also finally managed to find some sweaters for myself that are not black! Plus Christmas presents for Mike, Jason, and my Dad, plus gifts to take in for the toy drive at school. I managed to find a lot of good things at great prices, which was perfect!

- I drove home, crashed for a bit, and then it was back out again for dinner with Mike & Jason at Lupe Tortillas (YUM!) and a quick Target run. I bought gift wrap because I am actually going to wrap gifts NOW instead of waiting for the night before Christmas. Shocking!

Sunday:
- I had not driven over to Old Town Spring enough recently, so I went over there again to meet up with Kathy as she headed out of town and went back to Dallas. We met up at Wunsche Bros. and it was great to have a chance to catch up some in person. Plus the burger was delicious!

- I got to meet Hanna’s daughter, Emma! Oh goodness, she is SO sweet, and beautiful, and tiny! Jason was 8lb, 10oz when he was born, so any baby under 8lbs always looks so small to me. Poor Hanna, I convinced her to try nudie baby photos under the Christmas tree, and once we stripped Emma down she was fussy about being naked. Hanna was holding her to comfort her, and Emma peed all over her shirt. Oops! Oh well, I’m sure it isn’t the worst that Hanna will have to deal with over the next 18 years or so. Really, how can you resist the baby bum photos though? The will get some tweaking in Photoshop, and then I will send them her way.

Today:
- In addition to the joys of Trig, we discovered a leak under one of the sinks in our bathroom. Not only did it get everything in the cabinet wet though, it also spread water under the cabinet across the bathroom floor and out onto our bedroom carpet. What a mess. My Mom has a carpet cleaner that I sent Mike over to pick up, and it worked well to get a lot of the water up. Crisis solved.

Whew! No wonder I feel tired! It has been a busy, busy weekend. Now it is time to hit the books again!

Episode 10 of the Pointy Sticks podcast is live! Tell your family, tell your friends, and make sure you listen to the show because there is a CONTEST! You have to listen to get all the details so you can enter. Be sure to check it out!