VARIOUS & SUNDRY

I know...I know. I haven't updated in a while. And there are several reasons...some better than others.


First, I am still a bit disabled. The booboo finger turned out to be a fracture right by where a ligament attaches. It's going to be slow healing...at least another 4 weeks. And I'm not able to knit at all -- at least not for a couple of weeks. Arrgh! (But when I do return to knitting, I'm planning to finish Socky and to start a Baby Surprise Sweater for the Dulaan project.) Do you have any idea how much you use your index finger when you knit? I didn't.

Secondly, I'm been swamped at work. High stress, lots of pressure, and when I leave the office, the last thing I'm thinking about is tapping at a keyboard. (Don't for a second take this as a complaint about my job. I am the luckiest guy in America. My boss is first rate. I'd crawl through broken glass for the man.)

Thirdly, we are only 1/3 through the Jewish High Holidays...or at least we will be after Yom Kippur, which starts at sundown. "Now how can that be an excuse?" someone out there is asking. And the answer would be because the dominant Christian culture makes countless accommodations automatically for the Christian holidays. Off at noon on Good Friday, off early on Christmas Eve, always off on Christmas, and an almost empty office for the week after Christmas. But nobody would ever contemplate closing early on Eruv Rosh Hashanah, let alone Sukkot or Simchat Torah. And I have to use vacation time for my holidays. I'd love to see the look on my smarmy, smug, fat-ass co-worker who always acts like taking time off for the High Holidays is some kind of perk I don't deserve yet have somehow managed to slip by the partners if she suddenly had to take vacation time to get Christmas off. I'd like to see HER -- the woman who Christmas shops for a month -- leave the office at 5:00 and have a holiday dinner on the table at 6:00 and be finished in time to be at shul by the time services start at 8:00. Bitch.

I'd really better change the subject before I say something about her I'll need to atone for.

THE BENEFITS OF BLOGGING

So SARAHHB! What a woman! What a GENEROUS woman. What a SEWING generous woman!


Everybody, this is the bag Sarah made for me and for Socky.

Bag, meet Everybody.

I think everyone knows Socky already.

And guess what! It's reversible! Sarah -- thank you. Thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart. I can't wait to get knitting again. Socky is already comfortably ensconced and awaiting my return!

GARAGE SALE FINDS

1) Nifty folk-art planter with a naked screaming bearded man. $2.00. Looks a lot like my old Rabbi, Doug, except that my Rabbi wore clothes and didn't scream. Since I couldn't keep a plant alive if you paid me, I've put this to use by the kitchen sink to hold all the things I never know what to do with. (I mean, wher DO you put the aquarium net?)

Thai Bird Angel sculpture. Free! (It was a friend's garage sale...she insisted I take it.) I love it.

3) A large, heavy, solid wood cutting board. $5.00. And a bargain at that. This thing will last me the rest of my life. I'll pass it on to grandchildren. I can imagine my family gathered around my deathbed, arguing about who gets this cutting board. (If they don't watch out, I'm going to leave it to charity...the ungrateful bastards.) For perspective, the marble slab in the foreground is 1 inch thick.


I hope to have more interesting stuff to report next time. Keep your fingers crossed for the finger.