Is That How It's Supposed To Be?

The computer has been reinstalled, the files restored, and now the new camera will finally talk to it. I haven't discovered what it is that I've lost forever, but I'm sure it will become obvious to me soon.

One of the nice things about this camera is that it has a much better macro setting than the old one. See?

I wouldn't have been able to get that close with the old camera.

While the computer was being redone I received a package in the mail and this is what was inside:

It's the latest sock from the Tsock Flock club. So far all we've received is a teensy little skein of sock yarn, and enough instructions to make the toes. We'll be getting more yarn and more instructions later. Intrigued, I cast on and started, and got this far before I started asking myself questions:

I fear that I have gone wrong already. Admittedly this is only the work of 30 minutes, so it won't kill me to have to redo it, but I'm pretty sure I'm going down the wrong path. She says in the directions that you can either use 2 circular needles, or 5 double pointed needles. That's fine, I like DPNs better, so that's what I'm using. The problem comes in around row 13, where I'm instructed to do something till I get to the "end of needle." At the time, I blindly followed directions, and did something till I got to the end of the needle, then repeated it on all 4 needles. I think this was probably not right. If I'm making toes here, then they are going to have a very boxy shape, and some strange and potentially uncomfortable stripes on the tops and bottoms of my feet. If the instructions are for people using ony 2 circular needles, then they'll end up with nicely shaped toes and some swell stripes up the sides of their feet. The problem here is that since I don't have any idea what I'm making (other than the fact that it's for a sock club) so I'm not sure if this is just some clever new thing, or just a screw up on my part. I'm 90% sure it's a screw up, but you never can tell.

But it's OK, because my new camera is cool.

Punishment for Upgrading

I'm not sure why I thought this wouldn't happen. You rarely hear stories about how upgrading something goes smoothly and painlessly. Yet I was sure that buying a new camera would be a simple thing, especially since it's made by the same people who made my old camera.

For the last several years I have had a trusty digital camera. A nice little Canon PowerShot S 500. I would have been happy to keep on using my trusty little camera, except that it's showing signs of imminent demise. The video screen on the camera shows things in shades of purple, the zoom lever sticks, and if you look at the pictures I posted about my summer vacation you'll notice that the ones at the bottom have a pinkish stripe at the top (or right-hand edge if they're up and downers.) So we went to Best Buy to look at some of the new models, and I found one I liked. The PowerShot SD790 IS. We came home and I looked up as many reviews of it as I could, and it seems like people really like this little camera. So I clicked on over to Amazon and purchased one.

Yesterday the box came, and the first disappointment (although it was expected) was that they've changed the battery design, so none of the 3 batteries I have for Old Camera will work with New Camera. So I plugged the charger in and waited the 2 hours it takes to charge a battery. I also bought a bigger memory card than the one that came standard, so i plugged that in and went to clicking. The display was a little grainy, but it was 8:30 at night in a pretty dark house, so I wasn't too concerned. I took some pictures of Husband vacuuming up cobwebs in the basement, and they turned out very nicely. Then I decided to download the pictures to my computer.

I installed the software from the CD that came with the camera, plugged in the camera, and... nothing. The screen on the camera went blank (like it's supposed to) but nothing happened on the computer. I tried using the new cable, using the old cable, uninstalling the software and reinstalling the software, but I couldn't make the computer and camera talk to each other. I called Hubby. He spent 2 hours removing things, deleting things, taking things out of the registry, reinstalling things, and he got to the same point I did: the camera will not talk to the computer. The last thing Husband said as we quit for the night was, "You might have to let me reinstall your computer." These words cause me great fear, and it took a long time to fall asleep.

This morning I called Canon support and talked to James. He's a very nice man who spent an hour with me trying to get the camera and the computer to talk to each other. His final opinion was that there is a problem on the Microsoft side of the fence that is keeping my computer from communicating with its new friend. He said I could use plan B, which would be taking the memory card out of the camera and putting it into the computer and getting the photos that way, or I could go with Husband's plan.

So this afternoon I will try to locate all of the things on my computer that I do not want to lose forever and back them up. I will forget something, I always do when this process occurs. It will take several days for me to get things all back to the way I like them, and there will be no photos today. This is the best rendition of what I look like right now that I can come up with:

Why I Live in Chicago

After visiting the U.P. I routinely ask myself the same question when I get home: Why do I live in Chicago? I was born in one of the most beautiful places in the country, lived there for 25 years, then moved on to the big city. At the time it made sense: I have a degree in Business Computer Information Systems, and jobs in that particular field are few and far between in that part of the country. After finally getting an offer to do what I (thought I) wanted to do, it didn't take me long to accept. When you're 24, moving from the country to the city sounds like fun.

Once I got here I discovered that the city wasn't really all that appealing to me, although I did fine the world's finest Hubby here. We both came to Chicago from other parts of the country because of our jobs. Over the course of time we have both decided (I think) that we're not really all that fond of the city life. (Hubby is slightly more pro city, as he fears that he wouldn't be able to play tennis if he were out in the wilderness.) The problem, then, becomes, well if we were to go somewhere else, where would we go? Bringing me to exhibit A:



If you click on the map and make it bigger, you'll see why we're never going to move. We would both like to be nearer to our families, and they both live in beautiful parts of the country. Wildly separate, no-where-near-each-other parts of the country. It takes us 5 hours to drive to Brother's in Detroit (when the traffic in northern Indiana isn't horrible, which it usually is,) 7 hours to drive to my parents' in Marquette, and a day in airports to get to Hubby's family in Kansas or Colorado. If we moved to be near any one set of relatives, it would make it very hard to visit the other set. Also, Husband grew up in New Mexico, so going farther north is not on his agenda.

So, since I think I'm stuck here in the Chicago suburbs for a while, I am attempting to make things as similar to the U.P. as I can. I purchased an mp3 of the sounds of water lapping on a rocky beach, I plugged in a new air freshener that's supposed to smell like sun and sand, and Sunday night we had a campfire.


I'll let you know if it works.

Aaaaaand She's Back

Let me just say, holy crud, what a summer this has been. There's been good, bad, and ugly, and there's been a LOT of it. I have been to Wisconsin, Texas, Detroit, and the U.P. I've had house guests, extra children, and insects. I have helped drywall a garage, snorkeled in the Gulf of Mexico, helped pull down a tree, taught a week of VBS, and completely cleaned and organized the playroom. I have visited with Brother, all the In-Laws, Mom & Dad, Cousins, and Aunts & and Uncle. I have been introduced to a horrible, terrible, time sucking computer game. I have had precious little free time for knitting.

But now that the summer is entering its "wind down" phase, I think I might be able to reclaim my life a little. I'll start by showing you some of the highlights of the summer.

Camping at Rock Cut park in Illinois:


South Padre Island:



Amtraking to Detroit:


The beginning of the Great 8 Hour Playroom Cleanup, in which I take every toy of Daughter's, pile it up in one giant pile, then start sorting and throwing.


Cat helps with laundry:


Family Cabin on Dead River Basin (my favorite place in the whole world):


Son helping Dad with landscape project:


The Black Rocks at Marquette's Presque Isle:


Family Shooting Day:


and last but not least, the only knitting I've finished this summer:



Hope you've all had a great summer.

Broadcast Suspended Until Further Notice

We've got some family stuff going on, and I probably won't be able to post for a while. I can leave you with this bit of news: I assassinated my target, and now I'm working on the pair of socks for her target. Naturally I forgot to take a picture of the ones that I made, so I can't show them to you. I took a picture of the pair I'm working on now, but my camera must have broken up with the computer lately, because they aren't speaking to each other right now. Hopefully I'll be able to get them reconciled later on and post a photo.

Kathy Out

Edited later to add a photo of the second pair of socks of death.

I is for...

Impatient

I'm sitting here repeatedly pressing the refresh button waiting very impatiently for an email to arrive. Today Sock Wars starts. I have cleared my day of all extraneous activities and I'm ready to start the battle. Unfortunately I have no one to kill, and no pattern with which to kill them. I've already cast on 60 stitches, as i assume I'll need somewhere in that neighborhood, but I can't go any farther than that till I get the dossier of my victim.

Tick, tick, tick, tick...

Good News, Bad News

Husband has finalized the plans for our summer vacation this year. We will be going to South Padre Island in Texas. This is a situation that is full of good and bad:

1. Good News: We will be going somewhere that none of us has ever been to before. No one will be bored because they have already seen everything and done everything.

2. Bad News: We are going to the most southern part of Texas, on the gulf, the last week of June. I am descended from people of northern European heritage. I will be burned to a crisp in no time at all.

3. Good News: We will be renting our own car at the airport, not relying on Father-In-Law's 15 passenger van. We will be able to control our own destinies to some extent.

4. Bad News: Father-In-Law and Brother-In-Law want to go deep sea fishing. This is a process that starts unbelievably early in the morning and lasts all day. There's no saying, "I'm bored, can we go back now?" as the children are most certainly going to do.

5. Good News: The kids and I can go to a waterpark instead. (See number 3 above)

6. Bad News: The kids and I will be going to a waterpark. In 6 weeks. In an area where there will be a lot of fit people. Wearing bathing suits. Sporting tans. I am a pasty white (or burnt red) 40 year old who hasn't been going to the gym for a while.

7. Good News: We get to spend some time with family, but we all have our own hotel rooms, so we'll get some space as well.

8. Bad News: Have I mentioned the heat and swimming suit issues?


I just received a late birthday present. I am a big fan of many different kinds of flowers, but my all time favorite as far as smell goes, is lilacs. I love them. So yesterday and today have been very pleasant as Next Door Neighbor South has a lilac tree that just bloomed. I've got the windows open and the whole place smells great. This will probably be the case for 2 or 3 more days, then we'll have the less pleasant smell of decomposing flowers as they blow off of his tree into my backyard. But till then it's a nice gift.