I got an ipod a few months ago and signed up for an audio book club so I could get books on CD which could then be downloaded onto my ipod for my knitting amusement. I got the first CD but had no idea how to download it then lost it for about 5 weeks before I could send it back. Then I gave in and tried to sign up with the one-and-only audio book service that offers direct ipod downloads only to be informed upon checkout that the selections I had made were restricted by geographical boundaries and unavailable to me. Would I be interested in a different narration of Alexander McCall Smith's Portuguese Irregular Verbs? Oh, you mean the one not narrated by Hugh Laurie? Well sure... I can't see what difference that would make. Geesh... I might as well just buy the book and have my son read it to me while I knit. (Actually, that's not such a bad idea.)
Well, thanks to my helpful teenagers, I at least have those 80's tunes and the few episodes of House and Big Bang Theory I managed to download through i-tunes.
So here's the thing. My cell phone broke. And by broke, I don't mean stopped working... no... I mean DH carried 3 pieces of phone into Verizon for a replacement. Given my
So he comes home with the new phone... and this.
No, not the lace, the mini futuristic brain tapping cellular communication device.
Now if I had a job or lifestyle that relied heavily on almost constant hands-free telecommunications, I'm sure I'd be in heaven. But I have to tell you that the sight of people walking around with a phone literally attached to their head, well, disturbs me. I find it peculiar and a bit obsessive. (And believe me... I know about obsessive!)
You just watch... some day, when our children are having children, the doctor is just going to take that li'l sweet pea and immediately pop a little cellphone, gps, calculator thingy right in their ear so the dear child will be set for life. Well, at least until he's three and the technology is outdated.
Oh well... it has about as much chance of getting used as that Malabrigo lace beneath it has of ever becoming a completed scarf. The pattern, Easy Flame Scarf by Wendy Bernard, is quite catchy and the malabrigo is like comfort food but if it makes it past it's status as a pleasant diversion to an actual finished scarf, I have vastly underestimated myself.
Now that I've been sidetracked by this little earplug gadget that I've been staring at all day, here's what I really want to show you. It's my brilliant idea (an oxymoron to be sure if you've ever seen any of my other brilliant design ideas) for a cardigan. I picked up this Rio de la Plata way back when I should've been in Mexico at A Mano in L.A. Combined with some brown Cotton Fleece, I'm hoping to make a Seamless Yoke Cardigan based on the schematics in Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns.
After a rough start, I'm moving along again and sizing it in comparison to my Minimalist Cardigan hoping for a perfect fit. I'm usually more of a realist than this. Given my total lack of ability to visualize anything that isn't in 3D before me, I'm probably on a road to disaster but only time will tell. At least I can read while I work on it.
BTW - Ms. Bluejeans (aka Mr. Greenjeans) is done, I just need to weave in a couple of ends and give it another steam. It's destined to become a Christmas gift for my sister who fell in love with it and does it much better justice than I ever could. I'll get pictures up soon, along with the modifications I made.
12 comments:
You're giving Mr Greenjeans away???????? You're a much nicer sister than I!!!
you know where to send that malabrigo if the phone takes too much time and you can't finish the scarf~
I hate my bluetooth thingy. I think I've turned it off, but I haven't and then not only does it stay on, but it CALLS BACK the person I was talking to and then I'm griping at the kids in the van and the other person can hear me.
What's really disturbing to me is all the very old ladies I see around town with these things stuck in their ears. Obviously they've figured out the off button, which makes me feel so inadequate.
Pretty lace scarf!! And how can they deny you Hugh's voice? That's so wrong.
Have you tried audible.com for your audible books? You can download directly from the website and load it on your ipod via i-tunes
Audible.com is the place that denied me Hugh Laurie. But I still may give it a go. I really want to try to soak up some books.
The technology...maybe you're a bit behind your kids, but you've figured out blogger, ravelry, online KAL's, and groups. Really that's an accomplishment. Yesterday someone said to me ...a blog, how do you blog??? And she was serious. My mom's trick with the cell phone is to have one identical to mine or my brothers. Then we can fix anything on hers, set her ring tones, etc. I'm not savy enough to get all phones, but the one I carry, I get used to. So you could always get your oldest the same ear piece you just got (I know he'd be thrilled) then he will walk you through all the opperator errors you come up with. =0) I know...no High School boy needs such a fancy phone...but it was a thought. =0)
When I finally accepted getting a cell phone, I sat down with the manual made myself learn all the thingys on it. And now I must never get another because the learning curve is too steep. I read a YA book called Wired( I think) about the future where everyone is hooked up with the internet at birth. Its a very disturbing book and I think about it all the time but I can't recomend it because it uses the 'F' bomb freely, but then it was another example of how the whole english language at that time was reduced to swear words and no one had any 'real' words to
use. It also had a homeschooler in it , interesting read but for the language and one suggestive scene. I was shocked this was on the YA shelf. Hmm, seems I've written another novel in comments!
Laughing my head off--you are so like me! The last time I needed a cell phone, I told the techie guy that I wanted something that just lets me talk to people: no camera, no music, no menus, just a phone, you know? After he finished rolling his eyes, he handed me a phone with gizmos worthy of the space shuttle and said, "This is the simplest phone we have. Do you want me to import your phone book?" Phone book? What the heck is that?
I want a Jitterbug--one of those old-people phones with just three buttons, and when you push one, either the fire department shows up, the police race in, or an operator asks you who you want to call and connects you. That's my speed.
As for the Bluetooth thingy, I call them Borg implants, and whenever I pass someone wearing one, I say loudly, "Resistance is futile." I may be a dork, but as least I find ways to entertain myself.
you'll be hands free so you can talk and knit. He was climbing ever higher on the good knitter's husband ladder!
Yes the doctors will be implanting phones into newborns heads and credit card data on their fingers. That will make life a lot easier, no more digging into purses for phones or cards we'll be completely hands free.
Tee, hee! I don't have one, but I actually kind of like the idea of a headset for a cell phone. We don't have long distance on our landline, which is tethered to the wall in the kitchen. When I'm talking to family members on the cell phone (the only longish calls I make), I often wish I could knit, but I get the worst crook in my neck trying to pinch the little cell phone between my ear and shoulder, so it just doesn't happen.
The new sweater you're working on looks great!
I. Love. That color combination for your cardigan! *drool*
I get books (and music) on CD from the library and download those!
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