Miscellaneous: October 2005 Archives
It's always fun for me to post about something not related to knitting -- inevitably I discover that some of my not-so-crafty hobbies are equally well enjoyed by others. The Civillization games look to be no exception. What is it about them that makes you glue your eyes to your monitor and your hands to the keyboard whispering "just one more turn" to the person trying to convince you that it is time to go to bed?
Clearly Firaxis has something figured out.
I actually only played one game today. Believe it or not, I spent most of the day actually reading the manual while working on my new sock project. I'm not sure if this will surprise anyone, but I am one of those people who loves to pour through game manuals. To me, reading the manual somehow heightens the anticipation of playing the game, helps me "get into character" so to speak. For a game like Civ, there's something magical about digging through all the information and trying to figure out what basic strategies are going to interest me.
I was hoping to take a picture to provide some proof that I actually did work on that sock, but the last of my camera batteries just gave out and I don't have another set charged. So you'll just have to trust me -- 7 inches of stripey sock top as I go into the weekend.
And my first impressions of Civ IV? Well, my first foray was just on the extremely wimpy level so that I could see how the game play mechanics have changed. From a "just one more turn" perspecitve, the additiction factor is clearly still there. It runs mostly okay on my machine (a Gateway M505 with an ATI Radeon 95-something). Graphics are fine but periodically it just crashes to desktop -- not often or predictably, but there's some little buggy critter in there somewhere, which is not so surprising for a brand new game as complicated as this one. Music is wonderful, and the 3D-perspective adds a new dimension to the game (no pun intended). It's going to take me a while to get the hang of dealing with the new religious element of the game, and I love what they've done with diplomacy -- much better than it used to be in Civ III.
Heh. And now I need to squeeze in a few more turns before I got to bed...
Can't blog now... just picked up my pre-order copy of Civilization IV...
... abandon knitting, all ye who enter here!
... abandon knitting, all ye who enter here!
From a quiz link forwarded to my by my husband... I don't normally post these things, but John doesn't normally send them to me either, so how could I say no?
He laughed and nodded when he heard my result, Capt. James T. Kirk (the link provides a description of the character type) -- so it must be fitting. He took the quiz and apparently he is Yoda. Which from my perspective, tends to fit my incredible computer guru and guy who thinks carefully about all things.
You can take the quiz yourself by clicking the link directly under the picture.
When it comes to inexpensive but functional furniture and organizational goodies with a little flair, a girl has to love Ikea.
The past couple of months I've been feeling like I have books stuffed in every nook and cranny I can find. I figured it was high time that all the books and magazines related to the fiber arts actually went into the fiber room -- it fits with my desire to have order in my written universe. When I was 10, I compulsively ordered the books in my book case by author: last name, first name, title When I got a new book, I would take great pleasure in finding exactly the right spot and then moving other books up and down to fit it in my book case. When I got into music, my compulsion extended to my CD collection. I've gotten to be something of a slacker, since I tend to order my books by size and topic now rather than author name (I guess this is what comes of bookshelves with irregular heights).
This weekend, we finally made the arduous trek out to Shaumburg to search Ikea for the perfect book cases to help me achieve my goal. These two are from the "Effektiv" collection with a birch finish (the tall one is from the Billy collection and it's been living with me for some time now). Of course, I couldn't pass by the lovely pink magazine boxes and storage containers (they have yet to be assembled, but they will be used to hold my rapidly expanding collection of double pointed needles, circular needles, spindles and other odds and ends that usually end up scattered around my room). And how could I resist the hugging hands heart? Ikea was donating the entire purchase price to charities helping out after Hurricane Katrina. Every fiber room needs a little hug -- just as much as it needs a little organization to be a happy place to work in. I'm hoping my spinning wheel will find a home in here, too, but that depends on how comfortable it is to spin when sitting on that futon couch.
The book cases come just in the nick of time to help me celebrate another very cool thing. My partner in crime and fibery adventure, Julie, is going to share my book blog with me. It's getting a name change to mark the occasion: Two Friend Collect Books. Between the two of us, we have quite a collection of knitting and other crafting books -- and we don't always have the same opinions, so hopefully we can provide anyone who drops by with a well-rounded perspective on what's in our libraries. We're also hoping to branch beyond crafting books -- Julie is one of my favorite sources for good fiction recommendations. If you want to know when we've updated the book blog, just click on over there and hit the bloglines link and you'll be all set up!
In spite of being a geek gadget girl, I have to admit that my favorite machine in the whole wide world is decidedly low tech. It has no flashing lights, does not play MP3s, does not require a graphical user interface to interact with. It has no buttons, it isn't networked, and only two levers. It lives in a room that anyone who knows me well, also knows I don't frequent very often. If I had to guess, I'd say that it's at least 25 years old and its totally irreplaceable to me.
My husband and father like to joke that the only things with a motor that you can give a woman on a major occasion are a car or a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. And it really is true. I am totally not a creature of the kitchen, but when I am in a store with kitchen appliances, I just have to check them out. They have a special aura about them that I can't resist. But I have never purchased one on my own. When I didn't have one, I just couldn't justify it, given my limited interest in cooking and baking. It's a little elitist, but I believe that the good tools should really go to the people who can appreciate them, people who love what they can do with them.
Mine actually came to live with me through a very happy circumstance: my dad bought my mother a new Kitchen Aid stand mixer. One with more features and a nicer bowl. And that left mom with one mixer too many and not enough space to store both of them. The old one still ran fine and it came with all the wonderful memories of baking with my mother while I was growing up. Years of making sugar cookie dough for Christmas, cupcakes for birthdays at school, fresh bread, fresh whipped cream fo strawberry shortcake. And not a few batches of chocolate chip cookies. This, my friends, is a mixer with good vibes. It probably should have gone to my brother (who is actually an awesome cook), but I called it first. And I'm the oldest. And I snuck it out to my car almost before mom had finished unwrapping her new machine. You gotta be fast in my family.
She's not pretty, but she's wonderful. And she's solid like a rock, even after how many years. You want to see the proof?
This mixer can take on a double bach of chocolate chip cookie dough without blinking an eye. It sneers in the face of the addition of walnuts and a few extra chips. I don't actually like to do much in the kitchen, but I do like to make cookies. And if this mixer has anything, it has definite good cookie making karma.
And it helped me make some pretty awesome cookies tonight.
Every now and again, I do feel a little guilty about having this mixer. Not for denying my brother the real cook the chance to have this machine (you don't need to feel sorry for him, he got my mothers fabulous old Le Cruset pots when she upgraded), but because my mother's new machine didn't turn out to be made of the same great stuff as this one is. Apparently the newer ones have a lot more plastic parts. She'd only had it for a year or so when one of them broke while she was asking the mixer to work hard. It just seemed so wrong for that to happen.
But, hey, I called no give backs...
For anyone worried, my wonderful father got that part replaced quickly. And my mom gets visitation rights. But it does make you realize that they don't build things like they used to...
I must admit. Today I am engaging in a bit of blatant theft. I have nothing to show for my day (not entirely true, there is a little bit of the right front of Liberty that didn't exist before) so I am resorting to a cat picture. The person I am stealing this idea from usually selects cute or devious cat photos. I am just opting for strange.
After a long hard day of fiber terrorism, Syd has decided that it is time for nap. Not sure how he gets his leg contorted around that way, but somehow he does. I'm constantly amazed by the strange positions my cats can end up sleeping in.
To all of you heading for Rhinebeck this weekend, I'm completely jealous, but wish you all a good time. Take lots of pictures so those of us who don't get to go this year can enjoy the sheepies by proxy!
