Miscellanous Ravings

Since I'm a Luddite as least as far as my TV is concerned, I got one of those government-issued discount cards and bought a TV converter box at Target. Still can't get the damned thing to work. It might have something to do with my antenna which is even older than my TV. I'm planning to get a new antenna today to see if that helps. I am resisting getting a new flat-screen TV as hard as I can but I'm keeping all my receipts just in case ....

yes, the antenna is TAPED to the top of the TV

Ever since I got sick, I've not been able to eat meat. I'm not sure what's going on but I suspect the gall bladder remains a bit jumpy (thanks, Mother). I am eating regular meals but the idea and definitely the smell of meat makes me a bit nauseous. I'm dredging up recipes from my college days in Austin when I lived for two years in a radical vegetarian, clothing-optional co-op. That was an eye-opening experience in many ways. For some meal ideas, I pulled out my ragged, stained paperback copy of Laurel's Kitchen, vintage 1982! Wow, that really dates me, doesn't it?

I'm proud to say that the farthest I got from the house yesterday (so-called "Black Friday") was to the street when I dragged out my trashcan and five bags of leaves. I spent the entire day sweating over a little project for work. It's a luxury to work from home, wearing my new pink slippers, taking breaks to walk outside with the dogs. This particular project started out with a simple question from one of the brokers at work but has mushroomed into a 25-page white paper and three gigantic Excel files with more than 30 graphs, most of which are tucked into the paper. I became so curious about this subject that I went back to papers published in 1919 to get a historical perspective. I can see the end of the project, the light at the tunnel, but I think I'll need to spend another day to get there. Sigh. Won't be done this weekend because of my other big project....

The Aframe rehab project continues. One half of the frame now has a full coat of sanded paint on the front side. It will need a second coat, I'm afraid. That's the big task for this morning. I'm very glad that Gosia let me in on Colleen's secret for applying the sand: use a roller, dip in paint, then roll in sand, then gently apply to the wood. I don't quite have the technique perfected (you can see the sand is lumpy in the yellow contact zone) but I expect that I will be an expert after this weekend, and this interminable project, is over.
Even though I didn't leave the house yesterday, there's always the internet! In August, I won an iPod Shuffle in a raffle at a conference. I had never even downloaded a single bit of music before that. I've since become quite addicted to the gadget, particularly on long drives. So I decided to upgrade and got myself a cool purple iPod Nano (with free engraving--I had "circus k9" put on it, of course) and a cool device that lets the Nano simulaneously recharge and broadcast over an FM station so I can use it in the car without headphones. Everything is on its way already!