Friday, July 31, 2009

System Administrator Appreciation Day


Wow, I'm posting this kinda late. I guess people on the West Coast who might see this can still benefit, especially in Hawaii.

Today is the day to show your IT (Information Technology) person some love. I'm not talkin' cake, although I'm sure they'd appreciate that too; I'm telling you what these men and women want is some love. If you're single and have had your eye on one, here's your perfect opportunity to ask him/her out! Typically these people are mushy, old-fashioned romantics. I guess it balances out the futuristic inclination they have with the computers, not to mention how frickin' smart they are. Believe me, you will not be disappointed dating a sysadmin - I know, because I am married to one. And also believe me, I show him my appreciation for all he does, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. ;)

Other than my hubby, I want to give a shout-out to the IT personnel I work with who are so very, very awesome: Steve Vermilye; Lew VanVlymen; Samantha Howard; Ian Clayton. I might be forgetting someone, but I think that covers them all. Every last one of them ALWAYS has the answer to the question, or if they don't they work their tails off finding the answer, not to mention the countless times they've been awoken at odd hours because of the work we do, and/or had to come in to work on the weekend at those odd hours in order to get us up and running again. I can't look at the racks of computers in master control at work and not be in awe, and I think of the men and woman who keep it all running. Just standing near them makes me feel ... smarter, somehow.

Here is one, tiny example of why today is possibly one of the most important days on the calendar (from the homepage of the website):
A sysadmin installed the routers, laid the cables, configured the networks, set up the firewalls, and watched and guided the traffic for each hop of the network that runs over copper, fiber optic glass, and even the air itself to bring the Internet to your computer. All to make sure the webpage found its way from the server to your computer.
There's more of the sysadmin's amazing abilities to be wowed by(no I'm not being sarcastic, it really is amazing what they do), just click on the picture above to be taken to the website. You should check it out; and be much more appreciative of your resident System Administrator.


Thursday, July 30, 2009

Musings on the Fantasy Genre


It's only been recently that I got into fantasy-themed entertainment. Before I started playing World of Warcraft I really didn't care for it all that much, truth be known. I think maybe for a brief period of time when I still lived at home as a child, when most little girls begin to understand what it means to be a princess and all that goes with an 8-year-old's understanding of it, but other than that I don't recall having much interest in Dungeons & Dragons or anything related to that. In fact, I rather abhorred the whole scene; it just didn't interest me. I liked the people who were into it well enough; I had things in common with them. It's just that when they started talking D&D I tuned out and we went our separate ways, metaphorically speaking.

Fast-forward about a decade and a half and the man who is now my husband introduces me to the magical World of Warcraft. Cool!!! Yes, now this I can get into. In fact, I lost myself so deeply to it that it caused me to take a closer look at the D&D world - I still have never actually played D&D (although I would very much like to) - and all it's offshoots. I did dabble a bit in Magic: The Gathering and totally fell in love with it, although the World of Warcraft TCG (Trading Card Game) is far superior. Still, Magic is the granddaddy of TCG and as such deserves much more than an honorable mention.

Then came the movies. See, I think I always liked the movies - Willow, Princess Bride - but I was too narrow-minded to extend it out to the much richer world of role-playing games. It was always right there for me, I just never took a shining to it.
I am so glad I allowed my horizons to expand. When the going gets rough and life seems full of burdens at every turn, I can slip into a daydream-world where everything is perfect, I am surrounded by nature, and I can shoot fireballs out of my fingertips.





Wednesday, July 29, 2009

World Footbag (Hacky Sack) Week


This final week of July not only takes us into the beginning of August, it also reminds us to hug a hacky sack player. And after watching the video, you may want to do not only that but pick up a footbag yourself. (What sucks is, I found the video above AFTER writing this whole post. Like, I was done writing this thing; then I found the video. After watching it, I would have posted JUST that video had I found it first, because it sums it up so well. Oh well. So you, dear reader, get the video and all my hard work.)

In researching for today's blog post I must admit, this isn't the most exciting thing to me. It doesn't seem (on the surface anyway) that the Footbag community itself is paying much attention to this event either (click on the picture to be taken to the website).
Honestly the couple-few videos I watched weren't terribly interesting, mainly because the biggest source of movement is the person and it's kind of hard to follow the footbag they're kicking around. The editing is cool; I think hacky sack is one of those things that is more interesting when you're watching it live or doing it yourself.

I remember the first time I ever heard of hacky sack. I was in high school and some boys were kicking one around. I went to a country day school - Maumee Valley Country Day School to be exact. I think I might have even persuaded my mom to buy me one, but it didn't stick for whatever reason. Which makes me have even more respect for the hacky sack chick in the video above.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

American Dietetic Assoc.: "Vegetarian Diets Nutritionally Adequate"

In my copy of "The Voice", the e-newsletter of Mercy For Animals, one of the articles talks about how the American Dietetic Association - the "world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals" - just released an "updated position paper on vegetarian diets" that states unequivocally: vegetarian and vegan diets are not only good for you, but also help aid in disease prevention.

The Voice rather downplayed this landmark move by such an organization in my opinion. I mean, it is only an e-newsletter after all, but it was pushed way down the list of topics and then only got a moderate mention. This to me warrants more fanfare; this piece of news tells me that if an organization like the American Dietetic Association is now putting their stamp of approval on the vegan movement there may be hope for our fair country yet!

What does this mean exactly? Well if people are eating better they won't need to go to the doctor as much - which will revolutionize our health care system all by itself! There will quite simply be less need for cancer treatments, disease treatments, radiation therapy ... oh yeah, as I spell this out I can just feel the chemical, beef, dairy, and pharmaceutical industries growing angrier and angrier because ...

... what the American Dietetic Association has boldly proclaimed is that eating beef and dairy (and by extension animal products period) is not good for your health, and if people are healthier they won't need the expensive medical treatments that is fattening the wallets of not only the medical and pharmaceutical industries, but their equally corrupt legislative counterparts as well. Vegans and vegetarians have known this all along. But to get the ADA on their side? Folks, the American Dietetic Association has just delivered a mighty blow to the biggest, longest-standing money-making ventures in America!

To which I say ... Bravo! But it is a cautious "bravo!", because I know those giant industries which have their hooks sunk so deeply into the American consciousness for so many decades are not going to take this news lying down. They won't go out without a bitter, bloody fight. And I can't help wondering if all the money tied up in those animal-product industries (which includes the medical and pharmaceutical industries, because if you aren't sick you don't need to go to the doctor) will work to discredit the ADA. It's happened before; it will be interesting to see just how strong the ADA is.

To which I also say: Bring it!

Before concluding today's post I must also strongly emphasize the original reason this news item found it's way to my inbox in the first place: compassion for animals. Yes, our own personal health is certainly important, but another very good reason for eating a vegetarian/vegan diet is that the beef, chicken, pork, dairy, and fish industries are ALL guilty of subjecting the animals they "raise" to unimaginable cruelty and torture. This just adds to the growing list of reasons why we need to overhaul our diets as Americans. Don't believe me? Watch, but BE FOREWARNED - the video below contains graphic and disturbing images. I myself won't even watch it; I'm merely including this for the people reading this who don't already know what's really going on ...


More editorial from me: I don't believe "God intended" us to be vegetarians. I do believe it's okay to eat meat once in a while. I also believe that God NEVER intended us to abuse animals the way they are in these factory farms as documented in the video above. It was not "sustenance" and definitely not health matters that grew these factory farms - it was nothing more than greed that put those animals' lives in danger.

For information on animal abuse in factory farms and what you can do to stop it, please visit Mercy For Animals and any of their other affiliated websites:


Monday, July 27, 2009

National Barbie-in-a-Blender Day: Celebrate Free Speech!

Today I feel like I have a giant rush of thoughts, ideas, musings, and rants all pushing to stream out of one tiny little opening - the window of time. And I know I'm not going to have time to post pretty pictures, and create links, and just generally make this post one that is relatively interesting.

Or I could just force the window to open wider anyway...

Today's Wacky Holiday is National Barbie-in-a-Blender Day. Turns out the genesis of this holiday happened when a photography artist, Tom Forsythe of Utah, took pictures of Barbie, well, in a blender and other kitchen appliances and created "Food Chain Barbie", a "pictorial antidote to the powerful cultural forces persuading us to buy the impossible beauty myth".
"Triple Barbie Smoothie", by Tom Forsythe, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Mattel didn't like it and proceeded to sue him citing 'copyright infringement' among other things. Long story short, he won the case, and today's 'holiday' was created to bring awareness to the fact that despite many losses in the Free Speech arena nowadays, this event proves it is possible to win, and we need to celebrate that fact. (Photo below courtesy of "Debbie C.B." on Flickr.)

Read more about the event here.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Stargate: Atlantis, Blondie and a jet-powered wheelchair

Well, nothing to celebrate today specifically, although there are still month-long celebrations:
  • International Blondie and Deborah Harry month (that's kinda cool);
  • National Ice Cream Month - oh yeah;
  • National Wheelchair Beautification Month ... who knew?;
  • National Make a Difference to Children Month;
  • Hemochromatosis Screening Awareness month (that's a mouthful, shees) - "People with Hemochromatosis absorb extra amounts of iron from the daily diet. The human body cannot rid itself of extra iron. Over time these excesses build up in major organs ... If the extra iron is not removed these organs can become diseased. Untreated hemochromatosis can become fatal." - from the website; and
  • National Child-Centered Divorce Month, among other things.
But what I wanted to use today's post to talk about is how Glenn and I have gotten back into watching Stargate:Atlantis again. We started watching it when we had a satellite dish at the house we lived in a year ago; it was nice, because we could DVR it and then watch them whenever we wanted. That was a very nice little amenity.

However, we had to move and leave the nice Dish hookup behind and go back to plain ol' vanilla Comcast, and we were unable to get the next season of Atlantis because it was not on DVD yet (we were watching the re-runs on Sci-Fi channel). That was about the time we got into watching a bunch of other TV shows on Netflix, beginning with Sliders (ugh, not my favorite TV series); followed by Jericho, a fantastically awesome, awesome show which I've blogged about before just a couple of months ago in fact; then Jeremiah, starring Luke Perry and Malcolm Jamal-Warner, and which took me a looooong time to get into - but once I did I loved it; and somewhere in there we got into the new BBC series, Doctor Who - oh my goodness, that show swept us both off our feet! I've blogged about that one before too, although it was just a single episode, not the series as a whole. I miss watching Doctor Who; we left that one without finishing the series, and we were supposed to start watching Torchwood! Almost forgot about that, that will be coooooool ... but I digress.

Well, each of those TV series has it's own flavor, it's own personality, and it's own reasons for loving it. None of those shows however measures up to the Stargate legacy, and I got reminded of that when we began watching Stargate:Atlantis again this week. Holy Moses ... I remembered how bitterly disappointing it was to go from watching Atlantis to Sliders (oh, for me it was painful, I know there are many fans of that show out there, but it ain't Stargate). Even losing one of the main stars, Dr. Elizabeth Weir, played by the enigmatic Torri Higginson, and the show is still mind-blowingly great.
So we are now on a track to finish watching the Atlantis installment. I just don't know what I'll do after it all ends because production on Atlantis finished a long time ago. Hopefully Torchwood will prove a worthy player on this stage of small-screen entertainment ... Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis however will always stand eminently in my mind as one of the greatest television productions of all time by which all other shows shall be measured.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

National Day of the Cowboy

Cowboys ... it evokes images as American as, well ... hot dogs and drive-thrus. Hollywood has certainly done plenty to glamorize the image of the cowboy, and even in 2009 it has hardly lost it's lustre and appeal to young and old alike. Just 2 years ago 3:10 to Yuma was a huge hit (and rightly so, it was a great movie). Cowboys are classic; they are timeless. They represent a lot of what makes America so great ... they represent America period.

There is even a website dedicated to the preservation of "America's Cowboy heritage". So far only a few states have passed resolutions on making today official; Texas only passed it this past March.

From the website, which took this from James P. Owen's book, Cowboy Ethics: What Wall Street Can Learn from the Code of the West:

Code of the West

1. Live each day with courage.

2. Take pride in your work.

3. Always finish what you start.

4. Do what has to be done.

5. Be tough, but fair.

6. When you make a promise, keep it.

7. Ride for the brand.

8. Talk less and say more.

9. Remember that some things aren't for sale.

10.Know where to draw the line.


Well, obviously this is a topic that requires a lot more time and care than I am able to give it today, so check out the websites I've made links to in this post, pop a John Wayne movie in the DVD player, and give your nearest cowboy a hug.

Pink Converse Chucks

Oh my gosh, I'm having a serious case of the "must-haves" (click on the picture to be taken to the website):

Thursday, July 23, 2009

National Hot Dog Day takes new meaning


Silly me - and I thought I wasn't going to have much to write about this topic! Turns out there is actual, honest-to-goodness, developing news on this today.

Hot dogs ... who doesn't love hot dogs? It conjures up lazy July afternoons with a grill sizzling nearby, tall, cold glasses of iced tea sporting a lemon wedge, 4th of July celebrations ... mmm, hot dogs. Me personally, I've always loved them. I love them with mustard and onions, but "frankly" (heh) I've been known to eat them with any number of the typical toppings found on a hot dog.
However, vegans are using today to call attention to global warming, among other things. What the heck do hot dogs have to do with global warming? you ask. Good question: turns out the pollution from meat farms is actually worse for our ozone layer than all the cars and trucks on the road, globally, right now. Then what about what's in those dogs: does anybody (other than hot dog manufacturers, and even they probably don't know the full extent of their product's ingredients) really know what's in them? I prefer not to think about it. In fact, most people who eat hot dogs prefer not to think about it. But if the vegan and animal-lover communities have anything to say about it, they most definitely want you to think about it: among other things hot dogs promote cancer, and are a product of animal cruelty (as most meat products in the USA are).

But fear not, hot dog lovers - there is actually a tasty substitute!

I applaud the vegan community for doing this. Tofu dogs are actually pretty good (however it's still a processed food, so not something you want to eat 3-times a day every day). Or there's that whole fresh vegetables thing ...

Oh, one other thing as a sidenote: the Organic Consumers Association wants people to avoid purchasing any Morningstar Farms products as they contain genetically-engineered soy. Morningstar Farms also uses products made by Monsanto and for more on that watch this video:

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Gladiator Sandals

I'm just going to say it right now: I cannot wait for the gladiator sandals style to be OVER WITH. I hate them. They are ugly. I think they look ugly on gladiators. Is anyone else with me?



Review: Legend of the Seeker

Over on another blog of mine I wrote my review of the TV series, "Legend of the Seeker".

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

NaBloPoMo, Eclipses, TweetDeck, and stuff

Wow, I had to turn off the visual notifications for TweetDeck - every time I tried to open a tab to write in my blog the little flag would pop up, and I'd read the tweets! I was getting nothing done. Wow. O, the tribulations of following 200 people on Twitter.

First of all, I discovered this on WordPress.com: NaBloPoMo, which is short for "National Blog Posting Month". It's not regulated to a rigid set of dates (the month of September for example); it is simply the challenge of making a blog post for a solid 30 days. So I have decided to take the challenge! Now I just need to decide which date to start. I could start today, I suppose, with this post; and yet something makes me want to find a more meaningful date, something more romantic (not in the mushy love sense either). In fact, I already know what I'm going to write about! Read on ...

Something else I want to announce: I started a public calendar called "Wacky Holidays".
I got all my information from two great websites: one is called, Brownielocks and the 3 Teddy Bears - I guess. It's actually kind of difficult to tell exactly what the name of the website is, but they have THE most comprehensive database of Wacky Holiday information I could find. The other one is called, Holiday Insights. I invested a lot of time and care into making this calendar today, mostly to entertain and amuse myself (and harass my co-workers: "Embrace Your Geekness Day" anyone?). I've got August and September done, and I'm about halfway through October. October is proving to be a challenge in and of itself; there's a reason it's called "National Month Month" (it's also National Sarcastic Awareness Month). I've had to pick and choose the most interesting ones because I simply don't have the time to include them all. I took the liberty of editing August and September too, but believe me, there are more than enough items of interest there to pique anybody's interest - and keep them busy raising awareness too!

So apparently there's some interesting little phenomenon going on right now over in Asia, something about an eclipse or something ... yawn. Whatever. The only thing I can say seems 'odd' about this time right now, slipping into a fantasy-themed daydream comes rather easily of late, but I'm pretty sure that has more to do with the fact that Glenn and I just got done watching Season 1 of the "Legend of the Seeker" TV series on Hulu.com more than anything. (For the uninformed it's based on Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" book series.) Also a book I'm reading: "Confessions of an Ugly Step-Sister" which draws on the fantasy theme quite a bit. Also the beautiful and ethereal Joanna Newsom and her harp-playing I've been getting into lately.
Also the fantasy-themed knitting and crocheting communities I've joined. Also might have something to do with the fact that ever since I canceled my WoW account I've been pining to play my beloved online video game. *lesigh*

Otherwise I'm enjoying a nice, quiet evening at home on the computer with Glenn. He's doing his thing and I'm doing mine. It's really nice; and I installed Google Chrome which is turning out to be wicked cool, so all is well. Earlier we watched a movie, Pineapple Express. We laughed our asses off! Except it got rather violent with lots of people dying, which I hate in a movie, but it was tolerable, and it was pretty funny.

I really believe the people who seriously believe anything catastrophic is going to come out of this eclipse are people who generally create their very own self-fulfilling prophecies. I know what I speak of: I used to be one of those people. Luckily the news business made a skeptic out of me. Wars, and natural disasters, and strange phenomena happen all the time; with or without cool astronomical events happening. If you really believe a disaster is going to happen, then it very likely will. One tends to go wherever their thoughts take them. That's about all I have to say on that.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to warm up my cold tea and curl up on the couch with my book ...

Russian Human Rights Defender murdered

I got an email from Amnesty International about Natalia Estemirova. Apparently she was murdered last Wednesday, shot dead in a van she was thrown into.

The small group of Russians fighting for human rights in Russia, of which Natalia Estemirova was counted among, probably have a bigger fight on their hands than those of us here in America do. Amnesty International is asking all of us to demand a full investigation by Russian authorities into Estemirova's murder. She is only one among many, and she is the most recent.

Please join me in helping out this worthy cause.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Communication

I am becoming a huge fan of Joanna Newsom.



I was listening to an interview with her, listening to what she had to say about articulating her feelings, when it occurred to me that while God may have gifted everyone with the ability to speak, not everyone is an artist. I should say here that I hold her in the highest regard as an artist; I think she is incredibly talented. Everyone may have their own individual talent, or gift, but everyone also has their own individual way of communicating. Some people communicate by simply opening their mouths and talking to another person ... but there are others who can only communicate by writing a song or singing, or some other type of self-expression. And you can't force it; you can't expect a person to reveal their feelings on demand like so much pay-per-view television. And it's okay ... it's okay to only be able to express one's feelings in a big way, or a small way, or somewhere in-between.



Me personally, I can totally relate to Ms. Newsom's sentiments. I often find I have trouble communicating my feelings verbally; but if I can write it down and tell a story, my story, then it comes out better. Sometimes music is my expression, and setting my feelings to music, to perform on a stage under bright lights with an audience just makes it all the better. It has been many years since I've done that, but I'm confident that with a little practice I'd be right back at it.

But now is not the time for that. In the meantime, I have this blog, and that's good enough for me right now.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Saving a life (?)

I'm not sure if I actually saved a man's life this morning, but I definitely did help someone who otherwise likely would have waited a long, long time before receiving any help.

I was in my car in the parking lot at work this morning, napping. I'd gotten to work an hour early, gave Jen a ride in and her start time was an hour before mine today. She was sending me text messages which woke me up, but I was glad because I didn't set an alarm and was afraid of oversleeping. I was in the middle of responding to her when I heard a horrible, horrible crash that sounded real close by. I turned toward the direction of the sound and then I saw a white van speeding by lickety-split. I didn't have my glasses on at that point so all I could see was the vehicle was white and it was a van.

I decided to go investigate, because the sound I heard was that of 2 vehicles making impact. I actually heard two crashes, the bigger one of one car being hit by another at a high rate of speed and then a smaller one like a vehicle hitting something else - which turned out to be the pole holding up the ACE Hardware sign. And at that hour, just before 6:00 on a Sunday morning, there was nobody around for miles. First I saw the mangled car, it's lights still on, then I saw a body lying on the pavement next to the car. I grabbed my phone and dialed 911. Then I heard a man calling, "Help! Help! Help!" I pulled off the road and went up to the man who was laying on his back. By this time the 911 operator had patched me through to the ambulance. They asked me where I was located; somehow I had the presence of mind to get the address off the front of the ACE Hardware store we were in front of; somehow I had the presence of mind to tell them what street I was on, the gun range across the street, Escapades a couple doors down; they told me to tell him to lay still 'til they get there, and eventually we hung up, the promise of help on it's way. I held the man's hand to comfort him I guess. It was covered in gravel and debris.

I was so scared. I don't know how I gathered my wits about me to try to be strong for that guy. I asked him his name; I asked him which direction he was travelling, which turned out to be the opposite direction of the way his car was now pointing. His car was totalled. This type of thing never happens to me, and while I was happy to help I hope it doesn't happen again, at least not soon. Usually when this type of thing happens somebody's already called 911, somebody's already in the middle of helping. This time it was me.

Heckuva way to start the day. I am still bewildered by it all.

Saturday, July 04, 2009

A Time for Everything

For some reason I've had the following passage from Ecclisiastes at the forefront of my mind, and resting on my heart; it applies to so many things in my life right now:

Ecclesiastes 3 (New International Version)

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

Friday, July 03, 2009

Happy Birthday Patrick Wilson

That's right - Patrick Wilson's birthday is today, July 3, so Happy Birthday to him!

What the heck is he in, you ask? Well, lots of things but the thing that made me notice him was his singing voice, namely in the movie version of Phantom of the Opera. I'm telling you, he could sing anything to me, anytime. :)

Only a man with a voice as awesome as Patrick Wilson's could make that hairstyle look good:


And now, a photographic tribute to the birthday boy ... :)





New Michael Jackson footage

Y'know, some reports right after he died a week ago (has it been a friggin' week already??) claimed that he was "frail" and just generally not looking too good, but after watching the round robin of old footage of Michael Jackson over the years that ensued in the wake of his death, I thought, he's always looked frail! Seriously - has anyone checked out the Thriller video recently??? He has always been unusually thin.

So click here to see this newly-released video of him rehearsing for the now infamous 50-date European tour that will never happen. It's 1:26 long, and I think it will put any doubts to rest as to his health before he died. He looks just fine to me.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Making things and stuff

There's crocheting and then there's making stuff - like, finished projects-type stuff. So far the only thing I'm doing is crocheting, like practicing stitches using a crochet needle and a ball of yarn. Yay, good for me, but still not quite doing what I WANT.

I want to make the Fuzzy Alien! (see post below) That is my first step. However, I'm missing a few items in order to craft it: I need Lion Brand Cotton-Ease Yarn in: Terracotta, Snow, and I need Bernat Bling-Bling in Moulin Rouge. I will also need the clay to make the eyes, the polyfill to stuff it with, and the right crochet hook, which I believe I may already have: it's a US size 1.

Hmmm ... well, well, well, it's probably a good thing I snatched up a roll of Bernat's Bling-Bling while I had the chance - seems it's discontinued now! *cries* ... but I'm not crying too long, mainly for the peeps who didn't get some while it was still being made. I, however, have some, enough to craft as many Fuzzy Aliens as I want!

Well, I hope I'm able to at least get the other yarn I need in order to start this thing. I also hope to make some of the projects on Howie Woo's blog, they are so dang CUTE!!!!

...

Dear Bernat,

Why, why, why would you discontinue your coolest yarns ever???