Poohcifer

Poohcifer
My "I shouldn't have done that" ebay auction arrived - a Brother embroidery machine that is part of their "Disney" line, meaning that it has preprogrammed characters as well as regular embroidery patterns. In this case, Pooh. The name was suggested by faireraven and has stuck. Alas, my attempt to actually edit the name on the case (damned if the thing doesn't say "Pooh" right on the cover) didn't stick.

Anyway, it came on Friday and was taken for test drive over the weekend. I need to work on the tension a little, but it works. Made myself a lovely test monogram. And at last! Automatic buttonholes!

No, I shouldn't have bought it. But now that I have, I'm gonna get my money's worth out of it, and not just for me. I'm betting that the cost of a few extra spools of thread and some stabilizer will be well reimbursed at the Prepare for Fair charity sale.

Books... and more
Went through quite a few books over the weekend too. I've come to the point where I've finally admitted to myself that it's not so much that I want to catch up on my reading - although I do - as I want to hide from what I should be doing for Shore Leave. The very thought of actually gearing up to work on the database and navigate increasingly political territory to fill my last couple of positions is enough to make me flee back to counting paperbacks.

However, I think I've found a way to get everything done. For the books, I've pulled the short TBR books to the front, so I can get through a lot of books quickly. As for Shore Leave - well, the STAT meeting is on Sunday and I really must start attending regularly. So I'm going to go up with the laptop that has the database program loaded onto it, and start building my forms while I'm fulfilling my other SL obligations.

I will say this, people have been wonderful in pulling together in building Shore Leave its own costume repair kit. Folks have been very generous with donations.

Resolutions for April:
Finish and submit at least one story to BatB convention zine.
Finish and test SL Masq. dbase.

( Three days early, the end of month New Year's Resolution checklist )

The Latest Lemming

Gakked from stratfordbabe.

WHERE WERE YOU WHEN:

1. When John F. Kennedy was shot (11/22/1963)
No clue. Considering my age at the time, there are really only three options - napping, nursing, or spitting up.

2. When Mt. St. Helens blew (5/18/1980)
I don't remember. Probably at boarding school, where the news didn't really get in to reach us.

3. When the space shuttle Challenger exploded (1/28/1986)
My first job. One of the execs came out of her office (she was permitted a radio, unlike us lowly peons in the communal area) and told us in a shocked voice. I spent the day not believing it until I saw it on the TV - and then still not believing it.

4. When the 7.1 earthquake hit San Francisco (10/7/1989)
Dunno.

5. When the Berlin Wall fell (11/7/1989)
Home. Stunned - all the more so because IIRC, "Mission Impossible" had just had a "break over the wall" episode right before or right after.

6. When the Gulf War began (1/16/1991)
Work. I remember calling a friend in the news biz and asking what defcon we were at.

7. When the first World Trade Center bombing happened (2/26/1993)
I don't remember.

8. When OJ Simpson was chased in his White Bronco (6/17/1994)
I was away that weekend. I don't remember where I was travelling (somewhere I didn't watch news/read papers) so I came back to hear all about it.

9. When the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed (4/19/1995)
I don't remember. Probably at work.

10. When Princess Di was killed (8/31/1997)
Work.

11. When Bush was first announced President (11/7/2000)
I was reading newspapers/the web avidly pretty much from election night until the Supremes ruled; I was at home and work and running errands as usual the whole time.

12. When the 6.8 earthquake hit Nisqually, WA (2/28/2001)
I have no clue. This is the first I remember hearing about it.

13. When terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center (9/11/2001)
At work. A friend from NY IMed me and said "a plane flew into the WTC." Imagining a small, private plane, I thought "Dork. Hope no one was hurt." 15 minutes later she IMed me again and told me a plane had flown into the towers. I told her she'd told me. She said "the other one" and I knew. I'd been at work for almost two hours at that point, and we contractors would not be released to flee home until the second tower started to fall. (Again, I heard it on the news as I drove and refused to believe it until I saw.) Spent much of the day listening to radio/watching TV/on the Internet frantically checking my email to see who was checking in.

14. When Columbia disintegrated during re-entry over Texas. (2/1/2003)
I was on the metro, heading to meet with my parents, who were in town. When I got to their hotel room, the TV was playing the footage over and over.

And this, boys and girls, is why I like having a radio or IM connection at work, although at the moment I have neither.