So, yeah.

Last night I tried to post on here using my new Blackberry, but I couldn't sign in. Actually, it did let me sign in on the comments page, where it posted my "test" twice, but I couldn't find a link to "new post". Since I'm going to be relying on that this summer, I am a bit pissed.

I know nothing about this thing. Read the directions? Pfffft. I asked a kid why there was a red light blinking constantly; I'd spent a couple of hours trying to find what that stupid light meant and couldn't find a thing. Ask a kid, within seconds she said it was an indication that I had text messages and showed me how to find them and get that damned light off.

I've learned that it's kind of painful to use the thing for internet (I haven't tried it tethered to the laptop yet; I am afraid), since my fingers are bigger than the damned keyboard and I can't type easily, plus is seems that the blazing fast 3G network is slower than dialup. Okay, maybe not that bad, but I expected more.

I still haven't gotten a data card for it, but I think we will after school today. Then I can download music (I'm sure it's reaaaaallllly easy and fast) and take photos and videos and spend hours trying to figure out how to email and blog them.

Last night we went to Roanoke (a two hour drive on a good day, but it was the Thursday before Memorial Day at rush hour) to see/hear Last Train Home featuring Peter Cooper at a tiny place; it holds maybe 60 people. Yesterday was Peter's 39th birthday. It was a "weird hybrid" (Eric's term) of Last Train Home and Peter's band, and I really like it. They sing so well together and both are songwriters, different styles that are merging very well. We thoroughly enjoyed the show; notsomuch the getting home at 1 a.m., but it was worth it.


After the show started, I called Joan so she could "hear" the show. I'm sure the quality wasn't great, but it was nice to be able to share it with her.

So, would you like to see what we did Saturday night?

I'll show you anyway. I'm mean like that.

Joan, Scott, Liz, and Berend (Joan's daughter and her boyfriend) (Liz's boyfriend, not Joan's) went with Tom and me to Ashland Coffee and Tea Saturday night for a show by Eric Brace and Peter Cooper, our absolute favorite singers. (Go to their website and listen to their music. I'd rather listen to them--and Last Train Home--than anyone else. Yes, Betty, even more so than Neil Diamond!)

Joan and I are a little....obsessed (but in a good way) with these guys. We had such a good time listening to the music, talking about the music, talking to Eric and Peter, talking to our husbands, enjoying the food, and trying to reassure Liz that we wouldn't totally embarrass her. (Thanks, Betty!)

They played a mix of their own songs, songs from their duo cd, and songs that they haven't recorded. Their voices are so different, but they blend together so well. The harmonies are so beautiful.

Kevin Cordt, who is part of Last Train Home and also a jazz group, took the train from DC to the coffee shop. The stop is literally feet from the entrance.


Here you can see some of the studding on Peter's suit.

Rumor has it that he paid $40 for the suit. I'm guessing that having the crystals put on cost a whole lot more than that.

Toner shortage continues

I managed to score 4 bottles of toner today. We're not due to get our shipment till the end of the month (and that's if I believe Xerox), and I had to put the last bottle I had left into one of the copiers yesterday.

At a time when jobs in this division are likely to be cut, I don't want to run out of toner now. I need to keep busy.

I'm hearing some really heartwarming feedback from the faculty, though. It's nice to be told that I'm doing a good job. I appreciate it. I mean, I know that I'm doing a good job, I get things done fast and before they're due, but it's nice to hear it.

On the knitting front, I'm plugging along on my thigh-high legwarmers. I've done about 12" of the second one. Another 6 or so inches and I'll be able to turn the heel, knit a couple of inches in k2p2, then bind off. That day can't come soon enough, although then I'll have to rip out most of the foot of the first one and do the ribbing. They're just too thick to be worn with my good ol' Birkenstocks. But thick is good when it's cold (which it hasn't been for a week--not that I'm complaining, and I hear it will be this weekend).

Tomorrow night we're off to Ashland to see Eric Brace and Peter Cooper. Tom and Scott will tolerate Joan and I drooling panting thoroughly enjoying the hair the view the music. If Liz and Berend are brave enough to come along, I know we'll embarrass them. But give us a break, kids, and don't mess with our high. We old ladies can be tough bitches cookies.

Not that you're old, Joan, really.

New playlist

I love these days when it's cold enough to keep my door shut and turn up the music.

I'm listening to "YDHtLTB" on my computer at work. It's got some beautiful songs on it. "I Know a Bird" and "Down to the Well" are absolutely haunting. Eric and Peter's voices blend so beautifully and so well.

This article sums it up well. (I'm afraid they'll come after me if I just copy and paste it.) (Scroll down waaayyy down past the ads.)

It didn't occur to me, until I got to work this morning and no one was here, that perhaps it was too dark for 7:20. Sure enough, it was 6:20. A.M. In the morning. And I didn't even realize it, although the clock in the car said 6:20. I just figured it was wrong. Last night when I reset the alarm (after getting up two hours later yesterday due to school's delayed start), I reset the time, too. I was wide awake, though, so I didn't curse (for a change) and got my morning's work done before anyone else got here. Yeah, I'm that busy today.

Now it's caught up with me, an hour before school ends, and I've got to wait till 3:30 to leave.

Winners!

Bis and Elaine are the winners of "You Don't Have to Like Them Both". Please email me your mailing info at rita knits at g mail dot com. I'll get them in the mail--really--honestly--truly.

I hear that there are videos of Last Train Home and Peter Cooper and Eric Brace on YouTube, but I can't link to them from work. Stoopid rules. No YouTube, no myspace, no facebook, no flickr, no Raverly (reason for that one: dating, personals. It's a freaking yarn/patterns group!).

Betty said that SHE listened to the guys. This was a major sacrifice for her, what with the steel pedal guitar and country stuff. But I really appreciate that she tried.

If you're in the area, on February 14, Eric and Peter will be at Ashland Coffee and Tea. Great for a Valentine's Day date! Tom and I will be there, and Joan and Scott will mostly likely go, too. Join us; we'll be sitting right in front of the stage.

Contest--"You Don't Have to Like Them Both"

I have two copies of the cd, both personally--and personably--signed by Eric Brace and Peter Cooper. Want one? (No, Joan, you already have one.)

Comment by midnight EST tomorrow night (Tuesday). I'll choose the winners by pulling them out of a hat, or if there are a lot of entries, by random number generator.

And I'll mail them. Really. I promise. The others, too. Within the next week, sooner if I can get my ass moving.

Trust me, you'll love them both!

It was 11 hours coming home

And I'm wiped out. I'm definitely not as young as I used to be. Why, only ten years ago I could drive three hours to a concert, get three hours of sleep and go to work. I can't do that any more.

Joan's boss gave her today off so she wouldn't have to come home and go to work a few hours later. Slacker.

Tom and I got home at 11, and in spite of half an ambien, it was almost midnight when I went to sleep. I was five minutes late to work this morning, and I'm a zombie today.

But it was worth it! The show was great, Peter and Eric and Mary Ann were all so nice, and it was fun to be at the release party for their cd. The Station Inn is a tiny old club; some of the seats are from Earl Scrugg's (I think) old tour bus. The place is full of posters for old bluegrass shows, lots of personality and flavor. (Except the food. Microwave nachos and pizza just don't cut it, but we gamely ate them anyway, since that's what was available. Maybe the bbq was better......)

We really lucked out with the hotel I found at hotels.com. I've gotten a couple of not the best options that way, but this one was in our price range ($64, a "last-minute" special), and we didn't know the city at all, so we decided to try that one. It turned out to be the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel, a pretty nice place and usually much more expensive, and in a good neighborhood. Some medical school was having its Cadaver Ball there that night (I'm not kidding about that, either.) and there was a convention. When asked what convention it was, initials were muttered, then the guy came clean with "Amway". Good grief.

After checking out Sunday morning, we toured the city by car, with both back windows down and Joan and me hanging out with our cameras. Being immediately marked as tourists doesn't bother us. We saw enough to know that we want to go back some time when we can spend a few days and it's warm enough to go outside.

But maybe we'll fly next time.

Two time zones in one day

We left home at 6:30 this morning for a little trip.

We met my sister Joan and her husband and headed off to a show.

Two weeks Ten hours later, we arrived in Nashville. After marveling how much longer it stays light here, I got a sneaking suspicion that maybe we were no longer in the Eastern time zone.

After a little google search, we discovered that was correct. Oh well, it gave us an extra hour to get lost find The Station Inn.

Oddly, we took a wrong turn and found the place immediately. (This never happens. Ever. We always get lost.)


We drove for 10 hours so we could attend the cd release show for Eric Brace and Peter Cooper's "You Don't Have to Like Them Both". Mom calls us "groupies". We call us "fun".

The show was excellent, as always, and we met Tom T. Hall. Last Train Home sings one of his songs ("I Flew Over Our House Last Night"), and Eric and Peter sang it tonight.


Tomorrow is the long long drive home, but it was worth it.

You Don't Have to Like Them Both

But I do.

Putting the school's mail in the mailboxes is part of my job, so I get first crack at the mail each day. Rarely is there something for me. But today....

There was a square box with my name on it. I thought, "It's the yarn that I won from the KAL." I was wrong.

It was THIS:

(Please excuse the crappy photo. And that thing on the electric stapler is a Last Train Home hat. I was in a hurry to take the photo and didn't do very well.) (I'm supposed to be working, you know. But it's slow today.)

Eric Brace and his wife, Mary Ann Werner, sent us a box of Red Beet Records (see Last Train Home link) products. Including *trumpet fanfare* their latest offering, "You Don't Have to Like Us Both" by Eric and Peter Cooper. Two of those, as a matter of fact, one autographed for Tom and me, and one to *ahem* give away. We were going to buy it (maybe a couple) at the show in Ashland on the 27th, and it was all I could do to wait. Joan feels the same way. Ask her. She'll tell you.

Along with those (as if that weren't enough), they sent TWO each of "Yuletide from the Other Side--More Music from East Nashville" (you can find all of these at the Last Train Home/Red Beet Records site), Last Train Home's "Holiday Limited", and Fassoux McLean's "Early". I think that we have all of them; all that we don't have will be contest prizes.

Stop laughing at me. I mean it. All of my former contest winners' loot will be mailed out next week. Honest. Really. I hope I can find their addresses.

Anyway, thank you, Eric and Mary Ann. What a nice Christmas present, and we get to share it!!!

An old knitting dog CAN learn new tricks

I taught myself to knit about 8 years ago. It was a slow, painful process. I'd cast on, knit a few uneven rows, then put it away for a couple of months. Every time I started again, I'd have to look up how to cast on, because it sure wasn't sticking in my mind.

After a while, though, it clicked. My stitches became nice and even and I could remember how to cast on. I started knitting regularly.

I'm kind of ashamed to say that I never learned the provisional cast on. If a pattern called for it, I'd find another pattern. My brain just couldn't handle trying another way to cast on. The long tail method was what I first learned, and by golly that's good enough for me.

But this past week I found a pattern for wristlets that is so perfect that I have to make them. And, of course, it calls for a provisional cast on. I sighed then googled, found a site, printed it, and sat down to knit.

I could not figure it out. It looked like a foreign language. So I did some more googling, found another non-video site, and tried it again today.

Still couldn't get it. So I sucked it up and went to Youtube. And I found the perfect explanation.

I don't know why I've avoided Youtube and videos this long. Yes, I do know, I'm lying. I hate computer noises. Startup, "you've got mail", that annoying bleep when I do something wrong. So, for years, I've kept the sound turned off. It pains me to even turn it on to listen to music, and I loves me some music. (Last Train Home, Eric Brace, Peter Cooper)

Anyway, I found this video, Crochet Provisional Cast-On, and watched it once. Suddenly it clicked. I picked up my yarn, crochet hook, and dpn and cast on provisionally. And it worked. The first time.


Wow. I feel empowered. I am Woman. Watch me cast on.

Not really. I'm not up to making a video right now. I'd have to turn the computer's sound back on.





My perfect wristlets: They'll have to be added later. IE froze on me.

And I didn't even have the stinking sound on.



P. S. Another reason I like this video so much--"crocheting" is misspelled. Or is it mispelled?

A suggestion

I got an email from MaryAnn Werner, Eric Brace's wife. She suggested that we (anyone who cared about Cross Country radio) start calling and requesting songs and artists that we like, that maybe we can cause a little change that way. I've spent the last hour looking for a phone number for XM radio, but all I can find is their multipurpose "customer care" number. Cross Country used to have its own call in number; I have it programmed in my phone and called often requesting Last Train Home and Peter Cooper songs.

I'm still mourning the loss of Cross Country. I miss hearing Todd Snider, Corb Lund, and others whose names I can't even remember, in addition to Last Train Home and Peter Cooper. I still check Outlaw Country frequently hoping to hear something I like, but now they have loud, obnoxious djs such as Fred Imus (whose claim to fame is that he's Don Imus' brother) and Mojo Nixon, who just yells all the time. Imus has some woman who does nothing but bitch about everything in a whiny, back-country voice (I can picture her; someone who sounds just like her used to be on Hee Haw).

THAT's what Outlaw Country is--Hee Haw for radio, with some obscenities thrown in for good measure. They play George Jones who better belongs on Willie's Place, which is nothing but old country singers.

Oh well. I'll try to find a phone number for Outlaw Country. Meanwhile, I continue my email campaign.

And keep switching stations when something I don't like comes on, just like when I watch tv.

*sigh*

Contest alert!

Not mine this time but from another blog: http://blog.knitting2together.com/ Once again, I apologize for not having my linky cheat sheet. I had the cds with me yesterday, but they're heavy to carry and I left them at home this morning. Crap.

So anyway, this lady is on a trip and wants you to guess how many photos she'll take with her new camera.

About my contest winners: I'll get the prizes out. I promise. I'm a terrible procrastinator. I actually picked up Courtney's prize last night and hugged it and smelled it (Downy fabric softener; Claudia uses it and it reminds me of her drying room with all those gorgeous hanks of yarn drying. I have to go visit.) and then put it back down because I was too tired to do anything about it. I'm so sorry, guys.

A note about the Peter Cooper Mission Door cd: It's incredible. Joan and I are listening to it every chance we get. She keeps it in her car; we listened to it on the way to and from George's funeral and burial. Last Thursday night at home I turned it up really loud and listened to it for hours. (Tom had gone to pick up Donna in Baltimore, so I had the house to myself.) Usually when I'm alone I don't turn on the tv or music; after being around kids and copiers making noise all day, I just want peace and quiet at night, but that night I needed good loud music. I'd taken the truck to work that day and listened to Mission Door on the way in and home; it's about a cd's worth ride each way, and it was heavenly to have. The car doesn't have a cd player; it only has a cassette deck that's broken. And the truck is more comfortable and well-appointed than the old car. If we keep that car another two years, I'm going to have to put a new XM radio with cd player in it. Right now we have XM stuck on the dash and wired into the radio (since the tape deck broke; reception is much better through the tape deck than through FM reception) and it's ugly and in the way, but it's better than not having XM.

So, anyway, Peter Cooper = good. I'm looking forward to the cd he and Eric Brace from Last Train Home have finished and are releasing soon. I'm sure that'll show up in a contest as soon as I can get it!

We got winners!

This was hard to judge, trying to decide who was funniest. There's some good stuff here. So I threw it to the random number generator.

Therefore, Elaine wins the Peter Cooper cd and some kind of yarn that I'll dig up to go with it.

Second, Tom-who-is-not-my-husband wins some yarn.

And third, but not third in my heart, rachel o also wins some yarn.

Please contact me with your email addresses, or you can email me your mailing info (m post at harrisonburg dot k12 dot va dot us).

Elaine, I really hope that you'll like Peter's music. He's one of a kind, a good kind.

And he has really cool hair.

A quote I lifted from Peter's website:

"He's a story searcher, a star singer, a balladeer, a town crier; a historian in the grand poetic tradition of chanted verse."
- Folkwax

New contest!

Yeah, I hear what you're mumbling. Or shouting. I'll address that in a minute.

I meant to have a contest in celebration of my 400th post, but it slipped past me. This is 402, I think, so this will have to do instead.

For this contest, I'll give you a Peter Cooper cd, Mission Door, autographed by Mr. Cooper himself and witnessed by my partner in crime, Joan. I'll throw in a little yarn, too, to keep it interesting.

What I would like from you is your best knitting tip. Funny is not only accepted but encouraged. Rules: Post your funniest knitting tip or story in the comments section. If you link to this on your blog, you'll get an extra entry (hi, Courtney!), and if someone leaves a tip and says you sent her, you get an extra entry. Usual stuff. I need funny this time of year.

Contest ends Tuesday night, Sept. 30, 2008, at midnight EDT. That's right, isn't it? Eastern Daylight Time? Anyway, my time. If you come in a little late, I'll let you in. I won't be checking at midnight anyway.

Now for the last contest, which is still up in the air. I have chosen winners, yarny prizes, but I haven't put them together. My excuse this time is that I was sick for the last two weeks with either one odd bug or about 4 of them and just didn't do a damn thing at home (as if that's news). We're going to be out of town Friday-Sunday night, so nothing will be done then, either, but I will get the winnings in the mail next week. For the last contest. I'm not making promises yet on this one.

So check Peter Cooper's website (sidebar) (I still don't have my linkie page handy), listen to his music (some good stuff), and enter the contest. Shout it far and wide.

I still have a Last Train Home dvd (or, as B2 says, dvdv) to give away, too; maybe for post number 450. Or whenever I get this other stuff mailed out.

On your mark, get set, GO!

My blog is famous, sort of

Peter said he's seen my blog. Oh Lord. He knows I lust after his hair.

(He said he's bald underneath all that hair. The man does have a good sense of humor.)

The show Saturday night was wonderful. Peter brought Alex McCullough (steel pedal guitar player), so it wasn't his usual acoustic show. Either way, he sings beautifully, and inserts humor into his songs and tales. Fun show.

How I spent my Saturday evening

Running my fingers through Peter Cooper's hair.

I love my random number generator!!!

That really made it so much easier to choose winners. Now I have the list of winners but I haven't chosen the prizes, so for now I won't announce them. Please give me to the end of the week to get that done.

I'll have to have these contests more often! What fun it's been to meet so many new people and read new blogs. I still have a ton to read.

Later!

Oh--my sisters and I are having one of our Sisters' Weekends this weekend, including a trip to Ashland Coffee and Tea to hear Peter Cooper. At least, Joan is going with me to the show. Betty doesn't like country music. I told her to ignore the steel pedal guitar, but she can't get past it. Oh well. Her loss! She'll miss out on his hair musical genius.

Eric and Peter

The show is great! What fun to be in California and hear a show from Alaska.

Online concert tonight

Well. Pay $100 for a room in a less-than-$100-per-room-quality motel, and you still have to pay $3 a day to use the internet. Color me pissed.

I stewed about it, but in the end I gave in. I had to check my email and stuff. I'm glad I did, because there's an email from Eric Brace (of Last Train Home) that he and Peter Cooper are live on Whole Wheat Radio (if you miss it, it'll be available as a podcast tomorrow) tonight at 11 EDT, which means 8 PDT our time (the jet lag, once I get home, will be a bitch). As I noted before, we missed last Friday's show at home, so this will help to make that up a bit.

Poor A is going to be so bored tonight.

Photo lifted from Whole Wheat Radio's website. Oh God, Peter, does this mean you cut that gorgeous hair???

Eric Brace and Peter Cooper

Eric Brace has perfect teeth, and Peter Cooper has perfect hair.

(In case you can't figure out which one has perfect hair, that's Peter on the left.)

We saw the two of them at Ashland Coffee and Tea Saturday night. Eric, lead singer and head honcho of Last Train Home, brought his East Nashville neighbor/friend/singer-songwriter Peter Cooper. They just finished a whirlwind tour of Germany and the Netherlands; if you're interested in history, music, and humor, read Eric’s and Peter's blogs. Reading them reinforced my desire to go back to Germany and not be sick so I can enjoy it.

It's always a pleasure to listen to great performers at AC&T. Their listening room is low-key, conversation is discouraged, everyone is politely asked to turn off their cell phones (usually there's one moron, male, who has to "take" repeated calls during the music), and the beer and wine is good. Notsomuch the food; we ate across the street at the very expensive (for our usual nights out) Iron Horse Restaurant. Good food, but I'd really rather pay less and enjoy it more. But their Key lime torte was out of this world.

I asked Peter if I could take a picture of him; I hate to aim a flash at someone without warning them first. He asked if the photo was okay. With my usual tact and grace, I said, "It looks sort of like a mug shot, but it's fine." What I meant, Peter, is that the flash washed out your gorgeous face, I should have stood farther back, but your perfect hair shows up fine.

I swear, I had this unlikely (for me) desire to run my fingers through that hair. But I didn't. If I knew him better I might have. Until the end of the show when it was all sweaty. Ick. But, hmmmmmmmm........

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Apologies to Tom. I love you, sweetie. You'd probably egg me on. Just one more reason why I love you.