Sorry I've been incommunicado the last few days; inspiration has rather failed to strike, for no readily apparent reason.

Anyway, I want to know what the heck has happened to me.  I used to be the kind of person who would buy the materials for a project, work on it until it was done, and then go on to the next project (except in the case of epic things like the Neverending Tablecloth, which is a special case).  Now...well, there's Twining Ivy, which I haven't done a stitch on in at least a week and a half, two or three pairs of socks, some fun with tablet weaving that's going to take forever, and I should really pick up the beaded beret and Fire Dragon Year again at some point, not to mention I can feel myself gearing up for yet another sweater for Liam, oh and have I mentioned that 4-shaft weaving is starting to look awfully appealing, and also I bought a drop spindle at Pennsic.

What happened?  Why am I incapable of sticking to one project anymore?

I have no earthly need for a 4-harness loom, no matter how cute it is.  Especially not when the treadle kit and the stand add up to make the whole shebang about 1,200 dollars...plus shipping, of course, whatever that comes to.

This does not stop me drooling.  Last month I saw a book at Borders that was all various weaving patterns you can do with a 4-harness loom, and I seriously considered buying it.  Heck, I'd only need three more heddles for the little table loom I appropriated from my mother to do all sorts of nifty things--in fact I thought about buying heddles at Pennsic, but other things were more urgent.

I don't need nifty metal weaving tablets, either, but again?  Doesn't stop me.

When I lived in LA, I was actually signed up with an extras-casting agency.  I never got called for anything, but (it being LA) there were plenty of opportunities to be an unpaid extra.  Which is why I'm in the first Spiderman movie, for all of about a second and a half; I suspect you'd need some serious zooming to make out my face, but it's the bit where's Spidey is handing the rescued kid back to his mother at the World Unity Festival or whatever the heck party it is that the Green Goblin crashes.

I was almost in another shot, but Sam Rami spoke to me and told me to get out of it, which I thought was funny.  That was pretty much what he said, too: "You.  Out of the shot."  At the time I was slightly affronted, I admit.

Anyway, trying to dress for October in New York when it's actually May in Los Angeles is no big fun, and the box lunches they gave us kind of sucked, but it was certainly an interesting experience.  I have thought about listing myself with an agency here in the 'Burgh; we certainly get enough things being filmed here.  I suspect that it would mesh poorly with my schedule, however. 

If you're interested, though there's an agency called Talent6 (that's their ad above) that's looking to expand their ranks.  They have a toll-free number and everything: 800-493-9047.  Might be worth checking out, if you have a gap in your schedule and an urge to be in pictures...

I swear, I'm going to get some cards printed up that I can hand out to idiot drivers when they yell at me to get out of the street.  There's a little cell phone pocket in the strap of my bag; I can keep three or four in there.  It's not an ideal solution, because I won't necessarily have time or a free hand to give them the card, but it'll make me feel better.

The only problem is wording, because I don't think "Maybe you should bother to learn what you're talking about before you shoot your mouth off" is quite the tone I want to set, though it's certainly what I want to say...

Well.  I just took a typing test over at Nuance.com, this being the company that makes Dragon Naturally Speaking, a speech-to-text program.  Unsurprisingly, I was slower; my results were 55 wpm (though I think they cheated a bit by having a list of odd animals in the middle of the sentence, usually I'm in the 60-65 range) with 87% accuracy (though they didn't show me where I messed up), and the blurb says I could improve my speed by 275% by using the software.  Guess I'd have to  get it for the home machine, so that'd be PC, but they seem to have the software available in a Mac version as well.

This is a cool thing and all, and I can see how it could be useful for those who have poor dexterity or who really need their hands for other things while trying to record information--I'm thinking people doing stuff like autopsies, but maybe that's only because I watch too much CSI--but to be perfectly honest I can't see myself using it.  Not that it isn't neat, but I've got my text-generating centers set at pretty much the speed I type, and most of the time I don't want to be saying things out loud anyhow; for me the loss of privacy isn't worth the increase in speed.  Your mileage may vary, of course.

Still, how awesome is it that they've got speech recognition good enough that a product like this is even feasible?  I imagine you have to train it to recognize your own idiosyncratic pronunciations and whatnot, but it's got to be a godsend for the arthritic and the paralysed--or, for that matter, for people who just don't type well or quickly¹.  Me, I'm not so interested, but I'm glad I know it's out there; now I have at least heard of a brand name if I run into someone looking for this functionality. (Don't laugh, I've seen inquiries several times in the last year or so.)  There are reviews of Dragon up on the site, if you're interested in checking those out, or you can take the Dragon typing speed test if you want to check your own fingers against the software.

And, for your entertainment, some videos:

1: My father, for instance, who's been a programmer for 30 years and still types with four fingers. 

I cannot work out what constitutes "enough" food to take my pills with.

This morning I had all of four spoonfuls of oatmeal, and was fine; yesterday I ate an apple that was bigger than my fist, and drank several ounces of milk, and got sick.  I'm sure it's something to do with timing and how I'm feeling on that particular day and all that, but it's starting to bug me, because I have to eat the larger amount to be sure, even if I'm not that hungry.

I admit, as side effects go this is a pretty mild one, but if I'm supposed to be able to mitigate it I'd like to be able to do so all the time...

I don't have an Audi anymore, and even when I did I wouldn't have had the car expertise to put a turbocharger in it, but really, doesn't that sound like fun?  It raises images of a little red button on the dashboard (with or without molly-guard) that you can press to make the car fly or something--I'm not sure what real-life turbos do, but I'm fairly certain it has nothing to do with taking off, more's the pity.  I'm sure there's such a thing as a non-Audi turbo, too, if you happen to have some other kind of car.  Me, I'm admittedly not so much with the car stuff, but I know a number of people who enjoy tinkering, and they should be able to find good parts for it, no?

I decided to come in to work with Liam this morning, which was OK except that he had to leave the house at 6 so as to be at the Convention Center by 6:30.  So it was still pretty much dark when I walked into my office.  I spent the whole morning sitting there staring at things with my mouth half open, until I had a brainwave and got out my compact fluorescent full-spectrum bulb that's left over from my attempts at treating my minor-league SAD last year.

I plugged it in, and ten minutes later I could think again.  Funny how this circadian rhythm thing happens to work, just because we've evolved to use it for several million years...

When we heard that it was going to hit the lower 40s for the third night in a row, we gave in and turned the furnace on.  Honestly, if it's the gas bill or me, the gas bill is getting thrown to the wolves.  And while I am perfectly capable of putting on a sweater, it's tough to type when your fingers are stiff from cold.  It's not up very high, but enough to take the edge off.

The cats, of course, wholeheartedly approve of the fact that there are Warm Spots again.  They're spending less time curled up in little kitty bundles (the length of the cat is directly proportional to the warmth of the environment).

The Suck of Customer Support

A play in one act (so far)

Our Heroine: Hello, I have a problem.  I booked a trip to feed the polar bears and was given my seal meat and parka, but when I arrived at the polar bear pen I was told I couldn't feed them because I hadn't booked my trip.  Please help.

Clueless Supposed Helper: Oh, but you see, to feed the polar bears you have to book a trip.  Then you get seal meat and a parka, and then go to the pen and drop the meat in.  Hope that helps!

Our Heroine: Um, no, no it does not.  Seeing as I had booked the trip, and gotten a reservation number and all, and had been given my meat and parka.  The problem did not arise till I got to the pen.  Also I'd like to know whether I'm going to get my "I Fed the Polar Bears!" pin.  Not to mention I have frequently fed the bears before, so I know how the system works.

***

I sent a ticket to support at PayPerPost saying, "Hi, I reserved an opp, and got a reservation telling me what time it expired, and got the link data you don't get till it's reserved, but when I went to submit the post it told me I didn't have the reservation after all."  The cheerful moron at support sent me back four paragraphs explaining how to go about reserving and submitting an opp.

I tried explaining again; we'll see what I get.