Domestic Geek

I finally caved today and bought myself my first eBook. I vowed a few months back that if a digital edition of something I wanted was available, I wasn't going to bother getting the hard copy of it. I'm tired of the dust they collect and the space they take up. I felt like doing to some light, cheesy reading, so I purchased the next book I had yet to read in the knitting mystery series by Maggie Sefton, Fleece Navidad (I'd put one of those Amazon Associates links up like I used to, but I can't thanks to the feud between the state of Colorado and Amazon). The books in this series are corny and predictable, but they're basically set in Ft. Collins and I like reading them.

I downloaded the Kindle app for my iPhone and the application for my Macbook and I'm all set. Reading on the iPhone is a little rough, but will do in a pinch. I totally enjoyed reading with my Macbook in bed. I do that while surfing blogs all the time anyway. Someday, when I've got the funds to get one, I'll enjoy reading on an iPad.

I hope that more reading material becomes available digitally (magazines, etc.). I know some people just love the feel of turning pages, but I'll gladly give that up to rid myself of the clutter.

As seen on the CBSnews.com: Mo Rocca eats some crow and learns to knit.

I just found out on Facebook that soon you will be able to stream Netflix instant content to the Wii. From the press release on the Netflix site:

Jan. 13, 2010 ?V Nintendo of America Inc. and Netflix, Inc. [Nasdaq: NFLX] today announced an agreement that will allow Netflix members who are also owners of Nintendo??s Wii™ home console to instantly watch thousands of movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix directly to their TVs. Netflix is scheduled to go live on the Wii console this spring in the United States at no additional cost to Netflix members who have a plan starting at $8.99 a month, a Wii console and a broadband Internet connection.

This makes me happy on so many levels. Marcus got me a PS3 to be able to do this, but it's hard to do when he is playing Tiger Woods Wii golf (it's better to play that on the big TV). Since we have a 2nd Wii, I can just stream on that one. I know you can watch on your computer (and I used to), but it's just not practical if you're also surfing on it.

I've already ordered my disk. It will ship just as soon as it is available. Very cool!

Not much to report this week. I started working on some knit Christmas stockings for Marcus and me. I decided last year that I can no longer use my old ones. I made matching quilted/cross-stitch stockings for Marcus, myself, Ursa and Skippy many years ago. It hurts now to pull them out and not be able to hang the dog ones (I'm teary as I type this), so I retired them. I purchased the Knit Christmas Stockings book and asked Marcus to pick out which one he wanted. Of course he picks the most basic one and then picked red/green as the color he wanted. Not original, but that is OK. I asked for his input and I'm going to make what he wants. When they are done, I'll post a link to the completed project post on the craft blog.

Marcus and I are celebrating our 17 year anniversary this week (10/28). We continued our tradition of getting Endless Shrimp at Red Lobster to celebrate last evening. We had a really awesome server, it was cold and snowy outside (just the way Marcus likes it). We had a really nice time.

I realized last night that Mayor Tortimer never gave me my golden fishing rod for catching all the species of fish in the Animal Crossing: City Folk game on our Wii. Grrrrr. To say I was upset was an understatement. I searched forum and cheat sites trying to figure out why I hadn't received it. I kept trying to tell myself that it is only a game and not that big of a deal, but I was genuinely disappointed. I open the game this morning and ta-dah!...he's outside my house with my fishing rod. D'oh!

I started my Netflix membership back up, so I've been on a movie watching kick. I'm also really pissed off at network television at the moment. At the start of the season, I picked which shows I would DVR and which shows I could watch online and which shows I would just have to give in and watch live if I wanted to see them. I had a schedule with all of my bases covered...or so I thought. The stupid networks keep changing when their programs air and a couple of shows I thought had online episodes do not. Then you throw in a hour episode here that screws up the schedule or a season premiere weeks after the other shows start that I hadn't calculated into the fray. It's maddening. I understand why they do it, but it still infuriates me to no end. You can't even do like you used to — watch one show the first half of the season and then watch another show during repeats — because there is no repeat season anymore. Show a few episodes, a couple of weeks of repeats, a few new episodes. Never coinciding with any other show's schedule. Annoying.

Marcus rented Scribblenauts for my Nintendo DS from Gamefly, so I played that this past week. Interesting little game. I'll have to get that one day. I went ahead and sent it back for now, though. I've got other stuff I need to be doing instead of being addicted to yet another video game!

Well, it's that time of year to get the wishlists in order. I guess I'll start tackling that later today. The weather is supposed to be halfway decent today, so I guess I had better get the oil changed in my car before it snows again. Lots to do today, so I'd better get to it.

10/27/09 - ETA: CBS had repeats on last night — showing shows from last season. WTF is up with that? Why do I want them to show stuff that I may now already own on DVD? Lame! Network television sucks!

I saw this video on Facebook last week and just had to blog it. I love this (especially the little tiny ipod the passenger hamster is holding).

Overheard the man say to his friends on team speak as they play their weekly Call of Duty game:

"Classic rifles puts me in the mood for teabagging."

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With the economic recession this country is facing and the layoffs, fewer hours and no usual end-of-year crunch (and the resulting overtime hours) at work, I've been really contemplating how I would cope if I suddenly lost everything. We've managed to squeak by if one or the other of us lost a job, but as we both work at the same company now, if it goes under, we're royally screwed. It's one of the reasons I've been wanting to find employment elsewhere. The problem? My whole industry is in the same boat and nobody is hiring anyone new.

I watched Kit Kittredge: An American Girl last night (totally didn't know it was about a girl in the Great Depression) and then this morning came across the above quiz on Bug's blog, An Indian Summer. The quiz asked things like "Do you own a weapon?" or "Do you grow your own food?" or "Can you get around to shops and work by bike, public transportation, or walking?" Sadly, my answer to a lot of really important questions was no. I can't grow food where I live now. First, I wouldn't trust anything that came out of this measly dirt plot to be edible and the raccoons would destroy what little harvest I could manage. Where would we go if the park owners suddenly closed up shop and ordered us all to leave?

I sit here looking at all the unnecessary crap I own and feel guilty for not saving money. Marcus and I have already cut out a lot of needless bills such as only having basic dish service and no home phone. I was doing good there for a while of weeding out stuff I don't use or need anymore, only to replace it with more. Marcus and I want to move eventually, but I don't want to move all of this junk.

How would I cope if I no longer had Internet access or electricity to operate my computer. I have all of my recipes stored on here with very few of them printed out. I pacify my emotional turmoil with shopping for needless crap or getting Starbucks. There at the peak of job dissatisfaction, I was getting 5 chai lattes a week.

I know I'm rambling, but I guess what I'm getting at is I need to set new priorities and get my life into a manageable state. We really are facing a time of great turmoil and transition. I am worried about the future of the America we all knew and loved and feel that this globalization movement will take away our freedom we enjoyed as Americans. This sudden "bailing out" of everybody and his cousin is going to collapse our dollar. I fear we're in for some rough, unpleasant times.

Yesterday I got myself a copy of Office Space at Best Buy. There were two different packagings, and since one had a digital copy enclosed so that I could put it in my iTunes, I went with that one. "Bonus," thinks I, since we rip our DVDs to put on the AppleTV anyway. Well, not so much. The stinking code enclosed with the disc doesn't work. Man, I am so pissed right now. See, I tried to do things the legit and legal way. Stupid movie companies piss me off. Well, the only date on the form said it might not work after 2010. Grrrr.