Ask-A-Scientist

You can thank Gapers Block for my recent interest in FermiLab's public programs.

This is the general information page for their Ask-A-Scientist program.

Fermilab World Year of Physics 2005 Symposium

The Fermilab out in Batavia has public events. On Saturday, October 8, is the World Year of Physics Symposium, but they also have a herd of buffalo, nature paths, tours and an art museum. The art museum currently has an origami exhibit. I need to get registered now!

Artists erect giant pink...

bunny on the mountain. It is supposed to last twenty years, and was knit by dozens of people with pink wool. I think that it would be totally worth seeing if I lived in Italy.

I'm a total geek

The humble screw has changed little in 2,000 years, until a stubborn engineer at Illinois Tool Works came up with a fascinating new twist.

I have always been a hardware dork, even asked Cory Cope enough questions about screws during crew at one point that he went and did some research to answer my questions so that I would go away. I love the McMaster-Carr catalog. I look forward to trips to Clark & Barlow. I have favorite hardware that I like to work into projects as frequently as possible.

Hi, my name is Katy and I'm a hardware dork.

Did I mention that this company that the genius works for is in Illinois? I got a link to the article from Gaper's Block, a site about Chicago, IL. I haven't been updating much recently. Ken will be out again at work tomorrow, so maybe I'll blog a bit then. I've been reading and crafting and seeing movies and learning to eat new things, so there is lots to write about.

Puppies!

Its better than a Tomagotchi, and its got puppies! I want one, but not really. I got it for free in some manner, I would totally dig it, but I'm not interested in purchasing it just for some virtual puppy love. But either way, thanks to Daily Candy Everywhere, I found out about this adorable product idea.

I will update this entry later with a link to pictures of Baxter and his puppy, who was the last of the litter to be sold, and the only one that my family and the daddy dog got to meet. They are just oh-so-cute.

Oh man, watching the I <3 Puppy Cam! on the website while I type this makes me want one even more. Darn marketers. Must get to work.

Crafters Help Hurricane Victims

Go shopping for handmade items, and all proceeds will benefit the American Red Cross's Hurricane Relief Fund. I will be donating *something* to the shop, probably under the website of the Crafty Ladies and my name. When I do, I will post it here too.

And the donation ticker:

Personal Katrina Update: Dr. Judith A. Kelsey, my aunt, is currently in Lafayette, Louisiana, in her home there, and is doing alright. The status of her house in Franklin, Louisiana, on the bayou, is still unknown. Franklin is 90 miles due west of New Orleans, and Lafayette is approximately 50 miles north of Franklin.

Roommate Reading

On Saturday, September 10th, my roommate, Ms. Anne Holub will be part of a poetry reading with theAround The Coyote Fall Arts Festival. Her literal 15 minutes of fame will be sometime between 6pm and 8pm at Subterranean, 2011 W. North Ave, Chicago, IL. I highly suggest that you take public transportation to get there, as Bucktown/Wicker Park is always tough to park in, and the festival will just make it worse. But you should go, because if I, poetry reading neophyte, am going to go out and support her reading, you should go to support my listening.

have a quiz

With Which Harry Potter Male Are You Most Sexually Compatible?
brought to you by Quizilla

Knitting Talk

I finished my dad's Xmas scarf, its the Men's Cashmere Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, a few days ago. I've been looking for a local source of Koigu Premium Painter's Pallette Merino (KPPPM) yarn for the Lacy Chevron Scarf from the same book for my mom's Xmas scarf, but haven't found it yet, so I haven't started that project. I've heard such wonderful things about KPPPM, that I don't want to just substitute another handpainted fingering weight yarn, thought I think that Cherry Tree Hill SuperSock might do it. I know that my Secret Pal sent me a hank of it, and if I could just remember where I put it, I would be able to see if it would work for the pattern. My LYS carries Cherry Tree Hill but not Koigu, and the CTH comes in 4 oz. hanks (vs. 50 gram hanks), so it wouldn't require as many ends woven in (which, besides lining, is my least favorite part of knitting).

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In the mean time, I have been trying to be motivated about using up my stash. Unfortunately, when I learned to crochet, I went on a yarn-buying binge at a big box store. So I have a lot of ridiculous, awful, acrylic yarn. Like Homespun and Chenille Thick & Quick. Another part of my stash is yarn from my grandmother, which is primarily acrylic from the 80s. It isn't a whole lot of yarn, and I'm not going to get rid of the better stuff, but there is a fair bit of Red Heart Super Saver, which I haven't found a way to make usable yet. I also went through a phase of thinking that wool was evil, so everything is a cotton blend or some other ridiculous synthetic. It all feels like shiny twine. What was I thinking?

Most of that stuff is just partial balls now, except for the seven balls that were purchased with the intentions of making the ribbed ribbon tank from Hip to Knit. I've checked gauge, taken measurements and restarted on that tank top, but its hard to get excited about form fitting, cotton-blend, beige tank top when you are pale, lumpy and not that into tanks. What was I thinking?

I have a few sweaters that have been unraveled, and some Cascade 220 that I intend(ed) to felt, until I discovered that felting required making my room smell like a wet sheep (which is similar to a wet dog and just as unpleasant), but mostly, just an uninspiring yarn stash. Its not even that big, so space isn't an issue, just the fear of waste. I guess that I can always make things for charity, but some of this stuff is just unpleasant. What was I thinking?

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All of this lamenting about my bad yarn decisions makes me realize that I need to get out of the house. Time for a walk, maybe I'll take a book and go to the beach. Yes, that's what I'll do. Thanks for listening.

But Daddy...

I want a sheep! And now, he could get me one (at least for a year). All through our trip to England in 2003, we saw sheep in the countryside, and I kept asking my parents for one. In high school, my friend Liz loved sheep (but she didn't knit or spin or anything) and really wanted to have one and enter it into the Hennepin County Fair. Now, we could have sheep without having to take care of them.

I wonder if they will let you buy the adoption for a special event, but then pick out the sheep when its adoption time (whenever that is).

Hmmm... must investigate further and enlist my mother.

so I don't save them up...

Your Ideal Relationship is Serious Dating

You're not ready to go walking down the aisle. But you may be ready in a couple of years. You prefer to date one on one, with a commitment. And while chemistry is important, so is compatibility.

What's Your Ideal Relationship?

The Llama Song

Flash » The Llama Song go and see, but be warned that there isn't a stop button, so you have to navigate away from the page.

10 years ago: I lived in Deerfield, was 13 years old and getting ready to start 8th grade. I finally had my braces off, still had glasses. Generally homely and unhappy.

5 years ago: I lived in Minnesota, was 18 years old and getting ready to go away to college at Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. I was working as an aid to a special needs boy at a school age day care. Life was pretty good.

1 year ago: I was finished with my internship at the Yale Rep and the Yale School of Drama. About to move back to Pittsburgh and finish my last semester of school. Spent the summer working for my dad in his Sign-A-Rama franchise.

Yesterday: Cast on for my Ribbed Ribbon Tank from Hip to Knit, one of the first projects I ever planned on making. Finished a proposal for a project that we don't really have time for at work. Ordered lots of flooring and plastics.

Today: Mailed my second-to-last package to Christie, my secret pal. Got a new binder for knitting patterns. Talked to my dad. I might clean the apartment tonight.

Tomorrow: Do laundry, finish UFOs that are gifts for other people, make sure that the apartment is clean before the roomie gets home at dinner time.

5 snacks I enjoy: Plain potato chips (esp. Pringles low fat and Baked Lays), Keebler Fudge Shoppe cookies, raspberries, french fries, Town House crackers

5 bands/singers that I know the lyrics of MOST of their songs: umm... maybe the Indigo Girls, maybe Barenaked Ladies, but I can't think of any others.

Things I would do with $100,000,000: Finish the Purnell Center for the Arts. If there was anything left after making sure that the PTM program would continue on (and not as the redheaded stepchild), I would buy a nice condo or townhouse (I refuse to own grass), pay for my sister's school, and pay back my parents for *my school* bills. If there was anything left after that point (which I doubt that there would be), I would stash it away with a good investment banker for the future/special things, and then live off of my salary working at Crazy Bob's 24 hour House of Scenery. Maybe I would first stash away 5 or 10 million, pay off the school bills (a comparative drop in the bucket, even with Natalie going to med school someday) and buy a living situation, then finish off the PCA with the rest. That seems like a better order of operations, and then everything could get done, because any amount of money could be sunk into the CMU SOD.

5 locations I'd like to run away to: Maui, Ireland, Isla de Margarita in Venezuela, Big Island in Lake Minnetonka, an island in the Mediterranean (notice a theme there?)

5 bad habits I have: picking my nails, drinking coke, putting off laundry, leaving trash in the car, not pressing my clothes.

5 things I like doing: Knitting, reading, planning, spending time with J, checking up on blogs

5 things I would never wear: a poncho, gaudy jewelery, Bush/Cheney support propaganda, non-earlobe piercings, tattoos

5 TV shows I like: Gilmore Girls, Mythbusters, Alias, Judging Amy, Modern Marvels

5 movies I like: Bend it Like Beckham, Breakfast at Tiffanys, Good Will Hunting, Whale Rider, Monsters, Inc.

5 famous people I'd like to meet: Al Franken, Bill Sapsis, Tom Robbins, Jennifer Garner, Kristin Davis

5 biggest joys at the moment: hmmm... independent living, knitting, Anne, Natalie, Jeremy

5 favorite toys: Denise Interchangeable Knitting Needles, IBM Thinkpad T42, the tool that pulls ribbon through tubes, TiVo, air conditioning

5 bloggers tagged (if they made it this far): David, Peg, Val aka BabelBabe, Christie aka SweetRattle, Elise (bc Andrea is just too darn busy with Avi and she's on school break right now)

Let's play!

From my super-duper SP5 Spoiler, Christine
(yes, she revealed early, since I had to turn off anonymous comments on my blog, but its cool, I've been curious, and its almost the end of the month anyway)

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth full sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around for the coolest book you can find. Use what's actually nearest to you.

Really it's been ten years, anyway.

A Thousand Acres
by Jane Smiley

Two other books were closer, but they didn't have 123 pages.

I'm a Knitting Geek!

But you already knew that...

-----BEGIN KNITTER'S GEEK CODE BLOCK-----

Version:1.1

KCR++ Exp+ !SPM Steel? Wood? Bam Pl+ Cas- AddiT? Den+++(+++) Boye? Syn- Nov- Cot Wool++ Lux+ Hemp? Stash Scale Fin Ent? FI? Int- Tex+>++ Lace>++? Felt Flat Circ+ DPN++ !ML Swatch+ KIP+ Blog++ SNB EZ FO+ WIP Gauge@ L>- F- S+ DK? W+++ B+++ ALT@ Cr Q-- X- Em+ Sw-

------END KNITTER'S GEEK CODE BLOCK------

WTF?

and no, not Williamstown Theatre Festival.

My blog just got spammed! Go to the comments here, its the last post that I put up just a little bit ago. who the heck spams a blog? I guess that with all the spam filters out there, the bad guys have to get through somehow, but really? spamming a blog comment section? That's just weird.

I'll delete them if they keep happening, but for now, I want the proof out there.

Yay!

You're Elizabeth Bennett of Pride and Prejudice by
Jane Austen!


Which Classic Female Literary Character Are you?
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Less than retail AND on sale!

Lorna's Laces Angel for $13 regular price? Wow. Its $14.50 retail in Chicago (both Arcadia Knitting and Knitter's Niche) and then its on sale. And you can get ANY color, because its all special order. So you have to wait a long time. But oh boy! Besides, I can never get just the right color in town, so I'd have to wait for that anyway.

Yarn Sale!

Bo Peep's Wool Shop has all yarns on sale for 15% off, and Featured Items at 40% off. And needles and notions are on sale too. Rock on.

Ick ick ick ick

I have found my hero of the day! We have a guy in who saved me in the hallway today. He killed and disposed of the horrible cockroach that was blocking my way. Even walked across the lunchroom to deal with it. He is great. Wish I remembered to ask his name. Here's a picture of what we were up against: