Sunday, September 11, 2005

New Arrival

It's been an eventful weekend chez Knitting Libran. I was up at 4:30am Friday morning to take Tom to the airport to catch a flight to Atlanta to pick up this:

It's a 1987 VW Westfalia camper van. Tom has been searching for one ever since he sold his to his nephew at Christmas. He finally found one on eBay that looked like it was in decent shape and was a reasonable price. As it turned out, he was the high bidder. So down to Atlanta he flew to complete the purchase and drive it back. He arrived home around 1am Saturday morning. Fortunately, the van runs well. It seems to have more power than his other van. Unfortunately, it's not in as good a shape as he thought, although he doesn't think the seller misrepresented the condition of the van. It belonged to a smoker and the interior is yellow with nicotene. Blech.

So, we donned rubber gloves, filled buckets with a TSP solution, and armed with that and Goof-Off, we proceeded to clean every surface of the van. I washed all the curtains (some are missing) and then laundered the mattress upholstery. Tom lined the drawers and shelves with cork. It's looking much better now. But there's still work to do. We need to get the stove, sink, and refrigerator working. Tom would like to put larger wheels in. The carpet in the cockpit needs replacing and so might the upholstery on the seats (they have holes from cigarette burns). We'd like to find a faux Oriental rug for the back. Ultimate renovations include putting a new Subaru engine in (165hp instead of 90hp) and replacing the interior door panels with wood paneling. The front electric windows don't work and need to be fixed.

But the coolest thing about the van is there is a lot of storage space (or so it seems right now). I envsion a cedar-lined storage area that can be used to store a small travelling stash for extended road trips. I asked Tom if he would do that and he almost said yes. How cool would that be?

Well, I got my very first tag, from msubulldog. So, here goes...

Ten years ago: I was living in Paris, France, working as a technical support representative for a software company, doing telephone technical support in French (and I wasn't fluent). I was also in the throes of making preparations to return to the States in October so I could focus on wedding plans.

Five years ago: We (read Tom) began renovating our 1906 house in earnest, which meant removing all the paint from the exterior, repainting, fixing the windows, and removing the asphalt shingles from the attic dormers and replacing them with wood siding. I was support staff, and did the front porch. I was also working for a startup and was building a testing and technical writing team. There was sporadic knitting.

One year ago: I was working for a different startup and was approaching major burnout. I was also knitting a lot more and I think that helped me keep my sanity.

Five snacks: Hmmm...dark chocolate, potato chips, dark chocolate, french fries, dark chocolate (I really don't snack much)

Five songs I know all the words to: That's a hard one. I mostly listen to instrumental music. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme; Anachie Gordon; Ballad of Mary Magdalene; All in Green Went My Love Riding; My Father

Five things I would do with $100 million: Buy a farm and raise sheep and alpacas; put my nieces and nephews through college; do good works; travel (assuming I can find someone to take care of the sheep and alpacas); help my brothers and parents however I can

Five places to run away to: France, Rocky Mountains (US and Canada), New Mexico, Pacific Northwest, Abacos

Five things I would never wear: anything polyester, makeup (well, almost never), 60s- and 70s-style clothing, high heels, a bikini

Five favorite TV shows: I don't watch TV often, but when I do watch I watch Good Eats with Alton Brown, Nature, Frontline, Iron Chef America, BBQ with Bobby Flay

Five biggest joys: My family, Tom, my cat, my friends, my knitting

Five favorite toys: knitting tools, spinning tools, cooking tools, laptop, books

Five people to pass this on to: Cerridwen, Mia, Margene...hmmm, I have to come up with two others.

Knitting Progress
The kitten blanket swatching is going slowly (which doesn't bode well the knitting the entire blanket). I'm at the point where I'm knitting the kittens, but they don't look like much at this point. I've started another pair of toe-up socks (for Mom this time) using Cascade Fixation. I love knitting with that yarn, maybe because the cotton feels so soft. I haven't knit on Fern Leaf at all. I'm screwing up my courage to correct my errors yet again. And no spinning progress either. The free wool forlornly sits next to my wheel.

Extreme Knitting
Okay, the picture finally loaded. Here is Folkcat, knitting on stage at her local theatre, the Wilton Town Hall Theatre:

The theatre looks a bit empty, but there are people there. And I doubt highly that many people have gone on stage solely intending to knit. Follow the link above to read more about the theatre and Folkcat's knitting.

I was very dismayed to see this article on the front page of the Washington Post this morning. The Pentagon is drafting a revised doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons, which includes using nuclear arms to preempt an attack by another country or by terrorist group (who would be using weapons of mass destruction). It also provides the option to use nuclear weapons to destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons. What gives us the right to use weapons of mass destruction on another country who has the same weapons that we have (regardless of their "enemy" status). That seems to be damned arrogant and hypocritical to me. Didn't we learn anything after dropping the bomb on Japan in WWII? And if it's okay for us to do it, doesn't it follow that our enemies, fearing a preemptive strike us, would consider okay to make their own preemptive strike?


1 comment:

msubulldog said...

Wow on the van! That seems like a lot of work, but I'm sure it will be so cool when its done. Sounds like your hubby has done this before? :)