Larocque and Roll

Ninjas are Awesome

After finishing the skull hats for a friend and his daughter, I wanted to make a matching hat for the missus. However, it didn’t need to be the exact same, since she didn’t want to be matchy-matchy. So, I started thinking about other ways I could use the skull, and other types of skull hats.

And then it hit me.

Forget the skulls! If I want to do something different, then forget the skulls! What do the skulls represent? Pirates! What goes with pirates like peanut butter goes with chocolate? Ninjas!

Rather than waste time looking to see if there were any ninja-themed hats out there, I made up my own. The most iconic thing I could think of using in the pattern was the shuriken, the throwing star. I made up the charts, dug through my stash, and came up with enough yarn to make this:

The bonus is that if it’s too cheesy, she can just say it’s a stylized snowflake.

Still loosing…

So! You’d think that I’d be more excited about telling you the results of the biggest looser at work challenge – and you’d be right. What I didn’t have a lot of last week was time, and by Thursday I decided to just wait until this week to tell you how the second weigh-in went, since it would probably be as good or better than week one.

Not so!

At our second weigh-in, I was the second biggest looser, having lost a whopping 4.5 pounds in the first week, just from walking, changing my eating habits from good to great, and Wii-boxing [1]. So I took it up a notch and tried to do even better the second week.

I went to my weigh-in all excited – this would be the week I’d loose way more, right? I’d done so much better this week, right? Wrong! For reasons related to biology [2] I didn’t loose anything this week. On the bright side, I didn’t gain any, either.

I am expecting great things at weigh-in on Monday, because the biggest looser this week was the same woman as last week, and I’m not at all competitive. Nooooo sirree – not even a little.

[1] In the training section, I’ve managed to knock down 34 punching bags in one event. Go me!
[2] Stupid PMS!

To the people who pack my groceries

Hi! You may know me from some of the grocery stores I shop in – the woman with the motley collection of cloth bags and small selection of plastic bags in case I purchase chicken and/or fish, which could be hazardous if they leaked.

I come to the front of the check-out line and quickly give you my cloth bags because all too often, you don’t bother checking with me if I need plastic bags, and by the time I manage to get your attention, you’ve already thrown the first four items into the plastic bag. Therein ensues much eye-rolling and heaving of sighs as you make a display of hauling my stuff out of the plastic bags, then grudgingly putting them into the cloth bags I’ve given you.

Now, I hand you something like five or six cloth bags – all of which are in good condition [1]. Yet, even though there are *clearly* enough bags in which for you to put all my groceries, you take great pride in putting all of them into one or two bags. What gives?

You did this when I got back here after Christmas vacation, and I had to get quite a bit of stuff. You got everything into four bags even though I’d handed you every single cloth bag I was able to round up before I left the house [2]. When I got home, not only were the heavy things on the top, a package of tofu was busted and the milk [3] was leaking because you’d packed one of the bags in a sloppy manner.

And today! I watched you put everything into two cloth bags as the other three say unused and rejected beside them. I watched as you struggled to pick up the bag to put in in my cart, decide it wasn’t heavy enough, and then put more stuff in it! Yes, I rolled my eyes; and yes, I grabbed an empty bag and put half of what was in that first bag into the second bag while you watched – you put the grapes and bananas at the bottom of the first bag, and I didn’t want them squashed when I got home!

Can we not come to some sort of understanding? That when a bag is too heavy for you to pick up, there’s probably too much stuff in it and it’s time to grab another bag?

I’m just making a suggestion…

[1] They’re all pretty solid bags, even if not a single one of them is for whatever grocery store chain I happen to be in. Why buy cloth bags when I’ve got a dozen bags from various conferences laying around?
[2] Let’s call it an even dozen bags of various shapes and sizes.
[3] My expensive, organic milk!

We’re all a bunch of losers

Just before the holidays, a couple of my co-workers started bemoaning the weight they knew they were going to gain over the holidays, and what they were going to do about it. Two people on staff actually challenged each other to see who would lose more weight over a period of a few months. A few other people found out and wanted in, and then it turned into a big free-for-all, with the challenge becoming who could lose 10 pounds first. Being the joiner that I am, I signed up too.

This morning was the official weigh-in, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that my actual weight wasn’t far off what I expected it to be, despite the fact I haven’t weighed myself in over six years. It’s still too much, but not nearly as bad as I feared it would be.

I’m hoping for good things to come out of this – I’m already pretty careful about what I eat, and I don’t keep junk in the house because I’ll only eat it if it’s there. I’ve seriously cut back on the amount of pasta I eat, and if I do, I try to make sure it’s whole wheat. My only weakness is my Wednesday latte, with which I usually get a couple of oatmeal or gingersnap cookies; however, I bought a package of cinnamon snaps which are supposed to be low fat. On the exercise front, I’m getting back in the habit of walking to work when it’s feasible (i.e. when I’m not working until 9pm) or going for walks on days when I don’t work. And I’ve also pledged to do at least half an hour of Wii boxing in the evenings.

(Others at work are talking – not seriously, of course – about how they’re going to sabotage the competition by bringing in chocolates or do extra baking. However, we found out today that our “office” was this week’s winner of the local radio station’s lunch contest, so on Wednesday we get a Swiss Chalet lunch for 12 [1]. Fortunately, I don’t start work until after lunch, so I’ll miss it.)

[1] The Executive Assistant entered us over a year ago, and this week – the week we start our weight-loss challenge – we win. Proof positive that the gods are a whimsical and capricious lot.

Like band camp, but geekier

At the end of this month, I will be making my annual trek to Toronto for the OLA Superconference [1]. And I’m looking forward to it in almost the same way you’d look forward to minimally-supervised field trips in elementary school – it’s a chance to get away from your usual surroundings, see new people, and do things you can’t do at home. Oh, we’re not going to loose all control – we are librarians, after all – but we do have a full slate of activities to do once the work-related stuff is done, like:

• Meeting up with various people who live in and around the city who aren’t officially librarians (hey Jorge! Hi Jackie!)
• Go to that really tasty Mexican restaurant that none of us remember the name of, or where it was, except that moments before we found it we’d seen the MTV building.
• Steve and Karen are trying to get tickets to see a taping of The Hour for a whole pack of us.
• This will be the year that we finally get our act together and go on an honest-to-goodness pub crawl. Most years, we wimp out before we get to the first one – this year, we’re going to hang on until at least the second place (I’m taking suggestions, seeing as none of us live close enough to Toronto to know the bar scene well)

So, if you live in Toronto, be prepared for a very sober group of librarians to invade, starting sometime around the 29th. Chances are good you won’t know what hit you.

[1] Whenever I say the word “Superconference,” I want to do a Mary Katharine Gallagher.

The year in books, Part 2

Last year, I read 74 books, only three of which were non-fiction. That surprises me – I thought I’d read more than that. The year before, I’m almost certain I did. Anyways, here’s my list of the most notable books for one reason or another.

Best Food Book
It’s a tie between Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma (May), Rudolph Chelminski’s The Perfectionist (October), and Timothy Taylor’s Stanley Park (September)

Best Canadian Book
A tough call, but it’s a tie between Taylor and Jeffery Moore’s The Memory Artist (May)

Best Young Adult Book
I want to say Rachel Cohen and David Levitan’s Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, but that was last year’s book. So, for this year, I’d have to say John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines (March).

Biggest Surprises (in terms of better than I was expecting)
Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel series. Stephen Fry’s The Liar (September). Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (May). Mark Haddon’s A Spot of Bother (June).

Book Which Made Me Feel Stupider For Having Read It
Sophie Kinsella, Can You Keep a Secret? (February)

Most Improved Author
Christopher Rice – I was pleasantly surprised by Light Before Day (February) because the last book of his I read was terrible.

Most Likely to be Reread This Year
Anything by Christopher Moore or Tanya Huff.

Author Who I Keep Forgetting to Write Down
For some reason, whenever I read Meg Cabot, I forget to write it down and then months later I can’t remember the title of whatever it was I read. This happened twice this year – Queen of Babel and Size 14 Is Not Fat Either – and a couple of times the year before.

Best Book Overall
I honestly don’t know.

The year in books, Part 1

…And December reads! Actually, I’ll do that first. It was a pretty good month, what with the holidays and reading on the train home and back.

~ Cruisie, Jennifer and Bob Myer. Don’t Look Down (2)
I think I finished this one out of boredom. Not much to recommend about it.

~ Findley, Timothy. Not Wanted on the Voyage (6.5) (Canada Reads Book #1)
When I started reading this one, I would complain loud and long to anyone who stood still long enough about how much I hated some of the characters. They were pushovers! They were megalomaniacs! They were passive aggressive! And Yahweh chose them to repopulate the earth after the flood? The thing is, it’s been almost four weeks since I finished it, and yet it’s still in the forefront of my mind. That said, I liked the writing, and the overall story was gripping, keeping me guessing until the end. It’s a good example of the difference between not liking the characters and/or the plot, and not liking the writing – when it’s the latter, you don’t feel bad about putting the book down and finding something else to do or read.

~ Hopkinson, Nalo. Brown Girl in the Ring (3) (Canada Reads Book #2)
Boring – I felt nothing for the characters, and the plot was not very engaging. The colloquialisms didn’t do much for me, either. I can see this one being the first book eliminated from the competition in February.

~ Wharton, Thomas. Icefields (6.5) (Canada Reads Book #3)
A slow-moving book, much like the glaciers it describes. This isn’t meant in a bad way, as I enjoyed the spare prose [1] and gentle pace of the book very much. Having also been to the glacier and surrounding area described in the book (Jasper and the Columbia Ice Fields), it was kind of cool to learn a little bit about the history of the area. Plus, the whole angel-in-the-ice was intriguing, as was Sarah’s story at the beginning.

~ Haley, Susan Charlotte. How to Start a Charter Airline (6.5)
If it weren’t for the fact that this was my mother’s book club book and I’d picked it up at the library for her, I’d never have heard of this book. It’s a very typically Canadian love story, in that it takes place in a very Canadian local (in a remote community in northern Canada) and dealing with a very Canadian subject (how to provide service to rural and remote communities). And none of the characters were beautiful, perfect people leading perfect lives – they had pasts they were avoiding, tough ones.

~ Quarrington, Paul. King Leary (7) (Canada Reads Book #4)
Although this book was out of print until recently, my library still had an old copy (woo!) King Leary was overwhelmingly sad, about an elderly former pro-hockey player who spends much of the story reminiscing about his career. You expect the grandstanding and the embellishments. What you don’t expect are those quiet moments where he remembers the monks who taught him everything about hockey, and talks about them in a tone of awe. And you always know he’s holding something back even when the people around him aren’t asking him what he’s not saying, but it’s largely because it’s too painful for him to dwell on. [2]

~ Moore, Christopher. Fluke (8)
This is a weird book, even for him. I’d try and explain it, but it would only ruin it for you.

~ Moore, Christopher. Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove (8) [3]
Again with the weirdness! But in a good way!

~ Willig, Lauren. Masque of the Black Tulip (6.5)
Silly, yet fun chicklit/bodice-ripper. Some fun contemporary pop-cult references pop up from time to time.

Okay, so now that I’ve totally bored you with what I read last month, I’m going to hold off on the highs and lows of last year until tomorrow.

[1] Ooooh, look at me, being all scholarly!
[2] I’d like to see this one win Canada reads, but I suspect it’s going to be Not Wanted on the Voyage.
[3] What happened was this – months ago, I loaned Lamb to my mother, who loaned it to my sister, who loaned it to her husband. Many hints were dropped to me that I should bring the rest of my Moore books home for everyone to read.