All the More Reason to Visit

La Crosse, the current residence of this hedgehog, has been chosen as one of the U.S. News and World Report's 2009 "Best 10 Places to Live".

So when are y'all coming to check it out?

(The Master Sergeant* keeps saying he's coming to fish...)


*Tech Sergeant got a promotion!

Taking Over Milwaukee

The Tech Sergeant (who is about to get a promotion and will have to be renamed) and I met in Milwaukee for a weekend of relaxation and exploration.

We both ducked out of our respective homes late Thursday, I driving east and he west. I had to beat him there as I was the one with the hotel reservation. I'd used Hotwire and we were staying at the Hilton City Center. We both chose to park at the hotel, coworkers had shared a couple of "scary parking stories" and we knew we'd have to pull the cars at least twice.

In true "watch us wilt at the same time," despite plans of immediately launching ourselves on the town, we both opted for beverages and catching up and a midnight bedtime. Painting Milwaukee red would have to wait.

Friday was absolutely perfect from a weather perspective, clear sunny and just warm enough. Armed with a map, we set off. We stopped at George Webbs for breakfast, good basic breakfast food and decent coffee. From breakfast it was off to the art museum. If you've never approached it, as you're walking east on Wisconsin Ave you wonder "Is that a boat? Oh it must be some kind of crazy yacht. No wait, that's a building, oh that's the art museum." Apparently Santiago Calatravas was to attempting to capture bird wings in flight--in steel. It's unusual. I wondered about trying to heat it (we were in Wisconsin), trying to clean the windows (no thanks) and what the acoustics were (it was too loud inside for me to get a clear sense of how higher pitched sounds would reverberate. TS thought my muted squeaking attempts amusing.)

We enjoyed the art museum and in grabbing beverages after TS discovered a lemonade that he would continue to drink all weekend, apparently it's locally made and tart enough to make his eyes water. I forwent the joy of my eyes watering too. We ventured to the war memorial, which was a little underwhelming, though we did like all of the historical war ads (Men! Join the clean plate club with your wives!).

From the museums we walked to the Historical Third Ward and did some shopping. He found an artist whose things he might purchase in the future and we "designed" two bathrooms and three kitchens. I like stainless steel accents, he prefers a warmer cozier look. Both of us like the idea of hidden fridges/dishwashers.

Then it was back to the hotel for a hat (coworker loaned me a Cubs cap for the trip) and to the shuttle. Out to the field and, loaded with beverages and hot dogs (later nachos) we took in the Cubs/Brewers game. Lots of fun with enthusiastic but not aggressive fans. A number of college student celebrating the end of finals. I did briefly wish I had some knitting with me but survived not having it. Despite the Cubbie loss we were able to go out and enjoy a couple of area bars.

Apparently neither of us were going to be able to sleep late on this mini-vacation, we were up and out early every day. First we took my car and headed north. I made him navigate to two yarn stores. He patiently accompanied me and we discussed the use of mohair as a fly-fishing tool, found some corn yarn that was pretty awesome, and debated different types of tools that I use for my craft. We also found a good bagel shop and I broke the "braces no bagels" rule. I've been good about following that directive but fresh bagels were not to be missed.

Then we got sort of turned around but managed to find our way to the Miller Brewing Company. We toured the factory, seeing just how many cases of beer they ship out each day. It was daunting to think of how much was shipped and consumed regularly from just that one location. Even more surprising: 40% of the products created there go directly and only to Chicago. I liked whatever they served us that had orange and coriander. Yes, I drink girly drinks.

We finished the day with dinner at Cafe La Scala. The food was excellent. And....we both overate on appetizers and salad and couldn't make it through our meals.

Back to the hotel and the TS asked me to show him how to knit. We had a couple of hours lag time so I walked him through the basics. Unfortunately I only had one set of needles with me, so we had to go back and forth but he picked up on it pretty fast. I agreed to learn fly-tying next time.

















And then we took his car out late to see the new Star Trek movie. Being as I was without computer, I'd called the Milwaukee Public Library for help on who was showing it where. We ended up at the Oriental Theater. Wow--what a theater!! (sorry the pics are blurry, they said pictures were okay if I didn't use the flash) Huge, "theater" style rather than what I would think of movie style seating, red velvet curtain, 7' Buddhas, elephants....

Oh, and the movie was pretty awesome too! If you like Star Trek at all, I'd recommend that you go see it. It pays tribute without being super cheesy or trying to be too much it's own thing. And the cameo appearance elicited a couple of cheers.

Coming out of the theater we ran into people coming in for Rocky Horror, which was apparently being shown around 12 a.m. I could not convince the TS that we needed to stay for a late night double feature picture show, to have a toast, or do the time warp.

Sunday was breakfast and back to the Third Ward to hit the Public Market. I'd already loaded up on goodies from a local chocolatier but cheese and curds going home with the TS had to wait until we were ready to go. (No fridge in the hotel room). After Starbucks and watching many little ducklings swim around the river, we got on the road.

I made it home and promptly took a nap. Apparently he went by a Bass Pro shop on the way home.

We're already making plans for next year.

One Eye Open...

The Tech Sergeant rang early enough this morning that I was not yet out of bed. As many of you know, this is not a disturbance I take lightly, particularly when I wake up sounding like a frog courtesy of spring allergies.

Fortunately, as I later noted, he's on the short list of people who do not face full hedgehog wrath when I'm awoken in such a state. And if you have to ask, you're not on the list. But in case you wondered what hedgehog wrath looks like, I share with you my bad drawing skills.

Facing a Fresh Landscape

There's a fresh layer of snow dusting over the older snow outside for the new year. While, if at all possible, I have absolutely no intention of leaving the building today, it is a good time for a bit of reflection and planning.

Last year was in two pretty distinct sections:
Before August
After August

Before August was mostly focused here in La Crosse and on work. I orchestrated our Knitting in Public Day, started a kids knitting group, went to PLA, did summer reading in La Crosse, worked on my databases and went to Sibling-the-Younger's graduation. I went on two different yarn diets. I made one flying trip out to New York and a couple down to Chicago to hang out with the Kickers and AudioGirl, but beyond that it was a pretty mellow spring.

And then August hit. My immediate supervisor retired, I flew to New York for a wedding shower and then flew out to Colorado to spend a week with the Tech Sergeant. I came back, drove to the Incredibly-Patient-Mother's for a dress alteration, flew back to New York for a wedding, took on the care and feeding of the chapter book collection, went back to Chicago and caught up with a lot of people I see only sporadically. I started NaNoWriMo though I didn't finish, got braces, and cut a foot off my hair. I flew to Atlanta and bought a tea and coffee pot, knitted until my hands nearly fell off, and went back to the Incredibly-Patient-Mother's for a week at the holidays.

This year lies before me with a lot of potential. Certainly today is not all that different from yesterday but with a new January ahead of me, there seems to be many fresh options.

Goals for 2009:
1) Use things -- I have tea, yarn, books...so many things that are here waiting for me. When they start feeling like clutter rather than things I enjoy, it's time to use up or get rid of rather than hold on indefinitely.
2) Knit for myself. I talk a lot about knitting but almost always it's for other people. Call it selfish but I want some warm woolly things for me.
3) Write for more than just my blog audience. I need a better collection of rejection emails and letters and possibly some acceptances too.
4) Scrapbook old papers. Not the incredibly matted, decorated, and beribboned, just the "here's a paper, here's something from junior high" with some notes on the side about why I kept it.
5) Survive braces....20 months to go.
6) Get my books into LibraryThing.

I wish you big and conquerable goals in 2009 and good health for the new year. With hugs, best wishes and a clean but already filling calendar,

Happy 2009
Abigail

Holiday Wool....

The more I knit, the more ideas I get of things I should knit for people for Christmas. So then I cast those projects on and think of more things. It's a loop that is set to run right up until around 6 p.m. Christmas day--when I'll probably have seen all of the people who are receiving Christmas knits. At which point I'll have to start after-Christmas knits (maybe some stuff for me?) because a) I live in freezing Wisconsin and b) my hands will be so used to constantly knitting that I'll have to work on something to maintain my sanity.

No, unfortunately I'm not joking. I knitted pretty much non-stop last year in December and by the time I finished the holiday projects I was quite literally unable to just sit and converse. Fortunately, the Incredibly Patient Mother had some knitting tucked away that I could work on to keep from just sitting in a very fidgety manner.

Things to note: I never want to knit another pair of gloves ever again in my entire life. Sibling-the-Younger requested a pair and while this was a first from a family member (knitted request), I don't think I'll be doing more of these any time soon. I can do a pair of fingerless mitts in about 8 hours. With fingers nearly doubles the time and I had 9 double pointed knitting needles in one glove at one point.

I am trying a new pattern for a number of gifts this year: Turn a Square by Jared Flood. Jared's patterns have been received with high acclaim and this one is pretty addictive. Of course, I did have to come in this morning with one of the finished products and track down a couple of male coworkers to double check size but I certainly would recommend this pattern! The rest of the knitting world is doing the Noro scarf (again, Jared Flood) --- I'm making hats. Hey, they only take 3-4 hours. Another coworker seemed stunned when I mentioned how long they take to make. Yes, there's time involved, which is why I'm knitting mostly for people I am closely related to. But it's four hours of time at home, with an audiobook or a movie or a friend on the phone. When I finally catch up with the Tech Sergeant, it's good to be able to sit down and knit something moderately mindless while I'm hearing all the details.

So, that's my plan for December. Me and the wool.

Random Quote Sunday: There's a Reason We're Friends

If you skipped last weeks posts, well--you missed some awfully pretty pictures. But when you put Tech Sergeant and I in the same place/conversation for very long, something crazy is going to come out.

"It's proof of how long we've known each other: he can see the skepticism through my sunglasses."
--Me to TS's dad. Did you see how big the sunglasses I was wearing were?

"Death and despair and lizards and such"
--Tech Sergeant's description of Nevada

"Here fish, fish, fish, fish..."
--My tried and true fishing call. I will attest that it worked, I caught a trout, much to the relief of the patient guide who kept telling me I was casting appropriately but the fish just weren't biting. JB was awesome.

"I'm impassioned about 25 cent tacos."
--Tech Sergeant, why he wanted the Rockies to win.

"There was bat movement and then he looked displeased."
--It's better than my play-by-play of football.

"I aspire to be your desktop."
--Me in full hipwaders, it's the closest I'll get to being a calendar girl.

A Little More Colorado....

I promise, this is the last of the vacation picture posts....



So, remember a couple of posts ago I mentioned climbing up a rock structure after the Tech Sergeant? This would be what we were climbing. We did not do the entire structure, obviously, but you can see here why it's called a fan.


On the way home we stopped by a small church (St. Catherine of Siena) that seems to be rather secluded among the hills. A gorgeous structure though--my flash in the near dark doesn't do it justice. Pope John Paul II stopped here one time.


And for whatever reason my flash registered the light shining on the front of the church as green. It wasn't quite this spooky (although...I enjoy the spooky nature of the photo). The church was surrounded by several little streams that all fed into a lake/marshy area. It was also built on an enormous boulder.

It was quite a trip, filled with so much natural beauty that I don't think one can fully comprehend without actually seeing it in person. But I hope the pictures give you some idea.

I headed back Tuesday (after catching the Rockies vs. Giants game Monday and enjoying a hot dog at the very gorgeous stadium) and it's back to library deadlines for me. I almost found my desk on Wednesday and hopefully by the time this posts I'll be back towards "caught up." Maybe.

The Natural Beauty of Rocky Mountain National Park

My third day in Colorado, after alpacas, we drove into Rocky Mountain National Park and up the mountain trail. It's a single car wide hard pack dirt road that winds you up through the mountains. Relatively tight turns and constant climbing, along with quite a number of stunning sites to pull over and photograph the view. Some of these are out the window of the SUV, some are when we would pull over and hop out. These are only a few.

It felt like you could see forever



Even in the last days of August there was still snow



They let you climb 200 feet or so up to the top of this mountain. Our hearts were racing on the climb from the lack of oxygen but once at the top we were okay. We were above the treeline. What does it say about humans when we climb above where the trees can't grow?


Oh....right--that we like an incredible view.




On the way back down we caught this pretty lady by the side of the road. Many of the cars stopped and people hopped out to take pictures as she had a snack and then crossed to the other side.

Climb Up the Mountain; Slide Down the Stream

I'll probably have to break this into two/three posts--it's very picture heavy. And if you have no interest in what I do when I'm not at work...best to move along for a couple of days. These are the dreaded "look at my vacation photo" posts. Just be glad I'm not forcing you to sit through all 180 pictures that are on my computer (150 of which are being slowly uploaded into Flickr).

After nearly ten months of planning (last year before Christmas) the Tech Sergeant and I headed for TS's parents' place in Colorado. They are about 30 minutes out of Boulder, with an absolutely incredible mountain backdrop outside the windows. I'd never been that far west before (Minneapolis and Des Moines just don't feel west to me, for all that they are on the other side of the Mississippi) and the difference there was just amazing.

Somehow I'd forgotten the elementary studies of Colorado where they mention that it's a desert. Along with Denver being a mile above sea level, which my lungs took note of but didn't complain about too much, it's dry. We never went anywhere without a bottle of water or three and of course all of that hydration meant I took quite the tour of powder rooms across the Longmont/Boulder/Denver/Estes Park area.

Our second day there I was pried out of bed at a wholly unreasonable hour to go fishing. The hour was made only slightly less unacceptable in that I gained an hour flying out. But I'd promised and so I duly suited up in hip waders and followed our knowledgeable and very patient guide into a stream. This particular stream happens to be one of many that comes from snow melt. In late August it was very chilly water.










(Tech Sergeant in the Blue Hat--Me--and Guide JB)

I'd never been fly fishing before but enjoyed the meditative quiet of it, casting and trailing the line. And while I would have been most content with that--I did catch a fish.


No worries, he's still swimming. Trout where we were are catch and release only and I was very happy to let this one swim away.






The next morning was my turn to pop out of bed bright and early--for while he wanted to take me fishing, I wanted TS to go with me to the alpaca festival. And thus, with Mom and Dad (his not mine), we headed up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.










(Tech Sergeant and Me)

After petting lots of alpaca and some alpaca yarn purchases (so pretty, so fluffy and soft) and after alllllmost talking his mom into a gorgeous felted alpaca coat (and an alpaca or three...), we had lunch in Rocky Mountain National Park, by the Alluvial Fan, which was created in 1982 when a natural dam broke and sent water and boulders hurtling through a pass. TS decided he wanted to climb up to one of the ridges and so he and I charged up the side of the mountain. (These shoes ended up being perfect for this kind of gallivanting up rocks and down cold streams.) Here's the view from where we stopped--if you blow the picture up we started at the small wooden bridge in the bottom right corner.







Now that we'd achieved up---we had to navigate down. Did I mention we were standing next to a stream?











The water had made a lot of the huge boulders very slippery--so what we couldn't climb down we just slid down. Made it to nearly the bottom in one piece--and then waded out in even more frigid water than the day before for a photo op (not on my camera). The water was COLD!!!


Meg, who patiently let me shove my camera in her face, is here to tell you there's more...but in another post.

A Sign that I'm Getting Old

Sibling-the-Elder pointed out that I have gray and white hairs upon our last visit. Ahh, what are siblings for if not to point out one's personal flaws? Personally, I don't go looking for them, I know they're there but will continue to ignore them for a few more years.

But I've noticed something of late that I think does date me. I don't like how the current round of teen male heartthrobs are styling their hair.

Flash back to the late 90s when I was in high school. Though a few of them, the Tech Sergeant included, had longish cuts, it was of the three inches long, center-part look. That lasted until about the end of freshman year, when such "long" hair, was no longer cool. Then came what I could probably best describe as the "Jared"/"Dr. Ross" look. If you watched Pretender or ER, this should be a pretty obvious cut--short on the sides, a little bit longer on the top (no more than an inch and a half), combed forward or just slightly to the side with gel. This was pretty standard issue until after I graduated.

Back to the present and we have the HSM Zac /Jonas Brothers/NBB look. It's longer, describing it involves the word bangs, and I imagine it requires a lot more styling time. I imagine these boy's bathrooms to have blow dryers, straightening irons and possible even something like a curling iron. Seriously--have you looked at some of these magazine covers? J14 is a prime source of where to look. Now, granted, many of the young men I see in the library haven't fully embraced this look (though I have seen one Rat Tail) but still. I want to march these teens to the nearest barber and demand that their hair no longer be brushing their shirt collars. It looks messy.

And that, no doubt, makes me old.

Three Day Tuesday....

Some days--because of their myriad sections--become more than one day. Today for example--was three days.

Day 1: Meeting with NY, quick call with M, a little light reading in the sunshine, lunch

Day 2: Work, including some desk time, catching up with my boss who was on vacation, and debating the death of an actor.

Day 3: Promptly started at 9:02 p.m. and will end when I fall asleep. Comprised of a super long conversation with the Tech Sergeant wherein we discuss everything from why he volunteered to rotate over to Iraq a couple of years ago to how we get along with various extended family members to the merits of Transformer videos and characters.

Three very distinct days really...so how is it that it's still Tuesday?