Blankets 56 - 58

In between making scarves for my grandfather's church (more on that later), I am doing more fleece blankets:

This yellow one is interesting because it isn't strictly fleece.  The material was something like a light sweatshirt.  The yarn was a Red Heart from Penny's stash.  Four rows single crochet.

The pink was a straight up fleece.  The yarn was Red Heart - I think the name was "Candy Print".  Four rows single crochet.

I picked up this print fleece thinking that an older boy might prefer it.  The yarn was Caron Simply Soft in Soft Blue.  Four rows single crochet.

Harp, by John Gregory Dunne

Book 48

John Gregory Dunne was a writer.  He was also the husband of Joan Didion and the brother of Dominick Dunne.  Harp was a memoir that he wrote after two big, bad things happened in the late 1980's.  First, his younger brother killed himself.  And he was diagnosed with the heart trouble that would later kill him.

Joan Didion's book The Year of Magical Thinking was about the year after Dunne's death.  I loved it and I love her.  One of the striking things she remembered was Dunne saying, right around the time that he wrote this book I imagine, that it was a really strange thing to know how you are going to die.  She denied his statement.  He wasn't going to die from that episode.  But he knew that someday, it would come back and get him.

That's the guy I was looking for in this book.  And while he didn't speak so directly about his feelings - he isn't the type - I am happy to say that I found him.

He spoke a bit about the falling he and Dominick had at the time of Stephen's suicide.  John was an ass and then Nick was a big drama queen and it sounds like the kind of thing that happens in every family and you just want to smack them both.  Then he went on a bit of a European tour to find himself or whatever.

He started in Germany, where he served in the army post-WWII.  He went on to Ireland to find his roots or something.  He writes about it all in a very detached way.  "Observational" is the way he writes it.  He went so far as to say he was watching himself experience it.

There are a couple of times when he challenges the veracity of something just written.  He takes an "it is all true, in a way" attitude that bothers me.  I can certainly accept that "truth" is a matter of perception and he gets to remember and present his own experience as he chooses.  The self-consciousness, however, annoys me.  I guess it was a self-conscious time.

This was the first of Dunne's books that I have read.  I think the rest are fiction.   I can manage that.

The Castle on the Forest, by Norman Mailer

Book 47

Norman Mailer was the kind of writer that liked to mess with your head and in his final novel, he outdid himself.  This is the most disturbing thing I have read all year.

Well, duh.  The premise is that minions of the devil watched and guided the Hitler family from even before the time when Adolf was born.  The narrator was assigned to the infant and tells the family story.

It is demented, as one would expect.  Although I wouldn't have thought as far as two generations of inbreeding.  Really close inbreeding.

Also, I don't know how I picked up a novel about Hitler being guided by the Devil's Minions without understanding that at some point, something terrible was going to happen to a dog.

Mailer pulled a pretty cool stunt in there, too.  He left the Hitler action to cover the coronation of Czar Nicholas II.  Because the minion was assigned to that, too.  What is even cooler is that the narrator said if the reader wasn't interested, he or she could pick up the Hitler action again on page 261.  I sure wanted to hear about Russia.  A shorter detour was later taken to the assassination of Empress Elisabeth of Austria.  The point is that Evil weaves it Evil Web at different times and places.  And it is patient.

I began losing some interest after the death of Alois Hitler, the father.  But the chilling epilogue said that after 1945, the Devil's Minions set up shop in the U.S. and began "investing" in both Israel and the Arabs.

It would not surprise me if that was what Mailer intended to write next.

My Car is a Great Big Liar

For the first time in 94,000 miles, my car flashed her, "Dude, I'm running on fumes" light.  I was only a few blocks from my regular gas station, so I pulled in and filled up.

It was twelve gallons.

My car has a tank that holds 15.5 gallons.  And I know (because I read it in the manual once) that the "Dude, I'm running on fumes" light comes on when you are down to 1.5.  So I know (because I can do math) that I should have required 14 gallons to fill that tank.

I pulled out of the station wondering who was fibbing - the gauge or the gas station.

As it happens, my next errand was to pick up Gibbs.  Doggie Do Rite happens to be next door from my mechanic, so I stopped in and told my story to Bill.

"So,"  I finished.  "Who is fibbing?  Car or gas station?"

"Well," Bill said.  "The way I remember it, gas stations are highly regulated and tested on a regular basis.      The gauge on your car..."

I knew it.  I knew my car was a big faker-drama queen.

Ridiculous Things from this Week

1. USA Network. A commercial with Dick Van Dyke and the letters WWF in the corner.  I thought, "Why is Dick van Dyke promotin the World Wrestling Federation?"  #worldwildlifefederation
2. Internet.  The number of "click on this link"s for "incredibly disturbing photos" of the Ohio animals.  I did not.
3. Noodles & Company, Schaumburg.  One woman is sitting at a table for six, chatting on her cellphone, making notes on her leather-bound pad without so much as a Coke in front of her at the heart of the lunch hour.  Still there when I left.
4. 10:00 p.m. lights out.  10:05 p.m.  Puppy starts squeaking on his squeaky toys.
5. Anne learns that "Dude, seriously" is not a command that puppies understand.

You Can't Pose this Stuff

I tossed that toy up on the bed on the way to the shower.  This is how I found my dog when I got back.

Choosing the Right Puppy Chow

When I adopted Gibbs from Wright-Way, his regular diet was Fromm's puppy food.  High quality stuff but pricey, and worse - not readily available in my local stores.  I could buy it directly from Wright-Way, but that involves driving eight or ten miles and nothing resembling regular retail hours.  So I started to research:

I knew I wanted to feed him a quality product.  Dogfoodadvisor.com was my primary resource.  It looks at bunches of different pet products and reviews them based on the ingredient list.  Then it is open to consumer reviews.  You can search by product name or skip to the "best of" lists.  I looked at the four and five star products.

(Note:  ProPlan, which I recall my vet saying was a perfectly acceptable food when I had my last dog, received only two stars.  Disconcerting since ProPlan cat food is the only thing my cat will eat.  ProPlan Select, however, received three stars.)

Next:  Again, I don't mind paying a bit more, but accessibility is an issue.  I do a lot of online ordering, but I really feel more comfortable knowing I can just swing by the store and pick up a bag of dog food.

I settled on Blue Buffalo Puppy food.  Four star rating, sold on Petango.com and at PetsMart and Petco.   Not cheap, but one of my three resources generally has a decent deal, so I've never paid retail for it.  Gibbs seems to like it and his poop has remained normal (sorry).

However.  After his post-surgical convalescence, Gibbs went back to Doggie Day Care and over did it.  Vomiting and lethargic.  The vet said that Blue Buffalo was a bit rich since he wasn't feeling well and sent me home with some canned food.

Fast forward to yesterday.  After a few very active days, Gibbs was napping yesterday afternoon.  He woke up and tossed his lunch.  I worried that Doggie Day Care plus weekends at the dog park were too much for him.  I called the vet.  She said that while Blue Buffalo is a high quality food, she would look at changing the diet as opposed to worrying about excessive play time.

So.  Back to the drawing board.

What are you feeding your pets?  And how did you come to that decision?

Prohibition, by Ken Burns

I finally finished watching Prohibition, the new Ken Burns film, on the DVR.  It was typically good Burns.  The story is told in three parts:

1. A Nation of Drunkards
2. A Nation of Scofflaws
3. A Nation of Hypocrites

Glad we got that straight.

The most interesting thing to me was how the women's movement and the prohibition movement used each other.  And that when the time came to ditch this law, it was another women's movement that was right out front.  Also, that the institution of an income tax is a huge part of what made Prohibition possible.

We see the urban versus rural perspectives.  We hear the gangster stories.  Burns did make a point of showing the big soup kitchen built in Chicago during the Depression; built by Al Capone.  

Overall, this was totally worth my time to watch.  Last thought:

One of those interviewed at the end made an observation:

It was easier to get a drink during Prohibition than it is now.

Kiva Surprise

One of the fun things about Kiva is that nice little surprise of, "Your loan has been repaid!"  My last loan was made to a lady in Senegal who, instead of repaying in increments, repaid in one lump sum at the end of the lending period.

So I went back online to find a new borrower.  And there are plenty.

I started simply reviewing the list as Kiva has it sorted.  Then I sorted for women.  You might find it unreasonable that I am only want to lend to women, but empowering women is a big part of the reason that I participate and if you don't like it then you can go online and lend some money to a man.
(Incidentally, my other outstanding Kiva loan is to a man.  I wanted to jump in when Kiva started lending in the U.S. and the women in the program were already fully funded.)

Then I looked at different parts of the world.  My first loan was to a lady in Paraguay and the second was a lady in Samoa.  I found several that appeal to me in Cambodia and settled on a lady named Sophat.  Her husband is a teacher and she tends to their farm, planting vegetables to sell for a profit.  Her loan is for the purpose of purchasing a hand tractor to plow the land.

If you are interested in the work Kiva is doing, please visit the website.

P.S.  In the time it took me to write this blog, Sophat was fully funded!

First Groupon

I joined Groupon a few months ago, and just made my first purchase.  At lunch today, a friend asked me about the process, so I figured I ought to write about it.

Prologue:

You register at the website.  Then Groupon informs you, by e-mail, of deals with businesses in the area.  You can also search the website if you are looking for something in particular.  It seems to me that many of the best ones are for restaurants and other personal services.

Chapter 1:

I received an e-mail saying that Asha Salon and Spa has an offer.  One hour massage and half hour facial for $82.

Sold.

Asha is not my regular place by any stretch.  It is a very nice Aveda establishment, but rather pricey for my needs.  This deal was basically 50% off.  The catch with Groupon is that you pay for the service up front.  So there was no way I was waiting more than a billing cycle for my appointments.

After taking my credit card information, Groupon sent me an e-mail with an order number and redemption code.  It had a link to redeem it and was also printable.

Chapter 2:

I remembered that Asha is in Schaumburg, by my office (which is how I found it).  I hate staying in Schaumburg after work, so it was either drive out there on Saturday (rolls eyes) or take a half day off.

I chose the latter.

I went online to redeem the Groupon.  The instructions were specific that the appointment had to be made online - no phone calls to the salon.  Weird.  And worse, the website wasn't working for me.  I logged back on later and it was fine - I think it had something to do with the pop up menus.

Asha's web site asked me to pick three dates and times and they got back to me with which worked, and then I had to confirm the appointment.  All set.

Chapter 3:

I arrived 15 minutes early, per the instructions.  I was helped right away and led to the dressing room.  I had just stepped out the door when the aesthetician came for me.  Both appointments were great.  No one made me like less-than-a-full-fare-client, which I think is important.  (The travel industry hasn't picked up on that trick yet.)

When I checked out, the lady at the register asked for my Groupon certificate.  And that was it.  Pleasure doing business with you.

Note:  Tipping etiquette says that we should base our gratuity of the full price of the service, not the Groupon price.  I was familiar with the practice, but appreciated the reminder from Groupon.  However, by the time I got to the appointment, I had forgotten the full prices.  I knew the total was 50% off, but hadn't remember how much was for which service.  I may have skimped on someone.  Will know better next time.

Final Analysis:

I will certainly use Groupon's service again if the deal is right.  But I am still not inclined to go trolling the website searching for it.