Susskins Central Dispatch

Heading to China.

In an effort to stem the usual Spring tides in our basement, we’re installing a sump pump. Naturally, we’ve put it off until the last possible minute.

The afternoon was spent with a large Bosch Roto-hammer, a strange drill/jackhammer hybrid. Lots of sweating, some significant swearing, and a multitude of angry muscles. We’re both going to be sore tomorrow.

But we’re through the concrete, and down to soil. If you look at the photo closely, you might be able to see the groundwater at the edges. Oh, yeah, baby. Get ready to get pumped out of our basement.

We’ve got digging to do, followed by sump placement and backfilling. But the real back-breaker is done. Oh, and bless you, those who poured the original slab. No rebar, just wire mesh. Thank goodness. But then screw you, too. Rocks. Lots of rocks.

Like every other inch of land on this lot. Damn it.

But not surefooted.

What you see here is Fred’s first attempt at making me a swift. (It’s the white platter at top left, with the wire hangers sticking out all around. The thing at bottom right is a yarn winder.) A swift is a mechanism for holding a hank of yarn (a large circle of yarn; think of a coiled garden hose,) for winding. Ever seen a person holding yarn stretched between their two hands, while another person winds the yarn into a ball? The holder was acting as a human swift.

Anyway, Fred’s swift (Mark I) worked, but was kinda wonky and hard to deal with. Hanks come in different sizes, and this one was a pain to adjust. A lot of bending of the hanger wire, and fidgeting. And sooner or later, it was guaranteed to break.

So we came up with a different plan; here’s Mark II.

It’s two of those expandable coffee mug racks, laying on a lazy susan. Total cost: $5. A new swift generally starts at about $60, so this is a significant savings. Happy day!

Yes, you ARE going to get more yarn blogging. Suffer.

Like a pub crawl, but with less inebriation.

Went yarn shopping today, and hit four yarn shops that I hadn’t visited before. Here’s my thoughts on the places. I don’t have a clear favorite, because they all had something to recommend them.

The Yarnery had the friendliest staff I’ve ever seen. Every now and then, one would ask if I needed help. It sounds intrusive, but it wasn’t. (And I’m the kind of person who prefers to be ignored by salespeople.) Quirky store in an old house. Close-out yarn in the kitchen! Nice selection.

Borealis was the opposite. No-one said boo to me until I came up to the register to pay for some sock yarn. (I’m fine with that, but I can see how it would be off-putting to others.) Kind of a lopsided inventory. Heavy on crazy Cherry Hill Farms yarn for some reason. Light on simple yarns. But the back room had some lovely sock yarn. Odd hippie vibe to the place.

Crafty Planet was big and open, and not at all like any other yarn shop I’ve been in. Half devoted to odd vintage/reproduction fabric. The other half was full of really straightforward yarn, with LOTS of Brown Sheep, including some varieties I hadn’t seen before. I like that. I like Brown Sheep’s various products. Cool self-striping sock yarns from Cascade, I think. And lots of superwash, which makes me happy. Life’s too short to handwash all your socks.

Double Ewe was tiny, and tucked away in an odd zigzag shaped strip-mall, stuffed in the corner and almost impossible to see. Friendly people, and a fairly small inventory that seemed to be designed for me. Plenty of superwash, some really nice synthetics, and most of it at VERY reasonable prices.

Of the bunch, I would put Borealis at the bottom, because so much of their inventory is too specialized, and poorly organized. (And the lighting is terrible.) But they have a great selection of certain types, especially if you’re into socks and don’t mind handwashing.

Crafty Planet and Double Ewe would be “you like it or you don’t” shops. Either they hit your sweet spot, or they miss entirely. They don’t have enough variety to attract everyone. I’m fine with that. They attracted me.

The Yarnery seems like a great all-purpose yarn shop, and certainly pays attention to the clientele. The stock is nicely organized and kept filled, and clearly marked. They even had my Cascade Pastaza blue-black colorway that I like so much. Several skeins of Lambs Pride Kiwi, too! (Love that color.) Parking sucks, though, what with them being on Grand Avenue.

Your mileage and all that, of course.

Beaker has always been one of my favorites.

For an explanation of what just happened, go here. (Yes, I know I’m way behind the curve. I never claimed to be on the cutting edge. Hell, I still dress like I did in the Eighties.)

I’m knitting on the bus!

At the end of the experiment you will be…minced.

Just got done playing Portal. It’s a weird puzzle/first person shooter hybrid game from Valve, the makers of the incredible Half Life games. It’s based on the Half Life engine, and I think may have started out as a fan created project. (Update: It was actually a student project, according to the in-game commentary from Valve.)

At any rate, it’s a helluva lot of fun, albeit short. I completed the basic game in about three and a half hours. There are little hidden things, and some advanced maps, so I’ve still got some time to play. But even if there weren’t, I’d be plenty happy. Twenty bucks well spent.

You’re a test subject, forced to navigate through various rooms. The exit of each test chamber takes you to an elevator, which opens in the next chamber. The puzzles are built around the Portal mechanism, a gun which shoots ports into the walls and floors. There’s one blue portal, and one orange. If you go into the blue portal, you come out the orange, and vice versa.

It can be extremely disorienting, especially when you come out of a portal upside down. You can also have one portal on the ceiling, and the other on the floor beneath it, creating an infinite loop. So you keep falling and falling, getting faster and faster.

Fred watched briefly, and gave up in total confusion.

While you’re being tested, a rather psychotic computer voice eggs you on, promises cake at the end of testing, and says helpful things like, “I’m afraid this level is impossible.”

Strange, dark game with some really quirky humor. Highly recommended. PC only, though. I don’t believe there’s a Mac version.

Those jerks at Omega Tau are going down.

Looking for a good Fraternity project while going to school? How about building your own half-scale Panzer tank?

“I took it home, driving it around in this white picket fence neighborhood and one of the neighbors called the cops on us,” said Foster, a Kettering University student who began building the tank from scratch nearly two years ago.

“(Police) came and they just told us to head back home, but they were also laughing at it because they had never seen anything like that before.”

That’s officially awesome. Way better than sitting on a dilapidated couch on the front porch, shooting bottle rockets at traffic. He did a great job, too. It looks intimidating, and it even sounds like what you’d expect a tank to sound like.

Via Slashdot.

Straights beware.

This is the second-gayest music video I’ve ever seen.

Yes, he’s a former gay porn star. While he’s got a ways to go in shedding that past, he’s not afraid to work that angle getting attention.

And for those that are brave and curious, here’s the GAYEST MUSIC VIDEO EVER.