Monday, December 27, 2010

What a Day!

I'm sitting home this evening. I got up at 3 am today to take Mr. W and myself to the Denver airport, expecting to catch a flight to South Carolina to meet up with family. We went through security quickly, got to the gate, and got on the plane smoothly. Then we waited. Fifteen minutes. 30 minutes. Then the captain gets on and tells us we'll have to deplane because there something wrong with one of the engines.

So we get off, and I know that we are now going to miss our connection in Atlanta. Since I'm in the back of the plane, it takes forever to get off, and we find ourselves toward the back of the long line that has formed at the ticket counter, with a measly 2 agents rebooking people. I get about halfway through that line (in 1.5 hours) and then they need to use the gate for another flight, so they tell us to go over to the customer assistance desk, which is close by, but I can't hear anything, because I'm at the back of the line. So I end up toward the end of that line, and wait another 2 hours to get a flight, not to Charleston, but to Columbia, where I can then rent a car and drive the 95 miles. Mr W is a mess at this point, he's still fighting a cold, so he's coughing, and tired, and cranky. He couldn't seem to get past the fact that we did our end of the deal, we showed up on time and got on that plane.

So I've arranged to have us fly to Columbia. Then they delay the initial flight one more time, and that idea is gone. I go back and wait another 20 minutes and they say they can fly us to Atlanta tonight, put us up at their expense, and get us on a plane to Columbia tomorrow morning. That was just too many concessions on my part, I thought, so they ended up rebooking us for Wednesday. I was stymied: there is no way I can get to my destination, despite having paid $960 for two tickets and being at the airport at 5:30 this morning.

I need to look at the tickets again, I have a feeling we have a long layover in Atlanta, but oh well. By the time I've waited in line that long, my brain was all mushy and I just wanted for it to end. We left the airport about 9 hours after we got there, and immediately took a nap when we got home. I couldn't stop saying, "unbelievable!", although in my mind it was "un-f*ing-believable!!!!". Mr W's still sleeping, and I thought I'd get up so I could sleep tonight. I suspect he'll be able to sleep through.

This has been the wackiest family visit effort ever. Both of my sisters in law have injured one of their knees in the last week and are on crutches. My dad was going to come down on his way to Florida, but erred on the side of caution and is taking another route, so we won't see him. I will say this much: it makes me appreciate when things run as they should, and I won't take those times for granted. I was actually thinking after Thanksgiving that my travel had been surprisingly smooth for a long time. It was bound to happen.

So, the dog's in the kennel, we'll figure out something to do tomorrow, and we'll give it another go on Wednesday.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Is there a polite way...

As Christmas approaches, I think a lot of us sort of take stock of what we're thankful for, and perhaps get a little more time to think about things in general. That's been me the last couple of days, for sure.

It's going on three years that I have written about bits of my life in this blog. I appreciate that you have read it, and if you've commented, thanks for that too. It strikes me, though, as still a rather one-way form of communication. To that end, I am curious. Who reads my words? Is there a polite way to ask people who read but don't comment to write a comment to kind of introduce themselves? I feel goofy about asking, yet interested. Of course, feel free to not say anything.

We're going to go to church this evening, and then have nothing really scheduled for tomorrow, except I'm going to make cinnamon rolls and spaghetti and meatballs, and we'll go for a little hike. I thought to myself, "I wonder if this is the last Christmas when I'm planning to color my hair that evening because I've got nothing else going on." Yes, the search for Mr. Right has been on my mind a lot lately. I was downtown shopping on Tuesday and saw couples having fun shopping, where the man was engaged and paying attention to the woman, and it made me hopeful and also struck me as so odd, as though it has been so long since I've been the recipient of that, that I have forgotten how it feels. Boo hoo, poor me. I'll stop right there with that train of thought.

I have so much. I am lucky to be here now, doing pretty much what I want to do. I hope you and yours have a good holiday.

image from here.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Christmas Pumpkin

I have this to say about longevity. I took this picture yesterday, after setting this pumpkin out on the table for the squirrels as an early Christmas present. Where did I get this pumpkin? This is one of the two pumpkins I harvested from my garden. In August. I carved one for Halloween, and the other, this one (I'm kind of embarrassed to say) has been sitting on my table since then. The fact that I can have a pumpkin sit around on my table for that long without anyone mentioning it or complaining about it is one of the nice things about living alone.

Isn't it amazing that it would last this long? I was going to carve it, but didn't get around to it. Then I was going to bake it, but reasoned that there probably wouldn't be much of the good stuff, as this is a carving pumpkin, not a pie pumpkin. So it sat. And sat. When I finally got around to picking it up, I wasn't sure if the bottom would drop out, but it looks the very same as when it was picked. I was surprised it didn't rot.

So, bon apetit, squirrels. And Merry Christmas.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Christmas Week Rainbow



There was a magnificent rainbow on display this morning as I took Mr W to his day care. These pictures are (obviously) taken from my car. It was a screamer of a rainbow, too. Its ends brightened and faded, but it spent a lot of time being a whole rainbow. Mr W and I agreed that it was very cool to see the rainbow in front of the foothills.

In other news, I had a tech come out and look at a problem we've been having on a piece of equipment. "Been having" as in this is the third time its happened and my frustration at not being able to do my work was obvious. Also, I was annoyed that we have a new company servicing this equipment, instead of the people that manufactured the thing. My hopes were not high for this visit, and he was taking forEVER.

And you know what? I think he sussed out what the problem was, and furthermore, it's probably something I was doing. Damn!! The thing's got a cover that flips up and down and you're supposed to turn these screws to get everything tightened down. Lo and behold, I have not been tightening the screws enough, and we think that's led to the thing not working right. So it's not something that needed to be fixed per se, but rather an adjustment on my part. We wouldn't have figured it out unless the guy was as thorough as he was. I'm looking forward to getting up and running on this machine again.

Thinking about Christmas


I was thinking the other day how this is shaping up to be a good Christmas. I'm sure I'll feel the loss of loved ones at some point in the celebrating; it seems to sneak up on me at these family-oriented times. Aside from the finding-Mr.-Right-for-me thing, I'm pleased with my life.

Along the lines of appreciating what I have, I ran across this post from the blog of the radio show On Being, with Krista Tippett. She's got it going on, and explores topics that for whatever reason really resonate with me. In general, she interviews people who are religious without saying they are, you know? People who are living their values, and people who are thinkers about that kind of thing.

So, the link is about something called a devotional exercise this last week before Christmas. It has WONDERFUL poems, which really resonated with me, like this one by Derek Walcott:

“Love after Love”
by Derek Walcott

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.


There's a little exercise for each day this week. I think it's worth reading the poems if nothing else.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Sick Day

Mr. W is home sick this morning, so I am home as well. I suppose there's never a good time to take time off of work. I've got a bunch of stuff to do at work today, so mulled over making him go to school anyway. But he's got a slight fever, which means he might be infectious, and I hate the idea of parents sending sick kids to school for the parent's own convenience.

I'm lucky to have a pretty healthy kid. He's not been prone to getting many colds, which I think sometimes makes him a fussy patient when he is feeling poorly (just not used to the idea). We're sitting here watching episodes of Star Wars Clone Wars (fyi: the general is the bad guy - just sayin'). I'll take Mr. W's temperature again at lunch time, and we'll see if he can do the afternoon at school. If not, that's OK.

Meanwhile, I plan to do some cooking, and... I don't know what else. I'll need to go to the office later (kids under 16 aren't allowed in the labs at work) to submit my time card. Knowing me, I'll need to feel like I "got something done" today. Maybe I'll get the garbage disposer installed...

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Happy Birthday, Bob

I spend probably too much time on Facebook. It's been great fun for me to get back in touch with old friends, and is useful for keeping in touch with family. One thing FB does is to tell you when your friends' birthdays are. Today there was a little notice saying I had two friends with birthdays. It is the birthday of my graduate advisor, the person responsible for getting me into graduate school this last time. She definitely took a chance on me, and I am grateful for that.

It's also the birthday of another influential person, Bob. If I hadn't met Bob when I was a senior in college, looking for a Biology class to fill one more requirement, I might not have even pursued a PhD. It's funny how you meet people in life who, as you look back, you see that your life went in a particular direction after that.

I enrolled in a course called Animal Behavior. Bob was in this class, as was a guy named Phil, and the three of us were education majors. We often worked together, and these two non-traditional students really opened my eyes to some possibilities in life. They had both returned to school to finish their degrees, and had lived some. I was a 22 year old inertia-driven student who wasn't so sure she wanted to jump right into a teaching job after she got done with her degree.

Bob was/is passionate about the outdoors: nature, photography, the environment. Passionate. Discussions with him led to my going to graduate school (the first time) to study the behavior of juvenile bald eagles. He put in a good word for me when I applied for a summer job where he worked, and later I got a full time job at this same park. Working at that park led me to the desire to return to school to study native plant genetics, which I eventually did do for my PhD. He was the best man in my wedding, as he and the x were quite close, and we and Bob and his wonderful wife Denise did a lot of fun stuff when we lived in that part of the world. Yup, Bob was a big influence.

So, Happy Birthday, Bob. I wish you many more.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

In my best interest

I've been thinking lately about the things I have learned from the people I have dated since I was divorced. The list is long, and I think it is probably inevitable that we learn things about life and ourselves from the people we come in contact with in our lives. Introspection is a tricky thing with me, though. If I spend too long on it, it's not helpful, but if I do it right, I get these little bursts of insight from time to time.

Last spring I met B online and we dated for a few months. B is very athletic, and I wanted to be more like that. It was a great summer for going camping again, and hiking more often. I rafted for the first time in decades, and mountain biked for the first time. The best part was that it started to occur to me that I might like to go hiking on my own. Well, with the dog, who LOVES to hike, especially if there's water. That was an important bit of it, that the thought came to me saying I might want to get up early and walk for a few hours to get out and enjoy the scenery, work my body, exercise my dog, etc.

On a related note, my brother and SIL include Spin classes in their exercise routine, and now I do the same. I can't say as I've HAD an exercise routine in a long time, maybe ever, but for some reason, maybe that Mr. W is easy to bring along, and the time of the class is right, I've done it for the last 6 weeks, and hope to keep doing it. I've even, as I mentioned the other day, gotten a third day of exercise in by going back to the gym.

Also, did you see the story on a study that suggested (although they don't know the mechanism) that a daily aspirin, started at around age 45, showed promise in preventing certain types of cancer? That's a little fuzzy, but enough for me to have bought a bottle of aspirin, and I now take one alongside my vitamin and fish oil capsules.

So what is my motivation here? I often feel like I'm being pursued by the same early death that claimed my mom and sister. Doing what I can to live a healthy life goes a long way in easing my mind that I gave it my best shot. But this exercise stuff, I must tell you, makes me feel good. Simple as that. When I am finished, I am composed, even-keeled, I just feel good. So far, that has been a big part of the motivation to make the time to exercise, I'm just a little bummed out that it took so long for me to realize it. I'm glad it wasn't too late for me to realize the benefits.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Temporary Setback

There I was, minding my own business last night, when I was beset upon by a bout of food poisoning. After a lovely day, I ended up with a frequently-interrupted night's sleep, after which I got up for a bit, drank some water, and went back to bed for another couple of hours. The dog was looking at me oddly, but is supportive in her Sally-ish way. Staying close.

Thank the gods for Immodium. I know there's times when you don't want to use it, but after the offending food is, um, gone, it makes a big difference. It's a weird feeling, having this happen when I'm by myself. On the one hand, I don't really want anyone around, but on the other, it'd be nice to wring some sympathy out of a supportive partner. I know I could have called someone if it came to that. Heck, I could have driven myself to the ER if necessary.

Today I feel better. I ate a small bowl of cereal, and am sipping on some coffee, here at almost noon, and things seem to be staying put in a good way. I need to cook a meal for some folks at church, and it is (I'm so sorry to report to the people east of here that read the blog) going to be 50 and sunny today, so would like to take Sally out for a short hike, if I feel up to it. Otherwise, I think it's a pull-out-the-knitting and take it easy sort of day.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Great Disposer Replacement - Update

Well, the thing is in my house. And I did go back to the hardware store where the very helpful clerk got me set up with lots of plastic pipe.

But I have not started.

You know what I did today? I had a really great day - no regrets.

I went to the gym and worked out, which is unheard of for me - I hope it's the start of a trend. How have I gone so long in my adult life without realizing the mental/emotional benefits of moderately strenuous exercise a few times a week? It's like no one told me, although really it's that I wasn't listening. I've been taking Spin classes twice a week, and the goal is to do a third day of working out on the elliptical rider.

I attended a clinic on beginning snowshoeing at our local REI. Who knew there was enough to talk about to fill an hour and a half? Very interesting, and they rent shoes and poles, so that is definitely on my list to try this winter.

And I had lunch with dear friend D, and we did a little shopping and had coffee, too. I got home, took the dog to the dog park, went to the library, and THEN went to the hardware store. I sort of felt bad that I didn't get to it today, but who cares? There's no one lined up to use the sink, so I'll give it a go tomorrow.

Do no harm

I'm not all that good at home repair or improvement projects. I'll figure out some kind of band-aid type fix for as long as I can, and then maybe try to fix it, or have someone come in. Case in point is my kitchen sink. For the last, oh, I don't know, maybe year, it's been leaking. My solution? Put a pan under the leak, which gets emptied daily. Somewhere along this time, the disposal stopped working, so I've been trying to not let any food go down that sink. The other day, the sink faucet seems to have developed a slow leak.

I guess it's time to do something about this. I've looked at the plumbing book from the library, and it doesn't look too hard to replace an existing disposal. I'll get some washers to fix the leaky faucet today, and have to replace the part under the sink that's leaking too. I went to Home Depot last night, thinking two things: 1) nothing shouts "I'm single!" like going to HD by yourself on a Friday night, and 2) there should be ample help around, because no one shops on Friday nights. Well, I managed to walk in the store, find the disposals, pick one out, and pay for my purchase with the self-check register, all without one HD employee talking to me. Not one.

After I finished, I went up to the girl who was staffing the self-check registers and told her this, and she said, "I'm so sorry! Can we help you?" And I said, "No, I'm going to go to Ace now, and get the rest of the parts I need. You people need to circulate more instead of standing around talking."

So I went to Ace, which is closer to my house anyway, and the nice older guy sold me a kit, which doesn't quite work, but I'll go back today and get the right pieces. Wish me luck, I'll post pictures and hopefully get this done today. In a flash of brilliance, I remembered I should wash the sinkful of dishes BEFORE I get started, just in case this takes a couple of days.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Tis the $eason

We had our company Christmas party last night. Although I work for the CDC, I'm a contractor, and so the contracting company is technically my employer. The food was good, the drinks flowed, and it was fun to chat with people. I had Mr W that night, so I didn't really think twice about bringing him with me. And he was content to read for an hour, and when the food still wasn't there, play games on my phone until the food got there and again after people had finished. All told, he sat there for three hours.

Now some people will argue that seeing kids play with electronic devices is somehow proof that "kids these days" can't sit down and have dinner with a bunch of grown ups. I'd counter that, in Mr W's case, he could, but he doesn't have to, he's got the device, so why not let him use it?

After we were done with dinner, the head of the company got up and said some words about how the year was, and how much they appreciated our work, and that sort of thing. He and the other two people from the company passed out a few awards, and then he got on this train of thought about how having a supportive spouse or partner really is the thing makes it possible for us all to do a good job. I was politely listening up to this point, but heard this, and turned to my friend and said quietly, "I disagree, strongly". I don't think he meant anything by his remarks, they were just off the cuff, but geez.

So he sits back down and we finish our dessert (cheesecake with bits of white chocolate in it, btw) and he says, from the head of the table, "I've never seen a boy behave so well at one of these things, so here is $50 to wish you a Merry Christmas", and hands my kid a $50 bill. Mr W looked up as soon as he started speaking, and at first didn't get it, but then stood up, took the money, and said thank you. He kept looking at me, saying, "Really?". I was surprised too, and told him that on our way out, I wanted him to go up to the guy, look him in the eye, shake his hand and say thank you again. And Mr W did, without hesitation, and I that makes me really proud of him. I'll take my mommy taxes of 10% to savings and 5% to charity, but he's still got a hefty chunk of fun money, and the possible ways to spend it will keep him occupied for a few days.

In other news, I did take my profile down on Match, and am taking a break. Going to turn my attention outward, to interact with real people. Not sure what I'm going to do this weekend, there's lots of holiday stuff going on, and Mr W's with his dad. I'm tempted to go down to the botanic garden in Denver and see the lights there, as Mr W would be ho-hum about it, and I think I'd really enjoy it.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Huh?

To enlighten those of you lucky dogs who are already in a relationship and aren't familiar with the workings of Match.com, I will share the following humorous anecdote. And, I am a little envious of you, btw. OK, so on the site, if you are a paying member, you can send and receive emails, and also see who has taken a look at your profile. It is that last feature of Match that I think is so addictive - "who's viewed me?"

Everyone, though, can "wink" for free. The way it works is that if I (and I don't use winks, I'd rather show I'm interested by risking whatever and sending an email) find someone attractive, then I can wink at them. This tells them I'm interested, and then supposedly (hopefully?) he emails back and we live happily ever after.

So, I've gotten a few winks, some from people who haven't even looked at my profile. But I got a wink from a guy yesterday, who is local, and wrote a good profile. Maybe this wasn't the right way to go, but I sent him an email whose subject line was "winks are lame!". The email itself was one sentence: "I challenge you to write a haiku about the holidays, instead".

My thinking was that if this person would take the challenge, then for sure he'd be someone I'd at least like to have coffee with. Yes, it was a bit sassy, and maybe pushy. He responded only a couple of minutes later, which is unusual for the way it works on Match. His response was:

"Sorry, I don't speak Japanese"

OK, he surprised me on that one, and I still don't know if he was serious or not. His profile has several pictures of dirt bikes and snow mobiles, and is it possible that someone would not know what a haiku was? But he knew it was Japanese. Your thoughts?

*Sigh* I'm ready to take a bit of a break from Match. A week, I think. I did email someone yesterday, who seems really interesting, but has one big red flag for me (he's trying to quit smoking). But, I haven't heard anything, and he can email even if I take my profile down. The thought of being given a break from Match has made me a little excited, so it's probably time.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Ahem

OK, so yesterday's post was a necessary cathartic and I'm doing much better this morning, thanks. I guess I will leave it up for a while, although it embarrasses me a little. The last part, though, I meant. My cheap two-cents' worth pop psychology is that this guy is simply not ready. He's not over his divorce.

Moving on, then.

I did some Christmas shopping last night, online of course. Mr W made a list that says, in two places, "other things". To his credit, the kid has perused several catalogs and checked off his picks for his awesome aunties, and may be experiencing some list fatigue. So, I've taken a little bit of liberty with his list. This has not always gone well in the past.

Suffice it to say that I've purchased some "educational" toys that were less than hits. That's OK, I think that gift giving should be kind of a two way thing, in that it's OK to buy things you think the recipient would like. The recipient isn't obligated to love the gift, though.

Anyway, I did buy his most-asked-for item about a week ago, and it's been delivered. When I said the name of it, "Bakugan Draganoid Colossus", the ladies at the dog park (none of whom have 9 year old boys) made me repeat it several times.

Here's where I have strayed off the list. Below, see the more engineering-sort of Lego set, from the Technic series. They're supposed to be more realistic in terms of pistons and gears and such. We'll see how he likes it.


These are Snap Circuits. There are a bunch of projects that involve the kid putting the pieces in the right order to make things like a doorbell, AM radio, etc.

Those are from the geek-mom in me. I'm always a sucker for an educational toy. I'm about done, but was dismayed that the video game I was waiting to buy, is sold out for the moment, and I hope I can get it before Christmas. I was waiting for an Amazon gift card to come in the mail, and in that time, the game sold out. Grrr.

Anyway, today's a better day - fresh start and that sort of thing. Work has been wacky, but that's another post.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Timing

To the guy I had coffee with on Saturday:

Well, it's been two days and change now, and although you asked if you could keep emailing me, and I said yes AND gave you my phone number, I've not heard bupkiss from you. Darn it, too, because I've been thinking for the last two days how we had some potential, and that you were someone I'd like to get to know better.

Alas, there's been no communication. Part of me hates leaving it in the guy's hands, but that's kind of how this ritual works, and I'm usually OK with that because it lets you either show you're interested or not. But next time? Next time you engage in this exciting, sometimes anxiety-provoking, uncomfortable process of trying to meet a new partner, would you please either be interested or be not interested?

Don't waste my valuable time by dribbling out your attention until it falls to nothing. I will not chase you when you throw me scraps; that defeats the purpose.

I got a clue when I emailed you and you said you "had been swamped". Oh my, yes. So busy. Well, of course, meeting an exciting new person pales in comparison to working, getting your car fixed and the day to day drudgery that life often dishes up, doesn't it? It takes so long to write the two or three sentences you graced me with per email. Saying you've been busy is the lamest excuse for not bothering to communicate. Ever. Don't use it, OK? Grow a pair and just say you don't think it's a good match.

And, to quote the words I use when I'm not interested, "I wish you the best of luck in your search".
LindaCO

PS Here's what I told myself this morning:

One of these days, a man will walk, literally, or figuratively, into my life. I will be amazed when I talk to this man and find out all the things we have in common. I will smack my forehead repeatedly when I think about how this person and I are such a great fit in terms of temperament, goals, and lifestyle. I will bore my friends with tales about how much this man "gets" me. How he laughs at my jokes, is incredibly handsome and witty, loves his family, takes pride in his job, and how we can talk for hours about all sorts of things. I will get down on my knees and thank the powers that be for sending this person into my life, as I have never felt a love so deep and generous before. We'll build a life together, surrounded by friends and family, and together become this other thing, this thing that is more than the sum of our parts. That, THAT, Mr. Coffee Shop man, is what I am talking about.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

This year's tree

My holiday decorating is nothing to write home about, really. My sister's family has all the ornaments I grew up with, and the x kept all the ornaments from when we were married because his aunt made them. That first Christmas that I was on my own (the divorce becoming final a scant 9 days before Christmas) I bought a bunch of cheap plastic snowflakes, and a bunch of those satin ball ornaments for my tree. That was pretty much all that was on the tree that year, besides lights.

But I hit the after-Christmas sales that year for ornaments, and have done this most years since. Paying $3 is a lot more palatable to me than $6, and there's usually a few things that catch my eye, although by the time I get to the stores, things have been picked over pretty good. Over time, the proportion of snowflakes and satin balls has gone down relative to the ornaments I have purchased myself.

If I had to, I don't think I could name more than a third of what I have wrapped up carefully in tissue paper. So when I unwrapped each one today, I said something like "Oh, I love this one!". It was like they were new again. It's important for me to have a tree, and with it establish some kind of holiday constancy for Mr W, even if we don't have many other Christmas traditions. That is, unless you count the tradition of him saying, "is (name of a gift that he wants) in this package?" And I always give an emphatic YES! Then I tell him it's pretty much all socks, underwear, and pajamas (the Christmas gift trifecta) so he should be grateful for what he gets. Actually, I do tell him that last part, even if he's not thrilled with the present, he has to say thanks.

In other news, my coffee date went well. He made me laugh, and although I can't remember about exactly what, I'd sure like to see him again. We had some common ground in terms of the kind of work we do, and he's got kids, and some other stuff as well. Way too soon to tell anything, but it was good to get out and meet someone nice. I've gotten more emails this time around on Match, and none of them were people that I thought I would be a good fit with.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Little Circs

Disclaimer: This post contains a bunch of knitspeak.

I started these at the airport when I was traveling for Thanksgiving. The yarn came from Michael's or Hobby Lobby, and I wasn't sure if I'd like it, especially when I started the ribbing at the top. It was a bit splitty and a bit fuzzy, but for a plain stockinette sock (no pattern; CO 60 sts on a 1 1/2 needle), it is just fine. Can't beat the price, which I think was about $4-5 a ball.

You'll notice that these are knit on a 9" circular. They take a bit of getting used to, as they are pretty small in your hands. However, you can FLY on a plain stockinette sock. I think that if I had to do lots of ribbing, or anything with a chart in the pattern, these would not be the needle to use; double pointed needles would be necessary. But I love how I can just go and go on these, and the sock appears. I did have to use dpns on the heel flap, and then went back to the circular needle after I had decreased back down to 60 sts.

In other news, I'm supposed to meet someone new tomorrow, that I met on Match. Our communication has been sporadic, and I don't have any strong feelings either way on what I want, so we'll see how it goes. He seems like a good guy, has kids, is local, is even a lab geek like myself.