Branches on my Living Room Wall

The walls in my apartment are basically plaster over concrete.  It makes it really difficult to hang anything without causing some significant, lose-the-deposit kind of damage.  But this is a big wall that just can't be left bare.  Vinyl decals are perfect for the job. 

I used to have big, red poppies on the wall, until they started to lose their stickiness and their petals started to fall.  I wasn't into that much veracity regarding their fresh cut flower realism.  I'm hoping this one lasts a little longer, since the pieces are all smaller and lighter.  This has been up since last July, and so far I've only lost one piece.

Both the poppies and this branch set are from Ikea.  But now vinyl decals are just about everywhere.  Even Home Depot carries Blik decals (love the Space Invaders).  And holy crap - I see they've just added a whole line of classic Nintendo game themed decals.  How fun is that?

And there are all kinds of people on Etsy doing really neat things with vinyl.  Elephannie is one of my favourites, with lots of pretty and whimsical designs.

Trifecta

It's cute, it's geeky, and it's knitting.  It's today's 365 pic.



I stopped in at my friend Jen's house and stole her baby, and then felt guilty while she ran around and made dinner.  I was assured that I was an immense help just by being a baby holder.  Not much more done on the scarf in the picture, which is unfortunate, as it's 'due' for a birthday on Friday.  Well, that's not gonna happen. 

Cat Toes and Radios

Today I got a nice big chunk of knitting done.  Not that I have a picture to prove it.  No, knitting pictures come few and far between when it's dark when I leave and dark when I get home. 

But the reason I got lots of knitting done is related to my car stereo.  I have a 2008 Ford Focus, which comes with the nifty new "Sync" system.  I can plug in my iPod and use my voice to select songs, playlists, podcasts all using simple spoken commands.  It really is a nice setup, and great for my frequent 3 hour road trips, preventing me from having to click around to find what I want.

(Now, this is not an exciting story.  I invite you to skim.  Really.  I will share a picture of furry kitty toes to break up the monotony some of the way through here, too.  Promise.)

Sadly, a few weeks ago, I plugged in my little iPod one morning, and ... nothing.  It didn't recognize the little guy, no matter how many times I restarted and unplugged and plugged in again.  I checked my cable, the pins, the iPod.  Nothing seemed to be wrong.  I hopped on the Sync support site and found that some people had solved the problem by downloading and installing the updates available on the site.  So, I got my little geek stick (USB drive), downloaded, and plugged it into the car.  Nothing.  As far as the car was concerned, there was nothing plugged in.

I called the dealership, and dropped the car off one morning.  Came back at the end of the day, after they'd ordered a part, replaced a cable and failed to fix the problem.  They didn't know how.  They said they'd call "the hotline" and get back to me.  Today, a week and a half later, I go in again - I'm told it'll be half an hour, and so I run over during my lunch.  Two hours later - "Um, when can I have my car back please?"  Their laptop is messed up, and they have to call the hotline again to get them to fix the laptop, and then they can recalibrate and reset the system, which will take half an hour.  But they don't know how long until the hotline gets back to them.  So I leave.  They will call me when they can fix it.

We interrupt this boring story for kitty toes:


Carry on.


As I drive to knitting group tonight, I decide to give it another shot with the geek stick.  Nothing.  But I spot a 'Master Reset' in the menu tree, and try that.  After some grumbling and thinking, the system is reset and it now recognizes my iPod and seems to work fine.  I had to redo my phone/bluetooth setup, but voice commands are working fine.

So what I really want to say here is - car companies really shouldn't introduce fancy new features in their cars without making sure their service centres know how to fix said fancy new features.

Sorry for the boring story.  But if I have helped one poor Sync owner, then it's been worth it.  Sniff. 



I'll call the dealership tomorrow and teach them how to fix it.

365 Days In a Row

So, yeah. It's been forever since I blogged. Again. But I have been busy on the net in another way. I signed up for Project365, a personal challenge on Flickr. I've committed to taking and posting a picture every day for 365 days. In a row.

So far, so good. Not every day is a great pic, but it's been keeping my eyes open, looking for new photo opportunities and new ways of looking at things every day.

This little mosaic shows my first 30 days of pictures. Yes, I foresee a lot of fibre and knitting and cat pictures this year. My life is generally just not so fascinating that it earns a picture every day. But I'm learning more about what my camera can do and how I can use Photoshop to fix and enhance. It's a fun personal challenge, and I'm hoping it's something I can stick with right up to New Year's Eve.

I'm enjoying having a little reminder of every day, even if it wasn't a special one.

Today's picture:

I stopped in at Chapters on the way home and bought my first ever self-help book, "What Should I Do With My Life?" by Po Bronson, which comes recommended by a friend. We'll see if I come out knowing what I should be when I grow up. If I grow up. It doesn't seem all that appealing, really.

I may also have picked up Interweave Knits. Maybe. But I resisted the sugar and caffeine trap at the entrance, so I did pretty well.