help me get an ipod

Help me get an ipod. Maybe get yourself and ipod or some iTune money. You know you want to.
free ipod

It is really easy. Just complete an offer- I signed up for Blockbuster.com, get 5 friends to complete offers and viola, you get an ipod.

OK so show some love and sign up for an offer.

I started my reading list. It is on the side bar, check it out. I know that adding a reading list isn't exactly rocket science but it was one of the things that I wanted to do.

My non-fiction selection of the week is really good. It is about math and infinity. Math and numbers are so universal. Unlike reading a book which lends itself to different interpretations for different readers math is concrete. A number has a concrete meaning that is the same everywhere and to everyone.

The second fishnet is getting close to being done. I have to knit a couple more inches and then do the ribbing at the top. Then they will both be ready to stitch up the seam and block.

My big accomplishment today was going through some of my disks with pictures stored on them and "recycling" pictures I didn't need anymore.
I had to keep this picture, of course.

yo quiero taco bell 

I was knitting along on Barb's other fishnet and I don't have stoppers for the ends of my needles when I am not working on something. I guess the knitting tote had been toted around too much that week and the fishnet fell off the needle. Due to the "window pane" stitch I was unable to figure out how not to have to frog it. So I started over but they are coming along.

I am thinking of keeping track of my 2005 reading list on this page somewhere. I won't get to it tonight or anything but I'll add it soon.

Today my credit card company called to offer me life insurance. They told me they would give me $15 in free gas. The thing that gets me is I told them less than a week ago that I wasn't interested in their offer. I mean do they think that they will wear me down if they keep calling. From now on I am just not going to be home when they call.


Pimp my Ride- Ancient Greek Style 

Kitty chase

Lately I have been concerned about the amount of activity my cats get. Mostly I am concerned about Snoop because he seems to get the least amount of activity. Lucy will chase the toy mice and play with all the toys but Snoop doesn't do that as often.
Anyway I had been thinking about trying to get Snoop and Lucy to go on walks. So I went out and bought them collars today. Snoops is one of those harness collars and Lucys is just your standard kitty collar with a bell.
The bell is where the comedy comes in. So I put on this collar with a bell and Lucy begins going crazy trying to chase herself and get this bell. It was crazy. Like a dog chasing its tail but better than that because she was actually trying to catch her neck.
The "walk" was unsuccessful. Snoop was kind of nervous so we just kind of smelled the outside a little and watched this squirrel who had managed to get a hold of an entire bagel. I tried to take a picture but the squirrel made a getaway across the alley before I could get a good shot.

Is it really free?

I have this theory as to why we have had a realatively mild winter in Minnesota this year. I think it is because of my broken heat valve. I have to have my windows open in my condo to keep it from being 85 degrees in here. With all the windows open I can get it down to 75 degrees. But clearly all that heat from my house is going outside and keeping it to warm to snow or anything else. Perhaps everyone who is just wishing for the white stuff could call my condo association manager and complain.

I am reading The Broke Diaries by Angela Nissel and it is hilarious. She writes these diary entries about all of her misadventures of a broke college student. OK some of the things she goes through are hilarious. I feel a little like it is a flashback to college. I have been out 6 years so some of the things are like distant memories. The credit card companies that give out "free" stuff to get you to apply for their card is pretty funny when she discovers that the "free" mints are going to cost her much more in interest and finance charges.
I almost fell for the "free" thing gimick last year at the winter carnival when I had forgotten to where a hat. I could have bought a hat from a tent at the winter carnival for $25 or I could have gotten a "free" NHL hockey team hat. In the end I realized that filling out the application would require standing in the cold for five more minutes without a hat so I decided to continue trying to wrap my scarf around my head while I walked closer to the car. Now that I can knit I will never be without headwear again.
So here is the picture of my moms knitting bag. I got her a fun thick yarn that she can make a thick chunky scarf out of and I got her that sugar and spice yarn so she can make potholders or something. The bag is totally cute. I made it myself and it has two little pockets on the inside for needles. The one I saw at the crafty planet had pockets on the outside but I like inside pockets. That way it is much harder to lose your needles if you bump up aganist some thing or set you bag down. If they fall out perhaps they will fall to the inside of the bag first rather than the floor of the bus.


Mom's knitting bag 

I have cute pictures of the present I made/bought for my Mom's birthday. She knows what I am gettting her cause I asked her if she would like that so that I wouldn't get her something she totally hated and wanted to return or regift. If she does regift though I hope she regifts it to me cause I totally love some of the stuff I bought her. But I know that my mom reads my blog and would like to be a little suprised about her present.

Snoop has now figured out how to eat all of his food when I am at home so that he can have more food. He meows this pathetic little meow and walks over to his empty bowl. When I am away at work he is perfectly capable of rationing his food to last the entire day.

Sound money

That is the name of the show that I listen to on MPR that gets my brain thinking about money every week. Lately it is about this social security thing. I am not sure how many Gen-Xers Bush talks with on a daily basis but I think that this whole thing that he is on to sell an overhall of the Social Security Program is way too much. I think we are wasting a lot of money for him to get the word out about something that isn't really a crisis.
It probably sounds like a crazy idea and perhaps a little obvious but first off stop taking money out of Social Security to pay for other stuff.
Second off everyone in other generations knew that Social Security was just a buffer and you had to save money in addition to that. They usually worked at the same company for most of their careers and were able to build up some money for retirement. So my advice to the people my age that Bush is trying to target with this reform is to start saving.
Our generation is different and many of us have come out of college and worked at several different jobs before finding the perfect one. We are targeted by credit card companies all the time and many of us have stacked up debt more than we have worried about saving.
Just making a small adjustment in spending can make a big difference over time.
But really if you don't have a 401k or a job that gives you that then start putting money away in an IRA cause it is a start and it is better than nothing.

I wish that I brought my camera to work yesterday. There was a great photo-op but of course all I can do is learn from this lesson and bring my camera along on my daily travels more often.

Speaking of photos here is a picture of those fishnets I keep talking about. I finally finished one and was able to start the other one. These have been a little bit of fun because there is a different stitch to learn and well there are two of them so now that I have finished one I have to make the other one in order for them to be useful.

2-needle fishnets 

In other knitting news my mother has decided to take up knitting so I am thinking her birthday present needs to involve a couple items to get her started. I saw a cute little tote bag at the Crafty Planet
the other day and I was thinking I should make one for her and put some yarn and needles in there for her. I guess I should call her and see what she really wants.

Martha audition tape

I am making two cow costumes for a show and I think that I should tape some footage for my Martha audition tape. I don't know that it shows me to be a business mastermind but it may show my potential and that is really what they are looking for.
There is one thing holding me back from making this audition tape and it is that I don't want my footage to be hanging out in the reject pile. Like when they show the reject audition videos of people who didn't make it onto The Real World or when they show all the footage of all the people who don't make it onto American Idol.
Watching American Idol this week I decided that being Paula, Simon or Randy during open auditions for Idol would have to be the worst job ever. I mean there can be nothing fun or rewarding about spending 8 hours a day listening to hundreds of people who think they can sing and then listen to them beg for another chance when you tell them they are going home. I know it is a highly rated show and everything but I still feel that listening to all those horrible auditions would be the worst job and I am not sure that it would be worth the money.

Martha's Apprentice

After reading the news tidbits today I am going through the list of anyone I know with a video camera so that I can send my application tape in less than a week to be- Martha Stewart's Apprentice.
I realize that she is more than just her crafts but she has built an empire around crafts, decorating, cooking and organizing.
I probably wouldn't make very far because the way I do things would not be at all the way Martha would do them.
I'm a little more "organic" than Martha. What I mean by that is I can't really always be bothered with the exact way of doing things. Sometimes you need to put a mountain of whip cream on something instead of a dollop for example.
But I may still apply. I mean you can't win if you don't play, right. I just have to track down a video camera.
Cool.
How awesome is it that Martha will do the work release part of her sentence on realitly TV. She is such a smart, powerful woman- that is why she needs and apprentice.
I would have to be a much neater person if I was going to be on her show.
OK I'm going to go buy some break and bake cookies to make for my post office. Perhaps if I give them cookies when I go to pick up my mail tomorrow they will be happy to see me.