Tag Archive for ‘work’ at adam knits!

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Commuting Revolution 08 Jun 07

Today’s Eye Candy (hey, it’s still Friday for 1 more hour!) is brought to you by Garter Stitch.

It’s just so textured and squishy, especially with Georgia’s hand-spun, I just couldn’t resist casting on! Isn’t it sweet looking? I’m hoping to finish it tomorrow, although I think it might be a bit too warm to wear it for a while ;) My math skills definitely came in handy, because I’m on target to exactly the amount of yarn I need to cast off and seam the hat. It helped that the pattern was written as 4 segments of short rows, so I was able to weigh the yarn and figure out the right size for each quarter, reweighing as I go. Just one more segment left, and I’ll have a perfectly cozy garter stitch hat for next winter :)

I’m still plugging away on the lozenge socks too, which means I have 2 handspun projects in the works! How lucky am I? I don’t even spin, and I have wonderful friends who send me beautiful handspun yarn! Anyone else feeling generous? ;)

And in the department of things that are long overdue, I figured it’s about time that I gave an exercise goals update. So I never did finish my 100 miles for Runagogo, and I haven’t been terribly good about getting to the gym as of late. (Ok fine, I haven’t gone in a month and a half!) School just got crazy, and although it’s over now, it’s still tough to find the motivation when I have time to hang out at home and catch up on all the other stuff. I did manage to lose 5 more pounds (a total of 10), and I haven’t been too bad in the eating department, but I definitely could use a bit more physical activity.

So I’ve decided to stop making excuses and get a bit more proactive. I think to start I’m gonna cancel the gym membership and do more outdoors stuff, since I’ve really grown to hate going to the gym. I figure there’s no use in paying for something that won’t really help me out in my fitness goals, eh?

At any rate, I have a plan. It not only involves getting regular exercise, but will help me save a bit of money and pollute less too. Any ideas?

How about now? Yup, I’m gonna bike commute. See, my job is actually only 5 miles away, and as it turns out, there’s a bike route all the way to my office door, so why not? I got my bike all tuned up, and got all the swanky new gear above (isn’t the reflective vest great? the things I have to do to commute to a military base…), so I’m all set.

I’m gonna do a trial run tomorrow, just to make sure I’m familiar with the route, so wish me luck!

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Adam

in exercise, hand spun, knitting, work and works in progress

Basking in the Fluorescent Glow 20 Apr 07

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It’s an absolutely gorgeous day outside today; the sun is shining, the birds are chirping and the flowers are blooming. So what am I doing? Getting a green tan from fluorescent lights. Such is the life of an engineer I suppose, especially when you work in laboratory buildings with no windows. The price you pay for being a math nerd…

Although I should mention that today is a good day because I’m finally moving into a permanent cubicle in my building. I just got to move into the building with my coworkers a few months ago (it’s very hard to find space in our building) after sitting in a temporary trailer for almost a year. And now my new cubicle is finally vacated and ready for me to move in. It’s actually a pretty sweet cubicle, I think even Dilbert would be slightly green with envy. It has a big wrap around desk, high walls and a sliding door! That’s right, a door! It’s so swank, I love it. And my favorite feature? The giant whiteboard! I love whiteboards so much, I’ve contemplated putting huge ones in every room of my house. You could brainstorm anywhere!

Ahem. Anyway, I’m super happy about having a permanent workspace now, because boy has it been a long wait! But you didn’t come here to hear about my obsessive love of whiteboards did you? You want all the details about the yarny goodness sitting in my home office!

How’s this teaser for you?

The Yarn Nerd shop update will be this Monday, April 23, at 8 AM MDT. There’s lots of goodness to be had, including the lovely new color pictured above. That’s all the details I’ll give here on the blog, so you’ll have to come to the Yarn Nerd site on Monday to check it all out. And if you’re a newsletter subscriber, I’ll be sending out a more detailed announcement with a few more juicy details. I can’t wait, this is going to be a good update!

I hope you have a great weekend, and that it’s filled with some fun and fiber! I’m going to do some yardwork tonight (got to get the sprinklers up and going!), lounge around tomorrow (serious knitting time baby!) and do some homework on Sunday (no fun, but Viterbi Algorithm simulations don’t write themselves). I think it should be a relaxing weekend on average, so I’m looking forward to it.

Catch you later peeps!

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Adam

in dyeing, ee, knitting, nerdy, shop, work, works in progress and yarn nerd

Mmmm, Yarn! 17 Apr 07

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That’s what Dallas was thinking the other day as I was reskeining some yarn! I turned my back for a second and looked over to see him chewing on a freshly wound skein of Raspberry Sherbet. He didn’t eat any of it luckily, but he did manage to completely destroy any hope that poor skein had of ever being knit up into anything. He’s pretty thorough with those teeth!

Oh well, what can you do eh? He did get a scolding for playing with something he wasn’t supposed to, but I can’t really fault the poor guy, he’s completely out of toys! I need to go to the discount store and buy some more dog toys, since he destroys them as fast as I can buy them! He certainly keeps me on my toes that’s for sure :) And I wasn’t too mad, since it was one of my mini skeins (more info on those to come with the upcoming shop update), so at least it wasn’t a 450 yard skein that was ruined.

And I thought only cats liked yarn!

Things are still chugging along here…the shop update is getting closer to being ready, but school also continues to loom over my head like an anvil. It’s like I told a friend today…I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but there’s still a bunch of roadblocks and potholes on the road before I get to the light!

I spent most of this evening trying to figure out how to find the bit error rate for a multi-carrier communications system using repetition codes and majority decoding for BPSK modulated subchannels under flat Rayleigh fading. Any one know the answer to that one? I think I got a solution, but I’m still not entirely sure…which is usually how the homework for this class goes.

Speaking of evening, it seems to have slipped away into night time, and I’m getting tired so I think I’ll hit the hay. I was a bit worried 15 minutes ago, because the water randomly shut off, but it seems to be back on now so I hope it sticks around until the morning. Just another small test to see how close my sanity is to the breaking point I suppose.

Here’s hoping a little sleep will bring me back from that breaking point…just ever so slightly. ;)

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Adam

in a nerd's life, dallas, schnauzers, school, shop, unm, work and yarn nerd

A Case of the Mondays 19 Feb 07

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“Sounds like somebody has a case of the Mondays…”

Yup, it’s true, I do have a case of the Mondays. It’s not terribly bad, it’s just that after a weekend of hanging out and having a lovely time, I was reluctant to enter the rat race again. But such is life, right? You can’t exactly carve out a living by cleaning house, going on walks with the dogs, going to church and hanging out with friends. Plus, if I only did that stuff all day long, I think I would probably go crazy out of boredom. It’s good to have an occupation, you know, to keep you occupied.

I did also manage to get a bunch of yarn dyed and some knitting done, so that was very nice as well. I’m hoping to get all this yarn prepped and ready for a shop update on Thursday or Friday. I’d love to get it up sooner, but I have lots of homework this week, so I need to be realistic with my time constraints so that I don’t promise an update that I can’t deliver. I’m also planning to unveil a very cool Yarn Nerd Exclusive on Friday as well, which I think you will all be very pleased with. I think it’s butt-kicking cool and I hope you think so too :)

So after such a lovely weekend, it’s always a bit sad to go back to the grind. But never fear, for there are a few simple cures when you too have a Case of the Mondays. My favorite remedies? (Warning: Crummy cameraphone pictures of my cubicle ahead, approach with extreme caution.)

Hand-Knits → Nothing brightens up your day like looking down and remembering that you are wearing some cozy hand-knit socks. In this case it’s my Malamute socks, made with yarn dyed by the very talented Georgia. So soft and cozy, it helps me remember that despite the cubicle, there are still good things to be happy about.

Hot Coffee → No, not the video game exploit, the actual thing. (If you have no idea what that was a reference to, there is still hope for you, so embrace it!) My biggest secret to maintaining sanity in the workplace is simple. Delicious coffee. Start with fresh roasted beans, brew them in a French Press for a lovely cuppa, then pour into a gigantic thermos and enjoy mini coffee breaks all day long. So simple, yet so effective. Mmmmmm!

What are your secrets to coping with the Mondays? I bet knitting over lunch could be quite effective. ;)

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Adam

in dyeing, knitting, shop, work and works in progress

Snow Day! 19 Dec 06

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12/20: Still snowing…Work is on a 2 hour delay this morning, cause the roads aren’t looking too good. If you’re in Albuquerque too, hope you’re enjoying it, cause it looks like we’re going to get plenty more these next few days.

Yeah, it’s a Snow Day! I even got early dismissal from work! This was the sight that greeted me when I got home from work (although it did take a whole hour to get home).

There was about 3″ of snow in the highest parts, which I haven’t seen in Albuquerque for quite some time. I was expecting the storm to peter out about an hour or so after it started, but it went strong all afternoon. I don’t mind, cause it’s lovely and means I got to make some comfort food for dinner.