Sarchix Finds

This Friday will be two weeks since MCA (aka Adam Yauch) of the Beastie Boys died.  I knew he had been ill for many years but it was still sad news to hear.

As I drove home from work that day, many of the radio stations were playing Beastie Boys.  What did I do?  I cranked the radio up all the way and rolled the windows down.  (It also helped that it was a beautiful afternoon that deserved to have the windows rolled down.)  Yes, I was that woman with the stereo blasting while driving a mini-van.  I thought it was a bit comical but appropriate too.

So I was driving home, blasting the radio and really listening to the songs.  Memories came back to me as if it was yesterday of what I was doing when I was listening to those songs when they were new.  I was sitting in the back of my parents’ minivan listening with (and without) headphones.  Gosh, I don’t know how they tolerated that!  Another song put me in the basement of a friends house during a pre-teen party I was at.  More and more memories came back and they were happy memories of my childhood.

The Radio DJ mentioned that he got a text from a 20-something saying that “the Beastie Boys got me through high school.”  The DJ said that the Beastie Boys did the same for him, when it was new.  I find it amazing that a group can really touch multiple generations like that.

As I listened, rocked out and thought of all the memories I had where The Beastie Boys were my soundtrack I began to get sad.  Sad because now, with the death of MCA, there would never be anything new from the group.  After scanning all the stations that are pre-set in my car, there were no more Beastie Boys being played but I ended up on a classic rock station (WMGK) and they were playing a Beatles song, Revolution.  It wasn’t the normal version that is usually played but a bit more sedate, almost acoustic.  It was lovely and seemed perfect for my contemplative moment I was having in my car.

I was really starting to get emotional at this point.  I was stopped at a red light and all of a sudden a butterfly landed on my windshield.

If you can see, there is a stop light only a bit a head and I knew I wasn’t going to get any real speed going so the butterfly stayed with me for several moments.  It really brought a sense of calm to me as I finished listening to the Beatles song.  Someone or something told me that even though that was a sad day, that my memories will live on and so will the music.

So  the three b’s are: The Beastie Boys, The Beatles and The Butterfly.

The past few weeks I feel like I’ve been in a bit of a slump.  I didn’t know what to write about that would actually be interesting to anyone besides myself.

So what have I been doing?  I’ve been knitting, working and working on my own business.  Baseball season can not come soon enough.  Yes, I know professional baseball has already started, but I’m talking about one of the minor leagues.  One of my side jobs is as the team massage therapist for the Camden Riversharks.  I love working with the team and I have to say that they are a bunch of really nice guys too.  Not only are they great guys but the stadium is wonderful and very kid friendly.

Another thing that I just started (as of yesterday) is that I have started running.  As a kid I HATED running.  Probably due to gym class most likely.  So after X many years since then, I figured it was worth a try.  I decided this mostly because of this.

Now you are probably wondering what’s so special about that bracelet. It’s a Nike FuelBand and I love it!  A Nike FuelBand is part pedometer, calorie counter, motivator and oh yeah, a watch too.  It has you set a goal of daily movement and I figured the best way to meet my goal was to do something that burns a ton of calories and/or had lots of movements.  My plan was to start the “Couch to 5K” program.  I’d seen this program in the past but my “problem” (read: excuse) was when to start or stop the walk or run.

Then I found a fee app that will take me through the first two weeks (out of 8).  So far, I like it.  The app prompts you when to walk and when to run.  It’s not a race, at least right now and I can run as slow as I need to.  Today, I ran with my daughter.  She was a bit faster than me but we had a good time doing it.  A bit of “runner’s high” doesn’t hurt either.

It would be fun if the thrill stays with me.  Yesterday was my first day doing the C25K program and the first full day with my Fuel Band.  I even attempted running on the treadmill at the gym.  My biggest fear was beefing it on the treadmill.  I’ve seen and head of too many treadmill horror stories.  I think I might try it again tomorrow.  Imagine that, I might just be a runner.

It’s not uncommon for me to have multiple projects casted on but right now I only have one.  It’s killing me because although I am having fun with the project I’m working on, there are SO many other things I want to knit too.  If only I had another set of hands or two.

So right now, I’m working on a hat for a child.  That child may or may not be my own but its a fun one.  I’m sure it won’t be the last hat like this I ever make either.  Its the Dead Fish Hat that I first saw at Knitty.com.  I really like it that I can use some of my stash yarn to knit it up.  Yes, I still have yarn left over from the season 14 Dr Who scarf I knitted two years ago and this is perfect for some of the striping.

The Dead Fish hat is almost done and now I have no idea what to start next.  There are literally thousands of projects I want to do, thanks to Raverly.com.  I have trolled that site for hours and my list of favorite projects grows and grows.  I even got my parents looking on the site for inspiration for what they would like me to make.  The site is so addictive that my mom has thought of picking up the sticks again.  (You can borrow mine if you want, Mom.)  The kicker is, its not just knitting but crocheting too.  I am not one who does crocheting but I have found a few projects that make me want to learn that skill too!  That sits is trouble and an oasis at the same time.

If you happen on Raverly, feel free to friend me there.  Just like almost every where on the internet, I am Sarchix there as well.

I have been thinking a lot about what to write here.  Sure I have lots of things to say and lots of good things that I have found that I want to tell you about but I ponder what others want to know more about.

The original intent of this blog was to write and showcase all the good things in life and to keep away the negative things and that is still my intent, it always will be.  I like writing about good things, things I’m excited about, things I think are cool.  There is just way too much negativity in the world, both the internal and external world and this is not a place for it.

I’d like to consider myself an optimist.  I usually think the best of people and of situations.  I believe that everything has a way of working itself out and that everything happens for a reason.  Sure, crappy things, even horrible things happen.  It’s how we deal with the good and bad situations in life is what really matters and probably why we are challenged in the first place.

The past is the past.  It can not be changed, no matter how hard we try.  I have my past experiences to teach me, learn and gain strength through them.  There are still fears and weaknesses within me.  Will I ever conquer them all?  Despite being an optimist, I really doubt it.  Am I going to try?  Of course I am.  Well, maybe a healthy fear of snakes will be one I’ll pass on.

So what is the point of this post?  Really it’s two fold.  I have been thinking of what I want in life and what I want to improve.  After finishing school and starting my new career I now have time to get back to the things I do enjoy without the guilt of schoolwork hanging over my head.  Writing is one of those things that enjoy and I am happy to get back to it.

The second part is that I see the stats of the website and I do see that people are reading what I post here.  So what do you want to want to see discussed here?  What do you want to know or improve on?  I don’t know, that’s just how I feel.  What do you think?  (Ten cool points if you can name where that quote is from.)

Here’s the call to action – those who actually read this, tell me what you want.  Leave a comment so I can figure out how improve on what Sarchix is all about.

Something I just don’t understand.  Today is the first day of Easter Break (or spring break – whatever you want to call it) for my kids.  I have to work but it was nice not having to help get them ready and out the door.  On a day that they could sleep in, especially for a teen and a pre-teen, one would think that they would take advantage of it.  But no, all three of them, all who drag their way through the morning on a school day, were up and eating breakfast before 8am.

My six year old is the worst offender.  Getting him out of bed by 7-7:30 in the morning is not hard but every school morning I have to wake him up.  But on a non-school day, he is up on his own, usually before 7.  Why is this?  We’ve even tried letting him stay up a bit longer on non-school nights.  I just don’t understand this one bit.  It’s not even like he’s doing it for the Saturday Morning cartoons because he’s watching his cartoons On Demand so he could watch them at any time.

The biggest surprise was seeing the older two up before 8 and relatively civil as I drug my sleepy self to get ready for work, they were just chilling out on the couch watching some kind of Spiderman cartoon with their younger brother.  I am perplexed by this early wake up of these two.  There have been days (usually Sundays) where we don’t see the oldest one until 10 or 11.  In his defense, on those days he comes downstairs fully showered and dressed so his real “wake up” time is unknown but its still much later.

Why were they up so early today?  As far as I knew, there was nothing special scheduled that day.  Just a nice quite day off (for them).  I was not expecting to see them before I left for work but it was nice to see them and make sure they had something “real” for breakfast.

The funniest thing about this is when I got to work I was chatting with some of my co-workers and their kids had done the exact same thing.

I just got back from walking my youngest to school.  Yes, we walk to school, no rides, no buses, just us walking the entire block and a half to our little elementary school.  Every day, my little guy holds my hand from the moment we leave the house to when he crosses the busy street with the crossing guard.

Some days I am practically dragging him to get him there on time and sometimes he’s the one dragging me.  Most days it’s just a nice walk with my little guy.  He always has something interesting to say.  Today he was telling me his entire class’s “numbers”.  Remember back in elementary school, the teacher would assign you a number and you had to put it on all your work to make it a bit easier for the teacher to keep it all organized?  They still do that and my son is number 9 by the way.  Even the teacher has a number, 26.  I was amazed that he could name everyone in class in order.  I told him he was counting by his classmates.  (They have been counting by large groups in class lately – 5′s, 10′s, 50′s etc.  He didn’t get my joke.)

As the crossing lady bravely stops traffic on our busy road that cuts through our little town, my son gave me a hug and kiss and then scampered off to school.  Some days he runs to get in and others he takes his dear time.  Today he strolled in, walking along the edge of the sidewalk as if it was a tightrope.  Everyday is different with that boy.  I watched him enter the school and go up the main stairs and then turn right towards his classroom.  I like waiting that long.  It started out in the first few days of school.  I would make sure he turned the right direction at the top of the stairs.  It’s not like he was going to get lost in our little school but still, Moms worry about things like that.

On my solo walk home I realized that the days are numbered of me walking my child to school and them willingly hold my hand.  I know the day is coming and it will come way too quickly so I cherish each day I get to walk him to school and have him hold my hand.

This weekend,  I went out to dinner with my husband.  I wanted to try this new burger place that my co-workers were raving about.  It’s a Bobby Flay restaurant near by that had been around for a bit.  My co-workers who had gone said it was “the best burger ever”.  I knew I had to go.  So, when hubby and I had a last minute date night but didn’t want to wait 45-60 minute wait for a table.  (Good luck at 8pm on a Saturday night anywhere.)

When we first walked into Bobby’s Burger Palace I didn’t know what to expect.   I thought it was a casual dining restaurant but it had more of upscale fast food restaurant.  We walked up to the register and placed our order.  Going up to the register like that reminded me of when I was a kid and the special “treat” of going inside Burger King (the one in Runnamede on the Black Horse Pike if anyone cares) and getting our burgers.  I liked that feeling and I already want to go back for more.

Hubby ordered the Philadelphia Burger (Provolone Cheese, Grilled Onions and Hot Peppers) and I got the Crunchburger (Double American Cheese and Potato Chips).  We also split an order of onion rings.  That and two fountain sodas, the bill came to just over $20 for the two of us.  A bit much for burgers but I had been told they were the “best burgers ever”.

We sat down at the counter.  Seating is either really comfy swivel seats at the counter or large picnic bench type seating.  The staff greeted us as they placed silverware down for us and seemed happy to chat with us as well.  Yes, I did look around to see if Bobby Flay was going to pop out of the kitchen or something. (He was not there that night.)

It took a minute to find where the soda fountain was.  It was tucked into a corner by the main exit.  Nice selection of Coke products and they also offer Boylan’s Sodas, Iced Tea, Lemonade and Bottled Water.  There is also a large list of milkshakes and malts but we weren’t in the mood for that, especially since I’m lactose intolerant.  But in their lacto-defence, the flavors do look yummy.

The food came pretty quickly and here are the pics!

My Crunchburger and one of the onion rings.

The onion rings (minus one). Note the condiments table side. More on that later.

Hubby’s Philadelphia Burger
So what did I think of it?  Was it the best burger ever?  Honestly, I can not say it was the best burger ever.  It was good, very good but I can’t give it the title of best ever quite yet.  I really liked the American cheese used on the burger.  It didn’t taste like “square” cheese that you normally get at the store.  This was real cheese that wasn’t the overly processed kind.  It added a nice flavor to the burger.  The chips were interesting and most stated on the bun.  I personally love chips on my hoagies but never thought to put it on my burger.  Hubby loved his burger as well with the grilled oni0ns and hot peppers.  Lots of flavor for both of us. and we finished every bite.

The onion rings were really good but I hate it when the onion slides out of the batter.  They were really thick cut and if they were just a bit skinnier (from the 1 inch to 1/2 to 3/4 inch) it would have been better.  The shinning star out of all this was the pickle.

First of all, I hate pickles.  Hubby does enjoy a good crunchy one.  I tasted mine, with a small bite and was surprised how good it was, if I liked pickles.  There was a nice crunch and you could taste the cucumber but you could also taste the brine and the spices used to make this Kosher Dill Pickle.  Hubby loved his so much that he ate mine and asked for a third.  I have to say that it really was the best pickle I ever tasted, even though I still didn’t like it.

The condiments:  There was a good variety of sauces that were offered at the table.  There was ketchup and yellow mustard but there was also burger sauce, chipotle ketchup and some kind of green hot sauce that I forgot the name of.  Hubby loved the green sauce and I was not impressed by the burger sauce.  I did try it but I’m glad I didn’t smother my burger in the sauce like I would do if it was A1 sauce.

All said and done, I look forward to going back to Bobby’s Burger Palace.  During the daytime/early evening, I could see us bringing our kids and they would enjoy the food as well (plus the unlimited fountain soda that they can dispense).  If you are in the area of one and are looking for a good meal, try it out.  I hope you enjoy the flavors as much as we did!

I’m sitting here at work on my trusty laptop waiting, refreshing and waiting some more. What am I waiting for you may ask? Today is the day that Interweave Knitting Labs announces the winner of the scholarship to their conference in October. I want to go SO badly, especially after I saw all the cool classes they are offering. What a range of classes taught by amazing knitters I had only read about it the past!

I have no idea what my chances of winning the scholarship will be. They are only giving two away. One for the New Hampshire Conference and the other one for the one in California. I can only go to the one on the East Coast. Four days in knitting heaven!

In the time that I have written this short post (and found the perfect you tube video to go along with it), I have checked my email five times. I’m going crazy just wondering if there is a chance I’ll get it.  Who knows, three other people could have entered or three hundred or even three thousand.  I really have no idea!

Fingers crossed and more waiting.

And since I just find this song so dang funny, here’s another one from the great cartoon, Phineas and Ferb!

Updated at 6:15pm – I didn’t get it. 

In the last few weeks, I have taken to entering a few small writing contests.  The first one is to the Interweave Knitting Labs Conference in October up in New Hampshire.  It was a series of small essays that I had to write about both myself and knitting.  I really hope I win.  The winners are to be announced by the 30th of this month and I’m getting very nervous.

The second one, I found via Facebook and its for $500 of yarn from Lion Brand.  (I’m drooling just thinking about it.)  The essay had to be about a handmade gift, either given or received.  I wrote about a very special scarf I made my Dad.    There will be much more about this contest soon because its a contest where people have to vote for the winner.  So far I have not seen any limitations about publicizing the voting aspect of the contest.

Here’s the essay about the scarf:

I really enjoy knitting gifts but only for those who would appreciate the work and love that goes into making one of them. Seeing them wear something I created specifically for them makes me very happy and encourages me to find the perfect project for the special people in my life.

A few years ago, I decided to finally make my Dad the scarf he always wanted. This was not your normal scarf but a Doctor Who Scarf (season 14 – the “original” Tom Baker scarf). I ordered the yarn, much of it Vanna’s Choice, and started it in August. I just barely finished it in time for the holiday, all 14 feet of it.

 Normally knitting in garter stitch for 14 feet would be quite boring but not here. I was able to knit while doing other things until it got too long to stand and knit without it dragging on the ground or getting caught in things. Then the scarf kept my lap and the rest of my lower body warm as we got into the cooler fall and winter as I knit row after row after row. The hard part was hiding it when he came over. It was easy to hide the balls and balls of yarn but not the work in progress.

 That Christmas morning as we opened presents under the tree, I was so worried that he wouldn’t love it as much I hoped he would. Dad opened the bag, because I didn’t have a box big enough for it, and pulled it out like it was a magic scarf up a magician’s sleeve. It kept going and going as his smile grew and grew. It still warms my heart to think about the moment when he realized exactly what I had made for him. I had never seen my Dad so happy over a present before as he wrapped and wrapped and wrapped the scarf around his neck with glee.

 To this day, we both still take pride in that scarf and he wears it for most of the winter, once he remembers how to wrap it so it doesn’t drag on the floor.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Saturday night I was very pleased to see that the Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds finally made it onto cable, HBO to be exact.  I was excited to see it because I really do love all the comic book movies.  From the clips I had seen in the commercials, it really looked interesting and the effects for the suit looked cool.

Well, I sat down to watch it, without interruption and waited for the action to begin.  The effects were really good and the story line did a good job establishing the back story of Hal Jordon and the history of the Green Lantern Corps but I was still waiting for the action to start.

The flying of the jets were cool and the training scene was kinda funny, but again… I was waiting for the action to start.

By the time the bad guy did his bad guy thing, it was predictable.  Sure the final fight scene with the big bad guy was cool but it had no zing to it because it felt like it was all set up for the sequel.

I think that could be part of the problem.  With the comic book movies, we expect there to be a sequel so there was no suspense that the good guy might not win or that he would loose “the girl”.  There was no real drama because it was too predictable.  Sure, Iron Man is predictable but Tony Stark’s antics keep us interested.  Hal had no real antics besides trying to win back the girl he lost and living with his father’s ghost.

So, my thoughts on Green Lantern are that it fit the comic book formula but missed the mark with making me care about the story.  I did not enjoy it but I really do think my six year old son will.