kayray.org

What makes google so cool? Here’s a new service they’re working on:
http://labs.google.com/goog411/

I just used it to get the number of my local GameStop. It worked like a charm. The googlebot operator was helpful, polite, and spoke perfect English. He understood my request, and was willing to connect me to any one of 11 GameStop stores. As it turned out, the very first one was the nearest, and he connected me right away. For free. Chew on that, Phone Company!

Get your own Daemon at http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/!

Feeling a bit better this morning. Still sick, but definitely a bit better. Rockola posted a few photos from the Sgt. Pepper show! Here’s Henry playing keyboard in Penny Lane:

And here he is cueing the audience in Sgt. Pepper:

Yes, that’s a librivox t-shirt he’s wearing :)

it’s tuesday evening. i’ve been sick since the middle of sunday night. bob and chloe came over on sunday afternoon, which was great fun. introduced them to curb your enthusiasm. then sore throat struck in the middle of the night. sore throat is gone now, replaced by stuffy head, congested chest, general misery. bah.

Three more chapters for you:
06 – The Rise of the Franks
07 – Franks and Mohammedans
08 – Charlemagne

Bob Dylan is responsible for all the hit songs of the past 35 years. This video proves it!

It’s Saturday morning. Last night was Rockola‘s long-awaited performance of the entire Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, plus a set of other great Beatles songs. The show was fabulous. The 1,915-seat theater was pretty darn full, and the audience went absolutely NUTS for the show. I think 4 or 5 songs got standing ovations, and there was cheering and riotous applause for every song. Chloe and I sat in a box at the side, so it was easy for her to run backstage when necessary and also easy for Henry to run out from backstage and sit with us when he wasn’t performing or getting ready to perform.

The day leading up to the show was fairly stressful. I won’t go into details, but let’s say that that particular theater is not a happy place. Henry and I arrived about 2:30, and he was able to join in the rehearsal for most of his songs, and had a fine time listening to the band and playing with Celia. There were some orchestra kids that he enjoyed talking to, as well, especially the young fellow, about Henry’s age, who played the bells on Penny Lane and When I’m 64. I did small chores for the band and sat around and watched the kids, etc.

The show started a bit late, but I think that was a good thing because there were still people buying last-minute tickets and finding their seats right up until it started.

When the lights finally dimmed, the crowd went nuts. The band came on and the crowd went nuts again. They started with Revolution and it was a great choice to start with — super high energy, good hard rock. It really got the show off to a roaring start. Um.. highlights of the first set… Henry and Ceila danced during Ob-La-Di, which was the cutest thing ever. Henry played keyboard chords in Penny Lane. What else did they play… Strawberry Fields, Savoy Truffle (great big beefy horn parts played with gusto by the orchestra kids), Lady Madonna, a couple of earlier songs which rocked hard, etc. etc. I’ll probably think of more later.

Then there was a break, and then they came back on to do the Sgt. Pepper album. Henry and Celia held up “Applause” “Laugh” and “Cheer” signs during the first song to get the audience to provide those sound effects at the proper times. Henry NAILED the timing; I was very proud :) Everything went great. The audience just loved the harpist in She’s Leaving Home, and Celia’s big bass harmonica in Mister Kite. Henry’s Horse costume looked great when he came on to Dance the Waltz — he and Celia danced all around during that instrumental break, and there were a couple of other little girls with circusy outfits and streamers — it was a wonderful effect! The whole album went great, even the very difficult Within You Without You. For an encore they did The End, and Henry got to run on and play chords on his guitar and sing “LOVE YOU! LOVE YOU!” right into the mic. He was the happiest little boy in the whole world. He says doing the show was 99.99% fun, and the only un-fun part was being too hot in his Horse costume :) He even helped tear down the stage after the show before we left. He was very pleased to be able to help.

Thank you, Rockola! Rock on!

I’ve finished recording the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. As with all LibriVox audio books, you may download them for free, copy them, share them, whatever. Enjoy! I love these stories. I remember my sister reading them to me when I was very small. I confess that I’ve never liked The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo, but the rest are wonderful.

Podcast subscribers, I’ll be sending this one out after The Story of the Middle Ages is finished.

Dan and Henry and I drove down to the Spreckles theater in SD to help set up the Rockola show for tomorrow night. Well, Dan helped set up, I knitted, and Henry played and waited for a chance to practice his songs. Alas, there was a problem with the lights so everything was delayed and the band never did get to play. Henry was very disappointed, poor boy, but we hope there will be time for a run-through tomorrow before the show.

Henry was sick today, but by the time I put him to bed tonight he was feeling a lot better so we hope it will all be cleared up tomorrow. Um… what happened today.. I got my car washed! YAY! Now I can see out the windows and it’s all shiny and clean, inside and out. Also bought Henry two more pairs of his favorite shorts from Mervyn’s. The child is so skinny that I have to buy size 8 shorts and take them in two inches at the waist. Also did a huge grocery shopping, which Dan kindly carried in and up the stairs. Also created a horse costume for the Rockola show on Friday. I hope it’s horsey enough. Also cataloged the intriguingly-named Penguin Island, a solo read by Michael Sirois. It took two days to catalog. There are 62 files, and I changed my mind about the ID3 tag scheme so I downloaded them, re-did them all in iTunes, and then had to upload them, which took hours.

We just watched the season finale of House, which ended exactly as I predicted. Oh, House, what will we do without for you the next few months?

Busy day, many errands, many places to go and things to do. Bought more of Dan’s favorite shorts. Tonight was the Variety Show at Bayshore. Henry performed a karate kata, and very nicely, too. A few minutes after we got home he came down with a raging sore throat, poor child.

Henry and I went to Chloe’s house so he could practice with Bob for the show and so we could help out. Chloe and I made signs that the kids will hold up during Sgt Pepper, to cue the audience for applause and laughter and cheers. We printed out the letters in giant font, traced them onto the sign boards, and then colored them in with paint pens. We had to go back out for more pens because it took a LOT of ink (or whatever is in those pens). Also helped Bob straighten out the charts for Within You Without You, which had some messed-up rhythm in places, but we figured it out. We had a GREAT time seeing them!

I left my second, in-progress Wishbone Sock there, though. Grr. So I started another pair with the leftover Marra — I’m sure there’s enough if I make them shorter.

Three more chapters of The Story of the Middle Ages:
03 – The Wanderings of the West-Goths
04 – End of the Western Empire
05 – The Growth of the Christian Church

EDIT: June 1, 2007 — Helena is home, safe and sound!

Have you seen Helena?

She’s the daughter of a local homeschooling family. We don’t know her personally, but friends of hers attend Henry’s little charter school. She disappeared from her home one week ago. Her family is frantic. Please help find her!

More info here:
http://www.findhelena.info

Updates on the Search for Alexandria Helena Hixenbaugh

Alexandria has made contact with her best friend by phone. We believe based on her conversation with the friend and other leads that she is still in the greater San Diego area, perhaps even still in Escondido.

At this point all media coverage has been shut down because she is runaway – not an abducted child. Amber alerts post only for known abduction cases of children. We are still working to get some media coverage – if you have any resources in this area we would greatly appreciate your contacting us via our email: Find…@cox.net

May 26, 2007

As of May 26, 2007- she has been missing for a full week. We want her home with us – safe – with the family that loves her unconditionally. If you know her whereabouts please communicate to her that we want her home. She is not in trouble for running away. Running away is a sign that we need to talk – that there are issues, we as a family need to work through. We are willing – we are waiting with open arms for her return home….Please help us find Helena.

Woke up with a bit of a sore throat, stuffy head, and gunky eyes, so I lay around knitting and watching movies and doing LibriVox admin work all day. And played a bit of WoW, too. Felwood is a horrible place, though it’s a bit better now that they’ve added another flight point. Another vendor or two would be nice, Bliz!

The wishbone socks are coming along nicely — turned the second heel and am working my way up the leg.

Give me humans. Give me LibriVox!

Thanks, Edward :)

After Henry’s classes this afternoon we drove down to Del Mar to deliver our entries to the fairgrounds. In previous years we’ve gotten there earlier and it’s always really crowded. We got there about, oh, 5:30 or so (traffic was amazingly good for rush hour) and there were no lines! We were able to just breeze in and out again. We’re very excited about the fair! I’m exhibiting my Shell-Pattern Socks and Henry’s exhibiting his Knitted Cuff.

8:30am woke up, more or less, checked email, glanced at LibriVox, checked google reader
9:00am made breakfast smoothie for Dan, did chores, etc.
9:30am shower
9:45am left for dr. appt (endocrinologist, 6mo checkup)
10:00am Dr.
11:00am got blood drawn at lab
11:05am raced home, Henry and his dad were waiting for me
11:15am, chatted with Henry about the weekend, did dishes together
11:30am WoW
12:00 left for Science club in Encinitas
12:20 dropped Henry at Science Club, raced back to Oceanside to do errands
12:45 bank
1:00 vitamin store for iron supplements for me
1:10 grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s
1:45 quick lunch in car – veggie sushi from Trader Joe’s
2:00 drove back to Encinitas
2:30-2:55 waited for Science Club to end
3:15 home, lay down for half an hour to rest, read email, check LV again
3:45-5:00 piano students
5:00 ate yogurt
5:15 left for Karate
5:30-6:30 watched karate class, worked on second Wishbone Sock (got lots of compliments)
6:45 home, Henry helped me make dinner. Hawaiian marinated beef, steamed broccoli, ciabatta bread, cheese
7:30 helped Henry rehearse for Talent Show
8:00-9:00 read Martian Chronicles and Dragonflight to Henry for bedtime
9:30 heated up dinner for Dan
10:00 went up to say goodnight to Henry one more time, told him he could keep reading till 10:30
10:30 wrote blog, waited for Bob to call back

No time to record today, bah. Maybe tomorrow!

Well, I’m a bit behind here :) I’ve already podcast up through section 40 of the poetry book. It’s silly for me to paste all those links here when you can just go download them directly from the librivox catalog page:
Poems Every Child Should Know.

I just sent this message out in my podcast feed: Message from Kara

So — on to another book! It’s time for some more children’s history — a really great book called The Story of the Middle Ages, by Samuel B. Harding. The wonderful Lisa of http://mainlesson.com send me a reprint of this book to read from, which was a real treat, as I usually read off my laptop screen which is never as nice as holding a real book in my hands. I suggest you buy your own copy from mainlesson so your kids can read along while they listen. :)

Here are the first three chapters (now you’re actually AHEAD of the podcast subscribers!):
00 – Introduction
01 – The Ancient Germans
02 – Breaking the Frontier

Enjoy!

Wishbone Socks, by Kara
Yarn: Regia Cotton (wool/cotton/nylon) (Two balls)
Needles: Brittany Birch 2.0mm

Gauge: 8st/inch in stockinette

To fit a very slender foot and leg. (If you need to make them bigger, buy another ball of yarn. For an extra inch of width, increase toe to 64 stitches, then remember that you’ve got 4 extra stitches on bottom of foot; the other 4 on the top of foot, one in each purl column, so purl columns are 4, 3, 3, 4. You might also want to inc 8 stitches at calf instead of 4. Distribute stitches logically.)

Cast on 16 st. using Judy’s Magic Cast-on. (8 st. on each needle)

Make a toe.

(if you need more specific instructions:
Divide evenly onto four needles.
Needle 1: k1, m1, k to end of needle.
Needle 2: k to last st, m1, k1.
Needle 3: k1, m1, k to end.
Needle 4: k to last st, m1, k1.)

Continue increasing every round until you have 32 stitches, then alternate plain rounds and inc. rounds until you have 56 st.

Rounds begin at needle 1 (side leg).

Needles 1 & 2 (28 st. total): p1, work 3 reps Wishbone Cable, p3
Needles 3 & 4 (28 st. total): k across.

(Blodges represent purl sts, blank squares are knit. Cable crossing occurs on row four — diagram should make it obvious what to do)

18 reps of cable pattern, then make short-row heel. For the first sock, I used the short-row heel from Summer 2007 Interweave Knits, but I’m not very happy with it. I think the No-Holes one might be better: No-Holes Short Row Heels

When you’re working in the round again, add a single rep of the cable pattern on the back of the leg.
So 56 st. total on four needles:
Front of leg: Needles 1 & 2: p1, 3 reps cable pattern, p3 (divide somewhere convenient)(28st)
Back of leg: Needles 3 & 4: k9, cable pattern, p2, k9 (divide somewhere convenient)(28st)

Work 9 reps of cable pattern.

******
Calf increase:

M1 on either side of both 9-st columns of stockinette as follows: When you reach the first 9-st column of stockinette, k1, m1, k7, m1, k1. Repeat when you reach the second 9-stitch column of stockinette. (4 new st – 60st total)
******

Work 9 more reps of cable pattern, then work 18 rounds k1p1 ribbing and finish off with a stretchy cast-off. I used a grafted cast-off.