should you read this book?

no. not really. it is pretty embarrassing that i've read this all. it was bathtub reading for just about 10 months, it was that riveting. i direct all blame for purchase (money was exchanged for this thing) to my mother. not only is the mystery not very mysterious, but the knitting is rudimentary and boring. awe over knitting in the round? i think not. eyelash yarn problems? so passe. this is a resounding two thumbs down. well, at least one and a half thumbs down. however, that business about the skull made of yarn in the basket is pretty sweet, y'all.

election 2006

so, while i was living in new york city, i was highly involved with politics. i recently re-registered in maine and realized that i had no idea what was on the ballot. i searched and i searched, but couldn't get anywhere. i figure that i could put together a little summary for those other mainers in a similar situation. (many thanks to my state representative hannah pingree for the info.) without further ado, i give you:

maine ballot summary 2006!

referendum
1. Citizen Initiative

"Do you want to limit increases in state and local government spending to the rate of inflation plus population growth and to require voter approval for all tax and fee increases?"

remember? this is also know as the Tax Payer's Bill of Rights, TABOR. There are all those commercials about it? With people from the west dragging brief cases?

• pro TABOR resource

• anti TABOR resource
  

2. Constitutional Amendment

"Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to state that a citizens' initiative or people's veto petition must be submitted to local or state officials by the constitutional deadline in order to be certified and, in the case of a citizens' initiative, must be filed with the Secretary of State within 18 months?"

personally, i don't know anything about this. when i googled it, i got this link. really, making people file on time is alright with me. the 18 month thing i don't understand. more research forthcoming.

then, we have the candidates to United States Senate:
Incumbent: Olympia Snowe, Republican.
Challengers: William H. Slavick, Undeclared.
Jean Hay Bright, Democrat.

and gubernatorial candidates:
Incumbent: John Baldacci, Democrat.
Challengers: Patricia LaMarche, Green.
Barbara Merrill, Undeclared.
Philip Morris Napier, Undeclared.
Chandler Woodcock, Republican.
so, that's it for state-wide issues. here's a link to all the other local candidates. (the list is offered in a few different forms, click one of the links at the top.)
hope this information helps you!

surprise surprise surprise

um, yeah. so, the big gq and i got the mail yesterday. (which, by the way, still involves using a truck, despite it being delivered "to our house" now. ha. across the street, down the bend. get this, they don't deliver to our side of the street, so no matter what our address, our box is across the way. this island is filled with insanity.)
anyhoo, he's all "oh no, you can't see this." which, of course, means that i'm filled with the pushiest of curiosity. after a few minutes of pestering, he says, well, you can see this. and it's an envelope fom jetblue! yahoo! and, he won't tell me anything else. he did ask when i get to take vacation though-- too bad not til march, eh?
isn't that exciting? i made him promise not to tell me anything no matter what i say. now he's saying that he's trying to lead me astray and there's no airfare involved and that he is full of surprises. i mean, c'mon!
for someone who hasn't really ever given me a present, this is tres sophisticated. don't you think?

good-for-you yarn?

like many of you, i visit the hunger site regularly. in their store, i recently found some good conscious yarn, we can get our favorite drug (fiber) and support good causes, too! wahoo! (plus, the picture on the left is from purl soho- of course, they have the best website- a lovely pink angora. to die for!)

why lookee here

the new knitty's up! yahoo! i'm not finding any of the projects all that inspirational, but it still is a great online source. i do like the sweater featured on my right here, it's called ivy.

first day of fall

so, life on the island has been terrible recently. we've had a two deaths and one near-fatal car accident. all this happened in a three day span, last sunday, monday, and tuesday. the morale is really low out there, and it's kind of hard to be a newbie with little connection to the people who have passed or are injured, as it's so much easier for my life to continue on its regular path.
three things that i'm working on:

1. still furiously knitting the green, fuzzy fall hat. as it's officially fall now, i really should be closer to done than i am. i'll knit on the boat today, i promise!
2. claymation. the plans coninue, but will it happen? who can tell?
   
3. furious planning of a stampin-up party at the library on north haven. (because the big gq's mom is the librarian, of course.)

oh, and fingers are crossed on trekking to the common ground. miss L is pretty shaken up, so our plans might be changed. sigh.

this week is inching by

at work we've been sans computers for most of 3 days. the first days was novel and there were things that could be done. this is no longer the situation. and i'd like to print my work so i can MOVE ON, but i can't. so, i'll think nice thoughts and move on to this:
the fantastic, fabulous, common ground fair! yay!
i am going on saturday morning. thus far, the plan is...
1) miss L puts her car on the last ferry on friday. i meet the boat in rockland, and take it off.
2) i return to the island-homestead on the last boat on friday.
3) saturday morning, miss L's dad will take us to rockland before he goes out hauling. this means in the wee hours of the morn and travel across the bay in a swank lobster boat. forget this business with the ferry.
4) we pick up miss L's car, and with the others in tow, we drive for a few hours to the fair grounds, or what-have-you. i'm so excited.
another reason why i'm excited is: blogger is letting me put pictures on again. this week is turning around, it really is.

check it out!

these people are SO cool. ikea pillowcase skirt? i think so.

holy crap

have you seen the new ipod shuffle? it puts even me, the anti-shuffle, in awe. it is so cool! and so tiny! 240 songs that can clip onto your pocket? fantastic.
(for some reason, i can't get a picture to load up on blogger these days. so, click on the holy crap above, and you'll be redirected to the new shuffle's website. wowza.)

commuter by boat

today was my dreaded meeting with the maine state ferry service. for some reason (revenue) they do not offer a commuter rate. this means that i pay huge amounts of money to go to work everyday. this is not good. i went to their advisory board's meeting today where they poo-poo-ed my suggestion and basically flatly refused to look into finding a solution to the commuter's wallet problems.
(they have been using islesboro as their example of why a commuter rate does not work-- islesboro has about 100 people who commute TO the island for work everyday. on north haven, we have none of those, and we have only me who commutes to work on the mainland everyday. i think the situations are a little bit different. really.)
anyhoo, i'm kind of mad. and a little upset that my pleas fell on deaf ears. however, it means that i have to try harder to change north haven's policies, and perhaps that will affect all of penobscot bay's commuters sometime. maybe?
i hope so.
(i forgot to write that one other bad thing happened today: i smell like kerosene. our monitor leaked onto my bag and i was already at the ferry terminal when i realized. but, one good thing happened: i started knitting myself a green, fuzzy, fall beanie. it'll help my commuting blues.)

Rockwell Kent (1882 - 1971)
Workers of the World Unite, 1937
Wood engraving

secret pal 9

hello. i am very excited because today the sign-ups for secret pal 9 open. i've never done one before, but it all seems directly up my alley.
i couldn't think of a good picture for today's SP9 theme, so, i put a frenchie up there. i love them, and would love to have one to call my own. anyhoo, in order to join SP9 i need to have 10 posts on my blog. this is number 9. i hope they let me scooch by. i sure would appreciate it.
i know that you're all waiting on my details from last weekend, but i don't have any pictures yet. i'll share once i do.
happy labor day! power to the worker! hee.