The Great Blackout of 2003

Why do newscasters have to name everything? Living in the midwest, we have a "great storm of blah, blah, blah" every year. Enough already! I know the power is out, I also know that we haven't had an outage of this size in a very, very long time. There isn't anything else to report on? I happened to be at Cedar Point on Thursday. That's right America's Roller Coast. I'm really glad we weren't here .

In case you haven't been there (and I haven't) that's a picture from the peak of the Millennium Force - 310 feet up. "[It] was the first coaster in the world ever to use an elevator lift system to take riders up a 45-degree angle to the top of its imposing structure. Once there, riders plummet to Earth at a staggering 80-degree angle! Millennium Force broke an astonishing 10 world records when it debuted as Cedar Point's 14th roller coaster, more than anywhere else in the world." (from the Cedar Point website)

Did you get that bit about the elevator lift system? When the elevator doesn't work the train can't go over the top - it stops right where it is. Oh, and there's no way to get down from up there. All of the other coasters have what looks like giant scaffolding next to the tracks so that employees can help people off the ride when something goes wrong (one at a time). Millenium Force has a generator attached to it for just such an occasion. The people stuck on this ride were up there for about 45 minutes before someone decided the power wasn't coming back on and they should start up the generator. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have lasted that long. I was hyperventilating on the water ride when they said "You're climbing to a height of 50 feet." Since Sassy was with me on the ride, I had to be calm and collected mama on the outside when I really wanted to curl up into the fetal position. I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon.

Jillian says she's nesting this week. I find that I'm doing the same thing at my house, but I'm calling it "organizing before school starts." If I don't get my house in some sort of order before backpacks and permission slips start coming home, I'm lost. I spent about 3 hours digging out my desk, filing stuff, and (my personal favorite) throwing shit away. Here's what I found:
1. Sandy's store bought sweater with a problem on the sleeve that I promised to fix (from last May);
2. the start of a crochet sleeve that Sassy brought home from someone's donation to the school - she wanted a button sewn on to make a shawl for her American Girl doll (also from May);
3. my niece's star quilt that needs a dowel pocket sewn on the back so my sister can hang it in her room (that one's from April);
4. a book from a man who no longer works in my office. I never even attempted to read the book. The title is That Printer of Udell's and it was published in 1902 if that gives you any idea.

Bring it on!! I'm ready...


I gave in to temptation and bought some AS yarn from the KnitSwap list. The color is called oyster - it's sort of that aran white color with a tinge of copper thrown in. I bought 20 skeins and I'm pretty sure it's enough to knit an Aran sweater. I'm really nervous about designing my own, so I'm getting my feet wet with the Emerald Isle pattern from Black Water Abbey Yarns So here's the deal I've made with myself: I can knit a swatch for this, but before I can start actually knitting it, I have to fix the seams on the Kandinsky Kimono. I can't be the only person who gets incredibly bored with a project and sets it aside when all it would take to have a finished garment is about 2 hours worth of work. Can I?

Let's see, that means I only have the Applegate Shirt, golden lotus Koigu socks, and a baby hat to fix up before I can move on. Manageable - no?