Yeah, I’m still here, still working, crafting, running, and complaining about the heat. But, simply, I haven’t felt like blogging. Maybe it was too much too fast, those two or so months were I blogged almost daily. Too much sharing. Too much pretending my life was exciting enough to blog about. Too much pressure to not miss a day, despite my readership consisting of my mom and a handful of friends.

Or maybe, a case of too little. Too little craft progress to show. Too little new experiences. Too little (thankfully) breaking in our apartment. Too little change in outdoor temperatures. Too little time when I’m awake and not busy to write.

Whatever it is, I hope I get back to normal soon and can, once again, blog. I even made a list of things to blog about, whenever the desire returns.

Could be a day.

Or a week.

Maybe not until I go back to school in a little over a month.

We’ll see.

Just know – I’m still alive.

(And, to all the Portal fans out there, my job does not involve conducting often-deadly experiments on unwilling participants in exchange for cake. I was just trying to be clever. Though I have a feeling my mom is now severely worried about me.)

I decided to put most of the apps on my new phone that were on my old phone though some just didn’t make the cut. Here’s what I decided to re-load onto the new phone:

1. Pandora: Provides the ability to use the Pandora music service away from your PC. Pandora is probably my favorite way to listen to music online, as it creates a playlist based on an artist or song (or series of artists and songs). I have a bunch of different playlists I go between from Britney Spears to John Coltraine to Reba McIntyre to Leonard Bernstein. You can also choose to play a mix of songs from all of the “stations” you’ve created and, in the new version, play stations by genre. The software “learns” what you like through an easy thumbs-up, thumbs-down system. Matt’s been using the same station for two years and it’s really got his tastes down-pat (except when it randomly plays a very traditional country song for my classic rock-loving guy).
2. Yelp: Oh, Yelp. Your reviewers and their emphasis on restaurant decor and service may annoy me, but your app is wonderful. Whenever we travel, we always use the app to find a good place to eat. Not excellent outside of major cities but even small town South Carolina has a few reviews left by visitors.
3. Open Table: Avoid phone calls to restaurants by using this app to make reservations. It uses your location to find places nearby but also lets you search other areas. Great for when you really want to go somewhere for dinner and want to get an idea of how busy they are (AKA if only a 9:00 reservation is available when you check at noon, you probably want to go another night). There’s also a whole point system for making (and keeping) reservations that I think you can cash in at some point for a gift certificate.
4. Weather Channel: The free version tells you the weather in your current location or anywhere in the world, including my favorite feature, “hour by hour”. No fancy radar maps in the free version, though it’s great for answering the “Should we drive or take the Metro to dinner?” question.
5. Words With Friends: There’s also a paid version of this though I have zero clue what the difference is. The app lets you play a version of Scrabble with friends or random strangers. My friend Steph and I have played several of the worlds slowest games over the last two months via this app.
6. Flickr: Pretty simple – let’s you take and post photos to your Flickr stream and let you view the photos and activities of your friends. Much better than having to connect your phone to a PC to upload. Can be finicky but I still love it.
7. Twitter: I’m addicted to Twitter so I’m happy they bought the company that originally created this app. (Have also heard TweetDeck for iPhone is pretty decent but I don’t need all that added mess.)
8. Knit Minder: Automatic counter for knitting. Keeps track of three different counts (like rows until next decrease, repeat of lace pattern, and total numbers of rows knit). Nice and simple.
9. iMapMyRun (free): I use this to map out runs. It uses the GPS to tell where you are and (duh) where you’ve been. Syncs up with mapmyrun.com which isn’t my favorite site for tracking runs (now that Alison showed me RunningAhead), but it’s still decent. I like that you get a little map of your run and pace average after and current location, total time, distance, and pace as you run (if you could look at it and run at the same time, which I can barely do). The free version doesn’t control your music so you have to leave the app to do that but, hey, you should be concentrating on your run, not your music.

After looking around online, there’s quite a few apps I’ll be adding soon:

1. ESPN ScoreCenter: I’m not super into sports but sometimes it would be nice to know just how badly the Orioles are losing. I often get asked for sports scores by those without smart phones (or slower ones) so this is worth putting on my phone, albeit on the fourth or fifth home screen.
2. Cube Runner 1.5: Anyone have a Mac back in the day remember Spector (or something like that)? This really reminds me of that game I used to play on my Dad’s work laptop. I got pretty good at it but, sadly, haven’t played it since ninth grade or so. Oh, memories of poorly drawn graphics of a 2D landscape.
3. Drop Box: Access your documents from anywhere. I already use the website (which gives you 2 Gb of free data storage for life) so this’ll be a great companion.
4. Google Earth: It’s Google Earth ON MY PHONE!
5. NY Times: No clue why I’ve never had this on there before, but adding it give me an easier way to catch up on news, without having to use the NPR app (which I think I forgot in my earlier list, add that one to your phone, too).
6. Wikipedia: For all those times I want “proof” that Matt is wrong.
7. Photoshop: Yep, for your phone. Gives you the ability to crop and do minor edits which, really, is all I ever use the real version for, anyway.
8. Tripit: Just foward your travel confirmation emails (airplane flights, hotel, rental car, etc) to the service and you’ll get a handy little list on your phone of when and where. Matt uses this already and has found it extremely helpful. Better than having to search through your email Inbox to find those pesky flight confirmation numbers all the kiosks seem to want nowadays.
9. Trundle: It’s on my list but I cannot remember what it is. A game, maybe?
10. Amazon: Good way to find out if maybe you should wait and buy that book online versus a brick and mortar big box store. Or to quickly figure out if the book is still in print.
11. Slacker Radio: Like Pandora but the playlists are built by music professionals. Another way to get good music on your phone.
12. Tap Tap Revenge: A stupid version of Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero. Perfect for my poor hand-eye coordination.

What apps do you guys have on your iPhone (or Blackberry or Android or..)?

But, what did I do? I didn’t so much as take my sneakers off before I grabbed my brand new iPhone off the coffee table. Threw everything off the chair by the door, grabbed my laptop, and got to work getting the thing activated. Two very tiny numbers had to be read off the box (stupid me, leaving my reading glasses at work – yes, I’m a 25 year-old who has reading glasses). All set up and wee!

I did, finally, change about 30 minutes later, when Matt gave into my demands that we go to Best Buy to get a case and screen protector. After the shopping trip (and super yummy Vietnamese food), I was back in the same chair, setting up my phone. I decided my phone will now sync with the Macbook instead of my poor, failing Dell laptop. This meant having to redownload all my podcasts and apps and figure out how to do basic things like set up my email and contacts to sync with Google.

Then, I got distracted again. I hadn’t watched the Bachelorette yet! I wanted to knit away on my sweater! So (before remembering to sync my phone so it actually had music and what not on it), I ran upstairs and went to Hulu and knit while watching Alli continue to have little to no personality.

Before bed, I got distracted by the phone again, remembering that it has a much better camera. I *needed* to try it out but was too lazy to so much as get up from my seat. Using the horrible overhead lighting in our office, combined with a very dark night sky wasn’t actually as bad for the photos as I would have thought. Some of these even turned out, dare I say it, well.

Dusty fan from my old desktop, which still sits on my desk despite haven’t bit the dust (har har) over a year ago.

Writing instruments, a bottle of soak, some candy, and the other random crap I always seem to have on my desk.

Close-up shot of one of the sleeves of my sweater.

Close-up of, well, some part of my sweater. I only managed to get through about four rows last night but the rows are now at around 300 stitches which is far too many for the poor 32″ needle I have them on. Thankfully, I’m working raglan decreases right now so the rows are getting shorter and shorter. A weekend finish seems likely but only if I get some real knitting time in the next few evenings.

(In case you all are wondering, I really like the new phone. I haven’t tried to make any calls other than in my house so I can’t say anything about the whole antenna issue. Plus it’s now got an awesome purple gel case that matches my headphones. That has to be worth something.)

• Matt and I ordered new iPhones last week and they should arrive today. FedEx has an estimated delivery time of 3:00 so Matt’s leaving slightly early so we don’t miss them. (He worked a really long day yesterday, so it’s not like he’s skipping out on work.) I have a feeling an evening of the two of us totally ignoring one another is expected. We bought our current iPhones on my birthday in 2008 and spent little of that entire day actually confirming one another’s existence. (Though we did talk some at breakfast at a place in Seal Beach I really miss called Blackboard Bistro.)
• I learned something new at work yesterday and am now really, really excited to start using my new knowledge. It’s nothing exciting or particularly hard, but I feel like a giant door of opportunity is now open. (It has to do with a relational database and our specific implementation scheme, if you care.)
• While Matt played video games last night, I worked my way through the remainder of the second sleeve on my sweater. The entire sweater is now on a single 32″ circular (barely).
• Due to the size / weight / wanting-to-fall-off-needle-ness of the sweater, I started the Ms Clarke shawl for my coworker last night. Nice, small project for bus knitting. I’ll continue to work on the sweater at home (hopefully finishing it this week) but forge ahead on the shawl in-transit. It’s been forever since I made a shawl, especially one with lace as the body of the shawl. Having to pay a whole lot more attention than my usual bus knitting but it helps the time pass faster. (You’d think I had a two plus hour commute, the way I talk about it – it’s only five miles and takes 20 minutes.)
• The shawl is being made in the skein of Dragonfly Fibers Sock in “Rocky Top” I was using to make that crocheted scarf. I decided to frog the scarf after realizing that a scarf is boring to make, even though crochet does tend to go faster than knitting. Plus, it’s amazing yarn and, really, I want someone else to benefit from it vs keeping it for myself. My neck would probably break out from it, anyway. (Stupid neck is wool intolerant, I’ve realized.)
• I’m already thinking about my next sweater, which will also be done in Weekend. I’ve got 1400 yards and it’s a solid worsted weight. Any ideas on what I should make?
• Amazon’s giving away free Prime memberships to people with .edu addresses. I signed up in an instant as 1) I am cheap and 2) I will be very unlikely to continue using my .edu address after I graduate in May.
• I didn’t run today as it took me a full 15 minutes to be awake enough to do more than read my email. When I headed out to go to the bus (about 45 minutes after I would have started my run), I was happy I had decided to skip the run: 75 degrees and over 70 percent humidity SUCKS. (Sorry, Mom, I know you hate that word. It’s just perfectly appropriate here.)

Not in a mood for real sentences. Not sure why. Blame missing of bus due to not paying attention and having to wait 30 minutes in the humidity. Did get some amused looks from people as I ate my breakfast at the bus stop (crackers with cream cheese straight from the tub without utensils).

Friday night: Headed to Fibre Space where I sat and whined about the heat and knit maybe three rows on the first sweater sleeve. The author of Blueprint Crochet happened to stop by and she signed a copy for me. I’d been eying the book for awhile, anyway, and figured it was the perfect time to pick up a copy. Also grabbed a new size 7 32″ circular as my poor Addi one is coming undone. Yummy dinner of lamb chops then we headed to Baltimore. Much, much nicer driving up when you leave at 8:00 versus directly after work. Plus I was already fed and showered before we left which made me far less angry than previous trips up.

Saturday: Rain, rain, rain all day. Slept in until (ya’ll will be amazed) 9:30! Cancelled plans to go tubing and get a snowball and instead knit while watching Oceans 13. Attempted to buy energy goop but none at mega sporting goods store in Hunt Valley. Hour-long trip to Wegmans. Found (and purchased) 15 different energy gels/goops/bars to try out. Hope at least one doesn’t make it want to vomit. Picked up and devoured four dozen steamed crabs (not just me, but all four of us). Watched a little more TV then had second dinner – was good and only ate two ears of corn on the cob. Headed back home and watched Matt stink slightly less at online violent video game version of Capture the Flag.

Sunday: Up horribly early after bad night’s sleep. Nine mile long run with running group, more specifically, with my running buddy, Jen. Very difficult run. At halfway point, I was ready to give up and walk the whole way. Jen helped me continue and we eventually finished. Over 14 minute / mile pace but I’m trying to forget that part of things. At least we survived. Ten weeks to get from barely surviving 9 miles to easily surviving 13.1 miles. Or learning how to ignore the pain and exhaustion. Resisted urge to take very long nap and instead headed to Leesburg. Bit of BBQ, bit of outlet shopping and bit of wine tasting then headed home. Shrimp and fish on the grill followed by another evening of video game-watching and knitting.

(Oh, the first sleeve is done and the second only has about 40 rows to go. Far more accomplished than I anticipated. Hoping to finish second sleeve by Wednesday. Dreading lugging around three-quarters of finished sweater remainder of the week.)

First, my minute progress on the first sleeve. We watched the latest episode of Top Chef then Matt played video games for an hour or so last night and this is what I managed to get done. My hands have been so clammy lately I was happy to make any progress at all. I know finishing by the end of the weekend is out, but maybe I can at least get the sleeves both finished.

The new Knitty came out yesterday. Although most of the patterns just aren’t my style, I did see two things I want to make: the Ms Clarke shawl and Flo the Elephant. One of my coworkers saw me looking at the shawl pattern and commented on how pretty it is so I think I’m going to find a yarn at my LYS in similar colors and make one for her. I’ve wanted to make her something but wasn’t sure if she was the shawl type (though she does have a poncho she keeps around for when the office gets cold). Plus, she’s a former knitter/crocheter so I know she’s not allergic to wool (that would have come up in her stories, I’m sure). The elephant, well, that’s just another cute little animal I’ll make for some kid in my family at some point.

What are you all working on right now? Finding any chances to knit in this horrible heat wave?

This means zero new photos of my sweater-in-progress as “progress” would have to happen first. I managed to knit about 3″ so far on the first sleeve. Even with a trip to B-more this weekend (about 2 hours each way), there’s going to be little to no chance of getting it finished by the end of the weekend which I had really, really hoped to do.

I’m trying to forget about the 9 mile run coming Sunday (and my very small chance of having a single shorter run between now and then) and focus on the positives of the heat:

• I finally get a chance to wear all those pairs of shorts I’m tempted to get rid of each winter.
• I’ll really appreciate the cooler temperatures this fall.
• Our air conditioner manages to cool down to within 2 degrees of it’s set temperature, even when mid-day conditions are over 100 degrees and humid.
• I don’t have a dog I have to walk outdoors.
• My car has little to no chance of being buried in snow and ice for two weeks.
• Requesting a snowball on Saturday when we’re in Maryland will result in actually getting a snowball.
• I really only have to wear “real shoes” at work or when I run.

Now, when was that “cold front” of only 80 degree weather supposed to hit?

Then, I realized, it was still 98 degrees. The humidity was still at the same low levels (thank heavens!) but those three little degrees made all the difference.

So, I made a corny joke with the pharmacist. “It’s a cool 98 degrees out.”

He laughed, being one of those kind, neighborhood pharmacists who usually deals with little old ladies.

But, what I’m really wanting to tell you all is this: I have finished the bottom portion of the cardigan I started last week. I managed a lot of knitting time over the long weekend (despite both a family gathering and a work party) and managed to get through it. Also, watching Matt play rather difficult, violent video games helps me focus. If I pay attention to my knitting versus his repeated failures (“Mission failed. You have been killed.”), I can make great process in an afternoon.

Now, it’s the sleeves I’m fighting with. I hate knitting sleeves in the round but am crappy at seaming so it’s really my only option. It’s really slow going as I’ve only got one needle of the right size and am having to Magic Loop it. Oh well, the sleeves will get finished over the course of the week and maybe, just maybe, I’ll get the whole sweater finished over the weekend. Or not. It’s not like it’s sweater weather…

(Though my office is kept somewhat chilly, the entire idea of putting on a sweater – even indoors – makes me start to sweat.)