Grab bag

Adam and I went to an engagement party last night for our friends Pete & Jenny. Their apartment is on 80th off of Broadway; it's a great apartment. Great high ceilings, big windows, etc. As a bonus I realized (since I haven't been up there in years, since I quit therapy, I'd forgotten what was around there) that I would pass right by Zabar's on my way to their place. Adam went the party earlier than I and I was meeting him there, so I felt myself free to stop in Zabar's. I bought a bunch of stuff ... for myself. And then thought, they are going to think I am an ass for bringing a Zabar's bag to their party that isn't for them! so I sort of hid it beneath my backpack. They didn't care, of course. But you know, it's kind of in the same camp as bringing a half-drunk bottle of wine to a party. Sort of, uh, gauche. But it was too hard to resist the chance to go to Zabar's.

After the party we went to get the car out of the parking garage and I was struck by a pang of nostalgia for when I lived in NYC - up until only four months ago - and although I really don't miss living there in general, last night I had a moment of missing it. And I suspect when the weather turns cooler, I will really contend with some more moments like that; NYC is phenomenal in the fall. But you know, every place is great in the fall! When I realized that, I knew I could move away from there finally. Because it's so f'ing hard to live there, most of the time. But it has its considerable charms, and when you are on the outside looking in, it's easy to forget all the headaches and smells and struggles and expenses associated with living in Manhattan or Brooklyn.

I finished the baby booties. The first time I made this pattern I made an entire inner lining out of the white fluffy stuff and this time when I was doing it I realized that it doesn't call for that at all. I thought it was quite nice to have the fluffy lining, which is what real UGGs have, and I considered doing that again, but went with the lazy option, ultimately. I think they are so much better with the lining! but it's twice as much work. Here they are drying (and being blocked, with plastic shopping bags as stuffing):



If you have an opinion on the lining vs no-lining question, please comment.

Finally, the new job: It's okay so far. Not terrific, yet, because I don't have much to do yet. There's not much I know how TO do, since the place has all this history stored in people's heads and they forget that newcomers don't know where anything is or how to get an account on the various servers or which servers serve which sites, or anything. I did extract (like pulling teeth) from this guy I'm supposed to be shadowing (I'm not, exactly, yet) a smallish task to work on that allows me to get my feet wet with Python and Django (never used either) and maybe create some useful templates for their users to repurpose. Did that, Friday afternoon. I hope this week feels a little more productive. It's hard to go to work and do nothing, and resist the urge to read knitting blogs and shop online all day.