Taking care of business

I feel there are a few loose ends that I need to wrap up, and maybe a few newer threads to dangle out there.

First order of business: should I claim a medal from the Knitting Olympics? The fact that I haven't yet posted a medal is not because I have any issues with Franklin's wonderful design, unlike some people. (I'm thinking J in Kansas must have a bunch of relatives in Crystal Lake, IL. What is with these people? Sometimes I feel like we're living in an alternate universe.)

I haven't posted a medal due to ethical concerns. If I refer back to the original rules, then the fact that I did not completely finish my project within the 10 days allotted means that I don't qualify for one. However, Stephanie's closing post on the Olympics notes a special thanks to those of us who did not finish.

So...do I qualify for a medal? What do you think?

Since I'm such an honest and upstanding person I will admit that I still have not completly finished the gloves. I ripped out one of the fingers at Stitch n' Bitch the other night and re-knit it because it was too long. I have ends to weave in and holes to close up, but I'm hoping to have time to do that while visiting with my friend Adrienne tomorrow.

Second order of business: I finally joined the rest of you who live in the 21st Century and purchased an MP3 player. No, I did NOT purchase an IPod. I don't have anything against IPods, it's just that I approached this decision in a very business-like manner and none of the IPod devices fit my needs as well as the one I did purchase, the Creative MuVo2 FM.

I wanted an MP3 player mainly so I could listen to FM radio (in the mornings I really like to listen to public radio) and podcasts during my commute. IPods do not come with FM radio, although some of them will work with an add-on FM receiver. I didn't want to have to bother with additional hardware.

For these main purposes, my Creative Muvo works just great. It did take me a while to figure out the best way to add files to the device (there's an easy way and a ridiculously easy way, but each has pros and cons), but now that I have that down everything is working smoothly for me.

(I had a bit of a shock around the whole music-purchasing process, however. I didn't realize that EVERY site I went to would require me to download some sort of software in order to purchase music. In other words, there is no standard. OK, I figured there were at least 2 standards: one for Macs and one for Windows. That's typical. But I didn't expect to find out that there were no standards at all for Windows. How shocking. All I wanted to do was pay my 99 cents and get a song. Who knew it would turn out to be a quest for determining which music store would add the least intrusive piece of software to my company-issued laptop.)

Now I'm starting to get caught up in my podcast listening. (I know it's possible to listen without an MP3 player, but don't like dragging the laptop around the house with me to listen; it's so much easier to pop in my headphones and be able to walk around.) Getting caught up has it's downside, though. I'm afraid I'll run out of good podcasts to listen to (especially knitting podcasts).

Besides Knit Cast and Cast On, what are other recommended podcasts? What makes them good?

I know that there are a few people out there that have checked out this blog. If you're still checking, leave me a comment with some suggestions and feedback, OK?