I took Friday off last week and enjoyed a day all for myself. I’ve accumulated too much vacation time, maxing out, so I need to indulge in a couple of days here and there, or else I lose the time!

Typically, I just sit on the couch and knit, watching whatever the Tivo’s been holding for me. Maybe a nap with Janie Sparkles and a touch of cooking.

Not this time.

It was terribly cold and rainy, so what better way to start a selfish day than a run?

Honestly, I doubted that I’d actually get out the door, but I knew I’d feel great afterwards.

So, before driving Mr. Man to work (to spare him a wet bike commute), I put on my synthetics and running shoes. Thirty minutes later, here’s the proof of my run piled in front of the fridge.

Then, time to eat. I’ve been having smoothies every morning for the past couple of weeks, which is highly out of character. I’m not a big fruit guy. (Big fruit, yes; fruit-eater, no.) I fear the frothy, milkshake-y goodness for fear of too much sweet. Heck, I don’t even like ice cream, so why try to like a pretend milkshake?

For those who are also dessert-adverse, adding nuked oatmeal, flaxseed meal, unflavored whey powder, plain yogurt and peanut butter insures the concoction doesn’t taste like a berry patch. Or, less eloquently, Mr. Man says it tastes like dirt. However you describe it, it suits my savory-favoring palate.

My friend Rachel had the day off, too, so I went downtown to meet her for coffee. Not just any coffee, $20,000 coffee. Blue Bottle just opened a cafe last week. Of the two big roasters in town, and ever since I stopped adding sugar to my lattes, I prefer the flavor of their roasts to Ritual’s.

‘Twas delicious. It’s a great space. Very theatrical performance of the coffee preparation (read the article linked above). Nice science-y beakers. Good flavor, but perhaps more of a special occasion coffee, not a habit. I’m glad I tried it.

Continuing the indulgence, I took myself to the movies to see Cloverfield. Just ’cause. It’s not the highest-brow choice in this Oscar season (I’ve only seen Ma Vie en Rose), but perfect for a rainy day. I haven’t been to a theater since I saw The Lives of Others last year. And since my beloved doesn’t appreciate sci-fi or horror movies, I gotta get it in on my own. A smidge Blair Witch-y with the single hand-held video camera, but a great tension-filled, frantic evacuation of NYC that doesn’t dumb-down a narrative to spoon-feed you a typical Hollywood film structure.

Today is another day off, and I’ve got a run and perhaps another movie, casting off Henry, and a sourdough starter to continue to feed. Time’s a-wasting!

At long last, here’s the oft-mentioned, never-before photographed, Jared-inspired scarf with Noro and a green "solid" from Philosopher’s Wool (left over from this sweater).

It’s been a smidge chilly lately, so the wool monstrosity has been getting a lot of wear. At just over 6′ long, it’s my favorite scarf, by far. It was knit over Thanksgiving 2007 in Eugene chez the in-laws.

Thanks, Leslie for the tutorial on scarf tying. I feel so French.

At Lisa’s birthday on Friday (at her store Rare Device), I sampled some of the most heavenly, poufy, cheese puffs in the world.

I don’t have any good photos of the lovely birthday girl herself, but I did snap a mobile pic of these savory choux puffs made of butter, eggs and gruyere. The woman who made them told me that the recipe can be found in Tartine’s cookbook (a must-visit bakery when you’re in SF).

Obsessed, I searched the interwebs and found that 7×7 magazine published it back in September!

Be warned… I could have easily eaten 38 of these greasy devils… make sure you make enough to share!

Go forth and bake!

I’m in. I’ve made my reservation at Easton Mountain for Joe and Ted’s Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat.

Dude. It’s going to be WAY better than a Keanu Reeves movie with a similar sounding name.

It’s like they read my mind.

Every morning at breakfast, we call the tool that decapitates soft-boiled eggshells, “Choppy.” And bunny has been a euphemism for a certain soft, round (not furry) body part that you’re probably sitting on right now.

Chris snapped this picture of me this afternoon, asleep on the couch with Janie Sparkles. Despite his description, we were not up late the night before (pre-hacking my own haircut). I believe we were in bed by 11pm!

There are a bunch of things that strike me about this photo:

1. Proof that I am knitting: Henry from from Knitty sits on the floor. It’s for Chris, and has stripes every 12 rows, so the chevrons are half orange, half blue.
2. I’m exhausted by the conversation on Knitter’s Uncensored, hence the iPod. Heavy episode, guys!
3. Apparently, I’m a company man, pimping my work’s logo in socks and knitting satchel.
4. For no other reason than comfort, I’ve undone my jeans.

Hope your weekend was as restful!

I feel so 5 years ago… I just finally got an iSight camera from Betsy who’s moving to Italy to start an Art Monastery. She no longer needed it since her fancy new laptop already has a camera built in.

I’ve never had the occasion to video chat, nor do I have the inclination to be LonelyKnitter34 and turn this into a vlog. But time will tell. You may see me sitting here bleary-eyed, not quite looking at the camera in dim overhead lighting soon enough.

Just in case, I opened up a hizKNITS AIM account, should you ever see me online. Grab a window, have a sit and type at me for a spell.

So, I have this day job, you see. One that takes up lots of my time and prevents me from knitting. One that takes up the majority of day and lots of my mental energy. But it also funds my knitting lifestyle and there are plenty o’ perks there. And, I love the peeps.

Today, I launched a refresh (don’t say redesign) of our corporate site. We’ve been actively working on this for over a year and a half. And there were about six months before that of research and RFP’s and trying to figure out what we want.

It’s now live. Go look at it (if you know where I work). Let me know if there are any bugs, but in the meantime, I want to sleep.

And knit, if I remember how.

Thank you to Dan for this laugh this morning.

You go, McCain! Makes me respect Romney ever so slightly.

Dan, of course, would be another one of the guys I’d hope to meet at the Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat in May.

Now, back to writing my self-evaluation for work. If only I could write, “Work eats into my knitting time.” But I don’t think that that would go over too well.

… or is it, Back to Zero?

I spent last night going through my Bloglines. Over 1000 entries of blogs I’ve meant to read, sitting there, collecting pixelated dust. Via scanning and reading and clicking and even a few comments left, I’m all cleaned out. We’ll see how long it takes for them to pile up again. I haven’t even touched MWK or Ravelry…

While going through everything, I saw Queer Joe’s mention of an impromptu men’s knitting retreat in upstate NY this Spring.

Am I the last to know, Mike? This is what happens when you don’t keep up with your online life!

Reading about Easton Mountain, where it will take place, I recognized a high school friend as one of the residents there and another friend is on the board that runs the place!

I don’t think I have a choice. I’ve got the vacation time. Any one else thinking about it? I’d love to meet you fellas who live on the other side of the country.