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March 31, 2004

April Fool's Day prediction

So, BoingBoing and nytimes.com have both run notices about a new service, GMail, that Google is going to launch. Tomorrow. April 1, 2004.

I totally think this is a prank, and I can't wait to see red faces in the morning.

Yay for April Fool's Day!

UPDATE: Google does have a prank up for April Fool's Day -- if you go to www.google.com and click on "Want a job that's out of this world" you get a really spiffy set of pages about their new lunar research facility, the Google Copernicus Hosting Environment and Experiment in Search Engineering (G.C.H.E.E.S.E.).

However, I simply can't believe that Google would launch a new service for real on April 1st. Also, why is there no information about it on their front page? If you search on "gmail" using Google, you'll find that there are several other projects using the name "gmail" (Linux-y stuff, I think). I invite you to check out gmail.google.com and let me know what you think.

Posted by Rose at 10:40 PM | Comments (3)

Fur District Follies

So, I started working at Facts on File recently, which is located on 31st between 6th and 7th. This puts me right at the south end of the garment district, which turns out to be Furrier Central. I have never seen such horrible faux couture!

But here's a spoonful of sugar before you have to swallow the nasty, nasty fur coats -- a few lovely suits from a custom tailor on 7th Avenue.

How hot is a man in a bespoke suit? I hope to find out someday; in the meantime the garb itself is mighty sharp.

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They also do tailoring for women -- I'm in love with the collars on these suits.

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And now for something completely different. I like to imagine this window display is titled, "Have you bought your spring fur, madame?"

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Here is a pair of pastel abominations.

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If you've never considered playing basketball while wearing fur, well, why haven't you? I mean, you can get a perfectly nice jersey for only $2995 on 29th Street.

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I'm especially fond of the one in LSU colors -- Geaux Tigers!

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Here's the vile, disgusting, ineffably horrid thing that made me want to bring a camera to work: a coat in which the fringe is made of little tiny feet!

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Did you hear me? Little tiny feetsies!

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Ugh!

In case you're feeling some ambivalence about how street you seem to the other folks on the train platform, here's a jacket that embodies that ambivalence: a shearling hoodie.

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And if the burden of being a big tough firefighter becomes too much to bear, you can always line your fire hat with fur. No, really, you can.

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After seeing so many critter skins, it was nice to run across some real live fur right where it belongs. On a huge dog.

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When I get back to the office and it sounds like there's a party going on downstairs, I'll know who to blame: the guys at this establishment, right next door at ground level.

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The jokes write themselves, people. I'm just a conduit.

This concludes our tour of ghastly garments. I'll be sure to post an update when the windows change.

Posted by Rose at 12:02 AM | Comments (4)

March 26, 2004

Cry for me, Brooklyn

I like to think that over the years I have become a tiny bit less high-maintenance. And yet today I am in great need of sympathy. At least I know better than to say, "What else could happen?"

Last night I was working on the dress I will be wearing to the Fortunetide Ball on Saturday. I bought lovely fabric on 39th Street for the bodice, and I just needed to iron on some interfacing before starting to sew. Here's what happened:

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Yes, you are looking at the burned, shrivelled, ruined remains of the panel of my bodice. Sigh. Today I went out and bought new fabric. Non-synthetic fabric (drop-dead fabulous acid-green silk Chinese brocade, actually). All will be well.

I thought today was going okay. I had a minor setback: I bought Pirate Booty, and it was stale. All Pirate Booty has going for it is that is both crunchy and not-all-that-bad-for-you. And it was not crunchy. I threw it out, undaunted.

Tonight I had a fantastic time, eating Senegalese food, seeing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, drinking afterwards with my wonderful husband and charming friends. Exiting the Fort Hamilton subway station, though, there was a problem. (Astute readers will note that I was really fucking close to home at this point!) I fell.

For just a moment I thought maybe I had broken my kneecap. Or at the very least twisted my knee. Those things were not true. But it is really horrible, nonetheless. Just in time for the annual Unveiling of the Short Skirts, I have scraped my right knee all to hell. If you really want to be sympathetic, you will look at this gruesome picture.


Since bad things come in threes, and I'm counting the Pirate Booty as a Bad Thing, I think everything will be okay now. A girl can dream.

Posted by Rose at 12:31 AM | Comments (1)

March 24, 2004

Underground Critter Knitting

My subway knitting this week has been a blanket for the Critter Knitters Coalition knit-a-thon that Liz and Wendy are co-hosting.

Mine's in blinding bright Lion Heart Homespun that I bought ages ago because it was cheap and then I never actually wanted to knit it into anything for fear that the recipient or viewer would think it was ugly. I kind of like it, myself, and yet I have my doubts about its garment-worthiness. But it's still quite snuggly soft, and completely washable, and thus it is perfect for a cat blankie. I promise to document its dayglo nature before sending it in!

Posted by Rose at 12:05 AM

March 21, 2004

What's more fun than knitting for babies?

Seeing the actual baby in the sweater!

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I had two knitted items to deliver at the Crossword Tournament; this is one that was finished ages ago, which I had been remiss in mailing to its happy owner. Obviously this worked out fine, since it wouldn't have fit him before now!

(The sweater is a raglan, knitted from the bottom up, then sleeves picked up and knitted from the top down. The yarn is Lamb's Pride Bulky, which I wouldn't ordinarily use for a baby garment. However, the colors were so cheerful that I couldn't resist!)

Posted by Rose at 08:28 PM

March 10, 2004

Deadline knitting

There's absolutely nothing like a deadline to motivate me! I agreed to knit a scarf for a long-distance friend who I'll be seeing this weekend, and it's not done yet, but it will be before I see him!

I know a lot of folks hate knitting with an imposed deadline, but I'm finding it invigorating. It's not like the dreaded "Christmas knitting", where there are multiple projects all due on the same day. It's just knitting with a time component, sort of as if it were an event in the Knitting Olympics.

Wow. Knitting Olympics -- that would be awesome! We'll have to think of a list of events.

Pictures of the scarf will follow completion.

Posted by Rose at 11:49 PM | Comments (1)