Sunday, October 18, 2009

Potpourri on a Sunday

Mrs Twisted gave me the option to pick what I wanted for my birthday this year and here is what I picked. The Kindle 2 from Amazon. It arrived Saturday and it looks like we will become good Friends. I know we will still go to the library and even buy books, but I can see a lot of time reading what I already have loaded on this amazing piece of wireless technology.

No the hand didn't come with it but Amazon took a better picture than I did.

I've tried most of the features and the screen is so clear it seems like you are reading from a page in a book. The Whispernet works everywhere you can get a cell signal. I downloaded a book while we were at the beach this afternoon in less than 30 seconds. Most of the classics are free or near free because of being public domain. I've tried some of the other e-book sites and some 3rd party software to format it so it's Kindle compatible. I was happy to find a Kindle group on Ravelry along with an E-book group where lots of info is shared.

Saturday morning I participated in a charity ride for fallen Police officers. A guy I work with mentioned it a month or so ago and I thought why not... The proceeds of the ride went to the families of two officers killed in the line of duty. The station is in East L.A where there is a lot of gang activity. We started in Fullerton and rode West towards Los Angeles in a pack of 500 plus motorcycles. Some of the officers who participated in the ride just came off duty and the crowd looked a little rough but they were all here to support the families.

Since the police were in charge of the ride we had the best traffic control. The Fullerton fire department blocked the intersections and we queued up the on-ramp until we were all ready to go and the CHP had the traffic block in place on the 91 East. For those of you who have traveled on the freeways in Los Angeles you know about how much traffic was have. This was like the freeway was closed and we had a police escort. The 30 miles on the two freeways were amazing since we had every on-ramp blocked and the interchange controlled. When we arrived in East LA, the streets were blocked and the residents came out and waved like it was a parade. Towards the end of the ride we paused for a few minutes while some dignitary spoke and thanked us for giving to the officers that protect their neighborhoods. The local businesses provided some raffle prizes for the riders and we even had a local newscaster who gave it some publicity by riding with one of the station captains.
We ended the ride at a local steak house for a free lunch and live band. I'm planning on next year already.

I did some fiber dying a week or so ago and plan to do some more, maybe later this week. Some of my friends are getting project amounts of Cormo to spin when I finish the dye work.

This is the first batch that turned out pretty good. The next will be a little darker and less vibrant per the recipients request.
Hope you all have a great week

Life is Good