blogging and knitting and other silly stuff

I just realized this morning that I have not posted ANYTHING in quite awhile.  Now I realize that most of the stuff is junk and only relevant to me . . . but . . . whatever.

Frankly, I've been busy. 

The last week of September, I was in Deerborn, MI for a Great Lakes Relocation conference.  It was a very good conference.  The best speaker was a guy who loves tax and makes it interesting.  I know, how weird is that!  Anyway, his name is David Oltman and his company is Orion Mobility (http://www.orionmobility.com/).  Seriously, this guy is great and if you are even ever slightly interested in tax stuff, go to one of his conferences.  I am not a fan of taxes but I would spend time listening to David.  I don't think its necessarily the subject but maybe that it is fun and interesting to listen to someone who is passionate about what he does and what he knows.

The conference was at the Deerborn Inn (worth the trip).  We had dinner at the Henry Ford Museum (also worth the trip . . . even though we didn't have lots of time there).  The other highlight of the trip was spending time with some really good people.  We had dinner on Tuesday night at a place called Giovanni's (330 S. Oakwood Boulevard http://www.giovannisristorante.com/).  FABULOUS dinner with a really, really good waiter and great company.  What incredible fun!

The second week of October I was in Chicago at the Worldwide Employee Relocation Council conference.  It was at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago.  I had a room on the 28th floor with views of the river leading to Navy Pier.  The view from my room in the middle of the day, zoomed in:

and here is the pic of the river from my room on Wednesday morning, as the sun was rising (I don't sleep well in hotels and usually get up incredibly, ridiculously early:

Chicago is one of those places that once you get downtown, you can really enjoy the city.  It is the getting to/from downtown that is a royal pain.  Nevertheless, the conference was excellent.  I spent mucho time eating (not good for the diet since most of the time the menu was pre-ordained and I didn't have choices).  However, the food was really good. 

The good thing about these meetings is that it gives me an opportunity to really sit down and talk with some of the service providers we use, see what their competition is using and, there is a really good meeting which is corporate benchmarking.  At the corporate benchmarking, the service providers are not allowed to participate.  Therefore, there is some really solid, in-depth discussions among my peers about how they are handling issues and concerns.  Very good stuff.

I did get some knitting done.  Since I was flying to Chicago, I took yarn and patterns for cloths.  Completed one.  I always over pack.

I have also started on slipper/socks for Lindsey.  But she tried them on Wednesday and informed me that they were way too big.  The pattern is a Drops design (http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/visoppskrift.php?d_nr=0&d_id=512&lang=us).  It is knit with two strands of yarn and goes rather quickly. 

However, because I frogged the whole thing, I decided to start working on the hats for Kyle's daughters.  I finished one and have started on another.  It is a simple pattern (84 stitches (on size 5 U.S.) with one inch of ribbing and after five or six inches of stockinette, you start decreasing).  I am using Sensations Rainbow Classic from Joann's (http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp;jsessionid=B2FYHZXZMT1DOP4SY5CFAFJ50LD3OUPU?CATID=cat3053&PRODID=prd53701).  Each skein is between 450 and 650 yards.  HUGE skeins.  So the girls are getting hats and scarves.  I'll probably crochet the scarves because it will be faster. 

I also finished Zachariah's hat and scarf.