Now, I have to tell you… Call it arrogance or whatever you want, but I am used to being the Mac genius!  I’m the one that my co-workers look to for answers about the Mac.  It’s rumored that I can fix anything.  (I can destroy anything… including a 320 GB hard drive… But I can fix just about any problem that’s put in front of me.)

So the idea of going to see a “Genius” was kind of weird.  But I need my computer!  (After a day with my old, broken down HP, I was practically sobbing for my MacBook!)

It was pretty easy to set up.  Simply go to the Apple site, find the closest Apple store, and then schedule a time to meet with the Genius.  It’s possible but not likely to see a Genius as a “walk-in”, but if I’m going to travel all the way to Fort Worth to see the Genius, I wanted to guarantee my spot.

When I got there, I was a few minutes early.  I hooked up my MacBook at one of the tables with their power cords and was pleased to see (again) that the computer would charge with someone else’s charger.

When it was my turn (they had a nifty display that showed who was next in line, so I just waited for my name to pop up), I sat down at the “bar” where several “Geniuses” (geniusi?  genius?  Whatever!) sat.  The guy asked me what the problem was.  He asked for my charger and I showed it to him.

That’s when he said, “Oh!  That’s your problem!  You have the wrong charger!”

Seriously!  I didn’t understand how that could be.  The thing came with my MacBook and worked for a year!  How could it be the wrong one?

The guy said, “Yep… This is a MacBook Pro!  It needs a [insert whatever part number he rattled off here].”

Despite the screw up with the warranty, I really didn’t think that was possible.  I asked him if he was sure.

That’s when the “Genius” next to him said, “That’s the right charger!  It’s the old [insert the model here... more alphabet soup!].  It doesn’t have the higher power graphics card.”

Yeah, yeah… rub it in!

My “Genius” looked rather embarrassed.   It must suck to be caught in a not-so-Genius moment.

So then my Genius tried my power cord with my MacBook.  No lights, no charge, no action.

Then he tried the cord on a couple of MacBooks that the Genius crew used.  Nothing there either.  (Believe it or not, I was happy about that.  My worst fear was that the problem would require them to take my MacBook from me for a week or two.  My second-worst fear was that the cord and MacBook would work perfectly for them!)

Without even blinking, he said, “Let me get you another cord.”  Fortunately, they had one in stock (the last one, as it turned out).  He brought it out and tried it on my MacBook.  Happiness!  My MacBook was happy and charging.

He shut down my MacBook, curled up the cord, and handed me a form to sign.  Then he said, “That’s it!”  They didn’t charge me or even ask for my warranty info.  I was so thrilled!

When I left, I planned to go join my knitting pals at the Borders five minutes away.  But I’m me, and I don’t have a good cell phone with reliable GPS.  I got lost, saw a rainbow in the sky, and followed it back to the highway.  I figured that was a sign to head home.

On my way home, I pondered my frustration with Apple.  The company has brilliant ideas.  The whole “Genius” and “Bar” concept?  Brilliant!  They made getting someone to look at my Mac as simple as you can get.  Looking around the sparkling showroom, I can imagine that they make lots of sales to people who are just sitting around and waiting for their appointment.  Their products are fun and easy to use.

But with all Apple does right, they make some pretty foolish mistakes.  They give “classes” at the Mac store, but they were really just marketing.  I wanted to kick the guy giving the class out of the way and help those poor, confused faces and make them really understand how to use their Macs!

They also don’t stand behind their products or take full responsibility when they make mistakes.  Even in a case like my power cord, they didn’t admit that their company may be at fault.  Instead, they said, “The cord is not working.”

If they’d just say, “Hey, we messed up!”, I’d love them completely.  Heck, I’d be strong-arming people into buying their products.  Instead, I’m left in a horrible limbo where I *want* their products, but I don’t *want* to want them.

I guess it’s just another example of a company that could make their business a slam dunk but instead chooses that “good” is “good enough”.  What a shame!

I’ve been running a cute little program called coconutBattery.  Last night, I shut the MacBook down when the battery was at 40%, with the charger not connected but not charging (despite the shiny green light on the cord that indicated  that the battery was charged).  Right now, it shows my battery at 99%… The charger is connected, but the battery is not charging.  Who knows what it will be an hour from now?

We’ve always tried to be gentle with the cord.  I work in a building where there are several MacBooks, and I’ve seen more than my share of mangled cords.  So I inspected my cord.  It looks perfect.  Still, just slightly moving the cord can occasionally fix the problem.

Over the past couple days, I started investigating the problem.  A quick Google search gave me more info than I ever expected. It seems that the MagSafe Power Cords have long been known to be prone to issues.  Due to their construction (which was altered on later MacBooks and MacBook Pros than the one I own), they can just stop working, and that’s if you are lucky!  Three people filed and won a class action lawsuit because the cords can become frayed and catch fire.

Yikes!  Guess I’m lucky that all mine does is stop working!

Apparently, Apple has been silently replacing faulty MagSafe adapters since 2008… even before I purchased my MacBook Pro.  Only those who take their faulty cords to an Apple Store or have their claim processed through Support actually have a chance at replacement.  Even those who have valid claims have been told that they have to purchase a replacement.

I took my MacBook Pro to school today and had it set up with one of the power cords from a teacher laptop.  It worked like a charm… Even brought my battery back up to 100%.

There are other possibilities as well.  The battery could be dying, and there are reports of problems with Snow Leopard.  Both seem unlikely given that everything worked fine when I used the computer with a different adapter.

In any event, I suspect that I will have to make an appointment with a “Mac Genius” (who likely knows less about Macs than I do).  Hopefully all the grief that I went through to get my extended warranty in place was worth it (or at least worth an $80 cord replacement).

Last night, when I came home, my laptop was acting odd. The battery wouldn’t stay charged, and the network access kept cutting out.  I figured I’d better check the warranty to see if it was in order and found that I hadn’t even installed the extended warranty software that I’d purchased back when we bought the laptop.

Oops.

So I tried to install it. It didn’t work.  I tried three or four times and finally filled out the form for requesting help with the warranty.

I got things stabilized and left my laptop running with the data recovery program on the 320 GB drive as I slept.  When I awoke, I found that my laptop had died overnight.  I tried turning it on.  Nothing.  I checked to make sure that it was plugged in (it was) and that it was charging or done charging.  (It wasn’t.)

I was bummed, but I wasn’t about to just sit around doing nothing all day.  Instead, I ran into school and did some work there.  After a few hours, Mr. Grump called and said that he got the computer to turn on and that everything seemed fine.

When I got home, I checked my mail and found a message from Apple stating that the data that I’d submitted for the warranty was incorrect and that I’d have to call them.

Much to my surprise, Apple actually had people working at the help desk.  I spent several minutes on hold but was told I’d have to wait even longer to speak to someone in the warranty department.  So I waited some more.

Eventually, I was connected with a “specialist”.  When she pulled up my case, she said, “Oh, I see the problem.  You purchased the extended warranty for the Mac Pro, and you have a MacBook Pro.”

I don’t know how that happened.  For one thing, I purchased the package from a link in an email that I received from Apple.  It was one of those, “Your chance to buy the extended warranty at this low price is running out.  Click here to buy it now!” things.  The product that I purchased should have been right.  For another, Apple knew that I didn’t have a Mac Pro because I hadn’t ever registered one.  What did they think I was buying it for?  They should have caught it before it was even shipped to me.  But no.

I was quite pleased when the “specialist” said, “Here’s what we can do.  We’ll issue you a new extended warranty back-dated to the date that the one you purchased was issued.”

That sounded fine.

But then she said, “So we will refund the $249 that you paid for the Mac Pro extended warranty and then bill you for the MacBook Pro extended warranty.”

She said the next part really fast.  It took my brain a moment to parse it.  “Youunderstandthatwecannotrefundtaxandshippingandwewillhavetochargeyoutherightcostfortherightwarranty.”

Say what?  I asked her to repeat it again slowly.

Basically, the state of Texas charges tax.  I’d already paid tax on the previous purchase, and I’d have to pay tax again on the “new” purchase.  AND (it gets better!) the cost of the “new” warranty is $1oo more than the one that I’d previously invited to purchase.  So unless I was willing to swallow the $250+ I’d already spent, I’d have to spend $100 more (plus tax, of course).

Once I figured that out, I wondered, “So Apple will just bill me for the difference, right?”

Um… no.   Apple can’t just credit the card that I’d used to purchase the original warranty because someone stole my Apple account months ago, which forced me to cancel the card.  So because of Apple’s incompetence, I have to wait approximately six WEEKS to receive my refund.  However, if I want the right extended warranty, I had to pay for the right warranty NOW.

Does your brain hurt yet?  Mine did!

I tried to explain to the “specialist” why this was WRONG on so many levels.  I already knew that Apple had absolutely no concept of real customer service, and this just confirmed my feelings.

As I was giving the “specialist” my credit card number, I started to giggle at the ludicrous situation.  I begged her not to store my card information with my Apple account and why.  She said that was fine, but of course, I’m going to have to check to make sure.  I don’t think I trust Apple all that much right now.

As I told the “specialist”, I tend to love Apple products.  They are easy to use, they’re cool, and they’re fairly reliable.  However, their customer support stinks!   They could care less if they inconvenience a user.  They don’t care if their customer loses money due to their incompetence.  In their book, it’s not whether the customer is right.  It’s all the same to them… They have their money, and that’s all that matters.

That will be their downfall eventually.  They may have had the market on “cool” cornered for the past few years, but others are catching up fast.  What they need to start asking themselves is “How is Apple going to keep their customers?”  People will tolerate their arrogance for a time, but as Microsoft has found out, there’s only so much that people will overlook.

My patience with Apple is wearing thin.  I was contemplating buying an iPhone, but now I’m not so sure.  For one thing, half the sum I would have spent on an iPhone has now been sucked up to get the warranty that I thought I’d purchased a year ago.  For another, I don’t think I can stand being told, in not so many words, “Yeah, we know it’s Apple’s fault, but Apple expects you to pay for it!”

On the up-side, I did a whole bunch of knitting.

On the down-side, I didn’t communicate at all.

It’s not that I didn’t *want* to communicate.  I did!  I just didn’t take the time.

Whoops.

I do have some knitting news, but I’ll get to that later.

Now I’m back in school and very busy again.  We’ve had a bit of a rocky start of the year for reasons that I’d rather not go into.  The teamwork is there, but sometimes life just doesn’t give you the smooth path that you really should have.

Here’s an example:

Those who know me well would say that I’m a zealot when it comes to the topic of backing up data. My co-workers would tell you that I am the thorn in their sides when it comes to the topic.  I preach at length on the subject of never leaving your data on a computer that can crash and burn tomorrow. I have encouraged them to invest in a good back-up drive, and I’ve even gone to Best Buy with a friend to help her buy one.  I know that I drive folks bonkers on the subject, but I’ve never been wrong.  It’s smart to not leave all of your eggs in one basket.

I try to practice what I preach.  I have one 120 GB hard drive.  I learned my back-up lesson when that drive had issues.  So I bought a sweet 32o GB drive (that looks like a booze flask) to which I back up all kinds of data.

Starting the beginning of the year, I’d say I had the disk about 75% full.  There were thousands of files on it.  (That’s not an exaggeration!)  This was even after I backed up three years of photos to DVDs at the end of the last school year.  I had three years of photos, movies, custom artwork, award layouts, PHP scripts and more backed up to the drive.  It was my life-insurance policy against the worst.

Notice that I said “was” and “had”?

Yeah…

Last Friday, I reimaged my work computer using the “Deploy Studio”.   For those not familiar with the concept, Deploy Studio takes a master image and copies it to the hard drive, giving everything a fresh install of the OS and all of the programs installed on the computer.  Generally, it’s good to do it on a heavily used computer because it speeds up the computer and gets rid of stuff that isn’t really used.   It wasn’t until the computer was completely reimaged that I realized two very bad things:

1. I had not unplugged my 320 GB drive.
2. Deploy Studio targets the first available hard drive as a default.
3. The computer listed the removable hard drive as the first available drive.

When I rebooted, I noticed that nothing had changed on my system.  It was like one of those comedy movies when you see the camera slowly zooming in as the Clue finally dawns on the unsuspecting buffoon.  I had a ringing in my ears as I checked the listing of files on the drive.

In less than 20 minutes, I’d completely wiped out over three years of work.  Thousands of files (very likely tens of thousands of files)… poof… gone.

I wanted to throw up.  I don’t know how I didn’t.  (Very likely, the only thing that stopped me was the fear of having a six year old student see the computer expert throw up in the middle of the lab!)

People think I’m pretty clever with computers, but most of what I know about computers I learned by totally screwing up somewhere.  In the grand scheme of “learning opportunities”, I think this is going to be a big one!

I’ve already tried one path, and I’ll share the quick, cheap, and dirty process in the next few days.  But it was far from perfect.  I want 75% of the data back, if not more.  (I’m not foolish enough to expect perfection!)

So this weekend, during the long Labor Day weekend (trust me… the irony is not lost on me!), I’m going to go about attempting to retrieve the data that I lost.  I’ll be posting updates as I go along so that if you, dear reader, are stuck in the same position, you’ll have some idea of how to get back your data (if you can).  You can say to yourself, “Self, I remember that Grace was once an absolute moron and almost lost everything.  What did she do to recover?”

Seriously, though, I hope you NEVER need the information!

Now for the knitting news…

You may remember my Earth Maiden shawl that I finished earlier in the year.  Out of everything that I’ve ever knit, it’s the one thing that I think was practically perfect. The yarn that was handspun by my friend Micki was exquisite, and my knitting didn’t do anything to take away from it.   Several people who saw it agreed that it was amazing.

Their approval made me feel braver than I’ve ever been before.  So I submitted the shawl to the State Fair of Texas for judging for the Knitted Shawls, Wraps, and Ponchos category.  After what seemed like a lifetime of waiting I finally got the results.  I am utterly surprised to find out that my Earth Maiden was awarded an Honorable Mention for the category.  That means that it will be on display at the State Fair this year!

I’m shocked!  I hoped that it would qualify, but I really didn’t think it would.  I mean, it’s the first time I ever submitted anything for judging!  I would have loved a higher rating, but I’m more than satisfied at the rating.  (I poked around Ravelry and found the 2nd place winner for the category.  Trust me when I say that, with all objectivity, that item made mine look like child’s play!  I can’t wait to see the first place entry!)

I’m very excited!  We’ve been meaning to go to the State Fair since we moved down here.  (Rumor has it, it’s the biggest and best state fair.  Of course, every Texan thinks everything about Texas is the best!)  We’ve never gone though because it has always been too hot or too wet or too inconvenient or something.  Hubby swears that we will certainly go this year.

Just in case though… If you go to the fair, take a picture for me!

Normally, I get “off” work about two weeks after the teachers.  (The teachers are “done” the day after the students’ last day, though “done” is about as accurate as describing my summers as “free” or “off”.)  During that two weeks, I’m expected to pack up and organize the contents of two labs and help the admin team “finish off” everything for the previous year and prepare for the next.

After that, I’m “free” to do what I want.  For me, that usually means spending time getting my house back in order. (Who has time to clean during the month of May? Hardly anyone working in MY school!)  I also try to take training classes from the district.  It’s not required for my job classification, but I love learning.  Plus, I really hate hearing someone in the school talk about something computer-related that I don’t already know.  (I hate feeling dumb!)

However, this hasn’t been a typical year.  Thanks to the taxpayers and the blessed bond that was passed months ago, we are finally getting new equipment to replace our 11 year old lab equipment.  (Sad as it sounds, we had students who were younger than the equipment that they were using to learn about computers!)  Because it’s such a big undertaking, the district decided that they wanted to swap the equipment over the summer.  So I spent extra time rounding up the worst computers in the building and swapping the lab computers for them.  Then I helped set up the new equipment, which included reimaging the hard drives so that they had the “latest and greatest” software load from the district.

The district allocated a whopping 7 hours for me to do this job.  After a little math, I found that there was no way technically possible to get everything done in that amount of time.

But I’m a school employee, and just like everyone else in our school, I do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Also on my agenda this summer is a project that I’m doing for one of our Special Ed teachers.  Every school has some sort of book room that’s separate from the library.  The book room has books that the special ed teachers use with students who are behind in reading.  In our school, the book room has been split for years.  Some of the books are in one room.  Some are in another.  Others are in a corner of the library.  This teacher was put in charge of unifying and organizing everything.  It took her about 5 seconds to realize that she needed some computer-based way of keeping track of the books.  It took about another couple of weeks of visiting schools throughout the district to see how they are dealing with the issue.  Without exception, she found the solutions that were being used were either clunky, inadequate, or downright useless.  So we got together and came up with some requirements for a whole new system.  My summer project, which I rather took on myself, is to create a web-based application for her and our teachers to use.

What can I say?  I’m a masochist!  Besides, it will keep my programming skills fresh.  And hopefully, it will help the teachers and children in the end. I’m a sucker for the kids and the teachers!

So I’m busy, even though I “have the summer off.”

This is not to say that there’s been no time for fun and relaxation.  I’ll be back in a couple days to share what I’ve been up to in the way of relaxing.

I’ve still found some time to squeeze in some knitting projects.

I finished the hip bag that was supposed to be a birthday present for my art teacher pal.  I used the hand-dyed yellow that I talked about weeks ago and a couple other colors from my stash.  I tried two new techniques with this bag.

First, I did needle felting for the first time.  I’d had the supplies for ages, but didn’t get around to using them until now.  I don’t know why I haven’t tried it before, because it’s dead easy!  Just put the fiber down and poke, poke, poke, poke to your heart’s content!  I found it to be quite therapeutic.  On the day that I made the big needle-felted flower on the flap of the bag, I had a very frustrating day, and it felt very good to stab the bejeesus out of something!

I also did kumihimo weaving for the first time.  I’d seen a class of people doing it at the Shabby Sheep retreat, and I thought that it would be an awesome thing to do for a handle of a bag.  I ordered the supplies online and then set up the loom.  Much to my surprise, Little Grump grabbed the loom almost the second I put it down and started working on it.  So we ended up sharing the work on the 51″ handle!  The result was not quite as bright and “happy” as I really wanted, but I really wanted my friend to have the bag.  I figure that I can go back and make another handle for the bag later on, when I have a bit more time to offer.

I also worked on a baby blanket for one of my co-workers.  I tried Cascade 220 Superwash for the first time, and I like it!  After washing, the blanket is soft and has just the slightest bit of a halo.

The pattern came from Jared Flood.  His patterns are always well written, and this one was no exception.  I would make one change if I do this pattern again, though.   The last stitch of the row is a kfb, which means that it’s not all that easy to smoothly pick up the stitches along the edge.  I didn’t do too great of a job because the end stitches were just oo tight.  While I don’t know if a non-knitter would notice, I do.

Still, the blanket is pretty, and I’m sure that the recipient will love it.  I’m relieved to have finished it before the baby is born and before the teacher has a chance to depart for the summer.  (I still haven’t been able to give the Equal Parts blanket to its intended recipient!)

There’s only a few more days of school, but I have a couple more weeks before I start summer break.  I’ll likely work beyond then though.  Little Grump needs to take some summer school, and I’ll go stir crazy after a few days of everyone being gone during the day.  Or not.  Maybe I’ll sit and knit and watch chick flicks all day!

I had no idea what I’d get or when I’d get it, but I was in no hurry.  Imagine my surprise when Micki brought me two of the loveliest skeins of handspun that I could ever imagine!

That was… gulp… two years ago!  Since then, I’d squirreled my lovely yarn away waiting for “the right pattern”.  I didn’t think I’d ever have a chance to get such special yarn again, and I didn’t want to waste it on any old pattern.  Every now and then, I’d pull it out and stroke it, but the only person who ever got to enjoy its beauty was me.

Every now and then, Micki would quip about how long it had been since I’d received the yarn.  I explained that I was waiting.  She would look at me with a rather exasperated expression and say, “It’s yarn!”

So I made a New Year’s resolution.  I swore that I would use the yarn this year.  And I did!

When I spotted Ilga Leja’s Earth Maiden pattern on Ravelry, I knew that I’d found the right pattern.  It had really long rows, so I knew that it would show off the handspun really, really well.  I flinched a bit at the cost of the pattern.  (At $12, it was way more expensive than just about any other single pattern I’ve ever purchased.)  I mulled it over for about a week and then purchased the pattern.

I have to say that this pattern was worth it.  The pattern was so well written and had absolutely no errors or confusing bits!  I can’t remember the last time that happened.

I started the project with 870 yards (231 grams) of light fingering weight yarn.  Since the original pattern was written for a heavier yarn, I wasn’t sure if I would have enough to knit the pattern as written.  I ran some calculations after the first complete run through of the first chart and decided that I wouldn’t have enough, so I only did two repeats of Chart A at the beginning.  When I got to the end, I realized that I would have had enough, so I went ahead and added a repeat at the end.  The result is more symmetrical than specified by the pattern, but those who have never seen the pattern would never know.

The project was enjoyable in a “I just want to relax!” kind of way.  Each row was 343 stitches long and took between 30 and 45 minutes to knit.  Fortunately, no ripping back was ever needed, although I did have to dink back a half row at one point.  I worked on it while Mr. Grump watched NASCAR, so I could watch too without getting too freaked out if my attention was distracted when wrecks occurred.  (The fact that I had a stitch marker about every ten stitches really helped.  Thank goodness that I have lots of stitchmarkers!)

And the yarn?  Oh the yarn!  It reminded me of the reason why I enjoy knitting.  It was so soft and evenly spun.  While this was one of Micki’s earlier efforts, you can’t tell!  The yarn was soft and spun just tightly enough to avoid splitting but still loosely enough that it’s soft.  I took the project to knitting and on a retreat with me, and everyone who saw it in progress marveled over it!

When I finished it, I was rather concerned about how rough it looked around the edges.  (I’m not exactly the queen of consistency in the land of gauge!)  However, I know from experience that blocking can cure a multitude of knitting sins, and this project was no exception.

The result is a shawl that makes me SO proud that I want to show it to everyone.  I’ve taken it to school to show it off, and everyone loves it.  I even had one offer to pay me to make another one.  I doubt that will happen.  Though I really enjoyed knitting the project, I don’t think any subsequent knitting of the pattern will be as enjoyable as the first.  Life is way too short to be spent knitting projects that aren’t enjoyable, even if I could earn enough to pay for my yarn budget for the year!

As I joined in on the first round of this year’s Sock Madness, I couldn’t help but think about “American Idol”.  The first pattern is called “Simple Side to Side Socks”, and like the singers, the designer seemed to want to show just how much certain things could be used in one pattern.

Now, I know the idea of the first round of Sock Madness is to eliminate the weak and uncommitted.  It’s supposed to work like the basketball tournament.  The weak must GO!  I get that.  But I think it’s kind of silly when designers go to insane lengths to create patterns to drive the knitters nuts!

Think I’m exaggerating?  Let’s do a little math, shall we?

The pattern starts with an 80 stitch provisional cast-on, which means that, at some point, the knitter has to recover those 80 stitches and put them on the needles.

The pattern then requires that the knitter pick up 68 stitches for the cuff, another 68 for the toes, and another 68 for the heels.

Altogether, that comes to 284 stitches picked up for each sock!  That’s a whole bunch of stitches.

Then there’s the grafts.  There’s one the width of the cast-on (80*2 stitches), 24 stitches for the toe, 24 for the heel, and, because the tubular bind-off is used, another 68 stitches on the cuff.  That’s 276 grafted stitches for each sock!

Crazy.  Just crazy!

Still, I signed up for Sock Madness, so I gave it the old college try.  My progress was hampered by work projects and other life stuff, so I didn’t make it into the second round.  I finished the socks though, so I consider it a moral victory, if nothing else.

For this project, I chose Urban Gypz’s Harajuku Girl colorway that I’d stashed a while back.  It is a bit bright (understatement of the year!), but the colors are fabulous!  From the second Little Grump saw the colors, she claimed the socks as hers.  It was a good thing, because the socks wouldn’t fit onto my big fat feet!

Little Grump loves them though.

She loves them so much that she wanted to wear them to school the next day.  Alas, it’s now 80 degrees, and wool, no matter how brightly colored, does not work in 80 degree weather!

I don’t know how many people will knit this pattern after Sock Madness.  Most people that I know are more like Elizabeth Zimmerman, who went out of her way to avoid seams if possible.  Besides, the sideways knitting doesn’t make for an especially stretchy sock.  Most of the people who knitted this pattern complained that it was REALLY tight (or wouldn’t fit at all).  Because of all of the grafts, there are multiple weak points that are just ideal for failure, especially in a sock where one must do some convincing to get the sock to go on at all.  Life is way too short and there are too many other patterns out there to chance knitting a sock that won’t fit or might develop holes in short order.

I could be wrong, but I doubt it.  I know that I won’t be knitting these again soon!

The retreat was held at Our House in Milford.  We went there last fall for the “Christmas in July” retreat and had a blast.  Angie, the owner, and her mother, Ann, are absolute dears.  They cook and clean for us and generally make us feel like we’re at home.  The place is decorated with handmade quilts.  Kitty sent them a new addition… Some hand-stitched needlepoint pictures!

People ask me where this place is, and the truth is that I’m geographically impaired enough to not know for sure.  Kitty always drives, which leaves me the luxury of chatting and staring out the window.  So the best I can do is “Go South until you pass the big inflatable bugs, then go two exits past the exit with the Starship Enterprise.  Not very exact directions, but they work for Kitty!

To tell the truth, Our House in Milford is out in the middle of nowhere.  The first time we went there, everyone in our car was absolutely sure that we’d taken a wrong turn because we went into a little town with a stop sign and then crossed the road and meandered past some plastic covered houses, a cornfield, and a few cows before we saw the sign for the retreat.

But once you get there?  It’s a treat!

Rhonda from the Shabby Sheep was already there as were several other people.  We claimed a couple tables as our own and dropped our bags in our bedroom.  Then we kicked back our heels and relaxed for the rest of the weekend.  Everyone ooh-ed and ah-ed over the progress that I’d made on the Earth Maiden Shawl with Micki’s handspun.

A little later, my friend Angela showed up.  I was really happy about this as I knew that Kitty and Angela would hit it off fabulously!  We laughed and talked and knitted the rest of the night, and it was SO relaxing!

I’m an early riser, and Saturday morning was no exception.  The advantage of early mornings is the wonder of sights like this:

A sixteen year-old girl named Alanna was there for the retreat, and she’s an early riser too.  (She blames tutoring.  I blame brilliance!)  We watched the sun rise together.  One of the dogs from the farm down the road came up, and we petted the dog for a bit before going back inside.

At around ten, I started my first weaving class!  We used a little Cricket loom.  I used some yarn that I’d purchased years ago from the Woolie Ewe but had never used because, despite the fact that they all claimed to be from the same dye lot, they were vastly different in color.

Ten hours (and two fabulous meals and more visiting with everyone else), I had completed my first weaving project!  The edges are a bit wobbly, and the weave isn’t 100% even, but it’s mine!  I used the lighter of the yarn for the warp and the darker of the skeins for the weft.  The result is a really nice plaid.  Interestingly enough, the ends of the scarf look like stripes.  I don’t know how it happened… It just did!  (I gave the left-over yarn to Kitty, who was sure she could make something cool from it.)

I think I’m smitten by the weaving bug!  I didn’t buy the Cricket loom though.  It didn’t make much sense to buy a loom that I’d likely quickly out-grow.

Sunday started out well, but quickly went downhill.  As I was photographing Kitty’s fabulous cabled coat, I somehow managed to drop my expensive camera.  I was (and still am) inconsolable about that.  It pretty much ruined my mood.

However, it did not stop me from signing up for the summer/fall retreat.  In fact, Kitty signed me up for an extra day!  So we will be returning to Our House in Milford in a few months!

Apparently, she was given a password to an online area where she could sign up for classes for the following school year, and the students were supposed to finish their selections by Friday.

I asked her what she had already.  She laid it out:

• 1 credit (two semesters) pre-AP Calculus
• 1 credit (two semesters) Environmental Science (What the…???  In high school?!?)
• Orchestra (double blocked for both semesters for 1 credit)
• 1 credit AP English
• 1 credit pre-AP US History

She was still trying to figure out how to add in the rest of these in the last two years of high school:

• Latin III and IV (She thinks that she might want to be a linguist so she wants to take all four years of Latin.  Plus she needs three Latin credits to earn the “Distinguished Achievement” diploma.)
• Phys Ed (she has to have 1.5 credit hours to graduate)
• Health (she has to have .5 credit hours to graduate, and the Nutrition class that she took for some reason doesn’t count as a Health course even though they measured her body fat and required her to keep a food diary for an entire semester.)
• Technology (1 credit hour to graduate)

Basically, the only way to do it is if she bows out of things that she loves in her Senior year (like Latin IV) and/or only have Orchestra every other day and/or goes to summer school.  Or she can can help prove the theory that “Distinguished Achievement” really means “Neener! Neener!  I have a time-turner and you don’t!”

She’s not amused.  She’s freaking.  And I’m totally helpless.

Well, maybe not totally helpless.  I can do two things:

1.  Send a message to her counselor asking for help figuring it out.

2.  Vent.

I’ve done the first.  Now I’m going to do the second.

This morning, I had a talk with one of my co-workers while I was fixing her computer.  The topic was state standardized testing and how ALL students are expected to be competent in the same things in order to graduate or move on in school.

I know I work in a school, and it’s pretty un-PC to say, but WHY do legislators think that ALL students have to be capable of doing the same things at the same time?  What ever happened to appreciating people for who they are?    Why is it so bad that little Jimmy or Jenny is not a great book learner but a brilliant artist, muscian, or athlete?     In my daughter’s case, why does she have to give up things that she loves and will likely use in her future (orchestra, art, and Latin) so that she can take classes that don’t interest her and will likely be forgotten and never used again after she finishes with the classes?

Why are kids who are already proficient in an area forced to sit through the same things because it says on a list of requirements somewhere that they HAVE to take the class?  My daughter can handle technology better than most adults that I know, and she has been able to do so for years.  The lack of a technology class isn’t going to turn her into a mental midget when it comes to computers, but neither will taking an additional course necessarily make her better.  So instead of taking things that will interest her and help her grow intellectually, she has to sit through a course that will in all likelihood make her resent the subject more.

It’s just stupid!  We’re churning out cookie cutter kids reduced to the lowest common denominator and calling it “success”!

–  Deep breath –

I’ve vented enough. Nothing has changed.  I’m just disgusted, and I can’t help but sympathize with my daughter when she says, “No!  High school does NOT prepare you for real life!  In real life, you have a choice whether to stay in a situation that stinks!”

I’ve sent a message off to her counselor.  Hopefully she’ll have some advice.

I have a feeling that nothing she says will make my daughter happy.  Requirements are what they are, even if they do stink!