I’ve been trying to make this post for-freaking-ever!! For some reason (I swear I didn’t do it) my pictures-upload have decided to stop working. I never used to use this because I never knew when my blog would move (when I was with DeadJournal and various subdomains and even Free WordPress)… however, now that I’m on WordPress on my own domain, I’ve been uploading to the domain instead of with Photobucket. Anyway, I got it fixed… and it was stupid, but here’s the post.

Last Friday (February 22) CW and I met his friends from Manchester at London Euston. CW has been planning this weekend for months and the four friend got the train down from Manchester earlier in the morning. The plan was to drop their bags off at the house back in Potters Bar then head into London again to do some general sight-seeing. Instead of both of us (CW and I) paying two train fares back and forth, I stayed in London and killed some time while CW brought them back to the house. I decided to go to the British Museum and get in a couple exhibits.

The platform is rarely this empty, but I thought I would show you some of the decoration in the interior of the station. A greater percentage of the station platforms have these gorgeous tilings along the wall. In King’s Cross tube station it’s 5 crowns in a + shape. I’m not sure the symbolism of these tilings for Tottenham Court Road… but they certainly are nice!

Here is the British Museum exterior

Interior… isn’t the domed ceiling gorgeous?! The natural lighting in there is absolutely amazing.

Inside there is the famous Reading Room. It has been renovated and the bookshelves and catalogues are no longer there (Moved to the British Library, London St Pancras in 1997), but the Room still in its original place. Unfortunately due to the First Emperor exhibit I couldn’t go into The Reading Room and actually gaze at the domed ceiling myself. I would have had to pay to get into the exhibit where as most Museums in the UK are free to enter.

First I went into the Egypt Exhibit which was crowded, but I had a chance to see, in person, the original Rosetta Stone.

The text itself if not particularly exciting – a decree from Ptolemy V instructing taxes and buildings to be erected – however, it is the fact that it is written in 2 types of Egyptian hieroglyphs and a form of Ancient Greek. It has allowed scholars to decipher certain hieroglyphic character, something that was previous unobtainable.

A few interesting sights in the Egyptian Rooms:

The Egyptian Sarcophagi were too crowded and behind shiny (read: camera glare) glass. None of the photographs turned out, but there were interesting panels along the walls explaining Egyptian burial rights and afterlife.

Then I went up to the Drawings and Paintings rooms as the book I’d bought (The British Museum A-Z Companion) said that the Museum had over 40 Rembrandts. The Drawings and Paintings rooms are constantly changing… and no Rembrandts were on display, but this Michelangelo sketch was a permanent installment.

I asked one of the guards where the Rembrandts’ were and he said to go to the back door and ring the buzzer and just ask to see some. So I did and was led into the Drawing Study. I had to fill out slips of paper and then one of the workers would fetch the sketches I wanted to see. I couldn’t photograph them because they weren’t “on display” and they were already catalogued by the Museum.

The Drawing Room

One of the books (Michelangelo) where you pick which plates you want to see In Person. I got to see Rembrandt sketches from The School of Rembrandt, Michaelangelo’s sketches for the Sistine Chapel, and Raphael’s Virgin & Child.

Michelangelo’s sketches for the Sistine Chapel.

On the way back, I stopped for a few minutes at the British Library.

I did go inside but I didn’t have any proper time to see the books. I went into the foyer and the gift shop. Maybe I’ll get a chance to go back and study there one day.

Happy Leap Year!

Devon is celebrating her Blogiversary in a very tempting way… sharing your favourite dessert! I couldn’t decide… I can never decide in restaurants either! CW would pick anything chocolate any time… except he’s given up chocolate for Lent!

There is a book giveaway at The Story Siren for the Fire Study series. I’ve not heard about these before but they sound interesting, and I get an extra entry for spreading the word. Of course, I had to go look them up on Amazon because I’m not going to enter a contest I’m not interested in and take the chances away from someone who really is… but these books sound really interesting. Poison Study was the first book (2005) in the series by Maria V. Snyder and it’s a gothic/fantasy romance series – followed by Magic Study (2007) and now Fire Study (March 1, 2008).

Jessi informed me that DropStitch Knitter is having a contest. I entered sharing my favourite tip when following a new pattern. To enter just leave a comment about your favourite tool or knitting tip!

Nannybird Crafts will be having a contest every week in March (that’s 5 in total!) to celebrate her Blogiversary. The first one is here. Make sure to check her out in the weeks to come. :)

I just found a new knitblogger that I’m liking, Margene, who I discovered through Grave of Lovin Comfort Knits. Margene is also having a blogiversary contest and wants you to share your favourite nature/landscape/place and why it is special to you.

WordPress is a finalist in the Publishing & Photography category for the Webware awards. Go vote for your favourite. Now, I’m a bit of a web-geek so I’m not trying to “convert” you… but I thought it would be fun to talk about what I voted for and why.  If this isn’t your idea of fun (I know I’m a dork) … you might wanna go read another blog for the moment.

Audio

• iTunes – the greatest organisational program for all my music and podcasts.
• Pandora – this is amazing internet radio, unfortunately it’s now unavailable to Canadians
• Last.fm – my replacement internet radio when Pandora shut down to Canadians

Publishing & Photography

• WordPress & WordPress.com – the sleekest and most straight-forward WSIWYG editor, and no messing about… if you don’t want to. Lots of fun if you want to mess about
• Photobucket – my favourite photos album host for open bandwidth

Browsing

• Firefox – just sleek design and can customize my links bar without having to have a bunch of toolbar add-ons

Search & Reference

• Google – what’s not to love? I just like how there is a clear definition between sponsored links and search results
• Wikipedia – great OpenSource system, don’t try to use it when writing essays for Uni, but great for interests-sake. They have a whole load of people who make sure that no junk gets added as anyone can edit a page.

Commercial & Events

• Amazon – more than anything I like making my Wishlist… not so people buy things for me, but it’s easier for me to remember things that I liked or was interested in. This is a great information resource for me before I purchase something.
• PayPal – secure and great customer service, I feel safe with my credit card on file here.
• Etsy – I love that this is very crafty. I’ve not personally bought anything but anyone can have a “shopfront” and it’s more attractive than an eBay auction.
• I would have liked to cast more than 3 votes as eBay and Craigslist were also runners.

Social

• Facebook – it was creepy at first, and now the applications are insane, but everyone seems to have one and it’s great for messaging your friends.
• Unfortunately, Ravelry was not an option. Not much of a surprise as it’s in Beta and only a sliver of the NetPopulation will know about it.
• I did not vote for MySpace as I really don’t like the layout or design. There is no clear navigation and it just seems full of ads

Communications

• Windows Live Hotmail – tried and (sometimes) true… I’ve used Hotmail for years and I’m stuck in my ways
• Skype – I wish more people used this! Free international phone calls if you’re both on the computer.
• Gmail – I don’t use my Gmail often, but I like that it has a big file-load limit.

Utility & Security

• Not really a category of interest but…
• BitTorrent – Good for downloading large program files
• OpenID – I’ve never used it but I like the concept of being able to not have to re-enter your details everywhere you go. Although I suppose that’s why I get Firefox to remember my forms and passwords.
• YouSendIt – Margaret has sent me a couple videos off her camera through this. It’s really great for sending large files, they are available for a set amount of time and then they delete them off their server.
• I wonder why CNet’s Download.com was not a runner… would it be because these Webware Awards are by CNet?

Productivity

• GoogleDocs – I’ve not used them extensively, but of course these are web-related programs so Excel and Word are not options.

Video

• YouTube – I like that anyone can upload their videos just by having an account. It’s an easy way for me to share videos here on the blog.
• Not in the running was AllUC.org which doesn’t host the videos, but organises the links to the content.

Time for the next letter in the ABC-Along… D is for……. DAD

This is my family. My dad is the furthest on the right.
The rest of my family from Left to Right: Mom (sorry she blinked), my cousin Jessica, (Jessica’s BF Brody is taking the photo), myself, my other cousin Laura, my cousin Daniel, my Uncle Jim, my Uncle Darrell, my dad. Missing: my sister (in Germany), my cousin Jamie (working). This was taken last March during my 19th Birthday Dinner with the family.

There is not just one reason why D is for Dad. Not only do both my parents encourage and support me – mentally, physically, financially, but they also love me unconditionally. Although I may not always be able to express how much I care for them and appreciate them, I really do. My dad goes out of his way for his entire family, from coaching softball games and helping with school research, to pick-ups and drop-offs everywhere anytime… school, friends, swimming, library, shopping.

One of my favourite times with my dad was Spring Break before my 17th Birthday. My dad had just bought The Blue Car (later to become my car) and he had some business down in California. I was 16 and busy logging Driving Hours before I took my driving test. Dad suggested we take a road trip together and drive the I-5 from Vancouver, BC to San Francisco, CA. It was a great trip, I sent home postcards for my collection from nearly every stop – Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, Redding, and of course San Francisco. The best day was the day I drove for nearly 11 hours (with stops) and my dad fell asleep in the car; as a new driver this was the most reassuring moment – it meant that I was a safe driver and my dad was comfortable enough with me behind the wheel to relax and sleep. I blasted Phantom of the Opera on my discman with a Cassette Adapter for the car.

There are so many more memories to share, but I’m sure that you get the picture. It’s a shame my computer isn’t big enough to hold all my pictures — I burn them to disc and delete periodically and all the discs are back in Vancouver. Maybe one day I’ll have the chance to share the photos from our trip here on the blog.

I was reading my Knitting Daily Newsletter and as my internet slooooowly loaded the content, I began to think about the title. Do you put yourself in a Box? Now, if you’ve read the newsletter you’ll know that it’s about shaping garments, but that’s not what I thought the title was referring to. I though that it mean “beginner, advanced, socks-only, expert, crazy-expert, super-beginner, instant-gratification, crochets-too, crochet-only, yarn-snob, caffeine-necessary” and various other typecasts.

I suppose there is a bit of Scouts Knitting Badge idea in there. I have the Talking Badge, for of course the blog. I also have my Level 1 MacGyver badge (use of a non-knitting item during knitting) which was when I sharpened chopsticks into knitting needles at camp to teach Scott how to knit. Michelle just got accepted to Knitty earning her Knitty badge!

I’m a beginning-to-be-advanced, instant-gratification, rerun/TV-DVD, slow, tea-laden knitter. That’s a lotta boxes. What are you?