Well, this is odd. Yesterday morning I dropped off my 2009 iMac and directed the Geek Squad to transfer its contents to my new-to-me 2015 iMac which sat, still packed in a taped-up box, on their store pick-up shelf. (I haven’t even seen the new computer, but since it should be identical to the old one, I suppose that I’m not missing much.) They’re in the process of doing that work, which should only take a couple of days. However, because I’ll want to get the Grand Tour of the new (so to speak) machine and where my files have been placed on it, I probably won’t be able to pick it up until next Sunday.
This might be the longest time that I’ve been without a computer since before I bought my first Mac in 1987. On the other hand, I’m composing this post on my iPad via my Bluetooth Qwerkywriter keyboard, I’m checking my email on my iPhone, and I’m charging up my iTouch Slim watch that counts my steps, alerts me if I get a phone call, or buzzes if I sit in my chair for more than two hours. I also have a PC to use at work and a PC to use at home for my newsletter layout work. So I’m not off the grid in any way.
The empty space on my writing desk is rather shocking. I have now filled it by displaying a compact Mac (an SE dating from 1986) on the computer stand. I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the arrangement with my iPhone and then uploading the image to my Flickr account. [Update: The iPad already had access to the photos I had taken on the iPhone, so I didn’t have to download anything from the Flickr account. I wonder if that’s another paid service that’s now obsolete….]
Before I filled the empty spot, though, I did spend a few minutes sorting through the detritus of obsolete work emails, sticky notes, and receipts that were cluttering up my writing area. Because I’m also in the process of thinking about how to rework the dining room and Secondborn’s deserted bedroom, I found myself thinking about which items really needed to stay where they were and where the other items would go.
I’m also thinking ahead to my eventual move to a new house. If an item isn’t going to make the cut and move with me it would be better to get rid of it now, when I have time to find some things a proper home instead of just tossing them out. Try as I might, though, I’m not able to trick myself into thinking of the current house as the new house. And I don’t know what my life will look like then, and what I will and won’t need. So for now, everything stays (hooray!) and I’m tripping over everything (boo!) because there isn’t enough space for it all.
The general plan right now is to read the books, then return them to the library, sell them, or give them away. Knit up the yarn and finish the projects, then give the items away. Look at what I’ve [literally] stumbled over, and decide whether or not it needs to stay. Of course, these are not quick processes. But I’ve been making some steady progress with books lately, and I choose to be encouraged by that.
Knitwise, I actually cast on for a project a few days ago. I couldn’t find a WIP that I was in a position to finish, but I found enough leftover yarn in two colors that I should be able to make a simple scarf. After coming up with some elaborate ideas for transitioning between the two colors (and back again), I gave myself a talking to and cast on 26 stitches for a very simple striped scarf. It’s just two ridges of white garter stitch alternating with two ridges of denim blue garter stitch, with the colors carried along the side. While I watched free practice sessions for the Russian Grand Prix I completed 15 stripes.
I also have the One-Row Handspun patterned scarf in progress at work, and I can work on that during the newly designated “Wooly Wednesdays.” The yarny student organization I initiated a few years ago went dormant during the pandemic, and a faculty member who works in my building is joining me to brainstorm about how to get the club relaunched by Fall 2022. Of course, we knit while we brainstorm.
Maybe if I incorporate that quieter time for knitting while I’m on campus and see some progress there, I’ll be better able to set aside time to do the same at home as well. It might also provide a bit of motivation for me to clear out that empty nest and spend some peaceful time there before the next bird takes it over.
While composing this post I received text messages and emails letting me know that my “new” computer was ready for pickup. I used an app on my iPhone to schedule my pickup appointment and consultation for next Sunday afternoon. That will give me more time to move things around, make some new spaces, and be ready to set up the new computer in a way that will make it feel more like…mine.
It still doesn’t have a name. Like a new pet or a new car, it may have to earn the right name somehow.
Chocolate Sheep 