Steve and I went to The Grove last night to meet up with our pal Andrew and catch a movie, Children of Men. I have not been to The Grove in about three years, and I avoid it like the plague. But this film is only playing at three theaters in the city, and the other two places are on the Westside, so it was really the only viable choice for all three of us.

As we approached the complex, it was all lit up for the holidays and looking quite pretty and I had a moment where I wondered "why don't I come here more often?" And then we pulled into the parking structure. The eight story, gigantic parking structure. And every floor is FULL. As we wind our way up, the tote boards reveal a couple of spaces fluttering by...2...3...FULL...1...FULL...FULL...we finally wind up to the roof, and there are 12 spaces available. And more than 12 cars in front of us. I manage to wind my way to the back, which is the side closest to the actual mall, and follow a nice lady to her car. Once we get out of the car, the view is spectacular. It is crisp and clear out, and there is a 360 degree view of the twinkly lights of the city no matter what direction we turn. We hustle down to meet up with Andrew, and it is snowing in the courtyard. The Grove is so posh, that in addition to the nicest decorations I have seen all season, they are blowing a fine sprinkle of real snow. "Real" as in it is made of frozen water and not plastic flakes. A nice touch! The crowds were amazingly dense, but well behaved. This is a highly moneyed somewhat older crowd, not the packs of teenagers who roam Universal Citywalk.

Our celebrity sighting of the evening was David Spade, going into into another theater, laughing and looking like he was having a good time. He was sporting his "scruffy" look and a trucker cap. He is really, really short. Like 5'3" short. A pee wee. I kept an eye out for more, but it was just too crowded to pay attention to that sort of thing.

The movie itself was amazing. Not a feel good film by any means, but really, really well done. I had no idea who was in it, but pleasantly surprised to see Julianne Moore and Michael Caine. The basic plot is not too far in the future, humans have become infertile. Unrest ensues. About halfway through, I though perhaps this was not the movie for a pregnant lady to be watching, but I think the concepts were a bit disturbing to everyone watching, not only those with the future currently growing inside of them. I highly recommend this movie, and hope it gets a lot of recognition. The theater itself was packed, which I did not expect, but I guess when it is only playing at three places in the entire city of LA it is going to sell out. We are not the only people who don't like to schlep it out to Santa Monica just for a movie.

We are back from Santa Barbara where we spent the holidays. It was much fun, and great to see everybody, but it's nice to be home.

With the Hats. For which I finally submitted the first invoice.

I did manage to get everything done for the remaining fittings, and sneak an actual day off on the 20th before we left to finish all the other holiday loose ends. We dropped off Schmedly at Julie and Jeremy's (aka Club Schmed) and headed out to drinks with Maurissa at the Ritz in Pasadena. It is quite the swanky joint, and was well worth the drive. I'm not sure if it's worth the $5 mandatory valet parking, but it was certainly a classy and comfortable place to have a couple of drinks (Steve) or a ginger ale (me) with friends.

I'm back to hats for the next week or so, and then I'm looking forward to FINALLY organizing my desk area. IKEA is having a big sale, so perhaps I will be able to cash in on that. I'm so sick of looking at all of this stuff! I'm going to have to just remove every single thing from the area, and put it all back one by one. And there needs to be a future baby area in this room as well, so it will be quite a challenge. I know it can all work, I just need to figure out how. I think vertical space needs to be utilized somehow, but with the windows and the half wall, there isn't much vertical to use. IKEA has cabinets that should just fit under the counter top, so I'm thinking 2 of them with doors for storage, and a way to have my desk float away from the wall. Right now, my desk and all of my stuff is stuffed under the counter, with too much over spill on top of the counter.

Uggh. Once Hat Land goes away, I can visualize it better.

Saturday was the big Bazaar Bizarre at the Shrine Auditorium, and I did manage to get a small array of items made by the end of Friday night, despite being buried under hats for two weeks straight. Everything sold out by the end of the day, and I made the first sale of the table at 11:02am (doors opened at 11) putting me off to a great start.

I ended up making the vintage look Santa Aprons, some with red ball fringe trim, glamorous fake fur trimmed dishwashing gloves and the Angel Rat Tree Toppers. The Angel Rats were $3 stuffed animal rats from Ikea (RATT) that I performed a little surgery on, so they appeared to be sitting up and praying, then added tinsel halos and wings. Very cute! I was surprised at people's positive reactions. Purchasers were about evenly split between rat owners and people who had recently had a "rat problem" at work. I was glad to bring them good cheer at the low, low price point of $15. I was also surprised at the gloves success, and I would have made more but my sewing machine called it quits at midnight, whining something about "don't make me sew latex and fur at 11:30 at night after a 50 hour week, you slave driver!" I took it as a sign that I was done, and went to bed.

I knew the aprons would sell. They were beautiful, tasteful and also priced to sell at $15. I think low price point is really the key at this craft fair. Anything that you can sell for under $20, and give the customer back change is the key. I know I didn't make that much profit on this whole thing, but I just wanted to break even and see the reaction to my products. If I can just get those damn labels made, the Betty Bags will be a reality!

Anyone know where to find oval embroidered name patch (like on a gas station uniform or a bowling shirt) for under $4.95 a patch? I would think i could get them for $2 each, I just want the same name over and over, with the same color, and I would buy 50. The internets has been not as much help as I would have hoped.

I realize glancing back at the last few posts, that I sound a little like a crazy person who has severe issues dealing with technology. On some levels, that actually may be valid. Please, let me defend myself.

I expect things to work. When you follow the directions, or repeat the same sequence of events that have always produced the same results in the past, I expect the same results now. I should intellectually understand that it doesn't always work that way. I'm fairly mechanically inclined, and when a piece of machinery doesn't quite work, I don't blame the machine. I can take it apart, or at least open it up and trouble shoot. There is a giant thread clogging up the beater blade on the vacuum, for instance, or a little piece of metal got bent somehow and that's why the housing doesn't close flush, and something rattles. Stuff always happens, and you roll with the punches. Cooking is the same way. Recipes don't always work as written. You adjust for the variables as they come up.

But modern technology isn't like that. It's not visual. It's a plastic case with chips inside. One does not fix it, one out smarts it. If I wanted to spend my day out smarting, I would have become a lawyer. I can't adjust for the variables, because I have no idea what they are, because I can't see them. If I used all this stuff professionally, perhaps I would understand the logic behind it all more, but I just use all this stuff at home. I haven't put the lifetime of man hours in on computers to get the knowledge base I need, and now things have moved so far so fast that I feel woefully left behind, like the C minus student. I'll pass the class, but I have no idea why. It was the grade curve that got me the "C" in the first place. I know just enough to get really, really frustrated with all of it.

I do feel validated when I do a little research, and realize I'm not the only one with particular issues. Like the problems with the crappy Direct TV HD DVR unit. It's not that I can figure it out. It actually doesn't work part of the time because it is a terrible design. Over Thanksgiving, when I couldn't get Blogger to post, neither could anyone else. Our DSL actually goes down more often than AT&T would ever like to admit.

I just expect more from myself, and I have those high standards for technology as well. Isn't that what we were all promised by buying into them into the first place? Make our lives easier? If this is easier, I might have stuck with mimeograph machines and pay phones.

nah...

I know it's a stupid cliche, but I got a jar of the best kosher dill pickles at Trader Joe's, and they taste just like the pickles they give you in the little bowl at Canter's on Fairfax. I'm not even supposed to eat them, I guess, because of the sodium content (says What to Expect...) but they are so damn good.

And it's not like I'm eating them at 3am with a container of Chunky Monkey...

I am gearing up to wage battle with Direct TV. Their HD DVR blows, and I am very unhappy with it. They no longer use Tivo brand, but have their own house brand of DVR machines. I thought it was me, until I did a little Google search last might. I had to go no farther than the Circuit City website, which had many, many complaints about our machine. It seems they are shipping out a beta version that doesn't have all the kinks worked out. I called them again today to lodge another formal, verbal complaint and find out what they are planning to do, since it turns out to be a much bigger issue than I suspected. I will now follow up with a letter. Supposedly new software will be issued soon.

I'm currently in the middle of the switch over from regular Blogger to Beta Blogger, and it irks me to no end that Blogger thinks I'm Steve. I changed the setting, and it should even think Steve is me. There is a bunch of stuff my computer does that thinks is Steve. Steve has his own computer at home, and another at work. This one is mine. I use Mac, Steve is PC. He is much more computer savvy, so perhaps the machines like him better. Clearly, this computer has never had to witness the destruction of other less expensive pieces of technology as an example to all the other machines to get in line.

Ha! After the initial posting of this entry, they now all say "Robyn." That's right. Do as you're told, and no one gets smashed with a mallet. I'm looking at you, 7 year old printer...

I hate when you feel a bug crawling on you, and you look down and a bug is really crawling on you. Most of the time, it's just a piece of fuzz or hair or something. So that's what you expect to see when you look down. Then it really is a bug. Ick!

Swampity swamp swamped with work, but I'm doing it here at home. Hats, hats, hats, and they just changed the fitting schedule, so OF COURSE the hats that are already finished are not being fitted on Friday, and what is now for Friday is just a pile of fabric and a dream. I'm in much better shape for Monday, though...feh, I say.

My British pals Sophie and Simon just moved, and I was emailing back and forth with Simon about the hassle of it all. I realized that we still have ONE MORE BOX that has not been unpacked, and it follows me around the house like a dog. I bought new shelves that I still haven't mounted on the wall, and the box is filled with framed pictures and art that will live on said shelves. For the longest time I didn't own a level to hang the shelves with, but I bought one as soon as I awoke from the baby-making nap called first trimester. Now I'm just too damn busy. I swear, I will have those shelves up and the desk area organized by February 1st. The hats leave my life on January 4th.

The Christmas cartoon I worked on all summer called "Holidaze" is airing this Saturday night 12/9, 8pm on ABC. It is funny, cute and really well done. It also has an appalling number of not subtle product placements imbedded in it. You can play a drinking game every time they mention Wal Mart, Coke, Campbell Soup or Sony PSP. I'm surprised there aren't regulations about that sort of thing with children's programming. Even with all of that, it is a totally sweet show, and Rusty the Reindeer is played by Fred Savage. And he is just what you want for this character. The art direction is also incredibly cool. Santa's list room looks like something out of a German Expressionist film from the 30's, yet filled with Christmas cheer, and the diner is the diner from the "Nighthawks" painting. If they just would stop plugging Ask Dot Com.

I'm sure you already had guessed how it ended, but I finally had a chance yesterday to watch the tivo'ed finale episode of Making the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, and I was disappointed.

Not a lot of drama for the final one hour show. One more girl got The Boot, bringing the squad down to 35, instead of the anticipated 36. We did get to see more of the girls who we haven't been seeing all season, presumably because they had their acts together and the show tended to focus on the train wrecks. Sweet, but I hate to admit, lacking in drama.

It might have been the final edit, or that she was under pressure to produce, but the audience was really left the feeling that the brunette in charge is just a big, complainy bitch. She is the Bad Cop to the blonde's Good Cop. Blonde wanted to keep #36, but Brunette dropped the hatchet on the very last day. Standards are standards. BTW, #35 made plenty of mistakes, but looked smoking hot in the outfit, and they told her so. She made the squad, but was on double not secret probation. They must all go running to Blonde when they have a problem or just want to talk. I bet everyone steers clear of Brunette unless they absolutely have to, and then address her as "ma'am."

After the pressure was off, the girls all got to go to a retreat at South Fork. I had no idea that South Fork actually existed. Looks just like the opening credits of "Dallas" and is apparently available for corporate events. While there, for some reason, the Rookies got a sketch done of their butts. Not a "sexy" sketch of their naked bums, but a charcoal artsy sketch of them fully clothed, linked arm in arm, like a group of innocent teenage girls. It wouldn't look out of place as a New Yorker illustration. But why? For Amish boys to dream about since they can't look at the official squad photo?

The best bit was when the girls all got their new boots, and one of the girl's pair didn't fit, they were a little too small. Brunette accused her of NOT KNOWING HOW TO PUT ON HER SHOES. It was naturally assumed that no one in the DCC corporate offices would have ordered her the wrong size, and Capezio would have never messed up an order of 35 pairs of identical white boots. It must be the girl who screwed up. She hurriedly took off her socks, wedged her bare feet in those too small boots, and put a big Texas smile on for the cameras. I'm sure she had plenty of blisters the next day, but dammit, she got out there and danced.