Well . . . just in time for the beginning of the new semester, my laptop has decided Not To Boot. It's 11:30 pm and I am [a] in the middle of some Top Secret Knitting Projects and [b] too tired to think much about everything that's on that machine, so I'm not really overly distressed. Yet.

If anyone knows how to get the stuff off an iPod, please do let me know. I have lotsa music that isn't backed up (keep your shock and snarky comments to yourselves, please), and I know there's a way to get to it, but I just don't know how . . . at the moment.

I can't really complain about the machine's demise; I believe I got it in 2003 (or maybe even 2002). It has been on fairly constantly since it arrived in my life. It's going to be a royal pain in the ass to replace everything that was on it, I'm sure, but the volatility and ephemeral nature of modern life has its price.

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In other news, the weather has been . . . about what I expect from this time of year. Our glorious snow melted, and now we're getting intermittent spits of freezing rain, snow, sleet, ice pellets - what the weather folks refer to as a "wintry mix." Tonight there's about half an inch of it slicking up the roads. I'm hoping that by my commuting time tomorrow, it will have melted off the pavement. (I never did put my snow tires on my bike . . . )

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I've been doing lots of knitting, and having a blast. I would estimate that I'm perhaps 2/3rds of the way through my Christmas knitting (which I hope to complete by March), and I've tackled a few really interesting projects. (Pictures to follow . . . someday. Guess where they are??) I continue to spend way too much time on Ravelry, but it's just way too much fun - interesting conversations with people from all over the world, and instantaneous knitting help. And the thing about knitters? They're patient. So you can ask them a veeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrryyy newbie/beginner question, and they simply answer it. And applaud your efforts, however pathetic. (Not like those Unix geeks, who respond by insulting you. Nobody on Ravelry ever says R-T-F-Pattern.)

I've also been hanging out in a few f2f knitting groups around town. Naturally, they're all about a mile away from us, which makes it darned convenient.

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I had my first class of the new semester today, and it went astonishingly well. I actually managed to get them to laugh; usually that doesn't happen on the first day.

Overall, the new semester is off to a good start, and I'm feeling happy about my classes and my plans for the term. Plus, it's spring semester - the days are already getting longer, and the end of this semester brings summer. Yay!

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Speaking of summer, we've got a head start on the compost. My sister-in-law brought us some worms a while back, and we have our very own worm bin now. Supposedly, any day now, we will experience a Worm Population Explosion and all the cardboard, eggshells, and coffee grounds will magically turn into dirt. I keep peeking in to see if it's happened yet. There's a small ridge about halfway up the container (a Rubbermaid bin), and yesterday there were a few worms hanging out on the ledge. I'm thinking they were wanting to make a break for it, so I pushed them back down on the coffee grounds . . . They have work to do, darn it.

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Well, I think I'm going to call it a night so that I'll be properly rested in the morning and can devote all my energy to fretting about my laptop . . .