Victories, No Sleep, and Things Ain't What They Used To Be

Quite the title, huh? Well, it was quite the day. And night.

I had the best of intentions. I was going to bed at a decent time last night so I could get up this morning refreshed, tend to things on the computer, shower, cram my bulk into my sweats, and head for Oakland. I did get a few of those things accomplished, but not one of the really important ones.

I didn't sleep.

Oh yes, I did lay my poor body down for an hour this afternoon. I did doze for 45 minutes on the Monster. But that's not sleep. I so badly need a solid eight (and not Hubster's tool) that I'm sitting here yawning as wide as the Grand Canyon. What's that saying? The best intentions...

I knitted all night. I knitted all morning. And I do mean knit, only taking breaks to attend to the computer. I'm going to knit when I'm done with this. But I have a feeling that I'll be spending a little more time tonight sleeping wherever I happen to plant myself. The good news is that I can't do anything more with the business tonight. I have to work on taking pictures, but my camera needs a new card or something. We'll take care of that tomorrow. That's why there are no pictures of yarny goodness for this post or updates on the review page. Sigh. I'm a bad blogger. But with everything that's been going on, it's hardly any surprise. In fact, I'm pretty proud of myself for blogging as much as I've done. I'm getting to the point, though, where I'll post something like "Tired. Working. Nothing to say.".

I do have something to say tonight, though.

I received a letter from Alameda County today. It contained my permit to sell within the county lines. Yay! I thought it would take six to eight weeks, but they must not have much to do right now or something. If I lived in a city within the county, I wouldn't need that particular piece of paper. Since I live in an unincorporated village, however, it was required.

The next thing to get was my DBA. I could have mailed in the paperwork; however, it would have taken some number of weeks, and I needed that piece of paper in order to open a business checking account, put my notice in the paper, etc. So this afternoon, off to Oakland we went.

What you have to understand about Oakland is that there is virtually NO street parking. It's like most other medium to large cities; there are skyscrapers, federal buildings, state buildings, museums, blah blah blah... and all without ample street parking. There were a few parking garages in the area, but the weather was turning nasty, and I didn't want to walk five city blocks to get to the building I needed to visit. We also could have taken the Bay Area Monorail (also known as BART, or (B)ay (A)rea (R)apid (T)ransit), but that would have left us stranded in one place, and I wanted to visit somewhere else while we were there. So we turned down the street the building was on and - be still my beating heart! - there were TWO parking places. Hubster swung the Beast into one of them, dug around for quarters (some of the meters work on credit cards - there's a little kiosk where you pay for your parking), but this was an older meter that only took quarters. He walked into the building with me, got me situated where I was supposed to go, and then hiked to the nearest store to get some change.

The room I had to sit in was fascinating. First, I had to stop at the Information Desk to tell them what I wanted; they printed me out this little piece of paper that had a letter and number, along with what I wanted. They had these boards that looked like keno boards around this huge room that showed the number being served and the desk they were being served at. They also announced it over the PA system (just like in keno) for those who either couldn't read the boards or see them. I didn't have to wait very long, and then my number was called. Off to the appointed desk I went, clutching my paperwork which I had already filled out.

The lady was very nice and took care of things quickly. I now have three originals with their official stamp and seal saying that as far as Alameda County is concerned, I am the sole possessor of the name "Yarny Goodness". Now all I have to do is send one of those papers to the newspaper to publish for some period of time, after which the paper sends me an affidavit which I then send to the County Recorder's office. Piece of cake. So I'm now legal and ready to open as soon as we finish up.

You'd think I'd be done by now, wouldn't you? So did I. I was warned that this might happen. I also thought I might be a week late. I'm still clinging to the hope that I'll be ready at the end of the month, and it may well happen. At the latest, it will be a week after that. Then I can sleep for... oh... a week or so. I'm also still waiting for some shipments. I've written letters to the people who still need to ship them to see what the status is. I think that they will be shipped shortly, with the exception of the people who have indicated to me that they won't be ready for whatever length of time they need. No problem. I'm cool with that.

Anyway, after we were done at the Recorder's office, we headed over to Article Pract. I've heard wonderful things about it, and since I needed a cable needle, I wanted to check it out. Everything I had heard is true. It's a glorious place, crammed full of yarn, notions, bags, books, patterns, creams, washes... if it has to do with fiber, they have it. I managed to restrain myself and only buy three skeins of yarn, the cable needle, a book, and a very long Addi to try a new technique. The book is about knitting two socks at one time on one circular needle. It's not Magic Loop - it's different than that. I think I'll work on it in my spare time.

Then it was off to Fenton's, an ice cream parlor that has been there since 1849, I think it is. My grandpa ate there as a child. I've eaten there my whole life. Their banana splits are so big, it takes two or three people to eat them. They also had incredibly good crab sandwiches. Imagine our shock when we saw the completely remodeled dining room. Imagine our shock when we found out the crab sandwiches are now made from Alaskan Snow Crab instead of local Dungeness. Imagine our shock...

The food was lousy. At least my vanilla shake still had cream plastered on the inside of the glass. I told the waitress that I wanted almonds and bananas with my shake. She asked me if I wanted them on the side. I told her no, to blend them in. She took me literally. Instead of putting the almonds on top of the whipped cream, they blended them in with the shake. While it wasn't bad, it wasn't great, either. Another institution bites the dust. It was bittersweet being there and seeing what they had done to the place. It's obvious that they're running it on the cheap. Grandpa must be rolling over in his grave right about now.

I'm almost done with one of the swap socks. Good thing, too. I have another pair and a test pair to work on as well. My poor fingers are ripped to shreds. Heh. Just wait until I go live.

So that's it for today, my loves. I'm going to sit on the Monster and take a nap. Or maybe I'll actually lay down in bed. Maybe I'll get some knitting done. Who knows?

As long as my body isn't moving, I'm happy.

A postscript: I began this blog at 6:30 p.m. or so. It is now 11:55 p.m. I fell asleep in the dining room chair where I sit and type. In fact, the blog wasn't even finished. Holy shit. Hubster was snoring away on the couch. Think we both needed some rest?