A Recommendation

As I mentioned, in addition to knitting, I've been catching up on my podcasts for the past couple days. I am probably subscribe to far too many, but I like them all and I listen to most of them regularly. I get most of my news via podcast. I also listen to lectures at local universities, stories about New York and its history, and of course some great knitting stuff. At some point, I'll have to go though and share with you all of my favorites. That is for the future though. Today I want to share one particular episode with you. I listened to it yesterday, and loved it.

It is from the CUNY Lecture Series podcast. The page lists about a month's worth and will direct you to older ones and other CUNY radio productions. I have been impressed with the series so far, but that shouldn't be any shock. I enjoy the higher ed environment so having academia streaming though my headphones keeps me pretty happy. The particular episode that I loved so much I would recommend it to everyone that I know reads this blog is Crafting an Eloquent Beginning. One of the John Jay professors was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Biography. I'm not sure if this evening was a celebration, or if it was event from the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the Graduate Center. Either way it was fantastic, and I wish I had been there for the live reading. Several authors read their favorite opening paragraphs from various biographies. I recommend that you take an hour to listen. You could sit down at your computer with your knitting, or you could download it to you mp3 player (iTunes) and listen while you take a walk or do the dishes. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Peanuts and Crackerjacks

Yesterday was the 2008 Stitch and Pitch at Shea Stadium (the last stitch and pitch at Shea Stadium). Mike and I went to see the Mets v. Cubs, and they gave us a great game. I brought along my new sweater project since my other project is in the section that requires a chart. Mike even brought along the makings for his first garter stitch scarf in case he wanted to fit in. They had a table full of stuff for the stitchers, but it was swarmed by the time I got there. Rumor is I missed getting to meet Debbie Stoller. I did have a famous knitter sighting of the Ravelry Couple (no Bob though).

I guess the game started off bad, with a first inning home run by the Cubs. My knitting kept me happy though. Eventually, it started to rain. It wasn't a heavy game stopping rain. It was just annoying. Mike appropriately described it as someone flicking cold water in your face. I knit though some of it, but eventually my hands got damp. Yarn doesn't flow through damp hands nicely. I was worried about my gauge changing. (One of the downfalls of a no seaming sweater is that if you have to rip something out you lose everything.) It was ok though because I got to pay closer attention to the game. As soon as I got my stuff put up, the Cubs hit another home run with two people on base. It doubled their score and brought them 3 ahead of the Mets. It took a couple innings but the Mets caught up and at the top of the 9th it was 6-6. One of the Cubs broke a bat trying to hit one more out of the park, but we stopped him. What might have been the longest inning of the whole game ended with a walk off win after we finally got a runner home. It was probably the most exciting baseball game I have ever been to.

For your own baseball fun, I insist you listen to this:
This is Matthew McGough telling his story as the Yankee's bat boy from The Moth Podcast. It is a great story for anyone who likes baseball, or anyone who has ever had a first day at a new job. If you listen to podcasts, and The Moth (iTunes link) isn't one of your regulars, I highly recommend it.

Oh Ya! And the knitting I did.