The Downside of Roller Derby

I play roller derby, and I absolutely love it. This has become painfully clear now that I (temporarily) can't play derby.

A couple of weeks ago, I tore my medial collateral ligament (MCL) during a derby practice. Some alarming amount of medical bills later (sports medicine doctor, MRI, orthopedic surgeon, physical therapist) I was told that that I would be out for 6-8 weeks. In addition I get to wear an enormous knee brace that I cannot fit pants over.

The timing is terrible, since I'll now miss tryouts and at least a couple scrimmages. Meanwhile, I'm watching people new to the league and practicing regularly who will likely surpass me during the time I'm out. There's a decent likelihood that I won't be rostered this season as a result.

It's depressing.

Ironically, I've recently become co-chair of the Recruitment and Retention Committee for the league. I now have a keen understanding of what injured skaters (who we're working to retain) go through emotionally.

I've been encouraged to attend practice anyway to watch and keep up, but it's really frustrating to watch everyone skating while I can't. Heck, my husband is out there skating as a ref, and I'm left on the sidelines.

And, yes, I know this isn't the end of the world. I'll get through it. It could be far worse. I don't need surgery, and the majority of my medical bills will be covered by insurance. But still, I'm finding it hard to pull myself out of this emotional slump.

The Swimming of the Fishes

I'm currently enrolled in a "Biology of Fishes" course at Indiana University. Recently, we've been covering the different swimming types of fish.. See the different swimming types listed and then the associated video that I located on YouTube. It's some amazing stuff!

Axial Locomotion

Anguilliform.


Carangiform.


Thunniform.


Ostraciform



Appendicular Locomotion

Pectoral:

Labriform.


Rajiform.


Diodontiform


Dorsal:

Amiiform. Notice the rippling of the fish's dorsal fin.


Gymnotiform.


Anal and Dorsal:

Balistiform.


Tetraodontiform.

Knits for Nerds!

My friend Toni Carr (aka Joan of Dark) has put together her second knitting book. (The first one was Knockdown Knits. Go buy it now!)

Now, I would be excited just that she has a new book out, and that she's awesome (because, among other things, she likes bats). However, just to make things more amazing, I have TWO patterns in the book - Jayne Cobb Socks and Tank Girl Socks. I'm really happy with how they turned out, and the photos are simply amazing!

Now here's the bad news. You want to buy it right now and knit all the things? Sorry. Not gonna happen. You have to wait until February 21, 2012. However, you CAN pre-order it from various online booksellers.

Somehow, seeing the book up on Knit Picks today really made my day. I love Knit Picks. They provided all the yarn support for my sock patterns in the book. In fact, go pre-order the book there! I insist.
Knits for Nerds on Knit Picks

Farmageddon

For some reason, I really love documentaries. I love documentaries about interesting and offbeat topics (Murderball, Air Guitar Nation, King of Kong, The Parking Lot Movie). I love documentaries about important environmental topics (Who Killed the Electric Car?). But most of all, I love documentaries that highlight our society's problems with food, especially those that expose the seedy underbelly of McDonald's, factory farming, or our own beloved government (Food Inc., King Corn, Supersize Me).

This week, I managed to snag a couple of free tickets to see Farmageddon: The Unseen War on American Farms (http://farmageddonmovie.com/). It was eye opening, sad, distressing, educational, and very well done. It told the stories of small farmers who had unwittingly incurred the unwanted (and unwarranted) attention/ire/wrath of various governmental agencies and suffered the horrendous consequences.

Among the various stories told, there was one theme that really caught my attention. Raw milk. Our government hates raw milk. It's okay for us to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, or take prescription drugs with hideous side effect, but our government WILL protect us from the raw milk.

I have been left with an overwhelming urge to now drink raw milk. There are some intriguing (but slightly suspicious) claims that it can help with asthma, so that's worth a shot. But really, the movie just made me feel angry and wanting to do something. There's not much in my power that I can do, but I could probably get my hands on some of that tantalizingly illegal liquid.

In Indiana it is illegal to sell raw milk. There are ways around this. Some places sell raw milk and raw milk products as "pet food" labeled "not for human consumption". That's fair. The other option is to buy a part of a cow (not a whole cow). Once you own a share in a cow, and you pay part of its boarding fee, you are entitled to its milk. Interesting...

I'm having trouble finding myself some pet food raw milk. I'm looking online, but I don't think anything is available locally. So now I guess I'm in the market to buy a partial cow with the intent of drinking a controlled substance. I have a mission.

New Video Links for Curiosity: Alien Invasion

See my previous post for the times I pop up as an extra. It should work okay with these videos, I think.

Curiosity "Alien Invasion: Are We Ready?"

The project "When Aliens Attack" became "Curiosity: Alien Invasion" in the U.S. I'm a featured extra in it. At various times, I play a soldier, a doctor, and a refugee. I have speaking parts twice. I'm happy to say that my husband (Jim Johnson) and our dog (Hiro) also have roles, including speaking parts for both!


0:28 - Soldier running behind guys in hazmat suits
0:32 - A soldier running for my life!


6:07 - I'm running in a military uniform with an AR-15 strapped to my back
6:23 - Jim and I are throwing a dead body off the roof
6:45 - I'm yelling while running through rubble looking for survivors
6:54 - I'm climbing down into the rubble to rescue someone
7:14 - I'm in the group running away from the alien robot
7:25 - I'm holding the one holding a gun on the far left. (Yes, I'm technically in two place in this scene)
8:01 - I run across the hall in front of the alien gurney
10:20 - Hiro, Jim, and I are walking through the refugee camp
10:36 - Hiro, Jim, and I run away in the refugee camp (left on screen)
‎

0:04 - Jim, Hiro, and I walk into the refugee camp (from top)
0:13 - I'm holding Hiro while everyone panics
1:08 - That's Hiro's speaking role! I'm holding his leash.
1:10 - Hiro and I watch as they wrap up exploded eyeball dude
1:13 - I look either very sad or very bored about exploded eyeball dude
2:34 - I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV
2:45 - Doctor again! Running over to a poor seizing Jim. My 2nd speaking part!
2:58 - That guy doesn't feel well. I wonder if his eyeballs will explode?
3:07 - Do I have a future as a hand model?

Who has an IMDB entry? I do! I do!

My resume is not very extensive, but here it is, my IMDB entry:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4477988/

My First Derby Bout - BHRG Code Blue Assassins vs. St. Chux Derby Chix

Saturday, May 7 was my very first derby bout. It was the Bleeding Heartland Code Blue Assassins against the St. Chux Derby Chix in St. Charles, MO. After a difficult battle, St. Chux won with a score of 129 to 93. Despite the loss, it was amazing, and I can't wait to do it again.

Because I'm a gear geek, I would like to point out that I have now switched over exclusively (for the time being) to Heartless wheels. I have them in a variety of colors/hardnesses so that I can skate on any floor. For this bout I wore yellow (chaser 92) as my pusher wheels and red (breaker 94) for my other wheels. It worked really well for the sport court floor that St. Chux had.

Photos below are by Jeff Higgins http://www.iaremoron.com/jeffhphoto/20110507/

Well, except for this photo. I took this one myself. My wrist guard gave me an interesting bruise. Otherwise, I escaped relatively unscathed from my first bout.

Roller Girl of the Week!!

Check out the awesome Examiner.com article written by the amazingly talented and hard working Leah Drichel! p.s. It's about me! Eek!

http://www.examiner.com/roller-derby-in-indianapolis/roller-girl-of-the-week-sock-emz-razor

Life has been crazy...

I'm a Bleeding Heartland Roller Girls league skater now, so that means LOTS of skating practice. I've been skating at least 4 or 5 days a week, sometimes more. There is SO much to learn. If you think roller derby is just a bunch of women hitting each other while skating around a track, you have it wrong. There is an amazing amount of strategy to this game.

Since I haven't posted much lately, I have a cute YouTube video for you. I don't know if I mentioned it here, but I'm an aquarium enthusiast. I have a 75 gallon aquarium and a 29 gallon aquarium. I'm obsessed with African cichlids. They are amazing fish - colorful and personable. One of them found a rather interesting hiding spot...

I Blog about my Roller Skates... AGAIN

I can't help it... I'm a little bit of a gear geek. New hobby = new stuff to play with and learn about. Roller skating is no exception. I started training for roller derby back in August. I'm now on my 2nd pair of skates. The new skates are the Riedell 126 boot with a nylon plate.

I'm also on my 3rd pair of toe stops and my 4th set of wheels (not counting the outdoor wheels I just bought for skating on Rails to Trails). I've purchased an extra set of bearings, maintenance equipment, toe covers, shoelaces, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards... It all adds up! I should note, all the gear I've purchased was NOT to replace worn out or broken stuff. Mainly I've been looking for the best gear combination for me to skate in.Granted, skating isn't ALL about the gear. There's a WHOLE lot of skill involved. The gear does help, though...

Radar Zodiac Wheels (red). Slightly narrower profile, although not as narrow as my Heartless wheels.

Gumball toe stop. These toe stops are awesome! Large and super grippy.

Toe covers to keep my skates from getting torn up. I like this style that covers the entire toe rather than the toe strips that only protect the front of the toe.

WTIU News Segment on White-Nose Syndrome

WTIU interviewed me last week about the confirmation of White-Nose Syndrome here in Indiana. I am proud that I did not cry during the interview.

Roller Skate Bearing Maintenance

Recently, I took a roller skate maintenance class at my favorite roller skate store Rolling Thunder Fun Factory. This is my first attempt to put that knowledge to use.

When I got my new skates, I gave Jim my old skates and bearings. I had skated on them for months without doing any actual maintenance, so I figured it would be nice of me to use his bearings (my old ones) for my first attempt at bearing maintenance.

My cleaner of choice is Simple Green diluted at a 2:1 concentration (2 parts Simple Green, 1 part water). Simple Green is pretty easy to find, is inexpensive, is a good degreaser, AND it's biodegradable.

Some basic tools - bearing puller/press, skate tool, bearing cleaning container filled with Simple Green, paper towels, bearing oil (not pictured), compressed air (not pictured).

Remove wheels first. Set locknuts aside in a safe place.

Use bearing puller to remove bearings from wheels.

Pets may decide you are focusing too much attention on maintenance.

Use a safety pin to gently remove plastic cover. Note: some bearings have metal covers that cannot be removed.

Be sure to remove plastic rings from both sides. Bearings will be exposed for better cleaning.

Slide bearings on spacers onto bolt of bearing cleaning container. Secure and place lid back on container

Shake container for several minutes to get cleaning solution into bearings. Remove bearings and place on dry paper towel. Note: If your bearing are really dirty or oily, you can let them soak for a few minutes. You 'll need to make sure you have enough cleaning solution in the bottle to submerge them. Note: I also give my bearings a quick rinse afterward, because I feel like the Simple Green is kind of gummy.

Break out the canned air.

Use the canned air to dry out the bearings fully. There can be NO moisture left in them or they could rust. You can ruin perfectly good bearings this way. If you think they're dry, spin them to make sure there's not still some water in the bearing spacer.

Put plastic covers back on bearings.

Line up bearings. Put one drop of oil on inside and outside. Flip them over and repeat. Note: Oil can also be added while one of the covers is off for easier, more direct application

Give your bearings a good spin to distribute the oil and make sure they spin well. Use your bearing press to put your bearings back in your wheels and put your wheels back on your skates. Take them for a spin to see how they feel!

What to do with Hand Spun Yarn?

I've been spinning yarn lately, but I've been stumped about what, exactly, to do with it. I finally got around to making a scarf with my favorite skein of handspun. It's one that my friend Toni and I dyed the fiber for. I brought it home, and it spun up so lovely!

I searched through Ravelry for a pattern I liked that would look good on BOTH sides of the scarf and that would potentially work with irregular hand spun yarn. I finally settled on the Drop Stitch Scarf (sorry, you do need to log in to Ravelry to see it). 

The scarf knitted really quickly. After blocking, the design looks really nice. I'm just frustrated that I can't get the lovely purples to really show in the photographs. My photo skills are a bit... lacking.

Ice Storm

Indiana has been slammed with an ice storm the last couple of days. Indiana State University even canceled classes yesterday and today, which saves me from attempting to drive on ice covered roads. 

Last night was especially interesting. As the ice accumulated on tree branches, they were under extreme strain. My house is surrounded by large silver maples, which have a tendency towards losing branches anyway. We spent the night listening to large branches falling and crashing all around us. The poor dog was traumatized by all of the noise.

Our roof survived intact, but our neighbor's garage was not so lucky.

Guest Bathroom Fish Stares

If you are male, and you go to pee in my guest bathroom, this is what you'll see. A male friend who cannot handle such scrutiny turned them to face the wall at our last party.

Making Wine (Please don't let it explode!)

Despite already having some wine making projects going, including two types that are already bottled and aging (mint wine and rhubarb wine), I recently bought ANOTHER whole wine making kit. There was this deal on Groupon for a whole kit with everything needed to make 6 gallons of wine (about a $250 value) for only $90. I couldn't pass it up, especially since it contained a few things we were thinking about getting anyway (Cabernet Sauvignon ingredient kit and a 6 gallon carboy). Those two things alone would have normally cost more than $90.

So last week, I went to Great Fermentations to pick it all up. Did I mention it came with EVERYTHING I needed? Even 36 wine bottles. Damn... Of course this mean I have extras of a lot of stuff. Do I really need two corkers? My dad's been thinking about making wine again, so I'm giving the duplicate equipment to him.

So today was the day to go ahead and start the Cabernet Sauvignon. Oh, look! Wine in a box!

Of course it's not actually wine yet, so let's get things going. The instructions are pretty straightforward. Clean and sanitize the equipment, add in the ingredients, mix, fill up to 6 gallons.

Add the yeast, put the lid on, and wait... This is the hard part. I won't actually have any drinkable wine for at least a year. Right now it has to hang out in the primary fermenter for about a week. It will do so in my spare bathroom in case it explodes. Yes, that's right... when you brew your own stuff, sometimes things explode.

This is actually my first time making wine from a kit. The mint and rhubarb wine that I've already bottled were from my garden. I also have several other wines going (in my bathtub of all places), including 3 gallons of cherry wine (from cherries in a can), 1 gallon of gooseberry wine (from my garden), 1 gallon of hard cider (cider purchased at the grocery), and 1 gallon of cranberry apple wine (from ingredients purchased at the grocery). There's also an ale mead in there (the other 3 gallon carboy) which is kind of a wine/beer hybrid (and is also a kit). Should be interesting...

The bathroom is also nice because we can run a space heater in there and keep it at a nice fermentation temperature. It is important to keep the yeast happy!

So, ultimately, in about a year I may have more wine than I know what to do with. Any volunteers to help me drink it?

Knit Picks Catalog and Handspun Yarn

Looky! It's the Knit Picks catalog that arrived in the mail a few days ago. Husband didn't mention that it showed up, so I didn't notice it for a couple days. When I found it in amongst the other junk mail, I immediately seized it and tore through it looking for my pattern.















And look! Here it is! It's stuck in amongst a bunch of other sock patterns, but it's there! I wonder if I'll actually sell some more patterns on Knitpicks on account of the catalog. Last time I checked, I'd only sold 6 patterns, which puts me nowhere near overtaking my advance amount. Sigh...

And here are some photos of my handspun yarns. I hand dyed all of the fibers with my friend Toni. My favorite is the first one. It was spun from a merino roving dyed with Jacquard acid dyes. The lovely purples didn't photograph very well. The second photo was spun from a sheep's wool batting from my friend Jenny's sheep. Toni and I dyed some of it green, so I spun the green and plied it with a strand of spun fiber that was not dyed. The third is an example of kool-aid dyed fiber that I later spun.