Crazy Raleigh Rally Round-up

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Do not worry, there are needlework pictures coming. And also some geeky content. And food. Keep scrolling.

So. In Atlanta, sports bars look like this.

In Raleigh, they look like this:

This picture shows roughly 1/3 of the TV screens and approximately 1/5 of the neon I could see without turning my head. This is what happens when you get in late from a flight and are desperate for food. Which was...strange. Usually, I trust my server, but I don't think I'll ever order "regular sweet" barbecue sauce in a state that specializes in vinegar barbecue sauce again. It had...crushed red pepper in it? Who does that??

Anyway. The hotel was nice...

You can't see the love seat and huge bathroom. Or how CLEAN it was. That's the top kudo I can give to a hotel: IT WAS CLEAN.

We did have one excellent meal there (WARNING: REALLY CRAPPY PICTURE AHEAD!)

This is The Irregardless Cafe, which has the BEST vegan menu I've ever seen. It was so good, *I* ordered from it. That is amazing when you understand that I am an incredible carnivore. I wish I'd ordered one of the other dishes, as the Shepherd's Pie I got...

...was very yummy, but a bit "homogeneous" in flavor. I like a little more variety. However, the squash was perfectly cooked and this meal did come with the Best Salad Ever:

Candied walnuts, craisins and herb-crusted, warm toasted goat cheese. NOM. The boss man got the Brazilian Steak. DOUBLE NOM.

The class? It was...OK. I did learn some things, but the instructor was a strange mix of knowing everything about some things and nothing about others. Also, he did not seem to know all the answers to the "end of unit" test questions or how to fix some of the problems we had in the labs. (For the geeks that are interested, this was Red Hat class JB325 Advanced JBoss Enterprise Development.)

Did I do any stitching? Well...one night I stitched for about 10 minutes. On the plane, I knit two rounds of two socks. I did manage to swim one night in the indoor pool, but it was so small about four elementary backstrokes took me across, and there was so much chlorine in the pool that I determined I didn't have enough eye drops to swim again! I played a lot of Halo: Reach, though. =P

I did get to start my last Crazy Challenge piece the Saturday before I left. I probably spent more time sorting the colors in the kit than stitching, though! You know, it was one of those "fabulous" kits where all the colors are in one hank and you have to try to distinguish twelve shades of brown with names like Lightest Brown, Very Light Honey Brown and Somewhat Light Golden Brown.

I do feel validated that the colors in this vaguely reindeer-shaped blob are the same as those I picked for Dasher (scroll down) when I thought his original colors were too yellow.

Right before I left, I also put in a little time on Bumblebee Stumpwork, thus completing my goal of "touching" all eleven Crazy Challenge pieces in January.

Those are turkey knots, which leave loops on the surface of the fabric. Once they're all stitched, you cut them and then trim the fringe to make a nice, fuzzy bee.

I also made minuscule progress on the Squirrel Fob.

Get it? Minuscule! Because it is so small...and also I made little progress? See what I did there?

Yeah. I think I need a nap.

JiffNotes
Business trip where your boss brings an Xbox 360 --> not conducive to stitching. Also, please don't forget that I'm having a giveaway...stitchy/knitty/geeky! Go comment on that post to enter by tomorrow at 11:59pm EST!