Yesterday I held class and then went to a training for WebCT, a content management system for teaching online courses. Since I spend a whole lot of time with various content management systems, I spent a lot of time hanging around waiting for the next thing to happen. The trainer was good, and my fellow teachers weren’t bad with computers or anything; they just don’t spend as much time with the little boxes and buttons as I do, so it took them longer to find stuff on the page. So I was trying to be careful not to race ahead and look like some kind of smarty-pants know-it-all, because we all know how attractive that is, don’t we?
Anyway, four hours of that and I’m officially trained. I hope to have some online classes next term.
Then I had another rehearsal. We’re working on Patrick Liebergen’s “Advent Prayer,” a lovely piece which incorporates “Panis Angelicus” and “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming.” Here‘s a visual image for “Lo…” and here’s a pleasantly pedantic disquisition on the errors in it. Doesn’t matter. This is one of the most gorgeous tunes you’re going to hear this week.
“Panis Angelicus” is also beautiful. Chloe Agnew sashays out and sings it on this YouTube. Oddly enough, this piece has been recorded by huge numbers of people, including Luciano Pavarotti and Charlotte Church, Josh Groban and Sting. Here‘s an explanation of the words. Cesar Franck wrote the music and Thomas Aquinas is credited with the lyric.
Both these songs are perfect for sitting and singing quietly at home, both are perfect for singing with a large choir and organ if you’re planning that kind of day, and I think both would also be very nice on your guitar, flute, or harp.
I have eight hours of billable work today, and am looking forward to finding out how long it takes actually to 
complete them. I am, as I’ve probably mentioned, striving to reach a 50/50 split between billable and unbillable hours. A lot of my time is engaged in seeking the next client and taking care of current clients in unbillable ways, and things like trainings and sending out invoices are unbillable. Plus there are lots of interruptions in a typical day, so I have had trouble figuring out whether merely having more billable hours would naturally increase my percentage — that is, am I just working all the available time, and if I have more paid work I’ll do fewer unbillable hours? Today I’ll find out whether it’s possible to spend eight hours working for money and then shut off the computer. So I plan to be at the computer all day, except for Pilates.
And that brings up the matter of temperature. It is very cold here right now: under 20 last night and it’s scarcely gotten above freezing all week. We had the heat turned up for the tropical visitors, but normally we try to be conservation-minded and frugal and keep it as low as possible. So at what point does this become counterproductive because your fingers get too cold to type accurately?
#2 daughter is making these convertible mittens. They’re supposed to keep you warm and yet give you access to your fingers when you need them, say to type.
I’ve never been a fan of the fingerless mitts bit. I tend to think they are for people who are scared of dpns and therefore can’t make gloves.
I’m wondering, though, whether they would allow me to keep the temperature lower. After all, in a good wool sweater and wool socks, I’m not too cold to think at the point at which my fingers are too cold to type.
However, it’s the fingers that get cold, right? It’s not as though I’m sitting here thinking that my palms or wrists are too cold.
I guess I can think about that in between things today. However, I have many interesting things to write about today, including a new client who needs a post about addiction to prescription drugs, something else I haven’t thought about much.
You know, I think about a whole lot of things. It is impressive to me that there is still an unending stream of things I haven’t thought about.
Pilates, now, and then I will get the temperature up enough for work to be possible and get started.
I find, if my wrists are warm, my fingers will actually keep going with the circulation thing a little longer, therefore I can type longer. I swathe in fingerless mitts and a shawl in the office. Keeps me cozy while the lads have the aircon at arctic.
At which point, I think, I ought to shut the bathroom door, as I can feel a draught from the open window.
~x~
I’ve actually been looking for a cute pair of fingerless gloves. I just don’t like having my fingertips covered, as it makes texting and using my ipod darn near impossible.
We turn our heat down insanely low at night and just use a space heater in the bedroom. And yet the heat still runs all night long.
I have the same problem — and can recommend the fingerless gloves. I think that having fingers that are warm enough to type with is a legitimate “cost of doing business.”
They cover most of the finger, after all. They aren’t like those wrist warmers we are seeing everywhere that could easily be recreated by cutting apart a pair of socks.
Wrist warmers, sheesh. All that complicated cabling on something so silly as a wrist warmer.
If you’re looking for a mitts pattern, I have one on sale at http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17638016.
It’s not anything fancy, but the instructions will let you make mitts that really FIT with any weight yarn you want to use. This is handy if you want to make mitts to match a scarf or hat. It doesn’t matter what weight yarn you used for the scarf or hat, you can use the same yarn for the mitts. I have included instructions for long ones (that can be scrunched down at the wrist or worn up), short ones, and both long and short versions of an easy-knit mitt.
They can be worn on either hand, so I usually make a “set” of three, so you still have two after you’ve lost one.
They’re even better if you make mittens to go over them. You can pull the mittens off for more dexterity.
If you make mittens, crochet a small loop at the cuff to fasten to a button on your coat to prevent loss when you take them off. A loop is also a great finish to the top of a cap or hat, and will also prevent loss.