Weeknote, 13/11

Knitting:
Cherie Amour. She fairly flies off the needles. I am 4 rows off completing the body and then will just need to do the sleeves. Chunky on a 7mm needle is definitely the way to go - and I'm not even concerned it will be too warm because it's lace, and therefore very open. Pictures tomorrow when it's daylight, promise.

I am also quite impressed with the yarn. It's James C. Brett Marble Chunky, and I knitted the body up to the end of the left front before I finished the first ball. So that leaves the right front, the back and the sleeves. I was cautiously estimating two and a bit balls, but I now think I may not even have to start a third. It is a bit annoying that it has had a few knots in it and the second ball is wound backwards, but it's not really bright enough colours to be noticable.

Going to:
Teachmeet. This was very exciting, because it was part of my Google thingy action plan to present at one. I set this one up at Mr Z's school. There were about 15 of us there, and another 18 people joined online. There were some really inspirational presentations from teachers as geeky as me and we actually went over our allotted time of 3 hours, which I didn't think we'd fill. Mr Z amused himself by making us work with the MAC OS which was almost more than some people could cope with; indeed, the representative from Microsoft insisted on plugging his own laptop into the whiteboard, much to the glee of his colleague, who kept me amused with his Twitter commentary. I quite like the whole back channel thing.

It was just what I needed to refresh my teaching font as the days darken and it's difficult to find enthusiasm.

Eating:
I made pumpkin cheesecake from this recipe this week. It was an odd consistency: almost mousse like. I wasn't convinced it was cooked when I took it out, it was so wobbly. People at work were complimentary but unconvinced. I'm vain about my baking and require effusive praise for my efforts so I don't know that I'll make it again, to that recipe anyway.

I did, however, perfect the banoffee flapjack for Teachmeet on Wednesday. I cooked the caramel longer and spread chopped banana across the based instead of mixing it in. I also packed the flapjack tighter in the tin, so I had thinner, harder layers. Win!

Learning:

• About Livestream, Songsmith, Photosynth and this very cool technology where you overlay pictures and you can do extreme zoom. Yey for Teachmeet!
• That I look under 25 - at least according to the checkout woman who ID'd me in Sainsbury's today. Hilarious. Not even on a good day!
• About US Foreign Policy in the 1920s. As the sole teacher of the A-level coursework this year, and it being my second time teaching the course, I have been doing a lot more reading around and am finding it really interesting. Let me geek out by saying that, although widely considered to be an isolationist period in US FP, I have yet to find a single historian who thinks this. So where does the belief come from? Tis a mystery. OK, you can wake up now.
  

Obsessed with:
Malaysia. Packing for it, planning the activities, fielding parent queries, making arrangements with the college, organising a team-building meeting, trying to organise the Head who's coming with me....it's going to be a looooooong week until we go. Made worse by the fact that, after tomorrow, I don't have a day off work for 26 days. I think that might be against some kind of law. I pointed out to work folks that I do at least have a long plane flight for two of those days, and that, whilst in charge, I could hardly be expected to do much if anything went wrong. I also have the afternoon of Sunday 5th December off. SCORE.

Entertained by:
The return of Misfits! I was quite distressed by the ending of the first series and worried they might not make a second and I'd be wondering forever what happened to Nathan, so I was relieved to see it back on C4 this week.

Feeling:
Cautiously - that I am getting back on top of things. It has been a better week this week.
And excited about the new Harry Potter, and the trip.