there is no 'karen' in 'team'

Today my company is having a work outing involving a scavenger hunt that winds up at whatever mystery restaurant it is where they will then provide lunch. Now, I enjoy a scavenger hunt as much as the next person...wait a minute, NO I DON'T. At least not unless the next person hates them with the heat of a thousand flaming effigies of whoever came up with the idea of sending a hundred or so full-grown professional e-discovery specialists on a scavenger hunt. There were going to be teams, people...TEAMS. Sweet peanut butter jesus, I would rather spend the day participating in role-playing skits and trust exercises with a herd of evangelical Christians. Luckily that wasn't the company-sanctioned alternative option; the alternative option was to take a mandatory PTO day, which is what I did. So I've been spending a relaxing morning knitting Latvian-style mittens,


baking vegan banana-cranberry-pecan bread,


watching old episodes of The L-Word on Netflix, and talking on the phone with my mother.

OK, that last part was not so relaxing, particularly once I discovered that she (and presumably my father also) is planning to vote yes on California Proposition 8, because she is "old-fashioned." I mean, OK...I guess homophobia is old-fashioned. Mom also thinks Sarah Palin is "spunky," expressed with an enthusiasm that indicates she believes spunkiness is a necessary and sufficient condition for running the third-largest country in the world. I can't believe I am related to these people. And they wonder why I rarely call or visit.

Moving right along so I don't start screaming again, last week I finally checked out the first two seasons of 30 Rock, and oh. my. freaking. god. it is so excellent. I was laughing out loud alone in my apartment at numerous points. Then on one episode there was a scene where I thought to myself, wow, that looks exactly like the street where my friend/fellow MEOWkitty Lori lives. I dismissed it as a hillbilly perception that all residential streets in Manhattan look the same, but then I remembered that about 18 months ago I was visiting Lori and there were signs on her street restricting parking the next day...because of filming for some show I'd never heard of called 30 Rock. Then in a later scene I figured out that the Tina Fey character "lives" around the corner from Lori.

Since I'm talking about the MEOWkitty knitters...the other day I realized that among the 14 people in the group, we have five people with published designs in books, magazines, or both; the host of an HGTV knitting show; two people (besides the host) who've appeared on the show; and the assistant pattern editor of a major knitting magazine. Seriously, the MEOWkitty knitting mojo is off the charts. Even the people who prefer not to design or to work in the industry have insane skills, and plus they're all crazy smart and funny. I [HEART] YOU, MEOWERS!