Archive for the ‘Blog's Fer’ Category

Facebookophobia

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Several days ago someone, I’m not even sure who, I’m not even sure if I really knew them, sent me an email telling me to look at some SCA (medieval) pictures on their facebook page. I was not doing anything at the time…no really…so I clicked the link and discovered that I had to register to actually see the pictures. Perhaps it was the medication I was taking for my tendonitis…perhaps it was the stress of getting ready for Pennsic War…perhaps it was fate…I registered.

What happened next will one day be explained to me by one of my many geek friends. It may take all of them. Who knows?

Facebook reached into my computer, or into my email contact list, or into my brain, I’m still not sure, I’m sometimes computer challenged if you will recall. It reached into something and started pulling the addresses of everyone I send emails to, and everyone they send emails to, and everyone who knows someone who has heard of me, and anyone who might possibly be close to someone who has vaguely recalled a conversation where someone whose names sounds like mine was mentioned…and it added them as friends.

Within minutes I was confirming click, yes that’s a friend, click yes that’s a friend, click…oh no…who is that…oh well…they are a friend now…click…click…click.

Now what? I’m supposed to write in my facebook I suppose…and post pictures and…interact. But I barely find time to post here in the safe cocoon of my blog, where I get an occasional comment. How am I going to find time to write in Facebook? What if it pulls me in? You have seen the nearly seven hundred pieces of jewelry I have made since September haven’t you? Ack! I could get sucked in. Even some of the posts have warned me about wasting hours on Facebook. I don’t have hours…I don’t have minutes. I have furniture to build and surcoats to sew and more shields to paint…

Hey! Can’t I get my Blog to talk to my Facebook page? That would cut down some writing time. When I post this I’m going in to Facebook…if you don’t hear from me in a while…please send a rescue team.

Tendonitis Was NOT On My List

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

We put in an orchard several weeks back, which involved clearing land and then digging seven holes in hard clay.  Part of the job was completed with a shovel, but below the first six inches, there was nothing but solid clay and rock.  Excavating this required a sledge hammer and a three foot long steel rod.  By the end of the day, my arm was tired.  The next day, my arm was sore.  Now, six weeks later, my arm is incapable of doing simple things like lifting a salt shaker, firmly grasping another human being’s hand, or brush my teeth with any grace.

I went to the doctor on Friday after multiple suggestions by my loving wife.  I received a steroid shot (darn it, there goes my chance at being a pro-football player), some painkillers, some muscle relaxants and a stern warning from the doctor not to lift anything heavy.  Swordfighting is right out.  Using my right arm is frowned upon.   Enter the weekend to-do list.

It is impossible to do anything when you are right handed and you aren’t supposed to use your arm.  Let me be more precise.  It is impossible to NOT do anything when you are right handed and aren’t supposed to use your arm.  I DIDN’T not use my right arm about two hundred times this weekend, in spite of all the friends and helpers trying to keep me from doing anything.

And, regardless of my weakness, all the pain, and all the admonitions NOT to do (whatever I was doing)…we got a LOT accomplished.  We sanded and stained five sets of pavillion poles for the new household pavillions (the pavillions are new, not the household).  We drilled, strapped, canvased and painted seven Scuti shields, we cut out, ironed, and sewed half the seams on fourteen war tabards for Pennsic war, and we fixed, strapped, padded, built or made a number of old and new armor pieces.  Oh…and I made eighteen pair of earrings.  (I was sitting idle at the time and the painkillers were doing their job).

Of all the things that I tend to put on a to-do list….getting tendonitis was definitely NOT one of them…

Top Ten Reasons Why Lowe’s is Better Than Peshawar

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

A quirky colleague of mine made an odd comment at work on Friday.  He suggested that home improvement stores (we were actually talking about Lowe’s) were exasperating to him and that, in fact, he was far more comfortable in a place like Peshawar, Pakistan.  I responded as follows.    “I don’t see how Lowe’s can be exasperating.    In fact, I can think of at least ten reasons why shopping in Lowe’s is better than being in Peshawar.

10)  The dirtiest section of Lowe’s is cleaner than the cleanest section of Peshawar.

9) You can actually drink the water in Lowe’s without getting sick.

8) The public bathrooms in Lowe’s are free to use, the private bathrooms in Peshawar are free from sanitation.

7) You seldom have to say “What is your best price?” in a Lowe’s.

6) Forklifts coming at you in Lowe’s have signals, trucks coming at you in Peshawar have explosives.

5) You don’t have to marry into the plumbing section at Lowe’s in order to truly know what is going on there.

4) More than half the Lowe’s employees speak English and only a few speak Urdu or Pashto.  In Peshawar, the opposite is true.

3) At Lowe’s, pipes, fertilizer and fuel cans are not used to make suicide vests, IEDs or explosives.

2) If you go out the back door of a Lowe’s you are in the garden center, if you go out a back door in Peshawar you are in big trouble.

1)  You usually don’t need an armed escort to go to Lowe’s.”

Feel free to add reasons…


Inter-Kingdom Fighter Practice

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

I went to Delaware on Saturday to participate in an Inter-kingdom fighter practice.   It was a good day, though like most practices, it reminded me how long I’ve been doing this and how uhm….wise…I am getting.

My brain remembers all the things that I just can’t get my tired self to do.  The good news is, I can still remember how to help tell others what they are or are not doing well.   Small mercies I suppose.

Stefan and I spent the drive in both directions talking mostly about all the things we need to get to have a full unit on the field.   We calculated materials and armor requirements, weapons we need, sources for the best prices.  Syr Cian and I are going to field a household unit at Pennsic…

Watch for the pictorial updates…

Compulsion and Obsessiveness

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

A new bead catalog arrived today but I’m not going to look at it.

Ok, I looked at it, but I’m not going to pick it up.

Ok, Ok, I picked it up, but I am definitely not going to open it.

On page 55 are some incredible shell shaped gold beads that…oh…you caught me.

I’m just looking though, I have absolutely no intention of placing an order.

At least not a big order.

I mean, just a few packages….a few dozen packages….a few dozen dozen packages is not a big order right?

A BIG order would be like one package of everything.

Hang on.  The discount on that would be…

I wonder what TWO packages of everything would cost?

That would be pretty compulsive though right?   And absolutely positively completely obsessive.    So I won’t order two packages of everything.

Now that I’m not ordering two packages of everything…ONE package of everything doesn’t seem so bad.  Right?

Maybe I just need to put this company on speed dial…

Another New Addiction…er…Hobby

Monday, January 12th, 2009

It’s all my friend Heather’s fault.  Really.  When my computer died and I was floundering for something to do…because I don’t have thirty other projects that need to be done, I noticed that she had made some jewelry and put it on our craft site.

“Hmmm,” I thought.   “I’ve never made anything like that…I’ll bet I could though.”  So I went to Michael’s Crafts and bought a few things.   By the following weekend I had made nine trips to Michael’s and had put together a dozen or so necklaces and a heap of memory wire bracelets.  I began to research more medieval and rennaissance period patterns and colors for necklaces and was collecting Michael’s coupons from wherever I could find them.

Then the evil…I mean malevolent…I mean wonderful Heather, told me about a bead company online.  I made an order for…twenty-eight pounds of beads.  Subsequently I made a somewhat larger order.   I am waiting for my fourth order to arrive sometime this week.  I will tell you more about this amazing company after you have fully comprended the extent of my addict…hobby….HOBBY.  It’s just another Hobby.

Here for your viewing pleasure is a picture of the last few weeks worth of handiwork.  No spare moment left unbeaded…

Over 150 Necklaces in the past few weeks...that's just a hobby right?

Over 150 Necklaces in the past few weeks...that's just a hobby right?

Whatever It Takes…

Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

So I’m back it seems, though I’m not quite sure where I’ve been.   Mostly writing resumes, applying for jobs, interviewing, and trying to keep up with my current job at work.  Dealing with appliance issues around the house (heating unit, dishwasher, water heater all needed work or replacement in the past two months) has taken up a bit of time, though my wife usually has to deal with the repairmen more than I.  Friends have asked why I’m not writing, relatives have commented as well, so I’m back, shamed into the writer’s seat.  Keep reminding me, it seems to work.

My retirement ceremony is set for 28 April, preparations are underway.  It is an interesting verbal dance I have each week with my deputy.  “I don’t need a ceremony,” I say.  “It’s not for you anyway,” he says.  “Can’t we just…?” I try.  “No,” he asserts firmly.

I’d be happy with a handshake and an escort to the door.  Everyone around me insists that my wife and kids deserve closure, that friends will want to see me formally retire, that seniors and colleagues will want to say goodbye.  Okay, whatever…I will soldier on.  My real concern is that I think I will cry when I try to say goodbye to the Army publicly.  No that’s wrong.  I know I will cry.   I’m happy to be moving on to a new phase in my life, but twenty-eight years of Army gets in your blood.   I’m not sure how to face the changeover without expressing emotion.    I may even have to plan in advance what I’m going to say, something I NEVER do.   Whatever it takes I guess.
I ‘ll tell you how it goes.

No Photos of Spiderman

Monday, January 14th, 2008

I’m doing what I promised myself. I’m writing more. I have a lot of past experiences to put down in writing, a lot of current thoughts to share, a lot of future plans to explore. I’m still very excited and somewhat daunted about how much I have to write about. The problem is not knowing what I want to write, but deciding what I want to write next. I don’t really want to write travel memories every night (though there are scores of them, maybe hundreds), and I don’t want to delve into gaming worlds so deeply that my other “normal” friends are afraid to talk to me in public.

Talking to my techno-pal Jeffrey tonight about things we might be able to do to improve the readability of the Blog, apart form teaching me how to punctuate, I admitted that I’m not certain what I want to write about today. I mentioned that I thought it was probably okay if I didn’t write every night, though that would kind of defeat the purpose of a New Year’s resolution. The less than helpful Jeffrey said “Well, it would be kind of hard to keep up with the pace you’ve been going.” That is definitely NOT what friends are for! :-)

“No Jervis,” I said, coaching Jeffrey in what he should have said, “it’s easy to do, anyone can do it. Get back to work.” That sort of thing. Such a simple thing to do, right? So he made the attempt. “How about…uh…GET TO WORK! We’ve got deadlines here! I’ve got a morning edition to get out in only hours, and I’VE GOT NO PHOTOS OF SPIDERMAN! Oh wait, wrong publication.”

But it’s NOT the wrong publication. That’s what I need to get me writing. A writing drill instructor. A personal trainer for blogging. That and an occasional comment or question or visitor rant and I’m all set.

Meanwhile, my discussion with Jeffrey led me to some discoveries that apparently everyone but me already knows. I asked if blaaaahhg was what you had when you didn’t feel like writing. The resident Technorati informed me that a blaaaaahhg is written by someone without anything worth saying. (oops, hope this doesn’t qualify). When you don’t feel like writing or have writer’s block, it’s called a webslog or slog or a bslog (with a silent b). I guess if you tell a tall tale that would be a BSlog.

Meanwhile, I guess I need to sit down and make a long list of all the things I want to write about and then just get to it. Requests anyone?

There Will Never Be Rain Gutters…

Friday, January 11th, 2008

It’s gone now Matieu, thrown in the trash. You’ll never get to see rain gutters on the gingerbread birdhouse…but just so you can remember it…

christmas-picture-080.jpg

Playset in Progress…

Thursday, January 10th, 2008

As soon as the weather warms up I’ll get back to work on this.  Have to finish this year.  :-)   This is a photo looking across the dangling chain bridge, that will go from one fairy tower to the crooked tower…

pictures-of-playset-005.jpg

The next photo looks across the bridge, into the woods at the unfinished playset.  The left tower roof is complete…the leaf deck is in foreground.

pictures-of-playset-001.jpg