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2003-01-27 - 12:14 p.m.

What a great way to start off my day�

I wander into work this morning�to find that everything has gone to hell while I was away. Sigh�It is 9:15 now and my Children�s specialist has finally wandered in�and it looks like she has the mother of all hangovers. This is so becoming a habit with her these days. I don�t think that she has been on time since the new manager has taken over. Now add to that the hour and a half that she leaves the building for her one hour lunch break�and when she does return she spends another 20 minutes eating the lunch that she brought back with her to the library. This is going to have to stop. Unfortunately the Branch Manager is never here do deal with this problem�and I do not have the authority to address it myself. Bah�

Now lets add to this irritation. The building had no power this weekend, and therefore no heat. So this morning the building is REALLY Freakin Cold!

But wait�that�s not it�The network is also down (fortunately it is not my network here�it is the isp that the library uses). So that means that we have no access to the catalog, no internet, all materials are going to have to be manually charged and discharged�Heh�it�s funny really. Until our network is back up, we are pretty much useless.

Sigh�no heat, no network, and a children�s specialist with no work ethic. Ahhh�welcome to Monday.

Oh for the love of God�and now my pain in the ass specialist has decided to crank the heat up to 80 degrees�because ya know that will make this building heat up SO much faster. Ok I need to change the subject else I am going to give myself a headache.


Lets talk about better things, like this weekend.

This past weekend I went to Ice Castles. I fought, I ate, I laughed, I didn�t get nearly enough sleep, and I had�hands down�a fan-fuckin-tastic time.

Friday saw Vlad, Princess (hehe�as she has been named by the youngest one in her house), and me pile into the ole SHO (man am I beginning to pile the miles on the ole girl�and she is performing wonderfully!) and head off to GrammaCait and GrandpaMinivan-Samurai�s to drop off armor. See, as much as I love my car, I have come to the realization that it is not a �stuff� hauling vehicle. All that extra weight in it causes the left rear wheel to rub the fender a bit. Not something that I want happening on a 5 hour trip to southwest VA and back.

So round bout 4:00pm we were on the road and making tracks for Black Diamond. I would be lying if I told you that I was not looking forward to going back to Blacksburg. It had been years (or at least it feels that way) since I had last been there. The ride there was very nice�I spent the entire trip talking with Princess and Vlad about this and that, stirring up old memories of when I was a student at Tech and talking about�well much deeper and complicated things. Things like how the �labels� that are attached to a person (like you religion, or political orientation, sexual preferences, or even just your job/job title) affect how people react to you. Whether it is better to lay all your cards out on the table when you first meet a person and then see how things fall (does person x react poorly to you because of these labels and what that they imply, or are they willing to look past that and try to get to know you), or let a person get to know you and �judge� you based on your merits�and then tell them about these �other� things later after they have gotten to know you. Does laying out everything create and unnecessary obstacle, or does it act as a filter to �weed out� folks who are closed minded or intolerant of you because of your life choices and beliefs? I don�t think that we ever really came up with an answer to that question�But when I get one I will be sure to share it with yall.

The cool part was that we chattered, and bickered, and listened, and shared for five hours straight�which made the drive just melt away.

Round bout 9ish we rolled into Blacksburg (after I nearly had a heart attack at all the change that has occurred in the area. The new 460 by-pass by-pass is quite a thing to behold. It is so alien�but boy does it make it easier to get to Tech. We checked into the Red Lion Inn (where I once worked many years ago�which was kinda weird) dropped off our crap and then made a bee line for the Cellar. See I had been talking about going there for dinner for days, and had everyone very excited about it. Mmmmm�Greek Pizza, Guinness, and good music�I could hardly wait. So we make it downtown, find parking fairly easily which is a small miracle, and even more surprising�a table was sitting there waiting for us, as if �they� knew that we were coming. All I could think was that this was just too good to be true�and unfortunately it was. When I went to order the first round of Guinness (which both Vlad and I love, and Princess has never had before�yes I know I am shocked too!) the bomb was dropped. They were out. OUT! How can this be? I drove al they way from Norfolk just so that I could have a Guinness at the Cellar�and they were out! This can�t be so�Sigh�but there was nothing that I could do about it. It was ok in the long run though. They did have the Red Hook ESB on tap, which is always good�the music was good like usual (although I had been hoping for something live), and the food was fantastic�so all in all I had no complaints.

We finally got back to the hotel round bout midnightish and fell out almost immediately.

7:00 the next morning we roused our selves for the beginning of our next big adventure. We were to meet GrammaCait and GrandpaMinivan-Samurai for breakfast and we of course had an event to get to. So we al piled into the SHO (Yes I CAN fit 5 adults in to her�and she barely rubbed a fender!) and headed off to Gillies. There was much reminiscing there (sorry Princess�) about the �old days� and how things have changed so much since we left.

Then after breakfast it was off to the event.

Once there it was a whirlwind of getting checked in, changed, and introducing Princess (who I am sure must have been overwhelmed very quickly) to all my friends that were there. It was pretty funny really�everywhere we went I was pointing out, or introducing her to one person or another�and at one point she looked at me and asked if there were any folks there that I hadn�t gone to school with. To which I blinked a few times�looked around and realized that in fact many of the people there were �old college� buddies of mine. Heh�well I thought it kinda funny.

Before I knew it, it was time for court. Vlad stepped down as Baron, and Edwin and Francis stepped up (which is SO very cool!). It was kinda funny really, cause it brought back a million memories of when that was me up there. When I was invested as Baron, my first court and how nervous I was, how I always seemed to get all weepy eyed during court, and how relived yet sad I was to finally step down as Baron.

I am so proud off all of ya. Vlad�you did a bang up job! And Edwin and Francis�you guys are going to be great! I am so happy that you guys have joined us in the proud lineage (well almost) of BD Barons/Baronesses.

After Court it was off to the A&S room to drop off my goodies for display. Unfortunately, I was a bad blacksmith and did not have any documentation to go along with my projects. I really need to remedy that�

Then it was off to the list for the tourney. It was done in the traditional three-man round robin�which is always fun. I had a great time fighting with Vlad and Naro (the Minivan-Samurai). We didn�t win very many bouts�in fact we only won one, but I know I at least had fun (something that is happening more ad more lately with my fighting�how cool is that!). Oh and I gotta tell ya�I was SO impressed with Princess�as cold as it was out there at the list field, and as poorly (ok I felt that my fighting was just kinda ok) as I was fighting, she still stayed and watched the entire thing. Ya know, I am not sure that I have ever had anyone ever sit and watch me fight through an entire tourney before�especially under such�uncomfortable conditions. I gotta tell ya, it was really kinda neat.

When all the fighting was finally (and I managed only to get a few bruises and one NASTY armor bite) over it was back inside to get ready for court again�and then feast. I have to say the highlight of 2nd court had to be seeing The Angel of Death being made a Pelican. I mean come on�how very cool is that! Congratulations!

It was then off to feast where we enjoyed some wonderful food (I don�t think that there was anything served that I didn�t like!) and lots of good conversation. I was fortunate to get to sit with Gramma and Grandpa again, as well as Phillip and Kiri, Vlad and Princess. Man I had forgotten how cool feasts can be. It seems like it has been forever since I was at one.

After the event it was back to the Hotel for a much needed shower�and by the time I had finished I found that my room had been filled with a bunch o friends. Again Gramma and Grandpa were there, as well as Tina and Tholen (and LOTS of Tholens FANTASTIC mead), Vlad and Princess. We all sat and talked and drank well into the night and had ourselves a loud fun filled evening. Man I tell ya�you get GrammaCait, Princess, and Tina in one room and oh the conversations that you will have (granted I am sure that the mead helped in getting some of em going).

The next day was a relaxing breakfast at the hotel restaurant (which I used to be the AM working Chef for) with the same folks that I had feast with the night before (minus Princess who was much too tired to drag herself outta bed�the poor thing). It was pretty darn cool really. Where the previous evening we were a bunch of Baron and Baronesses enjoying feast, talking about this and that aspect of the SCA or this Medieval concept, or technique, or idea�breakfast was about just about everything except the SCA. Well I dunno�I thought it was kinda cool.

So that afternoon saw us back on the road again�talking non-stop to Richmond where we stopped off at Puckeater�s place for dinner and the Super Bowl. Heh�It was pretty cool to see that Princess fit right in with that room full of Uber-Geeks. Dinner was REALLY good. DaughtCalm Made Beef and Bean stew (although he calls it Chili), and then there was this wonderful dip stuff that Bhawk put together (I had to stay away from that suff or else I would have eaten all of it�.uuuuummmm cheesy goodness�)

Then round bout 9:30PM it was back on the road to finish up what I would have to call an amazingly fun weekend.

We finally got back to Norfolk round bout 11:30 unpacked the car�and headed off to bed. Unfortunately I didn�t get around to falling asleep till well after 3:30am this morning. Princess and I stayed up talking and talking�as if 10 hours worth of it in the car�and ton�s of talking during the weekend was not enough. Not that I am complaining mind you. So this leaves me here�a little after noon�The network is back up, my boss has called in for the rest of the week, my children�s specialist has informed me that she is not going to be working tomorrow (and has now run off to take her 2 hour lunch), and the Library is still cold (and no my foolish little employees�there is nothing I can do to make this building warm up faster. Geez�guys, what/who do you think I am?)

Well I reckon that this is enough rambling for now.


So today I learned that Ultra low frequency radio waves do not travel through the air like other radio waves. They travel through the ground. How fuckin cool is that?

And what have you learned today?

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