Below are the 17 most recent journal entries recorded in rolanddem's LiveJournal:

Friday, June 27th, 2008
10:09 am	5 Things sheep-age Let's see 5 things others haven't done..... 1. Been run over by a car (tire marks and all) 2. Climbed around inside a 747 being assembled 3. Acted as a member of a US Diplomatic mission to ICAO 4. Given a radio demonstration at 20000' (to the FAA administrator) 5. Walked around Bouillon castle at its 1000th anniversary (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 5th, 2008
7:55 pm	Boo! (I'll skip the obligatory commentary on how frequent I post) Random Theo quote: "Honey, I got coconut on your drill bit" At least it wasn't drill bit in the coconut...... It's sad when you are happy to go into the office on a Sunday so you can actually see your office. So tired of going downtown and, if I'm lucky, getting 15min for lunch. And since I'm apparently picking up totally random tendencies from hanging out with my wife too long and putting in way too long a days this week, random vigil memory: Kane and Timothy harrassing poor Aethelgar while he was trying to guard Johann's vigil. Those two giggling like school kids and chanting "Doooooom" since A's houppeland had some similarities to the priest robes from Conan.... Current Mood: drained (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, March 21st, 2008
11:42 am	Cats of a paw..... In the realm of pet and owners resembling each other, the black ninja cat appears to have developed an upper respiratory infection with a touch of pneumonia..... The poor cat has been the vet so much lately with her skin problem. At least the biopse incisions are healing well. She didn't even fight me putting her in the carrier. Of course, I'm also getting more wiley in prepping the carrier in the basement and snatching her up before she dives for cover. Wendy did wonder the day she got home and found a cheap combat bow sticking out from under the bed that I'd used to nudge her out.... (Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
10:08 am	After 3 weeks of pneumonia and off in Chicago last week for yummy goodness, I succeeded in dragging my out-of-shape self to practice last night. Fought like crap as expected, but good to get the blood pumping. The long sickness and travel has had my sleep schedule totally f'd up of late. At least practice got me to sleep at around midnight. The lying in bed until 2am was getting old fast when I get up as early as I do. Tonights fun since no practice due to spring break will be seeing if my assumption is correct about the 3way remotes that aren't working on the light switch bank I had to rewire on Sun to fix a blown dimmer switch. Sunday was an exercise in frustration and finger mangling with the multitude of wires involved and the head scratching over the non-functioning remotes. (We won't go into the frustration time where I thought I had the input power line in a bundle of wires only to realize later I'd grabbed the output wire to another light....Gee, go figure it not working) Due to a lack of third wire on the remotes, I suspect they are custom designed to the dimmers we previously used. Since I still have 2 good dimmers that were replaced to try to keep things looking consistent, that should allow me to experiment with my theory. If it works out, it means I'll have to order in a new switch to keep things looking consistent, but at least it will get rid of the annoying not quite covering switch plate from the two adjacent boxes instead of the 4-box I've now got in place. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, February 29th, 2008
6:05 pm	Last night was our rescheduled night to see Argonautika. Always good to see a nice play. We also managed to finally make it by Jackie's down in Silver Spring. Gen will love the place and its Lowe's meets Ikea pinkness. Menu selection wasn't huge, but everything was yummy, even if I was feeling like crap. Yes, after 11 days, I'm still sick. I was starting to feel better on Wed, but my illness has apparently decided otherwise. Since I was so energetic and happy to be around last night, my loving wife made me another appointment to see the doc where I have now been diagnosed with pneumonia. yeah me.... Looks like it is going to be a while longer before I can hit anybody. So my entire morning was taken up with waiting around. First the doctor's office, then getting yet even more drugs and then the eternally long wait to get my chest x-ray. Kind of amusing as the X-ray tech is explaining how it will be 2 days before my doctor has the information during which she glanced at my orders and finally noticed the 'stat' designation and corrected herself to indicate it would be to my doc in an hour. Got to love the time variance there..... Current Mood: sick (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, February 15th, 2008
10:49 am	Happiness is getting home from practice to find out that my wife, in fact, didn't need to work 3rd shift last night. On the fighting front, one wouldn't think 1/8" extra diameter would make that big a difference, but my new swords appear to be causing strain issues to my wrist and now my shoulder last night. fun fun fun.... (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, February 11th, 2008
10:54 am	Frost Giant-y goodness Ymir was a good weekend. I went into the tourney expecting a mediocre performance as I've been having lots of issues at practice of late. I certainly can't complain about besting Val. Matthew of Battle gave me a good fight. I need to work on my conditioning as I just didn't have enough juice left for Rags. I could see the slots, but couldn't get my sword there. I also managed to get in a few fencing pick ups and didn't impale anyone in my exhausted state. The only downside of the event was some marshal fu, but in the grand scheme of things not that big a deal. It was certainly great to hang with friends and always fun to torture Kynny. (GRIN) Only regrets are didn't have enough time with everyone (like Pod-Red) This week is kind enough to give me a few days to recover with my usual practices cancelled. May hit Ponte Alto so I get SOME stick time in. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 7th, 2008
8:48 am	Random acts of silliness My non-sequitor of the evening was looking up from filing on metal bits to see my wife making the poor gumby kitten dance. He so did NOT look amused.... But, he's a gumby cat, so he tolerated it. Of course, I keep threatening Kymber to bring him over so that Dubis can meet his tabby younger self.... (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 5th, 2007
11:07 am	Sniping Snowflakes, Batman! Holy F'ing Cow!!! Have people just lost their little mind? It took me 3 bloody hours to get in the office this morning. From a dusting of snow. OMG I rarely broke 5mph on the 20mile trek to my office. Is it so hard for people not to brake or attempt to maneuver on a bridge? I was particularly impressed by the Expedition that appeared to have flipped end over end on a flat road that wasn't particularly slick. I contemplated telecommuting to avoid the insanity, but couldn't bring myself to do it from such a pathetic dusting of snow. Guess I was WRONG. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, June 1st, 2007
8:44 am	Kitten discoveries Yeah, it's been like forever since I posted. Nothing inspiring or particularly witty to say. Cope. OK, so this morning the kitten was in play mode...starting at around 5am........... He is attacking one of his stuffed mice. He is pouncing on my limbs while I attempt to do my morning exercises. He is pouncing on some of my laundry I forgot to put away last night. General kitten-like frolicing. At one point while Wendy is in the shower, I look up from my situps to see a cat on top of the toilet seat with ears down in the unhappy fashion. I go to investigate to see him scamper off with big bushy tail. Am slightly amused as he seems disturbed by the sound of running water today. He got over the bathroom fan a couple of days ago. Then in classic fearless, kitten-like fashion, he comes dashing into the bathroom and hops IN the shower. OMG. Fall down funny..... Wendy eeps at surprise movement in curtain. Kitten gets rude introduction to the concept of a shower. Kitten flees. Both parents howl in laughter.... Fortunately, he is a kitten, so the trauma lasted about 2 seconds. Condolences to Eli on her bike crash. From personal experience, I can at least testify that it is better to go over than under the vehicle.... Let us know if you need a hand with anything. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007
10:53 am	Sunniva's Meme Figured I'd respond to Sunniva's meme as it seemed interesting: 1. What/when was your first event? King's Hunt/Queen's feast during Dafydd and Elisabeth's reign. 2. What was your first war? Pennsic XVIII (1989) 3. What is your favorite part of an event/war? Getting into the fighting groove, although that doesn't always happen for me. The greatest joy I have in fighting is long, intense passes with an evenly matched opponent. 4. What A&S skill/talent do you have or wish you had? Metalworking, casting, a little woodworking, a little leatherworking. People tell me I have a decent singing voice, but can't remember lyrics to save my life. 5. Why did you choose the elements of your Coat of Arms/device? Household had a thing about complex field divisions, so I rotated my knight's, which also played into starting in Black Diamond and its mountains. I like purple and I like tigers. 6. Favorite SCA song? Born on the List Field 7. Favorite garb? Leafy pourpoint, 'cause my wife IS just that awesome. 8. Best advice received/given? Honor is what you do when no one is looking. 9. What is one thing you would like to change about the SCA? Less drama, more fun 10. Why do you do this hobby? There are many facets. A lot of it is the people and friends. It also provides an outlet for my medieval interests. The fighting challenges me physically as well as mentally. Then there is also the ideals of courtesy that are so lacking at times in the modern world. It also provides some escapism at times. I was in a class for work most of last week. I went into it expecting a refresher class. The instructor was great and provided me a LOT of insight into the field operations of a radio network. Also learned a fair amount about antenna engineering and impacts of siting. This weekend involves time with friends. Always a plus. (Comment on this)
Monday, March 19th, 2007
5:10 pm	MTA This past weekend was Military Through the Ages at Jamestown, which the fort was using as a bit of a dry run for the 400th anniversary celebration. Lots of fun interpreting for the fort and making things go boom.... I have to say it got a little bizarre when I'm interpreting in the corporal's quarters/buttery or the Governor's house and wind up doing military interpretation because I'm still wearing my bandolier of chargers. Heh. Wound up missing the last squadron drill as I was dispensing powder to others and then myself and turned around and realized I was the only person left in the Court of Guard. Oh well... Got to babble at the public about armor and firearms for a while. Big sufferage there...yeah. Then there was the impromptu promotion on Sunday when I was attempting to offer to do targeteer due to some numbers depletion and wound up the Ensign.... Flipping the flag around for a bit is easy, but boy does that get tiring after a while, particularly when you stand at parade rest for a while in a pretty good breeze. My back is SOOOO loving me today. And there is our new dryer to install. May have to pass on practice tonight, as I suspect extracting the dead dryer and putting in the new one is going to be all I'm worth tonight. The current mountains of laundry don't really allow for delaying it too much.... Time to run.... (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 22nd, 2007
8:49 am	OK, so off we go to the play... Small ugliness of traffic around H and 14th streets. Get to our yummy dinner and then a short saunter back to the theatre. Amused to see Abel there as well as the K and Helmut who traveled separately. Finally get to our seats and then notice the understudy notices. WTF. Floyd King replaced. DAMN. He is one phenomenal comic actor. Only lists one of his roles. That is puzzling. Wait...there is a second sheet. WTF!!!! No Geraint Wyn Davies?!?! A number of us were contemplating leaving right there....Richard III is NOT an easy role and an understudy is not likely to do justice to the role. The opening soliquey just drove that point home, as he delivered it entirely flat and without energy... He did an OK job, but nothing special and it really showed when some of the other good actors like Ralph Cosham and Mr. Gero, playing Buckingham, really shined.... Never a good sign when part way through the play you are thinking that you could be home in bed catching up on sleep....Cie la vie. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 21st, 2007
3:34 pm	First week of practice after the knighting and boy have I sucked..... Armored Monday was an exercise in nothing working right. Standing still and throwing crap for power. Trying to fix movement and my blocking went to hell. Fencing Tues wasn't quite as bad, but I just had no energy to speak of. My point control is off and overblocking would be an understatement. As for tonight, we have our play and oh, I so wish I could slip a nap in somewhere....I'm thinking no wine with dinner tonight or I'll be snoozing thru Forever Knight guy doing Richard III, which should be good. On the work front, I finished the main document I'm trying to release for tomorrow. Sent it out for one last round of review (if anyone has any time). One more document to go, but I'm thinking I don't have time to really get into it before I have to leave to be home in time to go downtown with Green and Pink leaders. So, instead, I'm drafting this journal entry and planning to bug out a little early. GRIN Tomorrow is another day where I can really focus on cleaning up the last document. I so hope this scratchy throat is just exhaustion and not a cold coming on....yippy skippy (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 13th, 2007
8:24 pm	Knighting This past weekend has seen the culmination of over 18years of hard work. HRM Ragnarr and Anneke saw fit to elevate me to te Order of Chivalry. Friday night saw me holding a Vespers tournament holding the field against all comers before I sat vigil. All told, I believe 20 armored fighters and maybe 15 or so fencers came out to test my mettle. All in all, I held the field for about 2 hours of fighting (and boy did my body feel the results of that). Prince Val started the fighting challenging me to passes of longsword, polearm and sabre. I have to say the challenge by Sir Christian to 3 passes of 'wrastlin' is probably the most memorable. I'm still amazed I managed to win one considering our weight differential. King Ragnarr finished the trial challenging me to a bout that lasted however long it took for me to best him. He later admitted to planning to prolong the fight as long as he could, but fortunately for me, he faded back not quite far enough and relaxed his guard, so I gladly took advantage of the opening to drop a clean flat snap on him. They left divested me of my armor (since I needed it the next day) and 'cleansed' me. Gee, that pitcher didn't seem so large. It started refreshing (having just fought for 2 hours). It then proceeded to cold, then numbing, then painful, then just remember to breathe. GRIN I was then allowed to change into my vigil tunic from my Pelican elevation and spent the next 3 hours receiving council and congratulations. It was great to see Thorbrandr and the presence of Armand, my squire brother in Wisconsin, was appreciated. It was good to be able to catch up with them some. The outpouring of support from folks is just humbling. I am without words to describe how I feel. I only hope I can live up to it all. I also cannot provide enough thanks to all those who contributed to my weekend. Special thanks to the matriarchy for all their planning and preparations along with Alan and Corby. To Isobel, the scroll is simply amazing. And foremost, to my sweetie, for her inspiration and love. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 15th, 2007
11:00 pm	The Blur of 12th Night Well, this weekend was certainly event packed. Had a pleasant drive down with Helmut and Kyna. The event itself was a bit of a blur. I was either in court, meetings, or supporting the prizes until dinner. Not a whole lot of relaxation involved. Taught 2 marshal classes. I was happily surprised to win all the fights I did in the two prizes. Considering how out of practice I am, it was a pleasant surprise. I'm happy for Christian for his White Scarf and Philip for his Yellow. Seemed to be the 12th Night of Peerages. Many worthy people being recognized. Then there was this little word puzzle handed to me during the cut&thrust meeting shortly before court. Apparently, this was the subterfuge for Ragnarr to play with me.... I have to admit to not being massively surprised, being he has told me in the past that he felt I was a Knight. And considering the attachment he has for Ymir, it made for the likely candidate. So long as I didn't totally gaff my fighting. And then there is the discussion I've had with my sweetie regarding potential elevation. Since I'm already a peer, I do not find a vigil, per se, to be appropriate. However, it is a goal for which I've strived nigh on 19 years now... And since my over-read sweetness to whom I'm married has a predaliction for chivalric history, she came upon the idea of Vespers, where the knights held tournaments to test the mettle of the squires and knight-bachelors. This seemed to be an interesting inspiration for my preparation. As such, I'm am tasked with holding the field to all comers Friday night before Ymir for consideration of elevation to Knighthood on Saturday. Being that chivalry is the peerage award for combat, I felt it only appropriate that I will meet ALL forms of legal SCA combat on the field that evening. (Boy, am I going to be a hurting pup after this) My wife is refusing to share details of her plans for that weekend, so I guess we'll see what falls out. (If you want to do Cut&Thrust, I'd strongly advise you to do it early, as I get tired, I may have to bow out from that form as I don't want to break my friends) It hasn't really hit me. I'm not sure if it is going to take until the week before, or even Friday evening of Ymir, but I suspect it will hit me at some point.... I don't really expect to get much sleep Friday, although physical exhaustion may win out. And on that note, I think I'm off to bed.... (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 20th, 2006
3:58 pm	Holiday prep The christmas cards are all mailed out as of yesterday. Geez, we send out a lot of cards.... I just can't seem to get into the holiday mood this year. I don't know if it the weather or what. At least today was approaching normal temperatures for this time of year. 60s and 70s in December is just wrong. I want SNOW dangnabit! Maybe our incursion into the Appalachians will provide some appeasement. I actually got a little excited seeing snow on the ground at OHare when I passed through on my way out to Seattle 2 weeks ago. Kind of sad.... Yeah, in case folks hadn't noticed, I've shifted over to LJ since the guestbook capability of Diaryland appears to be permanently broken..... That and certain friends who harangued me into setting up a LJ account so they could filter, so I figured why not. Lemmings to the SEA! (3 Comments |Comment on this)