Love Letters from Deep Space

Cowboy R and the Severe Winter Weather

2009-12-08T01:29:30Z

I still get text message alerts from Not A University when the emergency alert system is used. I got one this afternoon telling me that NAU would close at noon today, and later in the evening, another which said that it will be closed tomorrow, due to winter weather. The thing is? It's finals week.

In the five years I lived on the Mountain Campus of NAU, I can remember snow days occurring a grand total of three times... and never during finals week. We got a foot of snow in one day one finals week, and they didn't close campus.

So it boggles my mind how hard they must be getting slammed up there, right now. It sort of makes me glad I'm not there... even though I should have been graduating next week.

Cowboy R and the Elephant

2009-12-03T23:09:54Z

I'm somewhat ill. The cold that made me come home from Southern Crusades XI a day early is still hanging on. So I've been doing a lot of lying about in bed, reading. As it happens, I'm reading Other Times Than Peace, a collection of David Drake's short stories about soldiers.

The first story in the collection is "Lambs to the Slaughter," which takes place in the same setting as his Ranks of Bronze novel. That fact reminded me of a conversation I'd had with azshooter about the novel, which azshooter didn't care for, and I had.

There's a phrase, "seeing the elephant," that soldiers sometimes use. It hearkens back to a time when elephants were more scarce in America than they currently are. In those days, there weren't as many zoos, and elephants were mostly only found in traveling circuses. And no matter how many people described it to you, you wouldn't really know what an elephant was like until you had gone and seen one in person. Combat is similarly indescribable, and so the experience of being in combat came to be called "seeing the elephant."

In part because of the discussion I had with azshooter, I realized that there are different elephants. A Marine in Kabul today is seeing a different elephant than his grandfather saw in Viet Nam. And that Marine was seeing a different elephant than a sailor in the Battle off Samar, whose elephant would have been different from a World War One dough boy, and so on.

All elephants, but different elephants.

That, in turn, led to the thought that I've been to "war" three times in the last twelve months. War in the SCA, however, does not show one the elephant. If anything, it might show one a stuffed animal that was sewn by someone who saw an elephant, once, when they were a child.

Come to think of it, it may even be a plush rhinoceros that was mislabeled "elephant."

Cowboy R and the Mead

2009-12-01T19:34:31Z

This started as a response to my mom about the mead I started last week, but I figured it was worth a separate entry.

We used 5 quarts of honey to make this batch, which was about a third of what was in the honey pot. (It's plastic, but now I'm wishing I had one of those ceramic ones like Winnie the Pooh). We put in water to make 20 quarts (5 gallons / 18.9 liters), and in the fermenter pail, I have... well, according to the markings on the side, I have about 4.75 gallons. It'll stay in there for about two months, and then get racked off into a bulk aging carboy. I'll probably lose some in that process, because the point of it is to get most of the dead yeast out and left behind. (Dead yeast settles to the bottom, and you rack off the top).

So I figure I'll end up with about 4.5 gallons, which I'm planning on then bottling in 35 half-liter bottles. Small bottles, because this is my first-ever batch, and I'd like to be able to share it. Plus? The bottles I'm looking at are tres cool.

Anyway, if you're curious, my notes on the procedure look like this:

White Labs

In a couple of months, when the first batch has been racked off to a carboy, I'm thinking I'll make a batch and experiment with adding flavors. My first experiment will be one clove (posadnik_ivan and richardbrewer both say that more than one quickly overwhelms the mead), some orange peel, and a couple of cinnamon sticks. We'll see how that goes.

At some point, I also want to experiment with chocolate. Read this thread if you're at all interested in making chocolate mead, please. I was discussing it with posadnik_ivan and richardbrewer, and Richard was of the opinion that the best source of chocolate for chocolate mead was dutch process cocoa.

Now, I have tremendous respect for Richard, but I have a scientific mind, and I want to experiment. The people in the thread I referenced used a lot of Hershey's product in theirs, and I'm kind of fond of more gourmet chocolate. I'd like to duplicate their experiment, but use dutch process cocoa in one, Alton Brown's chocolate syrup in another (though I notice that it also sources its chocolate flavor from Dutch process cocoa), a high-end dark chocolate in a third, one with cocoa beans and dried cherries, perhaps, and just for kicks and giggles, maybe one with nesquick in it, since the folks in the referenced thread seemed to like that best.

And... how's that for more than you wanted to know about mead?

Cowboy R and the Weekend Recap

2009-11-30T02:41:13Z

My aunt took the week off from work. She spent most of it with her siblings and parents, but on Wednesday, she and I went out to Brew Your Own Brew and picked up a fermenter pail and a couple of other things.

See, about a month ago, I received forty pounds (18.14 Kg) of Michigan wildflower honey (baking grade) and some glass carboys from someone who was cleaning stuff out, and wanted it to go to someone who would make mead and share it. My Aunt has an interest in the subject, so, as I said, we finally got around to hitting the shop, getting a fermenter pail and yeast, on Wednesday.

On Thursday, we went to the Aunt's sister's house. I had a talk with the Aunt's brother about water on the moon, and we stuffed ourselves. lysander_cat was feeling poorly afterward, so we left early.

Friday, I went over to the home of posadnik_ivan and raventhourne, and had breakfast with them, and with american_knight, richardbrewer, public_shaylan, and some other folks who don't have LJs. Breakfast was nice, and relaxed, and stuff like that.

Then we went outside, and posadnik_ivan and richardbrewer helped me turn 5 quarts (about a third of the supply) of honey into about 5 gallons of wort. We tasted the wort, and it had a fabulous flavor, so I have high hopes for the final taste of the mead.

So then swordmage and domnall showed up, and posadnik_ivan helped them put their spinning wheel together, and then we went out and pulled the side off the house.

Oh, wait... we pulled the siding off the house. We pulled off the pink layer of siding, and discovered (which they already knew, but I did not) that there was a layer of grey siding below. So we pulled that off, and pulled out the low R-factor fiberglass insulation, put on metalized bubble-wrap, then put in higher R-factor fiberglass insulation, put the pink siding back on... and I had to vamoose.

Came home, took a shower to make sure I got off the figerglass crap, and got dressed. Went out to caliban_i's house, where poker night was happening. Got to see rocketengineer, hamner and roxietiel. hamner and I sat on the sofa and watched loonie toons, because I was about dead, and wasn't up for more than a desultory conversation.

Saturday, I pretty much slept all day.

This morning (Sunday), I woke up, realized I hadn't yet pitched the yeast into the wort. Took it out out, let it warm up for a couple of hours, pitched it.

lysander_cat and the Aunt had been discussing the living arrangements, and decided that my ongoing living in the living room was perhaps not the best arrangement. So there was some furniture shuffling, as this thing was moved here, and that thing was moved there, and the upshot of it all is that I get to live in the room that used to be the Aunt's dressing room.

Find myself feeling tired at having shuffled furniture. I'm kind of sleepy, too, but it's not yet eight of the clock, and I'm afraid that if I sleep now, I'll be awake in two hours. So....

Cowboy R and the... All-Mother?

2009-11-26T18:01:48Z

Exciting news in the world of Germanic archaeology. First of all, remember that Anglo-Saxon gold horde everyone was buzzing about last month? It's been valuated. The finder and the landowner will split 3.285 million pounds sterling. Becoming wealthy, and simultaneously making a fabulous archeological contribution? Priceless.

But weofodthingin brought another discovery to my attention this morning:

A silver figurine discovered in Lejre in Denmark. It's been labeled Odin, because of the throne and ravens, but there's some discussion, as the figure seated in the throne is dressed as a woman. My SCA friends who dress Viking will notice the festoons of beads.

Ah, for a WABAC machine!

In less happy news, it looks like the Swiss are going to let Roman Polanski out on bail. Because, you know, he's clearly demonstrated that he's not a flight risk.

Cowboy R and the Zombie Killers

2009-11-25T06:23:26Z

So, because I have time on my hands and access to the internet, I think about things. And, after I think about them, I look them up on the internet. Today, I was thinking about zombie killin'.

Now, for general carry around town, I think that it's hard to beat the Taurus Judge for zombie killing... at the 3" magnum .410 shell size, with 000 buck, you've got five .36 caliber pellets coming out of the barrel every time you pull the trigger. Not horribly accurate, and the muzzle velocity isn't all that high, but for in-your-face zombie killin', it's your machine.

Or, failing that, my personal choice of general purpose firepower, the Sig-Sauer P220 chambered in .45ACP is a heck of a weapon. Though shorter on ammunition than a 9mm pistol (the extended magazine brings you up to 10 rounds) it's enough lead to stop just about any humanoid target cold with one... maybe two... shots.

But what if you survive beyond the first couple of hours? You make it to your sanctuary, and you're ready to trade that small arm for a long one. What do you want to have waiting?

I confess that I was somewhat amazed by the vast assortment of accessories for the Ruger 10/22 rifle (including a gatling gun kit (combined with two 50-round drums available, that's 100 rounds downrange as fast as you can turn the crank!)) but the 10/22 is a .22 caliber rimfire weapon... which means a small bullet and relatively low muzzle velocity. Fun for target plinking, or shooting at gophers, but if you're going after zombie, you're going to want something more suitable.

The two most successful assault rifles in the world are the AR15/M16 and the AK47. The AR15/M16 family are chambered in 5.56mm NATO (mostly) and the AK47 is chambered in 7.62mm. For those following along at home, that's also .223 caliber and .308 caliber, respectively.

At this point, I consulted the firearms expert I grew up with, azshooter, whose comment was "Not .223. Not. End of discussion."

So, poking around a little, I discovered that Bushmaster makes an AR-15 style weapon chambered for .450 Hornady ammunition. They say that this is based on Col. Jeff Cooper's one-shot kill concept, and it seems fantastic for taking down zombies (see my earlier comments on the .45ACP pistol), but it has one serious drawback... the rounds are so large that a magazine holds only five of them.

If you're doing a run to the grocery store, and trying to keep brain-craving zombies from putting you in their basket, five rounds is not going to get you very far.

So I'm still working on the question of the ultimate zombie-killing machine. If you have a suggestion, I'm interested. Just leave a comment after the beep.

Beep.

Cowboy R and the Crew of Kurosawa

2009-11-21T15:32:17Z

Went to games with the usual suspects last night. We're playing Serenity, the RPG based on the Firefly television series and the eponymous movie. Our crew is a little different... we've got Cap'n James Dobson, a former Alliance Gunboat skipper; Hollis Day, M.D., a gentleman of the frontier who none the less graduated from a Core Worlds medical academy and served the Alliance during the war; Alice, our ship's steward and cook; and Lief On-the-wind, our pilot who grew up on cruise ships. Plus several NPCs.

Notable quotes from last night:

Alice: Just because she's not drop-dead gorgeous Doc, doesn't mean...
Doc: Inner beauty exists, surely. But only outer beauty is worth looking at.

Alice: There's a special hell for people who do that, Lief.
Lief: Can't be any worse than the one Doc's going to.
Doc: I have never killed a man who didn't deserve it. Nor, James, a woman neither, though by your smile you seem to say it.
James: Well, sure, Doc, if your definition of "deserving it" is somewhat fungible.

And, of course, Doc's tagline:

Doc: My name is Hollis Day, M.D. You may have heard of me?

Cowboy R and Another Week

2009-11-21T00:33:22Z

Several times, I've started writing entries, then stopped. They didn't say anything I really wanted to say, or didn't say it in the right way.

So I'll just say that I'm still here.

yay.

Cowboy R and the Simulated Warfare

2009-11-17T19:59:12Z

Well, I've survived another SCA war.

Wednesday, I was on the early set-up list, so I drove on out to the site, parked, and wandered around being helpful. I helped snotblossom string some site tokens, then helped set up signs by driving stakes for them to be affixed to... which led to my first injury of the war, a blister on the inside of my right thumb, which proceeded to pop and drain itself, leaving me essentially unable to use a hammer for the rest of the weekend.

I helped some friends of mine set up their pavilion to merchant out of, and then wandered over and set up my own tent. There was good discussion around the fireside, and eventually people went to bed.

I got up in the morning, and helped the main event steward distribute tables and chairs around the site, and then caught a shower and got dressed. I made humorous reference to the fact that Thursday's schedule in the gatebook consisted of two items -- site opening and troll closing for the day. I also managed to get over to Troll myself, and check in.

I think it was that evening by the fireside that we heard people's "this one time, I was so drunk, and I vomited, and..." stories. I'm happy to say that my contribution was a second-person story, as I have never been so drunk as to resort to emesis. Don't anyone take that as a challenge, alright?

Anyway, Friday, I helped another friend set up his merchant booth, talked with people a little bit here and there. I was joking with people that it's a good thing we don't really follow the naming practices of our Ancestors, or I'd've stopped being Björn the Navigator and become Björn Snotrag or Björn Running-Nose or something. Pretty much from the moment I arrived on site, my nose was constantly running, and I blew it a lot, and never did get ahead of the issue.

Saturday, I spent the morning on the archery range, being the stand-in responsible person for the Main Event Stward's kid, because both of the parents were off being actual responsible people. It was cool to stand with the kids on the youth end of the range, and so that made time pass quickly.

Then I went over and let one of my merchant friends take a break and eat lunch, while I chatted up his customers. While I was there, ysabet came by and told me to meet her about quarter-to-one "over there." I took note of which was she pointed, and went that way... which turned out to be the wrong way. So I was a couple of minutes late, but it was all fine in the end.

I walked around with ysabet, and Her Excellency of Mons Tonitrus, and Her Excellency atensibilla, and we judged the Combat Cookery competition. This is a little bit like Iron Chef meets the SCA. Teams are given identical baskets of ingredients in the morning, and in the early afternoon, we walked around and ate what they made out of those baskets of ingredients.

Some of the food was divine! The team which won made this incredible crustless quiche with cheese and salmon. When I wend my way to the Val Hall, they better have that recipe, that's all I'm sayin'.

Anyway, there was an award that Their Excellencies of Tir Ysgithr wanted to give in court on Saturday, but the scroll had been left in Tucson, so I had to come up with some words to say in court, so once the judging was done, I went off and did that, and lay down for a nap, then got up, and conferred on the wording (TE made me change one word, which isn't too bad), and then... court.

Court went off well, and then it was back to the fireside, where poop stories became the topic of the evening. One of my merchant friends came over to join us at the fireside, and we were chatting away, and I looked over to my left, and realized that one of the merchant tents was on fire.

There were yells of "Fire!" and I could hear snotblossom behind me saying, "There's an extinguisher under the picnic table!" but I was too locked on to getting my own from my tent, so I paid her no heed. I was the second or third person to the breach, and emptied my fire extinguisher in remarkably short time. I heard someone behind me calling, "How do I use this thing?!" so I took it, and emptied it as well.

Suddenly, I realized I couldn't breathe in the cloud of fire suppressant chemicals, and so I backed out of the cloud, coughing, only to find snotblossom there with one of her field support bottles, saying "I brought water!" So I got to clear my throat a little, and that was good.

The fire got put out fairly quickly. Within about thirty seconds of the first yell of "Fire!" there were probably fifteen people there with fire extinguishers. I was dismayed at how quickly mine emptied, and I'm seriously thinking that, when I can afford it, I want to get a bigger one... mine was a $15 cheapie from Target.

The thing that really let us get the fire out and the situation under control was that someone there had an old-fashioned water-and-pressure extinguisher, and that let us shoot up onto the roof where it was burning, and really get the embers out.

I understand that the fire was caused by a malfunctioning propane lantern, and that none of the merchandise was more damaged than having a layer of fire suppressant chemicals on it, which is good.

Anyway, we went back to the fireside, and I had a couple of drinks... Rum and Dr. Pepper. Now, alcohol is a diuretic, and caffine is a diuretic, so when I eventually stumbled off to bed, I ended up having to get up again. This is significant because Saturday night was fraking cold... the run to the outhouse left me shivering both times.

So I had a rough, cold night, on top of having a cold or alergies or something, on top of inhaling fire suppressant chemicals... so by Sunday morning, I was done. I had meant to stay until Monday to help with site tear-down, but I could barely find the energy to do more than sit by the fireside and soak up heat, and people kept telling me I looked like death warmed over.

I walked over and talked with my friends from Ered Sûl, and the new Herald of the College of Sankt Vladimir, and that wore me out, and I sat by the fireside for a couple more hours before getting my act together, packing up my junk, and driving home.

I got home, took a shower, and collapsed into bed.

And that, my friends, was Southern Crusades XI from my point of view.

Cowboy R und den Wand

2009-11-09T23:48:13Z

Ich war mal ein austausch schuler auf Deutschland.

I was an exchange student in Germany. I went with a private organization, and made a direct exchange with a German family... their kid came and lived with my family for a year, while I went to Germany and lived with his family. This did not develop into a friendship between either of us and the other's families... we were simply too different, had values that were too far apart.

That's not really what I wanted to write about, though. I wanted to write about the fact that today is the twentieth anniversary of the reunification of Germany.

When I went to Germany in 1986, there were two Germanys, the Federal Republic of Germany (West) and the Democratic Republic of Germany (East). I went to a town named Göttingen, which was only a few kilometers west of the border. My host family took me, at one point, to an overlook, where I could look down on the chain-link fence topped with razor wire.

It was dangerous to have a united Germany. After all, a united Germany had started two world wars in thirty years. I had my doubts about the causal relationship between a united Germany and world wars, but that was the official line... there would not be a united Germany in our lifetimes, because it would be dangerous.

I wanted to go to East Germany. I got on a train bound for Berlin, but the border guards looked at my passport and turned me back. They said I didn't look enough like my passport picture. I imagine that was just an excuse, but who knows what the real reason was.

At the end of the year, I reluctantly left Germany. If I could have figured out a way to stay, I might well have. I was mostly happy in Göttingen. I had friends, I liked the atmosphere of the city... the only thing in the whole town I didn't like, actually, was my host family.

But I didn't have the resources to stay, so I came home to Arizona, and a while later, joined the Navy. Which is where I was in November 1989. I don't remember President Reagan's "tear down this wall" speech, but I do remember feeling very relaxed about being in the Navy, feeling that the likelyhood of the war we'd been dreading throughout my childhood was now very low. (I was surprised, a year later, to find myself in a completely different war... but that's another story).

I remember watching on the television on the mess deck of USS Papago (ATF-160) as the wall began to topple. I was surprised and overwhelmed that the world could be so reasonable for a change.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to return to Germany since the wall came down. I'd like to. I'd like to travel in the places that used to be East Germany, to look at the architecture, to see what it's like.

Congratulations to my German friends, for being part of a country that [i]isn't[/i] a dangerous factor in world politics. Congratulations for being part of a reasonable world. And most of all... congratulations on this twentieth anniversary of the wall falling.

Cowboy R and the Reflections on American Culture

2009-10-31T17:12:03Z

On Saturday morning, I tend to do a little web browsing on news sites. Less for the news, and more for interesting commentary on news. This particularly Saturday is also Halloween (for which, alas, I am doing nothing interesting this year). So this reflection by a BBC New York correspondent on Halloween, American style was fascinating. It also leads me to ask my foreign correspondents what their experience of Halloween at home is?

Then richardbrewer tossed out a link to this New York Times article written by a fellow with a Ph.D. in political science who works as a motorcycle mechanic. Again, even if you don't agree with the conclusions he draws, it's a great read.

Cowboy R and the Dream Sequence

2009-10-31T16:42:52Z

I was dreaming. I was a wizard of great power, and I had a need for a bedroom in the wilderness. Therefore, I created one. It was a marble slab an inch thick, ten feet on a side, with furniture on top of it. It hung nine feet in the air. The following discussion then occured.

Cute Girl in Dream: It's marble!
Me: Yes.
CGiD: Won't it be hard to keep clean?
Me: I'm a magician.
CGiD: Won't it be cold underfoot?
Me: I'm a magician.

Apparently the "hanging in the middle of the air" thing didn't bother her, or she just accepted that I was a magician at that point. However, then the dream went to a strange place involving flesh-eating eels living in the bathtub....

Cowboy R and the Question of Destination

2009-10-30T00:41:58Z

I'm listening to Planetary Radio, the podcast of the Planetary Society. It's an episode from a few weeks ago, recorded after the announcement of the discovery of water on Luna. Bill Nigh, in addition to being the widely heralded "Science Guy," is also the vice-president of the Planetary Society, and he contributed an opinion piece to the show, about Luna being a dead end for science; that the "real action" would be on Mars.

This caught my attention for a couple of reasons. First, the Augustine Commission Report was recently published, which suggested not returning to Luna, and abandoning the Ares rocket development because of budget restrictions. As it happens, I agree with the suggestion that we should make use of commercially available space lift, but the rest of it, I have issues with.

And to explain why, I'm going to have to use some numbers. Those of you who are math-phobic, avert your eyes for a paragraph or so. I believe it was Robert Heinlein who first said that, once you reach geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) you're halfway to anywhere in the solar system. And it's true, in terms of energy expended. In space, energy is expended to speed up and slow down, but it's not necessary to continue expending energy to continue moving. In the vacuum of space, there's nothing to cause friction which would cause you to slow down (although, ask me about the Pioneer Anomaly, some time). This expenditure in energy is measured in terms of change of velocity, or ΔV.

To go from the Earth's surface to low Earth orbit (LEO) you need a ΔV of about 9,300-10,000 meters per second. To get from LEO to Luna? 5,700 meters per second, or somewhere on the order of 60%. The same holds true for the return from Luna to LEO.

Now, here's the interesting thing. To go from the surface of Earth to the Surface of Mars, you're looking at a ΔV in the neighborhood of 20,000 meters per second... which is a lot. However, to go from Lunar surface to Martian surface? Approximately 9,000 meters per second. It takes less than half the energy.

Obviously, people are going to have to come all the way from Earth. But all the stuff they'll need on Mars (or any other area of exploration) doesn't have to. Regolith, the Lunar soil, contains iron, aluminum, titanium, and many other things. But the best thing it contains is hydroxyl, which is a molecule formed of one hydrogen and one oxygen atom. With a process such as vapor-phase pyresis, these materials could be extracted.

Ultimately, unfortunately, I do think that NASA is going to abandon manned spaceflight. It's expensive, it's dangerous, and NASA is a government agency, which shies away from both of those things. If we're going to see human exploration of the solar system, it's going to rely on private industry, which will have to pay for its own weight at every step. Whether that means groups such as Bigelow Aerospace that want to put hotels on-orbit, or foundations such as The Artemis Society which leverage the wealth of large groups of individuals, remains to be seen.

Unless the Chinese show that they're making a serious go of reaching Luna. Then all bets are off... but that's a subject for another day.

Cowboy R and the New Week

2009-10-29T20:09:09Z

It's another week.

I was awoken this morning by a phone call from lysander_cat, which is rather surprising, 'cause normally, my phone is on silent at night. Well, let's be honest... here, lately, my phone is pretty much on silent all the time. Anyway, lysander_cat had car trouble on his way to work this morning, and called me, so I went out to where he was stuck, took him to work, and took care of getting his car to the garage. (Amusingly, as I was writing that, I realized I was pronouncing "garage" in the British fashion).

As I was out, driving around, I was listening to Skepticality Episode 114, about the new Skeptic Magazine sponsored podcast, Monster Talk. It started me thinking.

If I get the job as a science writer (and I'd very much like to... I honestly feel I'd be good at it, and it would be good for me) I think I'm going to pitch some new media approaches to the boss. One of them would be a weekly or fortnightly podcast about science, and new discoveries. NASA does their Science@NASA podcast, as well as making This Week at NASA available as a podcast. The SETI Institute makes Are We Alone, and The Planetary Society does Planetary Radio.

I don't know how many listeners each of these podcasts has, but I know that the organizations find it worth producing the podcast... so I'm thinking that the organization I'm hoping to work for would find a Science podcast worth the time to produce it, as well.

On a completely unrelated note, I happened to be looking at Twitter this morning, and glanced at the list of people who are following my tweets. I understand all the outdoorsy and horsey people who've followed me in hopes that I'll look at their products, because, well, look at my username.

I was a bit mystified, however, to find that "ThickSingles" is following me. What in the world did I tweet to show up on their searches?

Oh, and if you're wondering why someone as manifestly non-ranch-handish as I would choose the name "Cowboy R," you should watch this video and compare with my bio.

Okthanksbye!

Cowboy R and the Medievalist Society

2009-10-20T00:00:49Z

On Sunday, I spent the day in much the same way as Saturday, but I lathered myself with sunblock first (and apparently didn't get it all blended in, as atensibilla was kind enough to help me with that), so I didn't get sunburnt any further. It's a pretty mild sunburn, as sunburns go, and I'm not in agony.

I did better with making sure I got people's names right in the two courts on Sunday. Which gave me cause to think. Not that I did better, but that I was doing something in court at all.

It's been just over a year since I went out to Crown Tourney to visit with raventhourne and was convinced that I should rejoin the Society for Creative Anachronism after a twenty-year hiatus.

In that time, remarkable things have happened. When I rejoined the Society, I hooked up with the College of Sankt Vladimir, They happened to be thinking about a populace badge, and I knew something about heraldry, so I offered to work on it. Which got me elected Herald of the College.

I went to a war, Southern Crusades X, and offered my Baron and Baroness my help for our own war, Highlands War... which, a few months later, ended up with me being the primary event steward for that war.

It's my belief that the amazing success of that war was down largely to Baron Christopher of Ered Sûl, to Lady Aoife and Lady Violet, but other people persist in congratulating me on the job I did. They seem surprised that a first time event steward could pull off such a large event.

When I came back to Tucson, I offered my services, figuring I'd get slotted in somewhere, as someone's deputy, and never be heard from again. To my surprise, the Baronial Herald was stepping down, and the leading candidate to be her successor was tied up doing something else... which again, meant that I stepped right into an office I've little history to prove that I could do.

But I think that I've done reasonably well at it, and I hope that as we go forward, atensibilla and I find ways to overcome the couple of minor challenges (notably the fact that I'm partially deaf) that came up this weekend.

In about ten months, I'm going to be stepping aside as Herald, so that the afore-mentioned primary candidate can step into the job. I hope that, when we reach that point, everyone will look back on this as an experiment that worked. And maybe then, I'll be someone's deputy, and never be heard from again.

Or maybe some other office will mysteriously open up at just the right time for me to step into it.

Cowboy R and the Bullet Points

2009-10-18T05:28:29Z

I had a long day at Dragon's Horde (a Baronial event of the Barony of Tir Ysgithr). I'm a little sunburnt. It turns out that the reflective sun alone (I spent most of the day under either the Baronial Pavilion or snotblossom's shade fly) is enough to burn my fair skin.

I'm really tired, in spite of the fact that I didn't actually do much. A day spent being active in the sun is more tiring than one spent being active on a computer. For that reason, I'm going to do a bullet-point entry on my day in the fashion of snotblossom, which will probably seem cryptic to people who weren't there. So. Things I learned / want to remember about today:

It's not just me. Other people think she's annoying, too.
I really am partially deaf. Talking to me quietly enough that others won't overhear also means that I won't overhear.
Teasing the wee bairns is fun. It's best when they're brought up in a family that teases, though. Otherwise they just look at you with hurt in their eyes. That's not fun.
I really need to find out how to pronounce names before court begins. I feel like a schmoe when I flub one.
snotblossom and swordmage are good people. I have spent days in many, many worse ways than hanging out with them and talking about comic books.
posadnik_ivan had a good point about garb. I was wearing my "Help, help, I make my own garb" tunic, and he was wearing his cool yellow and blue one. I commented that most of the things which were wrong with mine were because it had been tossed together instead of made with care. He said that SCA garb tends to have a curve of increasing quality, both because you get experience, but also because, when you have a few things that you can wear to events, you can afford to take more time with the things you make after that, and quality garb builds up slowly.
She really is that pretty. And willing to talk to me about geeky stuff. And a good fighter.
Apparently, the "y" in Ysgithr is not pronounced. And the two words are run together. I am a schmoe.
I need a bigger ceramic container for water. Preferably one with a handle. I wonder if the paint your own ceramic place I went to with Christmas Girl is still there, on Campbell. If you remember Christmas Girl you've been reading this journal too long.
It's fun to be behind the thrones at court. You can hear what's going on, and the jokes that get made too quietly for the populace to hear them are often pretty darn funny.

And that's the nutshell version of my day. And now, I'm going to rub more aloe gel on myself, and fall over to sleep.

Cowboy R's Friday

2009-10-17T06:53:41Z

I woke up early, for me, about 8:30 this morning. I trolled the internet looking for jobs, applied to a couple, and then played some World of Warcraft. About 1, I got up, took a shower and got dressed, and went out for a walk.

Came home, dragged my Aunt's sewing machine out, and proceeded to work on my tunic... only to discover that my Aunt's sewing machine also needs service. Fortunately, I was able to finish the tunic, without damaging the machine.

Sat down, played a little more World of Warcraft. lysander_cat came home from work, and went out in the back yard to spend some time with the turtles. That's not a euphemism for anything, there are three red-eared sliders and two tortoises living in the back yard.

hamner showed up, and we headed out to dinner. On the way, we talked about the surprisingly low rung of moral rectitude Insurance companies occupy (it is the consensus that it is the one directly above child pornographers, but several steps below telemarketers). I had a cheesesteak sandwich. lysander_cat and hamner each had a tuna melt.

And then off to capt_weege's house for this week's Serenity game with the Usual Suspects. We had a good time, but had to stop in the middle of an operation, so we'll see how that goes for us in a fortnight.

Next week, of course, is the Warehouse Eureka game, and I believe I have the bones of that already; I just need to flesh them out. And see if I can get MapTools working.

Cowboy R and the Stuff

2009-10-11T07:55:34Z

Hey, y'all.

There are things I could write about, and I sort of feel obliged to at least nod at them. lysander_cat and I spent four hours at Urgent Care because he'd gashed his foot while working on the turtle pond.

We got together with hamner and had some KFC for dinner, and hamner gave me the Phineus and Ferb soundtrack. If you're not a P&F fan, I have to say that you're missing out, because the show is sheer genius.

Anyway, he mosied on home, and we connected on Skype with lysander_cat, hamner, and angel_lord. We were experimenting with playing an RPG via computer, and it was mostly successful... we had trouble trying to get our MapTool thingie to hook up, but the Skype connection worked well.

Stayed up late reading.

Got up in the morning, and went to breakfast with the relations. Came back to the house, and crashed. Got up in the evening, went out to rocketengineer's house. lysander_cat played some poker with the lads, while darth_riley and I sat with hamner and roxietiel. We played a hand of "Go Fish," and pillow-fought a little, and watched the U of Az football team blow the game with Washington State.

And then back home, where lysander_cat and I ran hamner through Scarlet Monastery in World of Warcraft, and in a little while, I shall seek my bed. (I imagine I'll find it... it's not far away).

Cowboy R and the Silver Bullet

2009-10-09T01:15:03Z

So lysander_cat and I were discussing zombies. As one does. Then we got to discussing warewolves, which, really, is a logical extension of the zombie discussion. And, of course, if you're going to talk about warewolves, you have to talk about silver bullets.

And that got me wondering about silver bullets. Could you purchase silver bullets in, say, .45 ACP, which is my preferred caliber? What about 10mm Auto, which the U.S. Government likes for law enforcement?

Well, a little poking around found no one who currently manufactures silver bullets in any caliber... but it also yielded this fascinating article on casting silver bullets which explains why it's a lot more difficult than casting lead bullets, and of dubious merit (nutshell: Silver is much harder than lead, and will blow right through with limited hydrostatic shock effects).

It looks to me like, if you're going to hunt warewolves, the sawed-off shotgun with silver shot is a better plan than silver bullets. Or, if you're concerned about explaining what you're carrying to Mr. Officer, the Taurus Judge, with the Magnum 3" chamber will accept .410 shot shells.

Actually, looking at the results of a .410 chambered Judge with the magnum load, and tripple-aught shot, I have to say, this thing is a zombie-killing machine. Which, really, brings us back to the intial topic of discussion... Zombieland, which is funny and well made.

And we're seeing it again on Sunday, this time with hamner.

Cowboy R and the Ick

2009-10-06T18:32:14Z

I have the ick.

Brain lubricant is draining out of my head. And, in spite of taking two tylenol "simply sleep" tabs last night, I can't seem to stay asleep for more than an hour.

Watching second season Addams Family on Hulu. Waiting for the misery to pass.

Cowboy R and the Other Fighter Practice

2009-10-02T07:17:21Z

I went to Victory Hall tonight.

Victory Hall is kind of a fighter practice for the SCA... and kind of not. Fighter practice (FP) for the Barony of Tir Ysgithr happens on Tuesday nights at Reid Park, and a boat load of people are there every week. (As a side note, before FP this week, Baron Tighearnain held a class on building rattan staves up into swords, and it turns out that everyone's right, I put way more tape and effort into mine than most people do). By contrast, Victory Hall is invitation only, and there were six of us this week, including american_knight, posadnik_ivan, raventhourne, myself, and a couple of people who either don't have LJs, or I don't know their usernames.

When posadnik_ivan invited me, at Chocolate Revel, I kind of had a "Yay!" moment, because, well, who doesn't want to be invited to train with people one respects? It was a little like Sally Field at the Oscars... "They like me, they really like me!"

... and that would be my lack of self-esteem showing. Sorry.

Anyway, Victory Hall is kind of like an organized Dojo class for SCA fighting, with a couple of really good instructors. Tonight, we went over a drill called "running the clock," and that was a bit of a workout... that shield is heavier than you think it is, and so is the sword. Then we paired off and did a slow-tempo drill, kind of like you'd do in a martial arts class, where one person is the Uki, and throws the blow, moves in the expected manner each time, so that the other person can work out how to block the blow, and respond to it.

I don't feel that I did particularly well at it, but I did feel that I learned some things, and felt it was time well spent. Next week we won't be doing it, because american_knight will be off at a war I'm not attending, but I did get invited back for the following week, so I clearly didn't make a huge fool of myself.

And sometimes, that's really all you can ask for.

Cowboy R and the Webcomic

2009-09-29T17:47:31Z

I know some of you who, for some mysterious reason, read my journal, also read webcomics. A while back, I recommended count your sheep!, and I hope that some of you have read it. It's fun, and innocent, and doesn't rely on shock value to get a laugh. Adis delivers a child-like innocence, and in a world that seems to be determined to race away from innocence at full speed, I think that's a valuable thing.

Of course, I'm also a sucker for Disney movies.

Anyway, Adis has asked for help in a competition that would lead to him getting some money for his work. It's a separate web comic. It's cute, it's innocent, and I like it. Here's your link:

Cowboy R and the British Visitors

2009-09-28T17:42:58Z

I'm a member of a World of Warcraft guild that is mostly a social guild, built around the fandom of hamner's podcast. Also in the guild is a fellow from the United Kingdom, England, in fact, who uses the name HolySocks in-game.

I'd chatted with him a couple of times in Skype or Ventrillo as we ran instances, and when he and his father were deciding where to go in America for their vacation, they chose Southern Arizona. They flew over, rented Harley-Davidson motorcycles in Phoenix, and drove down to Tucson as the hub from which they'll be touring with their group.

Last night, they gave lysander_cat a phone call, and he and I ended up getting together with the two of them. We took them to Rosa's Mexican Restaurant, up on Fort Lowell, and chatted for a couple of hours on rather wide-ranging but geeky subjects, and had a good evening.

They'd never had Mexican food before, and the father liked it quite a bit; I think HolySocks himself, however, was a bit overwhelmed by it. hamner, when they're hanging out with you on Thursday, expect a request for Mexican food.

Cowboy R and the Party

2009-09-27T14:45:10Z

I ended up going to the party. And, for the most part, it ended up being a good time.

It did amuse me that the same thing that generally happens at parties here at Chateau lysander_cat happened at this party off on the other side of town... I spent the whole time in the pool with the under-ten crowd, while adults went off and did other things.

Of course, I wasn't alone in the pool with the under-ten crowd... weavedancer was there, as well, and there was a mother who was sitting on the deck, and a father who brought his kids into the pool and stayed while they were there. On the other hand, it amused me that at least one mother came over, told me her kids' names, and disappeared for the rest of the time they were in the pool.

They were well behaved kids, and listened well, though none of them could swim. I didn't really try to remedy that, as they were only going to be in the pool with me for the one afternoon, so I gave pointers, but didn't try to do any actual instruction.

After the sun went down, I sat with the adults for a little while, and tried to participate in the conversations, with a noticeable lack of success.

Still, the food was good, and the cake was good (I suppose cake is a subset of food, but, particularly at a birthday party, it's a very important subset!) and I did get to talk to a couple of people, so there y'go.

Cowboy R and the Tweet-Inspired Miscellany

2009-09-26T18:56:28Z

I'm on Twitter, though I don't do a very good job of it. I never have been able to say anything in twenty words or less. So here are some things I've had on my mind lately, inspired by tweets -- mine, or other people's. (I use the same username on Twitter as here, if you're curious).

vendredi13 had a birthday. I have to confess that I am a bad friend, in that I don't often remember or even acknowledge birthdays, but this is a particularly significant one, in that she marks the quarter-century. Congratulations, darlin', and to answer your implied question, you're still stunningly gorgeous.

I remember my twenty-fifth birthday. I was living in Raleigh, near nytemiste, and we hung out a lot. I had a big crush on her. There was a lunar eclipse on a weekend a couple of weeks after my birthday, and I got a keg and set up a telescope, and it was the first time I ever felt that a birthday party was successful, though I acknowledge that a lot of the people were there for the beer and the telescope, not me.

I remember feeling lost. I was a quarter of a century old, I was recently divorced, and I hadn't accomplished anything of note. I wasn't a millionare, hadn't published a novel, made the world a better place, or... anything.

Who would've thought that I'd still feel that way, fifteen years later?

alohomoron went to play crazy golf with some friends. Apparently, they played competitively, and she came in second.

I used to love minigolf. I had my first real job at MetroCenter mall in Phoenix, (where, incidentally, I met dorinda2212, at her job at the game store, which sent my life in new and interesting directions for a couple of years) and there was a minigolf place there. Occasionally, on payday, I'd go out there and play by myself.

I grew up in a church that placed a lot of importance on youth groups doing innocent things together, and I remember that ours went to play minigolf a lot. Corbin and Sean and I always had a good time playing together, though I can't for the life of me remember any of the girls who were with us... though Corbin eventually married one of them.

The last time I played was with lapis_lazuli, on one of her visits out here. I presume we kept score, but I honestly don't recall who won. It just wasn't important.

This Dresden Codak is pretty funny. Me go too far! Me am play gods!

Today, some of the folks in the Barony are having a party to celebrate September birthdays, in which category I fall. And I've been invited. And I know and like the hosts, and at least one of the other celebrants.

And yet I'm waffling about actually going. I'm feeling a lot of social anxiety. As alluded earlier, me + birthday parties has not historically been a very good mix.

I think it was that same year, the year of the telescope birthday party, that nytemiste and I held our black-tie new year's eve party. We'd made a road trip to a large mall a couple of hours down the road, and she'd looked at a formal dress in a shop window, and lamented that she'd have no place to wear it, so I suggested we make an occasion.

We printed invitations, invited our friends, and it came out very well. Ladies in evening dresses, gentlemen in tuxedos, cheap champagne, and a good time. I wonder if it was just the place in life that let me do things like that, or if it was nytemiste's influence.

On further reflection, it couldn't have been the same year, as I was living in different places for the two parties. But I still find myself wondering why I could throw successful parties then, and not at other times in my life.

I've always wanted to be the guy that people felt free to drop in on at any time. I never have been, but I've always wanted to.