Wednesday night musings

The week is half over, and my mind is blank.

I don’t particularly want to use this blog to talk about politics; I particularly don’t want to do that during an election year. Don’t get me wrong, I think the election is very serious, but I despise when people try and tell me what to think, and I’m not going to try and tell anyone else want to think. I will, however, ask that everyone that reads this does take part; does vote. It is important to take part.

I also don’t want to bore you with rantings about my job. Fact is, that particular subject is not all that interesting: Some people borrow money and just don’t think they have to repay it. It is my job to collect the money they don’t want to pay. It involves arguing with people 8 hours a day, every day. Fortunately I’m fairly good at arguing with people; I like arguing with people. Of course I would much rather be having an intellectually stimulating debate with another person that enjoys the art and skill of debate, but that is not what I get paid for.  I get paid to argue with folks that are trying to avoid paying their debt. I’ve had worse jobs.

After work, I spent about an hour running erronds and paying bills. Once that was done I even had enough money left over to fill my truck with gas. What’s more I’ve got money left over to pay for attending Kingdom A&S this weekend. I’m rather looking forward to that, it will be the first KA&S I’ve ever attended. We should be hitting the road about 3:00 Friday afternoon, headed for Utica.

I don’t have any “official” job  or staff position at this event, which is kind of unusual. I plan on spending Friday night and most of the morning Saturday working troll. One of my closest friends is the autocrat of the event, so I’ve told him I’ll be available for whatever he needs help with. Other than that, I plan to spend the weekend hanging out and talking with friends. I may even take a class or three, and, of course, take a look at the items on display. Should be a great deal of fun.

In other news, I’ve been making a lot of jewelry recently. I made a bunch of bracelets and gave them to Barnoness Mahsheed to use as largesse. I’m still working on making chains for all the members of The Order of the Diamond Chalice, but I’m running low on black, red, and silver colored rings, I have to order some more. Lately I’ve begun to get interested in expanding my skill set into some decorative knotwork type stuff, like the stuff Stormdrane shows off in his blog.
I’ve been looking at several sites lately that feature people doing that type of work, and it fascinates me. The whole subject of knots, and rope, has begun to fascinate me lately. Think about it, rope has to be one of the most basic of tools, one of the most versatile of tools,  but I know nothing about the history of it.

Oh shit, I think I’ve just found a research topic.

Just not feeling it tonight.

Sorry folks, I just don’t have anything to write about tonight. I haven’t felt up to par all day; took a sick day in fact. I’m sincerely hoping I feel better tomorrow. I can’t afford to take two days off work, and I need to be healthy by the weekend. There is no way in hell I’ll miss Kingdom A&S. I have people depending on me to be there.

Price Gouging Scumm

Author comment: I don’t normally cuss much in this blog, but tonight I’m so mad I don’t think I’ll  be able to avoid doing so. You have been warned. Read on at your own risk.

When I drove to work today most of the gas stations I passed were selling regular unleaded for 3.45 a gallon. Ten hours later, when I drove home, most were selling at 3.99. That is a price increase of .54 cents a gallon in only ten bloody hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let me repeat that;That is a price increase of .554 cents a gallon in only ten bloody hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, a major hurricane is pounding Texas. Yes, that hurricane has caused the temporary shutdowns of several offshore oil rigs, tempermentally interupting their production. Yes, I agree, this is bad. Yes, I worry greatly for those in the path of the hurricane and hope they make it through safely….

But here’s the thing: the temporary loss of production of “crude” oil, can not be affecting the price of the already refined oil currently on sale at the pump. It has already been refined, and shipped to market.

This is nothing more than price gouging by the oil companies. The same oil companies that have been reporting record profits over the last four years as they raise the cost of gas to levels never seen before in this country.

Pardon me, I can’t contain this any longer…..

Dear Oil Comany Executives, You are all scum sucking, leperous dogs. You probably all have carnal relations with dead baboons. I hope you enjoy your obsene profits, you are going to need the money hire people to pull your oversized heads out of your own rectums…

I feel somewhat better now.

I could understand if the steady rise in gas prices was due to some kind of external cause, like the OPEC oil embargo of the early seventies. But it’s not. No, this is nothing more than oil company hyeneas feeding on the American public.

Of course, the American public has contributed to the problem. The desire for huge SUV’s, the constant refusal to actually to develop alternative fuel technologies….There is plenty of blame to go around, I know that, but right now, at this instant, let’s focus on the price gouging we are seeing today. This is obsene, and I pray the goverment comes down on these crooks like  a metric ton of bricks.

Of course, with this current administration, the chances of that happening are slim to none. One can hope, but that is all one can do.

Afterward: I guess I didn’t cuss as much as I thought I would. God knows I wanted to, but what would the point be?

Cormac

Wednesday Reflections

I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already. I also can’t believe that I don’t really have anything to write about tonight. I guess I’ll just have to find something……

…Meditates for five minutes….

Ok, Wednesday is the day I try and post a reivew of some kind. I’ve not seen any movies recently, and I posted about couple of television shows on Sunday. I’ve not been reading anything particularly interesting lately, so the review theme is going to get dropped, and we’ll just skip ahead to the normal theme for Friday; the SCA.

Today has been a bit of a bummer when it comes to my SCA plans. A month ago I found an absolutely beautiful site for a weekend event in north Missippi: Tombigbee State park, in Tupelo.

What makes it a perfect site? Let’s see:
1. 160 beds in climate controlled cabins
2. Four “private” cabin rooms that would be perfect for royals, or event staff.
3. Four huge rooms with fire places that would be perfect for classrooms or meeting rooms.
4. More than adequate shower and bathroom facilities
5. Huge hall that could easily seat 200 for feast (along with supplied tables and chairs)
6. Really cool amphitheater down by the lake with a small stage
7. A huge permanent outdoor covered pavilion with a concrete floor.
8. Huge flat field large enough that it could be split in two sections: one for camping and one for a fighting/list field.

and most important….

9. A park staff that is looking to drum up business, and seems to be willing to negotioate price and work with the SCA.

Perfect, right? Easily day trippable from Memphis, Jackson, Starkville, and (admittedly a bit of a stretch) from Little Rock.

As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, my favorite SCA activity is running events. The last event I had the pleasure of autocratting was Candlemass, and since then I’ve not had an active bid working on any event. I’m going through withdrawl. I saw this site, and my instant thought was, “Spring Crown List”.

It took a couple of weeks, but I found a feastcrat, and had  put together most of the event staff. The last thing I needed to do was call the site and confirm that it would be available the weekend of Crown List. That’s were the problem came in. “Already booked, would any other weekend work?”, was all the Ranger said this afternoon when I called.

Well, that sucks. Got the staff, just need a site. The search continues. I’ve got to get a bid on an event soon or I’ll begin to get bored. I tend to do really stupid things when I get bored – but that’s a post for a different time.

Oh well, the search goes on. I’ll call the St. Columba confrence center tomorrow; it’s a nice site; not as nice as Tombigbee, but definitely usable. I’m also going to check out Singleton Community Center tomorrow; it has possibilities as a site for single day events. I’ll check it out, see if we can afford it, and report back to the group. Hell, finding new sites is almost, almost as much fun as running the events themelves.

Cormac

Finding Treasures

Another day ends, and I’m still feeling good. I find it unusually pleasant to be able to say that on a Monday. Let’s face it, only masochists actually enjoy Monday. So, anytime I can get through the worst day of the week and still be feeling good, well, that is a good thing.

The weekend was surprisingly productive; got a lot accomplished on a couple of projects, but I’m most pleased by the work I’ve gotten done on de-cluttering my living area. I finished my bedroom and got started on the bathroom this weekend. I’ve still got a lot left to do; regaining control of this house will be a project that takes a while. What makes me proud, makes me feel good, is that I can see that I am making progress. That visible progress helps me maintain the self discipline to keep going.

For the past three weeks I’ve been focusing on cleaning my bedroom. I’ve gone through and eliminated over half of the items in my closet.  I’ve also gone though all the boxes of stuff I had stored in  my closet, the boxes and tubbies stacked along one wall. I’ve also cleaned out the two junk drawers in my dressers. Most of the stuff I tossed from the closet  were pieces of clothing I’ve been holding on to for far to long. The stuff in the boxes and tubbies, and in the junk drawers was mostly…well, it mostly crap I took each box, tubby, or drawer  and removed everything inside. Each item got examined individually, and a choice on whether to keep or toss was made. Quite frankly, most of it got tossed. If I hadn’t  used it in the last year, it got tossed.

Well, the “have I used this in the past year?” test determined the fate of most of the items in those boxes. The three cases of cassette tapes, none of which I’ve listened to in at least ten years? Tossed. The box of assorted commputer cables and other related odds and ends I’ve not needed in the last six years? Gone. The files of class notes from college?: Out of here.

I’ve compared this de-cluttering process to an archeological dig recently, and that is an apt description. The most recent items were on top, and as I dug down through the stacks of boxes, through the layers of stuff inside the boxes, I was literally digging through my past. Most of the items were no longer relevent to my life, so, as mentioned above, they got tossed. Just as most of the items found at any archeological dig are trash, literally. The trash reveals a lot about a culture, but it’s not what one would consider a treasure. Occasionaly, both in “real” archeological digs, and in my personal dig, treasures are found.

The first treasure I found was a small stuffed animal, a buffalo, that my sister gave me about ten years ago for my birthday. She was not the first person to tell me that I’m difficult to buy a gift for (a description that I heartily disagree with – how hard is it to get a gift certificate to a bookstore?), and that year she had commented a couple of times that was, “as stubborn as an ox.” So, on my birthday she handed me a wrapped box that contained this little stuffed buffalo and said, “this was the closest thing I could find to an ox. Love you, bro”. I’m not sure how long it’s been in that box; I remember displaying it in the apartment in Decautur, but I can’t really remember having it at the apartment in Nashville. It’s now sitting on top of the two reference books I keep on my desk (dictionary and thesaurus). It also led to me calling her Sunday afternoon and having a long, pleasant conversation.

The next box contained two treasures: a fake stone gargoyle statue, about six inches high and as ugly as homemade sin, and a bear figurine. The bear was a gift from my Mom, and I can’t remember how long I’ve had it. It is now guarding the top left corner of my book case. The Gargoyle? I got that from friend about  seven years ago. For reasons I never did really understand, his name is Fred. It’s ugly, as gargoyles are, and he is now guarding the second shelf in my book case.

I know that by keeping thse three little nick-nacks, I am kind of violating the concept of getting rid of things I don’t use. The whole purpose of de-cluttering is to simplify, to get rid of stuff. I know all that, but there are different ways to use things. The buffalo reminds me of of my sister, of what a great person she is, what a unique sense of humor she has. The bear does the same job, reminding me of my Mom. Fred, the gargoyle, reminds me of a friend I’ve not seen in years, and the fun we had. These three little items serve as visual reminders of the most important things in life; they remind me of friends and family. That is plenty of reason to keep anything.

That’s all for tonight.

C

Couple of shows to check out….

It’s late Sunday night, and I feel good. I’ve had a particularly excellent weekend, and I’m looking forward to a good week. I don’t really have a lot to post about tonight, but I did want to mention a couple of new television series I noticed this week. 

The first, Sons of Anarchy , on the FX network is about an outlaw motor cycle gang. The pilot episode was interesting, and it has some major talent in it. The main character, Jax, is played by someone I’ve never heard of, but his step father is played by Ron Pearlman, and his mother is played by Katey Sagal. That’s right, Peg Bundy, in this show, is a biker mama. I didn’t recognize her at first, and when I did finally realize where I had seen her before it was quite a suprise. The first episode was interesting enough that I’ll watch the next few episodes just to see if it maintains the same quality. If nothing else, it’s something to look forward to on Wednesday night.

Trueblood is the new HBO series based on Charlene Harris’s Southern Vampire series. I have to admit that I really don’t like much of the “vampire literature” published these days. Anne Rice and Laurel K. Hamilton have a great number of sins to answer for, but I do like this series. How can you not like a vampire series set in a small Lousianna town called Bon Temps? How can you not like a series that has vampires, were-creatures (my preferred monster), and a very interesting explanation for the reported sighings of Elvis over the last 30 years? I don’t claim Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas and the other books in the Southern Vampire  series are great literature, but they are fun, quick reads that are a good way to kill a few hours. 

I was kind of worried when I found out that HBO was making a series out the books; I was afraid they would change the setting, characters, etc. However, after watching the premier episode this evening, I was pleasantly surprised. A couple of the actors chosen for the main characters did not look as I had imagined them, but the casting of Anna Paquin as the main character, Sookie Stackhouse, was perfect. She played the character exactly as it is described in the books. I will definetly be watching the rest of the series, and I’ll be interested in seeing how far it progresses beyond the books. 

Now, if Showtime would just hurry up with the next season of Dexter.

 

Cormac

I don’t usually discuss…

Ok, I don’t usually discuss mundane politics, but these were just to good to pass up……

 

and …..

see Sarah Palin pictures

Busy Times Are Coming

Ah, Friday. Another work week is over, and I have survived. Thank all gods for small favors. With the way the economy is tanking, and with the changes in the Guaranteed Student Loan industry, the last few months have been particularly unpleasant in my office. The forcast for the coming months is for more of the same. Wonderful. 

But, I’m not at work now, and I won’t be back at work until Monday, so I don’t really feel like thinking about my job. That leaves a small problem; I’m not sure what I do want to think about tonight. As always there are several subjects on my mind: politics (modern world and SCA politics), personal history, plans and projects I’m working on, and the things I want to change in my life, my home, my barony….. I’ve got a lot on my mind. 

I normally write about SCA topics on Friday, so I guess that will be the subject for the evening. Fall is a very busy time in the Kingdom of Gleann Abhann; lots of important events between now and the end of the year; events I have to attend due to either my commitments as a kingdom officer, my commitments as a member  and officer of my barony, and my commitments as a friend to the event staff. 

Later this month I’ll be attending Kingdom A&S down at the Utica MS site (quite possibly the best SCA site I’ve ever seen; pity the  site management jacked the prices so high we won’t be able to use it in the future). This KA&S is being hosted by the Shire of Rookshaven, and the autocrat is a very good friend of mine, Ld Gordun. His wife, Ceridwen, is the feastocrat, and from what I’ve been told is planning a magnificent feast. Both Gordun and Ceridwen are not only good friends, they are also members of my household; House of 3 Dragons. No way in Hell I’m going to miss that event. I’ll be there to help work troll Friday night, and to help Gordo with anything he needs. 

In October I have to travel to the wilds of Lousianna for Coronation. That trip is necessary because of my commitements as a friend and by my commitments as the Kingdom Chamberlaine. We’ll have to do the changeover of kingdom property once the current Highnesses become Majesties. Coronations are always fun; busy, but fun. That particular trip will be particularly fun because I’ll be traveling with a crew of people that I don’t usually travel with. I enjoy long road trips; they are a great opportunity to talk, and to get to know people. Many a long, thought provoking, occasionaly strange, and often hilarious conversations are had by people traveling together.

I’ll have to miss Diamond Wars again this year, and that really annoys me. Diamonds was the first non-Grey Niche event I ever attended, and it has a special place in my heart. Unfortunately, due to mundane concerns I’ve not been able to attend since it was moved to the new site. I will get up there one day, but it won’t be this year. I will be attending Samhain at the end of October. I’m handling the reservations for Dame Brenna, and I never, ever, miss a Grey Niche event. I will be interested in seeing how the new site works out. 

November brings both Fall Crown list, in Arkansas, an Quest for the Holy Pail, another Rookshaven event. I’ll be going to both of those. The SCA year will end with Christmas Revel in December, and I will not miss that event again. I’ve not been able to attend the last two years, but I don’t intend to ever miss another one. 

Yeah, the rest of the year is going to be busy; just the way I like it. 

 

C,

Small things…

It looks like Hurricane Gustav didn’t harm any of my friends. Thank god for small favors. Now if they can just make it through the other three hurricanes currently winding their way across the Gulf, I’ll be happy.

So far this has been a good week; much better than I had expected to be honest. Normally the work week following a holiday is unusually hectic, and that pattern is holding true. What is different this week is that it has been both hectic and productive. That combination doesn’t happen often.

Last night’s SCA Business meeting was a pleasant surprise. Usually our business meetings are long, unproductive, and somewhat argumentative. We meet at Southwest State Tech, and this semester there are classes meeting in the rooms on either side of the room we use, and that has proven to be a good thing; it means we have to keep the meetings relatively quiet. We can’t get involved in loud, vociferous, pointless arguments over minor issues; unfortunately we can get involved in quiet, vociferous, pointless arguments over minor issues. That didn’t happen last night. Somehow we managed to stay on track, focussed, and the discussions were productive. I live for the day when all of our meetings could be described in that manner.

After the meeting the Dragons had dinner at the new Lonestar restaurant. As usual, there were about nine of us, and as usual, we had a pretty good time. We always have a good time when we are together. The unusual part was the fact that we had both good service, and a good meal.

We go out for dinner after every meeting, and it is not all unusual for there to be 8-10 of us. We know that no restaurant staff wants to see such a large group come in, and because we know that we go out of our way to make things as easy as possible for the waiter or waitress that has to serve us. Unfortunately, all to often we get service that could best be described as incompetant. Sometimes we get service that is just bad: meals given to the wrong customer, not prepared as requested, long wait times between drinks being refilled, etc. etc.

None of that happened last night. The place had only been opened for a couple of weeks, but you would have thought it had been opened for years. Our waitress, Jen,  was professional, knowledgable, and, most important, friendly. She got all the orders to the right customers, the  food was prepared exactly as ordered, and she kept all of our drinks filled.

At one point the Manager came by the table to check that everything was ok, and all nine of us made a point of telling her what an excellent job the waitress was doing and how pleased we all were. It was quite apparent that the manager was not used to people going out of their way to compliment her staff, and she took great delight in telling her waitress that we had complimented her professionalism and friendliness. It’s amazing how such a small thing, just telling someone they are doing a good job, can mean so much to people. As we were leaving Jenn came by and said, “If you guys ever come back, ask for my section, I’d love to be your server again. You guys made my day”.

No one thinks twice about complaining when they receive bad service, however, we often forget to give compliments when the service is good, and I personally think that is more important. Managers are used to hearing complaints – some justified, some not- but it has been my experience that very few are used to hearing compliments. When they do, it surprises them, and they are always eager to pass it on to their staff. Such a small thing can really make somebody’s day.

C

Labor Day Weekend.

I sincerely hope that all of my friends had as much fun this past weekend as I did. Of course, with Gustav threatening the gulf coast I know that many of my friends did not have a good weekend at all.

I have lived through more tornadoes than I can count, but the thing with tornadoes is that they are sudden; the conditions that spawn them exist for 12 hours at most. If a tornado does actually form it might last an hour or two. It does not lake a leisurely cruise through the Gulf Of Mexico before finally arriving at your home. You don’t have to watch them come for you for a week or more. I cannot begin to imagine what that must be like. I can only pray that all of the people down south come through this; that none of my friends have to go through what so many  of them went through three years ago.

Enough; let’s talk about the good parts of the weekend.

Saturday Gerald and I drove to Ripley Mississippi. Every month on the weekend before the first Monday in a month there is a huge flea market on the outskirt of Ripley. Gordon met us there, and three of us spent a couple of hours exploring the merchant’s wares. I wish I’d had some money to spend because there was a lot of neat stuff hidden among the typical flea market crap: antique tools, antique cast iron pots and pans, lots of other collectibles, and lots of animals. I had a problem with the animals.

There were dozens of peope selling puppies, rabits, chickens, guinea fowl, doves, etc. The poultry I tend to see as livestock, not pets, so it didn’t really bother me to see those animals in wire bottom cages. However, it bugged the hell out of me to see the kittens (and I don’t even like cats) and dogs in the same kind of cage. Bugged me a lot.

Of course, it bugged me even more to see people actually buying pets in that kind of market. If you want a pet, either adopt one from an animal shelter, or, if you must have a registered purebred, go to a reputable breeder. For the love of all gods, do not get one from a man selling a litter of underfed puppies in a wire cage at a flea market. Most of the people with animals for sale didn’t even bother to put a water container in the cage. No way in hell I’d buy an animal from a person that didn’t care enough about them to provide water.

Despite what I viewed as mistreatment of the animals on sale, Idid enjoy wandering around the flea market. I always try to imagine where merchants at those markets get all the items they have for sale. One guy had dozens of heavy cast iron cauldron, several of them big enough to boil a pig in. Those are not items that people come across every day. Another guy had hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Hot Wheels cars, all of them in original packaging.

Sunday morning was spent doing my weekly review and planning for the coming week. That project took all of an hour, but it has become an important ritual for me. Helps me to know what I have accomplished, and more importantly, what I need to accomplish in the upcoming week.

Sunday afternoon and evening was spent with good friends, having good conversation, and eating way to much good fun. In other words, The House of Three Dragons had a cookout at Gresch and Chiere’s house.  There were ten of us there, and as always when we get together, there was good conversation, good advice, a bit of plotting and planning, but mostly there was laughter.  We can’t seem to spend ten minutes in each other’s company without something making us laugh. Not a bad way to spend a day at all.

Cormac