This space for rent

New helm finally done

2008-07-17T15:44:15Z

After what is probably 2 ½ years, I’ve FINALLY finished my Valsgarde 6 helm from Zweihammer’s Armoury kit. This was from his first set of kits he sold and is 12 gauge. Aventail is one of Master Knutt’s flat ring welded stainless. Shirt is flat ring riveted (stainless also). Fighter is in need of a diet. Please ignore the leg and arm harness, it was used so I could try out the new helm with maile shirt at practice last night.

The full kit will have hidden legs with proper foot wear and the lower leg-wrappings (can’t remember the proper term for those). Hidden arms with new gambeson with hidden back pockets to slide in hard plates for kidney protection so the only visible armor should be the maile and helm (other than hand protection). And a HUGE shout out to Sean Powell from the Archive here who lent his shop space, thoughts, guidance and patients in this process.

For those that like the details, notes on the construction:
We modified the kit some (obviously) since I wanted the hanging aventail around the band line and right up to the ocularum from the beginning. The nasal is shortened. Removed the three “tabs” that were off the bottom of the eye pieces so we could more easily attach the leather strip and mail. The back slats shapes are more gentle so the maile hangs better. We could not get the original mouth/chin piece to work where it didn’t end up looking odd at best and most of the time like a gorilla, so we just ended up with some ½ inch stock bars instead since it’s under the maile anyway. The finish is done with an industrial powder coating. The color is an antique gold/bronze that was close to what we were looking to do anyway and the shop just happened to have enough leftover from a previous project where I did not have to order a full 5 pounds of a new color.

Hey look, a post...

2008-05-28T14:08:23Z

I'm going to try to put an actual update post out today, kinda a bunch going on (which is why I havn't posted a lot lately). We'll see how much work I have on my plate.

In the meantime for the geekiness of it, here's a pic of my temp "home office" setup that I'm using while livng at the in-laws. It's a 24" widescreen in middle that I setup on a KVM switch so I can dual montior with either my work laptop on the left or my home system on the right. Not quite as massive as Al Gore's, but then again, I'm not a Noble prize winner.

Shield redone

2008-03-25T14:35:24Z

Well, my SCA shield was getting long in the tooth and pretty beat up. So I took some time and finally re-did it.

On the left is the old shield, complete with ubiquitous duct tape and scratched to hell paint job.
On the right is the same shield, but reworked. New Trim-loc edging from Windrose, new reinforced leading corner, glued down canvas cover front and back including covering the rivets (no exposed bolts) and fresh paint job.

The bottom pic was the leading top edge of the shield which I have pounded out of course.

Cover story

2008-02-12T16:29:00Z

I'm on a book! A few years back I took a trip to NYC to help out with a photo shoot for an artist that does book covers (among other things).

http://www.donatoarts.com

He was doing a cover for the Sara Douglass book The Crippled Angel. Well, time passed and I found the book has been published with the painting (or part of it) on the cover. I'm at least 3 of the bodies in the book cover. 1. the guy being lifted by the two (underneath "Douglass"). 2. Just to the left of them the dead body (where you see only my legs really). 3. The very bottom there is one guy cradling a body in his arms, I'm the dead guy underneath the both of them. :) You can just make out my klapvisor.

So does this mean I'm published? :)

Edit: Found the full paiting on his web site. It's a big pic so I'll save your f-list space. I'm at least an additional 2 or 3 bodies on the left side of the painting as well. http://www.donatoart.com/gallery/agincourtmiddleb.html

Not that I could relate...

2008-01-22T04:07:42Z

finnfinnegan @ 2008-01-13T23:46:00

2008-01-14T04:47:02Z

One fish, two fish

2008-01-09T20:21:39Z

So, we have a nice 55 gal fresh water aquarium at our house. We had recently lost some of our longer time residence (most likely just to age) so I decided to add a couple more fish in to keep the population level even and add some color. So I picked up some neon tetras and 3 sunburst platys...

Apparently, they were not all male as the pet store said. We think we have 2 female and one male, because in short order, we had at least 2 new generations of baby platys. An apparently, none of our other fish eat other little fish, so they spawned and all seem to do fine….and I mean ALL of them. We just had our fish guy who cleans our tank take out the majority of the “baby” platys. He removed ~40 of them from 4 generations total. He left 11 (including the 3 original). So we had over 50 of these fish in our tank. Geeze….

need to post

2007-12-31T18:54:27Z

I need to put up a post about everything soon. Lots has been going on and miscellaneous things like writing in blogs are the first to go when time to do things becomes a premium. So I'll have something up soon on life, the universe and everything.

Not many like him

2007-12-01T01:56:43Z

Evel passed today at the age of 69...I had several of his toys when growing up.

See ya on the other side of the great big jump to the sky...

No cats at our house like this...

2007-11-28T02:28:56Z

Proposed new SCA mission statement thoughts

2007-11-20T20:43:31Z

Proposed new Mission, Business and Values statements:

Well, this should start an interesting discussion…so here are my first thoughts. Hmmm...

Part of the proposed new mission statement:
"(SCA) is...devoted to the research and re-creation of pre-seventeenth century life"

From the current SCA Org handbook:
The…(SCA…) is…devoted to study of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Most of its activities take place in the context of a social structure adapted from the forms of the European Middle Ages….

Gone is any reference to a Western European medieval focus. WTF? While I have never minded the occasional cross-culture person(s), the SCA to me has been a European middle-ages organization. We are not a Middle-age Europe/late-period Japanese/2^nd Century Roman/pre-Columbus Native American/late-cave man organization. Yes, all these groups did exist and have their own history and interest of study and cool things to learn about them. But I think trying to mix ANYTHING “pre-17^th century is a mistake. There are no boundaries then.

Before, the “glue” that held things together was that if you wanted to study a non-European group, the general consensus was that the person should try to tie their knowledge/contact to a “western European court”. Sir Ix from the Midrealm (an Aztec persona) is a prime example. By opening things up to anything, anytime (pre-17^th C), anywhere, I fear that the middle ages western European “flavor” most of us have strived to work on for so long would be gone. “I can be anything I want, it’s not against the rules!”

I feel that a thousand years of western European history (with a nod to any culture they had contact with) is a broad enough sandbox already to play in. Casting open the gates to anything, anywhere, anytime pre-1600AD will hinder more than help the SCA re-focus it’s goal as an organization by trying to be all things to all people.

So long Mr. Wipple....

2007-11-20T15:25:00Z

Go ahead...admit it. You have squeezed the Charmin at some point in your life. Well, Dick Wilson, better know to us all as Mr. Wipple of the Charmin commercial fame passed away yesterday at 91. So in honor of his long standing request, I will go to the grocery store and NOT squeeze the Charmin.

"From 1964 to 1985, and again in 1999, Wilson portrayed Mr. Whipple in more than 500 commercials for the toilet paper."
LA Times article

Score!

2007-11-19T19:47:47Z

I now have on my desk at work the one and only...

Now if you forgive me I need to fill out a TPS report.

Hey look...crap!

2007-11-16T20:33:10Z

It’s not been a good week at work. I’ve been having to deal with the mounds of crap other people caused. But there is good news finally on this Friday…

We finally know which pile of crap we are standing in! Woot!

“But that doesn’t sound good…” you are asking me. And I say unto you, yes it is, because most of the week, we had NO IDEA on which pile of crap we were in. Now, we at least know where we stand…yes it’s still crappy, but at least we know what kind of crap it is and how deep it is (still waaaay to deep though).

So at the end of the week, I stand waist deep in crap at work and I’m happy about it. Give you an idea how the rest of the week went?

Need name for kitty (WoW stuff)

2007-11-12T03:33:54Z

I have new white lion pet and I need your help dear reader for what I should name it. I only have one chance so it needs to be good. So, what are your suggestions?!?! This is one of the rarer looking pets out there that is found only by a horde quest spawn. The in-game name is Echeyakee, but we can do better.

heh...

2007-11-11T05:39:31Z

We have heard the FinnFinnegan at midnight.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Masked man

2007-10-24T18:18:38Z

Behind the cut (to save you from a visage of me staring at you on your f-list) is a pic of me in my new (award winning) mask from last weekends Sundered Shield and Masked Measures event. The mask was bought the weekend prior at the PA Ren Faire with the help from aliwodehalle. As it was pointed out, it matches my tattoo, so I had to have it. :)

Thanks to bertana foror the pic!

*Edit* - added pic of the tattoo due to popular demand.

Sometimes....I'm not nice

2007-10-13T01:59:30Z

We have a lady in the office that is pregnant and due Nov. 6th with her first child. So of course, the typical "baby pool" is going around and this one has date, time, weight and length. This one you get 3 guesses for $5. So for one of my guesses I put 11 lbs. 4 oz. and 21" long...

...I'm not nice sometimes. :)

Special day

2007-09-25T13:55:54Z

And a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my lovely wife dame_margarete today!!!!

Much love from across the country and have a big piece of cake with dinner tonight...you deserve it!

Ding! 70

2007-09-23T13:02:53Z

I can fly!

Carrer Quiz

2007-09-14T14:28:43Z

Career Quiz - grabbed from </a></font></b></a>singewulf

For those of you that know me well, there's the on-running joke that in a previous life I was apparently VERY gay. For now, I have the "interior desicrator gene" as my wife is wont to say. It's just freaky to have "designer" show up in 3 of the top 5... Perhaps I'm in the wrong carrer..

1. Go to http://www.careercruising.com
2. Put in Username: nycareers and Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top ten results.

My Top Ten:
1. Industrial Designer
2. Interior Designer
3. Desktop Publisher
4. Computer Network Specialist
5. Fashion Designer
6. Animator
7. Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator
8. Multimedia Developer
9. Artist
10. Computer Animator

Hey, a real update...

2007-09-13T15:55:25Z

This is about as drama as I get, which is to say I don't really...but I love the icon so I wanted to use it! :)

I know I have not been posting anything of substance lately, but I haven’t felt like there was much to report. Most of the time it’s work and trying to spend time with the family when Mary has not been traveling with the consulting gig (which has been a lot). So there has not been a lot to say, so feel free to fill in the past gaps in the journal with “Mary’s traveling again and when she got home we tried to do the “family thing” before she left again.” But I at least have a couple of weekends of stuff that’s different!

Memorial day weekend we all went up to Ann Arbor to visit the in-laws, take a better look at the potential building site and also meet with the architect. We flew up Saturday morning, Sunday was helping around their house with yard work and such. Monday I spent 6-7 hours clearing 20 years of overgrowth and brush form the hillside we want to build on. That was so we can get a better look at exactly what we were dealing with. The parents house is built on top of rise and there is a hill that slopes down to a field to the west of the house where we would like to build on. But you could not stand on top of the hill and look down to the lower field because off all the brush/trees.

So me and a guy they higher sometimes to do yard work broke out the chainsaws and cleared a 5-10 foot wide path 120 feet long to the lower field. My arms were shredded

by the end of the day form all the thorn bushes and whatnot. It made huge difference and we now know what we are dealing with as a build site. A 16’ drop over about

110 feet to the lower field. The other good news is that I inherited a 14” Still chainsaw from her uncle who can’t use it anymore. I took a vacation day on Tuesday

and we met with the architect to discuss our plans and ideas. He had done the additions to Mary’s parents and her uncle’s house, so we know his work and like what he does.

We still have some next steps with financing and such, but we are continuing to move forward with the house build and move back to the Midwest.

We flew home Tuesday evening and the rest of the week was work and getting ready for our big 2-day SCA demo we have at the Green Lane Scottish-Irish Festival. The

festival draws up to 100,000 people between Saturday and Sunday. So it’s a big exposure for the SCA as they give us a section of land to setup our pavilions, fighting field,

and big-ass trebuchet. So Friday evening was setup of all the pavilions and such. Saturday was fighting all day, Sunday more fighting and then break everything down. This is

our 6 year doing it. It’s a fun time but a lot of work and a long weekend. This year we avoided the rain but it was HOT. Like 90+ degrees both days and I’m in 65

pounds of armor. But I still had a lot of fun. Needless to say, I was wiped out after it was all done.

Then this week Mary is off to Utah Tuesday thru Thursday. Then, in my weakened state wiped-out-itude after the demo, I (for some unknown reason) agreed to let Mary drive up with friends to Quintavia this weekend while I stay home and play more single dad with AJ. So she gets home Thursday evening and then leaves Friday morning again. But I know that this will be a good trip for the wife where she can concentrate on seeing friends she has not had a chance to for a while because of her traveling. And she can do it with not having to worry about AJ wrangling. So I think I’ll take the “boys only” weekend and head off to the strip clubs with AJ...

Stop...Hammer time!

2007-09-12T14:47:59Z

I LOVE this pic (taken by bertana) from our demo at the Green Lane Scottish Irish Festival last weekend. H-dale's own Talan with the hammer and our good friend and neighbor Mark who always helps us out at least one day.

The long meme

2007-08-23T21:00:33Z

Needed some break time at work so did the long meme that's been floating around...

1. How old will you be in five years? 43

2. Who did you spend at least two hours with today? My son AJ
3. How tall are you? 5’ 10” or so
4. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks? The wife being home more.
6. Who is the last person you called? Co-worker
7. Who was the last person to call you? Theo
8. What was the last text message you received? Don’t get them.
9. Do you prefer to call or text? Call
10. Do you have any pets? 4 cats and a 55 gal fish aquarium
11. What were you doing at 12am last night? Crawling in bed
12. Are your parents married/separated/divorced? Mom was widowed after 39 years of marriage
13. When is the last time you saw your mom? 2 weeks ago
14. What color are your eyes? Light blue
15. What time did you wake up today? 7:am
16. What are you wearing right now? Blue Dockers and maroon oxford button down shirt
17. What's your favorite Christmas song? Let it snow…
18. Where is your favorite place to be? Home or somewhere with palm trees
19. Where is your least favorite place to be? Stuck in traffic
20. Where would you go if you could go anywhere? Ireland
21. Where do you think you'll be in 10 years? Perhaps living in Michigan next to the in-laws.
23. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child? Standard monsters/mutant bad guys
24. What was the last thing that really made you laugh? My son
25. How many TVs do you have in your house? 1
26. How big is your bed? Queen
27. Do you have a laptop or desktop computer? Home-desktop, work-laptop
28. Do you sleep with or without clothes on? Just the boxer briefs
29. What color are your sheets? varies
30. How many pillows do you sleep with? 2
31. What is your favorite season? fall
32. What do you like about fall? Crisp air and change of leaves
33. What do you like about winter? How new and peaceful the world can look after a fresh blanket of snow
34. What do you like about the summer? Skimpy outfits on nubile co-eds :)
35. What do you like about spring? The earth becoming green again
36. How many states have you lived in? 6. IL, MN, OH, FL, PA
37. How many cities/towns have you lived in? 10. Chicago, IL; Bloomington, MN; Arlington Heights, IL; Sidney, OH; Dayton, OH; Huber Heights, OH; Lebanon, OH; Oldsmar, FL; Royersford, PA; Coatesville, PA.
38. Do you prefer shoes, socks, or bare feet? socks
39. Are you a social person? Yes
40. What was the last thing you ate? Hershey’s Truffle Kiss
41. What is your favorite restaurant? Applebee’s
42. What is your favorite ice cream? Yes
43. What is your favorite dessert? Crème Brule

44. What is your favorite kind of soup? French Onion
45. What kind of jelly do you like on your PB & J sandwich? Blackberry, but traditional grape is good too.
46. Do you like Chinese food? Yes!
47. Do you like coffee? Yes!
48. How many glasses of water, a day, do you drink on average? 2
49. What do you drink in the morning? Coffee
50. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? No
51. Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed? Currently right.
52. Do you know how to play poker? Yes
53. Do you like to cuddle? Yes!
54. Have you ever been to Canada? Yes
55. Do you have an addictive personality? Not really
56. Do you eat out or at home more often? Home

58. Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you? No
59. Do you want kids? Yes
60. Do you speak any other languages? no
61. Have you ever gotten stitches? no
62. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance? yes
63. Do you prefer an ocean or a pool? Ocean
64. Do you prefer a window seat or an aisle seats? Window
65. Do you know how to drive stick? Yes
66. What is your favorite thing to spend money on? Myself (games probably)
67. Do you wear any jewelry 24/7? Wedding ring.

68. What is your favorite TV show? Varies. Equalizer is one of my all time favs.
69. Can you roll your tongue? Yes
70. Who is the funniest person you know? Me.
71. What happened to 71? I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.
72. What is the main ring tone on your phone? “Bring out your dead” clip from Holy Grail
73. Do you still have clothes from when you were little? no
74. What red object is closest to you right now? Cup
75. Do you turn off the water while you brush your teeth? Yes
76. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed? varies
77. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees? Bees. Why do people say bear? A bear will kill you, bees, unless you are allergic will just suck for a while after being stung a lot.
78. Do you flirt a lot? Used to.
79. What do you dip a chicken nugget in? Whatever I’m in the mood for
80. What is your favorite food? Boneless buffalo wings
81. Can you change the oil on a car? Could learn if I needed to
82. Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket? Yes
83. Have you ever run out of gas? Yes
84. What is your usual bedtime? midnight
85.What was the last book you read? Completed, Deathly Hallows. Currently working on Eldest (follow up to Eragon)

86. Do you read the newspaper? Not anymore
87. Do you have any magazine subscriptions? Yes. Readers Digest, Maxim and Playboy

Am I the only one to notice there is no question 88?
89. Do you watch soap operas? No
90. Do you dance in the car? Only with AJ lets me.
91. What radio station did you last listen to? Local NPR
92. Who is in the picture frame closest to you? AJ
93. What was the last note you scribbled on a piece of paper? Work process flow info
94. What is your favorite candle scent? Sandalwood
95. What is your favorite board game? Yes. Risk is always fun
96. Where do you attend church? Don’t
97. When was the last time you attended church? A couple years ago for holiday visit with family
98. Who was your favorite teacher in high school? Physics, Mrs. Moser
99. What is the longest you have ever camped out in a tent? 2 ½ weeks (Pennsic when I was slumlord for our group)
100. Who was the last person to do something extra special for you? Amy. She agreed to baby-sit AJ so I could go to fight practice and help with an interview for a newspaper.

So it’s a late Pennsic post…

2007-08-15T14:04:03Z

I went up land grab weekend without Mary and AJ to setup the pavilion and help with as much of the camp setup/storage run as I could. I was able to bring my trailer to the storage shed run also so we only needed to make one trip instead of two. Then home again on Sunday afternoon.

Mary and AJ and I drove back out on Saturday morning of the middle weekend and it was very nice to have a pavilion to land in and not have to worry about setting it up too. Saturday was lazy and hanging out kinda day. Sunday Mary was kind enough to let me go play in armor. I was able to get to the one tourney I wanted to, the “Warriors of History”. Where the “participant must appear at a spear throw's distance as if he/she walked from the pages of a history book”. Two armoring laurels judged if you were worthy. I passed. :) Two and out in the tourney itself, but both were good fights that I was happy with. Both of my losses were to fighters that went deep into the tourney including the eventual winner. So I didn’t feel as bad. It rained the entire time. After I hung out for some pick-ups since it was going to be my only time in kit this year. Did fight the King of An Tir. Needless to say, he was doing the light lamellar kit and I was full plate and mail. He was…fast.

Monday we did lunch with the household (Gryphonhaven). It was very nice seeing everyone. I feel guilty that we have not done more as a group. Life gets busy sometime especially with Mary’s traveling, but I should still make more effort. Then I watched AJ so Mary could crash the Mid’s Pelican meeting and do some shopping. Very hot that day. Tuesday had us packing up and heading home…in a torrential downpour. It was pretty much completely miserable. We had no choice but to put all the soaking wet pavilion canvas in the back of trailer and drive home. We were then leaving at 6:am the next morning for the airport, so we did not have time to take out the canvas to dry it out. So it sat for 4-5 days soaking wet in an enclosed trailer. The good news is that after I got home and could open the trailer up on Monday, there was no mildew. I think it was SO wet that it never dried out enough to start to mildew at all. :)

So that was my Pennsic this year. That’s 20 Pennsic for me.