Live From Pacific Beach.

.....We're at the Annual Family Outing at Pacific Beach. TBT, the Rhys Monster and I are camped out in Lobelia in the RV campground of the MWR site. The weather has been a little off this year, but not bad. The beach is as beautiful as ever. I could watch the ocean continuously for hours. The companionship has been good. Three of us in the confined space of Lobelia has been mostly fine. I've mainly been worried about TBT, who came down with a bad cold / cough last week and has been slowly recovering. Today has been the first day that she has been reasonably 'herself'. The Rhys Monster is his own creature on his very own planet. Which makes it a challenge to live in a confined space with him for an extended time period (I'm told the same attitude applies to all teenagers), but we've managed to remain on good terms, which I'll call a win. I've only felt like biting his head off once or twice when I've found his dirty clothes or food scattered about. But I've been a little on edge myself between worrying about TBT and de-stressing from the hectic pace of work.

.....I've managed to avoid plugging into my e-mail more than twice this year. That is rather unusual for me. I usually go into withdrawal if I haven't checked into my e-mail three or four times a day. But I really did need the break and time away from the computer, which is good for me. But I knew that I would have to plug back in at some point. :-)

.....Just saw the word from Countess Melissa that Her Excellency Amanda was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. Which makes me all kinds of sad on many levels. But I'll do my best to maintain a positive attitude as that is what it takes to live after such a diagnosis. And Amanda is certainly tackling it upfront with a positive and challenging attitude. If anyone can beat it through sheer will, determination, and positive attitude, it would be her.

.....I'll never forget working around her at 3YC when Countess Melissa managed The Daily Progress. Baroness Amanda just has this, air, about her that is not of this planet. It is a serene regalness that she carries with her whether she is in an SCA persona or in her 'real life'. If she wanted to she could be a Saint without having to even be a member of the Catholic Faith.

.....I fervently wish her the very best, and all my hopes!!!

.....The kite weather was not good yesterday. I could get none of my box type kites to stay in the air to save my life. I finally gave up after an hour or so and watched those who had Delta type kites, or stunt kites, fly them in the limited air movement. The wind picked up later in teh day, and the Rhys Monster demonstrated some really nice moves on his kite. But we didn't try again yesterday.

.....This morning though we trooped on down to the ocean and pulled out the kites and success was had! I launched by Dragon Box Kite right up into the air. It was flying fine, so I tied it to the Gwen Mobile, and pulled out the Box Star Kite. It was beautiful! I had a little bit of a rocky start, but finally got it into the air. I let the string out to its four hundred and twenty five foot limit and let it fly there for a while. Then I started having a problem in that it started to spin and do loop-de-loops. I started pulling it in before it did something crazy, and was glad I did so when it did a huge loop and dove to the ground. I did get it up in the air again, but kept it on a shorter tether.

.....Traced it down to the probability that it was the rather cheap string I was using. It wasn't a nylon kite string with a high tensile strength. It was a plumbing string line we found at Lowes. I could not pull it apart, or tear it without a knife. But what was happening was that it was starting to unravel, or untwist, which was causing it to spin. I need to get a better line for it. I also need to get a good reel for it as well. The reel I was using was not working well. Would also like to try a swivel on it, and put some stringers on it as well.

.....Found out why the $10 kite from Harbour Freight is the $10 kite from Harbour Freight. :-) The bottom line, as always, is 'you get what you pay for'. :-) It is beautiful, but is not balanced well and is made from a cheaper material. We might be able to get it to fly at some point on its own, but it will take some work. Although I'm liking the idea of attaching it as 'line laundry' onto the line with the Star Box. :-)

.....Went to Galway Bay in Ocean Shores for dinner last night. The Irish food was good. The music was TERRIBLE. But was good for a laugh. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time, to the point where I was starting to feel sorry for the poor guy. It takes a little guts to put yourself in that position. But still, if you are going to be a professional musician, you need to change your tempo from time to time, change your range, sing music that you can actually sing, and play something besides a synthesizer from time to time. Think the Lounge act from 'The Blues Brothers', but completely devoid of talent. I think I was more disappointed because I was really expecting, hmmm, IRISH MUSIC. :-)

.....Back home tomorrow. Time to get psyched up for the second certification at work this week. This will be the big one. After that one, it really will be downhill from there. Wish I knew what I will be doing at work next month. With the new 'Product Line Management' no one really knows how things are going to play out.

.....Next weekend is the SCA BoD Meeting in SeaTac. I'm actually looking forward to it in the hopes that I'll get some sort of indication of the current mindset and direction of the SCA Corporate. It might go some ways to figuring out how things are going to look for the next couple of years.

.....Plus, I'm looking forward to seeing Countess 'E'. She's always fun to be around. :-)

.....Almost 5:30. I think it is almost dinner time. I should get back to Lobelia before I miss out on grilled steak!!!

.....Aaron / Arontius.