Arontius of Bygelswade

.....I worked hard at trying to keep the list short, but it still managed to gain some momentum over the past several days. :-) I have now decided to lock it down and will refuse to add to it. And then ensure that for every hour of stuff that 'must be done' and hour of 'is fun to do' is included for balance. As I look at the list though there are several things that could conceivably fall in both or either category. Hmmm.

.....Today is a celebration day! For Ralph and Gwen's birthdays. Out of respect we don't ask for ages. But it is nice to gather with friends and celebrate at our most favorite type of celebration - FOOD!

.....Then more food later, at Matt and Rycheza's for their annual tree trimming party. We had to miss last year's gathering for some reason. I think it was Aquaterra's Yule. But this year we'll definitely go. Matt and Rycheza are good people and it'll be fun to hang out with them for a while.

.....Made a running start at the list yesterday. Spent several hours doing the deep clean of the bathroom. It sparkles like a vampire now. That CLR stuff works incredibly well at removing hard water stains. I'd always thought of it as a gimmick. Now I'm a believer.

.....Tried to brave the Post Office on two separate occasions during the day. It was an absolute mad-house both times!!!! We finally ended up making it work late in the evening and using the kiosk. TBT will still have to brave the crowds next week in order to get her overseas package shipped. I do not envy her that trip. It'll be rough!

.....Mom wanted to see if we could get to her Christmas decorations in the storage unit, so I stopped by there and made the valiant effort. Had some fun with the crabby lady in the office by typing in the code for the Baronial Storage Unit and then opening up Mom's. :-) Took her about ten minutes to come running down the street in her putt-putt mobile to make sure I was not robbing it blind, and then give me a several minute lecture on using the right combination at the gate. I was polite and didn't remind her that she messed up Mom's combination in the system and wouldn't fix it until I brought Mom into the office. Blech!

.....Worked on the financial report for The Crier. All the paperwork is in order. Checks about to be signed and sent off. All income deposited. Would like to finish the Doomsday Report, but Microsoft put a bug into that plan. With the latest Windows patch, the drivers for the external hard drive were made obsolete. The company that manufactured the hard drive was bought out by Seagate and updates were not available. And, of course, the Doomsday Report is on the external hard drive and my back up is six months old. I could recreate it, but would rather not if I can help it. It'll require a lot of work.

.....But will shake all that off and have some fun. I'm looking forward to sleeping in past 4AM tomorrow. Although I still can't seem to sleep much past 5AM. :-) Looking forward to a trip to Seattle. Cell phones and new eye glasses from Costco are also in the plans for the next day or so.

.....Been staring at the portable loom and wanting to grab Madrun on Tuesday for another lesson in the missed hole card weaving technique. I need to cut off what's on there now and warp it up again. I'm really liking the thin wood cards that TBT put on there for the last lesson. They are easy to work, and don't take up nearly the space the monster sized cardboard cards take. Yes, it sometimes takes me a while to accept the truth as the truth. I am, sometimes, a little stubborn. :-)

.....Need to also ping Francesca in Glymm Mere and see how the Yule Feast Toys-For-Tots gathering went. Aquaterra refuses to post a number. :-) I think our 134 toys collected is looking pretty fine! :-)

.....Off to breakfast!

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....It's hard to believe that it is already May 1st. It seems like yesterday that it was January!

.....Actually, yesterday was the Arts and Sciences Day Camp at the Odd Fellows Hall in West Bremerton. It was actually a pretty good day of geeking out with others and learning new things. As well as seeing what others were doing. I brought a bin full of things to do. And actually ended up working on a few things, which was rather cool.

.....Saw Deirdre in the morning and was reminded of the bookcases that are currently located at her house. They are the folding rattan Baronial Library bookcases originally donated by THL Inga. They are still usable, but no one seems to want them. And Deridre is rightfully wanting them gone from her place. I need to remember to stop by her house in the next day or so and pick them up. Someone suggested that the Roving Irishmen could use them in setting up their household encampment. I'll ask them if they want them this Tuesday and then confer with Master Ralg and THL Oliver to make sure they are O.K. with them going away.

.....Had a good look at THL Pernell's silk painted banner. She did a good job with it! Her proposed device was nicely rendered on her triangle of silk. She also took some time and patience in painting hers. The colors were all nice and even, as well as vibrant. I made a handful of mistakes on mine, namely not painting the largest color areas in one setting. The areas that I did over time are pretty clearly visible. But it'll work and I'm excited to see it done. Seeing Pernell's definitely was another push into getting my next one done.

.....When things settled down in the afternoon I pulled out my loom and did some cardweaving. THL Madrun watched my method for a few minutes and made a couple of timely suggestions on how to improve the tension on my band by keep a loop of weft available as I turned the card, and then then work on a more even tension as I finished pulled the thread through. It was a very simple trick, but netted immediate results. I could see improvements right away.

.....I hadn't really enjoyed the silk-wool blend when I first pulled everything together on this loom. But things really were moving easily and fast yesterday and I was making quick progress. It was rather enjoyable. I wasn't in love with the color combination of white, black and blue. But I was inspired to hurry up and finish this band so I could warp up a new one. As a matter of fact I was so entranced that I finished the whole thing earlier today. I'll have to figure out a new pattern quickly so I don't lose momentum.

.....Madrun promised a lesson or two when things slow down. I can figure out regular patterns. But I'd love to be able to draft original patterns, or weave them on the fly. I'm just not savvy enough to do that yet (if ever). But we'll have to wait at least until after June Faire before that happens. :-)

.....Spent a little quality time with Aelianora. Not nearly enough, but I don't think I'll ever be able to remedy that one. :-) As usual I'm in awe of all the things she is managing to accomplish these days. Not the least of which is keep Ian employed and focused on the web-site in a manageable capacity. IMPRESSIVE! TBT and I want to meet with Aelianora at some point over the next month to talk about the web-site. TBT had been doing some preliminary work on it before Aelianora took the reins, and has a few ideas she'd like to float. Plus, it is always fun to site and chat. And if Renart does some cooking as well? Bonus! :-)

.....We slept in a little later this morning than we had wanted to. We didn't hit Starbucks until after 10AM. But we did something radical after that. We went to Office Depot and picked up a new computer!

.....OMG! I haven't had a new computer since I moved into this house in 2000. I hadn't realized until today that the computer I have has been doing all my work for me for almost eleven years! I'm sure that is almost ninety in computer progress years (sort of like seventy-seven in dog years :-)). I'm sure I'll feel almost agoraphobic the first time I really start playing on it. Holy Cow! I'll be able to open up the Internet and will be type URL's almost immediately! No more running into other rooms to get chores done while I wait for the Internet to queue up. I don't know how I'll be able to handle it! :-)

.....Ran into Cedric and Brighid today. Then JR, and Tymothy and a bunch of others. Some good conversation was had. But TBT and I had to get the weekly shopping done, so we didn't get to stick around and talk for too long unfortunately. But we did get to congratulate Talon for successfully completing his fourth marathon! That is IMPRESSIVE!

.....Will start making inroads on the May Crown and June Faire 'Action Item' lists this week. Things will move relatively quickly.

.....Have to hit up a few people on Tuesday at Fight Practice for help at May Crown, June Faire and July Coronation. Wednesday is the June Faire Board Meeting. Then Thursday is the May Business Meeting. Another full week.

.....I would have liked to have gone to Druim Doineann's May Pole this Saturday, but have another requirement in the hopper. And considering that every other weekend this month is booked with SCA Activities, I need to keep this weekend open for personal 'go-dos' or else I'll be running to catch up until sometime in late June. Not a good thing.

.....Hmmm, starting to get late. Must get ready to go to work tomorrow.

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....I guess everyone at work figured out 'the way forward' and implemented 'the plan'. I have been told to come back to work tomorrow morning. That was a fast vacation! But the good news is that my leave request was officially denied by management and duly signed. Which means that any left over leave I have on the books after the last pay period of the year will get rolled over into 2011.

.....The Mid Level Boss still thinks that I'll have the week between Christmas and New Years at home. And possibly two or three days next week as well. Once 'the way forward' has paper, support, materials, and people (i.e. the PLAN) there isn't a whole lot for me to do. Especially considering that the Shipyard will be shut down during that period. It kills me though that even though Bangor and Bremerton are considered one command, one is shut down and the other will stay officially open during the Curtailment period. :-)

.....I enjoyed today. Worked through a bunch of e-mail. Cleaned the kitchen. Took several naps. Went out and had lunch with TBT and picked up some sugar free flavorings. I was thinking it was a good preview for the next two weeks. Maybe I should have spent more of that time actually doing things instead. :-)

.....TBT visited the local St. Vincent's as well. I think that if I do get a day or two over the next couple of weeks that I'd like to clear out the Computer Room. The Ingasbo Boxes can go into the closet or downstairs. All the files can find a new home. Then one of several wingback chairs will make it home from St. Vincent's to the Computer Room. Along with a side table and lamp, and maybe a footstool. Then I can have a relaxing reading area. Maybe even work from the chair using a wireless keyboard. In my mind it reminds me of that silly orange lounge chair I used to drag to events with me when I camped with the SLTC. Man, it was comfortable! But the looks I received from people were funny! :-)

.....Still would like to get all of my notes organized. I've been invaded by the Sticky Note Monster and it is an insidious beast! Post-It Notes are supposed to be reminders of things that need to be done. But it is sure hard to get anything actually done when there are reminder notes everywhere! The truly important things get lost in the mess and it is hard to get anything actually started. Let's see what I can do to tame this beast over the next hour or so. But I have started off on the wrong foot anyway by checking into Live Journal first rather than getting started. NOT a good precedent. :-)

.....We did get our first Baronial Report to Crown out the door today though. It is somewhat late, but it was our first one. I'm still a little unsure of its contents. I followed previous reports to a degree from Their Excellencies Cedric and Brighid, but kept finding myself writing it like a Seneschal's Report. :-) Ah, well, if you like to read before bed to help get you to sleep, reading our report might be the best thing aside from a hot toddy!

.....Managed to get more clean up of the desktop computer done as well. The e-mail folders are now clean! I moved, saved, deleted, etc. over 400,000 e-mails. The oldest ones being from 2000. I found myself reading my e-mails to the predecessor Team to Team Haggis as we were gearing up for my first June Faire. I was a much different person in those days. A lot sillier, that's for sure. I'm not sure how I managed to get the Team to actually follow my lead, to be honest, as I couldn't seem to go in one direction for any more than a few moments at a time. I chased chickens everywhere, whether they belonged to me or not! But it was evident that I was having fun, and that's the important thing.

.....After a few weeks of work I finally eliminated enough to actually defragment the computer. It took a while, but things are actually moving a little faster again. Wow! A ten year old computer! Dell used to make some good computers. As is evidenced by this one. I've abused it horribly and it is still chugging along. Amazing!

.....Sigh! Must get some laundry done if I'm going in to work tomorrow. Whine! Whine! Whine!

.....At least it is only a one day work week before the weekend. :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.