Arontius of Bygelswade

.....Still trying to de-stress from the day and week. Work is building up to a total sense of chaos as we get nearer to completion. You'd think it would be the other way around, wouldn't you? :-)

.....Thing the First: The Tacoma News Tribune was running a story on one of the school districts where the teachers were voting to walk the picket lines in a strike. The tone of the article implied that teachers already made a lot of money in comparison to other professions. Then proceded to send the reader through a link to a state database of all the Washington State Public School District employees with a listing of what they made and the additional benefits they earned. As well as their experience and educational levels.

.....I was just haphazardly browsing the list when I started recognizing names on it. All of our local SCA School Teachers are located on the list. Which stands to reason, I suppose. But at that instant I felt rather voyeuristic. In reality, I'd feel rather uncomfortable to have my salary and benefits, not to mention my level of education, plastered on the internet for all to see.

.....It's rather sad that for the education and training required to be a public school teacher, not to mention the reality of dealing with picking up the slack of the many parents who rely on those teachers to educate their children on just dealing with life in general, we pay them relatively little.

.....Thing the Second: Next month is the annual trip to the Ocean in Lobelia. And kit flying extravaganza. Was looking through IntoTheWind.com to wander through the kites and see what there was available. TBT and I both would like to add to our supply of telescoping poles. The 22-foot poles at IntoTheWind are $59 each. Which sounds like a lot, but that price is certainly cheaper than any we've found locally. We were looking at prices ranging from around $40-$50 for the 16-foot telescoping poles.

.....It is really neat at events to be way across the event site and still able to make out the location of camp just by seeing our banners flying way up in the air. Even the runny silk banners we made this year looked pretty cool at Last Chance flying on top of the 22-foot poles. When we get some really good banners made, they'll look even better. Just wish that they made 30-foot poles. :-)

.....I've been looking at various plans and ideas at poles that can be built from parts found at Home Depot or the equivalent. But even the cheapest arrangements, out of electrical conduit, end up running upwards of $50 when all is said and done. And don't even really have the flexibility of collapsing poles. So the fiberglass really is a pretty good deal.

.....The past several years I've been flying a rather cheesy dinosaur box kite that I keep stashed in Lobelia. I'm pretty boring by nature I guess. Not really into the stunt kites like TBT and the Rhys Monster are. But I did see a couple of colorful lotus kites that looked like they would be fun to fly. We'll see if we can put a little extra $$ aside this month and maybe pick up one or two before mid-October.

.....Thing the Third: There is an Origami exhibition later this month in Bellevue that looks interesting. On the weekend of October 1st and 2nd. Of course it clashes with five dozen other things. But if I'm even a little bit lucky and the current project at work is behaving itself, maybe I could take Friday off. TBT and I could go and see the exhibition. The classes lined up for it are supposed to be rather spectacular as well. Might be interesting.

.....Thing the Fourth: The NORWESCON ConCom posted its meeting schedule for the upcoming year. Once again I felt the urge to get involved in the planning of a NORWESCON event. Of course it would be a lot of work. Volunteer based events always are. But think of being on the inside of all the cool planning stuff, with a bunch of totally strange and 'out there' geeks a lot like yourself. :-) I think that once TBT and I step down and pass on our Coronets to someone else, I think I'd like to spend a little time doing this. Just to experience the totality of a Fantasy - SciFi version of the SCA for a little bit. :-)

.....Thing the Fifth: Alys Firekeeper is moving off of the San Juan Islands. She is currently jobless. I'm not sure there is anything for someone with her type of experience in Kitsap County, but if anyone has any ideas, it would be nice to pass them on to her. She is an absolute total computer networking geek. She was a primary in building and maintaining the network for Washington Mutual before it went under. She currently has enough in savings to keep her going for a while, so she'll not be homeless. But a job would be a good thing. Now is not a great time to be looking for a job, even in Washington State. Where the going rate is around 9%.

.....That's enough random for a while.

.....Aaron / Arontius.