Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Continuing the search

Having gotten some less-than-stellar customer service at the range in downtown Everett, I decided to give a range up in Arlington a try. Norpoint is undergoing MAJOR renovations, doesn't have their FFL in hand yet (and thus had no firearms for sale, and only a small inventory of accessories), and has a steel backstop instead of the piled rubber I'm used to for indoor ranges.
Yet, the experience was far superior to the downtown Everett range. The place was almost deserted, but the one employee was friendly, had a nice sense of humor, refunded me some of my range fee when he realized he had overcharged me (realized without any input from me, BTW; I felt the original rate was reasonable), and in general made me feel welcome.

I was feeling good enough about the place that I decided to splurge a little and try a few of their rentals (rental selection limited, but good quality brands at reasonable rates). Normally I shoot my own firearms and ammo; its cheaper in the long run. However, he let me shoot three different 9mm semi-autos for $15 (plus about $10 for a box of ammo); tried the Springfield XD, a Beretta, and a Sig Sauer (229, iirc). Sadly, my quest for a center-fire semi-auto pistol that I can hit the broadside of a barn with continues. I MUST be doing something wrong; I can shoot a .357 Magnum revolver with quite good accuracy, I'm even better with a .22LR semi-auto, and I can at least hit man-sized targets at reasonable ranges with a rifle. So why can't I handle a 9mm?

I went through about 60 rounds of .38 special, 50 of 9mm, and about a hundred of .22LR.

I definitely need to go again.

Edit: forgot to note, they also deserve a well-done for safety. Before he handed over the rentals, the guy asked if I'd ever fired each one, and walked me through the safety and operating features. He also cleared each weapon as soon as he picked it up. He did the overview in a manner that explained everything without seeming like he was talking down to me.

I hate outsourcing

So I saw a charge I wasn't expecting on my credit card statement. I dug into it a little and found it was a renewal for Norton Antivirus; which I carefully told them I didn't want an annual renewel on when I bought it and which I haven't used in over four months.

Oh well, mistakes happen. The charge had a phone number associated to it, so I called them.

I probably would have done better to open with "How's the weather in India?" It was probably a bad sign when the recorded message at the start of the call included "If you're calling about an unexpected charge on your account..."

Well, I get a person and explain my problem. I have a hard time getting through this guy's accent, and I have a hard time believing his name is Steve.

"I need your email address to look up your account."

"I'm not sure which email address you'd have on file for me. Can you look up my account some other way? Say, with the credit card you charged to?"

"Your email address is mandatory."

We go a few rounds on this. After a few tries, it turns out they have me under an email address that is no longer active, but I can't seem to get that concept through to him. My email address is my email address, and no one can change it.

After a while, I ask to speak to his supervisor. I think it was when he asked me how much had been charged that put me over the edge - if you looked up my account, isn't the charge you just made listed?

"My supervisor is busy."

Oh, this just keeps getting better and better.

Well, he doesn't understand the "hold" function on his phone either, but after listening to him type for about five minutes, he announces that he's cancelled the renewal and credited my account.

I'd love to fill out a customer feedback form, but they'll be sending it to my inactive email account.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

On this day...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_26

Quite an assortment.

Jamestown, Tripoli, Chernobyl, and top quarks on the events side.

We get serious on the births list, however.

Marcus Aurelius (!), Muhammed (bleck), Shakespeare(!!), Thomas Reid AND David Hume, Esek Hopkins, John James Audubon, Alfred Krupp, Rudolf Hess, Ernst Udet, Charles Richter, and Jessica Lynch. Hrm. Rather a shortage of people in the 20th century.

The only name I find worth noting on the death side is, however, a rather big one.

John Wilkes Booth. Eep.

Happy Confederate Memorial Day! (For any Floridians or Georgians out there.)

Happy World Intellectual Property Day! (There's a World Intellectual Property Day?!!? Aren't we getting a little carried away with this sort of thing?)

Friday, April 25, 2008

From the pseudo-frontlines: St. Bunstable Demo

I'm definately getting old; college students look absurdly young to me.

I participated in a demo of SCA rapier fighting at the University of Washington (whose SCA chapter is the College of St. Bunstable). I was only expecting the fighter I carpooled down with and myself, but we actually got half a dozen people, plus some fencers from another group who showed up later.

Most of the SCAdians there were adults, but there were a fair number of current students, plus some student spectators. I've never really thought of college students as young before, but several of them just seemed... young. Not immature, just not experianced yet.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the past; probably a lot more than is healthy. Mostly I miss the atmosphere of college; in retrospect I had more short-term freedom then than I do now. Here if I want to take a day off I need to get approval, and use up some of my limited vacation time. In college I could just take it. Skip classes or labs, meetings and activities. In the long run I've got more freedom now; more control over my life and more options, anyway. There's always a price for skipping class, and in the long run you pay it.

Right, the demo. Had a good time, did some marshaling, some heralding for the fighting, and of course some stabbing and being stabbed.

I think my assessment of risk has also changed, or been conditioned. The other (non-SCA) fencers who showed up have lower minimum armor and weapon standards than we do, and allow some attacks we don't. Marshaling for people who I could see were fighting with gear that wouldn't pass inspection under the kingdom rules was pretty stressful, but ten years ago I'd have happily fought that way. Do I just better understand the fragility of the human body from my EMS experiance? Or has my tolerance for personal risk dropped? Or is it that I wasn't taking the chance myself? I do find that I caution others against risks I take myself.

I'm not sure why that is.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Little coincidences that make me smile

Boeing's stock price closed today at exactly $83 a share (my old callsign), just two days before my birthday.

Also today, Grey's will have its first new episode since the WGA strike, and I'm doing a rapier demo.

And finally, today I signed off my time for this pay period - the first one is 28 months that I haven't worked any overtime in.

Perhaps I should move my birthday to today. :-)

A Belated Report from the Almost Frontlines: Ithras

I attended two Ithras earlier this spring; one in my own barony, one up north.

Pride of place goes to the Siege Engines class, where the instructor brought in a ballista and a traction trebuchet for us to experiment with. One of the heavy fighters volunteers to be a target, and we flung 20oz soda bottles at him with the trebuchet; actually hit him on a ricochet. :-)

I also learned to play the Highland Hornpipe, and took classes in period dances, Castles & Fortifications, Field & Court Heraldry, and Chivalry and Etiquette.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Pennsylvania fails me too

As the lead narrowed in the polls, I was hopeful. Perhaps my former home state would deal the knockout blow to the hated enemy.

Alas, it didn't.

The enemy is still in the running within its faction, and though it is behind I have never doubted the enemy's skill at politics, spin, and twisting the truth.

I'm really worried. I took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. My ability to do so is, to say the least, limited. Things haven't been going well lately, and I think a backlash might be worse than a continuation. Neither one is what we need.

Just add a touch of Evil

(Publisher's note: The first signs of evil among his companions are carefully noted by Gridley. Given his own recent experience, it is only surprising he did not react more strongly.)

We decided to explore one more unknown corridor before re-entering the goblin section to search for the path down to the Druid. We found a number of rats, and defeated them with little trouble. Among the nest of the largest rat we found the body of the ranger who had accompanied the adventurers we were searching for. As I was about to perform the rites for the body, Thistle blew upon the dragon-shaped whistle we had recovered a few days ago. To my horror, the body rose up as a zombie. I immediately tried to attack, but Thistle blocked me and commanded the zombie to move away. I would not be denied, however, and struck down the monster with my mace. I attempted to take the whistle from Thistle when she refused to hand it over, and we nearly came to blows. Keiros intervened, and Thistle reluctantly handed the whistle into his keeping. I shall pray that the light of the Sun shall clense this taint of evil from their souls.

With a captured goblin guide we proceeded into the goblin area... or the former goblin area, as it turned out. The goblins had pulled back from their defences and collapsed the tunnels leading to them. We retraced our route into the "secret" entrance to their area... and found resistance. In moments we were charged by a hoard of goblins and hobgoblins, who rapidly got in amongst us. We cut many of them down, but then a leader and his guards appeared. I used a Command to drive him away while we pulled into a better defensive position, but he soon returned and challenged Baast to single combat. Baast charged forward and sent the champion staggering with a single blow. Keiros, apparently not familiar with the protocol of single combat, cut him down with a blast of energy. Infuriated, the rest of the goblins attacked. With Marclar, Yasir, and myself out of spells, and with three of us badly wounded, we fled. We left over 20 goblins and hobgoblins dead behind us, but I suspect the leader will survive his wounds; at least we will have his measure the next time we meet.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Not to mention...

Yesterday's weather included sun, overcast, rain, snow, freezing rain, hail, and fog. All within a five-hour period. We had rain while the sun was shining. We had snow while the sun was shining. We had snow mixed with rain. The various forms of falling water varied from so light you could barely tell it was coming down, to heavy enough to drive one to seek shelter.

All in all, it was a less than optimal day to be out running errands. Especially loading a few hundred pounds of stuff at Costco during the peak of the hail. That was fun.

A week ago I seriously considered taking the liner out of my jacket. Apathy wins again!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Snow

Its actually coming down pretty hard and fast; even starting to stick a little bit.

Temperate climate. April 18th. Daytime. Near large body of water.

Error, does not compute...

Actual Engineering!

In what is becoming a sadly rare event, I have spent almost the entire morning today doing actual engineering design. Not paperwork, not error-checking, not fixing things other people broke.

I've designed a new metal part from scratch. Ah, the wonder of it.

I spent some of my morning wake-up time today figuring out what things would fit in what pockets of the LBE (Load Bearing Equipment) I just got. I was pleasently surprised at how big the side pockets were; each one will take a full MRE meal and a second entree. The LBE has a hydration system with a 3-quart bladder and a sipping tube; quite nice for my preferred hydration technique.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

More Sleep, More Energy, Less OT

Some combination of the new sleeping pill, the lack of overtime, and a few days off to de-stress have resulted in a great improvement in my sleep. I'm sleeping more of the night, and more solidly. I'm still pretty far behind, but hopefully I can claw my way back up to a better energy level.

I'm going to try to get back to regular posting here; my target is five times a week. I've got quite a backlog of things I should put up for completeness sake if nothing else.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Turkish Coffee!

So, as many people know, I don't like ordinary coffee. I find the smell pleasant, but the taste poor. I've tried adding sugar, I've tried adding cream; it isn't worth it until I've added so much that all I taste is cream and sugar. I like coffee ice cream, coffee-flavored things like mocha... just not an ordinary cup of coffee.

However, I discovered fairly recently that I do like Turkish coffee. Sadly, your average coffee machine just can't handle Turkish coffee. Your average grinder can't even get the beans fine enough.

So, up until this weekend, I owned no equipment for making coffee except an ibrik (I think that's the correct term - little copper cup with a wooden handle) a friend got for me.

While browsing through Williams Sonoma, imagine my surprise at finding a grinder that had a setting past espresso - Turkish! One rather expensive purchase, some time grinding beans, and two experimental cups later I succeeded in making a cup of Turkish coffee in my very own home, from scratch.

I forsee increased caffeine in my future.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Yuri's Night 2008

A belated Happy Yuri's Night to everyone! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri's_Night

We still pray for one last landing,
On the globe that gave us birth.
Let us set out eyes on the fleecy skies,
And the cool, green hills of Earth.
-Robert A. Heinlein.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

April News Brings Mars Cruise

I'm not sure why they took the link off their main page:

http://www.google.com/virgle/index.html

This seems like a great idea to me, although I do not appear to be prime mission material. Still, I maintain the hope that someday this won't be an idea to laugh at.

In other news, since last posting I've attended a gaming session and an SCA event, bought 20 cubic feet of dirt, filed my taxes (including a check made out to the US Treasury which I may be getting back), drunk a bottle of mead, bought a water filter, placed an order along with several other people that includes over 100 MREs, run a structural engineering test, gotten the results of the tissue cultures they took two weeks ago (no, I don't have cancer), forgotten to eat lunch, gone out for lunch, had breakfast for lunch, flexed my work schedule, ordered an automatic projectile thrower, reviewed celtic knotwork designs for my SCA garb, and discovered a new location of my preferred gas station.

Still not sleeping well, though hopefully I can refill the scrip for my sleeping pills today.

Still not working overtime, though my carpool is and I've requested it.

Further news as sanity permits.