Octubre

Well my 2nd Spanish I test was last Thursday and think I did ok, hopefully not as bad as I thought as I was tired and didn't sleep well the night before. Got to my first armouring session and screwed up my aventail, further screwed it up yesterday while trying to fix it. Luckily I have a second flat-ring one from Master Knutt I will use, so maybe the round ring one will become a mail standard for my heavy fighting gorget. Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and get projects done.

Armouring Season 3 (2010)

Well school is going fairly well, got our first test back and I did a lot better then I thought I had. Grades are not tabulated on it yet, but I am thinking I got a B-ish, missed mostly spelling (stupid English "i" before "e" rule) and some of the little connector bits.

Looking forward to starting armouring again, wanting to:

1. Cut and attach new aventail to the helm.
2. Finish up new maille standard (mail covered gorget) for rapier.
3. Finish gauntlets, I needs a pair.
4. Continue working on my steel legs:
a. finish strapping upper legs
b. continue working on frontal greaves (lower legs)

Well the boy (Erebus, my Bullmastiff) is a year old now and weighs in at 117 lb.'s. We need to get some new pics of him and Aeron (our English Bulldog) is 9 ½ years old.

End of Summer

Well summer is ending and we are now getting cooler weather, ie. mid to high 90's. Started my retake of Spanish I, a 16 week course this time and looking forward to starting armouring again next week.

la clase de espanol

Well started Spanish I last Monday, taking it as a 6 week course at ACC (local community college here) and after the 1st four days I have take (2) quiz's and (1) test so far. It is a lot of work, but seems to be working for me. Going Monday thru Thursday for 3 ½ hours and basically working Thursday thru Sunday (sometimes Monday afternoons) it gives me time to work on home work and to study. I have not had any urges to just skip class, which is like missing a whole week of class during a regular semester.

Downside is that I am pretty much, going to class, doing homework, studying and working and no a whole lot else. I keep telling myself it is only for the summer as I want to get Spanish I and Spanish II done so I can graduate and stop worrying about my degree which I have needed to finish for like 3 years now.

Aliens

Well got my gastro procedure done this morning, nice a quick..... sucker thing fell off and man I sure am hungry.........

Everything looked good and they took a sample and I should know the results at the end of the week, but overall it went well. Slept most of the day, but feel good. Go back to work Wednesday and Start class on Monday June 1st. Taking (2) 6 & ½ week Spanish courses and hopefully will get both Spanish I & II done and then I shall be done......finally.

Pirates of the Carribbean

Well we survived our cruise, what was supposed to be a 5-day cruise to Mexico, turned in to a 7-day cruise to the Caribbean. We left our of New Orleans 2 days early, sailed to Key West, FL and then on to Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas and then back to New Orleans. Was a nice relaxing trip, but I was glad to be off the boat and home yesterday, sans the tire misalignment and disintegration........

The food was good and lots of it, although you had to pay for soda and alcohol, so I drank mostly water with a little lemonade, which was probably the a good thing. It was expensive, but overall and fun and relaxing vacation. I could have done without all the drunk asshats, I really do not like people all that much, especially drunk people.........Carnival is like the beer boat of cruises I guess, thankfully there were not that many kids on board.

Hail, Hale, Hail

Well this week was interesting, only had to work 3 days as I took off Thursday and Friday to spend with Mary before she leaves early Sunday morning for Germany. Driving home Wednesday night, was well interesting, go about half-way home and got just hammered by hail, luckily were we are at it was not very big hail stones. The run was completely covered and a surreal white landscape as I drove home. The cars are fine and the roof and house are fine.

Did not get to get any armouring done this week as Mary was not feeling to well Thursday night, so decided to stay home and hang out with her.

Armour Night 03-19-2009

Had a good time Thursday night at Zach's Armour Night, decided to take a break from planishing the right greave and switched over to shaping the left greave, got some good work in. Even with the new forms it is a real bitch to get the metal to move the way you want it too.




Have decided to trade my Klapvisor Bascinet for a grilled Kettle/Pot helm and I am in the planning stages for either a Close Helm/Armet or Burgonet helm for Heavy Rapier/Cut & Thrust Combat. Wanting to make it out of 410 Spring Stainless instead of the 4130 to help with rust prevention. Going to see about getting the helm top from Rough from the Hammer and working on the rest myself (with help of course) and hoping to find someone local to weld the 410 pieces together. Jason suggested getting the piece professionally heat treated (like he did on his scales) as it doesn't cost that much and it is going to be going on the noggen.

Work has gotten a whole lot better with our new Pharmacy Manager, he actually cares about work and we have been working hard at getting it cleaned up and reorganized. Mary is leaving for Germany next Sunday, but we are going on vacation when she gets back, so should be fun.

Greaves

Well finally got to work on some armour at Zach's and had a good run on my right frontal greave that I have been working on. Zach had gotten (2) new forming stakes for the complex curves at the ankle and they made a huge difference and I got the right greave almost done. Still need to do some more planishing and then some sanding before I fire them.



Weight is holding steady at 207.8 lb.'s, really need to get into the exercise groove and continue to improve my eating habits (especially at work). School has not done well and will be taking my foreign language over again this summer, this time it will be go to school and then go to work. Not looking forward to the short 6 ½ week time frame though.


Erebus is growing like a weed, he is almost 6 months old and is getting closer to the 70 lb.'s mark, going to have to take him in around May to check his weight, once he goes over 100 lb.'s we need to adjust his Hart Guard for worm prevention. Mary is leaving for Germany at the end of the month and will be gone for almost 40 days or so. Glad she is getting to go, but going to miss her, hopefully I will not starve to death..........

Sir Gaston's Shield

Well I finally got around to putting the edge on Sir Gaston's (Zach) shield after he had painted it and gotten it back to me. Unlike my last heater I started the rawhide edging at the bottom and did the top last so it would layer/overlap better for SCA combat. Got the shield edged in 3 pieces and was very happy with the edging. I tried out latex paint for the rawhide, as you just cannot dye the stuff and was surprised at who easy it went on and how well it looks. I have been told that it holds up to SCA combat well and it was akin to paint the canvas/linen covering on the shield. Just touching up a few bits and the heraldry before I deliver it for him to strap up.

Well I have come to the conclusion that I will be dropping German, working and then going to class is not working out. The summer class looks brutal, but it is a slow time at work (no flu season) and it is during the late morning, so hoping it will work out better than the evening classes did.

Still not getting exercises like I need to be doing, I do plan to start getting out for Rapier practice on Tuesday nights and I will have Fencing on Friday and Saturday afternoons so that should help a bit. My weigh in was the same as last week 207.8 lb.'s.

Bad Week

Well the week started bad and ended bad, although I did get back on track and back down to 207.8 lb.'s, really need to get out and exercises more or at least some. Fencing starts Friday and hoping to get my schedule worked out so I can fence on Tuesday nights too.

Work sucks as normal and school is not going all that well either, going to school for almost 3 hours after working in hell all day is not conductive to doing well. Might just take them in the Summer. Down side is it is only a 6 week course, like Monday thru Thursday; upside it is late morning and then I would go to work.

Started working on Zach's shield edging finally, got most of the forward edging on, just need to let it dry and then drill and sew it on, then off to the rear edge and finally the top edge.

Erebus graduated from his basic Obedience training Saturday and on his weigh in at 20 weeks, he was 65.5 lb.'s and growing.

Comfort Food

Comfort Food, should be called food that will kill you, did my weigh in today and I gained +2.4 lb.'s this week (back up to 210).

1. Eating Bad, comfort food (Deathbox and McDeath)
2. Stress (work, school, work...)
3. Lack of meaningful excises

Does look like I will be getting some good excises at least once per week coming up as I had to add a fencing course to my schedule (needed to have 6 hours and not just 5). Goals are:

1. Strengthen Shoulder and surrounding muscles
2. Cardio/Aerobic exercises to manage stress and get less fat
3. eat better

Less Play, More Study

Well finally getting over the cedar fever/sinus thing, felt like crap all last week and last weekend spent most of it in bed feeling like crap. Stupid trees and shrubs.

Looks like I am going to be concentrating on school before hobbies, as I am tired of having just 2 classes to finish my degree and just need to get it done. German is going OK, need to study more and working on my listening skills, still hard to hear the differences in the words and phrases.

Haven't been doing much, no SCA or armour and not much on-line gaming either. We did watch some Sopranos this weekend, starting over and going to try and watch the whole series with Netflix.

Cold and Wet

Well weigh in Saturday went okay, down to 107.2 and that is down 0.6 lb.'s from last week. We are still trying to eat better and really need to exercises more often (or at least some). Work sucks as usually, no one actually wants to work so just make more problems when the basics do not get done.

Went to the doctor and found out my SCA heavy fighting is going to be on hold for a while, no shield and no pole weapons for a the next couple of years......which around here is pretty much the whole heavy weapons game. Maybe I will take up spear and combat archery for the Baronial War Company and go back to rapier and hopefully Cut and Thrust.

Also found out that I will not be able to go to Germany for the birthday, after Mary is finished work there, as in the time frame we could be gone I will have my 3rd test, my final review and my final, followed shortly thereafter by my oral final.

No Tuesday night practice this week, as it is cold and wet and they are anticipating an ice storm right about practice time. So going to stay home and do my German homework and study for my first quiz on Wednesday night. Miss going to armouring on Wednesday nights, but Zach is moving this weeks armouring to the weekend (so he can go to the pole arms practice on Thursday night) so that will be cool.

Tool Making Monkey

Well first off the diet has been going fairly well, did good last week 'cept for my lapse at Wendy's Friday for lunch and Saturdays weigh in I had lost 3 lb.'s......down to 207.8. Still need to get out and exercise more.

Last weeks was my last armour night at Zach's for a while as I will have school on Monday and Wednesday nights (German I), I am hoping to hop on over there when he is working in the shop so I can get stuff done. Spent about 3 hours pounding on the ankle of my right frontal greave and it felt and looked like I had worked on it for 10 minutes, probably another reason most people forgo greaves in the SCA. Very dpressing to spend all that time working on something and it looks and feels like you did almost no work on it, although at the end of the 3 hours it started to look right. Think it was a combination of me learning what to do and the metal finally getting to were it needed to be. On a positive note I did get a tool made, made a rivet setter, to help sit the nail for trimming and riveting.

Saturday we helped Jason move in just down the street for the house, which is way cool, but man I am sore today. Mary also took Erebus (who weighed in at 48 lb.'s at 16 weeks) to his first day of training and he did very well. We are going to continue working with him this week in preparation for next weeks class.


Have decided to make a Corrazina (ie. little curriass or a covered segmented curriass -breast and back body armour) out of the 4130 spring steel I have and cover it with a sturdy linen covering (although I am not decided on the outer shell covering yet) from the pattern I got from Master Talbot (Dough Strong).

Legs Done, Finally

Well finally got my left leg put together, now just need to clean the buffing wheel gunk off and get them strapped up. Started working on my greaves (right one) last night, hopefully they will go faster than the legs went.

Got my gorget front cleaned up and painted and the leather rear cut out and shaped. Need to dye and seal the rear collar and then rivet and add the buckle and I will have a new gorget done, oh and add the felt padding to the inside.

Did not get to fight this Tuesday night as my reflux was kicking my butt and I was waiting on refills from my MD and for my insurance to authorize my medication. Was out for about a week and it really flared up, but got my meds yesterday and feeling a whole lot better. Got my new sword put together so really looking forward to trying it out next week at practice.

New Year

Well since it is a new year thought I would make a new post to get things started and hopefully 2009 will be a less brutal year then 2008 was.

Fought for the 1st time Tuesday in years, learned a whole lot about my gear, manly what I need to fix and/or change as about 30-40% of my fight is with my gear and not my oponet. Had a good time, sore, but feeling good and working on getting back into shape, losing weight and strengthening my shoulder.

Almost got my legs done, need to strap them after I fix my left leg which I have assemble backwards (as a right leg) 3 times now, gggrrrrrrrrrr. Once I get them done and suspended I am going to move on to my frontal greaves and then I will start my breastplate. Plan on using Talbot's back and front with faulds globose breastplate pattern.

Erebus is going well and growing like a weed, still working on training with him and we have started taking him on walks to get him socialised and work on leash training (ie. walk at your side and no pulling). I am really starting to hate my job at Walgreen's, last asshattery is they blocked out the time for our Germany trip after Mary gets done with her 30 day rotation so not sure I will be able to go. Have a few options and going to wait 'till we get our new store manager to see what I can do. I found an old SCA picture from June of 1998 (within the 1st year or so of my SCA life) the gear and armour are horrible, but at least everyones gear sucked, so I don't feel too bad.