| Notes: |
[May. 17th, 2008|08:19 am] |
So the next time I build lamellar armor, I will do a couple things.
First, make posterboard mockups of the rows. Not each plate, but each row. Lace them together, and fit that to begin with.
Second, make all rows.
Third, lace rows from bottom of the piece of armor, up.
Having outsmarted myself by getting too fancy on the shoulders and buy not putting enough rows on the back or sides, I'm now basically 'patching' the suit. That's a tedious difficult job.
Also, fitting the suit needs to be a whole process with (at least) whatever belt/hip/thigh armor you'll be wearing, the same undergarments you'll be wearing, and the gorget. At a minimum.
I went over to James's house yesterday and discovered some glaring deficiencies that should be fixable this AM. I definitely need a gambeson under this thing, fortunately he's got one that mostly fits. :) Paging my lovely, talented wife? |
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| Lamellar |
[May. 15th, 2008|09:09 pm] |
My back hurts, my fingers are sore from pushing cord through holes just big enough, and I've got burns on them from putting out 550 cord with my fingers.
I've discovered that while making rows of plates is tedious and boring, lacing them together purely SUCKS. At least it goes quickly once you figure out the trick.
On the other hand, I've got the majority of the cuirass put together. I need to do two short rows for the upper back, and lace them on. I've got and idea for the shoulder "straps" which works in theory, I just need to put them together and make sure it works with the gorget as well. I hope to have this ready for fighter practice Saturday afternoon.
Also, my lovely Lady Wife is apparently suffering from some bad Chinese food or something and is feeling under the weather. She doesn't have internet at the place in Austin this week, but drop some good wishes on her LJ if you all would.
I hate it when she's sick, it's that whole "My Beloved is miserable and there's nothing I can do about it." It sucks a little less if I'm there in person, because I can channel that 'must do something' urge into making chicken soup or something to take care of her. Here, I lace armor.
Also, anyone who lectures someone asking about buying something on the SCA LJ group on how much of a more medieval experience it is to make something, is a jackass who needs to go back to World History 101. Any economy developed more than the hunter-gatherer stage has a division of labor. Most people--upper class especially--wouldn't have the faintest clue how to make most of the items they use. And neither would a master woodworker make his own tools, or a blacksmith his own shoes.
You all have no idea how difficult it was to restrain the Sarcastic LJ Comment Of Doom on her. . . |
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| A week in a nutshell |
[May. 14th, 2008|08:51 pm] |
So the event was rained out after I only had a chance to lose one bout. I kinda scampered out of there in a hurry, since I was driving the Saturn and the "parking lot" was an open field accessible by dirt road which had a ford in it before it started raining. I didn't feel like figuring the max fording depth on a Saturn, or trying to get it through a mud field to get to the dirt road.
Sunday, the motel lost power and that set the tone for the whole day, neh?
This week has been mind-numbingly stupid on the academic front. We've been doing FBCB2, and I'm freaking certified to maintain FBCB2/BFT and TEACH the stupid course I'm sitting through on operating the FBCB2. Bleh. At least that's over. Next week we go to the field. I'm sure that'll be more exciting. The rest of the week is pretty much Nothing Significant To Report, judging from the training schedule.
Oh, yeah, the MP ANCOC (yeah, E-7s) managed to lose their course guidon. You know, the MOS whose job is law enforcement and physical security? We got our rooms searched because Someone thought the Combat Engineers would steal a guidon and hold on to it for a day.
OK, setting aside the question of how we would have gotten it to the barracks (1/2 mile walk with a Not-Small Stick), if I had their damned guidon, it would have been used as toilet paper and left in a prominent public place within an hour. The shaft would have been spiked upside down in front of the MANSCEN building.
I guess they found it because the Mass NCOA Punishment Formation scheduled for 1900 got canceled.
We also had an idiot in ANCOC (that E-7 lobotomy kicking in) who decided to steal from his room mate while his room mate was taking a shower. The catch is that his room mate is here for the CID course.
Criminal Investigative Division, you know, the detectives?
So his room mate sets up a sting with a webcam, cash money left out in view of the webcam (with the serials recorded in a seperate location) and his buddies in the next room watching the webcam. Genius-SFC wanders in, sees the cash, sees the webcam.
Turns off the webcam.
Steals the money.
Gets busted by the buddies in question. Getting dropped from the course, will be gone by the end of the day tomorrow. How would you like to explain that to your Sergeant Major? Or your commander? I'd like to see his next NCOER. No-block in Army Values for integrity with the bullet comment "Caught stealing money from room mate at ANCOC" would be the minimum I'd do to him if I were his rater.
On a more cheerful note, I got both the black 550 cord and the steel plates I ordered to make my lamellar. For those who don't know what I'm on about,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamellar_armour
Anyway, there's a gentleman down in Arkansas (Andrixos, the trim guy with the Pelican and Laurel and half the alphabet) who sells the plates and got them to me promptly, the 550 cord was the only holdup. But got that also. I've got the two short chest rows done, 1 2/3 of the two long rows done, and I should have the main cuirass laced together by the end of the week. I've got loaner leatherworking tools lined up to do the shoulder straps. Eventually I'm going to add shoulders and upper arms, but there's a guy here who wants to see if he can dent it, and he's offered by a gambeson to wear while he tries. Shoulders aren't required! I intend to edge it with leather and perhaps lace on a little skirt in the front to cover the tops of the thighs. . . I do have 250 plates after all.
I'm stuck for what I want to put under the damn thing. I have a couple period options.
First, a heavy leather vest. This has the advantage of being a solid foundation to attach the arm and shoulder armor to, as was apparently done. It has the disadvantage of being a heavy leather vest in Ansteorra.
Second, thick felt. This is defensible from some military treatises.
Third, a gambeson. One military treatise suggest for infantrymen who did not have other armor a coat (kavadion) made of coarse silk quilted with cotton wadding “as thick as can be stitched”. The same recommends for horse archers a helm, lamellar klivanion and coat which protects his legs and part of his horse--which sounds to me like it's padded or something.
I have no idea what the modern costume nut (paged my Beloved Wife) would use in lieu of coarse silk, and cotton wadding as thick as can be stiched would be a little cumbersome, so I'd want something a little less bulky. Of course, all this depends on sweet-talking my Beloved Wife into sewing it for me, which I intend to achieve by promising to brag about how clever and crafty she is on LJ once she's done with it.
Once I get these done, it's time to start looking at some other projects. . .
I have a series of planned projects which will eventually get my entire fighting kit period which only the unavoidable concessions to safety (hand protection, grill on helmet, gorget) being "wrong". If I finish it inside three years I'll be amazed. |
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| Fantastic |
[May. 9th, 2008|04:22 pm] |
I was going to an SCA event here in Springfield.
The weather prediction is for severe thunderstorms and hail. I'm just a hooah as the next idiot, but. . .
"severe thunderstorms" and "recreation" don't seem to mix to me. It's one thing if the Army is paying me to be cold, wet, and miserable. It is another entirely if I'm paying for the privilege.
However, the detailed forecast looks clear until some time in the afternoon, so we'll see how it goes. |
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[May. 5th, 2008|03:34 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
1) Got "formally" pinned today by the Engineer BNCOC Course Chief (1SG Reed, if anyone knows/cares) so I'm wearing the stripes with rocker. A digital camera was present, I should be able to get the pictures tomorrow.
2) Quotes of the Day:
There are no Airborne Sappers in the Navy!
There are no Airborne Sappers in the Navy!
'Cause the Navy floats around in boats,
doing God knows what to goats,
There are no Airborne Sappers in the Navy!
-- SSG Allen, singing cadence on the way to lunch.
"Standard parts can be used to assemble seven standard truss designs for efficient single spans up to 210 feet long and to build panel crib piers supporting longer bridges. With minor nonstandard modifications, the expedient uses of bridge parts are limited only by the user's imagination."
--FM 5-277 Bailey Bridge M2
I've never seen a military manual which encourages use of imagination. I can imagine a great deal. . .
3) Ummmm. . . there needs to be a procedure whereby utterly incompetent GS-scale employees can be fired without presenting formal charges of felonious behavior. Seriously, the high-speed, low-drag person who types the tests up need to be fired. This time, the questions were written correctly, but 60% of the answer key was wrong.
4) I finished my shield yesterday. You get some weird questions carrying a shield around guest housing. The winner:
"That looked like you were carrying a shield. Wait, that is a shield. What do you need a shield for?"
5) I need an SCA lj icon. I'd get someone to do one of my flippin' device, but my illustrious kingdom has not recently produced an LOI to send to Society.
I'd say I guess the heralds are busy, but obviously they aren't since about half the devices on the current internal LOI were obviously never looked at by any herald, ever. Or they wouldn't have slot machine heraldry with (questionably) out of period charges utilizing modern symmetry on a field that is per chevron sable and vert. Seriously. WTF? Who looked at this? Or the field that is sable and azure. Or. . . well, you get my point. |
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| Regrettably, no photos |
[May. 3rd, 2008|08:50 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | chipper | ] |
The local shire here has the problem that most of their young, healthy fighters move away on a regular basis, and the regulars are by and large too broken to keep fighting. The number of former heavy fighters here is pretty disconcerting.
Anyway, today's local fighter practice is one experienced fighter, two university kids from Rolla, and that's it.
Oh, and me.
I went home with only one impressive welt, just barely above the padding under the knee cops. Greatsword, to boot. Yeah, that'll show on Monday morning.
The university kids are, well, really new. Also their physical conditioning leaves much to be desired. This is a full-contact martial art. If you're young, you have no excuse not to be in good shape if you want to play well. It's also the easiest and fastest way to improve--it's faster to build stamina and speed than to improve technique. So while improving technique is vital, getting in shape is both vital and easy. I'm 30. I should NOT be dancing around kids nearly a decade younger and moving twice as fast as they do. Aarrgh.
Lord James, on the other hand, was a LOT of fun to fight. We went sword and board, and then he switched hands and came at me left-handed (I HATE that). He also played around Florentine, and that was different. He uses a damned 36" mace (???) in his right hand and a berdiche in his left. Interesting, that. I played with one of his bastard swords, and kind of enjoyed that. A little different style is fun. He also had a 4' Danish ax that he doesn't often fight with (it's either too short or too long, depending on what you want to do with it). It's difficult to use properly, but it gets a lot of momentum, and my shield gave out. My last fighter practice in Killeen tore up the edging and I re-edged it, but this time the plywood shattered and that's not something easily fixed. So I hit up Lowe's and we got started on a new shield using my old shield's hardware. Shields are inherently disposable item, I should recall. I need to do up about three or four of them and rotate using them in practice so that I am familiar with different shapes/styles, and if one goes out, I can replace it. It's on my 'to do after deployment' list. |
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| For my green-suited readers |
[Apr. 30th, 2008|06:19 pm] |
Actually, dependents and civilian employees need to read this one too.
The United States Armed Services Blood Program needs you to get off your ass and donate blood. If you have an ID card, you can do this.
Presuming you are in generally good health, have not had a tattoo in the past 7 DAYS[1], have been back from CENTCOM AOR more than 12 months, have not spent more than five years total in Europe, and haven't had a smallpox shot in the past eight weeks, or other vaccinations in the past 4 weeks,
GO DONATE SOME DAMN BLOOD.
Seriously, folks. Blood donated anywhere you see the star-spangled blood drop goes into a different pool than blood donated at the American Red Cross or other civilian blood centers.
It goes into the pool that goes downrange to Iraq and Afghanistan. The record, as I understand it, for blood usage is 207 units used to save the life of a Military Policeman in Iraq.
That's 207 doners giving one bag each.
Your average trauma patient (ie combat casualty) uses between 4 and 8.
All the blood goes to a central shipment point, where it becomes "purple" blood and goes to theater to be centrally managed. It will go to a Serviceman of some kind. Blood in excess of in-theater requirements goes to stateside military hospitals where it goes to servicemen and dependents.
GO DONATE SOME DAMN BLOOD
Blood has a shelf-life of 42 days. How long does it take to get to the aid stations and forward support hospitals?
If you are a leader, encourage your Soldiers (Marines, Airman, Sailors, Coasties) to donate some damn blood. By encourage, I mean "do everything but hold a gun to their heads, because that isn't technically legal." Support this shit, because some fucked up kid in a hospital in Iraq is depending on you.
You can donate one unit every 56 days.
Civilian blood must be PURCHASED in order to go into the military pool. It costs the taxpayers between $250 and $500 a unit. There is a limited supply. It cannot enter the blood supply as quickly as blood donated in a an ASBP donation center.
This is the website.
These are blood donation centers.
On Monday, I attempted to donate blood. The medic managed to fail to find a vein twice. Yesterday I went back, having hydrated a hell of a lot better, and the medic managed it on the first stick.
It blows my mind how many people who can lead men into combat will use as the excuse not to donate blood, "I'm afraid of needles."
Why haven't you given lately?
[1] 20 states are on a list where tattoos are only a 7 day waiting period, to include Texas and California. For the rest, it is a 12 month deferment. |
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| The Weekend |
[Apr. 29th, 2008|05:39 pm] |
I've been Busy the past couple days, so let me see if I can catch up in a flurry of posts tonight and tomorrow.
Friday: Seeing Jen was wonderful, even if it was basically only for the evening and briefly in the morning, as she had to rush off to her assignment and I wasn't much later. Suffice it to say that good times were had by all.
Saturday: Fort Leonard Wood Museum. If you haven't been there, check it out (presuming you can do so in a reasonable amount of time). In addition to the Engineer Museum, there are the museums of two lesser branches in the same facility, a kick-ass gift shop (all things proudly displaying a castle logo), and a reconstructed set of WWII "Temporary" buildings restored to their 1943 condition with a large number of displays about how life for mobilized Soldiers during WWII prior to being shipped overseas. Training, living conditions, etc.
Anyway, we got volun-told to show up and do basically some grounds keeping that hadn't been done in Way Too Long, but we pretty much finished by 1200 or so. A Colonel from the CBRN school (one of the other, lesser branches here at FLW) bought, out of his own pocket, a boatload or three of meat, veggies, watermelon, cake, and barbecued for the ground crew for lunch. So much food was provided that I took a quart ziplock bag of brisket home with me. Anyway, the folks in the Echelons Above Reality were for some unknown reason tracking that we were actual volunteers, so I ended up with a Fort Leonard Wood post commander coin.
Saturday Evening/Sunday Morning: Drove out to Springfield, checked myself into the Best Western (which is a pretty decent motel for the price range) and changed, heading off to St. Thomas the Apostle Orthodox Church, which is the nearest parish to Fort Leonard Wood. There is a Greek parish in Columbia, which is roughly the same mileage. But to get to Springfield, I can head down I-44 at 70 miles an hour, rather than the back roads to Columbia which restrict the speed and hence increase the time measurably. I like this little parish. It's a small parish in a small building that was obviously NOT originally intended as an Orthodox Church, but it's a neat bunch of folks, real welcoming. Anyway, Pascha was, well, Pascha. What can I say? The first of feasts, the King and Lord. The air in the church seemed to glow, and the service was a delight.
The food afterward was also outstanding. I think I got back about 0200 or 0230 and slept like a rock.
I headed back to Fort Leonard Wood after I had gotten some sleep, and stopped to eat lunch at the Mediterranean Grill. Now, I know what y'all are thinking. "St. Roberts, Missouri. Mediterranean Grill?"
Yup. There is a decent Greek restaurant in St. Roberts, Missouri. I mean, really decent. It's probably the best spot in town to eat. Jen and I discovered it quite by accident on Friday evening, but we only had the shrimp. I was disappointed that they were out of lamb Sunday, but I had a steak instead. Ummm. . . yeah. Definitely going back there. I'm still confused as to what a nice Greek couple is doing in St Roberts (obvious answer--running the best restaurant in town, as usual) but I'll take advantage of it. |
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| FLW, Land of 25,000 Privates |
[Apr. 25th, 2008|05:50 pm] |
Apparently, these privates are all so busy with critical training events on Saturday that NCOES students must be pulled for details at the Engineer Museum.
Yeah.
Which I wouldn't mind except that this all-day (0730-1700) nonsense interferes with my being with Jen, AND with my making any services this weekend.
I hate this post. |
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| Quickie |
[Apr. 23rd, 2008|06:24 am] |
Haven't had much time lately, we're still in Demo Week. Numbers make my head hurt. We've had tons of homework, plus last night I managed to get in touch with the local SCA group. It's a bit A&S and Archery-oriented, but there are a couple fighters in the area and practice is on Saturday afternoons. Hooray for hitting folks with sticks.
As I indicated, I am on the Staff Sergeant list for next month, so my date of rank will by 01 MAY 08. I have no idea when I'll actually be pinned, but here at school it won't matter one whit, and the money comes in as of 01 MAY 08 regardless of whether or not I've had a little ceremony. But I have a fax number, the question is getting the S-1 section of my unit to cut the orders and fax them up here for me.
Gotta run. Bridge recon today. |
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[Apr. 21st, 2008|05:14 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  ecstatic | ] |
. |
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| Saturday, nice and slow |
[Apr. 19th, 2008|10:44 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  relaxed | ] |
Finally dragged myself out of bed this morning, but didn't manage to find the motivation to do anything spectacular yet. I have decided I adore the French Press and will have to get one of my own eventually.
Shopping List:
Wall charger for cell phone: I don't drive very much (at all) during the week, and my Beloved stole my wall charger to recharge the Blackberry.
Electric kettle
Toenail clippers
I have some homework for the weekend, but I'm not too terribly worried about it. I'm considering taking my Small Group Leader's challenge and having a few drinks while I work on it, just to be a smart-ass.
I am getting in some good Civilization IV (with expansion packs) and reading. I'm less than 200 pages away from the end of the Baroque Cycle.
If anyone calls me and I don't pick up, it's because the cell phone battery is nearly dead. I did get a voicemail from my Beloved informing me that the Austin Emergency Services Pipe and Drum Corps showed up to the Muster Day festivities and that based on her observations, I am getting a formal kilt get-up once I get back from downrange.
So, anyone got any suggestions on where to shop that is decently high quality without breaking the bank?
One advantages of the Army is that we have to run. This leads to good-looking calf muscles, which leads to my wife wanting to buy clothes that show them off. I just smile and nod. :)
Oh, and we finally got graduation day figured out. It's back to 05 JUN like DTS is already tracking. The whole 6-day/5-day schedule kerfluffle is not entirely sorted, but that's not my problem. Soonercon, here I come. |
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| Too Early to Think |
[Apr. 18th, 2008|07:58 pm] |
Well, we were up at 0345 and in formation freezing solid by 0415 for our weigh-in. Hooray. For those of you who aren't clear on your mental picture of me, I'm 5'9" and 146.5 lbs. I am nearly 40 lbs lighter than the chart permits me to be at the nigh-geriatric age of 30 (184? Not with my build). For me, this weigh-in (or any other) is not a stressful event, just a pain in the butt. But people who are built stocky have to worry. Even folks who are just genetically predisposed to carry a lot of muscle weight have to make sure their necks are big enough and their guts small enough to make the tape test, since the Army uses these horrible charts which are designed to set large people up for failure regardless of whether their 'large' comes from eating twinkies or from being a gym rat. I didn't write AR 600-9, and if I become SMA, it will be in the top ten list of idiotic policies I'll be hopping up and down on the CSA's desk about.
We also got our books. This being the 21st century, we also get a CD with all the requisite manuals on digits, but the books are for the actual class. Lots of good stuff, some of which is updated from the version I have at the house. I wish I could take some of them home.
Classroom started today, hot and heavy with Demo Week. Demo Test is on Thursday. This isn't a hands-on range "Let's go blow some shit up" but the mathematical number crunching of calculating demolition charges according to precise formulas. The idea is to prevent underkill (horrible! Waste of time! Frequently unsafe! Bad!) and overkill (ummm. . . well, it's sloppy and if you're short on explosives that's bad too, and for some applications too much force is as bad as too little).
Again, if you know me, you know that 1) I love the technical fiddly bits of this line of work, and 2) I can do arithmetic in my head at the party trick level. My old unit in Germany used me up to teach this stuff to folks getting ready to go to Sapper Leader Course. I know this stuff, so it's kind of a refresher for me. However, the demolitions test is notoriously difficult, and I'm bucking for Superior evaluations across the board (difficult but possible) on my DA 1059, which is a combination report card and diploma sort of thing. So I'm taking this as an opportunity to show off a little and teach the guys who aren't as familiar with this stuff. I could go into a rant about how this damned war is eroding core competency on things that don't directly relate to staying alive in Iraq, but that's a) way above my lane, b) a one-sided way of looking at things that is only partially true, and c) probably of little or no interest to anyone NOT a Corps of Engineers NCO.
I've been sick as a dog all day, but a nap after getting released did wonders for curing my throbbing headache, so I'm up and functional. Some of my compatriots are, no doubt, off to sample the dubious wonders of St. Roberts, but I for one am NOT. Maybe tomorrow I'll be more inclined to get out of the barracks, but not tonight.
Promotion list for next month is due out next week. I quiver in anticipation. |
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| Commentary: |
[Apr. 18th, 2008|04:24 pm] |
The reason I screen comments is to prevent cowardly drive-by trollings. If you have an opinion, sign it, and I'll unscreen it. Be a man, or don't.
The reason I put in little "sarcasm" disclaimers is to try to avoid folks thinking I'm serious. If that isn't enough to make it clear, I'm sorry, but I simply do not have the communication skills to make it any more clear.
We now return to your regularly scheduled snarking of BNCOC.
Edit: my wife talked me into unscreening it because it is amusing to her. So it is. |
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| Day 0 |
[Apr. 17th, 2008|08:15 pm] |
Inprocessing complete.
I'm Student Squad Leader. Hooray for Gayness. The cadre pretty much admitted that the piece of paper I was missing was more or less trivial and we generated a new one.
I managed to locate the E-6 from my battalion that was at a Greyhound bus station, and also an NCO from 1st Cav who is reclassing to MP. The latter issue was resolved by calling the MP training brigade staff duty. I found her number online. The internet makes the Army so easy.
This is basically how to explain Fort Leonard Wood in one easy powerpoint slide. I went to Clothing and Sales to buy the new sexy Foliage Green PT cap (because, ummm, my black one isn't good enough around here) and some combat patches (because they don't like my I MEF combat patch even though I have the orders for it) and it was overrun by privates.
Now, I hazily remember being a new private. I hazily remember basic training (or AIT) family day. I do NOT recall an irresistible urge to
drag my family to Military Clothing Sales to wander around in a daze while I frantically purchased extra PT uniforms (WTF?? Do they destroy them in Basic? Do privates lose so much weight they need to buy them a size smaller?) and T-shirts with silkscreened logos proudly announcing my branch of service or devotion to Fort Leonard Wood. I mean, in Basic I bought these T-shirts (what, I was 17! Everyone is stupid when they are 17) but I didn't drag my family around to Clothing Sales to buy them.
One of the forms they make you sign here at Leonard Wood basically is the "I will not fuck with privates" form. You have to agree that you understand privates are special snowflakes who should not be shouted at or abused or placed in "painful or unnatural positions" (???) by people who don't actually own those particular privates. Oddly enough, I didn't have an urge to place any privates in an unnatural position. Privates kept jumping out of my way and going to parade rest, and I was in civilian clothes. I guess I officially have the NCO Aura, where you can tell when I walk in the door. Yeah, right. Whatever. Parade rest is definitely NOT an unnatural position.
Family members, however. . . Look, please, for the love of God! It's a small building. Take the kid brother with the multiple facial piercings, the kid sister who weighs 350 lbs, and dear dad's giant aisle-blocking hedge of a beard, and get them out of my way! Maybe they need to have a briefing. "Welcome to family day for your special snowflake. You will see many new things here at Fort Leonard Wood. If you see a physically fit individual with more hair than your special snowflake, and less than you have, and he's in a building buying apparently random things from a list and he look pissed when you get in his way, he's probably an NCO and you really ought to get out of his way because this is considered polite in the Army. Watch your special snowflake. He may not get much right, but he's developed the urge to jump out of the way and go to parade rest for anything that moves that he doesn't understand. Follow his lead."
sarcasm
It's a good thing civilians pay taxes and breed replacement privates. Otherwise I'm not sure what use they'd be.
/sarcasm for those who don't get that about me sometimes. |
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| Here I am, |
[Apr. 17th, 2008|11:50 am] |
I have lodging and internet. I do not (yet) have a roommate, but I'm sure this will change. In 2 hours I get to go check in, and I'm already tracking that I'm missing a piece of paper which, I'm sure, will be the absolute end of the world and I'll have to go hang myself in shame. Or not, as the case may be.
Anyway, Fort Leonard Wood is, well, Fort Leonard Wood. The PX is overrun with stupid privates and their families, I guess today is a Basic Training graduation or something. Saw a couple of them Living The Stereotype:
"I just graduated Basic Training, and I cleaned out the PX's Electronics Department on my nifty STAR Card."
Money Management, Yur Doin' it Rong.
I need to buy an electric water heater and a pack of hangers. While the Lodging does provide a coffee pot and some inexpensive coffee, my Beloved had me pack the French Press and some Expensive Coffee (Ethiopian Harar, if you're coffee snob enough to know what that means). I've got a microwave, but the water heater will be more convenient. |
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| BNCOC |
[Apr. 16th, 2008|05:26 am] |
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OK, I'm out of here for a couple days. I should have internet connection in my billets which I should be in by tomorrow evening. |
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| Customer Service, doing it right. |
[Apr. 11th, 2008|07:34 am] |
I love the Book Stan. It's been the only continuously operating hobby/game/comic book store in Killeen since my first tour. Well, Chief still runs the card store onpost, but his off-post brick and mortar closed, and he's mostly doing Magic anyway, with a sideline in D&D and collectible mini games.
I've been going in there since 2001, and the guy who works there knows me pretty well by now. I bought Jen's zombie bunny there and spent way, way more of my disposable income over a period of year than some people do on rims or stereos for their car.
As most of you know, I've been playing a lot of Exalted recently. For those of you who don't know Exalted, but do know roleplaying games in general, it's "magic system" runs on "magic points", which in the game is called Essence. This powers pretty much every special power the character has, whether it is some spiffy sword technique that boosts his damage or has chance to hit, all the way to classic spells that call flaming birds out of nothing to smash into your opponent. So in combat, you spend Essence hand over fist. This would be bad enough, but you also have other factors to worry about. Your 'anima banner' is relative to the total amount of Essence you have spent out of one of your two Essence Pools, AND you have the ability to recover Essence in combat as well by 'stunting'.
It's really cool, but the bookkeeping gets annoying, and tracking it on scratch paper leads to yet more papers floating around the gaming area, which doesn't do me any good.
I settled on using markers, specifically the ones that look like half-melted marbles. So I swing in to take a look at the ones in Book Stan because I know he sells them for Magic players. The catch is that I need a lot.. My character's essence pool has 16 and 39 in the two pools, which is about average for starting Solars (at least, if they intend to be Sorcerers, and need Essence 3). He sells bags of 20. I started looking at them, and he asked why I need them since I don't play Magic. I explained it, and he pretty much said, "Well then don't buy those."
???
He explained those are for Magic players so they are overpriced. He suggested going to Hobby Lobby as they have better prices on the same stuff.
I was befuddled, but I wasn't going to argue with him. So off to Hobby Lobby yesterday. First challenge was finding them. I asked a clerk who suggested floral. WTF, Floral? OK, whatever. Heading off into floral I make some discoveries.
1) They call them "glass gems" or "vase gems" in the Mundane World.
2) They sell them in 2-lb bags
3) They cost $2.49
4) Hobby Lobby was having a half-price sale.
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| Stupid Airline Security Precaution of the Week |
[Apr. 10th, 2008|01:45 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | bemused | ] |
"NO knives, razors, nail clippers or multi tool kits will be carried in the main cabin of the plane"
This is a quote from a packing list distributed to my unit for our upcoming deployment to Iraq.
We are officially in the Twilight Zone, and by that I do NOT mean a meeting place for a particular caste of Solars.
Some idiot from my unit scheduled me for a dental appointment the day I leave for BNCOC.
Ummm. . . NO. Trying to reschedule but the number is busy. |
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| Don't this say it all. . . |
[Apr. 9th, 2008|07:04 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  pissed off | ] |
Now, if I decide to skip my rent payments, do I also get a bailout? How about my land payments? Will Barak Obama promise to make the taxpayers pay for my storage unit if I decide to stop paying those bills? How about my utility payments?
Federal control of the housing market (and don't kid yourself, some of these proposed bailouts amount to that) is that LAST thing someone who wants to buy or build a house these days needs. Maybe I should have been a financial idiot in the past, signed up for a shaky loan I couldn't make payments on, and just waited for Unca' Sam to bail my ass out. I'd be riding this whole bailout wave, rather than wondering what effect it is going to have on those of us who are doing the right thing, financially, and waiting until our credit, debt-to-income ratio, and down payment available takes us out of the "subprime" market. |
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