Hey! Ever think you were in shock and no one knew? Or you wanted people to think you were in shock? Well, I have the deal for you! A friend is getting together an order for shock blankets as seen in the first episode of Sherlock. They'll only be 5 dollars but they need another 15 or so orders to reach their minimum. Shoot me a message if you're interested.

EDT: from the originator:
http://shaddicted.tumblr.com/post/1013911360/vianegativa-top-5-6-sherlock-moments-6-i-am

 Well, where to begin...

I liked the con, all in all.  I'll do most of this in bullet statements under either pro or con lists, because it's late and I'm trying to get back into posting more often.

Pros:

- this is a friendly con, the crowd is really nice
- there was a lot of the type of dancing that I like: contra, vintage and even a class or two.
- they have a robust con suite - you can usually find some real food most of the time there
- very friendly to costumers.  I got a lot of attention for costumes that often wouldn't get a first glance at D*C
- good faux Irish pub in hotel

Cons:

- Boston + January = cold!
- location.  While I'm glad the con is downtown (it's ultra easy to get there from the airport and SWA was practically giving away tickets) it's remote from places to shop or, more importantly, eat.  I miss the Park Plaza.
- food.  Besides the hotel food (good but pricey) and the consuite, food choices are pretty slim in the area.  Big props to the con for having a shuttle to take you to the local food/shopping area
- nice to have more of a posse to hang with, esp. the dances.  Having a group gives you some flexibility in dance partners.
- My Memory.  I danced with someone I recognize from somewhere, but have no idea where.  I hate when that happens.

All in all, I hope to get back next year.

 I'm planning on going, but I have no idea if I'll rise to the top of the waitlist for rooms or if I'll have anyone to share it with if so.  Anyone have any spare space?

Thanks!

 I am going to a memorial service for an SCA peep from long ago.  It's in downtown Phila, and I was thinking of going over the river to Philcon for Sat night.  However, I need a place to stay.

I'd prefer space at the con, though local to Cherry Hill might do in a pinch.  Schedule is set in Jello right now, so I can always bail if it doesn't work.

Thanks!

Barring truly adverse weather, I plan to take the girls to the MDRF
Saturday. Let me know if we should keep an eye out for you.

Consider giving to people doing the MS Challenge Walk. Here's a (not totally) random page with which to donate:

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Challenge/DCWChallengeWalkEvents?px=5286045&pg=personal&fr_id=16101

Every little bit helps!

What do the words "manly presence" (when used in a complimentary fashion) mean to you?

Well, if this works I can post to DW, which will then forward to
lj - here's hoping.

In the interest of providing content, I'll talk about Sun night contra dancing.

I really like going - even when I'm not dancing, which happens a
little too often as I haven't gotten down the habit of asking for the
dance after next. The dance floor is filled with people having a good
time. There's very little negative energy in the place.

Also, it's a workout. This is especially true if your partner/corner
is of the 'once more, faster!' school of spinning. There's a lot of
UnderArmor in my future if this keeps up.

To make sure I keep going, I splurged on a Folklore Society of Greater
Washington membership. Not I just need to make that back by the
savings on dance admission.

More later (if this works)

In the interest of having a lifeboat, I've started a dreamwidth account.

In theory everything came over. In reality? Who knows?

Anyway, the username at dw is the same if you want to friend me over there.

It's been a while since I've written a general update, so I'll give it a
whirl in the "(not quite) Friday Update" sort of way.

HEALTH

Things are good, though not perfect. I'm still coming down from the high of
having someone speak to me those magical words: "Your teeth look fine - see
you in six months." Still dealing with the shoulder problem, though. I
don't know what caused it, but it happened while I was in California and it
tends to limit some activities though not a day to day thing. I've just
finished 4 weeks of physical therapy and while my range of motion is much
improved, the pain is still severe if I put my arm in the wrong position.
I'll meet with the ortho to see what to do next.

EXERCISE

I have been pretty good in my exercise regimen, thanks in part to the new
Battlestar Galactica. I have been on the elliptical machine every M/W/F for
about 43 minutes (about the length of an episode on the TV placed in front
of the exercise machine). I'm also doing sit ups and push ups (using the
Perfect Pushup handgrips) on the same schedule. For the most part, the
problems with my shoulder don't interfere in my exercise routines.

I've also been trying to track and improve the amount of walking I've been
doing to add to my fitness, which has been going pretty well, though the
heat of the season is making walking outside of the mall or similar outdoor
locations difficult. For the past few years, I have been tracking my
walking using a website that compares your walking mileage to the distances
walked during The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. However, I have run out of
Middle Earth.

By the end of June I had walked as far as Samwise walked in Middle Earth
(Sam does a lot of extra walking, including a final trip to the Grey Havens
to take the last ship into the West). While I'll keep making entries as a
way to keep track, along with my monthly spreadsheets to try to figure out
trends and best months, I'm not sure if there's a replacement. I wonder if
the Chinese has a "Long March" app for their (knockoff) iPhones?

HOUSE

I'm listlessly scraping away at the pile of stuff in my house, but I need to
do a lot more to get it to showable state. Since houses are moving in the
DC area, I need to get it together and get it done. Since I've got some
short trips coming up, I'd like to have the house showable during those
times. I'm pondering having some work done, so if you know good sources for
the following I'd love your input. I'm looking for the following worker
types:

Handybeing - someone who can do touch up painting mostly, with a side order
of gutter cleaning/repair (does not have to be the same person)

Plumber - need to fix a couple of leaky valves

Concrete - I might need to redo the driveway and front walk for sale (not
looking forward to this...)

Local plant maven - I have someone to deal with the lawn, but a few of the
boxwoods(?) have died and I'd like to know why before I rustle up another
set of shrubbery

Maids - looking for cleaners willing to do a job on the place: sterilize the
kitchen and baths and generally make the place look sellable

Strong lads/lasses with a taste for destruction - there is a shed and a
playground set in the background that needs to be turned into the occupants
of the fabric dumpsters I'm getting. Willing to pay for tool rental if
needed

Appliance Store - the dishwasher is inop, and I suspect a new fridge would
be a wise investment

DRAGON*CON

Finishing up work on costumes right now - there may be other things I do for
D*C, but most of the heavy purchasing/modifying is done. The projected
list:

UNIT stuff - besides The Brigadier (the outfit I'll wear for the parade -
we're hoping to have more Brit SF there then 501-ies) I'll have a UNIT
trooper (a spare for putting more bodies in the parade) and hopefully a Sgt
Benton outfit. I'm building up quite the supply of Cold War UK kit.

Dr. Horrible shadowcast - I play a few bits and pieces during the show. The
Mayor is the only named person I do and really costume for not much call for
suit jacket and tie otherwise. There have been rumblings as to does the
shadowcastings get into unfair use of the work, Hopefully everything will
go off OK.

Other - Outfits in the bin include: a couple of steampunk things, my BSG
BDU's, my ST:DS9 outfit (in case they try for the record again), most of a
Dr. McNinja, and a couple of other things wandering around the back of my
brain. It seems like a lot, but D*C is a little costume intensive. My
tendency to wear outfits that are more like clothing wars with my urge to be
an attention whore. Since I'm a guy, my only chances of becoming a photo
magnet is to either come up with a killer costume or powerlift my way into a
"300" style body. Both are pretty low prob hits at this time.

WORK

My day job is being the usual difficulties any large bureaucratic
organization can be when they take extra dysfunctional pills in the
morning. Still waiting to hear about a lateral job move, which makes it
very difficult to plan for things. Add in the usual coworker weasels and it
can make the "get up and go" get up and leave.

GUARD

I'm on the hook for a few week long trips in the next few months. I'd
rather push these back into the fall, otherwise I'll have to either burn a
bunch of vac time or go leave w/o pay from my day job. Neither of those is
a thrilling prospect, but at least double dipping will help cover house prep
expenses and since I'm told Guard trip are practically vacations it only
makes sense.

I need to figure out where my future in the Guard lies. My unit seems to be
slowly sliding downhill, though that may be as much my disillusionment with
the unit as their decline. Also, my impulse to get that last promotion
before I retire almost guarantees I need to find another job or unit. In
the longer term, I need to ponder the concept of what my post-Guard life
looks like. I have my 20 and I'm finding I'm not as motivated as I once
was, though a lot of that might be for the reasons given in the first part
of this para.

Well, longer than an ExSumm but not a full coverage of the last few months
either. I'll try to make these things a little shorter and a little more
often.

I, TNS, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

5 U.S.C. §3331

And for weekends and other periods of time as the gov't will see fit to give me:

I, TNS, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the State of Maryland against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the Governor of Maryland and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to law and regulations. So help me God.

10 U.S.C. §502

Because of a sudden upheaval, my plan to take the girls up to HersheyPark
with their GSUSA troop has hit a snag. It looks like my elder DD has been
grounded.

Since I'm disinclined to make the trip up there with just me and the monkey,
I'm looking for something the two of us can do while elf is working off her
punishment. Staying in the local area is preferred.

Suggestions are, as always, welcome.

After my last post, I got to go gaming and stare at the travel dream i'd forgotten - the. PBY Catalina. What is it about some airframes that get all the attention even though they might not be the best at what they did? B-17's are not as good as B-24's but they get all the attention.

Well, for me it would be a Danube Class Runabout (http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Danube_class).  Pretty much the ultimate in RV's, the ability to go anyplace in the solar system I took a fancy to see, plus a replicator (my kids are picky eaters) and a transporter to get around the local area.

If forced into a "Hey, just what you see, pal" answer, I'd probably go with a heavy/light car pair.  For normal day use I'd really like to geek out with a Prius like all my cool tech friends, but still have something for the occasional trip requiring stuff.  For that I'd be OK with a Torchwood-style Land Rover or even a WWII version, if fuel costs weren't an issue.

Wrapping it up here - tomorrow I get on an aircraft for home.

It will be good to get home, even with all the work waiting for me.  Living out here has been a little disjointed, between the time shift and the irregular food.  I ate three meals a day, they just (with the exception of breakfast) weren't thrilling.  One of my manifestations of depression can be lack of appetite.  With me it would dovetail with my aversion to bad food and spending too much money (I'm not big on sit down places unless I have someone to sit down with) to make finding stuff difficult.  At least at home I have stocked stuff for such an occasion.

Also, I'm getting a little tired of being by myself all the time.  The people I was here with were OK, I didn't want to go out much.  Getting the house set so I can spend time having people over or going out w/o guilt would be nice.

Anyway, it's late and I'll try to post again if I find time and free wifi.  Otherwise, I'll post again when I get back.

First, an alibi from Part 1:  Germany uses stand alone speed camera boxes to pay for all the socialism, just so you know.  I'll let you know how much it was if they find me.

"...helpful safety tip.  Thanks, Egon"

Anyhow, I left Spangdahlem AB Sunday morning.  It was a quiet base in the middle of nowhere and I had a suite I no good reason for - a two room plus kitchenette and bath setup with everything including a guest book to write things about the stay.  There were some fairly important people that used the room.

Sun morning I got out of dodge late - there was a bazaar on base that day and i went to look for shinies to take home.  A lot of neat stuff, but nothing that caught me eye and my wallet.  Between that and the merry chase the GPS took me on (not sure if it was my fault or its, fortunately I felt I was wandering off track before too much time and distance had passed.  As it was, I didn't get to Fortress Schoenenbourg until the middle of the afternoon.  Fortunately, I had more than enough time to see what I wanted.

The tour is hard to describe.  Theres a lot of walking down underground passages and looking in mostly intact rooms of stuff.  They could use some work in the translation department - I think the booklet I got was translated by a 1/1 or something.  I learned a lot there, including how much support stuff they had to have.  There were kitchens and infirmaries and poison gas filters and ordinance hoists to make sure they could fight the position if it came to it, which it did.

One important thing about the line was that it worked for what they planned it to do - keep the Germans from taking Alsace Lorraine right off the bat and all the oil and industry that went with it.  It was never to be the invulnerable shield that people joked about.  The big question is if it was worth the cost, which is hard to say.

I took the time to see both the inside and the outside of the fort.  While inside, you never get a chance to look outside or at a lot of the fighting positions - the only one open is Block 4 and you can only see the base of the turret holding the twin 75mm guns.  So I drove the 5 minutes to the hill I had walked under and up into.  Walking around on the top you got a good idea of how well they could cover their part of the front, but they're not very imposing.  By this time the best defense is to become part of the hillside, it lacks the grandeur of a castle or Vauban fortress.  However, being at the base of the hill under the guns was quite intimidating.

It was worth the trip and I was glad to go.  If I get out here again I will try to get to another fort and one of the Great War battlefields.

From netpositive : mustache, religion, worn, dedication, parent

Mustache:  I've gone back and forth on this, one of the few bits of ornamentation I'm allowed to have in the military.  In the AF, they're a lot more acceptable than in the other services, though legal in all.  I look different, but I'm not sure if one or the other is better.  I'll probably grow it back by Aug so I be all set to be The Brigadier for the Dragon*Con parade.  E keeps asking me when I'm going to grow it back.  So far she's the only person who has given me a strong opinion one way or the other.

Religion:  Religion for me is a personal matter.  Not in that I don't talk about it, but in the fact that everyone believes something different from everyone else.  Even in the most doctrinal religions I don't think everyone believes the party line, even if they toe the line.  In some ways this makes the aligning of religion and politics even more of a problem because people are giving mass to what might be a belief held by very few.  Unitarian Universalists have priciples that are mostly groundrules for interaction rather than creeds.  I think I'd like to become a minister in the UU, but I wonder what the helps and hinderances are to being a minister without religion.

Worn:  Some days that's me all over.  I some days feel that life is a rearguard action against entropy.  Having watched my parents never having a chance to enjoy anything like golden years and Dad missing out on E's birth by a couple of weeks, I'm a little more conscious about taking time now and trying to plan for the long term.  The pains seem to show up faster and the setbacks to weight loss bigger nowadays.  The knowledge that I'm taking better care of myself than my parents only goes so far.

Dedication: This is an interesting one for me right now.  I've served in the gov't in one form or another for over half my life.  I'm getting to the point in my military career that I'll have to face retirement sooner rather than later.  I'd still like that last promotion and I haven't totally soured on life in uniform but it is a young person's game.  My civilian job has quite some time to go, but I sometimes feel I may feel or think too much to be in this line of work.  There are practical reasons why I can't just walk away from this career, but I want to keep an eye on this lest I become some clock watcher.  Having not been in a job/line of work for long enough to ever have to worry about getting tired of it, I need to keep an eye on this.  I don't want to fall victim to not having something of worth to do, either while working towards retirement or after.

Parent: It's amazing the difference a decade or so makes.  I would never claim to be a good parent, but I'm trying to do the best I can with the girls, which is something I couldn't say about my first child.  I was not in the right life space to be there, and there's no way to go back.  Now is so much different, even though I feel like I'm just holding things together.  I was raised by parents that are a lot more hands off than is seen nowadays - which was not all to the good for me growing up.  Still trying to let them do their own thing without not being there for them when needed,

If you want to play along, reply to this post by yelling (or even saying gently) "Words!" and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your LJ and explain what they mean to you.

Saturday started with another breakfast that couldn't be beat.  Breakfast will be the thing I miss most about this place.  My appetite is currently being suppressed by a combination of deployment depression and not having access to food that I want.  I can at least take comfort in the breakfasts - they have great oatmeal, diced fruit on which I can pile plain yogurt and I have picked up some decent tea at Stuttgart's Brit Store.  Whatever happens the rest of the day I at least have breakfast nailed.

I ate and got on the road to Düsseldorf for FedCon.  FedCon is the big media con in Europe that I heard about from Wil Wheaton's blog.  The trip was OK, though there was a lot of construction related traffic problems on the Autobahn.   Also, this is the second trip to Europe where I've gotten a Kia as my rental car.  They could at least give me a Mercedes A Class (which looks a lot like a Honda Fit - they don't sell them in the US probably because they're too hoi polloi).  As it was, I got the car up to 160kph a could of times and it only takes a couple of seconds before you can almost hear Scotty's voice, "she canna take it, Captain - she'll blow for sure!"

As to FedCon, I can't say I was really impressed.  Mind you, I was a foreigner dropping in with no prep and almost no clue, but there were a few things I thought were problems.  First, the hotel - it was a hotel attached to the airport.  While this was probably great for the guests flying in, it made for miserable parking.  I ended up in a lot attached to the private/charter aviation facility running 4 Euro/hr.  That made my decision to pop smoke sooner rather than later.  Also, the hotel was badly laid out  for a con - the dealers and what fan groups there were scattered hither and yon.  Also, there were only 3 tracks running - all big ticket type things as far as I could tell.  It seemed a lot less personal than media cons back home - I would have needed a triple high biorhythm or serious luck to make a breakthrough.  So i decided to call it quits and head to my overnight site, Spangdahlem AB.  I made it there and settled into to room to flip between bad AFN channels and check my e-mail.

Lessons Learnt (as the Brits say)

The trip was worth it, though getting there earlier might have meant spending some time sightseeing on the way to the overnight.  I got to see the countryside, but it was a bit of an expense with little to show.  Oh, well - as Bones says, "the broken rules, the desperate chances, the glorious failures and the glorious victories."

I do need to start putting out feelers about Dragon*Con now, because I want to have some plan once I get there, lest i be lost in an even bigger con.

I'll finish up with Sunday later,

Well, I've been here a week and things are going all right.

I'm meeting my production goals, though those have been pretty light.  This whole project isn't getting a lot of results for all the wheel spinning.  I'm hoping to get a few other things done while I'm here, though I'm at a pretty low ebb, energy wise.

I at least have the ability to not worry about things not getting done while I'm here.  I still want to get the house show ready, even if I may be too late in the selling season to get any nibbles.  Getting the place in order is an end in itself, though I am trying to make sure moving the stuff back to storage in an orderly fashion so getting things out as needed doesn't become "Indiana Jones and the Storage of Public."

Getting out of Bowie has both push and pull components.  I'd like to have the house behind me - once one realizes that you're in the endgame with the place, sooner is better than later.  Getting a place in Old Greenbelt is a big dream of mine on many levels:  the ability to be in a walking town again, having a house big enough for me and the girls w/o all the current excess space and having less money flowing into a very underutilized place.  Most importantly, I'd like to be in a place that will be my home for at least the foreseeable future.  I'd be able to figure out what of the storage stuff I need and get the rest to someone that could use it and work to make a place for me.

All that waits until my trip home, which is still at least a week away.  In the meantime I'll work on what other things I can do from here and try to lay out the plan for when I return.

Well, work has sent me to Stuttgart, Germany.  Today I had a chance to go down to the downtown walking strasse to walk, see the sights (green protesters have a fondness for teepees, it appears) and snack on great pretzel buns.

While minding my own business I heard a familiar tune from many a Clam Chowder set.  I see a quartet (one with an accordion) singing "Moscow Nights," the traditional version.  They're decked out in what is best described as "Red Army Alumni Association," though at least one of them looks a little too young to have served.  Maybe its a Soviet tribute band or something (Khrushchevmania?).

They were pretty good.  I may try to get back to get some pictures/video or get a CD.  In the meantime I tossed them a two Euro coin as I figured it was best to keep them on the street and out of the Fulda Gap.

FB is like the Dark Side "No, no, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive." It's been some time since I've really sat down to put thoughts to pixels.

I'm in Stuttgart, FRG right now for work (one advantage to lj is the "semi plausible deniability" of not using my real name, though there are some limits) and will be here for a few weeks.  it was a bit short notice as I only found out I was going Monday and left Thurs.  I'm hoping that besides pleasing the powers that be, I'll have the opportunity to get some writing done.

I'm staying up way too late tonight, but i have tomorrow to recover and get ready to face work Monday.  The time shift is +6 hours from the East Coast, which seems a lot.

So far the people I'll be working with seem nice.  I hope to gather some more positive impressions from my bosses.  The major turnover at work while i was in CA is giving me a second chance to make a good first impression.  So far it seems to be working - I was going to be given something at the divisions "atta boy, hail and farewell" session if I was still at home, and I'm being moved to another position as soon as the administrivia is done.

In my off time (it looks like I'll get some free time - one never knows with these trips) I'm going to try to check off a few blocks on my list.  I'm hoping I'll be able to get to see a WWI battlefield, walk around a Vauban fortress and see Patton's grave in Luxembourg.   I figure this is more realistic than option two: a whirlwind romance that ends tragically when she dies shielding me from bullets during a pitched battle to prevent her now-rogue former KGB handlers from setting off a nuclear device because I don't care what Keifer Sutherland thinks it's hard to fit that sort of thing into a weekend even if you do skip lunch so you can leave early Friday and anyway...

Where was I?  Oh yeah, travel.  There are a lot of things within 2 to 3 hours and I hope to see some of them.

This is enough for a training post.  I'll try to catch you up with some other things over the next few days.

Among other things.

Today was the much delayed party for K. Since this was my weekend, I hosted it.

I wasn't sure it was going to come off because of the weather.  While the road has a path, I still have no parking beside the driveway.  Fortunately, it was a small gathering with only K and 4 guests since #5 was a no show and E went to another b-day party.

The major task besides getting the house together (I had guests over the Tue before for sewing, which meant the living rm was clear but the dining room and kitchen needed work) was making the cake.  The results fall into the category of "tasty, but not winning any beauty contests."  I made the cake from a mix, by hand (I don't have any kitchen power tools right now so I used a whisk, which I think I'm still feeling this morning), but putting it together at the end was a lose.  I let the upper layer cool face down, which meant the skin got left on the plate.  Frosting the resulting cake was like treating burn victims - often the frosting and the top derma of the cake would come up if I wasn't careful.  This left no frosting for decoration, so we settled for a coupe of huge mounted fairies and a "7" candle.

If was a low planning event - I had a make a foam door hanger, make your own "soda" (sparkling water and a number of juices and syrups) and "pin the horn on the unicorn," which E built for the party.  The rest was "free play" - or I termed it "rampaging children." 

Everyone seemed to have a good time, with only one bloody nose for all the rampaging.  After the party I made fried eggs for my girls for dinner, a first for me.  Results were mixed - one intact yolk, one broken and one half fried, half scrambled, which was mine.

Even though my only exercise for the day was 30 min on the elliptical and a little shoveling of the walk, I was beat like a drum by the end,crashing about 11.

All,

I'm planning another run to the storage place near my place where my
household goods are stored and could use some help if anyone can help.

Depending on people and vehicles available, I hope to move some girl's
room furniture and maybe some more boxes.

Drop a reply if you can make it.

Thanks!