A single immortal monkey

These boots are made for walking

2009-02-09T13:53:00.002-09:00

I posted about the Eowyn challenge a while ago. It seemed like an interesting way to mark progress on a fitness goal. Well, as of today the idea has resurfaced.

The company I am working at has instituted a One Million Step challenge. The goal is to walk 10000 steps per day (roughly 5 miles), for 100 days. I have chosen to take it on, as have several of the guys who work for me. Since we are the IT crew, I figured the Eowyn challenge would be a fun additional way for us to mark progress.

I am tracking my general progress using a Google doc spreadsheet. If you're interested you can find it here. It will automatically update as I make changes to the spreadsheet.

Wii Fit is mean

2009-01-31T18:39:00.002-09:00

Like many of our friends we now have a Wii Fit. It arrived today, and so far I like it very much. We played several of the games and I did some of the yoga poses. Coupled with that and fight rehearsal today, I'm a little tired now.

So here is what happened when I set up my Mii in the Wii Fit. It goes through and checks your BMI, and tells you where you fall. Turns out that it thinks I'm overweight (Which I don't disagree with), but I think it might have been needlessly rude of the Wii to plump up my avatar.

I'm not sure which is worse though, the fact that it plumped up the avatar, or the sound effect that accompanied the plumping.

Again, I say hello

2009-01-20T12:21:00.002-09:00

Well I've let this blog languish long enough. 2008 was an interesting year, and I should have taken more time to write. I was recently talking to an old friend from high school on Facebook. We both remarked that we have never written so much as we did in high school during Mr. Blankensop's (Affectionately referred to as B) various classes.
In September of 2008 I started a graduate program at University of Phoenix. Among other things, I have to write papers. A lot of them. About a paper a week. It's interesting, but not the type of writing I prefer to do. Although I did send one of my papers on evaluating internet sources to B, who is now teaching a college class and was discussing the topic with his students. Which makes for an interesting circle of life event.

I also went to the Dueling Arts workshop in Las Vegas. It's always invigorating to go out to the workshops, and I came away from this one with lots of ideas. Some of which I hope to turn in posts here, and at my other website (www.frozensteel.com) which I've neglected as well.

The Shed

2007-10-21T20:12:00.000-08:00

Pricey but Perfect: Cloning Peter Gabriel's 'Studio in a Shed'

So the link is a little article to Peter Gabriel talking about his "Studio in a Shed", for a mere 250 grand you can have a 240 sq. foot recording studio in your yard or garden. It's apparently modeled on the one has at home in his garden. Here's a link to the sales site if you want to see some specifics.

Some of you have been to my house so you've seen my Fortress of Solitude. Probably from the outside though, since it is still filled with unpacked boxes (Although significantly less so now that Melody has helped me clean it up a bit).

A backyard studio is one of the directions my Fortress is heading in. I recently purchased my own mixer, I've wanted one for a really long time. I was absolutely giddy the day it showed up. It's a Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro. It's an extremely popular mixer due to its high quality, and relatively low price. It has a lot of options, and the pre-amps are great.

Since getting it I've been putting out a lot more voice over demos. With all the traveling I've been doing I haven't put up for everything I wanted to, but I did get one of them. It was very exciting to get a job from stuff I produced on my very own equipment! Once things settle down some I'll be putting out more demos (Most of the jobs I'm going for require custom demos).

I've been producing most of them on my linux laptop using Audacity. It's cross platform (Mac, Windows, Linux), completely free and high quality. I plan to try Ardour as well once I have some more time. It's closer to what I'm used to using, Adobe Audition (Actually I'm more used to it when it was Cool Edit Pro, I still use the last version before Adobe bought them out.) Audacity has just about everything I need for most of the straight voicework (Noise reduction, normalization), but when I do sound design for a show I need a lot more of the stuff you find in the high end products.

To do voice work you have to have a microphone. I'm currently using a Shure Sm-58, it's a good mic. Really, it's one of the most popular in the recording industry. Is that why I chose it? No! I got it free a number of years ago, and its a good quality mic. That's why I use it. I want one of these though. I'm still saving up for that. Maybe after a few more voice-over gigs.

FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal

2007-10-16T19:15:00.000-08:00

The cruise is just a few weeks away, and many of us have been working out and trying to lose weight to look better in our swim wear. I was doing pretty well, and then as it tends to do work got in the way. It's hard to keep up my workout schedule while I'm traveling, especially when I'm working an average of 12 hour days. Like wise it's hard to keep up with good eating habits (something that I'm admittedly not good at in general).

Now, despite my working out I haven't made much progress weight wise (I think I may be a bit slimmer, but don't have much to gauge that by except my pants keep falling down.). One reason for this is I haven't made much of a change to my eating habits. I eat far too much fast food for one thing.

I came across the link below on Digg (I think). It is a free, web based Diet & Weight loss journal. You can set goals, and it helps you track them. You can also enter what you've eaten in a given day and it will help you figure out calorie in take. This can be a big help. Most people assume they have to make major changes to their diet, this isn't always the case. Sometimes just a small change can lower your daily calorie intake enough to make a difference.

Check it out, after all it's free!

FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal

The Grief That Made 'Peanuts' Good - WSJ.com

2007-10-15T18:46:00.000-08:00

The Grief That Made 'Peanuts' Good - WSJ.com

There is a new book about the life of Charles Schultz, and the development of his comic strip "Peanuts". The link above is to a review by Bill Watterson of "Calvin and Hobbes". The review is very well written, as you would expect, and the book sounds quite good as well. Even if you don't read the book, the review is well worth your time.

The Eowyn Challenge

2007-09-30T12:21:00.000-08:00

The Eowyn Challenge

My good friend Matt has undertaken a weight loss program of his own devising. It primarily consists of a better diet, and more exercise. He plays a bit of basketball on the weekends, and most days he walks on his treadmill.

The other important thing to know about Matt, at least in relation to this, is that he is a big fan of the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit.

This brings me to the link displayed above, it is (clipped from the site):

"The original Walk to Rivendell Challenge began on Monday, March 17th, 2003, but it is never too late to join in. We have other distances throughout Middle Earth that you may choose to travel. The founder of this fitness challenge is our Ranger Jewel. She began researching the miles, milestones and time frame of the hobbits’ journey to Rivendell in Fellowship of the Ring . We were later joined by Karen Wynn Fonstad, author of the Atlas of Middle-earth. Mrs. Fonstad provided us with very detailed charts of all the Fellowship’s journey through Middle Earth. Much of the information provided is exclusive to the Eowyn Challenge and can be found nowhere else. The challenge is very simple and flexible; anyone can develop their own variation on this basic idea."

So now, you see why I thought of Matt when I saw this today on BoingBoing

Wash me

2007-08-15T06:51:00.000-08:00

I think we have all at one time or another drawn in the dust an a car that hasn't been washed in a long time. Most of us did this when we were kids. We put such clever things on there as: Wash me (Sometimes with an exclamation, sometimes not), our hand prints, or even use it as a way to profess our feelings ( JJ + XD, I Jane, or Joanie loves Chachi). This guy has taken that to a whole different level:

Dirty Car Art

He is very talented, but be forewarned I got sucked into looking at his pictures for quite awhile.

Harry Potter Event

2007-07-22T10:31:00.000-08:00

This past friday, a bunch of us from TBA Theatre were performing at the Barnes' & Noble Haryy Potter event. The B&N folks knew that people would be lining up to get their books promptly after midnight, so they planned a number of events.

Elle arranged for the Illusions crew to come out and paint faces, juggle, perform magic, just generally jump around, and other wise entertain the folks. I was the emcee for the costume contest.

There was a contest each hour, with the winners of those hourly contests coming back at the end for the grand prize: the right to be first in line to get their book (Oh, and a $100 gift certificate). I was too keep the crowd excited, and announce the folks, and generally keep things moving along. By all accounts I did great. Channel 2 news was there several times, we even got a live feed on the 10 o'clock! They did this during the costume contest, so I'm sure I can be heard, if not seen.

Channel 2 did come back later, and film some more. There is an article here, with some video. I'm in the video, and quoted in the article. The best part is that in both I'm referred to as: Frank Delaney, TBA Theater. There is also some footage of a Dementor (Which I believe is Dave Fink, I know he was playing that part but I don't know if he is the one in the video). So not only did the event go well, everybody loved us, but we got some good publicity with out name on TV!

I sound a little rough in the video, because I was getting pretty dehydrated. I was chugging water like crazy but sometimes it just isn't enough.

Linux Geekery

2007-06-28T18:47:00.000-08:00

I occasionally do sideline work for clients around town. I recently did a network upgrade project, and as part of that they paid me to wipe out the hard drives and dispose of their old PC's. So at the moment I have a bunch of decent machines sitting around.

I plan on keeping a couple of them, and so I installed Kubuntu linux on two of them. I've been looking for a reason to try it out at home, as a primary use machine. I've been running it as a secondary for a while at work using Virtualbox virtualization software.

I've been running it at home for the last couple days and its been going pretty well. I'm writing this entry from the Kubuntu machine. It's not my first foray into linux, but it is my most in depth to date. It runs great on this slightly older hardware with only 512 MB of ram. Installing software is really easy, and there is a ton of high quality free software available. There is a learning curve, as with anything new, but by and large I think most people would have a fairly easy time transitioning.

The first day I had it, I needed to burn a cd. I downloaded the ISO file I needed to my desktop, and double clicked the file. The burning program started right up, and about 10 minutes later I was done.

I plan to try Ubuntu studio as well, it's a distribution geared towards multimedia creation.

Look at all the pretty pictures

2007-06-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

Several of the regular readers of my irregular posts are aware that I'm more than a little into web comics. In addition to the 60 or so comics that Leif has on his aggregation page, I have about another 60 I read on a daily or weekly basis (depending on their update schedules), and another 20 or so that are on hiatus.

One of the best ones I've seen is called Breakfast of the Gods. It is a large format comic, with a long reaching story arc. Very similar to a graphic novel, in web form. The art work is great, and I'm really enjoying the story. It doesn't update on a schedule that I've been able to determine, but new ones come in every few weeks. He recently finished book one of the story and started on book two.
I highly recommend checking it out. You'll recognize most, if not all of the characters.
Breakfast of the Gods Book One: The Last Good Morning
Breakfast of the Gods Book Two: O Cap'n, My Cap'n

1st Saturday! Free Comic Books

2007-05-04T15:51:00.000-08:00

Thats right! Free comics! For those of you in Anchorage, Bosco's is participating, but if you aren't then I have the web linkage for you.

Most of us read comics as kids. Some of us really got into it. At one point in my life I had a collection, all organized with each one in its own mylar bag with a back board. I still have a lot of those, but I don't collect them that way anymore. These days I just get them because I enjoy reading the stories. Some of the classic titles, like Daredevil, have always had very compelling story lines. Others are less about the dramatic stories, and more about fun. So this is the list of what you'll currently find in my pull box at Bosco's:

Daredevil - It manages to tell compelling stories, while being less wordy than many other titles, it is very art driven.
Green Arrow - Just plain awesome. Oliver Queen is one of the original anti-heroes. Kevin Smith started writing for this title in 2000, and handed it over to Judd Winnick in 2002 (The author of two of my other favorites, Frumpy the Clown and Barry Ween: Boy Genius)
Green Lantern - One of my all time favorites, the idea that GL's can create anything that they can imagine makes them my far and away favorite. Hal Jordan is back. Kyle saved the corps and he has gone on to become:
Ion - Kyle is the torchbearer for the Green Lantern Corps.
Dork Tower- This is a fun one, which is mostly about gamers and gaming (Old style table top gaming mostly). It's on the web as well.
Knights of the Dinner Table - This one has evolved from a book about a table top gaming group, into a magazine full of useful stuff for role-players and Game masters. Put out by Kenzerco, the same folks who brought you Hackmaster.
Xmen- Everyone is familiar with these guys.
Warlord - One of the first comics I read regularly, it ended in 1989. However, they tried to revive it last year, but it only made it through 10 issues. From the comic:

"In the savage world of Skartaris,
life is a constant struggle for survival.
Here, beneath an unblinking orb of eternal
sunlight, one simple law prevails:
If you let down your guard for an instant you will soon be very dead."

If you haven't picked up a comic book in awhile, I encourage you to get out on Saturday, stop by your local comic shop and check some out! Hey while you're out stop by Barnes & Noble and help out TBA Theatre!

It's a good cause!

2007-05-02T22:25:00.000-08:00

Most of the folks who read this with any regularity will probably have already heard about it, but this weekend is a fund raiser for TBA Theatre. The short version is that if you make a purchase from Barnes & Noble on Saturday they will donate a percentage to TBA. The best part is that it costs you nothing extra above the cost of your book or CD! All you need is a voucher, which you can print out by following that link or just ask your cashier for one. Tell all your friends!

Here is the full story from the TBA Website:

Hello Friends of TBA Theatre! Do you have books, music or movies you have been dying to buy? Looking for a fun afternoon out with the kids? We're giving you the perfect opportunity!

We have partnered with Barnes & Noble for a book fair to benefit TBA Theatre and our production of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island the Musical". Face painting and story time will happen from noon to 5:00pm, with special appearances by Folks Tales at 2:00pm, and by various scruffy pirates who'll sing songs from "Treasure Island the Musical" at 3:00pm.

So join us for some hearty, pirate-themed fun at Barnes & Noble on Saturday, May 5th! Simply present your voucher at the cashier's counter when you are ready to check out - this costs you nothing extra over the price of your purchase! Vouchers can be used during the entire business day from 9am to 11pm. If you can't print out a voucher, just tell your friendly Barnes & Noble cashier that you would like to use a voucher to benefit TBA Theatre and they will provide one for you.

Personality Test

2007-04-16T18:10:00.000-08:00

I'm a sucker for online tests. This is a personality test I took at echemistry.com (You have to sign up for an account, and they make you swear you aren't married, since its a dating site. I don't plan on keeping the account so I had no problem lying to them to get the test :)

Your type is called 'The Surprise Philosopher.' You are steady and reliable and talk less than the people around you. You are laid back and fun to hang out with and at the same time have an underlying intensity in everything you do. You prefer low key activities like hanging out with friends, but also hate to be bored, so you're likely to try new things to keep life interesting.

You are intensely passionate. Your romantic relationships are much more passionate behind closed doors than your coworkers would guess from your stoic exterior.

There's a hard edge to your personality which really tests who is worth your time. You are probably quite sarcastic, or at least have gone through very sarcastic periods. You simply don't put on a facade when someone is being an idiot. You may not actually verbalize your thoughts every time, but in your head you call out people and that blunt honesty keeps idiots at a distance.

You expect people to say exactly what they want and need any time you're making a decision that affects them. You are extremely hard on yourself when a situation doesn't go your way because you didn't speak up and say exactly what you thought.

You see situations for exactly what they are, and you state reality so bluntly that people can't help but go along with what you see. You don't get bogged down in procedures or theories, you just do what needs to be done and get things overwith. You don't want to exert yourself any more than you have to, so you become an expert at using tools to the maximum advantage so that the time you spend working is extremely efficient in getting results. You excel at finding novel approaches to solving problems because of this and are somewhat of an inventor.

You are definitely an idea person. You come up with concepts for new businesses or products all the time without even trying. You are a natural born entrepreneur and, more than other types, are likely to work for yourself, even as a contractor to someone else, rather than work in a regular 9 to 5 job. You are incredibly skilled with problem solving and not inclined towards desk work. In fact, paperwork can slip through the cracks for you. You avoid all mundane, repetitive, boring work and excel at anything requiring physical skill and finding solutions to surprise problems.

You're called the Surprise Philosopher because you spend so much time in the background, particularly in groups, and just when you've blended totally in you're likely to say something really abstract and meaningful and people are likely to turn their heads in wonder that you were just hanging in the flow a moment before and suddenly reached such a deep level. You spend so much time in your own mind that you simply listened to the topic, then took it step by step, breaking it down, and came out with your final conclusion without verbally helping everyone else along your train of thought. When the conversation turns toward the philosophical topic you've brought up you're likely to tire of repeating yourself while others catch up to what you were thinking.

You communicate more through actions than words. You learn by doing, rather than by hearing, seeing or reading. Standard grade school was not intended for students like you, and you probably found it incredibly tedious and boring.

You were designed to use your hands and mind to master tools which other people cannot. When introduced to new tools, including weapons, your skill develops faster and further, and you speak more technically about it than others could, even if they were given more time and practice. You are drawn to music and, if you try, you find that you are much more of a natural at playing instruments than other people. You also have a natural talent for self defense and become more skilled more quickly in that subject area than others who began learning with you and are left in the dust. It all boils down to the fact that you want to be comfortable and secure and you excel at anything which helps advance those goals.

You feel most comfortable when other people don't know exactly what to expect from you. This leaves your options open to take whatever action you'd like without it being particularly shocking to anyone. You realize that you're less vulnerable if you can't be stereotyped. You may intentionally do or say surprising things just to keep other people guessing. In fact, even those close to you never know whether you'll respond to something with instant enthusiasm or reserved thought.

You particularly enjoy unexpectedly stepping up to tackle a mechanical or instrument problem and then solving it with ease. Although, you'll steer clear if the problem involves attitudes or emotions because you don't want to get bogged down in unclear situations with no clear answer. If you absolutely must refer to the directions then you will read only the part which specifically applies to the problem at hand. You like work which has a definite end, a completion point, rather than 'research' or 'administration' which could continue on forever.

You are observant and will watch your environment, collecting data, constantly.

When you're not at work you don't waste energy on creating plans which might not work out. You prefer to face each day anew and tackle problems as they arise. You rely on yourself and trust common sense to get things done in nearly all circumstances.

If you choose to become a parent you do not feel the need to impose yourself or your standards on your children the way others do. In your eyes your children are individuals and you will respond to each of them according to their situations at any given time. Your spouse and your children will know that you will give them the freedom and space they need to be their own person and you will expect the same treatment in return.

You know what tastes good, what feels good against your skin, and what smells satisfy you. Of all personality types, yours is first to notice the signs of hunger, fatigue, sleepiness or discomfort in your body, and you can get quite irritable and distracted if those issues are not resolved in a timely fashion. Because you are attentive to the needs of your body you are likely to stop and remedy such issues before they become a problem.

You portray a very even tempered image and that matches a calm interior. There's not much that gets you visually excited.

Your level of conformity to any group is always negotiable. One day you may be an excited participant, but in general you find groups and strangers to be irritating. As an adult you've learned tact, but in your heart you still prefer the private company of a few close friends, or time completely alone, to time with any particular large social group of people.

You really want to like people, and there are some that you truly love, but you take each new person in a group as an individual. You maintain your individual personality in any group and are repelled when people pressure you to conform. If you do participate regularly in any social group it is with minimal investment of your feelings. You are something of an observer even while being a participant, and it takes very little to convince you that you need a break or to leave the group altogether.

You are particularly wary of manipulative individuals. You can spot such people because you have similar skills but choose not to use them except when really necessary. You are the most common type to be suspicious of your personality profile on this site because it contains too high a ratio of good to bad statements about you.

You don't desperately need a relationship like some others do, but the reality is that you're almost always looking for someone new when you're single. Much more than other types it's important to you that your romantic partners are physically attractive, the more extremely attractive the better, and you're willing to forgo some of the deep emotional connection for someone who physically turns you on. That trade is necessary most of the time because you're simply that much smarter than most people.

Underneath your stoic appearance, you have a massive heart. When you do finally get into a relationship you love much more deeply than most people. Someone with all that you have to give truly deserves a partner with the same amount to give back. People at your level are few and far between, but the relationships created by bringing two people like you together are closer and create a greater amount of overall joy than they do with most other people, so our system specializes in matching exactly your type.

ou have a very practical, realistic view of love which makes you much more likely to have a successful relationship than other people. You realize that romantic relationships are based on a mutual commitment and you don't expect to be madly in love with your mate every day. That said, you have such a massive heart that you're always sure that you love the other person even when they aren't making sense.

Your big picture skill for seeing the best way to clear out the logjam of the moment is based on the same trait that makes you disinclined toward mundane and routine tasks. In studies of high chemistry old married couples, the highest chemistry matches were those where your type was paired with someone who, among other things, balances you in that way. Your match is a detail person who takes care of the paperwork while you solve problems and keep things comfortable.

Based on your personality traits alone, we estimate that approximately 1 in 100 people will have the personality traits required to qualify for a high likelihood of very strong long term romantic chemistry with you.

You prefer work where you can see the completed results when you're done. Rather than focus on the same project for ten years before seeing results, you're the type that would like to refine your skills over time by repeatedly using them to produce visible results on a much faster basis.

You hate to be bored and love to be entertained. You want entertainment that stimulates you and makes you laugh.

Wow, all the tired is gone

2007-03-15T20:56:00.000-08:00

Over the last several weeks I've had lots of ideas for interesting blog posts. I've done nothing to follow through on that though. Leif's recent post reminded me, since he voiced similar sentiments. My reasons are different. At least for the last couple weeks.

I'm generally tired all the time. I'm not entirely sure why, I've got a sleep study scheduled later this month, perhaps we'll figure something out from that. In any event, on my last trip back east I ended up getting around 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night. That coupled with the time change left me more than a little discumbobulated. When I got back to town I never really got a chance to catch up. The last two days I've stayed home from work and slept in, I was just so run down I wasn't much good at work. I feel pretty good now.

So, I'll try to get some of those ideas up. We'll see how it goes, this time of year is the most stressful for me. There is simply too much going on, with work, shows ,and gearing up for Ren fair.

If you've seen the commercials, then you know what I mean when I ask: What the heck are boyfriend trousers?

Fishy fishy fishy fish

2006-12-29T20:46:00.000-09:00

Here are the pictures from my visit to the National Aquarium in Baltimore
.

Lot's of sharks, and such. There's a pretty good clown anenomefish picture. All the birds are from the rainforest exhibit (And so are a couple of the turtles).

Enjoy!

Today in the life

2006-12-17T19:05:00.000-09:00

I'm back on the east coast again. Today I took a little side trip and went to Baltimore and went to the National Aquarium. It was very cool, if you get the chance you should go. It's in downtown Baltimore, right on the water. There are several historic ships in the maritime museum (I think thats what they called it), one of which was a Coast Guard cutter that is the last remaining ship from Pearl Harbor.

My friend and I stayed for the dolphin show, which was great fun. There is just something about dolphins, they always seem to be having a good time.

I got some good pictures, but my camera died just as the dolphin show started. Once I get batteries in my camera I'll upload the pictures.

I want my mummy!

2006-10-24T23:39:00.000-08:00

The Curse of the Mummy!

Opens this Friday, at APU Grant Hall in the E.R. Brown Theatre.

Friday, October 27 at 7pm
Saturday, October 28 at 3pm & 7pm
Sunday, October 29 at 3pm
Tuesday, October 31 at 7pm & 9pm

We'll see you there!

The FCC Hates the Deaf and Hard of Hearing?

2006-09-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

I'm sure most, if not all, of the readers of my little blog are aware that I'm hard of hearing. I'm fairly up front about it. I'm not the only one in our circle of friends who has the problem, and in fact several of the kids we work with do as well.

I often rely on closed captioning to help me with enjoying television, movies, and other similar forms of entertainment. Not exclusively mind you, often times I will use them to augment whatever I am watching. They help me catch things that I would otherwise have missed, make it so that I don't have to rewind to better understand part of a conversation, or constantly bother Elle asking what some character has said.

I read on Boing-Boing about some changes the FCC has made to the rules governing closed captioning. These new rules make it easier for companies to get away with not captioning things.

If you are so inclined, I would appreciate it if you would go to the American Association of People with Disabilities website, where they have a form letter you can customize and a list of email addresses for people at the FCC you can send it to.

Ye scurvy dogs

2006-09-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

Avast, and pay heed, for we be sailing through unfriendly waters. Today be International Talk Like A Pirate Day. So be sure to get yerself some Piratitude.

May ye find a fair wind and a following sea.

New layout

2006-09-07T14:37:00.000-08:00

So I'm trying some of the new elements available in the beta that blogger is running, including the new templates and layout management.. Good stuff so far.

Net Neutrality

2006-08-27T19:56:00.000-08:00

Net Neutrality has been a burgeoning issue over the last several month, so some internet celebrities (Although I may be using that term loosely) got together and created a music video to help explain why you should be for Net Neutrality. Check it out here.

Then for more information on net neutrality and to find out a bit more about the celebs go to We Are the Web.

http://www.wearetheweb.org/

Don't let the video fool you. Net neutrality is an important issue.

Maryland renaissance Fair

2006-08-26T19:16:00.000-08:00

Today, Chewie and I went to the Maryland Renaissance Fair. We had a great time, and the fair was extremely cool. In many ways it is what the 3 Baron's Fair aspires to be.

They have jousting. They were spectacular in their shiny armor, atop their gigantic horses and the actual jousting was pretty neat. However the hand to hand stuff they did was poorly choreographed and executed. I have to give them props for doing it in armor though. It might have helped if they practiced in the armor more often, they seemed to be real unsure when they were off the horses.

Their chess show is very different from ours. They have a slightly smaller board (This is mostly guess since we couldn't get close enough to see accurately measure), and didn't fight on the board like we do. Since the chess show took place in the same area as the jousting they had a large area and would move into a seperate space to fight. We got there late so were only able to see two and a half fights (I don't know how many total there were in the show. They were both performed better than the hadn to hand of the jousters, but the choreographic/staging choices were in many cases poor. They used a number of techniques that work well with specific stagings, but barely work in others. I felt they would have been better served by moving the board to the center of the arena (It was more upstage), and putting the fights (At least the ones we saw, which were the final two) farther upstage. Since the arena was a essentially a very long thrust (3/4 round for those that prefer to think in those terms), the fights would have sold better to a majority of the audience. One thing that seemed to work against them was that they had children as pieces on the board, I am referring to young children here. I assume they chose them from the audience. They put them in not only as pawns, but as power pieces (Rook and Queen were the moves that I saw). While being cute for the parents, it served to interrupt the forward momentum of the show, and the kids didn't generally end up on the right squares. Since the whole finale of the show hinged on neither side having reached a checkmate, it seemed an interesting choice to have the integral moves made by children who didn't really understand what was going on.

We were late to the chess show because we were watching one of Hack & Slash's performances. They were great! I highly recommend checking out the link to find out more about them. The short version is that they are a comedy sword fighting duo. I have long wanted to do a show of this style, and was very excited to see them. We enjoyed the first show so much, that we went back for the second show of the day, the Ale Extravaganza. it was great fun.

Other cool things about the Maryland Renaissance Fair:

- They have a permanent site and so that means they have permanent buildings. They have really done that aspect right, it was wonderful walking around and looking at the construction. We took some pictures which I'll link to once they're up.
- They have a replica of the Globe Stage, and one called the Lyric Stage which seems to have a working pipe organ.
- They had elephant rides, with 2 elephants. Thats twice as many elephants as we've ever had.

Definately worth the trip!

Dames Point Bridge

2006-08-21T15:05:00.000-08:00

Dames Point Bridge

I am traveling for work again. I'll be in Jacksonville, Florida until thursday. It is very pretty here. the link above is to a very cool bridge I drove across to get to my hotel.

Workshop Photo

2006-08-09T22:11:00.000-08:00

Here is a photo from the Aikido workshop last weekend with Yuki Hara Sensei:

The workshop was great fun. I only made it to two out of the three classes, I was just too sore to make it to the second one. The first night, we worked on basically one technique (With small variations) for an hour and a half.

Since I haven't gone to class yet this week, I'm going to go tomorrow. I don't usually go on thursdays, but this will be the last week I'm likely to be able to go until September. Between my workshop next week, and traveling for work I won't have time. I'm going to try and go to the Aikido Shobukan Dojo while I'm in Virginia. It is the home dojo of Saotome Sensei, who studied with the founder of Aikido. I'm not likely to get to train with him, since he travels a lot but it will be interesting to traing in a large dojo. Aikido encourages training with different instructors periodically. Besides, it is something to do in the evening while I'm there.

Combat Workshop!

2006-08-06T15:21:00.000-08:00

Here are all the details:

Frozen Steel Productions and TBA Theatre

PRESENT

A Dueling Arts International Event

Sponsored by the Wendy Williamson Auditorium

Armed In Alaska III

August 14th -18th

Certification August 19th*

Instructor - D.C. Wright
Senior Instructor for Dueling Arts International
Society of American Fight Directors Certified Teacher
Assisted by Frank Delaney and Glen Wall, Associate Instructors for Dueling Arts International

Beginning Stage Combat Monday Friday 8:30 am12:00 pm

Ages: 16 Adult (13 and up with instructor's approval) Prerequisites: None

Techniques: Unarmed & Broadsword

Cost with Certification: $160.00 in advance or $180.00 at the door* Cost without Certification: $120.00 in advance or $140.00 at the door

Ideal for the seasoned fighter interested in sharpening their skills as well as the beginner looking to get their start in stage combat. This class covers the essential techniques of hand to hand fighting as well as the fundamental form and method of broadsword use, as well as the history of the sword as it relates to acting the fight.

Intermediate Stage Combat Monday Friday 1:30 pm5:00 pm

Ages: 16 Adult

Prerequisites: Instructor Approval

Techniques: Broadsword, Quarterstaff & Swashbuckling Single Sword Cost with Certification: $160.00 in advance or $180.00 at the door Cost without Certification: $120.00 in advance or $140.00 at the door

This course is designed for the experienced fighter interested in developing their skills, increasing their range of weapon expertise and/or DAI certifying or re-certifying. Class-work covers in-depth treatment of the quarterstaff and broadsword as well as exposure to the single sword swashbuckler style.

Master Classes $30.00
For ages 16-Adult (or 13 and up with prior experience and instructor's approval)

Laban Technique for the Actor - Wednesday Aug 16^. 7:00pm to 9:00pm

A system created by choreographer, Rudolph Laban, which has been adopted by actors as a movement based training or method. Through Laban the actor becomes aware of their own subtle and obvious physicality in everyday life, forcing the performer to explore a new range of movement. This remarkable style helps actors to recognize and understand where and how thought, emotion and intention live in the body and how it is expressed simultaneously through text and character.

Sticks of Jackie Chan - Friday Aug 187:00pm to 9:00pm

Jackie Chan is best known for his action packed movies with their special mix of humor and martial arts. No normal day would be complete for Jackie without defending himself against multiple attackers using only a broomstick, cue stick or some other improvised quarterstaff. This class focuses on employing the staff in the style of the master himself.

* For an additional $40 teaching and certification fee and four additional hours of training on Saturday the 19th students can be registered with Dueling Arts Intemational as a Certified Actor Combatant. Both workshops will have their DAI tests on Saturday morning beginning at 6:30am until all tests are completed. Beginning students will test certify in Unarmed Techniques and will receive additional training in Broadsword. Intermediate students will take a DAI skills test in Quarter Staff and Broadsword, and will receive additional training in Single Sword.

To register or for further Information call TBA Theatre at 677-7529

so tired.

2006-08-04T23:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I realized at about 9ish that my wrist hurt. I assumed that I slept on it wrong. I'll somtimes curl my one arm in tightly to me while I sleep.

Today, a little while before lunch I received a weird injury. I was on the phone with Elle, and was holding the cell phone to my ear in the standard fashion (Not craining my neck oddly or anything) when I sneezed. Immediately my shoulder started to hurt. Not just a little twinge, but an intense sort of pain. A few minutes later as I moving my arm around (Working it through its range of motion) I heard a little pop sound. So perhaps I managed to pop my shoulder out a little bit while on the phone. Decidedly one of the least cool injuries I've ever received.

There is a guest instructor in town for Aikido. Her class was awesome. She worked us hard though, and my knees are very sore. The technique we worked on primarily involved dropping your center as part of the take down, which means a lot of up and down motion. My right knee is still a little weak from my injury last summer (Almost exactly a year). I still had a great time. There are two more classes tomorrow. I'm going to the morning class, and hopefully won't be too sore for the afternoon one.

So the tally so far:

1 Sore wrist

1 Hurt shoulder

2 sore knees

Man, I am falling apart.

Commercial!

2006-07-28T16:46:00.000-08:00

Last week I shot a PSA for the State Troopers. It was an interesting experience as I've done very little video/film stuff. The copy had been written to be about 25 seconds long, but they wanted me to do it in 24. The guy with the camera was walking about 2 feet in front of me, while I tried to walk a mostly straight line (With a gentle curve at the end). It starts airing around town on the 16th of August. I got an email that it was posted to the Troopers website today, so I grabbed it!

Check it out:

Some old pictures

2006-07-24T11:12:00.000-08:00

Leif took these pictures at the Valdez Theatre Conference in 2004. I can't remember what exactly I was doing in the first one. The second I like for the contrast between Jill and Aron, and myself.

The sea, she is harsh

2006-07-17T21:09:00.000-08:00

My Seward trip ultimately was a bust, as far as catching fish goes. However, the boat ride was great fun. We were stepping hard on the waves. For a long time I was outside the cabin, with the sea spray in my face. I felt a firm connection to the sea, and kept thinking how much fun I was having.

I loved it.

However, the sea was rough. When we stopped for a few minutes the movement of the boat side to side, and in circles was an entirely different experience.

Yes, I ultimately gave up my breakfast to the sea.

I learned some important things that day:

1> I really like being on a boat
2> bananas are bad luck on a boat
3> Ginger really helps to settle your stomach fast.

things

2006-07-17T13:01:00.000-08:00

So, this update is happening while I wait for leif to arrive for lunch.

I'll be providing a more in depth entry later tonight about my trip to
Seward. Some thoughts that have been boiling in my head.

Twins?

2006-07-06T20:38:00.000-08:00

Two Alpacas

Chewie and I

As stated previously Chewie and I went to the Virginia Renaissance Fair last month. As you can tell from the picture it was very hot. In my happy hands you can see the mug I purchased. I got a pretty cool one for Elle with a pirate logo on it.

As you can see in the picture I was wearing a bright red baseball cap. We were sitting in the bar, enjoying the frosty goodness of a couple beers, when I was called up on stage by "Dinty the Moor". I figure my hat got his attention. He of course had no idea what he was getting himself into, we traded some banter back and forth for a bit. The gist of his schtick was that myself and the other guy he pulled up were going to fight a duel, with Plastic French Cocktail Swords. The first person who's sword broke was supposed to die in a dramatic fashion. Mine did. So I died. In a dramatic fashion. The audience loved it. Afterwards as we were taking pictures of some random things we wanted to remember, one of the ladies from the audience approached me to tell me what a good job she thought I had done (Specifically she said that I should think about taking lessons, so I could do more). It was a pretty good day over all. There are more pictures here, you can even see Dinty in a couple of them.

View from my hotel in Seward

2006-07-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

Note: I had originally included the pictures in my post, but couldn't get them to size right so I just changed it to links.

This is the view out of my hotel room in Seward (Looking to the left).

Here it is to the right.

I didn't get any pictures from the boat since the weather was too rough, which is unfortunate since we saw Orcas and some other whales I wasn't able to identify. More pictures can be found by going here. They are mostly from my trip back, just some general scenery pictures.

updates are a harsh mistress

2006-07-05T12:32:00.000-08:00

The update for my Seward trip is forthcoming. I've been trying to
organize everything in my head.

In the mean time, I am currently sitting at lunch typing this into my
Crackberry. Pretty spiffy really, I can blog from anywhere. Not that I
will, but it's good to have options.

As you are aware I'm sure yesterday was independence day (or as
Fosberg would call it, Tuesday)n and the usual party happenings were
under way at Leif's. Lindsay often writes about how cool our friends
are, and she is right. It was nice for all of us to get together.
There was a great deal of laughing, some catching up, and much singing
done.

Highlights for me included:
- bocce (always fun)
- chasing down the folks who hit Angela's car in the parking lot (we
didn't catch them, but it was a fun Special Ops kind of moment)
- taking Lily for a ride on my motorcycle

I may add more as they come to me.

Also, I picked up a soundboard that Leif had in his garage. So now I
can get my home studio together. Very cool.

Looky there

2006-06-28T23:29:00.000-08:00

Well, I arrived in Seward just a little while ago. I have settled into the hotel room. I never fail to be surprised by the beauty of this area everytime I come down here. It really is amazing. I took some pictures from the balcony here, but I left the USB cable for my camera at home. so, pictures will come later.

Fw: Ahoy!

2006-06-28T15:59:00.000-08:00

Earlier today I received a call from a guy I used to work with, who now works for one of my vendors. They had a spot on a fishing charter open, and he offered it to me. So long story short, I'm going fishing tomorrow. I'm driving down to Seward tonight, since the boat leaves at 6:30 am. I got a hotel room (a little more than I wanted to pay, but worth it to not sleep in the car). I will be taking my camera with, so I should have pictures when I get back.

I'm very excited, I haven't gone on a charter boat before.

Home again jiggity jig

2006-06-26T22:13:00.000-08:00

I am home again after spending two weeks in Virginia. I was there helping one of our divisions move into a new office location.

While down there I got 1 day off, last Sunday. Matt Sun (Chewey) drove down from New Jersey and we went to the Virginia Renaissance Fair (http://varf.org/). We had a pretty good time. Although, I was surprised that it was smaller than our faire. It was interesting to see the differences, and I came away with a few ideas of things to try and appropriate for ours. I'll get links up to some of the pictures.

Big Spanish Castle

2006-06-08T11:07:00.000-08:00

Big Spanish Castle

The link above is a very cool optical illusion. I thought I would share since it has been so long since I put anything on here.

Chris Moore

2006-04-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

Chris Moore

So one of my favorite authors is Christopher Moore. He is coming to Anchorage on April 24 for a book signing (New book!) The link above is to his blog. Much goodness. Drink deep.

FW: Blackhole of meetings

2006-04-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

We are currently evaluating Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software at work. For the last several days we have had several demonstrations. This coupled with exhaustion from rehearsals for Robin Hood & The Lady of Sherwood have left me in a somewhat zombie like state.

Mmmm, brains.

LASIK@Home

2006-04-05T14:48:00.000-08:00

LASIK@Home

This is astoundingly cool. You will ask yourself, how have I lived this long with out it?

Don't blink!

Eat Spam

2006-03-02T10:56:00.000-09:00

Ok, so today I received spam from:

Androcles Mor

Another very good name. I've decided to start collecting the ones I like, and use them in some short stories I'm working on. That should be fun.

Thing. There's a thing over there.

2006-02-25T20:01:00.000-09:00

I added a mailing list thing over there.

Busy saturday night, eh?

I've had an origin

2006-02-25T19:23:00.000-09:00

So, I received in my little electronic mailbox a bit of spam. That is not all that interesting by itself. The fake name that the spam was sent from caught my eye though:

Gethsemane Lion

I freaking love that! It sounds like a comic book character, or some anti-hero in a movie. Now I just need to figure out where to use it.

I'm willing to sell out.

2006-02-25T17:01:00.000-09:00

If there are any major companies out there (Or even minor ones for that matter), who are looking for the "type of advertising money can't buy", I'm available.

This is the article that spawned the thought.

I'll even wear the diamond encrusted bra & panties.

Long time

2006-02-17T22:30:00.000-09:00

Since my last entry, I’ve been moderately busy. School has started and classes are going well. I have finally applied for graduation! It’s been a long road, but it’s very nearly at the end. After which I will likely begin some sort of Master’s program. That is a bit in the future.

Aikido has been going pretty well. I’m not able to go very often, but I have a great time when I can go.

A couple weeks ago the winter theatre store classes started at TFYP. I’m teaching single rapier. We generally get a good turnout, but this time around the class is huge! I have 18 students! West High is putting up a production of The 3 Musketeers this spring, and TFYP is putting up a show called Robin Hood & The Lady of Sherwood, both of which have significant fight roles in them. Everyone is working very hard, and they’re doing well over all. The only thing I don’t like about the classes is that they start at 9 in the morning, and I’ve never been much of a morning person.

The knee-hab continues to move right along. I haven’t been going to the gym like I should, so it has been sore lately. I guess I need to make a more concerted effort.

Grab my wrist

2006-01-17T18:26:00.000-09:00

Last night I went to Aikido for the first time since hurting my knee back in August. I had a great time, and was able to stay for the full two hour class. My knee doesn’t hurt at all, although my back is a little twingy at moments. On a side note, I finally got to wear the new gi I bought before going to Tahoe in August. It’s very different from my old one, so it feels a little weird. I’m sure in time I’ll get used to it, or get a different one.

We’ll see if I’m still not sore tomorrow.

Mom there's some geeky in my cereal

2006-01-11T10:18:00.000-09:00

So I was perusing the news site Digg today and someone had posted a link to today's Foxtrot cartoon that has a binary joke in it. So my geeky curiousity was intrigued. The binary message in Jason's "Alpha-Bytes" spells out a message in binary. If you didn't know Bill amend, the artist behind Foxtrot, has a bachelors degree in Physics. He's got a bunch of stuff on his personal site. If you want to find out what the binary puzzle says:

Copy & Paste the following from the cartoon:

01011001010011110101010101001110010001010101001001000100

In to the translator located here.

Overnighters

2006-01-08T23:53:00.000-09:00

The Overnighters is done. I’m so very, very tired. I’ll write a bit about it later.

It's ouchy right there

2006-01-03T22:20:00.000-09:00

So a pain in my lower abdominal area turned out to be the start of a hernia. It was kind of a dull ache before I went to the doctor. After the examination it was out right pain for a while. The doc says its nothing to worry about right now, and that it should be ok after a few days. In the long run it may require surgery, or may go away forever. At the moment though, it hurts.

Ouch.

Moving pictures

2006-01-02T23:15:00.000-09:00

In a highly unprecedented turn of events this weekend, we went to see not only one but two movies. Both of which were fabulous.

As I already mentioned The Chronicles of Narnia was amazing. I haven’t read the books, and am primarily familiar with the story from the stage versions (Primarily The Magician’s Nephew), although I’m told these leave out quite a bit from the books. The movie however, I’m told is very true to the books. My nephew’s enjoyed it and were able to sit through the whole thing, which is pretty amazing considering the length of the film.

King Kong absolutely lived up to all the hype. The acting was superb, and the effects were utterly fantastic. Peter Jackson also managed to stay true to the original, while still expanding it. I had heard that it was scary, which I didn’t find it to be. There were definitely tense moments, and ones that freaked me out (Oh the bugs, the bugs!) but not what I would classify as scary.

The scary thing at King Kong was the number of parents that brought young children. Although none of the kids seemed to get very vocal, I can’t believe anyone would think of it as an appropriate film for young kids. I’m sure there will be quite a few with nightmares tonight.

Features of Niftiness

2006-01-02T15:36:00.000-09:00

So here I am. Sitting on the couch, I need to get my stuff together to go to the gym. I am instead testing out the email posting feature.

We’re going to see King Kong tonight. I’m excited, it looks excellent. We saw The Chronicles of Narnia yesterday, and it was fabulous! If you have not yet seen it, then get your butt out and watch it.

Ok, I’ll send this now and go to the gym.

First post. New Year.

2006-01-02T14:14:00.000-09:00

Well, I named this blog based on the Infinite Monkey Theorem (For a detailed explanation go here). I now have two blogs. I post sporadically in the old one, and hopefully will do more with this one. I plan on keeping the one at LiveJournal active, although I haven't decided what type of focus I want it to have. I'm sure it will all change as I explore things.

To be honest, I haven't decided what this one will be either. All I really know is that I often find myself wanting to write about things, and yet I rarely take the opportunity. I think perhaps if I find a tool that I really like it will help.