There are times in one's life where one wonders if friends are really friends or if they are in fact foes; whether or not they are a help or hindrance.

Here's the gist of the situation... 

I show up at our meetings for the past few weeks without my wife because she has to work. She told several folks that she was going to be working on a few Thursdays beforehand. Fast forward to the following week leads to many folks asking where she was. I politely answer because in my mind, it was not a big deal. Work happens. Same thing again the following week. Again, not a biggie.

We go tonight and about 1/2 of the people who asked where she was in the previous weeks were there. Of them, only two who regularly talk with us acknowledged that we were there. The rest of the folks who asked about her previously didn't even say hello.

Now to be fair, we aren't particularly outgoing or attention grabbing. We simply don't try to take center stage. Those who know me well would describe me a lurker, someone on the edges of the crowd in the first place. Yes, there were also a couple fo faces who haven't been around in a while tonight as well. But still, I would have thought the few of those who asked about her would have greeted her at the very least.

It's also telling that when we go eat afterward that the tables fill up from the opposite end of where we are sitting. We sit at one end of the mass of tables so as to better keep an eye on the kids since they are sitting in their own booth. The only times I can recollect having people actually sit next to us at the table is when we run out of chairs. Any time we have chairs left over, they are next to us at our end of the table. I've often wondered why that happens.

Funnily enough, people I talk with on a regular basis (at the meetings) I've told this occurrance to don't believe it happens. Maybe I should take pictures for them.

And if any of those who might be reading this are of the group of folks I'm talking about, feel free to talk with me about it. I won't bite nor will I be angry with you. I simply despise cliquish behavior as it tends to be juvenile & breeds snobbery / exclusivity. It's hardly conducive to an open and welcoming environment.

Though part of me wonders if this is all stemming from when we asked for assistance and guidance with our efforts rather than handouts and then mentioned something to the folks in charge when we got blown off.

Tags: cliques, foes, friends, playing favorites
Current Location: Home
Current Mood: contemplative

Geez, lots of things have gone on since the last time I posted something. Perhaps I should post something a*bit* more often?

Let's see....

1. Changed jobs at the beginning of July 2007. Same company, different position.
2. Took over patch / IA support at new position.
3. In tandem with #2, became responsible for Information Assurance support for over 3500 computer assets. Yay... =|
4. Started working progressively longer and longer hours. Started off at 40-42/wk. Ended up with 55-60/wk.
5. Work really cramps my style.
6. Survived the mad dash through the holidays.
7. Birthdays & baby have happened. I'm 33 now, woohoo!

That's just the brief recap. One fun thing was playing photographer for William & Sara Beth at their investiture in November.

More current day...

KASF...
Apparently I offended one or more someones' sensibilities at KASF which is neat because outside of the vendors and some folks I knew, I hardly talked to anyone. From what little I gathered our autocrat was complained to about someone in a shirt that looked like chainmail and it wasn't proper or period or something to that effect. The few folks I talked to about after Moot were of the opinion that if you really don't like someone's garb, either suck it up because they are in acceptable enough garb to get past troll or go make them garb so they can see how it's done.

Then again, there were complaints of people in mundane clothes being on-site. To that, I would have to ask what is period attire for an electrician and plumber? Maybe it's not such a good idea for me to be thinking of autocratting an event. I don't suffer fools or foolishness very well. (please, if I'm ever a fool or acting/being foolish, please let me know even if you are certain it's going to hurt my feelings. I hate the taste of my foot.) Biting sarcasm has gotten me into trouble more than once. I will admit to the fact that I'm waiting for someone to ask me the question "What kind of fool do you take me for?". >=]

One friend even said "Everyone in the SCA belongs in one of two groups; those who live in the SCA and those who play in the SCA. Don't let the other group dictate to you the *proper way* to have fun".

Though I will have to admit, one thing I learned years ago about complaining... if you don't address your problem with the source of it, all you are doing is whining. Thing is, not a soul commented on my garb negatively *to* me. I did have several people comment on the shirt and how they loved it. I would have had my normal jacket that goes with my trews for the event but I had issues with some seams in the shoulders the night before that prevented me from wearing it. They'll be worked on over the next couple of weeks to correct them and all will be good.

All in all though, I did have fun at the event. Got some new books and a nice belt (cut to size). We ended up leaving early as my feet were complaining and I was starting to get a bit short of breath. I almost didn't make it to the event due to being sick the week before. 

WORK STUFF
Found out in mid-Feb that overtime is no longer authorized until the end of April at the earliest. Apparently there is a contract dispute / re-negotion going on between my work site (I'm a sub-contractor working client-site) and the government entity for whom we are doing work. From what we (a few other co-workers and I) have found out, it basically boils down to the government entity having gotten spoiled on a T&M support contract and switching over to a FFP contract. They still expected T&M support but never contracted for it.

Oh and they dumped about 200% more work on top of us beyond the contract itself. Basically, the government was trying to squeeze out $3 of work from every $1 spent and balking about every $1 spent in the process. I can't complain about the 40hrs max really. Gives me more time at home. I get home and sunlight is still available. I can actually play video games and make it to SCA stuff on time.

KID STUFF
Our baby, Rebecca managed to roll off the couch despite being right next to Mom. That makes us 4 for 4 on kids rolling off the couch despite Mom & Dad being there. Funny how kids can still defeat the best of parental supervision, ain't it? She just turned 7 months old a few days ago. My eldest (11) still values my advice. Which is a bit surprising since she's so headstrong and stubborn but hey, I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Some update, huh? Nothing juicy, drama-ridden or shocking. Just more mundania... and I'm okay with that.

Tags: drama work kasf garb
Current Location: Home
Current Mood: complacent

Time certainly flies when you aren't paying attention. 

Let's see... my wife is 36+ weeks pregnant and due to pop pretty much anytime now. I've been working 43-47 hour weeks the past few weeks. The OT is nice but getting home at 6:30pm or later is getting old. The meetings I've been in...5 last week (of which one lasted two days) and two so far this week with two more yet to come. Next week isn't looking so hot for meetings either.

I hate meetings. I really do. Let me clarify a little. I hate formal meetings. Little to nothing productive comes from most of them. I'd rather have a small focused group hold a short meeting than some long drawn out affair that lasts 2+ days. Honestly, after 2-3 hours, my mind is elsewhere unless the material being covered is of vital importance to me (even then, I need a break after 4-5 hours).

Though the meetings this week are fairly productive. We might be able to dump a large chunk of administrative work right out the window if things pan out like we believe they will (as a result of the meetings this week). That will be a major blessing for everyone involved.

We also went to Busch Gardens this last weekend. We had a blast. The season passes we bought last year have already paid for themselves. We are planning on going a few more times this year plus we also want to go up there for Hallow-scream. So another 5-6 trips yet for us this year. Not too shabby.

I read Cat's LJ and posted a reply to it last night as well.

Also been watching folks prepare for Pennsic. We aren't going this year due to my wife being so close to due date. Maybe next year. But for that to happen, we'll need a LOT more garb and I'll have to save up nearly all my leave between now and then just to go for the two weeks. Not so certain how that will work out for us given that we'd like for me to be able to take time off for Christmas and such.

Not much else is happening. I'm just working on refreshing my memory of the last couple of HP books so when we pick up our book on Friday night... err Saturday morning, I'll be able to keep on going with a decent refresh of recent events.

Speaking of Saturday, there's a Native American Festival happening up in Hampton at the Colisseum. Free admission to a festival celebrating Native American culture. Supposed to be a lot of stuff going on there too. If anyone is interested in more info for it, click here. 

All in all, the last couple of weeks haven't been bad at all. Busy but still not bad. I can handle this.

Tags: native american sca pennsic
Current Location: @ my desk at home
Current Mood: mellow

Went to Fighter Practice out at Mt. Trashmore today. I was originally thinking about not showing at all due to a pounding headache but I opted to go anyways.

It sure is a good thing that I did since ArnBiorn found me about 10 minutes after I showed up and introduced me to a Lord Michel (I am certain I mangled his name, *sigh*) who has an all-but unpronouncable last name. I do know that it translates to 'Of the Mountain of Revelation'.

At any rate, Lord Michel is getting out of Heavy Fighting all together due to health issues. As such, he is selling all his heavy fighter gear. After some wheeling and dealing, I ended up with a helmet & chainmail coif made by Micheal of Bedford. Per ArnBiorn, that helmet is worth $1500 bought new (now). I also got a very nice set of articulated metal legs with additional lower leg protection, the belt they hang from, and a set of articulated metal arms. The arms just need a bit of touch up and fine tuning for use.

The total damage? $850. I paid a $200 downpayment today and will be paying the rest in two weeks time. What sold me was that Arn was showering praise upon the armor and was wishing he could have bought some of it. He did advise me that the articulated gauntlets I was looking at could be problematic since my thumbs are rather long and were sticking out about a 1/2 inch past the metal for the thumb guard.

Many thanks to you Arn for your expert advice & assistance today. This newbie fighter truly appreciates it.

Now all I have to do is finish my torso armor and the gambeson. I do have an apology for my youngest daughter as she got all dressed up in garb so she could hang out in the fighter practice area and assist me with my lamellar. Unfortunately, I ended up spending all the time talking with a couple of folks who stopped by and with Michel for the armor. Tiffani really enjoys helping me with any project I'm doing and I promised her we'd work on it today. I'll have to sit down with her tomorrow after I get home from work and work on it with her. I'll also make her something out of leather this week since she loves to watch me do leather working.

Speaking of that, I need to find a day to get out to Catalina's house with my leather work stuff so Casey & I can finish her key chain fob we started at the Demo on last Saturday. Plus I need to find some time to make my leather shoes so I can have an alternative to the black leather boots I have. Not that there is anything wrong with them but they aren't quite right period-wise for the garb I'm typically wearing.

Regarding the Demo, I was there talking about leather work, tooling, dyeing / staining / painting, etc. Seems most folks weren't all that interested in the work portion except the stamping. Everyone that came by and looked at the stamps wanted to give them a good whack. After a couple of those, folks were having a blast and I ended up making key chain fobs for anyone who came by and gave the leather a whack. I also made a couple to give to friends who were at the Demo as well as one to Lady Elaine as she was generous to let me have a couple of daubers for use in staining & sealing the leather.

Due to the popularity of those keychain fobs, I just might try my hand at merchanting leather crafts (cases, belt knife holders, clips, keychain fobs, etc).

After the Demo, we went to Sir Wiliam's & Lady Sara Beth's house to attend the pool party they announced for after-Demo relaxation. Sadly my wife, kids, and I were the only ones to show up. The swimming was fun. Lady Sara Beth also challenged me to hit the slide. Being the good sport I am, I took her up on the challenge and made the plunge. Fun was had by us all.

Not a bad weekend. No drama and plenty of fun all around. I'm not sure what we are doing next weekend since we aren't planning on going to Assessment. We may go to Busch Gardens since we have season passes.

Tags: sca armor garb leather
Current Location: computer room desk
Current Mood: giddy

Well, about my new job / position as promised earlier...

It's Information Assurance Liason. Basically it's my job to provide technical support to the IA Team and to the customers the contract services. I help answer questions, track trouble tickets, attend meetings, represent the IA team when required, etc. It's a catch all position that is somewhat technical and somewhat administrative. It's definitely not Tier 1 Tech Support / Help Desk (**YES!!!**). The bad part about the position is that it requires the tracking / maintanence of 300+ spreadsheets and 3 databases. Of that, I only have to worry about the spreadsheets and making entries into only one database (as needed).

The drive to the client's work site is a longer commute than I had before (15.4 miles vice 5 miles) but I still get good traffic flow like I do now in my old job.

SCA stuff...

Went to Fighter Practice over at Baron Donal's backyard. Unfortunately, the weather conspired against us and I was the only one to show up. So we did a bit of Pell work and discussed various details about polearm, sword & shield, and spear fighting. So I may not have had a physical workout but I certainly had a mental one.

The highlight was when Baron Donal pulled out his 4 foot polearm. It's a wicked little device and it all but screamed FUN the moment I picked it up. It's basically a kid sized glaive but it has a lot of neat little tricks and I just might have to build one for myself. The real bonus is that it's so light, it instantly reminded me of fighting with light weapons in martial arts.

I also got to explain in better detail what I was trying to do with the martial arts training I've had and meshing it with the SCA style fighting. That little polearm just might be my ticket to doing so.

Well, I'm finally here. Due to the persistence of a sweet (and rather determined) friend, I've given in and made a Live Journal account so she can friend me. Yes Cat, you can friend me now. =)

On a work related note, the guy who is replacing me at my current position (so I can move to a new position) is going through some serious headaches trying to get his paperwork done so he can be officially inducted into the pay & accounting system. Apparently his previous division (within the same company) didn't do their jobs and haven't detached him from their system so he can be entered into our system. 

My suggestion to him was to call up the person who funds his position and let her know so she can light some fires. ]=)

I'll talk about my new position that I start full-time (as of July 2nd) later on.

As for other rambling thoughts and comments, I'll see what all I can do with this thing later on.

Current Location: @work
Current Mood: amused