I had the best time going to California for the Breeders Cup this past weekend. Imagine being with 58,000 people, all of whom decided to have a good time at the races, and you can understand the great party mood that was present at Santa Anita.

A front-row seat with catered lunches and cocktail servers helped, as did the lovely weather, the flowers everywhere, and the San Gabriel Mountains in the background. We had two days of horse racing with some of the best horses in the world. None of the horses fell or broke a leg or had to be destroyed.  And for the Classic, the big finale race, the filly Zenyatta continued her 13-race unbeaten record by finishing ahead of the boys. (The boys included the Kentucky Derby winner, the Belmont winner, the Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, the Travers winner, the winner of the Champion Stakes at Newmarket, etc., etc.).  It was a great moment in horse racing history. 

Am I going to the Breeders Cup next year? Well yes!! It's going to be at Churchill Downs and I already have a hotel reservation. 

Here are some pictures from this year's races. 

 

 It's the Breeders Cup again this weekend, and I"m off to Southern California for two days of the finest thoroughbreds in the world racing at beautiful Santa Anita. 

If only my sister Marjorie could come with me, it would be perfect. Some of my earliest memories of life with my twin are a total fascination with horse races. But Marge died, way too early, when we were 49. So I'm off to enjoy the beauty of the horses and the thrill of the speed by myself. 

OK, there will be about 50,000 other people there. But it would be more fun with Marge.

 Crown Tourney in Coppertree was a huge success. 

This is strange, because because I helped run it. And I always think events I run will have nobody show up, and we'll go broke, and that there won't be enough food, and we will all starve.

But the weather held good, and we had over 225 people show up, so we made out very well financially. And there was food left over, really good food, and we had to ask people to take some with them. 

It involved a lot of hard work by a lot of people, but it was a success. 

And I got to see friends from Sharc. 

:-)

Crown Tourney in AEthelmearc is this coming Saturday, the 17th. For those of you who are coming and haven't pre-registered, you can do it online now and save yourself a wait in the check-in line. We are using a system called ACCEPS (Ansteorran Credit Card Event Payment System.)

Go to acceps.ansteorra.org/index.php, select the kingdom of AEthelmearc, select Crown Tourney, and follow the directions. It's easy, it's fast, and it saves you from the Dickensian task of writing out a check and putting it in the mail. We, your event hosts, get your name and information on a spreadsheet via email, and can check you in quickly and easily. 

And if any of you are holding events in the future, consider using this system. Just start at least a month before your event date to give the ACCEPS  people time to get your event on the web page. 

College Preps For Zombie Apocalypse - Gainesville Florida - WKRG.com

Shared via AddThis

Had a very nice time seeing my apprentice, THL Roberta McMorland, receive a Millrind from Henri & Elena at Coronation. She has done so much good work for the AEthelmearc scribes and the kingdom. She deserves it!
I also enjoyed seeing Rannveigr receive her writ to become a Laurel. Her research and work in making Norse garb, food, wire woven jewelry, and more is outstanding.
The lunch and feast were really, really good. Thank you, Creador Twinedragon, Mistress Judith of Kirkland, and all of your staff. Eggshells with marzipan "yolks" and almond cream "whites," in nests of spun sugar, yum.
Also enjoyed spending time with old friends and new. A good weekend!

Yes, it's been a long time.

Pennsic was great. But I have decided to find a trailer and build a Norman hut-style home for myself, as it is getting harder and harder to tote a big canvas pavilion around and set it up.

My shire is hosting Aethelmearc Crown Tourney on October 17, in Little Falls, NY. It's about as close as you're going to get to a Crown Tourney if you live in upstate NY. So y'all come, even if it's not your kingdom.

Work is intense but really interesting. I am now part of a consortium that fields online requests for library help from students anywhere in this country and several others. Plus I am teaching students from the local high school that are enrolled in college course with us.

My family has been terrific about getting together. We did the NY State Fair and several other events.

I helped Rhiannon and Diego move, but I didn't have to like it. Wah!

I have another librarian that is going to leave my library and go for bigger things. I do like mentoring librarians. And students. It is always good to see them go on to more. But I will miss this one.

Today I saw the coolest presentation at my Rotary club meeting. The speaker was Dr. Richard Linderman from the Air Force Research Labs (AFRL). He talked about the latest super computer projects they were doing. Their super computer is made up of 336 Playstation 3s, and has 53 teraflops of (memory? ROM?) and 1.4 teraflops of memory on the headnodes on its 14 subclusters. Fat trees are also involved. Whatever this means.
Anyway, by using 336 Playstations linked together, they were able to build a supercomputer that would have cost ten times as much if they bought it through the usual government procurement procedures. And they are doing some rocking projects with it. They can use satellites to take real-time movies of the activities of a whole city. They can mimic the recognition functions that a human brain uses, to read text that is obscured. They are building a version of the human brain that "sees" things the way humans do. I think that this is a very worthwhile thing to do with PS3s.

And do algebra problems, too! Today I scored high enough on my college's math placement test that I can sign up for the college algebra class that I need for my degree in web design and management.

Maybe next year I will get up the courage to try the required physics course, The Science of LIght.
From the catalog:
This is an introductory course designed to acquaint students with the basic concepts of light and optics. Topics covered will include: Historical development of optical instruments, electromagnetic spectrum, lenses and image formation, light sensitive materials and processes, color filters, Kirlean imaging, and holography. The course will include numerous examples chosen from a variety of fields, including photography, human vision and nature.

That's what I like about working for an educational institution. It can be....educational!

Picked up the new RoadRunner modems for me and Mom.

Plugged Mom's in to her PC. Had to call the help number to reset the ? so it could get onto the Internet. Had to read numerous tiny sets of numbers and letters off the modem to the help person.

Got onto the Internet and then Mom's email wouldn't work. Got passed on to an Indian help desk to reset the email because the local help person couldn't fix that. After working our way through numerous steps with "Ar-Ar" [really, that's what his name sounded like], finally had email. My time: approximately one hour.

Went home and plugged my new modem into my Mac & router. Started up the Mac. Hey, look, I have Internet AND email, no problem, no help desk calls. My time: <1 minute.

It is good to belong to the true faith.

For a couple of years, I've had a woodchuck living in my back yard. I enjoyed seeing a small furry rodent go about his business. Now and again we would startle each other, but generally I saw our relationship as one of respect, tinged with the desire to avoid any close encounters.

This spring the woodchuck decided to enlarge his burrow and made a large pile of dirt around the opening in my yard, sort of like a catcher's mound. The manager of my condo must have decided this was going too far, because a Havahart trap appeared on the mound, baited with lettuce. The trap stayed over the burrow for a couple of weeks and then went away. I don't know whether my woodchuck was trapped and moved, or decided to move away on his own; it had other entrances to its burrow on the other side of the condo fence so it could leave any time. I thought I would be without a backyard rodent after that.

But one day I saw another woodchuck, much larger and darker than my original woodchuck, come out of the burrow. The condo manager must have seen him too, because the next day the dirt mound had been shoveled into the burrow to block it up.

This week, however, somebody, probably the big woodchuck, re-excavated the hole. I haven't seen him around, but it looks like he's moved in.

The Duchezz scores this as Humans 1, Woodchucks 1, so far. Keep tuned for all the excitement!



You have to look closely at the middle of the picture to see my original woodchuck.





The evil Havahart live animal trap. Did my woodchuck go to jail?

 Yesterday was a day of sunshine, scenery, wine, good food, and friends. It was lovely.

meirwen , the Duchezz Rowan and I took a bus trip to Finger Lakes wine country. We visited several wineries, tasted a lot of wine, enjoyed the scenery, had a very nice lunch at Americana Winery (www.americanavineyards.com/),  bought a lot of wine, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. When we got back to Utica we went to a fabulous urban restaurant on Genesee St., the Balkan. It has great food, German-themed wood carvings, doors, furniture, etc., an attractive piano bar, and the wonderful Heidelburg bread from our area. We shared some country pate with cornichons, and then I had the duck confit, the Duchezz enjoyed the seafood au gratin, and meirwen  had the chicken piccata. They were all perfect. 

Then we divided up the wine (how many cases did I get? Wow!) and drove home, happy in our day together. 

Organizing Rowan's reception: a little time

Getting to Buffalo and back: some gas & tolls

Picking up some beverages and paper goods for the reception: a few dollars

Getting to yell "You hit like a Laurel!" at Ro at fight practice: priceless

The woodchuck who lives in my back yard is out of hibernation and looking for food. He or she is eating things off the ground, maybe maple seeds that didn't take root last fall. I am so tempted to put out some apples or carrots for him, and I have to keep sternly reminding myself that it is bad to feed wild animals and let them think that humans are a source of food. 

He is so cute with his cinnamon-colored fur! 

Must...not...feed...cute...furry....animal......

 At last, a reasonably pleasant Ice Dragon!
The new site is big enough for fighting, fencing, merchants, bardic, schmoozing, and the Pent, without feeling crowded. 
It's an easy off I-90 exit 49, with lots of parking. There was room outside for archery and thrown weapons. 
The bathrooms are clean and professionally maintained. Yay! 

The Pent just rocked. Rhiannon did a great job running it.  Mistress Rannveigr entered some really great Norse food, drink, clothing, and research papers and won the Pent. Skyr and mysa (Norse curds and whey), nom nom nom. There was plain skyr, roast lamb marinated in mysa, skyr and cream, skyr and blueberries, and on and on. I got to eat like a Viking!

It was good to see everybody. We had the usual load of food at our table so nobody starved. Later on at drd_pyrat 's we ordered barbecue from Sticky Lips and gossiped about everyone who wasn't there. We should have placed a call to the party at Elizabeth and Antonio's  to congratulate him but we weren't drunk enough. 

 

drd_pyrat fed us a bountiful breakfast on Sunday, and we got to gossip some more. Then it was back to mundania. 

Coming up in three weeks is Rowan's elevation to Laurel, at Aethelmearc Coronation. Who's going to be there?
 

 

 After a long winter, I am going to sunny Austin, Texas for a week with my brother, his wife, and their noble dog Ford. Going to visit the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, www.wildflower.org, to see the bluebonnets in bloom. Going to visit the Whole Foods flagship store for great shopping & takeout. Going to enjoy taking the dog for walks in a place where rosemary is grown as a hedge and doesn't have to live indoors all winter. Maybe we'll take in some of the wineries of the Texas Hill Country. 

Yes, I do suck. 

This past couple of months has been stressful. I had to fire one of the library clerks. The committee I chair at my college, Staff Development, has spent all its money for staff development proposals and now has nothing left until our new fiscal year begins in September, so people who didn't get their bids in are unhappy. Recovery from my smashed knee is still progressing, and it still hurts to walk. 

On the up side, our Shire has a new fight practice site, thanks to clovis_point . The snow has melted from my deck. I have a job that looks to be secure for a while. My car is fully paid and running okay, I have friends and family to visit, and I found a new series of books to read: Michael and Katherine Gear's series about prehistoric peoples of North America. These books are just fascinating! The Gears are archeologists and base their fictional stories on actual knowledge of how these people lived; what they ate and how they obtained and cooked it; what they wore and how they made it; their religious beliefs, their economy, their interactions with other groups, and their history. I found that I had spent so many years focused on European early history, and there is so much I don't know about North America's history. This spring I want to visit the Ganondagan State Historic Site, near Rochester, www.ganondagan.org. 

Happy Spring to you!

 As heard on "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" this weekend:

www.chroniclebooks.com/index/main,book-info/store,books/products_id,7847/title,Pride-and-Prejudice-and-Zombies/

From Austin, Texas:

www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/austin/entries/2009/01/28/sign_hacker_broadcasts_zombie.html

If you have the time, please, please read the comments! I think Ogedei's twin wrote some of them!

 It's been a day of good results.
Our Shire event is now posted on the AEthelmearc calendar. This means that other groups that wanted this date will hate us, but we have it. 
We got to go home from work at 4:30 because of the bad weather.  Of course, we get to go home at 4:30 every day. But my night people didn't have to come in, risking their lives over treacherous roads. Classes were cancelled, yay!
We decided to tell all the students that are taking classes at online universities that we weren't proctoring their exams anymore. Instead, a pricey division of the college will now accommodate them, for a fee. Yes!
It is good.