Thursday, April 20, 2006

Rambling at 1:15am

Ok, so here I am, not able to get to sleep, even though I'm running low on sleep.

Just too much on my mind.

So you, my blog readers will be treated to a random stream of conciousness that only a 1:15am blog post, after getting 5 hours sleep the night before, and while drinking 20 year old scotch can create.

(Ledaig if anyone is interested)

* Ramsey is doing fine in daycare now since Heather is working. He loves it there, it's like 'camp'. Until just recently it was only him. Now he has a 17 month old little girlfriend there as well. 'Daycare Tina' as we call her is great.

* I bought myself an IBM 'clicky' keyboard off of eBay, the 'compact' model which doesn't have the number pad. I had to look hard to find one of those at a decent price. They are more rare than the ones with keypad. I prefer without the keypad though so that my trackball is closer at hand. Less arm movement, less tendonitis. I'm typing with it right now and I LOVE it. It really brings me back to being in high school and using the 8088's there. I do wish it had the function keys along the left like those keyboards did though. Anyway, this one is actually a 1999 model! Who knew they were making them that late! I have a friend at work, Steve, who is using a 1984 model. So I expect at least another 15 years out of this guy. In fact, I really expect more like 50. These things are tanks.

* Speaking of work, my job with digg, Inc. is great. The staff is great, and they definately respect everyone's thoughts and want input from everyone. Good times.

* Dealing with business laws, licenses, taxes, getting reseller accounts, dealer accounts, etc. Blech.

* Mmmmmmmmm 20 year old scotch good. Better be for the price per bottle.

* On May 4th my wife and I will hit our 10 year anniversary. I have a secret planned that I hope she will enjoy. Oh, BTW, Hi Honey if you are reading this!

* Kinda gonna suck this year. My wife's new job ends up having a conference, every year, right in the same timeframe as Pennsic. Hopefully it won't always conflict with it, but this year it does. So she has to be at a conference during the 'main week' of Pennsic. Of course, I'm planning on being there for the full two weeks as I always have done since I can remember. So the current plan is: I go up for land grab the first weekend. She and Ramsey arrive that Wednesday evening, and stay for Thursday/Friday. So we get a couple days together as a family at Pennsic. Then on the middle Saturday she takes off, and drops Ramsey off at 'Camp Grandma'. Sunday she flies out. On the next Friday she gets back. And on Saturday she drives back into West Virginia to retrieve Ramsey, while I'm driving home from Pennsic. Uggg. Guess I'm going to be playing bachelor at Pennsic for most of this year (*sigh*). But, I need to be there as Kingdom Target Archery Marshal to make sure that everything runs smoothly for my archers. At least, to yell at people when/if it doesn't.

* Crossbow business. Starting to get back into it in full, although with reasonable prices, instead of undercharging as I was before.

* Speaking of which, I'm making new ammo for myself as I am trying, hard, to reach the rank of 'Ludicrous Bowman' in the SCA ... and I am just a few points shy. And I've realized that MAN arrow shaft prices have gone through the roof lately! It turns out that not only is this directly because of the general rise in lumber prices, but 2 years ago an excise tax was placed on arrow shafts to help directly support public hunting lands, hunter/shooting education, etc. It's the same set of tax rules that apply to bows, guns, etc. My only real problem with it, is that placing the tax on shafts unfairly puts the burden on target archers, and not hunters. All bow hunters that I know buy 6 arrows, that's it. That lasts them maybe 10 years. Really. What need do they have for more? Whereas target archers who are constantly shooting and trying to get tight groupings, have a tendancy to destroy their own ammo once they get good. ESPECIALLY if using wooden shafts. Oh well, at least I found a great local supplier in Pennsylvania: Allegheny Mountain Arrow Woods. I was able to get ash shafts by the 100 for only $125. That's a really good deal when you see that traditional cedar shafting is going for $2 a shaft now. And hey, I got ASH shafting! It's period!

* iSight - I got an iSight for work purposes to video conference in. It's actually a very nice product, but it could use some configuration settings for brightness/etc. As it stands I had to put a lamp near it, and it's still barely enough light. I understand now why they sell the LED rings that surround them to provide extra light, you need it.

* Dr. Who - I love the new Dr. Who series, and I'm even looking forward to seeing the next Doctor (since the current guy quit at the end of the currently showing on SciFi series). Although in a conversation my wife and I were having ... we think that Michael Gambon , the actor currently playing Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series would be a GREAT Dr. Who. I think it's time to go back to an older Dr. Who like the original 3 were. I have most of those episodes on DVD, and they are great stuff.

* Bought a new Digital camera although it's not here yet. Canon a700 ... time to stick the old MVC CS500 on eBay.

* Hrmmm, my scotch glass is empty, time to refresh it and retire to the couch to watch some TV in hopes of making myself sleepy. Perhaps I can find something good and boring. Nope, what am I thinking. Since I have a ReplayTV I always have good stuff. Perhaps I should start playing a computer game. That usually knocks me right out if it's late at night. Anyway, thanks for reading this and I hope it made some sense after 25 minutes of typing and 2 hefty portions of scotch.