So, the whole body pump workout is getting no easier, but recovery times are really shortening, although I will say it makes me a bit sleepy in the afternoons. The five day a week schedule is starting to feel manageable.

Not sure I am looking forward to practicing in the snowfall tonight. Still, it may just wind up being very picturesque. (laugh) we shall see. I am extremely eager to hear Candlemas stories from Dolph and Julia..

I’ve been training a new lackey. He lives in Manila. The hope is that, once he is trained up, he should be able to help me out with some of the simpler stuff, and remove it from my plate. He should also be able to help with the late night/early morning stuff, so I am quite motivated to get him up to speed.

The problem is, this stuff is quite simply flat out complex. He’s moved his work schedule to my time zone, which more or less means he is working third shift…. Sortof….

In any case, things are progressing, and I am pleased with his understanding, and lack of stupid questions. Today we tackled VRF instances, and he figured it out really quickly. Frankly, originally, I had problems with this, but than again, I’m an old hack. Some of this new stuff is starting to kill my brain.

Small practice last night. Which was ok, since there was a meeting starting in the middle of it. Still, useful to keep a sword in ones hand.

The training schedule has become fairly normal feeling now. It doesn’t seem all that unique to practice every day.

Practice is the mother of all skill

I did not get to go to spin class yesterday though. I’m sure I will pay for it later. (laugh)

More body pump today. I think I may take a smidgen of time afterward to sit in the hot tub. At this point, my body is doing a good job keeping the constant soreness down, but it’s still there.

Only one way to keep strong, no? (chuckle)

I am looking forward to the Bolognise swordplay seminar in March. I also want to do the Bartitsu seminar really badly, but haven’t committed to that one yet.

The most annoying part of this week is I will not be going to Candlemas due to other pressures. It sucks, but it is what it is, I suppose.

There are some big targets in that tourney. (smile) oh well, what can ya do?

The Third floor room is coming along. The painting is done now, thanks to some help. Now, it’s just a matter of flooring, lighting, and the wood beam. (laugh)

“Having no means of crossing this life, I make swordsmanship my hiding place, sadly relying on it.”

Yugyo Muneyoshi

Hmmm… Body aching, and it’s only Monday…. My knees have been a bit sensitive lately. No doubt, in part, due to the workout and practice schedule. I just need to be careful with them, and manage it.

Had an awesome practice last night, even though it was VERY cold and VERY windy. (laugh) I think we are on the verge o f something. It feels good!

Work has been hectic. Lots of things going on. It’s difficult sometimes to keep it all straight.

Maidens was fun! Although I didn’t get to hang out as much with Mike, Stacey, Percy, and Kali. (frown) It is what it is.

My fighting was mixed. I had some awesome fights, and some mediocre fights. Though I think there are more awesome fights than mediocre as I go along, so that’s good. (smile)

Practice tonight! Should be fun!!!

Been a couple days since I have written. It’s been a bit of a tumultuous week. But these things happen. We were unable to practice last night due to the ice. It’s annoying.

Well, Dolph wasn’t on crutches at practice last night, so I guess Julia won’t be forced to kill me. (laugh) The temperature wasn’t terrible, so that was good too!!

Practice was fruitful last night. Some of the drills we are doing should really pay dividends over time. Consistency is  a key element in successfully acquiring specific skills or attributes. Being consistent takes time. (laugh)

Once again, patience is a dish that is best served cold…… no, wait a minute… that’s not right. (hehe)

Practice in the gym tonight. That’s a blessing. We have the church gym for Tuesdays’ regular practice and Thursday practice. The rest of the days are pretty much outside right now…

Still, things are looking up! It’s getting warmer!

Spin class was grueling today. It doesn’t help that the instructor is this chipper little blond who would probably be cheerful even after she learned the world would end in the next hour. “Oh well!!! We have at least 20 more minutes to make sure we die healthy!!! Now Change into a higher gear and get going!! Hurray!!”

Pfffftttthhhhht……

I talked to a gal who has been doing the spinning class for a LONG LONG time, and asked her if it ever gets easier… she replied “Well, your butt gets tougher, but the rest of it… it never gets easier if your doing it right.”

The biggest downside of the spin class is, afterward, back at work, I get VERY VERY sleepy.

Not a good idea during these slow and painfully stupid meetings…..

Had a great/bad practice last night…

So, yesterday’s workout was grueling. Ursula’s replacement (who I am going to call Ursula anyway, because it is easier) put us through the paces… It hurt. (laugh)

So…. Yeah… Today I tried beginner’s yoga.

I’m not quite sure what to think of it. I honestly wouldn’t classify it as a workout, although some of the poses were quite stressful, partially because I had no idea on the form, I think.

What I will say is that it was ultimately relaxing, and a lot of the severe soreness is gone. A great deal of it was basically stretching under a load. I feel pretty good.

But a workout? Not really. Still, I think it has value. I may try it again. If nothing else, it’s a treat from my other stuff.

Practice last night was really productive. It was warmer than it has been, so that was nice. Once you get moving around , and concentrating on the drills, the cold kindof goes away. For me though, It comes back with a vengeance once you are sitting inside. (laugh)

Tonight is “normal” practice. And then 1 dollar burgers at Bar Louie!! (laugh)

Thursday, my ass got kicked in the spinning class. A lot of my normal associates were still there. The snow seemed to have completely removed the new years resolutioners, as it is was pretty much the sale ole crew there.

Yesterday was pretty much a waste…. Or not, depending on how you look at things. Tuesday night after practice, I couldn’t stop shaking from the cold. I got home, and took a hot shower, which helped, but I immediately went back to shivering. I couldn’t regulate my body temperature. It was disconcerting. My joints were aching, which isn’t anything new really, but the body temperature thing was annoying.

Yesterday morning, I couldn’t function when I tried to get up for work, so I sent an email, and went back to bed.

I slept till 2 pm. (shakes head)

When I awoke, I managed to lock out all my work passwords, by fat fingering them. I have password tolerance set pretty high, so you get two chances…. Oh well, I didn’t want to work anyway.

At 5 I felt good enough to go help Rocky shop for some new audio components for his new big tv. That was fun. He wound up with some good stuff.

I went home, arranged some of my art supplies, and went back to bed. (shakes head)

Tuesday practice was good. Intensity level was better. Dolph was there, which is always fun. Brian is turning into quite a fighter. It’s really cool to watch. I had fun fighting Virithos. (the heathen) I think He’s wise to start developing more upper body strength. That will help open some things up in technique. I still miss Steve. I miss Mike Ivey as well.

Personally, I actually managed to show up a bit. My fighting was ok. There are a couple things that I have been doing that I need to train out of. I tend to table my shield needlessly about an inch and a half in specific circumstances. Just enough to be a problem with a good opponent. I also need to tweak a couple things on my feints, and re-incorporate some of the things I have learned about exerting pressure to manipulate targets. Rocky observed a slight problem with my footwork in a specific situation that could be exploitable, so I also need to work on that.

“someone fighting in the lists with good armor, good knowledge of the art of combat and good advantages might as well hang himself if he doesn’t possess valor.

I'm gonna post the questions I pose to our Baronial email group here, just so I can keep track of them over time. It's easier than trying to keep track of them on the e-group.

I send out and facilitate a monthly question to foster people's thoughts in our Barony, especially new folks who may not have been exposed to chivalric culture or thought.. anyway, here is the email..... if anybody is interested in talking about the questions, we can do so here too. (chuckle) I'm always up for a chat on the subject.

“There are those who are in love with fighting, and those who are in love with being a fighter”

Practice was rough for me last night. I felt like I was fighting like a retarded hippo. Brian was right, I pretty much was fighting in a very lifeless manner. Not taking away anything from the guys that hit me at all. They earned it, for sure. My fighting was completely uninspired. I would acknowledge openings, but couldn’t be bothered to hit them. It was pathetic on my part.

Still, it was a useful night, and I enjoyed being there. I was wondering if anybody was going to show up, but we actually had a nice turnout. Corbin was In town and stopped by to visit. That was a treat.

I am playing with brass etching again. I have two strips for the new spaulders ready to put in the acid, but I am having difficulty with the two large strips that go on the top cup. I can’t get my stencil to transfer onto the brass. Annoying.

I got a Chia head at the office white elephant party. I set it up on my desk, since our plant budget had to go away. It is yet to sprout. I didn’t really get the seeds on there very well, so if they do sprout, it’s probably gonna look like he has the mange. (laugh)

In other news, my friend Duchess Mary Grace, is the Autocrat for Gulf Wars this year. I was supposed to go last year, and didn’t. It looks like I may get to go this year, but I don’t want to drive there by myself. I may shop around and see if anyone else is going to pool resources.

Ok, there is a fire in my belly again! (chuckle) no, it isn’t because of the black bean refried beans from last night.. mmmmmmm……

I haven’t been writing lately. I have missed it. I have actually missed doing it. Frankly, I have missed a lot of things.

On my way back to DC. Wheeee! I think this may be the shortest update for me ever!"

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Frustration!! I ordered 50 micron fiber jumpers, instead of the 62.5 micron jumpers, so I have spent the last two freaking hours troubleshooting a ghost.

Screwy problem. It was an 802.11Q trunk, and I was expecting all the vlans to propagate, but only half of them did… very strange.

Oh well, at least I figured it out.

So, I have to wait until the morning for the cabling guy to make me up some of the proper ones.

It’s ok, I’m fried anyway. I need to take a break before I go back in at midnight to do some more scheduled changes.

Sitting in the hotel lobby by the fire, for a few minutes. It’s one of those nice gas log fires that looks real, down to the flickering coals. Pretty cool really.

I saw a military funeral procession today when I was driving from one data center to the other. There were quite a few cars on it. I wonder if it was on it’s way to Arlington.

I really need to go see Arlington.

War is, without a doubt, a part of the human experience.

We honor, as we should, those who fought for their country, tribe, ideology, whatever you want to call it. We ennoble these people who sacrificed all, as we are honor bound to do.

I wonder, though, why we denigrate those people who give THEIR lives for ideologies not our own.

Another aspect of the human condition, I think, is our need to feel we are the “good guys”, and righteously liberating-chastising-punishing the “bad guys”.

Granted, there are definitely evils in this world, but can we really truly look at ourselves as a nation and say we are “good”?

You can’t dance with the devil, without learning some of his moves……

Arlington is full of the bodies of the noble dead, and more are being added daily. They died for their country, performing their duty to their homeland.

Just like so very many Germans did in WWII. Just like so many Japanese. Just like so many Southerners. (pick your conflict)

Is their sacrifice any less impactful than the sacrifice of those who serve us?

There is evil in the world. Yes, it was noble to go to war to stop the holocaust. (which is, of course, NOT the reason we went to war, but it was a wonderful example to show that we were RIGHT, by God!) Funny thing,though… one must remember that the numbers who tragically dead in the holocaust did not add up to a FRACTION of the number killed during Stalin’s consolidation of power before WWII…. You know, Stalin’s Russia? Our Noble ally?

How neat and tidy that THAT didn’t get any publicity UNTIL it was expedient…. Until we needed yet another threat to our way of life to fight against…

There is no innocence in this whole wide world. To be born human is to inherit dark things.

But one also inherits the potential for noble and great things.

Sometimes evil men do evil things. Sometimes the definition of evil is relative to the flag they drape the corpse with.

I have read the proposition that our technology has out-evolved our humanity, giving us tools that we are not responsible enough to have.

That’s one way of looking at it.

Another is that perhaps this is the end result of our developmental traits. Perhaps we are destined and designed to limit our own expansion by our genetic proclivity for destruction. Perhaps the evolutionary conclusion to this particular species of tool users is to engineer our own demise.

Perhaps we are our own apex predator.

Or perhaps we, as a species, simply do not excel at peace. We grow lethargic and soft. We become Rome.

Perhaps war, that oh-so-human trait, is the very thing necessary for us to evolve. Can there be nobility without crisis? Can there be catharsis without pain? Maybe not for the Homo-Sapiens

And with that little bit of hyperbolic vitriol, I am going back to work. (sigh)  

I have found in my life, that I am weak. I loathe it. I have allowed circumstance lately to push me ever so gently off the path I have set my feet to. It may not be that there are easily identifiable signs to this, but it is the case.

I have let work and expediency give me excuse for not practicing and cultivating my spirit. Too many fast food meals have coated my soul.

There have been too many times these past couple months that I found excuse to not practice, to not go to the gym, to not make every day an opportunity for training my body and spirit.

There are no excuses, only action.

Though physical training is important, and has been lacking in intensity lately, the more insidious has been the lax way I have been training my spirit.

It is not acceptable.

And sitting here in a Hotel by myself in DC does not allow me to turn from the mirror. I must do better.

Mediocrity is a poor epitaph.

Life has been extremely full as of late. This is evidenced by the fact that I have not written on here in some time.