Noodlings...

sivrid — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:32:46 GMT

While searching around for some better images to fill out my lecture tomorrow, I came across this one of Tungurahua in Ecuador. One of the better volcano stills I have seen.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0709/tungurahua_taschler_big.jpg
He also has a nice time series on his site:
http://patricktaschler.com

Places I have armoured up

sivrid — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:58:27 GMT

A variation of the places I've been map, places I've gotten in armour and fought:

create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

meme

sivrid — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:13:37 GMT

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Umm...

sivrid — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:15:31 GMT

The soda machines in our building now take credit cards.

Caffeinated

sivrid — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:08:31 GMT

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Datingf

Happy Birthday

sivrid — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:39:51 GMT

Happy Birthday beckmumble!!!!!!

I don't speak this one either...

sivrid — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:35:10 GMT

Your Score: Phoenician

You scored

You are the Phoenician Alphabet! Teacher of the Greeks and Etruscans, you are the one all languages bow down to. That is, until the Romans decide to wipe out your civilization. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

Link: The Which Ancient Language Are You Test written by imipak on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test
View My Profile(imipak)

Since LJ has been taken over by pirates

sivrid — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 14:59:14 GMT

Captain Tractor's version of
Last Saskatchewan Pirate

Musings

sivrid — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 14:54:40 GMT

Is it rude to tell a ninja walking down the road in plain sight that he is doing a bad job?

Lilies Highlights

sivrid — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 03:20:12 GMT

We got back from Lilies last night late.

Some of the high points for me for this year in no particular order:

Getting to row the Fyrdraca (a viking longboat) across Smithville Lake and back
Watching Erich sing the scroll text for Elisait to get an Augmentation of Arms
Being made a Captain of the Red Company at great court
Constantia, David Friedrich, Cara, and Aiobheann all put on vigil for Laurel
Watching Anna dive into doing weaving on cardboard pieces, and doing something like 15 in a day.
Camping with a great group of friends, and catching up with people I haven't seen in a long time.
Being asked to fight in the Rose Tourney, and doing really well (I lost to Duke Garrick in the first round, then beat 2 counts, a knight and a Huscarl (who was then knighted on Friday) to get to the semis, only to loose to Duke Alaric - Garrick and Alaric fought each other in the finals)
Having live music wafting over the battlefield during most of the fighting.
Good singing well into the wee hours.
Getting to fight with and against my knight and squire brothers.
Soaking in the lake during the heat of the day
Wonderful weather

And Some Pictures at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sivrid

Airline Travel

sivrid — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 21:18:14 GMT

Earlier this week I went over to Syracuse to give a talk at a workshop.
The trip out there was the kind which gives air travel a bad name :(

I ran out from an exam right as it ended, and went to the airport. Checked in, and the flight was delayed an hour. No problem, I have a 2hr layover in Chicago anyway.
While waiting in the bar talking with a friend who I ran into in line, we hear the flight is canceled. Check back at the counter, they can reschedule me out on NW through Detroit. As a matter of fact, I'll get in earlier than my original schedule.
Get all my stuff over to NW. Fortunately K'zoo is a tiny airport, and that meant walking a good 40 feet.
Get a ticket on NW. They delay an hour. Then an hour and a half. They finally tell us we're going, 20 minutes before my connection is scheduled to leave Detroit.
I almost give up and go home, but then the DET-SYR is listed as delayed, so I'll make the connection no problem.
Fly for 18 min, get into Detroit, have an hour until the flight is supposed to leave. They have a plane, but no crew. The flight with the crew on it can't land, because of the tornadic activity in the storm going over us. Great, tornadoes in the area, and I'm sitting in detroit airport - Floor to 50' ceiling glass windows.
Call up the rental car place, let them know I won't get there until an hour after they are supposed to close. They say they'll wait a while. There are about 6 people renting from them coming in on the flight.
Finally get out, and wait at the end of the runway, 1st in line for 15 min.
Short hop to Syracuse - 50 min.
Get to the rental agency, they are at least still there, an hour after they were supposed to go home. Head back to get my bag off the carousel, it's not there. You figure with 2 hours in K'zoo plus three in Detroit, they could get the bag on the plane.
Finally get to the hotel at almost 2 am. Only 1 hour faster than driving.
Wed., I get back to the hotel from from the meeting, no bag yet.
Call the airline. My bag went to Oklahoma. It came back to Detroit, but too late to get on the Syracuse flight. They think it'll be there at 8:30 pm.
Call again at 10:30 because the bag still isn't there. They tell me it's on it's way to the hotel.
Almost 11 pm, I finally am re-united with my bag.
Well, at least my bag was there for 7 hours before I checked out.

The talk went well, and was well received, and I made some good contacts.
Fortunately, the trip back was un-eventful.

Memeage

sivrid — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 17:49:28 GMT

Superheros

You scored as The Amazing Spider-Man. After being bitten by a radioactive spider, Peter Parker was transformed from a nerdy high school student into New York's greatest hero. Peter enjoys the thrill of being a super hero, but he struggles with the burdens of leading a double life. He hopes someday to win the heart of his true love Mary Jane, the woman he's loved since before he even liked girls. Right now, he just wants to make it through college and pay his bills.

</td>

The Amazing Spider-Man

79%

Neo, the "One"

71%

Indiana Jones

67%

Maximus

63%

William Wallace

63%

The Terminator

54%

El Zorro

54%

James Bond, Agent 007

54%

Batman, the Dark Knight

50%

Captain Jack Sparrow

50%

Lara Croft

46%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

and Generals..

Chief Sitting Bull
You scored 64 Wisdom, 62 Tactics, 67 Guts, and 33 Ruthlessness!

You'd make a decent guerilla fighter. You are a tactical genius and you
have the balls to back it up with some follow through. But that being
said, you are most likely unwilling to torture an enemy soldier for
information, because underneath all of the hides of the buffalo you
killed yourself and that huge f*cking headdress, you have a heart.

Chief Sitting Bull rose to prominence in the Sioux warfare against
the whites and the resistance of the Native Americans under his command
to forced settlement on a reservation led to a punitive expedition. In
the course of the resistance occurred the Native American victory on
the Little Bighorn, where George Armstrong Custer and his men were
defeated and killed on June 25, 1876. Sitting Bull and some of his
followers escaped to Canada, but returned (1881) on a promise of a
pardon and were settled on a reservation. In 1885 he appeared in
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, but his championship of the Native
American cause was not at an end. He encouraged the Sioux to refuse to
sell their lands, and he advocated the ghost dance religion. He was
killed by Native American police on a charge of resisting arrest.

Other leaders like yourself include: Francis Marion

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 52% on Unorthodox
You scored higher than 28% on Tactics
You scored higher than 89% on Guts
You scored higher than 8% on Ruthlessness

Link: The Which Historic General Are You Test written by dasnyds on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Trains

sivrid — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 18:53:51 GMT

Last week beckmumble went to the recycle center to drop off the cardboard. That way she'd have a hope of getting the van in the Garage. But, she came back with an old 4.5'x5' HO train layout from the recycle center and put it in her parking spot.

So last weekend, I got some nice plywood, broke out the power tools, made a bunch of sawdust, and ended up with a table to go under said layout. The boys want the train to be running as soon as possible - after all, they've wanted me to set up my trains on a more permanent basis than at x-mas for at least a year, and it became more imperative when they saw the layout at the Science and Industry museum.

Last night, once the rain started, and drove off all but the die-hard trick or treaters, I assembled the table in the basement. Now all I have to do is to clean all of the track, re-wire a couple spots where they cut out their transformers, get an additional transformer (since 2 of the 3 I have are 220V european models...), and we'll be in business.
Of course, that'll involve at least one trip to the Train Barn, where I think I have to check my wallet at the door...

Now I just have to clear the debris out of the Garage, so the van has a place to park ;)

Scheduling

sivrid — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 15:51:29 GMT

In the usual joy of trying to fit everything into the day:
Tonight, beckmumble and I are supposed to at a department function for work, the kids are supposed to be at J.'s school for a halloween thing, and the in-laws are only here 'til tomorrow, and we would like to spend time with them. Looks like we're all going our own ways, to meet up at the house later. Not bad overscheduling, we still have one person for every place, not zero, so more like par for the course.

Why do I have the feeling scheduling will only get worse, not better as the kids get older?

Loosing that freshman 15...again

sivrid — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 01:35:49 GMT

Once again, I'm back to trying to get myself in a little better shape. I haven't had as much endurance as I have wanted, and my clothes are feeling a little tight. I also need to build my knees back up again, since I tweaked my right mcl about a month ago. I'm back at no pain in the knee, but need to get my legs in better shape if I want to keep it well.

So...
I've started to get back on my bike -starting at low resistance on rollers, and am putting in some time on that. If you've never ridden rollers, it can be a little like riding on ice. It takes a lot more balance than a stationary bike.

Next I have to try to get back in the pool. WMU's pool is open at lunch time, so I may try to squeeze that in.

The in-laws are in town, so fighter practice in Lansing wasn't much of an option tonight. It's canceled next week. Maybe beckmumble will let me go to Detroit on Sunday instead ;)

Weekend

sivrid — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 01:13:59 GMT

Crown:
Midrealm crown was this weekend. I fought for beckmumble. I had a good time, though I did not do as well as I had hoped. I need to remeber not to tweak equipment too much too close to crown. I substantially switched up shield sizes less than a month ago, and still haven't gotten to a size I am really comfortable with. I also have to work more to get my body used to the weight of fighting in maille. Now I have a bunch of time to practice with the modified gear. Had a wonderful time watching the remaining rounds.

Felix won a long and very well fought final over Lutr.
There were some other really good fights, including Felix against Dag.

Shopping:
Today I got a new helm I ordered a while back - Yay. I am staring to work on a 14th C. pas kit. At crown, I got the new aventail I ordered, now I have to bug Talbot for some vervilles so I can put those together.

By coincidence, I also got the Tempest 15th anniversary album today. A. complained that the music was too loud. Ah well, I guess she'll pay me back in a few years.

The amusing thing with that, was the receipt was signed by Lief Sorbye - the band's lead. I would have thought that after 15 years of recording they would have someone else doing that for them :)

Water pressure

sivrid — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 15:30:13 GMT

Yesterday, I replaced the shower head in our shower. Amazing how much sand can get into the litte sediment screens on those things (We are on well and septic).
What a difference having a working shower head with good water pressure makes.
I also cleaned out the sediment screen on my bathroom sink, and voila, the water pressure suddenly is equal to that in D's sink.

I guess we might want to look into a whole house sediment filter.

Getting Started

sivrid — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 13:24:18 GMT

Enough family and friends seem to have set up LJ accounts, so after having perused some for a while, I guess I'll join in too. (Now where was that bridge everyone else was jumping off of...).