Saturday, June 30, 2007
Greys and blues
Today started well, went downhill a bit, then finished on a high note.
Last week my friend Björk told me about the Ólasfsfjörður Blues Festival, a Thursday-Friday-Saturday event, and as it's less than an hour's drive away we decided to go along. I only went tonight, although I had the option to go last night as well, but my currently wild social life means that I rather fancied a quiet night after a rather busy week. In the end we decided to make a day of it and do a little sight-seeing, visit a local car boot sale and try out the local pool while we were there.
As we drove up the fjord we saw a very strange cloud formation. In the middle of the fjord is a large island, Hrísey - hence Eyjafjörður, the fjord with the island (or islands, depending on who you talk to) - which is large enough to affect the fjord's weather. The wind was coming from the east, and the eastern channel was clear. The western channel, however, was covered in a thin layer of cloud, probably only a few tens of metres deep, that completely filled not only the channel, but also the side fjord that leads down into Eyjafjörður directly opposite the island.
This looked quite strange and spectacular from the road, but once we got into Ólasfsfjörður itself it became clear that the cloudbank was sitting right in the middle of the fjord and this didn't affect the town on the southern shore. We went up to the beach to sit and watch the waves for a bit (something for which I have rather a penchant) and found ourselves engulfed by the fogbank. As I looked out over the sea I could no longer see the nearby mountains but instead just saw the waves coming out of the grey distance. This sense of being in an alien landscape was intensified as we went for a walk on the black beach, with the only structures we could see being the fish-drying stands of sun-bleached driftwood and the rusting skeleton of a wrecked fishing boat which had been driven onto the sands many years ago. Near the decaying hulk lay the still-identifiable remains of a seal, part bone, part still bearing a fur-tufted hide; leathery black rear flippers contrast with bony white fore flippers. The freezing water washed over our feet, making the dryer sand feel oddly warm. The light, filtered by the fog, coloured the entire landscape in sepia and shades of grey. It was far beyond my photographic capabilities to capture this so I didn't even try but, instead, filed it in the photo album of my memory.
We were at the beach three times during the day, and each time it was different. When the fog lifted it became a normal dark beach set into a high-sided valley. When the sun moved to the north in the evening a long shaft of light crossed the fjord in front of us through another side-valley and highlighted the brightly-coloured houses of the town. Both of these were beautiful in their own way, but nowhere near as atmospheric as the afternoon's mist.
This being Iceland, the festival didn't begin until 21:00. This being Iceland, and summer, that was still broad daylight. It was still daylight when we came out of the hall at 01:00, which was extremely disconcerting. Saturday night was the highlight of the festival, with two big-name bands playing. Well, big for Iceland. :) In fact, the first act, Góða Skemmtur, is a very popular Icelandic swing combo. Musically they were very good and managed to get a good big band sound out of a seven-man combo, but they weren't blues. Not only that, but they were the sort of act who are clearly booked by clubs who want to increase the bar spend, as they regularly encouraged the audience to have another drink. On top of this we found ourselves sitting in front of a group whose vocal decibel level was clearly in excess of their combined IQ level. There were moments when I engaged in the mental fantasy of drawing a dagger, turning around and calmly cutting their throats. In the intermission - beer-break would be more accurate - between their two sets we seriously considered the possibility of leaving and asking for our money back if the second act were more of the same.
The first act ended, and many people left - clearly they were only here for this big-name Icelandic group, not for the real purpose of the festival. This was a good thing, although some of those remaining stayed only for the bar. The second act was Dietra Farr, a sassy big black woman from Chicago backed by The Riott, a local blues band. At last, here was the music we'd been waiting for. This was her third gig of the day, as there were three blues festivals going on in Iceland this weekend and she'd sung at all three of them. She's good too, good enough that I bought her two solo albums on the way out. It wasn't an easy crowd, given that the warm-up act had actively encouraged drinking, but she cleverly forced them to quieten down by losing the mike for part of one song and using peer pressure to get the rowdy element to shut up. The Riott were pretty good too, so I may pop into Pennin or BT and see if I can pick up any of their stuff as well.
We opted out of staying until 03:00 for the dancing afterwards - I'd been boogie-ing about in my seat anyway and neither of us fancied facing the drunken sections of the mob. So we emerged into the sunlight - wrong, just wrong! - and returned to Akureyri just after dawn. On the way we decided that, now that music venues are smoke-free in Iceland, the next time there's a blues weekend in Akureyri that we'd go along.
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Last week my friend Björk told me about the Ólasfsfjörður Blues Festival, a Thursday-Friday-Saturday event, and as it's less than an hour's drive away we decided to go along. I only went tonight, although I had the option to go last night as well, but my currently wild social life means that I rather fancied a quiet night after a rather busy week. In the end we decided to make a day of it and do a little sight-seeing, visit a local car boot sale and try out the local pool while we were there.
As we drove up the fjord we saw a very strange cloud formation. In the middle of the fjord is a large island, Hrísey - hence Eyjafjörður, the fjord with the island (or islands, depending on who you talk to) - which is large enough to affect the fjord's weather. The wind was coming from the east, and the eastern channel was clear. The western channel, however, was covered in a thin layer of cloud, probably only a few tens of metres deep, that completely filled not only the channel, but also the side fjord that leads down into Eyjafjörður directly opposite the island.
This looked quite strange and spectacular from the road, but once we got into Ólasfsfjörður itself it became clear that the cloudbank was sitting right in the middle of the fjord and this didn't affect the town on the southern shore. We went up to the beach to sit and watch the waves for a bit (something for which I have rather a penchant) and found ourselves engulfed by the fogbank. As I looked out over the sea I could no longer see the nearby mountains but instead just saw the waves coming out of the grey distance. This sense of being in an alien landscape was intensified as we went for a walk on the black beach, with the only structures we could see being the fish-drying stands of sun-bleached driftwood and the rusting skeleton of a wrecked fishing boat which had been driven onto the sands many years ago. Near the decaying hulk lay the still-identifiable remains of a seal, part bone, part still bearing a fur-tufted hide; leathery black rear flippers contrast with bony white fore flippers. The freezing water washed over our feet, making the dryer sand feel oddly warm. The light, filtered by the fog, coloured the entire landscape in sepia and shades of grey. It was far beyond my photographic capabilities to capture this so I didn't even try but, instead, filed it in the photo album of my memory.
We were at the beach three times during the day, and each time it was different. When the fog lifted it became a normal dark beach set into a high-sided valley. When the sun moved to the north in the evening a long shaft of light crossed the fjord in front of us through another side-valley and highlighted the brightly-coloured houses of the town. Both of these were beautiful in their own way, but nowhere near as atmospheric as the afternoon's mist.
This being Iceland, the festival didn't begin until 21:00. This being Iceland, and summer, that was still broad daylight. It was still daylight when we came out of the hall at 01:00, which was extremely disconcerting. Saturday night was the highlight of the festival, with two big-name bands playing. Well, big for Iceland. :) In fact, the first act, Góða Skemmtur, is a very popular Icelandic swing combo. Musically they were very good and managed to get a good big band sound out of a seven-man combo, but they weren't blues. Not only that, but they were the sort of act who are clearly booked by clubs who want to increase the bar spend, as they regularly encouraged the audience to have another drink. On top of this we found ourselves sitting in front of a group whose vocal decibel level was clearly in excess of their combined IQ level. There were moments when I engaged in the mental fantasy of drawing a dagger, turning around and calmly cutting their throats. In the intermission - beer-break would be more accurate - between their two sets we seriously considered the possibility of leaving and asking for our money back if the second act were more of the same.
The first act ended, and many people left - clearly they were only here for this big-name Icelandic group, not for the real purpose of the festival. This was a good thing, although some of those remaining stayed only for the bar. The second act was Dietra Farr, a sassy big black woman from Chicago backed by The Riott, a local blues band. At last, here was the music we'd been waiting for. This was her third gig of the day, as there were three blues festivals going on in Iceland this weekend and she'd sung at all three of them. She's good too, good enough that I bought her two solo albums on the way out. It wasn't an easy crowd, given that the warm-up act had actively encouraged drinking, but she cleverly forced them to quieten down by losing the mike for part of one song and using peer pressure to get the rowdy element to shut up. The Riott were pretty good too, so I may pop into Pennin or BT and see if I can pick up any of their stuff as well.
We opted out of staying until 03:00 for the dancing afterwards - I'd been boogie-ing about in my seat anyway and neither of us fancied facing the drunken sections of the mob. So we emerged into the sunlight - wrong, just wrong! - and returned to Akureyri just after dawn. On the way we decided that, now that music venues are smoke-free in Iceland, the next time there's a blues weekend in Akureyri that we'd go along.
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Revel 2 photos
The first set of photos from Revel (mine and Martha's) have now been uploaded to the shire website together with a (minimal) event report. These are both available at http://www.klakavirki.org/Revel2/index.html.
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Labels: revel 2
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Friday, June 29, 2007
Free! Free!
Today was the last day of work before the summer vacation.
Here in Akureyri the university closes down entirely for July. The buildings are closed and there's no secretarial, technical or buildings support even should you want to go in and get some work done. As a result everyone just takes the month off. Naturally the final day is always very quiet and it's rare to find anyone around after about 14:00 (although it's been like that most of the last week, to be honest).
Today has been a good day for it, bright and warm and very much a summer day. Sufficiently so that although I got to the swimming pool just before three (it's normally fairly quiet then) it was already quite full, and within half an hour it was absolutely heaving. I think that I may have to rethink my plans on precisely when in the day I should do my exercise sessions - apart from the pool population problem it's also very bright out there, sufficiently so as to bring on a migraine, which annoyed me. Clearly what I need to do is either go swimming on dull days or go very early (there's an 06:30-09:30 session) or very late (it closes at 22:00). And, of course, look forward to the autumn and winter when the pools are empty. :)
While I was on length seven it occurred to me how different a UK pool was going to feel after all of this; the cold water and the smell of the chlorine for starters. Nevertheless, I still intend to go swimming while I'm over there. I seem to remember that St. Andrews pool is quite nice, and there's a super-fantastic international-standard one at Salt Ayre in Lancaster that I'm going to have to try out.
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Here in Akureyri the university closes down entirely for July. The buildings are closed and there's no secretarial, technical or buildings support even should you want to go in and get some work done. As a result everyone just takes the month off. Naturally the final day is always very quiet and it's rare to find anyone around after about 14:00 (although it's been like that most of the last week, to be honest).
Today has been a good day for it, bright and warm and very much a summer day. Sufficiently so that although I got to the swimming pool just before three (it's normally fairly quiet then) it was already quite full, and within half an hour it was absolutely heaving. I think that I may have to rethink my plans on precisely when in the day I should do my exercise sessions - apart from the pool population problem it's also very bright out there, sufficiently so as to bring on a migraine, which annoyed me. Clearly what I need to do is either go swimming on dull days or go very early (there's an 06:30-09:30 session) or very late (it closes at 22:00). And, of course, look forward to the autumn and winter when the pools are empty. :)
While I was on length seven it occurred to me how different a UK pool was going to feel after all of this; the cold water and the smell of the chlorine for starters. Nevertheless, I still intend to go swimming while I'm over there. I seem to remember that St. Andrews pool is quite nice, and there's a super-fantastic international-standard one at Salt Ayre in Lancaster that I'm going to have to try out.
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Thursday, June 28, 2007
Good dog food
It was pretty good people food too.
Tonight was dance practice night, so I decided to make some nibbles to refuel the thronging crowds after an evening of frenzied activity. It turned out that a couple of people had to cancel so Martha and I sat and did a lot of logistical work for our trip to Raglan at the end of August, drinking coffee and occasionally eating the dark fruit slice that I'd brought with me.
As it happens, Martha has a rather large liver and white springer spaniel who shows the energetic friendliness of the breed. Nina is a big softy who gets very excited by people, and who is keen to join in with any dancing or fencing that's going on nearby. While she doesn't like coffee she does enjoy a grape now and again (it's clearly some sort of toy as you can roll it around and play with it before eating it) and has been known to have the occasional bit of flapjack. When I arrived this evening Nina was even more excited than usual and paid special attention to what was clearly an exceptional box of titbits in my hand.
Fair enough, I thought, and broke a bit off one slice for her. That was it - I was immediately person of the night as far as Nina was concerned. It's not as if the slice is sweeter than the flapjack but whatever it was, Nina started bouncing about and looking very soulful when we wouldn't give her any more of this magical substance. There was a lot of prodding with the nose and meaningful glances at the box, which was quite amusing. Clearly this is a recipe which should not be made up for nights when Nina is around - having lots of us eating it and not feeding lots of it to her would definitely count as cruelty... at least from Nina's point of view.
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Tonight was dance practice night, so I decided to make some nibbles to refuel the thronging crowds after an evening of frenzied activity. It turned out that a couple of people had to cancel so Martha and I sat and did a lot of logistical work for our trip to Raglan at the end of August, drinking coffee and occasionally eating the dark fruit slice that I'd brought with me.
As it happens, Martha has a rather large liver and white springer spaniel who shows the energetic friendliness of the breed. Nina is a big softy who gets very excited by people, and who is keen to join in with any dancing or fencing that's going on nearby. While she doesn't like coffee she does enjoy a grape now and again (it's clearly some sort of toy as you can roll it around and play with it before eating it) and has been known to have the occasional bit of flapjack. When I arrived this evening Nina was even more excited than usual and paid special attention to what was clearly an exceptional box of titbits in my hand.
Fair enough, I thought, and broke a bit off one slice for her. That was it - I was immediately person of the night as far as Nina was concerned. It's not as if the slice is sweeter than the flapjack but whatever it was, Nina started bouncing about and looking very soulful when we wouldn't give her any more of this magical substance. There was a lot of prodding with the nose and meaningful glances at the box, which was quite amusing. Clearly this is a recipe which should not be made up for nights when Nina is around - having lots of us eating it and not feeding lots of it to her would definitely count as cruelty... at least from Nina's point of view.
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Wednesday, June 27, 2007
It isn't easy being a fish
Even a yellow one.
Partly because your shoulders get cold (if it's as chilly as it has been today) and partly because swimming as a fish is surprisingly difficult. It probably has something to do with being so high out of the water and being at such a strange angle, but I eventually found that the easiest way to move around was to splash about until my feet touched the ground and then walk.
I find the design and operation of swimming pools here quite interesting. Although the Þelamörk pool is the classic rectangle it also has a small kidney-shapped kiddie pool with a giant mushroom waterfall (from time to time water cascades over the top and down the sides), a separate pool into which the slide flows, a sauna and two hotpots (jacuzzis, in effect). Normally there are a variety of interesting things floating in the water so as to encourage people (kids mainly) to play. The fishes were new today, together with a big yellow circular thing. I'd seen neither of them before, just the wide flat foam sheets and the long thin foam sausages. The fish are rather fun though.
Something else I noticed today was before I went swimming. For several months I've found that my left knee has been quite painful if I walk any distance or, should I dare to try it, walk down stairs. It seemed to have two positions - straight and nearly-right-angle - and nothing that would comfortably bear weight in between. As I walked down the stairs from the office I realised that I was moving far more smoothly than I had done for a while. I'm going to assume that this is the regular swimming beginning to have an effect, although whether that's from exercise without putting too much stress on it or that I'm losing a bit of weight, I don't know. And I don't care - I'm just happy to have a less painful knee. That's clearly an incentive to keep up the twice-a-week serious swimming trip. Hmm... I'm going to have to see what I can do while I'm in the UK. I don't want to fall out of the habit while on holiday.
2 comments
Partly because your shoulders get cold (if it's as chilly as it has been today) and partly because swimming as a fish is surprisingly difficult. It probably has something to do with being so high out of the water and being at such a strange angle, but I eventually found that the easiest way to move around was to splash about until my feet touched the ground and then walk.I find the design and operation of swimming pools here quite interesting. Although the Þelamörk pool is the classic rectangle it also has a small kidney-shapped kiddie pool with a giant mushroom waterfall (from time to time water cascades over the top and down the sides), a separate pool into which the slide flows, a sauna and two hotpots (jacuzzis, in effect). Normally there are a variety of interesting things floating in the water so as to encourage people (kids mainly) to play. The fishes were new today, together with a big yellow circular thing. I'd seen neither of them before, just the wide flat foam sheets and the long thin foam sausages. The fish are rather fun though.
Something else I noticed today was before I went swimming. For several months I've found that my left knee has been quite painful if I walk any distance or, should I dare to try it, walk down stairs. It seemed to have two positions - straight and nearly-right-angle - and nothing that would comfortably bear weight in between. As I walked down the stairs from the office I realised that I was moving far more smoothly than I had done for a while. I'm going to assume that this is the regular swimming beginning to have an effect, although whether that's from exercise without putting too much stress on it or that I'm losing a bit of weight, I don't know. And I don't care - I'm just happy to have a less painful knee. That's clearly an incentive to keep up the twice-a-week serious swimming trip. Hmm... I'm going to have to see what I can do while I'm in the UK. I don't want to fall out of the habit while on holiday.
2 comments
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Warming up and cooling down
I don't think I've ever taught a class that included a warm up and a cool down before.
Tonight was fencing practice and, as I plan to do this sport teaching business properly, we started of with a warm up. I'd spent some time online searching for appropriate warm-up and cool-down exercises but hadn't found a recommended regime or the like, just lots of agendas talking about stretching exercises. No problem, I thought, I'll just use the Tai Chi warm up stretches that I know. At some time over the next month I can see that I'm going to have to rewatch that DVD just to make sure that I've got the correct sequence of stretches well planted in memory. They are very good for loosening up and getting the blood flowing but don't require you to run three times around a football field (which is something I'm not particularly keen on).
Given that we have a mixture of Spanish and Italian style fencers I'm going to have to do some serious thinking about how to teach both styles at once... or possibly not at once. In some ways it's tempting to teach Italian at these meetings and then do seperate sessions in Spanish. Part of my reasoning for this is that Spanish is great if you're mobile, but once you're sitting down (if, for instance, you've taken a leg hit) it's incredibly difficult to defend effectively - Spanish relies a lot on movement, and you just can't move while sitting down. I always end up reverting to Italian on the ground. A second point is that we have more people interested in Italian than Spanish. Unfortunately there's a timing issue - we're currently set up for alternating heavy practice and fencing practice on Tuesday nights. I shall talk to my students about the matter.
Other than that, it seemed to go quite well. Lots of footwork exercises together with instructions on what to practise while I'm away in the UK. I have this vision of people wandering around their assorted offices in the appropriate fencing pose, much to the confusion of their colleagues. :)
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Tonight was fencing practice and, as I plan to do this sport teaching business properly, we started of with a warm up. I'd spent some time online searching for appropriate warm-up and cool-down exercises but hadn't found a recommended regime or the like, just lots of agendas talking about stretching exercises. No problem, I thought, I'll just use the Tai Chi warm up stretches that I know. At some time over the next month I can see that I'm going to have to rewatch that DVD just to make sure that I've got the correct sequence of stretches well planted in memory. They are very good for loosening up and getting the blood flowing but don't require you to run three times around a football field (which is something I'm not particularly keen on).
Given that we have a mixture of Spanish and Italian style fencers I'm going to have to do some serious thinking about how to teach both styles at once... or possibly not at once. In some ways it's tempting to teach Italian at these meetings and then do seperate sessions in Spanish. Part of my reasoning for this is that Spanish is great if you're mobile, but once you're sitting down (if, for instance, you've taken a leg hit) it's incredibly difficult to defend effectively - Spanish relies a lot on movement, and you just can't move while sitting down. I always end up reverting to Italian on the ground. A second point is that we have more people interested in Italian than Spanish. Unfortunately there's a timing issue - we're currently set up for alternating heavy practice and fencing practice on Tuesday nights. I shall talk to my students about the matter.
Other than that, it seemed to go quite well. Lots of footwork exercises together with instructions on what to practise while I'm away in the UK. I have this vision of people wandering around their assorted offices in the appropriate fencing pose, much to the confusion of their colleagues. :)
0 comments
Monday, June 25, 2007
Eight? Ten?
I need a clicky thing.
I realised that as I swam what was either length 8 or length 10 of my twice-a-week serious swimming routine. I had no idea how many lengths I'd actually got through by that point, distracted as I was by other thoughts. What I need, obviously is a little waterproof thing that can hang off my wrist or sit on my finger and can be updated at the click of a button to show how many lengths I've done. Hmm... a little Google-fu and... Clearly what I need is one of these; I think I'll see if I can find something similar while I'm back in the UK next month. It would also be interesting to see how much my length time will improve over time (I'm being positive and assuming that it will).
A pair of these might also be useful. Not for the speed or extra exercise thing, but because I'm finding that I have to clench my fingers together rather tightly to prevent my little and ring fingers flapping about uselessly in a very unpleasant and utterly useless manner. Having a membrane between the fingers might help a bit with this - another thing to look for in the UK.
So I'm now feeling tired and a little guilty. I've spent an hour or so swimming and lounging in the hot pot in the brilliant sunshine that made it feel far warmer than the nominal 10°C, then I come home and see the news about the atrocious weather that the UK is having right now. Please accept my sore shoulders in slight compensation for the clear inequality that life is inflicting upon us at present.
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I realised that as I swam what was either length 8 or length 10 of my twice-a-week serious swimming routine. I had no idea how many lengths I'd actually got through by that point, distracted as I was by other thoughts. What I need, obviously is a little waterproof thing that can hang off my wrist or sit on my finger and can be updated at the click of a button to show how many lengths I've done. Hmm... a little Google-fu and... Clearly what I need is one of these; I think I'll see if I can find something similar while I'm back in the UK next month. It would also be interesting to see how much my length time will improve over time (I'm being positive and assuming that it will).
A pair of these might also be useful. Not for the speed or extra exercise thing, but because I'm finding that I have to clench my fingers together rather tightly to prevent my little and ring fingers flapping about uselessly in a very unpleasant and utterly useless manner. Having a membrane between the fingers might help a bit with this - another thing to look for in the UK.
So I'm now feeling tired and a little guilty. I've spent an hour or so swimming and lounging in the hot pot in the brilliant sunshine that made it feel far warmer than the nominal 10°C, then I come home and see the news about the atrocious weather that the UK is having right now. Please accept my sore shoulders in slight compensation for the clear inequality that life is inflicting upon us at present.
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Sunday, June 24, 2007
David Tennant Day
Today was full of David Tennant.
That's full as in a televisual sense rather than a physical one. :) My recent acquisition of DVD/video has had a useful side-effect - it plays all of those UK DVDs that the player built into the television fails to play. The inability of the TV player to play some (but not all) region 2 DVDs had been an annoyance for a while; among the discs it wouldn't play were the David Starkey Six Wives of Henry VIII and Life on Mars. Now while I can just take backups on the laptop and play them it does take time to make the backups.
Other DVDs that failed to play were season 2 of Doctor Who and Casanova (see where I'm going with this one?). The new machine, however, plays everything quite happily. As a result I have today worked my way through Blink and Utopia from the current DW series, Army of Ghosts and Doomsday from the previous season, plus the entirety of Casanova. My, David Tennant does look good in those boots! Good enough to take him home to play with. :)
All of this serious viewing has meant that I've got less embroidery done than I'd hoped for. I suppose I'd better get back to it then.
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That's full as in a televisual sense rather than a physical one. :) My recent acquisition of DVD/video has had a useful side-effect - it plays all of those UK DVDs that the player built into the television fails to play. The inability of the TV player to play some (but not all) region 2 DVDs had been an annoyance for a while; among the discs it wouldn't play were the David Starkey Six Wives of Henry VIII and Life on Mars. Now while I can just take backups on the laptop and play them it does take time to make the backups.
Other DVDs that failed to play were season 2 of Doctor Who and Casanova (see where I'm going with this one?). The new machine, however, plays everything quite happily. As a result I have today worked my way through Blink and Utopia from the current DW series, Army of Ghosts and Doomsday from the previous season, plus the entirety of Casanova. My, David Tennant does look good in those boots! Good enough to take him home to play with. :)
All of this serious viewing has meant that I've got less embroidery done than I'd hoped for. I suppose I'd better get back to it then.
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Saturday, June 23, 2007
Another WebDev day
Klakavirki has a web development team.
Not just a webmistress, but a whole team. The reason is that we have access to a rather nice CMS so we want to make the most of it. This, in turn, means that we're spending quite a lot of time setting it up even before we start putting large amounts of information into it. And then there are the individual graphic design issues... My role in this team is that of project manager - sort of - with a secondary role in updating the current website so that it has more than the index and event announcement for Álfadans. We now have an officer list and lots of links as although I've put many of them on the Shire mailing list it's much more useful to collect there there rather than on Yahoo. Not only that, but I'm beginning to get the hand of styles. I'm not comfortable with divs yet, but at least the style bits are making sense nowadays.
As you can probably guess, not a lot has happened otherwise. Certainly nothing worth writing about. Except maybe that we had bah-mee for dinner, made in my new wok (bought specially for this purpose). It's been a while since I made it, and it's reminded me that I really am going to have to get some decent soy sauce when I go back to the UK in July.
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Not just a webmistress, but a whole team. The reason is that we have access to a rather nice CMS so we want to make the most of it. This, in turn, means that we're spending quite a lot of time setting it up even before we start putting large amounts of information into it. And then there are the individual graphic design issues... My role in this team is that of project manager - sort of - with a secondary role in updating the current website so that it has more than the index and event announcement for Álfadans. We now have an officer list and lots of links as although I've put many of them on the Shire mailing list it's much more useful to collect there there rather than on Yahoo. Not only that, but I'm beginning to get the hand of styles. I'm not comfortable with divs yet, but at least the style bits are making sense nowadays.
As you can probably guess, not a lot has happened otherwise. Certainly nothing worth writing about. Except maybe that we had bah-mee for dinner, made in my new wok (bought specially for this purpose). It's been a while since I made it, and it's reminded me that I really am going to have to get some decent soy sauce when I go back to the UK in July.
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Friday, June 22, 2007
Mars blown away!
Actually it was sucked rather than blown, but when did scientific accuracy ever worry a headline writer?
So there I was, sitting in my office doing some general admin stuff (as you do) when a gust of wind caught the window and pulled it open. This is a top-hinged window rather than a side-hinged one. and the window itself is quite weighty, so this was quite a surprise. What was even more of a surprise was that as it opened the drop in pressure lifted my plastic globe of Mars and sucked it out of the window, allowing it to fall three storeys into the flowerbeds below. Now Mars - a gift from a friend; some men promise you the world, but this one actually delivered :) - normally sits a good 15-20cm from the opening window, so you can imagine my surprise when all of this happened.
In spite of this gusting wind it's definitely summer here today. The sun is high and bright, sufficiently so that I'm going to be in serious danger of sunburn if I go swimming this afternoon. This is another problem I'd never considered about swimming here. My numerous freckles are becoming more and more obvious as I'm spending more time outside, and there are certainly days when I end up vaguely lobster-coloured. But the swimming seems to be having an effect - I've had two people comment over the last week that I'm looking good and losing weight. I hadn't noticed that myself, but I don't tend to look at myself in mirrors if I can help it. :)
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So there I was, sitting in my office doing some general admin stuff (as you do) when a gust of wind caught the window and pulled it open. This is a top-hinged window rather than a side-hinged one. and the window itself is quite weighty, so this was quite a surprise. What was even more of a surprise was that as it opened the drop in pressure lifted my plastic globe of Mars and sucked it out of the window, allowing it to fall three storeys into the flowerbeds below. Now Mars - a gift from a friend; some men promise you the world, but this one actually delivered :) - normally sits a good 15-20cm from the opening window, so you can imagine my surprise when all of this happened.
In spite of this gusting wind it's definitely summer here today. The sun is high and bright, sufficiently so that I'm going to be in serious danger of sunburn if I go swimming this afternoon. This is another problem I'd never considered about swimming here. My numerous freckles are becoming more and more obvious as I'm spending more time outside, and there are certainly days when I end up vaguely lobster-coloured. But the swimming seems to be having an effect - I've had two people comment over the last week that I'm looking good and losing weight. I hadn't noticed that myself, but I don't tend to look at myself in mirrors if I can help it. :)
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Thursday, June 21, 2007
Butterflybrain
That's how I've been today - a complete butterflybrain.
Focus on this for ten seconds, focus on that for ten seconds, focus on something else for ten seconds... if I'm really lucky I'll get another ten seconds on my original target sometime within the next quarter hour. About the most productive things I've done today have been to add two elements to a module assessment grid, to reorganise some text within a set of instructions for the same module, and write a list of SCA things I'd like to make at some point in time... then cut these down to the six things I need to do before Raglan. No. The six things I want to do before Raglan. I might get four of them done if I'm lucky.
But before I do any of them I want a good night's sleep. Something longer than five hours would be a good start. How I'm looking forward to the weekend!
2 comments
Focus on this for ten seconds, focus on that for ten seconds, focus on something else for ten seconds... if I'm really lucky I'll get another ten seconds on my original target sometime within the next quarter hour. About the most productive things I've done today have been to add two elements to a module assessment grid, to reorganise some text within a set of instructions for the same module, and write a list of SCA things I'd like to make at some point in time... then cut these down to the six things I need to do before Raglan. No. The six things I want to do before Raglan. I might get four of them done if I'm lucky.
But before I do any of them I want a good night's sleep. Something longer than five hours would be a good start. How I'm looking forward to the weekend!
2 comments
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
A strange fact about me
I am a two swimsuit woman.
Until Easter I was a one swimsuit woman, but I decided that the old (very old!) one was now just too old and that I deserved a new one for Eastercon. So I bought myself a nice new two piece job that didn't catch my hair in its straps the way the old one did. Nevertheless, I kept the old one because it was still functional and you never know when you're going to need a spare swimsuit.
That time turned out to be today. Given that I'm going to be doing significantly more fencing and archery in the near future I decided that I need to build up my shoulder muscles again. So I've started going seriously swimming twice a week as well as my not-at-all-serious, more-like-lounging-about-in-the-water-nattering-to-Martha swimming. I've even got the multicard for ten visits to the pool at Hrafnagil, so serious am I about this. When I arrived today there were already shire folks in the not-quite-hot-tub but, determined to continue the way I'd started, I did my constitutional ten lengths of the pool in the lane reserved for boring people who swim lengths before joining them in the relaxing hotter water.
There is, I discovered, a disadvantage to trying to do lengths in an outdoor pool: if there's a wind from the wrong direction it seems to take about three times as long to swim a length against the wind (and the choppy little waves this generates) than away from it. I seriously considered trying to beat upwind but the marked lane isn't really wide enough to make it worthwhile.
Clearly this excessive exercise is beginning to have an effect - my shoulders ache this evening. Fortunately tomorrow's swimming session (for which it is particularly useful to have the second swimsuit so that the first one can dry properly before I use it again on Friday) is of the lounging in the hot tub variety, which I'm sure my shoulders will appreciate.
0 comments
Until Easter I was a one swimsuit woman, but I decided that the old (very old!) one was now just too old and that I deserved a new one for Eastercon. So I bought myself a nice new two piece job that didn't catch my hair in its straps the way the old one did. Nevertheless, I kept the old one because it was still functional and you never know when you're going to need a spare swimsuit.
That time turned out to be today. Given that I'm going to be doing significantly more fencing and archery in the near future I decided that I need to build up my shoulder muscles again. So I've started going seriously swimming twice a week as well as my not-at-all-serious, more-like-lounging-about-in-the-water-nattering-to-Martha swimming. I've even got the multicard for ten visits to the pool at Hrafnagil, so serious am I about this. When I arrived today there were already shire folks in the not-quite-hot-tub but, determined to continue the way I'd started, I did my constitutional ten lengths of the pool in the lane reserved for boring people who swim lengths before joining them in the relaxing hotter water.
There is, I discovered, a disadvantage to trying to do lengths in an outdoor pool: if there's a wind from the wrong direction it seems to take about three times as long to swim a length against the wind (and the choppy little waves this generates) than away from it. I seriously considered trying to beat upwind but the marked lane isn't really wide enough to make it worthwhile.
Clearly this excessive exercise is beginning to have an effect - my shoulders ache this evening. Fortunately tomorrow's swimming session (for which it is particularly useful to have the second swimsuit so that the first one can dry properly before I use it again on Friday) is of the lounging in the hot tub variety, which I'm sure my shoulders will appreciate.
0 comments
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
En route, at last
The parcel is in the post.
Another parcel crossed it on the way, and tonight I received a package from Quicks containing my new quiver, shooting glove and scorepad. I'm impressed - the belt that came with the quiver actually fits. That doesn't happen often; either that or I've lost some weight. Now all we have to do is get the legal situation sorted out so that we can actually start doing archery up here and I'll be a bit happier.
Tonight was nominally heavy practice night, but I went along to sort out the necessary paperwork for our next event with our seneschal. We've been given the go-ahead for the weekend of October 19th-21st (between Crown Tourney and Viceroy Tourney) so we had to get the advert for Dragon's Tale organised quickly. Details for Álfadans are also available on the Klakavirki website. The current website is sufficient for now but we're also working on a more fully-featured CMS. Fortunately Josephine, our webmistress, works somewhere that runs such a system and our chronicler, Estelle, not only works with the CMS on a day-to-day basis but is also an artist and can so provide the graphics. And I must say, the rough drafts are pretty impressive.
We have an A&S meeting planned for Thursday, at which point everyone is going to start planning what they want to do in time for Álfadans. From what I heard tonight a lot of garb is planned. And I've only just put the sewing machine away! Whimper!
0 comments
Another parcel crossed it on the way, and tonight I received a package from Quicks containing my new quiver, shooting glove and scorepad. I'm impressed - the belt that came with the quiver actually fits. That doesn't happen often; either that or I've lost some weight. Now all we have to do is get the legal situation sorted out so that we can actually start doing archery up here and I'll be a bit happier.
Tonight was nominally heavy practice night, but I went along to sort out the necessary paperwork for our next event with our seneschal. We've been given the go-ahead for the weekend of October 19th-21st (between Crown Tourney and Viceroy Tourney) so we had to get the advert for Dragon's Tale organised quickly. Details for Álfadans are also available on the Klakavirki website. The current website is sufficient for now but we're also working on a more fully-featured CMS. Fortunately Josephine, our webmistress, works somewhere that runs such a system and our chronicler, Estelle, not only works with the CMS on a day-to-day basis but is also an artist and can so provide the graphics. And I must say, the rough drafts are pretty impressive.
We have an A&S meeting planned for Thursday, at which point everyone is going to start planning what they want to do in time for Álfadans. From what I heard tonight a lot of garb is planned. And I've only just put the sewing machine away! Whimper!
0 comments
Monday, June 18, 2007
Sumer Is Icumen In
It's official - summer has arrived.
So can I tell? It's simple - here in Akureyri the cruise liner in the harbour is now changing every two days. That only happens in summer; actually it probably only happens in June, July and August. but that's close enough for jazz. We've had them coming in and out for a couple of weeks now, and early last week I spotted my first incoming ship of the season from my office. It's another perk of having my current office; my previous office was on the other side of the building so I could only see vessels further upstream than the main harbour, such as the occasional fishing boat.
The natural side-effect of this summer thing is that I can now stitch by natural light after midnight. This always strikes me as a strange but rather fun thing. I've got most of the eyelets finished now, so I'm on target to get this parcel in the post tomorrow. Hurrah!
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So can I tell? It's simple - here in Akureyri the cruise liner in the harbour is now changing every two days. That only happens in summer; actually it probably only happens in June, July and August. but that's close enough for jazz. We've had them coming in and out for a couple of weeks now, and early last week I spotted my first incoming ship of the season from my office. It's another perk of having my current office; my previous office was on the other side of the building so I could only see vessels further upstream than the main harbour, such as the occasional fishing boat.
The natural side-effect of this summer thing is that I can now stitch by natural light after midnight. This always strikes me as a strange but rather fun thing. I've got most of the eyelets finished now, so I'm on target to get this parcel in the post tomorrow. Hurrah!
0 comments
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Renew? Restore? Refresh?
What is the technical term for taking an old piece of clothing and then doing something to it to make it fresh and presentable again?
I know that this is a perfectly good historical task, so over the last couple of days I've found myself looking at the relining of the doublet as an A&S project. This 'refreshment' has entailed beading the sleeves, relining the doublet, re-spacing the buttons and adding hooks to prevent it gaping. It's now complete except for the three remaining lucet cords to hold the sleeves in place. That' probably about another hour's work, and I'm annoyed that I haven't got them done tonight but today I did have the unpleasant task of grommeting various holes within the lining.
For someone who's recently made and helped make a number of corsets, all of which have a number of grommets down the front or back, I have to admit that I really hate putting grommets in things. I'm always convinced that as soon as I try to use my newly-grommeted item the grommets are all going to fall out. When I have to grommet a gown I normally end up stitching over the grommets just to make sure they stay in place. Paranoia drives me, not the urge to have it look better. Today's grommeting was no different - the linen for the lining is quite fine, and although the grommets are smaller than those I'd use for a corset, they're still sufficiently large that they need at least four layers of the linen to stay in place... which meant that I had to re-reinforce those on the wings at the shoulder. There are 22 grommets in all, and as I type this I've come to the conclusion that if I can't get it in the post tomorrow morning then I have time to stitch over the grommets tomorrow night. It'll take the evening but I think I'll feel better about it. I had a minor anxiety attack while doing the grommeting earlier, that's how much I enjoy the task.
Tomorrow night, then. That means I can get the parcel in the post on Tuesday and, hopefully, it'll reach its destination by the weekend. Posturinn willing, that is.
0 comments
I know that this is a perfectly good historical task, so over the last couple of days I've found myself looking at the relining of the doublet as an A&S project. This 'refreshment' has entailed beading the sleeves, relining the doublet, re-spacing the buttons and adding hooks to prevent it gaping. It's now complete except for the three remaining lucet cords to hold the sleeves in place. That' probably about another hour's work, and I'm annoyed that I haven't got them done tonight but today I did have the unpleasant task of grommeting various holes within the lining.
For someone who's recently made and helped make a number of corsets, all of which have a number of grommets down the front or back, I have to admit that I really hate putting grommets in things. I'm always convinced that as soon as I try to use my newly-grommeted item the grommets are all going to fall out. When I have to grommet a gown I normally end up stitching over the grommets just to make sure they stay in place. Paranoia drives me, not the urge to have it look better. Today's grommeting was no different - the linen for the lining is quite fine, and although the grommets are smaller than those I'd use for a corset, they're still sufficiently large that they need at least four layers of the linen to stay in place... which meant that I had to re-reinforce those on the wings at the shoulder. There are 22 grommets in all, and as I type this I've come to the conclusion that if I can't get it in the post tomorrow morning then I have time to stitch over the grommets tomorrow night. It'll take the evening but I think I'll feel better about it. I had a minor anxiety attack while doing the grommeting earlier, that's how much I enjoy the task.
Tomorrow night, then. That means I can get the parcel in the post on Tuesday and, hopefully, it'll reach its destination by the weekend. Posturinn willing, that is.
0 comments
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Public announcement
The sewing machine has left the table.
This is an event of major newsworthiness at present, given that it has been sitting on the table for nearly four months in the lead-up to, during and following Revel. I finally got to pack it away today when I finished putting the new lining into Gonz's doublet. Not only did I put the sewing machine away, but I've also managed to put away most of the SCA stuff that was scattered about at last I have both the table and the floor around it back in use. I can even see the bottom shelves of the bookcase once more.
Tomorrow, then, I can do the little bit of calligraphy I have outstanding, make the couple of greetings cards that should have gone in the post sometime last week and finish the handsewing required so that I can put the necessary box of stuff in the post on Monday. At that point I can sit back, relax, and try not to worry about the looming deadlines on other projects. Ah well, nothing like an approaching deadline to keep you focussed. :)
0 comments
This is an event of major newsworthiness at present, given that it has been sitting on the table for nearly four months in the lead-up to, during and following Revel. I finally got to pack it away today when I finished putting the new lining into Gonz's doublet. Not only did I put the sewing machine away, but I've also managed to put away most of the SCA stuff that was scattered about at last I have both the table and the floor around it back in use. I can even see the bottom shelves of the bookcase once more.
Tomorrow, then, I can do the little bit of calligraphy I have outstanding, make the couple of greetings cards that should have gone in the post sometime last week and finish the handsewing required so that I can put the necessary box of stuff in the post on Monday. At that point I can sit back, relax, and try not to worry about the looming deadlines on other projects. Ah well, nothing like an approaching deadline to keep you focussed. :)
0 comments
Friday, June 15, 2007
Gang culture
It's summer, and school's out.
Here in Akureyri - and, I imagine, elsewhere in Iceland - as you walk or drive about the town during the summer you often see large gangs of young teenagers in the many open spaces of the town. They're not just hanging around, but are rather wearing bright yellow high-visibility jackets and are performing vital garden maintenance on the assorted road verges and parklands. At some point in the past the local council clearly had an excellent idea - rather than employ an army of municipal gardeners for the short subarctic summer they would hire a few gardeners and give them command of a work party of teenagers, who would be paid enough to make it worth their while to spend their days in the fresh air weeding, mowing and clearing rubbish.
You really can't miss these teams, who always bring to mind the idea of junior chain gangs... but that's my twisted imagination speaking. They range from half a dozen kids to fifteen or twenty of them, always accompanied by a couple of adults and with a large trailer of assorted gardening equipment. It seems, to me, an eminently sensible solution to a civic problem. The kids are kept occupied and make a bit of money, the town saves money in both gardening costs and (no doubt) the cost of play schemes, and the parents know that their kids are safe and doing something useful.
Why can't this approach be used in the UK? Probably because it would need so much health and safety paperwork, plus background checks on all of the adults involved, plus there's the almost-certainty that the scheme would be scrapped as soon as one kid tried to break a shovel over the head of another kid; I'm sure that there would be someone complaining that it was an infringement of their human rights to be expected to do physical labour and, of course, asking any teenager to do such a job is to be guilty of such huge disrespect as to be immediately knifed or shot.
There are some things that Iceland does right.
0 comments
Here in Akureyri - and, I imagine, elsewhere in Iceland - as you walk or drive about the town during the summer you often see large gangs of young teenagers in the many open spaces of the town. They're not just hanging around, but are rather wearing bright yellow high-visibility jackets and are performing vital garden maintenance on the assorted road verges and parklands. At some point in the past the local council clearly had an excellent idea - rather than employ an army of municipal gardeners for the short subarctic summer they would hire a few gardeners and give them command of a work party of teenagers, who would be paid enough to make it worth their while to spend their days in the fresh air weeding, mowing and clearing rubbish.
You really can't miss these teams, who always bring to mind the idea of junior chain gangs... but that's my twisted imagination speaking. They range from half a dozen kids to fifteen or twenty of them, always accompanied by a couple of adults and with a large trailer of assorted gardening equipment. It seems, to me, an eminently sensible solution to a civic problem. The kids are kept occupied and make a bit of money, the town saves money in both gardening costs and (no doubt) the cost of play schemes, and the parents know that their kids are safe and doing something useful.
Why can't this approach be used in the UK? Probably because it would need so much health and safety paperwork, plus background checks on all of the adults involved, plus there's the almost-certainty that the scheme would be scrapped as soon as one kid tried to break a shovel over the head of another kid; I'm sure that there would be someone complaining that it was an infringement of their human rights to be expected to do physical labour and, of course, asking any teenager to do such a job is to be guilty of such huge disrespect as to be immediately knifed or shot.
There are some things that Iceland does right.
0 comments
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Dancing? Me?
I seemed to have signed up to a significant amount of exercise for the foreseeable future.
Tonight was dance practice night. I went along, armed with an embroidery, with the sole intention of acting as Mechanical Minstrel Wrangler (i.e. operating the remote control for the CD) and possibly occasionally coming up with rewordings of complex English sentences if further translation was necessary. In the end I did about six stitches, a bit of a double bransle and Nouvele amour (from the Gaita Eschewyng of Ydleness CD). I did draw the line at Petit vriens, mind.
My shoulders haven't complained too much today about the excessive exercise they've endured over the last couple of days, which is quite nice. I might even go swimming again tomorrow. It's all Gonz's fault, making me go swimming nearly every day. I think I've got used to it.
0 comments
Tonight was dance practice night. I went along, armed with an embroidery, with the sole intention of acting as Mechanical Minstrel Wrangler (i.e. operating the remote control for the CD) and possibly occasionally coming up with rewordings of complex English sentences if further translation was necessary. In the end I did about six stitches, a bit of a double bransle and Nouvele amour (from the Gaita Eschewyng of Ydleness CD). I did draw the line at Petit vriens, mind.
My shoulders haven't complained too much today about the excessive exercise they've endured over the last couple of days, which is quite nice. I might even go swimming again tomorrow. It's all Gonz's fault, making me go swimming nearly every day. I think I've got used to it.
0 comments
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Splish splash
Wednesday looks as if it is turning into swimming day.
As opposed to bathing day, which is Saturday. Honest! Saturday = Laugardagur, bathing day. :) The pool at Þelamörk has been closed for the last week for its annual cleaning. When we went today there was definitely a stronger taste of chlorine in the water. Certainly not as strong as you would expect in a UK pool, but more noticeable than it had been before. I've decided that I can't just go to the pool to relax in the hot tubs; I must swim at least a hundred metres or it doesn't count as a swimming excursion. Given that I have a habit of doing a gentle breast-stroke with most of the power coming from my arms I suspect that my arms and shoulders might feel a little delicate tomorrow. Still, the exercise is good for me, and my arm and shoulder muscles need to be built up again if I'm going to be fencing regularly.
For a while this week it looked as if my exercise regime was going to include archery this bathing day. Instead, the parcel that's currently at customs is not the target, but is instead some trim I've ordered from the US. The target should arrive next week, so we can start then. I've worked out a set of archery awards for the shire that should provide achievable goals for all levels of skill and also encourage people to work up to a very high standard of bowmanship. It's basically 3 levels based on minimum scores (36, 54, 72 over three ends of 6 arrows) with 4 ranks at 10, 20, 30 and 40 yards. Once you've got all of the levels at one distance you move up to the next distance, and we'll hold an official archery practise every month at which point we'll shoot two of these Klakavirki Guardian Rounds. I can see that the archery pages on the website might get quite large.
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As opposed to bathing day, which is Saturday. Honest! Saturday = Laugardagur, bathing day. :) The pool at Þelamörk has been closed for the last week for its annual cleaning. When we went today there was definitely a stronger taste of chlorine in the water. Certainly not as strong as you would expect in a UK pool, but more noticeable than it had been before. I've decided that I can't just go to the pool to relax in the hot tubs; I must swim at least a hundred metres or it doesn't count as a swimming excursion. Given that I have a habit of doing a gentle breast-stroke with most of the power coming from my arms I suspect that my arms and shoulders might feel a little delicate tomorrow. Still, the exercise is good for me, and my arm and shoulder muscles need to be built up again if I'm going to be fencing regularly.
For a while this week it looked as if my exercise regime was going to include archery this bathing day. Instead, the parcel that's currently at customs is not the target, but is instead some trim I've ordered from the US. The target should arrive next week, so we can start then. I've worked out a set of archery awards for the shire that should provide achievable goals for all levels of skill and also encourage people to work up to a very high standard of bowmanship. It's basically 3 levels based on minimum scores (36, 54, 72 over three ends of 6 arrows) with 4 ranks at 10, 20, 30 and 40 yards. Once you've got all of the levels at one distance you move up to the next distance, and we'll hold an official archery practise every month at which point we'll shoot two of these Klakavirki Guardian Rounds. I can see that the archery pages on the website might get quite large.
0 comments
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
New toys
Between them, the SCA, Hugh Laurie and Alexander the Great have forced me to buy a new VCR.
And before you start splitting your sides with laughter at the 'VCR' bit, take into consideration that a DVD/VCR combo is half the price of a DVD/HD over here, and that any consumer electronics are three times the cost that they are in the UK/mainland Europe. Plain vanilla VCRs are now difficult to find. DVD recorders are similarly priced to DVD/HD. Anyway, the reason I blame these three parties is that my local SCA group are so enthusiastic that I'm now in severe danger of missing House on Thursdays and the new Alexander the Great series on the History Channel. Tonight, though, I just set it to record as a test while I went out to fencing practise - which it did.
Fencing practice was fun and, from the point of view of the rest of the shire, also full of playing with new toys. We worked our way through about a third of the first of Maestro Martinez' Destreza DVDs; the stuff on the rapier, stance and basic footwork drills. This ended up with line-dancing for fencers - righties in the front row, lefties in the back row, everyone moving in time with Maestro Martinez and seriously confusing the poor dog. I now find myself looking for appropriate music so as to choreograph a dance to allow people to practice their fencing steps (rather than fencing as a method of practising their dance steps).
It appears that most of our Italian fencers also want to do heavy combat, while most of our Spanish fencers want to concentrate on fencing. This means that I can teach Spanish while the heavies are doing their thing, then teach Italian the other weeks. I've just ordered Maesto Martinez' Scherma Italiana DVDs to complement the Destreza ones; hopefully these will help a little with the strange and foreign form that is Italian rapier. Not enough geometry for my liking, I'm afraid. For those who like to know these things, the DVDs are a combination of Alfieri, Capo Ferro, Bondi Di Masso, Giganti, Fabris, Marcelli, Pallavincini, and Senese.
We may also have to look at the epee/schlager/rapier situation - most of the ladies are much more comfortable with epees than with my Darkwoods; the Hanweii seems to be a reasonable compromise so I suspect that epees and the occasional Hanweii will be popular first buys, particularly given the relatively low cost of epees. In spite of this I think that we had quite a good session. People are going to be doing footwork drills at work for the next couple of weeks, no doubt to strange looks from their colleagues.
0 comments
And before you start splitting your sides with laughter at the 'VCR' bit, take into consideration that a DVD/VCR combo is half the price of a DVD/HD over here, and that any consumer electronics are three times the cost that they are in the UK/mainland Europe. Plain vanilla VCRs are now difficult to find. DVD recorders are similarly priced to DVD/HD. Anyway, the reason I blame these three parties is that my local SCA group are so enthusiastic that I'm now in severe danger of missing House on Thursdays and the new Alexander the Great series on the History Channel. Tonight, though, I just set it to record as a test while I went out to fencing practise - which it did.
Fencing practice was fun and, from the point of view of the rest of the shire, also full of playing with new toys. We worked our way through about a third of the first of Maestro Martinez' Destreza DVDs; the stuff on the rapier, stance and basic footwork drills. This ended up with line-dancing for fencers - righties in the front row, lefties in the back row, everyone moving in time with Maestro Martinez and seriously confusing the poor dog. I now find myself looking for appropriate music so as to choreograph a dance to allow people to practice their fencing steps (rather than fencing as a method of practising their dance steps).
It appears that most of our Italian fencers also want to do heavy combat, while most of our Spanish fencers want to concentrate on fencing. This means that I can teach Spanish while the heavies are doing their thing, then teach Italian the other weeks. I've just ordered Maesto Martinez' Scherma Italiana DVDs to complement the Destreza ones; hopefully these will help a little with the strange and foreign form that is Italian rapier. Not enough geometry for my liking, I'm afraid. For those who like to know these things, the DVDs are a combination of Alfieri, Capo Ferro, Bondi Di Masso, Giganti, Fabris, Marcelli, Pallavincini, and Senese.
We may also have to look at the epee/schlager/rapier situation - most of the ladies are much more comfortable with epees than with my Darkwoods; the Hanweii seems to be a reasonable compromise so I suspect that epees and the occasional Hanweii will be popular first buys, particularly given the relatively low cost of epees. In spite of this I think that we had quite a good session. People are going to be doing footwork drills at work for the next couple of weeks, no doubt to strange looks from their colleagues.
0 comments
Monday, June 11, 2007
Strange parcels
After reading a friend's post about curious packages in the mail I thought I'd add my own tale of the day.
I too have just received a parcel in the post. It was sitting there in my mailbox when I arrived home, so at least I didn't have to sign for it, nor did it attract the usual customs charges (although it would have been interesting if they had chosen to open it - I trust that they'd have been appropriately embarrassed). The envelope was a CD-sized padded job, clearly designed for the carriage of CDs in hard plastic cases with the aim of avoiding damage in transit. On the outside was an IEEE stamp. Curious, I thought, I'm not expecting a CD from them. My new membership package perhaps, but I doubt that would fit in this envelope.
When I opened it I found a folded sheet of A4 and, in a fabric pouch about 8cm by 5cm, an IEEE Women In Engineering lapel badge of approximately 1cm by 2cm. My mind boggled. This is completely different to the parcel I'm expecting, which will be about a metre square and will contain an archery target or the shire. That one certainly won't fit in my mailbox. :)
0 comments
I too have just received a parcel in the post. It was sitting there in my mailbox when I arrived home, so at least I didn't have to sign for it, nor did it attract the usual customs charges (although it would have been interesting if they had chosen to open it - I trust that they'd have been appropriately embarrassed). The envelope was a CD-sized padded job, clearly designed for the carriage of CDs in hard plastic cases with the aim of avoiding damage in transit. On the outside was an IEEE stamp. Curious, I thought, I'm not expecting a CD from them. My new membership package perhaps, but I doubt that would fit in this envelope.
When I opened it I found a folded sheet of A4 and, in a fabric pouch about 8cm by 5cm, an IEEE Women In Engineering lapel badge of approximately 1cm by 2cm. My mind boggled. This is completely different to the parcel I'm expecting, which will be about a metre square and will contain an archery target or the shire. That one certainly won't fit in my mailbox. :)
0 comments
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Eventful
That was an... eventful... Grand Prix.
Earlier today I was sitting watching the Canadian Grand Prix thinking Formula 1 is getting boring and considering writing an entry to say this when Kubica rolled his BMW. The race then proceeded to have more bumps than the main road around Iceland and, best of all, Hamilton won, but I'm still finding myself wondering if it's really exciting any more. It seems very much as if the car has become more important than the driver. There's a bit of me that wants to replace all of the different models of car and replace them with a standard model then let the drivers test their skill against each other on a flat playing field.
Of course I suppose part of the general appeal of F1 is the constructors championship, but it does seem to detract from the skill of the drivers. Yes, drivers like Schumi and (hopefully) Hamilton are fantastic drivers, but how much of their wins are down to the cars they're driving? You only have to look at Barrichello - quite capable of coming second (or even winning) in a Ferrari but doing nothing nowadays. Is the main excitement in F1 nowadays the gruesome hope that drivers like Kubica will do more than break a leg? Or do moments like Sato overtaking Alonso make up for the rest of the sport?
0 comments
Earlier today I was sitting watching the Canadian Grand Prix thinking Formula 1 is getting boring and considering writing an entry to say this when Kubica rolled his BMW. The race then proceeded to have more bumps than the main road around Iceland and, best of all, Hamilton won, but I'm still finding myself wondering if it's really exciting any more. It seems very much as if the car has become more important than the driver. There's a bit of me that wants to replace all of the different models of car and replace them with a standard model then let the drivers test their skill against each other on a flat playing field.
Of course I suppose part of the general appeal of F1 is the constructors championship, but it does seem to detract from the skill of the drivers. Yes, drivers like Schumi and (hopefully) Hamilton are fantastic drivers, but how much of their wins are down to the cars they're driving? You only have to look at Barrichello - quite capable of coming second (or even winning) in a Ferrari but doing nothing nowadays. Is the main excitement in F1 nowadays the gruesome hope that drivers like Kubica will do more than break a leg? Or do moments like Sato overtaking Alonso make up for the rest of the sport?
0 comments
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Fashions and fabrics
Pop quiz: Today did I a) attend an informal reception after graduation with the head of state, or b) attend a lecture in Icelandic on viking clothing from 1200-1260?
The answer is, of course, that I went to the lecture, but more of this later. Graduation occurred. I arrived, as instructed, at 09:30 and found myself to be the first person there (although closely followed by my boss). This didn't worry me too much - I had brought the current issue of Analog to read in the hour preceding the formal start of the ceremony at 10:30. It being a relatively formal sort of occasion I wore my formal little (!) black dress with the beaded collar and cuffs that I'd brought over in case of embassy parties. It was, indeed, the dress I wore to the last one and which matches 'IT' the nanobag, although I didn't go so far as to use 'IT'. As a final touch I changed out of my sensible shoes when I got to the sports hall into my dress 2.5 inch heels (big chunky ones, not stilettos).
The level of sartorial elegance at graduation was probably about the same as last year, although that's more thanks to a higher low-end than anything else. No jeans and t-shirts this time, although there was one chap who looked as if he would be heading off hunting as soon as the ceremony was over. Sadly there were fewer women in traditional Icelandic dress this year - something that is not dissimilar to late 16th century middle class (front-laced kirtle with chemise/partlet and apron) but done in better fabrics and with more shiny things attached. I'll be doing some more research into this but it does go back that far, and it would be fairly simple to make and comfortable to wear for SCA purposes. Bold all-over prints are clearly in this year, as are boleros with matching skirts and the normal "LOOK AT ME I'M PREGNANT!" tight dresses and multiple layers of one colour which highlight the bump in another colour.
I managed not to trip up or fall down the stairs when I had to go onto the stage to hand out the degree certificates to my students, but then changed back to my flats before going off to the photo session. I'm not in the big photos but I am in the smaller departmental one (although looking at it I wish someone had told me that my belted dress was so uneven). Allow me to introduce you to my graduates:
Back row: Ívar, Jón Orri, Hrafn, Sigurður (Siggi)
Front row: Liang, Nik, Karl Gunnar (Kalli), Davið
Ívar, Jón Orri, Hrafn, and Liang all did their final year projects with me. This group arrived at the university at the same time as me, and so they were the first class I taught over here. I'm glad that I'm still here to see them graduate.
Post-graduation there was the reception back up at the university but, as usual, things were running late and besides, I had the option of going to this lecture at the museum. I eventually decided that I'd already met the President and it would be selfish to monopolise him like that. :) The lecture called, and turned out to be very good. It was entirely in Icelandic and was by far the most interesting hour of Icelandic that I've ever heard. It's amazing what a little contextural knowledge can do. What was particularly fascinating was the use of colour. Tunics of the period can be particoloured or even striped, which I didn't realise. Scarlets - red, blue, green, brown and yellow - were rare but existed, with red being the most common. I've never actually seen a piece of scarlet fabric before and was surprised at the brilliance of the colour and the smoothness of the weave. Silk was even rarer as it had to be shipped from Miklagard. A number of other shire members attended also, and we've now made contact with Iceland's main importer of Viking-style wool and linen from Norway, which will be useful. She had a number of samples with her and I now really rather fancy making some garb in blue or green scarlet.
2 comments
The answer is, of course, that I went to the lecture, but more of this later. Graduation occurred. I arrived, as instructed, at 09:30 and found myself to be the first person there (although closely followed by my boss). This didn't worry me too much - I had brought the current issue of Analog to read in the hour preceding the formal start of the ceremony at 10:30. It being a relatively formal sort of occasion I wore my formal little (!) black dress with the beaded collar and cuffs that I'd brought over in case of embassy parties. It was, indeed, the dress I wore to the last one and which matches 'IT' the nanobag, although I didn't go so far as to use 'IT'. As a final touch I changed out of my sensible shoes when I got to the sports hall into my dress 2.5 inch heels (big chunky ones, not stilettos).
The level of sartorial elegance at graduation was probably about the same as last year, although that's more thanks to a higher low-end than anything else. No jeans and t-shirts this time, although there was one chap who looked as if he would be heading off hunting as soon as the ceremony was over. Sadly there were fewer women in traditional Icelandic dress this year - something that is not dissimilar to late 16th century middle class (front-laced kirtle with chemise/partlet and apron) but done in better fabrics and with more shiny things attached. I'll be doing some more research into this but it does go back that far, and it would be fairly simple to make and comfortable to wear for SCA purposes. Bold all-over prints are clearly in this year, as are boleros with matching skirts and the normal "LOOK AT ME I'M PREGNANT!" tight dresses and multiple layers of one colour which highlight the bump in another colour.
I managed not to trip up or fall down the stairs when I had to go onto the stage to hand out the degree certificates to my students, but then changed back to my flats before going off to the photo session. I'm not in the big photos but I am in the smaller departmental one (although looking at it I wish someone had told me that my belted dress was so uneven). Allow me to introduce you to my graduates:
Back row: Ívar, Jón Orri, Hrafn, Sigurður (Siggi)
Front row: Liang, Nik, Karl Gunnar (Kalli), Davið
Ívar, Jón Orri, Hrafn, and Liang all did their final year projects with me. This group arrived at the university at the same time as me, and so they were the first class I taught over here. I'm glad that I'm still here to see them graduate.
Post-graduation there was the reception back up at the university but, as usual, things were running late and besides, I had the option of going to this lecture at the museum. I eventually decided that I'd already met the President and it would be selfish to monopolise him like that. :) The lecture called, and turned out to be very good. It was entirely in Icelandic and was by far the most interesting hour of Icelandic that I've ever heard. It's amazing what a little contextural knowledge can do. What was particularly fascinating was the use of colour. Tunics of the period can be particoloured or even striped, which I didn't realise. Scarlets - red, blue, green, brown and yellow - were rare but existed, with red being the most common. I've never actually seen a piece of scarlet fabric before and was surprised at the brilliance of the colour and the smoothness of the weave. Silk was even rarer as it had to be shipped from Miklagard. A number of other shire members attended also, and we've now made contact with Iceland's main importer of Viking-style wool and linen from Norway, which will be useful. She had a number of samples with her and I now really rather fancy making some garb in blue or green scarlet.
2 comments
Friday, June 08, 2007
Door problem solved
I think that I may have solved a problem with the door out onto the balcony.
Summer has finally arrived here in the Frozen North, and the days have not only lengthened but have also warmed up sufficiently that I like to have the balcony door open to prevent my apartment from becoming too hot and muggy. The problem comes when the wind gets up. Here in Akuryeri we only really have two wind directions - north and south, as the wind comes either up the fjord or down. What it loses in direction variability it makes up for in variability of strength. We can go from almost calm to a very fresh breeze within a few minutes.
This leads to problems with the door. If the wind gets behind the door then it will slam it into the door frame. If it hits the front of the door the the door slams into the wall behind it. I've considered putting a hook and eye in the door and wall to maintain a constant distance between the door and the frame while removing the chance of it slamming into wall or frame. The problem with this is that it only gives me a single fixed angle of opening, which is a little restrictive.
Then last night I had an idea. I just need to rotate the restraining device through ninety degrees. Instead of putting a hook on the back of the door I run a line from the handle to the balcony rail, where I can lash it around an appropriate vertical in order to get the desired degree of opening. I am very pleased with this idea, and will probably spend some time this weekend splicing a holding line for just that purpose. Something with an eye splice at one end to go over the door handle and a crown knot/backsplice on the other end, I think.
0 comments
Summer has finally arrived here in the Frozen North, and the days have not only lengthened but have also warmed up sufficiently that I like to have the balcony door open to prevent my apartment from becoming too hot and muggy. The problem comes when the wind gets up. Here in Akuryeri we only really have two wind directions - north and south, as the wind comes either up the fjord or down. What it loses in direction variability it makes up for in variability of strength. We can go from almost calm to a very fresh breeze within a few minutes.
This leads to problems with the door. If the wind gets behind the door then it will slam it into the door frame. If it hits the front of the door the the door slams into the wall behind it. I've considered putting a hook and eye in the door and wall to maintain a constant distance between the door and the frame while removing the chance of it slamming into wall or frame. The problem with this is that it only gives me a single fixed angle of opening, which is a little restrictive.
Then last night I had an idea. I just need to rotate the restraining device through ninety degrees. Instead of putting a hook on the back of the door I run a line from the handle to the balcony rail, where I can lash it around an appropriate vertical in order to get the desired degree of opening. I am very pleased with this idea, and will probably spend some time this weekend splicing a holding line for just that purpose. Something with an eye splice at one end to go over the door handle and a crown knot/backsplice on the other end, I think.
0 comments
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Play time
How's this for a climbing frame?
This lives in a school yard near to the swimming pool at Hrafnagill, about 10km from Akureyri. It is not the sort of thing that you're likely to see in a British park, as it's clearly far too dangerous to let children anywhere near it. It is surrounded by gravel for a start. And that climbing net? You could strangle many children with that... Strictly speaking it's a little bit borderline here too, but it's a well-loved plaything which has just been repainted (according to a notice hung on it when we looked at it today) ready for another year of service.
When I was growing up in Liverpool there was a brilliant adventure playground in Sefton Park. It had huge wooden climbing frames with things to swing on and, across a tiny stream, a bridge that consisted of a number of logs connected to the handrail by chains so that you had to jump from one to another as they swung from side to side. If this worried you then there was a flat bridge or, for the slightly more adventurous, a set of stepping logs, but the chain bridge was by far the best.
It lasted for about a year before it was deemed to dangerous for children. First to go was the chain bridge, followed soon after by anything else that you could swing on, until the only thing left was a set of three vertical logs with four horizontals attached two and two at different heights. Even this didn't survive for more than another six months. Soon only the flat bridge remained and where once there had been a fantastic play area there was now a flat expanse of grass. This was at about the same time that proper see-saws began to disappear from swing parks. The maypoles with chain ribbons that were designed to hold a child's weight by a large handle had already gone, as had the rocket - a large conical climbing frame that both rotated around a central pole and also rocked from side to side from the top of it. Proper roundabouts with wooden seats went next, then multiple-rider rocking horses until only slides (preferably small ones), swings and simple climbing frames were left.
According to my friend Penny, who works as a grant assessment officer for Children In Need and has had to deal with childrens playgrounds before now, the move today is back to including more adventurous play equipment, but only in carefully controlled environments where children can be closely supervised. What the children want in parks, though, are bits of wood hanging on ropes from tree branches, or logs over streams. Unfortunately park wardens have to keep an eye out for such things and remove them to prevent lawsuits when little Johnno and his homies scrape their knees on the bark.
I think Iceland's got this one right.
0 comments
This lives in a school yard near to the swimming pool at Hrafnagill, about 10km from Akureyri. It is not the sort of thing that you're likely to see in a British park, as it's clearly far too dangerous to let children anywhere near it. It is surrounded by gravel for a start. And that climbing net? You could strangle many children with that... Strictly speaking it's a little bit borderline here too, but it's a well-loved plaything which has just been repainted (according to a notice hung on it when we looked at it today) ready for another year of service.
When I was growing up in Liverpool there was a brilliant adventure playground in Sefton Park. It had huge wooden climbing frames with things to swing on and, across a tiny stream, a bridge that consisted of a number of logs connected to the handrail by chains so that you had to jump from one to another as they swung from side to side. If this worried you then there was a flat bridge or, for the slightly more adventurous, a set of stepping logs, but the chain bridge was by far the best.
It lasted for about a year before it was deemed to dangerous for children. First to go was the chain bridge, followed soon after by anything else that you could swing on, until the only thing left was a set of three vertical logs with four horizontals attached two and two at different heights. Even this didn't survive for more than another six months. Soon only the flat bridge remained and where once there had been a fantastic play area there was now a flat expanse of grass. This was at about the same time that proper see-saws began to disappear from swing parks. The maypoles with chain ribbons that were designed to hold a child's weight by a large handle had already gone, as had the rocket - a large conical climbing frame that both rotated around a central pole and also rocked from side to side from the top of it. Proper roundabouts with wooden seats went next, then multiple-rider rocking horses until only slides (preferably small ones), swings and simple climbing frames were left.
According to my friend Penny, who works as a grant assessment officer for Children In Need and has had to deal with childrens playgrounds before now, the move today is back to including more adventurous play equipment, but only in carefully controlled environments where children can be closely supervised. What the children want in parks, though, are bits of wood hanging on ropes from tree branches, or logs over streams. Unfortunately park wardens have to keep an eye out for such things and remove them to prevent lawsuits when little Johnno and his homies scrape their knees on the bark.
I think Iceland's got this one right.
0 comments
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Existencial malaise
Can this be treated with retail therapy? Discuss.
It's been one of those days. I spent the morning in a staff meeting trying to drum up enthusiasm for tomorrow's faculty strategic planning meeting (held outside of town at an unknown location so that no-one can bring a car and escape at lunchtime - you know the sort of thing) and similarly trying to be positive about student and staff numbers over the coming two years. Not the sort of thing that generally lifts the spirits, although I did discover that the expression 'castles in the air' exists in Russian with the same meaning as in English, that the Chinese equivalent is 'castles on the sea' and the Icelandic is 'cities in the clouds'.
This afternoon was devoted to documentation for the forthcoming Ministry assessment, which does at least have a mindless escapism to it as I already have most of the text and just have to put it all together and then do a final edit to make sure it's cohesive. A little creativity was required for the introductory text for the faculty strategic document for tomorrow, but I managed to cobble that together from the departmental mission and aims.
By this point I decided I needed to go shopping. For a seam ripper (mine has gone walkabout) and a fleece blanket which could be turned into a wrap just like the last one (which committed suicide during Revel by throwing itself into the car boot catch, causing all sorts of problems). I ended up coming away with two cheap and cheerful pashminas in pink and purple from Tiger (I do have a soft spot for pashminas) and a tin of something that isn't Spam but may approximate to it. Curiously enough I've really missed Spam over here. I realised while I was in Netto precisely what I wanted for dinner tonight - a Bird's Eye Shepherd's Pie. Naturally I can't get anything that even approximates to one, but I'm getting used to crushing these cravings (occasionally with B&Js ice cream). Oh yes, and I found some plastic mugs to put in the picnic box.
I also wondered if I'm just plain strange. I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to decorate my bathroom door with 10cm high cast metal figures of small children using chamber pots. Nor do I have the need for a toilet roll holder in the shape of an elephant sitting on a toilet, both of which were on sale in the supermarket.
0 comments
It's been one of those days. I spent the morning in a staff meeting trying to drum up enthusiasm for tomorrow's faculty strategic planning meeting (held outside of town at an unknown location so that no-one can bring a car and escape at lunchtime - you know the sort of thing) and similarly trying to be positive about student and staff numbers over the coming two years. Not the sort of thing that generally lifts the spirits, although I did discover that the expression 'castles in the air' exists in Russian with the same meaning as in English, that the Chinese equivalent is 'castles on the sea' and the Icelandic is 'cities in the clouds'.
This afternoon was devoted to documentation for the forthcoming Ministry assessment, which does at least have a mindless escapism to it as I already have most of the text and just have to put it all together and then do a final edit to make sure it's cohesive. A little creativity was required for the introductory text for the faculty strategic document for tomorrow, but I managed to cobble that together from the departmental mission and aims.
By this point I decided I needed to go shopping. For a seam ripper (mine has gone walkabout) and a fleece blanket which could be turned into a wrap just like the last one (which committed suicide during Revel by throwing itself into the car boot catch, causing all sorts of problems). I ended up coming away with two cheap and cheerful pashminas in pink and purple from Tiger (I do have a soft spot for pashminas) and a tin of something that isn't Spam but may approximate to it. Curiously enough I've really missed Spam over here. I realised while I was in Netto precisely what I wanted for dinner tonight - a Bird's Eye Shepherd's Pie. Naturally I can't get anything that even approximates to one, but I'm getting used to crushing these cravings (occasionally with B&Js ice cream). Oh yes, and I found some plastic mugs to put in the picnic box.
I also wondered if I'm just plain strange. I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to decorate my bathroom door with 10cm high cast metal figures of small children using chamber pots. Nor do I have the need for a toilet roll holder in the shape of an elephant sitting on a toilet, both of which were on sale in the supermarket.
0 comments
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Matters of magnitude
Size does matter.
Take, for instance, the size of a handbag. After last week's adventures with 'IT', my nano-handbag fit only for formal dinners and royal garden parties, today I bought myself a new handbag. It's certainly larger than 'IT', but it's still not entirely to my liking. My old handbag, the one that drowned on the whale-watching trip, was large enough to hold a small country. This is vital to an active geek-about town like myself because, naturally enough, the amount of hardware you can fit in your bag is vitally important. If I could easily make 'IT' dimensionally transcendental then I'd be happy with it, but 'IT' isn't large enough to hold the necessary circuitry. The new bag is only big enough to hold, say, an Italian city-state rather than a small country. Nevertheless, it'll make do until I get back to the UK in July.
Another matter of size that I've run into over the last few days is the width of my car. For some reason I've started having problems lining it up in the centre of a parking space. I keep putting it way over to the right, which although it leaves me plenty of space to get out of the car does make me feel a bit uncomfortable and asymmetrical. What worries me is that it only seems to have started within the last couple of weeks. Has Revel meddled with my sense of scale? Or has some un-named Icelandic government agency ordered that all parking spaces must be repainted 20cm wider than before and I've missed the announcement because I don't speak the language well enough? My apartment doesn't seem any bigger, so I'm tentatively ruling out that some quantum fluctuation has caused all non-mobile objects to increase in size by 5%.
Something that definitely has changed size is the tray of flapjack I've just checked in the oven. I only had a large tin so I piled the mixture up on one side. During cooking it has relocated itself so that it now fills the whole tin in a thinner layer. Oh well. At least it looks like the overall volume hasn't changed. It just means that a) we're going to have thin flapjack nibbles instead of thick ones, and b) I need to double the amounts of ingredients next time I make it.
0 comments
Take, for instance, the size of a handbag. After last week's adventures with 'IT', my nano-handbag fit only for formal dinners and royal garden parties, today I bought myself a new handbag. It's certainly larger than 'IT', but it's still not entirely to my liking. My old handbag, the one that drowned on the whale-watching trip, was large enough to hold a small country. This is vital to an active geek-about town like myself because, naturally enough, the amount of hardware you can fit in your bag is vitally important. If I could easily make 'IT' dimensionally transcendental then I'd be happy with it, but 'IT' isn't large enough to hold the necessary circuitry. The new bag is only big enough to hold, say, an Italian city-state rather than a small country. Nevertheless, it'll make do until I get back to the UK in July.
Another matter of size that I've run into over the last few days is the width of my car. For some reason I've started having problems lining it up in the centre of a parking space. I keep putting it way over to the right, which although it leaves me plenty of space to get out of the car does make me feel a bit uncomfortable and asymmetrical. What worries me is that it only seems to have started within the last couple of weeks. Has Revel meddled with my sense of scale? Or has some un-named Icelandic government agency ordered that all parking spaces must be repainted 20cm wider than before and I've missed the announcement because I don't speak the language well enough? My apartment doesn't seem any bigger, so I'm tentatively ruling out that some quantum fluctuation has caused all non-mobile objects to increase in size by 5%.
Something that definitely has changed size is the tray of flapjack I've just checked in the oven. I only had a large tin so I piled the mixture up on one side. During cooking it has relocated itself so that it now fills the whole tin in a thinner layer. Oh well. At least it looks like the overall volume hasn't changed. It just means that a) we're going to have thin flapjack nibbles instead of thick ones, and b) I need to double the amounts of ingredients next time I make it.
0 comments
Monday, June 04, 2007
TV for engineering geeks
Once in a while the television comes up with something fascinating.
Today the History Channel did just that - a programme in its technology segment that charted the history of VTOL (vertical take-off and landing, not the cat of the same name that used to cohabit with Scotty, Jan and myself) aircraft, starting with the Heinkel Lark towards the end of the second world war, through the Rolls-Royce Flying Bedstead, the Messerschmidt VJ101 (the first supersonic VTOL jet), the Harrier (yay us!) and through to the current F35, together with the political situations that caused first the introduction and then cancellation of VTOL programs.
VTOL as a concept dates back to Nikolai Tessla in the 1920s, but it was only towards the end of WWII that people began to seriously look at the idea as they realised that in any future conflict one of the first targets would be airfields; it was important to be able to get your aircraft off the ground without a requirement for a mile of nice flat tarmac. Some of the early designs, like the Heinkel, are pure Flash Gordon rockets with wings, while others, like the flying bedstead, are marvellous Heath Robinson contraptions. Having grown up with the Harrier I had just accepted it as being a perfectly normal, if peculiarly British, aircraft and had no idea of the existence of any of the others (except possibly some of the US X-craft). Certainly the YAK-38 Forger had escaped me entirely. I do like the idea that VTOL testing is to blame for a number of flying saucer reports of the fifties and sixties - it does make a lot of sense.
This programme has given me yet another reason to visit Munich. For many years I've planned to spend a few days out there just to visit the Deutsches Museum and this reminder has prompted me to look at their website. Not only do they have a VJ101, but they also have the U1 submarine and the Z3 computer. I'm even wondering if I should suggest a weekend break there to Dad, as it's certainly his sort of museum and I'm sure that I can manage things for a weekend so that I don't kill him. :)
0 comments
Today the History Channel did just that - a programme in its technology segment that charted the history of VTOL (vertical take-off and landing, not the cat of the same name that used to cohabit with Scotty, Jan and myself) aircraft, starting with the Heinkel Lark towards the end of the second world war, through the Rolls-Royce Flying Bedstead, the Messerschmidt VJ101 (the first supersonic VTOL jet), the Harrier (yay us!) and through to the current F35, together with the political situations that caused first the introduction and then cancellation of VTOL programs.
VTOL as a concept dates back to Nikolai Tessla in the 1920s, but it was only towards the end of WWII that people began to seriously look at the idea as they realised that in any future conflict one of the first targets would be airfields; it was important to be able to get your aircraft off the ground without a requirement for a mile of nice flat tarmac. Some of the early designs, like the Heinkel, are pure Flash Gordon rockets with wings, while others, like the flying bedstead, are marvellous Heath Robinson contraptions. Having grown up with the Harrier I had just accepted it as being a perfectly normal, if peculiarly British, aircraft and had no idea of the existence of any of the others (except possibly some of the US X-craft). Certainly the YAK-38 Forger had escaped me entirely. I do like the idea that VTOL testing is to blame for a number of flying saucer reports of the fifties and sixties - it does make a lot of sense.
This programme has given me yet another reason to visit Munich. For many years I've planned to spend a few days out there just to visit the Deutsches Museum and this reminder has prompted me to look at their website. Not only do they have a VJ101, but they also have the U1 submarine and the Z3 computer. I'm even wondering if I should suggest a weekend break there to Dad, as it's certainly his sort of museum and I'm sure that I can manage things for a weekend so that I don't kill him. :)
0 comments
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Make, repair, embellish
With my visitors from Sweden on their way to the north west of the island, I can now finally get the flat back to normal.
Which, in this case, means that I have time to finish making Svenni's Tudor overgown (completed), do the seam repair to the Gilbere's doublet that I said I'd do last weekend but didn't have the time and which was, I believe, his consitutional 'thing he forgot' at Revel :) (completed), and sew the pearl beads onto Gonz's doublet (started). Before I started sewing this it was definitely in need of a wash, having spent the last weekend on a young member of our shire and, unfortunately, the lining wasn't happy to be washed. Fortunately I've got some spare linen so I'll just re-line it and it'll return to him next week better than it arrived, as it were.
I say that I've started sewing the pearl beads in place, but one of the things that has gone missing over the past fortnight is my needlecase containing my fine beading needles, which is a bit of a nuisance. I may have to go and buy some more tomorrow as most of the bead holes are a little too small to use a normal sharp. Never mind, it's not going to take that long once I've got the needles again, and in the meantime I can do some blackwork. Or make the lining... I've already promised to take a pattern from said doublet in order to make something similar for said young member of the shire, so re-lining it won't be a problem and after that I can put the sewing machine away. This would be a Good Thing. Maybe by this time next week things will be finally sorted.
2 comments
Which, in this case, means that I have time to finish making Svenni's Tudor overgown (completed), do the seam repair to the Gilbere's doublet that I said I'd do last weekend but didn't have the time and which was, I believe, his consitutional 'thing he forgot' at Revel :) (completed), and sew the pearl beads onto Gonz's doublet (started). Before I started sewing this it was definitely in need of a wash, having spent the last weekend on a young member of our shire and, unfortunately, the lining wasn't happy to be washed. Fortunately I've got some spare linen so I'll just re-line it and it'll return to him next week better than it arrived, as it were.
I say that I've started sewing the pearl beads in place, but one of the things that has gone missing over the past fortnight is my needlecase containing my fine beading needles, which is a bit of a nuisance. I may have to go and buy some more tomorrow as most of the bead holes are a little too small to use a normal sharp. Never mind, it's not going to take that long once I've got the needles again, and in the meantime I can do some blackwork. Or make the lining... I've already promised to take a pattern from said doublet in order to make something similar for said young member of the shire, so re-lining it won't be a problem and after that I can put the sewing machine away. This would be a Good Thing. Maybe by this time next week things will be finally sorted.
2 comments
Saturday, June 02, 2007
More guests
Not content with my guests last weekend, this weekend I have two guests from Gyllengran in Nordmark.
Unfortunately they couldn't make it to Revel last week as they'd booked their holiday in Iceland over six months ago, before we announced the date for our event. So instead they're staying here for a couple of days on their way around the island and we're off to have dinner with some other members of the shire this evening. The amusing thing is that Rickard was one of my students at Robert Gordon University who then discovered the SCA when he returned home to Sweden. It was originally his wife Åsa who contacted me and then told him who the local contact was, at which point he realised that there can't be two Nik Whiteheads involved with the SCA in Europe. It's not that common a name.
They're off again tomorrow, but sometime before they leave Åsa is going to teach me the basics of naalbinding, a skill that I decided I ought to pick up at some point while I was here and had access to lots of cheap Icelandic wool. As if I need any more projects to distract me right now... :)
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Unfortunately they couldn't make it to Revel last week as they'd booked their holiday in Iceland over six months ago, before we announced the date for our event. So instead they're staying here for a couple of days on their way around the island and we're off to have dinner with some other members of the shire this evening. The amusing thing is that Rickard was one of my students at Robert Gordon University who then discovered the SCA when he returned home to Sweden. It was originally his wife Åsa who contacted me and then told him who the local contact was, at which point he realised that there can't be two Nik Whiteheads involved with the SCA in Europe. It's not that common a name.
They're off again tomorrow, but sometime before they leave Åsa is going to teach me the basics of naalbinding, a skill that I decided I ought to pick up at some point while I was here and had access to lots of cheap Icelandic wool. As if I need any more projects to distract me right now... :)
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Friday, June 01, 2007
Being ethical
I've just written a code of ethics for the department.
It turns out that the university has neither an ethics code nor an ethics board to rule on research work. Seemingly about three years ago there was a committee tasked to write such a thing but the code they came up with was so biased towards health sciences that it was unworkable within the rest of the university, and would have made it nearly impossible to even get feedback from students with the classic end-of-module/course questionnaire.
Given that one of our intended learning outcomes for our students is the ability to act professionally and ethically I feel that it's probably quite important to introduce them to ethics from day one. I mean, doesn't every other subject do this? Right now all of our ethics stuff is informal but I decided that we should write down something that encapsulates our ethical ideas so that we can put it in our student handbook and stick it on the wall in the lab.
This left me with the problem of how to write an ethics code for computer science students. Fortunately the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) and the IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers) came to my rescue. I've recently joined both of these organisations partly because I should have done it years ago and partly because everyone at work is being encouraged to do everything possible to show that we're a vibrant, up-to-date, international-standard university in order to impress the Ministry assessors. They both have very well-thought out codes of ethics that I was able to use as the inspiration for my draft departmental code.
In 2008-2009 I might even end up teaching a module on ethics in computing. It would be one of those modules that I suspect that students would sign up for assuming it was going to be easy and then grow to hate because it would involve lots of essays and computing students don't like essays. :) It would be an interesting one to teach, though.
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It turns out that the university has neither an ethics code nor an ethics board to rule on research work. Seemingly about three years ago there was a committee tasked to write such a thing but the code they came up with was so biased towards health sciences that it was unworkable within the rest of the university, and would have made it nearly impossible to even get feedback from students with the classic end-of-module/course questionnaire.
Given that one of our intended learning outcomes for our students is the ability to act professionally and ethically I feel that it's probably quite important to introduce them to ethics from day one. I mean, doesn't every other subject do this? Right now all of our ethics stuff is informal but I decided that we should write down something that encapsulates our ethical ideas so that we can put it in our student handbook and stick it on the wall in the lab.
This left me with the problem of how to write an ethics code for computer science students. Fortunately the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) and the IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers) came to my rescue. I've recently joined both of these organisations partly because I should have done it years ago and partly because everyone at work is being encouraged to do everything possible to show that we're a vibrant, up-to-date, international-standard university in order to impress the Ministry assessors. They both have very well-thought out codes of ethics that I was able to use as the inspiration for my draft departmental code.
In 2008-2009 I might even end up teaching a module on ethics in computing. It would be one of those modules that I suspect that students would sign up for assuming it was going to be easy and then grow to hate because it would involve lots of essays and computing students don't like essays. :) It would be an interesting one to teach, though.
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