Some background for non-scadian readers: For those that don’t know, I’m active in a group called the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). Specifically, I live in the East Kingdom. I’ve been involved since I was 16 and I’m most interested in historical fencing. I’ve received an award called the Order of the Golden Rapier (or OGR for short). This is highest level award you can receive in the East Kingdom for skill and service to fencing. Forgive me as I slip some common SCA terms into this post.

As such, I can establish a formal relationship with another fencer as a student. They are known as your ‘cadet’. This is symbolized with a blue scarf on the arm of the cadet. My job, as their teacher (also known by my title ‘Don’), is to teach them what it means to *be* a member of the OGR, and (hopefully) eventually prepare them for inclusion. This is not only about fencing skill, but about service, teaching, and other aspects of the SCA.

A little over two years ago, I took my first cadet. His name was Collin Monroe. Now, Collin wasn’t particularly new to fencing, in fact he was kind of par-boiled. So the amount of spit and polish needed wasn’t as severe as it could have been with a less experienced fencer. The thing about the Don/Cadet relationship though is that it isn’t just about us. He continues to work with other people and teachers and constantly hones his skills. He was actually close enough to another fencer, Doña Marion del Okes, that he referred to her as his ‘fairy God Doña’.

This weekend was Southern Regional Warcamp, Collin was inducted into the order. Although several people asked me when he was getting his OGR, I wasn’t about to put his name forward for the polling until I felt that he was ready. Then, on the last royal polling it was finally time. So I’ve known for about two months now that the polling went well and the King and Queen decided to induct him. Of course, I had to tell everyone in Tadcaster. That is our fencing academy and household. I’m *so* glad everyone managed to keep the secret.

First order of business was making sure that he had a pin. I ordered it from a jeweller in Philadelphia called Glass on Gold. At first I wanted to give him my medallion as a heritage kinda thingy. Then I thought more about it and decided a gift from the academy would be more appropriate. So I contacted everyone and let them know what the price would be and get folks to throw some cash my way. We had a choice of bronze or gold with the enamel. Though the gold was more expensive, with everyone chipping in it was more reasonable for me. Obviously this was a dress piece meant to be worn in court and not on the battlefield. I arranged for the award to be given at an event I knew he would be attending. I also let his wife know so that she could make sure that the whole family was there.

Then, I wanted to make sure that he had a proper OGR-level scroll. I contacted our friend Madame Brunissende de Broceliande to prepare the scroll and Lady Katryne to do the wording. It turned out awesome! Bruni worked very hard on the scroll. So hard in fact, that she couldn’t keep herself from mentioning ‘the scroll’ in her LJ posts. That got Collin’s suspicions up. While she didn’t say it was his, she did mention it was a fencing scroll. That’s ok. I still forgive her.. he was *mostly* in the dark. The scroll wound up being an image of a fencing manual plate showing two fencers with bucklers (one of Collin’s favorite forms). The winning fencer was impaling the loser through the chest while deflecting the incoming shot with his buckler. Bruni put Collin’s device on the winning fencer’s buckler and it looked really great!

I wanted to give Collin something from me personally, so I worked on creating a portable sword rack for him to take to events and display/hold all his weapons when he fought. Not being a woodworker, I definately bit off more than I could chew. Luckily, my friend Andre *does* do woodworking, and he was able to help me out. You can tell it was ‘help’ rather than ‘do’, because there are some obvious mistakes. Thing is, I’m hoping it’s more personal that way.

When the big day finally arrived, I had all these plans for the presentation of the pin and sword rack and what I would say. Hell, I used to do theater. I could project my voice. Nope. I got choked up. I managed to squeak out my speech and stumbled through it. No one heard me except Collin and the King and Queen who were 4 feet away. As I groused later about all the things that went wrong (I need more practice in court), my friend Don Pascual said to me “Did you say it from here (pointed to his heart)? Then nothing you said or did was wrong.”. I keep trying to take that to heart (literally), but the perfectionist in me keeps jumping up and down in the back of my head. Not only did I have his dress pin for him but I had a broze medallion from Marion that was designed to be worn while fighting. Awesome! To complicate matters, the Queen also had a pin for him. Now he has 3! I only have one *sniff*. I’m out swagged by my former cadet already.

What went right:

• Surrounded by his friends and family
• Mostly a surprise
• Awesome scroll that managed to stay dry during the rain
• Good court heraldry
• He’s still wearing his medallion 4 days later!
• My speech (while quiet) was extremely heartfelt
• My wife’s great tasting cake with the OGR badge and congrats on it
• Collin defended the Iron Ring three times, incuding against two other OGRs the day of his induction (he still hasn’t taken a challenge from me yet though FWIW)

What went wrong

• Court
• -The K&Q already had a pin for him and almost excused him out of court before I could run up and give him the pin and medallion I had for him
• -I turned my back to the queen when talking to Collin and should have given her the pin to present to him
• -I got choked up and couldn’t be heard by the crowd, the rest of the OGRs (15 feet away), only by Collin and the royalty
• -I forgot to take his cadet’s scarf off
• -Didn’t get any pictures because my wife was dealing with two twins. Hoping others got some good pictures I can mooch.
• Sword Rack
• -I didn’t have time to paint his device on the side of the sword rack
• -Some of the stain ran and colored the horizontal more than I wanted to
• -I forgot to take pictures while a) making it b) before giving it to him c) after I gave it to him
• Event
• -It was raining and made for some very miserable people and family members.
• -The cake cracked in the middle during transport so it broke right in the middle of the OGR badge. Maybe that was a sign.
• -Forgot to take a picture of the cake.
• -Forgot to get pictures of me and Collin together afterwards in camp.

Blech. So ok, I listed more bad than good. But you know what? Overall I still feel really good about the whole thing. The screwups were minor (overall), and they can be overlooked or resolved (such as the picture thing). It’s been a wonderful two years. Collin has decided to keep the cadet scarf for himself and pass it along to his first cadet. That’s really cool. I’m looking forward to Pennsic this year. It’ll be our first time back in 3 years. Unfortunately, Collin and his family will not be attending because of vacation conflicts. I was really looking forward to fighting alongside him in the melees, etc, as my peer and not as my student any longer. Guess that will have to wait. It’s not like I haven’t felt like that for quite some time now. The title doesn’t suddenly change that. We’ve got many years in the SCA together in the future.

Nice long post. I’m sure I missed a few things. Maybe I’ll have a followup later. Either that or the rabid masses can remind me what I’ve forgotten in the comments.

[Listening to: Kiss Me - Melissa Etheridge - Lucky]

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Last week we had the twins 1st birthday party! Their actual birthday is July 13th, but we figured it was better to have a rip-roaring party on a weekend than the middle of the week.

Do you like the stupid hats they are wearing? Jean and I were at Party City picking up supplies and the exchange went something like this:

Me: We need to get them party hats.
Jean: No, they’ll look stupid in them.
Me: Well I had to wear one when I was a kid, and people have pictures of me looking stupid in them, so our kids need to look stupid for pictures too.

*grin*

Now, things could be worse. Can you believe they actually have a category called “Stupid Hats”?

We need to have a stupid hat party and invite all our friends. I’m stealing that idea from my dad, but being reminded about it because of my kids. Those that know my father, know that he’s a big fan of Jagermeister. Many years ago, Jaggy had an ad campaign which featured people making that scrunched up face you make when you take your first shot. Something about how ‘smooth’ it was. My dad had a hat party, and they all took Jagermeister pictures of them making faces and wearing stupid hats. I wonder if I can track down those pictures somewhere.

Oh, so back to the party. It was really cool. Luckily we have the fortune of knowing people with tents and popups. The Brooks’ pavillion was a big hit. It provided shade and a nice place to hang out. I managed to avoid either a) setting it up or b) taking it down. Talk about timing! The first time I was off buying ice (do you *know* how much ice you need for a party of 60+ people???) and the second time was..um.. I forget.. but I wasn’t there and I had a reason. I felt bad (of course), but what could I do? Mentally I just added their setup and breakdown time to the twins’ present. I mean, jeez – if I added it my moving debt or airport pickup debt, I’d really be in trouble. I’ve managed to offset some of my moving debt by working on their basement, but I know the scales are still tipped in their direction.

Lots of good food, and not too many leftovers.

We also had some T-Shirt Fencing on the side of the house, now it’s not naked fencing

but it still keeps you on your toes. I’m surprised more people didn’t actually fence, as that’s been the ‘thing to do’ at the last several parties. Guess the die hards weren’t there.. or forget their gear, or whatever..

Well that’s a long enough entry for now. I’ve got more to talk about, but not time to actually type it up.

Kinda funny the music I am listening to too as I wrote that last part about fencing…

[Listening to: Celebrity - Barenaked Ladies - Everything to Everybody]

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I need some help from someone who actually knows something about tires. This is a long post regarding it, so be prepared.

We got a flat in our Honda Odyssey (2004). Since it’s too close to the sidewall, they couldn’t patch it. Since we’re at 77k miles on the factory tires which are rated for 65k, we decided the best thing to do would be to replace all four.

Well, the tire center at Sam’s couldn’t do it. The Michelin Symmetry tires that we have on there are rated at 98T, and the sticker on the door says the same. All they had was 97T tires, and a bunch of them. They would have to special order the 98T’s for us. He wouldn’t install the 97T’s.

The mechanic also put the fear of “safety” in us. And told us not to let someone else put 97Ts on, as many would ‘just for the sale’. He said it had to do with the strength of the sidewall and the minivan.

We were supposed to head down to our friend Mark and Helena’s housewarming party. But they live in Tuckahoe. There was no way we were going to make a two hour round trip (at 75mph) on a holiday weekend driving on a doughtnut.

So we headed over to NTB (National Tire and Battery). Same thing, they didn’t have any 98T’s. But, they also had a wide selection of 97Ts. The mechanic there said that they always put the 97s on the Hondas. When I told him what the Sam’s tech said, he indicated that it was the letter, not the number that was important. The T was the speed rating. This means it’s top rated speed is 118mph. You can apparently put on a higher letter, (which is faster), but not a lower letter such as R (106 mph). It has to do with the temperature. Now, of course, I’m never going to be going that fast, but that is apparently the more important rating.

He suggested we call the dealer. They were actually really useless. The service department had no additional information and said “we aren’t tire experts and that I should ask at the tire installer”. I was appalled and told him as much. How could the dealer *not* have the information regarding the vehicle’s allowed ratings? All I wanted to know was if I could do the 97Ts or was a I forced to bring it back to the dealer (and of course pay more money). He tried connecting me to parts. They didn’t answer. His solution? Call another dealer. Thanks a whole freakin’ lot you ass.

The 97 or 98 determines the total weight allowed per tire. So the 97t allows a weight of 1609lbs, while the 98T is 1653lbs (44lbs per tire differerence, or 176lbs total.). The curb weight is 4365lbs, but I’m inside right now, and the website doesn’t give the total allowed weight. Though the difference between the two is 2071lbs. That’s alot of people and/or cargo.

Looking on the internet, I found several posts from people in the exact same predicament as us. They can’t find the 98Ts anywhere but at the dealer. Many say they went with the 97s. One gentlemen even explains that with the maximum weight allowance of the 97Ts (6436lbs total), you’re already exceeding the maximum allowable for the minivan, so you’re definately safe.

Part of the problem there is that PSI makes a big difference on the weight. The tires should max at 44psi (manufacturer), but the recommended pressure from Honda is 36psi. Many vehicle manufacturers do this. Read your manual, or door panel, rather than the tire itself. The reduced pressure also means a reduced maximum weight.

Wheeeehhhhheeeww… That was alot of information. We never made it down to the housewarming. We want to be sure we get the right tires for this vehicle. It’s a family car.

So the bottom line is this. How much safety am I sacrificing going with the 97Ts instead? Or should I definately go to the dealer and get the 98Ts? Thoughts?

Right now, I’m leaning towards going with the 97Ts myself. Getting the higher end Michelin Hydroedge tires (great for water reduction). I’m still looking at like 130$/tire. Even if I go with the lesser model, the cost per tire is still over $100. These aren’t your mama’s 60$ tires kids.

[Listening to: Harder To Breathe - Maroon 5 - ]

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In Lansing, MI, the Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital delivered 6 sets of twins in 32 hours.

Can you imagine being the women who only had a singleton? There would be all this echo crying around the maternity ward and really confusing the heck out of you.

Must’ve been fun to be the nurses on at that time.

Speaking of twins… we’re coming up on Connor and Alia’s 1 year birthday.. July 13th… I can’t believe that a year has passed so quickly..

[Listening to: Voice Inside My Head - Dixie Chicks – Taking the Long Way ]

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