We am smart...or IS we???

So I lost my wallet at GenCOn, and by 'lost' I mean it was swept up in my wife's corset. We found it later, but not before tearing apart the hotel room and cancelling several credit cards. Fun.

So what happens to my friend Griffin at DragonCon? He looses his wallet. I got a text message from Lindsey informing me of this. I suggested she check her corset for it. She replied that, as she was working for Griffin, she wasn't wearing a corset (gasp!). I suggested she check Griffins corset.

Ha ha, funny joke.

So where did his wallet turn up? In the wash. In his Utilikilt. The one he was wearing when he lost it.  Alas, he'd done the whole 'Cancel my life' thing already. Bummer.  At least he got his wallet back.

 It's been a strange season so far. Just wierd all around. Ohio Ren is like a fortress. I.D. and parking pass inspections, drug dogs (I am not joking) Parker gone... 

At Michigan I have seen three other shops carrying busked corsets. None of them are really very good, but I feel like everybody is just looking to get a piece of me there. 

Following the news is making me physically jittery. I have to stop reading the blogs. If McCain wins I will have honestly lost my faith in my fellow countryman to know the difference between a smart and dumb. I saw Guliani openly mock Obama for being a community organizer. WTF? You know what? Martin Luthor King was a community organizer you smug fuck. It's one of the hardest, most thankless and worst paying (if at all ) jobs in our country. Thanks for shitting on them.

i gotta get some sleep now..

Very cool...The Beatles

On my last drive up to the Michigan Ren I listened to NPR's All Songs Considered podcast which had an interview with the son of legendary Beatles manager George Martin. He and his father had been contacted to do a score for a Cirque du Soleil show called 'Love'.

The project involved remixing a number of classic Beatles tunes and results were so cool I bought the CD on Amazon. (It's not available on iTunes yet) I must admit, I like what they've done. A lot of new and rich textures are brought out. Through subtle changes and segues I heard things I had never heard before. No new shitty vocals by Madonna or that type of nonsense. No new instrumentals or techno backbeatsd. It's all the Beatles. And it's good.

Is it just me or has the world gone mad?

John McCain just chose Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, to be his VP running mate.

I did a wikipedia search and while she seems to be a decent person and a good governor so far, I don't think she is really the person for the job. Do you? About 3 months ago I opined to my wife that the perfect running mate for McCain was Condalezza Rice. She is smart, has a crapload of experience. She is Black AND a woman. While I hate the moron she works for, she doesn't seem to be innept at her job. And with Hillary out of the race, it would present a real chance to reach out to minorities and women. It would be a bold, gutsy move.

But the Republicans just couldn't do it. They couldn't push their party THAT far. A woman VP? Maybe. A Black VP? Hmmmm. But a Black woman VP? Oh Hell no.

So with all the other qualified women to choose from, why did they choose a woman who he met once for 15 min? Why did he choose someone with SO LITTLE experience? Sure, there have been other VP's who didn't have a massive amount of experience, but Palin's resume is almost empty.

Check out the last few VP's experience:

Dick Cheney: US Rep '79; Sec of Defense under Bush I
Al Gore: US Rep '77; US Senate '85
Dan Quayle: US Rep '77; US Senate '81
George HW Bush: US Rep '67; Ambassador to the UN '71; chairman of RNC; envoy to China; director of CIA
Walter Mondale: organized HHH's US Senate campaign in '48; US Senate, '65
Nelson Rockefeller: Gov of NY... for nearly 15 years

So what is the defence of this action? What is the comeback? Well, Obama has no real experience and he's running for the Big Chair.

Ok, lets compare the life experience of the two (via a comment at FARK.com):

OBAMA:
- Studied at Occidental College, Los Angeles.
- Graduate of Columbia (B.A., Political Science exp International Relations)
- Graduate Harvard Law School (J.D., magna cum laude).
- President, Harvard Law Review.
- Professor, Constitutional Law, University of Chicago Law School.

PALIN:
- One semester at Hawaii Pacific College
- Graduate, BS in "Communications/Journalism" at University of Idaho. (One of those degrees for people who can't handle math, science, law, physics, medicine or computers).

Well, I'd say they're about even in education, wouldn't you?

Another important measure of experience is LEADERSHIP.

OBAMA:
- Director, Developing Communities Project, Chicago, 1985-88. (Huge success story).
- This success led to: Consultant, Gamaliel Foundation.
- Editor, Harvard Law Review.
- Director, Project Vote.
- Professor, Constitutional Law, University of Chicago Law School.
- Member, Board of Directors, Woods Fund, Chicago.
- Member, Board of Directors, Joyce Foundation.
- Member, Board of Directors, Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- Member, Board of Directors, Center for Neighborhood Technology
- Member, Board of Directors, Lugenia Burns Hope Center
- Senator, Illinois State Senate (3 terms)
- Chairman, Illinois Senate Health and Human Services Committee
- Senator, United States Senate
- Candidate, US President

PALIN:
- Sports Reporter, KTUU Anchorage
- Member, Alaska Independence Party
- Councilmember, Wasilla Alaska
- Mayor, Wasilla City
- Governor, Alaska (~18 mos)

Oh, yeah. It's a dead heat in LEADERSHIP.

Finally, there's LIFE EXPERIENCE. It's hard to define and pin down. But a person's life experience is often a good indicator of their worldliness and sagacity. Let's compare!

OBAMA:
Born of mixed race parentage, son of a black Kenyan and a white Kansan. Endured parents' divorce, the family moved to Jakarta when he was 6. Moved to Hawaii to live with grandparents when he was 10. Excelled in school and experimented with soft drugs and alcohol. Became a reasonably talented basketball player. Moved to LA for college. Good grades got him to Columbia and Harvard. Traveled to Europe, Africa and Asia. Has now traveled extensively around the world. Married Michelle Robinson 1992. Two kids, girls. Authored two bestselling books, "Dreams of my Father" and "Audacity of Hope". Though not raised in a religious home, became an observant Christian. Has spoken about race relations and his personal experiences with eloquence and forthrightness.

PALIN:
Born in Sandpoint Idaho to white-bread middle-American parents. Moved to Alaska when an infant. Grew up in a religious Pentecostal household and remained observant. Went moose hunting with her father. A reasonably talented basketball player, she was known as "Barracuda" and led prayers before games. Won Miss Wasilla beauty pageant and placed second for Miss Alaska. Eloped with husband Todd Palin at 24. The couple have 5 kids, one of them an infant. In 2007, had her first ever trip overseas to visit Alaska National Guard troops in Kuwait and Germany. Claims to have visited Canada once. Has run a marathon and has a pilot's license.

This is the person who is a 72 year old heartbeat away from the presidency? Now, the President has a lot of people who help make the show run. There are layers and layers of agencies and experts that advise and prevent the POTUS from doing stupid and rash things. But that didn't stop Bush now, did it?

But if anyone tries to bring up the fact that Palin isn't the person for the job, fingers are pointed and cries of "Sexist!" arise. 'It's insulting to women!'.

What?

It doesn't matter that she's a woman at all with regard to her lack of experience.

Then there's the personal stuff. Obama won't go after it. But I'm not Obama, or anyone official. I'm just some guy with a blog. (aka 'An asshole with an opinion').

Palin gave birth 4 months ago to a child with Down Syndrome. That's a huge responsibility above and beyond the standard baby thing. Even with Dad helping out, how much time does the VP job give you to address the needs of such a child? Running the country is the most stressfull job around. It takes a lot of life out of those who hold the job. Look at Both Bush and Clinton before and after this job. They eat right, exercise and have the best healthcare of any American and the job still sucks out a lot of life.

Her 17 year old daughter is 5 months pregnant. She now has to pretend to be thrilled with this situation. Very few parents are thrilled to learn their 17 year old is pregnant. If only her kid had been given some better information, maybe access to contraception. But condoms are bad, aren't they? And waiting till marriage to have sex works so well, except when it doesn't. Luckily her parents have enough money to help their daughter out. Others might not be so lucky since she slashed funding for a transition house for teen mothers. Their family unit seems strong. Cool. Of course, if her daughter had been raped or the victim of incest or just not ready to be a parent Mrs. Palin believes she shouldn't have the right to get an abortion.

Yes, these things happen. Even to conservative, Christian families. Actually it happens to them more often. The difference here is that they feel they need to tell me about how they are the ones with 'values'. They are more 'moral'. Gays? They shouldn't get the right to marry. But I better not point out the hypocrisy of their unwed pregnant daughter. Their daughter will apparently 'do the right thing and get married". But what if that isn't the right thing? I know I wasn't ready to be a parent at 18. I can only imagine the pressure they are putting on the kid who fathered this child. Does that seem like the 'right thing?'.

These people believe they should be allowed to set government policy based on their 'family values' and their creepy holy book.

I know, Obama is a faithhead too. I support him despite his religion, not because of it.

I'm having a hard time believing the McCain team is this stupid. It's an obvious attempt to grab some disaffected Clinton supporters. They'll be sure to ignore Palins pro-life stance just to get a woman into the White House. They'll ignore her lack of experience completely. They'll ignore the fact that McCain wants to overturn Roe v Wade, put their sons and daughters through a few more wars and another trillion of debt.

Or they won't. Broads are funny that way.

That's a tough one...

The McCain camp is seriously asking Americans to answer the question "Are you better off now than 8 years ago?".

If I had the political hack who came up with that question in front of me, I'd punch him in the throat. What the hell kind of question is that? It's a bullshit one is what it is. I heard this one the other day and I stopped to actually consider it, and for a monet, I was suprised at the answer.

For myself, I might have to say "Yes, my life is better in some ways than 8 years ago".

• I have a home.
• I own my own business and it is profitable.
• I own a vehicle that isn't at constant risk of falling apart.

By those criteria, I should be happy to vote for McCain. Because my life is better now, isn't it? Of course, none of those things came to me as a result of George Bush's policies. If I am better off in some ways today it's because of hard work, perseverance, a great wife and a crapload of luck. And my business? I can only imagine how much better I'd be doing if the economy wasn't in the shitter. Seriously. I don't sell food or medicine, I sell a luxury item. You don't need my product to live, like say, gasoline. The question being asked completely ignores that fact that people struggle and work hard to better themselves and their lives. It ignores things that have nothing to do with who is president. It is a complete bullshit question.

And yet they get away with asking it. Look how the question is crafted. "Are YOU better off?".
It's almost clever. And it might work on some people. Dumb people, sure, but it might work. Joe Blow might just look at his life and say 'Hey, I have a wife and a kid now, I got a promotion and we live in a nice new house. Things ARE better for me now. I should vote to keep the status quo!".

The tactic might have worked if things weren't so monumentally fucked up now. Because even though I and others might be doing okay, most Americans aren't. I haven't had my job shipped overseas. I don't have a kid fighting in a pointless war. I can still afford gas and food. Does that mean my overall life is better?

But I can't really ask "Could my life be significantly better if someone else had been President for 8 years?" That's just wild speculation, isn't it? But if I may, hell yes I think my life would be much better, and so would the lives of many other people. Yes, it's hypothetical, but I don't think I'd lose much money of that bet.

The real question to ask (and the one the Republicans sure as hell aren't asking) is:

"Do you think the country is better off than 8 years ago?" I bet I know the answer to that question.

Keen

Some friend of a guy who does the Shortpacked comic strip got married and I have to admit, it's a pretty sweet looking invite.



Tough to top? Sure. But very geeky. Apparently the wedding was costume mandatory. My kind of people.

To sleep, perchance to dream...

It's over, the month from Hell. Great Lakes, to Pennsic, to Great Lakes for teardown, home for 1 day and then off to Indianapolis for a week. Very tired.

This was a roller coaster ride. Pennsic was great, but it was camping for two weeks and for the first time, it was work. Sure, helping run Hell Nite and other events was like work, but my livelihood didn't depend on it. When we got back to Great lakes it rained the last weekend. And when we packed up? There just wasn't enough room for everything to go home. We have to go pick some of it up tomorrow.

We dropped off stock to Michigan Ren without incident, but we arrived at GenCon with a LOT of stuff supposedly "in the mail" to us. Most of it arrived. Then, my wallet went missing. We tore apart the room, which was the ONLY place it could be before I reluctantly called the credit card companies and bank to report the loss. It then proceeded to turn up 12 hours later in my wife's corset. When we got back home I learned that my bank did'nt cancel the most important check card. Swell job guys.

GenCon was a big hit sales-wise. We carried the new brass goggles, some steampunk airship academy t-shirts I designed, and some nifty gothic clothing from a company called Eternal Love. In fact, things went so well we were literally tripping over each other in our cramped space. I have bit the bullet and decided that next year we will get a double space. It's a big expense, but I think it will help us get seen.

Michigan did outstanding its opening day, and then went into the toilet the second. Weird.

And then there's the big news. Great Lakes is being shifted back one week next year. This means it will overlap the opening of Michigan AND GenCon. This is being done because the owner of Great Lakes isn't making much money on the 4th of July weekend. People are off doing family things. So he's decided to screw EVERYONE. There was no warning about this. Rossana only noticed it because she actually reads contracts and other documents. I am furious. I've been with this show for over 12 years but I am willing to just walk away if they do this. Screw them. My only major headache is that I JUST bought a fucking booth that I spend a good chunk of time cleaning up and painting. I think I can sell it but it would have been better if I had started that process during the season for exposure.

Pennsic could easily replace Great Lakes and I'd get 4 weeks of my life back. I don't want to give up Great Lakes, but I simply will NOT take their bullshit. It would be damn near impossible to have decent stock and staff for three events.

Sigh.

I'm glad to be home. I spent a few hours trying to put away all my tools and clean up my shop a little. Everything is a mess. My office, the garage, my shop even the yard still has traces of the party left over here and there.

Pennsic

Pennsic is in full swing now after a slow start. Sales are starting to
pick up and the weather today was awesome. So why am I worried? About
50 corsets are missing in transit from California. Also, some my
fabric sources have dried up this year.(thanks china)

Rossana and Lindsey are back in Ohio for the weekend leaving me
unsupervised. This means that I am free to stay in the booth for 11
hours or so, head back to camp, drink a glass of mead, and pass out.

I am a party animal.

OMG

If you've ever worked in print or graphic arts, this may be the funniest thing you will see all month. And if you haven't...well...it uh...won't

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

At the starting gate...

Tomorrow is thew last day we'll be home for a while. After tomorrow we leave the cats in the care of our sitters and head off to work Great Lakes AND Pennsic. I am apprehensive about doing Pennsic as a merchant. In the 20+ years I have been going it has always been my vacation. I started going when I was 16. I've never missed one. Eventually working in medieval clothing became by job and I still went. Due to overlapping schedules the last few years I have had to leave Pennsic to go and do a Ren Faire. And now? I leave a show, to go do a 2 week show. When I get back from that I'll run up to Michigan to drop off stuff for a show and then go do a show.

Wow.

We did this last year and it somehow all worked out. Except that last year Pennsic was still my vacation.

I'm feeling bad because I won't be able to hang out in my home camp of Pentwyvern as much. It's changed a lot over the years, but I still consider it home. It is an old and comfortable pair of shoes. But working the show means I can't help as much with set up or other camp activities.

On the other hand I helped build our camps shower trailer, ran a chair making day at the house, helped design and build our awesome siege tower and helped create and run Hell Nite, our massive and very fun camp party.

I should feel fine about taking time off from camp stuff. But I don't. Then there's the fact that Pennsic last year was BRUTALLY hot. We are still in a war and the economy is in the shitter. I hear rumors about a 17% drop in attendance. Gas is $4 a gallon. People are stuggling just to get to the event. Will they buy?

Deep breath.

On the up side, I will still be at Pennsic. This is where my friends are. It is still one of the coolest events around, and I have attended my fair share of events now. If you're at war and have a few minutes, feel free to stop by ther booth. I promise I won't try to sell you anything. (Although I can't promise you won't buy anything).

Freakin' EPIC

I learned to day that the following piece of AWESOME weaponry is now available. What could make this thing more cool? Putting it to use in an all out office war. This is one of the few things we didn't do back when I was working for 'the man', but I wish we had.

Have a look.

I'm voting for THIS GUY

No, not that one...

This guy.

And I'm not really voting for him, I'm sending him $10. But if if I could vote for him, I would.

A little of thisa... a little of thata

Not a whole lot to report at the moment. I downloaded the new iphone 2.0 firmware and some apps. My iphone is now more useful. Not as useful as my brothers NEW 3G iphone, but useful. I'll just have to live with my limitations.

The big purchase was a new laptop. I have agonized over this for about a year ever since my Sotec's dvd drive died. Boot times were around 8 minutes. It was old, it was slow, but it was light. The new hotness? A Gateway. It's very fast. But it's got Vista. There are really very few things I see as an improvement with Vista. Really. It's kind of pretty, but it's also a bit awkward usability wise. I'll keep it around and try to figure it out.

It's got good battery life. I watched a movie that I rented from a very cool machine called Red Box at the Geneva grocery store. The cool things? Only $1 a night and it's basically a robot. I rented Batman: Gotham Knight and was a little underwhelmed with the movie.

The Great Lakes Faire enters its third weekend and we're looking at rain again. Joy. Then I have a week to prep for Pennsic. Will I be ready? Unlikely.

Geeks at Home

I present to you a collection of geeks, fanboys and nerds dressed in their native attire and in their home settings. This is a series of very cool photos of our kind (or my kind if you are not a nerd and/or fanboy).

There is a strange juxtaposition of seeing a sith lord in a living room with collectible dolls. On the other hand, it shows that a lot of us are just normal people who live in normal places.

I am in no way ashamed of my nerdness. I never have been. Whether it was strolling through the mall in mediaval garb, attending a swanky fundraiser in my trek uniform or going to the moviesdressed as a pirate and/or vampire.

How drab, how dull to live out ones life wearing the uniform our society and culture has stated is 'proper' and 'right'.

Sooooo coooooool

Optimus Prime made from scrap metal....

Catching my breath

The Bag End bash went of pretty damn well. Well, except for the torrential rainstorm that hit mid way through the day while we tried to play frisbee hack. But the weather soon cleared up and we were able to hack frisbees as well as enjoy the fireworks.

I want to thank everyone for coming over and bringing such great food. It was great to see some friends that I haven't seen in quite a while.

Just before the party my Dad came for his annual visit. This was canceled last year when he broke his neck in an accident. I am happy to report that he again rode him Honda PC800 down from Boston without too much trouble. Grimm was also in town building a trailer for Pennsic and even Ander came by to work on a camp chair.

No rest for the wicked though. It was off to Columbus for Origins Gaming convention (during which Wellington got a metric ASSLOAD of rain. Our house was fine but there are signs of the storm all around.

Back at home we only had a short rest before heading out to Geneva to prepare for the Great Lakes Medieval Faire. It was a frenzied 2 days of painting, cleaning, planting and more. Our new booth now has a proper changing room, a real storage area and a fresh coat of paint. All in all, it looks remarkably the same. This was a rather disappointing realization, but everything behind the scenes is in much better shape now.

The show opens this weekend and there a lot of activity on the site. Apparently Larry, the owner of the show bought out a lot of equipment from the now defunct Geuoga Lake amusement park. There was even a rumor he was building a roller coaster (Thanks god that wasn't true.) We didn't have time to look around, maybe tomorrow when we start setting up and primping the booth.