As mentioned in a previous post the Check Engine light came on on the ride to Pennsic. Well its being coming and going and yesterday I had it checked out. Catalytic Converter is dieing. $850. Which means that I will have spent around $4000 in repairs on my car in a single month. Ah the joys of having 110K miles…

So, anyone know what happens if I dont get this fixed?

Good grief I HATE this book…

You’re The Catcher in the Rye!
by J.D. Salinger
You are surrounded by phonies, and boy are you sick of them! In an
ongoing struggle to search for a land without phonies, you end up running away from
everything, from school to consequences. In this process, you reveal that many people
in your life have suffered torments and all you really want to do is catch them as
they fall. Perhaps using a baseball mitt. Your biggest fans are infamous
psychotics.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Gacked from …

If you could travel back in time to spend a day with someone, who would it be and why?

Czar Nikolas Romanov just after the abdication, so I could ask him WTF were you thinking???

General Lee, just after Picket’s Charge, so I could ask him WTF were you thinking???

The commander of the Light Brigade, just after the charge, so I could ask him WTF were you thinking???

Sensing a pattern?

So, who would you go back and talk to?

So Friday night found a large number of Windys (Windies?) sitting around a large fire burning a significant amount of the left over firewood. I wen to bed around midnight and woke up around 7 the next morning. (Yes, once upon a time I was a night person…). People started to stir and we rekindled the fire – wasn’t hard as the coals were still burning despite having been watered and covered. We burned the last of the firewood, then took down the kitchen and made the first trip to the storage shed. Stopped at Sheetz for breakfast on the way back to camp.

& I broke down our pavilion and packed up rather quickly. We made another trip to the storage shed, then came back and helped & break down as they had been focused on the camp. I have to say, thy earned their Don Q’s. Girard & I took a ride to the storage shelter again, while Lukas & Guenievre stayed behind to drop their pavilion. On the way, we took a detour to avoid the Currie Rd – 422 backup by the mass exodus. This brought us by The Farm^TM where The Chocolate Milk^TM comes from. We confirmed their location and hours and headed to the storage shed planning to stop by on the way back.

On the way back we did stop by, and there were calves about everywhere. Just kind of lying around,. But no signs of humans. We drove up the road to make sure we were in the right place, and we were. We drove back into the farm and a guy comes running from the barn. ‘You guys drove off before I could get out here last time.’ Then he took us to the magic milk room and allowed us to buy doses of crack – supplies were thin. He also told us they make ice cream which was duly noted for next year. Anyone feel like heading off site for some ice cream? I will warn you, there are flies EVERYWHERE. But the crack was goooooooooooooooooooooooood!

Nick and I bring the milk crack back to site and feed it to Lukas & Guenievre. Lukas runs off and brings back pierogies which he and I munch on as G&G complete their pack down. Then all four of us check in on those who are still packing down and those who are staying until Sunday. We patrol the grounds and make a garbage run. Then we leave site and head south. We travel about 90 minutes til just south of Pittsburgh and decide its time for a hotel, a shower and dinner before sleeping like people who just broke down a Pennsic camp. Foolish us. First exit, no place has any vacancies. Not completely true. One place has smoking rooms with no lights in the bathrooms. Next exit, no vacacies. Next exit $150 a night one room with a king size bed and it smelled like a sewage treatment plant. Finally we find a place, lord knows where, but its right next to a fair and this extended family of cowboys is staying just down from us. We all take showers, order pizza, and collapse.

Lukas & I get up the next morning, and hit the road by 9am. We pretty much travel straight through stopping only for bathrooms, drinks, and gas. Around Greensboro we finally stop for food and have a nice long dinner. Then off home to see the cats. Home by 5. Much snuggle time with cats. A good trip.

The Good:

Lukas loved his first Pennsic
After the first storm the pavilion stayed pretty much dry.
Power shopping
Interesting classes
Good times with good friends
The Crusades meeting.
Baronial Court
Dunstan’s Vigil
Snuggles
PoD time
Pride’s announcement in court (thanks again Cuan – you rock)
Time with
The ad
Reactions to the VnV event
The feeling of Community

The Bad

Wet pavilion after first storm
Not getting to see a lot of people – got all of 30 seconds with Byrom, Anne, etc
Never making it to B side
Food plan confusion
Bank accounts

The Ugly

Rain
Steamy sticky heat

From here things begin to become a blur…

I know took some classes on Sunday. And I know we shopped a bunch.

On Monday there was some confusion as to who was cooking that night. So, we are off getting garters fit for Lukas and I am concerned that we will be laet for dinner again. I bump into Wystric in the merchant area and he expresses that he thought we were cooking. I assure him know, we are cooking on Tuesday. We get back to camp and most everyone else thinks we are cooking, so we are fortunately mostly prepared shopping wise and are able to (with a ton of help from Sunnivia & ) make a dinner that seemed to have been enjoyed by all. later confirmed that yes, Lukas & I had Tuesday… and we figured out that the confusion lie around everyone knowing we were cooking the night of the beer bash but people thinking that was Monday not Tuesday.

Tuesday was the night of the beer bash. I had brewed in a somewhat rushed and lazy manner a Blackberry Wheat which seems to have been enjoyed by everyone and which had a much greater punch then I expected. (No, I didn’t do any specific gravity readings…) It was also the night of the Blue Feather Catlilian and Lukas & I headed that way while everyone else was back in camp watching the belly dancer. At the Catilian was a very cute young gentleman wearing a Kimono and a dog collar. He walked past me at one point and I developed the nerve (and this is how I know the beer I brewed was stronger then expected) to ask him was the bone shaped tag on his collar said. He rather embarrassedly said ‘Snuggles. Its my pup name.’ I told him kewl and allowed him to wander on before turning to Lukas and saying ‘he’s so cute. I want one.’ (reference strength of beer as noted above – though it was not strong enough to make me sing ‘How Much Is That Doggie In The Window’ which si what popped into my mind…) The catilian moves from its usual drag show in garb stage into the dance stage when word comes around that there is a super cell headed right to Pennsic and its causing flooding in its wake. We head back to camp and announce it. People go off, batten down whats left to batten and then everyone comes to the common tent and hangs out late into the night – even after the the storm passed. Was one of the best nights I think there was this Pennsic.

Wednesday… Thursday… Friday… stuff happened. For example, in no particular order…

Like I did my PoD shift – which was awesome. I really enjoyed that.

Friday was the Crusades meeting which went well and Gustav did an excellent job at.

Wednesday Kingdom Court was long and it was very hard to hear and follow in the barn – next time they should really set it up with TRMs et al on the dais and everyone around them – that would have the populace loser to TRMs and make court easier to hear and follow – not a criticism cause I know the barn was a fall back but rather a lesson learned for next time. Congrats and thanks to for the mojitos – yummy! And Dunstan got put on vigil – WOOT!!! (Feel bad for missing it but blood sugar issues were at critical mass – I am sure he understands…)

Baronial court was awesome – lots of very deserving people got recognized. Including both & for their well deserved Don Q’s. Both Lukas & I were honored to each receive a Euris (spelling? pluralization?). The alternate scroll text (posted in journal here) is awesome – especially when Dunstan is singing it to you off to the side of the encampment.

I am sure I am forgetting a ton of things, but have to take the cat to the vet so look for The Whole Pennsic Saga^TM Part 4 which will include take down, the search for a hotel, the long drive home, and the good bad and ugly of Pennsic coming soon to a journal near you.

When last we left our intrepid heroes…. they were starting the drive.

We get out of the neighborhood and start the ‘ok what did we forget’ before hitting the highway. Blue cards? check. Medallions? check. Wallets? check. Cell phone chargers? check. Wait, we forgot nothing that we have to turn back for? Guess having both forgotten our blue cards and having had to turn back for them before land grab satisfied that part of the Pennsic ritual. Phew!

The drive begins pretty un-remarkably. Stop at the Sheetz outside of Burlington and gas up. Listen to the IPod, drive, chat, etc. Then. about halfway up the mountains in West Virginia the Check Engine Light comes on. A mild sense of panic kicks in as I reach for the cell phone. Nope, no signal. The panic gets a tad worse but the car is driving fine… Get signal and pull off the highway and call the dealer. “Is it on solid or is it blinking?” Solid. “Stared when you were in the mountains?” Yeah. “Dont worry about it.” What??? “We had to disconnect the computer as part of the tune up and its self calibrating. The shifting in altitude is causing it issues. Long as it stays on steady your fine. Just bring it in when you get back.” OK, great. Thanks! “But if it starts to flash on and off pull over immediately.” Ummmm ok… thanks….

The drive continues, and we arrive at Pennsic basically uneventfully. Oh yeah, at one point we pull into a Dairy Queen which by happenstance alone is the same one I manage to stop at every dam time I make this trip. Honestly, it is NOT intentional. We go to troll to get a parking pass which takes about 45 minutes as they are busy. Then we drive to site and put up the pavilion which goes up no issues. Well, not quite I put the first pole in the wrong place but realized quick enough so it was an easy fix. Get the bed set up, car unloaded, and all in daylight and quickly. Yeah.

& had gotten there about an hour before us and together we go to dinner and WalMart (it is Pennsic…) then back to site hang out some and go to sleep.

The next morning, & I get up early and head to Ikea in Pittsburgh. We have a small list of things to get like a trestle table (all tresses sold out), a closet type thing for our garb (nothing we like or they are sold out), etc. You get the idea. I would describe it as the most disappointing and failed trip to Ikea in history. However, we did get a mattress. OK, let me backtrack. When packing I realized I had three air mattresses. I knew at least one of them to be bad but was not sure which one. So, instead of testing them before we go, I put all of them in the car figuring we would figure it out. Well, as my brother likes to say in any 50-50 situation there is an 85% chance you will get it wrong. Yup, woke up on a deflated air mattress. And to make matters worse I had forgotten to put the sheep skins on top of it, so it was also draining our heat as it deflated. So, we made an impromptu purchase of an Ikea futon mattress. That was probably one of the smartest things we did this trip.

We get back to Pennsic, unload and park the car, and go off in search of the hounds coursing which was supposed to be happening on the battlefield. Well, unless the hounds they were coursing were borrowing, there were no hounds coursing. Frustrated we go visit Lochac and hang out with Maki and some awesome people from down under. We then wander the merchants and head back to camp to finish setting up our pavilion by undoing Ikea flat packs, and wind up missing dinner helping others set up their pavilions. C’est La Vie. So, we go off site to dinner and WalMart cause we now had the list of things we had forgotten. Get back to camp, unload the car and hang out with Athos & Madallena & Haikon & Trephina. Then go hang out with TEs and G&G who had just gotten back from the slave auction. Then to bed.

A note on the slave auction. I have had fun going, and would have liked to go this year, but since mentioned asking if people knew how offensive the idea of selling people is, I always have an uneasy feeling about it. Thoughts?

Anyway, the obligatory To Be Continued….

Wow…. my last substantive entry was 3 July… how did I get out of the LJ habit? Yes, I know , LJ is not a need to, but still… I was so good about posting a couple times a week at least but not this year… Id say shifting priorities, but its more like overwork, exhaustion, new BF new house, etc. But, anyway… its story time. Yes, dear readers, it is time for

So, a long time ago, at a baronial meeting far far away (ok, it was in Raleigh…), the idea of a Brute Squad was raised. The Plan^SM was for five people to drive up to Pennsic for landgrab, get the basic camp infrastructure set up, then drive home leaving to hold the land. I had been feeling uninvolved and guilty for not contributing more (to quote , “Nikulai is at the end of a long crispy”). So, I looked at and asked if he would mind if I volunteered. Long story short, he volunteered as well.

Time passed and got word from Fritz about a new airline that had $50 airfare from Greensboro NC to Columbus OH. So, we decided to forgo the 9 hour drive for a 1 hour flight. Of course there was the 1.5 hour drive to PTI Airport and 3 hours from Columbus to Pennsic…

The fateful day comes and everyone meets at our house and we pile into my car to ride to PTI. About 30 minutes outside of PTI my car develops a weird squeal. We determine its coming from the back but push on to the airport as really there was nothing we could do. We park the car and catch our plane. has written about our landgrab experience, and he covered it pretty so I will skip that except to note that on Saturday evening we knew it was time to call it a day when made a pun.

So, we get back from landgrab and during the flight plan out what to do if the car dies on the ride home. In a nutshell, call someone to come get everyone but me & I would stay with the car to get it repaired. We meet Maki’s mom and get Sanouk’s fighting garb, then head to the car. I give it a quick drive around the parking lot and no noise. “Hooray!” we all yell (ok, not literally, but you get the idea) and pile in for the ride home. I cant recall if the squeal returned before or after the dinner stop, but return it did. Fortunately, we made it home in one piece without the car abandoning us somewhere east of Burlington.

The next morning I dropped the car off at the place around the corner from my house. [No name or link as it changes name about every 8 months...] They call me a few hours later and quote me $2700. As visions of Pennsic (and food for that matter) slowly drain from my head I listen as they explain that the brakes are gone, including the front rooters, all four struts were shot and unsafe to drive on, and the struts had torn up the inside of the (newish) tires and they were unsafe as well. Parts, labor, full alignment, and the overdue tune up all adds up.

OK, I take a deep breath and call the dealer for a quote. The dealer says “All four struts at once? Highly unlikely. Bring it in.” So I do. And they confirm that the highly unlikely has happened. They then give me a $3100 quote that includes a full tune up (above quote was just plugs), replacing a broken tail light, and includes “all genuine parts guaranteed at any dealer across the country.” As I am about to drive across four states I decide the genuine parts and the extra work (whats an extra few hundred dollars at this point…) is worth it so I tell the dealer to go ahead. At this point its Monday and they promise me the car by Wednesday afternoon. They also tell em they dont have a loaner but will call as soon as one comes in.

Tuesday they call and tell me that have a loaner. Yay! Freedom. I go an pick it up. Nice car and the XM was definitely a plus. Wednesday morning they call me and advise that instead of two right parts they got two left parts (or vice versa) and the correct parts will come in on Thursday and they will have the car to me on Thursday afternoon. At that point, Adam & I were still planning to get a few hours on the road on Thursday and get to Pennsic on Friday.

Thursday morning the dealer calls me. The parts did not come in so it will be Friday morning. Unacceptable, I need to be on the road by early Friday at the latest. They call me back, they are going to use after-market parts and get the car to me by that afternoon. ‘Wait. Hold it.’ I say. ‘You sold me on bringing the car to you with the promise of genuine parts.’ They promise to call me back which they do. ‘No, I cannot take the loaner sedan on vacation with me – its too small for what I need to carry.’ They call back. They are hunting down genuine parts at every dealership around. If they cannot find them, they will lend me an SUV to take on vacation. OK, thats an acceptable path forward. Gets to be 5 o’clock, and no word. I call the dealer as I am walking to the parking lot, prepared to drive over there and… lets just say violence would have ensued. They answer “Its ready and being detailed now.” I go there, plunk down my arm & leg, check that the invoice DOES say genuine parts, and drive off home to load the car.

I go home and start to load the poles, etc. onto the roof rack. And realize that my bungy cords are no where to be found – not yet recovered from the move. So I run off and buy a new set. I am about 80% done getting everything strapped down and suddenly I have a pain across my face and my glasses are missing. Yup, a bungy snapped. My glasses were thrown to the far side of the driveway and the sting only lasted a few minutes but I was shaken. I get everything strapped down, load almost everything and await Adam. He gets home from work, we finish loading the car and determine we are both exhausted. We throw a quick dinner together and then fall asleep.

We awake the next morning and begin the drive…