The Fine Line Between a Hobby and Madness

Yes. I'll admit it. I went to a Hessian event today. Down in Brandywine Park in Delaware.

I am insane, and things I did (or failed to do), made it worse.

I had been seeing the weather reports and how it was going to be hot as hell. But they said much the same for Friday and the cloud cover kept the temps down. When Saturday rolled around the morning had much the same cloud cover and I thought it would be much the same.

Wrong.

Still, I've done Williamsburg in nasty hot weather and didn't have much trouble. So Bill and I made our way down to Delaware (with a detour to avoid a massive traffic jam on I-95). We got there, and it was hot, but there was the occasional breeze and it wasn't too bad. We were promised the battle would be kept short and sweet. There was no point in an extended battle: The heat had kept reenactors and tourists away. The parking lots, usually packed for events like this, were barren. Even the lots reserved reenactors that fill up on Friday night were full of space to park.

So we gear up for the battle, and the extra clothing raised my core temperature way up (I felt myself get hotter just putting the neckstock on). We move out, taking care to stay in the shade as much as possible.

The battle happens, and it is short. Probably one of the shortest battles I've participated in. Then the problems happen on the uphill march back to the camp. We get exhausted, roasted, and fried. I am panting and sweating as we pass by the crowd. The overall commander is wise and stops the column when it reaches the park bathrooms, which has a hose to water us down with a bit. He doesn't even bother with the usual dismissal by units. It just makes no sense. Everyone is almost to exhausted to make the final walk across the field to the tents.

Worse, I am feeling pretty bad. Not sunstroke or anything, just drained. I have no energy reserves. I realize the problem: I haven't eaten a thing all day and I know that what I am experiencing is called, in cyclist terminology 'bonking' (joggers and marathoners call it 'hitting the wall'). My body has no energy, and I can see no way to get any. This was a one day event and I brought no food. I feel weak, but sitting does no good, and I cannot lie down. The uniform is incredibly uncomfortable and I cannot take it off, because then I'd have to carry the parts back. All I can do is take off the neckstock, wig and mitre.

Finally everyone gets the gumption to make it the last few hundred yards to the tents, but Bill and I elect to go straight to his car. In what seems like an endless humid jungle march we reach the car and I change into shorts and a T-shirt.

It does not help. I cannot get comfortable in this heat. Bill's car's AC doesn't work. After trying to get comfortable sitting in the car (can't) or leaning against it (no help) the best position I get is sitting and leaning against the wheel in the limited shade of the car. I wonder if I'll have to wait until the evening cooldown to feel better and leave, because Bill is experiencing the same feeling.

Thankfully, another fellow in our unit mentions that a park building is Air Conditioned. Even though it is only 50 yards away (with a rock wall in the way) I realize that I'd be almost crawling to reach it. We end up driving to get there.

Once inside we start a process of cooling down. Despite the cool interior, we are still sweating. Another person in out unit is also there and complained that he had been there for almost an hour and was still sweating, and he is a much younger fellow. We stay as long as we can, but the building has to close at 4:30. Feeling a bit better we hit the road, and I demand that we stop for food. Trouble is, there wasn't much on Route 92 in Delaware. There used to be, but much of it closed. We finally find a Quiznos and get Subs. I find myself eating a lot of pickles for their salt.

I've spent the evening resting and recovering.

Progress and fallbacks.

Well, thanks to my cousin I now have some Commercial real estate folks looking for a space for me. They said it would take a while since retail/commercial folks are a different breed and are 'slow'. I hope that there will be a result come the end of this week at the latest.

My store funding took a bit of a skewing. its not critical, but it will slow things down a bit. Its more frustrating than anything else. Get these damn flies out of my ointment!

I ordered a bunch of retail store furniture catalogs. I hope that I might be able to get away with cheaper stuff for shelving from IKEA (hell-oo Ivar!), but there are some things that must be done with specialty furniture. Display cases and stands the like just aren't sold at the regular furniture stores. I had hoped to pick up a bunch of on-sale-dirt-cheap shelf lighting at IKEA today, but they had already sold out of them. Dammit!

That said, things are progressing to an extent. Just not as fast as I might like. I planned to have the whole month of September to get lighting and any contract work done, that might still happen (or I might find a place that needs minimal work).

I'm moving ahead, it just doesn't feel like I'm moving ahead.

Nothing like a little vehicular assault!

In my bike travels I have been yelled at, merged on, left-hooked, right-hooked, nearly hit by light jumpers, honked at, screech at, tailgated by a Church van, but I have never been outright attacked with a car. Today that changed.



I was riding to my friend's house in West Philly this afternoon. Things were going well, not much wind, surprisingly cool temperatures for August (I was almost cold). I had reached Powelton Ave and needed to turn left onto 38th street. There was no traffic at that time so I signaled left lane chance and moved into the left part of the lane. The light was red so I stopped. A couple of cars were coming on Powelton the opposite way, so I would not be able to turn left immediately when the light turned green. I glanced back as a reflex and saw a couple of cars coming up behind me. No problem, if they want to go straight there is plenty of room to go around me.

The light turns green and I mount and ready to go into the intersection to to turn left. The cars coming the other way take a while to clear the intersection (38th is very wide at Powelton hits it at an angle.) But as I am waiting to go I start hearing a very persistent horn behind me. I worry that someone is behind a car wanting to turn left and is getting impatient, but then a car goes past me well on the right and it hits me. The car honking is right behind me. Why? I don't know! If I were a car she'd be waiting just as long for the other cars to clear, and even if I was not there at all she'd still have to wait unless she was a nutcase. Well, my guess is nutcase.

The cars clear, she's still honking and I start to move, I am going but I keep glancing back because a honking horn can mean there is some other kind of trouble that you may be unaware of. But in this case the driver is just impatient, even though I am clearing the intersection fast than a car would. As I get over to the bike lane on 38th street I turn as she passes and yell at her 'What the hell is your problem?' She yells back something and the only word I hear is 'sidewalk'. She thinks I belong on the sidewalk. Wonderful. I yell a few other 'choice words' at her, but she demonstrates the power of her 4 cylinder engine and races down 38th. And gets stopped at a red light.

As if all of this was bad enough on her part, as I come up on her right (I did mean to tell her a few things, but she had closed her window). She tosses something out the sunroof at me. It probably wasn't heavy, whatever it was, but the woman in the car has crossed a line. The hell with it all, I do fist smack on her window and move ahead to the actual intersection (she was a behind another car).

As I pull away I see her going for her cell phone. Fine lady, call the cops. You can tell them all about it. But I glance back at her for a moment, I see she's put her car in reverse and is making a turn. She's pointed right at me. My thought is, 'Oh, she's not...she is..." she guns the motor (such as it can go) I start to lift my left leg and pull the car. She hits me with her car broadside. I'm off the bike, it rolls, amazingly I 'land' on my feet . I kick out my foot hard and hit the car. As she makes the turn onto Market street I am surprised to see where I hit, the back right door, has a dent. I remember that the biking shoes are pretty stiff.

I check myself...no damage. I check my bike. The chain has jumped. It takes a few moments while I wonder if she's nuts enough to circle around for another attack. A woman crossing 38th asks me if I am OK since she saw it. She couldn't get the plate and neither could I (growl). I thank her for asking, and having missed a couple of light cycles continue down 38th street.

Overall, I am a bit shaken. But I am not harmed, and I don't think my bike is either. I'll have it checked tomorrow.

Life Progresseth

Things have been moving into line with the store project. It looks like I'll have funding, and I am meeting with a lawyer next week to make certain all my ducks are in a row from a legal/business standpoint. The funding comes from a collateral account that means that my credit rating and other normal factors don't really come into play. Seems kind of unfair somehow.

The lawyer came at the recommendation of a friend after the free law work would have come much too late to be useful. I decided I had best just pay for the service and be done with it. I shouldn't need too much work.

So the next critical thing is getting a freaking location. I have to bug the Wharton SBDC for help with that. This is the area where I have no clue where to go for assistance and poking around on craigslist is not a solution.

I reserved a webspace. I did it late at night. The service requires that they call you after you register with a passcode. The call is automated, so its a little disconcerting for the phone to ring at 2AM a second after you clicked the 'Reserve website' button. Eeek! The website is www.spectrum-scientifics.com if you want to look, but right now there is nothing but a holding site. So don't expect anything.

Apparently, my logo is progressing well. My fencing captain is a graphic artists and I decided to hire his services (I've seen his work!) rather than play 'find a graphic artist'.

Things I still need to do besides what is listed above: Insurance, an accountant, some more paperwork, furniture, webpage setup, security, packing stuff, etc.

In other things:

Zot continues to be an adorable pain in the butt. She still bites a lot, she's fond up jumping around on top of me and likes to be on my shoulder. She's also fond of nestling in the crook of my arm when I am playing video games.

I have finally achieved a goal of unexpected note. The last two CDs I purchased we not able to have their titles downloaded by iTunes. They were that freaking obscure. I do not know what this says about me.

Most of my friends are at Pennsic War this year and if the weather there is anything like it is here it cannot be too pleasant. The AC has been running almost nonstop for the past few days and the neighborhood smells like ginko seeds. If you are not from Philadelphia and don't know what that smells like, trust me, it is not a pleasant smell.

Happy Birthday!

To my Mom, who turns 75 this day.