Rusty's Blog

I’ve noticed over the past few months that when I’m driving my car at ‘posted speeds,’ I’m basically riding with traffic. Sure there are a few drivers going faster than I am, but it’s not the majority. On the other hand, when riding the bike with similar road conditions, I seem to have to ride at about 10 mph faster than the posted speed limit to get similar results. It seemed odd, so I’ve been thinking about ways to validate the speedometer. Granted the best way would be to get the bike on a controlled range and use timing lights or other means to validate the speed, but I don’t expect to have access to such a setup with my resources any time soon.

On the other hand I do have several devices that I can get a very close approximation of my speed by using gps tracking. The problem of course is that I really don’t have a way to mount any of them to my bike.

A couple of months ago I decided to upgrade my cell phone. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the phone that I have been using. It works as a cell phone, and I can still use it as a web tablet and the rest of the features other than phone and cellular data all work, but it’s a first generation Android device, the carrier isn’t going to be updating it to current versions of Android any more and I was looking for something newer. Along the way though I have picked up a number of applications and a few accessories for the phone. Including an armband for using the phone while working out as a media player and workout tracker.

One of the first applications I installed on the old G1 phone, all of a year and a half ago was a gps based speedometer.

As I’ve noted elsewhere, I do very much dislike housecleaning. However in rummaging around through my ‘Too be reviewed for discarding’ baskets this week, I found the arm band for the phone. My new phone also fits in the arm band, but I’m not sure I want to have that phone hanging on my arm while riding. Granted it’s not exactly highly protected where I do carry it, but it seems to stay put, so I’m comfortable with leaving it there.

One of the problems with both phones is that they are hard to read in direct sunlight. So using the speedometer for the trip to work at 6 pm or home at 6 am, has it’s problems. However I do have one night of the week wehre my work shift starts at 2 am. Yeah, that kind of sucks, but it helps pay the bills.

It does have one advantage though. It’s dark. Or at least as dark as things get when the sky is overcast and I live in a major metropolitan area. It’s dark enough that the screen shows up clearly.

So, got ready for work tonight. jacket on, phone in the arm band, all set up to start the GPS speedometer. That does include making sure that the phone is oriented so I can read the display without having to envision myself flipping to see the screen. Not exactly the imagery I want to have while riding down a freeway at 55 miles per hour or so.  I presume you can imagine why.

In any case, I get onto the freeway and get up to what feels to me like highway speeds, look down at the speedometer on the bike, it says I’m doing about the mid 60s. Look down to the arm, which says I’m doing 55.

As I get to part of the commute that the speed limit is 40, I drop down to the very low 40s on the bike speedometer and I get a reading of 38-40 on the cell phone. So it appears that the bike speedometer is reading about 10% high. I suppose if I don’t want to worry about getting a speeding ticket, that can be helpful, but that seems odd for a bike. And before someone suggests that it’s low tire pressure, or that it is probably wear on the tires, reducing the circumference of a tire by 10% pretty much brings the bike down to it’s wheel. I’m pretty sure I would be having some serious control issues by then.

Considering that the rims appear to be stock, and I don’t think anything has been done to the drive train, that suggests that someone swapped out the tire with one that is noticeably different in size.

Well, I’ve had the bike for over 2 years now. It’s probably time for me to replace the rubber anyway.

This will be disappointing to many, but I’m finally declaring Rose to be down for the count. It’s been a phenomenal run for a helium balloon. She had to have been filled on the 12th or 13th of February for her to show up at my door on the morning of the 14th. And possibly a bit earlier, I don’t know. About 6 months later she is now laying flat on the floor. Oh she’s not ‘empty’ as if she had been rolled out. I’m pretty sure that something like that would literally take years, and may never happen. But I’m pretty confident that the only place she would float at this time is in an atmosphere that is far denser than the air we breath.

As a point of comparison, I grabbed six round mylar balloons three weeks ago, inflated them, and used them for holding up a radio antenna for Field Day (last weekend in June) One of them was ‘new’ in that I had never inflated it before. All of the re-used balloons are currently flat on the floor, and the ‘new’ is in the condition Rose was in about 4 months in. She’s done a phenomenal job, and while I don’t expect to be fielding any balloons like her myself anytime soon, I’m very much impressed with what she has accomplished.

At this time I’m going to move her back up near the ceiling that she will probably never touch on her own again. She deserves a spot on top of my book shelf. I’ll ‘weigh’ her down with one of the pewter dragons, so she doesn’t go wandering back to the floor. But at some level it is a sad day for me.

Thank you for reading about Rose. May you each find something in your lives as inspiring to you, which brings some joy and happiness. May you find your own ‘Rose’ and may it lift your heart.

Ok, first things first. I know what I want to do, and I know we have a lot of it in place. There are details that are beginning to concern me, and I could use a few more hands with them.

Setup. This is the Volunteer party for CONvergence 2010. It will start at 7 pm on Saturday, July 31. The guests of the party are those people who volunteered at CONvergence. That’s actually quite a lot of people.

The plan is to use three rooms. If you were at CONvergence you will recognize them as the two Consuites and F2E2. The last is not going to be used for the party itself, but will be used for storage of Volunteer ‘swag’, (misnomer, swag is ‘Stuff We All Get’, not the t-shirts, water bottles and patches that you achieve through your volunteer activities, but I digress)  and as a buffer for what we will be doing in the room above it. That will be our dance room. A DJ will be setting up. Dancing will probably happen. It could be a bit noisy for guests down stairs. Hence the taking that room as well. The other consuite room will be for food and other activities. Videos from Con would be nice, but I don’t think we should limit ourselves to that either.

Unless I miss my guess, we’ll have lots of space to chat between the two rooms and the walkway. I’m pretty sure that there will be people using the hot tub too.

Theme. We have two rooms. Let’s do two themes. The food room I plan on having as the Bring on the Bad Guys theme for one last go around. The Dance room should be a little more interesting. I want this to be the first event after Closing Ceremonies at cvg2010 that makes use of the cvg2011 theme. Ok, I heard that. Yes there should be elements of Steampunk there. However I want more than just Steampunk. The theme is Tomorrow through the Past. Not Tomorrow through the filter of victorian clothing and dirigibles. I like Steampunk. It’s just that I think there are a lot more opportunites to explore and I want people to be thinking of some of them.

As an example, how about the future as envisioned by the various World’s Fairs over the 20th Century? How about the future encouraged by the editing of Campbell of Amazing Stories? Ronson’s Universal Robotics? Psycho History from Asimov. Metropolis. Brisco County Jr. and the Jetsons. 1984 has it’s place as well. Might even consider bringing it over to bring on the Bad Guys. H.G. Wells and Jule’s Vern make a good starting point for reaching out of Steampunk. Rocket Ship Galileo. Heinleins future history.

No we won’t have all of it. In fact I would like to reduce the theme down to Steampunk and World’s Fair visions just to keep it manageable. Think of the rest as ideas for other events and even CONvergence 2011 room parties or panels, something to get those creative juices flowing.

What I’m looking for is help with implementing this. We’ll get some artwork from Pubs, but if you have posters or even images of posters (I can print to 19″x13″ directly, or larger through Kinkos or Staples if we want to go that route) we can use for getting people thinking about the theme, Let me know. If you have or can quickly throw together a model of the ‘city of tomorrow’, I’m interested in hearing about it. If you remember the machine in Metropolis that had the operator bouncing from one control to another to keep it at the right levels and want to throw together a pic based game that forces the participant to try to stay on top of things, and progressively gets harder, well, we might not have enough time to do that, but you get the idea.

I have no doubt that we’ll get Steampunk related stuff as well. Can we make the entry of the porch of the room into something that looks like a balloon basket? Remember that whatever we do goes up and comes down that night. If it’s valuable to you, you need to consider it’s potential for breakage and be ready to pick it up and take it with you at the end of the party.

Ok, that’s what I’m looking for. The very last thing I want people to think of at the party is that it’s ‘just another social gathering.’ I want people to be remembering this last year, and getting excited about this next. Ready to help out?

12 years of con. For some it’s a bit more than that, but this was the 12th instance of CONvergence, and the 12th one I’ve attended.

I won’t go into the history. Suffice it to say that I think memories have bias, and that over the years there have been many hurt feelings and not a few mistakes. But as was pointed out at the end of Anime Detour, a convention that goes perfectly smoothly doesn’t lend itself to stories.

Over the past 5 years or so, I’ve been listed as either the head or one of the heads of the Volunteer department for the convention. A couple of years ago I decided that it was time to wrap that up. I’ve enjoyed the experience, but I never really felt that I was the right person for the job. I know a few people who would disagree, and I don’t mean to put down those opinions. I know a few people who just finished up discovering that everything involved is a whole lot more work than it looks like at first.

This year I dropped down to Sub-head. My primary goal for the year was to set up as smooth a transition from one department head and staff to another. Some of that was not easy. My staff transitioned what knowledge they had available last year and were not involved with the department this year at all. I think that for the most part they had a lot more fun at the convention than they have in the past.

One of the things that I stressed as much as possible was that I was available for asking questions about how we have done things in the past, why, and to be a sounding board for ideas on how to handle the things that come up in the future. It was their show.

Were there rough spots? Yes. What happens with those rough spots is what will make a difference in the future. Leaving the rough spot there and throwing a coat of paint over it may help, but most of the time the reality is that someone needs to work on the rough spots to sand them down smooth with the rest of the surface. It’s work. It is what makes the convention worth going to as well.

While some may not agree with me, I think the new team leadership did a fairly good job of running the Volunteer department. They found good people to help out and got a lot done. There is more to do, and there will undoubtedly be more toes stepped on, people upset, and so on. But I think it’s going to work out.

So what did I do? Let’s see, helped Cinema Rex move in on Monday, Moved the office in on Tuesday, setting things up at the volunteer desk on Wednesday, and worked with various people on trying to get the volunteers at Reg set up then as well. Spoke with many wonderful people and a couple of the guests at the Meet and Greet on Wednesday evening. Worked the volunteer desk for a couple of hours on Thursday then lots of badging on Thursday and Friday. Essentially took the day off Saturday, then more badging on Sunday. A panel each on Friday and Sunday, went home and crashed after the panel on Sunday and helped with move-out on Monday. I did hall costumes of Castle on Friday (no one really noticed) Mal on Saturday (lots of people noticed, but I have entirely too many friends who need to sit down and watch Firefly) and Captain Hammer on Sunday. (sans gloves.) I think I was the only Mal who showed up with a browncoat through the con, but I’ll grant that July is not really a great time to show up wearing a coat.

Now to see if I can make it to one of the ‘Can’t Stop the Serenity’ showings in August. The days of the week don’t bode well, but I’ll see what the availability of vacation time is. It might work out. It’s also about the time that my work schedule is expected to change, so we’ll see.

In short I had a great time at CONvergence this year. Not everything went according to plan. But then that’s the nature of executing plans. They tend to end up going in ways that either you didn’t think of, or perhaps you planned for. But not always.

A party coming up at the end of the month. It’s the one thing that I’m ‘running’ as part of my job for CONvergence. Very much looking for help. If you can help out, please let me know, and Thank you.

I just had one of the strangest dreams I recall. Up to a point I don’t remember it. However at a point it becomes absolutely clear. I had just taken the woman I love and her friend to a hospital. But I had to leave. That in itself was OK, but something about the whole situation felt screwy. I went out to the car with a buddy, saying that something was wrong. I knew that nothing I could do running back into or through the hospital (medical facility of some sort anyway) wasn’t going to help. Whatever was wrong was already too far along.

We rushed out to the car, but instead of getting in I grabbed a semi-automatic. A white SUV or Van came around the side of the building. It was full, and almost all of the people in the van were wearing hospital smocks and what looked like clown wigs. The exception was the woman who was with the woman I love being in some clothes I saw her in this weekend. I went to take a shot at the vehicle to disable it, and as I pulled the trigger it squirted out a stream of water. Someone had replaced the pistol I ‘normally’ had available, with a squirt gun.

A second vehicle, something like a Hunner, was coming around the corner from the building. It had four or five people in it carrying squirt guns who started taking shots at me. I rush this vehicle and the dream shifted.

The second vehicle had been found. Part of me was still in the part before the shift and I went to rip off the license plate. It actually came off fairly easily, but there was writing on the vehicle under the plate. I couldn’t have read it at that point, too furious, but one of the officers there (recall the scene had shifted) read it as ‘You should have put a Javelin through the Bronco! George wouldn’t have minded, and the rest of the occupants have come to accept… …change.’

What happened to my car? I don’t know. Once my buddy had rattled off to another person with us that they had better get prepared because he could tell something was going to happen, and I pulled my gun out of the car, I don’t recall anything of either them or my car again. No explosions or anything, they just disappeared from the dream.

Why the squirt gun? The only thing I can think of is that in the dream I really didn’t want to hurt the people in the van/(Bronco?) so I was hesitating about shooting at it, and by the time I pulled the trigger the dream had shifted it to being a squirt gun and I both knew that that change had happened, and I had filled in the back story immediately afterwards that the ‘jokers’ who abducted the woman I loved knew enough about me to switch out the gun in my vehicle for a squirt gun. (Side note I don’t carry a gun in my vehicle, but the dream set it up so that I had one there, I don’t recall how.)

The ‘…change.’ was both part of the note, there was a pause in it, and was a very terrifying thing for me to read, or hear being read.

For some reason the dream had the vehicle and the plate I pulled off of it as both being stollen from a local VA Hospital, and I recall a plate number format that seemed odd. three letters, the MN state emblem, then a number and two letters. I don’t think that any of the standard issue plates in MN have that format.

The Medical facility that I had taken the woman I loved, and her best friend, to was not a VA Hospital. It was a single story. Our car was at the far end of the facility from the emergency room, (not usually where I would think of parking.) To get there I walked through the facility, and it felt like a hospital, but inside it felt like a multi-story hospital, outside near the car it looked like a single story rambler style church.

I don’t know why The Joker was involved in my dream. I usually don’t think of myself as a superhero taking on insane villains. I really don’t think of myself as ‘Batman.’

All the oddities seem to me to be evidence that it was a dream. But I also don’t usually recall dreams with this level of detail. I could feel the streams of water from the bad guy’s squirt guns hitting me, and I was walking up to the vehicle to try to get a mental picture of the license plate, yet as the vehicle passed me to where I could see the plate, it had shifted to the second part. Oddly I don’t recall anything of the setting of the second part.