Unevent 2011

Saturday was a long, long day spent at Unevent in Southern Maryland. For those not in the mid-Atlantic region of the SCA, this is an SCA officers' event where we spend a full day training, reviewing, and talking about our offices. The event usually includes order meetings as well, but this year it was all about officers. My passenger Cassie and I avoided the congestion on 210 and took the faster-paced 5 to 301. We arrived two cars ahead of friends who left NoVa an hour before us (and had gotten caught in the backup on 210).

Anyway, I did a review of books for one of my local treasurers and then helped another treasurer trouble-shoot her third quarter report. Two hours later... the report didn't balance and we found inconsistencies in her second quarter report. psallite kindly fetched lunch for me which I was able to wolf down during the Seneschals & Exchequers meeting. I tried trouble-shooting another third quarter report during the three-hour training session for exchequers. Unfortunately, I didn't have all her paperwork to effectively review her report and find the sticking points. I had a broken report from yet another group, but I did not have the brain cycles left to work my way through that one.

At the end of the day, I passed a couple of people who exclaimed, "I had no idea you were here!" Yeah, that happens when one spends all day in a classroom or a meeting room and doesn't get out to socialize. Ah well. At least I got a review of books completed.

Dinner with friends afterwards was pretty fantastic. Much laughter, tasty drinks, and rejuvenating food. Bless. If you ever get the chance to listen to Ceridwen South's bus stories, don't pass that up.

Cassie and I sang along with Weird Al on the trip home and made pretty good time despite my being so tired that I took the wrong exit off the Toll Road. Oops. It did give us more time to sing with Al.

Winter biking just got easier

The Nite Rider MiNewt.600 and Radbot 1000 head- and tail-lights arrived Friday night and I finally got to test them out last night.

Oh. My. Gosh. The first phrase that comes to mind is "Do not look into laser with remaining eye". Yeah, 600 lumens at point blank is kind of intense. With that important safety lesson under our belts, Hubbyfink and I took the lights outside for a test. I pointed the headlight at the woods across the street. Even with the local street lamps, I could still see the illumination created by the headlight. Hubbyfink climbed the hill into the woods for me. The reflective bits on his helmet stopped reflecting at 275 lumens but I could still see the glow at 400. At full blast, I'll be lighting up deer in the next county!

I put my old head- and tail-lights on his bike and we took off for the trail so that I could road test the lights and also see what my bike would look like to an oncoming vehicle/cyclist/pedestrian. When we got to a fairly dark patch, we swapped bikes and I had Hubbyfink ride up a quarter of a mile or so and then ride back to me. Thing the first: my little Bell WO blinkies are NO match for the Radbot on steady. The blinkies disappeared in after only a few feet. Thing the second: damn, that MiNewt is powerful when pointed straight ahead even at 275 lumens. Thing the third: my Planet Bike Blinky 3 DOES stand up to the Radbot's steady glow; I was happy to see some blink action in addition to the steady. Thing the fourth: other commuters (we were passed by four as we stood off the paved trail adjusting and readjusting lights) are using dazzlingly bright headlights so it may just be a part of the commuting game and I'll be giving as much as I've been getting. I'm not especially happy about that last point and I'm going to do my best to keep my headlight from pointing directly at other cyclists' and pedestrians' eyes. On the other hand, I'm thrilled to bits that a whole new world of night riding has opened up for me. This is very exciting.

Something else that will might make a winter bike commute doable is the NVRPA's purchase of a snow plow for the W&OD. Whoo hoo! When I was jogging last winter, I had to change my route from the trail to neighborhood streets when we got snow because it took FOREVER for VDOT (or the local authorities) to send a plow down the trail. I'm not sure how (or even if) all of the forty-five miles of trail will be plowed -- my guess is that it will be for the inner suburbs -- and there's not much info aside from the mention of the plow purchase. To be perfectly honest, I'll most likely stick with the 4WD truck when the snow flies and ice attacks, but it would be nice to have the option of going out for a ride. We'll see if the winter crazies in late January/February drive me to purchase studded tires. ;)