Crystal River and Completed Arrows

I finally finished constructing the arrows that I'm planning to use for the Traditional Bowhunters shoot and other 3-D shoots on Sorondil-Telcontar (my Chek-Mate recurve). The points were rather fun to put on, aside from my fear of setting the place on fire because of residual methyl-ethyl-ketone fumes. It took a fair amount of effort to make sure they didn't come off while they were cooling down and I got a small cutting board dedicated for the very purpose of making sure the points stayed on until the bond between the point and shaft was set. All in all, I think these arrows should fly fairly nicely -- I spin-tested them again after adding the points and they were still spinning nicely, indicating good balance and straightness. The real test, of course, will be when I shoot them in the morning at the range.



This was a golden-hooded night heron that I got to approach when I was hiking out at Crystal River and ran into a group from the Audoubon society that was doing diversity and abundance censuses in the area. The camera really didn't do this bird justice because when the light strikes the head feathers at the right angle, it looks iridescent gold, even in the immature ones.



At the Withalacoochee River, I had an up-close and personal encounter with a pelican with the help of a family that was out fishing. I've never seen a pelican that close before and I was tempted to approach it, but with my luck, I'd probably get attacked or worse. The family actually offered it a fish they had caught and it was pretty aggressive about taking the fish, so I decided to play it safe, although pelicans don't have any obviously dangerous attacks like parrots. Of all birds, I have to honestly admit that I'm most afraid of getting into a fight with a parrot because for their size, they can do some serious damage with their beaks. I know someone who lost a finger to a cockatoo once and I know another person who had to go to the ER to get their nose fixed after a cockatiel (a fairly small, docile member of the parrot family) took a good bite out of it.

All in all, it was worth the trip out to Ingliss/Yankeetown/Crystal River to do a bit of exploring! Next time, I'm going to be better prepared with more food and water so I can take some of the more exciting hikes.

Nearly Forgot...

I also have a revised version of "Whispers From Afar" posted. More on the Dunheasa series once I'm done building this set of arrows and actually have something to post!

Fletching...

Fletching is probably the most time-consuming step, but it's also my favorite in an oddly relaxing sort of way. Just to give an idea of the time it takes to do a decent job of fletching, it usually takes about 5-7 minutes for the glue to dry enough for me to not be afraid to move to the next feather -- with 3 feathers on each arrow for 24 arrows, this process does take a while! Also, I have to take frequent stops to remove any accumulated glue residues from my Bitzenburger clamp to make sure I'm not going to glue a feather to the clamp or leave a bunch of glue blobs on my arrow. This time around, I decided to go with a black/white color scheme and I also used the reflective adhesive cap wraps to accent my arrows. Besides making it almost impossible to lose my arrows under just about any lighting condition, it also makes gluing the feathers on a lot easier. I've had problems in the past with chemical incompatibilities between the glue and the surface and the easiest solution has been to use these nice cap wraps. Right now, I'm more concerned about being able to retrieve my arrows and identifying them than producing works of art, although I have to admit, for my first time going all-out with paint, stain and sealant, it looks pretty good. I'm also hoping they'll also fly really well!

I still have to add the points onto the arrows but that's going to have to wait until the morning when all of the methyl-ethyl-ketone fumes have gone away so I don't blow myself up in a spectacular fireball. Wooden arrows are so much more rewarding than carbons in terms of construction... although the carbons provide much more instant gratification!

Perspective at the 80 Yard Marker...

The bottom picture is what I see at the 80 yard marker without my the magnifier on my scope. The top picture is a bit closer to what I see with the scope -- my camera can go up to a 2.5x zoom, my scope is a 5x zoom. Keeping my aim steady (in my eyes) is pretty darned challenging when I'm trying to aim at something that looks like the size of an aspirin!

Wooden Arrows

As of Wednesday night, I started building wooden arrows for the first time in several times after realizing that wooden arrows for my traditional bows are a lot more fulfilling, even if the carbon arrows are a lot more consistent and easier to build. On Wednesday and early Thursday (no pictures, sorry), I straightened out the shafts, which is a very involved process that's more than worth the effort. Once I straightened the arrows, I decided to stain the arrows grey to give them a bit more character. Methyl ethyl ketone is a stinky solvent!!! The stain didn't get in uniformly, but it did get in well enough to give them a shadowy grey cast. Once I stained them (3 times by wiping the stain in with some rags) and letting them dry overnight, I decided to trim the arrows from 32" to 29" to get the spine to match my bow and points. Once I trimmed the arrows, I tapered the nock end so I could get some measurements for cresting (painting). Again, methyl ethyl ketone stinks!!! Oh, every time I reach a stinky step, I either went outside to do it (staining) or thanks to the rain, I opened up my windows (cresting).

Remaining steps:
-- Sealing the arrows with a polyurethane-like material (VERY stinky step that I have to do outside when it's dry)
-- Tapering the point end of the arrow
-- Final straightening
-- Glue nock (grey)
-- Add fletching (black and white color scheme this time)
-- Glue points (125 grain field points)
-- Go shooting!

80-70-60-50 Field Walkup

This has to have been one of my best rounds ever... Not a perfect 20 (got a 1X 19) but given the distance, I was extremely excited. My first shot was from 80 yards, which is a bit beyond my sight tape and then the rest of the shots were from 70, 60, and 50 yards respectively. The outlier was from the 50 yard line, where my arm was just getting a bit tired and I dropped my shot. The one in the perfect center was from 70 yards. I have to admit, having a pair of binoculars and taking the time to determine how much of a correction I have to apply to my sight at a given distance was more than worth the effort! I can't wait to get a sight tape that matches my draw weight and arrows so I don't have to spend as much time coming up with correction factors... and I can't wait to get my draw weight up to about 47-48 lbs so I can actually aim for the 80 yards without having to set the sight for 70 yards (to allow for fletching clearance) and hope that my estimates were correct.

Now all I have to keep doing is see if I can get more 19s and 20s by working on my form and aim, although having mostly 17s and 18s is a good start! My lowest score today: 15 at a field target where I had a lot of glare and unusually aggressive insects that weren't bothered by my insect repellent. Highest score today: 20 at a fairly up-close hunter-round target.

Accuracy and Precision Obsession

Just to give you an idea of the kind of precision and accuracy I'm trying for, the vane on the arrow is 1 3/4 inches long. I'm trying to get as many of my arrows within a circle with that diameter. The diameter of the X ring is about 7/8 inches. This target I was using is designated for 20-35 feet. I was shooting from 60 feet back. I'm still trying to see if I can use that center X ring as my standard -- I've seen people get all of their arrows in there from 30 yards and more, so what's holding me back from attempting to do this at 20 yards? An actual 5-spot target for the 300 has an X ring diameter of 1 5/8 inches and the whole 5 ring is 3 1/8 inches in diameter, by the way.

Shooting two 300 rounds earlier today was pretty mentally and physically trying, but it was worth trying to see how accurately and precisely I could place my shots... which in turn is a reflection of my form and to a lesser extent, my ability to actually aim. The Equalizer gets pretty darned heavy by the last round... and 120 arrows on the Equalizer at only 41 lbs under mock 300 conditions takes more out of me than about 250 shots on my traditional at about the same draw weight!

300

I survived my first 300 today. Basically the 300 is 12 rounds of 5 arrows each for a maximum of 300 points with the inner white ring as 5 points, first black ring as 4 points, and second black ring as 3 points, and of course, anything in that inner white circle is an X. I didn't do too well, but then again, considering I haven't shot compound for 2 weeks and I went in slightly tenderized from what might've been a bit too aggressive practice yesterday. Overall, my score was 261 with 17 X's, which makes for a decent baseline but one where I know I can do much better.

Why did I attempt the 300? It's another common style of archery competition and it's a good one for accuracy/precision drills, whether I do the single target or the five spot version. It's also great for building up stamina, which I'm still a bit short on with the compound. Sixty shots in bursts of five are very easy physically with my short recurve, but the real challenge is remaining mentally focused. With the compound, I also have the added physical challenge of actually holding the bow steady in my hand on top of focusing on those little dots. I personally like the single target myself because I'm still working on consistency, but my coach had me shoot the five spot to get me used to the more aggressive competition. He completely destroyed the centre on the single target... I aspire to do that too soon!

Raptors...

I got really fed up with being cooped up indoors so I finally took my chances (it was a warm day!) and went out to the range. It was either that or destroy another wall in my apartment or worse. I took Sorondil-Telcontar (the Chek-Mate Hunter I recurve) and Hawk-Wing (the Little Hawk longbow... finally "officially" gave it a name besides "Forgiveness") with me to see which one I want to use for this upcoming year for my competitions. My verdict: I think I prefer Sorondil-Telcontar because it's easier to transport and it's easier for me to aim but Hawk-Wing might be better for a really long tournament because it's a lot more forgiving, which is critical for when I'm tired.

I also saw a very beautiful hawk at the range. I couldn't identify the species, but it was a fairly large one that kept eyeing me and keening at me. I suspect I was probably getting on its nerves by being in its territory, but I want to think that maybe it was trying to tell me something. Of all birds, the most beautiful in my book are the raptors -- hawks, eagles, and falcons. I did get a picture of it, but my camera isn't all that good for long distance and I didn't want to approach too closely knowing what an angry hawk can do to someone with their talons and beak... plus I didn't want to bother it more than I had to. The hawk kept eyeing me and I could just feel it just look straight through me -- not many animals will give me that experience of making me realize that there's more than what meets the human eye. I've seen my fair share of wildlife up close and personal, but this hawk really had me wondering if it knew secrets that were beyond human understanding and what it saw in me. Raptors may not necessarily be among the most intelligent of birds by human standards, but they do have that intense gaze that gives them a strange depth of character and a sense of being equals with humans.

Kick-Butt Meatloaf

Still sick, but getting ready to resume my natural functioning soon!

One thing I've been doing while being effectively cooped up indoors is cooking stuff that I normally wouldn't be inclined to cook because I'm too fidgety and have too many other things to do outside. My most recent conquest: meatloaf. Here's what I did to make myself some pretty decent meatloaf that'll probably last me about 3-4 days. It is a bit on the dry side, but the BBQ sauce, vegetables and mashed crackers do hold it together nicely.

Ingredients:
2 large chopped sweet yellow onions
3/4 lb chopped celery
1/2 lb chopped carrots
1/3 box of multi-grain crackers
2 lbs lean ground turkey
2/3 bottle Hickory smoke-flavored BBQ sauce
3 tablespoons of garlic paste
canola oil
black pepper (to taste)
cayenne pepper (to taste)
paprika (to taste)

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Chop up onions and sautee them in canola oil until tender. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until it's as homogeneous as ground meat and coarsely chopped veggies and cracker bits can be. Once it's homogeneous, put in a large baking pan (forgot the dimensions, think it's 13x9) and it's probably a good idea to lightly grease it to avoid having stuff stuck onto the pan. [Note: I basted the meatloaf before putting it into the oven, I recommend waiting until the last 15-20 minutes unless you like carbonized crusts on top]. Bake for about 1 hour 45 minutes, basting the top of the meatloaf with any remaining BBQ sauce or other tomato-based sauce.

Survived First Semester at UF

I just turned in my last final and I'm just waiting for my cough medicine to take effect before I attempt to finally catch up on sleep. I can't wait to let my body and mind fully recover so I can go back to functioning (read: shooting random dots, biking, and moving forward on my research again).

Telcontar FAQ 2/n

First note: I've got final projects and a pretty hefty cold bug that's slowing me down... so I haven't been able to do my natural activity of shooting at random things for a few days (ie, since Saturday afternoon)... and it's making me somewhat batty to say the least. Let's just say the TIN model of my brain is moving towards the need for finer resolution data points...

Here's a few more questions I've gotten (for some reason it's always either private e-mail or on the phone)

Q: What do the students' alternate names signify?
A: Ivan --> Orozslan (lion), Vincent --> Eol Tinuvion (Eol is the name of a dark elf in the Silmarillion, Tinuvion translates to "son of the twilight" or "male nightingale"), Tarathorn --> Imladrien (child of the valley).

Q: What language(s) were you tinkering with this time?
A: Mostly Tolkien's Elvish, but also some Hungarian, Scots & Irish Gaelic, and Finnish.

Q: Are there any maps of the Crossroads, Dunheasa, Mag-na-Oige, etc?
A: In my mind and in very rough sketches. I might post them eventually once I actually get them to a non-embarassing quality.

I'll answer more questions in the next installment once I get through this bug and finals.

Telcontar FAQ 1/n

I've been getting some questions about Telcontar Restored... here's some of the more common ones I've gotten so far... Oh and by the way, I've got the Dunheasa link on my webpage up.

Q: Are Kestrel and Soronthrel (or Captain Greywolf) the same person?
A: No. Kestrel is a whole different creature whose story I'm still working on even after nearly 6 years. She's also completely unrelated to Captain Greywolf. The common threads between Kestrel, Soronthrel and Captain Greywolf are that they're academics who got tangled up with Cylithera Eaglestrike and all handled the situation in different ways.

Q: Do the students (Vincent, Ivan, and Tarathorn) remember what happened to them at the Crossroads and beyond?
A: Yes and no. I'll let you ponder over that one before I write up the next part.

Q: Have you actually performed any of the songs that the Geeksters wrote?
A: Only one of their songs. I don't have the vocal range or the improvisational skills quite yet to fully flesh out their songs. I had a demo of one of them but I lost it.

There's a lot more questions but I'm exhausted and the cold medication is finally kicking in so I can actually sleep at last!

News Bite

Small update here -- I will be tinkering with my website on and off a bit, so things may be moving around. In the workings are:

-- A more thoroughly cleaned-up version of Journey to Dunheasa and Telcontar Restored
-- A separate section for the Geeksters series
-- Hopefully also a cleaned-up version of "Whispers From Afar"
-- (VERY much in the semi-distance future) A sequel to Telcontar... Who knows what THAT will involved given my most recent misadventures =)

Ear Worms

So... I've been woken up by a random loud noise (fire truck? ambulance? some other noisy siren-ed vehicle?) and I can't quite go back to sleep. There's a song that's severely stuck in my head for whatever reason... or at least a piece of a song. The sucky part: it's in a language that I can fake some knowledge of! Even worse: It's the kind of song that usually makes me cringe but I seem to have become desensitized to recently. I'll let you try to guess what the language is.

Here's the part that's stuck in my little brain:

Oriude ai fi, eu te voi gasi
Oriunde tu ai fi, eu te voi iubi
Oriunde-n noapte sau zi te voi gasi
In sinea mea cand voi iubi
Dulcea mea, amara mea...te voi gasi

Te voi iubi in noapte, sub cerul plin de stele
Ca-n visuile mele, cand te voi gasi
Te voi strange-n brate, ca-n ultima noapte
Mereu voi fi aproape, cand te voi...gasi...

Telcontar Restored Revision

I've just posted the second draft of Telcontar Restored. Read and enjoy!

November Update

It's been a while since I've last posted -- life has been pretty exciting ever since I started training heavily in compound bow and trying to get all my term projects nailed down. My most recent archery accomplishment was on Tuesday morning where I nailed all 4 arrows in the X-ring (arrow only needs to be tangent to the line) from 15 yards. I never got a perfect 20 with 4 X's -- I've had 20s with 1-2 X's, but never 4! I was extremely excited, especially considering I was having some trouble calibrating my sight earlier and my arrows are both over-weight and over-spined for me! The only complaint was that I was all by myself when it happened, but heck, at least I had my camera with me! I can only imagine what I can do with my Equalizer once I hit about 47-50 lbs draw weight, get properly spined arrows for it, and keep practicing... ;)

Besides shooting, I've been sneaking in some time writing. Telcontar is still being cleaned up after my initial posting but once I get to a new stopping point, I'll post an updated version. The third part is also in progress. I have no title as of yet, but let's just say it may be a very long time before Part 3 shows up because I've got so much on my plate with my research, proposals, and trying to survive classes along with my need to be outdoors.

Geeks at Last!

So I was hanging around with my traditional archery group and as it grew darker, one of my fellow archers reached into the back of his truck and pulled out a 6 D battery MagLite. He proudly declared "And this is my +10 wand of arrow finding." Next thing I knew, another fellow archer and I joined in about our Dungeons and Dragons adventures. Score! I finally found people who appreciate and still play Dungeons and Dragons! I also found out some other really cool stuff about my traditional shooting group:

-- Our fearless leader may be on the verge of discovering a new sea-lion virus. She was quite excited yesterday as she talked about the gels and other biochemical stuff that people do to identify viruses and their proteins. I'm definitely in good company!
-- Another archer showed quite a bit of enthusiasm about doing research on vertebrates with a focus on large mammals.
-- At least 1-2 other people in the gang work as biochemistry technicians of some sort.
-- Lots of references to Monty Python and Tolkien in the group.

I'm even more pumped up about this group than before now that I know that not only do we love traditional archery and nature, but also we're a really geeky bunch! I don't think I've seen a group of people this geeky since Caltech! People at school wonder why I'd rather hang out with archers of any sort, both traditional and compound. They're a whole lot more colorful and fun than the people who'd rather be drinking at a bar or sitting at some over-intellectual film without any combat scenes or the strange critters who think life revolves around TV!

As for the pictures, the arrows were shot from 30 yards on the Equalizer and the outlier was the result of me punching the trigger when I felt a mosquito trying to dig a well on the one spot I missed with the insect repellent. All in all, I scored 239/280 while shooting from the Hunter posts and 220/280 on the Field posts this morning. I think I did fairly well -- now that I've established a baseline, I'd like to see if I can break 250/280 consistently in those before the end of the semester =)

Field Training

There's few things as thrilling as doing archery. I got a major head-rush today when my coach and I went out to the range to do a practice hunter round (4 arrows from marked posts at various distances at 14 targets). Total number points possible: 280 with 5 for the inner-most circle, 4 for the next circle, and 3 for the outermost ring. I pulled a 218/280, which is pretty darned good for someone who's got very little experience with a compound, tends to snap-shoot, is vulnerable to target panic, and forgets that a compound isn't a longbow... and apparently good for someone with a fair amount of experience too! I've had a few critters tell me that I've got the makings of a championship archer... but I'm still a bit skeptical myself about this! Yes, a really great dial-up sight with a magnifier makes it a lot easier aim as well as the let-off on my bow and the high speed (223 feet per second!), but it still takes a lot of work, as I'm very quickly learning. I still have to actually keep my form up, and trust me, a 5 lb set-up is harder to hold up and making sure I have a clean release is a lot tougher than just finger shooting on my recurve.

Above are pictures from the practice range to make sure we're sighted in. I'm taking shots at 60 yards (doable but difficult shot for my Chek-Mate and almost impossible on the Little Hawk) and scoring on each shot. My arrows are the ones with the white and yellow fletch and my coach is shooting black and orange fletch. It's still quite mind-boggling to see what I can do with a bit of training and focus... and some impressive equipment to top it off!

Telcontar, Absolute First Draft

I have finally finished my absolute first non-embarassing draft of Telcontar Restored. There will be many more revisions, as always. This one was definitely a tough one to work on, but overall, I'm pleased with the results, aside from the numerous loose ends from something of this magnitude that always come up. I do have the next story starting to form, which I'm not sure how long it'll take to write. I really feel a strong connection to some of my characters in Telcontar, particularly the Geeksters (Vincent and Ivan) and Tarathorn. And no, there's no Killer Parakeet in this one, although he does get mentioned here and there.

Disclaimer about Telcontar: There may be some stark resemblance to real people that aren't coincidental. This is only in the case of the Caltech professors. The rest of the characters may have bits and pieces of quirks taken from other critters that I thought would be fun to incorporate. This is especially true for the Geeksters, who are inspired from my favorite bands and various people I've hung out with over the years.

A hearty thank-you to everyone who somehow contributed to this story from all the (mis)adventures we've shared, whether in person or from stories and tall-tales. Without all the fascinating and weird critters I've lived/live around or read/heard about, fun stories like Telcontar and Dunheasa would not be possible!

Reminder to self: keeping the same CD on repeat isn't always the brightest of ideas! I now have several Erasure songs stuck in my head!

And now, I've got to make my little journey to the second star to the right and go straight on 'til morning!

Recurring Theme...

I should've learned by now that more than 1-2 cans of Red Bull in a day does weird things to me, but every now and then, I get the urge to see what happens again. This time, I stopped at 3 and I've got insomnia that not even reading Supreme Court opinions could relieve... and my brain feels like it's trying to race with light in a vacuum.

The more I think about my research and all the directions it might go since Nature doesn't always cooperate, the more I realize this is really a life-long adventure and this thing called a PhD is just a brief chapter. And there's just so many ecosystems I want to learn more about -- boreal forests, tundra, steppe, pretty much everything besides urban!

Random picture of the day... Isn't it a beauty? :)

Brain Fluxes

In theory, I should be cranking out more materials for my PhD research proposal and/or cranking out more R code to run split-plot ANOVAs, both balanced and un-balanced designs. In practice, I'm letting a bit of pressure out of my brain so my skull doesn't explode. But on my mind: carbon and water fluxes.

The more I read up on various models for both evapotranspiration and carbon flux, the more I realize that there's a lot of stuff we don't know! The below-ground carbon pool, for example, is a huge mystery that everyone's still trying to figure out. For me, the real fun is in trying to bridge the various scales from individual tree/shrub to the regional (on the order of many square kilometers) and how to get a slick, parsimonious model that I can use across different pine forests. I wasn't too shocked when I found out that there's people all over the place doing what I want to do on different ecosystems, but it is a bit of a kick to the ego knowing that my brain actually falls within 2 or 3 standard deviations in some things!

Not too many people seem to be interested in carbon flux and evapotranspiration simultaneously from what I've seen in the literature, but from what I know, those two are pretty closely linked because of all the plant-soil-atmospheric-who knows what else interactions going on too. Doing a coupled ET-CO2 flux model is probably going to be tedious work because of all the unknowns and all, but I think that's somewhere I might be able to put in my little contributions... at least I hope so. And then there's all these cool new algorithms with artificial neural networks (which I'm still trying to wrap my brain around).

And then as if thoughts of coupled CO2-ET models with hyperspectral remote sensing and integrating plant phenology, LiDAR, and stable isotope analyses weren't enough, my brain's also swimming in daydreams of being one with the ecosystems I intend to study... and not just as a system of some sort, but with the plants, soil, and animals. Admittedly some of the daydreams also involve joining the ranks of various predators and hunting various critters, particularly invasives and anything that needs some help in population control. And then my brain is also tinkering with the idea of competing at some of the larger archery competitions and at least holding my own in them. Let's just hope that I can keep the Ranger in check long enough to make sure I can do what I set out to do!

Part 3... and then some!

As I clean up the second installment of what I've tentatively called the Telcontar series, I'm already starting to think of some stuff for a third installment of the story because I somehow created so many additional opportunities to explore not only the young heroes, but also the worlds they explore. I can't promise any time-frames to post Telcontar Restored because my #1 priority is school and my creative abilities do fluctuate fairly randomly even if there is a fairly strong correlation between creativity and stress levels. I also have a lot of catch-up time for honing in on my outdoors and shooting skills, especially now that I'm starting to integrate techniques from shooting compound into my instinctive traditional shooting. It's really weird how I have a hard time holding my shot on my trusty recurve after taking several shots on my compound, but at the same time, I'm getting to be a bit of a better snap-shooter because of it. I still like to hold my shots on a traditional bow for a count of 3-5, depending on the distance, but being able to shoot as soon as I hit my anchor and still maintain both my form and aim is a very useful skill too, especially if I ever have to do timed competitions or hunt something besides foam and plastic.

Oh and there's a link to an extremely cute video I found on YouTube when I had to take a breather from working on my prospectus and/or homework (especially ecological statistics and plant ecophysiology). There's just something oddly appealing about Erasure videos inspired by fairy tales, mythology, and/or random children's stories.

And now, time for me to continue working on my plans to conquer the world... er... curl up so I can wake up for my early morning experimental design class and endure a long day of seminars.

Effects of Stress...

List of severe stress symptoms that can be cured either with a good pretend-hunt or other solitary outdoor activity away from the general populace... or temporarily relieved with tasteless music videos, excessive use of computer games, destructive hobbies, and/or exercising to severe injury:
- Uncontrolled salivation at inappropriate things
- Visions of bulls-eyes on particularly annoying people like those annoying solicitors who don't understand the concept of "I'm running late to class/meeting/seminar" or those inconsiderate people who wear excessive product in poorly ventilated places... most of the bulls-eyes seem to be centered around lung/heart shots.
- Excessive shedding
- Cut-up tongue from refraining from swearing at the *.* person who almost runs me over when I have right-of-way or the annoying solicitor trying to recruit me into
- Sudden and increased cravings for medium-rare meat on the bone
- Loss of overall competetive edge in class
- General inability to sit still without having to stretch or walk

And now time to try to ignore the effecs of stress long enough to focus on making sure the curve is nice and broken in my favor and learning the material inside-out...

Odds and Ends

Just a few little thingies to post because I feel like it and am trying to let my brain re-set enough to continue on a presentation...

Telcontar: I've finished the first private draft, which means it's going to be getting worked on a whole lot more before I let ANYONE else look at it. All I can say about this one without giving too much away at this point is that the violence content is unusually low. I don't know how long this one will be given that I'm trying to also wrap up a manuscript, get my research proposal written, and generally stay nice and competetive academically. Oh and make sure that I don't accidentally engulf my bike seat with my butt.

FGSO Treasurer

I got appointed as the treasurer of the forestry graduate student organization in a very interesting race against 2 other candidates. Hey, free food is a VERY strong motivator to get things done... well, and the opportunity to check out other research that's going on in the department that I otherwise wouldn't hear about. Downside? The president seems to really love going to bars and other places where it gets a bit too stuffy for someone who'd rather be outdoors.

Power Wheels?
Well, I had the courage to bike to the local pro-shop to do my last round of test-shooting. Right now, I'm down to 3 models that really fit me really well, although none of them come close to beating out my trusty Chek-Mate recurve. The 3 finalists in my quest for a good compound bow are:

#1 -- Fred Bear Odyssey. Pros: Price (<$300 for a fully set-up kit), minimal hand-shock, can be easily adjusted without a bow-press, smooth draw, extremely comfortable grip, weighs less than 3.5 lbs completely set up, fits in on the back of my bike safely, zero finger-pinch, comes almost-ready-to-shoot, wide draw weight range (35-50 lbs). Cons: Slow compared to several of the other models, needs some work with timing and tuning, a bit unstable, a bit of that "children's bow" stigma, 2 year full warranty.

#2 -- Browning Micro-Adrenaline. Pros: Price (<$300 for a fully set-up kit), low hand-shock, doesn't need a bowpress, smoothest draw of the top 3, reasonably fast, weighs less than 3.5 lbs completely set up, stable, fits safely on bike, comes almost-ready-to-shoot, easy-to-change limbs. Cons: Some finger pinch, handle felt a bit small, smaller weight range (40-50 lbs), a bit noisy, minor tuning/timing issues, a bit of that "children's bow" stigma, 5 year full warranty

#3 -- Bowtech Equalizer. Pros: Extremely fast, very stable, flattest trajectory, adjustable let-off, very quiet, very stable, most forgiving, fewest worries about timing issues in the top 3, fits safely on a bike, very little hand-shock, reasonable weight (4 lbs with everything), life-time full warranty. Cons: Price ($650 by itself), substantial finger pinch, smaller weight range (40-50 lbs), needs modules and bowpress to adjust.

The winner? Who knows. All I know right now is that there's muscles in my back and chest that I didn't realize I had.

Great Laughs

This entry is linked to a website I'm really enjoying lately. It's still a poor substitute for roaming around in the wilds with my trusty little Chek-Mate, but at least it's keeping me from doing too much damage to my walls.

I usually hate rap and hip-hop, but MrSafety Professional Idiot is a lot more palatable than most of the other stuff I get exposed to. His songs and stunts defy description -- you've just got to watch it to see why I enjoy his videos so much. I think the more tasteless and annoying the music is, the more likely I am to gravitate towards it. Consider... my favorite bands are Depeche Mode, Moenia, Erasure, O-Zone, and ABBA ... and I have a real weakness for bagpipes. I also have a particular fondness for Beavis & Butthead and South Park along with the adventure epics involving archery, nature, swords, and sorcery.

And what's wrong with appreciating toilet humor, a good hunting story, or even a good technical discussion? For some reason, there's some kind of really annoying social stigma against someone who appreciates the crude and violent... at least if you're female and Asian. And why is there so much social stigma about necessary digestive functions?

Dental Floss and Super-Glue

I just felt like posting something about some of the greatest inventions: dental floss and super-glue.

Dental floss, besides keeping my teeth in pretty decent shape (but alas, it didn't save me from the cosmetic torture of braces), has a wide array of other uses. I've used dental floss to hold my glasses together long enough for me to get a set of screws for them. It's served as a fairly reliable emergency nocking-point on my bowstring when my brass nocking-point fell off. It's also done a very good job of holding my cat-whisker silencers in place, in fact, it's done a better job than the strand of Dynaflight 97 or B-50 Dacron recommended by most other archers. I've even used dental floss to secure my writing instruments to me and to even measure my draw length when I didn't have a meter stick or tape measure on me at that moment. Dental floss is also great for improvised tea bags when I have loose leaf tea and bags but no way to secure the bags to keep all the leaves from coming out.

And then there's super-glue. Besides the obvious thing of sticking things together, it also serves as a very nice sealant. On a few occasions, I've used super-glue to fill in gaps between various parts of my arrows to keep things secure. I've yet to have any fletching fall off my arrows (scraped off is a whole different boat) and I've broken many nocks but never had one fall off an arrow where I sealed that gap between the shaft and the nock. Most of the nocks I've lost were on my Carbon Express arrows (which I leave un-glued at the nocks so I can fine-tune the arrow and experiment with the orientation of the fletching) or not secured with a nice, thin film of super-glue in that little gap.

Where would the world be without dental floss and super-glue?

I Think I See a Pattern...

Seminar today went well. Informal but it was a real blast being able to talk for almost an hour about evapotranspiration modelling and the use of the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith. I think I could get used to doing longer performances, except I'm not going to drink an espresso right before!

Compound Bow Names

I'm starting to notice some patterns in how compound bow models get named or categorized... some of which include:

1) If it's an insanely fast bow that's marketed as "the fastest on the market", it has the word "Black" in it. Case in point being Mathews' Black Max, Bowtech's Black Knight (no longer in production), and APA Innovation's Black Mamba Extreme. The word "Extreme" and the letter "X" also show up a lot.

2) If it's for draws under about 26" or 27", there's 4 terms that seem to get used a lot... along with a humorous description (to be taken with a few salt shakers of salt) of what they really mean:
a) Micro-bow: the generic term for a bow designed for shorter draw lengths, typically reserved for (b) or (c). For some reason, a lot of guys I know cringe at the thought of even handling a "micro-bow". I don't like this term either... it's annoying enough having short arms and small hands!
b) Youth bow: "Small and usually cute compound bow for a growing kid and usually has the word `Lite' or `Micro' in it (eg. Rapture Lite or Micro-Adrenaline)" or a fairly "neutral"-sounding name like Odyssey or Badge... typically shot by dabblers and kids and they actually tend to be decent bows in terms of neat features like not requiring a bow-press or not having a specific draw length... also tend to be fairly easy to adjust.
c) Ladies' bow: "Small, usually gaudy, compound bow that usually doesn't go past 50 lbs draw weight and doesn't hunt very well but usually makes for a good target bow". These tend to have either girly names (eg. Tigress or Banshee) or annoying names (eg. Selena... sounds too much like some talentless celebrity with the wits of a fermented radish).
d) Short-draw bow: "Smaller high-performance compound bow that guys don't want to be referred to as any of the above in fear of looking wimpy... and can go to 60 or 70 lbs" Names on these bows go all over the place -- anything from APA Innovation's Suphan to BowTech's Equalizer, but they tend to err on something that still sounds as tough as their longer-draw cohorts.

3) The more appealing-looking models tend to be named after predators, especially great cats (eg., Cougar, Jaguar, Panther), poisonous snakes (Viper, Mamba, Cobra), some word that's connected to killing (Slayer, Fatal Impact, Terminator), or rough weather conditions (Typhoon, Thunder, Storm).

4) Less appealing bows tend to be named after non-predatory animals (eg. Mustang, Caribou) or something that sounds like it could come straight from Star Trek (eg., RinTec, ProTec, Trykon).

I know being prejudiced by a model (or even a company's) name is not the best of things, but there are just some names I just wouldn't want to be associated with. I don't know if it's a bias towards traditional bows anyway, but I do like the traditional bow names a lot more -- typically revolving around nature instead of fads. So far, here's a list of some things I'm observing all across the board... without any regard for what the actual bow (traditional or compound) really looks or feels like.

Best Model Names: Falcon, Desert Fox, Vazul
Worst Model Names: Non-Typical, Prestige
Most Common Words: Hunter, Cobra, Viper, Mamba, Hawk, Eagle, Wolf, Ranger
Most Unusual Names: Non-Typical, King's Pawn, Stick

Pieces of a TIN Model

Just feeling like scribbling a few random things down in one long post instead of several short bursts. I'm definitely caught in a nice Triangular Irregular Network full of stochastic processes... but as one of my favorite characters once said, "To live is an awfully big adventure".

Relaxation

Besides shooting them, I also really enjoy making arrows. There's just something about turning shafts of wood, glue, feathers, and pieces of plastic and metal into something powerful, beautiful, and ultimately, deadly, in the right hands. I'm split between wood and carbon -- I enjoy the wood arrows because there's a lot more I can do with them and there's a sense of "bonding" with the arrows that doesn't involving glue, but I also enjoy the carbon arrows bebcause they're almost indestructible and are a lot more precise. I can't wait to start my next batch of wooden arrows, which will be cedar (like ones I've made before) but also stained, sealed, and spined to the proper stiffness to turn them into real killers.

Frodo Baggins Syndrome

So I was at an ecology group meeting today and while I was scouting out for potential brains to start picking at, I noticed that everyone was signing up for a time to do some kind of presenation. Only thing was, nobody wanted to present next week, not even the really outgoing young professor from the wildlife department. After the paper went around for a while, the professors in charge were looking for someone to present and I had asked one of them about something else. I don't know what hit me next, but I suddenly said "I'll take it!" I felt like I was at the Council of Elrond and I had just played the role of Frodo Baggins. And now I'm going to have to cough up a presentation... and a manuscript!

More Kills!

I have now added another lizard to my kills -- they need to really stop taking naps between the cardboard target face and the foam or cardboard backing. I also have 2 more giant roach-like bugs in my list of kills. One of them was actually something I aimed at from 10 meters, but the other also made the mistake of hiding in that little space and I managed to nail it from about 25 meters back. As usual, it was with my Chek-Mate recurve, which is getting easier to get accurate shots with now even though my practice time has been severely cut. I've been limiting myself to the practice range because I don't have as much time to dedicate to my shooting, so I've only been doing accuracy and precision drills. The precision drills are a lot easier for me, but in a real tournament or hunting situation, I also need accuracy at a wide range of distances. Coming to think of it, I really feel like shooting!

Nightmare From Hell

In an attempt to be fully alert in my classes (darned early mornings combined with afternoon seminars... and taking the bus to save on ulcers and funding), I tried to go to sleep at a dismally early 21.00 hrs so I can get up early enough. Only problem is I had a serious nightmare, one bad enough where I'm still severely rattled and no amount of "quick laughter" or weight-lifting or shooting at the 3-D target I swiped can relieve so far.

Without going into gratuitous details, let's just say the nightmare involved being forced to live a lifestyle completely incompatible with someone who's having daydreams of being a leader in plant ecophysiology, an archer (both as a hunter and a tournament archer), and generally being able to enjoy solitude in the natural world without any cumbersome entities. It was about par with removing the flight feathers from an eagle and then stuffing it into a parakeet cage and putting the cage in a room full of malicious toddlers and infants and being forced to watch soap operas.

Besides hastily scribbling thoughts here I've also been watching (out from the corner of my eyes) some rather amusing music clips... in a strange way, some of them are actually soothing even if they are very up-beat. I don't know what it is, but just as a sample, I've put a link to one of these clips... Youtube is a great way to lose sleep... or to calm down after a REALLY bad nightmare. I'm not sure what it is... I'm just glad that it's calming me down enough to attempt to sleep.

Week 1 in the Forestry Department...

For a first week of school, things went pretty darned smoothly. I only got lost once in the forestry/wildlife building and only once in the monster buildings collectively called "McCarty Hall". I like all 3 of my classes, especially my botany class, which focuses on plant ecophysiology. Of course, I am a plant ecophysiologist with a particular liking for forests and ecosystem processes.

The only down-side to the week? The beginnings of a cold that's made me decide to stay home tonight instead of checking out the athletic facilities ... and a capoiera/breakdance group on campus that meets on Friday nights. I think I picked up the bug from one of my office-mates, a fellow ecologist who's also based in the forestry department who's been sick all week. Given the nature of the bug, I think I'm also going to be stuck at home this weekend, which is going to really hurt because I haven't gone shooting for almost 3 days... and not shooting for more than a few days has been known to have strange effects on me. Maybe I should swipe that discarded 3-D target or invest in one of those cheap bag targets, mount it on a chair, and start shooting at that when I can't go to the range for whatever reason.

I can't wait to start on a project. Right now I've got lots of ideas, mostly along the line of multi-scale studies on different types of ecosystems. Based on talking to some of the professors, I'm starting to think about looking at the different types of coniferous forests ranging from the predominantly longleaf/slash pines in Florida to the boreal forests out in Alaska and trying to develop a mechanistic model of evapotranspiration and carbon fluxes. I think I even have some strong candidates for my PhD committee... including a professor I mistook for a fellow grad student. Put it this way... a rugby player who runs the flux towers that the forestry (and botany) departments utilize and has worked with many of the people I collaborated with while I was at Cal State LA while he was in Barrow, Alaska.

Time to curl up and let my immune system do its thing so I can be at full juice on Monday... almost...

There's a really nifty video clip on http://www.martinarchery.com Just follow the link on the sneak peek for the 2007 Bengal and there's a little link to a video. Something about it was just rather... intriguing. While most people would rather admire tasteless fashion crap, I prefer the beauty of a well-shot arrow and a clean form. My bias is still much more towards the traditional bows, but there's still a different beauty in a compound bow. Just make sure it's not one of those scary-looking, gaudy target bows.

SFRC Orientation and Telcontar

Telcontar: I usually don't put links to videos, but these two pretty much helped inspire me to write the story...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xCXzpTWMenc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-gkiRE-DhMc

I'm not going to say too much else besides letting you guess how on earth two of my favorite singers influenced this story.

As far as the SFRC (School of Forestry Resources & Conservation) went, it was pretty darned good for an all-day orientation event. It was at the Austin Carey Memorial Forest, which is a nice short drive away from home, not far from the airport. It was a blast being able to meet fellow forestry people and realizing that they're not only very engaging and knowledgeable, but also quirky, although no group will ever come close to Caltech students in terms of being fun and quirky. Of all the orientations I've had to sit through, this was by far my favorite, not only because they actually fed us something besides junk food, but also because I was able to talk about my research without drawing blank looks and listen to my peers talk about their research and catching my attention.

The Austin Carey Forest is actually a fairly "typical" forest in this part of Florida with the upper canopy of mixed pines (mostly long-leaf but also slash) and a lower canopy that's either grasses or saw palmettos, depending on when the last fire was. It's also an AmeriFlux site and I'd love to see if I can get it added to SpecNet :) I have a distinct feeling that my research will ultimately be tied to fire and drought effects, at least based on what the professors told me about the site. I'm looking forward to doing field work here, at least if I do take on this site... but I'm still hoping to see if I can get some work in the Boreal forest and other SpecNet sites so I can really make use of the Spectral Network!

Tomorrow is the first day of school, which means I start studying again! I'm just hoping that my hunting instincts won't kick in too hard!

Stereotypes?

Q: What do you call a short person with glasses, a hat, a T-shirt, shorts, and something interesting to read?

A: A scientist!

Apparently there's something about that appearance that screams "scientist" to a lot of people. I went to get some take-out food, having decided that I've had enough spinach and bell pepper salad, and after I placed my order for something filling, the person at the counter looks at me and just says "Hey, you're a scientist, aren't you?" I was tempted to ask what science, but I decided against it because I just wanted my food, having been hungry for quite some time. The real fun, though was when I had to set my reading material down next to me so I could sign the receipt and the cashier looked horrified when she saw what I was going to read while waiting. I had an issue of Traditional Bowhunter with the page turned to a review of a really cool high-powered compact longbow, complete with broadhead-tipped arrows and a picture of a hunter with an animal they just shot. Is it me, or is it just that nobody seems to expect a 5'2" Asian female scientist in training to be interested in bow-hunting or to be able to draw more than about 30 lbs?

Dunheasa / Telcontar Update

I'm hoping I can finish the sequel to Journey to Dunheasa before school really kicks in. The sequel is still tentatively titled to Telcontar Restored but that's always prone to change. As of now, I'm standing in Dunheasa with the Eternal Huntress, wondering about the source of that unearthliy beautiful baritone voice that broke her concentration while hunting.

At this point, all I can say about Telcontar is that it's a much more challenging story to fully flesh out and write than the much more linear and focused Dunheasa. Telcontar is nonetheless a fun story to write, especially with one of the heroes who is a mixture of two of my all-time favorite singers (Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode and Alfonso Pichardo of Moenia) and several of my peers throughout my academic career.

Oh and here's another gratuitous picture what my "best round" at the range this morning with my trusty Chek-Mate. This time I used a set of practice arrows with reflective white cresting and semi-reflective shield-cut white fletching after losing far too many of my good carbon arrows... and the results weren't too shabby at 20 yards, but my form still needs a lot of work, as the large spread and two outliers indicate!

Some More Murphy's Laws...

#1 -- Any exceptionally well-made and expensive arrow, especially in a relatively fresh batch, will be shot into one or more of the following within a few days of creation: an active bee/hornet/wasp nest, large patch of poison oak/ivy/sumac, network of active black widow or brown recluse spider webs, and/or be buried under about 2-3 inches of vegetable litter with fire ant outposts everywhere. Or if it doesn't land in a bad spot, then it gets Robin-Hooded beyond repair. Conversely, the easiest arrows to retrieve from a miss due to tension, poor technique, or bad distance judgement are typically the older, not-so-well-made arrows that need to be repaired or replaced.

#2 -- The one time I decide to wear something appropriate for the temperature and humidity is the one time I also miss a lot of targets and need to go into dense underbrush to find arrows. If I'm wearing full desert camouflage treated with insect repellent and guarded against anyone trying to get a space on the walking bug buffet, I always hit the target.

#3 -- If I'm going to get munched on or stung, it will be right when I'm trying to retrieve said masterpiece from #1 and while wearing something that won't make me overheat.

#4 -- The one place I can set down my trusty bow away from the local fire ants and spiders will usually be right underneath a popular P-mail site for birds.

#5 -- My arrows tend to get driven further into the target (or wooden frame or tree) than the arrow that came from a 60 lb bow from the same distance. Hmm... maybe that 125 grain field point on an arrow designed for hunting could be the reason... most other target shooters use those insanely light arrows that just poke the target, not try to go through flesh, lungs, and other organs and tear them up along the way...

#6 -- The most likely location for a sting is somewhere that makes it almost impossible to concentrate... like the eyelid or hand. The most likely spot for a bite is that one spot that can't be reached and was covered in clothing with no obvious entrances there.

Even with all these little Murphy's laws, I still love outdoors traditional archery in the Florida wilderness. I'd rather have the occasional bite or sting than just sit indoors like some kind of potato, there's just too much to enjoy outdoors. I think I just need to bathe in a mixture of Deet, Bidrin, DDVP, and Naled... or go back to using soaps like Dial. Oh and I also need to treat my clothing with something to repel the local insect and arachnid life too. I like bugs, but I don't exactly appreciate them munching on me or attacking me when I try to retrieve an arrow because my form and/or aim were off.

I've also picked the classes I'll be taking this fall with a bit of help from my new adviser. It's hard when I'm limited to 9 (was originally 12, but the fellowship got turned into an assistantship) credits but at the same time, maybe I can finally have a report card that doesn't have 3 really solid grades and 1 horrible grade and really get the material in :) I'm definitely moving up in this world -- I now have my office space and a key into my new extended territory.

Time for me to do what I set out to do... with the understanding that there's always room for outdoors and exercise!

Where's the Nerds and/or Fellow Outdoors Types?

My natural early-morning activity: archery or hiking... or sleeping, depending on what I did the night before. Sitting through an orientation session with almost 1200 other graduate students while listening to a lot of talk about how great the football and basketball teams are.

Oh and another shocker for me -- many of the students I ran into didn't even have a research component to their program and were in some pretty strange fields like business and journalism. The closest thing to comfort for me was a small group of somewhat disoriented Chinese math and physics PhD students who were looking for "comforting" person. I probably provided about 30 seconds of reassurance when they saw my Caltech hat during the mandatory "say hi to your neighbors, tell your major, undergrad institution, and a hobby or two" bit, but I think I scared pretty badly when I indicated that I'm an ecologist with a focus in forestry and that I really fond of traditional archery and that I'm a member of Traditional Bowhunters of Florida. There's nothing scary about being someone who wants to bow-hunt species that are overpopulating the region because humans idiotically removed all the natural predators, is there?

After the mandatory sit-on-my-butt-for-too-long orientation, I had to deal with paperwork and clearing holds on enrollment. Not exactly fun, but I have to do it to start the real adventure (the PhD, not the bow-hunting) and I didn't really get to interact much more with my fellow graduate students. I'm guessing that I'll be much once I go to orientations in forestry and the School of Natural Resources and Environment when I can actually meet people who are at least semi- in my field.

I'm really itching for a bit of shooting actually, but not having anything really good to shoot at indoors, I think I'm just going to drool at some more classes to take the next few semesters.

TBOF 2006 Florida Fall Rendezvous

So... after being a bit miffed about having to miss out on some fun on Wednesday, I found out on Friday morning that there's another shoot I can go to and really have some fun. This shoot was in Ocala National Forest, which is a bit of a drive, but it was worth all the time, money, lost arrows, and insect bites.

Friday: Coon Shoot
This was a real fun event if I didn't score at all. It was a nice 10-shot shoot in the dark with a flashlight inside a jug to highlight the critter being shot at, which was almost always some small nocturnal mammal. This was the first fully dark shoot I had ever been to and let's just say I kept aiming at the jug with the light! I came pretty darned close to hitting this one darned albino squirrel, but I overestimated the height and managed to break a nearby tree limb instead. All in all, it was a real blast even if I lost 1 arrow... next time I get arrows, I'm putting on those reflective crests and/or glowing nocks!

Saturday: Fred Bear and Howard Hill
This was a series of 2 20-target ranges. The first one was Fred Bear, which involved lots of going through dense vegetation (thank goodness for Off! bug repellent). I had major target anxiety and only scored 55/200 on the Fred Bear, which someone later told me was "pretty damned good for a first-time foreigner" and that it was normal for people to lose about 2-3 arrows at this course. I lost 3 arrows, although one of them did come back to me. The Howard Hill course was also a very challenging range and was a lot more nerve-wracking because several of the targets are right against the lake, so if I miss, that arrow goes swimming with the fishies. Let's just say just about everyone loses at least 2-3 arrows at this range too the first time they shoot at it. I did a lot better on it, mostly because I had some really lucky shots, giving me 85/200 on the Howard Hill. The most amusing shot by far that day was this one large turkey that had its back on the archer. Let's just say this one was also very anatomically correct and I got it somewhere that caused lots of laughter. All in all, 140/400, although if breaking tree limbs and getting them embedded really hard with a light-draw bow were worth points, I would've gotten close to 300 points for all the damage I did to the trees. The Howard Hill took 3 of my arrows, including one that went into the water as a sacrifice to the water spirits. Not too bad for the combination of target anxiety, trying to adjust to the sauna, and not having much experience in real forest surroundings.

Sunday: Final Round @ Howard Hill
I didn't do too well, but it was still a blast. I got placed with other women who shot either recurves or longbows with non-wooden arrows who apparently also felt a bit self-conscious about their scores. I think my fear of the water and losing yet more arrows really hurt me on this one, but every time I remembered to focus on a tiny spot on the target, I had a pretty solid shot. There were a few arrows that I really drove in good, including this one where I shot pretty far into a cypress stump. We couldn't quite pull it out until I decided to put all my weight into the effort and I literally fell flat onto my butt like in the cartoons when someone tries to pull something out. My arrow survived! I also earned the nickname "Pooper Shooter" because I hit several targets either in or very close to the business end, especially that one turkey and this one raccoon where I thought I missed, but turned out that I hit it right under the tail. All in all, I scored 55/200 on this one, which wasn't all that bad for an early morning shoot! Overall I came out with 195/600, which looked pretty embarassing compared to all these people who were getting much higher scores, although the top scores were still in the 400s except for one or two insanely good people, but I still had way too much fun and now I've got a nice base-line to work on :) I also learned a few more tricks of the trade that'll (hopefully) turn me into an archer deadly enough to hunt safely!

Laughter Cures and Macho Syndrome

Somehow, my stomach has been rather... unhappy... at something I ate today (I blame the seasoning packet that came with the bowl of instant noodles -- most mushrooms, especially Asian ones, even in small amounts, will give me quite memorable stomach woes) and leading to the cancellation of some wonderful plans I had revolving around shooting defenseless targets with my trusty Chek-Mate Hunter I. Needless to say, I wasn't exactly happy about having to sit at home and grab my stomach and do all the usual stuff for major indigestion. Anyway, I decided to do anything to make me forget the pain in my digestive system. And no, it's not lethal or anything, but extremely annoying and is a real damper on anything fun (ie, going outdoors).

Part 1: Hilarious Web-Sites

So... I just poked my head into a couple of sites a friend of mine sent me. Note that some of them are quite crude/vulgar to the easily offended, so reader beware! Here's a list of the ones that made me laugh until something else started hurting:

http://www.tuckermax.com (funniest by a long-shot but also may be offensive)
http://maddox.xmission.com (also has a great book)
http://www.homestarrunner.com (non-offensive material)

I pretty much felt better instantly after reading/watching the material!

Part 2: The Moth Returns to the Flame

I have a scar on my left arm from a botched attempt to shoot a high-powered compound bow by BowTech (Equalizer if you want to know the exact model). It was still a safe fire, but that was before I had the strength to draw back 40+ lbs or the understanding of how a compound bow works. I have long since been mildly afraid to handle compound bows until a few days ago. A minor spike in whatever chemicals that induce macho behavior inspired me to start trying out different compound bows. Here's a list of compounds that I've tried and what I thought of them.

Hoyt Selena -- I shot it at about 47 and then 43 lbs at 24" draw. It was ok, but for some reason I still have a weird grudge against Hoyt, probably because my retinas are still scarred from looking at some of their target bows. I probably won't be able to give this bow a very fair assessment because I also got a pretty nice bruise that hurts when I touch it from this one at the 43 lbs draw weight. It also gave me some handshock when I fired it and there was just something about the grip that made me think "excessively girly". Also, after I shot this one, I deliberately had the draw weight set significantly below what I was comfortable with because I didn't want to have another accident where I forgot that I had to draw it back to the let-off point.

PSE Deer Hunter -- I shot this puppy at 37 lbs at 24" draw. Unlike any of the others I shot, this had a single cam (more like a wheel). I didn't really like the feel of this one, although it didn't have any glaringly bad features. It did give me quite a bit of hand-shock and it was a fairly slow bow. I think my Chek-Mate is faster than this one pound for pound!

Bear Odyssey -- I shot this one at about 38 lbs at 24" draw. This one was a pretty nice one with a nice grip that actually felt substantial and for a cheap introductory bow, it felt really good firing it. It had a nice smooth draw and I got very little shock when I fired it. It's also a very small bow and very light (about 32" axle-to-axle and a bit under 3 lbs). For a non-competetive bow (this one can go from 35-50 lbs draw weight) or hunting small critters (rodents and lagomorphs), I think this one would be pretty good especially since the weight range goes from 35-50 lbs instead of the typical 30-40 or 40-50 lbs. Another bonus: this bow is actually easy on the eyes too! If I had to get a compound, this one would be a VERY strong contender, especially since the price tag (about $200 for the bow + accessories) is pretty sweet.

Browning Micro-Adrenaline -- I shot this one at about 37 lbs at 23.5" draw. This was a pretty nice bow with a nice grip, not quite as nice as the Odyssey, but it had a nice punch to it. It had a bit more gradual draw, which I appreciated and fired fairly nicely. Overall, it's a bit more high-performance than the Odyssey and it's another strong contender. My only complaint about this one is that the balance didn't quite feel as good as the Odyssey.

Bowtech Equalizer -- I shot this one twice: once at 43 lbs @ 25" (that's when I got my scar) and once at about 39 lbs at 23.5" draw. By far this is the fastest thing I've ever shot. As far as the grip goes, this one was the only one that I liked more than the Odyssey. The other cool part is that pound for pound, this is probably the fastest short-draw bow (or any compound) on the market. Oh, and it's the only compound that has a grip that I like better than the Odyssey. A lot more. The down-side to this one? The nearly $700 price tag and possibly having to get a release aid to shoot this one comfortably because it did give me some finger pinch. But if I really want to start competing seriously and/or hunt anything larger than rodents and lagomorphs, then this is pretty much as top-of-the-line as it gets for a short-draw compound.

Conclusion:
I think I'm just going to stay with pure traditional for a while more even if there are some models of compounds I really enjoy... at least until I can put some more muscles in my upper body and build up some confidence in my ability to draw all 45+ lbs without letting go or hurting anything!

First Two Kills!

So today I now have two kills in my name. Both of these were just so darned unlikely that I couldn't believe it until I saw the stuff on my arrow and the impaled critter on the cardboard target face. If I had been prepared, I would've had my digital camera to take the pictures, but this time, you'll just have to take my word for it and given the nature of these shots, I don't think I could repeat those!

Kill #1: A huge dragonfly. Apparently it wasn't doing so well, as it didn't quite move in time to escape being hit by my nice self-fletched Carbon Express Heritage 150. It had a pretty nice "squish" effect since it was big enough to get hit by the arrow but was still smaller than my nice 125 grain field point. Bug stuff isn't so bad and I easily wiped it off when I got home.

Kill #2: A lizard. Yes, you may be asking me how the heck I pulled this one off, given that I'm in a hot, humid climate and lizards are pretty active. So basically this lizard decided that the small space between the cardboard target face and the foam backstop was a good place to take a nap. This makes sense because it's still fairly warm and it's inaccessible to any raptors that might be looking for an easy lunch. There's also plenty of bugs, so the lizard has a nice little hideaway. So what happens is I'm practicing and then I do my usual thing and as I'm pulling arrows, one arrow is covered in what looks like red fluid and some random other gunk. Ok, rotting plant material. Then I pull the arrow further out and my nice Heritage 150 and the 125 grain tip is covered in red stuff and when it fully comes out, a lizard drops out. It's got a pretty good size hole in it that matches my field point. I put 1 and 1 together and realize that I actually hit the lizard. Reluctantly in an attempt to show it some respect, I pick up the punctured body (and it was a nice chest shot too!) and place it away from the trail and bury it under some dead leaves. After that target, I made it a point to check for lizards.

Now, for those of you who know me, I actually do have a bit of a liking for reptiles, especially snakes and turtles, but I also do have a soft spot for small lizards because they're just so darned cute. To be honest, I have far more qualms about killing or hurting a rattlesnake than a rabbit. One of the coolest things to watch I think is just seeing how a snake or a hawk or any other predator catches a rabbit and eats it.

Two kills... and I wasn't even hunting for them. I guess that's Nature's way of taking out the "lazy" population!

My Masterpiece

So one of the things I discovered about going from an arid to a humid climate is that some items don't quite transport very well. Point in case being my wooden arrows, which are still usable, but I wouldn't rely on them in a tournament. They're perfectly good for me just to take it easy on the range with my Little Hawk or even my X-200 (although they're a bit stiff and heavy for the 30 lb bow). The fletching on my experimental carbon arrows kinda came off during transport as well (made a bad choice in adhesive apparently!), so I decided to re-fletch my carbon arrows and add some cresting just so they stand out a bit more. Fletching is very relaxing activity for me, although I do have to keep the windows open to make sure I don't accidentally get high from working with Fletch-Tite, which is a methyl-ethyl-ketone based adhesive. Here's the results of my re-fletching work as well as my trusty Hunter I fully equipped.

I can't wait to start shooting again! I've already taken a couple of trips just to get familiar with the Gator Bowmen range and have made my "required" sacrifice of 3 good arrows to any unfamiliar range, including one shatter and two in a nice bed of poison ivy. As far as these re-fletched arrows go, these are the best I've ever fletched myself and I would even venture to say they're even better than a lot of store-made ones I've encountered!

Hey, I Just Cracked my Book Open...

So in the last 2 days, I have accomplished the following:
1) Get my Florida Driver's license. The entire process from start to finish (leave home, do my thing at the DMV and then come back home) was about 2 hours. About 35-40 minutes was dedicated to driving and finding a parking space. I was shocked at how quickly things moved with an appointment and even more shocked that I got to watch the printing process. While I was at it, I also registered to vote in Florida. How hard could it be to cast a proper vote in Florida?

2) Get Florida law-approved car insurance so I could get the Florida license plate and take care of all that good stuff so I can get Florida residency. Suffice to say, as soon as I plop my butt down on the chair in the waiting area, the agent is already eager to go over the materials with me.

3) Get my Florida license plate and registration. I got referred to the local TAG agency and again, as soon as my butt touches the chair, I get called up and all the paperwork gets taken care of. This process was also insanely fast, with most of the time revolving around me running back home to bring back a piece of paperwork I forgot to bring and finding an appropriate tool to replace my CA license plate with my new shiny FL license plate.

And all through the process, everyone was professional, curteous, but they were also good-humored and extremely friendly. Gainesville is really growing on me!

Gainesville at Last!

I've officially made my move from southern California to Gainesville, Florida. Let's just say even though I'm now away from the people I've grown up with at Caltech and Cal State LA and already missing them, I'm still happy to be here. So far, it's been hot and humid, but I'm used to the hot part, having done field work in chaparral and gone to summer-time archery tournaments.

Today I decided to take a semi-random trip south to Marion and Levy counties because someone once told me that it was a beautiful drive through the country-side and there were some nifty state parks to check out, including Rainbow Springs (which I had poked my head into) and Goethe State Park, which is a beautiful forested area. I managed to miss a turn because someone managed to cut me off, but being a bit of an adventurer with a map and a full tank of gas, I decided to explore the area. Let's just say... I wouldn't mind living for a while somewhere as open and undeveloped! I'm already visualizing all of the time I'd spend outside mastering my skills as an archer!

I was hoping to get more work done on the Dunheasa/Telcontar series, but between family and general chaos of setting up, I haven't really done anything, but I think that little jaunt today gave me more inspiration... Stay tuned!

Random Picture of the Week

What else can I say about this wonderful recurve bow? I wish I could spend a bit more time with this bow... and maybe add 6-8 lbs draw weight on it!

Some Unspoken Rules...

1) If you're really waiting for a call, it will come under one of the following conditions: your phone loses reception, you desperately need to use the bathroom, someone else is bugging you, or you have to go into class or take an exam.

2) If you're waiting to talk to someone about something important, they will always show up right when you have to go to class, take an exam, use the bathroom, or are about to pass out from hunger. If the person is allergic or offended by a particular food, s/he will come right when you're eating exactly what they can't be around.

3) The expensive carbon arrow with a fancy light-up nock, 5" shield-cut barred fletching, and glue-in points will be destroyed by being Robin-Hooded by a home-made cheap arrow that's on its last legs.

4) Most hits on a 3-D target will either be hit by another arrow (see #3) or fall off when someone else hits the target. Misses will either land in the brush or in the one patch of poison oak.

5) The more antisocial you need to be, the more people like to crowd around you and harass you.

6) If there's a textbook you desperately need, it will cost about three times as much as normal. If you don't need a textbook, prices will drop to about one third of the normal price.

7) The more disgusting a bird's diet is, the more likely you have to park under its nest.

8) The rock you sit on while hiking on a trail is most likely a "p-mail" spot for dogs.

9) The taller the building and the slower the elevator, the more likely it is that you'll be trapped in the elevator with the flatulent person who ate bean burritos and sulfur-rich foods for breakfast/lunch/dinner... or the person who's wearing perfume/cologne that could kill anything with a sense of smell.

10) The probability of encountering bratty, screaming, outright disgusting children with retarded parents increases exponentially when carrying a strung bow.

...and the warrior passes the trial of fire...

In the last few days, I have...
1) Defended my thesis (e-mail me for a copy) before my thesis committee
2) Made revisions to my thesis and turned in the final copy
3) Finished the last revisions to my submission to Remote Sensing of Environment for the SpecNet special issue.

The thesis defense didn't feel so much like an actual presentation, given the large number of interruptions I got from my committee, but rather an exam to see if I understood what I did. To those of you who will have to do a thesis defense presentation/Q&A session, I have a few words of wisdom:

1) Coffee is your friend, but only in moderation. Same goes for Mountain Dew or Red Bull.
2) Eat a bit before going into the defense. Something like a piece of fruit or something else that's easy to digest is really good.
3) Reheasrse the day before and then relax the day of unless you're someone who can really improvise and/or know the material better than the back of your hand.
4) Committee members can ask some of the most random of questions. Prepare accordingly.
5) Tae Kwon Do forms, especially the Taeguk ones, can be comforting in times of stress, but don't get caught doing one right before the presentation.

A Few More Random Top n

So I'm on a brain break from prepping for my defense... and I suddenly felt the urge to add a few more random Top n lists.

Top 10 Bows I've Shot Personally, * indicates more than 10 shots on it, c indicates custom-made
1) c* Chek-Mate Hunter I (take-down recurve, my absolute favorite by a long-shot!)
2) (tied) c Chek-Mate King's Pawn (recurve) and c Chek-Mate Crusader (longbow)
4) * Martin Mamba (recurve)
5) * Martin Vision (longbow)
6) * Ragim Little Hawk (longbow, only complaint is I always hit my ceiling with it)
7) Bear Montana (longbow)
8) * Internature Viper (longbow)
9) Bear Super Magnum 48 (compact recurve)
10) c* Black Widow PSA (take-down recurve)

Top 5 Bows I Want to Try
1) Chek-Mate Longhorn (Turkish-style flatbow)
2) Saxon Hawk Signature (Turkish-style longbow)
3) Chek-Mate Raven (compact recurve)
4) Martin Serengeti (recurve)
5) Magyar Sport Vazul (Hungarian-style horsebow)

5 Least Favorite Bows I've Shot
1) Mathews Genesis (very light-draw compound in horrible colors)
2) Hoyt Gold Medalist (Olympic-style recurve in horribly bright colors that wake the dead)
3) Hoyt Aerotec (see #2)
4) Samick Mizar (see #2)
5) PSE Spyder (compound)

Random Top n

For some reason I just feel like posting a random set of Top n lists now that I've got a bit of a break from my thesis while waiting for my committee to give me more comments... so here goes.

Top 10 Warriors
1) Drizzt Do'Urden (R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Series) -- Dual scimitars, renegade dark elf, ranger... all-around favorite!
2) Catti-Brie (R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Series) -- Awesome archer with a really cool bow and sword, human girl raised among dwarves, lots of brains and personality... need I add much more?
3) San (Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke -- Warrior-princess raised among wolves, she's definitely not your dull princess who just looks pretty! Best moments: when she first shows up leading a raid against the human settlement with the wolves and when she's covered in blood.
4) Nausicaa (Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind -- Pacifist warrior-princess but there's a really cool scene where she goes beserk and kills a whole bunch of Torumekian soldiers. Oh and she's also a scientist too, both in the movie and the manga :)
5) Artemis Entreri (R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Series) -- Dual-weapon assassin with a darkly fascinating style... quiet, efficient, deadly.
6) Aragorn (J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings -- Quite a sight in combat... and quite the survivalist!
7) Eowyn (J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings) -- Not much of her fighting, but I love how she just takes out the Nazgul in the Return of the King
8) Prince Ashitaka (Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke -- Pacifist warrior prince under a curse. Most spectacular moments are when he decapitates samurai with his arrows!
9) Legolas (J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings -- Inhumanly awesome archer and can hold his own in hand-to-hand.
10) Wulfgar (R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Series -- Barbarian with that nifty war hammer that he can throw or swing at enemies.

Top 5 Mages
1) Raistlin Majere (Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles and Dragonlance Legends Series -- Creepy, intriguing mage who could've been a god.
2) Ged Sparrowhawk (Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea series) -- Harry Potter's precursor with much more personality and character.
3) Jilseponie Ault (R.A. Salvatore's Corona books -- Warrior/sorceress who can handle just about anything from fierce combat situations to diplomatic leadership to wilderness survival.
4) Howl (Dianne Wynn Jones' Howl's Moving Castle) -- Actually I prefer the one from Miyazaki's film of the same title. Who wouldn't envy a wizard who has a moving castle with multiple portal doors, infinite hot water, and the ability to turn into a scary bird-like creature?
5) Fizban (Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles and Dragonlance Legends Series -- Eccentric wizard who just can't seem to remember anything yet holds insane powers...

Oh and the picture posted on top is of my trusty Hunter I from Chek-Mate.

P(Darwin) = F(Thesis Progress, Stress)

The events portrayed in this entry are not to be attempted at home, not even by trained professionals. You have been warned.

So when pressure gets heavy and time becomes precious, especially with an upcoming defense and thesis submission deadline, mundane chores such as washing dishes tend to go undone for a few days at a time. Anyway, this time things got a bit worse than usual, as I found out when I found that my kitchen was now home to a flock of Drosophila melanogaster, or fruit flies, if you will. There's only one animal I despise more than Drosophila and that's the overrated, insanely fast reproducing coprophagous mammal in order Lagomorpha, family Leporidae -- namely rabbits. At least with those darned coprophages, killing them yields useful products such as meat and pelts, which can be used for nifty things like bowstring silencers and ornaments for my quiver, but killing Drosophila yields nothing beyond a split second of glee. But I digress. I also tend to keep a bit of ethanol under the sink for cleaning jobs where plain soap and hot water and good scrubbing doesn't cut it and I don't want to deal with really stinky or toxic stuff. Ethanol is a good cleaning agent and it also makes a good fruit fly killing agent too. So I was spraying the little buggers with a bit of ethanol (by the way, lab grade is best but in a pinch, according to a friend, cheap vodka or everclear does the trick too) and they're dying nicely. Actually if I still had my nice little Drosera capensis (sundew), it would've been a lot more entertaining way of killing the darned flies. But I've sprayed all their possible hideouts and the air so there's some ethanol vapors around. I was also getting hungry and I was about to cook something on the stove, which uses a flame, and I quickly decided against it because I didn't want to risk getting flambeed and ending up with a Darwin Award. So I just fixed myself a peanut butter sandwich and some fruit.

The score now is:
Me -- 1, Drosophila: 0