First... I will be presenting my poster at SEEC 2009 so hopefully I remember to take the camera (and batteries) with me to get a few pictures. Wish me luck in not causing too many aneurysms as I talk about artificial neural networks, net ecosystem exchange, and up-scaling! Admittedly I would rather be Guenhwyvar of An Crosaire, master archer (in my imagination at least), shooting IKACS, Royal Rounds, and 3D at the Trimaris coronation event tomorrow, but sometimes, I just gotta suck it up and stuff myself into a suit. Speaking of which, I'm hoping I haven't blobbed out too much from lack of exercise and too much studying or I'm gonna either look like an overstuffed sausage or just go in my natural plumage.
Second... Thought I'd share links to two blogs I get a bit of a kick out of reading. The first is Welcome to the Genetic Opera and the second is Slayer of Altoids
Okie off I go to finish up laundry -- seems like the only time I can do laundry without having to resort to a slug-fest (or defenstration) is weekday mornings or having to bite my tongue until it bleeds (to avoid excessive profanity at the @!#&$% who don't understand basic punctuality or the @#$%& who pollutes the air with perfume). Then it's an afternoon in tree physiology and most likely seminar unless fortune is in my favor and it's fisheries seminar instead of a carbon seminar. The seminars towards the end of the semester looked rather... wie Scheisse... too much emphasis on social, not enough emphasis on biophysical or simulations... and often a waste of perfectly good time to either be doing real work or working out.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Teaser
For a bit of a preview of what's brewing with Shadowhawk, click on the title. No guarantees on whether or not it makes it to the final product, but seeing that it'll be a LONG time before I'll have Shadowhawk or Swan-Song out, thought I'd just put a sample out. I may also put up another sample of Swan-Song up if the mood strikes.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Cleaning Out the Camera 2/n
Found some random pictures of the Bowtech Equalizer on my camera. The black/silver release hanging on the string loop is a TRU-Ball Sabertooth-4 (not to be mistaken for my Scott Sabertooth caliper release). I think I do get better groups with the Sabertooth-4 or the TRU-Ball Sweet Spot-4 than with the Carter Evolution, even if I feel safest shooting the Evolution as far as back-tension releases go.
Monday, March 09, 2009
TBoF Spring 2009
As always, click on the title or here to get the full suite of pictures.
I had taken a tree physiology midterm on Friday afternoon and wasn't exactly thrilled about biking home in the unusually bad Friday afternoon traffic. Thank goodness for Rammstein for providing me with some catharsis or Frontier Justice would've been served all around, particularly to the inconsiderate buses who like to block the driveway to my apartment just about every freaking time as well as to the expletives deleted who don't understand that a yell of "Coming through!" means "Get the expletive deleted out of the way!" and that the appropriate response to an angry biker is NOT to expletive deleted plug up the bike path with their expletive deleted stroller with some babies in it when the road has already been blocked by a porto-potty truck and a expletive deleted short bus.
I think I need to work out a lot more again -- my gut's expanding again. If things get bad enough, I might have to start blowing off readings to keep myself from turning back into Blobulous. My doctor already told me that it's a *bad* idea for me to cut my calories any further so I need to cut somewhere to provide myself with more active time. Reading while doing cardio doesn't work for me because for me to stay at a pace that actually does anything, I get more than a bit motion-sick attempting to read. Back to working out now that I've posted and trying to convince myself that a literature review won't kill me even if it isn't helping my DGH (diameter at gut height).
Borderline road rage from the bike ride home and an allergic reaction to something yesterday, the weekend was excellent. I shot an insanely good first round -- 175/200, including 10 total bonus points from taking the master's stake and no misses at all. My second round wasn't so strong, mostly because the "on/off" switch on my brain accidentally flipped and I started to think a bit too hard about my shots, but I ended that round with an ok 130/200. I came out of the championship round with a 145/200, completing the shoot with a 450/200 and taking third place. It was a really, really close squeak for me with that third place but I think I had a couple of really lucky shots that gave me the edge. I did surprisingly well on the championship round considering that I also managed to miss two targets from the master's stake, the same two I nailed perfectly about 24 hours before. I had to admit, the sudden powerful grumbling in my stomach and overwhelming bladder fullness about 7 or 8 (out of 20 targets)! Finally target 11 or so arrived and I was able to take care of business. Thank goodness for tactical range placement! (Feel free to insert appropriate Freudian joke here... although given what was going on in my guts, I don't think even a guy would've really had an advantage).
I also tried some of the novelty shoots, including a long distance shoot. I actually did pretty well on the long distance shoot. I think it was about 70 yards for the sabertooth tiger, maybe 40-45ish yards for the cougar on the PVC pipe. I used the Four Winds Phoenix for this shoot because the long-distance shoot was situated such that the cougar on the pipe about 10 yards up would be in the way of trajectory of my Crusader... plus I feel better about using a much higher-performance bow for unknown but long distances. I was about 5" from the winning shot on the sabertooth tiger and had one of the best shots on the cougar on the pipe. So yeah, I felt really good!
I also had the opportunity to test-shoot some River's Edge Recurve bows. They do have longbows as well so they actually go under the name RER these days. I tried their one-piece and take-down longbow and decided that I like my bows much better even if they do make a really nice high-performance bow that also draws smoothly. I did like this one take-down longbow they had -- very low poundage for me (45 or 46 lbs @ 28") but it took a pretty stiff shaft and had good mass weight in the riser. Only problem was it had this hideous glossy finish that just about gave me a seizure. I think I'll stay with my Four Winds Phoenix and my Chek-Mate Crusader, thank you. They serve me perfectly well!
I had taken a tree physiology midterm on Friday afternoon and wasn't exactly thrilled about biking home in the unusually bad Friday afternoon traffic. Thank goodness for Rammstein for providing me with some catharsis or Frontier Justice would've been served all around, particularly to the inconsiderate buses who like to block the driveway to my apartment just about every freaking time as well as to the expletives deleted who don't understand that a yell of "Coming through!" means "Get the expletive deleted out of the way!" and that the appropriate response to an angry biker is NOT to expletive deleted plug up the bike path with their expletive deleted stroller with some babies in it when the road has already been blocked by a porto-potty truck and a expletive deleted short bus.
I think I need to work out a lot more again -- my gut's expanding again. If things get bad enough, I might have to start blowing off readings to keep myself from turning back into Blobulous. My doctor already told me that it's a *bad* idea for me to cut my calories any further so I need to cut somewhere to provide myself with more active time. Reading while doing cardio doesn't work for me because for me to stay at a pace that actually does anything, I get more than a bit motion-sick attempting to read. Back to working out now that I've posted and trying to convince myself that a literature review won't kill me even if it isn't helping my DGH (diameter at gut height).
Borderline road rage from the bike ride home and an allergic reaction to something yesterday, the weekend was excellent. I shot an insanely good first round -- 175/200, including 10 total bonus points from taking the master's stake and no misses at all. My second round wasn't so strong, mostly because the "on/off" switch on my brain accidentally flipped and I started to think a bit too hard about my shots, but I ended that round with an ok 130/200. I came out of the championship round with a 145/200, completing the shoot with a 450/200 and taking third place. It was a really, really close squeak for me with that third place but I think I had a couple of really lucky shots that gave me the edge. I did surprisingly well on the championship round considering that I also managed to miss two targets from the master's stake, the same two I nailed perfectly about 24 hours before. I had to admit, the sudden powerful grumbling in my stomach and overwhelming bladder fullness about 7 or 8 (out of 20 targets)! Finally target 11 or so arrived and I was able to take care of business. Thank goodness for tactical range placement! (Feel free to insert appropriate Freudian joke here... although given what was going on in my guts, I don't think even a guy would've really had an advantage).
I also tried some of the novelty shoots, including a long distance shoot. I actually did pretty well on the long distance shoot. I think it was about 70 yards for the sabertooth tiger, maybe 40-45ish yards for the cougar on the PVC pipe. I used the Four Winds Phoenix for this shoot because the long-distance shoot was situated such that the cougar on the pipe about 10 yards up would be in the way of trajectory of my Crusader... plus I feel better about using a much higher-performance bow for unknown but long distances. I was about 5" from the winning shot on the sabertooth tiger and had one of the best shots on the cougar on the pipe. So yeah, I felt really good!
I also had the opportunity to test-shoot some River's Edge Recurve bows. They do have longbows as well so they actually go under the name RER these days. I tried their one-piece and take-down longbow and decided that I like my bows much better even if they do make a really nice high-performance bow that also draws smoothly. I did like this one take-down longbow they had -- very low poundage for me (45 or 46 lbs @ 28") but it took a pretty stiff shaft and had good mass weight in the riser. Only problem was it had this hideous glossy finish that just about gave me a seizure. I think I'll stay with my Four Winds Phoenix and my Chek-Mate Crusader, thank you. They serve me perfectly well!
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Sample Chapter from Swan-Song: The Parakeet Returns
While I'm dealing with a bit of indigestion brought on from eating a bit too fast, thought I'd share a small sample chapter from the project I have tentatively titled Swan-Song. I don't know if this piece will make it into the "final" product(s). To be honest, I'm not certain which of the projects will make it out first -- Swan-Song or Shadowhawk. In any event, I think this piece will give a combination of a sense of the flavor of the upcoming story without giving too much else away. There may be more tid-bits coming up depending on my mood.
In other news, my brain is thoroughly cooked from too much ArcGIS, R, SPSS, interpreting everything that gets spit out, and possibly from listening to too much Rammstein (academic stress indicator... if stress levels reach epic proportions, that's when my tastes shift towards O-Zone and Arsenium). I can't wait for my stomach to quiet down enough for me to pump some good iron.
In other news, my brain is thoroughly cooked from too much ArcGIS, R, SPSS, interpreting everything that gets spit out, and possibly from listening to too much Rammstein (academic stress indicator... if stress levels reach epic proportions, that's when my tastes shift towards O-Zone and Arsenium). I can't wait for my stomach to quiet down enough for me to pump some good iron.
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