Wednesday morning: Two days until Christmas

Wow, talk about being out of the posting loop.

1. Work today, then drive to Cumberland, Maine, to alethea_eastrid's parents, where we will stay until Sunday. I have to work Monday, then I am off until Jan. 4. Unsure what’s going on during the week. Depending on how I feel, I may go to Pennsylvania to see my mom. That all depends. There's also a funeral Tuesday I want to go to. New Year’s Eve will be here in Glens Falls.

2. Speaking of Maine, we’d like to invite all of our Portland-area friends to join us at noon this Saturday at The Bard Coffeehouse at 185 Middle Street. It looks like a cool place. If you think you can come, please let me know.

3. January’s going to mean a pair of SCA events – 12th Night in Vermont Jan. 15, and Birka in New Hampshire the last weekend of the month. I will be teaching “Liam’s favorite SCA Songs” and “How to Write People in For Awards” at 12th Night. I am also going to be running around, doing other stuff. There will be an edition of “The Princess’ Cookie Caper” there, so please plan your baking and buying. Birka will host the “By Our Own Hands” auction, where artisans will make or promise items they have made or will make. There are some pretty cool donations already.

4. I am annoyed at all the machinations about the Health Care legislation. “We’ll exempt your state if you vote for our bill.” Yeah, OK. I want to know what’s gonna happen with the abortion stuff from the House bill. I don’t think that’s in the Senate bill.

5. One of the things I would really like to do play more games. I am thinking Eurogames, especially Ticket To Ride, Settlers of Catan and Carcassone. I would also like to do some D&D, which is something I have never really done much of. I am thinking maybe we could host gaming/crafty nights once we’ve got the boxes quarantined to a single room, the door of which can be closed.

6. I actually wrote most of this at the shire A&S night. I was previewing my class on “Songs of Chivalry” that I am planning to do at an upcoming 15th century EKU. Not all the songs are 15th century, although I am using three of Ken Theriot’s, all about Agincourt. (What a surprise). There’s also “Hotspur” (1403), the Bryce de Byram version. I also included “Song of Roland,” “William Marshall,” “The Peasant Knight” and -- though it’s out of period – Heather Dale’s “Trelawney,” because I love Heather.

7. Speaking of Christmas, I have mentioned before that even though I am not a faithful Catholic (I consider myself a “free-range Christian”) I do love wrapping myself in the comfort of the Mass, especially at holidays. So I am trying to figure out whether to go to midnight Mass or to an 8 a.m. Latin Mass. Both are in Portland. I think it would be interesting to hear the Latin Mass. I know I heard it when I was young, but I bet I haven’t heard one since the 1960s.

Wednesday afternoon: Getting closer to Chriistmas . . .

 

1. Did you go see “Invictus” yet? Go. See. It. Really.

 

2. Believe it or not, I am fast developing a taste for hockey – minor-league, American Hockey League hockey, to be exact. I have covered three Adirondack Phantoms’ games for out-of-town papers. Now I find myself “listening” to the games on the Internet, and checking the AHL site (a well-done web site) daily for the standings. “Miracle” not withstanding, I have not been “a hockey guy” in the past.

 

3. Got to show off evilnicola at work the other day. She had been up here visiting, and she stopped at my office on the way out. I realized just how proud I am of our kids. Great, great kids. I am glad they survived their teen-age years. There were days  . . .

 

4. Ya know, you never think about certain industries or jobs until you work in them, and that’s been the same case for me in terms of working at – well we don’t call it this – the unemployment office. We have a lot of people who are working really hard to get back to work. They don’t want to be collecting (and honestly, it’s not a lot of money).

 

We also have a number of folks who work in tourism or landscaping, who work from April until October and feel they are entitled to collect unemployment from November to March. Their employers sometimes tell them, I pay unemployment taxes so I can put you on unemployment and then you’ll come back next year.

 

The state slightly disagrees, because first off, your deal with the state to get the UI money is a two-way street. They give you money, you apply for (and document) at least three job-contacts a week. You are also expected to take jobs under certain circumstances. The state calls collecting unemployment and not actively searching for a job "a felony."

 

You are also always to be available if a job comes up. Available as in here in the state, not visiting in Florida for three weeks. No, you cannot collect if you are on “vacation,” nor if you are in rehab. You are not available to work.

 

That’s probably the minority of the people, but they are there.

 

5. I never really thought about Catholic Masses in other languages before. Latin is a different deal, but as I pointed out to someone earlier, I could go to a Polish Midnight Mass in Portland. In other parts of Maine, some of the Masses are in French. I know in southeastern Connecticut, there used to be a Polish church, and I am sure back home in Westerly, in the day, there were Italian Masses. There must be Spanish Masses, too.

 

We’re losing this, though, as parishes close. I think that Polish parish in New London is gone, and the closest parish to my house (the next-closest in maybe a half-mile away) is closing. It was the immigrant church – Polish I think.

 

I do not like some of the changes the church is going through.

 

6. This oughta be interesting. I hope they can make it work. (Courtesy Glens Falls Post-Star)

 

GLENS FALLS -- The inspiration comes from across the ocean.

"The Brits love their beef," said Jason Baker, co-owner and executive chef at a new upscale steak house planned for downtown Glens Falls.

But the beef served at The Black Watch steak house will be coming from just down the road at a local farm in Washington County.

Owners of the new restaurant have contracted with operators of a new Black Angus steer farm in Greenwich, which will be the exclusive beef supplier for the restaurant after it opens in February at 21 Ridge St., where Fiddleheads Gourmet Dining restaurant was located.

The arrangement will give the restaurateurs control over the quality of meat they serve, said Baker. Cattle will be raised to specifications set and monitored by the restaurant owners, he said.

"We're going to be their one customer," Baker said.

 

7. You may have heard me talk about the fact that New York has a resume-matching service for folks who are unemployed. You need an e-mail address for that.

 

In addition, a lot of employers want you to e-mail resumes.

 

I often suggest people establish an address like Firstname.Last @ gmail.com to replace their standard e-mail, especially when it’s along the lines of bootychickishot85 @ yahoo.com.

 

Change in plans . . .

Due partly to the weather, partly to alethea_eastrid's rough day at work and partly because she feels lousy, we will be driving to Maine in the morning.

Doesn't change much, except I will be around tonight.

That is all.