Feeling the Pinch of Time - Hi folks. I've been wanting to tell you stories from Gulf Wars (a trip I took to Mississippi, March 19-22) and from Whiskies of the World Expo (in San Francisco, March 27-29), but I've also had the good fortune of being over-tasked at work. You might not think being too busy is a good thing, but in a world where you could lose your job because they have no work for you to do, it's a very good thing to be in over-demand. One of my key clients in-house is even trying to find budget allocation to authorize overtime pay for me. I'm not holding my breath, but I'm thankful to be regularly employed.

I'll sum up that I loved BOTH trips, Gulf Wars and WOWE, not the least of which was because of the company I kept. I had a great time with my SCA friends, both from southern CA and from other regions of the country, although I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with some friends. I did get a chance to participate in the Bardic competition, and although I didn't win, I did a job I'm extremely proud of, so that's a win in my book. I also bought a new musical instrument, a miniature saz (which is a little like an oud), a Middle Eastern stringed instrument. Mine has three sets of doubled strings, and I have no idea how to play it. Well, a glimmer of how I plan to learn, but it was so cute (and affordable!) I just couldn't resist. I also got a second pair of historic shoes, some more natural pigments for making my own paint for illumination, and took one class on Arabic scales and improvization within the maqam system. I still haven't even looked at the photos, but I'll be working on those later.

WOWE was fantastic for entirely similar reasons: The company was wonderful and the activities were excellent. I would have liked to have arrived earlier and left later. If I go again, I'll just budget in a flight to San Francisco, even though I actually love the drive along the coast on the 101. I probably tasted 10-11 different whiskies (or other drinks) on the official boat tasting, which is still a bargain for the entrance fee, but I would have enjoyed more had I not been fighting a horrible cold at the same time. Of course, I was actively denying that I was sick ("See me not being sick?") the entire time, but truth be told, I couldn't breathe well at all. By the end of the trip, I had no voice left at all. I just got my voice back yesterday, although I'm still enduring a bit of congestion and a tightness of breath. *sigh* I really need to get a general practioner, so I can go to the doctor's when I get sick.

Personally, I couldn't have had more fun with these amazing gentlemen. I've known Raz for a while now, but his best friends Adrian and Jason have only become *my* good friends in the past year or so. I'd easily go to the ends of the earth for the three of them now (if you consider Portland, OR or Dublin, CA the ends of the earth). I've only just gotten to know Sean, just met James, and only just getting to know Erik better now too. But the six of them were my fast companions, and I adored every moment I spent with them. 3DC rocks.

More Song Videos - My dear friend Viscountess Elashava, former Kingdom Seneschal (like the club president) and current Kingdom Chronicler (newletter editor) of Northshield (WI, MN, ND, SD, upper MI, Manitoba and NW Ontario) was at Gulf Wars, camping in the cabin next to ours. She wanted to have some time for me to "serenade her" with songs, and asked if she could record them on video. She's extremely organized at loading photos and videos online as quickly as she takes them, and sent me the links. I've updated the pages on the Caidan wiki so that the YouTube video links are available to everyone wishing to learn the songs. Please enjoy!

* Caidan Fight Song
* Caidan Kids' Song
* The Queen's March
* I Love Caid, I Am Caid

(These links go to the Caidan wiki. Links to the YouTube videos are at the bottom of each wiki page.)

Slightly Sad - Finally, without revealing too many details because this is a VERY public forum, I'm a tiny bit sad right now. And for those of you in the know, please DO NOT mention who this website is in any public comments. Make sense? Please. Respect my preference to leave details out of this discussion. Thank you. [If you simply MUST talk details, you MUST write me privately. Anything posted here either identifying them or bashing them in any way WILL be deleted. Thank you.]

I've been a webdesigner and webhost maintaining all those niggling tiny details that go into a website as a volunteer for years and years. Some of my sites I designed from scratch. Some I co-designed. Some I've relinquished and passed on to others. Some I've taken up and done "rescue" work. Some have been non-profits, some have been small businesses. One I'm no longer in charge of, and it happened this week by a simple comment "we already signed a contract" with someone else for a redesign and web-hosting.

What's astonishing is that group in discussion here had no idea that "we signed a contract [with someone else]" is business communication for "we fired you and replaced you." I am completely astonished they didn't think this through, and had NO IDEA what that simple phrase meant. I wish them all the best, and it was one of my favorite pieces in my portfolio. I was proud of my work, and I put *LONG* hours in, fixing errors and typos and inconsistencies, to ensure that their public face was the best it could be. I made them look more professional than the material that was sent to me. It made them look good, it made me look good.

They asked for my input on the proposed redesign and I had grave concerns. The itemized response I got back was basically "we don't share your concerns, in fact we love everything these people are doing, oh and we signed a contract with them." Oh really. You signed a contract. Ah. Then you have fired me, and I will now professionally turn the keys over to you, wish you all the best, avoid burning bridges because that's not in my nature, and in fact I will not utter a harsh word against you in public. Thank you, I had fun, best of luck.

I am slightly sad. It all happened in a giant avalanche of emotions for me. You want to wash your hands of me abruptly, but then don't even realize that's what you've done? Seriously?

I want to feel relieved that the burden of this isn't mine anymore. But I still liked doing the work, and it pains me to see them throw me in the trash without realizing how their actions could be seen as insensitive or rude. And they probably didn't even think they were being insensitive or rude. It's pretty clear they hadn't thought it through much at all, at least in my opinion and my view from here. But then again, I'm at the center of this problem, so I'm going to take it harder than anyone else.

Postscript - Of course, now I just received a follow-up email of "hey, um, can we fix this?" that has made some good points. I'm not sure how I feel. The whole thing just sucks.

* * * * *

Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Employment. Good friends. Weekends. Time for recovering from whirlwinds.