Wolf n' Moose Spoor

::: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 :::

And the dungeon master poured forth his bowl saying, It is done.

::: posted by Wolf at 7:05 PM 263 comments

::: Monday, May 26, 2003 :::

Sorry to rant and dump my complaints on you, but why is it that nearly every singer that is asked to sing the National Anthem has to "make it their own"? I'm not talking about simply singing it in a key that fits their voice (more of them should probably do this) but they have to add notes (running melismas that have no point), hold on notes (probably for effect -that again have little point), and otherwise butchering the melody. As a singer, I will be the first to admit that our National Anthem is not the easiest to sing, nor is it the most beautiful melody I have ever heard, but what ever happened to singing it traditionally? Perry and I were watching the National Memorial Day Concert from Washington D.C. and I forget who was singing, but she was adding notes, holding on to notes that didn't need to be, etc. At one point the cameras panned the audience, and I noticed one person (at least) that was trying to sing our National Anthem with her, but was lost as to what she was doing; he looked confused because she was holding on to a note that shouldn't have been held, and he didn't know whether to go on singing or not. Isn't the point of this song that our citizens should be able to sing it as we are LED by the soloist or group - not standing dumbfounded as the soloist does things to it that make it impossible for others to sing?

Right after that atrocity, a male singer came out (again I forget who) and sang the British National Anthem, "God Save The Queen." Not only did he do it traditionally, but very well, I might add. Perry and I were both impressed that there were people in the audience singing along and not looking confused like before.

As a music teacher, I know that we still teach our National Anthem to students each year (at least I do) with the intention that they are able to sing it at concerts and other events, and I would think that in other countries, the same thing is done (so Pope and any Canadiens, Germans, etc. can help me out here - for example, in Canadien schools, you probably had to learn "God Save The Queen" and "O Canada" at one time or another).

So why at the concert was the British National Anthem done properly, so people did sing along; while the American National Anthem was pulverized (although I will say we could at least recognize the melody) to the point where the audience could not sing along? Maybe I just learned too much in college, because we were taught that there are certain musical styles and periods where the music is expected to be altered, improvised, etc. (and our National Anthem was not one of the songs listed, at least as I remember). Sorry again to rant, maybe I'm too picky for my own good.

::: posted by Moose Cadet at 11:52 AM 301 comments

Lest we Forget.

::: posted by Wolf at 8:46 AM 845 comments

::: Friday, May 23, 2003 :::

Hide the children - they're making a Sequel to the Dungeons & Dragons Movie!

::: posted by Wolf at 9:09 AM 4878 comments

::: Thursday, May 22, 2003 :::

Dwarvish

To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

::: posted by Moose Cadet at 9:46 PM 462 comments

Hobbit

To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

::: Monday, May 19, 2003 :::

woohoo, Carpet installed. There was a bit of a flap because I thought there was going to be padding installed, but they don't do this because the padding gives mold a place to live and one of the selling points of this system is no mold/mildew. (or Pallidews)

It was an error on the contract by a new salesman who will be taken out back and shot.

Pictures will follow in the gallery soon. Maybe late tonight but more likely tomorrow.

Next steps: get the Uber gaming table constructed/fixed up. The surface either needs reglued or nailed to the frame, then we need to add the vellum roll with the 1" grid , and finally affix the two plexiglass sheets that I have yet to buy so that we can draw on the grid more than once :).

::: posted by Wolf at 1:36 PM 669 comments

::: Thursday, May 15, 2003 :::

Ok as it happened the electricians came by today to put in the lights/outlets in the gaming room. So I've added more pictures showing the lack of rafters. All that remains is the carpet which should be in tomorrow so they'll probably install it next week.

In other news the sore throat i've had for about a week has taken up residence as an acute sinus infection and ear infections. I was about due I suppose, it's been over a year since I had either, so now I get them both out of the way at one time.

::: posted by Wolf at 5:08 PM 681 comments

::: Friday, May 09, 2003 :::

Well they were close, they're about 3 hours away from finishing the walls. They've decided that they need to have the shelf units mounted before they finish the trim so they'll be mounting the shelves, which grieves my heart full sore.

Anyway things are looking pretty good, I'd show you pictures but my site migrated to a new box the other night and in the process, some permissions got horked and i'm having trouble adding pictures or deleting some files. Waiting to hear from tech support that they've fixed the problem.

So the workers will come out tomorrow and finish up the walls, monday the electrician will be back out and the ceiling will be done, and after that the carpet will be installed. Now I need to get some gamer art to hang on the couple spots on the walls that aren't covered with shelves.

::: posted by Wolf at 7:41 PM 496 comments

::: Thursday, May 08, 2003 :::

Stayed home from work today, and worked from home, because i've been getting sick I think, sore throat the last 2 days. I'm planning to be fine by this weekend. May skip band tonight. On the UGD front one of the workers who showed up today used to work maintenance where I work but got downsized in the recent changing of the building owner. Things are progressing quickly and they expect to be done with everything except the ceiling tomorrow. After they're done for the day i'll take a couple pictures. I guess my electrical box needs expanded, with what i'm using and what they're using we've tripped a breaker once so far today. And currently I have no running water because they nicked a pipe and need to repair it. . .

::: posted by Wolf at 1:30 PM 799 comments

::: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 :::

Just got done meeting with the crew who is going to be putting in the UGD* Today they're laying out and maybe starting a little construction, tomorrow the bulk of it will be underway.

There was some confusion about how or if they could even install the system. It seems that when I met with the owner, Fred, decisions we made were not incorporated into the initial design plan that the crew had. There was some concern about installing the system overtop of the water proofing we have had done as they can't just drill through. I believe that everthing has been straightened out now though. We shall see. 2x4s will be mounted in the steel framing of the walls so that we can attach the shelving we want to, and one of the guys will even help me hang the first one so that I know where and how the wood runs.

For the next couple days i'll be parking on the driveway since most of the material is in my half of the garage. I'll be including photos of the various stages until completion which will appear in the miscellany gallery.

::: Monday, May 05, 2003 :::

Ack! Construction on the Uber-gaming den Commences in 48 hours!

Gotta paint bare concrete and move all the shit^h^h^h^h Stuff outta there!

::: posted by Wolf at 1:45 PM 0 comments

::: Sunday, May 04, 2003 :::

WOOHOO it's mead! Added another pound of honey to the Blackberry mel tonight, (that's 2 pounds total since secondary fermentation) after a little agitation to make sure it wasn't stratified I got a 1.020 hydrometer reading which is in the sweet range which is what I wanted. It tastes more of blackberry now, and it slightly sweet with a little tingle. it's bottling time!

::: posted by Wolf at 10:43 PM 5 comments

::: Saturday, May 03, 2003 :::

Guilty pleasure #1 - Most extreme elimination on TNN

::: posted by Wolf at 10:46 PM 0 comments

::: Thursday, May 01, 2003 :::

A new journal of a friend of mine, Josie Marie Thane

::: posted by Wolf at 9:13 AM 0 comments

Looks like i'm one of the good uns

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Test

::: posted by Wolf at 8:56 AM 1 comment