When I bought my car  seven years ago it was brand new, and had less then 10 miles on the odometer.

Today it rolled over to the 100K mile mark.

Before

After

(Yes, I pulled over to take both pictures.)

100+K and the car still runs great and looks pretty good.  Next goal… 200K.

… and so forth.

No, not me.

One of my co-workers, a fellow webdev-type person with interests in standards and mobile applications, had his last day today, and is leaving the green pastures of Elsevier UCD and Dayton for the even greener pastures of a cool new job in Indianapolis.  (I know a lot of people who have gone there for job-related reasons lately…)

I “took charge” (in a very slacktastic sort of way) of arranging his going-away gift.  I collected donations, got his gift (an Amazon gift certificate, which I printed out this morning), and passed around a card (which I ran out to CVS to purchase about mid-morning) for signatures and messages.

I admit that I was not terribly motivated to do a lot in advance as far as getting ready for his departure.  It is a good opportunity for him, but I am not happy that he is leaving our group.    Se la vie, I suppose.

Our group took him out to lunch and presented the card and certificate, final items of business were wrapped up, and then, after he took his final leave, we looted his cubicle.  Hey… you never know what you might need more pushpins, post-it notes, and other assorted office supplies.

Anyway, in these days of online connectedness, I guess that he is not really “gone”.  He is still around, just virtually, rather then tangibly.

… awesome.

Pennsic is usually pretty great, and John and I always have a ton of fun, but this year was the best that I can remember in all of our time attending.  Largely this was because of our increased involvement in the fencing community and the fact that we knew a lot of (very worthy) people who were (very deservingly) elevated to various positions and received various awards.

In fact, so many people in the Midrealm received awards this year that the King and Queen spent the week holding small (and often spontaneous) courts to present awards as there was no way that everything could have been handled during the main court.

Some of the more memorable occasions.

Uadahlrich and NekoMe were both elevated to the Order of the Pelican.  Uadahlrich’s lady (whose name I am unsure how to spell, so I will not mangle it here) received the Purple Fret during his vigil.

Max von Zauberer and Anton both received the award of the Dragon’s Tooth.  Anton received his award on the battlefield after the Broken Field Melee.

John (along with a lot of our friends) fought on the Rapier Champions team.  We (by with I mean the Midrealm and allies) won that tournament by a single bout.

John was elevated to the Order of the Bronze Ring.

John receiving the large ring (worn by the newest member of the order)

John with all of the regalia

We camped this year with Famdamly (a household) instead of with the Barony.  The site was very nice, and was right opposite the battlefield.  It was especially nice to not have to haul fencing gear up and down the hill every day!

The weather was among the best that we have ever had for Pennsic.  Hot and humid, yes, but it rained only once (and at night) during the week that we were there.

All of my photos are posted on flickr.

John and I are already looking forward to next Pennsic.

My free hammock arrived yesterday.

My office is migrating from one (not so great) Oracle-based back-office system to another (not so great) Oracle-based back-office system and a little while ago I got an email warning me that my “reward points” would not be rolled over into the new system, and that, in essence, I needed to use them or lose them.  I had no idea that I had any “reward points” floating out there in intranet limbo, and for the life of me couldn’t remember what I might have done to get them in the first place.  So when I logged in to the Reward Site to see what was what, it it turned out that I had somehow amassed quite a lot of points indeed.

Ever since John and I got back from Maui last year I have been talking about wanting to get a hammock, but hadn’t yet taken the plunge as far as actually getting it rather then just talking about it.

So I redeemed my “reward points” to obtain a hammock and a hammock stand.  And a couple of DVDs.

And I am looking forward to layout on in the sun on it, book in hand.