Cordelya

As a semi-regular reader of the Apartment Therapy blog, I started seeing posts last week about their 20 minutes / 20 days home remedy program that they seem to run twice per year – in the spring and the fall. I looked into the program and decided to participate, and I bought the companion book (Kindle version) and began to read it.

The biggest thing I’ve identified as problematic with my house is that I have too much “stuff”. I have way too many items decorating my surfaces and more items packed away into drawers and boxes. I can clean and dust and put stuff away, but the only way my house’s problems can be truly fixed is to put it on a diet. Not only that, but it’s easier to clean when you have to move less stuff around.

I’ve already begun with books. I set a goal to reduce my library by 125 books (roughly 25% of the total number of books I own – 491). I have identified 314 books that I am willing to part ways with, and have offered them up for free to my personal network (The Book List). Recipients must pay shipping or otherwise handle arrangements to obtain them from me. If all 314 books are adopted, I’m okay with that. That will leave me with 177 books!

The next phase will involve other items – decorative pieces, dishes, clothes, craft supplies, etc. It may take me a while to catalogue and list those items. In the mean time, if there’s something I have that you admire, you can always ask if I’m willing to part with it. I am not willing to part with any of the antique furniture pieces in my house (dressers, chests, sewing machines, etc). Many of those pieces are not actually mine, but are on [permanent or semi-permanent] loan to me from other family members. This also only applies to things that belong to me. It is up to Jason to decide if he wants to give away his things.

Arrived: 1000 /  Departed: 1730

Distance walked: 3.4 miles (Documentation: EveryTrail.com)

Lemonade. Chinese dumpling & egg roll combo.

GPS

Larger Version

Data file

Arrived: 09:53
Departed: 14:40
Total distance traveled on foot: 2.2 miles (Link: Documentation)
Number of “dread” pirates seen: 7

Consumed:

Cherry Limeade: 1
Shrimp Shooters: 2
Hard cider: 1
Fried Dill Pickle Spears: 1

Wore:

Black linen medival tunic w/ green greyhound trim
Black cotton hosen
Son of Sandlar Boots – external laced

Watched:

The Cheeky Monkey Sideshow

GPS Log

Map provided by GPSVisualizer.com

GPS Track Log note: color changes reflect time elapsed via ROYGBV. Click the image to see full size.  Image obtained from GPSVisualizer.

Download: Raw GPS Log File
If you do something shiny with it, share it in the comments!

Neither Ox nor I attended MDRF on September 18th or 19th. We instead stayed home and were sick with colds (you’re welcome for us not sharing our germs).

Happy Int’l Talk Like a Pirate Day, btw. Yarr.

So, I mentioned a few posts back that I wanted to collect some data points on how I spend my time at MDRF.  Originally my thought was to record where I go and how long I spend there in an analog fashion (Read: mini cahier and pencil). So far, that hasn’t worked out nearly as well as I’d like, and it’s difficult to capture drive-by type visits. Before the season began, I came up with an idea for passive technological assistance.

I own several pieces of GPS equipment. The one for my car doesn’t record where you’ve been – it only tells you about your destination. The one for Geocaching/Geohashing records track lines, but doesn’t interface with computers without some serious hacking.  My BlackBerry isn’t accurate enough to be useful. So, what’s a girl to do but buy another GPS? This one’s a bit different.

I’ve long been intrigued by the Arduino development platform for embedded electronics. Reading about some of the projects an Arduino board can be used for made it apparent to me that it isn’t all that complicated to use, and doesn’t require a degree in electronics (a very good thing, since I don’t have one!). I never really could justify getting one, though, because, while the projects I read about were neat, I wasn’t really interested in them (except for KegBot, which has an Arduino for its brainz).

Fast-forward to a few weeks ago – my two circles of wanting to use Arduino for a project and having a specific project to do have overlapped into a $120 Venn diagram. I ordered all of the necessary parts. Sadly, the GPS module was backordered for a while, and I didn’t receive my order until this past Monday. I assembled the GPS Shield on Tuesday morning. I spent several days working on testing and getting the main board to play nice with the SD card – mostly due to lack of flexible Internet access, but partly due to the fact that the firmware I originally used was what wasn’t playing nice. Once I discovered the updated firmware (which was hosted on a completely different site), it worked perfectly! I took it on a test trip on Friday, and today (Sept 18) will be its first day out.

This solution will eliminate the necessity for me to record what time I arrive and depart various places. It will allow me to compile all of my location data into cool things like bubble maps showing what places I frequent the most. I’ll be able to accurately geotag my photos. I’ll know what shows I’ve seen. I will still have to record what food & drinks I consume, what [card/dice] games I play, what garb I wear, and what I see (Jack Sparrow impersonators, gnaked rennies, etc).

Arrived: 14:45 / Departed: 19:00

Consumed:

Cherry Limeade: 1
Shrimp Shooters: 5
Chocolate covered frozen banana: 1
Turkey Leg: 1
Wore:

Black striped stretch tunic
Black striped stretch pants
Medieval moccasins (0pen toe)
Watched:

The “Six Wives” Show

Arrived 1045 (Reason: Cordelya was on “K” time)
Departed 1900

Consumed:
Cider (A): 1
Shrimp Shooters: 0
Huntsman baked potato: 1
Cherry limeade: 2
Dragon Lover’s Delight (egg roll, dumplings – out of crab rangoon): 1
Turkey leg: (partial – stolen from Ox)
Chocolate-dipped frozen banana sprinkled with bacon

Watched:
Diego Natividad de l’Estafa (show name??)
Swami Yomahmi
Also: was “Forked” by Ivanovich

Wore:
Fairy bodice from Moresca – blue/silver
Short-sleeve cotton blouse from Moresca – white
Falda skirt from Moresca – green
Handmade bubble cotton skirt – blue
Kung-fu shoes from Natasha’s Cafe – black
Snood from Tall Toad – green
Riding hat from Dragon Wings – black w/ green & black feathers
Ring, bracelet, necklace, circlet from The Brass Dragon – grapevine brass

Arrived: 1000
Departed: 1450 (Reason: Cordelya not feeling well)

Consumed:
Cheese bread: 1
Cider (A): 1
Shrimp shooters: 3
Cherry Limeade: 2

Watched:
The Cheeky Monkey Side Show

Wore:
Felt cavalier hat – black
Ornament: small feathered hat pin from Dragon Wings
Linen tunic w/ greyhound trim from The Likely Lotus – black
Cotton tights (origin unknown) – black
Leather laced boots from Son of Sandlar – black
Glass-bottom tankard from Amazon

Arrived: 1350 (Reason: Jason worked 0600-1200)
Departed: 1900

Consumed:
Shrimp shooters: 6
Cider (A): 1
Hush Puppies: 1

Visited:
White Hart Tavern
O’Shuck’s Tavern

Wore:
Red Doge bodice from Wolfstone – green
Handmade linen shirt – white
Gypsy skirt from Moresca – black & purple
Gauze skirt from Moresca – black
Kung-fu shoes from Natasha’s Cafe – black
Leather cavalier hat – black
Trimmed with long feather barrette from Dragon Wings

Watched:
Gael in the Harbor
Pyrates Royale

Played:
Whist with Kat, Karen, and Joy. Results: Kat & Cordelya – 8; Karen & Joy – 3 (all three other players were playing this game for the first time)

Cordelya and Ox at MDRF

Weekend 1, Sunday
Arrived: 10:00 Departed: 12:00 (Reason: scheduled to work 14:00 to 22:00)

Consumed:

Spiced Cider: 2
From: Statesmetal Goblet
Fried Pickles: 1
Shrimp Shooters: 4
Wore:

Short sleeve blouse from Moresca – white
Sufi skirt from Moresca – blue
Falda skirt from Moresca – green
Bloomers from Target – white
Red Doge corset from Wolfstone – green
Velvet hat from LIDS by Melissa – purple
Ruffled sandals – purple
Visited:

White Hart Tavern
O’Shucks Tavern