April 19th, 2008
New Role-playing Game
I am starting a new role-playing game. It takes place on a world where human came to the planet roughly 1,200 years ago, but somehow lost technology and
had to rebuild from scratch. Most of the humans are just that, human, but a small minority are very powerful Mages.
Two countries, the two superpowers, are about to go to war over land that has been fought over for centuries, but now there may be artifacts from
the original colonists on that land so they are much more serious about owning that bit of mountain. The game takes place in the city-state of Aberdeen,
a place mostly ignored until now; except Aberdeen controls a canal both side want access to, badly.
September 6th, 2006
Sleep Apnea and SCA Camping
I have a Bi-PAP machine and I like to camp in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). The problem is that there are rarely outlets at these events (or at least to where I want to camp), so I bought a system to power my machine. This is how it went and what I have learned or at least been told.
My setup is an 80 Amp-Hour deep-cycle sealed AGM battery. It is big and heavy, but it will run my machine for three nights dropping to about 50% charge, or 12.2 volts. It might run for more nights, but I was told to not let it go under 12.0 volts or that might damage the battery. I am not sure of this fact, but since three days gets me through most SCA events except Pennsic, and at Pennsic three days means I only need to recharge once (I usually go for one week), I am using this as a working theory.
I went with a type that is sealed since it does not require water and does not spill acid if tipped.
I was told that a smaller battery that would only run a night would not be able to handle the amperage required, which is why I chose to use one big battery rather than two small ones.
I have a cart for it. This is important.
I am estimating that my machine draws 20 watts. It is rated for higher, but only needs to draw that much for my pressure. Knowing how many watts your machine draws at your setting is helpful. Power, or wattage, is voltage times amperage. So, at 20 watts and 12 volts, I need 1.667 amps. With an 80 amp-hour battery this means I can run it (in theory) for 80/1.667 = 48 hours. 48 / 8 means 6 nights. What I suggest, if you know your wattage, is to do the math as I just did then half the time to take into account not wanting to completely discharge the battery as well as possible naps and other uses you will put the battery to.
Next is an DC to AC converter called an inverter. It does not produce a perfect sine-wave, but it is close enough for the Bi-PAP machine. I found that the Bi-PAP really wants almost 13 volts DC, so running it directly off a battery doesn’t work for more than a few hours. Instead, I use the inverter to go from battery to 120 volts AC and then plug the Bi-PAP in exactly as I do at home. I highly recommend using this system since the inverter can handle the slowly lowering voltage as the battery’s charge drops. The inverter will also shut down if the battery gets too low, which will prevent the battery from getting damaged. Usually they cut out at 10.5 volts which may still result in some damage. Finally, you have a standard outlet in case there is some reason someone needs to run something at camp.
I then just plug my Bi-PAP into the inverter and it works.
I do not take the humidifier camping since that is less of an issue in the summer and is a huge power draw.
As for a charger, I bought the one that the battery store recommended. You want one that will recharge the battery in eight or so hours, since that is how long you usually get at Pennsic.
I also recommend buying a cheap voltmeter to measure your battery. Anything will do. Try to find out what voltages map to what levels of charge, and what voltages you want to not let your battery go below.
Going forward, I have considered a solar recharging setup. Since there is only one event I would need to recharge at and they make it very easy to recharge, it didn’t seem worth the money.
August 20th, 2006
Back from Pennsic
I am back from Pennsic. It was great.
So, we left Saturday pretty early in the day which made the trip out there very nice and easy. We were on the road by 10:30 and got to a motel close to the site before 10:00 in the evening. Slept and was then in good shape to set up Sunday. That rocked.
Sunday we set up.
We camped in a corner of
Panther Vale’s area. They rock also. Thanks for helping make Pennsic fun.
So, from here on out the actual days get fuzzy. I had a very bad case of Pennsic Attention Deficit Disorder. But, I napped a lot, except that in terms of total hours of sleep I think I averaged about 7 hours out of every 24. Four or five at night and two or three during the day.
The weather was the best I have ever seen a Pennsic with only one mildly hot day.
I caught up with a bunch of people I hadn’t seen in years, which was nice. Swapped e-mail and such. Got hooked on a period Arabic toothbrush/tree-root thing which I am going to start using not just for camping.
Swam, napped, socialized, ate, napped some more.
Ran into a few random people who turned out the be the sister-in-law of someone I know or something like that. Small world for an event with over 11,000 people.
Discovered that I give good backrubs. Had at least one person tell me she had almost fallen asleep and another say, “I have never had a professional massage before.”
That was nice.
Got in a glow-stick fight one night that ended with glow-stick juice splattered over people. That was really cool, actually. Don’t get it in your eyes.
Took a class from a guy in how to kiss hands. Best class ever.
Didn’t burn or blister, though I have a Penssic medallion shaped tan line.
Ran into lots of people with C-PAPs or Bi-PAPs and batteries. Compared notes. I am going to look up some of their sites this week. I want to make a household of people with C-PAP or Bi-PAPs and call it Clan Darth Vader. I doubt that will pass.
Tent and all that worked great. That was a relief.
The drive home was uneventful, which was good.
Let me describe how I stumbled upon this. I was channel-surfing and hit one of their animations on NHPR. It was cool and I liked the music so I kept watching. The next animation came on. My jaw hit the floor and stayed there. It was amazing. No, we need a better word for amazing than amazing. (When you get the DVD, this was “Pipe Dreams.”)
You see the music. Really. Every note does something different on the screen, so you can see every instrument and every note. In some animations there are details I still haven’t caught.
My favorite animation is “Future Retro.” The music is awesome, but what makes this above and beyond is the robotic drummer gadget (wow) and the “main theme laser” (major wow). If you look closely there are indicator lights, inside the well the laser emerges from, that go on and off in synch with the laser.
Run out and get this, unless you are my niece, in which case wait until Christmas.
Pause.
“Um, that’s all I’ve got. It didn’t find anything.”
Not much else new. No I.V. in my arm any more. Yay!
Today seems to be another National Drive Like You Are a Kitten and There Might Be a Small Bird Under Your Brake Pedal Day. It must be the warm weather.
So, I hope people like the new colors. They are cheerful and that is good. The new logo looks very happy, like breathing fire is the best job ever a chicken can have. Maybe it is. Most fire-breathing things are grumpy, from dragons to Godzilla.
Now, I have someplace to write down all the wacky dreams I have that I can’t bore my coworkers with, which is news since I now have coworkers. I am doing automated web testing at EBSCO. You have either heard of EBSCO or don’t care.
Oh, yeah, I also got a Mac Mini which is really nice.
