Woody Cavenaugh

In a conversation about the differences between the weapons the other day, I pretty casually stated that what separates foil from epee and saber is belief. When I expounded I discovered I had struck on comic gold (at least among the fencers present) so I thought I would try the concept out in the blog to see if A) it holds water, and B) if it is only a spoken joke.

What separates foil from epee and saber is belief.
I belieeeeeeve I have launched an attack at my opponent.
I belieeeeeeve I just got parried.
I beliedeeeeve that is a repost I see comming my way.
I belieeeeeeve that I had better parry that if I don't want to get hit.
I belieeeeeeve that I got a good parry and landed my repost.
I belieeeeeeve that there are two lights on the box because my opponent continued.
I belieeeeeeve that the referee is going to see it my way.
I belieeeeeeve that the referee gave it to the other guy.
I belieeeeeeve that the referee couldn't see a parry if it smacked them in the butt.
I belieeeeeeve that I had better get one light hits the rest of this bout if I still plan to win this thing.

That said, I want to mention something that happened this weekend to me. One of my fencers wandered over to me at the tournament and said, "I'm surprised you aren't fencing in this thing." I told him I wasn't qualified. He replied, "Don't sell yourself short, I know you spend most of your time coaching, but surely you could still fence." I then had to explain to him that by "qualified", I meant old enough to enter the competition.

Monday night in club we had eleven fencers and I wanted to do two team matches. In order to do that we needed twelve fencers. So I struggled into a lame and waded into the competition. Although fencing is a sport that anyone anyage in any kind of shape can take up, there is an advantage to having longer legs than torso. Not only is your target smaller, the longer legs give you a distance advantage when you lunge. Often with beginning classes my coach and I stand side by side to demonstrait the differences. Although I am six inches taller than my coach, her legs measured at the hipbones are six inches longer than mine. Thus although I am taller, she can lunge farther. I learned something in foil class the other night.

I belieeeeeeeve I had better stick to epee, where lunge reach isn't nearly as important as tip control. I'm just glad I had Nicole and Remy on my team to get points for us. All I managed to do really is run the clock. At least I am still smart enough for foil.

Posted by Woody Cavenaugh at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So here we are in day two, the turnout is the same today as it was yesterday. The plus side is we can be much more relaxed with how we run the event so everyone can have a good time without killing themselves to fence three events in a single day. Moral is good, and I haven't been outdoors since Friday night. I hear it is cold outside. The hallway is cold. The bathroom is freezing. The last time I saw my breath while peeing was when I was living in 30 foot long 12 foot wide trailer in Summerfield. The intertherm kerosene furnace circa 1962 was down and there was a good deal of snow on the ground. I can't rememeber the year exactly, but it was between 1992 and 1999.

Wait, this was about fencing.

Women's Foil Results
-First Regina Epps
-Second Henri Gales
-Third Judy Cooper

Men's Foil Results
-First Warren Epps
-Second Jim Kent

Men's Saber Results
We had some excitement in Saber, Chris Poulos had an UNBROKEN saber blade accidentally pierce a nearly new condition $60.00 PBT saber glove causing pain, bleeding, the need for a tetinus shot, and possibly stitches. This injury caused him to have to withdraw from the event on a medical.
Meanwhile the event continues.
-First Doublas Guild
-Second Jim Kent.

Epee Results
-First Wayne Bowman
-Second Jim Kent
-Third (tie) Douglas Guild
-Third (tie) Ron Wiedbusch

Overall the event, though not a monitary success (we hope we can get bailed out) was a HUGE success giving our fencers valuable tournament experience, and improving the reputation of our club as a place that host exellently run tournaments. Two out of three isn't bad at all!

Lessons Learned: Make the veteran's tournament combined, not separate, and maybe do it in a milder season, so the northern crowd isn't worried about snow.

Posted by Woody Cavenaugh at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Here we are live from the registration desk of the Downtown Duel being held at the Holiday Inn Airport, on Burnt Poplar Road in Greensboro. Foil is off and running! The fact that I am free to blog means that perhaps things could be going better. Well, that's not true. The event is running like clockwork and the foilest are all very happy...all five of them.
Lessons learned:

We are definately not going to break even this year, but like everyone keeps reminding me, a good small event this year equals a better larger event next year. Its all about reputation. If your tournament runs well, you will have a bigger turnout for your other tournaments. One thing we pride ourselves on is running good events. Wether anyone comes or not. :)

Women's Saturday Foil Results:
-First Henri Gales
-Second Judy Cooper
-Third Sandy Ward

Men's Saturday Foil Results:
-First Keith Burkhead
-Second Chris Poulos

Women's Saturday Saber Results
-First Laura Colon-Marrero

Men's Saturday Saber Results
-First Chris Poulos
-Second Jim Kent

Men's Saturday Epee Results
-First Wayne Bowman
-Second Jim Kent
-Third (tie) Warren Epps
-Third (tie) Ron Weidbusch

Stay tuned, I will be posting Sunday's results tomorrow as they happen!

Posted by Woody Cavenaugh at 3:31 PM | Permalink

The Downtown Duel will be held this weekend at the Holiday Inn Airport located at 6426 Burnt Poplar road. Get your Event Schedule Here. As a rule, fencing will start before 10am and will go on until all events are finished, that could be anywhere between 5pm and 10pm depending on the number of fencers involved. If you have time and are interested please come by! If you aren't in the area, but are interested, allow me to introduce you to FRED Every weekend there are tournaments going on everywhere and if you want to know where, all you have to do is Ask Fred.

In America it is always free to watch fencing. In other countries where fencing is more popular the tournaments will take place in something oh like the Greensboro Coliseum and there would be an admission fee. Here in the US, a hotel ballroom is plenty of space for a small to medium tournament, and spectators are treated like honored guest.

The Downtown Duel is one of the three events the Downtown Fencing Club (a program of the Downtown YWCA) host each year. The Downtown Duel is a veteran only event, meaning that fencers can be male or female, but must be over 40 years old. Veteran events are split up by 10 year ranges, Vet 40 is everyone 40-49, Vet 50 is everyone 50-59, Vet 60 is everyone 60-69, etc. Events are also split by gender, so for instance the Vet 40 men don't have to fence against the Vet 40 women and vice versa. All three weapon groups will be fenced this weekend, foil, epee, and saber. Many fencers will compete in two weapons and occasionally a brave soul with plenty of energy will fence in all three.

For those who have never been to a fencing tournament before what you see can be somewhat chaotic. For this event we will have six playing areas (called strips) fencing can be going on all of these at once. With six bouts going on all at once, fencers will tend to stick close to the strip they have been assigned to so they don't miss any bouts. You can be sure that any question you might have will be gladly answered by anyone wearing white, who isn't at that moment locked in electric combat. Also helpful, I will be the guy behind the registration table with the computer and the stressed look on his face.

One of the things the Downtown Fencing Club prides itself on is intereresting trophies. Having an artist on the coaching staff means never having to buy medals or trophies. For this event since it is veterans we thought it would be fun to give out awards for first place as old (or older) than the fencers themselves. It just so happened that we had eighteen fencing masks from the days or yore, no longer legal for modern competition. We couldn't use them and they were taking up valuable space so some enterprising folks and some donated wood came up with trophies that offered "alternate uses" for aging equipment. We made lamps, lamp shades, letter holders, accent lights, night lights, birds nest and bird feeders all from old equipment. For second place, our staff stained glass artist created some beautiful etched glass medalions. Having run out of ideas, we skimped somewhat on third place but since each event has a tie for third place it is easier to be frugal than fence for it and have to come up with something else clever.

I hope to see you there!

Posted by Woody Cavenaugh at 10:29 AM | Permalink

As you have noticed from the decrease in quality and quanity of ramblings around this old blog, my life has gotten interesting. Beyond the usual every day "manual processes" that I handle in the workplace, I also have the really sweet fencing gig, a tournament this weekend I may or may not have been expected to be in charge of, plus implimenting a now $188K software solution. Oh and be on a search committee for a new position at my work.

Long ago my mother beat into me that in every situation and every hardship, nothing is lost as long as I learn something. I am learning a whole heck of a lot of somethings in the position of this search committee. The job was posted to local and regional newspapers, monster.com, and a professional organization that caters to the sort of person that we are looking to hire. You would think that with the a half way decent job description you would get something that was more or less in the ballpark of the job.

For instance one of the things the job description mentions is that the applicant should have some experience in the education sector. One of the nimrods that replied made note of "six points" the job referenced, and for "education" listed that infact he was educated. Best I can tell after reading the job description our happless applier thought that the job had something to do with running the technical side of a telecommunications firm. This is after using the job description in complete sentences to describe why we should hire him. One would think that getting the idea of what the job was for so completely wrong was because it was some sort of monster.com mishap. Nope, the cover letter lists a regional newspaper as the source. At least he's educated, surely that will count somewhere...else.

In many instances very capable people have applied to the job, who if they worked here would be answering to the person we are actually hiring. I wonder if the job market is so bad right now that people are latching to one single word in the description and trying to use it as a life boat. Either way, no, as a matter of fact you aren't going to be paid even half of the sum you are suggesting. Thank you for playing, feel free to get a cup of coffee by the door on your way out. I have this incredible urge to contact these people personally to find out just what the heck they are thinking. (I will resist though. When I get fired it will be over something news worthy. 6 O'Clock news worthy!)

The lesson I am getting from all of this is if the job ask for something I am not, I need not apply. This might be good to know since I am talking about work on a blog under my real name I am sure I will be looking soon. Maybe I should list my blog on my resume from here on so people know before hand exactly what they are getting into. Wouldn't it be refreshing to get hired because of your blog rather than fired for it?

Know that everyone who makes my short list will be googled. Maybe they have a cool blog too.

Posted by Woody Cavenaugh at 2:23 PM | Permalink

At the advice of Plead The First, I went by Political Compass and took a quiz. The results shocked and surprised me. I wonder what event sent me down this extreme path. I always prided myself on being a centrist, and now I find I am a monster. I am going to need a moment, and a whole chicken, and maybe some steamed vegies...

My political compass
Economic Left/Right: -4.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.05

Posted by Woody Cavenaugh at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Just the title is probably more information than she would want to let out, but for my audience I will gladly risk life and limb to bring to you the latest from the Carolina Cardinals Semi-Pro Women's Football bullpen.

Practices are happening, and so far it is looking good. Just the general expected soreness and a renewed committment to excellence by our very own Sara. Well...the Cardinal formarly known as Sara. Practices weather permitting continue to take place Saturday and Sunday. Strength, and conditioning workouts are now Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Hot baths in the garden tub with epsom salts take place shortly thereafter back at the house. Know friends that I will not rest until a teammate during a home game ask Sara, "Is THAT your husband?" and the reply she receives is, "No, I've never seen that man before in my life."

Fencing, like golf and tennis requires an audience to show a great deal of restraint. In football, all bets are off. The only rules seem to be:
1. Fit in your designated seat.
2. Don't hurt anyone or yourself.
3. Don't break any laws.
3. a. that includes keeping your pants on.
3. b. yes, that means you too.

Beyond that, its nothing but blue sky and a wild imagination. Currently I am working on how to create a safe and legal way to make a "BOOM" (or boom like noise). Once I accomplish that, I will find a way to mount it to an old football helmet. Finally, it must be red.

Posted by Woody Cavenaugh at 8:43 AM | Permalink

A friend of a friend has found himself in hard times with children in tow. Like an unfortunate many people who fall on truly hard times he finds himself on the street. The one thing that separates him from the other nameless and forgotten in Greensboro is he has a voice stronger than for just hitting you up for change at the YWCA or Cafe Europa. He has a truck, an minimum wage job, and A View From the Sidewalk.

Read his story, and at the very least think of him and his when the nights are cold and wet. Best case contact him if you need a graphic artist, or know someone who does.

Posted by Woody Cavenaugh at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There, I said it. Not only did I say it, I stated my opinion immediately instead of waiting and hoping it would just go away. This was going to be about "Dead Eye" Cheany and The Most Dangerous Game, but as interesting as that story is, the one going on at the press briefing is more interesting, and less likely to be covered by Letterman and Leno.

I heard a sound bite this morning where the press secretary blasts a reporter for being more interested in the fact that the White House is sitting on all of the news of the shooting, than something like perscription drug legislation. Well duh, we've heard that line of bull for years, we want to hear the new line of bull! We don't want to have to wait 14 hours for our serving of high velocity poop splater also known as press releases.

Someone tell the tool to stop asking stupid questions and start spinning out the news.

Posted by Woody Cavenaugh at 10:48 AM | Permalink

It was another quiet holiday in the Cavenaugh house. Sara was so worked up over not having done anything for me for any of the February holidays, I was tempted to hide the card and present I got for her. I didn't though! I like giving Sara gifts. If she hates not getting me anything she can either get over it, or pony up with the goods.

This year I got Sara a genuine muppet fur blanket. It is warm and snuggley! I do have an aquaintence who will probably cry for a full day over the perceived senseless slaughter of innocent muppets. It wasn't senseless. I wanted a muppet skin blanket, muppets had to die, that's the circle of life.

Jim says that his lovely daughter enjoys pulling my chain in fencing class. Can you believe that?? Personally I am really excited. That means its on! I enjoy teasing those students who I know are OK with it. Knowing that one of them is gunning for me just means that I am free to employ a larger arsonal. Oh the fun! It will be like giving Dick Cheny a shotgun in a petting zoo!

Posted by Woody Cavenaugh at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So much to mention, and too busy both working and recovering from plague to give everything the attention it diserves.

I've been handed a $2k piece of software to play with. That's six months of homework ahead of me. I've heard it can shoot projects around corners.

We got our first snow yesterday, it was nice, both pretty and not abundant to cause the state to grind to a halt.

I tried some Blueberry Muffin coffee. I honestly don't know what I was thinking, I don't really like flavored coffee. I suppose in my fevered state it just sounded like a good idea. Whoops, I was wrong, that was a terrible idea. It tasted like a guy wearing a rubber suit filled with something foul fell into the coffee roaster, and the QA guy not wanting to waste the coffee, ordered it be sent to the flavorers. "Try to cover the taste of roasted man in rubber suit filled with something foul." The flavorers choose Blueberry Muffin as the perfect thing to hide the original accident. The effect was like trying to hide the Eifel tower by painting it pink.

I heard on the news the other night that one county over two older gentlemen were arrested for moonshining. They were pulled for a seat belt infraction and 100 gallons of home brewed hooch was discovered in their car. The news people said that the booze could get $80.00 per gallon on the black market. My question is, why should anyone have to pay for anything they could just make themselves at home on the stove. Having just looked over at an empty fast food bag near me I have found my own answer. Convenience. So that begs the question, why would someone pay $80.00 for something that they could buy at a higher quality at a lower price at the alphabet store? Then I thought about Disney. Ok, its convenience plus novalty. I guess I have to drop this mid rant. I am the idiot who paid good money for blueberry muffin flavored coffee. What was I thinking....

My boss wants me to find some one to two day training to use to make me a better employee, she has suggested "Strengthening your people skills" or "Coaching, Mentoring & Team-Building Skills", personally with my job I think a conceiled carry class would be a little more useful, or if not that at least some beginner hostage negitioation class. Might as well not beat around the bush.

A document came across my desk yesterday that is to be appeneded to my PMP. I don't have the sign it or nothing, they reserve the right to ammend what I agreed to at any time. It works sort of like congress. Of the six ammendments two really stood out to me. One says, "All workday conversations should be in English". I assume the geek speak we use in the course of our day may wig out the faculty who walk past our conference rooms. WTF? Do you not grok l337? The real problem is how can IT work if we lose the ability to speak in acronyms....It will now take hours to talk about things we used to be able to communicate in minutes. For example, "Use VPN over TCP/IP". This is a sample geek sentence. Now we have to say "Use virtual private networks over Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol." Heck, I just had to go look up what TCP/IP stood for! Would it not be easier to just give all faculty a copy of "Geek Speak for Dummies". In the end it will be a whole lot easier for a non-geek to look up what RFID means in the dictionary than to spend hours waiting for their email to come back up while we have to communicate in standard english that CSAM is misbehaving, and why.

The other one of interest is that we may still disagree with our superiors but we are on longer able to communicate the fact to others. So in light of this, let me state that I think is a fine idea to only use english while at work and let me be the first to say that I am sure none of the grounds keepers will sue. It was also really smart thinking to only publish this adendium in English.

Another one that isn't quite so bad says that we can only do work related things during work hours. I just wish it would have added that we should avoid doing work related things when not at work durring off work hours. It would be fun to have time at home after hours to read, watch television, play games or learn a musical instrument, rather than write and review policy, sort resumes, research solutions,and study for certifications required for our continued employment.

Comming next week: A English language based postive attitude cultivated at home.

Posted by Woody Cavenaugh at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I've been napping between bouts of coughing, wishing I was dead, and practicing the guitar. I have so much to say. I wanted to talk about watching the superbowl with a professional football player. I did mention I'm married to a professional football player right? Sadly, the game wasn't available on our television due to lack of signal floating in the ether. We did see a Beauty and the Geek marathon, so the night wasn't a complete bust.

I'd love to talk about "The Comic That Burned Denmark". I have webcomics lined up in my head on the subject, but sadly web comics take time, and since I have been out of work for four days, that means I am a week and a half behind in work. I guess I should get to that now....

Oh yeah! Chip, Shannon, thank you very much! You have brought joy to punctuate bouts of coughing.

Posted by Woody Cavenaugh at 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sara told me that if I acknowledged the fact that I was born she would give me a fiddle. Well, I did acknowledge it and all she gave me was her cold. How is that even fair? That's what I want to know. I have had to miss work and everything. While at home I thought maybe I would try to learn the guitar. The first string broke.

I think this is not only one sign, but two.

Now, if you will all excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom and cough up a lung.

Posted by Woody Cavenaugh at 9:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)