30 December 2009

Bonus fencing session(s) - 30 Dec 09

There's been pretty steady interest in fencing on the 31st and/or the 1st so let's do it to it! No one's specified preferred time frames so I'm going to open the salle at 1:00 tomorrow afternoon. How long will it stay open? Dunno! We'll see what happens! I know tomorrow's a work day for some of you but I also figured people would rather do New Years Eve stuff during our usual fencing hours. Of course if I hear from a million of you saying you'd rather fence in the New Year......

Friday, the first of January, I'm thinking another afternoon session. Again, I'm thinking I'll open the salle at 1:00.

See you one or both days!

22 December 2009

IWFC shirts are in - 22 Dec 09

IWFC shirts arrived this afternoon! If you'd like to pick yours up tomorrow (the 23rd), let me know and we'll make arrangements. Ditto if you want one of the extras.

T-shirts and extra fencing - 22 Dec 09

PFC t-shirts arrived last night and they look great! If you want to pick yours up before the holidays, call my cell at 334.3603 and we'll make arrangements. I ordered a few extra so if you're wishing you had ordered one, you still have a chance! Call or email me to reserve your shirt before someone else beats you to it! (Hopefully the IWFC shirts will show up tonight.)

Need one more 'little something' to put under the tree? I have socks, embroidered twill ballcaps, and patches for both clubs. I also have equipment bags, fencing shoes (size 10), and front-zip fencing jackets. Let me know what you want and if I've got it, it's yours!

Extra fencing! Why not? It's our space, we can fence whenever we want! So instead of our usual forced two-week hiatus right before one of the biggest events of the season, let's get in some extra play time over the holidays. Let me know if you want to fence New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, or both, and based on responses, I'll let you know when you can come out to the salle for more fencing! (I'm thinking 'afternoon' in both cases.) No extra fee for members, regular floor fees apply for others.

20 December 2009

Game on! - 20 Dec 09

If you've looked out the window any time since, oh, sunrise today, you've probably surmised that fencing would not be cancelled tonight. This is your official notice that you're right!

Remember, tonight's fencing session in Poquoson is three hours long tonight, from 5:00 to 8:00. Monday's IWFC session is from 7:00 to 9:00 with the beginner session from 6:00 to 7:00 beforehand. Hope to see you at one, the other, or both!

19 December 2009

'Nightmare' tournament update - 19 Dec 09

Although no one had mentioned going to any of the Nightmare Before Christmas's Sunday events, if you had changed your mind and were planning on going to Charlottesville tomorrow, you can unchange your mind. They've had about two feet of snow and it's still coming down so Sunday's competition has been cancelled.

Our own Sunday fencing in Poquoson is still on at the moment but we'll see how the roads are doing tomorrow afternoon before I start making any promises one way or the other...

Weather versus fencing - 19 Dec 09

As you've probably noticed, the weather's doing all sort of fun things all over the state this weekend. I'm keeping an eye on the weather and on general road conditions and if things start looking cruddy enough, I'll cancel fencing at one or both locations. If I do so, the announcement will go out both here and via email. If I don't cancel fencing, please use your excellent common sense on deciding whether or not to come out. Believe it or not, your safety is more important than fencing!

Order status update - 19 Dec 09

This week's equipment order was expected to arrive Thursday but evidently the holidays et al pushed the delivery back to Friday. The good news is I now know approximately when the UPS driver goes by the salle. The bad news is that was evidently about ten minutes before I arrived there at 10:30 a.m. on Friday. The ticket says Monday's redelivery schedule will be either in the 'before 10:30' or the '10:30 to 2:00' time buckets. So I'll spend Monday morning at the salle (arriving plenty early!) so we can have our stuff.

Of course, the downside is that I won't have new stuff in hand Sunday night. But I will do my best to make sure everyone gets their stuff as quickly as possible! If you're already planning on picking it up at the salle Monday night, go for it. If you were planning on picking it up Sunday evening, shoot me an email or call the salle (238-3111) and we'll make arrangements to hand stuff off.

On the plus side, t-shirts might actually be here Monday, much earlier than expected! I'll post an update as soon as I have the boxes in hand.

16 December 2009

Holiday schedules - 16 Dec 09

IWFC: Our last session of the year is Monday, December 21, and we'll start back up again on Monday, January 4.

PFC: Our last session this year is Sunday, December 20. It's open fencing, i.e. everyone come out and play, for all three hours, from 5:00 to 8:00. (NOT 6:00 to 9:00 like I inadvertently told some of you on Sunday!) And I'll bring electrics with me so we can use the scoring equipment, too. We'll go back to open fencing from 6:00 to 8:00 on Sunday, January 10.

Both clubs: New class and fencing schedules will be released after the holidays. Stay tuned!

15 December 2009

Tournament reminders - 15 Dec 09

The Nightmare Before Christmas open/youth tournament is this weekend, December 19-20, in Charlottesville.

The 2010 Hangover Open is January 2-3 in Richmond. (Additional details here.) Mixed foil and women's epee are on Saturday. Mixed epee, mixed saber, women's foil, and women's saber are on Sunday. Preregistering by December 31 gets you in for $30, paying at the door costs $50 so don't miss that deadline. (As always, non-competitors get in for free!) Note: It's being held at a different location this year so be sure you get updated directions.

The Hangover is traditionally a large, strong event so even if you aren't thinking about entering a tournament yet, do go watch this one for a while! It's more than worth it!

The River City Rumble is January 23-24 in Richmond. An open foil event will be held along with D and under events in all three weapons. Registration isn't open yet but go ahead and mark your calendars so you keep that weekend clear!

Testing an overdue idea - 15 Dec 2009

When I started the first version of the IWFC website several years ago, I left it up to the readers to keep tabs on it at their convenience.  But soon schools and workplaces started to tighten down web access so I started sending email whenever the site was updated.  While originally intended to be mainly a table of contents for the new info on the website, the email soon became a recap and sometimes even a duplicate of the new information on the site -- sites once PFC came into being.  Not exactly the most efficient method, I must admit!

So I'm going to give this a go, updating the sites via this embedded blog.  This will also take the 'set up a new feed for the websites' off of my project list -- bonus!  I'll keep doing the emails for at least a little while longer but will try to ramp them back to 'quick note' status, more to alert you to new information than repeat it.  Needless to say, you are more than welcome to subscribe to the new feed!  And who knows, the email may be scaled back to emergency/last minute info only status over time if this goes well.

En garde ... ready ...