The Event, and New Foots!

My local SCA group sponsored their annual winter event over the weekend, and a fine time was had by all. This one of two events the group sponsors every year. This a "collegium" event, with classes on various subjects, and is indoors because, well, it is winter. The event went well this year, was well attended, and featured a wonderful feast. We were graced with the presence of the Queen and Crown Princess of the kingdom. They held a court, and presented awards to several folks, including two of our own members - our own Corrin was presented with an Award of Arms, and is now Lady Corrin. In addition, my brother Conrad (known in the Society as Sean Oneill, was presented a Grant of Arms; he is now The Honorable Lord Sean Oneill, and will be addressed as "Your Lordship". All of this and $4 will get him coffee at Starbucks, but within our Society, is a well-deserved recognition of his hard work and dedication. Sandy and I arrived at about 8:30 Saturday morning, and by the time it all wound down at 8:30 that evening, I was toast; I barely had the energy to drive home, but a good time was had.
On another subject, Wednesday I went to the prosthetist to be evaluated for new sockets for the fake foots; my stumps have changed a good bit since I got these, and they are becoming difficult to use. The technology has changed a great deal in a few years. The practice in the years I have used these things has been to make a plaster cast of the stumps, and a blank made from those, then the sockets cast around those blanks, in a heavy, semi-polyethelene plastic. These days, to my surprise, an elastic sock was pulled over each stump, markings were made at the bottom of my kneecaps, and the stumps were laser-scanned! These scans will be fed into a computer, which will operate a miller to CNC a reproduction of the stumps,and a pair of plastic test sockets will be made, which I will wear for a week to make sure they are just right (this was not done before) and on my approval, new sockets will be made in carbon fiber, which will be lighter and stronger than the heavy white plastic ones that I now have. I am impressed. Since they will be thinner, and better-fitting at the top of the socket, they should be quite the advantage.