Well, it looks like I am not at home. In fact, it looks like I am in Raleigh, NC. The plan changed. But to get to the real reason I am posting, we visited the Higgins Armory yesterday in Worcester. It has an over-whelming amount of chain mail and plate armor, along with many arms. As you can imagine, it was extremely cool. But what was even more interesting were the fighting demonstrations. It began with some knife fighting, then went to Halberds. As was explained to us, a Halberd is basically a Swiss Army knife on a stick. The ways you can use the spear, axe, and hook are quite amazing. But the most eye-opening of all was the sword and buckler demonstration. Before yesterday, I thought that sword and buckler fighting primarily involved whacking the other guy's shield until it fell apart, but it is actually more complex than any other type of sword fighting I have ever seen. The shield is moved as often, and as importantly, as the sword. Most of the stances basically have the right and left hands locked together, allowing blocks that would never be possible with "normal" techniques. The blade of the swords were actually pointed away for large amounts of time. I think I might make a buckler when I get home.