The Archives

Photos, Roanisms
Club Cobra is no longer Best Club
10.19.10 | Permalink | Comment?
We’ve been overtaken by Spo(o)rt(s) Club!! Official word came in this morning shortly after Holly found this in Roan’s backpack. I can’t say much other than I’m sorry I let all the Cobra Comrades down. I really don’t see how I could have kept up with the competition when they’re offering gams like:
- tacl tag
- man Hunt
- Socor
- BasketBall
- Paint Ball
- talking
- teaching
- foot Hoky
- British Bull dogs
- Voly Ball
Perhaps I need to design a new sine up sheet, and work on getting some more gams before next years Club-off.
Gageisms, Photos
Detention
10.19.10 | Permalink | Comment?

This morning Holly found a page of lines in Gage’s backpack. Apparently someone was blurting out answers without raising his hand.

Being an intelagent young man I under stand the impotance of not speaking out as it does not reflect my maturaty level.

I remember having to write so many lines when I was a kid. Once I had to write a thousand lines for throwing snowballs while I was serving a two day in-school suspension. I also remember slipping swear words into lines every once in a while just because I knew the teacher would never read them. I carried this tradition on through highschool essays and reports. I got busted one time and the teacher just circled it in red. This was the same teacher who told me to be patient because in my lifetime marijuana would be decriminalized.

Mr Strath could tell I was an intelagent young man.
Love, Photos
Holly
10.18.10 | Permalink | Comment?

I am so fortunate to have such a beautiful lady who puts up with all my crap. I can’t begin to explain how much she means to me, so let’s just all bask in her beauty.
Movies, Video
I think we’re alone now, Batman killed everyone.
10.18.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Holly decided to sign up for Netflix this weekend. She was looking through their listings to see what looked like it was worth watching and she found a few decent documentaries. Yesterday we watched I Think We’re alone now (trailer above), and Confessions of a Superhero (trailer below). Both were funny at times but also quite sad.

I Think We’re Alone Now, is about two different people who stalk Tiffany (80′s pop icon) and how nutty they are. The one has a Radionics lab in his basement where he uses a bicycle helmet with tubes attached to it as an amplifier for his telepathic connection to Tiffany. The other (a hermaphrodite) had an accident when he/she was younger and was in a coma. During her coma she had a vision of Tiffany (who she had never seen before) then when she awoke she saw a photo of Tiffany and decided they were meant to be together, and that Tiffany would remember her from her coma hallucinations.

Confessions of a Superhero was done by the Super Size Me douche. It was put together really nice and focuses on four people who live and work in Hollywood as superhero look-a-likes. They all had great quotes, but my favourite part about this film is listening to the guy who dresses as Batman talking about how he’s “…left a body count trying to get out of his old gang related activities with guys who have really long, really Italian last names…”.

I recommend watching both. Holly says Netflix is free this month, so if you can’t find it anywhere else, go there. So far I don’t see much else worth watching on there, so I’m refraining from actually linking to the site and endorsing them further.

Also, if you’re ever in Hollywood and you get your photo taken with Batman, TIP HIM. Otherwise he might add you to the body count…
Music, Sketchup, Video
Cobra carols
10.17.10 | Permalink | Comment?
Some albums I’ve been listening to a lot lately.
And I’m about to get this album because I’m loving this song.
Animals, Photos
Jailhouse kitties
10.16.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Both these kitties came from the Niagara Falls Humane Society. Both are fucking adorable.

If you aren’t currently at your home’s cat capacity you should probably go adopt one of your own. There is always a ton of cute cats that need good homes and people to love them.
Food, Life, Photos
Thanksgiving
10.16.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Last weekend was Thanksgiving. On Sunday night Holly and I went to her parent’s house for dinner and pie. The boys were at their dad’s house, and a quarter of Holly’s family was away at the Supernatural convention in Chicago, so it was a pretty small gathering. Dinner was good. I had veggie burgers on the barbecue.

On Monday we picked up the boys on the way to my aunt’s house, and somehow a photo shoot broke out in the car. Holly was the cause I believe, as she couldn’t resist snapping a photo of me on her pink cell phone. From there it snowballed into family portraits in the Buick.

Just before we got to my aunt’s house Holly told Roan she didn’t want to hear “I’m bored” come out of his mouth while we were there, as we’d only be there a short time before we had to leave and attend her aunt’s celebrations (both Thanksgiving and her 25th anniversary). Not ten minutes after we arrived did Roan announce to the entire room that he was in fact “Sooo bored.”. My cousin arrived a few minutes later with her dog, Dexter (at last count, I know 37 people with dogs named Dexter and one incredibly stupid show) which would normally keep Roan occupied for days, but apparently Dexter isn’t into playing much.

I told Roan to go check out the pond and the fort in the backyard. I remember being terrified of my Uncle Bryan as a kid (he once got mad at me when I slept over and didn’t want crust on my toast in the morning) but I loved playing in his backyard. We used to swim in his pool, play in the fort(s), find frogs in the pond, and chase snakes. I took him for a walk out back and discovered there was no longer any forts, the pond is about the size of a mattress and empty (I always thought it was pretty big, weird), and the trees I remember playing in all seem to be gone.

We did find the world’s lowest tire swing though, just a few feet into the neighbours property.

We walked back to the house just in time to line up for dinner. My mum made me Tofurky which was awesome. I ate a bunch of it, then had some cake made out of ice cream sandwiches which was pretty good. I must have had more than enough food, as I fell into a minor food coma shortly after dinner. I woke up and someone was setting my Mighty nephew down on the couch beside me. He cuddled with me for a little while before it was time for us all to leave.

Peace!
Angry Art, Book stuff, Gaming, Life, Sketchup
Cobras, computers, contradictions
10.15.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Once again it’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog. This time the main reason is my growing hatred of all things computer, mixed with my recent acquisition of Dead Rising 2 (contradiction?). Since my last post I have been paid in full and this morning I sent off a freshly revised edition of the entire first book (two versions actually – one has photo spreads that will go in the middle, but in an effort to save money in printing costs of student copies for editing the other has no photos). I actually sent a copy off last night, but literally 5 minutes later James called to tell me he found a mistake he missed until now. I told him to disregard the email I had just sent, and that I’d revise and resend it in the morning.

I really hope this is the last time I have to make major changes to any part of that project. I still have to wait on James to sort out the ISBN number (is that like saying ATM machine?) and UPC code (again, redundant??) for the back cover. I did a fake back cover for now. It has a listing of all the books that are intended to be in the “Master’s Guide Collection”, and then I hid this little logo at the bottom.

I should probably register that name. Maybe I’ll end up doing lots of this type of work if I can’t find a job building, and then it will come in handy. I should also just make a website where I can post all my stuff. If someone stumbles upon it and wants to offer me work, then I’m game.

If all goes well with the next two projects, I should be looking for a new job soon. Maybe by this time next year, I’ll be teaching at the ISBA. I still have to finish the lessons I had begun before my whole laptop data dump debacle. There was almost 200 pages of step-by-step images for building a basic post and beam structure within Sketchup. Maybe this weekend I will spend some time writing that stuff since I can do it on the copies Holly printed for me and avoid the computer for a little longer.

I’d like to have the title of instructor, but I also want to make lots of money and build Holly and I a sweet house. Maybe I’d be better off spending my time resume writing. I’m just so bad at it.
Book stuff, Life, Sketchup, Timber framing
Cobra cooperation ceases without cash compensation
10.03.10 | Permalink | Comment?

As mentioned previously here is my finished version of my cross-sectional view of wood at a cellular level.

If you’re saying to yourself “Shit, I thought when he said ‘realistic looking’ it was going to be awesome, this sucks.”, you’re right. However, I made the decision to stop putting effort into this at all on about the 8th day of waiting for money owed to me for this project, and didn’t just fail at it.

In fact, I have basically the entire book finished with the exception of the revised table of contents (which I plan to have done over the next few days, I’m just waiting on a printed version to come home with Holly tomorrow), and a single glossary entry. At this point though, I’m not sharing until I get paid.

I submitted hours on the 17th of September and was assured a cheque would be in the mail that afternoon. I’ve spent the last two weeks stressing and staking out the mailman. I am beginning to hate both James and the mailman. I can’t understand how it’s taken this long to get paid. Clearly they didn’t mail it when they said they would, and probably only sent it when I called flipping out the other day. Now it’s two weeks later and I deserve another cheque.

I will not be sending a finished version until I get paid in full. Not that I don’t trust him, but I’m tired of doing tons of work, getting bitched at because it’s taking too long, doing things over and over because he can’t make up his mind, and then not getting paid for work I did and probably undercut him hours on anyway.

I still haven’t gotten Holly’s wood for her shelves (although I have gotten hold of the person I needed to) because I can’t afford it now. Once my cheque gets here, it’s going to be gone right away. Tomorrow I’ll stake out the mailman again. After it’s clear whether or not my cheque is coming, I’ll head to the bank. If I have the cheque I’ll have to cash it, and convince them to not hold it. If I don’t, I’ll have to ask them to give me (for a third time) all the info Naomi needs to directly deposit into my account and try that again (fuck). Then I’ll call her, request they cancel the cheque in the mail, and make one large deposit into my account covering all my hours over the last four and a half weeks.

I try to budget and I get nowhere. I work hard and currently make the highest hourly wage I ever have, but I’m constantly fucked. Why should I work so hard for someone who makes my life so difficult?

Shawn had a great idea the other day for how I can get back at him. Instead of quickly sending him an email with a link to a .pdf of the finished book, I’m burning him a CD and mailing it a week or two after I tell him I sent it.

I believe I’ll enjoy every phone call or email I get asking why it isn’t there yet.
Animals, Photos, Video
Monty Memorial Velocipede viewing
10.03.10 | Permalink | Comment?

On top of celebrating last weekend, there was also some mourning of a friend lost. Anyone who knows the man above also knows his best friend and inseparable counterpart for the last decade or so was the world’s most impressive canine – Monty. I lived with Monty and Ryan for a little while, and I grew very attached to both.

Unfortunately Ryan was forced to make the decision last Saturday to go ahead and have Monty put down. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been. We waited to visit with him on Sunday, as I’m sure he wasn’t in the best of moods Saturday. Holly and I met him for breakfast at Chew Chews, then afterwards hung out for a little bit and chatted.

Before we left, Ryan was kind enough to demonstrate his new found skills on a penny farthing. He’s had this bike on loan from a friend who isn’t tall enough to ride it, for about a month or so. He offered to let me try it (as it’s meant for someone around our height), but I figured I’d probably fall off or hit one of the closely parked cars in front of his house.