The Archives

Book stuff
I fucking hate this
05.31.11 | Permalink | Comment?

It’s hard to believe it’s been close to a year since I fucked up and lost a ton of work I had done for the book’s appendix. At that time, James and I decided it was in the project’s best interest to move on without redoing those lost images, until the time came that they were absolutely necessary. Well, that time arrived the day before I began building the shed. Until yesterday, I hadn’t really had time to work on the drawings, but with the shed done now, the book is once again top priority.

The book is still inching nearer and nearer to the finish line, although it does still seem like it’s never going to happen. This section I’m doing the drawings for (the Structural Concepts appendix) is the last part of the text I need to lay out. After this, there is still a ton of things to sort out, but with any luck it will all go smooth (ha). I’ve decided to skip the whole step where I send James the drawings and ask how they look before adding them to the layout. I figure I’ve told him enough times that the originals are too hard to see to make perfect copies, so I’m just doing the best I can, then he can tell me what’s wrong and I’ll reiterate that his originals are shit.

I have no clue what is going on in most of these images, as they were all drawn by an engineer who is now dead (and whose methods might have been dead long before him), and I know nothing of engineering. I understand some of what he is trying to get across here, the forces that work for and against a structures stability, but I can’t begin to follow the math. Maybe I just don’t care to try. I don’t know how much of this stuff James understands (I assume not a ton, or he’d have written this part himself too) so maybe he won’t find any errors at all.

I really can’t wait for this whole thing to be done. I get so tired of stressing over my computers. I want them to go back to being fun.
Roanisms
EA$Y Engli$h
05.29.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Two evenings ago, Holly was tidying up the laundry room – which is the place the boys drop their shit the moment they get home from anywhere – and she came across another example of how awesome Roan is, and how much he loves me.

I love that he signs his name with the colon in there – Roan: Meredith
Gageisms, Roanisms
Red Roan, Red Roan
05.29.11 | Permalink | Comment?

On Friday night, Roan had his friend Daylon (no, not Dylan) sleep over. Gage slept at his friend Josh’s, so Roan and Daylon took advantage of the tv being available and watched movies all night. Roan didn’t sleep at all, then woke Holly and I up around 6:30am. The next night he asked to have his friend Kyle stay over. Holly said sure, then Gage asked to have two of his friends stay as well. Holly again said sure, but on the condition that he wasn’t an asshole to his brother.

This morning Holly was up first (which is a first) and went down to check on the boys. It was obvious that Roan and Kyle fell asleep first, and Gage hadn’t really held up his end of the deal.

When I tried to take the above photo, Roan first tried to hide, but then he cooperated once we told him even the best of us have gotten the “first asleep” treatment. Plus, although it’s not something you’d want written on your arm, we decided he must actually like poo, since he rarely manages to flush it away.
Gaming, Life, Photos
Cobra tattoos make Pew Pew Pews
05.26.11 | Permalink | Comment?

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away I bought a tattoo shop from a creepy old douche. A short time later I booted the douche, and had a fun time working in and owning the shop. During those years I got tattooed weekly. When I finally sold the shop about eight years ago, I decided to slow down the pace at which I was covering my body. I figured I had plenty already, and plenty of life left in which to finish the job, but mainly I wasn’t keen on the idea of having to pay full price (or at all) for the work. Slowing down the pace means, I’ve been tattooed once since I left the shop.

Last week, my good friend Tony Mike (who has become my other main zombie killing partner, whenever Holly isn’t available) got a tattoo we had been talking about. It’s a Raygun from Call of Duty Nazi Zombies, which is one of our favourites, and absolutely essential to survival. Tony works at a nice shop in Burlington, with his good friend and roommate, Franz. Franz tattoos, and often the four of us (Franz, Tony, Holly and I) team up to kill zombies together. Tony set us up with some appointments on Saturday, so Holly and I both got the beautiful blaster above.

I now know what I want for my next few tattoos, and who I want to do them. Now it’s just a matter of time and money.
Life, Photos
Shed 2.0 (beta)
05.26.11 | Permalink | Comment?

On Saturday morning, Holly and I decided to go get supplies for the shed. We got stuck waiting around Home Depot for almost two hours because we needed to rent their van so we could fit all the lumber. It was rented just moments before we got there and came back late. Once we finally got everything unloaded at home, I got on the phone and started rounding up helpers. My brother and The Dude came to lend a hand. While I waited for them I framed the subfloor and got it ready for sheeting. By four o’clock I had to wrap up and leave for a tattoo appointment, but we managed to get the three walls above erected and braced.

The next day went a little slower, since the roof framing is a time consuming process. The Dude and I managed to get the last wall up and sheeted, along with the roof. The following day was spent framing doors and hanging them, fixing imperfections, attaching exterior paneling, and securing the fascia boards to the rafter tails. By this point I was completely exhausted, and entirely covered in sunburn.

Yesterday we got the paneling up on all but the backside, and finished the trim on the front gable end. I still need to trim the rest, paper and shingle the roof, attach the latch, panel the rear gable end, and fix a few more minor imperfections. Overall I think it looks good (even though I’m a pretty harsh critic of myself), and the neighbour told me she loved it – although she could have just been saying something nice – so I’m happy. What matters though, is if Holly is happy.

It’s not my dream shed, but it’s a solid structure that will suitably house all 30 of the boys bikes, the snow blower, and both lawnmowers.
Gaming, Video
Call of the Cobra
05.26.11 | Permalink | Comment?

This is a video I made of me playing the new zombie map on Call of Duty. I shot the video with my camera, then uploaded and edited it using the Playstation 3 video editor/uploader function. I mostly made this to show my friends I play with regularly how awesome I am when I play solo, and also because none of us were aware you could get the Wunderwaffe by killing George Romero. I’m still not sure if you get it for killing him when playing solo, or if it’s got to do with how early in the rounds I killed him (normally I kill him closer to round 12 or higher). Either way, if you’re into the COD Zombies, check it out. And if you’re not into COD Zombies then the video is probably equally as boring as reading to this point has been.

But, unless someone has a Wunderwaffe pointed at your head it’s your own fault I suppose.
Gaming, Video
Mother’s Day F-Ballin
05.19.11 | Permalink | Comment?

As I previously mentioned, I recorded (or rather Holly recorded) the inaugural match on the new Foosball table. For those who are interested, the match is a little over seven minutes in length, and although I dominate my mother the entire time it begins with me scoring a goal on myself.

Also featured in this video is my inability to win without gloating, and my father’s obsessive compulsive need to make everything perfect.

Go Cobras!
Gaming, Life, Photos
Foosball flashbacks
05.19.11 | Permalink | Comment?

A couple weeks ago Holly and I drove up to Toronto in her work van built for hauling bodies, to obtain the Foosball table pictured above. It was kindly donated to the Cobra game room (currently located in my parent’s basement) courtesy of Jon and Laura. Apparently Laura had it for years, but rarely (or maybe even never) used it. When she moved out she left it with her parents. Recently they decided to move, and wanted to get rid of it. I was more than happy to take it, and my parents were kind enough to allow me to add it to the pile of stuff I keep at their house.

When I was a kid I loved playing on the table at Rack and Roll with my friends. It wasn’t our favourite game to play, but it was the cheapest. It was also one of the few games where, if you were quick (or smart and sneaky), you could prevent the ball from ever falling into the goal, and a 50¢ game would last until we got busted or bored or a fight broke out.

Once, when I was about 14 (mum, you may want to stop reading around here), myself and a group of friends went to smoke a couple joints and kick a hacky sack around at an elementary school (after hours of course). A couple minutes after we finished our “session” a cop dressed in a Kevlar vest, army boots and aviators came walking around the corner with his German shepherd. I think everyone panicked at that moment, but some of us handled it better than others. After calling backup, searching us all, expressing disappointment, confiscating the first pipe I ever made, and giving us back all our pot the cops then informed us all that they’d be paying each of our parents a visit that evening. They told us we had better be there when they arrived, so to head home now and inform our parents that they were on their way to break the news – your kids suck and are evil.

Dallas and I may have only been 14, but we weren’t stupid. We decided the cops had just tried to get us to rat ourselves out. It took some convincing on our behalf, but we eventually got everyone to agree that the best thing to do was ignore the cops advice and go play Foosball. Now whenever I play Foosball, I think of the night we outsmarted the cops.

I took a video of the first game played on the new table (The Cobras Vs. The Cobra Mums), but I’m not having any luck getting it to embed on this post. I’ll post it later using Gage’s computer. My HTML functions are messed up when using Linux ever since WordPress updated.
Photos
Where’s the reef?
05.18.11 | Permalink | Comment?

It took me sixteen years of theorizing, one cosmic coincidence, two minutes of prep work, and 35 seconds of patience…

Ladies, Gentlemen, Cobras, it’s my pleasure to introduce to you the Paperless Joint!
Sketchup
Shed dilemma
05.09.11 | Permalink | Comment?

In case you missed it, a few weeks ago we had a brutal windstorm which managed to throw Holly’s shed through her back fence, destroying both in the process. Clearly we need a new shed, however we’re having a tough time deciding whether or not to buy one, or if I should build one. The sheds we have looked at thus far have been around the $999.99 – $1299.99 range, none of which are as large as the aluminum monster we had up until two weeks ago.

Yesterday I decided to design a shed for Holly, after seeing how poorly constructed most of the kits you buy from Home Depot are (most had zero supporting members in the corners, and relied solely on the strength of a 90° OSB connection, plus trim). None of the sheds they sell use actual 2″ x 4″ lumber. Instead they’ve gone with these 2″ x 3″ (or maybe even 2″ x 2½”) studs, rafters, and plates. This might save a bit of money, but I’d much rather build something more solid. Ideally I’d love to finally build this, but that’s not possible at this time. I wanted to get an idea of costs to build a similar design to what Home Depot offers – except good, so Holly got lumber prices yesterday, and now all I have to do is count up all my bits, measure the roof, and add some hardware and finishes and I’ll have an estimate. With any luck it won’t cost as much for the lumber as it does for one of the kits. I’d so much rather build it myself, than assemble a kit.

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