January 2012
48 posts
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Jim’s dad wrote him an original acoustic...
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January 26, 2012 -- The Rundown
Okay, all the car pix are uploaded and here’s what I’ve got, in no particular order. Each of these links will open up a slideshow in a new window.
Kia Soul
Kia Forte
Kia Rio
Hyundai Veloster
Hyundai Elantra
Hyundai Sonata
Ford Fiesta
Ford Focus
Mazda 3
Strangely enough, even after my visit to Ricart, and after looking at all those cars… my opinions and thoughts...
6 tags
January 26, 2012 -- Stoned
After pondering over it for a few weeks, today was the day that the gravel people came to dump stone in the driveway. It was definitely the right choice, as those muddy ruts in the yard sure didn’t do anything to help the curb appeal.
I was surprised when they arrived in a monster-sized dump truck. Even bigger than the salt trucks that the city uses. But from their arrival until they...
“The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.”
– Aristotle
5 tags
January 26, 2012 -- Cars and Crap
I spent most of the day in Columbus yesterday. First at Ricart’s dealership in Canal Winchester, looking through all their new car inventory, and then later at one of the auctions that was nearby.
I took a buttload of pix at Ricart, basically doing recon on a handful of cars that I’ve got on my short list, and I should be uploading those to Flickr later today once I dump my camera. ...
9 tags
January 25, 2012 -- COPD
While watching the news today I saw a commercial for a place called Columbus Clinical, which is apparently currently accepting patients for a COPD drug trial. I forget what it said the terms are, other than having a medically documented history of COPD as well as being a smoker or ex-smoker.
Link: Columbus Clinical Site
I’m gonna try to let a couple of my friends know about this, but I...
17 tags
January 24, 2012 -- Crazy
I just checked out the recent time-lapse webcam video and I realize that I look quite insane. But while it may appear that I am enthusiastically talking to an empty chair, I actually had my iPod sitting there and had headphones in my ears as I was having a video conversation with someone.
For the uninitiated, you can use the computer or an iPod Touch or iPhone to basically make video...
January 24, 2012 -- Weird
I got a grand total of 1.5 hrs or sleep this morning before the guy showed up to take the riding mower away for service. Strangely enough, I stayed up since then and I’m still wide awake.
Ask me how that’s workin’ for me around 5pm. Actually I might try to catch a nap on purpose this time, then go out for some karaoke or something later tonight. Meh… I...
12 tags
January 23, 2012 -- Game Stash
Started off the day by waking up and making a bunch of calls about my worker’s comp claim. They’ve got a preferred pharmacy that they’ve had me using for a while, but I’ve been having problems with them regularly screwing up my prescriptions I ended up speaking to a few different people that not only couldn’t help me, but also didn’t even really understand...
5 tags
January 23, 2012 -- WTF?
I went to bed with my car, yard, and house coated in ice and snow… woke up today and it is spring. Definitely a nice surprise after a few crappy days.
Also, I’m dicking around with the webcam again. I’ve managed to squeeze some color out of it once more… but don’t hold your breath. I’m messing around with a lot of code that I don’t understand,...
7 tags
January 22, 2012 -- Suck
My cheap-ass POS vacuum cleaner has pretty much given up, so I grabbed my Grandma’s more expensive vacuum out of the spare bedroom. It had stopped working very well a while ago, so of course I decided to take it apart into little bitty pieces. The bag was completely full, with no replacement in site, so the first thing I did was de-crap the bag so I could re-use it.
Next was the...
“Hey, I found your nose… It was in my business as usual.”
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January 21, 2012 -- Predictable
I woke up in the middle of the night after only a couple hours worth of sleep, so of course I fell back asleep for a bit in the afternoon - and will now most likely be up most of the night. Oh well… no schedule, no worries.
Started work on one of the bedrooms that I’ve been using to stage my crap (as I found locations for it throughout the house) but luckily it has been going...
WatchMy 4:30am walk.
(Don’t expect to see anything… it’s friggin’ dark heh)
16 tags
January 20, 2012 -- Archived Life
After Jim’s visit the other day I really started thinking about how well archived my life is. I’ve kept this blog for years and years, which I’ve always printed out now and then, not to mention all the handwritten journals that I’ve kept (off and on) since I was still in high school.
I’ve always been a photographer at heart, so not only do I have plenty of...
14 tags
January 19, 2012 -- Time Travel
I got a visit from Jim late last night. He was actually on the way to his girlfriend’s house, but he made a pit stop in here for a bit to drop some things off and to hang out for a while. But thanks to some stuff in all of my “memory tubs” that I’ve got stored here, he ended up staying eight hours as we went through some old e-mails that I had printed out for some...
WatchI’m doing some online car shopping. Currently leaning very heavily towards the 2012 Kia Soul Exclaim, but it’ll be several days before I can get out and do any “real world” lookin’ and test drives. Hopefully it is as nice as it appears.
(The video might take a few seconds to show up)
7 tags
January 18, 2012 -- Spotlight
Someone that checked out the webcam page last night asked me how I could stand to have a spotlight on me like that. At first I thought she was speaking figuratively, meaning that having a webcam in general was putting a “spotlight” on my life or something… but then I realized that she was talking about the spotlight effect that you see when the night vision mode is turned on. ...
January 17, 2012 -- Night Off
The plumber came by earlier today and took a look at everything, as well as listened to the list of various things that I probably want to have fixed or replaced. I won’t know anything about the price estimate for a day or two.
The clouds, rain, and wind made for a miserable day, but I still went into town for a few things, as well as to swap out movies at Blockbuster. The wind had...
6 tags
January 16, 2012 -- Three Down
The living room has been pretty much done for several days, and today I finished up the kitchen and dining room areas… at least as well as I intend to for right now. I spent the last couple of days pulling crap out of those cabinets and putting it into boxes, baskets, and storage tubs.
I’ve got someone coming over to go through the pots, pans, and baking stuff here soon - but after...
6 tags
January 14, 2012 -- Jars
Another day, another room to tackle.
My day started at 5am for some reason. That’s the time when I’m usually going to bed, but whatever… once I woke up I was ready to do some work. Today’s project was the kitchen. Actually I should say is the kitchen, because I’m not even close to being done.
There was still plenty of stuff left in all the kitchen cabinets...
9 tags
January 13, 2012 -- White Death
The first real snow storm of the season, and right on schedule - all three of the local news programs went ape shit. Typical overreactions and overestimates of the amount of snow… but the sad thing is, it is really necessary for them to do that because of the sheer amount of people who somehow forget how to drive as soon as there is more than a half-inch of snow on the ground.
So then...
“If you think things can’t get worse, it’s probably only because you lack...”
11 tags
January 12, 2012 -- Good Enough
I’m not sure about the schedule my body has been keeping over the past few days, but it seems to be working in my favor. I wake up around 9am, take my morning meds, take my mid-day meds around 5pm, then fall asleep for a couple hours around 7pm. *laugh* Then I wake up and stay up until around 5am. Not ideal, but for some reason it gives me a lot of energy all night.
So a couple...
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** Webcam Update **
Okay, I’m tired of dicking around with this F’ing thing. Installed the new $8 higher resolution device, but it only captures in black and white - plus there are annoying green lines going through the image like the other one I tried.
Oh well, I guess it is what it is. I don’t imagine a ton of people go to the webcam page anyway, so for now what you see is what you get. ...
8 tags
January 11, 2012 -- Tore Up
Meds screwed with me again, meaning I took an involuntary nap in the evening yesterday, leaving me awake all night until about 5am. However, rather than just wasting that time, I started work on the basement.
I started by cleaning off one of the big tables down there, getting rid of all sorts of various useless things that were stored there for some reason. This cleared up a lot of room for...
13 tags
January 10, 2012 -- Sheeple
I bet psychology majors have a great time studying the way that people vote in caucus / primary elections. For whatever reason, people turn into sheep after the first couple of states vote - often deciding to vote for the person that they think will win, rather than for the person they actually want.
I mean, nobody is gonna come out and say that they did that… but just from watching the...
** Webcam Update **
Resorted to using the 320 x 240 USB capture device, however I’ve “faked” a higher resolution by resizing the small images on the webcam page to larger than they actually are. You will probably notice the pixelization.
Also, the file size of the time-lapse videos created by this new video capture device are much larger than before. I’m not sure if it is because there is...
4 tags
January 7, 2012 -- Kudos & Poops
Today’s kudos go to:
The helpful man, who was just a customer like me, that happily helped me load up my mirror coffee table at the thrift store.
The ladies getting into their Kia Soul at Walmart, who were happy to tell me what they thought of their car when I asked. (was re: car shopping)
One of the managers at Walmart who helped me confirm the clearance price on some throw rugs, as...
9 tags
** Webcam Update **
Making some progress on the webcam page. I’ve got a new device for importing video from composite sources, but as you will be able to see from the time-lapse video, the process isn’t without some glitches.
This device can capture frames at resolutions up to 720 x 480, but if I can’t get the odd glitch lines to go away I might try an older USB device that captures at only 320...
WatchTesting a new time-lapse app for the iPod. Next time I’ll probably wait for snow or puffy clouds or something. This test video is rather anticlimactic… it was too nice out today.
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January 7, 2012 -- Clearance
Went into town for some pop and bread but as usual, I came home with quite a bit more. At Walmart I picked up several throw rugs that were on clearance for five bucks. Now, this house isn’t lacking for rugs… heh… but I want this house to have my rugs, not the old ones that have been here forever.
Several days ago Matt told me about a cheap “fire pit” that he...
8 tags
January 6, 2012 -- Hrmm
Woke up stupid early, got a lot done, then took an involuntary nap around 2pm until about 4pm. It’s weird - adjusting to the new meds, it’s like when my body decides it wants some sleep it just happens. I think I’m gonna just rest my eyes for a minute and then I’m out.
Heh… luckily I don’t have any certain schedule to keep, so getting some sleep is...
January 6, 2012 -- Adjustment Period
These new meds are kicking my ass. I’ve been doing good at fighting the drowsiness that they cause, but yesterday I slept off-and-on from about 4pm until 6am today.
Hopefully that means that I’m caught up on sleep and will be able to have another productive day today.
WatchClick to play video.
11 tags
January 5, 2012 -- Art
Had a good trip to Columbus yesterday. I had looked at the auction preview and it looked like there was a few things I might be interested in, so I figured that I’d go ahead and go despite the cold weather.
However when I got there, whatever it was that I thought that I saw in the online preview… yeah, I just didn’t see it. But it was still good that I went because I got...
8 tags
January 3, 2012 -- Wash
I’ve still got plumbing issues to work on here around the house, so unfortunately I haven’t been able to hook up my washer yet. That means that yesterday I got to spend the afternoon at one of the laundromats in town. Yay.
Not exactly the most uplifting place to spend your day, that’s for sure. A place where everyone wishes they didn’t have to be, doing tasks that...
WatchThe big tree out front is not happy about all this wind.
12 tags
January 1, 2012 -- Recovery
I’ve had a rough, rough week. Lots of really stressful things happening all at once, compounded with the fact that I got horribly sick for several days - it just made for an awful way to spend the week of Christmas this year.
It started the day before Christmas, and I’ve been in and out of the hospital a few times between now and then. I wasn’t able to eat, drink, or stop...
December 2011
37 posts
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Watch
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December 22, 2011 -- Work Day
I went to the auction for the first time in months yesterday. While there wasn’t a ton of stuff that interested me, I was still able to grab a few things that I wanted / needed and got out of there for under twenty bucks.
I bought a box full of crap for five bucks that contained a new molded wood toilet seat that I needed, as well as a generic pink Snuggie and pink fuzzy socks for...