January 2011
35 posts
8 tags
January 30, 2011 -- Hair
Cassi has been playing around with the various hair care devices that we’ve gotten at the auction over the past few months. She’s been in the bedroom for over an hour using this one curling iron… with all the tight curls she’s got in her hair right now she almost looks like Taylor Swift.
13 tags
January 30, 2011 -- Shoulda Woulda Coulda
Was just talking to Dad on the phone for a bit… somehow the conversation turned to investments and silver prices and such. That made me have to get on here and do a little research on precious metal prices over the past year or so.
Now, I had a handful of silver rounds (ounces) when I was younger. I can’t remember much, but I know I didn’t pay too much for them, and I know...
21 tags
January 29, 2011 -- Auction Stuff
We went to an auction a few days before our trip to Indiana, and while we did get it all unloaded and in the house - we didn’t get a chance to go through all of it until today when we got up and around.
I spent a little more than usual… a little less than $30… but I think that we got our money’s worth now that I’ve really checked everything out. One of the...
25 tags
January 29, 2011 -- Casino Pet Peeves
We went on another overnighter to The Grand Vic this week. Had a great time as usual, enjoying all the free food, swimming, hot tub, the suite, etc. Gambling luck wasn’t as good as I’d have liked (is it ever?) but I really didn’t feel like it “kicked my ass” like it sometimes does.
My “initial investment” lasted throughout the trip, so at least I got...
14 tags
January 27, 2011 -- HD Terragen Animation
Finally done and uploaded…
If you have a decent computer, go on over to the actual video page on YouTube and load it up in the highest resolution you can. Other than the actual land being a little plain, I think it turned out pretty good.
17 tags
January 26, 2011 -- Check This Out
I did a test with my Nuvi 295W today…
Click Here for My Flickr Map
I took pictures at a bunch of different intersections as I was driving, and the geolocation data that was stored with each image was spot on. I uploaded them all to Flickr as-is, and it automatically put them on my Flickr map exactly where I was when I took the photo.
Awesome.
(Oh, and don’t lecture me about...
10 tags
“You’ve never really seen Avatar until you’ve seen it in the 5th floor men’s...”
– Woot.com (in re: portable video projector)
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January 24, 2011 -- Busy Day
Today started off with a trip to the dentist so Cassi could get her wisdom teefs removed. The procedure didn’t really take that long, and now she’s back home with me trying to recover. The amount of bleeding during the first hour after she got home was ridiculous. Kinda makes me think about reconsidering having the same thing done myself.
I’ve been tending to her off...
21 tags
January 23, 2011 -- Almost Done
The old PC has finished generating frames for my current Terragen animation. Exactly 3100 images, each one at 1280 x 720 resolution. I think I started rendering the frames on the 4th, so it “only” took about 20 days to generate enough HD frames for a whopping two minute animation.
I’m going to go through them before I compile them into a video file… I’m pretty...
14 tags
January 23, 2011 -- Supplies
We went out for a bit to get some supplies today.
I had to go to Lowes to get some pieces of 1”x2”x6’ wood to start building the frame for my posterboard projector screen. Yes, even though I’ve got a “real” projector screen, thanks to my $2 auction purchase, I’m still going to finish my original project. The wood only cost like five bucks, and they...
8 tags
“You’re a beautiful girl, I couldn’t imagine you’d have any interest in me except...”
– Seymour (Ghost World)
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January 22, 2011 -- Too Cold
The winter weather already postponed some fun that Cassi and I had planned for this week, by snowing six inches on Thursday, but you’d think it could cut us a break and not be so damn cold in the days following.
Luckily we haven’t had any important appointments or anything, so the only “going out” we’ve needed to do was for a quick trip to the grocery store, and...
26 tags
January 20, 2011 -- Other Goodies
I spent a little over twenty bucks at the recent auction, and ten of that was on a handful of native american lookin’ rings. I wanted to get the “hearts” one for Cassi, but the way they ended up selling them I had to go ahead and buy all of them for one bid price. I’m glad I did though… Cassi’s cleaned them up really well and they look awesome. The pics in...
12 tags
January 20, 2011 -- Two Bucks
That’s how much I paid for a giant projector screen at the auction yesterday.
It’s funny… Cassi and I laugh at how it always works that way. We need some particular item so we’ll go buy it at the store, only to find the very same thing at a thrift store or auction a couple days later. Whether it is some sort of cable or connector, or some kitchen utensil or...
21 tags
January 18, 2011 -- Little Bit Of Everything
Cassi and I went out to hit some thrift stores today. It’s been a while, so we figured there might be some goodies for us to find out there.
We ended up finding some cheap plastic plants for her fish and crabs, as well as a bubbler and stones to put in the tank. We also found a big bag of 69 cent poly-fiber stuff, which although is intended for filling pillows or what not, it can also...
10 tags
January 17, 2011 -- Slacking
I really need to get back into #rgvc.
Also:
Dear Amazon Customer, We are contacting you regarding your order #1xx-08xxx56-4xxx50 from the Target store at Amazon.com. We recently became aware of mismatched price and product information which resulted in the discontinued Sony PS3 Hardware System and the PlayStation 3 Move Advanced Shooter Grip being displayed incorrectly. We are sorry, but...
23 tags
January 17, 2011 -- Lazy Day
Haven’t been doing much today. I went and did our grocery shopping last night (before a bunch of my coupons expired) and spent about $150 on food. The good news is that I actually got $200 worth of crap. According to the receipt, I saved $50+ on mfg coupons, store coupons, and loyalty card savings. Yay me.
Cassi has been playing Fable 2 most of the day. She and I were into Halo 3...
18 tags
January 17, 2011 -- Interesting
I got the results from my recent industrial commission hearing in the mail on Saturday, but I didn’t get around to opening it until just now. Unfortunately, they denied the new allowances to my claim. But in reading their decision, I see that I might have a decent chance when it comes to the appeal.
The opposing side had two basic arguments. Their main argument was that I had waited...
9 tags
January 16, 2011 -- $40 PS3
I don’t expect to actually get a Playstation 3 for $39.99, but I’m also not going to not try to get it for that price when I see it posted on both Amazon and Target for that price. I’m not sure what the deal is, but their online ad page clearly shows a PS3 image, has all the PS3 information on the page… and when the product is ordered, the order confirmation does indeed...
17 tags
January 16, 2011 -- Goodies
I haven’t bought anything for a while, so today I grabbed a few inexpensive things on eBay. The first is a little, flat heater designed for 5-gallon aquariums. That’s the size of the one that Cassi’s got her new fish in, and since we keep the bedroom cold I figured they deserved their own heater.
Next purchase was a quality 30-foot RCA video cable. Since I’ve got the...
8 tags
January 15, 2011 -- Pet Store PhoneCam Pix
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January 15, 2011 -- Adjusted
I made another lens adjustment to the B/W webcam in the living room again. It was just too wide angle the way it was… so much so that you almost couldn’t make out the detail in a lot of the things in the distance because of the distortion of the lens in order to have such a wide field of view.
So now it’s got a wide angle view that is more like 150 or 160 degrees, rather than...
14 tags
January 14, 2011 -- Haircuts
It’s nice to have a stylist in the family.
I made Toni a little deal so that she would come over and cut mine and Cassi’s hair tonight. Her and Matt were actually in Athens earlier, getting a couple new tattoos. She got one with a nice verse about our grandparents on it. I wish I could remember exactly what it said…
But as usual, not only did she do a great job on my...
15 tags
January 14, 2011 -- Terragen Frames
I’ve uploaded a handful of frames from my current animation project to my Flickr site. I just grabbed every 100th frame, and so far the computer has chugged out a little over 1700 frames of the animation. Oh, and I checked the date of the first frame… it started rendering on January 4th, so that means the whole thing should be done in another three weeks at the most.
You can see...
15 tags
January 14, 2011 -- Yay
Just got back from my most recent neck/shoulder doc appointment. This one went better than the others. I’ve been trying to convey to him that the meds I’ve been taking just aren’t quite cutting it, and today I must have said the right things to make him understand that a little better.
I’d been taking pretty much the same thing, in pretty much the same amounts, for...
11 tags
January 12, 2011 -- Terragen
My latest Terragen project is in the works. Actually, the design part of it had been done for a long time… but the old computer in the second bedroom isn’t the greatest, so it has been chugging away at making frames of the animation. (As well as running my webcam. )
It’s been running the animation creation script for a few weeks now. I’ll have to check the date on the...
13 tags
January 12, 2011 -- Malingering
“Malingering: A medical term that refers to fabricating or exaggerating the symptoms of mental or physical disorders for a variety of secondary gain motives, which may include financial compensation (often tied to fraud); avoiding school, work or military service; obtaining drugs; getting lighter criminal sentences; or simply to attract attention or sympathy.”
That is the term...
23 tags
“1. I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your...”
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January 11, 2011 -- Wow
There is crap all over my living room right now.
We finally got around to going through all of the auction stuff that we got last week. Lots and lots of little things. One tub was full of neat halloween crap… creepy magnets, funny glasses, finger puppets, etc. Another tub was full of old Christmas ornaments… some are the Hallmark collectible kind. (Mmmm… eBay) There...
20 tags
January 11, 2011 -- Refilled
Man, am I glad that I finally got my refill prescriptions today.
I take my Lyrica more frequently than the last order allowed for… er… the doc said I should start taking them four times a day, but the last refill was still at the “three a day” rate. But anyway, my Lyrica ran out about a week before the new batch got in. Not good. Can you say withdrawls? I can.
...
16 tags
January 5, 2011 -- Give Some Get Some
We went to an auction again… and came back with my car packed full, both inside and in the trunk, for less than twenty bucks. It is all in my living room right now, but that’s okay - at least it isn’t cluttering up the other rooms we’ve been working on. At least not yet.
Tomorrow we’ll be taking a load of older...
30 tags
January 5, 2011 -- Kudos To Walgreens Photo
You might remember that a couple weeks ago I ordered a photo calendar from Walgreens that I mysteriously never received, even though the tracking number showed that it had been left at my door.
I contacted Walgreens support about it, explained how it must have been stolen after delivery, and asked if they had a policy when it came to incidents like this or if I would be able to get a partial...
9 tags
January 4, 2011 -- Accomplished
The kitchen is still a work in progress, but I cleaned the hell out of that second bedroom today. Yesterday you could barely walk in there due to all of the boxes and crap… today only about 1/4 of the room is now taken up by stuff.
It was just a matter of getting everything sorted and into boxes or storage tubs, and scooting it around in an orderly fashion. Of course I’ve got...
13 tags
January 2, 2011 -- Didn't I Do This Already?
I don’t really have any resolutions for this new year, at least not ones that I think I’ll be able to stick to, so I decided that I’d just work on cleaning up the kitchen cabinets a bit to bring in the new year. I plan to move on to other rooms once I’m done, but at least this is a start.
I’m doing what I thought I already did before… going through things,...
17 tags
January 1, 2011 -- New Year
Cassi and I went over to Matt and Toni’s last night for New Year’s Eve. She made a cheeseball, BBQ little smokies, potato skins, etc. Good stuff… I poofed my belly before I realized it. Their neighbors celebrated as well - lots of fireworks and things that went “boom” as the ball dropped at midnight.
We stayed about an hour after that, then we went to Meijer to...