bed time story

this is my project. this is it. take my time. im gonna enjoy this. i spent 25 bux on wood and connectors. really well spent. now i go to work. im stressing the wood. im drilling holes. im sanding. im sanding. im sanding. i stain. i varnish. i install. it looks fab. love the dark, antequitated and aged look that the new oldness brings. not done. just the footboard complete. spent another $75 on wood for the head and side boards. just got to start the process over.

soldering iron: 45 or 30 watt?

first off, america has certain qualities. we like to supersize. cars. food. houses. tv's. bigger is better. so how can radio shack sell 2 soldering irons of equal quality and features, with the exception of wattage, for the same price. 30 or 45 watts. are you kiddin me. im american. im walkin out that store with 45 watts of soldering iron incinerating smack down pwnage. but rewind for a sec. lets go to when i was pondering why they are the same price. so i ask mr radio shack. 'dude. you gonna sell out of 45 watters fo shizzle. you stupid? u in america. not some dumb kountry. we buy big then we go home. now what? do somethin.' then he kind of told me that for my project i dont need the extra wattage. so i left with the 30 watt version. oh well. i thought i was american.
so that brings me here to my current project. i have a couple soldering projects under my belt and am feeling comfortable with it. so i bring in my laptop one day after leaving it in the sunny and balmy -20F weather. i was all sweaty from the outdoors shirtless beach volleyball game that afternoon (kidding, if it was true, i would have lost both of my nips fo sho). anyway, gonna charge up the ol turion powered hp when i notice the cord on the charger. ugh...i see metal. no good. after pluggin in the charger to the wall, i stress the cable a bit by gently moving it back and forth. sparks. great. yes, im gonna get to use my iron again! a lil flux and iron later i got dis. now, its ghetto. but it charges up this badboy enough to get my blog on. btw, electrical tape not only is good for wires, but because it is black, you can use it to reattach the plastic casing that you broke removing it to get to the broken wire.

"the trinity? the trinity that cracked the irs d-base?"

"yeah"
"i always thought you were a guy."
"most guys do."

they have to start young, i guess. she is trying to figure out how to use the ipod connector as a way of hacking into the d-base.

who needs a blown speaker, anyway?

so, whilest steve was in town, we last minute like removed his stock radio from his chrysler. and when we reinstalled the new radio, everything was nice but the sound sucked. the front speakers sounded like they were eating ruffles (with super extra ridge crunch) instead of playing music. rears were fine. this was probably due to the age of the speakers (9 years) and that they were in doors that were opened and closed (who knew that would happen?) so we inspected the speakers by removing the speaker panel and the foam connecting the speaker woofer to the surround was completely seperated. this was the cause of the crunchy chip chomp characteristic (aka cccc). result? remove the speaker. problem solved. chrylers have tweeters up front so at least the highs will be up there. mids and lows come from the back. golly, its almost set up like a professionals ride. so then i got the idea, since my neon was doin the same thing (dodge, chrysler...same), i figured itd be just as easy to do mine the same way. ...well, its not. he had bose speakers, which apparantly get sweet and easy grills to remove to inspect speakers....i get a door panel. you ever remove these things? yeah, i done it before. you always end up scratchin the door or your self and broken clips are the norm. so there i am, with a screwdriver and a chizzel pulling with all my strength (towards myself...from a safety stand point michael stolarek would have had a heart attack)...popping clips and thinking that someone should have come up with a better way to put a door panel on a car (hello? weve been doing cars for over a century now!) anyway, cut to the end...i survive without a scratch, and im able to disco my front speakers. hooray for tweeters and rears. put back on the door panel...broke clip. good. couldnt do without that.

repaired, reinforced the rockband drum set pedal

so ive been away. not blogging. but i feel the need to show off. i have been working on projects. here goes...over the next couple posts i will relate what my time has been spent on. first on the list was my rockband drum set. i broke the pedal. heel stomping was the wrong thing to do during faith no more's epic. so now it is repaired with some scrap i had in the garage. was rather easy. 3/8" wood that was 2" wide. i used a nuts and bolts to secure the wood to the original pedal. predrilled and secured. sanded with 150 and 320 grit for extra smoothness. only wish i had had 3" wide wood. the 2" width is slim, and new users would prolly be able to work with it, but it takes some getting used to not let your foot fall to the left or right. the only other improvements would be to fill in the holes so that your heel cant feel them, then to put some sort of etch (like the letter 'J' or something) into the wood and stain it real pretty like. you know, for that professional drummer look.

teh pro job

so for our united way campaign this year, i felt compelled to donate more than the usual per paycheck amount. the company always has a big united way week where we try to give some amount. this year the buy-in was set at $50k. so i decided to go against the grain and donate my time and my l337 sk1llz and offer up 3 hand wash and wax jobs. i expected them to go for $20 each, if they even sold at all. 2 of teh 3 sold. and they went for $50 each. so that was kinda exciting. i raised more money than the dunk tank! so that proves i rock. anyway, i used to be this detailer guy and was gonna go all out and be detailer fo life yo (as i usually do with everything) but things changed and i stopped detailing. but i still got all my equipment...and product--from 1998. so most of my product has seen more season changes than i've seen dirty diapers, but let me tell you...give 'em a good shake, and viola presto--10 year old product still works! So if you hood looks like the hood above, you need wax (i wouldn't recomend 10 yr old wax though...use fresh stuff that hasn't frozen...other wise you may waste your time). that volvo was a 2002 with paint in very good condition, but no wax. water should not look like that on your car. it should bead up and roll off of your hood. anyway, my favorite things to do are tires, rims, and windows. customers immediately tell a difference when they walk up to their car. the tires look freshly bought--and not all slimy from some wet look tire finish that will grab every dust particle it can find and make your tires look gross after a couple days. the rims glow. these shots aren't photoshopped, the rims look that good. lastly, windows. ugh. ok, they suck. nobody NOBODY likes doing windows. they are a pain. you stretch, strain, sweat. it just isn't easy. you keep telling yourself that there has to be a better way to do this. well, there isn't. you just got to bite the bullet. i will give you a secret. i use a towel--perferably not fabric softened. i fold it up, use one side for scrubbing, the other for the final dry. so back to my story, in the end, i felt good, and i got to enjoy some quality time with a coworker, and relive some of my glory days as a pro detailer.

my boy oh boy

mind if i brag a min? my boy has been on fire lately. zero (x3r0) discipline. he has been respectful, listenful, pay-attentionful, good-boyful, good-attitudeful, etcful. i am so proud of him. i had a discussion with my coworker regarding caleb about how it seems that all the stuff that i started working with him on in our townhouse way back in 2005 is finally starting to come around. i mean, its like he is actually trying, if not forcing himself to have a happy heart all the time. he is extra respectful lately. it all started when school started this year. at that time mommy also instituted curfew law. so, either school is helping this somehow, or he really is digging his sleep. he is waking up on his own, so he is getting plenty of sleep. maybe thats what he needed. it sure feels good to come home to a boy who is excited to see you. it hasn't always been like this. we have had some periods of ruff spots. haha--i just thought of something that kind of brought our relationship out of the rocks. earlier this year, as in the whole year up until 3 months ago, we were on the outs. bad attitudes, no listening, disrespect, just a bad deal. enter the ps3. i had downloaded some demo's and allowed caleb to finally play the system. it seemed as if caleb felt allowed to be a part of my life. up until then, he hated rockband. today, he says, 'so dad, you want to play rockband? i'll watch.' its so funny. then i tell him i would rather watch him play one of the demo's, and he says, 'hmm ok.' all serious like. but totally respectful. funny thing is he only plays like a couple days a month, but he totally digs it and it totally helped our relationship. maybe i should email sony. let them know that its a relationship builder.
anyway, love my boy. he comes home today and lets me know he is student of the week. not sure why. he usually comes home and tells me that he got a star at school, and when i ask him what he did well, he shrugs his shoulders and says he doesn't remember. i laugh because you think that you'd remember what you did well so that you could reproduce the result. but not my boy. he got the star and thats all that matters. so, back to student of the week. i guess there is work assigned with it. and it isn't easy. it involves filling in the blanks and family pics and cutouts and stuff. but he came home and got on it on his own. already has 3 of the 7 worksheets done. then he did his homework. he is really impressing me. i am so proud of my boy. he is working hard, and doing it with a great attitude. my boy good at school. must have his mothers brains, and his fathers fiendishly good looks.

104F isn't all that hot

Had some fun this weekend. Fun in the sun. Southern style. With friends. I don't have much to say other than I love this family. I miss them so much. 5 days isn't nearly enough. Anyway, thanks for the pizza on the roof. We miss you. So, I have this pic in my pod at work. Do you know when/where it was taken? Bonus question: What is the model of the camera device the pic was taken with?

Ro and Solo rock out in huge wedding concert!

the Hahn wedding was a huge success. the end result was that ro ended up showing up despite 3:1 odds. so the couple is happily married and off to some island in kentucky. so we all wish them the best. but the best part of the wedding was the impromptu concert that occurred when ro revealed not one, but 2 custom gibson lee harvey guitars to her beloved new husband, solo. they made beautiful music together that included the pop single 'iron man'. what capitalized the big rock ending (bre) was when ro smashed her custom into statue of mona lisa made out of recycled pringles cans. the guitar smashed into a billion pieces. as we appluaded, solo wept whilst ro giggled. quite an ending as everyone joined in for a nice rendition of 'YMCA'.

Gate's Rules On Life

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year rig ht out of high school . You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

So, I like this. I am so against feel good crap. I believe that positive motivation has its place and lifting people up is an important part of life that everyone should partake in--but too much of anything is a bad deal. So, I like this. Its a "get 'r done" message that says work hard, despite how you feel, despite what you deserve, despite how TV says your life should be.

My DFW

I love my new baby. Delaney Faye. Yeah, she is most awesome. she is two weeks old today if I finish this post within 8 minutes. She is amazing. I am already wrapped up by her. I really cherish these times. If she cries, no prob. It won't be long that I will be able to hold her. Caleb grew up so fast. Delaney is already on the train to grow up. I mean, she was just born and I meant to blog about it that day. My little angel. I don't care what anybody says. My little girl is an angel. Some of my co-workers say that she will have wings and horns (because of her gender). Don't care. I look them in the face and smile because I got it bad for my angel. When she nuggets' up (see bottom pic) on my chest and falls asleep, I have all I can do to not cryogenicly freeze us that instant. Maybe then I could stop her from growing up and then she would ALWAYS be daddy's little girl. My Delaney Faye...I love you. And I wanna throw a shout out to my wife, you are a great oven, and I love you! Thanks for giving me my girl. Thank you for giving her all of your time and patience. You are working around the clock. ...UGH! I just looked at the clock and noticed that it is 10 after midnight! DELANEY! 2 weeks and 1 day now?!?!? Will you never stop growing?!??!? Slow down a minute so I can just look into your eyes again. Oh, another shout out. Tonight, I watched a video starring my daughter (ooh, daughter is fun to say!). THANK YOU GLENDA! You are awesome. You never tire of making moments special. Grandma is going to cry. She will love it. We loved it. Thank you! Well, thats it for this blog. Delaney is calling. If anyone knows of any deals going on with cryostasis, let me know.

so i have started writing a book...

watched spiderwick chron on sunday. good time. got teh creative appetite going. so it has begun. my book. full swing. i have pages...er...something...done. i am going against the grain here, because, i am writing this novel in my new phone. i wouldn't even attempt this on the chocolate. but now i have the enV(green and sweet and matches the ford), so i have this keyboard now and i have ms word on my phone. wait. i mean notepad. i get just under 3 sentences writen and i run into the 'exceeds available space' error...whatever that means. all i know is that it won't let me type anymore at that point. so, i have a work around. i save, and start another file. i have 3 files. so, like i said, full swing. this is huge. the phone is actually starting to get heavier with all the files i am adding. so. yeah. novel. wanna know how it ends? borrow my phone.

its coming...soon...and its mean...

Christmas bells ring...
White snow angels sing...
Comcast pwns with a low ping...
My wedding ring is my bling...
Across the room my booger I fling.
Welcome back. No, I am not here to stay. I may update every LONG while, of which I am no longer concerned. But I write in joy of the holiday season...CHRISTMAS. Great tiddings (whatever tidding are?) and joy. A time of pumpkin pies, apple pies, and saturated fat. I wish you all a merry Christmas and may Christ be teh reason for your season! God Bless!

flame orange color with a patch of charcoal

funny stuff. people, that is. people are funny. i dont know what i would do with out people. especially funny people. funny people arent really funny, but rather something else.
sunday was a wash. by all counts i think i was duped. not sure what i expected. but i guess i can chalk it up for a learning experience (isnt that what losers say?). not that there was a loser, like i said, it was a wash. but no matter. i pay no mind. his will be done. it certainly wasnt a bad day.
in other news, im on first shift. that is good news. its been a long time since i saw the red hot sun set into the horizon...from my (moms) house. i love NO overtime. i love salary. i work in a great atmosphere around positive people who are trying to grow themselves everyday. not only that, but they are trying to bring me along for the ride. it is quite an adventure. i am blessed.
lastly, thank you to the 5 faithful visitors that continue to support my blog. the revenue is greatly appreciated and my shareholders are proud of me for bringing you a great blog. ok. honestly. i havent blogged since...well, my blog says monday. so, i guess i am doing good. here i thought i hadn't blogged. ha. here i thought H.Solo had been posting more than i. not so my friend!

fork in the road

a fork in the road is in the distance. i thought i knew the right way. then i got confused. i can see the road ahead, but its foggy. and scary. in fact, the one fork leads along a cliff, i think, and prolly a long rickety bridge. anyway, its much scarier than the other way. im so confused that i scare myself. the final destination is prolly the most important part of deciding which fork to take. on one hand, i have security and longevity, as well as growth. in the other, i have adventure, a close nit, dedicated, and loyal team, as well as growth. is one way better than the other? i cant answer that right now. as i look, though, my eyes have deceived me. it is a bit further away than i thought. what a relief. everything was happening so fast. maybe God will give me clarity. i need that. im just so confused. but, as for now, we can walk together. and talk together. that is how i have made it this far. talk and walk. life together. its our thing. i just pray that i dont screw it all up.

124.6...

...the number of straight time hours i worked this week(in 5 days...lol, there are only 120hrs in a 5 day week). i dont even have time to sleep. all is not lost though. i recently got a promotion to a salary position where there is no overtime. i can not wait to have a life again! may cannot get here soon enough!

im so tird..1.

three doubles in a row..not enogh slepp. must...post..blog....but...cant think strait...blurrryryy

love in romans

17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"says the Lord. 20On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

i think i have been overcome by evil through all of this. thankfully i have people i can count on, and a merciful God, to lead me back to where i aught to be. i am ashamed of myself...b/c i knew better.

"you cant make this stuff up"

michael jackson wants to build a 50' robot that looks like him in the dessert sands of vegas, so that the first thing you see when landing is this huge mike-obot waving with laser beams coming out of its eyes. i love this idea. i would enhance functionality and have it do the moon walk.

listening

im not big into the "well, God told me...". that is a little creepy to me, especially since some use this tactic to get their way with Christians. but God has been speaking to me, through people, and through His Word. and let me tell you, i am understanding His plead with me. romans is awesome. i am going through it for the first time and i am like wow awesome headshot and all that. i am moved to be a better person because of this message. it speaks to me on all kinds of levels. mostly, i need to chill out and seek out God when stuff gets tuff.

this verse in isiah 52 is a shout out to my cuz:

7 How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"

dude, you rock. i love you. thx for your kind words to me. you set a great example.