My mom, niece and I went to Key West to scatter my sisters ashes. It turned out pretty well. We were relieved to finally honor her wishes. We were only there a few days but we managed to have a good time all things considered.
Sunset from the boat we Chartered
Me on the beach enjoying the weather
Some dolphins we saw from the boat
Chickens have free rein in Key West
My niece at My Blue Heaven restaurant
Still life taken at My Blue Heaven
One of the buskers/street performers we saw at Mallory Square Dock
The roosters crow constantly. They just don’t know what time it is
They were tearing down this old motel. I liked the googie signage
Sort of a generic pastel post card picture
You can check out more photos of our trip.
Technorati Tags: beach, key west, Ocean, paradise, travel, vacation
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I had an opportunity to tour the Capital Theater in Flint today. As I spent a fair amount of time there as a angsty teen I was curious about what had happened to the place. It was basically decorated in post apocalyptic style when I wasted away my formative years and it has not improved in the interim. I enjoyed the afternoon and ventured into a room or two I missed back in the hall show era. It was hard getting the photos to come out because it was so dark in there. My flash was no match for the unyielding emptiness. It was also difficult for me to focus the lens in the dark but I think I got some decent shots anyway. The whole set is available in my Flickr photos.
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I haven’t built anything lately. I am planning on working on some furniture projects soon and will post them later. Lately I have been taking photos. I went on a little camping trip to the north western lower peninsula here in Michigan. Here are some of my photos:
Check out more on Flickr
Yesterday a friend of a friend of mine played at an outdoor concert in Mott Park up in Flint. I used it as an opportunity to practice taking photos of live performers. I need some work getting the flash to work right as well as some other things but I think it was good experience.
Check out more on Flickr
Technorati Tags: beach, flint, lake michigan, michigan, road trip, summer vacation, up north
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I attended a rally in DC on the 26th. It was about the Military Commissions Act that congress passed last year. It is a really bad and unconstitutional law. If you do not know about it you should really find out immediately. The law makes a mockery of our bill of rights. For one thing it gives the President the right to declare someone an enemy combatant and place them in a prison cell for ever with no trial. It denies the right of habeas corpus which is really a cornerstone of our freedom and dates back to the Magna Carta.
In order to get to the rally I spent about 12 hours on a bus from Detroit. It left around midnight and I presumed we would sleep during the ride. The sleep did not happen as the bus was cramped and my seat did not recline. Not to mention the foul smell from the chemical toilet in the back of the bus. But we made it there and arrived just as the rally started.
During the rally I took these photos:
I missed Senator Leahy’s speech though I did see him in the hallway outside his office. He has been one of the biggest critics of the Military Commisions Act. I might have spoken to him but he was moving pretty fast and his entourage would have probably tackled me anyway. I heard most of the other speakers including some who were survivors of torture. I got these shots of Kucinich and Dodd who were the only presidential candidates who attended.
Later we spoke with Senator Carl Levin and Stabenow as well as an underling of Sander Levin. I was only really impressed by Carl Levin. He seemed to be the most genuinely concerned about the problem. It was disappointing though to hear him talk about the strategy to get a bill through Congress. I think that I can tell his heart is in the right place. But it is clear that, even if you are well intentioned and even if you are dealing with matters of great import like people’s lives and our basic freedom’s, getting things done in government is really treated like a game.
The whole trip was pretty arduous. A long sweaty uncomfortable ride there. Then rushing from the rally to the offices of the Congressman. And then a long sweaty uncomfortable ride home. At least I was able to snag a seat that reclined on the way home. The ACLU people were very nice and the ACLU leadership thanked us for our time and assured us we made a difference. At least I tried.
Technorati Tags: ACLU, Carl Levin, Day of Action, Dodd, Habeas Corpus, Kucinich, Protest, Senator Leahy, Stabenow, Washington DC
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I got a Sony A100 Digital SLR and have been taking some photos. I have been experimenting with digital infrared. I know these are not that great so far but if you want to see more, check out my flickr page.
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I got this new TV for myself. The 36″ tube TV I have been using was too big and heavy. It was crushing my danish modern tv stand. The new Hitachi 42″ Plasma really ties the room together.
I am still streaming recorded TV signals, movies, etc from my MythTV PVR and server through my modded XBOX using XBOX Media Center. I have not upgraded my Myth box nor my Satellite TV service for HD programming. It doesn’t seem worth it since I don’t watch many new shows.
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Click Here to See the Restoration Process!
I have basically finished my resto-mod of an original 1981 Atari Centipede game. It was a wreck when I bought it and it was basically gutted. It now plays hundreds of arcade and console games using MAME and other emulators. I am in the “beta-testing” phase of the project and may have a few people over soon for an inaugural celebration.
Click Here to See the Restoration Process!
Technorati Tags: Atari, Centipede, Classic Arcade Game, emulators, M.A.M.E., Mame
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The barn behind my house has been seriously overcrowded for a long time. Since I have no basement or garage I use it for my workshop and also for storage. I wanted to buy some more woodworking tools so I added an 5′x12′ addition to store my lawnmower and that kind of stuff. I decided to make it a seperate building with a shared wall. I did not want to take up wall space with a doorway between the buildings.
I think it turned out pretty good. I wanted it to have plenty of light and did not want to run electric to it so I made the roof and side windows out of corrugated PVC panels.
This is the first photo I took of the building process. This about the third day of the project. This photo shows the floor joists resting on concrete foundation blocks. It took a couple days to clear the brush back there, level the ground and dig for the concrete piers.
This one shows the walls framed and sheathing applied.
The roof framed. I had the most trouble cutting the bird’s mouth openings that fit on top of the walls.
The completed siding and trim.
A view from the side before paint. It is hard to get a good photo of the and board and batten style trim since it is so close to the fence.
Here is the other side.
Here is one more photo of the finished product.
Technorati Tags: Addition, DIY, Modern, Shed
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I finished this a while back but did not get around to posting photos until today. I was waiting because the room this piece is in needs to be repainted. I don’t think I will get around to doing this for a while so here are a few quick shots. I may put up better ones later.
The goal of this project was to modify an existing unit Jen had bought a few years ago from Ikea and make it hide a lot of clutter and fit our decor better. I made the colored doors and bins to fit the existing openings and painted them to match the colors we are using in our living room/dining room area. Jen uses the dining room for sewing and I wanted a place to hide all the notions and whatnot when she was not using them.
Here you see one of doors open. I used the same pivot hinges I used on my danish modern wall system. This project also called for inset doors and I like these hinges.
The top row of doors has these cork bulletin boards recessed into them.
The bottom row are actually bins. I wanted them to look the same as the doors when they were closed. I really like the shape of the handle opening.
Technorati Tags: Colorful, Cube, Furniture, Furniture Design, Ikea, Mid Century Modern, Modern Furniture, MSM, Storage
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I bought this the other day for $40. I have been working on a MAME arcade emulator project and have decided to house it in here.
I created a work log for this project in which I will post info about my progress.
Technorati Tags: Atari, Centipede, Classic Arcade Game, emulators, M.A.M.E., Mame, Restoration
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