Almost there...

Okay, a while back I started working on a projector based on using an overhead projector and an LCD panel from an LCD monitor.

After a couple of trials and learning efforts ( and one damaged LCD on the way there :( ), I've got it almost done.

A couple of things still left to do: 1. Try to repair the minor scratch in the OHP glass - noticeable and annoying on the screen. 2. Get a projector screen - the beige wall of my bedroom is working for the time being, but I've got to get better color and image off of a real screen vs. the wall. 3. Figure out a cabinet for this thing - I've got a couple of ideas, but I won't be able to work on those until later on (once I'm in my own place). 4. Minor item of getting the LCD panel more firmly attached to the frame I have built. 5. Minor item of getting the frame I have built more solidly attached to the OHP.

Here are some initial photos, laugh all you want, I'm pretty happy with the results so far.





The beast in action - wondering why I want some sort of cabinet yet? :)









Mario Kart 64 on the wall - sweeeeeeet!











Star Wars Battlefront on the wall - cool!

Social Value Quiz

I took this survey that YSD has on her blog.

I find it interesting that I am a GenXer - I always hated that title for my generation.

It is geared toward the Canucks, so I expect it to be a bit off here and there.



It also says that I am a New Aquarian, whatever that might mean. Some of the items it lists for my group make sense, while others seem silly ("Everything changed in Seattle." - insane and silly, "Respect for education" - right on the freaking mark).

Incidence in Population

• Proportion of Canadian population: 5 per cent
• Proportion of Gen Xers: 14 per cent

Other Demographics

• Mostly mirror the general population

Fundamental Motivations

Social Justice and Experience-seeking

Key Values

• Adaptability - Yes, definitely
  
• Concern for the less fortunate - Yes, definitely
  
• Concern for the environment - Yes, most of the time
  
• Respect for education - Yes
  
• Contempt for traditional authorities - Surprisingly moreso as I get older
  
• Hedonism - well, the description concerning happiness, yes, the description concerning pleasure, not so much
  

Words to Live By

• There is no being, only becoming - quite true, we never really are finished as people, are we?
  
• Everything changed in Seattle - no freaking way
  
• No justice, no peace - I agree, without the violence this statement suggests
  

Icons

• Singer Sarah McLachlan - umm, I'm sure I know her stuff, but umm, I really can't put my finger on it
  
• Author Naomi Klein - who?
  
• Singer/activist Jello Biafra - again, who?
  
• Rap-metal group Rage Against the Machine - yep
  
• Author/activist John Zerzan - who?
  
• Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar - umm, NO...
  
• Dead Prez - I'm thinking I don't know these folks
• I guess what I'm saying is that I have little in common or touch with the "pop" culture of my age group
  

Money Orientation - This is all basically on the mark for me

Making it: I'd never do work I didn't believe in. Spending it: When I must consume at all, I consume with conscience. Saving it: I'm not saving much now, but when I do I'll call the shots. Stealing it: No, thanks. Giving it away: Environmental and social causes.

Representation...

The following quotes are from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from June 20th:

Jon Stewart: "The country is run by extremists because moderates have shit to do."

How amazingly true. Funny, but true. Unfortunately, the only way for a moderate to change this is to become an extremist...:(

Juliet Eilperin, talking about Town Hall meetings: "...and I've gone to plenty of them, people who are crazy show up there."

Not a good indictment of American politics or our most vocal people. Ever notice that the squeeky wheel get's the grease? I guess us pragmatic moderates need to squeek a little more...

Later in the interview, this exchange:

JS: "So you choose to focus on the raping and pillaging of the environment rather than government politics because, uh..."

JE: "I find it less depressing."

A blast so funny I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. Funny in the most horrific and terrible way possible. It truly is sad.

Ms. Eilperin wrote a book called "Fight Club Politics". I'm not sure I like the reach in the title, but I may check it out at the local bookstore. I'm sure it won't tell me anything incredibly new or shocking, but it may provide some insight beyond some of the gut feelings that I have about our current political system (it doesn't give us a "representative" government - probably not the most shocking revelation to anyone reading this blog, but it's one of those things that needs to be said "out loud").

Road Closed to Thru Traffic

Okay, this is a rant and I am trying to be nice about it.

How many times have you seen the sign in road construction orange that say "Road Closed to Thru Traffic"? How many times have you gone ahead and driven through anyway?

What this sign means is - if you don't live or have business (shopping, friends house, etc) in the construction zone behind the sign - don't go in there. Flat out, point blank, don't effing go in there. There is a reason the signs are up, there is a danger to you or the construction crews if you continue.

FISHTABs and FIB's have a tendency to think there is no reason for this construction, and what the f* are the orange signs and barrels anyway? They seem to be in my path, well, I'll just drive around, I'm sure nothing bad will happen.

Right as they completely f*up about 2-3 hours worth of work for 8 guys (think about it people, that's 2-3 days worth of man hours!!!! 1 day is worth about $250 - no it isn't much when taken out of the big "state" pot, but how about we take it out of your wallet?)

Now the emotional plea to those who know me - imagine it is me in every construction zone and SLOW THE FUCK DOWN! Going past me at 60 MPH is not a big deal to me when I have a nice concrete barrier between your car and me. Going past me at 60 MPH within less than a foot of me and no barrier scares me! Please don't do it, I don't like being scared for my life! Would it be alright if I drove a 4000 pound vehicle through your office when you are just trying to make a decent living?

Thanks

Cleaning up the PVR

You know, I had this goal when I built my PVR: Record every CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ever made (yes, only the Las Vegas one, the other spin-offs bore me).

I was stunned today when I got done cleaning the PVR off. I have actually recorded a majority of them at this point. I believe I have something like 7 more episodes from Season 1, about 17 from Season 2 and a bunch from this last season (6) because I got the PVR running in the middle of the season. I have 100 episodes on DVD at this point, in the PVR format of .nuv, 2 at a time, organized from Episode 1 thru 140 (with some obvious gaps listed above). I also have about 10 still sitting on the machine waiting on their "partner" or second numerical episode to be recorded so I can record them on DVD's and keep them organized. Note: The .nuv format does not work in a DVD player, but I have encoder software that I can use if I ever need to. The .nuv format just hides the .avi format.

I also had a crapload of 2-1/2 Men that I just went ahead and nuked (while I love the show, it is also just a sitcom), a bunch of The Outer Limits (favorite of the Sci Fi/Fantasy freak shows), a couple of Twilight Zones (just don't like as much as the Limits), and some of the new BSG.

Speaking of BSG, you have to be careful about telling your PVR/Tivo to record ALL episodes of BSG. You get the campy old 70's version episodes. I used to love that show, now it is an irritant. It, for whatever reason, is nothing compared to the new show. (Well, I can name FIVE reasons for me: Kandyse McClure, Tricia Helfer, Katee Sackhoff, Leah Cairns and Grace Park. ;-) That is one FINE looking cast!).

I really like my PVR...it let's me actually watch the Daily Show (I am usually trying to fall asleep when it comes on).

Second interview

Well, the company I interviewed with a few weeks ago over lunch contacted me to meet them again this morning. A second interview. I think it went well. I didn't have any negative vibes from the guy who is the head of structural engineering for this company. I actually liked the guy quite a bit. Honest, straight-shooter, asked me direct questions about my 6 years that kind of disappear off of my resume - my "party and figuring out what the heck I'm going to do with my life" 6 years. He had initial concerns about why I had left it off, but I was honest and upfront and he felt much better after our discussion. I'm not trying to hide anything, it's just I'm not too proud of those specific years of my life. He said, "It's a good thing people don't judge us on just a few moments in our lives." I tend to agree.

And honesty was his word...those of you who know me know how much that means to me...

Side note: Actually, C, some of his mannerisms reminded me of a certain male parental unit that lives somewhere to the northwest of here in Montana - kind of scary, some of the same twitches, etc, but a much nicer guy.

They said that they will make a decision for sure in the next two weeks. That might be stretching the truth a little bit (they took almost 3 weeks to just get us to meet a second time after they decided they wanted a second interview). But if they do, I'll know by the end of this month, I'm sure.

I sure hope they pick me (I don't know how much competition there is or even if there is competition). I really think I could do well in their environment. Constant challenges, constant learning...and one more comment that this guy I met today made that makes me really think it will be a challenge - he said, "Building codes are for rectangular buildings and idiots." Basically, this means that many of the buildings that they design are outside the basic realm of the code, making them the kind that you have to roll around in your head a bit, even before you start analyzing them mathematically...very coooool!

Wish me luck - I really want this job!

Finito

I finished the paperwork for the bridge project I did last summer. Finally. Today is exactly one year to the day that the project started. Kind of fitting, I would say.

If the knuckleheaded contractor had done things when I told them about them, I would have been done in December of last year...oh, well. Do the work where the most penalty is involved...or the most reward...that's the contractor's motto.

Big day on Thursday...I'll say more Thursday night.

Bored tonight, I guess, this is the last one...:)

Your Eyes Should Be Blue

Your eyes reflect: Innocence and sweetness What's hidden behind your eyes: A calculating mind

What Color Should Your Eyes Be?

Tarot

I've played with these cards before, never really seemed all that intriguing. Seemed like it was a game of mirrors and figuring out what the other person (the person shuffling the cards) was trying to get a read on, and flowing to make it a happy ending...entertainment for $5, you know?

Plus, as this one shows me, it is so generic and vague that I could almost plant anyone in this description.

And yet, I find this one pretty cool...weird, huh?

You Are The Emperor

You are an authority figure, and other people look to you for what to do. You are strong and powerful. Crossing you is not a good idea. You have worked hard to get to your position, and you're not about to give it up to anyone. Though you have a warrior heart, you are gentle to those who treat you well. Your fortune: In the near future, you need to be willing and able to defend those you love. This may be the time for you to step up and be the authority figure to those around you. It is time for you to be independent, to become your own person. You may need to look at your relationship with your father, or your relationships as a father.

What Tarot Card Are You?

My best co-worker...

has a sick sister. She's going to die. Soon. And very young. Terminal cancer, like my uncle and aunt. Evil f*cking disease.

I could sense something was wrong today, he wasn't as snarky as usual.

After he left for the day, my dad told me what was going on. Asked me to ease up a bit on him for a while.

I think the reason he and I get along so well is that he can be as nasty as he wants to be with me and I'll shoot right back. Basically someone you know you can trust to be honest with you, even when it sucks because you did something stupid and need to fix it.

I respect him, and it feels mutual.

I hope he's doing okay...

Old rule, reiterated loudly and firmly

Warning to anyone offended by discussions of body hair: Stop reading after "...cage." TMI

Okay, here's the deal. I love pets, I really do. But one of the reasons I don't have one is that they shed. A lot. And then you have to vacuum. And then they shed some more. Then you give up and deal with the tufts of hair left everywhere. I remember this from my cat.

Old Rule, more loudly and firmly: Pets with any kind of hair or feathers are not welcome in the passenger compartment of my new car. It's going to be bad enough cleaning up my own silver/white hair off of the black upholstery, I don't need to be fighting trying to get Fido's or Fifi's (or even a Fizzy's - sorry C & C :) ) hair off of it as well. I just spent the better part of the last hour trying to clean up the upholstery in it today (key word in that last sentence is "trying").

In a cage/box in the bed of my old truck or trunk of the new car = okay. Passenger compartments of either = no good, even in a cage.

You know, with as hairy as I am, you'd think I wouldn't mind the extra hair laying around. Problem is, I think my own shedding is gross enough, having a hairy animal around just multiplies the problem.

My "new to me" car...

That's my new car, with my old truck in the background...any guesses as to which one gets the better gas mileage? :) But then, which one could pull the other? :) Cool, now I've got multipurpose vehicular motion machines when I use them together! :)
--------
I have "Blade" on the TV next to me. One of my favorite quotes from the movie:

Blade: "It's still heavy."

Whistler: "But you're so big."

Warning: Rant ahead...

Okay, I've gotta vent about something.

1st off, let me be clear, I support education very much. I've spent 21 of my 35 years in school of some sort. Yes, 60% of my life in a school, I like education.

2nd off, I do have a bit of an interest in what I am about to rant about, paycheck-wise at my current place of employment.

Those are so you can see that there are other motivating factors outside of my rant.

Here goes:

Wisconsin has a gas tax. Everybody pays an extra $0.26 per gallon. Yes, this hurts when the gas prices go up. But if you think about it really hard, the percentage of taxes paid on each gallon actually drops for every penny the price of gasoline goes up.

Where does that money go, you might ask? Well, it is earmarked for transportation projects. Yep, the gas tax here in Wisconsin is a good old-fashioned "user" tax. You drive on the roads with a gas hogging truck like I do, you pay for it. You drive a little car, you pay for the roads. I think it's fair, almost like a toll-way, you just only have to stop every 400 miles (or so) instead of every 10 ft.

Well, that's where the money is SUPPOSED to go. But then you get a short-sighted governor in office trying to be a "hero". First, he gets the state senate and assembly to rescind the legal 3% annual increase in the gas tax (no huge deal, but it's short sighted, and he's not saving us anything). Second, he takes $420 million of the annual transportation budget and hands it to his buddies in education (the education lobbyists basically got him elected).

Now, I want you to think about something here. How do roads get built? What about maintained? Well, they don't just magically get fixed, let me tell you. There are men and women working their behinds off trying to keep up with demand. There are also lots of machines working too. Guess what they run on? Diesel fuel, most of them. Okay, can anyone guess what might be happening to bids from contractors this year? Through the effing roof, all the way through the effing roof.

What is hot mix asphalt made of? You guessed it, asphaltic concrete cement and stone. Asphaltic concrete cement is a fancy word for "oil". Can anybody guess what has happened to the price of hot mix asphalt this summer? I just talked with one of our clients on Wednesday. 137% increase in asphalt costs this summer. From $218 per ton (approximate) last year to $516 per ton (approximate) this year. 2.5 miles of two lane county road (which requires about 4" thick of asphalt, more major roads take much more asphalt) take approximately 9000 tons of HMA to build. You do the math.

Can anyone say "oh, shoot"?

So, in summary, the WisDOT has less money to pay for more expensive stuff going on. From water-cooler talk over at the region I work with a lot, they are approximately 2 years behind in budget at this point, and it's only getting worse (borrowing from 2009 budget soon to pay for this year's projects). The extra $420 million would have been a big help to get through some of the rough patches. If we aren't careful, WisDOT might want to declare bankruptcy.

Sorry, Democrats out there, but Doyle has got to go. I understand that education is important as much as the next guy, but so is our freaking infrastructure. And if we keep losing sight of the infrastructure, we are in some seriously deep doo-doo. How much is a school worth if you can't even get to it?

I'm gonna get a new caa-ar!

I talked with the friend that is selling me her Toyota a bunch of times today. Getting everything setup for the payment and the delivery.

My 'rents are soooo cool, they're driving me down to Chico-town so I can pick it up on Sunday.

I'm getting pretty excited/nervous.

Unfortunately, there will be some wait time (Illinois department of transportation sucks, as if you didn't know that already).

But it will be worth it in the end. This car sure seems solid, drove well, and is a fair bargain. I should be happy with it for at least 5-6 years until I am in a house of my own (my next major purchase, wish me luck).

Yesterday

was spent standing next to a hot mix asphalt paver. I am so glad I went to get my master's degree, so I can stand and take tickets all day long, multiply and divide a couple of numbers together. Bored to freaking tears...

Plus, that smell, what a wonderful scent that hot mix asphalt gives off. Kind of an oily sulfur, you just can't get it out of your cloths. My cloths will smell like that for about 3 or 4 washes from now...

On the bright side, it is out of the office and away from the stresses there.

Titles

Okay, I watch "2 and a half Men" on CBS. I don't like most sitcoms, but this one hooked me almost immediately (again, with the seeing the friend and myself very vividly in the show - D is Charlie, myself - Alan or sometimes Jake and sometimes actually Charlie ;)). Yes, it is incredibly sophomoric and idiotic and crass and base and all of the wonderful things you can say about this show.

But the thing that throws me is that I never paid attention to the actual episode titles until I got my PVR up and running (MythTV records the episode titles, cool).

Okay, now how do these sound? Please note, all are quotes from during the show...

"Carpet Burns and a Bite Mark"
"Santa's Village of the Damned"
"That Pistol-Packin' Hermaphrodite"
"Just Once With Aunt Sophie"
"And the Plot Moistens"
"Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Burro"
"Humiliation is a Visual Medium"
"Golly Moses, She's a Muffin"

While the titles are NICE, the complete quotes work much better in context.

GOP and their political meanderings...

Okay, I'm going to put my little two cents in here. And all at the risk of sounding incredibly stupid or dumb, because I know I don't have all the answers.

Let me present this as I am, a straight single white male. I will also say that I am a moderate, usually leaning toward pragmatic. I also voted for the incompetent prez in office, but then I felt at the time that Kerry was the worst of the two evils (please, GOP or Democrats, bring me a good presidential candidate in the next election).

The GOP keeps bringing up this sonuvabitching marriage amendment, basically defining marriage as 1 Man and 1 Woman right in the Constitution. I honestly have only one major argument against this: This entire thing seems to be a CULTURAL issue. There have been polls taken and somewhere in the neighborhood of 70% of people support this amendment. Now, this is one of those statements that will get me called stupid or dumb, I am ASSUMING that even as short a time as 10 years ago, this would have been 80% or 90%. That is why I call this a cultural issue. The Gay and Lesbian "agenda" has been one of education, from what I can see. They are only trying to teach us straight folks one thing, and it's pretty simple really. Outside of their sexuality, they are just like a straight person. They eat, sleep, shit, wear cloths, need health care, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah. Guess what? They're right. They don't deserve special rights, but they do deserve the same exact rights that a straight person deserves. More succintly, they deserve the same rights that ANY HUMAN deserves. And, from my point of view, thank goodness that they're finally educating the rest of us (too bad they have to spend their time fighting/educating us instead of spending it enjoying themselves living life).

Can anybody name another CULTURAL amendment that was ever passed? Can anyone say PROHIBITION? Is it just me, or was that a bit of a miss in our thought process back in the day?

Now, marriage. What exactly is it? Well, from what I can see of it, it represents two different things to people (yes, I am oversimplifying things, so bear with me). One, from a religious standpoint, it is a PROMISE (church legal) to stay together until death do you part. Umm, okay, so outside of your own morals, there is nothing too brutal happening here. Religon is supposedly seperated from state, so if there is a religon out there that will support gay marriage, shouldn't be a problem for anyone else from a different religon if two gay people want to get married (because it's none of the other folks f*cking business, thank you very much). Two, from the legal standpoint. This one gets a bit sticky, but I don't see where the problem is here either. Two people, LEGALLY married, well, they are attached in so many ways, you can't describe them all here. Who are they bothering when they do this? Heck, if anything, we get to tax them more (marriage tax penalty), so it increases our federal revenue. I'm all for that, being single and all! :) And it kills another bird by allowing them to get proper health care without having to look for the progressive employers out there.

I guess what I'm saying is that a Constitutional amendment is the completely wrong thing to do right here. From my point of view, so is a law written by a state or other entity to ban gay marriages. But if that is what the majority thinks is what we need, that is what they need to try to impose, because a law is more easily changeable. Soooooo, long story short...

What the f*ck good is this going to do for all of the other issues this nation is facing? We are involved in an unpopular war (yes, it is still a WAR, even though end of "major hostilities" has been declared by our incompetent U.S. prez), there are a sh*tload of homeless folks, our economy is strong but showing signs of getting into trouble, hate crimes are still rampant, health costs are out of control, domestic abuse is still out there, so on, so forth, etc. Can we please try to tackle something that will actually help someone other than the extreme religious schmuck who thinks that the USA is causing God to bring the end times down on us because our gays are getting married? WTF!?!?!

And on a personal note: I never liked the Senator from my home state, Russ Feingold much. That is until he walked out of the committee hearing on bringing this issue to the floor. I know it was probably a bit grandstandish, but to have the balls to step out and basically say "F*ck this, this is a waste of time to even discuss" impresses the hell out of me. That's a couple of good things he's done lately...

Congratulations!

Well, C officially graduated today, with a great group of people and friends. Congratulations all!!!

Okay, I'm a bit misty-eyed today. Yes, some are joyous tears, others are tears of, hmm, what's the right word? I guess the right bunch of words is "I'm going to miss seeing you in person."

I hope my father is wrong about one of his sayings. It goes something like this: "We all get busy, so take the chances to see your (insert term of endearment here, such as friend, brother, sister, lover) when you get them. Because you'll get busy and we won't see each other anymore."

When you entered C's life and touched it, you inadvertantly touched mine. Sometimes in dramatic fashion. You have taught me lessons that I never could have learned anywhere else. You shared with me.

Thank you.

Wow, what a week...

If you look at my last post, it says it got posted on Monday, May 29. Well, that's actually when I started to write it, so to be honest, I just posted it today.

Tuesday, I get to work, and am immediately sent out to Walworth county here in WI for a quick little setup visit. I really don't like contractors that call on Friday afternoon before a long weekend and expect you to be somewhere 2 hours away right away on Monday morning (especially when you leave for the day on Friday at noon). Not cool, so that was a stressful day.

Wednesday, I had a great meal at C's parental unit's house, visiting with his sister and two nieces. Very cool. I got mugged again (K gives great hugs :)). And K and L have this little sibling rivalry thing going on, so they showered me with lots of attention and game playing (I am nowhere near as good at "pretending" as I used to be, bummer).

Thursday was the same old, same old.

Friday, I got "sick" and visited with another possible new employer. Actually, I was a bit sick, but it probably wasn't enough to keep me home normally. They kind of ticked me off, because they cannot hire right now, and quite honestly, I'm not sure I would want to work there right now. You see, the old head guy, that I was kind of counting on being there, has left their company. They are in that "transition" phase, so it could get kind of ugly in that specific office over the next year or so.

Saturday, well, it was pretty freaking eventful. I went and looked at a friend's car that she was trying to sell. A nifty little Toyota Corolla. I am very excited, I decided to get it. She had a mechanic give it the "once over", I looked at pretty much every nook and cranny myself (looking for leaks is very important in a used car), I took it for a test drive and well, as they say, the rest is history. It will be mine here in a week or so when she and I can get our stuff together and meet so I can actually take possession of the vehicle.

Saturday was also the "last" poker party for the ML group of folks that I will probably attend (I say probably because "ever" is too long a time, something might come up). I lost money to these people (AGAIN - I never thought these ministerial types were thieves, but then, only the Eviscerator was actually a ministerial type at the table, the rest were partners of ministerial types - hmm, you ministerial types might want to watch your wallets :) you are in love with thieves!!! :) ).

Today, I went and picked up my 'rents at the airport. The airline lost their luggage...NICE!