Saturday, May 30, 2009

LION STOUT

SWEET WATER'S 420

ROGUE'S MOCHA PORTER

Friday, May 29, 2009

SILLY SILLY STRING

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

QUOTE OF THE DAY

From my rubbernecking 5 year old:
"...and there is a big, fat policeman "

EAST BEND, NC

Ask me to find East Bend, NC in a map today and I still wouldn't be able to find it. Regardless, that's where I spent last Saturday with Becky and the boys. Becky's annual family reunion and we had a great time. Food was incredible!!!

My Plate

Becky's plate

Her grandparents have an incredible place where they grow their own blueberries and a variety of other awesome plants and flowers.

Purple Iris

Rabbit Tobacco
My favorite was Rabbit Tobacco.

Among the highlights of the trip were the awesomely old-fashioned Model-T her family used deliver goods in the olden days.

Model-T

Model-T

The dilapidated, abandoned Plymouth which belonged to Becky's great-grandfather and which I wanted to bring home.

Plymouth

and the equally dilapidated and abandoned spooky house her grandmother grew up.

House

And trust me, it might not look spooky in the picture but it was! even in broad daylight!!

SARANAC'S ADIRONDACK LAGER

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Monday, May 25, 2009

MICHELOB'S SHOCK TOP

PETE'S WICKED ALE

MICHELOB'S DUNKEL WEISSE

Javier

Saturday, May 23, 2009

YUENGLING'S BLACK & TAN

Javier

MAGIC HAT'S NOTION (SUMMER 09)

Javier

McSORLEY'S IRISH PALE ALE

Javier

MAGIC HAT'S WACKO

Javier

MAGIC HAT'S LUCKY CAT

Javier

Friday, May 22, 2009

RANDOM QUOTE OF THE DAY

Two random quotes I've heard that stuck in my head... one today (ethics) and one via text from Becky a few days ago.

On a voice mail message: "Have an Ethical day"

From a 4 year old child to his mother: "First you get a lighter, then you pick up some weeds, then you light them on fire and smoke them..."

MAINTENANCE PROBLEM FIXED

Only a day after I bitched about my shower curtain rod not being fixed I walked in to find this little gift along with a brand new, morbidly chrome shower curtain rod.

Shower Curtain Work Order

Thursday, May 21, 2009

LOST ARG

Photobucket

Do any of you guys follow Lost? If you don't, you should... well, you should spend the rest of the year buying or renting the first 5 seasons to catch up for the final season coming up in 2010.

I hated when this season ended but it was the greatest cliffhanger since the revolutionaries crashed the royal wedding of Amanda Carrington to Prince Michael of Moldavia. Becky, myself and countless other Lostites were crushed and left wondering what to do for a Lost fix until 2010.

Thankfully, while browsing through Lostpidia I found that a new ARG is in the making. I have not been able to participate in the past three Lost related ARGs (The Lost Experience, Find 815 and The Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project. I am excited cuz this time I was able to catch the game as it is starting and plan to follow it through.

Below is a brief synopsis of the article. Unfortunately I cannot access Twitter or Youtube from work so I will have to start when I get home.

"It appears that the ARG between seasons five and six is already heating up -- this time on the new social networking site Twitter. A mysterious video posted by The Lost Experience YouTube channel directed users to the Twitter account of Simeon Hobbes, a mysterious person whose Tweets have mostly revolved around pleas to Jacob, though one Tweet references the fall of Widmore's stocks as "karma." Hobbes (whose Twitter avatar is the eye of Horus) has also directed fans toward Twitter user Epithet Alpha, whose words sound very Egyptian. Is this another ARG? It certainly seems so, though there is still the chance that it may be unofficial".

MAINTENANCE ISSUES... AGAIN

My apartment complex has a very robust site in which you can do a variety of cool things. Amongst them the ability to submit maintenance issues online. If you recall I posted about my shower curtain rod not being long enough cuasing the curtain to fall mid-shower.

Well, on May 14, I submitted a maintenance request to fix it.

Photobucket

Later that day I received an automated confirmation email:

"Maintenance Request Summary Info
ID: 153688
Date Submitted: 05/14/2009
Priority: Low
Work Order Status: Open
Problem: Good evening and sorry to bug you again...

The shower rod which my shower curtain hangs does not seem to be long enough or correctly anchored to the wall. Every time I shower or go near the curtain the rod comes crashing down which is rather problematic mid-shower.

Can you please replace the shower curtain rod?

Thanks,
javier

Problem Overview
Type of Problem: Plumbing(Bathtub Shower -- Other)
Location of Problem: Master Bathroom
Problem Description: Good evening and sorry to bug you again... The shower rod which my shower curtain hangs does not seem to be long enough or correctly anchored to the wall. Every time I shower or go near the curtain the rod comes crashing down which is rather problematic mid-shower. Can you please replace the shower curtain rod? Thanks, javier

Location
Property: ANDOVER WOODS
Building Name: 01
Resident Information
Permission To Enter: Yes
Unit: 0612
Name: Javier Mejia
Daytime Phone: 800-450-9967
Evening Phone: 704-430-1382
Email Address: mejiajav@gmail.com
Pets: N/A
Contact Information
Office: (704) 554-8370
Fax: (704) 554-0365


A week later, still no sign of the maintenance man or the office... sigh...

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

SOCCER CLINIC WEEK 3



shes definitely getting the hang of it.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

MAGIC HAT No. 9

MICHELOB HOP HOUND

TADPOLE HUNTING

On Sunday Becky and I took the kids tadpole hunting near her house. It was rainy, cold, muddy and miserable... the perfect combination for a great time!

We ended up soaked, covered in mud and with a few bumps and cuts but walked away with a bunch of tadpoles, two bug-boxes filled with earthworms and even a minnow.

Catching Tadpoles

Tadpole Huntingt

Even "Bob", the Snapping Turtle made a cameo.

Bob

Monday, May 18, 2009

The REGULATORS

Starting The Regulators tonight

Unfortunately, her kicks still need some work...

Fabi has soccer practice on Wednesdays. Her bear walk is flawless.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

PROGRESS

Well, I found that the spray adhesive isn't 100% effective with some of the CD cutouts I plan to use. Some of the edges, especially when the design rounds s concern, come unglued. In my estimation it has to do with the thickness and type of paper (cardboard?) used on CD inserts.

I will be unable to continue working on the CDs chair until I get the polyurethane. To seal and protect all the shit that I'm pasting on the chairs I am going to use several coats of polyurethane.

With that said I moved right on to the beer labels chair since beer labels are thinner and absorb the adhesive better. I made great progress yesterday in the span of a couple of hours.

I covered most of the top and finished one leg

beer labels chair

Beer labels chair from top view

I am very pleased with how the chairs are turning out. I should have all four finished in a couple of weeks.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

A CABINET OF CURIOSITIES

Must get this!

A Cabinet of Curiosities

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Monday, May 11, 2009

DINING ROOM SET

I was finally able to get my dining room set into my apartment this weekend. I bought the run-down table and chairs at the flea market several months ago. I immediately fell in love with the table which is the whole inspiration for my music themed dining room.

Tabletop

One of the albums, the only one I actually recognized is by none other than Eric Carmen (sorry for the Wikipedia link, his site seems to be down). I really didn't recognize any of the other artists and I've not gotten around to researching.

There are only two chairs in the pic below cuz the other two are being worked on in the balcony... we'll get to that later.

With only two chairs

Anyway, I wasn't very thrilled with the chairs. Originally they had this bright, nasty yellow paint and simply seemed much more damaged than the table (which was pretty damaged to start with). Ultimately Becky convinced me to buy them and refurbish them somehow.

Since then we've thrown several ideas around which ranged from just painting them with cool a la Ed Hardy vintage tattoo designs to replacing them with new chairs. Ultimately, we decided to peel a bunch of beer and wine labels and cover the chairs with them. We've been peeling and collecting labels for several months and we finally have enough for two chairs. About a month ago, I decided to use all my old CD sleeves for this project (instead of just using them to clutter my living room). I started snipping all the artwork from my CDs which will now be used to decorate every inch of the two remaining chairs.

Seat

legs

I started this one which so far only has a few cut outs attached. After the entire chair is covered I will throw a waterproof polyurethane to seal everything together.

I am starting to take measurement for the walls so I can begin putting the album covers, vinyl albums and CDs on the wall. Hopefully I'll have it all done by the weekend!