Reckless Rick For The Win

The next painting

2009-04-05T06:52:00.000-07:00

When I feel the urge to paint again, who do you think I should paint? I want to do a guitar gods collection so I would like to paint SRV, Clapton, and Hendrix in there. They will all be in the style that I did the John Mayer one in, highlights of white on a pure black backdrop.

Who next?

If you have any good pictures of the afformentioned players, let me know.

How is that working out for you?

2009-03-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

I saw this on a car the other day when I was out... and it was a girl
driving ha!

The John Mayer Painting is done!

2009-03-14T15:46:00.000-07:00

It's done! Only about 10 hours or so. The original image is 24" x 36", I wanted to make it big enough to make a print for my wall.

Check it out

or here

Preview

2009-03-08T08:50:00.001-07:00

Here is a preview of the newest painting I'm working on. This is just the sketch layer, the very start of a long process... I think it'll be great when it's done.

For those of you who know me, one guess who it is......... yup, Alec Baldwin.

More contests

2009-02-24T18:40:00.001-08:00

Here is a contest I'm in, really fun one too!

http://99designs.com/contests/18247/designers/243236

Don't forget to tell your friends about http://www.blackpowderdesign.com

The image

2009-02-19T09:49:00.001-08:00

Did this work? I was able to get the tail end of the converted ambulance...
But did it upload from my phone... We shall see.

Convert an ambulance today!

2009-02-19T09:43:00.001-08:00

I just saw a converted ambulance... It was converted into a fast print
plus company vehicle. I wasn't fast enough to snap a picture if it
with my phone but I assure you that the puns on the side if it were
horrid.

Two more coming at you

2009-02-16T16:14:00.000-08:00

Here are two more logo design contests I entered. I'm not nuts about my work in the first one but the second I like.

http://99designs.com/contests/17868/designers/243236

http://99designs.com/contests/17891/designers/243236

I love long weekends ;)

New contest entry

2009-02-15T09:12:00.001-08:00

Here is the newest contest I entered.

My design

The contest

Making the cut

2009-02-14T07:48:00.001-08:00

I feel my logo design skills improving with each contest I enter. It
looks like I've been coming close to what the contest holders are
looking for which is a good thing to do. I have a friend who is quite
talented when it comes to design and he's given me a few pointers with
some of my entries, I think that's helping me see a few ideas I might
not have before.

You can see a few of my latest on 99 designs.

http://99designs.com/people/blackpowderdesign

Check out my friend at http://99designs.com/people/reibin

Oops...

2009-02-12T05:57:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since my last post and I should really get back to
it. I'll start to post stuff I'm doing on the computer as far as
designs and maybe a little music stuff. Basically whatever I feel
like!

Gollum painting

2008-11-29T13:50:00.000-08:00

Check it out here!

This is my first airbrush digital painting. It took a good amount of hours but I think it turned out well for my first 'traditional' painting on the computer.

I made a wordsplosion!

2008-11-20T20:06:00.001-08:00

I submitted a photo to one of my favorite sites, they post pictures english word failures.

http://wordsplosion.com/fit-pit/

cool!

Girl Sketch

2008-11-05T20:15:00.000-08:00

This is from a Men's Health magazine... Anita Briem. Never heard of her but I loved the pic so much I scanned it in and drew it. The scan doesn't do it justice, the pencil sketch looks so much better.

You can also check it out much larger here.

Hulk and the eye

2008-11-02T18:10:00.001-08:00

Here are two sketches I did last week. You can view my new deviantART page for more images and larger versions. http://recklessftw.deviantart.com/

Epic interview with Rick coming soon, send him your questions!

2008-10-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

In a short time there will be an epic interview with Rick, conducted by Rick. If there are specific questions you would like Rick to ask Rick then post them in the comments section or email
recklessftw@gmail.com.

The more questions I get, the better it will be!

DeviantArt

2008-10-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

I am going to be posting my drawings and creations on http://recklessftw.deviantart.com/

You'll see a few new things but I'm slowing uploading old stuff too, I'll blog it when I upload a new one for you guys.

Enjoy!

Some painting

2008-10-07T21:23:00.001-07:00

I'm learning to paint in Photoshop now... like actually mimic real painting with brushes and blending colors. It's tough but super fun to learn!

Black Powder Design image

2008-09-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

Here is something I was just playing with. I wanted it to look like it was burned into the paper and the word 'design' was inked with oil.

I don't handle rejection well... at first.

2008-09-05T19:06:00.001-07:00

I was rejected from iStock.com because my illustrations weren't good enough... I hate rejection. Two of the three files I will not fix because I'd start from scratch. I understand what they didn't like about one of them and it was a technical issue more than an issue with my skills. So based on that I traced another sketch of mine. I need three files for them to approve and I'll keep applying until I get it right. The first one that has been fixed (I think) is the valentine's girl that I post a few days ago. This is the second file I'll upload.

Cherrieses's

2008-09-04T16:26:00.001-07:00

I made these cherries from a tutorial about how to use the gradient mesh tool in Illustrator... way cool tool.

Updated the Black Powder portfolio gallery

2008-09-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

I updated the www.blackpowderdesign.com page with a new image gallery for my portfolio, I think it looks darn slick!

2008-09-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

This is my latest painting. It's of my niece at a wedding. She was playing under a tree and didn't know I was taking a picture of her. I thought this would be a cool image to create.

My first sketch trace

2008-09-02T20:19:00.001-07:00

This is the first sketch of mine I turned into a vector image... turned out alright. My drawing skills are slowly getting better....

I just watched a documentary on jack the ripper

2008-08-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

And I felt like painting this... yah it's morbid and violent but hey, I wanted to paint it.

FL Studio fun!

2008-07-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

Here is something I just took 5 minutes to do the other night just cause I could. It's the intro to John Mayer's 'I Don't Trust Myself'.

Listen

What keeps me up at night

2008-07-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

or is sideways better?

2008-07-25T06:09:00.000-07:00

Is the painting better sideways?

The guitar painting is done!

2008-07-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

Here is the final guitar painting. The original background I wanted didn't work out very well so I thought some nice silk cloth would be a good fit... no? I like it!

Here are some fun facts about the image.

Total work time on the painting: 16.75 hours
Software used: Photoshop 90% of the time, Illustrator the other 10%
Photoshop layers: 158
Photoshop paths: 28
Full image dimensions: 15.6 inches wide x 20.5 inches high
Full Photoshop image size: 324 megs (this thing takes 1.5 gigs of RAM when I have it loaded in Photoshop!)

That's nothing when you think of Bert Monroy but hey, it's my very first digital painting! :)

I was thinking I might get a few high quality prints made and put them on etsy.com for sale for like $20... let me know if you'd like a copy.

Click to see it full size. [insert that's what she said here]

Woot! Guitar news letter!

2008-06-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

I read a blog all the time called 'The Doghouse' which is written by Josh Urban, a professional guitar player and instructor. He started up a newsletter called 'The Cosmic Chuck' and asked if I he could use one of my guitar videos as part of an issue (he saw it on facebook once I added him as a friend! I said for sure, it's an honor! I got the first issue when I opened my inbox and sure enough there is my video in the pilot issue even!

So a big, huge thanks goes out to Josh, the Poodleman, for including me in there and the great things he had to say about my playing, you made my WEEK! Be sure to check him out at http://www.poodleman.com/

Here is what was in the goodness that is the pilot issue of 'The Cosmic Chuck':

Jimi – Stevie – Rick

Hey hey hey! Man, it's fun to blog. I get to hear from folks all over the world. And they're usually super good players. Rick recently added me as a friend on Facebook, and I checked out a video of him playing Little Wing. Wow! I was highly impressed! He says it's just a quick take, but I think it sounds pretty darn cool.

I know that I'm gonna be working on learning the song now. Nice job, Rick!

This is the video he used

Got some more done on the guitar picture

2008-06-24T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well I got some more done on the guitar but I'm going to stop with the previews, it's getting to close to being done and I don't want to spoil the surprise! I did the nut, first two frets, the truss rod adjustment hole and fixed up the texture of the wood and some of the edges. I also rounded off a bunch of stuff. Basically I did a ton of tweaking on it.

comicz!

2008-06-11T12:23:00.001-07:00

There be a new comic called 'day dream' at randomemotions.smackjeeves.com

comicz!

2008-06-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

The 10th guitar pic!!

2008-06-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

It's #10 already kids! This one is a biggie too, all the tuning knobs are done! I think they look pretty cool although I still need to place them better but you get the idea. Hey, I wouldn't want to give away the whole pic before it's done so I need to leave some stuff crappy.

Killing time

2008-06-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

Here is something I think we should all do.

The string pegs are done!

2008-05-24T13:26:00.000-07:00

I just finished up the string pegs on the guitar! Took about an hour to get the remaining 5 done.

A string peg!

2008-05-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

I just did a string peg on the guitar, took about 20 minuets... the next ones will go faster because I had to do this twice. Once the wrong way and then once the right way.

Update on the guitar painting

2008-05-14T21:44:00.000-07:00

I did a little more on the guitar painting tonight. I might as well just catch you guys up right now to where I am.

What I did BEFORE tonight; I've drawn the string pegs, string tree, and all the other text and placed them.

What I did TONIGHT was fill in the Fender Logo and paint the string tree. I'm really happy with the string tree, I think it turned out very well!

This is the string tree viewed at 100%, no zooming out (click for full size). This gives you an idea of the size I am working in. I actually had to cut down the dimensions of the pic because the file size of the painting was over 1gb... to much. Right now it's at a more manageable 192mb!

Here it is at 12.5% zoomed out.
Here is the filled in Fender logo and all the other lettering.
That's all for tonight, see you later!

I made an iPod stand, DIY!

2008-05-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

Here are schematics for my ipod stand. I wanted something where I didn't have to pick the ipod up all the time to change songs or volume or just look at what album I was going to play.
I used some cardboard (single-ply) to cut the shapes and then used staples and white labels to hold it together.

I then had a little velvet pouch that came with some sunglasses so I cut it up and put it where the ipod will contact the holder so the nice silver back doesn't get scratched.
Here it is in all its glory

More progress

2008-05-12T18:59:00.000-07:00

Here is a little more on the guitar painting. In this one I drew the tuning pegs in illustrator and then imported the paths into photoshop and stoked them just so you can see the outlines. This is also the rough placement.

(I have some textures in there that I'm working on because I'm farther than the tuning peg step.)

But why is she so sad?

2008-05-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a sketch I did during a coffee break at work... no one was around to go for coffee with and I didn't want to surf the net. I did it on lined paper so it's kinda crappy. I might bring it into Illustrator and turn it into a live trace drawing so I can make it look pretty without all the lines... maybe.

I don't know why she is so sad though. The guy in the back looks kinda down, a little solemn, droopy if you will and I don't know why he's sad either. Maybe they just broke up... looks like he's dressed up though and she's not. Are they both having a bad evening and will meet in a coffee shop later? Will they hit it off? Do they even know each other? Maybe he just played a gig and it didn't go so well, maybe she just heard she didn't get the job she wanted and is upset. I leave it up to you.

More on the guitar

2008-05-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

Here is the second night I spent on the headstock painting. I'm playing catchup with the blogging because I've spent 4 night on the headstock already so these will be coming fast and then I'll update as it goes on.

Here I did the top of the stock, the neck and the neck side. I drew the rest of the nut and placed the fender logo. I did some rough fills again just to get the idea of things. I have all of the basics saved in paths and layers so I can go back and fill them properly with the base colors and then add the effects.

Let's go on a graphical, magical jorney together.

2008-05-08T20:44:00.000-07:00

I started a large digital painting project... large. It's going to take a good number of hours so that means a good number of weeks/months. It's a shot of the headstock of one of my guitars. Here is the first part:
The first night I started in illustrator and drew the headstock of the guitar and tweaked it with the pen tool. I also drew a straight on tuning handle that night as well. I placed them in photoshop as paths and distorted them to the proper angle because I drew the headstock straight on. I then drew the side of the headstock and a bit of the nut.
Take a look at the pics.
1. Illustrator
2. Photoshop with some rough fills
Stay tuned for more!

Finally did the guitar sticker

2008-04-14T17:09:00.001-07:00

Well it's long over-due but I finally did the guitar sticker. I first tried to print it myself on some waterslide paper but that didn't work so well. I went to a print place in town here and they did it for $11, not bad! Turned out JUST like I wanted it. I just took a razor blade from the mirror on my coffee table and cut out the white parts and stuck it on after a little adjustment!

I like to do drawerings

2008-04-12T20:36:00.001-07:00

I wanted to try some digital painting with my new tablet... it's fun!

part two of my slice of life comic!

2008-03-30T13:47:00.001-07:00

I've decided to have a story comic instead of random stuff. So this is part two of a slice of life comic by me.

http://randomemotions.smackjeeves.com/comics/338941/unpack-your-own-crap/

New vid

2008-03-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

I made a new guitar vid in response to someone else's who did this song, see if you like it!

Such a good boy

2008-03-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Mason has been such a good boy so far, I'm so happy he's getting alone with life. He seems to like us just fine and that's good, it could have been awkward there if he didn't like the people wiping his butt.

If anyone hasn't seen pics of him, let me know and I can send some or you can find some on Facebook.

New comic is up!

2008-03-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

I uploaded a new comic, hope you like it!

A little video game humor in it... everyone should get it :)

Here it is.

New web comic out

2008-03-18T06:01:00.000-07:00

I just posted a new webcomic yesterday. This is my attempt at a pseudo cartoon character... I need to find a sytle I like so I'll be trying lots out.

Enjoy!

http://randomemotions.smackjeeves.com

Random Emotions, my attempt at a web comic

2008-03-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

I got my Wacom Bamboo tablet for the PC and thought I should try it out... so I started to sketch and wanted to make some comics with it.

Here they are.

Guitar Hero III

2008-02-17T17:04:00.001-08:00

My sister came down and brought Guitar Hero III for me to try out. We had some other people over at the time and this 'gentleman', I use the term loosely, was talked into trying it out. I have to say, I was impressed, he caught on very well and played some good music. Some people may know who he is... and they will laugh.

On a side note, playing Pride and Joy on the guitar is nothing like guitar hero... at least on medium, that's all I can do. I can play it for real up to speed but GHIII was hard, I wanted to play all the notes like I do for real... real guitar is still more fun! I think GHIII would get your coordination up and musical timing maybe but that's about it.

Click for a large image

How I Learned to Spell 'Scenario'

2008-02-12T12:16:00.001-08:00

I learned how to spell that word by playing the original SimCity. I liked to play scenario mode and bring in natural disasters for fun so after that, whenever I needed to spell 'scenario', I'd just remember what it looked like in SimCity when I clicked on it. Now I've spelt it correctly for almost two years! ;)

True story... well except for the two years part.

Fw: Hey what do you think

2008-02-12T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here is an email that I got from a friend at work and I think it applies to many people who shop at big box stores for electronics. Read on and for those of you who don't like reading, it's about the extended warrenty from the stores.

On the weekend I bought a laptop.
I did not get the extended warranty but have 2 weeks to decide. I am not sure if it is worth while or not. If it was a desktop I would say no, because I can fix it my self. The laptop is a different bird though and it is expensive. $180 for 2years $270 for 3 years. It does come with 1 year manufactures warranty.
I am really undecided on this, I am looking for your opinions as I know you both have a great deal of knowledge in computers. (Rick's comment: that should read 'AMAZING WEALTH of knowledge in computers')
I purchased it from future shop, a Toshiba Laptop with 200 Gig Hard Drive and 2 Gigs of RAM with a AMD Duocore processor. It is smoken fast. Plus the standard stuff. It cost $699.
When you get a Min give me your thoughts please and thanks.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand my reply:

Here is my take on that.

I bought a laptop about 3 years ago for many pennies when laptops were still expensive. I did NOT take the $300 extra warranty and have not regretted it. The hard drive did fail but it was faulty from the start and it failed when the laptop was 2 months old. The original warranty covered it just fine.

I have two other family members that paid what you did just about a year ago and have not had any problems, they did not buy the warranty either.

I can get pretty much my laptop used for $300... but my laptop is working great and has given me 0 problems other than the HD failure. So basically if my laptop were to kick off (we're talking motherboard failure) then I can replace the whole laptop for around $300 and get the same thing. If the HD goes, that's a $100 fix (to get a bigger HD) and something a guy can do on his own with ease.

It does come down to what you feel though. Is it worth it to you to have a guarantee for 3 years? Maybe it is, that's a call for you. It's touchy because you never know... if you get three years out of it and it dies to the point where it won't turn on then you'd peel out another $699 for a new machine or $300 for a used one, ask yourself how that sounds.

Depends on use as well, mine sits and moves from one room to another with the odd trip somewhere so it's very light physical use. We use it LOTS but it's pretty sedentary. If your's is moving lots then there's a greater chance of failure from things like its environment, heat, bumps (causing HD failure), things like that.

Those are my 2 cents, that's all I have with me.

Who said innovation in American was dead? Me.

2008-01-28T10:59:00.000-08:00

As another year start, we get to see the newest remake of an ol' standby, the Dodge Caravan.

Take a look at this early picture from 1986 and see how far we've come!

How about another?

Can you tell which is the new one? Me either.

Was the designer just getting back into the job market after leaving in 1987 or is this one of those things where they said, "Well... look like everything that can be invented has been invented so let's just start over again." Everyone patted themselves on the back, took a sip of their latte and went to play raquette ball because they got done early.

Look what I did!

2008-01-23T19:38:00.000-08:00

I have been doing some learning in Photo Shop and just got done learning how to work with different kinds of metal and how it reacts to light. Have you ever looked at something metallic and noticed how the light is reflected off of it? Look at something gold, something glossy, nice silver and you see the reflections are very sharp and defined. If you then look at something that's painted in matt like a wall maybe the light reflection is very dull and gradual. So this is my attempt at gold, the dark reflections should be very sharp and the lighter ones can be a little more gradual.

Take a look, I have lots to learn but this is the first one that I want to show off. It's the Fender guitar logo in gold.

Sheilds up... that's lame....

2008-01-21T19:29:00.000-08:00

Either way, there is a shield and it WAS put up... sort of.

My guitar had been bugging me for a while because it would hum so bad when I had it plugged in. I figured a ground or something had come off and was causing it. So I did some reading and it turns out this is common with cheap guitars (check) and higher end pickups (check). So I thought I'd take some advice and shield the guitar as best I could. I grabbed some foil tape from a dryer repair I did and went to it. Here is the journey in pictures. Starting with the before and ending with the afters.

The buzz is MUCH better, 95% gone and you have to stop playing and listen for it. The guitar sounds much brighter too... might be the new strings but time will tell.

Un-strung

Black paint... I suspect that's the factory shielding...

This is after my wonderful tape job!

Can't forget the pick guard

Here are both parts ready to be soldered back together

This was my make-shift work area

There it is, ready for strings!

Great new music

2008-01-17T16:40:00.000-08:00

If you want some new music, check out TheSixtyOne and hit play on one of the songs on the hot list or new... or choose a genre to hear some great new music. The songs will keep playing one after another as well so you can just do your thing and it'll keep playing.

Music Makes Me Work... More... Better.

2008-01-15T12:32:00.001-08:00

I find that when I listen to music whilst I'm working I enjoy the work more. Well I'm not sure if I ENJOY it more but it makes it better in some way. I have to pull out the ipod shuffle and let it play when I need to work on one thing and not the 50 that other people think I should working
on at the same time.

Soapbox: There are people who say, yell, and whine that you shouldn't do that kind of thing at work, older people who've always done it their way while NOT listening to music... fascists I call them. We're a free country for a reason, mainly because we're not communist and this being the reason that I should be able to listen to my music and do the work I need to get done and do it WELL.

So welcome to the new world and its music!

Looks like I've played quite a bit of guitar...

2008-01-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

I was just learning a new song tonight, Cold Shot by SRV, and I thought to myself, "why the hell is my pointer finger nail hitting the strings so much?!" I thought maybe my pick grip was getting sloppy but, upon closer inspection, it was not... so I grabbed another pick to try.

See if you can tell why my finger was closer to the strings. That's a purple pick on top of a yellow pick. I guess I've been playing a lot.

lost luggage and lunch

2008-01-14T11:29:00.000-08:00

I went to Toronto for training last week and flew out on Sunday at noon. I get to Toronto at 4pm after a full flight and two episodes of battlestar galactica.

I get to the baggage area and wait for my bags. The airport is FULL of bags all over the floor, maybe 1000 of them. I think, 'this doesn't look good'.

half an hour goes by and no luggage yet... Then an hour. By this time I see faces of people that were on my flight and they are waiting as well... At least I'm not the only one.

Two hours go by and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get my luggage anytime soon and I'll have to stand in line to file a lost luggage claim.... but the line is over 100 people long! This doesn't look good. So I decide to wait a little longer, an hour goes by. Now it's time to stand in line with my new friends who are also waiting for their luggage, about half the people that were on my flight.

We stand in line for another hour only to be told it might be on the Regina flight that just came in. So we wait another hour. I finally have enough of this and go back to the lost luggage line but don't go to the back. I go to the guy that told me to go wait for the next flight and I tell him it's not here. So I fill out the form and head for a cab.... 6 hours after I got there. On a side note, the cab driver was almost as pissed off as I was, he said about every second air Canada customer he drives has lost their luggage.

So Monday goes by and no luggage. Tuesday, Same thing but I was told to call the lost baggage people if I had not heard from them in 24 hours... Like I expected to hear from them! After dialing about 25 time I finally get out on hold. I leave the hotel phone on speaker and play grand theft auto on my PSP while I wait. After about an hour and 15 minutes I get through and am told they are sorry but my luggage has not been found, real surprise there. I said I'm here on business and don't have any more clothes so the guy said I can spend up to 100 usd for 'supplies'. So I do, grab some shirts and bathroom stuff because I don't know how long it'll be.

I get fed up by Thursday and decide to go to the airport myself and get my bag because I'm sure it's sitting there in a pile... and I was right. This time there must have been about 3000 bags all over the floor. It took me about 5 minutes to find my bag and walk out of there. As far as air Canada knows, I still don't have it!! I'm not going on hold for another hour just to tell them I did it myself, forget that.

So next time I will fly westjet even if I can't get a direct flight like I can with air Canada. Less hassle I hear.

This is the best part. I was told by a travel agent that when these new planes are full, they can't hold everyone's luggage because of weight issues so they leave some back!!! What?! That is from someone who would know so I don't have a reason to question them.

What a trip! :)

correction

2007-12-18T12:08:00.000-08:00

As I was clearing the corner of my office at work from cob webs I remembered that Angie corrected me about the last post about her being 8 months along. She's IN her 8th month but I guess that's 7 months pregnant, not 8.

For shame on me.

Yup, she's pregnant

2007-12-17T17:33:00.000-08:00

Can you tell she's 8 months pregnant?

I have to fix the pic that I had....

The basement plans

2007-12-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

I did some measuring and planning for the basement development that we are going to do. Here is the 2d and 3d model of it. The furniture can be moved but you get the idea. Click on the images to get a bigger view of them.

Here it is!

2007-11-17T21:20:00.000-08:00

I did up the shelves today, they were a little harder than I thought just because I didn't have a good drill to drill the screws into the studs in the ceiling. I only put up one shelf because of that but the other one is built, I just need to get a more powerful drill from a friend so I can put it up. Should hold well and I think it turned out alright. The damn roof in the ceiling so so high that it was a task getting the frame up there and screwing it to the roof.

the shelf design

2007-11-16T13:19:00.000-08:00

This is the design I did in goodle sketchup. I really like that program for making little 3D things or more complex ones of course. I was able to see how the shelf looked in 3D and see if there were any design problems that might crop up. There was one thing but it wasn't a problem, just something that I would not have thought of if I hadn't done this first.

Here is a 2d image of the final design with the supplies list. I didn't draw out the screws or brackets on it though.

storage saga

2007-11-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

Things are going along well with the house and the baby. I haven't posted anything on the Blog in a long while for reason.... Mostly just because I don't have much to say I guess. What can I say, we are home-bodies and boring. We do stuff around the house and things like that which is kind of good that we got a house that we like seeing as how much time we spend in it. I play lots (but it never seems like enough) guitar and am in the middle of Lego star wars on the wii, so very fun. I'm going to put up some storage shelves in the garage so i'll make a Blog project out of that for you all to revel in because I'm a geek that way.

Here is the start of the saga that is my shelving. I have a great idea and have it all planned out only to doubt myself and just buy a pre made thing from Canadian tire for WAY to much money. I surf the net for some ideas like mine and find one! So I manke a list of the stuff that I need to get and even draw it out in google sketchup quick to see if that tells me something I didn't know.... Which it did.

I got all the stuff we needed at rona. I get the stuff out to the car and find that I can't fit the 4x4 sheets of plywood into the damn matrix.... There's enough room in the back for them, just not enough to get it in there. So I took that back right then and will get them later, I can do without them for now. I get home and take out the 2x4s and get the miter saw set up to cut them. As soon ad the blade hit the wood there was smoke everywhere because the blade was so full from cutting laminate flooring that it was just burning the wood. So I don't cut lumber, instead I want to change the blade. I tried for about 30 min to get the damn thing off without success. I took that damn thing apart so much more than I needed to. So I search the net for the manual for this old saw that was dad's.... No luck so I go try something else and don't get anywhere. Back to the net to look for the manual and then back to the saw.... I did this about 3 more times before I actually found it and how to change that fing thing. I tried what that said and with every ounce of my strength I got it done.... I think that blade had been on there about 10 years. Now I just need to get a new blade and I will be all set! Keep checking back for updates, I plan to work more on it this Saturday, it'll be a breeze once I get started.... Right? Of course, it's not that hard at all really. The hard part is just getting all the stuff I need to do the job. I also had to buy a ladder so I can get to the 14 foot ceiling in the garage.

The pre made thing from Canadian tire was 77 bucks for a 4x4 storage area..... For 96 bucks at rona, I got enough stuff to make two 4x4 storage areas in the garage that will be much stronger.... Much better deal and really not that much more time to out up the home made ones.

I'll post pics when I get started.

Remember me on this device

2007-10-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but when I'm on forums or logging into blogger, there is always a checkbox that says 'remember me on this computer'. I think that now needs to be changed to 'remember me on this device'. If I'm surfing on my blackberry then it's not really a computer... well technically it IS a computer but it's a 'mobile device' to everyone who sells them. Device is much easier to apply to computers than computers is to apply to a blackberry. You can have a 'personal computing device' or a 'multi-media device' tag applied to a computer so lets get with it.

In this world of political correctness, I think we should change that noun to better align with the social views that everything should be generic and nothing should be individualistic.

Thank you.

what's that smell?

2007-10-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been in a place that had an aroma and instantly you went, 'mmmmmmmmmmm, that smells good' but you soon realize that the specific place you are in should not, IN ANY WAY, have that smell? So if you were in a public washroom and got a waft of something that smelled like someone was making raw bread dough and you went mmmmmmmm, yummy, but realized very quickly that there really is only one source in a bathroom that could produce that smell, what do you do? Do you hold your breath once you realize that you cannot possibly enjoy that smell knowing the setting? Maybe you just tell yourself that it's coming in through the heating system and live in ignorance. Possibly, for some people, they just might choose to enjoy the fact that a public washroom doesn't smell like crap and indulge in deep, cleansing breaths that provide the biggest possible aromatic experience.

Who are you? I think this will tell you many things about yourself that you didn't know.

All set

2007-09-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

So everything with the house is ready to go. The move in date, the insurance, the down payment, the mortgage, the lawyers... that pretty much covers everyone who wanted money from us. It'll be very soon until we move in and I've got some good friends who are going to help us move. It seems Angie knew this was going to happen so she decided to get pregnant so she wouldn't have to lift anything I'm sure... how convenient Angie.

Looking forward to driving the uhaul.... LOL

Your Life, in PowerPoint

2007-09-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought of what your PowerPoint presentation would look like at your funeral?

Awesome games!

2007-09-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

Computer games. Fun. I'm playing F.E.A.R. right now and it's just amazing. I've never really given it much of a play because I didn't have the computer hardware to play it... but now with this SLI setup I do for sure! Plus I bought a 5.1 surround system for the computer and when you turn that thing on it's just awesome. You can hear the guys talking about you and you'll know where they are based on where you hear them in the speakers. Plus when you're in a shoot-out you can hear bits of the wall shattering and bullets hitting pipes and stuff all around you. I had one where the guy missed me and hit a window a ways behind me which scared the hell out me because it was so loud and sounded like it was right in the room.

I also had to turn on this valve to let water into an area and you could here where the water was spilling out although I couldn't see it. I just followed the sound and found the water. You could hear it running through the pipes ha! I was great.

Every 3 days

2007-09-12T20:02:00.001-07:00

I realize I've been very slack in my blogging so I'm going to do my best to keep it up to date every three days. That means that you may read some pretty un-exciting stuff but hey, I'll keep it short for you.

As of now... nothing much. The house is ours in 2.5 weeks. There is a crap load of paperwork and the Land titles office sucks... who knew spending money costs money. I know we went through this all with the other house but that was three years ago and the sting was gone... now it's back. Oh well, suck it up right?

it's official

2007-09-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

Well it must be official that we are having a baby.... We just bought a stoller...

The basement

2007-08-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

We are looking forward to the basement in the new house! We need to finish it so we'll have to do up a design and get that all planned out. The father in law (AKA Dangerous Dan) is going to come and help me out... I guess I should let him know that. He did his and I think we can pull off the same feat in my basement. If him and I can get it framed and wired I should be good to pick away at it from there. It's going to be a big task, probably more than I know but it'll be worth it when it's done. I'll stick a ping-pong table down there I think, they are cheaper than a pool table and easier to get down there! Maybe some day I'll have a pool table... fooseball table for sure.

Guitar Idea

2007-08-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd posted this before but I guess not!

This is the idea for the decal for my new guitar. I have it all ready to go, I just need the new toner for the laser printer... and the toner is in storage with all our other stuff so it has to wait until the new house I guess. I have the water-slide decal paper and everything ready to go.

This is the pic of John Mayer off the Village Sessions CD cover, I thought the pic was awesome and would make a great decal for the white guitar. I shopped this up! Very rough but gives you an idea.

updates

2007-08-11T22:12:00.000-07:00

Not much to say here. We've been killing time, going to the in-laws and stuff to get away. This past Friday was my day off from work and it was one for the record books as the best D.O. ever! I started out by driving Angie to work (to bad she had to go) and then game home to watch the number 23. Great show, Jim Carey is the man... he can do anything. I then played some Resident Evil 4 on the Wii because I wanted to finish it this weekend. After that it was time to play some Overlord on the PC, also very fun and funny! Lunch came around and I made my D.O. special, egg mcmuffins! mmmmmmmmmmm, so good. I watched another episode of Battlestar Galactica and was blown away by it as usual. The time came for some more Overlord and then Resident Evil 4 before it was time to pick up Angie... what a great day. I did what I want, when I wanted and was totally relaxed.

Angie and I also watched Sunshine that night, another great show so it was a perfect way to end the day.

New news

2007-08-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

For anyone who hasn't heard, Angie and I are expecting! Feb 17th or so should see a new addition to our duo! Good thing we'll be in that new house because we're going to need the room now.

money

2007-07-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

Man that's a hard subject to get your head wrapped around. There is so much that you can do with extra money in the way of investing... it's easier to just spend it on stuff that you want and forget about it. I was listening to a podcast that said just that. People don't invest because it's so confusing and over-whelming to them... I agree. There is so much out there that you can do and you don't even know where to start.

I was learning how to compute compound interest by hand today because I used to do that in college finance but forgot how. A quick search on the net gave me a formula that I remember and then it all came back. Hard to do without a financial calculator though!!

Look up the rule of 72 if you don't know it, it's very handy to figure out what kind of return you can expect with a given interest rate.

apartment

2007-07-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

The apartment is hot. The ac makes you def but does cool you off.... While you just sit there and can't watch tv because you can't hear it.

That new house will be so nice.

My song at my cousin's wedding went well I'm told, I didn't mess up at all so that was nice and everyone I talk to has good things to say. Go rick.

The Move

2007-07-09T16:18:00.000-07:00

We're off the move into the apartment tomorrow. This will be our last night in the first house we bought... just about 3 years ago. The date we get the new place (oct 1) will be 3 years ago that we took possession of this house. It's been a good house and we've really enjoyed it. We were so lucky to find something like this that had the rental suite like we wanted. Now we have the family home that we wanted as well so we're set!

the move is close

2007-07-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

The time is almost here to make the move to the apartment where we will spend the three months waiting for our house. We have a few things we've moved over already and the stuff we don't need is all in storage. The actual move shouldn't be to bad because of that storage actually, that really cut down on what we have to move twice!

Looking forward to the house... Not the apartment.

The brain is awesome

2007-07-02T13:38:00.001-07:00

Put on some headphones on your computer an play this... it's unreal what your brain can do!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA&v3

Car crash vids

2007-06-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

See how your car, or one you want to buy, stands up in a crash. 150 vids from consumer reports. They even discuss what they find.

Non-essentials

2007-06-29T16:15:00.001-07:00

It's time... time to start the move.

All the non-essentials are to be loaded in here so they can sit and wait for the new house. We'll move into the apartment pretty soon with little bits at a time... oh joy...

Not much new

2007-06-23T07:59:00.000-07:00

Not much new going on here, we are getting ready to move to the apartment and are packing up a little bit at a time. This coming weekend we will get the storage container and will load in all the stuff we don't want to move twice. Should be good, that just means it's getting closer to the new house!!

King Tut

2007-06-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

That is one of the most interesting subjects I've ever seen, King Tut. We just watched a two part show that detailed how Carter and Carnarven found the tomb and how it was treated with respect to the authorities and everything. It was a really good show and gave a good sense of the two men and Carter's obsession with Tut.

Angie has been packing lots, I've been practicing guitar for a song I'm going to sing at my cousin's wedding. It's getting closer to the move to the apartment which means closer to the move to the house!

My blog is now attached to facebook

2007-06-11T21:54:00.000-07:00

For all of my friends you are not on facebook, never mind. For all of my friends that ARE on facebook, you will now see my blog posts in my notes. This is much better than posting the same news twice.

Enjoy

Mario

2007-06-07T18:09:00.001-07:00

This new mario wii game is fun! Angie and I quite enjoy it actually and it'll be way more fun with more people.

Two Albums

2007-05-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

I was listening to Amanda Marshall's first CD and got to thinking. It's been my favorite album of all time from the day I got it. It's now tied with John Mayer's newest, Continuum though and may end up getting pushed to a close 2nd or just stay #1 with JM. If I could only own two albums
for my whole life it would be those two. They sum up my musical taste in life and I'd be ok with keeping that for the time I'm alive.

What are your favorites that you'd want to take through your whole life.

Have they been created yet?

My Invention

2007-05-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

So here is my idea for an invention. I feel the technology could be a little ways away but still possible in the future somewhere. If I don't live to see the technology then I shall pass this info onto my first born because I'm sure they will want one if they are my kid.

The BAN. Brain activity noise-canceler

I can't turn off my brain, it going 100% of the time on things like music, art, life, business, family, time... just to name a few. All of this really gets to a person and makes it hard to relax and enjoy things. I figure this switch, when set to 'coast', will eliminate all brain 'noise' and let a person just relax like you do when you watch tv. It will have to have a time-out so people can't just stay on coast while they are at work. Perhaps it will have a schedule built in so it can only be active on weekends and evenings, dependant on time zone of course. While in crank mode (named after the twisted and entertaining movie, is a good indication as to how the brain functions in someone like me). The user will have all the regular brain activity they always have, uninhibited.

Are you with me?

See diagram below:

Guitar mod!

2007-05-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of the new guitar mod... looks exactly like it before on the outside but on the inside it's brand new!
Here's the shopping list:
1x 250k linear volume guitar pot (from Long and McQuade)
2x 250k log Fender 'no-load' tone pots (bought online)
1 set of 3 pickups from guitarfetish.com. The Premium II Alnico II set are the ones
1x .22u capacitor which came with the no load pots.
1x wiring diagram of a fender standard stratocaster

I used all the original wiring, the jack and the 5-way switch. The switch is actually from a telecaster so I might get a new one that's found a strat and re-wire it later.

I started at about 11am, worked til 1, 1.5 hours for lunch, worked until about 3 when I was JUST putting it back together and broke one of the pots.... I pushed to hard trying to put the knobs on and it busted apart the pot. I went to L&M and grabbed another one for $7, replaced the busted one and was tuning it by 4:30pm. Not bad to re-wire a guitar for the very first time. I took my sweet time too, nothing else to do and I wanted to do a good job which I did.

Click to make them bigger!

1) Everything laid out
2) Same as above
3) Same as above

4) The wiring before I started5) DURING the wiring process, damn you are a sexy beast.

6) The 'after' shot
7) Close-up of my wiring after. I taped all the wires into little packs of course so it was neater and fit into the cavity of the guitar.

They're here!

2007-05-17T20:05:00.001-07:00

Check it, my new pickups for my strat!

renting a place to stay

2007-05-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

So with the house transition we will have to rent for a little bit, three months actually. Not a bad amount of time but kind of sucks when you are used to a house to live in. Most places seem to want leases which is something we can't do. So it might be a little hard to find a place but I know we will once the end of the month gets closer and everyone has given notice.

I think it will just make the new house that much better.

Good book

2007-05-15T18:20:00.000-07:00

For anyone who wants to learn about Jimi Hendrix and his almost mystical life, check out Room Full of Mirrors. I just finished it and I have to say, it's really something else. The book has detail like you wouldn't believe, there are parts in it where you just have to think, "man, that must have taken some serious work to get that info".

I was so impressed by it that I emailed the author. He wrote me back about an hour later:

Thanks for your kind words on my book Rick.... Though it is a different generation, you might also enjoy my Kurt Cobain book titled "Heavier Than Heaven." My next biography is Bruce Lee, out in a few years, though hopefully I’ll have a memoir out before then.... Cheers, Charles Cross

That Bruce Lee book will be pretty awesome if he does the research he did with Room Full of Mirrors...

blogging on the go

2007-05-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

This is kind of neat, I can Blog from me blackberry!

Hello everyone, from my blackberry!

We are excited to move into the new house and the date will not come soon enough for us... It'll be awesome.

New House!

2007-05-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

We ended up winning the bid for a new house for us!! We move in oct 1 but have to rent for jul - sept... no big deal, it'll be worth it!!

The house is sold

2007-05-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

We sold our house because the market is so hot right now and it paid off very well. Now we are in the market for a new house but it's pretty tough when you have to bid up above the asking price... we are actually considering building new because it'll be just as expensive as a bidding war house so why not!

More to come.

Poison Venom

2007-04-30T17:54:00.000-07:00

Did you ever wish you could spit/inject poisonous venom from two fangs in your mouth? I do. Not the killing kind, just the kind that would paralyze your victim and render them unconscious. This would be pretty handy in those situations where you don't really want to talk to a person who annoys you. Instead, you could just lean in to give them a hug or maybe point behind them and say, "holy crap" and go in a for a swift little chomp on the neck or arm. They would gently collapse on the floor and rest while you went about your business and you would have successfully avoided a conversation with them.

This is the best way to avoid talking to someone you don't want to talk to.

Online slideshow of the JM Concert!

2007-04-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

Check it out, this will start a sideshow of some of the pics of the concert we were at.