…a lot like Christmas. Because the TV airwaves are littered with fragrance ads.
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Some sort of alligator/dinosaur thing from the same guy who gave us Romy — Tetsuya Watabe
My attempt at a more complex Wall-E papercraft was ill advised. There were so many little complex pieces that it overwhelmed my feeble skills, the Rubik’s Cube & BNL Cooler were more my speed. And so is Rommy.
Bike rode to pay our bills (cable, water, power & doctor) this morning and ended up at Atlanta Bread Company for breakfast. Maybe tomorrow I’ll tell the paper cup story. This afternoon I fixed something, which is a rare occurrence around here. Last time I went to use the leaf blower it wouldn’t go. The gas line from the tank to the “carburetor” was broken. It had dried out and cracked in a couple places. We found a kit at Big Box Home Store and I managed to replacethem without too much trouble. I did have to enlarge one hole in the plastic tank to fit one of the plastic tubes through. There appears to be a miniscule bit of leakage at that point, but I doubt it creates any hazard. With that repaired, I proceeded to blow the oak pollen clusters off the roof and back deck. Donna then took over and cleaned the front walk and driveway. While she did that, I finished hosing the pine pollen off the screened porch, so that maybe we can enjoy our dinner out on Monday. Tonight I’m watching the Red Sox — Yankees game on ESPN, but listening to it on the WEEI off the ‘net. I’ve tried several times in the past to do this, but the audio and video never lined up. Tonight, for some reason, they are in sync. Started up, went down, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 992
Gozque — Spanish for small yapping dog. The Red Sox finally won a game. The starting pitcher for the FRS gave up 6 runs in 7 innings and lowered his ERA by nearly 10! As a bonus the 9 –6 win came against the dreaded Yankees. We rode the tandem to work today and it was a great ride. It is Spring Break around here for the schools and it is amazing the amount of traffic that eliminates. During school time we see maybe a dozen cars, but today we were lucky if we saw 3. My dabbling in Ubuntu Linux, will always be just that, just dabbling. Late last night I discovered that you cannot stream Netflix in Linux. Plus I should read my own posts…back last October when I loaded it on the laptop I realized that my most used Geocaching program doesn’t have a Linux version. Started down, went up, went down, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 990
These two items are from my next papercraft project. What do a Rubik’s Cube and a plastic insulated cooler have in common? This one will take some time and a whole lot of patience. When completed it will be considered my thesis for my Master’s in Papercraft. Started up, went down, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 982
Papercraft Propaganda by Paper Tom. It is supposed to put you in mind of an old school Soviet statue. I was out of contention in the NCAA Basketball Pool after last week and after this weekend’s games everyone is out of it. We still have the first winner, second place and third place winners, plus the Booby Prize for finishing last, but no one has any more points to gain. Of the teams in the Final Four, only 3 people had Kentucky, 2 people picked UCONN & one person picked Butler to make it that far. Of those 6 people, no one picked any of those three teams to move on, thus rendering next weekend’s Final Four irrelevant. Started up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 981
When I first moved into the new digs in the back of the plant and I realized that I had a window, I have wanted to put a bird feeder in said window. We had looked a few places for a small feeder with a suction cup and have not found anything. Last week we were in Wal-mart and passed by the pet section and what did my wandering eye spy, but just the thing. It was dirt cheap at only $2.99, here were two left on the shelf, so I bought them both (the small bag of bird feed cost more than the two feeders.) I put one in my window and the other one went in my cubical neighbor’s window (Hi Mark!) We have been waiting patiently for the birds to come flocking in to take advantage of the smorgasbord, but they have been reluctant to show. To be fair, where we are located is not the most bird friendly. There are no nearby bushes or hiding spots and there is also a lot of 18-wheeler trucks doing deliveries close by. Mark swears there was one bird that approached his feeder and flew off with out dining (at least a salesman in his office on Monday said it did.) So, thinking like a duck hunter, on Monday & Tuesday evenings I made a Java Sparrow decoy. Started up, went down, went up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 971
Another Marshall Alexander creation. It is 57° and raining in Aiken right now and the little red square ■ tells me it is 44°. By clicking on the square, I get the weather page for Alexandria, Virginia, where it is cloudy now, later tonight & tomorrow it will be rainy and mild. You know, now that I have complained about it, I’m almost hoping that they never fix it. The little red square ■ creates a kind of armchair tourism, whisking you away magically to different destinations. I only wish tonight it would have taken me to Oahu where our surfer girl is from. Started up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 963
Our commute is by no means monstrous at 6.5 miles, but there are some folks out there have long or tough or long and tough ones, well, for those of you, here is your very own steampunk mode of locomotion to make your trip a little more pleasant. Random Temperature on Weather.com Update. Last night I got this response:
Right now it is 56° in Aiken and the little red square ■ reads 28° (the temp in Fairview, MI.) Started up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 963 Must come down. We have a co-worker who has been lusting after a New Camaro Convertible ever since the concept version appeared 4 years ago. It is practically all he talks about. He has been running the same Camaro Convertible Concept screensaver on his work PC for nearly that long. A couple years back I found a Matchbox version of the car of his dreams (orange with black stripes) and it has sat on top of his monitor peacefully until a few months ago. When we moved into the new area with its lower cubical walls, his Matchbox car became visible to passersby and a target for messing with. If this person’s obsession wasn’t so pronounced and he didn’t make such a big fuss about it being moved it probably would have stopped after a few days, but it was just so much fun. The weekend before last when he wasn’t around, someone tied it up so it was hanging about 2 inches down from the ceiling. On Monday morning the fellow’s reaction was priceless, he kind of stamped his feet and moaned. “Why won’t people just leave it alone.” That move actually backfired on all of us who enjoyed his reactions to his car being moved an inch or two or rotated 90°, because he decided to just leave the car hanging, making it more trouble than it was worth to mess with it. The car stayed right up there until today. The department manager came in this afternoon and told him to take it down. Which prompted the best reaction from him yet, he whined, “But I didn’t put it there!” The manager wasn’t just picking on him, I was told to take down the Stubby Rocket that I had hanging from the ceiling too. To be fair, his boss, the Plant Manager, has this rule that nothing should be higher than our low cubical walls. Started up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 963
I’m going on a slight papercraft kick these next few days. There is a good reason and I will share it with you later, so just hold on to your britches. Here is a link to yesterday’s Darth Vader and today’s AstroGnome if you are interested. House has jumped the shark, I can’t pinpoint exactly when, but it has a lot to do with the whole Huddy thing. Castle has also jumped the shark or should I say Nuking the Fridge and I can pinpoint when that happened. The take off for the jump was last week in Part 1 when our “heroes,” instead of solving the usual MOTW (Murder of the Week), are tasked with saving New York from a dirty bomb, complete with a big bright red digital countdown clock (probably purchased from ACME.) The jump’s landing occurred in Part 2 this week when Castle and Beckett* had not just one, but two, near death experiences where they could have professed their mutual love for one another, but didn’t. * There really should be a cute abbreviation for this relationship, but I can’t seem to find one on the net. Maybe because when you combine their last names you come up with Caskett which is not really romantic. Well, let’s try it with first names, Rickate. Hmm, sounds like rickets. Guess maybe that is why there isn’t one… Started down, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 958
Here are some recent comment spams received here at Mr Miata Headquarters for your enjoyment:
Started down, went up, back down, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 958 When I was growing up in Connecticut when you saw a robin in your yard that meant spring was on its way. Here in Aiken that doesn’t work so well, I don’t think the robins ever go away here. Today I saw three signs that Punxsutawney Phil was correct in his prediction that spring is just around the corner. The first thing I noticed that portends spring, even though we are still nearly a month from the vernal equinox, was a box of Girl Scout cookies on someones desk. Number two was the Bradford Pear tree outside the front door of the Valve Store™ was starting to bloom and lastly, and most troublesome, was that there was a light coating of yellow pine pollen covering the exterior of the Emperor when I parked it in the garage this evening. Started up, went down, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 952
After about a week of 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there, before or after breaks and lunch, the Tor.com Stubby Rocket is finished. It is 2 times scale of the downloaded PDF and is literally hung by a thread from the drop ceiling in my cube. I wonder what the reaction will be, if any, on Monday from my supervisor and my manager, who were both are out of town on business this week. The big cheese Director of Operations, who sometimes makes a sweep of the area, wasn’t in today either. He is probably who told my manager to instruct his charges that the new offices should be more business-like and not be shrines to our individual personalities… Started down, went up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 941
Stubby is the February 2011 Free Papertoy of the month over at Custom Paper Toys and is fairly easy build with only 4 pieces. I didn’t particularly care for the slogan that was being espoused by the original, so I changed it to something that is more office work related. When putting it together I had the hardest time getting the pencil point inside the hexagonal shape of the pencil. I actually had to reprint the body a second time and attacked the build from a different direction before successfully getting it together with the flaps inside. Tonight when I linked the toy’s web page I noticed that the originator’s construction showed the pencil tip flaps on the outside. I had wondered why the flaps were rounded in shape… I am also currently working on Stubby the Rocket which is a papercraft model by Robert Nava of the “mascot” of Tor.com, a Science Fiction site. I hope to be finished by this weekend. OK, that was only 2 Stubbies, so I’m 117,998 shy, but the Emperor is not, he ticked past that mileage point on the way to work this morning. Yesterday Donna had a dentist appointment and I gave her one of my Minimimmoes to give to the receptionist. Tonight we went out to eat and I left another Minimimmo on the table when we were done (I also left a monetary based tip too.) I guess I’ll make a few more and just leave them about haphazardly about the CSRA. Started up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 939
Right now it looks like Troy’s seven fingers up is at risk as the Steelers trail 21 to 17 near the end of the 3rd quarter. We finally got a really nice day for geocaching, so we headed over to North Augusta and snagged 8 of 10. Seven of the eight finds were along the rails to trails Greeneway and one of those caches was quite the adventure. It was off the trail and down a steep embankment to almost the Savannah River. It was so steep that we had to walk down and up using a zig-zagging path similar to Tour de France cyclists in the Alps. We ended up walking a shade over 6 miles doing those 7 caches. Started up, went down, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 938
By Marshall Alexander — Paper Engineer Started up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 937
Another Desktop Gremlin, this one is a Special Edition available only to “subscribers” i.e. people who sign up with their email address to receive notice when a new gremlin is available. Some folks* might classify the octopus as the groundhog of the deep and this cephalopod mollusc saw his shadow this morning thereby predicting 6 more weeks of winter, unlike the landlubbing marmota monax on Gobbler’s Hill. *mental unacheivers and bloggers This morning while discussing the upcoming evening’s entertainment, whimsical holidays and animal weather predictors at work, I came up with the brilliant idea to watch Groundhog Day with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell tonight and wondered why TNT didn’t run a 24 hour marathon of this movie like they did with A Christmas Story on that day. I don’t own it, so I asked myself, “I wonder if it is available as a Watch It Now movie on Netflix.” Good news, sure enough it is, bad news, Donna hates the movie* (maybe there are a lot more like her and that is why there is no 24 hour marathon.) *She liked it the first time, but once was plenty. Our network is locked down pretty tight at work, no Youtube, no Vimeo, no streaming music, so I figured there was no way I could watch Netflix, but being the curious type I had to try. You know what? A person could watch the streaming Netflix. At least I’m pretty sure I could, as soon as the Starz Play intro started I disconnected. I don’t know if alarm bells went off in the basement in St Louis or not, but I’m certain I didn’t want to get caught watching a movie at my desk because my instincts told me management would probably frown on it. Started up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 937 Today we went to work a half hour early to make up some time missed by Donna for a follow up doctor’s appointment (mouth healing nicely, thank you very much.) Seeing as I didn’t have any time to make up, I used this extra time constructively in paper, by doing another Desktop Gremlin. I love these little things, one sheet, no glue and in about 15 minutes…
I am working on a papercraft project that is little more difficult, perhaps 2nd grade level, and is a slight departure. Instead of printing everything on one sheet of paper, this one has several pieces layered on top of each other to give the object a bit of depth* and it is taking a little while to do because I have to cut out the pieces during breaks at work where there is more light and fold and glue at home. It should be finished by tomorrow, so try and remain calm. *Well, as much depth as can be achieved with something .010″ thick. Started up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 937
I know what you’re thinking, “He’s gone off the deep end.” Sorry already been off for quite a while. These little fellows are a cute as puppy dogs and I couldn’t help but make more than one. Then I thought maybe they needed a momma to show them the way of the world, so I made one twice as large grafting two pieces of card stock together. If I made 6 of the small guys every weekend, how long would it take to fill up my 9′ x 9′ x 3–1/2′ high cubical? Started down, went up, went down, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 936
Meet Vinivimmo, the lizard cousin to Minimimmo and produced especially for buddy Mark (Hi Mark!) who is a fan of V. Started up, went down, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 934
This bit of folded paper is kind of crude compared to the cute Minimimmo and not nearly as slick as The Alien, but the Star Wars geek in me just had to make it. Trouble is, it is not so recognizable as to what it is. My wife who has seen A New Hope as many times as I have, thought it might be from Firefly. Of course when she said that I thought, “Oooh, oooh, maybe somebody has done a papercraft Serenity.” Sure enough, someone has, and the plans are on the God-blessed Internet. Unfortunately what I have been doing so far in no way prepares me to make that model. I’m just graduating from Papercraft Pre-school and this project is Graduate School level. It is approximately 80 pieces cut from thirteen 8–1/2 x 11 sheets with instructions consisting of 14 jpeg images. From IMDB’s trivia page for Star Wars: Started down, went up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 933
This model is recognizable by the Hostess logo on the back and the rearview mirrors that I didn’t have time to put on the first version. I’m thinking for Version 3.0 I might have the rear door open with hundreds of tiny Sno-Balls tumbling out of it. I did this one at home using Elmer’s Glue and I’m not that happy with the results. At work I have a glue stick that works a lot better, but more importantly I have a very well lit area that makes it easier to see the cut /fold lines. The glue stick is an easy fix, but I’m not sure what to do about the lighting. First up today was the usual Saturday breakfast at DD while reading the Weekend Edition of the WSJ they get. We enjoy reading it so much we thought about getting it home delivered, but you can only get the weekend paper if you subscribe to the Monday through Friday editions as well. Those we probably wouldn’t read, so it would be a terrible waste of paper, plus the cost was more than we wanted to spend for a newspaper for one day a week ($119 a year.) Then we went out in the 27° morning and did a few local and semi-local caches. We found the first two we looked for and then it went down hill from there, ending up finding just three of the next seven. We were about due a few DNFs as we hadn’t had one in three weeks and 30 caches. We finished out the day at Olive Garden with friends. We always go out to eat early to avoid the crowds, but that plan didn’t work tonight. We arrived at 5:15 and ended up with a 50 minute wait for a table. If it was just Donna and I we would have just walked next door to Wendy’s, but we had Rudy and Patti to share stories with while we waited, so while the wait was long, it was pleasant. Started up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 931
Today’s art project is so simple a caveman could do it. No tape, no glue, no tabs and no xacto knife needed, just scissors and a steady hand. Desktop Gremlins Mark wore his new Zombieland T-shirt to work today and took every chance he got to show off his sartorial splendor and rub in the fact that I was wearing nothing but a plain green shirt. Of course, wouldn’t you know it, the shirt I ordered several hours before he ordered his, was in the mailbox when I got home tonight. So what did I do, you might ask, well, I didn’t even open it up, I wrote return to sender in big red letters and stuffed the overstuffed envelope back in the mailbox. OK, not really, I eagerly ripped open the bag and I’m wearing it now and plan on not taking it off. Ever. Truthfully, I put it in the hamper to be washed. I have this phobia about wearing anything brand new, it has to be washed first.* Amateur psychologists, feel free to pipe in with a diagnosis. *Actually, that would make a nice Z-Land rule. #33. Always wash new clothes. Because you never know if a zombie has tried it on before you. Started down, went up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 931
My latest fixation, started in the usual manner, a random blog post on a random web page. Now I just can’t help myself, I just have to cut something out of card stock and glue, insert tab into slot or press it together to create “art.” Today’s papercraft piece, Minimimmo, is from Italy and hopes to colonize the world. These boogers are just so cute, I might just make a hundred of them, starting a southeastern US outpost. Good thing there is a video on the web site as the downloadable instructions were only available in Italian. No package in today’s mail. No failed attempted delivery notice. Some rat bastard postal worker is wearing my Pacific Playland T-shirt. Started up, went down, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 930
The Hostess truck from TDZM was easier than making a mini-me. The truck was held together by tabs glued to panels, but this had tabs going into slots and while the head was kind of easy the body was tricky and the “legs” were a real pain. And even though I used a metal ruler for a straight edge, cutting parallel and perpendicular was equally important as straight. As you can see I had to resort to clear tape to keep me together. It took UPS two days to move my Pacific Playland T-shirt from Groveport, Ohio 530 miles to Atlanta, GA. It has taken the USPS two days to get it from Atlanta, GA 150 miles to Augusta GA. I wonder how long it will take them to go the last 25 miles? Two days?
My current car insurance is with State Farm and after watching Two and a Half Men this evening I think I can get 21st Century insurance to pay me to be insured with them. First, switching to Geico will save me 15%, then switching to Allstate from Geico will save me an additional $396. Changing to Progressive from Allstate will save me $474. Then converting to 21st Century from Progressive saves me another $550. Started up, went down, back up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 929
Having recently discovered the joy of dessert TV in the form of Two And A Men reruns I was unpleasantly surprised by how much I didn’t enjoy a first run episode. After House last night I was surfing for a background show while blogged and ended up watching a new this season episode. It stuck to its basic formula, but everyone seemed to be trying to hard. All TV shows have an expiration date and last night both House and 2–1/2 Men last night confirmed that they are past theirs. If I still owned a first gen Miata I might still be running the Barndoor Fan Club and I would definitely be sporting one of these NA-Culture Tees. Now, how about some papercraft? Stumbled on this link to How To Geek somewhere and thought, cool. How to Create Your Own Custom Papercraft Toy. Based on my old Mad Men Yourself self-portrait I’m going to make one of those of me. Photo tomorrow. Started up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 927
Started up, went down, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 52 |
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