Thursday, December 31, 2009
Phone upload
Monday, December 28, 2009
Excuse me... there's a shovel in you door.
The mother-in-law's car window broke right on Christmas day. There's a cable that pulls the window up and down a track, which had broken. I obviously couldn't fix it with everything being closed for the holiday. So, I decided that if I could just make it stay up then it'd be good till it could get fixed.
Sometimes when I do things like this I wonder if it's ingenious or really dumb. In any event, the window stayed put and it was all good. They got the car fixed on Monday and I got my shovel back... case closed!
Sometimes when I do things like this I wonder if it's ingenious or really dumb. In any event, the window stayed put and it was all good. They got the car fixed on Monday and I got my shovel back... case closed!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Christmas
Christmas was a real blast this year! I had a smudge on my camera lens so most of my pictures looked crappier than usual... which sucks! Here's some of the better ones.
Over all the kids got what they wanted and more. Hayden's favorite has to hover between his Nintendo DSi and all the Lego's he got. Serenity really made out this year. She got this killer doll house that Joy found and a little kitchen as well. Both are in her room and she's crazy about them. We left the house on Christmas day for a bit and as soon as she got back home she raced upstairs to play with her doll house. It was really cute. Joy did all the shopping this year and did a great job! She even got me a PS3, which rocks by the way!!
We got a fried turkey from Acadiana's. It's a Cajun place so the turkey had this awesome spice to it. All in all it was a great meal... even though they forgot to give us our cornbread stuffing. I got to eat a ton of turkey and then settle in for some video games and blu-ray. After getting the PS3 hooked up I ran out to find a blu-ray. Hollywood video was the only store open and they just happen to have a 2 for $20 used blu-ray sale going! I got Iron Man and Dark Knight for $20! I can't explain how awesome Iron Man looks on the big TV!
It was a great time and I instituted a new rule that worked out great. I got a huge plastic bin and put it in the room. No one was allowed to open a present until the wrappings from the previous present was in the bin. When we were done the room actually looked pretty clean. We also have the only 2 presents at a time rule, so Seri and Hayden's closets are full of un-opened toys (although they did get to un-wrap them all of course). I think Hayden opened the last of his toys from last year around September or October. Well, it's almost Monday... that means back to work! Yeahhhhh... awwww... work sucks!
Over all the kids got what they wanted and more. Hayden's favorite has to hover between his Nintendo DSi and all the Lego's he got. Serenity really made out this year. She got this killer doll house that Joy found and a little kitchen as well. Both are in her room and she's crazy about them. We left the house on Christmas day for a bit and as soon as she got back home she raced upstairs to play with her doll house. It was really cute. Joy did all the shopping this year and did a great job! She even got me a PS3, which rocks by the way!!
We got a fried turkey from Acadiana's. It's a Cajun place so the turkey had this awesome spice to it. All in all it was a great meal... even though they forgot to give us our cornbread stuffing. I got to eat a ton of turkey and then settle in for some video games and blu-ray. After getting the PS3 hooked up I ran out to find a blu-ray. Hollywood video was the only store open and they just happen to have a 2 for $20 used blu-ray sale going! I got Iron Man and Dark Knight for $20! I can't explain how awesome Iron Man looks on the big TV!
It was a great time and I instituted a new rule that worked out great. I got a huge plastic bin and put it in the room. No one was allowed to open a present until the wrappings from the previous present was in the bin. When we were done the room actually looked pretty clean. We also have the only 2 presents at a time rule, so Seri and Hayden's closets are full of un-opened toys (although they did get to un-wrap them all of course). I think Hayden opened the last of his toys from last year around September or October. Well, it's almost Monday... that means back to work! Yeahhhhh... awwww... work sucks!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Sun Jars
I found a site that had a tutorial on how to fit solar lights into mason jars to make... solar mason jars. I figured it'd be a great little project to do with Hayden. Here's the link to the original site at Life Hacker. I bought similar lights to the ones that they used (since my Lowes didn't have the exact ones.) I got the frosting spray there as well. The mason jars came from Wal-Mart. Also, I used superglue instead of tape... it seemed like a better idea.
So, to start we have snips, a 7 level (little screwdriver), a regular screw driver, some glue and some free time. The free time was the hardest to come by.
The first step is to get the hardware off the mason jars and frost them. This is really straight forward and by doing it first they can dry well you're doing everything else. (please disregard my brown Texas grass. It's winter here. When it's summer... it's slightly less brown.)
Step two is to take apart the solar lights. On mine there are three screws that hold on the top.
The guts look like this. Basically there's the panel, the light sensor and the controller for the battery and such. Pay close attention to that red dot. It covers the light sensor and we're going to need to save it for later.
If you push on the solar panel it'll pop right off. Just give it some slow steady pressure.
After that you can use the snips to cut the glue that holds the light sensor in place. Just snip the dried glue and it will pop right off.
You can now cut away all the excess plastic. You should end up with this.
Then you glue the solar panel to the top of one of the jars.
After that you glue the light sensor in place as well. Make sure it's facing the same direction as the solar panel!
Lastly, glue on the battery case to the back. It should all fit right on the solar panel.
Here's a completed one... except I picked it up before the glue set and it fell apart. On that note... wait till the glue sets.
The completed project looks like this.
Hayden and Seri are stoked with them. They're running around with their sunlight in a jar right now. We're going to use them on the back deck as a table light. All in all it was a cool project that cost about $10 a jar. We made 4 all together. It was a great time to spend with two sick kids while missing work!
So, to start we have snips, a 7 level (little screwdriver), a regular screw driver, some glue and some free time. The free time was the hardest to come by.
The first step is to get the hardware off the mason jars and frost them. This is really straight forward and by doing it first they can dry well you're doing everything else. (please disregard my brown Texas grass. It's winter here. When it's summer... it's slightly less brown.)
Step two is to take apart the solar lights. On mine there are three screws that hold on the top.
The guts look like this. Basically there's the panel, the light sensor and the controller for the battery and such. Pay close attention to that red dot. It covers the light sensor and we're going to need to save it for later.
If you push on the solar panel it'll pop right off. Just give it some slow steady pressure.
After that you can use the snips to cut the glue that holds the light sensor in place. Just snip the dried glue and it will pop right off.
You can now cut away all the excess plastic. You should end up with this.
Then you glue the solar panel to the top of one of the jars.
After that you glue the light sensor in place as well. Make sure it's facing the same direction as the solar panel!
Lastly, glue on the battery case to the back. It should all fit right on the solar panel.
Here's a completed one... except I picked it up before the glue set and it fell apart. On that note... wait till the glue sets.
The completed project looks like this.
Hayden and Seri are stoked with them. They're running around with their sunlight in a jar right now. We're going to use them on the back deck as a table light. All in all it was a cool project that cost about $10 a jar. We made 4 all together. It was a great time to spend with two sick kids while missing work!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Server down!
Guys,
The server is going to be down for awhile today. I'm moving some of my drives around to provide more space for the web and file server. It should be back up tomorrow... not like anyone's paying me for this anyway...
The server is going to be down for awhile today. I'm moving some of my drives around to provide more space for the web and file server. It should be back up tomorrow... not like anyone's paying me for this anyway...
Thursday, December 17, 2009
It's almost Christmas...
So in the spirit of things... my outdoor electrical plug died somehow and the lights won't come on. Good times. I'm going to take it apart tomorrow and try to fix it. In unrelated news... here is a video from Stargate Studios that shows their use of green screens in a surprising about of TV shows. I thought it was used mainly for movies with dinosaurs and robots... you know, the ones that Michael Bay keeps screwing up. Apparently it's a lot more prevalent that I thought.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Turkey, turkey.... TURKEY!
Sorry, but I didn't get a whole lot of pictures for Turkey day. I made the turk this year and it came out pretty good. It was a really laid back dinner with just Joy and the kids, which was really nice. Making the turkey was so easy, that I went and got another one for tonight! So, to honor my dual turkey turkey day... here is a flash game that PETA came out with to apparently teach kids how horrible it is to eat turkey.
As usual they have only succeeded in making fools out of themselves and a mockery of their beliefs... but the game is really fun! See how well you can do. Also, click the Peta link below the game... which they added to their embedded code. I fixed it for them!
As usual they have only succeeded in making fools out of themselves and a mockery of their beliefs... but the game is really fun! See how well you can do. Also, click the Peta link below the game... which they added to their embedded code. I fixed it for them!
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