Archive for October, 2005
October
28
2005
The decorating is coming along nicely. I should really start getting my costume ready also, but I seem to be the chairman of the decorating committee. I spread out the rest of the webbing, set up the smoke machine, and set up the lights… Oh and I put up a giant picture of an electricuted skull.
Ive been wanting to do a rasterbation for that wall for a while and this image keeps coming up when I do a google search for “skull”. What a perfect fit. I think it’s from a flyer for a band? I found the source once, but I’ve lost it now and dont’ really care that much.
Later!
October
27
2005
So last night we decided to carve pumpkins. Nothing to get you in the Halloween spirit like carving the guts out of a vegetable. We had some friends over and had some beers over too. We got together about 7 and went to the store together to pick out our pumpkins. I got myself a tallish one with some cool warts on the outside. I don’t know what it was but I think this pumpkin has some kind of skin disorder. The rind was like cutting a rock. It literally bent the knife when I tried to stick it in there. Everyone else was already done scooping when I finished cutting the stupid top off of mine. I just sat there for a minute and recovered from the work. Then I realized that I was way behind and that I really didn’t want to cut through this rind again. So I decided to do it my way.
I got out the power tools…
Now the girls must have seen too many episodes of “Home Improvement” since they were kind of upset with the idea. But I assured them that I would keep all of my fingers attached to my body. They obviously aren’t familiar with my liberal use of power tools. This hardened shell stood no chance against the power of my mighty 20 year old jigsaw. One minute later my pumpkin was done. Oh man is it beautiful! Beautifully disgusting!
Later!
No commentsOctober
26
2005
So I think we’ve fixed the problem that I caused the other night. Not that it was easy or anything, but it’s fixed. When I got home the plexi-glass pieces had been soaking in turpentine all day. Unfortunately, like Rainer Wolfcastle’s goggles… “They do no-sing”. So all the scrubbing in the world wasn’t going to get them clean. On to the next idea. Through some trial and error I discovered that by using the edge of another piece of plexi-glass I could scrape off the frosting without scratching the glass. It was 5:15. 4 1/2 hours later with my hand gnarled into some kind of claw and cuts on my knuckles, I finished. It was like some kind of punishment for screwing up. But it was worth it. While not perfect the inserts were looking pretty good. I told the boys that we’d have to abandon the frosting plan and just use them clear which I think looks better anyway A quick rubdown with the liquid sander and we were back in business. Now on to the next step… the clear coat…
I had a little experience with this when I was about 14, making paper weights and just general monk eying around. But it kind of scared me to be mixing epoxy and pouring it over the table that I’d worked so hard on. The instructions said to mix the two parts equally, which we did. The instructions also said that we didn’t have enough to fully cover the table… but what do they know… stupid instructions. We proved them wrong my making it last to cover the whole table. Nothing horrible happened, yet, so I’m hoping that this step is a success. It wasn’t quite dry this morning, which makes me a little worried about pouring on more tonight. Maybe we’ll just let this dry and pour the rest on after the party? I’ll have to consult with the team.
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October
25
2005
So pretty much every project I’ve ever taken on has 4 distinct steps. Great start with much promise, Once I can see the end I start to loose steam, I screw something up, I stress and work hard to finish up on time. While the Pong Table was going on this path for a while, I thought that it would avoid some of the final steps. Most notably I haven’t screwed up yet. at least nothing that I couldn’t fix with paint That was until last night…
So we’d always planned to “frost” the plexi-glass so that the lights underneath would be diffused and the glow would be softer. I’d bought a can of “frosting spray” from Home Depot and tested it out on a scrap piece of plexi. It went alright, I thought that It would work better if I used more of it. But I wasn’t really worried about it. SO….
Last night I decided that it was about time I finished up that step. I get out the spray, get the pieces ready, but them flat on a box to spray. and then it happened… I strike again. The spraying was going good, then drip… drip… oops… let me just fix that… oops… shouldn’t have touched that…. oh god…. panic maybe I can… oops… PANIC…uh…
So if you didn’t catch that I kind of gummed up the beautiful plexi triangles with a semi-transparent mess. Right now they’re soaking in turpentine in hopes that I can scrub off the sprayed on finish. I really hope that I can get them looking good. I’ve told a lot of people that this beast will be ready for the party this weekend. And who knows this thing may be the start of a great business opportunity. Pongfather Out!
No commentsOctober
24
2005
What did I do this weekend? I spent the day at the fair. Yes, the fair. The honest to goodness, root tootenest State Fair. Not just any State Fair, but the North Carolina state fair. I’m not sure what the difference is? But Susan and Ellen convinced me that it’s a big deal. It was definitely big. B. I. G. big
Picture in your mind what you think a state fair looks like… Got it? Yeah, that’s pretty much what it looks like. The thing about state fairs is that they don’t change much over the years. There’s only so large a potato can grow 12.6 lbs and only so much grooming a goat will take. The sate fair will always be there for you. It’s kind of comforting actually, kind of like the food they sell there. Which from what I gathered is pretty much the only reason that Susan and her sister go there.
You may be thinking that they go for the rhubarb pie or Mr. Smith’s award winning pecans. But there’s a much more nefarious plan afoot. Fried “Foods”. Not like French fries and onion rings… though they were there. I’m talking Deep fried Twinkies, Oreos, and oh dear god Candy Bars.
A Deep Fried Snickers is 900 calories… God Bless America. May our wealth grow as much as our asses.
Just let that sink in a little. while you imagine 2 healthy early 20′s girls stuffing themselves with every fried food in sight. It was glorious.
The people watching wasn’t bad either, there was quite an array of mullets and John Deere attire. Many examples of Ghetto Chic and of course personalized airbrushed hats. Damn I wish I would have bought one. Later in the night we saw a guy on the ground, he had just been knocked out “Deebo” style. I’m pretty sure he didn’t die, but there were 119,000 people there… just on Saturday. When NC rednecks get together, they do it big-time. We did miss the demolition Derby, but we saw Both pig and duck races… That’s right dual species racing action.
My recap on that one, Pigs race for cheese doodles, while the ducks race for the love of the sport.
Overall it was good to get out and do something new for the weekend. I haven’t been bloggin about my other adventures. I definitely should… they’re fun too.
via NC State Fair
No commentsOctober
19
2005
So in conjunction with my love of special edition candy and my love of Halloween stuff I decided to buy these little cans of Jones soda. Now you must understand that Jones Holiday sodas are the stuff of internet legends. Their infamous Thanksgiving sampler pack is one of the most disgustingly glorious ideas ever. In that light I was actually expecting to be grossed out by these. The flavors that they had were “Candy Corn” and “Caramel Apple”. The candy corn is the one that you see in the picture above. Now I don’t think they actually used food safe dyes in this drink because it was the most yellow that anything has ever been. School Busses? Yield Signs? Lemons? All pussies compared to this. Actually the only thing I could think of is Highlighter fluid. also because if you spill come on your hand… it dyes it yellow. Not sure if this is something that you should really be putting in your body… but oh well, too late now. The taste is not as horrible as you could imagine, not much flavor at all actually, just corn syrup. Probably one of the sweetest things that I’ve ever tasted. But isn’t that the real spirit of Halloween? come on people.. let’s all hold hands. The Caramel Apple soda was a little disappointing. I thought this would be the one, the gross one that is. But if you’ve ever had Jones Green Apple Soda then you’ve basically had this already. Just drop in a hint of caramel flavor.
so overall I would say that this was a success, but I would like something more substantial, like pumpkin soda. MmMmmMm seedy.
via Jones Soda
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