great show

Last night Johnny pantz, tomtom, and i drove down to see the show, we got a bit of a late start, however we ended up with pretty much perfect seats. The band was GREAT!!!

Tonight jonny pantz and I are taking another trip down to Atl to see The New P0rnographers… it should be fun; I really like their new album so the excitement of seeing them live is building. The show is going to be at the variety playhouse. Last time we went it was nice; I hope that we are able to sit in the same place, I like having a place to actually sit down!

Tomorrow the beam arrives, per fedex.com. If it doesn’t I think I will have a nervous breakdown. I would like to at least get some of it installed on Wednesday afternoon but a lot of that depends on what time I wake up after the show, what time it arrives, and if I am able to devote some time to studying for my test on Monday. If nothing else I plan on picking up from work, taking it back to the house, and unpacking it. That way it will be ready and I may be able to get it mounted after work later this week.

Last night I had class, he covered several new problems that will be on our test, and by several I mean 9…. It was a little overwhelming to say the least. 9 new problems, never before covered and to think that I must commit them to memory by Monday… yuck. My mind starts to wonder after trying to concentrate so hard for that long. I start thinking about the strangest things, how to take things apart, what I am going to eat later, stuff from long ago like high school English class, why I am the only person in the front row, how much fun it would be to take my cherry coke can and hurl it at the teachers face -and- what his reaction would be... I’m pretty sure I have a.d.d…

pictures

ok pictures in order:
My "so42" pumpkin front and rear
the pumpkin line up
Mr skinny bones looking out the window wondering if it's Halloween yet...
Melissa’s butterfly
Mr. Johnny pantz’s wide mouth pumpkin
Dad tearing up the wave at NOC
Dad in the Land Cruiser on the way home from NOC
Fish in the river at NOC, Spotting fish is my God given Ability, it's a pity I can't making a living spotting fish...
Me surfing at NOC
A chair we left way up in a tree...
Dad, Popeye, and a nice 1963 panel
harvest moon
a cool TV that was at the art museum in Asheville
Melissa’s car all packed up with a weeks worth of stuff...

back to work, for real...

Well I still don’t have a ^&%*&^%*&^% beam for my car. I expect to have an explanation as to why it has not arrived soon. After almost 3 months it’s time to finish this project… Lesson learned, from here on out I will be making all parts for the car “in-house” unless I am 100% sure I can not do it myself…

Last night we carved pumpkins, they turned out very well I believe…

It stinks that vacation is over; it feels like it was just a dream… work this week is going to be pretty busy and I have a test next week so I have my work cut out for me. Tonight I have class and will figure out how hard the test actually will be…. Ugggg….

Will has an interesting post up about the fan of death, apparently if you go to sleep with a fan on it sucks all the oxygen out of the room and you die, or you freeze to death…. I guess Melissa and I might as well be playing Russian roulette with our ceiling fan! YIKES

almost over....

Back from our trip, it was really fun, must say i am going to hate work Monday morning... noc was good, the weather was perfect and there was a good turnout. Melissa got some fun stuff, i got a Helmet and a spray skirt for my squirt boat. The helmet is a ripoff of the savage designs "V" plastic helmet from back in the day. the skirt is cool, complete with shoulder straps, if it works it will be some of the best $20 i have spent in a while.... if not... eeebbbaaayyyyyy.....

I wanted to find a few things but no dice... they were as follows;

liquidlogic "hefe chico"
flood zone life jacket
original savage designs "V" helmet
a candle lantern


At noc the wave has been changed to a hole, a good one at that... the plus, it was really fun, the minus, i am much better at waves than holes.... the mighty scurvy preformed well, the hole was to much for it though... in the process of "throwing" a move [split wheal] i have never done before i broke the scurvy when the rear end whacked the rock... oh well, i did a split wheal.... I tried a jackson boat, it was pretty good.... i felt top heavy in it... i guess only paddling a creek boat and something i fished out of the trash for the last 4 years has been rough on my play boating skills...

Tomorrow i find out if the beam came in, if it did i am going to try and start the installation. If that happens there is a good chance that i'll be taking if for a spin Wednesday afternoon. Speaking of bussed there was a guy at the sale representin' in a split window double door panel. It looked pretty good, he was running " what i would call" a strange drive-train for a type 2 but i guess that's neither hear nor there....

pictures will be up on Monday.... the cord from the camera is at work :-(

asheville, live

so far so good, we went to the Brew'n view... a movie for $2 and the you get to order pizza and beer!!! "OMG" It was SO MUCH FUN! Everyone was very nice (even the guy who took our plates, he said "thank you," great- great- great! we may go back tomorrow night. I wish chattanooga had one of these, it was a blast!

we checked into the hotel and then went to the art museum; walked around down town. Tomorrow we are going to walk around some more, no real plans.

noc or bust

My last day of work for a week, I’m pretty excited! If I get out of here at a decent time I will really be excited. Same ol stuff going on today, tonight we are going to have family dinner, and tomorrow there is a chance we are going to make a Nashville run. I guess we’ll see…

Next week the fun starts, Asheville for a few days and then NOC. We are going to try and get two days of canoeing in and also some kayak time on “the wave.” I am going to try and get a new creek boat, mine is getting old and I think it will break soon. Liquidlogic has one that I LOVE, however the only one I have seen was white… what a horrible idea. The last think I want to be is stuck [pinned] in a white boat in a rapid with white water. Regardless I want to find a boat.

The hotel should have wireless so hopefully I’ll post a few pics of the city… The leaves are just starting to change so I think that the drive will be perfectly beautiful!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was a good day off… I was able to get some stuff done around the house and also change out the rack on Melissa’s car. We put some EXTRA LONG cross bars on there and now we will comfortably be able to fit the space case (which is “gay,” per Melissa and Jonny pantz,) two bikes, our blue canoe, and the mighty scurvy… It is going to be quite a site. Once we get it all loaded up I’ll snap a few pictures.

Aside from that we didn’t really do all that much… washed some cloths, cleaned out the closets, bla-bla-bla…

We ran out to best buy and I Picked up a tomtom… I guess it’s something that’s not really necessary, but I wanted one before our trip and I guess that was a good an excuse to get one as any. My first impressions are good; it is easy to use and very strait forward…. Compared to the Garmin it is much more user friendly… much faster, defiantly –less- portable… but I only anticipate using it in the car so no big deal…. Also you can download updates easily, works with/ on a mac, all and all I think it was a good choice.

v a c a

Next week is VACATION!!!! I CAN’T WAIT… Melissa and I are going to head up to NC for the week, stay in Ashville for a few nights and then go to the NOC sale. Skinny J is (should be) watching the dog and the Hizouse; although I have not talked to him in a week… (Justin if you read this call me.)

There are a few things that I will need to get ready,
Camping stuff + paddling gear and boats
Clean Melissa’s car
Load maps onto the GPS…
Clean up the house and mow the yard

We had originally planned on taking the bus this year but it’s just not going to happen. That somewhat thwarted our camping plans and now we have to make a decision as to where and stay. We may just take a tent, but I would like to not sleep on the ground. The camp’otel is an option but I’m not sure how that would work on Melissa’s car. We also discussed taking an RV but they are just so big….

Regardless of what we take I’m going to have to figure out how to get a weeks worth of crap in/ on it including no less than two kayaks and probably a canoe, and two bikes. Hummm… may need a bigger rack.

What a weekend, Saturday after work Jonny pantz and myself went down to see a show in Atlanta, “Sunset rubdown.” It was an adventure to say the least. I was pretty sleepy to begin with but figured all would be fine. Long story short, cops in Atlanta who drive white cars don’t get along with cops driving blue cars, clubs that are under parking lots suck, and when the lead singer of the second opening band decides to postpone the start of the show so he can go pee…. makes for a long night. I have been to Atlanta 100’s of times probably but for some reason it felt like a town in a far away place 10000’s of miles away from Chattanooga where, by happenstance, they spoke the same language, and were all idiots. Regardless it was fun to get out of town for the evening and time with mr. jonny pantz is always time well spent.

This is why new cars suck…. The first pic is of Melissa’s cars engine… I can identify 4 things…. Only 4…

The second is my car… notice how easy everything is to get to, not to mention if you get sick of bending over to work on it you can undue the 4 bolts and take it out… I thought things were going to get better as time progressed, and while Melissa’s car may have things like “AC” and “HEAT” and be able to travel over 60mph… I’m not impressed…

0- idiot manual
1- valve covers
2- spark plugs
3- heat
4- coil
5- oil pressure switch
6- distributor
7- idle adjustment
8- carb
9- main pulley
10- dipstick
11- generator
12- add oil there
13- exhaust
14- headers >;-}

five

Ok here is my rip-off favorite things list. After compiling this list I think I like the idea of “My five favorite _______” and listing accordingly…

1. FAVORITE EAT: MF sushi bar in Atlanta.
2. FAVORITE TUNES: Currently; Challengers, by The New Pornographers.
3. FAVORITE SEE: Rock Creek that flows off of the ridge past Dunlap, BEAUTIFUL! One of the only rivers I have been on where I didn’t see any trash.
4. FAVORITE READ: How to keep your VW alive for the complete idiot.
5. FAVORITE MOVIE: Who killed the electric car

more good weather

Man, another beautiful morning! On the drive to work i actually reached over... pulled out the knob that says heat.... and then pulled out the "fan" knob one click.... I couldn't believe it! So nice outside.

cool, nice and cool...

This morning was nice and cool outside, I believe in the mid 60’s; what a wonderful change. I have been waiting for this cooler weather for some time, I hope that the temperature continues to drop. I am defiantly ready for summer to end.

Today was relatively calm today at work, again,... a nice change. I have been able to catch up with pretty much everything. Tomorrow will be pretty much the same.

Yesterday I went to the Dr. for another follow up appointment. Apparently my stomach troubles are a result of "IBS." I was taking some medicine that pretty much rendered me useless, always sleepy and apathetic, however my stomach felt solid as a rock. The Dr. changed my prescription, I have yet to take it, we’ll see how this one goes. April is IBS awareness month; I’m going to see if I can get an IBS ribbon magnet for my car. In addition the above picture was pulled from the aboutibs web site, yea they have an art section.

It seems like more and more retailers are compiling “A list of our favorite things…” Kind of a cool lifestyle marketing tool in my opinion… While looking for a new coat I came across Club Monaco’s (a nice clothing shop who still thinks a size small should fit a person >160lbs) list of “favorite things” for October:


Each month, our Club Monaco team searches high and low to identify the most interesting things going on in the world around us. These highlights are shared with you in our monthly column called Favorite Things. Click here to have this list e-mailed to you on a monthly basis.
1. FAVORITE EAT:Bobo
2. FAVORITE TUNES:A Fine Frenzy
3. FAVORITE SEE:Murakami and The Museum of Contemporary Art
4. FAVORITE READ: The Lights of New York: Jean–Michel Berts
5. FAVORITE MOVIE:Margot At The Wedding
Do you have a Favorite Thing that you’d like to recommend for next month’s highlights? If so, please email favoritethings@clubmonaco.com

I think that I am going jump on the wagon and compile a list of “the most interesting things going on in the world around me…” and call it “Justin’s favorite things!” “BRILLIANT!!”

music etc.

A list of what I have been listening to? Here goes:

Belle & Sebastian, Life Pursuit

Sparklehorse, Dreamt for light years in the belly of a Mountain
Good morning spider

Peter Bjorn and John, Writer’s block

The New Pornographers, Challengers

Modest Mouse, [older stuff]

Death Cab for Cutie and Of Montreal…

That is pretty much my “list” as of now … I also have been listening to the grateful dead, Johnny Cash, Elvis, and Frank Sinatra…. mostly at work because I can leave it on while I talk to the old folks and they don’t get bent. Several weeks ago I had Of Montreal on and someone brought customers in my office while I had stepped out. I returned to find the lady trying to figure out how to turn off my ipod and or the “thing it was stuck into.” It was clear that our musical preferences were not similar.


This morning when I woke up I could only think of two things. 1. Going back to sleep… and 2. Loading up the canoe and going to NC with Melissa… the poor boat has not seen water in months…. It was cooler outside also, I hope that that means that fall weather is approaching. Tomorrow the weather should be nice [per the weather widget] I can hardly wait.

Last night we went to pet-smart and purchased a remote control shock collar for the dog. It’s pretty awesome… it works up to 100 yards away and has three settings, one for the “shock level,” one to impart an electronic command, and another that makes the collar beep. In theory it sounds cruel an unusual, however it is pretty effective in getting his attention.

:-|

What weekend, it flew by! Sunday we got up and went to church, went to the store, and then Melissa went to work. Jonathan and I went on a wild goose chase for some furniture; it ultimately ended in finding nothing. After that it was dinner time and off to bed. This morning at work has been very hectic. A new phone system was installed over the weekend and nobody knows how to use it. In addition today is Columbus Day and the (small) banks are closed making submitting loan applications a guessing game. I am almost 100% sure that either the phone or the computer are going to end up in the lake today.

new music

Yesterday i left work a little early, Melissa and i went to the new rock creek, it's pretty nice. Lots of cloths and it has a very open feel, kind of like old navy.... I am sure that they will do well in the new shop, the complex that it is in looks to be nice. Then we went to down under, they had a new liquidlogic boat that i wanted to see (a beautiful white creekboat.) I asked Chris if would give it to me and consider it a sponsorship opportunity? I do not have a new boat, but i do have something to look out for at NOC. The Pyranah is nice, but i am convinced it if i paddle it all this winter i will break it. I don't want to do that!

Last night we went out to eat, it was pretty fun. Mr Johnny pantz gave me some new music to try; I was so excited to listen to it all I could hardly sleep last night. So far this morning I have listened to one album and am working on the second; that is until car talk comes on… them I’ll listen to it.

I had no idea Will had a blog, it’s really good.

Not to much going on today aside from work. Tomorrow will be a "take it easy" day, i don;t really plan to do anything aside from go to church, take a nap, and go look for a coffee table. As for the buss, it's dead to me now... thanks nate, you are killing my dream.

Well my little break is over, I took Tuesday and Wednesday off and now it’s back to work… I am thinking that the next few days, along with next week will be a bit busy but fine. I’ll just have to stay on top of everything. No big deal… I didn’t really do anything over my “break,” just messed with some stuff around the house, ran some errands, and tried to take it easy. I did sleep in… till 9:00… weeeeee.

The only thing that I did for the bus was make a call only to find out that the beam is still 2 more weeks away… (Seems like I heard that one before) and make a little skid plate for the steering box. That turned out pretty well, although I think it may need a little re-enforcement on the back part of it, we’ll see… it’s kind of a pain in the butt to remove. But I have another month before I have to worry about driving it so I’m sure I’ll get to it…

We went to some antique malls yesterday, just a bunch of junk more or less… there are a few places in town that have some cool stuff but the ones that we visited yesterday didn’t fall into that category.

the under-deck; world of darkness.

Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy… it seems as if I am always sleepy….

Not sure if it is the medicine that I have been taking for my stomach, or if I am suffering from a case of iwanttostayinbedandnotgotowork syndrome but I have be sleeeepy here recently.

The dog has been good, however last night it turned into a little brat and decided it would bark all night long. We have a new cage for it to sleep in; if that does not work it’s getting a shock collar. A few people here at work said that it is effective…. Yesterday I made a door for the under-deck, it might as well be a dungeon however, there is very little light that enters the under-deck… tomorrow or Wednesday I will re-vamp part of it so that it can romp in the sun if it so desires. The door is cool, it took me a long time to make… but it has a little “P” carved into it… I’ll post some pictures soon.

Tonight is my test, I’m not really nervous about it right now, I need to do some studying to brush up some things, I’m going to wait till after lunch and maybe go home a bit early to prep.

The beam is not here, the guy has not e-mailed me back, and I am getting pissed. I have done nothing to the bus in what seems like weeks, and I can’t say I am really motivated to do anything to it till it arrives. Soon I hope…. there isn’t really anything to do to the bus actually, aside from piddely things, {and body work,} which until I drive it I have no desire to start working on.