lord_powell

A Wizards House

lordpowell@cox.net — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 12:52:27 GMT

Sadly, and as per usual, I’ve been a slack bastard about keeping up with this journal.

I have nothing too new to report except for this.

Last weekend Lady P’s Grandmother was in town for a visit. We were looking for fun things to do and we ran across one of the most super cool houses I’ve ever seen, The Hermitage House.

http://www.hermitagefoundation.org/index.asp

This place can only be described as no photos are allowed inside, and for good reason because the place has been graduated to level 3!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lord_powell2112

The builders made use of Norfolk as a home base for some miles and quilting plants in the 1800’s. They became stupid rich and the “summer home” they were constructing became the recipient of good fortune.

These cats hired a carver from England, I think, and he moved into the water tower on the property. (Yep, water tower! Fucking pressurized water system, in a house.) This gent, whose name escapes me at the present, set up his carving shop in the tower building and worked on the carving of this home for 30 years!

The only photos I have up now are of the outside grounds, again no photos are allowed inside. But I think you’ll get the feel, for what the place is like.

They used the money they earned to surround themselves with art. They formed a foundation for the arts here, and to this day the foundations supports the advancement of art in our area. They teach all kinds of classes on the grounds, painting, pottery making, mold making, and the like. Lady P and I will be taking some classes in the near future once we get back from our trip.

So yeah, this place rocks. They also put on a Hollows Eve party every year, and we need to work out the party for 08, as I think all interested parties will need to attend. Our trip in Nov has saddled our plans for our Hollows Eve party this year, but next year it’s going to include a trip out the Hermitage Foundation Museum.

That’s all for now.

LP

Currant Music:

I bought you that guitar
Boy you better play it
Get you out the ghetto
Learn rhythm and solos
be the best that you can
Rock the house in 4/4
Claim your name to fame and
Get off the street right now!

A reply

lordpowell@cox.net — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 23:12:12 GMT

I tend to keep too silent on the live journal in regard to politics as well. But I’ll pipe up here, as this matter is pretty important to me.

First, it’s the Second Amendment, not the 4th, that grants you the right to keep and bear arms. A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

The fourth amendment is pretty important as well. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I have a fundamental problem with any government or government agency that comes along and states that I now need to prove my ability with a firearm after some new legislation has been passed, when clearly the Second Amendment states that they cannot infringe on the right.

Do not mistake, or take lightly, the use of the word “right”. It’s a right, not a privilege to bear arms in the US. The founding fathers knew all to well the importance of private citizens keeping arms for the protection of their liberty.

I hear the left often say that the founding fathers did not mean “the people” as private citizens keeping guns, but that they were somehow referring to a militia. Militia IS a group of private citizens. The phrase “the people” refers to individual citizens in all the other amendments. No, it’s pretty clear what they meant. Here are some words from TJ.

No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
---Thomas Jefferson: Draft Virginia Constitution, 1776.

A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.
--- Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1785.

I don’t want to go into a history lesson here, but to me it seems pretty clear what they were going for. It’s cut and dry. There are tons and tons of statements like this to be found in the writings of the Founding Fathers. I read a book recently about the Constitution and I was actually surprised at the number of references made to private firearms ownership.

The difference with guns and airplanes, is that the use of motor vehicles is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution. This is why these privileges can be licensed and regulated, and taken away under certain circumstances. Firearms ownership is a right that is not open to these parameters though most states, using their small leeway of autonomy, find ways to regulate the Second Amendment anyway. For example, in some cities in this state you have to apply for a license to even purchase a firearm. In order to carry a weapon concealed, you have to apply for a concealed weapons permit, in all states but one.

The risk you run into when allowing the government to tell you what types of weapons you can have, is that it violates the Second Amendment by applying conditions. An example of this is New York City and Washington D.C., where handguns are illegal. Those locales are trampling the rights of their citizens. In fact, D.C. is trying to overturn this ruling now. With the current climate, the success of that movement is uncertain.

The bottom line is you cannot put legislation into effect that will protect the populace from crazy people. As you say, limiting magazine capacities just means people will carry more guns. If you outlaw guns, people will acquire them on the black market and still some will go on killing sprees.

If our country is dumb enough to destroy the Second Amendment, then let’s take it a step further. Since we don’t know the intentions of someone buying a firearm, and in the interest of public safety because they “might” go crazy and kill someone, we need to outlaw guns. Then we need to go ahead and outlaw cars because someone might decide to drive drunk and might hit somebody. While we’re at it we need to get rid of bicycles and motorcycles, they’re just too unstable. I guess we’d better get rid of fertilizers, household chemicals, all that stuff…they can be made into weapons. This is flawed logic. Here’s what needs to happen.

I’m not advocating carte blanche government agencies throwing people in the joint. But when a medical facility finds someone to be a danger to themselves, they shouldn’t be let back out on the street. At that point they need to stay under supervision until they are well enough to be re-acclimated into society. Also, the school definitely should have the right to not accept (or to expel) someone who has been found a danger to themselves or others.

It would be nice if the schools had in place a policy for teachers and people who hold concealed carry weapons permits, to actually carry their weapons so that IF someone does something like this, someone has a chance to stop it.

It’s an interesting thought that due to Freedom Of Information, anyone can find out who holds concealed carry weapons permits in their state or city. But due to HIPAA policies, nobody (not even the patient’s spouse unless specified) has the right to know that a citizen has been treated for mental health disorders. Basically the laws seem to suggest that concealed weapons permit holders are more dangerous to the public than mental health patients.

I’m getting a bit off topic, but there’s unfortunately too much misunderstanding in regards to the Second Amendment. Gun control laws (including licensing and testing processes, registration, etc) have been proven not to work, though you’re not going to get that info from the liberals in this country. But there are some pretty hard and fast numbers out there if you care to look. Criminals generally don’t buy their guns legally but crazy people who haven’t committed a crime yet still can. The only protection against them is to have the tools at your disposal to deal with the ones who fall through the cracks if you ever find yourself in a similar situation. It was a terrible tragedy, and it’s a shame that NBC decided to pimp the video before some of the parents even had a chance to claim their children from the morgue.

Going south

lordpowell@cox.net — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 00:27:23 GMT

I found out today that I won the 06 MINI grand travel award for last year. We are heading to Buenos Aires in November. MINI has been badass cool to me so far. I get a little down that I'm not doing an art job and creatively I do feel like a chump, but all in all I'm blessed with a pretty sweet gig. I'm paid well, the perks are nice, and my car rocks!

This trip is going to be cool I think as it's a place we would never pick to go for ourselves. Hot climates don't set to well with us after spending time in Savannah. South America seems a hell of a lot hotter than GA to be sure so I may very well come back looking like a lobster.

I'm going to go ahead and get my new camera, I've been kicking it around for a while now, but this trip has galvanized my decision. (Canon Digital Rebel XTi kit with 7-85mm image stabilizing lens) We got loads of shit in London, but out of all the stuff, the pictures I took are the best things I came back with. So less tourist stuff and more photos! Plus with two cameras, lady P will be able to do her thing and we won't have to share.

In other news, the IDPA safety officer course is coming up and I have to study for it the next few weeks. I'm getting, assuming I pass the course, certified as a SO to help out at the club. Also, I'm shooting the Virgina Indoor Regional Championship this year. Super bad ass match too! 10 stages, 5 in total darkness! I'll have more new on that next weekend.

Well nothing more to report now...

Back from the sands...

lordpowell@cox.net — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 04:51:17 GMT

Hello All.

I've been up for 38 hours straight! Cosmonaut training, you ask. Well, no I just flew back in from the latest MINI ride-and-drive that was held in Scottsdale AZ. (Very cool place, see Flickr page)

The new cars are pretty cool and being able to drive like you mean it is always welcome. My only regret is that Lady Powell could not attend. Now, she will argue this, but I've never really "Driven" our MINI to the max. I'd like her to see what they can really do! I posted one of the fastest track times, and I do think I could have beaten the standing record that day with more than the alloted two laps only. I won't bore you with all the detail of the event... Needless to say that I devoted some serious effort to the tires wearing out!

The race way was fucking awesome! http://www.firebirdraceway.com Plus the pro drivers from http://www.bondurant.com were really nice and helpful. I can foresee a trip out to take some classes. Hell the truth be told I think these guys have one of the coolest gigs around.

The hotel was the shit. http://www.hotelvalleyho.com/content/index.html I was thinking it was going to be kinda awful, and in some ways it is, but it does have a charm to it.

The town and surrounding country were nice, again see Flickr... Um, I think me brain just shorted out a bit. I'm going to sleep now...

Flickr Updated

lordpowell@cox.net — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 14:35:41 GMT

Hello All,

I have finally gotten all the photos from our trip updated and posted to Flickr. For some reason this took a lot longer than I had anticipated. This was in part due to laziness, A new video game to play called Titan Quest, Flying the FSOne RC flight sim, learning the ins and outs of Carcassonne, ripping most of my CD collection in preparation for an iPod for Lizzie, raking endless fucking tree leaves in our yard, reading a new book called Imperium (kick ass book- can't put it down) whilst reading Eragon(not so good, but I'm invested now...) and Shogun( which rules the house), filling a new sketch book with random scribblings of monsters seen in me imagination, working on plans for Lady Powell's new computer desk and new machine, reloading bench organazation(an ongoing project), shop prep and wiring plans for lighting, and finishing the crown molding in the guest bathroom.

Hm. Also watching Northern Exposure-Lady P had never seen it-also lining up Quantum Leap and A-team in our Netflix queue, buying and setting up a new Nordic Track treadmill (Lady P might be more enthused about this than I). Charlie fish died, as well, after untold years of life. He always was a bit creaky, perhaps from being badly cared for before we adopted him from Lady P's work.

It's no wonder I can never get anything done...

LP

Carcassonne Question

lordpowell@cox.net — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 21:38:19 GMT

So we've been turned on by a pretty cool board game called Carcassonne. We've run into a couple of situations where the rules are a bit grey. Since unpleasant and 343 turned us onto the game, we figured we would direct our rules question to them.

Below is a link to the Flickr page with a rather crappy photo of the board, which shows my lovely wife CHEATING.

She says not.

Lady P played the last tile of the game, which closed off her road. We had some disscution at the the legailty of this move as the city she started could not be completed. There were other places the tile could be used and played, so, we ask: Is this legal? We let it stand, as I was ahead by 150 some-odd points ANYWAY.

Ruling?

http://static.flickr.com/117/301247812_7db0e9971c_b.jpg

Grandpa's a killa!

lordpowell@cox.net — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 20:43:32 GMT

Okay so I love it when stereotypes are blown completely out of the water. Yesterday I was priveledged enough to participate in another IDPA tactical shotgun match. For those of you who have never been to one, it's kind of like playing a half life level but for real, and much more fun.

Well, you're not shooting people. But at any rate.

There're different divisions based on which kind of shotgun you shoot. Pump action, auto, and "open" class. The Open class is pretty much most of your exotics, and there was one guy who looked like somebody's old farmer grandpa. He waddled around the course shooting one of these:

http://static.flickr.com/71/195706471_0a7e9a0ec3_b.jpg

It's the one in the immediate foreground.

Now I can't stress to you how funny it was to watch this old man (picture):

http://static.flickr.com/78/195706466_ab88ee136c_b.jpg

walk (slowly) down to a stage, mop his brow, and then start cracking off rounds like mad. He's been shooting shotguns for a LONG time and he's REAL good. So he might look kinda goofy, and he might walk slow, but grandpa is a killa.

I thought that was cool. Maybe someday I'll be that cool. After all, a man who wears socks like that in public--you know he's not afraid of anything. LP

Entering into the Naughty Bits of Life

lordpowell@cox.net — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 00:38:23 GMT

Okay so I'll take a stab at this as well.

When I lost my virginity I think it was a week and a half before I turned 18. It was solely a horrible experience. And here's why.

The night of the First attempt, the person I was dating had a camper (her parents') and it was about six degrees outside. Although we HAD been working up to this moment for a good long time, somebody was not cooperating. Sooo, we moved to the next night, into more hospitable quarters, where the ambient temperature wasn't quite so low. And the event went pretty much as planned. Except that for me, I had the opposite effect than most males. Meaning it took a long time. This is by no means bragging, because she was NOT having fun and I was really, really tired. I was so nervous that I was doing something wrong I forgot to enjoy it. I did eventually enjoy it, but anyway it was the first experience.

I always tried to make sure that whatever partners I had, we were in some sort of relationship (usually me turning out to be more committed than them). I guess like my wife, I fall for the romance part as well. Odd though that we're not romantic in the traditional sense. But we ARE I guess slightly retarded for each other. She's my best friend. Which is pretty cool, because we can ALSO, well...you know.

I remember as a young kid learning about STD's right after learning about the act of procreation, and I felt cheated. In fact I believe my thought process went something like this. "Holy crap, people can do that? Man, that's awesome. Ooh. Euh. THAT can happen? Man, that's fucked up". There's just always something to spoil it, isn't there.

That was probably one of the main things that kept me out of the sack at a younger age. As well it should. I just think that there has to be something other than the physical to make it enjoyable. So anyway that's my lame story re: loss of virginity.

Lady Powell just told me that I missed the point a bit. Okay, so virginity: how'd that go for me? I was never too terribly embarrassed about being a virgin. I never lied about it in school. If someone asked me if I'd "ever been with a laydee" I told them no. There were always the jackasses on the bus that said they lost their virginity when they were, like, five. I don't think anybody ever believed them. I had plenty of opportunity, but I was never embarrassed by it. I DID sort of go on a jihad to get it as much as possible after I started.

Update finished

lordpowell@cox.net — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 00:14:50 GMT

For those of you who are interested, our flickr site has been updated from our recent trip last weekend. All photos have been tagged and witty comment added.

www.flickr.com/photos/lord_powell2112

Enjoy!

saw bang bang saw saw saw

lordpowell@cox.net — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 23:28:18 GMT

-I'm working-

"Hail to the Lort!..."

lordpowell@cox.net — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 01:13:44 GMT

Okay, so I checked my Flickr mail and found this:

Hi Lort Powell,

I have a blogspot international art series and like to know if I can put one of your pics on it. I have added a horse (!) on the golf field. On the field in front a man is standing with a red cap ready to hit the ball. Is this possible to use the pic in this way?

and I responded with this:

"Yeah man go ahead. Anything for art..."

-O the wonders of the web...-

You've leveled. You have an extra weapon proficiency slot.

lordpowell@cox.net — Mon, 22 May 2006 00:41:28 GMT

Lady Powell's been yelling at me because I haven't updated my Livejournal in awhile. The truth is I've been very apathetic about doing anything as of late. We've got lots of projects that we're trying to get done around the house, but I don't feel like messing with them.

The helicopter flying has been going well, I've actually gone for a long stint without having to replace any parts. I finally replaced my old set of blades this weekend; after untold minor crashes they were starting to make a strange noise when throttling up. I think the balsa had cracked, and the only thing holding the blades together was the wrap.

druidbreeze (Lady Powell) and I have been going to archery. We've gone two times now. It is much fun. I am slightly sore from the experience today. The good news is the instructor got me a left handed bow. The first time we went out I had to use the right handed bows. For those who don't know, I'm right handed but shoot long arms lefthanded, and bows lefthanded. I'm not really sure why. I can write with both hands, and have limited drawing skills with my left. When I was a kid I remember teachers telling me not to use my left hand to write. I suppose it's a good thing that I'm able to use most weaponry with either hand, though fencing lefthanded is still slightly out of my reach (no pun intended).

I had a random memory the other day. When I was about fourteen, I took a job with a friend of mine to help park cars at an antique show in Richmond. It was this massive event which drew every Antiques dealer on the east coast. Since my buddy's family was heavy into antiques, they invited me to help with moving furniture and also directing parking at the fair.

Anyhow my friend was slightly older than me, and he was jonesed because his girlfriend was coming with him and his parents had agreed to let her stay in the hotel room with us. It didn't really mean much to me, as it was his girlfriend, but I was slightly uncomfortable as it was the first time I had ever slept in the same room with a girl. I knew that if my parents found out about this, specifically my mother, she'd be pissed. But it was a slight detail that was omitted from the conversation upon asking for permission to go on the trip.

After the first day of working at the fairground, I started to get sick. I had been fighting a cold but working in the rainy weather had turned my cold into flu, and if memory serves I had strep throat. So by the time the end of the weekend had come around, I was pretty bad off. I forget my friend's girlfriend's name, but she was very sweet to me on the drive back from Richmond. She held my head in her lap and tried to comfort me as well as possible. Most people, knowing someone is that sick, tries to distance themselves as much as they can. She didn't seem to mind though and it was nice to have someone looking after me.

I had planned for my friend to drop me off after he had dropped her off, but feeling as rotten as I did, I asked him to drop me off right away once we got into town. My mom saw us pull into the driveway, saw the young lady holding my head in her lap, and proceeded to fly into a conniption. I was too sick to give a shit, so when she asked who she was, I told her it was my buddy's girlfriend and that she was letting me sleep with my head in her lap because I felt like ass. My mom back then had an extremely bad temper and we didn't get along so hot. I was grounded forever. Forbidden to speak with my friend, or to ever go to his house again, because his parents would allow such an event to take place. In her defense I suppose she had a point, but it was an interesting weekend nonetheless. I'm not really sure what made me think of her (my friend's girlfriend and all) but I hope she's doing well wherever she's at.

One thing's for sure, she's not with my old friend anymore. I say friend, I lost touch with this guy years ago and he was kindof an asshole. Specially by the way he treated her, but that's another story.

So livejournal updated, old memory dredged up, back sore from adding weapon proficiencies to my character sheet, so...yeah.

T shirt idea

lordpowell@cox.net — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 01:44:34 GMT

So Rachel came up with an idea the other day that was pretty funny. That being, and I think it was because we saw someone wearing a stupid T-shirt, that we should all design T-shirts for our friends. So here's a few of mine.

Rachel, I believe, would have to have her Jackalope logo. I'm not really sure how the Jackalope thing got going, I think I called her that in lieu of "jackass" one day as a joke. She asked me what the hell it was, laughing hysterically and rolling around on the ground because she thought I'd made up the word. I tried to explain, even seeking the wisdom of the intar-web (http://www.sudftw.com/jackcon.htm) so it kinda stuck.

SHE came up with the term "rabbithorn" which she's been using for herself, and I think is great. So I'm thinking her T-shirt would be the rabbithorn logo, which would be whatever Mr. sevencubed is up to. I believe she's talked him into designing the logo for her.

Should point out at this juncture that the term "rabbithorn" is a title of respect when applied to THE Jackalope, but when applied to OTHERS (for instance when someone cuts her off while driving) it is highly demeaning.

Hey. Open up the above web page as a separate tab. Now look at the bottom of your screen. Do you have Conspiracy theory things going across the bottom of the window? I just noticed that while typing.

I thought of a T-shirt for me, because Rachel couldn't think of one. I thought a simple "tool user" would apply. Black T-shirt, white ink. But you're not allowed to make up one for yourself, so I'm cheating.

So anyway, you get the general idea. Go forth and conquor. If they're funny, we should make the shirts.

And watch out for those horned rabbits.

My Maleness has been brought into question by my coworkers...

lordpowell@cox.net — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 02:41:08 GMT

You know, sometimes I feel so damn alone at work I don't know what to do with myself.

Yesterday this woman came into the Center to get service for her car. She was not one of my customers; in fact,she was being helped by one of the BMW advisors at the other end of the room so I did not see her come in. What brought her to my attention was the sound of some rather nasty comments from the two BMW advisors that share my end of the write-up area. They were talking smack about the way she looked. This is their normal shit-talking they spout to everyone before you walk up to them and they pretend to be your best friend.

I looked over to see one of the most kickass looking people I've seen in years! Holy shit, was this lady HOT! She had really awesome super long dreads, sort of piled high in a loose bun with them falling out on the back of her head. She looked like an elf, very tall and graceful, with really finely chiseled features and a scar on her face above her eye.

I sorta zoned out as I was looking at her. My first thought was she would make a kick ass model for drawing, and plus she was sexy and cool looking!

So I noticed my coworkers were looking at me while I was checking her out, wondering what I would have to say, and they were somewhat surprised to see that I was obviously not as affronted as they were by her appearance. They asked me what I thought.

“I think she is the coolest looking person I've seen in a long time, and she has really cool hair.”

“What, you like that rats' nest? Look at her face! It's scarred” -(general puzzlement that a person could find a her attractive and utter disbelief that I was looking at her instead of the finely crafted plastic walking mannikin that had just entered the dealership)

They asked what I thought of the plastic lady. Who by the way had brought the entire shop to a standstill as all the technicians found they could not wait a second longer for that trip to the vending machines. I told them she was creeping me out a little at how unnatural she looked. Yes, she had the figure, and the clothes, and the car, and the rich ass lawyer husband, and a uncanny ability to get her BMW to the front of the line-for techs, advisors, and parts personnel were falling over themselves to help her. But she was a real bitchass. Her fucking air was that of a typical spoiled rich girl. You could tell she felt everyone owed her something. (She even said at one point, later when she came back for her car, that she expected to get her way because she was cute.)

I attempted to explain that I found the elf lady much more attractive as she had unusual features and a cool style about her. That I didn't think she was ugly because of her scar. Quit the contrary, it was sexy! They said something to the effect that they would be embarrassed to be seen with her looking like that. I kind of got pissed for a second and almost told them to go and fuck themselves, but decided I would not bother telling them what I really thought.

By this point the cool looking elf lady had gone to the cashier's to get a loaner car and was out of the room. They started to joke on her again, and subsequently me for thinking she was good looking. At that point one of them made the comment that I was weird and what did you expect from someone who carries a man bag. Then the usual MINI insults.

I left the room and walked by the elf lady and told her that I thought she had cool hair. I think it shocked her a little as I'm pretty sure she may have heard some of the crap the others were saying about her. It's been my experience that if they feel they are better than you in some way they, they don't really mind if someone hears them talking shit. Real professional. I'm pissed at myself for even opening my mouth in the first place. I try to stay out of as many conversations as I can. I think its in bad taste to have that kind of crap in the work place, but every dealership I've worked at has had the same bullshit just different faces. Anyway, she gave a smile and said thanks. :)

It pisses me off to work with ass monkeys like that. The truth is most people bore the crap out of me. Rachel has the same problem with her dipshit coworkers. We've come to the conclusions that most people suck and that WE rule along with a happy minority of cool friends.

Civic Improvements

lordpowell@cox.net — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 04:39:42 GMT

So this might be fun. If money were no object, what would your death monument/mortuary temple/obelisk/carved block of cheese look like?

- - -

lordpowell@cox.net — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 04:29:16 GMT

Field report

I apologize for this seemingly random smattering of thoughts. We've been pretty much plodding along with no real news to speak of. Other than working around the house and watching the X-Files, we've done fuckall.

So... Yesterday, on our weekly trip to grocery store , we ran into a group of Girl Scouts selling cookies. You see, they will strategically place their tables so as to block off any entrance and egress, ensuring the opportunity to ask for a sale. Strictly speaking from a sales point, this is a sound strategy. It enables the sympathy sale, as most people find it hard the say no to little kids when they are selling shit. I, however, am keenly aware of the power of their evil product, and am not buying. More on this later.

I must first say, that I'm not personally affronted by the Scouts selling stuff to raise money for their cause. They have a right to raise funds and all. But ever since moving to this area, I'm getting really sick of people trying to sell stuff to me! I'm not soliciting the services of these people, so why do I feel compelled to be polite in refusing their wares?

If I want to go buy something, I drive to the store and I get it. If it's not able to be procured locally, there's always the Intarweb. I don't need to be sold on a thing. Hell, In most cases I've got a better understanding of the object, or whatever, I'm trying to buy than the sales person. It's because I do my homework before I go shopping.

And whilst I'm bitching on the subject. I've been interrupted two times by the door bell ringing, and ensuing flood of barking, to find kids selling shit door to door! This is starting to wear thin.

But back to the cookie... again, I'm getting really sick of being accosted everywhere I go by Girl Scouts selling these damn cookies! Its like they know in their beady little pig tailed heads that Rachel and I are SUCKERS for the fucking things. It's not their fault, I know, that Rachel and I can't rein ourselves in and not eat the whole damn box at one time, but still. We are thinking of writing a book, “Chuck it down--The Beginners Guide to Binge Eating”.

I think Girl Scout cookies should come with some kind of tag or sticker you can put on your shirt that says “Yes, I've already bought some of your cookies. I have donated to your glorious cause, but I'm a tub-O, so go hamstring the old lady over there!”

When they asked me if I wanted to buy cookies, (me seeing no other point of entry into the building, and therefore walking wilfully into their cookie pillbox at the front entrance.) I had to hold back my first impulse, which was to say “Begone foul child, with your evil fat-inspiring wares”. The troop leader probably wouldn't have let that one slide, and she was a rather largeish, foul tempered looking lady.

We did pass by without purchasing more cookies, and set off to buy about a $100.00 worth of lunch food...

In the RC Helicopter front, my skills are improving.

I have to say that it was a ridiculous impulse purchase and completely non-useful skill to learn but it's a whole lot of fun! I'm thinking about picking up an RC flight simulator before I step up to the gas-powered heli's. Attempting some maneuvers is just too risky with pricey equipment.

I've gotten Bug set up pretty nice now. The purchase of a quality blade balancer made a world of difference in terms of getting the vibration out of the model. I've not had to purchase a major part in over 2 weeks now. Of course, now that I've said than I'm most likely going to fly the thing into the side of the house!

I'm going to get my Pop one for his birthday. He's played around with mine but I can tell he is not trying to fully fly the thing. I'm sure he does not want to crash mine. Not that I'm complaining or anything, as my Helicopter is set up nice at the moment.

It's always cool watching someone pick up something new and see how they handle it. Most people I've seen with RC stuff just throw caution to the wind and lift off. It's the landing part that they forget about. Odd this happens after take off...

Pop's a pilot, so he's got a bit of a head start on most. He knows how machines in the air respond to controls. The whole “less is more” thing, but I'll bet he will pick up the RC helicopter stuff very quickly with his own helicopter.

I'm getting my plane ready for it's first flight too. This would be the plane that was under construction before I left for SCAD. That's right folks, I'm a speed demon when it comes to finishing a project.

I've got to get a place set up for working on it. The work table has to be pretty large to accommodate the plane. (It's no little toy that's for sure!) We are making some progress in that department as the computer room is coming together.

We have so many projects we want to do and no time to do them in. I envy Travis and Kelli having a NEW place that is already built to there specs. (Note to T&K. By the way the place looks awesome! More pictures posted of the new pad please. You can expect an inspection in fall.) Some day we'll have our place together, and set up the way we want. I guess these things take time, and we are very lucky to have our place given the housing market here. Things were looking bleak for a little while and we were sure we'd be renting forever. Property in this area is going up and up, so I'm happy to have such a cool place to live. In fact we just got the assessment on the joint and holy shit did it go up in value! Good news if we sell, but bad in the fact the city is going to jack the hell out of the taxes around here.

In other news, my grandmother passed away a few weeks ago. She was pretty sick and was suffering bad from cancer, and assorted other maladies. My folks had to drive down the Florida a few times to see her, and that was starting to wear thin on them, I think. The drive is like 15 hours and it is hard on my Mom.

I know my Mom and Dad wish I had more to say on the subject of her passing, but I find it hard to have any feelings on the matter one way or the other. Yes, I'm sorry she passed away, but No, I'm not torn up over the matter. She had been sick for a long time and was no means the pinnacle of health. She had abused her body pretty hard with smoking for years, and it was no surprise that she was going downhill.

I have had nothing to do with her or her husband for years. It's sad really I suppose. I had next to no relationship with them. I could say it was all their fault. They fell out of touch with me when I was about 10 or 11 years old. The phone calls stopped (but I never picked up the phone either to call). I guess that's when I first noticed.

As a kid it bugged me that they stopped talking to me. When the Christmas cards stopped coming in and I felt as though I really didn't know them, I grew even more detached. By the time I was a teenager I had pretty much written the whole matter off.

I was never sure why, but on a whole, my relationship with my family has gotten better as I've gotten older. I'm pretty sure no one, grand parents, parents, and siblings, knew what to make of me as a teenager, so that may have had something to do with it.

At any rate, she's dead now, hopefully in a better place and not suffering. I wish we had had a better relationship, but alas... Her husband, (I keep using that as he is not my grandfather. I never knew either one of my grandfathers,) is going to come and stay with my folks for a bit. He needs some R&R and I'm sure getting out of the house will be good for him.

I'm thinking that his visit could be good or bad. In the past, the guilt trip weapon has been deployed, and I'm sure hoping that's not going to happen now. I did not go to the funeral. It was never an option. We could not just pull up and head off for 4 days to Florida, with no one here to watch the animals. Plus we could not attend Rachel's grandmother's funeral for the same reasons, and she had a pretty good relationship with her as well, so it would be pretty shitty to insist on going to my grandmother's funeral when we couldn't make it to hers... I would not have gone to the funeral even if Rachel had been okay with it. I don't feel like I should have gone. Hell, I never made the effort to see them when she was alive, and they sure as hell didn't want to see me. Why would I go now?

Does my lack of feeling about the passing of her make me a bad person? Or have I been too self absorbed in my own life to have noticed that we should have attempted to heal whatever was between us? I don't know.

Now onto even more depressing news. I didn't win the grand prize trip this year for MINI. It really sucks too as they are going to Ireland and that would rock the house. My C.S.I score is like 2 in the nation right now, and that's only second place by about a 10th of a point. It's been that way for almost a year. The test this year was kind of bullshit, as during the appeal process they gave universal credit on a lot of the answers. I worked on the fucking thing for a month and found all kinds of conflicting information. (Now I should have fired off some e-mails at that time about the test, but I kept digging for information and picked answers that were the best of the two options. I won't bore you with the details but is was stuff like in one bulletin MINI says one thing, and in another it say something else with no clear instruction as to which one supersedes the other. This is nothing new as we have to deal with that crap everyday, but its a little poor planning on their part for a contest where winners and losers are decided by 10ths of a point. The test should have no ambiguous questions. Either that, or if you want to ask for an opinion on the way we would handle a gray area situation, have an essay portion of their test. I'm down with that. I'll fucking throw down with the best on them, I do every God damn day! But don't tell me my answer to your question is wrong if I can produce shit you wrote that confirms my answer.

Sorry to vent, but that kind of stuff really pisses me off!

-(Interjection: I just went outside to fly Bug and crashed the almighty fuck out of the thing! And no, not into the side of the house, but into the face of the steps into the house! This is by far the worst crash yet, and bad enough that it pains me to look at the shattered thing. So out of respect for the temporarily dead helicopter I have abstained from photographing the victim. Besides it's just a pile of cracked up parts at the moment. So disregard the above entry and learn well from my mistake! Never make a statement like that and go flying right after; you know what will happen... Well, off to the hobby shop!)-

Cheese Bread

lordpowell@cox.net — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 02:18:12 GMT

Beware of Panera's Faulty Advertising
...another friendly public service announcement from the office of Lord Powell

Okay.

So Rachel and I decide last night that we're going to be complete sloths and go out to dinner at Panera on a school night instead of being responsible and eating a healthy dinner at home.

So zoom zoom, we drive to Panera.

We wait in line.

I gets up to the counter, and counterperson asks me what I want to eat. I respond that I should like a CHEESE PIZZA THING. Because I'm not hip to the “Crispani” scene or whatever. And also, that I should like a cinnamon scone. Drink, etc, and whatever Rachel wants.

So we place our order, we pay. Drink vessels are procured, and the dutiful counterperson runs off to pick up the scone. She returns with the abovementioned scone and a CHEESE PASTRY. To which Rachel responds, “What's that...it's not what we ordered” while I'm still checking it out, thinking that my scone brought along a friend.

So counterperson replies “oh, sorry, so...what did you want” and I respond that I wanted one of those CHEESE PIZZA Crispani things. This was my lame attempt at being specific. So she says, oh, okay you can keep the cheese pastry thing, I'll throw that in. So I pay for my Crispani. My CHEESE crispani. I still end up paying for the pastry, by the way.

So we find a table and Rachel starts eating her meal and I'm nibbling on my scone. (Cheese pastry-not a big fan) Several minutes roll by and another Panera employee brings out my CHEESE CRISPANI. Basically this is Cheese bread. Big fuckin slab of oily cheese bread with nothing at ALL on it.

To which Rachel again responds, “Wait, that's not what we ordered, we wanted a CHEESE PIZZA” (to herself thinking...not a slab of bread that the cheese bird has shat on) but the employee responds that “this IS what a Cheese Crispani is, it sounds like you wanted the tomato basil”.

Now at this point I'm pretty damn hungry having pulled a late night and all, and I'm just ready to eat some food. They could have brought out the cardboard box with some cheese and sauce and I would have probably eaten it. But bless her heart, Rachel tries to make me happy by going up to the counter and asking for some tomato sauce in a cup so we can drizzle it on top of the Crispani and make it into the coveted, but highly rare in the Panera world, CHEESE PIZZA.

This apparently starts some shit up on the front counter, because Rachel is not getting a good vibe from the counterpersons. Being the stupid country bumpkins that we are, we wanted something as unthinkable as risotto and pasta together. Anyway they eventually provide two little FROZEN cups of tomato sauce. Rachel, having been defeated at this point, simply walks away with the two red ice cubes and hands them to me. So at this point we are kind of laughing hysterically and talking schmack about the whole process, pissing off our neighbors. Moral of the story: If you want CHEESE PIZZA, go to a pizza joint. If you want some breadbowlsoup, go to Panera. And for godsakes, if you don't want cheese bread, ask for the Tomato Basil.

Flight Log:

lordpowell@cox.net — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 02:35:31 GMT

Friday I stopped by the hobby shop near a great noodle joint I eat at all the time and purchased a radio controlled helicopter. I've always wanted one and have loved R/C stuff since I was a kid. Now a prudent man would have purchased a simulator first. I, however, choose to be a jackass and jump straight into the sport with both feet. More on this later.

If you are interested in the technical specs of the Blade CP or “Bug”, as he was dubbed by Rachel, here they are.

http://www.e-fliterc.com

The Blade CP is a ready to fly kit, which kicks ass in the truest instant gratification sense of the word. The only down side is the included battery charger takes way too long-more on that later too...

So I got the battery charged and ready. I read the owner's manual thoroughly Friday night as I knew in the back of my mind I have no clue what the hell I'm doing. In point of fact, after reading the manual that night I was getting a little nervous about attempting to fly the thing.

Remote controlled ANYTHING has an inherent risk to the driver/ pilot and anyone standing around during its operation. Helicopters are pretty easy to lose control of, and given the fact that I've never flown one before, I was starting to get cold feet by the time Saturday morning rolled around.

Now the good news is I'm not the only one to jump headlong into this sport, and the web is abound with really good information, tips, tricks, and the like. So I did some reading and decided that I would invest in a crash kit for Bug and a set of training gear. I jumped into the Jeep and head back to the hobby store. (2nd trip)

After the training gear were installed it was time for the first fight.

Fight 1:

-Goal 1: Lift off about 8 to 12 inches, hover and set down.
-Goal 2: ((If helicopter is still in one piece)) short jump flight, no more that a foot or so off the ground and land.

I was able to throttle up the helicopter and lift off with ease. One thing you have to do/get used to/ is to make sure to give some rudder input as the collective spins up to speed. This is normal on any helicopter due to the rotation of the blades.

I tested the helicopter liftoff speed and made a few small hops. Feeling confident after about five short hovers I set off on a short flight. The natural progression to goal 2! My plan was to fly about six feet out, lifting off from the lower step on the deck, and only three feet high, turn around and come back for a nice gentle touchdown. Actually, a gust of wind sent Bug about eight feet up and nearly into the swing set in my back yard! This naturally spooked the hell out of me and I made helicopter flying mistake #1.

If you start to get into trouble the natural instinct is to back off the throttle. If you do, the helicopter will drop out of the sky like a stone. And mine did. That is how I broke the right side landing skid. No worries as the crash kit comes with two extras!

So after a quick repair and a not so quick battery recharge I set off for me second flight.

Fight 2:

The goals were the same. I wanted to practice hovering, some small lift-offs and learning from my blunder with the throttle, hopefully a few nice touch-downs.

I concentrated on easing up to power till the helicopter was just starting to lift off and trying to stay within a few feet of the deck. I began to test the controls a bit more, realizing that less is more very quickly, but was soon hovering, albeit very drunkenly. This second flight was mostly taken up with small jumps and flight control test, but before the battery gave way, my yearning for a larger flight gave way. I was doing great! The take off was awesome, I turned and glided out over the yard but on the return trip I started heading for the window where Rachel was watching and I knew all was lost. Panicking I instinctively pulled the power off again, and again Bug fell from the shy.

Rachel saw it come right for her, and lost it below the window. She said she did see some grass fly up!

The good news was nothing was damaged. I attempted a small flight after checking the main rotor , but soon realized that I had not looked closely at the tail rotor. A grass blade had jammed the rear tail rotor and caused a sickening, spinning take off.

With the daylight fading fast I went back to reading tips on line for the rest of the night.

Sunday I got up early, not feeling too good (got a cold), and set the battery to charging, only to find after breakfast that the battery was not taking a charge. I checked the output of the charger and the battery, and determined that the battery must not be working.

Off to the hobby shop again (visit # 3). After purchasing two additional battery packs, I sped home and waited two and a half hours. Plugged up the battery for an indoor flight test in the kitchen.

NOTHING...

So much for my diagnosis work. No battery charge. The stock battery charger was already pissing me off, but this was ridiculous. So I went back to the hobby shop (visit #4) and bought a peak detection charger. This is cool because it allows you to charge batteries very fast, 15 minutes versus 2.5 hours: AND, if you leave the battery in, it goes to a trickle charge as opposed to the stock battery charger which fries the piss out of the battery.

So I charged up one of the new batteries and did an indoor flight test in the kitchen. (IN THE KITCHEN, Rachel says) Probably not the smartest thing to do, but my goal was to just sort of lift the chopper up enough that the training “wheels” would touch the floor and just hover around a bit. And I was doin' good, until I hit one of the cabinets. Only a slight nick in the rotor blade (and the cabinet) but so far, so good.

That was flight four.

So tonight when I got home from work I set up a high-intensity light on the back deck and prepared for flight number five.

It's been a bit windy today but the wind died down for a couple of hours, so seizing the opportunity, I set off with the goal of actually doing about a four-foot hover above the deck. I learned from reading some articles that light helicopters are extremely hard to hover 8-12 inches off the ground due to the wash from the main rotors. This made sense to me when I read it and after I lifted Bug off the ground, the first time about three feet, something else made sense too. I can't really LAND this thing good yet. I brought it down as gently as possible but I ended up losing one of the training wheels in the process. The balls are attached to the ends of carbon fiber “sprung” poles by little sections of rubber tubing. I am now in need of some of this small rubber tubing and I'm not entirely sure where to procure it. I did, however, have two successful flights and am starting to feel a little bit more stable.

My second try was going great until Bug started getting too near a tree in the backyard. I banked too sharply and crashed into the railing of the deck, severely damaging the blades. Sooo, I have to put my new set of blades on tomorrow night and we'll see how it goes.

So the moral of this story is I had a pretty cool weekend, I have the most awesome wife in the world (she really wasn't pissed off that I came home with a two hundred something dollar helicopter completely out of the blue) and finally, if one lives with a cat (or rather bonkish dog) make sure you fly these things OUTSIDE as a basic precaution against emergency vet visits.

LP

...Subject...

lordpowell@cox.net — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 00:49:19 GMT

Hello All,

So this weekend is rolling along nicely. The day started off way too early as Rachel and myself had to drive in to my work. You see, one of the guys I work with, the manager of the Prep Dept. (John) was super kind and offered to remove the sap and shit off the hood of the Jeep.

John would always detail the Jeep for me. I'm not the best at detailing cars, and plus the Jeep is black I figure it's best to let a professional do that kind of work. Ever notice most black cars look like ass. There is a reason.

About a year ago John found out he had colon cancer. He was out of work for about a year and pretty much lost everything. The truth is he is lucky to be alive. At any rate, he came back to work a few weeks ago. I showed him the hood of the Jeep and he said, “Man. What are you doing! You can't leave this shit on there. It's messed up the paint. You've got to bring this in for me work on, but it may be too late.”

So he worked on the Jeep this morning and we hooked him up with the breakfast from Glory's Bakery. The sap on the hood has etched the clear coat and so pretty much has to be repainted. John told Rachel that it wasn't my fault, since he hasn't been here to keep it clean for us. Saint of a man.

After we got back from that, we took Solstice to the vet for her monthly butt squeeze. (If you don't have a dog, you won't know what a butt squeeze is and probably don't want to know) She's getting really good about walking in to the vet (as opposed to being carried). Odd thing, though: somehow she won't walk in our house on the hardwood floor. Rachel's dad summed it up best: Solstice has some weird moves.

Speaking of Rachel's dad, apparently his leg is very painful but on the mend. He was hit in such a way that his jeans leg didn't split open but his whole leg sort of popped. He's got a horrible shark-bite kind of wound from his lower thigh all the way down his leg, with the worst of it right behind his knee. His doctor said he was very lucky not to bust the main artery of his leg. He could easily have lost his leg or bled out. So his golf gods were definitely looking out for him. He was planning on golfing a lot in Hawaii, but the whole trip might be put on hold because he can't really make a flight in his current condition. I don't think he can bend his leg right now, he's got a hematoma and tons of swelling and horrible shit right at the moment.

Rachel's been practicing her drawing skills again, which is making me realize I need to be practising my drawing skills, or I'm never going to get Tales of the Wrench off the ground. Also while looking through my notes on Tales of the Wrench, I'll NEVER be able to publish the book while employed with my current company. Everyone I work with pretty much has no sense of humor and I'd be in lawsuits up to my neck.

Rachel and I have been feverishly watching the new Battlestar Galactica series. It pretty much rocks. (Sigh. Bless you Sevencubed for the movie Riddick, we enjoyed it kinda how you enjoyed National Treasure. Which by the way IS a cheesy movie but at LEAST Van Diesel's not in it. I have to concur that Riddick was definitely someone's Uber-level character. Unfortunately it does not make him cooler. Movie did have a good look to it, though. But it would have been more fun to watch it with you.) We're going tomorrow to see a movie about Jamestown Settlement that was filmed a few miles from the REAL Jamestown settlement. We'll update on that after the fact. The only thing that's going to suck about it is the terrain isn't really going to look like it did when they founded Jamestown, even though it IS filmed nearby. We pretty much razed all the indigenous trees when we got here. Back in the day, however, you could smell the ancient pines from miles out to sea. In fact Williamsburg just lost one of the older trees in the area. I seem to remember when we worked there, they told us the tree had been there pretty much forever and that the settlers did not cut it down. Rachel seems to remember that the settlers planted it or that it grew within the last couple hundred years. Anyway we can't find any stuff on it online so check this out instead.

http://www.uark.edu/misc/ents/galleries/sycamore/pinchot2.jpg

That big mofo is near Rachel's parents' house in Connecticut.

So we finally took down the Christmas decorations. Thank god. Rachel was leaving them up cuz she wanted her Dad to see how pretty the tree was, but that didn't work out and then we had to exchange gifts with Travis and Kelli when they came to visit last weekend. We had an awesome time seeing them. Didn't do a whole lot during the weekend but hang out and talk, and get our asses thoroughly handed to us in Settlers of Catan (again). But Kelli's the undisputed World Heavyweight Catan Champion. I think, however, that I've figured out some of her secrets to success. I shall test this theory upon their next visit.

We've noticed that our animals (most obviously Solstice) consider Travis and Kelli part of the pack structure. They don't act the way they do around “guests”. They seem more laid back and willing to act just the way they do around us. This of course should be considered a great honor. And, we consider it a huge plus as Solstice doesn't whizz on the floor every time they say hello. Course the down side is Travis and Kelli get to watch TV with a big yellow face staring at them, and bony elbows in their sides, and small black dogs lounging upon them anytime they sit down. All the while, General's humping their shoes in the foyer. He specifically has a thing for Travis's shoes. He loves them in an unnatural way (sorry Travis but you of all people should be accepting of his fetishes).

We're hoping to head up to see THIER new place at some point, possibly a fall trip this year, or maybe even winter as we don't seem to have any winter HERE and plus I'm finally giving in to my Learn How to Snowboard urge. Rachel seems to be down with learning as well. And we do have access to several good snow parks within striking distance of our house.

Welp, it is time for dindin so everyone have a good weekend.

Matt, I hope you're feeling better-at least non-stoned enough not to put your phone number online. I was planning on calling up under a false identity and being creepy, but I figured you being stoned and all, that might not be so funny. Anyway thinking of you, and hope you get better soon.

So ends this entry.

LP

The Rumor Mill

lordpowell@cox.net — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 03:29:50 GMT

Tuesday night was strange. We received a troubling phone call that Rachel's father had been involved in an accident. All that could be garnered from the message was that Rachel's pop had been pinched between two cars, was alive as he sent the message, and that his leg had been stitched up. He also informed her that she was not to call her mother as he did not want her to hear this news second hand.

-Rachel freaks-the-fuck-out-

She called and left messages with her pop, but it was to no avail. Finally, after sending an e-mail and forcing herself not to call, she got a call from her mom. Rachel inquired about going to see him in the morning and her mom told her that she didn't think that was a good idea. We went to bed.

Not knowing the full situation as reliable intel was not forthcoming, and knowing that Rachel needed to see her dad for peace of mind, I made the decision the next morning that we should drive up to see him. Missing time off from work is not only painful financially, but the damage control I have to pull off when I get back is out of this world; however, family is more important so we went.

Now here is where this story started to make some partially expected twists.

So I call work.

Ringy Dingy. The morning cashier, who is the boss's daughter, answered the phone.

“Good morning,(name left blank to protect the innocent), it's Frank. Is Jim in yet?”

“No.”

“Oh well, how about Gena?”

“Hold” (Muffled talking about me calling in sick.)

“Hello.”

“Hi Gena. It's Frank. Listen I'm not going to make it in today. Rachel's dad has been involved in an accident. He got hit by some dude backing up while he was putting his golf clubs in the back of his car. His leg got pinched between the bumpers.”

“Oh God! Is he okay?”

“We're not sure. I know he has some stitches, and we don't think he leg is broken. He's at her uncle's house in northern VA., but Rachel is kind of freaked out so we are driving up to see him. If you need me call my cell.”

So we drove a couple hours and Jed called. He wanted to know what was going on because he heard that her dad had gotten hurt.

So she proceeded to tell Jed that it wasn't that bad, explained what happened, and said we were going to see him.
After driving through a monsoon we finally got to Rachel's uncle's place and saw her dad. As it turned out the truth of the event was slightly sugar coated for her peace of mind. Her dad very nearly got his leg pinched off by the truck, and after hearing him and her uncle retell the tale, he's extremely lucky to have his leg. He has a shark wound size rip, (RIP) snaking up his leg from his calf to his upper thigh. Forty-some stitches, and a big ass bandage and cast on. His speed has been reduced to 1/4 impulse power due to crutches, and he is more pissed at missing good golf weather than at the ass munch that tried to run him down.

We had a nice time seeing him for a few hours during lunch and the weather cleared for the drive back. It was not until I got back to work that I discovered the wonderful tales of what transpired according to my co-workers.

The story according to them.

Franks wife's dad got pinched by a truck and a car at the same time while parking at a golf course. They weren't sure but they heard that he had been run over and was, like, about to die. That's what Franks excuse was when he called in. But Jed called Rachel and she said her dad was fine and had a few stitches was all, but they were taking the day off to go and visit because he was leaving on Thursday. Plus Frank and Rachel were using the accident as an excuse to have lunch at the Sunflower cuz that's in Northern VA too.

Since my clever co-workers discovered my evil playing-hooky ruse, I'll tell you what really happened.

While performing a HALO jump, Rachel's father landed into a battle between a John Deere combine and a tractor trailer hauling razor blades. During the ensuing Kung-Fu fight, Rachel's dad's leg was slightly injured by a laser blast fired by her uncle. Luckily Rachel and I were able to teleport in and and defuse the situation by offering General Tso's Surprise to the tractor trailer driver and the John Deere combine operator. This temporary armistice allowed allowed us the time we needed for a quick getaway, and after we stim-packed Rachel's dad he was able to play nine with her uncle while we jaunted back to let the dogs out...

LP

The Plan

lordpowell@cox.net — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 01:15:23 GMT

With 2005 closed and into the history books it occurs to me that for the most part the year was kind to us. Lady Powell and myself have settled into a nice pace of life in our new home. Our first one, and I'm pleased to say we are very happy with it. I'm extremely thankful to have such a nice place to call my own. Home owenership is a dream I could have scarcely imagined not too long ago. How far we have come in a relatively short period.

But I digress. Slowly we are turning Corner House (We did name our house. We tend to place names on stuff we like. Our dwelling is named Corner House due to its location in the neighborhood) into a comfotable dwelling, that we hope is a relection our exceedingly good taste! (Looks more like a used book store at the moment, but more on that later.) Still, the goings on are slow as we really don't have a lot of time, or coin, for such civic improvements, but such is life I suppose.

For those of you who are interested I'll set the stage for a boring tale about our plans for 06.

1. The shop and laundry room. Our home had, like many mid 70's ranchers, the laundry room set in the one car garage. It's almost an afterthought. Many of the houses in this area are like this and it's really a pain in the ass to do your laundry in a garage. I'm all about logical level design... I mean floor design. Given that most of the dressing and undressing goes on near and around bedrooms and bathrooms, logic would dictate that the washer and dryer should be located near those rooms. Most newer home designs have picked up on this and floor plans have evolved with this basic premise. Our situation was a complex one given that the one car garage was going to need to house my woodworking shop; however, the need for a dedicated laundry room was of great importance to us. The thought came to me that I could wall off a small portion of the garage for the laundry room and still have a small woodworking shop for the future.

The project began with me taking the walls down to the studs and framing off the area that was to be used for the laundry room. This proved a most difficult task given the fact that one assumes the carpenters who construted this dwelling would take the time to insure that the garage was square! This foolish assumption was, I regret to inform you, a mistake on my part and I do take full responsibility. I triumphed in the end by employing a secret and arcane formula known as the "fuck it split the difference noone will ever know" technique.

With the walls framed out the next step was to prepare the concrete floor for African tile slate, which went down and is being sealed as I write this. The stone floor looks sweet; however, we're a bit testy as they too are neither square nor cut to exacting specifiations. But once they are fully sealed I'll grout and put up the rest of the drywall.

The door will go in last as it will need to be cut to the slight slope of the floor. A little trim work, a new overhead light, and a new attic ladder will finish off the room. Oh, and plus some electrical dilly-dallying for the shop lights.

This room will double as a cat room for General at night and we are going to put a little cat door for him through the kitchen wall. I may even build him a little carpeted cat walk around the walls for him to have his own cool little place to hangout; if room permits of course. The original plan was to have a cat door at the bottom of the door going into the garage, but this plan was scrapped as we figured Solstice would just sit and wait to ambush him upon reentry. The idea to elevate the cat door was Lady Powell's. I just came up with putting it through the kitchen wall. I'm thinking it may be cool to design the door like a little Japanese temple entrance. Or make it look like an old-timey cattle ranch entrance with General Sterling Price wood-burned into the lintel.

The wood shop is still in the planning stages. Considering that I've had my total shop footprint cut by close to a third from my orignal design, some aspects have had to be reformulated. For instance, the size for my workbench is going to have to be scaled back. Also I've reconsidered my tablesaw choices, and I'm narrowing down on the saw now (I just learned of a really cool new tablesaw called the Sawstop. http://www.sawstop.com/ check out the demo video! Now thats cool!)

At this point I know the shop design is too up in the air for anything to be set into stone.

2. The computer room/reloading room is really starting to get on my nerves. The room is basically a catch all for the stuff that has no place yet. (Including a newly acquired MIG welder that has no home due to the shop/ laundry room construction. Hee Hee...) The plan is to build two matching desks based on my workbench design. Also a reloading bench for ammo production. The desks are over-engineered to be sure and will not be heirloom quality, but they will stupid strong and will serve quite well for their intended role. We thought of buying some new desks but this idea was nixed due to the fact that given a choice, we'd rather sit on crap ass old furniture that we have had since college than go to a furniture store and buy something newer in its stead. The reason is that we feel the newer furniture is built in a substandard manner in terms of its quality, and therefore unacceptable for our use. Given the fact that we have no money for custom built new stuff, we must build our own. It's the only acceptable option albeit a slightly slower for acquiring better stuff.

Painting will begin in this room after Travis and Kelli come to visit, (hopefully) Currently the room is pink. And not just pink, but pink with a pink flower trim. It's bad. I have to put up a chair rail in the room due to the computer chair hitting the wall, plus we'll be able to use a two color scheme. It will also give me a good place to hide the rear channel speaker wires for the two game boxes. I'm going to build inset shelves into the rear walls for the rear channel speakers to sit. The two desks will sit back to back, a layout shamelessly stolen from some cool folks we know.

Aside from building shelves in the closet in the computer room and hanging Roman shades and curtains the project is straight forward.

3. The library is in full swing. Painting has been finished, all but some touch up and trim, but this will wait till after the book shelves are constucted.

I'm using the New Yankee Workshop plans from the DVD titled the "Library System". I've modified the plans slightly for my needs, but basically they are the same. They should work pretty well when I'm done and hopefully they will look good. I fear that we will have outgrown them by their completion, as we tend to buy books pretty much all the time.

4. Ramp plans. Rachel wants to build a ramp to learn how to skate. I keep telling myself its a bad idea, that we are too old, etc. All the normal, grown up arguments that my dad used when I was in high school and I wanted to build my own ramp. You know, it's dangerous, someone could come over and get hurt and we'll get sued, you'll loose interest in this after one good fall, etc.

The problem is that augument never worked on me then and it's not working now. Ever since I quit skateboarding I've had dreams of skating. I have them all the time, now that I've been thinking about picking it back up, I can't stop thinking of it. I've never fully given up the skating gene that wires my brain to see some cool thing and think, "could I grind that?"

I loved skating so much when I was younger that it was literally all I did. Rachel asked me the other day how much I skated when I was in high school. The answer was pretty much whenever I could. We'd stop to eat, and sleep, some homework here and there, but pretty much, skate all the rest of the time. In truth the only reson I stopped skating in the first place was due to working on cars full time. That and the ramp needed major overhauling and I could not afford the repairs. I always wished I had kept up with it. Not that I was really good, but it kept me in good shape and I've been balloning ever since.

So the current plan is thus. If we build a ramp here in this part of the country, we'd have to beat the kids off the thing with sticks, just to get some ramp time. Not that I don't like sharing, but part of the reason my last halfpipe died after 5 years, was that I let everyone skate on it and they wore it out. So we are thinking of building a big garage that will house a 16 foot wide mini half and our fencing strip. This is all very far off, and mostly never going to happen, but it would be super cool if it did!

So that prety much the plan. So ends this journal entry.

LP

Nasty Habit Pyramid Scheme Thing

lordpowell@cox.net — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 15:26:16 GMT

From RaspberryTeacup:

Ground rules: The first player of this "game" starts with the topic "Five Weird Habits of Yourself" and the people who get tagged need to then write a LJ entry about their five quirky little habits as well as state the rules of this game clearly. In the end, you need to list the next five people who you want to tag.

Hm, well...
1.) Although the ambient temperature in our house has not changed, being 65 degrees, there's somthing wired in my brain that tells my body that it's winter and fuckin cold outside. As such, one should take proper protective measures to ensure not freezing to death in one's sleep. Hence my current bedtime wardrobe of: a. wooly smartwool socks, b. flannel pyjamas tucked securely in to said socks, c. t-shirt, tucked into flanney pyjamas, d. hoodie Misfits sweatshirt, hood pulled up; e. skullcap; f. sleeping shades; g. and smartwool socks pulled over hands. The smartwool socks pulled over hands were added last night due to a specific temperature drop (in my mind) but were removed after a tactical consideration was brought to my attention. Not being able to effectively handle a firearm if the situation arose...

2.) Rachel brought this one to my attention. Upon entering a shower, I tend to warm my nasty bits first, and ease my way in. She tells me this is clean contrary to logic. I must disagree. If the water is warm enough to burn you, then it surely will burn your boys but carefully testing the water with your most sensitive bits, and finding it safe to enter, the rest of the body can follow without fear of injury. As to the subject of bathing, I tend to shield my fellas with my two hands as I lower myself into the tub, and gradually, slowly, loosen the grip and allow them to adjust to their new environment. If it's too hot, you know when they come popping back up like a surfacing diver...(perhaps this was too much information, but I felt it pertinent to the discussion)

3.) I'm not known for my writing or spelling ability, but for some reason "time" should be typed out in the following manner. itme. I can't tell you how many times a day at work I type this. I don't know why, and I can't stop my fingers from doing it.

4.) Sometimes if I'm performing a task that will end within a certain period but the period is not defined, i.e. toasting bread, I'll see how many times I can count to "1,2,3" before it pops up. I do this in my head. Now, here are the rules of the game. I've done this ever since I can remember. It doesn't matter how many TIMES you do "1,2,3" as long as you can perform the whole series before the thing goes off. If, however, you're caught in the middle of your "1,2,3's" well, something bad's bound to happen. I'm not sure what, maybe Satan gets your soul or something, but anyway it's fucked up. It's "1,2,3" roulette with the multiverse, so this came should not be entered into lightly. It has consequences.

5.) Okay, probably the most bizarre wiring of my brain, and I'm positive that this is driving me to a padded room someday (but hopefully I can count to "1,2,3" before it happens) I can hear a song and pretty much stay in time with it even if the song stops playing or if I leave the room if the song is playing. The thing about this is that I can't help but play the whole song in my head. It won't turn off. This can also happen with more than one song at once, and I'll start listening to the discord. It's maddening. That's why jingly shit music makes me want to smash my face into speakers. At work sometimes, one of the technicians whose musical taste follows my own, will be playing a cool album. I'll walk in and pick up on a song, thirty minutes later walk back into the shop, and be more or less where I should be in the album timewise. This happens all the time with Rush Chronicles.

Okay so there's my five. I think I'm probably not feeling so good about my quirks now, but I suppose that's the point. Since Travis is already participating, I guess it's just up to Kelli now, and Rachel. I don't have that many friends...prob'ly cause I didn't make my count in time...

Report from the Front

lordpowell@cox.net — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 19:23:20 GMT

Hello all.

I've been reading a very cool book this week. It's called 1776 by Dave McCullough. It is a history book about George Washington and the American Revolution. Stories about the founding fathers and the start of this country have always been interesting to me; however, I feel my knowlege of the subject sadly lacking. A shame really, as I've lived thirty minutes from Willamsburg almost all my life. I should know more about this history and the poeple who made it. Besides, Old GW was born in Tidewater and pretty much a bad ass from all acounts. So even though I haven't finished the book, I'd recomend it if you dig history books. This one reads easy and seems to be very accessible. Some history books can be somewhat heavy making them hard to follow, at least for me. This may be in part due to my lack of the self displine that makes most people able to slog though boring drivel, even if it holds no interset to them. If I'm not intersted I can't read through it.

Now, speaking of boring drivel most folks have no interest in: Rachel bought ChessMaster 10th edition to bone up on her skills. She been learning the game a little since I began teaching her the basics. (I'm by the way, no master chess player. True, I've probably studied up on more of the finer points than most, but like my guitar playing, my chess skills have dropped considerably.) So, anyways, I've played around with the program. It's pretty good. The lessons are nice and very informative. No complaints as of yet and it is loaded with old games that masters have played and you can watch if you are so inclined to spend the time. The intro animation is butt crack, but what do you expect, It's a chess game for Christ sakes!

Now whereas my darling wife buys a product to expand her mind and analytical thinking skills, I've been playing F.E.A.R... Now I'm sure that most of the folks reading this journal have already played, solved, and honed their skills with online death matching to a point I'll never dream of obtaining. You have to realise I'm just geting back into computer gaming(and yes! I know my old computer was a fucking dino) since I have recently had the coin to build a machine that can run newer games. So all games seem super bad assed to me. F.E.A.R, I would have to say, has some of the scariest A.I I've ever seen. The squads you face off in the game are truly cunning. It's been hard for me to even progress through some of the early levels on "easy". But it is fun and if you have not played it, do. If you liked Half-Life, you'll like this one.

So Christmans is almost upon us yet again, and again I have the holiday blues. It seems I have never got the cash to get cool gifts for the people I love. I really do love giving holiday gift stuff to my friends and family. In fact, if I were to ever come into large sums of guilt-free play coin, I would most likely give most of it away in cool stuff for my peeps. Rachel and I said that the London trip was going to be our gift to each other, and at the time that seemed fine, but now I have some many cool things I'd like to give her it seems weak. Still, I'm hoping that Travis and Kelli can come for the Holidays. They moved to the Boston due to a better job offer for Travis. I thinks it was a good move. It's always better to choose a move than to have one forced on you by being fired. Still Va. has lost some cool people and it won't be the same heading up to northern Va. without seeing them.

On a lighter note. I did purchase an antique hand plane off Ebay the other day that I'm restoring. I have a series of pics on my flickr account that shows the process. Check them out at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lord_powell2112/

I'm using an electrolysis method of rust removal. It's a better way of taking rust off of old metal, as it doesn't require taking much metal off the object. As for example, sanding, grinding. You do have to be somewhat careful when doing it, as you're playing around with electricity and water, a combination that can kill you. That said, it's a good way to get rid of curious children in the neighborhood, as long as there's a pig farm close by...

In pet news, we've had a busy month with Chloe and Solstice. Several weeks ago we noticed that Solstice's butt had swollen. Like, the size of a frickin' tennis ball. Very strange. Making a sadass yellow dog a SUPER sadass yellow dog. What happened was she had a severely impacted (and infected) anal gland. Strange thing, an anal gland. Why nature chose to put them in dogs' butts is beyond me. On the upside, Nature didn't choose to put them in OUR butts, which is a good thing. So after taking her to the vet and her having minor surgery and having to wear a bell on her head for two weeks, things is looking up for Solstice pooch. So we took Chloe to the vet because she's got a small growth on one of her shoulders but it's just a wart, nothing to worry about. So $400 plus bucks down the road, the pets are doing okay now.

Thanksgiving was awesome. We spent it with Jed and Sallie. My parents were supposed to be heading out to visit my dad's brother and my grandmother, but she was too sick to make the trip. They cancelled at the last minute, but we still held our plans with Jed and Sallie. Really one of the first Thanksgivings that wasn't filled with a bunch of running around and putting up with annoying family members. Most of my immediate family is awesome, but I think Rachel and I offend most of my other family. I guess it's that whole vegetarianism thing and the artsy stuff. Our refusal to eat dead birds definitely makes top of the list, though.

I figure next year, I'm just going to eat a shitload of turkey, have some ham biscuits, eat some bacon, double up on a shitload of those deviled eggs, and just have an ass eruption like the family's never seen, so maybe they'll get the hint that you can't eat that shit when you're a vegetarian!

Rachel and I are making a Roman Shade for our kitchen today. Well, that's not really true, I'm updating my Livejournal and in need of a shower and lunch.

That's the news from Lake Wobegone, my hometown. Where all the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the only children have fur (and are above average but with slightly swollen butts... from time to time.)

LP

I'm back, but I must make this quick...

lordpowell@cox.net — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 01:41:31 GMT

Hello All.

The new machine is up and running.

Nothing too cool to report at this time.

Travis and Kelli came over last weekend and much fun was had.

Well, as you were.

I'm going to go now, stay tuned.

LP

The Pantera

lordpowell@cox.net — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 15:30:40 GMT

As a young Lord Powell I bonded with a car. Not a normal car mind you, but a sports car from the 70’s. It’s called a Pantera and is one of the coolest vehicles that no one has ever heard of before. It is an Italian designed car, and powered by a Ford 351 Cleveland engine. I won’t go into detail about the way the car looks. If you are interested just do a web search and you’ll find it.

Now the bonding with the above-mentioned car was due to the fact that my Pop was the lead Pantera technician at the car dealership that sold them in our area (Lincoln-Mercury if you are interested) and one of the dealership’s customers bought a 1973 Pantera. This customer wanted his car to go faster and befriended my Pop with the proposal of doing modifying the engine. My Pop came up with the idea of utilizing turbo chargers. This turned an already fast vehicle into a virtual land rocket. My father provided the labor and the customer provided the car, and coin, to bring the project to fruition. It was thus that I grew up with the Pantera in our driveway most of my young life.

At first, and I guess this was due to my age, I did not understand that this car was not my Pop’s. He kept the thing and drove it for really long periods of time, so it is understandable that I did not grasp the complexities of the arrangement my Pop had worked out with the guy who truly owns the car. But I do remember sitting in the car, one my early memories, and thinking to myself that this should be my car. I had a strong love of the machine even at a young age and apparently a slightly warped sense of salvage rights. (Possession being 9/10 of the law.)

As the years went by and I began my journey down the automotive path, it was the Pantera that I cut my teeth on, helping my Pop work and rework the car for a second time. I was a teenager at this time and the owner of the car had lost interest for about 7 years and had stopped driving it. When his interest revived, the car’s engine needed to be redone and he asked my Pop do the work. My Pop agreed to do the work and helped him out.

I was, however, pissed that someone could let the vehicle get into such a state. If it were mine I would never let such a sweet car fall into disrepair. How could someone own such a thing and simply lose interest in it?

The answer lies in the fact that the owner has a lot of money and has many cool cars, as well as loads of toys and other interests to distract him from the Pantera. However simple that explanation is, it still bugged the shit out of me. I’ve always taken care of my stuff. Whether it’s a car or a toy, my books, what ever, I’ve always taken care to keep my things in good shape. My grandmother told me once that you may never have the best things or the best house, but take care of what you have. Smart lady, my Grandmother, and damn good advice.

The owner had some ideas as to what he wanted to do the engine and had it sent out to some one else for that part of the design. My Pop was not consulted for this aspect, nor did he really agree to what the owner was doing, but he agreed to perform the rest of the work to the car. The project was moving along fine, but slow, and the car’s owner was still not really showing too much interest.

As fate would have it, my family was displaced the Georgia at that time. (Another long story…) I stayed on for a bit here in Va., trying to put the car back together, but was ultimately told that my services were not needed. So the project and the Pantera fell out of my hands.

Over the years I had often wondered what had happened to the Pantera. I was pretty worried for the car, as the owner’s son wanted to turn it into a race-car (as opposed to restoring it as an historic sports car), and he had some misbegotten notions of how to do it. Plans were being made for this eventuality even whilst my Pop and I were trying to put the car back together in 1993. At one point after I moved back to Va. I attempted to contact the owner to no avail, so the mystery of the Pantera’s fate was a nagging question that always seemed to be at the back of my mind.

Ringy-dingy I received a phone call one day at work a month ago. I had a MINI customer explaining a problem about his sister’s car and the more information I gathered the more I began to realize that I was talking to the son of the guy who owns the Pantera. We never really talked much as teenagers. He was from a different school, a private academy where all the rich kids went and I was just a public school kid who skated way too much. I always got the distinct impression that I was not too well liked by him or his friends. I didn’t lose any sleep over the feeling.

At any rate, after the normal small talk, “so how are things going with you?” I inquired about the Pantera. In my heart I just knew that they had fucked the car up somehow, or flipped over while racing it somewhere. In actual fact, they had not really done anything with it! I was astounded. The car had been forgotten once again. It was a good and a bad thing. Good: they had not gutted the car for racing, and I am beginning to be able to think of owning a Pantera myself. Bad: once again, the Pantera had been neglected. The owner’s son said that the car was pretty much in the same shape we left it in all those years ago. “Would you guys consider selling it?” I asked. The son said that he would ask his dad. Another good sign. The father had not given the car to the son!

We arranged for a visitation…

Now you will remember me saying I had always been bugged that someone could have such a treasure and not take care of it? This back in 1993, mind you. Upon seeing my beloved Pantera I was sickened. They have let the car fall into such a state of disrepair that this once truly pristine vehicle is now a dented, scratched, and rusty shell that is screaming for someone to give it some TLC. It runs and is by no means lost to the world, but it truly pisses me off that it is now in such a state. But that’s not the kicker. No, the kicker is they don’t want to sell it. The owner said that they know they should fix it up, but also know they won’t. They say they have a sentimental attachment to the car! A sentimental attachment… Then fix it and drive the mother fucker. Don’t let the car rot in the back of a metal building.

They have agreed verbally to joint owner ship of the car with my Pop and me restoring the vehicle as our portion of the deal. They have said that they may sell it at some point and we would be the only people to whom they would sell, given our connection with the vehicle. For this I am very grateful, as even if outright owner ship is impossible now, at the very least the car will reside in my garage and will for the first time in many years be cared for the way it deserves.

LP