I think this Christmas has been one of the better ones. I got exactly what I wanted… more pants. I really needed them since I was down to two pair.
I have gotten to see most of the family so far, and I’m going to see the rest on Saturday. The Christmas party was great! Plenty of people, including some old friends. What more could you ask for?
As for the car… I haven’t driven it more than back and forth to work since my last posting, but it’s still going strong!
I still have a little work to do on it, but the big stuff is scheduled for Friday… and since I don’t have the money at the moment to replace the muffler (soon though) I’m just going to get one of those Muffler Bandages and patch it until I can get one… I might even attempt to Replace My Own … I’ll pull the car up on the ramps and look at what I have to do first though. Can’t be too hard… right?
So anyway… Happy Holidays Everyone… see you in the new year!
So far, I just have to say I love it!
It sounds like a muscle car, and looks like my grandparents' old car.
Zero to 25 in about 3 minutes… anything after that in about 10 seconds.
Couldn't plug the inverter into the cigarette lighter… damn.. cut the wires, recoupled them with quick connects and plugged a second outlet in. Problem solved.
Hard time reading the Speedometer… hooked up the GPS…looks like I was reading it pretty good.
Tried Three times to get it inspected on walk-in. Two times I was told it would take 3 hours, and I didn't have it. Cole Muffler ignored me standing at the desk for 10 minutes, so I went elsewhere. Finally I made an appointment, and I'll just get it done with tomorrow…. as for Cole… service USED TO BE GOOD, now I'll just go to the place around the corner. It does no good to be ignored.
Car starts so easy… just barely turn the ignition and it's going…. Usually don't even need the key. 
I think this car is also going to be my “pimp it out” car…. I have 8 6″x5″ speakers that I bought for another project, and they've just been sitting around for awhile. I'm going to mount them on a board, or some Lexon and fit it behind the back seat running in series with the rear speakers… I don't usually play my music loud, but this might improve the quality and range.
I need to replace the hood ornarment with a moose… I might install the CB after I get it quieted down a bit while running.
Watch for more progress as I work on it.
To the Tune of The other day I saw a bear.
I got Phished
The other day
I told them I
Was Marvin Gay
They said your not
I said I am
and then they sent
me some more SPAM
I deleted it
that that gooey shit
and with some more
I got hit
I unsubscribed
it was a lie
now for that one
I got forty-five
I guess I should
not have stayed
I should have sim-
ply went away
It's been a long time coming… the Taurus finally shit the big one… maybe. Transmission trouble, won't shift over 20 mph…
So, I've decided to put it in time out for awhile. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to buy a 1993 Buick Century… made last century.
$250… can't beat the price, and from driving it a bit it should do it's job nicely…
I also got my vacation time for the rest of this year planned today…. so it was a good day overall.
Next year's going to be tougher…. I'm getting a bit more time to use.
That's all for now… I'll blog again later after driving my Century around some.
After evaluating my life, realizing I’m not cool, and never will be, I applied the Dust and Bones formula to my depression, and decided that it will all work out in the very end.
Since then, I have picked up a new… and more healthy obsession. This week it has been Vector Graphics.
The first time I ever heard about them, (1993) I thought they were awesome, and would be the best way to do graphics. Between then, and about two years ago, I gave up on ever doing vector graphics since they were limited to high-end software that I could never afford.
Fast Forward… two years ago…. I get this great new job designing websites. Kicking and screaming, I was forced to use Photoshop, since it’s what we use at work. I used to prefer Paint shop Pro, didn’t know what layers were, and they annoyed me because they got in my way… PhotoShop showed me the light and it grew on me, now using anything else seems like sacrificing what I can truly do.
Doing web graphics, interfaces, buttons, and other things in PhotoShop, I discovered that paths, Shapes, and fonts could be scaled. Furthermore, I learned that I could use these items in Adobe Illustrator, and make all of my web graphics so I can scale them without the sacrifice of quality.
Now for a little background on Vector graphics versus bitmap graphics. Bitmap graphics literally take an image and build it with a collection of colored dots. You get a higher quality image by increasing your dpi (dots per inch). To enlarge a bitmap image, your imaging program will enlarge the dots, and apply a blur to them for blending. This will cause the image to become unbearable at some point depending on your dpi and original image size.
Vector graphics on the other hand don’t generally store your image as dots. Remember your Geometry, and calculus from school. Vector graphics are a collection of formulas for slope, distance, so on and so forth. This means to make a graphic bigger, it just increases the value going into the functions, and viola a larger graphic without any blockiness or blur. Moreover, vector graphics are smaller, since there is usually 8, 16, or 24 bits of data stored per dot in a bitmap, where a vector can store a formula, and a color code. Less overall data… so now that you are educated back to my writing.
I can now make graphics that can be anything from the size of an icon, up to the size of a Billboard without losing quality. I have achieved near perfection…or so I thought. I wanted to do vector graphics at home, but when I saw the price tag on Corel Draw, I decided that I would stick to the free software.
Lately I have discovered a few good programs that do the trick. Inkscape is great, free, and useful… but I wasn’t completely comfortable using it. Then I was reading through Wikipedia, and found the list of Vector graphics editors. This listed a few very useful things, including my newest favorite… Xara Xtreme which I have found to be faster, and easier to use than Inkscape or Illustrator. After just a few days’ use, I have been able to get accustomed to how it works, and enjoy the features (or lack of extra confusion created with additional features).
Watch for vector graphics on more of my web sites, and in more of my projects. I absolutely love SVG, and high quality scalable graphics.
I also have to give some credit to LiTha-paint for their online editor. It’s very nice, and almost completely usable… a truly outstanding program.
I've had it with everyone shitting on me!
If you really don't like me, just fucking say it. If you have a problem with me, tell me. I've said it a million times before, and I will say it until the end of time. I would rather have true enemies than false friends.
I live my life and try my hardest not to offend anyone, but it seems that no one gives a shit about that. If they would just take the time to get to know me, they might realize that I am constantly trying to help others, and that others usually come first. I volunteer my time to the Sea Cadet program, and try to help young people have a good future. I get [b]nothing[/b] out of it except the knowledge that I am doing something good.
I don't try to fuck every girl I meet, hell I usually try my hardest to make people feel like they fit in…and not obliged to do anything they don't want to. yet people still feel the need to treat me like a piece of the furniture.
There it is. Some people think it's “cool” that I'm angry all the time. It's not. I wouldn't be if people would simply stop treating me like shit, and using me.
I'm sorry to everyone who has given me a little time and gotten an ear-full… it's just that I don't want to be seen as a jerk who ignores everyone and thinks I'm superior or something.
…and for the record, if I'm not talking to you, it's not because I think I'm better than you, it's because I am introverted, and have a hard time introducing myself to anyone.
So, for everyone who pretends they want to be my friend but snubs me at every corner, or just bears me because I'm there and you want to hang out with someone else, FUCK YOU!
If you want to be my friend, be my friend, don't lead me on and cut me off all the time. I have feelings, and I get bitter.
I know bitching about it isn't going to do a damn bit of good, but at least it gets it off my chest, and gets it out… like bleeding out poison.
Alas… the people who will probably read this are the people who really are my friends, so it will be a wasted effort.
