It's been a awhile since I've done a book here. This is Skin Trade, the latest book in the Anita Blake. After reading Blood Noir I gave up on this series, because I was too digsusted. Which is really saying something, if I'm offended. I guess she must have turned off a lot of fans, becuase this book tones down the sex A LOT. It's only the last few short chapters that gets racy. That's good, but I still want to see the old Anita Blake who spends her time shooting people. This book does make me want to go back and read Blood Noir, because I think I missed something.

Aside: While doing some searching for this book, I realized some of my favorite authors are coming out with book this fall. I'm quickly running out of self space in the house, so I may just breakdown and get a Kindle. The books are cheaper this way and take up less space. It's not an idea I have written in stone, because I do have other options, such as the Library, or sending things to my iTouch. It depends on the pricing, for the same money you can get a nice netbook. The way I figure my book discount compared with the price of a Kindle version book, I would need to buy 30 books to make the Kindle pay for itself at the $300 prictag.

For a while now, I've been wearing ear protection while mowing the lawn, or using power tools. (Yeah, I'm an old guy.) Of course, all that silence, causes me to spend far too much time in my own head, which is definitely not good. So I spend my time my ipod earbuds in my ears with the ear protection over them. It's not as weird as it sounds. I have a lovely pair sound protection FM WORKTUNES headphones from Menards. However, I really want to listen to my Ipod. Worktunes also makes a mp3 player compatiable headphone model, but I'm cheap. Also, I get a chance to work in the Evil Genius Lab/Workshop downstairs. So I whipped these up, using a pair of ear protection head gear, some cheap (free) earbuds, a hobby knife, my dremel tool, and lots of hot glue.

I took off the vinyl ear cushions, and traced the earbud pattern into the foam in the headset. I also cut a channel for the earbud wires using my dremel tool. After making the pattern, it's just a simple matter of cutting out the foam. The hole smaller, but deeper than the earbud. That way you get a tight fit around the earbud, but still have space behind the earbud for glue. It doesn't take that long to do both sides of the ear protection.

Here is the final picture, after everything has been glued in. This project has been bouncing around my head for at least 5 years. It's nice to see something come of it. They work great, but you may have to use a slightly higher volume. Since the earbuds are no longer in your ears the sound is less intense, but the ear protection dulls everything outside so it does work out.

I bought a new lawn mower, because I hit a Yew stump hidden in the grass I put down the year before. This isn't really a deep or important blog item, but I can't rember when I bought the last lawn mower so I thought I'd catalog this. The older mower was bought either 7 to 10 years ago, but I can't be certain.
I don't bag my grass. I mulch it down to nothing and it goes back into the lawn. I once dreaded doing the mowing, becasue I alergic to grass. However, I 've learned if I don't bag the grass and wear the right clothing I rarely have a problem.

Ok, this may seem a little stalkerish, but thought it was funnier than hell. A little background, this lucky couple pulled out in front me at a four-way stop. It was their turn, so it's all good. They drove the speed limit all the way down Scott Blvd. I was behind them all the way, keeping a safe distance. The State of Iowa really frowns on running over poeple from behind. We were all being good safe drivers.

Then it hit me. What am I staring at? Her Butt!

Ok, I'm a guy, racing toward dirty old man. This was just funny, because I couldn't help but look at her butt.

There's a "BIG RED LIGHT" under, you guessed it, HER BUTT!

There are two people on the motorcycle. The closest body part, you guessed it, HER BUTT!

What the brightest piece of clothing these two are waering, you geussed it, the bright fushia sweats covering HER BUTT!
(The Dark shirt also contrast nicely with the sweats.)

The only words bigger than the lience plate, you guessed it, the "PINK" on HER BUTT!

Satan and God help me, I could not help but spend the next two mile staring at her butt. What is worse it was legal, that's where I was suppose to be looking.


Ladies, please don't give me excuses to look stare, because I will. I am a dog. I'm so going to fry in the afterlife.....

Remember that day I promised I'd post my dry ice videos? Well it's the fourth of July. let's blow some shit up!



One More time!

For the past six months, the HP and I, have been trying to convince Technotaz of the merits of college. Which he has rebuffed, and stomped off whenever we mention anything about growing up. We have been dragging him to SAT, and ACT test center. because of his "You'll Never take me alive" attitude, we missed all the convenient testing time in town. Which means trips to Cedar Rapids.

Normally, I have no problem with people using my stuff, even family member. However, past experience has told me no one will EVER take the same care of your property as you would. The only way around that is if they have a personal stake in said item. Ok, that's off my chest.

The test is 8 in the morning, so I expect The HP and Taz to come back by noon or 1 PM the latest. 2 PM rolls around, and the phone rings. "Dad... we were in an accident..."

Ok, I really want to say I was concerned for my wife and son, but what I thought was... "Fine, Great, They fucked up my car." I guessing the right half of my brain processed the fact that if anyone was really hurt Taz would say something about that first. At least I hope that was the case. Also, I think my subconscious picked up the hidden glee in TAZ Voice. ( Hee...Hee Dad I have something important to tell you, and this is the first time I've used the call phone to say something important...Hee Hee. and we fucked up your car...and it serves you right for getting me up at 6 AM, to take a stupid test I don't want to take.... Hee...Hee so Fuck You dad! Hee... Hee)

Some 20 something woman, ran into my car, while the HP was at a stop light. As the woman tells the police officer, she was at the stop light behind my wife. She was READING (WTF!) and saw the left lane traffic move out of the corner of her eye. She just assumed it was time to go and didn't look ahead and just stepped on the gas. (OK, she wasn't even looking out the front of her windshield, and when the Turn LANE started to move, she went.) Some people need to be beaten with a stick. I suppose if my wife hadn't have been there, she would have driven right into the intersection and into the turning oncoming traffic. So the HP save some one's life.

So now I have to spend two fixing something, because some random ditz decided using using The Force is a good driving strategy.

As you can see the damage is not that bad, but it's still a pain to settle everything with the insurance company. THANK GOD! Iowa law always places the blame on the person who strike you from behind.

The rear bumper was replaced, and the truck lid was replaced as well. It looks nice now but I miss the dealer's logo. He was a cute little logo of a secret agent, peeking out of a window. If you look closely you can sort of make him out on the truck lid.

"Lick my booty hole"
I Got this can about 10:30 at night. It's rare to get obscene phone call in this day and age. It's even rarer for that call to come from a woman. I think most woman have enough common sense not to call any guy, because they know a guy will do anything obscene you ask and maybe come up with a few ideas of his own. Personally, I have no problem with analingus, and God so help me if Angelina Jolie calls my tongue will be so far up her ass I'll tickle her tonsils. (OK TMI)

The call was on my cell phone, which narrows down the field of callers quite a bit. Second the persons called me by name, so not a random call. I hung up , and she called back. I hung up again, she called back again. After cursing, she finally hangs up. I had no idea who it was, until the next day.

We finally received a judgment in our court case in the mail. We owe our former rental part of their security deposit back. Which is bullshit, but after all the pictures, the judge said it was hard to prove that the condition of the house before the people moved in. Basically because the property manage never had the tenant sign a check-in list. Lessons we learn after the fact. I could have avoided everything if I would have fired the property manger and kicked out the tenant after a year. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Space Again : The Bathroom
Last month my father and I put new flooring in the rental units bathroom. Let me give you a tip for all you people thinking about starting a family and having lots of kids. Never use tile flooring in a bathroom, and for that matter the kitchen. When the High priestess and I moved into this house over 20 year ago, she was enchanted with the tile flooring. It was OK with me. After having kids never again. Everything you drop on the tile floor breaks. If your kids splash (why wouldn't they)in the tub, the water goes everywhere. The grout is a pain in the ass to clean and if it cracks anywhere kiss the subflooring goodbye.

I knew when we moved out, and converted the house to rental property we would have to redo the floor. That moment came in May 2009. As the subflooring went the tiles started to shift, and that make the grout crack even more. Which let more wet get to the wood underneath and destroys the wood, which cause the tile to move and shift more...... You get the point.

So we torn up everything and put down new foundation.
That took about 4 hours. After making a pattern, we cut out the linoleum and installed that. We put down vinyl molding and caulked the hell out of every nook and cranny. Basically turning the bathroom floor into one big bowl. I'm happy now, because it seems to be working.

Patterns - As I have gotten older I've started to notice my life falls in to a patterns of behavior: Some good and some bad (Warning Geek Alert)

The latest one I have recognized has a 10 - 12 year cycle.

In 1987 I bought my first Apple Computer a Macintosh SE ( 2 800K Disk Drives /w 1 MB Ram)(about $2500). I wrote my master Thesis on this computer. I spent the next few years upgrading my pet: First it was a external hard drive (20MB for $600); Second more Memory 2MB then later 4 MB; Thrid a Transwarp Accelerator card for $500 (25MHZ 68030 w/ 16 MB of Ram). She was sold to a teacher from Minnesota. We made the exchange in a Hardees parking lot near the Iowa - Minnesota border at twilight around 6 pm. I sold her for $400. (I felt so sad!)

Then there was a series of Amigas, PC, and some Used Macintoshes.

Then in 1997 I bought a Power Computing Macintosh Clone: A PowerCenter Pro 210 for about $3000. She lasted for about five years helping me teach physics to young college students. She had upgrades too, but not nearly as expensive as the MacSE. Apple brought Power Computing just a few month after I brought my Pro 210. I guess someone at Apple wised up and realized they would get destroy if people started making faster and cheaper Mac. I still have her downstairs in the "Lab". She was plugged in until about 6 months ago.

The next ten years I started building all my own PC, and bought Used Power PC Macs. The last used mac I bought was a G5 Mac tower from a Doctor in Iowa City for $850 with a 20 inch Cinema Display, a steal in my opinion.

Early this year I read the handwriting on the wall. Apple will be releasing Snow Leopard in September, an Intel processor only operating system. The days of Universal software (Intel and Power PC) will be number. Even Google and some other Mac developers are writing/compiling code only for the Intel-based machine.

I've been lusting after the newer Intel-mac for 2 year now. Mall security at the Jordan Creek Mall are really getting tried of hearing calling from the Apple Store.

"Pssss..That Black guy is back. He keeps rubbing the Macs on display and mubbling under his breath... "Oooooooo I bet your a hot one, a really fast bitch in heat..."'

Ok...I have some issues....

June 2009
The check clears for my summer teaching load. One week later, Inga arrives at my door: My 64-bit Quad Core Nordic Goddess MacPro Tower. Amanda, My dual core AMD PC is jealous. The AC is up full and both these angels put out some much heat I spend a lot time sitting in my underwear. (OK, that may be TMI) I suspect this winter I will be able the close the heating vent in the room and still stay warm.

My pattern? Every 10 years buy a New Macintosh...





patterns by Devo

Patterns all around you
patterns everywhere
patterns of behavior
sometimes seem unfair
can you recognize the patterns that you find?

Patterns unfamiliar
patterns lead you through (to)
patterns of discovery
tracing out the clues
can you recognize the patterns that you find?
stuck in your mind

In this land where stability is hard to find
you can rearrange the patterns so unkind
don't bother asking why a pattern never cries
old patterns never die they just go on and on

Patterns multiplying
re-direct our view
endless variations
make it all seem new

It's only the second day of summer and Vulcan the fire god has hit Iowa with a vengence. 100F ! and that not the high this bank sign had. It hit 103 earlier!

Space #3 - Itunes and DVD
Right now I'm in the middle of doing a full backup of my Itunes Library. Maxine (my 2ghz G4) is telling me I need about 16 DVDs! There has got to be a better way of transferring my library from one computer to another. You would think the people at Apple would let me do a direct backup and restore to a different computer.