last weekend I went down to Long Beach to build some shelves for my mom's garage (she's a teacher, where teacher = packrat). While I was working on them, she took this picture of me:


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Coome one, come all to Treasure Island on May 20th and 21st for some old fashioned boat building fun! From what I can tell, it'll probably take a day and a half to complete a boat, so maybe one day for the basic structure and half a day for seats, masts, etc. I'll have all the necessary tools and am even willing to pick up supplies for anyone that ( Read more... )

I'm sure this will draw a lot of blank stares, but I want to have a boat-building day. You see, there's this web site that has free plans for a cheap, sturdy, easy-to-build row or sail boat. So I propose we get together one day and build a few.

Consider:

• They're dinky so storage won't be a big problem.
• Parts come to less than $100 (probably less ( Read more... )

or

More Crap I've MadeHeather plays mah jong regularly with a group of friends. She has a rather nice set of pieces and four 1950s vintage bakelite racks, but the problem was that the pieces came in a cheap cloth-and-cardboard case that didn't stay shut, and the racks had nothing to carry them in other than a paper bag - very awkward all around ( Read more... )

It was a good Halloween, though I was (am) sick and really should not have exerted myself so much getting ready for trick-or-treaters. But it went well. To go with my costume - Professor Membrane from Invader Zim - I did the front of the house in a mad science theme: brain in a pan, Van de Graff generator, Jacob's ladder, head in a jar, fog machine ( Read more... )

Today is Humphrey's birthday (yay!). I wanted him to wake up to a wall of love, but since love isn't cheap I went for a wall of balloons.

(note that they are not attached to the door - it opens from the inside to reveal the wall)

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What should I be for Halloween? The choices are:

Professor Membrane

(from Invader Zim)


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This las tweekend H and I went down to LA to visit my mom, who had just had : surgery. About a month back she went in for a routine colonoscopy and they took out a small polyp. Turns out there was just a wee little touch o' the cancer on the polyp. Although both her doctor and the surgeon were quite sure she was already cured by that point, safety ( Read more... )

About three weeks ago some random neuron fired in my brain that said, "You should build a lecturn to hold that huge National Geographic Atlas of the World." (Yes, I think with hyperlinks.) So I went nuts at Home Despot and got ( Read more... )

A kid in my mom's third grade class aske dme about some of my past Halloween costumes, so I told him how I did them and then went on to give him some general advice on the subject. But I know several of you have come up with nifty costumes for Halloween and other times, so I pose the question to you all -

what advice would you give a third-grader ( Read more... )