Undersaturation!

Please excuse the horrible, horrible picture. It's very bright outside and nearly noon when the picture was taken, hence the lack of color.



Anyway, what you're looking at here is two lofts worth of lumber and hardware (a princely sum of money, I found out) loaded into a Focus station wagon.

I tell you what, station wagons are seriously awesome. Not only can you load one down with two lofts worth of lumber, but the hatch accomodates bike racks better than any standard trunk. Plus, you can sit people in the back on top of the lumber (sorry again about those bumps in the road, Eleni). As if all that weren't enough to make station wagons awesome, there's more. This one is a stickshift!

I used to talk big about buying a huge truck when I'm some big time construction manager. I mean, yeah, it'd be cool to have some heavy duty truck jacked up off the ground with some turbodiesel motor or something with so much torque that the cab rocks when you burp the accelerator, but it just wouldn't have the charm of a station wagon.

Yes sir, I think a station wagon is the automocar for me. One with Environment plates.

Color me impressed

So I was watching Woodwright's Shop as my clothes were drying. I just gotta say--wow. Not only is Roy Underhill skilled with woodworking, but the man knows his culture, art, and mythology.

I'd quote something he said as he was hollowing out a prototype plane, but he was talking too fast about things beyond my scope of understanding. All I know is that he somehow managed to get Saturn and La Jaconde (not Mona Lisa, but La Jaconde) in the same sentence.

PBS is cool.

Riding at night

Riding at night adds this new element of unknown dangers. The coolest thing has to be the strobing headlight making objects appear to move around as I ride up to them.

Take for instance the cornstalks that blow into the middle of the road. Black tentacles dance and chase after your feet as you pedal furiously away from them. Adds a bit of an adrenaline spike to the same old bike ride.

no title

This past weekend, I finally found out what the Monon Trail is all about. It's mostly about 32 miles with a couple of detours and getting to where the car is parked. It's actually pretty cool with all the trees and shade and generally pretty landscape. There's also something cool about crossing street after street that people you know live on. The only real problem is wrecking into small children (d'oh) and all the stop signs, which you eventually learn to ignore.

I came home fairly late Sunday night (extended fellowship, you might say). Nathan was back from South Carolina by the time I walked in the house. He asked if I was doing anything on Monday because he had the day off. I said I only had to do homework.

And so, just like that at 11 o'clock at night, we decided that we'd head to King's Island the next morning.

We noticed traffic was backed up. Wayyyyy up. And they had us parking in the Boomerang Bay area. We should have known something was up. Something was up indeed. That day was "bring a friend" day.. anyone with a season pass could bring a guest for free.

There were so many people at the park that day, they blew a main fuse so that only one ride still worked. We stood in line for a broken down ride for I don't know how long.. it was long enough that the heat was making me lightheaded. The employee we talked to said that they estimated there were three times the number of guests they normally have. She said they thought they had 50,000 guests. It was a busy, busy day.

When I go to Six Flags Great America, I anticipate much shorter lines and much more roller coasting.

Rainy day

I hate the rain. I doubt the rain will hold off long enough to go for a ride, but it did let up enough to take a picture.

Once again, the price and components on the Giant just could not be beaten. It looks like I'm becoming a loyal Giant fan.

Anyway, here she is. Sixty miles old at the time of this picture and still nameless.

The noteworthy day's summary

Today, after helping my dad bleed the clutch and brake lines on his Sunbeam, I went shopping.

While shopping, I made some weighty decisions largely due to the gargantuan amounts of time I have on my hands without a job, and also because my dad sort of encouraged it by not discouraging it.

When I was done shopping, I took the most expensive bike ride of my life.

I won't post any pictures since I've already been told that there are too many pictures of such things on here anyway.

The best part of the bike ride had to be riding past a little girl, probably about four years old, sitting on a bike of her own. I would probably have been a slightly intimidating sight to most girls her age, given the bald head and bandana with the sleeveless shirt. However, she didn't recoil in horror, no, but she just shouted this happiest little "Hi!" that I've heard in a good long while. Kids are so cool.

Welp...

We were scheduled for about four months of demolition work, and it got done in a little over a month. So JR Kelly bought us all pizza for lunch, and then our boss thanked us for working for him and started handing out the checks. Layoffs work a lot like television. You don't know if you're going to make the cut or not, and he hands out the checks one by one as we're all sitting around.

Well, I didn't make the cut. Looks like I have some spare time on my hands.

I got to keep my helmet, though.

Dude

Tomorrow, there's a layoff, but we don't know who.

In case I'm included, I decided to clean my helmet so I can return it all squeaky clean.

Then I realized...



Helmets are kinda freaky looking.

Seriously

This video is really funny. Watch it.

Seriously.

The music is cool, too.

This is the link to the video.

That's a lot of dust!

My bandana got really dusty at work today.

The X is from the straps inside my helmet.

My bandana got this dirty even though it was under my helmet all day.



That's a lot of dust!

Tool of the week: the sledge hammer. The verdict: makes life infinitely easier. Just use your dominant hand to get the hammer swinging, put your body into it, and let your hand slide down to let momentum do its trick. Instant obliteration. But you knew that already.

Pointless!

So I was just putting on an undershirt that I hadn't worn since living in Cary. It smells like college. It smells like Paul years and years ago when he'd visit home from Purdue. It smells awesome.

Ah, that's funny to think about visiting Paul when he lived in a dorm, and we'd drive home at night, and it would boggle my mind and make me so sad that Paul was already home there at Purdue, and he'd be sleeping there that night, and we were just starting to head home. And now that I'm where Paul was, instead of looking forward like I did so many years ago, all I can do is look back.

I dunno if that makes sense or not. Doesn't really matter. This is a pretty selfish post, and I don't really care who else gets it or reads it.

Here's to a good Lord's Day!

the past few days at work...

Friday during break at work, the laborer foreman (Ozzy Osbourne) started looking at me as I was checking out a Lull. He was just sitting there, looking at me for about ten seconds. Ten seconds is a long time to have your eyes on someone if you're not talking or anything. It got pretty uncomfortable. Then he finally broke the silence, "You sure are white."

Odd.



I learned another lesson about tools making life easier and harder on Thursday. The tool this time is a wheelbarrow. They seem to be a pretty open and shut case. They make life easier, right? I'm not entirely sure. The problem with wheelbarrows is they are capable of holding very heavy loads--loads which easily outweigh me, possibly even doubling my weight. "But wait," you say. "That's why there is the lever and wheel to make it easy to move around." To this I say, "Correct you are." So you can easily lift this large load thanks to leverage, but you still have to control a large load that wants to throw you around. If the load is not balanced, it can be especially tricky. There isn't much to keep the barrow from tilting to the left or right. And if it begins to tilt, you can pretty much forget it. It's gonna spill, or at least come very very close and you're going to strain yourself to keep it upright.

But then after about five consecutive trips, the wheelbarrow and me sorta clicked. There's a certain fine touch you have to attain to keep it under control at all times. It's sorta like operating a clutch or steering a canoe. It seems easy when you think about it, but you quickly learn that it takes a certain technique. Then it's not so bad.

The verdict: wheelbarrows must make life easier, otherwise they wouldn't still be around.


Then I learned a secret.

Over the course of the past couple of months, I learned a very valuable secret to being able to lift and destroy very heavy and very solid objects. It wasn't easy for me to uncover the secret, and it took some gleaning from what fellow laborers said to figure it out.

The secret isn't anything like "No pain, no gain," or "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." The secret is Wheaties. This cereal has come up about three different times, and it was brought up by three different people.

The first time Wheaties were brought up was at Benton Central. I was trying to push a wheelbarrow to the top of a mound of rubble, but lost balance and it spilled to the side. Jesse says, "What's the matter, didn't you eat your Wheaties this morning?"

The second time was at Sigma Chi. I was carrying a large piece of metal lath and plaster. It was large enough that it was heavy, and had enough sharp corners that it was hard to hold, so I was struggling. Someone, I didn't know his name at the time, says to me, "Did you forget your Wheaties?"

The third time, Jason was dragging a floor joist for me to carry out of a window. He lifts up one end for me to grab, smiles, and says, "I hope you ate your Wheaties this morning."

Despite how it seems to be pretty common knowledge that all you need is Wheaties to get the job done, a lot of guys still insist that cussing is the way to get the job done.

Dead Man's Chest and Dreams

Yesterday was the premiere of Dead Man's Chest, and at work, the dude who looks like Jack Sparrow was nowhere to be found.

Coincidence?

And I've reaffirmed that Finnish music gives me nightmares. It's not quite the traditional demon-sitting-on-your-head type nightmare, but more like finding myself in some unwelcome circumstances. But then the night goes on to give me more typical dreams, like taking pictures of an egg in creative perspectives that give the appearance of the egg being crushed in various clever ways. This somehow leads to a rhinocerous falling out of the sky from some cable harness, which then gets ridden into the American Southwest. Typical.

On a side note of dreams, I have definitively busted the myth that we dream in black and white. I very vividly remember seeing color.

I need to go take care of some things (like breakfast) and I'll be back to post more because I'd rather do that than Physics. Sorry, I'm not posting for anyone's benefit, I'm just procrastinating.

brb lol

Attack by the jungle woman

I'll preface this post with the story of Josh Sturm and his narrow escape.

I don't have any stories nearly that exciting. Usually, the only thing that ever happens is the occasional giggly girl. These are no problem, though, because the situation can be taken care of before it even becomes a situation. All you have to do is avoid eye contact.

I did just meet an aggressive one, though. I was out at the mall getting my glasses fixed (saying oculus repairum didn't work) when this blonde jumps out from the crowd at me. She's all bright and smiley, and she says "Hey!" all cheerful-like. I check her hands to see if they're holding a clipboard. At the mall, you might get accosted by clipboard-holding types who conduct surveys. But she was empty handed. No survey. I immediately think to myself, "It's one of those fast types that Sturm blogged about. Better stay cool so as not to let her smell my fear."

I couldn't ignore her, so I did the only thing that made sense. I said, "Good evening" and kept on walking without breaking stride.

She must have been a noob with the whole pursuing thing, because she just stopped, gave me a slightly puzzled look, and laughed. I'm not sure why she laughed, or even if she was laughing at me or herself, but in any case....

CRISIS AVERTED

Out of 211 pictures...

I'll only post these.


The water lilies in the pond promptly died after I took these pictures. Seriously. They closed right up and submerged to a watery death. I felt sorta bad about it.




The house reflected in the pond


One of the goldfish that sat still long enough to not get all blurred.




This is an awesome picture of Ethan.




Paul and Adrian on the Whitewater Valley train to Metamora, Indiana.




The passenger cars were built in the 1920s and weighed something like 92,000 lbs apiece. I believe it, too. The floors were made of concrete.




I forget the name of this river/creek.




Our destination: Metamora. There's the canal with the water mill that goes over to the corn mill.




Neither of my nephews could climb this branch. I was only slightly disappointed in them.




The gear room under the corn mill.




Gordon's Lock






Aqueduct.




Stand By Me, anyone?




A couple of draft horses pulling a boat along the canal. The folks guiding the horses had broken more of a sweat than the horses did.




Paul, Ethan, and I spending some time together at Connersville's park. Adrian wasn't there because he opted to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's house to watch Nickelodeon.




Ethan giving Paul and me a ride.




I dunno what kind of flower this is, but it's pretty even though it's terribly common.




This dragonfly kept pestering me, so I took his picture. Several times. Each time, I got a little closer. He let me get close enough I had to put the camera on macro.




Some man fishing in the tailwaters at Whitewater Memorial Park.




"home"




Here are the people of Richmond waiting for fireworks.








Water! Coke! Sprite!




The grand finale. There were about five half-sticks of dynamite or something that went off. You could feel the explosions in your gut. Maybe I've been sheltered all my life, but I've never seen or heard anything like it at a fireworks show.

Happy 4th!

I just got back from "home" (i.e. Connersville). I'd add pictures tonight, but it's too late for me to be uploading them and everything...maybe I'll get them up on Thursday.

Anyway! Brief recap:

Friday: Watched Cast Away at the Mauser's. David Whitla was nowhere to be seen, so Ryan Cerbus was in charge. Only one point was brought up where I and probably several others could say, "Hey, that's flat out wrong." He handled the situation like a pro.

I drove the rest of the way to Connersville that night. I was really really tired. Ethan, my youngest nephew, was asleep under his cot. He must have been pretty tired, too.

Saturday: Paul and his boys and my parents and myself took a train ride to Metamora, Indiana. The train was limited to 15 mph, and Paul and I agreed that we could probably beat the train to its destination if we were on bicycles.

Metamora is a neat town if touristy tourist traps are your thing. There are some interesting sights, like a working grain mill and a canal lock.

Sunday: I drove over to Southside where I was reunited with brothers and sisters I hadn't seen in quite some time. Mrs. Keddie invited me over to dinner, and then I received about two more dinner invitations after that. It's rough being missed.

Ryan led Truth Group after the evening service. The question was what book has influenced us the most, and how. After all the fun and fellowship of that, Nick Ritenour invited me over to his apartment to crash on his couch. Many thanks go to Nick for that, and to Anna for making the blanket which kept me warm when I woke up freezing cold at 4 a.m.

Monday: I drove around Indianapolis a bit. I planned on taking pictures around Monument Circle, but it was so hazy that the colors were dull and I ditched the idea. When I was driving along, I hit a wormhole that took me to the eastern coast of Virginia. There was some yacht-type building, little narrow winding roads with lots of overgrowth, tiny lived-in houses, rebel flags, and little bodies of water. It was sorta creepy.

After stopping at Best Buy, I realized that my aunt was right about something she told me when I was younger. At the time, I blew it off as an impossibility. But it's quite possible, and becoming rather common. And annoying.

Then I went to Connersville where I sat around until I decided on something to do.. go check out Whitewater Park. I was swarmed by dragonflies, and got a few good pictures.

There were fireworks in Richmond that night, so we headed over to check them out. I'd say about 98% of the pictures I took did not turn out.

Tuesday: I did basically nothing until I headed back to West Lafayette. I got rid of some hair, cleaned out my car (finally), and changed the oil. There were only two quarts of oil left in my car. That means there is a fair amount of oil being burned. Is this the beginning of the end?

I'll leave on that suspenseful note because I'm really tired.