Still Around

I'm still around, I've switched to Chrome for my main browser so I have a nifty plug-in for Blogger. So as I find some neat sites I'm going to try to post them, that way I have at least some randomness flowing here.

Rocking through summer!

Can't believe that August is almost halfway done! And it really has been pleasant in PDX this year, only a couple 90+ days. In fact we haven't used the AC at all the last few days, normally at least have to run it a few hours in the bedroom to cool/dehumidify it but it's been dropping in the 40s at night. This weekend that'll change with some upper 90 weather but we're on the back side of mean heating days. Not mean as in junkyard dog, mean as in average. August 10th is normally the hottest day of the year, topped out mid-70s yesterday. That is one reason I love, love, love living in the Pacific Northwest!

I am still making Robot-A-Day, over two months in to the project and I still have a lot of ideas, just need the time to do some more intricate ones. Even managed to keep doing one a day while I went to Florida to visit my mom although that meant more drawing than building. But the spirit of it was to stay creative however I needed to.

I need to pull out some more linked 'stuff' for here as I find it, just to keep it interesting for my 3 readers.

Where It's At

So I am still around but I have a new project I've been working on. Robot-A-Day, a 365 day project inspired by Skull A Day.

Each day I make a new robot, be it drawn, made from old junk and computer parts or any other method. Main rule for me is I create it the day I post it, no making a bunch one day then posting all week, it's all about stimulating my creativity and getting some time discipline going.

Summer is approaching the Pacific Northwest, finally had some above 80 degree days. Come July I'll go right into the fire though, gonna head to Florida to visit my mom where it's already been near 100 and with high humidity. Should be a hot time.

Lazy blogger is lazy!

Cripes, not only has social media destroyed my old standby Livejournal it's also destroyed my blogging at all.

The rest of my time in DC was great, loved being able to see the museums and crazy protesters as well as catch up with some good friends. In fact it led to a reunion of some of my shipmates from the Coast Guard out here in Oregon after not seeing most of these guys for 15-16 years.

So I am back in Oregon, while it was an interesting experience I did miss not having my partner around even though she did get a weekend to come out and visit me. And the cat disapproved of my absence.

I have a new domain that I need to get set up RustedSkull.com. It will mostly have my art projects on it, may either embed my blog here or from my Livejournal.

Facebook is nearing extinction in my eyes, I know that if I was concerned about 100% privacy I should kill my account. Sad thing is it wasn't like that when I signed up there in 2006, privacy was pretty strong but membership was super low. As time has gone on things continue to be tweaked for the worse.

Maybe I should have titled this 'manic blogger is manic'. I'm all over the map, but that's what a lack of caffeine in my bloodstream does.

3 day weekends. I like them very much.

Had two three day weekends in a row. Labor day weekend and this weekend I took Monday off.

I had a lifelong friend in the Portland area for a Habitat for Humanity workshop and she was able to visit with us briefly. She had to fly back on Sunday for an early Monday doctor appointment so the visit was basically Saturday evening and Sunday morning, but it was fun. Her family used to live down the street from us and they moved when I was about 4 but they remained friends ever since. I visited with them this past May when I was in California for a work trip, I hadn't seen them since at least 1992 so it was great then. And great to visit some more this weekend.

She does want to come back up for another visit to see the sights of Portland. We stopped at the International Rose Test Garden on the way to the airport. It is maintained by the City of Portland parks and rec department and is really a neat bunch of gardens. Great views into town as well since it's up in the hills.

Monday was errand day, trading out a borked cable box and selling some books back to Powells books. Then a dentist appointment to finally finish up my never-ending root canal. This last appointment was to fix the hole in my crown so it was short and Novocaine-less.

Who's that in the background?

Spent this past Sunday/Monday doing some work as a background extra for the TV show Leverage. I got to be a Boston dockworker despite being in Portland. Through TV magic Portland locales are transformed into Boston. It was a long tiring day but a lot of fun.

Sunday I was up at 3:30am to make it to the set by 5am. By 6am we were getting our wardrobe checked out and props. I had some old blue coveralls with me and my steel toe boots so that was my outfit. They provided an orange safety vest and hard hat, voila, a dockworker! A lot of what we were doing was being the miscellaneous people you see in the background of a shot looking like we're busy doing shipyard/dock stuff. Some guys were carrying pipes around, others driving carts or carrying lunch boxes. Some were on bikes. I got to stare at a power meter a few times.

Other extras got to be FBI agents, Boston PD, Port Authority PD, Thugs, Gun Buyers. Neat seeing a shot come together. Helicopter, police and FBI cars racing around the docks. We did a lot of the same walkthroughs for different angles. The main actors probably had it worse though as they had to keep doing the lines for all the different angles and shots while being on a ship in 80+ weather with that heat just reflecting off the deck. And when we wrapped up at 8:30pm they kept going until almost 11pm.

Yesterday there were a few shots and then mostly just waiting in the holding area in case they needed some more background. Later call time so I didn't have to be there as early, plus they fed us a really good lunch before sending us home. The actors were all really cool people, the directors and assistants and other crew were all awesome. I don't think I could do a job like that full time like they do, it's pretty demanding, but it was neat to get behind the scenes of a TV production to see how it is done. I've been an extra on one film that hasn't been released yet, but I didn't get any camera time, it was also neat but the routine was different for it.

Extra work isn't glamorous but it is fun, you meet some neat people and you just might see yourself on TV for a brief moment.

Root Canal 1, Me 0

Recovering from an infection brought about by a root canal. I have had two done before on upper teeth and never had a problem. Third time's the charm! Lower root canal was cleared out and the endodontist put some stuff in there to kill off the rest of the roots but the roots had other ideas. Two days later my jaw was swollen up and I was in supreme pain land. Went back and had it prodded and drained (immediate relief) and got a scrip for antibiotics and vicodin.

Took about 3 days for it to really start clearing up and after 5 days I was able to eat food that wasn't in liquid or boiled pasta form. Lost 5 pounds during this time but I don't recommend this method for weight loss. One more day of antibiotics and I'm done with that until next month when I have the follow up/finisher appointment, not sure if he'll put me back on antibiotics as a precaution.

The drag with the antibiotics is having to get my butt up at midnight to take a dose, have to do them every 6 hours. So I am looking forward to Thursday night and hopefully a full night of sleep. Which of course means my neighbors will take that as their cue to throw a mega-bass-rave party.

BOXERS!!!!!!!

Yesterday I took a drive over to Vancouver, WA for an appointment. As I'm at a stoplight I see a sticker in the back window of a truck. At first glance it's not unusual (to be loved by anyone...oh wait...digress) as it looks like a college type sticker in big letters. Then I notice it just says 'BOXERS'. I am not familiar with a college or sports mascot known as the 'Boxers' so I can only think this guy is a real supporter of unsupportive undergarments. It really made me want to yell out the window at him 'BRIEFS!!!!!!' and shoot the bird at him or something.

TAKE THAT VANCOUVER S-10 PICKUP BOXER GUY! IN FACT 'BOXER BRIEFS!!!!' OH SNAP!

So yeah, my head, it's a scary place. But there aren't any clowns there at least.

Blog Whore!

So it seems I can't resist another blogging medium. But at least I NEVER had a MySpace, still have a LiveJournal account but they were always cooler than MySpace, less visual diarrhea.

Not sure what I'll fill this up with, but I'm sure it'll be random until I can settle on some sort of theme. Must check for iPhone blogger apps.....