Category Archives: Different

Painting a Plastic Model (Bandai MG Rick Dias)

Posted on December 17, 2006 | Comments Off on Painting a Plastic Model (Bandai MG Rick Dias)

parts I'm done assembling a MG Rick Dias pictured in the previous post.  Here is a shot of the Red pieces after painting.

For painting, I followed these steps:

  1. Assemble the model for a test fit. I cut the pegs to make pulling it apart easier.
  2. Sort the parts by color.
  3. Clean the parts with mild soap and  water and let dry.
  4. Put the individual pieces on bamboo skewers via masking tape.
  5. Find a place with lots of ventilation and good light and cover the parts with Tamiya Surface Primer.
  6. Let it dry, and then I painted it with Tamiya TS8-Italian Red.

more parts Next, I'll prime and paint the Maroon pieces. I'll try to document the process a little better for the people that asked (Needless to say, I'm not exposing my Nikon D80 to the paint while painting!). After it's all painted and has decals, I'll put a clear coat on all the pieces for protection.

BTW, if your interested in models based on Japanese Anime such as "Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta", you'd be wise to check out Image Anime on 103 West 30th Street, between 6th & 7th Ave. Besides having a good selection and competitive prices, they have a friendly staff. In my case, it's conviently near my work so I can get more paint at lunch (I ran out of Italian red and really screwed up a part or two…)

Music I'm listening to right Now:
"Love Is Expensive And Free" by Fastball from the "The Harsh Light of Day" Album.  

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Strange but true

Posted on December 6, 2006 | 2 comments

planeEvery once in a while, I read a story that is just too Funny. In this case, a Fart causes a plane to land.

Can you imagine the FBI agent's face interviewing that  passenger??

In other events, I'm still busy at work and at home, but I'm nearly done assembling a MG Rick Dias pictured below.  I'll be spray painting it Italian Red and Maroon. Should look good.

 

Building plastic models is one of the Hobbies I indulge in. It's not difficult, requires patience and the results look cool (Yes, it's a guy thing). These kits by Bandai aren't expensive and lately have been engineered to hide seams very well. I have about half a dozen of these kits queued up waiting for me to assemble. This particular kit is a Bandai "Master Grade" kit of a manned robot (mecha) from a Japanese Anime series called "Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta". In the Anime, This particular mecha is supposed to be 21 meters tall. I didn't see the Anime, but the model looks great. 

 

 
  


Music I'm listening to right Now:
"Wild" by Seal from his "Seal" Album (1991).  

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Been Way too busy lately…

Posted on December 1, 2006 | Comments Off on Been Way too busy lately…



Crossing the street

Originally uploaded by S.D..

On the plus side December is when things get slow at work. 
At least I still manage to get out at lunch and shoot photos from time to time.

This is a photo that came out exactly the way I planed. She was waiting for the light to change, I focused on her, got off three shots and this one came out the way I wanted. I've been taking pictures for a while and I'm constantly trying to learn new things or plan out a photo before taking it. In this case, I succeeded.

 


Music I'm listening to right Now:
Sadly, nothing at this moment.

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What a difference a day makes…

Posted on November 8, 2006 | Comments Off on What a difference a day makes…

Ok, Lets Recap, At this writing:

  • The Democrat's hold the Majority in the house.
  • The Democrat's may hold the Majority in the Senate.
  • Rep. Nancy Pelosi will be the first Madam Speaker in US History.
  • Rep. Dennis Hastert is bowing out from the now minority leadership role (Too little too late?).
  • Donald Rumsfeld has resigned from his position as Secretary of Defense as announced by the President (Way Too late).

What a difference a day can make! I'm more than a little surprised that they did so well in the Senate. Calling a majority in the House was a "No Brainer", but the Senate? At this time, control of the Senate depends on how Virgina turns out. Either way, I think it's safe to say people have had enough of the Direction this country has been going.

Favorite Quote from Sen. Joseph Lieberman:
“Thanks, Don, you've served the country but really we need somebody new there.”

I wonder what other changes the Whitehouse will make? 


Music I'm listening to right Now:
"Gone Going" by Black Eyed Peas from "Monkey Business". 

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Posted in Current Issues, Different

Myspace and Hotlinking…

Posted on November 6, 2006 | Comments Off on Myspace and Hotlinking…

MySpaceIn General, I'm a patient person but the volume of hotlinking from MySpace.com has reached the point where I'm just not allowing it anymore. Just today, I have over 60 hits from images taken from my server and it's getting tired. 

Oddly enough, I'm also getting a couple of hits from Clay Aiken's site.
Maybe he's a Fan??
Wink


Music I'm listening to right Now:
"Pump It" by Black Eyed Peas from "Monkey Business". 

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Going to Photo Plus Expo

Posted on November 3, 2006 | Comments Off on Going to Photo Plus Expo

Photo Plus ExpoManaged to get the day off today (BTW I have a very Cool Boss!) so I'll be going to the Photo Plus Expo.

It's at the Jacob Javits center and should be interesting. They probably won't object to photos so I'll try to post some in my Flickr Site. Also, I got my Moo Cards (Positive review later) , so I'll actually be able to hand them out and get that email address Spamed like crazy.

Off Topic: Open a FREE Email account to put on your Moo Cards. It avoids lots of hassles and you could always print more with another Email address.   


Music I'm listening to right Now:
"Sheep Go To Heaven" by Cake from "Prolonging the Magic". 

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Posted in Cool Stuff, Different

Server Maintenance

Posted on October 29, 2006 | Comments Off on Server Maintenance

Proliant 5000Since My servers have So much down time, thanks to Verizon, I'm scheduling a semi major change that should work without a hitch, but being really paranoid, I'm backing up my essential files via Tar and GZIP.

Apparently, after it's compressed, I have 17 GB of stuff in my personal home directory alone. That's not counting my Web Site on that Box. This calls for some serious housekeeping after the change as there are some files I've not touched since that server was made years ago.

This backup is fairly straightforward but time consuming. Basically, I tar and GZIP the results, use scp to copy the resulting file to my PC and then back it up to DVD. Simple, but time consuming. Even with Double Sided DVD's it will take about three Double Sided (Dual layer??) DVD's to do it. I could back it up to DLT Tape, but each DLT tape costs a lot and when that DLT Drive goes, it will be expensive to replace. Personally, after "Blue Ray" and HD DVD stabilizes, I'll probably get one for Backup purposes. 


Music I'm listening to right Now:
"Pushing Me Away" by Linkin Park from "Hybrid Theory".
 

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Ok, Verizon just Sucks.

Posted on October 29, 2006 | 5 comments

PhoneIt rained Friday night which means my phone service went down yet again. This has only been going on since September 14th.

Ok,  I tried to be patient, but I go thru the usual song and dance and apparently complete waste of time by calling Verizon Phone Repair, ask to speak to a manager and get promptly hung up on. I Have a complaint in to Verizon about that AND a complaint is being opened up to their Business office Monday. My Last bill has a “Credit” of less than $3. I can’t wait to call the City and file a complaint in writing.

Maybe it’s me. maybe I just get lucky enough to deal with people with absolutely no idea how to fix a phone line. After all, It’s TWO WIRES connected to my house, down a telephone pole, to a Central office back to a Verizon Hub (Or what ever it’s called). Obviously, This is New Cutting Edge Technology (The Phone was JUST invented, Right?) and it takes a certain amount of patience to actually trackdown and inspect the few hundred feet of TWO WIRES to actually find the problem.

The Best Part? Everyone who comes out to look at it traces it a few blocks, Observes that it goes into the ground and then has to open a trouble ticket to yet another group just to look at it. That other group takes a peek several days later and says “Looks OK to me!” and apparently does nothing. By the time they look at it at least four days have passed, the rain water that caused the problem has evaporated and the phone line starts to work albiet with lots of Static.

This situation is just beyond words. I’m betting I’ll be back here writing about how much Verizon Sucks in January.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Camisado” by Panic! at the Disco from “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out“.

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Murphy’s Law regarding Good Songs…

Posted on October 20, 2006 | Comments Off on Murphy’s Law regarding Good Songs…

Just Say MAOI listen to music while I work and without exception: I get called when listening to a good song…

It Never fails and this time it happened while listening to Martin Gore singing "In A Manner Of Speaking" from the "Just Say Mao: Volume III of Just Say Yes" Album. In fact, after getting off that call, playing the song again, someone else calls.

Very Odd. 


Music I'm listening to right Now:
"In A Manner Of Speaking" by Martin Gore from "Just Say Mao: Volume III of Just Say Yes ".
 

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Posted in Different

Verizon Phone Line problems Continue

Posted on October 18, 2006 | Comments Off on Verizon Phone Line problems Continue

It rained last night so My Phone Line went Down again.

I’m really trying to be patient about this as it is obviously a difficult problem to Diagnose, but this is getting seriously ridiculous. I work from home at least one day a week and need my phone to work properly else it costs me money.

The people who come to work on the problem (On Sunday no less!) are friendly and Polite and they do know what they are doing but  I think I lucked out with a really unusual  and intermittent problem. I’m betting they replace the entire phone line cable…

10/20/2006 UPDATE: They replaced the line from my Telephone pole to the Central Office. Last night, it rained and I still have phone service. Life is good…

Music I’m listening to right Now:
Nothing at the moment.

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