The Crater, The Drive, The Rest....

It's been a week since the Crater in Oregon, 20 hours of driving, the remainder of last week, and will finding an apartment. Oh, and i built my new bike. NER.



Maybe i'll throw/fire some stuff this week?

-LB

What a week.

Well, it was Anniversary/Birthday week here at the homestead. 6th year, and it's been great, and i think it will only get better. For her birthday, i got gen the bike of the century, now named "stuart", boy it rides like a dream:



Really, really sweet bike, i think it has motivated me to get a cruiser this winter.

Wednesday, i had an interview for the USDA, we will see how it turns out, should know next week.

NOW, I'm at PDX, Portland, and waiting for my flight to Redmon, OR. I'm helping will move to Denver, so we are going to hang tomorrow, pack, and leave on Tuesday morn. Pics to follow if the internet allows me...

-LB

Cauliflower

Meh.

got some pots almost ready to go, etc.

I'm still waiting on my upgrade at work, it's turned into this game, and it's been pissing me off from inception. I've hashed it out so many times, i don't care to anymore. I think this is the end though, if i can't get a $$ upgrade, I'm on my way out, even if i do get it, I'll have to go in a few years, but at least i would know they are loyal (like me).

So for 6 years i have been passing by this god-forsaken dog track in Peoria (Deer Trail) that has been abandoned, i finally stopped to take pictures. I guess they are converting into a auto race track, but i can't find any history on it over the interwebmachine. Drives me crazy, i suppose my dog and i could go out there and race each other, i would win of course:



Wickid sweet!

My old Army buddy from 8 million years ago is moving to the Denver "area", not sure how that's going to go. I guess it won't be terribly different from the last 10 years, since he will be about 30 miles away, and working at least 50 hours a week, he won't suffocate us. Gen got him the "Job", and a sweet one it is, so he OWES. She says she does not want anything, but that's crap, you have to take something! I'm thinking he has to kick down for Tile in the kitchen (installed by him), or jewelery for the MISSUS.

Almost meeting time. gotta go.

-LB

Small Firing

Completed my smallest firing this morning, and i think i had a Eureka moment, i think i need to do like 6 or less piece firings. These ones turned out well, the heat was perfect, and the glaze melted exactly the way i wanted. Maybe from now on i'll do only 4 piece glazes. Also, the brown clay really made the colors work better, it made Red's darker, and brown's look better... This pic is not great, but it show's alright.






-LB

Blowded up

Well, my Sunday firing turned out pretty bad. Only 3 out of 8 pieces made it, not sure why. Maybe i fired it too quick? Maybe this clay holds air bubbles? Anyhoo, the 3 that made it are nice pieces, I'll just have to Cherish them!

Yarg.

-LB

My 500th

Well, yesterday and the rest of the month are my Birthday. It was an excellent day, no drinking or crazyness, but some really good times.

Went to the Gym, Had breakfast out, went on a 9 mile Bike ride at Hall Ranch (busted my butt and got a flat, but great ride..) Saw the Movie UP with the 1st Lady (review here), and finished it off with a 900cal slice of choco cake, and a fine meal. Some cool gifts, music, needed clothing, camping stuff, and gift cards that are required to LIVE.

I have about 9 new pots that are ready for firing, mostly taller stuff i have been working on, so i think it's high time to fire them this weekend, and see what explodes...

-LB

You've seen it.

You've seen this, some broad applying eyeliner while driving, swerving around, random braking?

I'm not sure if it's illegal, but it should be, i watched her almost kill someone, and not even notice.

What gives? cars are TRANSPORTATION, not our personal Kitchen/bathroom/office/phone booth!

Maybe i should just run them off the road.



-LB

New Clay

First week with the New Brown/red Clay. Sweet stuff, it's smooth, centers well, and goes "Up". I have 3 pieces thus far, and I'm very pleased, much better than my white willow grog clay. The white is great for decorating, but the shapes and mold ability suck, so I'm rolling with the brown for now. I still need to make it out to my dad's to do a pit firing, soon.

Have to build up, or just give over a Desktop PC to one of Gen's friends, first computer project in a while, but it should be cool, I'll replace it with another i have.

-LB

Lakers win 99-86 Finals over.

Well, this is the 9th NBA Title i have witnessed for the Los Angles Lakers in my Lifetime. The first one i saw was when Magic Johnson was a skinny young guy, playing with Kareem, and this one is with Kobe. Will there be another? Dunno, but it sure is sweet to see it again. It helped that i was seriously following it this year..

-LB

The End?

Over the weekend we had 5 small twisters land in the area, and tear up an upscale mall east of Denver.

Here it hailed furiously for 5 mins. Tonight it freaked out, and hailed for about 20 mins, probably about quarter size. It looked like snow there was so much... what the heck is going on?

Larky

Bla Bla Bla. I appear to be in a constant state of tired this morning.. I manage to not throw 1 thing over the weekend (but accomplish other things).

I'm at work at the moment, and i just finished doing research on some old email, it took 12 hours total, and could have been taken down to 1 hour if management would pay for some software, but we are in tough times, so why not use slave labor?

Watched a couple of movies over the weekend.

Max Payne = Suck

-This is the worst, or second worst movie i have ever seen, absolutely no point, thank god i only rented it!

Wanted = Not bad

-This movie was pretty good, it had the attitude and humor of Fight Club, some simply ridiculous stunts that could never happen, and an enormous disregard for human life, so i think i would like to own this movie. Human life is soooo overrated.

Maybe I'll throw something tonight..

-LB

Back

Well, the traverse across the country ended for me late Sunday. Gen is still there, enjoying the weather, and some time off.

Gave away some Vessels (yes Vessels, since i don't use my pots for anything!), saw a really neat art/working/exhibit in downtown Paso Robles, really cool stuff. It motivated me to work more on my pottery. I have not yet, but i need to stop by the Ceramics place tomorrow, and get some more clay, and maybe more glaze that i like. I'm also planning on doing a Pit firing very soon, if the weather permits, maybe even this weekend.

It's been a stressful week at work already, an Audit team is here, and seemingly everything is broken.. The Auditors leave today, and take their bad attitudes with them.

Bleh

-LB

Meh

latest firing came out, before it, i blew up my largest piece, it was just not quite dry yet, so oh well. some turned out pretty well, some better. I really miss high fire!

potted plant pot?

working on a pot for plants for my MIL, its going well thus far, very heavy, but smooth, ill put a design on it later tonight, burnished it...



-LB

The rest..

Here's the rest of the previous story. So it turns out that my car did not need just an alignment! I took it to the Honda dealer, and there was a service bulletin recall (ones they don't tell you about), apparently my rear suspension arms were causing the tires to eat themselves.

Fine and dandy right? Wrong, after letting me know that the warranty covers the repairs, i was told that i needed to pay for 50% of the tires ($170). My response to this was less than what they were expecting. I called the Honda America Office, the Dealer, and continued to bitch them out. 4 hours later, they replaced the tires for free. So now my car is like new, with the exception of some bumps and bruises from the robbery.

Firing this weekend, pictures to follow. At least 1 Bisque, and 1 Glaze. I also need to create a large pot for a plant, as the Beast requests...

-LB

Just another day.

Well, this week started quite badly.

Monday, Car broken into, Wallet stolen. I'm mildly retarded and left my wallet in the car when we went to the gym. The windshield and the side passenger window were smashed, and my wallet was taken. Dashboard was tore up a bit, and glass all over. SSC, DL, CC's, and a tiny little cash were taken.

All told, it turned out ok. Insurance paid out enough to fix the windows, and all the interior crap, but i'm going to pass on most of that stuff, and just let GEM have the rest to pay for School Tuition.

The even better news is, apparently my rear struts have gone bad at 17500 miles, i believe it to be a warranty issue, but we shall find out tomorrow.

Maybe i'll even do my massive firing this weekend, i have a little xtra $$$, so i can get some gas and blow the lid. Pics will follow i Imagine.

-LB

Oh Barf

Tuesday:

Put together a drafting table for the Missus last night. $77 at Hobby lobby with 40% off, looks decent, works better.

I'm working on glazing and doing some designs on my 10 pieces that i need to fire, and the other 5 that are ready for the final glaze firing. Bottom line is that i need some propane. probably 2 tanks to finish all of this stuff.

I set back and went slower on my latest sgraffito, and it looks better, i think that's the ticket, take her slow, more precise work will look better.

Is it spring yet?

-LB

Ball-Zach

Monday Monday. I need to try some new stuff on the wheel, what i've got now is all the same, Jars as far as the eye can see. I like them, but i need to branch out. Maybe a Jar with a Handle!

It's finally spring here, so the bike must come out, and now.

-Word

Pretty Simple really

ip route 10.2.11.5 255.255.255.255 10.27.253.233
ip route 10.2.11.6 255.255.255.255 10.27.253.233
ip route 10.2.11.8 255.255.255.255 10.27.253.233

Duh.

Damn Pranksters!

I would like to drop one of these on our AC controls in the office. It seems a bit extreme for a fire alarm though, the terms "smoke inhalation", "burned to death", and "chewed her own arm off" come to mind!

-lb