Done The Impossible

It's been a while since I've done a completed bar code sculpture. Not for the reason that I haven't been doing anything in this vein, but because I'd undertaken what so far has been my most ambitious undertaking!!!

Another of those things where I wondered to myself if it could actually be done. I set out to make a spaceship (what I primarily told my co-workers when they'd ask what I was making this time).

More specifically, I set out to make a mid-bulk transport ship, classcode 03-K64 Firefly!!! Being as it was done almost entirely from memory, I think it came out pretty good!!!

I made it all in parts to be assembled at the completion. The part I started with was the main engine. I tried three times before I came up with a satisfactory result. The first two came out as cones instead of bulbous. Next I made the side engines, then cargo hold (in flat form, to be folded up at the end).

Next I did the front deck and finally the main deck. The final day, yesterday, I peeled the labels & stuck them down to wax paper to bring the whole rig home for assembly!!! It was coming out way too big to store in my locker. One of the failed main engine cones found a new home in the cargo hold, keeping the top from caving in!!!

I like the way the walls go out. Gives you an open feeling. Firefly’s a good design. People don’t appreciate the substance of things. Objects in space. People miss out on what’s solid.

They're having the design contest at my work again this year. I was considering seeing if I could put this and the dodecahedron in as non-judged entries, just to show them off!!! If I do, my son was saying I should get a couple dinosaurs to put in the cargo hold!!!

You Can't Take The Sky From Me

Another "Looking Back" post I could do at any time would be from Christmas last year. This won't be that, but in passing I'll mention that I did get a new Ipod touch 5th generation, case for the same, and the DVD set of Firefly. If you're not familiar with Firefly... I dare say you haven't spent near enough time on the interwebs. I've heard of it for years, but other than knowing that it was a short lived sci-fi series that was supposedly THE BEST SHOW EVAR and having seen some pictures of Serenity, (and knowing that it spawned the big screen release "Serenity") knew not much about it. Had my wife wrap it up, and write the tag "To: Daddy & the rest of the House Nerds". Going in cold, I have to say, it truly lives up to the hype!!! I've been taking my time, and am only up to the 6th episode because I'm trying to make it last. I have since picked up "Serenity", too, so I've got that to look forward to. Don't get me wrong, I really like my new Ipod, but I LOVE Firefly!!!

So, if you follow this blog, you know I often put something on my water cup, then use the same cup for a week or so. The last one I did, I put the second part of the line from the episode "Safe" that goes, "Today we were kidnapped by hill folk, never to be seen again. It was the best day ever!!!" Most everyone who saw it was greatly amused.

At the end of last week, I put this design on my cup, from the pilot episode. This has also gotten positive reviews. A few weeks back I came across the pair of toy dinosaurs pictured that have built in voice boxes that recite this dialogue. "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!!!"

In other amusements, I took the most famous Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff comic and modified it a bit & put in on a T-shirt. I took the last two frames off, took a square from the left bottom and repeated it in a stripe on the bottom, and put the last line of text under it, as well as modifying the text in the first two panels to be more work friendly (AND work related!!!) It's a pretty lame comic, but most everyone who reads it laughs like crazy!!! My older boy got a white shirt with red sleeves that he plans to add Dave Strider's broken record logo to. If you're keeping count, that will make six Homestuck themed shirts in our house!!!

The Deadly Dinosaur

I haven't been very good about blogging recently. Yesterday my parents came up for Easter festivities (normally they would have it at their house, but the rainy season revealed leaks in their roof. They're front room is going to be getting a new ceiling and paint, so all the front room was going to be in the garage... but turns out it isn't yet) and I've got a camera full of some pictures from that. I bought myself a laptop at the end of last year, I think I've made mention of it here, but it could do with an in-depth post. Janice, I finally got running last week, but now begs a question: is it better to have a car that won't start, or one that won't turn off??? Always something. For the first time I used some software to do my taxes online. For the first time, I had my taxes rejected.

THEN, last night I went to the Once Upon A Win website, and here THIS is!!! Another idea I'd had for a series of posts!!! All the cars I've owned....

While this wasn't the first car I ever owned (that honor goes to Mav I), but was the first car I ever purchased. Mine was nowhere near as cherry as this fine specimen, it was missing the grille, and one of the front fenders and the bumper were bent up some. It was a rusty copper color, sprayed over the original quirky AMC purple color. I would have rather had the purple. It had no radio, and the ignition was popped out of it when I bought it. The previous owner won it in a bet. He had bet the other owner that he could get it running cheaply and easily. He did this by putting a toggle switch and push button in place of the ignition switch. I paid $160 for it, if I remember correctly. The 258" six cylinder engine ran rough, having a dead cylinder due to a burnt valve, but other than that it was fine!!!

Shortly after purchasing it, I gutted most of the interior. Carpet, back seat, dash and instrument panel, heater and air conditioner (hell, neither of those worked anyway!!!) all got yanked out and tossed. The front seats stayed, they were out of some other AMC, probably a Hornet and were in great condition, even if they matched nothing else in the car. Also, they folded into what is likely the closest to a bed of just about any car ever!!! I had heard Ramblers and later AMC's were renowned for that feature. Probably around 300 pounds or more of not so pretty fat was quickly removed. Something car makers today could learn from, just losing considerable weight does wonders for performance, handling and mileage!!!

I put in a slick little instrument panel from a Toyota pickup, bought a straight front bumper and pair of front fenders (I don't remember what was wrong with the other side's fender, but I do remember buying two of them... wouldn't have done that for no reason... both replacements were the original purple that mine had started as!!!) and held the pertinent paperwork to the firewall with a magnet!!! On one of the back pillars, I hand painted "The Deadly Dinosaur". Rebuilding the carburetor was the only thing required to get it to pass smog, amazingly, what with the dead cylinder.

I bought this car before I was married. Not long after getting married, my wife's Mustang died from lack of oil. She drove this for a few months while we saved up for another car. While driving home, she got her first speeding ticket doing 80 MPH on the freeway. She also had her first accident, some fool running a red light that she had been in the middle of an intersection to finish her left turn. Put a flat spot on one of the new fender replacements, and completely caved in the side of the little Toyota she'd hit. Probably would have gotten their car fixed up by our insurance, but then they started lying about three extra passengers in the car needing medical assistance (there was just one person in the car, the owner's brother) and I think our insurance company told 'em to pound sand or they'd file insurance fraud against them!!! Good times!!! One night, someone hit and run clipped Dinosaur while she was parked by the corner near our apartment. Made a tiny little dent in the rear bumper and knocked the back end over about a foot, but tore off a big piece of side trim and all kinds of dirt from the underside of the other car. I would have liked to gotten a look at the other guy!!!

After we got another car, my sister wrecked hers, and we loaned this to her. Her dipshit boyfriend managed to destroy the lifetime starter I'd put in it and kill the battery, and I had no place to store it. Ended up junking her, for $100 if I remember correctly. Seems like everyone has some car from their past that they wish they still had, and this is one that's on my list. She was never pretty, but FUN!!! A curb-jumper built like a tank, amazingly good mileage, easy to work on (I think I was able to do an oil change from the top of the engine, without even having to jack her up to fit a drain pan under) and a theft deterrent in itself!!!

*Edited in February 2019, RIP Once Upon a Win, link removed, pictures updated. SOMEWHERE I've got actual photos, but the first image is close to how it could have looked at one point, the second is close to how it looked when I got it. Never had a grille. Also, the rear window when I got it had no latch and just kinda flopped back there. I ran a screw and big washer through it and semi-permanently closed it!!!