Ain't My First Dodecahedron

They did the design contest at my work that they have had the last couple years again. I had an idea to make a water dish for the cat with a pump that would activate a water stream when the cat would approach. I picked up a drill motor driven pump (because the actual full on pumps are pretty spendy) with the idea of using an old drill with a bad chuck I have. A couple weeks before, I finally got to trying putting things together, and found out it doesn't have the juice to get the water flowing with that one. OK, time for plan B...

As is well documented here, I've made a couple dodecahedrons. Making them is fairly easy, relatively speaking. Since we're kind of working on making the basement into a nerd cave, and all the light fixtures have bare bulbs, I had the idea to make up an acrylic dodecahedron. It took some doing, but the results are pretty cool!!! I'm thinking of trying a light sand blast to see if I can give it a frosted effect, as well as adding the numbers to the faces to give it a real D-12 look.

So, how did the competition stack up this year??? Considerably less so than last year!!! There was one other entrant!!!

They made up a board with the company name made of various things we sell.

My company doesn't like us saying stuff about 'em, positive of negative, on social media sites, so I don't make mention of them, and thusly I don't have a full shot of the other project, just a few of the characters.

With only two entrants, I figured my odds were better than last year. I was a lock for first or second place, I thought!!! A minor minus, they're doing a bit of construction (you can compare last year's shots with this year and see the carnage in the background) so the break room they held it in doesn't get much traffic these days from our department.

The next week they congratulated me, I got first place!!! I went to see the HR girl who was running it for my prize. She had a bag of hair products, some $10 gift cards, a pair of passes to Knotts Berry Farm (which, unposted as of yet, we've been to twice this year!!!) and this: A signed Dodgers jersey!!! She didn't know who'd signed it, but I figured it was pretty cool, and possibly worth some money (not that I'm planning on selling it). Also, I could make up a display frame for it and put it up in the basement to possibly counteract some of the geek!!!

Just one thing left to do, figure out who's signature that is!!!

Though The Truth May Vary

A little more than a month back I was listening to the radio while driving into work, as is my custom. As is also my custom, I was hitting the buttons whenever a station would play commercials or be talking about something of no interest to me. I switch to a station just as some upbeat, poppy sounding tune comes on. It sounded a bit familiar, like some song I liked but I couldn't place it. Then the lyrics start in. At that point I realize I'm not familiar with the song, but I'm at once hooked. I hit the button that changes the display to the artist, then to the song title. "Little Talks", by Of Monsters and Men. I like that feature on that function on that radio. If I could find that radio again, I'd buy another. (Completely related sidenote, I bought my wife a radio for her car for Mother's day, made by the same manufacturer, Dual. It has no mechanical drives, but does have the audio input jack, USB port, and an SD card. Pretty cool!!!)

Later that day I looked up the lyrics. They don't seem exactly right. More on that later. Also looked up the video and watched it a few times. It doesn't really seem to go with the lyrics, but it's an epic video nonetheless.

In the next few days, I was thinking about the line from the chorus, "Though the truth may vary, This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore". What does it mean??? Hmm, well, they are from Iceland... and the video had quite a bit of imagery from the area, ice and snow and meteors and volcanoes. I got the image of a Viking funeral ship, so I drew one on the side of my cup!!! I think it came out as some of my best cup artwork, and my co-workers all seemed impressed, too. My firstborn said, "Nice shading!!!"

In the next few days, I added that particular line to the bottom.

I would ask co-workers if they'd heard of Of Monsters & Men or the song when they would inquire. Only one had. He displayed his pony tail and said, "It's the hair!!!" He said it was one of his son's favorites.
If you've not heard the song, it's something of a duet for the first couple of verses. I have transcribed what I think are the correct lyrics here, although there seem to be a couple of versions that sound a bit different. Here's what I came up with:

Hey! Hey! Hey!

I don't like walking around this old and empty house

So hold my hand, I'll walk with you my dear

The stairs creak I should sleep, it's keeping me awake

It's the house telling you to close your eyes

Some days I can't even trust myself

It's killing me to see you this way

'Cause though the truth may vary

This ship will carry

Our bodies safe to shore

Hey! Hey! Hey!

There's an old voice in my head that's holding me back

Well tell her that I miss our little talks

Soon it will be over, and buried with our past

We used to play outside when you were young

And full of life and full of love

Some days I feel like I'm wrong when I am right

Your mind is playing tricks on you my dear

'Cause though the truth may vary

This ship will carry

Our bodies safe to shore

Hey!

Don't listen to a word I say

Hey!

The screams all sound the same

Hey!

Though the truth may vary

This ship will carry

Our bodies safe to shore

You're gone, gone, gone away

I watched you disappear

All that's left is a ghost of you

Now we're torn, torn, torn apart

There's nothing we can do

Just let me go, we'll meet again soon

Now wait, wait, wait for me

Please hang around

I see you when I fall asleep

Hey!

Don't listen to a word I say

Hey!

The screams all sound the same

Hey!

Because though the truth may vary

This ship will carry

Our bodies safe to shore

Don't listen to a word I say

Hey!

The screams all sound the same

Hey!

Though the truth may vary

This ship will carry

Our bodies safe to shore

Though the truth may vary

This ship will carry

Our bodies safe to shore

Though the truth may vary

This ship will carry

Our bodies safe to shore

Final note: A couple weeks back, the toilet started leaking from the tank junction. It's an old, OLD toilet, and one of the sides where it has the mounting holes to hold the tank on (three of 'em on this particular model) the porcelain is broken away. I tried a new tank gasket, but it didn't work, so I just bought a whole new rig. It was only $84 with tax, which works out to $1 a pound!!! Of course, it's a ultra low water usage unit, and I was skeptical about it's ability, but thus far I've been quite pleased by it!!! That's it as the backdrop.

My Nerdy Shortcoming

On my last completely random post (of which I would like to make another post like soon, this is Aye's Random Ravings, after all), I posed the question, "What are the differences between being a geek and being a dork??? Is there a quiz that you can take to determine which one you exhibit more characteristics of???" This was precipitated by my oldest sister trying to label her boyfriend during our Christmas gathering. Well, I found a site called OK Cupid that has the quiz finally!!! Turns out that I'm not really any of the above, but I do tend heavily towards nerdiness. Here's how it broke down:

Joe Normal

47 % Nerd, 34% Geek, 39% Dork

For The Record:
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

You scored less than half in all three, earning you the title of: Joe Normal.

This is not to say that you don't have some Nerd, Geek or Dork inside of you--we all do, and you can see the percentages you have right above. This is just to say that none of those qualities stand out so much as to define you. Sure, you enjoy an episode of Star Trek now and again, and yeah, you kinda enjoyed a few classes back in the day. And, once in a while, you stumble while walking down the street even though there was nothing there to cause you to trip. But, for the most part, you look and act fairly typically, and aren't much of an outcast.

I'd say there's a fair chance someone asked you to take this test. In any event, fairly normal.