magic.rox

By now I have become somewhat of an expert on light fixture installation, but this one was a doozie.

When I removed the old light fixture, I discovered that it was just merely attached to the drywall and not a junction box.  This new fixture required one, so I went to Menard’s and purchased one.  When I went to install that, it became even more of a jungle.  There was the layer of drywall and underneath that a layer of 1/2″ OSB (Oriented Strand Board).  It had to be removed by means of a reciprocating saw.  Because of the vibration of the saw, more drywall than what I wanted fell off, leaving a not so pretty site where the fixture is mounted.

You can’t see it unless you’re right underneath it, but it’s going to drive me crazy until I fix it.

Our 34 year old attic fan has basically bit the dust.  The bearings have just went kaputz!

As I wrote previously, we are replacing it with a solar attic fan.  Rachel and I did some research, and decided to go with a Attic Breeze - Model AB-201A.

By far it’s largest draw is a lifetime warranty.  Most other models have between 5 to 10 year warranties on the working parts.

It is coming from Texas, and I’m expecting it’s arrival within a week or two.

I will post energy saving figures and installation pictures as soon as possible.

UPDATE:  To see aerial photos of the flooding, point your web browser here.

Due to the volatile weather this week, most of southern Indiana is flooded.  Parts of Morgan, Owen, Brown and Bartholomew counties are being evacuated.  10 counties have been declared disaster areas, including Monroe.

The sad thing is that it’s only going to get worse before it gets any better.  I have seen reports on TV that these are century level floods.  After the water is gone, we will still have to repair the roads and so on and so forth.  Many roads and bridges have became impassable or even demolished due to the water.

Here is what Morgan county looks like:

Here is some of Spencer (Owen County’s) Flooding:

Here is what Bloomington looked like a few days ago:

For the most part, Monroe county is alright now.  All of this flooding has created a major problem though, as it has washed away roads, and in some cases bridges.

Here is a picture of a bridge on Highway 46 between Spencer and Bowling Green:

It has been very hot and humid, which only causes trouble in the mid-west.  It’s been beautiful during the day, but we have been paying for it with these consequences at night.

I have never seen flooding this bad in Indiana in my whole life.

After almost 2 years in our home, we have things on the walls.

We have, at my request, an art area.

We have family pictures abound.

And we have a nic-nac corner.

Now if we could finish the rest of the house and yard…

Since taking my mower to the shop to have it repaired, I have not been able to mow the lawn.

When I first mowed the lawn, I only mowed the front yard.  On top of that, I fertilized it as well.  Now the problem is that everyone is starting to mow their lawns on a regular basis.

I’m not as concerned with the back yard, as not many people see it, and it’s still a mess.  I’m hoping to at least get the hole from where our pool was filled in this year.  I have finally found someone selling dirt, it’s not that cheap at $25 a yard but they do offer delivery. 

I might have to wait until next year on re-grading of the back yard.  If anyone near me (Bloomington, IN) has a small tractor with a bucket and/or a yardbox reads this, leave a comment.  I need the use of you or your tractor, and I’m willing to pay for it.

It’s not a big job, but it’s a job that can’t really be done by hand.

Our home has undergone some major changes since we purchased it in 2006.  I just thought I would hi-light those with some pictures, a little before and after.  There was a lot of work to do because of that awful wallpaper.

Before:

After: 

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

When we bought our home there was a big argument regarding how we would care for the yard.  At .47 acres, it’s not small, but not large.  I wanted a riding mower, but Rachel wanted to push mow the lawn.

At the same time we were having this argument, mainly regarding cost, a co-worker of mine told me about a used John Deere riding mower she saw for sale a few miles down the road.  During my lunch I drove down and took a look at this mower, and fell in love with it.  The only mystery was the cost.

To make a long story short we bought that mower, and I still own it to this day.  It’s a John Deere STX38, and about as old as I am.  I believe it’s an early to mid 80’s model.

It’s much different than many riding mowers available today, even other John Deere models.  Many of the safety features are not there and the biggest difference is the lack of engine power.  This mower only has a 12.5 hp engine.  Many might be in disbelief, because the lowest hp ratings I’ve seen in a few years is 17, but you have to remember that this is around 25 years old.

Last weekend, with the help of my daughter, I performed the yearly maintenance on the mower.  This includes changing the oil and oil filter, replacing the spark plug and fuel filter and the air filters.  It’s a pretty straight foward process.

I noticed that the mower wasn’t it’s normal self and was very sluggish.  I thought I would just see if it got worse before taking action, and it got worse.

I believe it needs it’s carburetor rebuilt or cleaned or something else, as the smell of gas eminanates from it while running.  I took it to John Deere yesterday.

They told me that they were 3 days out and they would call me with an estimate on repairs.  I’m not too worried, I’d rather spend a little money to repair this one than spend almost 2k to get a model similar to it.

UPDATE:  John Deere called on Monday and said the “throttle arm” was broken and that it needed a new carb.  They said it’s going to run about $200 to repair it.  I think money well spent.   I also found out with some hard research, that this model was made from 1988 - 1997.  They even made a “racing” model.  The first few years had a yellow deck, so this mower is around 20 years old.

Rachel and I weren’t ourselves this weekend, we were productive!

Saturday, Taylor came over for a while and we had fun.  She was up with her mom, I think they’re trying to unpack their new home in Owensburg before they actually move up here.  As my big helper, she helped me with the yearly maintenance of my riding mower.  After Taylor left, dad and I loaded all of the concrete remnants I had removed from the ground into my truck.  I then took it off later that night.  I don’t think my truck has ever had that much weight in it, as it was lower in the rear than the front.

Sunday, Rachel and I re-arranged the garage.  It’s more organized now, and I must say easier to get things in and out of.  We got rid of a lot of trash we didn’t even realize we had, for that I took off another load of garbage.

While I finished painting our dining room area, Rachel worked on her final paper for her Master’s Degree.  There is still a little bit of touching up to do, but it looks fantastic!

Sorry about the picture quality, my lens needed cleaned!

We capped off the weekend by watching the last of the Star Wars Saga, Return of the Jedi.  I can’t believe how much of a Stars Wars freak my wife is.  I enjoy it, but she really gets into it!

My truck surpassed an automotive milestone on the way back from Muncie last Saturday night, the odometer turned over 100,000 miles.  Yes, I took this picture while driving.  Illegal perhaps, but it only happens once.

For some strange reason, I am taking pride in it.  This is the first vehicle I have purchased, and not wrecked beyond repair.  I did not buy it new, but this truck is me.  I plan on keeping it until the wheels fall off.  It’s paid for, why spend more money?

For those of you who don’t know the specifics, my truck is a 1997 Chevrolet S-10 Extended Cab 4X4 with a 4.3L V6.  I have tried to make it as fuel effecient as possible, and it does get better gas mileage (17/25) than the norm, 15/19.

We have taken it to Oklahoma, The Great Smoky Mountains, Niagara Falls and driven through Canada.  It’s been reliable and more importantly, comfortable for trips.

With the price of fuel these days, it’s becoming more and more expensive to feed it’s hunger.  When I filled her up last Saturday night it cost $42, for 12 and some odd gallons.  That’s only 3/4 of a tank!

So for the meantime, this truck is mainly driven when needed, or to lubricate the engine parts.  Rachels’ Kia is much more eco-friendly.  Yesterday the price of gas jumped 22 cents a gallon!  It went from $3.24 to $3.46, ouch!

Last Saturday my father and I travelled up to Muncie to see an old friend.  I hadn’t seen him in 12 years.  I’ve speratically chatted with him on myspace and yahoo messenger for about a year now, but didn’t have a chance to see him.

It was a short, but excellent meeting.  We chatted for a while, he is really good with model cars - something I never had the patience for.  We then went to Ruby Tuesday’s to get some grub, it was the worst service I’ve ever had.

Hopefully this can become a more than once a decade meeting.  I’ve missed you Justice.

Taylor has spring break this week.  She stayed last weekend with us, and is staying the evenings with us thru tonight.

Over the weekend we celebrated Easter with my wifes’ family bright and early on Saturday, and on Sunday with my family.  It was honest to goodness pure family fun.

We’ve missed Taylor tremendously, and hopefully sooner than later she’ll be up here permanently.  This weekend her mom and step-dad moved the majority of their belongings up here to their new home.  It’s about 30 minutes away, but that’s better than 4 hours.

We have been very busy, but having loads of fun.  Taylor got 2 new video games for the PS2 from aunties Brenda & Michele.  She got Petz Cats 2 and Madagascar.  The Cats game is more like a “beginner RPG game.”  I don’t like it much, but she does.  I do enjoy the Madagascar game though, as it is like the movie.  The best part is you get to “be” all the main characters, unlike most video games.  Taylor plays until it gets too hard, and then daddy takes over.

Taylors nighties were getting a little tight, so we got out my vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles PJ’s.  I wore these in the late 80’s and they’re still rockin’ in 08!  It kind of reminds me of this picture.  Taylor’s only complaint?  “These feel like boys clothes!”  That’s cause they are!

I’m gonna miss her when she goes back to Tennessee, hopefully for the last time.

This building is government subsidized housing for elderly people.  It’s located in Decatur, Alabama.

You honestly can’t really tell from the ground.  But pictures are worth a 1,000 words in this case.  Prompted by complaints from a jewish activist and a US Senator, more money is going to be placed in this building to try to disguise the shape.

According to a researcher, the swastika shape pays homage to the German scientists who came to nearby Huntsville after World War II and designed the rockets that put Americans on the moon.

Today we delivered everything back to the Kelley School of Business MBA program.  I must say, I am quite astonished that I was able to complete this mega-transfer in a mere 14 days.

Total time spent on each tape was about 50 minutes on average.  Multiply that by 79 tapes, and that’s almost 66 hours of work.  I actually put my computer to “bed” so it could cool down, as it was working non stop.

Let me go over some of the interesting things about this particular job.

Tapes:  DVCAM and BetaCam SP.  Professional quality videotape, that is just the same as their commercial counterparts (Mini-DV and Betamax) just larger.

Equipment:  Professional grade comes at a professional price.  I had to rent one player, but it was much more economically feasible to actually purchase the other.  While the one I purchased isn’t a ferrari, it gets the job done.  Thanks to my wife Rachel for finding this new one for the same price as very used ones.

Technical Difficulties:  Originally they wanted all of the tapes to be transferred to DVDs, after some testing I found out this was not going to be possible.  So then we tried to see if I could upload them to IU’s MDSS (Massive Data Storage Service).  That was highly unlikely as my upload speed is 384k max, the estimated time to upload 1 was over 36 hours.  So we decided on an external hard drive.  I found this awesome one on newegg.  At 1 TB (Terabyte) it had plenty of space, it also has 3 different connection types, USB, Firewire A and Firewire B.  External isn’t really my thing, but this thing rocks!

Kristi and Ashly were blown away by the speed of this, and I hope that they are equally impressed by my professionalism and price.  Now that I am in the Indiana University network for independent contractors, it will be much easier for me to do other work for the university.  I just hope that my hard work will pay off and other professional work such as this will come my way.

I have attempted to quit smoking many times.  I have used the patch, gum and lozenges.

This time I’m taking a more pharmaceutical try.  Last Tuesday, I had an appointment with my physician who I hadn’t seen in almost 10 years.  He prescribed Chantix, an interesting drug.

This drug works in a very interesting manner, and there are other drugs which work the same way, just on different drugs.

It works by blocking and eventually killing the receptors in the brain that crave and cause a person to desire nicotine.  I worked on a similar drug at Baxter that did the same thing regarding alcohol.  There is another one I know of that works with morphine.

I’m still smoking, my official quit date is Monday.  Chantix is taken for a week while you smoke, to build up the drugs level in your system.

I deeply hope I’m able to drop this habit.  My health isn’t as good as it should be, at $4 to $5 a pack, it’s not a cheap habit.  We guesstimate that it’s costing between $1000 and $1500 a year.

Wish me luck!

My business has just received two new jobs which are uncharted territory to me.  I have never done anything like this before, to some point it’s frightening.  It’s also something new that I can add to my list of products and services offered.

My aunt Laura, whom I’ve been emailing with quite frequently lately had a request for me.  As her nephew, I was more than honored to do it for her, even at no cost.  When she offered to pay me, it just made things better.  She has 13, 8 track cassettes she wants transferred to CD.  Why you say?  They must have some sentimental value to her, which I understand completely.  I miss that tape of ABC (Another Bad Creation) that I had when I was 10 or so.

The first step was acquiring equipment to handle the task.  I searched on eBay and contacted other family members to see if they had working 8 track players.  eBay can be a scary place if you’re not 100% sure on what you need.  I found a standalone player for sale by the original owner.  That’s always been the most reliable source of items in my case.  There are many re-sellers that don’t know the history behind a item, which is good to know when that item is 30+ years old.

It’s a Realistic brand (sold by Radio-Shack) in very nice condition.  I have no tapes to actually test it, but if physical condition shows anything, it’s pristine.

The tapes should be on their way from Oklahoma soon, after I finish a job which has a precise timeline, I will start on those.  I’ll write an update on completion.

The second job, I highly regard.  I have been trying to become an independent contractor for Indiana University for a while.  I put a bid in at the Kelley School of Business MBA Program a year ago.  I was asked again for a bid last week.

This project originally was to transfer 160 VHS tapes to AVI format to be then put onto DVD’s.  It was then discovered that the tapes were actually DVCAM and BetaCam SP tapes.

I immediately thought that I had lost this chance due to the high cost associated with the equipment.  DVCAM and BetaCam SP are professional grade formats, which come with a professional price.  For the price of 2 players, you can purchase a nice car.  I looked into renting, but that was almost as bad.  $75 per day for DVCAM and $250 per day for BetaCam SP.

I was reassured by the person requesting the bid that I didn’t have to put in a bid since the scope of the project had changed, but I didn’t want to tuck my tail between my legs and run.  So I calculated the prices of renting the equipment for the time I would need it and other associated costs and sent my bid.

I was in shock and awe when 2 days later she said she wanted to proceed with my bid.  I’ve finally succeeded with getting my foot in the door, but will I perform when my business and reputation are on the line?

I’ve been working on a few technical issues regarding this.  I found and purchased a brand new BetaCam SP Player for $500 today on eBay.  The MSRP on this model is $6200!  Far cheaper than renting one, I just hope I didn’t get duped.  One unknown is how long each one of these tapes are, and they want them in AVI format.  I’ve been working with some test files to see the best way to make ‘em fit onto 4.7 GB DVDs.  It’s been unsuccessful to say the least.  It seems the more I try, the larger the file size gets.  I’ve been working in a range of 10 gigs to 60 gigs, for the same file!

I’ve decided to use a test file (ROX #41) and render in different formats and codecs.  I’m going to furnish this list of information and let them decide exactly what they want.  I don’t use AVI that much, and I believe it’s highly inferior to QuickTime format.  Hopefully I can get them to come around.

In the end, I hope to deliver what my new client wants and more.  I hope this can build a reputation for me, and in the end, expand more.

Progress on projects I have undertaken has come very slow.

Here is a list of things I am currently working or trying to work on:
1. Redesign my website.
2. Redesign all electronic menus for DVDs and packaging for my products.
3. Look for permanent position with ANY company.
4. House fixes and updates.
5. Work with Kelley School of Business on plan to strategically market my business services to other local businesses.
6. Always workin’ on ROX

I do have to say that I have made some progress on the house.  A couple of weeks ago I had a day off and started a surprise for my wife.  She doesn’t like it when I do things that she has no knowledge of.  I painted our hallway.

The color doesn’t come out well in these pictures, but it’s called “Grand Stand Tan.”  It dried a lot darker than we expected, but we still like it.  I was very surprised when I went to purchase the paint, it was on sale!  So after Rachel was surprised, we bought a few more gallons to have enough to finish our living room and entry.

I also must say that all the hard work I put into the hallway definitely paid off.  Our “red” wall has a lot of character due to the texture in the wall.  That texture is there because I didn’t work on it like I did the hallway.  Besides a paint streak here and there, it’s smooth as a baby’s butt.

I have slowed way down on the redesign of my website. All the content is there, I just haven’t found a good way to add PayPal buttons on a Joomla site yet.

The redesign of my menus and packaging are going good, too good to be exact!  I have been working with my logo and have a “translucent design” working right now.  My only problem right now is that it doesn’t look good at smaller sizes.

My work situation is a weird one.  Yes I have a job, and I’m thankful for that.  But I am not a full time employee with IU, I’m an hourly employee.  I do not get paid for holidays, or time off.  Also my position is mostly an “academic-year” position.  Meaning when schools out, I’m out.  I have been applying for positions that seem to suit me, only when they come around.  I’ve had a couple of interviews, but nothing has panned out thus far.  I was really excited about a position I interviewed for last week, but as each day passes I wonder.  I don’t think this economy helps either.  I know it’s sick, but it’s times like these that I really miss my job at Baxter.

I am trying to focus on direct business sales this year.  I think if I start a working relationship with other businesses in this area, it will help my business become more successful and profitable.  I’m no marketing major, so my wife has used some of her contacts in the Kelley School of Business (where she used to work).  I have been in contact with the deans’ wife.  She teaches marketing, and is trying to help.  The only problem is communication right now.  I work when she’s in her office, and I can’t really talk on the phone.  Right now I’m not even near a computer either.  I hope this pans out, with the right plan I could make LML Video Services something bigger this year.

I’m still transferring what I have of ROX onto DVDs for storage.  Some episodes will have to be, dare I say it, repaired.  They just have too much heat damage.  I’m waiting to finish a job for a aunt to get some money.  Once that is done, B will have about 50 odd DVD’s for homework.

Plus we discovered a clog in our sewer line.  Everytime our washer drans, water comes out from under our toilet in a hurry.  My ex-contractor neighbor Bill is going to help me try to fix this problem Saturday.  I got his Wi-Fi going, he’s returning the favor.  He has some specialty tools to help.  I hope we can get this clog gone.

I have finally got my hands on a basketball goal as well.  We have a “post” that appears to be designed to have a basketball goal on it.  I have wanted one for a long time.  The prices for a bracket to attach to the post and a goal add up to a cool $100.  I have been offered one on freecycle for free.  There’s only one kicker, I have to dig this one out.  That’s my plan for Sunday - pray for me.  The strange thing?  I have never been good or even really liked basketball.  I just want the goal!

That’s all I’ve got for right now.  I’d like to write more often, but it’s hard when you have things such as this on your hands day in and day out.

I received an interesting e-mail on Wednesday.  The e-mail, from a family researcher, has been doing a lot of reading on this and my wifes’ blogs.  The subject line read this:  Lawmaster Family History — The SECOND Strangest email You’ve Even Received

What his message was telling me, changes everything I have grown to learn about the origins of my family name.  Kinda scary!

My father has always told me that my family name, Lawmaster, derived from a swedish name, “La-meis-ta.”  He has always said that when the individual with that name immigrated to the US, he married a native american woman and it wasn’t socially acceptable at that time.  They decided to “americanize” the name to Lawmaster.

This guy has a completely different theory, and I must say it is more believable than the story my father has told me all these years.

From the documentation he has shown, and what he has said the name started in this country with Wendel Laumeister who was a 1750 immigrant to York, PA.  He was German (is that why I married a crazy Dubois county German?).  It was then changed to Lowmaster.

I am merely assuming here, but I think due to the ways of record keeping at the time, Lowmaster was easily changed by accident to Lawmaster.  Everyone writes differently, and have you ever wrote with a quill?  It’s not the easiest thing in the world.  Believe me, I know.

It is nice to connect with someone who has a broad sprectum of knowledge regarding family history issues.  I have given him names, and he’s came back with dates that I was unsure of.  Hopefully this will be a long lasting relationship.

One piece of information he gave just blew me away.  He said that a common ancestor of ours is recognized by the SAR and DAR as a Revolutionary War Patriot!  Whoa!  I don’t know of any family members being in a war besides my grandfather, who played a major role during World War II, in the pacific theatre.  He was a part of the crew who installed all of the passive radar systems in the fleet.  From what he told me back in 1996, he was on shore leave in Washington, DC when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened.  That is also where he met my grandmother, she was working at the Pentagon.  He was immediately ordered to New York City to install systems on the Atlantic Fleet.

I am now trying to get correct and accurate data about my whole family.  This is not that easy because my uncle lives in Michigan, his kids are in Florida and Arizona.  I have 3 aunts in Oklahoma, 2 of them don’t speak to the other.  My grandfather died in 2000, taking many things with him.  He was a great man, and I miss him dearly.  My grandmother is a wealth of information though, but much time has passed and it is hard to remember things from 60 years ago.

I’m still waiting on some information from my aunts in Oklahoma.  I might call them today, but I don’t know if that would offend one of them due to religious beliefs.

I have made some strides in this new website development.  However, there are some things that I still have problems figuring out.

I have figured out this Joomla CMS tool that I am now using, but I need a graphic designer to remove some “white space” from my tattoo picture.  I would also like a version of it that is white, and one that is inverted from its current colors.