Dec 12, 2005

Narnia : "A little hard to believe"

I saw The Chronichles of Narnia last night. After the movie I asked my buddy what he thought. He replied it was a little hard to beleive those kids could go do battle and stuff with no training. I was kinda taken aback. He was right- but missing the underlying theme I thought. I wonder how many others don't know C.S. Lewis intentions for putting the story of Christ's redemption of humans through His sacrifice into a fantasy world as a giant metaphor.

I had re-read the Lion, the witch and the wardrobe in my 20's after I had found out about the premise again. After telling my buddy he was blown away... he had no idea. I wonder how many others have no idea about it.

It is too bad that even knowing the author's intentions, it will
still be hard for some people to Believe.

Dec 10, 2005

The Mighty Little Clamp

I am out cleaning the garage tonight from a good sized deck project. I milled lumber for this custom designed handrail so there are tons of scraps and sawdust inside the garage from the table and chop saw . It is December in Oregon and my tools dont get to spend too much time in weather like this... I need them to last a lifetime and they probably will with the way Delta and Jet build their stuff. I want them to be safe machines that look well used, but solid, when I pass them on to my grandchildren- after I am long dead of course.
I was building a little shelf out of scrap 1x that would hold a 2' L-square under the 10'x2' rolling chopsaw bench. What I need to find is this one little, lightweight, red and black plastic clamp. It was very good quality for plastic- plenty of grip for it's purpose and the handle turned through polished aluminum threads. My wife's Uncle John gave it to me for Christmas a few years back with a gift card to Home Depot. It's the "draw names" sort of deal. This little clamp is probably one of the coolest little gifts I have ever been given. It's the kind of gift that doesn't impose in size- just in case you don't have a workshop. Yet is something so very useful even if you live in an apartment or something. He could have just gone the easy route and given only the gift card, I would have thought nothing less... but he added just the smallest little touch that really meant a lot. It is not the kind of clamp one would find at the check-out counter as an impulse buy ... it was quality and he probably had to go track someone down to even find the clamps in those huge places. It was still probably only a couple bucks but it was the nicest little one in its class.
I am real blessed with my wife's side of the family- they all have such good "takes" on life. They go about it the right way for the most part and I think it is because of this that their friendships flourish and family gatherings are something everyone looks forward to. It is an amazing family. I feel like they are my best buddies from high school decades ago or something- yet I have only known them for 5 years. And that's the way everyone gets treated. What a great way to go through life. I am looking forward to this Christmas.
I think I am giving every one clamps this year.

Dec 9, 2005

Super Clean 1980 Suzuki RM 125


It is kinda hard to stomach selling such a clean bike.

This is post shall act as a headstone. Man she was beautiful by the time I finished working on it. Why do I lose interest if there is no challenge, no work needed on my part any longer.

Dec 2, 2005

75 Bands- Virgin Records Avertisement


They say there are supposed to be 75 bands represented in this collage:


Questions to answer:
* Yellow flowers in the cart? The red roses already take care of the G&R reference.

* Three chicks holding hands crossing the street...

* I don't see any beetles to represent that one band.

* the Krishnas in the crosswalk can be Manic Street Preachers, The Cult, >>>? We won't know.

* The chick up top blowing a bubble>> some one gave a real good guess at Iggy Pop and I like that. It's too descriptive of an image to just be Blondie I believe.

* The construction workers are either Carpenter's or Men At Work>>>? We won't know

* Mannequinn in shop window... any significance?

*is the "house Plant" in front of the cart supposed to be Bush.. kinda stretching it.




I have found (not necessarily Virgin artists, by the way):
Bush ?
Pet Shop Boys
Cake
Skinny puppy
Radiohead
Smashing Pumpkins
Guns & Roses
Sex Pistols
Madonna (the painting above Postal Service)
U2
Streetlight Manifesto (the 3 street lights)?
Matchbox 20
Lemonheads
Blind Melon
Deep Purple (the wall on the back, maybe)
Cowboy Junkies
Gorillaz
B-52's
Led Zeppelin
Houseparty or Crowded House... Thanks Tripwire buddies
The Eels
White Zombie
50cent
Garbage
Hole
The Rolling Stones

Alice in Chains
The Pixies
The Police
Spoon
The Eagles
Whitesnake
Blur
Queen
Prince
Dead Presidents...correction "Dead Kennedys" -thanks tripwire
Ratt
Black Flag
Butthole Surfers? ... duh Beach Boys- thanks Tripwire
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Phish
Postal Service
Iron Maiden
Eminem
Jewel
The Cranberries
The Scissor Sisters
The Streets (a stretch...)
Twisted Sister? (the contorted chicks in the middle)
Korn
Counting Crows? tripwire buddies say Black Crowes.
Seal
KISS... but why is it two girls? (not complaining by the way)
Dinosaur Jr.
Green Day
Cypress HIll... Nice work Toby
GREEN DAY... but cant figure significance of that particular day.
"B","G","G" on the wall (center left in picture) = The Bee Gee's ...thanks B-Mag.
Behind the guys in white are "The Doors" ...B-Mag credit
"The muscle cars are simply... The Cars???" ... Thanks B-Mag, I was reading too much into it.
On the ground next to "Matchbox 20" are a pile of "Nine-Inch Nails"? (Bmag) could be STYXX but I bet they would have used real branchy looking things.
GREAT WHITE!!!! (the shark poster... man that was killing me... thanks BMAG.