Archives - July 2005

Ready for vacation!
Tuesday, July 5th, 2005

Well, I've left sunny California (pictured above) behind, and Lisa and I head out for New Orleans tomorrow! Just in time for the tropical storm that's descending...

Yay!

Lisa, Tom, Jane, and I had our annual 4th of July celebration yesterday. Jonathan and Clara were also there. We got impatient (and full of margaritas) so we lit some pow-pows before it got dark.

Jonathan explains some illegal fireworks that he had to Tom.

We all trudged down to the seawall at the Naval Academy to watch the fireworks - which were spectacular! We were really close to where they were launched, so we heard the "foom" of the mortars, and saw the trails... it was really concussive, too. I enjoyed it. Lisa? Not so much :)

Jane taking pics - check out the smoke on the ground form the launch site.

The finale, which consisted of a rapid-fire series of incredibly bright flashy deelies. Turned night to day!

We retured home and drank a lot of water - and lit a lot of fireworks!

KABLAMMO!

Fweeeeeeee!

(clap clap clap)

Happy 4th of July, e'vrybuddah!

I'll try to update while we're on vacation - but if it's too complicated, we'll return on the 13th!

On vacation in New Orleans
Thursday, July 7th, 2005

We are in New Orleans! Lucky for us, we rode in a few hours after the Tropical Storm Cindy business, but there are plenty of debris piles and the occasional massive downed tree to show she was here.

Lisa and I on the plane. I gave her the window seat. Must be love!

Here is New Orleans (I think)... the Mississippi is the river in the foreground.

Here's our massive king sized huge enourmous bed. The room is really spacious too. We're situated in a private courtyard with a beautiful pond and pool. Pics soon.

Turning right, we have the private bath and a little prep room... for makeup.

From the makeup nook, you can see the vanity and the rest of the room.

The ceiling is really beautiful. Loving the exposed wood.

We're off to eat and visit the cemetaries today. We're very grateful to have been given tons of helpful advice and hookups by my friend Pat, who lives here. He's picked us up from the airport, shown us where it's safe, and we look forward to hanging some more. Plus, he has to show me his prop room! More pics in the next few days!

Horror, friends, Lisa, kitty
Friday, July 8th, 2005

Threats of the Hurricane aside, New Orleans is stress free and fun! Sure, there is crippling heat and cloth-moistening humidity, but we're managing fine.

Yesterday we had a blast with Pat and Justine. Pat is part of my T4BB prop group, and his wife is a delight! Here's the latest update:

This cathedral dominates Jackson Square in the French Quarter.

We are staying at the Lamothe House on Esplanade Street - this is the hidden courtyard that lies between our room and the main building.

There is a beautiful above-ground pond with many fish.

And the resident kitty has Lisa all a'flutter. Meow!

Once you are through the courtyard, bear right and you will see where we are staying. Those sliding glass doors are ours.

Whirl around from where you stand and you will see the pool and courtyard.

Lisa, ready for the day!

Once you are in the neighborhood, you begin to appreciate the wonderful amount of wrought iron (and cast iron) balconies and galleries. Balconies look like the picture above - galleries extend the length of the sidewalk below and are supported by iron columns.

We ate at Angelis for lunch - it was delicious. The walls were beautiful. I don't know if the whole "rusticness" was intentional or real - I suspect it was a base of real aged wood/paint that they played up with a calculated wash of red.

I took a picture of Lisa that looked like an album cover, so here ya go.

The toy store has Rocketeer Candy!!!

Here's a little schoolgirl fetishism for the boys at work.

Someone really enjoys the whole "pink Cadillac" motif. Yikes.

That night we went to Pat and Justine's house... Pat showed me his cool collection of props! Real screen used Zombie appliance from Return of the Living Dead! He's even ID'ed it in the film!

Here's his (most likely) screen used Alien Egg from Aliens. Wow.

Here's Pat with a Halloween III prop and Han In Carbonite. Sigh.

Lisa made friendly with their dog, Tweaky (I might have spelled that wrong).

And of course, he has a real John Wayne Gacy painting. Yikes!!

In case you were curious, serial killers use Frederix canvas!

The next day Lisa and I had our morning breakfast under a cool Lamothe Chandelier upstairs. Hello here little fella!

We then went on an AMAZING cemetary and Voodoo History tour. Please click the link in the Specials section to your left to see it all - it's a HUGE update.

Immediately afterwards, it POURED rain. We hopped from awning to gallery to balcony to keep (not very) dry. Cell phones and cameras survived.

It's beautiful here. I still look forward to coming home and seeing everyone... especially Simon Kitty™!

Last Day!
Monday, July 11th, 2005

Well, it's just past midnight and technically it's now Monday! This will be our last full day in New Orleans, which has been very kind to us. We have dodged two hurricanes! Here's a pic from Friday night, when Lisa was carded!

I love my coffee drink! There's an Amber Alert™ out for me, for I look so very young!

I'm Blanche, the boozy barcat. I sleep on my BACK on a BARSTOOL in the middle of a FUCKING BAR.

The next day we saw a New Orleans art car!

All manner of junk affixed by a dirty hippie (conjecture).

The sign on the door asked that donations be slid through the front quarter window. I wonder how much they get per day?

Probably not street legal horses.

Too much stickery whatnots in the windows and windshield, too. Tsk tsk.

Saturday evening, we joined the Roigs for a swamp tour and dinner at an Indian restaurant. Click the Bayou link to your left, under "Specials". There are TWO from our trip! Spend the day slacking off, and catching up with us! Here is teh aftermath, where Lisa disinfects her toothbrush, after dropping it on the bathroom floor. I no longer kiss her. Kidding!

Sunday morning, after sleeping off the Lamb Vindaloo, we strolled some more through the French Quarter. It was slightly dreary but cool - thanks Dennis!

Storm clouds gather. Jesus. Every day?!! Hehe.

A beautiful fountain in a courtyard, tucked away behind some homes...

The bar sign says it all!

This pic is for Davis McDavis - the awesome storefront on Decatur.

All of the surfaces were covered...

In hundreds, nay, thousands of rusty staples. Trés tetanus!

We then went to Pat's parents' house. They had a very well fed weiner dog.

We has a FRIED TURKEY for dinner. Yeah. Muthafuckin' fried. It was AWESOME. And cooked at 3 minutes per pound in healthy delicious peanut oil.

I was fascinated...

And hungry.

Fry you magnificent bird, fryyyyyy!

See? It's amazing!

Awash in a sea of flavor.

Awww, the oil looks so lonely without a basket full o' meat.

It drained, and then cooled. We picked at the skin, which tasted like angels.

Then we ate the cat. She put up a fight....

But the dog didn't seem to mind.

The sun started to set, so we said our heartfelt thank you's and goodbyes, and left before the vampires came a'roaming. Yeah, it's New Orleans!

Lisa and I then spent some time in the Lamothe House courtyard - she swam and I updated this website.

And we took a quick walk to the coffee shop, admired the homes, and went to bed.

Yay!

End of the week, thank ya jeebus
Friday, July 15th, 2005

Well, we made it home safely, and managed to dodge the second hurricane! I miss New Orleans almost as much as I miss spending 24 hours a day with Lisa... sigh. Here's our last day's pics:

We got to finally eat the famous beignets from Café Du Monde on Decatur Street. It's a square piece of fried dough, covered in delicious powdered sugar. They are served in threes. Lisa and I fought over that one, rarrrgh!

She had a mission. So did I. Let the Wookie win.

We also went to the Voodoo Museum in the French Quarter - wow!

Lots of amazing photos in dimly lit surroundings.

I resorted to using my flash. So sue me.

Real human skulls!

Pretty much everywhere you look!

The gatorman!

There were many paintings depicting Voodoo Rituals.

And more skulls!

This shrine was amazing.

And the nail guy reminded us of Jane!

I am sure she will cringe at the sight of a mummified cat. It's a good luck Ju-ju though! Good! Protects the home!

A Zombie Whip! YEAH!

Voodoo Dolls.

Statue party!

Another painting.

Another skull! And there you go.

That night Pat and I talked props one last time while Lisa and Justine pretended to be bored to death.

Yay for New Orleans!

On Wednesday, Anthony and Crissy brought Maren over!

She is adorable,and her fingers taste delicious.

She kept making the greatest faces when I used the flash. I have eighty billion pics like this one.

And this one ;)

Work was fun too - nice to be back. I got AMAZING new toys - check out the graphics card upgrade I got for the G5. Now I can run both Cinema displays.

The new one is huge, takes up two slots, and has it's own FAN, hahaha!

We did it!!!!
Thursday, July 21st, 2005

We spent this week very hectically looking for a house - and we finally found something we liked, after looking at all manner of shit holes. It's a townhouse, which kind of bummed us out at first, but we'll let it appreciate and tehn flip it in 5 years or so, to get that single family we want! So here it is - now, we could still NOT get it if it fails home inspection, but it's only 7 years old and everything has been replaced, including appliances and carpets!

It's a three story end unit, with three bedrooms and three full baths. Just shy of 1,200 square feet inside.

Window on the side... how decadent.

Entrance to the basement in the rear - this is vital for me, since I'll be stepping out a lot to spray paint primers, etc. We will add a deck eventually - see the second story sliding glass-to-nowhere? Wheee!

Everything in the kitchen is new new new. Wow.

And look ma - a garbage disposal! Wow.

Big dining and living rooms... continues out of frame to the right.

Basement sports a gas fireplace. AT-AT photoshopped in for shits and giggles, but if that ledge doesn't heat up, it's probably going there.

The bathroom in the basement - full bath!

Master bedroom bathroom. Showah!

The bathroom in the upstairs hall that the cat litter may inhabit. Undecided...

It's blurry, but you can see all of Baltimore city from the upstairs.

And the closets are cavernous!

Yay!

It burns! And more House pics
Monday, July 25th, 2005

Okay - so I'm building the Studio Scale Cylon Raider. Using hot glue to tack down all the electronics and wiring inside the shells. So, as I was finishing up the use of the glue gun, I squirted a hefty dollop in a junction to keep some wires from moving. Didn't think about the fact that it was just a hole and that my hand was behind it. Sooo, the glue shot through the hole (securing the wires, yay!) and right onto my hand (boo!). The next 30 seconds were my carefully putting the model down (my priorities are firmly out of whack), shooting out of my chair (with x-acto handles and dental tools skittering off my lap), and dashing to the sink to shove this fucking lava under cold water. The pain was so intense that I couldn't even yell "FUUUCK!" (which is my favorite). I peeled off the glue, and the skin underneath? Looked like the glue.

In fact, at first I thought it was just more glue, since it was sliding around loosely. Then, it stopped hurting, which worried me. I grabbed my camera immediately.

Loosey!

I then sprayed some random burn spray on it, and finished what I was doing to the Raider.

Extra relief!

Suffer for your (space) craft!

Now, an hour later, the model is glued up, the glue gun is cool to the touch, and my damaged skin is super blistery and kinda achey.

This was right before bed.

Right where I bend the skin! THAT is going to be an interesting scab.

Here it was this morning - like a balloon!

Did the home inspection today. A few small things were found, but all in all, teh place is apparently in great shape! Yeah!

There is a little rot in the window frame. They will replace.

This is the space where the dirty clothes go to clean up/dry out. It's fabric rehab!

There was some moisture in the corner. Above ground here, the soil needs to be regraded. No biggie - a garden will do that.

A fucking roach. It's so dead now. We will most likely bomb the joint before we move in. Just to be safe.

The yards in the back suggests a lawn service. We still don't know if there are HOA dues.

Attic was so incredibly hot.

And I was half expecting to see Santa.

The fireplace is gas, but basically ornamental. The inspector said to not expect much heat to come from it... still cool to have.

Upstairs, looking down towards the foyer and kitchen. We need to put a ceiling fan up here to recreate that great Twin Peaks interstitial where you hear the mom wailing....

From the living/dining room, looking towards the kitchen.

Switching places, looking towards the spot where the deck will go.

Kitchen tile.

View from master bedroom.

Master bedroom, looking towards the bathroom.

Master bedroom, opposite end.

From the master bedroom, looking towards the two other bedrooms.

Basement, looking towards the "nook".

And finally, looking towards the stairs and bathroom.

Babies and dents
Friday, July 29th, 2005

This week saw awful temperatures which finally abated when a storm blew through, cutting off cable and power with no mercy. It also knocked some sizable wood out of our neighbors tree.

Debris!

Some of the smaller branches rested across wires, catching fire.

This is what was left of the really big limb which came right down...

...on Clara's car.

Jonathan should consider a career in acting.

Baby Maren came by too!

I tried to get her to look at the camera, but she was having none of that.

So I called it a day.