If I magically had money to throw out the window…

I would immediately order one of these books to hide my Macbook in. Knowing that Mr. Engineer would be totally jealous (ok maybe not), I would order one for him as well. He could decide if he wanted the black or red one. Brownie points for me!

Of course if I had money to spend, I would ensure that a cage-diving experience would be upcoming along with THIS wetsuit. I know what you might be thinking. I’m not a huge Star Trek freak though. How cool would it be to have a photo of a Star Trek scuba diver in front of a Great White? Legend-wait for it-dary.

I would later curl up with a good book amongst the many pillows on our bed. I would have to add these new pillows to the collection though. Of course, I might be pretty hungry at about a half hour. Cute and tasty looking!

There are some awesome camping items I would love to have. This first aid kit got good ratings and is within a good budget and size that I like.

If we hike up any mountains that require a 3am-6am start time, we’ll want to each be wearing one of these head lamps.

If I can find a larger version of this, I would buy it. However, it looks as though it would be easy enough to make with some 1×1 pieces of wood cut to a length that would be ideal for our shower at home.

Back to camping; this would enable us to shower if we were to camp on the mountain or on my father’s property where there isn’t any access to a stream or river. Out of all the products available for something like this – this particular one got good reviews all around and seems to be the best quality for what you pay.

I would love to be able to bring this water filter on a camping trip. Not only could you avoid buying tons of bottles of water, but you could refill whenever necessary (if you had stream/river access).

You can’t go camping without a fire starter! Well, you could. But I’ve always wanted to use one.

I really like the nifty-factor of this tool. I would buy one for myself and one for Mr. Engineer. It would keep our “Items we’re bringing” to a minimal in certain areas. It would leave more room for a full on grill! hehe

I really do want the game Scribblenauts for my DS. I don’t play it that often, but I like the idea for this game. I would probably really enjoy it!

There are so many additional items I would buy if I suddenly came into a lot of money. I would purchase the actual tent enclosure for a private shower out in the wilderness. I would buy lots of fun gadgets and toys. I would ensure that we could make a feast and a million other things.

For now, this list should at least give you something to look at and enjoy!

Russian word of the day

фотоаппарат

Meaning: camera

Pronunciation: [foh-tah-ah-pah-RAHT]

Part of speech: noun (masculine noun)

Examples:

* Я купи́л но́вый фотоаппара́т.
* I bought a new camera.

* “Ко́дак” выпуска́ет ка́чественные цифровы́е фотоаппара́ты.
* Kodak produces quality digital cameras.

* Вы мо́жете порекомендова́ть хоро́ший фотоаппара́т?
* Can you recommend a good camera?

* Не могли́ бы Вы вста́вить плёнку в мой фотоаппара́т?
* Would you please put film in my camera?

50 days

Of no soda and almost zero caffeine. I get some minor caffeine in-take from chocolate and aspirin from time to time, depending upon what I take. I’ve been trying hard to completely avoid caffeine though.

…I just loooove chocolate so much! hehe

Side note: Our projector still isn’t home yet. It has been several weeks. I am never going to purchase a mitsubisha item ever again. Mr. Engineer is the one that bought the projector, but I’m boycotting the company. They haven’t shipped out the part that we need, to the company that’s supposed to fix the projector. They have tried to contact Mitsubisha to no avail.

So I have yet to even try my Wii Fit Plus game.

I know what I’m saving the points for!

I’m up to a whopping 94 points at Swagbucks.com!

45 points will get you a $5 gift card to Amazon.com. Just to give you an idea.

Sometime around June we’re going across the country…to hopefully stop in Colorado and climb a mountain.

June 2009 I climbed my first 14er, Mt. Belford. I was out there with my father and his wife. It was a goal that I met, but there was something missing. Mr. Engineer wasn’t there to share in the awesome sight. I was on top of the world…but not really since he wasn’t there.

We’re hoping to go out there and camp out either on my father’s land or on the mountain itself. We could stay within the tree-line or just past it.

Fact: Most “tree lines” are at about 10,000 – 12,000 ft above sea level. This is where trees stop growing and you get a bald mountain top.

I’m getting so excited just thinking about it!

Then, Mr. Engineer emails me today…what about going out west during this trip? Mount Rushmore! I would love to go there. Truly!

I’m picturing loading up the car with camping gear, dried meats and foods of a similar type, water bottles galore and heading out to climb a mountain and see some giant heads. Can’t forget the first aid kit!

So, I’m saving my points from now until June to see just how many Amazon gift cards I can acquire (or other stores). We’ll need to buy certain items for the hike up the mountain (camelbacks, hiking poles, etc.). Every penny saved is going to help this trip happen!

Ahhhhh, so exciting!

Life is grand!

Cross one off the Resolution list!

I finally got my HSA account completely setup. All that has to occur now is handing the paperwork to the HR person. Since they are currently in a meeting, the handing of said paperwork will be detained for another couple of hours, but that’s ok.

Woot! I can cross that one off my New Year’s Resolution list

Additionally, I was able to cross off the one about paying medical bills. Now, I only have one medical bill that’s from my regular doctor whom I see once or twice a year.  Since that bill is always expected, I didn’t include that in my “pay off” blip. I do want to pay it off…and I do…but then there’s just another bill from that doctor eventually. The other medical bills were one-time situations. They’re all gone and paid for!

All that’s left to do now (focus-wise) is to finish paying off my huge credit card (half-way there) and close it. Once I do that, I will close that bank account.

After that, I can pay off and close the somewhat smaller credit card, close it and close that bank account.

I wonder how I should celebrate on the day I do those things?

Progress on the Orc

Dear Grampa,

When I was young, you were the only adult that I respected (besides Gram). I never wanted to say anything wrong or make you think less of me, so I almost never opened my mouth when we were together twice a year.

If I could change that, I would have asked you about your service in the military as a Communication’s Specialist. They say a lot of that information is still Classified today, but I would ask you anyways.

I found out more about you after you died. I realized that the man I respected the most, was more of a stranger than someone walking down the street.

I never said “I love you”, but that sort of thing isn’t common in my family. I think you knew I did.

I never wore the necklace you picked out just for me. I was terrified of something bad happening to it. The first time I wore it, was to your funeral.

I have made a good many mistakes to get to where I am today. I made poor choices a lot, but I learned from them. I tried to mold myself into what I would consider to be a good human being. I try to always be caring, passionate, generous and creative.

I don’t always succeed and I’m not always correct. I just wish I could forgive myself for anything and everything.

I wish I could talk to you and listen to any insight you might have for me. I bet you were full of advice, I just never asked.

I love you, Grampa.

Your only grand-daughter,
Poof

The Orc

The piece I’m working on is near completion. Additional shading is needed and then I will erase any remaining pencil lines. I’m hoping I can pull it off and have it mailed out tomorrow.

I was supposed to be done on Friday (a couple days ago), but I failed to meet that deadline.

As it stands, this was an experiment that a very good person was willing to try out with me. It was meant to determine whether or not money would motivate me enough to ensure that I could finish a drawing on time.

I’m sure there was a half hour here or there which I could have spared on the drawing, but did not.

So, I am aware that it is my own fault that I did not meet the deadline. 7 days should have been enough time, but it wasn’t. Granted, I do have a lot going on at home (remodeling) and that did distract me, but it’s just an excuse.

Regardless, I will finish this drawing as soon as I possibly can, mail it out and be done with art-deadlines.

I will, however, work on drawing pieces over time – that I can post on a website or where ever and sell them.

Once the current drawing is finished, I figured I would start by drawing Mr. Engineer’s character in whatever pose he likes best.

Maybe my own characters, so on and so forth.

In case you’re still wondering…the characters and the artwork are from World of Warcraft. I have zero copyright to the game and it’s contents. What I create is fanart, etc. [Insert full disclaimer mumbo jumbo here].

We’ll see how it goes. For the time being, I’m working on a very intense looking orc. It’ll be great once it’s done

Life is grand!

Much like many of you

I dislike my job.

Some days are worse than others.

Mr. Engineer said “Try to find one thing you like about it and just run with that.”

I like almost all of my co-workers. They’re great people. We work out together, we hang out, we play poker…just all around good folks.

Ok, so it’s not so bad.

In the meantime, I’m working up a plan. Someday I might just work entirely out of my home…drawing. I might be paid a lot of money JUST to draw over and over again – but it would all be original. The art wouldn’t be a repeat.

That’d be nice. To be paid to do something I was born to do.

I wasn’t always good at drawing though. I didn’t know that I had the talent. Yes, I do believe I was born with the capability. I discovered it in 5th grade. A boy had given me a note in school (as boys did from time to time). It had a sketch of Fred Flintstone on it.

The voice inside my head immediately said, “I could re-draw that so much better…”

So I looked at it while I drew it. It came out slightly better, I thought.

Later, I looked at a picture of Taz, the Tazmanian Devil from Looney Tunes. I drew him line-for-line.

It was at that point I knew that I could draw anything simply because of the way my mind works…

“I see lines. Everywhere.”

I can see the lines and pluck them from my sight and place them onto paper.

I’m grateful to have such a talent and hope that someday, my motivation kicks into high-gear and I can make a living out of it.

For the time being, I’m settling for my first commissioned piece where I wont make a ton of money, but I will understand that deadlines have a meaning in regards to art. When a person is paying you to get something done – Get it done.

I hope the piece comes out satisfactory. Modesty aside, I think it will be well-received.

In the future, I hope to sit down and focus on more detailed works (non-commission) and sell them online. This would enable me to branch out and not have to worry about a deadline.

The goal is to get myself to that point – to actually sit down and create these works of art.

All the while, of course, trying to learn Russian and complete a million other tasks!

Life is grand

To-Do for Today

1. Contact National City about HSA account.
2. Get some money out of Chase to put into my new bank account.
3. Ask co-worker if he likes poker and suggest that he join us in our next Friday night poker-game.
4. Shred bills that have been paid long ago that are sitting on my desk and have become clutter.
5. Continue to listen to Ender in Exile.
6. Tell Mr. Engineer that Ender’s Shadow is about Bean. We were both wrong.
7. Try hard to know (and believe) that as I am right now…is good enough.