One Stop

Currently over at One Stop waiting for my BVR appointment and decided to post something since I got good network reception here.

An Eureka Moment

I will be able to finish my 2nd Bunny Makoto figure kit after all. She's supposed to get these fishnet stockings on her legs and the kit came with some material for making these. Only thing is I don't know how to make them without a pattern, and I don't know how to do that in general.

So I decided to check the dolls I've collected over the years and sure enough, I found a doll with fishnet stockings that work on my kit's legs! In case you're wondering, it's the Schoolgirl Britney Spears doll. I may replace those with the customary Loose Socks at some point, but I don't typically have a doll like that on display, and the fishnets look better on a work of art.

My problems on using them include painting the parts and coating with a clear coat so when I put the stockings on, the paint isn't rubbed off. Then figuring out what to drill to add pins to hold the shoes on her feet, and finally how to keep the stockings on around the hip of each leg as they get superglued on the rest of the body.

I don't have to wait anymore. I was kinda hoping to find a doll sewing pattern for making these things, but all I managed to turn up from a short search were places selling pantyhose accessories for 12 inch fashion dolls.


Re: The Car dropping dead

Even after tightening the bolts for the wires, I still had the episode of the car dropping dead when trying to start it today when I went to get the Sunday paper. Only this time it came back to life a few times (still refused to start though) before I went and popped the hood to check the battery and all and only then did it start. My brother in law thinks it could be a loose wire to the starter or a dirty connection somehow somewhere. After I looked at things again, it could be the positive terminal shorting by touching the inside of the front hood as well. The red rubber cover for the positive terminal has cracked. I don't know when this happened. So I'm going to see about insulating that terminal better tomorrow. I did try his suggested cleaning of the wires and terminals with water and baking soda though. If it's a loose wire, I hope it won't cost much to have it tended to.

At least I have AAA Gold membership.

Noren

What is a Noren?

In Japan, this is a divided curtain hung to divide a room, cover a doorway. It's usually used outside restaurants to show they are open for business. In a Japanese home, though, a decorative noren is hung at the top of the doorway to the kitchen.

Why am I bringing this up? I'd like to get one or at least make one. I was able to find a shot of the one used in the Tendou house in Ranma 1/2, if I remember right it's about 7 minutes in during Episode 9, first season. Something like that. I can check to make sure.

Right now we use a clear shower curtain in the doorway so as to keep cold air from coming in here from the kitchen. I've even found an image of a Ranma 1/2 decorated noren, though I'm sure those are impossible to find if you want to buy it. I could play with the image I have and enlarge it...

Some noren are long, like down to the floor from the top of the doorway. Some are short. I prefer a short one. It's been something I've been wanting to figure out. First part was getting the word of what it was I wanted.

It's very easy to sew one though. Might end up making one or at least having someone who can use a sewing machine make it. I think I have the pattern I found. Wait, it was a webpage. I should be able to find it again.


Tomorrow will be one month since mom passed away. Damn, time passed too quickly.

Things this week

Having a few of those solar-power charged LEDs, I notice that when it's been a sunny day, my lights are nice and bright like they got a nice charge. Not only that, but I notice all around when other people's lights also got a nice charge and are nice and bright. I see them all around, even in one cemetary nearby, especially when they're nice and bright.

After a few weeks, yesterday I came to realize that Mom was pretty much bored being house-bound here. I don't know why we didn't like ask my younger sister to borrow her van and once a week or something and take my mother out with her power chair thingy and do something like eat out or go to a movie, at least before she had to be on oxygen all the time. I'm sad to realize now that it's a lost opportunity.

Which explains why mom spent so much time online with Pogo and her email. She read a lot because you can watch TV only so much before you realize that after seeing programs you kinda like, there's not much else on.

I've also come to realize and understand that in some anime episodes where there are people working on their own cars (Miyuki in Taihou shichauzo, for example) almost all the time. They're making sure the right bolts are tight and that it's always ready to go.

That's because last night I went to visit a friend (he treated me to dinner) and I brought over my DVD of The Rockafire Explosion documentary. Only after I helped him with a tricky printer part I went out to start up the car and it just dropped dead. No lights or anything, even when I had my Open Door light lit up. So I popped the hood, jostled the battery, and it started right up. I was uneasy for the rest of the evening, barely enjoying the latest Ghost Adventures on Travel Channel. I would have to wait until morning to find out what was going on, but from experience, it would involve some connection to the battery.

As I checked the battery after it got suitably warm enough, I see that the bolts to the positive terminal that hold the wires on are loose! So I get my wrachet handle and socket and tighten all the bolts on both terminals that hold the wires. This could explain the recent cold morning starts, but I don't excuse the battery entirely. It still doesn't like winter temps. But the car started no problem, and after losing power, my check engine light is out again. (niko niko)

The fruits of my labors

I've been busy.

Just one more piece

Officemax advertised this week they were selling SanDisk 16G thumbdrives
for a mere $39. Compared to other makes, this was $50 off list price. I
could not pass this up, so I went out today to get one, as well as
getting pet food. All I need now for my P4 tower is a suitable IDE DVD
burner and I'm good to go to make more DVDs from my video files.

I treated myself to a couple $1 burgers from Burnit King on the way
back.

Also I really should post a video rant on Youtube about Coke's latest
attempt to rip off people. What this entails is their new "100 ounce"
packaging. This is 2 50-ounce bottles which sells for about $2.50 to
$2.80, depending on where you buy it.

Consider that a 2 liter bottle is about 67.6 (rounded up to 68) ounces
which are frequently sold for a $1 a bottle, you end up just over 32
ounces ahead and save about a dollar on average if you buy 2 2-liters.

100 ounces for $2.80? or 136 ounces for $2?

The only time I will buy something like this is when there's a coupon
being offered, which I saw at Marc's. Buy One Two-pack, Get One Free.
Wow!!! 200 ounces for $2.50! It's about 62 cents a bottle that way.

Really, though. This dual-bottle thing should not be priced more than
$1.75. I don't understand stores that charge $1.89 for a 2liter bottle,
$1.25 for the 20 ounce bottle, but then have pop machines outside that
could have cans for 50 to 75 cents a pop or the 20 ounce bottles for the
customary ripoff $1.25, which if you're going that route would be best
to go because - ta da! - you don't have to pay sales tax on a vending
machine pop purchase!!

I've seen 20 ounce bottles even go as high as $1.35, but then in THE
SAME STORE (Dollar General for example) sell 2 liters for less than
that. If you're going to undersell the 2liter bottles, why not lower the
price on the small bottles as well to something around 75 cents? I've
seen places offer the 16 ounce bottle for 99 cents. Well, gee, the 2
liter is one more penny!

And I tend to drink Coke Zero, and for some reason the product in the 2
liter bottles tastes better than the stuff being put into the 50
ouncers. I don't know what's going on with that.

Coke, wise up or your 100 ounce packaging option will die like New Coke
did. Lower the price to what would be sanely considered a reasonable
value. If I can get 136 ounces for $2, then 100 ounces shouldn't be more
than $1.75. Maybe the extra $$$ is in there because of the extra shrink
wrap and tape used in the packaging to keep the bottles together? It's
just stupid anyway.

Pricing on pop is just crazy anymore. It's also sad when you can buy it
cheaper than water.

Hope to post a photo of my completed Bunny Makoto #1 kit as well as
Bubba's Princess Tutu, painted as interpreted by me. I just need a good
accurate color guide for Chibi Urd in her one-piece strapless swimsuit
and I'm good to go with my new "0000" size liner paint brush. I had to
replace the fine liner one I bought some time ago because the hairs fell
out when I tried to clean it. It didn't have a size designation number
on it, something I discovered when looking for a new brush. The 4 zeroes
indicate how fine the tip is, and it looks like it will work out. I
wanted a 100% real sable hair brush, but I had to settle for a blend
with synthetic materials instead. I wish mom could have seen it
completed, but she did see the pictures of the original figure I found
one day on 4chan which prompted me to order it from e2046. I need to
find a way to heavily weight down the base so she won't fall over.

Watched House tonight, then got to thinking how mom's missing it, as
well as the last of the Harry Potter movies she was looking forward to.
Oh man... I keep telling Melody that mommy's in the hospital and keep
waiting for her to come home. I don't know if or when she'll show signs
of grieving. Some animals do.

Yesterday I burned some of the waste wood that came out of the kitchen
ceiling project. Damn near filled the burn barrel and let it smolder
overnight. Went out this morning to see the barrel practically empty. At
least that waste wood pile is about half gone. Had to move it away from
the fence post so it won't catch on fire again. (oops)

Still trying to get by

Dammit. Got my CompTIA A+ Certificate in the mail yesterday. Why could
have this arrived sooner??!!?

Still have no idea what is going to be done with the utilities and all.
At some point something will have to be done. I've done all the
notifying to the lady at J&FS about stuff and looks like I will be able
to reverse my hasty decision about Medicare Part B.

I'm still in shock mode. I find it hard to feel emotions, like some of
the positive ones I used to feel a few weeks ago. Both Melody and I are
still "waiting for mom to come home from the hospital." It certainly
still feels like that.

After watching for what must have been the 3rd time of Sam The Cooking
Guy "Just cook this!" in Hong Kong, I finally got motivated to do his
basic Fried Rice thingy he showed.

Basically, heat a wok on Medium high (I used the nice non-stick skillet
I bought last year, it's sorta wok shaped and all, but at least it works
on an electric stove), and then get your vegies ready.

Julienne (cut into small short strips) vegies like carrots so you can
put them in first. The more hardy of your ingredients should be put in
first, and carrots fit the bill there. Heat for a while, put in a little
oil, canola or peanut, whatever you like, and let that begin to sizzle.

I put in some green pepper strips, cut up some celery that way as well,
and put in some Taco seasoned pre-cooked beef crumbles. Sam put in some
bacon, but I didn't have bacon on hand. I bought a pouch of that beef
stuff when we visited the local "rescued food" stores around here and
saw that and it wasn't too much.

Then I chopped up an onion, and eventually remembered the mushrooms. Sam
used fresh mushrooms which I don't doubt would have been awesome, but I
had a small can of sliced mushrooms anyway.

Now, the trick to fried rice is to use day or 2 old cold cooked rice.
But before you put any of that in, get 2 eggs ready by cracking them and
stirring in some soy sauce (light soy is fine) and a few drops of sesame
oil. Sam advised not to use too much as it is overpowering.

Put your cold rice in and then pour in the egg mixture and just stir for
a while until you can judge that the eggs have cooked. Used in this
manner, the eggs moisten the mixture in your wok or what have you and
produce a really nice aroma.

In fact, any time you have to cook some rice, make some extra for fried
rice the next day or so after that. I had some in my rice cooker insert
from the last time... I cooked sweet and sour pork for mom earlier in
October...

I had the fried rice with one of those larger noodle soup cups, shrimp
with tomato and garlic flavor. It was a nice meal. Mom would have liked
the rice.

stuff and today

Finally cooked that kick-ass macaroni and cheese I had planned to do a couple of weeks ago. Had some of the New York White Cheddar that Aldi's has been offering lately and put some in.

Conducted some business of paying a few bills today after cashing my check. I couldn't figure out how to log into the account for the electric bill so I just sent something along with a note so they can send paper bills in the mail again.

Also left the computer running during a download that would take a while after I started it with the plans to be back just as it would finish. As it turned out, I got back just in time to see the computer finish reloading after restarting for some reason. My file finished downloading, but I have no idea why the computer would restart about 7 minutes later. I found one page that 'credited' the use of Firefox for this phenomena, but I'm not so sure. I hope the RAM isn't going bad, but then I've had it on for hours without a problem, so I have no idea what to check and find out what's going on. I certainly hope it's not the power supply. I can replace it, but having to buy one is going to be a bitch.

I don't have a download manager or accelerator in use that would contribute to XP restarting, and all other bits I found to check do not indicate there was an error that required a system restart. There's likely something else I've not checked yet, if only I knew what to check. Firefox dutifully restored my tabs when I asked it to come back into memory. (shrug)

Edit: I found out around 3 pm today that it was the wind blowing the power lines around that caused a hiccup in the electricity, as I saw a light flicker and the answering machine beep right then and the computer rebooted. So after the computer came back up, I shut it down and waited for the winds to stop. I had another hiccup around 3:50 pm, so I was glad I shut things down and waited. I checked the hard drive for errors and all seems well.

Mom is back home, sort of

My younger sister finally brought back mom's ashes today. We picked out a nice green marble urn for her. I just anticipate paranormal things happening, since it's been documented before that such things can happen. If so, I want mom to try to get in touch with me because I'm sure there's more stuff she needs to tell me that's important.

I got to thinking how there's going to be one less person at the dinner table for Thanksgiving. It's going to be noticeable. I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle that.

I see the BVR people next week. Hopefully we can get something going.

In a pit

Sunday I finally did some things around here that needed done. The cat
pan got cleaned out and new sand put in. The Tidy Cat in the red lid
really controls odor, I've noticed. Also did dishes since I was running
out of cereal bowls and spoons.

Finally made the lemon and blueberry thingy Mom wanted 2 weeks ago as
the week's dessert but I wasn't able to make it because I was sick. It
turned out well. Mom won't get to taste any of it, though.

I noticed there are quite a few things around here I'm going to have to
pay for now. All the more reason to seek out a roommate as soon as
possible. I don't know how I'm going to deal with the electric or the
phone.

Nov. 12 (I hope) I meet up with the BVR people and hopefully they'll
have more of an idea of what I'm going to be doing than I do.

I've got stuff to fax and a letter to write. I hope after that I'll go
up to see This Is It at Tinseltown in time for their first showing of
the day.

Had a problem on Facebook. Someone in the feed posted how they hated
their house. So I responded in a manner I felt was OK. Then I get
someone going ape sh!t over me about it, saying oh how dare I say that,
this is my 15 year old daughter, yadda yadda. OOOh.. Kay. I had no idea
what age she was, in fact I don't generally check the age of people in
my feed. Having Asperger's, I am bad at understanding the ages of
people, generally. Anywho, she apparently was this girl's mother, and
now I understand why the girl originally posted that they hated their
house. I mean, without more to go on as to the source of the hate, I can
just guess it's because of her mother. This b!tch of a mom even went so
far as to leave me a note in my Inbox. I reported it as spam, got back
on the original bit in my feed and said so, then removed the girl from
my friends list - I "unfriended" her. Rather than put up with more of
that abuse, I removed her from my contacts on Facebook.

I generally feel that if you're allowed to Friend people on Facebook,
you're of the right age to be on Facebook to begin with. Just keep
family members off your feed. I mean, this b!tch had no business butting
in like that. So to the girl whose over possessive and over reacting mom
got on her Facebook feed, I feel your pain. I feel I said nothing wrong,
it was spur of the moment, and yet again I was misconstrued. I refuse to
take any blame.