*if all goes according to plan
I’m supposed to get the keys to my house today.*
I would like to get them today, but I don’t expect to get them today. One thing I knew from the start in this endeavor is that no dates are solid and everything takes longer than expected. So when I was told a month ago that I’d be closing on the 18th and that’s when I would get my keys, I was skeptical (doubly so considering that the 18th was a Sunday). A week ago the date was changed to the 24th… and in the same conversation I was told that we might actually close early and I’d get them earlier than expected. Right. So last Thursday when I signed all my final paperwork I was told “potentially Friday if we’re not busy, if not then Monday for sure” …and surprise surprise, still nothing yet.
I figure if I get them by Wednesday everything will be spiffy. Any longer than that and I’ll be a bit disappointed, plus rushed to get the house cleaned and all my stuff moved in since I have to surrender my Apartment keys this weekend.
Fun week ahead of me.
detour
I started a simple side blog on tumblr to house my general toy related meanderings and free up space here and give this joke of a blog more focus. I’ll probably keep all my LEGO related posts here though, they just seem more at home intermixed with my personal ramblings. Plus it’s easier to make a gallery here and redirect to flickr, while tumblr handles image and link gathering tasks much better.
So, no more random photos of the day… those will end up over there instead – intermixed with cool finds and other points of interest.
sitrep
So, the latest news on my house hunt is OMFG I FOUND ONE!
…Sort of.
I mean, I’ve been searching actively for about three months, I’ve looked at around 60-70 homes, and put in over a dozen offers – but the latest real development is one finally got accepted. But the hang up is it’s a “short sale”… which essentially translates to a “slow sale”. I got word my offer was accepted by the seller three and a half weeks ago, and I’ve still got another couple weeks before hearing back from from the bank – and who knows how much longer after that. So it’s even more frustrating than before. Except – technically speaking – it’s sitting there waiting for me.
Have I mentioned how much I hate this process? Can’t they just take my money and hand me the keys?
obsess much?
OK, so, as I’m clicking through ‘09 Comic Con photos, I land on this shot… turns out there are still a few more droids I need to add to my list, and some of the upcoming ones I did add have either changed names on me or my various sources are inconsistent. Which is very likely. Now I need to figure out who’s who and who’s missing. But cheers to Hasbro for pumping out more astromechs!
updated the droid list
So yesterday I was walking around Walmart and happpened across some new Star Wars “Droid Factory” action figure two-packs, and spotted a pair of astromechs I hadn’t seen yet. I decided not to pick them up (for now) but got a picture of them for reference. I went back to my checklist and noticed it wasn’t quote up to date after all – but it is now!
I need to start photographing the ones I have so I know who I’m missing…
mind: blown
So two days ago I ran across this link via reddit, and mentally filed it under “that would be cool to try and see” – then promptly forgot about it. Then this afternoon as I was stopping by my mothers house my stepdad randomly mentioned that he wanted me to set up my telescope for him to try out. I remembered the link all of a sudden and pulled up the SkyWatch tracker (here) to discover that just before 9pm the International Space Station would pass pretty much right over Fresno. So I printed out the chart, figured out which way to look, and waited.
At around 8:45 – just in case my clocks aren’t synced right – I go out back a few minutes early and I’m disheartened to see that there are no stars visible yet as the sun had just set. I go to the front yard, look around, and manage to spot a few faint specks barely appearing. I prepare for disappointment.
8:49 – exactly when the ISS is supposed to be on approach for my location – I start scanning the skyline to the South West per the chart. Nothing yet. Stupid trees. I should have tried driving out to some field west of town, but it’s too late now. I look around wondering if I really know which way is which.
8:50 – right as I’m thinking “man, I’m not going to see anything, this was a waste…” I spot it. Right where it should be. I’m thankful my sense of direction is reliable and that I’ve been looking in the right direction. By now it’s probably only around 25° above the horizon and it’s already brighter than any star at any time in the skies visible from the city. I turn around to spot Polaris, and I’m shocked at how much brighter the ISS is, and by how fast it’s moving across the sky.
8:51 – my mom yells down the street to tell a herd of kids to come see the space station. They run over and I tell them to look up, and proceed to geek out a bit explaining (incorrectly) that the solar panels are about the size of three football fields (really only one, if that… not sure where I got three from) and that at it’s closest point above us it would be just over 200 miles out, but close to 800 miles when it’s on the horizon (as listed on the chart I printed out).
8:52 – still amazed at how bright it is, I pull out my phone and take a picture (see below). I hadn’t planned ahead because I severely underestimated the magnitude scales listed online… else I would have had my camera on a tripod, attempting a long exposure to catch it in motion.
8:53 – as it moves towards the North Eastern horizon, I guess at the distance (probably around 500 or 600 miles away at that point) and point out how it’s getting dimmer and yet is still the brightest thing in the sky. I think to myself “this is the third coolest thing I’ve seen in the sky.”
8:54 – as it drops around 20° to the horizon, it gets incredibly brighter, and I unabashedly proclaim something along the lines of “holy shit, a flare!” then explain to anyone nearby (I was still focused intently on it, I could very well have been talking to myself here) that the station is spinning, and it managed to catch the sunlight like a mirror for a few seconds. It goes from third coolest to second, bumping Hale-Bopp down a notch.
8:55 – I curse the trees again as it drops out of sight.
Going by the information provided, this was the best opportunity to see it pass over this area for a long while; reaching a highest point of 75° and lasting around six minutes as it traversed the nearly starless sky. I’m not sure if it would have been even better in a darker sky… but I’m now going to be watching that page for updates, to see if at some point I can snap a better shot of it streaking across space. At the very least I’ll take out some binoculars. But even to the naked eye, it was mighty impressive. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy the way only a nerd could feel looking up at a pile of shiny floating through space.
See that speck in the middle? That’s THE FUTUREI We’re HERE!
recent LEGO fun
It’s been a while since I’ve updated here, nearly a month in fact, so I’ll toss this all into one pile…
Firstly, I built a second smaller industri-drone similar to the one in my previous post. Check it out here! I love the Izmojuki designs and will probably build more like them in the future.
Secondly, I got a nice little bag-o-swag from BrickArms – and made a bunch of random space figures to show off all the goodies…
(Many thanks again Badger! I love the raygun!)
Also, I finally got around to photographing two MOCs I took to NWBC last October:
Lastly, I awoke today to find an email waiting for me on my phone that said “Congratulations LEGO Ambassador” – yay! The LEGO Ambassador program is set up so the fan community has a direct feedback line to the company, with the potential to influence future products and practices. Only a handful are selected each year so it’s quite cool to be among them this round. I’ll be sure to post more on that as it developes. 
industrial welding drone
Inspired by the designs of Izmojuki Industrial Divinities.
Just a random LEGO build that turned out better than expected.
learned a new trick
As a result of a recent super rush job at work, I actually took some drafting work home for the first time in… well, ever. I can run the programs I need on my desktop pc but it’s pathetically slow – and though my laptop can handle them easily the screen isn’t the best to draw on. So I decided to see if it the VGA port on the side of it would be as useful as I hoped, knowing full well this is a Windows based laptop and nothing ever goes smoothly. But, to my surprise, it did exactly what I wanted it to do! On the first ttry even! No complicated setups, no pain in the ass driver updates, just hook it up and bam: dual screens!
But, as I said, this is Vista… so it’s not completely cooperative. It does randomly crash more often than usual (thanks to running my CAD program, Firefox, Trillian, VLC, and whatever else I leave lurking in the background)… but it’s tolerable. Especially considering how much more room I have to work with and the fact that I can use my desktop’s keyboard and mouse at the same time. A qualified huzah!
