Grey Area

huh?

my obligatory post for today consists of a simple sentence:

"Does QuickBooks Pro come on the MacBook Pro?"

I think it'll be funny to hear that.

posted by Evan @ 10:32 AM 0 comments

winter is here

so i was up on my roof at 7:00 this morning finishing the felt paper. i just had to do one strip along the ridgeline of the garage. lots of nailing and shuffling around to get it positioned properly. it was cold up there! it's always an indicator of the day you're going to have when you slam your finger with the hammer that early in the morning.

after that i snapped off a couple of photos, the delivery guys showed up just before 8:00 with the shingles and edge flashing. they have a truck with a conveyor belt on it to get everything on the roof easily. they finished that while i took a shower to get ready for work.

on my way into work on my small walk between the parking structure and the building, the wind chill factor was quite chilly and then it dawned on me - winter is finally here! i can't wait for the snow to stay on our mountains. i definitely love seeing the seasons change.

photos are coming of the roofing process. i'll be up on the roof for the rest of the week with my brother and my friend Kyle while we get the shingles up. i'm expecting my fingerprints to be worn off in a couple of days after handling all the shingles.

posted by Evan @ 11:07 AM 0 comments

short supplies

so here's the updated supplies report:

we had one extra sheet of plywood, so that got cut up and used to hold down the plastic to keep the rain out on saturday.

other supplies we found out that we needed:

• (3) rolls of 10'x100' 1 mil visqueen roofing plastic (it sucks when it rains while reroofing)
• (2) additional rolls of 30# felt
• (2) 12' 1x8 tongue and groove eave boards (replacements for termite food)
• (2) cans of high temp matte black paint for flashing
• (5) roof vent flashings
• (3) 10' 4x4 L flashings

and it only took us 4 trips to home depot to get that stuff! such is homeownership.

posted by Evan @ 10:14 AM 0 comments

REroof

today starts the day of a very large project at my house- getting a new roof put on. we're taking off the wood shingles and going with a new, 40-year composition shingle. the supplies ordered so far are:

• 90 sheets of 7/16" OSB panel board
• 14 rolls of 30# felt
• 28 squares of composition shingles
• 27 lengths of 1 1/2" flashing
• 1 bucket of 1" felt nails

about 10 guys just showed up to tear off my current roof and put the new plywood on. then my job of putting the felt on before it rains on Saturday begins. if it rains before i do that, my entire house will get soaked and therefore, ruined.

posted by Evan @ 7:02 AM 0 comments

cellular

it has been around 4 years since I have had a mobile phone. rita picked up a couple of phones the other night and i have to say that they are a lot nicer than they used to be. i like this one because it only weighs 3 ounces, has a color screen, and has a vibrate mode. i really don't like ringtones. i also like having caller ID (which i don't have at home). the only thing i really wish it did have is bluetooth so i could sync the address book with the one in my home computer.

some things i don't like about cell phones in general are:

• they are an automatic leash - now i am at the beck and call of whomever i give the number to (or so they think).
• i am expected to answer the thing anytime someone calls.
• one becomes dependent on them. it's far easier to make calls now, so i do.
• it's another new gadget that i become slightly immersed in - i will probably be keeping up to date on new phones that come out and lust after them and their technological advances.
• people drive while speaking on them (even i do - it seems inevitable that you must do this one time or another)

i'm not too sure about service providers - this one is on the Cingular network. we'll see how it pans out. i had Cingular before and the service seemed to be fine in my area and wherever else i travelled to. one thing that i don't like about Cingular is that they charge you $.10 for any incoming or outgoing text messaging or instant messaging over AOL. lame.

i think that's about it for now. i'll update you if i find something else that i either like or don't.

posted by Evan @ 1:54 PM 0 comments

speed stacking

i guess it never really crossed my mind, but evidently anything can be turned into a competition. mountain biking used to be something for fun - now a competition. you could name any extreme sport.

now watch the cup stacking video.

i'm not sure what is more impressive - the fact that she is so fast or that there actually is a cup stacking competition. amazing.

you can see that the video is real-time because the people in the background are walking at regular speed. otherwise it seems unbelievable.

posted by Evan @ 1:02 PM 0 comments

the first week of school

the first week of school is finally over. it's always a bit nerve-racking to start up a new quarter. a lot of preparation has to be done to get syllabi in order, schedules set for curriculum, class schedules memorized, students added to classes, whatever and ever amen.

i spent quite a bit of time rehashing the syllabi for each class as i find that i like to change the class formats almost every time i teach them. i figure out ways to improve the content and finesse the material to make the class more interesting for me and the students.

well, here's to ten more weeks!

posted by Evan @ 4:38 PM 0 comments

HDTV & the olympics

check out this clip of bumpers for the upcoming 2006 Olympics.

now if we could really see speed skaters set on fire before a race and skiers getting hit by lightning - that would really be something to watch.

posted by Evan @ 10:39 AM 1 comments

ecto

since i finally purchased ecto a few minutes ago, i went back and added links to my previous 2006 post and cleaned it up a bit for easier reading. i hope you like it.

posted by Evan @ 11:47 PM 0 comments

Christmas in January

i just received my final gift (i think) for last year's Christmas from my co-worker, Bob. He gave me a pod. no, not an iPod. It's cool!

posted by Evan @ 5:00 PM 0 comments

clik clak movie and other insiprations

this kind of stuff makes me want to give up. it's so good.

watch the click clak movie.

watch the Belief: Pollinate: The Common Desk video.

watch the Belief: Pollinate: Chain Reaction video.

thanks to Shawn Sedoff for the Belief links.

posted by Evan @ 8:40 PM 2 comments

2006

well i have to say that 2006 is off to a great start. i slept-in until almost 11am. that hasn't happened in i-don't-know-how-long. thanks to my wife for that - it's much appreciated.

it'll be interesting to see what happens this year. work will be different. music stuff will be different. i've been strategizing on both fronts - planning for a better tomorrow.

last year was pretty wild for System Kid. it went by so fast. we accomplished several things over the course of a year:

• we recorded our 6 song demo EP. it was recorded in my house with the exception of the drums being recorded in a studio. the drum recordings were pretty terrible. i tried to mix the cd and got pretty far. i learned a lot. Ray ended up taking over and remixing it. it came out pretty good.
• we put on our first show ourselves in an old church in Etiwanda.
• we played a total of 12 shows in 2005, 3 of which were in Hollywood. our goal was to play there once by year's end. very cool.
• we had 10,418 internet plays of our songs last year.
• we got as high as 3rd place in our category (behind Aimee Mann) at music.download.com.
• we have about 235ish people on our mailing list. are you on it yet?
• we recorded our second 6 song EP called Stampede. Everything was recorded by us this time - even the drums. Ray mixed the entire EP and it turned out great for a non-multi-million-dollar studio setup.
• we sent out 50 press kits last year.
• we had at least 2 songs played on the radio - X103.9 FM - Wanderlust and Carry On.
• we were an editor's pick on music.download.com
• we were compared to Whitesnake in our download.com editor's review.
• the bass player of GWAR made a special appearance at our Plush Lounge show in Hollywood.
• Birthday Suit, the first song on the Stampede EP, was the exit music for a short film by Tiger Eye Productions called "Getting Lucky," which is running the festival circui• right now. it has real actors in it and everything.

our plans will be revealed as we see fit over the next year. thanks to everyone who has supported us! stay tuned!

2005 was also a big year for the Troxel family:

• Jackson joined us. He was born on June 16th right after an earthquake.
• Leighton started preschool.
• Ethan started 3rd grade.
• the island was added to the kitchen.
• Rita's eye nevus scared us.
• we got the house painted.
• we poured concrete on the side of the house to stop the flooding.
• we went to North Carolina for a week - that was great.
• we did not go to Truckee at all. bummer.
• i sold my Porsche to my dad. The targa top was stolen from me just prior to that.
• i started teaching in the ART department at Cal Poly for the first time. Beginning and Intermediate Web Design.
• i turned 31 without incident.
• we've continued to try to organize this house. what a mess :)
• Leighton had his tonsils removed. that was a horrible experience that turned out for the better.
• he's doing great now.
• we took out an equity line of credit on the house and used it for home improvements and on Rita's car. yikes.
• our house has doubled in value since we bought it. yikes.
• Rita's brother Mark totalled 2 cars by his 17th birthday last year. He was also smashed between 2 cars and broke his femur. He found out he has Factor 7 blood deficiency so any surgery cost is exhorbinant.
• Rita's Grandpa got very sick a couple days after Christmas and is now hospitalized due to a heart attack and about 20 strokes. He may not live without 24 hour care anymore.

Count your blessings and have a decent 2006.

posted by Evan @ 11:05 AM 0 comments