anchors aweigh!

a wasted seaman and the U.S.S. ?

hey, it spins!

inspiration came when i found that stylin' navy shirt w/ the epaulets & gold buttons on the clearance rack at Ross for for $8.49. figured i could build a pretty good costume around it. i already had the captains hat (from 1989?) and andy already had the white pants from the colonel sanders costume, so... that was easy. but it took me 2 months to make that stupid wheel, mainly b/c i had to plan it all out so it wouldn't fall apart after wearing it for 10 minutes. i made the wheel from really thick cardboard. the side is thinner cardboard braced with bamboo skewers (hand whittled so that each end would be sharp enough to puncture the front & back surfaces) and then i added a ton of gorilla glue, you know, just to make it extra sturdy. the center section is a foam cylinder shape that i was kinda forced to buy at a craft store due to time constraints, and the spokes are clear plastic tubes for protecting fluorescent lights. i mounted the wheel onto a piece of sheet metal using a 5" screw threaded all the way through, and hung the metal piece from my neck. also had the bottom of the mount strapped to me with a stretchy belt. 

i think i went a little over budget ($30), only because i had to buy two cans of spray paint, and the rope wasn't cheap either. it's definitely a quality piece. maybe i can rent it out next year and recover some of my expenses.

costume phase 3

halloween: the good news is that costume construction is on schedule. as one of my former coworkers would say, "everything's ship-shape!" like i said in the previous post, if i show you pics of the whole thing you'll be able to tell what it is, so here are photos of some parts and some close-ups:


  




freecycle update: previous post mentioned a guy who sent odd text messages. he came for the stuff- no eye patch, no suspicious vehicle. just some middle-age guy and his wife in an old pickup. completely unremarkable.

football: maybe you saw the broncos/dolphins game last sunday. i was never a tim tebow fan - mainly b/c i dislike almost all SEC teams and got sick of the media hype while he was at UF. i wouldn't call myself a broncos fan yet, but i'm getting there (i know the names of four players now, instead of two!) it seems like all the hopes and dreams of the city of denver are on tim tebow. people go absoutely bananas over the guy. it's so bizarre.

radio: my friends know that i love morning radio shows, but denver's stuff just doesn't do it for me. sorry bj, howie, & erica. i gave it a good, solid 2 months but i just had to switch back to atlanta's "the bert show." i mean, you never forget your first love...   unfortunately during my listening gap i missed out on getting to know the new host (kristen). she's ok, but i'm surprised the company didn't hire someone with a drastically different perspective, because in my opinion she's a blend of jen hobby & wendy adams.  i still miss melissa carter, but at least i've still got jeff.  fortunately there's a good afternoon show here so it almost makes up for the pain.

weather: a winter storm is forecast for tonight, continuing into tomorrow afternoon (i think i just heard...thunder snow?). denver may get up to 8 inches of snow, which apparently is a lot for this time of year. my mom (mary ellen) is flying in tomorrow, so i would really like it if she didn't experience horrendous delays; although she's so cool i doubt it would mess her up too bad. i love the way she's always down for whatever these days.

hockey: the good news is that i'm actually playing. the facilities are nice, and they're close to my apartment. the bad news is that i think i'm playing in what's known as the "old man league." there's very little team camraderie, and i think there is only one other female player in the division. if you were to take a team poll, i'm sure i'd be voted worst player. that never feels good. if i were to compare it to playing in the AAHL, i'd say the division is equivalent to playing in middle A. some guys have real skillz but play kinda lazy. i lack skill, but play really hard, so sometimes it evens out.

books: i've been reading like a fiend since the denver library has ebooks you can check out on your digital reader. the checkout period is 21 days and if you don't finish the book it just disappears from your shelf. can't renew. aww. most newer books have a lengthy wait list, so a lot of times i'll put myself on the wait list for several books...and then for some reason they all become available at the same time and then i have to read 3 books in 21 days. so far i've read twenties girl, smokin' seventeen, outliers, and now i'm on the help (i swear i was on the wait list for months). it's pretty nice not to have to visit the library to get your hands on "free" books.

stuffed animals: i have two that hang out on/in my bed. one is a wild turkey. the other is the yellow angry bird.

that last one was really random, but gives you a deeper insight to the girl behind the blog.

costume phase 2

well...sorry to disappoint, but there is no phase 2. construction came together rather fast. if i showed you a pic there wouldn't be much of a guessing game left. so here are some hints: there's no historical or pop-culture basis, mine has a moving part, and andy is reusing the white pants he wore last year as colonel sanders.

oh and check this out - denver got the first snow of the season on saturday. i set my alarm for 7:30am so i could spray paint pieces of my costume. the reason it had to be that early is because the only place for me to paint is in the parking garage and i knew no one would be up at that hour on a saturday. i really didn't need an audience (or people telling me not to spray paint near their cars). i opened my blinds at 7:30, saw that most of the ground was covered in snow, and couldn't stop laughing. i think it was 65 the day before.  then the snow melted 3 hours later. apparently that's the way it goes around here.

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ok so you think my blatant disregard for proper capitalization is annoying? try this on for size:

Hi. Were. Interested. Thanks. 

this was a response from something i posted on freecycle the other day. weird, but excusable. maybe he was sending from his mobile device. but then later i got this:

Ok. That. Sounds. Great. See. You. Tomorrow yes. I. Will. Call. When on. My. Way.

seriously? man, there are weird people on freecycle.  and then i got another message:

Sorry. Couldn't. Make. It. Today.  Drain. Backed. Up. Had. To. Rent. 100 ft. Snake. And. Roto the. Drain. I can. Come. Pick. Up. In. The. AM. ON. WEDNESDAY i promise. Thanks. So. Much. For. Under standing. 

dude. what is up with the periods?! what kind of person does this? if he ends up picking up his item (don't worry, he's meeting me at work and not at my apartment) i'll let you know what he looks like. i bet he pulls up in a panel van wearing an eye patch or something.