Principles Unknown

Mr. Bacon and Monsieur Tofu vs. Dalek in the Alphabet Forest

2012-01-27T12:17:00.000-05:00

Extermiknit!

Etsy for Dummies

2011-11-27T12:19:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to finishing Starting an Etsy Business for Dummies during the long weekend away from work.

Allison and Kate did a great job putting this one together. It goes into every bit of detail someone would need to set up shop on Etsy to sell their wares. If you can use a web browser this book can get you the rest of the way there. Even though getting around Etsy is probably the least of my problems I found the book very valuable for talking about all the other other elements of an Estsy shop from pricing your goods to marketing your shop. There's a ton of uncommon common sense within.

I have some thoughts in my head for up-cycling and selling some of my Goodwill and antique finds. After finishing the book I think I'm about ready to put together a checklist of fill-in-the-blank items to help me determine if this is really something I want to embark on right now or if I need to do some more homework.

If you've ever though about setting up an Etsy Shop it's definitely worth a read and to have on hand for a reference once you do. You can get your very own copy here: Etsy For Dummies.

Full disclosure: Allison is the spouse of one of my coworkers and gave me a copy with the hope that I'll open up a shop. (She's also a really formidable Words With Friends opponent.)

Walk Day

2011-10-01T14:40:00.000-04:00

Today was our walk day for the 2011 Walk to End Alzheimer's. It was in downtown Duluth on the town green. It's a really nice space. They've done a lot with the area.

Start/Finish Arch

The Dacula Drumline was there to get us started.

Slowly but surely... we're off.

We took a pretty leisurely pace but kept it fairly consistent. I forgot to time it but I'd say it was around a hour or so of walking. We weren't the last to finish by far.. so that's always good!

Maximus from the Gwinnett Gladiators was there. He agreed to pose with us since Heather was wearing her Gladiators cap.

Thanks to everyone who sponsored us to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer research, care and support. Never give up hope.

-Grant

Mystery Penny

2011-09-18T15:00:00.000-04:00

I've been doing a lot of house cleaning this weekend. I finally took a moment to take a giant bucket of pennies that had been accumulating over the past 6-7 years to Coinstar.

I was a penny short of $43. One of the pennies that came back was the one show above. It's been through one of those souvenir penny smushing machines at the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose.

I've never been there. I'm not sure if I know anyone who has been there. No idea how I ended up with this one.

Atlanta Mini Maker Faire

2011-09-10T18:45:00.001-04:00

Today Jeff and I headed down to Georgia Tech to check out the Atlanta Mini Maker Faire. It was a nice mix of robots, 3D printers, and other do-it-yourself crafts.

This was a neat home automation project using power over ethernet to control and power things. I liked how they were using recycled antique BlackBerry displays. Evidently you can get old BackBerrys for $1 each in bulk on eBay. See http://smg.tophi.net/ for more info on the project.

Remote-controlled robotic skateboard.

Someone trying it out... we gave her plenty of room.

Make your own drone.

Meet the Proteus 6xi. One day it will be able to see me and use radar so it won't run over me.

Cool stuff/art from Maker Joe.

There were at least 3-4 Artoo units running around.

You can't really have too many.

Lawnbot 400. What could possibly go wrong?

Alas The King of Pops was out of pops. :(

Thing-O-Matic in action.

(I want a Thing-O-Matic.)

Very cool ceramic robots made by Michael Klapthor.

Panorama of the Georgia Tech campus on the way out.
(I'll have to post a larger version of this somewhere.)

Astro-List TomorrowMen Prize Pack!

2011-08-25T21:24:00.000-04:00

As The World Turns

2011-08-19T18:23:00.000-04:00

I got a new camera the other day. I took this picture from 15 feet or so away from my globe while reading the manual in the dark.

I kind of like it.

2011 Alzheimer's Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s™

2011-07-26T22:51:00.006-04:00

I’m walking the 2011 Alzheimer's Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s™ on 2011-10-01 in memory of my Mom, Carol Ann Porter.

Will you consider making a donation or joining me on the walk? Our support can really make a difference!

Thanks for your help!

Update 8/14/11
I've reached by goal! Thank you everyone!

If you still haven't donated and you want to help, please help Heather reach her goal as well (she's walking too) http://walktoendalz.kintera.org/duluthga/hporter

Gift Shop Tiki

2011-07-18T20:48:00.003-04:00

Found in the Tennessee Aquarium Gift Shop:

Posing with an otter even.

Moonbase One

2011-07-16T09:27:00.000-04:00

Just a doodle from Friday.

Fatback andouille turkey

2011-07-08T13:07:00.001-04:00

Meatball ground round pork, andouille spare ribs turkey corned beef short loin sausage pastrami ribeye tri-tip. Venison brisket drumstick, tongue pork strip steak cow tri-tip ribeye salami jowl shank beef chicken. Brisket tongue pancetta short loin spare ribs, ribeye ball tip. Venison pig meatball pork belly. Chicken pork andouille, pig tri-tip pork chop rump jerky t-bone bresaola ham drumstick turkey spare ribs strip steak. Tongue shank cow meatloaf turkey. Bresaola boudin fatback, jerky swine tail tenderloin meatloaf pork jowl salami chuck tri-tip venison.

Ham hock shoulder chuck short loin ground round rump. Brisket beef ham, pork loin corned beef salami jowl hamburger rump. Venison flank pork belly, pork chop shoulder swine chuck pancetta sausage biltong beef shankle ground round pork t-bone. Strip steak meatball ground round jerky venison meatloaf. Pastrami boudin pork jowl pig ground round. T-bone shoulder pork loin pork, tail biltong ribeye andouille tongue hamburger beef salami short ribs ground round flank. Meatloaf pork bacon hamburger tongue sausage, shank ball tip.

Book of Tiki Mug

2011-04-19T19:08:00.005-04:00

The Book of Tiki tiki mug came today from Tiki Farm:

Here he is next to his namesake tome:

Awesome job Tiki Farm.
It's been out less than a week and is already temporarily sold out.

4615

2011-02-10T13:31:00.001-05:00

This Officially Sucks

2011-01-11T16:26:00.003-05:00

Took me two hours with one 20 minute break for tea.

Police

2011-01-10T22:11:00.002-05:00

Gone With The Grits

2011-01-09T13:22:00.003-05:00

I found a grits cookbook at Goodwill today. It had scary cover but I really like grits so I got it anyway.

The back cover was a pretty scary too.

I have some quick grits in the cabinet and some real grits in the freezer. I'm ready for the impending snow and ice doom.

Update: I found a fairly recent interview with her here with the AJC. Looks like the hair recovered.

And all the creatures came out...

2010-12-01T12:32:00.001-05:00

to celebrate with Wilbur.

Happy Birthday!

2010-12-01T06:45:00.002-05:00

Wilbur makes the first appearance of the season this morning.

Tropical Banana

2010-11-27T21:37:00.004-05:00

This week we managed to try Tropical Banana flavored soft drink from Honduras.

It was like someone had liquefied a banana Laffy Taffy and put it in a soda. It was extremely sweet and had a very strong artificial banana flavor. Not bad but I'm not sure I could down a whole bottle of this in one sitting. Definitely an interesting one to try. It would probably be a good mixer with something but I'm not sure what yet.

Seasonal Favorites Volume 3

2010-11-20T16:10:00.003-05:00

Double Crown Records Seasonal Favorites Volume 3 arrived in the mail today.

It's sitting now in Tikiland with Volume 1 and Volume 2. I can't listen to it until after Thanksgiving dinner though (It's the law.) Sausage & Sauerkraut for Santa is calling me though... might be hard to resist.

These are the best Christmas holiday surf (with some other fun stuff thrown in) compilations out there. Get yours today! or get all three at once if you're behind.

Tiky Pineapple Soda

2010-11-19T19:21:00.004-05:00

Nope. Not tiki. Tiky.

This one is from Guatemala. I did a little digging and found out that's it's now owned by Coke. This one tasted a little less syrupy. I could taste more of the soda water and it didn't seem coat your mouth as much. I guess you could say it was a little more "dry" which I actually think I preferred. It seemed to be a little more mellow on the artificial pineapple flavor.

D&G Jamaican Pineapple

2010-11-11T16:16:00.004-05:00

Karl and I were talking about Fanta Pineapple soda the other day so I thought I'd try to find some. I was over at Super H-Mart and thought I'd give it a shot. I couldn't find any Fanta Pineapple but did pick up some other pineapple sodas to try. The first one is D&G Jamaican Pineapple.

We tried it on ice this afternoon at work. It's a terrific unnatural color. Sweet and pineapplely without being too tangy. It's been so long since I've had Fanta Pineapple (or any other pineapple soda) I don't really have anything to compare it to at the moment. I could definitely see this being a mixer for a light or maybe even gold rum.

We'll have to wait and see how it compares to the other one I picked up.

Sunday Afternoon Vinyl

2010-10-17T15:58:00.002-04:00

AROUND THE WORLD ON A CARILLON
JOHN KLIEN at the console of the "CARILLON AMERICANA"
The World's Greatest Carillon

WL 135
(1958)

I'm not walking a mile for a Camel but...

2010-09-25T16:42:00.004-04:00

Have you ever been shopping from something on Amazon and noticed that the price seems to change a lot? Especially if you're researching prices over a few days. I was whining about this to a good friend and he sent me to camelcamelcamel.com.

It's a really nifty site that lets you look at price history as well as set up alerts to let you know when something falls below a set price. Some items seem to stay level at a certain price and some items as seen above fluctuate daily. They have other sites for Newegg, BestBuy etc. It would be pretty cool if they combined it all in to one but I expect that's a bit more difficult to do since they all use different SKU #'s and such. In any case, it's definitely something I'll use again.

Rock Lobster!

2010-09-09T20:20:00.004-04:00

SoundyThingie

2010-09-01T21:47:00.001-04:00

SoundyThingie is a cool iPad app. (with a cool name)

Soundythingie Demo from kritzikratzi on Vimeo.

Good times.

Cat

2010-08-24T10:35:00.002-04:00

Pogo Sketch Stylus

2010-08-21T11:51:00.001-04:00

I picked up a Pogo Sketch stylus for $15 at Fry's this morning to use with my iPad (they are over with the cellphone stuff and in a tiny box that's kind of hard to find).

Even though I knew it would be small it seems even smaller when you try to use it. You write with a little fuzzy thing on the end that's maybe 1/4" in diameter. I was kind of surprised that you do have push down on it a little bit to write. You can't just gloss over the top. At first this seems annoying but it probably makes sense... you don't want it marking just because it is close to the screen (which sometimes happens with my finger). I kind of wonder how long this tip will last since you do have to mush it down a bit. It seems to make drawing little diagrams and marking stuff up a lot easier. It is also easier for highlighting text in Noterize since the tip of the stylus is smaller. I found this really hard to do with my finger... it seemed like I would highlight the wrong line or in-between two lines. With the Pogo I can actually highlight what I want. The plastic clip on it is made of shiny (and likely brittle) plastic. A lot of people have complained about this breaking off and I could see that happening. Looks like I can clip it on the inside of my Marware cover in the fold so it is out of the way and less likely to be destroyed.

My only gripe so far is that I wish they'd make it as long as a regular pen, or at least another inch or two longer.

$15 is probably a bit steep for what it is (you can find it for a bit less on Amazon and Noterize even gives you a discount direct from Pogo when you but their product). It does the job it's supposed to do so I'll use it for a while and see how it works out.

Watch That Step

2010-08-13T09:15:00.001-04:00

The elevator has been trying to kill me in mornings lately...

New Resin Tiki

2010-08-12T07:38:00.003-04:00

Bear found a new tiki. It's the one on the right. I thought I may have already had one of the same design but I didn't. The closest match is on that Squeak found and gave me a few years back. Woohoo! Thanks everyone!

Streaming

2010-08-05T20:48:00.001-04:00

Can you tell when I got Netflix?

Another Gummy Disaster

2010-06-22T12:48:00.003-04:00

From the creator of the original... http://agent317x.blogspot.com/2007/09/gummy-disaster.html

Random Picture Day

2010-06-16T11:29:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Ashley for letting me know.

http://ashleymclure.blogspot.com/2010/06/random-picture-day.html

What the iPad REALLY needs...

2010-06-07T19:03:00.001-04:00

... is a PDF reader.

Yes. Yes they are.

2010-06-01T10:29:00.002-04:00

... and I got this from the Bag Keeper.

Are they trying to tell me something?

2010-06-01T09:00:00.002-04:00

Bear brought me back something from Disney. ;)

Ft. Wilderness

2010-05-30T12:38:00.001-04:00

Starting out today at the trading post before heading to the RV to join other bags for breakfast.

Good Day for Goodwill

2010-05-30T09:49:00.004-04:00

Saturday turned out to be a good day for tikis at Goodwill.

The two guys are a pair of fairly generic Orchids of Hawaii R-74 or Dynasty Ku clones. They have no markings on the bottom, just an oval "China" label. I have another one of these that's just a touch smaller.

I also found a pair of clear glass Walt Disney World Polynesian Resort glasses. These aren't supposed to be too uncommon but they are the first one I have found. Evidently the frosted versions are older and a bit more desirable. These guys are really thick and heavy. They'd look good with a nice colorful drink in them.

Caught in the storm...

2010-05-29T20:59:00.001-04:00

Escaping the park just as the downpour begins...

I'm not sure I want to know what is behind the bag.

Upgraded to the Polar Patio

2010-05-29T13:19:00.001-04:00

Two nice guys bring the bag food and drinks all day long... what bag could ask for more?

Back at Blizzard Beach

2010-05-29T10:54:00.000-04:00

Looks like someone forgot the sunblock this time.

Base 21

2010-05-28T13:25:00.004-04:00

The bag has good connections. Ahhh… AC.

Fish and Chips!

2010-05-28T11:58:00.002-04:00

w/beer.

What all bags dream of.

A long time ago.. (minutes)

2010-05-28T09:53:00.003-04:00

in a galaxy not so far away…

On the way to Hollywood (Studios)

2010-05-28T08:46:00.002-04:00

We heard from the bag early today on the way to a Star Wars all-day event.

Hope it gets to meet Chewbacca.

(Note the sporty new "First Visit" button.)

Rescued!

2010-05-28T08:28:00.003-04:00

Looks like the bag narrowly escaped the Yeti at Expedition Everest.

Thanks to a kind soul it was able to return unharmed.

Lost?

2010-05-27T19:22:00.003-04:00

No communication from the bag today.

I hope it is OK.

11:17 AM Wednesday - Bag at the jacuzzi

2010-05-26T12:51:00.003-04:00

The bag is finally mobile today. He decided a drink and a dip in the
pool is a good time!

9:39 AM Wednesday - Late start for bag

2010-05-26T12:45:00.003-04:00

Hanging at the tree houses.

Adventures at Disney World!

2010-05-25T21:28:00.003-04:00

Nope... not me. Just my Arctic Zone soft-side cooler.

Here we see the Arctic Zone starting off the day at Blizzard Beach:

And here we are on a bus headed to another Disney Destination :

Where will it be tomorrow? I'll let you know next time I hear from it.

Crazy Al's Rum God Mug

2010-05-23T13:45:00.003-04:00

This mug was created for some sort of bar tending competition in Australia last year sponsored by Appleton Estate.

It was designed by the amazing carver Crazy Al Evans and made by the fine folks at Tiki Farm. They ended up doing another limited run of them so those of us who didn't happen to be in Australia at the time could obtain one.

He's quite cool with lots of nice detail. Mine is #134 of 250.

Zombie Place Mat

2010-05-23T13:30:00.002-04:00

One of my traveling friends located this Paul Brent place mat at a local RV-O-Rama.

It will go well with the matching zombie tiki mug and S&P of the same design.

I have a serving tray and a print of the zombie from this series as well but they didn't make it out for the photo op.

Mahiumi; Goddess of the Shell Ginger Flower

2010-05-23T12:59:00.004-04:00

Heather got me this mug this spring (mainly because of our cat Ginger I think).

It's a nice original from Tiki Farm. I really like the colors.

I like the cat too.

PCB Shot

2010-05-23T12:52:00.004-04:00

I didn't get this at Panama City Beach, but someone did... and it ended up at Goodwill.

I have been there once though... maybe twice.

Guitarzan

2010-05-23T12:36:00.002-04:00

Scott and Family of Tuscon Sun Gods fame rounded up this guy somewhere down in Florida.

He looks pretty good hanging on the wall or on the front door too. Thanks guys! :)

Fall Find - Federal Sea World Mug

2010-05-23T12:25:00.005-04:00

Yeah... I'm way behind in tiki-land.

I found this one at my local Antique-Flea Market last fall. There are evidently at least two different version of this that were made for Sea World. Some were made by Fire King a brand of Anchor Hocking. Other were made by Federal Glass Company. Fire King mugs in general are remarkably collectible. Federal glass... not so much. Mine is Federal. He's still pretty cool to me.

Smelly Crayons

2010-05-14T06:30:00.002-04:00

Smelly Crayons

Posted using ShareThis

Tiki Architecture

2010-04-23T19:27:00.001-04:00

I'm really enjoying this Tiki Architecture blog. Lots of really great photos.

Tiki Pinball for iPad

2010-04-23T17:56:00.004-04:00

Very nice pinball for the iPad:

Tikis pop up in front of Big Kong on the Jungle Style table.

Link to the iTunes App Store

Good times.

Thank You!

2010-04-07T09:03:00.002-04:00

It's about Time

2010-03-31T19:00:00.000-04:00

Let's Go Bowling

2010-03-27T21:37:00.009-04:00

Daylight Saving Time

2010-03-13T20:39:00.002-05:00

http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/

Man or Astro-Man? @ Whirlyball

2010-03-06T11:20:00.015-05:00

We went to Whirlyball to see Man Or Astro-Man? last night. I had been to Whirlyball before and wasn't sure how a setup was going to work there... it doesn't. The show was great though.

Videos from YouTube (thanks to mst3kreview who posted these):

And a compilation video from Rob Downs:

Man...or Astroman? Live at Whirly Ball, 05.05.10 from rob downs on Vimeo.

Star Crunch was a delight to see and hear after all these years. Coco missed a sample and was jeered by the crowd. Star Crunch made him do a few push-ups and all was well again. Birdstuff was in his usual amazing form. Victor Vector (ChromoCrunch... Jonny) makes a great fourth astro-man. I will hope that working together again will give them an urge to do something new and maybe record again. They rock.

Moon Dawg & Agent317x outside Whirlyball

I got to see some folks I hadn't seen in 5-10 years so that was cool. I don't think I've been out until 2 AM in as long either. :)

-Agent317x

Special Event Air-Fresheners

It's Bacon!

2010-02-02T06:29:00.004-05:00

Rich recently gifted me a Vosges Mo's Bacon Bar about a month ago.

I finally remembered to bring it back so we could break it open and give it a try. Katrina has been experimenting with bacon since the age of 6. I think she's perfected the bacon & chocolate combination. It's a dark chocolate (45% cacao) which allows the smoky-salty bacony goodness to come through but does not overpower it with bitterness or sweetness. We're impressed.

Bacon. It's what's for breakfast.

Slack

2010-01-29T19:21:00.003-05:00

Yeah... I'm slack. I went to India the week before last and I have material and pictures to post but I haven't got around tuit yet. I will soon. Honest.

DO NOT EAT! - Complete?

2010-01-13T12:02:00.002-05:00

The jar is full!!

Our collection of silica gel started on Tuesday May 22, 2007.

You can see our progress chronicled here: http://agent317x.blogspot.com/search?q=silica

Thanks to all friends and coworkers that have contributed to this endeavor. I'm not really sure what happens next. Right now the overflow is going into a smaller jar until we discover Step 2.

Rock!

2010-01-08T16:23:00.004-05:00

The Cable Connector Quiz

Score: 100% (10 out of 10)

First shot too.

Lost Tikis

2010-01-03T11:12:00.007-05:00

I found some tikis in this episode of Lost in Space: The Space Primevals on Hulu.

Go watch it on Hulu or you can read more about it here on the Irwin Allen Wiki.

Season 3 is turning out to be much better than Season 2 BTW.

Not Just Any Old Rum

2010-01-02T21:19:00.003-05:00

I received some Appleton Estate Extra 12 Year Old rum for Christmas. In a single word it is best described as "awesome".

It has a really nice aroma of molasses with a hint of citrus. The taste is just sweet enough without being overly sweet, a bit spicy (but not like a spiced rum) and is buttery smooth. There's enough smokiness so you know it's aged. All if this is put together in a really good balance. It's just plain good rum. I haven't mixed it with anything and I'm not sure if/when I will. I do wonder though if this product is more like some of the rums of yesteryear that Don The Beachcomber and Trader Vic used to create some of their masterpieces. It really does make the rum something special and not just a sugarcane byproduct.

Also appearing in this photo shoot are other Christmas additions consisting of the Hawaii 50th Anniversary mug & Digga Digga Doo mug from Tiki Farm, and of course... Mr. Toast.

Mr. Toast In Winter Wonderland

2009-12-30T12:36:00.001-05:00

Good thing he made it before it melts.

Mr. Toast!

2009-12-25T13:35:00.002-05:00

I got a Mr. Toast for Christmas.

Yay!

Otter Rock

2009-12-13T19:15:00.001-05:00

Also from the Tennessee Aquarium.

Penguin Wonderland

2009-12-13T17:01:00.003-05:00

At the Tennessee Aquarium.

Winter Wonderland

2009-11-30T10:04:00.003-05:00

It's here in the office already.

QR Post

2009-11-22T15:41:00.002-05:00

I'm not from Texas

2009-11-18T23:41:00.001-05:00

The guy on the right is though.

08-00876

2009-11-17T18:50:00.002-05:00

I have two of them.

One even with box and assembly instructions.

Google Sky Map - on Android

2009-11-12T20:41:00.004-05:00

I've finally left the Sidekick era and moved on to a new "smartphone". While I'll probably always be an Apple person at heart I was able to get a much better deal on a Motorola Cliq with T-Mobile.

The Cliq runs the Android OS and so far I have no regrets. There are lots of fun goodies to play with. Tonight I tried out Google Sky Map:

It's kind of weird to hold your phone up to the sky and point it at things to see what they are. It really works though... pretty cool.

G Muffin

2009-11-09T12:06:00.003-05:00

This is how I roll...

Thanks Sarrah!

Bimbo!

2009-11-04T19:07:00.004-05:00

Bimbo!

This one got a lot of play when I had my first record player. I hope to resurrect it along with Blinky The Lighthouse Ship sometime soon.

Geometron

2009-11-04T07:26:00.005-05:00

I had to erase my dry-erase board this morning. This Geometron has been with us for several years. He has now been saved for posterity by Jeff's iPhone.

(All Geometrons carry ice-picks.)

Testing

2009-10-23T17:53:00.003-04:00

You don't want to be in that box...trust me.

Saturday Tiki Find - Aloha!

2009-10-18T10:37:00.005-04:00

This was a pretty good Goodwill find yesterday:

A nice Trader Vic's Aloha coconut mug. I don't have any exactly like this one.

I have a version of a Trader Vic's coconut mug that just has "Trader Vic's" inscribed on the bottom and no words on the sides: See this older post

Then I have another version of the mug that just has "Aloha" and "Trader Vic's" (no "Since 1934") on the side with "Trader Vic's" inscribed on the bottom: See this older post

This one has a "Trader Vic's" stamped in black paint on the bottom. I couldn't really get a good picture of the bottom but there are some good examples on Ooga Mooga.

I need to do some more research and see if I can put these in chronological order.

Coupon Of The Day

2009-10-01T12:20:00.004-04:00

I had a REALLY GOOD coupon at Publix today.

They canceled it though. :(

(They actually missed the coupon altogether after trying to figure out what happened and reverse it... it was only $0.70 or so and it was the cashiers first day or something. I had $0.70 worth of fun watching them try to figure it out and asking to be paid in twenty's. )

Recent Tiki Finds: Leilani & Dynasty Green

2009-09-27T10:36:00.007-04:00

Behind on the tiki postings... must catch up a bit.

3 or 4 weeks ago I picked up a Tiki Leilani mug at my local "antique" store. This one is supposedly pretty common but I've never come across one before.

This one is probably from Orchids of Hawaii as it seems identical to many of the ones I can compare it to on Ooga Mooga. It has "Tiki Leilani" around the base but it's hidden by the jungle in the photo above. The bottom is clearly marked USA.

There are two more of these left at the store if anyone needs one (I'm not a hoarder.)

Yesterday I ran across this guy at another "antique" store in Tucker:

I'm pretty sure it's a Dynasty Green Tiki (DW113) made by Dynasty Wholesale. You can see him here on page 3 of their catalog.

While not terribly special or hard to find as you can still get them today, it was interesting to try to identify. This one doesn't have any markings on the bottom while some of the earlier Dynasty models did. I'm guessing they dropped it from the mold at some point.

It's similar to the Shonfeld's Jagged Teeth Mug but the nose is slightly different. Both the Dynasty and the Shonfelds's are pretty much clones of an original Orchids of Hawaii R-5 mug. The biggest difference I can find is in the noses.

Dynasty:

Shonfeld's:

Orchids of Hawaii:

I hope you found this educational. I did.

Sky Guy

2009-08-24T20:13:00.003-04:00

Last month my Dad celebrated his 70th birthday.

He's been fascinated by these "sky dancer" things so we rented one for his party.

He can do a pretty good imitation of one.

It was pretty loud, but it was easy to set up and use. Thanks to the folks at Monster Party Rentals for making everything easy for me.

Les Paul 1915-2009

2009-08-13T16:15:00.003-04:00

That's a pretty good run. Obit HERE.

Les DID A LOT to make music what it is today. Thanks Les.

I'm off to listen to some Couch Flambeau.

Sun Makes Cats Broken

2009-08-07T17:04:00.000-04:00

Broke.

Out With the Old!

2009-08-02T14:39:00.003-04:00

... and in with the not quite as old!

My Sharp Carrousel II from 1992 died this weekend. It would no longer heat my half 'n' half to froth up for my coffee. I did some testing with a cup of water... it was done. I guess the magnetron finally gave up.

Sad day. :(

A short trip to the basement later... presenting my wife's Sharp Carousel from 1994.

It's a bit smaller and we can't pile as much stuff on it as we could the old one. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. Probably good.

Hopefully it will hold in there for a little while. I've been thinking about a combination microwave/convection oven anyway... something like the Sharp R-820JS. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

DTV for Cheap!

2009-08-01T16:54:00.003-04:00

Look! I've got digital television. I'm high-tech.

I have a Zenith digital to analog converter I got for my grandmother with my government DTV handout a year or so back. . She has cable now so the converter box ended up back here. Unfortunately the remote control for it disappeared somewhere in the great city of Huntsvegas. You can't get to the setup stuff without the remote.

Luckily my mother-in-law gave me Emerson remote control that's bigger than my head for a 40th birthday present. It seems that the converter box uses the same control codes as some satellite converter box. Woohoo! I'm in business.

Add that to my $6 B&W TV I got from Office Depot (or maybe Staples) a few years back, dig up some rabbit ears and a bow-tie antenna, and I've got a better picture than this TV has ever had in its dreams (unless B&W TV's dream in color).

I'm going back to watching NASCAR on cable now.

Mabel Appreciation

2009-08-01T12:41:00.002-04:00

I tried to send this from the park (twice) this morning but it never came through.

Looks like Mabel got a Certificate of Appreciation from the State of Georgia since I was here last. I'll get a better picture when she's here and I bring a real camera.

Now if the park would clean things up a bit.

Foggy Mountain

2009-08-01T09:05:00.000-04:00

Not broken though...

Thoughts for today...

2009-07-15T19:51:00.003-04:00

Went to the grocery tonight... I picked a parking space that was across from one cart return and completely behind the return on another. You'd have to be pretty freaking lazy not to go ahead and put your cart anywhere around there without just putting it in the cart return.

I came out of the grocery and every car on my row was gone except mine... and not one but TWO carts were pushed into my car. Both leaving dents and dings.

I really guess I shouldn't be surprised. There's a lot to be said for personal responsibility but it's definitely NOT something the majority of people have a clue about any more. It's a thing of the past. Lazy dependence is now the rule.

Twins!

2009-07-13T18:41:00.004-04:00

You might remember the mug on the left from an earlier post late last year. It was my first real wahine mug that Dan found somewhere near San Francisco. Well I got a surprise Saturday in the mail when I got another one from Lois in Boise.

The one from Dan is on the left and the new ones from Lois is on the right. They are the same design but are probably done at different times.

The one on the left is stamped Japan on the bottom and there are no marks on the one on the right. I think maybe the one stamped Japan is probably older but I don't know for sure. The lettering and some other features are less worn on the one Lois found but that just indicates it's probably seen less use. They also have different eyes.

The glaze jobs differ a bit too.

Very cool. Now I have a set!

Thanks Lois!

Recent Tiki Finds

2009-07-10T16:52:00.002-04:00

Here's an interesting find Bear made at Goodwill:

It dates all the way back to March of 2001.

It's a pretty hefty well-made mug. The screenprinting is a bit cheesy with the whole "Kumoniwanaleia" thing but at least it dates the mug and helps start a story. Feel free to let me know how the part was if you were there.

It seems like Bear find as many (or maybe more) tikis than I do these days. I'm trying to keep up. Here's one I found at the local "antique" store a few weeks back:

It's a nice Ku replica brought to us from the KC Company in Alea, Hawaii (and of course was made in China.)

The Truth About The Bitter Truth

2009-07-09T17:24:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago my coworkers (we'll call him Karl) had to go to one of our offices in Sankt Wolfgang, Germany for a few weeks.

View Larger Map

A while back I came across a line of bitters from a company in Germany called The Bitter Truth. I figured maybe he could get me some while he was over there. We looked it all up on the internet and found the "retailler" for Germany was called Drinkology. It was 45 miles away on the other side of Munich but not exactly next door... in a town called Pullach.

View Larger Map

Karl, the kind and adventurous soul, set out to Pullach to shop for some bitters. He took the train to Pullach and set out with his trusty iPhone as a guide to find the Drinkology store. I think after 10 minutes or so of walking through the rain he was beginning to wonder if there was a store.

After a few more minutes the rain let up and he found himself at the address... a residence. Ooops.

Well... we're there now. Might was will ring the bell and see how things go. Luckily Stephan was home and even though it was a bit out of the ordinary he sold Karl was able to obtain some Lemon Bitters.

You can't get much closer to the source than this. Thanks Karl!

I used some this evening instant of my normal Angostura or orange bitters to make myself a Manhattan. It has a wonderful aroma of lemon zest and a lively lemon taste that's lightly spiced (not candy-like). It really brightens up the drink.

This really makes we want to check out the rest of the products from The Bitter Truth. I still can't find them anywhere here in the Atlanta area. Maybe Karl will have to go back to for more :)

Lunch!

2009-07-02T11:40:00.000-04:00

Mmmmmm.

Looking for cheese...

2009-06-27T12:06:00.001-04:00

Update 2:21 PM:

While they have TONS of cheese and lots of Wisconsin cheese they had no Brick Cheese.

So far we have not located Brick Cheese in Atlanta.

Mmmm... Squash

2009-06-20T12:32:00.002-04:00

I was out mowing the yard this morning and my neighbor brought me some nice yellow squash and a zucchini right out of her garden.

Looks like I know what I'm cooking on Sunday evening :)