Author Archives: joel

Say Cheese!

Posted on December 16, 2006 by joel

Here are a couple of cute smiles. Unfortunately, Carter tends to wear a lot of white, and the only time Sean gives Lori the time to grab the camera is first thing in the morning - so most of our pics of Carter tend to be pretty washed out. But still, I think these two really capture her personality all the same. She smiles all the time now, which makes all the work so much more worth it. And this last pic is a little bonus. I couldn't resist throwing it in, because I think it is hilarious. Doesn't she look like Popeye? So far her forearms are regulation size, but we shall see. :)

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Party at Sean’s Place

Posted on December 6, 2006 by joel
Sean had a couple of friends (Grant and Reagan) over for a play date today. He actually hadn't seen them in a while, but they all hung out together as if no time had passed. When I came back into the house from the garage, Reagan snagged me and coerced me into reading her a book. As soon as I started, the boys came to join the fun. Later on they all piled into the toybox for a little fun. So cute.

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Pump It Up!

Posted on December 3, 2006 by joel
We went to a birthday party today at a place called "Pump It Up". It's an indoor play arena filled with inflatable "moon-bounce" structures. Sean barely met the height requirement, and lucky for us he did. I think he may have mounted another protest if we had not allowed him to join in the fun. He spent an hour running and bouncing around, saying "Whee!" every 5 seconds for the entire time. Even though the bigger kids occasionally knocked him down, and he got beaned with a ball or two (one right in the face), none of this fazed him in the slightest. He was sweaty and exhausted by the end of the party, and gave hugs all around.

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Philco 40-180

Posted on November 24, 2006 by joel

I've got the Philco 40-180 refinished, with the decals applied. Today I started recovering the grill plate with the reproduction grill cloth I ordered, and also started taking apart the speakers that will be mounted in the radio. I'm hoping to start assembling the mp3 player kit this weekend, but I'm a bit nervous - this will be the first time I've ever done any precision soldering on anything more complicated than perfboard. Wish me luck!

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Our Budding Artist

Posted on November 24, 2006 by joel

Sean loves to draw. I don't me that he likes to draw, I mean that he loves to draw. First thing in the morning, and first thing after a nap, he marches into the pantry, points at his drawing materials, and begs "art? art?". Later in the day, we head outside and he asks for his chalk, so that he can draw on the fence. He probably spends at least an hour or two a day drawing. The coolest part is the way he holds his crayons. Instead of holding them like a typical todler with a crayon wrapped in a meaty little fist, Sean holds his crayons the way an adult would. Take a look at the close-up Lori took of his hand, and you'll see what I mean.

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Philco 39-17T

Posted on November 22, 2006 by joel
I'm also refinishing a smaller, tabletop Philco radio. I'm planning to refit this one with some modern speakers, and discretely hide a jack on the backside that I can plug an audio device (my Ipod, specifically) into. I've already stripped the finish, repaired, and refinished this one, but I don't have any current pictures yet. Here are the 'before' pictures, though.


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Philco 40-180

Posted on November 22, 2006 by joel

I've got the Philco 40-180 stripped of finish and gutted. I've repaired a few sections that were damaged, and steamed out what dents I could. Unfortunately, steaming out the dents didn't go as well as I had hoped, because the majority of them weren't 'fresh' enough to be steamed out. But now everything is ready for a fresh coat of lacquer. In actuality, I've already started recoating it with lacquer, but I started with a Vandyke Brown toning lacquer, and I think it might be too dark. So I may have to strip it again and start over. Stripping it a second time will go much faster though, as the finish has not fully cured and doesn't have any of the accumulated grime ground into it that the original finish had.

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One of a Kind

Posted on November 17, 2006 by joel

Isn't she cute? She is finally starting to look like someone. I don't mean that she looks like me or Lori, or even like another family member. I just mean that she is starting to look like a little individual, instead of just like one generic baby amongst many. You can start to see her features and personality developing. It's kind of exciting!
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42 Words of Wisdom: #07

Posted on November 11, 2006 by joel

"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."

- Douglas Adams

As much as I am not fond of the current administration, this is actually not meant to be Bush-bashing, but just what I consider to be a general truth. Has anyone else ever though about this? The kind of person that can climb their way to the top of the political food chain probably got there using methods that most would not admire in their leader. With all the scandals involving our politicians, is it any suprise that our voters have become so apathetic?

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Scenes from Space #37

Posted on November 10, 2006 by joel
This amazing image of swirls of dust surrounding the variable star V838 Monocerotiswas was recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope this past September. V838 Monocerotis is about 20,000 light-years away. In January 2002, a sudden outburst from the star was detected, and the light from the outburst illuminated the shells of dust surrounding the star. Astronomers expect that the outburst will continue to ilight up more and more distant dust shells of V838 Mon for at least the rest of this decade. Amazing, isn't it?

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