Zanzibar (Pics galore)

[Slug Toy]

after much talk, much thought, and much delay, this worklog is officially under way. lets jump right into the deep end, only two minutes after eating, no swimming skills, and no life jacket, and we'll see what happens.

first, heres a small tour of the facilities:

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/Garage.jpg
this is my garage. maybe a couple hundred square feet, but it still gets messed up horribly.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/TableSaw.jpg
my table saw. i wont be using it, but its there and its worth mentioning.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/DrillPress.jpg
my drill press. ill be using that tomorrow if all goes well.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/ChopSaw.jpg
my chop saw. its retarded, so im leaving it alone.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/BeltSander.jpg
my belt sander. it came in handy yesterday for my "dangerous metals test". look in the rookies nook at the feature thread and you'll see.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/BandSaw.jpg
my bandsaw. that may come in handy for some curved cuts or something.

ok, another post is coming in just a few minutes with some good stuff, so sit tight.

[Slug Toy]

heres some action shots for you.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/StartingSheet.jpg
this is the aluminum i started with. 50"x30", and only $18.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/20InchSquare.jpg
this is what i got after some jig-sawing. a 20"x20" square. the picture's a little fuzzy for some reason. i dont know why.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/CuttingStrips.jpg
i then proceeded to cut the square into 2" strips. two of the strips i cut in half to make four 10"x2" strips. you'll understand this all once i start assembly.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/AnnealedStrips.jpg
i then annealed the strips and ended up with some warped metal. nothing a rubber hammer cant fix. if you dont know what annealing is, refer to my "workign with sheet metal" thread in tips and tricks.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/BendingJig.jpg
once i annealed the strips, i was ready to put them into a bending jig. it took me a few tries to make something that worked, but i eventually settled on this.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/BentStrips.jpg
i bent the four 10"x2" strips down the middle and ended up with this. at this point though, it was dark and cold, so i called it quits for the night.

so thats what i was doing today. tomorrow, i plan on getting the rest of my metal strips bent, and perhaps i will start assembling them to show you what kind of madness this is. check back here tomorrow for more interesting things.

[Slug Toy]

hmm, i had an afterthought here. just looking back at some pictures, i noticed a fire extinguisher sitting outside my garage. i was going to avoid putting this in, but i might as well explain it for a laugh.

me and my brother like to do, um, dangerous things. the more dangerous, and illegal, and stupid, the better it is.

well today i was experimenting with a makeshift annealing apparatus coming off one line of a 10 pound tank of propane, and i had a small scale pulse jet (improvised from a wonky propane heater) on on another line, making pointless noise. then a leak at one of the valves burst into flames and started shooting melted plastic from the tap, and crap everywhere. i tried blowing it out... for whatever reason, and singed my hair a bit. then i tried slapping it out, and burnt my glove. then my brother got the fire extinguisher out, which was full of water and rust at about 250 PSI (it was empty so he "recharged" it with the water). so he blew rusty water all over the place, put the fire out, soaked me and himself, and then we decided to call it quits with makeshifting, and launched the annealing apparatus into the air with a parachute flare. all in all, i had some fun. thats actually why the siding is stained along the bottom in some spots too.

too bad i dont have pictures of that, but the camera was inside while i was doing that, and my first reaction wasnt "this would make a nice picture". i think my first reaction was "thats interesting" and then "oh crap".

so what is the lesson? dont improvise when dealing with propane tanks and fire. dont try to blow out a large fire, and dont try to slap it either. keep your fire extinguishers handy and full of something other than water. and finally, parachute flares are loud.

anyways, tomorrow brings on another adventure/catastrophe.

[DaveW]

Holy hell, i would kill for your setup. Have you seen what i have to work in? Check out Stage 1 of my worklog. I can't even stand up straight where i work.

I envy you.

-Dave

[xmastree]

I envy you.
You at least have some sort of workbench, with clamps and stuff. I'm working outside (ok, so it's warmer here) on top of a freezer. Or in my bedroom if the wife isn't looking... :rolleyes:

[Rankenphile]

so what is the lesson? dont improvise when dealing with propane tanks and fire. dont try to blow out a large fire, and dont try to slap it either. keep your fire extinguishers handy and full of something other than water.

You know, I hate to say it, but someone has to.

Well, duh!

Lol, only kidding, of course. Neat stuff you've got going, can't wait to see what it shapes up to be. And I've had more than my fair share of dealing with the aftermath of dangerous, stupid and probably illegal experiments. Once, as a kid in my early teens, I was trying to carve and sculpt styrofoam to make terrain hills for a D&D adventure I was planning. I was using the beaded styrofoam stuff that comes in appliance packaging, in my room. The stuff kept falling apart, not to mention the horrible noise it made when I cut it.

I got a crazy idea - I remembered you could melt styrofoam with acetone, so I dug through my dad's shop and found a can of it and a couple old rags. I went back to my room, applied some of the acetone to the rags and started trying to sculpt the styrofoam with the acetone-soaked rags. It sort of worked, in that it made a wierd gooey mess that sort of went into the shape I had in mind, but it was slow, tedious work, so I decided to see if I could speed it up.

By lighting it on fire.

Probably the worst idea, ever. I was completely unsupervised, probably 12 or 13, and in my room upstairs at a crappy desk. I lit the styrofoam that was soaked in acetone, expecting to blow it out again, but the whole hill went up in a big whoooof and settled back down to a steady burn. I tried slapping it out with the nearest thing I had at hand...

...the acetone-soaked rag.

Okay, you know how I said lighting the styrofoam was the worst idea ever? Wrong. It was the second worst. Using fuel-soaked rags to put out a fire in your bedroom? Yeah, that's a winner.

I managed to put it out, however, by grabbing a big old green wool army surplus blanket I had on my bed right behind me and smothering it out. I stood there for probably ten minutes staring at the mess I had just made in my room before realizing a very critical notion -

My parents are going to kill me.

Both my folks were working, and not due home for a few hours. I opened all my windows to let the fumes out, wrapped the whole mess, blanket and all, in a huge ball, stuck them in a hefty bag and dragged it across the street to the train tracks and buried them a few hundred yards away form my house in the center of a huge blackberry bush. I finished, went home and cleaned the heck out of my room, getting rid of any evidence I could (the desk still had a few swolen stains and bumps from where the acetone soaked throught he white surface coating, but it was a mess already).

I never did get caught, but that's something I always remembered.

Sorry to get so far off topic, man, and I really hope I didn't derail your worklog, but I had to share that story - I had forgotten about it until I read your tale.

[DaveW]

Using fuel-soaked rags to put out a fire in your bedroom

Jees Rankephile, i've done some silly things, but can't hold a candle to that!

-Dave

[Slug Toy]

made some good progress today. i got the frame made up and i am now ready to move onto hardware placement.

ill move on to some work pictures in a second, but first the obligatory workshop cat shot:

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/Coco.jpg
four quick answers to questions i always get: yes she IS brown, she is a purebred Havana Brown, she is dumb as a post, and no you cant have her. she doesnt actually hang out when im working. the tools scare her, heck, her own shadow scares her. if its not loud, she'll snoop around though.

ok, work pictures.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/LongBentPiece.jpg
im starting on the 20" pieces, bending them the same way as i did the four shorter pieces yesterday. oh, one side note, the purple crap that i have the metal clamped in is a wood called purple heart. beautiful stuff, but it is super hard and heavy, and it irritates everything.. nose, eyes, lungs, and slivers get very infected.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/BendingTechnique.jpg
here im just showing how i start the bending process. i hit directly from the side to stay nice and close to where the metal is clamped. that way, i can keep the bends clean and crisp.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/AllBent.jpg
so here i have a collection of the bent metal, all done. now i can start drilling and rivetting. this is where my drill press comes in handy.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/DrilledHole.jpg
one hole drilled, just to show you the spacing.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/FirstRivet.jpg
one rivet done, to show how it looks.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/HalfFrame.jpg
heres one side done. still kind of flimsy, but that changed very quickly.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/FinishedFrame.jpg
this is the complete frame. it measures 20"x20"x10".

so that is all the good pictures i have for now. ill explain a bit now.

the reason im going with a frame and not a proper case is that i believe i will have enough strength in the other bits ill be adding. theres going to be a fair amount of styrene, a few more metal pieces, and all sorts ofsmall little things i havent even gotten figured out yet. i also want to keep weight down.

so now, the hardware placement is going to get interesting. ill put my concept picture here, so i can refer to it.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/FinalDrawing.jpg

as you can see, there will be the big windmill on the one side, so that would have had to be wide open anyways... another advantage of my frame idea. that thing on the front that looks like a gate will house two cd drives, and it WILL be off center.

unfortunately i cant really show where the motherboard will be, but ill describe it to the best of my ability. i plan to have it about an inch away from the right hand wall, unlike most cases where it is right up against the wall. this way i can get some air flow happening back there. ill probably fasten it by making some aluminum risers and only screwing the motherboard in at the bare minimum number of points.

i havent decided yet, but im toying with the idea of having the hard drive hidden in the imitation cliff, because it really wont serve any purpose visually, and probably wont need to be seen.

the power supply is probably going to be tucked away in the cliff too, and the only hint you will have is some wires coming out along with that spinning "power generator" that is in the base on zanzibar.

as for things like the power button, and the usb ports and such, well that is yet to be decided as well. i want them to be easily accessible, but out of view. i might slap them in just below the ramp coming around the front. that way they would be about half way up and reasonably out of sight.

well, i dont have a heck of a lot more to say right now. i have some things to take care of tomorrow, so i dont know if i can work on this, but sunday is a maybe. if you guys are lucky, ill have more pictures for sunday night. they will be of the back panel fabrication, and perhaps the motherboard mount. if im really productive, you may even see some drive mounts appearing. i just have to get everything placed before i can go about anything visual.

so, keep your fingers crossed.

[Slug Toy]

oh, and dont worry about taking this thread off topic. ill do my share of derailing as i work through this. its my random creative outlet to go off on tangents without notice.

by all means, if i remind you of something that is worth mentioning, throw it in.

[xmastree]

Nice Workshop, here's mine!

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f341/chrispollard/386/freezerbench.jpg
(See Dave, I told you I was working on a freezer!)

And here's the cat:

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f341/chrispollard/sutchi.jpg

you should have seen her tail after the flash went off. ;)

Anyway, what I'm about to suggest is pointless as you've gone beyond that stage, but...
For making the square frames, wouldn't it be stronger to use one piece, cut half way at three points and folded into a rectangle, then riveted?

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f341/chrispollard/joint.png

[Slug Toy]

i would have liked to do it that way, but it would have screwed up the rest of the sheet metal for my other things. the way i have it now leaves me with a nice 20x20 square cut out, and plenty of space to get other things done. your way would fall under working smarter, but i chose to work harder for the sake of efficiency. i wont really have to worry about looks either, because all the metal will be covered in plenty of plastic and perhaps copper.

nice cat. she looks like an elf crossed with some sort of polydactyl hairball. i count at least five toes on the front paw there, and they look large enough to be hiding another one or two. am i right, or am i hallucinating? i like cats when they're that young... so clumsy and playful... and harmless... and stupid.

[xmastree]

I think you may have been inhaling too many heavy metals... she's quite normal. Well, as normal as they are at that age. Hopefully she will stick around. The last one didn't. But then we found him wet and bedraggled on the doorstep and took pity on him.
Perhaps he was lost and weak, and once we had fed him for a few days he was strong enough to find his way home again. That's what I prefer to think... It's just as likely that he got squashed, but try telling that to a five year old.
:(

[Slug Toy]

well, i said if you were lucky, youd be seeing some stuff happening on sunday. unfortunately, you arent very lucky at all. neither am i.

sunday was a botch, and today has also been a write off so far. i have to get on this after dinner to even have a hope of getting any work done today.

so, now you REALLY need to keep your fingers crossed.

[Slug Toy]

well, monday was slow. lots of thinking happened, and not much work. today was similar, but i did get some stuff done. it was really buggered up today though.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/Coco2.jpg
as you can see, it was a nice enough day to be sunbathing. unfortunately, that was the only good thing about today.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/MoreStrips.jpg
so i cut a couple more strips to make the motherboard mount.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/MoreBending.jpg
then i bent them to get some strength.

this is where everything started to go wrong. first, i had to stop what i was doing and go for dinner, so that ruined my "zone". then, i realised that everything would have been easier if i hadnt assembled my frame already (now you see the folly of my "figure it out as i go" methods). so it was a struggle to drill holes and rivet some more. i ended up with this:

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/FinalMoboMount.jpg
it looks alright from a distance, but once you measure stuff, the horror sets in. its not square! its ugly, but i cant really fix it, short of doing it all over again. i dont particularly want to do that either. it means doing the whole damn frame over too.

so now, im starting to think that making my own case is sort of a mistake. this is honestly the first time ive mixed my metal skills with computers to make something useful from scratch. i dont have any proper measurements for the ATX mount pattern, so im doing it from measurements off my own motherboard, which is a mistake because ive already shorted out my power supply twice doing that. i dont have any proper measurements for many othe rthings either.

often times, i dont know when to admit defeat, but i may have to do that this time before i fry my computer, or fry myself while frying my computer. looks like ive got a tough decision to make here. its a question of whether i want to spend 60 bucks or not. it may be worth it if it stops me from ending my computer.

anyways, thats my small update, and a few musings for you. ill let you know what i decide on in a little while, after i have a chance to look at some cases.

[Rankenphile]

Don't let it defeat you. Spend a day or two going back to the drawing board. There may well be a way that all of your work can be easily salvaged - just spend a bit of time playing around with your design, or even doing something completely unrelated. Sometimes coming back to it with a fresh perspective solves all your problems.

[Cevinzol]

looks to me like all you have to do is drill out some rivet heads and adjust some hole placements. I can't tell from the concept drawing but it looks like this frame will be covered. If so, who cares if you have extra holes in the corners.

Rankenfile has it right. If you're flustered take a break. Personally I find a couple good night's sleep help. I find when I'm sleeping my unconscious is still working on the problem and sometimes its much clearer when I wake up.

[Slug Toy]

well, i took some time out to pursue another idea i had, unrelated to computers. i also had a few drinks to regain my creativity... it worked. nothing like 10 shots of kahlua to keep your mind, and throat burning. none of those 1 ounce shots either... the old school 2 ounce glasses is all i have.

i spent some time drawing out some shapes and cutting cardboard to get an idea of component sizing and screw patterns, and a few other little things. i wrote a damn good story last night too, and not that weird film noir narrative in "springtime mystery" in the chatterbox....... anyways... i came back today, after having slept off my drinks, and last night's work actually looked good. so i put it in motion.

i re-drilled some holes and fiddled for a bit, and i got the frame back to where it was a couple days ago. nothing new to see though, so i dont have any pictures. i also fiddled with more cardboard today to get an idea of what the back panel might look like. its crazy enough to bloody well work. well... its not crazy, but you get the idea.

unfortunately, i have to work tomorrow. imagine that... working on a holiday, and i dont even get double time! so tomorrow is yet another botch, perhaps after dinner will be good though. at least i have the weekend to make things happen.

i figure ill do some extensive body work after im done with the metal work. load it up with bondo or epoxy to smooth everything out. havent decided yet though. maybe even some.... LEADWORK. yeah, dont get me started about lead again, im done arguing, but i might use it just to avoid buying some bondo.

heres sort of a design update. i was studying my drawing a little while ago, and realised that the cd drives are going to be in the way of my windmill. simple fix though, im just going to move them to the right side, instead of the left side. ill have to adjust the imitation cliff accordingly, but hey, that'll be foam so its easy. speaking of cliffs, i was toying with a retarded idea to make them out of granite. it would look extra real, but i think ill leave stonework for another day, and stick to foam for now.

so thats it for today. maybe ill have a treat for you tomorrow, maybe not. the only thing i know for sure right now is... its raining outside.

[Slug Toy]

speaking of your idea for sleeping on it, cevinzol... well that got strange.

i tried it, and it sort of worked. the night before last, i managed to come up with computer related stuff in a dream, but i ended up having penguins and fat guy in there too, so it got weird. last night doesnt count because i was busy being drunk.

i think ill stick with just taking some time off. my dreams are too scary to help.

[jsb666]

Great to hear you got things sorted a bit coz im really looking forward to seeing this finished :)

[Uknowho]

not to try to get to far ahead of you but what are you going to use for the propeller or fan or whatever it is?

[jdbnsn]

What you are doing looks very tough, I am doing similar beding and riviting with angles, but not nearly as large as what you are and I have had those same problems, very frustrating. But considering the scale of your work there I'd say you are doing great and I'm glad to hear that you sorted out the uneveness. Keep up the good work!

[xmastree]

i managed to come up with computer related stuff in a dream, but i ended up having penguins and fat guy in there tooNothing wrong with penguins in a computer. Mine runs on penguin power.
Tha fat guy has me worried though. Was he bald and sweaty? Did he run around screaming developers! developers! developers! developers! all the time?

[Slug Toy]

well, i have a sad bit of news. no treats for tonight. i got home from work late, and then i got dragged out to a movie. it was "thank you for smoking" and it was pretty damn good. a few references to things before my time, but other stuff makes up for it. thats not what im here to talk about though.

so i have an expectant crowd massing up eh? well good. that'll drive me late into the night, and hopefully ill find the inspiration to get things moving double time or something. i shall not disappoint.

ah, the windmill. what am i using? well the plan is to get the largest computer fan possible, then dismantle it and use some plastic to make the shape of the windmill off zanzibar in halo 2. ill probably use the lowest voltage possible to keep it spinning slow, and if necessary, ill use some sort of gearing to lower the rpm.

as for the sheet metal work being hard, well i wouldnt word it that way. id call it piddly work that has to be fairly exact. it is frustrating though, ill admit that. sometimes i just want to smash the whole thing to crap, but that wouldnt be very productive would it?

and as for the fat guy, he was bald, but he wasnt sweaty, and he wasnt yelling anything either. he was very large, and he was completely silent to the point where i was feeling a little worried even in my dream. and just for clarification, these were no normal penguins either. imagine a penguin with no fixed shape, mass, or volume. then picture this penguin rapidly scaring you by making subtle movements that are , for whatever reason, horrific to watch. then imagine the feeling of being locked in a large empty room, being told to tile it with an impossibly large number of tiny tiles, while having these horrific things happening around you. THAT, my friend, will get you in a mindset which will allow you to begin to comprehend my dreams.

[xmastree]

THAT, my friend, will get you in a mindset which will allow you to begin to comprehend my dreams.And you still say there were no bad side effects from doing those metal grinding tests? :p

For the fan, why use a computer fan? Try an ordinary household desk fan or similar.

As for the actual theme, I have no idea what Halo2 is, but I presume it's a game. :?

[jdbnsn]

Hey Slug Toy,

I have an idea that may help with the fan control, you could gear it up just like a drill press with different geared rotors and power it with a small RC car motor or even the motor that came with the fan (though that would require 110V)
Here is what I mean:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f395/jdbnsn/wooden%20mc/drillpressgears.jpg

The gears would be quite simple to make on a wood lathe or metal lathe (if you had access to either, or even glueing layers of different sized disks on one another with a drive shaft in the center of each. Just an idea.

[Slug Toy]

that pulley idea was the first thing i thought of. takes up too much space though. i have another idea on the works. i cant describe it, so you'll have to wait and see what i have in mind.

you're really hung up on that metal test arent you, xmas? no i dont think i exposed myself too much. my mind just works in odd ways, and most often when i dont want it to. maybe im slowly going crazy. that would be fun. oh, and just to let you know, halo 2 is an xbox game, probably the number one seller until halo 3 comes out.

well, anyways, im not posting anything big tonight either. i dont have access to a camera until tomorrow, so i just got a piece of metal cut for the back panel, and ill be ready to work on it tomorrow.

just think. once im done the back panel, i have the drive mounts, and a couple reinforcing pieces to put on the front, top and bottom. then i can get all artistic with plastics and airbrushes and who knows what. its a matter of time more than anything though. i have to find the time to do this stuff. suddenly ive found myself uncontrollably busy all day long. ill get it done though, maybe a week for the last bits of metal (im sure ive just jynxed it too).

[xmastree]

you're really hung up on that metal test arent you, xmas?
Not at all...
I was amazed that you took the trouble in the first place, and my poking fun at you about it is just my way of expressing my admiration. :p

As for the windmill thing, how about driving it with some sort of crank arrangement? Normally the wind would turn the blades, and the crank would take the power to whatever it was driving. Just invert the principle.

Use an electric motor and gears from a toy car or something, out of site.

I'll make a Q&D drawing to show you what I mean. Watch this space.

Edit: Here ya go:

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f341/chrispollard/windmill.png

[Slug Toy]

ah, poor xmas, just bugging you. good idea for the windmill, but its too intrusive. ill still hold to my good idea that i cant describe in words.

now, some pictures and an update.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/CutBackPanel.jpg
heres the piece of metal i cut last night. there were big plans in store for this piece.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/PanelHoles.jpg
i drilled 6 holes on the sides to let me rivet things together.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/FrameHoles.jpg
a corresponding hole in the frame. it was a pain getting everything lined up properly.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/Worklog/Panle-FrameAssembly.jpg
after some rivetting, a nasty pinch, and some hammering, i ended up with this. and this brings me to the update.

once i got the back panel rivetted on, and i had drawn out the lines where the outputs would be located, i stood back to look at what i had accomplished. once again, i didnt like it. things werent very square, and this time i KNOW i cant save it as easily as before. i had one of those "what the hell am i doing?" moments in which i kind of punched a hole in a perfectly good door. i cant get this to work for me, its always against me.

so once again, i need to think for a bit. im going to take another look at some cases to see if theres anything cheap and easy to mod. all i really need is the motherboard mount and back panel, but if i can get a whole case, ill use it. maybe i can scrounge one up. that way, i can use the aluminum as bonus material to add nifty doodads and whatsits.

so much for my optimism. i dont want to think about this anymore right now. ill check back in here when ive done some figuring.

[Slug Toy]

well i walked away from this for a little too long i guess. four days is a little too extended for my liking.

im going to try and track down a cheap mid tower case. as luck would have it, there is an actual NCIX store about half an hour away from me, so i can just take a trip over there and grab one.

i do like the looks of the thermaltake matrix vx series of cases, and they're aluminum too, but they are a little too expensive for my purpose. i think ill have to settle for a steel case. not a problem though.

there are two ways this can go now. im leaving for hawaii on wednesday next week, and ill be gone until the 2nd of may. i can either get the case before i leave, or after i get back. either way, there probably wont be a heck of a lot of activity until i get back. and even then, school starts up for me again... on the day i return. i got mondays off though!! and then i have that business proposition i was talking about in this thread:

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2590

if that proposition goes through, my spare time will be spent installing and troubleshooting network systems.

hmmm, now come to think of it, theres probably about 50 ways this can go. bottom line is ill be making a trip to NCIX between now and the monday after i return from hawaii.

[Slug Toy]

ugh, nothing got done.

i had to work monday and tuesday, and between that and preparing for my vacation, well i was busy. so ive got to pick up a case when i get back.

im keeping this a short post because im leaving in a matter of hours, and i need a little sleep. needless to say, this will be my last post until next tuesday.

ill bring back lots of pictures for everyone, just in case some of you have always wanted to see hawaii. volcano, jungle, snorkelling, interesting stuff, and if you're lucky, ill have some underwater shots (i have to find a disposable underwater camera first).

so ill be reporting back in a week.

[Slug Toy]

im back, and im burned. turns out my flight home was an overnight one, so i didnt get home yesterday. ive only been home for about an hour now.

boy have i got some good pictures to show you guys. im beat though, so im going to crash for a while, and then ill open up a thread in the chatterbox.

[DaveW]

Dammit Slugtoy, you tease!

My Gran just came back from her holiday...man, you've never seen so many beheaded photos in your life. I think we have 2 heads in the whole pack.

-Dave