Still in the Closet...haaaaaaayyy

I had been meaning to build shelves in my closet for over a year now. It turns out that this was the day. It took about 5 hours and i still have to paint everything white.
And no i didn't go with HOOKS. It didn't work for Jerry Seinfeld and the virgin and it didn't work for me.

Garage Lights

I realized that the 60 watt bulb in the garage wasn't going to cut it if i was in there working on the mower at night. So i decided to do the same thing i did in the basement and hang fluorescent lights. Again i went with the easy route, instead of wiring a switch and box, i just connected an extension cord to a "light bulb outlet." This way, whenever i turn on the light, the florescent bulbs turn on as well.
Here's the easy way, so you don't have to install another switch.


Everything took about an hour or two to hang up. Once again, another thing i wish i would have done a long time ago.

I go from finger painting to the Sistine Chapel

If you're like me then you've probably used the program on your computer called Paint. I highly doubt though that you're as awesome as i am and have drawn a picture as sweet as this.
Then the other day i tried the free program Sculptris. It's amazing. It's super fun and easy to draw cool faces. http://www.sculptris.com/download.html
I made this guy in the first 5 minutes of using it. Seriously, this only took me 5 minutes. The thing that makes this program so cool is that it's so easy to use. Much like Paint there are only a few functions, 5 to be exact; flatten, grab, smooth, inflate and crease. That's it.
It makes you feel like you know what you're doing. Give it a try, it's actually really fun and did i say it's easy?

Later i spent MAYBE 15 minutes and drew this face.

Closet shelves - part 2

About 5 months ago i built shelves in my bedroom closet. I really liked how it turned out so i decided to do the same thing in one of the other bedrooms to store all my other stuff. As you can see it was getting pretty bad.

Melting Records

I heard about this a long time ago and i finally decided to give it a try. So i went to the Salvation Army and bought a couple records, some real classics.

Everyone online says to put the record on a bowl in the oven at 200 degrees for 5 minutes. I didn't find it to be that exactly. It depends on the record's thickness and if you're using a glass bowl that's already hot or not. I found that 7 or 10 minutes is sometimes needed for the thicker records. The good part is that if you screw up and make a bad one, you can always reheat it and try again. Because it is tough, you only have around 5-10 seconds to really get the shape you want, after removing it from the oven.
You need oven mitts for the pans but the record itself cools down pretty quickly. The ones i liked the most were made when i wedged them between two bowls. It gave it a tighter more defined shape.
Or you can do it freehand and it gives it a more natural shape.

Out of the 20 i made i only thought maybe 5 turned out ok. Here's some of the better ones.

You heard it here first ...the Camera Toss

Can you tell how i took this picture?

No it wasn't someone up in a tree. I took it myself.

That's right i threw the camera up in the air. I am telling you right now that within 1 year this is going to be the next coolest thing. In fact it already is super cool but no one knows about it, or is willing or coordinated enough to throw up their $150 digital camera and catch it. It does take some practice, setting the 2 second delay, and getting the right spinning toss to get the picture. But do it right and it turns out great.

Clearly i was more concerned with not dropping the camera on the pavement and less concerned that i looked like a moron.
None of the pictures i tried in West Virginia turned out all that well because it was always cloudy and snowing. I'm gonna try it on a clear sunny day and see if it turns out any better. But just remember: 8 months from now when you hear someone say "Hey there's this cool new thing where you throw your camera up in the air and take an awesome picture." You better say "Oh ya my friend Dave told me about that a LONG time ago, cause he's cool like that."

Video Chat - Skype vs Tango

Last week when i went out of town, Karrie and i decided to try out video chat. Just like in every sci-fi movie of the future, where people don't just talk on the phone, but also see the persons face. We decided to try both Skype and Tango, the two most popular video chat programs.
VS.

When comparing the two i realized that the program for the PC was not the same as the mobile version for the cell phone. So i came out with two different results:



Video Chat using a Computer
If you have a microphone and you are using you computer or laptop, then the winner is:

Skype had lots of features and easy to use. When you run the program on your computer, you are able to clearly see all of those features and understand how everything works. But you have to make sure you have a webcam and microphone. Some laptops now come with those built in.

Video Chat using a Cell Phone
If you are planning on using video chat with a cell phone, then the winner is:

When you are using a cell phone you don't need lots of features. In fact it's a lot easier to use an app with a simple interface. No clutter no fancy options, just turn it on, call and video talk. With a small cell phone screen, it's not easy to see and use all of the buttons. That's why i liked Tango's interface better.

So if you are looking to try out video chat with your family and friends, the program you want depends on whether you will be using your computer or cell phone. I would think that the majority of people now a days would be using their cell phone. In that case i would recommend connecting to a wi-fi first. It takes a lot of bandwidth to transfer live video. If you have a bad connection, the video can get really choppy. Also your phone needs to have a forward facing camera, otherwise you won't be able to see the person you are talking to, and sort of ruins the whole point.

DIY Cell Phone Holder - For Your Car

The other day on Lifehacker i saw how you could make a car cell phone holder out of a binder clip. It's used to hold your phone up while driving in the car.

I basically followed the same directions. But after bending the wires i decided to wrap them with yarn instead. And then so the phone didn't slip, i used Goop glue, which has similar consistency as rubber cement or hot glue.

It held the phone better then i thought it would.


So i tried it out while driving in the car and it worked fine. But it does depend what you are clipping on to. All i had in my car was the thin air vent, which didn't give much support and the phone wobbled a little.

But overall i think it worked really well.

It's a cheap and easy way to see if you like using a phone clip, before buying a fancy, expensive one.

Sliderule

If you know what this is, then you are old.
If you have ever used one of these, then you are really old.
But after China detonates an Electromagnetic Pulse bomb (EMP) over the world and knocks out all electronic devices, i'll be all set and ready to multiply and divide big numbers.
Actually i was really amazed at how cool this was, once i figured out how to use it. For example in this picture i set the slider to line up with the 6.

(click to enlarge)

The back of the sliderule is used for sin, cos and tangents. Again i was amazed at how accurate it was and how easy it was to use.

Free Online Music

Here are 3 ways to listen to music online. The first two are super easy, you'll have songs playing within 5 seconds.
Pandora Radio
This site has you type in a song or band that you like and it plays music that is similar. It's a great way to discover new bands that play the same type of music you already like. The downside is that you cannot pick particular songs and it only lets you skip a few songs at a time. It's sort of like a radio station tailored to you.

Grooveshark
This is similar to Pandora except it's better. It lets you pick the exact song you want to listen to, see every song from any band and make playlists to listen to. I first learned about it when i saw that Grooveshark had several lawsuits against it and the Android App store refused to support it. I knew it must be good if that many companies hate it.

Google Music Beta
This is brand new. It came out last Tuesday. It's only in Beta version and you need an invite to even use it. Apparently you will be able to load all your music online then be able to listen to it anytime from any device.

Vector Magic

I downloaded a program the other day called Vector Magic. You add a picture, click just a few buttons and it converts your picture into vector art for you. It's super easy. You can customize the result with things like more or less detail.

Here's what i mean, this is the original picture from Sleeping Bear Dunes.
And here it is after setting the vector detail to low.

(click on the pictures to enlarge)

Arizona
Here's one where i also used layering in Photoshop so that Jack stays the same but the rest of the picture is vectorized.