theWhiteNoise.net - Web Log

9/19/2006, Tuesday

National Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Filed under: — Brandon @ 7:10 am

ARRRRRRR!  It be national talk like a pirate day me harties!  If ye scurvy sea dogs need to be studying up on ye pirate speak, ye need to be checking out this link:

http://loadingreadyrun.com/showmovie.php?x=480&y=360&url=talklikepirate.mov

9/7/2006, Thursday

Nap Master

Filed under: — Brandon @ 10:50 pm

New Curtains

You are now witnessing the rarely seen vertical blinds & curtain combination!  A hybrid of light blocking technologies used to optimize my nap time experience.  Yes, it’s true - I’m a napping master.

 

Now playing: Bloodsimple - Straight Hate

8/5/2006, Saturday

New Puppy In The Family

Filed under: — Brandon @ 2:09 pm

Dan and Laura’s new puppy, Bella.  Unfortunately, they recently had to put Rue, Dan’s dog since middle school, to sleep.

Bella3

Bella1

Bella2

 

7/17/2006, Monday

Attic Storage Project

Filed under: — Brandon @ 12:31 am

I never really posted anything about this project because it’s been such a long on-going task.  My workshop (which is just a small storage room off my loft that also houses the central A/C unit & water heater) was getting very cramped.  I was using it both as my workshop and storage for anything I didn’t want lying around my condo.  I have a small attic that’s available for storage, but the only access to it was on a ladder through a push up hatch from the first floor.  I decided it would be cool to have a doorway into it from the storage room (which backs the attic).  I could then easily place larger items into the attic for storage while simultaneously gaining some space in my workshop.

Here are some pictures of how cramped the workshop was getting:

AtticProject_UnderConstruction 015

AtticProject_UnderConstruction 016

To start the project, I cut a hole in the drywall of the storage room.  I then had to remove a section of one stud that was dead center in the new doorway. 

AtticProject_UnderConstruction 005

The wall probably would have been fine without out this one stud, but just to be safe, I inserted a doubled-up 2×10 header to disperse the weight of the missing stud to the two adjacent studs.

AtticProject_UnderConstruction 001

At this point, I screwed down plywood in the attic area, so it was easy to store items & walk around:

AtticProject_UnderConstruction 011

I then started work on a door for the opening.  I wanted a pocket door style door, but didn’t want to pay a fortune for one.  So I just bought the track kit & constructed one.  Here’s the test setup in my family room:

AtticProject_UnderConstruction 008

I installed the door and trimmed it up to make it look a little neater. 

AtticProjectCompleted 006

I then proceeded to move all of my storage junk into that area.  It worked out great.  I had enough room to take down some of my existing storage shelving to make room for new work benches.  I also installed some smaller shelves in more convenient areas.  My grandfather recently moved out of his house & gave me a scroll saw, bench grinder, and a sweet metal table top (which I converted into a workbench for my soldering).  Here are some pictures of the “new” cleaned up workshop:

AtticProjectCompleted 001

AtticProjectCompleted 007

AtticProjectCompleted 002

AtticProjectCompleted 003

AtticProjectCompleted 005

AtticProjectCompleted 004

 

Now playing: Fort Minor - 02 Remember The Name

7/16/2006, Sunday

New Host

Filed under: — Brandon @ 6:28 pm

Long time, no updates.  I’ve had a lot of stuff going on, so I haven’t had a chance to update lately.  My web host contract was up, so I decided to move to a new host.  I used to have problems with mail server outages, slow page loads, etc.  So far so good with this new host – seems to be a great improvement over the old one. 

Anyway, I’ll post some pictures of the finished attic storage/new work shop project tomorrow.