Welcome

I use this page each month for miscellaneous photos and thoughts that do not justify a dedicated photo post. It is also a place for anyone to leave comments about anything or just to say hello. Thank you for being here and please let me know you were here.

My January header image above is from three photos. The first is that great tree in the trash image, the second and third are from the first valley snow of the season. One is at my business in Cornelius. The other is the “Welcome to Forest Grove” sign on the way into town from the east. I love snow.

 

Even though the photos here are from (for) my “Miscellaneous Photos, Tidbits, and Your Comments – January, 2010″ page, the vast majority of them never made it there in January and have not yet been seen. There are photos of or about, silver solution mail, H1N1 shot, bluetooth devices, my 2010 business license, rearranging the shop, Brian’s $75 car, Walmart progress, fake cheese, Portland at night, Pioneer Place mall, e-bay item, +P+ ammo, beautiful blue Challenger, black Chuck Taylors, no wind damage, target practice (twice), Dave in Cornelius, reels safe, Gem Faire, rainbow, Hi-Lift Jack and accessories, field stripping, and more.

Click here to see the rest of the post

 

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

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Welcome to the year 2010 everyone. I will be thinking of Stanley Kubrick all year. Where the hell is my spaceship?

I took this around the corner from my old business location in Forest Grove, Oregon. I have rarely seen a more blatant visual representation of the end of Christmas. It is amusing every time I see it.

 

The first half of my gift for my dad finally arrived two days ago, far later than the pre-Christmas date they promised. They are the same shocks I put on my Sport Trac. I was (and am) very poor so I could only afford the front shocks for now. Later this month I will order the rear pair for him. Putting those shocks on my truck made it feel like a totally different and much newer vehicle. I think he will be happy with them.

 

I have prepared a page with a list including links and photos of “What I want for Christmas, 2009″ updated 12-18-09

The list now becomes things I will buy for myself when I make some money.

 

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Everything from here down was never included until after January was over.

This is new solution for testing silver. It doesn’t have a long shelf life so I have to buy more from time to time. It changes colors on different metals. I thought it was interesting how ridiculously far away it was sent from.

 

I never got a regular flu shot but I did eventually get an H1N1 vaccination. As usual around here I had to wait for the English version of the message to come along so I could read the sign. I ended up getting some other flu anyway, but at least I am protected against one.

 

This is the first bluetooth device I bought after the new law took effect. That would be the law that does not apply to anyone handing out the tickets and fines. I used to have one but maybe gave it to my brother or something. I can’t remember. I bought this one at the new Verizon store across the street for $49.99. It sucked. It was incredibly uncomfortable. You are not allowed to try them to see if they fit before you buy them. They are also not returnable. I sold it here at work and got part of my money back.

 

After the painfully uncomfortable Plantronics bluetooth I decided to not skimp anymore. I bought this Jawbone Prime, Noise Assassin device. It is sweet. It came with a variety of in-ear rubber pieces of different shapes and sizes. I can wear it without any over-ear piece at all, and that was what was hurting me. It does come with a small flexible wire to go over your ear if you are doing something more active while using it. It is also supposed to have the best noise cancellation on the market, letting the person you are speaking to hear you, instead of everything around you. I don’t know how well that works but it certainly is light and comfortable.

http://us.jawbone.com/productsPageMain.aspx#

 

This below is a part of the City Of Cornelius separate from City Hall. So far it has been one of the least friendly places I have ever been. The only places I can think of that are worse are Tillamook, Oregon and jail. Anyway, I went there to pay for my 2010 business license. I LOVE going to the dentist compare to going there, quite literally. My dentist and his assistants in Forest Grove are great friendly people. Anyway, there is my new license.

 

These photos are all from worki8ng on moving one of my counters, and five of my display cases so I could fit another case in. I have had the old wood display case stored out of the way in the extra restroom since I moved in here. I (and I do mean I) moved the main counter and three cases toward the back wall a couple of feet or more to make room. I did have to have a customer help me get the counter up high enough to get past an elevated outlet box that is on the floor.

 

Once I got the cases where I wanted them it took a long time to get the old wood case ready. I had taken the lights out and it was very dirty. I used a lot of adhesive remover to get rid of old double stick tape. Some people told me to get rid of the case but I like it. It was in San Francisco long ago. It is old enough the glass front is all wavy from age. The day after that Brian helped me move a section of wall shelving. I love the new configuration. It lets more light in and I can see outside more, including Fred Meyer and their parking lot. When you sit somewhere six days a week for years at a time it is a big deal what you can see.

 

This is a car that Brian paid $75 for. Not surprisingly it blew up soon after.

 

I send a whole lot of mail to the police. We send a copy of everything we buy, every day, along with all the details, descriptions, serial numbers and all info from the seller’s id. It is supposed to go electronic like Portland but hasn’t happened here yet. The police chief here seems to be totally clueless. I have not spoken to him about a single thing that I did not know vastly more about than him. He also keeps yelling at me. Seems all he really knows is that he is CHIEF so everyone else can shut up and obey. I love this town. It was never like that with the chiefs in Forest Grove or Tillamook. In Forest Grove the officers were friendly and shopped in my store. Here, a few are nice but others threaten and insult me. I dread coming to work here every day. The Police Chief in Tillamook, Terry, has been great to us. In Forest Grove there was a sense of community and I was treated with respect. The police chief’s grandchildren called me uncle Steve and drew pictures of me. Remembering that almost makes me tear up after the stressful environment I live with now.

As far as the electronic reporting, Portland uses RAPID NW, in case anyone is wondering. It is done online.

 

This is the progress on the Walmart down the street. These are from quite a while ago. The store looks much closer to finished now. I will have more photos soon.

 

The new shelving arrangement on a different day showing my new view of Fred Meyer. It is even better now because I found a new home for all those sky and light blocking games on the top shelf.

 

Proof that I really am trying to eat healthier and at home. Also note, that is not cheese or meat in the sandwich. Peas are ok but I really love green beans. I was out that day. I also like spinach, asparagus and peppers more than peas.

A view of part of NW Portland from up in the hills. You can’t see much unless enlarged. Well, actually you can’t see much WHEN enlarged.

 

Showing that I eventually moved all of the Blu-ray movies and DVD seasons and set to the old wood case next to me. I am very happy to he in the HD movie business. Since this photo I have put out more DVD sets including a bunch of Anime.

 

Showing the new configuration again. It made it like a little room. I have since filled up the big case with the collectible SNES and other games. I love having more room to grow.

 

Something I sold on e-bay. I think it is the same model PDA my brother uses at work. Or at least he did.

 

Some Federal +P+ 9mm ammo I bought through Cheaper Than Dirt.

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/
It is extremely powerful and gets the highest ratings of all the 9mm ammo at their site. Th +P stands for high pressure. I don’t use it all the time but have practiced with it some and will keep it in my XD-9 most of the time. My dad brought over a huge box of regular 9mm that I will use next time I go to practice. Thanks to him.

 

I only had the game systems in there for a while. It is now full of games. We got a large collection of the most popular and wanted SNES games. (as I already said)

 

I am not generally a fan of American muscle cars. I much prefer European and even Japanese sports cars. That being said though, I admit I do like the new Challenger, especially in my favorite color. This car belongs to a guy who comes in my shop.

 

I was at Kohl’s one day and decided to look for shoes that are not made of leather. That turned out to be nearly impossible. There was only one kind in the whole store, Converse All-Stars. I won’t do the ones with white soles, but black on black is ok. The shoes amuse me. The way they come they are nearly unwearable due to almost no insole. I knew this and bought a pair of insoles to add to them while I was there. They look a bit like clown shoes, but I can deal.

 

These photos are from a typically gloomy day in downtown Portland. I went to Pioneer Place mall on a Sunday to get away from town for the afternoon and browse around. My friend, Jonna, was nice enough to go with me. We ended up spending forever looking at minerals and fossils at The fossil Cartel. I have become more interested than ever in geology and minerals. I am going to start a small collection of mineral specimens. I bought a few on e-bay.

 

We had a powerful wind storm a few weeks ago and it severely damaged my neighbor’s sign. Luckily I ignored the advice of many to save money by using flat panels in my sign. I did my own research and instead paid a lot extra for thick vacuum-formed signs like corporate signs use. As a result, no damage, even though mine are huge in comparison.

 

Every time I order one of those skinny florescent lamps for a display case I am amused by how much packaging it takes to get it here in one piece. I save all that stuff and reuse it for shipping.

 

My dad bought one of these vises for our Tillamook store and found it very useful so he bought one for the store here too. Thank you to him. I often need an extra hand.

 

This was the first time I got a chance to shoot my new Subcompact 9mm. I was in a piece of State Forest out past Hagg Lake. No, that is not a proper place to shoot, without a proper backdrop. Yes, tons of other people shoot there. No, that is not a good excuse. Yes, I found a much safer place to shoot with a good hill behind every time since.

Anyway, I only had targets with me and nothing to put them on so luckily someone had left something behind. I attached my targets using wet leftover tape and skinny pieces of splintered wood. It had been forever since I went shooting so I had some getting used to it to do. I was way off at first but quickly realized my mistake and got back on track. I told my dad I went shooting and he said, “Let me guess, low and to the left.” Apparently I shot that way a long time ago. I don’t remember that, but he was right. I have since gone shooting two more times and continue to improve. I watched some videos online that really helped me.

 

That same day, Dave had come from the coast to get his fingerprints taken for our new firearms license. He was nice enough to stay for a couple hours which is how I got away to shoot. These photos are rare as Dave hardly ever comes over here. Say hello to Dave, the man who survived multiple heart attacks. He has been irreplaceable for years with us. I would give anything to find someone as reliable as him to help me over here.

 

That road up behind Hagg lake was muddy as hell from all the log trucks working up there. That is very good news for the guys at Stimson Lumber. They had been out of work all summer and more. Again, if you want to stop logging, quit using toilet paper and go outside to live in a tent, then talk to me.

 

This new sign I made should start with “Due to theft”. By the way, I sold two of those reels today.

 

The next time I went to practice shooting I found a much more responsible and safe place to do it. More often than not, following the crowd is following stupidity. No thank you. This time I grabbed a scrap piece of pegboard from the shop and some painter’s tape. I still shot with the +P+ rounds that time. As some people had commented in a forum, they have a crazy large muzzle flash for 9mm. How did I do? sigh, low and to the left. I could still hit you, but you would have a marginally better chance of survival after major surgery. I swear I have improved since. It was getting very dark while I was out there. That is because in winter here the sun goes down right after lunch.

 

To my mom and any who care, Look, I always wear eye and hearing protection. Safety first. Driving on a narrow road with log truck traffic is 100 times more dangerous than shooting. Please excuse my pale and pasty skin. As most of you know, I have been sick for a while.

 

Some very rainy Sunday I went to the Gem Faire at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Hillsboro. It was advertised as, “Gem Faire, established in 1989, has become a world renowned marketplace for the finest in gemstones, beads, jewelry, minerals, fossils, meteorites, lapidary equipment, metaphysical…”

I wanted to see mineral specimens, fossils, and meteorites. It turned out there was hardly any of that there. It was mostly a gemstone BEAD show. It was still interesting and nice to get out and see something anyway. Again, Jonna went with me. She is a very nice person. I wish more people would be so kind.

So here you go, thousands of gemstone beads etc. As with most specialty hobby shows I have been to, there were a ton of weird-ass people there, some just plain creepy. I like observing people.

 

This was one of the few booths with any natural specimens, but the guy running the booth was a crazy creepy babbling weirdo. I did not want him near me. Most of the minerals had no prices on them.

 

There was also some fine jewelry there, rings etc. It was some of the most absurdly high priced jewelry I have ever seen. I could only compare it to perhaps Nordstroms. I don’t mean a little bit high, I mean WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY THINKING? high.

 

That guy down there with the big belly and the light blue shirt had the most ridiculous prices of all. I have not seen more overpriced jewelry anywhere, ever. He was selling “estate jewelry” (second hand) for prices I can hardly describe. His rings were priced about 1000% over their actual value. Then he had a sign saying they were all 50% off. WHAT A DEAL. That left them priced five times over their value, at least.

Look at ALL the beautiful stones.

 

There were also tens of thousands of silver beads. Some of the booths had them priced just about right per gram, and other were off in outer space. Some booths were also selling “German Silver” and “Chinese Silver”. I wonder how many people there don’t know the difference between those and the Sterling. I asked the guy the silver content of German Silver. He was not happy but told me 40%. That’s what I thought.

 

Practically everything at the show was “50% Off”. Ya right. Maybe I should double the price of everything in my store and have big 50% Off sale.

 

Even poor Cornelius has its moments. What a nice rainbow, as seen from my parking lot. That is The Human Bean over there. it is too bad I don’t like coffee. It would be very convenient.

 

Here is one of the items on my Christmas wish list. I wanted a Hi-Lift Jack for my truck but my dad and I were too broke in December so we waited on gifts. I finally did get him the second pair of shocks for his truck. This jack is sweet. It is the “Extreme” model, the best of the three in their line. I also got the wide plastic base for it so the jack doesn’t sink in soft mud/sand/snow. And last but definitely least I have the Lift-Mate which lets you lift at the wheel instead of only front or rear.

None of these items are so shiny anymore. I have used them all several times in very wet mud. I managed to get my truck into a place that it had no business being without a lift and lockers. I thought I might never get it out even with the jack and a shovel. I have photos I will share later. I was extremely lucky to get out. I want a lift kit for my truck. They are extremely expensive and I will not be getting one soon. Oh, I unfortunately but a solid dent and many scratches in my truck. I will take the trade for the adventure though. Why buy a 4×4 if you don’t have fun with it. I drove where I could barely even walk, which is pretty good as I said, with no lift or locking hubs. That gold end piece on the jack (which I have off most of the time) makes it much easier to use the jack as a winch.

 

After the first two times out shooting my Springfield I took it apart (“field stripped it”) and cleaned it very thoroughly. I am taking excellent care of it. I meticulously cleaned, lubricated, and reassembled it. Look at that tiny little barrel. It is the 3″. The XD also comes in larger 4″ and 5″ versions.

 

You can see the two different size magazines that come with the gun. The longer one is the same size that fits the full size XDs. I have only shot with the smaller one. Even the small one holds 13 rounds. That extra plastic piece on the bottom of the short magazine is something I purchased separately. I would not recommend owning the sub-compact without it. It allows all fingers to fit on the grip and makes a great gun superb.

Well, apparently that is all I have (misc-wise anyway) to share from January. Now I need to work on the MANY photos I have from my family’s visit in December. I will work on that again tomorrow. Thank you so much to any and all who cared enough to be here. I appreciate it.