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January 26, 2006 Everybody say: Happy Birthday, Ella! Well, we're on our way. Ella and I are actually on the plane. We're about an hour or so out of San Francisco. The last couple days at the shop were back to normal and last night was actually really good. Best night I've had. Because everyone got paid early and had the next day off from work (January 26th is Australia Day) everyone was coming in... even until early in the morning! I started to get really rude to the drunk revellers when they were pushing open the closed door at 5:00 am. Pretty much the entire night the shop was FULL of people. Lee was tattooing as well and we both were busy all night. Lee is really coming along with his tattooing. It was really incredible the amount of work we put out that night. A bit more practice on both our parts and we'll really fly. So anyway, I made more than enough money so that I can do things when I come back. Rent is all paid up, Lee is watching the apartment, as is Kelly. Kelly is a wonderful neighbor, I have to put up a picture of her at some point. So I just stayed up when I got back from tattooing at 6:00am. I finished up some projects, packed, showered, and cleaned the apartment really well. There's nothing worse than to come back to a dirty apartment. Since I stayed up, I was able to just pass out during the 14 hour flight. I just now got up and started writing. Ella mostly slept. She had a bad "sinus headache". She keeps mumbling something about mixing beer and hard liquor. Then when we were getting on the plane, some doofus dropped his luggage from the overhead onto her head. So she's really been icing her noggin. She kept telling me she had bad luck around her birthday, I didn't believe her, I will now. Over the last few days I've been trying to put together all the presents, souviners, and project gifts for everyone. One day Ella and I took a trip down to the harbor to take some more pictures so that we could put together a nice gift for our parents. Here are the ones that we decided against. Photo of Luna Park in the Harbor Chris and Ella in front of Opera House Chris and Ella in front of Opera House Chris and Ella in front of Opera House Chris and Ella in front of Opera House Chris and Ella in front of Harbor Bridge Chris and Ella in front of Harbor Bridge Chris and Ella sitting against palm tree Ella also made me take this picture. Sometimes she has a really weird sense of humor, and coming from me, that's saying quite a bit. Well, my breakfast is here, so I'd better sign off. Only another 9 hours and I'll be in Wisconsin! I can't wait! -Bob |
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January 20, 2006 Well, since Ella's birthday lands on the day we leave, I decided to celebrate her birthday a couple days early so she could have time to decide what she wants to bring with her on the trip. It wasn't anything that spectacular, I figured that visiting home would be a fun enough event for her actual birthday, so it was just her birthday present that I surprised her with. Yeah, giving someone their birthday present 5 days early can be a surprise. Anyway, I'd kind of planned on getting her this for Christmas, but things just didn't turn out like I had planned, I just couldn't come up with the money for the tickets home and this at the same time. I'm thinking, by the look on her face, she didn't mind so much. What really messed me up, though, was when I gave it to her, she had just come out of the shower. I had used that time to set everything up. I had the computer in the new backpack and put a nice sign on it and set it on the couch. She walked by it without even seeing it... THREE TIMES! Now while I was happy that she didn't notice when I picked up the backpack while we were out shopping, I thought I was just being sneaky. When she doesn't even notice a brand new backpack with a huge rainbow colored sign on it that reads, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! it kind of dilutes the potency of my sneakiness. For those of you that were again disappointed to see that the website was down, Ben had kind of an emergency. Some of his components blew out and caused a break. Things should be back up in a couple days, says he. (ad. You'll notice that the speed has more than doubled. Everyone say, "Thank you, Ben!"... sometimes that boy really comes through.) Well, only a few more days. Hopefully next week at the shop will be better than last week. I've never had such a bad week. I want to make some more spending money before I come back. See you all in a few more days! -Bob |
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January 17, 2006 Argh! This sucks! Sunday I had a slow day tattooing.... the slowest Sunday since I started here. Then yesterday I only did one tattoo all night... now it's 1:30am and I haven't had even a bite yet! I had one guy that insisted on getting a $400 tattoo for $150... of course, I told him to stop insulting me. He spent a good 20 minutes trying to talk us down. Other than that... I've had NOTHING tonight. Of course, this is after I've ordered a whole bunch of tattoo equipment and most of my Christmas presents online and it's been taken out of my savings account. So I'm starting to run on empty. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed in the afternoon. -Bob |
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January 15, 2006 Well, I went out today and tried to get a TV tuner. I still couldn't find the one I was looking for. I did find an analog tuner for about $50 less. I hemmed and hawed about it... I really wanted digital... but I also was getting desperate for a tuner with a remote and an input. I wanted to check that game before I had to bring it back. So I bit the bullet and bought it. Brought it back and plugged it in... ok, now the good news and bad news.
-Bob |
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January 14, 2006 Today Ella and I went to the Sydney Museum and then to a movie in the afternoon. The museum had a display on How to Make a Monster about how movie monsters are made, latex, fiberglass, animatronics... so obviously, anyone who knows me knows that I HAD to go. On the way there, I finally took a picture of this advertising display in one of the windows one the street. This is not in a bad part of town, and it isn't considered risque, as it's repeated many times. In case you're having trouble seeing it. It's a naked woman from behind, twisted just enough so that you can see nipple. This is something that would never pass in the United States, but here, it's common and no one complains about it. Funny thing is, it was selling advertising space... what does that have to do with naked women? The museum display was ok. I was hoping for something a little more advanced. The company that put the display together was the same one that worked the movie Racing Stripes... the non-computer generated parts. It had a lot of good stuff, but not much that I didn't already know. The worst part of it was that they wouldn't let me take pictures. I took a few before a big mean security guard told me I wasn't allowed to take any. I stuffed the camera in my pocket and took a couple more without flash when he wasn't looking. Still, I got some good ideas. Now I have to decide if I want my next big art project to be an animatronic or a computer animation... hmmmm. Still, maybe I'll come up with something else all together. After the museum we went off to pick up some computer components. This has been a long and involved process. You see, since I got rid of the television and have been running the computer as our television I haven't been able to play XBox. The original TV-tuner that I got for the computer was a digital tuner, internal... but it was too much for my sad little computer to handle. So I traded with Billy for his digital tuner, which was an external and didn't even need a computer to run. It worked great except that it didn't have an input that I could plug the XBox into. I tried getting an RF converter... you know, one of those little boxes that plugs into your TV antenna and to the game system... but for some reason I couldn't get it to work with the digital tuner. Well, then I burned out the motherboard on that one and I had to upgrade... now I could have used that other tuner... but alas, Billy has it. After that I was saving for my plane tickets home, so I couldn't afford any more computer stuff. Now the tickets are paid for and Jim has asked if Australia games work on American systems and vice versa. So now I have motivation other than wanting to play games. So we went out to the computer store where I usually buy my stuff. They didn't have what I needed. They had digital, they had ones with inputs... or they had ones with remotes... but not together. So I tried a few other places. Nothing. All the same story. So I went home disappointed, with irritated me because I had signed up for a membership yesterday with the local video store and I actually rented a game to see if it worked. Well, it's Friday and the game has to be back on Sunday. I don't like wasting money on rentals I don't use. Then Ella and I went to see The Producers... of course, the review will be forthcoming. Long and the short of it though... I've never been a huge fan of Mel Brooks... and this was no exception. It was funny. I enjoyed myself. It's just not my kind of movie. So it was a fun day, if a little frustrating. -Bob |
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January 12, 2006 FINALLY! I know all of you have been begging for me to get some info up on when I'll be coming back. So today I finally went out and piced up some plane tickets. I had to go to the travel agent... normally I like to be my own travel agent and save myself some money, but in order for me to buy plane tickets... I have to save up the cash, deposit it in my account, transfer it to my stateside account (keeping in mind that I can only transfer $1000 a day and it costs me $28 each transfer), then I have to make an international call to my bank and increase the spending limit so that I can buy the international tickets... and once that is all done and I buy the tickets, I get a currency conversion fee for buying the tickets with American dollars for tickets from Australia! I may as well suck it up pay the extra couple of bucks and have someone else do it. So I went out today with cash in hand. Yes, I went and paid for two round trip tickets halfway across the world in cash. Just because it was so unreal... I took a picture of it. I've never had this much cash on me at any one point. Totally bizzare. I was plesantly surprised by the price, though. There was a deal going on. For a single layover... only $1800 per ticket. That's with all fees and whatnot. That's about $1300US for round trip! I was thinking it was going to be quite a bit more than that. I figure I saved about a thousand dollars. So it will be a good Christmas! Oh, and get this, we leave on Australia Day! Australia day, by some cosmic coincidence, is Ella's birthday! If you look at our itinerary, we cross so many time zones that I have essentially increased Ella's birthday by 17 hours! How is that for being a good boyfriend? I not only get her nice things and put up with her drinking, but I also take the day that is supposed to be all about her and use my cosmic powers to stretch that day out as long as possible! Ok, all oddities aside, here is my schedule. Itinerary January 26, 2006
Right... that's what everyone has been waiting for. I also have some disappointing news. Since my powersupply was lost in shipping, and I haven't had a chance to replace it yet, and because shipping is scheduled for 6-8 weeks... there will be no free tattoos when I come back to Wisconsin. I apologize to those of you who were hoping for some ink with my newfound speed... but unless you can find a studio that will let me borrow a chair for a while, I'm just going to leave my machines here and you'll have to come visit me. So, I will be seeing you all in two weeks. Those of you that want to see me, let me know. I'm going to be hanging out quite a bit with my family, but I will be making time for my friends as well. Jim and Tobi have already requested that I spend a couple nights with them, Sheryl and Stacy have also offered a bed. The rest of you can fight over us. Let the bidding begin. Ok, bidding may be too much to ask. -Bob |
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January 10, 2006 Well, this is something new. Jim and Tobi just contacted me. They've decided to move to Australia. Now, all of you that have been reading my blog realize that Jim was the original catalyst for my trip to Oz, and that he sort of ditched me after a few of his own setbacks. Not that I blame him, this is a big move. A lot of people have even told me that they are going to come visit... yet in six months I've had nary a one. So you may ask, what makes this time different. Well, I'll tell you. Tobi is picking my brain this time. Jim is a wonderful and extremely talented person, god luv 'im, but he's not the most motivated of people. So it is and so it shall be, forevermore. Tobi on the other hand is very motivated. Once she sets her mind to something there isn't much to stop her. The yin to Jim's lazy yang. Now, this motivated person is telling me that she's selling all her worldly possessions so that she can come over here... and... I believe her. I guess the idea is that Jim is going to be a sprueker or bounce for a bit until Lee is tattooing full time and then he's going to be my counterhand and then maybe my apprentice. Tobi is going to get work doing the things she does. They have been selling everything, they have. Tobi's My Little Ponies, Jim's drumset! They are really serious about this. So it looks like Jim and Tobi are going to come to Australia. It's the beginning of the mass exodus. Come one come all. Come see the crazy tattoo man and his big hairy apprentice. I know this... as with anything that Jim and I are involved in... it will be an adventure. -Bob |
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January 1, 2006 Last night was somewhat of a disappointment. The stories of Kings Cross on New Years Eve have been greatly exaggerated. Not to say it wasn't an interesting evening, but it was hardly what I would call a New Orleans level event. The most interesting thing about the evening involved me getting soaked with milk... I'll just leave it at that. Suffice to say, it wasn't a fun experience, yet still the most interesting event of the night. On the other hand, the fireworks display in Sydney Harbor was, bar none, the best fireworks display I have ever seen. Obviously I don't have any photographs to show you, flash photography of fireworks doesn't work so well, I did take a good 15 minutes worth of video, though, and I'll make sure to get some of that up for you... in due time. For now, I'll just say that it was listed as having a $4 million budget... and I feel as though the city got a hell of a deal. The long night was followed by a much longer day. January first was the hottest day on record. 44°C (111°F)! It was very VERY warm. I closed up the apartment and put wet towels over the fan, trying to bring down some of the heat... it worked, but not nearly enough to be comfortable. We survived, but I'm seriously thinking of getting an air conditioner now. My problem is that the air conditioners here aren't the same as back home. Cheap is $500. I need that money to fly back to Wisconsin... so Ella and I will just have to deal with the heat for now. On that note, I'm off to bed. Aside for a bit of home sickness, I've had a better year than I could hope for. If only 2006 brings me even HALF of what 2005 did, I'll be quite content. It's been a good year and I'm looking forward to the next with great anticipation. I wish you all a very Happy New Year and may you have the courage to make your New Year's Resolutions a reality. -Bob |
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December 31, 2005 Well, it's been a few hot days in a row. Ella doesn't seem to mind, but I really hate hot weather. The temperature hasn't dipped below 80 even at night... which makes it very uncomfortable in our little little studio with no air conditioning. Normally, the weather gets pretty chilly at night, as there is less humidity than what we're used to in Wisconsin. The air doesn't hold the heat as well. The last few days, it's just been hot night after hot night. I'm starting to consider sleeping in the tattoo shop... they have air con. It's New Years Eve in Kings Cross. I can't wait for night fall. I guess the Cross makes New Orleans Mardi Gras look tame. That's what I've been told, anyway. Still, I'm going to be carrying my video camera and the digital camera so I can bring you all the mayhem. So wish me luck. It could be an interesting night. -Bob |
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December 30, 2005 Ugh, the rest of the week hasn't been much easier. I worked late every night. Tuesday night I worked late again. When I finally went to sleep, I slept far too late the next morning because I'd had so little sleep the night before. This normally wouldn't have been a big deal, but I have a deadline to meet. Then on Wednesday it was another busy night, but at least I got out of work at a decent hour. So on Thursday I spent the whole day at the laptop... but I finally finished by about 7am on Friday... and then delivered the files to Billy by noon. You see, we have a full page ad running in Tattoo Revival: The Body Art Journal. One of my projects is to create the new ad. This is the ad from the last issue. I like to think that my new version is a step up. So yeah, I'm going to be in a major tattoo magazine. Cool, hey? My tattooing may be average... but there aren't many who can stand up to my computer graphics prowess. The nice thing about the past few days is that in 3 days time I made enough money for our plane tickets back to the States. My job may not be what some would call a respectable career, but it certainly does pay the bills. -Bob |
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December 27, 2005 It's been a rough couple days for me. The day after Christmas, Justin asked me to work his shift for him. I've never minded working double shifts. I went in to SleeveMasters at noon and immediately started working. Tattoo after tattoo just kept coming down the pipe. Most of them were small, but it was just the numbers. I think I did more than a dozen in the first shift. It was amazing. After last week, when no one had any money, this was a real windfall. Then I started the second shift... and it just didn't slow down. At 6:00am, I started turning away work. The last two had been names on bellies... most of you don't realize this, but bellies are really tough to tattoo because of all the stretching involved. So at the end of my 18 hour shift... I'm doing some of the most tiring work. I didn't get home until almost 7 in the morning. Tell me something, what kind of loonie gets a tattoo at 5am anyway? I laid down, set the alarm clock, and went to sleep. I woke up a few hours later so that Ella and I could go to see, Narnia. Good movie, by the way. So I'd only slept for about 4 hours. When we got to the theater, I bought the tickets and Ella went and got a sandwich. I bought a mocha and we went in. They had the people waiting for Narnia lining up on the stairs. Well, being as how I was exhausted, I sat down on the stairs. Keep in mind that it's about 90 out and they don't air condition the lobby, the stairs are packed full of people and we're all just standing there. One of the ushers came up and asked me to stand up.... "No." "Sir, you'll have to stand up." "No, I don't think I will." "Sir, we're trying to get everyone in line if you could just stand up so that we can get more people on the stairs..." "No." "Sir, plea-" "No." When I started interrupting him, the usher left. I figured I was off the hook, it was just some kid trying to exercise his meager power. I had a little bit of time to think about it though, and why they would possibly think standing on the stair case was a good idea... let alone refusing to let people sit... when the general manager came up. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to stand, please." "No." "Sir, it's out of respect for the other customers. We're trying to get everyone into line." "There's plenty of room here for another line. I'm sure I'm not disrespecting the other customers, none of them seem to mind." "Sir, it's a safety issue, please stand up." "It's not a safety issue? It's safer for me to stand than to sit?" "Yes, sir." "Are you insane?" "Sir, if you'd like a refund, I'll be happy to-" "What is this about a refund? I have plans to see a movie today. I'm very comfortable sitting here waiting for the movie. Once I'm inside, I'm sure I'll be very happy with the movie iteslf. I have no need for a refund. I have no problems right now. You're the one with the problem." "Sir, someone could trip over you on their way up the stairs." "Oh, that's likely. Look how fast it's moving. See, now if your goons would let the line move up the stairs then I could sit at one of the tables up there until the movie started. Instead, we're being herded like cattle. I mean, if the line were actually moving then that would be a valid excuse to have me stand... but it's not." "But sir, the line will start to move any minute and then people will be tripping over you." "Yes, look at how anxious they are to get into the theater. It's obvious there is going to be a stampede. Even if I wasn't going to stand up the second the line starts to move, what you're essentially doing is insulting these people around me, saying that they're not smart enough to walk around me." "Sir, I'm just asking you to stand up." "...And I'm just telling you, 'no.' Listen, it's not about me disrespecting you. It's that you haven't given me a good reason. I'm a very reasonable person. If you can give me a logical reason why I should stand up, I'll be happy to. Unfortunately, you haven't done that yet." "Sir if you won't stand up I can give you a refund-" "There you go with the refund again. I ask you for a logical reason for me to stand instead of sit and you try and run around the idea. I mean, the lobby isn't air conditioned, any one of these people could faint and come tumbling down, injuring dozens in the process. If everyone were sitting, then there would be far less chance of anyone getting injured. Instead, you have everyone standing, and probably causing fire safety issues in the process." "Sir, the line is moving" With that, I stood up, spun around and was moving without any delay at all. "There, see how easy that was." "Thank you for your cooperation, sir." "Whatever helps you sleep at night." It's not that I have a problem with authority, it's that I have a problem with unreasonable requests and irresponsible use of authority. There was no reason that I couldn't be sitting. If I was under 10-years-old or over 60, he wouldn't have even said anything to me. If I had been carrying a cane or crutches, they would have never bothered me. Instead, I was one of only 3 people sitting on the stairs, and I happened to look a little rough: backwards baseball cap, stenciled blue jeans, black t-shirt, and wearing my sunglasses indoors. So of course, single me out. Ella was also sitting. She also remained sitting. There was one other guy sitting, but he wimped out and stood up. Eh, doesn't bother me to stand (sit) alone on an issue. It's probably a safety issue to have us all on the same staircase. I know in the States we have safety regulations against this kind of thing. It stands to reason that they would have that here, too... yet here we are, about to pass out from heat on a staircase. The simple fact of the matter is that there wasn't a good reason to have us queued on the stairs, let alone to have us standing. At the top of the stairs, there is an area for people to sit at tables. In front of all the theatres there are a couple of chairs or benches. They just don't want to have people wandering about aimlessly... and that's fine. I understand that. They also probably don't want people walking into the theater before the crew has finished sweeping up, again, I understand. The thing is, I paid my ticket, I am paying them and they assume they can wrangle me around the corral in any way they see fit. Rather than use their brains to find a compromise so that the patrons can be comfortable and the ushers can keep an eye on them, they choose to round us up and put a fence around us. It's a power thing for them. Probably the only time they get to tell people what to do. It makes them feel important and gives their pathetic lives a tiny taste of meaning. I'm sorry, I felt like sitting. -Bob |
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December 25, 2005 Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is having a wonderful time... WITHOUT ME! *sob* Actually, Christmas Day has been pretty fun. I have the day off from SleeveMasters, so Ella, Billy, and I went to the Casino downtown for the all you can eat buffet. Billy paid for us as a Christmas present. It was wonderful. Lots of food and good stuff, too. There are some things that I just have trouble getting used to, though... like watermelon on Christmas Day! Like most Casinos... the opulance is just astounding. I think they make it look this fancy just to infuriate those who lose. They come in, dazzled by the wonder of the place... but once they have lost the deed to their house and they're being kicked out the door, it's a reminder of where the money came from to build all this magnificent scenery. Santa was even making his rounds. I even got one of Santa and Billy. They gave us all Christmas Crackers and lollies. (For those of you that don't know... Australians call ALL candy, "lollies." It's quite confusing.) Speaking of "lollies"... have I mentioned before how I hate the proliferation of "baby talk" here in Australia? If there is one thing that really gets under my skin... it's that everyone feels the need to talk like they're talking to an infant. Christmas is especially guilty of that. It's not "Christmas" it's Chrissy and it's not "presents" it's pressies! Ugh. Although, if you're here for long enough for it to really annoy you, you start to feel intellectually superior to everyone. "Listen to him, he can't even get his mind out of Gymborie... 'Sunnies', 'Scratchies', 'Pressies'"... it's enough to make you want to slap them and scream, "Talk like an adult, you wanker!" Back to my Casino adventure; I ate and ate... I had three plates of meat alone! Fish, prawns, crab legs, roast beef, sausages, pork, ham, chicken... all in multiple cooking styles. I just stuffed myself. Oh, and don't worry, Mom... I had vegetables, too. Billy mentioned that it was all you can eat... he never mentioned that it was all you can drink, and after Ella's little display, they may be revising that policy. Oh, does she get mean when she's drunk. Once I got Ella away from the bar, we came back to the apartment and I took a nap in the tub... the lounge tub... I didn't take a bath. I fell asleep for three hours. I mean, this is what a holiday should be, you know? Relaxing. Now I'm off to watch The Fantastic Four. I wish you all the best on Christmas. I hope you all have a wonderful time. For those of you that are used to getting presents from me, I'll be back home for a visit in late January. I'm planning on postponing the gift giving festivities until then. The rest of you can find my Christmas list here. -Bob |
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December 24, 2005 Well, that's another project out of the way. Being as it's Christmas tomorrow, I stayed up until 6am this morning baking cookies. of course, Ella helped, but she started at 9am after I had gone to bed (finally). She also helped by pouring in ingredients. This especially helps when I'm mixing dough with my hands, which is my wont. I've always felt that food is just better if you take a hands on approach... don't worry, I worked in food manufacturing long enough to have developed an obsessive habit of handwashing. At any rate, all the cookies were finished and wrapped up for delivery about one-o'clock in the afternoon. I took around my little plates of cookies and everyone loved them... although I really expected to get more of a ribbing for it. You know, the tough tattoo artist delivering cookies to his co-workers... all these big burly tattooed freaks sitting around nibbling at my dainty little creme-filled wafers. I thought it would be kind of funny. There is nothing I like better than being a freak among the freaks. So then I finished all my deliveries and made it back to the homestead by 6. Ella cooked some frozen lasagna and we ate, watched The Grinch on T.V., and then exchanged presents. Ella got me a couple DVDs... Fantastic Four and Star Wars, Episode III. She also managed to find me some more bootleg action figures. I just LOVE these things. They're so cheesey! The incredible hulk has green pants and blue skin below the waist. Superman has a black cape. Spider-man is only painted on the front. This aside from the fact that we have 2 DC characters and 2 Marvel characters in the same package! I got Ella some fun little toys and the new NightLife expansion pack for Sims 2... hence the reason that I'm sitting here typing out a blog. Nothing better to do, she's playing Sims!! Yes, I know how to keep my girl happy... it's not jewelry, fast cars, candy or romance... no... role playing games are what trip her trigger. I also got her this Simpsons Homer Mug. She needed something that wouldn't tip over as much and that could be kept cold so she didn't have to use as many ice cubes... but I'm hoping the message on the side will give her a hint that she might have a problem. Ok, well, that's about enough for now. Sorry that the site has been funny lately and the posts inconsistant... These things happen. We're working on a way to have it up all the time... but for now, this is about as good as you get for the price... free. -Bob |
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December 18, 2005 Well, we finally got it done. I spent two whole days inside... never setting one foot out-of-doors... but it is finished. That big project I was telling you about. It's our new lounge! Yeah, so we're weird, what are you going to do? Huh? Yeah, that's what I thought. Anyway, it all happened a few weeks ago when Ella and I were shopping for our couch. We were walking along and passed a bathroom accessories store. They had big clawfoot bathtubs and Ella suggested we get one. I had already been thinking the same thing, but I asked her why. She responded, so that we have somewhere to cuddle up and read books. I thought that was a FABULOUS idea! I harken back to my grade-school days... Miss Kamps had an idea to reward her students. She put a brightly painted claw-foot bathtub in the back and filled it with pillows. If you finished your work early, or did something special (A+, etc.) she would reward you by letting you sit in the bathtub and read a book. I was always rather slow about finishing my work and I never really cared too much about my grades, so almost never got to read in the tub. So, here I am, nearly 25 years later, and my girlfriend suggests we get a bathtub to read in. Eh... works for me. We went inside and asked about how much it was... $1200. A bit out of our price range, especially for something as whimsical as a bathtub reading nook. I kind of put it out of my mind and went back to looking for couches. About a week later, someone was rummaging through a "Trader". It's the Aussie equivalent of the Sunday Shopper or the Sunday Classifieds. I mentioned that I was looking for a tub and the paper was handed over. I found a couple of different claw foot bathtubs for under $200. The only problem... transportation. So I called up Lee. Since Lee runs a transport company, he has plenty of access to people with trucks. Originally he said he was going to haul it himself, but he's just so busy that it never happened. So he mentioned a couple of people and I ended up having Tony help me (the guy I helped move refrigerators a few months back.) Tony was really great, he went out, picked it up, brought it right to my door and helped me move it inside. It's a good think he helped me, because as I found out a couple days ago when I was adjusting the placement in the apartment, Ella can't lift even one end of it. At any rate, it was here. I was mildly disappointed that it wasn't in prestine condition, since I had talked to a woman on the phone and she said it was perfect. It had a number of chips in the enamal, serious rust stains, thick rust on the feet, lots of damage to the interior bottom... I think someone was using it as a clay dump for pottery! Once I got it inside, I immediately started cleaning it, but soon realized that I was going to need something stronger than Ajax liquid cleaner. The next day I journeyed to the hardware store and picked up some CLR, some hydrochloric acid, a wire brush, some steel wool, and a wire wheel for my drill. Let me tell you, that sped things up considerably. I used the hydrochloric acid and steel wool on the interior of the bathtub, using the wire wheel for the more difficult spots. I made sure to wear thick gloves. I dumped the feet of the tub into a bucket of CLR and let it sit. Every once in a while I would stick my gloved hand in and stir the water a bit... but mainly I just let the product do it's work. After about 24 hours, I had burned them down to a beautiful stripped cast iron... hardly a sign of rust. A bit of wire brush and everything was shiny and smooth. The only bad part about the feet was the mixing... you see, I was intermittantly doing other things, like watching television or movies. So I'd stir the bucket and without taking the glove off my hand, I'd sit down and watch 15 mintues of television... not realizing that there was a hole in the glove and that it wasn't sweat from my hand that was making the interior slippery, but that my skin was disolving. After about an hour, my hand started to itch really bad, so I pulled off the glove to scratch it and found my poor hand swollen and red. Let this be a lesson to you kids! Make sure your glove isn't defective or this happens! Luckily I did this at the beginning of my weekend, so when it came time to tattoo again, my hand was nearly healed. After I had everything either stripped or sufficiently cleaned and roughed up, I enameled the interior of the tub. I had the paint store specially mix me some bathtub enamal to match my walls. Each coat took roughly 16 hours to properly cure so that I could recoat. Whoo-boy did Ella and I enjoy the fumes in our tiny apartment! On top of everything else, one of the days was that unbearably hot one (104°F!) so we didn't even want to leave for fresh air! We had the windows open, but that only does so much. After much fun hallucinations, we finally finished though, three coats and three days later. Then it was time to paint the bottom. That was easy enough. I just used some left-over latex from the walls... it went quick. Three coats in three hours... much better than the enamal. In the process I even detailed the feet. They came out looking surprisingly nice. Finally I had it all put together. Phase one of our project is completed. Now on to part two... Now the original idea was to just put a bunch of throw pillows in the tub... but we all know that I can't do anything the easy way. It has to be overly creative or it just isn't me. So we decided to make a bubble bath. The plan originally was to find a cushion for the bottom from an outdoor chaise lounge and then find some round blue pillows to put on top. That turned out to be a problem. We couldn't find cushions in the colors we wanted at all and the cost on throw pillows was just astronomical for the number we'd need. Not to mention, we couldn't find exactly what we wanted for pillows anyway. Hence, we must MAKE everything we need. The first problem was finding a cloth. In Wisconsin, I just would have gone to Wal-Mart and found everything I needed in one trip. Not here. None of the department stores had any sort of crafting departments and it took forever to find a sewing store. We first bought plain blue cloth, but it was determined that the bubble bath would look better if it had white bubbles... especially since we now had a black couch instead of a blue one. Originally we were going to hand sew all the pillows. We decided, after about 20 minutes of bad stitching and a little cursing, this was a poor idea. Back to the sewing shop and we purchased a sewing machine (after a little shopping around at some other locations.) I'm going to take this moment to mention how ridiculously unkempt the Spotlight sewing shop is. I'm used to Wal-Mart or Hobby Lobby, or Michaels... where everything is practically sterile... it's all put away neatly and other than the aisle that some distracted mother allowed her 3 year old to completely demolish, it's always clean and tidy and even that aisle is soon put back into order. The entirety of Spotlight looks like that demolished aisle... and it's not just on the one day we happened in... no... we've been back many times for supplies and it is ALWAYS in a state of disarray. It's awful. Everything is thrown about willy-nilly, the departments not only blur together, but have little to no logic in their set-up, and I don't think the floor had been cleaned in weeks. I would have practically killed for a Michaels. At any rate, we got a nice machine and some white cloth with a pretty design in it. I designed a pattern on Corel Draw so that we could make nice little balls. We didn't want to be sewing forever, so we did baseball shapes instead of beachball shapes. As a result, some of the first designs were a bit off and came out kind of square, but subsequent designs came out more spherical. They'd be perfect if we could have overstuffed them, but we wanted them to be soft... so they're still a tiny bit square, but they more than do the job. Out of the blue cloth that we got originally, I made a mat for the bottom. The original design was for the mat to run all the way up the back, but after testing it out, we discovered that it slid around too much and that the straps that would be needed to hold it in place would ruin the aesthetics... plus it didn't really add much to the comfort of the lounge... so we shortened it to just the bottom of the tub. After much cutting, sewing, stuffing, stitching, (more cutting, sewing, stuffing, and stitching... and yet MORE cutting sewing, stuffing and stitching!) we finally finished it... Our bubble bath, bathtub lounge... or as Ella likes to call it, "The most comfortable ball pit EVER!" It may look like I'm doing most of the work, and to be fair, I probably did... that's normal for me... When everyone else takes a break, I'm still pounding away. That isn't to say that Ella didn't do her fair share. She was great about going to get supplies, helping with cutting, stuffing, and even a bit of stitching, plus she made sure that she kept me fed. She was always taking care of me, because let's face it, when I'm in that mood I forget to take care of myself. I've gone days without eating or sleeping just because I'm into a project. She makes sure that I at least have good food in me. We're a good team. (Then again, if she didn't spend so much time in the bars, she might have the coordination to help do some sewing!) So that's my big secret project. Sorry it couldn't be something more exciting, but I'm limited on space and materials. Now, off to build that space shuttle out of household appliances. -Bob |
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December 16, 2005 Oi! I really wanted to update yesterday, but I never got around to it. The last few nights at the tattoo shop have just been awesome. Not that I made that much money, but I did some really good work. On Tuesday I tore apart the place. I was tired of using the inferior pedals and clip cords, so I brought mine in. The thing is, mine all have ¼ jacks on the ends... and the shop primarily uses open contacts. So on the desk that I normally use, I put in three jacks. Two on the back, where I would use them, and one on the front for Justin, because he likes to have his pedal in front (I use mine on my heel). Then on Wednesday, I put ¼ jacks on the existing pedals so that I can take mine with me if I want. Then, on Wednesday I did a couple really fun tattoos. Someone came in and actually wanted a gargoyle with shading. I mean, it's great to be doing kanji and lettering, but it gets old and there really isn't any sort of challenge to it. Then someone came in that wanted freehand tribal... again, not usually a challenge... just long and tedious. Well, this guy wanted to change his old tribal tattoo into a question mark. I took it as a real design challenge. It turned out great. On top of everything else, he was a Pisces, so I turned the dot on the bottom of the question mark into a Pisces-style yin-yang. Not to mention, my speed has improved so much... this all took less than an hour. Then yesterday and today Ella and I have been working on phase two of our project. We managed to get a really nice sewing machine yesterday. I spent too much on it, but I think it's worth it. Plus, we'll have no trouble getting our money back on it if we decide to get rid of it. Same with the couch. I spent quite a bit on it, but it's such a nice piece of furniture... it's the type that will last for decades... possibly generations... so I have no doubt that I'll get some money for it if I decided to sell it. I really doubt I'll do that though. Ok, now back to the project. Hopefully I can get it all done today. -Bob |
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December 14, 2005 Today we got our new couch! Yesterday I went out and looked at that black couch and decided that it was just too cool a couch to pass up. The leather on it is really thick, thicker than my motorcycle jacket. It's really comfortable and long. I can lay down on it and my feet don't even make it onto the armrests. Plus it's wide, so Ella and I have no trouble cuddling while we watch movies. So we are changing a couple of minor things in the design of the apartment, but since we haven't made curtains yet or gotten a new comforter for the bed, it works just fine. Plus, it matches the desk chair. It's a really cool couch. It's comfy, it comes almost completely apart... the armrests are actually part of the cushions. They're made of a very dense cushioning with no internal supports, so they don't have any of those nasty hard spots that usually give you a literal pain in the neck when you lounge on it. If that's not good enough, the frame is an unbelievably heavy steel... which is a good thing to have when you have big friends. The apartment is really starting to come together. It's very colorful, warm, inviting, and definitely unique. All we need now is a bed frame and a dresser and I think we'll be done with furniture... if for no other reason than lack of room! -Bob |
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December 12, 2005 Ok, not such a fun day. Due to the project that Ella and I are working on, we are in dire need of a sewing machine. We tried handsewing, but I'm just not that good, and I can't expect Ella to do all the sewing by herself. on top of that, we still have no couch. So, projects today were:
Ella took the post office, : We had tracking numbers, but the post office was all like, "We have no idea what you are talking about... and it's busy.. it's Christmas you know." Yeah... well work harder you lazy bum!. She had no luck, but did find out which location they are supposed to be at, even though they haven't been "processed" yet. So I'm going down there with her tomorrow. Watch for me on the news. I took the rent, bills, and then went shopping for a couch. I stopped a bunch of places, but I couldn't find anything that was fun enough. Basic furniture shapes, basic colors. I'm looking for something interesting and blue. I did find one couch that I REALLY liked. Most comfortable couch ever, and it had a really interesting layered look. Unfortunately, $4000 is a bit out of my price range right now. So tomorrow I'm going back to look at that black couch to see if I can make it work. Maybe, maybe not. Otherwise, I may have to compromise for now or maybe get a cheapy and get the $4K one later... after we have a larger apartment so I can get the $5K version of it! Then I stopped at a couple places looking for a sewing machine, but didn't find any I liked... either I was paying used prices for something that was far more than what we needed, or I was paying $300 for a brand new one. We don't need much, so I'm going to check the discount appliance store tomorrow. So that's the plan... if I do things right tomorrow, I should have a new couch, a new sewing machine, a new end table (we got one last week for $100, and it's so awesome that we want to get a second one!) obtain our post, and see a movie. It will be a busy day. Wish us luck. -Bob |
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December 11, 2005 Well, I finished phase one of the new project. Ella is doing most of phase two... but as anxious as I am, I may help her out with it. Boy, I bet you're just DYING to know now! Again, we did nothing special on my days off. Just worked on the project, played with software, surfed the internet, read, watched Smallville... nothing spectacular. I finished some new business cards for 2 different clients... ok, one is the tattoo shop... but it's still a finished project. Now I'm working on the ad for the big tattooing magazine. It's due by the end of December, so I can't procrastinate too much. I'm also making quite a bit of headway on the new SleeveMasters website. I'm hoping to have both the ad and the website done at the same time. I'm using similar imagry for the ad, so it would be a nice tie in to the website relaunch. Speaking of the tattoo shop, there was a big street festival yesterday. Unfortunately, I assumed that since the paper listed it as going on from 11am to 10pm that it would still be in full swing at 5 when I walked down... nope... nearly all the vendors were packing up and going home. The musicians and street performers were still working, but it was very disappointing. I didn't even take any pictures. What makes this even more sad, Billy and Justin were in the paper leading up to the festival. It was a Christmas festival so they had the Kings Cross Santas... Backpacker Santa, Biker Santa, Stripper Santa, and of course, Tattoo Santa! Billy made a great Santa. That was pretty much it. I barely left the apartment. I sent Ella out at one point for supplies... I was just a recluse. Oh, and we're still without a couch... isn't that dandy? I swear, it seems like sometimes it takes forever to do things around here. The nice thing is that today at work, one of my previous clients came back in. The guy with the dragon head. He wanted me to do a cover-up and bring the dragon body around his arm. So I freehanded half a dragon body. We only did about 4 hours worth of work, but that's about all he could handle. The bad thing is, before we started, I quoted him $440... so I ended up giving him an amazing deal. The day was pretty slow, though, so I didn't mind. -Bob |
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December 9, 2005 Yesterday wasn't nearly as bad as Wednesday. A nice comfortable 27°C (80°F). Today it's even nicer, 24°C (76°F). So my project is coming along nicely. I can't wait to show you the pictures. Ella is off to the store now to pick up some fabric. So I'm here by myself... working on the project. No, I can't tell you... it's a surprise. Besides, like most of my projects, you'd think I was insane until I actually get it all finished and it's really cool... so I may as well just wait to show you until it's finished. -Bob |
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December 8, 2005 Ugh... yesterday was almost unbearable. I know all my friends back in the U.S. don't want to hear this... but it was ridiculously hot here yesterday. The weatherman put it at 40°C (104°F)!! It was weird because even the wind was hot. The nice thing is, it's not like in Wisconsin where if you have that kind of heat that all the lakes start boiling and the humidity rises. It was humid, but not ghastly humid. The thing is, because we live in a brick building on the first floor, we stayed relatively cool. Heck, we just have a small 12 inch fan and that's all we really needed. It wasn't until I went to work that I really suffered. Most businesses, even in this heat, leave their door wide open. SleeveMasters is no exception. Unfortunately, the air-conditioning took this opportunity to go out. So I was in that heat, standing over the top of people who were getting even warmer because I was tattooing them. I was kinda grouchy. Anyway, it was too hot to work on my project because I didn't want to open the windows, so I've been put a day behind. That's all right, I'm sure it will go quick once I can work on it again. -Bob |
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December 7, 2005 Whew! Sorry for the delay in updates, but I've been just swamped with work. I have business cards to design for a number of different people, even people outside of the tattoo shop, websites, computer lessons, updates to the console computer, furniture issues, engineering lighting and other electrnic doodads for the shop, ads for magazines... it's all rush Rush RUSH right now. I've also started a new project for the apartment, but I'll have to let you simmer and wait while I finish it. With any luck, I should be able to finish it in the next couple days. I did put this together. I bought a couple of identical clocks for the wall. One is always on Sydney time and one is always on Milwaukee time so that I know when everyone is still awake back home. It gets kind of hard to tell them apart, so I redesigned the face of the Australian one. I'd like to do the face of the Milwaukee one... can anyone send me some pictures of Milwaukee fare, friends and family? It seems in addition to all my other duties at SleeveMasters... I have inadvertantly picked up an apprentice. It doesn't seem to matter to anyone that I've mentioned time and again that I don't feel that I have even close to the level of experience adequate to teach someone. Lee, as mentioned on my tattoo page, is my counterhand, who I lovingly refer to as my "helper-monkey". Lee draws my stencils for me, prices tattoos, cleans up after me... all kinds of stuff that just makes my job easier. In return for all his hard work, he has apprenticed to do piercings and tattoos. He's finally been ok'd to do piercings, so now his apprenticeship for tattoos begins. For weeks now, he has been promised that he will be able to do his first tattoo. He spent hundreds of dollars on equipment that has just been sitting around gathering dust. He has, time and again, brought his guinea-pigs (people who know that it's his first tattoo and still want to get tattooed by him) in to be inked, but has had to turn them away because either Scott or Matt just didn't have the time to watch over him. Hey, these are busy shops we work at. I don't fault them... but Lee is getting frustrated. He's not your run-of-the-mill tattoo apprentice. He OWNS his own business that he works at during the day. He's not some starry-eyed high-school burn-out who likes to doodle. (Well, he may like to doodle, but I'm getting ahead of myself.) After all this time of being disappointed by the staff with the most experience, Scott finally took pity on Lee (or possibly had a moment of sheer insanity) and told him that he could tattoo if I watched him. Again, I will say this, I don't feel comfortable with this position. I don't feel that I have nearly the experience needed to mentor someone. Still, when Scott tells someone to do something, they do it... or die trying. That's not really an exaggeration. So Lee had one of the girls from down the block come in. She brought in her best friend and they both had linked initials tattooed on the backs of their necks. I did his, Lee did hers. We both started setting up at the same time. of course, I was ready long before Lee... my stuff is always set up and ready and he had to set his up at the other station. I was finished with the outline and a quarter of the coloring when Lee was ready to go. I stopped and watched. He was a little shakey, but once his hand was down, the nerves would settle and he did fine. I asked him if he was ok, he said yes, so I went back to my tattoo and finished up. To be fair, I feel that Lee has been watching and learning quite a bit... and he was quite arrogant when he talked about how he was going to do his first tattoo. In the back of my mind, I kept worrying that he would somehow finish before me and with better results... so I kind of pushed how fast I was going to finish the tattoo. I'm nothing if not competitive. I needn't have worried. By the time I had my piece done, Lee had barely finished half the outline. I went back over and watched for a bit and then noticed that he had forgotten his rubber-bands. Trying not to worry the customer I calmly asked, "Lee, I notice you're not using rubberbands, are your grommits just holding it that tight?" He didn't seem to move for a second, and then replied something like, "Oh, yeah, working great." I assumed that he either thought he knew better, or just didn't care. His facade never broke. Talking to him later, apparently it had been quite difficult for him to maintain his composure. I think his exact words to describe what he was feeling at the moment were: "OH F#CK!!! F#CKF#CKF#CK!!!" He calmly asked me if I had any extra rubber-bands and I went and got a couple. While he was putting them on, I noticed that his needle was upside down... this isn't a HUGE deal, but it does make it more difficult to have nice neat lines. So I mentioned that to him. As he changed it, he accidentally put his tube back on upside down so that the resevoir was aiming down (and would have leaked ink all over). I caught him on that and then it was back to work. I tried not to say too much after that, because I'm sure that was enough to jangle anyone's nerves. I offered some hints here and there, but mainly tried to act like I wasn't looking over his shoulder. The best part was when he would dip, though. Nearly every time he would go for more ink, he would hit the bottom of the cup. There was ink EVERYWHERE! I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh at someone else's mistakes when they're learning... but it was SO FUNNY!!! I don't think it would have been nearly as funny if it wasn't for the trash talk in the weeks leading up to it. Finally, Lee finished. Or more precisely, he asked me if I thought he was done. I told him he was mainly because he was starting to really overwork the skin. She can always be touched up, but if he scars her, we can't undo that. So he cleaned up and called it. A few minutes after they had left, Lee and I were talking about the things he did right, the things he did wrong, how to fix them... and he got a brilliant idea. Lee wanted to tattoo himself so that he could get a little more practice. So he quick made up a stencil of his name. He figured that as he got better at tattooing, he could just do a cover-up. No, really, I'm serious. He started tattooing his own leg. Luckily, before he started, I had him switch to white ink instead of black ink. That way, even when he's totally healed, you'll barely be able to see it... worlds easier to cover up than a black tattoo. The funniest part of all this, is that after he did his name... he decided to make a star... but forgot how to draw one half way through... then he decided to do a spiral... then a heart... then some hash marks. It wasn't so much a tattoo as the type of doodle you do while you're on the phone. I seriously thought he had lost his mind. When he did the name, fine. Good practice. Star... ok, well... slight mistake in judgement. It was the spiral that had me doubled over laughing at him. So it was pretty much a comedy of errors all around. A good laugh and nobody but Lee got hurt in the process. It was a good night. Ok, I'll have the next couple days off work, so I'll do my best to update some more on the blog. Hope you enjoyed this little story. Or maybe you just had to be there to enjoy the hilarity. -Bob |
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November 25, 2005 Well, I finally finished the computer! I'm so proud. Check it out! building the case I have been wanting to do this since we bought the computer. I would have done it a lot sooner, but Kmart ran out of the model of TV stand that I used. I was assured that they would get a shippment in within the next fortnight. So I waited and went back. The floor model had a clearance tag on it! I can't imagine what I would have done if I couldn't buy the same model again. Anyway, I got it for just $17 but I had to carry it home in one piece. Even though I took a cab, it was still cheaper than a new one... and my arms STILL hurt. drawer installation all spread out tearing apart the old computer installing the top installing the faceplate Notice how the face plate changes sides? Yeah, the new motherboard was much larger and in order to get everything to fit properly, I had to rearrange the interior. Talk about a headache. installing the new motherboard installing the new motherboard2 installing the new motherboard3 finished front all closed finished front keyboard out finished front DVD out So now Ella can use the computer, and we don't need a seperate entertainment center or desk. Plus, this way we can use either a large screen monitor or a television. I'm very happy with the finished product... although I think I may want to redo the DVD cover. It looks kind of odd because the CD-ROM has squared off corners and the DVD-ROM is more curved. So now it's on to the next project. I swear, I just can't help myself... I'm always making things! Please! s0mBodY sT0p mE b3f0re I cr3@tE @ga1N!!!11! -Bob |
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November 24, 2005 Today RentaCentre came and picked up our couch and television. It's quite sad. We have nothing to sit on except the new chair, the milk crate, and of course, the bed. Poor Ella had a heck of a time playing Sims2. I have connected the new computer to a digital television box, so with the new antennae, we can watch all the same channels we used to... kind of... the reception is kind of wonky unless we have the antennae right next to the window. Damn brick buildings. Plus, I called the furniture store today, our couch is arriving at his shop on Monday and should be ready for us by the middle of the week. We're getting a used couch, but since it's leather, it's still really nice. He speciallizes in restoring used leather. The couch we're getting is a kind of modern art type in blue leather so that it will be a nice contrast against our walls. It should be very spiffy. We bought the refrigerator we were using. It was only $260 after the rental agreement, so it's a good deal, it's the perfect size, and we know it works well. I just can't wait until we get another couch. The apartment feels so empty. -Bob |
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November 23, 2005 I started out the day by burning up my motherboard. I still wasn't finished with the new computer, and I was working on it and managed to drop my screwdriver into JUST the right spot... *pffft* ...there goes the motherboard. So I journeyed back downtown and bought a new one. Something you should never do... have a good night tattooing and then go to a computer store by yourself. Yeah, Ella's computer could probably run NASA now. First I went and got another haircut. I really like my new barber. I can't say that I've ever had a better haircut. Sorry, Mr. Ketchpaw. I noticed something that had escaped my attention the previous time I came in... you see, the first time I was in and out so fast that I didn't even have time to look at the walls. Yeah, how do you like that... my barber used to cut Frank Sinatra's hair. I think it could get quite expensive if I decide to keep getting my hair cut here... especially if I decide not to stay in Sydney. Then I went to Spuds and Douglas Cafe. I had a business meeting this morning. I'm doing some buiness cards (possibly a website and other things) for a couple of girls that I met at the tattoo shop. They saw my business cards and wanted me to design theirs. So I met with Emma and we talked things over for about an hour and a half before I decided that I should get going so I could get the computer parts and be back at the apartment before the Simpsons start. I got back and worked on the computer for most of the evening. Then Ella and I had Thanksgiving dinner. We had roasted mixed vegetables and of course... turkey. The thing is, turkey isn't as big here in Sydney as it is in the States. We had trouble even finding one. Not to mention, their Thanksgiving doesn't coincide with ours... so we were the only ones celebrating. The only thing Ella could find was this turkey roast. It was a turkey thigh stuffed with cranberry stuffing. It was pretty good. Then we sat around and watched episodes of Smallville because they occasionally talk about playing football and ate the homemade chocolate chip cookies that Ella made. Yes, we ate the whole batch! It was kind of lonely, but very fun. I couldn't have asked for anyone better to spend the day with. I really missed everyone today. I hope everyone's Turkey Day was as fun as mine. -Bob |
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November 22, 2005 Today I tried to get up early and head out to Kmart. When we went to the movies yesterday, we headed out a little late and didn't have time to get the new graphics card for the computer. We need one so that Ella can run Sims2 on it... and so that our DVD's aren't jerky when we're watching them. So I went out and bought a new graphics card, an amplified television antennae, and a desk chair so that Ella doesn't get all ache-y sitting on the milk crate. Then I carried this all the way back home. Oh, don't get me wrong, I took the train... but you have to realize that Kmart, where I bought the chair, is about 12 blocks from the train station and it's another 6 blocks home once I get off. So I carried all this stuff for well over a mile. Just put the graphics card in my backpack, strapped the bag handles of the antennae to the bottom of my backpack, and hefted the chair onto my shoulder. It was only about 20kg... not impossible. One thing I found interesting, people here are really considerate. Everyone got out of my way, even if I was behind them and walking the same direction. In Milwaukee... I wouldn't put it past some kid pushing it off my shoulder. Then again, I realized that maybe they were just afraid to earn the wrath of someone who had been carrying a box with this on it for over a mile. So here is our new furniture item. Yay! Yes, it is exactly like the chair that you bought for the office, Jim. What can I say, it's a nice chair at a good price. Plus, leather is always nice. So I scrambled to get the chair together and then ran off to work. It's been a good week. At least with all my purchases, I'm not going broke... so that's saying something. -Bob |
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November 21, 2005 Of course, it's still Tuesday Movie Night in Australia! We went and saw The Corpse Bride today (it just opened this week). Review is forthcoming. -Bob |
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November 20, 2005 Nothing that interesting happening lately. I've got so much artwork to do, plus I started a new project with the computer. Ella and I went shopping for furniture on Friday, but didn't have much luck. They're going to come and get our couch and T.V. soon, so we have to find something. I just don't want to rent this crap anymore. I mean, it's functional, but I'm making enough that I can afford to get something nice. Plus, leather furniture is SO cheap here. Anyway, I'm at work now, I just finished one tattoo and I'm taking a break. It's a relatively slow day for a Sunday. I just can't wait to get back home to finish my project. It's really cool and it will make it so we don't need a television. Don't worry, I'm taking pictures. -Bob |
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November 16, 2005 Yesterday was Billy's birthday. It was an experience. Sunday I had a great day at the shop, I worked steadily all day and had to put in two extra hours in order to finish everything up. Monday was almost as busy, I finished up the day with a large tribal peice that made my hands ache by the end. Then Tuesday started with a bang. I had one tattoo, then by the second one, Billy had started his celebration. I was tattooing a young girl, covering up some initials on her hip, there were over a half-dozen people in the back room at any one time, and Billy kept giving the girl I was working on tequilla shots. After about the 9th one, I couldn't get her to stay still anymore. It was like trying to tattoo a cat... not that I've ever tried, mind you. Later that night, Justin, one of the other tattooists, came in and essentially dragged Lee and I out to the clubs. Nothing that interesting happened... once again, everyone tried to get me to do shots, and of course, they were disappointed. The only person who really understood was Billy... his manner of convincing everyone else left a bit to be desired, though. "No no no... Mate, Chris don't drink, he don't do drugs... He's just into kinky sex!" While this did get everyone off my back, I'm not sure I wanted that shouted across the club. Not to mention, how does he know what I'm into? I left after about 45 mintues and went back, cleaned up the shop and locked up and went home about 4:00a.m. It was an interesting night... I'm just not into partying. -Bob |
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November 11, 2005 Today Ella and I went to the Powerhouse Museum. The Powerhouse is the privately funded museum, so it's got a lot more to work with than the state funded Sydney Museum. Not as many bones, though. Probably due to the way it gets it's funding, the Powerhouse had a large amount of displays that centered around conservation, music, space and obvious commercial ventures submitted by private companies. They also had a lot of children's hand-on displays. When you first enter the museum, it's hard not to notice all the airplanes hanging from the ceiling. In fact, throughout they really like hanging large objects from the ceiling. It's very unnerving. They had a large display on musical equipment. Old pianos, harpsicords and other keyboards; Violins and violin construction; flutes and other woodwinds, and then, of course... guitars. This is a guitar donated by Angus Young. The Powerhouse also had an assortment of Sydney based historical items, like the Mimi display about a race of alien people that supposedly came down and taught the first humans how to dance. They had everything from documents from some of the workers who built Sydney to ads from magazines. I don't know why I took a picture of this, I just liked it. They had a large assortment of motorvehicles. It was pretty obvious that Holden, the local automaker, had donated most of the money, though. They had nearly brand new Holden vehicles in the display with parts cut out to show how safe and modern it was. It's still a learning experience, but it feels like such a sell out. There was also a display of modern and art-deco furniture, but we weren't allowed to take pictures in there. Probably my favorite part of the museum was the Opera House model. I haven't had a chance to actually visit the Opera House yet, so seeing this model gives me a little more insight to how it's actually constructed. It was a good museum, definitely worth the ten bucks. We didn't even have time to see all of it. I'm sure we'll go again. -Bob |
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November 10, 2005 Well, I spent the last few days getting over that cold. It kind of settled into my chest and made me sound like Barry White. Then, of course, I had to work... Sunday from noon till 8... then Monday noon until 4am. I had to fill in for Justin because he was on vacation as well. I made some good money that day, though. Now my cold is nearly gone and as of today... da da da DAAAA.... we finally have broadband at our apartment. The connection is kinda wonky... but it works better than some of the connections I've used. It's just so frustrating, Australia is about 5 years behind the States when it comes to internet service. So... what this means for you, my little droogies, is that I will be online more often, I will have Yahoo up more often, I won't have to leave a conversation just because my battery has died, I'll be able to use Yahoo voice (we have a nice headset) and we have a camera, so you can watch me as I type stuff to you on the other side of the world. How cool is that? Ok, now I'm off to do some shopping, I need some longer cords and some other computer related doodads... catch you all later. -Bob |
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November 5, 2005 Today we got right up and started the day strong. We'd both had more than enough sleep, so we had breakfast and headed out. On our way, we came across a Memorial park. I found the general setup to be very cool. The trees were just incredible. Notice how each of them have huge steel supports, keeping them far enough off the ground for people to walk under. One of the strangest things, was the monument in the middle. It looks all nice and formal, but for those of you who spend the time to actually read the text, you'll see that maybe he wasn't all that great, after all, they didn't think it important enough to re-etch the plaque when they messed it up. Man, these billboards are everywhere. I'm not sure if this was a religious theme or a lobby for a new carpark... Then we were off to the Skytower. The Skytower is the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere. It's 328 meters tall (over 1,000 feet) and taller than the Eiffel Tower or the AMP Tower in Sydney. On a clear day you can see over 51 miles and view over 30 of Auklands volcanos. It cost us $18 apiece to go up, and an extra $3 to go up to the Skydeck, which is an extra 34 meters above the main observation deck. I have to say it was worth it. The views were breathtaking. We rode up in a glass bottomed elevator to the observation deck (186 meters) where we could walk all the way around and see the city in a full 360°. If we had really wanted, we could have paid extra to do the Vertigo Climb in which you are tethered to the structure, and you get to climb all the way up to the 270 meter crows nest. Or we could have done the SkyJump in which you go out on a ledge and "bungie jump" off the edge and "plummet" all the way to the ground. I thought about it, it wasn't cheap, but after seeing it done, I decided that it wasn't worth the money. You didn't really free fall, there were cables that held you in place to control the fall, but watching each of the jumpers, you could tell that they were being slowed all the way down. Maybe next time if I have more money. I actually think the Vertigo Climb would have been more fun. Check this out. Cricket is just as popular here as baseball is in the United States. The fields are everywhere. Still, the money we spent was worth it. There were glass floors. It was really creepy standing on them, and you could tell the people who were really afraid of heights... they wouldn't go anywhere near them, let alone lean up against the slanted glass to get really good pictures. I can't express how happy I am that I bought this camera. It has been worth every penny and more. The detail I can capture is just amazing. I look back at this blog, and I'm just so pleased that I'm keeping up with it and that I have all these photos... as long as it doesn't somehow get erased, I'll have this documented to look back on when I'm old and mouldy. So while I'm glad everyone is keeping in touch by reading this, I'm doing it for me as well. Still, it's always nice to hear that people check in on it every few days to see my updates. Ok, now for the stressful part. I still wasn't sure that everything would be okay, but I wasn't as nervous as when we left Sydney. We took a bus to the airport and it cost us $30 opposed to the $70 for the taxi. We got to the airport very early and had over three hours to wait. When we finally went to check in (the airline was sharing a counter and we got there so early that they hadn't set up yet) the "helper" at the counter (and I use that term loosely) tried to tell me that I had to check my backpack... you know, the one with the laptop in it... because it was too heavy. I about strangled her right there. I told her that I got over here without checking it, it wasn't too heavy then. Didn't care. I told her, in no uncertain terms that there was no way I was checking a laptop. "Oh, it's a laptop? That's fine then." I wanted to rip her bloody head off. Sure, if it had been anything else, then it would have been too heavy... but it's a laptop... that obviously makes it lighter. Then she tells me that we have to pay a boarding fee of $25 apiece because this airline doesn't have it's own counter, it's independent, so they charge us because they can. What the hell is that noise? I wanted to beat her senseless. I was so pissed off by the end of the encounter, that I couldn't be worried about customs. I was too angry to be nervous. Apparently, all my worry was for naught, though. We made it through customs with no hiccups. Apparently all my research was on the money. I always get worried when it comes to government dealings... you never know when they'll change the rules or say, "That's not what we meant though." To make my attitude towards the counter person even darker, when we got on the flight, less than 25% of the seats were filled... and she was worried about weight? I wanted to get off the plane and go throttle her, just for fun. The flight back was uneventful. I watched Must Love Dogs and Ella watched parts of Dark Water. I almost didn't finish my movie... the flight was just ending in the last five minutes of the movie... and they kept pausing it to make announcements. It got really frustrating. The last five minutes took me over 20 minutes to watch. At any rate, we arrived safely, no one said "boo" to us about wanting to stay another 3 months. Apparently, we can keep doing this indefinitely. So we're back in Sydney, and all is good. Ella kept yelling at me when I was taking these pictures, because they had told us to shut off all electronic equipment. I was breaking the rules. Oh, no. Maybe the next time we have to leave to keep our visa current, we'll come back to the States for a visit. You can always hope. -Bob |
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November 4, 2005 Today was not nearly as fun as I had planned. The guys at SleeveMasters had all been passing around the same cold, and I thought I had managed to successfully duck it, but I woke on Friday with an awful cold. My throat was sore, I was coughing, runny nose, just a simple cold... but not fun when you're spending your first and only full day in another country. We ended up sleeping most of the day away. We got up for the free continental breakfast (Mom! I ate pears! A whole bowl!) but went right back to bed. Even after all the sleep of the night before, we didn't get up until almost 3. When we finally did venture out, it was pretty much too late to do anything. Tours were certainly out, our second choice was the museum... again, out because it was so late. We ended up just going for a long walk. Ella stopped a couple of times to check out some interesting flowers. After spending so much time disecting flowers in her science-y doings, she can't help but pull all these new flowers apart. Sometimes I really wish I could share in this. She gets so excited about it, and to tell the truth, I can't tell the difference from flowers back home. I do like the difference in the trees, but even that, I'm just not well versed enough to know the difference. In the middle of the city, when I finally let Ella lead, she got us lost in the woods. Ok, that's not fair... we actually set out for a portion of the city that was known as The Domain. The Domain is just a huge piece of forestry in the middle of the city. We walked about one quarter of the entire trail in about 2 hours. There were a lot of other trails, but we just took the main one. On the top of a hill in the middle of this huge mass of forest, sits the Aukland Museum. I'm really upset I got sick. With a lead-up like this, it has to be a good show. Ella took the lead for a little while. I started to get worried as the trail got more and more narrow until it almost disappeared. Finally, I took over again, I didn't want to sleep in the woods. Some interesting things we noticed on our walk:
We finished off the night sitting in the hotel room and watching episodes of Smallville on the laptop until we couldn't stay awake anymore. Yeah, it sounds like we totally copped out... but keep in mind, I did all this while I had a cold. Maybe tomorrow we'll have some time before we head out to do something fun. -Bob |
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November 3, 2005 Well, this is it... the day I've been dreading. I'm not really sure how this is supposed to work. It's frustrating when it's so difficult to find someone to talk to about it, and even more frustrating to find out that you're better informed than the people who are supposed to have all the answers. We've gotten through the first stage, we managed to get through customs getting out... that's the biggest hurdle. They check to see that your return visa is ok for you to have return tickets. We made it through that and through customs. Now we're just waiting for our plane. Soon we'll be up in the air and on our way to New Zealand... then all we'll have to worry about is trying to make it back. I'm going to be nervous until I'm actually back on the ground and through customs in Australia. Later Well, that's the first leg. No drama. We said goodbye to Australia, a nice sunny day, and came to New Zealand where it was overcast and damp. On the plus side, the plane ride was really cool. We flew Emirates, an Arabic airline (I think). They had personal view screens on the back of each seat. We had our choice of a host of movies, television shows, and music videos. I watched 4 episodes of the Simpsons. Our in-flight meal was also quite good. We were passed right on through customs and took a $70 cab ride to the city to make it to our hotel room. Now, because I haven't really slept all that much (worked until 4 and left for the airport before 7) and then the time change as well (2 hours) we're just exhausted and we pretty much just napped for the rest of the day. I woke up around 10 and went out for a snack. Ella slept straight through. I just walked around for a few dozen blocks, checking things out, and then came back. Our room is pretty cool. It doesn't look like much, and it really isn't, but it's clean and comfortable. I wanted to get a five-star hotel this time around, but had some issues with my credit card and had to have it booked by the travel agent. Anyway, it worked out just fine. The bathroom is huge. It's almost as big as the rest of the room! The decor is kinda weird. I can see what they were trying for, but it was a failed attempt. Some small adjustments, some accents, and maybe some artwork or decorative painting and it would be just marvelous. The temperature here is significantly cooler. It's around 65° (17°C)as opposed to the 80° (26°C) degree weather we left. Much easier to sleep in. Anyway, I picked up a Raspberry Coke for Ella (since she's been peeved ever since we neglected to test it when we were in New Zealand the last time and couldn't find it again in Sydney) and a Strawberry Spider Fanta® for myself. I highly recommend this flavor if you can find it! Anyway, I got back and pretty much just went to sleep again. -Bob |
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