Betty is a Cover Girl!

I got the latest OPGI (Original Parts Group) catalog yesterday and was surprised to see my car on the cover. Light-metallic-blue
1964 Skylark! Of course, its perfect but mine isn't that far off! :-)

Merry Christmas

moar funny pictures

Well, we've opened the last of our presents, the turkey is in the oven, and we've just sat down to watch White Christmas (my favorite Christmas movie). What better time to break out the MacBook Pro download some new iTunes (via a record haul of $165 in giftcards... sheesh!) and blog it up.

It has been a good year. We've tried to scale back this year. After all, we've got a kid coming any day now. It is a good time to focus on what is really important. We went to Christmas Eve service at Sunset Presbyterian. I usually loathe Christmas/Easter services because the message tends focus on the "non-believers." You know, the people only there with family, in need of faith. I understand, this is a good time to reach out. But I have already bought in to the whole thing. So, I went in to the service with a jaded point of view.

We haven't been to church on a regular basis lately. Sometimes it is a challenge for Amy to get moving on Sunday mornings. Well, to be honest it is a little bit hard for me to get moving as well. Anyway, the music was phenomenal, the message, albeit highly focused, was good to hear again, and I left the church spiritually energized and emotionally centered. It was just what I needed. It made me even more resolved to focus on what is really important. Being spiritually centered (whether church is involved or not) is one of those important things.

I hope you find your emotional and spiritual center this Christmas. Whether that is going to church, going to the gym, or just making time for you it doesn't matter.

Merry Christmas!

Love,

David

Boring Things + Cool Music = Sweet.

I love Apple (although I still hate iMovie '08, downgrading soon) and I really like that new Music is My Hot, Hot Sex ad. The story behind it is cool too. However, I recently happened to put that song behind a random slide show of me and my friends doing something not really exciting and noticed something. That song made the slideshow REALLY cool. We all laughed at the way it made what we were doing seem more exciting.

Of course, putting music to anything makes it better. iMovie and iPhoto have saved countless generations from having to sit through boring vacation slideshows without musical accompaniment. But this song really rocks it. I took some pics and vid of some really boring stuff and set it to the song just to test my theory.

Nursery: Check!

After weeks of hard work we're finally done with the nursery. I can't wait for Carter to come!

Happy Momma:
The Blonde corner (I think we're going to paint the inside of the shelves red for contrast):

Does the car in the lead look familiar?:


Furniture by Ikea. Cheap and red:

Even MORE Ultrasound Pics

Nursery is done, Doctors gave the a-okay, now all we need is a BABY!

Ferrari Shell Ad

Saw this on Jalopnik and , well... wow.

More Ultrasound Pics

We had an ultrasound last week and everything looks great. We're really excited and can't wait to meet our little boy.

Carter's Room

With the baby coming in January we have been spending a lot of time working on the nursery. Well, Amy has been working a lot on the nursery. I kind of swooped in, much to Amy's dismay, at the last second and pitched this idea. Amy was kind of frustrated because she thought she was done and here I come with my grand ideas (I know, typical David).

Anyway, it all ended well. I used a special (and expensive) type of airbrushing paper called Frisket paper to mask off the shapes. It turned out great and it will look even better once we get all the furniture in.

The Darth Vader http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifBlues

I'm surprised they haven't pulled this for copyrighted material. Maybe its because its FRICKIN' HILARIOUS.

Friends of David Lunch: Good Food with a Bad Attitude

I recently (today) invited some friends of mine downtown for lunch. I had threatened to have lunch with several people in the last few months and had to bail out for some reason or another so I decided to invite everyone to a "Friends of David" lunch. Don't worry if you weren't invited. It probably just means I don't love you as much as someone else. :-) Really, it just means I wanted to limit the group to 10.

I called ahead to BluePlate to reserve a table. BluePlate has been on my "must try" list for a while. I had heard really good things. Old school soda fountain, comfort food, and a daily menu made it seem like a great idea. So today the crew (Jeremy, Chris, David, and Suba) piled in to the Skylark and headed to Downtown P-town for some grub.

When we arrived we found friend Aaron guarding our table with his life. In the end, only 6 of the 9 FODs that had RSVP'd showed up but we had a great time anyway. David and Aaron talked shop and debated mobile phone features (Aaron was fresh from IDF) while Suba, Jeremy, Chris, and I debated Brittany Spears' career trajectory (Chris is a HUGE Brittany fan, very emotional right now) and why the BluePlate logo was not blue and did not incorporate a plate. We laughed, we cried (Chris), we ate some DELICIOUS food.

BluePlate has a different menu everyday. Today's features were BBQ Pulled Pork Sliders, Meatloaf sandwiches, and something else I can't remember. I ordered an Eastern Connection (orange, ginger, lemongrass, and kefir lime leaf) with my meatloaf sandwich. My meatloaf sandwich was perfect. Homestyle meatloaf was nestled between white garlic-toast with a couple tomatoes, lettuce and onion. The garlic-toast was a pleasant surprise and made up for the lack of ketchup-brown sugar crust that I grew up with. My Eastern Connection was a unique and refreshing sweet and sour concoction that kept me sipping. The rest of Team FOD rounded out our selections with a couple three-scoop milkshakes and an IBC rootbeer float. Chris had the grilled-cheese and I was a little jealous.

Good food, great ambiance, and good friends. What a perfect lunch! However, one sentence muttered hastily through gritted teeth ruined our entire lunch.

As our delicious food settled in our stomachs and we made lazy motions toward the door, the chef came by our table. I had barely noticed his presence, but I am sure his face was contorted in fury and he said, "Just so you know, I lost about 150 bucks today because of you!"

And then he, contorted face and all, walked off. WTF???? Our collective jaws dropped. Again, WTF???? Why on earth would someone say something like that? I debated going over and giving this fellow a piece of my mind but decided not to. I figured I wasn't going to be able to teach this IDIOT the principles of customer service in 30 seconds. I would probably end up telling him to eff-off and his reaction would have certainly be no improvement.

On the ride home we puzzled over his words. He had, in one sentence, ruined our entire lunch. David L. offered, "If he had said two sentences, he could have ruined an entire week!" The once savored aftertaste of my delicious meatloaf sammy now only taunted me! Such good food ruined by a complete asshole.

I'm not sure how he figured we cost him $150 but it will never add up. This isn't a fucking math problem. I'm assuming he was upset that our party of 10 ended up to be a party of 6. Even if we follow his deluded logic, he would have had to turn away about 13 customers (at an average of $11 a plate) in about 15 minutes in order to "lose" that much money. I didn't do a formal study, but I don't think there was 1 customer a minute coming up to the door and saying, "shucks! I guess I can't eat at BluePlate!"

As soon as we realized we weren't going to have 10 people, we gave up our additional table. I was disappointed that the turnout was not as good as expected, but we did have 6 people. I'm pretty sure we aren't the first reservation to ever come up short. Besides, what would have happened if we underestimated?

ANYWHOO, if I had been able to pierce through the frustrated soul of this a-hole, I would have said this, "How much money did that one sentence cost you? $150? More? Possibly THOUSANDS of dollars?"

Its funny how someone who can create such brilliantly nuanced food could reduce their own art to a simple math equation. I hope he figures it out.

Revenge of the NERD

I don't care what anyone says, this is awesome. Yes, I am a nerd but the force flows strong in me. It just happens to come out in the form of uncoordinated movements. Regardless, this app is cool. WiiSaber allows you to sync your Wii remote with your Mac. I was kind of hoping it would magically add a lightsaber to my hand, but it doesn't. It syncs up sound effects and rumble in the Wii mote to your movements. I look forward to seeing this in future Star Wars games and some sort of version that syncs up the video too. For now, you just have to pretend I am holding a lightsaber, I know I found it easy. :-)

I just have to say, iMovie 08 SUCKS. Although the insta-publish to youtube is super cool, I am probably going to go back to iMovie 06. Hopefully Apple decides that although people like all the features in iMovie 06, they don't want to learn Final Cut Express in order to use them. Bring the features back!!

Birdie!

It was around 8PM Wednesday night at Stone Creek golf course. It was getting dark and Tony and I decided to make the 14th hole our last one for the night. The 14th at Stone Creek is a short par 3 with a huge ravine separating the tee from the green.

I selected a 7 iron from my bag and let one fly. I used a yellow range ball I found earlier thinking I would be able to see it better but it disappeared from view the moment it left the tee. I heard a promising thump from across the chasm and peered across to find my ball about 20 feet right of the pin. Not bad.

While hawks cried in the background searching for the night's first meal Tony took his turn with a familiar thud of the ball on the green at the end. Although the sky continued to darken, I could still find his ball to the left of the pin and near the front of the green. Not bad as well.

We hiked down the cart path, across a small foot bridge, and up the hill on the other side to the green. The cries of the certainly enormous birds of prey struck fear in our hearts. Even as we steeled our minds against the threat of death we wondered how close our shots were and what we would face once on the green.

As we approached the green an ominous scene was laid out before us. Tony's putt would be an uphill 15 footer with a slight break. Mine would be a daunting 20 footer with a huge right-to-left break. I took a cleansing breath and sized up the task before me.

Recently aerated greens had been causing problems all day. I had come about an inch from birdying a hole earlier in the afternoon and I still can't help but think that it the ball would have gone in if it had not been slowed down by the bumpy surface. The birdie potential was threatening to overcome my nerves as I observed the distance and the uphill break.

I gave a doubt-filled smile to Tony from across the green and straightened up for a couple practice swings. One swing (don't hit the grass), two swings (that might be right), and I think I am ready. I take one last look across the darkened green and address the ball. The night air feels good. I take a deep breath and bury the doubt and pressure of the birdie. Painful memories of mis-hits and stuttering putts ruining par attempts echo in my mind. Striking the ball firmly and with confidence is the important thing. Just take a swing and see what happens, changing your mind halfway through will only make things worse, I think.

The vibration of the ball transmits through the shaft of the club and I watch the little yellow range ball roll across the dark-green towards the pin. God speed little ball, God speed. I wait for the break, holding my breath. It would have been hard to misread this break but I could have miscalculated the severity. It rolls toward the cup, if I got the speed right, I might have a shot. It slows near the hole but keeps rolling. Right on line. Two feet, one foot, inches, and (please!) in. That joyous sound of the ball rattling in. Yes! Birdie!

Overjoyed, I half-skip, half-run across the green with a flying high-five for Tony. This is the shot that brings you back. This may be the shot that brings me back for life.

Fun with Old Photos

We've been doing some rearranging in preparation for junior-junior's impending arrival the last month or so. The great thing, and possibly the most annoying thing, about movin' crap around is that you inevitably uncover more crap. With a pack-rat like me I end up with a whole bunch o stuff that, "I just can't get rid of!"

I decided to actually DO something with some of the stuff I found so I scanned a bunch of old photos and had a little fun with them. Enjoy:

Betty's First Drag!

On Wednesday night I cruised down to the Beaches cruise-in and got a taste of the scene at PIR. Live music, food, drag racing, and about 200 classic cars. For a car guy like me, it was a dream. I didn't drag race because they were bracket racing and I had never raced Betty. You kind of need to know how fast your car can go because bracket racing is all about consistently setting down the same time.

So, Amy, Jessie, and I (Kelsey was with a friend at the beach) took Betty down to the Friday night drags at Portland International Raceway (PIR) yesterday evening. It was awesome. It was my first time drag racing so I did some research online and got some tips from The Staging Light. My research paid off. Other than leaving my window rolled down I didn't look like a complete novice. Staging the car correctly and knowing how to get a good reaction time made things a lot of fun.

I set down a best time of 16.912 at 82.25 MPH for the 1/4-mile. It isn't a very competitive time but it isn't bad for a pretty much stock small-block Buick. I ran consistently in the low 17's and high 16's in 8 passes. My 60-foot times were lousy (Betty's 2.78 gears just aren't made for the low-end) but she really came alive in the 1000-foot. I'm most proud of my reaction times. My best reaction time was a 0.021 and most of my RTs were consistently sub-0.300.

All in all, I we had a great time. I plan on heading out to the Wednesday night cruise-in at least once before it ends at the end of the month and I definitely need to get my Dad and his 1964 Olds F-85 out there for a little Father-Son, Buick-Olds showdown. :-)

Check out some photos here:

http://gallery.mac.com/dstewart64#100004&bgcolor=black

And a short video here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FAlMaReWuIQ

Another Threadless Failure :-(

I'm beginning to think that Threadless just doesn't like me. My submission has been pulled after only 24 hours of voting. It had about 500+ votes and some positive comments. They say they will email me with an explanation.

Anywhoo, look for the design on my Threadless Failures store on Cafe Press! If at first you don't succeed...

Future Threadless Fasilure? YOU Be the Judge!

VOTE TODAY!

Her 15 Minutes

At the Harry Potter launch party Kelsey got her 15 minutes, or 30 seconds actually. Here is some footage of the news coverage:

Quick update...

Jessie lost! But she did so gracefully. She smiled for the judges but there were just SO MANY kids. Anywhoo, we're having a great time. The winner was a dead ringer for Colin Creevy (the kid who is always following Harry and the gang around with a camera).

Harry Potter Launch Party!

Coming to you live from the Barnes & Noble at Clackamas Town Center. Jessie has already won the games drawing and has hooked up with her Weasley kin (see pic). We're now beginning the costume contest. I think Jessie is a shoe in for the Ginny Weasley category although competition is intense. There are over 50 kids in just the 7-11 group!

Threadless Failures

You can now by all my threadless failures on Cafe Press. You can also buy all the latest Official Organic Chimpz gear! The McAfee Design Studio is fielding a 3-on-3 basketball team for this year's Amberglenn Sportsfest. Our team is the Organic Chimpz.

Betty's First Show

Took Betty to her first show this weekend. The Sherwood Cruise-in is one of the coolest shows of the year. Even though it rained all day there was a respectable turnout and a lot of spectators.

Although I didn't win anything (I entered the Under Construction class) the show was a lot of fun. If there had been a class or best sign, I think mine would have won. In the end, just hearing all the cool comments by people passing by was enough to feed my ego.

There were a lot of sweet rides there and one cool perk of being in the show is that you get to vote for the winners. Check out the pics on Flickr.

Kelsey's First Ride

Long time, no blog

My friend Aaron said that according to the "blogospere" my car was not really done. Betty's paint job, which I so faithfully documented at first, has been done for months. I just haven't put anything up here for a while. Here are some pics: