An intimate look into my boring life
I used to go to Boyd Hill Nature Preserve every now and then when I was a kid and still lived in St. Petersburg. One thing that always stuck with me were the metal sculptures of various animals that are all over the park. This was one of the harder-to-climb ones when I was younger… Not that you’re supposed to climb them… I’m just saying… ;)
Hey, look! I’m in front of a camera!
Deep in a thicket, retrieving an ammo-box filled with toys and trackable items… Gotta’ love geocaching :)
As a general rule, if there’s a giant statue of something, I’m probably going to attempt to climb on it…
What an awesome spot for a cat to fall asleep.
I wanted to get a few more shots, but the kitten eventually woke up and decided to find somewhere with less people.
I’ve always loved the lifelike realism of Dinosaur World.
It really feels like they’ve taken you back in time! ;)
She has zero interest in the ship — she just wants the dangling anchor…
How could I not absolutely adore this cat…?
Maya again, this time in the middle of yawning. So cute!
Maya, the cutest cat in the world!
Was wondering around my property today… (Oh, I got a new house…. Need to take pics of it one of these days) …and I stumbled upon this sucker…
His web is pretty strong. I was chucking sticks into it (because I’m a boy) and not one fell back down. lol. Anyhow, I left him where he is… I mean, it’s nowhere near the house (I’m on an acre lot) and I figure it probably eats all sorts of stuff.
Picked up a pair of Ray Ban glasses. I like ’em. They are plastic with black on the outside and blue on the inside. They aren’t quite as comfortable as my last pair of glasses, but — hey — no one said beauty was painless :-P
I picked up an Artist’s Club Feather straight razor the other day (the special edition one, of course) and I think I’m finally getting the hang of it. Cut the heck out of my face the first time I used it, but now I just tend to knick myself a few times on my neck now and then.
The main difference between it and a traditional straight razor, though, is that the Feather’s use disposable blades. That means I can get a super sharp razor for shaving and when it starts to get dull, I just put in a new one. No messing with ‘honing’ or sharpening the blade. Quick and simple. And it’s still cheaper than normal replacement blades for a Mach III or whatever.
Plus, I mean… c’mon… it’s just freakin’ cool looking, you know?
So, really, I get the best of both worlds. :)
Found an odd shop that sells all sorts of unusual stuff (mainly pirate-related). While there, I saw this neat skull with a tribal art pattern. The shop owner said that it could be used as a candle holder, ashtray, etc. But, personally, I like using it as a toothbrush/toothpaste holder in the bathroom :) I didn’t get a shot of it with the toothbrushes, but it looks pretty amusing with them sticking out of its eye sockets. It’s like a warning to all dentists or something — abandon all hope, all ye who enter with floss…
The sunset was gorgeous as we drove back from Fort DeSoto, so I just had to take a shot of it.
Me in front of a really big Ceiba/Kapok Tree in Clearwater. It’s freakin’ massive!
One of the cheesiest places I enjoy going to now and then is Dinosaur World. As I tell my friends, it’s everything you’d expect — and less. ;)
I found this flattened souvenir penny in the parking lot of the place. I think they normally charge 50-cents or something, so I was happy to get it for free.
The picture didn’t come out very well, but it’s got a brontosaurus with ‘Dinosaur World’ written above it.
This is an odd carving I’ve had for a handful of years. I love Norse mythology. So how could I resist buying this when I found it on eBay? It’s carved out of deer antler. It was originally for a necklace, I think, but I like it better on its own.
Odin was pretty pimp back in the day…
Ok, this is totally random, but here’s a sea bean that I’ve had since I was a little kid.
My grandparents brought me somewhere on vacation (don’t recall where) and it was at a gift shop. They bought me it.
I don’t remember whether it was one of them who told me it or if I came up on it by my own, but I was convinced that it had some sort of magical powers… lol. Hey, don’t look at me like that… I was a little kid :) Anyhow, a few years past and I found it again. I had reached my science-loving phase, so I would try to smash it against the sidewalk to discover its inner mysteries…. No such luck. I had roughed up the outer layer of it but wasn’t any closer to figuring out what the heck it was. It got packed away somewhere until quite recently when I was going through some of my old things…
I had planned on washing it in some hot water and then seeing if I could smooth it out a bit (was a bit rough from my abuse of it as a child). It ended up sitting in a glass of water for at least a week or two because I had apparently gotten side-tracked. Well, I was shocked as heck when I saw what had happened to it. At first I didn’t notice anything different. I just knew the water was cloudy and that I had forgotten about it in the water. When I pulled it out there, there was a “growth” on one end of it. What the heck? It ended up coming off quite easily.
Upon closer inspection, it seems as if a portion of the outer shell had worn away a little bit (only in one corner). It looked like someone had taken a small nibble from a giant M&M candy. lol. But it became clear that it was indeed a seed that was trying to germinate. It was so old, I don’t think it actually would have, but that piece of the seed was designed to erode in water after a while, I guess.
Ok, well, that’s enough rambling for now….
[Update: AWESOME! I found out which type of seed it is. Check it out!]
This is freakin’ sweet. I’ve had it for a few years now and am still entertained by it. It’s a cell phone jammer in a poorly disguised ‘cell phone’ looking case. The range isn’t all that great outside, but every now and then I’m able to knock someone off their call if they are driving really slow in front of me because they are paying too much attention to their conversation than on the road.
It’s also great fun indoors. Nothing beats wandering info the cell phone stores in the mall with it turned on and in my pocket… Turning it on and off while the store employees are on their cell phones outside the store is even better. Making them say, “Can you hear me now? Sorry. My cell phone signal keeps dropping” in front of the customers is quite enjoyable. It’s also pretty good in movie theaters to ensure people don’t talk on the phone during it. lol. Only downside about keeping it on for long periods of time is that the battery gets hot in my pocket. Oh, well. It’s a small price to pay to take down some “cyborg” with one of those annoying bluetooth-enabled headsets on :)
Oh, and this is one of the spots I like to hang out at when I am exhausted and need a place in the shade.
Not too exciting, but — hey — I took the pic, so I might as well post it.
Every now and then, I like to take a walk. Usually, I go a couple blocks to this lake, relax in the shade, stare out at the water, and then walk back. It’s nice. And the time I spend getting there is usually good for clearing my mind a bit.
There used to be a young alligator living there, but I haven’t seen it in a while.
“It’s just like the story of the grasshopper and the octopus. All year long, the grasshopper kept burying acorns for Winter while the octopus mooched off his girlfriend and watched TV. Then the winter came, and the grasshopper died, and the octopus ate all his acorns and also he got a racecar. Is any of this getting through to you?”
This goes along with my previous post…
Thanks to peer pressure, I was able to convince Josh to order a beer name “Old Engine Oil”.
Who wouldn’t want to drinking something with a name like that?
When asked to rate it, he shrugged and gave it a non-committal vote of “eh” — much as how I’d rate the second beer I tried, which was some sort of Scottish elderberry black ale.
Josh stopped by today. We ended up having a couple beers and hanging out a bit at “World Of Beer”. This place is awesome! It’s a little too crowded for my liking during the night, but in the evenings it isn’t too bad. The main thing I like, of course, is that it’s within walking distance.
I tried a couple Scottish beers tonight. The first one I ordered was REALLY good. It’s a Scottish dark ale called Dark Island. It’s one of the smoothest beers I have ever tasted. I definitely recommend it, if you can find it where you’re at. One of the cool parts about World Of Beer, though, is you can buy bottles there — whether in packs or in mix-and-match assortments. That’s friggin’ cool. I might just have to buy a few bottles of Dark Island and save them at the house here for when I have guests over.
These suckers are pretty creepy. I was only able to find a small one out in the backyard at Marta’s parents place, but it’s still pretty neat. I think the big ones don’t start coming out until around Spring or so. But, yeah…. These spiders were ALL over the place out there last year.
As long as I don’t run into them accidentally, it’s all good. I wish I knew what kind they were.
I ended up picking up a new camera recently. I ended up going with a Canon IXY Digital 800 IS. It’s got a 4x zoom, 6-megapixel resolution, 1GB SD card, optical image stabilizer, and has some decent functions I like.
Hopefully I’ll get some decent usage out of it — especially for a certain photoblog site which shall remain nameless ;)
I don’t remember where I even got this… I think it was on eBay.
All it needs is a little bit of light and the monkey starts swaying its head back and forth peacefully.
It doesn’t really have any functional use, but — you have to admit — it is pretty darn adorable.
I admit it. I have a toaster in my bathroom. Sanitary issues aside, it is rather convenient to have…
I live in a three-story townhouse. And, to be honest, I don’t feel like walking downstairs every time I want a snack.
It’s not like I set out to have a toaster in my bathroom. It happened quite by accident. Since I’m sharing my place with someone, we ended up with one toaster too many. I put it on the sink in the bathroom temporarily and, well, it ended up being not-so-temporary, after all…
Further adding to the convenience factor, though, is that I also had an extra microwave. It’s nothing special — just some cheap model I found at Walmart — but it gets the job done.
Combine that with my mini-fridge, paper plates, plastic utensils, etc. and I have my own little kitchen right in my room.
Here’s a quick look out my window this evening. The shot probably would’ve come out better if I was closer to the window (or if it wasn’t so dirty), but you get the general idea…
I’ll probably post some more shots of the tower later. It plays annoyingly-cheerful tunes each hour and, for whatever reason, plays a bit longer at noon.
I wasn’t sure what it would be like to have that right near my room, but it hasn’t been too bad, I suppose… I don’t really notice it much any more — at least not unless I’m outside when it goes off.