Brief ruminations on the weather...

Tuesday of this week is was 73 degrees and I was contemplating having to mow the yard this weekend... which meant going out and braving the day star to pick up Cinnamon's toys.

Today... while running to get bits from ACE it started to rain. By the time I left ace it was monsooning. By the time I made it from ACE back to campus it had changed from monsoon to snowflakes the size of 1/2 dollars. From the parking lot 100 yards to the art building it went from merely snowing huge flakes to a blizzard with a visibility of about 40 feet.

It didn't get any better all afternoon.

Driving home was treat with 40-100 feet visibility and several of inches of standing water on the roads any place there was a depression. At one point I nearly lost control when my car hydroplaned at the base of a hill where I was driving 20mph under the speed limit...

Right now it's getting dark but I can still see it is snowing heavily, there is at least 6 inches of snow on the porch, and as the flakes have gotton smaller has improved so that I can see about 150 feet or so. Currently 26 degrees out.

Yay spring.

Secrets of the box.

You all remember the box, yes?

How about a close up of that lid?


Shall we look inside?

How about a close up of the inner plaque?


What could be nestled among those dividers I wonder.

Lets look...


Oooh... Airship tokens! Where on earth could they take us?

Victoria Station - Shibuichi alloy, nitric etched and tumble polished.

E.R. Burroughs Barsoomian Zoo - White bronze, nitric etched, brass brush polish.

Jules Verne Naval Academy - Shibuichi, nitric etched, brass brush polish.

H.P. Love Craft Aquarium - Copper, ferric chloride etched, liver patina.

Lemuria Crystal Mines - Copper, ferric chloride etched, liver patina.

All of them etched pretty well except the bronze, which wouldn't etch at all in the ferric chloride and etched really fast in the nitric acid. However, since I wanted the coins to be representative of survivors of some temporal holocaust from bygone age/alternate timeline I didn't mind. Same with the chew/claw marks on the Lovecraft coin. Started off as a flaw and I just went with it.

A huge thanks to "The Girl" for doing the finished artwork for the etching and "The Dad" for doing the typography.

*Edit* Corrected for spelling and Answer.

Shibuichi is a Japanese alloy that is 1/4 silver to 3/4 copper. It is a grey pink in color and patinas a variety of different colors depending on what you use.

*Edit 2* I forgot to include the lid close-up. So there it is for Ook.

What is in the box my Preciousssss?

My last project has been returned to me. I'll make you a deal, if you can guess what is in the box I will make you your very own Steampunk something. However, if you helped me with the construction/design work you don't get to guess. (Sorry dad.)

You have 48 hours.

Happy Err... Spring?

Taken 5 minutes ago, the dog expresses her opinion of the lovely "spring" weather we are having.

A change in my life...

So I've been struggling with this decision for some time, even going so far as to deny what has been clearly a fundamental truth about myself that I couldn't admit even in the privacy of my own mind.

I'm have been dishonest with myself and others, and it's time I came clean.

I want to get an MBA.

This architecture whimsy and predilection to the arts have been nothing more then a sham to prop up some retrograde fantasy with the humanities and design.

I want columns, spreadsheets, profit and loss statements, board meetings, and hostile mergers.

God, I LONG to run down Wall street (okay... be driven in my chauffeured limo) with a sharkskin briefcase and stack of Accelerated Depreciation forms like loaded six shooters at my side.

I understand that for many of you this will be hard to accept, but please bear with me during the difficult time. It took a lot of courage for me to admit this and you support is appreciated.