The Wayward Celt

It is true what they say; tattoos are addictive. Ever since my first ink back in February 1996, I’ve been constantly planning the next pieces I’ll get, always looking at least 3 designs in the future. Each design has shifted and changed as I have, up to the point where it is the perfect piece at the perfect time to have it set in ink. All my tattoos have been years in the making from concept to execution. And last night’s session at Adorn Body Art was no different.

For the past two year, I’d been contemplating a few concepts for more tattoos loosely based around how my life has changed since we left California and moved to Oregon. Part of that concept was realized in my Craftsman/Mission style number 13 house plague in black and gray on my upper inner forearm. For me, this was a great realization of the work Jean and I have done on our new home, as well as a celebration of 13 years of marriage (anniversary date is July 13th). But something about it left me wanting… it felt somehow incomplete, as if it needed more balance. So, I opted to add in another design I had been thinking about for the past two years: an Arts & Crafts stained glass design called the “Pasadena Rose”.

Both Jean and I fell in love with the design immediately after installing the two wall sconces which incorporate it in our living room. For me, the design connects the dots of our move from Southern California, to the “Rose City” of Portland. It also displays my love for the Arts&Crafts / Mission / Craftsman design movements which are popular in both  SoCal and Portland.

Like all my tattoos, this one has a deeper connection and meaning for me than I can adequately convey in plain words. The best way I can describe it is this: tattoos for me are stamps on the steamer trunk of my body; they tell the tale of my life in iconic form.

In this latest case, it is the stained glass “Pasadena Rose” on my forearm:

Click the picture for the larger view

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Lastly, here is my Picasa gallery showing some of the tattoo work I’ve had done: http://picasaweb.google.com/acdntlpoet/Tattoos?feat=directlink

More work can be seen on the WaywardCelt gallery here: http://waywardcelt.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=16

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Yes, I know it has been a while since my last post. Real life happened. I am now, however, finally getting to a point where I am not so emotionally exhausted that I can’t string together more than 140 characters at a time.

Speaking of which, I made an odd discovery about myself yesterday: apparently I obtain a small sense of validation from being re-tweeted. And it actually makes perfect sense to me. After all, a re-tweet is essentially someone else saying: “see what this person posted, yes I agree with it and think it is valuable enough to pass on”. And that makes me feel like my ideas, or even just my words, carry some minor value in the social media spaces in which I have begun playing. It is nice to get that sense that I am doing something right.

Positive feedback is a wonderful motivator.

Last weekend was awesome, but I just can’t be arsed to put up a proper blog post. I could do a whole restaurant review, bar review, weekend recap, but I just have no motivation at all…

Suffice to say that I reconnected with a good friend from ages past. Last time I saw her was around 1992/1993. I actually knew here from Jr.High back in 1987/88 and had the benefit of calling her my girlfriend at the time. Too cute

Friday, we met up for dinner in downtown Portland where Jean and I were able to meet her husband of 11 years, and really connect with them both over food and wine and life in general. VERY good times. I can guarantee we will be doing it again as soon as we get out to Boise, or when they come back to PDX!

For those unaware, “LongWay Down” is second in a series of motorcycle adventure films starring Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman on their ride from John O’Groates, Scotland to Capetown, South Africa. (The initial series was called “LongWay Round” which documented their ride from London, England to New York, USA). Last night, Fathom Events put on a one night only showing of the Director’s cut version of LongWay Down, presumably as a bit of promotion before the entire series airs on Fox Reality beginning tomorrow.

Let me start by saying I ADORED the first series, to the point where I refused to wait a year for the DVD to be released in America, so I bought the UK version from Amazon.co.uk and ordered a DVD player that would do the PAL -> NTSC format conversion so I could actually watch it. Needless to say, when the second series was released back in November 2007, I already had mine on pre-order from the LWD home office in London. It was in my DVD player 30 minutes after it arrived, and I got through the series in 2 days.

So, you can see I was excited for the theatrical release of the Director’s Cut. I’m not sure what I was expecting though….

After having seen the series, the director’s cut version was, simply said, an hour and a half long preview. The pace of the film felt very hurried and chaotic, similar to the trip I am sure, but not true to the series. It seemed to me that the director wanted to pack the whole trip into a single film rather than focus on a few key experiences and give them the time they deserved on screen. Yes, I am SURE it was difficult, nay impossible to cut huge sections like that, but it would have made for a better film, and a more interesting DVD series release if you hadn’t seen it prior to the director’s cut.

Even in the flustered pace of the film, I did still find it enjoyable. Ewan and Charlie’s narration helped to that end quite a bit. And of course, the film flamed the fire that burns in me to get out and ride for days on end. I figure if I didn’t leave the theater feeling the need to just go ride…. Then the film failed. Luckily, I DO feel that burning desire and thus, the film was a success in my eyes.

Of course, having sat through a 90minute preview, both Jean and I also have the desire to plop our butts on the couch for the weekend and marathon through the series on DVD… on our 52″ flat screen TV… and with a sound system that puts the theater’s to shame (perhaps it wasn’t the systems fault, but the theater’s sound was about the worse I have heard since the late 1970s, just tinny and awful).

With that, my recommendation is as follows: buy the DVD sets. You really don’t have a choice at this point, since the director’s cut was a one night only showing, so I can’t tell you to go see it THEN watch the DVD series. What I can say, however, is to skip the Fox Reality broadcast. Really, if you are at all interested in the series, do yourself the favour and just buy the DVDs. While you’re at it, get the LongWay Round too and start there if you haven’t already seen it. While not required, watching them in order will be more enjoyable in the long run…

We didn’t get much accomplished on the house this weekend, but what we DID do made a large impact.

After narrowly escaping house work on Saturday, Jean and I made our way out to the Kennedy School in NE Portland to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Her husband had rented a room in the school (now a McMenamin’s of course) and set it up with a buffet as well as Mahjong and poker tables afterward… sadly, we were both beat and had to call it a night around 9pm. We did have a great time, however, and look forward to seeing both Doug and Sunny at a Bite of Oregon in a few week’s time…

Sunday I finished installing the filler panels and cornices for the tin ceiling, so all the tin is finally up. I also stained some molding to finish off the beams where they meet the wall, but realized too late that I screwed up my angled cuts and will need to buy more molding to redo them all. Sigh, I even second checked it all before cutting everything. I must have been tired when I was working on that part…

Jean then took over and started painting the previously stark-white beams. Two coats down this weekend and she’ll pick up next weekend with the faux finishing part to add a wood grain texture and glaze to add some much needed depth and complete the look. Even only partly done, though, the beams are really starting to tie in the room. I hadn’t realized HOW much the white beams made the room look unfinished. The two coats of brown are already a HUGE improvement. I can’t wait to see how the faux finishing works

The link below will take you to the Renovations album on my Picasa page:

renovations

So, after much hemming and hawing, I decided that a nailgun was in order (even before elmunadi suggested it). My thumb has thanked me repeatedly since. I had initially wanted to do the ceiling the ‘right way’ but the frustration and fatigue, not to mention flat thumb, seemed to want to hold me back. So, Jean and I went to Lowes around noon to pickup more paint (this time for the foyer and kitchen) along with a miter box and a cordless nailer.

Seriously, this is the BEST power tool I have ever bought. Yes, it was $359. Yes, it was worth every penny. In the time it took me to install half the field in one section with a hammer and nail, I had installed the field tiles in the remaining 3 sections of the ceiling. All that’s left now Is the filler and cornices, which I should be able to get done after work over the next week.

Here are some more in progress pictures:

For those playing along at home, I picked up the Paslode 16ga. Angle Finish Nailer from Lowe’s:

Yes, I probably could have gotten it cheaper online, but really, I needed and wanted it -NOW- so I could feel at least a little productive before the long weekend was over.

This is a seriously awesome tool. I first saw it in use on a DIY show a few months back, and have since seen it on numerous other HGTV and DIY Network shows. I figure if they use it, it can’t be all bad… and so far it hasn’t let me down. It has already paid for itself in the lack of frustration and fatigue…. and no thumbs were harmed in the installation of the rest of the fields! What more do you need?

We worked on the tin ceiling more today. Got the main field up in one section:

Then decided to add the filler and cornices in the same section before we move on to the rest:

Next up is to complete the first section and tighten up all the seems, then move on to do the same thing for the other 3 sections.

Honestly, I’m not entirely sure my thumb will survive this ceiling installation. I have hit it no less than 150 times just installing what you see in the pictures.

Today was a slow day of completing the paint in the living room and stairwell, along with wiring up the two new sconces which arrived yesterday.

Next up is to start installing the tin ceiling… more pics to follow.

Morrigan, resting her tiny little head on a catnip toy… and the rest of her big fat body on a sheep skin rug:

Rewind to yesterday at 2.30pm when the electrician arrived to find our daunted hero eagerly greeting him at the door. Never a good sign for service professionals I am guessing.

We chat about the issue and I run down the laundry list of troubleshooting steps I had already taken. To my credit, he seemed fairly impressed with my troubleshooting kung-fu; so I got to keep a small amount of dignity at least.

I let him get to work checking the circuit for continuity, etc. and mosey on back to my office to keep an eye on work. As the electrician moves about the house, we continue to chat and talk through the problem.

Let me note here that since Saturday, I had had nightmares (waking and sleeping) of a whole house re-wire project being necessary. That is $25k I just don’t need to spend right now…

Approximately an hour into the diagnostics, he still hasn’t found the break, but it is obvious there is one somewhere in the line. At this point I remind him that the plug next to the fireplace is dead as well which is odd since it is the only outlet downstairs which is displaying an issue. This oddity has been bugging me since Saturday when we encountered the problem, and my gut keeps telling me that is where the solution is also. The electrician agrees and we check out the receptacle, which looks perfectly stellar.

Of course at this point he asks me about the wall-plate switch next to the fireplace, wondering what it controls… “Oh”, I say… “that is presumably for the non-existant fan motor in the fireplace which was removed sometime long ago prior to us moving in.”

And that, my friends, is where things got better. I recalled opening up the grill to allow the removal 3 very long dead squirrels and had seen 4 uncapped wires protruding from the side wall. I thought nothing of them since they had obviously been like that for a decade or more. Unfortunately, it seems I must have bumped them during the removal of dead squirrels.

The ONE thing I completely forgot about and never checked resulted in a slightly expensive lesson learned. The exposed leads were capped in the fireplace, the breaker flipped, and it stuck. Problem Solved! Power is back to the upstairs and most importantly, my home office.

The good news from all of this is that the $180 for the diagnostic was easily and immediately applied to the installation of a whole-house surge suppressor which was also installed yesterday. So while it was indeed an expensive lesson, I still came out okay with additional protection for my home electronics and home office setup.

Whew. The future looks a bit brighter once again.