22oz Black Canvas Messenger Bag "Jack Pack" Review

This semester I have been using a black messenger bag for school, I thought I would end up hating it but that is not the case. I have tried messenger bags before and hated them but they were cheaply made nylon pieces with skinny straps that dug into my shoulder. This one is different, it is the one that is used as Jack Bauer's pack in the show "24". If it's good enough for Jack, it's good enough for you.

As you might be able to see the bag has 6 pockets,

Lightbox Photograpy (I suck at it) + Zippo Close Ups

This will probably be the only time I apologize for posting a lot, but I don't know how much time I'm going to have free for this so everything is going up at once. I tried my hand at making a lightbox with what I had on hand, it worked... sort of. I had a somewhat box shaped white background that had filtered light on 2 sides and I could take pictures in. I can't take pictures to save my life, I need to learn to have Cat do that from now on... She is the photographer. Anyways, there are those of you who want to see what not to do for this. this is for you

I found my most favoriteist childhood toy today, Mr. Sociopath.

River is Back, Got a Shed, Cleaned the garage and a few other things.

So I got pretty sick last week, ended up I was a little sick before a physical test for the NAVY so I aggravated my condition through that, over-exertion, dehydration, and stress, oh and I didn't eat enough. Needless to say I was pretty bad off that night and the rest of the week (Working on getting things done without being able to swallow my own saliva much less eat all week...) I'm pretty hard-headed but after seeing black spots in my vision for awhile I decided to take it easy, so I put new tires on my dads truck (ok helped... well, watched.) but hey, free tires and they needed to be mounted! After that we got a forklift and moved a shed (no, seriously). Besides that I've been taking it easy (Of course I'm lying) but I got River back today

and reset the timing like a boss so she runs great and has no more

River: Update

Well, Toyota did not come through... They said they were not going to do my Headgaskets or my A/C Expansion Valve. Which means no Vacuum Leak fix either, Awesome. They also charged me a $100 "Diagnostic Fee" to tell me something I already knew. At least they actually replaced the steering rod though because I was mad enough already when they told me they weren't doing the rest. Screw them, I want out, I want my 5S-FE MR2 back! No fustercluck of vacuum lines, no cramped engine bay, better gas mileage (I hit 40mpg on a road trip at 70mph), and was way more fun to drive. Anyone wanna trade?

Text-only update. River and Aimee (my computer)

Ok, short text only update here, I am updating to Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal (I would do this only because it's got Narwhal in the name, but since it's the next upgrade for Ubuntu, which is my Operating System, I'm upgrading for more reasons than that. I'm also kind of hoping that Ubuntu names it's next version Placid Platypus or Titillating Tiger (because Platypii are awesome and any excuse to use Titillating is worth it). Also, good news for my sanity and wallet, River is up for some under-warranty repairs, MAJOR under-warranty repairs. She gets a new headgasket, Steering arm, and A/C Condenser all for free, so my pitifully slow and painfully inefficient (9ish mpg right now) Truck gets some new life in better hands than mine. They will be fixing my vaccum leak while they are in there and will be telling me what other repairs can get done! Awesome.

Roadside Emergency Box and some future plans on where I'm going with it

Ok, oddly as promised, here is the Pelican case I'm using as a Roadside Emergency Box. I'll do my best to name everything in it at the end. I'm also looking to sticker it up so if anyone wants to donate towards my cause you are more than welcome to. On to the pictures!

 Here is the case as it sits. I've gone over the stickers already

River is alive! skid plate mounted!

Short and sweet, here is what she looks like (for now)

Reassembly of River and some painting!

So I got River (My Truck) put back together with the exception of the distributor Oil Seal which I am getting tomorrow. After I get that Oil Seal I can fill her up with oil and antifreeze, put the spark plugs back in, and fire her up! After 6 weeks of being without a vehicle I'm ready to be driving her again even though it is a piece of crap. After I found out I couldn't get the part my girlfriend Cat and myself started painting up my skid plate to be LOUD. We started with a bright yellow base then used almost 2 rolls of painters tape to tape off the designs.

Here is the skid plate once painted yellow. It could be better but its going

I hate timing gears...

I really do. I have spent this week trying to get my timing gear off of my FwhoreRunner (4Runner) to no avail, I finally got it off this morning and I have been working on it since Monday. It ended up that there was so much rust it was basically welded onto the crankshaft.

The cell phone pictures suck but it gives you a general idea,

Dave Ramsey and SmartyPig

So I have been watching the Dave Ramsey videos while going through his class and have just come across a site called SmartyPig, The site is hosted by BBVA Compass (Compass bank) and is centered on not going in to debt. This is very interesting to me because of the Dave Ramsey series and the fact that they actually seem to want people not to go into debt, they have an app for iPod/iPhone, they are making an app for Android, you can link it to sites like mint or yodlee for money management, link to a facebook page or twitter feed to show people what you are trying to save for and how you are doing in your saving. overall I think it is a good approach to banking and I do want to try it, now because I have no job who wants to donate money so that I can try it?

A few repairs to River and some planning for a poker night!

I finally decided to fix my corner light which has been flopping around on the grille since I bought her... Come to find out that the core support has been TWISTED by about 15-20 degrees, fun...

All better now, shouldn't be much of a problem anymore and because

USB Flash Drive Zippo and custom case coloring

After reading this on instructables I decided to give it a try myself. I think it turned out pretty well... I diddn't take any pictures this time around while I was working on it because I was fully concentrating on getting it to fit. I basically followed the instructions word for word from the instructables and it worked very well. The case color was achieved by using a wire wheel to get all the paint (the paint on the zippo was TOUGH to get off!) off then heating it to red-hot with a blowtorch and dipping it in used motor oil to cool it off. The pattern is unique to how the blowtorch was held but I really like it. Of course there are pictures of the finished product.