The Ring - Part 3

Wednesday we had our church employee picnic in Central Park. During the weeks leading up to the picnic, I was asked incessantly to play softball with all my comrades, but it brought up too many ill feelings reminiscent of high school. I opted to sit in the bleachers and work on my ring. Had it been wiffle ball, it might have been a different story. I wasn't alone as pretty much all the cool people were in top of the bleachers, just like in high school. That was a million years ago.

I filed for probably two hours straight with some spoon tapping here and there. I did have to answer the question, "What on earth are you doing?". As with all the things I do in my free time, either people think I'm crazy or rather intrigued. They never seem to relate however, which is why this is going on my own finger.

The Ring as of 6/25/09

The Ring - part 2

I'm trucking through this thing much faster than I anticipated. I'm even holding off on shaping it anymore because it is going onto my right hand index finger. My index finger is pretty stubby, so I realized that if I shape it too much, it will shrink beyond what will fit on my finger.

I went to Zales and found that my finger is about size 10, which comes out to about 20 mm across. I'm going to do more measurements to be more precise on how much I can bang away before its too late. I don't mind it being a skinny ring anyway.

I did drill the center out, which was rather difficult since I don't have a vice. I had to hold the thing or put it on the floor. I actually made sure to bite down in case I went into a finger. It will be a breeze to dremel out the rest of the ring when the time comes.

The Ring as of 6/21/09

I can't understand for the life of me why the other guy took a year to form his ring. I've been going at this for five days and have accomplished a considerable amount. I think it is because he is holding his quarter while he taps. When he holds the ring and taps, the quarter naturally moves when struck lessening the blow. My method is such that I place the ring on my computer desk running parallel with the wire frame. The desk has a beveled edge like a spoon, so I'm essentially bashing two sides with every hit. The rounded corners allow for a nice centered strike on the bottom. Bear in mind, I usually put a sock doubled over in between as the banging can be very loud.

One Nerd To Rule Them All

So thanks to my friend Elise's much more informative blog, Dum Spiro Spero, I have decided to make a ring out of a silver quarter. While scouring a flea market during a blind date, I chose this 1960 quarter because it was in very good shape and looked almost new. There is no real significance to this year for me aside from the fact that Psycho was released in 1960 and that movie rules the world. I figured this first go around would be a test run anyway so I wasn't looking for anything too special.

For those not familiar with the process, I'll briefly explain. Any quarter from 1964 and before is all silver and is not made up of various metals as in today's quarters. This is common knowledge and why you rarely find older quarters in circulation. To make the ring, you get a spoon and tap the sides of the ring until it forms into a ring shape. Lastly, you drill out the middle and dremel it smooth.

I must have thought these were more malleable that they are. Somehow when reading the blog, I glazed over the part where it took the guy a year to form the ring. Now I understand why. Last night I tapped steadily while watching all of This Island Earth from 1954. A stellar movie with really advance special effects for the time. Running time for This Island Earth 88 minutes. At approximately five taps per second for nearly an hour and a half, this is how far I have come.

The Ring as of 6/16/09

You can clearly see that I pounded my way through the ridges that surround the ring. The outer lip is now forming. I don't believe this will take a year, but it won't go fast.

My reoccuring nightmare...

It seems that at least once over week or two I have some sort of dream where my teeth fall out. I'm very self conscious about my teeth and I know this transfers over to my dream world. I don't even have bad teeth and although I don't think my teeth are falling out in reality, this is how my thoughts are getting translated. This is the most disturbing of dreams because even in the dream world there is the looming reality that at some point I will have to face others with missing teeth. Here are my last three nightmares, starting with the most recent in the most gruesome detail I can remember.

1) I wake up to find a very loose tooth. One of the larger ones on the top between the front somewhere in between the four front teeth and the molars. I sort of wiggle it and "snap!" it comes right out in my hand with no effort at all. I show someone else and he was pretty horrified seeing that there was no blood and it was such a clean exit. I turned on the lights in the bathroom and proceeded to tilt my head to look inside the hole using the bathroom mirror. I look in the hole and see black crusty spots at the top of the hole. I grabbed my Water Pik (which I don't own in real life) and began to drive the Pik into the chamber to spray the black away. Naturally, this hurts considerably and doesn't help the situation. The black was there to stay, not to mention a huge gap in my teeth.

2) This dream is the most excruciating yet.  I believe I was brushing my teeth in the dream.  At some point I was looking in the mirror and the enamel off two of my front four teeth slid right off.  I mean slid, only to leave the bare nerves underneath.  The nerves were brown and fibrous in appearance.  This was most disturbing to see.  I thought to myself, "I need to take better care of my teeth."  I went immediately for my toothbrush and proceeded to scrub at the nerves.  I don't know if I was hoping to "whiten" them up by scrubbing them to hell, but I went for it anyway.  As use can imagine, every brush stroke involved hundreds of tiny toothbrush needles stabbing my nerves at the same time.  This hurt worse than whatever you can imagine.  I wanted to stop but I couldn't leave my teeth in that state.  I brushed and brushed in what seemed like an eternity and my eyes were watering from the pain coming from my face.

3) I've had this particular nightmare several times.  I awake in the night and go to the bathroom mirror because something about my teeth makes me wake up in my dream.  I look to see my teeth shatter before my eyes.  Literally, slowly crumble and fall out, similar to the way Tom's teeth would disintingrate when Jerry hits him in the face with a hammer.

I also find it interesting that I sleep in my dreams very often. I used to take pride in that it was something I was actually good at, but evidently not.  My occasional nightmares would prove otherwise.  I don't find it interesting that I dream about my teeth falling out.  That sucks.  I also dream at least once a week that I am crying. I don't like this dream at all either.  Another blog for another day.

My FOX News Channel segments

If you want to see my two segments from FOX News channel, check out these links. It was a blast getting to do this in support of my friend Eric, who donated a kidney to another guy in the 501st Legion. What a great guy. The cast and crew loved having us there and were very gracious toward us.

http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=4498571&referralPlaylistId=playlist


The After the Show Show. We get to interact a little more in this segment.
http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/22128512/after-the-show-show-4-21.htm#q=%22star+wars%22+kidney



For the Empire,
TD-2243

SET YOUR DVRS!

I will be on the Fox News Channel on Tuesday, 4/21/09 at 8:40 am EST. Look for the Sandtrooper.

New Mexico - Part 3: The FOOD

I had to save this for a post all by itself. The cuisine of New Mexico is worthy of an entry and cannot be denied full attention. While in New Mexico, I made it a point to photograph all of my meals at various restaurants. Without further adieu,

The Shed, Santa Fe, NM

Blue corn chicken enchiladas with red and green chile sauce. Pinto Beans and some corn creation. Served with garlic bread.


... and for dessert, mocha cake served chilled. Unbelievable.



Also at The Shed,

Marinated seasoned pork and cheese enchilada. Also with pinto beans and some corn creation. Served with garlic bread.



Michael's Kitchen, Taos, NM

Three egg omelette with green chile and cheese. Hash browns and pancakes.


Guadalajara Grill, Taos, NM

Chile Relleno and pork chimichanga. Served with rice and refried beans.





Tomasitas, Santa Fe, NM

I'm not even sure what was on this. I think there was one enchilada, one tamale, one chile relleno and a taco. Served with rice, beans and a sopapilla.



El Paragua, Espanola, NM

This was hands down the best food I ate in New Mexico. Simply wonderful.

Two chile rellenos served with rice, refried beans and another marinated pork side. Outstanding and well worth the trip to Espanola.



Courtesy of various rivers of New Mexico.

Three rainbow trout. The skin comes right off after a very short time of cooking.



Courtesy of the freezer, an 8 oz. bison burger with american and cheddar cheese and chipotle Tabasco sauce mixed into the meat.



I also ate a dozen of Pedro's pork tamales while staying at the cabin. The food alone in the southwest is worth the trip.

New Mexico Trip - Part 2: Tres Ritos

After leaving Abiquie, I drove about 90 minutes into Tres Ritos, where the family cabin is located. It was surreal driving up the mountain toward the cabin as it had been over twenty years since I visited there. Places, bridges, and turns slowly came back to memory as I passed them and driving up the road to the cabin felt like coming home. The cabin is where I stayed for the next eight days of my vacation.






My parents were staying for the weekend, so it was good to see them as well as Uncle Mike and Aunt Donna. They all knew I wanted to spend most of my time alone, so they left on Sunday. Tres Ritos is so relaxing after running around for so long in NYC. The scenery is the opposite end of the spectrum entirely. Mountains, waterfalls and blue skies cannot be escaped.



We made our way into Taos, which is a normal pilgrimage when visiting the cabin. We had a great breakfast and walked around for a bit. Taos had changed quite a bit since my last visit. Instead of numberous galleries surrounding the square, most businesses had become gift shops with touristy trinkets made in China. That was somewhat disappointing, but the scenery was still beautiful.



Immediately after the family departed on Sunday, I bought a five day fishing license and hit the waters, fishing as much as seven hours a day. It was a tough time to fish because it was still fairly cold outside and the rivers had not been stocked since last summer. It was slim fishing, but I did catch five by the week's end. Two I released because of their size, but the rest I ate happily. I did have a stab at fishing in the Rio Grande River, but had no luck.



Of the time when I wasn't fishing, I usually spent it reading or walking around places I had been years before. The highlight of my trip to Tres Ritos was the walk up to what we call "The Meadow". "The Meadow" is about a mile up a trail behind our cabin. The first three hundreds yards or so is a tough climb. The altitude at the cabin is about 8,500 feet, so there isn't as much oxygen to be had. Needless to say, I was panting like a fifteen year old on prom night trying to get up that hill. The path evens out somewhat and gets easier as you hike. Much of the landscape had changed some, but the meadow was still every bit as lovely as I remembered.





I walked to the two broken down cabins and looked around. I drank from the stream when thirsty. I spent probably four hours up there just relaxing and reading my pocket Bible. I sat in one spot for awhile and when I got up to leave I startled about fifteen deer which were walking a couple of hundred feet away. We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity then eventually went our own ways.

At the end of the week, I did have to unfortunately leave to catch the plane back to New York. There was a sadness about having to leave such a lovely place for a place of such filth and despair among its locals. When all you can see is the effects of man, hope seems gone. But in New Mexico, there is heightened sense of spiritualism by everyone when surrounded by such beauty. I can see myself living in New Mexico or at the least, visiting it at least twice a year.


For more pictures, visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockforceone/

New Mexico Trip - Part 1: Santa Fe

What a relief to leave NYC and visit another place with no agenda whatsoever. Even flying into Albuquerque is relaxing. The way the airplane soars over a huge mountain only to find the city just below. Thanks to my cousin Angie, I used the Expedition which is kept at the airport.


I arrived in Santa Fe on a Wednesday afternoon. I pulled up to my hotel and it started snowing. I was sort of bummed that my vacation started with snow and harsh wind, but I made the best of it. I layered up and hit the pavement to explore. I wandered through the downtown streets to the Plaza, where there was not a person in site. Very odd for the most touristy part of the city. Usually there are dozens of Indian families selling various hand crafted jewelry and such.


It eventually cleared up a bit and allowed for some beautiful weather. The city is breathtaking in it's beauty. It is so obvious that the people care about their city, unlike NYC. The streets are clean and there is a sense of pride about the land in which they live. Most buildings are made of adobe often trimmed in light blue or red. Absolutely gorgeous. You can't walk thirty seconds without seeing some sculpture somewhere as every block is immersed in art.





I also spent some time at a few museums. I especially enjoyed the Georgia O'Keefe museum. I absolutely fell in love with that artwork and decided to take a trip toward Abiquie when heading out of town. When Friday came, I took a detour out west a bit to Abiquie. I wanted to specifically see Pedernal mountain, which O'Keefe drew time and time again. I wasn't really sure how to get there or if I would find it. The landscape was absolutely gorgeous and as my aunt calls it, "God's Country". She couldn't be more correct.



As I drove I kept seeing mountains and wondering if that was Pedernal. However, when I did see the real thing, I knew it instantly. I pulled off and drove down a dirt road near Abiquie Lake for quite a few minutes, until I was fairly close. I parked the car near this ranch and just sat there in the breeze for probably an hour.


I have to say that there is a charm to northern New Mexico like no other place I have been to. I could easily see myself living here with a giant dog.

For more pictures, visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockforceone/

The Devil Wears Satin

From my 28th floor window I get to see numerous billboards overlooking the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. Most of the ads are for some HBO series or a film yet to be released. This billboard is just beyond belief in the amount of worldliness it packs into one advertisement. On the way to work, I head over to snap a pic.

Here we see an advertisement for Caesar's casino in Atlantic City and a lovely woman nestled in some white satin sheets.

The life you were meant to live.

This billboard has almost as offensive as The Devil Wears Prada in the subliminal messages it gives. I'll start with the woman, obviously naked and attractive. I guess what I'm meant to believe is that if I go to Caesar's, I'll win a fortune and be able to have a perfect woman of my own. They do mean me, since the you is deliberately italicized. How did they know my bedroom is rather small with a loft bed? A far cry from a Queen sized mattress with satin sheets and no girl in sight.

Maybe this sign was designed for people using the Lincoln Tunnel, who brave the tunnel twice a day on the way to their mundane desk job to support the wife and kids. I wonder how women driving past the sign feel, since it implies that men will be the one's winning at Caesar's and they will be the prize. Do they give it a second thought? It doesn't give the female much worth, but what of this world does.

The billboard just struck me like few do. What direct line to the Father do they possess that I don't telling them this is how I'm meant to live? I can't deny that this idea is very appealing, it just seems unlikely that God would have a lovely brunette planned for me by way of gambling. Of course, God could be trying to speak to me through this sign telling me to head to Caesar's. How would I know? This seems to be a reoccuring question in my life, but the fine print tells me otherwise. Know when to stop. Have a gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. If you can't get the girl, at least they provide a toll free help line.