After we’re all settled in to the new place in a couple of weeks, I have 2 projects I plan to do right away.

One is a productivity booster/brainstorming center piece. I have a thing for dry erase boards. I just do - since I’m consulting now I carry 3 smaller sized ones with me, and they go to whatever job I’m working at. Nothing beats jotting down ideas in full color. At the loft, we have tall ceilings, 14 feet or so, and so a large white board on one of the walls would be perfect for me - but have you priced them? I have. A 4′ x 8′ large plain-Jane white board will cost you over $300! And it’s on sale, normally it’s over $400! I was somewhat bummed out about that - that’s just to much for me to justify spending on something I’ll basically doodle on.
Then I saw this article over at Chris Metcalf’s site. He created a 4′ x 8′ white board for… ready? $28. He used shower board, which is a thin plywood coated with a white waterproof to be used to build a cheap shower surround, only it works perfect with dry erase markers. He took a 4′ x 8′ sheet, glued it to a thicker piece of plywood and boom - there you have it. I’m going to do this, but I plan on improving - I’ll be adding some thin ferrous material in between the shower board and the backer, thus giving me a combo white board/ magnet board.

The second item I’ll be constructing is this. It’s a coffee table, with the table part being made from a pinball playfield. I’ve got my bid in over at eBay and in 2 days and 2 hours from now I’ll be the proud owner of a playfield from 1979. I won’t link it, because I don’t want people driving up the price :P. It’s a helluva lot cheaper then an actual pinball machine (Trust me, I’ve been looking), and a lot more ‘WoW’ factor. Invite some friends over, flip the switch, and there ya go!

The next update I’ll probably have, sometime tomorrow of Sunday, will be full of pics of the new place and some more details on the plans we have for it - so look for that!

Today my newsreader is filled with little more then iPhone fud. From people who love it, to people who despise it, to people who have been waiting in line since the beginning of the week. All said and done, either way, it’s one of the in phones to have this year. The other? Why it’s the Motorola RAZR 2, coming out soon - that’s the phone I’ll be getting when it comes out. My current phone is just too…. big. It’s a smartphone, and I purchased it with big plans to do something with it - and I just never managed to figure out what that something is. I really bought it because I stopped using my Blackberry, switched to a Razr, then realized just how much I miss said blackberry. But I want to try something that had games, tons of apps, fun, excitement, adventure - and ended up short. So I’ll wait patiently. Or maybe I won’t. (BTW: It took friggin forever to figure out a proper link to the phones, appreciate it!) I can’t change phones without paying full price until 08/2008.
Anyway - Mishka needs a new phone. Hers was pulled off the assembly line at around the time Reagan made his famous statement of “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”.
She can’t receive anything other then regular text messages - no pics or sounds. And if you place an at sign (@) in your text, she won’t receive anything after it. It has no camera, no internet access, nothing. So, I’m considering getting her an iPhone. Which is the whole point of this diatribe.

So, this weekend I suspect will be fairly bland. Yes, I have some volunteering to do, but it’s only an hour or so and then I’m done. I think we’ll probably be doing some packing, but who knows what’ll happen.

July 4th we’ll probably go down to the Riverfront and watch the fireworks - then she be heading to her parents the next for a reunion, then I’ll follow on Saturday (I’m on call all that week). Then… who the hell knows.

Waiting until August is killing me. I want out of were we are now! NOW! Argh! I have a ton of projects lined up to do this fall too. Not to mention Project SNAP! Gotta get started.

Meh, that’s enough for me. Time to get back to work. Write a little code, then work on some of these editorials I’ve been doing.

Oh, and Hi Wendy!

It’s official - Project SNAP is a GO. It begins 06/28/2007.

I’d go into details, but I don’t want to leak any secret info. Though, I suppose since it’s my project I could de-classify it then say it. But, meh, I don’t want to.

IT STARTS TOMORROW!

Huzzah! We went, examined the loft, and then I wrote a check. Come August 1st, we’ll now be living high up in a loft in the Rossmor building in downtown St. Paul.

It’s a gorgeous place too - 1200 square feet, which is the largest you can get in a non-corner unit, but this one has a twist - there’s a bedroom and a little storage/work area setup via some high tensile stainless steel cables and hung mahogany and birch panels. This is perfect for us, because we have seperate hours sleep wise - Mishka will be able to go to bed an hour or so earlier then I, and I won’t bother her being online or watching TV. Unless I wanted to - although there are technically ‘walls’ in this loft, they don’t have a ceiling, so it’s extremely noise dampening - more light dampening.

We also get to paint, any colors we want, and we can add on to it if we want to as well - so I’m getting ready to pickup some kitchen gear from Ikea - make that place great! *sigh* August 1st seems sooooo far away now!

Speaking of cool, now I’m trying to hunt for a pinball machine playfield so I can build this incredible pinball machine coffee table. Love to build it for the new loft before the house warming party! Though it looks like supplies are limited, and because of the instructable, I’m sure a lot of the playfields will be selling for more then they are truly worth. Time to go local!