muck_a_luck

Stupid brain

2016-05-23T13:50:09Z

I think it may be hormonal anxiety day. Symptoms include being scared of my e-mail. *sigh* Brain, please sort out your chemical issues and get it together.

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Adventures of a Pepakura Noob

2016-05-23T12:07:23Z

OK! I got my software, I pulled in my helmet's stl file, and I unfolded it. Blam!

It took a tiny part of one page. I squint and squint at the screen until I see the stats for the finished object are (approximately, I don't remember the exact numbers) 20mm x 20mm x 30mm.

Time to spend some time learning how to re-size the object, and specifically how to resize it for my own head. First, I used math! I measured my head on a plane that included my glasses, then divided by pi to find my head's diameter. But I wasn't thrilled with that, because I was worried that the diameter would actually be wrong, because my head is not really a circle, but more of an oval. To confirm that my measurement was correct (I have been informed I must reenact this while The Barbarian films it), I took a placed a piece of paper on the kitchen counter and laid my head down on it. First I put my ear down, and used a pen to make a line where my nose was and a line at the back of my skull. Then I flipped the paper and, placing my forehead on the counter, made marks at each ear. Obviously these were rough measurements, but they did confirm that my head is not a perfect sphere! :D Anyway, this gave me the depth number I needed. I plugged it in, plus a couple of centimeters for the interior plastic resin coating, and Pepakura re-sized the other dimensions proportionally.

However, realizing I am a noob, I also watched a few videos of people talking about how to size your helmet, and these people pointed out that you need to go into Pepakura and find the distance across the actual opening you have to put your giant head THROUGH.

Ha! So, I went in and checked the opening, and yup, pretty clear my fat head was not going through that. So I started scaling up 10% at a time until the opening was big enough to accommodate my head. This made rest of the helmet HUGE compared to my head measurements. The instructor reassures me that this is a good thing, because I may want to put padding (excellent idea) inside the helmet to make it more comfortable, or I might even want to put electronics in there (sounds dangerous!).

Dimensions all set, I unfold the thing again. And realize that something isn't right, because it unfolded as three, super complex crazy shapes. Um.

Back to YouTube I go, this time looking for an explanation of how to get a more sensible unfold. Turns out, you have to go in and specify which edges need to be "opened."

( Here's a screen shot of the object )

Basically, I needed to go in and turn every blue edge that I wanted opened into an orange edge. That turned out to be A LOT of mouse clicks.

I did a first pass, unfolded, clearly still too complicated.

A couple more iterations, and then I just started breaking up pieces in the 2D. Then all the pieces needed to be placed compactly to save on expensive paper. 28 pages of pieces, many of them tiny. I think it is possibly the worst Pepakura design/layout EVER. Anyway, I hit print and walk away to do some laundry. I come back to find that my printer did not select the back tray where the cardstock was, so it printed 28 pages or plain paper. But this turned out to be a good thing, because NONE of the pieces was labeled in any way. WHAT?!?!

At this point, I quit for the day. Perhaps one might even say I rage quit. Possibly.

I was certain that I probably just need to click one button to fix this problem. When I came back on Sunday morning to look at it again, yes, that was in fact the case. I clicked the button that labeled the edges, and reprinted, this time on the cardstock.

Now. The big question (which I probably should have considered more before printing)...do I want to try again on the layout? I'm pretty sure this one is terrible, with too many pieces being glued and not enough pieces being folded. I have the whole week to contemplate this question, as I doubt I will get another chance to work on this before Saturday afternoon. And possibly not even then, as that will probably be The Barbarian's birthday party.

I have also been asking myself, would foam be a better solution for this helmet, since it has a lot of smooth lines, and the details are probably all things I could build from foam. But I am thinking no, I will try this, even if it turns out to suck because it is my first one, it will be good experience.

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Money spent

2016-05-20T13:50:35Z

OK. I just bought the remaining supplies for my helmet and gun builds, less the paint, but including a dremel tool and needle files. I think this puts me at the point that I can build helmet and weapons all the way to the painting stage, and also can do a muslin of the vestments, without spending any more money - except I might need to buy a little PVC pipe when I build the sniper rifle. I'm pretty sure I'm set for anything I want to do on the boots, too. Not sure about gauntlets.

Next big purchases will be the final fabrics and notions for the vestments, and whatever I need to paint and finish the weapons and helmet.

I need to post the total thus far. It's a fair amount, though some of it, like the dremel tool, are investments in future fun,and even RL.

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On the vestments front

2016-05-20T12:41:33Z

On the vestments front, Mom was over at Mary Jo's, and poked around a little for me. She got into the shiny fabrics, and sent me some swatches.

( Photos behind the cut )

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The Madness Begins!!!

2016-05-20T12:32:47Z

So, last night I finally acquired my Pepakura key! I immediately realized I still have more to learn, as the initial build the software wanted to hand me would have had completed dimensions of 2cmx2cmx3cm approximately. Gotta figure out how to measure my head. The good news is, this is a pretty uncomplicated helmet, ornamentation-wise. So if I can figure out the "height" of my head, I don't have to worry about adjusting for the horns or wings or whatever sticking out of the thing. If I can get head measurements and throw in an extra couple of centimeters for the additional thickness added by the plastic resin layer inside the helmet, I should be good to go. I aspire to have a pepped helmet by the end of this rainy weekend. Let's see how hard we are laughing about that on Monday. :D

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test

2016-05-20T12:27:22Z

test

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Replica weapons and helmet

2016-05-16T17:16:37Z

I've been stalled a little bit on my work because of funds. Which may be a good thing. I used my week off from exercise to binge watch a bunch of videos about how to build replica weapons, and I have gone from thinking this was the thing I was going to have to purchase form someone else to thinking, hey, this looks really do-able! (And also, shopping for a scroll saw, but that is another matter. Ahem.) And I'm excited to learn that it should be ridiculously easy to include a reflective visor in my helmet build because this thing exists, so now I am definitely going to build an Apotheosis Veil for my helmet.

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Learning to run at 45

2016-05-16T17:09:26Z

Well, after letting my knee rest 'til it didn't hurt on stairs, I started back with Zombies, Run! and after two weeks of making good progress and running three days a week, I did something evil to my hip. Read a running advice book, and I think it was just a minor strain or overuse or whatever type injury related directly to the impact of running. I was also letting my FitBit dare me during those two weeks to walk much farther than usual. Most weeks I walk around 25 miles, but those two weeks I went 30 and 35 miles respectively, in addition to the higher impact activity. I think both my knee and my hip were like, "Are you kidding us?!" So I took a week completely off. And I'm back at it again today. My plan is to continue to run from zombies three days a week (the higher impact activity), but I'm not going to push hard for the added distance, no matter what my FitBit says. We'll see how my hip and knee like it, then move on from there.

Meanwhile, I left the zombies in the dust and helped to save Runner 16! It was a good day to be Runner 5! I stopped for some extra stretching, and I was really careful to stretch my hip afterwards. I feel good at the moment. The hip and knee felt a little tired, and the knee thought about maybe twinging. but I slowed my pace, and walked a bit more, and I think it's good. We'll see how I feel later this afternoon after I cool down and the adrenaline burns off.

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This weekend's update

2016-03-20T17:45:26Z

Costs to date:
$5.99 - Burda pattern Biker Style Peplum Jacket 12/2015 #108B
$8.32 - Boots

Cosplay excitement of the weekend, I found the costume item that I was most concerned I would NOT be able to find!

Behold, boots! Which I bought from the clearance rack at JC Penny for $8.32. I did the happy shoe dance, possibly for the very first time in my life.

Then, on to the hard work!

Last weekend, I realized that I had printed the pattern incorrectly, but I went ahead and cut it out. However, before I could begin assembly, I ALSO realized that I would need two of just about everything, so I needed to print the pattern again. Well. When I was printing, I thought, the heck with doing it wrong TWICE. So I printed it correctly, twice, and then cut it out again, twice.

Then, I built the paper pattern. Burda does not include seam allowances in their pattern - you add them in when you cut the fabric by drawing them yourself. So that means, you can easily mock up a Burda piece simply by taping the cut edges together, since the edges are essentially the seams.

Man, I'm glad I am doing this in paper first. Burda is NOT Simplicity. I almost just had to call my mom or skype her or something over the mysterious instruction "On each armhole band...lay bands on front and back armhole edges, at placement lines..." It took a lot of peering and squinting at the pattern and the drawing before I figured that one out. Then there's that moment, when you are assembling a Burda pattern and you suddenly realize: "Where are the sides? They never told me to assemble the sides. WHERE THE HELL ARE THE SIDES?!"

Ahem.

( A few photos )

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Nerd fitness

2016-03-14T16:12:08Z

My doctor keeps making judgmental faces at me and talking about my weight. She really ticked me off in January, and I was all, like, I'll show her! Revenge weight loss!

This came with a follow on sudden recognition that the gym in my building has pretty much all the equipment I need to take another crack at strength training. Also my Achilles tendons have fully healed, so I could also start using the treadmill for Couch to 5k (with the caveat that I will stop if my ankles seem not to handle it).

Today, I stepped up to the second level of my current weight routine. Increased weight on all exercises, except for increased reps on the prone jackknife. I expect to feel like a granny tomorrow. If not, I'll probably be doing my Zombies Run.

Anyway, I've been doing a decent job of working out regularly, but have only been doing so-so on minding my caloric intake. Well, I intend to use my armor as inspiration for continued fitness and healthy eating, as I would like to trim my waist a bit to show off the lines of the armor better. NERD INSPIRATION!

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Assembling and cutting the pattern, selecting colors

2016-03-14T12:23:47Z

UPDATE: SORRY! SORRY! Forgot how to code simple HTML for a minute there. All the broken code is fixed!

( Image heavy post behind the cut )

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What to do when your train station is on fire

2016-03-14T11:26:25Z

It definitely adds an element of tedium to your commute.

Good morning!

I spent the weekend being productive. The result: all the laundry is folded and put away! Yay! :D

Also, yesterday I made: Gondorian Muffins, Best Blueberry Muffins, Best Blackberry Muffins (Best Blueberry Muffins with blackberries substituted. I think the blueberry muffins are better.), and sausage cheddar biscuits. About half of what I made came to work with me to stock the freezer. Mmmmm. Breakfast. Also, did up The Barbarian's normal pound of bacon, and made hamburgers on the grill for dinner. As part of the productivity equation, I also cleaned all the dishes related to my cooking.

I FELL into bed last night.

Speaking of the grill... I ordered grill parts yesterday. At the very least, I'm going to replace the trough, and hopefully, I will find the source of the starter problem. I'm interested to see how long they take to get here, but they were quite affordable - less than $50 with the shipping to hopefully revivify this grill for another 3 years of heavy service.

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Now on to the real weirdness

2016-03-10T18:31:40Z

This weekend, The Brain, which you recall used to occupy itself writing porny fanfic, decided I should do a really serious Warlock cosplay. When it was still all my brain would think about Tuesday, I decided to embrace the insanity.

(The truth comes out! you think. That is what she's really doing back here in journal land. Possibly. It's nice to have something interesting to post about. Also, if I do this thing, I am doing it fandom-right. There will be pictures and detailed write-ups, both here and on Tumblr, and I think I will even branch out into video for this.)

Now, I would really like to do the Iron Banner gear. But as you can see from the below, there's some serious detail work there.

These are the Iron Breed Vestments. I loved them. Now the game has left them behind. Sadness.

Iron Breed Vestments at Bungie's Armory

Aside from that, my favorite armor in the game thus far was Apex Harmonic. This link has excellent illustrations. As you can see, it was sleek and fairly understated. I have decided that is the place to start.

I have begun my research.

I found a pattern at Burda that should be the perfect foundation to build the design off. It should make an excellent bodice.

That is the first piece of the project - getting the vestments right. Once I get that, I can move on to other challenges, like gauntlets and boots and replica weapons. Also, I have to decide if I'm going to do a helmet or not. I figure I can take it slow and maybe have the entire thing ready for Halloween.

UPDATE: Excellent! I see Iron Breed is just the Iron Banner version of Apex Harmonic! I had not realized that. So, if I can get the Apex Harmonic to work, all I would have to do to get Iron Breed is make it again, with the Iron Banner markings. Very pleased.

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Happy Thursday

2016-03-10T15:06:08Z

Hello, LJ and DW! I appear here from the vast deserts of Facebook, where I have lately been spending all my social media time. Even my brief fling with Tumblr and even briefer affair with Pinterest peetered out.

I am much the same as the last time I checked in. Still doing real estate law at the same firm, where it is strange to think I have been working for almost 2.5 years now. AG33 (fka The Small Boy) has finished applying to colleges and is now waiting for decisions. The Barbarian is tearing up the fourth grade.

I haven't written any fan fiction in ages, and my attempt at NaNo was so incredibly boring I gave up on it about 4000 words in. Mostly I spend my non-work time sleeping, baking, and playing Destiny, an addiction that has shown no sign of abating, though I have seriously cut back on my playing time in favor of sleep. I did strike out and set up my own PlayStation account and am mostly playing "my own" character, just checking in on the account I share with husband to do a little maintenance now and then. You can find me puttering around as Cee_the_Crone, if you are into that kind of thing. Another of my free time things now is listening to podcasts and watching video related to PvP play. This is how far down the rabbit hole I have gone. I read about sniping, then practice. I read or watch the occasional weapon review. I'm still not active on Reddit, but I do have an account. I am happy to report that while sometimes I feel that I should be self-conscious about the whole thing, I'm not, really. This is nothing at all like my crisis of self over the Frodo crush 10 years ago.

So, hey! How are YOU doing?

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Once more with feeling

2016-03-09T19:20:38Z

Dadgummit

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Let's try that again

2016-03-09T19:18:10Z

Tr8ouble!

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Test

2016-03-09T19:12:54Z

Watch out!

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I am Donald Trump's next speechwriter

2015-07-22T16:15:07Z

This morning, as an orator, I outdid myself.

As background, yesterday, 48 hours from announced closing, we were notified that what we had been told was a fixed rate loan was in fact an ARM. I was peeved, because that meant they needed revisions to about 8 documents, and I was busy with other stuff.

This morning, Associate is reviewing a new loan I'm drafting and he says "Do we know that this is just SuchandSuch PLACE and not SuchandSuch Place APARTMENTS?"

I said, "Well, it says Place on the one-sheet, the application, and the underwriting e-mail. So I assume it is just Place. But they could pull another name out of their butt. I mean..."

And here is my oratorical triumph...

..."they pulled an ARM out of their butt yesterday..."

I am crying laughing now just typing that.

(And it turned out to be SuchandSuch Place Townhome Apartments. Just because I know you were in suspense.)

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Please don't

2015-07-22T10:26:43Z

I object to the name of this corporate entity. It is EVEN WORSE than that one entity that was a random mix of uppercase letters and punctuation. Please do not use your bank account password for your entity name. And I advise against using your entity name as your account password, as that is too guessable. But this one is worse. Imagine if your 3-year-old My Little Pony fan named your entity. After discussing the name with her imaginary friend, Tinkerbell. *glowers*

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Happy Birthday, AG33!

2015-04-14T12:18:01Z

Do you remember when he was The Small Boy?

The Small Boy is Wiser than his years

Today he turns 17.

I made him scones for breakfast and brownies for... breakfast. Also, made a different kind of scone because The Husband was sad that he doesn't love the scones AG33 loves.

Then I washed all the dishes, because that would be mean to make a bunch of birthday treats then say, "Have fun cleaning the kitchen!" :D

Then I caught the later bus and train, because we do these things for the people we love.

I had one of each thing, though my Fitbit will be yelling at me all day about it. Especially since we are having our quarterly clerical Staff Meeting this morning and it will be breakfast foods, so GOD KNOWS what I will be cramming in my face! :D

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Middle aged tendons

2015-04-06T12:08:10Z

I don't know if I have mentioned my Achilles tendon traumas? Back two years ago, when Boss and I went to working from home, my Achilles tendon hated it. I became much more sedentary, and the lack of use had a huge impact. Then, about 18 months ago, knowing that I had pain in that area, I attempted couch to 5k and practically crippled myself.

I took myself to physical therapy last summer and learned a little bit about how to treat it. I got a lot better, and in December, I took a dare from my fitness website. I have a Fitbit that is hooked up to an incentive site that gives me points. Yes, I'm sure I mentioned this in the context of killing aliens to earn Amazon gift cards! Anyway, I took a dare from the website to up my exercise to 5 workouts in a week. At the time the only way I had to do a "verified" workout was going 10k on my Fitbit. So I did 5 10k days, and BUSTED my Achilles again. I was limping for about two weeks, and in pain for longer. After that, I was VERY careful, really trying not to walk much more than absolutely needed (which for me is still over 5000 steps almost every day, but still).

But now... Last week, Monday-Saturday, I did 10k steps per day, and I was fine. Six days in a row! Some not only 10,000 but actually (accidentally) well over 10k (It was a weird week. Lamp repairs and a college fair were involved). A couple of really minor twinges from the bursitis, But that was it. I think I was actually LESS stiff in the mornings, rather than more. I took a rest day yesterday, and today I didn't even notice any pain or stiffness when I woke up. That doesn't mean there wasn't any, as I'm pretty used to it by now, but I know getting down the stairs was no problem. Even on my good days, if I trundle down the stairs prior to my shower, I will be in a fair amount of pain and relying heavily on the hand rail, and today I just zipped on downstairs to kill the aliens, no fuss.

Maybe I'm finally healing.

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It takes approximately 700 years...

2015-03-20T13:20:14Z

...to draft a deal when the borrower is a five-member TIC.

Remember the days, when I used to whine about crazy spouses and people who couldn't answer their questionnaires completely?

Ah, the good old days, when at least my whining could be vaguely interesting to other people - a few salacious details here and there. Maybe a life lesson to pass along to my friends.

Nope. Now my whining consists of complaining about business entity structure and form documents.

*glares*

In any case, the fiscal year needs to flip because I'm not allowed to whine about my software needs until we are in a new budget cycle, and I cannot bleep out enough expletives to express how much I need Hot Docs. The agony of the five member TIC would be so greatly reduced if I could just set up a template for it so it could draft itself.

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Iron Banner Antics

2015-03-19T11:44:42Z

HAHAHA! The Destiny icon I can't have without unloading a zillion other icons.

( Image from Destiny )

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Hello from random emotions land

2015-03-17T14:00:14Z

The mood issues this past month have been hell. Plus, I had another couple of nausea days - apparently this is a new PMS symptom for me, joy. The month was SO FREAKY, than when my period was one day late, I did a pregnancy test.

Not pregnant. Just The Change in action, I guess. Thank you, body. D:

( In gaming news )

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Things you hate spending money on, plus can you punch an abstract idea?

2015-03-09T15:14:33Z

Cars. Stupid cars.

After three years of free basic service, I am paying for the VW for the first time. This is a big service, because there's a massive transmission component, but the whole thing is going to come in right around $600. Add to that the fact that it is time to buy tires - $400 - and there's the cost of decent laptops for me and The Barbarian. *grumbles*

I am hating Monday and wouldn't mind punching it in the face.

I got up at 3:57, shifted some laundry, zoomed downstairs, did a little yoga, then hopped on my chair bike and logged into Destiny.

Servers had not updated with new bounties, I think because of daylight savings, so I decided to play as one of Husband's characters. Not my preference, but OK. Then I noticed that at the three minute mark in my workout the heart rate monitor set my heart rate at 111 and left it there. Annoying, but 111 is in the zone I need, and I was getting the benefit of working out, so I don't really care that much about accuracy as long as the data goes to my points saying that I did the right amount of time.

Heart rate monitor fucks off entirely at 34 minutes. Great. Did I even get a full 30 minutes in the right zone? Why is it not working. I figure battery. I finish up a bit more in the game while continuing to pedal, and then head up for a shower. (For the record, assuming it transfers, the heart rate monitor site shows me at 30:23 in the zone. Excellent. Makes up a bit for the 44:37 yesterday. Still hasn't come across to the site that gives me the points, but that sync is often slow.)

I pack my satchel with yoga stuff so I can do some lunch yoga, maybe. If not, the stuff will be here for later in the week. I move all my junk from my purse to my satchel and get out the door in time to perfectly catch the bus. Then I'm sitting on the train and I realize - I forgot my building key card. So, I get off the train at 7am, but can't get into the building until 8am. There goes lunch time.

However, by some miracle CVS opened on time, so I was able to do an errand in there in the dead time before work. And I grabbed a little breakfast while reading news on my phone. Then I sauntered over to the bank to make a deposit - only to discover that the ATM machine was broken. So, with 25 minutes left before I can enter my building, I went into the restaurant next door and sat in the window and scrolled through more news on my phone while pouting until I decided there was enough foot traffic to make it worth trying to slip in behind someone. I still had to sit outside the door to the suite for 20 minutes until someone showed up to let me in.

I'm not usually a Monday hater, but I'm pretty over this one, to be honest.

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