Obama @ the Target Center

Hello folks,

Barack Obama is going to be speaking this Saturday at 1:30pm in the Target Center! Whether or not you like the man's politics, he's still one of the better speakers of our time, and could possibly be our next President! If you're interested in going, you have to fill out a form (here) to get an E-ticket sent to you. (They say tickets are required. It was easy though, and I just got mine.) Otherwise you can go to one of the locations listed on the bottom of that page to get a ticket in advance.

Let me know if you'll be out there, or if you want to meet on the way out.

Oscars '08

Woot! The nominations are out, and for the most part, look great.

http://a.oscar.abc.com/media/2008/html/printer.html

I AM GOING TO SEE THERE WILL BE BLOOD BEFORE THE OSCARS. That's my mantra for the time being. :) Otherwise I've done better than usual at seeing all of this year's top films.

What was your favorite film of '08?

Presidential Milkshakes?

A list I came across today.
(List under: I have no idea what this guy is talking about, but know exactly what he is saying...?)

Presidential Milkshakes:

I drink your milkshake! -Daniel Plainview

I drink your milkshake, even though I opposed drinking your milkshake four years ago. -Mitt Romney

I drink your milkshake, but only if the Bible says it's allowed. -Mike Huckabee

I may drink your milkshake for another 100 years, if that's what it takes. -John McCain

I drank a milkshake on 9/11. -Rudy Giuliani

I'll drink your milkshake a few months after everyone else does. -Fred Thompson

I drink your milkshake, but I'm paying for it with gold. -Ron Paul

America deserves a new milkshake. -Barack Obama

I will fight the corporations so that you can drink your own milkshake. -John Edwards

I have 35 years of milkshake-drinking experience. *sob* -Hillary Clinton

I peacefully drink your milkshake. -Dennis Kucinich

It depends on what your definition of "milkshake" is. -Bill Clinton

I voted for drinking your milkshake before I voted against it. -John Kerry

Global warming is melting your milkshake. -Al Gore

We're making good progress in the war on milkshakes, and make no mistake: we will prevail. -George W. Bush

link to original

Old Photos, New Link

I put up our wedding photos on a easy to use Flickr page.
http://www.flickr.com/gp/8797776@N08/1FUs71
Enjoy!

-Bjorn

"I am a Golden God!"

In this last year I've been collecting and assembling the various supplies and equipment necessary to start my own little screen printing shop. In the beginning I had a screen made at work and bought the inks and squeegee and that was that. I printed a shirt. And it wasn't pretty. Or easy. Or economical.

Tonight though, I've taken a big step forward. I just got done washing out a screen that I coated and exposed myself, with equipment that I researched and built myself. Even better, I've seen workable results on this first time through, which is awesome, and I'm excited now to sharpen my skills. Watching that emulsion wash out for the first time was a really really nice feeling. Like all of the time and money that I've invested in this junk is maybe going to work out!
(If you don't know anything about screen printing, there's a lot of PROCESS between IDEA>>>and>>>IDEA PRINTED ON A SHIRT... and I was going to try to explain it, but maybe another time... for now, maybe you'll get an idea of what it's all about with these pictures.)


"Safelight"

"Exposure Unit" Usually cost $1000s, I built mine for under $200...

...including this darkroom timer to control my exposures.

Screen after un-exposed region (blocked by the film pos.) is washed-out. (Sorry it's sideways. I'm being lazy now.)

Some edges are burning in, so I'm actually over-exposed after a 5-min. exposure window. It'll be faster next time! (Many home-built units can take from 30-60 mins. to expose a screen, so I'm pumped!)

Otherwise we're relatively sharp.



Pre-exposure-unit: Another, less efficient, way to work. Painting Screen Drawing Fluid onto a screen. Still fun though!


A shirt I printed for some of the luckier Hagstroms this Christmas - the screen I had made at Northwest Graphic Supply. (Hagstrom is a real guitar company, and the Super Swede is a real guitar...) A nice fit for the fam. But now, I can make the screen myself!

"Clock of Nines"

http://www.walyou.com/blog/2008/01/06/the-math-clock-for-geeks/

The arguments going on in the comments on the Waylou page are pretty funny. I thought Lou, at least, would have an opinion.

Nice Flight!

Paper Airplane Madness.

SLEEPTRACKER®

I got the SLEEPTRACKER® watch for my birthday (Thank you, Änna!), which if you haven't heard about it, tracks your sleep patterns, marking your 'wakeful moments' with the help of an accelerometer to determine when the best time to wake you is on a given morning.


I'm really excited to test this thing out. If it works as promised, it will only wake me when I'm most ready to get up, and not when I'm in the middle of a deep sleep.

So far I've only worn the watch on a holiday, so I let myself wake up naturally. Seeing the sleep data was cool for sure, but the first real test will be getting up for work tomorrow and seeing how refreshed I really feel.

You can go to the SLEEPTRACKER® site to learn more about how the watch works, or just wait to hear more about it from me. (Sorry, I sound like a product rep.) :)