tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353467512024-03-13T04:39:31.982-05:00home for an islandLife, the universe, and everything.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-20332972645447594962009-02-24T09:27:00.006-05:002009-02-24T16:41:53.163-05:00This Saturday I was supposed to do a 19 mile run but around mile 15 on the way home I did something to my left foot. I don't know what happened but I had to stop running and ended up taking the train home. I skipped the 9 miles on Sunday and had Monday off, so the tempo run today will be my first test of the foot since injuring it.<br /><br />It certainly feels better over the past few days but it is still tender. I'm hoping that this was just caused by my old shoes being worn out and can be fixed by just wearing my new shoes, but I honestly have no idea.<br /><br />I've been plugging away at my assault squad for my Crimson Fists, but I've also started planning out what I'd like to be painting after the two armies I'm working on are complete. I've made a lot of improvements to my painting over the past year and a half just through sheer volume of work but I'd like to slow down a bit and try to refine my technique.<br /><br />To that end, I'm going to spend some time painting one off miniatures and units as a way to practice and refine what I know and try out some new techniques. This may involved units from any of my three armies (Wood Elves, Crimson Fists, Khador) but will also include some character minis from a variety of places, some fantasy and 40k chaos units, and whatever else strikes my fancy. This first think I'm going to do is paint up this guy:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitPXwjAnq7lnAi21ka3aT3VkvH073wOxdbXOKuqDE5N3tDjzKr2riPQ3vMTFpt8DsT9_Ow6zoRP3TE9fJw_-bCEWHU7L6ykp196zxpAFCbqvCIHm3ksdXEmmyvBLlJNHY8HmjS/s1600-h/mar.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitPXwjAnq7lnAi21ka3aT3VkvH073wOxdbXOKuqDE5N3tDjzKr2riPQ3vMTFpt8DsT9_Ow6zoRP3TE9fJw_-bCEWHU7L6ykp196zxpAFCbqvCIHm3ksdXEmmyvBLlJNHY8HmjS/s320/mar.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306477837195966546" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I was inspired to do him as a Storm Lord after seeing some really striking marines in this log over at Warseer by <a href="http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176928">FearFrost</a>. I'm excited to refine my red and get a chance to practice painting white and yellow. This will also be the first time I'll be painting over a white basecoat. After I had built his base I went ahead and painted it. I won't be painting the marine for a while though so I can keep my focus on finishing the Khador and Crimson Fists.<br /></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYY1Lamsm2Bm3vwan-r5nRMV8RWtit4Odde8LjE3dAZW-iA2Jva9_eHrQCZvHeC0lbKD2Q99MJKky_byTSy_R4O6up7ZwKmSbCx87N_LBYTM-JY4iqcHHGwx2ko2yhHEDeyICh/s1600-h/base.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYY1Lamsm2Bm3vwan-r5nRMV8RWtit4Odde8LjE3dAZW-iA2Jva9_eHrQCZvHeC0lbKD2Q99MJKky_byTSy_R4O6up7ZwKmSbCx87N_LBYTM-JY4iqcHHGwx2ko2yhHEDeyICh/s320/base.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306477834285210178" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />Yesterday was Laura's first day at her new job in the astronomy department here at BU. After work I took her out for a drink and from what she told me it sounds like a really great environment to be in. The people seem to be very friendly and the work will be challenging but not overly so. I'm really glad she has a job because being unemployed was really starting to wear her down.<br /><br />A month or two ago I won a <a href="http://www.librarium-online.com/forums/general-announcement/145398-tutorial-contest-2008-a.html">contest on librarium online</a> for a tutorial that I wrote on <a href="http://www.librarium-online.com/forums/completed-tutorials/148943-painting-faces-101-a.html#post1318723">how to paint faces</a>. My prize was 25 bucks and yesterday I used it to buy some new records.<br /><br />Distractions by The Loved Ones - This is a 6 song EP that has three new songs and three covers. I've heard one of the original songs and really enjoyed it and I'm a big fan of their previous two albums and one EP so I figured this would be a good purchase.<br /><br />We Are Still Alive by Latterman - This is the last album by the band and while it isn't my favorite one - their sophomore album No Matter Where We Go..! is phenomenal - it is still a great record.<br /><br />S/T by Chris Wollard and The Ship Thieves - I hadn't heard of Chris Wollard until yesterday when I listened to his album online. I had it on for most of the day at work and when I saw that it was available to buy I decided to go for it.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-83515762051085992262009-02-18T13:42:00.011-05:002009-02-18T14:45:36.165-05:00Yesterday I had one of the best runs since I kick started my running last December. My plan was to do a four mile tempo run at 6:56 per mile and all of that went off without a hitch. About half way into the 4th mile I realized that I was feeling fantastic, and after thinking through a conversation I'd had with Culla about working up to 5 mile tempo runs I decided to add a 5th mile. I was still feeling great after the 5th mile but decided to call it a day and not over do it.<br /><br />I'm really pleased with how I felt and I'm taking it as an indicator that my training is going well. I was planning on doing another 5 mile tempo run in two weeks (next week is 6 miles of cruise intervals) and then, based on this performance, I may bump up the last three weeks to 6 or even 7 miles of tempo.<br /><br />I'm also currently exploring how I can incorporate some race pace (7:32) miles into my long runs. I'm not sure how to do this since I'm usually pretty exhausted after maintaining the 8:30 pace but Culla thinks it is important and he probably knows a lot better than I do.<br /><br />My Hold Steady record finally arrived in the mail yesterday. After I ate and showered from my run I put it on before bed and it was an incredible experience. Right from the opening guitar and keyboard chords of 'Stuck Between Stations' I was totally hooked on this record. I'll probably give it another listen tonight with Laura after dinner.<br /><br />I had Monday off and Laura, Kev, and I went to Metro for a little climbing. I had two good climbs on a 10d and an 11a, and based on those two I decided to go for an 11c. That turned into a pretty big disaster and so did the 11d I tried after that, but it was fun to get on them and I'm happy with the past two climbing performances I've had. We're going to go back on Friday but I'll probably take it easy since I have my long run this weekend on Saturday.<br /><br />I've finished off my Crimson Fist Captain and I'm pretty happy with how he turned out. I tried out some washing techniques on his cloak, a new method for doing power swords, and some free hand on one of his shoulder pads. All of it turned out well for a first attempt and I think I can do better with practice.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2CJgtVTFRXNYUcCUCNCMuq1shoJhSSYAXNCZJsaCM-j3m-PRd0h6cuLMvXPGluF6qUMip4VgskGPAntORWaZYcGLUYobbG97fcB-WoH_SPTb5gX8Vk-xG8EoXjZvwUEe8QxM_/s1600-h/capfront.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2CJgtVTFRXNYUcCUCNCMuq1shoJhSSYAXNCZJsaCM-j3m-PRd0h6cuLMvXPGluF6qUMip4VgskGPAntORWaZYcGLUYobbG97fcB-WoH_SPTb5gX8Vk-xG8EoXjZvwUEe8QxM_/s320/capfront.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304222570179281618" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Crimson Fists Captain<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoQBtY7lFH0dbapRgUYtetctGms3-4A3vUvy7Oe8Rzkq7pSTp-X2GtwKLOzIOR9au6BTiF1WDdywtzK4USPMMERFCb599i2VX6DQHNletCrpxYn2E31Klw2d68kRLB_3VUqCdz/s1600-h/capright.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoQBtY7lFH0dbapRgUYtetctGms3-4A3vUvy7Oe8Rzkq7pSTp-X2GtwKLOzIOR9au6BTiF1WDdywtzK4USPMMERFCb599i2VX6DQHNletCrpxYn2E31Klw2d68kRLB_3VUqCdz/s320/capright.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304222577893081810" border="0" /></a><br />right side showing the freehand 5<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIMGMqj78R_H9ZRULEbYoFrYJPGi1iVWrjGllsDJl96Z3tnfqU1HbiAKuPb55qQOp96SSWxTViDAWsR0bobALkTn-RQA33JHRKJvybP19VME7glK3yTcb-KMy_rKbeLzjxkso9/s1600-h/capback.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 193px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIMGMqj78R_H9ZRULEbYoFrYJPGi1iVWrjGllsDJl96Z3tnfqU1HbiAKuPb55qQOp96SSWxTViDAWsR0bobALkTn-RQA33JHRKJvybP19VME7glK3yTcb-KMy_rKbeLzjxkso9/s320/capback.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304222572741358098" border="0" /></a><br />back showing the shading on the cloak<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4UMt5txxy3ufrR2_DR0L91KYnuthcqPF9zl52Yp3Tr5uTnwjgTEnMh-oX74hwo6v00nw1uEMOo4WqKSeyESEiHeRIgYUvuyhqN0dMQj6FkDSaWb2B1Z8xvWpGgJaaC00_pX0W/s1600-h/capleft.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4UMt5txxy3ufrR2_DR0L91KYnuthcqPF9zl52Yp3Tr5uTnwjgTEnMh-oX74hwo6v00nw1uEMOo4WqKSeyESEiHeRIgYUvuyhqN0dMQj6FkDSaWb2B1Z8xvWpGgJaaC00_pX0W/s320/capleft.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304222575033032354" border="0" /></a><br />power sword<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnsShiXdn5YBDl6nW65pqABZmrqnejdhclRyT3_zl2nhmC9ZPz2xeFIcLNCFYAw59cVaqs_JPGlcvt6Jm7E0w_9QOJ8hc1yqX84a-Jm5e1K_KW0a4D-BkqEnEMQM5qvkLAE2_w/s1600-h/sword.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnsShiXdn5YBDl6nW65pqABZmrqnejdhclRyT3_zl2nhmC9ZPz2xeFIcLNCFYAw59cVaqs_JPGlcvt6Jm7E0w_9QOJ8hc1yqX84a-Jm5e1K_KW0a4D-BkqEnEMQM5qvkLAE2_w/s320/sword.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304222574058854450" border="0" /></a><br />a top down view of the sword<br /></div><br />I also finished off the sergeant for my assault squad. I did a little freehand on him as well and got to see how the pouches and grenade bits look.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw28ABDdS4IPZrMZbb7D8z6AH2z_1BESt_FvUOdAgkO0iPq_TFtKvkKRB3TrowKsalu_zVLfPMHeCF_HDHrqx-zIfBZFdW90pk6nXi2DBhi5sdo_vxVWbjLJW3d0Sp0uZ48_h5/s1600-h/ser1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 191px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw28ABDdS4IPZrMZbb7D8z6AH2z_1BESt_FvUOdAgkO0iPq_TFtKvkKRB3TrowKsalu_zVLfPMHeCF_HDHrqx-zIfBZFdW90pk6nXi2DBhi5sdo_vxVWbjLJW3d0Sp0uZ48_h5/s320/ser1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304223404950058450" border="0" /></a><br />shoulder pad pouches<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnSxaxboOlbU64RUhgmr5fWaAyx_6EMH0sVB-I16Zo1c-qgiP-R-LOCpm1uGA4JmOKUcSgNRufmKnshTXbs7jSYwFYZuJQGV1ZxQm1VP__-UX17KEVZyzocSTQdjk4PWAo9vGk/s1600-h/ser2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnSxaxboOlbU64RUhgmr5fWaAyx_6EMH0sVB-I16Zo1c-qgiP-R-LOCpm1uGA4JmOKUcSgNRufmKnshTXbs7jSYwFYZuJQGV1ZxQm1VP__-UX17KEVZyzocSTQdjk4PWAo9vGk/s320/ser2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304223419322312722" border="0" /></a><br />freehand 5 and some more pouches and grenades<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Thus far in 2009 I've painted 7 Warmachine models and 2 Crimson Fist models, which gives me a score of 9 thus far (one point for each infantry model). I've got another 9 infantry models and 2 tanks to complete for the Tale of Painters projects I'm doing and then I'll move on to the pile of single mini's on my shelf.<br /></div></div><br />Finally, I read <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/opinion/18friedman.html?ref=opinion">this OpEd piece</a> this morning in the New York times about how the Muslim community in India is refusing to allow the nine bodies of the Pakistani terrorists involved in the Mumbai shootings to be burried in a Muslim cemetary in Inida.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-34501621925392747832009-02-09T15:45:00.007-05:002009-02-09T16:15:04.755-05:00At the beginning of January I had 75 dollars in my new model fund. I spent 51.13 on some models (Greylords, Koldun Lord, and Kodiak), 9.00 on three Games Workshop washes, and 24.69 on some paintbrushes and a pallet for a total of 84.82. That left my fund at -9.82 for January which is clearly over my limit.<br /><br />I'm going to add another 25 bucks in (since I couldn't stick to budget I'm going to cut the monthly allocation in half) for February, which puts the fund at 15.18.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">New Model Fund (February):</span> $15.18<br /><br />Since I have enough models to get both my Marines and Khador forces through the Tale of Painters I'm not sure what my next step will be. I also have a bunch of models sitting around my shelves that I need to paint so I may put a hold on purchasing any more models for a while.<br /><br />I've seen a <a href="http://ultramarineblues.blogspot.com/2008/12/gesso-awesome.html">few</a> <a href="http://thepaintingcorps.blogspot.com/2009/02/friday-quick-tip-priming-with-gesso.html">articles</a> <a href="http://www.weetoysoldiers.com/wp/?page_id=34">recently</a> about priming with gesso that have been of interst to me due to the difficulties of using spray primer in the Boston winter. Essentially it is a brush on primer that doesn't obscure details on models and can be used indoors (unlike spray cans). It might be a moot point for this winter but it is something to look in to.<br /><br />The 17 miles this weekend didn't go as well as the 16 last weekend. Lisa and I ended up averaging about 8:55 per mile. I didn't feel sluggish or bad - in fact, I felt almost the same as last Sunday. This week is a down week so hopefully the break will be good for my legs before I ramp up into the 19 and 20 mile runs coming up.<br /><br />On Friday Laura, Kevin, and I trekked out to Metro for an evening of climbing. I surprised myself and got up three 11b's. None of them were clean but most of the time I felt that the reasons I came off had a lot more to do with my strength and less to do with my skills. I am encouraged by that because it means that if I can get my strength back I should be a solid 11 climber. We're probably going to head back this coming Monday since we all have off from work.<br /><br />I received my birthday present from Spoony the other day and it was The 59 Sound by the Gaslight Anthem on vinyl. My copy of Something to Write Home About by The Get Up Kids also arrived in the mail last week. Both records sound very good on my stereo and I had an excellent time playing them, dancing around, and playing air guitar.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-75465565957363960332009-02-03T15:53:00.008-05:002009-02-03T23:45:19.764-05:00I decided to major in computer science based on my experiences programming in high school. At the time I was writing pretty simple, low level programs designed to do small tasks to illustrate whatever we were learning about. When I got to college and started looking at the theory and math behind the code, or was faced with gigantic programs (or my peers) I quickly became uninterested. I still really enjoyed writing little code snippets but since that isn't actually what being a computer scientist is I wasn't very into it.<br /><br />Recently though, I stumbled across <a href="http://blag.xkcd.com/2008/08/22/pi-con-math-gender-glaubama/">this</a> blog post by the guy who writes <a href="http://xkcd.com/">xkcd</a> about how he learned Python by doing a series of math problems from <a href="http://projecteuler.net/index.php?section=about">Project Euler</a>. These problems are exactly what I enjoyed about coding in the first place, and they're math problems. I enlisted the help of my friend Kevin and we've been working through the first few. Right now I'm attempting to calculate the sum of all prime numbers less than 2,000,000 - the fact that my program has been working for almost 25 minutes tells me that I've done something poorly.<br /><br />These things have thus far been very entertaining and getting more difficult so with 230 or so problems for me to do (I've done nine so far) I imagine I'll have plenty to keep me amused.<br /><br />Since I inherited my father's record player I've decided to start a record collection. Laura got me started on my birthday with Tom Waits' album Blood Money and I ordered Something to Write Home About by The Get Up Kids, Boys & Girls in America by The Hold Steady, and Reconstruction Site by The Weakerthans.<br /><br />I've thus far only received the Weakerthans record but I've had a lot of fun playing it and Blood Money. Something about the physical aspect of playing the record makes listening to the music a lot more pleasureable. The Hold Steady is in the mail from England and The Get Up Kids isn't relased until the 17th. I've also heard from Spoony that he bought me a record for my birthday that is in the mail but I have no idea what it is.<br /><br />Friday night I went to the Pour House with 10 ish friends to celebrate my birthday. I like the Pour House because the music is loud and enjoyable (i.e. cheesy 80's and 90's hits) and the beer is big and cheap. Even though we ended the night early I had a really good time and was happy to see everyone.<br /><br />Sunday morning Lisa and I did a 16 mile run to the bottom of Heartbreak and back to my house. Neither one of us felt very good for the first 8 miles but once we turned around and started back up the hill we both began to feel a lot stronger. By the time we were at the top of Heartbreak I was feeling great and we ended up running the last four miles faster than the previous 12. This run gave me a lot of confidence that my training has thus far been going very well.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-74256727598442704572009-01-26T15:18:00.005-05:002009-01-26T15:48:46.436-05:00I've spent most of the past week battling a pretty severe cold. I stayed home from work on Wednesday and Friday and didn't do my Wednesday and Thursday runs in an effort to get well as quickly as possible.<br /><br />This is week 7 of my marathon training and it is the first week of phase two. This is where I start adding tempo runs and track work to my schedule in place of the Tuesday and Thursday shorter runs. I'm starting off with a 20 minute tempo run tomorrow at 6:51 pace and 5 x 1000m at 3:55 on Thursday. There is also a 16 mile run on Sunday that will hopefully go well.<br /><br />I turned 25 today. Laura took me to see Slumdog Millionaire (awesome!) and then for Ethipoian at Addis Red Sea (delicious!). She gave me a lovely cowboy shirt and a Tom Waits record as well so my quarter century celebrations have thus far been very good. I'm going out to a bar for some drinks on Friday night with several people which will conclude the festivities.<br /><br />I haven't been painting much of anything lately since I ran out of primed models and it's been too cold to spray outside. I did finish the Widowmakers last week.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7B1D213RirNqGGBRZPpZb1f7H_smgp634JBnNjqMRRWzYWIK25lIHEV0_T2tIqIUQYz-1cnIpeaClwPp_7C6oa4hCY1XnOqZnvVL-2_-elGk8gH-RJPNhqgEskKxCE8Ftcmz/s1600-h/widowfront.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7B1D213RirNqGGBRZPpZb1f7H_smgp634JBnNjqMRRWzYWIK25lIHEV0_T2tIqIUQYz-1cnIpeaClwPp_7C6oa4hCY1XnOqZnvVL-2_-elGk8gH-RJPNhqgEskKxCE8Ftcmz/s320/widowfront.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295706622759249090" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3EmLzPdWupEPMqhQNv4JiKWWevM1zQTM6PoaCL_CkdLKO1fiOF4hK5XIahDELoUIwdya2iwq6l74mSY9sv3_3zvEYd5OxtFnKQHjhzed3TJwQQmBHPpldJQkaGSKngwc-ac6D/s1600-h/widowback.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3EmLzPdWupEPMqhQNv4JiKWWevM1zQTM6PoaCL_CkdLKO1fiOF4hK5XIahDELoUIwdya2iwq6l74mSY9sv3_3zvEYd5OxtFnKQHjhzed3TJwQQmBHPpldJQkaGSKngwc-ac6D/s320/widowback.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295706628097306482" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />I wasn't happy with their faces and I rushed some details as the end to get them done and off my painting table but overall I was happy with how they came out.<br /></div></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-33716081676931308472009-01-15T14:21:00.008-05:002009-01-15T14:45:08.518-05:00<a href="http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090112&content_id=3741510&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos">John Smoltz</a> is on the Red Sox! Super exciting.<br /><br />I decided to go back to my Man-O-War DC and make the ice mauls a bit icier looking. I can't tell if I'm happy with the effect or not but I think the models look better overall.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbXWs-Yg9GNCBccMZq5ywXulqvSTH_RJZVAyhyphenhyphen12KMeDWqGN_NxGtGZTe66Cyb7PghSTLKHJW7OHLBL5orGq_a_jqn-pMhbiO-bKWkQH-J19f54PsbDcs0ps2QlM0WUQn38Em7/s1600-h/mowice.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbXWs-Yg9GNCBccMZq5ywXulqvSTH_RJZVAyhyphenhyphen12KMeDWqGN_NxGtGZTe66Cyb7PghSTLKHJW7OHLBL5orGq_a_jqn-pMhbiO-bKWkQH-J19f54PsbDcs0ps2QlM0WUQn38Em7/s320/mowice.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291603620804129970" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I've also started working on my Widowmakers. I'm mostly done with the easy, flat parts but their faces are starting to worry me. I've had a lot of success lately painting faces but the most recent attempt didn't go very well and I'm nervous about the four of these.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcUXtC5YzkKZC0ueZLLsRNfECYED0_W9CeVluNWCc9ez9c8MS1CJWj-NMLO1PEdpswz12sY3QGx1m2CunoNv1ZkCIBki0tC-0ndPSUJGgRfjk_RTzjO_3CbVH2ypgEM3sntDVM/s1600-h/widowwip.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcUXtC5YzkKZC0ueZLLsRNfECYED0_W9CeVluNWCc9ez9c8MS1CJWj-NMLO1PEdpswz12sY3QGx1m2CunoNv1ZkCIBki0tC-0ndPSUJGgRfjk_RTzjO_3CbVH2ypgEM3sntDVM/s320/widowwip.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291604117930444370" border="0" /></a><br />Widowmakers WIP<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">My Khador reinforcements arrived from ebay the other day. The Greylord Ternion and Koldun Lord will find themselves painted in the next month or two but the Kodiak will probably sit on my shelf for a while longer.<br /><br />I also recently discovered that all of my old, horribly painted Ultramarines can be easily given a new life as Crimson Fists. When I was painting them I would paint each piece individually and then glue them together. Since the glue was paint on paint it is really weak and I can separate the pieces really easily. Right now I have an assault squad broken up and I'm going to buy some Simple Green to try stripping the paint.<br /><br />My new (old) stereo arrived in the mail yesterday.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhADBgCMf1HA7N6KfCVKgrhnX9Skttkp75Nn4E_03O8GsdCzp3CSNjQDWFB1NU1QXHQyd7Y-Dyl1IbS2F-22EaEt9w8zSoU53v6tsAIbnHrw87ASy1zFRR_Yvciw7hdE59K5Jv4/s1600-h/IMG_0809.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhADBgCMf1HA7N6KfCVKgrhnX9Skttkp75Nn4E_03O8GsdCzp3CSNjQDWFB1NU1QXHQyd7Y-Dyl1IbS2F-22EaEt9w8zSoU53v6tsAIbnHrw87ASy1zFRR_Yvciw7hdE59K5Jv4/s320/IMG_0809.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291607395439885586" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Everything seems to be in good working order and I'm totally enamored over everything being analog instead of digital. Initially I thought the record player or the receiver weren't working but my dad helped me to figure out the problem. I ended up ordering a preamp to help boost the output from the record player - not a huge problem at all and even now I can use everything.<br /><br />Laura has been knitting like a machine. She recently finished two toys, one for me and one for her brother's friends' little kids. The beige, fat, dog is mine and the blue one is for the kids. She's currently working on some owls and I hear they're adorable.<br /></div></div></div></div></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-dKvi7cIYA-OfsEtIM333CdBeliVZU7CWLq3KLVc9gF7FY3ysu0KAolk1dk6FFogHabCNbnNYj2gcryzuNA90KvWYbXsd5v1ZDA2PWf4czg8nTPL6XqyZMA272C0kmwdPkyTJ/s1600-h/IMG_0796.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-dKvi7cIYA-OfsEtIM333CdBeliVZU7CWLq3KLVc9gF7FY3ysu0KAolk1dk6FFogHabCNbnNYj2gcryzuNA90KvWYbXsd5v1ZDA2PWf4czg8nTPL6XqyZMA272C0kmwdPkyTJ/s320/IMG_0796.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291607387440908786" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Lisa and I had a pretty good 13 mile run this past weekend. Our overall pace was a little slow (8:45 per mile) but that's because we had a horrible first half due to ice being on all of the sidewalks. The second half we both felt great and kept up a very good clip. The weather is supposed to take a huge dip in temperature over the next few days and I'm worried about how our 14 miler this weekend will go.<br /></div></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-65632796415351684772009-01-08T10:20:00.008-05:002009-01-08T11:10:57.931-05:00I've started working on my next Khador minis, a unit of Man-O-War Demolition Corps.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsM9_5M62LQE3P4gNk68h_kaGLngTERKaIUithpKiZgWeU3nLMjXbcQHuiMsbj9bSOjtYPRb6CG8Q_OUlZVhLdcJA0R-WVcwy3-Kl7-v3nwmG3_3V5BvdRT2MCqUpQZ58i00mE/s1600-h/mow.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsM9_5M62LQE3P4gNk68h_kaGLngTERKaIUithpKiZgWeU3nLMjXbcQHuiMsbj9bSOjtYPRb6CG8Q_OUlZVhLdcJA0R-WVcwy3-Kl7-v3nwmG3_3V5BvdRT2MCqUpQZ58i00mE/s320/mow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288943918347153106" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Last night I finished highlighting the red which gets the hardest part of the models done. I have to do their green shoulder pads, a few details, and then a lot of touch ups since I've been messy with these guys but I hope to have them finished by the weekend. I can't say enough how enjoyable Privateer Press models are to paint.<br /><br />Once these three are done I'm going to move on to my unit of Widowmakers. That will give me 400ish points completed and take me through my first set of Warmachine purchases. I used $51.13 of my new model fund to purchase several more models to help round out my growing force.<br /><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGv0joQeHPa3JTxEKCDFyKxJTgE4KZ-SW2WYKY0qQqyBx5vUchVscN8hp3D7T-N-nAajJsms6LO1ZNUdYOmi9I_YpiStGiCeyIHTn6_QgqA8p3i6irfkyvqWpcr7J9259Mu4k/s1600-h/lrg-445-33062_koldun_lord.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 309px; height: 257px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGv0joQeHPa3JTxEKCDFyKxJTgE4KZ-SW2WYKY0qQqyBx5vUchVscN8hp3D7T-N-nAajJsms6LO1ZNUdYOmi9I_YpiStGiCeyIHTn6_QgqA8p3i6irfkyvqWpcr7J9259Mu4k/s320/lrg-445-33062_koldun_lord.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288943913463926162" border="0" /></a><br />Koldun Lord<br /><span style="font-size:78%;">image from <a href="http://privateerpress.com/">Privateer Press</a></span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEP9_UjZ8uyxl2j9RkUvmS6Oo2Tf375v-yBN2pQUQHKzvuLlsrAt2RYgT2yJ7Qxn1X20ObBLQA-wPynqty3xq69aFGXBal3CxhjON_jlzHz3DHN1yP6Nd0U9Qt1j9h0VJ2Wcmr/s1600-h/lrg-132-33025_greylord_ternion_blister.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 164px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEP9_UjZ8uyxl2j9RkUvmS6Oo2Tf375v-yBN2pQUQHKzvuLlsrAt2RYgT2yJ7Qxn1X20ObBLQA-wPynqty3xq69aFGXBal3CxhjON_jlzHz3DHN1yP6Nd0U9Qt1j9h0VJ2Wcmr/s320/lrg-132-33025_greylord_ternion_blister.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288943902853766594" border="0" /></a><br />Greylord Ternion<br /><span style="font-size:78%;">image from <a href="http://privateerpress.com/">Privateer Press</a></span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfmM9VVFMZuHQob5G2efnkRFa_Av85dz0OH7foJEQQuONnSIByN9nbHXSLTuUGVEE7l3x0K_MFoO3xQGtLcNRmqb02qrOSZ3fPIAvYO_v4AY_N0NNCVXZutk7wZMKHUKkBH81E/s1600-h/lrg-119-33023_kodiak_box_set.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 313px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfmM9VVFMZuHQob5G2efnkRFa_Av85dz0OH7foJEQQuONnSIByN9nbHXSLTuUGVEE7l3x0K_MFoO3xQGtLcNRmqb02qrOSZ3fPIAvYO_v4AY_N0NNCVXZutk7wZMKHUKkBH81E/s320/lrg-119-33023_kodiak_box_set.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288943897973122402" border="0" /></a><br />Kodiak<br /><span style="font-size:78%;">image from <a href="http://privateerpress.com/">Privateer Press</a></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The Koldun Lord is a 'jack marshall so he'll give me some versatility in how I want to control my 'jacks. The Greylords are a support unit that can make my units tougher or the enemy weaker and they work well with the Koldun Lord who is essentialy a 4th, more powerful Greylord. The Kodiak is there to smash faces and look cool. The Destroyer I have already is a solid ranged and melee 'jack but the Juggernaugt is pretty outclassed so I decided to upgrade him with the Kodiak.<br /><br />When Spoony was in town we went to <a href="http://www.dangerplanetgames.com/dpnuke/">Danger Planet</a> and played my first three games of 5th Edition 40k. I lost all three but had a lot of fun.<br /><br />The first game was 400 points and his list was a tactical squad with a missile launcher, melta gun, power fist, and Razorback and a Sternguard squad in a drop pad. Mine was a tactical squad with plasma cannon, melta gun, power sword, and Rhino and a Sternguard squad. Our Sternguard exchanged fire for a while and I wiped his out but eventually got destroyed by his power fist squad.<br /><br />The third game was also 400 points. His list was the same but I dropped my Sternguard for an assault squad with power fist. The game started really well for me when I destroyed his Sternguard right away taking only one or two casualties. The game quickly turned around though when his power fist beat my assault squad and then over ran them. He ended up winning with the power fist again.<br /><br />The second game was 1000 points. He had a Dread in a drop pod, a 10 man tactical squad in a drop pod, a 5 man squad and a Commander in a Razorback, and some Terminators that deep struck. I had a 10 man melta squad in a Rhino, a 10 man plasma squad, 5 Terminators, a jump Captain, and an assault squad.<br /><br />In the first turn his Dread dropped down and hosed my plasma squad and his Commander wiped out 7 assault marines with an orbital bombardment. The Dread would end up assaulting and swamping the tactical squad for most of the game before my Terminators came and finished it off. My Captain would rally and destroy his 10 man tactical squad alone before dying and my melta squad would kill of several terminators before also dying. In the end it came down to three of his terminators, two tactical marines, and his Commander against two of my terminators and three tactical marines with a plasma cannon and plasma gun. I held on for a bit but ultimately he won.<br /><br />These three games taught me that I do enjoy playing 40k but that I really have no idea how to do it. I would like to be playing more and the best option would be for me to head over to DP on Thursday nights to try to get some games in. I haven't yet because I'm nervous about going into a situation like that where everyone knows each other already and knows the game a lot better than I do. I think I should probably suck it up and go though.<br /><br />I'm going to post up some pictures of a Razorback by <a href="http://www.thepainteddragon.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1184.0">Gareth</a> so I can reference them later when I finally start painting my Rhinos. I'm hoping that looking at them will make me less nervous about getting mine done.<br /><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOwxTUoG1NXh0axNw6OXvF6W9HiB9faPCUJ3eqVUPKRISCrAPM9leSp8XSony9vilQqGMf1JSHI5OzpiDyZMPxRRirRMF0Qm3bt5hR7blmy8VitKrHlijNSwF26o7VVyNVBGCs/s1600-h/IMGP0195_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 277px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOwxTUoG1NXh0axNw6OXvF6W9HiB9faPCUJ3eqVUPKRISCrAPM9leSp8XSony9vilQqGMf1JSHI5OzpiDyZMPxRRirRMF0Qm3bt5hR7blmy8VitKrHlijNSwF26o7VVyNVBGCs/s320/IMGP0195_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288943677323320914" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyX_fshuqlEYt8kAuWAtDV03I94RjXNJ6aAN8Qhvs4T04ie6BVVyLWcTbdF9yFgbx6TDibo1zfcRvKLmniK3RH4WlizRuYWp06XOw-U9Mc-s5ONZ-8DNJ9gPrJr3lYnyUcXV9j/s1600-h/Gareth_IMGP0194_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyX_fshuqlEYt8kAuWAtDV03I94RjXNJ6aAN8Qhvs4T04ie6BVVyLWcTbdF9yFgbx6TDibo1zfcRvKLmniK3RH4WlizRuYWp06XOw-U9Mc-s5ONZ-8DNJ9gPrJr3lYnyUcXV9j/s320/Gareth_IMGP0194_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288943670934302114" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I've been thinking about where I want to take my Crimson Fists after the first 1000 points are done. The list will look like this:<br /><br />Jump Captain<br />10 man tactical with melta weapons and a Rhino<br />10 man tactical with plasma weapons and a Rhino<br />5 Terminators with assault cannon<br />7 man assault with power fist<br /><br />Some things that I would like to add are a Vindicator, a 10 man Sternguard squad in a drop pod and 5 to 10 scouts. The second wave of additions (or perhaps the first wave depending on my mood) are a melta attack bike, melta / heavy flamer land speeder, a drop pod Dread, and a Landraider. That would all look something like this:<br /><br />Jump Captain<br /><br />10 man tactical with melta weapons and a Rhino<br />10 man tactical with plasma weapons and a Rhino<br />10 scouts with various weapons<br /><br />5 Terminators with assault cannon<br />10 man Sternguard with combi-meltas, heavy flamer, and drop pod<br />Dread in a drop pod<br /><br />10 man assault with power fist<br />Attack Bike<br />Land speeder<br /><br />Vindicator<br />Land Raider<br /><br />That's a lot of stuff to purchase and paint but I think it would give me a lot of flexability in list building and playing. I'm also not sure I want to commit to purchasing and painting all of this stuff if I won't get any use out of it.<br /></div></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-8658095415041774602009-01-06T14:38:00.006-05:002009-01-06T15:45:11.411-05:00This past year was a big year for my and my little men hobby so I'd like to take a moment and recap it.<br /><br />When Spoony and I moved in last September we decided to start Warhammer Fantasy armies. I chose Wood Elves, joined a Tale of Painters event at <a href="http://www.librarium-online.com/">Librarium Online</a> and ended up with a 2000+ point painted army. Over the course of those 12 months (not all technically in 2008, but I'm going to count it) I painted 78 models and went from what I would consider a low level painter to someone at the higher end of the painting spectrum. I don't consider myself a fantastic painter by any means but I think within the scope of people who paint miniatures I think I do alright for myself.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKGccGO1UjPnU7OpkY7bOG2wGUBp_WaAmWM3iT5SbqjyBlKKClGHFZOsnLfkJVQU3M28DlYc4LF6kDrVR3szQV6IPPxggeUcNd1AWX2fpNwZUWaArqQAOSADxlk_sgbtYq0ceq/s1600-h/Untitled-2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKGccGO1UjPnU7OpkY7bOG2wGUBp_WaAmWM3iT5SbqjyBlKKClGHFZOsnLfkJVQU3M28DlYc4LF6kDrVR3szQV6IPPxggeUcNd1AWX2fpNwZUWaArqQAOSADxlk_sgbtYq0ceq/s320/Untitled-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288271676339843426" border="0" /></a><br />over the course of the year I went from painting the fellow on the left to the one on the right<br /></div><br />I was (and still am) incredibly proud of how hard I worked and the improvements I made as a painter and I continue to get better. Once the elves were done I stared a Crimson Fist army and a Khador army. The Crimson Fists are an exercise in improving my speed while maintaining my quality and the Khador is about my improving my quality. Right now I've finished 25 models for the Crimson Fists and 3 models for the Khador.<br /><br />Stealing another idea from <a href="http://blog.lonepilgrim.co.uk/">lone pilgrim</a> I'd like to give myself a score based on my productivity last year. His scale is 1 point for infantry, 2 points for cavalry or bikes, 5 points for monsters, dreads, and 'jacks, and 10 points for vehicles. Over the course of 2008 (and some of 2007) I painted 92 infantry, 12 cavalry, and 2 'jacks for a total of 126 points. I think I can match or beat that in 2009.<br /><br />A new month means a New Model Fund update. I didn't spend any money on my hobby last month so I lose half of that month's left over money (half of 50 is 25) and pick up another 50 for this month, bringing my new total up to $75.<br /><br />This month I will be spending some money towards the hobby. I plan to purchase the rest of the models that I need for my Khador Army (Koldun Lord and Greylord Ternion) as well as a Kodiak. I'm also going to puy some paints because I am out of black primer and running low on some other important colors. I also need another Space Marine Assault Squad but I can put that off for another month.<br /><br />I recently finished my squad of Terminators after struggling with them for nearly a month.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyxXALVMfsdEveynWK44bwhxlM82HAigUjQ6Zoydq1bv4Xr2CgGU4D2P51NmKA7n-_xbUW-lNgJLTDHxp3OcV0E_SFd1HQmz6_p_wnahAn2VEGBAGNVSMHIb48XDoZny39hriB/s1600-h/term.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyxXALVMfsdEveynWK44bwhxlM82HAigUjQ6Zoydq1bv4Xr2CgGU4D2P51NmKA7n-_xbUW-lNgJLTDHxp3OcV0E_SFd1HQmz6_p_wnahAn2VEGBAGNVSMHIb48XDoZny39hriB/s320/term.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288284538759640658" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I am pretty happy with how they turned out and I was ecstatic to finally have them off of my painting table. For my Tale of Painters this month I have a squad of 3 Man-O-War Demo Corps and a 4 man squad of Widowmakers to paint for the Khador and no real idea what to do with the Crimson Fists.<br /><br />My 1000 point list has left to paint a commander (150 points), two Rhinos (35 points each), and a 6 man assault squad with power fist (143 points). I have all but 2 of the assault marines build already but none of them are primed and I have almost no primer left. I do however, have a 5 man scout squad primed and ready for paint. I may hold out for the black spray to arrive (I can paint all of my Warmachine models while I wait) and see how much I want to do, or I may just prime the commander and paint him - time will tell.<br /></div></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-85336259152444741102009-01-06T14:05:00.009-05:002009-01-06T14:28:58.222-05:00It's been a while since I updated this thing. Between Christmas, New Years, vacation, and general craziness I wasn't able to find much time to keep this thing up to date over the past few weeks.<br /><br />Christmas was a very good time for me. I was pretty unhappy with my job and the time in New Jersey was good for me. I enjoy my family more and more every time I see them and this was no exception. Laura came up for a night and despite her not feeling well I think everyone had a good time. My parents were also up in Boston this past weekend to drop Britta off at the airport (she's spending three weeks in Spain) so we got to hang out some more which I really enjoyed.<br /><br />My father gave me his old turntable. I don't have any stereo equipment to power it so I bought this gorgeous, retro receiver and speakers from ebay:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6F_OCB0_2iZZQn6Pl_Uf9QBrgHQ5BLdIeIfX178ILxNNN8E1shaLx-znYIkDlKF7dHPn7amSP-P4WfLXEY06ZfYx3cU21KZxidhTH-GKHVNmhVe6D01xO7jCTQE9acjva_tpl/s1600-h/DSCF7209.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6F_OCB0_2iZZQn6Pl_Uf9QBrgHQ5BLdIeIfX178ILxNNN8E1shaLx-znYIkDlKF7dHPn7amSP-P4WfLXEY06ZfYx3cU21KZxidhTH-GKHVNmhVe6D01xO7jCTQE9acjva_tpl/s320/DSCF7209.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288261670557042978" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The whole thing cost me under 40 bucks (13 for the system, 25 to ship, 38 total) and I should have it by the end of next week. Once I have everything working I am going to start collecting vinyl.<br /><br />After Christmas I came back up to Boston to see my many friends who were visiting from across the country. Jen Han and her fiance Grant were in town for a few nights for wedding planning and we got dinner at the Alchemist and then drinks at the Behan. I haven't seen Jen since right when Laura and I started dating and I was really excited to catch up with her after so long. Mike D'Emic was at Harvard doing some research for his thesis and a bunch of us got to go to Our House for some Brubakers and good times that hearkened back to when we were all in college. He's doing well and will probably be around again for reserach. Spoony was also in town for the whole week and we had several chances to play little men, grab dinner, and hang out on New Year's.<br /><br /></div></div>My New Year's resolution for this year was to try to be more invested in my job. Recently I've been pretty unhappy with my work situation and that negative attitude made it hard for me to be there. I'd like to try to be more positive at work and really try to find ways to occupy myself with job related tasks instead of moping around the internet all day. Two days in and thus far I've been pretty successful. I'm not 100% about any of this but I've managed to keep myself happily busy and productive since returning to the office and I will say that I've been happier here as a result.<br /><br />Speaking of jobs, Laura has had two interviews this far (one at Tufts and one at Suffolk) that have gone well. She hasn't heard from either one yet but I know she's expecting to get word from Suffolk in the next several days. I e-mailed a woman from MassBay Community College this afternoon about sitting down and talking about teaching math at the community college level. I still do want to teach and I think this might be a better alternative than high school.<br /><br />Today marks the first run of my 4th week training for Boston. The first three weeks were a rollercoaster of snow storms, missed runs, and reshuffling. Despite all that I managed to get in every run except one 4 miler which I think I will just let slide. I'm glad to be back on schedule though and hope to be able to keep a more even keel for the rest of training. I am still working on nailing down how 8:30 pace feels but I've been doing a lot better than when I started.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-63707147833348532942008-12-18T14:56:00.006-05:002008-12-18T15:15:54.660-05:00My first run for Boston '09 went really well. It was only four miles but I was happy with the consistent pace I kept and how I felt at the end. I was supposed to run 6 miles yesterday but that got scrapped due to A Very Die Hard Christmas, and today's 4 miler is going to get missed because Laura and I are going to the ballet. I'll make up the 6 miles tomorrow and the 4 miles on Monday. Not the best way to start off a training program but it can't be helped.<br /><br />I finished off the first three Terminators the other day. It took me about two weeks to work my way through them which is a lot longer than I would have liked. For some reason I just wasn't very excited about painting and I couldn't do more than little bits on them before I'd get bored.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRkNqi5AL3St04ve5-2nhQ3jYWySIk-iTuW2OWSHRvDaSpVdAW2BahQuJ-5rAqQc67fuq1qae8aNSeAchf0g9xLWTIHjPFfT6iRWkMzMWsBTX1EvIo1glQUQfNmY4zBaBDpdKh/s1600-h/IMG_0759.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRkNqi5AL3St04ve5-2nhQ3jYWySIk-iTuW2OWSHRvDaSpVdAW2BahQuJ-5rAqQc67fuq1qae8aNSeAchf0g9xLWTIHjPFfT6iRWkMzMWsBTX1EvIo1glQUQfNmY4zBaBDpdKh/s320/IMG_0759.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281226316394091730" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">They're a little sloppy but I'm glad that they're finally done. I might have my first game with this army (and first 5th edition game ever) on Sunday afternoon. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to try to get the rest of this squad painted by then or not.<br /><br />Last night was the annual Christmas party at my house. We started a tradition last year where a bunch of us get together for dinner, beer, and Die Hard. I'm a big fan of the movie and since I organized the party, I cooked. Laura helped me make two lasagnas and a big salad and she brought cookies. I think overall it was a rousing success - at least I know I had a good time.<br /></div></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-19278189640587466862008-12-08T13:14:00.007-05:002008-12-08T13:35:18.132-05:00Marathon training starts up in eight days. I've been working on nailing down 8:30 mile pace the past few days (it is the pace I'll be running my long and recovery runs at so I'd better know it) and I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll have it before next week. I've been doing 4 mile runs that include the big hill that my house is on to get practice on downhills, uphills, and flats.<br /><br />Right now I think I have the first six weeks of training tentatively planned out, as well as the final three weeks. Those middle nine are giving me trouble. Every time I read something new it seems to contradict what I have previously learned so I think I'm going to hold off scheduling those middle weeks until I know more about what I should be doing. Lisa and I are going to run and get sushi on Wednesday to talk about it and I'll go from there.<br /><br />I finished Sorscha last week so I have a legal army. I think she turned out really well and I was really happy with her face. I should have painted her eyes first because once the skin was done I was scared that I would ruin it if I tried to paint the eyes.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir62gJxJkYjOmYGmJk5tUBPxQeCnicE8UVlfq3HI2IVZbfI0iPgDJJ5RxOI1lh5r4dCYsP8HCOv1vlblTWtaszhOXeZtz53i47BG5-RSN4aiYjR_IWN86NPDlfvlbH1ds5f0vo/s1600-h/sor1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir62gJxJkYjOmYGmJk5tUBPxQeCnicE8UVlfq3HI2IVZbfI0iPgDJJ5RxOI1lh5r4dCYsP8HCOv1vlblTWtaszhOXeZtz53i47BG5-RSN4aiYjR_IWN86NPDlfvlbH1ds5f0vo/s320/sor1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277487689262454194" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLJp30tIwtnsHc0GYn-HODiQ_vIpdTIjjXb0WA1VzkL_hZarZVbmOK58EwlehXyd4SnvX4URqOwbCwPziHZW-mH6sUS07c1bKZdf6W9ZqPEPiSjiQ5PXJUF-XjdWUCW0grL1FF/s1600-h/sor2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLJp30tIwtnsHc0GYn-HODiQ_vIpdTIjjXb0WA1VzkL_hZarZVbmOK58EwlehXyd4SnvX4URqOwbCwPziHZW-mH6sUS07c1bKZdf6W9ZqPEPiSjiQ5PXJUF-XjdWUCW0grL1FF/s320/sor2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277487698656366818" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGWeSrVjCVWzyjvCiBOza34Aj39ZcHjAE3iF7wUGUfcW7qpE4XuzbQC4UuLD8zoyD8Vj7Pjuhx1lw95ym29ni7P6wQdDAVhxKGawyKPR1OmTp1FMy2yHwzfEni2aptH6EWS3ia/s1600-h/sor3.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 174px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGWeSrVjCVWzyjvCiBOza34Aj39ZcHjAE3iF7wUGUfcW7qpE4XuzbQC4UuLD8zoyD8Vj7Pjuhx1lw95ym29ni7P6wQdDAVhxKGawyKPR1OmTp1FMy2yHwzfEni2aptH6EWS3ia/s320/sor3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277487703121833170" border="0" /></a><br />the face that I'm so proud of<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmIgrfkSo-CY7hD9q7rUTgax69z3d2uPJqsauwxG8eBvmP03XoI2Gp9Aw4eTd3NpsPA1lRALQq_uvufbx-orjXUwLiu1ClKbtrKZDBo48EDcncatusouDkyq0VlXbpSeyCQDMx/s1600-h/bb.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmIgrfkSo-CY7hD9q7rUTgax69z3d2uPJqsauwxG8eBvmP03XoI2Gp9Aw4eTd3NpsPA1lRALQq_uvufbx-orjXUwLiu1ClKbtrKZDBo48EDcncatusouDkyq0VlXbpSeyCQDMx/s320/bb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277487682527470658" border="0" /></a><br />the whole battle box done<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I've started work on a squad of Terminators for my Crimson Fists and they should be done before I leave for Christmas.<br /><br />Laura, Britta, and I went to a cool artisan fair yesterday downtown. Britta and I bought some stuff for our parents and Laura and Britta both bought a lot of jewelry for themselves and friends. There was a lot of cool stuff there and we met up with Lauren for a fun time all around.<br /></div></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-44280304866262221902008-12-02T09:57:00.007-05:002008-12-02T15:57:01.658-05:00Thanksgiving was a good time and I find myself enjoying being home more and more every time I go. Britta, Dad, and I ran a 5k in the morning and it was gorgeous. I ran something around 18:45 and felt pretty good doing it. Dad and I then spend the day (and night) tearing up carpet on the first floor to allow a man to come in and assess our house for wood floors.<br /><br />Mom's dinner was delicious as always. We had a big turkey, really good stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, and yams of some sort. There was also cheese cake and pecan pie to help send us off to bed happy.<br /><br />Britta and I saw Grandma briefly on Saturday afternoon before continuing on to Penn Station and our train. She doesn't remember either of us and the whole time we were in her house I was very uncomfortable and upset with the whole situation.<br /><br />I've been doing a ton of research lately into marathon training. I've set a goal for myself of a 3:20:00 marathon at Boston this year. I read a good article from Culla and I bought a book he recommended. The more I read and learn the less clear the picture becomes for me; there is so much that goes into a good training plan. It is becoming very clear to me why coaches exist. <br /><br />Before the holiday I finished the last three models for my second tactical squad. I'm having problems with my Blood Red being terrible so the red parts on the model are not very good. I like the melta gunners though.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYW8L2OH9Y2Q9ZS8cQ4D_BBM5lqQ6BoakYQgNRD_XcrAfb4zdr5EEMLBB1UuacIct7RZNRDP9Q9jARRFsOxS5tWnKRZHBumcN7G9sbazmTIucNrH3voKyPmnEFjbdak5DUIJb7/s1600-h/Untitled-1-1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYW8L2OH9Y2Q9ZS8cQ4D_BBM5lqQ6BoakYQgNRD_XcrAfb4zdr5EEMLBB1UuacIct7RZNRDP9Q9jARRFsOxS5tWnKRZHBumcN7G9sbazmTIucNrH3voKyPmnEFjbdak5DUIJb7/s320/Untitled-1-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275296242721734834" border="0" /></a><br />multi melta, sergeant with a power fist, melta gun<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWu2TuzcuqT8K4iqoDInadZf_FrSqSTHxvgtazzwriGCdmvMrGDh1EXc-nB-HD6HMi2T3kINgy9KKMM0m_unnamRFvl5r51NCyjqPLJmGjjzQttCGgUjRap32A59E_KQRynwq/s1600-h/Untitled-2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 175px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWu2TuzcuqT8K4iqoDInadZf_FrSqSTHxvgtazzwriGCdmvMrGDh1EXc-nB-HD6HMi2T3kINgy9KKMM0m_unnamRFvl5r51NCyjqPLJmGjjzQttCGgUjRap32A59E_KQRynwq/s320/Untitled-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275296243327365186" border="0" /></a><br />second squad completed<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">That now makes two full tactical squads painted, which represents a big share of my 1000 point list taken care of. I think the next squad I'll do for this army will be five terminators, but right now I'm working on Sorcsha for my Khador army.<br /><br /></div></div>I didn't purchase anything little men related last month, which means my fund loses half of that unspent money (50 dollars) and picks up another 50 dollars for the month of December.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">New Model Fund</span> - $75<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Model List</span> -<br />Khador Greylord Ternion (to finish off 500 points)<br />Khador Koldun Lord (to finish off 500 points)<br />Khador Kodiak (to finish off 500 points better)<br />Space Marine Assault Squad (because it is cheaper than just buying the bits I need)<br />Space Marine Sternguard Squad (because the models are gorgeous)<br />paints and brushes (Baal Red, Devlan Mud, Badab Black, Thraka Green, Orkhide Shade, a 00, 0, and large tank brush, Testors Dull Coat)<br /><br />There are also several more Space Marine purchases I'd like to make, including a Drop Pod and Vindicator, but I'm going to hold them off the list. Everything currently on the list (except the Sternguard) are for my Tale of Painters projects.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-63794208762593615272008-11-26T14:40:00.004-05:002008-11-26T14:55:02.187-05:00I wanted to save these images somewhere so I could find and use them later for reference. These are some Sternguard that were painted by <a href="http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155922">spikyjames</a>. Some of his conversions are fantastic and I'd like to incorporate some of his ideas into my squad.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOm6EMyUvxbPuCGTyOlhFdf_gSeAmSOe1je_cXiBd3hW7TsZYBqcOPQkvjFHAPce84brYe77kwlDvGOoD9aYHqg62oAY3ezzL8pXGerx6W7kz49ysjOBvvemLYlM09tJowJMSQ/s1600-h/103_3206.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOm6EMyUvxbPuCGTyOlhFdf_gSeAmSOe1je_cXiBd3hW7TsZYBqcOPQkvjFHAPce84brYe77kwlDvGOoD9aYHqg62oAY3ezzL8pXGerx6W7kz49ysjOBvvemLYlM09tJowJMSQ/s320/103_3206.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273056066412136418" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH4tx2InLh89rfx0fDdWHzeSSA4AAX9ehZX2DAWTgvpZs_-A7WsX5YucFOvvPqM_SXMjbTDY02Hw8xm64bWq8k_C33A6lOoOJDD9TRldDeT88v8LZJDON6WOqVFVWxA7g6fM2y/s1600-h/103_3204.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 319px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH4tx2InLh89rfx0fDdWHzeSSA4AAX9ehZX2DAWTgvpZs_-A7WsX5YucFOvvPqM_SXMjbTDY02Hw8xm64bWq8k_C33A6lOoOJDD9TRldDeT88v8LZJDON6WOqVFVWxA7g6fM2y/s320/103_3204.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273056065331691538" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjolPfn4-SJ9-vAUORS0FIG_WypJhyBVvBGx2PZFXsZZLyV_QtbeDTx-1XaT1f4Mp4e-vqTGbHHunHzctFIlYuwRRVs6ELrD8fsKHcWGPDL7chK1RCIB6dgAZ2zhDFEHtuoMfhn/s1600-h/103_3207.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 204px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjolPfn4-SJ9-vAUORS0FIG_WypJhyBVvBGx2PZFXsZZLyV_QtbeDTx-1XaT1f4Mp4e-vqTGbHHunHzctFIlYuwRRVs6ELrD8fsKHcWGPDL7chK1RCIB6dgAZ2zhDFEHtuoMfhn/s320/103_3207.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273056068732753362" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSwYyfaaVFLJzRU5OiY6DaOAqPi9PnVSapiCpcQAQqgHT9p-kcCX52cDXZWlMHMppWsNDpq6C2flFS63VvCT3Z5Ve_46DrZVySzJDKmpT2wVGkpnMpZMrA9xx-lzKcaB0RreJg/s1600-h/103_3209.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 94px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSwYyfaaVFLJzRU5OiY6DaOAqPi9PnVSapiCpcQAQqgHT9p-kcCX52cDXZWlMHMppWsNDpq6C2flFS63VvCT3Z5Ve_46DrZVySzJDKmpT2wVGkpnMpZMrA9xx-lzKcaB0RreJg/s320/103_3209.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273056074892821074" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />I've been reading some <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/business/23citi.html?scp=1&sq=Citigroup%20Pays%20for%20a%20Rush%20to%20Risk&st=cse">interesting</a> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/opinion/26friedman.html?ref=opinion">articles</a> from the New York Times about the Citigroup crisis. I also read a story about some <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Terror-Warning.html?hp">plausible but unsubstantiated</a> terrorist threats on NYC public transportation and trains coming into and out if the city. Normally I don't put much stock in these things but since I'll be spending plenty of time on Amtrak and the NYC bus system tonight I'm a little spooked.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-69825136404069913832008-11-24T08:55:00.004-05:002008-11-24T16:13:13.172-05:00Sometime towards the end of last week my grandmother had a stroke. Initially it didn't sound so bad but my mom told me later that it hit the part of her brain that controls her memories and that she didn't remember much of anything. She sort of knew her three oldest daughters (my mom is the oldest) but had some trouble with her youngest, Ana, and yesterday couldn't come up with my Dad's name. I think my mom is doing her best not to be upset but I know she is. We're not sure what's going to happen when Grandma gets out of the hospital but it doesn't sound like she is going to be able to live on her own anymore.<br /><br />Laura's big birthday party was on Saturday night at the Pour House. A bunch of people cycled in and out over the course of the evening and everyone who stayed had a good time and drank a bunch.<br /><br />The next morning Shannon and I were supposed to compete in breakfast olympics (my chocolate chip pancakes against her french toast) but she was too hung over to do anything but lie in bed so Drew and I ate some pancakes and got coffee. We then spend a good amount of time wrestling with a 13 pound frozen turkey in a giant bowl of hot water. It had been defrosting for three days but was still largely frozen and we were hosting a Thanksgiving dinner that afternoon / evening. After both of our moms told us that we could potentially kill everyone at our dinner party (and after getting soaked with warm turkey juice) we decided to get a fresh turkey from Stop and Shop and roll with that guy.<br /><br />Turkey cooking proceeded without a hitch after that and was probably lubricated by Beth's new drink concoction, Breakfast Champagne. It is a half and half mixture of High Life and Orange Juice; it sounds gross but it's very refreshing. Over the course of the day we went through about 30 High Lifes making these things for about a dozen people.<br /><br />My dad sent me a really nice article about one of my favorite soccer players, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/sports/soccer/23hejduk.html?emc=eta1">Frankie Hejduk</a>. He scored one of Columbus's three goals in their 3-1 victory over the Red Bulls in yesterday's MLS final.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-51420614376571607042008-11-19T11:02:00.006-05:002008-11-19T11:25:07.229-05:00Laura's birthday is today. We're going to see Quantum of Solace tonight and last night we went to Zon's for a delicious birthday dinner. Saturday is her party thing at the Pour House. Thus far she's enjoyed the dinner and the present I gave her and I anticipate her having a good weekend as well.<br /><br />The weather has taken a rather intense drop in temperature. This morning I rode to work in 27 degree weather and had to spend time at work thawing out. My run yesterday wasn't as fast as I had hoped because my legs couldn't warm up. I know it was colder last year when Lisa and I would run in December and January but I'm just not used to it yet.<br /><br />Last night I finished the Destroyer for my Khador army. I got some really good feedback on Librarium Online regarding battle damage, highlighting, and shading that I feel really helped me improve this model over the Juggernaut.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV6h0iWoGczB4nPLzBUU5zB3mJLBk34i3wFpYm6FtxSxmrWhJ8xxWSON-bE_o6dkAM1Y-qUe0X2BsinxuKEH7C6E2rO-GuRtONXbrEfJOjQxIGdD9GeJY27kcsVuvaZUDqvo4O/s1600-h/2-1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 259px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV6h0iWoGczB4nPLzBUU5zB3mJLBk34i3wFpYm6FtxSxmrWhJ8xxWSON-bE_o6dkAM1Y-qUe0X2BsinxuKEH7C6E2rO-GuRtONXbrEfJOjQxIGdD9GeJY27kcsVuvaZUDqvo4O/s320/2-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270402571640645458" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiapS27uer4oCbaBwRp30DJGxBuQ1tPawv61tHh5t9gUK7Lkn8I8ZeD0P44ygWFclTT6lgKpNqEll2L8UoAMsKPBwB_Z4y_QBuwbvljxwVThnLIKdoPpcJp04ClQmpmhTdVKwe8/s1600-h/1-1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 259px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiapS27uer4oCbaBwRp30DJGxBuQ1tPawv61tHh5t9gUK7Lkn8I8ZeD0P44ygWFclTT6lgKpNqEll2L8UoAMsKPBwB_Z4y_QBuwbvljxwVThnLIKdoPpcJp04ClQmpmhTdVKwe8/s320/1-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270402568474922338" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">After some experiments with the blue to white gradient as a background I've decided to stop using it. It was creating a lot of glare on the models and washing out their colors to the point that they all looked like flat, neon messes. The pictures above were taken without and background at all and I think they really show what the model looks like so I may just stick with that.<br /><br />For reference, this is what he looks like with the gradient.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwvlZx_JiSkDZKiuO5KMKoo94R3_MIdtaO2ZaOEW_QxV0OtXoaojp8I-pyoAlSaLQlVAroucYfdzSYgrAa-a93HF13vNW7cUfpJ5yH8g_RKs4NSGYp102hrwAYYGzG1OXWt7ko/s1600-h/des.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 277px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwvlZx_JiSkDZKiuO5KMKoo94R3_MIdtaO2ZaOEW_QxV0OtXoaojp8I-pyoAlSaLQlVAroucYfdzSYgrAa-a93HF13vNW7cUfpJ5yH8g_RKs4NSGYp102hrwAYYGzG1OXWt7ko/s320/des.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270403863378267138" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">This isn't a terrible picture but if you compare it to the ones above you can clearly see how washed out the model is; the highlights disappear and the colors are a lot brighter than they are in reality.<br /><br />Oh, and if you haven't seen the <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shiba-inu-puppy-cam">puppies</a> you need to take a look.<br /></div></div></div></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-17679003266131945562008-11-14T10:35:00.006-05:002008-11-14T11:24:47.771-05:00Work has been really dragging this week even though I had Tuesday off. Sometimes I can get myself excited to do something but most of the time I find myself bored, listless, and uninterested.<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Laura has been applying to a lot of publishing jobs recently and came across an interesting potential career move for me in the field of mathematics text book publishing. She sent me a few postings for jobs editing and working with math texts. It is something I had never considered before but now that she's planted the idea in my head I'm intrigued.<br /><br /></div>Recently a UFC fighter who I like, Chris Leben, failed a drug test and was suspended for 9 months. My reaction to this was to feel bad for him because I like him and I feel like he's overcome a lot in his life. I was out on a run the other day thinking about this and I realized that my reaction was the complete opposite to how I normally react to situations like this. I can't stand Sean Sherk, another UFC fighter who failed a drug test, and have almost not respect for him as an athlete anymore. I also distinctly remember when Justin Gatlin failed his drug tests and how betrayed I felt by him. Other althletes like Marion Jones, Floyd Landis, and Jan Ulrich have been tainted for me by their steroid useage and I know that I can never look at any of their achievements with any sort of faith that they were achieved in good faith.<div style="text-align: left;"><br />I honestly don't know why Chris Leben bucks my trend of anger and resentment towards althletes who use steroids. I liked Justin Gatlin more than Chris Leben and I was more familiar with Gatlin and Marion Jones's accomplishements and careers. Most of the other people on my list denied using while Leben admitted it immediatley. I wouldn't even say that Leben is very high up on my list of favorite fighters, so why do I feel sympathy for him when I could never support any of those others again? I honestly have no idea.<br /><br />I've decided to start reading more. It's been a while since I read any sort of book and I'd like to get back into the habit. I also want to be more informed so I've taken to browsing CNN and the New York Times at work when I have spare time.<br /><br />I went climbing the other night before and after teaching and had a lot of fun. I still remember most of my technique and I'm just waiting for my arm and hand strength to return. Unfortunatly I tore a lot of skin off the pad on my right middle finger but I've been drying it out pretty aggressively so I hope it will be usable in a few days.<br /><br />I finished off the last three marines for my first tactical squad.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisvDGsC7Y2P5jS1Z4_P8gHisMzYqtUOi88aip53xo6J2WLM5qquHiTh6PPHjjjuZOmggAS7HVWAHz6Fq03rXjXZQfyaRAf_VXnrXw35BeOUiFdNu2t_ivusGoZnFX_wu8s21yc/s1600-h/TS1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 146px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisvDGsC7Y2P5jS1Z4_P8gHisMzYqtUOi88aip53xo6J2WLM5qquHiTh6PPHjjjuZOmggAS7HVWAHz6Fq03rXjXZQfyaRAf_VXnrXw35BeOUiFdNu2t_ivusGoZnFX_wu8s21yc/s320/TS1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268549616848593026" border="0" /></a><br />all 10<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1aJZxjdoinxOHZjCDpVw3GPvTUQ5rOhPm7dpvkevyHjrrig7wCzChwwW0n19BL43UALXIvbfrh3WBs9-OwvelY1A8rmKMXOCWjUnNI4nv6aYF4c4MRAXJB0tx63KpcSYM4vpF/s1600-h/ser.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 114px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1aJZxjdoinxOHZjCDpVw3GPvTUQ5rOhPm7dpvkevyHjrrig7wCzChwwW0n19BL43UALXIvbfrh3WBs9-OwvelY1A8rmKMXOCWjUnNI4nv6aYF4c4MRAXJB0tx63KpcSYM4vpF/s320/ser.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268549605429851586" border="0" /></a><br />vet with power sword<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAONohGfz52KfeRzl6iysW6YWVZBCOcujARRL3-BWJ5TXAD2Q1TN_XIkQwJb6iH0ePxfdxFwyb0VsOEcxql5IuV2sELtKlaal7S4sn18RYtEfHKNP3A00Tlfat6kMJPEu68S8P/s1600-h/plasma.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 258px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAONohGfz52KfeRzl6iysW6YWVZBCOcujARRL3-BWJ5TXAD2Q1TN_XIkQwJb6iH0ePxfdxFwyb0VsOEcxql5IuV2sELtKlaal7S4sn18RYtEfHKNP3A00Tlfat6kMJPEu68S8P/s320/plasma.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268549610470117970" border="0" /></a><br />plasma twins<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHLWcZ90trAAfzNHfKcpGretinqhSWhWA411uRw3gfQb1yjTWtMeI6eJBz4EOTWWYvJ0KUc1i5a0nyLKzWUuE0S3jO0QnY7tEF5T-xWxK-dW6NqzCLLBDxVPwOF_aSmF0s7jnO/s1600-h/new2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 148px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHLWcZ90trAAfzNHfKcpGretinqhSWhWA411uRw3gfQb1yjTWtMeI6eJBz4EOTWWYvJ0KUc1i5a0nyLKzWUuE0S3jO0QnY7tEF5T-xWxK-dW6NqzCLLBDxVPwOF_aSmF0s7jnO/s320/new2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268549614394137874" border="0" /></a><br />the three new guys<br /></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-45104108685984469582008-11-10T10:16:00.006-05:002008-11-11T13:58:58.594-05:00The other day Laura asked me some question about how much my little men hobby costs. A while ago I started tracking my expenditures in a speadsheet so I looked up how much I've spent this year on little men and I was surprised to see that I had spent almost 1000 dollars this year on models, paint, and related supplies. Even though this hobby is expensive I think that's a bit too much money for me to be spending right now on things like that. I know that a lot of those purchases were not essential (not that any of this is essential, but within the context of the hobby for me) and that I could probably cut down without too much difficulty.<br /><br />With that in mind I've decided to start making prioritized lists of the models I want to purchase and limit my spending. My plan is to budget no more than 50 dollars a month to spend on all aspects of the hobby. Every month 50 dollars will be put into my New Model Fund (I stole this name and most of this idea from <a href="http://blog.lonepilgrim.co.uk/">lone pilgrim</a>). At the end of each month I will bank half of the unused 50 dollars in the fund and lose the rest. This sets a maximum expenditure of 600 dollars for the year and leaves the door open for me to spend less.<br /><br />The second part of this plan is to maintain a list of models that I want to purchase and try to rank them in order of importance to me. I think this will help me stop compulsively buying cool looking models and just keeping them in boxes on my shelf.<br /><br />I'm going to start this retroactively to the first of the month, so the standings are:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">New Model Fund</span> - $50<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Model List - </span><br />Khador Greylord Ternion (needed to round out my 350 point list)<br />a few Space Marine bits (jump packs, running legs)<br />Space Marine Sternguard Squad (because they're awesome)<br />Khador Kodiak (needed to round out my 500 point list)<br />Khador Koldun Lord (needed to round out my 500 point list)<br />paints and brushes (Baal Red, Devlan Mud, a 00, 0, and large tank brush, Testors Dull Coat)<br /><br />Obviously things like shipping costs will probably dictate that I buy things out of order here (i.e. if I buy the Greylords I'll probably get the rest of the Warmachine models to save money on shipping) but I think this is going to help keep me on track.<br /><br />I ran a 5k yesterday and did pretty well. The course was pretty bad (there were no mile markers, there were a lot of sharp turns on slick, uneven pavement) but I managed to finish 8th out of 250ish and get an 18:19. Given that I've only run five times since the marathon I'm pretty happy with my performance. I think that with a little effort I can hit my goal of a sub 18 on Thanksgiving.<br /><br />After the race Laura and I went to a diner with the rest of the team and had huge heart-attack breakfasts.<br /><br />Last night was the Drive-By Truckers and The Hold Steady show. Overall the show was fantastic. DBT were engaging and their three guitar assault was loud and rocking. There were some issues with the vocals that made the singer hard to hear and their fans were kind of obnoxious but none of that detracted much from their performance.<br /><br />I went to the show to see The Hold Steady and they didn't dissapoint. They came out and played most of their usual live show fare with a few new songs (new to their live show) that really made the show for me - Chill Out Tent, First Night, Two Handed Handshake, and Killer Parties. The lead singer from DBT came out to sing the male part of Chill Out Tent and did alright, but when their female bassist took on the female part she sounded more like a cat than the Dolly Parton she was doing earlier. It was a shame that the vocals really let that song down but it was a real treat to hear the band play it. Other than a few songs from the new album that they tried to force their setlist was tight and very entertaining.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-91807929204174503892008-11-07T10:19:00.006-05:002008-11-07T11:04:54.591-05:00I taught on Wednesday night and stayed after my class to climb during the open hours. I had my ass handed to me since I haven't climbed in so long; I loved it. I discovered that I really miss climbing so I'm going to try to get on the wall a few days a week. Matt told me I could use the wall right after work as long as I wore my staff shirt so that takes away my excuse that the open hours are too late and I don't want to commute.<br /><br />Obama won on Tuesday night, that was awesome. Laura and I stayed up to watch McCain's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bss6lTP8BJ8">concession speech</a> (very gracious) and Obama's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll5baCAaQU">acceptance speech</a> before going to bed very happy. After the past two Presidential elections I didn't have much faith in the election system and even though Obama has been consistently ahead in the polls for a while I was very nervous all day on Tuesday. Now that it's all over and he won so decisevley (and the Democrats picked up seats in the House and Senate) I have a much brighter view of the future of this country.<br /><br />Laura and I saw the Decemberists play last night. I wasn't hugely excited for this show because I didn't know if this band could capture my interest live. I sure was wrong. The crowd was excited and the singer wrapped several hundred people around his finger for an hour and a half. They played a lot of songs that I wasn't familiar with but towards the end of their set they shook the balconey (literaly) with O Valencia! and then ended their encore with Sons and Daughters, my favorite song.<br /><br />The best part of that song is the out-tro where the band sings the phrase "hear all the bombs fade away" together. Their vocals combined with the music produces a haunting and pleasent sound. Right before this section of the song the singer paused and explained that he had written the song a few years ago and this particular part was in reference to the current administration and how the only solution he could see to making the bombs fade away was to leave. Now though, after Tuesday he said the song's meaning had changed for him and it represented his hope that the bombs would fade away because a new President had been elected who would help lead the country out of the war. That was a really poignant moment for me, made even more so when he invited 30 people up on stage to sing it with him. I really couldn't have asked for a better ending to the show.<br /><br />I found <a href="http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170118">this thread</a> by dave8oy on Warseer. Take a look at the lenses on the marine here - they're incredibly detailed and look phenomenal.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzYEDSVkOXbKCqtx3h7hKWRSsaVxD8N4ePLL0TUG5q-Px1lf5E7x9fgc2emhQlc6P8-jKN5Zht1O1YR7GZMuM1DHedqS5Sqkb8aylYpvlwilEtRzCDMHA-Uane_Iu7gqMZTKfg/s1600-h/P1050070.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 294px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzYEDSVkOXbKCqtx3h7hKWRSsaVxD8N4ePLL0TUG5q-Px1lf5E7x9fgc2emhQlc6P8-jKN5Zht1O1YR7GZMuM1DHedqS5Sqkb8aylYpvlwilEtRzCDMHA-Uane_Iu7gqMZTKfg/s320/P1050070.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265946917662702898" border="0" /></a><br />by<a href="http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170118"> dave8oy</a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />I am hoping to use this weekend and my day off on Tuesday to paint the last three marines for my first Crimson Fist squad and I'm going to see if I can replicate this effect.<br /></div></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-22221041983039628762008-11-04T09:47:00.007-05:002008-11-04T09:57:40.199-05:00I voted this morning! After waiting for about 45 minutes I was given a scantron (not nearly as exciting as I wanted it to be) and a marker. I marked my Obama circle, had my name checked off a list, and fed my sheet into a machine. This was way more exciting than voting absentee (which I did four years ago) and I've been pretty amped about the whole thing since last night. Laura and I are planning to stay up to watch the election coverage because I doubt I could go to sleep without knowing the outcome.<br /><br />My Crimson Fists did their civic duty and voted last night as well.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV1SAzZwF6-2XB8WFEKKMDvBftMiXapF8RbsxTje3UBdd7xMzTrMdAaz8QRShd9w6WnLuealma7N4dPlcqprNuSJqwDh-EiHbp_TyAHaMvsd-dOen3bJKINcD0dp5oGkhz7DwF/s1600-h/cf4-1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV1SAzZwF6-2XB8WFEKKMDvBftMiXapF8RbsxTje3UBdd7xMzTrMdAaz8QRShd9w6WnLuealma7N4dPlcqprNuSJqwDh-EiHbp_TyAHaMvsd-dOen3bJKINcD0dp5oGkhz7DwF/s320/cf4-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264815585587543058" border="0" /></a><br />third man from the right is getting his vote on<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Thankfully these guys are the last bolter marines I have planned for the foreeable future in this army. That's a good thing because I'm already getting tired of painting power armour. Once these two tactical squads are done I'll start painting some Terminators or Scouts for some diversity.<br /><br />I've been running a little bit since the marathon but not too much. I am signed up for a 5k this weekend in Allston somewhere and that should be a good time.<br /><br />Gobama!<br /></div></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-21130046045029786632008-10-23T10:19:00.008-05:002008-10-27T10:42:58.639-05:00Lisa and I survived our marathon this past weekend but just barely. We were cruising though the first 20 or 21 miles and we were on pace to finish about 4.5 minutes under my previous marathon PR of 3:35:12 when Lisa rolled her ankle pretty badly. I wasn't about to let her miss qualifying for Boston so we started alternating running and walking. I kept a close watch on the time and we finished officially at 3:39:03 to get Lisa her sub 3:40:00.<br /><br />Prior to that incident her and I were flying along. We got a slow start trying to navigate all the people but we settled into something between an 8:05 and 8:10 pace all the way until mile 20. We had a few miles under 8:00 and a few over 8:20 but mostly we were feeling really good and steady. The course was very flat and scenic which helped to offset the lack of hundreds of thousands of fans and other runners. The biggest challenge for me was mental. Towards the end (even before Lisa rolled her ankle) the miles seemed to stretch out and it felt like ages between each mile marker sign. My cardio held up fine just like in Boston and I had some stiffening of my quads again but this was significantly less since there was no three mile hill to climb.<br /><br />Overall the course was a lot of fun and I would have absolutely set a PR if I hadn't hung back to get Lisa across the line. However, I'm really happy with how the race ended and I'm really proud of Lisa for qualifying despite her injury.<br /><br /><table str="" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 144pt;" width="192" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><col style="width: 48pt;" span="3" width="64"> <tbody><tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt; width: 48pt;" width="64" height="17">mile</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 48pt;" width="64">split</td> <td class="xl22" style="width: 48pt;" width="64">total</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" height="17">1</td> <td class="xl22">miss</td> <td class="xl22"><br /></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A2+1" height="17">2</td> <td class="xl24">17:51</td> <td class="xl23">17:51</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A3+1" height="17">3</td> <td class="xl24">8:18</td> <td class="xl23">26:09</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A4+1" height="17">4</td> <td class="xl24">8:13</td> <td class="xl23">34:23</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A5+1" height="17">5</td> <td class="xl24">8:08</td> <td class="xl23">42:31</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A6+1" height="17">6</td> <td class="xl24">8:10</td> <td class="xl23">50:42</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A7+1" height="17">7</td> <td class="xl24">8:22</td> <td class="xl23">59:05</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A8+1" height="17">8</td> <td class="xl24">8:08</td> <td class="xl23">1:07:13</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A9+1" height="17">9</td> <td class="xl24">8:11</td> <td class="xl23">1:15:24</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A10+1" height="17">10</td> <td class="xl24">8:20</td> <td class="xl23">1:23:45</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A11+1" height="17">11</td> <td class="xl24">7:46</td> <td class="xl23">1:31:32</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A12+1" height="17">12</td> <td class="xl24">8:06</td> <td class="xl23">1:39:38</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A13+1" height="17">13</td> <td class="xl24">8:19</td> <td class="xl23">1:47:57</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A14+1" height="17">14</td> <td class="xl24">7:52</td> <td class="xl23">1:55:50</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A15+1" height="17">15</td> <td class="xl24">7:56</td> <td class="xl23">2:03:46</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A16+1" height="17">16</td> <td class="xl24">8:04</td> <td class="xl23">2:11:51</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A17+1" height="17">17</td> <td class="xl24">8:09</td> <td class="xl23">2:20:01</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A18+1" height="17">18</td> <td class="xl24">8:05</td> <td class="xl23">2:28:06</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A19+1" height="17">19</td> <td class="xl24">8:06</td> <td class="xl23">2:36:13</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A20+1" height="17">20</td> <td class="xl24">8:11</td> <td class="xl23">2:44:24</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A21+1" height="17">21</td> <td class="xl24">8:21</td> <td class="xl23">2:52:45</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A22+1" height="17">22</td> <td class="xl24">8:27</td> <td class="xl23">3:01:12</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A23+1" height="17">23</td> <td class="xl24">9:21</td> <td class="xl23">3:10:34</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A24+1" height="17">24</td> <td class="xl24">9:45</td> <td class="xl23">3:20:20</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A25+1" height="17">25</td> <td class="xl24">8:27</td> <td class="xl23">3:28:48</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" num="" fmla="=A26+1" height="17">26</td> <td class="xl24">8:35</td> <td class="xl23">3:37:23</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl22" style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">finish</td> <td class="xl24">1:42</td> <td class="xl23">3:39:05</td> </tr> </tbody></table><br />I started training for this during the second week in June and ended up covering 549.3 miles over the course of 18 weeks in training and the race itself. At one point during the training I missed out on a 50 mile week entirely and I spent a few weeks battling stomach problems that caused me to cut some runs short. Given all that, and the fact that I trained about 575 miles for the first marathon I am really happy with my performance here. I'm going to be running Boston in April again and I have some ideas to radically change up my training.<br /><br />I took Monday off to relax and recover from the race and used to it finish off my next 5 Space Marines.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge7Nh45LuMvC7BLcLByadwuK53ANMAmBOx_5cnW_yw5_Yt0EgGGee-BtlN9seGgN5SvPY6piztmuSXgAwDGOCgqx-I9oGcCK2pn6Js-DyIQM-14XNOOkAXXe7BUtpWkJEFN-i7/s1600-h/21cf.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge7Nh45LuMvC7BLcLByadwuK53ANMAmBOx_5cnW_yw5_Yt0EgGGee-BtlN9seGgN5SvPY6piztmuSXgAwDGOCgqx-I9oGcCK2pn6Js-DyIQM-14XNOOkAXXe7BUtpWkJEFN-i7/s320/21cf.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261859464352542114" border="0" /></a><br />newest 5<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGIqppMmDdCRjOY2O2ErLo5mC3YjvhU8sOjnM9tUgyouCK3KbT79Bno9IZH-rL8sbPyJVWqES30vdFWnSASdFUNXema4llIJ1fHK2GFbBYpYUIiceeXe7vGcuqypPL0MESzGuZ/s1600-h/22cf.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGIqppMmDdCRjOY2O2ErLo5mC3YjvhU8sOjnM9tUgyouCK3KbT79Bno9IZH-rL8sbPyJVWqES30vdFWnSASdFUNXema4llIJ1fHK2GFbBYpYUIiceeXe7vGcuqypPL0MESzGuZ/s320/22cf.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261859581242173890" border="0" /></a><br />all 10 that I've finished<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I'm happy with how these guys are turning out. They're currently missing decals on their shoulder pads because I haven't figured out a good way to apply them. There is a good tutorial that I found online that I need to try out before I go wasting the decals that I need.<br /><br />After rallying to tie the series 3-3, the Red Sox lost to the Rays on Sunday. It was a bummer but I'm glad they fought back and didn't roll over and give it to the Rays.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRq9q1bzXILjCreMVgvtKgK2sGLYaR6KjpPM_XHxeMPpMIdi3eaIR2skYTV9-v9BL-cE1L_AjT96x-QoxbWtlNnBmxlCdmqCn5LavXl5bQUIGO_P5D3fLSsc8bbb-PrW0l6HaI/s1600-h/n915778_41047927_326.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRq9q1bzXILjCreMVgvtKgK2sGLYaR6KjpPM_XHxeMPpMIdi3eaIR2skYTV9-v9BL-cE1L_AjT96x-QoxbWtlNnBmxlCdmqCn5LavXl5bQUIGO_P5D3fLSsc8bbb-PrW0l6HaI/s320/n915778_41047927_326.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260383032198219026" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">mile 13<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh73483tcuI-5YIl_bKH66WKtogkqsPAj31nY65fWovkB3_26OEfFJ338CfB0MZe_0ZdAsAOmLI01l6MWkTwCCxN8tFpkNfV57k6WIrAAdSc46BtQqRMuiurSp-WH6L_Bwr_RBV/s1600-h/n915778_41037974_7286.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh73483tcuI-5YIl_bKH66WKtogkqsPAj31nY65fWovkB3_26OEfFJ338CfB0MZe_0ZdAsAOmLI01l6MWkTwCCxN8tFpkNfV57k6WIrAAdSc46BtQqRMuiurSp-WH6L_Bwr_RBV/s320/n915778_41037974_7286.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260383030835467458" border="0" /></a><br />finish!<br /></div></div></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-46306359259391221052008-10-17T13:00:00.002-05:002008-10-17T13:10:45.212-05:00I'll admit that I spent most of yesterday thinking about how sad it would be when the Red Sox lost Game 5 against the Rays. When I left work a little after 8pm and it was 2-0 bad guys I lost most of the enthusiasm I had for getting home quickly to watch the game. I stopped watching in the 7th inning when the Rays get a double steal on Paplebon to put men on 2nd and 3rd with no outs.<br /><br />Apparently I should have more faith. The Red Sox scored 4 in the 7th, 3 in the 8th, and then sealed it in the 9th, and I missed it. I found out they won by reading the front page of someone else's Metro while I waited for the train this morning. I spent half an hour this morning at work reading articles about the win, but <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/081017">this one</a> in particular does a great job of capturing the energy and intensity that I imagine accompanyed those last three innnings.<br /><br />Now it's back to Tampa to play Game 6. Go Sox!Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-5997047865840428042008-10-15T15:51:00.003-05:002008-10-15T15:56:41.386-05:00I was not really happy with the red on this model so I went at it again last night. First I added some shading to bring out the depth, and then I tried to add some more highlights and brighten up the ones that were already there. I don't think it worked very well, to be honest. I still think the red is pretty flat overall, and now that I've been screwing with it repeatedly I think it looks sloppy.<br /><br />The next idea I had was to add some battle damage to distract from the poor highlighting. I didn't really think out the placement, size, or shape of the scratches much and I think the model's left side suffered as a result.<br /><br />Ultimately, while I'm not happy with how he came out I think that I learned a lot of things that I can apply to the next warjack that I paint.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/xbanditsx/Khador/22.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/xbanditsx/Khador/22.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><-- good side, bad side --><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/xbanditsx/Khador/21.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/xbanditsx/Khador/21.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />good side<br /></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-24677615524876174302008-10-14T12:17:00.005-05:002008-10-14T13:01:02.996-05:00I spent several hours this weekend painting a Khador Juggernaut and this is the result (photographed poorly - they don't show the highlights that do exist however faint):<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/xbanditsx/Khador/13.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/xbanditsx/Khador/13.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/xbanditsx/Khador/12.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/xbanditsx/Khador/12.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/xbanditsx/Khador/11.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/xbanditsx/Khador/11.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I had a lot of trouble conceptually highlighting the huge red armour plates. My typical strategy of line highlighting was pretty useless on the vast, flat expanses that needed to be highlighted. I went for what I thought would be natural highlights but I'm not satisfied. I don't think I executed my plan correctly and I don't think I have enough contrast for the highlights to be visible. The Warmachine rulebook has some good reference pictures and I'm going to try to use them to touch up this guy. I'm also thinking of trying to paint on some battle damage, but I'd like to get the highlights correct first.<br /><br />I decided to enter a second army into the Tale of Painters on Librarium Online. In addition to my 1000 points of Crimson Fists I will be working on 500 points of Khador. The Juggernaut represents 100 points done already so my first month's submission is already take care of. Once I get those next 5 tacitcal marines done I'll have my Fists sumbission done for the month also so I think I'm in pretty good shape to take care of both.<br /><br />Once these two projects are done I am thinking of doing some Cygnar models. The two that have really caught my eye are Coleman Stryker and the Journeyman Warcaster.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMzKZqFCfYSeljgcvRhHTSmOe3fYqRQRaSmopFq9Dwiwlcl4L5_xAp1DzjoX-M5a0ojGjGSz8UiJZnm47sWyCKIBjHmFWEGSA0GlZ_9Zo9tHaUbfaNX97QRFFMj-FBREsf1J7/s1600-h/lrg-67-31020_comm_coleman_stryker_alt_blister.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMzKZqFCfYSeljgcvRhHTSmOe3fYqRQRaSmopFq9Dwiwlcl4L5_xAp1DzjoX-M5a0ojGjGSz8UiJZnm47sWyCKIBjHmFWEGSA0GlZ_9Zo9tHaUbfaNX97QRFFMj-FBREsf1J7/s320/lrg-67-31020_comm_coleman_stryker_alt_blister.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257068964028628098" border="0" /></a><br />Coleman Stryker (image from <a href="http://privateerpress.com/">Privateer Press</a>)<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQzGVGLmJL3GoVUxj0qtSULReKX2ZpwcjpbfhSr_n_FVXDYGWtf02roUc4NWZRUdhTj6pbptLQayUdRbM3PY8titgrNWZka3z3Q5WxEnj_Y0SH_JcfSO5svkbbUGz2i_bjV57h/s1600-h/lrg-85-31016_journeyman_warcaster_blister.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQzGVGLmJL3GoVUxj0qtSULReKX2ZpwcjpbfhSr_n_FVXDYGWtf02roUc4NWZRUdhTj6pbptLQayUdRbM3PY8titgrNWZka3z3Q5WxEnj_Y0SH_JcfSO5svkbbUGz2i_bjV57h/s320/lrg-85-31016_journeyman_warcaster_blister.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257068965774218818" border="0" /></a><br />Journeyman Warcaster (image from <a href="http://privateerpress.com/">Privateer Press</a>)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Khador has a feeling of steampunk Russion, and Cygnar has a knightly feel to them. I also really like the vibrant blue color of their armour.<br /><br />My next marathon is coming up on Sunday. I think if I can run a 3:40 and help Lisa to qualify that I'll be happy. Somehow I managed to get a blood blister on one of my big toes; hopefully that won't be too much of a pain in the ass.<br /></div></div></div></div><br />Spoony was in town this weekend for regionals. It was really good to see him. Since I had Monday off (hooray Chris Columbus!) Laura and I got brunch at the Center Street Cafe. It was really good and a lot of fun. Even though we've been dating for over two years now I still like going on dates with Laura.<br /><br />The Red Sox have dropped two straight to fall behind 1-2 against the Rays. Hopefully they can pick it up tonight and bring it back to even.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-70130023286639386502008-10-09T14:23:00.007-05:002008-10-13T11:32:48.029-05:00I managed to assemble the next 5 marines while watching the Red Sox beat the Angles but I've been pretty busy lately and haven't had time to clean or prime them. I tried some more dynamic poses with these 5 - some of them worked and others not so much.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/xbanditsx/Crimson%20Fists/Untitled-1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/xbanditsx/Crimson%20Fists/Untitled-1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><picture of="" the="" marines="" here=""><picture><br />My taper jitters have come back. The runs that I'm doing as part of the taper have not been enough to eat up all the energy I have so I've been a little jumpy the past few days. My two runs this week have thus far been pretty good and I'm anticipating another good one this evening.<br /></picture></picture><br /><picture of="" the="" marines="" here=""><picture>I watched the most recent debate and was generally unimpressed with both candidates. Neither one would answer a question directly and they just rehashed the sa</picture></picture><picture of="" the="" marines="" here=""><picture>me points from the previous debate. I think Obama won, but only becaus</picture></picture><picture of="" the="" marines="" here=""><picture>e McCain lost worse.<br /><br />While we're on the subject, I've been reading some more interesting articles about <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/23316912/makebelieve_maverick/print">McCain</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/opinion/08friedman.html?ex=1381204800&en=c9e775b60b4a93e9&ei=5124&partner=facebook&exprod=facebook">Palin</a>. I'll be the first to admit my libe</picture></picture><picture of="" the="" marines="" here=""><picture>ral bias, but I think it's wor</picture></picture><picture of="" the="" marines="" here=""><picture>th giving these articles a read anyway.<br /><br />A few weeks ago I sumbitted my Massachusetts voter registration paperwork and as the deadline approaches, I've been checking <a href="http://www.cityofboston.gov/">cityofboston.gov </a>to se</picture></picture><picture of="" the="" marines="" here=""><picture>e if they have processed my paperwork. They hadn't as of a few days ago so I e-mailed</picture></picture><picture of="" the="" marines="" here=""><picture> them but got no response. Since it is important to me that I be able to vote I called City Hall and asked about it.</picture></picture><picture of="" the="" marines="" here=""><picture> They told me I am registered to vote (hooray!) and that the online database isn't updated as regularly as their databases are.</picture></picture><br /><picture of="" the="" marines="" here=""><picture><br />Some photos from the 5k this past weekend:<br /><br /></picture></picture><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNplvglhmLiRUyN1V6lBnuPO-9a-lIJapNF09hgfdfQeFmsO10XuKvN7yhNsV0NyZoksf3DMmK1cBSls-K5QTIunM1iV6LLQIurDg_OOAmcowuxxkjn3AtytffY81X7Vreox4i/s1600-h/IMG_0572.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNplvglhmLiRUyN1V6lBnuPO-9a-lIJapNF09hgfdfQeFmsO10XuKvN7yhNsV0NyZoksf3DMmK1cBSls-K5QTIunM1iV6LLQIurDg_OOAmcowuxxkjn3AtytffY81X7Vreox4i/s320/IMG_0572.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256676760321029154" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjudGx8bDxCytB0JZha9OZcAmqIVTigg_J3C_IvMVslA71XbPW-OC-rKvV1NZIUpxyRqJLJWeGakg-uveXrOe7iXo7-tnXQCihU_enYhaTFCzImQgF6FFpzhRNwk94mmvqjqrg/s1600-h/IMG_0574.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjudGx8bDxCytB0JZha9OZcAmqIVTigg_J3C_IvMVslA71XbPW-OC-rKvV1NZIUpxyRqJLJWeGakg-uveXrOe7iXo7-tnXQCihU_enYhaTFCzImQgF6FFpzhRNwk94mmvqjqrg/s320/IMG_0574.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256676185822763522" border="0" /></a></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35346751.post-74736106583945025312008-10-06T09:31:00.005-05:002008-10-06T09:44:13.494-05:00My first Crimson Fist squad is done!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/xbanditsx/Crimson%20Fists/CFCS.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/xbanditsx/Crimson%20Fists/CFCS.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The three in front are the product of last week's work, and the two in back are a few months old. Those two I'm not really excited about and if I were to strip some models one day, those would be the first two I'd try.<br /><br />I'm going to be building another 5 bolter marines tonight (hopefully) in an effort to knock off the boring guys first. Those 10 guys will be my first Tale of Painters II submission from the painting event going on at <a href="http://www.librarium-online.com/forums/projects/">Librarium Online</a>. This first ToP was the reason I finished up my Wood Elves and in six months I'm hoping it nets me 1000 points of marines.<br /><br />Lisa and I ran a 5k this weekend in Somerville with some friends. I was hoping to go sub 18 and get a PR but apparently all this marathon training has blunted my speed a bit and I finished in 18:49. I'm still really happy with how I performed and I know that with a little speed work I could crush the 18 minute mark, seeing as I wasn't breathing hard at the end of this race at all.<br /><br />We also did a 12 mile run this Sunday at 8:47 pace. This is also not as fast as I would have liked it to be but again I'm happy with it. After some rather poor showings on the previous weeks' long runs I was happy to get a quality run in before the marathon.<br /><br />Friday after work Laura and I saw Burn After Reading. It was very well acted and the dialouge was clever and funny, but I wasn't totally sold on the movie. The plot was pretty complex and I had to focus on what was going on. This would have been fine if they had built it up to some huge climax at the end, but when the movie ended I felt let down.<br /><br />I cooked burgers last night for Laura and I. Laura wasn't confident in her ability to eat a whole burger (a justifiable concern) so I made her two sliders. Early reports were positive and I haven't heard any terror stories about her body rejecting them, so I think she probably liked them.<br /></div></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04002883007405202678noreply@blogger.com0