Moar Power!

 I took a mental health day from work.   I ended up running a new electrical circuit in my basement to provide more lights, and put a power socket near the location where my new 3D printer is going to live (oh, I also bought a new 3D printer - more on that later).

I've helped others run circuits before, and I've swapped out a light socket or two, but this is the first time I have done an entire circuit by myself.  It all went smooth (except apparently there are at least 3 types of breakers, made by different companies, that all look remarkably alike, but are not compatible - so a big screw you to the breaker panel people - take a memo:  standards are good and you should try them... but anyways...).

I ordered new LED panel lights to go into the sockets, which are perfect for maker spaces.  The arrive on Saturday.  

Feels good to have made significant improvements to my studio.  Almost adult like, but I am against adulting...adultering?  Adultery?  Defintely against adultery - but I do like moar power!

New Video: Fixing the Marvel Legends Hulkbuster

 In my latest video I took one of the worst looking Marvel Legends figures and turned it into something extraordinary, with nothing more than a few craft paints and a little bit of experience with a paint brush.

New Video: Darkwing Duck Diorama

 This covers the process of how I turn some liquid resin and some left over foam bits and turn it into a Darkwing Duck diorama.

New Video: An Interview With Ron Clifford

 Ron has been my mentor and a huge part of my creative journey.  I got to head back home to Canada this summer, and while there I recorded a short interview with him.  We discussed my journey, as well as what being a mentor means to him.

So check it out.  You won't regret it.

New Video: Using Fake Blood in Toy Photography

Go behind the scenes of how I used fake blood to recreate this epic scene from The Falcon and Winter Soldier. 

A year without Soda (Pop, that is).

 About a year ago my wife and I decided to go on a bit of a diet.  That included, for me, stopping drinking soft drinks, soda, pop, of any kind.  We decided to go struct on the diet for 30 days to build a healthier habit, then let back in some of our favorite foods - cause whats life without your favourite foods once and a while?

It was mostly successful, until summer hit, and it all went out the window when the kids no longer had a schedule and our discipline went with it..  However one thing I didn't bring back was soft drinks.   I did it simply because I didn't want the calories.  I don't mind drinking water most of the time, so I went with that.

All this happened during the pandemic lock down, so it was easy to avoid my greatest temptation to drink soft drinks:  watching movies in theatre.  My greatest joy in the cinema experience is sitting in a dark theatre watching some action flick with a large popcorn and portable ocean of coke.   This is where I confess that I did have soda 3 times in the past year.  Two of those were when we rented out the local theatre for a private showing (Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure, and Jurassic Park) in October 2020.  The third was when my wife accidentally ordered me a coke when we got takeout, and since it was New Years Eve I figured what the heck.

So my fear was when I got back to going to movies I'd slip back into drinking soft drinks again.  However I've been a couple times now (Free Guy, both times - awesome movie!) and I was surprised to find I was just as happy drinking a bottle of water than a giant coke - I didn't even think twice about it.

So it seems like I can be off the soda bandwagon for good, and that will help, literally, my bottom line.