Three classes, which you think wouldn’t be so bad, but it’s not that classes really it’s the projects.   Now, I don’t blame my instructors at all because all they did was give us some basic parameters to work with, I’m the one that decided what I was going to do with those parameters and set myself up for this major league work load.

For example.  In my environments class we had to do an interior.  Could be any interior we wanted; kitchen, bedroom, heck we could have even done the inside of a closet as long as we did it REALLY well (to justify the small space).  Me, I chose a warehouse.  An old rundown warehouse.  And not content with just that, I decided to put an old truck in their too.  Why?  Because I’m an idiot and I like cars.

It’s still not done, not really.  There are lots of things that I can (and will) do to improve this.  So, I have that one plus I’m still working on my thesis project of Penn Station.

I love Penn Station.  I wish to God it was still around but unfortunately they tore it down three years before I was born and we will never see another place like it again.

Finally, if I haven’t had enough interior spaces yet, there is my final one – the Altar room project.  Once again, I could have done something easy like a sword in the stone, a suit of armor, or even some sci-fi thing, but NOOOOOOOO…. I had to decide to do an altar room that represents the United States.  A Greco-Roman tribute to what our founding fathers crafted.  So now I have to deal with Grecian sculpture forms and modeling draped cloth as well as FOUR figures!

Three figures to represent the three branches of government; thirteen pillars for the colonies;  ten wall spaces for the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights; and finally, in the center of the altar, a Nike figure representing the American spirit which can only be defeated when we give up on ourselves.  The four braziers in the hall represent the four armed forces.  When it is done there will be a fire burning in them.

Love the idea, but man is it kicking my ass.  here’s a long shot of the altar room.  The coffered ceiling is referencing the Capitol Dome as well as the Pantheon.

And a close up of the figures

I have so much freakin work to do.  I need a drink.

The exterior is done and all that is left is to finish the tires by adding a bump map to simulate the writing on the sidewalls of the tire, and adjusting the texture map to make it look more like nice, shinny rubber.  All in all, I’m pretty happy with it

.

I even did one for my friend Gatakitty – though I hope to god I will never see this done to a REAL Camaro

Yep, fun with textures and lights.

***UPDATE***

Oh, and I also did this one too.  I’m planning on doing a junker version of the Camaro for a whole ‘before and after’ animation so I did an old school paintjob to start with as a base.  I need to replace the custom rims with some stock factory ones and remove the air intake from the hood, but it’s a start

bout 8 hours of work

**UPDATE**

OK, here it is with about 6 more hours of work put into it

Yea, I know the camera angles are boring, but it’s the best way to get an overall look at the bike.  I’ll do beauty shots once it’s finished

 http://muninn-quotheraven.blogspot.com/2008/01/call-of-cthulhu.html

Alley Cat Photos:  Urban Tails

moar funny pictures

Give in to my pathetic cries for attention…. do it now!

We (of course) encountered three long stretches of road construction, followed by a couple of traffic accidents and then (of course) the required stops for gas and restroom – plus we needed to check on the cats to make sure they were OK. They were fine, but every time we climbed up to the car to check them they would start crying. Eventually we did make it to Des Moines but it was about 11:30pm so we just got to our friends house (he was the best man at our wedding) and crashed for the night (kitties got their own little place to hang our and rest from the ordeal).

The next day we were given the grand tour of Des Moines and I learned a few things while we were there. First, they have a drive through malt shop that has the BEST shakes ever!! Honestly, I shit you not on this, they were fantastic! Second, we learned that their capitol building has a gold dome on top of it. 

Third, the Governor’s mansion looks just like the Haunted Mansion from Disney Land.

Finally we learned that Des Moines is very proud of a 15’ fiberglass sculpture of a cow that they have… yep, they have one and I have seen it.

There is also a wonderful art museum in Des Moines and we spent quite a few hours wandering through looking at paintings, sculptures and drawing. There are actually three building that are part of the Des Moines Art Center; the first one was designed by Eliel Saarinen in 1948, the second by I.M. Pei in 1968 and the final building was designed by Richard Meier. All of them are large and open with windows that are positioned so that they don’t just look outside, but form their own work of art with the window acting as a frame for it. Definitely worth going to see if you pass through the area.

So, we spent the day relaxing with friends, catching up and just having a good time but the next morning we were on the road and on our way but not without being presented with gifts to remind us of our visit like this wonderful t-shirt that is super funny.

I have already worn it to class and actually had a few people look and say things like “I didn’t know Des Moines was in Ohio” and “Ohio grows potatoes?  I always thought it was Idaho…”  Yep, future leaders I tell ya.

As we passed through Idaho and into Wyoming I did appreciate the long, open road that consisted mainly of the self movers, like us, and the 18 wheelers. The miles just rolled along and the other drivers were friendly and didn’t crowd anyone. If they wanted to pass, you just waved them along and they would flash their lights as a thank you. It was peaceful. I can see how truckers would really like that job. 

We finally stopped in Cheyenne and got a room at the Best Western there since all the other places were full. They charged us $150 (because of the cats) and when we got there at 9:30 the restaurant was closed. They didn’t even have room service! Supposedly this was a three star place but room service closed down at 9:00 pm. So we just had some of our road snacks and made a mental note to never stay at Best Western again. Plus, one of the shelves in the bathroom closet had come off and was laying on the floor not to mention that the bed had a huge dent where everyone else who had used that room had slept.  I don’t think they knew about flipping the matress or maybe even buying a new one. 

Best Western sucks.

Here are a few of the literally hundreds (yes, hundreds) of pictures we took on the road.  Hope you like them and I’ll finish this all up next weekend.  Oh, the last shot is of the sign from Buford, Wyoming – population 1.  The population used to be 2 but the guy’s son moved off to college (serious).