Otter Disaster Designs - Pop Culture Themed T-Shirts

Friday, June 29, 2007

The Breakfast Club loves Finntroll Friday.

This cool mashup has the Breakfast Club dancing to Finntroll's Ursvamp from their album Nattfodd.

Bonus Fintroll Friday: 88 Keys and Trollhammaren!

Due to a wonky work schedule last week I missed your regularly scheduled Finntroll Friday posting. To make up for it I give this very special bonus entry called:

88 Keys and Trollhammaren!

People sure love to play Trollhammaren on keyboards. This guy is the best:

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Recent Ron Paul Media Appearances

Ron Paul appeared on G4 TV's Attack of the Show on June 26th. A really good interview on some diverse topics. Paul get to voice his point of view on some topics that aren't the Iraq War or the IRS.

Link to the video on Paul's Website HERE. The same video at YouTube HERE.

Ron Paul also appeared on Your World with Neil Cavuto on Fox News the same night. Look at how Cavuto tries to get Paul to say he's against all taxes, and how he tries to equate Congressman Paul with Ed and Elaine Brown. Paul repeatedly says he doesn't really know much about the case, but Cavuto keeps making the equation. Paul merely states he has no problem with civil disobedience of laws he feels are unjust. Cavuto makes numerous statements about Ron Paul's position and Paul politely corrects him throughout the interview. I've seen Cavuto's show a few times and he lobs softballs at guests he likes, and he has a habit of interrupting guests he doesn't like, as well as putting words in their mouths, then trying to move on.

Brilliant Mashup: Goonies of the Caribbean

This is utterly brilliant. Simply the best movie mashup trailer I've seen yet.
Goonies of the Caribbean:



HERE is the creator's site.

The well known Shining, a romantic comedy can be found HERE. This is the one that started it all.

In the same vein as Shining, Travis Bickel finds love at the corner of Hope and Destiny in Taxi Driver.

Top Gun was WAY better than Brokeback Mountain.

Horror seems to be a recurring theme in these mashups. I think these are easier for editors because reaction takes occur so frequently in movies. Plus it is amazing the mood that can be set by a few sound effects and the right music:

Mary Poppins invades your nightmares HERE.

When Harry Stalked Sally HERE.

The Lion King as horror epic HERE.

Milton really likes his red Swingline in Office Space.

Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson learn their lessons as Wedding Crashers.

Jack Black as kidnapper can be found HERE.

There are literally dozens more, with some better than others. I included some of the best ones I've seen. I found recut trailers for Toy Story, Silence of the Lambs, the Matrix, Star Wars, Sleepless in Seattle, Back to the Future, ET, The Sound of Music and several others.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

In the Beginning There Were. . . Opening Titles

Sometimes the best part of a movie is the first few minutes of opening titles, before the script kicks in and disappointment takes over.

These opening titles give you your first impression of a film and some of them feature wildy creative animation and motion graphics. Check out these great opening title sequences:

Forget the Film, Watch the Titles

Laboratory 101-10 Kick Ass Opening Credits

Movies You Should See has a discussion about the Best Opening Credit Sequences. From the discussion on that page comes Part 1 and Part 2 of a really nice video montage of some well known opening titles.

Find dozens of opening titles at Google Video Search including the opening of Bill Murray Classic Meatballs.

Main Title Heaven in a great blog that presents dozens of Main Titles from television series, including Automan and Hunter. Unfortunately many of the YouTube clips have been taken down due to terms of use violations, but many still remain for your enjoyment

More than Meets the Eye

Wired has a pretty cool overview of the toy/media phenomena that started with Star Wars and rears it's ugly head this summer with Transformers.

Favorite quote from the article concerning GI Joe:

Hasbro's product manager for the revamped G.I. Joe in 1982. The new figures — dozens of characters — were highly poseable, stood 3.75 inches tall, and had gear Darpa would shoot a puppy for.


A Transformers timeline, with lots of YouTube goodness can be found HERE.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Chris Benoit-Murder Suicide

I haven't watched Pro Wrestling regularly for a couple of years, but I was a big fan during it's mid 90s to early 2000s boom. During that period my favorite wrestler was Chris Benoit. He was a technical wrestler and one of the most believable in-ring performers I've ever seen. While not brilliant on the microphone like a Mick Foley or a Ric Flair, he made you believe every punch, hold or suplex while between the ropes. He was also respected a great deal by his peers.

He apparently strangled his wife, Nancy, and smothered son Daniel over the weekend before hanging himself. Authorities are speculating that steroids may be a factor, but autopsy results are not yet complete.

I'm a little freaked out, because I liked him a lot as a performer, but really know nothing of his personal life. I hate to think that a performer I really liked and enjoyed is capable of such a horrific thing. I guess someone's television persona really tell you nothing about the real man.

WWE did a tribute to Benoit on it's RAW program last night and all the wrestlers who talked about him emphasised how important his family was to him. Why this happened will probably remain a mystery for a while if the reason is ever truly known.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Miscellaneous Debris Part 4

First, Breakfast of the Gods, a dark, wonderfully bizarre, webcomic starring Cap'n Crunch, Count Chocula, Tony the Tiger and just about every other sugary sweet cereal mascot of your youth. Book 2 is now in progress.

June has been a busy month for whomever/whatever makes crop circles. I like this one. It kinda looks like a space ship.

Finally, this clip talks about a man who claims to have travelled to the future, met himself and recorded the encounter on his cell phone.



Future Man is conveniently obscured by the back light of the sun, and his tattoo seems larger than our time traveler's.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Square Foot Garden: Summer Harvest, Progress, and The Thing that Ate My Cabbage

I haven't posted on my SFG in a while, so I thought it was time for an update.
I finally broke down and sprayed for insects today, because I mistakenly thought I was growing a piece of swiss cheese instead of a cabbage:



Both of my Square Foot beds are coming along nicely, considering my late start in planting and planning this year:





I discovered co-worker Brent is also a Square Foot Gardener, and posts pics of his SFG on Flickr. His beds make mine look a little pathetic. Very lush with the broccoli and herbs. I definitely need to plan better next year.

On the plus side I finally had my first SFG harvest, and pulled some very nice radishes last week, and a few more last night. Pictured below are the radishes along with some spinach and some spearmint that Mrs. Disaster likes to put in her tea.



The spinach is from my traditional beds and is about done. I taste tested some raw leaves and they are getting a little bitter, and the plants themselves are going to seed. I have a few smaller plants in one of my SFG beds and will have a little more spinach early in the summer, but I don't expect those plants to do too well in the heat of July in Colorado.

Looking forward, I will plant some carrots in the harvested radish grids for a later summer harvest, and I will definitely be doing a fall planting of spinach. I, along with Mrs. Disaster eagerly anticipate tomatoes coming on the vine in the next several weeks, and Little Disaster is excited about pumpkins starting to come onto those vines as well. I'm also hoping that my late start on my cucumbers still gives me a late summer harvest on those. I should have edible beets in the next few weeks as well.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

I've seen 40% of AFI's 100 Best American Movies

The American Film Institute has a list of it's 100 Best American Movies. I counted 40 movies that I've seen in the top 100. Oddly I've only seen half of the top ten:

1. Citizen Kane
5. Singin' in the Rain
6. Gone with the Wind
7. Lawrence of Arabia
10. The Wizard of Oz


Citizen Kane is truly a great movie. I loved it, and I should watch it again soon. I like Orson Welles, and I currently have F for Fake on my DVR, but haven't had the opportunity to watch it.

I should really make an effort to see the remaining top ten, especially Casablanca, the Godfather, and Vertigo. I tried to borrow the Godfather trilogy from a co-worker a few months ago, but the box only contained parts II and III, so I'm waiting for her to remember to bring in Part I.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

A Trip to Utah, Saturday's Voyeur, and my Absence Explained

I was out of town for four days, in Farmington, Utah, visiting Mrs. Disaster's family. I was unable to post during my vacation, but now I am back and hoping to get on with daily updates.

While in Utah, I had the opportunity to see a play a the Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC), and the topic of today's post.

The play, called Saturday's Voyeur, is an annual performance presented by SLAC that lampoons the previous year of headlines, news and culture of Salt Lake City and Utah in general. The name is a parody of Saturday's Warrior a well known LDS (aka Mormon) play. The event has been held every year since 1978. Mrs Disaster has a friend who appeared as several characters in this year's performance.

As someone not especially familiar with Utah, Mormonism, and the local politics of both, I feared that I'd be sitting in the audience (front row, no less) slack jawed and ignorant of the jokes while the rest of the audience roared with laughter. It is a testament to the writing that I found myself howling right along side the locals more often than not. The play does a good job of introducing and setting up characters, giving the viewer enough context to enjoy the subsequent barrage of jokes, references and innuendos. While I know I didn't get every single joke, there was enough there for me to thoroughly enjoy the two and a half hours I spent in the theater. Heaping helpings of single, double and triple entendre, as well as liberal doses of slapstick help the uninitiated enjoy the play as well.

The gist of Saturday's Voyeur '07: the Rocky Show, deal with the imminent exit of liberal Mayor Ross C. 'Rocky' Anderson and his battles with the state house, governor, city council and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka the 800 lb. gorilla). Actor Kevin Doyle portrays Anderson as a man who keeps his chin up through all adversity. Doyle plays the character with a tongue firmly planted in cheek, and while I don't know much about the real Anderson, by the end of the play I was rather fond of the fictional Anderson. The politics are decidedly left wing (as is Anderson), but in a state as conservative as Utah, a send-up of local and regional politics is practically required to be left-liberal. The writers obviously have a lot of affection for Anderson, but he does get some shots thrown at him as well.

The rest of the cast was very funny as well and thought everyone had standout moments. If you find yourself in Salt Lake City between now and August 12th I think you should check it out. Below is a slide show preview of Saturday's Voyeur.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Finntroll Friday: Official Site, Last FM and Lyrics!

Today we have the Official Finntroll Website with news, merchandise and more.

You can sample numerous :30 second clips of Finntroll's folk-metal goodness at Last FM's Finntroll page.

Some days you simply must have Finntroll lyrics. Especially Trollhammaren!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Ron Paul addresses the Colbert Nation

Ron Paul finally had his visit to the Colbert Report. Good interview, drove home most of his key talking points. Very funny stuff when Colbert has him raise his hand for government programs he'd eliminate. Check it out:



Ron Paul's visit to the Daily Show HERE.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Piri Reis map cut apart by Occam's Razor

Piri Reis was a Turkish cartographer. One of his maps has become famous for allegedly depicting an iceless Antarctica, and lends evidence to the existence of ancient, advanced civilizations going back as far as 15,000 years.
This theory in conjunction with ideas about pole shifts were advanced by one Charles Hapgood.

Diego Cuoghi shows us that it is more likely that the map is the result of inaccurate source material, some wild guessing, and some politically motivated cartography by some Portugese map makers concerning 'la Raya'.

Goodbye Mr. Wizard

Don Herbert more famously known as Mr. Wizard, died this morning after battling cancer. I remember watching Mr. Wizard.s World on Nickelodeon when I was in Jr. High. Mr. Wizard presented lots of great kitchen sink science and taught lots of kids some basic scientific principles in a really fun way. Here is the open to that great show:



Here is a very funny clip on a very early episode of Letterman:



So long to a TV pioneer who paved the way for Beakman's World and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Deluxe Cover Art Revealed

Via Mugglenet, your source for all things HP, comes the release of the US Deluxe Edition Cover art:



I am actually re-reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone right now. The first thing I thought of when I saw the Dragon was, "Oh, it must be Norbert."

Guess we'll find out soon enough.

Miscellaneous Debris Part 3

Ron Paul has updated and relaunched his campaign site. It looks very nice and is a definite improvement over the old one. Radley Balko at Reason's Hit and Run blog is looking into this Free Market News Report that Paul is awash in new contributions since the two Republican debates. Let us hope that it proves to be correct. Money means staying in the race, and staying in the race means debates, news coverage and generally getting his message of liberty out there.

Check out Dartanian, a rockin' Boulder based metal band. Listen HERE and HERE. Buy their cd Path of Glory HERE. If you like Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind, I think you will like Path of Glory.

Another fun band that I stumbled across way back in the early days of MP3.com is The Punch Drunk Monkeys. Be sure to listen to Earthquake and watch some of the video there.

A List of discontinued sodas.
via X-Entertainment

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Square Foot Garden: Something ate my Carrots.

Last night something stripped the leaves off several of my carrots. Probably a rabbit and not actually in the SFG, but still. I think he's been nibbling on my radishes as well.

Yesterday I built a cage/lattice for my tomato vines for the SFG, and I built two additional 1'x3' beds that are 10 inches deep. I built them for potatoes and root veggies, but I don't know if I will get anything into them this year. I may just buy some nice annual flowers to add a little color to the back yard, and work on the root veggies next year.


I also planted nine more bush bean plants, and finally filled all 16 square feet of my 'fence' bed. The other bed, my 'house' bed has one square foot left, and I haven't decided what is going in there. I may also have one of the two square feet available that I orignally planted to strawberries, because I don't think they are coming up. Maybe I can blame the rabbit.

Here are my grids showing the layout of the 'house' and 'fence' beds.



Manos: The Hands of Fate

Several weeks ago at work I was discussing Mystery Science Theater 3000 with my friend Carl. Carl is mostly familiar with the later, Mike Nelson episodes, and wanted some Netflix recommendations for the Joel years. There was only one episode I told him he must see. That episode features the 'film' Manos: The Hands of Fate, and is my favorite MST3K episode of all time. Manos has surpassed Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space in reputation as the 'worst movie ever made'.

When I recommended Manos, I told Carl about an article I'd read about the movie in issue of Entertainment Weekly. Imagine my surprise when Alex at Neatorama posted an entry about the movie, and had a link to the very same article on the EW Website.

It must be fate.

Friday, June 8, 2007

Welcome to Finntroll Friday!

Finntroll Friday begins today. What is a Finntroll you ask?
Let their Wikipedia entry do the talking:

Finntroll is a folk metal band from Finland. They combine black metal and Finnish polka, called humppa. Finntroll's lyrics are in Swedish, one of Finland's two national languages, because Swedish just sounds "damn trollish", according to the band's first vocalist, Katla (whose native language is Swedish).


Every Friday I will post a new and exciting Finntroll link for your enjoyment.

And now Trollhammaren!

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Miscellaneous Debris Part 2

Here is my
Technorati Profile

Official Square Foot Gardening Website Here.

Lots of Cute Otters (no disasters) at cuteotters.com

The Square Foot Garden

I like to garden. Last year I had a really good crop of tomatoes, some pumpkins, spinach and carrots, but I felt I wanted to do more this year. With plans to build a second 16 ft by 4 foot bed on the opposite side of my yard, I began looking for a good gardening book.
I found Mel Bartholomew's book The All New Square Foot Gardening. I was intrigued with Mel's notion that you could grow more stuff in less space. I also didn't relish the idea of digging out a fairly large bed, amending the soil, and rearranging much of my backyard landscape.

The idea of square foot gardening (SFG) is that you build a box 4'x4', 2'x2', 2'x4' or other measurment divisible into even square feet. You then create grids using slats, wire or whatever else that works into 1'x1' squares:



Notice also that the plants, (green beans in the photo) are then planted in a grid as well. Based on the size of the plant you grow 1, 4, 9 or 16 plants in any given square foot. It is a very organized approach to planting, and very easy to maintain. I also like the neat, orderly aesthetic of the SFG.

This is a considerably different approach than the rather chaotic results of my more traditional bed. I have planted my traditional bed as well to see which approach I prefer and the square foot method is winning out so far. Below is a side by side photo of one of my SFG beds. The left image was taken on May 25th and the one on the right was taken this morning, June 7th.



Progressing nicely if I do say so myself. . .

I decided to put in two 4'x4' beds using the SFG method. I thought it would be easy to fill them with crops and with 32 square feet to fill I was wrong. I still have a couple of empty squares that I may use for some later season crops(like fall spinach)
I have done three plantings of cabbage and two plantings of beets and radishes offset by 10-12 days so I will not have too much stuff ready to harvest all at once. I've also done two plantings of green beans with a third planned this week. Additionally there are 3 bell pepper plants, an Anaheim, two jalapeno plants, some icicle radishes, 3 tomato plants, and a third planting of spinach. The first two are in my traditional beds along with my carrots, pumpkins, and additional tomato plant and my sunflowers. I also started two watermelon plants indoors and transplanted them. One of them has died and I'm not too sure the second will survive either. We'll see.

I also planted strawberry seeds, both in my SFG beds (2 SF) and some indoors. I've only had 3 plants come up inside and none outside. I will probably be transplanting those soon.

I'm really liking the SFG method and I'm seriously contemplating turning all my traditional beds into perennial beds next year and building a couple more smaller, but deeper SFG boxes for carrots, beets and other root vegetables.

Here's one last photo of my other bed, the one with the tomatoes and peppers:

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

A Wild Idea . . .

Many people are concerned with how to deal with plastic grocery bags.
I have always been interested in weird or alternative building methods.
Growing up in Kansas I was always interested in Straw Bale Construction, as bales of straw are plentiful.

I wonder if plastic grocery bags could be square baled in a way similar to straw and used as a building material just like straw bales. I don't know if they would have the same insulation factor as straw, but I bet it would be close and I bet it would be just as strong. Someone with some land, access to an industrial baler and tens of thousands of grocery bags should give this a try.

There are already lots of these bags out there and they could provide an energy saving, low cost construction material while reducing a significant solid waste problem.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Ron Paul on the Daily Show 6/4

Ron Paul had a nice interview with John Stewart on the Daily Show last night:



I believe he will be on the Colbert Report tomorrow night.
He is in the Republican debate tonight on CNN.

Monday, June 4, 2007

I've seen 9. . .

. . .of the 25 Best Movies You've Never Seen.

Mrs. Disaster has seen 8 (#3 is her favorite of all time, not just this list). 5 of these movies overlap between the two of us.

We even know a guy who is in 3 O'Clock High (#14) for about 4 seconds.

via Neatorama

Saturday, June 2, 2007

My Cars Part 2

So anyway in the fall of 1992, Mom convinced me that I should have a more fuel efficient and reliable car. So the Grand Prix was traded in on a 1990 Ford Tempo.

1990 Ford Tempo



I got this car somewhere around August/September of 1992. It was a 2 door, with light blue metallic paint. The cassette deck had auto reverse! Yeah! The Tempo was also the first manual transmission car I ever drove. I had to learn how to drive it pretty quickly and had a lot of help from my good friend Matthew and a girl named Nikki who would later break my heart on a trip taken in that very car.
I was driving this car when I got the only speeding ticket I've ever had. I got it the day after my 21st birthday. I was driving to Kansas City to see my girlfriend at the time, I had a wicked hangover and just wanted to get there as fast as I could. I was ticketed for doing 85 in a 60.
Another memory of this car is from spring of 1995. I was living in an apartment with my friend Kris, in Hays. I was still in college, and had been working at KBSH-TV as a master control operator since December. We got a nasty afternoon thunderstorm and the street by our apartment filled up like a river. I ended up with about 2 inches of standing water in the bottom of the car and got chewed out for being late for work. For about 4 months I had to leave the windows cracked or they'd fog up. It seemed like no matter what I did that damned carpet would not dry out. I even poured cat litter on the carpet to try to absorb the water out. It had a faint mildew scent for about a year afterward. I had this car from the fall of 1992 until late summer of 1996. My sister Traci had recently bought a 1993 Toyota Paseo and no longer wanted to deal with the payments. She got the Tempo outright and I took the Paseo and the payments that went with it.

1993 Toyota Paseo



My Paseo was the only car I ever owned that had a name. I think Matthew named every car he ever owned. There was 'Barry' the red Monte Carlo, named after the silver age Flash, and he once had a truck named 'Flattery', because 'Flattery' would get you nowhere. My friend Kris actually gave the Paseo the name 'the Blue Frog' because that's what he thought it looked like when he first saw it.
This car was also a manual, had a moon roof, and was the first car I had that had a factory CD Player. The CD player would become prone to skipping in later years and had to be replaced. One of the rear speakers would only work intermittently.
In March of 1999 I packed up this car with as much stuff as would fit (including Matthew) and drove out to Denver for a new job.
I had this car when I met my wife, Sara. She drove a green Geo Metro. We took this car on a white knuckle drive to Glenwood Springs, Colorado during a pretty wicked snowstorm. I think she had to literally peel my hands off the steering wheel. Right after we got married in October of 2000, we sold the Geo, and bought a brand new Kia Sportage. We were actually in the Paseo when I first told Sara I loved her and when we decided to get married. Sara drove this car a lot after we got the Kia, but when Sara got pregnant with our daughter, she eventually got too big to get out of the car because it rode really low to the ground. With no back seat to speak of our daughter never rode in this car. We had the Paseo until 2004 when we used it as a trade-in on Sara's dream car, a Subaru Outback. The Blue Frog was a great car. It got really great mileage and was very reliable for many years. It broke my heart a little to part with it, and I just realized while writing this how many great memories of that car I share with Sara.

2000 Kia Sportage



As I mentioned above, I got the Kia with my beautiful new wife in November of 2000. We bought this brand new which was a first for me. This is the car I still drive. It is exactly like the one pictured. We bought this because we wanted a vehicle with four wheel drive and we wanted to start a family, but a minivan was simply out of the question. While I did drive a Ford Tempo for a while, even I have my limits.
This was our family car up until Sara got her Outback, which is much better suited to the task. We've been to and from Utah and Kansas many times in this. We drove to Estes Park in this car when we stayed at the Stanley Hotel. And we took it on a very fun trip to Cedar City Utah.
Our daughter, born in '03 pretty much owns the back seat of the Kia now. I have lots of good memories of her sitting in her car seat and singing songs she learns at daycare or from CDs. Gillian does a pretty good version of 'Fish On' by Primus.
I got rear ended in this car one day after leaving work, and while it was in the shop I was forced to drive a Chevy Cavalier. I was never so glad to have my Kia as the day I got it back, and got to give the Cavalier back to the rental place.
I drive the Kia to work on my days in my carpool and it has been a very reliable vehicle. It's finally paid for and I intend to keep it until the day it dies.

Those are my Cars.

Friday, June 1, 2007

My Cars Part 1

Last night, at work, a discussion came up about the cars we used to drive. Some people had literally a dozen or more cars since they'd been driving. This got me to thinking about how few cars I've had since learning to drive in 1987. I had to Google up pictures of all of these cars as, remarkably, I don't have any pictures of any of actual cars I drove.

These are the cars of my life:

1980 Ford Futura/1977 Mercury Monarch



I never owned either of these cars, but I learned to drive in a Ford Futura exactly like the one in the picture complete with scarlet red interior. My dad would take me out on the highway and let me drive around town as I prepared to take Drivers Ed.
The Futura was the family car for a few years and the Monarch belonged to my mother for driving to and from work. The power steering on the Monarch would go out if you turned a corner too hard and we eventually stopped fixing it. Our Monarch was oxidized silver with giant rust spots and a tattered and peeling maroon vinyl top. Mom eventually replace the Monarch with a 1973 Montego. I don't know what happened to the Futura. I think my sister Traci drove it for a while.
I drove these cars from fall 1987 to the sometime in 1988.

1973 Mercury Montego




The Montego was my first 'proper' car. The one that was mine to drive and I didn't have to share with anyone. I was basically given this car when Mom finally got the Buick Regal she'd wanted for years. My Montego was the 4 door version, with metallic sky blue paint, blue vinyl interior and a kick-ass white vinyl top. The trunk held a respectable amount of beer. I always loved the tail lights in the bumper on this car.
I drove it 120 MPH once with a good tail wind and going down hill. I made it from McCook, Nebraska to Oberlin, Kansas (my hometown) in a little over 15 minutes. The Montego would seat seven high school students comfortably and nine not so comfortably. It had an AM radio so I'd drive around Oberlin and listen to oldies on KOMA out of Oklahoma City. I had a lot of fun in this car with my buddies Jeff, Rhino, and Kris and Ken.
I drove this car much of my freshman year and all of my sophomore year of high school from summer 1988 to summer 1989 when I bought my '84 Pontiac Grand Prix.

1984 Pontiac Grand Prix



I loved this car, and the one in the picture above is almost the same color as the one I had which is actually kind of weird. Mine had better rims though. I bought it the summer before my junior year of high school from Michael Hanson. He'd fixed it up and given it a custom paint job. He'd gotten the paint from leftovers at a body shop and just mixed stuff up til he got a color he liked. The main body was about the color of the car in the pic and then there a wide darker strip on the top of the side panels and doors.
When this car got hit and the drivers side door got smashed I panicked that the body shop wouldn't be able to match the paint. As it turned out there was a little bit left over of the custom colors that Michael had made and there was enough to fix the door with out having to attempt a match.
I blew the engine in this car coming home from Boys' State in Lawrence Kansas, in the summer of 1990 and a rebuilt engine was put in at considerable expense. Thanks Mom! Tons of great memories in this car chasing girls and driving around with my buddies listening to the awesome cassette deck. I had this car when I got my first girlfriend. I drove this car from the summer of '89 until fall of 1992. One of my last memories of this car was loading it with all my clothes, my stereo, and a mini-refrigerator that I got as a graduation gift, and driving off to college. I went in a convoy with my friend Kenyon(in his Oldsmobile Toronado) and a girl from our class name Jill(she drove some white or silver little compact thing, I don't recall exactly what). A year after that Mom thought I needed a more reliable car, because I was in college and driving between Oberlin and Hays, Kansas with some frequency. It was ultimately traded in for my nerdy, practical, fuel efficient 1990 Ford Tempo.
More on that tomorrow in part 2.

Past Disasters