Gelkote

Good times at Jeffery’s Antiques this afternoon.

$9.00 – Mount
$3.00 – No Postage Stamp Necessary if Mailed in the United States
$3.00 – The Side Car Restaurant
$3.00 – Cold Cartoon Man

$1.00 – Corn Girls

$1.00 – Old Snow

$2.00 – Group Photo (I just love the guy in the window, the mischievous girl in the second row and how dirty almost everyone’s shoes are. Click the Picture for Larger View)

Corner of Crawford & Beech in Findlay, OH – August 28th, 2008

I live in a house that’s over a hundred years old. It’s older than me by about a factor of 3x. It has been around for the invention of television, the Great Depression and the Holocaust. It always needs work and it’s drafty in the Winter but I like it. It has character and it has soul. The longer I’m on this earth, the more I learn to appreciate heritage. I’m a long way from being a historian. Details are not my strong suite. Our newer, faster and bigger culture is turning us into plastic crap mall house lemmings.

Original Family of the House – Date Unknown

I have been in my house for two years but I still don’t have a place for my stuff. A place to write, both code and literature. A place for bills and to do lists. A place for my books, knickknacks and electronic gadgets. Heck, a place to hang a calendar! That all changed yesterday with the arrival of my new/old rolltop desk thanks to ebay and a kind person around Canton, OH whose wife just about killed him for selling the desk. I never knew a desk could make me so happy! It has cubbies and drawers galore for all my stuff. It cost the same as a desk from Ikea but it has character, soul and patina. The tambour needs some work but I still love my desk.  There is an almost identical desk on ebay just North of Toledo.  It has about 3 day and is sitting at $99 so giddy up.

Rolltop Desk – August 27th 2008

Along the same lines of enjoyment is the stamp I found at the Glen Dale Drive-In flea market a few weeks ago.  It was only $2!  I can’t think of any plastic made in China trinket that could bring me as much joy and intrigue.  I suspect it was used to create stationary for a locker company but that’s only an off the wall guess.   Who knows?

Vintage Stamp from the Glen Dale, WV Flea Market – Purchased August 17th

Keeping with the old has character theme, there is an upcoming documentary called Draplin Project by Jess Gibson. It features Aaron James Draplin. His passion is amazing and I can’t wait for the documentary. Here’s a sample from Vimeo.

America Is F*cked…….(Graphically at least) from Jess Gibson on Vimeo.

Wrapping up this Clump O’ Nuggets episode vintage style are two historical icons that have died recently no thanks to big business. I’m not going to paraphrase their history as there are sites on the Internet that do it much better, Google it. The first is the majestic SS Norway who died a slow rotting death off the India coast before being scrapped. The second is the 119 year old Geagua Lake amusement park in Aurora, Ohio near Cleveland who closed abruptly last fall only to be auctioned off this summer. Some suspect it was the result of it’s parent company clearing a competition for it’s larger Cedar Point but we’ll never know. You can check out the memories, sorrow and speculation at an awesome website called Geauga Lake Today. It’s all sad, painful and simply amazing. 

I’m planning a trip to Jeffrey’s this weekend to poke around for old pictures and an old lamp for my desk if anyone is curious and would like to join. It will only be for a few hours. Look me up.

Mitchell Power Plant South of Moundsville, WV – August 18th, 2008

I noted earlier about the unofficial video torrents floating around for a few of the HOPE talks. The official audio appears to now be available as well.

I dedicated this post to the Pancake House of Beckley, WV who closed back in February 2007 after 30+ years. I suspect your demise had a great deal to do with shiny IHOP next door but I’ll never know for sure. You were a staple on a trips to points South. I always enjoyed your friendly service, home cooking and some of the best sweet tea around. I hear you’re opening as a Mexican restaurant soon. Best of luck in your new reincarnation.

The Beckley, WV IHOP killed the Pancake House – July 20th, 2007

Google the worst way to die, you’ll find burning at or near the top of the list. So would you wish a fiery death on your worst enemy? What if your enemy wasn’t a he or she but a thing? Say a restaurant called International House of Pancakes?

That’s exactly what happened to the Findlay, OH location of my least favorite restaurants of all time shortly after midnight Monday morning. Firefighters had the blaze under control within 30 minutes but the place is being reported as a total loss. Rumor is it was arson. I despise IHOP but it wasn’t me. I’d never deprive its followers of the IHOP’s legacy of unruly crowds, poor service and cold greasy food.

UPDATE: Drove past the IHOP, the decorative lights on the front of the building still had power so I’m now questioning the $800,000 damage estimate noted in The Courier.

UPDATE 8/23: The local news paper The Courier announced IHOP will rebuild and reopen within 4 to 6 months. Bah!

I was putting out the trash this evening when I noticed a nice 3/4 moon lighting the clouds. Unfortunately, the clouds were clearing out fast. The best I could do was this 8 second exposure from atop the trash can.

Front of House from atop a Trash Can – August 10th, 2008

Most of the time the Internet is a black hole capable of consuming large chunks of a person’s time. But with everything, there are exceptions and this evening was one of those moments.

I’m heading back to West Virginia for a few days and thought I’d check out the upcoming happenings at Baristas. Baristas is a combination pub, coffee house and cafe in my childhood town of New Martinsville, WV. It’s a cozy old house where everyone is welcomed.

While looking around the website, I noticed a person from high school named Robby Parsons. I’ve seen Rob’s name before as a regular performer in their basement pub but for whatever reason it never clicked. I never thought to dig deeper until tonight. Robby is part of a folk rock group called The Saturn Society out of Wheeling, WV. They are almost complete with their first album titled Shades of Amber and are touring up and down the Ohio Valley. I’m hoping to catch them in concert soon. Perhaps at their upcoming North Bend show but time will tell if scheduling allows.

The coolest find on this little Internet adventure is a Morse-Levin short with Robby titled Duet. Enjoy the stories!

I saw thousands of cars on my recent trip to Maine.  Two of the more photo worthy occurred less than an hour from home on each side of the trip.

US30 Eastbound in Mansfield, OH – July 10th, 2008

Trimble Rd Off-Ramp in Mansfield, OH – July 10th, 2008

US23 Northbound North of Delaware, OH – July 21st, 2008

Videos of some of the talks from The Last Hope have started showing up as torrents. I’ve caught Adam Savage of the MythBusters giving his keynote, the traditional social engineering panel and Phil Lapsley‘s History of Phone Phreaking so far. All of which were excellent but Phil’s talk sticks in my mind. It covers the history and the tech in terms a non-phreaker can understand. The best part, he mentioned a patch for Asterisk that provides in-band signaling. This means Asterkisk can act like an old school switch which opens it up for some phreaking fun. I’ve never done any phreaking but how cool is that? For those under thirty, not interested in the scene or having no idea what I’m talking about, you’ll just have to trust me that this is pretty damn cool.