This is what student loans are all about...

Mailbox

Spork

Snow Shovel

The 1object posts are back...and better!  Please feel free to discuss.  This object is sometimes referred to as a snow scoop as well as shovel.  

Leather Fanny-pack

Fingernail Clippers

Clamp

Cotter Pin

Man

Waffle Fry

Potato

I really enjoy blog post series. I don't post to this blog much and I thought it would be fun to begin a series of posts. Over the next several days I am going to post single images that, in my opinion, are best when viewed as a single image. My hope is that, as you view these images, you will appreciate the image for what it is. Don't take it for granted. There are things in life that we need to appreciate more.

It wasn't worthless

Many of you know that I graduated with the very useful degree of Sculpture. Some of you have asked - "do you still do any artwork?" I don't. I don't have a lot of time and sculpture can be an expensive hobby.

In June our eldest sons were painting with some cheap watercolors during our visit to my parents. While they were painting I took a piece of paper to see what I could do. Below is the product of 4 years of study in art. I left the masterpiece at my parents and my dad sent me a scanned copy. I think he was overwhelmed with pride for the greatness of his son.
Please don't flood my inbox with requests for portraits. I simply do not have the time.

Still cleaning out the collection

If you are a regular reader of this blog, which I know both of you are, then you will remember that I sold 183 PEZ dispensers a few weeks ago. It was a 10 year collection sold for $43. I am now trying to sell the rare, foreign and collectible dispensers and other PEZ paraphernalia. If you have always dreamed of owning four fuzzy candy dispensers and a PEZ clown car check out the items for sale here.

If you are interested in purchasing these dispensers on ebay click here.

Update on PEZ

Contrary to popular opinion I decided somewhat rashly to post all of my PEZ dispensers on ebay. When I logged and counted all of the common dispensers there were 183. I started the bidding at $.99 for a three day bid. The last time I checked there were 8 bids and the high bid was $20.59. If the bidding stops at that price each dispenser will be worth $.11. Each new dispenser costs on average $1. That is a net loss of $162.41. Most of the dispensers were gifts so that brings the net loss back up a bit. I will keep you posted on the final highest bidder.

For those of you who tried to convince me to keep the plastic candy-throated fun - sorry. The money has already been earmarked for something much more valuable.

**UPDATED** The entire lot of dispensers sold for $34. On average each dispenser sold for about $.19.

"...spoke, thought and reasoned like a child."

It all started with a Batman dispenser in college. "What a strange thing" I thought, "a toy that dispenses candy from its throat." I placed the dispenser on my shelf in my sculpture studio and it was quickly accompanied by several others. They were gifts from one of my professors who frequented estate sales. It quickly became a collection. I didn't really start the collection - it started on me. It's an odd thing to collect - but they are inexpensive ($1 will buy 1 dispenser) and there are always new faces to collect.

Kirsten has been kind to allow me to keep my childish collection over the years. She even allowed these dispensers to be a part of our wedding. She is a fine woman.

We are beginning to discuss a possible remodel on one of our rooms in our basement. The room we are thinking about remodeling is the one that houses all of these dispensers - all displayed in neat rows on shelves. As we begin to think through what we would like to do to the room it seems as if these candy-throated dispensers keep getting in the way. Our sons like to throw objects around this room and if you have ever seen dominoes fall on top of each other - hundreds of cartoon-headed dispensers do the same. So, here I am - 30something years young and I am faced with a decision. Should I a.) throw the dispensers away? b.) try to sell them? c.) take them to the local recycling establishment to see what I can get or d.) let the reader decide?

There are pros and cons to each. When all is said and done - they must leave my house. I don't need them any longer. They are taking up space, collecting dust, always fall over and I think the Peppermint Patty dispenser is up to something strange with the Wonder Woman dispenser.

What should I do? Stay tuned for details of the death of these, my candy-throated friends.

Are you unique?

I found this from a monkey friend. I thought it was interesting enough to share with the two of you who read this blog.

There are 15,195 people in the U.S. with the first name Vince.
Statistically the 1495th most popular first name.
There are 191,463 people in the U.S. with the last name Black.
Statistically the 148th most popular last name.

There are 10 people in the U.S. named Vince Black.

I am going to start a club with the 9 others. I will immediately copyright my name and charge the members of the Vince Black club to pay dues.

Whiskerino 2007

Whiskerino is a beard event that began on November 1st and ends on February 29th. I joined about 400 other testosterone laden men for one hairy adventure. Kirsten is very patient with my sometimes odd lifestyle.

The image on the left if what I looked like on November 1st. The image on the right is the bearded me.

Click on the image above to visit the site. Please understand that I am not endorsing all of the content (images or language) on the site.

If you want to see my bearded progress click HERE! My moniker is "blackbeard."

Enjoy and may the growth be with you (beard growth that is).

Whiskerino

Whiskerino began on November 1st, 2007. What is Whiskerino? That's a good question. It is a beard contest in which the participants must start with a clean slate. Images are uploaded each day to show the progress of the beard. At the end of each day points are tallied and a "king" is chosen. The event ends on February 28th. If you would like to visit the site click here. If you would like to add points to my total click on the 3 crowns below my picture. There are over 300 entries. My name for the contest is "blackbeard." To go directly to my page click here. Enjoy. May the beard growing begin!...or continue.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Wordpress or Blogger?

I have a friend (yes, shocking) who has just switched from Blogger to Wordpress. I have thought about doing the same thing but wanted some advice. What are your thoughts? Blogger or Wordpress? Why? I want to know if I should switch. Come on, sell it to me. Act as if you work for the company. Why would I want to use your product?

*On a side note - not all of my Blogger blog names are available at Wordpress. That would mean I would have to change the place and possibly the name of my blog.

Design issue

Has anyone else noticed that there is a great deal of the above going on in design these days. I don't understand it. Can someone help me?