The rear bench seat of my Jeep spent most of it's life in a Christmas tree storage bag... and I had a similar plan once I traded my Jeep in for a Bronco. But I was pretty bummed to learn that it was a lot more work to add/remove the rear Bronco seats (bolts, sensors, and tools? wtf!)... so, I just went scorched earth and ripped everything out, along with the seatbelts.

With the rear seats out of the bronco, the floor is pretty ugly, with random bolts, holes, and cuts in the floor liner. It was gonna be pretty annoying to use as a "truck bed" this way, so I did what many others have done, and started researching/designing a flat "bed."

Goose Gear's system looks nice but is frankly overpriced. I didn't need the modularity that they offered, …

After 6+ years of wanting to move out of the suburban house that I bought when I was 24 years old, Kari and I finally found a new home to move into.

We must've looked at/walked through 100 potential houses or lots (no exaggeration) over the years, but our picky asses could never find one we liked.

Our top 3 priorities were pretty simple: a ranch home, within 5 miles of downtown, and garage space for 3+ cars and a workshop.

Our other top priorities were: an open floor plan for entertaining, walk out basement, back yard privacy, an office near main living areas, 3 bedrooms, full master bath, full guest bath, a powder room, and to be near bike trails.

Our "nice-to-haves" were: something unique and awesome with garage/shed space in the back …

And we broke it in.

That's right, 6 months later and I finally finished the the basement bar project. There are still a couple accessories to add: lighting, stemware rack, stools, and a shoe rail. But finally the bar's in a completely usable state and I can forget about it for a minute.

before

after

The party went pretty well. Actually it was sort of a strange party - very laid back. I invited 80+ friends hoping that 40-50 would show up, and we ended up with 30. Lots of people that I hoped would be there couldn't make it. And lots of people showed up who I totally didn't expect. It was good though. We drank all the beer, smoked cigars, and Kari made sure my birthday was celebrated. Diverse even made us a custom mix to …

Why do I do this to myself... I always get excited about too many things at once and try to take it all on.

So a couple months ago I started a book display for Kari. She had been wanting this one for her classroom that cost like $250, but I said we could easily build it for $50... So I did. Except, it's been sitting in Rico's shop for about a month. The only step left is to sand it, haha.

Instead of finishing it, I ripped up half the carpet in my basement to begin building a bar. It's still sitting there 1/4 finished and has already consumed a good chunk of my bonus check.

In the mean time, Nick and I started building a potentially large scale website - it's a huge project with a quick deadline. It's going to be pretty …

Man, busy times... as usual.

Work has been insane lately, slightly annoying, but good... and insane. Outside of work has also been pretty nuts. I've got too many projects going on again. I'm building a book display for Kari, coding sites, planning for my next house project, etc.

Today, I wrote a pretty awesome plugin for laim aka aim lite (which is the best aim client ever). Anyway, my laim plugin just takes my twitter status and sets it as my away message at home. I hadn't been setting my aim away message in a really really long time. Now it'll be set, constantly accurate, and updateable from anywhere. I love this concept. Love it. Stalk me!

Besides that though, last weekend was nice. Kari and I went to Cedar Rapids …

As if I even have to say it... Dog parties are stupid. Kari had this brilliant idea to have a dog party at our house for Ninja's 2nd birthday. I originally didn't like it for a few reasons, one being that it ties us a lot closer to being parents than I'm really comfortable with. But also, wtf? However I agreed to it for both of those same reasons. One, I like having a dong in place of a kid. and B, I thought it'd be pretty hilarious.

I dunno, once it started, I wasn't quite feeling it. Kari decorated our house for a dog party, which felt way lame on an over-the-top level. All the girl dogs fought and nearly killed a couple smaller dogs. And I got peed on - which actually was a highlight, haha. Pics.

Aside from that the …

My shelves are (mostly) done (again)!!! Haha.

So yeah... Thursday, Rico and I finished spraying the shelves in my office - well, Rico did anyway. I just built the big ol tent and let the pro finish the work. Then I took half of Friday off to finsh sanding, assembling, and stocking them. I'm super happy with how they turned out. ...Now, I just need to make doors for the cabinets. Here are pics of all the construction so far.

Later Friday, Zach and I installed a new intake in his focus then Soaped a bit with Nathan. At Midnight, Nathan and I headed downtown to meet the Heelys guys and go out for a couple drinks, which ended up being a mini-party at my house, playing ping pong and soaping til 4:30am.

Saturday was also really …

So I finally hooked my webcam back up, ha. I'm not really sure why I have a webcam... except for the fact that watching me work is crazy-insane (or insane-crazy?).

Besides that, things seriously are insane. I'm finishing my bookshelves, finishing the kegerator, getting ready for 515 Alive, doing Heelys demos, getting the house ready for a party Kari is hosting, entertaining guests, getting ready for my b-day, getting ready for Lollapalooza, etc.

However, I'm finally getting caught up on so many things, which feels really good. So I guess it's time to start an absurd amount of projects again and get them all halfway done.

Man, this weekend was super nice. Finally I got to put a couple of my best Christmas gifts to good use - the compound miter saw from Jeff, and a couple hundred in Menards gift cards from my parents. Rico came over Thursday night we cut up the wall, wired in a switch, and did some planning. Then Friday we turned my garage into a shop and built the first section. Saturday the 2nd section, and Sunday we had everything boxed in. Now I just need to get some more cash so I can trim it all out, build cupboard doors, spray everything, and fill it with books. I'm super excited to get it done.

As you can see we wired it with lights and sound. The lights are dimmable to get a nice ambient lighting in the loft... and there are speaker …

A lot of you know that I've been building a shed in my back yard. It's my first building so I was a bit nervous... luckily I have mad building skillz, haha. So I downloaded the "Californian" plans from just-sheds.com and built a sweet shed.

There's not much to say about it except that I definitely learned a lot. Here's a few things to note...
· rent a sod cutter next time
· remember to put mesh in my cement next time
· make sure the frame will meet up well with the sheets of plywood
· don't build 45 degree roofs (I am scared of them)
· working with metal fascia sucks

Also, thanks a TON to everyone that helped out or let me borrow tools... My dad, Jeff Reynolds, Anthony, r00, Rico, Kevi, Mike Kock.

Here are some progressive …

This weekend was different. Mainly because I had nothing to do, and even more mainly because Kari was out of town. What do you do when you have no plans and no girlfriend? You hang out with your single buddies. But then most of my single friends were out of town - Weak.

So Thursday, I got quite a bit done on my shed, plus I got my new gas tank and foot pegs for my pocket bike, rule.

Friday, Zach came over and we started up the pocket bike for the first time. It rules so much. We took it to Nehru's to ride around a bit. Ru wore his motorcycle helmet, haha. It ruled. Then Kevi met up with us for food at Rock Bottom, then downtown to check out Surf Shack, and then we met Nick back in Ankeny to hang out at Stix and my house. …

Yeah so I haven't really written in a couple weeks - things have been crazy. Everyone's birthday is now so a lot of partying has been done. And outside of partying I've been working on the shed. I'm sort of getting tired of building it. Stupid shed. It's gonna rule to have a clean garage though.

Anyway. Yesterday I was at Home Depot getting some door hardware and Harper IMs my sidekick while I'm leaving...

Harper: dude. i wish you were a nerd again.
Me: haha
Harper: you are no fun when you are grown up
Me: dude, i just ordered a pocket bike and i'm aiming while driving.
Me: so stfu.
Harper: hahahaha.
Harper: word. don't die

See the friends I have to deal with? So later yesterday, I realized I needed some more …

Oh man, this weekend was pretty awesome for getting things done. My car has been running like hell lately, it's been really annoying. But Saturday I met this dude named TJ, who is 21 and has already owned 7 eclipses, helped me fix my car. He knows his stuff. His car is insane, he's getting under 12 second runs in his 92 eclipse. Anyway, we fixed my car... for the time being.

I also built walls for my shed. I knew I'd get my finger with the hammer at least once during the process, and I did. I've done it a few times in my life, but never like this. I hit it so hard blood shot out the tip of it, haha. It ruled. Anyway, tonight I'm going to put the walls up. You should see my garage, 1 half is filled with lumber, the other half …

I lead a boring life lately, it makes me sad. But soon I will step back into thy sweetness.
Sweetness = money + Denver + Christmas + New Years + snowboarding - Boredom.

Thanksgiving wasn't that cool... Kari and I went back to Marion to eat with her family. We always eat way way way too much there, I hurt for 2 days afterwards. Then we drove back to Des Moines to meet up with my family. We met my sister's new boyfriend, etc. Saturday we decorated the house for Christmas (lame) and had martinis with Nick and Nicole (cool). blah, blah, blah. Thanksgiving is never really cool.

One thing that I recently got done but forgot to write about is the media storage shelf that I built with Rico. I found this one at Target for $3hundy so …