Below are the 5 most recent journal entries recorded in paint_junkie's LiveJournal:

Tuesday, March 21st, 2006
8:34 pm	Why are some people allowed to live? I really don't like most people.  I think some people should be removed from the gene pool altogether and I don't really care how humanely it's done.  Today I went to the bakery to buy some cinnamon rolls for work.  I asked them for one dozen cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting.  The idiot behind the counter said, "We don't have a dozen cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting, just half dozens."  I paused waiting to see if the kid was going to figure out the complex math problem set before him on his own... he didn't.  I proceeded to ask, "Well, can I have two half dozens of cinnamon rolls".  He paused again, thought about it (it was obviously the first time this had crossed his mine) and dissappeared to the back.  Then he reappeared and said, yeah, we can do two half dozens.  And the best part of all, they cost the same as one dozen!  Seriously, I hate most people. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 6th, 2006
9:29 pm	How To Start A Big Bike Ride A large portion of us are not fortunate enough to live in cities with large active biking communities so maybe you should start one.  My brother is always telling me about awesome rides that he does in LA like midnight ridaz and critical mass (this one probaly is in your city) so here's how to get your own started. These steps are very simple: 1. Find a Meeting Location 2. Determine a Theme (it just makes it a lot more fun) 3. Tell Your Friends (eleventy billion times so they remember) or use other methods to get the word out like flyers. 4. Make Your Costume to Fit the Theme 5. RIDE!! (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006
12:21 am	Oil in Your Tank At the end of last year I decided to upgrade from my little Ford Ranger pickup to a Chevy Tahoe.  I wanted to get something that could carry more people since all of my friends drive little sports cars or just little crappy cars and we were always cramming into my truck (some riding long distances in the bed) and I also wanted to get four wheel drive for more exciting camping and skiing trips.  Because of fuel prices, this is a buyers market for larger vehicles and I got my Tahoe for a good deal and sold my truck for more than what I paid for it (maybe it was the awesome custom graphics I put on it...  but I did have to fix a lot of stuff after I bought it).  I soon realized that the fuel economy in the Tahoe sucked to say the least.  I've been thinking of ways to increase the fuel economy like making sure the filters were clean and maybe installing a thermostat controlled radiator fan to cut down on the amount of work the engine has to do.  These were all small adjustments though, then I realized something.  The Tahoe is essentially the same as the Silverado and that comes in a diesel engine and diesel engines can run on vegetable oil!!  So thanks to some help from my brother I found out that Tahoes can use a GM 6.5 L turbo diesel engine.  This project is very much in the beginning stages as I am still researching the actually feasability of the switch, recruiting the help of my friends who are mechanics and saving up the money to buy the engine.  Once it's done, my brother has experience in helping people change their cars from diesel to vegetable oil so that should go ok.  I live in a colder climate so I plan on using a dual tank configuration with in-line heaters so I can use it year round.  Conveniently I work next to a restaraunt so getting the oil should be easy.  Here are some links if you want to go veggie too: Journeytoforever.com Greasecar.com (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, February 12th, 2006
10:35 pm	Recycle Here's an easy way to recycle an old t-shirt that just doesn't fit or find a use for an awesome thrift store shirt that never fit in the first place. First, take an old t-shirt, turn it inside out, and sew all but one opening shut.  In my example I left the neck open, I would recommend choosing another opening to leave till last.  Then with the last opening left, turn it right-side-out and begin stuffing it. (Ideally, you would sew most of the last opening shut then turn it right-side-out and then hand sew the last bit at the end, but the neck was giving me trouble as it was so I took the easy way out). For the padding I took two old pillows and fluffed the stuffing before putting it into the shirt.  Then I just sewed the neck shut.  Again, this was somewhat difficult as the neck is curved and set in a bit, making it difficult to fit under the sewing machine but I got it to work.  When all is said and done you have an interesting pillow to throw on the couch that is made out of recycled materials. (Comment on this)
Friday, February 10th, 2006
12:55 am	120v LED Array After playing around with LEDs with low voltages like 3 and 4.5 volts, I decided to see if I could make an array of LEDs that would plug into a standard household outlet and possibly replace my higher consumption incandescent bulbs.  I started with 10 bright white LEDs  (3.2v 20mA) and a 5.6k resistor.  It was easy enough to wire it together then I simply stuck the leads into the socket (i'm not real big on safety).  I can say that it did indeed work but it doesn't look like a good replacement for all the bulbs in the house.  LEDs project light in a certain direction and you need to be within roughly 25 degrees of center to see the full brightness.  So because flourescents and incandescents are more omni directional, they are better for lighting up a room.  Also, this setup is somewhat cost prohibitive since the total for the array was around $12.  It was a good experiment but didn't yield the results I had hoped for. (1 Comment |Comment on this)