Welcome To Earth David

I was a little embarrased at the dog tags I posted previously (the clear ones), so I thought I better step up my game a little bit and come up with something I can be proud to show off. Yesterday I went out and got some new shrink plastic which is rough on one side and smooth on the other side. This type of plastic is much better for using colored pencils with. Anyway this is the first really cool skull I think I’ve ever drawn, although I’m sure I have drawn a few before but none like this one. I kinda went a little crazy with the tribal design around the skull and I wasn’t very happy about that once I finished the drawing but after I shrunk the pendant I think it looks pretty cool.

Today I want to touch on a subject that I haven’t written about since I switched over to wordpress. Those of you who have been following my blog lately may not have a clue that I am a very crafty kinda guy. I love doing things creative with my hands. I knit, crochet, and I also make jewelry. Right now I have three knitting projects going on, which I may post about later. For now however I wanted to show off these rather not so neat shrink plastic dog tags I made last night. I made these with the clear type of shrink plastic and sharpie permanent markers. Shrink art is one of my favorite pastime activities although I really haven’t explored it’s possibilities extensively but I plan to play around with this a little more because I love how these little dog tags came out. I think however that I’m going to try the normal plastic with colored pencils because I think the pencil art on these would look much better since the pencils won’t run like the markers did on this clear plastic. These were just practice pieces so the ink runs are no big deal.

I almost forgot this weeks workout inspiration image post, and this is only week number two for Monday Muscle Madness. This is going to be me in five years…. maybe! Hey, don’t forget about Monday Muscle Madness next week. An easy way to remember is to sign up for updates. You’ll find the sign up form in the sidebar.

Since I have not yet gotten around to writing my disclaimer I must add this to the post. I am in no way claiming this image as my own, nor do I have any intentions of violating any copyrights regarding this image. If you are the rightful owner and prefer not to have this picture on my site then please email me and I will remove it.

I was driving along this afternoon and saw one of the neighbors from up the road was bailing hay today. So I pulled my truck over on the side of the road and took this picture. Beautiful scenes such as this one is one of the reasons why I love summer so much. If you like this image feel free to save it to your webspace and post it on your blog or website. I don’t mind. A link back would be nice but is not required.

Note: Incase your not paying attention in the picture…….. the big shadow at the bottom of the image is not from the little tree in the foreground (of course not, right!?)…….. there are bigger tree’s surrounding the little one seen here that made that big shadow I almost missed that little detail myself as I was posting this.

I just found a FireFox extension called ScribeFire. If you use the FireFox browser and use WordPress to publish your blog then I think you will love the ScribeFire extension. No longer will you have to keep a window open with your Wordpress Dashboard to publish posts to your blog. With the ScribeFire extension you simply click a tablet icon in the corner of your FireFox browser and ScribeFire will open up to allow you to post to your blog. It’s awesome! Try it out for yourself.

Yesterday I ran across a wonderful photoblog. As some of you know I love to see other peoples photographic work. On this particular blog: otilius.blogspot.com (notice it’s not linked and you’ll find out why as you read on) there was an image entitled “Little Man Lights”. I thought this was a really cool photograph. Now as some of you also know I have been promoting photoblogs for many years. Well today I had a complaint because I posted this persons picture on my website along with a link back to his / her blog. This person did not appreciate it and apparently his / her friend Jess didn’t appreciate it either. I was accused by both of these people of stealing the image. IMAGINE THAT! I have never claimed an image that was not my own and always if possible leave a link to the blog or site from where the image was taken. Here are the comments from the blog owner and his or her fan.

“You really should ask before using someone’s work. And, when you steal work, you might as well show it without distortion. Come on!” - From the blog owner.

Now I realize that I should have asked to use the image and I apologized for that, but I am fucking appalled that this person accused me of stealing it, because I clearly did not. There was nothing written in the post that claimed it as my own. Now here is the comment from the blog owners idiot friend Jess who was too much of a coward to leave an email address I could respond to.

“I saw this on otilius’ site yesterday. Stealing isn’t nice. If you don’t have anything of your own to post, then it’s best to just not post. Then again, I read over some of your blog, and well… If my content was like that, I’d probably steal too.” - Jess

And this is my response to him / her / it / whatever!

“Hey hoochie I saw it too and thought it was absolutely wonderful. That is why I posted the image along with the link to the blog owners photoblog so that others could go there and see the other wonderful photos. If you are too damn scared to leave contact information where I can reach you then don’t bring your coward ass to my blog posting some bullshit like this……. oh and one more thing….. beotch shut the fuck up!” - ME

I can’t stand it when people do that….. like they have achieved something by spouting off at the mouth over something and they don’t even fucking know what they are talking about….. but I’m not angry. This person probably led a sheltered life.

Now this is the letter I emailed back to the blog owner to apologize for even bothering.

“Just incase you miss the comment I left on your blog I wanted to email you directly to apologize for posting your image on my blog yesterday. I have removed the image as well as the link to your photoblog. I am sorry for the inconvenience and regret that you believe I stole your work. I also regret the time I wasted viewing your photos which are wonderful, and the time I lost posting the link to your site, but I did not claim your image as my own and I will be sure not to promote your blog again.

In the 10+ years that I have been online and doing websites, posting peoples websites and such, you are the first one I have had complain about it. I apologize for not asking to use your image. Good luck with your blog. Please do not write back. I do not care to hear about it again. Thank you.” - ME

So much for coming home after a long day at work for happy internet surfing today!

Update: The bastard is going around on EntreCard forums calling me a photo thief. Here, and here as well. That is the thanks I get for sending a sincere apology.

Two places online you can sell your own custom made t-shirts.

1. CafePress
2. Spread Shirt

Here’s a nifty little widget I found. It is a paypal storefront widget you can add to your blog. It is great for crafters wanting to sell their handmade items (like me) but don’t have the time or the knowledge to set up an online website or store. Just add your items and your visitors can shop right there on your widget.

Check it out here!

Here are a few links I found. If you have a photoblog and would like to gain more visitors to it you can try listing it at one of these photoblog directories.  Or, if you just like to view beautiful photos then check out these sites.

1. PhotoBlogs
2. Cool Photo Blogs
3. Photoblog Community

Source: Dennis Kruyt Photography

What is a gravatar?

A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites. Avatars help identify your posts on web forums, so why not on weblogs?

Why do I need a gravatar?

A gravatar is not something you absolutely have to have, but in my experience since I signed up for my gravatar I have found it very exciting that my picture shows up automatically on someone elses blog who supports the gravatar. As stated above, gravatars will help identify your comments and that can help your favorite blog authors recognize you instantly and it just makes it more fun to leave comments. Also the people with weblogs that are gravatar enabled with appreciate you that much more when you comment with a gravatar. It’s like having a web presence that follows you online wherever you go. I’m not sure about other weblog software packages out there, but I know that the latest version of Wordpress supports gravatars and I think it is a wonderful thing because it just makes comment sections on these blogs look way cool.

How do I get a gravatar

Signing up for a gravatar.com account is FREE, and all that’s required is your email address. Once you’ve signed up you can upload your avatar image and soon after you’ll start seeing it on gravatar enabled weblogs!

Sign Up Here!

You can come back here after you get your gravatar set up and leave a comment on this post to see your gravatar in action.

Bored on a Teusday night. Nowhere to go, nothing to do. So I broke out my digital camera and took a few pictures.

A new reason to love Monday’s. Each Monday I will be posting a picture of a hot muscle guy so be sure to sign up for updates if you don’t want to miss this each week. The pictures posted will be of men who’s bodies are what I wish I looked like… a little work out inspiration. At the time of this writing it is 12:17 a.m. which actually makes it Teusday here in Alabama, but I couldn’t wait until next Monday to start this new fun feature on my website. Also be on the lookout for Tattoo Teusday to start in a few weeks where each Teusday I’ll be posting some hot guys with cool tattoos.

…………. but it still hurts like hell!! I got tired of wearing the bandages and that stupid leg brace so I took all that crap off of my leg this morning so my leg could “breathe” and so I could see how my knee is doing. The swelling has gone down some but it’s pretty bruised up as I had expected that it would be. Looks like I’ll be getting lots of bed rest this week.

If any of you out there have been keeping up on my website you would know that I recently started trying to get into shape. Well everything has been going ok up until last night. I’ve been going for walks, and started back into jogging again. Well last night I went jogging and tripped up over my own damn foot and landed on my left knee. I ended having to go to the hospital emergency room. Luckily the x-ray’s didn’t show any fractures. This is the doctors diagnosis of the damage I did to my knee. Diagnosis: BURSITIS - basically this is a small flat liquid filled sack that helps the gliding motion of the muscles and tendons over a joint which has been severely inflamed due to injury…. in other word I busted my knee pretty bad when I fell.

The doctor put me on bed rest and I’m supposed to keep my leg elevated and I’m not supposed to be walking around……. but I am not one to lay around on my ass if absolutely don’t have….. well in this case I’m supposed but I just can’t. This morning after I went into work and told my boss what happened I took the day off and then I went to buy a lottery ticket and then I went and spent the whole morning at the lake. The weather was just absolutely beautiful and those of you who know me knows how much I love going to the lake on a pretty day…. so I couldn’t help myself.

Anyway, now I’m at home laying in bed, working on my website, surfing the internet, chillin’ out in front of the air-conditioner and resting like I’m should be doing. The doctor gave me four huge loratab pills for pain but I have not taken any of them, nor any other pain medicine. I figure if I can walk on my leg and not scream bloody murder then I don’t need the pain pills. So anyway there are some pictures below so that you can see what I did and the stupid leg brace I have to wear for the next few days.

I am kinda sad about this because I don’t know how long this is going to take to heal and the reason it makes me sad is because I was just really getting to exercising again and was soon hoping to start doing a little weight lifting. Now all of that will have to be put aside until I get better. Also I may have to take some time off from work because of this and that ain’t good!

On August 22nd, 2007 I received this email from an old army pal. Her name is Pam. Ironically I never opened it because it was one of those email forward things (sorry pam) and I usually just don’t mess with those things…. but it was still in my email inbox and I was just going through all of my old emails trying to clean my inbox out a little bit and ran across this. Well nine months later I’m getting around to answering these questions.

Two Names You Go By:
1. David
2. David

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. socks
2. my fantastic four boxer shorts (and thats it)

Two things you want in a Relationship:
1. I don’t want a relationship right now…. at least not a serious one.
2. I’m not opposed to dating however.

Two of Your Favorite Things to do:
1. Be outdoors.
2. Listen to my music with my mp3 player.

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:
1. A beautiful apartment or house.
2. A winning lottery ticket.

Two pets you had/have:
1. I used to have an aquarium, and I had hamsters once, and I had dogs when I was little.
2. I don’t have any pets now.

Two things you did last night:
1. Took a long walk.
2. Stayed up late surfing the internet.

Two People that live in your house:
1. me
2. myself

Two people you talked to last:
1. My brother Marty
2. and his girlfriend, Stacey

Two Things you’re doing tomorrow:
1. Working
2. Chillin’

Two longest car rides
1. Texas to Illinois
2. Texas to Alabama

Two Favorite Holidays:
1. Thanksgiving
2. Christmas

Two favorite beverages:
1. sweet tea
2. coke