1/16/15

So, what have I been up to since we last “spoke”?  Well, I was thinking about welding thin sheet metal with the TIG… and how I can’t do that.  I decided that I need a MIG welder to do all the bodywork on the Chickenhawk.  John and I discussed it and decided that we’d go to Northern Tool & Supply first thing Saturday morning to get their cheap flux-core wire-feed welder.  I picked him up at his house and we rolled to Grand Prairie.  I bought the welder and we headed back to the shop.  Unlike every other WF welder I’ve ever bought, this one didn’t come with a spool of wire.  We called the hardware store around the corner to see if they sold the stuff and was informed that they did.  We went and bought a spool.  Once I had all the gubbins to make the thing work, I was itching to zook some shit together.  I decided that the gas door was a good starting point.  I bashed the lip flat and removed the hinge then welded a patch over the keyhole.  I ground those welds flush and offered the part up to the hole in the body.  With a pair of magnets holding it in place, I tacked it to the car… and melted a big assed hole.  “What the actual fuck?!?!?!” I yelled.  Turns out the power level had somehow switched from low to high.  I reset and tried again.  This time I only blew a tiny assed hole in the metal.  “That’s more like it,” I said.  I stitched around the door and got it welded into place pretty solidly and only dropped one ember into my sock while doing it.  I ground those welds flush and then John had me hit the holes where the “Datsun” emblem used to reside on both sides of the car.  With those ground flush, I moved on to zooking in the patch I had made for the wiper hole in the scuttle.  We discussed getting metal for the floor but Metal Supermarket wasn’t open so we blew that off.  By this time Patrick was getting hungry and wanted to know if we were going to break for lunch soon.  We looked around and decided that we’d done as much damage as we could for one day and cleaned up to go.  We dined on bait at Ninja Sushi and then I took John back home.  I think I took Scooby Two out for a hoon on Sunday and thoroughly enjoyed it.  This week has been the fucker of all mothers here at work.  Well, it has seemed like it at least.  I spent most of the afternoon Tuesday, and the morning Wednesday, on the roof of the NOC babysitting the DirecTV installer.  That was a cold and uncomfortable pile of hours.  The lawyers had four video conference calls yesterday which were a pain in my ass.  Ok, they were more of a pain in Julia’s ass if I’m honest, but they were annoying to me.  Gregg called yesterday to see about the last $300.00 I owe him for that Saiga 12 I bought so I cut out early and went to the credit onion.  Now I’m waiting to hear from him as to when he’s coming by to pick it up.  Since this is a third-Saturday, and John won’t be coming to the shop, I think I might take the Saiga 12 and polish the bolt and stuff to try and get rid of some of the crunchiness in the action.  I might take the 7.62x39 Saiga as well and install the BHO in it.  We’ll see.  So, I’ve been thinking about how I would cast a big screen rendition of “Gilligan’s Island.”  The one name I’m almost dead-set on is Zooey Deschanel as Mary Ann Summers.  She is just so… Mary Ann to me.  Yum.  I racked my brain for quite a while trying to come up with a “meh” attractive actress, who has at least played a part where she takes herself too seriously, and finally came up with Jane Crackwhoreski… I mean Krakowski as Ginger Grant.  While thinking about Thurston Howell III I had what I consider a stroke of genius and came up with Steve Martin!  I can totally see him in that role.  Bernadette Peters crossed my mind for Eunice “Lovey” Howell until I remembered Carol Kane might be better.  I googled “fat actor” to get a list of heavy-set gentlemen for the role of Jonas “Skipper” Grumby and decided that Billy Gardell, the star of CBS’ “Mike & Molly” would be a good choice.  Willy Gilligan and Roy “The Professor” Hinkley have been giving me the most trouble though.  I suggested Topher Grace as Gilligan but I’m not 100% sure that’s right.  Ashton Kutcher might be a possibility as would Jim Parsons.  Actually, Jim Parsons just occurred to me for that role.  I think I like that better.  So now we’re looking for a professor.  I wanted someone young so he could be doing research for his “Tropical Fruit and Drupe Based Engineering Solutions” doctoral thesis, but Samantha Roper suggested John Cleese.  Once the floodgates of “British Actors” was opened, I immediately thought of Cummerbund Bandersnatch… or whatever that guy’s name is.  Then I thought that any of the modern Dr. Whos would work.  Of course when Dr. Who actors came up, I thought, “Ooh!  Jenna Coleman has a definite Mary Ann vibe!” but I think I’m going to stick to my guns with Zooey Deschanel.  So, with a tentative cast in mind, I think I’m going to go look for some sort of pitchamovie.com website so’s I can… pitch my movie idea, sort of thing.  Have a day.