| Rudi Stern |
[Aug. 16th, 2006|06:00 pm] |
The world lost a great man last week... Couldn't find an obit anywhere, though.
Rudi Stern's fascination with light and color was responsible for revitalizing the craft of neon after it became nearly extinct in the late 1970s. His book, "Let There Be Neon", and New York shop/gallery of the same name grabbed a lot of people's attention and dragged the art back from the brink of oblivion. Today's urban landscape would be very, very different if it weren't for Rudi.
Like many neon craftspeople, I owe my career to him. Sixteen years ago, it was through Rudi's writings that I hooked up with an artist who would later become my teacher and very dear friend. Indirectly, I think I even owe him my life... The early 1990s was a very bad period for me, and I mayn't have stuck around if it weren't for the peace I found in the glass shop.
Goodbye, Rudi. May your eternal night be neon-lit. |
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| Nifty |
[Mar. 31st, 2006|11:22 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Slayer; Hell Awaits | ] |
Sometimes, testosterone just takes over. Mine's bigger/longer/better/stronger, dammit!
Randy's out on the front stoop, attempting to reduce his new scanner radio to its component molecules by jumping on what was left after he smashed it against my garage wall...
I love it when things like this happen on a Friday night.
Even if my new home is made of wood I'm gonna build a brick wall somewhere, just so's I have something to throw stuff at. |
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| They never learn! |
[Dec. 20th, 2005|05:52 pm] |
This year's "I want a neon sign for giftmas and I want it NOW" calls have started rolling in. They're all being turned away, because I don't have time to do the stuff.
Normal business must be conducted, and I can't just pull the things out of thin air like some people seem to expect. I'm extremely busy all winter, every winter, and the chances I'll have something somebody would actually want to buy just gathering dust are exactly zero. It's all custom!
"You say your kid's name is Zbigniew? Well, I just happen to have 42 'Zbigniew' signs right here, any color you want. Better hurry though, they won't last!"
The really stupid part is most are from the same people who called at exactly this time last year. "I called you last year, but you were too busy to make it before February." Yep, and I told you then that I'm at least a month behind during the holiday season.
I guess it could be worse; at least I'm complaining about being busy. |
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| So I got me a girl... |
[Nov. 23rd, 2005|06:23 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Alice Cooper; Lost In America | ] |
With a gun and a job, and a house with cable.
She puts up with loud music, cats, louder noise, cuts, sick cats, burns, broken bones, split drumheads, dead friends, dog-eating cats, woman-eating dogs, busted cymbals, bruised egos, cheesy movies, the occasional scalded eyeball or blood-soaked floor/driveway/car and subsequent trips to the ER, lots of cussing, and most of all, ME...
All this, and she hasn't put me out of her misery. Keeper, eh?
November 24th marks the 2nd anniversary of our wedding. Why'd I wait so long? |
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| Plop plop, fizz fizz |
[Oct. 19th, 2005|03:54 pm] |
I finally got around to fixing the Gibraltatruck's FUBAR exhaust system yesterday: replaced its rotten muffler and missing tailpipe, amputated a dangling lower heatshield, and repaired a rusted-out air tube on one of the catalytic converters. Thank all odd gods for silicone rubber hose; I doubt my home's poor wiring could've handled the MIG machine.
Also changed the oil(it was due for that anyway) and fed it a new air filter. If Gibraltatruck continues to behave in a useful, safe and *legal* fashion, it might even get a full tune-up before Xmas...
Today was the moment of truth: EPA testing. On vehicles older than 1996, Illinois still tests exhaust emissions. As usual, there was a delay while they swapped stations until I got a tech who knew how to drive stick - the tailpipe test is done on a dynamometer. He never said anything about the busted E-brake; prolly didn't even try it.
Whaddya know, it passed on the first try! Good for another year; oh what a relief it is.
Maybe this winter I'll rig up a trashman shifter so my wife can drive it - she's too small to adjust the seat, too short to reach 3rd and clutch at the same time, and refuses to go clutchless. |
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| It had to happen sooner or later... |
[Oct. 7th, 2005|06:55 pm] |
For various reasons I won't go into at the moment, I'm in a bad mood. My demeanor didn't improve when I realized I was out of cigarettes... Time for a walk to the gas station.
But wait... I'm in the mood to fuck with somebody. Better *drive* instead!
Truck wasn't thirsty, but I topped the tanks off anyway: hose from one side of pump goes in one tank, hose from other side goes in other tank. I was even discourteous enough to park on the *in* side of the outside island; someone pulled up and tried to fit the diesel hose in his gas tank, then wondered why I was laughing at him.
The cashier gave me a lecture on fuel conservation(I managed a gas station for several years, and know what they're *really* thinking when they talk to you, which is mostly nothing: they run on autopilot at the till) then charged me for $2 on one side, $8 on the other. Tanks are s'damn full they don't even slosh anymore...
I paid cash, walked out, let him stew for a few minutes, then walked back in and paid for the two packs of Camels he'd handed me while his lips were flapping.
Dammit, that was fun! Next time, I *will* walk... Gots a couple of jerrycans around here somewhere. |
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| Uh? |
[Sep. 7th, 2005|01:59 pm] |
Excessive repaving and Metra's worthless crossing gates have forced me to seek a new route to work.
This morning, I noticed a tract of the usual cardboard McMansions under construction. Not awake enough for the sign in front to register until I was a few blocks past it... Had to double back for a second look. Sure 'nuff:
"4 Bedroom, 3.1 Bath"
I know what a half-bath is, but a *.1* bath?! What'd they do, put a urinal in the livingroom?
It was 5:30AM and the model was closed; guess I'll have to go back and find out... |
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