John Stone's Picture Gallery and Video Archive - Page 144

1FastGTX · Fri, March 24th, 2006, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfstriked

Wow,1fastGTX is that you in avatar?I swear it looks like lee priest.Now if you say it is lee priest than kool but if thats you then WOW!!!

Err, thank you very much for the compliments. I do appreciate it. But...LEE PRIEST!?!??

I'm not even half that guy's size.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

White Goodman · Fri, March 24th, 2006, 02:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfstriked

Wow,1fastGTX is that you in avatar?I swear it looks like lee priest.Now if you say it is lee priest than kool but if thats you then WOW!!!

are you taking roids? (jk) Looking great in the avatar!

Wolfstriked · Fri, March 24th, 2006, 08:37 PM

The most modest bunch of "muscleheads" I have ever met

***John Stone*** · Sun, March 26th, 2006, 09:14 PM

I got a bunch of projects done around the house today, one of which is something I've wanted to do for a long, long time: low-voltage landscape lighting! I had to install a 600 watt transformer and timer for the main gardens, and I'll use the existing low-voltage system (part of the automatic irrigation system) to do the right side of the house and the back yard.

The power is installed and so is all the wiring. Tonight we played around with placement of the spotlights. Here's what we've settled on for now. Not the best picture, but gives a general idea...

BubbleBoy · Sun, March 26th, 2006, 11:24 PM

Looking like a mini-Whitehouse in that light John (in a good way of course

).

Are you thinking of a career change?

chicanerous · Sun, March 26th, 2006, 11:26 PM

Looks great! I had similar thoughts as above with the lighting + the flag.

Bigpapi · Sun, March 26th, 2006, 11:34 PM

And you and Lisa were contemplating a move why?

Wouldn't you want to live in the house that you have put so much time and dedication into transforming?

Regardless, I'm very impressed.

jwdiho · Sun, March 26th, 2006, 11:46 PM

Wow, nice.

like the flag

***John Stone*** · Mon, March 27th, 2006, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BubbleBoy

Looking like a mini-Whitehouse in that light John (in a good way of course

).

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicanerous

Looks great! I had similar thoughts as above with the lighting + the flag.

Thanks guys, we're liking it - but I sure never thought of the White House when we were doing it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by BubbleBoy

Are you thinking of a career change?

To politics?

Never.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigpapi

And you and Lisa were contemplating a move why?

Wouldn't you want to live in the house that you have put so much time and dedication into transforming?

Regardless, I'm very impressed.

Thanks!

We were thinking about moving mainly because we'd like a bigger place. I sent this to a friend this morning, and this pretty much sums up why we've decided against moving right now:

We've totally decided against a new house at this point. We found one that we really like--it's got 4,000 square feet of living space, 4.5 baths, 3 car garage and on an acre of land. We could probably qualify for it, but barely. It would be a huge stretch for us financially. Right now we are trying to build our savings and are living very comfortably at the same time. If we bought this house we would no longer be able to save much money, and our budget would be tight as a drum. It's just not worth it right now. Also, as we looked at all these new homes, we started to realize how much work we've put into our current home. Even though it's smaller than what we'd like to have, we're happy here and we love our house. Maybe in another 4 or 5 years things will be different, but for now we're staying put.

So, there ya have it! Even though our house right now lacks the room I need for some projects that I want to do (a larger home gym, a dedicated home theater room with a projector, etc), we are very happy with our house right now. We've put a lot of work into it and it's home.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwdiho

Wow, nice.

like the flag

Thanks, I like the flag, too!

Today I installed all the conduit for the wiring that runs from the transformer on the porch to all the fixtures. It looks pretty good! I also installed a Wet Location GFI outlet, and as you can see in the below picture, I installed eight glasstop back-lights behind the Viburnums. I can't wait to see how they look tonight!

The wiring is still above the mulch until we make sure the placement is correct later tonight.

I'm also excited because I weight train in 10 minutes!

Abdominator · Tue, March 28th, 2006, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Stone

Cardio will be a little unusual today:

Hehehe... it looks like some of those Uber Termites from Another Dimesion" laid waste to the red Lincoln Navigator in your driveway.

- Skip

***John Stone*** · Tue, March 28th, 2006, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abdominator

Hehehe... it looks like some of those Uber Termites from Another Dimesion" laid waste to the red Lincoln Navigator in your driveway.

Skip, I like the way your mind works! LMAO!

***John Stone*** · Tue, March 28th, 2006, 07:53 PM

Tonight was back and traps, and it was an excellent workout! I feel like I'm back in the groove 100% now. I stayed the same or went up in reps/weight on every exercise (as compared to my last back/traps workout), so that felt great after last night's somewhat sub-par performance.

There's nothing like an awesome weight training workout. I feel great!

No pictures tonight - I just didn't feel like messing with the camera after my deads/shrugs supersets.

JoeSchmo · Tue, March 28th, 2006, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abdominator

Hehehe... it looks like some of those Uber Termites from Another Dimesion" laid waste to the red Lincoln Navigator in your driveway.

- Skip

LOL -- That is the second post today that really cracked me up.

***John Stone*** · Tue, March 28th, 2006, 08:33 PM

OK, one picture! I had to take a picture of the house with the phase II lighting complete. I like this picture because the sky was not totally dark and had turned a beautiful shade of blue...

Bigpapi · Tue, March 28th, 2006, 08:41 PM

That is a most excellent picture of your house set to a most triumphant blue sky.

Devery · Tue, March 28th, 2006, 09:48 PM

Looks great!

The American flag adds a nice touch, especially lighted at night.

FYI...if an American flag is flown at night on a military installation, it is required to be illuminated.

TheRyanator · Tue, March 28th, 2006, 10:35 PM

The house is looking great John! Even though you are not moving into the "bigger and better" now you have a place and amenities that I think 95% of the U.S. population would be envious of! Not that that is the point, but still...You have a GREAT place!

jwdiho · Wed, March 29th, 2006, 11:07 AM

Ha! The sky here in chicago is a nice shade of gray! Has been for the last few days. I know colors sometimes get distorted on cheap computer screens, but I don't think I can recall seeing a sky that deep blue before! Very relaxing.

***John Stone*** · Wed, March 29th, 2006, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigpapi

That is a most excellent picture of your house set to a most triumphant blue sky.

If "Triumphant" were a color, it would definitely be that shade of blue.

Party on, dude.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Devery

Looks great!

The American flag adds a nice touch, especially lighted at night.

Thank you! I'm proud to fly the flag of the country which has given me the opportunity and freedom to do whatever I want with my life.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Devery

FYI...if an American flag is flown at night on a military installation, it is required to be illuminated.

...as it is in this family.

Lisa's parents don't have their flag lit up at night, so Lisa's mom diligently brings the flag in each and every night just before sunset. I don't think she ever forgets. I brought our flag in for a while, but decided that I'd rather let it fly 24/7 and light it at night.

I know to some people all this sounds silly, but I have a great deal of respect for my country and its flag (even if I'm not entirely happy with how things are going at present). I'll shut-up now before I violate my own rule against political discussions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRyanator

The house is looking great John! Even though you are not moving into the "bigger and better" now you have a place and amenities that I think 95% of the U.S. population would be envious of! Not that that is the point, but still...You have a GREAT place!

I hope I didn't sound like I was complaining before about deciding against the bigger house. I LOVE my current house, and every day when I wake up I spend some time thinking about how many things I have to be thankful for. That's the truth - I really do that, and I do it every single day without fail. I don't take any of the good things in my life for granted, and I am extremely appreciative for the life I have. I've worked hard to get to this point in my life, but hard work doesn't guarantee anything because there are some things we have no control over. I do everything in my power to stack the deck in my favor, but the rest is not up to me. Sure, I have problems just like everyone else, but I don't feel that I have justification to complain.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwdiho

Ha! The sky here in chicago is a nice shade of gray! Has been for the last few days. I know colors sometimes get distorted on cheap computer screens, but I don't think I can recall seeing a sky that deep blue before! Very relaxing.

I feel for you about those gray skies.

I totally agree with you about that color blue: it's very relaxing to me, too. I was even thinking about painting my office that color. Actually it's kind of a "JSF" blue!

Devery · Thu, March 30th, 2006, 09:58 PM

Hope you get back to 100% quickly John. I had a sore throat once and left it go until I ended up in the back of an ambulance and admitted to the hospital for 3 days...not fun.