Power Outage
Picture: the Primarch Sanquinus! See a set of Primarchs here.
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I am now working towards getting home by 6pm every night.
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I slept soundly last night, as if wrapped in a giant marshmallow of peace and tranquility. I spent some time puttering around the house. Our dishwasher has been out for a few weeks and we finally scraped enough together for a replacement. Pretty sweet.
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The baby is doing well. She is starting to really move her little arms around, trying to figure out what those fingers are for. She loves to be held so she is looking over my shoulder, with her forearm in her mouth, dark eyes lolling about the room.
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The studio is firing on all cylinders. It’s a wonder to see. Better than ever. Today we started in on a Daemonhunters army. It is all cleanly assembled and converted. Pretty sure over a hundred models. That will be for sale.
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The Thunderhawk came out of Assembly today
It was Take-out Tuesday, so we had chinese food for lunch. We played some Magic (I taught Sarah how to play this morning) and Renn handed me my nalgas twice in a row. It was brutal.
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I have a goal to get home by 6pm every night, which I did not meet tonight, but when I got home it was like paradise. The kids are an absolute delight. We did some chores, ate dinner (chicken and asparagus and coconut cream pie), then off to bed. Our major family issue right now is for everyone to stay in bed, the same bed all night. No nocturnal shenanigans.
A few nights back I heard this clump, clump, clump upstairs. That’s the three year old wrestling the stool across the floor so he can get into the pantry.
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So far so good. Also, at 8pm I am back online again for a short evening shift, so it’s OK to contact me in the evenings.
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Also, the power went out at our house. Fortunately, we know an electrician from the ward and he came out and transformed a $900 job into a $35 part. We’re getting that set up tomorrow. I need to figure out something nice to do for him and his wife.
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I am still booking a few projects for March. Let’s get things underway, people! And still plenty of space in April.
From a Client who is building his own house bit by bit
Hello Shawn,
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I’d be happy to email you some info on how we are doing it… basically it requires just saving money for a few months until we reach a goal, and then moving on from there. For instance, the first ‘goal’ was drilling a well on the property, so we saved money for about 3 months to have enough cash. It could have been upwards of $15k for the well, luckily it was only about $5k, that left enough cash left over to immediately move on to the second goal which was having the electric line installed (we are literally in the middle of nowhere, so the electric is very expensive to have lines run)…
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We are basically slowly poking away at it until we eventually will have it all done and are living in it (paid in full) with no mortgage or loans of anykind… One thing we are doing that is a little out of the norm, is we are having the basement completed FIRST. The basement alone is going to be about 1500 square feet, it has a full size apartment on one half, and the 4 kids bedrooms and a massive ‘play’ room on the other half. We are going to have that completely done next, then move into the basement (I guess like hobbits), then we’ll start work on the upper house once we are moved in… It is going to be 3 floors, the top floor is going to be my full size art studio.
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If you have any specific questions, please let me know.
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DA
Eyebrow Commercial
Thanks to: Bryn
Maytag Repairman
Remember those old commercials about the Maytag Repairman?
Well, that’s me today. I came in on Saturday and was up in the middle of the night, so I’m all caught up. The goal is to fill up the remaining project slots for March. Or if you’re not ready quite yet, to get some things cooking.
I still have one (one) slot for the 30/30 special.
Question Answered about Interest- updated
A few days back I asked this question:
If you take the total gross income for an average city in the US (adding up the gross income of all the residents), what percent of that goes towards interest? Any guesses?
I suppose the question could stand for a single household and be just as meaningful.
I got one response:
By “going towards interest” did you mean making payments on interest-laden things (credit cards, loans, etc…)? If so, I would guess 35%. With a house and cars, my parents pay 22% of their income towards interest but they don’t have particularly expensive cars and they don’t keep credit cards so the figure is probably under the average.
This sounds about right to me. I’d say somewhere in the 20-40% range.
As a side note: if you have a comment for the blog you need to email me directly at bluetablepainting@gmail.com The anonymous comments left through Blogger were getting a little strange for my taste.
Now, if I may make a related comment.
Banks engage in a (legal) practice called fractional reserve banking. This means that when you put $100 on deposit, the bank can loan out something like $1000 and collect interest on it.
Let me put it another way. If you get a loan for your home (which we are told you must get because there is no other way to obtain shelter) for $150,000 you will probably pay back something like $100,000 worth of interest on top of paying for your home for a grand total of $250,000.
You will pay this interest because a customer of the bank had $15,000 on deposit. Possibly even you yourself.
Let’s dig a little deeper. How long will it take you to produce the $100,000 worth of interest? I’d say two or three years. Doing nothing except working to pay interest.
I am openly inviting any reader to refine my view on this matter. Do I have my facts straight?
Another Comment from a Reader
I just read your blog on the interest payments… I was stuck in that trap years ago and it was not fun. It felt like half of the money I spent was only covering interest… We now no longer use credit cards, take out loans or worry about interest. We pay for things as we go… We are currently building a house and estimate it is going to take 4-5 years to complete, but when it is done we will have no payments to make on it, we could have taken a loan an had it build in under a year, but that loan would take us 20+ years to pay of, but when doing it up front and in full, it is only going to take a quarter of that time (or less).
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Something sad I noticed, I went to open house at my son’s school… he is 5 years old, and was showing me the toys he plays with in school. They had a pretend store front, with a register and veggies and cans of food, they are encouraged to “role play” the rolls of the buyer and the cashier, etc… except unlike when I was a kid in school, they no longer use play money. The kids all have pretend credit cards, and everything they purchase is charged to credit. They are teaching the kids about borrowing money and using credit cards to make purchases.
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It now explains why several months back, I had my son in Wal-Mart, and he wanted to get a lego set. I usually allow him to pick out something each time we go, since we only take the trip into town once a month or so… he picked out a $129 lego set, and I told him he had to get something smaller because I didn’t have that much money on me, that would have to be a Birthday or Christmas gift… his reply was “it’s ok Daddy, just use your credit card so you don’t have to spend any money”…
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You think things are bad now, wait until our kids are in their 30’s…
Bright Sunday
It’s a beautiful Sunday.
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I got to stay home with the boys last night. The girls were up in Salt Lake. We ate shrimp and pie and watched cartoons in our pajamas.
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If you’re just joining the program, I have four children ages nine, seven, three, and zero. Two girls and two boys. My wife and I are done. That’s plenty of kids! We are having a good time and don’t feel overwhelmed. I have joy with my children.
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The greatest challenge I’ve had as a parent is keeping to a regimen. It seems like every night it’s a little different: some nights it’s piggy-back rides, others dad’s too tired. Some nights it’s 8pm others it’s 10pm. Almost always brush-your-teeth, but sometimes just-go-to-bed-we’re-tired.
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It has gotten successively better over the years. We’re really good about reading scriptures and having prayers every night. In fact, well over a 90% success rate there.
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I suppose it’s easy to dismiss successes and constantly focus on my failings. I am comparing myself to an illusory Shawn-in-the-sky and letting loose a long sigh.
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It reminds me of a few quotes, and at the risk of repetition I present them here:
“Now, this is the truth. We humble people, we who feel ourselves sometimes so worthless, so good-for-nothing, we are not so worthless as we think. There is not one of us but what God’s love has been expended upon. There is not one of us that He has not cared for and caressed. There is not one of us that He has not desired to save and that He has not devised means to save. There is not one of us that He has not given His angels* charge concerning. We may be insignificant and contemptible in our own eyes and in the eyes of others, but the truth remains that we are children of God and that He has actually given His angels … charge concerning us, and they watch over us and have us in their keeping.” (Gospel Truths, comp. Jerreld L. Newquist, 2 vols., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1974, 1:2.)
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Abraham Lincoln wisely said, “It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.”
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When we dwell on our own weaknesses, it is easy to dwell on the feelings that we are unworthy. Somehow we need to bridge the gap between continually striving to improve and yet not feeling defeated when our actions aren’t perfect all the time. We need to remove unworthy from our vocabulary and replace it with hope and work. — Marvin J. Ashton
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Shortly after my father died in 2003, I was riding in the car with my sister and lamenting that he was not able to spend time with his grand-kids. She stopped the car and looked at me and said “Are you insane? What makes you think he would have wanted to do that?” Then it hit me that I had created in my mind this fictional person; my father as I hoped him to be. But the truth was that he was really not the “nature hike” sort.
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That is often a stumbling block for me. I create a fictional reality then make myself miserable when real reality does not match up to that. Getting past this has done wonders for my marriage. I just let all my stupid expectations go, started laughing more and appreciating my wife (and kids) for who they are. Taking joy in the journey.
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Or in the immortal word of Sheryl Crow: “It’s not getting what you want. It’s wanting what you got.”
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Or in the immortal words of Mung Daal: “Women are full of these things called Expectations. When she loooowers her expectations all is well.”
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The God that I know is the supreme optimist. He is ready and willing to bring every soul just as far along the path as he or she is willing to go. He regards the whole human race with paternal regard, with gentle-ness and tender-ness. He has given us our freedom, to do as we choose. He is the great Love Magnet in the Sky, drawing all upwards to receive the greatest Joy the soul is willing to embrace.
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The Universe is a mighty big place. In the next 500 years, each inhabitant of this Earth will find his or her place in it, and find wisdom and understanding through personal experience during mortality; a great journey of self-discovery.
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Some souls will gravitate to each other, and form congregations of like-willed and like-loved individuals. Some will raise their hands and sing a paradise into existence. Others will create a black hole for themselves and dive headfirst into it.
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I had a thought as I lay awake this morning. Someone right now is thinking “If Heavenly Father is so good and kind, why did he allow my dog to die (or insert bad thing here)?” I suggest to the reader that it is God’s active will and his power to set bounds that prevents well over 90% of bad things from happening. In other words, were he to slacken the reigns the whole world would be plunged into a living nightmare of violence and depravity. Or in other words like the 40K universe.
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Indeed, what God (and I don’t like to use that word– it carries too many preconceptions) has allowed is for mankind to choose for themselves. Most of the problems on the earth are created by humans. I don’t want to go any deeper than this, so I’ll just stop now.
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Another thought: sometimes something I think is “bad” is actually good for me.
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I would like to offer a word of encouragement to the young readers: life holds great things for you. The best is yet to come, things that are so good you can’t imagine it right now. Keep your chin up. If you have made a mistake, correct your course and keep plugging along. I assure you that the universe is not a cold place where you are alone, it is teeming with life and you are connected with invisible threads to other souls (visible and invisible) who love you.
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*in Mormon cosmology, Angels are not a separate race. We are angels. Humans live in the presence of their Kind Lord before this life and then afterwards again. The spirits of humans made just, drenched in joy, their faces shining with light and understanding. These are angels. They speak by looking in your face, where the thoughts and intents of the heart are made evident. It is in this dark world that we learn to avert our gaze and shift around to not make eye contact.
Question
If you take the total gross income for an average city in the US (adding up the gross income of all the residents), what percent of that goes towards interest? Any guesses?
Khorne-ly Army List
A client sent me this email, thought you all might get some insight:
fyi, here’s my newest tournament list for 1750…thought you might find it fun.
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1. I know the standard tournament form has plague marines on objectives, berserkers clearing the way, obliterators and lash princes to rearrange the enemy and deal with them. I honestly don’t have a problem with this per say, but I would rather go for a more fluffy army that is still compeditive. As has been said, having been the guy on the other side of the table more than once, The lash combo works, but only so far. I also don’t like going with lists that can be reasonably expected by my opponent and prepared for.
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2. I’ve sunk a fair amount of change into making this army work and have become rather stuck on a fluffy khorne/berserker army. The more aI read, the more feedback I get the more the army appeals to me.
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3. I’ve revised the army with the understanding that it isn’t the ideal chaos army but there’s a good bit of synergy and redundancy as well as fluff. What I’d say to those against the dreads is that in a normal army I wouldn’t give them the time of day. The thing is that the world eater list that is both dreadnaught heavy and defiler heavy is unique in that the entire army is focused on getting to combat, meaning that even if the enemy hits one of the 4 heavy walkers or two, a few of them are getting to the enemy. Even if they don’t then 3 squads of berserkers with Kharne will. Either way I win. I did decide, both because of points and theme to go with 2 close combat weapons though to limit fire frenzy.
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Here’s the new list:
H.Q.
Kharne the betrayer
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Troops:
8 demons
8 berserkers, icon, champ, powerfist.
8 berserkers, icon, champ, powerfist, Rhino.
8 berserkers, icon, champ, powerfist, Rhino.
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Elites:
Dreadnaught, extra close combat arm, extra armor
Dreadnaught, extra close combat arm, extra armor
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Heavy Support:
Defiler, 2 close combat arms
Defiler, 2 close combat arms
Land raider, demonic possession.
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I really want the terminators, but this list is better than anything I’ve been able to come up with at 1750 with them in it.
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At 2,000 I’ll add a 10 man unit of chaos space marines, mark of khorne, flamer, champ, powersword, rhino.
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When we hit 2500 I’ll add a 10 man unit of terminators with 2 heavy flamers, each with a chainfist, a champ with a chainfist, and mark of khorne, plus some other random upgrades for the army.
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Having some actual games under my belt now in fifth and having been to a tournament, I’ve found that close combat is just head and shoulders more decisive than shooting, and more effective. Sadly, I love shooting, but with the profusion of ways to generate or magnify cover saves, my old favorites, plasma cannons and lascannons just aren’t what they used to be. I’d do a iron warriors list with vindicators and doom siron, Obliterators, lord, terminators, troops and some raptors/bikes, but it just doesn’t call to me. This army feeds my resin addiction and will look good, and might give me a shot at winning a tournament or two, certainly better than my eldar finish.