I finally installed the switch and the plate on light assembly! I still need to finish staining the drawers, but I need to use the one that houses my scanner for now. So just for the light Assembly, the wire, the bulbs, and the switch I spent about $25. Which is a lot cheaper than most people who use old school fluorescent lights. Anyway I am happy with it and it lights up great, what do you think?

So I finally am just about done with my desk. I still have to stain the drawers, add light switch to the light table and cover the wires under the plexiglass. Also I need to add the three shelves that go in the back of the base, and I order a triple monitor stand that will make the monitors float off the desk… I am so excited I love the way it came or is coming out. Also I did add two USB hubs and power strip  built in to a pocket in the back of the desk, sorry forgot to get a photo of that.

Found a great Application that I had never heard of before and now I am hooked. Google Sketchup, is an amazing FREE program that lets you design in 3d and really figure out your designs in a new dimension. Helps to figure out sizes and problems you might run into during the build process. Anyway short story here is what the desk will look like. Only real change is in the base, as you can see I added shelves to the base because the depth of the desk is deeper than most standard desks there is room for 8 inch shelves. Plus I find I never stretch my legs much when I am at my desk anyway. Also all the wood has been purchased, cut, and almost ready to be assembled!!!! New monitor came in and waiting for the DVI cables and additional Video card. New update coming soon.

Anyone who knows me, knows I have to design, create and build instead of just buy. Here is another prime example of this in my newest project. Here is the first draft of my design ideas for a new desk. Unlike my current desk, which was made to utilize a smaller foot print, this desk will be larger and house everything I can think of while being extremely functional and accomplishing all that I desire. Just acquired my third monitor and will be working out all the sizes and details shortly. Hope to get this built soon enough. Continue reading for some more images. ...Continue Reading

So I have been working on a new Christmas Gift and after I started it I realized I am going to need a machine to finish it. Well no problem, or so I hope! I will be building my own rotocasting machine for fun, because that's just what I do. Look for a new rotocasting tutorial coming soon. If I had my new iPhone 4 I would shoot a video tutorial, but I have yet to buy one so you will just have to settle for images again. I am looking forward to this project. This is what I will be building in a smaller scale, maybe half size. Anyhow check out the video after the break. ...Continue Reading

So I was looking to get back into sculpting and I recently built some armature stands. So I thought I’d take the time to share how I do this and what materials were used. There are many kind of stands out there and when you can find information on them you will see each sculptor has their own method. Finding tutorials and material list though never seams easy to find. I’ve done this tutorial with images, hope you like: ...Continue Reading

The Future Media Center:

What does the future hold? Now that my XBOX v.1 and XBMC project is complete and working, I have to wonder what the future holds. Ultimately I know my XBOX v.1 are going to last a few years and although they do work great it is still virtually obsolete hardware. With all the new HD Video out and HDTV being the norm for most households, what will be the alternative to using the XBOX for a media center? Looking to the future, you will find that the next logical jump would be to a future of HD HTPC’s. There are many small HTPC type machines currently on the market, and although most can be used as a media center. These machines do not all offer what the XBOX v.1 offers with the MS DVD Kit. On the horizon there are manufactures that are focusing their efforts to bring ...Continue Reading

PlayOn Media Stream – XBMC Media Center:

Well after a few weeks of having my new XBOX XBMC setups running in both rooms, I decided to check into some scripts and plugins that are available for the Media Center. What I found were some streaming scripts for different web sites and services like Apple Trailers and Music Stations. Although some of these scripts work some of the time and offer more features to what is already an amazing media center, I felt they fell short of what I would want out of them.

So on the verge of settling with what I was sure will be a waist of my time and efforts, I found a website that claimed it could stream services such as Netflix Instant Que, Hulu and Youtube video to some modern game systems like XBOX360 and the Wii. At first I thought I was going to get discouraged when I realized they are using UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) protocol to stream these services to those modern systems. Well wouldn’t you know, XBMC has ...Continue Reading