urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen ragresen ragresen 2008-07-07T11:20:05Z urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:28813 2008-07-07T11:20:05Z 2008-07-07T11:20:05Z What can I say this has been one hell of a weekend. some work on Friday on the 4th and a nice relaxing evening watching fireworks with out having to shoot my own. Then a restless nights sleep as Sunday I got in a 94 Caviler with dad and drove the 7 something hours down to Orlando. Stayed Saturday with my Friends Marc and Heidi and got to eat some really good Pizza. Watched Mark play Blazing Angels on his Wii for a bit, but really love the Custom corvette hats the Heidi did for me and my dad on her new Embroidery machine. Sunday Morning wake up about 6 am and chat with Marc for a good while. Marc and Heidi get more hats done for orders they have and my Dad wakes up finally. We start watching a Japanese movie about the Yamato when I get a returned call from the night before I had been expecting. So a little trip is made to look at a car and then pay the gentleman money.<br /><br />Now comes the fun part. 7 hours back home with a new car. Yes it is official I now own a new car. One very beautiful 2003 Electron Blue Corvette Z06. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:28474 2008-06-17T01:54:35Z 2008-06-17T01:54:35Z BE HONEST! Answer the questions in a comment.<br /><br />1) Are you currently in a serious relationship?<br />A.<br /><br />2) What was your dream growing up?<br />A.<br /><br />3) What talent do you wish you had?<br />A.<br /><br />4) If I bought you a drink what would it be?<br />A.<br /><br />5) Favorite vegetable?<br />A.<br /><br />6) What was the last book you read?<br />A.<br /><br />7) What zodiac sign are you?<br />A.<br /><br />8) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where.<br />A.<br /><br />9) Worst Habit?<br />A.<br /><br />10) If you saw me walking down the street, would you offer me a ride?<br />A.<br /><br />11) What is your favorite sport?<br />A.<br /><br />12) Do you have a Negative or Optimistic attitude?<br />A.<br /><br />13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?<br />A.<br /><br />14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?<br />A.<br /><br />15) Tell me one weird fact about you.<br />A.<br /><br />16) Do you have any pets?<br />A.<br /><br />17) What if i showed up at your house unexpectedly?<br />A.<br /><br />18) What was your first impression of me?<br />A.<br /><br />19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?<br />A.<br /><br />20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?<br />A.<br /><br />21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?<br />A.<br /><br />22) What color eyes do you have?<br />A.<br /><br />23) Ever been arrested?<br />A.<br /><br />24) Bottle or can soda?<br />A.<br /><br />25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?<br />A.<br /><br />27) What's your favorite place to hang at?<br />A.<br /><br />28) Do you believe in ghosts?<br />A.<br /><br />29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?<br />A.<br /><br />30) Do you swear a lot?<br />A.<br /><br />31) Biggest pet peeve?<br />A.<br /><br />32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?<br />A.<br /><br />33) Do you believe/appreciate romance?<br />A.<br /><br />35) Do you believe in God?<br />A.<br /><br />36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you? urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:28199 2008-06-09T19:07:38Z 2008-06-09T19:07:38Z Well today I went to see my doctor and had a check up done. I have a few things concerning me and decided it was time to get some profession advise.<br /><br />First on the list was some rough skin on my scalp. My Doctor says it is just some thicker skin there and could very well be the scare tissue from when I had stitches on head in that general area back when I was six. So no worries there anymore.<br /><br />The Second thing was what was an Ingrown hair on my leg. This area had grown to a large red and bruised area, but the doctor again says no worries there as it appears to be healing good.<br /><br />The last thing is the fact I have High Blood pressure. It was time to have it checked out. I did learn a few neat things. One is my blood pressure is different from each arm. This is said to be due to the slight case of Scoliosis that I have. As for the High blood pressure he thinks getting back to Excersiseing and going onto a diet called the DASH diet will do me some good. Yeah for me now still Blood Pressure meds. I really like the idea of natural ways to solve this issue.<br /><br />Well this means no more fast food for me and well get to also trim out a lot of the sugary drinks in my life. Oh well I want to get back into shape and fit again. What a better reason to do this than to combat my high Blood pressure. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:27933 2008-05-26T13:26:21Z 2008-05-26T13:26:21Z Well here I am up on Memorial Day and yet another day off. Kinda fun to sit back and enjoy things I want to do for once.<br /><br />Went Car shopping the last two days and got some sun, but I am starting to think I may have to pass on my desired car as I need to find an 02 or newer car and getting a Corvette at that year for $25,000 is going to be really difficult.<br /><br />Plans for today involve a bit of yard work. some work on Model Warships and maybe pull out the sewing Machine and attempt to make a simple outfit for my BJD.<br /><br /><br />Well to all my friends out there enjoy this day of Remembrance. Think on those who gave their lives for the country and on those who are currently serving our Country. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:27812 2008-05-22T23:44:02Z 2008-05-22T23:44:02Z Well a few months ago I decided that I would invest into a Dollfie. After a couple of moths wait she finally came in.<br /><br /><br />Meet my doll from Dollzone, Wensicia<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragresen/sets/72157605198860222/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragresen/sets/72157605198860222/</a> urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:27448 2008-04-14T00:09:47Z 2008-04-14T00:09:47Z Well it is what I call a fun weekend in Savannah actually. This weekend was the first time in about 3 weeks I had a weekend off. I enjoyed the heck out of it, because it was a planned weekend off to make a trip off to Savannah Georgia. <br />A weekend of playing with model Radio Control Warships. Yes they really sink. My Poor USS Des Moines got sank on Sunday and had some teething problems yet again, but now I got more time to sort out the issues I am having with her. Also this is a trip I took with my Dad and let him run my ship one sortie and he had such a good time that we shall soon begin to build him a ship along side my current build as well.<br /><br />Well here is a link to the Pictures my Dad and Myself took.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragresen/sets/72157604525393555/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragresen/sets/72157604525393555/</a><br /><br />Enjoy. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:27375 2008-04-03T11:59:04Z 2008-04-03T11:59:04Z Well after two or more years of working on my car and doing stuff to it that had kept it off the road till recently, I have decided it may well be time to park the Probe GT and get a new car that I can drive on a daily basis. Since I have a Company car I will only drive the car on time off which means I will not put a whole lot of miles on her unless I travel. My hobbies require that I can carry some stuff in the trunk, but I am really wishing I could get a 1998 to 2000 Corvette Convertible.<br /><br />So I ask me friends who all know me to maybe recommend a car to me. I have preferences, but they need not be completely adhere to, but consider them please. I prefer Manual Transmissions and I would love some that is not Front Wheel Drive. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:26982 2008-02-23T18:57:50Z 2008-02-23T18:57:50Z I got the Car to pass emissions today. So now to get insurance and plates for her again and I will back to having a car. This is the best I have felt about the car in a few years now. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:26672 2007-12-24T12:13:35Z 2007-12-24T12:13:35Z Well This is my last day of work before Christmas day off. I thought it a good time to wish all my friends out there and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. It is now seven days till I officially age to 33. My god I have not realized I am getting as old as I am. Well again everyone enjoy time with their family and friends this Holiday Season. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:26459 2007-12-22T23:11:14Z 2007-12-22T23:11:14Z Since I am tight on my money I spent this Saturday doing things about my house I would not have done other wise. Got a few projects started with the Warship hobby, but the best news is that I took the Probe off the Jeckstands for the first time in over a year. I am getting her ready to go get the welding work needed to the exhaust, but to do that I needed to get a small test of the temperory exhaust stuff to be sure she will survive the road trip to the shop. Well good news is that the temp stuff stayed where it was supposed to. I just can not run over any road debris some of the exhaust hangs as low to the road as 2 inches from the road. The bad news is I found my power stearing fluid was way low. I still have a leak on the power stearing somewhere and really need to get that solved. But I am most happy as I can feel it getting closer to getting my car back on the road now. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:26270 2007-10-30T13:27:18Z 2007-10-30T13:27:18Z Well I got two things to be looking forward to this year yet besides my Birthday. The first of them is this coming weekend. I will be going to drive The Tail of The Dragon with the Corvette Club this weekend. Last time there I had a blast and this year Promises to be just as much fun. For those intrested in what exactly The Tail of the Dragon is you can go and read on this web site.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.tailofthedragon.com/">http://www.tailofthedragon.com/</a><br /><br />And a neat map of the Tail with all the Corner names.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.tailofthedragon.com/maps_dragon_road.html">http://www.tailofthedragon.com/maps_dragon_road.html</a><br /><br /><br />Ok now to the other event I am so looking forward to. Come November 16,17, and 18 I will be going down to Sanford Florida to do a new hobby I am into, Model Warship Combat. I wll be hopefully getting the sea trails of my ship done on the weekend, but will not battle it as she is not fully ready. Thanks to friends in the hobby though I will get to battle a loaned ship. Well for more information of Modle Warship Combat here is the site to the club I have joined with.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mwci.org/">http://www.mwci.org/</a><br /><br /><br />Well till I find something revelant to post about again. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:25911 2007-10-08T14:46:38Z 2007-10-08T14:46:38Z Well a Simple Posting. These are my Pictures I took while at Petit LeMans this year. For those who do not know Petit LeMans is a 10 hour or 1000 Mile Sports Car endurance race. The race is sanctioned under the American LeMans Series which uses the rules laided down by the ACO. the ACO runs the 24 hours of LeMans.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragresen/sets/72157602303403518/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragresen/sets/72157602303403518/</a><br /><br />Well Enjoy the Pictures of racing that I enjoy and had fun Taking. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:25630 2007-10-07T17:14:13Z 2007-10-07T17:14:13Z Well This weekend was Petit LeMans weekend. So Friday I helped out proof and got to be off earlier than I had originally planned. When I got home I ordered Wings from Wing zone. @ hours and 30 minutes later my mom drops by to pick me up for the Race. No Wings yet. I had to wait another 15 minutes to get my Wings. So a slightly poor start to the weekend. Got to my Folks and ate and relaxed that night at theirs. Next morning it is up Early and off to Road Atlanta for the Race. Got to speak for a very short time with my Favorite Driver. Johnny O'Connell. Johnny drives for the Corvette Racing Team in Car 3. He is allways a great guy to speak with and despite the short hello I can still say he is a great guy and there for the Fans. Well his Record setting Start streak came to an end this weekend as the Car he drives in was run off the course by one of the P2 Prototype Cars. This led to the Current Driver in the 3 Corvette, Jan , to hit the outer wall in the Esses hard. The car was out oft he Race and Johnny did not get to run a single lap in the race. This record happened in the first 38 minutes of the Race, so needless to say I was a bit bummed about the Race. I stayed and watch the rest of the Race, but it was more like a Nascar race than a ALMS race. out of 30 cars only 15 finished the race. Did the Nascar guys do body swaps with the ALMS drivers????? It was just a very unusual race.<br /><br />Well to Cap off the weekend I am not home and my Roommate seems to be able to take a mess and make it worse down stairs. He will have a surprise waiting on him when he gets home as I was not in the mood to see my house be dirtier than it was when I left for the Race anbd all he had was one day with out me there. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:25356 2007-09-23T12:38:58Z 2007-09-23T12:38:58Z Well here it is Sunday and I am tired as hell. This was supposed to be the relaxing Con and instead I am even more tired than I was at the End of Dragon Con. Well here is the link to my AWA pictures.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragresen/sets/72157602120199171/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragresen/sets/72157602120199171/</a> urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:25138 2007-09-11T14:14:51Z 2007-09-22T11:54:39Z Well I have started to load pictures to flikr account from Dragon con. I am going to go ahead and post the link and folks can view them as I post them up.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragresen/sets/72157602106543250/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragresen/sets/72157602106543250/</a> urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:24898 2007-09-04T12:46:56Z 2007-09-04T12:46:56Z Well here it is Tuesday morning and I am finally awake and can say Dragon Con is over. O had a blast while there, despite Saturday night being a bit of a let down for me. it started with eating too much Mexican that evening and then a bit of disappointment over not doing any Costuming yet and then the feeling of not costuming at all. Yes I had brought 4 costumes with me and at the end of the Con I can say I wore only two the entire time. I wore my Formal Mens Kimono on Saturday till about Noon and then on Sunday I got into my Last J-rock Costume and Debuted it despite it not being Complete. I learned a few things about it that need changing and I will be working on making those changes so it will look better because the amount of money I had spent into this over the last seven months on it means it will not be a wear once only costume. I got pictures I need to get sized and then I will post some here in my next posting, but for now it is get unpacked completely and clean house while I attempt to rest up and then get back to work again. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:24828 2007-08-11T16:21:32Z 2007-08-11T16:21:32Z Well I have been thinking since Dragon Con is but 3 weeks or less away. That means it is a good time to begin to plan for the next years Costumes. I got the idea of only working on 2 costumes total, but I am not positive what I will do just yet. Maybe it is time to get some ideas from others, but I am thinking of doing something from Trinity blood and maybe something from the new Flash Gorden Series, but again I am not sure. I am also afraid I still have a costume from this year to finish and will finish at some point before the end of the year. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:24438 2007-07-31T15:50:48Z 2007-07-31T15:50:48Z Well last night while working my right foot started hurting again. I have been limping for the night and this morning so far. One of my bones seemed to have dislocated in my foot on me and while I messaged it back in I am still sore from it. Not to mention I am finding my self walking toes pointed in more than usual now. This sucks cause I do a lot of walking at Dragon Con and can not afford to deal with this then. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:23855 2007-07-19T17:24:05Z 2007-07-19T17:24:05Z Well I gotta get through tonight of a 3 to midnight shift. Not that bad, but god it makes the 9th day in a row of that shift now and I know it is wearing on me. The worst part is Friday I gotta pull a 10 am to 7 pm shift, so can anyone say I am gonna be tired come this weekend?<br /><br />Speaking of the weekend I got it off thank god. I am going to make the best of it I can with helping a friend shop for a new car and then getting ready for the LARP game at my place Saturday night. Well all fun for me and another chance to show off my Pretty Koi Pond I have. Did I mention ever how relaxing it is to sit by that at night when it is cooler outside?<br /><br />Well here is to a good weekend for folks and hopefully a good LARP game for me as a break to the get ready for Dragon Con madness I am now on. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:23622 2007-07-14T17:29:56Z 2007-07-14T17:29:56Z Well for the last six months I have been helping to get a Dune based RPG board up and active. I think it is a fun place to relax and enjoy a slower RP format for those interested in Dune and the politics of the setting. Well if ya wish to come and take a look about my all means drop in.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://guiding-light.org/gaming/dune/arrakis/index.php">http://guiding-light.org/gaming/dune/arrakis/index.php</a> urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:23472 2007-06-18T12:08:19Z 2007-06-18T12:08:19Z Oh my god that was the best ever. Not to say I do not like Robot chicken stuff, but just the new Star Wars skits they made for this Special were great. I could not help but laugh and normally I would accuse a room mate of loosening brains cells for watching that show. For those that have not seen it I really recommend you find some way to do it. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:23255 2007-06-04T12:39:09Z 2007-06-04T12:39:09Z Well I got a few projects about my house I have been working on for a while.<br /><br /> The first of those is my Car. Yes it has been not running again for a few months. I had developed problems on the Turbo piping and instead of trying to repair that I got new piping completely. I have been spending a lot of time since getting the new piping installed and fit properly. I am currently working on the Cross member changes I need to make and then plan to get the oil and coolant lines hooked back up. Hopefully it will all be done by the End of June.<br /><br /> The second project has been a Koi Pond. Well last month the Koi pond has been up and running. Despite that there is still work to do on it, but it is mainly getting more rock and stone work to the pond done. I have six Koi in the pond currently that are enjoying their large pond. I will have to post up some pictures some day, but I have never done that on LJ so gotta learn the right way to do it.<br /><br />The last of the Projects is just small things for myself that involves costuming for Dragon Con. Thankfully all that is currently on track and I will have it done in time. I am working on a few old ones that needed repairs, but the two new ones shall be done by Dragon Con and I will be happy.<br /><br />Otherwise my life has consisted of sleep and work lately. Well I do speak with Jeanie a good bit. She is fun to talk with and only distance apart keeps things to talking I think. Well yes I am actually useing my LJ again and it feels a bit odd, but for once this is not an Emo post. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:22945 2007-05-26T12:21:12Z 2007-05-26T12:21:12Z Ok Got to see it last night. I had hoped to see it on Thursday but I did not get tickets. Oh well I did see it Friday and loved it. There were a few disappointments in it, but over all I recommend the movie to my friends to see if they have not done so already.<br /><br />Well I have to work the 3 to midnight shift the next two days, but atleast I got a weekend off coming up soon. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:22622 2007-04-13T12:10:38Z 2007-04-13T12:10:38Z Well I had a very interesting night on Thursday. A good friend of mine is getting Married. Last night was his Bachelors Party. What can I say riding in a very long Gas guzzling stretch Hummer was fun. We laughed alot when it tied up traffic in the Buckhead area. The dinner was at a Brazilian restraunt ad oh my did I enjoy that and the price of the meal, but all worth it. Well he gets married on Saturday while I work and my Dad turns 60 as well. So here is to a weekend working and full of celebration. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ragresen:22489 2007-03-17T12:11:09Z 2007-03-17T12:11:09Z Well it is that time of year that my convention Season has its start. This year The first convention on my list is a local Atlanta convention called MomoCon. I am actually a guest at the Con and hosting two panels. Well I hope to get a few pictures, but since I am going to be in costume both days the chances are slim.