GreenBioGuy

srsly? Wow. You should have picked up more! GBG

Set #4993: Cool Convertible Pieces: 648 Yep, that's right; it's not technic! Heh, I haven't purchased a system set in years. The reason for my purchase of this set was due to an upcoming project that I'm wanting to work on which involves the colors of purple and white. Obviously, this set was for the latter color requirement. It was really interesting; I found myself walking around the ubber-cool LEGO store looking for sets based on content and pieces as opposed to theme for the first time. I considered getting a Star Wars set or perhaps Racers or even one of the new Power Miners sets. I decided against these due to either price or (especially for the Power Miners) the colors weren't what I was looking for. My eye settled on the Convertible mainly for its larger quantity of white curvey pieces and small connection parts; it should prove helpful in MoCing. The LEGO store was pretty sweet overall, and the LEGO sculptures were nifty too. I found the sale section Neaku, but they pretty much only had the Star Wars "Twilight" ship available; which, granted, was on sale for $50 (normally $100). I wasn't the least bit interested in it though. Oh, and they had the main Indiana Jones set on sale too (I'm not sure how much though). The store was all you guys hyped it up to be! My plan is to build the set as soon as I get home but then I put it up on display until I get enough money to put in a good-sized you-know-which-site order (which will probably have to wait until my birthday, which in turn is at the very beginning of August). I'm rather glad that it's gonna have to wait until August though; I'm busy at the moment with other things. Personally, I'm pumped about just building the thing as I haven't actually built a large LEGO set in quite some time. Oh, and Blue Fire, my family had deep dish pizza this evening for supper, and it was superb! In addition, the weather was beautiful! It was perfect for walking around the city indeed. Just thought I'd mention what I got (did I choose well?), and I may be able to post more about the trip sometime this week... GBG

Sweet. I believe we should be going tomorrow! Indeed, we already are! It is a beautiful city, and very clean at that! I think we may try that tomorrow... Right!! I'm not sure if I'll get anything or not, but we'll see! BTW, the conference was awesome today! Truly inspiring, and it got my family talking on some great stuff! Now, to read! GBG

My family and I are heading out early tomorrow morning for Chicago, where we will be attending a conference over the weekend (just Saturday actually). The conference is on the book "Do Hard Things"; written by Alex and Brett Harris who will also be the main speakers. The book is challenging teens to overcome the low expectations in our culture today and to rise up and make a difference in the world. The whole thing is also Christian driven, just to let you know. If you want to find out more about the book and their organization "The Rebelution" just Googlize it. We will spend Friday traveling, Saturday is the conference, Sunday we will just hang out in Chicago, and Monday we will travel home. In addition, it is not my plan to spend any time on the Computer (or at least online) so don't expect any activity from me (not that I've been on that much anyways). GBG

And the very same to you! Sadly, we just came home from getting rained out at an Independence Day party we go to every year with our friends... Ah well. We did have a good cook-out and a fun time pitching to each other before the rain came. Indeed, we are blessed with the freedoms and rights which we have, and we would do well to remember it often! GBG

Nice functions! I'm looking forward to the final product... GBG

Whoops! Sorry, that just sortof slipped out.

Well, hello everyone! It's been two weeks now since I last blogged, and I can't let my blog pass into the second page of my favorites list now can I? So anyways, my last blog post was written just before I left to go on my youth group's mission trip and I thought I would blog about how that went. If you want to skip down to the section where I talk about what's been going on since then (I talk about the Wii and Brawl there), or down to where I talk about Bionicle/BZPower, then feel free to do so. I've marked them. The Mission Trip: The trip began at 9:00 on Monday morning where we met at our church. Unlike many mission trips where you leave and go somewhere far overseas, we were on a mission to the downtown of our city. We would be working with RIFA, which stands for Regional Inter-Faith Association, and they are the main outreach organization in Jackson I believe. Proceeding to the headquarters, we met with Shawn who is one of the coordinators for repairs outreach. Our job would be to re-paint the outside of an elderly lady's house, which was about 100 years old and was in good need of repair. So basically, the whole week was comprised of scrapping of old pain, applying a coat of primer, letting that dry, and then applying one coat of paint. I know that sounds simple and easy, but it wasn't; the whole process took us the whole week, and there were 15-20 of us on the trip. Oh, and not to mention that the heat index hovered around 100+ degrees (the worst day was Tuesday, when the heat index hit 115 degrees) Interestingly, I was on a ladder most of the time due to my being one of the oldest in the group. This is funny due to the fact that my family has for a long while been allergic to ladders. You look confused. Yes, well that's because it's an inside joke! Hahahahaha...ha.....ha... oh whatever. My dad fell off of a ladder several years ago (I was present) and was in the hospital for a good while. Ever since then my mom has been overly protective of my dad and ladders. He's only been on one once since then (it was actually last weekend). Thus, it has become a pretty big joke in our family that we are all allergic to extension ladders. Oh, and btw, I'm not actually scared of them in the slightest; I made sure that it was set up properly (Which was something we failed to do when my dad fell. He was at too large of an angle with the ground on a slightly sloped gritty driveway which = bad setup) No, I didn't fall! Oh, and one of our leaders was involved in a minor car wreck the first day on our way from RIFA to the elderly lady's house. Due to that small delay we didn't start working until 1ish or something. Yay for adventures! And thus we worked from 9:00 AM to about 4:00 everyday (Mon. to Thurs.) What did we do in the evening do you ask? Well, we all took showers (that was an adventure in-and-of-itself; we were all sharing two showers in the house of a lady from church, and one day the girls took so long that the guys had to take a shower in the mop closet of all places!), we had a devotional time, and then... we played games! My favorite thing that we did was we had a dodge-ball tournament all week long, and although my team didn't win it was still alot of fun! The best part (and the worst part) were the girls vs. guys matches. You see, there were 10-12 girls, and only four guys. The worst part is this: when you catch the ball not only the person who threw it is out, but your whole team gets back into play. Thus, we would whittle the girl's team down to one or two individual and then they would inevitably catch it, bringing all of the girls in who had been sitting on the sideline for a while. This happened innumerable times the first night, and the guys got extremely drained of energy (the girls had time to recharge) Sadly to say (and to our shame) the girls beat us three times in a row. Sad day. And then they beat us again the next night! Well, we were determined to arise victorious, so we ended up going all-out the last night and we creamed them five times in a row! Hehe. I don't know if it was due to our finally adopting a strategy or because our adrenaline was going crazy (or both) but we licked 'em good. Oh yes, we did! (no offense ladies) We also played other games such as Sardines in a Can, Mafia, and Underground Church, which were all great fun! Still, the dodge-ball was the best. By the end of the week (as could be expected) we were absolutely worn out. It didn't help that we went to bed at 11:30 and we got up at 7:30. Ah well. I loved it anyways, and I think that it was a great learning/growing time for all of us. The week went wonderfully, and I highly enjoyed being able to be a servant to others. Interestingly, we made faster progress than Shawn was expecting, and we were able to do the lady's porch as well! Since then: Now back to "normal" life, I have been catching up on rest (which I believe I attained today), playing the Wii with my sis, doing yardwork from when I was gone (the yard was a jungle) and I'm in the process of moving from rest mode to productivity-in-the-summer mode. Today I made up a schedule for myself; next week I am going to start on several projects. I have some catch-up school work to do, I am going to start preparation for the next season in Dollar for a Drink (my non-profit organization which is raising money for wells in Sudan) and I am going to start working in earnest on a trilogy of mine which has been floating around in my head for years now. In addition to these things, there are numerous other small things to do which needed to be accounted for as well. Thus, I made a schedule for myself today which is going to fairly flexible but will at least give me some structure to my week, something which has been lacking since our return from D.C. I am a creature of habit and I just can't go throughout a day without some sort of plan effectively. At any rate, Brawl has been sweet. My sister and I unlocked all of the characters Tuesday I think, which was just two weeks after we got it (and I was gone for four days in the middle of that). The reason for getting them so quickly is all thanks to the Subspace Emissary; which, in my opinion, is an excellent adventure mode. My current top three favorite characters are: Lucario, Lucas, and Sonic. If I'm going for the kill, I'll pick Lucario due to his excellent air attacks (down A to be exact) and the fact that his attack strength attains a super boost when he reaches 167%. I'm just now starting to like Lucas alot; I still need to master his barrage of long range attacks, but both his up and down A smashes are devastating. Although he's not my best, I enjoy playing as Sonic just for the fun of it; He's so fast and light. The only problem is that all of his moves are so similar; he takes a bit of time to get used to. Meta Knight is pretty neat too, I love his recovery and speed attacks. Today I unlocked Spear Pillar, Hanenbow, and Mario Bros. My three favorite levels would have to be: Frigate Orpheon (of course that may just be due to the music), Spear Pillar, and Final Destination. The Pirate Ship is pretty neat too. What's my overall take on the game? It's superb as far as "upgrades" go. Sure, it's the same game as the first Smash Bros. at heart, but the producers did an excellent job of expanding it and taking Melee to a whole new level. I love the game, and the addition of new characters, the smash ball, and many new features make for a truly addictive and fantastic game! Is there anyone else out there who's a Brawl fan? If so, we may have to exchange codes and play! (Providing I semi-know you of course) Now, on to the last (yes, I mean it) topic I wanted to blog about, and it'll be brief. Bionicle/BZPower: First of all, I debating whether I should renew my Brickmaster subscription. Let me ask this right up front though: can you get Bionicle comics with the regular magazine? If so, then I probably won't subscribe... I just don't think it's worth it anymore. Secondly, I realize that I missed most of the voting, but I'm pleased with how BBCC #54 turned out! I'm not surprised at all at how the Semis went (and I just had to get stuck with Roa!) Ah well. I can't wait to see the prizes, and I can't wait (ok, perhaps I can) until the next contest. It's probably just as well that it's not until August. I wonder what the theme will be though.... Also, apologize if I came across as copying Arpy; I truly wasn't. That's just what popped out of my head! I will grant Dandezille for the inspiration of the treads though. And finally, I am planning on placing a larger-ish order from the you-know-which site soon. I really need to expand my collection of small (half-width) liftarms and other small bits. Building in micro-scale (and on a larger scale with my incomplete robot) has really showed me that I need more of those, and not just in black either. I hope to get to work on my latest idea for a white/purple mech/robot thing. So anyways, that's what's been going on in my life. If you read the whole thing, then I congratulate you! My how the fingers can run... GBG

Ah! Got it. Thanks man.

Please excuse my internet lingo ignorance, but what does TBH mean? And yeah, I realize that I don't upload or build a ton of stuff too, lol. And thanks; I remembering you commenting on liking that now... I guess I just misinterpreted your post. My apologies again, and I will let you know that it is my hope to finish that robot one of these days. No, I suppose I can't. I guess I would say that it was the execution of that idea which was different. Of course, now that I think about it, that's not a huge difference really... Hmmm... well let me just make it clear that I agree with you that they are not wholly dissimilar; they do indeed have many similarities (I am admitting that). The only real reason I did micro scale in the first place is due to the fact that I was seriously rushed for time (I only had two days, and that wasn't my fault). If I had had much more time I am sure that I would have done something different (i.e. larger). And as to the photography: I think that's a little irrelevant here. That's just the way I do all of my photography. And anyway you showcased multiple shots in your entry pic; I didn't. Please understand that I had no intentions of copying your entry or your idea; the way I built them just sortof happened that way. Also, no hard feelings felt. I would probably feel the same way if I was in your position.

Got it in to ya. It ended up being a good bit longer than I was expecting though... That's good however!

Yay UP!

Do not. My apologies; I assumed wrong then. If that is the case, what do you like of my work? I guess that the ever (seeming) presence of your (seeming) negativity has always given me the impression that you haven't liked my MoCs (most of them, anyway). You have called my work "ugly" after all. Please clarify this issue for me. GBG

... for the second half of the semis and all of the finals, which will make it all the more interesting when I get back to see the results! Where will I be? Well, I'm leaving on a mission trip tomorrow morning with my youth group, and I won't be back until Friday afternoon. It's actually just to the downtown area of my city, but it's gonna be great none-the-less. We will mostly be doing manual labor stuff along the lines of repairing houses (a house actually, I think), among other things. So... yeah. Just a heads up. I would appreciate your vote in the Semis! Until Friday... GBG

Oh good. I'll try to get to that tomorrow. (It'll be short, but hey, you need anything you can get, right?)

Seriously, I would like to know what this location is too! I'd love a place like that nearby...

Me too. Originally, I just started to build Wasp and then I thought, "hey, I should just copy the design and make a second tank", but then I didn't just want it to be a recolor, so I messed with some of the siding and weapons. This. Deadlines killed originality? Fixed. And Cags, it did no such thing. I think it actually boosted it. As MM said, there are just a few obscure similarities: - Similar colors on one component of the entry (and in Arpy's it's all orange, not orange/burnt orange) - Similar cockpits (construction is different here too) - There are two vehicles in each (and here, Arpy's are jets and mine are tanks) These similarities are tiny. Just because two entries are vaguely similar does not mean that I copied him. Sure, I saw his entry and that he used the Mahri visors, but you know what? For my entry the Mahri visors were the only pieces that would actually fit as cockpits, giving me no other option. Color is irrelevant. And as to the two vehicles, in his entry they are fighting together against something else (also part of the entry). In my entry they are fighting each other. Meh, why do I bother? You won't care, and you dislike everything I build anyway... GBG

Waitwaitwait! Where you a goin'? I'll pray for ya none-the-less!

Night at the Museum 2 was actually quite good in my opinion; better than the first one in fact.

Sweet ingenuity! That's one hefty design idea you've got there! Two questions: how is it propelled forwards, and how are you going to make the track curve? I can't wait to see this completed one day!

I was just barely able to enter! (from my perspective, that is). Normally I'm not a push-it-to-the-limits kind of guy. But then BZPower's server had to go and get busy on me... Anyway, here's my entry! Yay for mini tanks! I hope to get the topic up sometime tomorrow. Sheesh I didn't have much time for these guys; only two days! Well, I'm satisfied with the result at any rate. The tanks are quite compact and all of the connection points for the liftarms within them are put together in some rather un-conventional ways. Perhaps I can upload some inner-workings pics tomorrow... It will be interesting to see how this contest goes... Until the polls! GBG

Ohhhh! Did you just get it? My sis and I will get our new Wii and copy of Brawl in tomorrow! We will have to play ya...

Yep, it does. I've just been gone the past two weeks and have not had the opportunity to work on it. It's small though, so I should still be able to enter...

For the first time, I'm operating on micro-scale, or medium-scale perhaps. I'm about 75% complete with one part of my entry; I'm thinking of having two units to do battle. Yes, they are not humanoid in any fashion; think small, treads, and blasters. Get the idea? Now, back to work.