First day of school

Here are the girls ready to take Z to her first day of second grade. She's very excited about it.

Amp Project

For a while now, I've been thinking about getting an extension cabinet to go with my "Mesa/Boogie Subway Blues" amp. I've also been having some noise problems caused by too much vibration in my "Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 20th Anniversary" combo amp.

So... to kill two birds with one stone... I decided to take the Hughes & Kettner and convert it to a head and cabinet configuration. That way the tubes in the amplifier won't get shaken as much and I'll be able to use the cabinet with the Mesa/Boogie when needed.

Here's a before shot...



And here's the finished product...



Here's a couple shots of the head. I made it out of a piece of oak lumber I found marked down Menard's. I'm guessing someone bought it and brought it back because the grain wasn't uniform enough for them. Personally... I think the grain is pretty cool.

If you look on the back you can see a hole in the metal. The original cabinet had a back panel that covered that area up. I was a bit surprised to find it there... and didn't design with it in mind. I'd like to cover it up with something... so I'm on a hunt for a small, black, really cool sticker.

And here's a shot of the cabinet. It's made out of baltic birch plywood and is covered in some green vinyl I found in the "tacky" section of the upholstery store. I can't imagine having furniture made out of the stuff... but it's great for an amp.

Overall... this was a fun project. It went fairly quickly and I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out.

Harry Potter Scarf

Z got an invitation to a Harry Potter birthday/costume party. The costumes were optional, but since she doesn't know anything about Harry Potter, I didn't want her to go without and feel totally left out. I quickly went out to buy yarn to knit her this cool Gryffindor scarf. I knit furiously for four days and finished today right before the party. She loves it! (Doesn't it make her look brave?) Now A wants a Ravenclaw scarf. It's not a coincidence that the girls are both Cyclone and Bulldog fans.