The NaNa Chair

This is the NaNa Chair. I built this several months ago and finally got around to making the quilt (with my sweet Emilie's help).

Alen's Chair and the Summer Begins...

We found out a few days ago that a chair built during our fall Furniture Design and Construction studio was selected as a finalist at the the AWFS (Association of Woodworking and Furnishings Suppliers) national competition. This could mean up to 5k for Alen Mahic, about 2k for the U of Idaho, and a trip for Alen and myself to Las Vegas! I've been aggressively working on my Texas Hold'em skills as I realize that this is an essential part of the trip :) ! Now, before I milk some people out of people at the poker table, I have to milk a little money out of my wife to get me started!!



In other news, I took Topher fishing and we caught a few Blue Gills. I am on a softball team - wonderful guys on the team, we have fun playing the game - and a lot more fun drinking beer and making fun of how we played afterwards.

Topher and Benny are both playing soccer and starting baseball. They are both becoming a major force on the soccer fields. I taught both of them how to arm guard in soccer and now I may have to retract some of my lessons as there is starting to be a little pushing and shoving going on. I am so proud of them both.

We also bought a Wii recently - I am reliving my youth as a skateboarder with a game called 'Skate It' - it is really fun!

House Addition

I visited Austin on my way to San Antonio and stopped by a house I did an addition for while I was a student at UT. Here are some before and after shots:

Rainbow Rocking Chair

The Rainbow Rocking Chair is finished (but for the quilted pillow that Emilie will add this summer). This is Topher's first chair design - he's a natural if you ask me!

The Rainbow Rocking Chair

This is the Rainbow Rocking Chair, designed by Christopher and built by us both. The chair hasn't been sanded yet and will eventually be painted with the following colors: purple for the curved bottom rails, red legs, green seat, yellow back, and orange arms. There will be a quilt that ties into the back panel. The chair consists of many different types of wood - poplar, oak, acx plywood, and mdf - we used a lot of scrap to save on cost.

Website Finally Up and Running

Well, thanks to the help of my brother I have finally launched my website. This has been in its planning stages for about two years now. Please visit:

www.frcjacobus.com

and let me know what you think. The site is a combination of my personal projects and my academic projects (including student work). I will be updating and refining this site gradually so stay in touch - I don't even mind you adding it as a favorite ;).

Golf Bragging

I shot a 77 Monday - with a 34 on the back.

Yes, that's right - 2 under on the back!

I was (and am still) PUMPED!!

New Post for Jenny

Jenny (mother-in-law) called and said she was tired of looking at my cardboard chair post - this post should temporarily relieve her pain.

Not in them mood to write much so i'll show some pictures of the chairs from this Fall.

Thin Line Chair

Cardboard chair i'm working on...

sum mor 2to3 chares

2to3 Chairs

Below are three of the "2to3" chairs that the students designed and built for their second project in furniture design. These chairs are named "2to3" because they are designed for 2 to 3 year olds and because the program requires that the students build the chair out of a flat sheet of plywood - hence 2 dimension to three dimension.

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!

Let's Go OBAMA!!!!!!!

I voted today and LOVED filling in that oval! Tomorrow I will cry from sadness if John McCain wins, and cry with joy if Obama does. I am so ready for the idiot republicans to be shown the door.

Religulous

I saw 'Religulous' on Sunday night - was seeing this film on a sunday blasphemous - can a heathen be blasphemous? I thought it was interesting (and perhaps ironic?) that there were only 5 other people in my theater but there was a packed house for "Saw V (or IV or VI - couldn't tell you)", a horror film of some sort. This is not a scientific sampling of interest for these films but something that peeks my curiosity none the less - more people wanted to see blood and guts and sawing people into little pieces than wanted to listen to a skeptics documentary on religious faith. "Religulous" is definitely worth seeing - scary, but in a different way than "Saw V".

And speaking of angels - I went to Los Angeles last Thursday through Sunday. This is a strange place. Urban? This place redefines the term. You cannot go anywhere unless you are in a car - I really felt as though I had been transported into a Chips episode or an episode of Charlie's Angels (Emilie's been into these lately) but the scenery had simply aged thirty years. L.A. is a place that seems impossible to pin down - it really is an accumulation of everything, all sandwiched into one big sprawling mess - you're sort of forced to love it. It begins to fall into the 'so bad it's good' class of phenomenon.

We've finished up our "2to3" chairs for my furniture class. I'll show some pictures of those soon.

New York Times Endorsement

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24fri1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Great article about the New York Times' endorsement of Barack Obama for president. I will be so sad and depressed if "the other one" gets elected.

12 days and counting...

Red and Blue Quartered Chairs

Big Ben in Blue

Quartered Chair Blue

And...Quartered Chair Blue says hello.

Quartered Chair Red

Presenting "Quartered Chair Red". QC Blue coming soon. And for those of you thinking "how long has he been working on this damn chair?" - good question, I think around 9 months, and yes - it took me to the brink of insanity. Next up - "Peel Chair no. 1".

National Debt

Interesting piece on the national debt and the growth during the years the 'neo-conservatives'have been in office. This is the chart if you don't feel like reading the article:


George Bush is the worst thing that could have happened to this country - what a boneheaded republican hack.