eirikur's Profile

My comment is going to be very geeky but these look a lot like the Star Trek Vulcan game Kal-Toh before it has been completed.

gquaker is right on target with the suggestions. Though I never got used to sleeping with earplugs because they'd always come out during the night.

I used to live at the corner of 24th St @ Church. Both the 48 bus and the J (or any other train going off to be parked at Balboa Park Station) made a stop right in my bedroom which faced the street. If MUNI traffic wasn't enough I also had to deal with yelling drunk people after they left the bar and countless drivers who'd park in the bus stop with their stereos thumping as they went into the 24 hour Happy Donuts downstairs.

Here are a couple of things I did using foam which made dramatic improvements. I put egg crate foam on the wall and then covered it in a really nifty graphic printed fabric which doubled as art and gave color to my room which I couldn't paint because of my lease.

During the cooler months I'd install foam pillows I cut to size over my window. Real simple-- get some foam from someplace like foamorder.com on Harrison St. Measure your windows and cut the foam to the needed dimensions. Cover the foam with a fabric that compliments your decor. If you can't sew, or just don't want to, use a spray adhesive to apply the fabric instead of making a mock pillowcase. Attached a Velcro piece to each corner of one side of the foam pillow and a corresponding Velcro piece can be glued to the window frame. When you want to sleep or cut down the noise, just place the foam pillows up on the window frame attached to the Velcro. It cuts down noise like you wouldn't believe. Plus it insulates really well which was another problem I had when I lived on that corner-- there wasn't a heater in the apartment.

I used to live up the street from this place and would pass it every morning on my way to BART. It has a real "Needful Things" feel to it (I'm referring to the movie adapted from the Stephen King novel.) Each time I passed there was a new thing in the window I desired. Now, it seems silly, but because of that the store kind of scared me.

Finally one day I went inside and was happy that there weren't any Leland Gaunt type of people working in the store. I looked around to make sure there wasn't a caveat emptor sign and when I didn't find one I was comfortable enough to buy a few things including an antique marionette, a vintage artist's palette with the most beautiful colors on it and some vintage movable letters from a printing press. Really this store has something for everyone.

During my last year of high school, in a sewing class, I decided my senior winter project would be to sew as many heavy duty coats for the homeless as I could in two weeks.

The project turned into a friendly competition when two classmates decided to make coats as well. At the end of the two weeks we had constructed and sewn twenty-four coats of various sizes which got donated to a local shelter. It was quite the achievement.

I've made a few of these for friends. A good How To with sourcing information and instructional video can be found on the Martha Stewart website.

My mom, a woodworker, gives the same piece of advice to both carpenters and her children: "You can't change the grain of wood no matter how much you paint or polish." It has proven quite useful over the years not only in design work but more importantly when dealing with other people or even myself.