Brakes, Stretchers, and iPods

First, let me start by explaining that this post is two or three months past due. Even though I should have written it then, it's very appropriate today. You might be asking yourself what these three items (brakes, stretchers, and iPods) have in common, so I will tell you. About two or three months ago I needed to replace my brakes in order to register my car. Well, I've never changed brakes before and this was a new experience for me. Luckily, I can always turn to my dad, who knows everything about cars. You see, I just have to take a moment to say that my dad is amazing because he can do so many things incredibly well - everything from his career as a professional A/V tech, satellite tech, welder, builder (of anything), designer, and finally, mechanic. It may not seem like much, but he showed me how to change my brake pads and that got my car working, which I desperately needed.

Not only did he help me with my brakes, but he helped me when I needed to build a canvas stretcher. My favorite way of displaying photos is as a gallery wrap canvas, and in order to make one you need a stretcher to stretch (wrap) the canvas around a wooden frame. Well, I knew that it could be built for much less than the least expensive version I had seen online for several hundred dollars. So to whom did I turn to find the help I needed to build my stretcher? Yep, you guessed it - none other than my dad. And help he did. You see, my dad knows exactly where to go for all of the parts, materials, and ideas, so when you need something done, he's the guy to ask. He drew it all up and showed my exactly how to machine the aluminum bars to give me what I needed. It worked out great and now I have two huge (24x36) gallery wraps hanging in my "studio" thanks to the help my dad gave me. He does that a lot, just helps people and that's perhaps the thing that I respect most about my dad. Not only will he help you, he'll go all out when he's doing it. I've seen him help out brothers and sisters, neighbors, work associates, and every time he will do everything that he can (and that's a lot) to make sure you're good to go.

Now to iPods. First I need to thank my dad for the iPod that I already have because it's his old one, and boy is it old. 4 years, to be exact and it's still ticking, thanks to my dad. You might remember my post where I told the story of how my iPod gave me the sad face and stopped working. Well, after my brother helped me fix it once, I broke it again by unknowingly letting it take a long fall onto the cement. Well, I was completely at a loss and just about ready to give up on my 4 year old, fourth generation iPod Photo and accept my fate as an iPod-less member of society. But when I showed it to my dad as a last ditch effort, my spirits were lifted from the proverbial floor when he had the answer. We just had to disconnect the lcd, reconnect it, and leave the battery disconnected for a day and that was it. Now it works like a champ and I couldn't be happier.

These are just a few examples of why I have the coolest dad ever and I wanted to say thanks to him on his birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad! I hope it's one of many, many more we get to share together.

Here are some random pictures of my dad. I have to say that some of them are cell-phone pictures, which I rarely use in posts because they usually are pretty crappy. But some cell-phone pictures is better than no pictures, right?

I told my dad that I needed to post this last picture on my blog and he didn't think that I would do it. And just so you know, he's got a frowny face because we had to throw away those sawhorses that have been around for ever. It was a sad day ;-)