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26:4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.

26:7 Like a lame man’s legs that hang limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

26:17 Like one who seizes a dog by the ears is a passer-by who meddles in a quarrel not his own.

26:24-26 A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but in his heart he harbors deceit. Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

27:2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.

It’s hard to believe it’s been another year for amplizine. I’m curious if anything will ever come of it. God knows I want to find more time for it, but I would probably be lying if I said this year will be better. For now, I just want to recap the previous year and leave you with a little something else: hope. I know, right? From this pessimistic schmuck?

It was a difficult year for LilPickle. There were ups and downs, fast and slow, excitement and anguish. I was screwed over by the same people who blessed me. I settled in with a career and living like an adult. I even learned a thing or two about women. There are so many moments to remember… and it’s sad I’ll prolly forget a lot of them. Perhaps at the time, I would’ve been glad to get rid of the worst of it… maybe just sleep the week away. I even considered moving to escape the shit. But where would I be if they were taken away? What if the last year never happened so that I would be exactly as I was before?

2008-2009 was about growing for me. Mistakes are a part of learning, of course… I won’t bore you with crap you’ve heard before. What I want to share with you is the the forgotten part of the story of Pandora’s Box in Greek mythology. Just like Eve, Pandora ever so woman-like ruined it for us all. Sure, she unleashed all the evil and sickness on Earth when she peeked in the box–but don’t forget that she also found Hope jammed in there too. Hey that reminds me of the joke what’s the difference between peanut butter and jam?

I’m not arguing that it was somehow worth it to open the box to find Hope, paralleling it to the story of my past year… just that at least we still have hope. Time to pick myself up and keep moving. And it’s time for me to say something that I don’t say often enough: “Fuck that noise.” I once had a good friend who taught me a great deal of the process of fucking noises… you know what I mean. I learned my lessons and now I know better. There’s no sense in beating myself up over the crap, and I can’t expect I’ll never be disappointed again.

So I hold on to the hope that I’ll find the woman of my dreams, and she will be worth the wait. I hope that I’ll continue to be blessed by God in my well-being. I hope that my Android projects will be fruitful. I hope that I’ll find more time for amplizine. I hope that my Nova will ever return to vehicle status.

If you read this site, you may have noticed that the last post was in October. I have taken on a couple big projects that have prevented me from even doing any work on the site since about mid-October. One project is a year round thing while the other is a yearly project that will take up anywhere from four to six months of my time every year. Since I would still like to keep a hobby, I am leaving the site. Even though I enjoy writing, I don’t consider it a hobby. Hopefully, LilPickle will continue the site and get some of the old contributors back as well as new ones.

Well this was fun. Let’s do it again sometime.

Complete 250 cubic inch inline six engine and 2-speed Powerglide transmission out of a 1969 Chevy Nova. 148600 miles. Runs okay, but could use a rebuild.  It hasn’t been run regularly for over a year now, but it used to be my everyday driver. Includes everything bolted on the engine–power steering pump, HEI ignition, alternator, progressive 2 barrel carburetor, starter.  Selling to make room for a LS1.  I’m also moving soon, and I would like to not have to move the engine separately. $300 o.b.o. for it all. Call or email Aaron: 417-718-8476 aaronpickard (at) gmail (dot) com

I respond to all emails and answer questions, so if you don’t hear from me check your email’s spam filter.

Video: 1969 Nova 250 cid Inline 6 Running

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Well, I’m back from Cancun.  Didn’t even tell anyone I was leaving.  It makes the wait easier.  But I’m back now, and I’ll be posting about that whole experience soon enough.  But for now, I just wanted to bring to your attention a commentary I read on CNN today by Glenn Beck.  If you’ve never heard his radio program or seen his show, I’d recommend it.  He occasionally comes off sounding like a dufus, but hey… you don’t mind cuz you’re reading this site still.

This commentary expresses what I feel so well that I see no point in trying to reiterate it.  I just wish I would’ve known of the quote from George Washington beforehand.  How did we lose this kind of awesome power of speaking?

“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.”

What is the purpose of government?  Or perhaps I should ask what did our country’s founding fathers believe the purpose of government was, and is it still relevant?

Remembering my high school social studies classes, I think a safe answer is “To protect the rights of its people.”  Notice the absence of “and provide for its people too.”  And in a free country I can’t see how protecting individual rights could ever become irrelevant.

So why not provide for its people too?

You have certain inalienable rights.  Is it your right to have a home?  Is it your right to be rich?  Is it your right to have the government kiss-it-better when you’re the one that ran your company into the ground?  It is not the government’s business doing any of that, and frankly I’d be scared if it was.  Because where would it end?  Government living quarters.  Official food and clothes.  The Peoples’ Money.  Suspicion.  Segregation.  Restricted books.  Curfews.  Detention centers.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  That was the idea.  That you would not be prevented from doing what you need to make yourself happy.  It does not mean it should be given if things didn’t quite work out for you.

Suggested viewing:  V for Vendetta, 1984

Suggested reading: 1984 by George Orwell, The End of America by Naomi Wolf, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, Apocalypse 2012 by Lawrence E. Joseph

One of my most common distractions keeping me from working on this website is my old rust bucket 1969 Chevy Nova.  Oh, how I love her.  All the amazing and silly ideas I have for fixing it up.  I want to do so much for it… I wish someone could just pay me to work on it all day and do all this crazy stuff.  In my head, it’s like an episode of Overhaulin’ except there’s no Chip Foose in my dad’s garage–and I don’t always know what I’m doing.

So I’m posting some pics of my latest tinkering.  This time, I really want to do everything proper:  permanently beautify it up, if you will.  I have a long road ahead, but that’s okay because I’m gonna need time to afford all of the plans.  By the way, anyone want to buy a complete Chevy 250 inline 6, progressive 2 barrel carburetor, HEI ignition, power steering pump, with a 2-speed Powerglide transmission?  $Tree-fitty!  I’ll even throw in the radiator.  Now that’s a bargain!

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I got something to say. Just wanted to keep you up-to-date on where we are at. We are doing some things behind the scenes, LilPickle is systematically adding all the old site content to our new system, and I am preparing to split off into a new direction with the site.

Speaking of new directions, I have a couple things planned. The first thing I want to do is get back to releasing XHTML+CSS templates like the ones you can find on Open Designs. The image to your left is an example of that. It is a mockup I was doing for a potential client who didn’t agree with the way I was charging them. I believe for any type of design work the designer should be paid up front. I always ask for 50% of the estimate, but I know some people ask for 70% or more. This potential client didn’t believe this to be fair and wanted me to do the full design before any payment. I didn’t always charge a retainer fee up front, but I do now because I have been burned. I saw this client doing the same thing. Wait until I devote the full amount of time to the project (not just a website design, but coding a custom CMS also), then decide to go a different way. It doesn’t cost them a thing, but I’m out anywhere from 50 to 100 hours worth of wages.

But I digress, this image is just a photoshop mockup of a design I was working on. Since I have no financial gain from it anymore, I’m planning on releasing to the public. I want the template to be a full design before I’m releasing, but I thought I would give you a sneak peak.

First template on Amplizine, Almost

Anyways, releasing XHTML templates is one of the things I want to do with on amplizine. Another thing I would like to do is write some tutorials and release some coding projects. One project I have in mind is a simple php gallery script, possibly using XML. I know there are a million out there right now, but it is just something I wanted to do. Another project I have in mind is a type of genealogy CMS. I’ve only recently lost all my grandparents and I realized a link to my past [ha ha, Zelda] is lost. I want to invest more of my time researching my genealogy.

My initial research was looking into what was available online so my siblings and cousins could also help. There are some good sites out there, but you are stuck viewing the information how they want you to. I want to create something that will allow a person/family to host their genealogy on their own site and have control over how it will look. In other words, the CMS should be easy to theme.

Through my initial research, I also realized I would need help coding this CMS. So, if there are any PHP gurus out there who would like to help, let me know by leaving a comment. BTW, I plan on releasing it for free.

Well, they had to start somewhere too.

Welcome all to the new site. We’re still working out a lot of issues and planning type stuff. For instance, what the hell makes amplizine special?

Still researching that.

Oh that reminds me. I’m going to get some reviews back on the site soon. Yes! You too can read our old reviews of movies and games that people no longer care about. Hey, at least it’s more exciting than checking your email one last time before bed.

As you can hopefully see, the site you are looking at is not using an original design. We are currently using the Daleri Sweet theme by Andreas Viklund. LilPickle has delegated me to create a new design. I’m currently busy working on three other designs so this one is going to be put on the back burner for awhile. Maybe LilPickle will come up with a design and I can just create the actual theme. One can only hope.

UPDATE: That Daleri Sweet theme lasted a long time (all of 20 minutes). Andreas Viklund is a great designer, but the design just didn’t feel right for the site. Hopefully, the one up now will last until I get around to designing one.