Went letterboxing in Charlton, Mass. today. We did the Buffumville Lake series, and Destination Unknown got his 250th find!

Despite drizzle and increasing coldness, it was a beautiful 3 mile walk (though it didn’t feel like 3 miles) around the wetlands of the lake. The stamps (10 in the series) were hand-carved for a Girl Scout project. Sadly, one of the stamps was missing from its box, and a travel-sized Band-aid box was left in its place. The box may have possibly been mistaken for a geocache. This is a pet-peeve of letterboxers. Gr.

A view of Buffumville Lake from the far end

Destination Unknown gets his 250th find!

Walk Softly at Buffumville

Seen in George Street, Windsor, NSW.

Nikon D40x, Nikon 18-200mm VR @ 36mm, f/4.5, 1/50s, ISO 100, Handheld.

Gazeta “www.z-letterbox.com” jest bezpłatnym (systemem ulotek) biuletynem  regionalnym wydawanym w paśmie Beskidu Slaskiego.

Zawartość tematyczna: Główny content to materiały informacyjno-reklamowe,  wsparte blokiem aktualnych wydarzeń z regionu oraz cyklicznymi działami tematycznymi: Kultura, Prawo&Finanse Nieruchomości, Dom&Wnętrze, Auto-Moto, Praca, Sport.

Zasięg : Gazeta obejmuje swoim zasięgiem  do 13 miejscowości:

Bielsko-Biala, Żywiec, Wisla, Szczyrk, Kety, Sucha Beskidzka, Buczkowice, Rybarzowice, Jelesnia, Jelesnia, Czechowice-Dziedzice, Bierna,Wilkowice-Bystra.

Dystrybucja: System kolportażu oparty jest na stałych miejscach dystrybucji oraz systemie door-to-door (bezpośrednio do miejsca zamieszkania czytelnika).

Do stałych miejsc dystrybucji należą min.: miejsca użyteczności publicznej (urzędy, starostwa powiatowe, szpitale), hipermarkety i supermarkety ( Carrefour Express, TESCO, CASTORAMA,MEDIAMARKT), sieci sklepów samoobsługowych (min. Żabka, Biedronka), kluby fitness (min. Galeria Fitness), szkoły wyższe (WSKFiT), środki komunikacji miejskiej (WKD, SKM, autobusy WNUK) oraz w szereg mniejszych punktów handlowo-usługowych.

Nakład: Nakład gazety wynosi 3.000 egzemplarzy.

Profil czytelnika: Nie jesteśmy gazetą czytaną przez wszystkich – wiemy kim jest nasz czytelnik i jak do niego dotrzeć. Szczegółowe informacje o grupie docelowej dostępne w Biurze Reklamy  tel.mob. 794-510-994  lub pod adresem mailowym

This is my first DIY so please bear with me

Things You’ll Need

Spray Glue – $4.97
3 – 12×12x6 cardboard boxes – $5.91
Xacto Knife – (on hand) $0
Scissors – (on hand) $0
12 sheets of 12×12 Decorative Paper in Color Scheme – (on hand) $0
Sand Paper – $1.96
White Spray Paint – $.96
Screw Driver – (on hand) $0
10 Hinges – $3.94
Black Duct Tape – (on hand) $0
Fabric Ribbon & Trim – (on hand) $0
Hot Glue Gun w/ Glue Sticks – (on hand) $0
Glue Stick – $.25
White Printer Paper – (on hand) $0
Pen or Word Processor & Printer – (on hand) $0
Craft Paper – (on hand) $0

Total Cost – $17.99

Directions

Back a few months ago, I fell in love with this beautiful antique letterbox for holding our place cards. After searching high and low for the perfect box, I couldn’t find one anywhere near our price range. So I decided to make one

Well seeing how I’ve never made one of these before or seen a tutorial for doing so, this was largely a test of trial and error. So bear with me as I recount my steps

Step 1:
I started off by taking 2 of the boxes – which were still unfolded – and cutting off one of the narrow sides on each box.

Step 2:
Then I took the taped together the long sides of each box to form the frame for a larger box. (as you can tell the pictures explain this a lot better than I can)

Step 3:
Now you can tape the bottom of the box so that you have an actual box shape.

Step 4:
Seeing that we only need a 6″ deep box, now I cut the flaps off the top of the box. Save all the extra cardboard b/c you will be using it later.

Step 5:
I took the 2 long flaps and taped them together. I then taped them into place in the horizontal center of the box to form a shelf halfway through it. Now I just had to make the dividers form my cubbies.

Step 6:
The Dividers – here is where the shorter flaps came in handy. Seeing how they measured the exact height and width as the height and depth of my box they required no trimming. I simply had to find the 6″ halfway point and sketch a line to follow. Then using the Xacto knife, I cut a 1/8″ slit along the line stopping 1/4″ from cutting all the way through the piece.

In order for the dividers to butt flush against the middle shelf, I needed to cut a 1/4″ x 1/4″ notch in the shelf for the divider to rest in.

Therefore, these notches need to be set 4″ apart from each other along the shelf to create perfectly spaced cubbies.

Once the grooves are cut, you just slip the divider onto the shelf and hook it into the notch. Secure in place with tape.

This is where the 3rd box comes into play. Cut it’s short flaps for more dividers.

Step 7:
By the end it should look something like this.

Step 8:
It was at this point that I over-layed all the sides and edges of the box with the black duct tape. This is essential in pulling off the whitewashed look later.

Step 9:
Here’s where I headed outside to take care of the messy stuff. I started off my sanding the duct tape… yes, sanding duct tape! Not too much, just lightly to help the spray paint adhere. I roughed up some parts more than others to help the white wash effect.

Step 10:
For the back, I rolled up a large piece of craft paper. After spraying a coat of spray glue, I immediately unrolled the paper onto the box, smoothing as I unrolled to avoid any ripples or air bubbles.

Step 11:
Now I just trimmed the excess paper off with the Xacto knife. (it’s really starting to come along, isn’t it?)

Step 12:
Onto the spraying. I sprayed an uneven coat of white paper over the duct taped sides. Because it’s been over 110 degrees here the paint was instantly drying so I didn’t have to wait before roughing up the coat by sanding portions of this.

After I’d sand, I’d spray a bit more paint. I just kept repeating this process until I got a look I was happy with. I loved how the duct tape strips ended up looking like wood planks.

I finished it off by spraying the back all white.

Step 13:
Using either craft paper or in my case left over scrapbook paper (these were left over from our paper fan favors), I cut little rectangles which I spray glued into the back of each cubby.

Step 14:
The hardest part was lining the cubby walls. It takes one sheet of 12×12 paper for each cubby. I started off by cutting each sheet in half.

I started by pre-creasing the paper to fit snugly inside each cubby. Then spraying the cubby first with glue (trust me on this one… it was a true trial and error there…) slip the paper inside and smooth against the walls. I found it helps to do the bottom of the cubby with the first paper. Then repeat the step to cover the top of the cubby with the second half of the paper. Don’t expect it to be perfect… a lot of mine weren’t but we’ll cover that in a minute…

Step 15:
Once all the cubbies were lined, I trimmed away the excess paper with my Xacto knife and brought the box back inside.

Step 16:
Seeing as how I had a few slip-ups with the paper linings, I busted out my scrap trim collection. I have a large assortment of blacks and whites.

I started by hot gluing some ribbon over the cubby edges. Make sure you fold down the ends so that they don’t unravel. And I did the vertical pieces first so that the horizontal strip would finish it off.

Also feel free to hot glue trim anywhere you want to cover inside the cubbies.

Step 17:
Using a screw driver, I started screwing the hinges into the top of each cubby.

I’m only using 10 cubbies for place cards so i picked 2 that would go hinge-less.

Step 18:
Once I had the hinges in place, I hot glued a decorative trim around the top and side edges of the box. This hid any tape strips that showed through on the edges.

Step 19:
Using the remaining cardboard from the extra box, I measured 1.5″x3.75″ strips which I cut out with the Xacto.

I then cut a 2×8.5 strip of white computer paper.

With the glue stick, I attached the front of the cardboard to the back side of the paper.

Then I glued over the top long edge followed by the bottom long edge.

Following the same premise as gift wrapping a box, I made triangle flaps which I glued into place on the cardboard.

I repeated this step 10 times for my handing signs.

Step 20:
Using a word processor and a pretty calligraphy font, I printed out letter ranges for my signs. I had them measure less than a 1″ tall to allow room at the top of each sign to attach to the hinges.

I simply cut each letter range out and glued it onto it’s own sign.

Step 21:
Now I just needed to screw each sign into place on it’s own hinge.

Be sure to put them in the correct alphabetical order

Step 22:
The finished product!

I used little knick knacks to embellish my letterbox and am more than pleased with the finished results. It turned out exactly how I wanted it and it surprisingly sturdy/heavy. In all I probably spent 10 hrs and under $20 on this project and I think it was worth every minute

So I have an amazing DIY project in the works… in addition to all my others… you know we already have around 300 water bottle collected and I’m a 1/3 of the way done with the favors… gonna get started on the invites in september and the save the dates are printed and waiting to be sent out in September as well…

But back to the topic at hand… I’ve been inspired by this beauty…

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… and classic bride’s DIY Contest to get started on my place card box. Bought all the supplies tonight so await details later in the week

Speaking of which, did I ever tell ya’ll about my place cards? I’m making poladroids of each guest. When they rsvp they will also send me a photo of themselves to be used. Something like this…

… except with their name and Table # written on the bottom. Plus these will all be free by using my ArtsCow print credits.

And have I shown you my Table # idea? I’m using printed flickr photos of various numbers for each table. Now I just need to find my stands.

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I’ve been pretty busy in blogging absense, i know… but I’m trying to get back into the blogging swing now that I’m home again… well nighty night folks! I have work tomorrow (I’m an actual Graphic Designer with a Sign Company now!)

The New Zealand Herald has developed a new product that it’s been pitching to advertisers over the past week or so (but which will only proceed if there’s sufficient interest/dollars). The new title is called the NZ SHOPPING GUIDE and it’s a magazine-sized, advertising-only, letterbox-distributed publication in the finest tradition of BEST BUYS and other Direct To The Home publications. It’s a national title, intended to provide the retail sector with a relatively low cost alternative  to reach shoppers around the country.

The declared mission of the NZ SHOPPING GUIDE: “great deals on everything you need for yourself, your family and your home”. Accordingly, the publication has been divided into three sections:

• My House – Inside
• My House – Outside
• My Family

The challenge for the Herald sales team is twofold:

1. Advertisers don’t typically segment their offers or their advertising into the categories into which the Guide is segmented. Will retailers be willing to develop separate material for this new publication?
2. Without editorial content, the SHOPPING GUIDE rises or falls on the appeal of the offers made in the advertising. Will retailers be willing to dig deep enough to offer sufficiently compelling deals?

I just couldn’t choose between these two photos, so you’re getting them both; thank goodness we don’t have a pink letterbox (top right).

I just can’t help but wonder why marketers at pizza places (and other food delivery services) are so dumb. I have pretty much ordered at all the larger local places here in Amsterdam, so there are a lot of places which have my phone number, adress and they know what I like because they know what I order.

However, they keep bombarding my letterbox with unwanted paperwaste I usually throw away right away. Besides the fact that is a waste of paper and therefore a strain on nature, this is plain stupidity, right? Why isn’t there a pizza place which applies the Amazon.com business model to create a personalized menu? Why don’t they send me personalized special offers for products that interest me, addressed to me? I offer this idea for free, and the first company to take up this business model has one customer already, I promise! Until that time I am going to keep my Banksy sticker up on my letterbox.

(If you want one, let me know. Maybe I can have a bunch printed so we can declare war on lazy, spamming delivery places!)

The Aspect Ratio Debate. It’s not a pretentious art-rock band, but a question that has plagued Stanley Kubrick fans since the beginning of home video. What did Kubrick intend for us to see on our television screens, and does this still apply since the widescreen TV boom?

The issue originates from Kubrick’s dismay at seeing a pan and scan version of 2001: A Space Odyssey — a version formatted to fill a 4:3 TV screen by cropping off the edges of the image. As a preventative measure Kubrick shot his subsequent films in open matte, essentially capturing more of the image than was needed for widescreen theatrical presentation. This allowed for TV broadcasts without the use of pan and scan (which compromises the original cinematography) or letterboxing (which, although it would be my favoured solution, Kubrick reportedly found distracting).

It was these fullscreen versions that were released on VHS and DVD, and thus the versions that many fans have grown to love after years of repeated home viewings. They were indeed the versions favoured by Kubrick for home display, but not for theatrical presentation. This is perhaps most obvious when you compare the opening scene of The Shining. In the full frame version, the camera helicopter’s shadow can be glimpsed for at least one second, while it is hidden in the widescreen version. Surely a perfectionist like Stanley Kubrick would not ultimately favour the version with such a blatant technical glitch.

And the simple fact is that home display has advanced greatly since Kubrick’s death. High-definition widescreen televisions offer the most cinematic experience currently possible without an actual cinema, and the theatrical version comes closer to filling the screen than the so-called “fullscreen” version of old. Consumers are more aware of aspect ratios, and less likely to panic at the first sign of black bars on their screens.

But when films like The Shining were screened in two different formats (slightly wider in the US, slightly taller in Europe) it becomes harder to honour the film-maker’s intentions. Warner Brothers could offer fans the choice, but considering there are three possible aspect ratios and two different cuts of The Shining, the prospect of all those transfers becomes daunting (not to mention prohibitively expensive).

The current DVD/blu ray release of The Shining uses yet another aspect ratio — the current widescreen TV standard of 16:9, which is somewhere between both theatrical versions. It’s preferable to a compromised version of the film based on outmoded technology, but it is still a compromised version of the film… just one based on current technology! It’s less drastic a change than the one necessitated by 4:3 screens, but honestly, are black bars really that distracting when they allow us to see the vision originally presented to us in the cinema?

Today I spent the afternoon geocaching with my sister and nephew in Upper Marlboro.  Zachary had been sick for the past two days so we weren’t sure how much caching we’d get in, but we set off to see what we could accomplish.

When I was compiling the list of caches to visit, I came across Gnome’s Home (GCN3BM) which was the obvious starting point since the previously logger said that he’d left $100 and nothing had been logged since.  We drove around 2 wrong areas before finally arriving at our destination.  The cache was easy to find and full of loot, just not the $100 – someone beat us to it.  This was Zachary’s and Heather’s first cache so they each choose a prize, we left two prizes, took pictures, signed the log, sealed everything up and then headed off to the next destination.

Our next attempt was NFL – Not So Cheap Seats (GC1F84M).  Admittedly, we didn’t give this one a very good go.  The clue said that we may be able to see it from the trail…we couldn’t and even with the golf club that we brought along, the idea of walking through the woods 70 yds looking for a cache box that may or may not be there wasn’t my idea of a good idea given the copperhead population and our close proximity to the pond filled with turtles and frogs and other things that snakes probably LOVE to eat.

We did walk around to the neighborhood trail to see if we could access the cache from a different angle, but no luck, still woods to tackle.  Definitely city cachers!

Needless to say, the seven year old was a bit disheartened and ready to end the day but there was one more cache just around the corner that we wanted to attempt before calling it a day.

Darnall’s Chance (GC1J4KH) was a success and proved to be an interesting end to the day.

Zachary and Heather had come to Darnall’s Chance last year in search of a letterbox (LbNA 26010), they were successful so Zachary wanted to show me where it was.  When we arrived at the box location we were saddened to see that the box had been ruined.  Somehow the container had come open, the contents spilled out and the log book ruined.  The stamp was missing the stamp portion but the ink pad was still there and appeared to be ok.  We brought the box home with us and sent a message to the owner through the Letterboxing website.

We are willing to repair and replace the content of the box and replace it if that’s what the owner wants, or we are willing to hand over the contents for the owner to deal with.  Either way is fine with me, it’s just a shame that the box was ruined.  It has been out there for people to find since 2006!

So as Meatloaf says, two out of three ain’t bad.  It was a good day of caching.  Everything has been logged and we’ve located a bunch of caches and letterboxes to look for during out trip to the Outerbanks at the end of the month!  There are even geocaches in Chile so hopefully there will be more Tales from the Trails coming soon!

Just after I got my Holga I bought the fisheye lens attachment. I’m still not used to how much you can fit in the frame compared to my D50’s kit lens. This was supposed to be a close up of the letterbox!

I don’t know. Is Japan really that unsafe that letterboxes need to be locked inside a locked cabinet? In fact how does the postman even get in to drop the letters off? Damn, they must get some serious post at this office, or apartment block, or whatever! It is hard to tell what kind of building you are looking at in Tokyo.

This is another one from my day in Harajuku. If you don’t already know, Harajuku is quite a creative place, especially the area behind Omotesandwich Hills, known as Ura-Hara. There are loads of small clothes shops all vying for customers so they go the extra mile on presentation.

This photo is of a wall mural, next to Lotteria,  I think.  Catholicism struck me as rather a strange topic for Tokyo’s Champs-Elysees, but after some time in this mish-mash of a place you learn to stop asking so many questions and just enjoy whatever it is you are doing.

 Come al solito in Italia siamo indietro, anche sulle trasmissioni televisive. Ormai saranno quindici anni che esistono le TV con schermo widescreen 16:9 (addirittura Philips ha presentato lo schermo che potete vedere in foto in 21:9, stesse proporzioni dello schermo del cinema), ma ancora qui da noi le trasmissioni sono in 4:3 o in letterbox, con le bande nere sopra e sotto l’immagine. Che senso ha, dico io, acquistare televisori wide, full-hd , eccetera, quando la tecnologia che dovrebbe sfruttarli praticamente esiste solo all’estero? A parte l’alta definizione, che merita un discorso a parte, sono ancora poche le emittenti così “coraggiose” da iniziare a trasmettere in 16:9. E menomale che ci pensa Sky, che almeno i canali Cinema li manda in schermo panoramico. Sembra che anche la RAI si stia muovendo in questo senso, anche se dovremmo aspettare lo switch-off dell’analogico nel 2010 per vedere i risultati. Beh, come si dice, meglio tardi che mai…

Liebe Häuslebauer,

wir nähern uns rasch dem Ende dieser Tutorial-Reihe. Diese Lektion beschäftigt sich mit einem weiteren Zubehörteil, das eure Zuhause auf einfache Art und Weise aufwerten kann und in keinem Wohnhaus fehlen sollte: der Briefkasten.

Das Briefkasten Script dient dazu, dem Besitzer eine Notecard zu hinterlassen. natürlich kann ich das per IM oder Drag & Drop auf das Benutzerprofil selbst. Was aber tun, wenn der Benutzer “busy” oder offline ist, die E-Mail-Benachrichtigung aber ausgeschaltet ist?

Der Briefkasten löst das Problem recht einfach. Kern der Lösung ist der Funktionsaufruf

llAllowInventoryDrop(TRUE);

Das reicht eigentlich auch schon fast aus. Allerdings bekommt der Briefkastenbesitzer nicht mit, wenn jemand was reinwirft – und wer geht schon in SL täglich an den Briefkasten, nur weil vielleicht ein Briefträger vorbeigekommen sein könnte?!

Wir brauchen also noch eine Benachrichtigung. Dazu werten wir mit dem changed() Event aus, dass sich das Inventar des Objektes geändert hat. Hat sich die Zahl der Notecards im Inventar vergrößert, senden wir eine IM und falls eine Mailadresse vorhanden ist eine Email an den Besitzer.

Die Emailadresse schreiben wir in die Objektbeschreibung – das ist immer der einfachste Weg, ein Objekt zu konfigurieren. Wer das nicht möchte, kann die Mailadresse auch direkt in den Code schreiben.

Hier das Script:

string EMAIL          = ""; // add mail address here or to object description!
string MESSAGE_TEXT   = "You have #1 new message(s) in your letterbox.";
string MESSAGE_HEADER = "New Mail arrived";
string MESSAGE_TOUCH  = "Please drop your notecard for #1 here by dragging it into the box from your inventory.";
string MESSAGE_THANKS = "Thank you for submitting your notecard!!";
string HOVERTEXT      = "Letterbox of #1.";
vector HOVER_COLOR    = ;

// internal state
string emailAddr      = EMAIL;
integer last_count;

string llReplaceString(string source, string substring, string replacestring)
{
    while (llSubStringIndex(source, substring) != -1)
    {
        integer index = llSubStringIndex(source, substring);
        string temp = llDeleteSubString(source, index, (index + (llStringLength(substring) - 1)));
        source = llInsertString(temp, index, replacestring);
    }
    return source;
}

update_email()
{
    emailAddr = llGetObjectDesc();
    if(emailAddr == "" || emailAddr == "(No Description)")
    {
        emailAddr = EMAIL;
    }
}

default
{
    on_rez(integer start_param)
    {
        llResetScript();
    }

    state_entry()
    {
        llSetText(llReplaceString(HOVERTEXT, "#1", llKey2Name(llGetOwner())), HOVER_COLOR, 1);
        llAllowInventoryDrop(TRUE);
        last_count = 0;
    }

    touch_start(integer total_number)
    {
        llSay(0, llReplaceString(MESSAGE_TOUCH, "#1", llKey2Name(llGetOwner())));
    }

    changed(integer mask)
    {
        if(mask & (CHANGED_ALLOWED_DROP | CHANGED_INVENTORY))
        {
            integer count = llGetInventoryNumber(INVENTORY_NOTECARD);
            if(count > last_count) {
                llWhisper(0, MESSAGE_THANKS);
                string tMessage = llReplaceString(MESSAGE_TEXT, "#1", (string) count);
                update_email();
                if(emailAddr != "")
                {
                    llEmail(emailAddr, MESSAGE_HEADER, tMessage);
                }
                llInstantMessage(llGetOwner(), tMessage);
            }
            last_count = count;
        }
    }
}

Viel Spaß,
eure Jenni

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Here’s another creative letterbox…  

Few people these days actually write letters, but we still have a “fancy” letterbox I painted the border collie head after a stencil I made from a photo on a BC calendar some years ago so it is not professionally made.

People rushing in Harajuku. As always, a letterbox lurks in plain sight.

Just sitting at the bottom of the stairs chillin’…