....and it was over just like that.

The dream of a new bicycle.

After numerous delays and procrastinations we finally broke down and bought another car. I was hoping to make it through the winter with just the car. If we did, I promised myself a nice new bike to commute in the spring with. But the best laid plans of mice and men....

It was nice not having any car payments to make and only needing to feed one car (and truck, albeit bi-monthly).

If we made a one car family work for 7 months, why do we need another car now?
1 - Was it the cold?
2 - Was it the snow?
3 - Was it the ice?
4 - Was it the salt?
5 - Was it the lack of public transportation?
6 - Was it the some of the people on the public transportation?
7 - Was it the constant commentary from some people at work?

and the verdicts?
1 - Sorta, I'm no bike martyr.
2 - Yes, roads here suck in the snow.
3 - Yes, see #2
4 - Oh yes, they practically throw marbles out of the sanders.
5 - No, as long as I'm willing to wait for the buses they're not that bad.
6 - Yup, there's some weird people on bus 31.
7 - No.


So, if the weather would cooperate, the insurance company would stay open (they closed early due to snow),  the holidays would end we'd have a new to us Element sitting in the driveway.
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Evening Fun

Here's one for the books...

Tonight I left DaGirl in her room while I put DaBoy down. When I left the room she found her bathing suit on the floor and was chatting about it. I was out of her room for all of five minutes. I heard her moving around but since she was relatively quiet I figured all was OK.

When I got back to her room she was sitting in her bed with her bathing suit on her legs and shaking water out of her sippy cup onto her blue flannel sheet exclaiming "POOL! I swimming in my pool!"

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Someone's in a Hurry Here

After dinner DaMom started the bath water when she was getting ready to leave for quilting class. Like a good mommy she closed the door behind her when she went upstairs as the filled the tub. Meanwhile DaKids and I were feeding the dog and cat. When we finished with the project of the pet food (and believe me it is a project) DaGirl wanted to play in the living room and watch TV.

DaGoof: "DaGirl", why don't go into the bathroom and get ready for a bath?
DaGirl: Oh, OK (and she scurries out of the kitchen)

DaBoy, who had been behind me, runs past to follow his big sister. I hear the bathroom door open as I'm filling the Dog's water dish. The sound I hear next emanating from the bathroom disturbs me.

DaGirl: No! "DaBoy" No! Don't get into da baf tub wif your clothes on!
DaBoy: Hehehehehe

I drop the water dish on the floor and run around the corner to find....

....DaBoy in the tub, fully dressed.

This marks his first successful attempt at entering the tub on his own. yippie?

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Mr. Mom Day - Part 1

First let me say that many people in the know about this day of mine can't wait for whatever happens to be posted in this blog. Sooooo, who am I to disappoint?
~~~~~~~~~~
DaMom's birthday was back in October and her sister (Aunty K.) and mother (Memere) got her a special gift. A day without DaKids and a trip to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular Starring the Rockettes in NYC. This means it's the first day in history DaKids won't have their mommy to push around love and cherish for an entire day.

5:30am - DaMom gets up and prepares for her adventure. I sleep.
7:00am -DaGirl wanders into our room and climbs into bed with me. She has an annoying  a precious little habit of rubbing your belly when she's tired or your sleeping. She does this to me on my right while I try to fake sleep to keep the dog on my left from washing my face.
7:15am - DaBoy has been chanting MOMMMM for the last few minutes and I send DaGirl into his room to "talk" with him. She scurries out to his room and discusses the placement of his stuffed animals on his floor with him. I try to sleep more.
7:30am - DaGirl has been in and out of all three bedrooms so many times I can't count and since she's now attacking the jewlery box in our room I figure it must be time to get the day going.

I get dressed and bring them all downstairs. After the obligatory diaper changing and potty going, I ask DaGirl "What do you want for breakfast?" She replies with "Waffles and sausages".

OK. I know we have some frozen waffles left over from a batch we made a couple of weeks ago but I'm not sure about the sausages. After a brief hunt in both freezers for breakfast sausages I can't find any. During my search DaGirl has been chanting "Waffles and Sausages" and getting DaBoy fired up for them too. Uh Oh....

DaGoof: Uh sorry guys we don't have any sausages.
DaGirl: EEKKK!
DaBoy: NA!!
DaGoof: What else would you guys like?
DaGirl: Waffles and Sasuages!
DaBoy: Emphatic head nod

They both are looking up at me with puppy dog eyes.

DaGoof: Do you want to go get some. (yes I'm a pushover)
DaGirl & DaBoy: YEAH!
DaGoof: OK, but you have get dressed first.
DaGirl: OK
DaGoof: Go pick out some clothes. "DaBoy" come with me.

I get DaBoy dressed while DaGirl retrieves her own outfit and proceeds to get dressed (including shoes) all on her own.

8:15am - We arrive at the grocery store and they jump into one of those carriages with a fire truck attached. We speed shop and leave in minutes with our sausages, bananas, and orange juice (DaGirl sounds like a vetran smoker this morning so I figure I'd better use any means possible to get her full of fluids).

8:30am - We eat breakfast.

9:00am - I have to cancel a potential play date due to her oncoming cold. DaGirl wants to watch a video. I say "Do you want to go to the library instead?" OK and we're off again.
9:34am - We roll up at the library when it dawns on me "I hope they're open this early?" Sure enough they open at 9:30. Whew.
We turn in DaMoms books and a Sesame Street video. Then find a new S.S. video and a couple of board books.

10:00am - Back at the house. We watch the new video and bonus features.
11:15am - I have to potty. I tell DaKids not to break anything or kill each other for five minutes. I'm in the bathroom for about 4 minutes when DaGirl barges in with the announcement "(DaBoy)'s made a mess in the kitchen". Ug, no peace. When I get to the kitchen DaBoy is standing on a chair filling and dumping a cup with water from the dispenser on the fridge. The floor is one big puddle and he's soaked. I soak the mess up and dry him off.
11:30am - Lunch time. They request a PB&J sandwich with a side of apple bomb. (Apple bomb - apple cut in half cored with a melon baller and filled with peanut butter.) And yes, we have no peanut alergies in this family.
12:00pm - Clean up and head 'em up for nap time. I sit with DaBoy for a spell, while he fights sleep and then head over to DaGirl's room to usher her off to sleep. I read her the story about germs we got from the library, cuddled with her for a few minutes, put her in bed, and by the time I finished a chapter in Harry Potter 5 she was out.
1:00pm - Dishes, laundry, and write this literary epic.

To be continued...

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Mr. Mom Day - Part 2

So maybe a 3 and 1/2 hour nap might be a little long for them, I want them to stay healthy!

12:30pm - 4:00pm - They slept. DaMom is going to PO'd at that one since yesterday DaGirl napped for all of 30 minutes. But don't worry, it all comes around.

4:00pm - Snack time I put together a concoction of O's, raisins, dried cranberries, chocolate chips, and vanilla chips. Hey, it was mostly healthy, plus they liked it! (wonder why?)

4:15pm - We play for a bit in the living room then they discover the "accessory set" for the easel somewhere and announce they want to paint. DaGirl is holding the paint containers up at me while DaBoy is marching around in circles holding a paintbrush like a baton.
I set them up at the table with art supplies. They both craft paper taped down in front of them however DaBoy only gets crayons while DaGirl gets the watercolor paints. After about 20 minutes of them being creative making a mess, I drag them off to be cleaned up. Yes, DaBoy grew weary of the crayons and just had to play with the paints, which subsequently initiated the cleanup process when all he wanted to do was pick up and drop the brush water.

5:00pm - The dog is driving me nuts. Since 2:00 he's been stuck to my side and won't leave me alone. I've let him out at least once an hour but he still wants a walk. The rain appears to have subsided for now so I bundle the kids up and usher them out for a quick walk with the dog.

5:45pm - Play some more with the kids (Can't say what we did exactly, they've both got attention spans like gnats and my memory for that stuff is gone. Suffice it to say we did a bit 'o everything.)

6:15pm - Dinner. I reheat leftover chicken, potatoes, corn, apple sauce, and STOVE TOP! I'm great with a microwave.

6:45pm - Neither child is too thrilled with the idea of bath time so I make the executive decision to skip it. They get it in the morning after breakfast before Aunty N's Birthday Brunch. Makes sense right? Let them get all filthy during breakfast and hose them off before the party. It's justified in my mind anyway.
We play blocks for a while and when DaBoy starts falling down randomly I know he's ready for bed, so I set DaGirl in front of the electronic babysitter with an S.S. DVD and get him changed for bed.

He watches the show for a bit but when he gets antsy I bring him up to bed.

7:45pm - The show is over but she wants to see more of the bonus songs on the DVD. I oblige her one at a time but after the third song we're done

8:00pm - I bring her up to bed.
She doesn't want to be in her room yet.
I coerce her with a story. We read the germ book again.
When finished I ask her if she has to go potty. "No." The standard answer.
I take her to potty anyway. Remember the comment in the other post about the fluids? Yeah, she needed to go.
Back into her room for some cuddles.
I put her in bed. She starts bouncing off the walls.
She runs to the bathroom shouting "Have ta poop." She doesn't and I usher her to bed again.
I sit in her room, in the dark, to keep her in bed.

9:00pm - I give up and come down stairs. 5 minutes later head back up stairs to fish her out of the bathroom once again. This time she's trying to play in the sink.

9:15pm - I start the dishwasher and can no longer hear what she's doing upstairs. And I'm OK with that. She might be in her bed she could be in ours we'll see when I get up there.

10:00pm - DaMom returns home and fills me in on her excitements of the day.
~~~~~~~~~~~
So there you have it. No insanity pleas. No ER visits. No temper tantrums (on my part anyway). No Gulliver's Travels re-enactments in the living room.

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The Art of the Bus Chase - Part 1

Since the time change my bike commuting mileage has declined drastically. I'm still riding pretty much everyday but been a slave to the bus. It's too cold in the morning to ride the whole way and too dark at night to ride over the notch. Gone are the weeks where I could click off 131 miles. I'm down to about 60 miles per week.

The funny thing is I'm more sore now at the lower mileage than the high mileage. I've never been one to ride slow, typically I ride the 13.1 mile ride home in 52 minutes. That's an average speed of 15.1 mph and I have a big hill ("The Notch") that drops my speed to 6 mph for five minutes or so. Yes, typically my speedo reads high teens and low twenties.

My morning commute is all of 4.1 miles when riding the bus everyday. I need to be out of the house by 7:15 in the morning to catch it at the college and I get off at the center of town. I don't pace myself too hard to get into work, it is work after all.

At night I need to get out of work right at 5:00 or I run the risk of missing the bus at a college just before the Notch. Here's where I push it a bit, I cover the 7.9 miles in 25 minutes or less (18.9mph avg). The bus leaves @5:30 so I need to be on my game and get moving to ensure I get to the stop in time.

It's not unlike some bizarre art form. Blasting through busy college and downtown areas, passing scores of buses and slowly moving cars only to catch and/or race bus because it's too dark for one section of road.

{backposted}

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Like Trying to Get Blood from a Stone

Today was DaGirl's third day of preschool. She did not want to go this morning and put up quite a fight. Once she was there all was well and had a good day.

DaMom had to wake DaGirl from her nap so we would get her to bed tonight. Who knew preschool was so tough?

After her nap DaGirl ran off with DaMom's keys while she was doing some dishes before dinner.

After dinner, when DaMom was about to leave for quilting class she asked DaGirl where her keys were. DaGirl's response "On the hook!"
Nope not there.
We scour the living room searching blindly for the keys to no avail.

DaGoof: Where are mommy's keys?
DaGirl: On the couch.
DaGoof: No they are not there. Where are mommy's keys?
DaGirl: On the couch.
DaGoof: No they are not there. Where are mommy's keys?
DaGirl: On the couch.
DaGoof: No they are not there. Where are mommy's keys?
DaGirl: Come wif me
DaGirl heads to the living room, I follow. She gets down on all fours and looks under the futon.
DaGirl: Keys aren't here? Where are mommy's keys? Take wif her?
DaGoof: No (shaking head)

Meanwhile DaBoy is heading up the stairs and I give chase.
DaGoof: Where are you going little buddy?
DaBoy: Mommy (and points up the stairs)
DaGoof: Mommy's not here.
DaBoy: kassss
DaGoof: Huh?
DaBoy runs to DaGirl's door and points inside and says "mommy" very enthusiastically.

I figure maybe he knows where the treasure is hidden so I search her room with no luck.

Back downstairs we go and search some more.
With kids in tow I search the living room again, the dining room, and the kitchen. When I open the cabinet door to the garbage DaGirl says "No daddy that's for garbage."

I give up and put DaKids to bed....and search some more....with no luck.

Was this DaGirl's ultimate attempt at getting out of school tomorrow or did DaBoy get a hold of them and relocate them to parts unknown?

Stay tuned until next time...

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*EDIT*
It turns out DaBoy was right, the keys were in DaGirl's room. Tucked in between the seat cushions of her chair.

When we asked DaGirl this morning who put the keys there she replied with a shrug of the shoulders and "DaBoy".

When we asked DaBoy this morning if he put the keys there he replied with an emphatic head nod , "yes".

So it appears I should have followed the 16 month old more closely and saved an evening of searching.

The Fainting Bike

I did something tonight I have never done in 3500 miles of riding Broken Spoke. Something pretty dumb.

I typically ride along one stretch of road on the middle chain ring and tonight when I got to a small hill I realized I was still on the big ring. I click the shifter (brifter) and tick, tick ,tick. What the? (Sometimes when up shifting the chain will overshoot and fall off the big ring. Sometimes when downshifting the chain is slow to drop to the next ring. It's not an adjustment thing, it's just a finicky POS setup that sometimes has issues.) I look down and click the shifter again, tick, tick, tick and jump. The chain jumps clear off the small ring. Crap.

Now normally if the chain falls off I'd just stop the bike and fix it. Not tonight. I was being stubborn in trying to get the chain to shift and since the whole reason for wanting to down shift in the first place was the hill I was starting to climb, I didn't realize how fast I slowed down. And subsequently stopped....

I tried to get my feet unclipped quickly but couldn't; PLOP. Right on my left side in the middle of the road still clipped into the pedals. From a bystanders' point of view I must have looked like a fainting goat...or an idiot. I'm betting on the idiot analogy.

Finally the clips let go of my feet and I get up. I look over the bike, get the chain back on, and collect the one casualty in the whole fiasco, the front wheel reflector. I have no idea how that managed to shatter but but it did so in spectacular fashion.

There's something I haven't done since sometime in 2000 on the mountain bike only this time the only thing hurt was my pride.

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Fire Station Open House

Today I took DaGirl to our fire station's open house. Needless to say she is my daughter and loved every minute of it.

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Busy Weekend

How to wear out toddlers:

Step 1 - 10:30 showing of Sesame Street live.
Step 2 - Lunch out...with ice cream.

Step 3 - Go to park and play. While there scamper across the way to the horse rings and watch the horses exercise.

Step 4 - Allow them 1 half hour nap...OK they passed out in the car.

Step 5 - Take them and the dog for a three mile walk around the duck pond.

DaKids were a bit tired today...

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Still Fixable?

From the "Good Design" file

Yes, there are somethings in this world that are still fixable. Take this keyboard for example. Had I known it was going to be as cheap and easy as it was to replace I would have done in a year ago. Less than $30 and fifteen minutes later we have the use of the L, Shift, Ctrl, F6, comma keys and the F8 key doesn't look like it's about to fall off.

Now about that check engine light...

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The Perfect Job

What is the perfect Job?

...Besides the unobtainable occupation where I'm paid gobs of money to do whatever I want, whenever I want to do it....

So what do I think the criteria are for a perfect job:

1. It should cater to ones strengths but still offer a challenge to ones weaknesses.
2. It should be enjoyable. Happiness is key to everything in life. Mini-dramas are not required.
   
3. It should be dynamic. Constantly repeating the same tasks is just work.
4. It should be agreeable with your one's body to walk through the door.
5. It should have an employer who view's their employees as assets.
   

I am a Mechanical Engineer. I find sitting down and analyzing a structure the most god awful task on the planet. As a matter of fact, just about everything that was taught in college I find to be useless. I do not like deriving formulas or solving complicated math expressions. It is very rare for me to sing praise for engineering. In general I have had some crappy experiences in this field.

So, how does my present job compare to the ideals above?:

1. I am a hands on type of person. If it is broken I will fix it. (DaGirl thinks I am some kind of god.) If 10 pounds of stuff need to fit into a 5 pound bag, I will get it in there. I have been using 3d software for 10 years now and it has become an extension of my brain. I think in 3d. Diplomacy was a weakness but now I need to be diplomatic when receiving and presenting ideas.
   
2. Bringing a bizarre concept to life from a crazy PhD is satisfying. I start with some hair-brained scheme and turn it into a tangible product that the PhD's are amazed by. I don't have to deal with dramas set up by people who are looking to hide something from others. I am a department of one and operate mostly autonomously accomplishing my tasks in a timely manner.
   
3. Throughout a project I will conceive a plan, model it in CAD, check it in CAD, send out drawings for manufacturing, handle any manufacturing issues, receive the parts, test fit parts, modify parts as required (me and the mill), send parts off for finishing (plating, painting, etc.), receive parts from finishing, reassemble machined parts, pass the assembly over to an electrical technician for wiring and cabling, handle any of the technicians issues and once the system is operating and ready to ship I'll box it up and load it onto the truck. That is a dynamic position.
   
4. In the past, I have sleep-walked (or driven) to jobs and then been filled with dread as I opened the door, surprised that I was there already and loathing what lies ahead. In the last 4 1/2 years I've been here I have never had that sensation walking in the door. Sure there have been times when I'd rather be elsewhere but it's never been the job itself that has gotten me down or made me feel physically ill.
5. My employers can be flakes. They are PhD's who get wrapped up in their theories and coding. They have the vision but lack the contrast to see the true final picture. They rely on their employees to create all of the fine details they can not foresee and then covert them into a finished product. They may not always seem appreciative but they know why the product is going out the door and are generous with their compensation as a result. They want me to be happy and be stress free. They are more than willing to hire another ME of my choosing.
   

In the past I have been at places where my employers have:
...barely even noticed me.
...not allowed me to go beyond my department.
...required me to get permission to make a change to a drawing that I goofed up and no parts have been made yet.
...not allowed me to complete a task, always interrupting one job for another "more critical" one.
...generated stress and wanted it that way.

This job isn't always sunshine and roses but I guess I have found the perfect job...
for me...

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Words and Phrases - Part II

Remember Words and Phrases? This one just phoned in from DaMom...

"...DaGirl was eating a cheese stick and left part of it on the table. I was in the kitchen and when I came around the corner there she was holding the dogs collar saying "Damm Dog, that's my cheeeese stik. You leave it alone"..."

I think we're up for parents of the year award, eh?

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They Might Be Giants

This is too awesome not to share.

The Incredible Restraint of DaBoy

We went to a 4 year old's birthday party yesterday. DaGirl adores this little boy and will sometimes run around the house with his picture. I never hear the end of it if his father comes over to do some work to our house "S____'s dad was here. You like new door? You like new windows? S____'s dad did it." That can go on for a bit.

So back to the party. They rented a bounce house since there were several kids under 5 there from S____'s preschool and they all got along well. Well....enough. There was no way I could ever keep DaGirl out of it and once DaBoy figured out what big sis was up to, he wanted in.

I guess I'm a "bad parent" for putting a 15 month old in a bounce house but I know what he can handle (read The Fall Guy). He tried to climb in on his own and with a little help from me to get up the steps he dove right in and loved every moment of it. He couldn't stand up when the other kids were bouncing, but he loved being tossed around on a floor that wouldn't stop moving.

They had balloons in there for the kids to toss around while bouncing and DaBoy found it best to stay along the side and play with these balloons and avoid anyone crashing into him. All of the kids were great and left him alone, but one. DX.

DX wanted whatever balloon DaBoy was holding. He would just snatch it right out of DaBoy's hands. Well, I started getting more than a bit annoyed by this, but there were enough balloons that DaBoy would keep grabbing another and not be phased by DX's aggression.

Meanwhile I'm thinking "DaBoy is getting tired, you keep taking his balloons, I'm not going to stop him when he bites you.... I'm bad parent..... If I were DaBoy, I'd have clubbed him by now."

DX's mom caught him swiping the balloons and took him out for a chat. DaBoy didn't care at all and went right back to playing with his balloons. For all of their aggressive tendancies (that I'm sure they got from me) DaKids are pretty good when out in those types of functions. DaMom told me afterward, DX has some issues and how second children are used to things being taken away by older kids.

Kudos to him for showing restraint.
If I were 15 months old, I would have decked him.

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ARE WE THERE YET?

I realized last week that all I had to do was ride three days and I'd reach my bike mileage goal for the year.

After two days in the books on a holiday week, progress screeched into slow motion.

We all got colds. DaBoy was up most of Wednesday night. I went to the dentist at 6:30am. I just couldn't justify a bike ride so I took the truck on Thursday.

Tired and sick Friday morning I took the bus into work but rode the bike home.

I'm within 9 miles of the goal but won't get there until Monday.

Setting silly goals sucks!

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Mass Transit and Biking

As I've mentioned before I can get to work in a couple of ways; by bike, by car, or by bike/bus/bike (some call this intermodal, I like b/b/b better!). The only problem is that the bus only runs during the school year. Since it is primarily shuttling people between colleges and the busses are driven by college students, I can't fault them for shutting down my route during the summer.

My route and the bus route are identical sans the zig zaging through campuses the bus does. When I rode the bus last fall and spring I had the bus routine down pretty well and could easily ride a ways and meet a bus at a stop of my choosing. If I were tired, or it was dark, or even if the weather was getting bad I knew the stop times well enough that I could pick a spot and catch a bus.

Today was a bit different. Due to a nagging head cold, I took the bus in the morning but left work late and couldn't remember the later times for the bus ride home (plus I lost my copy of the schedule). I didn't see the bus at the "mall" stop and figured it was in front of me already. Not quite. It flew past me just before the small town green and I saw it do a quick stop (like a quick step in dancing only with a bus) at that stop and tear off down the road. When it stopped at the church I passed it as it was trying to get back into traffic.

By this point I was feeling good and figured I could get to the 3rd college on the route and then decide if I wanted to ride it. How you ask? The bus is supposed to stop at the 3rd college and wait for transfers from another bus and let time pass to get back on schedule. The route time between the 2nd and 3rd stops is padded to allow for the traffic back ups that occur at that time of day. Those same back ups allow me to shoot ahead of the bus and get to the 3rd college just as the bus is getting there. Usually.

The bus flew past me, literally, just before the 3rd campus. Now I'm thinking "I don't want this bus passing me as I climb the notch, it's to much of a speed demon. I'll catch it at Atkins since he's probably going to quick stop the in-campus stops, blow off the wait time, and take a long break at the 4th college"

So I waited at Atkins...for 10 minutes...no bus. "Damn he must have shot though campus and beaten me here. There's no traffic and it could take the left turns with ease." I was getting cold and decided to ride up the notch anyway.

DOH! Guess who passed me halfway up the hill? Creeping slowly past as if to haunt my impatience.

I guess I need to learn my schedules again.
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How is one supposed to react....

....when one sees 700 hours of their labor floating through the Swiss Alps attached to a whirlybird by a shoe string?


A host of questions sprang to mind:

• Did it fall?
• Did they break it?
• I thought they wanted a towable system. Did they really want a flight system?
  
• What is that thing hanging behind it?
• Why is the mountain terraced like that?
• How did they terrace the mountain like that?

It got to it's mountain top hideaway safely. (*snaps fingers* aw shucks)

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How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Friday night (day 0 - 21Aug09):
We had dinner out while Aunty K and Memere watched the kids. Then a little trip to B&N for book research on what we were going to do this week.

Saturday (day 1):
I insulated and dry walled the new windows in the entryway while DaMom fretted over her car dying that morning when she tried to go to the Y.


Sunday (day 2):
I removed the starter from DaMoms car in the morning and then went to a pond in Springfield with her "Supper Club" friends and families. Afterward I put the new starter in her car while they went to have dinner at Memere and Peperes' house.

Monday (day 3):
Got up early to walk the kids and the dog while DaMom slept in a little. We loaded the bikes and kid trailer into the truck and went to a parking lot just over the Coolidge bridge and rode the bikes from there to Look park.


The kids played on a playscape, ate snacks, and played some more. Then we went to the snack bar and had some ice cream. The kids played on a different playscape and finally we road back to the car and truck with two overtired kids screaming. When we got home we ushered sleeping kids to bed while I did some more work on the windows (sanding and more joint compound), then started cutting trim.
If all that wasn't enough we went to the car show at Atkins that night.

Tuesday (day 4):
I went to the dentist, got a haircut, drove to W. SPFLD for the dogs meds, ate lunch out, went to the Beechgrounds splash park, and worked on the window some more.

Wednesday (day 5):
We packed the car and headed to the beach. Rocky Neck beach in CT. DaGirl was so excited to be going to the beach she didn't sleep...at all. She was up from 7am until 9pm with only a brief 1/2 hour nap at 4. They loved getting battered by the waves and playing in the sand. We went for a walk down a nearby boardwalk then had dinner at a fish house.

Thursday (day 6):
Stayed close to home Took Memere and Pepere out for pizza, and after putting the kids to bed I went to over to Canoez for a primer course in his latest boatbuilding foray. I'm intrigued but not yet sold on it, the design appears to be a bit tight. I'm sure it will be fast as hell, but I need the SUV, not the Sports car these days.

Friday (day 7):
Painted the entryway and primed one wall in the living room while the kids were asleep. After they woke up we went to the Cummington Fair, DaGirl had her first pony ride, ate fair food, watched the magic show , got wet when the skies opened up, and watched the Demolition derby on the side of the hill. That was the highlight of the night for DaGirl, sitting on daddy's shoulders, watching cars bounce into each other laughing and clapping.

Saturday (day 8):
Played with the kids until naptime, painted the primed wall in the living room then primed the remainder, took the kids out for cookies then to Memere and Pepere's for the evening, while we went home and finished painting and installed trim in the entryway. DaMom and I went out for dessert and came home (~10pm) to sleeping children and chatty grandparents (they finally left at 11:15).

Sunday (day 9):
DaMom woke up crabby since DaGirl has been climbing into bed with us between 2 and 5 looking for cuddles and DaBoy NEVER sleeps past 7, ever. We took the kids and dog for a walk around the pond and put them down for naps. when that got up DaMom was still snippy with them so I put her on the lawnmower (her first time on the WheelHorse) and put her to the lawn that really needed to be hayed (4 weeks of growth. eeeww).

And that's the readers digest version of how I spent my summer vacation.
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Classic Bad Design

As an engineer I have to think ahead of my designs. Things like adding components when the original design doesn't work and servicing the finished product when it breaks are a pair of my biggest concerns. Apparently these considerations are not in the forefront of automobile designers minds.

When the starter quit in DaMom's car last week I discovered just how poorly the designers regard any technician or shade tree mechanic. It's not that I didn't know this before but It's job that should take 15 minutes to do, including collecting and storing the necessary tools.

Any manual I could find inferred the starter was to be removed from under the car. Here is the underside view:That black cylinder behind the S-bending pipe is the starter. Just move the pipe out of the way right? Wrong! It's an air conditioning line that only flexes so far. Why it has to make those bends right here is beyond me as the pipes seem to double back toward the other side of the car.

So how can the starter come out?
Through the top of course:

What? Can't you see it in there? It's under all that wiring with no service loop, the cable protector, and the battery box.

So here's what had to be removed to get this gem out:

• The battery cover
• The positive voltage distribution board (it sits on top of the battery)
• The battery
• The battery tray
• The little nut that shall not be seen which holds the stupid plastic cable protector in place
• Push the much to tight wiring out of the way
• and finally remove the starter bolts

So the next time you cringe when you have to pay that "expensive" bill to your mechanic, think of all the crap he had to get though just to get to the problem because the designer/manufacturer did not plan for the replacement of parts that fail.

It makes my truck look really nice and simple to work on....not to mention my bikes.

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Paddling the Mighty Manhan

Tuesday night Canoez and I went out with an old friend for a paddle along the "mighty" Manhan River. He has a much better write up about it than I can produce, so here's a couple of pictures to remember a wonderful evening.

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Words and Phrases

Sometimes we use certain words and phrases a little too often around the house and they come back to haunt us.

Case in point:

• "I have to go to my Zumba class." DaMom says to DaKids as she leaves on Saturday mornings, (FYI - Zumba is an aerobic dance class at the Y)
• "I have to check my email." Simple enough right?
• DaMom uses my real name (not daddy) in front of DaKids.
  

How do we know that we are using them too much, you ask?

When we got home on Sunday night from dinner at Memere and Pepere's house I took DaBoy into the bathroom and got him ready for bed. DaMom was outside picking veggies in the garden. When I exited the bathroom in search of DaGirl I found her laying on the coutch, on her belly, just like DaMom had been doing earlier in the day playing on the computer.

In front of DaGirl was the laptop booting up. She looked up at DaBoy and I, and said, "I have to check my zumba, eff"

*sigh*
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Nutty Squirrels

Have you ever had a squirrel dart out in front of you, as if on a suicide mission?

Of course you have. Squirrels seem to get a bizarre kick out of playing chicken with cars.

Have you ever had a squirrel dart out in front of you, as if on a suicide mission, while you were biking?

You probably have not, but I have.

I was riding through campus and there were no cars or people around (a truly strange occurrence) when this little black squirrel with a brown and black striped tail appeared on the other side of the road. He very cautiously crept across the lane starting and stopping many times as I approached. I stopped pedaling when I first saw him and was prepared for any necessary evasive maneuvers, I am familiar with their shenanigans.

This guy was stalking me.

I figured I was safe when at about 10 feet away he was stopped in the middle of my travel lane and I was a foot to the right of the white line in a "bike lane". I assumed I would just slide on by and maybe scare him to the other side of the road.

You know what happens when you assume right? You make A$$ of You and Me.

This little bugger faked left and then darted toward my front wheel. I tapped the brakes and he was within an inch of getting run over by the tire. Or more appropriately flipping me over the handlebars. Literally, if you made a vertical line from the leading edge of the tire to the ground, he was between that line and the tire. Much too close for comfort.

As the saying up North goes;
"Brake for squirrels, It could save your life"

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BANG!!!

I took DaKids for a bike ride this morning and we stopped at the Commons to listen to a storyteller/musician's performance.

It was a nice ride even though DaGirl kept chanting "faster, faster, go, go". It was the DaBoy's first time in the trailer and he did exceptionally well. It was also the first time I've used the trailer all year. I unfolded it and pumped up the tires just before we left and didn't notice any issues.

umm, yeah.

When we got home I parked the bike in front of the garage door and started taking off my helmet when I heard someone shifting in the trailer and

BANG!!!

I saw four of the biggest eyes looking at me that I have ever seen.
There was even a breeze that accompanied the exploding tire blowing dirt all over my legs.

Glad it happened in the driveway...

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They Never Cease to Amaze

Today, DaMom was out with the DaKids and when they approached a stop sign, DaGirl blurts out "Look Octagon" clear as can be!

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New Heights

DaBoy loves heights. He can't get enough of them.
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Yesterday while we were at the park, he climbed (raced up really) the ToddlerTown structure by himself and went down the slide head first. DaMom caught him just as he reached the bottom.
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Today, as I was loading up the bike for work, he pushed DaGirl's chair (with booster seat attached) over to a storage bin in the kitchen. He then climbed the storage bin and was in the process of trying to climb into her seat when I came inside and stopped him.
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Lately he's been standing at a chair (or couch, table, etc.) and lifting one leg back and out to the side. It's the funniest thing. He looks like a little ballerina limbering up.
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New Roof

So the house needed a new roof. It has needed a new roof since we moved in....8 years ago.

Finally this spring the leak above the kitchen window was bad enough that we had to do something about it. And I wasn't about to add another patch.

First, we went to the Home Show, talked with some contractors, and decided who we wanted to go with. Then some contractors came by looked things over, gave us some lip service, and headed for the hills. Despite my inquires after the initial visit in April and an assurance in May from the Office Manager, I still haven't heard from one company, AT ALL. Another company specializing in metal roofs never even bothered to give me anything other than a sales pitch.

So we bit the bullet and went with the "Largest Local Roofing Company" (LLRC). They just about own the roofing business in this town. They have 6 crews with 6 people in each, their own dumpsters and do gutters.

Now anyone who knows me personally, knows compliments and high praise don't come easy from me. It's just not me. I'm getting better at it for the kids sake but I'll never be one to write a company and tell them how good of a job they did. Which is also why I won't name names here. However these guys are almost deserving of that kind of recognition.

Here's the time line of events:
June 4th: I call the roofers for an appointment.
June 9th: The salesman comes by. He's the typical shmo salesman only younger. We make a deal that night to strip the entire roof, plywood over the main house, the kitchen and the front porch fixing any rot along the way, shingle all of that plus the garage, and new gutters everywhere (thrown in for "free").
June 19th: I call the chimney guy they recommended.
June 20th: The chimney guy comes over to look at it. We needed the entire top of the chimney pulled down 3 rows below the roof, rebuilt, and a stainless steel liner installed.
June 27th: The chimney guy does the job and hauls off the debris from the other chimney I didn't want intersecting the roof anymore. How cool is that?
June 29th: The roofers leave a message that they will be starting the roof on Wednesday the 1st.
July 1st: 7:00am Roofers start the job, dodge raindrops and leave by 1:30. The garage and kitchen are done. The rot was repaired above the kitchen.
July 2nd: 7:00am they're back!! Main house is done by 3:00. (they were caught in a downpour and had to slow down)
July 3rd: 7:00am and starting the front porch. Done roofing by noon and gutters done by mid-afternoon. By 5:00pm the entire job is done, cleaned up, and the dumpster hauled off.
July 6th: Final inspection by the Senior Supervisor of the company. He cleans up a little that they missed and fixed some bent drip edge issues I had and passes off the bill and a survey.

Holy $41T!!! They did the job in less than three days and from what I saw looked like a well oiled machine doing it. There was no BS around their coffee cups when they arrived, they just got to it. Since I've been asked at work, yes, they all spoke English.

Kudos to the Chimney Guy and the Roofers. This is proof that there are still people willing to bust their hump to get a tough job done. This is poignant because there is a house on my ride to work that has been getting it's roof done, with only sporadic progress, for over three weeks now. That house is smaller and in better shape than ours.

It took them considerably less time to do the roof than it did for me write this entry. So if you live in the "Happy Valley" and need a roof or chimney work done, I got some names for ya.

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1000+ Mlies

This morning I crossed the 1/2 way mark to my 2009 bike mileage goal.

For the curious;
The text in blue is Broken Spoke,
Text in black is Old Ironsides,
Orange ticks are notes to myself (why I didn't ride, mileage variation, or other)

I think 2k is achievable.
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In a Toddler's Eyes...

...they are responsible for everything.

DaGirl has A LOT of hair and when riding in the car with the windows open it flies all over, which she hates. She will start screaming "window up, Window Up, WINDOW UP" with excessive hand gestures, like levitating the window, until the windows go up.

Today driving back to work from lunch was one such occasion.
DaGirl: window up, Window Up, WINDOW UP
DaGoof: OK OK, hold on.
DaGirl: window up, Window Up, WINDOW UP (gesturing to the window to rise)
Windows go up
DaGirl: I did it! I did it! By my self!
DaGoof: Yes, you made the windows go up. *sigh*
DaMom: What?
DaGoof: (quietly) She thinks she made the windows go up on her own.
DaGoof/DaMom: *Laughter*

Oh, the power of modern electronics. I see lots of "magical" things happening in the coming years.

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The Fall Guy

New Evolutionary Theory - Forget the Nature versus Nurture crap, young boys dreams are stored in DNA and passed along to their children, 10 fold.

When I was a kid there were several shows (movies and TV) about Hollywood stuntmen or movies showcasing their talent. Some of my favorites included Hooper, The Fall Guy, and of course Smokey and the Bandit and Cannonball Run for the sheer quantity of stunts and destruction they caused. Between the ages of 5 and 12 it was stuff like this that made me want to be a stuntman. I could watch these over and over and not get bored.

According to Wikipedia DNA is:
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information.

There it is... the last half of the last sentence "long-term storage of information." That phrase holds the proof of my theory. Forget all of the chemical, double helix, mumbo jumbo, my long lost desires are stored in my DNA. My son's personality is blossoming and The Fall Guy of my youth is emerging in him.

I've joked with people that DaGirl is the stunt woman while DaBoy is the crash test dummy. However, the daredevil is really popping out of him. DaGirl has very little fear and apparently feels little pain. She's gotten bumps and bruises before but they don't usually stop her and you can see her calculating what it will take to perform a dangerous action. She'll then perform the action and move on to the next thing.

DaBoy's methods are different. He'll charge right into a task, if he doesn't make it, OK he'll try it until he does, and when he gets it he'll take it to the next level. He may fall and cry a lot but he still tries to accomplish his task. Case in point: My parents got them a kid sized table and folding chairs for xmas (Don't worry, the chairs are pinned and won't fold) and DaBoy had been trying to climb into them but couldn't quite get it. He tumbled out of them a few times but mastered getting on the seat fairly quickly. Next he'd stand up on the seat and hold the back rest. AND THEN ROCK THE CHAIR ON THE BACK TWO LEGS... The chairs have gone on a little vacation.

We have two mini rocking chairs (one was a gift when DaGirl was born and the other DaBoy just got for his birthday) and they are identical in structure with the only difference being the upholstery. If either of these chairs is under something he likes (window, TV, desk top, etc.) he will climb onto the seat, stand up and rock the chair while reaching for the contraband he can't reach from the floor.

"Laser like focus" DaGirl's speech therapist has remarked about DaBoy's attention level.

More cases to make the point:
How many one year olds...
...race their 2.5 year old big sister up a flight of stairs? and almost win?
...climb on top of storage bins and stand to beat on the TV screen.
...hang onto the dog's fur to dog surf around the house.
...can climb up a step stool and stand in less than 3 seconds and start grabbing things off the counter.

Yes, we could (and do) put more stuff away but his partner in crime takes it out again. They really are Bonnie and Clyde, only she's the strong one. She'll drag a bin full of toys around the house and then he'll climb it. Or she'll pull out the step stool, open it, and he'll climb it.

I'm told I was never like this.
I'm told DaMom was never like this.
Aren't we lucky to have such daredevils!

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My Helpful Co-Workers

When my calculator went missing I put out the company wide call:

If anyone sees a lost, cold and lonely, TI-86 graphing calculator (black), please return it to me. He has been missing for a couple of days now and is probably very scared and might be hiding.

Thanks,
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In less than one hour these are the responses that came back:

#1

Great, now I'll have to keep an eye on my TI-85, so that it doesn't run off to cavort with your calculator.  Can't you keep that thing on a leash?  I don't want it meddling with my innocent, shall I say chaste, number cruncher.

#2

My calculator really enjoys jazz saxophone. I would recommend wandering around busting out some soulful sax licks... I'm sure that would get him out of hiding.

#3

I saw him hanging out with my slide rule who says she has no idea where he went.

#4

I'm sure he's safe; probably hanging out with my needle nose pliers, dikes, and USB cable.

It is so wonderful working with such kind, thoughtful, and helpful people. NOT!!!

*EDIT*
And a former Co-Worker has chimed in with his comment...
"I'd be careful. The government has probably confiscated your calculator as a weapon of math instruction..."

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A Toddler, A Dog, and The F-Bomb

Yesterday while playing with a toy that wasn't cooperating with her desires, DaGirl dropped the F-Bomb.

She even used it properly. Not that that was the best word to start the whole word/action recognition thing but at least she started with an easy, universal word. The F-Bomb has so many uses and opens up worlds of creativity in language. Enough of that, this is a serious issue (if only I could stop chuckling).

When DaMom asked her where she heard that word before, DaGirl answered with "Scrappy". Now I'll admit our dog gets blamed for a lot of things but that's because he does a lot of bad things but I don't think cursing is one of his more prevalent faults.

This morning when DaGirl got up she started chanting "F**k F**k F**k F**k"
DaMom: Are you quacking like a duck (a favorite pastime) ?
DaGirl: no
DaMom: Then, what are you saying?
DaGirl: F**K
DaMom: Where did you learn that word?
DaGirl: Scrappy

So there you have it, my dog cusses like a sailor, my daughter is adamant that he taught her how to use it, and we're trying to let the whole thing slide and be forgotten.

Miss Manners she is not.

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Bedtime Snacks

For some time we've been giving DaKids snacks before bed. These snacks usually include crackers, pretzels, or O's.

lately DaGirl has been asking for one of the strangest "snacks" possible: croutons.

Italian seasoned croutons

Makes one not want to kiss her before bed.

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Cat Outside!!!

"Cat out! Cat outside!" DaGirl says in her rapid toddler speak.

DaMom: Who let the cat out?
DaGirl: Hmmm
DaMom/DaGoof (simultaneously): Did you let the cat out?
DaGirl: NOOOO!
DaMom: Then who let the cat out?
DaGirl: (pauses) SCRAPPY!!!
DaGoof: The dog let the cat out?
DaGirl: YUP!!!
DaMom/DaGoof: oh.
DaMom: Scrappy opened the door and let Pumpkin out?
DaGirl: yeah.

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Flight of the White Guy

I can't jump. I've never had that talent. As kid I couldn't even do basketball layup in gym class. What on earth was I thinking when I dove off the foot of the bed Sunday Morning?

Picture this if you will; It's 5:00am. The birds are up but no one else. I'm cozy under the covers in the middle of a wonderful dream (not sure about what), so wonderful a puddle of drool has formed on the sheet under my mouth. Now, I'm a pretty light sleeper, normally I hear the (Dog, cat, kids) before DaMom does. I felt the dog jump up on our bed at ~3:30.

So naturally when I was woken up by the dog having a seizure and DaMom yelling SCRAPPY!, my thought process wasn't entirely coherent. I heard the Dog thrashing about on the floor but my last memory was of him on our bed so I thought he might have just fallen over the foot board or he was hitting the foot board. I sprung up to the sitting position to find him but kept going when I didn't see him on the bed.

It must have been a sight that would have made Superman cringe. Me springing up, diving head first over the head board, sliding down the junk (storage bin, clothes basket, etc.) at the foot of the bed and face planting on the floor in front of the dog.

Why did I fly? The importance of getting to the dog quickly is twofold; First, he'll pee, a lot. It's best to make sure the floor is clear for easier clean up. Second, he can break stuff including himself. It's best to slide him away from hard objects and hold his head up so he doesn't hurt his head on the floor. The vet gets enough of our money with him, ER visits for broken bones caused by seizures are not required to keep them in business.

So how is everyone? He's fine, always is. Twenty minutes later he's a new dog ready to run. Me? I have some scratches on my arm and a couple of bruised ribs, can't imagine from what.

Like I said, I can't jump.
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The Case of the Missing Shear

At work we utilize a couple of cool local machinists: One, T.S. gets most of our one-off, little stuff since he's a one man shop. J.B. gets the more complicated (CNC) and higher quantity parts. The cool part about both is, if I need something quick or for a personal project (govt. job) I can use some of their equipment (band saw, bending brake etc.).

J.B.'s shop is literally 200 yards from work so it's very convenient to walk over when I need to see him. He is a former drag racer who at one time did a lot of work on a top fuel dragster. He has a small bending brake and a sheet metal shear left over from those days that I have been using sporadically over the years when I need to make quick covers or duct work at work.

Several years ago he had a fire at his shop and what wasn't destroyed in the blaze was placed into storage in the barn next door. The barn is owned by the local sawmill/lumberyard/home center that is between us. As payment for letting him use the space, J.B. gave the owner one of his old Bridgeport milling machines. Once the shop was rebuilt most of the equipment brought back in and only a couple of items remained in the barn. One of these items left behind was the shear.

Tennsmith Model 52 Foot-Squaring Shear

The shear is in working order, it needs a little TLC but serviceable, in its location in the barn. The barn is never used for much more than storage and the shear is located in the back behind the usual pile of over stock lumber. The bending brake resides upstairs in the stock area of the shop. J.B. recently made room for the shear to join the brake up there.

The late summer or early fall was the last time I used the shear in the barn. I made three of five air deflectors for a air conditioners needed for a project. I'm not happy with the way said project turned out but that's a story to be told over a beer and a campfire. Now we need the last two air deflectors and I went over to the barn to cut the stock into strips prior to bending and the shear is gone.

Nothing is where it once sat except for some cut offs. The tool is 900+ pounds where did it go? Surely it didn't just sprout legs, crawl over the lumber pile and out the door, did it?

I go over to the shop and J.B. is surprised to hear it's missing as well (since he just made room for it).

We go over to the sawmill and ask around. No one knows anything about it. They don't even know what it is. They say they haven't scrapped any metal, which is readily apparent by the crap strewn around the barns.

So where did it go? Time to call Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys in on this one.
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What my Commute feels like...

Yehuda Moon & the Kickstand Cyclery.

It's getting more and more like this every day.

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MWR Facing the Beast

Goshen County Wy.

Photo by our "Man In the Field", Chad Baldi

Vortex 2 Got One...

A beautiful yet frightening sight!

Tornado Caught

Congrats guys, hope you got some good data!!!
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Razzzberries

My kids love razzberries, you know, blowing on their bellies and making that farting sound. They love getting them. They love giving them!

Last night during story time in DaGirls room, DaMom was on the floor with DaBoy and DaGirl was in my lap in the chair as I read. DaBoy was crawling all over the room not staying in one place for more than 30 seconds until....he got behind DaMom.

DaMom was on her side and he climbed up her back, lifted her shirt and started blowing on her belly. The kid is a natural at it. He sounds just like a whoopy cushion. DaMom is pretty ticklish and he started her on a laughing fit.

How do one get an 11.5 month old off if one can't reach him since he's mounted a rear attack?

Naturally I did what any good parent would do to help another parent in need, I sent DaGirl in to help DaBoy mount a frontal assault!!! After a couple of minutes of fart sounds and gasp inducing laughter they grew tired of molesting mommy and stopped. Man it was funny to watch!

DaMom: Why didn't you help me?
DaGoof: It was fun. Besides you needed the laugh.
DaMom: Yeah, well I wish they would do it to you instead of me!
DaGoof: But they know they can get away with it, with you!

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Quote of the night

"I'M NOT A POW, I'M A MOMMY!!"

DaMom to DaBoy after he started torturing her after his last feeding before bed.

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Driving Impresssions

When people go to a car show it's not a full body experience. Not that everyone is tripping because of the fumes that may be present but they aren't soaking up all the cars have to offer. To do that one must drive the vintage machinery.

While at a car show people enjoy:

• The colors and shapes of the cars with their eyes.
• The sounds of the engines with their ears.
• The smell of non-emission controlled exhaust (with possibly the sweet smell of race gas) with their nose, and of course old cars just smell different.
  
• The vibration of an open exhaust rumbling past is a whole body sense of touch.
• The unfortunate taste of some old coots cigar you walked to close to when he exhaled.
  

That's all five senses, so how can a car show not be a full body experience? Mix all of that up and roll it into one fear filled ride!

The important thing is to drive the vehicle. Getting a ride in an old coupe from the guy who has owned it for 50 years doesn't count. He's so used to it that it's an extension of himself. The passenger would not notice the subtleties in how the car is reacting to driver input. Sure, they may be bouncing all over the seat and clutching the door since it sounds like a bucket of loose bolts but something is still missing from the experience.

The oldest vehicle I can remember driving was from the late seventies and it had power brakes and power steering. Am I dating myself, yup. Even with all of the playing around with racecars I did in my twenties I never drove an "old car". I've admired cars from the twenties through the sixties since birth and have even ridden in some but never driven such beasts.

What am I getting at? My truck is finally registered and I have actually driven it someplace at a measurable speed, not just around the yard. I've had it now for over 5 1/2 years and the odometer had read less than 8 miles different than when I bought it. I've hauled wood, leaves, rocks, flower pots and even pulled my barn down with it. None of that prepared me for the "thrill" of driving it on the open road.

1966 F-100, I-6 300ci, w/factory 4x4

It's a beast.

Things I've learned about driving it:

• Never start in first gear on pavement, in downtown. You will be hearing the echo of your smokey burnout bouncing of the buildings.
• Once warmed up the smell of leaked oil burning off of the manifold is rather pungent.
• The smell of gas in the closed cab creates headaches.
• The approximation of the steering is a riot. Old steering was never as precise as modern machines, I always wondered why my mother's 1970 Dart needed so much steering input on a straight road, now I know.
• Braking with manual brakes, stops must be planned well in advance.
• Depressing the pedal hard enough will lock up the brakes, put you into a four wheel drift, and stop you in a cloud of smoke.
• At 30mph it's looking for 4th gear.
• The engine will pull and pull and pull.
• The steering wheel is 17 inches in diameter for a reason.
• Downshifting takes patience.
• All of my senses are over loaded when driving it.
  

The truck is 90% stock and a time capsule from another era. The pace of life was obviously slower then and this thing doesn't like to be rushed.

It is primitive but a blast to drive.

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What's going on?

Several people have asked since I've been kinda quiet 'round here.

The short synopsis:

• We're in the midst of the worst bedtime issues we've ever had. DaGirl won't go to sleep before 9pm and gets up by 7am. DaBoy is crashing by 7:30 but is usually squawking between 1 and 3am for a diaper change. This is making it hard to get anything but most essential of things done.
• The Exploder is done. This past weekend we got some compost for the garden from the dump. Compared to previous loads I've put in the trailer, this was light, but WOW did it not want to pull it or stop it. After we unloaded the trailer it didn't want to start. So I had to do the old floor it, turn the key, dump the clutch and lay strips in the yard (ok maybe laying strips is a bit of an overstatement) and leave it the field to contemplate its future for the night.
  
• The Truck is now registered. The Exploder is not.
  
• Busy as hell at work. I've sent prints out for two systems this week, I expect parts to come back for another next week and have had to consult on the assembly of yet another project. Not to mention the number of times I've been interrupted by bosses to discuss future projects. We are not hurting for work.
• The patio at home is one step (many stones really) closer to being done:-)
• We can't get contractors to take our money. Funny eh? The garage door people were the only ones to set up a time, stick to it and get the job done. The fence people have finally set up a semi-firm date of next Wednesday but that's taken over a month to get worked out. We need a lot more done but apparently we didn't get on the merry-go-round early enough for people to want our business.
• In the past 25 work days I have taken a car 3 times to get there. My pants don't fit right anymore ;-)
  

That's all for now.

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"I Live for Danger"

This piece of video awesomeness stars three of my coworkers.


Check out The Weather Channel segment "Vortex 2: I Live for Danger"
What makes it awesome?

1. "Top Gun" reference.
2. "Brooklin Hipster" comparison of a South Shore native.
3. Red Sox plug....
4. Underwear reference.
5. The drying of underwear on the radar (actually that might be the only way to sanitize those 2 pair by week 4, way to go Bethany!).
6. Those shorts!!!
7. Seeing a smart-ass friend on national TV.
   

I want write more but I can't stop chuckling...

... so I'll cut and paste the description of the Vortex 2 experiment from their homepage:

VORTEX2 is by far the largest and most ambitious effort ever made to understand tornadoes. We expect over 100 scientists and crew in up to 40 science and support vehicles to participate in this unique, fully nomadic, field program in May/June 2009-2010. The National Science Foundation (NSF) foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA) together are contributing over $10 million towards this effort. Participants will be drawn from several universities, and several government and private organizations, and will be international including members from Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

The basic questions are simple to ask, but hard to answer.

- How, when, and why do tornadoes form? Why some are violent and long lasting while others are weak and short lived?

- What is the structure of tornadoes? How strong are the winds near the ground? How exactly do they do damage?

- How can we learn to forecast tornadoes better? Current warnings have an only 13 minute average lead time and a 70% false alarm rate. Can we make warnings more accurate? Can we warn 30, 45, 60 minutes ahead?

VORTEX2 will use an unprecedented fleet of cutting edge instruments to literally surround tornadoes and the supercell thunderstorms that form them. An armada of 10 mobile radars, including the Doppler On Wheels (DOW) from the Center for Severe Weather Research (CSWR), SMART-Radars from the University of Oklahoma, the NOXP radar from the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), radars from the University of Massachusetts, the Office of Naval Research and Texas Tech University (TTU), 10 mobile mesonet instrumented vehicles from NSSL and CSWR, 38 deployable instruments including Sticknets (TTU), Tornado-Pods (CSWR), 4 disdrometers (University of Colorado (CU) and U of Illinois), weather balloon launching vans (NSSL, NCAR and SUNY-Oswego), unmanned aircraft (CU), damage survey teams (CSWR, Lyndon State College, NCAR), and photogrammetry teams (Lyndon State Univesity and NCAR), and other instruments.

VORTEX2 is fully nomadic with no home base. Scientists will roam from state to state following severe weather outbreaks through the Plains.

VORTEX2 will hit the road from 10 May - 13 June 2009 and 1 May - 15 June 2010.

Still laughing
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SHWOOOSH...

So on my way home I'm riding down the Notch, just coasting along, minding my own business with no need to speed then a GAME ON moment came!

Typically if I let the bike coast with no pedaling at all, the bike can hit 30mph, so what's the need to push it? While I was coasting, I heard the sound of air. A strange "shhhhaaawooooshhh" kind of sound. Not the normal air past the ears "shhh" sound. "What is that noise?" I thought. "Is that a truck?A bus? Do I have a flat starting?" Then the roadie I just saw climbing up the other side goes shooting by my left side. Naturally I followed my first instinct. I dropped the plastic coated, friction thumb shifter into high gear and started hammering on the flat top pedals after him.

Now one might think I was trying to catch and pass Speedy Gonzales but I was on Old Ironsides, a bike not exactly known for it's speed. An upright mountain bike converted to commuter with 1.75" road tires, fenders, and a trunk bag on the rear rack will provide no contest to an aluminum (or carbon fiber) speed machine like his. In reality I just wanted to minimize how much he pulled away from me. While I kept him close on the main hill, he started to leave me as the road flattened out. In the 2.5 miles I chased him he only had me by a 1/4 mile when he turned off.

I say I'm not competitive anymore but DaMom says "If you're not the best you don't even try." This in reference to me leaving everyone of our friends in the dust on every bike ride we have tried to take. What can I say, they were so slow! I haven't done that in a real long time and ride pretty slow now. I'd say this little excursion proves I might have a little spunk left, even when it's just for ha ha's and the guy I'm racing doesn't even know he's racing.

So what's the real moral of this story? 40mph on my commuter brick is frightening as hell!

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If You Build It...

...They will come.

April Super Bike Week

If May is Bike month, then this is April Super Bike Week!

Monday I rode to work (all of it) on the road bike . On the way home I took a longer route and stopped to pick up a new throttle cable for the lawn mower. Oh yeah and I broke a spoke, hence Broken Spoke was christened.

Tuesday I rode to work (all of it) on Old Ironsides. On the way home I took a different route and stopped to pick up the repaired wheel.

Wednesday I copped out with Broken Spoke and took the bus in the morning but rode home.

Thursday I drove. WHAT!!! What does this have to do with bike week and why did I drive you ask? So I could bring tools from home to install the new bike rack at work! Also I spent my lunch hour helping C.B. get his bike ready to go to out west for Tornado Chasing Season.

Friday I took the bus but rather than getting off in the center of town I mixed it up a bit and got off at Hampshire to get a little more exercise in. I rode the whole way home.

What's all this mean, 97.7 miles in one week! I'm bummed I missed a century by a stinking 2.3 miles. There's always next week.

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New Bike Rack at Work

I started riding to work occasionally in 2005 and ever since then the bosses have had issues with the bikes being inside or leaning up against the building or some other foolish complaints. When our new office manager started last year and rode most days of the year, the seed was planted for a real bike rack. Presently we have 3-4 people ride regularly and 4 more have done it sporadically. That's not to bad for a company with only 17 people in it.

After much research the bosses wanted a rack that had some style and wasn't just a hoop sticking out of the ground. They decided on a six bike Dero Helix Rack and that those of us using it would install it. Good thing I'm handy, eh?

Today in the rain

Before

Digging Holes

Pouring Concrete

Curing Concrete

It looks pretty neat to me (but I'm style challenged) and since everyone who has seen it likes it, I'll claim it as a success.

Old Bike - New Name

I don't normally name objects. Sometimes possessions attain monikers due to certain characteristics i.e., Exploder = Explorer (Ford had a recall for a fuel issue and my Explorer being the big wheeled, short wheel base, death trap; the name just seems appropriate).

My bikes have mostly been known by their color or function: Red Bike, White Bike, Blue Bike, Road Bike, Mountain Bike, etc.

A friend and canoe building instructor once wrote several posts about how small boat names need to be earned in his classes; whats in name , and yet another name , pick a name any name and of course "the blue streak" (some of you may recognize my dog and living room)

Anyhow, my 4 year old road bike finally has a name: Broken Spoke.

The name is an old indian name meaning "one who breaks lots of spokes." This is it's second in less than 200 miles. The LBS is recommending I bring it in and have the rear drop out alignment checked. Couldn't hurt.

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Lack of Prior Planning...

...On Your Part, Does Not Constitute an Emergency on My Part.

At work, I was pulled off of a side track, of a side track, of a side track, twice today for things that absolutely had to be done that instant. This is normal. However where would these guys be if I didn't come in? I probably shouldn't have come in today for various reasons.

I'm essentially a department of one. No one else will pay attention long enough for me to even explain the file system I use.

How would they have gotten their pretty pictures for the proposal that was due today? Just because they've had the proposal for weeks now doesn't mean anything should be mentioned any earlier than the due date, does it?

Who would have talked them off of the ledge and advised against ordering a duplicate part just because they don't want to take the time to figure out the existing parts' code? Spending money solves everything, right?

Who would have contacted a service vendor and started the scheduling process for a job and transferred a pile of information between our customer and our vendor?

Where would they be?
hmmm

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The Eagle has Landed....

...In the throne.

WoooHooo, DaGirl pooped in the potty voluntarily!!!!

Last night she did her evening business in the potty and not in her diaper. She was so proud of herself she went back into her room and told Scrappy "pooped in potty, pooped in potty."

It was so freakin cute!

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Tolerance for Ignorance - Dwindling

Once upon a time I had no tolerance for ignorance. Over the last several years I've learned to change and have some compassion toward those who can't be bothered to pay attention to anything.

That compassion is dwindling rapidly.

Today, Tech 1 at work is frantically trying to find some cables and I overhear this. I ask him what project it's for and he gives me the answer I expected. I then ask him if he checked the boxes under the cart the project is sitting on....."uh, no".

Two weeks ago after I finished the rough assembly (I assemble all of the components onto the framework because these "people" can't be bothered to read a print and would call me over anyway), I went over the basics with the Tech 2 and made a point of telling him that when I ordered X, I ordered all the cables he wanted to operate X and they are in the boxes on the bottom cart the system was sitting on.

I ask Tech 1 "Did you look in the boxes on the cart below the system?"

Tech 1 - blank stare

I explain "I ordered everything Tech 2 wanted that was used in the 'previous' system".

Tech 1 scurries off.

I follow a few minutes later just to confirm my expectations.

They had it all along, not 5 feet from them, and managed to get themselves, a software person, and a network tech all worked up and searching for a red herring over nothing.

Like I said, my tolerance in dwindling.

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ER Visits

I am tired of hospitals.

Since January 2008 we (the 4 of us) have been customers at hospitals a total of 8 times!

The Rundown for posterity:
Jan 08 - DaMom is pregnant with the flu, she gets dehydrated and requires 3 bags of fluid.
Jun 08 - DaBoy is Born.
Jul 08 - DaMom has an emergency appendectomy.
Aug 08 - DaGirl tries to climb up the side of the highchair and it falls on her splitting her head open.
Sep 08 - DaBoy has a high fever and the pediatrician sends us to the ER.
Oct 08 - DaGoof cuts his fingers on the table saw.
Mar 09 - DaMom cuts her finger with the razor knife.
Apr 09 - DaBoy goes to the ER for a high fever.

This list does not take into account regular or emergency visits taken care of by the pediatrician's office. There were plenty more of these.

Astute readers will notice the void in emergency visits between October 08 and Mar 09. I believe this was because my father's long term stay in the hospital was acting as kryptonite against the forces that draw us into the ER.

The April 09 visit was last night and has us quite PO'd with our pediatrician. Late Sunday, DaBoy started with a fever of 103°F. Motrin knocked it down (100°F min) for a while but it spiked back up to 104°F by Monday afternoon. He was not a happy camper and wasn't comfortable in his own skin.

With a fever that high in a 9 month old no one is going to mess around so we call the pediatrician and get an appointment for 7:30pm. They check him out and can't find anything wrong. They give him more Motrin since he was due for his next dose anyway and send us to the ER claiming they can't do any lab work at this time of night.

Off we go to the only pediatric unit around which happens to be at the busiest ER in the area. We wait and wait and wait and wait and then finally see the triage nurse. By this time (2 hours) he's due for his next dose so they give it to him. We then go and wait some more. In a relatively short time we get called into the pediatric unit and wait some more. Finally we see the doctor who isn't willing to take blood for labs but will only take a urine sample. How do get pee on demand from a 9 month old? One word that makes men cringe that I shall not repeat here.

They rule out a UTI and send us home......WTF!!!
4 Hours in the ER, another hour at the pediatrician's office, $65 in co-pays and what did we get in return? One very pricey sippy cup and a popsicle he didn't eat!!!!

We got home at 12:30 this morning. DaBoy and DaGirl were both up at 3:00 looking for diapers and cuddles. I didn't get back to bed until 4:30.

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Barn Razing

We bought our house in 2001. On the property was a 12' x 20', dilapidated two story barn. I always had plans of rebuilding the barn but the original woodwork was almost to the point of no return and lack of funding prohibited any major work on it at the time.


This winter the roof finally gave way and started taking some of the floor with it.

It was now truly unsafe, especially when a 2 year old thinks it's a great place to play around.

So what do you do when a structure is too unsafe to systematically dismantle?
You hook an old pick up truck to it an pull!

But sometimes things don't go as planned. On the first pull, I ripped a hole clear through the middle of the barn but left the sides and roof intact. To think I was worried about them falling down on their own?


The second tug proved more dramatic but I forgot to get some pictures of it, oops! Once again, things went a little wrong. The floor dropped and I basically pulled it through the brickwork on the back of the barn.




Not bad for one day of work! I still have to clean out the junk inside the brickwork but that can wait for another day.

And a special shout out to C.B.! Thanks for your help!!!
And with any luck gangrene won't set into your foot.... ;-)

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