Herbie's World

Battery Box and Bed Platform

2011-05-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

Once again I'm having to play catch-up to get the blog updated with the state of construction on the Astrolander project. These projects still span multiple days/evenings, so updates are mostly "project" based. Here then, is the coverage for the project to build a platform to extend the fold-back bench/bed to a full 72" and also a box to hold the house battery. As always, more images with annotation available on the web album.

The project starts with the battery box. Pretty basic stuff, 3/4" CDX plywood screwed and glued. I chose CDX for the outdoor-rated glue since I knew the box would be carpeted anyway, plus it was $18/sheet instead of $45/sheet for the nice birch stuff!

The design of the box looks a little odd at first, but the rear edge of the box actually supports the forward edge of the bed platform, hence the extra height. Everything is designed to maximize space, so the forward part of the box nestles right up to the back of the bench/bed and part of it will be UNDER the seat-back as it folds back. The cutouts on the front (left) side of the box are to clear the movement of part of the bed mechanism. The upper notches are to clear the "arms" of the bed as it folds down. The inner "walls" of the box provide strength for the tie-down system (more on this below) and form the inner battery tray that helps keep things from moving around. In this photo I'm trial-fitting the Group 31 AGM battery, only to find that it's just a hair tall with the top posts, so I ended up switching to a Group 34 battery.

As I said, the inner walls of the box actually provide the strength for the tie-down system. In this shot the box is on its back. The fasteners for the hooks and eyes go all they way into the vertical dividers, making everything plenty strong.

Here's the back of the van where the box snugs up against the bench seat. My conversion van bench/bed is mounted to the floor in between where the 2nd and 3rd rows would have been. I utilized the existing attachment pins in the floor for the original 3rd row bench to mount the box. The hooks you can see in the above photo grab onto the aft pins in the floor, and then shackles and turn buckles tie into the forward pins to pull the box forward and down, making everything rock solid.

The inside of the box was then coated in brush-on bedliner, then everything was carpeted with a pretty decent match for the OEM floor/lower trim carpeting.

Next was to weld up the support legs for the back portion of the bed platform. These legs ended up spaced about 16-1/2" on center, but the platform is 29" or so deep, so I made the tops of the legs into "Tees" so that there wouldn't be a long unsupported span in the fore/aft direction.

The bottom of the legs were tapped for threaded riser bolts so I could adjust the final height to level everything out. The legs attach to the platform with knob-headed screws into teenuts in the platform. I wanted a completely tool-less way to remove the platform and break it down completely flat for easy storage in my garage when not in use.

The platform attaches to the battery box with a couple of removable-pin hinges. Again, a tool-less way to attach the platform to the box, but it serves a more important purpose also:

The whole platform hinges up to allow easy access to the stuff underneath. In particular, I wanted to make sure I didn't block access to the jack compartment on the passenger side (right corner of photo). As it stands, the rightmost leg sits directly in front of that access panel. Eventually, I'll probably add a cam-lock strap or chain at the rear edge of the platform to engage with the stock D-rings at the rear of the cargo area, which will hold the platform down and keep the cargo underneath from moving in case of accident.

When the platform is down, there's just enough space between the legs for three tall Rubbermaid containers, or two tall containers and one short one with my Coleman stove on top, or two containers and a 7-gallon water jug. Not as fancy as some of the great drawer systems I've seen on the epic storage system thread on Expedition Portal.com, but this system is flexible, and more importantly, it lets me easily move the packed bins back and forth from the garage, which makes packing for trips and unpacking afterwards super easy.

With the addition of some firm 2" foam, the bed platform mates up perfectly with the bench seat as it lowers into a bed, making the sleeping area roughly 56" by 72". I bought the slip cover material at Ikea, and it was sewn by my Mother. I would have done it myself (hey, a sewing machine is a power tool too!), but I was running out of time prior to Overland Expo 2011, and Mom was eager to help. Admittedly, she did a much better job than I would have. Thanks Mom!

The only bad news here is how snug the platform is to the rear doors. I plan to build some drop tables onto these, so I'll have to modify the platform at a later date to provide a little clearance. Oops!

Getting the battery box built meant I could also install the house battery and split-charging system. For the split-charge controller, I gambled on the T-Max system from Summit Racing. Definitely not as full-featured as the offerings from IBS or National Luna, but way way cheaper, and budget was a consideration here. If or when it fails, I'll consider upgrading, but for now it's working great. I mounted the display/control interface on the lower dash next to the doghouse on a custom bracket. I do actually like the display - during normal running it only lights the charging LEDs at the top left, you can hit "display" to see the state-of-charge on the main (starting) and aux batteries at any time. I like that it's completely dark when the engine is off, since the LEDs could be annoying at night.

The other half of the T-Max system is the massive solenoid. I used some scrap aluminum to make a mounting plate that I riveted to the bottom of the mounting bracket that holds the starting battery and ECU mounting frame in the engine bay. The block on the left is one of two 150A breakers (one at each end of the run of cable back to the box in the rear). I used extended side posts to tie the extra power and ground cables onto the main battery.

The main run of cables from the engine bay to the battery box was made by cutting up a new set of 2-gauge jumper cables. I like using jumper cables because they're fairly flexible and inexpensive compared to buying other big cables by the foot. In this case I opted to separate the positive and negative and cover each with a tough outer braid. For the entire run these are fixed to the van BODY, and always above the sub-frame because I know the body-to-subframe distances will be changing soon when I install the lift kit (which includes body-lift pucks.)

The cables enter the interior just aft of the fuel filler and stay behind the plastic interior trim (removed in this photo) until they enter the battery box where they connect to the second breaker, fuse panel, and house battery.
For now I'm just running my Edgestar fridge and house lights (rewired the vans dome and map lights to take power from the house battery), but eventually the HAM radio and a few other goodies will also take power here.

Overland Expo or Bust!

2011-03-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

OK, it's March and I haven't posted since November 2010, so it must look like I'm making no progress on the Astrolander, right? Couldn't be more wrong. In just over seven days, I'll be departing for Overland Expo 2011. To paraphrase their slogan, I'll be spending three days getting trained and getting inspired, hopefully I will be more or less outfitted by then. ;-)

The trick is that in addition to all the training and experiences I'll be having AT the Expo, this also represents the first dry run for the Astrolander with a full 3+ days of boondock camping, whether I'm ready, or not. I've had this on the calendar since last year, but the pressure to get things ready really kicked in around November/December. Unfortunately, that's also Science Olympiad "season" around these parts, and I got talked into coaching an event again this year, so there went a good chunk of December, January, and early February. I've been making up for the lost time with some late nights and full weekends, but the crazy build schedule hasn't left much time for blogging the progress. Look forward to more of my "retroactive" build entries with more detail, but for now, here's a short list of the things I've been working on:

Designing, building and installing the whole rear storage/bed-platform cabinetry system
Installing the cabling, charge controller, and AGM for the House battery system
Running long-scale power consumption tests on the DC fridge in order to spec the above system
Machining and installing curtain tracks, curtains
Laminating additional supports to the roof for the rear of the upper bunk
Re-gluing the bulb seals around the pop-top

More importantly, here are a few of the things I still hope to get done before I leave for OvEx:

Finish carpeting bed platform and battery box
Cutting Reflectix insulating panels for the windows
Sewing slip cover for the rear mattress (Handed off to Mom!)
Installing new CB antenna mount, CB
Welding drop-tables for the dutch-door kitchen

One or more of those tasks may not "make it", but I'll do my best! Pictures to come as soon as I have some time to breathe.

Mini-Update: LED Dome Lamps

2010-11-19T10:42:00.000-08:00

Just another little Mini-Update:

When I was ordering some other parts from JC Whitney, I needed a few more items to get to the free shipping threshold, so I went ahead and ordered a pair of these Ultraflex LED Dome Lamps, in the 2.5"x1.5" size, in order to retrofit them into the dome lamps on the Astrolander conversion.

These are a 24-LED array, but they needed a flat place to mount, so I had to do a little work.

The kit includes a variable-size shunt that fits in place of the original incandescent bulb and provides a 12v/gnd connection. Then I notched the enclosure with a couple of slots.

Then I cut this shelf from a piece of scrap ABS plastic. Excuse the crude work, I was going fast trying to finish before returning to my Daddy duties on a Saturday. The ABS was from an unused portion of a drawer organizer in the recycling bin.

The tabs on the ABS mate to the slots in the housing. Two on one side, one on the other. The ABS is about an 1/8" thick, but is fairly flexible, so easy enough to bend to insert and remove from the slots, which is important since the mounting holes for the dome lamp assembly are behind it, on either side of the original bulb.

The LED matrix then is affixed to the ABS with the supplied double-stick tape (already applied to the back of the PCB). The mating connection is plugged in to the shunt adapter.

In this location it has 1/4" or so of relief from the diffuser lens. Unless you're really looking, you can't tell there's anything different under there.

Until you turn it on. Compare the brightness against the incandescent map lights. These will get converted to LEDs too, as soon as I find an LED kit with an appropriate bulb adapter or have time to make a few from hacked bulbs.

This is a daylight shot, and you can already see the brightness of the LEDs (foreground) versus the incandescent bulb (background). These have made a huge difference in the ease of buckling baby into the car seat after dark. They are NOT a perfect white, they do cast a bit of a blue hue, but for this purpose and the price, I am quite happy. When I do the map lights, I may be a bit more careful about the color temperature as map reading, etc. is hard under bad lighting. I'm also considering red LEDs for the front map lights at least, as an option to help preserve night vision.

(Large pics as always on my web album).

Side Project: Swivel Passenger Seat

2010-10-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

OK, with this update, I should be more or less "caught up" with documentation vs. the state of reality on the project, at least with respect to things with a significant time investment.

I finally got around to finalizing a GOOD fix for my issues with the swiveling seat. A rearward-facing seat (at least in the front passenger position) has been a core part of my interior design from almost the beginning. As soon as basic measurements and layout attempts proved to me that I would need to use some variant on a VW Weekender/Westy layout, I wanted to have the expanded living space of the front row facing aft.

As usual, more complete and larger images available on my picasa web album. I will also make reference to some other photos from the first draft installation.

My first attempt at this was to buy an off-the-shelf "bolt-in" swivel mechanism from Discount Van-Truck (hereafter "DVT"). The idea is that this swivel plate bolts in between the stock seat and slider rails. Unfortunately for the Astro/Safari version, although the bolt-spacing is correct, it doesn't really take into account that the seat rails and seat bottom are curved. In order to accommodate this arch, I had to add some spacers to the bolts:

Combined with the swivel plate itself, this adds up to over three extra inches of seating height. This made it tight, even for shorter passengers. With the headliner removed to do all of my other work, I was pretty uncomfortable letting anyone too tall ride in that seat, lest they risk a head injury on exposed metal.

The other problem with this design is that the stock seat has some rearward rake built into the rails. This lifts the front of the seat and makes seating more comfortable, especially with the limited legroom. As you can see in the above picture, though, this incline is static and below the plane of rotation of the seat, so as you swivel the seat you go from a sideways slant to the front edge of the seat being much LOWER than the rear when fully swiveled. This was VERY uncomfortable.

Both of these "features" alone warranted a new plan of attack.

When I scored my donor van, I was pretty excited because it included TWO swivel seat bases. I also liked that these had a very beefy locking prawl so they felt securely locked when facing forward. Unfortunately they shared the same design flaw with the rear-rake built-in below the plane of rotation.

That wasn't the worst of it, though. It seems that GM had made some small but significant changes in the interior portions of the Astro/Safari van somewhere along the way. Despite having an identical outer unibody, the 1995 donor van had a few key differences to my 2003 van. Under the rear of my front seats there's a small duct outlet that blows HVAC air onto the feet of the passengers in the middle row. At first I thought I could utilize the GTRV donor swivel base by just notching the back of the plate to clear this outlet. I quickly went after it with a plasma cutter before I really understood what was going on. It turns out, that the vent outlet has ducting behind it (duh!), in the form of a very wide and flat plenum that sits under a good portion of the seat. This is why the passenger seat is up on those riser rails you can see in the first picture. Where the feet touch it is flat, but most everywhere else sits 1-2" higher with ducting, carpet, underlayment, etc. These flat-bottom seat bases just weren't going to work.

I looked at a variety of ways of just trying to put little "feet" on these bases to use them, but it always stacked up to making the passenger seat too high again. With all of the clearance needed for the various levers, there just wasn't an easy way to chop two or three inches out of the design without basically rebuilding it from scratch. Rather than head off down that road, I decided to leave the swivels intact for resale, and went after making the original DVT swivel base work "right".

After a lot of back and forth, I built these. They're pretty simple, just a couple of short sections of 1.5" x 2.5" tubing, with some angle stock welded on. The second project from my new-old welder. The more I work with it, the more I realize it will need a minor overhaul to fix the design issues with it. Fortunately others have gone ahead and documented how to do that.

Here you can see everything stacked up. Unfortunately I still have the "curved" slider track under the swivel plate, but this was sort of necessary because if the slider was on top of the swivel, you'd have too much of the locking lever sticking out between your legs when the seat was fully rearward. This keeps the lever handles in a better position. More importantly, you can see that the plane of rotation is now mostly flat (depending a little on the slider position), and that the rake is built-in above the swivel plate. In this photo the swivel is "facing" rearward, and the 1" tubing spacers on the left raise up the front of the seat in all positions.

Here's the swivel plate "mid swivel", and the detail of the locking lever. One problem with both original swivel designs is that they only locked in the forward position. When facing rearward, reaching to grab something off the dash or trying to adjust your position with your legs would make the seat turn instead of moving your body, like pushing one of those shopping carts where all four wheels swivel, or a boat with no keel. Sort of annoying.

Fixing this was the easiest part of the whole project, I just nibbled out another notch with a cutting wheel on my grinder, so now the seat locks in the rearward position as well.

It is hard to see here unless you know what you're looking at, but the other minor improvement was to heat and bend the locking lever slightly, so that the handle comes "up" a bit and fits the contour of the lower seat a bit better. It gets it out of the way so you're not banging your heel on it if you cross your legs under while seated.

All told, the passenger seat now sits almost 3/4" lower than stock, instead of the 3+ inches higher than stock. The extra headroom just makes me feel that much safer for passengers since the GTRV reinforcing ring does seem to sit a tad lower than the original roofline, but I didn't want to drop things too much lest the armrest in the door be wildly out of whack against the arm rest on the seat. Building my brackets this way also moved the seat rearward about and 1.5 inches. This makes up for the awful passenger foot room more than you'd think, since the foot well is tapered. Any further and I was worried the upper seatbelt pickup would be too far forward.

As currently mounted, the edge of the seat just clears the B-pillar if I swivel the seat clockwise. If I want to go counter-clockwise, I have to move the seat back to the fully upright position first. I still could move the seat inboard another inch-and-a-bit if I use the other mounting holes, but so far this seems fine.

And now I can finally enjoy a proper "living area" facing the bench seat opposite with enough space for a table for eating or cards.

Two answer two popular questions:
1) No, I wouldn't use the seat in this position while traveling. The seatbelt anchors aren't really in the right place, and it would make my wife carsick faster than an alpine road anyway.

2) Not sure if I plan to do the same to the driver's seat or not. Because of my planned layout, my Edgestar fridge will most likely be behind the driver's seat when camping, so I wouldn't be able to swivel without a lot of shuffling around. I could test to be sure, but I also think the driver's seat would have to be inclined to an uncomfortable angle to clear the steering wheel anyhow. That said, having "facing" seating for four adults would be cool if we got stuck in a rain or something...

Top Transplant - Relocate Wiring and Overhead Console Project

2010-10-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

Here is more of my retroactive documentation. In this installment, I tackled the relocation of the overhead dome/map lamp and add an overhead switch panel.

As always, more/bigger pictures on my picasa web album.

The main push for this part of the project was to deal with the aftermath of having removed the forwardmost structural rib from the Astro van roof. The GTRV steel reinforcing ring took care of the structural element, but there was also a couple of wiring harnesses that passed over this rib, one of them to feed the forward dome lamp and map lights that also hung here. The GTRV donor van had an aftermarket RV dome/map light in the overhead space between the reinforcing ring and the windshield/rearview mirror area. I liked this placement, but I was pretty sure I could make mine look more factory by reusing the original GM light assembly.

Like the GTRV solution, my implementation began with a piece of aluminum sheet. I didn't like the way theirs was sort of bodged on, though, so I started by bending a mild angle to fit the top of the windshield header. This gave me a better flat-to-flat surface to drive a couple of sheet metal screws though. The bend was mild, so I wasn't worried about cracking, but if there had been much more to it, I would have felt compelled to anneal the sheet before bending. Behold my super-quick-and-dirty metal brake, basically a few pieces of angle stock in a vice. The top pieces clamped on with c-clamps keep the bend straight and prevent me from over-bending and risking cracking.

Next I started laying out placement of the dome lamp housing, as well as a plate to mount some switches. Is that carbon fiber? Yes, it is. Why carbon fiber? Because when you're an ex-Battlebot builder you've got big sheets and even bigger piles of scrap CF plate lying around in your shed, looking to get used. Plus, its nice for mounting switches because its a bit thicker (and more rigid) than a thin metal sheet but is still easy to machine with a dremel and a file. The extra material thickness seems to hold the switches more tightly.

Zardoz is displeased. Actually, these are clearance holes for the wiring coming off the backs of the switches. The carbon plate is spaced off of the aluminum mounting bracket to allow for the thickness of the headliner (once reinstalled), but the wiring needs to go back up under the headliner to the rest of the chassis loom.

Here you can see the how the bracket fits onto the reinforcing ring and windshield header. I'm extending the wiring harness that used to follow the roof rib. I pulled matching-color wiring from the donor van to extend all the wiring, so there would be no troubleshooting hassles down the line. All the new harnesses were sealed with weather-tight heat-shrink crimps and then wrapped in that sticky cloth wiring loom tape. I even wrapped-in the factory clips so the wiring loom is secured to various bits of the roof structure as it routes along the van. All of this will tuck up under the headliner when reinstalled.

Here is the switch plate, ready to install. At this point in the process, I was still planning to use the electric actuators to lift the top (see previous post), so there are two momentary rocker switches for the actuators, plus a DPDT switch to lock the armatures, plus one spare. The divorced actuator switches were so that I could fine-tune the tent tension in case the motors didn't lift at the same speed. I ended up chucking this design, though, so I now have a really cool carbon fiber switch mount with four unused switches.

And the dome lamp and switch plate installed to the mounting bracket. The dangling blue connectors were the leads to the actuator motors so that I could use the switches to move the actuators prior to final installation. I do wish I had just mocked-up the (complicated) switch wiring onto a temporary board before I found that the actuators would have to be scrapped. It might have saved me some effort here...

And one final little project. I made a bend-template to make a bracket to hang my ScanGauge from the windshield header above the rear-view mirror. I ran the cable up the A-pillar and now the gauge hangs in a comfortable field of view above and to the left of the mirror. The bracket is from a chunk of scrap titanium, bent on the same bending rig shown above. Yes, I have scrap titanium too. This chunk was originally salvaged from a British Heavyweight that fought (and lost) in Las Vegas (Battlebots Season 2), and had since been used in a variety of my beetleweights and flyweights in bouts all over the Southwest.

Top Transplant - Lifting the Top

2010-10-11T11:36:00.000-07:00

At this point in my documentation, I need to deviate from counting the "days" I've been working. Due to changes in work demands, a sick infant, and my wife's waning patience at being left for whole days or weekends at a time while I toil away at my buddy's shop, I'm just not getting whole days to work on the project. The upside is that since things have reached a certain level of completeness (see the last update), I was able to bring the van home again, and work on things for an hour or two here and there in the driveway. Progress comes in bursts, on afternoons when I can get away from work a little early and weekends when the baby naps or I can leave her with Mommy for (shorter) periods of time.

Instead, I'll try to capture "projects" as they are completed. Please remember that some of these projects span many days of short bursts and are often interposed with other projects, so things may appear out of order slightly.

Here then, I will cover the saga of "Lifting the Top". My goal, at the outset, was to be able to raise and lower the top on electric power, since I wanted my wife to be able to operate the top as easily as opening a sunroof. With the GTRV design, after releasing the latches, you must lift the top for 8-10 inches before the gas springs kick in and raise the top the rest of the way. When lowering the top, you have to hold it a bit above "fully closed" while you tuck the corners of the tent fabric away from the latches. For me this means putting my shoulder up against the top and standing up a bit. My wife is obviously smaller, and not quite as strong, so I was hoping to avoid this for her.

As always, more/bigger pictures on Picasa web album.

The problem with electric lifting actuators in this situation is packaging. The GTRV top is very low profile (lending the "Garagable" part to "Garagable Top RVs"), which doesn't leave much room for a bulky actuator. I was excited, then, to find these "tubular" actuators from Firgelli Automations.

The trick to this design is that the drive motor is contained within the actuator tube. This makes for a compact design, one that doesn't take up much more room than the gas spring that was included in the original design.

First I tackled the upper brackets, where the actuator hits the pop-top. These brackets came from Firgelli, and I thought they were nice and compact until I started messing with them and found some oddness. First, the drilled holes weren't exactly square to the material, which made tapping them less than fun. Why tap? Well, I was concerned that if the mechanism ever failed while in the "down" position, it would be difficult (or impossible) to service the actuators since they'd be trapped under the cap, and a burned actuator would prevent me from raising the top manually. So instead, I tapped the brackets themselves then used button-head cap screws from the outside to bolt everything up. This way, if there was a problem I could simply unbolt the bracket from outside and raise the top manually. Its a good thing I did it this way.... read on.

The Firgelli brackets weren't going to work on the van-side of things. They advertise "almost 180 degrees of rotation" from the bracket. I only needed about 40 degrees, but in an arc that wasn't compatible with the pinch-points on the brackets, so I had to make my own. I started by clipping a couple of corners from some 2" x 3/16" bar stock, then transferred over the critical measurements. The red is layout fluid, which when brushed on, makes it easy to transfer marks and measurements over to the steel. This is one of those things that (as an Electrical Engineer, not an ME or pro-machinist) I was glad to learn about when I was building Battlebots back in the last decade.

After a bit more cutting, a little drilling and grinding, and some less-than-ideal welds, I have a couple of these brackets. These are the first project done by my "new" old welder. I've had this welder since the aforementioned Battlebot-days, got from another Bot-builder friend, but I'd never gotten off my butt and set it up until now. It's an old SIP design from Italy, with a few quirks which I will get around to fixing later, but for a hobbyist like myself, it should do ok.

After paint, I made a couple of pads from cork/rubber gasket material. These should help seal against leaks and keep the roof damage to a minimum.

The lower bracket and actuator in place, complete with stainless sheet metal screws.

In the up position, everything was looking good. The actuators, even "unlocked" had enough holding power to keep the roof up without any struggle. "Locking" the actuators by shorting the motor terminals was built-in to my design and proved more than adequate to keeping things from moving. I started "small" by just moving the actuators a few inches, and everything was fine.

After I tried to run the actuators all the way down, though, I found a significant problem. After a bunch of blown fuses and swear words, much probing, and disconnecting and reconnecting of wiring and bracketry, I was able to find the problem: The actuators aren't really built to take the load I was putting them under, despite the 150lb rating. The motor assembly is held in the actuator tube by a pair of plastic (!!!) standoffs that fit the extruded profile of the tube. Under heavy compression load, these standoffs were compressing and sliding, and the motor was hitting the cap on the actuator tube, pinching wires and shorting things as it happened. There may still be hope for this design, if I can get some metal motor mounts machined up, but for now the electric lift design was DOA.

With a heavy heart, and 8 extra holes in the van roof :(, I gave up and fitted the original GTRV gas springs to the top. This isn't a "bad" design, it just wasn't what I was hoping for. Once again I have the problems of manually lifting/holding the top while raising/lowering, but so does every other GTRV owner...

On the upside, I was able to get to this point prior to the San Diego ExPo Meet-n-greet, so I was able to show off a mostly-functional pop top! :)

More to come...

Top Transplant, Day 6

2010-10-11T11:32:00.000-07:00

OK, I have been seriously slacking on the documentation end of things, but I HAVE been working. Here is an attempt to get caught up.

As always, there are more/bigger pics on my Picasa web album.

At this point in the build, it was time to attach the tent canvas to the van roof. The GTRV design basically sandwiches the canvas against the roof with this vinyl trim. When tight, this creates a (theoretically) waterproof(ish) seal against the van, sort of like a set of shingles.

I used the salvaged vinyl strips to lay out the tent spacing and get everything lined up.

In order to avoid more holes in the vinyl and canvas, I went ahead and used the strips as drill templates too - predrilled a dozen or so holes in a time.

It was easiest to fill the strip with a line of screws, then stretch the canvas onto the screws using the existing holes, and finally drive everything tight against the van roof. This was especially important in the back corners because the tent is under extra tension from sewn-in elastic to keep things taught. I imagine when GTRV originally build these, they had a method for doing things without tension, and could just drill through the vinyl, canvas, and steel all in one go.

And voila', several hundred holes and screws later, the tent is now attached to the roof of the van, making it theoretically weather-tight. At this point, the lifting struts are not installed, the pop-top was supported by a 2x4 from inside the van while I worked.

Zombie Walk 2010

2010-07-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

My week of Nerd-related activities got extended slightly when a friend let me know that there was a Zombie Walk going on with ComicCon this Saturday.

From ZombieWalk_2010-07-24

Needless to say, I had to drag the family along. My costume was pretty rudimentary, but there were some really talented and dedicated folks there, including my favorite, the "50's Comic Book Zombie", who was kind enough to pose with me for the picture above.

The walk was organized by Zombie Walk San Diego, as a fundraiser and organ-donor signup event for Donate Life California. By my estimate, there were somewhere between 500 and a 1000 Zombies who showed up. Awesome!

More impressive than the sheer number of Zombies was that I was able to get Kimberley and Annika to come along. Annika was a bit young for makeup, so she wore her "Zombie Snack" bib, while Kimberley was sporting possibly the most subtle costume in the walk, (but she was definitely in-costume):

From ZombieWalk_2010-07-24

Bonus Zombie points to anyone who "gets it".

I was honored to be asked to pose for many photos. Lots of people thought the sign was great, but I can't take credit for the joke -Think Geek sells the shirt. My really "big moment", though, was spotting the illustrious Patricia Tallman standing off the curb taking pictures of the shamble as it went by. I only gave a subtle wave and mouthed "I love your work" as we went by, because the last thing the star of Tom Savini's remake of Night of the Living Dead needed was to be recognized on the street and surrounded by five hundred Zombie fans. This would be equivalent to someone spotting Mark Hamil watching a parade of the 501st Legion going by.

We were too busy wrangling the stroller amid the shamble of Zombies to take many photos, but I managed a few good ones here, and a quick video snap of the Thriller breakout.

I have found quite a few other good collections of photos, though, so here are the best:
Flickr Set from Mike Rollerson
and another from Sebastian Jesperson
and one from SanDiego.com

Searching "Zombie Walk San Diego 2010" or "Zombie Walk ComicCom 2010" should net many more videos and pictures...

W00tstock 2.4 has ended. It was awesome.

2010-07-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm still reeling from my experience at W00tstock 2.4 last night. I'll let the rest of the digirati cover all the juicy details, since I'm sure it was live-blogged, tweeted, and streamed to no end. I love events like these, where I come away reminded that I am part of a greater, and growing, community of like-minded devotees of all things geek.

My favorite specific bit from last night's show, though, was the sequence of events surrounding Wil Wheaton's retelling of his first experience with the Rocky Horror Picture Show. There was a cascade of funny that began with a heartfelt reminiscence of life as a teenager in 1980's LA. Then while recounting the gathering of some slightly burned white toast, onto the stage wanders Aaron Douglas, complete with BSG "Chief Tyrol" flight-suit costume, setting up Wheaton for the gag: "No, we asked for toast, not a toaster!", which of course slayed the audience as intended.

Funnier yet is what came next. After Douglas stomps of stage yelling "Frak you, Wil Wheaton", our storyteller turns to the audience and says (in seemingly one breath): "So its pretty cool when you're friends with Aaron Douglas and you hear he's going to be at ComiCon so you call him up and ask him if he'll come to your show 'cause you have this idea for a bit that you think would be really funny! Then he calls you back and asks 'Hey, what if I wore my flight suit? Would that be OK?', and you say 'That.... would... be... AWESOME!', then I went into my backyard and screamed to the heavens 'What did I do to deserve this bitchin' life?'".

It came across as completely genuine and reinforces everything else I've heard about Wil Wheaton and his view of this place in the world. In any case, I laughed until my sides hurt.

There was much more awesome, including a brief Astronomy lecture and sneak-peak at a new upcoming Discovery Channel show from "Bad Astronomer" Phil Plait, surprise cameos from a variety of other geek celebs, and I even got to spend a couple of minutes chatting with Mythbuster Grant Imahara whom I haven't spoken with since we were competitors at a Battlebots event a million years ago. All in all, a great night, and I can't wait for W00tstock 3.x!

EDIT:
Addendum: I can't believe I forgot to mention this. So security was stupid. Like really stupid. The show started like an hour late because they were doing thorough pat-downs and bag-checks which doesn't sound bad until you remember that 1/2 the crowd came straight from ComiCon and had those massive Swag-bags. It took FOREVER to process the line. Worst still, they confiscated my Leatherman Squirt S4, because it was a "weapon". OK, they didn't confiscate it so much as take it and put it into a plastic bin without any sort of claim ticket whereupon it was gone after the show, even though we had to leave a few minutes before the end. Oh well, I think the a-hole guard now has a beatup, dull Leatherman on his keychain. Maybe letting people know before you tear their tickets that there's a "no re-entry" policy, eh? My car was just around the block. Moreover, if you're looking for "weapons", maybe you should pat me down a little better, 'cause the farkup rent-a-cops missed my 3.5" Ritter RSK Mini-mk1, which is razor sharp and probably better at the "murdering other nerds" they seemed to be so concerned about. Obviously I didn't volunteer that one, since I wasn't about to hand over $100+ cutlery. OK, rant-over, W00tstock was still awesome! Besides, now I have an excuse to purchase the new Leatherman Squirt PS4 instead!!

W00tstock!

2010-07-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

Heck of a line (around the block) for the W00tstock show.

Can't wait!

-Sent via Blackberry

GTRV Organ Donor Teardown, Day 2

2010-07-12T15:47:00.000-07:00

Saint Kimberley the Luscious (aka Mrs. Herbie) granted me another big chunk of time this weekend, so I was able to make some more good progress on the teardown.

As before, my annotated image log is here.

The primary goal on Day 2 was to get the steel reinforcing ring separated from the rest of the van. After drilling all the fasteners on Day 1, I found that a significant amount of adhesive had been used. This stuff was STRONG. If I pulled hard on the steel ring, the roof sheet metal would flex some, but the adhesive didn't budge. Well, when in doubt, apply heat:

I worked my way around the perimeter with a propane torch and a wide putty knife. In most cases a little heat and sliding in the putty knife would get things separated nicely. In a few spots things were obviously under a bit of tension because just applying heat would cause the gap to separate.

In a few other places, more heat and a bit more aggressive application of the putty knife were needed. Mostly where the adhesive was laid on thick and there was a lot of mating surface area.

Eventually though, the glue surrendered and the ring came away, leaving just the sheet metal and what remained of the original reinforcing ribs.

The carpet/glue residue looked pretty nasty after "burning", and in a few spots I really did have to burn the paint to get the glue to let go, but that's one upside of a disposable donor, I don't have to care!

And here's the ring after separation. I was pleasantly surprised to find the ring is "open" at the right-rear corner. This made removal much easier and should make re-installation much simpler also, because in several places the horizontal surfaces of the ring slot in between the roof sheet metal and the stock cross bracing. This thing will have to be maneuvered into place around several such interfering areas, so the fact that I can "pinch" the ring slightly will be a help. Once in place, all of the mechanical fasteners should make it at least as strong as if the ring was welded around the entire perimeter.

The remaining white is more adhesive that I'll scrape off later. I really want to brush or blast this whole thing and at least give it a coat of primer. I hate seeing the start of rust on bare steel.

I also had time to start tackling transplanting the passenger seat swivel base into my van.

I had originally installed a different swivel that sandwiches in between the slider track and the seat bottom:

The problem here being that the added thickness of the slider plus the spacers needed to clear the "arch" of the slider track make the seat dangerously high. (Without a headliner in my 2003 van, a couple of my taller passengers are too close to the roof unless they recline the seat quite a bit!) My hope is to be able to transplant the older swivel base into my van.

After removing the seat, I had to get past the massive amount of brushed on bedliner that covered everything on the floor of the donor van. Mostly I just brushed it off the nuts so I could remove the base plate.

The next problem was that my 2003 van includes an underseat heater duct for the 2nd row foot area. At first I thought I could clear the duct by just notching the rear of the baseplate (underside in this photo):

However it turns out that the stack-up of ducting, insulation, and carpet means the studs aren't long enough to meet the baseplate. (The OE seat mount in my 2003 has a raised bracket with feet that extend to meet the studs, rather than a flat plate.) I'm still brainstorming on the optimum solution here. I may try to turn some sleeved nuts to reach down to the studs, or I may build a similar rail/foot system to clear the floor area entirely, but that will raise the seat back UP, so I may have to compensate by cutting down and re-welding the extension tube in the swivel.... ugh.

Anyhow, more to come, stay tuned!

GTRV Organ Donor Teardown, Day 1

2010-07-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

Due to the long holiday weekend, I actually had some time to spend starting the teardown in order to prep my "Organ Donor" GTRV for the top-ectomy and transplant to my 2003 recipient van. Mostly this was about getting things out of the way, and figuring out how the original conversion was constructed. It was a very productive day! My full photo log, complete with all the gory details is available here.

From GTRV-Teardown

Please forgive the seemingly inane annotations on some of the photos, but they are there to remind myself what I was photographing, in case I have to refer back to these pictures a month or a year from now.

After a full day of removing hundreds of screws and drilling hundreds of rivets, I'm now very close to being able to remove the steel reinforcing ring from the donor van's roof and separately lifting the top assembly off altogether.

From GTRV-Teardown

Most importantly, I have learned a lot about how the GTRV conversion are constructed, so I now feel very confident I can complete this transplant with minimal problems. The biggest casualty thus far is the headliner carpet from the donor. It was glued into place for the entire perimeter of the access portal, and removing it was destructive. It will need to be replaced when I'm done with the mechanical transplant, but I will be brainstorming for ways to avoid having to have the new headliner glued in the same way.

Kite Photography

2010-07-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

We got to spend a portion of our holiday weekend visiting some friends at Fiesta Island. Since I'm neck-deep in my camper-conversion project, I didn't do a very good job of prepping the van for a day at the beach. On the plus side, I did bring my kites and new carbon fiber KAP rig, so I was finally able to get some aerial shots with my little $40 Canon SD450 from Craigslist.

From FiestaIsland-2010-07-03

I used the Canon Hack Developers Kit (CHDK) running a script called "UltraIntervalometer" to run a timelapse program, taking a shot about once every 3 seconds. I just launched the kite and tied it off, then started the script and walked down the kite line a little ways and attached the rig, then let the kite fly! This was just my opening experiment, so I didn't spend very long taking shots or changing the aim point. I built my Picavet suspension rig in about an hour from some scrap carbon fiber, so its totally static, (making it very light!) but it means I'd have to walk down the line to change the aim. My biggest lesson learned was that I'll need to spend more time with the actual camera settings. Shooting mostly beige sand left the majority of my photos a bit washed out. I'll work on that.

Major Step forward....

2010-07-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

My "Astrolander"/Zombiemobile project has just taken a major step forward. This past weekend I flew to Vancouver and picked up a GTRV-equipped Safari donor van.

A few weeks ago, I found a high-mileage and beatup GTRV Safari on craigslist. 380,000 km (236k miles), and what the seller generously described as an interior "in need of TLC", but the top shell, tent, and hardware are all in excellent shape. Moreover, it was selling for an incredibly low price, cheap enough to justify buying the van just for the parts. Van was in North Vancouver, BC, but the owner was hesitant to deal with me, he thought I was a scammer! Once I explained that I would pay his asking price because the top shell, tent, and other hardware alone were worth that much to me, he agreed to sell. Then it was just a race to get my passport renewed and hope that nobody else stumbled across the advertisement and thought it was as good a deal as I did! Of course, any good road trip has an adventure story. Here's mine in Reader's Digest:

Finally flew into Vancouver last Sunday, took the SkyTrain and SeaBus to North Vancouver and met the seller. We looked over the van, covered some of the problems, but confirmed that the pop-top and tent are in excellent shape. Concluded the deal, including purchasing a 1-day BC insurance package, and I head for the border.

Border line was massive, almost 2 hours just to get to the kiosk so I can get pulled into secondary to start the process of importing the vehicle to the USA.

First CBP officer at secondary didn't know as much about vehicle importing as the CBP website (and thus me), so we wasted some time with him telling me I couldn't import the van because the speedo had kph on top. (!!?!) After I insisted that the van had all the proper labelling (CMVSS and EPA labels, etc.) and that it was an HS-7, part-2B import, he handed me off to a second CBP officer who within five minutes confirmed that all was well and I was on my way. It helped that the van was actually built in Minnesota (for the Canadian market, but still), since there was no duty to be paid. The EPA sticker even confirms California-emissions compliance, so this made things much smoother.

Made my way into Bellingham, WA and stumbled into the driveway of my friend Tom, already besieged by the Sportsmobile of fellow internet denizen Brian. Hey, Pop-Top Party!! After comparing Tom's van to mine and the minor evolution of the implementation, we had some decent beer and some grub, all in all a too-short visit. Its worth noting that though Tom and I had been conversing for over a year at this point, we'd never met in person. The internet has truly changed the world.

I have to stop here to thank Tom, Jen, and Brian for such a warm welcome and their fabulous hospitality. By-far the best aspect of the trip was meeting you all and thinking forward about the next visit when we can actually enjoy your beautiful surroundings!!

We picked up my co-pilot Kevin from the Bellingham airport, gathered a few supplies, and aimed the van south. By 11pm, we were on our journey, and here's where we started finding some of the "features" of this wonderful machine. First, the instrument lighting in the dash was out. Lots of fun trying to avoid a speeding ticket in an unfamiliar machine on the very dark northern stretch of the I-5. With the creative use of the map lights, my EDC Fenix E01 penlight, and/or my ipod, we were able to keep tabs on instrumentation until dawn. Other "features": Door locks are broken in an inconvenient combination of ways (lock cylinder on driver's side, power lock switch on passenger side, etc.); water temp gauge reads 40c constantly; no cruise control; and a few other niggles.

We went straight through, stopping only for bio breaks, fuel, and breakfast. By 10am we were far enough into California that it started to get hot. Real hot. The little thermometer on my REI zipper-pull said 100+. Before 11am. Oh, and it turns out the van's AC doesn't work either. Crap. Oh well, windows down, we soldier on. The upside of our late departure from Bellingham was that we had missed any sort of traffic going through pretty much all of Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. The downside is that we hit central California in the middle of one super-hot day. 105-110°F in Sacramento, Bakersfield, etc.

By 4:30pm, we were at the base of the Grapevine. Citibank's Fraud Detection division helpfully declined my card at this fuel stop, because they'd noticed what they thought were "too many" gas purchases. Um, I'm on a roadtrip back from Canada, hello? The guy starts reading off charges in Washington, Oregon, Northern California.... oh, all moving south. Duh. Sorted out that little issue and back on our way.

For most of the afternoon, it seemed the Water-temp gauge had been "waking up". It had slowly begun to register, then read near the middle of the gauge. As we got into the serious climb of the grapevine, it started to move more quickly toward the top end of the gauge. I wasn't sure whether I could trust it, but figured discretion was wise so we took a casual pace up the hill. On the descent the gauge settled back to just south of the middle, so we pressed on. With a last-minute move into the heavy-truck lane, we narrowly missed getting stuck in a massive backup due to a recent accident where the passenger and truck routes of the grapevine rejoin, then had clean sailing all the way through LA. Somehow we'd timed the drive to miss EVERY bit of rush hour traffic on the entire west coast of America.

We entered into San Diego proper by 9pm, dropped off my copilot, and headed for home. Stopped at the store to get some milk, and then.... crank but no fire.

Yep, after 1400+ miles, two countries, three states, and 22 hours, the van has died within two blocks of my house. Oh well, it could have been much, much worse.

I walked home, took a shower and went to bed. The next morning I got up and started trying to debug the van. After half a day of checking the easy stuff, the manager of the grocery store who's parking lot the van had died in got sort of testy about me crawling around the van checking things, so I just had it towed to my friend's shop. Getting it running would have been convenient, but as it stands is not strictly necessary since the donor wasn't expected to survive the transplant procedure anyway!

Next steps? Start taking pictures and pulling parts. We'll probably start this weekend.

One last note, I have to say that this acquisition is also a personal milestone for me. By my calculations, and including my wife's car (which is titled in my name, so its fair), this brings my aggregate horsepower to 1022. Yes, I've entered four digits, and I now have an aggregate horsepower equivalent to a Bugatti Veyron plus a Honda 250cc dirtbike. This is short-lived of course, as I still plan to shed one "real" car from the fleet and the donor will take a trip to the scrapyard as soon as I've stripped it for useful goodies, but still...

And so it begins...

2009-09-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know that I've been in the research phase of a new vehicle project for quite a while. Using the excellent resources of the Expedition Portal forums, I've been scheming on the most affordable way to build a 3-4 passenger Overland/Expedition Camper. This should be the start of a series of posts as I being the transformation from8-passenger midsize van to what a friend has dubbed an "Astrolander".

The base for the transformation is our newly acquired 2003 Chevy Astro. I picked it up this weekend from a dealer in Tucson with just 52700 miles on the clock (under 8800 miles/year!) This is a very clean van and the drive back from Tucson was easy-peasy, despite the fact that it was Labor Day weekend. A bit more legwork will be needed to get the car smogged and titled in California, but there just weren't enough AWD Astro/Safari vans in SoCal to get a decent example for myself.

Some people have trouble differentiating between All Wheel Drive and 4 Wheel Drive, so this sticker isn't strictly accurate just yet, but it does portend what is to come. Phase 2 is to begin hunting for a full 2-speed 4x4 transfer case and electronic bits from a suitable S-10, Blazer, etc. You see, one of the great things about this particular van is that the BorgWarner AWD transfer case is an external module that just so happens to be a bolt-in (or nearly bolt-in) match for a New Process 2-speed 4x4 transfer case. It amuses me that the full-size van guys have to go to places like Salem-Kroger or Quigley and spend thousands, or tens-of-thousands, to get their vans converted to 4x4 with parts from the truck side of their family tree, while this humble mid-size is basically parts-bin compatible.

And here's where I hope to end up. This is the Astrolander of T.Low from ExPo and the AstroSafari forums. People are going to think I'm copying him (which I am) or going all Talented Mister Ripley on him (which I'm not) because our vans are the same color and similar vintage. Color was a coincidence, I narrowly missed out on a white 2002 Astro at a GSA auction last month.

Key features of T.Low's build that I hope to emulate: The GTRV Sleeper-Top, a 4" lift from Overland Vans, and a 4x4 conversion courtesy of some GM parts bin creativity. Interior-wise we'll have substantially different builds as we have different needs. I also suspect that his will continue to see much more rigorous offroading than I plan for our van!

Baby's First Hack

2009-06-07T08:09:00.000-07:00

Even before Kimberley and I knew we were having a baby, I knew I was looking forward to being that "cool dad" who can build anything for his Kids. Science projects and Halloween costumes are going to be epic in our household in the years to come. I've always enjoyed hacking for myself, and I always knew I'd end up hacking for my kids, but this little project sort of sneaked up on me. Its appropriate that this "Baby's First Hack" fits perfectly in the nature of most good hacks: It was a simple fix for a problem that needed solving only because of limitations in the original design of a product.

As Kimberley and I were starting to move into the nursery after all the paint and wainscoting was finished, she ran into a problem installing her preferred mobile, the Tiny Love "Sweet Island Dreams". She preferred this one because it played real classical music, recorded with a real orchestra, not dumbed down MIDI or electronic noise. However, our new crib has a very wide cap rail (click first pic to see), and there wasn't enough "bite" in the mounting system to attach the mobile. Examining the mount, I could immediately see where the manufacturer could have solved this problem for us by making the mount for the threaded post more adjustable (a few more molded in slots for the "lock" in the back of the plate would have sufficed), but as is so often the case, this was apparently designed as a "one size fits some" solution.

Enter Baby's First hack. I cut a mounting plate from some 3/16" aluminum sheet I had in my shop that allowed me to drop down the mounting spindle to allow the mobile to fit over our wide crib rail. The resulting mount and its clearly Autobot-logo outline was purely a bonus. At least my daughter will grow up to fight Decepticons.

The most complicated part of this whole mini-project was getting the mounting flange off the back of the mobile. Everything in this toy is secured with a weird triangular anti-tamper screw that I've never seen before. It gave me an excuse to finally buy the 100piece anti-tamper bit set I've been eyeballing, and fortunately one of the tri-wing bits included gave me enough leverage to remove the screws, even though it wasn't the correct bit.

After that, it was simply a matter of screwing the mounting spindle to my new mount, then attaching that where the locking flange used to be on the back of the mobile. Since this mount covers the battery compartment (and will thus need to be removed for battery changes), I replaced the tamper proof screws with some Phillips-head screws from my collection of parts removed during previous hacks. In a rare move, I went ahead and discarded the tamper screws rather than save them, as they're a subtle affront from the manufacturer. Remember the Hacker's creed: If you can't open it, you don't own it. Anti-tamper fasteners are just another way that manufacturers try to trap you as a consumer. Devices are designed to be hard to repair or modify so that you have to buy another one as soon as it ceases to meet your needs.

As you can see from this side shot, I've increased the vertical bite of the mount by about 1-1/4". In case it isn't obvious, the threaded spindle passes between two vertical slats in the crib, and is then secured with the giant plastic wingnut. Combined with the flange at the top, this provides a surprisingly secure yet easy to install mounting system. What probably isn't obvious in the first photo (mounted on the crib) is that I've chamfered the edges on the plate and sized the mounting screws for the spindle so that they're flush to the plate, so this is nice and smooth and baby-safe!

Weekend Project: BMW Double VANOS rebuild

2009-04-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

Double-wha? Simply put, VANOS (Variable Nockenwellen Steuerung) is BMW's name for their fancy oil-driven system for variable valve timing in their 6-cylinder engines. Oil is pumped into pistons which move the camshafts fore and aft to hit slightly different cam profiles, thus increasing engine performance and fuel economy. The problem? Due to a failure of materials design, basically every VANOS engine from 1992 to 2006 will eventually develop leaks that prevent the pistons from functioning correctly. If you're under warranty or willing to spend the money, they will happily fit a rebuilt VANOS assembly with the same design flaw and the same failure mode. A full explanation can be found at Beisan Systems, written by the clever bloke who figured out the problem and the solution for his own car, only to be told by BMW that "no further development" would be done on the design.

Luca, one of the members of the local San Diego BMW Z Car Club (SDBMWZCC) had done the research into this problem for his own stable of BMWs. Luca is an awesome shadetree mechanic, and I've never seen him do something half-assed, so if he was going to fix his wife's Z4, it was going to be done right, which meant fitting the upgraded O-rings and Teflon seals from Beisan Systems into the VANOS pistons. And in a display of car-club-generosity unmatched in many months, he also organized a group purchase to bring the price down the price of the parts, then hosted a clinic at his condo where several other Z-owners could turn their own wrenches under his guidance!

With a Sunday appointment, I readied my tools and headed off to the clinic. None of this work is terribly difficult, but quite a few parts have to be stripped back from the head in order to get the VANOS assembly off, including the valve cover, spark coils and harness, and fan. Since the cars are low, this isn't exactly easy, but this process is really good for getting familiar with the more intimate parts of the engine, and I got my first really good look at how the VANOS system interacts with the cam shafts.

Once removed, we drained the VANOS (onto a diaper for easy cleanup, seen here), disassembled and cleaned it, then reassembled it. The actual upgrade takes only a few minutes, its just too bad that you have to spend several hours pulling things off the engine to get to it. After the new seals were fitted to the pistons, everything gets reassembled and refitted, re-torqued, and replaced.

Sadly, getting this intimate with the Z did reveal some of her other flaws, namely some crusty guff near the thermostat housing that indicates a coolant leak. I'll be dealing with that next, but I'll be passing that one off to a professional because I lack the tools and patience to deal with draining, refilling and correctly purging the cooling system on a BMW.

And finally, after a test drive, I can report that yes, the fix was worth the effort and makes a noticeable difference. There is a noticeable increase in "urgency" from the engine, especially at the lower revs. The transition into VANOS can be felt but is subtle, but overall everything feels more powerful now. Most importantly, I know I won't have to look forward to doing this again in 20k or 30k miles as I would with the OEM seals.

Guest Room Remodel - Budget Murphy bed with Ikea Pax cabinet frames

2009-04-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of weeks, I've undertaken a complete re-do of our guest room.

One of our key goals was to keep the room multi-functional, so we really wanted a Murphy Bed (folding wall bed) to make room when the bed wasn't needed. Unfortunately, even the cheapest Murphy systems we could find were well out of our price range. With a Queen bed, side cabinets and a rudimentary headboard, delivery, and installation, we were looking at nearly $5000, and that's just for a thin white-melamine cabinet with vinyl-foil doors.

I knew I could do better (price-wise) if I did something myself, but I don't have the equipment or time to make full cabinets or raised-panel doors. Wanting an alternate solution I did a lot of searching and scheming and eventually hit upon the idea of using Ikea Pax wardrobe cabinetry (somewhat modified).

This was a long-ish project, so I won't go through every step here. You can see the evolution of the project along with descriptions of many steps here on the Web Album.

Since the main reason for undertaking this myself rather than just purchasing a basic melamine Murphy Bed was cost ($5000 or so, as of November 2008), let me break down the main expenditures:

murphybedframe.com Queen-size Murphy Mechanism + Foundation .... $390
Floor saver (attaches frame to wall instead of floor)............$80

2 x Pax Cabinet Frames, 20x23x93.................................$180
1 x Pax Cabinet Frame, 39x23x9...................................$100
4 x Pax Birkeland Doors, 19 5/8 x 90 1/8.........................$480
2 x Pax Birkeland Glass Doors, 19 5/8 x 90 1/8...................$240
3 x Gravyr Handles 2-pack........................................$24

Melamine Sheets (Home Depot).....................................$60
2 x Piano Hinges, 72" (ACE Hardware).............................$30

Dimmable Halogen Lights, door-switch, wiring, etc................$40

Assorted Hardware, Hole covers, magnetic catches, etc............$10

"Wrought" Iron Headboard from our old bed........................$0

=====================================================================
......................................... Rough Total ..........$1634

Even accounting for a few tools that I had to buy (<$50) and a big pile of Komplement accessories and sales tax, you can see that I came out way ahead.

So, what did it take to pull all this off? Surprisingly little.

As far as tools, I needed a Circular saw, a Table saw (borrowed from a friend), Cordless Drill, various drill bits including 15mm and 35mm forstner bits (the tools I bought), hammer, screwdriver, and various measuring tools, squares, and a few clamps.

This whole build was based on using standard Ikea Pax wardrobe frames. This meant I could fit stock Birkeland doors, which in my mind was the biggest hurdle to overcome. The only real trick to this is that the Pax frames only come in two widths: 19 5/8" (1-door wide) and 39 1/4" (2-doors wide), whereas a Queen bed and frame needs roughly 65" clearance. The solution was to "extend" a wide cabinet to a "double-wide" cabinet and make the doors bifold (4-doors wide).

To do this, I made new top and toe-kick panels in the adjusted width. Using the original top as a guide, I machined my new top to have the same pockets for the Ikea cam-lock hardware so that everything would assemble the same way as the original cabinet frame. I then added a horizontal stringer bolted to the wall to keep the top piece from bowing under its own weight. The toe-kick was similar, except that instead of a full bottom to the cabinet, my toe-kick is only topped by a strip that fills the gap to the Murphy base frame (the center cabinet is "bottomless" and the Murphy Bed frame sits directly on the floor, bolted to the wall.)

Attaching the doors is nearly identical to the Ikea method, except that given the added weight of a second door panel, I felt compelled to add three additional hinges on each side. These were mounted just like the regular hinges into additional recesses I drilled into the doors.

The lighting is actually not Ikea, because I came across some Dimmable Halogens for a great price at my local Dixieline. Rather than just put in the lights and a dimmer, I also built a switched outlet into the cabinet frame. A momentary switch is mounted such that power to the lights is only "On" when the cabinet doors are open, since I didn't want the hot halogen lights left on by accident when the bed was folded up into the cabinet.

The other big improvement in this implementation vs. the cheap commercial Murphy Beds was the headboard. Since the Pax wardrobe cabinets are deeper than I need (even accounting for a pillowtop mattress), there is room between the wall and upright bed frame to accommodate our spare "wrought" iron headboard. When the bed is lowered, the headboard can be slid forward and bolted to the bed frame with two wingnuts. This provides a REAL headboard for our guests to lean against for reading, etc., something that was not provided by the cheap commercial beds we looked at.

Final results? We're very pleased.

The actual Murphy mechanism from MurphyBedFrame.com went together very easily and is well built, and their "Floorsaver" is a unique offering, as far as I can tell. Being able to bolt exclusively to the wall studs instead of into the subfloor made things much easier on me. My only knock is against their "foundation", which is really nothing more than a pine wood frame, some corrugated cardboard, and a quilted covering stapled on. For the $110 difference, I would just order the mechanism without the foundation and just make one from plywood, were I to do this again.

The Ikea cabinetry isn't as nice as real hardwood, but it actually feels less cheap and more sturdy than the thinner particleboard/melamine on offering from commercial Murphy Bed sellers. For our room, we actually wanted the white cabinets, but we could have also selected one of the other Pax finishes. NOTE: If using a cabinet finish other than white melamine, you'll probably want to buy one additional Pax cabinet frame. Use the side pieces from this extra cabinet as the raw lumber for the new top and toe kick panels. It will be slightly more expensive that buying melamine in sheets, but it gives you the option of "other-than-white", another difference versus the commercial Murphy Bed makers.

Four more lives that could have been saved by PLBs

2009-03-04T10:42:00.000-08:00

So apparently this is turning into the 406MHz Personal Locator Beacon advocacy blog, but dammit this is important. Since I wrote last week about the out-of-bounds skier who died due to a cascade of missteps both personal and professional, two more stories of tragedy have hit the news. Once again, both stories could have been very different if someone had bothered to make the investment in a PLB.

First, there was the boating accident that saw two NFL players and their friend lost at sea. One man survived by clinging to the overturned craft, but as of today the Coast Guard search has been called off for the other three. The rescued boater spent nearly two days with the craft before rescue. Even with poor weather, the search could likely have started many hours earlier had a PLB alert been triggered.

Next comes the story of two off-piste snowboarders in the Alps. Once again, one of the party survived, this time by using a GPS-equipped iPhone and what seems to be a lucky strike with a WiFi signal from a nearby resort. His friend died, though that may have been the result of a fall. In either case, a PLB might have sped up rescue operations for one or both of them. This is also a good reminder that the COSPAS/SARSAT network is a GLOBAL cooperative effort. In this case, the same satellite constellation would have been notified, but rather than US Coast Guard, or Park Rangers, or the RCMP, the appropriate Swiss authorities would have been notified.

Seriously people, if you're going to be spending any amount of time away from the comfort of your urban/suburban environment, take one minute to think about how much you'd spend to be able to call for rescue in an emergency. How much would you pay to call 911 if you were trapped in a burning building? Lost at sea or stuck in a blizzard is just as serious and just as deadly. Why wouldn't you spend a little money to make sure you could call for help?

One skier dead, one finally rescued after 10 days

2009-02-26T10:07:00.000-08:00

According to a couple of stories from CBC News and GlobeandMail.com, a Woman has died after she and her husband got lost while skiing and spent 10 days in the B.C. wilderness.

The tragedy of this story is massive. I won't recount all of the details (see the above articles for that), but it seems that critical failures of preparation were made by the skiers, and critical failures of response were made by the local volunteer S&R team and the RCMP.

Sadly, any one of these missed steps by the skiers might have changed the outcome:

They didn't let anyone know to expect their return that day. No ground search was launched until they were actually reported missing nine days after getting lost.
The couple had no survival gear, just two granola bars and no water. Even a basic PSK (Pocket/Personal Survival Kit) would have provided for fire, and thus melted snow for water. An improvised shelter of even basic materials like a couple of garbage bags or a mylar space blanket would have reduced their exposure significantly also, reducing the need for additional calories to keep warm.
No GPS or Map & Compass. Getting lost is best avoided by "staying found", but even someone who is massively lost could likely have found a path back to safety given a little time, and assuming they knew how to use those tools.
No Personal Locator Beacon. A $450 PLB would definitely have alerted the highest eschelons of both American and Canadian SARSAT command and would certainly have kicked off the search nine days sooner, no matter what mistakes were made at the local government level.

As for the local volunteer S&R and RCMP organizations, I'm sure they will be looking long and hard at their own response procedures to determine why multiple SOS signals were ignored. The actions taken by the Golden & District Search and Rescue may even qualify as criminally negligent, and their response to the RCMP inquiries certainly hampered the RCMP response.

< Soapbox Mode > Its obvious that mistakes were made all around, but the skier's failure to prepare was the set that might have had the biggest direct impact.

Please please please, if you ever spend ANY amount of time in the outdoors, even as "civilized" as a ski or beach resort, consider your surroundings and circumstances and prepare for these kinds of events. And while you're preparing your few essential survival elements, please consider investing in a 406MHz PLB. I'm sure Ms. Fortin's family would agree that $450 is a small price in exchange for a life saved. If you have any doubt, let me point you to this other timely article: NOAA Satellites Helped Rescue 283 People in 2008

< / Soapbox Mode >

Science Olympiad: Junkyard Challenge

2009-02-23T10:09:00.000-08:00

After I coached the "Robot Ramble" team for Mount Carmel High School's 2008 Science Olympiad team, I suppose there was no chance I'd get out of coaching an event for 2009.

The Science Olympiad folks served up a new event for this year, "Junkyard Challenge". The event consists of students partially pre-building an autonomous device to complete a pre-defined task, but the students must incorporate one or more "Mystery Materials" into the final build that takes place on-site at the start of competition. Its a great way for the competitors to demonstrate the ability to improvise, and potentially exposes them to a lot of different concepts.

The task for the regional-level competition was "Tipping the Scale", in-which the students must build a device to determine the mass of a challenge object provided during the test.

There were a number of ways to build a simple mechanical device based strictly on Hooke's law or a balance scale, but I asked my team if they wanted to try something more advanced, and they said "Yes!".

I'm proud to say that my team of High Schoolers built themselves an electronic scale, complete with a hand-built 5-stage ring oscillator biased by parallel plate capacitor acting as a transducer to measure the compression of the scale as mass was added. Besides my usual safety lecture and introduction to various machining operations for the mechanical part of the build, I had to introduce the team to some of the basics of electronics, including RC-circuits and the basic concept of an ideal parallel plate capacitor.

The concept for the capacitive transducer is based on something I was exposed to during an internship back in college. Obviously there are better (cheaper, easier, more accurate) ways to detect mass, such as using a strain-gauge load cell, but the competition rules were very explicit in disallowing any components harvested from commercial scales. To avoid any possible problems, I helped them build the whole device from absolute scratch.

I couldn't be more proud, as my guys took 4th place in their event, and MCHS took 2nd place overall, meaning a select portion of the team is headed to the State Competition in Long Beach on April 18th.

See more pictures of the build process in my web album.

I've gone meta!

2009-01-15T17:04:00.000-08:00

I seem to have gone slightly meta, in that I'm writing a blog about my blog, but this is the sort of thing I want to document since I don't want to forget what I've done, in case I accidentally update a template and forget to merge this change back in.

You'll notice some of the long posts here will now get just a summary, followed by "Read More...", which is your indication to click:

I know I'm a long-winded chap, so I wanted to start breaking up the posts into pieces.

After a lot of searching and experimenting, I've gotten it working. I'm using the help provided by the blog Pinkish, but I found an error in their instructions which added a lot of time.

Without duplicating the entire content of the post, I'll point out Step 4 and Step 5 say:

Your splitted posts should look like:
This is part one of my post
<span class="fullpost">
This is part two.

But the correct span tag is <span id="fullpost">. This is critical.

Makes me proud!

2008-11-04T07:12:00.001-08:00

Folks standing in light drizzle at 7 am to vote!

Our line moved quickly, though the drizzle did cause one real voting problem:

The ink pens used for our optical scan ballots is apparently water soluble. At least one voter had significant smudging of a bubble due to rainwater on her sleeve. She was issued a new ballot and her old one was invalidated. Hopefully this won't be a high-percentage trend, as this could exacerbate a shortage of ballots if turnout is unusually high (which seems likely).

Miata Parts for Sale

2008-05-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

This posting is for all of my Miata owning friends and former club-mates from the SD Miata Club. As much as I miss the SDMC after selling my Miata "Elsie" a couple of years ago, its time to face the fact that I'll probably not have another Miata anytime soon, so I need to sell the remaining accessories that have been hanging around in my garage.

I have the following items for sale. Please contact me with any questions you may have. I'll also arrange pictures on request.

Wheels: SOLD

Hardtop: SOLD

Flyin Miata MiataLINK ECU + Injectors:
1994-1995 cars only (*see below for 1989-1993)

This is a fully programmable REPLACEMENT ECU, allows tuning of spark, fuel, rev-limiter, even fan temperature! Used on a Normally Aspirated car, the MiataLINK is good for 5-10hp (with deletion of restrictive intake air sensor). Example here.

On a Forced Induction car, this is really the ultimate solution for making "the big power". The LINK ECU has seen as much as 400HP! Example here.

I am including all of the following:

MiataLINK ECU, mounted in spare 1995 ECU case, so you can keep your current ECU cased up as a backup. Basically a plug-in operation, just a couple of wires have to be moved in the harness. ($1546 value)
RC 550 Injectors, recommended for Forced Induction installations, includes Injector ballasts ($415 value)
Intake Air Temp. sensor
Optional knock sensor ($92 value)
Programming keypad, and all interface cables and manuals
Serial link adapter for use with Laptop or PDA ($80 value)
BONUS: Compaq PDA that can program and log from the ECU if you don't have a laptop. (Laptop and DataLogLab software recommended for initial programming).
* I also have an adapter harness to use this with the 1.6L ('89-93) cars. I've never used it myself, but this was built and used by the original owner of the MiataLINK that I purchased from. FlyinMiata doesn't officially support this option via tech-support, as far as I know, but for an adventurous 1.6L owner, this could be a steal of a deal.

Price: All of this would be over $2100 new, yours for $1400! (Negotiable)

Flyin Miata says this:

Total control. This fully programmable ECU (Engine Control Unit) gives you the ability to change everything from fuel and timing curves to the temperature at which your fan turns on. If you want to produce safe power out of a forced induction engine, it`s a must - so it`s included with many of our kits. Also eliminates the stock airflow meter for less intake restriction. Naturally aspirated cars benefit as well! This is the most popular engine management for the Miata, and for good reason.

The software that the ECU runs is written specifically for the Miata and is not available anywhere else. Instead of adapting a generic computer and sensors to your car, this will start up the first time and has been developed to make your Miata run as well as possible. To safeguard your engine, it will even go into a limp-home mode if the certain sensors indicate a problem. Naturally it comes with Flyin' Miata's full support by both phone and email.

Arrived!

2008-05-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

Had a little trouble with RV parking (somebody in my spot), but the Camparu is all set up, so I'm off to explore until someone realizes I don't belong here!

-Sent via Blackberry

Arrived, time for dinner!

2008-05-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

Whenever possible, eat local and avoid franchises!

-Sent via Blackberry

Bugatti near Buttonwillow

2008-05-02T14:32:00.001-07:00

Nice finding to break up the asphalt.
-Sent via Blackberry

Live blogging Maker Faire

2008-05-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

Heading out now, only about an hour behind schedule.

Added a ground strap to the CB antenna to try to lower the SWR a bit.

And so it begins...

-Sent via Blackberry

Maker Faire Bound!

2008-04-20T10:08:00.001-07:00

Well, I got approval from the venue for this year's Maker Faire to stay in the RV lot without an RV (sleeping in the Fraggin' Wagon), so I've ordered my tickets and I'm bound for Maker Faire!!

I've got friends-of-friends to visit, and fellow makers I've been corresponding with online whose wares I need to peruse, so I hope to see you there!

Low Budget Wine Cellar from Refrigerator

2008-04-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

'Round my house, we love wine. A lot.

At one point we had so much wine in the house that in order to keep track, I wrote an Access database program I dubbed "Wine Collector" (in homage to my favorite DVD database product Movie Collector).

We aren't really snobs, we'll drink a big range of stuff, but some of the wine we have is pretty good, and we'd like to keep it that way. Unfortunately, commercial wine cellars (aka "wine coolers" or "wine fridges") are pretty expensive, especially if they hold any reasonable amount of wine. The smaller units are typically underpowered vanity items that only store one or two dozen bottles, and usually don't do it very efficiently. There are some exceptions of course, high quality under-counter jobbies made by reputable companies with quality refrigeration hardware, but these are nearly as expensive as the larger models of any measurable quality.

So what to do? Well, for us we did what a lot of people do, which is that we put our wine at risk. We stored it in the house, at room temperature and uncontrolled humidity. Where possible, we squirreled cases away in the tops of closets, etc., but generally, it was somewhere in the house. I don't even want to think about what this may have done to something like a 2001 El Molino Pinot Noir.

Then, I stumbled across some wine collector websites where some people had been converting old fridges to wine cellars. Either by hacking the existing thermostat, or using some sort of external controller, the unit can be setup to hold a temperature more appropriate for wine (about 54° for mixed reds/whites).

Luckily, I already had an unused fridge to start with. When we moved to our new home, we brought along our old refrigerator. The buyer of the old house didn't want it, and my wife really wanted to keep it because she liked the bottom-freezer layout. After arriving, however, we figured out that the proximity of the kitchen cabinets opposite the fridge location meant that we'd be limited to side-by-side configurations, because the sweep of the doors would interfere with the cabinet. Bummer. So that fridge sat in the garage, waiting for me to clean it up and sell it or convert it to the "beer fridge". Well, now it had a more noble (and wife approved) mission ahead of it: Wine Cellar.

With some poking around looking for an appropriate thermostat unit, I stumbled across and older model WineStat unit on eBay, and it was mine for an uncontested $10 bid. I'm not sure how much this model was originally, but the new digital display models are $170, so I think I did ok!

After cleaning up and sterilizing the inside of the fridge (it sat for almost two years!), all I needed to complete the transformation was a way to store wine inside.

The WineStat webpage has some interesting ideas about low-cost wine racking solutions, but I chose to go with the very reconfigurable "Tinker-Toy" style racks from J.K. Adams. As it happened, Crate and Barrel had these in their outlet store as "irregulars" for $19.95 for each 12-bottle kit. In this case, "irregular" meant inconsistent woodgrain color, which I was completely fine with. A "12-bottle" kit really means you get 16 "beams" and a whole pile of pins to configure however you please. With four of these kits (less one leftover beam and a few pins) I was able to build a solid 48 bottle unit that fit perfectly with room for air to circulate.

The wooden platform underneath was a leftover bit of oak cabinetry ply that flattens out the floor of the fridge box so the rack sits level. I had to cut a notch in the back left corner to clear the raised vent where cool air flows from the freezer to the fridge. A couple of quick mounting brackets made from aluminum keeps everything locked down and stable:

Then its just a matter of inserting the probe into the rack and plugging everything in. The probe should be centered in the box, its off to the side here while I finalized installation.

Most people don't realize that modern refrigerators depend on the thermal mass inside to help regulate the temperature. I tested the setup with several gallons of water in containers in the fridge and freezer boxes first. Once I was confident it would hold temperature, in went the wine rack, and shortly after, the wine!

Agitation is bad for wine, so I resisted the urge to pack in more bottles using the spaces in the door. Instead, I filled this area with the soda, beer, and other beverages that would have otherwise been stored in the pantry. Its not ice-cold refreshing, but its pre-chilled which saves work for the in-house fridge when items are transferred there for consumption.

Your fridge may vary, but during my bottles-of-water testing I found that in order to keep the fridge box at a wine-friendly 55°, the freezer box ended up cycling around 20-22°. This is below freezing, but not in a zone that I feel is safe for frozen food storage.

In order to turn this into a win-win-win situation, I'm keeping the freezer box filled with gallon bottles of commercial drinking water in PET containers (with room made for freezing expansion). This constitutes part of my backup water supply in case of emergency (my wife lived through the Northridge quake and we've been on evacuation notice for wildfires here twice in the last 4 years). Having additional ice on hand will also allow me to transfer to the in-house freezer to keep frozen food safe longer if we lose power during an emergency. Lastly, the frozen mass of water helps stabilize the box temperature as the thermostat controller goes through its hysteresis, which also lets the box stay "off" longer, using less power.

The only issue left to be resolved is humidity. 60-70% would be best for keeping the corks happy, but food fridges are usually pretty dry. For now I'll probably keep a small tin of water in the box, but I plan on investigating the humidifier units people use for large cigar humidors.

All up, I've expended less than a $100 cash and a few hours time to clean up the old fridge, assemble the tinker toys, and mount and test the system. More pictures with detail photos of some items are available in the album: Low-Budget Wine Cellar.

(04/21/08)UPDATE: I've added new photos to the album. You can see that our cellar is already full. Time to have a party!

Its like a grail quest, only -- not.

2008-03-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

Well, the end of March 2008 marks the end of a quest of proportions both epic and trivial. You see, since sometime in the summer of 2001 or 2002, I've been trying to find a copy of a movie called "American Cuisine".

That summer, on a weekend when I was home alone, I saw this simple flick on one of the random movie channels that you get with a big cable package. Its not "the Lord of the Rings" or anything, but its a movie that falls into a genre that my wife and I enjoy very much - "Food Porn" movies. Any movie where food or cooking plays a significant role is destined to be a classic in our household. No surprise really, since we're serious foodies and we watch more FoodTV than any four other networks combined, SpeedTV included.

Just a few of our favorites: "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman", (and its remake "Tortilla Soup"), "Chocolat", "Soul Food", "Big Night", "Like Water for Chocolate", and the recently added "Ratatouille". Even movies with tangential food themes or scenes of food porn like "The Last Supper" and "Goodfellas" are a treat.

So imagine my frustration when I saw, by myself, a cute little French-Food-themed romantic comedy starring one of our favorite actors, Jason Lee. Remember this was pre-TiVo (at least in our household). It turns out this movie was seemingly never released for the US market, and is exceedingly hard to find even abroad. I have been trying to get a copy of this movie to share with my wife since that summer day. Yep, nearly six or seven years. This movie isn't just not-released for America, but its also apparently out of print even in the markets it was intended for. The closest I've ever come is a German market disc on sale for $29. I didn't want it quite that badly.

Anyhow, a periodic search on eBay finally revealed my salvation. A Region 2, PAL-encoded, poor transfer of the movie with Polish subtitles, but salvation nonetheless. Fortunately my completely bitchin' Oppo DVD player is region free and PAL-to-NTSC converting, and the original English 5.1 audio is intact (the film was recorded in both English and French by the original cast). The upside of this movie being so hard to find is that apparently almost nobody else was looking for it. For 1.20 GBP, plus 4.20GBP shipping ($8.35 total, with today's craptastic US Dollar) I beat out one other bidder and this particular celluloid unicorn is now part of my collection. Huzzah!

Now the real question, will Kimberley actually like the movie?

Suck It, JumpDomain!

2008-02-15T09:26:00.000-08:00

Among the artifacts of my former life as a builder of combat robots was my domain and website dedicated to my efforts: puppetmaster-robotics.com.

In the days before blogging (and the tools that made blogging easy), I tediously hand-coded build reports for robots I was building, and talked about the events I had attended and the bouts I had fought. During what became known as "the Great Newbie Flood", in which hundreds of fans of the Comedy Central Battlebots TV show suddenly joined the online community of bot-builders, I even penned a FAQ that became the standard reference text for answering newbie questions.

In the same way that I learned most of what I know about building such machines from the websites of others, I hoped my site would fill the same role. From the usage logs, I could see that I'd at least partially succeeded. While readership dropped off steadily after Battlebots went off the air, there was still a measurable amount of traffic to the build and FAQ pages. Interestingly, with the recent "Maker" trend, I found that readership was going back UP! So, I basically left the site up as an archive, as a record of what I'd done, and as a reference tool.

Now for the bad news: In 2002 I'd transferred domain registry and hosting of the site to JumpDomain, then a Tucows reseller, on the recommendation of a friend. For a while, everything was great, so my friend was definitely right to refer me. Then somewhere along the line it seems that the proprietor(s) for JumpDomain lost interest in the pet-venture. Basically the system runs itself, aside from a few bugs here and there... Support started dropping off, and in general service basically sucked. My friend eventually moved his domains away from them, but I waited too long, and by the time I was convinced to take my business elsewhere, it was too late. Puppetmaster-Robotics.com had fallen into the automated billing and human-less support abyss. As it turns out, one of the "bugs" I mentioned made it impossible for me to unlock the domain for transfer to another registrar.

So, every six months, I'd get an automated email telling me my credit card was being charged for the hosting service (at a rate that these days seems exorbitant). More importantly, once a year I'd be automatically charged for the renewal of the domain. Basically, it was automated extortion. Since I had no contacts to JumpDomain (their phone contact had long since gone dark, and the support portal never returned an answer), it was essentially a case of pay or risk losing the domain.

Until this cycle.

Through an interesting confluence of events, JumpDomain's automated system was forced to give out a little more information than normal, so that I could renew my credit card information. This happened right around the same time I finally had enough free time and a bug up my ass about getting the domain back that I devoted what turned out to be two weeks of effort into wresting the domain back from them. During my trial-by-fire, I called over a dozen phone numbers that were attributed to JumpDomain at one point or another (all dead, or belonging to some poor soul named Dave who wishes people would stop calling him looking for JumpDomain). Dave, if you ever read this, the reason you get called is because the BBB has your phone number listed for the (816) area code. JumpDomain used to have the same number in the (815) area code.

I submitted the obligatory support tickets, I did as much as I could do for myself (fortunately JumpDomain's system let me update the Admin contact for the domain), and I waited. On advice from my new registrar, I contacted JumpDomain's new top-level registrar eNom.com, who were eventually very helpful, after I made a few statements about their culpability for the behavior of their resellers, and how ICANN and the BBB would be hearing from me. That call netted me the Transfer-Auth code, and after that it was just a matter of time and DNS/Hosting setup at my new hosts.

So, to make this long story.... erm, end, I can finally say that I am now back in control of puppetmaster-robotics.com, and apparently free of JumpDomain's automated clutches. The only further possibility for trouble is that they try to bill my cards for domain registration or hosting I'm no-longer using, but at that point I'd be happy to sick the credit card people on them for fraudulent charges, and let them try to track those wankers down. Its still just an archive for now, but I think I'll go through and add a little new content here and there, since I just finished helping a couple of local high school kids build a robot for the Science Olympiad. But that's another blog entry....

Simple machines for building complex machines...

2007-12-29T14:02:00.000-08:00

So, the holidays are past, and Merry Christmas to me, I'm now the proud owner of a Harbor Freight metal cutting bandsaw. This is a tool I've wanted for a long time, and was finally able to rationalize purchasing after a) it went on sale, and b) I agreed to coach the neighbor's son in the Robot Ramble competition for the Science Olympiad 2008.

We'll be re-using a lot of the components from some of my old battle-robots, like the motors from Centrifugal Enforcer, the batteries and ESCs from a pneumatic flipper-bot I built for Steel Conflict (but never did a build report for), and a few other gear motors, etc. I've got lying around in my stores. That said, there will be some fabrication, namely a new chassis, a lifting arm, and a gripping mechanism, all of which will require cut aluminum and steel.

I purchased the 130lbs+ beastie from my local HF warehouse, and got help from their staff loading it into the Subaru. Unloading was facilitated by a combination of gravity, a skateboard, and enough muscle power to nudge things in the right direction.

Assembly, however was going to be a different story. Step 4 in the assembly process reads "With a second person and appropriate lifting apparatus, set the saw base onto the saw stand and affix with hex bolts..." etc., etc.

Basically, the operation means setting a massive hunk of cast iron, motor, and steel, something like 95% of the weight of the tool, on top of the stamped metal "legs" that form the base.

This is one of those engineering arrangements that's strong once you have everything bolted together, but isn't conducive to supporting one corner of the machine while you lift the other bits into place. This was looking sketchy to say the least.

I didn't have access to a second person, but I could certainly arrange for an appropriate lifting apparatus, so after 20 or 30 minutes of scrounging in the garage and piecing things together, I'd managed some poly rope, carabiners, and pulleys. I lashed these to the joists of my workshed.

Mix in some nylon straps from the completely over-engineered hoist I'd built for the hardtop of the Miata @ my old house....

Adjusting the length of the nylon straps allowed me to compensate for the relatively ass-heavy nature of the tool. Lifting a few inches to test for balance then setting it down for adjustments took just a few tries. Eventually I was able to lift it to a working height and bring the base underneath for attachment.

After that is when the typical Harbor Freight adventure began, as the instructions were apparently for a different version of the tool. The stand that was supposed to bolt to the outside of the machine bed was clearly designed to go inside of the bed. The bolts I was instructed to fasten to "threaded holes" in the machine bed were of a barely-adequate length and the holes were not threaded (nuts supplied instead). Due to the wonder of Chinese tolerance keeping, I needed to substitute a bolt of my own as one of theirs was too short. Oh, and then there was the crusted cosmoline. A judicious application of white gas, WD-40, and an elbow-grease powered scraper cleared the beds and mating surfaces of hardened rust preventative. The best part, though, was all of the pulley-related parts I had to remove in order to install the pulley cover. (Pulleys go on last, yet came pre-installed).

In the end, though, with some care adjusting the clamps and feed adjuster, I have a functioning band saw that cuts my extruded aluminum channel very cleanly and squarely. I'll test on steel as soon as I get the chance.

Question of the Weekend: Why do you love cars?

2007-05-19T06:55:00.000-07:00

So Jonny Lieberman, one of the people that exist in the form of www.jalopnik.com, is asking the important question, Why do you love cars?

This is one of those litmus test questions that determines if certain folks are the kind you can "hang with", or not. Unfortunately the answer isn't as simple as my usual friend filters: Cheesesteak: Provolone or Whiz? and Designated Hitter: Pro or Con? Get the answer to either of these questions wrong, and I just can't hang with you. Period.

I like lots of people, both Car-People and non-Car-People. But it turns out, that I don't like all Car-People, and some of them just bug the snot out of me. In my youth I would have assumed that all car-people could hang with other car-people. What experience teaches, though, is that there's a kind of formal courtesy thats extended among car-people during the "feeling out" phase that could be mistaken for genuine amity. Instead, it may be a polite acceptance of another character, possibly as tense or awkward as if you were forced to befriend someone with nearly offensive views of your religion or politics.

For example, lets assume you're in the awkward situation of escorting your spouse to a work party, and find yourself seated at a table of ten strangers. You are then introduced to another party guest with the near epithet "This is Bob from accounting, you're both Car-Guys. You should have lots to talk about". Thus begins the "feeling out" of this other Car-Guy. You'll chat about the iron you've owned and driven, and about what your current project may be, but all of this is really about finding out one critical fact about this person, the Why of his love for cars. In the end, you may have found a kindred spirit, or you may have just met another asshole who likes cars, but doesn't like them for the right reasons.

To me the funniest thing about this search for truth, is that the criteria of the Why, the meat of "whether or not I can hang with you", usually has little or nothing to do with the coarse preferences of things like "American versus Foreign", "NASCAR vs. F1", or even "DAF vs. FAF". Even as much I'd rather watch an afternoon of nearly anything instead of a NASCAR race, I'll risk cliche' and say that "some of my best friends are NASCAR fans". No, the question of Why do you love cars? is an important departure from the simpler Do you love cars?, which is all that most "outsiders" ever see of us. It answers a more deeply rooted question about someone's hopes, dreams, and sentiments.

Its about finding a linkage to a common experience, emotion, or hope. Did you grow up working on cars with your Dad? When did you hear your first V12? (Can you even remember when you heard your first V12?) Are you excited about the emerging hybrid technology trend? These are just elements in a complex equation of questions and answers. Each of these reveals a little something about yourself. While complex, this "test" has a definitive answer. In the end, we'll have found that either our paths are destined to cross at an intersection, or to run in together in a caravan.

So Why do I love cars? As we've seen, its a hard question for me to answer in a declarative way. I can offer a dozen stories from my youth that tell the sanguine tale of how I came to kneel at the altar of iron. I could wax rhapsodic about how the art and engineering of cars inspire me and demonstrate the best of what it is to be a creative human being. Instead, I think I will say that the fact that I can't answer the question directly is, in fact, the answer. So tell me your stories about your favorite cars, and maybe we can hang out.

WBC Sidebar: LNT and Ultralight Backpacking

2007-02-17T08:52:00.001-08:00

A couple of friends who know I'm an ex-boyscout and generally sort-of-experienced person have asked why I'm taking a course like the WBC. My answer is that after 15 years off from serious backpacking, a lot of things have changed. Gear is lighter and better, and the philosophy behind the "low impact" techniques I learned in Scouting have morphed into the "Leave No Trace" philosophy. The biggest change I can point to is that its now common practice to pack out used TP, whereas it used to be buried. On our Snow Camp trip, where the potential impact is much higher due to large numbers of students in a relatively small area, we'll even be packing out our human waste.

Another big innovation is the philosophy of "Ultralight Backpacking". In the old days 35, 40, or 50+ lbs was a normal packload for even a short trip. Using the old "25% rule", someone my size would expect a load of 50lbs. However, advancements in gear technology and a commitment by some to "do more with less" has brought about a revolution to drive down the weight of packs. Some ultralighters have a base pack weight (gear minus food, water, and fuel) down below 10 lbs! There are some interesting synergies, like a reduced pack weight lets you use lighter boots (or even trail runners) rather than the heavy 3/4-shank all-leather monsters I grew up with. This amplifies the effect of a lighter pack, allowing easier (or more) miles underfoot.

One of the things I've been experimenting with since first learning about Ultralight backpacking, is Alcohol stoves. In particular, super-lightweight stoves made from aluminum cans. The advantages are obvious upon inspection: The stoves are simple (no moving parts), compact (made from cut-down beer cans), and weigh a fraction of the weight of even the lightweight backpacking stoves of commercial manufacture. Compared to my old MSR Whisperlite, the difference is amazing.

I used Mark Jurey's Penny Stove example when creating my first stove. I'm sure I'll try another at some point, but for now I'm really happy with the results. This particular stove uses a pair of the Heineken "Keg Cans" for the burner and fuel cups, and a soda can (diet 7-up for those keeping score) for the base/lid. And of course, the namesake penny as the regulator. The stove actually develops a small amount of pressure as the denatured alcohol fuel is vaporized in the cup. The weight of the penny over the central holes is enough to keep the pressure at a good level but allow venting (and an extra central jet) when the pressure gets too high. A "simmer ring" (see bottom of picture below) redirects the jets and slows the evaporation of the fuel, allowing a longer/cooler burn time for simmering food. The design genius in its simplicity. I had some trouble with sealing the construction of mine so I went ahead and "caulked" the cups together with JB weld, but most folks get a pressure-tight fit from interference alone. Impressive!

I've also upgraded to a 1.3L Snow Peak titanium cookpot to replace the old stainless pot seen here. Its lighter, despite the greater capacity, and should be a bit more efficient too since its black rather than the reflective exterior. The important metric of this experiment is the weight of the whole cooking "system", as there's more to consider than just the stove. The one disadvantage to alcohol over white gas or pressurized liquid fuel canisters is that alcohol burns at a lower temperature and has a lower overall energy density, meaning that you have to carry more fuel per meal. On the other hand, the denatured alcohol fuel can be carried in a lightweight plastic water bottle or other such vessel (I use a flat-square soap bottle that fits my cookpot well), while white gas has to be carried in a spun aluminum bottle with a gasket and pressurized fuels have their own disposable metal canisters. The massive weight savings of the stove itself, along with the fuel bottles and ancillary bits means that I'd have to be going on a pretty long trip (5+ days?) before the fuel weight difference would overtake and make a white gas stove a lighter alternative.

One of the things I was using the Car-Camp outing for was to try some new gear and new techniques. It was a good chance to try some stuff without having a failure be totally catastrophic. A new lunch system was tried with great success, and I had mixed feelings about the new sleeping bag and tent I'd rented from REI. All of these experiences get fed-back into my gear for the next outing. I'll use the next outing to evaluate my new cooking system in the same way, although backyard tests have shown that the time-to-boil for two cups of water is only about a minute longer than with white gas.

WBC Outing 3: Hawk Canyon and Borrego Mountain

2007-02-17T08:16:00.000-08:00

OK, the next installment of my mad flurry to update on my WBC activities.

Our first overnight outing for the WBC was a car camp to Hawk Canyon and the Borrego Mountain/West Butte area. The trip description called for some time on an unimproved road, so I wussed out and carpooled with the trip's excellent leader Bev. Turns out, she was driving an Outback, so the WRX would probably have been just fine. I'm now taking steps to prep my scoobie for more time on trail head roads like these. (I'll raise the suspension a bit, and fit fore and aft skid plates when I can afford them.)

We'd barely made it to the campsite when things got exciting: A few of our group drove cars even less-suited to the roads than the WRX, (an Avalon and a Jetta), and before we'd even setup camp, we had to dig and push the two of them out of the silty sugar-soft sand of the wash. Lesson learned: If/When I bring the scoobie, I'll be packing a full size shovel, some carpet squares, and a couple of boards.

After setting up a quick car camp, we discussed the impending weather (rain was possibly in the forecast) and decided to reverse the day's destinations. So we set off on foot for "The Slot", a collection of deep crevasses carved by water into the soft earth. This was a really beautiful area, well shaded and an incredible geological record. Its also clearly part of a living ecosystem, as we found scat, evidence of nests, and even the remains of animals that had been prey to small predators. After hiking down The Slot, I was glad we'd switched Saturday and Sunday's destinations, as this was no place to be after even the slightest amount of rain!

I experimented with a new lunch system down here in the slot, with great results. A basic lunch consists of a foil pouch or tuna (or two, depending on package size), combined with condiment packets of mayonnaise and dijon mustard boosted from my work cafeteria. Mix ingredients and apply into a pita, and its a very tasty no-cook trail side meal. The part I'm really happy about is that with whole-wheat pita and fish packed in light oil, I've got a really great combination of carbohydrates and protein to keep myself powered up for the hike. (A hard day's backpack will burn upwards of 4000 calories, this is not the time to be dieting lest you "bonk" in a really dangerous spot.) I'll be packing similar lunches on my next couple of outings, as I'm really happy with the weight-to-calories and the low weight and bulk of the leftover packaging that gets packed out.

After the hike was a car-camp only experience: gourmet hors d’oeuvres and smores! (Potluck style!). I panicked when the trip sheet called for "heavy hors d'oeuvres", so when asked, I punted and said "Fondue". It turns out this really raised the bar for everyone else, so the net experience was too much food, and all of it delicious! For certain friends in-the-know, this analogy will have meaning: Imagine an E-party in the clear desert night air! (For everyone who doesn't get this, I pity you.)

After a windy night, Sunday morning brought the desert beauty I've come to love. I spent the first hour or so after rising exploring Hawk Canyon on my own, and experimenting with various color and ISO settings on my digicam to try to capture the morning light. It never got really cold, but I was glad to have my fleece while leaning on a rock with my mini-tripod trying to setup these shots!

I'm also still working on my self-photography technique, trying to capture myself in as candid a way possible when shooting with a camera 3" off the ground! The lesson learned on this day was: Comb your hair! I made a joke to one of my trip mates that I needed photo evidence for my wife that I really didn't spend the weekend at the tables in Vegas!

Day two also brought another cool hike to the top of Borrego Mountain. This isn't a huge climb, but the valley does drop away from the peak on the north side, so it makes for some cool views from the top. We explored the ridgeline and did some hiking on surfaces that don't show trails well, so we were guided by rock pile Cairns (which the Sierra Club folks call "ducks"). The wind had been blowing on the way up, but after a stop near the peak for lunch, the gusts started to pick up, and I noticed that the weather was finally threatening to make it over the mountains to the northwest. What had been fluffy clouds meandering across the afternoon sky were starting to become darker, denser, and faster moving. I pointed this out to Carol, who was leading this particular hike, and the decision was made to boogie back down the mountain. Going downhill is always faster, but I felt a certain sense of urgency too in the decent. By the time we'd neared the cars, the gusts were close to 40 or 50mph (enough to knock me off balance a couple of times, even with trekking poles). After reaching the cars, saying our goodbyes, then negotiating the dirt roads back to the highway, we got about 15 more minutes before the rain hit, and it hit fairly hard. The timing was good, I'd hate to have been up on that ridge in the wind and wet...

All in all, a really fantastic trip. I can't wait for the Land-Navigation trip next weekend.
As usual, my complete trip gallery can be found here.

WBC Outings 1 and 2: Cowles Mountain

2007-02-17T07:46:00.000-08:00

OK, OK, I'm late. I know. I'd intended to be blogging this stuff sort of "as it happened", but it turns out the tools to make the blogging easy are at home, and the time I have to blog is the stolen lunch hour at work... Sue me.

Anyhow, here's the first in a slew of entries to catch up on my activities with the Sierra Club Wilderness Basics Course (hereafter known as WBC) .

Since I grew up in the area, and went to PHHS, in it the shadow of Cowles Mountain, I'm fairly familiar with the WBC's first outing location. Cowles Mountain is probably the most popular hiking trail in the county, likely due to its location and elevation change rather than the interesting (or rather uninteresting) nature of the trail and its views.

The WBC use it as a good conditioning hike and as a method to gauge individual fitness levels for the participants. Its classed as a M3B hike using the Sierra Club Classification (Moderate, 3 Miles, 500-1000 feet of Elevation Change), and is a good yardstick against which to measure later hikes. In fact, the elevation delta is almost exactly 1000 feet from the trail base, so its easy to "guess" how you'd feel on a long M6C, which would be roughly equivalent to climbing Cowles twice. My time? Slower than average, but I think it reflects that I'm a slow climber: 42 minutes for the ascent. (36 was average). One experienced gentleman smoked me with a time of 26 minutes... yeowch.

We were required to do it once on either weekend, I chose to do it both times since I was breaking in a new pair of Lowa Trekkers (stiff all-leather), and I need the conditioning after taking so long off from jogging. Just look at that beer gut!

Click here to view my whole album for those hikes. I'll be doing similar albums for each trip as I post the reports here!

Hack of the Day: Mini-Hacks!

2007-02-01T10:42:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across a pair of nice little tips today, and I love doing my Hack of the Day topics, so here's a tidy collection of random tips that jut might hack your life for the better:

I love Firefox. I love tabbed browsing. I love one-click closing of tabs. But sometimes, due to my own fumble-fingeredness, I miss-click or over-click. Problem solved:

Firefox Tip: Reopen the last closed tab with Ctrl+Shift+T - Lifehacker

Secondly, my memory is pretty good, and most folks loathe playing trivia type games with me, since my noggin is full to leaking with ephemera and minutia. But for the life of me, for inexplicable reasons, I have problems remembering something that others find basic: How many days in the month of March? Or April? Well Lifehacker rescues me again with their MacGyver Tip today:

Use your knuckles to remember each month's days.

I love it, especially because its physical, usually once I've pantomimed or otherwise made handsigns for a memory aid a couple of times, it sticks with me. Stuff like the Left Hand Rule for current and magnetic flux tends to stick pretty well. Here's hoping the days in a month do too!

Hack of the Day: Magnetic Spice Rack

2007-01-25T08:01:00.000-08:00

Came across this the other day, and it reminded me that I never blogged on my own solution to the "problem" of kitchen spice management.

My Aim Is True: DIY: Magnetic Spice Rack

When it came time to setup the kitchen in our new house, I wanted my spices to be better organized and more accessable than they'd been at the old place. Being a die hard Alton Brown and Good Eats fan, it was a natural that I chose an in-cabinet solution, to offer better visability to my collection (versus the 5-rows deep of spice containers in a high cabinet that many folks have). It also keeps the spices out of the sun, away from damaging heat and most importantly, doesn't burn counter space.
Here's my solution, which is similarly magnetic:

I went magnetic because we found a great deal on a spice kit similar to this one on clearance at Sears. The shakers already had magnets on the back and have two "cutouts" around the rim that allow either light or heavy spice shaking without having to remove the lids. The plates are Ikea "BAR" message boards, a whopping $0.99 each. Note that I've combined two different kits worth of spice shakers here... I have a lot of spices.

I like the inventiveness of Amber's project, but the aforementioned heat and light are big issues when it comes to the useful life of spices. If you're starting with plain watchmakers cases like Amber did, you could either go magnetic or make like Alton Brown himself and just use self-adhesive Velcro strips. However I've seen lots of knock-offs of the magnetic tins at places like Lowes, Sears, etc. and they're a lot cheaper than the Amazon example, so you might actually save money not doing everything from scratch.

EDIT: OK, a tipster in another thread pointed to these at Sciplus, which is pretty damn cheap for a similar solution. In this case, gluing your own magnets or velcro will almost certainly be cheaper. Man, I haven't been to Sciplus in months. Need to start checking back there on a regular basis.

Hack of the Day: Microwave your Kitchen Sponge

2007-01-23T10:21:00.000-08:00

Like a lot of people, we use kitchen sponges at home for washing pots, scrubbing the stuff stuck on plates before the dishwasher, etc. And like a lot of people, we worry about what's actually living in the cells of those little cellulose critter catchers...

We change sponges regularly out of these concerns, but the reality is that the sponges are probably just as nasty on Day 2 as they are on the day we throw them out. Thus, I love the simplicity (and the chance to prolong sponge life and reduce waste) of this idea from LiveScience:

LiveScience.com - Study: Microwaves Kill Kitchen Germs

OK, the title of the article is a little misleading, its not microwaves that do the killing, per se. The reality seems to be that the heat generated by microwaving a wet kitchen sponge is enough to sterilize it. They recommend 4 minutes to ensure death to even the nastiest, hardest to kill spores. I can say that based on my experience with modern microwaves, 4 minutes on "High" for the amount of water in a normal kitchen sponge is definitely enough to superheat the water (i.e. raise it beyond the normal boiling temperature), which will certainly get it well into critter killing temperatures.

WARNING: Be extremely careful removing the newly nuked sponge from your 'wave. It will be hot, Hot, Hot!

NEW WARNING: Apparently some people didn't twig to the fact that its hot water that does the sanitizing and there were a rash of fires and problems with people microwaving dry sponges. YOU MUST WET THE SPONGE!

Personally, I plan to use a small microwave safe dish for this, since then I can nuke the sponge after the morning breakfast cleanup, set it on the counter, and let it cool back to sub-plasma temperatures while I head to work.

"Shaun of the Dead" team returns...

2007-01-19T13:01:00.000-08:00

OK, I can't wait to see this one. Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, the writing team behind Shaun of the Dead, the greatest "Romantic Comedy. With Zombies" movie ever filmed, have returned with Hot Fuzz, which looks to be a similar treatment of the "cop movie" genre that SotD received via the horror genre.

As the Times Online points out, the cast reads like a who's-who of Brit actors, most of whom, like Bill Nighy and Martin Freeman, have already proven their comedy chops. I couldn't get SotD into my collection fast enough when it hit DVD, and I'm sure the same will be true here.

I think maybe we need either a Shaun or generic cop movie themed DVD party at my place when this thing lands stateside!

The Times article is mostly spoiler free, but avoid the last paragraph if you want to completely avoid anything remotely spoiler-like:
Hot Fuzz - First night reviews - Times Online

We're Getting It: BMW 135i Coming to US - Jalopnik

2007-01-18T10:46:00.000-08:00

We're Getting It: BMW 135i Coming to US - Jalopnik

Hooray!!!

During our trip to Germany last summer, this was one of my favorite "foreign" cars we'd spotted. (I was also a big fan of the various Smart offerings, especially the Smart Roadster, Kim liked the Smart ForTwo).

I have to say that, up-close, the Bangle "Flame Edge" treatment actually seems to work on the scale of the 1-series cars. (In the same way that it "sort of works" on the Z4 coupe.) The cars very purposeful looking, and have a similar "hunkered down" look as my E36/8 Z3 Coupe (although not as extreme).

Hopefully, the modern suspension design will allow them to comport themselves in a more "gentlemanly" manner, as my E36/8 is a handful. Definitely not a "beginners" car. She'll hang the tail on a whim and leave it hanging "'till you run out of petrol" as Jeremy Clarkson once said of the car on Top Gear.

The 135 (with the biturbo mill from the new 335 coupe) makes me think that maximum hoonage is likely to ensue. (Big power, low weight, and RWD is a recipe for hoonage if there ever was one).

For now, us 'mericans can sate our taste for Bavarian tail hanging with this little diddy courtesy of Google Videos.

Gettin' Outside

2007-01-12T10:21:00.000-08:00

Long ago I was a Boy Scout. My close friends know this, not because I speak often of my time in the scouts, but because parts of the social conditioning they imprinted on me stuck so successfully. Like it or not, the "Be Prepared" ethos is carved onto my soul, and while I sometimes don't work hard enough at being obedient, thrifty, or reverent, most of the other conditioning has stuck too. Its amazing to me that an organization that I feel so conflicted about (and ultimately felt compelled to leave, over organizational politics), had such a strong impact on me that in most things would probably be considered positive.

Well, BSA Motto, Law, and Slogan aside, my time in the scouts left me with one other itch I haven't scratched in quite a while, and that's a love of the outdoors. Between family trips and scouting, I spent a good chunk of my youth outdoors. That practice ended unexpectedly suddenly with college, when time and sleep became precious commodities. I've dragged my wife out on a few outings since then, and even done a couple of (perhaps ill-advised) solo trips.

I like the freedom of a solo hike, but that "Be Prepared" mantra as well as a healthy respect for Murphy and Mother Nature make me a bit anxious when off by myself. So while searching Craigslist for a hiking partner, I found instead the Sierra Club Wilderness Basics Course. I'm pretty excited, as the course consists of weekly classes and biweekly outings including hiking, car camping, backpacking, and snow camping.

Now I'm sure the weekly lectures will be largely review, but then again I can use the review. I'm also hoping that at the end of the course I've gained either some new potential hiking partners, or at least the confidence and knowledge to tackle additional solo trips with less risk.

In any case, I'm sure I'll be commenting on this experience more, and offering my review as it unfolds, but for anyone looking for a way to get outdoors that provides some structure and oversight, this looks like a great way to get it! (My class starts January 18, so sign up and join me if you can!)

Clear as a Bel...Canto

2007-01-11T21:52:00.000-08:00

So a while back I saw this post on Lifehacker on the easy way to digitize audio cassettes. Now as far as purchased music is concerned, I'd rather just re-buy the choice stuff, and forget the dated clinkers of my youth.

However, I do have a bunch of cassettes that are worth the effort, and this week I got just the kick in the pants I needed to spend some time on it. I caught wind of an informal reunion of the Patrick Henry Bel Canto Singers. (Long story short - A competitive vocal group I was proud to sing in from 1990 to 1993)

In the family collection is a set of concert tapes from the years my younger sister and I were in the group (spanning to 1995!). Some of my happiest memories from high school (and indeed my whole life) came while singing in this group, so these are definitely tapes worth saving.

So I dug out the box containing my ancient Tascam Portastudio (overkill, but the only cassette player I still own with a decent transport mechanism) and lined it into my PC, pretty much following the Lifehacker instructions.

Having a real 4-track, even a 13 year old low-budget one, was much easier to deal with than I imagine a walkman would have been, since at least I had dedicated slider pots for the channels and master, and could control the mix a little...

As I'd feared when I first started thinking about this project, the magnetic media is already pretty degraded. That, coupled with the low-budget nature of our production (public school music program anyone?) and the less than ideal mic and production setup from the guy who sold the tapes, made for a pretty ugly audio canvas...
... but at least now I've started the process of archiving this stuff permanently. I managed to get two concerts recorded and cut into tracks tonight, and I'm hoping to have most of the collection done before the reunion, as some CDs loaded with our exploits will make excellent party favors.

I really like the Audacity package recommended by Lifehacker. After spending some time in real studios where the "low end" software is something like ProTools, this is pretty limited, but for what I'm doing, and given the price ($0), I'm very happy!

Here's a couple of the tracks that resulted: (big files, but worth the download if you're a music lover)
Exultate
Love Walked In

The Foodie goes on a Diet...

2005-09-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

So about two weeks ago, I started seeing a weight-management physician to help get me back on track with a self-guided weightloss plan I started about 18 months ago. I lost ~25lbs on my own, and then plateaued off, so I got some professional advice. Dr. Lee recommended 1800-2000 calories per day.

Naturally, as a food-nut, this is the sort of thing that hits me where I live, and my friends are all aware of my current plight, especially when they see me counting calories at a beer-tasting festival.

One such friend just sent me a link to this Slashfood Interview, about an all-pizza diet, and asked if I thought I could do it. My response was "Probably Not", but I did find a couple things in the interview that resonated, so I added that to my response to him, and it devolved into a menu just ripe for blogging:

Slashfood: Why do you think you lost weight on the diet? Was it because it forced you to be creative? Portions? Sullivan Street no-cheese Pomodoro?

VC: Pure portion control. I was just determined not to pig out. I went around hungry most of the time, actually... which is really strange for me. I'm a huge foodie and love love love to eat. I just had a good sense of appropriate portions and forced that on myself. I didn't want to lose $200 (the bet)...

Welcome to my life right now... Frequently hungry, and rigidly trying to control portions.

I'm saving a lot of money because I'm making my own sandwiches in the morning, mainly to enforce portion control. (Can't count on the work cafeteria, etc.) It has actually been pretty good because with weekly trips to the Farmer's market, they basically become gourmet sandwiches. "Splurging" on good ingredients and indulging in tasty condiments has helped quite a bit. Here's a typical week of lunches:

Monday: Southwest Turkey Sub, approx. 580 calories
6" of Bread & Cie Baguette, 2oz Peppered Turkey Breast (Deli Sliced), 2oz Swiss Cheese, 1/2cup Roasted Bell Pepper (bottled), 1 slice red onion, 1 tbsp Homemade Light Chipotle-Ranch Dressing (1 canned chipotle in ~1/2C Light Ranch Dressing, blended until smooth, leftover from a southwest style dinner salad Kim made...)

Tuesday: Ham & Cheese, Deutschland Style, approx. 600 calories
2 thin slices of Bread & Cie crusty loaf (Rosemary or Garlic/Goat, etc.), 2oz Black Forest Ham (Deli Sliced), 2oz Swiss Cheese, 1 leaf lettuce, 2 tbsp stoneground dijon mustard

Wednesday: Salami & Cheese, French Style, approx. 600 calories
6" of Bread & Cie Baguette, 2oz Dry Cotto Salami (I would have used Garlic Sausage if I could get it), 2oz Swiss Cheese, 1 leaf lettuce, 1/4 Heirloom tomato, 1 slice red onion, 1 tbsp brown mustard

Thursday: Ham & Cheese, French Style, approx 600 calories
6" of Bread & Cie Baguette, 2oz Black Forest Ham (Deli Sliced), 2oz Swiss Cheese, 1 leaf lettuce, 1 slice red onion, 1/4 Heirloom tomato, 1 tbsp Newman's Own Light Balsamic Vinegrette dressing

Friday: Mediterranian Turkey Sub, approx. 580 calories
Basically the same as the southwest sub, but substitute Vinegrette for the Chipotle Ranch, and add Heirloom tomato slices and a basil leaf or two...

Its been fun playing with a basic sandwich structure and varying just a couple of ingredients like dressings or the meat to see the different combos I can come up with. I've tried to take a few tips from Alton Brown's Good Eats "Sandwich Craft" episode as far as construction and wrapping to blend flavors and keep things together.

Having Swedish/German roots also means you always have 13 kinds of imported mustard in the house (I get this stuff in my Christmas stocking - Literally), and that helps. So far I haven't gotten bored. (2+ weeks into it)

Add these lunches to a 100 calorie prescription breakfast shake, and that leaves me a decent number of calories for afternoon snacks (also prescription) and/or a decent dinner. (1800 to 2000 calorie/day target, right now)

Dinners have gone well too. You figure out pretty quickly that herbs are basically free, and most veggies are nearly free. It also helps having to cook for a vegetarian, there's less temptation to stray too far into the more calorie-heavy meat dishes, etc.

My next weigh-in is in a couple of weeks. I'm optimistic.

Wisdom from the Hovamal

2005-08-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

The Hovamal, (or Hávamál) is a collection of Norse poems from around the ninth century. Also called "The Words of the High One", they are supposed to be a set of rules or advice, set down by Odin, covering everything from surviving one's enemies to the etiquitte of being a guest. It reads like a combination of advice from Sun Tzu's Art of War, Benjamin Franklin's Farmer's Almanac, and even a little Worst Case Scenario Handbook.

I've read excerpts from it in various books I've read on Norse Mythology and the Icelandic Sagas, but I've yet to find a single english translation which conveys both the time-neutral wisdom and the artistic turn-of-phrase I think the work merits.

In any case, it is hard to miss the teutonic sensabilities that must have been shaped by lives far harsher than any of us can imagine. I'll leave you with a few of my favorite passages, as translated by various authors:

#34:
To a false friend the footpath winds,
Though his house be on the Highway.
To a sure friend there is a shortcut,
Though he live a long way off.

#38:
A wayfarer should not walk unarmed,
But have his weapons to hand:
He knows not when he will need a spear,
Or what menace meet on the road.

#81:
Praise no day 'til evening;
no wife 'til on her pyre;
no sword 'til tested;
no maid 'til bedded;
no ice 'til crossed;
no ale 'til drunk.

More to come at some further point. For extra credit, there are a few references on the Web, although I don't think that any single one has the best overall set of translations, at least not as good as those I've got in some hardcopy books: Havamal with parallel Icelandic, Swedish, and English, The Ragweed Forge, and Woden's Harrow.

Hack of the Day: Altoids iPod Armor Redux

2005-08-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

Needed a break from reading specs at work today, decided to update my implementation of my Altoids-tin-turned-iPod-case.

Originally, I had trimmed a section of the original vacuum formed plastic Shuffle packaging to fit the Altoids tin. It had the Shuffle-shaped recess to hold the player and a bit of "flange" sticking out to keep this section from moving around too much. There were two major negatives of this implementation:

The extra plastic that held things in place left very little room for the earbuds. Unless I was very careful about coiling the cord and put the buds in place just right, then the case wouldn't close reliably. This was dumb because there was plenty of wasted volume under this bit of plastic.
Listening to the shuffle meant removing it from the tin and either clipping it to the lanyard (which I don't always wear because it also has my RFID work badge), or leaving the shuffle to bang around in my pocket or bag.

Inspired by Adam Whitlock's and ChriSamo's superior Altoids mods, I set about working out my own solution, which I think it simpler than either of these, but accomplishes much of the same function. Here are the steps for mine, hope you can follow along. (Once again, pics courtesy of my Motorola V600 cameraphone with a dirty lens, so excuse the picture quality.)

First I needed to solve the problem of too-little room for the earbuds. I re-trimmed the fitted rectangular recess so that it was mostly just the space for the Shuffle, with a very short flange on the topside to space the Shuffle away from the edge of the tin just slightly. This made tons of room for the earbuds, but the fitted plastic is free to move around the tin which would be very inconvenient. Note that since I planned to be able to plug the earbuds in through the case, I trimmed the fitted-rectangle so that it was slightly off center, placing the jack as close to one edge of the tin as possible.
Next, I scrounged a new piece of thin vacuum-formed plastic, with a flat section large enough to cover the bottom of the Altoids tin. I think mine was from an OEM hard drive blister pack or something similar. Laying this over the top of the tin, I marked the corners and trimmed it to fit snugly into the tin. You can still see the markings in the photo, which is helpful to see the shape, since its clear plastic on a light colored background. This will serve as a "baseplate" which will keep things from moving around inside the tin.
I placed the new baseplate into the tin, and then the fitted rectangle on top of it. I used three small drops of superglue to attach them to each other, but not to the tin. (Its helpful to be able to remove this assembly from the tin, either to replace the tin if it gets damaged, or for convenient marking if you're proceeding with Step 4.)
OK, that takes care of the earbud problem, now there is plenty of room for the buds, but the Shuffle-shaped plastic is held firmly in place inside the tin. If you don't care if you are able to listen to the Shuffle while it's in the tin, you can stop now. Otherwise, continue: I removed the plastic assembly from the tin, and inserted the Shuffle into the recess, then marked the location of the earbud jack with a fine-tipped marker.
Remove the Shuffle and make a hole 3/16" to 1/4" in diameter in the plastic. Note that in order for the earbuds to plug all the way in, the hole needs to be as big as the wide portion of the plug, not just the 1/8" width of the tip-ring-sleeve portion. To make the hole, do whatever you feel is safe that will make a clean hole. Don't stab yourself in the hand trying to poke through with a knife. Easiest is to make a small hole and file it out, or heat a 1/4" piece of rod to red-hot and just melt a hole...
After confirming that the hole is in the right place, and big enough for the jack, temporarily replace the plastic assembly in the tin and use it as a template for marking for a hole in the side of the tin. The easiest thing for me was to use a sharp scribe to just barely mark the center of the hole from the inside, then centerpunch and drill the hole from the outside,(after removing the plastic, of course). If you have a tapered reamer, I'd drill a small pilot hole and then ream the hole to size, for safety. If you're careful, you should be able to drill it to size, just be careful of the drill bit grabbing into the thin sheetmetal as you punch through the tin. Clean up the hole, if needed, and reinsert the plastic assembly for the final time. Voila', you can now store your iPod Shuffle and earbuds in armored security or have the option of listening to the Shuffle while its in the tin.

So there you have it. Once again, a hack that takes longer to document than it takes to perform. In the spirit of Adam Whitlock's cost breakdown, here's mine, which I think you'll find superior:

One Altoids tin - If you're like me, you've got 20 in a drawer somewhere (Free), if not: $2.00 or so...
The original vacuum-formed blister pack from your iPod Shuffle package. (Free). If you didn't keep this, you'll need to try one of the other mods listed above.
A flat piece of thin plastic large enough to fit the bottom of the Altoids tin. There might be a large enough piece from the original packaging for this purpose, I don't remember. Just about anything will work here... (Free)
3 Drops of Superglue, borrowed from a tube at work. (Free, or ~$1 for more than you're ever need.)

NOTE: One thing I haven't done, but considered: You could cut out the back portion of the tin to allow access to the off/on/shuffle switch. For me, its not a big deal to flip the Shuffle out of the tin when I'm grabbing the earbuds anyways, so I wanted to keep the case as intact as possible to keep out the crud. Some folks, however, might want a little more access...

Automated Parking Garage

2005-08-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

OK, here's one I haven't seen before. On our way to a meeting in Irvine, some coworkers and I stopped at the Spectrum for lunch. Upon entering the parking garage, we saw this:
(please excuse the image burn, the bright-ass display was too much for my wee camera phone).

Here's the thing I found fascinating: The numbers would jump up and down pretty quickly, in a clearly non-human manner.

In other words, this system is automated, with the number of spaces determined by computer. Others in the car were guessing sensors in the garage, but I'm betting its based on the feed from the various security camera domes I saw. The simplest thing would just be to have the computer try to "count" cars entering and leaving the various levels, in order to keep a running total of the cars. I imagine that trying to visually inspect each space (via machine vision) to determine if a car is actually parked there is unnesessarily complicated.

There was too much math for me to get very far in the computer/machine vision classes I tried to take in school, but from what I know about it, this seems like an interesting and straightforward, if not altogether easy, piece of tech.

A brief search for info from Daktronics (the name on the sign), reveals little about the source of the data, only the nature of the display system.

What's in your bag?

2005-07-29T15:01:00.000-07:00

What's in your bag today?

I got reminded of the Flickr What's in your bag? tag project-thing today while reading Zen Pockets on my lunch break. It inspired me to check my current loadout, and see where I could make improvements.

So here it is, albeit without the fancy box-highlighted images from Flickr, more or less Left-to-Right and Top-to-Bottom:

The Bag: My ancient Jansport bar-top messenger that I've had since my 2nd year of college. This thing has hauled everything from school books to hammers and raw steel. In fact, it looks like its sort of on its last legs. Its back in service because my daily collection of stuff was becoming too much for "on my person" carry, especially in the warmer summer months (shorts), and especially when I'm switching cars all the time. (I drive the Miata a lot more in the summer).
Business cards, or at least last month's iteration thereof. We did a reorg again this month, need to check if everything is still correct...
Loose change, for the odd parking meter or vending machine.
Leatherman Squirt S4, my current favorite micro-multitool. I've got a whole mess of these things with various tools, this seems to be the current best mix. I carry it just about everywhere (except airports) because it sees almost daily use. It has a plunger quick-disconnect to:
Keys #1: House, mailbox, office, etc. type keys. These go almost everywhere too, mostly because I like to be able to get into my house and stuff... :) Not to be confused with:
Key(s) #2: The key(s) and whatever transmitters might be needed for whatever car I'm driving that day. Today its the Miata. These go in the other pocket when I'm bagless...
Writing instruments: Usually some mix of fine and ultra-fine uniballs in black and blue, a 0.7mm mechanical pencil, and a new addition: a fine "sharpie". Added recently for marking silver coins prior to annealing for my stone setting class.
Altoid's Tin turned iPod case: I trimmed the vacuum-formed plastic insert from the original Shuffle packaging to fit into a tin. It holds the player and earbuds in geek-chic luxury while protecting everything and keeping it clean.
A stack of UCSD Evening parking permits. It was a major revelation when I figured out I could buy these things in bulk. For some reason it never occurred to me and I was buying them one-at-a-time for years.
Standard Black "Comp Book", grid ruled. Mostly used for sketching pieces and planning work for my metalsmithing, but occasionally I take notes in it too.
Letter-size accordion file. This holds the comp book and all the loose papers I seem to collect, like a list of local suppliers for my metalsmithing classes or a list of instructions from the Judge at jury duty. It also serves to add a little rigidity to my aging nylon bag, so the heavy stuff at the bottom doesn't make it sag when I don't have a book or my laptop with me...
One 12" cable tie. Who knows, I must have thought I needed it.
Semi-hard case for my Sunglasses, clipped to the bag's shoulder strap. Picked up a set of Maui Jim glasses on Oahu last month, its the first set of "nice" sunglasses I've owned in quite a while. We'll see how long they last.
Motorola V600 Cameraphone (not shown) - I used to think cameraphones were silly, at least until I got one. I use it all the time now. Mostly I use the camera instead of taking notes. I'll photograph a price tag or store display to get a crucial model number or the physical dimensions of a piece of furniture. Also comes in handy for remembering the vintage of that great bottle of wine we had at dinner... I've always used my cellphone as a PIM, and that functionality keeps getting better, to the point that I just can't justify carrying a PDA. I just wouldn't use it. I've seen a Blackberry or two I could probably trade for my phone, but not many. The phone usually lives in the bag now, but I used it to photograph this whole mess, hence the less-than-ideal image quality. I didn't say it was a great camera.
My Wallet of Doom (not shown) - This is the one thing I really need to work on. I've gone on several pocket diets, but I just can't seem to keep the weight off. My keyrings are now wonderfully spartan, but I haven't managed to shed all the club cards, discount cards, etc. that make a wallet so fat. Maybe I'll find a way to take a page from the Zen Pockets article and move some of that stuff off to a sub-wallet I can throw in my bag...

So, what's in your bag today? Next trick is to tackle Kim's bag, maybe we can shave 3 or 4 pounds out of it...

Why DO we work so hard?

2005-07-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

So, I don't necessarily agree with everything Mark Morford has to say in his article Why Do you Work So Hard?, but it certainly mirrors some of the same thoughts I've been having lately (on and off for the past year or so).

Mainly, its the usual sort of post-adolescent "Is my life fulfilling?" kind of crap that I'm sure everyone goes through, but its hard to ignore. The temptations of caching out my artificially-inflated Southern California Real Estate Equity and carving out a low-impact, high-quality existance keep manifesting in my daydreams. Though I'd hardly consider myself an "artist", the idea of being able to spend some quality time doing something physically creative is really appealing right now. To build a home, to manufacture a lifestyle, instead of purchasing one, strikes a chord with me. How much more would my home mean to me if I had crafted it myself, rather than simply signed a promise to hand over the better portion of half the take from thirty year's labor in a cubicle?

The other advantage to this daydreamed lifestyle is the absence of people in it. Don't get me wrong, I'm as social as most folks, but at the same time, I don't love having neighbors, or commuting in traffic, or fighting crowds. I guess this would bother me less if I had quieter neighbors. Maybe I don't really need to trade in suburbia for absolute isolation, just someplace a little farther away from booming stereos and squealing tires at 2am...

I fantasize about living off the grid, or nearly so, in an Earthship somewhere. Not because I need to "buck the system" or stick it to "the man", but because living low-impact seems like the right thing to do. Don't get me wrong, I'm no hippie, nor a luddite, but it occurs to me that I should be able to build my own home on a quiet 10 acre plot, have highspeed internet, satellite TV, and a cold beer and still not have to suffer the hoards of my fellow man for the privelidge.

I supposed the real problem with Morford's article is that it leaves out a proper comparison of the alternatives. As romantic as a wholesale change in favor of an "alternate path" might be, it might be a bit extreme. Perhaps the best baby steps are the ones I've already taken: Try to find creative outlets I can exercise an hour at a time. Step away from my job as often as my responsibilities allow.

The other question is the real cost of such a change. While I might be willing to give up many conveniences and accomidations in exchange for a simpler, quieter life, I don't know if my wife would be willing to do the same. What I do know is that she is the one thing that I certainly wouldn't give up for anything. So unless she wants to go with me, I guess I'm staying put.

And I guess that's the answer. We work so hard because, in the balance, it means keeping the things we really can't give up. Not the paid healthcare, not the 3bed-2bath in suburbia, and not the BMW, but a Life with the ones we love.

Hack of the Day: 2 Hour "Custom" Wine Rack

2005-07-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

After years of searching, Kimberley and I finally found DVD storage units we were excited about: a pair of Card-catalog-look DVD racks that fit nicely under the breakfast bar in our downstairs area.

They fill two of the three "areas" under the bar. That was several months ago. Since then, we've been looking for a way to fill in the center area in a way that meets our storage needs and Kimberley's interior design requirements. We considered a custom bookshelf to hold our mountain of cookbooks, an ornamental wine rack to hold the "drinking" portion of our ever-growing wine collection, and just about any other cabinet, shelf, table, or whatever we came across in any home or furniture store that looked like it might fit the space.

In the end, we didn't really find anything that knocked us out. It was especially difficult because we kept going back and forth between Wine Rack and Bookshelf for the space, we needed both. After a while, you start looking for "creative" solutions, and having metalworking skills in your bag of tricks gives you a lot of ways to solve problems.

On a night when we were killing time before a movie, not even looking for furniture (which is almost always when we find it), we stumbled across a Pier1 piece that was a combo "Wine Rack/Baker's Rack, ornamental-ironwork shelf thing". Kimberley liked the piece and wondered aloud if there was anything I could do to make it fit our space. With the eyes of a hacker and a blacksmith, I sized it up as about 10 minutes of cutting... Oh yeah, I can make that fit.

Here's what we eventually came up with: "The 2 Hour "Custom Winerack"

As I figured, it was about 10 minutes of cutting, including the time to change my grinder over to a cutting wheel. The rest of the time was spent cleaning up the posts with the grinding wheel and repainting the piece. All told I really only spent about an hour and a half, so the "2 Hour" title is rounding-up!

We're very happy with the look of the piece, as it fits the rest of the funky sort of warm eclectic thing we've got going on, and matches a couple other items of ironwork in the room.

Lucky Guy

2005-06-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

So I know I have a fantastic spouse. I love her, and she makes me very happy. But every now and then you get a little extra reminder of just how lucky you are...

Had one of those moments recently, thought I should share:

The setting:
~6:50am on a Friday morning
Kimberley is getting ready for work and I'm sitting in bed trying to wake up; watching the Practice Round of the Formula 1 European Grand Prix on the TiVo. (Delayed several hours, time-zones and what-not)

While Kimberley moves from bedroom to bathroom and back, doing her morning routine, the commentators are laying out the "story lines" for the coming race:

Honda returns after a 2-race ban! Will Bridgestone sort out their tire problems? Can Kimi Raikkonen take his fourth straight pole?

And of course, the big one: The FIA and team owners have agreed to change the qualifying format:

Instead of determining the race order via the "current" system of aggregating times from a Saturday afternoon one-lap session and a Sunday morning one-lap session, they will now do only a single session on Saturday, and that time will determine race order.

At which point my darling bride sticks her head back into the bedroom and asks:

"Is that on race fuel, or light tanks?"

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

That she was even LISTENING to the commentary was a pleasant fact. That she understood the significant difference 60 kilos or so of fuel can have on qualifying speed AND race strategy?!?!?!

Wow, I'm a lucky guy.

30 Second Hack - Play your iPod Shuffle while charging!

2005-05-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

So every now and then I whip out some quick little hack to make my life (or someone else's life) easier. I rarely even take the time to document them, since usually the hack is so trivial as to make documentation insulting.

The last one was this little circuit for a bloke on Miata.net. Yes, I'm a lazy bastard, I didn't really draw the circuit so much as link to one someone else drew, and tell him what resistors to use. But the point is, I applied my hard-earned BSEE to the gripping problem that was this dude's garage door opener.

Well, here's another 30 second Hack. I'll literally spend 10x more time with this blog entry than I spent on the hack:

How to play tunes on your iPod Shuffle while charging the battery.

Problem: The iPod shuffle both charges its battery and does data exchange (iTunes and thumb-drive) via its built-in USB port. Normally this is great, except that for some inexplicable reason, any time the iPod has a data connection going, it disables the player functionality.

Why is this a problem? If you're sitting at a PC, why not just use the PC to play music? In my case, I work at any number of PCs, both in my office and in the lab. For various reasons (company policy, not the least of which), I don't have iTunes installed or any .mp3s loaded on any of these machines.

So my choices are to either play my iPod and run the battery down, despite being inches from a suitable charging port, or to charge the batteries in silence. Dumb.

Solution: I made a USB "Power Cord" which charges the battery but doesn't establish a data connection, so the iPod keeps-on-a-rockin'.

For background, consult the USB pinout standard, but you can just duplicate this in all is simple-gory details below.
You'll need the following:

Parts: Electrical Tape, 1 USB Extension Cable with suitable ends (probably Male 'A' and Female 'A')
-or- a regular A-B cable and one of those Female-B to Female-A adaptors (which is what I used because we have literally hundreds of these things lying around at work).

Tools: X-acto Knife, Cutters

Disclaimer: If you somehow manage to mess this up and fry your iPod or your PC's USB port, I accept no responsibility for this. Simply disabling the data lines should be safe, if you can accomplish that task without doing anything stupid.

Procedure:

Using the X-acto knife, Slit about 1" of the USB cable's outer insulation, preferably near the iPod end, but it doesn't really matter.
Your cable probably has a woven shield and/or a foil jacket around the actual wiring. Try to slit and part this to expose the 4 wires, while doing the minimum amount of damage here.
Using the cutters, snip the Green and White wires (data lines). For neatness, I actually snipped out about a 1/4" of these wires just to make sure they wouldn't short to each other. I suppose the really anal types might work harder to ensure no shorting of the data lines to the shielding occurs. I didn't. Doesn't seem to matter.
Tuck the wires back into the shield weave/foil.
Wrap electrical tape around the slit.
If you're like me, the electrical tape will be a sufficient indicator that this is now a USB POWER CABLE which will no longer serve any other purpose. Otherwise, you might want to label the cable somehow, so the next unsuspecting geek doesn't try to use it to sync his PDA or something...
Plug in the cable to your PC or hub. Plug in the iPod to the cable. Confirm that the amber light on the battery indicator is lit (charging). Marvel at the amazing ability to charge the battery and listen to music at the same time.

Yep, that's it. Told you it was simple. Apple will probably make a "iPod Shuffle Computer Charging Cable" at some point and sell it for $29...

Echoes from an old hobby...

2005-04-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

So I found this on Fark today:
Robot misses contest after being banned from plane

My opinion? The students were idiots. I started building/fighting Battlebots and similar robots in 1999 and have never had any trouble getting them onto airplanes, even in the post-9/11 world. We're not talking little firefighting boxes on wheels here, I'm talking nasty pointy battle robots built to shred stuff a lot tougher than airplane skin.

With a few basic precautions, the only problem I ever had with an airline was that my toolcase was over the max weight and had to pay an extra fee.

Empty any compressed-gas tanks (C02, etc.) and lock them open
Cover any sharp edges/points (its a Battlebot, after all)
Disconnect the batteries.
As an extra measure for making things easy for everyone involved, I packed batteries in a separate box next to the robot. (Some airlines require the batteries from electric wheelchairs to be stored in a special "Battery Box" for fears of gas accumulation, so I planned ahead in case I was asked to do the same)
Oh yeah, I showed up 2 hours before the flight in case there were any problems!

One other note, some competitors flying from overseas with machines in higher weightclasses went to the extra expense of crating and shipping their machines since they would have been over the usual luggage weight limits. The firefighting dorks in the article might consider that for next time too. Even shipping 400lbs from the UK to Las Vegas cost less than an extra airline ticket...

As I said... idiots.

SDMC Membership Fee Increase

2005-03-18T11:30:00.000-08:00

OMG! People kill me.

Here's the background: The Miata club is having its (required) Annual meeting soon. This is where we elect officers and do all the other official club business that lets us keep our California non-profit status. Among the business on the table is a proposed increase in membership fees. The stated reasoning for the fees is increased cost of club operation, insurance, sending out newsletters to our 500+ members, etc.

After six years with no increase, the proposal is to raise the fee from $25 per family to $35 per family, per year. For reference, one of our club members stated that his local Porsche Club membership is $135/year and the BMW club is $75/year.

This group is pretty damn active, averaging like 2+ events a month, not to mention monthly meetings, etc., so for myself and Kimberley, its a no-brainer decision.

On the other hand, there's always gotta be one guy who needs to be a dissenter. This was posted to the club mailing list:

=====================================================================
>From: xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx
>Date: Thu Mar 17, 2005 5:05 pm
>Subject: Re: Increasing Dues?

>Not that it matters, since I'm sure it's going to happen. But I'd have to
>quit, if the dues got any more expensive. I can barely afford the $25.
=====================================================================

I admit that some of our members are under tighter budgets than most people, but this sort of blows my mind. We're talking an increase of less than 3 cents a day. I started thinking: Give up 2 trips to Starbucks, and you're there. Pass on "Supersizing" your BigMac twice a month, and you're there.

Well, being the "natural born leader" that I am, I came up with an even better solution. Here's my response the club list. Enjoy:

=====================================================================
>From: "Mike Herbst"
>Date: Fri Mar 18, 2005 11:13 am
>Subject: (NMC) Membership Fee Increase - (non)Run

<HUMOR>
I've come up with an idea to cover the potential increased membership
fees, assuming the measure passes at the Annual Meeting.

I propose to lead a (non)Run to help everyone in the club scrape
together the extra $10 to cover new membership fees:

The SDMC Membership Fee Increase (non)Run:

TIME/PLACE: Annual Meeting, Immediately after the Vote
WHERE: We will (not) be driving a scenic route through Julian and
Anza Borrego.
DISTANCE: Approximately 110 Miles (not) Driven.
WHY: On this (non)Run, we'll see (imagine) some of the most beautiful
areas of San Diego County while enjoying the comraderie of the SDMC.
Furthermore, by (not) driving this route we'll save approximately 4.2
gallons of regular unleaded fuel, which at today's prices should more
than make up for the $10 Membership Fee Increase. Members running
Higher Octane or with less efficient cars will of course save more
money. I heartily recommend these extra savings be used to purchase
regalia or be donated to the club.

I hope you'll all join me and Kimberley as we lead the (non)Run! It
should go by very quickly, as I drive very fast in my imagination.
(And apparently only in my imagination.)

See you at the Annual Meeting!

</HUMOR>

In all seriousness, I'll be voting "Yes" on the fee increase. The SDMC is a fantastic community and resource, and would be a "steal at twice the price", especially when compared to other (less active) clubs in the area. I'd like to think that I'll be able to remain a member (and keep paying whatever dues) even if I ever manage to wreck, sell, or otherwise lack, a Miata.

Cheers,
Mike "Herbie" Herbst

=====================================================================

Support your local Sniper

2004-12-09T13:33:00.000-08:00

OK, here's a link I came across today. http://adoptasniper.org

If I wasn't angry at "the war" before (I was), this would have done it. The idea that a nation like ours could send our own into battle without the best equipment we can produce really pisses me off. Of course this comes right at the same time with the current flap over Rumsfeld's Q&A session in Iraq. (i.e. "Why are we digging in landfills for armor?" question, planted or not, is still a good question)

Maybe its because I grew up here in San Diego, or maybe I've just watched too many movies, but I feel like these are "my" Soldiers. Serving this country is a noble effort in itself, and every Squiddy, Jarhead, Airedale, or Grunt in uniform gets my respect, but I feel some sort of extra empathy for the Marines. Camp Pendleton is practically our backyard. MCAS Miramar IS my backyard, goddamnit. A big chunk of these guys learn their trade here. The idea of one of "our" Marine Scout/Snipers unable to do the job, or worse - in danger, because of a lack of equipment breaks my heart.

Needless to say, I'm making a contribution. I'll also see if I can send a letter of support along, maybe I'll get lucky and net a penpal or something.

Anyhow, they're a 5013C non-profit organization, so if you need a tax writeoff before the end of the year, look 'em up!

Cheers.

OK, So I'm a TV Addict

2004-11-29T10:54:00.000-08:00

Its official, I'm definitely a TV Addict. Now, I should clarify, I don't watch nearly as much TV as a lot of people, I like to say I watch "Better" TV. I'm one of those TiVo evangelists that can't imagine life before my DVR.

Kimberley and I both get so frustrated watching TV at someone else's house. Every time a commercial comes on, we both reach for the remote to try to fast forward past it... The other telltale sign of a TiVo user is that we don't usually know when anything is actually Aired on TV. Is Law & Order on Thursday nights? What time is Stargate on? Dunno, the TiVo takes care of it. So, we watch just the shows we like, and we never channel surf, or watch commercials.

But I'm defninitely an addict. And here's how I know:

I spent the better part of my Thanksgiving weekend (chunk of Saturday and all of Sunday) running conduit around the outside of my house to bring two new Satellite feeds and a phoneline into the "Media Niche" in the livingroom.

For those who don't know, Satellite requires an individual cable from each decoder box to the multiswitch, you can't split the signal like you can with cable. My house, like most, is pre-wired for Cable, which means a single line of Coax runs from each room back to the distribution point at the side of the house. Our DirecTiVo (a.k.a. "The Direct TV with TiVo Brand DVR") has two tuners built in, meaning that it can record two things at once IF you can feed it with two lines from the Satellite.

In a rare peek into TV programming schedules, I read on the TiVo Community Forum that "Alias" is moving to Wednesday nights, opposite "The West Wing". Well, now that's actually something we care about, since these are two of only a select few shows we watch that are actually in primetime on one of the big networks, which means no re-airings to allow a single-tuner TiVo to sort out the conflicts. (Wherever possible, TiVo will normally sort out conflicting airings of shows by selecting alternate airings. For most cable channels, this is a no-brainer since most shows air 3-4 times in a week, but that's not the case for "Network" stuff.)

So obviously we need to get the 2nd tuner up and running before Alias resumes in January! So that was the motivation. So I spent a day, with 4 trips to Home Depot, running conduit from the SE Corner of the house (Distribution point and Satellite dish) around to the North wall, plumbing it through into the interior wall, and wiring everything up.

The other motivation was that my Media Niche doesn't have a phone line. Currently the standalone TiVo there uses HomePlug bridges to connect to the rest of the LAN, and I'll continue to use those when we swap that TiVo upstairs. For reasons passing understanding, DirecTV hasn't enabled the networking capability of the DirecTiVo, therefore I need an actual phoneline. The current use of the HomePlug bridges prevent using the usual PhoneJack-over-powerline adaptors. But since I was already running two RG6 lines, adding a length of Cat3 phone cable only cost me another $5.94 in cable and a few more minutes of effort to hook it up.

As a career Electrical Engineer, I probably shouldn't be surprised when a newly wired phone jack or cable actually works, but there's always a little sense of elation when it does.

Since I had to pull all the equipment out of the niche to cut the drywall holes, etc., it was also an excellent opportunity to re-wire the rear surround speakers (absent since we installed hardwood floors last year) and rebuilt the wiring harnesses somewhat. (A few changes since the original wiring looms were made 4+ years ago.) I also finally got around to installing the UPS for the TiVo (now I can record right through a power outage, although the real reason is to protect the drive from power spikes and brownouts).

All in all, a VERY satisfying weekend spent on our home media architecture. All so we can watch better TV!

Still to come: The pre-existing (now unneeded) cable run in the media niche will be retasked to distribute signal back upstairs (so we can watch and control the downstairs TiVo output from the bedroom!) and also run an HCNA network! (HPNA over Coax, using some trick adaptors I scored a few months ago.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2004-11-27T09:02:00.000-08:00

So, its the obligatory "Happy Thanksgiving" blog entry. Spent Thursday-giving at my inlaw's "Home for Wayward Musicians" (a tradition, at this point), and Friday-giving with my Dad's family.

Both meals were a treat, although completely different. (Kim's parents eschew almost all meat; except fowl, conveniently.) My Dad's spread was a meatlover's bonanza with a Rib-Roast, a Tenderloin, Ham, and, oh yeah, a small turkey. Kim looks forward to my step-mother's spaetzle all year long.

Lots to give thanks for this year, not the least of which is the safe delivery of my niece Megan.

(I still need to post an updated pic of her, don't I?)

All good things...

2004-11-22T07:46:00.000-08:00

Well, we're back home. Saturday we spent the whole day hanging with my Uncle and his family in Phoenix. Usually the only times we see them are when they come to CA, so it was nice to get to see them in their world for a while. My cousins are growing up fast, and they're three great kids, so it was a lot of fun getting caught up on their lives.

Sunday was the uneventful but pallatable drive back home.

My recommendation for anyone looking down the barrel of a long roadtrip: Books on Tape/CD.

This is the absolute best way to dispense with dozens of hours on the road. Even if its a book you've already read, or a movie you've already seen, just having a narrative you can pay a little attention to makes the drive so much easier. Its less troublesome than trying to find (and keep) a talk radio station, and lasts a lot longer. We first figured this out after buying an abridged recording of Jurassic Park coming back from Vegas one time. Despite the crushing holiday traffic, the drive just seemed easier somehow. Now we never take long roadtrips without something in the arsenal.

This trip was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which was selected as much for its great length (21 CDs) as for our love of the books. Jim Dale has read all of the Potter books thus far and he has a real talent. Its also a real joy to have the continuity of presentation from book to book. Cars put Kimberley to sleep, she normally can't even make a 2 1/2 hour drive to L.A. without dozing, but with the book she stayed with me through the 9+ hours to the Grand Canyon, the short hops in between, and the 7 or so hours from Phoenix back home!

I also highly recommend Tom Clancy's The Cardinal of the Kremlin as read by David Ogden Stiers. Its amazing how a book can come alive when read by a really talented actor. Clancy can be a little dry in the first third of any book as he sets up the characters and plotlines, but Stiers ability as an actor really translates to helping you establish characters in your mind. Cardinal is one of only two Jack Ryan-universe books that I haven't actually read in book form, and I may not read it myself, as I'm sure that experience would not eclipse Stiers' performance of it.

Back to the real world now!

Cheers.

Just the Two of Us...

2004-11-18T18:47:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a day. The week before Thanksgiving is definitely the time to come to a place like this. We've suspected most of the week, but now we're sure: We're the only guests in the villas right now. Whole place all to ourselves. Pretty amazing.

Not only that, but we had the Pink Jeep tour all to ourselves too. It was nice, I must say, since Kimberley got to ride shotgun (and thus avoid any motion sickness) and asked a million questions. The "Ancient Ruins" tour is really worthwhile. As a child I visited the various ruins at Tuzigoot, Montezuma's Castle, etc. and got very comfortable with the idea that they must be viewed from afar lest they be damaged. Well, imagine my surprise when this tour walks you right up to the ruins. Close enough to get some fabulous pictures of the petroglyphs, the construction, the whole mess.

I thought I knew a lot about the history of the area, but we learned quite a bit, especially about the differences between the time period of this particular dwelling versus some of the later ones seen elsewhere. Its thought this dwelling was home to the Ancestral Hopi from ~1100AD to ~1380AD, before the majority of them moved further north to join the other Hopi people. Their lifestyle was quite different than the Yavapai who followed, which makes for an interesting contrast.

In any case, it was a blast. Our guide was great and we really got the royal treatment since it was just the two of us.

After that and a quick lunch, we headed to the former Ghost-Town turned artist's community of Jerome. Toured quite a few more galleries, saw a lot of nice stuff, and even got to watch a glassblower work for a little while. At the last gallery we hit on our way out, we found a beautiful etching done by a local artist. The piece is printed by first etching the design onto a steel plate, then the plate is inked and then paper is rolled onto it. Each time through the process results in a slightly different piece, since the inking, etc. are all done by hand. In any case, its a beautiful piece. The artist is Robin Anderson and his style is right in between Leonardo DaVinci and Picasso's pen/ink drawings. Fun! Here's another piece that's similar. Its funny, Kimberley and I have such different tastes in art, but actually buying art is really easy because for some reason we always seem to both immediately latch on to some pieces, and that's how we know the piece is right for us. Neither of us is sure why, because one or the other of us will pass on lots of similar pieces, but there's almost always that "one piece".

We capped the evening off with a private dinner for two by Chef Michael. My main course was the Duck with Armangac and Figs, and Kimberley had the Shrimp and Asparagus Risotto. Michael used to own two restaurants in the Big Easy, and sold them both to come out to Sedona and open this place. Top notch food, to be sure, and he'll have a cookbook out sometime next year. Very cool.

Needless to say, we'll be sad to be leaving on Friday. The Adobe Grand Villas are fantastic, even if we hadn't had the whole place to ourselves! What a romantic trip!

Cheers!

Things Beautiful...

2004-11-17T20:05:00.000-08:00

Well, Sedona is everything they say it is. Beautiful scenery, art, the works. The villa I'd booked was a huge success, Kimberley was blown away. A fitting place to celebrate 10 years together.

Rather than try to take my own pictures, I'll just refer you to those provided by the management. Trust me, they're accurate. The Tuscany Villa. There's fresh bread in the bread machine every afternoon, and the executive chef Michael is amazing. Breakfasts here are a thing to remember. Falling asleep by the glow of the firelight is romance at its finest!

Spent most of our first full day shopping/gallery hopping. Found some really beautiful ceramics, glass work, and more. Got a little of the christmas shopping out of the way, at least. The local artsy mall "Tlaquepaque" is supposedly a reproduction of a shopping village in Mexico, but it also seems to be the front for some really aggressive timeshare salespeople. Not once but twice I got suckered into a conversation before I realized that I was in the middle of a pitch about all the free stuff we'd get if we'd just attend their little "presentation". Ugh.

What's amazing about this town is that even the more mundane places are surrounded by vistas that would command attention anywhere in the world. Here's a shot Kimberley took from the back parking lot of one of the art malls...

Thursday morning we're taking one of the famous "Pink Jeep Tours" to a set of Ancient Ruins, that should be a ton of fun too. We've also decided to splurge and have dinner made for us by Chef Michael. We're really excited, the menu we selected from looked amazing.

Anyhow, somewhere along this way this turned into a moment by moment narrative, which was never really how I envisioned this blog happening, but what the hell, I'm on vacation.

Wish we could stay here forever, its really beautiful. All of it. Except maybe for the timeshare people....

Things Grand...

2004-11-16T20:28:00.000-08:00

OK, the cafe with the free wireless hotspot didn't materialize, so I'm sitting in a Starbucks-Analog in the village, writing this for the next time I get internet access.

The drive from San Diego to the Grand Canyon (Tusayan Village, actually), was a long one, but relatively uneventful. The directions were fairly simple so we skipped the GPS in favor of printed directions, but I was glad to have set up the Valentine 1, as we had one or two moments with the California and Arizona Highway Patrols.

I'd been worried about our first hotel, ambitiously named "The Grand Hotel", after reading some last minute bad reviews on Expedia or some other travel site... Turns out to have been unfounded. While far from "Grand", everything was clean and the food in the hotel restaurant wasn't bad. If you're ever in the area I recommend the Tenderloins of Elk in a Cherry Madeira Reduction with Shitake Potato Hash.

The Grand Canyon the following morning was suitably beautiful and of course more aptly named, especially so in the chilly November morning. I'm not sure if it was the early-ish hour (9am?) or the turning of the cold season, but we enjoyed a very quiet morning at the South Rim. We started with one of the basic vista points, which impressed Kimberley quite a bit, took a bunch of pictures, and started to head out on our way when she spotted a small herd of Elk grazing on the side of the road. Yep, Elk. One male and two females, by my count. They hardly noticed the group shooting photos, only the male took any notice of Kimberley when she stood on a small rock to get a slightly better photo...

After that we bounced west along the south rim, stopping at a few places to look and take pictures. We stopped in at the village post office to send a couple of postcards and had another reminder of how tech-centric we've become. Kimberley had forgotton her parent's mailing address, and there was no cell phone coverage, so we attempted what was, for both of us, the first pay-phone call in many years. Apparently you can't call California from Arizona from a payphone with coins anymore. We actually had to get a long distance operator and use a credit card to make the call. I guess there's still a place for calling cards these days, but I haven't used one in years since its always cheaper/easier on a cellphone...

After that minor adventure we ended up at the rim lodges. We started out on the hiking trail that follows the rim. It was a beautiful walk, but I figure we only got 2 or 3 miles before the altitude and the climb (quite a bit of elevation change) got to Kimberley and we started taking the rim loop shuttle. If you're not up for a long walk, this is definitely the only way to fly. You can get off at any of a number of vistas, see the views, then get back on the next shuttle. The loop ends at Hermit's Rest, where the views are even more amazing.

After that, we had a beautiful lunch at the El Tovar hotel, and then on our way to Sedona.

I'll just say that the drive and the vistas were exceptional. More photos to come when I've got more time.

Cheers...

Phone Blogging...

2004-11-12T17:49:00.000-08:00

Phone Blogging ... What a trip, seems like my world keeps getting smaller.
Finally off work. Nothing seems to take as long as the last workday before a vacation...

Phone blogging needs to be short, so I guess I'll write more later. As small as my P1000 keyboard is, it's huge compared to this...

cheers

New Laptop...

2004-11-09T13:48:00.000-08:00

Forgot to mention, here's the laptop I just ordered:

Fujitsu Lifebook P1120

My original Pentium 133 Lifebook worked so well, for so long, that I really wanted to give Fujitsu a look when I was shopping for a new sub-notebook. When I found out about the P1000 series, it was love at first sight.

I wanted the smallest true-PC I could get my hands on. (i.e. it has to be able to run regular Windows software, not bastardized HPC or Palmtop stuff). The P1120 is 2.2 lbs, and roughly the size of a VHS tape. The keyboard is slightly smaller than other subnotebooks, but the genious of this machine is that the "Quickpoint" interface (the little Eraser-head pointer stick that everyone hates) is supplemented by the fact that the entire display is a touchscreen! Yep, with a stylus or your finger you can interact directly with the screen. I messed around with it for a few minutes at Frys before deciding that this was pretty friggen cool.

Due to previous experience with Frys, I'd never buy anything else from them, though. I was ready to purchase directly from Fujitsu when I found a forum dedicated to the P-series machines and found a bloke selling exactly what I wanted for several hundred less. The unit is still under factory warranty, and has two batteries, and all the fixin's.

The escrow transaction is in-process and it should be here in a couple of days! More info when it arrives!

Going on Vacation!

2004-11-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

Yep, finally some time off! Although Kimberley and I have only been married for a bit more than four years, this November we'll be celebrating 10 years together.

To make it special, I've planned a wonderful trip through Arizona, seeing all of the sights that Kimberley has never seen, and that I haven't seen since a child. We'll spend one night at the Grand Canyon, three nights in Sedona, and two nights in Phoenix visiting family.

Should be a fun and romantic trip, and I'm especially excited about the B&B I've booked for Sedona. We'll be in the "Tuscany Villa" at the Adobe Village Villas (http://www.sedonasfinest.com/).

Is it just me or is "Adobe Village Villas" redundant? :)

Anyhow, I've ordered a new supersmall laptop to replace my ancient Fujitsu P133 Lifebook that I've had since college. I've long since learned the value of having really good maps on hand at all times, and the GPS tracking and route adjusting makes it all the better, especially since map-reading is not one of Kimberley's stronger skills.

Begin Rant...
Parents: Teach your kids how to read maps. Teach them how to compass orient a paper map, how to sight landmarks, and keep track of where they are. This is one of the GOOD things I learned in the Scouts before I realized they were a group of passive Gay-Bashers. The other thing I learned in this context was that Navy people (my ScoutMasters at the time) insist that "orientate" is a real word. As in: "This is how you orientate a map with a compass." Ugh.
...End Rant

The point I was going to make before I got distracted was that I'm going to try to Blog the whole journey, and post some pictures, if I can. Although that depends largely on how much success I have dialing in to an ISP and how frustrated I get at Dialup speeds. I haven't used anything but a Broadband connection to the Internet in more than 6 years...

Wish us luck, it should be a blast!

"We had already given her up and let her be dead in our hearts", Teen girl upgraded to "Alive" when wrecked car found 8 days later...

2004-10-11T13:05:00.000-07:00

Found this CNN News Story today...

I don't know which quote bothers me more:

"There was no police search," [sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart] added. "We felt she was most likely a runaway."

- or -

"'We had already given her up and let her be dead in our hearts' the girl's mother, Jean Hatch, told KOMO-TV."

I'd hate to think I could go missing for more than a week and that my family would begin to grieve and the local constabulary assume I'd "run off" when in reality I was literally lying in a ditch somewhere...

Cheers to the Volunteers who searched, and cheers to those who found.

More of Gibson's world...

2004-09-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

I'm coming to realize that part of what I've always liked about William Gibson's writing was not so much his "style" as his choice of locale. I wonder if any of his books would have had significantly less impact on me if I actually lived (or had even visited extensively) some of the places he writes about most often?

His descriptions of place and person seem to vibrate with an energy that just thrills me. His view of Japan, its culture, and some of its unique "features" are as distinctly alien as any scifi ever laid out by Heinlein or Clarke.

Reading this article reminded me of reading Neuromancer and being really struck by the concept of a "coffin hotel" or "pod hotel", and how quintessentially "Japanese" it seemed. We'll just have to see if the UK is ready for something so very different.

I've often pointed people to Gibson's article My Own Private Tokyo as a short example of the "snappiness" and level of description in his writing.

While I'm sure "they way" he writes still has a lot to do with how I enjoy it, perhaps I just find the subject fascinating too. That's not to take away from his work, as a writer he makes the choice of locale just as with everything else, I'm just trying to get a better grip on what exactly I like about it. Maybe I'll find similar traits elsewhere? Lord knows Gibson's not prolific enough for my tastes...

Cats: 1, Herbie: 0

2004-08-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

So good friend and coworker, Jason, is moving away soon. This weekend he hosted his "come drink all my alcohol so I don't have to move it" party. Jason and his girlfriend Lilah have a couple of cats, which Kimberley is very allergic to, and I'm mildly allergic to.

Or so I thought.

I was so worried about how Kim would fare, I didn't really consider my own circumstances. She took her Allegra, I didn't take anything. We arrived, we drank, we talked, laughed, and watched USC vs. Virginia Tech football. I kept asking her how she was feeling.

About the 3rd quarter, I notice I'm having a lot of trouble breathing. Like the full on wheezing, labored inhaling type of breathing. Like full-on allergic reaction breathing. Yikes. We finish our cocktails and try to make a polite exit, but by the time I hit the street I know this isn't going to go away 5 minutes after I'm out the door like it usually does when I'm only around cats for a few minutes. (This exposure was quite a bit longer.)

Swing by the grocery on the way to dinner and get some Benadryl and briefly consider the "Avoid Alcoholic Beverages" warning, weighing the consequences of mixing diphenhadramine and 3 rum & cokes versus the growing respiratory distress I was in, I decided to go for the pill. If "alcohol may intensify drowsiness" is the worst consequence, I'll take it if it means I can breathe. (The 3 M.D.'s in my family are probably going apeshit reading this...) Dinner at Aesop's Tables is (medically) unenventful, and we make it home and retire to bed (after carefully depositing all the clothes we wore in the garage...). Had a little more trouble breathing in the middle of the night, but nothing terrible.

Woke up Sunday morning to the WORST feeling set of lungs since I had Bronchitis as a kid. Spent a good portion of the day knocking the crap out of my lungs and feeling exactly as you'd expect when you're not processing oxygen through your lungs as efficiently as normal, all the while trying to car-shop with Kimberley, who refuses to acknowledge the current state of her 3rd Volvo 240. (Kimberley and Car Shopping is at the very least a blog entry of its own, if not the subject of scholarly essays on "Inability to Spend Money, Even When Required"). Ugh.

Well, I've recovered, but I've learned my lesson. I now consider myself more than "mildly allergic" to cats, which is my only allergy I'm aware of to acknowledge at all...

So score that one: Cats: 1, Herbie: 0.

The 100 SciFi Books You Must Read.

2004-08-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

Found this list on Fark this morning.

I was "relieved" to see that I've read like 25 of the "top 100 according to random guy". And several more are books I already own, sitting on the nightstand waiting for me to have time...

Glad to see some of my hard-SF favorites on the list, such as Joe Haldeman's excellent Forever War as well as the Cyberpunk's bible Neuromancer by William Gibson. Also refreshing to see a sense of humor in the list creator as Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of my all time favorite works of humor, loosely SF as it may be.

However any list like this is bound to generate the requisite list of "Stuff I thought Should Have Been on the List", so here are my entries for overlooked great SF:

Oath of Fealty - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls - Robert A. Heinlein
Steel Beach - John Varley
Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, & The Last Command - The Star Wars: "Thrawn Trilogy" - Timoth Zahn
The Hammer of God - Arthur C. Clarke
Everything by William Gibson that wasn't on the list, except possibly The Difference Engine, co-written with Bruce Sterling
The remainder of the "Increasingly Inacurrately Named Hitchhiker's Trilogy" (in 5 books) from Douglas Adams.

Just a few suggestions... Some are more of an investment. Others, like the Heinlein stuff, can be read in a solid day spent on the beach or out of the rain.

Elsie by Twilight

2004-08-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

So I was going through my pictures directory, and came across a really great photo from the 2003 San Diego Miata Club "Twilight Run". Some kind member of the club ran ahead and took photos of the 80+ cars coming down the Sunrise Highway, timed to the sunset. The Twilight Run was our first club event, just 1 week after buying our Miata and joining the club.

After spending so much time working on the wheels for Elsie (the Miata) this weekend, this image was a nice reminder of what the work was about: Cool summer evenings with the top down and Kimberley in the passenger seat.

Thanks also to Jeanette Driver and Tom Wood for photos of us with "Elsie" during this year's 10th Anniversary Twilight Run too:

(Sixth from the left in the front row)

(Seventh from the rear, the blurry Laguna Blue colored dot...)

It was another beautiful run this year, cool and clear skys (ever so important in a convertable).
The really amusing part of this run every year is that invariably, some poor schmuck gets stuck trying to turn onto or across one of the roads we're on, and has to wait for all 70 or 80 of us to come streaming by before he can make his turn...

Revenge of the BBS's

2004-08-10T08:57:00.000-07:00

OK, looks like the weekend of scrubbing nasty brake dust off the BBS wheels has taken its toll, I think I've got a "Repetetive Strain Injury" or something like it. While in bed last night my hands kept getting that tingly/numb feeling anytime I wasnt' lying on my back with my arms at my sides... Yuk.

Little bit of dull pain in my right wrist if I move it wrong too. I'm hoping it will go away now that I've stopped scrubbing wheels.

I've occasionally had a little bit of soreness in my left wrist after upsetting some pieces for the Fireplace Toolset I'm making in my Blacksmithing Class. Something about swinging the big hammer at an awkward angle is tough on my hammer wrist, but its not something I do very much so I'm not too worried about long term damage, and it seems to have gone away once I stopped.

At least I'm almost done with the toolset. The four-post stand is done, the handles for the poker, shovel, tongs, and broom are done. I've drawn the taper for the "business end" of the poker, and now that I'm done upsetting the middle of the tongs I can punch the holes for the pivot. Finishing the shovel will be the last really hard job, I think. I'm going to split the end of the bar so I can make little vine "tendrils" that wrap around the shovel pan, it should complete the leafy/vine look I've got going on the handles.

I really should get some pics of this, I imagine its basically impossible to get what I'm talking about here unless you're a blacksmith...

The Miata Wheels Saga

2004-08-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I've reached a good news/bad news event with the Miata wheels saga.

Quick recap for the folks at home:

My 1994 Miata came from the previous owner with TSW Alpines installed, 15x7, 19.4lbs each. Ouch. Bad for the suspension, bad for accelleration.

So I notice that about 1/2 the time I go to the In-N-Out near our place that there's a ragged '92 Black & Tan Miata parked in the lot. And I do mean RAGGED. Dirty, tan top is sort of streaked with charcoal color, back window is GONE and the rear top bow is disconnected from the top with what looks like shower curtain rings hanging from it, probably from an earlier attempt to weatherproof the car with a shower curtain or something.

But it's got the OEM wheels on it... The '92 B&T was one of Mazda's earliest stabs a "Special Edition". Like the BRG and Yellow models, it got a little bit of special treatment. Most people seem to forget that it got the same forged BBS 14x6 wheels as the Red-interior '93 LE Edition... So while a '93 LE is usually owned by someone "in the know", those wheels usually go for like $600 a set. Why? Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, they weigh 8.9lbs...

Well, long-story-short, (too late), I left a note on the car, asking if the owner wanted to trade wheels with me. As I'd hoped, the owner is a broke-ass college student who wants the "bling" of bigger wheels. We meet, and after a little discussion we settle on a trade of my wheels, plus $80, plus I supply new lug nuts (since I need his, they're special to fit under the BBS center caps). So all told, I'm out $101.63 + my TSWs & Michelins that I probably would have been able to sell for MAYBE $200...

So there I am, looking at my Miata on jackstands, next to it a stack of the FILTHIEST Forged BBS wheels I've ever seen. To call them charcoal colored would imply a sort of gray color, when they were in fact, closer to the ACTUAL COLOR of Kingsford Charcoal Briquettes. I'm betting this kid NEVER washed his wheels.

So I go to town. I start out with a hose, bucket of soapy water, wheel brush, and an aerosol can of TurtleWax brand biodegradeable foaming wheel cleaner. After a half hour of scrubbing, I realize that the wheel brush just isn't getting into the dozens of little spaces (see the wheels on a '93 LE here )Switch to a toothbrush... still not much progress after an hour. Still the first wheel...

OK, "We're gonna need bigger guns". Head to autozone and find a stiff bristled "mag wheel brush" that will fit into the spaces after a little hand forming of the loop. Also pickup a spray bottle of EagleOne foaming wheel cleaner, this stuff comes in seperate formulations for Mag, Steel, and Aluminum/Painted wheels. The directions on the back advise "Use in an area that will allow for some evaporation of runoff".

Oh yeah.

No biogegradeable stuff here, this is better living through chemistry. Add another $20 or so to the total expense.

So I start back on the FIRST wheel with this stuff. The brush actually works, as does the chemical, but it still requires 20 seconds or so of scrubbing per "hole" section. This doesn't include the time to go after some dried spots of road tar with a stiffer brush and WD-40 (which normally removes road tar like a MoFo, BTW). Takes over an hour or so to complete an entire wheel, including scrubbing the face and the back of the wheel (easy, and since I've invested this much time, why not). Also spent some time cleaning the center caps, which were easier but required a terry cloth around the fingertip to get into the crannies.

After all that, I figure I don't want to go through this again real soon, so I took a tip from the Miata.net forum and applied a spray wax to the wheels and rubbed it in. Supposedly this will help keep the brake dust from sticking and make everything clean up easier later. I hope so.

Anyway, after two days of working till dark on these wheels (admittedly with lots of interruptions), I didn't get the Miata back on the ground and the wheels torqued up until this morning before heading to work. A quick trip to the air pumps, and I was on the road.

So the total after this little trade:
Expenditures/Losses:

1 Set TSW Alpines, 19.4 lbs each
1 Set Michelin XGVABCDEFG? tires, 195/55-15, so-so quality, 50% tread
1 Set new cheapo spline-drive lugnuts + tool, $21.63 from Goodwin Racing
$80 cash
$20-something for chemicals, brushes, and wax.
8 hours of my life spent sitting in my driveway...

Gains:

1 Set BBS Forged Wheels, available only on '92 B&Ts and '93 LEs, 8.9lbs each (complete with centercaps, $65 each replacements from Mazda... ouch)
1 Set BBS-compatible shorty lugnuts, ($7 EACH replacement from Mazda!)
1 Set, completely SUCK-ASS tires:
3 Goldstar-Korea tires, 185/60-14, 80% tread
1 Pirelli something-or-other, 185/60-14, 50% tread

OK, so we finally got to the bad news. (this is getting rediculous.)

Yes, the good news is that you REALLY CAN feel when you drop TEN FRIGGEN POUNDS PER WHEEL. Unsprung weight benefits aside, the accelleration is more impressive now as well.

Unfortunately I'm having a hard time playing with the better response due to the COMPLETELY LAME tires this kid put on the wheels. My first instinct was to just get a new set of Toyo T1-S's before Kim got home, and I should have followed that, because now I'm driving around on quite possibly the worst tires ever made. On a basic 20mph corner coming into work they're HOWLING like I'm at turn 4 at Big Willow...

Stay tuned for the continuing saga of "Elsie the Frankenstein Miata". I bought an '01 Tan/Glass top on Ebay, and the same Broke-ass college student wants to buy my OEM top....

What the hell am I supposed to do again?

2004-08-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

So people keep telling me I should write a blog. I guess because I've always got a random factoid or comment on just about everything. OK, that's fair, but who reads these things?

Turns out, I guess I do. It never occurred to me that a site I visit all the time, http://www.fark.com is actually a "blog". But most seem to consider it that.

OK, if everyone says so.

Well, welcome, at any rate. I've no idea what format this will take as things proceed, but I'm guessing that a good chunk of it will just be a replacement (or copy of) the lengthy emails I write to my friends on the various mundane adventures in my life...

Cheers.