Man, I never post any more. It makes me kinda sad. I like posting! But I am so damn busy doing shit that I never feel like I have to time to write up a proper post about all the stuff I did and it just piles up.
The last few weeks have been kinda crazy. For a few months now we’ve had a lot of travel planned for May and then at the last minute I added another one. My brother has been threatening to put a supercharger on his 2005 Lotus Elise for a while now and he finally decided to do it. I had expressed some interest in helping with the install, so when he ordered the kit I booked a flight to Kansas City. It was a short trip but lots of fun. I got in Friday afternoon and spent the evening hanging out with friends at Barley’s, then we got up for an early start on the supercharger Saturday morning. We were expecting around 12 hours of work, and it ended up taking more like 20 but man it was worth it. We worked from 8am till about 7pm on Saturday and ended with the supercharger stuck about halfway in. We had skipped a step involving moving the alternator early on and we ended up having to go back and do it the next morning.
So, bright and early Sunday morning we got up, moved the alternator and it was pretty smooth sailing the rest of the way. Minus one pipe that we had to modify more than recommended the install went pretty smooth the whole way. Not to say it was easy: It wasn’t. I had bruises and cuts and sore muscles for a week afterward.
I wrapped up my KC trip at Gengis Kahn with a few friends, then got up at 3am and flew back to Seattle. Short, but long trip 🙂
Next up was New Jersey. My step-dad Fred has been dating a lovely lady named Dori for quite a while now and last year they decided to marry. After getting the invite we planned a trip out for the wedding and for Courtney to get a chance to see where I grew up and meet some family. It was also a short but action packed trip. The wedding was very nice, and I got to spend lots of time with family I seldom see. Courtney got to meet quite a bit of my family. We also managed trips to Dippy’s, Sals and Steak Out for traditional NJ grub and we visited my old house in Sewell, and in Mantua.
We also took a trip out to the cemetery where my Dad is buried so that I could see his grave. The day of the funeral his marker had already been placed and it had snowed the night before so I couldn’t see it and didn’t know where it was. That part of the trip was pretty painful, but much needed.
Finally, we took a drive past von Nieda park in Camden since I had not been there in years. It seemed like a really great place to get killed so I took a picture of the sign and we got the hell out of there. Off to the airport and back to Seattle!
Next up was the Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo, which we just got back from Sunday. I don’t have a whole lot to say about it this year. There were some cool exhibits but most of it I had seen last year. Maker Faire seems to be very geared towards kids and families, which I think is awesome but it’s not awesome for me. I am really glad this exists for kids to get excited about science and hacking and DIY but I found myself kinda bored this time around. The exhibits that stuck out in my mind were the Mondo Spider which is a huge, hulking, ridable metal spider and the big POV sphere in the middle of the Tesla coil hall. On the downside, I am pretty worn out by “art” exhibits that aren’t much more than a propane tank and a source of ignition. I guess that stuff is is awesome when you are tripping your ass off at Burning Man and it’s dark out but I just don’t see a lot of value in blowing off a bunch of fossil fuels to make pretty flames.
Also: Get off of my damn lawn!
Anyway, we hit Maker Faire Saturday morning and stayed till about 4, then again Sunday morning and stayed till about 2 when I had a massive allergy attack. After getting back to the car so I could take some medicine we decided we were done and headed out to see a little bit of California before we had to fly again. We ended up kinda randomly on the coast and cruising down Highway 1 which was really a lot of fun. Absolutely beautiful everywhere you looked. It really deserved to be driven in a convertible. We ended up at the Pigeon Point lighthouse before turning around and that was really pretty. Courtney took lots of pics with our new Olympus EP-1 which takes really great pictures. After that: more driving, more flying and back in Seattle again! Our dogs are starting to think we only live here about 50% of the time now.
Our last trip is this weekend to Denver to see John and Aoi right before they are with baby, and to hang out with the rest of the crew. Really looking forward to this trip but I am sure not looking forward to flying again. This is the last trip for a while. A long while, I hope.
In random other news I’ve:
- Bought an Everlast PM-205 TIG/Stick Welder / Plasma Cutter combo and am learning how to TIG weld.
- Am building a badass, mostly automated 10 gallon, all electric brewery for the garage.
- Am still hoping to finish the first OpenPNP prototype this year.
- Started fixing up my bicycle. I’m hoping to start riding a little and get back in shape.
- Sold one of my TC18 clocks on eBay and it fetched a princely sum!
I think that’s all for now. Bye!