1-24-2010

Blog #317

David

End of the Trail

   The girls and I were able to get one last ski in yesterday morning.  Our neighborhood is 90% clear of snow but the packed snow on the ski loop has been holding on until the bitter end.  Its been a poor cross country ski season for me.  By the time we had enough snow for a trail school was back in session and I managed to catch a pretty bad cold which left me too drained to ski after work.  We've also had many warm days which leaves the trail too soft for skiing.  I'm not sure if we have more snow in our forecast, but if we do I'll be rebuilding the trail again from scratch. 

   Svea, Brigitta and I have been downhill skiing at Boston Mills the past three Fridays.  The girls are making good progress.  This Friday I witnessed a knee injury crash that sent a young boy to the hospital, on oxygen, in an ambulance.  I was first on scene and fetched the ski patrol.  I happened to be filming Svea at the time and also captured his crash and the lead-up.  They had me fill out an witness accident form and hang out in the first aid room until the boy was taken away.  At home I watched the clip several times in slow motion and determined that the boy was heading straight down the hill and a fast rate but was trying to control his speed by snowplowing.  His left ski caught an edge which drove his left boot into his right and sent him into a side tumble.  The crash didn't look that bad, but it certainly twisted his knee severely.  The bottom line is: do NOT snow plow at high speed!

1-20-2010

Blog #316

David

Bamboo

   We finally got around to installing bamboo stalks in the girls' jungle room.  There are several stalks against the wall, others are a few inches out and one is a few feet out.  The one that is out into the room has been reinforced on the ends with glued Kevlar string to prevent splitting.  I screwed a polycarbonate plate into the ceiling under a joist; screws protrude from the floor and ceiling plate into the hollow ends of the bamboo to hold this one stalk firmly in place.  This bamboo stalk is for climbing and will even hold me.  The girls have been climbing it hourly and it is already showing signs of wear; I think I will have to replace it eventually.

Steadicam

   I made a Steadicam out of garage junk and scrap.  The handle is salvaged walnut.  I made a U-joint to counter pitch and roll movements out of polycarbonate, walnut and aluminum rods.  A roller blade wheel with bearings reduces yaw movements. Atop the bearing is the "sled" which holds the camera mount, camera and bent aluminum bar that hold a counter balance under the camera and hand.  I found it tricky to balance the sled.  Too much weight down low causes the sled to pitch or roll under various forms of acceleration.  Too top heavy and it won't stay upright.  Initially, the sled would wander wherever it wanted.  I know that operating a Steadicam is an art that I am just beginning to comprehend.  My solution to make the sled point the same direction as my hand was the addition of very thin, slightly taught rubber bands from the handle to the sled.  With the rubber bands the sled slowly responds to yaw inputs from the handle; the mass of the sled steadies out the little jerky hand movements.  It works, as can be seen in the one minute clip under the still picture below.

Pump-It-Up

The girls attended a birthday party at Pump-It-Up last weekend. 

1-3-2010

Blog #315

David

Tallmadge Nordic Center is Open!

   We finally have snow so I've been grooming the ski trail/track around the house.  I built a new grooming drag which can be seen behind Svea in the top photo.  It's 12 feet wide so it pretty much covers the entire width of the trail in one pass.  I've learned that I also can use it to harvest snow from the middle of the yard and drag it onto the track to fill in ruts and shallow spots.

Happy Svea Day!

We celebrated Svea's Swedish Name Day yesterday with dinner, a few gifts, a movie for the girls and pie.

A book of paper patterns for paper doll clothes.

"The Last Olympian", which is the last book from the "Lightning Thief" series.  Svea has got the family hooked on this series about a boy in modern times who learns that he is the son of Poseidon.  The books are full of adventure, Greek Gods and Heroes.

Brigitta the Fly

Brigitta Photobombs John and Rose's Wedding

Copy and Paste "Brigitta Photobomb" into your own photo!

Brigitta Photobomb

1-2-2010

Blog #314

David

Thanks for visiting Uncle Mark!

Uncle Mark's whirlwind visit was great but short. Arriving on Christmas Eve, and having to endure     (I mean enjoy) a Kelly Bash, didn't leave Mark much time to spend with the girls, but he filled it well by visiting and playing games.  We miss him already.

Red Shouldered Hawk

I saw this hawk land in the big Norway Maple behind our house; I never got an un-obscured view of him before he flew away.  Papa said it was a Red Shouldered Hawk.

Annika's Latest Quotes:

"I'd kind of kill them" - referring to the "bad people" after hearing about the latest hijack attempt. 

"No, but I used to." - After being asked if she could talk to snakes (because she has a slightly forked tongue).

Easter 2003 Family Photo

(Scan)

My Old Cars Page

I updated my "Dave's Wacky Cars" page a few weeks ago and just found and added this photo of my first bug today.

Why Be Normal Checkered Bug

Anchorage Junior Nordic League

This photo is the only piece of evidence I have that I was once a cross country ski coach/instructor with Anchorage Junior Nordic League.  I believe this photo was from 1993; I'm second from the right - crazy pants - standing.  I had the slowest of the youngest in the league and enjoyed the experience greatly.

Elementary School Days

I made a page of my old class photos from elementary school and am compiling basic data (occupation, location, marital status and children) for my sixth grade classmates.  I've always been intrigued by sociology, people and demographics, so I find it fascinating what happens to a group of kids after 30 plus years.  I also made a few slideshows from photos from my 20 year high school class reunion.

Homepage Bio and Link Organization

   We added a bio to at the top of the homepage since many folks who visit our site don't actually know us or who we are.  I also reorganized and categorized the links on the home page by topic.  Finally, I've restructured how I'm naming the current blog which means that the old "...blog.htm" page is now an index of old blogs by month and current blogs are at their permanent address.