Thanksgiving Pictures

Here are a few pictures from my Thanksgiving weekend with my family:

I played golf on Wednesday with my brothers and my dad. Here we (or they) are at the club house at Herman waiting on our carts:


And here is Brad making his first birdie. He putted the ball in from where he's standing to make birdie.


And then the weather started to turn against us:


And we had to quit after 10 holes and make a mad dash for the safety of the club house:


On Thursday, we had 14 of us meet up over at my grandmother's house for lunch and to spend the afternoon together. I also used this opportunity to give Ethan his pull toy that I made.
Here he is playing with his new toy:


Ethan showing off how well he can stand:


Ethan and Uncle Keith playing:


On Friday, I went to the Texas A&M vs. t.u. game in College Station with my parents and little brother.
Here is the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band doing the ATM formation:


And here is the final score, and the final image of Coach Fran at Kyle Field:


Ethan celebrating the Aggie's victory:

Project: Complete

Let me start off by saying that I really have a problem completing projects. This one is a great example...

I got the idea to build a toy for my nephew, Ethan, about a year ago when I saw his nursery. I decided I wanted to build him a pull toy that went along with the sheep theme. I even borrowed some of the paint that my brother used on the walls so that the toy would match.

Being an engineer (and a somewhat nerdy engineer to boot), I wanted to make it mechanized. I also secretly hope that it will inspire Ethan to grow up with a similar fascination for mechanical things like I did. Anyway, thinking back to my studies in college, I figured out that I could create a mechanism that would turn rotational motion (wheel spinning) into a motion that looked like a jumping sheep. Being the nerd that I am, I even created an Excel spreadsheet to figure out what dimensions for the mechanism would give me the motion I was looking for. Here's a screen capture of the spreadsheet:



With that done, the time came to build a prototype. While working on this, I realized that if I had the jumping mechanism hooked up directly to the drive wheel, then the sheep wouldn't jump in the direction that the toy is moving when pulled. This meant that I needed to add a set of gears to reverse the motion of the mechanism. This also turned out to be a blessing because it allowed for a gear reduction to slow the jumping of the sheep. I tried looking for a set of gears, but I couldn't find any, and so I decided to try making my own. Here's what I came up with:



And here's the jig I used on my drill press to drill the holes for the large gear:



With that done, the time came to build the finished mechanism, and here's how it turned out:




And here's the motion it produces (sorry, but I had the radio going when I recorded the video):



I got all of the work up to this point done in about 2 or 3 days spread out over two weekends, and then I hit a few snags. I didn't really like how the body of the toy turned out (as seen in the above video), so that meant I would have to start over on that. Also, I couldn't find any wheels that had a large enough diameter (determined by the size of the small gear). When I finally did wheels that would work, the hole for the axle was larger than the hole I had drilled in the smaller gear, which meant that I would have to remake the smaller gear (it's hard to enlarge a hole and still keep it centered). Since I'm never thrilled about starting over, I ended up putting off finishing the project for the next 9 or 10 months.

Now that Ethan is getting close to walking, I decided that it was about time to finish his toy. With a new-found determination (and a few free weekends), I pressed on toward the goal, and this was the final product:



And here's what the inside looks like:



And here it is in action with it's new owner:

The Big One-Oh

In honor of my nephew turning 10 months old today, here are some pictures and videos of him from this past weekend:

Here's Ethan trying to say "Uh-oh":


Here's Ethan trying some Dr. Pepper:

(Brad said that he doesn't care for the carbonation)

Here's Ethan working on his walking skills:


And here's Ethan doing some dancing to the music on this train:


Ethan and Daddy:


Ethan and GP playing:


Ethan and Uncle Kevin playing:


Isn't it nice that Ethan shares?


Maggie helping with the cleanup:


Using technology to finish the cleanup:

The Periodic Table!

It's finally here! Well, it was finally here last Thursday. Here is my brand-new dining room table!!! It measure 72 inches without the leaf and 96 inches with the leaf.



Here's how it arrived (unpacked from the boxes, of course):



Since it came in pieces, I got/had to assemble the base first and then bolt it to the tabletop. Fortunately, it arrived on Thursday, which is when the guys from my Sunday school class come over for the evening. This gave me plenty of muscle to turn it upright (I put it together upside down since that was by far the easiest way to do it).

The leaf folds up in a rather unusual way (at least to me). First, as with all expandable tables, you pull the ends apart:



This was particularly cool because it had a rack-and-pinion type gear on it so that a person (me) can do this by themselves:



Then the leaf folds in the middle...



And tucks neatly under the tabletop:



And here's the table without the leaf (the first picture has the leaf in it, in case you hadn't caught that):



And this is what the base looks like:



It only took Oak Express 37 days to get it here from Denver (or wherever they ordered it from). I've joked that I'm thinking of calling them just Oak because of their punctuality. All in all, I'm pretty happy with my new table. It's sturdy, and easily sat 8 of us around it this past Sunday night while we carved some pumpkins (don't worry, I put my big blue tarp on it to protect it).

Maker Faire 2007: Intro

For those who don't know what Maker Faire is, it's kind of like a carnival for inventors, tinkerers, and geeks put on by Make Magazine. I spent about 8 hours at the Travis County Expo Center this past Saturday having all sorts of fun reveling in the creativity of others. Because I spent so much time there and because I took so many pictures, it'll take several posts (probably over a few days) to tell the whole story. I tried to time the publishing of these posts so that you would read this intro before the other two posts for today. Below, you'll find posts on two of the main attractions, set on the plaza surrounded by the Arena (A), Show Barn (B), and the Make and Crafts Lab (C).

Maker Faire 2007: Life-Sized Mouse Trap

One of the things I saw online from the Maker Faire in the Bay Area was the Life-Sized Mouse Trap. Here are a few pictures of the pieces:





Here are some detail shots:





I didn't get a chance to get a video of it working, but here's one that someone else recorded:

Maker Faire 2007: Diet Coke and Mentos

Toward the end of the day, a group from EepyBird.com put on a Bellagio-esque fountain show using 105 bottles of Diet Coke and over 600 Mentos mints. Here are a few pictures of the setup:





And here's the show:

It Feels Great Sticking It To "The Man"!

Let's start with a little background to set the stage:

A little over a month ago, I decided that it was about time to invest in a dining room table and chairs and graduate from eating at my folding table or in the living room. While I was home for Labor Day, I did some furniture shopping with my mom to see what was available. I was looking for a table that was supported in the middle (no corner legs to bang my knees on) and could seat 6 without a leaf and then expand to seat 8 (or more). We found one at Star Furniture, but it was a little pricey and I wasn't in the buying mood, so I put it off for a little while.

The next weekend, my little brother came to Waco, and so we spent part of that Saturday going around to a few furniture stores looking for a table and chairs. After several retail and consignment stores, I found one at Oak Express (part of Furniture Row) that had all of the features I wanted and at a price several hundred dollars cheaper than the one at Star. Here's what it looks like:



Well, sorta. The one I'm getting is longer and has a double pedestal base. After a couple of days, I decided that this was the one I wanted, so I went back and bought it. This is where the fun begins...

The salesman said that it would take 2-4 weeks to come in, and they would give me a call when it did. He also said that it was very unlikely that it would take longer than 4 weeks. Like a kid who has just seen his parents put a big present under the Christmas tree, I waited anxiously to get the call that my table had come in. Two weeks to the day after that, I started calling home to check my answering machine to see if they had called, so that I could go straight there on my way home. After the 3rd week I called in to see if they knew when they would be arriving. The salesman said that the chairs were in, but the computer showed that the table hadn't been shipped yet. I called again this past Friday to check again, only to get the same answer.

Today marked 4 weeks since I bought the table and chairs. Fortunately, I had applied for the 6 months / no interest deal, so I hadn't actually paid anything yet. I stopped by Oak Express on my way home from work today to see if my stuff had come in and to find out in person what the hold-up was. As has become the custom, the table wasn't in yet. This salesman was a little better with the computer because he was able to determine that the table had been on back order (I can just hear Mattress Mac shouting from Houston "No back-back-back order slips!!!"), and it looked like it would be another week or two.

Having already had an irritating day with my computer at work, I was in the mood to negotiate. All day, I was thinking about what kind of terms I would offer for the surrender of my furniture. 1% off for every day it's late past the 4 week mark. 10% off for every week past the 4 week mark. Asking for the purchase to be refunded and then re-charged on my credit card to start the 6-month grace period over again. I ended up just asking what kind of discount they could give me since my table was nowhere in sight. The very nice salesman offered to have it delivered, but I didn't want to have to take time out of my day waiting for a delivery man because of their screw-up. So, he offered to rebate the equivalent of the delivery back onto my account. Since this came out to about 10% of my purchase price, I accepted. Then I asked to have the purchase refunded to start the 6-months over, but he said that he couldn't do that. I had been planning to pay the balance off over 4 months anyway, so I didn't press that offer too hard.

So, while it's been 4 weeks and I still don't have my table, I feel a little better knowing that I am getting compensated for the time. I also got a chance to "stick it to The Man". It's amazing what you get when you ask (or demand, or whatever).

Weekend Summary

Boy, I had a busy weekend. Here's a quick summary of what all I did.

Friday:
I went swing dancing with some friends from the Baylor Swing Society at a place called the Southside Preservation Hall in Fort Worth. We enjoyed 4 solid hours of dancing to a live big band (and a few recorded tracks). Here's a very fuzzy picture of the stage with the band:



After the dancing was over at midnight, we headed for the nearest Waffle House for some dinner/breakfast. Everyone was surprised to hear that I had never been to a Waffle House. You would have thought someone said "This stuff's made in New York City!". I finally got home at about 3:30am Saturday, which after getting up at 6:00am Friday for work, made for a very long 22 hour day.

Saturday:
Since I didn't get to sleep until about 4:00am, I slept until about noon. At 2:00, my roommate Kyle and I walked over to the Heart O' Texas Fair to catch the Weinerdog Races at 3:00. They were a lot of fun. There were about 80 dogs there, divided into 10 heats of 8 dogs each. They took the top 3 finishers from each race on to the semi-finals races. Unfortunately, not every race had 3 finishers:



So, after a bunch of very entertaining races (and a few entertaining names like "Hercules" and "Peanut" and "Low Rider"), they got down to the final race, and who can resist all of the puns that a race like this brings to mind:



After all that fun, I sat through the agony and joy that was the Texas A&M vs. OSU football game. I really think that Aggie football is hazardous to your health because they seem like they can never play consistently well.

Sunday:
After church and lunch with my roommate, I spent the afternoon in my workshop edging closer to finishing my TV stand. The only thing left to build were the doors. Here's a sample of the type of joint I'm using for the doors:




By the end of the day, I had all of the pieces cut for the 3 doors, and I even managed to get one of the doors glued up and into clamps (my newest toys):



I had the other doors glued up today, and so here is what they look like leaning against the front of the stand:



Only 2 more steps left (or 3 or 4 depending on how you divide it up): attaching the doors and then painting everything. Almost done!!

I Wonder What She Was Thinking

On Tuesday night, I went to Baskin-Robbins with my roommate Kyle and our friend Will to celebrate Will's birthday. We didn't realize it until we got there that it was $1 scoop night (well, it came out to be $1.08 after taxes). Will ordered first, and then Kyle, and finally it was my turn. While my two friends were enjoying their ice cream, I ordered my single scoop of mint chocolate chip on one of those flat-bottomed cones (whatever they're called). When the server handed my my colorful confection, the top-heavy treat fell from my grasp and landed scoop-side down on the counter. I apologized profusely while she scooped up a replacement. As she handed me my second cone, I very securely grabbed it with both of my hands, and proceeded to pay for the $1.08 treat with my American Express card.

I wonder what she was thinking...

Who's Looking At My Drawers?

Construction Day 3:

I spent about 6 hours today building 6 drawers. Fortunately, I designed the TV stand so that they were all the same size, so it was just a matter making the same 3 parts over and over and over again. I had 12 side pieces, 12 front/back pieces, and 6 bottom pieces:



I cut a slot (dado) on the bottom of the side and front/back pieces for the bottom to fit in, and then I cut another dado in the front/back pieces for the side to fit in. (it sounds really simple, but that took about 3-4 hours to do)

Once I had the pieces cut, I needed to put them together. I started with a front/back piece and a side piece. I glued them together, made sure they were square (using a carpenter's square), and then used my nail gun to nail them in place (only 2 nails for now in each joint).



Then came the other side (done the same way). followed by the bottom (which just slid in place).



Last came the other front/back piece, which was again glued and nailed in place.



Before I put more nails into the joint to really secure them, I wanted to make sure it was square. I measured the diagonals, and when they were equal, the drawer was square.



One down and 5 more to go. Honestly, I was starting to get bored by the last one. After watching Norm build a dining room chair on The New Yankee Workshop, I don't know how anyone could build multiple chairs like that without going mad from repetition.

After I finished all of the drawers, I put on the drawer slides and put in the drawers.



It's starting to look like a piece of furniture now! Fortunately, every seems to fit fine. My measurements for the placement of the drawers was spot-on, and there's enough room for the DVD cases to fit like they're supposed to.



I'm going to have to resist the urge to take the TV stand as it is now into my living room to see how the TV looks on it, because I know that if I do, I'll end up leaving it there. So, on to the next part: the doors.