Thursday, June 30, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Random Crap
Pocket Change Definition:
1. When politicians take money from YOUR pocket, and put it in theirs.
The grass is never truly greener on the other side... unless you are a horse.
According to Jack Bauer, there are only 2 options to save the world;
mastering the art of whispering and yelling at the same time, at someone who knows where the bomb is, or getting shot in the kneecap. You can tell how much Jack Bauer likes you by how far above your kneecap he shoots you.
Jack Bauer could get off the Lost island in 24 hours.
I hate snakes. I shoot first, and determine later if it's poisonous. Of course, with their head blown to smithereens, it pretty much becomes a moot point.
People get stuck in their comfort zone.
Life begins OUTSIDE of your comfort zone.
Dumb Masses...
Some days, I think about giving up country living and moving into an apartment, so when things break, I could just call a maintenance man. Then I stop and think about what it was like when I used to live in an apartment...
Pass me the pipe wrench, I have plumbing to repair.
Family reunions... I got nothing... other than avoid them at all cost.
We spend the first 24 months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk, and the next 24 years telling them to shut up and sit down... no wonder they are so screwed up.
A friend gave their son an etch-a-sketch for Christmas last year... he picked it up, looked at it, wanted to know where the on/off switch was. "No switch." "Where do you put in the batteries?" "No batteries." "WOW, this must be the latest thing in electronics."
Yeah kid... shut up and sit down.
I used to own a 1972, chocolate brown, Triumph TR6. It was the most amazing car I've ever owned. It could take a 90 degree turn at 50 mph and never bark the tires. One day I'd like to own another one.
I ride a 90ci V-twin motorcycle. It too can make a 90 degree turn at 50 mph... but with someone else driving it, who has good insurance, and deep pockets, and a million years experience...
My Gastroenterologist is one of the nicest guys, most sophisticated, and one of if not the kindest man I have ever met. Whenever I have an appointment, he always walks in the room, shakes my hand, and always treats me like I'm the most important thing in his life at that moment... a rare thing these days. I think I have a man crush on him.
1. When politicians take money from YOUR pocket, and put it in theirs.
The grass is never truly greener on the other side... unless you are a horse.
According to Jack Bauer, there are only 2 options to save the world;
mastering the art of whispering and yelling at the same time, at someone who knows where the bomb is, or getting shot in the kneecap. You can tell how much Jack Bauer likes you by how far above your kneecap he shoots you.
Jack Bauer could get off the Lost island in 24 hours.
I hate snakes. I shoot first, and determine later if it's poisonous. Of course, with their head blown to smithereens, it pretty much becomes a moot point.
People get stuck in their comfort zone.
Life begins OUTSIDE of your comfort zone.
Dumb Masses...
Some days, I think about giving up country living and moving into an apartment, so when things break, I could just call a maintenance man. Then I stop and think about what it was like when I used to live in an apartment...
Pass me the pipe wrench, I have plumbing to repair.
Family reunions... I got nothing... other than avoid them at all cost.
We spend the first 24 months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk, and the next 24 years telling them to shut up and sit down... no wonder they are so screwed up.
A friend gave their son an etch-a-sketch for Christmas last year... he picked it up, looked at it, wanted to know where the on/off switch was. "No switch." "Where do you put in the batteries?" "No batteries." "WOW, this must be the latest thing in electronics."
Yeah kid... shut up and sit down.
I used to own a 1972, chocolate brown, Triumph TR6. It was the most amazing car I've ever owned. It could take a 90 degree turn at 50 mph and never bark the tires. One day I'd like to own another one.
I ride a 90ci V-twin motorcycle. It too can make a 90 degree turn at 50 mph... but with someone else driving it, who has good insurance, and deep pockets, and a million years experience...
My Gastroenterologist is one of the nicest guys, most sophisticated, and one of if not the kindest man I have ever met. Whenever I have an appointment, he always walks in the room, shakes my hand, and always treats me like I'm the most important thing in his life at that moment... a rare thing these days. I think I have a man crush on him.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
In the Still of the Night
I watched this... I laughed.. and I cried...
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Boris the Wonder Dog
Meet Boris the Wonder Dog.
We rescued him from becoming a pound puppy.
Boris is part Border Collie... and something else. And he really is something else.
This dog will play catch with you until he drops... literally. I've never seen anything like it.
We thought we had a home lined up for him, but it never materialized, and here we are... another addition to the family.
We rescued him from becoming a pound puppy.
Boris is part Border Collie... and something else. And he really is something else.
This dog will play catch with you until he drops... literally. I've never seen anything like it.
We thought we had a home lined up for him, but it never materialized, and here we are... another addition to the family.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Guardian of the Garden
We live in what used to be considered "out in the country", but suburbia has crept into the area. We have a septic tank for sewage control and our water comes from a well. The well produces some of the best Sulfur water known to man. I have engineered a system that removes 90% of the sulfur prior to bringing it into the house. If you're not familiar with sulfur water, think of a rotten egg smell.
We are still zoned agricultural and we try our best to maintain our "country" lifestyle, as much as we can. We have chickens and horses, and we try our best to grow a garden each year. This year, we are actually growing 2 gardens, one next to the garage (lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, beans, etc), so there was some protection from the cold last winter (we started that one early) and one out in the North West corner of the property, which is strictly a blueberry garden... about 20 small blueberry plants.
It's very satisfying to sit down to dinner and know that everything on your plate (minus the meat) was grown right outside your back door. Especially with this new strain of E-Coli out break.
I do not have a green thumb. Let's get that out in the open right now. If I try to grow something, most times it either dies, or never breaks the ground...
But I do know some things...
I know that root veggies like a sandier soil so they don't have to fight hard packed soil to grow... and I know you can grow potatoes in a compost pile. I know that if you plant an orange from a seed, the fruit will be sour as shit. I know everything needs water and sunlight.
Ok... if you knew NOTHING about gardening, and you're reading this, you now know as much as I do.
Bottom line... I suffer from chronic CGS... Can't Grow Shit, unless it's mold in the refrigerator... I can grow a bumper crop of mold!!
All that being said, my wife controls the garden, I engineer whatever mechanics she needs to help make things grow.
Last year we (SHE!) grew corn, melons, peppers and assorted other veggies. I engineered the irrigation equipment. It worked pretty well for the most part, but wasn't the most efficient system ever built. The underlying issue was water pressure.
Until 3 weeks ago, my yard was a spiderweb of hoses and "Y's" and I was in constant damage control mode because the hoses were constantly springing leaks. Over the past several weeks, I buried about 1000 feet of 1/2 PVC pipe to bring water to all points of my yard. From the well, out to the garden, 100 feet, from the well to the barn, another 300 feet, from the barn out to the horses, another 600 feet. I actually ran pipe out to the front gate, another 300 feet, but have not tied it in yet nor buried it.
No runs, no leaks, no errors!
Last week, my wife mentioned that the sprinkler we had for last years garden wasn't enough to cover all of the blue berries.
ENGINEERING TIME!
I created a sprinkler system out of PVC that any gardener would be proud to own. It has 5 sprinkler heads that each would produce an 8 to 15 foot radius of water. Plenty big enough to not only cover ALL of the blueberry plants, but 2 pear trees on the edge of the garden. I'm a PVC Farookin' genius!!
Unfortunately, not only do I suffer from chronic CGS (Can't Grow Shit) I also suffer from CRS (Can't Remember Shit), and forgot about the water pressure issue. The 5 sprinkler heads are, at this very moment, producing an 8 to 15 INCH radius of water.
I could just scream.
♫NWM♫
We are still zoned agricultural and we try our best to maintain our "country" lifestyle, as much as we can. We have chickens and horses, and we try our best to grow a garden each year. This year, we are actually growing 2 gardens, one next to the garage (lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, beans, etc), so there was some protection from the cold last winter (we started that one early) and one out in the North West corner of the property, which is strictly a blueberry garden... about 20 small blueberry plants.
It's very satisfying to sit down to dinner and know that everything on your plate (minus the meat) was grown right outside your back door. Especially with this new strain of E-Coli out break.
I do not have a green thumb. Let's get that out in the open right now. If I try to grow something, most times it either dies, or never breaks the ground...
But I do know some things...
I know that root veggies like a sandier soil so they don't have to fight hard packed soil to grow... and I know you can grow potatoes in a compost pile. I know that if you plant an orange from a seed, the fruit will be sour as shit. I know everything needs water and sunlight.
Ok... if you knew NOTHING about gardening, and you're reading this, you now know as much as I do.
Bottom line... I suffer from chronic CGS... Can't Grow Shit, unless it's mold in the refrigerator... I can grow a bumper crop of mold!!
All that being said, my wife controls the garden, I engineer whatever mechanics she needs to help make things grow.
Last year we (SHE!) grew corn, melons, peppers and assorted other veggies. I engineered the irrigation equipment. It worked pretty well for the most part, but wasn't the most efficient system ever built. The underlying issue was water pressure.
Until 3 weeks ago, my yard was a spiderweb of hoses and "Y's" and I was in constant damage control mode because the hoses were constantly springing leaks. Over the past several weeks, I buried about 1000 feet of 1/2 PVC pipe to bring water to all points of my yard. From the well, out to the garden, 100 feet, from the well to the barn, another 300 feet, from the barn out to the horses, another 600 feet. I actually ran pipe out to the front gate, another 300 feet, but have not tied it in yet nor buried it.
No runs, no leaks, no errors!
Last week, my wife mentioned that the sprinkler we had for last years garden wasn't enough to cover all of the blue berries.
ENGINEERING TIME!
I created a sprinkler system out of PVC that any gardener would be proud to own. It has 5 sprinkler heads that each would produce an 8 to 15 foot radius of water. Plenty big enough to not only cover ALL of the blueberry plants, but 2 pear trees on the edge of the garden. I'm a PVC Farookin' genius!!
Unfortunately, not only do I suffer from chronic CGS (Can't Grow Shit) I also suffer from CRS (Can't Remember Shit), and forgot about the water pressure issue. The 5 sprinkler heads are, at this very moment, producing an 8 to 15 INCH radius of water.
I could just scream.
♫NWM♫
Friday, May 27, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Rockets Red Glare
As dawn splashed it's morning hues of red and orange, behind the wispy cloud cover over Kennedy Space Center, Space Shuttle Endeavor stood majestically on Pad 39A, waiting for someone to light the fuse. This was Endeavor's final flight.
I am always in awe as I see the plume of steam that begins to boil from the millions of gallons of water that are poured onto the launch pad. This, in anticipation of the first spark of flame that begins to bloom, growing ever bigger; the shuttle slowly lifts off the pad, gaining speed enough to escape the earthly bonds.
The view was short lived because of a low bank of clouds, but I've seen it enough to know what happens next.
Nine seconds into the flight, the shuttle begins to roll. The roll is designed to immediately put the shuttle on a trajectory to meet up with the International Space Station (ISS). At 18 seconds the roll ends... the shuttle is in position. At this point, the shuttle is travelling 284 mph, at an altitude of 3500 ft.
At the 36 second mark, the shuttle throttles down to about 72% thrust, to lower the external pressure on the fuel tanks and shuttle while in the denser lower atmosphere.
At approximately 49 seconds into the flight, Capcom gives the order, "go at throttle up". Hearing that order from the ground, the Shuttle Commander replies, "Roger, go at throttle up." The engines are throttled up to 105%. The shuttle is now travelling at approximately 800 mph, at an altitude of 25,000 feet, and they have reached a little over Mach I.
The 60 second mark reveals that the shuttle has reached Max Q, the point of maximum dynamic pressure, the point at which aerodynamic stress on a spacecraft in atmospheric flight is maximized (712 psf).
This is the point where it becomes extremely personal for me. The roar of the engines finally makes it's way and fills your ears with the sound of Humanity's quest for our destiny in the Universe. Before the sounds fades away, the ground begins to rumble under your feet as the shock wave gently caresses you from head to toe. This moment never fails to fill my extremities with goose bumps.
One hundred and twenty five seconds SRB Staging occurs, where the Solid Rocket Boosters are jettisoned. The shuttle is now travelling at a cool 3000 mph, and has reached Mach IV.
Everything that happens next is beyond naked eye viewing.
At about 500 seconds or a little over 8 minutes, the shuttle has reached a cruising speed of 17000 mph, at an altutude of around 65 miles. The shuttle will eventually triple, or quadruple that altitude to catch the ISS. The ISS orbits between 173 miles and 286 miles.
As you can tell, I take space flight seriously. I was there for the very first shuttle flight. I've witnessed about 12 or 15 shuttle launches... even caught a night launch. I will try my best to be there for the very last shuttle launch.
I'm concerned where we, as a country, will "land" as far as space flight goes...
♫NWM♫
I am always in awe as I see the plume of steam that begins to boil from the millions of gallons of water that are poured onto the launch pad. This, in anticipation of the first spark of flame that begins to bloom, growing ever bigger; the shuttle slowly lifts off the pad, gaining speed enough to escape the earthly bonds.
The view was short lived because of a low bank of clouds, but I've seen it enough to know what happens next.
Nine seconds into the flight, the shuttle begins to roll. The roll is designed to immediately put the shuttle on a trajectory to meet up with the International Space Station (ISS). At 18 seconds the roll ends... the shuttle is in position. At this point, the shuttle is travelling 284 mph, at an altitude of 3500 ft.
At the 36 second mark, the shuttle throttles down to about 72% thrust, to lower the external pressure on the fuel tanks and shuttle while in the denser lower atmosphere.
At approximately 49 seconds into the flight, Capcom gives the order, "go at throttle up". Hearing that order from the ground, the Shuttle Commander replies, "Roger, go at throttle up." The engines are throttled up to 105%. The shuttle is now travelling at approximately 800 mph, at an altitude of 25,000 feet, and they have reached a little over Mach I.
The 60 second mark reveals that the shuttle has reached Max Q, the point of maximum dynamic pressure, the point at which aerodynamic stress on a spacecraft in atmospheric flight is maximized (712 psf).
This is the point where it becomes extremely personal for me. The roar of the engines finally makes it's way and fills your ears with the sound of Humanity's quest for our destiny in the Universe. Before the sounds fades away, the ground begins to rumble under your feet as the shock wave gently caresses you from head to toe. This moment never fails to fill my extremities with goose bumps.
One hundred and twenty five seconds SRB Staging occurs, where the Solid Rocket Boosters are jettisoned. The shuttle is now travelling at a cool 3000 mph, and has reached Mach IV.
Everything that happens next is beyond naked eye viewing.
At about 500 seconds or a little over 8 minutes, the shuttle has reached a cruising speed of 17000 mph, at an altutude of around 65 miles. The shuttle will eventually triple, or quadruple that altitude to catch the ISS. The ISS orbits between 173 miles and 286 miles.
As you can tell, I take space flight seriously. I was there for the very first shuttle flight. I've witnessed about 12 or 15 shuttle launches... even caught a night launch. I will try my best to be there for the very last shuttle launch.
I'm concerned where we, as a country, will "land" as far as space flight goes...
♫NWM♫
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