And the winner is...

Me!  Well, sort of. Sharing pictures of my previously mentioned custom monster trucks garnered me an invitation to compete in the Monster Truck Collectors Forum custom contest.  I enjoy competing in custom model contests when I have the time to put together a competitive entry.  When I received the invitation last July, this contest sounded almost too good to be true.  You had to pick from a predetermined list of trucks to build, and once your entry was confirmed you had until November to get it built and send in pictures of the completed model.  By entering the contest, you agreed to sell your entry to the contest sponsor for what I considered a very fair price.  Entries would be voted on, and the top 5 finishers would get, in addition to the purchase price, fairly generous cash prizes. Based on my prior model contest experience this sounded far too lucrative and well organized, but I figured if it fell through I wouldn't be out all that much.  

As it turns out, my suspicions were unfounded, and the contest went on just as promised.  I submitted pictures of my entry, "Mopar Magic", and almost immediately received payment for it.  Last weekend the winners were announced.  While I finished a disappointing fourth out of the seven completed entries, I can't say that I disagree with the judging.  The first, and likely second place finishers obviously had way more time invested in theirs than I did.  Since they only announced first place, I am not sure who the third place finisher was, but there were a couple other trucks on par with mine that could easily have taken 3rd.  So, while I only finished fourth, I'll take their fourth place cash prize any day over the 1st place blue ribbon I got from the last contest I entered.  It sounds like they may hold another contest in the Spring, so I'll have some time to hone my skills between now and then. 

O Holy Night

It's been a wonderful Christmas Eve.  We awoke this morning with the surprise of only a dusting of snow despite the 2-4" they were predicting.  That made for an uneventful drive over to my folks for family Christmas festivities, but with snow still in the forecast, we took the truck just in case.  That turned out to be a good idea.  While the kids (and adults) enjoyed opening presents, and feasted on yet another wonderful meal prepared by my mom, the snow fell with a vengeance.  When it came time to leave, we found the roads around home covered in about 2" of snow and not yet plowed, and more coming down by the minute.  We took our time and eventually made it to Route 24, which was plowed pretty well and made for a less stressful drive. 

While we may not be so good about going the rest of the year, we have maintained the tradition of going to church on Christmas Eve.  Because our attendance is, lets just say, less than regular, we are never quite sure how the boys will react.  Last year I remember N almost knocking over the advent candle, and L being awoken by a hymn and crying.  This year both boys behavior was very good.  N went and sat up front during the children's message and sat patiently through the whole thing.  I can't say the same for L, but he sat with us in the pew for about half of it before needing some time out in the hall to run around.  All in all, pretty good for both of them.

Another Christmas Eve tradition we have is listening to "O Holy Night" on our circa 1916 Edison Phonograph. I think this may be the first year we have it set up since we moved, so this is really the first year that N is old enough to understand what it is.  Both boys were curious as I fired it up.  When the opera-style soprano started into the song, N's initial response was "Mickey Mouse!"  After a few more minutes, she launched into a particularly high part and N's opinion changed to "that's annoying".  I can't argue that her vocal style isn't exactly my cup of tea either, but I guess the novelty of 94 years of audio progress is lost on a four year old.  Maybe that appreciation will come with time.  For now, I guess we'll stick with MP3's for him. 

Merry Christmas!

Snow Monsters

Last Saturday we had a good day for N, L and I to go out in the snow and play.  C took N and L out in the snow earlier in the week while I was at work, but this was my first time getting to see L's reaction to the snow.  While he seemed to enjoy the new experience, the frustration of bulky snow clothes, and boots and gloves he hasn't quite gown into yet quickly sent him back inside.  N and I stayed outside, and had a fun time playing.  It was too cold to get the snow to pack for a snowman, but we enjoyed jumping in the snow drifts along the creek, and building a snow fort. 

It occurred to me that I titled my blog "DDT Workshop", and hadn't talked about the workshop at all yet. That certainly is not because there hasn't been any activity in the workshop.  Since mid-October my workbench has been occupied with a steady stream of custom monster truck projects.  It all started this time last year when N (with maybe just a little help) got interested in playing with the Hot Wheels monster trucks.  I decided I wanted replicas of the trucks that were my childhood favorites to use when we played together.  So, I dusted off my toy customizing skills and created Bearfoot and Bigfoot replicas sporting their original paint schemes.  They turned out pretty well, so I expanded my fleet with a few more 80's trucks.  About the time I got that batch done, N's interest in monster trucks started to wane, so the trucks didn't get much use.  This fall, when Ebay season hit, I decided to put a few of the custom trucks up for sale.  Apparently I'm not the only one nostalgic for those old, original monster trucks.  It didn't take long before I sold the whole batch, and started working on some more.  It's been fun remembering all the old trucks I watched on TV, and I've enjoyed the challenge of creating the replicas.  Having some very loyal repeat customers doesn't hurt either.  As with any project like this, it's only worth your time if it is fun, and I can already feel the thrill starting to fade.  I'm hoping over Christmas break to finish up my current batch, and to start thinking about what the next project is going to be. 

Battling the Elements

Freezing temperatures and 30+ mile per hour winds sound like a great reason to spend a Sunday inside where it is warm and cozy.  Of course, the key to that is the assumption that it is warm and cozy inside.  That did not turn out to be the case today.

While we love the wide-open view of the field behind our house, it does leave us exposed to what seems like an almost constant buffeting of wind.  Today was one of those days where the wind was even more fierce than usual.  C noticed this morning that the furnace was not running even though the temperature in the house had dropped well below where we had the thermostat set.  Thanks to my trusty windmill, I knew the wind was blowing straight out of the North.  This happens to be directly into the vent for the furnace on the side of the house.  While I'm not an HVAC expert by any means, I suspected that was not a good thing.

My first instinct was to run to Menards for a PVC elbow to direct the vent away from the wind.  There were two problems with that plan.  First, there was a 2 foot snowdrift in front of the garage door, and second, I'm sure there were plenty of other 2 foot snowdifts other placed between here and Menards.  While I'm sure I could have made it there, eventually, I decided to make do with what I had on hand.  I was proud of the makeshift vent cap I came up with using a plastic cup, plastic bowl and a hose clamp.  It gave me some false hope as the furnace ran for a while, but then seemed to stall out with the thermostat still 5 degrees below the set temperature. Figuring that even if I got it to run for today, I would be worried tomorrow while I was at work, I called the guys that installed our HVAC system to make sure there wasn't a more serious problem.  The guy didn't sound too excited about coming out on a Sunday, but after a quick description of the problem, said he would be on his way.  When he got here, he checked a few things and came to the same, albeit a bit more informed, conclusion that the wind was blowing in and tripping a pressure switch.  We tried to make a slightly more elaborate vent with some PVC he had in his truck, but he still ended up having to run to Menards for an adapter.  Finally, we got it on there, and the furnace started heating the house back up.

With that problem licked, I set out to clear the driveway.  I don't think we got alot of snow, but with the way the wind was blowing it all collected in a big drift in front of our house.  Fortunately it was a light snow, and the snow blower churned its way through it.  The only trick was figuring out which way to blow it since the wind was swirling toward the driveway from every direction.  I was finally able to get it all cleared, including the sidewalk.  I don't have any hope that the wind won't undo my work, but I hope it won't be as bad as if I hadn't done anything tomorrow morning.  We'll have quite a pile for N and I to make some tunnels and a snow fort when the weather warms up a little. 

Thanksgiving Stay-cation

I decided to extend my already 4-day Thanksgiving weekend by taking a couple vacation days the Tuesday and Wednesday prior. I had big plans for all that I could accomplish in my extra days at home, but as usual my expectations were a little overly optimistic.  Tues and Wed were mostly filled with shopping, playing with the boys, and getting ready for Thanksgiving Day.  While that wasn't quite what I had planned for my vacation days, N and I did turn out some pretty awesome Dukes of Hazzard coloring pages that we both really enjoyed doing together. 

We are so lucky that all of our extended family is close and we can see everybody on Thanksgiving Day.  That said, it does require a fair amount of planning, preparation, (and luck) to pull it off.  We had to leave home in time to make it to my mom and dad's so L, the one-year-old, could take his morning nap, which is a critical element to making the rest of the day go well.  Somewhat surprisingly, that all went to plan.  Mom made an excellent meal (as usual), and the grandkids all played pretty well together.  L took another pretty good nap after lunch, and N learned that grandpa's limit is about 15 minutes of listening to pounding on a xylophone. Supper went equally well with the in-laws.  N loves feeling like a "big kid" playing with his two older cousins. 

Friday was a logistical challenge.  C has established a tradition of going Black Friday shopping, during which I watch the boys.  This year, however, I had a conflict.  Back in September I made arrangements for a gentleman that owns a 98 year old Caterpillar tractor (the oldest surviving produced in East Peoria) to have it on display for an employee open house.  The delivery turned out to be quite the event and got a nice write-up in the Peoria Newspaper.  The owner is a farmer and left it on display while he finished harvest.  He wanted to come pick it up on Friday while his son was out of school so he could see it on display in the factory.  So, I had to coordinate this pickup appointment with C's shopping plans, the owner's schedule and the tractor factory.  Without making this blurb any longer, we all worked it out, and the pickup went very smoothly.  It still impresses me that at 98 years old the tractor starts right up. 

The final project for the weekend was getting Christmas lights up.  I missed the previous period of warm weather, and was determined not to miss it on Sunday.  It is nice that in our current house I can climb out an upstairs window on the porch, and then do most of the lights from the roof without needing a ladder.  Climbing onto the roof that way, however, is not something I want him to teach N.  I'm sure he'll figure it out on his own soon enough.  So, while C and N had a "Mommy and Me Day", and L took a nap, I put up the Christmas Lights.  I had the forethought last year to label which set I put where, so I was able to get them all up during nap time.  The only change from last year is the addition of lights on the two real evergreens by the front steps.  I think it turned out festive without being too Griswold-esque. 

OK, so I promise all the posts won't be this long, but it WAS a long weekend!

Welcome!

I've been thinking about starting one of these blogs for a while now.  My wife, "C", in the semi-anonymous terminology she prefers, has had one for several years now.  It is a great way to keep friends and family up to date with what we have going on, which is something I generally don't do that good a job of.  What I do do a good job of is keeping myself busy with projects; be it hobbies, home improvement, stuff with the family, work, and any combination thereof.  So, I thought this would be a good way to share my projects, the experiences of working on them, and how they fit into our family's day-to-day life.  I'll try to resist the urge to go into the agonizing detail I typically do when posting on my hobby-geek bulletin boards, but hey, I'm an engineer, so you'll have to cut me some slack sometimes.  You'll also have to bare with me as I get the hang of the design and layout parts of this blog.  Anyway, on with the show...