Spring Break Day 3

Today the wind blew all day out of the south. This morning it was 25 mph, and continued to increase to a steady 35 mph as the day went on. I was hoping to leave work before the storms started, but I ended up racing one home. I left just as a supercell was moving into the area. I hit a bit of heavy rain, but was able to outrun it and beat it home. It was wierd driving 70 mph through rain that was going 50. I was glad to be going with it instead of against it.

The cell I raced home ended up going a few miles to the east of our house. The sun was shining from the west as I watched the clouds race by and roar to the east. There was a tornado that went out by the scout center where I am supposed to camp out Friday. I suppose we will be picking up branches.

Tonight I got the SD card microcontroller data logger project running. I can now log data to an SD card and read the card on my PC. Niiiiice.

Spring Break Day 2

I finished up the paint in the garage. It's really nice & clean looking now, despite being a nasty beige.

Sunday wasn't nearly as nice as Saturday. Around noon, the wind picked up out of the south and blew all day and night. It woke me up several times during the night as gusts slammed the side of the house. It sounded like someone was running into the house each time.

Abner & CP

CP read a book called "Abner & Me" about a boy that traveld back in time to talk with Abner Doubleday to see if he really invented baseball back during the Civil War. JP sewed together a union uniform for the event.

CP was very proud.

Spring Break Day 1

Saturday, JP, the boys, and the dog headed east to Illinois for spring break.  I stayed behind due to a lack of vacation this year.  What is someone like me supposed to do without a family for a few days?

By 10:00 (am), I had my PIC microcontroller reading and writing to a FAT-16 SD card.  This has been my project for the last week.  I now know how and basically understand how to interface a $5 computer-on-a-chip to a 2-GB SD memory card.  This opens up a whole new world for me at work.  We will be able to build our own data loggers to attach to mowers that go into the real world (instead of paying $1,000 each, we will be able to build them for $50).

OK, now my weekend project is done, now what?  Clean the garage, of course.

Today was absolutely beautiful.  I still have more to do on the microcontroller project, but I could not sit in front of the computer any longer.  The sun was out and the wind was not.  I started to sweep out the salt & gravel that accumulated in the garage over the winter, when GT stopped by.  He offered his pressure washer to do the floor, and I gladly accepted.  After emptying the entire garage, I spent an hour pressure-washing the floor.  Sadly, the oil stains under the mower did not come up, but everything else looks great.

OK, so now everything in the garage is sitting out on the driveway, like one out of three houses today, so what next?  

Time to paint the bare drywall.

JP is notorious about single-using painting equipment.  I searched for an hour for a paint brush.  I could have gone to Home Depot, but I didn't want to leave the entire garage outside by itself.  I finally found a brush and dipped into the remains of a 5-gallon bucket of the beautiful beige paint that our builder used when the house was built 4 years ago.  It looks, smells like, and even tastes like paint, so it must still be OK.  By the time I finished trimming, the floor had dried enough to bring everything back in.  I hit the Home Depot for a $2.27 paint roller and tray combo (made in the USA) and finished up the walls.  Niiiice.

After painting, I hit up JO'N to go to Riverside, IA, for James T. Kirk's future birthday tomorrow, but he claimed that he needed more notice.  Maybe next year...

I had the dinner of the gods: fish sticks & beer and watched two of the best movies ever made: TCM 1 & 2.  What lies ahead for Day 2?

Spring equinox:  nice sunset.

Gap-toothed boy

GP made the Lincoln paper!  We didn't find out until tonight at our cub scout pack meeting.  We gave up on the Lincoln paper due to high-school level writing and the fact that the Sunday paper no longer contains a TV guide.

Here's the original story: http://journalstar.com/...

University of Walleye teaches kids how to fish

By MICAH MERTES / Lincoln Journal Star

Friday, Mar 13, 2009 - 08:46:02 pm CDT

The dozen or so kids listened to their teachers with their pure, undivided all, displaying the kind of rapt enthusiasm that every teacher dreams of.

The teachers were Kevin Larkins and Richard Lehn. And their hook: Well, um, it was an actual hook. A hook they baited with creepy crawly creatures like crayfish and nightcrawlers.

“Will he die?” a gap-toothed boy asked as his instructors stuck the tip of the hook through a nightcrawler’s head.

Students of the University of Walleye learn how to hook a worm for bait in the Lancaster Building at State Fair Park Friday, March 13th, 2008. (Heidi Hoffman)

“No, he’s not going to die,” Larkins told him.

The worm writhed on the hook.

“He’s dying,” said the boy.

Larkins and Lehn were volunteer instructors at the University of Walleye, the third annual fishing clinic hosted by the Nebraska Walleye Association on Friday night at State Fair Park. At this year’s event, more than 100 children went through five different fishing stations, which covered casting, knot-tying, water safety, tackle and baiting.

“Basically, everything they need to know to go fish,” said Betty Clayton, treasurer of the NWA.

The club hosts a number of clinics throughout the state all year long, in an effort, Clayton said,  “to get more kids fishing, to get ’em away from video games and TV.”

At the end of the event, the NWA sent every kid home with a free rod and reel. They hope it’s just the right prod to get the kids (and their parents) out to the water this spring.

Scott Ballinger and his son, Jarrett, won’t need too much prodding.

“We haven’t been out yet,” Scott said. “We’re anxious to get out.”

Especially Jarrett.

Now 4 years old, Jarrett’s been fishing for three years already. He’s been trying to catch walleye for two years.

Yeah, he’s on his way to being a true blue fisherman like his dad, as soon as he overcomes one minor obstacle.

Jarrett keeps mistakenly saying “WALL-E” instead of “walleye.”

Perhaps TV and fishing can co-exist. 

Flat Sophia Sees the Sights

Today we took Flat Sophia all around town to see all the touristy things. We hit channel 8, memorial stadium, the state capital, pioneers park (the bison weren't out, but the elk were), haymarket park, the haymarket, and Runza.

A girl recognized flat Sophia as flat Stanley while we were at the state capital.

Flat Sophia almost got a little flatter under the foot of Archie, the mammoth mammoth.

University of Walleye

Friday night, the Nebraska Walleye Association put on a fishing clinic for kids. CP's den leader signed up the whole den, and when one of the kids could not make it, she invited GP. The event was held at the state fairgrounds at the same time as the boys state basketball championships. No wonder everyone from the sticks thinks Lincoln's traffic is horrendous. The only time they visit the city is during times like this.

The boys had a blast learning about fishing. There were 100 kids that were divided into smaller groups. Each group made the rounds of the event and learned about knots, bait rigging, life vests, casting, and tackle. The dads all got to look at the latest boats from Lund. I am confident that we will never purchase a $60,000 fishing boat.

At the end of the clinic, each kid got a Zebco rod & reel outfit with a tackle box and tackle. The boys are ready to go fishing. All we need is for the wind to warm up.

Flat Sophia goes Hockey

Saturday, we took Flat Sophia to the Lincoln Stars hockey game. We got tickets from work and enjoyed a great game. The crowd was a little different than the crowd at the baseball games. Lots of smoking, no kids.

Flat Sophia arrived the other day in the mail along with a letter from the real Sophia, back in Woodstock. She wants to see what it's like in Nebraska. We are looking forward to showing her the sights of Lincoln.

Repel On!

Last Saturday, we had a beautiful snow that just cried out for the new snow blower. The problem was that I had to make it to the scouting center at 8:00 to take a full-day climbing instructor class. JP & the boys cleared the driveway.

I am now an official site-specific-climbing-instructor-in-training. That means I can help out at the scout climbing wall, but nowhere else. After three events, I will lose the -in-training suffix to my title.

The scout climbing program here is mostly based around "repelling," which is what most boy scouts do in the wild. They repel real climbers as they pitch rocks & gravel from the tops of cliffs as they hoot, holler, and tie their ropes to everything that is un-solid. Everyone involved in the program here gets off on rappelling and none understand the spirit of climbing. It's all about being macho, wearing gloves, and belaying like a twit. I was hoping to get back into climbing, but I am disappointed with our scout group.

Check out the official scout climbing program patch: it only shows a guy on rappel, not climbing.

My next scouting adventure is the first of two three-day weekend campouts at the "Wood Badge" program. It's a leadership program that I was volunteered for by our pack. So far, the highlight is the fact that I must wear official scout regalia: shirt, pants, belt, socks, and hat. I love the pants - they are all polyester and have an elastic waistband.

Blue and Gold

The highlight of this year's cub scout Blue & Gold banquet was watching GP eat two big plates of salad.

The B&G banquet is the big celebration where the 2nd-year webelos transition into boy scouts. Next year CP will cross the bridge.

Boy scouts dressed as indians run the show. The leader has several arrows, one for each webelo. One by one, he inspects the arrows. Each year there are a couple that are deemed "NOT WORTHY" and broken. This is the highlight for the younger kids. They all sit on the edge of their seats waiting for the next arrow to break.

Hawker Hurricane

We finally finshed up GP's balsa & tissue Hawker Hurricane. He did a nice job painting his favorite color: blue. Now we just need some warm weather and no wind.

Finally, Snow!

Last Friday we finally got a taste of winter with an all out blizzard. This one had been predicted for a solid week, so the plows and salt trucks were out clearing the streets before it all turned to ice. During the day we had near whiteout conditions, but by the time I came home from work, we had blue skies again.

I was very excited to get a chance to run the snowblower on the Navigator. Niiice! With the chute up, it shoots snow at least 50 feet.

GP has a bad cold and has been locked in the house all weekend.

I tried making a snowman, but the snow wanted to stick more to the grass than the ball of snow. CP made a beefy snow fort. Too bad it's supposed to be 45° tomorrow.

Den 11 Visits the Fire Station

Tonight, we (Den 11) visited the main Lincoln fire station downtown. While we were there, two calls came in and we got to see four different trucks take off with their lights and sirens going. This is one of the few stations that still has and uses fire poles. The intercom went off and before we knew it, there were firefighters sliding down the poles and jumping into their boots. The boys were very excited.

JP's B-Day Present

Today we had a bit of snow, a little sun, and then some more snow. We are in a winter weather advisory until 6:00 tomorrow AM. Nothing like fresh snow for the Monday morning commute.

After seeing all the fix-er-up git-r-done stuff that my little sis has been doing, we headed out to the home depot. We ended getting some can lights. JP has hated the ceiling fan in the living room since we moved in. It's a nice fan, but it's too big and in the wrong spot. We pulled the fan out and tunneled thru the ceiling for light number 2. I got some dimmers on clearance for $.01 each (!!!) that will go in next. Now we can sit anywhere on the sofa and read without having the glare of a supernova in the room.

Thanks to all the grandparents for our new lights.

Old Fart Band

Our neighbors had a guitar hero / rock band party this weekend in honor of our birthdays.

There were 10 adults playing all night. We didn't get home until 12:30. Every time we play, I have more and more respect for real musicians. I need to start practicing the songs before I invest in some leather pants. It's hard to be a cool rock star when you can't sing.

Government Day

Today I went with CP and his cub scout den on a grand tour of the Nebraska State Capital. His den leader arranged the tour with a friend that works there. Our first stop was to sit on the floor of the legislature and watch them debate and vote. We then went and met the local state senator. He has 5 kids and was excited to talk to the boys.

Next, we went on an official capital tour with an official tour guide. She discussed the building and its artwork. I was impressed with all the art deco lighting fixtures and woodwork. On the tour, we sat in the old senate chamber (NE is the only state to have a unicameral legislature - only one house, and no political party affiliation). We visited the supreme court and marveled at the intricately carved ceiling. The tour guide left us to explore the observation deck on the 14th floor by ourselves.

After lunch in the cafeteria, we met the rest of the executive branch.

We met the Attorney General. His son is in CP's class.

We also met the Lt. Governor and the Secretary of State.

The highlight of the day was meeting the Governor.

Each official spent 10-15 minutes talking to the boys about the importance of being good citizens.

Another Neighbor Gets Old

Another one of our neighbors turned 40. We threw a surprise 80's party for her. Unfortunately, some of her relatives that came knew about the party, but not the 80's thing. I'm not sure what they were thinking when they entered the house.

I grew a mullet for the occasion. Next time, I need to make sure that my eyebrows match the rest of my hair. We danced all night to 80's dance tunes. I hated those songs when I was younger, but they certainly are fun to dance & sing to.