Ecuador 2015 Snapshots

Yesterday I arrived home after spending 16 days in Ecuador with a group from the UNL Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. There were 14 of them, two guides, and a chaperon (me). We started in Quito and went north to Otavalo, Ibarra, and Salinas. We stayed a few days in San Clemente on the flanks of the volcano Imbaburra. 

We then crossed the Andes and dropped into the cloud forest. We spent a night in Tena near the Napo River and then took planes from Shell 100 miles east into the absolute middle of nowhere near the Peruvian border. We hiked and canoed and hiked some more further into nowhere to the settlement of Tinkias where we spent 6 days.

We got to see piranhas, tarantulas, and giant maggots in the rainforest, as well as plenty of mud and rain.

One of our guides was a professional photographer (Dean Jacobs - http://www.deanjacobs.org/) - I can't wait to get the shots that he shot for us. Until then, I put together an album with some of the photos from my own snapshot camera.

Click here for more snapshots: Ecuador Pics

How Bumpy is It?

This morning I got my latest datalogger project running like it should. I added a tri-axis accelerometer (glued onto the main circuit board) and a GPS puck. I'ts logging all three axes of acceleration 50 times per second plus a GPS fix twice per second to the micro SD card.

The little inset map is a plot of driving. Red indicates zero mph. Green is medium speed, and purple is fast. We can also overlay the acceleration values to see where it's bumpy. 

We're going to use this on a new soft-ride mower to see if people drive their mower faster when the ride is smoother.

Worthwhile Cause

The UNL Sig Ep fraternity that I'm chaperoning has set up a website for the funding of our Ecuador trip. Click here: GoFundMe. We've nearly reached our goal of $58,000 for taking 15 guys on a two-week expedition. If you have extra cash that you're wanting to throw into the wind, please consider a donation to our cause. I'll put up another post with the details of the trip. 

This is Dean, our fearless expedition leader in Achuar territory. When he's not globetrotting, he gives speeches at schools in Nebraska and Iowa to motivate kids. He's a very dynamic leader.

60 Megapixel Ecuador Map

This week I created a 60 megapixel relief map of Ecuador from the digital elevation data I've accumulated. I was able to use our plotter at work and plot it out in large format (36 x 42") on glossy paper. It came out amazing!! DM next door is going to get it dry-mounted so that we can give it to Dean Jacobs.

The whole map includes portions of Columbia and Peru to the north and south, respectively. The black portion is the Pacific ocean. 

Below is a full-size detail of the area surrounding the active Tungurahua Volcano that's in the middle of the overall image above. The dataset used has an elevation point every 100 meters (330 ft). For large area maps, it's decent, but for details or low-relief jungle areas, it breaks down. I found a dataset that has three times the resolution; stay tuned for some higher resolution maps.

Busy Night

This past week was non-stop every night. Monday we went to Omaha for plates and camping gear. Tuesday I had a late dinner with a supplier (at The Lodge - it was yummy!). Wednesday we had Dean Jacobs, the leader of the upcoming Ecuador trip, over for dinner. Thursday was the night of ceremonies.

I went to CP's Speech Team Banquet and awards ceremony. What an amazing bunch of kids!! It was sad to see the seniors make their last appearance on stage.

JP went to GP's choir concert. From there she ran over and caught the last half of CP's ceremony where she was awarded for helping out with the upcoming national tournament in Lincoln in May.

Friday we took it easy and watched the stormclouds from the G's deck out in the country.

Patented

The patent we submitted in 2013 was finally approved!

It's for a control system on our commercial mowers that controls engine speed with an electronic governor. It's marketed as Exmark RED Technology. Helps to save fuel as well as reducing wear and tear on the clutch and engine.

Exmark RED Video

Next Project

Last weekend we began destruction on our next construction project: a sundeck in the back yard.

We've been talking about this for a few years. We leveled out a spot for the kiddie pool a couple years ago and used the area for the lounge chairs. We're going to enlarge it and put down some nice light gravel that won't burn your feet.

Easter Saturday Brunch 2015

Our friends, neighbors, and ex-neighbors joined us for our annual Easter Saturday Brunch. This year we were able to seat all of us at one big table.

The fruit bunny was tasty, as was everything else. 

The uneaten fruit was recycled in the blender and made into fruit smoothies.

Because we went to such lengths to fit everyone inside, we had spectacular weather all day. Everyone worked on their pre-season sunburns.

New Dining Room

The problem with Easter is that it's in the spring. We never know what the weather will be like for our Easter Saturday Brunch. This year we turned the living room into the dining room with seating for 20.

Of course, the dining room is now a much smaller living room. The sofas fit perfectly.

King of the Road

CP finally received his driver's license!!!

Here he goes on his first day of driving himself to school. Hard to believe he was such a little kid when we moved here.

Spring Break 2015

I had to take a miserable trip to the west coast of FL for work. It was awful. 80-something degrees. No snow. No cold wind. Had to use some sunscreen to keep from getting burned. Loud music. Too many girls in bikinis crowding the dance floor and blocking my view of the gulf.

Someday we'll be able to go there for vacation instead of work. It's a fun place, but staying on the beach and having to get up early for work aren't compatible activities.

New Stairs

This week the carpet guys came and installed our new stairs carpet. We were going to go with all wood, but after we tore out the old carpet we realized that wood stairs would be too noisy. The cats' dragging their toys up and down in the middle of the night was loud enough to wake us.

St. Patty's Day 2015

This year St. Patrick's Day fell on a Tuesday. Our neighbors invited us downtown to hit the Irish pubs that had blocked off a street in the Haymarket with live music. We were still dragging from our trip and the sudden return to reality and work and getting up early, so we stayed simple and joined the G's at the local watering hole for some green beer and an early night.

New life for Old Grill

The other day we were at the Home Depot and found some nice Weber cast iron grills to fit into our grill. They almost fit - it took CP an hour on the bench grinder to coax them into place. Our 10-year old grill is like new again! Time for outdoor cooking season.

DC Day 8 - Home

Our final train ride took us back to the airport. It was so nice having such accessible public transportation. We were able to get everywhere via train and bus.

An hour after we got home, GP was off to his friend's b-day party at Lincoln's newest indoor sports center - Defy Gravity. It's a big sweaty building that's full of trampolines and a bazillion kids all jumping and trying to break each other's limbs.

The animals were glad to have us back home.

DC Day 7 - Natural History

For our last day, we hit the Museum of Natural History. We were all impressed. I could have spent a solid day in the geology exhibit alone. The boys got to see the mouth of the shark that held the fossil teeth we have. JP was impressed with the extensive evolution exhibit that showed the gradual transition from monkey to man. I couldn't believe the sophistication of stone tools from 1,000,000 years ago.

We originally planned to start at the National Archives to see all their documents and a Magna Carta from 1297, but there was a line halfway around the block. It's still on the list for the next time we visit.

Uncle RK met us in Old Town Alexandria for dinner at our favorite Irish Pub. 

Dc Day 6 - American Art

From the Cathedral, we took the city bus back into town where we recharged our batteries at the Hard Rock Cafe. CP was impressed with the memorabilia hanging on the walls.  

JP was excited to see some real Hoppers. He's one of her favorite artists. The boys were unimpressed.

Finally! The boys found a painting they knew and loved! It was the portrait of Steven Colbert that he recently donated to the country. It's hanging at the entrance to the restrooms.

DC Day 6 - National Cathedral

From Georgetown's campus, we wandered thru the streets to the downtown and found an awesome indoor bocce ball bowling alley / restaurant. After recharging, we took a city bus up to the highest point in DC where the National Cathedral sits.

JP and I had a blast. GP didn't like how tall and high everything was; he didn't want to look out the windows of the tower we ascended.

Except for some 8th grade school groups, the church was empty. I would love to attend a service there.

As usual, we ended our visit via the gift shop. They didn't have any shot glasses, but we did find a fun fridge magnet that lists the Top 10 Reasons for Being an Episcopalian:

10. No snake handling.

9. You can believe in dinosaurs.

8. Male and female God created them; male and female we ordain them.

7. You don't have to check your brains at the door.

6. Pew aerobics.

5. Church year is color-coded.

4. Free wine on Sunday.

3. All of the pageantry - none of the guilt.

2. You don't have to know how to swim to get baptized.

1. No matter what you believe, there's bound to be at least one other Episcopalian who agrees with you.

DC Day 6 - Georgetown

We started our sixth day (as usual) on the northbound train to Rosslyn, where we took one of the world's longest escalators up to the street. From there we walked north and crossed the river on the Scott Key bridge to Georgetown. It didn't take us long to find those famous stairs from The Exorcist. The boys didn't care, but JP and I were excited to see them in person.

The Georgetown campus was beautiful. We were in the middle of spring break, so the only ones there were the uber students that preferred to stay and study rather than party on a southern beach.

The boys were impressed with all the facilities on campus. We were all excited to get some Georgetown shirts at the bookstore. GP's history teacher noticed his shirt immediately when he wore it.

We watched The Exorcist the other night just to match up the filming locations with the places we had been. It was very exciting!

DC Day 5 - Holocaust & American History Museums

We started our day at the Holocaust Museum. All of us were blown away at the depth of the exhibits. We were expecting an hour and a half quick walk thru, but ended up staying there three hours. I'm not sure that the boys captured the enormity of it, but they stayed engaged the whole time we were there. Both were excited to grab some trinkets at the gift shop to show their friends.

The message the Museum was presenting was that ordinary people stood by and let the Holocaust happen; if that were to happen again, what would you do?

On our way to the Museum of American History, we had lunch in the basement of the Ronald Reagan building. We had fun exploring the busy streets of DC. 

The Museum of American History was a letdown for all of us, hence no photos. The exhibit of the original Old Glory flag was impressive, but the other exhibits were all meh.

We had promised to GP since Day 1 that we would eat at an Italian restaurant. He ate an entire 6-pound order of fettuccine alfredo, which was no surprise. CP ate a seafood pasta plate that included artichoke hearts and asparagus. He has turned into a real gastronome.