The Great Big Blog of Tim

Andrew Rides New Bike

2010-06-24T23:51:00.000-05:00

Andrew Rides on his own!

See that bike? That is Andrew riding his new bike for the first time. April and I had been trying to convince Andrew we could take the training wheels off of his bike for a while. Well last week April found a bigger, better 20" bike at a garage sale, it even still had the price tag still on it! We told Andrew that there would be no training wheels on this bike so if he wanted to ride it he was going to need to learn to ride with out them.
So the first time I take Andrew over to the park, he starts riding on his own after only a couple of trips across the ball field with dad holding on to the seat! After that he rode for about 15 minutes, got a couple of comments that they could not tell it was his first time, then we went to A&W for dinner and 90 cent root-beer floats.
I am really proud of Andrew, and look forward to many nice bike rides this summer.
Here is a video of him riding at the park http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4cFDHxcUvI

New phone, with new chances to get updates

2010-06-22T10:13:00.001-05:00

So I got a new phone. With it I can upload pictures more easily, and probably other stuff too (like this blog post). For now, be sure to check out the june 2010 folder for some pictures from fathers day. We went for a bike ride from Fort Snelling State Park to Minihaha falls, then visited my dad for dinner and playing at a park in Burnsville.

What have we been doing - April

2009-05-09T19:39:00.000-05:00

We started out the month by using the Benihana gift certificate we got for Christmas a while ago. The kids were really good, and thought the food prep was fun. Our Chef made both the onion volcano and a fried rice Mickey Mouse. What was almost more funny was that I had to explain Mickey Mouse to the kids, we just don't watch that much Disney.

The next weekend, April and Andrew went to a birthday party for one of his classmates. I don't have any pictures of that (since I did not go), but Nick and I hung out. We needed to run some errands and get lunch. As you can see lunch also involved dessert.

Here you can see how fast a kid can move when all hopped up on sugar. We were busy as usual for Easter. April sang in Choir and played trumpet. After Church we went over to my Aunt and Uncles for Easter dinner. There was the usual Easter Pinnata, that I did not get any pictures of (with my phone).

The following weekend, we went down to Mankato for an ALS walk to support April's aunt. It was a 3 mile walk, Andrew ran most of it, Nick got the easy ride in the stroller.

After a nice walk we visited the Happy Chef. It is really too bad that the speaking does not function anymore. It is also too bad that they do not have pudding pops. After getting home, we went over to a friends house to disassemble a playground he gave us. He moved into a new house that had a wooden playground, that he did not think a full grown man needed to play on. I have to adjust some of the parts to fit our yard, but the kids will really have fun once I finally get is rebuilt.

The next weekend, I got some project work done around the house and some work on the playset. As you can see I put up a magnetic knife bar, I also had to repair the towel bar in the bathroom. Since I fixed it, it has been pulled down again, so I think it will need to be replaced with something new.

Finally, we had a our annual Pinewood derby race at church. Andrew and Nick helped design their cars and did the painting. dad did the sawing and the sanding for Nick. Andrew was really excited too since he won every race including the race between the 3 winners of each category. I tried something on both cars, Nick's got an extended wheelbase. That caused a bit of a controversy, in regards to the rules. in the end I pointed out that there is nothing in the rules that states you cannot.
On Andrew's car, I adjusted one of the front wheels to not touch the ground. Effectively, Andrew's car was a tripod with 4 wheels. The reduced friction really made Andrew's car keep its speed on the last 1/3 of the track that is flat. Andrew was so proud, that was all he talked about the rest of the day.

2008-10-16T20:20:00.000-05:00

The more thing change, the more thing stay the same.

New River crossing

2008-09-20T13:35:00.003-05:00

We needed some concrete to stop some future mice from entering our nice, warm, food filled house. So we went to Menards (it was close and the one on University is nice) They do not carry the cement I needed, the type that is better for vertical surfaces, so I needed to go to Home Depot. We figured we would take a slightly different route and test out this new bridge. It is a good thing it has those sculptures to let me know I am crossing a river, that thing is so wide that I might not have realized that I was indeed crossing a river. I was really disappointed that they did not make a way to go from 94 west bound to 35W north yet though. Oh well maybe they will do that next time.

Vacation #2

2008-07-09T13:55:00.002-05:00

We had a busy couple of weeks (kind of). The week of the forth we went up to Hideout Resort to visit with Dan and Nancy. The kids had a blast. Andrew even made some friends up there. They caught frogs like the one to the left. Dad made them let them go or put them on a hook and fish at the end of the day. I don't think it was a popular rule, but better than cleaning up dead frogs. I don't have a picture, but the turtles were laying eggs around the resort while we were there. Every night they would leave the lake an go inland to lay eggs. Almost every night, Nick and I would chase the turtles while nick yelled "tur-tle". He still will point out the turtle in is animal picture book.

I guess July is the parade and fair month. We have now been to 2 parades and the Ramsey county fair. Look at the July album for pictures of the fair and the first parade. The Rice St. parade was last night. I did not bother to take any pictures, since it is really similar to the Ramsey county fair parade. At the Ramsey county fair, some chiropractor rented several super heroes and the bat mobile. Andrew got his picture with Spiderman. Although, I guess he may not know exactly who spiderman is.

Jeep, Jeep, Jeep

2008-05-21T16:35:00.004-05:00

Since the engine swap, the Jeep has been running well (not to jinx myself). So I am starting the planning of swapping for the non rusty body. I have some of the parts, but I need to line up some welding services. Till the jeep moves into dry dock, we have been enjoying the jeep. I took the top at the begining of May and drove to my Dad's in Savage to celebrate Trevor's birthday. The kids loved it, Andrew especially. It might have been a little windy for Nick at first, but he got used to it. Now he calls for the Jeep all the time. He is even yelling "Jeep" whenever he sees another CJ or Wrangler.

As you can see, Nick is thrilled with the idea of the Jeep. I need to find a couple of parts for the soft top to make that work. Actually I have found them, but I don't really want to part with $75. Also the Jeep has started to use less dinos to get me to and from work, thanks to a tuneup. I have been averaging between 19 and 22 miles per gallon. Not bad since I drive the crosstown parking lot every day. Well I need to get this published so I can write about our last couple of weeks. So read the next post

Nicks room, Back bedroom, and Jeep

2008-04-18T22:49:00.004-05:00

Well we finally got Nicks room mostly done. April thinks it still needs some curtains and stuff like that, but all he furniture is in the room and he sleeps in there every night, so I say it is done. Everything else we do is just further upgrades.

We actually got Nick moved in a couple of weeks ago. April wants to wait to take pictures till we get the curtains up, I will sneak one tomorrow.

Since we got Nicks room done 2 weeks ago, I was able to finish/fix the electrical outlets in the back bedroom that nick was sleeping in. The electrical was started a long long time ago. Dan helped us bring the circuit up to the room from the basement and we terminated it at a single outlet. The idea was to spread the electrical around when we finished the room. After thinking about it, I realized I could fish a wire from that outlet to an outlet on the other side of the room through the floor(or ceiling if you are in the kitchen). From there, I could pull it into the attic and then be able to put that circuit anywhere. Not only did I get that done, last weekend, but I also got the front differential fluid changed on the jeep. I still need to change the front drive shaft U joints, and the rear differential needs its fluid changed too. I started the rear this week, only to strip one of the torx bolts holding the cover on. My plan is to take the grinder to 2 sides of the nut and then use the vice grips on it. Hopefully that works. I went out at lunch today and bought 12 new grade 8 hex bolts to replace all the silly torx ones. I have the U joints to do the front drive shaft. I would love to get that done this weekend too, but really I do not use the front drive shaft at all. It really never moves much, which is why it has issues first.

Previous to all of this was a pinewood derby race at Church. Andrew took 4th out of 10 or so cars with his multi-colored Subaru in the Go Karters' category. I think it was pre k to third grade. Nick had a silver Delorian. Since he is not pre k yet, he raced in the Sunday Drivers category which is the Adults and their little kids. All I really know is he wasn't last. Both kids just loved seeing their cars race. I suppose that is the real reason to make a car and race, but winning would have been fun.

....I will post pictures when i find them again

Florida, Day Three

2008-03-12T18:36:00.003-05:00

The kids couldn't even last 12 hours today. I don't know why, we only went to the beach in Ft. Lauderdale, walked around for a couple miles, and went swimming in the resort pool. By 7pm Nick was asking to go to bed, Andrew was telling us he was tired by not listening and running around crazy. Getting to Ft. Lauderdale early was the best thing we did today. We were at the Ocean by 10:00 am. Not only was the sun not too hot yet, but none of the spring break party kids were up yet. April even ordered fish at the local restaurant we went to. It is amazing how much better fish tastes when it doesn't have to take a trip across half the country. Ok, I'm going to take a lesson from the kids and vegetate in front of the TV for a bit. First, I have uploaded 3 days of pictures to Picasa.

March 2008

Florida, Day One and Day Two

2008-03-12T18:24:00.004-05:00

Well, we got to FL yesterday. For taking an early flight, we did not get to the condo till 3. The plane took off 50 minutes late, and well Miami Airport is a zoo. It really took way too long to get our car, out luggage and get out of the airport. I am not going to complain about the drivers in MN (for at least a week). Nobody here can merge, or for that matter drive. We are in a different resort than the last time we were here, It is owned by the same company, but is newer. Basically, it is just the reverse setup of the unit we would have had a mile north at the other place. We are staying at Vacation Village Mizner Place in Weston, FL. This new resort is smaller (which is really nice), and is just across the street from the local shopping area. The shopping area has a Publix (grocery store) and a bunch for upscale and independent shops. Walking to the grocery store is really nice, especially since we have a full kitchen here. We used the local store tonight and had a nice meal on the patio. Posts might be a little slow, since to use the internet in my room I have to use the antenna post to get a wireless signal.

2008-02-25T16:14:00.006-06:00

On Valentine's day we ordered a heart shaped pizza from John's Pizza Cafe. We ordered one from them last year too. Andrew just gets a kick out of the 'special' pizza. It is a kind of cool pizza, and I really like supporting the local pizza place. We have a couple of really good places near us. The local darling is Mama's Pizza, but when I tried to order from them it was a hour and a half wait for a pizza.

April also made a strawberry layer cake (I think that was part birthday cake for her too). It was really good, so good that Nick would not let us throw out the bit he couldn't eat. After eating pizza and most of a piece of cake he was stuffed and couldn't eat any more, so he walked around and tried to get the rest of us to eat it. April will end up making this again, for Andrew's third fifth birthday (another post).

For April's birthday, I gave her the gift of solitude. I took the kids, both of them, to Jellystone resort in Warrens, WI with my mom's side of the family for a 4 day weekend. It was a huge log cabin, it had to be there were 20+ people staying there. The best part is that it had a classic Wisconsin water park (I guess we have them in MN now too). Nick and Andrew both had a blast playing in the water park. Andrew got to play with his Uncle's most of the time, since Nick and Andrew are at different speeds of water play. Having another person to play/ watch Andrew was really nice when it came to the lazy river and wave pool. Andrew is still too small to ride on the tubes they have there so he rode with an uncle each time. Thanks guys for helping Andrew. One of the recently realized benefits of taking Nick away from Mom for the weekend was that he has realized he can be away from Mom for a bit. Sorry, but I really don't have many pictures from that trip. My hands were full just with the 2 boys, and the water park did not seem like the proper place for electronics.

While I was away with the kids April got a bunch of work done on Nick's room (which is almost done)I will post on that once I get some pictures. She fixed up the closet, painted it, and primed all the trim in the room (there is more than you would think). She did get to do some fun stuff while I was gone too. I will let her post about that.

This past weekend, Dan and Nancy came over for Andrew's birthday and to spend some time with the grandkids. Both kids had a blast, April and I had fun too. On Saturday, we went to the MN Zoo. It has been a long time since I went to the Zoo. They have done some really nice things to the Zoo, especially to the Minnesota Trail. You can see some pictures of our excursion here.

February 2008

lets see...

2008-02-08T08:42:00.001-06:00

My last real post was before Christmas. So that means I owe everyone a family update post.
We got lots of snow in December (some of it is still here. So Nick got his first taste of sledding. With snow covering everything, including half the un-shoveled sidewalks in town, I started taking Kapik snowshoeing at the Como Park golf course. April and I even went snowshoeing once at Cleary park while my Mom watched the kids. Terry, Jessica, Tracey, and Trevor were there too so adults outnumbered kids by more than 2 to 1. From how it was told to me, Andrew wanted to go sledding, so Terry and my Mom took the boys out sledding. Andrew had his usual fun time. Terry took Nick down the little hill at my Moms and now Nick does not like Terry nearly as much.

Andrew had his church Christmas program on the sixteenth of December. His class did not have as many lines this year, but sang more songs. Some of those songs he is still singing now. After the Christmas program, we had Parents and siblings from both sides over for a turkey dinner. We also opened some presents afterward since we were not going to be able to go up north for Christmas. Between parents, grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles, Andrew and Nick received tons of presents. Thank you for all your generosity, the kids have been playing with their new toys almost constantly. Andrew actually told us at one point before Christmas that he would like socks from Mom & Dad since he will get lots of toys from the rest of the family. We bought him socks. And a couple of other things.

I had shop/garage Christmas. April and the kids gave dad a garage heater and a welding mask. Now I just need to upgrade the electrical to and around the garage to use the welder. I found that out by blowing fuses in the garage when trying to start the new air compressor (also a gift) when it was cold and blowing the fuses in the garage. Cub charges too much for fuses, but at 9pm on a Saturday too much is better than in the dark. So this spring I think a bit of a garage update is in order.

Kapik, the new husky puppy we got this summer, has been growing and is like 45 pounds or so now. He has had a disappointing winter. With it being so cold, he has not been getting to go for runs. I was running him up through December, and then was doing some snowshoeing with him, but then it just got too cold.

My Jeep experiment (the one where I drive a 28 year old jeep 50 miles a day) has had mixed results. I found out it is really cold. The Jeep is drafty, and the blower motor couldn't blow out a candle from a birthday cake. I know what I need to do to fix that just been too cold to work on it. I also took out the poor 4 cylinder engine. It always was a bit of a dog, but I just took it for it being a 28 year old engine from a US auto maker when they were not known for good small engines. Fortunately, my uncle Bernie had a good running duplicate of my engine at the yard he works at. After he replaced the engine, I can now out accelerate a tractor. The point is that it starts and runs much better, hopefully it uses less gas too.

I have posted some more pictures to picasa just click on the link to see the list of albums. Some are from as far back as this spring, but they were on film, and I sometimes forget to develop it. I have a roll or 2 to develop still, and will post more on Andrew's birthday soon.

Sorry if this post is disjointed, it just covers too much time, I should post more

taxes...

2008-02-01T07:05:00.000-06:00

I know this is not the update post I promised, but it was really funny.

The worst thing about taxes is that you’re supposed to compute the total yourself. What if you ate at a restaurant and when you said hey, what do I owe you? They said you figure it out. And you thought about what you’d eaten and said well, I guess that’d be about $7.25, and they said no, it’s $11.40. Plus now we’re going to charge you an extra three bucks for trying to cheat us. If they knew what you owed them, what was the point of making you figure it out? Just to be jerks, probably. Or maybe in hopes you’d miss high, which is basically how taxes work.

--Woot

Sometimes work is just no fun

2008-01-07T15:12:00.000-06:00

Sometime it makes you feel better to see other peoples' bad days. I am guessing most of the exaggeration is stagged, but basic idea they had happens all the time.

By the way, I will have a Christmas post up this week.

Its the holiday season...

2007-12-01T09:40:00.001-06:00

Happy Holiday 
There's a list of things for doing 
At pearsonmn.net/xmas  

It's the holiday season
And Santa Claus is coming back 
The Christmas snow is thick on the ground
When Santa can't get into town 
He'll be shopping at amazon.com 
Shopping at amazon.com

It's the holiday season  
And Santa Claus drop shipped a toy
For every good Nick and a good Andrew 
We'll make sure they say thank you 
He'll be coming down the chimney, down  
Coming down the chimney, down  

He'll have a big white truck he drives around 
And lots of boxes for you and me 
He'll leave the package upon the ground 
If you're not there for him to see  

It's the holiday season 
With packing peanuts and holiday wrapping. 
And don't forget the December seventeenth  
It's the last day for free shipping
He'll be coming down the chimney 
Coming down the chimney 
Coming down the chimney, down!  

Happy Holiday 
Happy Holiday
While the FedEX guy keep bringing
Happy Holidays to you  

Happy Holiday  
Happy Holiday
May the calendar keep bringing 
Happy Holidays to you

To you 
Happy Holiday 
Happy Holiday 
Happy Holiday.......FADE

Post Turkey House work

2007-11-23T23:24:00.000-06:00

Somehow, the last 2 years I have ended up shopping way too early on black Friday. I always thought it was silly to get up and stand in line at a store, just to give them my money (I still think that opening a store anything before 6am is silly). But that resolve has been weakening. Last year, I took off to Target for a portable DVD player to keep Andrew occupied during long car rides. I actually drove by Best Buy last year but the line stretched around the store. This year I was at Home Depot at 5:30 for the saw pictured at the left. Home Depot had a nice $450 saw for $299.
The thing is, neither of my Black Friday sorties were for gifts. I was going to buy a table saw this weekend one way or another. Sears had one for $250 that was not as nice, but would have probably done OK too. I just really like the Ridged tools, they seem to work good, and have a lifetime warranty. The Craftsman, had a 1 year warranty, and though many of the craftsman tools are top notch their lower end power tools are not always so good.
I spent the weekend productively playing with the saw. In the process, I rebuilt the trim for around the door to Nick's room. Even April was impressed with how it looked. I would put a picture up, but I forgot that the walls of my house are nowhere near straight in any direction. So I needed to change the dimensions of the doorway so the pocked door closed properly. I guess that that just means I need to use the saw some more to redo one of the 3 sides of the trim.

CJ??? what kind of a name is that?

2007-10-18T12:51:00.000-05:00

In the beginning, Jeeps were named with a purpose. CJ actually stands for "Civilian Jeep", once Jeep started to name the vehicles, their code no longer means anything. It is still useful though, it can help you tell the difference between model revisions, and ease eBay searches. Here are how the code and models match up

CJ2a - A flat-fender, very similar to the military MB

CJ3b - The only real difference is the taller hood for a new engine.

CJ5 - Easily distinguished from the CJ-7 by a small doorway with a rounded, sloping rear edge

CJ6 - Essentially a CJ-5 that was stretched 20" to be used like a pickup.

CJ7 - A compromise between the CJ-5 and CJ-6, . The body tub is very similar to the YJ and TJ, but the rear wheel wells are round instead of angular

CJ10 - A more truck-like Jeep built mainly for export or the USAF

CJ8 Scrambler - Similar to a CJ-7, but like the CJ-6, it was intended as a small pickup, but never really found its niche.

Wrangler YJ - The original Wrangler, made '87-'95.

Wrangler TJ - The second generation Wrangler, made 1997-2006, much more car like

Wrangler JK or JKL - Largest Wrangler yet, also poor MPG (<16)

Grand Cherokee ZJ - Jeep's luxury cruiser Replaced the SJ

Grand Cherokee #2 WJ - Much more aerodynamic version.

There are many other Jeeps that have been made, and most of them have 2 digit codes. Some of the others are in this slide show.

I think the best jeep quote I have seen was:
"No one ever accused the Wrangler of being comfortable, quiet, or practical. No one ever called it boring, either. The Wrangler is a two-door toy, ... great fun to drive with the top down." -- AUTOMOBILE MAGAZINE, Sport Utilities '95; Buyer's Guide, March 1995

MP3 Downloads

2007-10-18T10:06:00.000-05:00

I would like to point your attention to the Ad link under the twitter widget. Amazon started offering mp3 downloads a short while ago. Their prices are good, .89 a song or 8.99 per album, there is no DRM, you can use the songs on more than an iPod, and best of all I get a kickback for things you buy through that link.
There will also be a new store feature soon on pearsonmn.net. Bet you thought you would never need to look there again. And since it is the Christmas season according to the retail industry (Macy's has trees and decorations up) there will be a place for Amazon wish lists, update yours and send me the link and I can make a place for you

New pictures posted...no more for a while

2007-10-17T23:11:00.000-05:00

I posted new albums for July, August, September, and October a couple of days ago, they can be found here.
That will be the last of the photos though, It seams that my digital camera is not going to last 2 years. It thinks batteries are always dead, and even when it does work it shuts off after a couple of pictures. So it is not as bad as the picture I scraped off the internet (which looks like it is only the filter), but who knows how long till it completely kicks the bucket.
If it only knew its fate for after it dies, it would probably work longer. I plan on having a little looksie as to how digital cameras work and what is inside. After all, what am I going to do? Make it more dead?

Daily runs with Kapik

2007-10-16T13:40:00.000-05:00

So I have been doing mostly well on getting my daily run (sometimes twice). Kapik has been the best motivator for this daily activity. If he does not get at least one run per day, he tears the house apart. If you want you can see my public profile on favoriterun.com. It has my routes and what I run every day. I figure I am doing really well just running every day, that I sometimes batch my entries 3 or 4 days at a time.

Speaking of Kapik, he is now the same weight as Andrew. We took Kapik to the vet since he ate his bed and then was not feeling well (go figure!). After they weighed Kapik Andrew stepped on the scale too, there is a .1 pound difference between the two. Both of them are around 45 pounds!

Why there have not been many blog posts.

2007-10-10T21:25:00.000-05:00

April, Andrew, and I worked on this last week. Andrew thought it was really cool, and put a number of pieces together. He is really good at puzzles. He does his 100 piece puzzles all the time. The puzzle was a great deal at $3, and even had all the pieces and the extra, red dotted pieces.

Son of CJ5

2007-09-25T00:14:00.000-05:00

I just thought I would share the original commercial for the Jeep CJ7.

An expensive weekend of savings

2007-09-24T08:53:00.000-05:00

It started out on Friday night, I was perusing craigslist for jeep parts for the CJ. Someone had just posted a soft top in good shape for $100. Even better they were in Stillwater. I inquired and was the first to respond, so I scheduled to take a look at it around 9:30 ish. It turned out to be in really good shape (almost new). These things are about $500 to $650 new and go for $300 - $400 used. He even threw in the bikini top for the jeep (piece of cloth that just covers the driver and passenger from the sun, leaving the backseat for cooking). Since it was missing 2 steel bars that go from the roll cage to the windshield, he knocked $20 off the price. I really wanted a soft top for the summer, but was not going to buy one for $500. I was planning on buying the bikini top this summer since they are $50 and from what I have heard, you will roast in a jeep in the sun. The above picture is of a stock photo with the soft top on, only I have full soft doors (like they will be on in the summer) instead of the 1/2 steel doors pictured.

Later on Saturday, I was looking at the used tools on Craigslist and someone had a small hobby welder on sale for $25. It only does 1/16 inch steel, but I need to learn somehow (the CJ needs some welding done). It is much cheaper to figure out welding on a $25 welder that uses 110v, than a $300 welder that I need to run 220V to the garage to use. April kinda thinks it is just another toy, but really it is just an extension of a toy I already have, the CJ7.

So long Jinxed Jeep

2007-09-20T13:24:00.000-05:00

So does that look like $7200 in damage?

According to the insurance company it is. Yesterday I got word that they are going to total my Jeep Cherokee (not worth $7200). I cleaned out the last of my stuff and said good-bye to my first Jeep. They offered to let me buy it back, but the last thing I need is to add another thing to do... but that new engine and seats would have been mighty nice in the CJ.

My new hobby/daily driver

2007-09-15T15:37:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday, I bought a 1980 CJ7 with all the rust of a 27 year old jeep, but only 103K miles. It is really going to be a learning project. But while I am learning (provided I do not learn the hard way too many times) it will be a usable vehicle. In fact, my plan for the next few months is to use it to get to work. The CJ has a 4 cylinder in it so it actually gets close to 20mpg. I have some really fun plans for this jeep, but most of them will happen after the body fails or the engine blows.

I know this is not a real practical vehicle for driving across the twin cities every day. I figured that I would be OK pretty much what ever happens. In the worst case I have to sell the CJ to help pay for a vehicle that can get me to work every day, and I might end up with a couple of days off for vehicle failures. This really did not sound too bad. The guy I bought it from got non stop calls about it till I paid for it and he removed it from craigslist. So I could even make money on the jeep. Best case I drive it for 6-12 months and save for another car to take to work. In say 9 months I buy another vehicle and I now am free to work on or upgrade the CJ as my wallet sees fit (JEEP really stands for Just Empty Every Pocket) without impacting my ability to get to work. In the process I learn more than I could have otherwise and I get a 3rd fun, cool vehicle. So really I had chances for big positives and some chance for something not so bad.

CJ7

2007-09-14T23:58:00.001-05:00

If you read the previous post you will see that the cherokee has had a hard summer. Right now I am not sure it is going to pull through. The insurance company for Laidlaw (the company that owns the 15 pass van that rear ended me) is really slow. They are going to try to get an adjuster out there on Monday. In the mean time I have convinced them I needed a loaner car. I have a 2007 Mustang to drive for a few days. It is fun, but I doubt it is worth $25K.
Today I took the insurance $$ from the previous wreck, and bought a 1980 Jeep CJ7
It is not perfect (it is 25+years old what did you expect?) but it does have some potential. It also will be fun to drive. I plan on using this jeep to get some experience with car repairs. I also plan on using it for fun and going to work for now. I have not brought it home yet due to an issue of finding a bank I could cash a check at. I will post more and have more pictures once it is home.

My new nickname

2007-09-12T22:30:00.000-05:00

The people at work have taken to calling me "crash". I think that has something to do with my latest eventful drive to work, combined with some previous vehicle misadventures. Today on my way to work, I was in the 62/35W commons. As traffic does all the time, it was going, then it stopped. So I stopped. The problem starts when the van behind me did not stop. Hence the nickname crash. I am pretty sure the jeep has driven its last mile. The bumper got bumped and is now hidden under the door. The whole rear end got a 2-3 in lift. I always wanted one, I guess my thought was to get one without causing the fender to rub on the tires. It is not officially gone yet, that is up to the other insurance company if they fix it or total it. Even if they do fix it, I think I will sell it, I think it is jinxed.

Thinking of moving

2007-08-14T08:50:00.000-05:00

We are currently in the process of finishing some of our projects on our house to get it ready to sell. I think we just need to find a new place to live, with more space and less work needed (maybe). We will probably be looking in the Cottage Grove/IGH/Hastings area. It seems like a nice place to live, and won't change my commute much. I have resurrected an old blog I had and renamed it to http://1178.pearsonmn.net. I will post any new stuff that happens with our house there. It is amazing just how much we have to do. Most of it is small stuff and we have been trying to knock that stuff off so all we have left is a couple of big projects. I just thought I would let everyone know where these updates will be.

"No More Collapses."

2007-08-02T12:13:00.000-05:00

I am not real big on regurgitating just what other people write. I figure that you could read it on your own, and when it comes straight from the star tribune, most people would find it anyway. But Nick Coleman, a columnist at the the Star Tribune, has one of the best written articles I have seen in a while. It can be found here.

I really don't see it getting better. Updating and replacing bridges and roads, causes traffic jams and is almost always designed for usage numbers dated 5 years previous. Building new stadiums is fun, just like going to a game. Would you rather pay for a 15-30 minute extra commute or an evening watching millionaires play games?

More to the point of the comic to the left, if the majority of our funding comes from gas taxes, what would we do if we all had electric cars? It really would not take long for our roads to look like a road from the Roman empire.

I'm OK

2007-08-01T20:58:00.001-05:00

It was really nice that several people called to check in on me. I stopped taking 35W when they started the construction. It was just always too backup'd, and was amazingly more congested than 94.

For some reason, a collapsing bridge is something I think about occasionally (not a parinoid fear, just a thought).

The Maryland Ave. bridge over 35E was supposed to be replaced this year. But due to funding problems, was pushed off to next year.

Movies for Guys

2007-07-27T16:27:00.001-05:00

Thanks to the Rake Magazine, I will get to prescreen the new Bourne movie. They wanted to know my favorite movie chase scene. I told them the one from Bullitt, although Gone in 60 seconds (1974) had a good one too that came in a close second. Funny, they all involved a Mustang. Really, the Bullitt chase scene was boring by todays standards, but it looked real. I could imagine driving a 1968 Mustang GT 390 all over while chasing another car. Everything moved at a real pace. Too many modern scenes have too many things going on and have impossible stunts. That, and as a guy, you can't pick a new movie with out looking like you have no class. Its the same as saying EP1 was the best Star Wars due to the awesome CGI.

On an odd note, April tipped me off to the contest but did not get a ticket conformation email.

I may send her to the movie instead.

*Update*
I ended up going to the movie. I got the last seat in the house. I got to sit in the far bottom corner. April and I will have to go see it where I can sit more near the center.

Why my house is still standing

2007-07-26T10:32:00.000-05:00

I think that this is the perfect example of why my house is still standing after 98 years.

This backhoe maybe only took 6 minutes to destroy a house, but look how much was missing, and the rest of it was still standing. If I ever leave IT, it will be to either start a coffee shop or to work on a demolition crew. I am not real picky the demolition can be with either explosives or by a mechanical means (backhoe, wrecking ball) But having a job that involves smashing, flattening, and blowing stuff up sounds pretty good.

Its just me

2007-07-26T10:01:00.000-05:00

I sometimes have issues finishing blog posts then I forget about them and post them much later than I planned.

Unweave the (fabric of society) Weave

2007-07-18T08:43:00.000-05:00

Now that the great vehicle purge of 07 is over and the mess is almost cleaned up, I was thinking just how brilliant MN-DOT is (had the car broke down 300 feet sooner, we could have blocked all traffic from 35E to 694W).

I was talking with some friends about the debacle they have created with the Wakota Bridge Project, and some of their past history. They did after all create the 35W-62 intersection, the original weave on 694, and countless other screw-ups. We were wondering how bad the 62 work was going to be and what would go wrong with the unweaving of the weave. If I had more confidence in MNDOT, I am sure that the Twin Cities could soon see one of these intersections. I am thinking near the Airport would be good. Just watching the Ford Focus with an enterprise sticker doing the inescapable cloverleaf is a funny thought.

I think that almost every Minnesotan could be just as qualified to design our road systems as the engineers at MNDOT (I know I am!). They obviously know the theory of hi-way design. But... In theory, practice and theory are the same, in practice they are not.

A new home for Kapik

2007-07-15T16:15:00.000-05:00

We got a new Siberian Husky on Friday so I just want to make a couple of things clear.
1. His Name is Kapik.
2. Kapik means "coffee" in Inuit.
3. Yes, he is a pure bred. Just no papers they cost $, and he is a pet.
4. He will probably be more my dog. April still wants another Rotty someday
5. He loves the kids, we are pretty sure he thinks Nick is another puppy.
This morning I found out this 11 week old puppy can really run. We walked most of the route that I usually run. Then turned around and ran the 3/4 of a mile home. If he gets any faster, I am going to turn into a sprinter by the fall. He also does not seem to take breaks when he runs. Fortunately, he is scared to cross the street so we walk across some of those.
In a kind of price is right showcase... And should you win, to match that cute little puppy you will also get... A NEW CAR!....Well this 2002 Subaru may not be brand new it will be new to you. It is a perfectly practical car to drive a family in in MN with room for 5 and AWD! And to wear while driving in your sporty new car we have some Teva sandles!
That needs to stop, or I will be talking about the 12 pack of paper towels too. Anyway I bought the Teva's for the river cleanup so they shouldn't count.

Take, Take, Take

2007-07-12T22:19:00.000-05:00

Seven years ago, I made a really dumb choice (but hey hindsight is 20/20). That dumb choice cost me thousands of dollars to start (well really only $320 a month for a while), then proceeded to suck more and more money every week($1 per Gal, $2 per Gal, $3 per....). Beyond that constant sucking sound, there were periodic gusts coming from my wallet (Tires, Timing Belt...).

So it seems fitting that as my elantra's last gasp it attempted to take its largest lump sum yet, $2300. But oh silly grey car, I am wise to your antics. You will not be getting that new cash infusion you so desperately need after you disemboweled yourself by shorting the fuel pump and all the o2 sensors while melting the wiring harness. See I have the last laugh, do you hear that faint crushing metal sound? Do you hear it getting nearer? Unless someone takes pitty on you and your money grubbn' ways you are going to know how a used aluminum can feels.

And good riddance too! I have found a new money drain, really you forced me to. This new drain is less of a drain for a shorter time, we will call it version 2. v2 also has more room, and a hatch back, and best of all has AWD.

Good bye dumb decision. Hello new decision (still to recent to discuss the quality).

Woof!

2007-07-10T22:54:00.000-05:00

On Friday we will be bringing home a new dog. A 10 week old Siberian Husky. This was just decided tonight, so some of the details, like a name are up in the air. I suggested naming him Linus (after Linus Torvalds), April did not like this one. I was really joking anyway. I think he will be named Kapik. April and I both thought that he needed a good Inuit name. Kapik means coffee in Inuit. Andrew also liked Kapik, and thought it was cool we could give him a nickname of Kap. All the puppies (there were about 12 in all from 2 litters) loved Andrew at one time he had about 5 or 6 playing on him, one even was up his back when he bent over, they were all giving him kisses. Nick was very good with the dogs and was very excited with all the soft puppies around.

Jeep Vs Car

2007-07-09T22:59:00.001-05:00

So I am driving along today, north on White Bear Ave, when POW someone turns out in front of me and hits the Jeep with his Buick Roadmaster. After I pull over, I went to his car and asked if he was OK. He seemed confused and had the audacity to to ask why I ran the light. I guess that he did not realize that the person in front of him ran the light and when you do not have a green arrow you do not have the right of way. The way I see it is that he should have been thanking me for being there to stop him from running into the guy next to me when both vehicles would have been going faster. By the way the Jeep won. I drove off, he was towed.

Pictures are here

Luckiest day of the year

2007-07-09T10:20:00.000-05:00

On Saturday (7/7/07), Andrew and I went over to Lake Hiawatha in Minneapolis to clean up Minnehaha creek. REI and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District had a cleanup event. It was really cool! Andrew got to learn about why we were cleaning up the creek and how those 3 big bags of trash got into the creek. It is really sad just how much trash doesn't make it into the trash cans that are placed about every quarter mile. We followed the creek's winding path from 28th ave to about 35th ave. Sometimes we walked in the creek, sometimes we were on the trails, and sometimes we were walking through fields, grasses, and forests. Andrew had lots of fun a I think he really understood why this was a good thing. It also helped that there were several people that told us "thank you for cleaning up the park" as they rode or walked by.

One of the cool things was that they made us a pancake and sausage breakfast and REI gave everyone really cool high-tech, sweat wicking t-shirts.

On Sunday, we skipped church. On really warm days they move church to the basement because the basement has 2 window AC units. Between the crowdedness of the basement and the eventual heat that forms and the folding chairs, we have issues getting anything out of church. I let April sleep in, then we realized it was really too warm in the house. So we went and saw the 10:30 showing of Ratatouille. Andrew saw previews for it on the Cars DVD we borrowed and has been asking to see the rat movie. Andrew is a little sensitive when it comes to the big screen. Ratatouille was no exception, he ended up in my lap for about 1/2 of the movie. During the credits he was crawling around the empty seats saying he was Remy the rat. Afterward, he thanked us several times for taking him to the movie.

Ok count this as a post for 7/10, I wrote too many posts today. Tomorrow, I need to work on figuring out what to do with the Jeep.

Sometimes I would just like to keep driving.

2007-07-06T14:41:00.001-05:00

On my way to work this morning, I had a difficult time convincing myself to GO to work. There was just that right amount of traffic that I was having fun driving. It was 70 degrees, sunny and I was listening to the White Stripes on my iPod. The only thing that could have been better would be the vehicle. The Jeep is fun, I just never get it to drive like in the picture. Some little sports sedan or the like with a 5 or 6 speed manual and turbo would have made it impossible to ignore the call to just drive. In the end I was an adult, I got coffee at Caribou, and parked in the garage at work. Rode the elevator to floor 4 and sat in my cube. but if gas was not so expensive, and if I had someplace to go and some cool, fun to drive car... I just might have kept going.

The 4th was not as "American" this year

2007-07-05T09:12:00.000-05:00

I thought our 4th was very "American" even though we didn't even fire up the grill. We slept in a little (kinda, Nick got up ate then was put back to bed and slept for 2:30 more), then had breakfast then went to a state park. I had never been to Afton State Park before. It looks like it really has some nice trails and it does have a beach. All the camp sites are backpack sites, funny that they also have backpack sites, they must be really remote. Had we went to Afton to hike and have a picnic, instead of bike and picnic, it would have been better. Since Andrew got a new bike this week he wanted to go for a bike ride. Afton just proved to be too hilly, maybe that is why it is good for skiing :) . Really, it was a great low key day. Later that night April and Andrew went to see fireworks and according to April, Andrew was an angel and they both had a wonderful time.

The one thing I did notice is the lack of the "Super American (dum dah dah dum)" attitude this year. The focus of the news articles, radio, and blogs, there was more of a focus on fireworks, grilling and from the parking lots of any store we went by, shopping. Nobody seemed to have the "yea! America! we rock! Proud to be American! "These Colors don't run!" attitude. It is like we Americans have finally realized that this was is not going so well and that maybe we should be just a little ashamed of what we as a country have done outside of our borders

** Disclaimer:
The opinions expressed in this post are solely mine, and do not represent the opinions of Super America, Bruce Springsteen, or various t-shirt or bumper sticker makers. Also, by reading this blog you signify your desire to here my opinions. If you want me to hear your opinions I will ask, or you can post them in the comments.

mmm....wurt........mmmm......beer

2007-06-30T22:08:00.000-05:00

Bulletproof Tire Ale (Fat Tire Clone)
Original Gravity 1.052
Volume 5 Gallons
Potential Alcohol: 13%

I got to brew today! I bought this Fat Tire clone kit from Northern Brewer on fathers day weekend. I finally got a chance to brew it up. If nothing screwy happens, it should be ready in 6 weeks to put in bottles. If I find a cheep or free chest freezer (5 to 7 cubit feet) before then it will be drinkable 2 days later, otherwise it will take 1 to 2 more weeks of sitting in the bottle waiting for bubbles. I did get some help on this batch, Nick and Andrew on this. This is both of them helping me with the glass carboy full of 6 gallons of water. I actually had to go out a buy one today, since my previous primary fermenter was a food grade plastic bucket and that might have been used for other things. Here is a really simple brewing process:
1. Bring water to a boil, add specialty grains between 100 and 170
2. Once boiling, turn off heat and add fermentables.
3. Turn on heat again bring to a boil and add flavor hops
4. Boil for 60 minutes, at 15 minutes left add aroma hops.
5. Boil is done, cool wurt to brewing temp (65 to75 degrees)
6. Transfer to fermenter, add yeast, seal with an airlock
7. Wait for a few weeks, carbonate/keg/bottle, and drink.
Thanks to my turkey fryer, I now have a 7 gallon pot to brew in and a burner to cook all this outside. The house stays much cooler this way. Andrew has been really interested in this process. I have been explaining the science behind this to him as it goes. He also got to try some LME (liquid malt extract), he thought it tasted like honey. One of the really cool things of this brewing exercise is that the target original gravity was 1.052, which is what mine came out to be, hopefully this batch will turn out tasting like Fat Tire.

Maybe we can have some people over later to try it

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'got that site a Rollin'......

2007-06-27T08:17:00.000-05:00

Amazingly, Microsoft moved really quick on jettisoning a free customer. I sent them an email wondering how I get the release key for the domain. It is a good thing I did a Google search to know how to get the domain back. Within 6 hours I had had 3 send-response combinations and my service was canceled with Office Live and the domain was in my name at Melbourne IT. This is where I tell you that Melbourne IT is really expensive for everything, so I need to transfer the domain again. This time it will take at least 4 days. That is just to transfer the domain to a registrar that can be helpful and useful. I still need to design and setup the website. I should have something to look at when you visit The Pearson Family website by mid next week. Otherwise enjoy April's blog, I will post some family stuff here tonight. Any other updates for the site move will be posted via twitter, you can see my latest mini-post from this blog in the lower right hand corner, or sign up at http://twitter.com

Welcome!

2007-06-26T12:00:00.001-05:00

I see you have found your way over to The Great Big Blog of Tim.
This is where all new content will be as I uproot the Pearson family from Redmond, WA and we move to Mountain View, CA. I would encourage you to update your book marks. Also once this whole move thing is complete all the content here will be available from pearsonmn.net. But, not until I finish the move, which should be by the end of July.

Moved the blog...Again

2007-06-25T09:59:00.000-05:00

Sorry to keep moving this on you, but I just can't take myself serious, being an indepently confirmed geek, and having my blog on M$ live spaces. Wordpress or typepad would have been better and more geeky, but blogger has integration with my Google account. And in the end it is just too easy, or I am lazy. Livespaces is also impossible to use and format nicely. Speaking of formats, I know this is really sparse right now. I just did not like the default blogger template, so I went the opposite way. Don't get used to this theme, it will change this week, but it will still be a very simple interface. There are other things that will change, as I try to make this a little different from a monthly post of "look what we did as a family".

There are a couple of goals I have for this new blog

More Pictures: Every post will have at least 1 picture.
More Posts: I would love to do daily posts, but that is just not going to happen.
More about Me: After all this is the great big blog of Tim, not Tim's family. Not that a good chunk of my life doesn't revolve around them, there will just be more different stuff.

All the old posts and stuff will remain over on my livespaces site. I just don't think there will be anything new going over there.