Glider Ride Anyone?

Yeah, that's right...a glider! As in NO ENGINE!

The first pic above is the glider...empty...waiting for a pilot and a passenger. The way it works is that you hook up to a tow plane and get towed to 2,000+ ft. We got towed up to 4,000 and Alec flew us around. I got to steer a little bit.

The video below shows how the takeoff works. What you can't see is that for the first 20 ft or so there's a guy holding up the left wing to keep us level until we get a little bit of speed.



Here's J after the flight. She's not kneeling to look cool, the flight was pretty smooth but she still felt a little sick. You can see me below squeezing myself (and my down jacket) into the little plane.

And It's Done

Just about...

If you look closely you can see that I *should* do some finish work on the base piece just below the padded rail. If I were going to sell this to someone I would tighten a couple of things up. As it is, I will be playing on this for a while and I have plenty of time to get around to the last 2% of the job.

Poker Table Almost Complete

The first game is soon and the table is ready. The only thing I haven't done is cut holes for the cupholders. I have 10 stainless steel cupholders but I think the table will work best with 8 players. I am going to host a few games before I make a final decision.

I am quite pleased with the final result. The racetrack has a nice gloss to it (even though there are some imperfections) and the padded rail looks very uniform with no visible wrinkles. I have to thank Jo for the help with that one. The rail alone took over 600 staples...all done with a hand stapler.

I have some more progress pics that I'll put up later but here's a sample of the (almost) finished product.

Poker Table: Day 4

The final cut to be made today is the most important one of the whole table. This is the only exposed wood edge so it has to be clean. Last night I cut the round sections of the racetrack and I finished the straight sections this morning. This was a little more stresful than the previous cuts because I hadn't used the router against a straight edge before. The previous cuts were made with an edge guide but a minor jug saw debacle left me with an edge that I didn't trust, so I couldn't use the edge guide as I intended. Here are some pics on this morning's progress.

Here's what it looked like this morning before making the straight cuts. I had to lay down some poker chips to check it out. It's really starting to take shape.


I didn't get any shots of the actual cutting but when it was done I set everything up to get a feel for how it would look.

Very exciting

and here's what the stain is going to look like on a test piece.
Not too bad for a morning's work. Hopefully I can prep the racetrack and lay down the stain tonight. I am expecting a lot of the materials to be at my door when I get home.

Poker Table: Day 3 (Rail Complete, Racetrack Started)

I made some pretty good progress today. There will be a padded rail around the playing surface that is made up of two oval pieces. I got the main piece cut this morning and cut the second piece (the rail lip) after work. There was a slight problem with the jig saw but after a little bit of time with the router I had a decent workaround. Once I got that figured out I glued and screwed the two rail piece together and let them dry.

While those piece were drying I started the cuts for the racetrack. I really took my time with this since it will be the one exposed piece of wood and I really don't want to have to buy another sheet of plywood.

I didn't get any pictures of the rail pieces right after they were cut but you can see how they fit over the main playing surface. After three days, it's starting to take shape.

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Legs Legs Legs!!!

The legs showed up today. These were just a little more expensive than those really cheap looking folding legs from Home Depot and they look so much better. The rest of the supplies should show up tomorrow and Tuesday. I hope to have the table done and ready to play on by the middle of next week. Finishing the race track (stain and poly) will take a couple of days though.

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As promised here are a few pictures of the router jig with the router attached.

Poker Table: Day 2

I woke up this morning and decided to try a little bit of sanding with my palm sander. The jigsaw cuts were decent but not perfect. After some deliberation I decided to try and build a jig for my router to make the circle cuts nice and smooth. I haven't really used my router much and I was a little hesitant about trying to make a jig for it. Also didn't want to buy one because I am trying to keep the costs low for this project. With a little help from some router jig references I decided to give it a shot. I had some spare 3/4" ply that I ripped from the full size sheets that was the perfect width. I removed the base plate from my router and used that as a template for the mounting holes. I cut a 2" hole for the router bit to pass through and measured out the radii that I would need for the table . It looks like everything lines up very well with the curves that I already cut with the jig saw so I think I'll be able to use the router for everything else. I don't think it will makes things any faster but it should be a lot more precise...I like precise!

After work I actually had a chance to use the router jig. It was pretty successful. I did have one bit of oversight and measured on the wrong side of the router bit which made my rail cut 1/4" off. I am not going to worry about it...I think it will be fine.

So total progress for today includes building a router jig, cutting all of the pieces to ovals and starting on the 4" (actually 3 3/4") rail piece.

Here are a few shots of the oval pieces...with some closeups before sanding.

Here are a few shots of the router circle jig. Pretty simple. I'll get some pics of it installed later.

New Project: Poker Table: Day One

I am always working on one thing or another and just recently I got really excited about building a poker table. Before I let the excitement die down I started doing some serious research, buying some materials and started cutting. There are a few things that I am glad that I haven't jumped into in the past (see my "overzealous" thread) but I am pretty stoked about this one.

Day 0 (actually a few days) consisted of researching wood, tools, buying materials, etc.

Today is really Day 1. I got three sheets of Birch plywood this morning, borrowed a jig saw and started cutting this evening.

The sheets started out as 4' by 8'. I think this is a little too big for my tastes so I cut the plywood down to 3.5' by 7'. It should still be plenty to sit 8-10 people.

Once I got the ply down to the smaller size it was a little lighter and I could maneuver it a little better. I busted out the jig saw and after a few test cuts I started shaping the first piece. After some careful measuring and cutting I have a rough shape of the outer diameter of the table.


The next step is to sand the oval so the edges are smooth, then cut the other two pieces the same shape and select the best piece for my exposed wood section.

I would love to have this table done by next week but it will be tough since I am headed up to DC for HFAY racing and I am headed out to do some trailwork on Sunday in preparation for The Paranormal.

Hopefully I can get the sanding done tomorrow and start cutting the other two ovals. Here's what the workbench looked like after two hours of working. It was clean when I started.

Building Time: 2:00 hours
Total H20 consumed: Exactly 1.5 liters

On a Movie Kick Lately

I know it's summer and everyone is supposed to be out playing until the sun goes down..and beyond but for some reason I have found myself in the movie theaters a few times over the last month. Here's a quick review.

Spiderman 3 aka Obnoxious Newspaper Photographer and Jaded Sand Guy

With the exception of the final fight scene this movie was pretty much garbage. The "evil" version of Peter Parker was really just a little obnoxious, went a little goth and had a bad hairdo. Johanna actually wanted to leave in the middle but we had already paid the money so we stuck it out.

300 aka Spartans Kick Ass!

Not much substance but still really enjoyable. Cool characters nice visuals and just a neat story about 300 dudes that kick the crap out of an army led by a transvestite! I think we caught it in the theaters on the final weekend in town. For a thoroughly entertaining review of the movie check this out. Warning: Spoilers Abound!

Pirates 3 aka Too Many Ships in Upside Down World

Much better than Pirates 2. I am pretty glad they brought back Barbosa, he's a great character in the series. It does get a little bit confusing trying to keep track of who made a bargain with whom and how many bargains have been broken so far. Lots of promises and lots of fighting on ships. One message to take away from the whole series is that Pirates tend to follow the code but there's always room for a mutiny.

Evan Almighty

Another entertaining flick. I think I heard that some reviewers slammed this one but I just thought it was cool that we see the same skyline everyday. The movie was filmed about 30 miles outside of Charlottesville at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. That's enough to get my vote.

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Upcoming flicks: Definitely going to see Transformers. I don't know if it could possibly be as good as the original but it's a legacy in live action...I'll be there on opening day. I would also like to see Oceans' 13. I enjoyed 11 & 12 and I have heard good things about this one.

So I made some reference to my bike Karma in my AM ride post. What I was too frustrated to mention at the time was that I was on the road bike because I was having such a bad run of luck with my MTB. Bent derailleur hanger, poor shifting, flat tires and a nearly catastrophic wreck put me in a bad bad place. I was just bummed to be on the MTB. Anyway I think some of that luck managed to turn around a bit. Last Sunday I went to the HooHa. An awesome local race that was a complete mud fest. Here's a shot of Johanna making some mud pie!

Anyway, that race was riddled with all kinds of bad stuff. That much mud and that many people pushing 110% through the woods is bound to bring some sad war stories. I have to say I was pretty pleased with my bike that day. All gears shifted well, my tires held up great and I even had a decent finish. My bike did a good job that day...and I thanked it for that.

iPod Install

I never really gave a step by step on the iPod/Honda install. I was just looking through some pictures and I found a couple but it's a far cry from a full on step-by-step. It's really just a shot of the dash removed and a picture of the converter sitting on top of the stock radio.

AM Ride Foiled

I tried to squeeze in a little pre-work ride. There's a 16-18 mile loop from my doorstep that starts with rolling hills and peaks in the middle with a 0.9 mile climb. After the climb you roll around the top of the lollipop, more rollers and climb home.

Well, at the base of the climb, I downshift and the right shifter feels a little funny. As I am looking down my rear derailleur is slowly working its way down the cog stack...something was broken. First I thought is was something in the shifter (it is getting old) but after further inspection it was the shift cable. Somehow the cable frayed inside of the shifter leaving the little head in the shifter and the cable dangling on the bike. This also left me with only two gears, a hard one and a really hard one. I wasn't going to be making the 0.9 mile climb to the top. I turned around and was able to get home okay but it's just part of my streak of breaking things over the last few days. I don't really understand...my Karma points should be positive, maybe I'm just having a bad run.

GoPro??

I saw these guys at Sea Otter last month but never got around to actually checking out the camera. The website has some really nice photos and video but I don't know how legit this thing really is. For $140 it's a lot cheaper than the separate helmet cam options. Also, you don't have to drag a video camera around in a camelbak. I don't know if the videos are any good but it would be pretty sweet to carry around and get some awesome downhill footage!

The pictures are supposed to be 3 MPixls and the video resolution is 640x480. It won't be the same quality as The Collective...but neither is the riding!

My Good Deed for the Day

I was driving in to work today when I saw a guy walking a road bike. I see kids walking bikes all of the time but this guy looked like a commuter, backpack and all. After a quick glance I saw that his rear tire was flat, so I ran through the options in my head...

Do I have a spare tube (nope, I haven't even ridden a road bike in a while)

Floor pump (nope, I took it out of the car last weekend during the MTB race, it's sitting on my porch)

Then I realized that I had a roof rack. I was almost at work, but I figured the least I could do was see if this guy needed a ride. I pulled over into the turning lane and walked back down the sidewalk and asked him if he needed a ride. He was going to walk the last mile to his job but when he saw I had a roof rack I think he felt comfortable taking me up on the ride. I put his Cannondale on the roof, took him about a mile down the road to work, then I was on my way.

It's funny how I consider myself a "rider" but I rarely ride to work. This guy rides to work 7.5 miles one-way spring, summer and fall. I like to think I am hard-core but I always find excuses to not ride. Maybe I'll ride in tomorrow...and maybe I'll see that guy on the road!

Poker with the big boys

It seems that all you have to do is look. I play poker very recreationally with a few people from work and a couple of friends. I have done a little reading but it's very hard to get all of the subtle nuances of poker when you only play a dozen times a year. There's so many things to consider...starting hands, position, playing styles, table image...I think there could easily be a college course or two on playing tournament Texas Hold 'Em.

So...about the looking. It turns out that Charlottesville has a huge poker contingent. There are games on just about every night all around town. I knew I would be in over my head but I thought I would check it out.

I showed up at the Biltmore Grill last night for the Wednesday game and there were 20 people already signed up and ready to play. Fenton and I put our names on the list and were directed to a table. It quickly became evident how much of a rookie I actually am. I held my own for a while and made it to the final two tables. We started with four full tables (8 players) and after about two hours there were about twelve players left. Somewhere around then is when I busted out. Fenton was busted a little earlier after going head to head with an experienced player that bet just enough (but not too much) to make Fenton believe that he had a hand. Not only did Fenton have to believe that he had a hand, he had to believe that the guy knew what Fenton was holding and could beat that hand. The guy didn't have it but it was a little too much money for Fenton to take that chance.

I had a couple of decent hands. By playing super-tight for the first hour (folding lots of hands) then slow playing a pair of jacks I built up a very conservative table image. That basically allowed me to steal one hand all night. The rest of my night can be summed up by the following..

• My pair of 5's loses to a pair of 6's that trip on the river.
• Marginal calls in the dealer seat get raised by the small blind, I fold.
• Pair of Jacks loses
• Pair of Jacks wins (very next hand)
• Crappy cards and I get blinded out...
• 10:00 PM, Fenton and I get some ice cream

Miscellaneous Catch -All Post

Hello readers,

Lot's of stuff going on lately. In no particular order here's the readers digest version

New Roof
We got a new roof put on our house. Even though the "old" one was put on there lss than 5 years ago. It's a bit of a bummer but now we are motivated to cut some limbs off of the big old pine that is sitting over our brand new roof. We also need to paint (inside and out), tile and build a deck. I think that's all that's on the list for now...

Bike Racing
Driving little cars is certainly not making me a faster bike rider but little cars are so much fun. Anyway, there's been a slight vaction from little cars so I can spend more time on the bike doing bike things. So far I think I've done two MTB races and I would like to do more so I am going to try and get on the bike(s) more consistently. A lot of my bike-related energy has been focused towards running a local MTB series. After May 20, the series will be over and I'll be able to ride -ride-ride! The first two races are done and the third is on it's way.

Sea Otter Classic
I will put some pictures up from this one in a new post. Sea Otter is one of the biggest bike events in the country. It included 4 days of racing (actually zero for me) and booths from just about every manufacturer in the bike business.

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Well, that's the quick update. Lots of stuff has been going on. Oh, and the iPod install worked out pretty well. I think I have some pics somewhere that I'll have to put up. Sound quality is much better than the tape adaptor or the iTrip. I'll get those pics up soon too.

It's been a while but I'm back!

I don't really know where I've been but right now I am hopped up on two types of Japanese tea and I am really excited about some Honda/iPod integration. Here's the deal...I have a tape adaptor that sounds like absolute crap. I could deal with the rattling until it started to activate the automatic reverse on the tape deck. As an iPod addict, I just couldn't have my songs cut out for a few seconds then come back. Hell, even a non-addict probably couldn't deal with that.

Anyway, I decided to stop by the local Crutchfield and pick up a new tape deck adaptor. It was $20 but I figured it might be worth it to not be cheap with this one. So, I picked it up and then I started to have a thought. A while ago I found this system that would allow you to connect an iPod to a factory system through the auxillary interface. I remembered those setups as being over-priced and difficult to install. I just did a little research (starting with Ebay) and found the units for about $60. In the long run it's really not that much more than a few tape adaptors so I thought I would get one. Then I started to look at the Crutchfield site and they have them in stock right here in Charlottesville. The price is the same and they provide instructions on how to take your car apart for installs just like this. AWESOME! I think I'll be headed back to "Crutchie" to pick one up later today.

Here are some pics of the units...


Well, it feels good to be blogging again. I'll be back in a couple of days with a review on the installation!