New!

The long hiatus doesn't actually mean cool stuff stopped happening. It actually means that I went from being generally bored at work (on account of having little to do) to being very, very busy. I am now on 3 projects plus spearheading a SBIR (Small-Business Innovative Research) proposal for the OSD (Office of the Secretary of Defense). It's been busy. Not that busy is bad - it's much, much better than sitting around bored.

I did, however, do cool stuff. For instance, I went to Little Washington (also known as Washington, VA, and the home of one of the best restaurants in the world) with my family and took some mediocre photos (example above). No, we didn't eat at the Inn. That was three weekends ago.I went kayaking a bunch two weekends ago with various people. That was fun and the weather was spectacular. And this past weekend, I built a new rack for my tandem kayak and modded and moved the rack my dad and I had built for the other boats. Check out the picture of my setup.

And I bought a helicopter. I'd been toying with the idea, voiced it on Friday, did some research with a friend of mine who flies helicopters (big little ones - on the order of several feet and able to lift several pounds) and discovered 1) they are far from simple to get set up and 2) they are quite expensive. 1 is because they're aimed at hobbyists and therefore come in as many pieces as is possible. The battery's separate from the cell balancer which is separate from the temperature probe/protection circuit which is separate from the charger; the servos and the receiver and the transmitter might be packaged together, but need not be, and anyhow each typically uses a special battery that needs a special charger; the chassis might or might not include main and tail rotor blades, the engine is separate.... You get the idea. Lots of pieces. Lots of money. Great once you have a setup, 'cause you can grow it a piece or two at a time. And great when you crash, 'cause you can easily replace whatever's broken. But daunting for someone who wants to start. And more expensive than if I bought another polyurethane boat.

So I bought a little one. A really little one. Like 8 oz. kind of really little. And it was much, much cheaper than the alternative (cost less than the transmitter I was looking at) and came in a box with everything I needed. And I'm really, really bad at flying it and have crashed a lot and, consequently, am really, really glad I got a cheap one. Oh - and this one has coaxial counter-rotating blades and hence is supposed to be easier to fly than a single-rotor heli with a tail rotor.

But it's fun. Lots of fun.

Oh Deer

Kayaking Wednesday evening, Tracy and I paused next to a small island to try to take a picture of a rather shy bird. Just as we were about to turn and continue downstream, the deer that we had seen on the island leapt out from cover and jumped through the shallow water to shore. Since I already had my camera in my hands, I took as many pictures as I could, as fast as I could.

The settings weren't really right for action (the shutter speed was really too slow) and we were rather far away, but still, they came out better than I'd expected.

Hoooooome Improvement

Home improvement projects always get stretched out, somehow. You think: oh, it won't take long to do X but when you sit down to actually do it, it takes sooo much longer.

On Sunday, we went to Lowe's to get a new bow saw. The idea was to work in the back yard (since it was sunny and cool) and clear out some of the underbrush. While we were there, I thought: we should pick up the new faucet for the kitchen sink I wanted and also get the new shower head for the bathroom. So we did. Then when we got home, I thought: it would be fun to go ahead and put the faucet in.

So it began.

The first bump was in getting the old faucet off. I didn't have any fixed wrenches, and the adjustable couldn't reach the nut that needed to come off. So I called a coworker who lives around the corner and borrowed his. With his wrenches we got the old faucet off.

Then we discovered that the brass nut that needed to go on the new faucet wasn't threaded. No kidding: the nut was smooth on the inside. So we took the faucet back to Lowe's and got a new one (along with a set of wrenches, so I wouldn't have to borrow in the future).

Then, after installing the new faucet, we discovered that the metal flex hoses that ran from the shutoff to the faucet leads weren't long enough. So David and I went back to Lowe's. And had to call Tracy and ask what the correct size was. She measured both apertures and said they were half-inch. We got the hoses, picked up the garbage disposal I wanted (since we were already under the sink, why not?), and returned home.

Then we discovered that the hose was too big on the bottom to screw onto the shutoff. So Tracy and David went back to Lowe's to get the 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch hose. I, in the meantime, took off the old disposal and removed its mount (since the mount differed from the mount for the new disposal).

When they returned, they discovered that the 3/8 inch wouldn't even fit over the shutoff. The 1/2 inch fit, but the nut part that screws on was too big. So Tracy and I went back to Lowe's while David stayed at home (in case we needed to call and ask for measurements). We discovered that there are different kinds of 1/2 inch connectors; we needed the OD to FIP hose. We got those and returned home. Oh - and Lowe's was closing as we left.

The new hoses fit; our troubles seemed to be over. While Tracy completed the install of the faucet (she basically did the whole job herself - she's awesome), I finished installing the new mount for the new disposal. The new faucet is quite nice: has a built-in sprayer head (which was why I got it) and looks really slick. The picture's a bit dark, but you get the idea.

Once I finished installing the mount for the disposal, wired it up, and tested to make sure the wiring was correct, I lifted it into place. Or tried to. It wouldn't fit. I thought I would die. It had never occurred to me to measure under the sink and ensure that the unit would actually fit there: I'd just assumed that it would (even though it was vastly larger than the previous unit).

At this point, it was 9:00, dinner was ready (I'd been making it in parallel with all the other work), and we were all exhausted. We ate, decided to call it a night, and went to bed. I kid you not: I dreamt of garbage disposals for most of the night.

In the morning, I decided to take another look at it - just to see if maybe I'd missed something in being so tired the night before. Turned out I had: it was the handle for the shutoff for the hot water that was in the way. Reversing the handle allowed it to fit, after I routed the drain pipe to the side (rather than down). Tracy came in time to see me sit the thing on the mount - we were all pleased it would work after all (I was sooo not looking forward to removing the new mount and reinstalling the old one).

In order to get it plumbed, I had to go to Lowe's (again) and buy another angle connector, but this time, I had a good enough idea of what I needed that I only had to make one trip. Bought a hacksaw, so I could cut some of the pipe to the right size, and then plumbed the thing. It's much, much more solid than the plumbing for the old unit (which would vibrate the pipes loose, dumping water under my sink about once a month). Here's a picture of the finished install.

The really great thing is that, while the old unit was noisy and relatively ineffective, this one not only does a great job grinding up food, it's so quiet you can barely hear it over the running water. And the motor and grinding chamber is isolated from the housing and mount by rubber bushings, so it effectively doesn't cause any vibrations at all. Really slick. It's InSinkErator's Evolution Excel, in case you're curious.

The moral of this story (for those who like finding morals) is: when in doubt, buy everything. Lowe's has a great return policy: they take the item and give you your money back. Would have saved a great many trips had we just bought all of the possible hoses and taken them back next time we went to the store.

The National Cathedral Flower Show

It's a yearly tradition for my family to head up to DC to the National Cathedral for its annual flower show. So Tracy, mom, dad, my aunt, my parents' two Bichons Frises, and I drove up on Friday after the traffic had died down (mostly) - David had to work that day.

One of the neatest things about the show, in my mind, is that the Cathedral is used in much the same way that cathedrals were used in the middle ages: as meeting places and fairgrounds. The smells are amazing: all kinds of fair food is there (funnel cakes, hot dogs, fried portabella mushrooms), and cinnamon almonds (which smell much better than they taste). People pack into the roads around the Cathedral, booths are set up all over the place, there's selling, buying, eating, singing, people watching people, ... It's grand. Mom and Dad look at one such booth in this picture; Ravel peeks around a stroller.

The dogs were a big hit again this year, too, which makes it all the more fun (for some reason). There were fewer people than last year (since it was a Friday - last year we went on Saturday), but even so, we got several requests by kids to pet the dogs. All the smells drive the dogs crazy: they nose all over the ground, at the air, at the booths, trying to figure out where the food is. In all, they're very well behaved - but they are funny to watch. Especially since they're so energetic. Here's a picture of Tracy holding Rousell, in front of the west door. Tracy's posing - Rousell was far too busy.

After lunch, Tracy and I decided to do the tower climb. Dad and I did it last year and enjoyed it; mom's far too afraid of heights to be interested in attempting it. The tour starts in the crypt and mounts about halfway up the crossing tower, the the change-ringing chamber. From the crypt to the change-ringing chamber is 330-odd steps - and we climbed them all. It's not so bad, really: you get to take a couple of breaks along the way. And it wasn't hot at all, so that made it all the easier. They certainly do discourage older people from attempting the climb, however. It also gets claustrophobic in the first part of the climb: starting from the crypt, we ascended a spiral staircase in the wall next to the south door, all the way to the gallery above the south door. From there, we crossed over top of the southern part of the transept to the base of the tower atop the transept crossing. That first stage of the tower is just a big, empty room, necessary to lift the first open chamber (that is, chamber with open arches to the outside, so sound can get out) over the level of the roofs atop the nave, transept, and choir.

After mounting a rather dizzying set of spiral stairs that climb about a story and a half, we found ourselves in the first part of the crossing tower you can see from the ground. This chamber holds the Cathedral's carillon. Last year, someone was playing a recital on the carillon while we were standing next to it; this year, it was silent, which was a pleasant change: even when you have your fingers stuffed in your ears, it's still really, really loud.

From that chamber, we mounted to a level called the "Change-Ringing Chamber." This chamber, which has windows (and air conditioning) contains the ropes for the Cathedral bells. There are ten bells in all; the National Change Ringers ring the bells after service each Sunday and for special occasions. There's also space for the ringers to hang out, eat, study, etc. And they get to take the elevator up; they don't have to climb all 330-odd steps just to play the bells. I've a picture of that room, but forgot to post it. Look for it later today.

From the change-ringing chamber, we descended the same two sets of spiral stairs we'd ascended, and then walked across the north side of the transept vaults to the gallery above the north door. We climbed down the stairs inside the walls (as we'd ascended on the the south side); this time, rather than taking the stairs all the way to the crypt level, we stopped first on the catwalk above the balcony and then on the balcony above the south door. I've always wanted to follow the catwalk all the way around the nave (and transept and choir), but they don't let us do that. You can almost see in the picture: there's not much railing there. They're likely afraid they'd get sued.