Motor School - Day Two

Today we learned a lot about truss.

Then we put a bunch of truss in this rig:


and busted it!

I have video, but I am amazed I was even able to get the two photos uploaded (internet woes continue).

Tomorrow we start motors. Woohoo.

Motor School, First Thoughts

So, if the whole program goes like the first hour then this will be the best run thing I have ever participated in. They met us at the airport and we were pre-registered for our hotel rooms, and there was a "welcome" package in the room with a t-shirt and other info. So far, first class.

The hotel "high speed internet" is making me rethink just what "high speed" is supposed to mean. That may be a problem.

Oh well, off to class.

"There's a word for that..."

Oops

I wonder if anyone over at ETCP read this?

The New Unions - Forbes.com: "Some guilds are especially adept at keeping out new members even as demand balloons. The population has grown 22% since 1990, but the number of dentists and hairdressers hasn't budged. The shortage of dentists has pushed up their average real hourly pay 45% over that period."

You Tell 'Em Tom

Top of the Ticket : Los Angeles Times : Boston rocker to Mike Huckabee: No more covers: "Pop music lovers of a certain (advancing) age will recognize a song on the playlist of Mike Huckabee's band, Capitol Offense, as Boston's 'More Than a Feeling,' a hit from the Boston_logoband's eponymous 1976 debut album. And a former Boston band member, Barry Goudreau, has done appearances with Huckabee, leaving the impression that the band is backing the bass-playing Baptist preacher. But band leader Tom Scholz, whose guitar forms Boston's signature sound and who wrote 'More Than a Feeling,' says nope, and has asked Huckabee to drop the song from the playlist."

"It's Not You, It's Me"

Letter from a young, hip, cynical former Obamamaniac. - By Dahlia Lithwick - Slate Magazine: "I know it's kind of lame to break up with you on Valentine's Day. And on the Internet to boot. But it's also kind of ironic. And that's what I need to tell you. As an ironic, contrarian, so-hip-it-hurts Gen X-er, I just can't love you anymore. I can't like you because … because, well, everyone else does. And suddenly supporting you just seems soooo last week."

Moving Pictures

Remember this?

Well, now you can (finally) see the video:



This wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I asked them to turn in video, but its pretty cool too - even if I did almost wait a year to get it.

Thanks Ryan.

This year's group got this assignment recently. I wonder what they will come up with - and if it will work.

Remember Bill?

Memo to Obama fans: Clinton-ism was a success. - By David Greenberg - Slate Magazine: "Barack Obama's upscale white supporters (and those too young to recall the 1970s and 1980s) tend to describe Clintonism as a betrayal of liberalism, a sellout to Wall Street, and proof that 'the Clintons' won't bring about change—a view encapsulated in the Daily Kos blog's visceral aversion to Terry McAuliffe's mug. Yet while the courting of big donors with stays in the Lincoln Bedroom left a bad odor, as a historical matter, the Clinton years were unquestionably a time of progress, especially on the economy. And it seems that as Obama mania sweeps the educated classes, the party's struggling lower-income base still prefers Hillary. One reason is that they're less prone than their better-off party mates to vote out of an enthusiasm for stirring rhetoric or viral videos or a wish to play their part in a grand narrative of racial reconciliation. Having been battered by globalization, rising health care and education costs, and the subprime mortgage disaster, they're remembering the Clinton years and voting for who they think will help them."

Well, We Figured Out the Driveway Thing

Remember how I've asked the internet from time to time the best way to deal with the snow on our driveway? Or how from time to time I've had to go through some kind of backflips to get the car or the old truck out when there's been snow? Well we have a solution.

A good solution.

A lazy solution.

We're doing nothing.

We'll keep shoveling the walk, because we have to, but unless the sky opens and dumps like a foot of snow I think we're done shoveling the driveway.

We're fortunate that we have enough space at the end of our drive to pass one car by the other, so on a regular day the order of the vehicles in the drive is inconsequential. Around the year we often see neighbors without the extra space to a kind of dance when one or the other person arrives or has to leave. We're fortunate that we don't need to do that year round.

But for snow days it's this dance that provides the answer. Mrs. TANBI parks her car in the street when she gets home and I put the truck in the space at the bottom of the drive. Then we put her car in the drive and leave it at the top. In the morning she takes off no problem, and then when I leave I just flip the truck into four wheel drive and blast my way up likedysplit.

Zoom.

Just how often is it that the lazy solution can be the correct decision? OK, yes, I know, it isn't the right decision, and some day I will probably get stuck at the bottom of the drive, but I am willing to take that chance. I hate the shoveling that much, it's hard work and with the gravel you can never do a good job, and you always wind up with stones on the lawn in the spring, and, and, and...

So, unless someone comes up with a better solution I am sticking with no solution.

Would You Pay $600 For Old TV?

Amazon - Up to 77% off exclusive DVD bundles: "Movie lovers have hit the bonanza at Amazon, where exclusive DVD bundles have been reduced by up to 77%. Choose from bundles with tags like 'TV Sci-Fi Bundle', 'Ultimate Killer DVD Collection', '80's Hits DVD Collection, Vol. 1', and others. Offer ends 02/18/2008."