Hooray! Flying Cars are HERE!!

As I've complained about so many times, science spends so much money on useless crap but yet, I have been waiting for my flying car that they promised back in the early 80's.

So like Steve Martin in The Jerk when the new phone books arrive, "the flying cars are here, the flying cars are here!!!"

Now I just have to find a spare $200K somewhere....

Here's a link to the story and then the video of how it converts from plane to car in just 15 seconds.

Wow, it's been 25 years!!

Happy New Year (DK if I said that to anyone yet).

2009 brings many new and fun things, but also will bring some old things. This will be my 25th High School Reunion year. Thanks to my introduction and now, massive use of Facebook, this should be a bit more fun than I had thought. Additionally my High School has an alumni website and a very scaled back sort of "social network" which should also help.

We did have a 20th, but I could only attend the night before event at a bar in downtown Naperville. That night was fun. We caught up with old friends, but the thing that struck me as well, funny, was how quickly everyone got back into their old cliques. Whether it was who you normally hung out with, or if you played sports, or even what grade schools you went to, you just were more comfortable hanging back with the people you hung with most. I can't imagine the 25th will be any different although these "significant" ones tend to get bigger turnouts so who knows.

That night, I remember telling a few of my friends that I was in the process of buying an engagement ring for my now wife and at some point, I wished the night didn't have to end, but alas, there just came a point to go home.

But five years on, and life is well, life. I'll be looking for the invite and hope we have a large attendance. To those of you who will read this on Facebook, I look forward to seeing you in person again.

Mechanical Porn

Yes, it's very cliche that men love our toys, especially mechanical ones, but let's face it, when we DO get it right (and I know it's debatable how often) we can look pure genius.

Over the last week it's snowed, but last night/today it SNOWED. We probably ended up just shy of eight inches in the far western suburbs of Chicago and like an almost full rocks glass of near frozen Lemoncello, I have the cure for what ails ya'.

After ensuring that the gas tank was full, I set out to forcefully remove that white stuff from my driveway and sidewalks. Who do I call on buy my trusty Yard Machine. Now, what the engine sits on is inconsequential as we know that the Tecumseh engine that propels both drive shaft and auger shafts is really what matters when it comes to moving large quantities of snow. So let me whet your appetite, boys, with a side shot of my blessed machine.
It handles quite nicely and has up to 8 speeds. Now, I consider myself an "expert user" and even _I_ have never had it above the 3rd gear. That's even too fast for normal snow conditions, but I guess if you needed some extra push, you could whip that badboy all the way up to the 8th gear and let her fly. As you can see it has two engagement handles which have a built in safety feature. The left handle engages the auger and the right, the drive train. If, for some reason, you slipped or fell, the minute your hands let go of them, they immediately stop.

Okay, so here's a front shot showing the blades (careful)
This is a post-use shot so some of the carnage left on the blades and shoot is fresh kill.

So why do I get so jazzed about this beauty? Well, we have a slightly extra-long driveway since we're on the corner and our house is set back just a little bit further than our neighbors AND we have over 300 feet of sidewalk to clear as well. Yes, that's a football field worth of cement "public" sidewalk.

So here's the result. Nice clean lines and excellent adherence to the ground. Notice that large hump at the end of the driveway on the right? Well, that's left over from an earlier snow but it turned into rock-solid ice thanks to the Village plows as they kept coming by. One thing I've learned is NOT to take this baby through large chunks of ice. No matter how sharp those blades are, if you get choked up on ice, you could blow the auger's drive shaft and then you'd be up the creek without a snowblower.
So there you have it. Playboy for gearheads. Always remember to keep a good maintenance log and change the oil on it at the end of every season. Take care of your machinery and it'll take care of you.

He's walkin', everyday, he's walkin'...

In the last 10 days, Mr. Aidan has found his wheels and is now freely walking around the house. It started out as just 2 feet and a leap (or fall) and has finally reached to the points of 10-12 foot romps across the floor.

It truly is amazing to see this happen, not that we didn't think he would, just the simple accomplishment that he CAN. He laughs and giggles the whole way as usually he's rumbling towards someone or something he wants desperately.

Of course, most of this has happened just at home with MK and I and maybe Papa and Nana around. So imagine my glee this morning as I drop him off at daycare and leaned him up against the changing station and then walked 6 feet away and held my arms open. He just ran laughing the whole way at the cheering of one of the teacher's aides. Unfortunately his real teachers are out today and so they have to wait until tomorrow to enjoy the newest development benchmark (gettin' all daycare speak, I am).

Now it's going to almost be a contest to see how far he can go before falling down. Of course, we need to keep making sure we have a clear path for him. The smallest of toys will trip him up even just visually so clear the runway and let him go.

I do have some video of this, just be patient until I can post, but this obviously opens up an entire new world for him. Of course one which has the disappointment of being a Cubs fan for the rest of his life ;-p